Chapter 013: Staring into Abyss
I woke up in the ritual room, to the look of a visibly scared Leria trying to wake me up.
"You’re awake. Great. We have a problem." Tell me more about it. My head hurt; I must have hit the wall pretty badly. She helped me stand up and... what in the...
There was a stable portal into the Dark open in the middle of the room. It looked as if someone sliced apart reality and made something strange pour into reality from the wound. There was no 'gate' or 'portal' in the common understanding of the word.
There was a slice... but the wound was wider than it. The area around it was unstable. At first glance, the air seemed to tremble, but if you looked into it with Sense Magic, you could see there was in fact no air. It was the extension of the portal, a place where reality was less distorted than in the slash itself, making Light's concept of air fight for supremacy against the otherworldly energy pouring through the breach, Trying to convert it into something working under the laws of physics rather than magic.
"Nothing came through?!" I was shocked. I expected Pentagram deamons to flood the place. Sure, none of them would be as strong as Fleshling, but they would be merely a vanguard. If the breach wouldn't be closed fast enough, more powerful and terrible things would cross into reality.
Jesus. Had I almost unleashed Beyond upon the world WITH A FAMILIAR SUMMONING RITUAL?! I didn't even knew you could do that. Dafuq are you doing DFI?! If there is even 1% chance to do it, the world will be screwed. There will be around 80-90 millions of people doing that in the nearest future!
Watching the uppermost tier of Pentagram-aligned daemons - like Transcendent Terrors, Annihilators or Abyssal Lords - murderfucking Ambryxis to death would be nice, though.
"Nope. After you three lost consciousness it remained open like that. Do you... uhm... know how to close it?"
I shook my head. "Something prevents it from closing from the other side. Wait." I concentrated my eldritch and magical senses on the portal. "Do you feel that?" She nodded. Visibly worried.
Something was calling me. Telling me to walk through the rift. It was pleasant. Like home.
That's... not boding well.
NEW QUEST
Type: Companion Quest
Name: Familial Bonds
Difficulty: Mithril V
Your attempt to summon familiar went horribly wrong. It made something notice you. Something that decided to hijack your ritual and open permanent rift into Beyond. Now you can feel something inviting you and your sister into the portal… proceed unto the other side of it and discover the truth.
Okay, now we are officially screwed.
“So… can someone tell me WHAT THE FUCK happened?” Vaera decided to interrupt us in a rather loud manner.
“Eh, something decided to say hello. Something from Beyond." I could see Lena and Simea. Both seemed intact, even if shaken. "Now it wants me and Leria to visit it. Do you feel something from the breach?"
"That it's hungry." Vaera trembled visibly. "If you want to go, I wish you luck. There is nothing that can make me accompany you."
So it's an offer only for me and Leria. Companion Quest, huh. So it's somehow connected to Leria. Great. Mithril V...
"Alright. Let's go," I said. Leria looked at me like I was insane. "It won't close itself, and if we leave it open for too long it can weaken reality around it, allowing daemons to cross into the Light. Most likely ones similar in theme to what opened the portal, which means tons of sanity-rending daemons paying us a visit. And trust me, they will be stronger than Screechers."
"Fine." She made a determined face. "Follow me."
***
I don't know what I expected to see on the other side of the portal... but not a room that looked ripped off straight from some mansion in Ambryxis. A large hall, stairs in the sides of the room leading to the upper floor, and another set of doors on the lower level.
Looked like an entrance hall of an opulent mansion. But I could see no entrance door, and not a single window. There were statues and paintings on the wall, all of them either obscene or simply unsettling.
I suppressed both my supernatural senses. Sense Magic literally went overcharge because EVERYTHING around us was pure magic. It was Dark after all, everything around us was aether made to resemble forms of the Light. Sense Eldritch in the same time flooded me with so much calmness and pleasure that I actually got an awkward - and brief - erection. Strange. Sure, I heard about Amalthians feeling at home in eldritch places - I actually experienced it - but that was too much.
We were in Beyond. A small part of it that became a domain of some being. If not for the superficially ‘normal’ look we would probably go insane. Seeing raw Dark isn’t healthy. Seeing raw Beyond is VERY unhealthy.
"Everything's ok?" I spoke to Leria. She nodded, without breaking her careful observation of the room ahead of us. She drew her sword and had her shield prepared.
Let's not break her spirit by telling her that whatever could change part of Dark into a stable version of our world was bound to be strong. As in REALLY. DAMN. STRONG. Rather than preparing to fight we should all pray it isn't hostile.
"Mistress awaits you."
I almost jumped. There was a woman standing near us. Human, maybe 25 years old? Blonde hair, blue eyes. She wore what could be described as bondage equipment. It was called shibari ropes, I think. It immobilized her hands behind her back, and also must have made her crotch area rather... irritated with every step she made. Other than this and a strange collar on the neck she was naked.
Her entire body carried signs of abuse. She must have been burned, whipped and beaten repeatedly. This went far beyond what I could picture as BDSM play.
Her eyes looked... maybe not dead, but hopeless.
"Please follow me." She turned back and walked towards one of the stairs leading up. In a painfully slow manner.
I exchanged glances with Leria. This... didn't look good.
***
The abused woman led us through corridors filled with reliefs, sculptures and arts, most of them depicting rather obscene acts of sex. Ones that incorporated a lot of torture. The rest were just plain torture.
Whoever lives here must have an interesting personality. I didn't have to wonder about his allegations. The owner of this 'mansion' must have been a servile daemon of Agony. Imperial Goddess of pain, suffering, sadism, and torture. Member of Pentagram, as were all evil gods of the Imperial Religion with no redeeming features. Only those insane can be chaotic evil, and insane beings are all part of Beyond.
What was surprising was the fact that it wasn't any worse. After all, our guide was still relatively sane. And she had at least a short break in the torture.
She led us to a door. It was covered in reliefs whose content would have made the average person throw up. I wasn't an average person and yet I only barely kept my last meal from exiting my body. Leria didn't look much better.
Rather than opening the door normally our guide used her teeth on the handle. Yeah, no wonder why she did that, when she had her hands immobilized for who knows how long. Seeing her struggles, Leria almost went to help her, but I grabbed her hand.
"Don't do that. She will probably get punished if you help her." Leria looked at me for a while before nodding.
Our guide finally unlocked the door and took a step back.
"Please enter. Mistress awaits you," she said before kneeling beside the door. She ignored us, probably waiting for another order from her Mistress.
"You want to go first?" I asked. Leria looked at me without a word. Ok, it's time to be a good brother.
On the other side of the door was a study. Exquisite but tasteful furniture. Bookshelves on the walls, a couch and a small table, a desk in the middle. Behind it sat a female figure.
Shearazhyra
Unique
Category: Eldritch/Pentagram
Type: Daemon/Archdaemon
Threat Grade: Mithril V
A rare case of Watcher who through her deeds ascended into the rank of archdaemon. Powerful, depraved, and with hundreds of years of experience in manipulating and abusing mortals for her own amusement.
At first glance she looked like a mortal - but almost blindingly beautiful - woman with long black hair and pale skin, wearing an exquisite black silk robe with golden ornaments and golden jewelry on her arms and hands. On second glance her hair was a mass of thin tentacles, that kept trembling, betraying her excitement (or did to make us think she was excited). She also sat on the back of another tortured thrall, forced to sit on all fours behind the desk.
Watcher. The most human of Pentagram daemons, created to lead and instruct sects while appearing almost superficially human. It was a disguise. Her true form was much more disgusting and creepy. And had many more tentacles.
What’s worse, an Archdaemon grade Watcher. Archdaemons were daemons strong enough to have some level of autonomy in the gods' games. Some of them were ultra powerful wild daemons, others were unaligned daemons that were just a single step away from becoming very weak gods, while some were former religiously aligned daemon that earned themselves a right to play their own games and were no longer bound to serve their creator god. Our host seemed like type three.
"Oh, for so long have I awaited this moment." She spoke, her voice being beautiful almost beyond compare. We were in the Dark, it was per definition beyond anything you could see in the Light.
"Who are you?" Leria answered first. She still kept her sword unsheathed though even she must have already understood that our host could kill us with a blink of her eye.
"Oh. What a sad thing, to not recognize your own mother..."
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Ok, I didn't expect that. Now that I think about it, it was foreshadowed by the quest name. Besides, Watchers - as most anthropomorphic and mentally humanlike daemons of Pentagram - had a tendency to be responsible for most of amalthians being born.
Leria seemed like she forgot how to use her mouth due to shock. Can’t blame her.
"I don't want to ruin this family reunion, but it would be nice to know what you want from us." I rolled my eyes. "It's obviously not about reuniting with your children. What's your agenda?"
There were amalthians born in human-Watcher couples. Consensual ones. These daemons were so humanlike that they could even fall in love. But all daemons capable of it were bound to go renegade and reject Pentagram. She, obviously, was still related to Agony. Familial bonds, my ass.
"Who knows, Walker-In-Skins." Wha... "I know of your true nature. My son, Avhar, no longer lives. Something else took his place." She smiled. "But my blood still runs through your veins, doesn't it?"
This is officially creepy. And I'm not speaking about the fact she pretends to actually feel at least a tiniest shred of motherly love to us. While sitting on a tortured thrall, probably the soul of a former Pentagram worshipper given humanlike form only to be eternally abused without chance for death. No wonder Pentagram didn’t mention that during his cultist recruitment.
Are 'locals' supposed to know who is and who isn't a player?! This would actually allow certain groups - for example, the Imperium - to detect that something weird is going on. And what if they would decide to purge us?
"There are many like you in the world this day. Pentagram knows that." She continued, unabated by my silence. "An interesting game is happening. One they already take part in."
"And you brought us here just to tell us about it?" The problem with creatures like her was that she probably knew everything about us. Even World's Requiem had some extensive psychoanalytical programs running in the background. She could as well be doing this to shake us internally, which would lead to us making certain decisions in a future questline. Making us hostile to her could and probably was a part of her plan.
There were serious worries in the real world about this technology being used for the mental conditioning of players. Conspiracy theories linked World's Requiem to the 2038 Baltimore bombings. The guy behind it was an avid player and there were talks that his gameplay was tailored to make him go into a local headquarters for the Democratic Party festooned with C4. After setting several bombs throughout the city. Conspiracy theorists claimed it was a test of the technology before brainwashing all players.
Specialists said it was impossible. Most people believed them. Let's not go into paranoia.
"Perhaps." She laughed, showing us her large canines. "Or perhaps not. Why do you keep searching for a hidden agenda? I'm your mother, is it strange that I wanted to finally meet you?" I could see she was having fun pretending.
"Cut the crap. I have neither time nor willingness to play this game. What do you want?"
"You seem awfully impatient, Walker-in-Skins." She laughed loudly. "It's as if you have something important to do in the world that isn't even yours."
She knows too much.
"We are leaving. Let us out." Perhaps this will make her spill the beans.
"Let's make a deal." She suddenly changed her tone into a serious one. "She leaned towards us and smiled. "I will let you out. You will leave this place unharmed. No curses, no corruption. In exchange, you will do something for me."
"So, we finally move to the main topic." I sighed loudly. I knew it would end like this. The quest description told us to go into the portal, there is no way it was a guaranteed death. We had to leave this place unharmed unless we went full retard. "What is it?"
"Kill Ambryxis for me." She smiled seeing the look on my face. "You don't have to this today. With your level of strength he wouldn't even notice you are trying to kill him. Do it whenever you feel you are ready."
"There is nothing more than our word that we will do it. You will have no guarantee that we will not back out of the deal the moment we are back in the Light."
She laughed. Loudly. She startled me. This differed totally from her normal behaviour. A way of reminding us that one does not simply walk away from deals with Pentagram?
"But you WANT to kill Ambryxis.“ She looked at me with a mocking smile. “I'm just ensuring that you will do it."
"How do you ensure that we'll do it?" My 'mother' kept her smile but remained silent. "Ugh. Leria?" She nodded. "Let it be. We'll do it. Now let us out."
One last enigmatic smile before the mansion around us was instantly replaced with the ritual room back in Tyrant's Hold.
QUEST PROGRESSION
Type: Companion Quest
Name: Familial Bonds
Difficulty: Mithril V
Your attempt to summon a familiar went horribly wrong when Shearazhyra - the mother of both you and Leria - hijacked the summoning and invited you to her domain in the Beyond.
She is scheming something. Something you do not understand. She ordered you to kill Ambryxis, a protective deity of a nearby town. Will you do as she ordered… or will you search for a way to strike against her?
NEW QUEST
Type: Main Quest
Name: Deicide
Difficulty: Mithril X
You were ordered to kill Ambryxis, a guardian deity of a nearby town of the same name by your mother, an archdaemon-risen Watcher. Against you is not only the deity himself, but also his various mortal servants… and all adventurers, soldiers and sorcerers from the town.
Leria collapsed on all fours beside me. She seemed shocked. Yeah, nothing surprising there.
"What happened?" Vaera and the rest of the band still guarded the room. "The portal closed and when it was about to disappear, you just..."
"It's a long story. You see..."
"Pentagram." Leria suddenly spoke. Her voice almost dead. "The cult worshipped the Pentagram." So, she connected the dots. Her parent was an archdaemon of the Pentagram. Her other parent was a human sacrifice of the cult. There was no other option.
"Of course it worshipped the Pentagram, Leria." I looked at her with disdain. "You murdered people to get attention from above. Who the fuck do you think you contacted? Winnie the Pooh?" She looked up at me in shock. Uh, I used a name from Earth, no wonder she does not understood what I meant. "Leria, there are three main types of creatures in Beyond. First are those neutral, that sell power for attention, but do not care about their worshippers' motives. Most of them are outwardly edgy and dark, but even they steer clear of human sacrifices to avoid pissing off the Imperium and gods. Then there is a single benevolent god of Beyond and his underlings, but I dread to think what he would do to people stupid enough to kill an innocent in his name. As you can guess, none of these categories apply to the cult." She still looked at me with an almost empty face. "I knew the cult was serving Pandaemonium, or Pentagram as DFI named them in Gates of Eternity, the second I saw them sacrificing people. And you helped them, so don't play innocent and appalled by this discovery." Others were silent, watching our argument in shock.
"But... I didn't know it was Pentagram!" Leria finally responded. She was almost crying at this point.
"Yeah, you didn't know. You simply helped sacrifice people in the name of otherworldly beings whose sheer presence was enough to drive people insane. That turned out to be evil. WHO. MIGHT. HAVE. GUESSED." I shouted at this point. "I hope you took a good look at her playthings. They were probably people that, like you, traded morality for power. Or simply enjoyed ritual orgies too much. The moment you do it, you are lost. You think that when you die, gods will spare you because you simply followed orders?" I laughed sarcastically. "Ramshiran knew whom you served. They probably promised him Ascendence. That he would became a servile daemon of Pentagram, immortal incarnation of their power and madness. The rest? You were all expendable puppets."
I wanted to tell her that for a while. Her indifference or even acceptance to evils of this place pissed me off beyond understanding. She might have been an NPC, but... GODDAMNIT. There should be limits to being dumb.
"This one... this one god you mentioned." She said, almost stuttering. "The one benevolent. He fights Pentagram?" What the... that was a weird change in subject.
"They all fight Pentagram. Even local gods of sexual perversion, famine, plagues, murder and tyranny oppose it." I answered, calmer this time. My recent outburst was like catharsis. "But he has a special hatred for them. Destroying them and all evil with extreme prejudice." If benevolence could be evil, it would be a perfect way to describe him, to be honest. He was one of the weirdest gods DFI conjured.
"And how can you become his servant?" Leria raised up, her voice calm.
"Em... it's quite easy, you just have to make a pledge to oppose his enemies with all your might. If you wish it, he will answer." I answered almost automatically. Seconds before my mind connected the dots. "Wait, you shouldn't..."
"Then I swear to him that I will oppose his enemies with all my might." Her voice was like steel and thunder, filled with newfound determination.
For maybe a second I hoped that there will be no reaction. That the god (or AI, I wasn’t 100% sure about it) wouldn’t deem her worthy or something. Then…
NEW ACTIVE EFFECT
Attention of Overtyrant
Rarity: Rare
The moment your sister made her pledge, she - and all of her companions - gained the attention of Overtyrant, the khardic monotheistic Creator-God... and Beyond’s most powerful Aberrant.
She now assumes the mantle of His Chosen One, meaning that said attention is unlikely to disappear...
No no no NO NO NO NO!!!
NEW RACIAL POWER UNLOCKED
Sense Evil
The attention of Overtyrant and his powers coursing through you changed you on a deeper, almost biological level. Your supernatural senses expanded to accommodate your new nature.
You can now use your supernatural senses to detect evil.
NEW MAGIC SCHOOL UNLOCKED
Holy Magic [Overtyrant]
Rarity: Very Rare
Holy Magic of Overtyrant is a divine magic subschool with strong Doom Magic influence, whose theurgies cause sanity damage to targets of evil character, while also dealing crippling mental and physical damage similar to Death Magic, destroying the lifeforce of afflicted beings.
1
NO FUCK NO JUST NOT THIS PLEASE!!!
NEW HEX UNLOCKED
Holy Bolt
Type: Theurgy
School: Holy Magic [Overtyrant]
Grade: Copper
A basic offensive hex of Overtyrant’s Holy Magic. Fires a bolt of magical energy marked by Overtyrant’s power. It is material enough to cause kinetic damage on impact, while also destroying lifeforce and applying mental and physical debuffs. Creatures of evil character suffer increased damage. Causes negligible sanity damage.
1
NEW HEX UNLOCKED
Rend Evil
Type: Theurgy
School: Holy Magic [Overtyrant]
Grade: Copper
A basic supporting hex of Overtyrant’s Holy Magic. Blesses ally with magical energies marked by Overtyrant’s power. It forces the target into a semi-berserk state, during which it feels an urge to attack nearby targets of evil character regardless of their allegiance (unlike true berserk state it can be resisted, but it depends on target willpower). All attacks are stronger and cause damage to lifeforce.
1
We are so dead. Marked by Overtyrant while being in the middle of Doomplace?! We will be dead or worse within a week!
NEW CHARACTER CLASS
Enigmatic
Rarity: Rare
You are now an Enigmatic, a sorcerer well versed in eldritch lore and black magic, while also proficient in holy magic of Overtyrant. Despite their rather morbid appearance and interests they are relentless crusaders tasked by their God with the mission to eradicate all evil from the world, regardless of the means they decide to employ.
I’m dreaming, right? This is just a bad dream. I’m going to wake up in my bed, with a bottle of wine and a good book waiting beside it. Or, better, I will wake in the real world. Right? RIGHT?
Leria Khan
Chosen One of Overtyrant
Gender: Hermaphrodite
Species: Amalthian
Level: 8
Class: Tyranite
Active Effects: Lesser Blessing of Overtyrant
Known Spells and Techniques:
AURA
Aura Armour, Aura Shield, Offensive, Mighty Blow, Charge, Wide Slash, Piercing Lance, Improve Reflexes, Adrenaline Rush, Leap of Faith, Long Jump, Blink
MAGIC/OVERTYRANT
Smite Evil, Rip and Tear, Fervent Accusation, Mark Target, Hymn of Slaughter
I barely noticed the automatic overhaul of the list of spells and techniques due to their increase in number.
We are so screwed.