Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Sorin and friends now knew what they were looking for, so they split apart in search of treasures. Just like before, they found large amounts of life and death scales and a few corrupted divine crystals. Everything else of value had long since fallen to the ravages of time.

Like the settlements before, there was a small mound at the center of the ruin. Sorin arrived to find Celine dissolving the mound with moonlight just as he’d done with his poison.

“Seen enough?” asked Celine, looking back over her shoulder as the last of the stone melted away.

“I just never realized how insidious moonlight could be,” said Sorin. “As far as I’m aware, this node is located halfway through our allocated territories.”

Celine snorted and flung nineteen life-and-death scales his way. “You worry too much. Though I suppose that makes sense, given how readily your clan dabbles into dangerous politics. Honestly, I’m surprised you guys haven’t switched over to the Ares faction by now. Or is it simply a scheme for others to let their guard down?”

“I’m afraid I’m not privy to any great plans,” said Sorin. “I try to avoid politics if I can, though they always seem to chase me down.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe that,” said Celine. “Is your team ready to move out, or do you need time to rest.”

“I’d like to examine the flamekin corpses before we leave,” said Sorin. “Though their flames were dead, I might be able to pry a few weaknesses from their bodies.”

Flamekin were myths just like dryads, but they aligned with fire instead of wood and earth. Their species was militaristic and ultimately fell under the purview of Hate.

Sorin discovered many useful things from their bodies, including the ignition mechanism that lit up parts of their body. Maybe metabolism suppressing poisons will be especially effective against them?

Once he was finished with the corpses, Sorin went to find Astley next. The myth binder was looking increasingly pale with each ruin they found, leading Sorin to believe that she’d discovered something important. “Just tell me what’s going on so I at least know why you’re so drained and off the mark.”

Sorin inspected the tablet she was working on but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“It’s just more of the same,” said Astley. “Though now that I’ve accumulated enough information, I can conclusively say that these murals speak of a war spanning centuries.”

“A war spanning centuries,” repeated Sorin. “Between the Gods and the Evils?”

“No,” said Astley. “Between the Gods and some unknown entity. Apparently, these huts all contain a special inheritance. They were left behind as per the directives of the gods. Unfortunately, time and the highly conflicting energies in this location have eroded these inheritances. Which is a shame, given the entity involved.

“Which entity?” asked Sorin.

“Ouroboros, the tail eater,” answered Astley. “He was one of the last minor deities to fall due to his endurance and alleged unlimited lifespan. I suspect that the scales we’ve collected are, in fact, scales of Ouroboros and quite possibly the key to his inheritance.” Sorin had figured as much, given the sigils he’d seen on animated corpses and the fierce life and death energies inside the realm, but he no longer had any doubts now that Astley had confirmed his hypothesis.

“There’s another tidbit of information. A few words are often utilized interchangeably with the word ‘God.’ Sometimes, it’s Guardian. Sometimes, it’s Keeper. On some rare occasions, however, the word ‘Jailor’ is used.”

A fierce mental pressure bore down on Sorin, but thanks to his tarnished divinity, he was able to resist. “That’s a big secret,” said Sorin. “How was the backlash?”

“I’m currently hemorrhaging internally,” said Astley. “Don’t panic, I’ve already given some pills to accelerate the healing.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Sorin.

“Yes,” said Astley. “Don’t mention any of what I’ve told you to the others. Unless you want them to die a terrible death, that is.”

“I’ll also tell you another interesting tidbit of information. There’s often a mention of two unnamed gods with unmatched power. Somehow, their relationship to the other gods is ambiguous. They are also sometimes mentioned as a singular entity and other times mentioned as separate entities.”

“I mention this because the powers they display are familiar. One god wielded the power of lightning, while another wielded power over death. The murals mentioned them in passing as heroic yet unnamed individuals. Apparently, the order to leave inheritances for mortal descendants came from these two unnamed gods as they attempted a dangerous summoning ritual to repel the invaders.”

Sorin felt like all the pieces were there. All he had to do was assemble them. Unfortunately, that familiar unseen pressure refused to let him make the connection. Sorin could only give up and help Astley pack untranslated materials. Their two teams explored one more ruin on their side of the border, at which point all their ruins were marked as claimed.

Their two groups migrated to the central zone that was sealed off for the time being. All god seeds and surviving adventuring parties gathered up at a marked rendezvous point where the final showdown with the flamekin would take place.

An army of 5,000 flamekin appeared on the other side of the sealed-off sphere separating their forces. “So much for balance,” said Sorin as they joined the circle in the center. “Unless they’re making up for quality by using quantity?”

“Sorin Kepler, we finally meet,” greeted Benjamin Riss. “How interesting that a physician like you would smell of conflict. I believe you should be able to identify the challenges we will face once the barrier separating our forces vanishes.”

Sorin inspected the enemy army and soon discovered the root of the problem. “An Agent of Strife?”

“Correct,” said Benjamin. “A rare Agent of Strife is leading these troops alongside an Agent of Anger. We must be especially vigilant when fighting such an enemy. Disruptions to our battle formations are inevitable. Our main advantage is our powerful individual strength, but we must take care not to succumb to the flamekin’s swarm tactics.”

Sorin frowned as he looked at the building at the center of the dungeon. “Is that a mausoleum?”

“More like a massive tombstone,” said Michael Pollen, whose left arm was wrapped up with a bandage. “Thanks a lot for sending me Charles’s way.”

“Not a problem,” said Sorin. “Did all that death mana floating around that tombstone already exist?”

“No, it did not,” said Michael. “Ratten Hyde somehow found a way inside the barrier and is currently trying to awaken a powerful creature.”

“Ratten Hyde is none of our concern,” said Benjamin Riss. “Corpses are the domain of the Hyde Clan, and he’s perfectly capable of defending himself if attacked. Our job is to take down this group of myths and claim this realm for Lord Hope. By my estimates, this barrier won’t last much longer than twenty more minutes. That’s about how long it will take for the flamekin to complete their exploration.”

“Why don’t we just strike pre-emptively like I suggested?” asked Charles in his usual petulant tone. “It’s rather foolish, just waiting around for them to be fully prepared.”

“Why don’t you follow your grandfather’s advice and think thrice before you speak?” asked Celine. “You’re making our entire faction look bad.”

“I believe I made myself clear as to why we were waiting,” said Charles. “It simply wasn’t a good idea to attack until two of our strongest offensive God Seeds arrived.”

“What strongest offensive God Seeds?” mocked Charles. “Me and Michael are stronger offensively than just about anyone here, even if our sanctification isn’t really high.”

“And that would be excellent if we were dealing with Dryads,” said Benjamin cheerfully. “Unfortunately, we’re dealing with literal creatures of fire resistant to Michael’s arrows. Creatures that can burn away even your frustratingly effective poisons. Your spells will at most display 37 percent efficiency, assuming you maintain peak condition.”

Charles’s eyes narrowed. “Have you been spying on me?” accursed Charles.

“I spy on everyone,” said Benjamin. “Don’t take it personally. If it’s any consolation, I spy less on you than other people. You’re so dull it would be a waste of my brainpower to try to read anything into your sad attempts at subterfuge.”

“Why don’t we all calm down and strategize properly?” said Sorin, placing himself between Charles and Benjamin. “I still need to return to my party to make a proper plan. No offense, Benjamin, but I won’t be allowing you to direct my team.”

“The same goes for all teams in our faction,” said Celine. “There’s too much potential for misunderstandings.”

“Relax,” said Benjamin, holding up his hands. “I wouldn’t dare dream of ordering your people around. That said, we do need to strategize. Celine, Sorin, I believe you each have some party members that are well-suited to this sort of discussion?”

Sorin sighed. “I’ll fetch Gareth and Daphne.”

“I’ll go get Faile, I suppose,” said Celine.

“See? Cooperating isn’t too difficult,” said Benjamin. “I’ll make an army out of us yet.”