***
Woke up, rolled out of bed like a fucking ninja. I'm halfway dressed before Sophia opens her eyes.
She pouts at me.
I stick out my tongue at her.
She raises one eyebrow, like 'Is that a challenge?'
I duck my head and keep getting dressed. I'm too much of a bottom to win that fight.
I'm way too stressed about Sophia's meeting this afternoon to engage in any type of hanky panky. I couldn't sleep a wink, so I spent the night getting stuff into my domain, so it's ready for use. I have a strong gut feeling that something is going to go sideways today, and ever since the shop zombie in London, I listen to my gut. Getting the Heartseeker in there was a real bitch. The Glimmerlight went in easy enough, so did all the bombs.
"Hey I'm gonna go bother Shiv about some stuff, are you going to be okay?" I ask Sophia.
She just smiles at me from our bed. "Yes, I'm going to be fine. I do not have anything to do until this afternoon, I am just going to do some of our sorcery homework."
"Wait, what? We have homework?"
"Yes."
"Am I supposed to be doing homework?"
"I thought you were? You spend a lot of time studying at your desk."
"Yeah that's just me doing rune bullshit, I didn't realize we have actual homework to do, what the fuck? Whatever, if someone cares enough then they will yell at me. I'll fix it then."
"It never ceases to baffle me, witnessing how you live your life."
"I just take it as it comes. Right, I'm off to see Shiv. Love you."
"Love you too."
I grab the bomb launcher and some shotgun shells and exit our room; walk the ten feet down our corridor and knock on Shiv's door. A grumpy looking goblin opens it. "What you want?"
I show the bomb launcher. "I need some help converting this to work with these new bombs I found, also I got the slugs for the barrier breaker runes."
"Bitch, are you giving me work on a Voiday?"
"Don't give me that, I know you do this shit for fun."
"Ugh, alright, come in. I feel like you are taking advantage of my goblin nature to make things explode."
I follow Shiv into her room. I'm slightly surprised to find Daisy in her bed, I mean only slightly. Daisy moves fast. "You love it. Hey Daisy."
Daisy waves at me from the bed. "Why are you up so early? You don't strike me as the type," she asks.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I wasn't like this back on my home realm. But here there isn't a huge amount to do after dark, and then I had Sophia's curse forcing me into bed. So yeah, I kinda became a bit of a morning person." I lay out the bomb launcher and slugs on Shiv's desk, then I realize that I probably need at least one of the spellbombs out of my domain for Shiv to measure against, which is annoying, I just got them all in there!
I pull out the Pyrite Spellbomb for Shiv to measure against, for all her grumbling she sure has a big grin across her face as she takes apart the bomb launcher. Watching her work is magical; she has a natural instinct for pulling things apart in a way that means they go back together better.
I go to open my mouth to tell her how amazing she is, but Daisy sends me some warning eyes from the bed. I guess she's not up for another session right now. There is a part of me that wants to stitch her up, she's sure been working me over with Sophia. But, well, it feels a little mean.
Instead, I start working on the slugs. I ruin the first couple, well, they still work as normal slugs, but I didn't get the spell right with the rune cutter. There isn't a lot of real estate to work on. But after that, I managed to get the next handful of slugs working correctly. We have simplified the spell a bunch to get it working on such a small surface area, but they should still get the job done.
'I'm going to have to practice reloading this thing, aren't I?'
[That would be sensible, yes.]
'Honestly, I'm a little scared of the kick on this thing.'
[We believe that if you used Bronson's training aura you should be able to negate most of the problems you would face with the recoil.]
'Mom damn, why didn't I think of that?'
[About ninety percent of your thought time is spent thinking about Sophia or her bodily features. A good chunk of that you spend pondering her…]
'Yes, cool. Got you… What can I say, I'm a simp for my girl.'
[We are painfully aware.]
I spent the rest of the morning working on the slugs, helping Shiv with the bomb launcher, and just doing my best to not think about this afternoon. Which I'm sure is going to be fine, there will be Gestalt, me, Maria all looking after her.
Nothing is going to happen.
***
Maria's office has a big window looking down at the Academy, with a perfect view of the docks. That place is rammed with ships now, all moored up and floating in the aether, bristling with weaponry. There are some new Arthurian ships, probably bringing people to convince Sophia to go back with them. They are taking up a lot of the middle-center docks, clustered together.
The other major houses are around too, I can tell because of the flags. Each of their ships grouped up, like they don't trust any of the other houses. Which, they probably don't, to be fair. The Arthurian houses have the most ships by far, which is as suspicious as fuck. I guess it makes a bit of sense; the Mother of Shadows has been fucking with that realm a lot. So they might be looking for some revenge. There's that niggling gut feeling again.
I am about to bring it up with Maria, but instead she informs me that the meeting is about to start. Gestalt patches both of us into the watching spy rat.
Sophia is greeting some Arthurian fuck, that Maria tells me is called Lord Edward Von Westra. I probably shouldn't call him a fuck, what with him being Lillian's dad and all, but he wants to take away MY Sophia, so fuck him.
Lillian's Mum is there too, the queen bitch that I had words with, along with a whole group of nuns and one other old posh fuck. I don't need Maria to tell me that it's Lord Balin, motherfucker oozes privilege and entitlement. I swear I see him practically lick Sophia with his eyeballs.
I want to shoot this guy.
Maria puts a hand on my shoulder to calm me. Our vision switches to a rat that's already in the meeting room. The room itself is only two doors down from Maria's office; if they try any shit, we can be there in less than ten seconds. I know because I've done a few test runs.
This whole setup feels like an absolute bully scenario. As soon as they enter the room the Balin fuck opens his waspy trap. "I do not understand why we are all here? Surely we just pack her bags and be off? You don't expect me to lay with her here do you?"
One of the nuns speaks up at that, "Lord Balin, we have informed you before, that is not how the rite works."
"Like I would leave something so important in the hands of nuns. No, I will take care of it the old-fashioned way, like the Lord of Light intended."
I'm already out of my seat because I'm going to kill a motherfucker. Maria holds me back. "Trust in Sophia. She is strong, she can handle this."
It takes all my willpower, but I sit back down.
"Lord Balin," Sophia says, "I apologize to you and everyone here for traveling all this way. But I have decided to…"
"Nobody cares what you have decided, girl. You said your vows, and you will return to the Lord of Lights' embrace." Piped up one of the nuns. Even through the eyes of the Gestalt rat, I know this woman is dangerous. You can't tell if someone is a Mage or a Rift Walker unless they are channeling mana, but this bitch holds herself like she's used to kings and gods listening to her every word.
I would put good money on her being a Rift Walker, and along with Lord Edward, that means there are at least two Rift Walkers in that room. My unease grows.
Sophia takes a breath and tries again. "I was six when I took my vows; I barely understood the words I was speaking, and I was already under the influence of my curse. I was promised that the Lord of Light would save me, but he failed to fulfill his end of the deal."
Balin rolls his eyes and stands, "A vow is a vow, and you are coming with us." He reaches over to grab Sophia by her arm.
It's over before I can react.
Just as Balin touches her arm, Sophia flares up her barrier, one hand grabs the fucker by the neck slamming him down on the meeting table, the other drawing her weapon and pressing it to his temple, and with the calmness of ices, "Lord Balin. I do not desire to be touched by you. Even if I were to remain a nun, I would refuse your rite."
Maria is already moving with me following. It's kinda weird walking with the double vision of my own eyes and the rats. Just as we are about to exit her office door, Lord Edward raises his hand. "Please sit the fuck back down, Lord Balin."
Maria pauses with her hand on the door knob, "Fuck." she says, and it's at this moment that I know we are in real trouble.
Maria never swears.
Lord Balin goes to pull away from Sophia, but she keeps him held in place. "My sisters all used to talk to me," her voice almost as cold as her eyes, "I was so tired and overtaxed from the curse, that I was safe to share with. I did not spread what I heard, I did not judge, I did not really care."
Lord Balin is sweating heavily now, "I know I'm not the first nun you have claimed for the rite of the surrogate. I know of at least five others, and I know what you did to them. This is not the first time you have performed the 'rite' in the way you say the Lord of Light intended." She presses the barrel of the weapon into the skin of his forehead.
"I do not know who kept letting you get away with it," she looks up at the possibly Rift Walker nun, "but I have my suspicions."
"Let go of him this instant!" Screeches Lillian's mum.
Sophia ignores the bitch, turning her eyes to Lord Edward. "Do you have a reason why I should not kill this man right now?"
Lord Edward considers for a moment and then shrugs his shoulders, "I'm pretty sure the man is fucking my wife, go ahead and…"
Sophia pulls the trigger before Edward could finish speaking; the contents of Lord Balin's head splatter across the table, some of it bouncing back up, streaking Sophia's silver hair with red.
Next to me, Maria breathes a sigh of relief. "She played that well. By asking Lord Edward first, they can't try to use it as an excuse to take her," she tells me.
The feeling in my gut gets worse. Why would they give up an excuse?
The Queen is screaming incoherently now. Lord Edward just looks at his wife with disdain. "Someone please shut her up." Two of the nuns wrap their arms around the sobbing woman and guide her from the room.
Lord Edward wipes away a little brain matter from his jacket. "He was a boorish man. I would have killed him myself if I ever found the time. You're friends with my third daughter Lillian, right?"
Sophia holsters her gun, sitting back down, ignoring the corpse on the table. "I am."
"Definitely one of my better children. I really wish I had spent more time with her." He looks down at a timepiece, "Look, I'm going to level with you. I do not care if you stay or leave, but the Lord of Light is being most insistent, and while I could crush that pissant with my bare hands," he waved at the scary and now rather offended nun, "his wives are more of a problem for me."
"Is it true? That the Lord of Light was working with the Mother of Darkness to make me more pliable to working under him?" Sophia asks.
"Such vulgar heresy…" started the scary looking nun.
"Shut the fuck up, Sister Evelyn." Edward cuts her off with a bored voice, "There is only one of you here, I'm pretty sure I can take you. Do not test me." Sister Evelyn fumes, but does shut the fuck up.
He turns back to Sophia, "That's about the long and the short of it. Awful setup really, but it started way before I became a Rift Walker. Too many broken women perpetuating the cycle for me to intervene. I am now just another cog in his machine."
He checks his watch again. "I'm assuming that your answer is final, that you will not be returning with us?"
Sophia nods her head. "That is correct."
"I expected as much, your little paramour has upset the balance, you know? Killing a god far before she should be able," he leans back in his chair and turns his head, looking directly into the eyes of the Gestalt rat, "there are a number of families that feel it is time for a change of management."
Then the room exploded.
Not Sophia's room, Maria's office.
I am thrown several feet across the room and slam heavily against a book case. Which fucking hurt!
Maria is faring a little better than me. She was thrown into a wall, and had already managed to get her barrier up to break her impact.
The room explodes again, wood and stone from the walls shatter around the place. A room-sized barrier is the only thing keeping us alive. Whatever is hitting us is strong enough to shake the whole building hard, it is a struggle to remain upright. I get my barrier up just as a number of books fall on my head.
[Get up.]
I listen and pull myself to my feet, my head spinning. My body wants to puke.
[Get out of the room, the barrier will not hold.]
The room shakes again, the barrier whites out, filtering the excess noise and light. I struggle to stay on my feet, holding the wall as I make my way to the door.
Maria is already gone. I find her in the corridor, throwing lightning at Lord Edward.
My vision focuses in on a single point.
Sophia's limp body, being carried away by a few of the nuns.
Closer to us, Sister Evelyn is channeling magic into an artifact that gives me strong safe room coin vibes.
Closer still, Lord Edward is trading magic with Maria.
They are taking what is mine.
I'm already running down the corridor, the collateral damage from Maria's and Edward's magic filling the place with stone dust and wood chips. It's already hard to see, and lightning magic is really fucking loud in a confined space. If it wasn't for my barrier filter I would be bleeding from my ears.
Diving between two Rift Walkers while they are flinging all sorts of lethal shit at each other might not seem like the best idea, and you would be right. But they are taking what's mine, and I need to stop that from happening. Also, I have some surprises.
I activate Bronson's strength enchantment aura, focusing it on my arm and shoulder. I pull the shotty from my domain, preloaded with the magical HESH slugs. I funnel mana into them with abandon. Lightning licks off my barrier. It won't hold long with this amount of magical discharge, but it will hold long enough.
Running full pelt I reach Lord Edward and shove the scary end of the double barrel against his barrier. He finally notices me, giving me a look of 'what the fuck is that going to do?'
I pull the trigger, and even with the Bronson enchantment, the recoil is unreal, almost pulling the weapon from my grip.
Lord Edward is having a worse time than me. The slug hits the barrier, compresses, and then the spell triggers, turning a small section of barrier into brittle magical shrapnel that turns his guts into mince meat.
I'm already moving past him. Maria can clean up that mess. I take two more steps and reshoulder the shotty. I'm close enough that I'm willing to risk a non point blank shot at the nun bitch. The shotty barks, and her chest is shredded.
But I am too late. The artifact she was fucking around with got the mana it needed, and I feel the threads around me pull tight and knot together. With a noise like broken glass being dragged across a chalk board, a rift is torn through space, right in front of me.
The other side is a place I have seen before. Through the rift is a tower made of flesh and pain, giant grafted arms ring around the top. In front of that tower is the last guard of the bitch God Queen, sharp armor molded to its flesh, holding two curved blades, the same type of blades that I was made intimately familiar with. Having already died once to their sibling weapons.
It explodes forward with impossible force. I drop the empty shotty, falling backwards, I pull one of my disposable revolvers and start emptying it into the monster.
The bullets are as ineffective against this guard as they were against its brethren. I stumble back onto my ass as it passes through the rift, its blades traveling in wicked arcs, baring down on my throat.
I'm fucked.
Well, right up until I'm saved again. A beam of fire hammers into the chest of the armored guard, knocking it off balance. The swing of its blades narrowly missing me.
Maria steps up from behind me, continuing to pump flames so concentrated into the creature's chest that it looks like a firehose of liquid fire. It stumbles back, its armor growing white hot and buckling.
I fumble around looking for my shotty, finding it, I do my best to break the thing open. I really haven't practiced with this thing enough. The guard steps forward, still under a barrage of fire. It would rather kill me than survive.
I eject the two spent cartridges and pull two of the failed spell slugs from my domain. It doesn't have a barrier to shatter, and the slugs still work just fine as normal bullets. I shoulder the weapon and dump the two slugs into the creature's chest. The first one caves in the superheated metal, the second rips through its flesh. Maria's superheated flames follow, cooking the creature from the inside out.
I breathe hard. The corridor may be empty now, but the rest of the Academy is full of screaming and explosions. Maria's office is still being pounded by who knows what.
I turn to Maria, she is looking a little worse for wear, but okay. Lord Edward is gone. Rift Walkers are slippery bastards, I got lucky with the bitch nun, must have got her heart.
Catching my breath. "Sophia!" I say.
"Go, catch them!"
I'm already running as she yells "Keep in touch!"
***
***