Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 280

Chapter 280: Ascension

Lysette furrowed her brows at the wording of Zarielle’s declaration.  On and on she talked about pawns promoting, about sacrifices and moving pieces into position.  All as though everything were part of some elaborate game.

Is that how all gods see the world?  As mere pieces in some game of gods?

Finally her curiosity, built up over several months, erupted outward.  “Zarielle, I need to know something.”

“Oh?”  Zarielle frowned and glared at Lysette.  “Very well.  You have come all this way on my account.  Please, ask whatever troubles you.”

Lysette averted her gaze.  “Even the first time I spoke with you, you have been going on and on about a game, about pawns and promotions, sacrifice and tactics.  I can’t help but wonder.  Is that all I am to you?  Is that all anyone here is?  Just someone to be ordered about and then be thrown away when it serves your ends?”

The pressure in the room built, as though every mote of Essence in the room had declared hostile intentions toward the demigoddess.  And then the pressure abated just as quickly as it manifested.  “Never played a game of chess?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard of it.  I take it the question is related?”

“Oh, of course.  We do have some time until your debut, after all.”

“My debut?”

“Consider it a gift for a job well done.”

“I didn’t realize I still had that job.  I expected you’d fired me way back then.”

“I’ve invested far too much in you to let petty disagreements get in the way of such opportunities.”

Lysette shrugged.  Zarielle moved her hand, and a small table appeared in front of Lysette.  A small clap later, which Lysette was sure was more for theatrics than necessity, and a thin piece of wood divided into sixty-four alternating white and black squares appeared on top of it.  One by one, wooden carvings in elaborate shapes began dancing about onto positions on either side of the board.  Sixteen of the thirty-two carvings were arranged on the side of the board nearest Lysette, and the other sixteen mirrored them on the opposite side of the board.

Zarielle disappeared along with her throne, reappearing an instant later at the table, seated across from Lysette.  What followed was a lengthy explanation of this game that dated back to the time of the Aestori.  Zarielle detailed each of the pieces and how they moved, along with the central objective— to force the enemy’s king into submission where it had no opportunities for escape.  And once she’d finished her lecture and offered a few general pieces of advice, she motioned for Lysette to make the first move.

“Do you not want to go first?” Lysette asked.

“It is customary for the white pieces to move first, my dear.  You would not request that the Lady of Shadows herself be parted from playing with the dark ones, I hope.”

“Of course not.”  Lysette started by moving one of her central pawns two squares forward into the center of the board.

“An excellent move, and one of the best first moves possible.  Control the center, and you have more opportunities to move your own pieces around.  Defend the ones which are vulnerable, and launch attacks against mine.  Just the same, if we are to win this battle, we must know ourselves and our own abilities.  That is our center, and if we do not have knowledge and control of ourselves, we cannot hope to defeat any others.”

Zarielle mirrored Lysette’s first move, placing the two pawns in squares next to one another.  “You see, Lysette, the war between the gods is not so dissimilar to a game of chess.  First, we move our pieces and pawns around, jockeying for position.  Occasionally, we have little skirmishes, but mostly we just poke at one another as we try to set ourselves up for success.  Only once we are satisfied will we move to the middlegame, and launch our attacks upon each other.”

Just as Zarielle insinuated, the first eleven moves proceeded mostly uneventfully, with only a pair of pawns being removed from each player’s side of the board.  Zarielle castled kingside on the tenth move, while Lysette chose a queenside castle on the eleventh.

“I figured you would do that,” Zarielle said.  “More aggressive.  You sacrifice your own safety for more opportunity.  To be honest, I am surprised you haven’t attacked me more forcefully already.  Is that not how a goddess of vengeance acts?”

“My trials have forced me to learn the value of patience.  To take a human saying and modify it slightly, Reciprocity is a meal best served cold.  It’s also my first time playing this game.  So thanks for taking it easy on me.”

“You think I’m taking it easy on you, Lysette?”

“Of course I do.  After our earlier conversation, I’m sure even this game we’re playing is part of a broader plot toward some purpose I can only speculate about.”

Zarielle marched her rook onto the only open file.  “You believe I’m that cold?”

Lysette countered, moving her kingside rook across from Zarielle’s, the two staring each other down from their respective back ranks.  “It’s not about coldness, Zarielle.  It’s simply who you are.  I am an instrument of Demonic Reciprocity.  You are a schemer who operates in the Darkness.  You can deny your deific nature no more than I can oppose my own.”

“I’m glad you don’t take too much offense to it.”  Zarielle moved the pawn in front of her king forward one square.  “As you can see, just because pawns themselves are individually weak compared with the stronger pieces doesn’t mean they don’t have their importance.  Sometimes it is necessary to trade them off for one another, or even to sacrifice one or two to advance the overall position.

“A bit of a diatribe, if you don’t mind.”  At Lysette’s lack of offense, she continued.  “Back in the previous world, the Aestori created machines.  Ah, devices made of metal and powered by lightning, capable of playing this wonderful game far better than any of them could ever hope.  Than even I can, to be perfectly honest.”

“I hardly believe that.”

“The mind of a deity is vast and powerful, but even it has its limits.  Moreover, we are not emotionless.  We have biases which blind ourselves to potential threats, and our arrogance or lack of foresight often causes us to blunder winning positions.  Not so with these machines.  They don’t think or feel.  They could analyze dozens of moves ahead and play with absolute precision.”

“Then how did the Aestori get wiped out?  Surely if they could build such devices, they would have had to have intellects far exceeding our own.”

“Sure, those machines could play this wonderful game far better than you or I, but that’s all they could do.  Build a machine, and it will do what it is designed to do.  But remove it from those narrow gates, and they are as good as useless.  It’s the same principle we find ourselves in now, Lysette.”

Zarielle moved her outermost kingside pawn forward onto the third rank for her thirty-first move.  As much as Lysette wanted to capture, it was too heavily defended— any engagement would cost far more material than she could hope to gain out of it.  Instead, she readied her own counterattack, although she wasn’t too confident that it would be in time.

“That’s why you empowered me, isn’t it?  You deliberately chose someone with hatred and antipathy toward the gods, hoping my enmity would be strong enough to manifest demonic power.  All because you needed to change the rules of the game.”

Zarielle smiled as she moved her pawn up to the second rank.  “Of course, my dear.  As long as nothing changes in the war, we’ll end up at an impasse.  A drawn position destined for annihilation or stalemate.  But if, for instance, a new piece appears on the board, one with abilities that have never been seen, let alone analyzed, then, and only then, will there be opportunities to break that deadlock to a more favorable position.”

Zarielle boldly marched her queen diagonally up the board, placing it adjacent to Lysette’s rook.  Lysette could only shake her head.  She could capture the queen, but only at the cost of losing a rook and then allowing Zarielle’s pawn to reach the first rank and therefore become a queen.  Seeing no better option, Lysette defended said rook with her remaining bishop rather than capture the queen.

“So where do I fit in?” Lysette asked.  “And how does this relate to why you’ve brought me here?  And what did you mean by ‘my debut’ earlier?”

“All of this is leading to one point, Lysette.  You must learn to cast aside your mortal shell and your attachments to this world and ascend as a true god.  Only by doing so can you truly claim our vengeance against our sworn enemy.”

“Cast aside my attachments?”  Lysette’s entire being focused on Mirae, her love, her partner through eternity and, if necessary, into oblivion.  “I cannot.”

“Your… partner, was it?  I do not have any particular objections should they wish to accompany you.  At the very least, you would not be precluded from manifesting an aspect of your presence into this world, whenever you might wish it.  I myself am quite fond of this world, myself.”  Zarielle chuckled.

“This world?  Are there others?”

“Of course.  And not just the Celestial realm where I and my… peers reside.”  Zarielle spoke the word ‘peer’ with complete disdain.  “Or did you not think it strange that despite having dozens of gods, there are only a handful of countries, most of which have their own patron deity.”

“I had assumed from my understanding of Omnia’s system that the gods received enough prayer from undirected prayers relating to their Domains.  Just as I do.”

“Sometimes the best lie is the absolute truth.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said.  Everything you’ve just spoken is completely true.  And equally misleading.”  Zarielle scoffed.  “I’m proud of whoever told whoever it was who told you.  Truly a master of the art of deception.”

“Anyway, I hope I can have some actual answers, seeing as though I came all this way to get them.”

“And have them you will, my dear.  This world called Aimarion is not the only world which exists.”

“I’ll take your world for it.”

“There are countless worlds out there.  As many worlds as there are grains of sand on a beach.  Maybe even more than that.  Even I don’t know how many for sure.”

“Do all of them have their own gods?”

“I don’t know.”

“I thought you were giving me answers.”

“I know about this world.  Or rather, the thirteen worlds of…  Well, Greater Aimarion, if you will, which are linked together.  And the Celestial Realm is the nexus which connects all these worlds which lie parallel to one another.  Linked together, bound to one another, and yet, to their respective denizens, completely separate from one another.”

“I saw a vision once.  The day I implanted my left eye.  It was a vision of a world much like Aimarion in some ways.  The shape of the continents, the verdant grasses, the warmth of the sun, the chill of the moon high, high above.  But it was disjointed, fractured, with biomes abruptly ending and beginning in ways that would never be possible naturally.  Almost as though it was the result of direct and divine intervention to make it that way.”

“Ah.  Yes, the Scrying Stone.”  Zarielle frowned, ever so slightly.  “One of your few failures.  Nevertheless, it seems fortune smiles upon us both, for your failure in that regard paved the way to a yet greater success waiting for us.”

“I’m not following,” Lysette said.  “May I have an explanation?  Preferably one which makes sense to me?”

“Based on your description, it appears that you have the ability to peer through the dimensional veil and see the Celestial realm.  Or Aimarion Prime, as we often refer to it.  And if that’s the case, we do have at least one advantage in our quest for supremacy.”  Zarielle paused.  “We can finally bring this unceasing conflict to a final end.  But only with your help.”

“I can’t commit to anything just yet.  But I do want to know more.  Please, Zarielle.”

Chapter 279: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116618350

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 281: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116680886