CHAPTER XVIII: THE ESSENCE OF EXISTENCE
Still remember – the Elder Worlds had a foothold in your own world millennia ago.
The eerie atmosphere of the vast underground hall was amplified by the complete silence that had settled in it. Two demons and two humans sat down, facing each other, tense to see who would start first. Kyle felt strange every time his eyes met the burning gaze of the Gatekeeper. He was still confused that his dead enemy was sitting right in front of him, breathing once again, seemingly plotting schemes once again. The question that had bothered him for so long finally came to his lips:
"How is this possible? How come you could speak to me, send me all these visions, guide me... and finally rise from the dead and be sitting here? How?"
The Gatekeeper seemed to grin when he heard the question. He was expecting it...
"You see, human, what makes us different from you, mortals, is the fact that the destruction of our physical form does not put an end to our existence. Not always, anyway... Tell me, marine, what happened to Lord Baphomet?"
"He is dead... I killed him, I saw him shatter into pieces... and then the invasion ended."
"Wrong. Baphomet is not dead. Not entirely. He created Hell, he was eternally bound to it and its heart – the Burning Core, the source of all infernal power. If he was truly dead, Hell would have been destroyed as well, at that moment you drove your rocket into his brain. However, Hell still exists, does it not? This could only mean that My Master's essence persists – in a form that I cannot fully understand."
The demon made a short pause so that the inferior human minds could assimilate the information.
"There is one more thing that surprised even me when I realized it. As I told you, only I, and one of my brothers, survived the battle at the Icon of Sin. Ever since I killed him in a fateful duel and assumed lordship over Hell, I have felt something strange about me, something I could not explain. It was only recently that I realized what had happened. The Burning Core, human, has a complicated system of balance. When that balance was broken, like when you defeated Baphomet, it sought to restore it in the simplest and fastest way possible. And so it has... can you guess how?"
"No, this stuff is way beyond me." The Marine replied.
"As I said, in the simplest way possible – a piece, a very small piece of Lord Baphomet, lives inside me."
Kyle gasped when he heard that.
"This is the truth, human. The tiniest possible piece of His essence, and yet I can feel it. And it feels me too – it has made me stronger, more confident, more arrogant; it has given me a clearer vision for the future and the Multiverse. And sometimes, I even think that Lord Baphomet had chosen me even before I defeated my brother... and gave me the strength to do so. Sometimes my thoughts go in unexpected directions, and I assume that these are actually His thoughts. You are right, human, you cannot understand it."
While Corporal Harlan was thinking about what he had just heard, Major Boyd came out of his stupor, and looked around the room, trying to calm himself and make things logical again. But they were not – all Hell had broken loose after Corporal Harlan's coming. He had decided not to be surprised anymore, not even if a demon entered the room, carrying coffee and cookies. The Major thought he should ask the most important question:
"Ok, you... demons or whatever you are. What is it that makes you help us? And why do you think we would want to help you. Whatever you want us to do? I still consider you to be our enemies."
The Gatekeeper turned his eyes towards the Major and grinned again.
"Major Nicholas Boyd," he said slowly, "While I admire your skills as a marine commander, your understanding of what is going on is quite limited. Let me say two things. First, you are both alive only because we have decided so. We need you, and you need us – I will soon explain why. Second, we may have been your enemies, but now humanity faces an even greater threat. The same threat that hangs above us, demons, our last outpost, and the potential survivors in Hell. I know how narrow-minded you humans can be, but I believe that you can realize the importance of us being united for the time being."
The Major could not reply to that. "This world is going straight to Hell," he sadly thought. A second later, he realized that Earth had nearly gone to Hell half a year ago...
"If you have finished with the questions, mortals," the Ice Revenant whispered, "We can get to discuss something of great importance. And, perhaps, the time has come to explain the purpose of these crypts, and the reason why you two were brought here."
The Ice Weasel looked at the Gatekeeper, who only nodded slightly. The demon took out a small crystal orb from somewhere and put in on the floor, between the two facing parties. The mocking grin on his face was replaced by what seemed to be a serious expression. The demon looked both men in the eyes and began his tale:
"Millennia ago, in the time of the Elder Worlds, both humanity and the Deities faced one problem: the forces of magic were innately chaotic and unstable. This power was quite attractive to both sides – human magi sought to gain power, while the Deities were compelled to unravel the secrets of Existence, and elevate beyond its boundaries, to elevate into something that no mortal could possibly understand. Yet, the forces of magic were unstable, very unstable and dangerous. Accidents would happen all the time. For humans, these accidents almost always meant certain death. To Deities, they caused a temporary weakness that they despised. Both sides sought a solution, something that would allow them to tap into the prime energies more freely and safely...
The task was considered foolish and impossible by many, but the temptation was too strong. It was apparent that a solution to the problem would change the world forever. A change that, as it was proven afterwards, led to the fall of the Elder Worlds... The most powerful among the mortal magi and the Deities convened to find an answer to the problem. Many days passed in arguing and experimentation until, finally, one of the Deities came to the conclusion that the chaotic forces of magic could be tamed and stabilized if put within the frame of a recursive singularity. This meant to polarize magic – polarize it between two opposites that would serve as the bases of the flow recursion.
After this discovery, the problem was different – the two extremes of the polarity had to be chosen. These two had to be perfectly stable, unchangeable, and eternal in both concept and practice. More discussions and experimentation were conducted... until, at last, it was Lord Baphomet that discovered the answer. Baphomet discovered what the two polarities had to be – and they were indeed eternal, unchangeable, and fully bound to Existence and its laws.
Life and Death.
Yes, humans, these were chosen to be the polarities of magic – what more stable than these two, what more absolute than them? The only task that remained was to create physical manifestations of Life and Death. That is how the Essences were created.
The Essence of Life, which would serve as the physical manifestation of the Life polarity had to be bound to a living being. There was no other way – life could not exist without a living being to carry it. The mystical forces were left to make their choice by their own mysterious volition. And so, the eternal flows of magic chose... the human race. This fateful choice forever bound the Deities to despise humanity and envy their privilege of carrying the Essence of Life within their own being. The Essence took its physical manifestation and became part of the human body – finally physical and tangible, and bound to its carrier."
The Gatekeeper touched the crystal sphere and an image appeared within – four crystal cylindrical containers, each filled with a liquid of different color.
"Do you recognize these? No? I have always been sincerely amazed by the ignorance of your race – unable to recognize the Essence of Life, even when it flowed through your own physical forms! Ironic... in very ancient times, primitive humans did recognize the Essences, but their knowledge was long lost..."
Still, there were problems with the four Essences of Life – their purity. In most humans, they were clean enough to serve their polarizing purpose, but it was absolute purity, which was needed for one specific ritual – I will explain this a bit later. Absolute purity could only be found in one specific human – a great human warrior from the Elder world, who had won countless victories against impossible odds. It was he who carried the purest of Essences of Life, and this fact alone caused him to be constantly reincarnated within intervals of many centuries, as that purity did not allow his spirit to permanently leave the physical world. Before today, that warrior was reincarnated twice – the first time was millennia ago, at the time of the Temple of Darkness. Marine, now you should completely understand what my exact mission there was – to gather an army that would hunt down that man, capture him, and collect the pure Essences of Life... which, of course, led to his death.
The last time was only about two human centuries ago. Born in a small settlement, he lived a life filled with danger and occasional feats. It was then that one of the Old Gods secretly came to Earth and attempted to abduct that man. I am not completely sure, but I think that it was the Deity in question was one known as the Silas Master. He attempted to lure the reincarnated warrior into an abandoned old house, filled with Silas's minions and zombies, by kidnapping the warrior's younger brother. The Deity had even gathered a cult that worshipped him, and it was the bodies of his followers that he used to build up his small army of zombies. His plan was to kill the man and extract the Essences. Despite all preparations and fierce minions, the Silas Master failed, and his physical manifestation was killed by the warrior – banishing the Deity from this Universe for a very long time. That put an end to the fallen god dark schemes, at least for a while."
The Gatekeeper made another pause, and touched the sphere again – an image of an unknown man carrying a shotgun appeared.
"As for the Essences of Death," the Gatekeeper continued, "There were three of them, and the exact opposite of Life. They could not be integrated into a living being – they would instantly kill it and erase all traces of their existence. Death is very close to non-existence, only negated by memory, and this is why it was very difficult to create its physical manifestation. Death is also, in a way, an abstraction, and this further complicated the matter. It was again my former master and current piece of my being, Lord Baphomet, who discovered the solution. Where all else failed, the simple written word could help. Three tomes, with covers of iron, silver, and gold were prepared, and they were filled with the longest and most complicated arcane formula that had ever been created by a human or a Deity. It was a three-part cipher that created a usable Essence of Death – written on these three tomes. When the last symbol of the formula was written, the Essence was complete – instantly killing all human scribes, which were in the room, devouring their souls. Baphomet resisted the destructive force long enough to close the books and lock them – thus they were safe. But when opened... all life in their close vicinity would simply cease to exist.
With Life and Death having stable manifestations in the physical world, the forces of magic assumed a refractory singularity, polarized between these extremes. And all problems disappeared – magic became stronger, stable, and more easily accessible for anyone. But with increased power came greater corruption..."
The Gatekeeper touched the orb yet again. Inside it, the two humans saw three tomes, just as described.
"And now, I will tell you the reason I gave you all this information. The use of the Essences of Death and the purest Essences of Life is the key to a ritual that can open a portal into the Elder Worlds, negating the Shield, giving access to those worlds' secrets... and the Runes!"
Kyle was struck by that sudden revelation. Of course – the Elder Runes! The artifacts that all powerful entities in all Universes craved. And the Gatekeeper had played him all along, following his own plans, still seeking to gain possession of the artifacts. And it seemed that he could read his thoughts...
"I know very well how you feel used, human, but it is all for your own good. If you are afraid that I could try to use all seven Essences to gain entry into the Elder Worlds, you are wrong. The portal needs one more artifact to be opened. But this artifact was lost to us long ago... Can you, marine, guess where the portal was built? It was constructed at the last remaining demonic outpost in your Universe – the exact one that you are looking for, the same one, which is preparing to unleash bitter vengeance upon humankind. I wish I could do something about it, but I cannot. Not yet, anyway. We have so far been unable to contact the colony."
"Are you threatening us?" Major Boyd snapped.
"No, human. As I said, I cannot connect to them. The Ice Revenant was also unable to do so."
"You two stop quarreling," Kyle shouted, "And you – tell me finally what is the purpose of this crypt, and why we are here." The Corporal looked at the demon with the same determination as in the day they met in the Plutonia Project site.
The grin on the Gatekeeper's face reappeared.
"Of course. As you know, we already have the four pure Essences of Life. They are secured somewhere on the secret colony that you are looking for. We only need the Essences of Death and the missing artifact. The three Essences of Death are hidden in your universe, in a black cathedral, which is magically protected against access by any Deities, demons, or undead. It has no magical defense against humans, though and they can enter it freely, yet there are numerous deadly traps and a powerful guardian as well. This is the reason we kept the Heresiarch and his fallen priests, and the Warlord and his barbarians here. They were to be sent on an expedition to retrieve the Essences of Death from the Black Cathedral. This trip would be very dangerous as the cathedral was built by the Black Magi – the ones who inhabited the Realm of Black Magic and participated most actively in the creation of the Death Essences. It was they who took possession of the three tomes after the fall of the Elder worlds, built the Black Cathedral, and locked the tomes there, in a sealed chamber, behind many traps and dark defenders. And the purpose of these crypts was to keep watch over the cathedral and eventually prepare for the acquisition of the Essences of Death."
Kyle started to figure all things out – still one final important detail remained.
"There is only one more thing I cannot understand," Kyle said, "Why did you build these crypts here, on Io? Where exactly the Black Cathedral?"
The Gatekeeper looked the marine straight into the eyes and whispered the answer:
"On Mars."