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Xera tapped her wrist pad, and an illusory representation of the whole universe appeared floating in the living room. “Let’s start at the beginning. That will make the most sense.”
She took a deep breath and then began, “The Architects made The Cosmic System to instill our control over our whole universe, encapsulating all of it within our machinations. This enabled us to control magic, technology, and the fusion of both known as magitech. Every world was under our purview, and was ‘shrouded’ until they hit the population requisite qualifying them to have that shroud lifted and join the rest of the universe along The Cosmic Corridor and in Khrox. A way to prevent inter-world conflict.”
“Smart play,” Greg said. “Also explains why we never found aliens with probes or the like.”
Xera nodded, “Yes, The Cosmic System prevents such contact between non-Cosmic Corridor worlds. The shroud protects them, until they have hit the population threshold that signals they should have achieved enough stability to join other worlds. Most worlds that don’t reach a stable population threshold for their world have hosted a failed species.” She winced, “Most, but not all. A few times, The Architects intervened and rescued populations from doomed worlds. But it’s rarely done – only in times of freak accidents, in those rare instances.”
Jace walked over to the hologram and found he could manipulate it. He tried pinching and extending his fingers and found that he could zoom in until he saw the supermassive black hole at the center of the universe. “This is our universe’s funnel to the Astral Verge. Right? I’d have to go through this to get Chroma back?”
“Somewhat correct, but don’t get ahead of me,” Xera replied as she tapped a few more icons, and the holographic representation zoomed in on the black hole. And Jace saw dozens of ships emerge from the singularity hologram. “Other universes achieved the same level of technological, magic, magitech, or combination just as The Architects were capable of. They went through their own singularity, through the Astral Verge, and then tried to come up through our singularity…They tried to invade.”
Priam whispered as sudden realization seemed to dawn on him, “Troxanir is the guard at the doorway.”
“Correct,” Xera said with a slight frown. “We pulled up an entity from the Astral Verge, this ‘underlying’ reality beneath our own, and forced them into The Cosmic System’s framework to be our guard dog and keep other universes out of this one.” She tapped more buttons on her wrist pad, and the ships vanished – save for a singular, spire-like vessel.
“Once the entity was in place to protect all of you and your worlds, The Architects left. And I stayed behind because I wanted to monitor The Cosmic System. I became the ‘tech support’, founded the Dark Between Stars, and keep the System from breaking apart as best I can. But I need Signers to help me keep the whole operation up and running.”
“That’s where we come in,” Greg said as he leaned his back against the glass. “Since you can’t do some things because you’re not technically a part of The Cosmic System.”
“Correct, I had to stay separate from the System itself to be a tech support,” Xera said with a slight grin. “You’re a smart one under that jovial exterior.”
Greg chuckled, “I paid attention during my lessons.”
Xera continued, “The entity we leashed did its job well, and blocked the singularity off from the Astral Verge, keeping other universes out. However, we thought it was just a mindless beast. A dog we put on a chain…but that wasn’t the case. It developed - or maybe even already had - a consciousness. While its true form is blocking the ‘funnel’ between our universe and the Astral Verge, it made itself an avatar, named itself Troxanir, and ventured into our universe with physical form.”
“What would happen if we destroyed the avatar?” Priam asked.
Xera shrugged, “No clue. Maybe it would kill the consciousness if they were inextricably linked. Maybe it wouldn’t. Star Father of the Star Council got close in their epic battle some millennia ago – but the fight was a stalemate, and both retreated to lick their wounds. They haven’t fought since.” She looked wistful, “I thought that he would be strong enough to replace Troxanir and become the new ‘bouncer’ that could be more…predictable, and from our universe.”
Priam frowned, “Then how does Troxanir claim souls for this paradise thing? Is it some place in the Astral Verge?”
Xera stood up and walked through the spectral display, waving her hand as it vanished. She joined Greg at the window and looked out on Khrox, “I don’t know.” A look of dismay crossed her face, “And I hate that I don’t know. I know very little about the Astral Verge compared to my brother. He focused on that underlying, sub-reality more than I did, overseeing the expedition force that pioneered the way for The Architect’s journey.”
Her demeanor shifted to one of sorrow or regret. “I never asked him to put it all down in writing, and since Troxanir is blocking up the funnel to get to the Astral Verge…I can’t even send probes to explore and gather data. I know that people, given the right protection, can enter and leave the Astral Verge. A Tier 10 Ascendant would fit that bill.”
Jace felt an odd pit in his stomach. “Putting this together,” he began as he joined Xera at the window. “It sounds like the universe is functioning as intended…but this funnel is blocked, like you said, by Troxanir. If he’s blocking the funnel…could he be collecting up every soul as they try to travel to this Astral Verge?” He let the thought linger in the air.
Xera frowned, “I had considered that. It makes logical sense. He could be hoarding the-”
Priam almost shouted. “You’ve got a big, bad, mean guy who is keeping souls from going to their destination! We have to stop him! People need to be able to move on to where they should be going!”
Xera nodded, “Any powerful enough Ascendant could defeat him. But…that would then leave the door wide open, so to speak, for other universes to invade.”
She turned to Jace, “Achieve Tier 10, become an Ascendant at the peak of power within The Cosmic System. Then, you could defeat Troxanir’s avatar – and maybe even his true form if necessary – and use your power over Dark Energy to put a door on that funnel.” She grinned, “No more need for a watch dog, no more need for a bouncer.”
“Why haven’t you done it?” Greg asked. “If you’re part of this super powerful hyper-tech species, surely you could block off the singularity like Jace could do.”
Xera raised her eyebrow, “The Architects are not a part of The Cosmic System – we never were. It was not made for us; it was made for all of you. I can never be a part of it. Hence why I remain as the administrator and tech support. The means to control Dark Matter and Dark Energy are known to me…but the cost would be so vast it would tear gaps in our reality, opening up more passages, more ‘funnels’ to the Astral Verge.”
“It would be like making more entry points for hostiles,” Greg summarized.
“Correct. I’d be brute forcing it, whereas Jace can wield it with finesse and not harm the fabric of reality. No extra hostile entry points. It’s also why ‘warp travel’ can never happen, and The Cosmic System prevents it. That would require ripping a hole into the Astral Verge, and making another rip to re-enter our universe.”
She turned to Jace and cupped his chin, her voice shifting to a sincere tone. “You’re the only hope we’ve got right now to provide an alternative to Troxanir as the stopper preventing other universes from invading ours. You have to. To save her.”
Jace nodded and gently grabbed her hand, “If beating him is the only way to bring Chroma back, I’ll do it.”
“Survive for her,” Xera whispered as she pulled away, echoing Jace’s mantra.
Priam spoke up again, “Let’s say we beat Troxanir, and Jace does get to seal off this entry to the Astral Verge with a door, is Jace stuck guarding the door?”
Xera grinned, and her voice became filled with enthusiasm. “No, he wouldn’t be the new gatekeeper guarding the singularity-funnel to the Astral Verge. As my Signer, I could co-opt Jace’s lingering power and keep the door from letting people leave or enter that shouldn’t be coming or going using a subroutine I’ve been developing. It wouldn’t cost him any energy except for the initial amount required to place the effect.”
“What about us going through the funnel?” Greg asked. “If we had to go there to get Jace’s sister and Priam’s family. Once we leave the universe, we lose access to The Cosmic System and its powers, right?”
Xera replied, “That’s the wonder of The Cosmic System. Once you tackle the Ascension Trial, and pass it, you are no longer a part of the System – it becomes a part of you. It can travel with you. You become a permanent tether, regardless of whether you go to the Astral Verge or even other universes. You’d keep your Class, Cosmic Power, Advanced Class, and Ascended Power.”
“I’m still confused about the cosmology,” Priam said.
Xera nodded, “It can be confusing, so I’ll give you an analogy that you all will understand. Think of reality as a sandwich.” She held up her hands, and a holographic display of a sandwich appeared.
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“You have where we and other universes like ours exist, called the Mortal Realm by older scholars. This is the top piece of bread.”
“Under the Mortal Realm is the Astral Verge, this ‘transitory’ layer of reality that enables cross-universe travel; or even warp travel if one wanted to risk more incursion points. This would be the cheese in my analogy.”
“Under the Astral Verge is something called the Nethershift. The most important component that holds all of reality together. It ties together the two transitory layers of reality. The meat of the sandwich.”
“Under the Nethershift is the Soul Realm, which is a mirror of the Astral Verge. This would be a condiment, like an aioli, on the sandwich.”
“Lastly are the Afterlives. Mirrors of universes, where souls end their journey and reside. These are the bottom piece of bread in my sandwich analogy.”
Priam nodded, “That makes sense. Thanks!”
“You are welcome,” Xera replied as she waved her hands and all of the holograms vanished.
Jace interrupted, “The flow of souls from our universe through our singularity, and then through all those layers of the reality-sandwich…and Troxanir is blocking up that hole…is he eating all of them?”
Xera’s face became an inscrutable, stony, emotionless visage. “Perhaps. It is possible that he is consuming all souls, and his desire to grow and have his faction feed him matter is to grow his singularity to such a size that he can devour everything in our universe…effectively ending it.”
“We’ve got to stop them!” Priam shouted. “Eating up the universe and hoarding up souls that should be going to their final destination? It’s wrong!”
Xera’s wrist pad beeped, and she looked down at it before her demeanor shifted to one of a commensurate professional. Her tone became cool, and her demeanor grew more distant and, for lack of a better word, calculating. “Put that out of your mind.”
She paced the room and glanced between the three Signers. “You are far from being able to defeat Troxanir.”
Greg nodded, “Yeah, he’s way above our pay grade right now. It’ll be a while before we can touch him.”
Xera nodded, “Now…you have tasks to complete. Earth can only be locked down for another 23 days. The Nebula Alliance is a threat, and you have 3 more megacorporations to put down to eliminate their chance of taking Earth over. And…do not speak of what we have spoken of here, outside of my building. This knowledge cannot be known by the masses.”
She snapped her fingers, and the group were in the apartment building once more – minus Xera. She was not there.
Priam grumbled. “Troxanir is a bad guy. We need to focus on places that get us a lot of Stardust, fast! So we can take him out!”
Greg nodded, “Yeah, but that’s a ways off. I’m Tier 3, you both are Tier 4. It’s a long way to the top.”
Quinn’s voice came over the comms, “You guys have been off grid for thirty minutes. Come on, get back to Earth. You have your next target.”
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The thoughts of what he had learned was filling Jace with a sense of trepidation. So much information had been dumped onto him so quickly that he was still struggling to process it all. At least Xera had simplified out their plan.
Hit Tier 10, become Ascendants, fight and beat Troxanir, put that ‘door’ on the singularity…and hopefully beating Troxanir means that I’m freeing Chroma and can get her back. If her mind is inside her soul ‘goop’ that would normally bind it to the body, I just need a new body for her to return to. Well, I’m sure that Xera could make Chroma a body.
Ollie must have noticed something ‘off’ in his face or demeanor, as he patted Jace on the cheek, “Hey. Do not think too hard about the future. Focus on the here and now. We have a job to do!”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Jace replied as he scratched Ollie’s head. “No point in thinking about the future when it’s so far off.”
“Right,” Ollie replied as he curled around Jace’s neck and the Aspirant kept scratching his cute, little, furry head. “I learned a lot of new lore. Xera kept it all to herself and Josie.”
Jace nodded, “Yeah, it’s crazy that only us Signers and you few Wayfinders know the truth.”
Jace led the group back through The Cosmic Corridor’s pastel-blue portal and into the black space with the two devices. I’ve got way too many creds, he thought as he went over to the console and slid his sliverscreen into it, letting the here-and-now take over any thoughts of the future. Tapping the panel a few times, he took out most of his creds in exchange for Stardust. The exchange rate had changed. Jace reasoned it was because of the megacorps starting to fall.
Puts me at 3,000 creds for anything I need on Earth, and 6,751 Stardust. Enough for 3 levels.
Priam also walked up to the device after it ejected Jace’s Sliverscreen, “I haven’t used any of these creds yet.” Jace watched as the screen showed him zeroing out his creds.
Greg frowned, “I’m a bit off from Tier 4. I need…9,500 Stardust, and I have 4,251.”
Jace looked at Priam and the two exchanged a silent, shared sentiment. “Ollie,” Jace said, “Can we pool our Stardust and redistribute it out?”
“As long as everyone is willing,” Ollie replied. “Quinn? You up for that?”
“Why not,” she replied with some enthusiasm over the comms. “We gotta keep Greg alive, after all.”
“I’ll hold onto my creds,” Greg said. “Just in case we need to buy something on Earth.”
Jace nodded, “Ollie?”
“Everyone has to give their verbal permission.”
“Yup!” Priam replied.
“Let’s do it,” Greg said.
“Get on with it,” Quinn said tersely as irritation crept into her voice. “We have a mission to accomplish.”
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[Stardust Contributed by Aspirant:]
[Jace Seren – 6751]
[Priam Westerfold – 6,651]
[Greg Bhastal – 4251]
[Quinn Cipher – 3351]
[Stardust accumulated by Aspirants: 21,274]
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“Do we want to give Greg enough to get to level 76 and Tier 4?” Ollie asked as he held the accumulated Stardust in his cute, little paw. The swirling vortex of bright-blue sparkles shimmered in the black space they stood in.
“I say yes,” Jace said. “And Quinn, if she’s not Tier 4 yet. Then we can split it off.”
“No complaints here,” Greg said with a large grin.
“It would cost 6,500 Stardust for me to hit level 76,” Quinn replied.
Priam shrugged, “The less harm we can all suffer, the better. Plus, we can all work towards Tier 10, together! At the same pace means no one will feel as left out!”
I’m already two levels ahead of that, Jace thought to himself. I’ll keep ahead of you guys consistently at this rate. “Right. 9,500 for Greg, and then 6,500 for Quinn.”
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[Stardust Split: 1319]
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“Right then, level up quickly,” Priam said as he was practically shaking with excitement to continue their journey.
Greg nodded, and after briefly shutting his eyes, his spider Darrin infused him with Stardust and shared his status screen and new Skills to the rest of them via their vision.
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Name: Greg Bhastal (Aspirant, Tier 4)
Power [Class Level]: Planet [Protector 76]
Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Protector's Vow (Rank 3), Planetary Defenses (Rank 3), Planetary Retribution (Rank 3), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10), Protector's Panacea (Rank 8), Planetary Palisade (Rank 10), Planetary Growth (Rank 6), Rock Blast (Rank 15), Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10), Defensive Upgrade (Rank 10), Thellor’s Reversal (1/day)
Stardust: 1,319
Equipment: (Heavy) Thellor's Impenetrable Bulwark, Pheracorp deflection matrix, Stunstick, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, 20,000 creds, Enduralife Guardian AR, General Logistics 9mm Pistol, x4 fragmentation grenade, x4 EMP grenade, x4 flashbang
Boons: None
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Defensive Upgrade (Rank 10) – Increases the user's physical, mental, and emotional resistance by a massive amount.
Planetary Growth (Rank 2) – As Rank 1, but the growth of plants is increased by an exponential rate that increases as energy is expended.
Planetary Growth (Rank 3) – The user may take control of any plant that is alive, and command it to perform basic tasks within its capability.
Planetary Growth (Rank 4) – As Rank 3, but the plant gains an additional, unique function based upon its classification.
Planetary Growth (Rank 5) – As Rank 4, but the plant gains a semblance of awareness, able to follow orders and directives for up to 1 hour.
Planetary Growth (Rank 6) – As Rank 5, but the duration increases to 24 hours.
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“Pretty damned useful,” Greg said. “I can control plants now! Not as good on Earth, for the most part, where we’ll be – but other worlds I’m sure have a ton of plants I could control.”
Quinn’s information flashed across Jace’s vision a moment later.
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Name: Quinn Cipher (Aspirant, Tier 4)
Power [Class Level]: Star [Broker 76]
Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Broker's Instinct (Rank 8), Broker's Contract (Rank 20), Broker's Fee (Rank 16), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10), Magic World Interface (Rank 8), Magitech World Interface (Rank 7), Technology World Interface (Rank 8)
Stardust: 1,319
Equipment: Broker's interface, Broker's starting gear, Webwalker Implants, Pheracorp Bionic Brain Mk. 1, Pheracorp Bionic Eyes Mk. 1, (Light) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, Enduralife Guardian AR, General Logistics 9mm Pistol, x8 micro-EMP charge
Boons: None
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Magic World Interface (Rank 7) – As Rank 1, but enables Tier 7 or lower access.
Magic World Interface (Rank 8) – As Rank 1, but enables Tier 8 or lower access.
Magitech World Interface (Rank 7) – As Rank 1, but enables Tier 7 or lower access.
Technology World Interface (Rank 8) – As Rank 1, but enables Tier 8 or lower access.
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“I’m focusing on being useful wherever you are,” Quinn stated. “7 more levels and I can use my Webwalker setup on any world you might go to.”
Jace nodded and glanced at his allies. “We ready to take on Myscape Industrial?”
Greg nodded and readied his rifle, “I have an axe to grind with them.”
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Quinn was listening to Greg’s story, when there was a knock at her door. Damnit. Putting the conversation on the comms to ‘record’, she muted her microphone. Getting up, she opened the door and saw Xera.
“Hey. I need to sign another Broker contract with you,” the woman said.
“About what?” Quinn replied.
“A lot of very important information that could be very dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. We would need to re-apply this contract consistently, just like our prior arrangement.”
Quinn crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame, “And why would I do that? What’s in it for me?”
Xera sighed, “Well, secret knowledge, for one. But if you require more incentive-”
Quinn stifled a giggle, “I’m kidding!” I need to be on her good side, and stay on it. I’m already pushing her goodwill as it is.
Xera smirked, “Alright, contract.”
Quinn nodded and activated her Broker’s Contract (Rank 20), and set it to auto-refresh when the duration expired. After discussing with Xera the specific terms – namely, that Quinn was not allowed to share the information she was about to learn with anyone outside of the Dark Between Stars faction. Once the contract was signed, Xera handed her a datapad.
“Read it,” Xera stated. “And then I’ll take it back.”
Quinn scanned through, thanks to her Pheracorp Bionic Brain Mk. 1 combined with the Bionic Eyes, she was able to not just read the information extremely quickly, but also comprehend it with the same speed. She looked up at Xera, “That’s…wow, a lot to process.” So many layers of reality, and other universes? Multiple afterlives? This is all a ton to digest.
Xera held her hand out, and Quinn gave her the tablet. “The reason I want you to know this is that I want you to persist in your current role for my Signers…even once they eventually leave this universe to travel through the various layers of reality. To do that, you’ll need Skills from the Broker Class that, for now, won’t be useful.”
“But we’re future-proofing,” Quinn finished. “Makes sense. And I’m guessing these Skills are locked off without your approval?”
Xera grinned, “You are very smart. A shame you don’t want to give up your faction in favor of mine, but I understand.” She waved and warped away.
Quinn smirked, closed the door, and returned to her chair to listen to Greg’s story.