KING OF SWORDS 10-143
Chapter: 10
You are already a dead man. From the moment you started to exist, death has bored into your ribcage and settled in your chest. It has its fingers into your very bones. When you are born, death is very small and weak, but he grows stronger every second, until he will wear you like a second skin. Do not fool yourself into thinking he is not there. You will feel him. Do not deny his presence. You must swallow death, and make him a part of you, and make of your ribcage a home for him.”
-Yaun, the dead
Acceptance is hard won in situations like this. Death comes for us all, though some are more resilient in the face of it than others. And some are angels that can reincarnate themselves, so…
If Zoss could slay Primes then Salami here can slay a young Angel.
The Primes aren’t dead! The longer an angel goes without reincarnation, the more resilient their body and the longer reincarnation takes. Eventually they will all wake, yet only one, 2 Michael, has woken up.
That said, if White Chain needs to reincarnate, we’ll need a very long time skip for her to re-enter the story.
They’re still technically dead, just in a type of suspended animation.
Though, I find it odd that 2 Michael is a prime and yet woke up before any of the others did. Might be explained in part that he somehow isn’t as powerful as the other Primes. He’s probably one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, active angels and yet he’s still utterly dwarfed by the other primes.
He could just be taking on a smaller form. There’s quite a bit to support form changes in angels that are somewhat voluntary.
Perhaps 2 Michael died long before Zoss reached heaven?
All I know is, if Solomon David doesn’t kill a chick soon, he’ll lose all credibility as an interdimensional boss supervillain — if indeed that’s what he is.
Either White Chain or Cio has to bite it.
Might have something to do with Zoss’ spears still being rammed through his chest. I’m guessing that taking the time to run a full reincarnation fixes things like that.
2 Mikey is a little half baked, methinks.
I sometimes wonder if 2 Michael isn’t a Prime at all, but is somehow faking it.
I’m not entirely sure that angels preserve much memory on reincarnation–Delicious seemed to imply it “reset” them (although she also said she’d change again). I don’t think they wake up knowing exactly who/what all the other angels are, I think it’s possible they have to learn it all over again.
If angels forget, and if Michael is the only angel with a 2 instead of a higher number, he could easily be a non-Prime that’s convinced others he’s Prime for so long that nobody questions it.
Yeah, the whole ‘memory loss during reincarnation’ thing isn’t entirely clear. On one hand, the knowledge of Krayu Mat, which Vigilant Gaze hasn’t seen used since deep antiquity, seems to be innate, on the other there is a general mention of forgetting when reincarnating.
The whole specifics of how it works and how far hasn’t come up in a way where it has to be defined rather than somewhat vague.
Yeah, angels don’t seem to forget certain things, like martial arts. The manual of hands and feet mentions for Krayu Mat, “All angels know it, having learned it at some point during their repeated reincarnations,” implying that they either never lost their knowledge of it, or remember at some point. I think their exact proficiency isn’t kept, though.
Actually, I just realized something, we already have two examples that are close analogues (as close as it gets for devils that is) to the Angel reincarnation proccesses. Namely Cio and Vladok/Princess.
Cio definitely remembers her past as Yabalchoath and probably has had a lot of time (centuries, if not millennia) to recover her memories, but even then, there are gaps, such as part of the Vault of Yre route.
Vladok/Princess seems to remember a good deal, and vowed to get their ebon name back pretty much right after they got over the initial disorientation. Also, one of the magisters told Princess that they would remember in time.
It’s not a perfect or even particularily close analogue, but some of the same memory loss thing is at play as well.
Very good point, although I do wonder if Yabalchoath’s memories of the Yre raid were deliberately redacted by Mamon’s people…or by her husband when she was brought back.
The memory loss for angels seems to mirror dementia in humans, where recent memories are lost and old memories remain clear. It’s just on a vastly longer time-scale.
108 comments when one started reading them; auspicious. Cio’s memories of Yabalchoath days may be incomplete due to her mask actually being smashed and not necessarily quite just exactly the same once painstakingly reassembled?
I would expect that an Angel’s reincarnation bears some qualities that resemble each type of demon reincarnation, but has some quirks of it’s own.
When you reincarnate a Demon, you’re either slapping a new mask and name on an old glob of black flame, or you’re stuffing a new glob of black flame into the same mask and name and hoping to get a similar result.
With an Aeon, Koss carved the names and faces into the stuff of the white flame itself. Even if you pour them back into the void, they Divide into the same droplets again
One believes Koss only created the Primes, and that the newer angels stayed in the void may kalpa longer, as smaller shards of white flame? – twiddling their thumbs, contemplating existence, or doing sudoku. One’s memory is not necessarily reliable (especially on that last point).
Every Aeon has had the Old Law graven into them by my brother, Koss. This is why the Concordance of Angels was built in Koss’ workshop. Whatever their beliefs, they all recognize it as their birthplace, and it affords some respect among all of the angelic orders.
Old Koss was the literal epitome of craftsmanship, and he wasted nothing from the shining splinter he took from Un’s nail. From the largest siege angel to the smallest meter-maid aeon, they all came from that furnace.
Some remained in Throne, to keep the peace, even after the Multiplicity committed Divine Suicide, and these became the Prime Angels. For their diligence, they died in battle against Zoss, save for Metatron 1.
Others left the city, either on missions from their late masters, or of their own volition, and perished in battle against the Formless Black Flame.
2 Michael claims to have been a prime, yet he was the first of the Second-born, which I read as meaning that he was the first to receive an inferior, human-forged armor.
However they perished, their names are lines from the poem called the Old Law, and we do well to remember, that the same stanza is etched, inescapably, into the stuff of their very souls.
Koss was a hard man, whose siblings asked too much of him, and his chisel cut deep. Koss was a sensitive artist, and the first slave of Throne, and he wrote his poem in the hope for freedom. Fear the weapons of oppression he wrought; fear the instruments of change he sculpted.
That said, I wonder how Preem Nand managed to find Yabalchoath’s specific glob of black flame among the innumerable globs of black flame that are out there.
I doubt that he could.
He reassembled the mask, and he gave it the name, but something about the thing that he created rejects the identity he tried to force upon her.
Trust isn’t difficult. It’s easy to trust in others.
Choosing who to place your trust in is far more challenging.
Nice addage. Well spoken.
Your poem twists a dagger that already lay in my heart.
Oh how I weep for those I love, who put their faith in false prophets.
Ever vigilant, that White Chain.
Goodness, a whole night of burly men pounding you (with nails) and she’s still laser-focused?
White Chain is quite the woman.
The burly men seem to have done a decent job putting her body back together.
Quality healers each one.
With a hammer and nails? Nails? This looks more like a ‘Couple of buckets of filler with a bit of cornflake box behind it, rub it all down and a quick respray, no one’ll notice the difference’ jobbie to me…
Fixing an angel with instant ramen
Been there, done that, nailed it shut.
Vigilant … or furious? As I read panel 3, Solomon is already seated opposite her in the ring and she’s looking daggers at him. This is hopeful: angry angels do amazing things.
This is not her body, but it has always been her fight. Violence is a matter of the soul, and hers burns with an honest light, not a stolen one. Crush him.
Your first statement is profoundly true, and beautifully said.
I dream that our venerable sister lose her form once and for all, so that her true body may be forged anew and present as she would wish it for all to see. White Chain has always been beautiful, all angels are beautiful, but she deserves to be her preferred kind of beautiful.
The hardest thing someone can do is place their complete trust in someone else and do absolutely nothing but believe. A truly scary concept but one that is very precious when its proven to be right.
Death comes easy to immortals.
It is hard not to come when you are so lovingly invited; so tenderly embraced.
La petite mort? Ou la grande? Ou tous les deux?
Hey now, you make it sound like I’ll put just anyone in my mouth.
Perhaps she has finally found her way
And I can soon find my own.
No traveller is lost when they have a landmark. Let her be your landmark.
That is the face of an angel – a fighter – who is focused and resolute.
(And who may soon be on her way to #83 – but not, I hope, before achieving her victory.)
Remember, it’s only one drop of Solomon David’s blood that White Chain needs to win the match.
Always vague, are the rules concerning blood. First thing I had thought of when the rule had been mentioned: prick one of Dave’ many, many kids with a needle.
Given that it’s been 25 generations of his sons (or it’s currently on the 28th generation), I wonder just what percentage of Rayuba can claim to be descended from him, or in other words, be of Solomon’s ‘blood’.
It’d be like Ghengis Khan magnified thousandfold.
Nice patch job, assholes.
To be fair, I don’t think any actual ash-armor smiths were available on short notice.
If only one of the angels involved in reincarnation and returning the dead to new bodies had a place in the tournament, and were inclined to help – perhaps even cheat.
I suspect the ‘patch job’ is simply the best Vigilant Gaze could do with ONLY a day to work with, as opposed to years and centuries for proper artifice.
I am also curious if it holds any surprises behind an eye-drawing faceplate. We shall see. As white chain learned against allicio: sometimes, its okay to decieve.
Surprises? Do you think White Chain is hiding an ace in the hole?
Given what she pulled against Alicio, it may be less ‘ace in the hole’ and more ‘expect the unexpected/unknown’, we as readers don’t know the full range of what angels can do.
There is a resolve in White Chain that had been missing before. Whether it shall allow her to overcome her foe or not, she has at least finally found herself.
YISUN Atru Vyam. Forgive her for the violence she is about to inflict.
She has already overcome her foe she has already won her battle. She is at peace. She is congruent. however long she may live on this new and improved path is less relevant than the great triumph she achieved to get here.
The Healer speaks true. She has done much to cut through her previous idea of “self”. This is a greater and truer White Chain than we have ever yet witnessed.
And I continue to marvel at a white flame passionately seeking change.
“When you advance, move as if to tread down you enemy’s fighting spirit with each step, and you will defeat him before you even arrive.”
–Miyamoto Musashi (translated, of course)
This weapon will no longer work on White Chain. Her spirit is now invincible.
May she scratch the diamond and reveal the truth within.
total internal reflection is possible at a mere 25 degrees. Push enough truth in from the outside and some of it may never get out.
You may find that this diamond is too dense to fill with truth.
Interesting that there have been no new angel bodies produced in so long, outside of those made for thorns, yet Salami here can still produce a detailed patch job overnight. It’s almost as if he doesn’t recognize that a large group of angry angels has an impact on the future stability of his empire.
If this was a proper job I’d consider it significant. But these two muppets haven’t repaired the the forged ash. They’ve just nailed bits of sheet over the holes and covered the worst abuses with duct tape. It signals generous care for the Emperor’s opponent but it’s really #3 in a limited edition of focussed insults.
I was under the impression that ash armor was one of the strongest materials around, but apparently it can have iron/steel nails driven through it without cracking.
Anyways, as 42 FUBAR says, they haven’t sealed the hole with the same material, and as for the ‘detailed’ patch job, I imagine that they had some assistance from the ‘nuclear fire’ that angels exist as in the mortal realms.
they’re tightening her loose screws?
Turning her into a shrapnel bomb, methinks.
Wait, that…. may stand a chance at scratching him…
Yes! She can die *and* conquer. But if she’s gone and Solomon’s bleeding, who gets to claim the prize?
I think you may be on to something here. Perhaps White Chain will sacrifice herself in a supernova burst of some kind and manage to shed a few drops of Solly’s blood – and then give her wish to Allison. There is a serious undercurrent here of Allison being forced to do nothing and having that turn out to be the correct (non) move.
Hmm. Do any angels make wills? No possessions to leave, normally. Perhaps she can speak from the void.
I agree that Allison as spectator is Solomon’s Big Mistake.
Solomon’s Big Mistake… I dig that! Kind of like Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.
The real prize is the courage to fight a battle she knows she’ll lose.
I wonder if these nails driven in her body are to hold it together, or rather to hold her back…
I’m starting to get similar ideas. Maybe she’s literally being nailed into her armor? No “sucker punch” techniques like she did to Allison. Maybe she’s just being patched up in the shoddiest manner, like others have said, as an another insult from Salami Dave. An insult before he annihilates her armor.
Or maybe he doesn’t want to kill her. Maybe he’s having angel feather nails driven into her armor…rendering it indestructible, yes. And that’s the point – not to destroy her, because he could do so easily, but to instead LORD his power over her as he beats and bats her around the ring with the ease of a bear mauling a kitten.
For you see, death is A lesson, but not the HARSHEST lesson. That would be humiliation.
I have to admit, I’m a little jealous of White Chain getting tended to by buff men… but I’d rather not be tended to with *nails,* of course.
I’m running a Planescape campaign in D&D, and I’m going to have to use today’s proverb from Yaun the Dead for someone in the Dustmen faction. It’s quite appropriate to their philosophy. Maybe my party will encounter a Deader named Yaun! It might also be appropriate for the Doomguard, too…
Custer in the final chapter
Takes the strike and feels it shatter.
Cassidy has had a natter.
Give me a home where the newborn gods roam, and the skies are unburdened by flame
Hey watch where you’re going! So anyways I’ve bedded an angel or two in my day, and each time I’ve left with a one more broken bone than I started with. But, I’d pick a two finger fight with the Celestial Emperor just to buy that one in the ring a cup of weak tea. What’s that? Your coin-purse? Esteemed sir…..
Only one?
The hell’re you made of?
Never have we seen the white flame so cold and sharp in her gaze.
There is a great and terrible Purpose burning there.
Nailed to thine self, a stigmata
So much for ‘too badly injured’, looks like WC got a free patch up from maybe the best (available on short notice, though it’d be pretty hard to say ‘I don’t have time’ to a summon from the Patriarch himself) in the empire, or maybe locally.
Also, I thought only one of the Knights groups (forget which one) could work with ash armor? Seemed like it was a trade secret or something because otherwise others would make them.
edit: Though I guess there’s no decree saying that someone else can’t patch job it with metal.
Trust is one of the finest blades in the armory of Royalty, or so the Sister Superior once said.
Fine though it is,Trust may only cut back at its master, its wielder. Truly, it is a tool used by the most foolish of swordsmen.
The false-wise man fears the wrath of heaven, he holds back his blade in fear that it may cut him. The Fool cuts without thought, therefore Royalty is achieved by those foolish enough to trust.
I don’t suppose those nails are made of angel-feathers, are they? No? I guess that would be too easy…
Of course Jagganoth had to get the invincible angel nails over any other demiurge, particularly Solomon. For Solomon to willingly pierce his own skin would be a repulsive, sacrilegious act. He makes a mockery of White Chain with this gesture.
I do question the efficacy of nails as a means of repairing what amounts to a hollow carapace; but then again, the makeup of an angel’s shell is not quite a perfect analogue to my own exoskeleton. Curious, I find myself vaguely reminded of a certain Israelite faith healer and miracle worker I once met on my travels…
Regardless, I am happy to see the duct tape and two-part epoxy being put to good use, truly essential items in any repair kit.
You know, I’m noticing something, the two, vents I guess?, on the front of her chest haven’t been replaced and we can’t see the one on her right hand (her left is covered up anyhow). So, I’m wondering what the function is and whether those vents serve an important purpose since every angel armor we’ve seen has those vents.
Then again, it could just be mandated by tradition or something, so, it could be a red herring detail or a chekovs gun.
edit: Actually, I went back and checked and the holes are only on the back of her hands, which makes sense since that surface has to be pliable. Observation still stands that the two chest holes (and the corresponding ones in back) have been sealed up.
She’s a little menacing, there.