Slave Pits of the Tyrannical God (Path of Transcendence Book 2) (43 page)

In the Battleground of the Damned, there are too many stories about the Dvergar, making it hard to know what is true and what is false. Because there are only unsubstantiated claims of beings seeing female Dvergar, there are more than enough rumors about Dvergar proclivities. I have heard rumors about Dvergar and Valkyries, but like most everyone else, I never considered them to be more than flights of fancy. After all, Valkyries are nothing but legends in the Battleground. Other than odd comments that made little sense, Thorrin used to always change the subject, whenever anyone tried to question him about the Dvergar. I wonder how much of what Boran just told me he knows?

“So is Boran a common Dvergar name?”

Boran laughs so hard he almost double over. Was the question really that funny?

“There are five names that have never been borne by more than one Dvergar each: Lemur, Boran, Korak, Vein, and Viroka.”

Okay. Right. I do not know if Boran is sane or not. I do not know if I am sane or not, since I have the feeling that he is telling me the absolute truth.

“The thing I don't understand is, if the Dragon's made Dvergar so powerful, why are the Dvergar in the Battleground generally so weak now?”

Boran stares at the ground with a frown. “The Dvergar born now are not like the Dvergar of old. At best, they are Fallen Dvergar. Their DNA has deteriorated and is no longer Elemental. Like you humans, my descendants have become Amalgamate beings.”

“Thrall doesn't know much about this does he?”

Boran frowns. “Only because you are chosen by the Od and acknowledged by Life, did I tell you this. I prefer you not to speak of what I have told you. I can prevent you from repeating it, by using Power to constrain you, but I will not.

“I won't speak of it. But I don't understand why you told me all this. What do you want from me?”

“This Labyrinth of Yggr is not something that was created by Yggr or any of his Divine Tribes members. They are barely more than ignorant barbarians, just like your own people. As I once told you, this a Dragon battle fortress. This is Yggdrasil, the dimensional battle fortress of Nidhoggr, that I had thought destroyed in the War of Slaughter.”

Boran holds up his had, and an image appears in the air over it, the image of a cube covered with what look like spell formations. It is a cube that I have already seen. In the base where Taereun: Battleground of the Damned was being run by The Nameless God Entertainment, Inc., I saw that cube.

“I saw that on Earth. What is it?”

Boran's smile is predatory. “That is Yggdrasil's primary dimensional drive. That is what allowed Woden to draw your Earth's solar system into the Battleground of the Damned. I want you to retrieve it for me.”

Fuck me. I may not feel fear the way normal people do, but I still feel a chill in my soul listening to Boran's words. As completely improbable as his story may be, inside the Labyrinth of Yggr, no, inside Yggdrasil, I have seen enough of Power to believe him. What I have felt in the Od, the overwhelming reality of Life, those go far beyond the already mind-blowing levels I have seen used by casters with just mana. Now, he wants me to go against Woden, or The Nameless, or whatever the fuck he wants to call himself.

I came back here with the intention of fucking The Nameless over and killing him, if I could, but I planned to acquire Power before doing so.

“Gods may be myths, but Woden is so fucking powerful, I won't have a chance in hell against him.”

“Yes, he is powerful, but he is also limited. In this metaverse, there were no Names. For whatever reason, the Elemental realms came into existence, but no sentience ever manifested within them. After becoming Transcendents, the ones who call themselves gods have a followed a path that allowed them to take on aspects and become similar to Names. They are False Names, and many can have the Power and aspect of the same Name. There are False Names that are so alien to your human form and nature you would not even be able to recognize them as life, but there are none among them that concern themselves with this multiverse.

“Once a False Name is born, a realm coalesces around it. Within that realm, they keep their original body, effectively becoming unkillable outside of that realm. Outside of their realms, False Names can only operate through projections and avatars. Only by creating Avatars can they use the majority of their Power outside their personal realm, but that leave them vulnerable to suffering significant damage, if the avatar is destroyed. Yggr and Woden are two of those who became False Names, and after the Jotun-Dragon, neither uses avatars any longer. The projections that Woden uses are severely limited in their Power, and if you use the Od, you can contend with one.”

I hold up my hands. “Hold it! You realize every time I use the Od it tears me up. The more of the Od I use the more it damages me.”

“You are getting stronger, and with the amount of Od you can channel now, you should be able to destroy Woden's projections and survive. Also, I will will arm you with weapons that will allow you to fight Woden's avatars and projections on a more even footing should you need to. I will also provide you with a tool to move the drive.

“If Woden keeps using the drive as he has, he will destroy this multiverse. The universe your Earth was ripped from has already been destroyed, and its destruction has damaged other universe in its proximity.”

I stare at Boran. I feel like I am in an alternate dimension, and I sure as fuck do not mean that in a literal sense. “I'm not a fucking hero. There have to be better choices than me to do this shit.”

“I am not asking you to be a hero. I am not an altruist. If Woden is allowed to keep the drive, he will destroy this multiverse. You and every other mortal will die. I will survive, but Taereun was restored from a dead and poisoned lump of rock by we Dvergar. It was on Taereun that I first met the Avatars of Life and Death. I do not choose to allow it to be destroyed. You are better equipped to retrieve the drive than anyone else, and I will reward you with knowledge that you are in need of. You will simply act the part of a mercenary paid by me.”

I cannot keep from laughing and frowning a the same time. “I don't need the rationalizations. I understand enlightened self-interest well enough, and don't want to fucking die, because Wooden is a fucking jackass. I'll find the drive, but I want to know why you can't leave this place. What's so special about this city?”

Boran frowns, as well. “It is not the city. Mountain View is meaningless. On my orders, we Dvergar destroyed most of our weapons and equipment made with the Dragons' technology, but not everything was destroyed. Deep below this cave, there is a gate to a pocket dimensional vault, where I stored weapons and equipment I did not destroy. Many of those weapons are far more dangerous than Yggdrasil's drive, because they were made to be used as weapons. If I leave here, some of those fools who think they are gods will try to steal from the vault. With their Power, it is not impossible for them to do so, so I do not leave the general area of Mountain View. I can only rely on agents like you.”

I sigh. “I know where the drive was, but Woden moved it, before I left Earth. I have no idea how to find it.”

“The nature of the energies in the drive make it very had to isolate its location, unless you are very close. I will give you a tool to detect it, but you will have to be within a few miles at most. I will also provide you with a tool to move the drive.”

Boran stands and moves to the workbench with my weapons. “None of these are Patterned. I will reforge and Pattern them for you. They will become weapons that can hurt even avatars of the False Names.”

End of Path of Transcendence

Book 2

Slave Pits of the Tyrannical God