B4 Chapter 49 - Emperor Of Humankind

For the God that supposedly ruled all of humankind, the sleeping man on the altar appeared rather little. If not for the wisps oozing from his body, nothing would have separated him from an ordinary human, who’d passed out on a hard stone altar. His white eyelashes were uncommon, and his long hair appeared grand, but Vivi had seen hunters with much crazier, more ethereally augmented facial features.

A spirit’s appearance was deceiving, however. Vivi had learned as much. Underestimating or accidentally disrespecting Ythar could end up deadly.

Looks like the rumor about Ythar generating ether is true, at least, Vivi thought.

“Of course it’s true,” Lucius said. “I am a sub-spirit of Ythar. He needs a lot of ether to fuel all ten thousand sub-spirits.”

So this really is Ythar? Vivi asked.

“That’s him,” Lucius said. “My creator.”

Lucius regarded the god with caution, like a child meeting their father for the first time. If Vivi understood correctly, Lucius had talked to Ythar exactly once, and that was during his creation, if they’d even talked at all. Most likely, information had just been placed in Lucius’s knowledge with telepathy.

Vivi took off her helmet. Staying in her armor was probably beneficial, but her helmet made her look more threatening than she would have liked. She once again kneeled.

“God Emperor Ythar,” she said.

No response. Ythar didn’t show the slightest response, as if she’d tried to talk to a corpse.

The spirits of Drean’s village wouldn’t have woken up with words either. They didn’t even react to their limbs being eaten alive. Francesco literally spent his days rotting alive. If Ythar worked the same way, splashing a bucket of cold water on his face wouldn’t be enough.

Crilla would have an easy time killing someone like this.

Vivi hesitated for a short while longer. She knew how to wake spirits up: by pushing ether into their cores. Yet, this wouldn’t be the same as waking up Drean’s friends. Everyone in the village was Sannelia’s sub-spirit, and Sannelia was already Noxbryn’s sub-spirit. True gods were exponentially more powerful. In theory, at least.

Here goes nothing, Vivi thought. She took a deep breath, remained kneeled on one foot, and began transferring ether.

The first wave of wisps made contact with the god’s core, and Ythar’s presence flickered. A glow enveloped his body.

He didn’t wake up, however. Vivi kept pushing ether. Five thousand became ten thousand, all eaten up with little change in his ethereal presence.

“A million ether,” Lucius told her.

Vivi agreed, adding more ether. The god stopped leaking ether, and his presence seemed to stabilize. He was waking up.

With one final push, Vivi increased the pace and pushed a heavy wave of ether straight to Ythar’s core.

Ythar’s left hand flinched. Ether began to flow from his core outward, channeled cleanly into his veins.

The wakeup was slower than she had expected. Ythar didn’t explode to life with any sort of omnipotence. His ethereal presence slowly grew to the size of a surge welling within his body.

Slowly, he lifted his hand, squinting as he stared at the movement of his fingers. Every movement was slow, yet eerily smooth and without any groans of a grumpy wakeup. He pushed himself to sit.

Finally, Ythar’s head turned to Vivi.

Vivi stayed knelt on one foot. “Your Majesty, God Emperor Ythar.”

He stared at her, first without expression, until he furrowed his brows, suddenly remembering how to use his features.

His presence surged stronger, making Vivi flinch. Ythar took control of his core and burned more ether. Vivi held her breath, while the god’s aura kept rising to over fifty thousand ether with no signs of stopping.

His eyes now had light in them. Finally, he looked like a conscious man.

He opened his mouth, and Vivi expected to hear some divine voice. Instead, a relatively normal voice said, “Ah… I overslept.”

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Vivi stayed knelt down, unsure of how to respond. There was some ether in his words, making it sound like three voices spoke at the same time, though a lot of hunters could have sounded more majestic if they tried.

Ythar studied her like an ether hunter during examination day, trying to peer into her core. “This armor, my gaze cannot pierce it. Is it inside-carved?”

Vivi’s head bobbed up slightly, hearing that, but she remained kneeled. “Yes, Your Majesty. It is my creation.”

“Ahh, so it has finally been invented. How interesting. Lucius, my spirit. I feel your presence. Show yourself.”

Lucius did so, revealing himself. He couldn’t move through her armor, meaning he had to travel out through her head. Her vision flickered from the sensation for a second.

“Father,” Lucius said. He lowered his head as he floated beside Vivi.

Somehow, Ythar wore an amused grin at the sight of him. “I did turn a lot of you into cats, didn’t I? Have you fared well, Lucius?”

“The last hundred years could not have been more pleasing, Father. The spirits are still conscious and active.”

“And I can only assume the empire is collapsing,” Ythar said.

Lucius said nothing as they both remained bowed. “It is,” Vivi said. “By the effects of the most violent storm season in centuries.”

Ythar rose to his feet with elegant movements. He didn’t seem to be wearing any clothes under the blanket. Vivi was afraid she’d see something she shouldn’t, but the area between his legs was empty. A white robe of pure ether materialized around his body. The same robe that was often depicted in his statues. The robe was fully ethereal with a presence in Vivi’s sixth sense, but to her eyes, it looked just like a regular emperor’s robe, majestic but not excessive.

“My spirits were never intended to save my empire from the draining,” Ythar said. “What is the situation? How long have my spirits fought against the end of the world?”

“The storm season started roughly a month ago,” Vivi said. “Towns are falling and cities are being abandoned. The storms are not normal, and they don’t seem to be stopping. Humanity pleads for your humble assistance.”

“Five thousand years have passed,” Ythar said. “The draininghas begun.”

The draining? Vivi thought. She wanted to ask about it, but didn’t want to make herself look clueless. The amount of ether in Ythar’s body had already passed the maximum amount Vivi had ever ascended to, even in Paradise. When Vivi ascended to such an amount, trees were cut from the ground by the sheer pressure of her aura. With Ythar… the wisps were calmly contained. The pull of his core was incredible, easily calming fifty thousand wisps at a time.

“What is your name, hunter?” Ythar asked.

“Vivian Runeblessed, sir,” she said.

“Runeblessed?” Ythar asked.

“A new hunting company, founded by me,” Vivi said. “We use runesmithing to fulfill our duties as hunters.”

He studied her, and Vivi was afraid she’d be reminded that her name was fake. All other hunting companies were named by Ythar himself with histories that spanned decades. Some surnames had been lost as every hunter within fell or moved to other companies. A new company had never been founded without Ythar’s approval.

“A good name,” Ythar said. “Befitting full enirium armor. I am glad my regulations have promoted innovation.”

Innovation was the last thing Ythar’s regulations promoted, but Vivi bowed nonetheless. “Thank you. Your words mean a lot, Your Majesty.”

“A hundred and thirteen years…” Ythar said, though seemed to be speaking to himself. “The teleporters are still active. My spirits, most of them, are still active.”

“The hunters have been faithful to your Empire,” Vivi said.

“Much to their demise,” Ythar said. “This Empire was not built to last through the draining. No more than a handful of cities will stand.”

“I don’t believe the hunters are aware of the draining, nor what it is,” Vivi said.

“The effects of the draining are implied in its name,” Ythar said. “Regular worlds do not consist of layers, did you know?”

“Regular… worlds?” Vivi asked.

“Worlds created by regular gods,” Ythar said. “Ziana, the planet of our world, is an odd one. Why, young girl, do you believe ether exists?”

She required a moment to think. “Ether is like food. It exists to feed plants, and to sustain our cores.”

“No,” Ythar said with an amused smile. “Not in the slightest. Vegetation has grown to extract ether because ether is the most valuable resource the world offers. Ether does not exist to fill your core. You merely utilize the resources the world offers.” He turned to her, and with a stern voice, explained, “The levels themselves are the reason why ether must be generated. A powerful force must exist to hold together the odd shape our world was created with.”

Vivi had always thought levelstone was what held the world together, but then again, levelstone was filled to the brim with ether. Perhaps ether was what gave levelstone its strength.

“Ziana’s core generates trillions of wisps every day,” Ythar said. “Those flow through the levels, strengthening the foundation that holds the underground together. Yet, the balance is fine. Too much ether, and the pressure of ether will instead break what it’s supposed to support. Thus, excess ether is released into the world.”

“Through surges,” Vivi said. “And storms.”

“Indeed,” Ythar said. “When too much ether gathers in a section of the levels, that ether is pushed out by force. Yet, with every surge, every building storm, a percentage of ether stays stuck within the levels with no way out. An insignificant number in the short run, perhaps a hundred thousand ether each day in all of the levels combined. Given a few thousand years, though, this excess ether starts causing a risk to the structure of the levels themselves.”

Oh, Vivi thought when the explanation clicked. Oh no.

“So storm season, and the draining,” Vivi said, “both exist to free levelstone of excess pressure.”

“Precisely,” Ythar said. “Just like five thousand years ago, my empire will be crushed to the ground with the force of billions of wisps. There is not much to be done, but save a few cities to raise the next generation in.”

He stepped past Vivi, toward the closed vault doors she had just arrived in. He held his palm out and pushed ether to the plates of stone. Effortlessly and by levitation, the vault grinded open. “Show me what my empire has become, Vivian, and let’s see which ones of my followers deserve to survive the end of the world.”