JACKAL AMONG SNAKES-Novel

In planning for this heist, they’d long ago discussed in detail how, precisely, things would play out. Argrave ran through his words in his head as the Alchemist disassembled a wall in this pitch-black place.

“There are a few pivotal things we need to keep in mind about Erlebnis’ realm,” Argrave explained. “The most important responsibility of all—we cannot allow ourselves to confront Erlebnis directly. Going to the White Planes has protected us from the pressure exerted by divinity, but that doesn’t change the fact he can squash us with a wave of a hand. If we do succeed in bringing Mozzahr over, I suspect that Erlebnis will dedicate most of his attention to that monstrosity rampaging through his realm in search of an exit. That’ll be a big boon, allowing freedom of movement.

“There are a few locations, however, where Erlebnis has omniscience, and he’ll spot us regardless.” Argrave continued. “The Lexicons—the areas that serve as a nexus between all of the Annals of the Universe—are off limits. He’ll spot us in seconds, and considering its role as a place of quick movement, thousands of his emissaries will be upon us before we can blink. In other words… we’re on foot, and on our own.”

Snapped back to focus when a piece of the wall fell, Argrave looked at all of his companions. Everyone seemed just as paranoid as he felt, flinching at the distant rumblings Mozzahr caused as he searched for them. Argrave felt quite exposed without the protection of the Domain of Law, but they were very nearly free of this place.

Finally, red light fell upon them, causing everyone to flinch away. The Alchemist pulled the rest of the wall away, using his body to push past.

“Come. Mozzahr will notice this exit for certain,” the Alchemist said, beckoning them onward.

They all rushed into the new hole, eager to be free of this dark chamber. And once outside, they entered into Erlebnis’ realm in its more complete state. Though they all were eager to move, the sheer oddity of this place made their steps falter for a brief moment.

Erlebnis’ emissaries were hollow mockeries of humans and elves with misshapen hands, enlarged limbs, and misplaced orifices. They were wrong in a way that unsettling and uncanny. His realm was a continuance of that trend—almost a copy of the world of mortals, but wrong so obviously and so unrepentantly that it only rattled the nerves.

Above, the sky was red and metallic, and rippled as though it was a liquid with strong winds gusting over its surface. Whatever the sky was, it illuminated the entire area in red light that lent a bleak and hellish atmosphere to it all. But it was what was on the ground that truly disturbed the senses.

As far as the eye could see, brown cities rose up into the sky. Their buildings were not a pleasant beige nor a rich oak, but a dirty and foul color like mud. They looked as though they were built of bricks, but that wasn’t the case. Close scrutiny of these ‘bricks’ would reveal that they had words on them, and if one were to pry it free of whatever shoddy construction it held steady, one would find they were not bricks, but books.

If Argrave described the architecture, his charitable interpretation would be to call it avant-garde. In reality, it was a disgusting blend of thousands of different styles. Eastern Asian buildings stood next to Victorian buildings, lopsided and lumpy and simply wrong. The reason for the ugliness was simple: Erlebnis and his servants had the knowledge and execution to make these buildings stand, but not the soul to make them beautiful. Argrave saw a watchtower that started square at its base, went to circular in its center, and ended triangularly before capping it all off with a domed roof.

But with no other path forward, they proceeded into this abominable city. Looking back, the area that they’d come from was a giant cube the same color brown as the rest of the city. It was an empty, unfinished thing, but as Erlebnis gained enough knowledge, it would become a city just like the one they entered.

As they half-sprinted, the Alchemist stepped ahead of them. He held the white spear up and slammed it upon the ground. Light shone on its surface, enveloping them. As Argrave ran, he saw his arms extend, twist, and writhe out of his clothing. But he knew to remain calm—it was all a trick of the mind. This was another helping hand that Rook, god of deception and subterfuge, lent to them. They were required to steal something with divine power to return that favor, either here or elsewhere.

“You appear as emissaries now,” the Alchemist informed them. “It should fool most from a distance, but never engage with Erlebnis’ servants. They will know you are not part of their collective with one word exchanged. Emissaries travel alone—we should split up so as not to draw any attention. Anneliese shall coordinate a safe regroup point through Elenore.”

All agreed and obeyed, walking from the unfinished archive. When they finally reached the city, where living things entered into sight, they parted ways and took different paths without further words. Erlebnis’ grotesque emissaries wandered the streets, pulling books from the walls and the streets and indulging in them with measured precision. There were trees and bushes planted into pots and little gardens, but the trunks of the trees were bone covered by a thin layer of skin, the leaves were hardened needles of hair resembling pine, and the fruits were blinking eyes. The plants looked like black pipe cleaners.

As they waded into the sea of ugly buildings, a wave of force reverberated behind them. As the Alchemist had said, Mozzahr had found the hole in the wall, and stood scanning the area before him in rabid search for those who’d brought him here.

“I will find you, dogs of Erlebnis!” Mozzahr’s voice echoed out across the realm, drawing attention from all parties. “Argrave!” He screamed, drawing out the name. Even so far away, his voice was powerful enough to hurt the ears.

The emissaries seemed to be seized by an invisible thought, and thousands of them broke away from their task to go confront Mozzahr. They stepped out of the city as Argrave stepped within, alone. Though none moved to stop him, and though countless had just left to deal with this new threat of Mozzahr, the emissaries still made this place dense. It was all he could do to avoid bumping into them, and his heart beat fast with the knowledge that drawing attention meant dozens of emissaries would fall upon him and his friends.

For a long while, every street that Argrave walked through, every alley he looked down, and every building he poked his head inside had an emissary busily engaged in a task. Argrave feared every misshapen eye that came his way, and flinched every time his foot hit the ground. He was transformed, but he felt they must notice something was wrong. How could he hide? What could he do? If his companions made any mistake… would that be the end of them? Even if they survived, Mozzahr still roamed… and circumstance had shown they could not best him.

He swallowed his fear, heading deeper into this twisted city with their task as his sole comfort as he heard the sounds of fire, lightning, and general destruction caused by Mozzahr’s close pursuit.

Yet then, Elenore’s voice entered his head. “Meet at the large domed building. Anneliese’s Starsparrow is perched atop the spike cresting it. She says she can see you through it, meaning you can see the bird.”

Argrave stopped in his tracks and looked around. After an uncomfortably long search, he finally spotted the single speck of gold amidst the brown. Though he felt the need to sprint, he managed a natural walk toward it, wading through the alleys and streets with grace he didn’t realize he possessed.

The building Anneliese had pointed out was grand—a statehouse, almost—and when Argrave entered the lobby, he cringed when he saw about a dozen emissaries on its floor. He briefly questioned if he’d gone into the wrong place when Elenore’s voice came into his head once more.

“Head upstairs,” she told him. “She says there’s a ladder that leads to the attic.”

Argrave briefly searched for stairs and found them quickly. He walked up, holding onto the rails tightly. Others followed him, and he managed to recognize his companions’ faces in the monstrosities that they were disguised as. They all reached the second floor, found the ladder, and advanced up.

When they arrived, Anneliese waited for them in her normal form alongside the Alchemist in this unusually tall attic. There were windows with no glass in this room overlooking much of the gross city, and she walked from place-to-place surveying the area. The Alchemist dispelled their disguises one-by-one, and then when the last of them arrived, he pulled up the ladder.

“We can’t linger long, but we can coordinate our actions now that we have eyes and time,” the Alchemist said. “Mozzahr could come at any moment. The emissaries can do little to him—he can run through their S-rank wards without breaking strides, and their spells are similarly ineffective.”

“Good gods…” Durran muttered, shaking his head at the unimaginable feat.

Even Argrave hadn’t been expecting this level of prowess from Mozzahr. The player fought with him after he’d been wounded and spent his Emptiness fighting Sataistador, so the battle was wholly different from his full strength. Hopefully, Erlebnis could soften him similarly in this timeline.

“This city is one of nearly eighty-thousand Annals of the Universe,” the Alchemist continued. “Any single one of the books constructing these eighty thousand cities might have the knowledge we need. Though the books implant knowledge directly into the soul immediately, we lack the time to go through every one,” he said, greatly simplifying things. “We require a way to search more efficiently. Thus, we must find a Lodestar.”

Argrave nodded knowingly. Lodestars were the second type of servant to Erlebnis. A Lodestar’s purpose was to manage a single section of the Annals of the Universe. Each one had complete knowledge of what was contained within their section, and more broadly knew where certain subjects could be found in the rest of the Annals. These creatures were the emissaries’ lodestars in their search for knowledge in this sea of wisdom, hence the name—each emissary had to learn on their own, for they could not contain the unquantifiable knowledge that Erlebnis had accumulated over millennia.

In Heroes of Berendar, the player came to Erlebnis’ realm as his mortal champion. The player could only access the first Annal of the Universe, and barring Onychinusa, the player only communicated with the Lodestar in their service to Erlebnis. The Lodestar possessed the magical potency of the emissaries while lacking their physical weakness. It was quite a monstrous foe, though they never ventured far from Erlebnis’ power.

“When we locate a Lodestar, we must subdue it. I must consume it within myself, alchemizing it inside my body to harvest its power. I can access the Lodestar’s ability to parse the Annals. If fighting it does not alert Erlebnis, accessing the Lodestar’s power undoubtedly will. We’ll be travelling quickly, stealing the knowledge we seek with all Erlebnis’ forces in pursuit. Put simply, we must struggle for our lives,” the Alchemist outlined.