Tree of Aeons

363 - Uprising, Upheaval

Jorkun walked to the platform, draped in more accessories and equipment than he ever had. Relics embedded on his metallic arm, relics on his shoulder. There were enough relics on Jorkun’s body, that he later described it as being back to the glory days of Eras. 

Back to the days when relics flowed from Erasian Forges, and the markets flooded with treasures aplenty.

Once the Descendants on their world were defeated, he knew there would be retaliation. The Descendants would come from them.

But Erasians had never retreated from a fight, and it was not in Jorkun's nature as a Sentinel of Eras to refuse the chance to defend the honor of his creator. So, with relics gathered from across the world and many more retrieved from secret vaults of the Descendants, Jorkun stepped onto one of the largest public platforms on the Library of Eras to declare war. 

"We have been lied to!" Jorkun declared in front of tens of thousands, his presence and voice amplified to every corner of the Library of Eras. Though he once took the form of a plain steel golem, today with relics from head to toe - he looked more like a ceremonial knight. 

Mechanical voice repeaters flooded everywhere with his metallic words. 

"They say we are meant to worship the Reviver. Today, I tell you that the Reviver is a false god! It is a parasite! A worm! A creature designed to drain us and distract us from our real deity! We are dwarves, we worship Eras and NO OTHER!"

His voice echoed, and the attention of the Descendants all over the world was on him. 

"Today, hear my voice and feel the divinity of our true divine god." Jorkun was no priest. But with enough relics and some training from the priests of Aeon, he could do a similar job. There was also enough ancient writings on how to invoke Eras's faith and to feel Eras's divinity. 

He glowed as brightly as the brightest slags within the molten steel forges. The hot, passionate light of creation. 

"These Descendants try, but they cannot even replicate a figment of our god's true glory!" The Descendants try their best to assault and spin lies within the dwarves and their descendants. 

It is but a pale attempt at obscuring the truth. 

On worlds where divinity was truth, the presence of a powerful relic, the imprint of their patron was like the breaking of the sun's light through a storm. On worlds like the Core Worlds where there were eons of Erasian faith woven into the world, woven into the reality, the memories of their realm's core, that truth was absolute.

"Here, TRUTH. Feel the glory of creation. Remember, within our blood and within our workshops, the glory of knowledge!"

Everywhere and everyone on the Library who listened to Jorkun's words felt their minds slammed with something that could not be denied.

Truth. 

Everyone experienced ancient memories. A moment of Eras written into their blood, imprinted in their being and transmitted through the thousands of generations.  Řåℕ𝘖𝐛Ɛś

A moment when their own ancestors saw and worshipped their god. 

"Eras!" Jorkun declared. "We believe in no other!"

"ERAS!" They roared, as many were roused, their eyes somehow realizing that their life had been a lie. Their fury now directed at the Descendants.

"ERAS!" The sentinel repeated.

This time, the roar came from the entire world. Everywhere and in every city and every corner. Dwarves called Eras's name truly and chucked the Reviver's effigies into the trash.

Unlike the pale, false faith that the Descendants had tried to build over the thousands of years, it all took just a single memory of Eras to revive what was always there.

Genuine faith. 

Millions and billions of Dwarves all over the Library of Eras believed.

Then.

A wobble through the void sea itself. 

A shake. A rumble.

The demon's prison shook, its fluctuations creating gigantic wobbles throughout the dense void sea. The demon's prison rumbled. 

It was as if the black object that floated high up in the sky twisted. Strained. It was a god fighting to release itself. 

But their captors were not going down without a fight.

***

On the other four Erasian Core worlds, the Descendants were in absolute chaos. 

"What is happening?"

"Someone is using the old Erasian relics to reawaken their original faiths and remove belief in our Lord Reviver!" A descendant reported.

"We should've acted more decisively than just watching from the sidelines!" Some other Descendants cursed. 

Even the domain holders were worried, and they quickly called on the Descendants to perform a ritual of some sort. On the four other worlds, the descendants performed a strange ritual of empowerment. 

***

The wobbling of the demon's prison was a wonderful opportunity, and at that moment, we thought we saw a glimpse of the monster. We saw it with our own senses. 

Its eyes opened. It was a giant worm, curling around the demon's prison like it was hugging an egg. 

Its red eyes manifested above the skies with a hateful, angry glare towards Jorkun. A beam of powerful magic shot out of those red eyes. 

But Jorkun stood defiant.

"LIAR!" He roared at the giant eye in the sky as everyone else hid and fled. "YOU ARE NO GOD OF MINE!"

The relics throughout Jorkun's divine steel body shone to resist and protect its wielder. 

Two beams appeared in the skies above the platform. A violent red beam of light from the red eye and another purple light emerged from the combined relics of Eras. The powers clashed, and yet the leviathan's foul magic was more powerful. It pushed. And pushed. 

***

"Jorkun will not stand alone." Gorkun and the other sentinels we had rescued and reawakened from the Sun-Rings, begged, from the relative safety of the Sun-Rings. "Send us there to stand with him. Together, our powers can resist the usurper's lies!!" 

They were gathered around a node tree and could experience the moment through our shared Dream Academy. 

They begged, and I thought about it. 

***

Zarkun, complete with a bevy of other relics, rushed to the platform and his magical energies joined with Jorkun, and the punishing ray of the Reviver's advance slowed. 

"Should we help?" Edna asked.

"No." Lumoof countered. "This is a battle between the remnants of the Erasian faith and the Reviver. Our aid would be counterproductive. Also, that red eye's magic is waning. The eye will go back to sleep soon."

***

Then, I agreed to send three of the sentinels, Gorkun, Harkun, and Merkun. I had separated these metallic brothers from each other long enough, and now we wanted to present the anti-Reviver heretical forces, or the True Erasian Faith, as a legitimate challenger to the Descendants. 

A large number of Sentinels would make the Descendants focus on the True Erasians, and we would be able to strike from the back.

***

Jorkun stood and resisted, and he was surprised when three more Sentinels rushed to his side. The five sentinels glowed as one, their shared heritage as Eras's prized creations contained enough of their divine creator's energies.

Now, the Reviver's red beam of death could no longer push forward. 

This clash of energies lasted, and then, the red eye simply ran out of time.

It vanished, and the five Sentinels stood on the platform. It was a victory, even if they did not win. 

Victory, because they survived.

Jorkun roared. "THE REVIVER CANNOT CRUSH THE TRUTH!"

The Library of Eras echoed with the names of their true god.

***

"We cannot allow this to slide!" My vines and roots spread across the four other Erasian worlds listened to the passionate discussions by the Descendants. In private, these Descendants contemplated their next steps.

"How! How did those damned fools on the Library allow the heretics to amass not one, but five Sentinels! No wonder they managed to slay Wa-Libra!" The panic within the Descendant's ranks was palpable. 

The false Wadrans. 

Unlike other forms of parasitism, these Descendants had thoroughly replaced the original souls of the Wadrans, and as such, from our experimentations, it was not possible to undo them anymore.

It was more of an invasive spirit that supplanted and eliminated the original.

A soul snatcher. 

Ally, my lovely Aeonic Infestor Champion, did her best to extract all she could from the captured Descendants, but unfortunately, they did not know much about Lord Reviver except its origins. There was also no conversation on how to reverse or cancel the ritual.

In the Descendants' mind, there was no thought of reversal. They succeed, or they failed. 

"It is unusual." The High Lord of the Bestiary, a Descendant mage named Zam-Zaqa declared. "Wa-Libra is one of my peers, and his strength should have far outstriped that of the sentinels. Even five would not be sufficient." 

"They have relics, Lord Zam-Zaqa! Many, many relics that were sufficient to even resist Lord Reviver's deathray! Surely that is enough proof that they can slay Wa-Libra." 

"Yes, yes." Zam-Zaqa agreed. "With enough relics and weapons they can, but not in the way it happened. Our agents claim that there was a huge explosion at the meeting area. How did they get in?"

But everyone was dead, and those involved in the attack were the Sentinels themselves and also my domain holders. There was no one to tell the tale. 

"All we need is for Lord Fellma-ra to visit the site. His [Historical Recall] should reveal the truth to us all!" 

Zam-Zaqa's tentacles wobbled as a long silence descended on the hall. "That is true. Where is that creature now?" 

Another Descendant argued against it. "Fellma-Ra is a mad blob. He is afflicted with hallucinations and is hiding in the depths of the Forge of Eras. Somewhere. Surely you cannot ask us to use his abilities, Lord Zam-Zaqa!"

"Those amongst us with the abilities to see the past for what it is are few and far between." Zam-Zaqa said. 

"For good reason!" That same Descendant, one of Zam-Zaqa's advisors, countered. "[Past Sight] is always associated with madness! We are creatures of the present, Lord Zam-Zaqa! We live for the moment! To consume and to rule!"

Zam-Zaqa's tentacles and postures sagged and wobbled in a way that is often described as the Descendant's frown. "It is what it is. Find him and get him here."

"We can't. A declaration just emerged from the Forge and the Crucible. Both worlds are imposing an embargo on all void travel! No one can move between worlds at all!"

Zam-Zaqa's tentacles slammed the furniture so hard that it snapped and crumbed. "Ridiculous! When we are so close, our allies choose to cut us off?! What is this madness!"

A black ball emerged in front of Zam-Zaqa, a magical communications spell. 

"Ghul-dah, what madness are you doing!" Zam-Zaqa yelled.

"Madness? We have enemies, Zam-Zaqa. The Erasian Golems are invading our worlds, and they have some way of getting to us. I cannot help but suspect there are traitors amongst us. So, it is only wise that we impose an embargo. I have tasked my void mages to create a void barrier to block all travel." 

"And what makes you think the golems are not already on your world!" Zam-Zaqa countered. "The records said HUNDREDS were made."

"And we destroyed many in our past." Ghul-dah countered. "But no matter what, I must protect and fulfill our mission, and a barrier is necessary. If you do not protect yourself, Zam-Zaqa, they will come for you next."

Well, I already had node trees on all five Erasian Core worlds, thus I could avoid the entire issue with void travel. 

"I have to agree with Lord Ghul-Dah." A third Descendant appeared, one identified as one of the domain holders of the Crucible, also a mage-priest named Aman-ah. "We should deal with this separately. The heretics have a weapon of some sort able to destroy us. We suspect it is an ancient Erasian explosive relic. Locking down void travel is one way to ensure it stays on the Library of Eras."

"Madness!" Zam-Zaqa countered. "We have no proof! You have no proof!"

"Did you all fail to scry and see what the heretics transmitted to everyone? Did you not feel Lord Reviver's deathray?" Aman-ah countered. "If the heretics can do that, what makes you think it cannot do it to the rest of us? This is the best choice, Zam-Zaqa."

Zam-Zaqa's fury boiled parts of his tentacles until it transformed in color and texture. "Fine, Ghul-dah, before you lock up your world, find Fellma-Ra and send him to the Library of Eras. I want his abilities on the ground, I want to know what happened. We all do."

Aman-ah countered. "I don't see how it is relevant. Locking down our worlds is more important. Lord Reviver's return is not far away, we can make do without one world."

Zam-Zaqa shouted back. "You fool. Have you not seen the wobbling of the Prison? With enough faith, Eras could stir from his stasis!"

"So? Our rituals are strong enough to suppress the wobbling. There is no problem. I urge you, Zam-Zaqa, be smart and lock up your world. I am heavily interrogating the refugees I have, and I have killed more than half of them."

Unlike most mortals, the Descendants clearly didn't care for one another, because more than half of the refugees with any bit of unusual involvement were slaughtered. The other half were imprisoned in magically secure facilities. 

It was beautiful to watch the false nobility they'd created consume itself. 

"You are insane. Our enemies are not us, Aman-ah."

"Then explain how we've heard that there are void portals used in the attack!"

"Ancient Wadran Artifacts!" Zam-Zaqa countered. 

"That is a foolish theory! Wadra has never made artifacts. That nomadic beast of a god had half the mind of a worm!"

"But Wadran followers did!" Zam-Zaqa countered. "Many are masters of the void as much as we are!" 

"Face the obvious, Zam-Zaqa, there is a traitor, and by how strongly you argue for open borders, I cannot help but suspect you are one!" Aman-ah said. 

That made Ghul-Dah's jellyfish eyes squint. If such a creature could be described to have a squint. It stared like Zam-Zaqa was a criminal.

Zam-Zaqa frowned. "Burn in the Ravenous' belly, Aman-ah. Do not accuse me of disloyalty!"

"Say all you want, the decision is unanimous. We are closing the void pathways and putting up the wall."

There was something wonderfully sweet and enjoyable about watching these Descendants bicker and argue amongst themselves.