Beth walked over to where everyone stood, panting a bit as she still tried to recover from the ordeal of fighting a baker's dozen Ascended at once. She was running her healing full tilt right now, trying to piece herself back together as best she could, and Sera put a worried hand on her shoulder when she was standing with the others. Before she could say anything, however, there was a flash of light and the box, the Reliquary, turned into a long, thin stream of light that slammed into Beth. She staggered and would have gone down if not for Sera supporting her, doubling over with her hands on her knees and panting far more heavily. It felt like she was just hit by a truck.

"What was that? Did the box attack me?!" she panted.

"No, it acknowledged you," said one of the empyreans with a shake of their head.

"The hell does that mean?" Beth demanded.

"I really like this one, Liv," said the musclehead before anyone else could answer.

"The Reliquary asked you to take a trial," Liveria answered, ignoring the other Ascended. "You took the trial, and you won the trial. The Reliquary has acknowledged you. This means you are responsible for it, and its powers are yours to command."

"And that means specifically?" Sera asked, helping Beth straighten up and supporting her.

"The box is a nigh-indestructible dimensional storage with its own pocket reality within," Liveria explained.

"Explains Mortaine's interest," Beth interjected.

"Ah, was he the one that brought you here?" Liveria asked.

"Well, we brought ourselves here, but he asked us to get the box," Beth said.

"Mortaine?" asked one of the other empyrean with a raised brow.

"Exalted who grew his power focusing on dimensional magics," Liveria answered.

"After my time," said the woman with feather-hair softly.

"A difficult path," said a tall, lanky man that was all corded muscle.

"One he successfully walked," Liveria said, to some grumbling from the gathered group.

"Anyway, to refocus," Beth said. "Is that it? What does that even do for me?"

"Less, since you have my inheritance," Liveria said. "But, you can enter the Reliquary as you desire, spending time inside. You can also use it as a storage, but the thirteen of us live there, so please don't go throwing tons of junk in there."

"We all have our own palaces," one of the others explained.

"Apart from that, you can request to train with us whenever you want," Liveria continued. "You also may, with rather a few exceptions and caveats, call on us to help you fight, though there are many limits. Chiefly, we can only be used to aid in battling against opponents above Enlightened."

"That's still pretty good. I can kill a lot of people below that level, let alone fight them," Beth said.

"You did build a Mana Physique early, but don't get overconfident," said the woman made of black glass.

"Rich coming from a ghost trapped in a box that I now own," Beth shot back at the woman, still a little salty over how hard that last empyrean had fought.

"Touché," replied the woman of glass.

"So, I have yet another storage item or space and I can get some more training. Cool. Anything else?" Beth said.

"It's quite a lot," said the man in a military uniform. "We're some of the best of the best."

"My mentor's an Exalted," Beth replied succinctly, which really seemed to take the wind out of his sails.

"This dimensional mage?" asked one of them.

"No. An ogre that works for the CRA by the name of Baelvyr Kron," Beth replied.

The whole group of emperors turned to Liveria, which Beth was coming to realize was because the woman whose inheritance she possessed was the youngest of the ghosts. The others likely had no idea who anybody alive in the galaxy today was, other than maybe one or two of the Exalted. She knew Baelvyr was less than three thousand years old, likely less than two thousand, and she thought Laselle wasn't much older, but she wasn't sure about Mortaine. From some of what she gathered, he was a bit older, but then again, the Reliquary was a box that had been built in some mythical age so long ago that Beth hadn't even heard of it. It was possible the last empyrean before Liveria was trapped inside a million years ago.

"He's a Champion of some renown," Liveria explained. "Came up the hard way, through a number of territorial wars. Earned his stripes in real battle, moved over to the CRA where he dominated the individual ladders and circuit, got himself a high rank, then left the galaxy. Came back two centuries later even more powerful than before, a real Exalted with a lot of skills that nobody had seen in our galaxy in a long time."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"So, our new master knows two Exalted?" asked one of the empyreans.

"I really wish you wouldn't call the owner of the Reliquary our master," snorted another.

"It's the truth," the first replied with a shrug.

"I know three, actually, but that's not important right now," Beth said with a shrug.

"Who else?" Liveria asked.

"Laselle," Beth answered.

"Ah yes, the Blue Queen," Liveria said. At the questioning glances, she continued, "The third well-known Exalted of the current time in the Milky Way, unless there's others that have arisen in the last couple centuries. She runs a very skilled, very powerful mercenary organization, as well as some other, extremely popular businesses."

"Mercs. No loyalty," said the military man.

"It's just business," said the woman of black glass with a shrug. Beth detected an old pain point between the two there just from their attitudes and body language.

"Oh, right, uh, I should say," Beth said, turning to Liveria. "Your, uh, consort is still alive."

Liveria was in front of her in a flash, gripping her shoulders firmly and peppering her with questions. "Joanna? She's still alive? Where? How? Can you take me to her?"

"First, calm down," Beth said, taking the empress's hands off her shoulders. "Second, no, I can't take you there. We got a message from her, indicating she's trapped in the Eternal Depths."

"The Depths? Damnation, I told her not to do it," Liveria fumed, starting to pace back-and-forth. "I knew nothing good would come of it. She was the key we needed to continue. Now look at what's happened! She's trapped in the Depths and I'm in this damned box. Ah, where did it all first go wrong?"

"Sorry I don't know more, but I'm sure I can get some information," Beth said. "We did a job for Laselle that Mortaine was interested in, and that involved fetching some things about the Eternal Depths. We did a job for Mortaine before that that involved us getting a book that is somehow connected to Joanna. She sensed your inheritance on me and made some words appear in the book."

"I know of what you speak," Liveria said with a sigh. She then looked around at the other empyreans and Beth's companions and said, "This is important, but now's hardly the time for it. Based on where I think we are, you'll have a hell of a time getting out of here."

"We won't," Beth said with a shrug. Before any of the others could protest, she produced the silver cube, letting it hover over her hand while the empyreans studied it. It was quite clear, ghosts or no, that they could still use most or all of their skills, and that certainly included any eye powers or Identify skills. There was some appreciative murmuring at the cube, Beth able to feel several of the Ascended studying it closely, even a glance from them carrying a certain weight.

"Well, we can talk more after you get out of here," Liveria said. The rest nodded in agreement or spoke their assent before disappearing. "Call on us when you need, or enter the Reliquary."

With that, Liveria disappeared as well, returning to the Reliquary. Beth still wasn't entirely sure how they were trapped or how the box worked, but it looked like she just gained thirteen Ascended training partners and guardians, though she wouldn't necessarily count on them unconditionally. She also thought Mortaine might be just a bit disappointed, considering she knew for a fact that the Reliquary was now linked directly to her soul. Only through her death, or someone far, far beyond even Mortaine's level intervening, could the box be separated from her.

"Well, time to go," Beth said to the other two. They once again grabbed her, still not sure if physical contact was required, before she activated the cube and fed it the coordinates to Mortaine's living room.

After the handful of seconds of travel time, far less than a 'normal' teleporter would take, they were back in the penthouse suite that Mortaine had rented. The man was basically in the same place they had left him, sitting on a couch and filling out paperwork arrayed on the table before him. He gave her a bit of a strange look at her injuries, especially in comparison to the other two, both of whom were totally fine. He put his pen down as she made her armor disappear, noting how extensive her injuries were.

"First of all, fuck you, let's get that out of the way," Beth said, sitting across from him.

"Rude," he said with a frown.

"Second of all, do you want the good news or the bad news?" she asked.

"I supposed let's start with the good news?" he asked, sitting back and looking at her curiously.

"We got your box," Beth said simply.

"Well, that is good news," he said, eyeing her skeptically. "What about the bad news?"

"Turns out, to get the box, you have to pass a trial. Once you pass the trial, the box becomes soulbound, so I'm the box, now," Beth explained tartly.

"Ah, I see. That is…an unexpected complication," he said. "Can I see this magical box?"

Beth made a gesture, causing the box, which had embedded in her body, or maybe her soul, when it became a stream of light, to fly out onto the table. Mortaine frowned at it, as if he could bring it to heel with a stern look, though he was also clearly analyzing the reliquary. Once he had a good understanding of the item, he looked back at her, seeming to be a bit nonplussed.

"Well, I had heard it related to dimensional magic, and that there might be a link to a project I'm working on," he said.

"With Laselle?" Beth interrupted to ask before he could go further.

"Yes, you know the one," he nodded. "But now, it seems my scheming has run into a bit of a problem. Well, this puts us a bit behind the ball, but I think we can still work with it. The only problem now is that it relies on you advancing to a level of power where you can be useful in our endeavors, and sooner rather than later. We don't need this to happen tomorrow, but it does get in the way a bit, as we can't wait centuries or even millennia for you to get to the peak of Ascended. Or even Exalted, considering what we are planning and what we need."

"There is also the matter of people who are critical to this that don't have that much time, either," Beth replied. Seeing his raised eyebrow, she continued, "Right, the book we got as part of the prize for the pioneering contest has a link to Liveria, though not her directly. It's linked to her consort, who is currently lost in the Eternal Depths, apparently."

"Hmm, right," Mortaine said, scratching at his chin. "I don't know that that complicates things anymore than they already are, but it certainly doesn't make it any easier. It is a nice bit of motivation for you, to find your benefactor's lost lover."

"And for her," Beth said.

"For her?"

"Yes. She's part of the box," Beth answered. Seeing another incredulous look from Mortaine, she called Liveria forth.

"You needed me?" the empress asked, scanning the room before her eyes settled on Mortaine. "Mortaine, you old reprobate, I can't believe you're still around."

"Liveria, now there's a surprise," Mortaine said, rubbing at his face tiredly. "You not only didn't manage it, you triggered that old trap and survived it?"

"I'm standing here, aren't I?" she retorted.

"What are you two talking about?" Beth asked.

"We can explain more later, but there is a very specific sequence of events that can lead to an old, well, calling it a trap is the best word, really, activating during a specific ritual or rite. It mainly happens to Ascended who are at the peak and are desperately trying to bridge the gap and hit Exalted, and it's usually fatal. You don't really need to worry about it for quite a while, and I doubt you'll even need to worry about it at all," Mortaine explained.

"And you got caught in this well-known trap?" Sera interjected, asking Liveria with some surprise on her face.

"Even knowing about it doesn't mean it's always avoidable," the empress replied with a sigh.

"It is something specific to this galaxy," Mortaine continued. "And linked to the box I was interested in, apparently."

"Getting to Exalted is not easy," Liveria said, stopping at a snort from Mortaine. "For most people, it is extremely difficult. Many people believe that building a Mana Physique is the dividing line between amateurs and experts, but that's nonsense. The dividing line between amateurs and experts is whether someone can realize their Ideal or not."

"It's a bit harsh," Mortaine said. "However, there are a lot of people, particularly in the wider universe, that think this way. At the same time, every bracket you climb is more difficult, which is why there are so very few above Exalted, even in more prosperous places."

"But there are quite a few Exalted and even a decent number of Manumitted in richer galaxies and sub-spaces," Liveria returned. "It's another measure of the difficulties and deficiencies we have here in the Milky Way, not having more than a dozen Exalted at very most, and perhaps only one Manumitted."

"Well, two," Mortaine said.

"Well, if you count them both, then yes, though he isn't from the Milky Way," Liveria said.

"Point taken," said Mortaine.

"Here," Beth said, redirecting the conversation. She handed Liveria the notebook, saying, "This is what I meant."

"Let me have a look," Liveria said, opening the notebook and turning to the page with Joanna's message. As she was reading it, suddenly the book emitted a faintly discernable trace of mana before new writing appeared on the next page. Liveria gasped as she read what appeared, trying to clamp down on her emotions hard, but still there were tears in the corners of her eyes. It appeared Joanna was still alive and talking, and that she was truly precious to Liveria.

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.