I Get the Feeling I Hate You

"It'll be an obvious trap though, like so obvious even you could see it." The madness that was Trezlan Lorentino would not leave Tolviar alone. She figured it would hang around, but didn't know how obnoxious it could be. From her memories of Trezlan it fit exactly with him personality wise, if only even more of an asshole as if that was possible.

"Why do you bother me so." She was holed up where there had once been a homeless camp, what happened to the homeless people living there she did not know, but could probably guess.

"Bother? I'm helping, I fought, well part of me, look whatever, I fought these things, I know their methods."

"So do I you trumped up clown! This is bigger than normal, but I've taken these creatures down, I don't need a mental breakdown here helping me do something I already know how to do." Trezlan smiled and Tolviar wanted to punch him, but she knew she could not.

"I think you are being unreasonable, yet I can see where my presence is not appreciated, so I will go for a time, I think you'll need me before you know it, but I'm willing to let you do this on your own, by the way you might want to turn around." She didn't even get to ask why before the remaining creature attacked. It had gotten partially burned in the fire, though apparently avoided dying to it, but not by much from the charred look of the creature.

Tolviar attempted to finish it off with fire, but came up empty. Whatever magic she'd used to convert the hotel fire into an inferno had sucked it out of her. Somewhere she could almost hear the voice of the madness laughing at her.

"Great, now he's not here to offer suggestions."

The Failure of Fools

"She apparently has quite the talent for fire magic god." They had drawn lots, Willis had lost and so he was the one who descended the steps to speak with their god. The quivering shape of it brought him to his knees, the smell kept him there. He knew his death could come at any moment.

"They always do, this one smells of another though, who also burned." The voice reverberated in the chamber and in Willis's mind, he knew the God would do this, to impart its strength to the unworthy.

"Her name is Tolviar does that have a memory attached?"

"No it does not, though it matters not, she will fall, pull your people back, direct her to me, I will wrench from her life all I need, and then the other will feel loss like he has not in a long time."

"Yes God." Willis felt better he felt he might actually survive the meeting.

"Come closer lesser." Willis did so reluctantly, he dared not approach the pool, he'd seen someone who had and it looked like a fate worse than simply being killed. As he approached the pool his God extended one of its tentacles, the thick black fluid slimed off the arm as it approached Willis. It touched him on the forehead and his brain was on fire, pain, and memory flooded him and Willis stopped being Willis, but became an extension of his God. His eyes clouded over and he left the chamber to inform the others and to make preparations for Tolviar, he wanted to be ready for the necromancer, he had plenty of things to show her.

Madness Is Not a Covenience Thing

The burnt remains of the security force were blowing around the area. The amount of power Tolviar had wielded felt like touching a live wire. The formerly burning hotel was now just a smoking wreck, the fire unleashed had burned so intensely the pavement was partially fused into the ground along with some of the bones of the dead.

"Overkill much?" The figment that was Trezlan was looking at the dead, Tolviar had hoped he would have faded when she was no longer in danger.

"Why are you still here?"

"I've always been here, I've just chosen now for you to see me, I figured you could use my help."

"I have your memories, I don't need your madness." It smiled.

"You act like you can just turn me off, and it doesn't work like that, Trezlan understood, sometimes you have to feed the madness. Give in to it every once in a while or it will crush you." Tolviar turned to leave.

"Right and that worked out so well for him."

"Kept him alive, which is what I aim to do with you, so you might want to run about now I hear others coming." Not wanting to argue with the madness and hearing the foot steps herself Tolviar ran. Sadly she saw that the spirit of madness with a wide grin on his face, was running along side her.

You Can Burn Or You Can Die

The creature had escaped. That much was clear to Tolviar, where ever it had gone it was no longer in the burning building. Unfortunately for Tolviar her escaping was a lot harder since the fire had spread through the rotten hotel so fast every hallway was lit up. She could also hear shouting from outside, some kind of loud speakery voice, she couldn't make out exactly what was said, but figured it was the usual "come out so we can kill you." Thing were looking not great for her. In fact she figured it was probably all over.

"Giving up already?" Bald with a red beard she knew this was what Trezlan had looked like at one point, but not anymore. It was weird to see him there staring at her though.

"Great about to die and now I'm crazy."

"Now? No no you're a part of me, you'll always be crazy its the gift of being a necromancer, or whatever you really are." Something broke and crashed to the floor behind Tolviar, she felt the fire coming on stronger now.

"Ok all that is a given, you're here to tell me something other than how screwed I am?"

"Show you something." Trezlan stuck out his hand and in it was a ball of fire, and then it vanished before exploding out ward.

"I'm confused."

"You control fire, you're stuck in a building on fire, surrounded by people who you can burn, so take one source of fire that's causing you issues and use it on the people also causing you issues." Tolviar smiled, and then moment later emerged from the building to a squad of soldiers with weapons trained on her.

"You can all leave, or you will burn!" She shouted it with a smile and patiently awaited their response.

I Feel Like I Screwed Something Up

Trezlan was in the middle of walking the ship when he stopped. SiC almost ran into him due to the sudden nature of it. The small robot had mostly gotten used to the crazy nature of Trezlan, but it could never account for his walking patterns which were best described as erratic. It was actually something the AI on the ship had attempted to properly calculate once before it gave up do to the unstable nature of the whole thing. It was one of the running jokes on the ship among the machines, the weather was easier to predict than where Trezlan will walk at any given point in a day.

"You ever get the feeling you did something stupid, but not what?"

"As we've tried to explain to you over the course of our mutual relationship, Trezlan we do not get feelings." Trezlan scowled.

"You know at times I almost wonder if this would be easier with a human crew."

"Yes a human crew that you'd have to pay, feed, and deal with their wants and needs over our slavish devotion." Trezlan smiled.

"Ok so you guys do have your strong points, but seriously I feel like I did something dumb, but for the life of me I can't recall what it was."

"Looking over our logs unless somehow reading, writing, and basic human needs like eating and voiding waste is somehow causing the galaxy to come to an end, I don't think you did sir."

" Can't shake the feeling all the same, it'll come to me eventually, though I swear this is happening more and more." The AI had noticed that facet, it was a discussion among the AI that Trezlan was losing his mind. Fail safes had been put in place should he try and harm himself again, still it made SiC the AI equivalent of sad to have to even worry about their master in that fashion.

"I'm sure it will sir, would you like to return to your cabin for another journal entry?"

"Yeah sure, still something seems off today, might be getting sick or something."

A Uniqutely Lorentino Kind of Day

"Highly Flammable." The cooked corpse of the creature had ignited with very little effort, just a simple flick of her wrist and it was screaming and burning. The other three that had been hunting her, had pulled back, waiting instead to try and get the drop on her however they could with how they smelled. The highly Flammable thing was something Trezlan had figured out, these creatures burned like they were made of oil, it was weird to say the least. She hadn't used the fire previously, just necromancy, unlike Trezlan she wasn't as gifted in it, the fire just a lingering ability from him and not one she was born with. To be fair she hadn't even been born at all.

Tolviar had backed into one of the more complete looking rooms. It smelled like mildew and looked like the last time the sheets had been washed was before the Red War, but she at least didn't see an obvious hole one of the creatures could lash out at her from. At least that was what she thought until a taloned hand snatched her from under the floor. The claws burned on her legs as she smashed through the floor into the room below, and then the floor boards there gave way and she crashed another floor to hard concrete. The impact popped her left shoulder out of its socket, the pain immediate.

The creature that pulled her through the floor fell upon her with its claws and teeth. She at least anticipated the attack so instead of it eating her it ran face first into her boots. The creature's neck cracked loud and it laid on the ground twitching. If it wasn't dead yet, it would be soon. Tolviar got to her feet just in time for another of the beasts to descend from above. She cursed that she'd left her weapons in the room now two stories above her, but she did have fire and necromancy, though Trezlan's memories indicated necromancy wasn't that useful against the creatures.

She tried to burn it, but between its superior position and her hurt shoulder the fire missed. The creature lashed out and connected on her injured arm, she could feel some kind of toxin mixing with her blood and knew that things were not going very good. But the contact with her flesh worked both ways. With a tissue connection Tolviar had the fire leap from her body into the creature, it writhed backwards on to its twitching companion which caught that creature on fire and in its flailing caught the rest of the room on fire.

Tolviar had to chuckle, there was one remaining creature, her shoulder was messed up, and the room was on fire. If there was a more Lorentino thing in the whole world she did not know what it could be.

Flesh That Does Not Smell Like Flesh

There were four of the creatures. The black had picked them specifically because of their hunger. They wanted to taste life flesh instead of the dead they had been fed. They wanted to feel the hunt, hear the screams, and bring down their prey with claws and teeth. The creatures didn't understand why one specific flesh was required to be torn. There were so many walking around, full of blood and life, why one was more deadly than others did not occur to them. They were all not deadly, all weak fleshy things waiting to be shredded and devoured. But they did not question the black, the black birthed them, fed them, and kept them, to question it would be to question themselves. So they accepted their command knowing full well once one flesh was eaten others would follow. They had escaped before, done it before, knew that the Black would not punish, he would reward.

The flesh was trying to mask itself by being near dead flesh, but the hunters knew the difference. They could smell her smell. It smelled almost the same as other flesh, but something was off, something was different. The black had warned, had told them to be careful, but the hunters paid no heed, they hunted. And so they came across her, and realized too late, they had become the hunted.

Foul Wind, And Not the Usual Stuff

Murder is exhausting. Tolviar had some of the memories of Trezlan, some good, lot of bad, but that was the one thing he always remembered. When he'd had to kill a lot of anything it tired him out, even with necromancy to replenish ones self and stamina, the mental exhaustion was paramount. That's where she was at the moment, she had bullets, grenades, body armor from the dead, and enough magical power to wipe out the army that was looking for her. But deep down she felt tired, she knew it would be difficult, not this difficult.

She was currently resting in the remains of a hotel. It hadn't been empty when she showed up, but the dead bodies nearby signified everyone else it was time to move on and find a new place to sleep for the evening. The whole planet felt like the hotel she was in. Outwardly looked like a normal everyday thing. Inside it was rotting and falling apart. She didn't know if the creature just hated infrastructure or didn't care, but every building she'd seen was falling apart in not subtle ways. It probably was the nature of the creatures, Talviar had noticed this in other settlements, they just wanted things to decay, they wanted things to break.

Tolviar was in the midst of wondering why that would be when she smelled it. The combination of decaying flesh and what could best be described as burnt garbage. It was so awful she had to take a moment to wonder if one of her spells hadn't caused something to burn up one of the bodies colons. But then a memory of Trezlan's sprung to the surface, and at once she knew the smell and the creatures that accompanied it.

"Well shit." Was all she could say.

Necromancers, The Worst Kind of Pests

"At least fifty sir." Tolviar hadn't been on the planet long, but her efforts at extermination were efficient if not more than mildly alarming. The people serving the death fragment knew this day would come, it had warned them of Hanlon and what he would send, but they were still caught off guard, she was so blatant, not even trying to hide or negotiate, just straight to murder and death magic.

"Why at least?"

"A lot of necromancy was used, flesh melted with flesh hard to..."

"All right I get the picture." Why Hanlon sent necromancers was obvious, they were hard to kill and use of ritual magic was dangerous beyond words, but it didn't make the men seated at the table feeling any better. If they still had free will they probably would have run, but the ability to think for themselves had been taken a long time ago.

"What do you want us to do sir?"

"Unleash the creatures, it'll cause panic, but at this point the populace is already panic'd with a sociopath using magic and firearms to seemingly indescriminitely kill, what's some nightmarish monsters on top of that?" They all nodded and the man giving the report breathed a sigh of relief, at least his men would stop dying for the time being, unless the creatures started to butcher them as they had done in the past in limited escapes.

"And our god?"

"It knows, and it approves."

Picking Up Trash One Bullet at a Time

"I'm sorry Ms. Viar we don't have any authorization for you." Tolviar had landed hours ago, but she had been trapped with customs. She knew this was the fragments work, her paperwork was fine, but it knew Hanlon had sent someone, and it was working to stop her.

"Check again." She had said this several times to several different clerks, her patience was running out. She could sense things were about to go wrong, something about the way the man at the desk was sweating didn't seem right.

"I'm sorry I just have no rec..." The door opened behind her and the man at the desk eye's went wide, she rolled right just as the shotgun ripped her chair apart and killed the man in front of her. Tolviar rolled from her position and grabbed the shotgun and flipped it around on its wielder pulling the trigger on him, splattering him on the man behind him. He looked surprised before Tolviar shot him too, she could hear additional boots coming. She quickly swiped some of the dead man's blood and uttered a ritual before throwing it down the hallway. The first man who came across it screamed in agony holding others back. She knew now the planet was against her. The creature had turned them, and there wasn't anything left to do, but what she had been trained to do, she checked the weapons among the two dead men she had and got ready to pick up the trash, it was going to be a long long day.

Now I Feel I Shouldn't Have Asked

Tolviar's ship looked incredibly average. The kind of personal traveling ship a lot of salesman made their way around in. Just enough for a on person to sleep, eat, and relax in, but not much else. Of course appearances can be decieving and the ship was no different. There were all kinds of hold out weaponry and magical runes written inside so as to keep her quarry at bay. So far the weapons and runes had been more of a precaution than a necessity, but Tolviar got the feeling it was only a matter of time before her home away from home became a battlefield like everything else.

"So what are these things anyway?" Tolviar was in the pilot seat despite the ship being on auto, she always liked the feeling of control over trusting the machine, she suspected this was a part of Trezlan in her.

"You never wanted to know before." Hanlon was intrigued at this new wrinkle, Tolviar had accepted the exterminations without ever questioning before, now she wanted to know, it was a definite change.

"I do now, especially if this one is a dangerous as you say, what are they, why do you care they are killed?"

"Pieces of death, fragments really."

"Of you?" Hanlon smirked.

"No, not of me, or at least not of me as I am."

"Cryptic."

"I wasn't always the god you see before you, in the dark past I was one aspect of death, but not the only one, the other aspect was a creature not unlike the darkness you now hunt, a foul being conjured by the nightmares of people who feared death and did not except my more inevitable nature in their lives."

"So what changed that you became death itself instead of just an aspect."

"The other decided my orderly pacified way of simply ending creatures suffering and not causing it was worth being wiped out, it made a calculation that I was not as powerful as it was and it was wrong, unfortunately its essence lingers in this world. I've had Trezlan deal with some parts of it before and its come after him for it, but you're much more efficient than he was."

"Some effiency better than none?" Tolviar smiled, she had no animosity towards Trezlan despite his involvement in her imprisonment, but his methods and style lacked both things repeatedly and Tolviar was surprised Hanlon kept him around, especially with his post Red War shenanigans.

"Do not underestimate him, he's hardly even human anymore."

"Nor am I." Hanlon smiled, the thought of Tolviar and Trezlan going at it was not something he wanted, but he wouldn't be willing to put money on the outcome either direction.

"Coming up on destination, I'll drop you a line when I'm finished."

"As if you need to do that." The communication winked out, and Hanlon found himself wishing he had the Fire God's foresight, if only because the only time he knew the future was when something had already gone horribly wrong.

Snipping Loose Ends

"I was wondering when you'd come inside." Tolviar was sitting on a chair. She had been working out, Hanlon could see the sweat staining her gym clothes. He found it a curious modesty to wear clothes being the only person on the floor, but Hanlon himself wore them and he didn't even technically have genitals.

"Your powers of observation are so well now."

"The smell of magic on you is strong, only Trezlan is curiously stronger, I imagine its because he lacks your love of self control."

"I thought I said to not discuss the Lorentino."

"Sorry I didn't think that meant never mentioning him." Hanlon was aware Tolviar was her own creation, not exactly the previous necromancer that had effectively born out Trezlan and Morley, but at the same time he did see in her echoes of that personality. Just the toying and half truths, Hanlon made sure always to keep her at literal arms length, he knew personally Necromancers and their ilk were dangerous.

"I have more work for you."

"Should I get my mop?"

"Bring your whole kit, this one is a lot more dangerous than the others, and it spread to a planet, might have to cut the whole thing out." She looked eager and that pleased Hanlon, he may have kept the fragment, but at least it enjoyed existing. Most of his kept creatures did not.

"When do I leave?"

"As soon as you have your gear, no backup per usual, kill it, wipe out every tendril of it, and then come back."

"I'm already halfway done." Hanlon appreciated the confidence, but he knew this creature was worse than the others. And he was getting tired of their continued existence, if it kept up, he'd have to come up with a more permanent solution to the whole problem. But for now it was clean up work and it let him see the ability and ingenuity of Tolviar, so then he'd really know if he had to destroy her or not.

Clean Up

Hanlon Industries isn't a real company. Sure it has offices, and supposed infrastructure, but that springs up and vanishes as the Death God's wants and desires allows for. The polite fiction he maintains that he's really just a weapon manufacturer is barely a facade anymore as the centuries have added on and he sticks around. The weapons are still produced though, mostly projectile, he never signed on with energy weaponry having had difficulty in making them work with his ways. Still his spirits and damned souls produced the best projectile weaponry around. Trezlan kept himself moderately wealthy for years off his ability to sell Hanlon weapons to off book conflicts around the galaxy. But the production of those guns is mostly done on a whim by enslaved spirits, the actual corporate offices remain empty. Hanlon at one point tried to make the company a legit thing with actual people staffing things, but felt that was too much of a pain in the ass and as a god not worth it.

So instead he keeps one real office building on the corporate homeworld so he can still be involved in setting some corporate policy. The building is mostly kept running by spirits Hanlon feels the need to punish for disobeying him (he laughed at the Red War since his own cabal of spirits could never be breached in the same way the Fire God's were). All but one floor of the building is empty. Just row on row of maintained but empty desks waiting for owners. But on sub basement ten is a door that just reads "Clean Up" and behind it is Hanlon's greatest secret.

Tolviar wasn't so much a woman as she was a being. Willed into existence from a soul fragment. At the time Hanlon considered it a gift to Trezlan, a way to excise his own interior demon and be done with it. But before Trezlan became aware of what had happened Hanlon decided there was a better thing to be done with the fragment, and so Clean Up was born. He'd had other being perform the role over the years, never consistently lest they feel its their work or use it to empower themselves. But Tolviar seemed to take to it in a way that brought a smile to Hanlon's face. Still he worried what would happen should Trezlan become aware of his deception, and then Hanlon dismissed those thoughts as Trezlan was far too stupid for that to ever be an issue.

Hanlon stood for a time looking at the door, knowing opening it was doing what must be done, but at the same time he was hesitant, previous work had been easy if not necessary, this was dangerous in multiple ways. Still he was not one to fear, he did in fact control death as much as such a thing could be controlled. He stopped hestitating and opened the door.

The Red War Part 12

"And so comes Trezlan into himself to see what I have to say." I was mediating, technically it was a hypnosis technique used on people with multiple personalities, but eh details.

"So you know why I'm here."

"I'm you, sort of, so yes I'm well aware why you're here, the question I have to ask is what you think I know that you don't know." These interior mind conversations are very confusing on a good day, this was not a good day.

"Several things I'm sure, but more importantly I have to imagine what Morley did came from something you discovered, and since you know it, I know it, and since you could do it, you could undo it, and that's why Morley wanted to know what I was doing." The spirit of my former master long dead looked at me and then looked away, and then came back with a smile.

"And if I did know of a way to stop this? What would that get me?"

"The universe not being destroyed?"

"As if I care about the universe." I'd say it was weird for an aspect of me to not care about existence, but because this was the part related to my former master, well it made more sense than it should.

"Well what can I offer me other than continued existence?"

"A share at the table a turn at the wheel, it's maddening being locked in here and seeing you have all that fun, just for a little while what would be the harm?" I should have broke myself out of the trance here and been done, but no I stupidly made a deal with myself to allow it to be free. I recall at the time thinking I could simply break the deal and leave it rotting inside me like I had for all those years. Stupidly of course I had no idea what price I would take from myself. Nor did I realize the only way to shut down the damnation that Val knew was to use ritual magic based on thousands on thousands of deaths. By the time I realized all that it was years later, when I finally regained control of myself and the Red War was over.

I technically ended it with a battle over a planet between the followers, the damnation, and the Ronerawth military. History books recall this moment with pride not acknowledging my awful ritual killed most of the people in the battle, or that I wasn't even me at the time (a part I'm not really keen to remind people of). For the greater good it was necessary, but seeing the loss of life never made me feel all that great about the good.

That's about all I have to say on the Red War.

The Red War Part 11

Brooks was front in center on the display screen. Off camera was several loaded weapons pointed in his direction, but he had "agreed" to give a statement to his employer. Agreed of course being a loaded term when any number of horrific deaths were offered as results of him not cooperating.

"Morley Trezlan is on to us." We had gone over several lines as to what to say, this seemed the most direct. I watched the other display, the one that purported to be my ancient enemy in Morley for any movement, there was nothing, just a dark screen.

"And you know this how?" The voice was a raspy metallic one, I only vaguely heard the sound of Morley's voice in it.

"He killed Bianca, might have soul sucked her for the information."

"Fools your job was simple analyse the ability to do as he said and then eliminate! How hard was that?"

"Sir he's a crafty..."

"You're a damned fool, he's probably listening in on this right now." The game was up, Morley knew, so I figured I had to get what I could while I could. I jumped in front of the video feed with a big smile on my face.

"Hey Morley so what do I know that you're afraid of other than me being a more successful Necromancer than you?" I figured he'd end the transmission immediately if not for me goading him in to keeping it on.

"Right better than I am, that's why your scurrying like a rat hoping to find something to stop the damned, while I sit comfortably watching the galaxy burn."

"And yet you're still afraid of what I know."

"Hardly, I wanted to know for sure you didn't know anything, and I know that now you do not, be gone Trezlan." The video feed cut out and Claire looked at me with anger in her eye.

"That was pointless."

"No it wasn't I got exactly what I needed." Brooks laughed as they drug him away to do whatever the followers planned on doing to him.

"Oh do tell Necromancer, what did you get from Morley?"

"That he's afraid of what I know."

"And what do you know?"

"I have no idea." Claire frowned at me, but this was at least a step in the right direction! Probably. Well I mean it was, but at the time I was flying looser than normal and was really risking my ass. Something I've vowed to never do again... so soon after having just done it that is.

The Red War Part 10

Trenk, Brooks, and Barnes were standing in front of the followers, they had been shackled and weapons held on them. I'd like to say this was entirely my discovery of Bianca the necromancer, but apparently Claire had not trusted Trenk at all, and as soon as I had killed Bianca she rounded the others up. They all were in a different state of afraid. Trenk surprisingly was the most afraid, though I figured that could just be a dodge to hide that he's the necromancer (I figured one of them was not all of them were, but you never can tell with necromancers).

"I say we space them all and call it a day."

"No they can still be of use." Claire looked at me with derision I'd brought them on board and they were enemies, it was kind of my fault. Then again she could have just killed them before they got on board so it wasn't exactly my fault either. Or that's at least what I told myself.

"I doubt they'll talk."

"Not willingly no, but there are ways of getting information against someones will." Over the years I've used brute Necromancy less and less, but there are times when its still useful, this was one of those times. Trenk was the obvious choice so he was who I started with. He screamed briefly in the open, and loudly in my mind, it was an echoing roar of a dying man that on a quiet night I still recall. Sadly he was not the necromancer, but I did know who it was.

"Morley said you're a monster this proves it." Brooks felt the need to confirm it for whatever reason.

"Right Morley the man who caused the damnation, said I'm the dangerous one. I feel like you are mislead, but that's being charitable. Mr. Barnes I will shortly need a good bodyguard you up for that?"

"Immediately."

"Traitor."

"Fuck you Brooks, I hope he rips your intestines out your asshole." Claire did not want to unshackle Barnes, but I felt if anyone was taking a risk it was me, and so she relented.

"And now what will you do to me Trezlan Lorentino?"

"Oh I have some ideas Mr. Brooks, but none of them are quite as useful as what I need." I like to leave people terrified, it makes the fairly normal things you do to them all the worse.

The Army of Pestilence

Children are a disease. Or more accurately they are disease spreaders. I am weak, my body hurts with each step, and I can't think for certain. This is something Rolando did to me, I know he did it to me because he's suffering through a similar affliction. Which is worse because than he's unconsolable and he will not sleep. I know thousands of spells and arcanum, but nothing that puts a baby to bed. My wife tells me I'm being a baby about it, but I don't think so at all. She's already turned down a few requests of mine to call over the local annoying religious botherers to make myself feel better (it's not like they would be missed! I wouldn't miss them!)

I did come up with an idea to take over the galaxy by leading an army of sick children. You'd be all "daw look at the child in his uniform like he's a person" and then boom you get sick and then well I hadn't thought of it beyond getting people sick with annoying but not fatal diseases (I hope its not fatal, something else to worry about I guess). All the same, army of sick children take over the world, you'll be seeing it soon enough, soon as I and the boy get over this illness.

****

"That was a weird entry." Trezlan was struggling to remember when he wrote that one.

"Why did that pull up again?"

"Must have said something about army or sick and not realized it would pull up that entry about Rolando killing me, it was a series of them as I recall as with each horrible thing he inflicted on me I wrote a new entry warning past me about having a child despite it being too late, I figured time travel would stop this from happening, but no time travel so I'm screwed."

"The collective thinks there is a 50% chance that your army of sick kids idea would be successful."

"Something to keep in mind I guess, anyway on to the next actual entry."

Questionable Veracity

"I'm just saying I can't help, but wonder about the truthfulness of these red war entries sir." SIC had been in the room as Trezlan narrated his journal entries and had become increasingly incensed at the story the entries were telling with regards to what it itself knew of the Red War. SIC was not a combat AI at the time, but it could see the final moments of the battle that left its fleet in ruins and so it had a vague concept of the events and this story seemed absent those events.

"Are you doubting my veracity?"

"I'm merely suggesting this story seems to lack a fundamental truth based on what I know of the events sir."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"No I just think you fudge things here sir, you admit it yourself in several of these entries."

"There is a difference between when I admit it and when you allege it SIC!" Both the AI and Trezlan came to a stale mate, neither wanting to admit the other was correct. So they started at each other for a bit. Trezlan did want to continue his story, but refused to admit he might have stretched the truth.

"I may not have all the facts about the Red War and your invovlement in its conclusion." SIC had done a calculation based on previous experience Trezlan did not back down when he was considered wronged.

"I may have fudged the truth about some aspects, though overall the story I'm telling is factually relevant."

"We can resume dictation sir."

"Excellent." There were many battles during Trezlan's journal entries in the advanced age, but he considered them worth it to never have to write with a pen ever again.

The Red War Part 9

I was in the ships library, it was actually full of real paper books. I hadn't seen any in about a decade outside of my own stock pile, and that stock pile I hadn't seen since I'd joined up with Trenk and crew (because I'm not risking my own supply even in the end of the universe, have to have something to do while I await annihilation). I'd read most of them before, having been a scholar most of my life I did try and retain some information over the years (just some of it, certainly not all of it, I fear as of late I've entered a state of madness where the things I remember are not the things I remember, but ehhh best to just leave that sleeping dog to lie, OH GOD WHAT'S A DOG? Nah just screwing with you...). I didn't know what I hoped to find, I was mainly just reading things hoping to come across something to spark a memory of some awful thing I did once that could resolve things (I admit it right? that makes it ok). I was so wrapped up in my book diving I didn't even notice Bianca had come in behind me.

"What you looking for?" There was a noticeable shift in how she talked, lower less erudite. I tried not to notice, but it cemented my belief that she was a liar of one kind or another.

"Just wasting time really, the followers aren't going to let us keep looking for doors."

"Were we ever going to find one that would do what Trenk wanted?"

"Of course we were, you guys were paying me for a reason." I had to go with the lie keep it going, but again I sensed shit was up, something wasn't as it appeared. She stood there for a bit mulling something over, and then she struck. Necromancy, from the feel of it as it wracked my body, what she lacked in overall ability she made up for in raw talent. A lesser man would have been broken in the attack, but I am not a lesser man! Well that and the overall ability thing, her attack was incredibly painful, but overall lacking in longevity or actual life force infliction. So after it was over I was in pain but otherwise still alive.

"Hundreds of years and not able to see something like this com..." I killed her with a flick of my wrist, the funny thing to me was she saw it coming and could do nothing. Didn't even use necromancy I figured since I was on a followers of fire ship fire would do the trick. I knew then who Trenk really was working with, and what I had been set up to do. I should have known it would have been Morley, like a cut on the roof of your mouth he just never fully went away.

The Red War Part 8

"I fail to see how your story convinces me you either talked with the Fire God, or that she has forsaken us as you claim." Claire did not like my story it was all in her body language, personally it annoyed me she was annoyed. I told her the truth (mostly nothing is ever truly true), and she doubted it. And she didn't even really know me enough to doubt it.

"Because she'll burn you down, you might think the fire part of her name just identifies the nature of her appearance, but it also highlights like fire you have no gods damned clue what she'll do when she's there."

"I don't believe my god would turn on me." I wanted to burn her down right there just to show her how wrong she was, but seeing as I couldn't find my way out of the ship and it was full of followers so I'd have to kill everyone which wasn't worth the annoyance.

"Well don't worry so much even without her I can figure out a way to solve this."

"You who claimed that you were merely conning Trenk and his crew and have no actual solution? You're a bullshit flim flam artist at best."

"No me who is a hundreds year old necromancer who cavorts with the gods themselves! I know I've got a solution to this shit somewhere, you just have to give me a bit of time, maybe some resources..." She left while I was talking, she wasn't done with the idea of me calling the Fire God, she was just done with me talking about other plans. I wasn't done with my other not currently existent, but I was working on them plans though. Because you can't call me a bullshit flim flam artist and expect me to just let that slide, especially if I was the one who claimed I was that thing in the first place.

LOGIC HAS NO PLACE HERE!

The Red War Part 7

"You are a fool Mr. Lorentino." Surrounded by flames I felt pretty foolish I'll admit. The Fire God had chosen to ignore clothing and instead was just wrapped in flames that were not hiding much of anything. The war had just recently started, and I was hoping to nip it in the bud before it became an issue, so I of course sought the god who could do something (sort of, I tried Hanlon first because really death goes with death).

"I'm foolish? The universe is in danger because of your damned and I'm the foolish one."

"Speak carefully Lorentino, you amuse me, but defiance does not." I was losing my patience with her which I knew was dangerous for someone who could annihilate me with a thought.

"People are dying."

"People die every day, every week, so this time it involves my five fires it matters not what happens now, and now conflict is everywhere, my grip is ever expanding, why would I stop it?"

"So to expand your power you'd watch the universe burn?" She smiled.

"Every time, and don't get that look on your face like you're any different necromancer, how many have fallen along side you and how you have praised your good fortune, this is no different my good fortune just comes at the expense of more numbers."

"Nothing than? You'll do nothing."

"I already did something, you just haven't noticed it because you can't see beyond your face, we're done here, contact me again and I'll burn you down and you'll come back as them and then the universe will really be fucked." She disappeared in flame and I frowned. I didn't exactly expect help, but I didn't exactly expect her to throw it back in my face I don't help people either. Shit sucks sometimes when you're me is what I'm saying.