Dreadgod (Cradle, #11)

by Will Wight

Yerin waited for the memory constructs to arrange themselves around her, ready to memorize her face and her every word. “Guess this is going out to everybody,” Yerin said. “Huh.” She rubbed her chin. “Let’s cut straight to it, then. “The Monarchs are letting the Dreadgods live. All the Monarchs have to do is ascend and the Dreadgods would go away, but they don’t. You’re all dying so the Monarchs can keep ruling over you. But that sun’s setting.” Yerin extended her Goldsigns behind her so they caught the light. “The Silent King’s gone. Killed by the Void Sage, Wei Shi Lindon Arelius.” Heat ran up into Lindon’s face. She hadn’t needed to say that. “We’re coming for the rest of them. It’ll be a tough road, I’ll tell you true, but hang on tight. When it’s over, we’ll have no Dreadgods left. And that’s worth the fight.” She thought for a moment before she shrugged. “Guess that’s the end of what I have to say.” Then she marched off the platform.

Even without his powers, he could still access the private Abidan network for entertainment, education, or catching up on what he’d missed. Given that there had been a world-spanning war from which they were desperately trying to recover, he should surely have much to learn. Instead, he drifted around her and talked. “Oh, they’re already fighting Malice!” Ozriel said brightly. “Yes! Get her! Stab her once for me!” Suriel reconstituted an entire continent from nothing. It had started to dissolve into the Void, so it was harder than usual. “I’ll catch up on the Report later.” “Did I tell you Dross was back? I kind of liked the other one, but it’s nice to hear his old voice again.” Suriel’s finger twitched. She wanted to see.

[We are most likely to engage in a battle with the Mad King,] Suriel’s Presence reported. [There is only a one in sixteen chance of escaping with both of your lives. However, he must have left the other Vroshir behind to move undetected. In the case that he kills you, I project a two out of three chance that he is killed by the retaliation of the Court of Seven.] “What are the odds that Makiel did not see this action?” Ozriel asked softly. Her Presence remained quiet. “Yeah,” Ozriel said. “That’s what I thought.”

“By the authority of the Akura clan, let it be known that the sacred artist formerly known as Wei Shi Lindon Arelius has been corrupted by the power of the Silent King,” she announced. “He has forfeited his humanity and is but a shell of what he once was. “To recognize his crimes and the extraordinary threat he represents, he is to be considered the temporary replacement for the Silent King. The fourth Dreadgod. As he is but a hollow mockery of mankind, let him be known as the Empty Ghost.”