Felix broke the kiss slowly, reluctantly even. His lips parted from Orpheus’ mouth and they each took a silent breath. The faint pink twinkled away from Orpheus’ eyes, giving way to his sparkling blue eyes again. There once was a time when Felix would love to stare into those beautiful irises for hours on end, but he could not bring himself to look him in the eyes now.
“I’m sorry I subjected you to that memory,” Felix sputtered. “My telepathy is at its strongest during physical contact, and—”
Orpheus gasped as he twitched without warning. Felix reached for him in alarm, but the Necromancer turned away immediately, as though trying to hide something in his hand. Orpheus wheezed for a few seconds before standing up abruptly, still facing away from him.
“It was nice watching the fireworks with you, Felix.” He materialised his staff and conjured a dark cloud beneath his feet. “I’ll… Uhm— I’ll get going now.”
The Necromancer left without another word as his cloud carried him back to the ground.
~ ~ ~
All was quiet on the home front when Felix descended back into the cave. Most, if not all, the residents were already asleep, which left the crystals in the huge caverns free to shed their natural lighting onto the rocky floors. A familiar shadow approached Felix.
“Pagonis, you’ve got a moment?” Titus exited the shadows without a single sound. “It’s about time we settled your problem.”
Felix followed Titus through a complicated series of airlifts. Of course, he could’ve just flown up himself, but he thought it’d be courteous of him to follow Titus in case he had something to say on the way. Unfortunately, the cyborg remained as mute as a mobster in a silent film.
After a couple more twists in the path, Felix found himself walking towards an inconspicuous-looking room tucked comfortably in the far corner of the cave.
A futuristic-looking door slid open to a surprisingly down-to-earth-looking room, and Felix followed Titus in. Marcia and Orpheus were already lounging around the sleek metallic chairs that adjusted ever so slightly to accommodate their occasional shifts in a sitting position.
“Alright, Pagonis. I’ll give you what you want,” Titus began. “You’re free to leave this place.”
Felix raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t what Titus said that surprised him, but how he said it. It might have been just his imagination, but there was a hint of reluctance in his voice.
“What, without an apology for kidnapping us?” Marcia asked brashly.
Titus scowled in response, before clearing his throat.
“But that doesn’t mean to say you’re free to do whatever you want in my world,” he continued. “The arrival of these… ‘Unendings’, as you call it, are a grave cause of concern. Our scans and analysis have already confirmed that these beings do not come from our world. We still cannot confirm how they come about, but—”
“Soul magic,” Felix interrupted.
“What?”
“They are created when a soul forcibly enters a body it isn’t attuned to.” The psychic folded his arms.
“What proof do you have?”
“I don’t have any, but it’s the only explanation that makes sense,” Felix said. “Marcia, remember Gaius Matthiou? He had thousands of souls in his body and he turned into an Unending. Even your family turned into these monsters when you forced their souls back into their bodies. What other explanation could there be?”
“That theory isn’t without merit,” Orpheus spoke up quietly. “Bodies are no longer attuned to their souls when they expire. Forcing them back together will result in a warped physical form. The only way a soul can pilot a dead body without consequences is if it’s naturally powerful enough to bypass natural law. If not, invoking the power of a higher god would work just as well too.”
There was a pause in the room.
“Janus!” Felix and Marcia piped in unison.
“In other words, the Solstices.” Titus took out the Summer Solstice from a compartment in his armour and handed it back to Felix. “Whatever the case, I suppose this lines up with what I’m about to propose.”
“Please tell me you’re still letting us go,” Felix groaned.
“Yes, I am. But under one condition,” Titus replied. “I’m coming with you.”
“What the hell for?”
“As far as I know, the Solstices can open portals between worlds. If the Unendings arrived via portals, these portals must have been opened via a Solstice as well. Our goals align.”
“So… you wish to eradicate the source of the Unendings by following us into the next world?” Marcia asked.
“Someone must be using the Winter Solstice to open portals and send the Unending through for some reason.” Titus nodded. “I’m going to find that bastard and kill him.”
Felix rested his chin between his thumb and index finger, deep in thought. Theoretically, everything made sense. The origins of the Unending, the location of the Winter Solstice, how the portals are activated… But why did these monsters attack his world too? What drew them there?
“Caesar.” Titus’ voice cut through his thoughts. “The machine in the Grand Archive—”
“Yes, we can use it to hop universes.” Orpheus nodded. “Provided we use the Summer Solstice to power it, of course. Without an artefact, all it can do is pinpoint the locations of other worlds.”
Titus clapped his hands resoundingly, and Felix squinted his eyes against the mini shockwave that exploded from it.
“Perfect,” he said. “Pagonis, I believe it in our best interests to leave as soon as possible, lest we get distracted by another attack.”
~ ~ ~
Felix took his time to enjoy the scenery one last time as the flying carriage soared over the city. After all, if everything goes well, this might be the only time he gets to appreciate this view. It was still nighttime, although that was only evident if one bothered to look at the sky. With the shimmering lights all around, it was as good as daytime to the folks below.
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Titus’ generously sized carriage wasted no unnecessary time touching down. Felix walked out first and promptly stopped before he could take a second step.
“Halt! Entry by the helipad without authorisation is forbidden!” There were a couple of robots standing around the top of the Building of Magick Archives, guarding what was essentially just a glorified museum.
“Hang on, I got this.” Orpheus walked towards them and thrust his staff in their face scanners. “Grand Necromancer Orpheus Caesar and guests.”
The robots buffered for a moment. “Invalid user. User data expired.”
“Uh, what?” Orpheus took a step back in surprise.
“Have you even entered this building before?” Felix rolled his eyes.
“Not… Not in a while, I suppose?”
Titus sighed loudly in exasperation.
“These damn robots must not have their data synced with the ones outside,” he said as his armour spiked around him threateningly. “Let’s not waste any more time.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Felix thrust his hand out frantically before Titus could crush the guards. “I have the highest authority in this place, right?”
He stepped in front of them.
“Felix Pagonis. Supreme ruler of Surone,” Felix smirked arrogantly. “These people are my guests. I command you to let us in now.”
The guards remained motionless for a suspiciously long time. Felix looked at his group nervously.
“Negative. Soul not recognised.” The guards’ faces lit up an angry red immediately. “Imposter detected. Terminating intruders.”
Felix flinched as technomagick rifles replaced the robots’ limbs.
“Yikes, worth a shot!” he yelped, making way for Titus.
A few flashes of green later, the group pushed the doors open and entered the building. Felix was the last to enter, taking care not to step over the crushed metal now littering the helipad.
Fortunately, neither guards nor humans were lurking around in the Building of Magick Archives. In fact, it looked like the building itself had been abandoned a long time ago. The lights were in disrepair, machinery inactive, magic glyphs desaturated… This place wasn’t even fit to be called a museum; at least museums were still well-maintained.
“Does anyone even come here anymore?” Marcia echoed Felix’s thoughts out loud.
“Not me.” Orpheus shrugged, pacing around the room languidly. “Ever since the death of the dictator, the Grand Magis dispersed themselves to pursue their own endeavours. We merely hold the title and enjoy its privileges, but nobody does their job anymore.”
“Anarchy rules our world if you haven’t yet realised,” Titus chimed in. “The only reason why our society is even functioning is because of how deep our dictator had ingrained his rule into us, barbaric as they are. The systems, the ‘happiness’ culture, the robots… They were all designed to keep society functioning even after his death.”
“Sounds like a swell guy,” Felix said sarcastically, walking over to a thick brown casket. “Hey, what’s this?”
Orpheus rushed forward and ushered him away from it.
“I… wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” he warned. “Unless you wanna look at your own rotting corpse.”
“The dictator is in this thing?” Felix asked, eyes wide with surprise. “I thought you guys would’ve destroyed the body by now.”
Lights flickered from above before a dull humming surged through the whole building. The machines came to life one by one as magic churned into the glyphs decorating the walls.
“Alright, I’ve just restored the power.” Titus walked towards Felix, his hand morphed into some sort of screwdriver. “The robots were programmed to lay Felix here as his final resting place. I didn’t see the need to interfere after I killed him, so I simply let them take his corpse away.”
Felix paid his respects silently, before taking out the psychic flower from his coat and placing it on the casket. This dictator might have been a world-class arsehole in this world, but he was still another version of himself.
“I’ll get to activating the Multiverse Positioning System,” Orpheus announced. “The book— Felix— if you would be so kind.”
The Necromancer received the Summer Solstice and immediately began typing furiously into a huge machine. There were two intersecting rings in front of it, presumably for generating a portal. Felix took the time to explore the other machines.
A particularly sleek one caught his eye, and he began pressing the buttons randomly. Apparently, it was a name list of the entire country, which also conveniently recorded everyone’s power levels. And so Felix did what anyone would do.
He searched for his own name.
FELIX PAGONIS (SUPREME LEADER)
STATUS: DECEASED
RACE: META
POWER LEVEL: TIER 5++
“Of course…” Felix muttered to himself. He searched for his sister’s name next.
MARCIA PAGONIS
STATUS: DECEASED
RACE: META
POWER LEVEL: UNKNOWN
A sombre look fell over his face as he searched Titus’ name.
STATUS: UNKNOWN
POWER LEVEL: TIER 5
Felix sucked in a deep breath and glanced at Orpheus. How powerful is this guy, actually?
He typed in his name.
ORPHEUS CAESAR (GRAND MAGI)
CLASS: NECROMANCER
STATUS: DECEASED
“Huh?” Felix backed away from the machine, his mind struggling to comprehend what the machine had just shown him.
No, it couldn’t be. Not when the man himself was literally standing right there.
Felix threw up his hands in exasperation. The machines here weren’t as reliable as he’d assumed after all. He only hoped that the Multiverse Positioning System wouldn’t fail him as well.
Felix walked back to Orpheus, who was now standing in front of a glowing door that looked all too familiar.
“Look here.” The Necromancer pointed at three circles on the machine monitor. “These are the universes you and Marcia came from. This one is our universe. And this—”
He pointed at the smallest triangle on the far right of the screen. “—This is where we’re headed.”
“Why is it so small?” Marcia mused.
“I… have no idea.” Orpheus shrugged, keeping the Summer Solstice in his coat. “The smaller the shape, the smaller the universe. Such a tiny triangle usually means we’d be going to a pocket dimension. But that doesn’t make sense either; how can a pocket dimension store so many monsters?”
“I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Felix stepped in front of the portal and felt Orpheus’ hand tap his shoulder.
“Ready for an adventure?” Orpheus smiled at him.
Felix nodded and smirked slightly. “With you? Always.”
He stepped into the door.