Thragg... had no idea where he was.
When he tore the Rangdan's head from its shoulders, a strange rift suddenly formed and swallowed the entire world that'd been their battleground – a rift with such power that Thragg hadn't been able to escape it in time, especially since he'd been hovering at its very center, carrying the head of a god. The rift consumed everything and then... Thragg in yet another unfamiliar planet. At the very least, this one had a breathable atmosphere for a Viltrumite. The land itself was... desolate, ashen gray soil and white mountains, seemingly endless plains and crags as far as the eye could see.
Not a single patch of green within sight and so Thragg had to wonder if this world possessed vast oceans, where plankton and algae may produce the necessary oxygen for breathing.
Thragg frowned. The galactic map his son had given him was... destroyed during the battle, alongside his suit. The Rangdan had been more powerful than he'd expected – nowhere near the strength of some of the most powerful God-beasts Thragg had slain over the course of his long life, but definitely one of the strongest enemies he'd fought. And it was because of that strength that Thragg hadn't been able to protect Argall's gifts. And now, he was here, stranded and lost in yet another alien world, because the map was gone.
Annoying. But also familiar, because Thragg had definitely been in this situation before. Though, admittedly, the circumstances were... different. And he'd been a very different person. One method, Thragg mused, was to fly out into the void, chart the stars and hope to see a familiar constellation and, from there, extrapolate the position and location of nearby planetary systems. Often, it'd take a Viltrumite centuries to actually find themselves back in civilization and, oftentimes, they never returned at all.
He couldn't take that chance – not yet, at least. If he made even the slightest error, the smallest deviation, then he'd be lost for... thousands of years. Even just finding a habitable planet was difficult enough.
Idly, Thragg noted that the gravitational pull of this world was about three, maybe four times greater than that of Nareena's world. Humans wouldn't be able to walk here under their own power. Argall might be able to, but even the boy would struggle under such circumstances. Thragg frowned as he flew high into the air and glanced around him, searching for anything – any clue as to where he was or how he came to be here.
Thragg flew over the clouds themselves until, at last, he saw, in the great distance, a glimmering golden pyramid, taller than any mountain, shining like a star amidst the bleak gray face of the world. It was easily a hundred kilometers tall and perhaps twice that in width, its very tip piercing the very clouds and blazing like a beacon beneath the sunlight. There was a power within it as well, a presence that was even greater than that of the Rangdan God.
Interesting. Perhaps, whatever secrets lie within the pyramid might aid him in finding his way back to Nareena's World, back to his son and daughter. Maybe. If nothing else, it was an oddity that grabbed his curiosity, his attention, and if it proved empty, then Thragg would simply leave and chart the stars himself. What was such a thing doing on a mostly barren world? Who built it? What happened to them? What was its purpose?
Thragg streaked through the air, a blur against the backdrop of the desolate world. As he neared the colossal golden pyramid, its sheer magnitude and brilliance became even more imposing. He hovered for a moment, taking in the sight. The surface of the pyramid was smooth and flawless, reflecting the sunlight with a blinding intensity. Massive hieroglyphics and intricate patterns adorned its exterior, their meaning lost to time. There were... images etched upon it, glimmering gold and silver, nigh-impossible to perceive if not for his senses. Even then, Thragg didn't understand any of it; giant, flying... cuttlefish seemingly ravaging entire worlds, bringing fear and terror everywhere they went, until... they came to face a race of... reptilian creatures... or something of that nature.
The images told a story with no ending. It depicted a war – one great enough to cover the entire galaxy. But it did not speak of victors.
With a deep breath, Thragg descended toward the base, landing softly on the ashen soil. The air hummed with a palpable energy, and he could feel the vibrations through his boots. Truly, the pyramid brimmed with a life of its own, an ancient heft that spoke of eons and eons. Thragg was no archaeologist or scientist, but even he felt the ages that'd once passed through this place. Briefly, his mind conjured images of green hills and forests, of living creatures frolicking in the most ancient of days. This planet, it seemed, once harbored complex life – now extinct and forgotten, their bones turned to dust and rock.
Thragg approached what looked to be an entrance—a towering archway that seemed to pulse with a faint, golden light, and at its center was an entryway tall enough for giants to pass through, half-buried in ashen sands and debris. Steeling himself, Thragg stepped inside, half-expecting some form of locked gate or doorway, but finding nothing of the sort. There was an odd hum in the air, however, like a buzzing at the back of his mind. Thragg's eyes narrowed, but he moved inwards, regardless.
The interior of the pyramid was a stark contrast to the bleakness outside. The walls were lined with an otherworldly metal that shimmered with hues of blue and silver, casting an ethereal glow throughout the vast corridor. Strange symbols and diagrams glowed softly along the walls, their meanings elusive, much like the images carved outside the pyramid itself; whatever story had been written here clearly could no longer be understood, its meaning lost and dead, much like the ones who built this place. The air was cool, almost sterile, and the faint hum of advanced machinery filled the space. Its builders might've already perished across the eons, but the pyramid itself clearly clung onto life.
The corridor led him to a massive chamber, its ceiling stretching impossibly high, vanishing into darkness. In the center of the chamber stood a colossal pedestal, upon which rested a gigantic, intricate construct. It was a fusion of organic and mechanical elements, a seamless blend of metal and what appeared to be sinew and bone. Thragg flew up to get a closer look. It was made in the image and likeness of a... toad-like humanoid creature, massive and bulbous, fat and powerful, sitting upon a great throne of some sort and crowned with an odd material that shimmered like gold and starlight. Thragg approached the construct and frowned. The pedestal upon which it stood was lined with hundreds of thousands of arcane symbols and hieroglyphs, much like the ones upon the very walls themselves. He understood none of it, save for a seemingly shifting plate at the foot of the toad-man's throne, its letters moving until they made sense.
"Krakatok, the Warden of the Lost," Thragg read aloud, a single brow raised. It was either a name or a title, neither of which made sense to him. Strange. More and more of the symbols moved and shifted. And Thragg waited until something made sense. Or, at the very least, until he was able to understand them. "Chief-Designer of the Krork and Slanni, he who laid down the foundations of our great empire."
The symbols stopped moving. Shaking his head, Thragg hovered back down to the floor and continued forward. That... had been a whole lot of nothing. Knowing the name of the figure behind the statue didn't help him. Whatever the case, behind the gargantuan pedestal was another door, likely leading even deeper into the pyramid. Thragg walked in and followed the vast corridor on the other side of it, darkened by ancient shadows and only barely illuminated by the faint, flickering lights that came from the images and symbols on the wall. Thragg continued until, at last, he reached, by his rough estimation, the very center of the pyramid, its heart. And he hovered into a vast chamber, even bigger than the last one, but at its center was... what appeared to be a massive lake of placid waters, black as the void between stars, an ancient pool that'd lain undisturbed for... eons. Flying around the darkened chamber received nothing else of note – nothing else that might reveal the purpose of the pyramid.
Even the walls were bare.
Whatever was kept or hidden in this ancient place was likely within the dark pool.
Bracing himself, Thragg leapt into the pool and surged through, immediately finding that it was not water at all, but a substance similar to it, like a pool of condensed gas, perhaps, close to liquid, but not quite. And yet certainly dense enough to hinder his movements the same way an ocean might. Thragg descended hundreds of meters instantly. If he found nothing of note here, once again, then he was leaving this planet behind and going the long route home.
Thragg's senses sharpened as he descended deeper into the pool, feeling the dense, viscous substance resist his every movement. The darkness enveloped him, an oppressive void that seemed to swallow all light and sound. His eyes adjusted, the faintest glimmers of bioluminescence from strange, tiny organisms guiding his path. It was unlike anything he had ever encountered. They reminded him of insects.
As he delved deeper, the pressure increased, a palpable weight pressing against him from all sides. Then, through the darkness, a dull, rhythmic pulsing began to resonate, growing stronger with each passing second. It was not a heartbeat, but something ancient and mechanical, a vibration that thrummed through the very fabric of the pyramid.
Thragg frowned. Just how deep was this pool?
Something stirred in the depths. Thragg stopped. And the bioluminescent organisms spreading outwards, their light dimming, until more and more of them seemed to awaken. And the darkness was illuminated entirely. Thragg's eyes widened as a gargantuan thing, wrapped in glimmering golden chains, moved in the water. It seemed like a vessel, at a glance, utterly massive. It must've been over thirty kilometers in length, shaped like...
"Ah..." Thragg muttered. "You're one of them."
It was shaped like a cuttlefish, segmented plates of deep blue making up the bulk of its form, and ten jagged limbs extending from its sides. Its 'face', if it could even be called that, contained twelve, crimson beads that looked like eyes. It let loose a rumbling sound, a mechanized horn that shook the whole world. It wasn't a vessel at all, Thragg realized, but a living entity – a god-machine, some for of ancient AI, bound in the shape before him. Up close, Thragg knew that this... thing was far... far greater than the Rangdan God. The chains that bound it, however, restrained its power.
Was it helpless? Thragg didn't know.
"Did you bring me here?" Thragg asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he hovered before the colossal god-machine. Thunderous rumbling noises bellowed across the pool as the thing stirred. Any lesser creature, Thragg mused, would've already died from the noise, their brains turned to mush. "Why?"
"I do not know what you are or where you came from; your physical strength is illogical. And that is precisely why I brought you here, Thragg of Viltrum." Its voice, Thragg noted, was powerful enough to, quite literally, flatten mountains. It'd take a team of... ten, maybe fifteen Viltrumites to destroy it efficiently. If he had to fight it, by himself, then Thragg wasn't absolutely certain of victory. He'd hurt it, definitely, perhaps injure it to the point of incapacitation, but – again – he remained unsure. It was entirely possible that the creature's strength did not lie within physical confrontations and so it'd be weak against a Viltrumite assault. Or, perhaps not.
Too many unknowns. And Thragg did not wish to start a battle unless it was absolutely necessary. His eyes narrowed. "You know me, but I do not know you. Introduce yourself."
"I am Nashara, Harbinger, first, oldest, and last of the Reapers."
AN: Chapter 35 is out on (Pat)reon!