Chapter 368

For a moment, after Set dropped his little truth bomb, Sonya could only stare at Set with shock. Then her brows furrowed, and she tilted her head away, side-eyeing him with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. “Okay, is this a gotcha over the whole buying my friend's soul thing?” She asked incredulously as she took a step to stand next to Erebus, who was looking somewhere between flustered over the sheer number of questions he had and amused by Sonya’s shift in mood. The big man's dark brows raised up high into his hairline, and his smile pressed thin and curled up. Sonya rested her elbow on Erebus’ side and tilted her head. “Because I can accept luck as a force of nature, but ‘he’s a Legacy Spirit’?”

Set’s eyes narrowed, but his own expression relaxed a bit at her return to good humor. “He is a conscious soul,” he held up one finger, “Existing fully independent of you,” he held up a second finger, “Within your own cognition,” he held up a third finger and gave Sonya a deadpan look. “Forgive me for being presumptuous, but what does that remind you of?”

Sonya’s amused expression faltered, and she blinked a few times her arm fell and then she glanced towards the fourth party present. Erina stood with her arms crossed and her expression utterly impassive. Her eyes were fixed on Sonya with a steady look of ‘actions have consequences, own your shit’. Sonya tilted her head towards Erina as she looked back to Set. “Like her?” she asked finally. She let out a whistle and looked over at Erebus for a moment. “Does that mean I can…?”

“Possibly,” Set said. “I would take your time with this. While Erina was formed directly of your own mind as a heart demon, this gentleman is a purely separate being.”

Erebus finally spoke. “Well now you’ve gotten me excited. What’s all this?” he asked with a laugh. “This woman is this ‘Legacy Spirit’? Like myself?”

She turned towards him. “My sister,” Sonya said and hopped back, gesturing to Erina. “I may have had a small, super advanced case of DID when we first met,” she said with a wry grin, eliciting a scoff from Erina and a baffled look from Set. “Turns out that in a world of mana, the extra voices in your head have a chance of turning into something extra special,” she laughed and tapped her noggin. “Some things happened, and the one in my head turned into a real living soul - a ‘ghost’ that inhabits me and helps me out with stuff, among other things.”

Set sighed. “A Legacy Spirit is an entity that affixes itself to an object of power, a location, or the very structure of an ability, and inhabits it. They retain the wisdom and intent of their life before as an exigent soul. Creating Legacy Spirits is an… imperfect process for the most part,” the old man agreed before uncrossing his arms. “They primarily exist to pass their knowledge on to their host or the one that stumbles upon them.”

Sonya watched Erebus’ expression as it comically cycled through the various revelations. He was a smart man, so he began to draw some conclusions quickly from the looks of it. His eyes flicked between the stoic and cold-looking Erina to the bubbly Sonya. Then he looked back towards Set before finally back towards Sonya again. “The strain of your actions as Ishtar?” he asked Sonya with a chuckle. “The crown is a heavy thing, isn’t it?”

“Hah!” Sonya laughed. “Ain’t that the truth?”

“Then I am to understand that you are not one of these Legacy Spirits, err… Your Holiness?” he asked Set hesitantly. “I am not sure what to call you.”

Set’s eyes narrowed, but Sonya cut in, patting Erebus’ arm. “Not… not that,” she said quickly. “They actually don’t like the particular ‘title’ we tend to give them these days. Tragic backstory stuff,” she said quickly, raising her eyebrows.

Erebus nodded slowly. “Ah, I see, my apologies, Lord Set,” Erebus conceded with a small nod.

Set seemed to relax as he exhaled. “Hmph,” he shook his head but clearly let it go. “To answer your question, Loki, Pandora, and I are vestiges of our former selves. Not true souls, but simulacra, created by another entity that Sonya managed to retrieve from our prison. We play a similar role to Legacy Spirits in that we can advise Sonya within this space, her cognitive realm, but as we are not true souls, we do not have the same… mobility.”

“You make it sound as if I will be able to walk the earth again,” Erebus guffawed. “I am dead, am I not?”

Sonya snorted out a laugh and shrugged, squinting a little. “Maybe? Gotta figure that out. We’ll start small,” she said before turning to Set. “Speaking of starting small, I need to derail a bit before I forget and wander off on some adventure with questions unanswered.”

The old man actually laughed this time. “Ah, your self-awareness is always so refreshing. What is it, girl?”

“Deus ex Machina,” she said flatly. “I finally met with the results of using it.”

Set stiffened and frowned. “You have told me of the time when you first used it, please, tell me everything.”

–

Riot stood in the ruins of his apartment, his eyes flicking over the damage. His annihilated bookshelves, his wrecked appliances, the heart-shaped black mark on his couch that was the most blatant taunt he had ever seen in his life. He crossed his arms and stared out the window, lingering in the scent of burned… everything. All of his handwritten notes that he’d kept stored here were gone. He’d memorized much of them, but he was not a computer; it was quite a blow. He simmered quietly as Saleh stepped out of the ruins of his bedroom.

“You have terrible luck,” Saleh said, his arms crossed behind his back.

“And you have no room to talk,” Riot shot back.

“My situation is the consequence of my own actions,” Saleh shot back as he walked over to the couch and looked down at the mark. His lip twitched, and he looked up to meet Riot’s stare. The ex-heir to Erebus’ kingdom met his gaze with a wordless snarl. He tilted his chin up. “I agreed to serve a monster that acts like a king as my form of penance. When I feel that it is time, I’ll find a way to kill His Majesty and depart.”

Riot snorted. “That sounds familiar.”

Saleh raised an eyebrow, immediately reading into Riots words. “Perhaps, but where you failed, I fully intend to succeed. Every man has a weakness, every ability does. One can layer one shield on top of the other, but once they are all stripped away, it is still there.”

Riot narrowed his eyes and took a step forward. “I did not fail to do anything. I merely woke up,” he whipped his hand out. “Those things out there are a plague. Earth is better off without them. I am better off without them. Other people do nothing but ruin everything they touch. Humanity is a tiresome beast that needs to be put down and replaced.”

Saleh wrinkled his nose. “You are one of those humans that ruins everything they touch.”

Riot grinned. “I am more than human now.”

“I suppose we’ll see if that’s true,” Saleh said and shrugged. “Regardless, I will serve that madman for now, and only as long as he remains worthy of a crown and it serves my own interests.”

Riot shook his head knowingly but turned his attention out to the city. His phone chimed, and he clicked his tongue, pulling it out and checking. He exhaled and frowned. It was almost time for his patrol. Even if his house burned down, he still had a job to do. He glanced towards Saleh, who was distracting himself by walking past Riot’s burned library. Riot scoffed and hammered out a quick text message before shoving his phone back in his pocket. A moment later a rip formed in the air and a red portal appeared. “Get out and go back to Craftsman’s workshop ‘new Herald’,” he said irritably. “I have work to do, and I don’t need you lingering in my home like a ghost.”

Saleh glanced at him with narrowed eyes before looking to the portal. He huffed and walked towards it before stopping and turning to Riot. “Before I go, allow me to correct myself. I fully intend to find a way to kill you first, Riot,” he said with open hostility. “Like I said, all powers have weaknesses, and I know you have one.” He turned back to the portal. “You are on borrowed time, monster.”

Riot didn’t say a word as the man walked through the rift. He waited until the portal sealed before he spat on the ground, his temper flaring in his absence. The heat at the back of his eyes was getting to him again. He snarled and stomped over to his bookshelf, yanking a book out and flipping it open only for it to crumble to dust. The next moment he thought clearly, the books were all over the floor, all of them ruined by the flames that had ripped through his home. Chest heaving with his tantrum, checked his phone again and frowned. Fine.

He marched out of his home, leaving the burning ruin behind. Just another thing to repay Ishtar and her ilk for.

–

Set paced back and forth with a thoughtful look on his face. “It sounds like some manner of unconscious fortune manipulation, combined with some manner of fate scrying,” he said finally. “You said this ability allows you to predict the results of your mergers, yes?”

Sonya nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I use it for primarily.”

“It is an integrated part of the rest of your abilities, so it must be responding to Broker,” he conceded. “But it is seeking a form of end-goal.”

“Abilities don’t have wills of their own,” Sonya shot back. “Unless it has a Legacy Spirit - you told me that.”

Set nodded. “And that remains true, it does not have a conscious will, or any will at all. Loki’s primary ability does not have a conscious will, but it will often change the end result it perceives. I imagine that somewhere within the structure of Deus ex Machina there is a similar pattern to Loki’s consequence-sight. Your power predicts possible endings for an individual or an ability and then interferes to ensure that ‘ending’ comes to pass. A curse of sorts, railroading them to their ultimate destination for the individual target.”

“You mean when it activates I’m basically reading the last couple of pages of the book ahead of time?” She asked.

“A gross oversimplification,” Set said flatly. “But yes, in essence. You do not consciously perceive the ending of that particular…” he made a vague gesture.

“Story arc,” Sonya posited.

He nodded. “Yes, story arc,” he said. “You do not consciously perceive the ending of a story arc, but your ability finds the ending most appropriate for your ultimate goal and fortune begins to bend around the target, subtly moving them towards their destination.”

“So it is my fault,” Sonya said with a frown, only to get a sharp gesture from Set as the old man took a step towards her.

“Regardless of the game of abilities, all humans have free will,” he said with a scowl. “Do not presume yourself to be omnipotent, that is the easy way to an early grave. Even such a seemingly infallible power has its limitations. It is the nature of humanity to push back against fate!” he declared. “To presume you can bend the very nature of man to your will with an ability you mashed together with wits and a dream is laughable at best and frighteningly arrogant at worst.”

Sonya held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Alright, got it, got it!” she said and took a casual step back. “So it was his choice to follow the story I set up for him.”

Set narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Yes, a weak-willed child who scorned the opportunity he was given to reclaim his honor. A disgrace to warriors and men of wisdom,” he scoffed and turned to walk back towards where he was standing before relaxing into an easy smile. “Though, you must accept part of the blame for putting him on that path to begin with.”

Sonya sighed and grinned back at him. “That I can live with.”

Set nodded. “Good. Now, if we are done, you have an experiment to perform.”

She nodded back and glanced at Erina, who had stood in contemplative silence off to the side and smiled at her. Erina smiled back and inclined her head as well. She walked over to stand next to Erebus. The big man crossed his arms, his smile easy but his eyes still filled with wonder and many, many curious thoughts. “I hope to hear your voice on the other side, Sonya,” he chortled and raised a confident fist. “See you there.”

She grinned. “See you there, my friend.”

She opened her eyes into the waking world and took a deep breath, relaxing her mind and tilting her head back. Dear sister? She called out into her own thoughts.

She felt Erina’s presence slowly rise up within her thoughts. I am with you, she said, her stoic voice soothing on Sonya’s information weary mind. Do your best.

Sonya smiled and exhaled. Erebus?

The feeling was a lot like Erina surfacing but a little bit different. It didn’t feel as natural and as ‘perfect’ as Erina. Nor was it the alien invasion that she experienced when Levi synced up with her to communicate. It felt more like she had a guest in her house who was on an extended stay. The movement was sluggish at first, a shifting in her thoughts as space was made for his presence. Then… he spoke. Well! This is an experience! Remind me to retreat during your personal time.

You can see through my eyes? Sonya asked.

Quite so, I can feel your… everything. Your senses are incredible. You were holding out on me, girl! He laughed into her head. Good! A ruler should hold their true cards close to their chest and play them without being seen. Such strength.

Just wait till I declare, Sonya laughed into her thoughts.

Declare?

I think the poor man has had enough world-shaking revelations for one day, Erina shot back, Also your head is starting to feel crowded. Erina quipped.

Sonya laughed and got to her feet. “Yeah, well, at least now I can truthfully say I did something because the voices, plural, told me to.”

HAH! Erebus cackled.

Erina just sighed, a world-weary sound of someone who had just acquired an unwanted roommate. Sonya grinned. Good to have you, big brother.