Part 10 - The Greatest Sin

Chapter 176 - Justice Brought to Justice

Paarthurnax wheeled over the Imperial City on the Eastern continent. It was quite the sight to behold. Most of it seemed like a normal city with skyscrapers and other buildings, but at its centre rose four stone pillars that looked like they'd been carved out of hills. On top of them balanced an enormous stone slab. At the centre of the slab was a palace that had, thousands of years earlier, served as the centre of the Tuta Empire.

"What's the plan?" Asked Miles.

"It's likely the last piece of the Sword is kept in a secure basement or something. You two hunt around and find it; I'll keep Dea Judicium occupied. Let's bring justice to the bringer of justice." Replied Max.

"Cool."

"Are you sure you can hold out against her long enough?" Asked Gwen.

"How about you do your bit fast enough that we don't have to find out?" Max replied with a cheeky grin.

"Looks like a lot of guards. We'll be fighting as soon as we're down." Miles mused.

"Scared of some thugs, Spiderman?"

"You wish, Gwanda."

Gwen laughed.

"Guess we'll see."

Paarthurnax let out one last roar, unleashing a torrent of flames at the guards at the front gate of the palace. The dovah landed heavily letting his riders disembark. As soon as he was airborne again, bullets started flying. Max raised his hand and a nearly invisible shield formed, protecting him and his parents. The guards on the walls turned their attention to Paarthurnax who was throwing them off their posts like they were matchsticks. It wasn't long until the commotion caught the attention of the High Elder God who resided inside the palace. The sky began to darken, either for dramatic effect or a bi-product of her rage.

"You violate sacred ground, Dei Volente and company. Leave now and your lives will be spared."

"Over my dead body."

"That is the idea, Dei Volente. Come, let us test our strength once and for all."

The gunfire ceased and the doors into the main palace chamber opened. The trio entered, staring Dea Judicium down from her throne. She raised her staff and Max twirled Furore Mortale non-chalantly.

"I sense your fear, Dei Volente."

"Really? All I smell is someone needs a shower. Actually…that might be me too."

The spiders snuck out a door to the side as the High Elder Gods entered a vicious duel that shook the world to its core with each blow. They followed their spider senses to a staircase. Miles pulled Radnar's dagger out, wondering what they'd find at the bottom. As they started descending, they began to talk quietly:

"Who get's to be the first ever person to kill a High Elder God?" Asked Miles.

"Does it matter?"

"Maybe. It'll probably be on our consciences for a while."

"In that case I'll let you take the title."

"Oh yay."

"It's revenge for Radnar. How'd the two of you become friends? He sounds crazy."

"He was as crazy as Vikings get. But he was also the first guy to actually give a damn about me in that time, and I was thinking I was in it for the long haul so should probably make some friends. He said a Fanor's weapon is part of their soul, and I never managed to give him this bit of his soul back. So imma make it up to him by killing the person that killed him."

"Quite the revenge story. I wonder what our kids will say?"

"The only one left seems happy with it. Talking of him, should we pick up the pace?"

The staircase led into a circular room, in the middle of which was the glistening blade of the Sword Perilous. Gwen pulled out the hilt.

"Want to do the honours?"

"Sure."

Miles took a deep breath as he held both pieces and the voice started talking. His mind started to rattle, but he fought through it and pressed the pieces together. The light faded and the Sword Perilous was complete once more. A quiet voice whispered on the wind, the voice of Death:

"You have begun the Greatest Sin. Do not allow it to be in vain."

Miles took a deep breath, feeling a sense of invincibility wash over him.

"Let's go kill a High Elder God."

The wreath of flames surrounding Dei Volente and Dea Judicium weren't flames. They didn't burn everything they touched, but formed a protective bubble round them as they fought for time. But that battle ended as both felt a sense of mortality fill them. They backed away from each other as Miles and Gwen appeared, the former clutching the Sword Perilous. Dea Judicium looked between the blade and Miles. She laughed.

"You would never do such a thing. You would commit the Greatest Sin?"

"If one more person says 'Greatest Sin', imma kill someone." Miles replied.

"Then let us fight, mortal."

Dea Judicium brought her staff down so sparks flew where it struck the ground. Each of them turned into what resembled a hornet of some sort. They buzzed angrily at Miles who charged his mega venom strike and punched the ground. The resulting blast hit Gwen, but it killed the hornets. Dea screamed, either out of fear or rage, and the glass in all the windows shattered, turning into more. Suddenly, everyone as aware of the presence of a third, then a fourth High Elder God. The all-seeing eyes and tentacles of Hermaeus Mora watched while the Watcher interfered, turning the second cloud of angry insects to dust. Miles sprinted forward, firing a web so he swung up a little before falling to drive the Sword Perilous through Dea's head. She blasted him back with a flick of her staff, but Hermaeus Mora clearly didn't like this.

"Your staff is broken, Dea Judicium."

The weapon exploded in a shower of metal, wood and glowing specks of white light. Miles ran at her again, pulling his arm back to stab her through the chest. Dea's face showed nothing but fear now, but she wouldn't go down so easily. She side-stepped and grabbed Miles by the back of his neck. She began to squeeze, but he was released as she began to scream. Looking back, he saw her hand lying a few feet away from her with Furore Mortale embedded in the stone next to it. Hermaeus Mora grunted, clearly dissatisfied, and disappeared again. Dea thrust her remaining hand forwards, hitting Miles with a shockwave that sent him flying backwards. He fired a web and somewhat caught himself before hitting the ground. As he did so, something seemed to shatter like glass. For a moment he thought it was the Sword, but instead of three pieces on the ground, orange and blue wisps whistled out from a broken soul stone to form a person. Dea Judicium ran at them, screaming, but they punched her in the face as the wisps stopped. The punch itself did next to nothing, but it distracted her for a vital couple of seconds. The next thing Dea Judicium knew, she felt something pierce her heart. A cold feeling slowly took her as she stared into Miles' eyes. They weren't his; they were those of a mad man.

"You have…failed. I judge you…broken…like the world you…left behind."

She began to crumble into ashes. Tendrils of energy reached out, wrapping themselves around Miles. Their source, a ball of blue-white light, grew brighter and brighter. The Watcher cast an orange screen to protect himself and Gwen; Max grabbed the person released from the soul stone and formed his own shield to protect them. Miles was left undefended as the ball exploded consuming him in blinding light.

A voice whispered quietly in the background as another spoke in the language that had previously rattled Miles' mind. He heard it in English, but was aware it wasn't:

"The deed…is done. She who judges…has been judged. What paved this road…time will not know. This Greatest Sin…it will be forgotten. Go in peace…Miles Gonzalo Morales. Let your mind rest. Let your descendants prosper."

Miles' understanding of the language disappeared.

As the spider was returned to the plain or mortality, he spoke words that caused Gwen and the person from the soul stone to clutch their heads in agony:

"Tilår wasþ nalir."

He had no idea what it meant, just that seeing it hurt Gwen made him certain he never wanted to say it again. Max and the Watcher looked confused, but Miles didn't care. He ran over to Gwen to check she was OK.

"Hey. Hey. You good?"

"What the hell was that, Miles?"

"I…dunno."

She looked behind him.

"Is she really dead?"

"I stabbed her, got hit with some weird words from some old wise person, and now I'm back here."

Max grabbed Miles' shoulder, making him jump a little as he was pulled round to face his son.

"How did you do that?"

"What?"

"Say…I won't say it for Mum and Jacob's sake. But you know what you said."

"Not really. It sounded like nonsense."

"Those three words are the strongest words in any language. Hell, the strongest power anyone's ever wielded."

"That's a kinda dangerous superpower."

Max shook Miles vigorously.

"Take this seriously. I mean it. With those three words, meaning 'time wills it', you create an unchangeable event in time. Only High Elder Gods should be able to say them and not spontaneously combust mid-sentence."

"Can I try again and see if I explode?"

"No. Mum and Jake have heard the High Elder Gods' language too much for one day."

The room was silent as Max let Miles go and turned to the Watcher. The mortals in the room assumed they shared some words that none of them could hear. At the end of the silence, the Watcher disappeared. Max turned back to his father.

"Mum, Jake, cover your ears." They did as they were told. "Laeo qütþ månþ."

Miles frowned.

"What?"

"So…you're immune to the effects of it now but you don't understand it. How do you feel?"

"Bad. I just killed someone."

"Right. Well at least you avenged Radnar. I said 'we need to eat'. Let's go see what the guards say."

Paarthurnax caught another of the animals and the now four cooked it. Gwen and Jacob went to sleep a few hours after finishing it, but Miles and Max stayed awake seemingly watching each other curiously. Finally, Miles broke the silence.

"You just gonna stare at me all night? Kinda creepy, man."

"Maybe. I'm not sure what happened."

"You think I ate Dea's soul and became a High Elder God?"

"You can still carry the Sword Perilous absolutely fine, so you aren't a HEG. And we'll leave the soul eating to whatever's left of the Dragonborn population. I'm just not sure how you can now resist me talking Elder Tongue."

"Is that what it's called?"

"That's the translation of it, just about. The original is: 'Fusis Þinutir'."

Miles saw Gwen and Jacob squirm uncomfortably.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk in Elder Tongue even when they're asleep."

"Did they wake up?" Max asked, looking back at them.

"No, but it looked like it hurt."

"If there's no good guys around, spewing some nonsense in Elder Tongue could be useful. I'll teach you some more, and maybe some of the weaker spells too."

"Like 'til…'"

"Don't say it!" Max yelled.

That woke the others up.

"What're you two fighting about?" Jacob grumbled.

Max ignored him for a moment to say:

"It doesn't matter if you don't want to cast the spell. If you say those words together, you cast it."

Miles nodded.

"Sorry. But how do you say 'time wills it' in a conversation, then?"

"By saying it in a mortal tongue. Forget the spewing nonsense Elder Tongue. Never speak the language unless you intend to cause some pain. If you aren't careful, you could tear the world in half."

"Yeah…don't teach me that one."

"I won't."

Max turned to Jacob who was now standing in case there was a fight needing broken up.

"Come on, Jake. Let's take a walk. There's something I want to talk to you about."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Skyrim
- Marvel Cinematic Universe

Fun fact: Fusis Þinutir is a language I'm currently working on (very slowly...). Since there's some accents and fancy letters in it, borrowed from other languages, here's a quick guide on how they're pronounced in Elder Tongue (they might not be true to their real life pronunciations!):

å / Å is pronounced as if you were going to say 'aw', but stop before you start the W.
ü / Ü is pronounced 'oo'.
ð / Ð is pronounced like a lower case 'D' (sort of like 'duh' but cut the H).
þ / Þ is pronounced either like 'th' or 'v', like in the word 'the' or 'verse' respectively. It varies depending on what fits better with the word.