Milc/C.J. Milnes
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Six Souls, Book 3, Chapter 11 - The bird had a good point
🕑 Added 2025-09-05 18:11:34 +0000 UTCOne of the Six has fallen! Raymond Cobbler has killed Marwan Amir! The third Exile has fallen!
Raymond will have access to a curated selection of rewards for taking the third step on his true path.
Shikrakyn slain x1.
No Souls harvested.
Choose one of the following rewards.
Voice of Command
Divine ascension
Stolen power. You will inherit the Best-tamer Affinity from Marwan Amir, spells unlocked to his levels.
Source of The Cycle has been incorporated into your body.
I took a moment to think as my aching body fell away from the puddle that remained of my enemy. I landed with a thud and tried to focus on the golden letters in front of my eyes. I cast Heal over and over again as my flesh slowly knitted back together. So, weird combined god powers and stone daggers could still fuck me up. Good to know.
As my flesh knitted itself back together, I selected divine ascension and checked my demi-god status.
Path of Divinity. Patron: Aresk Foeslayer
Divine Ichor: level 3
Divine Physique: Level 4
Divine Intellect: Level 5
Assimilation of the Source of the cycle: 2% complete.
I didn’t like the look of that assimilation counter. It felt more like a countdown than anything positive. My physical strength had jumped to two hundred, another fifty points gained per level of Divine Physique. None of my other stats had changed, so god only knew what Ichor did. I stared at my hands as the cuts and burns melted away and fresh, unscarred skin replaced the damage. Maybe I did know how it helped me.
I pulled myself to my feet and found my sword, putting it away in storage. Then I cast Shape Earth. I wasn’t going to try and reopen the tunnel. Everything of value that had been here was now implanted in my chest. It might be worth seeing if someone could cut the damn thing out at some point.
Stone and dirt opened above me, and a column of the same stuff lifted me through the tangled weave of the tree’s roots and back to the surface. Sunlight had never felt so good on my skin. I set off towards where I’d left Wilson.
Glimpse, it’s done. Get Bob and come find me. We can go home.
You are changed. New power. It might be best if you come to us. Bob is heavily engaged. If he tries to leave, rather a lot of snake-things will follow, the bird replied.
Wilson is injured. Lost a leg. I was jogging through the trees, slapping aside branches as I went. He won’t be able to fight. Can’t you break Bob loose with some fireballs?
I am out of Mana, Raymond. I am ripping eyes from faces with my talons at the moment. I borrowed the crow’s senses for a moment, and sure enough, all I could see was the face of an Anag, minus one eyeball, as Glimpse flapped in to claim the other.
Shit. We’ll come to you.
I stumbled into the clearing where I’d partially hidden Wilson’s body and looked around. I got that feeling when you know you put something in a particular place, but then find out it isn’t there anymore. I reached down the threads that tied my soul to so many others and found the nearest one. That bush over there.
“Come out, boy,” I muttered as I hobbled over. My right leg was aching far worse than any other part of me for some reason. Wilson sent a wave of revulsion and disgust. He didn’t want me to see him.
I shoved the bushes' leaves aside and found he was curled up, looking sorry for himself. He was trying to lick the wound where his left foreleg used to be, but failing. He looked up and whined, then stood on his three legs and shuffled backwards, deeper into the foliage. Shame and a desire to be left alone came down our bond and flooded my mind.
“None of that, wolf. We can fix you.” He crept forward and sent me an image of a void, an eternal darkness with no sensation. “Storage?” Wilson gave me a quiet yip of confirmation and limped over to rub his head against my chest. “Forever? No, Wilson. I can fix it. We just need some raw materials.” He backed up and cocked his head to one side. “Trust me, bloke.”
The overgrown bronze wolf vanished into storage. I could deal with him later. I’d gained another shaped minion slot, so I could use that to grow him a leg back if nothing else would work. Thick smoke was billowing into the woods from the town. The fires had spread, and the glow from the flames was illuminating the billowing clouds from below, giving the place a hellish aura as I limped out of the woods and surveyed my earlier handiwork.
It appeared that I had started a civil war. Through the smog, I could see former Soulbound fighting against each other. Groups of them banded together along some unknown criteria, maybe belonging to the same crew, and launched spells or started vicious superhuman fights between themselves. Any who saw me, tattered clothes stained with blue and gold blood, charred and dishevelled, decided that their squabbles weren’t worth the trouble and bolted away from me.
As I neared the dock, it changed; humans were banding together desperately to fight off a tide of Anag that slithered its way up the narrow streets. The monsters would recoil from blasts of ice and fire and pull back only to spill out of nearby windows or a side alley moments later. Lightning seemed to kill them almost instantly, whereas other magic was much less effective.
I extended my aura, and any of them who came close were driven back by dozens of shallow cuts that sent scales spinning through the air. It took them a moment to stabilise, but I was soon surrounded by a circle of the beasts hissing and snapping their jaws at me, but not brave enough to brave the storm of cuts. As I moved, the circle drove them out of my way, and they closed in behind me.
Sand and gravel crunched under my bare feet, and I looked around trying to find Bob. Switching to Glimpse gave me a better perspective. The bird had had his fill of snakey eyeballs and was once again circling above the fight.
The ships at anchor were all fucked up. Capsized or sunk on the shallow bottom, they smoked and burned. I knew this was only a small fraction of the pirates' fleets, and the technology for more advanced ships had long since escaped into the wild, but removing this place as a base of operations was going to hurt them badly.
The beach was covered in bodies, human and Anag. They were heaped up in places, and the waves from the still hot sea were pulling more and more bodies out to float in the water.
Where’s Bob? I sent to the crow.
Under the sea. He may have disregarded your instructions.
You mean he has disregarded them. Fucking droid.
I stomped over the waves and felt the rapidly diminishing heat, all that remained of my initial bombardment, wash over my toes. The water splashed and flew as the near-invisible daggers of my aura slashed at anything around me.
“BOB!” I bellowed, almost wishing I’d taken the Voice of Command ability from killing Amir. I hadn’t liked the sound of it, and seeing what it had done to everyone he had used it on, turning them into mindless, dead-eyed slaves, albeit only for a short while, had turned my stomach. I stomped along the shore, a wall of giant serpents surrounding me but not daring to approach, and continued shouting his name.
Something long and thin broke the surface twenty metres or so from the edge of the tide. This was a bronze serpent, gleaming as it caught the reflection of the fires behind me. It disappeared for a moment, the pincers transforming into whirring blades that swept through the water around where his body must be. The rest of the golem soon followed, stomping ashore on his spider legs, arms, and tentacles, thrashing at the tangle of Anag that was trying to overwhelm him.
Bits of snake flew as Bob reached the beach and was finally able to fight them on dry land. I walked towards him, but he backed away as sparks from my aura flashed off his outer armour.
“Lord, I apologise. I estimated a ninety-five percent probability that you would be angered at my actions, but it seemed the most logical thing to do. By taking the fight to the nests below, I was able to divert–”
“Don’t care. Get in the bird. We’re out of here.” Hearing Aresk’s voice sound contrite was more jarring than the golem disobeying my instructions. It had never done so before, and this was a worrying precedent. How much could we trust the golems we had been forging from Aresk’s source? And Aresk was a god that did not apologise, which just made the bot’s attempt to exonerate himself feel even weirder.
Glimpse flew down and collected Bob in a flash. One moment, the bot was carefully fighting off Anags; the next, he was gone, and a handful of them stumbled into my aura before shrinking back and disappearing into the water. I glanced back at the town. If these monsters had only been tamed by the force of Amir’s will, then the problem of the pirate base would resolve itself pretty quickly. There were hundreds, thousands of the damn things, and even more hidden under the surf.
The surviving Soulbound would have to flee, and their ships were all destroyed. It looked likely that the Anag would wipe out any humans eventually, and the next ships to land would find a less-than-warm welcome. I nodded in approval.
I cannot get close to you, Glimpse sent.
I glanced up and he circled above me, just out of range of the invisible daggers swirling around me. I shaped the aura, forcing it to my will, and created a doughnut of violence around me, with clear air overhead. Glimpse flew down to settle on my shoulder and rubbed his head against my cheek. I reached up and wiped away the red streaks his bloody face had left behind.
“Can you find Urkash?” I asked aloud.
I will fly north till I find the coast, then move east along it until I can see that city. I believe it will take some time. A week, perhaps.
“No worries, bloke. I could use a break.”
Assimilation of the Source of The Cycle: 3% complete.
“Shit. It’s gone up already.” I had to explain the combined Sources and what had happened to Glimpse when he looked at me quizzically.
You fear it completing?
“You didn’t see what it did to Amir. He got powerful, but he was burning out. I don’t think humans are meant to have that kind of power,” I said with a shrug as I traipsed along the beach, ignoring the hissing Anag as they were pushed aside before getting close to me.
You are no longer merely human, though. Are you?
“Doesn’t mean I want to become a fucking shapeshifting unkillable plant dude!”
He was clearly not unkillable.
“You know what I meant, bloke. He was… not right.”
It will not increase while you are in stasis, yes? So this matter can be resolved when you are back among the tribes and the legion.
The bird had a good point. I’d buy myself a week or so tucked away in my god-realm, and I could quiz that bronze asshole while I was there.
“True. I assume you aren’t too full to fly?”
I am well-fueled for a long flight, but not so full of eyes that it will be a problem. I will see you at the end of our voyage.
I blinked as I found myself in my domain, swirling smoke quickly resolving into the inside of the yurt I shared with Fay for so long. A smile crossed my lips as I realised I’d be back home with her and our son soon. Normally, it would be like going to sleep in one place and waking in another with no sense of the passage of time, but with a week of being stashed away, I could get some stuff done.
The ghostly jaguar passed around me and sat in front of the door flap I had been planning on passing through.
Wait.
“What for?”
Trust. Battle-Lord is ancient and unscrupulous.
“I know that. But I need his advice. I can decide if it’s worth a damn once I’ve got it.”
Sit. A chair appeared behind me, and I slowly lowered myself down.
“You’re getting stronger.” It was simply the truth. Tezcatlipolca had gone from an invisible hint of a being to a translucent feline whose head came up to my chest when he sat on his haunches. Seated, I had to look up into the long whiskers and pale white fangs.
Also losing myself. Mantle will fall to you. I fade again.
“I’m killing you?” The shadows swirled around me, and a rumble of amusement made the tent walls shake.
Becoming me. Will live on as you.
I fidgeted a little, uncomfortable at the implications. I did not like the thought of losing myself to this ancient incarnation of killing.
No loss. Gain. Like Cycle.
“You can still read my thoughts, then,” I grumbled.
Share power. Share thoughts. Shared power is best. Like new Source.
“So it isn’t going to kill me?”
Yes.
“Did you mean no?” This was starting to piss me off.
No. This Source unlocks. Mortal flesh cannot accept the key.
“I need to not be mortal to survive? I’m already part you, so I’m going to be fine?” The ghost shook his head gracefully. This wasn’t helping. “Maybe I should speak to Aresk?”
Trickery. Misdirection. War’s toys.
“He wants to use me for his own ends. But his goals are largely aligned with my own. That doesn’t mean I need to trust him. And I don’t.”
Wise, yet foolish.
“Thanks, bloke. I’ll be back later. If you’ve got any more aura tricks stashed away in your memories, I’d appreciate a few hints. The cloak thing was handy.”
I wait. I teach. I remain.
The jaguar dissolved back into swirling shadows that dispersed until I was seemingly alone once more. I could still feel the thing, lurking in the darkness.
Outside the yurt, my domain had grown again. It was still tiny in comparison to the other gods’ domains that I had seen. The crushing, infinite depths of Poseidon’s world that I had briefly experienced when I claimed her source had felt like they extended forever around me. The shadows resolved into long grass, a cooking fire set a few metres from the tent, and then flat steppe lands ran up to where my world butted up against Aresk’s one of bronze and marble.
I strode over to the boundary and made to step through, bouncing off an invisible barrier. One moment I was alone, the next the giant bronze statue peered down at me from above with a broad smile on its face.
“You are welcome and have guest rights,” Aresk boomed before shrinking down to a six-foot-tall version of himself. “Always make sure you have guest rights before entering another's domain, at least when you are weaker than they. Come along.”
He led me up his mountain, steps cut into the stone reminded me of the Sykareskyn holy mound, with the giant carved stairway carved into its side. Glancing back, I saw my world was just a hazy tear in the reality of his, a shifting silhouette of a doorway back to my home.
“It’s hidden from all, including me, to an extent. Soon, there will be invaders who seek to take your power and the true strength of Tezcatlipolca for themselves. But for now, you are safe. How does it feel to be one step closer to your revenge?”
“Am I? There’s still a way to go. Despite whatever this Source in my chest ends up doing for me.” We crested the summit, and his plaza of armour and weapons stretched out ahead of us.
“Ha! That was a good one! Death isn’t happy, nor is Mater. That is going to be a fun war to watch.” The bronze man stopped, and a throne rose up behind him as he turned to me. A less grand chair, still much fancier than the ones I conjured in my domain, grew out of the stone behind me.
“Mater?” I asked in confusion.
“The Mother. She’s nearly as old as time. She sat this game out, let us younglings have the fun this time. Something to drink?” A bottle of beer from Earth appeared next to my knee, and I picked it up carefully. Ice cold, bubbly. I took a swig, cautiously. Just a small sip, I wasn’t worried about getting drunk, but about poisons and other divine bullshit that could fuck me up.
“So by merging their Sources, it kicked off some kind of war in the divine realms? That would be good for you, I expect.”
“Oh indeed. War isn’t the right word, though. More like a very strongly worded argument. Beings on our levels rarely go all out, unfortunately, but we will change that soon, won’t we, Ray?” He took a pull from his own beer. “I watched what you did. Great stuff. That Anag colony will take years to rebuild.”
“There are more of them out there?” I stood and walked over to his nearest display piece. A steel helm, old-fashioned to my eyes, with long cheek guards, spun slowly above the marble plinth. I took another micro-sip of the first decent drink I’d had in what felt like years. Aresk rose out of the ground on the other side of the pillar and smiled fondly at the helmet.
“That belonged to Barnathi. Four games ago. He built an empire that makes yours look tiny in comparison.”
“I didn’t want an empire,” I snapped back. “I wanted to not get eaten by bears, then not get my nuts chopped off, and my head used as a football by the tribes.”
“It would have been a sad ending to your story if Fay’s aunts had gelded you,” Aresk chuckled. “But it always happens this way. Mortimer didn’t want to be king-of-kings at first, either. But if you lot survive, you inevitably thrive, and that leads to the other inevitable. The humans just can’t match you, so you take over.”
“What about the Source in my chest?” I asked to change the subject, still staring at the perfectly wrought helm.
“Oh, don’t worry about that! You’ve plenty of time to ascend before it becomes an issue. I’m confident you’ll figure it out in time.” His serious expression was not filling me with confidence.
“So I am screwed if I don’t find a way to make it work for me? I need to become a lock that will accept the key, or else. Is that it?” I looked up, and his eyes narrowed at me.
“The ghost is talkative these days? Well, he’s not subject to the same rules as us. But he can’t be trusted, not entirely. He needs you for now, but when he gets his chance, well, your interests may diverge.”
Gods, I hated gods. Always talking in circles and never just being upfront. Lying had been second nature to me back home, but my time among the tribes had given me a healthy respect for honest people.
“So he might take me over?”
“You will meld together. The one who comes out on top… that is yet to be decided. The Source may help with that. It may not. Stolen power can be more dangerous than borrowed strength, or no power at all.”
“Any hints as to how to survive the Source?” I asked, wildly optimistically.
“Danger and opportunity are often the same thing. Come on, Ray! You won a massive victory today! Another skull added to your pile of dead foes! Your southern flank is clear, so you can move east. Your troops have been doing as you asked, but they’ve hit a few stumbling blocks along the way.”
“Is everything alright with Fay and the boy?” I asked quickly as a spike of fear ran through me.
“They’re not dead.” He grinned at me. Bastard.
“That doesn’t really help–”
“They are well, but your empire isn’t as united as it once was. Seems like the tribes aren’t good at being without a single iron fist to guide them. You’ll have some work to do when your body gets to Urkash.”
“I spoke to Patricia. She didn’t seem to have lost her mind.”
“When?” Aresk snapped. His hands blurred, and the outlines of screens flickered between us as he swept them aside at unholy speeds. “Time playing his games. Or Knowledge, perhaps. Thoth has a dry sense of humour. What did she say?”
“Not much. She was concerned about her people. Said we’d speak again.”
“That bastard. Boy, you have to kill them all. Only one of you can ascend. Two more Divine Ascensions, and you’ll come into your full power.”
“Do all the winners of the games become baby gods?” I asked. His tone had changed from brotherly back to patronising and arrogant, the Aresk I had known when we first met had returned.
“No. It takes a particular path to start to climb towards us. You just got lucky, little brother.” He was back to being fraternal again in a heartbeat. Luck my ass. Between him and Posedion, and the others, no doubt, screwing around, breaking rules, and nudging the world along, I couldn’t trust that anything was simple happenstance.
“So, no advice on dealing with the Sources, other than kill the other two quickly so I can become a suitable lock. That’s… a shame.” I finished the beer and tossed the bottle away. It vanished before it hit the ground, and I started walking back towards my world.
Shields slamming together, locked in formation with screaming men to either side of me, his aura slammed down on me. I fought back; my own strength was weak in comparison, but I drove his aura off a little. Enough that I could keep walking, at least. He burst into laughter behind me.
“They grow up so fast!” he boomed. “Remember, little brother, together we can both get what we want!”
What the fuck did he want? War among the gods was my best guess. Not a bitter exchange of words and some kind of ethereal power struggle, but a proper one with all the violence that entailed.
I kept my thoughts to myself until I reached the hazy portal to my own domain and stepped through, relaxing as the shadows swirled through the long grass. Something purred softly, seemingly from all around me.
No help?
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve still got more questions than answers. Fucking gods.”
No fuck. Not for more gods, anyway. Duel of ideas. Become the idea, become the god. Eat the idea, eat the god.
“How the hell do I eat a god, Tezca?” I stomped into my yurt and stretched out on the bed, a perfect replica of the one I would soon be sharing with my wife again.
Not for you. You consume me. Become me, I become you. Need another to eat a different idea.
“I’m not sure this is helping. So, got any more tricks up your furry sleeve, bloke?”
Yes.
