from Finding Xêvioso (The Deft Hands of Zacchaeus Limited Series) – Issue 1 – Leaving the Disc of Agê
…
I am not my whole self, you know that.
“Then shut up,” Zacchaeus says. “I’ve never seen you like this. You’re so impressed by the Fonlands.”
And you aren’t? We are in the paradigm of nature, everything that the Earth has was here long before and is a bad copy of a copy.
“It is very nice, an honor to be here and all that. But I was somewhere else, I was doing something and we fell here by chance, and now you won’t let me leave until we see Xêvioso. And since that’s the case, let’s find him so I can get back.”
Why are you using my power to fight witches? How does that help me in any way?
“You got to eat razews! You love eating razews!”
They were delicious. But we have no responsibility to those people you were with. We have more than helped them and until they have more razews to eat, then I think we should stay out of their conflict with the witches.
“Is that why you don’t want to go back? Are you afraid of the witches? Oh man, the Needy is afraid of witches.”
I am not afraid of anything. I am the Needy. I inspire fear. But witches have mastery of primordial arcana that was old when I was still a child, that was cleaved from the Earth and now drifts as its moon. We were lucky to wield the light of first creation, a minor spell for those versed in moon magic. You can say I am afraid of witches, maybe it is fear, but it is also a recognition of my betters. I would be dumb to challenge a power greater than myself. I have no desire to perish, Zacchaeus, there are too many things that I have not consumed.
“The witches are that big a deal?”
You saw them seize the moon. Even a novice witch can wield massive powers if she happens upon the tools to unlock them. That is one reason moon magic is so unwieldy, it seeks a vessel to wreak havoc and the vessel loses all control. The magic takes over and seeks revenge for being banished to drift in space. The moon wants to reunite with the whole and it is a piece of Earth from a very ancient time. If the moon managed to reunite with Earth, it would be a hell none could imagine, but heaven for the moon.
“Great,” Zacchaeus says glumly. “Now I don’t want to go back either. You know based on that little story you just told me, we have to deal with witches. We can’t have them ending existence as we know it. That’ll make it hard to eat things too.”
We can just stay here. Why go back and risk it?
…
– Issue 14 – Retreat
Even as the sun rose, the green moon was still visible in the sky and the energy it radiated made everything sickly green in the sunlight.
Wazad was standing with her arms crossed, her full head of golden hair blowing in her wind, and her large sword at her back.
“Is everyone ok?” Gregory asked. He looked like he had survived a tornado, his clothes were disheveled and twisted on his body and his hair was full of leaves.
“What happened to you, Zacchaeus?” Paul Young asked, his hard stare on the tall young man in the dark cloak and hood. Paul tore his attention away before Zacchaeus spoke and he went to look after Ivan and Clay who looked to be sleeping peacefully in the grass where Wazqd had laid them.
“Yes,” Wazad said. “I would like to know that as well. You vanished completely, to nowhere I can reach. What happened to you?”
“It was this,” Zacchaeus swept the cloak away from his arm to reveal the sublime device. “It got activated by accident when we came back.”
“I think we should talk about that later,” Gregory said. “Everything is green and the moon is still out.”
“The Samin is right,” Wazad said. “The Master is occupied on the other side of the universe, we have to put a stop to Miriro immediately. The longer the moon is seized, the closer it will come to Earth and that will be true disaster.”
“What did Miriro do, exactly?” Paul asked. “Why is the moon green?”
Zacchaeus opened his mouth and a voice issued from it that was not his usual voice. It made Gregory visibly uncomfortable.
“It is just as Wazad said, they have summoned the moon to its original spot on Earth, before its banishment.”
“What do you know about the moon?” Wazad asked.
“I know that long ago, the moon was the highest peak on Earth, Mount Mashu, home to beings of incredible Arcana said to be born of the Quintessence, also known as the deities of the moon. These beings of Mashu Mountain were complex, not all were hostile to lower life forms, but some were hostile and hungry for power. The most power hungry of them was Tsukuyomi Otoko, who could influence the minds of things, and he rose to power among the beings of Mashu, then sought to rule over all life that was forming on Earth. Gleti, another being of Mashu and the mother of stars, saw Tsukuyomi as the villain he was and she made contact with the giants who roamed Earth at the time to empower them to combat Tsukuyomi. Before long, there was a great battle between the beings of Mashu and the giants empowered by those who opposed Tsukuyomi, and it resulted in Mashu Mountain being cleaved from the Earth to float in orbit as its moon. Miriro has awakened Tsukuyomi and his allies and they know that if they reunite Mashu Mountain with Earth, they will be more powerful and they will have humans to dominate now. I don’t think that the witch, Miriro, is fully aware of Tsukuyomi’s plans. She thinks that the Witch Moon is meant to empower Earth witches. This is a misconception. The Witch Moon is a ploy to dupe the users of Earth magic into bringing about their own doom.”
“Is all that true?” Gregory asked Wazad.
“The Needy,” Wazad said. “I see you are well versed in the history of the moon deities. I’ve never heard of the moon referred to as Mount Mashu, though.”
“It is the primordial name. Your Kazi teachers can confirm it.” Zacchaeus shook his head then and when he spoke again, he was his normal self. “That was easier than me trying to explain all that. Now that we’re caught up on history, what do we do to stop the bad moon deities?”
“If what’s happening is because of the bad deities,” Gregory said, “then the good ones should be able to help us, right?”
“I haven’t been able to contact any of them since this all started,” Wazad said.
“Maybe I should try,” Gregory said reluctantly. “I’ve been avoiding the Morrigan since the Razews showed up. The Samins have a very intimate bond with all of her manifestations. Even if your normal communication lines with the deities are down, I should still be able to reach her. Or I could with my magic. Maybe things are different since the Master banned me from using them.”
“Give it a try,” Wazad said. “If you can reach her, find out if the other good deities can help.”
Gregory nodded and closed his eyes. After a moment moving his lips silently, he opened his eyes with a sigh.
“I didn’t feel anything, but I haven’t felt anything since I lost the powers.”
Wazad was annoyed. “I have to contact Isaiah. If you can speak with the Morrigan it will be very helpful for determining the challenges that lay ahead. I’m going to summon the Master. Feed the lightening children when they wake up.”
Wazad flies into the Museum and Gregory looks to Paul, then to Zacchaeus.
“Which one of you knows how to cook?” he asked.
“I know how to buy biscuits,” Zacchaeus said.
“Y’all handle that,” Paul said. “I need to rest for a little bit.”
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