When Mituna awoke, he found his body being handled by dozens of tentacles coming from every direction. In front of him was the maw of some sort of cephalopodic monstrosity. Naturally, he screamed, his own voice ringing in his ears as he found the headache just as painful as when he had been trolling.
"What are you doing? Why are you touching me?!" he cried to the eldritch creatures.
"We are preparing you for battle," replied one of the HorrorTerrors. Its voice was a bit difficult to understand over the garbled noises and tentacles flailing about.
"What battle? Are you sure about this?"
"We do not lie. Heir of Doom, you will be facing a great battle very soon. It will be against Prora Methos, a rogue who is now the Denizen of your planet. We are preparing you for the conflict. But first, go to your moirail and make him your ally, so that he will stop his rampage."
"Rampage? What are you talking about? Wait-Kurloz?!" Mituna cried, looking down at Derse. It was hard to make out, but red blood was dotting the dark purple city below him.
"Control your friend's rage and he will be of great assistance in the fight. So will your love. We shall now power you up."
"Power me up?" Mituna asked. The HorrorTerrors took hold of him, and a dark energy surged through his body. Mituna suddenly fell unconcious. The monstrosities placed him on his Quest Crypt, and a single tentacle stabbed him in the head.
Opening his eyes, Mituna examined himself. The HorrorTerrors were gone, but he could feel their presense-and their power-very near him. He was now wearing a dark green robe with a long hood, and he had grown wings. But his horns had also grown drastically, now connecting and extending into points, resembling a crown. The spikes poked made four holes in the Doom hoodie. Now in grimdark/God Tier, Mituna flew down to Derse, knowing exactly what he had to do.
. . . . .
Kurloz swung his axe into the wall above Courtyard Droll's head.
"TELL ME WHY YOU MOTHERFUCKIN' MURDERED MY MEULIN IN COLD MOTHERFUCKIN BLOOD, CARAPACE SCUM!"
"P-p-please don't hurt me, Prince! I was just following orders! It was-it was Jack! The guy in the office who does all the paperwork! It was him, he did it! He went out to go look for you! Don't hurt me!"
"YOUR MOTHERFUCKIN' WORTHLESS PIECE O SHIT LIFE WILL BE SPARED BECAUSE OF YOUR WICKED COOPERATION. I WILL CEASE KILLING ALL OTHERS SAVE JACK!" Kurloz declared. He tore yet another hole through the Dersite palace and went back down to the streets.
Jack stood on a rooftop, watching as the Prince came ever closer to him. Whipping out his Ace of Spades card, he tossed it towards the Prince in a flash. Kurloz dodged the throw, but the razor edged card was like a boomerang, and it bore itself into Kurloz's back. The Prince landed on the rooftop falteringly, and Jack took the time to use his ebony sword, standard issue for most soldiers but which Jack could handle pretty well, into Kurloz's side.
Kurloz pulled it out of his side as he dodged a black fist, attempting to stab the sword into Jack while he was supposedly off guard. But as we all know, Jack is never off guard. He dodged the sword stab and grasped his weapon by the handle, getting it back. He grabbed Kurloz's neck and tried to strangle him, but Kurloz took his axe from the ground with his foot and grabbed it as he kicked it upward, sending it crashing into Jack's ribs. The archagent could hear a loud crack as some bones were broken. Releasing his grip on Kurloz's neck, the Prince took the opportunity to raise his axe over Jack's head in an attempt to shatter his skull. For most carapacians, this wouldn't work, because they were wearing their fishbowl helmets, as ordered by the Queens of both worlds, to protect themselves from such blows (and breathe underwater). But Jack had refused to prototype himself (where have we seen that before, hm?), insisting that helmets were useless and bulky, and that he had better weapons than useless plasma pistols. Hegemonic Brute had agreed with him on the pistols, arguing that they weren't brutal enough, and Draconian Dignitary agreed with Jack on the helmets (except he refused to wear them because they were unfasionable and hideous. And how would he have worn his hats?)
But Mituna intervened just in time, slamming his 4 pointy crowned horns into Kurloz before he could kill Jack. Kurloz's axe nearly fell off the building, but Jack managed to grab the heavy weapon despite its weight, and pulled it back up to the roof.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT, MITUNA?! I ALMOST MOTHAFUCKIN HAD HIM!" Kurloz cried.
"JACK'S DEEDS MUST NOT GO UNPUNISHED! HE WILL SUFFER JUST AS HE HAD MEULIN SUFFER!" Jack rolled his eyes from behind the trolls. Droll had squealed, big time. Mituna grabbed Kurloz's arms and said to him telepathically:
"Stop! Jack's actions were wrong, but yours were unjustifiable! He had a minion kill one, whereas you killed many more! Is all of this senseless slaughter necessary to avenge Meulin, who is still alive?! Is violence retributed by more violence?! As your moirail, I beg you to end this now! Jack doesn't deserve to die! Please, Kurloz, where's the happy guy I remember? Where is his smile, and his funny nose? Where's the one that valued love over death and revenge? Where did he go?"
"HE IS LONG GONE, MY GRIMDARK BROTHER," Kurloz replied. He tried to struggle free from Mituna's grip, but Mituna used his psychic powers to overwhelm Kurloz with sound and pain. Pain from his headaches, the pain of the Dersites that were crying in agony and death, the tears of his matesprit, the sorrow of Crowbar, and the sorrow of Damara. Mituna didn't know where most of these sources of pain and sorrow and suffering were coming from, but he focused them all into Kurloz's mind from his own.
Kurloz may have had no mouth, but he did have vocal chords. His muffled scream would have echoed across Derse if Mituna had not placed a hand over his stitched-up mouth. Mituna embraced Kurloz and placed his other hand on his back, papping him. Kurloz's purple blood and tears spilled on the roof, cascading into the streets below. Jack, meanwhile, stuck his toungue out in disgust at the scene, and struggled to rasie Kurloz's battleaxe.
"WILL YOU FORGIVE ME?" Kurloz asked.
"You can redeem yourself," Mituna said. "To me, at least. Come with me." Turning to Jack, Kurloz turned and snatched his axe effortlessly, as if Jack was a butler that had been holding it for him the whole time. The two moirails then flew off together to LOEW to pick up one more friend.
Jack, having been served like a dude on Butler Island, growled.
"Stupid trolls. Gonna kill them all one day when I get the chance, I swear," he said.
. . . . .
Damara stood outside on one of the floating watch-like platforms, far from her hive. She had been trying to explore her world, but so far all she had seen were hostile enemies and an empty darkness above and below her. She winced when Lord English suddenly spoke to her:
WITCH. THERE IS A TIMELINE YOU MUST ELIMINATE. IT INVOLVES THE PSIIONIC. YOU MUST NOT KILL HIM. HE WILL BE NEEDED LATER. BUT YOU MUST WEAKEN HIM SO THAT HE WILL NOT BE AN INCONVENIENCE. GO TO HIS DENIZEN, AND TELL HIM THAT HE MUST FULFILL HIS END OF OUR BARGAIN. HE WILL UNDERSTAND. YOU ONLY NEED TO GO TO LOBMAS; YOU WILL NOT BE TIME TRAVELLING. THE GATE IS BELOW YOU.
Damara nodded in understanding and jumped off the watch she was standing on. She fell for hours (or at least it seemed like hours) before finally getting the magic balloon entering the gate to LOBMAS.
Upon her arrival, she wandered the planet, noting that it was as equally barrnen of consorts as hers. But at least it was solid ground. She took off her spiked combat heels and let her feet tread the surprisingly soft brain matter-like material. Of course, it wasn't real brains or anything. She went to the spot where her line of sight ended, finding a unsightly brown hill with a hollow in it. She entered the hollow and found a partially transparent tentacle waving in the air, sticking out from the cave wall. She relayed Lord English's message.
"Good," replied the creature. "It feels as if it has been so very long since he gave me his first offer, long before your universe. I accepted to become what I am now; a being of nearly infinite knowledge, almost as great as my power. Of course, because Lord English has given me these gifts, surely he plans to take them away somehow. But no matter; I have devised a plan so that I might live, if not in this timeline, then surely in another one, but sadly as his servant. Had I known that before Lord English's offer, I would have said no. But despite everything, I find that I cannot escape, not even through time. Remember this, young lady. Don't try to escape through time when it is the very aspect that the Lord controls."
Damara nodded absentmindedly, not wishing to converse with whatever this thing was supposed to be. The tentacle touched her, and almost instantaneously she was back at her hive.
AWAKE ON DERSE, Lord English told her. SOMEONE WILL BE THERE TO TEST YOU.
