ALL NOVEL 46. Ring Stealer
"Are you certain this is the way, old man?" A muscular young man in simple clothing with sun-kissed skin of impossible cleanness under the harsh rays of the sun and relentless wind of the desert. His long black hair was seemingly unaffected.
The answer came from a handsome middle-aged man of a darker complexion in an extravagant yellow dress walking behind him with an equal supernatural orderliness of his body and clothes. One would mistake the two for a warrior and a philosopher. The truth was similar, yet not; their appearance didn't stop the two from dabbling in either.
"I'm certain of nothing, Enkidu, for none is, and any swearing the opposite is the greatest of fools." The older of the two, by millenia, explained sagely, fully aware of the effect on the younger one's mood. To his glee, might Oll add, to experience the act of being mystified and doing it on others, it became clear why the former did so.
"That may be true, but it does not answer my first inquiry, Oll." Enkidu prompted with a frown; it was a common occurrence between them since they met and began to explore both cultures and the world as 'peers' or the closest to what this word meant. Travel companions were an alternative, friends a potentiality.
And travel the world they did to learn and understand the beauty of humanity and nature alike but also its horror and their interactions. The blessing and curses, the life and death, trust and betrayal, peace and war, health and disease, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, there was no exception.
It had been fruitful but ultimately little to what could be grasped of the infinite totality; there was more, so much more. All of what was seen, heard, tasted, and touched was a fractal of the reality to experience.
The boy who would be king chose this for little reason than impulse. His soul burned to learn, to understand, to bring light to the darkness surrounding his existence, and to seek purpose.
Why was he created? Who created him? To what goal? His artificial nature was evident, and it wasn't of human making, at least not the ones he was familiar with outside his memories, and even then…They were advanced beyond any others he saw on his travel in raw knowledge and its uses, but none that could hint to them birthing him.
He may lack data to affirm this suspicion, but he highly doubted he was of human design. Humans as he knew them, that is, signs of a past golden age of magic, were hinted at multiple points.
A mud village had more in common with a magocracy than his engineering with what he was aware of what humans were capable of. His love for them was rational.
And Oll was the key to unfolding this enigma as the First Perpetual, as he called himself, was an enigma himself. An extremely frustrating one; every answer opened the gate to a hundred more questions, with each an equal number of answers, each and every last as plausible as the last.
It was frustrating in ways Enkidu never knew were conceivable, but it wasn't bad in any shape, contradictorily enough. It was exciting and new… his soul burned every second, minute, and hour to discover and bring light. It was a part of himself that had awakened, and he instinctively knew this man, whatever he may be or his motives, was vital.
"Simple matter of desire and the path will bloom before you." Oll chuckled, flicking his wrist where a strange geometrical device of wood and iron appeared, a compass.
He opened it to reveal a number of contraptions of which half the boy barely understood, such as the trembling bronze arrow pointing somewhere. At the same, he threw one of his bracelets, a plain, pure golden one, in the far distance—an escape.
The compass was a present of his late mother and would appear broken as it didn't point North. But it was the opposite. It pointed to what the user desired, which couldn't be stolen since it was soulbound, and why Enkidu wasn't interested in it. It wasn't the first time he saw it, and he did try to use it, failing miserably all the while.
It was a powerful artifact made only possible by the grace of the Lord of Dawn.
Unknown to both, this ability was a popular add-on to a plethora of items in the War in Heaven, and more potent forms were commonly used, though this didn't change this compass's immense value. It was in use in the Ark of Life as well, but the scale being vastly different made such devices expensive and precious.
But it was an extensively exacting device to use efficiently, requiring great mental control to trick the subconscious into believing what they wanted the most, material or conceptual, which the Perpetual possessed aplenty.
"We have arrived," Oll exclaimed, and his young friend looked at him quizzically, his many extensive senses unable to notice anything besides the surrounding dry sand.
"Truly?"
"Yes, now follow me." The First Perpetual intoned, and Enkidu obeyed, doubt remaining over his feature until the world rippled like water and the scent of salt tickled their nose.
Gone was the deadly desert. What replaced it was an idyllic coastline, the calm water of the crystal clear sea scintillating under the sun's magnanimous rays bathing all in their glory. Vivacious plant life of varieties not seen anywhere was growing in orderly chaos, seemingly creating a path for any wanderer to tread upon.
"Incredible..." The young man breathed with genuine awe, and his depthless eyes widened as they studied their surroundings with a ravenous desire to learn, "What manner of illusion is that?"
"It's not, young one, the outside was, or is it the opposite? It's honestly quite confusing and alternates each time I come here. Not that it matters, Ô̶̳̖̩͜P̵P̵̊̚E̴̓͘N̸̑̕ T̶̀H̵̽̎E̵͖͍͌̒͑͝ P̸͝A̷̖̽͂ͅT̷͒Ḧ̴͓́." Oll whispered, and the fabric of time and space unfolded as a glass door opened, revealing an ever-shifting crowd of people.
Enkidu was the first to move. The strange language Oll used was merely another mystery, one of immense importance but one he could do little about, so he didn't. Still, he would come to learn it in due time, that he swore to himself.
Stepping on the other side, the smell of sweat, rot, feces, and decomposition that would naturally come from a large grouping of people was absent. Instead, it was a pleasant, refreshing fragrance of wildflowers with foods and spices.
It wasn't the only peculiarity. The people's behavior and appearance were ones Enkidu never saw or thought as plausible. They were clean and healthy, but that wasn't all; their clothes of high-quality material and superb craftsmanship showed that monetary wealth was not lacking. The same was true for their bodies; none were of significance and abnormal corpulence, but it was evident food and water weren't lacking.
Elderly, adults, and children, be they male or female, were happy and satisfied as they mingled on about their mortal affair, all the while oozing positive emotion from the simple act of living in an endless supply to dissipate into the air as if absorbed by the stones below. No, it was the case; half of the psychic emanation was seeping through instead of flowing within the colorful current of the Sea of Soul.
'A self-replenishing runic formation targeting projection of positive emotion? Fascinating… Is this how the psychic field is kept in function? Very ingenious.' He wondered, wanting to reap everything to study it thoroughly, but a calloused hand on his shoulder calmed his excitement to an ember. Ready to explode once left alone.
"Welcome to Babbel, the capital of knowledge and wisdom given physicality! Lofty titles but not inaccurate for the most part." Oll said grandly, yet managing to sound as disinterested as possible, with even a hint of disgust.
A disgust that didn't go unnoticed by Enkidu and with the never-stopping flow of humans brought one question.
"Why do they not react? They are alive and well. Their soul is complete and their conscience intact, they see us, recognize us, but they… ignore everything else." Enkidu questioned, poking the forehead of a teenager passing by with no reaction whatsoever. The intoxicating smile never left the boyish feature, and it was… nothing if not strange.
Though not creating a scene was always better than its opposite.
"What are the Five Pillars?" Oll asked back, and a slight frown came onto Enkidu's features; what was the connection between these and now? Yes, their behavior was odd, artificial by many hints, but what was the problem?
The perceived notion of happiness and completion forwarded humanity's existence. Why would anyone be displeased at such a perfect example of both?
Crimes in all their forms were absent from the available sample, a constant in any human settlement, no matter the culture. And that was the tip of the iceberg from what he could read in the wide open minds happily projecting their every thought.
"Sensation, awareness, faith, knowledge and reflection." The boy that would be king recited, "But those are for the arcane, are they not?"
"Indeed but not exclusively," Oll began advancing in the crowd, "These can be applied to an individual, group, or even a civilization; breaking any is proof enough a nodus is festering."
"I see, however, these are unrealistic standards. It requires an absence of flaws not even the most enlightened would be free of. A society where its people could live in bliss in exchange for the Five Pillars is adequate given this context." Enkidu argued as he followed the older Perpetual, who was following the direction pointed by his compass until they stopped in front of a highly decorated marble wall.
"Yes indeed, and I'm inclined to agree, but what is the distinct schism between a human and the majority of its animal cousins?" Oll said, shifting briefly to Enuncia again or by its real name Anoqeyån, the tapestries of magic and the immitation of the Song of Creation, "T̶̫̣̻̱̂̆ͅHIS̴̛̛̉͒ ̴̣̠̲̺̠͗́I̶̳͕͉̰̋Ḿ̷͙̞ͅP̵̡̞̥̱͍͌́̀À̷̕S̶͐Š̴̬͙̄E̴͌̃ ̵IS̶ Ő̶F̷̠͛ ̴̜̪̉͝L̶̓̕I̴͖͐͆G̶̽H̵͇͂̍̌̄T T̵͐̍Ǒ̶̱͖̼͘ͅ Ṵ̷̥͖̩̒͑͜S̸."
And they walked through the five-meter thick wall of heavily enchanted stones capable of sustaining the firepower of an impressively large array of weapons from the Aeldari Empire… for a few minutes if generous to seconds if realistic, but it was nihil unbreakable on Earth.
But Enuncia, in its spoken form by a talented master taught by the creator by proxy, was a terrific tool.
What was revealed to them was an immense structure composed of five distinct, each taller yet less circumferential than the last from the outside to the inside.
This was an alabaster tower reaching to grasp the heavens, a tower composed of amphitheater-like structures. Each pillar was a smaller tower in its own right, with bridges connecting it with its sisters in a marble labyrinth centralizing to a central building.
This monument was the Tower of Babel.
And Enkidu, trying as he might to hide, was gawking. The knowledge of greater monuments having existed changed little to his first impression at seeing the tower of towers, the snort from his companion snapping him back and, with it, the answer he needed to give.
"The gift to act beyond the harnesses that are instincts, to express one's mind through complex ideas and emotions." He nodded to himself. Those weren't unique to humans, with cetaceans, pachyderms, primates, various species of birds, and more displaying similar dispositions. Still, it was an integral part of what made a human, well, human.
"Free will indeed, an ability sparsely spread on this world, and do these people possess this quality in their present state? Have they ever?" Oll said, walking uncaringly toward the tower entrance.
People this time paid attention but only briefly before returning to their tasks, whatever they may be. This time, all were free-minded psykers, but their lack of reactions was natural; how could these two come here if they weren't authorized? So, no fuss was made. A misunderstanding could lead to joining the joyous populace.
"No." The answer came coldly.
"Exactly, it might not be their fault, but as people, humans, they only biologically qualify if even. Appearance can be deceiving. They aren't merely slaves. They are nothing but lesser cattle following orders and obeying dutifully. Machines of flesh and blood with souls nurtured and modified, shackled to follow their purpose of existence to be blissfully ignorant and naively happy." And that was something Oll despised. The same was true for the Lord of Dawn, whose existence made everything possible.
Then why wasn't this Lord of Dawn, Shahar, helping? It was simple. The God wasn't a virtuous one, and forcing his will on mortals who were none of his believers would go against what he represented: freedom.
It had been stated as such to him by the horned Avatar of said divinity, freedom, what a double-edged sword it was. And what a strange object of obsession it was.
"This suddenly became far less interesting." Enkidu sighed in resignation, yet not all was to be thrown. There was merit to this method of building a civilization. Psychic brainwashing aside, education and strict rules in a structured environment could lead to similar results.
The duo's march through the Tower of Babel came to a sudden halt as Oll closed his compass and lifted his gaze to an ornate box on an equally extravagant pillar at the heart of the base of the main tower, hundreds upon hundreds of marble statues staring at the small box. A stare that wasn't unique to them, Enkidu in particular, something deep in his soul stirred
The echoes of the winds died as were every other sound when the sound of metal clinking against a hard surface reached their ear, deafening the footsteps accompanying it.
"Ah, at last, Nahua and Atlan succeeded in their grand fraternal quest of slaughtering one another?" An aged male voice rhetorically asked as the owner befitting of the voice came into the two Perpetuals' sight.
It was an old man of a lighter skin tone, then Oll covered in elegant robes of pure white, hiding the immense power thrumming behind this facade of frailty. His soft brown eyes critically studied them, shattering the illusion of warmth they possessed.
"It seems time has not treated you well, Shinar." The First Perpetual commented to his elder brother, momentarily stunning him; not one to waste an opportunity, Oll indicated with his right hand for his young companion to act.
And acts Enkidu did. He warped to the jewelry box in a flash of golden light and lifted it with psychically enhanced strength, tearing the podium and a part of the ground with it.
Immediately, every exit, be it doors or windows, was sealed by an interwoven web of impossibly dense psychic energy, stopping any non-authorized entity from escaping and accessing the Sea of Souls fully.
Simultaneously, the legion of statues awakened, their eyes ablaze and weapons of solidified light drawn as they came down on the two intruders; alas, it was in vain.
"S̵̭̮̊H̴̭̼̃͛Ä̴̜͇́̽̇̕͘T̷̛̫̯̾̽͂̕T̴̛̤̱̲͂̂ͅE̴̺͈͌R̷̥̱̄̉́̈͘." Oll whispered to the still-shocked old man, who barely managed to block by instantaneously and smoothly transmuting hundreds of tons of stones from the ground, allowing the First Perpetual to flick a plain golden bracelet from his wrist to the ground.
There was a small clink as the bracelet bounced off before violently expanding a hundred times while a portal comparable to a starry night sky formed within. Hesitation absent, both intruders jumped in the liquidity gate, leaving behind no rings and one of the strongest psykers that Humanity would ever know raging.
Many kilometers away, a hand busted out of the desert, followed by another, and then two more as two men broke out of a dune coughing ample quantities of dry, irritating, coarse sand.
"I hate sand…" Enkidu complained, shaking his close, and the box still magically stuck to a portion of the Tower of Babel.
"Now is not the time to complain." Oll added, then coughed sand, "But the opinion is shared."
It was the time to make a strategy retreat with their prize in hand, mighty and difficult to neutralize as they might be. They were not alone in being categorized as such.
Though it was for a victory, what was the use of a box that couldn't be opened, broken, or disenchanted and of which the only key was to kill who they fled and another? It was for them to discover and win, but in the end, only one would laugh as they all were runes dancing in the grand spell of the Devil.
