Sylvester & Tuette: Cursed Doubt

Epilogue

The journey back had been relatively uneventful; no one was trying to stop them from saving the kingdom so the routes were unbarred. After leaving Tuette and Cherry in Zharinna, they had come up the mountain easily enough. But it was the arrival that had been unexpected. Not the action itself, just what greeted King Sylvester, his agricultural specialist, and his remaining Gousherall Guardsman.


Penson was dead.


Dothel and Kren had come together to both congratulate the king and immediately console him.


From what they had been able to gather, their fellow advisor Trisden had been experimenting with slight Magiks. Those had caused the man to become delusional and attack Penson. The instabilities of the Magiks had also lead to Trisden Fellowes being burned to death and Sylvester thought he might find some kind of retribution or cool solace in that, but he didn’t.


Penson had been the closest thing to a friend the king had had. And he had been the only one who knew about the inherent flaws in the kingstone line itself. Who do I share my knowledge with now?


As if answering the unvoiced question, Dermy put his good arm on the king’s shoulder and patted the monarch affectionately. “I’m sorry, Sylvester. I know how much he meant to you.” Turning to look Dermy in the eye, Sylvester realized that the farmer knew of the king’s ineffectiveness. As did Terry, and Tuette and Cherry, down near Cripp Lek.


And he also knew that they didn’t judge him for it, because they understood that it was entirely out of his control.


With the death of Penson, Sylvester knew that someone invaluable had been lost from Mount Reign but that the sentimental role he had filled could be occupied by others. Still, that one person that was seen every single day who suddenly wouldn’t be… Sylvester wasn’t sure what would happen when he woke up in the morning.


Part of him dreaded that feeling, but part of him welcomed it.





*          ~          *          ~          *





King Sylvester had been surprisingly calm in taking the news that his groomer and companion had been slain by a demented Mage. Dothel – once Withered Spirit – had rehearsed the speech a hundred times when it was confirmed that Sylvester was well on his way back to the mountain.


In the dawn of the next day, a new groomer had already been placed but Dothel couldn’t help but wonder if it was another undercover operative. And Islanders were coming to claim Trisden Fellowes’ remains. But he’d already ferried Cherry to the makeshift grave and had her grow the toorpa. The body would never be recovered.


But Dothel couldn’t help marveling on the uniqueness of Cherry Tee. Immune to Magik but has a specific power all her own. Remarkable! He was a little worried how the perrytas and even Dormaset were going to react. They usually knew all there was to know regarding Magik, but this was a new avenue.


That didn’t stop it from sparking Dothel’s interest in his job.


*          ~          *          ~          *





Depositing her newfound items in her own isolated realm, Dorothy knew that she would have to visit her younger brother, Valtos, in his own V’tal-Oo, what the Mortals liked to think of as an Immortal Realm. Upon arriving, she found Valtos immersed in his Memory Well once again.


Always bathing in the memories of Mortals. She didn’t approve, but knew she could do nothing. This is his realm, after all. Not mine.


I barely have one.


“Valtos, dear brother, we may have a problem.”


Valtos, embodying a muscularly young human male with a flowing mane of silver, raised effortlessly out of the Well. “Sister Dorothy, what could you possibly be talking about? According to the memories that Salrouge has just supplied me, this couldn’t be a more unproblematic mo—“


“The Three have been busy. And in a sour way.”


Valtos’ face became still. Dorothy knew the implications behind her own statement. She had blamed him for the mishandlings of the Toll Brothers ever since they were created and installed as Valtos’ own Wishing Gods. The trio had become unruly with granting obscene and oftentimes dangerous wishes. The end result was that they were exiled to live out endless lives in Valent while donning Mortal bodies. There was nothing else to be done about it. They couldn’t be Destroyed because none of the available Gods had Destroying abilities. The battle held however-long-ago that had found the Primary Gods waging war against their Creators uncovered that the Primaries actually knew very little about how to handle Existence.


“The Three,” repeated Valtos in a very somber tone. She could only nod. “What have they done?”


“I just commandeered a tome entitled Worldly Magik and Wonder-filled Curses. There are several pages which describe, in detail, how to use what your Mortals have termed World Magiks. I came across it while one of your Mortals, a woman named Tuette Fayrentisay Doorspell, was accompanied by a male named King Sylvester—”


“King Sylvester?”


That surprised her. “Yes. He is the official King of Decennia, a kingdom in your charge.” Does he not know about Sylvester? “They had arranged for a Corn Circle, coupled with a incantation – of poor but passable dialect, I might add – well, it was brought together to call me down and I took what they offered, which was another man, Corunny Makra Voidet, and all the non-living entities that he possessed. That is, those which I liked, which was pretty much the architecture and nothing more.”


“And… you took them?”


She felt her neck bristle at the question. “Of course I did. The Voidet man was posing a danger to your people. But that’s not the point…”


“Right,” said Valtos absentmindedly, like he was focusing on something else. “Right, the tome.”


“Yes. In it are several direct methods that can be used to contact a Primary God such as myself or even you, among other things. Only the Toll Brothers could know about them.”


“They’re in exile. There’s not much I can do with them now, Dorothy.”


She felt herself squint with irritation. “I’m aware. I’m only informing you because they will most likely cause further problems. And it’s not like I’ve abducted the only scripts with those details. The Toll Brothers know how to read and write.”


“If that’s all…”


“It’s not.” What’s he so impatient for? All of a sudden, he’s distracted. “The pair that delivered Voidet to me. I think they can help us.”


“Help us? With…”


“Yes, with helping contain and be rid of Dool-Kana-Ti. It’s events like what just transpired that make the Outside Darkness too dangerous to let roam without check any longer.”


“And you think two Mortal humans can help?”


She shook her head. “Not just those two. A pair or more from each World. But it does seem like Valent is burdened with the heavier shift of Dool-Kana-Ti. They might not be strong enough for the task, however long it takes.”


“So how do—“


“We test them. Somehow. They need to show that they can handle the manifestations of Outside Darkness as it applies to the Mortal Realms. Once we have your World’s pair, the others will fall into place.”


“And what if the tests kill these two? What then?”


“Then they weren’t right for the task, which is just as well. We need real Champions here, Valtos. The Outside Darkness is only invading the Mortal Realms and we can’t do anything, despite the fact that it can have major repercussions on this side of Existence.”


“So, we test them. Win or lose, it’s a start. And we might finally be rid of the Darkness.”


Dorothy nodded. “Indeed. Finally.”


Yes, finally, we’ll be rid of the very Darkness that we inadvertently created. And then we can stop worrying about the many ways it might bite us in our Immortal rears.


Does it matter if this Sylvester and Tuette pair fail to pass any test thrown at them?


No, not really. It only means they couldn’t handle the job. And two real Champions will eventually be found. This is what a real god has to deal with: not worrying about the lives of the few but securing the future of the many.


Thinking any other way would be Mortal.