Apostles of Doom

“Yes. That’s essentially what I’m doing, only I am using the Doom of Nysegard as the relay. You would need to use avatars. They wouldn’t be able to channel as much, but it would be better than this,” Tom said.

“That is brilliant! I can’t believe we did not think of that,” Aeris said. At least Tom was pretty sure that’s who the woman was. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new people he had just met.

“How do we know where the interdiction ends?” Asferóth, the winged Arch-Diocate of Krinna asked. Tom had originally mistaken him as an avatar; he certainly looked like a very colorful and majestic angel.

“Wait!” Karis, who was standing behind Grob Darkness Slayer, interjected. “Lord Orcus? Couldn’t they just use your runic gateway to go to the Isle of Doom? We already know that is outside the interdiction!”

Beragamos looked to Tom and then to Darg-Krallnom.

Tom sighed. “I am sure you understand why we are leery of this idea?” he asked the archon.

Beragamos nodded. “I swear by my immortal soul that we shall do nothing to sabotage the Doom of Nysegard, nor Mount Doom, even after the battle is complete. I so swear on behalf of the Five Siblings.”

Darg-Krallnom nearly glared at the archon. “We shall hold you to that.”

“Actually, Darg-Krallnom, we do not need to, remember?” Tom said with a tight grin. “I have Hephaestus, also known as pTah, and his wife Sekhmekt guarding the Doom of Nysegard, along with an army of their avatars. The rest of their pantheon is available within minutes.” He looked at Beragamos. “As you probably know, the Nyjyr Ennead want nothing more than to tear down Tierhallon, along with all of the Five Siblings’ Outer Planes.”

Hilda, the heavyset saint who had been chasing Talarius, looked up from her concentration on mana processing towards him. “You are working with Bastet and her people?”

“All of them.” Tom nodded. “We were both wronged, betrayed, by the Five Siblings.”

Beragamos closed his eyes. Hilda looked to Beragamos, apparently seeking the truth of the matter.

“Is it true?” Talarius suddenly demanded of Beragamos.

Beragamos opened his eyes to meet Talarius’s. “Is what true?”

“Sekhmekt shared a vision, mortal memories, of what happened in Natoor, in the city of Memphis. Her vision showed the Rod and Rangers ravaging and terrorizing the city, conversion by force,” Talarius stated angrily. “Doing things that are clearly in violation of everything the Church and Rod stand for. She said this happened all over Natoor and Najaar.”

Beragamos sighed. “There were issues with that venture. Oversight was not what it should have been. The Siblings have been working to correct what occurred there. The attending archon was transferred out; a new one brought in shortly after that.”

Talarius had a look of complete horror and revulsion on his face.

Tom shook his head and asked, “Who was the attending archon?”

Beragamos looked at him sidelong and grimaced. “I take it you know?”

Tom did not know, but he had a pretty good hunch. “Based on what you have told me, I can make a guess.”

Talarius looked at him, puzzled.

Sir Stainsberry asked, “Sentir Fallon?”

Beragamos nodded quietly.

“If I were to believe what you said about Tiernon not intending his treachery, that Sentir Fallon acted on his own both times, then I would suggest that Tiernon has seriously failed as a god of Justice,” Tom said coldly. He was actually more than a little surprised at how angry he was feeling at the moment. The horrors of this Sentir Fallon were old, well before Tom’s time, but for some reason he found himself taking all of this personally.

Inethya, the Prophetess of Tiernon on Nysegard, spoke up. “Even before Sentir Fallon was promoted to the role of Elder Archon of the Localverse, while he was Attendant Archon for Astlan, he had been advocating for a decreased ground game on Nysegard. He is the one primarily responsible for the reduction in the number of saints joining battle here.”

“Actually, we had to go over his head to Beragamos to get permission to be here for this battle,” Dashgar admitted.

Beragamos sighed, closing his eyes again for several moments as the tension around the table simmered and no one spoke. “As Lord Orcus has said, such issues are for another day. I assure you that all of this will be brought before Tiernon as soon as this war is over. Let us focus on winning one battle at a time,” he said upon opening his eyes.

Citadel of Light, Tower Balcony: Early Fifth Period

Talarius stood observing the obscenely large army of the dead surrounding the Citadel. He was on a balcony down the hall from the Command Center. He shook his head; this was his first true view of the Citadel as a whole. It certainly lived up to its name. He had never seen, nor even imagined, a man-made fortress on this scale. It was quite daunting. As was the Unlife army arrayed around the mighty fortress.