Tree of Aeons

366 

Year 367

Many worlds faced a tide of demons, but thanks to the Order's great efforts, we managed to push back. Worlds survived the tide, and the Order's great wall kept the demons and their demon kings at bay. 

To our relief, this wave was not a new normal, but a temporary surge caused by the amplified void pathways. The demons themselves were also not at full strength. We found more than a few demonic worlds where there were no demon kings, because those demonic world's corrupted core had yet to complete the process of 'gestating' a demon king.

It was an unusual outcome that left the system somewhat confused and messed with the behavior of the void portals that connected the demon worlds and the peripheral worlds. The rift gates themselves were clearly configured to maintain themselves up till the point of the demon king, and they were also magically linked to the demon kings, because the pathways that connected the demon worlds to their invaded worlds collapsed soon after the demon king died

Over the past two years, the density of the void mana around the peripheral worlds continued to rise. The demonic rifts themselves stayed open for far longer, and the overwhelming quantities of void mana was a double-edged sword for the demons too. 

Because they messed with the controls within the riftgates, which were already behaving strangely without a demon king. We had to match the magical energies of the rift gates to get through to the other side. However, with too much void mana flooding the portals, and in some worlds, no demon kings, some of these rifts behaved like two way doors with no keys or locks. 

It was something of a curiosity that excited the void mages within the Order, but I just wanted an end to it. 

The demons from these demon-controlled worlds produced and reproduced themselves at a fairly stable blip because after the initial large surge in the demonic attacks, the subsequent waves of demons were smaller and more regularly sized. 

With this breathing room, we began our counterattack. Our void mages began leading teams through the rifts to attack the demon worlds and destroy the spawning pools. Multiple squads which comprised of Level 125 to Level 149 Valthorn Elites raided these demon worlds, while the rest defended the peripheral worlds. 

As we took down the spawning pools across the demon worlds and then slayed the demon mothers, the rate of attacks and invasions on the peripheral worlds began to decrease.

Domain holders like Lausanne, Alka, and the others fought off the demon kings, and over the past two years, we restored a sense of normalcy. 

Whilst we defended, Lumoof and the now increasingly overextended Stella monitored the demon's prison for movement and activity.

We wanted to find evidence of an actual consciousness or active management of their invasion of the peripheral worlds, but the only thing we found was a constant flow of void mana to power the various demonic worlds.

Maybe they could discern how well they were doing by the number of worlds attacked at any point. They did not appear to care about how each world was doing individually, and maybe they didn't have the means to actually care all that much due to the lack of omniscience. 

"Not everyone can see things everywhere, Aeon." Lumoof chuckled. "It seems even the White Statue can only see through his various statues, and his sight required him to spread his soul about actively and deliberately. Trees do all of that passively."

Is it rare?

The mages and Order's information managers collated reports on various forms of active vision, and as it turned out, many types of classes did have some form of vision-sharing abilities.

Beast tamers could often share in the visions and sensations of their closely bonded animals. Johann could see through his dragon and share in his dragon's senses. ℞ᴀ𝐍𝘖𝖇ËS

So, if we presume that the demons could not 'see' what they were doing, they could therefore rely on crude numbers to presume performance. 

They were pretty much hidden behind a curtain, and they received numerical signals consisting of how many worlds they were invading, which ones died, and how quickly. It was not that they did not want to do more, but without knowledge, they were trying to fight blind.

Thus, they delegated decisionmaking to the demon kings.

As we continued to observe these Descendants, the conclusion was that the Descendants were not the mastermind behind the demons, even if there could be some links between the Domain holders and the Leviathan Reviver. If anything, their sole purpose appeared to be just as a tool to enable siphoning of the Erasian faith to enable the Reviver's return as the new Ravenous and to enable the 'jailing' of Eras. 

So, it was likely that the demonic invasion predated Eras's capture, but their effectiveness and abilities were augmented by the Descendant's work. 

"But destroying this entire system will still significantly weaken demons everywhere. With the destruction of that worm and tampering with the black sun, the spread of the demons and the use of the rift gates will be heavily impaired." Lumoof felt my thoughts and assured me to push on. "The demons would stop being an existential threat to the multiverse and return to being local calamities and outbreaks with significantly slower spread."

It was the difference between a heavily infectious disease and far less infectious variant.

It was the difference between a flu we could live with, and a threat to civilization.

Thousands of worlds and their inhabitants would still benefit from their eradication.

"You are right. We push on." 

We needed to bring an end. It might not be a complete end, but the worlds would be a better place without these demons. 

So first, we had to strike at the Descendants. 

***

Despite the earlier diplomatic language, Zam-Zaqa and Ghul-dah clearly were not friends. 

They both came with one other domain holder on their side when they stepped out of the rift gate, and all of them were in full war armor. 

"Why reach out when you are so wary?" Zam-Zaqa spoke first, clearly noticing how the Forge Lord was heavily armed as well. Our own further investigations into the DoDA records soon revealed that Ghul-dah's half dwarven mutant form was due to an imperfect birth. It appeared that Ghul-dah emerged from one of the Descendant's many eggs that were implanted within a dwarf, but the implanted egg was not discovered until too late.

So, the parasitic Descendant absorbed some of the dwarven characteristics and that resulted in his 'natural' twisted form. However, it was not a drawback as it gifted the Forge Lord with physical strength and talents of the dwarves, while retaining most of his Descendant's capabilities. It was somewhat amusing when my own spymasters parsing through DoDA records back home discovered that there were records that recorded the Descendant's physical feats, as if they were trying to build a profile of their innate capabilities.

"There were multiple other murders in your world, and you claimed they were all an external party. Your reports suggested that it is a Descendant possibly. But with certainty, not Wa-Libra, just someone pretending to be Wa-Libra. How do you know for certain?" Ghul-dah said.

"Why bother inviting me if you're still suspicious?"

"The fact that you came is something." The Forge Lord relaxed. "Tell me, how do you know whether it is Wa-Libra, or not?"

"I fought Wa-Libra many years ago. I know what his magic feels like." Zam-Zaqa said. 

Ghul-dah relaxed and sheathed the axes. "Good. I have a murder I need you to see."

"Heh. Look at you, paranoid just like the dwarves." The visitor said. 

"Never wrong to be too careful." Ghul-dah answered. "Let's not waste time, the less I have you here, the better it is for me."

"Oh, chasing us away even before we even see the corpse?" Zam-Zaqa said. "Very well, let us hurry. I do not like being here either."

The two domains met and seemed fairly evenly matched, even through my network of small shrubs, vines, and little molds. "Come." Ghul-dah led the way, and the two groups of domain holders, one of the Forge of Eras and the visiting group from the Bestiary, led by Zam-Zaqa, ventured to the murder site. 

Zam-Zaqa looked and frowned. Through my tiny hidden vines and roots, I could roughly make out his void energies. He seemed to be studying residual void energy. "They are getting better at replicating his energies, even his mana signature is getting close. But it's not Wa-Libra." 

Stella kicked herself as she watched the interaction from the safety of our shared dreamspace. "Damn. I still haven't got it right."

"That means we have a traitor that has somehow ascended to be on par with Wa-Libra." The Forge Lord mused.

"Or someone else." Zam-Zaqa said. "The void wall has fallen. We may be dealing with outside forces."

Ghul-dah looked out the window. The once dark sky was now littered with stars. "The old foes. But they do not use void energies. It cannot be them. Only nomadic Wadrans. "

"Or one of the original Wadrans that survived our purge and now somehow managed to return for vengeance. Domain holders like us are immortal. They could have planned this for centuries." Zam-Zaqa said as his tentacles flipped through the things. "They somehow figured out how to use Wa-Libra's tools."

"A vengeful surviving Wadran is possible. Explains the void use. This level of skill is unknown outside of our kind, but for a surviving Wadran to gain such a high level of void mastery is perhaps the next most possible outcome. But why now?" Ghul-dah said. 

"Maybe time is running out? Or they found allies."

"Allies? Have they found a way to travel through the void barrier all this while? Or at least, communicate through it. If they got through, It seems our predecessors' faith in the barrier was misplaced."

"A Wadran domainholder that found outside allies. But their movements are very targeted. As if they know what we are doing."

"Why?" Zam-Zaqa said, and he glared at the other Forge Lord. "How do you know if they are monitoring us and watching us?"

"I felt someone watch me a few years ago once, before the wall collapsed.Might have been a moment when they made a mistake. They are among us, I'm sure of it."

"They?"

"They. They definitely do not act alone."

"We're dealing with the possibility of a large surviving Wadran colony? That would be quite troubling. They could be hiding in any of the feeder worlds or the moons."

"Or they were outside all this time, and now finally figured out how to get through the barrier."

"But how did they get so strong? Someone of Wa-Libra's strength is not easily hidden amongst us." 

They both paused, as they both made the same theory. "Could they be harvesting Wadra's corpse?" 

Wadra's corpse. 

According to the records we obtained, Wadra died and was stored in a chamber in one of the moons, but we had not been able to find the location of this chamber, and we couldn't detect any shred of remaining divinity due to the thick shroud of void energies around the center of the demonic territories. 

"It is very well hidden and protected by ancient magic." Zam-Zaqa said. "But if someone knew of it and managed to sneak in when our predecessors sealed that place millennia ago...". 

"Is that why they targeted Wa-Libra? Because he is one of the key holders?" The Divine Forge Lord said. "No. It is impossible. My key is untouched. It should show that someone tried to access the ancient chamber." 

"Mine is untouched either." 

It was then they revealed a simple grey key. One that Lumoof recognized when he and the rebels raided Wa-Libra's personal treasury. We noticed it in Wa-Libra's personal quarters when we raided it, but nothing about it revealed it was anything special. There didn't appear to be any magic in the key, and so we left it in a store. 

"We could use it as a trap." Lumoof suggested, as we both observed the two Descendant Lords through my small spy-vines. 

But we didn't even know which moon it was, and how to unlock the Wadran tomb. There were no known records, even in Wa-Libra's various personal documents and records. Even our attempts to search the void sea yielded nothing.

Zam-Zaqa frowned. "It is unlikely."

Ghul-dah looked around and at the other domain holders. They were all much weaker and much younger than the two level 200ish domain holders. "What do you think? Do you believe that the tomb was breached?"

"We could check?" One of them suggested.

Zam-Zaqa shook his tentacles. "Sounds like a trap. If the key did not activate, there is no reason we should visit." 

I cursed internally. If they led us to it, that would have been spectacular. Unfortunately, Zam-Zaqa refused to fall for it

"We still don't know how and who is committing these attacks against our people." Ghul-dah said. "So, we need a lead. If you believe that visiting the seal is a trap, that is one way to engage with them on our terms. We attack the seal with full strength." 

"And if we find nothing there? No. Whatever this is, they want us to think it is Wa-Libra. They want us to react in a certain way." 

"Hmm. They want us to think it is a traitor, but it isn't. This means we are most likely facing external invaders." 

"We should rouse the Lord Reviver early." Zam-Zaqa said. "Even with his current strength, he should be more than a match for whatever tried to venture to our part of the void expanse. Especially with the limitations of our ancient foes. Once he awakens, he will be able to find what lurks within our ranks."

"No." Ghul-dah shut that down. "We do not. We wait. We can deal with this enemy. Our predecessors spent centuries and gave their lives to the Lord Reviver. We will get it right." 

Zam-Zaqa frowned. "The life of the domain holders is more important in the miniscule differences in the Lord Reviver's strength. This enemy of ours can slay domain holders, and they will come for us next."

"You selfish bastard." The Forge Lord cursed.

"You say those words, but you're considering it, aren't you?" Zam-Zaqa said. 

"Lord Zam-Zaqa has a good point. If this enemy of ours has the ability to kill even Lord Wa-Libra, rousing the Lord Reviver is a wise choice."

Lumoof was stunned. He had expected the domain holders to be loyal to the Lord Reviver. After all, they had created a cult to channel divine favor and faith to the Reviver, but this turn of events suggested that the Descendants were selfish, self-preserving folks. 

"So much power, and so close to divinity, yet they are so eager to sabotage each other." Lumoof sighed.

"It is all too normal." I thought that maybe my own domain holders would not be willing to sacrifice themselves if I did not have the ability to revive them.

Lumoof shot that down. "I do not doubt the faith of my fellow domain holders. Alka would have done it. Hoyia and myself too, if we could snatch victory with our sacrifice."

The leaders of the Forge of Eras and the Bestiary of Eras looked at each other. "Invaders. How certain are you?" Ghul-dah asked.

But then he stopped.

"Never mind. I would still not believe it." The Forge Lord said. "We do what is beneficial to us, and that is to behave as if we are dealing with multiple different enemies. Invaders, possibly ancient Wadrans, and also traitors."

There was an unusual emphasis on the last word. "You make it sound as if I am out to get you." Zam-Zaqa said. 

"You may not be trying to get me personally, but I do not for a moment doubt that you will always do what is best for you." 

And just like that, the two leaders' domains began to struggle for dominance again. The room twisted slightly, while the rest of them gave them space.

Zam-Zaqa laughed. "Oh don't look at me like that. I am always in favor of our unity and acting as a coherent whole."

"Don't take me for a fool, Zam-Zaqa. Unity is only when it is convenient and useful. To you." Ghul-dah added, and the 'bodyguards' took a step back. 

The two weaker domain holders, who were about Level 160 to 180, were elemental mages, One of them was more of a water mage, while the other was a rare physical warrior type. They glanced at each other warily. 

"I have had enough of your presence on the Forge. Go back to the Bestiary where you belong." Ghul-dah said. 

****

Zam-Zaqa returned to the Bestiary, but the first thing he did was to warp to an old tower. There, he called on the nine or so domain holders of the Bestiary and brought them together for a ritual.

"We should act before the others." Zam-Zaqa declared. "Ghul-dah is a fool. Let us move first."

A strange ritual, and the combined powers of the Descendants' domain holders wobbled through space.

"Now's a good time to attack them." Lumoof said, while they were focused on the ritual. 

But the ritual lasted barely an hour. Hardly enough time to muster a strikeforce to attack multiple domain holders.

***

Stella watched their strange strand spread through the void sea. The core demonworlds' champions, those level 120 and 130 creatures began to merge and reform. Deep in the Bestiary of Eras, a strange void rift opened.

"So that was where they were hiding them!" Stella cursed. "The true demon kings were hidden inside a void layer! These damned demons. First they hide the Defender Demon Kings in Shattered Worlds, and now these divinely resistant true demon kings hide in void layers."

"Can you reach it?" Lumoof asked.

"I'm trying to get a lock on the details." Stella said as she focused her void energies. "Yes. Got it!'

But a hundred of these demon kings were made of the flesh that were resistant to star mana and divine abilities, and new riftgates connected.

Zam-Zaqa stood, and the True Demon Kings glanced at them. Then. These giants merely walked past him and the other domain holders and to a rift gate..

"Heh. These mindless fleshbeasts." Zam-Zaqa said. These true demon kings were towering creatures like the regular demon kings and were far larger than the slightly larger than human-sized Wadrans. "All power and none of the mind."

The true demon kings ignored him, and they disappeared through the rift gates. The demons of true demonflesh worlds now began their invasion. 

Armies of true demonflesh demons moved to join their awakened leaders in their invasion.

***

[ Patreons have the first part of the final battle today. We're about 3 more chapters away from the end. Thanks for being part of the ride ]