Godclads

Chapter 8-3 Venting (I)

“A Rendsink is not some kind of battery. You will not touch the Rendsink when you vent into it. You will not touch the Rendsink when it is filling. You will not touch the Rendsink unless you are certain it has been safely secured beforehand.

It is entropy. It is unstable. It is literal error code ejected from the subrealities of your Liminal Frames.

You let it leak and it will unmake you if your Hell doesn’t have any Domain-symmetry.

You might be able to use it to stabilize a backlashing Heaven in a pinch but… that’s an operation better left for the glasseyes

If it breaches, death might be the least of your concerns."

-Santanado “Starsinger” Mondelles, Combat Instructor to Axtraxis Academy of Highflame

8-3

Venting (I)

The Agnos’ interjection plucked the strings of tension away from Draus. Mind swirling with drifting thoughts and stalking anger, Avo found his focus swaying over to Kae like a pendulum.

She swallowed but kept speaking. “Your mind… it’s overstimulated, Avo. The s-sensations, especially with a-an awakened god inside–oh Jaus; g-god. Reassembled god.” She blinked. Her focus returned. “You’re not operating at baseline. Too… uh… too many options. Sensations–”

“Mind is clear,” Avo said, fighting the urge to tear into her. The beast was swimming up the vessels in his brain. It wanted to hurt. It wanted to kill. The Heaven within was a mantle of destruction capable of feeding its wildest desires. It tugged at Avo, snarling, hissing, pleading. He ignored it. “My mind is clear. In control. See what was missing. Don’t want to just hurt. Understand? Seen new–” He took a moment to breathe. “New colors. Just wanted to see more.”

“You could’ve fuckin’ done that sight-seein’ shit some other time,” Draus hissed.

The pendulum swung back to Draus. Avo pulled his helmet off and clicked his fangs together. “I chose to do it then.”

She flexed her wrist. Faintly, Avo heard a series of crackles rattling from her joints. “Well I’m gettin’ real close to chosin’ something of my own.”

“W-wait,” Kae said, trying to get in a word.

REND CAPACITY: 3%

For a moment, the Regular and ghoul were lost in the past. This was their element. He was close enough to tear, to bite into her, to shred the fabric of her mind; she was close enough to grapple, to break, his death but the alignment of her palm and his skull.

A cackle of laughter sounded from above as mockeries took flight through the alleyway, their wings beating loud.

“Be wary, master,” the Woundshaper said, its words heavy with unspoken intent. “Break her and she shall mend upon the falling of the nightly rains. Slay her and there will be no return. I jest no longer: Should she feed your flame, the act cannot be undone. Death holds no sway upon things such as we, but she is ephemeral.”

“Ever kill a ghoul with your hands?” Avo growled.

Draus shrugged, the moment so slight he barely noticed. “Plenty. Feelin’ nostalgic?”

“Not the word I would use. But I could get a new experience out of this.”

“Gettin’ hurt?”

“Hurting a Reg.”

She ran her front teeth along her lips. A growing focus built behind her eyes. Part of her truly was mad. Mad that he hadn’t done exactly what she thought they agreed on. Mad that her little operation was ruined because he found a greater purpose. More, however, was the fact she wanted this fight.

The idea of getting bloody with him was a thrill.

And past the snarling rage of his beast and the caution of his Woundshaper, Avo wasn’t so against the idea of indulging in a little bout of fist on claw.

“To the blood?” Avo offered.

She sneered. “The hells with that shit. We’re squared up; we go bloody proper. Till shit breaks. Till one of us can’t.”

That sounded most delightful–

A glint of chrome bobbed into sight. Kae’s exocortex. The Agnos was reaching between them, trying to create more space by prying them apart. “C-consaangs… uh…” Kae grunted.

He blinked. Draus tilted her head. Where building bloodlust filled the air between them, Draus and Avo felt a new emotion enter the equation and its name was awkwardness.

“Kae,” Draus said, eyes still locked on Avo. She was trying to keep hold of the feeling. “Get outta the way.”

“No,” Kae said. “B-both of you are a-acting like f-fucking children.”

That made the Regular do a double take. “I’m the one actin’ like a child? Really? Was I the one that went pissin’ off to play with some refugees in the middle of a snuff-job? Was I?”

Kae’s hand slid off Avo’s chest as she announced her retreat with a ragged sigh. Shielded by the body of the Agnos, Avo seized the moment to indulge in some mockery. He grinned at Draus, fangs bared and all. “Child.”

Draus’ face broke into a scoff–the rasp trailing low with a hint of building violence. He leaned forward, welcoming what was to come, already anticipating the first hit.

Then, something did hit him. Just not Draus. Like a soft raindrop, he felt a small palm clap against his neck. Below, he heard Kae grunt with effort, bouncing on her toes. “I was t-trying to… to hit your…” she trailed off, staring at her hand, unable to remember why she just hit him. “I was trying to s-slap your face.”

“Too short,” Avo grunted.

Draus chuckled. And then, she blinked. Her face collapsed into a frown. She turned her eyes to Avo, expression near apologetic as she shook her head. A breath puffed from her lungs. The mood was ruined. Moment of bloodlust passed, both Regular and ghoul were unsated. “Godsdammit, Kae.”

The Agnos blinked in confusion.

Avo understood. “Can still fight,” he said, trying to keep the hope out of his voice. “Have more insults.”

She shook her head and backed away, sighing. “It don’t work if I know what you’re tryin’ to get at. Too artificial. Don’t feel right no more.”

Her earlier sigh grew contagious as he hissed out a breath as well. The beast within Avo rattled against his mind as it begged him to start the violence anyway. Tear through the Agnos. Force the Regular to fight him. But she was right. She didn’t want it. The mood had broken. Kae had ruined the flavor; to bleed her now would be like indulging in fast food, empty calories.

“Another moment of delicious bloodletting ruined. Tsk tsk.”

The Woundshaper didn’t sound so disappointed. Its odd favoritism toward Draus probably meant this was the outcome it desired.

“Godsdammit, Kae,” Avo muttered. “Ruined it. Could’ve settled things. Would’ve been special. Meaningful.”

Kae turned, confusion growing into exasperation. “W-what–”

“Meaningful?” Draus asked, not understanding.

“Regular. Ghoul. Old brawl. Different outcome.”

She cocked her head and tightened her jaw. The mood was coming back. The flames of delight ignited within Avo. The violence was on again. “You assume–”

Kae darted in front of her, blocking her “No–stop, what is going on right now?”

The beast was near-wailing from frustration. The little Agnos couldn’t deny him. The worst of his nature called for him to draw his winds and dash both women against the walls. Smear them. Or he could crack their minds with his trauma.

Both were options. Options Avo had no desire of picking. Neither one was claw against fist. Neither fit the theme.

“One… one of you explain to me what’s going on?” Kae asked again.

A head taller, Draus stared at Avo. “I can’t do this.” A different kind of frustration weighed down on her. “Not with her here. We find another chance.”

He snarled. Kae shivered at his voice, turning slowly to face him, back pressed against Draus. “Ruined the moment. Ruined it.”She blinked. A flash of building anxiety was climbing up her throat. She was trying not to tear up from the pressure. “I-I don’t know why you’re both mad at me.”

Draus winced. “We’re not mad at you–”

“I am,” Avo interrupted. “Could’ve been good.” The glare he got from the Regular was more chiding than challenging. “I’m not wrong. Stopped our fight.”

“Yeah.” She sniffed. “Damn shame.”

A loud crash sounded from behind. The stasis bubble was no more. Their aerovec had struck the floor.

REND CAPACITY: 0%

Kae’s head spun between both of them, her eyes widening in increments as she realized–and then promptly forgot for every few seconds–what she just stopped. “You two w-want to fight?”

They both nodded, wordless in their honesty.

The Agnos’ mouth quivered, opening and closing. “Oh,” was all that she could eventually muster.

Avo shot a look at Draus. “Later.”

Draus’ expression darkened. She took a measured step back. “Oh, there’ll be a time.”

“False Apotheosis,” Avo said, his mind twitching back to the Agnos’ earlier words before everything was so rudely interrupted. “What is it?”

“Avo you’re m-miracle-drunk,” Kae said collecting herself. “What–what you’re feeling–y-your mind… it’s being pulled. Pried. So many directions. The False Apotheosis it’s like absolute freedom… you stop seeing things they are… reality becomes more… more like an interpretation. Beyond… beyond the reach of your Heaven, even.”

The Woundshaper chuckled. “Oh, this poor Oracle is conflating academic theory with divine actuality. To offer faint praise, perhaps you are indeed being influenced by your powers, your immortality, master. However. Ultimately. All these things are of your nature. You are not deluded as she so thinks, but rather free: A truer god than any other: one that strides both sides of the existential tapestry.”

“I-is she talking to you right now?” Kae asked.

Avo blinked. His attention went back over to Kae. “Not human. Not like the others.”

“And they’re–they’re not like anyone else either,” she said, frustration cutting through. She turned to Draus looking for aid. “D-Draus. Tell him. Tell him about–about the phantasmics the Guilders have. They–they modify their own minds to s-stay like who they were and… and even that doesn’t work after prolonged use. It’s… it’s more than a pattern of thought. It’s–”

“Absolute power,” Avo said. “Absolute freedom. Choice.”

Draus spat in the corner. “Gettin’ a bit sick of hearin’ that word already.”

“Will find synonyms,” Avo replied.

“Gleam, consang,” Draus drawled, “that’s exactly what I wanted.”

“Look–Avo,” Kae continued, her hands moving as if she was trying to brush away Draus’ words, “we… we need to take a-a deeper look at your… your Sangeist.”

“Woundshaper,” he corrected.

“What?”

“Renamed my Heaven.”

“Jaus,” Draus said, closing her eyes, “why the fuck is it that every last one of you ‘Clads gotta give something a new name. Couldn’t just add a ‘two’ at the end.”

“INSOLENT PARTLING! I WILL NOT BE CALLED A ‘TWO.’ TWO DENOTES MY PLACE AS SECOND. I AM SECOND TO NONE.”

Internally, Avo glared.

“Not you master. We are not in competition, how could we? I am merely being honest: I exist your most useful Heaven.”

“There’s a lot… lot happening to you we don’t know.” Kae shuffled up to him. “Frankly, I r-recommend that… that we wait before-before we try to stabilize this Fallen Heaven. We–we don’t know the effects–”

“No,” Avo said.

“But–”

“No. Need better Hell.”

“‘You’re actin’ like a child, Draus,’” the Regular simpered, mimicking Kae as poorly as she could.

Avo glared. “I tell you both what I think. I think my Rend is empty. I think I’m going to get the Rendsinks and fix my Heaven. After–”

“After we’re pullin’ out of the Second Fortune,” Draus finished. “Ain’t no way River’s gonna let us stay after we bring this kind of heat. I’ll check with my contact. Pick up that command-aero.” She flicked her eyes over to him again. “Maybe we’ll have our talk then, you and I.”

He clicked his fangs together. “Say when. Going to pick up Rendsinks. Kae. Will need your help plugging the Rupture. Stay with Draus. Will speak to you through her later. Tired of talking. Want to grow instead.”

“Wait,” Kae cried, “We still need to talk about–”

And Avo was wind, soaring up through the crevices of air into skies unladen. Using his Whisper as a periscope, he dove toward the docks in Xin Yunsha, the Rendsinks marked on his DeepNav.

The trip usually would have taken hours, impediments of distance and traffic.

As wind, and with the lanes purged by the passing presence of the Paladins, Avo collected his necessary instruments in a fourth of the time.

***

Shuttling the Rendsinks from their storage in the docks was the easy part. Carrying the Rendsinks along in his Yondergale, he kept them drifting slow and far apart to avoid any collisions.

Alone, each sink shouldn’t possess the capability of matching the output of Rend overflowing from the Fallen Heaven, but together, along with his Hell to adjust, his odds of stabilizing this Rupture stood somewhere north of likely.

Kae guided him with a mixture of reluctance and burgeoning anticipation. For all her fears regarding the state of his mind and the nature of the Woundshaper, she wanted to be a part of this, to operate beyond her damage as an Agnos once more.

Connecting them as intermediary, Draus’ session buzzed in the back of his mind as he drifted inward toward the building where he last faced the Scalpers. The dish at its top was half-collapsed now, and the damage he inflicted with his entropic shroud lined the exterior of the structure with open rents.

Entering was a thing of ease.

It was staying unaffected by the anomalous pulses given off from the thaumic reactor that worried Avo.

+Alright, hang on there,+ A tinge of animosity still lingered in Draus mind. She kept a good leash on it, but it existed all the same. Strangely, it was a bifurcating thing, mostly directed at him, but also pointed inward, at herself. +Kae wants you to look around for a moment. You said this place… +

An unseen pulse washed past him, bathing the world around him with the flash of a peculiar pulse. Unpursued by the Scalpers, Avo found that the broken Soul powering this former block had a signature. A specific luminosity. It tugged at his awareness in one manner ineffable, and another, thaumaturgic.

WARNING: REND CAPACITY SPIKING

REND CAPACITY: 66%

EXTERNAL RESONANCE BLEEDING OVER

DOMAINS DETECTED

- [MATTER]

- [SPACE]

- [BIOLOGY]

- [LUMINOSITY]

As the information flowed through his Metamind, a lightness built in his stomach. With so many Domains–

+Kae’s sayin’ you shouldn’t get excited,+ Draus interrupted. Across the way, Avo watched as the Agnos studied holograms formed by projected phantoms. She was digging through his mem-data with a look of enraptured curiosity. +Fallen Heavens don’t give working Domains. Canons are cracked one way or another. If it had a cycler, that’s probably bricked too.+

Kae said something then. Correcting Draus. It was hard to hear her through Draus’ mind. Maybe he could build more externality functions into her Auto-Seance in the future. If she ever trusted enough to look into her mind, that was.

+She’s sayin’ that it’s probably fine. It spiked your Hell because you got a shared Domain. Says you should hurry before the next major flare-up because if it backlashes you again–+

Avo redoubled his speed, gliding down through the hydroponic garden–entirely regrown in the time he had been gone and reinfested with a forest of eight-headed hydrapedes latching to each other in chains and rings from branches.

The patchwork of scars and grooves he carved into the room during his battle against the Scalpers remained. He brushed his mind over the shape of the chamber and reminisced.

Far had he come. Far from prior weakness and limitation. To think of how vulnerable he was back then laced his mind with bitterness.

Snapping back to focus, he lurched at an angle, diving down through an open gulf that spread wide from the corner. In the corner, away from the staggering trees grown atop pedestals in ten feet increments, a vast gorge of inwardly rent metal ran some thirty feet wide, exposing the guts of the structure.

An eldritch brightness licked past the lip of the wound. The signature of the Fallen Heaven was growing stronger. Heavier.

Avo approached.

This was where the spearships punched through; this was where the Galeslither vacuumed him up; this was where the turbine that was the Fallen Heaven spun.

With Rendsinks in grasp, he descended and made to forge for himself a new Hell.