Godclads

Chapter 6-11 Someone Else's Game

The Ninth Column?

Come now, Jhred, are we entertaining conspiracies in this household? Tell me, do you know what it takes to hide from the Guilds. All the Guilds? The very notion is absurd; with all the Heavens we control, how is this... this unseen, unfunded, and unrooted Ninth Estate of power supposed to contend with us?

It can't. It simply can't. There isn't a reliable source of death it can draw from; no feed for the beast if we're going to use the vulgarity of analogies to describe this already absurd prospect.

Perhaps such an organization might have a Fallwalker or two under its banner. But what then? Those of the Sixth Sphere or higher cannot fully ignite their Souls without being noticed from even the depths of our local void. And the Spheres lower? Too limited. Too easy to be properly circumvented by our Sovereignties.

Why, the only way such a faction might pose a threat to us is if they have already penetrated our structure entirely--a feat I daresay not even Ori-Thaum is capable of. That, or their thaumaturgical mastery of more esoteric Domains is so far beyond our fathoming that we simply cannot comprehend how they operate...

I need to make a cast. Stay here. Watch your sister.

-Authority Uthred Greatling with regards to the existence of a "Ninth Column" operating against the Guilds

6-11

Someone Else's Game

A swell of rising dread rose within Avo. A clash of reactions banished all other thoughts from dwelling in his mind. His basest instinct, calling for the death of Green River found itself strangled by counter-emotions induced by his Morality Injector firing hits of regret and horror. Yet, there was more than regret that burned inside him. Curiosity rose, magnified in scope and shape to cloud the space of his mind and shroud his default reflex toward murder. A quietude fell over him as fear strained against indecision.

The Sang knew too much, asking such a rapier-sharp question. Her silence, likewise, was a tool of measurement. She judged the lull in his response with a soft smile, her grafted fox, so languidly wrapped along the reach of her neck, winked at him. There was wickedness in its gleaming eyes, taunting him to ask her more.

"Does my question evade you?" she asked, her tone teasing and fearless. There was no spark of the divine about her, nor did her ward stand especially formidable. Perhaps she thought herself made safe by the curse that clung to their being, but she of all people should know that ghouls were more resistant to afflictions of blood than the fragilities possessed by pure-born men.

For a moment longer, he said nothing, considering his steps ahead. The beast within him wailed, its voice now a pained whisper slipping from the cracks of a mountain, its want buried beneath the tonnage of opposing memories. Still, the consideration to see her dead was not purely a thing of pleasure. Security was a concern now as well, and for all that she knew and all that he didn't, the want for physical violence was slowly inching over into contemplation toward a more mental assault.

"Don't know much," Avo said finally. He kept his words true but reserved. An outright lie seemed unwise. With his words, he doubted she could gaze upon his thoughtstuff clearly, but expectation something gave false assurance. "Might've heard it whispered once or twice."

Green River closed her eyes and her throat chimed with a single note of laughter. "Whispered once or twice." She shook her head. "You seem to think I am in league with my elders. I must admit, it feels prejudiced, to be judged in such a way. Doubtless, Jelene feels much the same way about me. Understandable, of course. All Sang are unified in our desperation to avoid fated death. But not all of us are bound to the same path of salvation. I hope one such as you can see that semblance does not conjoin a person to the follies of their family."

"You dress your words," Avo said, a slight growl entering his tone. "But only sentences that matter are at the end. Want my sympathy. Want my help. Trying to cast us under the same light. Why?"

"As I said: I require a favor. And afterward, I would like to have a conversation with you. To understand you better. I think we have much to offer one another in use and... understanding."

The Sang plucked a wisp of phantoms from her accretion, and as if she was alchemizing strands of thought into shape with breath blown across her palm, she painted the space between them with a memory. The miniature form of a woman and her two children appeared in a small ghost-made well barely larger than Avo's head. It felt as if he was gazing through a cracked mirror from the gaze of another.

The mother. The former street squire and her children. Avo remembered. Beneath his mask, he glared at the Sang. "Watching my conversations?"

"Watching?" Green River said. "More than that, I fear. I orchestrated your encounter. I ensured you would meet her immediately after Bright-Wealth contacted you regarding the girl. Why? Because I was curious if you knew her. Or perhaps she might know you. Either way, it helped me remove a potential suspicion I had regarding you."

"What suspicion?" Avo asked.

"Are you an Ori-Thaum Sleeper, ghoul?" Green River replied. "You must admit, it paints a compelling shroud to your person."

The absurdity of her question filled his mind with static. "No. Not Sleeper. Can't be."

"How can you be sure?"

He stared at her. "Was in a Crucible little over a week ago. Dea--Nearly died several times. Terrible risk. No reward. No point. No direction for operation."

"Perhaps you are not aware of--"

"No," Avo repeated, cutting Green River off. It wasn't that Ori-Thaum didn't have the capability, but he had seen their word. Walton had studied their methodology. What she was suggesting relied too much on chance. His reawakening in the Maw would already be beyond the risk threshold for the Incubi. The fact that he had a Liminal Frame burned into him as well meant that there was no way they would just leave him as an expendable asset.

Ori-Thaum managed some pretty ridiculous mental overwrites in their time. There was even the case of Ori-Thaum replacing a Highflame Guilder's nu-dog with an identical clone implanted with the mind of one of their Sleepers. That lasted a full three months until one day, after an emergency distress signal went out, they found the nu-dog missing. Along with the Guilder's head.

Strange as such an operation was, it was still within the parameters of control and risk. Nothing about Avo's first two days after his initial resurrection made sense regarding "risk" or "control." Especially since he did die multiple times.

Why they would use a ghoul as a potential sheath was also beyond him.

"I think you flee from potential possibility in fear," Green River said. "Unlikely though it might be, you have to be honest with yourself: you are a strange creature. The only one amongst your kind I have witnessed to have even a modicum of rationale and intellect. You must be curious why that is."

"Ninth Column," Avo said, re-railing the conversation. He didn't need her unspooling his thoughts more than she already managed. Beneath the surface, his mind bubbled and boiled, the new questions fed to him both revolting and thought-churning. "What do they have to do with me? With her?" Avo pointed at the mother.

Green River hummed. "Her name is Yosanna Kivranpuvak. She served under the colors of Ori-Thaum up until a week ago. Chief security advisor. Partner of one Chandrak Kivranpuvak, former First Mirror of Ori-Thaum's Theoretical Thaumaturgy Department. Apparently, he went missing just after a certain theft set the entirety of the Tiers on high alert. And in days thereafter, I get a call from an old friend I long believed to be dead."

Avo held even his breath at that moment, anticipating her following words like a blow.

"Do you know a certain Walton, perchance? The way your wards are built. They remind me of his."

When she spoke his father's name, Avo felt his very marrow quiver, the scar tissue of his suspicions gouged into an open wound. He flexed his claws. The elevator groaned to a sudden halt. From the ceiling, flesh tore and bled into new tumorous constructs as jagged fangs and eyes extended. Branches of chambered tendrils sprouted free from the walls, each primed and yearning to skewer the ghoul.

His gaze returned to the Sang. Hers never left him. "Just a precaution. In case you did something unwise."

"Trust me," Avo said. "You won't survive 'unwise.'" He allowed himself to breathe. If he didn't have his Morality Injector, he would've torn into her right then and there. Even now, his cog-feed showed his cog-cap spiking. "Walton. How do you know him?"

"Well, how does anyone know a professional Necrojack? I needed someone's knowledge and the Strix made himself available." She chuckled. "But I fear he might have marked me early. Found a young and impressionable Sang he could plant the seeds of honor and loyalty for favors. However, your relationship with him is more mysterious than I would care to admit. I always assumed him a former color of Ori-Thaum. You would have fit neatly as another plant trained in the same tradition."

Avo remembered watching his father die. Remembered the rash warping his flesh into sores, the homunculi pushing free from the oozing clefts that ravaged his body. "Necrojacks. We trade tips."

Green River nodded. Her expression gave nothing away. "I am sure you do. I am also certain that he left something within the mind of Yosanna for you to sample. A mem-drop, so to speak. And before you ask: no, I did not peek. Nor do I have the skills or capabilities to facilitate such a transgression against you. Such a thing is for your eyes only."

"Why in her mind? Did he say?"

The Sang studied him for a moment before speaking. It seemed that Walton didn't offer her the full picture as well. His father was handing out partial pieces to an entire puzzle, using people to line the path ahead. But why? And for what?

What did he know that Green River lacked? What did she have that he didn't? How much more did Walton tell? And just how dead was his father that he could set up such a specific favor ahead of time? What was the need for such deception?

"She is... to be rewarded," Green River continued. "For services rendered to Ninth Column. I believe she helped them steal something precious."

"The Frame?" Avo asked, forcing an evenness to his tone.

Green River sighed. "Perhaps. The Ninth Column... for the scant services I have provided to them in my time, I can honestly say theirs is a body that runs on chaos and misdirection. Till even now I know little about their designs or desires. Who is truly a part of them and who merely serves as an extension or pawn. I must share words with you of my worries, Avo. I wonder if they are using the memory of Walton to manipulate us both."

And just like that, a new layer of distrust was introduced. Avo hated talking with Green River. Every word she uttered breathed new plagues of concern for his mind to suffer during the coming gulfs of silence.

"Yet, I fear we cannot avoid this fate," she continued. "They see further than what I can. Offered rewards that run beyond even the wildest bribes granted by Guilds. And now, they seem keen on ensuring the survival of Yosanna and her children. Along with the death of one Jhred Greatling. Mirrorhead, as you might know him. I am to help with the realization of these tasks. And then I am to accompany you to the Easy Armistice at Light's End."

"How much do you know?" Avo asked.

Green River grimaced. "No more than what they offered." Avo couldn't tell if she was lying or not. Her thoughtstuff moved at an uncanny evenness of pace. "You are a character of special note to them. Walton wanted me to ensure you would be the one to jack into Yosanna's mind. He also demanded I spare no expense in helping you with your endeavors. His requests felt... personal."

"Why reveal this? Did he have orders for you regarding what to tell me as well?"

At the use of the word orders, the Sang bristled and her fox scoffed. "His recordings left requests for me. I do my best to deliver as per the contract." Green River shrugged. "Walton... Ninth Column. What they offered me is beyond the means of imps to buy."

"Going to get you into the Tiers?" Avo asked, wagering a guess.

She smiled. "In a sense. But ultimately, even more than that. Ah. I say too much." The elevator rang then, Avo's floor arriving. The door snapped open. Neither woman nor ghoul moved. "We are playing the games of another. Games on a board that I cannot picture. And it excites me. It terrifies me. And I think you feel the same way, do you not?"

Avo said nothing. Scattered were his thoughts and even deeper into the mists of deception did he find himself sinking.

"I will make the arrangements for you to visit Mrs. Kivranpuvak and her children as soon as I can. See if her mind reveals anything further. I only ask that you keep me informed as to what you find. In return, I shall endeavor to do the same." She looked down the hall and frowned. "Does Jelene know much? The Agnos?"

"Do we know much?" Avo asked in return.

This time, it was the Sang's turn to play the role of mute.

"I will contact you once I have the 'interviews' prepared," Green River said, stepping away from his question and motioning him to leave the elevator. "But before that, come find me. Perhaps you can offer me insight into my enjoinment as well. They have not said anything about investigating what we already know. And if you are to tell Jelene or the Agnos of this, do so through a closed link. We know not who we can trust."

"No. We don't." Avo backed out of the elevator.

Again, Green River smiled, but her gaze was flat and uncertain. "Good fortune with your coming task. I will offer you what I can find regarding the operations of Conflux in the meantime. Perhaps with additional eyes, your duties may be expedited."

Avo grunted again. He waited for the doors to close and her thoughtstuff to pull out of sight before he turned away from her.

Something was wrong here. Walton was not one to change or add new objectives to something halfway. The information that he gained from Green River felt more dangled than granted, and the sudden addition of her accompaniment to the Easy Armistice and the destruction of Conflux as Ninth Column objects seemed adjustments too convenient, to say the least. Add that to the fact that Green River knew too much for an intermediary and was also missing some major details at the same time.

This felt like a plan that was being actively twisted. Or altered along its steps. And until Avo gained a broader understanding of the players, he would not blindly deliver himself to the Armistice.

For now, Conflux was a matter he could see resolved. That, and building up his Heavens, Hells, and ghosts would at least ensure more clarity against whatever storm he was sailing into. And, dead or not, Walton's mem-drops might just offer some insight into what was going on.