Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

With the first rays of the sun out once they were at their doorstep, Ben’s mind was still full of all he’d have to do before he stopped, banging his head against the door with the new problem that came to his thoughts.

“You okay there, Ben?”

“Just realized we have a young little resident in town who’ll be able to see the system info for the demis if he ever runs into one.”

Thera’s face fell as he said it with the new issues obvious once it was pointed out. Mora would be able to see the demidemons race through the system information bound to their souls which meant it wasn’t something they could just ignore. Even if he was being secretive in his use of magic, if he thought they were a threat and acted on it discreetly, with the power he held it was all but certain they’d die, leaving Ben to sigh.

“We’ll have to talk to him before anything else then.”

Their particular struggles with guardianship were enough to almost make him laugh, having no choice but to consider the potential whims of what might as well have been a child god for all the power Mora held but in the end what it came down to was as simple as trying to explain and instill a sense of right and wrong and after the long night they’d been through, neither of them wanted to wait as they let themselves in before knocking on the boy’s door, getting a small surprise as he came to open it himself instead of calling them in.

“Welcome back.”

“Sorry we were so late,” Thera told him, wrapping him in a hug. “We had a bit of an emergency that we need to talk to you about, mind if we come in?”

“Alright.”

They moved to sit on the edge of his bed, Mora squeezed between the two with Thera taking the lead.

“Um, so Mora, you are aware of the demons and the invasion going on, aren’t you?”

They had never outright asked but given that the boy’s age could be measured in months, they had to be sure. Neither doubted that Vividus had been clear about it in whatever sort of education she’d given him of course but the extent mattered, with Mora tensing up before nodding as Ben took over.

“Well, the thing is, there’s a few complications about it that the average person might not know but there’s a pretty good chance you’ll stumble into a bit of it when you go through town. It’s the reason we were so late getting back but if you see something, we’d really, really like you to keep it a secret with us, okay?”

The boy’s tension melted just a little, traded for curiosity as he perked up. “What is it?”

Meeting each other's eyes, Ben couldn’t help but sigh as he covered the explanation, feeling the weight of the need to properly convey it all.

“On this world, deep in the untamed lands, a group called the forbidden gods created a hybrid race between demons and one of the native animals to make themselves a new species to get faith from called demidemons. We’re not going to go into why those gods did it, they shouldn’t have and they’ve been punished for it, but what matters is the demidemons themselves. They aren’t like demons, they’re people who’ve been mistreated and just want to live but there’s no guarantee that everyone will understand that if word gets out so that’s why we’re bringing this up now. Whenever you see any, don’t bring up their name to anyone, okay? As far as we and everyone else in town is going to be concerned, their species is called the demis and they’re a group of believers of Myriad who’ve been evacuated here after their village was destroyed. Heck, that last part is absolutely true, it’s what kept us so long but what’s important is not saying anything that might put them in danger. Can you do that?”

“So you aren’t killing them?” Mora asked, looking surprised while Thera waved her hands.

“No no no, absolutely not. I’ll take you to meet some today, Mora. I don’t think we’re going to do a long one at the hospital since this popped up and they’re all nice people, I’m sure you’ll be able to get along.”

“...What about demons then?”

“Incomparable,” Ben told him. “Demidemons are people but real demons are basically monsters with intelligence, they don’t have mercy or empathy or anything that would let us reason with them. Whatever blood the two share, they couldn’t be more different.”

“...I see.”

The answer seemed to make him slip back further into himself and again Ben and Thera shared a look, with her taking the initiative that time.

“Mora, is there something about that answer that bothered you?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine. If you just got back though, don’t you both need to sleep?”

“Well, yes but we can talk a bit longer if there’s anything you’re worried about.”

“We can talk later. Get some rest, I’ll be fine.”

“...Okay, well we’re just going to have a small nap, we’ll be out in an hour, okay?”

“Okay.”

Picking up that he wanted to be alone, the two went to their own room and laid down, Thera saying what they were both thinking.

“Something about that seems like it could have gone a lot better.”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll have to try and push that a little bit soon.”

They’d been trying to give him space to open up to them on their own but the boy seemed bothered when they’d left, whatever was on his mind not a concern he was going to openly share but that was one more concern among many and to start easing a few of them, Ben closed his eyes, forcing his mind to his god’s realm.

“Alright, I’ve let down the demidemons and I’m struggling to connect to the kid I’m trying to raise which means today is the perfect day for bad news in general so hit me.”

“You didn’t let down the demidemons, Ben,” Myriad told him. “If anything it’s the opposite, you helped save them again. Thank you.”

“Fifteen are dead.”

“Instead of all of them.”

“I should’ve thought to move them to Stonewall before something like this could happen.”

“No, I should have. I’m their god.”

“And I’m their apostle.”

“And just one man.”

“Ignoring the thousands of things I can think at the same time.”

“Nobody can think of everything. You have your priorities and neither I nor they hold anything against you for not moving them sooner. We made the best choice we could when their existence was discovered and now we’re trying to make the best choice we can again, feel good about those you helped save, it matters just as much as the ones you couldn’t.”

“Great advice, thanks but I’d rather get all of my misery, self-loathing, and despair out all at once.”

“How healthy of you,” The cube sighed, the sarcasm thick in his voice.

“And given that,” Ben went on, ignoring his god. “I have a question for you. How are things going?”

“Aside from what my believers just went through? I suppose I’m doing fairly well, all things considered.”

“Okay, that’s nice but I was more talking about with the war. It’s been a few months since the points opened up, how are things going now that we’ve passed the second wave?”

“Ah, that. Well, all things considered, I’d say better than we’d hoped.”

“Genuinely?”

“There’s positives and negatives but honestly, more positives than I’d say any of us have dared to dream. For one, civilization as we know it hasn’t collapsed yet which is a big win as far as how the majority of known worlds ended up which is really the biggest plus any of us could have hoped for and our people are powerful enough to continue facing the challenges that crop up. Hell, it was recently that it was confirmed that another one of the demon contenders was found and handled before they could become a problem. I’m comfortable saying that hope is alive and well.”

“Okay, and as nice as that is, I'm not feeling positive enough to want to hear anything so cheery. What’s the bad news?”

“You really can be such a downer, you know that?”

“I think being a downer is kind of the natural state of this world, we’re all lucky I don’t give in to my defeatist attitude more often. So, what is there to worry about out there?”

“Ugh, nothing you can’t expect. No matter how well we’re doing, the gods who witnessed the start of the third wave still aren’t confident it’s enough and people are still dying every day. There’s been more than a few occasions that villages have been found completely eradicated too, with how it’s happening seeming like it might be the work of another contender.”

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s clear it’s just one doing it, the damage to the ones I’m talking about is basically non-existent and the bodies look untouched when they're found, like they’ve had the vitality ripped out of them and nothing else. There’s probably a couple others too but we have groups looking for them to the best of our abilities but no matter how far we’ve come and how well we do… I’m still not confident.”

Ben sat down on the floor when his god said it, staring up above, lost in his thoughts with the world’s fate circling his head.

“Am I doing enough?” He wondered, with his god giving a small laugh at the idle thought.

“You’re doing more than ninety-nine percent of the world. Hell, maybe even more than a hundred percent. When I watch you work it sure feels like it sometimes.”

“But am I really directing my efforts in the right places?” He sighed. “I’ve become a pretty good mage-”

“Describing yourself like that would be a psychological blow to every other mage on the planet.”

“So maybe I should be focusing that way instead. Maybe I should be going out, overfilling my soul to hunt whatever demons I can to kill all I can on top of everything else.”

“You don’t have enough hours in the day to add that unless you’re going to stop giving your time to the people you love.”

“...No, I still have to live,” He muttered before flopping over to his stomach. “It’s just hard.”

“You’re only one person, there was only ever going to be so much you could do Ben and if you’ll give my opinion any weight, no matter how powerful you may now be, the things you’re making are changing the world. What you’re doing is plenty.”

“Yeah… yeah. I just wish I could do more.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Ben finally breaking it for what he really wanted to know.

“Myriad?”

“Yes, Ben?”

“I have a question for you, can you be honest with me?”

“Of course.”

“How many of the demidemons chose to merge into you when they died?”

“Ah, it was thirteen.”

“More than I expected.”

“Despite the differences in how I treated them compared to the forbidden gods, they were raised and bred to be devote. Getting an option like that was an honor in their eyes.”

“Good, and the two who didn’t?”

“The two former priests, Caz and Pleht. They wanted to but… In the end, they couldn’t forgive themselves for what their old gods made them do.”

“I see. Myriad?”

“Yes?”

“How did the other thirteen feel when they died?”

“Ben, I can say this as one who became them, they harboured no animosity. Not to me and not to you.”

“...I see.”