Chapter 8 Winter #3
“Sanctus is what he calls it,” I spoke when the small talk had reached a natural end and the easy conversation had worn down.
“His magical realm thing?” Pops spoke.
As I gave a nod, Father scoffed. “Of course that self-aggrandizing heathen is calling it that. It carries the weight of divine decree, his belief that he’s replacing Celestial law with his own.” He shook his head. “As if that’s something to be proud of in any sense.”
“The word signifies ‘holy’,” Ketheron added.
“But the very nature of it, using necromancers and employing his perversion of Celestial power means it’s actually predation, immortality theft, and metaphysical colonization.
That he can frame it as the opposite is deeply disturbing and speaks to how warped he truly is. ”
“Ambrose called it a parasitic dimension, yes?” Mom spoke.
“He’s had it functioning for twenty years without it impacting anything,” I informed them all.
“His intention is to bring this Sanctus onto the mortal plane, son,” Dad told me.
“No. That’s an assumption Ambrose made because of the destabilization he felt to the balance, which he then associated with Sanctus.
Ruxnoth just very slightly connected it to the mortal plane and drew a tiny bit from its lifeforce to take the edge off.
He’s straining to continue to hold up the construct now.
It’s been years with him doing it all by himself.
The necromancers just conceal it. He’s the one breathing lifeblood into it, as he referred to it. ”
Stunned looks came my way.
Worse. Concerned looks.
“So that’s how he framed it to you,” Dad mused to himself.
Father asked me, “Did he tell you what he intends your role in it to be?”
“Yes. He needs help to sustain it. Then he won’t have to disturb the balance any longer or draw from the lifeforce of the mortal plane.”
“He’ll draw from your lifeforce, tiny god,” Ketheron warned me.
“A non-issue, given that I can’t die,” I countered.
He looked over at Father worriedly, who told me, “He’s lying about not intending to draw from the mortal plane.
With your power, it would enable him to finally do so.
If it was possible on his own, he would have already done it.
Ruxnoth wishes to create his own kingdom, his own seat of indomitable power. That has always been his goal.”
“Back then, maybe. But people change, don’t they? Especially those who’ve suffered through a lot—the loss of their home, their very identities.”
He got my meaning and shook his head at me likening the situation to what had happened to him when he’d Fallen. “It’s not the same. I can assure you of that.”
I blew out a breath. “He didn’t hurt me.
And as much as it upset me that he hurt Ambrose, I now know that he did that out of desperation, to be allowed some time to meet with me.
The same with that infection he afflicted me with.
He was trying to gauge who I am, not just what I am, so he could be properly prepared for meeting with me in person. ”
“You mean, kidnapping you, Win,” Pops ground out.
“What choice did he have? Because of the protections surrounding me, his reputation, being afraid of revealing himself and that he’d escaped the Severance. He had to go about it covertly.”
“Motherfucking puppet master,” Dad ground out, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Father regarded me intently. “He is creating an emotional commonality between you. Likening himself as the persecuted alongside you. Being feared and abhorred solely because of what he is. That’s not an accurate depiction, Winter. It’s because of who he is.”
“It’s been over twenty years. If his goal was to take over the mortal plane, why wait this long to do it?” I asked.
“Because he needed you to be of age, to come into your power,” Dad said.
“No. He could have intensified the connection he already has to it now, spread it further. He didn’t need me. He wouldn’t still need anything from me now if he’d gone that route.”
Dad, Father, and Ketheron exchanged looks.
Vax reached out behind Zayn and stroked my shoulder.
“Or, he specifically did it this way in order to use you as a fail-safe. If he’d immediately carried out his actual goal of subjugating the mortal plane and all its realms to his rule via pushing Sanctus upon us all, if he’d failed, there would be no other course of action other than to accept defeat and annihilation.
However, going about it this way, he has you on his side.
He also has a means to strengthen his balance-violating construct, so that when he attempts his mortal plane goal, it will remain and be able to be hidden if he’s thwarted.
He could then go on, his construct could go on—and even undetected by any of us. ”
“That’s a hell of a reach,” I said.
“Deeply disturbing too,” Zayn added.
“It’s not a reach for Ruxnoth with the way he is,” Father spoke. “He thinks many moves ahead. This sort of thing is absolutely his forte.”
Mom sighed heavily. “What he intends to do exactly is conjecture at this point. The answer to that, a lot of it will be found once we understand the precise makeup of this Sanctus.” She looked at Dad. “You’ve got it from the necromantic angle, obviously, and the rest—”
“I have what I need from Ketheron’s extraction during his cleansing of Win last night—Ruxnoth’s power,” he told her.
“Because it’s not straight down the line True Celestial power, the fact it’s twisted and unusual means it’s obviously going to operate differently from that of somebody like Ariana.
And those differences will be key to determining what he can and cannot do, as well as how it can be done. ”
“And how to destroy Sanctus,” I said.
“Yes. It’s a violation to the balance. He’s using necromancers. He infected you. Kidnapped you. Clearly also tried to warp your mind to serve what he wants.”
“That’s not what happened. I told you he had no choice but to meet with me in that way. And he didn’t hurt me. He just talked to me and explained things.”
Evira looked up at me. “You can’t have known he just wanted to talk when he first took you, especially with the way he did it—hurting Ambrose, somebody you consider a friend and him being Ketheron’s boyfriend. So he must have needed to hold you in place in case you fought it.”
“As a precaution only.”
Dad looked over at me. “If it was just True Celestial power, you could have siphoned in a sudden, brutal rush long enough to free yourself. At that point you knew he was protected by death magic from the necromancers he was drawing on, so you couldn’t impact him—not in your current state of sub-par knowledge in Necromancy. ”
Sub-par. It bothered me when he referred to it that way. I was far beyond that, but his standards when it came to it were another level.
If I was really that inept, I wouldn’t have been invited to Grimoire Creation class, which was invitation-only for those with intermediate-level comprehension of the magical arts and tapped as high-potential innovators.
“It was Nihilumbra.”
Shock infiltrated Dad’s features—all of them around the room, actually.
He looked disgusted and so pained for me. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “That motherfucker didn’t dare subject you to that torture.”
“It wasn’t torture, because he nullified the effects without releasing me. He was worried what I’d do because he knew I was so ill-informed about so much. Something even I wasn’t aware of.”
“Nullified the effects?” Dad questioned. “How?”
“I thought with his True Celestial power.”
“No. We’ve had both Ketheron and Ariana try.”
“And no dice,” Pops said.
I frowned. “He said that he’d found a way specially for me, to spare me from it.”
“Curses,” Father muttered. He looked over at Dad, his brow furrowed with pained concern. “Sylas.”
“I know,” Dad said, giving a nod. Then he pushed off the wall and strode to me.
“He didn’t do it for you. You’re an asset to him.
A hell of a fucking asset. Nothing more than that.
Cassius knew him. Ruxnoth is highly-skilled at psychological manipulation.
And you’re vulnerable to that, especially now you’re aware of the fear and worry that some people have toward you.
Some, Winter. Not all. Ruxnoth has twisted that fear and your vulnerability for his own benefit, to bring you onto his side.
Likening your situation to his is despicable enough, but also using Nihilumbra to further that is beyond even that. ”
“He tried to stop those people who created it,” I told him, all of them. “He succeeded for a time, too, until his power weakened from holding Sanctus up alone for too long. You know, Temperance? The group you didn’t tell me about that exists solely to end me?”
“Temperance?” Zayn murmured in confusion, clearly having not known about it either.
Evira started and I looked to see recognition there.
She’d known about it. But her reaction made it clear she’d thought I’d been well aware as well.
It made sense that she’d know about it, given that she was Crown Heir so very well connected.
As I eyed Vaxan, I saw the same was true for him, no doubt because he was Basilisk royalty.
Unlike Zayn, they both had access to knowledge bases beyond the standard of most supernatural beings.
Vax frowned out at my family, demonstrating just how surprised he was that I hadn’t been told.
My dad held up his hand as that surprise from him turned to accusation. He told the four of us, while looking at me, “Once you’d completed your apprenticeship with me, you would have been told. Any sooner than that risked scaring you unnecessarily.”
“Unnecessarily?” I pulled from Evira and Zayn both and shifted to the edge of the couch. “We’re talking about a group that exists just to put me down.”
“Temperance is being contained,” Father said.