Chapter 51
I replenished my troops in the southern mountains two more times before Abaddon’s forces finally overwhelmed them.
As Abby had predicted, abyssal demons fared poorly in the cold.
I was able to confirm that much from the shadow Byron leading those forces.
Eye of War reported that he was dead now, however, so I wouldn’t have any more significant insights into how Abaddon’s search of the southern wastelands progressed.
I could acquire intel from the populated side of the mountain, but no one would be able to tell me what was happening out on the tundra.
Eventually, Abaddon would realize his error. I could hope that it would take a while, but assuming that it wouldn’t was smartest.
With that in mind, I was incredibly conscious of every minute I spent trying to locate the tower core that Queen Lace told us about.
She was open about not having the chance to verify her research, but I still had to be mindful that this could be a red herring designed to waste my time and resources.
“Possibly. I would have had to break through the boss room in most cases, I think.”
Solara followed the same route as Podni but stayed a few feet away to be sure they both searched separate areas. “Celestials slaying all the Tower Lords when they hid the towers makes sense, but I don’t like what that means for finding something they really wanted to keep hidden.”
I had the same concern. These beings had magic strong enough to hide multiple towers on the material plane. How far would they go to hide their actual cores?
“I don’t trust her to tell the truth,” Podni said of Queen Lace.
“I would have been more skeptical about all of this had we not located a giant invisible tower in the middle of nowhere,” Solara replied. “If this is a lie, it’s well-crafted.”
“I'm going to repeat what she said again,” Podni said. “Tell me when this gets annoying.”
This would be the fifth time Podni refreshed our memory, and I didn't mind it. The opposite, actually. I found it helpful, and if nothing else, it broke up the monotony of the search.
“The seraphim who designed the towers was killed so he wouldn't reveal the secret for accessing tower cores. He supposedly never told anyone the secret prior to his death.
“From his journals, we know he was a famous artist among seraphim, working in pretty much every medium. He wrote a lot about philosophy and morality. He believed right and wrong, truth and lies, and so on had physical, tangible mass, but on a parallel plane.
“He was in love with the Goddess, so she is featured in every one of his artworks–sculptures, paintings, and engravings. She shows up in his philosophizing as well.
“Finally, he loved puzzles, riddles, and thought experiments. His most famous puzzle was an unfinished painting. Making the last brush stroke in the correct place unlocked it. And many of his puzzles were inspired by who he considered the three most legendary seraphim artists.”
“I really don't want to learn about seraphim art history,” Solara grumbled.
None of us said it, but more and more, that seemed like our only hope for new leads.
The statues were the first places we looked, but with a focus on the Goddess statue that sat at the top of the stairs leading from the 100th to the 101st floor. The only thing we discovered was that the statues had astonishingly detailed anatomy. The penises had veins. The vaginas had lips.
For both genders, every single one of whom was nude, they were portrayed as shaved. Even in marble, the pubic stubble felt real. It was sharp, scratchy.
Yes, we fondled a bunch of statues. We were searching for hidden buttons, switches, and compartments. I'm not above tugging on a marble penis if it saves my life.
Alas, giving away a few strokes was not the solution to the puzzle, not that I even knew what the puzzle was.
We poked around the flowers. Solara analyzed their colors and placements for patterns or codes. We did the same for floor tiles, pillars, benches, and railings.
We inspected the murals around the perimeter.
They told the story of the Goddess ascending and then going to Earth to bring peace to the humans.
She was naked in every scene with a long, arching back and bare legs to match.
Her breasts were average in size and had a teardrop perkiness. Her white hair fluttered in the wind.
If the tower designer repeated his brushstroke puzzle, we couldn't find anything that looked like a missing brushstroke, but then again, I didn't know enough about painting to have any idea what such a thing might look like.
Which brought us to searching the ceiling.
“I really want the tower core to be real,” I said, as if wishing it into existence might work.
“We can keep looking if you need to tend to other matters,” Podni offered.
I looked around as I thought.
Solara came up behind me and rubbed my shoulders. “If nothing else, you should rest. Break in a few followers if sitting still is too boring.”
“Alright. Thank you. I love both of you.”
Ashley straddled me to massage my back.
“Moments like these make me miss the Water Temple,” I said, the side of my face pressed into the sheets. “A back massage on a beach is its own experience.”
“We will have it back soon. But I was thinking…”
“Why are you saying it like that?”
“Some people talk about dreams in difficult times to ease the tension. For others, thinking about that future makes it more stressful.”
“I pick the first one,” I said. “I like hearing you talk.”
Ashley bent forward and kissed my back before returning to the massage. “For part of our eternity, we should spend it on an island. Some place far away and exotic. We can staff and stock it easily enough with whatever we might need.”
“That sounds really nice.”
“The idea of no one knowing we exist is the most appealing part to me. That's the ultimate freedom, I think.”
“You've been thinking about this for a long time,” I said.
“Since my first royal ball. I had a good life, up until my mother tried to have me killed, so I don't want it to seem like I'm ignoring how lucky I was. The pressure was there from the start, though.”
“Being strong all the time is exhausting.”
“It is. I didn't feel relief until I was in the Silk. When was the last time you escaped the pressure, even just for a little bit?”
“When it's us. Moments like this that are separate, moments where we're all together… They all help me to get away from it.”
“Good.” She leaned forward to hug me, pressing herself into me as she squeezed.
The feel of her bare form against my back was like seeing a sculpture with my hands instead of my eyes. The shape. The flow. The posture. The details. She was a piece of art, something to be appreciated in all its forms.
That made me think of the tower core, and the anxiety poured back into me.
“I wish the pressure stayed away forever,” I complained. “I keep thinking about that fucking puzzle.”
Ashley and I had already talked about the information we had and the solutions we tried.
“Me too,” she admitted.
“Did an epiphany strike you yet?”
“No,” she answered.
With her head resting against me, I could feel the movement of her lips. Just the corner where her cheek touched my skin.
“I was thinking, though, the tower designer sounded a lot like you.”
That didn't make any sense. I rolled over to have this conversation face-to-face. Ashley sat up, running her fingertips around my chest in soft swoops and twirls. Her slight lean was enough to pull her bob forward, shading much of her face.
I reached for her legs. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”
“The man you described was unapologetically himself.
His peers didn't understand him, yet they recognized that he was a titan. Being the sole celestial chosen to design towers to heaven? That has to be a big deal, even for seraphim. And then there was his love for the Goddess. He used his art to make that known while paying homage to her.”
“I think that last part is a stretch.”
“Didn't you have statues made of all of us, the wives you love?”
I narrowed my eyes while Ashley grinned, proud of herself for making a point so soundly. But she didn't gloat.
“All I mean to say is that maybe you should try thinking more about how you would do it if you had all the same resources as him.”
Interesting. How would I do it?
That was more difficult for me to answer than I expected, largely because I had already secured two dungeon cores. I put them both in sealed rooms and surrounded them with Gol-Gol golems. This tower was a different situation, but that bias was hard to separate.
What would I do if I were a seraphim with no dungeon core knowledge hiding a tower core?
My imagination couldn't come up with anything.
Ashley tapped my sternum to break me free of my thoughts. “We’ll figure it out. Solara is brilliant, remember. This is the woman who cracked Immunity from Holy and figured out phylacteries next. The answer will come.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“This moment. Allowing me to be human and show weakness without being ashamed.”
She poked my nose and giggled.
“What was that for?”
“Oh, his Divine Majesty, the God of Silk, the God of Debauchery, weakness and vulnerability are not the same. Has a dog ever shown their belly to you? They can only get the satisfaction of a belly rub from someone they trust not to hurt them when they're vulnerable. That doesn't make the dog weak.”
“You just compared a god to a pet dog.”
“Does that offend you, my Divine Lord?” Ashley teased, following her words with a flick to my stomach.
I gently pulled her toward me. “My wrath knows no equal.”
We kissed, a gentle moment where one movement of our lips stretched across seconds instead of disappearing immediately beneath another kiss.
She held her forehead to mine. “Just like this. I like how this feels.”
“I like it too.”