Wholly Undead 222 The Twin Gatekeepers

The decrepit figure of Jordan hobbled to the foot of the evening tomb that contained Jack, as he directed, "Alright. Honestly... In normal situations, well more normal than this, someone would need to take the place of the G.o.d-King once he awakens, but with the power of the Phage G.o.ddess, however little she has can alleviate the need."

"Voidic, please." Leslie snapped, as she, Emily, and Eris approached the side of Jack's evening tomb at the front.

"Ahem. Consort Emily can supply her G.o.d-Soul's power to subst.i.tute in the place of a normal soul. Think of it as a trade of sorts. At any rate, each of you put your hands on the G.o.d-King's rib cage; Mind touching the neurotic vampire's heart."

"I'm right here..." Eris spoke, as she cast a side glance to the prophet.

"You are, indeed." Jordan nodded his head.

"Must be an undead thing..." Eris muttered under head breath.

Emily leaned over to Eris and whispered, "Must be a vampire thing to be a wh.o.r.e, right?"

"You-!"

"Quiet. Jack. Focus." Leslie spoke, as she glared at the two, which lowered their heads in response.

"Alright. Now... Channel your souls... Consort Emily might struggle a bit with her G.o.d-Soul, so We will wait a few moments for her to catch up."

After a few minutes, "Now repeat after me, and guide your souls to the G.o.d-King. Take care to not agitate his G.o.d-Soul. It's confused at the moment without its master's command. My Dark Lady, please lead the way, as the G.o.d-King is more intimate with you than the others... No offense intended Consort Emily."

Emily did want to retort but was too concentrated on using her new G.o.d-Soul.

"Alright, Consort Eris... You get the fun part. You protect Emily's G.o.d-Soul, in case the G.o.d-King's G.o.d-Soul becomes... Agitated."

"Wut?" Eris' forehead already had beads of sweat. Her arts in the soul was limited at best... Vampires weren't known for their arts over soul manipulation but over blood and bodies... This was already a pain, but...

"Yes. You can take the pain." Jordan nodded, as he smiled widely.

"..." Eris cursed in her mind... There was a big difference in pain in the body and pain in the soul!

"Ahem-" Jordan began speaking the Voidic words necessary for the three to perform their ritual.

*******

Jack's vision slowly began to come back, and what he saw gradually became less blurry, as he stared at a dark stone ceiling. Lifting his head, he saw walls, and he laid at the bottom of a flight of stone steps. The walls were all carved with various figures and unknown words and runes. The path was lit by flaming torches, so it was unlike what he was accustomed to seeing.

"So, you awake, G.o.d Nihilum." A squawking voice echoed around Jack, as he lifted himself to sit on the second from the last step and righting himself up. Looking at the voice, he saw two figures. Both of them were large three-and-half-meter tall male looking figures. Just slightly taller than Jack, but partially due to their heads. Both figures had crane-like heads. One's head was black with a black bill, and the other had a white head with a red bill. Both wore clothes that reminded Jack of the Egyptians and Emily, they even had pharaoh style headdresses over their long necks, In fact...

"Are you two Egyptian G.o.ds?" Jack blurted out.

"That's not a group of people that I've heard in a very long time. How are they doing?" The Black-Headed birdman squawked to the other.

"Their empire dead, but they have descendants." The other nodded with his white head, and both looked back to Jack, as they replied, "We are the Twin" the white-headed one spoke first, "Gatekeepers of the Dreamlands," the black-headed one finished.

"So, you guys aren't that bird guy named tooth, tath, tok-"

"Thoth." The white-headed birdman corrected.

"Yeah! Thoth! Are you guys Thoth, or one of you?" Jack continued, as he got to his feet, looking around and buying time for himself to understand where he might be, and what other eldritch abomination dragged him into this time.

"We've been called many things before, and Thoth was one." The black-headed birdman chirped.

"Teach a few people, and everyone has to name you something. I always wonder why no one remembers Our names." The white-headed birdman spoke with humor in his squeaky voice.

"You know it's because outside of here normal mortals can't remember proper."

"Oh, Right-right-right-right-right." Both, again, looked to Jack.

"So... What do you two want?" Jack turned his head to look over his shoulder at the flight of stairs leading up.

"Isn't it what your prophet asked Us to do?"

"First off, we aren't you... I am Nasht." The black-headed birdman declared, "This is my twin brother, Kaman-Thah." As he gestured to the white-headed birdman.

"I bet it was the Thah part they used for Thoth," Kaman-Thah commented.

"You know We had this conversation so long ago..." Nasht continued.

"Yeah, but I took a nap since then."

"What did my prophet do?" Jack caught the question in-between the two's ramblings.

"Oh. It seems that you went a bit... d.a.m.n, how does the mortals say it?" Nasht, looked to Kaman-Thah, as Kaman-Thah blurted, "Gone completely cuckoo in the head."

"Right. Cuckoo in the head." Nasht finished.

"I-" Jack rubbed his bald skull trying to remember but drew a blank. He remembered being in Carcosa... a.s.stur... Yoggi... Getting pitched like a baseball... and then slamming into the Underworld.... And after that... Nothing.

"Right-right-right-right-right, you're not going to remember. That's what's been requested. The parts of the memories that made you cuckoo were cast out and sent to the land of Nightmares. Ha! It can rot there for all I care!"

"Yeah, but the last time something rotted there, it became a big issue," Kaman-Thah spoke up.

"True, but the d.a.m.n thing built a city and keeps to itself, so who cares."

"Might become a G.o.d later."

"I'm sure the Daemon Sultan will do something about it if he has too. For all we know, he wants something like it to develop. Just keep eyes on it, until further notice." Nasht finished.

"Right."

"...Sooooo... What do I do now?" Jack asked what he wanted to know.

"Oh, that's simple. Just take the stairs behind you." Kaman-Thah started.

"Seventy stares up, and then you wake up." Nasht finished.

"That's it? No catch?" Jack said slightly unconvinced.

"No-"

"Catch."

"What if I need those memories again?" Jack felt weird knowing that part of his mind was basically cut up... What else was removed? But he tried to roll with the punches. He'd been through too much weird and strange happenings since he woke up undead to honestly care at this point, as long as he could get back to Leslie and Emily... Maybe Eris, who he was growing fond of.

"Then come-"

"Back."

Watching the two starting and finis.h.i.+ng the other's sentences... As expected of twins? Was weird, but then again... They were birdmen, so was it really that weird? Jack thought so...

"So, is there a catch to coming back?" Jack continued.

"No catch, but-"

"Remember that the Dreamlands We guard are dangerous... Even to G.o.ds. Within the realms of the dreamlands... G.o.ds are mortals and mortals are G.o.ds. It's not that you don't have your power, but so do mortals. Dreamers have odd sets of powers in the dreamlands that they don't in the awakened world."
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"There are also strange creatures, races, and monsters that populate the dreamlands as home... More than one G.o.d has fallen here and forgotten."

"If you dream and enter here and die... Then you wake up, never to return... But if you come here in body... Like you will have to the next time you return... Death is forever... Not even your best friend can save you, as your soul will return back to the Daemon Sultan directly, with no change of reincarnation."

"Daemon Sultan... This name... Why do I somehow know it?"

"Best not to think about it." The two birdmen chirped in laughter.

"If the soul goes to him, can't he just return it back?"

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

"Cough! Cough!"

The two coughed together, "That... Even We do not know, but for him to be awake to perform such a thing... Well, it would have no meaning... If he awakens, then nothing will exist... We would be wiped from existence before We could even question." Nasht spoke in a low voice.

"Maybe... Maybe if his beloved daughter asked, while he was half asleep..." Kamen-Tath looked up and spoke in thought.

"...Maybe, but the chance of getting her to agree, and risking waking him up... I wouldn't take it even for myself or you..."

"Agreed."

The two twin gatekeepers nodded.

While listening, Jack looked behind the two to the giant imposing s.h.i.+ny metallic gates. Jack figured there would be the dreamlands... Should he go get him memories now?

[I just don't like how my mind's been chopped up! Last time I didn't remember s.h.i.+t, I messed up Julia...] Jack continued to look at the gates, as he thought about going to the dreamlands now...