Chapter 62 - A Premonition of Things to Come

Trey impatiently looked at his imaginary watch for the third time in three minutes. He couldn’t help but be snarky about things. He was bored beyond belief. He’d been waiting so long, and it was almost time. His brain couldn’t handle it. The final ceremony had started two hours ago and nothing had yet occurred but mumbled nonsensical readings of ancient texts off a scroll that should have crumbled to dust many millennia ago. The cult’s presiding priestess - Lethera - was fully absorbed in the activity however, and Gorthomal had been adamant that Trey and the others stand for the entire proceeding.

Ashe was dozing off as she stood beside him, and Atharost had to keep her steady so she didn’t completely fall asleep or fall over. Her head kept dropping and her eyelids drooped, but Trey didn’t blame her in the least.

“We’re almost ready,” Gorthomal said encouragingly behind demonic the mask he’d placed back on his face. “Have patience.”

As if on cue, the green bonfires surrounding the pit all went out simultaneously. Immediately after that, so did the hundreds of smaller fires around the cavern… leaving them all in complete darkness.

Trey’s night vision took a couple seconds to adjust, but when it did - he saw there was a swirling vortex of mana hovering over Lethera where the priestess was kneeling at the edge of the pit. Both of her arms were outstretched up towards the vortex as it pulsed, and tears of blood began to pour out of her eyes. Letting out a brittle scream her back arched and her feathered headdress swayed violently with another pulse of power let off from the mana overhead.

The vortex erupted, sending a shockwave across the cult that startled many of them but wasn’t strong enough to knock anyone down. After the shockwave – there came an abrupt feeling of… cold. Bitter, chilling cold.

Ashe was abruptly woken up and nestled in closer to the ifrit’s warm body with a deep, sleepy scowl. Trey wrapped his hands and cloak around his body to keep himself from freezing as sparks of green light began piercing the darkness to illuminate the cavern for those who couldn’t see. Then, to Trey’s shock and horror, a stringy mutant arm the size of a bus erupted from the vortex.

Pieces of flesh clung to its exposed bones that fizzled away and reformed spontaneously. The hand had seven crooked fingers that searched for a hold and found the pit’s edge. Rocks and gravel sprayed as the force of its grip took hold before another arm just as big reached out of the vortex from the other side. A deep moan echoed out from the chasm of mana, and then the head producing that sound appeared next.

It too had flecks of flesh peeling off and reforming spontaneously all along the enormous skull. It had no eyes, nor did it have ears, but its mouth was filled with huge menacing teeth larger than claymores. Its chest glowed green before switching to purple and then back to green, with its heart emanating power like a nightlight. Spikes along its spine protruded longer and longer as it pulled its body from the mana vortex, and when its crooked deformed legs finally emerged - it let them fall into the pit before it created some kind of arcane platform to stand on. Purple rings and sigils made of light erupted across the chasm’s space as the gigantic creature stood up, halfway in the pit but still towering far above anyone there on the ground. When its spiked tail finally emerged and lowered down into the cavernous pit with the rest of its legs, Trey could safely say it was the largest living thing he’d ever seen by many, many times over. It was the size of a large building, and it likely could have easily killed everyone here without so much as a second thought if it wanted to. Trey also noted that the cold he felt had amplified many times over, he was now shivering ever since the creature had fully emerged, and he had literally zero success in any category when he tried identifying the horrific demon before him.

Gorthomal’s hiss was nearly a whisper as he beckoned to the others in the dim green and purple light of the cave. “Kneel.”

The other cultists had already taken a knee, even Ashe had done the same, so Trey quickly followed their lead and attempted not to look like an absolute idiot before it was too late.

Lethera’s shrill voice was heard next as she addressed the creature before them with hands outstretched before it. “Varkshoktak, right hand of our sire Omastein, we welcome you to Nagochus!”

She then prostrated herself, groveling before the creature as it turned its head to look down on her with eyes it did not have.

The creature opened its mouth to speak, but stopped short and cocked its head to one side as if in thought. After the long pause, it seemed to have finally weighed its words and went on to greet the priestess. “Hello…. Lethera… It pleases the grand master of masters that you have been so active in pursuit of his good grace… Know that he favors you for your efforts… How have you been liking your new class?”

New class? Trey was struck with curiosity when he heard another whisper from Gorthomal nearby.

“Lethera was originally just a priestess, but now she has a unique class granted to her by Omastein. She’s categorized by the All Spirit as a Hadean Witch, and has all the perks a priestess has as well as those an infernal summoner has.”

Trey couldn’t help but think that was fucking cool. He’d heard about ascending classes before, or hidden classes, but this was the first time he’d known someone personally that had one. Even if she was only an acquaintance.

The priestess was praising Omastein and the creature she called Varkshoktak, thanking him for the class bestowed upon her for her faithfulness to the dark god, when she posed a question. “I have received word from Omastein that you come bearing important news, oh great and powerful messenger. I have received visions from him that I know not how to decipher! Please, enlighten this poor fool so that I may know what it is he is trying to tell me!”

Enormous bones and muscles creaked under the strain as the brutish monster adjusted its position. The sinister toothy smile spread beyond where the ears should have been on the featureless face of the demon. It let out a low chuckle. “Indeed, I bear news for you… little one. Omastein does not abandon his own… and your leadership amongst his followers has earned knowledge that will prepare you for the trials ahead. Have you heard of Ragasha’s 3rd Prophecy, little priestess?”

Varkshoktak let out a brief hum before the woman had time to reply, and in a split-second: screens appeared in every cultist’s HUD for them to read.

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“In the distant future, after this era and the next era both have ended, a catastrophic event will take place. Three of the essence, who are supposed to be unyielding to death, will die in the truest sense of the word as sacrificial lambs to bring about the opening of Pandora and the rise of the spree. The lost ones will return and try to warn us of the impending tide, though the everlasting war between the greatest of the fae, undead, celestials and demons will continue on in a blind attempt to take what scraps are left of the creator’s possessions.

As Pandora opens, the creator’s gravebound seal will unlock for reincarnation to try and stave off the coming destruction. The spree in their eagerness to extend their reach beyond Pandora and into the Labyrinth will in their infinite regret set loose the eldrova. The breakdown of the barriers holding the titans within the deepest levels of Oblivion will begin. Despite the attempts of the Infernal Crowns to hold them back, the titans will break free to challenge the gods that locked them away as well as challenge the eldrova who threaten existence itself.

In an attempt to hold the spree at bay, the reincarnation of the creator will do three things. The first will be to reunite the Labyrinth by opening up the rifts between worlds, so that when the waves come… the races may have a chance to band together. The second will be to orchestrate the destruction of the mana-devoid realm of Earth and scatter these Earthborn with their latent talents across the Labyrinth to use them as weapons against the spree. These Earthborn will grow to match us immortals and bring the short-lived races up to par with our kind in power. The third will be to warn the great races of this impending tides with a message across all of creation.

This great war will dwarf all those before it. Civilizations will fall in untold numbers across thousands of worlds. Gods will die. No realm is safe… the spree are coming. If the kingdoms of the celestial heavens do not band together and unite despite our differences, we shall perish with the rest of them. Let our people heed my warning, as I do not know the final outcome, and let us hope that our blind disgust for the lesser races does not alter the course of action we need to take to save ourselves from desolation.”

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Lethera read over it and nodded. “Yes Varkshoktak, I know of this prophecy. It was written down by the angels in secret and exposed to Lilith’s demonic hordes after they took the capital of the Yuelen Celestial Collective in ages past.”

Varkshoktak acknowledged her approvingly with a low thrum. “Correct… you are quite knowledgeable for a human. Unfortunately… many of the things mentioned here have already come to pass. The spree are already known to you… to us… but the final locks of their cage in Pandora unravel. Omastein fears that the waves of calamity are not far off… and will likely occur within one year from now.”

Lethera’s brows furrowed in a look of genuine concern and muttering between the cultists grew louder. “Great Varkshoktak… Do we have evidence to support this? I mean not to question the validity, I simply want to understand…”

The enormous demon didn’t take offense, rather it praised her for her curiosity in the deep demonic tones that created its voice. “As we all should, child of Omastein. We should all seek knowledge. The reason Omastein believes this to be close upon us is twofold… but let me explain the situation off-world before that. The Nirvana Worlds know not of the eldrova because it is the last sanctuary of planets sheltered from their reach. Even most of the spree cannot access these worlds and are funneled into the larger expanse of the Labyrinth… but as for the prophecy, the eldrova have already broken out of Pandora. Tens of thousands of years ago - the first groups of spree reached the outer rim worlds of the Labyrinth… as did many of these eldrova monstrosities. They came in quantities large enough to destroy many of the civilizations on the planets they came to… but not in quantities that would challenge the likes of the celestials or infernals. The larger civilizations of undead and fae also had a relatively easy time crushing the spree uprisings that appeared from Pandora… there were survivors amongst your kind, though the mortal races did not fare as well in most cases. These are not the waves described by prophecy, they were just a precursor of things to come. A symptom... of the true disease.”

The demon paused and then slowly turned around to look at Trey, or at least Trey thought it was looking at him. The shiver along his spine caused him to stiffen even further amidst the brittle cold, and Trey’s eyes dared not meet the creature’s gaze but instead looked towards the ground in humble silence.

Varkshoktak again let out a low hum. “The first reason we believe it to be soon… is that the Earthborn are multiplying by the thousands. Far beyond numbers they’ve come with in ages past. You even have two of them here in your midst right now... To think that one of them would carry… Ah. It is not my place to say.”

The giant creature lifted one of his crooked fingers and pointed to Trey and Ashe who both froze with all eyes on them, but Varkshoktak continued on and lowered his hand soon after to remain non-menacing. “The spree are multiplying faster than ever, as are the eldrova. Pandora’s remnant locks are about to break, they leak Pandora’s contents in increasingly greater numbers by the day. Omastein clarified it at great risk to himself, but the second and more convincing reason is that a message was delivered to the Infernal Crowns not long ago from a source we believe to be one of the ‘lost ones’ the prophecy speaks about. The old gods who once left… have now returned to this universe… after an untold amount of time has passed. And they are worried. Heed my words… you must prepare to leave this place.”

Lethera was just as disturbed and confused as the rest of them. “Leave what place…?”

Varkshoktak frowned. “The world of Nagochus. These worlds, these Nirvana Worlds are going to fall... and you must be prepared to move when the rifts to the Labyrinth are re-established. You will need to find safe havens in already-established kingdoms that have experience fighting the spree, and I would fear for you if you did not. You will know what to do when the time comes, and it will certainly come soon… just prepare. When it happens, it will be abrupt… and things will not be as they once were. The lords of Hell have all been informed of the things to come and are doing what they can, but none of us know what to expect when the last locks on Pandora break.”

It was certainly an ominous story. One that wasn’t well received by the spectators. With the discussion ongoing, Trey almost missed the procession of goats, pigs, humans, horses, cattle, and elves being led towards the pit by ropes. They were all blindfolded, even the animals, so they couldn’t see the imminent danger they were being led towards. Trey even noticed some of them to be familiar... men and women, along with even a couple imps tethered at the neck. Remnants of the minions who hadn’t been sold by those three summoners he’d bought from earlier. It appeared those three cultists hadn’t been able to make the full amount they’d owed after all.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Again, he felt a knot of guilt forming in his stomach for the people who likely didn’t deserve what was about to happen. He found himself becoming more and more jaded, more and more confused about his moral compass since coming from Earth… and that bothered him. But – he could still tell this was wrong. As the horrified screams of the people and animals began to escalate into chaos amidst the tearing and chomping of Varkshoktak, Trey couldn’t help but think about how lucky he was not to be them.

***

A day later, and Trey was back on Brae's ship... sailing back to Teretog - the place he now called home.

The waves crashed, rocking the galley a little bit and giving him sea-sickness. He usually didn't get sea-sick, but with the amount of stress he'd been under lately - only amplified by the new upcoming job - it'd been pretty bad on the way back.

He vomited overboard to the laughter of Ashe as she trot to a stop beside him, putting her elbows on the railing and nudging him with her elbow.

"Not feeling so well?" she asked, the answer obvious but nonetheless wanting to tease him a bit.

Trey only glared at her before dry heaving a second later, clutching the wooden rails as he spoiled the otherwise crystal-clear ocean underneath him with gastric juices. "This is terrible."

Ashe glanced up as a seagull flew overhead, calling out with a squawk just before landing next to a pile of fruit. "Oh no you don't, you little-"

Ashe unlatched her crossbow, aimed and fired all within a split second - turning the seagull into a puff of bloody feathers that sailed overboard along the other side of the deck. She growled and notched another bolt before locking the safety mechanism. "Stupid birds have already stolen half of my food!"

Napoleon and Rivia walked by, chatting with one of the sailors about sailing and Atharost was giving the new thrall minions a rundown along the forefront of the galley - letting them know what was expected of them and how they were to behave. Otherwise, the crew was lazily going about their business as the wind caught the two sails and sped the ship along.

"So..." Ashe muttered after a while of silence. She glanced his way, and then back at the thralls he'd bought. "Uhm... what was your impression of the cult? Do you think you'll go back? That demon there at the end was pretty scary."

Trey spit to clear his mouth of the vile taste and warily came to stand straight up. "That's a good question. I'm not sure what to make of them yet. On one hand, they're really... not the type of people I'd want to normally associate with. They all seem like the type of people that would stab me in the back when it benefitted them, but... I've been around those kinds of people all my life. So I'm used to it, and they could really help me progress as a summoner. So I think I’ll go back on occasion after this new job is done."

Now it was Ashe's turn to stand up straight, and she folded her arms with a curious stare. "What do you mean by – ‘I’ve been around those kinds of people’?"

"Have I never told you?" Trey asked, casting a grin her way. "About my past?"

Ashe just shook her head. "You've always been pretty closed about it."

There was a long pause, and eventually Trey's eyes became downcast as memories flooded back to him. His previous life back on Earth seemed so far away now. Kyle, Amanda, his family... all relics of a time and place he would never be able to get back to.

"I was mafia."

Ashe's brows furrowed. "Seriously?"

Trey nodded.

"Mafia… as in, you killed people for a living?"

Trey chuckled at the comment and turned to face her. "That's not all I did, but yes. That too."

She bit her lip, and turned away to look across the ocean waves rolling in. Another breeze picked up, blowing her long locks of pretty blonde hair out behind her as her eyes gazed off into the expanse of blue. "I suppose we all have our own little secrets then, don't we?"

Trey didn't know what she meant by that, but didn't push the subject. He just solemnly nodded, and grimaced at the fact that he had even more secrets that he wasn't telling her. Namely, he still hadn't told her about how he'd been taken away and nearly died in an Earthborn tournament. That ugly queen spider had been tough, and he'd almost lost Rivia too.

He let out a long exhale, and opened his hand. Shadows began to form and spread out across his hand, creating an old brown book that solidified a few seconds later from the innate shadow magic of his body.

Ashe took notice and glanced down, curiously raising an eyebrow. "And what's that? I haven't seen it before."

Trey's fingers ran down the old, worn-out spine... and he opened it up to flip through a few of the yellowing pages. The ink was still easily read, and with an encouraging smile - he closed the book and pressed it into Ashe's hands. "This is for you. Just give it back when you've learned what you need, so that we can re-use it later for the others."

Grimoire of the Dark Hand

Item Tier: (8) Very Rare

Bonuses: None

Requirements: None

Durability: 35/38

Special: Holds the knowledge of how to acquire the Dark attribute

Ashe received the status information through the party interface as Trey willed it over. Ashe's eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. She looked up at him with an ever-widening smile and - in a split second - flung her arms around him with an excited howl. "Trey!!! This means I can learn magic!!! Where did you get this?"

She ended her embrace and quickly flipped the book open with enthusiasm, running her eyes along the old text. "Did you buy it off the cultists? Wow... this is amazing! I can't wait to learn it and start up on the spells! Do you think you could teach me some of your dark magic after I get the attribute?"

Trey rolled his eyes and nodded, resisting the urge to vomit when a particularly large wave rocked the ship again. "Mmmm... Yeah. I can definitely do that. Just keep it safe so that when you're done - maybe Izumi or Jason could learn the attribute too. I know not all magics take to everyone, but it's said that Earthborn have a high affinity for most types. As for... where I got it."

He placed a hand on Ashe's shoulder with a stern look. "There's something I need to tell you. It may be a little scary to hear... but you need to hear it."

Ashe frowned, but just before he was about to speak - a notification popped up for both of them to read. It was the new patch notes, courtesy of the All Spirit, and it had a couple interesting things listed that would keep them talking for the rest of the day.

==================================(Feel free to skip the patch notes if uninterested in info dumps)

THIS IS A SYSTEM WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT: Updates for “Patch 1.0 – Labyrinth” are currently in the process of being constructed. This patch has not yet been completed, but all beta testers will now receive information regarding what is to come in upcoming months so they know what to expect. Please be aware that this beta will end soon, with it will come the majority of Earthborn participants as well as opening of the Labyrinth. Please review the following information for generalized information regarding this important future event.

* Number of Earthborn Participants: (click spoiler)

* Currently there are 164,552,108 Earthborn participants beta-testing in game, with 9,039,021 non-permanent deaths experienced - as well as 1,048,332 permanent deaths. Those who have been subjected to permanent death have been deleted from the system archives. New estimates guess that anywhere between 1.84 billion and 2 billion Earthborn participants will be registered to the game at the end of beta. When the beta ends, all advancements and progress on a person’s status page will be kept to transfer over to the main servers.

* Guilds and Transfer into the Labyrinth Worlds: (click spoiler)

* When the beta ends, the Labyrinth Worlds will open and each of you will be transferred in groups maxing out at 100. In order to transfer together when beta ends, you must be registered with the All Spirit’s guild system. If the number of a guild is over 100, the guild will be randomly split up until each group is less than 100. After transfer into the Labyrinth, guilds may again recruit above 100 without being split up.

* New Planets: (click spoiler)

* There will be a couple thousand different planets you may travel to through wormholes, these wormholes are created at what are called “Warp Zones.” Some of the planets already have NPC civilizations present and flourishing, while others have no life whatsoever. Barren wastelands, icy tundra, smoldering magma pits, toxic swamps, burning sands, tropical forests, sprawling ruins, vast plains and various others as well as combinations of these are just some of the overarching planet types awaiting you. Some will be heavily populated, while others will not be. PLEASE NOTE: Once the labyrinth opens up to Earthborn, the wormholes and warp gates will also open up across the entire labyrinth - allowing NPC’s to travel as well. Spree, however, are not allowed to use the warp gates and must find other means of interstellar travel.

* Gaia Worlds: (click spoiler)

The Gaia Worlds are as follows: Zezilia, Glowfar, and Turin. These three worlds will be the epicenters of the labyrinth worlds. Usually, an average planet will only have 4-8 different warp zones scattered across its surface that have different branches to other planets. However, Gaia Worlds have many hundreds of warp zones - and are many thousands of times larger than other worlds built - but without crushing gravitational pulls. They also have vast amounts of resources, ruins of old in abundance, and hold many secrets of power to uncover. Most Earthborn, upon transfer to the Labyrinth, will either spawn directly on these Gaia Worlds - or will spawn upon worlds within a few cycles away via warp gates. A couple of minor civilizations exist upon the Gaia Worlds, but most of the major ones have been destroyed by the spree - making them prime opportunities for new Earthborn or off-world NPC settlements to rise up.

* Safe Zones and Spree: (click spoiler)

* When entering the Labyrinth, one of the most crucial factors will be what are called “Safe Zones”. In the Labyrinth, the spree are rampant and want to destroy all other sentient life. The spree cannot be reasoned with, nor will they show mercy. Different breeds of spree exist depending on the region as well. However, there are “Safe Zones” blessed by the All Spirit that prevent spree from entering designated areas. Each safe zone also has its “All Spirit Altar”, where money can be traded in for various items that are randomly updated monthly (as some of you may have found out, these altars are also present in various other areas across the Nirvana Worlds). Some safe zones are as small as a house, while others span many hundreds of miles. The most significant difference in All Spirit Altars now and those that will come in the Labyrinth will be this: Guilds may claim All Spirit Altars and their associated safe zones for themselves, the safe zones may be upgraded in various ways, and controlling a safe zone allows that guild to control unique safe zone guardians. The controlling guild will also be able to use instant communication within and between their controlled safe zones. More details will be available at the end of beta.

* “The Cortex”: (click spoiler)

This unique addition is being introduced to the main servers on the date of beta’s end. It is the equivalent of a new internet, but with some modifications and restrictions. The cortex is a universal information center that all Earthborn participants can access. Messages from the All Spirit will also be recorded and stored in the Cortex front page. Only Earthborn will be able to access the cortex, though intentionally showing an NPC the cortex is allowed as long as the Earthborn participant is not under duress. Basics on how the game functions will be found here, as well as forums on an area by area basis. Communications between major areas will be extremely limited and in some cases nonexistent, with the majority of communication done between Earthborn participants existing within each zone of an area’s influence. Traveling to a new area switches cortex access. Regarding areas, a new simplistic feature will be introduced to your status pages regarding which area you are in. Areas will be divided into categories such as continents, countries, cities, forests and similarly classed pieces of landscape. Forum moderators created by the All Spirit will remove spam and outdated posts regularly. Each forum post will be tagged with the author’s name as well as a unique ID number. Video content will be enabled via a recording option that will be built into every participant’s HUD. Guild interfaces will be able to be linked for advertising, competition, propaganda and communication features.

* Instances and Tournaments: (click spoiler)

These events will usually be guild-oriented features introduced at the time of beta’s end, focused on pitting guilds against one another for power and prizes. However, there will also be individuals' events too. You, as a participant, will have a small chance once a month to be randomly pulled from the masses into these activities that could either result in your death - or result in massive gains. More information will be available upon the end of beta.

* Incentives for killing both Earthborn and Spree: (click spoiler)

These will be added upon the end of beta, focusing on additional XP and monetary gain for every other Earthborn participant or spree that is killed. NPCs will be able to capitalize on these rewards as well, and they are already able to do so with spree regarding their ongoing wars within the Labyrinth even now. More information will be available upon the end of beta.

More updates may be added between now and the end of beta. Please be aware that these topics are subject to change at any moment, but that updates will continue to be portrayed on the patch notes tab that can be viewed at any time through your HUD. Thank you, and good luck.

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