In front of the mirror stood the fantastic four.
The fantastic four fake (fag-)gods, that is.
"Why the fuck did you smash that thing into there?" The fat man sounded angry, a bit.
"Why the fuck did you cut its wing instead of its head?" Misses Naked responded in a cold voice, not even blushing a bit.
"Now, now, calm down." The Wanna-be Of Storm interfered. "This portal is not dialled to anywhere at the moment, so walking into it pretty much counts as dying anyway. I suppose the intruder got what it deserved."
"Do you really think so?" Little girl now asked, shyly.
"Of course. This mirror directly leads into the Void, for the moment at least. Nothing in there can be survived. Not by a long shot." Wayne shivered slightly. (AN: He is the supposed 'God of Storm')
"I read about the places and things you can find in the Void. Trust me, you don't ever, EVER want to go there."
...
The conversation went on for a while, until the fake gods turned back to their fake business of being fake. With real followers, though.
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Somewhere else
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After i don't know how many hours i spent in perfect darkness, i felt a slight tug. Over the course of another few hours, it grew to a forceful drag.
Honestly, i had no idea where the fuck i was, or what the fuck was going on. But i survived the encounter with the 'gods'. Also, this was not boring. Excitement washed over my soul. In fact, i had not felt this alive for decades. My health also had recovered completely, after being down to a few percent. That mace-hit hurt more than i anticipated, my crow-form would have been mashed into dead gory pulp.
I opened part of my status, to be sure i was back at full function.
Name: Galdir
Level: 160
Health: 2048/2048
Mana: 5132/5132
...
...
Okay, seems i really am fine again, full health and mana. I closed my partial status.
Out of the nothingness all around, a glowing rectangular frame formed in front of me. Tiny at first, but growing at a steady rate.
Aha, seems like i am being pulled into there. Hopefully this was not the gate, or whatever, i entered this place from. Then i would just be fucked again.
I switched from ball mode to crow mode and tried to fly, to the grand effect of not having any effect. So, through the frame of light it is, then. Please let it not be the realm of the sham gods again. I was still praying, when a bright white light enveloped me, only to be replaced by a faint reddish glow right after.
Okay, that is just too cool! This was definitely NOT where i came from.
I turned around, a mirror much like the one i passed through earlier behind me.
Above, clouds, bathed in red light, covered the sky up to the horizon. The floor i walked on was made of gray sand. Never-ending dunes like the one i stood on littered the world i had just arrived in. The sight was majestic and eerie at the same time. A strong smell of steel and dust wafted through the air, making this place feel ancient.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Oh, and the air was surprisingly warm.
Upon further inspection, i saw remnants of man-made objects everywhere. Like bones of forgotten giants, who long since laid down to die, broken frames of metal protruded from the ground. Ribcages of houses, fallen to time. At first, i thought this was a dead world. There was no sound except the faint howling of the wind, re-shaping the dunes over the course of days, burrowing parts of the ruins, while delivering other areas to the surface once more.
But then i saw something moving, in the corner of my eye. I quickly focused towards the.. thing. It seemed to be an undead of some sorts, wearing armor of unknown material. It stood about three meters tall, humanoid, but the flesh long since withered from its black bones. In the eye-sockets, blue flames burned. Looking into them forced a chill down my spine, like the winning cold of winter, announcing summer's end. (AN: Imagine Autumn to be the battle between Winter and Summer)
The skeleton bore two metal blades, wrapped in a dense purple shine.
What? Wait.. are that enchanted weapons??
The fat god's sword seemed like a child's toy right now, when compared to the stuff that undead lover-boy over there wielded.
Fuck, really? Did i stumble upon some big-ass boss, or something? Some entity, that could easily slaughter gods, fake or real? Or me, for that matter? It certainly gave off that vibe. My heart pumped hard.
Shit, i was not sure i even wanted to know what exactly that thing was, but i used "Identify" nontheless.
Race: Corrupted Undead
Level: 6483
Title (Active): Minion Of Ruth
Class (Main): Bladegod
Threat-Level: Insane
Just no. You can't run, you can't win, you can't survive an encounter in any way.
See? Told you i didn't want to know.
'Just no' is surprisingly accurate, because, just.. no.
Seriously though, level 6483? What the FUCK??
The highest level entities i had ever seen, were the fake gods of my home world, clocking in at level 240. But that skeletal.. eh.. thing? Its class actually SAID it was a real god. For titles i didn't know, but for classes i knew for sure: They can't be faked, as a rule of the system.
Its level was about forty times my own. Yeah, no.
Here came the denial. Surely, something had to be wrong with my eyes, or Identify. Deep down i knew it wasn't wrong though. If the paradise from earlier was a lion's den, this was.. a bigger lion's den. I mean a lion the size of a fucking mountain's den, and i had just walked straight into it.
This was equally disturbing and interesting. Okay, it was more disturbing and horrifying. But interesting, too. If you were interested in dying.
The uber-skeleton swiftly stepped closer, neither making any sound while moving, nor otherwise announcing its presence. If i couldn't see it so clearly, i could have sworn it wasn't real.
It was perfectly obvious to me that i could do nothing. And i mean nothing. In my earlier troubles, there was always a chance to.. hm.. do something, to get out of a pinch. This time, there wasn't. I could only go along with it.
So i just cowered down in my bird-like form, awaiting the end.
"§%$"&§$%&($%&" A voice, rusty, ancient, but drenched in power resounded from somewhere.
Huh? I was caught of guard, so much so, it took me a few seconds to realize.. it was the skeleton. The fucking skeleton just spoke. You see, skeletons can't speak. Yet it did. What the damn?
"Could you repeat that, please?" I asked in my most humble voice. Seems there is a chance to get out of this alive, after all. If this thing is sentient, maybe i can bargain with it.. somehow.
The thing stood silent before me for a few seconds. I already began thinking i had imagined the voice, but then it talked again. This time, in my language. How it learned how to speak it, i didn't know.
"Become a minion, or perish."
Okay.
Minion, it is.
"Good Sir, i would like to become a minion, please."
I immediately agreed, but minion to whom? Its status said it was the subordinate of some Ruth character. I shivered like a leaf in a thunderstorm. This skeleton was a living (or unliving) god. So, what kind of entity must its boss be? Who the fuck is so far beyond the scope, that he (or she) can have gods as minions, casually recruiting them?
I have seldom been so sure in my life: I didn't want to know. Some things you are definitely better off not knowing.
"Good. You will follow me to our master."
Yeah, great, thanks. So much for that.
The skeleton-y minion god turned towards one of the bigger ruins and started walking. I flew right behind him. No choice, and so on.
I quickly calmed down though, after all, i had lived a century or two. So instead of playing slaughtered sheep, i tried to get some information out of Mr. Undead.
"Do you have a name?" The default conversation opener.
"One, as weak as i, does not deserve to receive the gift of a name."
Yeah, i totally misheard that. No way it said it was weak.
"Aha, okay." After that, i didn't really feel motivated to engage in further conversation.
But if i somehow survive this unreal chain of events, boredom will be my new best friend, i swear. Really man, i promise. For a while, at least.