Fâ hasn’t had a body for as long as the other Vodun, and she wishes she could navigate space like she had the Discs of the Fonlands. She had primarily resided in the Disc of Lêgba before her emergence, but she’d been able to inhabit all of the Discs, including the Lofted Disc, and she could move quickly among them. In the Une-verse, she can move quickly by flying through the space overgrown with Une’s tendrils, but it isn’t fast enough. She can’t move at the speed of her thoughts as she had inside the Discs and it takes more than a desire to arrive at a destination. Also, she can’t create portals like the other Vodun; she never had need for portals and never learned the arcana.
Currently, she is flying in search of Xêvioso who is close enough to her that the two can speak via a mental link, but they are very far away from one another. She travels to his location because others have started to gather there and he is formulating an attack on Une who sleeps. The mental link to Agê has gone silent and Fâ worries that she is in trouble, or worse, dead, though Fâ would likely be able to sense that if it were true. She tries not to dwell on it and focuses all of her power on navigating the Une-verse to Xêvioso, and it is no wonder that she doesn’t notice Zacchaeus until he causes a cluster of space rocks to explode, the space of the Une-verse is filled with long tendrils of Une’s mycelium in every direction. Fâ startles out of her focus and comes to a stop in space. It isn’t long before she senses Zacchaeus’ power and flies toward the explosion. She finds him standing in a long black cloak with the hood up over the armored suit adorned with her Veve.
“I thought I saw you flying by,” Zacchaeus says with a wry smile, tilting his head back to see underneath the hood. “Mind if I hitch a ride? I been flying for a while and I’m tired. I would’ve fallen asleep if I hadn’t been looking out for somebody to pass through.”
Fâ extends a hand and focuses her power on him, careful not to kill him, but to energize him with arcana to enact Death Magic spells. She’d met him before they traveled to the Une-verse and she’d evaluated his mastery of Death Magic before he was allowed to wear the armor that bore her Veve. He will be able to recuperate his magic with time, she knows, but she isn’t willing to carry him as she continues to Xêvioso’s location. When she is done, Zacchaeus levitates up from the space rock to hover before her and he rides a smoke of dark violet at his feet.
“Thank you,” he says with a bow. “I wouldn’t have expended so much power but I saw that moving planet and it just didn’t feel right. I had to get away from it as fast as I could.”
“Moving planet?” Fâ asks with concern. “What do you mean it didn’t feel right?”
“After the cube exploded, I ended up somewhere far from here in that direction,” Zacchaeus points behind them. “I traveled a long way, for a long time, days maybe, because that planet had a feeling coming off of it. It was a magical feeling, strong, and dark, scary, like something scary was riding it through space.”
Fâ thinks on this for a moment, then says, “It is probably best that you fled. But we must know more about this foreboding planet. We will find Xêvioso, others rally to him. Once we are there, we will find out more about that planet.”
“You gone look for it?” Zacchaeus asks in disbelief.
“We have to know as much as we can about this place to plan a successful attack against Une. Come, we have a long way to go.”
Zacchaeus follows Fâ and feels his spine tingle at the memory of the planet.
“I haven’t seen it,” Mulweri says.
“We should have seen it,” Maria says with concern.
They float in relatively empty space and in the distance, Xêvioso is a beacon of golden yellow arcana that calls all of the Vodun’s forces to his location. Two beams of his energy sweep the space around him like the lights of a lighthouse.
“Are we sure that it is real?” Mulweri asks. He is annoyed by the implication that they, him in particular, could have missed a planet-sized ship moving through the space of the Une-verse. He had seen many planets when he traveled the depths of the Une-verse, and though he wasn’t able to do a complete survey like Maria, who is also known as Wazad the Transverse who can ryde the wynds of any existence to navigate the entirety of it faster than even Mulweri could travel as a Tinyeleti Warrior, he went to the depths of the realm and saw so much.
“As more of our forces regroup and we learn of their experiences after the explosion of Xêvioso’s cube, we keep hearing the same story about a moving planet. No one engaged it, but a lot of people saw it.”
“You didn’t see it. In all my time as a stealth Warrior of the Tinyeleti, I have never encountered one as you. You have mastered the pattern to embodiment and it allows you to move faster than even my eye can detect. That is significant, Wazad. The Tinyeleti are fast enough to evade the Vodun Jo, and I know that your ability outclasses mine. You will have to tell me more about how you learned to do what you do, it will be helpful here and when this is all done, the other Tinyeleti will be glad to know it. And if you didn’t see a planet-sized ship, then I trust that there isn’t one.”
“But traversing an existence the way I do doesn’t necessarily allow me to count the planets and the stars, or the tendrils here. I can see the entirety of it, but I will have to explore specific places to really know the details. That’s why we do this together, you are much more capable of seeing the details than I can when I’m getting a full view of the existence. We should look again. I will go right from here and you go left. Find me if you find anything.”
“I have to say that I think we can be doing more to aid the plan that Xevioso has devised…”
“We can’t be surprised by whatever this is,” Maria interjects. “It won’t matter if we enact Xêvioso’s plan if there is something out there to sabotage it. The enemy is sleeping, Mulweri, we can’t risk anything waking her before Xêvisoso’s plan is ready to go.”
Mulweri listens in silence and then nods. “Let’s see what we can discover.”
The two travel in opposite directions, both disappearing in the blink of an eye.
A few miles from the spot where Maria and Mulweri had disappeared, Xêvioso is suspended in space, clad in golden-yellow armor that is similar to the Veve armor that wielders of Pattern magic in their forces wear, and his horns have emerged, two that extend up from his temples and two that extend down from his jaw. The golden-yellow beacon issues from his body and his eyes are inundated with energy as he converses with Clay, who trained with the Vodun Gu in Chaos and Death magic, the Halfyn Heir, a formidable wielder of Pattern magic, and the Ice Prince of the Une-verse who uses the name Dae in this reality.
“I’m glad that you all were able to find us here,” Xêvioso says. “Others should be arriving. Please find some place to rest and if I can restore your energy, I am happy to.”
The Halfyn Heir accepts the offer and floats before the Vodun as golden-yellow energy is exchanged between them, and as this occurs, the two converse.
“Have you seen it?” Xêvioso asks. “The Golden Executioner…”
“Adofo?” The Heir interrupts, remembering the Executioner who had fought by his side in the Talj Junction.
“Adofo is here, but another of their ranks bore witness to the planet-sized ship, and they arrived here from the same direction you and the others traveled.”
“I landed on Juoil, or what seems to be this reality’s version of Juoil, after the cube exploded,” the Heir explains. “Dae, the Ice Prince, has protected thousands beneath the surface of the planet. We should do what we can to aid them.”
“That is an impressive feat,” Xêvioso says kindly as the smile on his face melts to concern and the two of them continue their conversation telepathically. “Have you brought the enemy to this location?”
“Dae is no enemy,” the Heir responds with confusion. “He saved me and I went to the subterranean town that he has maintained with his magic for a long time.”
“How long?” Xêvioso asks.
“Generations,” the Heir says, happy to vouch for the version of his love that he’d discovered in the home of the enemy to all existence. “He said that he has seen children born and then become adults.”
“Isn’t that odd?” Xêvioso asks. “Do you all live so long in your home universe?”
Fyns, the name of all known humanoid beings of the Bright Universe that the Heir calls home, have long lifespans and he explains this to Xêvioso.
“Long enough to see the children of your children grow into adulthood?”
The phrasing makes the Heir think for a moment. “When the Ice Prince, my Ice Prince, and I give birth to our twin daughters who are fated, we will see them grow and raise three sons who will divide the cosmos. Needless to say, we are not excited about a future that portends a divided cosmos. I will admit that I am happy to stall that future, but our twins are fated and we will see their sons conquer and make war with one another, but we will not live to see the resolution. So, yes, we fyns live long enough to see our grandchildren grow and even their children, but we see that in very old age.”
“And how old does Dae, this realm’s Ice Prince, appear to be?” Xêvioso asks. “You’ve been in the Fonlands among beings of other realms for a while and none of you age in the Fonlands because of the arcana of the Smiting Chamber and the discrepancy of time there and where you’re from. But if this Ice Prince is of this realm and he has survived as long as you say, shouldn’t he look much older? Fyns do age, right?”
Indeed they do and the Heir turns to look at Dae, the Ice Prince, who is talking to Clay.
“Hide your suspicions and learn more,” Xêvioso continues telepathically. I am sending the three of you to bring a contingent of hares to this location; they have been tangling with tendrils and are having trouble navigating. Learn more about Dae, it’s possible he has the arcana to be long lived and forever young, or maybe he is just another tendril of the enemy. I’m counting on you to confirm his loyalties. If he is not truly with us, find out why he left his planet with you and what he wants. And ask him about the moving planet, natives have probably seen it before. I am sending the coordinates of the hares to your memory. Be careful, Halfyn Heir. I expect to see you back soon with a pack of hares and intel on our new recruit.”
“I won’t let you down,” the Heir says and he leaves the Vodun.
“The Vodun putting us to work?” Clay asks affably when the Heir rejoins him and the Ice Prince.
“We have to retrieve some hares,” the Heir says with a smile to Clay that sours into a scowl at the Ice Prince.
“Y’all about to fight again?” Clay asks. “Now I know how everybody in the Smiting Chamber felt about me and Ivan. I’m gonna get some healing from the Vodun.“
“Why are you looking at me like that?’ the Ice Prince asks. He is taller than the Heir and he glares down at him, but the Heir is tall and solid, and unintimated by the glare.
“You’ll come with us to collect the hares?” the Heir asks.
“I left Juoil to help,” the Ice Prince snaps, “of course I’ll come.”
“Good, Clay and I would be happy to know more about this universe and how you managed to survive.”
Clay has returned to them by this point and he can sense something is off between them, but he is also eager to fill the space around Xêvioso with allies.
“Let’s talk on the go,” Clay suggests.
“Let’s,” the Heir says and flies away in the direction Xêvioso had indicated. Clay is not far behind, and the Ice Prince keeps his distance from the Heir behind Clay.
“I don’t understand,” Sakpata says, standing in the mists of the heptagon in the Smiting Chamber, looking down at Ahdis and the Decay Witch. Their attire matches the Vodun’s—gray, form fitting armor adorned with Sakpata’s Veve—but they are half his size. Sakpata is visibly confused and he says again, “I don’t understand. You can’t decide to spare an existence, we have gathered for the sole purpose of clearing Une from the realms she has infected. The realm I sent you to is overwhelmed by Une, you are doing the sentient inhabitants there a favor by eliminating them. If and when Une decides to wake up there, they will be instantly desiccated and they will cease to exist in a painful way. Go back there and do what we planned.”
“They are like the Bludonians,” Ahdis protests. She had been on the Lorv’s ship Top when it traveled to Bludon to help with the Daemon infestation and there were Bludonians cured of the infection that was a form of Une’s infection. “This place isn’t like the other lifeless existences we’ve cleaned up. They didn’t fight Une’s infection so she just spread and now she is everything, but they continue with their bodies in their lives they had before Une arrived. There are vast civilizations that span the realm with a detailed shared history, there was so much life there before Une made her way into everything. I won’t be their death. They have survived so much, they don’t deserve genocide. They are not just vessels of Une’s power, they are beings like you and me, and we can free them.”
“What do you think?” Sakpata rolls his eyes from Ahdis to Decay. “Is it possible to wipe out Une without wiping out these things?”
“They are the Cymbee, they are not things!” Ahdis says forcefully and Decay puts a hand on her shoulder.
“The Cymbee is a strange case,” Decay says frankly, “and that is why you should see it for yourself before you settle on the annihilation of everything that might be tainted. I find many of the Cymbee tedious and would never choose to spend extended time there among all that pageantry and ritual, but I can’t deny that it is beautiful. Their castles are carved into planets and visible from space, it is a wonder to behold, even with the fungus that darkens corners and weighs the air with the delicious stink of decomposition. Some of them would not want to be free of Une, there are religions that venerate her, but there are many that have fought their entire existence to bring about a present that is free of her voice in their minds, even if it is just the mummerings of a mad thing in sleep.”
“Azalaan!” Sakpata yells and he crosses his arms at his chest, looking back and forth between the witches while they wait for the God of Dreams to stand next to Decay. “Are you aware of the Cymbee? Did you dream about it?”
“Since they told me about it, yes,” Azalaan says. He is distracted. Azalaan had been monitoring Ali, Djallon, and Ivan in a universe with plant life capable of movement and speech that had been taken by Une. This existence is similar to Cymbee in that sentient beings from the existence continue their lives with Une’s infection, but every sentient thing is being actively hunted and consumed by the self professed son of Une, Baobabd, a large and sentient baobab tree that slaughters other beings of its universe that it feels are unworthy of Une’s taint. The universe is mostly consumed by Une and Baobabd is finishing the job, but Ivan, Ali and Djallon had arrived just in time to turn the tide. Azalaan was helping to coordinate an attack on Baobabd—who was the lynch pin of Une’s power in that existence by that point because he had amassed so much of her power by consuming other infected beings—and he is eager to get back to it.
“And?” Sakpata asks.
“I have only seen it in dreams so I feel that it must be significant. When anything new comes, you will be the first to know.”
Sakpata is frustrated as Azalaan returns to his deep concentration in front of a scrying portal that shows views of Ivan, Ali, and Djallon.
“You all do realize that there are thirty-three existences?” Sakpata says, returning his attention to Ahdis and Decay. “We have a lot of work to do, we need solutions that don’t involve us fighting a war.”
“Most of those thirty-three are inert and you’ve already developed the construction to rid Une of those,” Decay says. “We have done a very efficient job and according to my count, we only have about ten to go…”
“Nine,” Azalaan interjects, never taking his eyes from the portal.
“Nine,” Decay corrects herself.
“We can save the beings of Cymbee,” Ahdis says. “I won’t be their executioner.”
“Fine,” Sakpata relents. “But I am going with you. I would prefer that we all do this together since overwhelming force is likely to end it more quickly, but I don’t see the logic in pulling the others out. Can we join the others in their battle? Cymbee is already infected, if we can save the uninfected, we should do that first.”
They all agree and Decay, Ahdis, and Shini who had been resting from his last mission creating a death magic magnet in an inert existence, joined Sakpata on the heptagon before disappearing into the mist.
PRL Serials 