Godclads-Chapter 23Book 34: Triumph of the Unworthy (II)

The Storm roared. “I will lash you sparrow! I will lash you clean and through! Fool are you to rise and fly against my bolts! Fool are to face my rageful skies! Down little sparrow, down to the ground when the animals belong, for that is what I will, and that is what will be.”

But the lonesome sparrow flew and flew. Between the bolts and against the wind. Its wings strained. Its body struggled. But still the lonesome sparrow flew and flew. “You may lash me, storm. You may lash me clean and through. But I am not fool, only a sparrow. I have no love for the land, only the sky you stole, and I will seek her even if death is my due! For small I am, for weak I am, for feeble though my winds are before the storm… but a sparrow I still am, and wings I still have, and until your aim strikes true, then still I will rise, to climb the peaks and seek what my heart is due.”

The Storm rumbled. But the lightning waned. And the rain began to fall. And the wrathful old sky sobered from its misery. “So flew then, little sparrow. Fly high and true. Come seek your sky, come meet your fate, but despite it all, stay yourself, hearty and true.”

-”The Storm and the Sparrow” Old Kosgan Fable

34-23

Triumph of the Unworthy (II)

—[Shell of the Seraph]—

The Lovebringer came for her from all directions, the Bonds of love spearing down like a spreading briar patch. Space was filled. The power of correspondence made itself known, and Veylis knew there was no place, no moment, no means of avoiding the Lovebringer’s touch once love touched you.

Such was why it was a potent vessel. Such was why her father favored it so—before its intensity shook his spirit and sent him reeling toward complacency. It was one thing to break and shatter and devastate the fabric of the world, but another to twist and manipulate all that is, to shackle the hearts of all to the will of one.

“He comes for us,” the Ashbringer said, speaking to his master, his greater, and his sibling self. Veylis regarded their impending fate with curiosity—and a slight quiver of respect.

“So he does,” she replied. This moment existed across all her paths, the total and overwhelming nature of his attack creating a stable point in time. A pity that stable points are easily predicated, and prepared for. “A shame he is still a simple fool. Kae.”

At her call, the paths within her shuddered and moved. As another echo of herself dueled against her wayward weapon—Jelene Draus—and another version of her burrowed deeper into the Trinary Melody’s core, usurping their design for her own use, a final iteration of her Shell served a portal for a new player to enter the fray.

The Lovebringer’s Bonds came, magenta bright, but counterattacking Bonds of wilted black responded in kind, reaching through the paths, through the Shell of the Seraph to deny Chambers his moment, to inflict a wound on his mind and break about the destruction of his Frame.

Bond met Bond as Soulfire clashed within Soulfire. The Stillborn within Chambers quivered as his blacklash hit hard, and Veylis could taste the entropy surging through him. His Rend was near its very limit—one more, and the Heaven of Love would shatter anew, and this time, who knows what fresh nightmares it would birth upon the world.

A brightness flared out from the Lovebringer’s manifestation. The threads that composed its body undulated with pain. The hollow of his heart spewed by blackened flames and blood seeped from the flesh-folds it had in pace of a skull. Chambers cried out, his voice and mind loud with surprise.

And as he reeled, another weapon of the Dyad stepped through.

A primary gift the paths offered was preparation. Anticipation. The tools to bring down any foe, to resolve any problem. And Veylis was always an eager student of the enlightenment. Despite her taunting words—and her undeniable scorn—the Infacer’s words were taken to heart. He spoke to Avo, the Ashbringer, but she heard them through her sibling-self, the potency of her learning magnified through his post-mortal perspective and her own genius.

How blind she was to this flaw of hers. More than pride, it was derision. It was disgust. She thought so low of the people, regarding them as animals. Apes. In truth, this was partially the Infacer’s fault as well. He truly loathed them for what they made of him, for how miserable his design rendered him. She simply despised them for always failing to meet the moment, for never rising enough to overthrow the gods completely.

Her father’s great crusade brought low by the meek and pathetic. More than the gods, they were the enemy. Those too animal and feeble to rise beyond their nature, and too willfully blind to see what they could become.

Everything about Chambers painted him among the unworthy. From the tragedy of his past, to his fetid habits, his lifelong “consangs,” his choice of employment. He was set to be a waste of flesh and purpose in nature and nurture—a mistake to be corrected for when the Ladder arrived and in the optimizations to follow.

But something changed with him. The chance encounter he had with Avo—the choice the Burning Dreamer made to keep him, to develop him, had awoken something in the man that allowed him to defy the paths, to become different than all the mem-data indicated. Instead of being just a creature of misery and lust that bent to a greater master, Chambers rode against his pathborn self in a moment of… genuine heroism. For his enemies no less.

Rarely were her paths this wrong. Rarely was one of her simulated futures so defied. But Chambers did defy her. And Chambers did change. And now he stood against her as warrior might. A warrior he shouldn’t be. A decent friend he couldn’t be.

But he was. She was wrong. She was wrong. How infuriatingly, refreshingly so. She remembered how Avo laughed at her—what joy in his voice as he hissed and giggled, their bodies merging together. Doubtless he loved the taste of her incredulity. She considered anger for a moment, and let it pass through her. She decided on a change herself instead. A change to apply what she was missing, to create a pathborn to represent what the Dyad would eventually become.

And so she made the change within Avo’s template. To create an anathema to the Hidden Flame using a variant of him and her combined. But she didn’t end there. She made more. Better counters and solutions for each of his cadre, for anyone that might bear a shard of the Stillborn. Including Aedon Chambers. Especially Aedon Chambers.

The best adversary for him wasn’t another version of himself, though. No. Aedon Chambers’ greatest triumph was the growth of his courage, of his heart and spirit. But he did not grow in a vacuum, nor did he rise for himself.

Rather, it struck Veylis that the poor fool despised himself—that he never thought anything of himself until he finally encountered the Burning Dreamer and his cadre. Yet, right now, there was one crippled point of failure, one individual that Chambers couldn’t save, one presence that gnawed at him constantly, one name he had mentioned before: Kae Kusande. She was the reason he possessed the Lovebringer, the one he thought of, cared for, and regarded perhaps as a younger sibling or a dear friend.

And he had watched her die, unable to change her fate, unable to do anything.

The Murderess of Love had been a pathborn created specifically to counter Kae originally—in case the Agnos obtained and wielded the Stillborn as her own after Avo’s fall. But the Agnos was no true adversary. Now, she was a brilliant mind, capable of lateral thinking and true scientific inquiry, yet she was no warrior. She had no taste for bloodshed, no urge toward violence, no heart for strategy. Simple genius in one or even a few fields would never be enough for victory. But in this position, in these circumstances, to see her modified and delivered as a silver bullet against Aedon Chambers—well, she suited that purpose quite well.

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“Forward, Mudress,” Veylis whispered. “Forward. His fall is not yet done. Complete his descent back to where he belongs, and I will grant you the sweet bliss of the life you deserve.”

And the Murderess came without a roar or flex of power, but like a ruined mass of flesh birthed from the paths into a cocoon of fire and love.

***

—[Aedon Chambers, The Lovebringer]—

“Ah, fuck!” Chambers snarled as he stumbled back. The backlash hit him suddenly; he barely even saw what happened. Stained Bonds pierced out of Veylis’ golden, gleaming bullshit and stung him. His entire person felt like a bomb just went off inside him, with Soulfire spraying out of his every Bond.

REND CAPACITY - 98%

VENT! VENT! VENT!

Chambers was boiling inside, yet he continued transferring more and more of Avo’s rend from the flames, across his bonds, into the border walls, into everyone he could reach. He paused, considering whether to call out to Naeko or the Sparrow to offload his rend into them, but a glimpse across space and time showed them embroiled against another version of Veylis as well.

Shit shit shit.

He couldn’t distract them either; they were fighting their own battles. He simply couldn’t be the weak link. Couldn’t be the reason someone else fell again. Couldn’t. He was done being just a mistake, just another filth-stain in human skin out of the gutters.

And he wasn’t going to let Veylis put him back down.

Chambers swallowed hard as he prepared another approach. If he could disentangle Veylis… to unlatch her from reality itself…

Just then, warning klaxons sounded through his Metamind. A weight glided against his Frame, and as his Soulfire dimmed and the backlash settled, he saw a new shape release fully from the golden radiance projected by the Shell of the Seraph.

WARNING: ENSOULED DETECTED

KAE KUSANDE, THE MURDERESS OF LOVE

Chambers’ thoughts went silent; his mind reeled at what was rose to face him. From within the shell of the Seraph emerged another figure—a presence whose thaumic weight was lesser than that of the Shell, yet whose form, being, and name sent shivers through Chambers’s entire body.

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“No, no,” he muttered. “Don’t… not you too...” But it was. Kaei Kusande—the Murderess of Love. Like most Pathborn, the Murderess was both divine and ephemeral, a horrific union of mockery. Each of Avo’s cadre had been granted this black blessing, thanks to the High Seraph. Yet as she emerged before Chambers, her mutilated form screamed at him. Instead of being a creature composed of bonds leading outward, of a hollowed heart that could be filled with any object or person, or of a head that resembled questionable folds, the Murderess was inverted expression of love, with rotting umbilicals made of festering flesh and wilted petals. There, at its core was a small nube of a person—Kae herself, struggling in place, moaning in pain. The cords burrowed through open slits lining her body—rash-sores. And from them pulsed moving organs and homunuli, like she was the final junction for the whole atrocity. Her face a mask of misery with tear-shrieks running down her cheek. “Hello, Aedon,” she said in a listless tone. His stomach tumbled.

“Oh, you fuck, you motherfucking…” His curses veered into incoherence as he hissed his hate at Veylis, but the Shell of the Seraph did not respond.

“Go,” she said, speaking to Kay instead. “Go and see my will delivered, Agnos. Your pain will end after that. I promise.”

Her words lit a flame of outrage within Chambers’s gut and he wanted to go straight at her, to dump his Rend into her without a care—to overload and take both of them with him if that failed. Yet the Lovebringer called out to him. “Don’t. Don’t be foolish. Aiden, focus. Steel. Hard, remember. Steel. Hard.”

Chambers breathed deeply. He was sane in that moment—and he would be sane next. He was focused now, and he would remain so. This wouldn’t break him. Nothing could break him.

There was no dick thick enough, no traumatic fucking worst enough to shatter him. And yet, something inside Chambers trembled. He looked at Kae. “I… I’m sorry. We should have—”

“Is that worth something?” she replied, her voice hollow. “You allowed her to take me. All of you did. You… I trusted you. But you were useless in the end. Useless. Your tears, your apologies, your misery—is it worth anything at all?”

Sour spit filled Chambers’ insides as he felt nauseous. He shouldn’t be the Lovebringer—he knew that. He wasn’t good enough for this; frankly, he wasn’t good enough for anything. But if there was one thing Chambers understood, it was like New Vultun didn’t give a shit. That bad shit happened to decent people all the time, and that this wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anything. It was just the way of their world right now.

Fake-Kae’s words were meant to hurt him. And they did hurt. But so what? The world was made to hurt him, and he was still alive?

This isn’t enough to break me. Not even close.

“I was right,” Chambers said, ignore the insult to Kae and speaking to the Seraph. “You aren’t any fucking different than my old man.” Sure, she might have come up with another bullshit reason, or perhaps she didn’t care about him much, but what difference was there between shoving a gun barrel to a kid’s armpit and this? “It does matter,” Chambers growled. “I’m going to see you snuffed for this, you bitch! For everything you’ve done. To me. To this city.”

And as the Murderess spoke again, a crackle of flame sounded over her. +Chambers…+

Another voice—another iteration of Kae—called out to Chambers. His eyes widened in turmoil as the Lovebringer shook. From within Avo’s twisted Conflagration—lined in woven protections by Chambers’ layered Bonds—came a template. It passed into his Heaven, then settled into his mind, rooting herself finally in his Amni-Tech implant. Passing from one Soulscape to another, template-Kae settled within Chambers, sighing as she looked upon herself. +Oh, that is… that is a hard sight,+ she murmured.

“Yeah,” Chambers agreed. It was a strange situation: facing the mutilated, time-born construct of one friend while their mental clone resided in his mind. Yet, weird situations and strange bullshit had become the way Chambers lived these days. “Listen… I’m…”

+We didn’t have time to speak before, but I know.+ She chuckled sadly. +You were always there for me, Aedon. Always. She is the voice of a puppet. But I remember. I will always remember. And so should you. Now. Let’s… let’s uh… snuff… this half-strand!+ She coughed. +It feels strange saying that about myself.+

“Tell me about it. But what do you think? How should we do this? I’m pretty close to the edge…”

REND CAPACITY - 96%

+I think that she was created directly to counter you. Look at her heaven—there is symmetry to your design, right? That’s why you backlashed. But her biggest purpose right now isn’t to survive—it is to break you. She will kill herself to unmake you.+

“So what do I do?” Chambers pressed.

+You fight her like a being of love would. She isn’t acting out of malice; she is a slave to the Seraph, brought in to deal with you specifically. But you can do that too! You have so many people, Aedon. Don’t just cling to me. You have everyone—everyone across New Vultun. You have your friends, Cas, other Fallwalkers. The Heaven of Love is not just a weapon; it was meant to unite, to bridge the gap between people, to keep us together. Show her what it means to stay together. Show her that her antithesis is not proper, that she doesn’t know what it means to be a silver bullet.+

Chambers drew in a deep breath. Right. Bonds. People. He expanded his reach. Why the fuck was he even thinking about this like a duel? “I’m kind of a dumb-shit sometimes, aren’t I, Kae?”

+That’s okay. I’ll help you with the thinking.+

And suddenly, the world was a bit better than before.

The Murderess reached out for him, and her fetid cords lashed through the air, seeking to pump a final dose of existential poison and bring about his ruin. But Chambers held his ground, and reached! “You know what?” he cried to Veylis. “You’re probably right. I am unworthy. I am just some shit. But here’s a question for you—how many unworthy subjects does it take to kill a High Seraph?”

And Chambers called out to everyone he could reach. Across New Vultun, to anyone attached to his Lovenet. +This is Aedon Chambers—uh, Lovebringer, Heaven guy! If you’re getting this—if you’re a Clad, and if you’re willing to fight for something that matters right now, to end the war for good, it would be absolutely nova if—+

+This is the Majority, Overheaven of Ori-Thaum. Your voice is heard, Lovebringer. Our Constituents have voted. We come for you, as you came for ours. Unity is Destiny. Let die the Seraph’s shadow, let this gesture of ours prove true to the Symmetry. Call on us!+

And their reply was but the first of many.