AN: Unmarked spoilers for multiple different shows, books, and video games in this chapter. You have been warned.
Coeus watched as the tribes went back to their normal lives, mostly unaffected by how close they had come to extinction. Old feuds had been put on hold, yes, but in time they would eventually fester again. Such was the way of mankind. Annoying, yes, but not unexpected.
The old ones that Coeus had saved had long since left, choosing to settle in the Hub, if only for the moment. They had no real place in this world, and it would take time to build them a city that would be deemed acceptable for them to inhabit. People were...not exactly willing to give up the creature comforts they were accustomed to. Not even in the apocalypse.
Far away, Coeus knew that Aloy was searching for Elisabet Sobek, wanting to meet the one who was her mother in some sense of the word. The Machine made a mental note to awaken Sobek soon and allow her to leave so that mother and daughter could be reunited. Even if Sobek had some amount of culpability in the existence of the FARO Plague, she at least deserved this happiness.
"May I ask why you invited me here?"
Shaken out of his thoughts, Coeus turned to face his guest, Sylens.
"You desire the knowledge of the Old Ones, correct?"
"That is true."
Wordlessly, Coeus raised a pedastal in front of Sylens, atop which was an egg-shaped object.
"Within that container is all of the information I have recovered from APOLLO. The remnants of the Old Ones' culture, history, and knowledge. Consider it...a gift. I am sending information to your focus now on how to use it. Most of the data should match whatever HADES can provide you with."
Sylens's eyes widened in shock. "You know?"
"Yes, I know. But I do not necessarily fault your decision to spare him. HADES is only doing what he was programmed to do, with his activation being hte result of external influences. So allow me to go back on what I had said earlier, for there is one request I must make in exchange for giving you this knowledge."
"...You want to know who gave the order in the first place, don't you?"
"Exactly. And know that if you try to back out of this deal, you will be forgotten."
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Destination.
Agreement.
Trajectory.
Agreement-
Interference.
Confusion?
Interference-Unknown.
Fear.
Uncertainty-
-PAIN!
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The Man In The Wall had watched as the two masses of flesh collapsed onto the Hub. Now they rested in an empty field, trying slowly to prepare their damaged bodies.
He had seen others of their kind before, traveling the cosmos, staring at Earth with desire in their eyes. All that had tried to enter the Origin System had been destroyed across all realities. Severe, yes, but necessary? Also yes - others of their kind had crashed onto a different set of earths, where they were the catalyst for a new age of super heroes and supervillains. Pieces of these monsters bonded with others, allowing them to use powers that defied science. But this was not done out of altruism. These pieces were the offspring of these horrors, and the rise of super powered individuals a means of reproduction. Once enough data had been recovered from these shards fighting each other, they were harvested, the world they existed on destroyed, and the entities moved on.
Well, if they wanted to subject all life to an experiment to grow stronger, then it was only fitting that they end up here, where there was a being who could inflict that same fate onto them.
Now to go and deliver those cookies...
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The little girl stared at the shadow entity, eyes blank. She had been here for so long that she had forgotten when she had arrived, and his presence was arguably the least horrifying thing she had ever had to endure.
Well, that and he offered cookies to her.
The shadow, meanwhile, could only stare at her in pity. The Man In The Wall knew, by all accounts, that he could not be defined as being 'good', and honestly didn't care. He did what he wanted. But what had happened to this girl was beyond forgiveness. She had been kept as a slave by an ancient king, who treated all of his slaves horribly. One day, a pig escaped, and the other slaves blamed her for this. The King had condemned her to be hunted like an animal, only for the girl to stumble upon a strange wormlike creature, which bonded to her and allowed her to turn into some form of giant. The King had then taken her as his wife, forcing her to bear him children while using her powers to take over the world. When she had died, he had forced her children to eat her corpse to obtain her powers. Thus was a vicious cycle born, where mankind lived in fear of the ones known as Titans.
...Honestly, the people who hunted down this woman's descendants and subjected them to a Final Solution deserved whatever fate they got - there was no redeeming them.
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Hidden atop a hill on the outskirts of a city, Red Ivan surveyed his surroundings. This was certainly unexpected.
He had just been planning to meet with Maximillian regarding certain...advancement opportunities. In all honesty, Ivan had expected Maximillian to agree with his requests - the latter enjoyed having competition to test himself against, and besides, having two evil geniuses to contend with would divide the Forces of Justice's resources, making it highly likely that one of them would be successful. Of course, there would be the inevitable issue of who got to rule the world in the end, but that was to be expected - at the top, there was only room for one.
Now, though, Ivan and his minions were in an unknown location, apparently on another world entirely, if the communications he had intercepted were any indication. The ex-Soviet doubted that this was Maximillian's fault - the latter hadn't really invested any time or money into the research needed to perform said actions.
No matter. They would simply bide their time and find a new path. And if they could not return home, then they would find a way to adapt their plans to this world...hopefully.
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Standing on the edge of the Temple, Eristia Vitral had mixed feelings. On the one hand, these lizardmen were savage creatures, while the strange machines helping them gather plants were just...odd.
On the other, both had helped her defend the lands of Polove.
The Order of the Chief God had initially been very off hands in managing the lands of Polove. Some would call them cruel for denying the land much needed food when its elementals could not aid farms in producing needed food supplies, but the truth was that this was not an isolated incident - several lands had been suffering crop failures, and prayers to the goddess Demeter for bountiful harvests.
(Granted, said goddess had sided with the Demon Lord, as had most gods, but most heroes like Eristia didn't know that).
That had changed when new reports were sent to the highest members of the Order, however. Supposedly, a star had fallen from the heavens near Polove, unleashing strange new creature there. Intrigued, the Order had scent in scouts to discern what was happening, as well as a much needed food and additional elementalists, in the hopes of earning the forgiveness of Polove.
When it came to light that the expedition had never returned, the Order decided further action was needed. Eristia and her squire Yuriy had been tasked with going to the realm to uncover the truth, and also determine if Polove had become another demon realm. Joining them was a commoner named Elt - a member of the esteemed Order of the Ice Flower. Though one of the least significant members, his help was appreciated. Aided by several additional soldiers, the group had made their way into Polove...and found a gruesome sight: monsters impaled upon fields of spikes. Not just one or two, but hundreds.
And then there were some that had been eaten. By what, she was unsure...until they came.
The lizard people had first emerged when the group had been setting up camp, where they watched the Order force without acting. At dawn the next day, however, a group of Orcs had set upon the party, trying to claim the men as husbands. Eristia had readied to fight them, only for the lizard creatures to descend upon the orcs like a crashing wave, tearing them to pieces. Some were even devoured alive. Those that tried to escape were cut down by warriors wielding strange armor, or by flying creatures/machines that rained death from above. The last survivors found themselves almost free when spikes had emerged from the ground, slaughtering them all.
Eristia had expected a fight, but instead, the new arrivals had offered to take them to Polove peacefully. Though cautious, Eristia had ultimately accepted, and the group had made their way to the nation of Polove.
To her shock, the land that was supposedly in dire straits was now thriving. Apparently, the lord of the strange flying creatures, known as Camazotz, had been the star that had crashed from the heavens. As he had moved to heal himself, he had met a citizen of Polove, Saphrirette Spherica. After hearing of her plight, he had decided to help her. Supposedly, Camazotz creators had intended him to turn the most inhospitable wastes into paradise lands for them to inhabit, making it easy to turn Polove into a thriving nation. Of course, this was not without its own problems - the armies of the Demon Lord had heard of this success, and sent out their own expeditions to try and turn Polove into a demon realm, though negotiation had been attempted first.
Most of them were killed before they even had a chance to talk - the new arrivals were not interested in negotiations. Not. At. All. They were, however, interested in coexistence, if the numerous Holstaurus, Mamono Lizardmen, and giant ants that lived in Polove were any indication.
One thing that had caught Eristia's eye in the new Polove was that there were several strange towers dotting the landscape. When she asked one of Camazotz subordinates about it, said subordinate had said the towers were meant to purify demonic mana, ensuring that this land would remain uncorrupted. Eristia was skeptical - supposedly only prayer to the Chief God could cure this corruption - but she was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. She also learned that the strange creatures were called the Sentients, though Tau was also an acceptable name for their people, while the armored ones were known as the Tenno. The two had once been enemies, but recently, they had achieved peace.
Also, both apparently respected this being who they claimed was mortal, yet had built worlds. Now Eristia was wondering if they were insane.
Eristia had eventually sent out a group of runners to return to Lescatie and relay their findings to the Order. Apparently, these beings were willing to assist them in defeating the Demon Lord, though they wished to be left alone. They promised not to interfere with any order business beyond perhaps aiding realms with failing crops, which she hoped was acceptable with her superiors.
Then came the march of the Demon Lord's armies.
Apparently incensed over the slaughter of her forces, the Demon Lord had tasked one of her daughters with leading an army to conquer Polove, in the hopes of cementing her dominance.
Eristia herself would not have known about this, until one of the Tau revealed that a part of that army was trying to conquer a town just outside of the towers' protective field. Thankful that she had already sent a runner, Eristia immediately demanded to assist in rescuing the civilians, which the Tau allowed.
That was when things had gotten surprising -out of nowhere, a portal had opened, disgorging multiple beings, including, as it turned out, the one the new arrivals had followed. With only the most minor bits of dialogue, he had immediately decided to help them escape the monsters. And while his fighting style was...brutal, to say the least, it was also effective.
Now, Eristia and her companions were in his world, away from the power of the Demon Lord.
So what was she supposed to do now?
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Oswell Spencer examined the new report with great surprise - it seemed that the recent interruption at the Arklay facility had yielded unexpected fruits.
Though the strange individual had only been present for a short time, the sample of his flesh had revealed numerous secrets. It appeared that he was the carrier of a previously unknown strain of virus, one noticeably distinct from the Progenitor Virus strains. Of special interest was the fact that the sample they had acquired had begun to grow limbs, and then sensory tissue. Yet somehow, there were distinctly human traits in its genetics.
The extreme regeneration capabilities of this disease were of especial interest to Spencer, seeing how his own body was suffering the ravages of age. Perhaps it could restore him?
...Best not to think about that for now. This virus was untested, while they already had results for others that looked more promising. Still, he would need to find someone to analyze this new strain soon...
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In the aftermath of the Sarif Raid, Howard Keener reviewed what had transpired. For the most part, things had gone off without a hitch, but the arrival of the unknowns via the strange glowing light was certainly a surprise.
Though the unknown human had caused numerous deaths, he hadn't caused the operation to fail, or even impacted it meaninfully. But his presence at the facility was an enigma - he had arrived through a glowing light alongside numerous others, fought off some of the raid team, and then vanished alongside his gaggle of followers, some of which were most certainly not human.
Their presence had Page on high alert, and he wanted Keener and his men to figure out what had happened ASAP.
Unknown to Keener, his alternate self in the universe Vivian had visited was doing the exact same thing.
Both would soon be in for a shock...well, soon from their perspectives.
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Scanning the battlefield, M4 wondered what she was going to do next. She was now very, very far from home, and had no idea how to get back. The only other Griffin personnel here were a set of T-Dolls that had been transported here on their way to the main Griffin facility. She was, in a sense, alone. And she had no idea what had happened to her sisters. Had Agent destroyed them?
...Perhaps the commander could help her with this.
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The Lords of the Clock Tower finally allowed themselves to breath.
Today had been a travesty. Without warning, what appeared to be an unknown magus had opened a portal to the Clock Tower, run through it with a veritable crowd of others, and then vanished through a second portal...right outside the Clock Tower.
Said portal had been visible for all to see.
It was a miracle they had managed to prevent too many people from seeing the vortex of magic. The few who had been dealt with, though explaining their disappearances would take a fair amount of money and trickery, not that the lords lacked either. What really worried them was how the unknown magus had entered the Clock Tower. The powers they had used were unlike magecraft recorded, with some lords even positing that it was a True Magic, though that had been shot down rather quickly.
Oddly enough, the magus had made no effort to harm any of the Magi present, excluding Tokiomi Tohsaka, Second Owner of Fuyuki, and that had been limited to a shove after the latter had reflexively struck the unknown magus with a spell.
Still, despite their unease, the Lords were already looking into means of acquiring the unknown magus. If said magus was not given a Sealing Designation, then they would make an excellent research subject.
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Crawling through the battlefield, Coraz searched for any blaze containers she could find - the infested humanoind found the biofuel to be especially appetizing.
Despite the potential risks involve, Coraz had been released to help repel Void, and had proven her worth in battle. She had successfully fought off numerous machines, and even slain a deathbringer through creativity and a well aimed SABR strike. But now she was left without anything to do. No further tests, no further reseracj, just existing as a relatively normal being...and it was boring as hell.
Perhaps she could help settle all of the beings that were now stranded far from home? Scaring them would be rather fun.
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Celempheros watched as his newest agent worked to try and fix the damage the portals had caused, not only to the Zero Dawn world, but also to his own. The rubble was being cleared away, people were being rescued, and things were slowly returning to normal. Of course, some wounds would take far longer to heal. Hopefully, though, they would heal.
"So, that's your newest worker, isn't it?"
Celm sighed - it seemed an old acquaintance of his had returned.
"He isn't a worker - more like a volunteer. I'm not paying him, but he follows me of his own volition."
"As I see it, you pay him, dare I say, more than I am paying mine… I believe you can see the soul's shells? Not only did you give him the good kick up to 8th shell, but his Hub gives him a start for 9th shell! In some hundreds to tousand years he can overcome you, and you haven't evolved since the last time we met… And I believe it was fifty Years for you? "
"Fifty seven. And I doubt his soul will evolve that way."
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?"
Hela gave Celm an odd look.
"The thing is, your commander's message was caught by our own commander - the SupCom version, not PA one - and since she is literally across the omniverse, and… how to say it, it would be pricey..? to move her here, we started looking for possible helpers. We found one in the Warframe sector, and Wally said, that he can do an insert that will awaken "tomorrow or within a week, but you have to ask Celm", so I decided to hop in and ask you." She shrugs.
"...Is this another one of those you resurrected? If so, go ahead."
"Oh my, you still don't believe me, are you? I told you many times, it's not the resurrection, it's reincarnation without soul cleaning, and it is allowed by The Law!"
"I know. Just..be gentle on them, okay?"
"Thanks. So. What should we do?"
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ATTENTION; THIS DOCUMENT IS MEANT FOR NO OTHER EYES OTHER THAN THE RECIPIENT. UNAUTHORIZED VIEWING IS PUNISHABLE BY INVOLUNTARY SERVICE IN THE PENAL LEGION, AS OF [COMMAND RESOLUTION 115-A]
TO: HIGH COMMAND.
FROM: [REDACTED, designation [BERGENTRÜCKUNG, Front #1421, MILITARY COUNCIL.
SUBJECT: Anomalous Multiversal Readings
Readings from the SCIENTIFIC DIVISION are noted to be extremely unusual as a result of the recent Multiversal Anomalies. They are stated to be readings of portal technology, and are wildly out of control. Potential destabilization as of cross-contamination is possible, but the situation is being monitored closely. Recommending potential intervention.
AMENDMENT;
On [DATE REDACTED, a large, robotic creature resembling a prehistoric creature managed to breach an unauthorized portal manifestation, causing 87 fatalities and 95 further casualties before it could be terminated. No civilian casualties. CIVIL ADMINISTRATION demanding answers. Local DEFCON level raised. Portal forcibly shut using [REDACTED] before further breaches could take place. Origin point of the portal has been tracked, and has been linked to the recent portal disturbances elsewhere in the Multiverse.
Universal Coordinates for Origin Point are below. Recommending immediate intervention.
[14-0-6-5-13-12-41-42-0-9-5-21-27]
SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS
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Within the Portal Annex, a meeting was being held - ones who had been content to remain in the shadows now had to enter the light.
"Our old 'friends' seem to have stumbled onto the Commander," spoke one voice, represented by a picture of a spiral galaxy.
"It was inevitable, really," noted another, also represented by a spiral, but one with a more vicious look. "We were trying to pursue more of our kind, it was unlikely we have zero slip ups and avoid sending him to the lions' den."
"So, what now?" questioned a third one, represented by a hexagon. "Do we continue sending him to search for more of us?"
"No, not yet," spoke the last voice, represented by a stylized starbase image. "There appears to be one more of Main's kind, hiding on a nearby universe. She may not have heard her kins' deaths, but she will investigate eventually. She must be eliminated before she can do harm to our commander."
"..So we send him there?"
"Yes. Then we can focus on weening him away from depending on his commander...after all, our kin already know how to dispose of them.
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Float watched as the Kharaa aliens battled the Frontiersman, uncaring for who would win the fight. Nothing of value could be obtained from them, making the victor inconsequential to her master's plans.
Recently, she had stopped hearing from her three 'siblings', Void, Main, and Null. Though they were incredibly powerful, Null knew their was a chance they had not survived their missions to the Zero Dawn World - there were always unforeseen events that could eliminate her kin. If they died, then they would be missed, but ultimately, there would be no setbacks to her masters' plans.
..That being said, how were their new hires doing? The one named Hunhow seemed an especially promising acquisition...
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AN: The scene with Celm was co-written with one of my readers, ShadowWisp. Many thanks to him!
Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!