The Machine God

Chapter 281

Alexander floated on his back hundreds of meters above the gathering, arms folded behind his head, staring up through a gap in the clouds at the sun. It was fighting a losing battle against the overcast sky, rays breaking through in thin columns that swept the plain below.

The rain had stopped, at least.

One mental thread maintained his Domain, using the time to practice. From the moment he’d woken up in the hut and realized he’d probably be stuck in the wizard’s world for a bit, he’d been determined to take the opportunity to train his powers.

Or his physical attributes, by beating up wizards. Who were surprisingly punchable.

The other thread was connected to Droney.

The little drone hovered over Wargah’s shoulder inside the large yurt, feeding Alexander a steady stream of visuals and translations. It had entered with Wargah, Minlah, and Selvah when the leaders gathered, and nobody had questioned it.

Apparently even random spirit familiars were welcome at the Gathering of the Sky.

Through Droney’s eye, the interior of the yurt was impressive. Wide and circular, roughly the size of a small warehouse. Hide walls stretched over thick wooden supports that rose in curved arcs to a central ring at the peak, where a round opening let in light and air. Below it, a firepit large enough for a bonfire sat cold and empty.

Roughly forty people filled the space, though it could have held many times that. Most sat cross-legged around the perimeter in clusters of twos and threes, each group keeping to its own section, watching in silence. The leaders formed an inner ring around the firepit, six of them including Wargah, seated on woven mats with their advisors behind them. Their versions of Selvah and Minlah.

So far, only the leaders had spoken, with the occasional interjection from an advisor.

He adjusted his position in the air, shifting to glance down at the yurt far below. From this height, the opening was a small, dark circle at the center of the yurt.

Alexander smiled and rolled back to face the sky. It was perfectly positioned for him to make his signature dramatic entrance.

Not yet though. He’d know the moment when it came. Or Selvah would let him know. Whichever came first.

For now he just listened.

From what he’d pieced together, the gathering had been called by the two great clans in attendance. He hadn’t quite figured out what made them special. They had more numbers, though he didn’t think that was it. They also had the strongest Tier 2s, but that still didn’t quite add up.

What had caught his attention though was the absence of several other clans. One of them had apparently been harvested down to the roots, which he took to mean they all became conscripts. Or batteries.

But it was the two missing great clans that stood out.

Tresko led the discussion. Alexander had barely looked at the man during their brief introduction, too focused on getting Wargah alone to pay much attention, but he’d changed since their meeting.

A furred cloak hung over his shoulders now, and around his neck he wore a string of coins. Every one of them was bent or dented, darkened with age, looking like they’d been passed down over generations. A knife with a well-worn handle sat at his hip.

Beneath the furs and leather, Tresko was long-limbed and lean in the way of someone who’d spent their life covering ground on foot. Tightly braided blond hair ran the full length of his back. He looked every bit the leader of a great clan. He hadn’t looked like much of anything when they’d shaken hands in the rain.

Tresko had opened the meeting by explaining why two of the four great clans were absent. They were unable to attend due to their duties to the Earth.

Nobody had understood what he meant at first, but the explanation that followed had told Alexander everything.

They were holding back Nightmare gates. Several of them. As were the warriors of the two great clans in attendance at the gathering, which explained why their leaders were stronger than the others.

Alexander turned his attention back to the feeds.

Inside the yurt, Tresko slapped his knee. “The Stars are weakening! Imagine how many of these gates they are being forced to defend. It is mostly their people who attack the World of Dreams. And every failure costs them a life along with a new gateway to the Grinning Ones.”

Another leader shook his head.

Droney had tagged him in the translation as Baldie.

“It sounds like your clans are also attacking the World of Dreams, if you have gateways of your own to defend,” Baldie said.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Tresko nodded. “This is true, but it is also necessary. The System warned what would happen if we failed to ascend to this new realm, and so our bravest and strongest have fought to open the way.”

Another leader growled. “And how has that gone, Tresko?”

Droney had tagged that one Hairy.

“Poorly,” Tresko admitted. “Without the knowledge of ancient magics, each attempt has been a failure. Many have died.” He straightened. “But we only need one success. The great clans have a pact. Whoever succeeds will share the way with all others.”

Geetra nodded.

She was the leader of the other great clan in attendance, and she was enormous. Wild black hair fell past her shoulders in a tangled mane that looked like it had never seen a brush. She sat cross-legged like the others, but even seated she took up the space of two of them, wrapped in leather armor that bore enough scars and gouges to have its own war stories.

If Alexander hadn’t met Titanic, she’d have been the biggest person he’d ever seen. And if his reading was correct, she was close to or already at the peak of Tier 2 physical attributes.

Alexander was genuinely impressed by all of them. It had been relatively easy to achieve Tier 2 and continue building his attributes toward Tier 3 over the past year, but he had superpowers.

The people below each had the equivalent of a magical knickknack, and yet it hadn’t stopped them from growing powerful anyway.

Relatively speaking.

“You have said much about little, Tresko,” Wargah said. “The other clans’ absence doesn’t change that you and Geetra called this Gathering for a reason. Waste no more of our time.”

Geetra and Tresko shared a look.

“You are right, old friend,” Geetra said. “We should dance once the speaking is done, not during.” She glanced around the yurt, taking in the others slowly. Her gaze paused on Droney for a moment, before continuing. “We have uncovered new pathways to power within the System. Ones that do not draw the Exalted down upon us. A foolish mistake, or perhaps more proof that they lack the strength to keep their teeth at our throat.”

The last of the clan leaders stirred. “How?”

It was the first word they’d spoken. She was very young, perhaps not even an adult. Her advisors, seated behind her, were easily in their sixties by comparison. A man and a woman, each with long white hair, braided with stones and beads.

Droney had translated and kept her name. Arryet.

Despite her youth, the others took her simple question seriously.

“Through ritual sacrifice,” Tresko said. “With the offering of a single life, an entire fist can awaken a class.”

Silence.

Alexander closed his eyes. He’d wondered. Earth 1 had no inherent powers or abilities. In order to awaken as a superhuman, soul reinforcement was a requirement, and they’d learned months ago how that happened.

The version of them from Earth 0, the Origin, tripped and died, thereby feeding their soul to their counterpart in Earth 1.

But they’d learned that wasn’t the only way. The System had offered soul reinforcement as a reward, though thinking about it now, it was obviously possible that just meant someone else from the Origin died to fund the process.

It was the other worlds that didn’t make sense. They’d heard nothing about injections or power awakenings when it came to them. In fact, everything they’d seen implied that they were born with their powers or trained them. No soul sacrifice needed.

He’d walked among the nomadic clanspeople. Fought the Empire of Stars, both conscripts and archmages. Explored the city of Harborhill.

Everyone in this world had magic.

And based on their history, he was pretty sure they had it long before the System arrived.

The obvious conclusion was that Earth 1 differed somehow from the rest, but that alone told him nothing. What mattered was that it sounded like the people of the wizard world had somehow discovered a method of soul reinforcement of their own.

Down in the yurt, Baldie had jumped to his feet. His face was red.

“What sort of clan leader are you?” Baldie yelled. “You kill your own people for power? That is no better than the Stars!”

Geetra held up a hand. “Peace, brother. It is not as it sounds, on my Oath I say so.”

Baldie clamped his mouth shut, the rest of the words dying behind his lips. He inhaled through his nose. “Explain.”

Geetra exhaled. “Our elderly and sick offer themselves up before their spirit returns to the Earth.” She closed her eyes. “With their final breaths, they give a piece of themselves to those blessed to be chosen.”

Tresko nodded. His face was somber, even through the feed. “My own mother was the first to share herself with the clan. She awakened classes for me and four of our strongest warriors by her own hands.”

Baldie blinked repeatedly, still breathing hard. Then he sat down, legs crossed.

Selvah leaned forward. “And what powers did you gain from my sister’s sacrifice, Tresko of the Great Clan Maheket?”

Tresko met Selvah’s gaze and dipped his head, eyes closing briefly. “Forgiveness, second mother. This was… handled poorly. It was my intention to share it with you in private, not like this.” He paused. “I awakened a class called Spellsword—”

Alexander frowned. Droney’s translation had dragged considerably there, before it settled on filling the gap with a rough approximation.

Tresko continued. “Those of us who have gained these classes are able to unlock simple, but powerful abilities by earning points with the System.”

Another translation hiccup. Except this time it was Tresko using an unfamiliar word. He’d literally used the word points in English.

Wargah frowned. “And how are these ‘points’ earned?”

Tresko and Geetra shared another look. “Through combat.”

Alexander stared up at the sky, his dramatic entrance all but forgotten. Instead, he was remembering Annie telling him, shortly after escaping the Supermax prison, about how she’d heard rumors of implants that turned superpowers and their progression into a game with stats, powers, and skill trees.

He’d already been pretty overwhelmed by it all, and the idea that he might have a video game HUD implanted into his head had been almost too much.

Except that future had never quite manifested. Implants worldwide had been consumed by the System’s phase one, and everyone had been given a very real HUD that tracked their very real attributes and skills and powers instead.

All that was missing really were the skill trees.

And apparently he’d just found them in the wizard’s reality in the form of magical abilities gained by sacrificing loved ones.