27 The Old and the New (1/2)
I ripped through the portal, everything around me blacker than coal. Schema's messages were gone. I couldn't see my hp bar or stamina or anything. Menu screens didn't pop up. There was a sense of structure that Schema gave things. I hadn't noticed it until it was ripped away. Now, everything was disorderly, like I was in a maelstrom at sea.
Still, two firm arms pulled me through it. After a few minutes of being dragged, I swooped through the cloud. Ahead of me, a floating eyeball with two limbs floated in space. Literal space. I was surrounded by asteroids in every direction, planets and stars crystal clear. Countless galaxies floated in the distance, even their tiniest lights visible. There was no atmosphere in the way. I could see it all with my enhanced eyes.
It was blinding and vast and beautiful. I stared off at, frozen in that moment. I mean it though, I couldn't move or breath. It was like time was frozen. The voice of Etorhma radiated like being hit by bricks,
”I understand if you are curious, little one. I have frozen time here, so that this vast void will not kill you. I've summoned other mortals. They did not fare so well without this precaution.”
After he spoke, I could move. Of course, without gravity I couldn't do much more than look around. After a moment, my eyes met the basketball sized eye. The two arms shifted like they weren't even real, or like they existed somewhere else and these were just the memories of them.
I just don't know how to describe it. The whole place made me feel...off.
Anyway, I asked while narrowing my eyes at the tiny thing, ”You're Etorhma?”
The voice shook my bones as it spoke, ”No. Glance upward.”
I glanced upward, and my whole perspective changed. Up was now forward, and Etorhma was there. Larger than a moon, Etorhma floated like a behemoth in space. Imagine a white mountain that took up your entire view. Now imagine it had split into several large chunks, with a reddish glow ebbing from between the crevices. As you looked deeper into the cracks, a fleshy, red skin led towards the unseeable center.
All these cracks converged towards a base below it, shrinking until they converged into a ball with a thousand limbs sticking from it. The reddish flesh slowly changed to a blue hue on these limbs, which were basically dozen jointed fingers. The ends of these things blended into the black space behind them. In other words, Etorhma looked weird as fuck.
I glanced back and forth before saying, ”Uh...Good to meet you?”
”You as well, harbinger. I've summoned you. You would like to know why, would you not?”
I blinked, shocked by his normal way of speaking. I thought Etorhma would be this abomination, an endless evil that destroyed whole worlds. What I was meeting here sounded less pants-shittingly terrifying.
I said, ”Uhhhh...Yeah. You read my mind.”
”I did not. I respect the privacy of thought that your dimension has. It is an interesting rule to work around. Now, it is time to discuss why I called you here.”
The light between the cracks brightened as Etorhma spoke, ”You see, there's something I need of you. That extension of you, it can devour many very difficult to devour things. Things that even I cannot rid myself of. It has even eaten parts of my own self, though infinitesimally small.”
I gulped as I said, ”You mean...Althea?”
”Yes. What a quaint name for what she is. This Althea is close to the center of this mess I'm sending you to clean up. As you may imagine, you are not the first I've called here. You will not be the last. Many of those I've touched roam your universe. One of them you know, Yawm of Flesh.”
One of the multi-jointed limbs jerked before Etorhma continued,
”He was a loyal servant of mine. He lost sight of sanity long ago, I'm afraid. He believes an unholy union of the old and the new. That thing you know as Althea was his creation. He found one of my other avatars. He used him to create Althea. In the end, you are much closer to what he is trying to create. He will bend you, if you allow him to.”
I frowned as I said, ”Yeah, fuck that.”
”Good, you do not share his twisted vision. Yawm wishes for your kind to be melded with mine. He wishes for a new flesh, one that is neither old nor new. What he creates will rupture the fabric of all that exists. Even I will be torn asunder. You will stop him. You will devour him.”
I sputtered, ”I mean, I can try...Shit. You said the fabric of everything? Holy fucking fuck.”
”Do not fret, for there is time, at least in your dimension. I am merely informing you. Interfering with a specific time is...difficult for me. It is innate for you, however.”
My deep frown turned into a deeper grimace as Etorhma continued, ”Destroy Yawm and the others who believe in his ideology. Hunt down their fragments once he has perished. Decimate all that he stood for. You are the harbinger of cataclysm, a sign of what is to come. As harbinger, you are the only one who knows of how to stop the ensuing cataclysm.”
I couldn't help but feel a little inspired as Etorhma continued, ”Stop the cataclysm you omen. Show them the might of your mettle, and the wrath of your will. Obliterate until they are but pieces of oblivion.”
I tapped the edges of my legs with my hands, saying, ”That's uhhh...A lot of pressure. You sure there isn't some other dude who's willing?”
”There are many who are willing. There are none who are able, besides for you. Rise or fall. The fabric of time depends on it.”
I sighed before saying, ”Alright. Doesn't look like I have much of a choice.”
”What a fragile concept that is choice. Despite the vast power I wield, you have far more freedom than I. Your choice will decide whether we will retain existence, or something new will come to replace us. Be ready, harbinger.”
Everything went black for a fraction of a second before my eyes popped open. Torix, Kessiah, and Althea were beside me. Hell, Althea even looked worried. I said,
”Fuck yeah. If I died, I'd be missed.”
Torix rolled his eyes with a ripple of the fires. He said, ”He's perfectly fine. Let's leave him be.”
Kessiah leaned over and said, ”What the hell just happened.”
”You tell me. I have no goddamn clue.”
Althea chimed, ”You were sucked into the eldritch by an eldritch. Right as the portal closed, another portal opened and sent you flying out.”
I nodded as I said, ”Man...Etorhma can control time.”
Kessiah gasped, ”You...you met Etorhma?”
”Yeah, he honestly isn't even a bad guy.”
Kessiah's eyes opened wide as she said, ”What did he sound like?”
”Like he was talking to my entire life instead of just me.”
Torix glared at me and said, ”Why would Etorhma contact you?”
”To kill that fucker Yawm.”
Torix raised a hand to his chin and said, ”Really now...killing Yawm will be...problematic.”
Kessiah scratched the back of her head as she said, ”Yeah...Let's just run away from him.”
I sat up and snapped, ”What the fuck? We have Althea right here. You think Yawm's just going to stop chasing us? Hell no. You guys just ripped open a portal in dimensions so that random people wouldn't hunt you. Why is Yawm any different.”
Kessiah glanced up as she said, ”Uhhhh...how do I put this...Yawm's tough. Real tough.”
I raised an eyebrow as I said, ”How fucking strong can he be?”
Torix glanced at the ground and said, ”He is over level 5000...”
My jaw fell open as Kessiah said, ”Even us remnants are scared of the guy. I mean, we can always just hide somewhere if we don't want him following us, so taking Althea just isn't that big a deal. Actually facing him though? How about no.”
Althea said, ”Why did you guys keep me then?”
Torix turned to her and said, ”Because you pierced straight through Daniel's enhanced defenses. You are not an enemy I wanted in the future, even less than Yawm.”
Kessiah nodded as she said, ”Yeah, from what Torix tells me, Daniel has broken the damage resistance cap somehow. Being able to punch through him at such a low level, well, it's insane really.”
Althea glanced down, the very beginnings of a smile on her face as she said, ”Thank you, miss Kessiah.”
I suppressed a grin before I said, ”Well, I've got to kill Yawm regardless. I wish it wasn't quite so impossible, but eh...I gotta do what I gotta do.”
Kessiah said, ”I don't think you understand, little guy. There's stories about Yawm. Big and bad ones.”
Torix nodded as he said, ”He's the only confirmed being to kill a sentinel of monolith. He's the reason other unknowns like Kessiah and I can walk in and out of dungeons like this. Schema doesn't bother unknowns over level 1000. Too risky.”
I shrugged as I said, ”Etorhma didn't say how or when I should kill Yawm. He just said I had to, or else even he would die.”
Kessiah gulped as a silence came over the room. After a few seconds, she said, ”So...good luck with that.”
Torix glowered at her, his eyes turning to slits as he said, ”You might as well wish us all luck, Kessiah.”
”I helped you tear open the dimension. It was fun. I think it's about time I go though.”
Torix stood up and said, ”This is Etorhma, Eater of Worlds we're talking about, not the ramblings of a child.”
Kessiah's shoulders drooped as she said, ”Sure, whatever.”
I elbowed her side as I said, ”It'll be fun. We'll be fighting some fucked up shit, gaining levels, probably eating some tasty stuff. Maybe you'll enjoy it more than you think.”
Kessiah pursed her lips as she said, ”When you put it like that...it doesn't sound so bad.”
Torix said, ”Sounds almost nostalgic. A renewal of sorts.”
Althea stood and said, ”It's better than the alternative. Trust me. They can do things to us that we don't want to happen.”