Fairy Opera Chapter 35: Boon

 

Boon

The doors swung open. I stepped onto the roof of a massive industrial-gothic complex, complete with towering pillars, gothic flairs, and stained-glass windows. At the end of the walkway stretching out from the doors, a skeleton sat on a throne. Dozens of hoses and pipes were attached to the skeleton, glowing deep red. This was him. The God Emperor. Twelve priests on either side of the walkway bowed. I stepped forward.

The God Emperor’s eyes looked straight into mine. Unlike the skeleton-like form of his main body, the God Emperor’s eyes were brilliant. We locked gazes. I could feel the immense energy flowing through me, energy that would have caused a normal person to lose their mind.

“What are you doing?” Rist grabbed me.

I pushed him aside. The priests on either side of me stepped back and did not stop me.

I came to the bottom of the God Emperor’s throne. Kneeling down, I began to speak in Scode.

“Oh holy one. I must ask you a question regarding your followers.”

The God Emperor spoke. His voice came through several layers of mechanical synthesis, sounding robotic yet magnanimous. He spoke in clear Scode.

“Little one.” The God Emperor’s eyes trained themselves on me. “My followers do what they do. I came, I saw, I conquered. New ages come and old ages go. Who are you to put yourself within the deep complexities of time? Ask your question and go.”

“Do you support the zombification of your nation’s people? Do you support the heinous suppression of freedom and prosperity that your followers implement?”

“I could care less about the actions of mortals.” The God Emperor’s seat hissed as steam flowed through it. “You do what you do. I have passed my prime and I sit upon this throne, alone. All I wanted, I received.”

“So you say you aren’t taking sides.”

The god Emperor laughed, a sound which caused the priests surrounding me to cringe and fall to the ground. “Sides! As if the people who worship me actually want to hear me!” He chuckled. “You are a strange one. Your knowledge of the ancient language is fluent. I shall gift you a boon. Ask for whatever you want and I shall grant your wish.”

“Okay. I want freedom for my people and the ability to self-govern for the Rebellion.”

The God Emperor was silent. Then he spoke again. “That is a complicated request you have given me.” His chair hissed with steam again. “Very well. I shall give you a weapon that will allow you to forge your own destiny.”

Ruby flew out from my pocket.

I shouted at her. “No!”

Ruby flew up to the God Emperor’s face and pointed her arm straight at him. She put her other hand on her hips. “Hm. You’re a lot skinnier than I thought you would be.”

Surprisingly, the God Emperor spoke to Ruby with audible respect. “Old one.” The God Emperor’s tone was almost deferential. “I see you have chosen to pair yourself with this young man.”

“Ah, so the underclassman knows his place.” Ruby grinned, putting both her hands on her hips. “Very well. I accept your offer of assistance. What are you going to give my ward? And what do you want in return?”

The God Emperor laughed again. “Good, good. Technomage, I have chosen my boon to you. You shall receive the strength and magical power of a hundred men. You shall receive the ability to forge the destiny of your people. I cannot see the future far enough to know where you will end up.” The God Emperor’s chair hissed. Golden energy flowed out from the pipes and surrounded me. I lifted up into the sky, my entire body tingling. My vision doubled in power. I could see the individual tiles on a building half a mile away. My breathing deepened. My hearing increased to the point where I could hear blood pumping in the priests’ veins. My entire body felt stiffer, more powerful.

The God Emperor’s chair hissed again. “Now that we have decided that, I shall ask my priest here what he wanted from me and why he woke me from my sleep.”

Rist approached the God Emperor, never looking him in the eyes. Speaking in Scode, he bowed. “God Emperor. Your people have been fighting. I wish for your wise guidance.”

“Pah.” The God Emperor shook his head. “Sort that out yourselves. Petty rivalries do not interest me.”

Rist held his nose to the ground. “Then please tell me why you treated my friend here with so much grace.”

“Because he has power, peon.” The God Emperor sounded annoyed. “Get out of my presence so that I may take my rest.”

Rist grabbed me and pulled me back along the walkway and through the doors, back down the staircase and into the chapel. He sat down on a gilded chair, breathing heavily.

“You’ve got balls, kid.” He rubbed his hair. “You’re lucky the God Emperor was in a good mood.”

Ruby flew out from my pocket. “I think he just knew his place.”

Rist looked at Ruby while tilting his head. “I’m sorry, but who are you? Are you a fairy?”

“I am!” Ruby landed on my shoulder, her arms crossed. “Well, I understand why you worship someone like that. He certainly has the presentation part down.”

Rist sighed, leaning back in the chair. “I just cannot believe that you would speak directly with his holiness.”

“I, ah, well, did you get most of the conversation?”

“Right. He promised you a boon. And he gave it to you.” Rist rubbed his temples. “This complicates things. As you are now a scion of the God Emperor, you should be immune to inquisitorial investigation. However, I do not know how the establishment side of the chuch will interpret these signs.”

“Does the God Emperor give out boons often?”

“You are the first person I have ever seen him bless in such a manner.” Rist sighed. “Well, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. I can’t help that the God Emperor is uninterested in our struggle, but I have learned a lot.” He pulled out a scroll. “I’ll send you home now.”

“Thanks.”

Rist pulled out a scroll and cast a teleportation spell. There was a single piece of Sode tech in that spell that I did not understand—which was why I hadn’t been able to form a teleport spell on my own. The church wasn’t totally backwards when it came to their magic.

A portal opened up beneath me and I lowered into it. I then came up in the same room I had been kidnapped from. It was empty. Blood stained the ground. With my new, enhanced vision, I could see several things that I was unable to see before. For example, there were fingerprints on the silverware left on the table. I could hear the street outside, which told me that things were operating as normal.

I left the room and returned to the street. I needed to find Tae and Jak and tell them that I was okay. I also needed to find the assassin who killed the member of the council. Unless they had solved the mystery already, which I doubted.

Tae came running towards me from the market area. “Rock!” She ran up to me and hugged me. “I was so worried about you! I thought you had been assassinated!”

“I talked with the God Emperor.” I did my best to smile. “The Imperial Church has some inner stuff going on in it. We’re not alone in our fight right now.”

Tae grabbed me and started pulling me towards the castle. “We need your help, then.”

I allowed myself to be dragged through the street, entering the castle, where we came into Andrew’s office.

Andrew turned around as soon as we entered. “By the God Emperor. You’re alive.”

I scratched the back of my neck. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“You seem different. Like, your density has increased or something.”

“The God Emperor gave me his blessing.” I held my hands up. “It seems that he really isn’t the bad guy in the equation.”

Andrew shook his head. “I never would have believed it. You spoke to the God Emperor himself?”

“Yes. He was really impressive. I can tell why people worship him so fervently.”

“You saw him.” Tae crossed her arms.

“I saw him.” I grinned.

Tae sighed. “You’re always getting yourself into trouble like this.” She let her arms fall. “But you’re alive, and that’s all that matters.”

Andrew sat down in his desk chair. “Now that we have this figured out, we still need to find out who murdered Jerimiah.”

“Probably the same people who tried to kill me.” I held up my fist. “With my new magic power, I think I’ll be able to sort this out.”

“Do you have a spell that can track them down?”

“I do. Well, I don’t at the moment, but it will take less than a day to create one.” I shrugged. “Give me a day to myself and I’ll have the tracking function solved.”

Andrew nodded. “Then let’s do that. We must find these assassins before they kill any more of our leadership. Jerimiah was one of our best tacticians. Without him, we stand much less of a chance against the forces of the Empire.”

I bowed. “Okay. I’ll go work on that spell.” I turned to Tae. “Do you want to watch?”

“I know nothing about Scode, but sure.”

Tae and I retreated to my room in the castle. I sat down at my desk. “Okay. So I first have to figure out which branch of magic this falls under. I don’t think I can use Null Canus. Maybe Null Canus Blue?”

Tae sat down next to me. “I don’t understand a word of what you’re saying, but I support you.”

The door burst open and Jak rushed in, followed by Ami and Amber. They surrounded me. “You made it back and didn’t tell us?” Ami hugged me. “Rock, you’re an idiot.”

“Sorry, I didn’t think being gone for like half a day was that big of a deal.”

“We thought you were dead!” Ami gripped me hard. “You should have at least told us that you were back!”

I smiled. “I thought it was trivial. But thanks for caring about me. I have work to do, but if you want to you can watch.”

Ami sat down next to me. “What are you working on?”

“A spell that will track down Jerimiah’s murderer.” I started writing on an empty scroll.

Ami watched as I wrote. “You really have changed. You’re more shiny, too, for some reason. It’s like you’ve got some sort of gemstone under your skin. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

I shrugged. “I got a boon from the God Emperor, that’s all.”

“The God Emperor.” Jak crossed his arms. “You got a boon from him.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s not much. He just increased my senses, my strength, and my magical ability. Not much at all.”

“Not much?” Jak grabbed me by my shoulders. “Get out here so I can test that. You can do that stuffy scroll work after I figure out what “boon of the God Emperor” means.”

Jak dragged me out of the room, followed by everyone. He brought me to the training field right outside the keep. He held up his sword.

I held my sword. “I, ah, I really don’t want to do this.”

“Why not? Why not use that boon that you received?”

“I get the feeling that you really don’t believe me.”

Jak attacked. I stepped aside with uncommon ease, surprising even myself. I then tapped him on the back. He flew several feet and sprawled out onto the ground.

“Whoops.” I knelt beside him. “I’m sorry.”

 

36

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