Cleansing the Council

Seth lifted Panther from the ground, smiling at her as he said: “There’s no need for you to do that. I’m content to know that you’re alright. How are things in the Curse Kingdom?”

“My source can now freely contain the horrors inside. Also, now that my core crumbled, the spread of death inside it is meaningless. I’ve already killed the ones doing death favors deep underground.”

“That’s good. It might still take time until I can take care of those horrors and free you from your watch. Can you please hold on for a while longer?”

“Now that I don’t have to worry about my lifespan, keeping them contained won’t be an issue. Do you want me to help you fight the death armies? I can spare some of my energy if you want.”

“No need. I already have a plan to strike back. You can return to Curse. Also, pay Andrea a visit. She was worried about you. No matter what, don’t return to the Council for a while, and don’t spread your energy north. Avoid death territory entirely.”

“I will. Thank you again.” Said Panther, allowing her body to start dematerializing.

“Wait a moment.” Said Seth, remembering something and interrupting her. As Panther stopped, Seth continued: “What did you feel when you formed a source?”

“You’re asking about the Tower? Yes, I can feel its calling, but I don’t plan on answering it.”

“What about the divinity?” asked Seth.

Panther shook her head with a wry face. “I’m bound to my duty. I didn’t even receive the trial….”

Seth nodded again, and Panther disappeared shortly after. After she was gone, Caitlin appeared from the back and asked: “Are you worried about something?”

Seth looked at her worried expression and shook his head. He was concerned the Tower would make any moves, but that was outside his control, so he chose not to reveal anything yet. He could imagine Krum was quite angry after what happened, and he just needed to keep their actions in the back of his mind.

“Let’s go upstairs. Maya should be done by now.”

After arriving above ground, Seth and Caitlin quickly found Maya and Henrietta, who had returned as he expected.

“How did it go?”

“Just as you said. There were some sixth shell destruction ascended aboard, but they strangely didn’t even fight back as I froze and shattered them along with their ship. We searched the area, but there were no survivors. Henrietta also confirmed their sources exploded.” Said Maya.

Henrietta locked her eyes on Seth’s smiling face and added with a suspicious look: “It wasn’t that they didn’t fight back. Their energy dissipated as soon as it left their source….”

“I wonder how that happened.” Commented Seth, rubbing her head and turning to Maya: “What about our ascended?”

“They had been teleported to the borders and remained in hiding, but none of the ascended in Hope made any move to attack.”

“That’s fine. Order the light and darkness sixth shell to begin cleansing Hope. Have the space ascended help them in hitting the enemy hard and fast. Remember, all you have to keep in mind is Thanatos intervening.”

“I doubt that will happen, but if he does, tell everyone to pull back and resume once everything is clear. Also, no matter what happens, tell them they are not to stray from the mission.”

“What will you do?” asked Maya after a quick nod.

“I need to pull some rats out of hiding.” Said Seth with a smile, turning to look at Henrietta: “How do you feel about blowing some rats out of their holes?”

“Where are we going?” asked Henrietta immediately, rubbing her head against Seth’s hand.

“The Council, of course.” Replied Seth. “But we need to take someone else with us.”

Maya left to prepare the ascended armies for their guerrilla attacks on Hope. Seth, Henrietta, and Caitlin went to pick up Pearl before teleporting again into the fields just outside the Capital.

“Raven, come out.” Said Seth softly, knowing the old peeking bird was listening in. Just as he expected, it was only a short time until Raven appeared before them in his human form.

Since Endora’s capital had so many air ascended, he could not listen in as he wished, so Raven had no clue about Seth helping Panther out of her predicament or even that she was in danger in the first place.

“I saw you took care of those ships. Thank you for - “

“Cut the bullshit, Raven. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed you have so many rats inside the Council.” interrupted Seth with a scowl when he noticed that Raven was all smiles as soon as he appeared.

Raven pursed his lips and sighed with a nod. “I know, but stability is important now that we lost so many members, and Augur is unconscious. We can’t afford any internal conflict.”

“Stability?” asked Seth with a mocking smile. “You trully have no clue what’s happening inside your own home….”

Raven frowned in irritation and waited for Seth to continue, already knowing something must be wrong with how aggressively Seth was behaving.

“Panther’s link to her body was cut off as Thanatos sent troops to poison her core. Augur’s condition is most likely their doing as well. I bet the other members that stood against them were also used to strengthen the seal in Pain. You’re under attack, old fool, and you haven’t even noticed….”

Raven’s frown deepened as he said: “That’s impossible. Thanatos wouldn’t dare move against us like that. You must - “

“Do you see this shit?” interrupted Seth again, turning toward Pearl, who couldn’t help but let out a small giggle.

Noticing Raven’s face turning black, Seth said: “Didn’t you just cry to me about ships sailing on your island? Thanatos, or Death, kept his memories of the former timeline and is now desperate. He must remove his shackles before I gain the power to go after him, and your Council is what’s preventing that from happening.”

“The traitors in the Council, the horrors acting up, Noth’s struggle against your prison, Thanatos’s movement… Are you going senile, Raven?”

Raven’s expression kept changing, but as much as he wanted to deny it, he knew Seth was speaking the truth.

“Then what do we do?….” he asked with a resigned look. “You must have a plan for calling me here.”

“What I always do when someone tries to go against me. Wipe them all out.” said Seth. “How many do you trust inside the Council?”

“… I don’t know. I could see Snake was plotting something, and some others were constantly on his side, but I don’t know who could be trusted and who could not.”

“Call Worm here.” Said Seth with a frown.

Raven nodded, and Worm appeared right after, also in his human form, looking between the two.

Seth explained the situation to him, but compared to Raven, Worm didn’t appear surprised and simply asked: “Do you want to kill them all?”

“I do. Do you have a list?” asked Seth with a dark smile.

Worm nodded and started calling up a series of names. Unsurprisingly, besides Raven, Worm, Augur, Panther, Fortuna - the guardian of Dream, the two members keeping the horrors in Sorrow sealed, and six other members responsible for the seal in Pain, everyone else was present on Worm’s list.

“Are you mad, Worm? They can’t all be traitors.”

Worm ignored Raven’s ramblings and asked Seth: “Do you need my help? I’ve been focusing most of my strength on suppressing Famine, but I can lend a hand with the price of a few deaths in Loss.”

“I just need you to help vacate the bodies of everyone you trust from the island and teleport some things for me. Can you do that?”

“Easily. Where should I send them?”

“What are you two…?” Raven was stunned by the conversation between Seth and Worm, but Seth ignored him and said: “How about the underground springs of Endora? That would help them recover some of their strength. There’s one large enough a few miles south of the Capital.”

“No problem. Just tell me when.”

Seth nodded and turned to Pearl and Henrietta, creating a nail-sized yellowish-green core above his palm. He then destroyed it and kept repeating the process.

“Try to observe and learn the creation process.”

Pearl and Henrietta only had to see the process a handful of times before both eventually nodded.

“Good.” Exclaimed Seth, turning to look at Worm. “We’ll need you to fill the island with cores like this and teleport everyone’s bodies outside. As for the ones still conscious….” Seth turned to Raven: “You must stay away from the island and let Fortuna know. Also, don’t spread your energies there anymore. We can’t have any accidents happening.”

Raven was still hesitant as he asked: “Are you really going to kill everyone?”

“I am. Now are you going to help, or do you want to join them?” asked Seth in annoyance.

Under Worm and Seth’s gazes, Raven caved in and sighed. “Alright…”

Pearl and Henrietta quickly started mass-producing small atomic energy cores, which Worm kept teleporting throughout the island while at the same time teleporting the physical bodies of the unconscious members of the Council in one of Endora’s energy spring mines.

In less than ten minutes, Worm stopped opening portals and said: “What now?”

“Take us high up in the sky to watch the show.”

After Worm teleported everyone high up in the sky and kept them there by locking space beneath them, Seth created a new core, which he got ready to destabilize before having it hover in front of Worm.

“Teleport this to the island and close the portal immediately after.” Said Seth, not worried about timing since he could buy some time using his destruction energy.

Worm opened a portal, and Seth threw the last core inside before Worm closed the portal right after.

There was nothing but complete silence in the group, everyone staring far north where the island of the Council was located. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Henrietta asked: “Aren’t we a bit far? Maybe we should get closer?”

Seth chuckled and shook his head, but before he could say anything, Worm did first: “The space in the council’s island is distorted. I can’t feel any energies left there….”

“Huh?” exclaimed Raven, about to focus on listening in on the north when Seth exclaimed: “Are you deaf? I told you to keep your energy away from the continent’s north. You’ll die if you don’t stop trying to use your energies. Stay patient and watch.”

Seth had barely finished his words when a giant mushroom cloud appeared high up in the sky, overshadowing the bright noon sun.

Everyone except Seth froze, understanding how large the cloud must be to be seen from so far away.

“Are we going to be alright?” asked Pearl with a worried expression.

“We? Yes. Thanatos? He will have a hell of a day.” Said Seth with a chuckle, knowing the Kingdom of Death was the one bearing the full force of the shockwaves.

Understanding the cloud would not disappear for a while, Seth grabbed Pearl and Henrietta’s waists while turning toward Worm and Raven.

“You two can keep watching, but the show won’t end for a while. Try to avoid using your energies in that area for a while. All the energy around the island is corrupted by the aftereffects of the explosion; your cores will get damaged if you absorb any.”

After leaving behind a warning, Seth teleported with the two girls to the Imperial Palace’s balcony, where Hollie watched the giant mushroom cloud in the atmosphere.

Feeling Seth’s arrival behind her, Hollie bit her lip, and her eyes never left the show in the north.

“I can’t believe you will use that.”

Seth let go of the puzzled Henrietta and Pearl, coming to wrap his arms around Hollie from the back.

“It’s the best way to buy ourselves some time. Don’t worry about the aftereffects. I have a way to deal with them now.”