“Yo, broadcasting from the boundary of the Lunatic Equinox, infamous prison at the edge of Tif'eret-Binah realms. This is your favorite speedrunner, Insanic. Any%, witch-less, random seed, no artifacts, no augments, no spells. Let's start!”
Insanic walked past the invisible barrier that separated him from the witch's dimension. It felt as If he had stepped into a dense gel. The reference frame rotated by ninety degrees, making him sink face down, deeper into the ocean of slime.
Without a second thought, Insanic started swimming head-on to what appeared to be orbs of orange light.
“Prognosis – an ocean level at outer layers. I predict no skips, but we can look for recess to land closer to the core. The orbs are symbols of stars, likely a trap, but it requires a closer peek... and... of course, it started moving. Definitely a trap... but If it moves, we can use it to build some momentum. In a perfect scenario, it would be a time-spatial anomaly... for new viewers, the effects of time dilation can often be almost equivalent to a skip.”
The light approached closer and Insanic moved aside, away from its path, just seconds before the light was revealed to be a giant angler-serpent. It had the appearance of a brown worm shielded by chitin plates, with a jaw size half of its head, equipped with rows of very long, saber-like teeth.
Insanic wasted not even a second and grabbed onto the beast's lobe. He squeezed it hard and the animal writhed in pain, changing its direction.
“Not what we predicted, but close enough. We can ride this beast to the first boundary... and there it is... Did you notice how diluted the waters had become? It's a continuous transform, not a discrete one. We'll try to 'feel' where the waters get thinner, it'll lead us to the recess.”
The serpent creature gained speed at an enormous rate until it basically started gliding in sort of a vacuum. When Insanic noticed that in front of him is nothing but endless pink, he jumped off the creature and started free-falling.
“Not good, it was a funnel to an imperfect limbo. A nasty trap for speed-runners. This run might be done at this point. A quick restart with a reset to a replacement body would do the trick, but I have a hunch .. you see the color? It might be an infinite psyche-aether cloud. If it's locally pure, we will be capable of local absolute intuitive invocations on the aspect of the psyche. The only catalyst is your own imagination. The transfer of the psyche is instantaneous in a timeless medium, which allows us to skip this endless region. The issue is, my psyche will be body-less, so I'll have to land on the boundary with compatible psyche-entities and well, overtake a weakened or inferior mind.”
The moment Insanic entered the cloud that filled the limbo, his mind detached from his body and flashed like a bolt of infinite purple lightning across the lilac sky. It struck another creature, a termite of some sort, with seven green eyes shaped like a baseless triangle and large mandibles. It was shackled to a crumbling wall, in a tiny cell. The man pulled chains out of stone, freeing himself, and observed. Around him were billions of trapped aliens, similar to him. He paid it no attention, now he only had to deal with steel bars in front. Immediately, Insanic dropped to the ground and started digging into the rock with his jawbone.
“This will be a lengthy segment, so allow me to explain. First, there were conditions – I had to pick a creature whose psyche gave up long before its body and I had to pick a sub-prison with a high state of decay. Normally, an escape wouldn't be possible, since the flow of nether is quite fluid and optimal at deeper levels, to allow adjustment of torture based on continuous changes in the state of a prisoner. Discrete mind replacement requires infinite alteration, which would require redirection of energy from all other cells – it won't happen due to algorithmic safeguards. Although due to that, I was locked in a decay-less state, so I won't get any more help. The cell is adequately damaged, so.. let's give it a few days of dig!”
Days passed and the hole was large enough for the insect's body to pass through. The other termites noticed and were chanting and shouting to rally the spirits of Insanic, who of course, ignored it. He had no need for cheer, his only master was the clock. When Insanic finally exited his cell, other termites started thrashing in their shackles and screaming, begging for rescue. He paid it no heed.
“Every second is sacred, so sincere apologies to all the witch's victims who have to stay here. We will however run %rescue category in the 207th Ancient Nebula on my charity stream, in the next seven cycles. Remember to tune up and donate!”
The termite ran past the cells, scanning them as he accessed the lower levels via stairs.
“Although it's not %rescue, it's not a solo category, so we're looking for a companionship of climbers, cursed and other extraordinary types alike. They can greatly increase the speed of this, and following segments, but it's a very luck-based process. They're too rare, it's best to just fish for them as you're speeding through. We only have to remember, no augments, no spell-casters, no help in the recovery of artifacts. Only natural proficiency is allowed...”
Insanic jumped down a few more levels. He noticed creatures in tattered gowns and with root-like skulls.
“The prison has guardians. It's risky to sneak around, but the chance of rare entities is increased. It seems they follow the usual pattern of observation and have... hmm... a kind of aspect-draining ability, based on nether. The disintegration of aspectual impersonation. When you're reduced to a soul without a shell, the witch can start her process of fueling her prisons. Painful and scary process... so, let's look around! Where the draining is the most intensive? That would signal a powerful potential ally. Not you, not you... not you. Let's climb lower.”
Insanic's termite legs stepped into a black sludge at the middle levels of cell dimension, he ignored many crumbling shells, until finally, he noticed a target he liked.
“Oh, high regenerative capabilities... can be quite useful.” - Insanic approached a ragged apparition and grabbed its head with mandibles, momentarily and minimally directing nether-drain at the shackles of a prisoner. They crumbled into dust and another, red termite warrior rushed out to crush the skull of a ghost with its jaw, shattering it like a breaking ceramic.
The red termite measured Insanic with its nine purple eyes. - “Rescued by a worker. Dishonor.”
“Rescued by a speed-runner. Insanic is my name. Follow, I know the way out.”
The red termite, however, didn't seem to listen. It stood, observing other cells. - “Too arrogant for a worker. I owe you my life, that's the reason you're not crushed yet.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Oh, c'mon. That one is might cost me extra minutes. - “I said, I'm a speed-runner, not a worker.”
The red termite chuckled. - “You look a lot like a worker. A speed-runner? What kind of clan is it?”
“The best one in Lunatic Equinox. Obviously.”
“I like your humor, but not your weak shell. Prove your worth and I might acknowledge your speed-running clan.”
“Sure, sure. I will prove it by leading us out of here.”
“No, prove it by rescuing the hive queen.”
This is getting hard. Will it be even worth it? Let's strike a fast deal. - ”One condition. Until we rescue the queen, follow all my orders.”
“Hmm. Hard bargain, but accepted.”
“Great. Keep up the pace, slowpoke.” - Insanic jumped down a few levels more, until they landed at the very bottom, where only eviscerated corpses remained in the cells. The stomach of each bug had a vertical incision, from which a crimson webbing connected to walls outside of the cell. On the webs lived white larvae.
“The queen is near, I can feel her pheromones. Fear and pain. We must hurry.” - The red termite announced.
“At least we agree on the last part.”
Insanic run on his tiny feet to a large web that blocked the path and tore a hole in it, then looked. - “Okay, a boss fight is incoming. We're skipping this one.”
“Boss fight?”
“Enemy, a big one. We're not fighting.” - Insanic explained. - “Follow me.” - He walked into a cell and waited. - “Don't make even the slightest noise, don't move even an inch.”
A massive chitin carapace dragged itself across the room. It was a small, round torso with twelve crab-like legs and a large abdomen of the same shape, on which sides were countless nozzles that secreted black fluid.
When the danger passed, Insanic signaled to move. His body gradually sunk into the sludge, and its depth was increasing. At some point, walls were thoroughly coated in feeding larvae, such that the wriggling mass made an impression that they were alive.
“We're near the critical point, the larvae are just empty husks. Without properly formed aspects of soul, here, they'll become mindless drones in servitude of the witch...”
“...a fate worse than death.” - The red termite interjected. - “The queen must've been stuck in a temporal loop, forced to breed billions of slaves.”
“(cough) That note is strikingly accurate to what I wanted to include in the on-live commentary, If you didn't interrupt.”
“On-live commentary?”
“Yes, I'm broadcasting our escape, don't ask for details. Nobody is interested in chit-chat... now, where was I? Ah, yes, larvae. It means we're close to the queen, we can expect a puzzle segment. If it's too complicated, I will drop the dead weight and cut my losses.”
In a few minutes, a tall pillar coated in larvae erected before Insanic. He wiped the worms off with his mandibles, revealing the head of the termite queen, trapped in a sizeable chunk of glass. The queen had pinkish chitin with gilded edges and seventeen eyes, formed like a letter x with inwardly-bent ends.
Insanic's multiple legs touched the crystal and rings of arcane light formed around them, the speed-runner swiped them back and forth, forming new larger shapes, inscribed by an unknown language.
“Luck is on our side, the clear-speed scales with the number of appendages, reducing the time from a few weeks to mere minutes. To explain in detail what the sigils mean, it would take a doctorate in the etymology of forbidden arts. It's easier to just memorize the patterns, but for curious, I'll link an in-depth explanation and walkthrough after the stream... a few more swipes, and bingo – access granted.”
The glass prison vanished and with a heavy splash, the queen's large abdomen dropped into the sludge. Insanic could feel her faint pheromones and a telepathic message invaded his mind. Upon seeing a mere worker, the queen was confused.
“Who... who is it?” - The queen directed her words to the red termite.
“Insanic, of speedrunning clan.” - The red termite answered.
“No... he smells like... a common builder, of Reborn Grace tribe.” - The queen explained to the crimson warrior. - “He... can't be one of us. Interloper, what is your objective?”
“To talk less, and hurry out of this place more.” - Insanic said while observing the queen's heavy body. - “Can you move on your own?”
“No.”
Insanic clicked his mandibles with irritation. - “We've wasted enough time. Let's find a path out of this area. It's an isolated and highly-discrete dimension, so we'll try to clip through the boundary to a compatible dimension.” - He approached walls with larvae and started tapping them with mandibles.
“Wait... Insanic.” - The queen started speaking.
Insanic ignored her. - “Of course, we will skip all the unnecessary dialogue.”
“Warrior, what's the meaning of this?” - The queen directed her words to a red termite.
“His lack of respect is disturbing. I urge we teach him the hierarchy.” - The warrior answered.
“Do as you deem proper.” - The queen granted her permission, her voice was getting weaker.
Insanic felt how enormous pincers seize his body and felt a pressure that, If applied a bit harder, could cut him in half.
“Let me down, you ungrateful brute.” - He protested, but the warrior would not listen. Instead, the red termite carried the worker's meager body in front of the queen.
“Interloper. Do understand, I did not want to use such uncivilized methods, but the weight of our entire race is on your shoulders...” - The queen explained, but Insanic interrupted her.
“TO THE POINT!” - He exclaimed, but cooled down, once he felt that warrior's jaw leaves cracks in his armor.
“I am trapped and at death's door, but the hope is not lost. I will give birth to eight future queens... save them, I beg you.”
“Ohh...” - Insanic quickly understood the situation. - “...and the red warrior will aid me?”
“She will.” - Queen directed herself to the red termite. “Xaolsiai. Your blood, is his.”
Xaolsiai let go of Insanic and knelt before him. - “My lord, use me as you deem necessary.”
Insanic ignored her and spoke to the queen. - “Just push out those gremlins already!” - He ran to the rear of her abdomen and waited. A black substance oozed out of the breeding sac, and the first larva writhed out.
“Good! Good! Seven more!” - Insanic cheered while moving the baby onto his back.
When the queen was done, she collapsed - “Our fate, in your hands.” - but Insanic was already leaving, he and Xaolsiai didn't listen even to a single word that the queen had to say.