God of Nothing

Rayse lay on the ground, staring at the artificial sky of his master's sanctuary. 

The dark haired woman covered the sky, staring at him from above. She still had the spear in hand, but she thankfully looked like she had no further plans to use it.

He didn't even see what took him out. One second he was charging her, and the next he was on the ground catching his breath.

"Well? Had enough?" She asked him coldly.

For a few moments afterward, all anyone could hear was heavy breathing.

"What– what was that?" He panted.

"Just a tiny poke to the solar plexus. I used the blunt end, kid, so stop being a baby and explain yourself properly."

Rayse could tell she was still annoyed, but he thanked his lucky stars that her curiosity overcame her bloodlust. So grateful in fact, that he was far more respectful in addressing her this time.

"Um, yes. My magic teacher, Lady Iona, was looking for you…"

"And I told you, I don't know her. Don't really know many humans, to be honest."

Rayse's eyes grew wide, getting a clue to the woman's identity. 

"Are you also a god?"

"Bhahahahah! Me? Are you kidding?"

"Then–"

"There's so much more to the universe than your kind, kid. Heck, do you think this world and the one under that well are the only ones that exist? There's an infinite cosmos out there, ya bumpkin!"

Rayse didn't really know how to react. He expected there to be more out there of course, especially after learning Aleph's origins.

Then again, he should have expected other visitors, looking at the epigraph's message. The woman sighed, watching him try and work through the information she gave him. She sat down and patted his chest.

"Ohhh, dear, did that break your brain? ...Alright. Let's just say I'm an agent of the one you serve. Does that help?"

He was still skeptical, but he literally could not do anything about it so he just nodded. 

"So how did you get here if not through the well?"

"There's plenty of ways to worldhop, but you could say I followed the road the previous guests left. You should really do something about that, by the way. If it came to blows, this whole place would have been wrecked!"

She answered with some vague wording, but Rayse felt like even if he knew the specifics, he wouldn't understand it, so he left it alone. Instead, he tried to keep the conversation going somehow. Still unable to move, his eyes landed on Emily's spear.

"My master's not gonna be pleased that you used that, you know." 

"What? But it's so good! Better than any of the weapons I'm used to using, I can tell you that." She protested, but eventually threw out the spear, which landed perfectly to mark Emily's grave.

"You can borrow mine. Maybe show me that move you just used." Rayse offered.

"You mean this thing?" 

"Good craftsmanship, but the materials are horrible. How'd you win a fight with this?"

"Um, actually, I followed the advice you gave me. Had a few buddies with a knack for earth magic, so I gave it my own spin and–"

He puckered his lips up to the ground above his head, where the ground collapsed on itself. The woman whistled appreciatively.

"Oooh, nice. Chantless too? You've really got something here."

"Eh, it's alright. Probably won't work on my next opponent though. She could fly, sorta."

"With something like this, you're forcing her to the air instead of her going there on her own. That will give you some chances."

With that, the woman left to go back inside the guest house.

"I suppose… Hey wait, where ya goin?"

"Back in to finish my meal, of course. I was in the middle of it when you barged in."

"Oh, right. That reminds me, I gotta go get dinner, too."

Rayse watched the mysterious woman go. After they clashed, he was fully convinced she wasn't who Iona was searching for, but that opened up a completely new set of questions. He called out to her, unable to handle his curiosity.

"Hey, miss… What's your name?"

Her hand hovered at the door. Rayse sat up and stared, awaiting her response. After a while, he heard her speak in a quiet voice.

"My kind don't really have names. Not like you people. But if you insist on calling me something, call me Lost."

The door shut on him before he could respond. Well, he deserved that. Any disturbance in Aleph's sanctuary today was completely his fault. He promised himself that he would return and fix up a bit before running off to dinner.

__________________________________

The children were filled to the brim with Lori's stew. The twins fell asleep on their backs on their way home, and Rayse himself fell right into bed once he tucked them in. Aleph ducked out of the house, letting them sleep.

He circled to his workshop, intent on continuing to work on the rest of his equipment, when he noticed there were people already inside. He opened the door to see an exasperated Iona watching a stranger rummage through his things.

"...Sorry about this, Aleph." She lowered her head at him when he came through. It seems she stayed put to smooth things over between him and the stranger, who was poring over Aleph's blueprints. She muttered to herself once in a while, writing cramped notes on a pad she had procured from somewhere.

"Hey Jodi, cut that out and thank the man for letting you make a mess of his stuff."

The newcomer completely ignored them both, taking the time to make another lengthy scribble.

Iona sighed, looking back once again towards Aleph apologetically.

"Sorry, I promised I'd let her meet you today, but it seems she had stumbled upon your workshop. She'd been analyzing your blueprints for hours now."

"Worry not, Lady Iona. I take it this is your artificer friend, the one that made manameters?"

"Yep. This nerd is Jodi Lufkin, the best maker of artifacts in the– Ow!" Iona winced as she got hit by a wooden pellet. She rounded the room, forcibly pulling her 'friend' towards Aleph now.

"I knew you were listening! Come here and introduce yourself. You're being rude."

Jodi let herself be pulled, but covered her face with the blueprint she was studying. Aleph chuckled, as it reminded him of something.

"No need to force her, miss Iona. Researcher types get like that when they find something they don't fully understand. Why, my friend Judith locked herself in her lab when mana was discovered in my country. His poor husband had to keep reminding her to take care of herself, or else she'd just be running tests all day long."

Aleph took a seat on the other side of the room, where what he was working on was leaned up against. Aleph noticed it had been tampered with, presumably by her guest. To be precise, his work had progressed a little bit from where he'd left off, a surprising feat given what he'd seen of the level of artifacts in this world.

"She seems quite capable. I'd be glad to host her for the night. You may go, miss Iona."

"Why do I feel like that's a jab at me?... You know what, don't answer that. I'm actually here for something else: We've just heard from Vaynard's forces. We just got it tonight."

Iona brought out a letter, handing it over to Aleph. He scanned the contents quickly.

"The other portals were unmanned?"

"Strange isn't it? After all the trouble we went through to destroy the ones close by, they just found them deserted."

"Regardless, from the looks of it, most of the portals in the country had been shut down."

Aleph worked as he spoke. He noticed Jodi stealing glances at his direction from time to time, but he let it slide. He absently fiddled with the mechanism, preparing it to be melded with the crystal.

"Yup… Which means time has almost come for us to join them against the enemy's detached force."

"You mean the one led by Deceit? Did Carrack manage to track them down?"

"Yeah. They really weren't hard to find. The bastards keep ambushing the supplies we were sending to the front, and then vanishing like ghosts. Well, with their portals out of commission, they had no choice but to rejoin their buddies at the spire. There were reports of all eight being active a couple days ago at the latest."

"Hmmm. So what about us, then?"

Aleph was carving out runes now, the circuitry in which mana could flow. Jodi was staring at his work intently now, being uncomfortably close. He finally addressed her at this point, pulling out a demon's horn.

"I'm about to fill these grooves with a catalyst to change the mana's properties to the one I require. Just sit back and watch."

"Don't bother him Jodi. And quit throwing pellets at me!" Iona snapped. He chucked a few back at her for good measure, but Jodi was still ignoring her.

"Anyway, there's a couple more portals close by that need to be shut down. We do that first before joining up with Carrack. How soon can we sortie?"

"This piece is just a precaution. I need to shore up my power in case a herald– or worse– comes knocking. We can blitz a few more portals the day after next, just as soon as I finish these."

"What does that do, anyway?" Iona asked, going over to the pair.

"It's obviously a gravity manipulation device, can't you see? The crystals are a dead giveaway."

It was Jodi who answered.

"Correct. And do you know what I will be using it for?" 

"You're attaching it to something, it looks like. Have you made the other components? I would like to– Oh, you modified them into bracers? Clever." She belatedly noticed the cobalt blue bracers Aleph was wearing. The gauntlets with the crystals were recharging back in his well.

"Excellent deduction. Would you like to assist in the procedure?"

"Please." Her eyes glowed with enthusiasm, though her tone stayed even. Iona looked back and forth at the two, looking increasingly confused. She took that as her cue to exit the room.

"I feel like I'm intruding, so I'll see you both later."

Aleph worked all night, having gained a surprisingly good assistant. It hastened his work considerably, and by the time sunrise came around, a pair of floating hands hovered around him.