Deprivation Trial

It was a free win.

It really couldn’t be described any other way. The trial of Lanai, the Pineapple Isle, was for someone to be subjected to the sensation of deprivation right up until the point of ****. Though John didn’t revel in sending anyone to such a trial, he did enjoy the certainty that Gnome would clear it with little to no issue. Not only was their cuddle rock among the most patient and diligent entities on the planet, she also was used to various kinds of near **** already. They all were, courtesy of Raids, but it was especially true for the elementals.

‘It all comes down to tomorrow,’ John thought. ‘Probably…’

There was the slim chance Gnome would fail.

Very slim.

Slim enough John didn’t operate under it.

‘That means that the final trial will be on Nihau. Back to where we started.’ A drily amused sound rumbled in his throat. His eyes remained glued to the magical screen, an illusionary wall that replicated the sight of a ward. Gnome was suffering, but she shouldered that burden like the champion she was.

The Gamer’s eyes wandered elsewhere. He wanted to be with her in his mind, to ‘give her his energy’ in whatever esoteric way that may have been possible. However, he also couldn’t stand watching one of his beloved being tormented. Neither was it particularly useful for him to do so.

While he had this opportunity, there was something else he wanted to do.

He marched across the dry soil of Lanai. It was fascinating that islands so close together could be so incredibly different, but that wasn’t what the Gamer was focused on at the moment. No, he was wondering about the sole member of the Night Marchers that was present, courtesy of the daylight hours.

“King Kamehameha,” John greeted, “may I talk to you?”

“Emperor Newman,” the uniter answered, “you may.”

The Gamer made an inviting gesture, one the broad, native man accepted with a friendly nod. Together, they set out in a random direction. The Natural Barrier was large enough that they could have a nice walk, though the relatively flat, rugged terrain would keep them in view for most of it. The red, metal-rich soil crunched under their soles. Even as a ghost, Kamehameha had respectable mass.

“You had a decent relationship with westerners in your time,” John began.

“Englishmen,” the king specified. “I understand that this is an age of blurring nationalities, but my alliances were, primarily, with the Englishmen.” Kamehameha folded his hands behind his back. “Why do you lead with this?”

“Because I wonder how fine you truly are with my takeover,” he explained. “You were allied to the Englishmen, but you also made it a point to not put Hawaii beneath the British Empire.”

“In my time, I was bound by the politics of this island,” Kamehameha responded. “By which I mean that I never got to leave these lands and see the greater world. Once I understood the scale of it all, I also understood that Hawaii was only left unconquered because we were far away. If I could multiply the Hawai’ians by a thousandfold, then I would advise resistance and that we stand for ourselves forever.”

“But that ship has sailed,” John remarked.

“That ship was never built,” Kamehameha disagreed. “These islands cannot sustain a population to rival an empire. Geography made it Hawai’i’s destiny to be overtaken by another people eventually. There was a chance for the Maui that came here to go further. Even if they did, even if they had found the Americas, that would not have made Hawai’i more than a province of their empire.” The uniter regarded John with a plain, pragmatic stare. “It is better to accept circumstances and work within them.”

“A wise policy,” John agreed. “I have the luxury of being the circumstances a lot of the time.”

That got a sudden and hearty laugh out of the king. It was a series of long, bellowing sounds. “HA-HA-HA-HA!” It almost felt like each repetition should have been accompanied by a karate chop. “In my day, I too felt strong. My mana became even stronger in ****.”

“Strong enough to travel despite your state,” John remarked. “How, if I may ask?”

“I involved a well-trained necromancer and a samurai. Perhaps I will tell you more about it one day, but not today.” They were now a fair way away from the group. Not reliably out of earshot, but far enough away that even a god’s hearing would have struggled to pick up more than scraps. Soundwaves had a physical limit. Magic messed with that reality, but it was still somewhat obliging of the basic fact. “You want to talk about Veridion.”

“If I may be so bold?”

“I can hardly stop you. You are an emperor of millions. I am a once-king turned champion of hundreds. You have more power in the women with you than I had across my entire history.”

Another acknowledgement of the reality of the situation. John really liked that. 90% of his troubles in life, it felt, came from the delusional and the arrogant.

‘God, I love it when things just move smoothly and honestly,’ the Gamer thought, then presented his question. “Why do you side with Veridion? All of your other allies, save perhaps for the Kupua, are visibly distancing themselves from him.”

Kamehameha looked back the direction they had come from. “It is a simple manner… he didn’t use to be like this.”

“I have heard differently,” John had to softly disagree.

“Do not misunderstand, he was always high-strung and demanding. It was that rigidness that immediately tied us as friends. He came here with traders, exploring the world. He was writing at the time, studying the various ways that people across the globe worked to assure that oaths were honoured within a society. Shame, guilt, duty, respect, ****, pain, resources, he formulated a massive compendium on how each affected a society. He was passionate and just, capable of giving in when pushed by his friends.”

“What changed?” John asked.

“Time, I think.” Massive shoulders rose and then fell in a simple shrug. “He came to visit with some regularity, every five years or so. I noticed his rising bitterness over the years, but what finally made him who he is now I cannot say. I don’t think there was a definitive event. I believe he simply spent too much time staring into the abyss.”

“If you know that he is a detriment now, then-“

“Then that changes nothing,” Kamehameha stated. “You say that he is bull-headed, and I agree. You say that he is malevolent, and I agree. You say that he is alienating and rude and a tyrant of words, and I agree a hundredfold.” For a moment, the anger that the uniter felt seeped into his tone. A couple of breaths later, he had evened his temper again. “But he was my friend. I hope he may be again. Time does not only eat away at us, it grants us new opportunities as well.”

“You will stand with Veridion until the very end, then?”

“I will do right by him to the degree I deem right. That is what I owe him and the person of great mana that I am.”

John circled his jaw for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. “I can understand that.”

There was nothing really left to be said between them after that. Together, they headed back to the gathering of people. John returned to his women, Kamehameha to Veridion. The god of oaths said something to the king, managing to get a light smile out of the native man.

The content of the talk complicated John’s feelings on Veridion. Knowing that there had been a reasonable man behind that façade humanized him, which made the decision whether or not to kill him more difficult. John disliked taking lives, he always had. Unless he knew a person really deserved it, he tried to spare them as best he could. During large scale combat, he had often entered a state of deliberate ignorance, seeing enemy soldiers not as people but as uniforms.

Did Veridion really deserve it? What great sin had he committed?

He had knocked out Layla’s teeth.

Was that enough?

Would John kill him for that or would he forgive?

The Gamer was, as of that moment, uncertain.

The Deprivation Trial soon came to its conclusion. Even by the end of it, Gnome looked barely inconvenienced. She had the exterior of a lady, the attitude of a bashful wife and the spirit of a Tibetan monk. When she returned, John still rewarded her with a big smooch.

“It all comes down to tomorrow,” Veridion declared. He seemed more than a little smug about it. No doubt he had good reason for it. He knew the trial and had the luxury of choosing the final contestant. All was lining up for him.

There were others **** in motion as well.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Alright, I am back!” Lee announced herself. “And everywhere I go, I see his face.”

“Almost like you love me or something,” John, as the Ambassador Double, joked. By request of Lorelei, he had moved to the Crafting Crew’s centre of operation. Undine hadn’t protested much about it, she was in a state of planning where she was doing a lot of sitting around and securing covert resource flows anyhow.

“Then we can continue!” Hailey declared.

“Why did you wait for her in the first place?” Famine asked. The vampire had been given a serving of Hailey’s life energy after the country gal had gotten sick and tired of listening to his wheezing. Restored to a handsome state of undeath, his voice was now smooth and even. “She’s about as useful as Glory or I am here.”

“My resplendent presence boosts the morale of all!” Zelos declared. “Beyond that, I am of use, you are not!”

“He is right,” War stated. “He can forge. You are just sitting there, eating snacks.”

“And what snacks they are!” Famine declared, his hand disappearing in a bag of crisps.

Scarlett gave the Horseman a **** glare. She was not remotely enthused about food in her highly controlled manufactory. Complaints had been made and ignored. The quickest way to get Famine out of their home was to finish the project.

“Lee ain’t the most instrumental of us, but she’s far from useless, y’all,” Hailey informed the riders.

“Yay, I am not useless,” Lee drawled. Taking offense to being one of the lesser instrumental crafters would have been silly when she provided another, arguably more vital service with her Fateweaving. “So, you finished the base while I was gone?”

“Ta-da!” Hailey held up what had been the Astrotium-Mithril spiral. Its shape had not changed all that much, the hammering having turned it from a ‘horn’ to a blade. The original grooves remained visible along the spine of the double-edged blade. Said edges retained the back and forth of the flattened spiral, giving it a wavy appearance. Only the tip was straight, a sharp end to a sharp bit of metal.

Refining it to this point had taken Hailey over 20 work hours of just hammering the Astrotium. Sharpening the metal after had been an atrociously expensive deal involving several Arcane Stars, Metra, Ehtra, the Rose of Artifice and a cooling basin surrounded by True Ice.

And all of that had only really worked out because War lent his expertise to Hailey’s enigmatic intuition.

“Nice,” Lee said. “Soooo… what do we do next?”

“We put it together,” Scarlett stated, taking over as she always did once the blueprint and all the materials were in order. “Schematics are on the table. Lee, I need you to help Lorelei with infusing the Ur-Oak wood with the essence of the Midnight Lavender. Hailey and War are going to work together to hammer the patina in place. No, I do not know how one hammers a patina in place, especially not on this material.” Scarlett glared at Famine.

Enki had an answer to that question. “When you see the stars in the sky, you only see a fraction of their rays.”

“Whatever,” Scarlett dismissed the esotericism. “Delicia is on universal supply duty.”

“I’ll do so much running,” the alchemist groaned. Perhaps that was why she had chosen to transform herself into a mouse girl for the time being. It made her shorter and faster, easier to dash around the place. “I hope I stocked up enough of the coolant.”

“You did according to my most pessimistic calculations,” Scarlett stated. “Zelos, you help her. Famine, don’t be in the way.”

“Roger that, I will be right here and provide nothing.”

“One of your teeth.” War suddenly extended a hand. “That is what you will provide.”

“Really? Urgh…” Famine reached into his mouth without hesitation. Despite the multitude of grievous injuries John had seen in his life, he winced when the Rider pulled a canine out of its socket. It was not helped by the fact that a vampire’s corner tooth had a lot of hidden length to it. Once he had dug out the entire length of the fang, he flicked it across the room.

“Originating from a vampire, a tooth freely given,” War declared. “The symbolic centrepiece of this weapon. My way to imbue it with the property you seek most of all: for the weapon to be finalized in deed, not process.”

“And yet this process must be flawless.” Lorelei gestured for Lee to follow her to a workbench, where a branch of the Ur-Oak awaited being turned into a handle. “For this weapon to achieve its ultimate potential, we must work fluidly and swiftly. All pieces must be joined in harmony.”

“Enki, you help me coordinate,” Scarlett ordered.

“Of course, I will not let this material go to waste!” Enki declared. “I am already pleased enough that you peons have realized that Astrotium of this grade is best left to enchant itself.”

The insult flowed off Scarlett like water did a duck’s back.

“Let’s get to work!”