AMBROSIA

    We visited Aqorm''s mansion first. As Elias wasn''t here, it was a rather quick trip, through the libraries, for a quick meal provided by their private chef, and to meet her parents, Melissa and Richard Flowless. When Elias came later, we revisited this place and had a proper tour, but for the sake of brevity, let''s not discuss the eight days we spent hanging around. She played the 1812 Overture on her piano, as we looked at old pictures of her and her house. She was an ugly kid. For some reason, they had been living in a shabby one-room house until recently, and I got the impression she was happier with this cozy house than in this big mansion. For the song''s finale, she had pulled out small live cannons and was firing it at the wall. Her mother Melissa called from the other room, “Aqorm! Stop firing cannons in the house!” I missed my parents'' scolding.

    After saving our journey, we explored a bit to the south of the mansion, and found a pass through the mountainside. The pass however was guarded by a rather large Elder Formless. I will not attempt to describe its awe-inspiring form, so great and terrible was this thing. The closest description would be to say that it is a rather large eye with tentacles extending from it, but beyond that my brain begins to shut down in horror of having to look at it long enough to describe physical features. “Oh no,” Azrael said, having suddenly gained the ability to speak after a short period of shock. “That''s Cy?egha, an Elder Formless! We''d be lucky to even seal it away, much less kill it. We should really run away now...” So saying, she seemed less likely to run away and more at ease with simply staring in admiration of its monstrous form. Obviously, she had read literature about this thing and was fascinated by it. “Ahem,” she repeated, “we should run now... but...” She showed little sign of following through. And the rest of us were paralyzed by fear.

    My knife, being formed of First Material, glowed in response to the thing which we will not mention. The others fired magic at it and tried ranged attacks and techniques, but nothing happened. No, it wasn''t like it was thick-skinned and it did little damage. And it wasn''t like it hit a magical shield either, it was more like it hit a black hole, sucking whatever energy or matter entered and leaving nothing behind. The others couldn''t attack, so I had no choice, I had to attack. I charged forward , slashing away at whatever sort of shield might be there. I didn''t feel anything get cut, it was more like somehow or other I had been allowed to move closer. I stabbed Cy?egha ''s eye, and it screamed in pain.

    AZRAEL

    There''s something that everyone should know about the Elder Formless. Short of God being able to declare them false (truth be told, they never existed in the first place, but the human mind is able to conjure up false gods from their fears), they don''t properly die. If someone manages to hurt them badly enough, they flee back to the realm where they originally came. And for many of them, even destroying their physical body is not enough, they just respawn instantly. For nearly any weapon aside from First Material (weapon is used loosely, as evidenced by First Milk being thrown against Tràntor, the Dollmaster), they are seldom hurt badly enough to even make them consider flight. The standard procedure is to initiate a seal using high-level Exorcism, and then attempt to kill their physical form. Somehow. Possibly because of the First Material, Ambrosia was able to enter without being voided from existence. But after being stabbed by its weakness, it fought back. This is always a risk involved, even when using weapons loathsome to a being. Bloodied from being stabbed in the eye, it glanced around, and saw Aqorm. All of a sudden, she was turned into dust. It next used some sort of high level elemental ability to blast Nevras, killing him on impact. Ambrosia screamed, “Nevras! You killed him, you bastard!” She went into a berserk frenzy, slashing away at the Being, but for some reason, despite having Ambrosia in its sight, it wouldn''t make eye contact. It kept looking away.

    Before this thing doomed the rest of us, I pulled out my bell. As I have said before, I used an incredible amount of time and effort making this bell. It can destroy anything, Elder Formless, zombies, Monsters, demons, and all types of living creatures provided they are in range of the sound. Maybe not God, but just short of that.

    I had no time to ring it, however, before Cy?egha summoned the Nag?ae, a hoard of quivering loathsome beings. This minions grasped Zoe with their tongues, and then they had their way with her. She was dead to me. It was just me and Ambrosia left, so I swung the bell, dipping it slightly, then raising it and snapping my wrist forward. The bell gave a low bass tone, and then everything changed.

    I started bleeding. I was fainting fast, but I held on until the bell finished its ring. Around me, the air grew like darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night. It spread outward like water rising from the depths. It started to affect things not in the order of who heard it, but in terms of their condition. It started with the freshly summoned Nag?ae, turning them into a horrid mass of shadow, ichor, and organs. Zoe''s body began to wither until it resembled centuries of rot, until finally becoming nothing. Then, the sound affected Cy?egha. The large eye was simply swept away like a strong wind disturbing a reflection on the water, it gave no sign to its passing. I was now bleeding profusely, and struggling to stand upright, I tried to hold back the bell before its power touched Ambrosia but it could not be taken back. It touched Ambrosia, and I saw too much. Then I saw no more, as everything turned to white.

    AMBROSIA

    God obviously reset our reality, and it was a good thing too. I often have memories of events before the reset, yet I am unsure how much the others know when things revert. I''ve never asked. In any case, I am grateful that not all was remembered, as I don''t want to think about what might happen to a living human who hears the Bell. I am infinitely thankful for that. I had heard tales of those who had encountered Elder Formless and become their playthings. The endless torture as the claws or tentacles or other appendages inserted themselves into the brain or eyes or... other orifices, filling the person with endless surreal images of the universe come apart, of space and time skewed in a way that is too terrible to depict in words. The sending to oblivion caused by the Bell, this is a mercy. I have no earthly idea what exactly it is that such people see, only to conclude that it is better to be eaten first. The lifeless husks, devoid of worth, happiness, self-will meander through life only awaiting death after such an encounter. I was spared something worse than death today.

    Having learned my lesson about dealing with creatures of incredible power without extensive training, we made our way instead to Kushiyama. We saw quite a few people enter from all modes of transport in hot air balloons, pedal submarines, and numerous strange creatures making their way to the city. Being a port town of enormous size with loads and loads of exotic goods made it a real destination.

    It is said that human beings alter their environment. It was never more true than in the town of Kushiyama. The land on the outskirts was frozen wastes, yet somehow the area immediately around had a small patch of fertile land which was used for farming and forestry. When we entered the town, despite the outside territory being beastly cold, the weather was far more like spring.

    Kushiyama, unlike many areas we had visited, could no longer be called a town. It was a proper city, and had everything from a shopping area, to a major bank, to a public library, to a government center. As the place was huge, we decided to take a break and rest at the inn until Elias returned.

    I checked the bank out while we waited since we needed money for shopping. As a result of blackmailing the king of Phoenix, we now had a healthy stock of money in this bank. Aside from our rather large amount of pocket money from creature slaying, we had been given 50 million Gold. So we talked to the head clerk at the bank to claim it.

    The building had a sort of noirish feel to it. The shabby old stone was blackened by coal and cigarette smoke, not that anyone smoked nowadays. Or burned coal. I half expected some dame in a pencil skirt to walk in. The head clerk sat in a desk in the center of the room, there was no vault in this bank, but in a world where magic converted physical money into numerical runes and stored all of it in a tiny red chest, I can''t say I was surprised. The back section had a long counter where the other bank workers stood.

    She asked, “What can I do for you today? I can set up multiple accounts for you, I can handle your loans, I can issue checks for large sums, and you can buy a house if you want.” Honestly, the last one sounded interesting, yet I wanted to ask something first. I looked at the multiple file cabinets in the back of the building. “Excuse me,” I asked, “but what exactly are those back there?” She turned around and glanced, “Oh, those? Multiple accounts, as I have said. We issue one main account which has no limit and collects interest, in addition to up to seven safe deposit boxes. They hold more than you might think.” She wasn''t kidding. She opened one up and emptied it out, the was a piano, a small pile of Gold, precious gems, and some paintings. I nodded, “Sign me up! Well, as long as there isn''t any subscription fee.” She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. Oh, right. People didn''t do subscriptions anymore. She shook her head, “To perform this service, we will require 10,000 Gold from you beforehand. Using our long-term interest 30% of that will be returned to you immediately, then 1% a year over the next 70 years, non-inheritable.” Sounds like they''d get back my money quick then. I set it up, without asking the others, and our on-hand money returned to about 400 Gold. It was totally worth it though! “Tell me about the loans,” I said next, wanting to get some quick cash. She explained, “Oh no, you misunderstand. We don''t do loans at this place or any bank. In the past, the system was sometimes based on banks printing money whenever people took out loans. You can imagine how that goes. They get their money, but it''s with interest, and then they are even worse off than before. This is poor customer service anyway, even before the fact that it''s illegal by order of the Council. No, what we do is take claims of people who have been hit by loan sharks, and help them get their money back, and arrest the guy.”

    I paused knowing what I was going to do was a huge purchase, “I would like to know about houses you have for sale.” She nodded once again, walking to a whiteboard. The head clerk was substantially shorter than her coworkers. It wasn''t evident while she had been sitting down, but while in front of the board she had to reach quite a bit. She wrote out the prices, explaining as she went, “We have two categories, portable housing and brick-and-mortar. Our portable housing is simply an upgrade to the party tent you had before, with the structure contained inside of the dimensional space of the tent. At the bottom tier, we have a basic portable house, with all the essentials, for a low low price of 5 million Gold. You can get a portable mansion for 20 million, and portable town for 50 million. Building a house from wood or stone, raises the price by about fifty times, so the cheapest house that we can build is...” I interrupted, “I''ll take it! I mean, not the brick and mortar house, I''ve got 50 million in the bank, correct?” She nodded, but then frowned. “After deducting most of the money in your account, you will only have 4500 Gold, after the return from opening multiple accounts. While that money will eventually be returned, we won''t... I mean... you won''t be able to collect much interest on that amount...” But I smiled, “It''s okay, we know you''re not in banking for purely altruistic reasons. I''ll probably put that money back in the next time we sell some good items.”

    We exited the bank, and tried the party tent out. From what the banker had explained, the tent upgrade did not take up any more space. I had to see this for myself. I opened up the tent, but it looked the same outside, an old ragged scuffed-up tent. I went inside, telling Nevras, “stay outside and guard the tent.” Inside, there was a small town, with stone buildings, a yellow brick path (I''m told this is not a matter of painting bricks yellow, but a different lime content) with grass and hedges at the edge of the trail. The town had maybe four houses, and it was obvious that it was designed to be purchased as an addition to the house and mansion purchased earlier, as these were included. It also had an armor shop, an item shop, and a few townspeople walking about in this town. In the center of the town was a save point. I wasn''t going to ask or even think about how these people got here. The entire idea was likely to give me nightmares.

    The house had a small fire pit with a cauldron hanging from a stand, a crude outhouse insert in the right corner, a small pool of water for bathing, a table with a few books, a bed with no frame, and a few dishes. There was a bowl containing five loaves of bread and two fish (I know from my fishing excursions, this is a Damascus Barbel), so we had a meal. There was a lot left over though. The floor of the building was a dirt floor, except near the pool, where the water was contained with a stone framing.

    The mansion, by contrast, was a proper house, with smoothed cobblestone flooring, finely carved stone walls, carpeting, a stove, a real bed, a bookcase, a weapon case, a common table for eating, an extended bedroom with added space for makeshift bedding, and some side rooms complete with wall-to-wall carpeting. There appeared to be little in the way of runes or alchemy, but it looked like it was open for all kinds of expansion. The shops were stocked with mostly what we had seen elsewhere, but the item shop did have a nice selection of crafted potions, and the weapon shop also sold bombs and a wide variety of specialty arrows. Not that we could afford those right now. I was just about to leave when I lost my balance, as everything around outside shook. An earthquake?

    NEVRAS

    I tried to stop them, honest. But you can''t expect me to hold off ten city guards with the rest of the group inside a tent. Not without getting us in a lot more trouble. You see, camping inside a major city is kind of illegal, and while they let me off with a warning because I claimed I didn''t mean to, they still insisted on collapsing the tent and moving it outside the town gates. I hope Ambrosia and the others were okay.

    After a disgruntled and confused group exited the tent, we decided to explore more of the town. Kushiyama, not the party town. They had had enough of a shaking tent. We had entered a public square where the indoor shops gave way to stands, but they started singing show tunes from Oliver Twist, so we just left. I bought Ambrosia and myself a new cellphone on the way out, this one used Heart Sense system to communicate between people. Unlike runes, which only worked in areas where magic was, Heart Sense worked on the power of human connection, meaning as long as you were thinking of the other person, you could contact someone anywhere.

    We came to an area near the church. Near the steps of the church, the pavement had a funny circular pattern that didn''t look like the walkway around it. The church itself was apparently fairly normal, being part of the Revival Church movement that had sprang up after the New Earth. They didn''t really believe in many of Jesus''s classical teachings, since a complete Bible was basically impossible to find now. The one the priest was reading from was tattered and had most of its pages missing. Normally, such a Bible would be burned, but they couldn''t afford to reprint since the only other text besides such books was online, and people had largely lost internet technology when culture switched from technology to runes and alchemy. The Church, such as it was, appeared to emphasize three things: the existence of a Savior, the Resurrection and Eternal Life, and Grace. They had little concept of religious laws, nor much of history, and most of the early letters of the church were gone. The things from before had passed away. Inside the church, however, everyone from demons to angels, to elves, to even robots attended. The priest and nuns were Blessed, so they had little reason not to welcome everyone.

    Outside the church, I saw the man himself, Jesus Christ. I could tell from the whole long hair thing, along with his pierced up hands. After the Resurrection, a lot of other stuff happened. Jesus came to preach to all the world, though he only became noticeable after the State fell and the Earth was reformed. And indeed, many people did believe. But the Council decided that a single religion governing the entire world would be greatly akin to the State, which they opposed, so they allowed that each town could build whatever temples it wanted, but if Jesus was to preach to people, he was allowed to do so in only one town. The Council was not evil, they were not against God, but they also had no desire to see more expansive regimes, good or not, to crop out in the world. Since the last time someone had tried to kill Jesus, a worldwide religion spread, they just let him do his thing, and his followers could go anywhere or build churches, but he was confined to Kushiyama for as long as he lived. He had been here awhile, from what I''d heard. The Council had been set up in 5116 AD, just after the Great Phoenix War had ended, and it was now the middle of 7076 AD. Wait, shouldn''t it be 7077? Something was... I forgot what I was talking about. Anyway. Most of what the Revival Church used as scripture was not in fact from their cobbled together Bible but from Jesus''s direct teachings. And he made sure they understood when they were becoming too much like the Pharisees. Currently though, he was not teaching, he was feeding Followers.

    Followers of the Way, they were originally called. But this term became confusing, since there were not only Revival Church, but also Messianic Jews, and Taoists (who also called their path the Way). Ultimately, though, these weren''t the followers we saw inside the church. To be blunt, they were basically a type of vampires. There were not the typical vampires, who feared the light of the sun, were averse to holy symbols, disliked garlic, and had a craving for blood. And then there were the Followers, who never craved anything including food, loved garlic, attended church and wore crosses as sign of commitment to Christ, and love to sunbathe. They were still pale and still had sharp fangs, but you could typically tell the difference in behavior.

    There were some new people who had as of yet not become Followers. Jesus told them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh. Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up. For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.” At this, these men and women, and even small children, began to bite him, sucking his blood. Sёarch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Ambrosia and I were shocked. “Should... we stop this? It looks wrong.” Jesus shook his head, “I allow it. For by this sign will it be known that all who believe in me shall not die, but have eternal life.” Ambrosia sighed. This was creepy. I am told that after becoming immortal, many of these led highly productive lives. They healed the sick and drove out evil spirits using the power he had blessed them with. They worked hard at their job, they gave their money to charity, and tended to operate in committed families for as long as they lived, which was pretty much forever unless killed. And even then, they probably had access to the Afterlife. Lucky bastards. I felt a little sad for the children though, they would be stuck at their age.

    Jesus talked with us of his life, Passion, and death. Of his rising to life again. It all seemed so matter of fact. “I''m not sure I agree with this,” Ambrosia said, “I mean, I know God, but this is too much.” He shrugged, “No worries,” he said, “not everyone will accept my message. But I came to save all sinners.” Ambrosia shook her head, “No, your message is fine, I mean the whole... blood-sucking thing.” Jesus nodded, “No worries. It is not mandatory. Those people chose to become like this. And if later they want to return, I can heal them. It is up to them.” Jesus was kind of... mellow. I could honestly see him surfing, and he totally had the hair for it. Even around here, where the waters were cold. He could likely stand up to injustice, but his Followers were already doing a tremendous amount of good, despite the fact that about 25% of the population were vampires, only 5% were Followers, and the city was greatly misruled by the corrupt, brutal, and noticeably expansionist King Yama.

    After learning much from him about Love, Grace, and Sacrifice, we continued on our way. Ultimately, we did not become followers (lowercase!) but Ambrosia seemed to have mellowed out with the realization that her flaws were to a large extent forgiven of her. We had a mission to do, though, and could not stay in this town forever. We explored the town some more, from the historical museums to the arcades filled with games to wandering around gardens and graveyards. The city was fairly huge, and it was much more than we could see in one day.

    We went to the library and read two children''s stories while waiting for Elias. We needed to stall somehow, after all. Ambrosia picked up a book with a cute puppy on the front called The Dog Who Cried Woof. She read, ?Long ago, animals all had the power to speak. But, they could only speak the truth. One day, a certain dog, named Ebon Wolf, discovered how to lie. He always told the townsfolk that there was a wolf in town. Because people at that time believed animals could not lie, they always came when Ebon called. As time went on, people lost faith in the words of the little doggie, and as more and more creatures began to lie, the humans in this land stopped listening to them. Gradually, after being ignored, animals became more timid and less able to enunciate clearly, until finally, dogs were limited to saying ''woof'' all the time.? Next, was the 4018 bestseller, Crocodile Tears. It even won the Newberry! It was all about this crocodile whining about how other animals rejected it, then eating them when the tried to cheer it up. A familiar voice behind us spoke up, “Those are terrible books!” Aqorm turned around. “Elias!” And she hugged and kissed him.

    Elias told us, “I''ll find you a real story.” After a bit of searching, he pulled out a book with the title, The Story of the First Oracle. ? Reality is but a dream, dreams are but images... Many years ago, there came upon the Earth like it is said will come again in great time of need, an Oracle was born. These were dangerous times, as a demon named Belial threatened the land. Visiting the ancient wise, the Oracle learned the power of the Crests, and set out to banish Belial from the lands. But suddenly, the Oracle instead vanished from the Earth. It required two angels to split the demon into parts, and seal it into an urn. Belial awaits the hand of God or the Oracle to destroy it. But, what befell the First Oracle? Some say he was killed by Belial or one of his evil troops. But the power of the Oracle is great. Others say the Oracle abandoned his quest, and was punished. But in smaller circles, it is believed that the power of the Oracle gives its host the ability to see reality and existence. Perhaps the Oracle found out something better left untold, and the knowledge destroyed him. Reality is but a dream, dreams are but images... ?

    Ambrosia was spellbound. The story was certainly no tale about a puppy. Having an awkward silence for a few minutes, we eventually resolved the situation simply by changing the subject. Elias decided to talk about his trip over, how he had managed to finish the Philosopher''s Stone, and how he had managed to make it over without the rest of the party. “This is a handy tool,” he said, “normally, I''d be only able to use light and dark magic against creatures that attacked me, limiting the amount of mystic power I can use. But this... this lets me convert my mystic power into alchemy! Why, you should have seen the things that I tried with this...” and so, he began to babble. Aqorm seemed relieved that he was safe. Finally, he said, “but enough about that! We have two tasks to be done before we can leave this town.” The group looked confused. “Two?” asked Zoe. Elias clarified, “Yes. Based on my research residing in Aquamundo, Kushiyama is known for two secrets. The first is that in Kushiyama graveyard, there exists a single grave that is set aside by itself, which contains a riddle. Should we answer this riddle correctly, there is a rare and powerful artifact to be had. We may one day need this on our quest. Second, there is an old law on the books that says that the king is obligated to grant anyone who wishes a boat out of town. It was set up so that none would be stranded in Kushiyama, since this whole continent is ice, they did not want to be sued for the death of people outside of town. We shall do both of these before we leave.”

    AMBROSIA

    Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Why was it not, do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you? I had always heard it this way. It was about respecting personal boundaries, right? That is why we made laws, so people who not do things like steal from each other. Plenty of people therefore tried to treat their neighbor well, but... like myself? I knew plenty of people who loved themselves but not their neighbor. Or who loved their neighbor but hated themselves. For that matter, I knew plenty of people who tried to treat others well, only to wind up feeling used. While it''s not good to be a narcissist, I think what the Aiken guy was saying might have a point. But something about this seems different.

    I didn''t have much time to dwell on this before we were dragged into a graveyard. Ugh, the last time I went into one of those, that creepy old lady tried to give me a Jar of Human Tears. Supposedly, the undead hate human sadness to such a degree that they flee the other way. Even though she was giving massive amounts away for free, I wasn''t about to take it. Luckily, we now have an alchemist with light/dark powers, so he made like a ton of holy water before we entered. It''s pretty simple to make, actually. He simply mixed well water, white carnation petals, and black salt (kala namak), which to be honest, looked more like little rocks. He ground it to a fine pinkish-gray powder, and I could smell a strange sulfur aroma not to be found in regular salt. After soaking this for a bit, he strained all the solids out. This could destroy a ghost! Or it could hurt a demon, I suppose. Anyway, he gave me the excess black salt to use in cooking. Although we had still some money, as time went on, buying stuff seemed less and less important. We still bought potions, but most of our weapons and armor now seemed enough, and since our gear was rustproof, sturdy, and fairly effective. Still, it didn''t seem all that important despite being in a big town. We got a few wooden stakes, since there were vampires.

    The entrance to the graveyard emptied out into a maze of tombstones trees, tall grass, and flowers, which was split off by a large stone wall from the rest of the town. We could have come here in the morning. We should have come here in the morning. We didn''t. We used all of our time reading books, and then Elias made holy water. Around the corner, a Grim closed in. Like most undead, they are fatally week to holy-typed thaumaturgy, but unlike most undead, they are incredibly fast and there''s the whole touch of death thing. I''d tried to use Alexander, only to be forced to run. Elias tossed some holy water at that one, and it burst into blue flame. But that trick wouldn''t work twice. Three Grims closed in, and Elias let them have it, but they scattered apart. It did provide a window where we could run, and we took it, heading toward one gravestone that was in a gated area all by itself. “That''s the tomb,” panted Elias, “we just need to get inside,” and he wheezed, “and solve the puzzle.” We moved closer. Ten yards, three yards, three feet. Then, the Grim caught up with us, surrounding us and closing in fast.

    AZRAEL

    Love. People don''t really think about that as more than a word, but when it seems like their last moments, they start worrying about those they care about. Aqorm and Elias stopped running, and held each other close. Ambrosia cried, while Nevras grabbed her and told her that it would be over soon. Zoe grabbed my shoulder. The thing about this emotion, it''s often viewed as a weakness by stupid people. But really, it makes people strong. That moment, I created a Barrier the likes of which were far beyond my normal limits, touching the fencing around the grave. The Grim were knocked back like rag dolls, pushed a good fifty feet away. Likewise, the nearby tombstones pushed over, in some cases breaking or uprooting from the grass and soil. We made it inside the fence, and I quickly collapsed the spell, which was making me extremely tired. I instead enchanted a smaller section, that of the fence itself. True, I wouldn''t be able to access that mystic power while it was active, but I didn''t expect it to be active forever. The Grims were already breaking it down, so it would merely buy time.

    Elias read the inscription, ?Five senses make up the feelings. I am not a sense, but I make the feelings stronger. I am a gift. Sometimes I am returned, sometimes I am rejected. I am called the greatest thing, but when people have me, they need me. People seek after me, even though it may bring pain or sorrow. The more of me is given, the more of myself there is.? As I say, love is a powerful thing. Sometimes, it saves your life. “Love,” I said, “the answer is love.” Elias pressed the letters into the tombstone, and immediately a pit opened up under us all, then closed again.

    We landed in a crypt. It wasn''t the friendliest place to be, but at least we made it there alive. The crypt turned a sharp corner, and we saw coffins, lots and lots of coffins. Granted, this was a crypt, but here vampires popping out were a distinct possibility. In fact, it was so much of one, that Ambrosia used Alexander to sweep the area. A pity that wouldn''t work. The coffins acted as a sort of insulation, shielding the energy of the attack from affecting the inside. We spied a treasure chest that was clearly what Elias had been looking for earlier, but we couldn''t get to it but through all of these coffins. I can imagine some sort of scenario where we all gather around the chest and then vampires pop out and start biting us. Well, I''m sorry to disappoint, but I haven''t time for this crap. I used Fire on some of the coffins, burning coffin and body inside alike. Elias tried out his Fire Bomb alchemy effect on some of the other, drawing a careful circle, then using the Philosopher''s Stone as catalyst. Ordinarily, alchemy would use materials as a sacrifice in order to produce this kind of energy, but since he had a renewable source with the Stone, it was much easier. I imagine the stone does have drawbacks though.

    At last, we were able to reach the chest. There was still one coffin up near the top that had not burned, since it was a natural rock carved into a casing for the dead.

    AMBROSIA

    It sucked that we were doing this. These were people. I suddenly understood what Jesus meant. The reason the expression is not don''t treat others like you wouldn''t want to be treated, was because it was never intended as a moral law but a sort of sense of generating positive karma. I''m pretty neutral though, I think I just don''t want to see things get more screwed up. Like, why do any of us have to die? I requested, “Ummmm, let''s not try to kill any more vampires unless we have to, okay?” Azrael nodded sheepishly.

    I fussed with the chest until finally it was open, then held my treasure high in the air for all to see. I got Jump Boots! These things were kind of handy, I could jump over pits and climb small sections of rock, even up mountainsides. But the best part? My friends were able to grab on, and I would jump despite being weighed down. I was pretty good at jumping and climbing, but that last part meant I didn''t leave my allies stranded. “Alright,” I said, “looks like it''s time to go...” I no sooner spoke than the last coffin shook.

    A fist punched through. Those dirty communist vampires, they just kept coming, wanting to take the blood I had worked hard for. Ummm, yea, I dunno why I said that, except the fist looked straight out of a lot of Industrial Workers of the World posters. The Followers actually worked hard and gave back, while these guys just sucked the blood and drained the life of other people. Like socialists everywhere with all their high taxes.

    Nevras tells me to stop ranting. Ummmm, yea, so anyway, an attractive blond vampire exited the coffin. For a vampire, I suppose she was dressed modestly. No low-cut dresses, no short skirt, she wore a thick white blouse and a skirt that came below the knee. She looked like a waitress in a high-class pub. The Followers and vampires are pretty easy to distinguish, honestly. It''s all in their eyes. The eyes of a Follower are like a human, while a vampire is so strongly affected by the bloodlust that it turns their eyes blood red, and gives them a weird focus. Despite being superficially attractive, that sense of need, of using people as food, made her completely unappealing. And yet, most of the party were in her thrall. Come on, she''s not that sexy. I went right up to Nevras as he was repeating, “I love you...” to the vamp, so I slapped him and yelled, “Snap out of it!” Suddenly, the curse of hypnosis was broken. Elias was unaffected since his staff generated a mild Protection Against Harm ward. Aqorm was unaffected because the entire time she was looking at Elias when the vampire was using her glare effect. Zoe and Azrael on the other hand, they were completely in a trance. I whispered something to Nevras, and he agreed. Aqorm asked, “what are you...?” She saw us getting them to face each other, and suddenly understood. We pushed them close together and said, “Now kiss...” Their lips touched, and the spell was broken, and for a while they did just that. Until they saw people watching and jumped apart. Zoe demanded, “What do you think you''re doing?!?” Azrael likewise overreacted, “Me?!? What about you?” Oh c''mon, you girls aren''t fooling anyone.

    In any case, now that none of us were affected, we were free to deal with the vampire. As long as its coffin was intact, it would keep respawning from its coffin. We had to come up with a plan. I mumbled something quick to the others, knowing that plans said aloud have a tendency to fail. The next few moments happened very quickly. Aqorm used the oldest trick in the book, pointing behind her and saying, “Hey, look! Isn''t that a demonic duck of some sort?” To her great shock, no such thing was there. Nevras used the window of opportunity to rush through the exit, and up the stairs to the surface. I followed, using my ability to move with the flow to sweep past her, sidestepping around her as she turned back around, then ducking under her as she tried to grab me. She kept trying, but I always managed to move just out of her reach, until finally I was above ground. Aqorm used the distraction I provided, and her speed and agility as an elf to join us. Elias tried to head out as well, but was promptly grabbed. “I didn''t catch all the others,” she said, “but I will catch you. Time for dinner!”

    But she didn''t get the chance. Azrael stabbed her hard with the rune-covered sword Raphael, and the runes lit up with the words, ?Thus always to...? I couldn''t make out the rest as they were embedded in the woman''s body. She screamed and dropped Elias, allowing him to make a hasty retreat. She tried to move away, yet the sword''s suction held her fast, and a moment later, the sword blazed into flame. She frantically squirmed, but then Zoe yelled out, “Fire!” and a column of flame burned her physical form to cinders. Azrael shoved the sword Raphael back in her sheath.

    This wasn''t the end. Vampires would return to their coffin, restored, after only a few minutes. By the time we left the graveyard, the vampire would be on our heels. Sure enough, our group couldn''t leave fast enough. We made it past the library, past the bank, and past the market square. We would enter the nearby tavern for safety, yet the owner told us there was no room in the inn. And all of the other buildings were boarded up for the night with signs saying ?Vampires not welcome!? or ?If you don''t work, you don''t eat.? Which was just fine for making sure they didn''t get invited, but it kind of sucked for us in the dead of night. Jesus, but we really needed help in the worst way.

    We looked up and saw a woman kneeling in prayer. She was a brunette with soft curls, and a long flowing white cloth with red sections. Somehow, she seemed brand new, aside from a strange scar as though her hands had been poked. Her clothes didn''t have any dirt on them. Maybe she was the groundskeeper?

    “Father,” she said, “I have come so that all might be Saved. If it is your will, show them the Way.” She looked up at me. There was something about her face... like I had just seen her a few hours ago. She pointed to the vampire, “You there, Ordelia,” making the vampire shocked that she knew her by name, “why do you take what is not given? Do you not know that there is enough for all? I will teach you how to see abundance in your life, if you will follow me.” The vampire, apparently named Ordelia, snarled like a beast showing her fangs, “Silence! I will never follow you! I would sooner...” She stopped mid-sentence. As far as we could tell, the girl wasn''t dominating the vampire in any way, she just calmly stared at the other woman. She just spoke calmly, yet with great authority, “Come out of her, you parasite!” The woman started making a croup cough, finally spitting out a small leech from her body.

    The woman known as Ordelia cringed from the sight, then began stomping feverishly on the critter. The former vampire, grabbed the girl in a large hug, and held her for quite some time. Ordelia cried, “My life has been such a mess! The others promised me I wouldn''t grow old, I just had to keep drinking blood. There were so many of them, and they seemed to having everything figured out so I... Oh God, I hate myself so much!” She continued her hug, speaking calming words, “There there, no worries! You have the rest of your life to live. I love you! If I love you, you don''t need to worry, even if you don''t like yourself right now.”

    She turned to us, “The streets of this town are filled with parasites, but you should be safe here.” I suddenly understood who it was that was speaking to me. Anyway, she showed the lot of us inside a building I didn''t notice before. The former vampire cried herself to sleep, while she told us, “Tomorrow you will need to continue your journey. Seek King Yama. He is a brutal man, but bound by laws. He will grant you a boat. Head south the temple of Isis. Next, you will need to find your way to the Divine Border, what is known as Heaven. Then, make your way to the Island Closest to Hell.” She paused, “Ah. Someone else is calling my name. I must be elsewhere.” She left the room, saying, “Remember... I am always with you...” And then, we were alone. Or were we?

    We slept the night, then just before the morning, we decided to pay King Yama a visit. We moved toward the northern part of town. This area was walled off from the rest, with a silver and wrought iron gate. The gates had opened early, as though they were expecting us. A large muscular man we found inside the gate. Like the others, he had fangs, only this one appeared to not be particularly hungry for our blood. Aqorm asked, “What are you doing inside the gates?” The man explained, “Your king signed a treaty with our kind. In exchange for our protection from outside invasion, we can roam the town freely at night. So there is a curfew.” There was no possible way having a ton of parasites in their employ could ever end badly. Passing the man, we greeted the guards and explained our business. The large stone door opened to the immense brown stone manor house. The house was built centuries ago, had more bedrooms and bathrooms than there were people, and complete with gardens and wine cellars great for trapping people inside the wall. Kushiyama, as I later came to understand, was an old-school welfare state. They raised penalties on businesses to the point where people had to choose between owning a home and a business, and contrary to laws against it by the Council, King Yama figured out loopholes to get people to pay taxes. He did so by calling it service fees for government programs. For instance, his palace had a rather large dining hall where the poor could eat for “free” (making sure to have their name down) only to pay a literal king''s ransom in taxes later on, or “free” bedding in one of the many bedrooms for those merchants who had been forced out of their homes through financially ruinous business licenses. To put it mildly, he was a total asshole. His house was nice though, covered with red velvet carpeting, fine paintings, the latest magical advances, and access to the net.

    We bowed to the king, as much as we would later regret it. “We have come,” I said, “to beg you for a boat. Our quest demands it.” King Yama took a look at us, then at Nevras. “Ah,” he said, “Crown Heir Nevrasia Astra Fitz Embor Phoenix III, so nice of us to join us. Now tell me, why can you not furnish such a ship for your group?” Nevras sighed, “Ambrosia here,” pointing to me, “blackmailed the king with compromising photos of myself...” King Yama had the look of someone well acquainted with dirty laundry of the Phoenix royal family, and nodded, “I see. Yet still, your Royal Crest should be able to... they took it, then? As punishment?” He nodded sheepishly. The king grinned malevolently, “I will simply decide you peasants are in the economic minority. This should provide an excuse for my welfare scheme, allowing me to raise taxes another 80% and declare every merchant making above 15000 Gold past the margin for tax exemption.” I groaned, shared with most everyone in the party, except for Aqorm, who was okay with large-scale theft. In any case, heavy guilt aside, we had our ship.

    Since we didn''t want to backtrack, we followed the advice of the girl (who was obviously Jesus) and headed south, avoiding the Elder Formless we encountered before. We docked on a rough port, and made it to the frozen town of Kirin, just outside the Temple of Isis. The town of Kirin was coated in snow up to our waist, and there was an active blizzard in this town. The houses were very simple yet sturdy with no windows.

    We browsed one store that had armor and weapons made from dragon scales and bones. They were of incredible quality, but unfortunately they were far too expensive for us right now. The shopkeeper was a lizard man who refused to haggle, and screamed at us whenever we opened the door. We headed to the inn to rest, but it was far too cold, so instead we scouted around the town. There were some people hanging about that seemed to be life skills coaches. One was a strongman lifting enormous boulders, and the other was a swordsman.

    NEVRAS

    I watched Ambrosia test her strength. The guy was a beast. Ambrosia was able to lift some boulders, but this was with the help of her Gigas Gloves. “No, no! That''s not right,” he said, “You''re using that to do all the work. Do it without that tool!” Ambrosia looked confused, “Huh? What do you mean?” He pointed to my gloves, “Listen. A long time ago, people built technology. But where do you think all of these things came from? From the mind! Everything we build is in our head. And so is this rock. I want you to visualize this as it truly is, merely a figment of your imagination.” He was talking about mind over matter, of a very severe degree. I later tried this, and was unable to reproduce it. Yet something about her training before meant she took to this stuff like a fish to water. She lifted, pulled, and pushed this stone even though it was much larger than the boulders she had previously lifted. She tried to punch the boulder, and wound up hurting her wrist. The man shook his head, “You can''t use your strength that way.” She asked, “Huh? Why not?” He explained, “Everyone has limits. Most people can''t do what you just did because of self-doubt. But you have kindness in your heart. You see what that kind of punch could do to a living creature and you can''t bring yourself to do that. Don''t worry about it, though. This skill is still very handy when you need to move pillars or stones out of the way.”

    Meanwhile, I studied under the swordsman. He was performing a technique he called the Silencing Stab. It was a technique that warriors used against wonder-workers, because it not only temporarily silenced them (by a sharp poke to a pressure point) but also was able to drain out excess mystic power. I had to watch him several times because it was a technique that required great skill.

    At last, we completed our training. Since this town was far too cold, and since we had little money, we made do with our newly expanded tent. Well, made do is silly to suggest when the tent we enter has a mansion. Day broke, and we walked from the outskirts of Kirin over towards Isis Temple.