Savage Awakening 490. The Lost Ruins (I)

A/N:

Hey folks--no chapter 6/22, sorry about that :/ Still getting back into the swing of things. Should be getting back to a normal schedule soon.

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Noughtfire took a sip of tea. 

“There was a time I sought Destruction,” he said. “A time I'd seen all there was to see of it in this Galaxy. So I left. Journeyed nine-hundred years, and at last traversed into the Dawngold Galaxy, which was our great neighbor, all those aeons ago. A Galaxy of spices and palaces of sun-kissed gold, and knowledge stored in great towering planet-libraries, where artists and scholars numbered like stars in the firmament… a more cultured Galaxy than ours—but a stronger one, too. I would not mistake civilization for weakness. There I’d received an invitation from the greatest of them, the Sage-Emperor Tiberian, who had meditated in the heart of the Forbidden One—a legendary Black Hole which had wrecked countless Empyreans. Tiberian alone lived to tell the tale. He was as great a practicioner of Destruction as any. He invited me to his Imperial Library, where crystals of all those sacred lineages of Destruction were kept. But he’d gone silent decades ago.” 

Noughtfire said it all matter-of-factly, as he usually did. 

“When I arrived I found his kingdom a galaxy-long scar in the fabric of reality. Destruction had made it uninhabitable, save for the lowest kinds of life… There were signs of a great struggle. Now all that remained was a savage, gruesome, festering sore of raw Corruption—Corruption festering on mountains of bones, making nests, re-animating new Monsters out of the corpses of that Galaxy’s greatest heroes… men and women who’d fought to the bitter end, and now, in undeath, served the very forces that ended them. I found Tiberian impaled on his own throne, by a spike much like the ones the Endbringers wear. His body was made a battery of the undead.” 

He didn’t look disturbed—Zane had never really seen the old fellow shaken, and he wasn’t now. He just look like he’d tasted something bitter, though, and was not impressed by it. 

“There was nothing to salvage. An utter waste,” said Noughtfire. “That is what Malzareth would make of our Galaxy at the end of this century. And by the strength of that first wave it proposes to be the greatest this Galaxy has ever faced. That is the final war, disciple. The very End.”

“That’s what I’m here, then.” Zane felt like he had a pretty firm handle on the big picture now—all of it. “Integration—all that fighting—it’s all led to this one thing.”

“That’s right.” 

“And what happens when we hold them off?” 

Noughtfire seemed amused by the way he said it. 

“Then we’ll have safeguarded this Galaxy for good. This Cycle, at least.” 

It felt like ever since Integration started, Zane was holding off Monster after Monster, working toward some big end he couldn’t quite see. 

This was as clear a description of it as he’d heard—it was quite nicely defining, actually. He was starting to think of that ultimate goal more and more these days. The final fight. And what it’d take to build himself up to the task.

Noughtfire had started browsing the plans Zane handed over. Zane let him browse for a bit.

“Anything new in there?”

“Nothing that changes our situation. Not right now, at least.” The Sage stroked his beard. “But you never know when a piece of knowledge comes in handy… that is why you must collect them. One must keep the armory of the mind well-stocked.” 

He shuffled them away, smiling a little. “I hear you're heading off to the ruins.”

“That’s right.” 

“That should be quite good for you. Let us speak, then, about your next power level. The creatures you’ll have to fight. I’m speaking of Empyreans. That golem you mentioned fighting—the half-step.” 

“The Green Golem?” 

“That creature had but a faux Universe. Still it was a world of earth, and wood, and stone Concepts; a universe is not made of just one thing. It is a world made of many Laws.” 

That was pretty much his understanding of it. 

“You’ll experience this too, you know,” said Noughtfire. “And not just when you hit Supernova. It all starts now. Your Concepts will draw not just from fire, but from the other elements too… it all comes together. It has already begun, in fact.” 

Zane’s brow furrowed. “…You’re saying I need to learn every kind of Law eventually.” 

“Not necessarily.” 

Noughtfire thought about it. 

“Consider this,” he said at last. “Two men ascend a mountain from opposite sides, and both reached the peak. The paths they took stand utterly opposed—and yet, from that peak, they can now see the shape of every other path, even when blind to them before. Simply by looking down the mountain. And though they see every other path, they know their own best.”

“That makes sense.” He got the logic of it—he still wasn’t sure how it’d look like in practice, though.

“You will need to draw of other great powers as you ascend, of course,” said Noughtfire. “A narrow path can only lead so high. It all must come together, in the end… but there is no need to comprehend the light of the candle, when you know Concept that drives the sun. A single complexity implies ten thousand simplicities.” 

“These are pretty good analogies.” 

Noughtfire looked amused. “There was a time you learned Steel.” 

“Right.” 

“You might think you've left that to the wayside. But it's always been with you. And certain Concepts draw undoubtedly from that domain—consider your Concept of Magnetic Hotspot, for instance. That is not exclusive to stars. That applies to the steel concepts too. In truth, to build the True Giant, you’ll need a great deal of both fire and steel.” 

Noughtfire’s eyes twinkled. 

“What that means precisely… you’ll have to find out yourself.” 

Fair enough. 

Then Noughtfire looked a bit wistful.

“Half-step Empyrean…” he sighed. “There is a saying in my homeland. ‘To the beginner, the black belt means mastery. To the master the black belt is but the starting line’—the starting line to a race that one can never finish. For in truth the stronger you get, the greater the leaps in power… you knew this. Half-step Empyrean might be a starting line—but there are greater powers still, far greaters. There are even those who glimpse the end of the path, even if they might never get there.” 

Zane did get what the old fellow was saying. 

“Still,” said Noughtfire. “Do not underestimate the difference between half-step Empyrean and Empyrean itself! You must never undestimate the weight of a world. It was already crushing at half-step, was it not?” 

“It was pretty heavy stuff,” Zane admitted. He could only break through because he had such a hefty amount of Destruction.

“Without an enormity of essence—of Destruction—your Laws simply would not work at all against an Empyrean. You are in another world, after all. The only way to match that is to stack the very best of everything you’ve got… Physique. Bloodline. Law. Destruction. Give it everything—and there’s the path to matching the heft of a Universe. I strongly suspect, disciple, you’ll find what you need in those Ruins.” 

Say one thing for Noughtfire—the old fellow really did like his dramatic flair. He even finished off that speech with a flick of his sleeves. 

Zane had to admit—it had him pretty pumped now. 

“I’m looking forward to it.” 

Noughtfire settled back in, satisfied. They both took a sip. 

“So,” said Noughtfire. “Eat anything good lately?” 

“I just finished my last batch of fried dough-sticks from Astra,” Zane informed the old fellow. He was a bit bummed about it, actually—

Just then, an immense wave of killing intent flooded the planet—screaming out from deep-space. There was a shiver through the fabric of reality, an aura of dark blood. 

“Your senior disciple-brother,” said Noughtfire, taking a sip. “You might’ve wondered why Burnwater hasn’t been around lately. He’s shaking off some rust.” 

Zane had wondered where he’d gone. Burnwater had always been pretty helpful to him—he hoped the guy was doing alright. 

“Soon, I will too,” said Noughtfire casually. He took another sip of his cup, found it empty. He gave it an unamused stare. 

“Really?” said Zane, surprised. He did remember the last time Noughtfire fought. That vision of the old fellow—young fellow then—annhilating that Empyrean with hardly a thought. 

“We’ll see how much I remember,” said Noughtfire. “I’ve done some brushing up. I must confess—there is a great deal I’ve forgotten I’ll never get back.” 

Noughtfire wore a wry smile. 

Still—there was this look in the old fellow’s eyes. 

…He had a feeling Noughtfire could still do some damage if he wanted to. 

The rest of his time there, Zane told Noughtfire some more stories—just stuff he’d seen in the Library, which Noughtfire was content to hear out. 

“Oh—one more thing,” said Noughtfire. His expression turned serious. “Keep in mind, disciple—you’ll be gone twenty-odd years… by the time you’re out, Haxxorax will have finished his ritual. I would not count on him breaking in that blood chamber. That man is too broken to break again. The question is merely if he’ll be the strongest new Empyrean the dragon race has ever produced. That is the caliber you’ll be up against.”

“I’ll take care of him when I get out.” 

He had no bad blood with this Haxxorax fellow in particular. That dragon was just a name on his incentive list. 

The Patriarch, on the other hand… he didn’t know much about him. What he saw, he didn’t like. He remembered the guy had tried to bully Noughtfire a while back—had heard it from Burnwater, at least. Noughtfire hadn’t been fazed. 

"He seems to consider his child the apex predator of this era," said Noughtfire casually.

Zane grinned. “Alright, alright.” The old guy knew exactly what he was doing.

Noughtfire smiled.

He gave Noughtfire a final wave and headed on out. 

He had some grinding to do.