65 Experiments (2/2)

Zahaka continued. ”As you can see, these realms have been converted into homes for each of us gods, but that was not my original intention. Attempting to tear open a passageway in Valhul was impossible with magic, so I experimented and tried to create a new realm where the rules were more flexible.

However, so long as the realms I forged were anchored to Valhul as its base – and they had to be, for I had no other space to work with – I could not open such passageways.”

She closed her eyes. ”But Noctus, how many years ago was it again? Ah, it is the only memory I wish to forget. About four hundred years ago, Noctus proposed a highly interesting solution. If our godly magic was insufficient as it was bound to servicing the planet, then what about something more?

Something…otherworldly? Something alien? Something beyond the scope of the world?”

Li nodded, following along. He knew now that the gods, though they had been transported from the game and acted and thought like individuals, were still bound by their lore-related duties.

They were weighed down by their programming to only ever appear when the world needed them and to leave once their role was finished. In that sense, he also understood that the world itself had some degree of a personified will as it did in the game, though to what extent, he had little clue.

When he thought about it, he realized the demons were bound to their lore to a degree as well. Their urge to fight among each other to elect a leader to take over the world - that was what they had always done in the game, and now, over the centuries, it had become a sacred tradition.

But there was one class of entity in the game that was explicitly mentioned to be alien entities, and those were Old Ones, of which Noctus had the potential to become.

”You're saying,” said Li as he watched Zahaka's careful pale eyes. ”Noctus decided to become an Old One to try and break the rules. If he turns into an alien that's meant to threaten the world, then he's no longer bound to protect it. In fact, his threat to the world alone would bring all of you out.”

”Most certainly, and an astoundingly innovative idea at that, but suboptimal, for it would mean we would have to fight against him,” said Zahaka, a hint of admiration leeching into her normally cold voice. ”I conducted many experiments with him and derived the conclusion that he did not even have to fully become an Old One and lose his sense of self.

Eldritch energy, I have observed, is highly volatile and interactive with the fundamental fabric of reality. With enough of it, it would be possible to rip open a passageway to the mortal realm.

However, Noctus did not wish to become a maddened, hostile force to us, and we did not wish to see him fall to that fate either. Yet to open that passageway would require enough energy to fully turn him from divinity to eldritch…thing.

But I still managed. This reality binds us here, resetting us to perfect condition when we suffer damage to expire, and so I repurposed that little element and incorporated it within a ritual wherein Noctus could shunt as much eldritch force as he wished and still be able to reverse all the damage to his divinity. The ritual would also act as a refined targeting method, configuring the eldritch energies to precisely open a portal to the mortal plane and not some forsaken wasteland in another world.”

Li saw Chi-You grow still and bow his head. Zahaka flitted her eyes downwards. ”But something went wrong,” he said.

”I did warn both Noctus and his brother that the ritual was not yet stable, but Helius, ever the optimist, believed nothing could possibly go wrong. He convinced all of us that our freedom was near with a resounding speech, and I must admit, though I am a researcher first and foremost, the tempting vision of freedom dulled my wary analysis.”

Zahaka wrung her hands together as if to rid herself of the memory.

”The ritual did not work. It did not do anything right. It did not adequately control Noctus's eldritch energy, and he succumbed to madness. His madness disrupted the ritual further, causing the rift he opened to close upon but himself.”

Li shook his head. He knew that when Noctus became an Old One, he did not become a balanced being like Li, focusing on both raising and destroying life. No, the god became purely a vessel for destruction, a signal beacon which called upon all the dark forces of the universe to descend upon the world for its consumption. That was why there were so many lovecraftian bonus bosses in the game - they had all been directed by Noctus as a herald.

Yet if that had been the case –

”I know how strong Eldenia is. Noctus as an Old One would annihilate the entire world without an issue, forcing you to leave this prison,” said Li. ”But the world is still standing, and all of you are still here.”

”Noctus, though a god of night and death, was still a guardian of mortals, for without life, there is no death, and though vastly different from his brother, they still shared an overwhelming sense of duty. With the last few shreds of sanity he had left, he sealed himself in a deep slumber at the deepest recesses of the world, never to threaten the mortals for whose sake he had fought for so long ago.”

”But that also meant there wasn't a threat anymore to call the rest of you down,” said Li.

”Correct, and there are many days that I wonder that it would have been better for Noctus to have turned fully into an abomination for us to kill.”

”Stop,” said Chi-You. ”You cannot mean that.”

”I do.” Zahaka's jaw set. ”He has no hope of ever returning to his old self, and yet he cannot die, bound to an eternal slumber. We could have put him out of his misery. Helius now is a wreck of a god, a shell of a divinity, swallowed up by oceans of grief and guilt, unable to even shine a sun even in this small little realm. But had he gotten proper closure by slaying his brother, I am sure he would still be somewhat radiant.”

She paused, and when she spoke again, there was the faintest tremble underlining her voice. ”But in the end, it is my foolish errors that have caused such disaster, yet I see now a chance to make what has been wronged right.”

”You do? You know a way out?” said Li.

Zahaka nodded. ”If you are willing to be a subject to my experiment, then yes.”