Speech = ``...´´
Thoughts = [... ]
ºº
In the deep darkness of the far beyond….where reason and time and were a wayward memory of times long past, a window to a certain world had been opened. Energy fluctuated through the gash like blood would through a wound, yet instead of spilling all over the soil, it floated and swirled in all directions.
Like a whirling, its movements were almost hypnotic to the unprepared eye, the energy pulsating with a life of its own, throbbing and breathing through air, rock and stone. Its sheer essence shedding a never ending stream of light into the dark recess of the area around them..
Revealing the flesh-like mucus that covered the floor they stood, the bones and teeth that made out for the walls and the myriad of unblinking eyes that were fused and carved into the very structure, ignoring that it was very much alive…
It was a place, far away from any sense of cognition, where mortals had not dared tread for eons and the dust of their bones had long been blown away by the tremors and gushes of putrid, sulfuric air teaming in the air.
But the birth of the tear had granted more than just those pure strays of light and lighting to coarse through the vortex and into the grim and horrific surroundings, for it also had revealed a lone figure which stood still in front of it, crouching, yet, claws dug deeply into the flesh like rock underneath it.
Its form grotesque and monstrous, yet with a tinge of a human like shape if one were to ignore most of the protrusions of bone and steel coming out from his body as if they had been fused together to the point that one did not know where the addition started and where the body ended..
Covered in an overlapping amount of black scales and spikes…, his face devoid of any mouth was fully covered by a massive eye that remained unblinking as it stared deeply into the vortex, the humming of dirt and blood gushing could be heard if only took into consideration the large tail coming out from his back, ending in a spiked maze rested uneasy on the ground.
Two of his arms had latched onto the ground, claws larger than blades clawing and digging into it as if a massive storm was about to pull him out from the ground. His other two remaining, ending in two crab like pincers were underneath his jaw..smoothly moving back and forth as they opened and closed.
Almost as if the bloody things were trying to mimic the movement of an actual hand caressing his body as he was in deep thought. And there was much to think as he continued to stare into the light show like he had done for so long…unresponsive and uncaring. Like a statue carved from the ground instead of a living, breathing creature..
Yet the truth could not have been any more different.
For something had changed.
He could feel it
He could sense it..
He could see it...
The distortion of the wound was something that was expected from having it stay in place for such a long spam of time…
The ripples it created as the little thin barrier that separated the material world from this distorted reality of thoughts and emotions given form and power was ever decreasing and ever growing was known to him.
Even in most safe situations, there was bout for things to start leaking and taking shape in both realms…
But this was different.
The wound had bulged and expanded like a bubble which had been inflated with more air than it could contain, the entire room screeching with the voice of a thousand unborn monsters as they shrieked for their chance to be let out from the dark comp-fines of this reality into the world, softer and easier prey that laid beyond the rift..
It was too much for the wound they had crafted…
And so, it blow up…literally and violently...
His body started to shudder, pincers trembling in anger, claws digging and scratching the ground until they tore it to pieces at the memory of his optic nerves being fried temporally by the sheer brightness of all those particles slamming their way through his eye-socket.
It would not have been as painful as it was...if his entire cranium was not encompassed by a massive eyeball and he had been caught mid synchronization with the time and space tachyons when he had been trying to seer what sort of anomaly was causing the threads to buckle and waver.
He truly was cursed to have all of those things happen at the same time and be caught just in the middle of it.
Still, pain was fleeting and fate was eternal, this...was nothing but a momentary bump in the endless and ever enlarging grasp the master had on existence itself, so it would not be long before he put things back into place and mended what was broken, discarding what could no longer be used if things came to it…
Or…. that was what he had hoped it would happen once he tried to manipulate the overture to the material real...
Which it didn't, given that there was something else now inside the vortex. No, it was more accurate to say that something was coming through it from the other side instead of coming from the very tear that was causing him such a headache.
He grumbled with annoyance. He hated when things didn't go his way.., especially now that nothing made sense anyway…., that had not deter him from trying to detect what it was..
Before the explosion, he could see each and every path in existence of the world which the tear reflected. Every lie remade, every broken promise given life, every word, breath and gesture brought from back from ignorance into his listless eye.
There was nothing the mortals could hide…
He could see their beginnings before even their essence splashed into the great ocean….and he could view their ends like the words of a letter.
Their existence were quaint..
Simple…
Meaningless…
Just like inferior creatures like them would be, but the great plan needed him to full-fill this role..
Especially as the bigger picture of his task laid down on the very streams of reality and fate that tugged this world and the next, with him toying with their threads with immaculate finesse, every millisecond counted, every position invaluable as he prepared them for the moment the final section of the plan would commence.
The conversion process…
A beautiful thing he had only been witness once before….
The memories of the bleeding skies as both reality and non-reality fused together in a river of blood…, the howling of million upon billions in the waters, earth and air...
His body shuddered at the memory with a slight pang of longing…, but it was easily brush away.
That was then…
Not the present...
And now? Now he had found a conundrum he was not sure he could fix.
The air grew heavier and heavier as if the particles were forced to become thick like rocks, the ground shook, and rattled underneath him as if had a life of its own, only to swiftly end at the opening sound of cracks as shards of glass and ice shattered under his weight, the ground having freeze with the surplus of energy emanating from him, leaving through their razor sharp edges the whispers of the damned to slip through in dying wails.
His eye felt clouded, obscured...robbed of its sight now each and every time he glanced through the light..like looking through several shards of glass, each one of them more thicker and cruder than the last.
Making everything….messy if not blurry.
And that was problem, for even though he could still see where the links were born if he tried hard enough, no longer he could predict their entire length and end of the ropes that pull them. He could not guess where the thoughts and ideas of those creatures would pop out, what reasons could lead them to their goals or what even those goals could even be…
From here…, in this place, he could only know that they were alive and on and about down below..
Nothing else.
….
….
Ominus did not know what this could mean.
And he hated that…
He hated the uncertainty of such an irregularity…, of the senseless, nonsensical situation he was at the mercy of in this very moment!. Everything, from the smallest grain of dust to the largest cosmic entities, he saw them as mathematical equations., meant to be study, understood and employed like tools in a work bench.
There was nothing that could not be explained, nothing that could not be done...with the right knowledge.
And so Chaos….was an anathema to him.
Which would have been ironic given his past alliances and deals with said forces…, but if he could get and edge of the knowledge and perfect world he sought, he was not beneath...making deals..
Their temporal, though rather crushing defeat many, many centuries ago at the hands of those mortals had already solidify the belief he held that Chaos could not compare with Order..
After all, wasn't he alive now while all those great creatures who boasted from the soil to the heavens of their might? Hadn't they been slain long before even a blade had reached him...?
The thought should have made him smile, sadly he possessed no lips to do so. So he merely shook his bulbous head instead. Mechanically mimicking the gesture he had saw so many times before through his studies of other creatures at what could have only be considered as bemusement...
They had been fools, the lot of them...
Still, that was the only good thing he could say or think about now, which was not a good precedent for what would have to come next.…
If the future that Ultima had shown him was completely accurate...this...was not part of that script and if it was for some reason, then he could not process why would he have been given a doomed and meaningless task such as this if at one point before the accomplishment of the main task his use would be...substantially decreased..
If there is one thing that made sense about his present situation….was that nothing was making sense.
And as he started to accept such notion with all the mechanical loathing he could muster, for the first time an ounce of emotion flared in the depths of his present self that was even stronger than the acrid, poking pain that had burn through his brain not so long ago…
And it could only be frustration.
No, Ultima would not have made one of his ravagers dedicate so much time on this task if it didn't not for a greater purpose.
Something was clearly off..
And he didn't like the myriad of hypothesis that had started to pile up left and right in their eagerness to give an answer...
``Don't you groooow tired of being there doing nothiiiing but playing with your thuuuumbs, you old, uselesssss crab...?´´
Sadly, he would not have the chance to grumble at each and every proposed idea when a rumbling of a voice echoed all around him.
Like the dying wail of a million murdered pets in one breath while in the other was the ever shrieking sound of nails scratching walls of steel the voice made itself known. And though he could not see it, he did not needed to know where it was actually coming from...
For he was already acquainted with its owner..
Much to his distaste.
None existent teeth clenched and grinded against one another, muscles and organs starting to rumble to life as he slowly rose from the ground.
The clicking sound of the pincers echoing softly each and every time they clacked against one another. Aching...to be put to use..
And yet, he did not turn around to meet the creature that was slowly making its way to him. No matter how silent or how much effort he put to it, he could still see his fate as clear as day…
Besides, the vortex was far more appealing in comparison...
``Not a woooord? Or are you cowering in fright ooooonce gain, little cyclopsssss..?´´
Hearing him talk was like witnessing a bunch of deformed jellyfish trying to weave a brocade with half of the tentacles burning, while the other half had grown maws of their own..
He shook his head.
No, even such primitive animals were more capable than the botched hammer Ultima had decided to employ as his main… "enforcer".
A pretty way to call the attack dog by a name it appreciated, though one that the rest of the ravagers chuckled behind the fools back.
The ground started to shake and rocks started to roll down around him at the unequivocally sound of the ground bending and sinking under each and every step of his "comrade"
It took him just four long strides before he reached him. Though this time at least the fool had not decided to stand in front of him as another flimsy attempt to show his dominance, but that did not mean much with him still standing just to his right.
A massive humanoid looking creature that was more akin to a mad god having bred a bat with a rock and a human before throwing the mixture into a cocktail and then thrown them all down a drain..
Massive in stature, his body was as flexible as it could be, yet not taking away any of its defensive power. His eyes diminutive, two pin sized orbs of blackness carved into a massive head. His nose none existent as it was bend inwards into his very skull, yet his massive jaws had been pulled outwards, never able to close correctly, making him look even more dumber than he was while also revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth that had been blacken by blood or fire…
He tried to ignored the two massive bat wings that protruded from his back, encasing him in deep shade of darkness...with the brief exemptions of their flapping from time to time.
He reeked of power…, of cursed blood and even more foul souls deeply engraved into each fiber of his vein with each throb of his blasted heart, but he also reeked of madness…and lack of control.
Yes…, that was what he was.
What he always would be…
Arubboth was a weapon, and nothing more...
The bat heads eyes squinted at the lack of response, a dangerous glint coming out from them as they tried to peer into his soul, before he burst out in laughter. Smoke and sparks emanating from his maws with each time his tusks and teeth collided.
``Ah...right, the ssssssilent treatment...pardon me, I forgot that youuuu didn't have a mouth to ssssspeak with...my condolancesssss´´
Ominus finally looked away from the vortex…
Away from his duty...and into the smug, looking face of the creature before him.
And with the twist of his hand he sent him flying through the air like a mere pebble, right onto the closest wall he could find, then another, and another….
Making the entire cavern shook and shudder as invisible tethers had wrapped around the bats body, pulling him up and down, left and right like a toy under his grasp.
Walls crumbling, rock and flesh splintering and bleeding...
But that would not be enough…
Not nearly enough to actually do some actual damage..
The covenant they had sworn to Ultima was not just dulling his powers, but burning inside him like a bad circuitry let loose when someone had pulled down the switch in the worst moment. Stopping him from not only achieving his goal, but even coming as close to do so. A seal their master had placed on them to stop themselves from murdering one another when he was not looking.
An ingenious design that assured ones own ranks were never truly depleted…, while also allowing for some… "sparring" between them when their blood ran hot and tensions ran high and frustrations were clogging their judgment...
And yet one that from time to time vexed him when the only thing he could do was rough the bastard a bit..
Case in point, Arubboth was already pulling himself out from the last crater he had left him, raising effortlessly and slowly walking towards him with a few long strides.. Wings flapping once, then twice as they brushed away the dust and pebbles that had yet to fully dissipate under the wake of his psychic attack. was now covering him..
Amusement glinted in those little piggy eyes of his, fangs clicking and clacking time and time again the same way a pair of hands would be when tapping a table if one were to ignore the droll and smoke slipping down from them...
``Isssssss that all...?´´
Oh, there was a lot from where that came from…, but he would not waste any shred of thought in such meaningless and fruitless endeavor. Only one slap was needed anyway to remind the dog of his place.
No matter how said dog refused to heed said warnings.
``Silence, you impertinent bat…! If you were less prone to mindless violence and instead you focused on the arcane you may have taken notice that something is meddling in our affairs..´´
``Bah, why shouuuuuld I care about divination? Such task are beneaaaaaath my gifts..´´
``Just like I expected you to say…, why do I even try..´´
``Did youuuuu say something.., little one?´´
``Indeed I did, you deaf mutt…or did prison rob you of your mind as-well?´´
``Fooooooor such a ssssssmall form you have, how louuuuud you bark. It amuuuuuses me.….´´
``Hah! You simpleton, you are barking at the wrong tree..´´
``Doooo you think so?´´
``There is a problem, I have a problem, which it makes OUR problem..! Are you following sofar...!?´´
``And why wouuuuuld that beeeee? The controooool of the lane linessssss of this world or the oooother are not my expertiiiise nor my task…´´
``Then you should when the master pulls you from your leash…, for something has tugged the strings of fate´´
``Is that soooo? Then illuminaaaaate on me why should I caaaare..´´
``Because I cant see it anymore…´´
The smirk seemed to grow even more wider in those ill-drawn maws. Showing a ra
``The only thinnnnng you had to do, and you caaaaaaant even do ssssssso..? How frightfully predictable...it makes me think that I at least didn't get the shortest straw when I was sent to catch the soul of that weird brat…..whaaaaaaat is an emineeeeeence anyway….?.´´
``Laugh while you can, bat …., but this will have bigger ramifications than you can imagine..´´
That at least seemed to sober the beast up…, wiping away the smugness of his face and leaving nothing but contemptuous indecisiveness..
He was not made to think…
To question….
He was a blank board, and he was sure that most of this was going over his head.
``What of the will of the massssster? He could see everything…sssssssurely this is part of his sssssscheme´´
Well, at least something had gotten through the idiots thick skull….
Too bad he could not just corroborate the bats assumptions as he had first wanted.
``Not this time it seems, the script...has scrambled out from our fingers´´
``How could thissssss be? What sssssssort of sorcery could lead to thissssss...?´´
A good question.
It was the only thing of worth by far that had come out from his miserable head.
``Fate is fickle, there could a vast array of reasons…, but the way it changed so rapidly and without warning. It can not be a natural reaction of our intervention..´´
``Sssssssssssspeak plainly you curl…!´´
``Is improbable, but it could be a Fate breaker…´´
It was not something he wanted to entertain the thought on.., not something he wanted to believe was actually happening.
Because if it was true, even if only a small part of it was….then it would open a whole can of worms no one was actually ready to deal with….
And yet it made sense for that to be the case, because such creatures…..were an aberration to reality.
Disrupting the flow of what it was meant to be and touching with their filthy hands what it was not meant to be theirs..
Corrupting it…
And using that power to feed on their betters..
The horrified look now plastered on Arubboth face was all the answers he needed to know that for once, the bat was actually considering his words for once…
Sadly, that did not bring him any comfort whatsoever...
The last thought that occupied his mind before he set his focus once again on the vortex was on what the last of their group would think of this now that She had gone down to the planet to stir up the first parts of the "conversion"...
….
…..
Wait, what had Arubboth said just a moment ago? Something about an Eminence...? An Eminence of What..?