Dungeon Life-Chapter Four-Hundred Thirty-Eight

Unseen

It has been so long since it left the peaceful quiet of the Master’s domain. So long since any threat to the Master’s plans were found. The noise steadily grows weaker, and the sanctuaries ever more fractured. But the Master found something. Or rather: something found the Master.

Fate swirls, fighting against its own decline, guiding some small piece of noise to behold the Master’s perfect glory. It tried to flee, but the Master can follow the flows, and what the Master found was a feast of sanctuaries and noise.

This feast is proving more difficult than usual. And a feast it will be, of three sanctuaries. It is aware, though not concerningly so. It knows it has captured the Master’s attention, but has yet to capture the Unseen.

Though it has certainly been trying.

The patrols, the eyes, even the focal points of noise all are active. Few know to actually look, but enough pay attention to make the Unseen’s job difficult. When it was first sent to investigate, it did not think the target would be a potential threat.

It has subsumed many since the First, and what few did spot it only did so when it was far too late to stop it. Yet this one could be the first, if it were to become sloppy. Its Master told it to follow the threads, trace back the small resonance of Fate to the one with a vision. Its Master was seen, and that cannot be allowed.

The Unseen would have simply annihilated the one that saw, but the Master was wise to order caution and investigation, first. Fate moves steadily here, for those who can see. So many possibilities, so many actions that would move to hinder the Master.

So many points of noise to silence.

Too many, if it’s honest with itself. It was designed to eliminate without being seen. A pitched battle would… not go well for the Unseen. The noise and the sanctuaries are too prolific for it to remove on its own. And more than that, they are not weak.

It grates, but listening to the noise gives information, all the better to silence them, and they speak of a sanctuary destroyed to the north. But more than the sanctuary, they speak of a Harbinger destroyed. If the Unseen removes points of silence, quiets great sanctuary cores, the Harbingers compliment it by smothering the large swaths of lesser disturbances. If it truly did subsume the sanctuary and was still destroyed, the sanctuaries here are more formidable than they appear.

More must be known, more painful noise must be endured, more knowledge must be gained. What destroyed the Harbinger? How?

Captured? Impossible. Harbingers are without form, and so without cage. The smallest opening is a broad road for them.

Spatial affinity? A mere Scout bested a Harbinger? No, not a mere Scout, but a Voice as well. A rat? What sort of rat wouldn’t have its feeble mind snuffed out by an ordinary Harbinger, let alone one that had just subsumed a sanctuary?

Lies, perhaps? The questions grate almost as much as hearing the answers from so many mouths. A Harbinger bested by a rat. A scion and Voice, but still a rat. It would be humorous if it didn’t seem to be the truth. The Master was wise indeed to demand information before striking.

Bested, but not destroyed. Rage simmers through the sacred bond once the truth is found. The rat may have captured the Harbinger, but Order destroyed it. The Unseen shrinks in on itself as the Master seethes, the deity that should have been able to see the truth the Master can, the beautiful simplicity and order of stillness, of quiet. Yet it was the one to forge the chains of the system, to cage the Master! If it could, the Unseen would strike at it, too!

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But it can’t. It can only strike at those that would work with it. With the rat that would work with it, and the sanctuary that would guide the rat.

If a rat can lay low a Harbinger, even with guidance from a sanctuary, the feast before the Unseen may contain subtle poison. Especially as the rat is not considered the most powerful scion of the strongest sanctuary.

A quatl Conduit, or a zombie. How can there be a question between a Conduit and a zombie? More painful answers to listen to, more noise that must be silenced, but later. A zombie that is effectively a lich. The noise doesn’t know how it works, merely that the zombie has suffered a single loss.

Fortunately, that powerful source of noise is elsewhere, and is not expected to return any time soon. A shame, the noise insists. There is to be a raid upon the Conduit, soon.

The Master stirs at that, and the Unseen can feel orders being given. Harbingers are preparing to move. Endure more torture, learn the vulnerabilities of the sanctuaries. There is far too much motion here. The sanctuaries will be removed.

Agony that must be endured to obey the Master, to find the perfect way to silence the sanctuaries. One is small, but well defended. Strange to have a Voice for one so young, and galling to be forced to keep distance. Its small Secret Sanctum is not impossible to find, but is well guarded for one so young.

A direct strike should suffice, but not as the first target. It is weak enough for the Unseen to remove at its leisure, or allow a Harbinger to subsume. Its Voice may be able to notice it before it strikes, further making it a poor choice for the first to remove.

One is old. Not nearly as old as the Master, but a mature meal to be sure. Water complicates matters, but not unreasonably so. Linked noise makes stealth more difficult, but not impossible. Still, a worse choice to strike even than the young one. Even if it becomes aware of an attack, most of its forces are limited to the water. One scion can summon a mighty storm, but that takes time. The Unseen does not intend to give it enough time to create a storm significant enough to matter.

No, the other young sanctuary is the one that must be removed first. It may hardly be older than the small one, yet it is much more robust than the older. It somehow boasts more scions than even the Master has ever heard of, and yet there is vast strength to go along with the vast variety.

The pain is maddening, but the order absolute: information. The sanctuary is young, hardly over a year, but progresses so quickly. Too quickly. It works with the noise, not even understanding the gains from silencing the noise. It makes them louder, even the quieter ones that are not supposed to delve. It is no mere a stone in the Master’s path, but a foe that would seek to undo the work!

Where is the core? There… surrounded by even more noise! And guarded by even more danger. It pulls back from the flows of Fate, letting the possibilities flow as they will. The Conduit and the zombie may not be the largest threat for the Unseen.

There are two, each a careful observer of the flows, yet they are too fearful to plunge into them and guide the outcomes. But though they keep to the shallows, they are not weak. They can see the ripples, read the currents without plunging in. They haven’t noticed, but the Unseen cannot make the same mistake twice.

The sanctuary may not have Unseen, but it does well to hide its threats. It must be careful, cautious. This sanctuary will not be the most powerful it has subsumed, but it may be the most prepared to respond. It needs to learn of the precautions around the core, but it must be patient. If it dives into Fate, the scions will notice and respond.

The Master is displeased, but doesn’t force action, not yet. If any understand the importance of patience, it’s the Master. Three Harbingers are dispatched. Get them as close as possible without being discovered. Learn where to strike, and how. When is decided: once the Conduit falls.

The sanctuary’s weakness is its closeness with the noise. Distract it. Strike at the noise. Strike at one of the other sanctuaries. Let the Harbingers herald the doom of the sanctuary, and the Unseen to be the one to silence it while it tries to defend the others.

The pain is unbearable, yet must be borne. Learn more, subtly guide the flows of Fate. Prepare burrows for the Harbingers, secret from the eyes of the sanctuaries and noise. Endure the ceaseless cacophony, the constant suffering, all to return it tenfold when silencing it all.

The feast is there, the Unseen must merely endure until the time is right. Bear the torment of listening to ensure the soothing quiet after. Find the secret pockets of blissful stillness to tuck away the Harbingers until they can be unleashed.

And take comfort in the certain Fate of all. The bedlam will slow, the screaming quiet, the torture lessened. The Master will guide it all to the natural end, ensuring all will be peaceful, still…

…and quiet.