11 Tears in Time (2/2)

With a deep, dark resolution, Baldag-Ruhl said, ”I am no cancer. I am more.”

Talking got awkward after that, so we just walked in silence. It turned natural after awhile. An hour or so later, Baldag-Ruhl said, ”Can you run there? This journey will take at least another days time at our current pace.”

With all my stamina regen, I was primed for a marathon. I said, ”Of course. Let's go.”

I fell into the rythm of my steps tapping then the following echo. We ran for, I don't know, five hours or so? It was a long, long time. Regardless, when we finally reached the end, I almost ran straight off into the abyss at the center.

Here was a room covered in the same runic passages on every surface. Insects swarmed in all directions, moving with the most miniscule pieces of light in the arms of each. They carried these little bits of mana, etching out diagrams at the center of the expanse. Within a few seconds, they all stopped, finished with everything.

The room dipped down into a massive, circular pit. Like a colosseum, a set of staggered circles formed steps till the bottom. They were perfect with their precision, like the stone was etched with a laser. Eight pillars with hollowed out circles supported the room. At their centers, wire claws sat still, ready and waiting for the golem cores.

A giant, blue fire lit the room at the top. It cast a bluish white light onto every surface. All in all, the scene struck me as odd. I turned to Baldag-Ruhl and said, ”Why didn't you just collect the golem cores yourself?”

”I didn't wish to watch my children die meaningless deaths. The Lord of Worms would never have stopped taking the mana I needed for this. Even with their cores, he'd have just prevented me from finishing the ritual with his endless summons.”

”That makes a lot of sense, I suppose. Your insects can't do too much then?”

”They are powerless without my direct control. We are legion. Without many, we are nothing.”

”I was wondering, what's your level now?”

”Level?”

I weighed my hands back and forth, like a scale as I said, ”The Schema assigns a level for you. It really just tells you what your raw strength is compared with others. I'd almost consider it a sort of mark of your past accomplishments.”

Baldag-Ruhl said, ”I don't understand what you mean by level, but I can teach you a bit about perception, little one.”

From his side, a pile of bugs appeared, piling up. They swelled into a ball that then melted away. A ring was there along with a fancy looking monocle on the ground. He said, ”Put these on you. They will let you see more clearly.”

I grabbed them from the floor and inspected them,

Monocle of Foresight(Uncommon) - a monocle enchanted with mana. +2 Perception.

Soothsayer's Lie(Uncommon) - A ring worn by a now dead soothsayer. It isn't that he picked a fight with more than he can chew. It's that he picked a fight with someone who can chew him. +2 Perception.

I place them on, and Baldag-Ruhl's level appears.

Baldag-Ruhl, of Many(lvl 152) - Baldag Ruhl is a hivemind that gained sentience hundreds of years ago. Slowly it has gained intelligence, learning to control more and more insects. Now it is a horde of flesh eating beetles, centipedes, and locust.

Baldag-Ruhl, of Many has been a problem of extermination within his rift. He evades destruction far better than other, equally powerful eldritches. Cunning, clever, and committed, Baldag-Ruhl has survived for well over a thousand years within his domain. Little is understood of his exact method of survival.

Even further still, Baldag-Ruhl exhibits far greater intelligence than even monsters well over a designated danger level of 1000. He's been noted to use traps of extreme complexity for his schemes. He's also one of the few eldritches that is truly malicious. He doesn't attack on sight. He plans out each of his attacks, timing his assaults with excellent strategy.

Schema has designated his danger level as that of extreme. His ability to damage a target regardless of how high their health is, combined with his near elemental immunity and cunning makes him a formidable enemy. Even for those twice his level. Be afraid.

Resists elemental damage by 80%, and does % damage of health as physical damage when coming in contact. Avoid at all costs.

Oh Jesus. I swallow before Baldag-Ruhl laughs, ”Has the lamb discovered that he has entered the lion's den? You never left, I assure you.”

I frown as I say, ”Well that's disconcerting.”

”For you. It should put you at ease. At least now you comprehend what you're dabbling in.”

I shrugged as I said, ”Once again, you could've killed me at any point by now. You let me live. There really isn't much of a difference now anyway.”

”Good to see you've a head on your shoulders. Most of your kind lacks that trait. Such powerful minds, yet they go to waste so easily.”

I nodded as he crawled towards the pillar nearest to us. I followed as he said, ”These pillars and runes act as safeguards against the dimensional rift. Do you see that center circle? That is where the portal will open for a few seconds. I will crawl through, and the mana that leaks out you can absorb. I need the cores for my purposes. You have them.”

I nodded, pulling the cores from my pockets. I didn't touch the Corundum of Souls, however. It had appeared directly into my pocket. I doubt he knew of its existence.

I tossed the cores into the coming piles of insects. Each one went towards another pillar before placing them into the little holders designed for them. You may be wondering why I would do such a thing? The answer's obvious.

I wanted to live. Baldag-Ruhl is much, much more powerful than anything else in this cave. A level 152 would literally disintegrate me in combat, no questions asked. Fighting him was no longer an option. You may be wondering why I didn't just smash the cores and try to mess this ritual up, saving humanity from this impending dimensional tear.

I won't even pretend I'm that selfless. I'm a selfish bastard, and I don't want to be eaten alive by miniscule pincers from these bugs. Simple as that.

So I went with what he wanted. As we passed by each pillar Baldag-Ruhl explained, ”It's interesting, how dimensional travel works. The process requires a catalyst, a holder of sorts. These cores will act as syphons, but I still need something more.”

From the middle of the room, a mountain of bugs swarmed. Deforming like a nightmare, they huddled together, squeezing to a point. They kept condensing, wave after wave, until Baldag-Ruhl stepped out.

An ancient, moldy carapace covered his entire body. Pieces of it had fallen apart, revealing bits of mushy flesh. Pus leaked from these open wounds, making him grotesque. An inhuman, alien face pulled out from the collection of insects. In a grim spectacle, his spit drooled out as he spoke,

”As you can see, my body is failing me. This dungeon has locked me here for longer than I can fathom, that Schema pulling me from world to world. I've grown so very old now. Older than the stone beneath your feet.”

The insects swarmed around me, twitching and squirming in waves. I have a really, really bad feeling about this.

Baldag continued, ”You see, I can't create another body. A hivemind requires a body with a soul for harboring its might. Without it being pure however, I wouldn't be able to escape here. Just as the Lord of Worms couldn't escape, neither would I be able to. You just so happen to have such a body and such a soul.”

I grimaced as I readied for combat. Baldag said, ”Ah ah ah. I could kill you in moments. Your aura is indeed powerful, but it would take over two full minutes before you could even kill one of my insects with it.”

My hands fell as he continued, ”Indeed, I've watched you grow this entire time. Your body became like the metal your kind uses for weapons and armor, your skin like chainmail. You've grown a fine, almost perfect container for me. For that, I thank you.”

My skin crawls as he continues, ”By now, you've discovered I was lying about the ritual. I didn't want you to cause a fuss. It would be so problematic, hurting my new container. It reminds me, there was another, a man named Alfred Worm. You've met him. I had him in the palm of my hand as well. He was to be my old catalyst, my new body. It's quite unfortunate. You see, he was a summoner.”

I lost my breath, paling as Baldag-Ruhl continued in his deep voice, ”He had several cores on him that he held the conscious mana within. He was researching methods of giving them a holding cell, a sort of container. That was my downfall.”

I lunged onto one knee and gripped the sides of my head, realization of what I'd done crushing me. Baldag-Ruhl continued,

”The ritual requires a pure soul, one that is uncorrupted. He made the ultimate sacrifice at that moment. As the ritual took place, he let the living spirit of those mana cores into his own mana, his own soul. He let his mind be torn apart as it held the boundless mana he collected over his life. It corrupted him, forcing my ritual to fail.”

Baldag-Ruhl came closer, spreading his mandible arms, ”Oh he had ruined my centuries of work with his sacrifice. I had thought I would be trapped in this place forever, slowly falling apart. Even as the the pieces of his mind shattered from holding the mana within him, he gave life to the cores. He surrounded them in pools of mana. Mana that I needed for my ritual.”

Baldag glanced at the blue fire, ”He had come up with a method of turning my trap against me, taking my resources for his own. He trapped himself into a pool of his own mana. thickening it until I could no longer reach him. He had become a monstrosity, a guard against my plans.”

He nodded before saying, ”Ah yes, I believed I would be trapped here for all eternity. Stuck in this prison constructed by that accursed presence. But that was when I was moved to a new world. A world without any knowledge of mana or of the eldritches.”

I said, ”That's when you met me.”

”There were two of you, both being sent somewhere else. Using a portion of my ritual's runic power, I ripped one of you from the process as I came here. That is how you stayed here, in my domain. I had to protect you as you grew, preventing you from dying from all the mindless bats here.”

I heaved a breath as I remembered how I survived. I palmed my forehead. Of course. This thing has been protecting me, letting me grow. That's why I could stay safe in a cove of boulders. That's why I could sleep without being eaten.

”You were so utterly, abysmally weak. I had to chew through a portion of a bat's wing for you to survive your first encounter. I had to protect you as you slept. I had to give you a goal to push you forward, before others came. You did more than I ever imagined. You killed what was left of Alfred Worm, letting me recover each of the cores. I could strengthen my ritual with them, making my new shell even stronger.”

A tiny slither of despair leaked into my chest as he said, ”Now your body is the perfect new shell for me. You are strong, but most importantly, you are recognized by that presence. It will let you walk out of this prison once I'm gone.”

Despair turned into Dread as he continued, ”But you see, with the mana from the rift here, I can turn your soul into my new carapace. I can open the rift and channel the mana to my purposes. I will crawl inside you and wear you as my new skin. I will walk right out of this prison, this Schema none the wiser. Your very soul will be my new body.”

I glanced up into a pair of inhuman, twitching eyes. Baldag-Ruhl said, ”Do not worry, little one. I will use your soul well. I will wear your flesh like my own.”

Mandibles opened up as it spit, ”Just let me crawl in.”