Chapter 87: Chapter 86: Stressful Ignorance
As everyone listened to the conversation, to Carl’s monologue about the laws that the immortals were clearly giving the benefit of the doubt, Carl suddenly started screaming in pain and everyone suddenly felt a strange lapse in their systems.
Klaire pushed through, forcing her body to keep moving as an indescribable numbness spread through her mind.
When she finally reached him the screaming had stopped and she was unconscious. A deathly howl left her lips, but not one made to tear at souls, but one that tore at the boundary between realms, Klaire stumbled through the hole carrying Carl.
It wasn’t tidy and the portal pushed back against them, but she forced her way through and found herself in the infirmary on Lugaria.
"Carl, I don’t know what happened, but please wake up soon.. I don’t think we’re going to be back at full strength until you do and even those three were looking shaky." Klaire said as she laid him down on the closest bed, collapsing to her knees as soon as she was unencumbered.
"Shaky, but not as bad as the others... Ki-ko, Squidge and Levi are practically comatose, but looked in on Majesty and Aegis and they seem largely unaffected." Lillim said as she stumbled through the messy portal.
"What happened Grandma? Is he going to be alright?"
"I honestly have no idea Klaire, as he screamed I looked at his system to see if it was downloading information, but all I could see was a message saying "error" repeatedly and then a strange one that just said "Carl... It hurts." Then my own system faltered and now I feel like I lost most of my power."
"Me too, I feel like I just woke up and all my power was a dream, even my howl hurt to use."
"Don’t feel bad girl, the rest of us couldn’t do anything so quickly, the determination you two have for each other is terrifying."
A short while later, Nergal appeared, bringing Kyubi, Faylorna, Lydia, Alisha and Leanna with him. "What happened? none of these ones knew."
"Nergal? I thought you weren’t watching him?" Lillim said, naturally suspicious of his timely arrival.
"I called him, we failed to open a portal, I feel like a human again." Faylorna grumbled.
Satisfied this wasn’t him causing an issue he could swoop in to resolve, Lillim answered. "No, we don’t know what caused it... Klaire seems to be forcing through it on autopilot, I’d recommend caution."
"I see... Klaire, can I please examine him?" Nergal asked, giving a slight bow.
"Please, just don’t do anything weird."
Nergal chuckled, then approached and examined him, asking what they were discussing and doing when the strange affliction happened.
"We can’t discuss that here. We also can’t discuss most of what we were with an outsider, but when it happened he was in pain and I looked at his system to see if it was granting him knowledge."
"Was it? If it was bestowing a vast amount of knowledge on a mortal that would explain it."
"No, his system was saying error repeatedly, then it seemed like his system was in pain."
"Pain? the system isn’t a living being, it doesn’t have a body to feel pain." Nergal began examining things even Lillim couldn’t see. "Well, his soul is still attached firmly, his mind is in a state of unconscious recovery, though it is unusually active as well and finally his body seems perfectly healthy."
"Thank you, but that doesn’t tell us how to wake him up." Klaire said, demoting him from potential assistance to unnecessary distraction.
"There is one more thing I can try, but I would rather not do it ,truth be told. I could look into his recent memories, I am far more precise than Faylorna and I can sign a contract to forget when I leave."
"Do it."
"Klaire!" Lillim was about to argue, then the release of Klaire’s aura silenced her until Nergal released his own to smother it back.
"Klaire, she isn’t wrong to be wary and no one should release aura until we know it won’t affect him."
"Just help him, if you don’t I’ll go tell Margo his game is in danger of ending before it begins."
For the first time ever, a mortal made Nergal flinch, he had taken Lillim’s warning to mean that she might attack and put herself in danger. Looking at Klaire now, he saw that wasn’t the case and she meant Klaire would gladly sacrifice all of creation to save Carl.
For a second, he hesitated, he hadn’t seen that ferocity since his sister and knew the danger it could do. For a second, he wondered if he should kill her, then remembered that Carl was just as zealous when it came to her.
He remembered how they arrived at his gates and looking back to where their bodies fell, seeing his charred and crumbling corpse continue to drag itself toward Klaire’s and Squidges.
After putting a decent amount of thought into it, he finally responded. "You two are going to put an end to this madness or everything, either way I suppose it will make my job far easier."
"Make your job easier?"
"Yes. I am quite lazy in all honesty, until the gods broke down the boundaries to the mortal world, my work load was manageable. I want it to return to that level, to when I could afford to take breaks and chat without dreading the work waiting for me."
"I still think it’s a shame a being with your power has the gall to be lazy." Lillim groaned, remembering how tirelessly the crowns of hell worked to fulfill their purpose.
"What!? His system’s gone!" Nergal’s outburst rang hollow, he was speaking of an impossibility, then Klaire remembered.
"Was Ishtar’s system flawed? How did he lose it?"
"I have no clue, I’m hesitant to believe my sister would fail in something so important to her, but that doesn’t change the fact his system is gone. I’m leaving, I can’t afford to draw attention to you all right now, his life isn’t in danger so you should take him back to your Haven."
Nergal opened a portal for them, but Klaire shook her head. "With any luck I can bait someone who can fix it, if not, I’ll eat their souls and get strong enough to fix it on my own."
"Kids these days are horrifying." Nergal said, giving Lillim, Faylorna and Kyubi the joy of seeing him genuinely uncomfortable before he left.
For two days Klaire sat by his bedside, their own powers had mostly returned to normal and Lydia and Kyubi monitored his condition around the clock. As Klaire was about ready to go check on the children as she had been convinced to do that morning, Aegis suddenly appeared with Tiamutael.
"Mistress, Master has asked for kyubi to bathe his mind, body and soul in fire." Klaire simply shot Aegis several times, assuming it to be some sick joke.
"Carl has been unconscious for two days. Tiamutael, I know you’re worried about Dad, but you shouldn’t play such pranks. Did Ki-ko put you up to it?"
"Mum, it isn’t a joke, I detected an anomaly with Majesty. When I looked in on her, I saw her royal guards trying to get Aegis to her. Luckily Aegis is vocal, I saw it for myself. I could also detect non standard thought waves."
"Sweetie... How sure are you?"
"I know Aegis has followed orders and stayed on the third floor for two days waiting for Dad to message. I also know that Aegis is too aware of my watching, he even told Sis as much when she threatened him."
Aegis trembled slightly, curious how much the little dragon actually saw with his seemingly unblinking gaze.
"Sweetie, I’ll let you decide for me. I’m too tired and scared."
"Auntie Kyubi, please ignite Dad’s mind, body and soul." Tiamutael spoke without confidence, but needed something to happen.
Kyubi transformed and, with no small amount of trepidation, bathed Carl in her flames.
Everybody watched for a few minutes as Carl’s body slowly deteriorated. "Sorry, That’s all I can risk doing, I need to switch to healing. Can you hear him Aegis?"
"No, it was never me, it was Majesty. It seems the creator bond between them has become intertwined with their hive mind. Even for Majesty he wasn’t clear though, it’s like he wasn’t really sure how he was linking either, after Lady Kyubi’s flame bath his mind probably won’t be able to link for a good while."
"Why did he even want it?"
"Something about a girl crying in the dark."
"A girl crying in the dark? Maybe a nightmare from when we died..." Klaire sat down at Carl’s bedside again and asked Tiamutael to fetch Kitsunoko.
When he returned, Klaire left his side for the first time to make everybody present lunch, then returned to the infirmary and place it all down to one side away from Carl.
When she grabbed her own and made to return to Carl’s side she saw something most unexpected... A naked girl, about their age was clinging to him, weeping and saying his name.
"Oh, so this must just be one of those dreams, well I’ll just do what I usually do..." As everyone started to turn, eager to see what she was talking about, she summoned one of her pistols.
Carl awakened just as she aimed it at his temple, then asked him to explain, he muttered something that was practically inaudible and then everyone watched as the girl seemed to simply blip out of existence.
Then they listened as Carl tried to mumble something else before he passed out again.
"Lydia, will he die if I shoot him? I think he just created a naked girl in his sleep..."
"Klaire, I admit it is suspect, but I’m pretty sure he might and also I don’t remember him being able to erase his creations."
"Hmm, I’ll defer sentencing, can’t rule it out though since it could be a new skill." she sat down next to him. "Please wake up soon Dummy, I don’t know how to feel after that."