Part 5 - Blood of the King

Chapter 92 - Jeser Gate

Gwen wondered how long it would take for her absence to be noticed. She was supposed to be locked in her quarters back at Legion HQ, but she had snuck aboard a Quintari ship. Her purpose for doing it was simple: the Quintari were hiding a lot of key information from humanity that may cost millions, perhaps billions of lives. She reached a terminal and plugged in a high-tech USB drive capable of storing a brontobyte of data. Before the days of the Republic, that would be hundreds of times more data than was stored on the internet in her home of 7065. Sometimes she loved the inventions that came from Teresa's dimension. The terminal started whirring away and the light in the drive flashed steadily to show data was being transferred. Gwen looked either way down the corridor, waiting for a Quintari security squad to come and investigate. She ducked back into the alcove and grabbed the drive as two appeared armed with some deadly looking weapons. Gwen sprinted back to the transfer room and hit the button, returning to headquarters just as the Quintari caught up with her.

Half-an-hour later, Gwen leaned on a wall next to Max, overlooking the River Thames in London, 9001. The Tower of London was behind her and HMS Belfast had its weapons trained on it from the other side of the river. The old World War Two cruiser was to provide artillery support in case Hastur sent forces back through the Jeser Gate in the dungeon of the Tower. A single barrage from the warship would most likely level the even older structure. But the gate wasn't to be opened for another five minutes so Gwen decided to spend some time with her son.

"How was your date?" She asked him.

Max had taken the day since the fight to go and see his friend Grace.

"It wasn't a date!" He replied, somewhat annoyed.

"You sure? You're blushing."

"I'm not! We're just friends. Seriously."

"You might just be friends but that doesn't necessarily mean you don't have feelings for each other. What did you get up to?"

"We went for dinner and a walk, talked a lot. She was saying a lot of people are really scared about what's happening. The Legion isn't telling anyone anything."

"And what did you say?"

"I said I was trying to make the Legion more transparent before I get booted when this is all over so I told her everything I could. She said it wasn't exactly comforting to know there's a giant red guy ripping up the multiverse. There's videos all over YouTube and stuff of what happened in 7610."

"What did you say to that?"

"I just said we were doing everything we could and we had a plan."

"And then did you express your undying love for her and she her's?"

"No! Friends. F, R, I, E, N, D, S. Friends. Anyway, I'm not starting any relationships until this is all over."

"So you have thought about it."

Max hesitated and slumped his shoulders.

"Alright, you got me. I do like her, but I don't want to say anything in case it makes things awkward. I'm kinda running low on friends at the moment after the whole 096 shooter thing."

"It's a leap of faith, Max. Trust your instincts. It doesn't always take a spider sense. Maybe she feels the same way?"

"Maybe."

"Just make sure I'm invited to the wedding."

"That depends on how many people you've killed between now and then."

"And how many I've killed depends on how soon we kill Khahrahk."

"And I'm not doing relationships until he's dead so..."

"So let's kill this son of a bitch."

The Jeser Gate was an incredible piece of architecture. It looked as though it was built from sandstone with hundreds of ornate carvings all over its frame. The SCP Foundation had managed to open it before now and enter the city on the other side, but not for a long time. When some former Foundation personnel had completed the ritual, a grey swirl appeared. Max, Gwen and a small strike force crossed over the threshold and were pulled through. Conall was still in a foul mood and Teresa was snowed under trying to organise efforts to protect civilians from Khahrahk's occasional strikes, so neither was there.

On the other side, the team was met with a medieval city. They were standing outside the walls, but they could see through the gate. In the middle of the city, at the top of a hill, stood a palace. Gwen's spider sense told her Hastur was there; they just had to find their way. The streets wound up the hillside. As they crossed a bridge half-way up, Max looked out and saw a red river. He wondered why it was red, but figured it didn't matter. They pushed onwards and upwards until they reached the top where two angry guards crossed their spears.

"You shall not pass." One snapped.

"I'd like to see you even try and stop me." Gwen replied as she drew her katanas.

Before she could start a fight, there were two bangs and the guards dropped dead with bullets through their heads. Gwen glared at the soldier who had fired the shots.

"Save your strength, ma'am." They replied.

She couldn't argue with that. The team forced open the gates and kicked open the doors. In an instant, things went cold and everyone other than Gwen seemed to become lifeless. She twirled her katanas threateningly at Hastur.

"Let's see how you like having your head cut off."

The walking corpse stood up slowly and spoke back in sign language:

"You may defeat me, but you will bow to the King of the Darkness Below."

"I don't bow to anyone."

She fired a web, swinging up towards the roof before diving down and kicking Hastur backwards. Having killed 999, she expected him to be stronger. However, his punches were frail and weak; all that was strong about him was lost on her. She swung round him, slashing across the back of his neck with her katanas. No blood flowed, but the fourteen foot giant collapsed to his knees. Gwen landed in front of him and crossed her blades across his throat. He raised his chin, allowing her better access. She narrowed her eyes, wondering what sort of trick this was.

"What are you doing?"

Hastur signed back slowly:

"The Brothers of Death have mocked me long enough. Your strength is beyond my broken spirit. Take my life, before I change my mind."

"Wait. You were one of Khahrahk's right hand men according to Robert. Tell me..."

"Ah...Robert Montauk. I mourn for him and his son. To fall into shadow is no way to go. All will burn under the Scarlet King."

"You were his right hand man. Why do you care about the people he tortures?"

"I served beside the King for there was no other way. Now my time has come, as it should have many long years ago. I ask that you end this once and for all."

"One last question. What is his plan? He can't go around destroying dimensions one at a time...right?"

"Khnith-hgor will go on to the end of all times. I do not know his plans; I was merely a puppet."

"Who would?"

"His true right-hand man: Jeser. I must warn you: the Prince of Many Faces bends the wills of all mortals. Khnith-hgor is not so powerful to control without him. You must proceed with care if you hope to save the Tree."

"The Tree? The Tree of Knowledge or Life or something?"

"The Tree."

Gwen was going to keep asking questions, but Hastur grabbed her katana and slit his own throat. She sighed, picking up the weapon and sheathing it. Max and the team came back to their senses. The former grinned at his mother's handiwork.

"How long did that take? Doesn't look like there was much of a fight."

"There wasn't. He never truly supported Khahrahk, and he mentioned a Tree. Plus we have another name for our oversized red guy: Khnith-hgor. We need to get back to HQ. There's something else we need to talk about."

The debrief for the directors wasn't for a few hours, so Gwen set to work looking at what she had recovered from the Quintari ship. It had been set to recover historic files since they would provide the most insight into things the Quintari had recovered and discovered. She stopped over a file named 'The Scarlet Genesis'. With a double click she was in and started reading:

'The first Quintari emerged two-hundred billion years ago during a time of chaos. As the fifth race of the omniverse, we were born as great warriors set to vanquish all. The first four races gave us little time to build our society; thrusting us into the front lines of a war that had been raging since the beginning of time. The King of Vaxar, of the Darkness Below, sought to destroy all realities. His forces marched on Bastria, the Bastion of the Dead. By consuming the souls of the dead, he could become stronger. The other six like him had been slain billions of years earlier in the King's anger and bitter resentment of all reality. In this time, only one other deity survived: Death. Death feared for his great fortress and those who found their peace within. Noladis had supplied him with many souls, but the King threatened to destroy it all. And so Death took the bodies of the King's slain brethren and laid them to rest in Zaltoxir. Hearing this, the King vowed to destroy the Tree, which sprouted from their power, and its Creator. Death plucked a single fruit from the Tree before sealing away its power. This fruit was passed between the races that spread throughout the omniverse, each of which took a fragment to form their home. The Quintari took their fragment and created Premis, imbuing its power in ten of their own kind until their dying days. When those ten had passed into Death's ever-loving arms, ten Plates were given its power so that Premis may live on and give life to those who could, one day, vanquish the King. Their names were Ethereal, for they held power from out with the worlds within the reach of the Quintari. Of the war into which we were born, the seven children of the King were bound. The first was restrained by seven chains; the second was cursed to lose all free will and mourn its loss, losing all its strength in the process; the third was sentenced to crawl on the Earth talking useless nothings; the fourth was made vulnerable to the greatest of us; the fifth was forced to forget its strength; the sixth is not round. As for the seventh, they had served beside the forces of the omniverse. But in fear of its true power, it was given a potion to make it powerless. With all seven of his sons defeated, the King retreated into false hiding 'til such a time as an opportunity presents itself that he may rise once more.'

Gwen took a moment to comprehend everything she had read. So, the Quintari were the fifth species of the omniverse? The spider shook her head, knowing these things were beyond her control and understanding. All she could do was find out what else the Quintari knew. She kept scrolling through the files until she came to another named 'The Creator'.

'In the beginning, when Death laid to rest the brethren of Khahrahk, he sought to give the destroyer a new target so he would stay far from Bastria. From the Tree came many multiverses, each of which was slowly burned by Khahrahk. The only to prevail was Noladis, from which came mighty heroes. Now Death held many of those fallen heroes in his ranks and he believed he could save those other worlds by sending them to avenge themselves. In seven worlds in the heart of Bastria were forged seven cubes with the power to bring back the dead. Throughout time, many of these fell to Khahrahk. When the final fell, he wore it upon his head to prove his strength to Death. In response, Death created seven Brothers to watch over the deceased until, one day, they should be liberated and walk freely amongst the living.'

Gwen noticed there was a footnote:

'Upon returning to life, the Quintari have noted one of the Animators has been liberated. All members of the council, including the High Aether, must be aware that the lesser mortals have signed their declaration of war. The Scarlet King will come for them and the omniverse will be plunged once more into chaos. In addition, the Brother of Death known as 'Lucifer Morningstar' has been slain. Who knows what this could mean?'

Gwen took a deep breath. Lucifer deserved what came to him; she just wondered what Death was thinking about it all as he was inevitably watching. Still, this gave some insight: Khahrahk was going after the Animator for one, and he wanted to destroy the Tree. There had to be a way to stop him; maybe Jeser would know when he was captured.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation
- Lucifer