Beacon from Beyond (Book 1 Complete)

Despite his agreement, they did not settle again for that day. They'd already spent far too long in this world, so they were going to leave soon, but they needed to catch up with each other, especially considering Perumah's curiosity.

Dei didn't quite understand what Reaperhood changed about him, as he was physically the same, but Perumah insisted the difference in his magical signature couldn't be overstated, enough that she began asking questions about the Plane of Death itself, which he… couldn't answer.

"What did Grim's Presence tell you? And how did Death's grip wrapping around you feel before it was absorbed?"

He wanted to say "My magical senses are stunted, how was I supposed to feel those things?" but he could 100% feel Presence, and he'd already felt the touch of Death before, during his meeting with the mysterious Leviathan which tried to expedite his trip to Grim.

'Looking back, that Leviathan was kinda… dumb as shit? Why would she waste my one spare life just because I was feeling a little antsy? I'm REALLY glad I didn't let her drag me below.'

Dei could only shrug at Perumah's questions, "Sorry, I just don't know. I wasn't paying attention at the time because my thoughts were on other things, such as, you know, dying?"

"Yes, but I'm positive you missed many clues or epiphanies. You didn't even send out a Soul Echo in the Plane of Death to see if there were any other entities or even attempt to read into Grim…?" She grumbled, but he could see she ultimately understood. She knew how bad a state of mind he was in better than he did.

"Well sor-rey, but if you want to figure anything out about Death, you'll have to study whatever mark it left on me."

Perumah seemed to take that as a challenge, and he felt the observation of him through her mana redouble within his soul.

She wasn't the only one either, as Ashvorn had been a flurry of activity as well since the change, clearly excited to have a "New" test subject, as it'd treated his soul as a completely different one ever since he got back.

"Ah, also, the reaction from your personal affinity? The one that caused you to detonate?" Perumah asked.

"What about it?"

"While it may seem like this was reasonable at the time, there is clearly an aspect of your affinity focused on self-improvement which takes the final result into account as well. I believe it killed both of you as the Time Beast taking over would've been a sub-optimal outcome, while dying allowed you to become a Reaper."

"Huh… and an aspect of it knew I'd become a Reaper based on my meeting with the Leviathan a while back… Okay, I didn't give her enough credit, that was clever if it was intentional."

"What Leviathan?" Perumah asked, and Dei realized that he'd never actually told her the story. Quickly recounting what happened, she scowled at the end of it, saying "That Leviathan practically told you what to do!"

"Hindsight is twenty twenty, Perumah! Besides, would you have told me to kill myself if you knew before?"

She huffed, saying "No, the chance of being wrong would be too high."

"See? Nothing would've changed. Besides, it's better to organically die, because I get a free do-over."

"Do you two ever get told you have weird arguments?" Jacob asked.

Dei glanced his way. "Considering it's usually just us? No, not really."

"This is a reasonable thing to debate as it might improve future results if a similar situation arises," Perumah insisted.

"Similar situations?!" Dei cried, "Man, I fuckin hope this doesn't happen again!"

"We seldom decide when something terrible happens to us, and planning one's own death is even more difficult to take into consideration. Better to plan for the eventuality."

"True, true… I guess next time I'll at least open my senses so I at least get enough information to review them later using eidetic memory."

Perumah narrowed her eyes at him, and he realized his misstep a moment too late. "You have eidetic memory?"

"...Yes…"

"And it's thorough enough to pick up on signals your conscious mind does not actively process."

"..."

"I can see that you're unwilling to use it right now because you fear it might awaken repressed memories, which is a reasonable concern, but would you be willing to let me look through said experiences?"

"I… would rather you didn't."

He didn't want to say, but he was embarrassed at how he'd thrashed and screamed as his body put itself back together. He didn't want her to see that part, but that was likely the moment she would focus on, as it would have the most information.

She said she got the gist from Ashvorn, but it was one thing to see from the outside, and another to experience a once-in-a-lifetime anomalous spell in a unique situation from the first person.

With a slight grumble, she crossed her arms and looked away, probably convincing herself not to press the issue for his health.

"By the way, I wanted to ask, what was up with the root system you created? It looks like a multilayered forest, with several canopies growing on top of each other, and it was even extending out into the fabric before," he asked, gracelessly changing the subject while glancing up at the mass still behind her. Right now, the fact that she used humanoid bodies for show was abundantly clear.

Perumah accepted the transition, saying "This is my attempt at making a new Biting Flesh Trap network. As we typically spread by growing new plants through our roots, I repeated the process known to me, making more. They should have been exact duplicates of my personality, but they came out utterly simple," she said with a frown. "They did not inherit any of the changes to my personality. Despite being ensouled, they are simply plants, and not even particularly ambitious ones. I believe this is a natural balancing mechanism for powerful entities, not allowing them to clone themselves due to some fundamental law. I believe that's also why the Time Beast couldn't go off and live its own life, because it was a duplicate of you and the universe didn't like that. Even the affinity, Duplication, likely does not create true independent copies. If I had to guess, they are lacking in Rights or unique minds, turning them into either a hive-mind or an entirely new infantile creature."

Dei looked through the mass again, recognizing a combination of bone-blade and gray-nub of Flesh Traps.

"So it was a failure? Then why keep the network?"

"While I was not able to create an independent self, they do still serve as nodes for my will, extending my range and taking on some of the burden from my mind. They are quite unwieldy though, and I intend to dissolve them before we depart. It's merely a new option I've discovered that has potential if we indent to remain in place for some amount of time."

"You're going to kill them?" he asked, alarmed, "Why not just set them free?"

She shook her head. "These hold the same specialization a level one Biting Flesh Trap of Allure would. In the quarantine, that would be no issue, out here? In a normal world? They are far too honed, they will destroy the local ecosystem and become too difficult to contain."

"Maybe I could take them into my wor-"

"And make the elves deal with blood sucking traps all over the place? Be more considerate," she chided him, and he pouted slightly.

"I'm trying…"

Her expression softened, and he even detected some appreciation in her gaze. "It is noble that you're still seeing them as something worth saving, but Dei, they're just plants. They aren't like me. I'm glad you haven't lost the touch that pushed you to help me during the start of our journey, but I am not you, and these are not yours to decide the fate of. Take it as my own cruelty and not a weight on your shoulders."

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He sighed, "No, you're not cruel, and ultimately you're correct. I've looked into plant souls, and most of them are simple in the truest sense, closer in thinking to a computer than a person. Still complex, yes, but not creatures. I just hate to see something even remotely similar to you… die."

"Thank you for saying that, despite this situation I would like for you to continue thinking like that, as it is my favorite thing about you." she said with a smile and made him blush, but a flicker of something below caught him off guard.

He saw something controlling yet comforting in her eyes, like she thought she knew the best way to push him forward and nudged him in the right direction.

'She warned me she was doing this, she said she would guide my mind into a certain state where it would heal properly. Still… is this manipulation, or encouragement?

'Is there a difference?

'I think I'll just let it happen. I won't fight against whatever mental "cast" she's putting on me while I heal.'

The desire to push against the bounds was strong, but he knew that wasn't the healthy thing to do, to shrug off the help she was trying to give. He still hurt, but the cold ache slowly thawed. If he fought the process, he'd only get hurt more, but letting go? Handing over the reigns to Perumah? That was easy; if it were anyone else, it would also be stupid, but he trusted her.

* * *

An hour later, they were packed and ready to set out, when something occurred to Dei and he asked "What happened with The Champion in this world?"

"He questioned us shortly after your demise," Perumah told him, and he sensed discomfort in her words. "He said that he was waiting for you to appear as you hadn't left his range and he could potentially hold us as hostages to ensure you didn't leave- through more delicate wording- but he suddenly felt you perish, and left after getting the story from me of who you were and what your goal was. I assumed he was wrong, which is why I continued to search. I believe once he saw you return in an exhausted state, his guess about your demise was confirmed, and he did not see a point in interrogating another member of our group when the contracts in your soul confirmed my explanation."

Despite her being incapable of love, Dei had to say he was flattered she could at least care for him, and was probably- if not devastated, then at least remorseful- to hear of his death.

Judging by the surprised expressions from Jacob and Thadria, he assumed Perumah hadn't told them what The Champion said.

"The effort is appreciated, but yea, There's no way The Champion would've let me escape without an explanation."

Each one they encountered that was closer to the epicenter became more desperate, each more willing to kill their group for a leg-up.

It was scary, but understandable considering they were weighing the lives of a dimension- maybe tens or hundreds of dimensions- against Dei's one.

No matter the reason, they set out again without him meeting this Champion.

* * *

Dei found the journey between worlds far more enjoyable this time. Not because it was easier (in fact, it was more dangerous than ever), but because an invisible weight was lifted from him with the Time Beast's death. He didn't even realize it was nagging at him until now, but Ashvorn's insistence that his fifth rule involved "Taking care of" all his enemies rang true, and told him clearly how the little System had calculated the other Rules in the first place.

They knew they'd crossed into a new Champion's domain when the storms quieted in a scene very similar to the first hostile encounter they'd had. Unlike that one, they weren't even close to the anchor planet this time around, only about seventy percent of the way there.

Two serpentine eyes opened in the air, bearing into them for several seconds while they stood frozen in place.

As quickly as they came, the eyes vanished, leaving them in silence.

"I think we're getting close," Jacob said unhelpfully.

Dei laughed and said "No really? Did the murderous Champion tip you off, or was it your masterful deduction?"

"No, it's that big Reality Being over there," he said, pointing the direction they were traveling.

Whipping his head around, Dei shouted "What?!" but only saw the regular planet.

"I lied," Jacob said, then guffawed at his own joke.

Dei scrunched his nose, but Perumah told him the next location and he teleported away as a means to literally and metaphorically move on from his own mistake.

'Supernaturally blessed to be amazing at reading body language, and an average Joe tricks me.'

* * *

By the time they reached the next planet, enough time had passed that Perumah declared it was time for a break. Dei insisted he was good to keep going, but Perumah wouldn't hear it. She said she could see the effects of his previous comfort wearing off, and how he was slipping back into some kind of natural fear effect.

'Damn Heart user and her scary ability to tell when I feel like dropping.'

Dei didn't know how to describe the feeling, but Hollow Cry was the perfect expression of what it meant, and he must've formed it as a way to force others to understand what he experienced: a magical version of lashing out.

Hollow Cry held the affinities of Death, Madness, Ice, and Grief, which perfectly encapsulated everything he was feeling.

Reluctantly, he plopped himself down in Perumah's garden, staring at the ceiling and the little glowing thorns she put everywhere to resemble the gems he remembered from when he was younger.

She didn't immediately bother him, so he spent a moment basking in the feeling he got from a small, circular enclosed space.

It was nice.

He didn't even know he'd love something like this so much, but he did.

By the time Perumah's roots extended down from the ceiling and started to form a body for her, he'd calmed significantly. She wordlessly placed herself in the nook of his arm, and he did nothing to stop her.

He was aware immediately that she'd somehow recreated the feeling of body heat by warming her roots somehow, and that she was much closer to creating a smooth skin-like texture than ever.

That part made him uncomfortable, not because he hated it, but because it did remind him of physical contact, and he wasn't used to it. Still, he found that his weariness kept him in place, simply enjoying the sensations. He wasn't tired enough to sleep this time, but he didn't want to move either.

* * *

After a few hours, Perumah said it was time to go, and he agreed. Now in a better headspace, he was ready to face whatever came next, because he didn't believe they'd get another chance to take a break. The reaction from this worlds Champion was drastically different, which he took to mean that it was lethally close to the epicenter.

When they set out to leave, this was only confirmed when they were stopped.

"Marked one," he heard The Champion's voice as some resistance arose in opening the gate.

"Yea?"

"Be ready, there will be no next world."

Before he could ask what he meant, The Champion cut the line.

Now that his way wasn't blocked, they opened the gate and stepped into the fabric again, letting Perumah scan the surroundings.

They saw the same thing they had before entering this new planet, three distant anchor worlds, so Dei was confused by The Champion's words.

When Perumah didn't immediately guide him to the next one though, he realized there might be something to it.

Long seconds passed as they waited, until eventually Jacob asked "Well? Are we going?"

"There is a hidden fourth pathway through the fabric," Perumah informed them, and Dei's eyebrows rose.

"What do you mean?"

"All anchor worlds have a certain… stability to the space between them, a definition of laws. I see three worlds, but my assessment of the chaos between tells me there's a fourth, and my master over Gravity confirms it."

"Based on The Champion's words, that path is the one we're gonna have to take. Guide us down it I suppose?"

"Mm," Perumah wordlessly agreed, and they started the slow, and carful process of navigating the to their next location.

Around the twenty hour mark, with no end in sight, Dei said "How are we still going? How far is it?"

"I don't know," Perumah responded, just as confused.

They could do nothing but forge onward.

* * *

He really should've guessed the last one would be the furthest, as that's how it'd been with Separation as well, but it took them three full days of travel to spot an actual landmark, but this one was impossible to miss.

The flickering brightness in the distance reminded him of a candle, but it being visible from thousands of miles away said it was something more.

When they were close enough to make out details, Dei's heart sank as he processed what he was looking at.

The anchor planet was no more, rubble scattered to the wind, floating around the interspace.

Only The Champion was left, or what they assumed was him, as the maelstrom of fire was impossible to see through, teleporting around, attacking in an endless stream of death, always launching his apocalyptic flames at the same point.

In the middle, Dei finally laid his eyes on Edit, the epicenter of The Champion's rage.

It was half as large as the planet itself, boxy and angular, perfectly smooth, and gray.

For all intents and purposes, it was a simple nondescript stone coffin, with its only adornment being a carved skull in the very center.

At least, it should've been.

The crack had festered, and its left half held only the dimmest of openings, but it was enough. A mummified hand swung around, deflecting the attacks of The Champion time and time again.

Though Dei saw barely half the clash and none of Okrin's, Perumah and Thadria were stunned into silence at the supposed displays of magic.

"What am I missing?" he quietly asked Perumah, and she sent him a copy of her memories.

When he opened it and saw the full picture, he could only grimace.