Lawrence didn’t see the point, though. It was one thing to conceal skill from enemies; it was another to conceal it from allies. But then again, given Parson’s rank, perhaps the right people already knew all they needed to.
Lawrence marveled at how young and stupid he could still feel after all these years. He would have liked to stop being the ignoramus that he knew he’d been in his youth, but it seemed that was not yet to be. Dergoz didn’t have that excuse, though. The reaper had several hundred years on him, which admittedly made him younger than most other reapers, but the point remained. If Dergoz couldn’t see through their ruse, either, then Lawrence didn’t feel quite so bad.
It did give him pause, however. If he could be so thoroughly wrong about Parson, then perhaps he was also wrong to continue holding onto his faith in Sermung. Dergoz and Parson both seemed so certain, and Lawrence knew that--for Dergoz at least--it wasn’t a personal matter, either. Dergoz simply believed Sermung and Tenebrach could no longer handle the burden of leadership. And indeed, Lawrence would be lying if he said he didn’t see some merit in that belief.
But still, it was hard not to worry about what would happen if Sermung ever fell. The Crystal Titan was a name that carried so much weight behind it. In some places, its mere utterance was enough to prevent war. And as long as those other names were out there--names like the Mad Demon, the Living Void, the Monster of the East, and the Salesman of Death--as long as those existed, the Crystal Titan seemed entirely needed. Lawrence could hardly imagine anyone ever being able to step up and fill those enormous shoes.
But he supposed one day, someone would have to.
-+-+-+-+-
Ismael Blackburn sat with his face in his hands. The Black Hall was deep enough into the castle that he could no longer feel the muffled quakes of the battle. He thought it would help him think, coming here, but all it did was make him mindful of the complete silence.
Three days had passed since the siege began. It wouldn’t be much longer now. According to his scouts, the Sebolts and Delagunas had completed their underground net. It was only a matter of time until they launched an assault with their full strength.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Crystal titan, eh? Permanent materialisation/transfiguration pan-rozum, maybe?
ReplyDelete"If Dergoz couldn't through their ruse" it'd be good to add a "see" in there.
ReplyDeleteFixed, thank you.
ReplyDelete"Lawrence marveled out how young"
ReplyDeleteShould that be 'marveled at'?
Lawrence, you ignorant fool! "I misjudged the motives of Miles" does not equal "Overthrowing Sermung is right"! Don't give in, you can still get in a fight with Asad, have Dergoz pried off of you, and be freed!
ReplyDeleteYep, yep. Fixed now, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHaha. I find it interesting that you chose Asad as your example.
ReplyDeleteWell, he's the only one we've actually seen pry a reaper out of someone in a hyper-state so far, as far as I know
ReplyDeleteWait, is that what the tattoos do?
ReplyDeletewell, the tattoos glowed and absorbed some hits for him, so I think it's some sort of ward
ReplyDeleteDarktide did it, too.
ReplyDeleteI... barely understood the first half of this page. With so many recently introduced servants and reapers and the whole thing being one giant "he said / she said / they did / whatever", about the only name I took away and understood was Sermung himself.
ReplyDeleteEh, don't worry about it too much. 'smainly just a bit of extra worldbuilding for the folks who get really into that sort of thing. Won't be hugely important to your understanding of the upcoming events in the story.
ReplyDeleteIf it's just the names that you're getting confused about, though, then check the Characters page at the top of the site beneath the big title. Or you can put their name into the "Search For Exact Test" bar on the right and see exactly where they were last mentioned.
Now here's an interesting coincidence.
ReplyDeleteSermung: a powerful good guy with supernatural abilities. Nicknamed the Crystal Titan.
Semurg: a powerful benevolent creature from Middle Eastern legend. There's an award based on it called the Crystal Simorgh.
Darktide? Do you mean Melchor, or am I confused?
ReplyDeleteI wonder who the Salesman of Death could be. I'm pretty sure the Mad Demon is Morgunov, the Living Void sounds an awful lot like Dozer, and we know that the Monster of the East is Ghovis. I would guess maybe Damian Rofal, but for the fact that Lawrence doesn't know if he's still around, unless he knows far more about Abolish's affairs than they do.
ReplyDeleteI finally found the phrase I wanted for Parson. He's a black-ops specialist. He just chooses to disguise his work instead of hiding it entirely.
ReplyDelete"Black-ops specialist" wouldn't happen to be a flavor of ice cream, would it? Because it totally should be.
ReplyDeleteIt's lightly sweetened dark chocolate ice cream with pieces of cherry, liquorice, and arsenic in it. You serve it in a stainless steel thermos with a sealed explosive that detonates if you twist the cap to the right, and it's recommended to drizzle the blood of a small-country dictator over it.
ReplyDeleteThe moment Sermung fell, the Vanguard will cease to exist.
ReplyDeleteThe Abolish will not waste that opportunity for sure.
See also: Worm: Simurgh
ReplyDeleteI know. The Simurgh there is explicitly named after that myth. I think that's the primary spelling, but when I looked up "Simurgh" on Wikipedia, the Semurg spelling caught my eye.
ReplyDelete