My mind churns and gutters with horrific knowledge. Casting Nefarium obviously increased the warp’s power tenfold; I can hardly think straight. I look at the scorched, lifeless plains around me, the sky still a bright pink flame. I hear the screams of a trillion souls in anguish. I managed to cover Julius in a flux aura before I cast the spell, so she is unharmed. This spell should even reach to this dimension’s upper planes and scorch any afterlife the gods of this dimension have created. What have I done?
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I wake up in the room in my tower after what seemed to be years of horrible nightmares plagued by terror. According to Victor, I stumbled back into the tower with Julius three days ago and collapsed. I’ve heard of similar things happening to people who are knocked out; they forget the moments leading up to the impact. I decide to return to see how much damage the spell has done. I open a flux rift back to the battlefield. What I see horrifies me. Earth looks more similar to Mars now. I wander for an hour past the remains of burned villages and cities. Jesus Christ. I create a return rift to my study.
When I step through, I spot Julius sleeping, curled up on a table in the corner.
"She told me everything." Winter’s voice startles me. "…How could you do that? What the fuck is wrong with you? You killed… hoe many trillions of people? Just to save yourself?"
"I did what had to be done." My words don’t even feel like my own anymore. "I harvested the souls of your pantheon before they slipped beyond the Veil." I pause in thought. "Tell me. What’s it like, having the world at your fingertips? Being chosen, wanted? Do you have any idea how much suffering you’ve caused? And you dare lecture me about it? The people that burned in your dimension were finally released to where they were supposed to be, in either Heaven or Hell. It was your magic that twisted God’s will, and your magic that pulled countless innocent souls from other worlds to your’s."
"I’ll fucking kill you when I find a way out of this." Winter says. I sigh.
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"I was worried you might feel that way. That’s why I designed this a few days ago." I pick up a series of wires framed to roughly fit around a human brain and place it in front of the artificial eye I connected to Winter’s brain. "I call it the Agony Matrix after a similar device I saw in a show as a child. It fires Potentia (Energy) signals throughout your brain and causes all your neurons to fire at once, constantly. Let’s see if you’re ready to play nice after I connect this to you for a few hours." I disconnect his speech device so as not to hear his screams and wrap the device around his brain. I activate it, and the brain twitches. Can’t be muscle movements; it must be a chemical reaction. Julius awakens at that very moment.
"Good morning. Now that you’re awake—"
"How could you just… kill a whole dimension like that?" She asks. She seems depressed and scared of me at the same time.
"I obviously didn’t want to. It was a very hard choice and it was hard to make. Anyways, I have finished the memory chip reader and I have begun regrowing your original body." She stays silent for a moment before looking up at me.
"I’ve decided I’ll stay and help you. But you have to promise me right here and now you’ll never do something like that again. Otherwise I’m going back to my home dimension." I ponder the ups and downs of this demand for a moment. Having a limit on my actions could be very counter-productive to progress. On the other hand, having someone to keep my morals in check in contrast to my warp would be a great asset…
"Very well. I promise you I will never cast Nefarium ever again. Scout’s honor." I make the scout sign. Julius seems satisfied with the answer and goes back to sleep. Guess that means I should take this off… I remove the Agony Matrix from Winter’s brain and reconnect his speech device.
"AAH! JESUS CHRIST! Never do that again! What the fuck is wrong with you?" He shouts.
"I apologize. My actions were clouded by warp. I won’t use this again." I crush the device in front of the artificial eye. "Anyways, now that you don’t have a dimension to go back to, I’ve thought of another use for you: I’ll use you as a processor for complex equations and functions to assist me in research. Only if you agree, of course."
"I hate you and don’t want to help you, but something tells me you’re only giving me the illusion of choice. Either way it’s not like I have anything better to do." Winter says.
With all of my personal matters sorted out, I begin preparing for my fourth Excursion.