“Ahem.” Chris called out, getting the attention of all the townsfolk milling about in an empty field of his world. “I believe you all must have some questions.”
“Who the fuck are you!?!” A man roared, stepping in front of his wife and kids. “What is this place?!? Why have you taken us here!?!”
“I'm Chris, this is my world, and it became necessary to remove any potential evidence that I may be active on the surface, which involved taking you all into my world. Technically we probably could have gotten away with grabbing the soldiers we told about ourselves, a bit of a mistake on our part there, but in the process of doing so we probably would have left even more evidence, so it was easier to simply remove everything.” Chris explained. “Don't worry, we have no plans to hurt you, and you'll be well provided for while you're here. Though I didn't get a great look at the town before Greg ate it, so I'll need some help getting all the houses looking right.” He added, waving his hand as a vague approximation of the town appeared off to the side. “If a few of you would be interested in connecting to my world and sharing some memories, that'd help a lot.”
The townsfolk froze for a moment at the sight of a town appearing out of nowhere, glancing between it and Chris nervously. “Who- what are you?” An official looking man asked with a gulp.
Chris cocked his head. “The current consensus is that I'm a demonic god. But basically, I'm a living world. This world here. Everything you see, besides yourselves, is me. An infinite space I can do anything and everything I want with. Make of that what you will.”
“That- you- you can't be- how is that possible?!?” The man exclaimed.
Chris shrugged. “Who knows? I was just born like this.”
“What kind of monstrous woman gave birth to a living world!?!” The man asked incredulously.
“Jo. Or Jo'vuntulla. Princess Jo'vuntulla? I don't know, she's Jer'tunal’s sister.” Chris waved dismissively.
The man's eyes widened. “You- you're a royal!?!”
“Yup. Kinda why we had to kidnap you all. Can't have Jer'tunal knowing I'm out and about before we're ready to take care of him, or he might end up doing something drastic, which… well, it could get a lot of people hurt, and I'd rather that not happen.” Chris replied.
“Yet you have no problem tearing us from our lives and trapping us inside yourself, leaving us completely at your mercy.” A random Elf scoffed.
“Well, trapping people in my world doesn't exactly hurt them.” Chris shrugged. “Kinda the opposite, actually… you can't die in here, and I can heal anything other than genetic diseases. Speaking of…” He waved his hand, healing everyone of anything that might be wrong with them. “There, you're all completely healthy.” He glanced at an older Elf whose hair had turned from gray to black, their wrinkles disappearing. “And young. You're welcome. Also, do you people understand the concept of infinite space? You have all the space, resources, and time to do whatever you want, without worrying about running into a Dragon or something. Sure, you may have been forced into it, but you can't deny that this is a fantastic opportunity for you all.” He paused. “Also, if any of you wants to connect to my world, I wouldn't mind letting you out to do things, if you really wanted to.”
“You'd really just let us do whatever we want in here?” The official looking man asked skeptically.
“Sure, why not?” Chris shrugged. “I mean, don't start torturing each other or anything. Unless you find someone who wants you to torture them, I suppose… but you get my point, right? Just be kind to each other, and otherwise, do whatever you want. But I'm not afraid to toss a fucker into a star if they piss me off.”
The man gulped. “I- I see.” He glanced at the town. “We- we should see about settling in.”
“Go for it.” Chris agreed. “Just shout if you need me to change or fix anything. Or whisper, if you like. I'll still hear it.” He glanced at a small group that had been whispering conspiratorially, causing them to go pale. “I'm aware of everything that happens in my world.” He stated, before disappearing, leaving them to figure out the rest on their own. He vaguely wondered if they'd actually ask for his help or not, but ultimately he didn't care. There were enough resources in the area that they shouldn't need his help for anything. It'd just make things more convenient.
*
On a completely different planet in Chris's world, a group of halflings milled about in confusion. The moment they'd been taken through the portals, they'd been separated from their masters and dumped in this strange place, devoid of anything but grass and trees. A few jumped as Chris suddenly appeared before the group. “Ahem.” Chris called out, repeating the actions of his other self currently addressing the Elves. “I'm sure you all have some questions.”
“Where- where are we?” A halfling woman stepped forward tentatively after a moment. “Where are the masters?”
“You are currently in my world, and your ‘masters’ are here as well, just on a different planet.” Chris replied. “You're going to have to make do without each other, though. Victoria isn't the biggest fan of slavery, so she insisted I separate the two of you and let you experience freedom for a bit.”
“We're- free?” The woman asked hesitantly, almost incredulously.
“Yup.” Chris nodded. “This entire planet is all yours to do with as you please. I'll make you some houses and what not, but other than that, it's up to you what you make of it all.” He waved, creating a small town for them. He didn't give them the option of joining the Eternal Tribe just yet, because as Victoria insisted, they couldn't have the option to just jump into serving someone else. They needed to figure out who they were without a master before they were ready to make a decision on whether or not they wanted to serve Chris. She insisted he give them the bare minimum and then let them fend for themselves. Something about fostering independence or whatever.
Chris answered a few more questions, mostly just more ‘who are you?’ and ‘why did you do this?’ type stuff that was essentially just a repeat of what he told the Elves, before dismissing them to get settled, along with that self. “Alright, they're all settled for now.” Chris announced as he and the other continued to make their way towards the next town, which was not actually the next town, since they all agreed that coming from a town that had just disappeared was probably a bad idea. They'd made sure to alter their appearances as well, except for Ver'varia since she hadn't been there for the cultivator to see.
“I can't believe you people took a town!” Ver'varia grumbled.
“What else were we supposed to do?” Greg shrugged. “Just let Jer'tunal find out Chris is here and send cultivators to hold the City hostage?”
“Were there no other options?!?” Ver'varia threw up her hands in frustration. “You couldn't just take the soldiers!?! No one else knew who you were!”
“True, but, if we'd just gotten rid of the soldiers, then Jer'tunal would have sent someone to investigate, and who knows what they would have been able to put together from the clues we left behind?” Greg retorted. “Plus, he may have just assumed the townsfolk did it, and killed them all. Dude doesn't strike me as the most reasonable guy. So, best to take them, leaving no evidence, and making sure they're completely safe.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“No evidence except for the cultivator you let escape!” Ver'varia growled.
Greg nodded. “Yeah, that was unfortunate, but hey, how were we supposed to know some random cultivator was in town?”
Ver'varia groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I'm being hunted by cultivators with a group of people who couldn't hide to save their lives!”
“Hey, now, you're immortal, remember? Cultivators can't do shit to you.” Greg chuckled, patting her on the back.
“How are we supposed to win over the nobility if we're running around fighting cultivators and taking towns!” Ver'varia exclaimed.
“Ah, that's easy. We don't tell them we're running around fighting cultivators and taking towns. Simple, right?” Greg grinned.
Ver'varia leveled a scathing glare at him. “The nobility isn't stupid!” She growled. “Do you think they won't make the connection between the group running around with strange abilities and the people trying to overthrow Jer'tunal?!? Do you really think they'd dismiss it as a coincidence that the two showed up at exactly the same time!?!”
Greg paused, before turning to the others. “Well, she's got us there guys.”
Ver'varia sighed. “Even if they are against Jer'tunal, they aren't going to want to work with people who take towns and do who knows what with them! This- how are we supposed to fix this? The whole kingdom is just going to see us as a danger! We can't- people don't ally with threats to their lives!”
“Actually, ‘do what I say or I'll kill you’ is a rather effective method of compelling compliance.” Chris commented.
Ver'varia scowled at him. “Is that what you want? To just be another tyrant like Jer'tunal?”
Chris paused. “No, it isn't. But if it's my only option to keep people from suffering, then what I want doesn't matter, only what I have to do.”
Ver'varia blinked, frowning slightly as she considered that. “A tyrant for the good of the people?”
“I think the term is benevolent overlord.” Victoria sighed. “And it rarely works out for people, because the moment whatever pressure it is that keeps people in line disappears, they go wild. You can't mandate morality.”
“But I'm eternal, and my pressure will never go away.” Chris pointed out.
Victoria rolled her eyes. “It still isn't ideal.”
“Of course not, but if it's what needs to be done, then it needs to be done.” Chris replied. “Sometimes ideal is unachievable, and you just have to go for what works.”
“It wouldn't be unachievable if you people hadn't taken a town!” Ver'varia grumbled.
“If we hadn't taken the town, there's a good chance millions of people could have died.” Chris shrugged. “Plus, we don't know we can't still work with the nobles. It may just be a bit more… complicated. I can handle things being a bit complicated if I can save lives.”
Ver'varia blinked at him. “I don't know what to make of you.”
“No one ever does.” Chris muttered, frowning slightly, before shaking his head. “Anyway, we don't all need to be here. Ver'varia, you want to be a cultivator, right?”
Ver'varia froze at the sudden change in subject. “I- yes, I would, very much so, yes.”
Chris nodded. “I'll get you mutating and see how close you get. I have enough ability energy to get you there, but I'm not sure if you have enough experience to reach peak physique, though I'd say you most likely do.” He turned to the other three. “You guys want to hunt in the Maze and grow our ability energy?”
“You bet your sweet ass I do!” Greg agreed with a grin. “If we were cultivators already, there's no way that fucker would have got away.”
“I suppose there's no reason to limit myself to one powerful body.” Andrew shrugged.
Victoria nodded. “We could always use more power.”
Chris sent Ver'varia into his world to start the mutation process, before opening a portal to the twelfth level of the Maze for the four of them, sending out a fresh body to continue the journey for them while they hunted. “We have a while before we reach our first noble. Let's see how much we can grow.”
*
Four people hung in the air over the crater where Bar'rintla used to be. “Ha'palo, how long did it take you to get us?” Net'jala asked with a twisted expression.
“Four hours.” Ha'palo, the cultivator Greg had fought, replied with a grimace.
“There's no energy residue.” Va'ishta muttered, examining the crater.
“Perfectly smooth.” Bin'kenta commented, landing to run his hand along the stone.
“An entire town, gone without a trace in less than four hours?” Net'jala asked incredulously. “Why would someone with that kind of power waste their time on Bar'rintla?!? The place is- was a dump! At best they were somewhat close to the Underground, but that's it! What could possibly have convinced anyone to remove it like this?!?” He turned to Ha'palo. “You didn't piss off some ancient monstrosity, did you?”
“I've been on vacation since we took down that Behemoth!” Ha'palo protested. “I'd literally just gotten to town and I was only staying the night! And they flat out ignored me until I revealed myself! They seemed surprised I was even there!”
Net'jala shook his head. “What can you tell us about them? Leave nothing out.”
Ha'palo frown, thinking it over. “They were confident. Arguably rightly so. They erected a barrier over the town, and it survived several blasts of my ability without showing any signs of weakening. Any hole I made repaired itself instantly. It didn't form instantly though. They had some sort of… bug man with a light ability keeping people from flying out while it covered the town. They then demanded everyone to enter their portals, which is when I revealed myself. Then one of them turned into a Dragon and attacked me. They only used physical attacks though… so turning into a Dragon probably was their ability.”
Bin'kenta snorted. “Pretty damn good one if so.”
Ha'palo frowned. “Actually… they may have had something to do with the barrier as well. The Dragon healed instantly just like it did, and there was this… smoke that accompanied the process.”
Va'ishta blinked. “They created the barrier and turned into a Dragon?”
“Maybe?” Ha'palo replied hesitantly. “Or it could be a family ability with two different manifestations. There were several people involved.”
Net'jala frowned. “So we have the bug man with a light ability, some sort of portal expert, the Dragon shifter, and a barrier expert? How does that translate into Bar'rintla becoming a crater?!?”
Ha'palo threw up his hands helplessly. “I was busy getting tossed around by a freaking undying Dragon! I didn't exactly have time to investigate! The thing tossed me outside the barrier the first chance it got, so I couldn't even see what they were doing!”
Net'jala huffed. “The King is not going to be happy about this. If it gets to the point where he has to use the Blood Bow, someone is going to lose their head.”
“Then we should take care of this ourselves, shouldn't we?” Va'ishta commented.
“Va, I took that thing’s head off. Twice.” Ha'palo grimaced. “I don't think we're capable of handling this.”
“Palo, I love you, but you are the definition of a meathead.” Va'ishta smirked. “There has to be something powering these people's abilities, and I can find it. Once we cut off the source, the rest will crumble.”
“But first we have to actually find them, and they have a portal expert.” Bin'kenta pointed out.
Va'ishta grimaced. “That does put a damper on things.”
Net'jala sighed. “We need to figure out why they attacked Bar'rintla. We should visit the surrounding towns, see if we can find anything special about this place. I'll talk to the local nobles, see if they can think of any reason this might have happened. If they strike again, maybe we'll discover a pattern.”
“And if they don't strike again?” Bin'kenta asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Then we got off lucky, didn't we?” Net'jala chuckled. “Bar'rintla is hardly a substantial loss to the kingdom.”