Deus Necros

”No, Ludwig,” Van Dijk said for what had to be the tenth time.

His face flickered across the communication crystal on Celine’s desk, tired and dust-streaked beneath the weak light of whatever underground passage he currently occupied.

”The presence of Gluttony’s influence in Bastos does not justify marching into Tibari with no route, no information, and no idea of what the Usurper is doing.”

Ludwig leaned over the table until his face nearly filled Van Dijk’s side of the crystal. ”Cattle are starving beside full troughs. People drink until their stomachs hurt and remain thirsty, and half the southern crop has become decorative garbage. If you expect me to sit here until someone starts eating the furniture, you should provide a better argument.”

”I expect you to investigate what reached Bastos before deciding that Gluttony personally invited you to a duel. An Authority spreading into your territory does not mean its owner is waiting across the border for you.”

”It reached my land and started harming my people. That makes it personal enough.”

”And that,” Van Dijk said, ”is exactly why I do not want you making the decision alone.”

Celine sat nearby with several reports spread across the desk, listening while she compared dates and locations. Thomas hovered beside the window, quieter than usual. The room smelled of wax, ink, and the bitter medicinal mixture the Holy Order had begun distributing to those suffering from the unnatural thirst. The draught soothed the pain caused by excessive drinking, but it did nothing to satisfy the body’s demand for more.

Ludwig studied the darkness behind Van Dijk. ”You’re underground. Are you near Tibari?”

”My current location has nothing to do with the problem in Bastos.”

”That means you’re somewhere you don’t want me to know about. Fine. Tell me how we reach Tibari, and I’ll stop asking.”

Van Dijk’s expression settled into the patient look he usually wore before delivering news Ludwig would dislike. ”You are not reaching Tibari through the old route. The gate I used has disappeared.”

Celine stopped reading. Ludwig straightened slowly, his irritation giving way to something sharper.

”Explain what you mean by disappeared.”

”The access point is no longer where it was. The stone arch remains, but the passage beyond it no longer connects to Tibari. I have spent the last several weeks searching for another entrance.”

”And you decided this information wasn’t worth including in any of your reports?”

”I left it out because you would have invented a reason to come here and search personally. You had finally stopped moving long enough to recover, and I wanted that to last more than a few days.”

”I was doing an excellent job of resting.”

Celine coughed softly into one hand. Van Dijk’s mouth shifted into a tired smile.

”I heard about the boar.”

Ludwig turned toward Celine. ”You told him?”

”You carried a dead animal through my office and left blood across the floor. That became part of the estate report.”

”It attacked me.”

”You went into the forest looking for something to hunt.”

Van Dijk allowed the exchange to die before continuing. ”I will find another entrance into Tibari. Until then, focus on containing the influence already inside Bastos. Move the worst affected families away from the southern farms and determine how far the symptoms extend.”

”We don’t know where the boundary is.”

”Then finding it is your first task. Your second is contacting Kaiser.”

Ludwig frowned at the crystal. ”What do you expect a lich to do about hunger?”

”You continue to understand remarkably little about dark magic for someone who surrounds himself with undead creatures.”

”That sounded insulting.”

”It was meant to correct a weakness in your education.” Van Dijk shifted closer to the crystal. ”The Holy Order can remove the corruption left in Bastos by the Moonflayed King. An active Authority is a different problem.”

Celine gathered the reports into one stack. ”The priests found no curse, contamination, or dark mana in the affected fields. Are you saying they cannot sense the source?”

”They are searching for something that behaves like conventional corruption,” Van Dijk explained. ”When a Usurper imposes an Authority, the world is forced to obey a principle. Wrath did more than spread hostile energy. His presence changed how anger functioned within his reach. The Moonflayed King imposed his own rules in the same way.”

”The Holy Order couldn’t have purified either of them while they were physically present,” Ludwig said.

”Correct. Once a Usurper leaves or dies, the Authority departs with them, but the damage remains. Bodies have already changed, mana pathways have been distorted, plants have mutated, and the soil has absorbed whatever died within it. Those injuries produce an unstable imitation of the original influence.”

Celine glanced toward the southern fields beyond the window. ”A residue that behaves like a curse.”

”Close enough for priests to understand and cleanse,” Van Dijk said. ”What you have described in the wheat and wells is still acting with the consistency of an Authority. Holy light may weaken its effect in isolated cases, but the Order cannot simply purify the rule being imposed upon the land.”

Ludwig sat back. That explained why repeated examinations had found so little. The priests had been searching for the familiar scars left after corruption passed through a region. Bastos was suffering from something that had not finished acting.

”How does Kaiser help?”

Van Dijk’s expression suggested that praising the lich caused him physical discomfort. ”Kaiser has studied unnatural states of life, death, soul, and magical contamination for longer than most magical institutions have existed. He also possesses methods neither of us is equipped to reproduce. Ask him to examine the land.”

”That was almost respectful.”

”It was an accurate assessment. Do not make me repeat it.”

Ludwig glanced toward the map beneath Celine’s reports. ”If this influence continues south, it will eventually reach the Dark Continent. Kaiser’s citadel sits directly in its path.”

”Which gives him another reason to help. Contact him, locate the edge of the affected region, and evacuate anyone whose condition worsens. I will continue searching for a route into Tibari.”

Movement passed through the darkness behind Van Dijk. He looked away from the crystal, listened for a moment, and returned his attention to Ludwig.

”I need to leave. Do what I told you, and resist the urge to turn containment into a personal invasion.”

Before Ludwig could answer, the crystal went dark.

He stared at the empty surface until Celine rested her elbows on the desk. ”What did my brother tell you?”

”You were sitting beside me.”

”I heard his words. I want to know which parts survived your interpretation.”

Ludwig gestured toward the reports. ”He expects me to sit in Bastos while the problem spreads and ask Kaiser to solve it.”

”He told us to evacuate the affected families, map the boundary, separate active influence from old corruption, and bring in someone capable of identifying the source. That is considerably more useful than sitting.”

”You sound like him.”

”We were raised by the same people. Occasionally, some of the education remained.”

Thomas drifted closer to the desk. ”Calling Kaiser is a good idea. He usually explains the interesting parts when everyone else tells him to stop.”

”That is not a recommendation,” Ludwig said.

Thomas’s flames brightened. ”He appreciates initiative.”

”Doesn’t he call you a candlefly everytime?”

”It’s a term of endearment...” Thomas said smiling. He must have also gotten bored here in the estate.

Celine pushed the crystal toward Ludwig. ”Call him before the two of you decide that proves anything.”

Kaiser answered almost immediately after Ludwig adjusted the Runic sequence. His carefully maintained living appearance filled the crystal: dark hair, pale skin, ordinary eyes, and no visible trace of the ancient corpse beneath the illusion.

”You answered quickly,” Ludwig said. ”I’ll assume that means you’re available.”

Kaiser frowned. ”Most people begin these conversations with a greeting.”

”Most people waste time. Bastos is starving.”

The casual irritation vanished from Kaiser’s face. ”Tell me exactly what is happening.”

Ludwig described the cattle wasting away beside untouched feed, the accelerated wheat producing hollow grain, the irrigated soil that refused to retain water, and the people who remained thirsty regardless of how much they drank. He also explained that the Holy Order had found no conventional curse or renewed trace of the Moonflayed King’s corruption.

By the time he finished, Kaiser looked more intrigued than alarmed.

”You should have contacted me as soon as the first field changed.”

”It started less than a week ago, and I assumed you were occupied with the citadel.”

”I was. Most of its daily functions are automated now.”

Ludwig narrowed his eyes. ”What exactly did you automate?”

”Maintenance, perimeter security, construction, and several internal systems. Skeletons handle the repetitive work, specialized constructs perform the heavier tasks, and I adapted a few useful mechanisms from Sloth’s remains.”

The last part made Ludwig pause. ”How much of Sloth’s work did you redesign?”

”Enough to improve it. The important point is that the White Citadel no longer requires my constant supervision, which leaves me free to examine your problem.”

”You finished the teleportation gate?”

Kaiser looked offended by the question. ”Of course I finished it.”

”You never reported that.”

”You asked three times while it was incomplete. I finished it afterward and had no urgent reason to contact you.”

Celine leaned into view before Ludwig could continue. ”Please come to Bastos now. If you delay, Ludwig will eventually decide that crossing the Dark Continent on foot is a reasonable alternative.”

Kaiser considered that and nodded. ”I’ll be there shortly. Keep everyone away from the most affected field until I arrive.”