My mind is hazy. According to Leviticus, it has been ten thousand years since I was killed. They gathered my tools and pieces of my soul from other realities, which had apparently incarnated as other lifeforms. My memory is proof of this; although I could not think, the memories of these other lives have filled my head. Assuming I was truly gone for ten thousand years, that meant I was now harboring sixty thousand years worth of combat experience and intelligence gathered from the other lives the fragments of my soul had lived through.
"I suppose that means my family is... dead," I say.
"I suppose it does," says Leviticus.
"Interesting. You and Winter seem to have absorbed an enormous quantity of warp. My theory as of now is that the warp kept your biological functions to a minimum and provided you with the energy you needed to continue living, which is why you haven't aged. It is possible that when I was killed, my warp entered you two in some sort of bid at self-preservation."
I place my hands on both of their heads and reabsorb the warp. My mind hurts.
"Don't! We can bear the burden!" Shouts Leviticus.
"It is fine. Do you not remember the purpose of the grinning mask I attached to the fortress helm? It will suppress the warp as long as I don it."
I finish absorbing the sinister energy and look around at the ruins of the tower.
"Unfortunate, but easily fixable." I raise the gauntlet and use its noble soul to lift and rearrange the rubble of the tower into its once former glory. Within minutes the tower is fully repaired. Leviticus and Winter marvel at the feat.
"Well, Leviticus, seeing as how I am now alive once again, two things are known to me. First of all, you were wrong. My death does not mean the destruction of my soul. In fact, it seems that souls are absolutely indestructible, likely by design. Although they can be fractured with great power, they persist forever. Secondly, it means that I don't really have a purpose beyond... revenge. My soul is still doomed. If my physical body dies I will simply reform back here from the taint. Only a spiritual attack can truly stop me. I don't want this, though. I never asked to roam the material plane for eternity as an unwilling Cain." I look up to Leviticus. "I assume the other cultists are dead. So what now? What do we do?"
"We die," says Winter. "Let it end. Just stop already. Haven't you hurt enough people?"
"I don't hurt just to hurt." Winter scoffs at me and walks into another room.
Leviticus speaks up. "I think we do what we were doing before," he says, "just, you know, minus the gate to Heaven."
I consider this. "What else can we do?"
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In about a week I have rebuilt most of my thaumaturgical apparatuses from memory. My spell foci, the Deity Hammer (now with added security features), and various odd trinkets have returned to my repertoire. Just as before, I am ready to go back out, this time with sixty thousand times the wisdom and experience as before, and with a small army of lesser golems numbering about 700 (thanks to a new machine I constructed capable of golem mass production).
"Are you sure you want to go in alone?" Asks Leviticus. "Winter and I are here to help you. What's the point of the backup clones sealed in the curative vats if they'll never be used?"
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"That's like asking the point of pepper spray you won't ever use. It's there as a safeguard." Leviticus nods worriedly, but dares not go against my wishes. I bid him and Winter farewell and lead my golem force to a sealed flux rift. It's like I never even left. I push flux into it and walk through.
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The world on the other side of the portal is similar to many I had seen before, both in person and through the memories of past lives I did not live. A lush forest, with a delicately woven vis aura and many mundane oddities. As we walk we pass a few exotic fauna and seemingly intelligent travelers I do not recognize the race of. I catch curious and scared looks as their faces slowly pan over the large golem force I have created. A while into the walk I pass someone who doesn't seem deterred by my automaton militia in the slightest, so I decide to ask them for directions. They appear to be human.
"Traveler, what kingdom does this land belong to? I am unfamiliar with the territory." They look at me confused. English must not exist in this world. I transmit my message through a concentrated shot of media and make it appear as if the question came from me. I read their media and it tells me that the land belongs to the Supreme Empire, which rules the entirety of this world. I guess if Rome could do it without magic...
As we turn to the direction the traveler told us the capital was in, we see an almost impossibly large cat-like creature slowly walking towards us, its head poking above the trees. The traveler turns and flees at the sight of it. I can see it has an Unhinged soul, indicating it is a magical creature. Let's see if I've still got it...
I socket a spell focus into my casting gauntlet and point my finger at the feline. "Shortwave Cascade!" The beast is cut clean in half by an energy beam, along with several clouds in the sky and a few trees directly behind it. I chuckle as I am reassured my thaumaturgical and magical power can be matched by none.
After a while of walking (which is painfully slow since I can't use my enchanted boots), I finally arrive at the capital city. Several people yell at the top of the wall and shout orders, clearly seeing my golem force as an act of intended invasion. I should have expected this.
The gate drops and several thousand soldiers stream out into formation. I pick a few people out from the formation wearing robes and emitting odd and mangled vis. Sorcerers. I should take them out first if it comes down to it.
A man clad in gold on a horse steps out in front of the army. "Necromancer!" He says, "You will turn around and lead your dark forces elsewhere, or we will capture and execute you!" He speaks the same language as the traveler, but I know his intended words through the media.
I scan the minds of every soldier there. Not one of them is from another world. I don't care if they die, then. "Kindly move. I'm not here to conquer your kingdom. I just want to deliver a message to the denizens of your kingdom."
"You will turn back now!" He demands.
I sigh and socket a spell focus. He sees me doing it and bellows a battle cry, signaling the rest of the soldiers to charge at me. Their spears inches away from my face, I activate my spell focus and time all around me freezes. The soldiers and sorcerers stand frozen midair, poised to attack. I lead my golems through the battalion and into the city through the open gate. I am glad I upgraded this focus to selectively allow entities to move through the stopped time.
Once inside, I allow time to resume. The golems keep the soldiers from attacking me as we walk through the streets and gather citizens that I can tell have been ripped from other worlds against their will. After I had gathered about forty to fifty people, I lead them outside the city and make a mental speech to them.
"Citizens of the Supreme Empire, today I have come to make a proposal. How many of you are from the Asian continent? The Americas? Perhaps Europe?" They all looked shocked when I say this, and nearly every single one raises their hand. Some of these individuals appear very strong. I am glad they came without a fight. "I see. It seems my world is by far the most susceptible to interdimensional magicks. My proposal is simple: Come with me and travel the cosmos. I can give you your old bodies back if you wish, or return you to your original lives. I will not force you to come with me, but I strongly recommend you do, because if you decide to stay, you are caught in whatever planes the gods of this world have designed for you, and not the proper resting places for your souls."
A human steps up. "The gods summoned me here to defeat a great monster. I did it, but afterwards they threw me away like trash." He looks around. "I think I'd like to see my family again." I nod and hold out my hand to him.
"Then come."