The Power of Ten

He was astonished. “That is... remarkably generous of you, Mistress,” he finally managed to say.

“I might have you come out and work geniecraft for minor purposes, or engage you in conversation about your homeland or other areas of interest, with what you feel comfortable in sharing. Other than such minor trifles, I am content enough in denying your power to those who would unduly profit from it while I am trying to liberate this world, and who simply stand by ready to seize power once I do so.”

He ruminated for a long minute, eyes inevitably trailing to those damned whorls in the sky, made of the residue of the trapped souls within.

Perhaps he was ‘free’ now, but if he died, he would simply become one of them...

“Mistress, why are you choosing such a low, broad approach to the destruction of the Shrouds?” he finally asked. “I witnessed your power against the Firelord. It was... impressive, to say the least,” he said cautiously, judging it was best to keep undue fawning out of his voice, given my nature.

“The two of you know of the multiverse existing out there, beyond this Shroud.” I swept the succubus into my eyes. “This is a world that has had magic forced upon it, and is simply not set up to reasonably deal with what is coming.

“The only way to do so is for the people to be strong enough, not just having a random champion wandering about.

“Thus, my intention is to have the people clearing the Shrouds, while I stand by and deal with any great threats that pop up. It is they who will truly grow stronger, and be able to deal with what is coming.

“Also, I’m sure you know that the Daoist Creed and the Nirvanic Enlightenment have somehow managed to get here. Both need to be dealt with before the Shroud can come down, or what comes could wipe most of humanity off the world, or reduce them to chattel. I realize this is not a true concern of yours, but it will be addressed before the Shroud is allowed to come down.”

Both their faces twisted slightly. Cultivation realms wouldn’t be any friendlier to them than to us, as both factions considered them little better than potential slaves at best, or things to be purified away at worst, certainly not powerful equals to respect or treat fairly.

“Thus, any reinforcing and empowering you do of mortals hastens the time at which you will be free, adding stones to the pile, until the avalanche is under way.”

He considered that, while the succubus at his side carefully raised her hand. “Ilzna?” I asked calmly, using her preferred sobriquet.

“Is there any way I can contribute to this effort, Mistress Traveler?” she asked, very deferentially.

“The instincts of a succubus are to feed on souls and to Damn mortals, Ilzna,” I replied calmly. “I have no trust in you, nor do I believe there is a readily-enforced contract I can place you under that will not be twisted to your motivations. Treat this as respect for what you are capable of, and not that I am a fool who is not also aware of what you could potentially accomplish for me. I simply weight the former much higher than the latter. We share neither Duty nor Loyalty, and it is with great forbearance that I am even allowing you to live.

“Your place is not in the mortal realm, and I will not have you moving about within it. I am aware that your patience for passing time is far beyond that of a mortal like myself. You need merely keep your paramour company and entertained, and you will be returned home when the Shroud falls. That is basically an eyeblink of time to a demon.”

Neither of them was aware that when the Shroud fell, as extraplanars they would lose all memory of it and their time beneath it... and consequently, of me, so I actually wasn’t worried about their revenge. Even if they found out before they left, it would make no difference.

“As Mistress wills,” she conceded, voice carefully absent of hostility. She knew I was dead serious when I said that I was restraining myself from killing her, and basically her whole worth was tied up in keeping the Bey company. She literally had no value to me otherwise... which doubtless angered her greatly, and also gave her a truckload of motivational fear.

People who actually clung to their morals in the face of temptations were so irritating to deal with, after all. She had watched me wipe the other succubi servants of Hastsezini instantly, keeping only the one for who knew what purpose, and it was easy for her to deduce that I could just go get another succubus to fulfill her job.

Her paramour would likely get over her death very quickly, too, given that he was an efreet...

“Rest assured that I place a similar amount of trust in your Bey in his unsupervised interactions with greedy mortals. He simply is a bit more punitive in his punishments.” Bey ‘Azzar managed to look offended, pleased, and contrite at the same time.

“What of the potential to empower Firebound, Mistress Traveler?” he asked smoothly, his burning eyes gleaming at the idea. “My rival Mochtal has been able to sponsor so many Stormbound, but my ability to sponsor Firebound has been greatly hampered by my circumstances. Surely more Warlocks empowered to your cause would be beneficial!”

“If you were unable to manipulate your Firebound through their Pact, I would naturally agree to this. Unfortunately, I know that is not the case. Do not pursue that matter.” He opened his mouth to say something, saw my eyes, and thought better of it. “I will make one allowance to the name of ‘Azzar. Those mortals who you aid with your Wishes will be assigned to a single operating company, whose Badge will be the Horned Flame of the Azzar. They will know who, how, and why you granted them this gift, and they will not be in your debt... but they will recognize your efforts to free this world.

“Although it pains me to grant such publicity to a Great House of the efreet, it is a minor concession, and a worthy one for your willing aid.”

It was almost comical how widely he smiled, and how his chest puffed out at the mention of being recognized for his actions. Reputation was worth a great deal to the efreet, and knowing his name was going to be known and remembered was indeed a massive form of flattery, and greatly appealing to his vanity. For all that those wearing it might not want to admit it, their wearing and acknowledging such a badge was perhaps a greater honor to him than those who simply gave such a thing as obligatory lip service.

Would it not be a great and amusing irony for a force of noble heroes to be wearing the Badge of the Azzar? The entertainment factor alone would delight all his kin!

“I shall agree to your terms, then, Mistress Traveler.” He was almost rubbing his hands. “Shall we begin?”

I Holo’d up an image of a stern young Korean girl, earnest and determined and expectant. “This is Saral Jung-yin, an aspiring Wizardess. I Wish that her Intelligence be raised permanently by one point.”

“Granted!” he nodded promptly, and the image changed to a stocky young black man...

---------

-They are really going to wear a flaming badge?- Master Fred /asked, watching genie and demon get sucked back into the Genie Prison with stoic amusement.

-Yes. They were informed of that before the Wishes were made, and they all agreed. They seemed to find it as amusing and ironic as I did. More to the point, it establishes a precedent that the noble Great House of Azzar will find themselves Patron to a noble order of heroic sorts who they granted a lot of Wishes to, and they will have no knowledge of how or why. The possibilities that might come out of that in the future are interesting.-

-I think it is more interesting that he has not the slightest idea you are duplicating his ability to grant Wishes.-

-Or that by doing so I can abuse my otherwise useless position as a Firelord?- I /replied, half smiling.

-Indeed. Patrice Adamski, by the authority of the Lady Traveler, Firelord of Yellowstone, I Wish that you may be sponsored to a Pact with Fire under the auspices of the Angelos of Heavenbound Hall!-

-Granted.-

-YES!- /sounded out in the far distance, a whooping approval for one of the three people standing before the Angelos right now. One of the five hundred general Firebound Pacts on Terra was now ours for the swearing.

-Horatio Brown, by the authority of the Lady Traveler, Firelord of Yellowstone, I Wish...-

Rasps on the file, sawing at the foundations of the Shroud...

=======

The footless spirit came whipping in, howling with hunger and hatred, a Winter Court thing of starvation and air, as barmy as the winds howling in this place after having had to listen to that cacaophany for so long.

Nineteen burning Shards removed it from its tortured state permanently, for all its speed, and its attempt to Curse us went right with it as Fire and vivus consumed it outright in just a second or two.

Master Fred looked up at the sky, and the swirling forms of more wendigo and other insane spirits in the distance. -I can see at least twenty of them, just around the one peak,- he /noted. -Wind walkers, invisible stalkers, elementals, snowbringers... there are some powerful Elemental and Fey creatures around these peaks,- he /noted for everyone.

Sama made lip-smacking noises out in the distance. Such things were excellent Land-food, and she hadn’t beaten any of them up since Portal.

-Did you get a feel for the continent yet?-

-Sleeping with very troubled dreams. The spirits of the mountains are being held in a terrible stasis, their thoughts stretched across geological time while their bodies reverberate with madness. If they wake up, they could tear the continent apart.-

I arched an eyebrow. -Oh, doesn’t that bode well for the future.-

-What, the makers didn’t take into account how such an arrangement might adversely affect the indigenous inhabitants of this world, like responsible sapients should?- he /asked drily, and I snickered agreement as we traversed the slopes of another of the unnaturally steep peaks.

For whatever reason, the Haze tended to stay around a mile above the general landscape, meaning many, many mountains had tops concealed within it.

However, the landscape here had kept going up as we moved further inland, and now the plains of ice were fifteen thousand feet above sea level. There was nearly three miles of ice burying the stone of the land below, whole mountains underneath a mile and more of ice.

These things were stabbing right through it and up into the Haze, leaving the tops unseen to serenade the trapped souls within...

-This is not a good place for anyone save the mad... or those hungry for Karma,- I /added as an afterthought, which got me some smirks and dry smiles of both disbelief and eagerness for when they’d be able to regard such creatures the same way.

Sir Pellier’s Heavenbound Horde had reached the New York Wall, spread out along it, and last night had eradicated nearly one hundred thousand members of its Spirit Host, in conjunction with a lot of other shooters finally permitted to start sniping and take as many down en masse before they were ordered to retreat.

For the first time in over half a century, the undead had not come marching up to the Walls this evening. That simple fact was cited nation-wide, along with the usefulness of holding back all sniping until as many incorporeals could be destroyed at once as possible.

The Heavenbound Horde, and a lot of other shooters with them, had promptly set off for DC. Taking out the rote Walkers and stuff could be done at any time; the big threat was the incorporeals. There were already governments around the world eager to have them come in and clean out the truly dangerous threat, leaving the easy cleanup to their own people, regardless of the numbers.

Slow, steady, Level, get Naming Karma, retreat, stay safe. When the undead withdrew deep under the Shroud, fine, bring some elites back to whittle them down. But if you were in place when the random undead rose at dusk, you could get a quick and clean harvest before leaving the area rapidly, and the more powerful Shroud undead wouldn’t be able to catch you... or could be lured into an ambush if they tried.

To say there were tears in the eyes of many of the men doing this as they were finally able to permanently put down the corpses of their ancestors, family members, friends, and comrades who had died, both long ago and very recently, was no stretch of the imagination at all.