PtM 19 - Chapter 13: Contamination

Three chapters this week! Monday was a holiday in Canada, so I had commitments. Enjoy!

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Beads of sweat dripped from Undine’s forehead as she drew sigils in the void, bridging frayed and torn karmic chains that once linked the twin goddesses to the Inkwell Plane.

For months, she’d worked here, fixing and moulding, and above all, praying for her goddess’s guidance. Alas, her prayers went unanswered. Not a single reassuring word or instruction passed through the thick blanket of will that covered the four continents anchored to the Central Inkwell Sea.

Acts of prayer and piety were beneficial to the growth of priest-type rankers. Thanks to her ceaseless praying and hard work, she’d broken through to late gold ranker, and was therefore many times stronger than during her initial fight with Clear Sky. Unfortunately, it was answers she needed, not direct power. Re-establishing the link was vital to the continuity of the two churches on the Inkwell Plane.

“That’s all I can do for now,” Undine muttered as she pulled her hand back from the Tree of Good and Evil’s rough wood. There was something otherworldly yet familiar about the tree, and that feeling deepened every time she touched it. She felt kindness and gratitude from the tree. And for some reason, she also felt enmity, anger, and resolve.

After double-checking that there was nothing else to be done for the time being, she took some time to recover her mental faculties. Once she replenished her energy and finished her usual cycle of prayers, she contacted her direct superior, Vice-Pontiff Lorimer.

“You’re not due for another progress report for forty-eight hours,” Vice Pontiff Lorimer said. “Has something happened?”

“I’ve made all the headway I can before attempting to establish a primary link to the goddesses,” Undine said to Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “I would like for us to attempt communion with our goddess at the earliest convenience.”

“Can it not wait?” asked Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “Both pontiffs will be paying a visit to the Realm of Good and Evil in a week’s time. Receiving them ahead of schedule might upset agreements between major powers.”

“I understand that the mobilization of the two pontiffs is a great undertaking,” Undine said to Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “I also understand that their absence will weaken Mendin’s defences against the Inkwell Clan.”

“Then why upset the schedule?” asked Vice-Pontiff Lorimer.

“I’m concerned about the lack of guidance, we’ve been receiving,” replied Undine. “This feeling only gets worse as time passes, despite our progress. And I have a feeling it’s related to Clear Sky.”

“Clear Sky again?” scoffed Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “We expelled him from the good and evil, and he is no longer a variable. Don’t forget that he suffered serious injuries to damage the Realm of Good and Evil and has not been seen since.”

Undine was not convinced about the severity of these injuries. And in her private conversation with Oster before he’d departed, he’d let on that he was only eighty percent sure that Clear Sky would be crippled for the next half year. That 20% worried her.

Underestimating him would be a mistake, Undine reasoned. Overestimating him is far safer. That was especially the case given the consequences of failure.

Undine wasn’t sure how to justify her thoughts to Vice-Pontiff Lorimer, so she did what she normally did in such circumstances. She lied.

“I feel a stirring in the void,” Undine said after a short silence. “A premonition of sorts. I feel our goddess calling to me. The last thing I felt something so strongly was just before my induction as an otherworldly priestess.”

“You speak truly?” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer asked. “Never mind. No follower as devoted as you would ever lie about such a thing. Very well. I will contact Pontiff Rice and seek further guidance.”

Undine let out a sigh of relief as her lie went undetected. In truth, half of it was speculation on her part. The rest of it was intuition.

She waited for the better part of an hour before she felt a stirring in the void. A powerful entity arrived in the Realm of Good and Evil, and it was received by the two vice-pontiffs. “Prepare yourself, Cardinal Undine,” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer sent. “Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker and I will be assisting you. A third individual has just arrived to facilitate the process.”

Ten minutes later, the two vice-pontiffs appeared in the room, alongside Undine’s counterpart, Salamani. There was a third individual, and he was not a member of the clergy. “You brought an outsider?” Undine asked her superiors.

“He is a ranker in debt to both goddesses,” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer assured her. “He will do his utmost to help us, as his soul lies in the balance.”

“The process will require our full attention,” said Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker. “Salamani is here to make sure nothing untoward happens to us.”

Undine eyed their helper dubiously. He looked like a man who was down on his luck. Not a single treasure graced his person, and he seemed neither threatening nor useful. But Undine did not dare neglect this individual as he was different than normal rankers. From him, she felt the undulations of a saint.

“Before we begin, please describe the strangeness you’ve been experiencing,” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer said. “Perhaps it will be of help to us when we attempt our communication.”

Undine felt a tinge of panic but supressed it. Making up stories like this wasn’t difficult, as the key was keeping things generic and open to interpretation. “It is a strange but recurring feeling,” Undine replied. “The feeling comes to me when I’m distracted, and also as a lucid dream.

“It’s like I’m drowning, and someone is calling out and trying to find me. I’m shouting at the top of my lungs, but they can’t hear screams through the crashing waves. What’s worse, I’m running out of oxygen, but I always awaken before the end.”

The two vice-pontiffs exchanged a serious look. “Is there anything else that you remember?”

“A sense of discord and disagreement,” Undine said. “It’s like I’m getting mixed messages. Whatever makes it through the waves is garbled and distorted. Tainted, even.”

Vice-Pontiff Lorimer and Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker engaged in a secret conversation. In the end, they seemed to come to a decision. “There are many undercurrents you are unaware of, Undine. And you too, Salami. We will help you shed light on this matter. Although the visions we have been receiving are somewhat different, there have commonalities.”

Undine’s eyes widened. “You’ve also been having visions?”

Vice-Pontiff Lorimer nodded. “Us and the two pontiffs. We see three walls in the void. The first is made of will, and the second is made of mists. The third wall is composed of the five elements. The wall of will is the will of the Inkwell Plane, which is preventing us from communicating with the twin goddesses. The wall of mists is mysterious, and the wall of five elements is crumbling.”

“Crumbling?” asked Undine. “How far gone is it?”

“It is filled with cracks, but is otherwise holding well,” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer said. “A strange power holds them together, but that power is unravelling quickly. It could last for months, or it could last for years. And beyond the wall, we sense danger.”

“I’m afraid I don’t see the parallels,” Undine said.

“There’s no need to mention the five-element wall,” said Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker. We know what it is are closely monitoring its condition. The wall of will, we have already explained. Only by using repairing the conduit between our goddesses and the Tree of Good and Evil will we be able to pierce through it.  Our main concern is this wall of mists. What is it made of? Where did it come from?”

The experience of recounting the visions felt surreal to Undine. Not only did she see what they’d seen, but she also felt like they felt. Additionally, her own made-up vision was extremely similar to their legitimate ones. Did I really make it up, or did I experience the vision in a different way?

“I sense mystery from the wall of mists as well,” Undine said. “But strangely, I also sense familiarity. I sense partnership and grudges and hatred as well.  I also sense a great deal of merit and sin from the wall. In fact, I’ve experienced a similar sensation whenever I touch the Tree of Good and Evil.”

“You were right to request that we move up our attempt,” Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker said. “Pontiff Rice and Pontiff Rowe are in agreement.”

“From the sound of it, something is happening to the Tree of Good and Evil,” said Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker. “We must get to the bottom of it. Nothing is more important.”

“Are you saying there’s another entity is influencing the tree?” Undine exclaimed. “How is that possible? Even the will of the twin goddesses can barely keep it in check.”

“It happens from time to time,” said Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “Usually, it’s the will of the world, trying to separate the Realm of Good and Evil from the Inkwell Plane. The quicker we spot the problem and respond to it, the lesser the impact.

“Normally, Pontiff Rowe would cleanse malignant wills form the tree,” Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker said. “Unfortunately, the Inkwell Clan launched a surprise attack on one or our fleets less than twenty-four hours ago. Both pontiffs will not be able to extricate themselves until the end of the battle.”

“Will it really be alright?” Undine asked. “No offense, but your wills are lacking compared to those of the two pontiffs.”

“Failure is possible,” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer admitted. “Which is why they sent us this gambler.” He turned to the old beggar. “Gambler, it’s time for you to pay off your debts.”

“I’ll assist you with all the luck I can,” said the old beggar. “But remember that luck can only do so much. The web of fate isn’t so easily tampered with.”

Undine’s eyes widened as the man began to give off powerful karmic undulations. She sensed no other powers from this man. Only luck.

The man threw out a pair of dice from a plain wooden cup. They flew to the ground and started tumbling in a chaotic manner. “I can only maintain this state of amplified luck for an hour at most,” the beggar said to them. “Then the dice will stop, and the outcome will be fixed.”

Vice-Pontiff Lorimer nodded. “We’ll be sure to finish before then. Undine?”

“Yes?” said Undine.

“Spare no effort this time around,” said Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “Pontiff Rice has informed me that this is a promotional assessment. Should you succeed, you’ll be made vice-pontiff within the decade.”

***

When the dice struck the hard wooden floor of Undine’s ritual circle, Cha Ming felt a mighty tugging in the web of fate. His luck was already terrible form having slighted the universe with true destruction, but this time, misfortune took on a whole new meaning.

He quickly determined the source of his anxiety – a pair of dusty old dice, imbued with the full strength of a ragged old beggar.

Time in the Clear Sky World was ten times faster than in the Realm of Good and Evil, giving Cha Ming some leeway given the terrible situation. He found Titan Thunderfist working the Skyforge at terrible temperatures to purify the molten metal he’d produced from the immortal axe fragment.

“You need to cast the metal right away,” Cha Ming instructed. “You have ten hours to finish.”

“Ten hours?!” exclaimed Titan Thunderfist. “I’ll barely be done purifying this mess!” Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, Titan Thunderfist increased the intensity of his flames. The stars on the Sky Forge grew ten percent brighter at the cost of further weakening the artifact.

Cha Ming adjusted his condition as Titan Thunderfist worked. His regalia had already finished reorganizing most of his inner world, but they had yet to fully form.

Nine and a half hours later when he opened his eyes. Two streams of power could be seen through in his crystal-jade irises. “We can’t wait any longer,” Cha Ming said to Titan Thunderfist. “I can feel that Undine’s work is about done.

Titan Thunderfist took out a mould he’d long since prepared and poured the liquid metal inside it. “Your luck had better be stellar, Clear Sky,” Titan Thunderfist said. “There are too many impurities left in the metal. I give us one in ten odds of suceeding.” The smith did not know about the dice, and Cha Ming did not inform him either. Otherwise, he might have already given up.

“Ninesky, wake up,” Cha Ming said. She appeared as a sprite on his shoulder and seemed extremely interested in the beggar’s dice. “Can you help me influence these things?” he asked Ninesky. “Can you help me… cheat?”

Ninesky shook her head. “Fortune and misfortune are difficult to affect, Cha Ming. That’s especially the case with a skill with an undecided result. Before it triggers, I’ll have no way to impact it.”

Cha Ming immediately saw the issue. “But once it triggers, it’ll be too late.”

“That’s right,” said Ninesky. “Dice are tricky.”

Cha Ming composed his thoughts before continuing. “If I let them communicate with their goddess, they’ll recover functionality of the Realm of Good and Evil in a very short timespan. My infiltration will be exposed. Since that’s the case, I may as well show myself sooner.”

Hundreds of incarnations split off from Cha Ming’s main body and appeared inside the Realm of Good and Evil. They dashed past surprised guards and whisked away every prisoner in sight.

A hundred of his incarnations perished within minutes, but not before securing their charges: members of the Titan Clan and the Daoists and demons from Verdant Crossroads. Once he confirmed that all his charges were secure, he reabsorbed the surviving incarnations and sent a single incarnation into the room where the dice were tumbling.

“I’m getting a strange feeling,” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer said. His communication jade had been buzzing incessantly. “There’s something going on. I need to check.”

“Wait a moment longer…” Undine said, drawing sigils on the Tree of Good and Evil’s bark. “You have a three second window. Go ahead.” He picked up his transmission jade and snarled as he scanned its contents. “It’s Clear Sky! He’s back! How close are you to succeeding?”

“The ritual is almost finished,” Undine said. “Interrupting it now will delay our efforts by at least three months. We can only hope his actions are a bluff.”

“You’re calling this a bluff?” Cha Ming chose the most critical moment to make an appearance. Not through an incarnation, but through a painting, which appeared on the ritual room’s wooden floor. “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to borrow something.” A creature of darkness and emptiness emerged form the painting scroll. “Do it!” he commanded.

The Great Devourer rose from the ground and opened its grizzly maw. Wood splintered and soil exploded before pouring inside it. It drank in everything in the room, including a portion of the divinity of the two vice-pontiffs and Cardinal Undine. It even devoured a portion of the Tree of Good and Evil’s will that suffered every inch of wood in the realm.

Unfortunately, they were not the only ones in the room. A spear of light pierced through the dust clouds and shot into the painting. The great devourer let out rage-filled roar before retreating back into its canvas.

“Hello there, Salamani,” Cha Ming said. “Fancy seeing you here. Do you like my painting? I could make you one, for the right price.” He dodged as Salamani shot several more spears of light. “So aggressive. There’s no need for this. Really.”

“Continue with the ritual,” Salamani instructed his companions. “Clear Sky only sent a minor incarnation. If he dares to send more, I’ll burn my potential. He won’t be getting past me.”

Cha Ming lifted an eyebrow. “I wasn’t planning on sticking around. Enjoy.”

“You think this is somewhere you can come and go as you please?” said Salamani. “Prepare to meet your maker. Divine – “

Salamani had barely started casting his spell, when suddenly, Undine let out an indignant shriek. “Clear Sky! What have you done?”

“You finally noticed?” Cha Ming said. He turned to the old beggar, who was bleeding from his eyes, nose, and ears. “Apologies, good sir. It isn’t wise to mess with forces like luck and fate. Even goddesses wouldn’t be so daring.”

The beggar coughed out a mouthful of blood as he laughed. “The house was always going to win. But are you sure you’re not biting off more than you can chew, youngster?”

“You idiot!” Ninesky said to Cha Ming as a dark aura of misfortune descended upon the Clear Sky World. “How could you eat his dice?! That was where all his power was concentrated. That was where all his luck built up! Don’t you know that whatever luck you take, you’ll suffer just as much backlash?”

“I bet the heavens will be extremely upset,” Cha Ming said cheerfully. “I wonder how they’ll punish me.” He appeared beside Titan Thunderfist, who had just knocked out an axe-shaped piece of metal from its mould. “Here you go,” he said to the smith. A bead as bright as the dark misfortune he’d just taken in poured into the smith.”

“What in the seven hells did you just do?!” Titan Thunderfist asked. “I… I feel wonderful! I feel like I could do anything I wanted!”

Cha Ming did not answer his question, but watched in rapt attention as the smith began hammering an edge on the red-hot axe. Every strike landed perfectly, with just the right timing. Each blow breathed life into the spiritual metal.

“Work my blood into it,” Cha Ming said, tossing a droplet of Clearmist to Titan Thunderfist.

“Are you insane?” the smith said. “If you bind this thing to your blood, it’ll take on some of your characteristics. And even I can see how terrible your luck is.”

“Just do it,” Cha Ming said. The smith could only draw a diagram and press the droplet of Clearmist to it. Life continued to pour into the weapon until it pushed past the peak of transcendence and began to give off an aura of immortality.

The axe crossed the threshold and became a fully immortal weapon. The Clear Sky World trembled as dark tribulation clouds appeared. Titan Thunderfist grabbed the red-hot axe with his lightning-riddled hand and dipped it into a pool of ice-blue liquid.

He then tossed the axe to Cha Ming. “I’m curious to see how you’ll handle this situation, Clear Sky. Your plan is risky, and that tribulation looks nastier than those in my inherited memories.”

“Sometimes, a worse tribulation isn’t all bad,” said Cha Ming. He flipped the cooling axe by the handle and summoned a gate into the Realm of Good and Evil. “It won’t be long now, Master. Just wait a few minutes more.”

***

“Damn you, Clear Sky!” Undine shouted as she the ritual circle she’d spent a month constructing crumbled. “I won’t rest until one of us is dead!”

“You abandoned the ritual?!” said a horrified Vice-Pontiff Lorimer. “After all we went through to establish a connection?”

“I had no choice in the matter,” said Undine. “The luck we were relying on has been consumed by Clear Sky and repurposed. We could only fail if we continued. Follow me.” She summoned a dark portal and stepped through it. The four of them, excluding the beggar who’d just passed away, appeared in the sky above the Tree of Good and Evil, where tribulation clouds had started mustering.

Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker uttered a curse when he saw this. “Tell us what’s happening, Undine,” he said. “And tell us how we can deal with this mess.”

“I’m afraid this is beyond all three of us,” said Undine. “Fortunately, we’ll not be without assistance.”

She felt ripples in space as two powerful beings cut through the void, ignoring void fragments and spatial storms, all in a bid to enter the Realm of Good and Evil a few seconds faster.

It wasn’t only them that moved. A powerful being at the center of the sacred desert turned its all-seeing eyes towards them. It blinked three times before returning to its slumber. Shortly after, a pair of paper-white eyes stared across the void; seeing nothing that concerned him or his brethren, the Pale King withdrew his attention from Mendin.

Emperor Qin from the Crimson Lotus Empire swept his powerful law projection and soul past the Realm of Good and Evil, but his probing was countered by an aggressive divine aura that pushed the limits of what the plane was capable of. That divine aura belonged to none other than the Crystal Emperor of Slovana, his rival for the past few millennia.

Two powerful beings entered the Realm of Good and Evil unimpeded. Undine, Salamani, and the two vice-pontiffs prostrated themselves before their respective pontiffs.

“We came as quickly as we could,” said Pontiff Rice. Like her goddess, she had flowing black hair that draped over ceremonial black robes and wrapped around her weapon, a deadly scythe.  “As you can see, our movements are being closely monitored. It won’t be long now before the Inkwell Clan invades.”

“If they’re stupid enough to try anything, I will accompany them,” said Pontiff Rowe. Like Pontiff Rice, she also bore signs of her goddess’s favor. Her appearance had long since reverted to that of a maiden in the prime of her youth. Her eyes, however, were far from innocent, and the golden sword she carried and seen much bloodshed. “Oh? What have we here? A foreign will, corrupting our tree?”

“It looks more like merger, or a conquest,” said Pontiff Rice. “Either way, it bodes ill for us, as those tribulation clouds are threatening to destroy everything we’ve worked hard to build. Have you found our enemy’s location, Rowe?”

“A Daoist has just broken down the door to the Root Prison,” said Pontiff Rowe. “I believe he’s called Daoist Clear Sky?”

“Daoist Clear Sky is in the Root Prison?” Vice-Pontiff Lorimer exclaimed. “We’ll stop him this instant!”

Pontiff Rowe shook her head. “Don’t bother. I can feel him, spread out all over this realm. Stopping his movements is impossible, so we must concentrate our forces on stopping him from achieving his objective and rescuing his master.”

“Then what shall we do?” asked Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker. “I await your instructions.”

“The four of you, take your shield guards and stop him from freeing the Monkey King,” said Pontiff Rice. “Killing him is no longer possible. Do not take his life under any circumstances.”

“Then how are we to remove this threat?” asked Vice-Pontiff Clockmaker.

“The artifact in his hands,” said Pontiff Rowe. “It is attracting the tribulation. Take it form his hands and bring it to us, and this calamity will be averted.”

“I will repeat once more that he cannot be killed,” Pontiff Rice said. “His will has infiltrated the Tree of Good and Evil. Killing him before purging that will could wound the tree and delay our ultimate plan.”

“It is decided,” said Pontiff Rowe. “Take your shield guards and go. As for the rest of you - Pray.”

The pontiff’s voice was a command that could not be refused. All inquisitors, all priests, and even the warriors and accountants in the Realm of Good and Evil got down on their knees. It was the same for all the cathedrals and churches in Mendin, whose bells tolled with an intense call to worship.

Faith began pouring into the Realm of Good and Evil like never before. It tore through the rumbling tribulation clouds that were preparing to unleash deadly lighting and formed the likeness of two temples. The temples were broken but possessed a portion of their original strength. They were able to resist the first wave of tribulation lightning with ease.

Undine, Salamani, and the two vice-pontiffs grabbed their late gold ranked guards and set off. The last thing Undine saw before entering the Root Prison was towering golden sword that plunged into the realm’s soil, incinerating everything in its path.