For a long time, there was only endless war. I devoured and I was devoured.
The curses burrowed into me like mushrooms on a corpse. But I was not a corpse. So I ate them as they ate me.
With each bite was poison. But I didn't mind spicy food.
And then, I woke to the warm caress of sunlight on my naked skin. No better to say that I became aware of the warm caress of sunlight on my naked skin.
Woke implied that I was asleep or unconscious. That was not the case. No truly. It was just that my full concentration was occupied inward. From the outside may seem like a coma, but from my perspective, it was completely different.
Consuming the energy field, the volume was hard to calculate, between not being really physical and existing in multiple dimensional instances that varied in assumed size but I could guess a rough estimate, larger than my head did have some consequences.
And there was the mutation of the original Spider's Kiss. It made the curse just different enough that rendered my preparations somewhat less effective. The last time that I had so much trouble dismantling the curse to its constituent magical energy was the very first time I had used it, to open Shirou's magic circuits.
The final part was that the curse was tangled into something that tried and, fortunately for me, failed to be a Mana Reactor Core.
I blamed Archer.
Or rather I blamed copious amounts of his semen I had fed to the slime I used as a vessel to gather the curses unleashed on Minas Tirith.
It seemed that worries that he could be a source of new dragons were somewhat justified.
But that had not been a true problem. I was well on my way to tearing that crude imitation of Magic Core apart when the second, much larger wave of curses flowed into me.
Flowed was the right word for it. There was something of the sea in those curses. Like a riptide, it nearly drowned me.
But while the sea of curses was inimical to me, it was quite beneficial to the Curse Core. Watered by their potency it had swelled and I had been close to sharing Fanfir's fate.
In the best-case scenario, the Desolation of Rin. At worst… I had access to One Ring.
Banishing those thoughts from my head I stretched like a lazy tomcat while opening my eyes. A glass ceiling.
"Good, you have finally awakened," I heard a familiar voice. Turning my head, I saw Elrond sitting by the bedside.
"Where?" I began to speak, but my mouth was so dry that it ended in a cough.
"Here. Drink this." The medicine could often be bitter, but miruvor had exquisite taste. Immediately after gulping it, I felt much. My head was cleared, my mouth less dry, and my limbs not so heavy. "You are back in my home in Imladris. When you could not be awoken Ascarnil had brought you here using the flying device you had made. It was not without risk, but as a healer, I do agree with his decision. This is the Sun Chamber. Many of the Enemy's weapons are vulnerable to sunlight, so I had this place built for a singular purpose: to be able to expose a patient to as much sunlight as possible. In your case, it was the only thing that helped."
"The only thing?" I asked. I was not my best. The medicine helped, but I had fought an internal war for… "How long have I been asleep."
"Two months have passed since you battled in Tower Hall. Wherever that creature was, it was foul beyond measure. For its mere presence turned Man into Orcs, twisted them, and took all of their reason. And its death curse…" He sighed. It was hard to see, but there were traces of exhaustion in his face and voice. "If you were a man or even an Elf of lesser lineage, it would have killed long before I could be of any help."
"I do not think that it tried to kill me. It tried to make me into something alike to that creature."
"I see. That would explain some of the symptoms. And how it managed to pass the guards if it did not begin as a monster. It was fortunate that you were there. I shudder to think what would have happened if you were not." Well, nothing. Since it was completely my fault. A less skilled liar would wince at this point or have some other tell of his guilt. But not me. "There are few who could face that kind of foulness, and none were near enough."
"What about Mithrandir? I met him the day before?"
"He was close, but not close enough. By the time he returned to Minas Tirith, it was done. Ascarnil said that he did try to heal you, but your affliction was beyond his skill. In truth, it was nearly beyond mine."
"How many dead?"
"Surprisingly none. But that was more due to the Enemy's cruelty and your quick action. Now you must rest. Do not try to cover yourself. Your bare skin must continue to absorb sunlight."
I wanted to say that I was not tired but that would be a lie. So I closed my eyes and drifted away.
When I next woke, it was the smell of food that did it… It was some sort of vegetable soul, with lost herbal additions. And more miruvor. Elrond was still at my side. I was beginning to suspect that he never left. I was feeling some guilt about it.
"If you are feeling better, perhaps you are ready to try bathing?"
"Yes, please."
I managed to stand, but then nearly fell. The older Elf steadied and helped me get to the room where a bathtub was drawn.
The bathwater smelled so strongly of herbs, that I made a short joke, "So are you making more soup? With me as the main ingredient."
Elrond was not amused. He helped me in. The water was pleasantly hot. "Perhaps I should have waited until you are better to tell you this, but if it was me I would want to know as soon as possible. Fano is missing."
"When?" I asked. I already knew the answer to that question, but Elrond did not know that I knew it. I hoped that he did not. Otherwise, the whole house of cards would collapse. That was a problem with lying. It started with a single thread and soon spiders would tagle one needed to weave to deceive.
"Just a few days before the attack."
"Do you suspect that those two events were connected?"
"Not before. But you need rest. Relax, others search for your husband even now. If there is anything to be done, it will be done."
I was worried for Archer, but not for the reasons Elrond thought. He was on a dangerous mission, but I had faith in him. In times like this, I missed our karmic bond. That reminded me.
I closed my eyes and focused inwards, trying to sense my familiars. There was only one bond I could feel.
Gem bird I used to contain the One Ring. I could feel within it, eager and ready if I would just break the egg and fully take it.
Good, at least it was not lost while I was unconscious. The slime I had sacrificed to correct the situation I invariantly caused.
But what happened to bats and the Kraken?
I would have asked Cid, but without my sword, I had no direct connection. Well, there was the bird, but it was buried in the animated corpse of a giant spider. That was an oversight, that I would need to correct in the future.
A gentle squeeze on my shoulder drew me back. "Do not fall asleep. If you can not keep awake, tell me and I will help you back to bed."
"I am awake. I was just resting my eyes."
After about half of an hour, he helped me out of the medical bath, and back to bed. I fell asleep almost immediately.
When I woke I was much better. Still a bit weak, and tired easily. But Elrond proclaimed that I was ready for visitors.
The first ones to visit were my two apprentices. In the time since I saw them last, both boys have grown a little. A younger boy more than an older one. Hems of their pants were a little short, but they seemed well fed and in good health. It was good to know that while I was incapacitated and Archer was gone they at least had minimal care.
"Véro, Sapthan," I said after they stood silently for a while. I was quite pleased that I managed to remember their names correctly. Then because I had no idea what to say next, added, "I think that you had enough time to finish examining that device I gave you. So have you found any use for it yet?"
"You! You!" Sapthan cried out while pointing a finger at me, "You have been unconscious for two whole months. Fano is missing or dead, and the first thing you ask is that!?"
"I guess that means that you did not write it." Then I turned towards the younger boy, "How about you Véro?"
"Sorry, master. I forgot," the younger boy shyly answered.
"Except for playing with cats, I couldn't find any use for it either. I just hoped that you would have more luck." I thought that a laser pointer would be useful in archery. But for a difference from bullets, arrows did not travel in straight lines, so without adjustment, it just didn't work... "What have you two been up to in the last two months? Since writing that essay was not one of them."
"What you were supposed to be doing," Sapthan grumbled.
"We have been helping other smiths, mostly working on new gliders," Véro explained.
Elrond did mention that he wanted me to make more before I left for Minas Tirith. With me unconscious, I suppose that work went to others. "Report, I want to hear details."
I was quite proud of the boys, but our time together was coming to an end. Whatever would happen, when Archer finally arrived at the Cracks of Doom I won't be returning to Imladris afterward. So I listened to what they had to say and committed them to my memory.
Even if I did not plan it, I quite enjoyed teaching them.
Well, I was at that age that I should have considered stopping researching magecraft and started training a successor apprentice if I had not managed to gain True Magic. Something to think about.
What the boys said I learned that other Elven smiths had managed to make half a dozen gliders, with my notes and boys' explanations. Not that it mattered. This fight would not be won by force of arms.
As I got better, I was allowed short walks in the garden and there I met with some of my fellow patients. Among them were my old library friend Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo. The older hobbit was mostly unchanged, although he did seem in a bit better health, the younger one seemed to have matured practically overnight.
"I wanted to say goodbye," Frodo said. "I will be leaving tomorrow for the Shire. First to carry missives, and then to join the war effort."
I said, "I wish you well, but there is no reason to go anywhere to join this war. It is here as well."
"I would be more comfortable fighting among my people."
"I am glad that you are healed."
"I am as well as I can be. I still crave that ring. I haunt both my dreams and waking moments. But there is nothing more that could be done."
"I am sorry, my boy," Bilbo interjected, "I should have never given it to you. Gandalf had made a dreadful mistake."
"No, he did not," Frodo disagreed. It sounded rehearsed like it was an argument they had many times "It was a dreadful burden. I am glad we shared it."
"I would offer to make some arms for you. But you are leaving tomorrow, I don't Elrond will let me use the forge. He barely lets me visit the library."
"No need. There are some things from my adventures that I deserve to be passed on to the next generation. Arms and armor for my boy are sorted."
And that was the last time I saw Frodo.
Even for an Elf, it took time and effort to recover physical strength after a long convalescence. We Elves may be immune to sickness, but we could still be poisoned or wounded. Therefore Elrond had experience in these matters.
Most of my injuries, from what I could sense, came from overloading my Magical Circuits, with Od converted from the curse. That naturally generated a lot of heat, as a waste product. Inside my body.
I had been practically cooked, inside out.
The next part of my recovery involved a lot of supervised exercises and herbal tonics.
First leisurely walks in the forest, then upgraded to running and even swimming.
Then I received a pleasant surprise. One morning, Glorfindel had joined my usual minder,
"A sword-fighting lesson?" I asked hopefully. Not only did I want to do something less boring than usual exercise, but I also needed access to my sword. I really should have just put one familiar, capable of talking, into my Otherworld. Or perhaps an earring with a linked gem. At least I have gotten my circlet back, so I knew that Mel was fine. Well, existing at least. There was no inbuilt communication in that Mystic Code. Perils of a prototype.
"No," my usual minder interjected. It was his favorite word. At least when he was talking to me. "You are yet to be allowed to wield a weapon."
I would have learned that Elf's name by now if he was not so annoying. He was one of those who were learning how to heal under Elrond.
"I have come to see you. I would have come sooner, but this is the first time I am in Imladris since you awoke."
"Have more orcs seen nearby?"
"Orcs and worse."
"Worse?"
"Something took the form of an old enemy. A wicked traitor I know to be dead."
Orc would not be considered a traitor, and spirit or Elf would be certain to stay dead. So that only left, "A Man?"
"No, an Elf."
"You of all people should know that death is not an end for us."
"But to return in the same living flesh is only possible by the grace of Valar. And such would not be given to him!"
I had never seen him so angry. And in his wraith he was terrifying. Still beautiful, but terrifying.
With an effort an ancient Elf calmed himself and then continued speaking, "If that traitor is wise, he is in the Halls of Awaiting, weeping the bitter tears of repentance. But he was never wise. If he was, Gondoling would have not fallen."
"There are a few Elves who could be blamed for the doom that came to Gondolin, but only one that you name so vehemently a traitor. Did you think that you had caught sight of Maeglin?"
Maeglin, son of Eöl the Dark Elf and Aredhel sister of Turgon was the author of the greatest treachery done in the Elder Days. But then again, he was quite young, for he had not seen even two hundred winters before he was captured and brought before Morgoth himself. Many of greater stature and experience were lured into shadow with much less.
"In this, I would not be mistaken."
"Two Ages have passed since the fall of Gondolin."
"Yet my memory remains fresh."
It could be someone who just looked like the infamous traitor, in which case I pitied the poor Elf, but most likely it was… "A trick of the Enemy? A trap or a distraction for you?"
"That may be the case. But I still need to deal with it. It lurks near Imladris, trying to find an entrance."
One thing one needed when lying was that only what one said could get one caught, it was also something one didn't say. I knew that the answer to this question was no, but I still had to ask it. "Was it responsible for Fano's disappearance?"
He looked at me for a moment, then sighed and said, "No. I do not think so. It first appeared much later."
The first thing I did after Elrond let finals leave for my house, was to spend some time alone with my sword.
Not like that.
I meant my actual sword, Larmo.
It was after all my only connection to the Cid, the intellect that governed my Otherworld. A flaw that I planned to correct when I had some free time.
"Cid, report."
"Storage area secure, no intrusion recorded. The entrance hall is secure, and no intrusion was recorded. Staging area, secure, two intrusions recorded."
I suspected that something had happened. My familiars had been destroyed. This just confirmed it. And one more thing. Was I imagining it or did Cid sound a bit different? Like he did before I had linked him to the mass of the undead. Then I better keep my word more precise.
"Report incidents in chronological order."
"First incident, no casualties. The incident began when a nude Elf appeared in the staging area. The situation was resolved per protocol. He was escorted outside. No violence was necessary."
I had suspicions but I had to confirm, "Date and time of the first incident."
When I heard the answer I knew that it was the exact time when I harvested the curse outbreak in Minas Tirith (which I caused). I had shunted the excess magical energy to the Crown of Midnight and thus caused Mal to materialize. Since I hadn't been present at the time, Cid had followed standard protocol for Elvish intruders, to drive them outside the staging area, without violence if possible. So, due to my lack of proper planning, Mel had been driven naked into the wilderness.
Unfortunate, but there were unforeseen complications. Most of them could be considered my fault also. But I really had no idea that it was even possible Spider's Kiss could change like that. I was quite excited about finding out why and how.
But then again mixing the magic of two or maybe even three separate, not just Parallel Worlds, but what I decided to call World Systems was unprecedented. Even the faculty of Brishisan, from Clocktower, merely dealt with phenomena a bit less alien. And if that man ever encountered something like this he never mentioned it to me.
One, no two, no three, major incidents were quite tame. And I only managed to kill people I had intended to kill.
For pioneering research, I could say it was a tremendous success.
Besides, now that I could think more about it, it may not be so unfortunate for Mel to be cast out. I remembered why I did merge Mel's spirit with a specially prepared gem. I didn't do it just to test hypotheses about the creation of the Pseudo-Guardian Spirit, by using a gem awoken by variation Elven jewel-smithing methods. No, I also did to help Mel's rehabilitation. For that purpose, sending him out into the world, even naked, was better than being buried under a hill with a bunch of animated corpses.
"Second incident," Cid continued to report, interrupting my musings, "casualties 96 percent. Casualties by type: orc terminals 95 percent, troll terminals 100 percent, human terminals 92 percent, wolf terminals 98 percent, spider terminal zero percent. The Incident began with an intrusion from upriver. Due to the majority of combat happening underwater and data loss due to the destruction of terminals fidelity of reconstruction of events can not be guaranteed. Information on intruders is limited, but with a high degree of certainty it can be deduced that it was a singular entity."
"Continue."
"Chronologically the first enemy action was the destruction of patrol composed of familiars two and three, bat type. But that was not detected at the time, because familiars were not part of the terminal network."
If I had not been incapacitated I would have felt immediately when they were destroyed. But there were reasons why I had two separate forces. Redundancy was one of them. If there was something that would compromise or destroy magic circles that animated and connected undead, I wanted familiars unaffected.
"First recorded enemy action was the destruction of the perimeter defense net."
"The perimeter defense net?" What was that? "Define the perimeter defense net."
"The perimeter defense net was a rope net placed at the exact spot where the underground river entered the cave with redoubt. Its construction and placement were ordered by the secondary user."
The secondary user meant Archer. So it was one of his projects.
"As per protocol, terminals converged at the site of intrusion. Due to the complete destruction of the first wave, data on that part of the incident is sparse. But it is highly probable that most if not all terminals that had engaged the enemy at the time were eaten."
Which would expose the intruder to the new and "improved" curse. If it was original it would have rendered the intruder helpless, but the new version would have turned it into a nearly unkillable rape machine. Much less helpful.
"Then the familiar one, type squid, engaged the enemy, along with remaining terminals, save one. That battle was fought underwater. After approximately an hour, a permitted guest designated Daughter of Rivers had joined the fight. After a few minutes, she stopped fighting and began copulating with the intruder."
One more thing to note about the "improved" curse, it was not to be used near allies. The more I learned, the less useful it seemed. But it still had very interesting properties. It would be useful for research if for nothing else. It would be highly unlikely that I would have needed in the future to depopulate a small city.
"The familiar one, ended battle using unknown magecraft. It expired soon after due to wounds. The remains of the intruder and guest had both turned to water after all life function ceased."
"What about the corpse of my familiar? Has it been properly preserved?" Because if it was, I could try to bring it back. After I had guided once through death and rebirth, a second time should be possible too.
"Yes… Priority alert. The new gate had been registered by the secondary user."