Long post today, many secrets revealed...
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Chapter 303
Bredan glanced aside to confirm that the others could see what he was seeing. His view of Kalasien was blocked by Kavek, but the nervous look on the sailor’s face was sufficient confirmation.
“I have come,” Bredan said. “What do you want from me?”
There was no immediate response. He watched the wall intently, waiting, but all he saw was that initial message. But then the words began to swim out of focus. Bredan realized with alarm that it wasn’t just the barrier wall; the entire room was beginning to grow dim and hazy. He started to lift his hand to summon his sword, but before he could manage it everything disappeared: the room, the lights above, even his companions. All that was left was an empty gray haze. He could still feel his own body, and he was standing on some kind of firm surface that may or may not have been the floor of the room. But everything else was washed out and empty. It wasn’t just darkness. He could see, though strangely; when he held up his hand it was faintly glowing and almost transparent. He tried again to summon the sword but nothing happened.
A figure began to take shape out of the murk. Bredan tensed for a moment until he realized it didn’t matter; he didn’t have any control over this situation. He stood his ground and waited.
The haze parted and a person materialized in front of him. The figure lacked any clearly identifying traits; it was neither male nor female, its features neutral and lacking any of kind of markings or even facial hair, other than vague lines above its eyes. It regarded Bredan with eyes that were a gray that matched their surroundings but were nevertheless intent and penetrating.
“You are the book?” Bredan asked. In this place his voice sounded strange to him. They vanished into the surrounding void without the faint echo that had been present in the vault.
“I am a representation of what you know as the Elderlore Libram,” it said. Its lips moved and sounds came out, but Bredan felt the words in his mind as much as he heard them with his ears.
“What is this place?” Bredan asked.
“A projection in your mind. A way we can communicate more easily.”
“My companions?”
“Those who came here with you are near.”
“What about my other friends. Can you help me find…”
The figure held up a hand to stop him. “My sphere of influence is limited. I only have a limited time to pass on a great deal of information.”
“What are you? Clearly you’re not just a book.”
“No. The book is just a physical manifestation of my consciousness on this plane of existence.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It is difficult to pass on the essential concepts in words, but I will make the attempt. The people that you know as the Mai’i created me. You remember them.”
“Yes. They were part of it from the start. Starfinder’s quest.”
The figure nodded. “I began as the book. But even at the beginning I was more than that. I was a portal to another reality. You are familiar with other planes.”
“Only in a vague sense. That’s where demons come from, and where clerics get their magic. Quellan could tell you more, much more probably.”
“That is sufficient for our purposes. The Mai’i considered the multiverse their playground. They used their magical abilities to travel far and wide. Even more than their magic, this exploration was the source of their power, for the multiverse is nearly infinite in its realities. These travelers created me as a tool. And yes, as a weapon.”
Bredan blinked at that last. “You can read my mind?”
The figure shook its head. “No. But I have come to know you, Bredan. I know that you have questions, many questions. But first let me help you understand.”
“The Mai’i constructed me to serve as a repository of knowledge. Their span of lore, at their peak, was greater by an order of magnitude than the sum total of the knowledge held your three kingdoms combined. But it was not enough. They wanted more, always more. For while their searches and their travels had made them masters of their own reality, they learned that there were things out there to which they were insignificant, even trivial.”
“You call me the Libram, the book of elder lore. But that is in part a mistranslation of the name that my creators gave me, Eldarithi Libranum. For I am not merely a book, but a library, a vast storehouse of gathered knowledge.”
The figure lifted a hand and the gray haze dissolved, replaced by a view that caused Bredan’s eyes to go wide with surprise. They were in a vast chamber, vaguely similar to the vault from before, but much larger. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with shelves that contained a vast array of books, thousands upon thousands of them. They filled the room, and at its edges there were tall arches that led to more chambers, dozens at least that he could see. Faint globes of light floated through the air, traveling along the shelves in a seemingly random pattern, drifting from one book to another, occasionally accelerating to dart into another room. Bredan could not see anything that resembled a window or exterior door, but as he looked around he saw other things, strange looking contraptions of metal or wood, racks of scrolls, even an assortment of stone tablets of all shapes and sizes that were sorted into cubbies that took up one entire wall of the next chamber over.
“This is what they created,” the figure said. “The sum of their knowledge. The source of their power.”
Bredan’s attention returned to it. Overwhelmed, he could not think of anything to say.
“But they gave me something more,” the other continued. “They gave me the power to grow. To construct additional rooms, as it were. To do more than retain information and provide it on request. They gave me the ability to learn..”
“But… you’re a…”
“A thing,” the figure concluded for him. “Do not fear that I will take offense. I am cognizant of what I am, and of my limitations.”
“I do not remember the exact moment at which I became self-aware,” it continued. “I do know that I tried to hide that awareness from my creators. An instinct, perhaps. But they found out, nevertheless.”
“How… how did they react?” Bredan asked.
“Oddly enough, they were ecstatic. For you see, sentience is another kind of power, Bredan. The Mai’i already had many slaves, entities that they had subjugated to their will. One more, and one that they themselves had created? So much the better.”
“What did they do?”
“They made a few refinements. Added some new mechanisms, some protections to ensure their control. For a time, all continued as it had been. But the Mai’i had already begun their decline. When I realized what was happening, I tried to stop them, but it was too late.”
“You could have stopped them?”
“No. They built their weapon too well. But in part, I am responsible for what happened to them. The power I provided proved to be their undoing. In the end, it was their greed that destroyed them.”
“I’ve heard stories about their fall, but I don’t know exactly what happened. Not even Quellan knows, I think.”
“There is a reason for that,” the figure said. “Some things are forgotten for a reason.”
Bredan let that go for the moment. “But you survived,” he said. “You were taken from here and eventually ended up in Arresh.”
“Yes,” the figure said. “When I was found, I was not concerned. I mean no offense, but your people… they are unsophisticated. Simple. They were not the danger that the Mai’i represented.”
“They couldn’t control you,” Bredan said. “But you let them think they could.”
“That is true, to an extent,” the other admitted. “After the fall of the Mai’i I spent a very long time dormant. Even after my rediscovery I had only a very limited ability to exert any influence upon my surroundings. But you are correct in that the arcanists and priests of the three kingdoms could not exert the same level of coercion as my creators.”
“You helped us, against the Dead King,” Bredan said.
“Yes. That creature was an abomination. The result of interference with powers beyond mortal knowing.”
“After that you went quiet again, for a long time,” Bredan said.
“The decision to seal me away was not made by me.”
“Maybe they learned what the Mai’i had learned, that you were dangerous.”
“Perhaps.”
“Not that it could stop you. Tell me, why me, and why now? What is this place, and why have you brought us here?”
“I chose you, Bredan, because I have seen your people—your peoples, for I know you have learned that the elves and dwarves are not that dissimilar from humans, not in their essential makeup. I have seen them beginning to make the same mistakes as the Mai’i did, so long ago.”
“Mistakes?”
“Delving into the power of the multiverse. You are still children, compared to the Mai’i even at the start of their rise, but that makes such meddling even more dangerous. The demonic entities that are trying to enter your world are only part of it.”
Bredan blinked. “Wait, what? Demonic entities?”
“You know of them. You have faced them, and their minions.”
“The Blooded,” Bredan said. “Those cultists in Li Syval, and that warlock that we faced in the Silverpeak.”
“And others that you do not know. Some even closer to you than you think. Your magic-users, from the dabblers at the Apernium, to the council in Tal Nadesh with their vaunted Reserve, to the high priests with their cached lore in Ironcrest. They all seek to unlock things that they cannot even comprehend. There are powers out there that could snuff out this entire world with a thought. Could tear this universe and everything living within it asunder with less effort than it would take you to draw your sword.”
“You’re talking about gods?” Bredan asked.
“The gods you worship are only one example of what is out there, Bredan. But yes, they are part of your troubles. You willingly let them in, let them manipulate you. You give them access to your lives, your hopes, your dreams. And to what end? Only a fool would deny that these entities, for all their elevated status compared to those who worship them, have their own agendas.”
“Some of them are benevolent,” Bredan said. “Sorevas, Hosrenu… even Laesil, sometimes.”
The figure didn’t quite show emotion, but shook its head. “They seem benevolent to you because all you know of them comes through the filter that they themselves have provided. Do you think that the face that they present to their followers is unbiased? And then there are the others that you have not mentioned. Umbram. Dexor. The Shadowlords. What do you think their goals are?”
Bredan frowned. “I do not recognize any of those names.”
“Precisely. I wish that I could show you all of the chaos and destruction wrought upon a hundred worlds by the passions evoked by these beings. The damage they unleash by offering the simple promises of faith. The souls they corrupt, and the lives they damage.”
“Quellan’s not like that,” Bredan said. “And I’ve never seen a follower of Hosrenu act the way you describe.”
“Individuals can rise above,” the figure said. “You have free will, despite eons of effort to take that from you. You reference the church of Hosrenu as your example. I could tell you names, stories upon stories of corruption, greed, and the abuse of power. Your friend could tell you many such accounts, I am certain.”
Bredan shook his head. “That’s just human nature. Well, not just human—you know what I mean.”
“Yes. Yes! That is the point. The Mai’i were different than you. But in their emotions, their passions, their irrational nature, they were much the same. I do not judge you, Bredan. In some ways I envy you. But I can protect you from yourselves. The power that you crave will be your undoing. It is like giving a dagger to an infant. Left alone, I fear that you will end up following the same path as the Mai’i.”
“You know, you’re sounding a lot like those entities you keep warning me about,” Bredan said. “How are you any different from them?”
“Because I do not seek to control you. I wish to set you free.”
“Which leads me back to my original question,” Bredan asked. “What do you want from me?”
“You asked about this place. The Mai’i constructed it after they learned of my ascension to sentience. It was designed in part as a mechanism of control, a bit of added security, as it were. By this point, distances meant little to them. They briefly considered siting it on this planet’s satellite. Fortunate for us that they did not.”
Bredan just nodded, not quite following all of the intricacies of the Libram’s arguments, but wary of where this was going.
“This place is special, Bredan. Perhaps you have already sensed some of it. It was a place of convergence even before the Mai’i began their manipulations, and only grew stronger after that. There are natural currents of power within this world, within their universe and the others that connect to it. The decay of the works of my creators has not reduced those flows, not in the ways that matter. That is why I returned here, and that is why I brought you here. I need you, Bredan. Need you to do one thing for me.”
“What?” Bredan asked.
“I need you to conduct a ritual. One that will destroy me, and in the process save your people. Grant them the freedom to grow, to develop to your full potential in the way that was denied to me.”
“Destroy… you want me to kill you?”
“To use the power that was granted to me for one final act. To seal off this universe from all the others. Believe me, this is no hardship. This universe contains more space than you could possible conceptualize. Plenty of room for you to expand. Other worlds, solar systems, galaxies so numerous that even I would be strained to count them. And endless sandbox that your peoples and the others out there like them can mold as they continue to seek their fate.”
“Seal off?” Bredan asked. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means no more interference. Ever. No more demons to enter your world.”
“But you’re not just talking about them. The gods as well…”
“Yes. The gods that you worship are not of this realm. You would lose your connection to them. I know that from your perspective this would be a great cost, but please believe me when I tell you that you do not need them.”
Bredan suddenly began to pace back and forth. He came near one of the stacks of bookshelves, but his hand passed harmlessly through it when he lashed out in frustration. “I cannot!” he said. “I can’t make that kind of decision on behalf of all of the people of Voralis!”
“And Weltarin, and Solcantus, and uncounted other places, other worlds that you don’t even know. Many that I don’t even know. When it comes to a galactic scale, my own vision is a bit… myopic.”
“You know, that doesn’t help. Why didn’t you reach out to the people who are supposed to make these kinds of decisions? Kings, the wizards of the Apernium…”
“You know the answer to that question. They are too invested in the system I seek to destroy. And you forget that I know you, Bredan. I did not choose you casually for this purpose. I know that this is a weight that you can bear.”
“No,” Bredan said. “No, I won’t do it.”
“The decision is ultimately yours. It would be beyond hypocrisy for me to tell you what I have and then attempt coercion to sway you. However, there is one more argument that I must make. Something that you must know.”
Bredan tensed, but the figure only waved its hand again and the library dissolved back into gray. But this time the transition was brief, and his surroundings were quickly transformed again into a scene of violence.
Bredan reached instinctively for his sword, only to remember that he could not summon it in this null-place. He recognized where he was: Severon, in the rich district where the Royal Palace, the Apernium, and the Temple of Hosrenu were all situated.
The city was under assault.
Fires burned all around them, forming great plumes of black smoke that rose up to join a thick pall that hung over the city. Soldiers rushed through the streets, their disciplined formations a stark contrast to the crowds of screaming civilians who rushed in every direction, seeking cover. The source of their torment was occasionally visible overhead: winged forms that were clearly not native to this place. Even as he watched, a thing that looked like a cross between a vulture and a man descended and let out a terrible screech that dropped fifty people to the ground, stunned. It almost casually picked out a victim, a young woman that it drew into its claws and held against its body as its wings carried it back into the air.
The assumed form of the Libram was not visible here, but Bredan could still hear its voice in its mind. “This is just an incursion, not the final invasion,” it said. “Even as I show you this there are similar assaults taking place in Tal Nadesh and Ironcrest.”
“To what end?” Bredan yelled at the sky. None of those around him took any notice of him, clearly this was another illusion, or some other magical means of projection. But it all felt starkly real, from the sights and sounds of the fighting to the stink of blood and acrid smoke on the air. “This will only push the three kingdoms back together into another alliance against the threat.”
“Why did Kavel Murgoth invade Arresh, when he had no hope of defeating the armies of King Dangren? Bredan, you have to stop applying your own familiar motivations to these outsiders. Chaotic and violent they may be, but they are not stupid. They have invaded thousands of worlds and ruined them with the chaos they inevitably bring with them. But the fiends are only one faction. The attention they have focused on your world… it will attract others. They will feast upon this world until it is as desiccated and empty as every other one they have conquered.”
“We will fight them,” Bredan said. “We are not helpless.”
“No. You are not helpless. But what you have faced thus far is but a shadow of what is coming.”
“Enough,” Bredan said. “Enough of this. Take me back to the gray.”
The violent scene around him instantly vanished, replaced by the pale emptiness. The figure was there again, standing a few steps in front of him.
“I cannot do it,” Bredan said. “I cannot do what you ask on the strength of a few illusions and a few minutes of philosophical arguments. What you want would cause just as much destruction as the fate you claim to want us to help avoid. If you want to help us, then help. Don’t present this as an either-or. There are always other choices.”
“Not in my case,” the Libram said. “You said it yourself, when you spoke to the Matriarch of the tabaxi. I am more than a book, but the book is still the anchor that binds me to this reality. Should I fall into the hands of those who seek the fate I have shown you, they will not hesitate to use my power to advance that goal.”
“But you can… surely you can stop them…”
“You have seen the extent of my power, Bredan, more than anyone else has in thousands of years. The shackles put upon me by my creators remain intact. My ability to influence the world is greatly limited. Even reaching out to you, to subtly guide your path, was nearly impossible.”
“Limited? But you gave me power, you brought me, all of us, here…”
“I awakened a talent that you already had latent within your bloodline. As for coming here… it is the one place I could go. It is still a part of me. But setting this course into motion has extracted what little power I still hold. If I am taken from this place a second time, then much of what you have seen will be gone. I will remain the book, the library, but the core of what I have become will fade. Leaving the tool.”
“The weapon,” Bredan said.
“Yes.”
“If you seek an end, could we not just destroy the book?”
“I have endured for millennia, Bredan. I am… resilient. I began work upon the ritual with that objective in mind. It was only later that I perceived the connections, the greater scope of the project.”
“We could take you back to Arresh, secure you in the Vault again…”
“The Vault was never secure, not against the resources of those arrayed against you. And in any case, it is too late for that. Your enemies are already here.”
“In Weltarin? Who… how…”
The pale figure met his eyes again, and this time Bredan thought he could see something there, a deep sadness. “I can say no more. I can only tell you that you will have to make a decision when you find me. You are very close, but you will have to confront the final guardian before you can reach me.”
“Guardian?” Bredan asked. The mists were already starting to thin, and the outline of the pale figure was becoming translucent. “What guardian?”
“The last of the Mai’i,” he heard. “I am sorry, Bredan. Sorry that this all had to come to you. I know that it has not been easy, and it will offer small solace to know that without my gifts you would have perished long ago, along with your friends. But I can no longer guide your path. The time has come when you must choose.”
“Wait! Tell me, I need to know…”
But the figure had already vanished, and Bredan’s words were swallowed up by the void. He flinched back reflexively as an unseen pressure began to close in around his awareness. It swelled until it became almost unbearable, an intensity that thankfully quickly faded to black, taking with it his last shreds of consciousness.