Rise of the Godking - Chapter 96

Daneel watched, agape, as the ground all around him cracked, even as the entire land felt as if it was moving slowly, but surely downward, ever downward. It even seemed as if the rate at which it was doing so was speeding up with every second that passed, but try as he might, he could only sit there, still lost in all the feelings that had filled him when he had seen that little wisp come out of nowhere and do such a brave thing.

It had killed that false will, of course, that had taken its place, and had reveled in the sensation of retaking what rightfully belonged to it before perishing forever, this time. Whoever had used that fake Will had done something unnatural; when there was no Will present to keep an island afloat, it should not exist in such a manner, like a zombie out of the grave, and so, he saw that in a way, he had delivered justice…even though it had been heartbreaking to see it happen.

"What the hell are you doing? Come on!"

A shout brought him to his senses. Surprisingly, the masked man, whose mask he now saw was was shaped like a tiger but with black fur was bending over him, with his hand held nearby as if he meant Daneel to use its help to climb to his feet.

Almost groggily, he tried to shrug away whatever was holding him in place. The main, overwhelming thing that filled his mind right now was a sense of loss, as he had seen, first hand, the death of a Will, and at that moment, because he had been connected to it, whatever it had felt in its last moments had filtered into his mind, too, and had taken root.

With growing alarm, he quickly saw that large patches of the ground had fallen away, nearby, and that water was already seeping onto the land in a few places a few kilometers away from where he was. He finally began to fight with his mind, trying to respectfully put away the emotions so that he could save himself, first, and finally, he succeeded when he was pulled to his feet by the masked man who had seemingly grown sick of waiting for Daneel to move.

"By all rights, I should leave you…but we still have a moment. Yes, we still have time! Come on!"



With a shout, he began running in the direction of the teleportation matrix. Daneel followed him, half stumbling, half rediscovering the use of his legs on the way.



His mind kept flashing between who he was, and that wisp down below. Even though he had connected with two different Wills already, he had never before felt something like that happen. He had never before had his vision transported to the innermost depths of the land to see what was happening there, and as he thought about it, he realized that the Will had actually been the one to pull him, as if it had wanted him to witness its final act.

"Crap…where is it? There!"

The teleportation matrix had all but disappeared. Only the gleaming top was visible above the water, but as it started to vanish, too, the man began to run, and Daneel followed suit.

Lapping water with their legs, they ran until they finally had no option but to swim. The crystals at his waist weighed down Daneel, tempting him to draw on one and so that he could use it to keep the exertion from his blood loss at bay, but Daneel resisted, drawing on the last bits of strength left to him to get to where he needed to go.

The masked man reached it first. After fumbling with something under the water for a few seconds, he made it glow a dark violet, and an instant later, he vanished.

Daneel soon reached the crystal. Even as his hand reached out to touch it, he turned around one last time to take one last look at the island that would soon disappear.

He only had one wish left. He wished that he could know its name so that he could remember it…but alas, it looked like it would leave this world forever, leaving behind nothing in its wake.

Yet…just as his vision flashed to take him away, a whisper floated into his ears from somewhere, and hearing it, Daneel's heart throbbed once more in sync, then fell silent.

"Kastali."

Soon, he felt hard ground beneath him, and as the aftereffects of the teleportation began to disappear, he mumbled the world silently before whispered it out loud, as it deserved to be heard.

"Yes, that's the name of the place, before it was…wait, how did you know that? And…forget I said anything! Fuck, why can't I keep my damn mouth…"

The gravelly voice devolved into a series of self-deprecating curses while Daneel blinked and waited for his vision to adjust.

When it did, he saw that the masked man was running his hands through his long hair while walking to and fro, irritation clearly showing in the way he muttered to himself. He had lost his hat somewhere, and his clothes were wet, of course. Daneel scanned him, only now having completely returned to his actual self as he was far away from that forlorn place.

He wished that he could just stop and reflect on what had happened, but that was simply not possible.

'How much has this guy seen? What does he know? If he suspects something about me, or if he's found out any of my secrets… I might have to kill them! But what if he is innocent? Dammit, why did he even have to be there?'

The man turned to Daneel just as that last thought echoed in his mind. He instantly took a few steps back with his hands raised, and then, in a voice that was trying in every manner to be innocent and harmless, he said, "Hey! Don't look at me like that! I was just passing through! I just wanted a damn mug of beer, even though Hopkins charges too damn much! You're the one who walked in, talking about Seers! Wasn't it obvious that he was a man of the Garbonors? No one can set up shop on any island, much less an island such as that, without their say so! There I was, remarking to myself about how stupid you are, and then…the damn ground cracked under me and the bar collapsed, almost cracking my fucking skull! I even helped you when I saw you on the way, remember?"

Hearing him, Daneel suddenly recalled the maid. A flash of bitterness went through him as he remembered her fate, but still, shrugging it away, he asked, "She said she had a husband. Did you see him anywhere?"

With a shrug, the man replied, "He was with me most of the way. When he saw that woman's body, though…he just ran to her and insisted on staying. I tried to get him to come along, too, but he just lost it, man. He just wanted to die. Well…nothing I could do."

'Two more lives. Two more lives lost…and for what?'

Daneel almost began to brood, then and there, but he stopped himself with some effort.

First, a decision needed to be made regarding the masked man. The options were clear: either Daneel would have to kill him in cold blood, or leave him and hope that the decision would not come back to bite him in the arse.

When put in that way, there was really no decision, in truth. With the system, even if the man began to spread tall tales, it would be the easiest thing to conceal his identity, so turning around, he said, "Very well. Good travels to you, then. I'll be on my way. If I were you… I would forget everything that happened."

Leaving it with that, he was about to stride away, but before he could do so, the man spoke…and Daneel's heart stopped.

"You know, I have a message, too. And I have heard more parts of the Grand Seer's prophecy than what you told the maid. It goes something like this: 'The advent is near. With his coming, even the land shall rise, and heave, and throb. The fallen fortress will bow into the sea to herald his coming, and all shall know he is near.' No one was able to figure out what that meant…but I know that 'Kastali' means 'fortress', loosely, in the Ancient Tongue. It doesn't say explicitly that the one who sinks it is 'Frelsar', or, the 'Saviour', and I don't even know whether you have anything to do with happened…but I think you're interesting. So… can we travel together?"