Read Online Oathkeeper by J.F. Lewis - Free Book Online Page B

intoned. An excellent precaution.
    Kholster disagreed, even felt disappointed with himself for taking the precautions, but hard decisions came with the territory and being prepared was rarely as disastrous as failing to be ready to meet undesired eventualities. Hopefully, all he was doing was wasting a few days of Irka’s time. And yet . . .
    â€œI’m sorry.” Removing his glasses and setting them atop the closed book, Aldo rubbed his eyes. “As we were saying, you are everywhere anyone dies. That is not how Torgrimm did it, he popped the souls out into his little adytum—”
    â€œAdytum?”
    â€œSanctum, sanctuary, hiding place, foxhole . . .” Aldo sighed. “There are many descriptors from myriad dimensions. That one, in particular, comes from the realm Abyssimus claimed, but I use them all. In this case, I use adytum to refer to the personal dimension Torgrimm had outside of normal time. Souls waited there for him, time only passing—from their perspective—when he was within their proximity. Awfully hard to observe him there. Hear? Yes—at times. See? Not well.”
    â€œI don’t know of this dimension.” Kholster fought the urge to fold his arms over his chest, forced himself to keep his hands hanging neutrally at his sides. Two could play the outward appearances game.
    â€œMy theory lays the crux of the problem with the time ratio. There doesn’t appear to be much, if any, causal adherence between time within and time without. He could spend an eternity in there without its passage taking place out here, or at least not from his viewpoint or from ours.”
    Do I have access to this dimension?
    After a fashion , Harvester answered. You appear to have internalized it. Multi-presence replacing infinite time for a singular self. I am cognizant of the change, but not how to alter or affect it. Perhaps each death god works according to his or her own skill sets.
    Each? Kholster thought. His or her?
    You have proved that the position of death god is open to seizure. Given that Nomi stole a portion of Dienox’s might, it seems reasonable to assume you might at some future date be deposed by a male or female.
    True . Kholster laughed. And what would you do if I were deposed?
    Oh. Harvester’s timbre deepened. They would have to destroy me too, of course. I am a part of you, sir. Torgrimm imagined my form, but you made me real . . . forged me into being. You are my maker, my rightful occupant. Anyone who thought otherwise would be in fatal error, as Reaper and I would vigorously demonstrate.
    â€œAm I disturbing the two of you?” Aldo stifled a yawn. “I can leave my sanctum and go read out in the hall. . . .”
    â€œHow kind of you to offer.” Kholster blinked, not that Aldo could see his face behind Harvester’s helm. “We’ll only be a moment.”
    Aldo’s jaw dropped open.
    Kholster laughed.
    â€œAnd to think Kilke said you had no sense of humor,” Aldo growled. “I have half a mind not to direct your attention to it in advance.”
    â€œIn advance of what?”
    Aldo gestured at the full-length mirror still hanging in the air next to his desk, then withdrew the wooden box of eyes from within his robes and pulled out a pair much heavier than the rest.
    â€œLook and see,” Aldo said as he slipped the obsidian eyes with their jade irises and amber pupils into his eye sockets. “I believe you’ll recognize the players.”
    Players. Kholster directed his attention to the mirror as Aldo intended, but he did not like the sound of that word. It embodied the single greatest problem he saw with the divine order of things. The gods should not see mortals as playthings. As he watched, Kholster turned the problem over and over in his mind. He’d already decided to correct that failing of the gods. So far, he liked none of the plans that presented