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But now, at least, they could take the fight to the enemy much more easily than at any point in history.

Ground could actually be taken.

He sometimes wondered what his predecessors might think of this development. If they would be proud.

Through great fortune, however, he'd already gotten some direct answers to that. And thus far, at least, they had made for quite the heartening meetings. Reminders of the grand quest. The unity of the human spirit. Even across entire Ages.

But it wasn't enough. He was still hoping to encounter more of them and hear their thoughts. He just didn't know how much to get his hopes up. At this point, it was clear that, yes, many of the ancient masters had survived their supposed "death" in the middle realm, but that didn't mean they'd survived their ventures into the higher realms.

He'd found their traces.

Unso, for example. That man, for all his flaws, was still perhaps not deserving of the grisly fate that had befallen him within the Impassable Canyon.

Being turned into a paralyzed husk and feasted upon by nightmare-inducing soul eaters for decades. Maybe even centuries.

Sermung was not sure that anyone deserved that. But at least he'd been able to end the man's suffering.

Moreover, he could not help wondering if such a thing might happen to himself, one day. And how long it might be before someone else came along and did him the same favor.

Tenebrach, of course, assured him that he would never allow such a thing to happen--that he would simply release his soul before it ever came to that. Which, of course, was the reaper's own, classic way of trying to be comforting. Sermung appreciated that much, at least.

But surely, Unso's reaper would have tried to do the same. And there was no trace remaining of whoever that had been. Not even the weakest of aura tethers.

He'd been trying to stop dwelling on that, though. A bad habit.

Keep focused, he reminded himself. Multiple thought processes were a curse, if he didn't keep them in check. At this point, he'd found it much more efficient to stick with just the one and resort to those only when necessary.

Efficient. And peaceful.

He certainly needed as much of that as he could possibly get, these days.

Unfortunately, he very much doubted that this return home would be peaceful at all.

Page 4065 -- CCCXXIV.

Jercash paused, as well. That was an interesting reaction. He decided to wait and see how Bill elaborated.

'You have been bringing our brethren to this realm en masse for quite some time now,' said Bill. 'Fulfilling the long-held desire of all Idkin. You are a hero of the most beloved sort.'

Aha! Jercash couldn't help nodding and laughing. So from their perspective, they just saw a guy that was giving them free passage to their desired destination.

And even if they'd been secretly spying on him this whole time through stealthy psychic channels, they probably still wouldn't have seen much that was of concern to their alien--or partially alien--sensibilities. He doubted they would care much about how he treated his fellow humans, and his studies of the Yigorosks had also not yet progressed to the point of dissection, mostly because he wanted to let as many of them loose on the hapless fools of Intar as he possibly could. Taking them apart, even for the purpose of keeping Lozaro happy, could wait until this current incursion had run its course.

Hmm. But now, it was sounding like starting the dissections might be kicking a real hornet's nest. Perhaps that should be delayed indefinitely. Or at least until he could learn more about these so-called Idkin.

He looked at Lozaro, who seemed to have finally returned to himself. His aura was steady again, and the color and expression on his face had returned to normal. Those yellow eyes had their usual sharpness to them again, too.

Good. Jercash intended to make full use of that twisted brain again today.


Chapter Three Hundred Twenty-Four: 'O, marrow of stone...'
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Finally, the mountain was shifting again. Cracking and moving apart at its spot near the peak.

Unraveling the little rocky cocoon that he'd made for himself so long ago.

Of course, it hadn't actually been that long for him personally, but here in the middle realm, years must have already passed by. It was just a question of how many.

A terrible sacrifice, unfortunately. Giving up so much precious time here.

But it would have been much worse without these cocoons that Xander had helped him develop. The mitigation of the time dilation was what made these ventures increasingly feasible. Frankly, a part of him was still in awe that they'd managed to pull it off as well as they did. For so long, watching his own mentor struggle with this problem, the issue had seemed utterly insurmountable.

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Heh. If the guy wasn't such a bastard, Jercash might've felt bad for him. Messing with him was always fun.

But there was no time to take it further. He gave him another moment to compose himself before blinking them both back to the Yigorosks.

That didn't seem to be quite enough time for Lozaro, though, who remained uncharacteristically silent as Jercash picked the conversation with his new squid friend up again.

"So do you have a name?" he asked. "Mine's Jercash, though you probably knew that already, right?"

'Yes, of course. I am called Bill.'

Jercash's mouth opened, then closed again as he processed that. He was beginning to wonder if these squids were fucking with him. "Bill. Huh. That short for something?"

'No,' said Bill, sipping from his hissing pod again. 'Just Bill.'

Or, wait a minute. Did these guys used to be human? Hmm. Now how could he ask that question while minimizing the risk of it coming as incredibly offensive to their alien sensibilities?

Tough one. Maybe he'd just have to roll the dice and see.

Thankfully, Bill resolved things before Jercash had to make a decision. 'I have the honor of being named by the Originator himself. A fact which sometimes summons jealousy from my brethren, I think. I would advise not broaching the subject in front of them, were I you.'

"Ohhh. The Originator. Right. Hmm. Y'know, I'd like to learn more about him, if you don't mind sharing. You mentioned he would 'return' to this realm, right? So he's been here before?"

'Not just him,' said Bill. 'We were all once children of this realm, just as you are. But we were banished. Or rather, our ancestors were. Long ago.' Another sip.

"How long ago, exactly?"

'Impossible to say for sure. But the Originator found us much later and renewed our dream of the Unity. He became a magnificent pillar. The Hope of All Idkin. We are forever in his debt.'

Jercash stroked his mustache. "Does he already know about me, too?"

'Of course. And I'm sure he is looking forward to meeting you.'

"Oh, really? Wow." Whoever this guy was, he sounded pretty damn powerful. Perhaps quite the imminent threat, too, if he was going be showing up soon. "I'm happy to hear that. Though, to be quite blunt with you, I feel a bit undeserving of such recognition. I'm not sure what I've done to be honored so much."

At that, Bill paused mid-sip and seemed to turn to look at Jercash. Was that his face? There were too many eyeballs to be sure. 'Are you joking?'