Thief of Time

“…Dia. It’s time.”

Dia opened her eyes as a light touch fell on her shoulder, and her body moved on its own. The kid that had been hugging her to sleep made a little sound as Dia tucked her into a blanket. She appraised the child sleeping on the expansive sofa once, and then nodded.

The little kid, at the very least, had a good sense of timing for going back to sleep, even after being woken up at some unearthly hour to watch Schwarz and Farah play Moon Phase. Dia didn’t have much of a choice, though, since the little kid would bawl if she was left alone on a bed.

Unless, of course, Dia told her about it.

“I’ll be back,” Dia whispered.

Beth made a weird sound, nodded and then went back to sleep. Dia patted her head, before walking out of the multi-function room to look at Risti. She gestured at the small room attached to her bedroom, and the two of them blockaded themselves inside again.

“What’s up?” Dia asked.

“Same old. Except that there’s a Dark Herald this time. And a Moon Emissary.”

“That’s not same old,” Dia replied. “But okay.”

She checked her clothes. For the past week, she had been wearing outdoors attire to sleep, because the two of them had been heading out almost every night. Rather than to waste time putting them on, it would be far easier to sleep in them.

Her father might faint from shock once he learned that, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Dia pulled out a vest, where most of her weapons and equipment were hung, and then nodded at Risti. “Anything we should take note of?”

“The quarry is desperate. The Red Moon directed its full power against the Aberration and captured it in a small area. We are to kill it stealthily.”

“No lightning and whatever tonight?”

“…The divinities want to save power, so it’s us and their servants,” Risti replied. “Sucks to be us, but at least we get to off that thing, so that’s that.”

“Got it.” Dia let out a breath. “Let’s go.”

The two of them left the mansion. There were guards, and security had been beefed up, but no one saw it fit to stop the guests of the Farah Palace from leaving the palace, even at the dead of night. Farah probably knew about their nightly escapades already, but if she did, she didn’t bother asking. It also helped that almost every night they went out, there would be a criminal strung up in front of the local guardhouse; that was the duo’s cover story for now.

“Alright. Follow me.” With those words, Risti led Dia into a small wooded glade. It was a popular spot for picnickers in the afternoon, and Dia had spent a peaceful hour here before, but it was now their meeting spot for the night…

“You two are here.” A gentle voice rippled in Dia’s ear, and the two of them turned to look at two slender figures. One was a tri-coloured figure — a Moon Emissary — and the other was a still shadow, the Dark Herald that had previously fled. Somehow, this particular Dark Herald had decided to come back to help…although there was a price, of course.

The other Dark Herald in the Farah Palace would be released after this.

“Greetings,” Risti replied. “We’re all here and assembled, then. Shall we?”

The Moon Emissary sighed. “One can only wonder why you two mortals had to be called here too. Something is afoot.”

“I’m wondering about that too,” Risti replied. “Moon Emissaries and Dark Heralds are known to be skilled, loyal followers of their respective masters. I have full faith that this Aberration should not be a problem, even if a single one of you handled it, but the Red Moon of Strife must have its own wisdom.”

“Well said. The Lord must have seen something that our wisdom cannot,” the Moon Emissary replied. “Your praise is well much welcome, by the way.”

The shadow nodded. “The Red Moon is a master of war and combat. As what Tulip says, something is definitely afoot.”

Dia decided not to talk about their word choice, instead asking about the status of the Aberration.

“The Aberration’s still banging on the cage, but the Lord’s power can only be manifested in this realm for so long, and that’s already due to the extenuating circumstances,” the Moon Emissary replied. “We should get moving.”

“Let’s go,” the Dark Herald added, before clapping once. Shadows rose up all around them, forming a dome that lasted around ten seconds, before it came apart. Dia felt her eyes widen a heartbeat later, as they took in the fact that the Dark Herald had just moved them all away from the sheltered glade and into an open field, where a translucent red dome burned brilliantly.

Her skin tingled a moment later. “The Black God’s influence?”

The Dark Herald paused. “Indeed so. The Black God is preventing people from seeing this sight. You are used to His presence?”

“We have a friend.”

“The Holy Son of the Black God,” the Moon Emissary, whose name was apparently Tulip, replied. “Shacking up with your Bearer of Destiny, by the way.”

“Ah, that weird couple.”

Dia suppressed the urge to exclaim at this weird nickname for Kemata and Nero, and instead redirected her surprise to the red dome. It was shaking madly, with the shakes and tremors originating from the grey-blue silhouette inside, and Dia held back the urge to retch.

This person…no, this monster, had transformed into something that Dia couldn’t fully recognise. It was still humanoid, but unlike the previous times, this Aberration had completely transformed into a mass of shivering and writhing maggots and other white-coloured insects. The texture of this mass was waxy and reflective, and the divine light that shone down on it only made it look more alien, otherworldly.

“What is that?” Dia whispered.

“That thing? A fully transformed Aberration, I think.” Risti pondered for a moment. “Why aren’t the divinities executing it on the spot? Are they really that short of divine power now?”

“Running the world and keeping it from falling apart takes a lot of energy,” the Moon Emissary replied. “It is possible that they are attempting to ration energy expenditure. In fact, this crisis…it should be handed over to us servants and you mortals soon.”

Dia felt a chill run down her back. “Are the gods…”

“Who knows?” The Dark Herald sighed. “The Great Consolidation must resume. Every day we spend in peace is every day the divinities are haemorrhaging power.”

“The Great Consolidation…so, this war is meant to cull all the divinities and have their power gather onto a single one?” Risti asked.

“…You must be related to someone important,” Tulip replied. “And yes. It is unfortunate, but that is how it is nowadays.”

Dia touched her head, which had grown light, and then frowned. Those words, which had been spouted so nonchalantly, weren’t doing wonders for her right now, despite her high authority. It wasn’t that bad, though; she was just a tiny bit dizzy…

Which could only mean that it was the truth, if the Authority bit in her status was kicking in at this point.

“So, the great Dark and the Moons are fighting to determine who is the last person standing?” Dia asked.

“And the Coloured Gods. Those who have lost their own Bearers of Destiny,” the Moon Emissary replied.

“All to create a victor that has a lot of divine power or something?” Dia asked.

“Divine power and control,” Risti replied. “You know about economies of scale, right? It’s probably related to that. The greater a divinity, the more enduring this divine power will be. That’s what the Fourth Godsfall is about. It is a battle royale between the three factions of divinities.”

She paused, and then added, “Also, the Omen and the Salvation Star.”

Dia looked at the translucent dome, and then nodded heavily. “I see. So that’s what this whole Godsfall is about. To create the strongest divinity, and have them lead the way into a new world.”

“The problem with that plan right now is probably the Omen, who has stolen this new world for himself,” Risti replied. “Since this Omen is probably unaware of the Great Consolidation, even if the war ends with a victor amongst the divinities…”

“The winner can’t exactly step into the new world?”

“Or open it up fully, perhaps.” Risti shook her head. “We’re running down a certain path to mass upheaval, and only a few of us know that. But enough about that for now. We’ll get rid of this immediate threat to security first, and then deal with the remaining mess afterwards.”

“Alright.” Dia drew her sword, and the others produced their own weapons.

The red dome shimmered once, and then began to glow and shrink at the same time. Grey, white and red smoke rose as the dome bound itself against the struggling Aberration, and smoke began to rise in columns.

The Red Moon was using this dome to thoroughly weaken the monster.

At the same time, tri-coloured light rose from all around them, forming another dome that was clearly designed to stop this thing from escaping at a moment’s notice.

“We’re starting,” Risti warned. “Eyes up!”

White flesh squelched as the shrinking binding crushed the Aberration and vanished from existence, and another wave of revulsion struck Dia as the thing’s true form entered her eyes.

Enduring it, she raised her blade.

She could vomit later, after all.