Book 3: Chapter 24: Simply Impossible and Arrival
'Devil? Is she - assuming they're a she - a demonkin of some sort? How powerful? A basic devil is a god to demons but the weakest of the devil types. I could take a devil in a fight but that isn't the real concern here. Does she have a connection to Zel? Is she even a devil at all? Maybe her name is a lie like my own is?' Lone wondered, having recovered immensely from his initial shock.
"Devil sssoundsss interesssting," Swamp commented. "What'sss a devil?"
"Not now," Lone replied. "Wait until our new friend has asked her questions, yeah?"
"Ah, right. I wonder what ssshe'll think to ask for unaffordable and unanssswerable. Your questionsss were ssso interesssting when you were tesssting thisss a few meetingsss ago, Human," Swamp happily said.
Lone chuckled while looking at Devil. "As you can likely tell, Swamp is a very honest person."
"I do see that. Well, Monsieur Librarian, is it? An unaffordable question... How can I kill 'Her'?" Devil questioned.
Lone narrowed his eyes. 'The way she said that reminds me of how Ruldso Redmore wrote about 'Her' at the end of his journal. He made this 'Her' sound like an existence even beyond Omni Devils and those are already two ranks above the Arch Devils who can be compared to Divines. How strong is this 'Her', assuming they're the same person?'
Monsieur Librarian's multicoloured figure smiled gently. "You can actually afford the answer to this question. It would cost you every drop of knowledge you currently know and will ever know, and sadly, we do not have the time for you to share such information here. Thus, in an unexpected way, this is an unaffordable question. Do please ask again when you learn of something truly valuable."
Lone saw a familiar look flash through the crimson eyes of Devil. It was the same expressions he, himself, had made in this very chamber before. 'She doesn't believe him.'
"A shame. Then the unanswerable one. That seems obvious. What are the true identities of Human and Swamp?" she asked.
Monsieur Librarian shook his head. "I cannot answer that. As much as I would normally be happy to, there are rules during the Conclave of Seekers that cannot be broken, even by the host."
"I see. Thank you. Well, Human, did you have anything else to say? If not, I have some questions. What is the purpose of this gathering and how was I even brought here? That should have been impossible given my... circumstances," Devil asked.
"The only other thing I need to tell you about is the Tomes of Omniscience," Lone replied before explaining exactly what the book was and what it could do.
"Interesting... What one needs to know, huh?" Devil muttered to herself. "And the purpose of all of this?"
"The purpose - if you can call it that - of the meetings is just to exchange information. We are seekers of knowledge, at least I think we are. Monsieur Librarian grows stronger the more knowledge we collect and honestly, I enjoy learning about a new perspective from Swamp. His life sounds so interesting. You call yourself Devil so surely you live in the hells, right? I'd love to hear about them."
"What about you, Human? Surely you'll tell me where you're from before expecting such an answer of me?" Devil asked somewhat coyly.
'Is she trying to manipulate me into giving her a favour? I should stop talking to her but...' Lone turned to the table's head. "Monsieur Librarian, can a devil's nature to trick and entrap anything they interact with work here?"
"No, you need not worry about any unwanted bindings, Human," the being of unknown power replied in an absolute tone without requesting payment in exchange.
Devil looked startled for a moment while Lone smiled. Swamp just seemed confused.
"In that case, I'm from Teresta. I don't want to get any more specific for my privacy's sake and my words will likely become unintelligible anyway. Now, which hell do you call home?" Lone asked.
After seeing the power of Monsieur Librarian's Tomes of Omniscience as well as his ability to completely shut out a Primal, he trusted the being's words so he had nothing to fear from Devil.
"Teresta? I've never heard of it and I call no hell home. I never have and never will," Devil answered and then their red figure immediately shook as if they were panicking. "What just happened? I did not intend to say that."
Swamp nodded slowly. "Lying isssn't possssible here. We are here to ssshare knowledge and to learn. Human explained thisss to me after he figured it out sssix meetingsss ago. Why gather usss here if Monsssieur Librarian would jussst let usss missssinform one another?"
"The way you speak is annoying," Devil said bluntly, clearly entirely uninterested in Swamp as a whole.
He didn't seem to mind as his green figure was still happily smiling.
Lone chuckled and said, "I think it's fascinating since it's either caused by a cultural norm where he is from or because of the biological make-up of his species. He doesn't know which since everyone does it where he's from. By the way, Swamp, do you have any foxes in the Great Swamp?"
"What isss a fox?" Swamp asked, innocence in his eyes like always.
'Devil'. What an amusing word to call herself in this odd place. It should have been impossible- no, beyond impossible. Her body and mind had been inaccessible to her for longer than she could remember, and she could remember a time from before 'Her' ascension.
But all of a sudden, here she was, in this strange 'Conclave of Seekers' with three impossible beings. Her body was not her own even here in this bizarre setting but her mind had returned with all of its lucidity!
She was convinced this was some sort of pre-death hallucination her existence had conjured up. 'She' must have decided it was finally time to be done with her so a few ridiculous moments of coherency were being conjured up by what little of her essence remained.
'Devil' took a moment to consider the other occupants of the table that her mind had obviously created.
The first, the one sitting at her right, was a humanoid figure made of a glowing green light. He called himself 'Swamp' and she wasn't a fan of him. He spoke with an odd lisp and drew out all of his 's's. He seemed overly friendly and naive, likely a facade created to build up trust in strangers and earn him pity from fools.
The table's head, Monsieur Librarian, gave her the impression of a living book or perhaps even a living law. He was rigid despite his body being made up of unlimited colours. He was an observer or a repository of knowledge depending on how you treated him. 'Devil' had met people like that before but she wasn't interested in them so why her dying moments had made him, she didn't know.
And finally, Human. His body was the same shape as Swamp and Monsieur Librarian's, but it was made of a blinding golden light. He seemed cautious but eager to gleam something important from her. What exactly he hoped to learn, she didn't know. He was intelligent but not the best at hiding his reactions so he was clearly young.
She listened to Human and Swamp converse about the most mundane topic. Foxes, of all things. That all but cemented the notion to her that this wasn't real. Why would a powerful group that can summon even her mind here discuss something so unimportant? It mattered not.
'Devil' found herself to be oddly relaxed, a feeling almost foreign to her after so long in absent isolation. Soon, she would wake from this dream and her life would end. It had to be that way. She wished it to be that way. Anything else would be simply impossible.
Lone opened his eyes and saw Soph staring into them with mere inches between their faces. "Hi! So? Are there foxes there?"
"Nope, Swamp's never even heard of anything like our little Kyuubi," Lone replied before he sighed and mentally communicated, 'There's a new tome and a new member. The new member called themselves Devil and I'm pretty sure they're a woman but I never asked. She was extremely calm. Almost too calm. Could be a hidden rule of the room that keeps people from freakin' out, dunno. I wasn't able to confirm if she's an actual devil or not so her nickname could be like mine.'
Soph's smile became a concerned frown. 'Are you worried she's connected to Zel somehow?'
'Of course I am. Even if the chance is small since I highly doubt Zel has any influence at all over anything outside of the specific hell he lives in, we can't rule out the possibility of him knowing Devil and somehow finding out about the meetings, connecting Human to me, and using that against me,' Lone expressed his worries.
Soph's frown flipped upside down back into a warm smile. She kissed Lone softly and said, 'That's so unlikely. Keep it in mind but don't obsess over it, 'kay? You've been careful not to let even Swamp know anything specific about you, so don't be a dummy and just do the same for Devil!'
Lone relaxed a bit thanks to both his always active Meditation and due to Soph's well-reasoned words. "I love you."
Soph grinned and kissed him again. "I love you too!"
Another week came and went without incident. Devil's existence and membership of the Conclave of Seekers had weighed heavily on Lone's mind but as advised by Soph, he hadn't made it his entire focus.
He had instead put most of his attention back into his escorting job and his training during the long and scenic travelling through the Great Vine Jungle.
The roads were exceptionally well-paved and maintained for a jungle whose trees were as numerous as the stars, as thick as houses, and as tall as skyscrapers. Soph had told Lone that she could see enchantments lining the path's tiles every dozen or so metres.
Lone assumed they helped the road from falling into disrepair and they likely warded off monsters. Ingenious, really, and highly intriguing. With all of the applications of enchanting magic he had encountered in just the past year alone, he was set on learning the school of magic and researching it. Hopefully during his stay in the Crimson Foxkin Clan but if not, there was always The Academy.
Before too long, a massive and sprawling settlement became visible as the jungle's treeline gave way to a clearing that was easily a hundred or so miles in width.
This settlement had no walls to protect it and the buildings were, while numerous, spread far apart from one another. Their architectural design and styling seemed almost reminiscent of the ancient Chinese buildings, the sort you would see in a Taiwanese temple on Earth. It was beautiful and inspiring.
Two new notifications popped up just as Rodorick left his family's carriage and announced, "We're in the territory of the Crimson Foxkin Clan now! Everybody take a break because we'll have to wait for them to send someone out to greet us! Good job so far everybody, we're at the final stretch now!"
Lone nodded, happy to sit around and check his new notifications alongside his gains during the last week. Soph interrupted him by teleporting to his side and leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Do you think they'll discriminate against me and Sophie here like the dwarves did in the Farwinds?" she asked softly.
Lone paused to think before replying, "Probably. Quite a few human nations both small and large allow and encourage slavery and beastkin are a popular target. Breena and I will probably get looked down on too for our awakenings since that's frowned upon due to the whole immunity to ageing disappearing. Needless to mention Void, who that blue fucker wasn't a fan of."
"I want peace and quiet... I don't want needless conflict," Soph muttered.
"Me too, Soph, me too, but if people come asking me to absorb their skills and stats, I'd be pretty fuckin' rude to deny 'em, eh?" Lone replied cheek abound in his tone.
Soph glanced up at his smile. "I hope we're both just overthinking. Lossa had yellow-tipped tails, hair, and the centre of her eyes were yellow too, so awakening can't be too frowned upon here. I can just disprove suspicions against me with hard work... I... I want a safe environment for Kyuubi to come out of The Summoning Room and grow in. I know she doesn't seem bothered by the darkness in there but, um... surely it'd be nicer for her to lay in the grass, see the sky, breathe the air out here and stuff like that more regularly, right?"
Lone could swear he felt his heart growing three sizes upon seeing her earnest expression and hearing her heartfelt words. "Even if we're not welcome here, I'll make us welcome. I'll say this now though, I'm never going to jail again."
Soph giggled as she pressed closer into his shoulder before closing her eyes. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Watch me," Lone laughed.
When a moment of silence overcame them, he finally did as his instincts had demanded and delved into his notification logs.
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