To call it a mismatch would be a horrible understatement.
On one side were two adventurers, a sort-of-adventurer, and an invalid. Of the three, Bergott could barely see straight as he was constantly bombarded with attacks on all sides and forced to belch out the last dredges of his mana to maintain a wall of water around him. Elena was essentially armed with a tougher-than-average stick. Zuken was down on the ground, half-paralyzed and writhing in agony. Whatever stunt he’d tried to pull off had gone horribly wrong when Lukas unwittingly disturbed the ritual. Then again, did he really expect Olfric Bergott, the prodigal son of nobility, to have control?
Tanya sighed. That just left her, though with how she’d been feeding on the metallic sludge with her Frost, she was brimming with lifeforce, increasing her healing capabilities. It was the sole reason she hadn’t succumbed to mana poisoning yet despite overusing Ezzeron’s power for so long.
On the other side was the genius loci, which had grown darker, like liquid night poured into metal and brought to life. Even though it was mostly an angry sludge, there was something graceful and serpentine about it, like a cobra getting ready to strike. And its speed was unimaginably fast. Maybe not as deadly as a certain Outsider Tanya could name, but easily enough to qualify as a threat.
Especially when she was forced to fight while keeping the others alive at the same time. Not to mention—
“Your pet Outsider’s gone crazy!” Olfric hissed.
“He’s not my pet,” she retorted. “And what is he doing that’s got you so… troubled….”
Tanya stared at the sight. In all honesty, she had no idea what he was doing. One moment, he was crouching in a random position, and as soon as the metallic tendrils came close, he’d hop away to a different point and repeat the process. And his murderous jaw-head cat kept following him around like a lost puppy.
“Maybe he’s playing peekaboo with the monster,” Elena helpfully ventured.
Tanya shot her an utterly dumbfounded look, before glancing at Lukas again, her head tilted slightly to one side as if it would help her make better sense of what was happening.
It didn’t help.
To make matters worse, the living sludge monster decided it was the best time to launch an attack.
And yet, Tanya sighed, not the worst situation I’ve been in.
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Finding a conduit was tricky business. Doubly so when it was hiding beneath rocky terrain and constantly shifting around.
As disappointing as it was, none of his anomaly-skills were terribly good at locating. The Scan function could tell if something was within his vicinity, and Analyze could comprehend its nature. But offering an exact location was something beyond either capability— more so if said target was constantly vanishing in and out of his scan radius.
The Crypt was playing a never-ending game with him, and time was not on his side.
Ideas please? Lukas begged, leaping again as a pair of metallic tendrils came inches away from decapitating him.
Unsurprisingly, however, Inanna stayed silent. The goddess had a habit of doing that these days when he was faced with a problem. Something philosophical nonsense about fighting his own battles. Really, what good was philosophy if it ended with you getting torn to shreds—
He leapt again.
The spot where he was crouching exploded into a cloud of debris. Another close shave. He just had to repeat that feat endlessly until he managed to find the conduit. This was absolutely useless—
Lukas paused.
The goddess chuckled inside his head.
Another tendril came darting towards him.
He didn’t move. “I’m a sucker aren’t I?” he murmured, twisting his arm around the tendril.
The goddess remained silent again, but it was confirmation enough. Especially when in hindsight, it had always been there for him to see. In plain sight, even. It was his fault of ignoring the obvious and leapfrogging around like an idiot.
Without delay, Lukas drew from within himself and unleashed Anomalous Energy.
The genius loci reacted. Dozens more metallic tendrils lashed out at him, several grabbing his arms and legs. Others entwined around his abdomen like snaking vines, and a pair even stabbed into his body. He gnashed his teeth, only allowing the barest whimpers to escape, but did not retaliate.
In truth, this was probably the best thing to happen to him.
I can always heal later. And if this works, it won’t even matter.
Energy rolled out of him in waves.
Please let this work.
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The Crypt has said as much to him. They were connected. It was why it could learn from him. Why it was morphing itself in his image. All this time, he’d been trying to find a physical conduit to the Crypt when a directly spiritual, and possibly mental, equivalent existed between them from the start.
He closed his eyes and used Neural Suppression to cut himself off from pain.
“Thank you for letting me in.”
And the world changed.
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The entire place was covered in a rolling fog.
Lukas couldn’t see far in any direction, save for faint paths that seemingly led nowhere. The atmosphere was thick— a moving, stirring, breathing creature that made everything fade into nothingness. There was no sky above, and no earth below.
Just a world pervaded by fog.
This is my mind too, he reminded himself. The Crypt was trying to confuse him by twisting the mindscape into something alien. And it had always been an underground dweller. Away from the light. Away from everything the world above it had to offer. It lived in darkness within the confines of a subterranean enclosure.
And situated a few steps away from him was the faint outline of a mound.
Lukas smiled.
Two can play at this game.
Exhaling, Lukas began to remember. The floor hardened beneath his feet. It wasn’t concrete yet, but it would be. Sandals appeared on his feet. A large, bright yellow sun formed overhead.
The fog screamed.
And Lukas saw it for what it was.
This was no doppelganger. It was just—
“Disturbing,” he murmured. It was a revolting sight. The creature, if it could even be called one, had smoky, translucent skin with bones visibly poking out in unexpected places. It had dozens upon dozens of limbs, and each one looked as if it were from a different animal. Human hands, bovine hooves, canine haunches, and others he couldn’t identify.
The creature waddled forward on its mismatched limbs like an awkward centipede. Many of the limbs didn’t even look functional. They just jutted from the creature’s flesh in a twisted, unnatural fashion and dragged along the ground.
Its body was bulbous and elongated, though it wasn’t just a blob. There was a strange logic to its form. It had a distinct skeleton, with dozens of different rib cages, and translucent muscles and sinew wrapping the bones. He counted six heads, and despite the translucent skin, he could make out a bat head sitting beside that of an azolg. Another head turned toward him, reminding him of a thoggua without tusks. A fourth looked almost humanoid, sitting atop a long spinal cord attached to a different animal torso.
“I—” Lukas tried forming words, “I’m not sure if that’s the Omphalos or not. But whatever it is, it’s indescribably ugly. I can’t even get mad at it for trying to look like me anymore.”
“I— AM— ARE— YOU!” the alien monstrosity replied. Its voice was like iron dragged on glass. “YOU— IS— ARE— ME!”
“Apparently, it never took a grammar course,” Lukas raised an eyebrow.
“YOU— ARE— ME— ARE— YOU!”
“You’re not wrong,” he replied. “I’m an anomaly. As are you. But I’m also more than an anomaly.” He raised his chin. “I am Lukas Aguilar, and I have come to fulfill your wishes.”
The creature paused.
Lukas took a step forward. The sun overhead shone a little brighter.
“You wanted to be what I am. You wanted to feel what I feel.”
Roads formed beneath his feet. Large columns appeared around him. First rods, then concrete, and finally, tall pillars. One after another. As the street corners began to form, the fog violently reacted, engulfing the new creations in an effort to dematerialize them.
But Lukas did not relent.
Buildings soon erected themselves, with windows and doors. Multiple rooms. Shops. Stores. Houses. Larger constructs, like office buildings, hospitals, and skyscrapers. This was a world he knew. A world he’d lived in. A world he had associated with ever since he’d first drawn breath.
No fog, however invasive, would ever dematerialize that.
He walked faster, and the mound reacted, sending its appendages— bones, muscles, tendrils —at him.
“You want to become like me so badly?” He grabbed whatever came within reach and held tight. “Then feel what my world felt at its end.”
The gates of his mind blew open, and chaos was unleashed. That which was held back by the Third Eye’s activation was now allowed free reign. Both to mutilate his conscience, and to invade into this monstrosity.
And before Lukas knew it, the screams began.
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The world slowed. Tanya’s arms felt like stone. She didn’t know how, but she knew she was about to die.
One moment, she was hacking into monsters using Ezzeron’s gale at full strength, and the next—
The strange, familiar man stood his ground. Another person— female— powerful— strong— Emperor? —stood beside him. The mound— the foul beast grabbed at the man and screamed—
Ice surged through her veins. She smelled the thick scent of frost. The cold fire, one that had been reduced to a smoldering flame, was now raging like a hailstorm. No, a blizzard—
Wait! This couldn’t be happening—
Hoarfrost began coating her skin. This was— this was happening— she was changing— losing— becoming her again—
Tanya opened her mouth and screamed. Yet no sound escaped her lips.
Her pupils dilated. There was a blur of images both strange and nauseating to her senses. Could she even comprehend what she was seeing? She didn't know how or when, but her arms and legs moved apart into a spread-eagled position, her body writhing in fear and agony. She could see huge branches extending outward in directions and dimensions that made no sense, yet they did. Things far above bremetan comprehension, bending into shapes that couldn't exist. She saw herself wreathed in ghostly flames and instinctively knew they were a part of her future. Or at least a possibility of it.
And power! So much power! Dark emotions— greed, wrath, hatred —hugged her form like a cloak. Ghostly things, restless spirits, souls of the dead and decaying— they were all drawn into this insane whirlpool of rage and insanity. Inexplicable sensations flared throughout her body, ones so alien she was no longer sure whether it was pain or pleasure. Or both.
Then, she saw Death. Death sat across from her, in the form of the strange sensual woman she knew but could not recognize.
Solid.
Tangible.
Unavoidable.
Maybe it was Death as a concept. Maybe it was her own death she was seeing. She could feel her throat itching as she screamed, as raw flames erupted all over her skin. Death by fire, death by penalty, death by betrayal, death by murder, death by burning, and death and death and death and—
Darkness.
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