WarbyPicus
patreon
Chapter 119 God's Gifts
🕑 Added 2023-07-04 16:00:06 +0000 UTCTruth allowed his inner vision to float up into his soul. Everyone knew that the body and soul were connected and that mind and apertures touched both. Being able to see your soul was just one of those side effects of cultivation. Do it enough, and it happens. Even old-timers at Level One could do it.
A Level Three who had the benefit of a Stellar Dowsing ritual at a comparatively young age? He could absolutely do it. There just wasn’t much to see. Not to sneer at the mysteries of the soul or anything, but if there were grand transformations happening there, he was too much of a rookie to spot it. Generally, he didn’t bother poking around. There were apparently levels beyond what he was seeing, but learning about them always seemed kind of pointless.
That may have been a mistake.
Following the sound of furious chanting, Truth’s mind drifted up through his soul. There may have been a starry universe within, but it also had bounds. Pressing up against the edge of it, he could see them.
Nine glowing worms, yes, worms, but also dragons. World serpents. Void eaters. What name could bear to define such immensity? Serpent-like, yet pliable, yet unyielding, soft cruelty made real. Far, far too real. Some terrible creator had given them faces and mouths like the maws of entire prides of lions were pressed together into one circular mouth, their leonine features still present, still a reminder of their murderous origin. Most terrible of all, they were holy.
He kept tripping over that thought, again and again- they were holy. The worms were holy, the glow a divine light. They were the “realest” things he ever saw. The worms were holy, and they were outraged. They were absolutely furious. At him. At the sin of his existence. Something utterly fundamental about his existence was worthy of the most severe punishment.
His mind couldn’t stand the pressure and crashed back into his body. He fell sideways out of the chair, landing harmlessly on the floor. It would have given a Level Zero a concussion, a fall like that. Raised a lump on a Level One. He hardly felt it, just a harmless sensation, not pain. Because of the endless body refinement. Refinement done by… the worms.
While you were… dead… the worms turned up in your body and started making microscopic changes and repairs to you. I was able, with a lot of experimentation, to get them to make use of little chunks of the Meditations of Valentinian. In retrospect, they seemed kind of picky about what they would use. It sped things up a lot, but even by themselves, they would have rebuilt you. Whatever they are, they don’t want you dead.
Why? Why would my Rough Patron create such a thing? Did he create such a thing? If he didn’t create them, why send them out as part of his legacy?
The System was silent. Truth lay on the floor for a long time, trying to come to terms with what he had experienced. It didn’t really go anywhere productive. Eventually, he uncurled, tidied himself, and went to the double room. The horny had been firmly banished from his mind, but grabbing ahold of Etenesh and hanging on tight sounded very, very good.
Etenesh was there already, waiting in her pajamas. Her eyes were almost solid ocher. His plans would have to change.
____________________________________________________________________________
It was a rather bemused-looking Truth that walked into Merkovah’s little office/cell the next morning.
“There’s the look of a man who rid himself of his virginity.” Merkovah grinned.
“No, honestly, I’m not ready. It was an educational night in other ways. I have even more questions today than I did yesterday. I think Etenesh suspects.”
“You say it like it’s a crime. And so what if she does? Tell her. She’s already having a ball with whatever you are doing together. I bet she’d enjoy training you up even more.”
Truth considered that. The System had told him more or less the same thing, and clearly, nobody in Siphios gave a damn, but it was still embarrassing. He knew he had to just get over himself, but… he didn’t want to look like a fool in front of Etenesh. Merkovah was grinning at him. Truth squinted.
“You are enjoying this, aren’t you.”
“Immensely.” The grin emerged like a badger through the thickets of Merkovah’s beard.
“Watching your students love life.”
“Mr. Wells, It might shock you to know that I was a terrible romantic in my youth.”
“Women love a beard?”
“Some do! I wore it shorter in those days. Marriage changes a man.” Merkovah’s eyes had gone misty with nostalgia, but he managed to shake it off.
“Anyhow. I have a paying job for you. On top of the job I am already paying you for.”
Truth perked up. “Paying Job” was a phrase that had never lost its charm.
“The working group the University put together was more effective than expected. This was not the first time talismans of this type have been recovered, so there was a lot of information scattered around. Nobody had properly compiled it all until now, let alone under the supervision of the intelligence services and the police.”
Truth waited somewhat patiently for the point to arrive. The humor evaporated from Merkovah.
“Have you ever heard of Anti-Theists?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I understand the term.”
“We aren’t really sure what they call themselves, this generation. It’s an ancient and particularly pernicious lie. Don’t bother trying to understand their evil ideology. You will only contaminate your mind.” Merkovah gathered himself. “The very short version is that there is really two universes, one material and one made purely of thought and spirit. We are trapped in the material universe, a universe that was never supposed to have existed. Our spiritual self, our divine spark, was always supposed to be part of that divine, spiritual universe.”
“Ok, so… why are we in this universe?”
Merkovah snorted. “Because there are two gods, obviously. One, an evil, incompetent boob that made the material universe, the other the perfect divinity of the spiritual universe. Our divine sparks are trapped by the evil one, and therefore, “It is every prisoner’s duty to escape.” Which they do by committing the most depraved of atrocities. Trying to force their way through the bars of reality.”
Shame. They sounded like they were on to something, but they lost him at the final step.
“They are periodically purged, of course, but like cancer, they keep coming back. The superficial details change and specific doctrinal conceits shift around, but it ultimately comes back to the same nonsense. God is evil. The universe is a trap. We must escape the physical and return to the purely spiritual.”
Truth sat with that a moment, digesting it.
“The fact that we can see our soul?”
“We see it tied to our bodies, trapped in the prison of the “real.”
“Spirits?”
“Illusions, or some other creation of the material universe, that our degraded souls cannot differentiate from true spiritual existence. Incidentally, while the exact nature of angels and demons is in dispute amongst the apostates, it’s much the same thing. They are all servants, one way or another, of the evil god.”
Truth nodded slightly.
“What’s this all have to do with me and getting paid?”
Merkovah winced and pressed his fingers to his temples. “Mr. Well… Mr. Medici, do you fully understand the enormity of the crime these anti-theists represent? The sheer, calculated monstrosity, perversity, of their ideology? It is a mess of palatable half truths and false dichotomies designed to lead astray the spiritually weak and theologically ignorant. It is, perhaps, the purist distillation of evil I know of.”
Truth nodded. Then waited. The silence continued.
“Mr. Medici?”
“Oh, I thought it was one of those questions where you didn’t actually want an answer. No, I really don’t understand what’s so terrible about their ideology, but if they’re the bunch that killed all those people in the apartment building, and they sent the crow headed smuggler that tried to kill me-”
“And called you a fuckboy, which seems a much more accurate description these days,” said Merkovah, with the look of one who has completely given up.
“And called me a fuckboy which is still outright slander,”
“Have to prove damages for it to be slander under the law. It was clearly a mere insult.”
“THEN they should probably be permanently dealt with. Which… you want me to do? Why? You can just call the cops. Hell, you can send literal armies of angels and demons after them.”
Merkovah’s shrugged. “That was Plan A and Plan B respectively. Still is, sort of. Here’s the thing though. In addition to transmitting their ideology, these pricks pass down technology. In their insane quest to “liberate” our souls from their physical prison, they have gotten very good at disrupting the material bodies of spiritual entities. They have also developed a particularly nasty form of anti-magic, which they tend to deploy liberally.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“You are working on magic resistance- being so much more real than the things thrown at you that they only affect you to the degree you permit. Anti-theists view this approach as fundamentally wrong. Rather than becoming more real, you are becoming more like the false god and, therefore, more bound to the physical, false universe. Wards work by either forcibly resisting spell forms or by redirecting the cosmic energy generated by magic or a talisman.”
Merkovah looked grim. “The Anti-Theists disperse cosmic rays. Essentially make the warded areas vacuums for the very stuff of magic.”
Truth quickly connected this tidbit with Merkovah’s plans for the System Astrologica. “Ah. You want it recovered, not destroyed.”
“I want it destroyed, but I want the first look at it, and I want to see if there is something there we can use. I also want to know what that murderous apostate trash are doing in my damn country!”
Truth nodded again. This was the sort of logic he could understand. Another, more personal, thought intruded. “Apostate. Tefen?”
“Why yes, Mr. Medici, that would be an appropriate use of the word. In fact, etymologically speaking, it’s derived from a word referring to anti-theists generally.” Merkovah managed a grim smile. “You can understand now a little better why Etenesh and Jember were so utterly furious, and for that matter, why I was too.”
“They seemed calm enough.”
“Don’t kid yourself. They were holding it together to make sure you held it together. There is currently a massive debate amongst the Faculty about restoring the ban on swords in the Well. You left quite an impression. “Ready to wash away insult with blood,” one fella said. Nice turn of phrase, I thought.”
Truth nodded. It was quite true, after all. “And you aren’t walking in there and slapping everyone to death with the raw strength of your body because?”
“Because here in Xandre, where a cabal of these anti-theists has been discovered, I am surveilled by far too many eyes. You too, of course, but to an infinitely lesser extent. You would be much more able to acquire the technology and get away with it than I would.”
Didn’t entirely trust that but… ok for now.
“How much does the op pay?”
“We bill it as a recon/covert raid, undertaken by… certain agencies you don’t need to know about. Use it as political leverage to get you access to those national treasures I mentioned; boost your level.” Merkovah looked satisfied.
“Absolutely not. I decline.” Truth stood and swiftly moved for the door.
“Pardon?!”
“My fee will be the operational supplies needed to do another job for you? No. Absolutely not. Cash is good, and elixirs are better, but I am not going to be scammed out of my fee.” Truth was almost flashing back to some contract negotiations he was involved with at the PMC. Sergeant Murthey might not have been the most enlightened soul, but he represented a vast, cataloged, and indexed library of employer tricks and treachery. Truth had been a diligent student.
“Young man, are you somehow unclear on the phrase “National Treasure?” These are not things I can simply gift on a whim, and the political consequences-”
“Are absolutely not my problem.” Truth interrupted. “A bargain has been struck. If you want to renegotiate, we can talk about it, but I will tell you now- my fee will only be higher, with more to be paid in advance. If you want to hire me for a second job, you will have to pay for that separately.”
Merkovah stared at him, wonderingly. “Where has the young man gone who just said “OK” to everything?”
“He’s still here. Along with the kid who learned you never, ever, not for any reason or for anyone, work for free.”
Comments
MS
So appropriate that a person named Truth said, “He’s still here. Along with the kid who learned you never, ever, not for any reason or for anyone, work for free." That is a seriously important life lesson.
Addicted_Reader
Hmmmm…. I think that the context clues point to you setting up the gnostics (“anti-theists”) as being right. I have little knowledge of them irl, but didn’t they believe that Christ himself was still good? Maybe Truth is the Jesus? Actually that would be really cool. I need more chapters :)
Novel Cat
Love me some Truth lol. Never one to welcome being harmed financially, or any other way lol. Also love how Truth actually thinks his V-card is hidden "properly" 😂👀😂 It's So CUTE!!!!!!!!!! ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^ ^~^🤣 Thanks for the chap btw! 😊
_mori
That being said, I wonder what the condition is for getting them to come out and do their thing. So far they’ve only appeared twice. When Truth was incapacitated during his breakthrough to level 1, and when he was dead. Considering the Worm’s apparent anger, I don’t think they’re staying their mouths(?) for Truth’s sake. Maybe there’s a subconscious effort that Truth puts into forcing them to stay put. As far as we know, what they do hurts a great deal. And the rough patron did tell Truth that he could embrace the legacy or not, implying Truth himself sorta decides how much he’s changed by it, to an extent. Got sidetracked… My point was, perhaps the worms are only able to have free reign when truth isn’t able to stop them? Like when he’s not-dead dead, or incapacitated by ingesting a mystery drug.
_mori
What Cane’s legacy does to truth has never been framed as “anti-magic”, at least not in the “destabilize the reality so bad it doesn’t work” kind of way. With Truth (Cane), I think his closer resemblance to god (at least as hinted at by Cane) makes him more resistant to lesser effects, i.e., spells of the same and lower levels, to an extent.
Matthew Bernardin
Aww Merkovah you may be 600 years old. But son you have got to get up a lot earlier in the morning before you can even begin to try and scam this slum rat
gostsamo
Okay, here it is what I discovered to be the likely source of the worms. https://symbolsage.com/the-chnoubis-symbol-origin-and-meaning/ Regarding the ghouls and the antitheists, everything points to the material world being opposed to the reality of god and magic. However, the gnostic stuff that I've read has contradicting interpretations of what is the exact relationship - adversarial, mistake, or whatever. The ghouls worship Cane and are anti-magic. The worms are uber-magic and are part of what God did to Cane. At the same time, the ghouls pushed the worms in Truth. The antitheists are anti-magic, but don't seem to have direct link to Cane so far. Cane is quite magical himself. I might be missing something in piecing the puzzle, but it seems that the ghouls and the antitheists are similar but separate worships of Cane and his deeds. The bad thing is that I don't have good proofs in the text and I'm not sure what made Truth special in the very beginning. Cane managed to play with Truth's spark, so it is not something directly from the boss himself, but someone playing subterfuge somehow.
axel jensen
worms are angry at him for either not being real enough or possibly because they don't like how he is molding himself
John Anastacio
I love the arguments between Merkovah and Truth. For all Merko's dogmatism and fervent theism, they stand no chance against Truth's pragmatism and apatheism. M can preach all he want, but it does nothing to change T's mind. Another win for indifference. Interesting that the worms are in fact giant lions-headed serpents. If I had to guess, I'd say their anger is the reason why they insist on changing Truth to be more like his Rough Patron, their father, Cain. They're angry that Truth is not completely identical to Cain and are determined to erase that gap.
AnthraxRipple
That's a good point. To me, that would point to magic being something of divine nature, since magic seems to be connected to the soul and the gouls appear to worship the rough patron/demi-urge. Maybe gouls are critters that don't have ANY connection to the divine? Like, that shouldn't be possible since all things, including the demi-urge, emanate from God, but I think it would be a mistake for me to assume that this setting is running entirely on the same the theological framework from our world.
gostsamo
ghouls also defy magic, if it is of any interest to you
AnthraxRipple
Oh wow, lot to unpack with this one. Kind of interesting that the anti-theists seem almost identical to gnostic beliefs. Well, except for the part where they actively seek to break reality rather than reaching the divine through knowledge and refinement. Completely understand why merkovah is pissed about them in context. On the other hand, Yaldaboath is explicitly something that we've heard to exist, which is traditionally one of names of the demi-urge. (I also suspect he is the rough patron, but that's neither here nor there.) I don't know, but I suspect that based on what we've seen so far there is some measure of truth to both, but I don't honestly think we've encountered anyone powerful enough to grasp more than a shadows understanding of the situation. Regardless, thanks for the chapter, It's got me even more excited to see where this goes. EDIT: Also, a big question here is whether or not the demi-urge and by extension reality are evil in this setting. Sorry about all the rambling, I just am super interested in the world building for this one.
gostsamo
Here Truth starts the movement for fair hero payment. And every story automatically gets cooler if you add dragons. Never before worm dragons, but maybe Dune could be a precedent.
