The Systemic Lands

Chapter 271: Day 543 – The Astrologer Arrives

Clarissa and myself waited outside of my home as the Astrologer drifted through the air towards us. The soldiers at the wall had sent word ahead of his arrival. He was exactly as I remembered, only this time he had his right hand back. The silver glowing stars on his black robe and gloves. The silver rope belt. The hood, that hid his face.

“Astrologer, welcome,” I greeted him. “This is Chief Administrator Clarissa,” I introduced her. I wanted her present for any discussions with this man to help me evaluate him and what he said.

“Michael, Clarissa, we have much to discuss,” the Astrologer said. Well at least he wasn’t beating around the push and had finally arrived.

“Of course, a conference room has been prepared, if there is anything required, please let me know,” Clarissa replied. We had discussed going into the conversation with an agenda, but in the end decided it was better to let things naturally develop.

“Much is required, but you are all lacking,” the Astrologer said bluntly as Clarissa led the way to the conference room. His tone was distinctly colder than the last time we had met. I wondered what had changed.

We took our seats, and the door was closed. It was just us three. “Idiots!” The Astrologer slammed a palm down on the table with a bang. I quickly stood up to respond to any type of attack that might come. “Sit down Michael, just sit. My patience is at an end for plots and tricks. So, I will lay bare the reality of our situation. And I mean our situation, since we are now all on the same sinking boat.” I sat back down and looked at Clarissa who just shrugged. We both waited for the Astrologer to speak.

“Where to even begin?” he let out a sigh and slumped in his chair.

“The beginning?” Clarissa asked. It was annoying how he kept his hood on to shadow and conceal his face, but I didn’t say anything about that.

“Very well, we shall speak of the beginning of the impending disaster you have set into motion. While you did not understand before I will make things clear and answer your questions that I can. Her Divine Empress ruler of the West is close to making a move. Once she does, nothing and no one that currently exists will be able to stop her. I have stalled her for almost two years now, but that time is soon running out. Hold your questions for the end of my explanation.” The Astrologer held up a hand and then continued to speak. I closed my mouth.

“In the time before the calamity. There were two great empires or nations. The Empire of the West, controlled by the Divine Empress. The Nation of Unified City States of the East. This UCS, was ruled by a powerful and wiser leader. Who had uncovered many secrets of this land you call the Systemic Lands. Both these rulers had to seize power, to bring order to the chaos, much as you have here in Purgatory.”

“The ruler of the East’s knowledge and power were only matched by one other. The Divine Empress from the West. He had many powerful companions, known as the Valkyries. Five in total. Each a master combatant in their own right. The Divine Empress slew one Valkyrie and received a wound in exchange. This battle was not one that could be won without a loss by either side. So, the Treaty of West and East was signed.”

“Yes, I am skipping a lot here, but I wish to convey the important pieces to both of you and the true structure of this world outside of my protection you have enjoyed so far. This treaty had many provisions including a ban on summoning outside the System and crafting bombs. For reasons I will only tell you, if you insist, but you will be greatly harmed by this knowledge.” I didn’t say anything and kept listening intrigued where this story was going.

“Then a calamity struck. It is called the calamity, since there is no explanation why or what it was. Everyone in the UCS was killed instantly. Alive and then dead. The cities were wiped. The land torn asunder and remade in full by the System.” That did not sound good. Not good at all.

“The only who managed to survive was the leader of the East who was on an important quest. A quest to gather the power necessary to confront the Divine Empress and win once and for all. Unfortunately, the moment the calamity struck, he was in a critical situation and became trapped.”

“But despite being trapped he was not a fool and found a way to send his will forth from his prison. The will of this man has been trying to keep the East free from the Divine Empress who suspects he is no longer around. But she is loath to break her word to someone she sees as an equal. Someone who left a cursed wound upon her and the risk of a calamity striking once more and killing her.”

“So, she hesitates. Held in check only by the memory of a trapped man and his will acting upon the wider Systemic Lands. Of the danger of the calamity and that it might strike again and kill her. Her suspicion grows, only fueled more by the idiotic actions of people in this part of the world. For if she decides to move, then no one will be able to stand against her,” the Astrologer finished speaking. The silence stretched out for a bit.

“You are that will, aren’t you?” Clarissa asked what I had been thinking.

“Yes, I am. I am not truly here. Merely a trick the real Astrologer used to circumvent his prison where he remains trapped even as we speak,” the Astrologer or projection replied. Just a projection was able to confront the Ritualist, it made me wonder how strong the real Astrologer truly was and this Divine Empress.

“And what of your dealings with the Ritualist?” I asked. I was paying close attention to how he would respond to this question.

“A gambit. I sent him to the East with the hope he would deal with a thorn and stay there in reserve. To strike at the Divine Empress and distract her if need be. If she stepped into the East and harry her forces on my behalf, a force multiplier that would give us a moment to breath. The thorn was removed, and the Ritualist put into place to wait for when he would be useful. But someone just had to go and bother him. To stir up old grudges. They couldn’t just let. Him. Go.” The Astrologer jabbed his finger in my direction to punctuate each word.

“And we are just supposed to know that? Without you coming here and speaking to us? Why wait so long?” I challenged his statements.

“Because I was hoping to avoid this next part. I will trade knowledge for freedom. The time for useless plots and plans is over. The hour of darkness comes closer with every second, even now, if this wasn’t a critical conversation to have, I would not be here,” the Astrologer answered.

“What was your earlier plan?” I asked.

“To force you into the situation where you would free me. To explain more would damage you. I can see your skepticism, but this is one of the few things, where knowledge would harm your future. I don’t want you to claim I didn’t give you ample warning before you press me for the answer,” the Astrologer answered, and I frowned at that non-answer.

“How can knowledge be dangerous? Like a memetic hazard?” I asked.

“No. It is far more complicated and insidious than that. But if you want to know more then I will explain, otherwise ask of other topics.” What a convenient excuse and incredibly annoying. How did his plotting and this Treaty of the West and East tie together?

“Why is this Divine Empress so dangerous that you fear her so? Couldn’t we just accept her rule?” Clarissa asked. The Astrologer paused for almost ten seconds before answering the questions Clarissa had brought up.

“Accept her rule? How naïve you are, you pitiful sweet innocent summer child. To understand the level of her brutality, I shall explain what she does for each and every arrival in the several cities she controls and uses to fuel her growth. I suggest you strengthen your minds, since this is not for the faint of heart.”

“I have seen torture and terrible things, that won’t scare me,” Clarissa replied and the Astrologer shook his hooded head. I was not so sure about that. The level of human depravity knew no bounds.

“Each person that arrives is questioned on their background. Most are sent to the brothels to be raped to death by her soldiers or to the fighting pits for their amusement. That is a kindness, yes, a kindness. To be savaged by beasts or beasts disguised as her soldiers, who take delight in their own sick pleasures. To die and finally rest. People she views as having wronged her even slightly back on Earth or in the present are brought to her capital. There they merged with the buildings and kept alive with perverse methods to scream in pain constantly.”

“I have it on good authority, that she has said the screams help her sleep and improve the dreary mood of the city, knowing all those she seeks vengeance upon will suffer a thousandfold what she was forced to suffer. The children birthed from the brothels are not truly birthed. But ripped from their mother’s wombs as the mothers themselves are flesh forged into horrors and their carcasses tossed away, never knowing their child. The babies are used in the darkest of practices.” The Astrologer hesitated before continuing. I was beginning to feel queasy, and I could tell Clarissa had her jaw clenched shut and was very still as she listened.

“She trains the babies as her death corps. Empowering them through the store and through various methods and sending them out on suicide missions. If you ever see a child as young as two, then it is one of her disposable minions. She sends them forth in waves to demoralize and terrorize anyone who might oppose her. You will now ask how can a child as young as two even be capable of such things? Doing what the Ritualist has done and taking in external sources of energy to take in knowledge.”

“Each of these children contain her own murderous desire and advanced combat acumen, forged with the knowledge of various monsters. They are fed crystal infused milk, contaminating them forever, turning them into cursed beings that adhere to her will. While nowhere as good as the original, they lack any concept of self-preservation. The reason I was delayed returning was that I had to kill twenty of these death corps babies myself. A light poke by her for what the Ritualist has done and you all did with the crafting bombs after having to deal with her Envoy.”

“Why the suffering, the mutilation of helpless babies? Because she can. It is inefficient, wasteful, and barbaric. But she does not care about any of those things as much as she cares about the image of absolute terror and domination she projects. She wants everyone to be as miserable as she once was.”

“While the cursed children don’t transmit information back to her and are completely cut off from resonance-based attacks, they are the heralds before she goes forth herself.” Okay, this was incredibly depraved. The Ritualist had been a ten out of ten before, now he was down to a seven out of ten and this Divine Empress had taken the top spot. The clinical and cold way the Astrologer explained all of this, made me believe it far more than if he had gone on a rant.

“It is said that her throne is made from the heads of her most hated foes, merged into the throne and kept alive. So that all know the penalty for raising their hand against her as they scream in continual suffering to amuse her while she sits in her capital and her army brings her countless crystals every day. You wouldn’t be allowed to submit or even beg. Well you could beg, until her amusement ran out and then your suffering would begin.”

“She doesn’t believe in submission. The only mercy she would give you Clarissa would be the honor of birthing her a future death corps cursed child soldier before being flesh crafted into some terror for the fighting pits. For Michael she would cleave your head from your neck with a single swipe of a single finger, keeping your head alive to graft it onto her throne for her amusement.” The Astrologer stopped speaking as I took a moment to try and process all of that.

“Is there anything she doesn’t do?” I asked hoping for something. It couldn’t all be terror and death.

“Mercy or kindness. Those words have never entered her sight. She doesn’t believe in killing her enemies but making them suffer eternally. Death is a kindness. There are dark rumors that have suggested she was looking to trap people into jars forever to watch them endlessly suffer for her dark amusement. To graft people into monsters and fight them over and over. To even speak her name is considered ill fortune, since she might hear it.”

“Can she? Is she doing a Voldemort?” I asked. That was a very important question, one that we needed to know.

“I would like to say that it is impossible. But she has diviners specialized in sensing every minute energy fluctuation. They sensed the battle here from her capital. If I didn’t meet her Envoy, there would already be death corps soldiers running across the border to kill themselves in your cities with her right behind them. The few she sent was just a poke to see if we are even capable of defending the boarder. If there is one person who the word impossible doesn’t apply to, it is her.”

I didn’t know what to say. It was impossible to imagine the scope of terror the Astrologer described. For one person to inflict continual misery and suffering seemed stupid. In my mind evil was what the Ritualist had done. Brutality was a steppingstone for efficiency, not an end to itself. This Divine Empress just wanted suffering as the end goal which was completely alien to me.

I knew it was something people could want and do, but it just felt stupid. Where others might succumb to hedonism or indulgencies with their absolute power, this woman had gone the opposite direction. Without the personal power that was present in the Systemic Lands, she would have been assassinated. In some respects, it felt like the Nazis. Just blatantly wasteful, because they were caught up in their own hatred.

“So, you want freedom? Where and how exactly is your main body trapped?” I asked changing the subject from the terror I had just learned of. I needed time to process what the Astrologer had said.

“Telling you that ahead of time is a risk the information would fall into the wrong hands. We still have not reached an agreement. My knowledge in exchange for your help.”

“Unlimited questions?” I asked.

“You are allowed to ask more the closer you get to freeing me. As for the level you need to be at. You need to be able to fight a level 6 monster and win.” There was utter silence at that declaration.

“That is not happening for a long time at the current level of power scaling,” I replied. “Certainly not before this divine empress acts.”

“And that Michael is the problem. If I told you to do things? Would you trust me without question? If answering your questions would ruin the outcome?” I frowned at that.

“That is unfair,” I replied. I could never put my life into someone else’s hands like he was asking.

“It is. But this entire place is unfair. What is a little bit more unfairness? Still, I know you will say no, regardless of what I say or offer. Then you will want answers. Those answers will ruin everything. Then we will have to truly gamble on insanity. You will have to attempt to free me without being able to kill a level 6 monster.”

“Is a monster like that trapping you?” I asked.

“Perhaps. That is something I cannot and will not reveal. The risk is too high that people, however remote, would use that knowledge to strike at me. When you are ready to act, I will tell you then, not a moment sooner,” the Astrologer replied.

“Naran. Can you help him?” Clarissa asked. I nodded at that question. It was a good one to ask.

“Your companion. What happened?” Clarissa explained Naran’s situation and the treatment the good doctor had attempted and possible future treatments. The Astrologer let out a long sigh after hearing everything. It did not sound like a good sigh.

“He is cursed. That is the technical term for injuries to a person’s energy that cannot be fixed with a restoration. I can fix the problem, but there is a great cost to me. One that I am not willing to pay.”

“Is it a matter of points?” I asked.

“If only it were that simple. I am merely a proxy for the Astrologist. This body of mine, while having many benefits, has even more drawbacks. Teaching you how to heal him, will be too late. He has been injured for what, five days?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Then, your window of healing him is closing fast.”

“You clearly want something, since you brought up the option to heal him. Let’s not beat around the bush. What do you want?” I asked.

“Your absolute trust without question,” the Astrologer said.