Chapter 63 Tash’Dex’Sha.

  “I will continue to give you long answers, if you do not mind, it is not often that I get to enjoy being a teacher in such a manner.” The Demigod of Space began. “Though there are many demigods younger than me, we come about so few and far between that at best I get to fill this role every hundred years. You may not be a demigod but I will enlighten you nonetheless.”

  “Thank you.” Isaac told Klein honestly. Gilgamesh grunted from beside them and his golden scales turned to pure liquid. They flowed and the dragon almost seemed to melt as his form shrunk more and more until he was a seven foot tall human with golden hair, well tanned skin, and crimson eyes. He was also very much naked.

  “Exhibitionist.” Klein commented and threw a pair of Gilgamesh sized pants at his companion.

  “It doesn’t matter when I’m in my true form. It shouldn’t matter when I am in this one.” Gilgamesh replied. “You should be fine. There wasn’t enough destruction to warrant a second Tarasque or something worse.”

  “Thank you.” Klein told the Guild Leader with a nod. “Do you want to stick around?”

  Gilgamesh shook his head. “No. I better not. Someone annoying is probably already on the way.”

  “Oh, and who might that be?” A woman’s voice came from nowhere yet everywhere at the same time. Her voice was ethereally beautiful and the mana of the world almost seemed to hum in tune with her words. It was a bit deeper than Isaac’s voice but not nearly as deep as Lenna’s. It also felt old. Something about the voice made it certain to any that heard it that they were listening to a being older than their comprehension. Her voice was also nearly at the ascendant level of a true goddess. If she was not a goddess, then she was damned close to being one. Maybe as close as one could get.

  Gilgamesh froze. “Battle.” Gilgamesh lied through his teeth. “The boy is always looking for a fight but I have better things to do.”

  “Liar.” The woman’s voice snapped back so hard that the air around Gilgamesh’s head visibly vibrated.

  Gilgamesh gulped and then a portal materialized in front of him. The portal itself was just a solid disk of violet mana. A woman walked through it with the grace of one so far beyond mortality that she seemed weightless. Her hair was golden and then silver and then an odd mix. Each strand of hair was different in the pattern’s construction but all of them had all three parts, just of varying lengths and order. Her left eyebrow was golden and her right eyebrow was silver. Her right eye was golden and her left eye was silver. Her lips were that strange silvery gold of electrum and her pale skin shined like a mix between untanned flesh and a polished mirror. Her dress was one piece of fabric that hung around the back of her neck then down her front. At her waist it wrapped in and around itself and came out spread wide enough to cover her legs if she was standing still. Since she was walking, the outside of her legs could be seen the entire way up to her hips one at a time. She was wearing high heeled slippers made of pure diamond that positively sparkled in the full sunlight. Her nails alternated between silver and gold but all of their tips were pure electrum.

  “Gil’esh.” She stated so coldly that the air temperature dropped. “What exactly were you doing?” Her eyes then scanned the battlefield. “Who made such a mess?”

  “That was mostly Catastrophe.” Klein stood up for his friend only to hold his tongue at one raised eyebrow from the woman.

  She didn’t even bother to take notice of Isaac, Lenna, or Shamesh. They were just so far beneath her that she couldn’t be bothered to care. “Are either of you going to put any of this back?” She questioned the pair of immortal boys who stood under her admonishing gaze.

  “I’ll put a bounty out for adventurers to return the field to how it was.” Gilgamesh promised.

  “Is that so?” The dragon woman questioned.

  “Who’s that?” Isaac couldn’t help but ask Klein as quietly as he could. He absolutely had to know who could put both Klein and Gilgamesh in their place so easily.

  “Tash’Dex’Sha.” The woman said and finally took notice of Isaac. “Mortal Human, who made you into a precursor in the fifth age?”

  “Fifth age?” Isaac asked and looked to Klein for assistance.

  “Just answer the question.” Klein replied. “I’ll answer your question later.”

  Isaac nodded and then returned his eyes to the dragon woman standing on the air in front of him. “Rei and Zei.” Isaac answered her.

  She stared at him for a second and then nodded. “If that is what game they have chosen to play, so be it. When their decision inevitably ends in a waste of power or an overreach of authority, I will express my dissatisfaction in their choices directly. For now, you are of no consequence. You, your mate, and simulacrum, may leave.”

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  Isaac’s world spun as he was suddenly on the hill where Shamesh had set up their tea table and chairs. The table and chairs in question could be seen a hill away and bent or broken entirely. “What?” Isaac gasped out as he was suddenly once more on his knees from having been teleported. He hadn’t even been given the opportunity to resist. She just spoke and space itself made sure that her order was followed. “What was that?”

  “I believe that was the Space Wraith that Xlen spoke of. The second strongest wielder of space magic on Primatia. Only trumped by Klein Fehnok if he let the Veil dissipate.” Lenna explained. “She probably heard Gilgamesh’s roar from the other side of the world.”

  Isaac sighed. “Now what?” He asked his wife. “Do we just leave or do we wait here and hope that Klein doesn’t forget about us?”

  “Let’s wait.” Lenna replied. “I couldn’t see Klein but I get the feeling that he does not want to be there anymore than Gilgamesh does.” Lenna told him. “She was positively imperious.”

  “The worst part was that my instinct to fight her didn’t even trigger. I felt like we weren’t even on the same plane. That could have just been a projection and I wouldn’t know the difference.” Isaac shivered. “I do not like that one.”

  Lenna nodded. “She can probably hear you.” She told her husband now that he had already spoken his mind.

  Isaac gulped. “You think?”

  “I would be surprised if she could not choose to hear wherever she wanted.” Lenna stated. “Isn’t this where we had our tea? Where are the table and chairs?”

  “The other hill.” Isaac replied almost absently.

  Lenna frowned and tried to look around. Thankfully Tashdexsha had sent all of their things with them so she at least still had her black parasol. “Shamesh, can you go get them?”

  “Of course, my Lady.” Shamesh replied. “Though unfortunately they look rather disfigured.”

  “Even so, we should at least clean up after ourselves.” Lenna told him and Shamesh got to work.

  Shamesh had finished retrieving the damaged table and chairs, and their accompanying pieces, by the time Klein appeared. He looked tired but shook it away once he saw Isaac patiently waiting for him. “I apologize for that.” Klein said as soon as he arrived.

  Before he could say anything else, dirt started forming a wave from ten miles out. It was instantly noticeable as the wind had suddenly stopped entirely. The brown line steadily got bigger as it approached the crater. When the line reached the quartet it parted and a brown wave nearly knee high passed by them on either side. As it approached the crater it continually picked up speed until the dirt looked like it was moving fast enough to break someone’s legs. When it reached the crater, it left more and more of itself as it reached towards the inside until the crater had been nearly leveled out The dais was left alone, still mostly buried under ash as it was, but some of the ash was even used to help level out the terrain.

  Klein sighed. “I see she is as impatient as ever. She can plant more grass but she can’t make it grow. She’s just going to have to wait until an adventurer takes the job.” He shook his head. “Now that we have been interrupted again, where were we?”

  “Before that,” Isaac cut in. “What happened to the Tarasque corpse and what was that about a Precursor and the Fifth Age?”

  “I sent the corpse to the academy’s alchemy department’s cold storage chamber. She said some things that were best left unsaid and some things that are more speculation than fact. Let’s leave it at that.” Klein told Isaac. They had finally come up against another information wall that Klein would not cross.

  Isaac frowned but knew better than to press a willing information gallery. “Alright, then before we get back to talking about me, what did the Guild Leader mean when he mentioned another Tarasque or something worse showing up?” He told the true demigod.

  “Ah, yes.” Klein said and took a deep centering breath to help him refocus on being a teacher. “Tarasques show up when Gia has taken a sufficient amount of damage in a short amount of time. That is information that is usually limited to only those in charge of peaceful kingdoms or demigods but since you could have come to the conclusion yourself, especially after Gil more or less told you directly, there really isn’t any point in my not telling you.”

  “What about the ‘something worse’?” Isaac questioned the demigod.

  “You of all people do not need to worry about that.” Klein told him. “In fact, no one has to worry about that until the next dragon surge.”

  Isaac gave Klein a very skeptical look. “Sure.” He said, obviously not very convinced but he agreed to drop it since the Tarasque was apparently capable of shadow-stepping and moving at light speed or even taking a hit from a dragon diving from cloud height without dying, and he really never wanted to go up against anything that was considered ‘worse’ than that.

  “Now, back to the original topic?” Klein asked Isaac and glanced towards the sun like he was keeping track of time.

  “Yes.’ Isaac agreed. “And thank you for taking the time to explain so many things to me.”

  Klein nodded and gave Isaac a smile that was almost grandfatherly. “Of course, it is the duty of the older generations to enlighten the younger ones.” He said something that Isaac had heard at least once before. “As far as your class, there are none alive with one directly comparable, at least not among mortals or former mortals. The closest you can get is a dragon.” Klein held up his hand to stall Isaac. “But your class is not an exact copy of the way a dragon’s race progresses. It is close but tailored more towards a mortal’s short lifespan. That is why you seemed to level so quickly. It is set up in a way to help a mortal tangle with dragons in as short of a time as possible and as directly as possible. This, of course, comes with plenty of drawbacks as I am sure you are well aware, but that is the gist of it. I don’t know how to level you up or what exactly you need to do, that is for you to figure out, but I do know that it is supposed to be doable for a short lived race to do before they’ve aged out of combat.”

  Isaac sat in silence as he contemplated everything that Klein had just told him for a long moment. “Who made the class?”

  “I do not know who exactly made the classes, any of them, but I do know that they are more complex than we are capable of understanding. The divinities or divinity who created the classes are on a level that no former mortal will probably ever be able to reach.” Klein explained. “The best advice that I or anyone else can give you, is to compare what you can do to a black dragon. You should be similar enough that it might give you a hint.”

  “Have you ever fought a black dragon?” Isaac wondered.

  “No.” Klein replied. “Gilgamesh has, but I doubt he’ll want to talk about it. He lost, quite badly if I remember correctly. There are others who might have fought them, maybe Tash’sha, or Blade. Ori once tried to kill one but gave up quite quickly. I will not directly help you any further however. I think I have overstepped my own rules enough. You may seek them out, if you so wish, or you may try and figure it out yourself. Either option is valid.”

  Isaac nodded in understanding. “Thank you for all that you have shared, as well as for shielding us from becoming collateral damage.”

  Klein smiled and nodded. “It has been my pleasure. Now, I am afraid that I must either return you to Gilgamesh’s office or the Guild Hall in Safeharbor. After that, I must be off. Which would you prefer?”

  Isaac looked to Lenna for the answer. “I think that some rest would be wise and we need more equipment before we begin escorting caravans again in earnest." Lenna told her husband.

  “Then the Guild Leader’s office would be the best first stop. From there we can find our own way home easily enough.” Isaac concluded and gave Klein a nod. “Thank you for the teleportation assistance as well.”

  “Oh you do not have to worry about that.” Klein replied. “The mage who was supposed to assist you would have done at least this much.” He looked over Isaac, Lenna, and Shamesh. Lenna was wearing her very damaged armor, except for the helmet that she had slung under her arm. Isaac was missing his cloak and his armor had a few broken or cut scales here and there but the straps were what had really suffered, leaving his armor’s smaller sections to hang awkwardly. Shamesh was stuck wearing a raincoat and nothing else, at least it was buttoned up so it wasn’t immediately obvious that he had nothing else to wear. He couldn’t help but smile as he remembered the old days when he, Ori, and George would come home from battles dressed in little more than rags. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.