jmclarke
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Chapter 767: The Apostle's Misery
🕑 Added 2024-01-23 17:45:17 +0000 UTC“Do you hear something?” Grimloch asked.
“No, why?” Theresa peered up at the moving images in Uldar’s viewing room.
“Thought I did,” the sharkman said, his black doll-like eyes peering at the room’s entrance. “Not the first time one of us thought we heard something, though.”
“I think it's just wishful thinking at this point,” Theresa said, looking at the sharkman sympathetically. “We're getting more desperate for a clue. Any clue.” Her eyes turned back to the images around them. “But, there's nothing here. I'm starting to wonder if this place even has any more secrets to give up.”
She and the sharkman were standing in Uldar’s viewing room, watching the towering walls filled with moving images from all over Thameland. There were scenes of the countryside, the woods, mountainous valleys, and even the coast.
Some areas showed the battles that were going on across Thameland; soldiers, priests and knights struggling against armies of Ravener-spawn across a dozen different scenes.
The huntress let out a growl of frustration as she watched.
“Everyone’s out there, fighting to get rid of those monsters, while we're here…probably wasting our time,” she said. “I thought we would've found some clue by now, something, anything.”
“No clues.” Grimloch touched an image of a plump doe and her fawns foraging in a meadow. He licked his lips. “Nothing around. Nothing I smelled. Nothing we saw.”
Theresa threw her hands up. “There's all these images from all over Thameland, yet none of them suggest even one single place where the Ravener might be. None of them! You’d think one would hint at something: even if it's just a cave where a bunch of Ravener-spawn and dungeon cores are. Or you’d think Uldar would have left notes somewhere saying where the Ravener spawns when it comes back. Or how it spawns.”
“His notes say how it was made.” Grimloch walked over to Uldar’s chair, bending down to check if there was anything underneath it. It must’ve been the fiftieth time he’d done so. “Maybe that's all he wrote down.”
“It’d better not be, we need to find something,” she sounded frustrated. “Alex is ready to have the fight of his life, and we're here walking around these empty halls! I’m the one who wanted to start coming here to see if we could find a way to help him, the Heroes, and everyone else! But, we’re not finding anything and I’m just feeling completely useless!”
The sharkman shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to find a trail. Sometimes one’s hard to find. Sometimes there isn’t one. Sometimes you're looking in the wrong place. Hard to know, unless you actually look. And that’s what we're doing… looking.”
“But maybe we've been doing too much looking around and not enough getting things done,” she said. “Maybe I'm just searching this place to make myself feel better and just wasting our time, maybe I’m only tricking myself into believing I'm being useful.”
The sharkman shrugged again. “Don't know. Do know it’s the one place where there might be a trail. That's it.”
“I don't think it's as simple as that,” she sighed. “But thanks for trying to make it look that way.”
“It is simple.” Grimloch walked over to another image, watching it closely. “People make things complicated. Life is simple. Simple is good. Lots of images here, we haven't looked at all of them. We still need to do that.”
“Fair enough,” Theresa said. “I guess it's gonna take us a while to look at all of them. Thanks a lot, you made me feel better…I was getting way too frustrated.”
“Wasn't trying,” he said.
“Thanks, Grimloch,” she said dryly.
Suddenly, Brutus began growling.
The cerberus was across the room sniffing the moving images. Two heads were focused on a particular one: a pine forest with a circle of mushrooms in its midsts.
Nearby, a pack of bone-chargers marched through the woods, moving in an endless tide. A fairy emerged from the circle of mushrooms, pausing when it saw the Ravener-spawn, then waved and flitted away.
Brutus kept growling.
“Oh, don't worry about them, boy,” Theresa said. “They’re probably working for that fae lord Drestra gave a bunch of Ravener-spawn to. Maybe that’s why the fairy seems friendly with them.” His growls grew deeper. “Wait…are you growling at the fairy? No, no, Brutus you don’t eat fairies.”
“Hey, here’s a thought,” Grimloch said. “That fae lord knows something, right? Maybe we could go ask him.”
Theresa frowned. “Maybe. Maybe not. If he’s an enemy, we don't want to poke that hornet’s nest until Alex, Isolde, and the others learn more about how to stop the Ravener.”
“Should still ask,” Grimloch growled. “Or should ask that fae that was guiding the Heroes around, if we see him again. Tasty-looking ones, they are, him and his moose. All, fat and juicy.”
“I just told Brutus not to eat fairies, don't set a bad example,” she said.
“Just doing what’s natural,” he said. “Not my fault they look good. Anyway, don't have to worry. Don't know if we're ever gonna see those two again.”
###
Moving in near-silence, the Stalker, and the First Apostle crept up the stairs to Uldar’s sanctum.
The pair edged up the stairs slowly and carefully, ears cocked for signs of interlopers anywhere near. They had no idea if the foreigners were inside, but—if none were—they didn't know if they’d be disturbing Uldar or his servants.
Without exchanging a word, the pair kept going. The Stalker’s ears were perked up, his predatory eyes scanned their surroundings—his moose sniffed the air, hooves and bells unnaturally silent.
Gabrian looked this way, and that, not searching for enemies, but rather gaping at murals and the architecture of Uldar’s sanctum. Tears swan in his eyes as his heart was filled with ecstasy at all he was seeing. With every step, he knew he was coming closer to his god.
Closer to speaking with him.
To hearing his words from his own voice.
No more would he communicate through signs that he had to interpret, but rather through real and direct speech. No longer would Uldar’s word be a metaphor for him to ponder, nor would it be confined to ancient texts written long before even his father's, father's, father was born.
He would speak to his god, he would receive his benediction.
At least, so he hoped, for deep within himself, his spirit was in turmoil.
The Fool’s words were plaguing his thoughts.
‘Steady yourself, Gabrian,’ he thought. ‘Do not let lies burden your mind. Your god will see your heart, he will know that you doubt him. Do not let your first meeting with Uldar fill him with disappointment. He lives, his servant asked you to come and speak with him and you will soon hear his own words.’
He frowned. ‘Then you can tell him of the sins of this cycle’s Fool, his wrath will surely fall upon him!’
Yet, no matter how many times he repeated that to himself, questions still burned in his mind.
Again, he asked himself how the Fool had laid his hands on Uldar’s divine equipment. Again, he asked himself how the Fool could break Uldar’s holy commandments that prevented him from doing spellcraft or violence. Again, he asked himself how interlopers were allowed to hold the very doorway to his god’s sanctum.
Especially, when those interlopers had caused his children, those from the holiest branch of his church, endless suffering and so much pain, and had caused the slaughter of so many.
If Uldar was truly waiting on his divine throne at the end of these stairs, then, why would he tolerate the presence of such blasphemers and demons?
A single dreaded answer kept coming to him, but he kept pushing it away.
‘Remember when you first learned that the order was to always keep the Ravener’s cycle going?’ he asked himself, silently mounting each step. He was awestruck, taking in murals of Heroes from the ancient past, though he felt a bit disappointed that his chronicle was not among theirs.
Perhaps Uldar was simply waiting for one of his servants to extend the mural.
He shook his head, refocusing his mind.
He was letting himself be distracted.
‘Remember how concerned you were when you were told that the hidden church’s holy mission—one of its many—was to ensure that the cycle did not end until Uldar decreed it so.’ he reminded himself. ‘You were shocked, filled with confusion, and even a great deal of anger. Those were the emotions of the young, of those who did not understand the full breadth of Uldar’s plan. Even now, you do not know his will. But the difference is that now, you are old enough to understand you are not meant to, you are mere mortal: a child desperately trying to know the actions of his father-god. You will never know them, not completely. Do not question, for it would be the same as a child questioning why his beloved parents must go out and till the fields, or why snow falls after the harvest season has ended.’
The First Apostle nodded to himself, growing more confident. ‘Yes, if you could grow to accept that Uldar’s plan needed the Ravener’s cycle to continue, then could you not also understand that his plan might involve these interlopers holding the door to his sanctum? If anything, this new revelation is less upsetting.’
He took deep breaths, just as he did when practising the art of life enforcement. ‘Consider your situation, Gabrian. You have lost one of your closest friends, you have lost members of those you would call family. You have seen the ruin of folk that you watched grow from infancy. You are strong, Chosen of Uldar, but there is a limit to your strength. You are simply grieving, and are not thinking clearly. The Fool told you lies, for that is what he is, a liar, and yet here you are allowing your sorrow to cloud your judgement. Do not do so. Look forward with your head held high, for you are about to meet your god, and look upon his wondrous countenance. This will be, without doubt, the happiest moment of your life. Do not allow worry to turn good to ash on your tongue, or to poison in your veins. For Izas, for Eldin, and for every servant of the hidden church, meet your god with a smile. Smile, even though your heart has broken.’
He continued up the steps, wiping tears from his eyes and fixing his face with a smile.
Together, he and the Stalker moved forward as he imagined what his god would say to him. Would he show him mercy and kindness for his losses? Would he congratulate him on how well he had led the hidden church? He grimaced. Or would he chastise him for allowing such ruin to come to his people?
As he imagined what awaited at the top of the stairs, he spotted a mural on the left that gave him pause: an image of the Heroes, floating together, battling the Ravener.
But, strangely, there was no Fool among them, instead, there was another Hero in their place—one he had never heard mentioned before.
“What is this?” he murmured to himself.
“Shh!” the Stalker hissed as the First Apostle approached the mural, looking at the words below it.
“The Mark of the General?” he wondered. “What is that? The General’s folly? But that was committed by a Fool not…whatever this is…what in Uldar’s name does this mean?”
“I said shh! We’re nearly at the top of the stairs,” the Stalker hissed again.
Gabrian turned, taking the stairs quicker.
Too many questions now swirled in his head.
He needed to speak to his god.
The first Apostle reached the last step and, at long last, his eyes fell on Uldar’s throne. The white throne had been somehow stained with a black substance, and there was no sign of his god sitting there. But, what was that tall form draped in a shroud lying before the throne?
His blood stilled.
“No…” the word caught in his throat, he fought to calm his heaving breath as his worst fears coursed through his mind.
“Shut up!” the Stalker whispered. “I smell something—”
Gabrian ignored the fae’ words and fled, running across the throne room at a sprint, only stopping beside the shrouded form. His hand shook as it gripped his sword’s hilt, then sheathed it, and in dread, raised the top of the shroud, uncovering what lay beneath.
For a breath, his mind teetered.
Then cracked.
The First Apostle of Uldar began to wail as if his heart was broken, he screamed with the anguish of a tormented soul. “No! Noooooooo!”
“Shut up!” the Stalker shouted.
###
Grimloch and Theresa looked at each other.
“Okay, I know you heard that,” he said.
Nearby, Brutus growled louder.
The huntress drew the Twinblade. “Yes, I definitely heard that. Come on.”
Together, the trio moved toward the door.
###
Author's Note
Hello forty-three cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
Welcome back to a new week!
A man who's lived for over three hundred years, serving a god that he didn't even realise is dead. A man who sacrificed everyone trying to make that god happy.
Ooooh boy.
I want to talk more about this, but yeah, it's a bit of a spoiler. Surety of purpose can be a double-edged sword. It can give one conviction, but when the reason for that purpose disappears, especially when you're doubting yourself? ...oh boy.
Cya tomorrow!
Comments
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
lenkite
The Watchers are like Imperial Stormtrooper mooks - they die in large numbers and are basically [Pathetic Cannon Fodder]. Only their founder was a real power - remember even first year Theresa could fight and defeat their members. I guess only poorly talented wizards go on to become Watchers. Their only purpose is to delay the enemy for a few minutes so that the real wizards can get around to casting spells. I mean - the evidence speaks for themselves - they haven't managed to do one single competent act since the beginning of this story. They are there to stand, look brave and be slaughtered.
The Green Magus
We only have lore that was given to us, but I believe this was in recent history and the General became the Fool in the very early years.
RyanR-Reviewer
Didn't so much survive as be completely ignored (for absolutely no reason) until the very last instant. By which time it was already too late.
RyanR-Reviewer
Damn straight! Death would probably taste great :)
Ondrej Vesely
I can't dhake the feeling that all the characters are getting dumber. It feels to me like the author has clear vision how he wants to end the story and now bends or straight out disregards all the established facts to achieve it. Here are reasons and inconsistencies why I think so: If I am not mistaken Alex have explicitly told all the important people that the Guide is an enemy. The heroes were angry about it if memory serves correctly. He regularly comunicates with Cleygon and had many opportunities to inform him. If he forgot or didn't do so, he has degraded from smart strategist who went from using smart outside the box solutions which circumvented obstacels to a total idiot who thinks just because he can punch someone he can do everything. He should be MUCH smarter than that. Let's stay with Alex for a while longer. What is the reason he couldn't teleport straight into the gods throne room or watching room or armory (which he have done previously so it IS possible). Because his teleporting power does not work. It does not work because of interdiction, which shouldn't work anywhere outside of Thameland. It works only because he has dirt on him. He can't dust it off? Or freaking wash himself maybe with help of friendly water elemental? How long would it take? Surely shorter than two blokes carefully sneaking into the god's realm and walking/ sneaking up long staircase. I also don't understand how two people with massively enhanced senses with a three headed dog who by default has even better senses further enhanced by magic and cultivation do not notice someone approaching. Becase they are frustrated and distracted? I do not understand why the Watchers got suddenly completely useless. The whole area should be closely guarded and they do not post even a single guard on the staircase. They also never noticed that the eveil fae took massive amount of soil. No report, no notice, nothing. It feels to me like the author is setting up to hurt Theresa and/ or Grimloch. Alex having some massive breakdown and introspection with some moral takeaway. It also feels to me that the evil fae and first apostle will have battle when first appostle in some big introspection realizes that he was wrong all along and have to repent for his sins and will become good guy with regrets and a plea to be spared so he can do give his life finally for Thameland and not for Revener and will sacrifice himself in some later (maybe final) battle with Ravener. I hope I am wrong in everything and the author will prove me wrong and explain all this seemingly stupid behavior of everyone.
Enif
I think you're getting your face mixed up. I'm pretty sure she was referring to the Fae King. (not sure why she called him a lord)
mant06
I have had this Idea of Gabrian trying to ressurect Uldar with an interdiction and blowing himself up.
Reds
Wandering Inn is an excellent example of a webserial that knows how to do pacing correctly
Jadida
Yeah I canceled my sub because I just can’t handle the disappointment anymore. I came over from KU because I LOVED the released books, but it feels like the author is just trying to wring out as much money from us as they can. Normal books have more than a few pages per chapter, so what is this… this doesn’t feel like a real book anymore, more like a web series that’s not actually going to end, or end well… Do they even enjoy writing their own story anymore?
Gareth S
Nailed it
Lot Nineaitch
I don't know, I like the build up and then failure, then peril that he can't do anything about. We're early doors on this book and delayed satisfaction can do wonders. I think I'd need something more than a L9 summoning to close that cycle of satisfaction now, but i'd very much like to see Alex finish them off more personally. Say he draws on the traveller to combat Uldar, then the general skills to beat a much older combatant, and then blood magic to neutralise the lifeforce enhancement. Both of them being equal, the decider is simply that Alex is young and ripped with conviction and the First Apostle is an old man with doubts. A straight up beat-down may be in order.
Tijay Arnie
Are we still sure it was a The Fool and not a The General?
Decide
Doubt it. Dudes insane, he'll probably blame Alex.
Fleetpanda
Hmm I do think that hunter vs hunter is a good match up thematically… But one is an ancient Fae dragon hunter that called the first apostle a child, and the other is barely over 20 with a few years of life force enhancement
CentaureHeart
I might be remembering wrong
BoxQueen
What Brutus should eating is bad Fae, which is Stalker. So Grimloch shouldn't be reproach for such thoughts. And I look forward to next chapter.
Steve
Pretty sure this is right from what I remember
Randall Jones
That was my understanding as well
Justin Golenbock
The number of small inconsistencies and contrived circumstances is getting to be a bit jarring. I don’t understand how T/G could not know the Stalker is an enemy…he’s literally been hunting Alex in open alliance with the hidden church for months? Alex even figured out how the fae was tracking him by name and he communicates with Clayton regularly, how could they all not know he’s an enemy by now? It’s been bugging me for awhile that the fae just openly betrayed the heroes without consequence but apparently they’re not even in the know?
Imagine Baggins
I don't think Gabrian is a part of this fight. I think the Stalker goes to kill Theresa and Gabrian just stands there utterly despairing. At least at the start.
JYonder
It did take the entire chapter to walk up the stairs though which is just more BS filler fluff. The author clearly has no actual plan anymore but to keep cashing in those monthly subscriptions. Such a sad turn for what was an excellent series until book 8.
Matt Cheek
Is that right? I thought that if Brutus died, Theresa would just be weakened. Whereas if Theresa dies, Brutus goes with her.
LongtailedOne
Honest critique? Author only planned until the removal of the mark of the fool, and now we are in the dark waters. Since the removal, and even through the cat&mouse chase with the church, there was a VERY significant change in the quality of writing. Stalker, a being thousands of years old, starts acting like an impatient child, just because he never encountered someone defeating his name skill... hidden church, working in the shadows for the past 500 years just under Gabrian's rule, starts acting like extreme fools, impatient with everything, making mistakes left and right. I understand the author's wish to make Alex a better wizard through the removal of the mark, but him becoming immediately nation level threat.. that doesn't fly with the readers. And don't let me start on the pacing. I looked forward to each chapter of this book, counted hours, read each on the edge of my seat. Now, I find myself bored, skimming the pages to see if anything happens. With every caution thrown out the window, Alex going gung-ho, party splitting for no reason, super strong academy professors getting sidelined, toraka becoming just a footnote yet shown to us as some urgent matter.. And to end the last book in such a cringe fashion, without any actual climax, a resolution? Take a look at the Wandering Inn and read the final chapters of each book to get a better idea how you leave the reader both satisfied and craving for more. Last book left me with neither. Author needs to take a step back, read the last 30ish chapters, see for themselves objectively about what went wrong (hint, rushing) and go over them with an editor.. Otherwise we will have another case of Game of Thrones..
Fleetpanda
I know Theresa has an upgrade to her swordsmanship that’s been hinted at, but this really isn’t the enemy for it. I hope Alex shows up cause this is his enemy. Alex fighting Gabrian is one thing: he’s the General now. A powerful archmage with an army of summons. Theresa fighting him is ridiculous: she’s been practicing life force enhancement for barely four years. She could barely match him while fighting alongside the Chosen AND Champion 3v1. A magic sword upgrade won’t put them on equal footing. I don’t want her to be a damsel and I don’t want her to win because that devalues Gabrian as an enemy.
mhaj58
Please don’t try to redeem Gabe. He’s not worth saving and he never had been
RyanR-Reviewer
This chapter was ok. At least the author didn't turn the FA's journey up the stairs into a ten chapter narrative. I just hope that this arc finds some sort of resolution this week. Then we can move on to the Ravener.
George R
Thanks for the chapter
Voror
Seems like he may just go insane. I'd wonder if he'll process that Uldar has been dead perhaps since the time the secret church was formed and all those doubts he had way back when were completely justified.
Voror
A Fool at one point chafed under how he was regarded and discovered the secret of controlling dungeon cores. Used them to raise an army and eventually had to be put down. Took to calling himself a General or something along those lines. Little coincidence that it was a Fool who did this when the truth about the Mark of the General had been lost
Dennis
I know its some truly powerful armor cause both fa and the stalker survived the supposedly unstoppable and deadly 9th level battle summons angel/demon.
The Green Magus
Old reference to the General who was made into a Fool and took control of some Dungeon Cores...led an army and all that
John Dee
Sure, it's great the First Apostle is getting his faith broken, but it doesn't help with the pacing or the let down of the prior battle. If Alex was in hot pursuit, or the prior battle hadn't felt like such a waste of time.... If the First Apostle was bleeding out his life instead of having used a single spell to fully heal himself the moment he Hearthstoned home... Sure.
Bob Bryan
So what's the over/under on Grimloch eating the stalker. Because it's an above 0 percent
Bender
General's Folly?
CentaureHeart
Well, if he dies so does Theresa
Randall Jones
Somehow I’m more worried for Brutus…
Randall Jones
Yeah, I would not have been satisfied if FA hadn’t made it to this point. He has my permission to die now.
CentaureHeart
I wish
Thomas Todd
Grimloch can't die, he'd just eat death
Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander
It took some serious plot armor to get him here but boy o boy is it satisfying to see the FA’s Cognitive Dissonance ☺️
CentaureHeart
I don't see Theresa dying, Grimloch on the other hand...
AERO
He
Keiran G.
Guess I’ll throw myself off this cliff since no one else is here to do it instead
