Amdirlain's PoV - Qil Tris - Beastlands

The massive yurt rang with a roar of approval from the surrounding orcs when Amdirlain finally clasped hands to seal the agreement to help ‌the orcs. Still, Amdirlain left the shared Domain with a long grocery list of preparations that Urtila insisted on for the refugees rather than goods or services delivered to the Deity. Positioned beyond the boundary, she created broadcast units for Urtila's experts to use later. The watching celestials rumbled in confusion at the crystal chairs, emblazoned with Amdirlain's phoenix sigil, for a being to sit in while teaching. With the other end in the secured medical Demi-Plane, even if someone walked off with one, it would be pointless.

Are they refugees, or will they see themselves as kidnapped? I'm going to be stealing everything familiar from them and putting all of them upon rough worlds. Even if they have a chance for a much better life, things will be unpleasant at the start. And the misery they live in now isn't? That said, at least Urtila was more reasonable in her haggling than Bahamut. Most of her demands related to the refugees, and the rest were for her defenders.

As Urtila's celestials looked on, gates bloomed to each of the thousand prepared worlds, until there was a vast wall of millions on display. Hidden among them, one Gate targeting her medical Demi-Plane let her grow obelisks at even intervals to broadcast training dreams once the rescues had occurred. The obvious gates showed wilderness and rough townships stockpiled with supplies rising from the landscape around river junctions, at springs in hillsides, and near mountains laced with mineral veins. Vast herds of herbivores and the surface veins hinted at potential prosperity. With the completion of each site, Amdirlain sealed the locations into stasis fields so nothing could damage them until the inhabitants arrived.

When the last Gate closed, Magral stepped forward. "How long before they're rescued?"

"It's my next step. The chairs will light up when there are people in range to teach. Once the teachers have completed the agreed education for the refugees, the unit at the other end will teleport to the chair."

"You are not what I expected, Elf."

Amdirlain smiled. "Until we meet again."

"Learn to fight with a weapon."

"Are Orc claws not proper weapons?"

"You did that freakish shapeshifting," Magral grumbled sullenly at Amdirlain.

"Protean."

Magral huffed. "My statement stands."

Planar Shift whisked Amdirlain to the Elemental Plane of Water. Her sudden arrival sparked panic in a school of metre-long fish that vaguely resembled tuna. They darted away as if from the presence of a shark, their multi-hued scales reflecting a diffuse light that had no discernible source. Unhurried, she floated freely in the surging water left in their wake, the current tugging at her clothing. The Power had delivered her barely a hundred metres from the rift that the fish avoided despite their haste to flee. The water near the rift was crystal clear while the rift's edge was barely discernible to the naked eye as a ripple in the vast expanse of water.

A few casual kicks and a mental push carried her to it. She took in the rift's current state and its aggressive fluctuations, planning her crossing. Absorbing her waterlogged clothing, she darted through, allowing her flesh to distort and bend like a willow under the pressures inflicted to prevent another surge. On the far side, she found the songs of misery had changed from her last visit.

Where the world previously had one species of Orc, now the richest districts hosted thirty major species of Orc with hundreds of lesser variants; some with misshapen bodies or twisted minds. The faiths on Kragashin that had preached the pure-blooded superiority of those born rich had imploded; the temples of many deities were now devastated and abandoned. Dozens of military coups had fractured the world's rulers, and the pristine wards that had protected the continents were now in frayed ruins. The age of the oldest living mutant aligned with her visit, and billions were already dead.

A pebble rolling down an overloaded mountainside? All those people dead, I knew I couldn't save them all, but I didn't expect I'd trigger anything on this scale.

The once vast and crowded city that had covered the continent was now self-destructing. Among the affluent districts, mutated orcs rampaged, their expensive genetic modifications to ensure a high magical potential having gone awry. Although the authorities had repaired some of the damage, the previously smooth enchantments in the city's power cores shrieked and wailed, warning of an impending implosion. Though she couldn't sense any discernible traces, Khaos's fingerprints were all over the place. Nothing else could explain why genetic adjustments made to ensure the magical potential of wealthy families had flared into random mutations that twisted bodies and provided unreliable powers.

With the city struggling, Amdirlain sent a rush through the ley lines, and as it overloaded the now delicate wards, she went to work. Every non-worshipper from the slums and lower tiers of society went to safety. She shattered and threw the emptied skyscrapers that had housed the oppressed masses skyward, and the ascending shrapnel obliterated the world's satellite system. The polluted lands, which their removal exposed, she scoured into the depths and replaced the bedrock and topsoil, before establishing wildlands packed with monsters. She then restored the planet's oceans, flushing away the genetic controls by resetting the animal species worldwide. The total transformation occurred in just a few minutes. Reacting to the fresh energy surging in the ley lines, rats, crabs, and other species morphed along the shorelines, but this time, there was no one there to drive them back. En masse, they scuttled across the landscape eating plants, and some made it to the entryways of what had been the inner walls, where fighting broke out.

With only the worshippers of dark deities left, she departed, shifting into the Chaos between planes. She let the current sweep her away even as it ripped the lingering energy of the Gate apart.

After an hour of drifting and thinking, she finally spoke. "Khaos."

The name rippled through the Chaos stream, causing it to bubble and churn. A slowly turning ball of slime appeared, and then stretched out tentacles ending in eyes in a fashion that reminded her of Lutu.

I should recruit Lutu to help on the crowded worlds. Between her Protean and gaze spellcasting, she'll be able to slip in lots of places.

"Did you leverage my previous trip to Kragashin?"

Khaos rolled around a giggling ball, eventually they came to a stop and turned into a creepy porcelain doll with its eyes popped out and black tears drawn with soot. "That wasn't me. Though I'm pretty sure I know what happened—you went there."

"Yes, I created a Mana surge, but that doesn't explain what happened."

"Hold up, I'm not pinning it completely on you. However, you had a part to play in giving their tight, restricted existence a nudge. Mind you, this is only a theory, as I'm pretty sure it's not an absolute certainty. Plus, I don't do absolutes except absolute Chaos." Khaos flailed with a hedge of tendrils above itself.

Amdirlain sighed in frustration. "What's your theory?"

"I'm the Aspect of Chaos, but Chaos itself can act. Gideon says you have Murphy's Law, which says things will go wrong in unexpected ways. Places locked down by tight-laced people draw Chaos to hover close, waiting for an opportunity to goose them. Societies that don't allow for individual expression especially seem to attract lightning strikes of Murphy's Law. You introduced uncontrolled energy, and Chaos set off the fireworks the moment you were clear. Maybe it still loves you, Mummy."

"I wanted to keep the death toll down." Amdirlain massaged her forehead, only to jerk her hand away at the futility of the gesture.

"Not everyone cares about your goals, Am," Khaos replied. "Especially not that shiny-scaled fellow you've been trying to get to help."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you learned that there are few genuine friendships among deities?" Khaos chuckled. "Even your Mister Silver Scales isn't truly to be trusted. He claims he's teaching you lessons, but he's looking to extend his interests. If you wanted something that he opposed, he'd undermine your strength to prevent that goal, just as you used to set up forces to oppose him."

"My natures have changed."

"It just means you can't trust him in different places. It's the case with all deities. You can only trust them where your interests overlap, or if the philosophy they follow is one of unjudgemental cooperation and mutual benefit. Do you think any Dragon is interested in what doesn't benefit them?"

"Are you trying to imply I can't trust Sarah?"

"She's different since she's in love with you and wants you to prosper. It's in her interest for you to be happy since you've both been miserable without each other. The pair of you and that promise made me sick, so long bound by a rule." Khaos's doll body manifested gorilla arms bigger than itself and threw them out wide. "Barf!"

"You're not the first Aspect to manipulate me."

The gorilla arms shrank back to the correct size, and the doll donned a tweed suit. "How did that heavenly jaunt feel?"

Amdirlain tilted her head. "Are you tracking me, Khaos?"

"You're the talk of the town, Mum. We lost you once and, though we've got to let you grow on your own path, if you think we're not worried, think again." Khaos transformed into a stereotypical greying anime professor, complete with glasses and a lab coat, keeping the tweed. "We're not keeping you in a petri dish, yet consider that analogy and the plants in utopia. How did they sound?"

"Unchallenged and flawless."

"What adds character to a face? You give people chances to grow, but chances come with inherent lessons in pain when things go wrong. Your Mister Goodie Two-Shoes is from a Plane that doesn't like plants fighting over sunlight. Wrap the fuckers in cotton wool, and throw around instant gratification. How dull!"

"Whereas you don't like any rules at all," Amdirlain declared.

"I like the rules of the realm just fine," Khaos huffed. "I'm never going to lie about it, even through omission. Pure Order and laws cause stagnation and boredom. I'm here to oppose Law from causing the realm's energy heat death through pure stagnation."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I'm not at either end of your extremes."

"Yeah, we know, but he'll use agreements to bind you from trying, whereas I'll just blow things up and make you build it again. He isn't your friend; he is the deity of metallic dragons. Beings that live long and consistent lives; his nature formed around law, stability and the heavenly planes. He'd hate your Atonement if he ever found out about that Plane."

"You're jumping around, but I'll bite. Why would he hate it?"

"Because it goes against the laws of the planes as those laws are currently written. The godless damned go to one of the lower planes to suffer for eternity, just as you expected your mother to suffer in Hades's Domain for eternity if the Greek gods never came here. You're not even punishing them according to their crimes. You've declared that they've reached the endgame and are done. Time to reset the Soul and send them back out, no punishment, no seeds of wisdom, they just have to play your shooting game for a time and they go free."

"You're trying to spread distrust," Amdirlain probed.

"Nope, I'm trying to get you to understand where you can place your trust. If you have matters that fall within his natures, what he charges you will be less, or nothing, but if you approach him with something chaotic, you're screwed. Only go to deities or primordials whose interests align with yours for a project. He didn't oppose you on the orcs, but it might well have been a balancing act since you were breaking up a lawful society. You've got a bunch of errands and things to do for him because of a simple task, don't you, girlie?"

"Yes."

"You helped billions of beings free from a life of slavery. So I ask you, what sort of good being would charge you to help with that if they're not looking to use you? If you took billions of years of 'friendship' into account, would you charge someone even if a task didn't align with your immediate interests?"

"No."

"Yeah, you wouldn't charge them unless you never possessed such a relationship, and everything was just transactional between you. Quid pro quo." Khao gave her a shark-toothed grin. "Your choice. You know now, so you can look out for the catches, or choose not to worry your pretty little head about it."

"Using that saying makes me want to smack you."

"Think of it this way. Silver Arse doesn't need you to prosper, so he helps you where it benefits him. He is also here as a shard. If this realm blows up, he can move on. Once you get strong enough, you can rewrite the rules. Do you think he doesn't want options against that? First, some prices, and then hopefully some promises?"

With that, Khaos vanished.

Fuck. Got to love the uncertainty that brings up. Do I trust but verify, or treat every arrangement as a new business contract, constantly checking the fine print and clauses? The problem is that uncertainty is an element of Chaos, and that might have been Khaos's goal all along.

"Gideon?"

"While Khaos didn't lie to you, things are more complex than they make out. Bahamut indeed has his own goals that don't completely align with yours. That is the nature of any group of individuals; there are differences in values and ethics among them. Another element of the argument is that he is using his positional advantage the way any older Dragon would with a younger one, and that is part of his nature. Though you don't like Tiamat and Nüwa, you and Nicholaus brought them here to offset Bahamut so his nature wouldn't cause the realm's order to stagnate too quickly. You should keep that in mind, and remember that choices aren't always something lawful individuals are happy with, even when not illegal."

Their words echoed solely in Amdirlain's mind.

Unsettled, she floated again for a time, distracting herself by plotting ways of tackling the formithians.

He wants me involved with this other world, and he wants a trial made for his placement, along with some other items. The items and trial are no big deal, but if I'm to be involved in two worlds that he's present in, that gives him two spots to distract me if he feels the need. Politics isn't my thing at all. How paranoid do I need to be?

Amdirlain hopped to the Outlands. With the forest behind her and rolling hills in front, she opened a Gate to a location Gilorn had provided. Beyond the threshold, a massive pool of inky blackness stretched out on the asteroid orbiting a bluish-white star. It had been peacefully soaking up sunlight, but now the surface squirmed like a puppy kicking its feet in reaction to the Gate.

"Lutu."

A dozen eyes—none of them from a single species—opened on the side closest to the Gate. Tendrils stretched across it, their ends gaining mouths. "Amdirlain! Do you have something for me to do?"

"In a bit, but let's talk first. Will you come with me?"

Lutu compressed her mass and formed into an Isil Elf girl, dressed in blue shorts and a matching loose tunic that made her pale white skin look ghostly with its grey swirls. Swiping one foot across the grass, she wiggled her toes. "That tickles. I like grass. I'm glad you included it in the realm."

"It originates from another realm, and wasn't my creation."

"I know that, but it's still cool."

"Sorry if I repeat things you already know, I've not relived the memories of our times together."

"It's okay, I'll just pretend you've gone senile and nod when you repeat what I've been told."

"Thanks," Amdirlain drawled.

"Anytime."

Amdirlain's gaze narrowed. "Has Gilorn been coaching your behaviour?"

"Snitches get stitches."

"That tells me it was Rachel or Sarah."

Lutu bobbed in place, hair growing down to her feet. "No comment. I'm not feeding your senility."

"Don't you mean paranoia?"

"I'm glad you know you're paranoid."

"Lutu!" Amdirlain laughed.

"Ammie!" Putting her hands behind her, Lutu smiled up at Amdirlain. "What did you need?"

"You don't want to talk first?"

"Nah, it's okay, I'm your bodyguard and gofer, not a socialite."

"Alright, but you can refuse anything I ask you to do." Amdirlain ruffled Lutu's green locks, which wrapped around her fingers in response. "There are places I'd like you to go to drop off materials. We just need permission from the elven Pantheon."

"Which one?"

"The Summer Court."

"Gilorn said that it's now harder for you to visit some worlds. A bunch of Primordial stuff is involved."

"That's correct."

Lutu rubbed her hands together and smiled. "Whose world will I be infiltrating?"

"The formithians have taken over what used to be a mixed world; only some elves remain. Since the populace is living in lots of spatial pockets, I can't risk disrupting the ley lines."

Amdirlain set down canisters of psionic gel, which was Aitherlar's formulation, and extended a crystal cube. "I want you to deliver these to the elven inhabitants of the planet."

"Does it eat formithians? Because I would be happy to do that!" Lutu huffed.

"No, it causes an alteration in some neural patterns. When that occurs, it triggers a gradual shift in the queens' pheromones, which will filter through the nest. You're not to put the gel in place, just deliver it to the elven rulers then use the cube, it will return you to my Domain."

Lutu shrugged. "I don't get it, but you don't pay me to plan. Do you mind if I eat some formithians?"

Danu can't make worlds on her own. Does that make her someone of strength that still needs my aid? Gideon, giving hints so I won't accuse you of manipulating my choices, is still slightly manipulative even if I appreciate the warning from you and Khaos.

"Priority is your mission. First, before you go, I want permission from Danu."

For long minutes, the leaves of the nearby trees rippled as if a storm front had hit. A naked lady with amber skin and leaf-green hair stepped forth from a large oak tree. When the Avatar opened her eyes, Amdirlain saw Danu's attention looking through her gaze. The ancient fey Primordial extended her will, blanketing their surroundings to prevent outside observers.

"I appreciate you sending one of your voices so quickly, Danu."

"It is good to see you again, Amdirlain. Why did you invoke my name?"

"We've materials to help your faithful with a Formithian incursion. Do I have permission to send Lutu to deliver what they need?"

"Have you become a weapons dealer, Amdirlain?"

"I'm giving other races options to defend themselves. Lutu has some psionic gel, but I also have an alchemical recipe you can share with your faithful. None of the mechanisms will directly kill any Formithian, but it will break the unity between nests."

Danu smiled eagerly. "You have my permission to send your agent. What price do you require for such aid?"

"Tell me what you make of this world?" Amdirlain said, opening a Gate to the world, overcrowded with elves in their spatial safeholds, and the formithians' nests.

"They are hard pressed indeed, but that doesn't tell me your price."

"You take credit for the gel and the alchemical formula."

"The formithians have long been my enemy. I'm happy to be the face of any reversal they suffer. I recently sensed more new forests out in the darkness. Are those worlds yours?"

"My daughters and others sang the forests to life. Those worlds I'll be using to move orcs to, but I'll create more shortly." Amdirlain nodded to the Gate. "Would it be suitable to give the elves on this hard-pressed world new places to call home?"

"You still have not told me your price. How would aiding them benefit you?"

"I enjoy giving people opportunities to grow. My price is that when I make some more worlds, you help by covering them in forests."

"Forests that the inhabitants would then diminish over time," Danu noted.

"I'll be creating a galaxy, and while not every system will have a forested world, not all the forested worlds will have sapient races taking axes to them. My worlds will need forests to support the life on them, and if you create them, it reduces my workload."

Danu laughed merrily. "Are you trying to lure me from the Summer Court?"

"Merely extending the reach of your current independence."

"While you further my reach, I'll be the face of the blights the Formithian will suffer, and help seed your worlds with plant life. I'd like two worlds seeded with life that needs to evolve for every one that you place inhabitants upon." Danu said, folding her arms.

"An even split of worlds, seeded with evolving life versus housing refugees."

"Three versus two in favour of evolving life."

"The realm needs worlds supporting mortals with souls to grow in strength. While it grows, there will be opportunities for me to create new worlds for your forests."

Danu pursed her lips sourly. "They just treat my forests so unfairly."

"I'll also create new plant-based species that would feel great kinship to the forest on one inhabited world out of ten."

"Then we agree I'll be the face of the blights the Formithian will suffer, and help seed worlds where you request my aid with plant life. With these worlds, we'll seed one with evolving life for every one created for immediate habitation. Of those created for immediate habitation, one in ten will begin with only plant-based species with souls when they're created. My kin from the fey courts will not know of these worlds from me or mine, nor will they communicate or infer their existence. You will tell none of the Dragon deities except Sarah about any of the worlds we work on together."

Amdirlain bowed. "Agreed."

"Agreed," Danu chimed, returning the bow.

Amdirlain sent Lutu through the Gate and closed it behind her. "Let me tell you about the mechanisms we have prepared. One I've already shared with the orcs, but they're taking responsibility for it."

"Orcs can be such a mixed litter where the forests are concerned." Danu sighed.

When Amdirlain started explaining the mechanisms, she began with Kadaklan's distilling sap, and Danu's interest heightened. By the time the explanation was complete, Danu had created copies of each mechanism from the samples.

As she prepared to leave, Danu grinned. "You know this means I'll get credit from all those pantheons whom the formithians have oppressed."

"I'm aware, and I'm too young to have such attention paid to me. I know I've given you the better of this deal, but I don't need your aid for all worlds."

"Yet you also wanted them to be brought to account for Torm, and others whose misery they've ignored. Correct?"

"Yes."

"The roots of the forest will feed off the formithians' corpses and reclaim the worlds they stole. I appreciate the efforts of you and your friends, Amdirlain."

Danu stepped back into the same tree.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.