Lament of the Fallen

As the discussion with Umbra was winding down, Dee looked towards Death instead. “We need to have a word as well.”

Death showed no outward reaction, but Dee still got the impression the goddess seemed almost a little resigned. “We’ll meet after you leave here. The others need not hear what I’m about to say.”

Dee nodded her assent and as soon as she turned around, she found herself once again in the place that looked just like her Domain. She got the feeling that this was not her real Domain, but instead a representation of it. Part of it was because this place had a sort of hazy and unreal feel to it. The Living Mountain and Croestia also weren’t present. The goddess was standing next to a large depression in the otherwise fairly dull and uniform scenery. For reasons unknown to Dee, the depression was rather far from Dee’s totem. Still, she felt that there was an actual reason. A large number of souls seemed to be congregating above the depression.

“I’m guessing this is what you wanted to talk about.” Death gestured at the slowly growing bowl-shaped basin.

“Well that, and those souls seem to be gathering here for a reason.” Dee pointed out. The number of souls inside her Domain had been growing, and before this, they had been wandering around fairly aimlessly. The recent influx from the battle against the numerous Champions and the souls from the hells she had absorbed to push herself towards the thirteenth rank had changed things somehow. “I gave you some leeway on this when you told me this would not be harmful to me, and would even be to my benefit. Still, my patience is wearing thin. Time to explain.”

“This is why I would have preferred if you had killed a few more gods before Umbra took over, but I suppose this will have to be enough.” Death muttered, seemingly not caring that Dee could hear quite clearly. Then she directed a question towards Dee. “How much do you know about what happens after death?”

The question took Dee by surprise, but she recovered quickly. This was not the first time she had been asked this question. “I’m under the impression that depends a bit. Some reincarnate, some go to an afterlife of some kind. The religions differ on the subject.” She had received a certain amount of clerical training, so Dee was not completely out of the loop.

“Eventually yes, that is what happens to most. That’s not what I was asking though. Do you know what happens to the souls of the dead? Let’s think of those that you devour for example. What happens to them immediately after you devour them?” Death pressed the question.

“You said you help them pass on to wherever they go.” Dee pointed out with a frown.

“Mmh, yes, I suppose that is correct, even if not the answer I was looking for. Still, I suppose I’m asking for something that you should not be aware of. The reason I ask is to put the question in your mind as we go forward. Strictly speaking, I’m only gathering the souls and bringing them to the next stop on their journey. I don’t decide which soul goes to an afterlife and which gets reincarnated or anything like that. The souls come to me and I help them move on to what is known as the River of Souls. Little known fact; there’s only one River of Souls despite there being a multitude of different universes, so a person that dies in our universe might get reincarnated in another universe. That’s not very common though, as there are rules governing the process that are myriad and complicated, and truthfully not relevant to the current discussion.” Death skipped over a rather large number of important details.

“And what does any of that have to do with this?” Dee pointed out at the gathering souls.

“Have a bit of patience. It’s hard to explain some things without context. The next bit of context you should know is that Eternity and I are a little different as far as gods are concerned. That’s because there needs to be three elements present at the creation of a universe. One is someone like Eternity. Interesting fact: although you seem to think time is the only thing he governs, that is not even remotely correct. He also rules over space and about a dozen other such minor details. So, the first thing that a universe needs in order to come into being is someone to govern and maintain time and space. The second thing required is someone to help souls pass back to the River of Souls. That would be me obviously. So he was the first, and I was the second.” Death made a self-deprecating gesture.

“You mentioned three things?” Dee pointed out.

“You don’t need to worry about the third, not unless you plan on leading a campaign to take over other universes. Let’s just say there are certain…safeguards in place. Otherwise, the universes would have gone to war with each other a long time ago. Even if travel in-between is a little challenging, you are already aware of at least one method by which such travel can be achieved. In any case, three ingredients are necessary to start the creation of a universe. Each universe then uses various means to go from there, means that we don’t need to get into. I’m sure you already noticed that if those three things need to be present at the start, they need to come from the outside. Again, something you need not worry about for now, but something to be aware of.

“What you do need to be aware of is that those three elements are not necessary only at the beginning. They are also necessary for the universe to maintain itself. As such, those three elements are for all intents and purposes indestructible, as the universe itself protects them.” Death pointed at the black sun above them. “Even if you dropped that little thing on my head, I would not be hurt even if I didn’t resist. Unlike the other gods, the two of us cannot be killed. Lumen or Umbra could die and someone else would eventually take their place rather easily. Not so with us.”

“That still doesn’t…” Dee started saying before her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“I see you’re getting there already, even without further help. Such a pleasure dealing with a psion. I said those three elements are necessary, not that I am. Nor Eternity I suppose, but he’s patient enough to stick with it to the end. I’m starting to have my fill of it though. I’ve been around for so long…so dreadfully long. I’ve watched eons pass, generations of gods come and go, great empires much larger than the Assembly and Paradisia rise and fall. I think I’ve had enough. And here you are with such a pleasant death filled Domain. A great place for a small project I’ve been working on.” The goddess seemed like a large weight was falling off her shoulders.

“So this is supposed to be a replacement for the element you talked about? Some sort of way to help souls pass along?” Dee asked with her eyes narrowed. She was not fond of where this was going. The problem was that she wasn’t sure what to do about it and getting angry would not help. Further information on the other hand…

“The Well of Souls. The souls of the dead will pass through you and go on to the River of Souls. Or at least it offers an alternate path. Most of them will still go through me, but I wonder. Will the universe feel obliged to shield me when there’s an alternative present? I’m not sure, but I’m eager to find out.” Death smiled with a content expression.

“And you think I will just allow this to happen? Did you forget that I can still forcefully consume these souls to force them to move on?” Dee pointed out in an angry tone. On one level she felt betrayed by Death, but the goddess had not lied strictly speaking. True, Dee would not have gone along with it if she had known what would happen, but it’s not like she had not done similar things herself.

“Oh, I didn’t forget. You are simply too late. I would have preferred more souls to empower the Well a bit before forming it, but this is enough. The more souls pass through, the larger it will grow and the problem will fix itself.” Death slowly lifted her hand and gave a small snap.

Suddenly all the souls seemed to form a cyclone inside the depression. It looked as if the souls had turned into some grey substance, akin to liquid smoke, and ornate stonework rose to surround the cyclone within the depression. Every millimel of the stonework was covered in symbols representing death and souls, as well as runic writing in tiny but tight script. The black stone formed into the shape of a large and delicate spring. The soul vortex within suddenly seemed to extend downwards towards some distant destination through a darkness deeper than even the one Umbra controlled. It seemed as if a something like a black hole was placed at the bottom as even the endless darkness seemed to be sucked and devoured the deeper it went. The weird liquid smoke was drained towards the bottom, and the vortex was instead now made of that same darkness that seemed to occupy the bottom.

“And the deed is done. What happens next, nobody knows. But at least I’m eager to find out.” Death stated with a pleased tone. The entire ‘Well’ wasn't exactly huge, much smaller than her totem for example, but Dee knew instinctively that it would grow. She already felt some souls entering the well, most likely those that had died in battle around the bastion where Dee’s body was currently sleeping, and the well grew larger ever so slightly. While the Well was smaller now, it might overtake the totem given enough time and souls.

“And what happens if I don’t go along with this plan of yours. I can see several ways this could still go bad for you. I’m likely to die way before you, and even if you’re no longer protected by the universe, you don’t seem exactly suicidal. I doubt there are many that would attack Death.” Dee felt rage bubbling inside her, but she knew lashing out at the goddess would be useless.

“We’ll have to see. However, I know you’re not the type to kill yourself. You have too much to do after all! Killing you is not that easy, especially thanks to the blessing of dear old Eternity. And you’re right; I’m not in a rush. That’s because even if the universe will no longer prevent me from dying, that doesn’t mean the protection is entirely gone. It would be bad for the both of us to die at the same time after all. I think it will require something special to kill me even with this. Still, just the possibility excites me.” Death laughed. “It might even turn out that you will have to be the one to kill me. Still, I’m sure I can find a way. And now it’s time for you to go. I’m sure you’re less than pleased, but frankly, I don’t care and I’m not willing to listen to your remonstrations. With some time and perspective, I’m sure you’ll be able to see the benefits.”

The goddess was not making an empty assumption. Having the Well would be extremely beneficial to Dee if she learned to utilize it instead of trying to fight it. She also knew that Dee was much too young and inexperienced to understand the problem with living as long as Death had. To Dee, living replacing Death as an eternal being would not be such a bad thing. It wouldn’t be until you watched everything turn to ashes around you for multiple times while you went on that the downsides of such longevity became obvious. It would take eons until the weight of sheer existence would become too heavy to bear. Dee was not yet aware that the most painful thing in life was to continue living and watch as those close to you died one by one. So no, Death was not too worried. Dee would see things her way once she got over the fact that Death had tricked her.

-----

As she woke up, Dee confirmed the existence of the Well of Souls inside her Domain. With a snarl, she made a punching motion towards the wall and the power released blew a path straight through the bastion walls, creating a hole through a dozen walls, one of them being the outer wall of the bastion. The release of power shook the entire fortress. Despite her anger, she had made sure that no one actually got caught in the burst of emotion, not even the constructs that made up a large portion of the defensive strength of the bastion.

The damn goddess had tricked her! She knew there was a trick involved when she agreed to the whole thing, but she had assumed that she would be able to work her way out of the situation. After all, it was obvious the goddess wanted something from Dee. She had tolerated the danger because so far everything the goddess had done had been to her benefit, even if it also served other purposes. Unfortunately, she had underestimated the goddess this time. Or to be exact, she had overestimated the time and effort needed to finish whatever had been brewing inside her Domain. She had assumed that she had plenty of time to figure out what the trap was, but that had turned out to be a false assumption.

“Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.” She reminded herself of the old saying. A saying that once again proved to be true. She had made several false assumptions when it came to this whole thing, and now it came back to haunt her.

Idly she noted that her burst of anger had created quite a bit of activity, as alarms were raised and defensive measures sprung to life. Dee’s nostrils flared a bit as she tried calming herself. Annoyingly, she could already think of the possible benefits of the Well, she was a psion after all, but that didn’t mean she was taking this well. The damn goddess had tricked her! That irked her more than any possible repercussion that might come out of the whole affair. “I will pay this back. I might have no method to do so right at this moment, but I will.”

Her mind was already working quickly, coming up with possible solutions. She was parsing through all the things the goddess had mentioned and came up with some possibilities. Something like the well needed to be present in the universe. That’s what the goddess had said. What if she left this universe before Death was able to have her way? Death had likely considered leaving herself, but something must have stopped her. The universe? But would the universe stop Dee from leaving? Especially if Death was still around?

And what about the Well? Did it actually have to be inside her Domain? Maybe she could remove the damn thing somehow? She didn’t know the rules that governed such things, but it did seem that the creation of the Well required some specific conditions. Could they be replicated? Could they be replicated enough to create a new one, maybe somewhere that didn’t require the presence of a person?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Moirai. The small woman took a single look at the hole that seemed to stretch out from Dee’s position and knew that Dee was the cause. “What happened?” She could see Dee was alright so dealing with whatever was causing the situation took priority over worrying.

Dee growled menacingly. “The gods and their messes again. I’ve really been jerked around in the last few days. I need to kill something, and then I need a vacation. The gods can go fuck themselves for all I care.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Your little display probably drew the attention of the dragons below. You did just create a rather big hole in the side of the fortress after all. A question though. I’ve been curious for a while; do the gods do that?” Moirai tried cheering Dee up with a nonsensical question.

“Do what?” Dee had to ask, just to confirm Moirai truly was asking what she thought.

“You know, have some solo fun?” Moirai was already regretting this switch in topic. It was having the intended effect though.

“Well now, Moirai, that’s an interesting question to pose, especially coming from you. You said you have been curious for a while. Do you often think about ‘solo fun’ as you called it? Is that why you seem disinterested in finding a partner? You have enough fun by yourself?” Moirai’s question had been extremely effective in changing Dee’s mood. Which was more important anyway, some minor deity of Death betraying you and possibly turning you into an eternal existence or your friend’s sex habits? The answer was obvious.

“Well if you must know…get the hells out of here! You know damn well I’m not going to reply to that! Now let’s go and kill some dragons. You can have your vacation after that.” Moirai retorted embarrassed, but her blush was already kind of an answer to the question.

“Have it your way. But that’s a topic that will most certainly revisit during our vacation.” Dee threatened before she vanished through the opening.

While the Assembly forces were thrown off by the sudden damage to the fort, that didn’t stop the following battle from becoming fairly one-sided. The dragons present could not resist the revitalized Dee and the other high-ranking Lords that now outnumbered the high-ranking dragons. Dee hurled thousands of exploding psionic blades at the gathered enemies, and her holy spells were extremely effective against the massed ranks of the enemies. In fact, even though Dee didn’t want to admit it, the presence of the Well of Souls made her already scary death spells stupendously effective. Who could have imagined? Having a conduit for the souls of the dead to pass through had a positive effect on your death spells.

What made Dee decidedly less pleased was the fact that all those dead enemies had their souls absorbed by the Well, even though she tried avoiding that very thing. Still, it also seemed that no one could sense that fact. Before this, someone observant could have noticed Dee devouring the souls of the dead, but now it seemed like a natural passing for the souls. Mainly because it was. Dee still gained the benefits of all those souls, as if she had purposefully devoured them. It also seemed her ability to gain power from those that were killed was much improved. Again, being the conduit of dead souls came with certain benefits.

For some reason, that ticked her off even more. The goddess had clearly betrayed her trust, but yet again those actions benefitted Dee. It was annoying in a way that was hard to explain. On some level, it even felt that the anger was a little unreasonable, and that, of course, made her even angrier.

Dee had stopped giving quarter to her enemies and now aimed to cause maximum casualties, something she was exceedingly efficient at. If she was saddled with the Well, then at least she might get as much benefit out of it as possible. The Dragonflight’s forces were unable to stand against the sudden push, and even though Sareash was greatly vexed by the sudden attack, she couldn’t really complain about the results.

The only thing that didn’t quite work out was the fact that the Dragonkin mages had finally managed to get the inbound gate to allow travel back to the world that they had attacked from, so a large portion of the Dragonflight’s forces started retreating through the gate as soon as it became obvious that they were losing. Their forces managed to pull back a sizeable portion of their troops, mostly because Dee and the other Lords didn’t really care about them. The ground forces had been useless when deployed to this world thanks to their fortress being in flight the entire time, so the tactical value of those troops was low. And while Dee was pissed, she wasn’t genocidal. Killing tens of thousands of low ranking troops didn’t appeal to her in any way.

After the battle, Dee, Moirai, and Araqiel joined Sareash and the two green-sashed rank twelve Lords for a final tactical meeting. “There’s always a risk that the enemies will return, but I doubt they will do so very soon.” One of the generals stated. “They would need reinforcements and most of those are otherwise engaged. By the time they do return, we should have received our own reinforcements and fixed any damage the dragons caused to the defenses.” He was smart enough to not mention the hole Dee had made in the bastion.

“Especially since I just received word that the enemy took the bait at Io.” Sareash stated. She had received the message in the middle of the battle, but there wasn’t really anything they could or should do about it. Thus this was the first time mentioning the message became viable.

“Finally!” Moirai emphatically stated. “I was worried we’d have to do this again.”

“You don’t seem pleased though.” Dee pointed out while looking at Sareash.

“Well, the bait most certainly drew in the enemy. The problem is that if the report I received is correct, then we might have caught more prey than we planned for. The report was only initial and not extremely reliable. The numbers will change. Still, the report mentioned the presence of several Aspects. The original plan was aiming for a few ancient dragons that make up the elite of the Dragonflight’s forces. We did not expect the Aspects to get involved.” The white-sashed woman explained with a grimace. It was rare for the elites of any party to take an active part in the fight, as they were both the leaders of the faction as well as the reserves saved for the direst of circumstances. If one party in the war lost a huge portion of their forces, then that would be bad but something that could be recovered with some time. Losing the elites could mean the elimination of your entire race, which is essentially the situation facing the demons.

“So they realized it’s a trap. Instead of avoiding it, they jumped in with force. This should be interesting if nothing else.” Moirai stated with a tone that only barely managed to hide her pleasure. This was bad news for Assembly, but good news for the trio.

“Well, that means our job here is done.” Dee stated. “It’s time for us to leave. I’m sure you can handle the rest. You have your orders.”

The trio immediately moved towards the outbound gate inside the bastion, just so there was no chance for anything to prevent their departure. They had learned that if they gave fate time to throw problems their way, those problems would inevitably surface. “So you mentioned a vacation. Did you already decide on a destination? At least we have maps now.” Moirai asked Dee.

”We’ll see. For now, we’ll need to get Araqiel to a place where she can contact Rahmiel. After that? Well, I believe you were telling me about your solo-fun proclivities.” Dee decided to return to the earlier topic just to tease Moirai.