Vol.4 Ch.66 – The Devil In The Details
Chapter 66: The Devil In The Details
“Are you alright?” Kaja asked the vampire she had just injected with light magic.
“I'm fine,” Ophelia said, her voice no longer sounding strained. “A lot of vampires wouldn't be, though.”
“I'm sorry,” Kaja said. “I saw the beast attacking and reacted without taking you into account.”
“Probably not something you have to deal with very often, huh?”
“There are a lot of vampires in Heaven, if that's what you're saying,” Kaja said.
“Really?” Ophelia asked.
“Of course,” Kaja said. “They are not barred from Heaven, even if your kind may have been created by the Morning Star.”
Ophelia fully turned to face her. “Really?”
“You know about the law of conservation of potential?” Kaja asked.
“I think Jeanne might have mentioned something like this before, but if it's what I think it is I don't know how it relates to this.”
Kaja nodded. “Gods and the more powerful Celestials are shaped by belief. What people believe about them is true.”
Ophelia nodded, signaling that she knew that much.
“However,” Kaja continued, “many of these beings have mutually exclusive histories. And these histories tend to all be true at the same time. For someone of my status, for example, this effect is relatively minor. I have one set of memories of being born alongside the cosmos, created by the Lord Himself, and I have another set of memories of being born a peasant woman in Scandinavia, dying and becoming an angel during the Middle Ages. Both of them are equally real. I was the one who sat in the White Christ's empty grave and spoke to his disciples. The ones who saw me there can corroborate that. But there are also surviving documents from the twelfth century proving that I lived as a human once.”
“That's impossible,” Ophelia said.
“It should be,” Kaja agreed. “But it isn't. And for beings that are more powerful than me, this becomes astronomically more complicated.”
“Okay,” Ophelia said, “but vampires aren't gods.”
“Maybe not most of you,” Kaja said, “but your Antediluvians are as close to godhood as I am. Some believe Cain was the first vampire, created through a curse placed on the first Child of Man by the Lord Himself. Some believe that Vlad Tepes was the first vampire, blessed or cursed by the Lord or the Devil. Slander, of course, but the belief still counts, very much to his chagrin. And some believe that the first vampire was a man named Count Orlok, who made a pact with Lucifer to become immortal. The Morning Star I know would never do anything like that but, again, belief. Which of these is true? Impossible to tell.”
“But wouldn't it be possible to clear that one up if you just followed any vampire line back to their progenitor?” Ophelia asked.
“Well, do you know the progenitor of the one who created you?” Kaja asked.
“Lady de la Couture,” Ophelia said instantly. “He spoke of her often. He was just as smitten with her as I once was with him.” Then she bit her tongue, as though embarrassed to have admitted it.
“And who sired her?” Kaja asked.
Ophelia opened her mouth, then closed it again. Finally she said: “Okay, point made.”
Kaja nodded. “But even assuming that you would find vampires who could trace their lines that far back you'd find that it clears up nothing. There are those three origin points but also many more besides.”
“So,” Ophelia said, clearly changing the subject, “you know Lucifer?”
“I do,” Kaja said. “One set of memories even remembers him from before he fell.”
“What was he like?”
“The most radiant among us,” Kaja said. “The Mormons aren't entirely wrong about him, you know? He is the Lord's beloved son, same as the White Christ. In some of his histories, he fell after witnessing what the mortals did to his brother. The Lord even forged a weapon for him. Ea, the Song of Dawn. Merely wielding that weapon makes a Celestial as strong as their Higher form but without shifting form.”
“So, what would happen if a celestial in their Higher form wields it?” Ophelia asked.
Kaja pressed her lips together. “Well, our Higher form isn't the strongest we can get.”
Ophelia raised one delicate eyebrow. “And you have been holding that back because...?”
“This plane of existence cannot handle someone of our caliber unleashing their True form for long. Even Prudence, who is significantly weaker than Omega, Jeanne and me, would tax reality if she did.”
“What about Elaine?”
“What about her?”
“Can Lacrima unleash this power as well?” Ophelia asked.
Kaja bit her lip. “In theory.”
Ophelia didn't say anything.
“Look, Celestials are far more in tune with their Soul Shards than Lacrima are. We can simply activate these forms. A Lacrima must be in tune with their true self, including all of their Soul Shards, to access their True form. And historically speaking most Lacrima die before they reach this point.”
Ophelia digested that, then said: “And Elaine has barely even made contact with her second Soul Shard, besides being taught a single spell.”
“That is actually an excellent sign,” Kaja said. “She has had this power for only a few weeks and her second Soul Shard is already willing to cooperate with her. If she continues to grow then we will soon see what the Mother of Dragons and the Crystal Giant of Rebellion grow into.”
She could see it in Ophelia's eyes then, not worry about what her lover might turn into but adoration about what she was capable of. And she smiled as she saw it.
“So, would Elaine's True form overtax reality?” Ophelia finally asked.
“Yes, but not as badly as ours. She was born mortal. She is part of the fabric of this world.”
“And how strong are these True forms?”
“An order of magnitude stronger than an entity's Higher form,” Kaja said instantly. “But keep in mind that, for many Celestials at least, we cease to look human at that point.”
“So all those abstract descriptions of angels and demons...” Ophelia began.
“Indeed. To give you an example, Demon Lord Leviathan, in his Sealed state, looks like an effeminate young man with stringy black hair, usually dragging an oversized cleaver behind him. In his Higher form he looks similar to a Quetzalcoatl. And in his True form he is an enormous sea serpent suspended in a sphere of water.”
“Have you met all the Demon Lords?”
“Most of them,” Kaja said. “Being a Necromancer hunter isn't a full-time job, you know? The rest of the time I am a scholar and a messenger. Well, I used to be.” She shook her head. “I think we should keep going.”
“Yeah,” Ophelia said. “Let's.”
**
Ophelia took a deep breath. This had been a fascinating conversation but it hadn't brought them any closer to beating the Necromancer. However, it had told her things she hadn't known about, things she thought Elaine needed to know.
She didn't expect to get an immediate reply but then the notification popped up.
Ophelia smiled. Good. Things were going well. She was sure Elaine had seen some harrowing things there, or would in short order, but at least physically everyone seemed to be alright.
There was a pause, then another text.
Ice through Ophelia's veins.
She spun around to find Alexis sharing a bottle of water with Abigail and Cassie. She distinctly remembered seeing Alexis using her spear in that fight and it had behaved exactly as it always did, so she was sure the blonde with their team was truly Alexis.
But if Alexis was with them, who was that on Elaine's team?
No response.
**
A form even stronger than her Higher form sounded just about perfect to Elaine just then. She could just shred through whatever was waiting for them down this flight of stairs. She tried to reply to Ophelia but the way Alexis was clinging to her arm was too adorable. She couldn't fault her for being nervous but this was maybe a little much, wasn't it? She was clinging to her so hard she could barely type. And then, when Ophelia's reply came, she only caught the message for an instant before Alexis practically dragged her forward.
But what she saw in that instant made the bottom drop out of her stomach.