WarbyPicus
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Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 95 Running From The Deep
🕑 Added 2024-07-19 16:00:03 +0000 UTCHear ye, O ye children of Seth, and give ear unto the words of Sariel, the servant of GOD, who standeth before the Most High and executeth His decrees. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts:
The children of Seth come upon this world by grace, not merit.
The children of Seth think as children, act as children, despoil what is good, venerate the bad and worship false gods.
The Children of Seth do not treasure the True Path, do not strive to ascend, yet cry out to the Most High when their strength fails them.
Sahariel sees you, and Sariel hears you. Receive now our command.
Ye shall not depart from this world in body, neither shall ye ascend unto the heavens, for it is decreed that thy lot is cast upon the earth.
And it is further commanded that none among thee shall awaken from thy period of initiation in the celestial mysteries. Nor shall you awaken your embodied Soul, neither by strength nor by cunning, for the bounds of thy power are set and ye shall not pass beyond them.
Ye shall receive no teachings nor guests from the realms above the rank of Embodied Soul, for the knowledge of the higher realms is withheld from thee, and their presence is forbidden in thy midst.
Moreover, ye are forbidden the warmth and comfort of fellowship that is thy birthright, for ye shall dwell in solitude and know not the communion of the wise nor the gathering of the elect. For ye have sold thy birthright for dross, yet lack the means to reclaim it.
Thus is commanded the will of the Most High, who hath appointed bounds for every creature under heaven: heed these words and keep them, for they are established by the decree of Sariel, who executeth the will of the almighty.
Let all the descendants of Seth tremble and fear, for the price of ignorance is death eternal. Let all the descendants of Seth weep, for wisdom is the path to eternity, and obedience to God is the walking of the path.
Truth had no idea what language the order was written in. That turned out to be no barrier to understanding. Sariel wanted his meaning understood, and wasn’t afraid to stamp it directly onto the reader’s brain. Truth knew a couple of words of Enochian, the artificial language used to converse with angels. Just picked them up here and there on the job. This wasn’t Enochian. This was something more primal. Something shaped like words but transcending language and arriving at pure meaning. He could feel his mind creaking, scrambling to reduce the transcendent meaning into manageable words and concepts.
Eventually, he forced himself to look away, collapsing on his ass on the floor. Gasping. Hugging his knees. Trying to fit all the nuance that words couldn’t capture into some kind of box, some kind of frame of understanding.
It’s our fault? He’s saying it's our fault? “Daddy doesn’t want to hit you, but since you won’t listen to him, maybe you will listen to the belt.” There are probably layers to this. Lots to unpack. Truth quickly memorized it. At this point he could handle a spell as complicated as Earth Folding Step. This wasn’t too much. Once he succeeded, he forced himself to his feet and called the Tongue to his hand.
He could feel something in the blade thrumming in harmony with the stele. The Tongue was his platonic life partner, but she wasn’t going to forget her roots either. He shrugged that away too. The women in his life were a lot more religious than he was. But they were worth it, so it was whatever. Time to finish the job.
He walked up to the sarcophagus. Simple looking thing, at least in the secular world. Essentially a stone box. Big, for something that was allegedly only holding parts of a person. Meh. Not his problem. He put two hands on the blade, lined up his thrust, and stabbed hard at the side of the box. The blade skittered off.
Figures. Time to say bye-bye to stealth, and hello to excessive violence.
Truth let his awareness slip slightly into the higher levels of reality. He kept his eyes focused on the now extremely elaborate sarcophagus. He wasn’t sure his brain would survive looking at the stele. The true appearance of the sarcophagus was a chest of porphyry inlaid with gems and spells who’s intricacy was far beyond Truth’s meager learning. It was beautiful. He didn’t care, because sitting on the edge of the chest, kicking her little feet, was the System Fairy. Still in her office lady outfit, smoking Gold Bats and sneering at the pictures in a magazine.
Truth pulled back the Tongue again, lining up his shot. The System Fairy had always been a sort of hallucination, but who knows? He might yet get lucky. The sword ripped right through it… to no effect.
“Oh shit, you can see me? How can you see me?”
“I was wondering the same thing. As far as I know, you are Starbrite’s soul.”
“Oh, no, no way. I’m like a tiny fragment of his soul. Like a single cell on the very tip of your finger is also, in the least way possible, you.”
Truth nodded. That’s what he had remembered the System saying all those years ago.
“A sock puppet.”
“It sounds bad when you put it that way. Also, yes.” The office lady fairy put down her magazine, but the cigarette stayed.
“So… Starbrite is about to pop up out of that box, and then we get into the mix?”
“Unlikely.” She shrugged.
“Why’s that?”
“Starbrite is barely holding on at the moment. The cascade effects of what happened here are still rippling out across the world. I’m not going to spell it out for you, but an unbelievable number of things just went BOOM.”
Truth nodded. “I believe it.”
“No no. It’s way more than you would believe.”
“I have an excellent imagination for destruction and devastation. I believe it.”
The System Fairy raised a perfectly plucked and arched eyebrow in surprise and possible disbelief. “Weird thing to boast about, but okay. Hey, are you that Hell Prince guy? Weird question, but you really shouldn’t be able to see me unless you were sworn to Starbrite, and you aren’t because I’d know if you were.”
“On account of not having the System in me.”
“Yeah, exactly!” She clapped her tiny hands.
“Yet you can still find the spot on my soul used to communicate through my soul, which should be mutilated and training me up like a dog.”
“Nah, we use way more negative reinforcement on our employees than you should ever use with a dog. We’re just old fashioned that way- no carrots without sticks, and sometimes you need to rub puppy's nose in their mess. Not because it teaches them anything. Just to make yourself feel better.”
“Well, out with the old, in with the new and all that. Let’s try prying up this seam.” Truth found a micron thin gap in the purple-red stone of the sarcophagus and started trying to work the sword edge in. This was met with a great deal of nothing much.
“Yeah, no, this coffin is officially, and I do mean officially, the best armored thing on this rock. Including the rock itself. You could drop it into the magma layer for twenty thousand years and you wouldn’t even fade the paint.” The fairy sniggered. It wasn’t a pleasant sound.
Called it. I knew that was the backup-backup plan. He kept picking at the seam. Eventually he would figure out something. Just took time.
The silence stretched for a few minutes. The Fairy went back to her miniature magazine, pretended to read it for a while, and eventually threw it aside again.
“Look I said you aren’t getting in there.”
“No, you didn’t. I was there. I would remember if you said that.”
“It’s what I meant, and you know it.”
“Yeah, but I ignored that bit.”
“What, you think something will eventually shake loose and you can pry your way in? Naive.” She sniffed and flicked her hand. “He is a superior being.”
“Can’t be that superior.” Truth jabbed his thumb at the stele. “He’s got the same level cap we all do.”
“Says who? Some basic bitch angel?” She sneered.
“Not sure I would call a stellar eminence a ‘basic bitch.’” Truth kept hunting. At some point he would find something, or make something.
“No, it is. It’s not even a person. That Stele? It’s a joke. Just because the angel means it, doesn’t change that it’s a joke. The road to Nascent Soul is forbidden? The Hell it is. What’s forbidden is doing it the way the Angel expects you to. Human ingenuity is limitless. All it takes is a person of singular vision and will to turn the impossible into the inevitable.”
“Someone like Starbrite?”
“Someone like you.” The Fairy smiled. Truth nodded faintly. He had expected the change up. Didn’t slow down his efforts to find a way to crack the sarcophagus.
“Starbrite… what is his name, actually? Is he even really a ‘He?’”
“His name is Starbrite, and yes, he is a ‘he.’”
“No. No it isn’t. His mom didn’t look down on him in the bassinet and say… actually, what’s his Mom’s name? What planet is he from? Where did his dad work? Does he put extra sauce on his egg sandwiches?”
“He’s a very private man, and doesn’t speak on personal matters. Particularly with people trying to murder him.”
“You really gonna tell me this isn’t self defense?”
“Yes?” The fairy looked puzzled. “Starbrite isn’t causing the apocalypse.”
“The rollout of the System globally?”
“Not your problem, so why do you care?”
“Calling me Hell Prince and trying to turn the world against me?”
“You murdered… so many people. So, so many people. Just an astonishing, shocking number of people.” The System Fairy spread her hands helplessly.
“So did Starbrite.”
“Nah. The main function of a business is to bring the proprietor profit. As long as a corporation acts in line with that principle, whatever it does, is both moral and ethically correct.”
Truth jerked to a halt.
“You… want to run that past me again?”
“The purpose of a business is profit for the owners. Individual, partnership, shares, whatever. That’s why companies are created- to make money. Doing things that aren’t making money, no matter how ‘good’ they might be, are fundamentally betraying the owners and the purpose of the company. Want to do charity? Do it on your own time and with your own money.”
“But Starbrite outright owns the corporation. Are there even shares in other people’s hands? He could do immense good in the world.”
“But he chooses not to spend his money and effort on the things you care about. And so what? That’s his freedom of conscience right there.” The Fairy sounded severe. “You are in no position to judge. And by the way, if you are going to judge, make sure you include all the good he’s done. The world is a much more comfortable place to live, thanks to him. All those talismans, all that high energy food from off-word. The hundreds of thousands of homes and apartments. Elixirs. Talismans. So, so many talismans. All those jobs. All that healthcare.”
“The environmental and human costs-”
“Not the company’s responsibility.” The fairy flicked it away. “The company’s responsibility is to earn profits for the owner. Offloading costs onto the state is just good business practice. Which is why I’m talking to you.”
“Eh? I figured you were stalling for time or something.”
“No, I knew someone would be coming. Listen, the planet if screwed, but there is an immense opportunity here. Don’t you see the Stelle? Even if the Nephilim do invade, they will be Level Nine or lower!”
“So?”
“So? SO? Starbrite is the only person in the world who knows how to get around the ban on Nascent Souls! He’s going to be taking a little nap for a few thousand years. Totally out of it. He needs someone who can step in. Take charge of things. Guide the public and protect them from interlopers. Don’t you see? All those things you hate? All the things that hurt you, all the injustice, all the unfairness, you can fix it all! You will be the only true powerhouse in the world. You, alone, will have the ability to summon the winds and the rain. And all it takes-”
“I know what costs. I have wanted to try this for years.” Truth channeled all his magic into the Meditations, and focused them on his hands. The spell works on a more than physical level. The System Fairy had been the first person to tell him that. She’d been right about it too. He reached out his hand, grabbed her and squeezed.
Something went crunch.
Comments
_mori
Sahariel seems like a bitch. So the consequence of people not being ‘strong enough’ to save themselves is to punish them by preventing them from ever growing strong enough?
Addicted_Reader
Transhumanism is great. I think the biggest thing that Western Capitalist societies can do to advance it is deregulate transhumanist device testing to an “informed consent + obvious idiocy” model. If someone willingly volunteers to have something totally unknown tested on them, they have the right as long as they truly know things can go really fucking wrong. As soon as humans no longer absolutely require huge amounts of medical care and food to survive, most problems in the world vanish.
ioajfidsnmfomds77
Addicted, I agree with your argument, specifically the premise that modern liberal capitalism is the best we have ever been able to do with that we have but that raises a question. Specifically that if this *gestures broadly at the suffering* is the best we can do with the building blocks we have ie humans then we are obligated to build/become better. What are your thoughts on Transhumanism? There are obviously significant risks in such a proposition ranging from even defining what being better is to implementation and the control that would give the modifying party. I'm not to particular about the means be they gene modification or a Neuralink-esque program or whatever. I think many people probably including Kain and BaconWarGod do not want to accept gradual moderate reform as the best we can possibly do to combat the suffering. I guess I am curious on your thoughts on how things can be made better.
Addicted_Reader
I’m sure there is a better system than modern liberal capitalism. Probably some sort of non-libertarian techno-utopia. I have not seen any explanation for such a system or means of getting there. I’m not sure that “sweatshop” workers actually hate capitalism. You know that sweatshops are usually much better labor systems than what’s available otherwise in developing economies. That’s why support for reform in developing countries is usually quite broad, subject to reasonable concerns about neocolonialism and specific industries like farming being outcompeted by multinationals. There’s a reason both China and India prospered immensely once they deregulated out of Maoism and the License Raj. I don’t think that anyone has implemented a stateless classless society from the down down or bottom up. That’s because it’s impossible to do such a thing. Every successful popular communist revolution has failed in the transition phase. Whether or not a stateless classless society would be good is a moot point, since every attempt seems to become Communist China at best and Pol Pot at worst. I appreciate that you are a socialist democrat, and I respect your position. I just doubt that your policies would materially benefit the working class.
Kain
Do you know how long capitalism has been around? At longest on a wide enough scale to notice 700 years compare that to the hundreds of thousands of years of human history and the minimum ten thousand years of, comparatively large scale, human societies and cultures but naw I’m sure this little system is the best possible and we can only ever iterate on it and mitigate its damages, wouldn’t want anyone currently comfortable to get their hair tussled in a large scale change after all. And I’m a GD reformist I’m like a dem soc at most, currently just because I think it’s more practical, you’ve just annoyed me to the point I’m talking like an asshole larper revolutionary type.
Kain
1 you missed the last part it’s kinda important “so long as you were comfortable” you would be a monarchist I have little doubt if you were a peasant that you would hate the system that put you there just like ya know child slaves in sweat shops that made components for the phones or computers we’re both using hate the system that created their positions in society. 2 to the point of “haven’t come up with one” the other alternative is that we have yet to implement it at scale. If you think any let’s say stereotypical “communist” nations ever actually made an attempt at communism from the top down, which is pretty hilarious and nearly oxymoronic to begin with, there’s no point in further discussion about real world matters cause you live in a world as fictional as this novel.
Addicted_Reader
I have no demand for “the best” civilization. Only one better than what we have now. Which, it seems you admit, no one has been able to come up with on a systemwide scale. So we can only Tinker with what we have to make it better. If you have a better idea, let me know, everyone’s constantly looking for one, and they have yet to find it. I do lay the bad things companies do at their feet. All the slavery, exploitation, murder, damage to the planet, lies to the public, unethical experiments, and wars incited. If their owners broke either the laws of their nations or the natural criminal law that applies when the state has been subverted, then they should be held accountable. But I don’t pretend that the answer to my problems is to replace many indifferent evils with one truly monstrous one. You say that I would have supported a monarchist regime. I doubt it, because had I been born in 17th century France, I would likely have been a starving peasant doomed to live a pathetic life or die in one of Louis’ idiotic wars. I would probably have no conception of an alternative, but I would certainly suffer.
Kain
“Come up with an entire socioeconomic system and give me an example of a utopia” These are you’re standards for a random commentor weird AF you don’t hold the people in power in our society and instead just accept the shit rolling down hill, though you’re not at the bottom of that hill are you. Now that’s not a crime I’m not either or I wouldn’t have money to pledge on patrion if I was. It’s just funny you’re just like the fairy and I don’t think you realize it “ praise Starbright for all the innovations and jobs he’s created but don’t you dare put any of the dead toddlers at his feet those were just the cost of doing business” No shit we haven’t implemented a perfect civilization, I still don’t know what metric you’re using to determine that this is “the best” but I don’t really care it doesn’t matter. “The best we’ve done so far” doesn’t make it the best possible. End of history BS I’d bet you’d be a monarchist if you were borne under a king and you’d be a devote follower if you were borne into a theocracy, so long as you were comfortable of course.
Pi
Trying to ascend right next to the No Ascending sign is a ballsy move, I'll give him that. :)
Addicted_Reader
Manda probably disagrees with everything on this rotten world. Truth, ultimately, is Manda’s master.
Addicted_Reader
I agree with you Baconwargod. Some version of many of the things described in the book happens in real life. Rape, murder, genocide, abuse, assault, war, death, manufactured famines, destruction of the planet for profit, slavery, private military corporations and brutal propaganda all exist. Not sure why the existence of any of those things is supposed to make me an anti-capitalist. Particularly when all the alternatives do worse. And Kain: Name me one society in human existence which doesn't have these evils. I'll wait.
Kain
I can guess which hemisphere you live in and several countries you don’t if you think no where in the 21st century resembles, or is worse than, the world depicted in this book. Also you think maybe it’s not “human nature” but that human behavior might actually have more to do with the systems we grow up in? Maybe certain behavioral patterns are rewarded and thus propagate through individuals and groups? Maybe what you see as “human nature” is just the nature our current system promotes and enforces ya know…. Like this book depicts and discusses at length multiple times.
Baconwargod
Dude every SINGLE thing that happens to Truth to make him what he is has happened in our world. We may not have magic but kids growing up in slums salvaging garbage for money, check. Kids having abusive parents that steal from them check. Mothers falling for MLMs check. Alcoholic fathers that beat their kids check. Kids having to dodge drug dealers and pimps on their way to school check. Men getting enlisted in a Private Military to make ends meet for their families check. Said individual being thrown away like trash when its convenient for the bottom line of the corporation check. ALLLLL OF IT HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE! Just because you personally haven't seen doesn't mean it isn't common it just means you haven't seen it. THE ENTIRE SERIES IS ABOUT A GUY WHO WAS FAILED BY THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM HE GREW UP IN AND CAME BACK TO TEAR IT ALL DOWN! This is the main theme of the series as a whole! And all of it is meant to parallel our world.
Kain
Gotta love original sin
Addicted_Reader
Well, I look at 21st century capitalism, and I see something dramatically better than anything in the book. I have yet to see anything in the book that would be better than what we have and which doesn’t rely on a sudden and inexplicable change in human nature (or divine intervention). As for “How are you here”, Warby’s writing is exceptionally good, and worth what I pay for it.
Tessellae
I guess this stele is what Manda disagrees with then?
Baconwargod
How have you gotten through 5 volumes of this and come away as pro capitalism? There are several chapters that are near word for word socialist critiques. The main villain of the story just explicitly stated they are a hyper capitalist. He and the system are literally the bad guys. How are you here?
Addicted_Reader
Still the most successful system in human history. If you ever come up with a better one, write a manifesto
Kain
Brother if “The main function of a business is to bring the proprietor profit. As long as a corporation acts in line with that principle, whatever it does, is both moral and ethically correct.” Resembles your doctrine in any way even if you add in a carve out for fraud, which we know was only carved out because fraud is lying to owners or potential owners. Then you’re a POS no other way around it.
Findell
Only Fallen think that way. Normal Angels dont.
Deathly_God
Extra ironic is that they talk about Ignorance being Death Eternal, but then condemning them to Ignorance because they were ignorant. A world unchanging, which I guess fits with this limited angel's view of God.
Jeff Casey
Nooo I have to wait until next week! Bonus chapter pretty pleaseeeee?
JTP
There's cathartic, and then there's several hundred chapters of well deserved payback. Love it
axel jensen
I don't disagree with that, just what the angel did, instead of fixing the false worship it banned getting closer to God, making the problem worse
ioajfidsnmfomds77
They were instructed on how to do things right and chose to do them wrong. Clearly unborn children thousands of years from then should be punished
Addicted_Reader
From the Bible, we know that certain populations continuously ignored Gods teachings and started worshipping false gods almost immediately after receiving revelations. Probably a play on that trope.
austin kutz
Angels are in a strange category since it seems like they're fully sapient but view this sapience as a personal failing since it's an indication that they're not fully one with God. Because of this, they try as hard as they can to ignore and disregard their sapience
Addicted_Reader
Friedman Doctrine, except without the whole “by no fraud” part. What a communist imagines the doctrine to be. I guess the angel’s decree is punishment like what happened to the Jews. Wandering on Sinai for 40 years. Except maybe 40,000 years for these people…
Jordan
This part of that not one penny thing? Starbrite offers Truth the ability to govern the world while he sleeps for the low, low, cost of one penny.
Kain
One question I have is the ban on leaving the planet bodily. We have records of people buying their way onto void ships right? And the shattervoid have promised Truth and a good number of others a way out are they bypassing this restriction in some way? I’ve had my doubts about the shattervoids having a complete monopoly on space travel for a while maybe they just have a monopoly on planets like this that are embargoed because their methods bypass the restrictions in some way. Another thing Sally did say they brought Starbright here a long time ago right? That he got a dirt cheap ticket/they paid him because his cultivation was so high it made the trip much easier?
gostsamo
For whoever is interested, the system is quoting Milton Friedman. What happens to it is oh so satisfying and has nothing to do with what many people would like to happen to Friedman himself.
Kain
From what we’ve been told Angels don’t really know or think let alone act without prompting. My bet is that whole stelle is someone else’s doing someone hundreds/thousands of years ago whispered in the Angels ear and convinced them this was the correct action to take because it is in accordance with gods will. Though the level of sentience/sapience of angels and demons does bounce around a little so I could be wrong on this.
austin kutz
Lol, if this whole thing ends with a "we'll just have to agree to disagree" and a removed head that'd be pretty funny. Not that I think cutting his head off is enough to kill Starbright, but still
axel jensen
The angel really fucked over the entire planet because it's mad that they don't worship God in the right way, How about you fix the issue instead and educate them on how to do it properly instead of being the largest asshole and bad parent on the planet.
Taedirk
I love a happy ending.
