Brandon Varnell
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WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 25
🕑 Added 2020-10-19 15:36:16 +0000 UTCWhile I knew a little about Rune Arrays thanks to Kari, I only knew enough to read basic Runes and create basic Rune Arrays. My specialization in the field of Runes was creating Spiritual Technique Scrolls. The Rune Array that created the barrier surrounding the portal was far too complicated for me to make sense of.
That was why I brought Kari, Siv, and Raul to the portal.
I normally would have never let Raul come close to something so dangerous, but right now, I was even more concerned about leaving him alone. Honestly, even the idea of leaving him with Kari and Siv frightened me right now. Thinking about it, I also did not like the idea of leaving my two battle weary wives on their own either. Neither of them was in the right state to fight.
We appeared before the large group of Spiritualists within the blink of an eye. I had used the flash step to bring everyone to this spot. It normally would have been a harsh ride for Raul, but Siv had used her wind element to decrease the wind pressure that pushed against us during high-speed movements.
Our sudden appearance startled many of the Spiritualists, including Alexis, Rainere, and Commander Ashten. Several of them even readied their weapons before realizing it was us.
“What kind of ability is that?!” asked the shocked Rainere.
“They moved… so fast,” Commander Ashten mumbled like he couldn’t believe it.
The only one who did not speak about our sudden appearance was Alexis. She only frowned at us.
“Kari, can you make sense of those Runes?” I asked, ignoring the group for now as I turned to my wife. I took Raul from her arms so she could focus on the Rune Array. It was still pulsing on the ground.
Raul tightly gripped my neck as I held him, but I didn’t mind and focused on Kari as she wandered in a circle around the barrier. Several dozen Sekbeists emerged from the portal on the other side. The many Spiritualists around us prepared themselves for combat, but they needn’t have bothered.
The moment the Sekbeists stepped out of the portal, I killed them. Lightning surged from my hands and stabbed into one Sekbeist, then leapt to another, another, another, and another, until all too soon, my lightning bolt had created a chain that linked every Sekbeist together. My attack was more than just a chain, however. Each time it struck a Sekbeist, it struck them in the heart, killing them instantly.
Their corpses dropped to the floor.
“Holy shit,” someone said, though I did not know who.
Kari continued walking around the barrier, studying the Rune Array in great detail. She soon summoned a large, leatherbound book from her storage ring, along with a piece of charcoal, and began sketching out the Rune Array in great detail. While Lin was the best artist among my wives, Kari was great when it came to recreating still life images.
Several minutes passed in silence. A few more Sekbeist came out of the portal, but I once again killed them before anyone could do anything. During that time, Raul had not once let go of me, still shivering in my arms.
I felt awful knowing that my son had to see this, that he’d discovered the violence of this world at such a tender age. He had of course seen many fights before. He’d even witnessed death when he was younger, but Raul had been too young to understand back then. Now he was old enough to realize how scary what happened this day was, but he was too young to understand why.
I wasn’t sure how I would explain all this to him.
“Okay. I have the sketch,” Kari announced as she walked back over to me, Raul, and Siv. “Give me a minute or two to look over my research notes and compare diagrams. I actually recognize these Runes, but the Rune Array is unfamiliar to me.”
“Take all the time you need,” I said. “I’ll protect you until you’re done.”
“I know.”
Kari smiled at me before sitting down. She placed the large book on her lap as she crossed her legs, then began flipping back and forth through the pages. Each page was filled with Runes, Rune Arrays, and diagrams that explained various concepts and portions of different Rune Arrays. It was all very complex. I couldn’t understand any of it, but this leather tome was something Kari had written after countless hours of research.
Raul eventually fell asleep in my arms, and Siv must have been exhausted from the battle still because she leaned against my shoulder and closed her eyes. I remained vigilant. Whenever Sekbeists appeared from within the portal, I killed them the moment they left the barrier. Oddly enough, I noticed I couldn’t kill them so long as they remained inside the barrier. It was like my connection to my elements were cut off immediately after they entered.
During this period of time, Alexis walked up to us.
“You are a very frightening man,” she stated.
“Why is that?” I asked.
At that moment, several Sekbeists once more emerged. Since I couldn’t use my hands anymore (Siv had taken my free shoulder and I was carrying Raul), I stomped my foot on the ground and made the shadows do my bidding. I wasn’t as powerful as Lin, but it didn’t take much effort to skewer the Sekbeists with their own shadows once they emerged from the barrier.
Alexis gave me a look. “Do you have to ask? Look at what you are doing. We spent hours securing this point. Every minute was a struggle for our lives. I was even tempted to enter the Third State of Spiritualism. And then you came in, killed the most powerful creature any of us has ever seen, and now you’re slaughtering these Sekbeist like they’re nothing.”
“That is because they are nothing,” I admitted.
“And that is why you’re frightening,” Alexis said.
I really couldn’t refute that, so I merely accepted her words. To someone who didn’t understand the Fourth State of Spiritualism, I suppose I was a frightening existence.
“I’ve got.” Kari snapped her book shut, sealed it inside her storage ring, and stood up.
“You’ve figured out what that Rune Array does?” I asked.
“Yes.” Kari turned to me. “That Rune Array is sealing the space inside of it in its own dimension. It’s very similar in concept to my storage rings. However, rather than sealing the space inside of a ring, it is sealing this space in our realm. It’s an incredibly advanced Rune Array. I imagine that is also the reason it’s limited to this small space. They can’t make it any larger without destabilizing the entire thing.”
“Hmmm…”
I looked back at the barrier and frowned. It didn’t look like much. The barrier itself was fairly clear. It was only possible to see the barrier by looking for the distortions in the air.
“Is there a way to break this Rune Array without destabilizing the barrier?” I asked.
“Of course,” Kari answered. “This Rune Array might be set in a separate dimension, but it’s still connected to our realm. It also only extends above ground. So…”
“If we destroy the floor, it will break the Rune Array.” I nodded. “Will that create any danger? I’d rather not get sent to another realm right now.”
“It shouldn’t… but maybe we should all move back several dozen meters just in case,” Kari suggested, a wry smile splitting her lips. She obviously remembered our first battle against a Sekbeist Warlord.
Under our instructions, everyone began moving backwards. A few Sekbeist hordes appeared. They were dealt with the same way all the others had been. Once we were one hundred meters away from the portal, I gave the now sleeping Raul back to Kari, had Siv lean on the blonde woman’s shoulder, and pressed my hands into the ground.
Spiritual Power surged through my fingers and into the earth. Once again, my control over the earth element was nowhere close to Lin’s subliminal control, but I could at least use it for this. A large cracked split the ground near my fingers and spread out, traveling toward the portal, then branching around the portal. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I sent my Spiritual Power underneath the barrier, breaking up the ground, weakening it.
One second ticked by. Then two. I continued working.
Finally, just as another group of Sekbeists were emerging from the portal, the ground beneath them collapsed. The barrier flickered once before going out. I noticed a rod with a black jewel falling to the ground. As it struck the ground, the jewel shattered. The portal destabilized. Large arcs of Spiritual Power struck the ground and ate away at it. Following this, the portal rapidly grew to five times its previous size before dissipating just as quickly. When it vanished, however, it had taken a large chunk of earth with it. There was now a sixty meter wide crater.
“I guess it’s a good thing we moved so far back,” Kari said into the stunned silence.
***
The first thing that needed to be done after the battle was count the dead. A lot of people had died during this attack, though I wasn’t sure about the numbers. After the dead was tallied, the people could begin reconstructing the buildings that had been destroyed. This would be a lot harder since some of the damage was quite extensive. Those poor earth element Spiritualists would have their hands full filling the craters and trenches caused by the battles between Dunherr, Kari, Siv, and myself. I heard even the tower belonging to the Midgard Spiritual Knights had been damaged.
Of course, I was not part of any of that.
We were back at the Antiquity Inn. The reason was mostly because the conflict was over and I saw no reason to spend our time at the Battling Valkyries branch office anymore. This inn was pretty fortunate to have survived the destruction. It was located close to where several of the battles took place. Many other buildings received damage, but somehow, this one did not.
I was sitting on the floor, resting my back against the couch, which I normally would have been sitting on except right now I was being used as someone’s lap pillow. Siv’s wings were too big and wouldn’t let her lie on the couch. She was lying on her side, her wings spread out behind her, resting against the ground. I was gently running my hands through her hair. I had to be careful not to let her hair get tangled in her horns.
“Are you sure this is all you want?” I asked Siv.
“Mmm.” Siv didn’t nod, but she released a content sound as she opened her eyes and glanced at me. “This is all I need. When I was younger, *******... I mean, my father used to do this to me.”
I didn’t say anything, but I was amused by Siv’s slipup into dragon speak. I didn’t know what the language was called. Saying that, the original language of dragons and drakvar was made up of roars and shrieks. Other members of those two races could understand each other’s meaning through the pitch, modulation, and length of the sounds produced. It wasn’t a complex language, but no human except for me and maybe a few others knew it.
“I’m not your father,” I said wryly. “I’m your husband.”
“Yes.” Siv’s eyes became vibrant as she smiled. It was so joyful and innocent that I found my breath catching in my throat. “You are my husband. I know that.”
“Well… just so long as you know.” I scratched my cheek.
A loud yawn filled my ears, but it didn’t come from me or Siv. I glanced up. I couldn’t see him because my own head was in the way, but I felt the weight on my shoulders and head shift as Raul woke up.
Ever since the battle ended, Raul had refused to leave me, clinging to me like he would often cling to Fay. When Siv asked to use my lap as a pillow, Raul had climbed onto my shoulders and fallen asleep with his head buried in my hair.
“You awake, Raul?” I asked.
“Mmm… hungry,” Raul mumbled.
I almost chuckled. That sounded more like something Lin or Siv would say.
At that moment, Kari entered the room with a platter of fruits and slices of cheese, almost as if she had known Raul was awake and hungry. She smiled at us as she hurried over and sat on my other side.
“Look at you three lazy bums,” she teased before noticing Raul staring at the platter of food. “Do you want some?”
“Yes,” Raul said immediately.
“What do we say?”
“Yes, please.”
“That’s right. Here, it looks like your hands are full, so I’ll feed you.”
Raul’s hands were currently full of my long hair, which he had grabbed and began playing with. Kari grabbed a slice of red fruit and brought it to Raul’s mouth. My son merely opened his mouth and let her put the fruit inside, then closed it and chewed. I couldn’t see this happening since he was above me, but I could hear the sounds of chewing. I was very glad we had taught him to chew with his mouth full. Otherwise I would have gotten fruit juice all over my hair.
“How is everything looking out there?” I asked as I grabbed a slice of cheese and began feeding Siv. The drakvar on my lap opened her small mouth and let me place it inside. The way she smiled as she closed her eyes and chewed told me about how happy she was.
“Well… everyone is working hard right now,” Kari said with a small frown. “They aren’t rebuilding yet. They are still searching for survivors and providing aid to people whose homes have been destroyed. Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much damage done to the structures.” Her lips twitched into a sardonic smile. “I think your battle against Dunherr did more damage to the surroundings than anything else.”
I couldn’t deny that, so I didn’t say anything.
“I also heard a lot of people talking about you,” she continued.
“Me?” I raised an eyebrow.
Kari nodded and grinned as she popped a small strawberry into her mouth. I watched as her lips closed around the strawberry. With a small frown, I realized we’d been so busy I hadn’t been able to be intimate with her or anyone else since that time in the bathroom.
“It seems your actions at the portal have spread around. Most of the people were praising your strength, saying they think you’re stronger than all of the Six Great Sect leaders combined. I did hear some people who expressed fear of you though.” Her eyes dimmed as a small frown appeared on her face. “Those people were saying you were dangerous.”
“Well…” I stretched out the word a bit. “They’re not wrong.”
It was hard to deny that I was dangerous, especially when I thought about that battle with Dunherr and the destruction we had caused. Thinking about what kind of destruction I could cause if I ever became evil made me shudder.
“More importantly, I want to learn more about what Dunherr talked about,” I switched topics.
“You mean… about the Fifth State of Spiritualism?” Kari asked.
Siv opened her eyes when Kari mentioned the Fifth State of Spiritualism, but she didn’t speak up. I glanced at her curiously as I nodded.
“Yeah. He said the Fifth State of Spiritualism is a state Spiritualists who understand higher concepts of the universe have reached. The Void is one of those higher concepts, and I’m guessing there are more. I’m wondering how someone reaches the Fifth State of Spiritualism. How does someone touch one of those higher concepts? How do they gain an understanding of it?”
I had never heard of the Fifth State of Spiritualism until my battle with Dunherr, not even in my past life. Without any knowledge of this state, I couldn’t begin to fathom how someone could reach it, but I had a strong feeling that I needed to understand. My intuition was telling me this wouldn’t be the last time I had to fight against a Sekbeist Lord. If I ran into another one, one who understood the Void more clearly, I might not be able to win as I was now.
“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that either.” Kari’s blonde hair swayed around her face as she shook her head. Some strands of silken hair tickled my cheek. “The idea of there being a state above the Fourth State is not something I can fathom right now.”
“I guess not…”
“I know about the Fifth State,” a voice suddenly said.
At this moment, Raul had climbed off my shoulder and was sitting on Kari’s lap so she could feed him. I almost shook my head at how good this kid had it. He had four beautiful mothers who doted on him. It made me afraid he might turn into a player when he grew up. However, at that moment, my attention was taken by the drakvar resting her head on my lap.
“You know about the Fifth State of Spiritualism?” I asked in shock.
Siv nodded and scrunched up her face. “I know… a little.”
“What can you tell us?” asked Kari.
“The Fifth State is understanding higher concepts like… um… Void, Dimension, Time, Space, Life, and Death.” Siv furrowed her brow. Her cute nose wiggled several times as she tried to think further, then shook her head. “That’s all I know. Father told me about the Fifth State of Spiritualism. He said he and mom would teach me about it when I was older, but…”
But her home had been attacked, her mother’s status was unknown, and her father had been injured escaping with her and later killed. I didn’t need her to continue. Rubbing her head, I soothed the girl as her eyes teared up.
“Void, Dimension, Time, Space, Life, and Death,” Kari murmured. “So these are the so-called higher concepts? I feel like there should be more. Also, how does someone gain understanding over these concepts?”
“That’s the real question, isn’t it?” I said with a grim smile. “None of us knows how to understand those higher concepts right now.”
Even though I said that, I could not help but think about how, during several of my battles, I remember seeing spatial tears ripping apart the sky. It happened even back when I was battling against the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain in my first life. Back then, at the very end, I had poured all of my power into one last attack. That clash had ripped apart the area around us. Thinking about it, I feel like maybe it was because our clash ripped apart space that I ended up getting sent back in time…
No. That wasn’t right. If I had torn apart space, how could I go back in time? Wouldn’t I get sent to another space? Another realm? Unless space and time were connected?
“Eryk?” Kari suddenly asked.
I shook my head and smiled. “It is nothing. I was just thinking about something.”
Kari hummed as she studied me. It looked like she wanted to say something, but someone chose that moment to knock on the door. We glanced at each other. The knocking continued. It was followed by a voice.
“Eryk,” said Alexis from the other side. “Are you in there?”
“I’m here,” I called. “Hold on a second. I’ll be right there.”
It took a little bit of effort to get Siv to relinquish my lap, but I eventually convinced her by promising to spend more time with her when we had a free moment. I stood up and went to the door. Opening it, I found not just Alexis but also Rainere standing on the other side. Rainere looked past me to see Kari, Siv, and Raul sitting on the floor. However, Alexis kept her eyes on me.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“The Council of Six is going to hold a meeting,” Alexis said. “I have been invited to the meeting and so have you.”
“We came here to pick you up,” Rainere added, finally looking my way.
I didn’t particularly want to be a part of this meeting, but I also knew that refusing would not avail me anything. One of the things I needed was the cooperation of these people. The many sects that made up the Northern Plain would be integral for helping fend off the Sekbeists when they decided to invade.
That was why I gave Kari and Siv a kiss goodbye, ruffled Raul’s hair, and made him promise me to do whatever his mothers said. I loved how serious Raul’s expression was when he promised to be a good boy and listen to his two moms.
The Council of Six meeting was happening inside the Midgard Spiritual Knight’s tower. I was shocked when we approached it and finally saw the damage that had been done. There were cracks spreading across the one section of the tower. It looked like an object had hurtled into it at an incredible speed.
“Believe it or not, that damage was caused by a dragon,” Rainere said when he saw what I was looking at.
“You mean it was caused by my wife,” I corrected.
“Your… wife…?” Rainere didn’t look like he understood what I meant, but then his eyes widened. “You mean… that little gal with the wings?!”
“Yes.” I frowned at him. “Why are you surprised? Isn’t it obvious that my wife is a dragon?”
“Er… well, I’ve never heard of the dragon race transforming into humans,” Rainere said in a small voice. His expression was a bit pale.
“They can’t,” I said. “But my wife is different. She’s a member of the drakvar.”
“What is a drakvar?” asked Alexis.
I shook my head. “Even if I told you right now, I doubt you would believe me.”
Alexis frowned at me with displeasure, but I kept my mouth shut. I was being honest. Right now, there was no way she would believe me if I told her about the drakvar, which would involve explaining the existence of the other nine realms.
The inside of the Midgard Spiritual Knight’s tower had also been extensively damaged. There was a large crack about half a meter wide that ran through the ground and up the wall. I guessed this had also been caused by Siv’s battle against either Dunherr or Unglück. We walked past the damage as several earth elemental Spiritualists worked hard to repair it, moving rhythmically along the ground as they unleashed their Spiritual Powers into a technique. I shook my head. Lin could have repaired that floor with a tap of her tail.
The meeting was held on the first floor. I was sure some people were worried about the structural integrity of the building and didn’t want to be on a higher level floor in case the building collapsed. When we entered the large room, it was to find Commander Ahsten, Ming Shen, Cathrine Hildre, Dagan Fauste, and Morrigan Arsland already present.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Commander Ashten said. “Come and sit down. We have a lot to discuss.”
Rainere moved over to the table everyone was sitting at. It was smaller than the one that had been used during the previous meeting I attended, more personal and intimate. Alexis also sat at one of the remaining empty seats. After a moment, I followed suit, sitting at the last empty seat at the table.
And thus the meeting started.
The first few minutes of the meeting dealt with the casualties and damage done to Midgard. There had been a total of 10,000 people killed, which actually wasn’t considered a large number given what happened, though I still thought 10,000 deaths was 10,000 too many. Remunerations would be given to the families of the deceased.
The damage done to Midgard was fairly extensive, though again, it could have been worse. A number of buildings had been destroyed. Now on top of repairing the arena, the market square where the portal had opened and the large two kilometer trench created by me during my battle with Dunherr needed to be fixed. There was another trench, which I believed had been caused by Dunherr before I arrived, and that also had to be repaired.
“Thanks to how extensive the damage is, we estimate the cost to be around three hundred and thirty thousand valis,” Morrigan said, setting a sheet of parchment she had been reading from onto the table.
That was a fairly large number, but I could have paid for all the repairs myself. At last count, the amount of money I had from my partnership with the Alchemist Association alone earned me about 400,000,000 valis a year now.
“That’s quite the extensive amount,” Rainere mumbled.
“The Midgard Spiritual Knights can pay for at a fourth of that,” Commander Ashten announced.
“My Battling Valkyries can also afford to pay at least fifty million valis,” Alexis said.
Rainere scratched the back of his head and sighed. “I can also pay fifty million. That’s gonna put my sect back quite a bit though…”
One by one, the other sect leaders also agreed to pay fifty million, which was more than enough to cover the cost of repairs. I sat there and wondered if I should also offer to pay. It felt like the right thing to do. I was never given the chance, however, because Commander Ashten began speaking again.
“Now onto the reason we called you.” Commander Ashten focused his gaze on me.
Since it seemed my reason for being brought here had finally come, I straightened in my seat. I think the others realized I wasn’t particularly interested in what they had been talking about. Alexis wore a sardonic smirk, while Commander Ashten was giving me an aggrieved look. Rainere, Ming Shen, Cathrine, Dagan, and Morrigan all had mixed expressions.
“Eryk Veiger, your contributions during this dire time are not small,” Commander Ashten began. “It was only because of you that we learned of the Sekbeist, and it was also thanks to you and your wife that we were able to close the portal. You and your wives also defeated the two most powerful enemies to attack us. We want to reward you for the help you’ve provided, which is why we decided to give you a seat on the Council of Six.”
I blinked once, twice, thrice, then slumped a little. They wanted to give me a seat on the Council of Six? What exactly was the Council of Six? It was the leading body of the Northern Plains, the most influential governing body, the people who made all the decisions regarding policies and laws here. Members of the Council of Six were the most celebrated and respected figures in the Northern Plains, and they wanted me to join this most august body.
“No thanks,” I said with a wide smile on my face.
