Years Since Creation: 5324
Location: Sanity Plane, Gruden System, Gods prison
Saria was bored, so incredibly bored she had taken up analyzing paint. She had spent the last six hours inches away from the walls of her cell, tracing her finger along the faint cracks and valleys in the ochre green surface. While the most obvious differences in the paint came from her tantrums at the beginning of her stay, when she had punched several holes into her wall, there were a few painted over cracks which had faded enough that they must have been decades old. While it should have cheered her up to know that others had railed against their imprisonment in a similar manner, it was hard to be happy when she knew each of them had suffered the same fate in the end. Death.
“Mealtime!” a guard yelled out from outside her cell before sliding a tray through the shutter on the steel door to her cell, depositing a nice meat sandwich with a side salad into her room.
Saria stepped away from the wall, and grabbed the tray of food, plopping down on the bolted in chair which directly faced the door. While the rest of the room had been decorated to look like a guest room of a particularly rich mansion, with mahogany bookshelves and a swan feathered bed, that steel reinforced door always stood as a reminder of the truth. That if she did not escape herself, no one would come to her rescue. It was with that grim thought that she spent two minutes devouring her food, trying to absorb as much energy from the meal as possible.
Once done, she got up and stretched her lithe body, her every movement long practiced to perfection. She may be heading straight to an execution, but that didn’t mean she would let herself rot away. She had standards, and a plan.
Walking over to the side of her bed she crouched down next to a little cone like figurine and placed her ear on the top, her enhanced senses easily able to capture all the guards and prisoners’ steps through the amplifier. She had built the crude thing out of left over rubble from her tantrums that they hadn’t deigned to take away from her. Of course, to them it looked like a crude tribute to her dad. While it couldn’t compare to a proper spy device, after several months of careful listening it had allowed her to completely understand the timetables of every person within the surrounding floors.
She was trapped alongside five other inmates on her floor, with a rotation of ten guards which would file in and out every hour. The walls between her and the other cells were at least five feet thick, but to the open air it was a mere two. Of course, that implied that they trusted in their outer defenses, but hopefully her enhancements would be enough to handle any issues.
With her ear to the figurine, she listened as the guard did a round around the cells, handing out food from a cart before leaving to the floor below to get rid of the leftovers. It was time.
She quickly got up and smashed apart her bed to dig out the metal springs holding it together. She froze for a second waiting for an alarm to sound, but it seemed that they simply viewed it as another tantrum. She then used her enhanced strength to carefully twist the springs into a vague drill like shape which she took to the wall in a blur. The instant she started digging into the concrete, a wave of wails went out, and she could faintly hear stomps coming from a floor down. But they wouldn’t reach her quick enough, for within twenty seconds her enhanced body had already used the drill to dig a two feet wide hole.
Saria got on her knees and squeezed her body through, her bones malleable enough to contort to the appropriate shape, with only her head having a little difficulty due to the metal lining her brain, but eventually she was out and dangling over the side of the twenty-story building. All around her was just one long stretch of water, which Saria knew went on for a good thirty kilometers in every direction and was absolutely filled with thousands of genetically engineered sharks and sea creatures which would not hesitate to eat her. It was the most inescapable prison on the planet and was where they kept all mad gods. And Saria Wyla.
While she had spent months preparing for her escape, she still wasn’t sure she would be able to survive this next part of the journey. It would all hinge on whether her dads’ enhancements would aid her in water combat, which she deeply hoped they could for otherwise she was fucked. Saria glanced behind at her cell one last time as the boots and yells grew closer and with a few deep breaths she threw a stone into the water below her and jumped.
As she fell through the air, she felt utterly free for the first time in months, the wind blowing her hair making the smile on her face grow wide. She enjoyed the feeling for a few seconds, before positioning her body to break the least number of bones on landing. Yet right as she was a foot above the water, a flash of black light subsumed her, and she vanished from the sky.
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Saria was floating in a river of energy, her mind barely aware of her surroundings. She was no longer a physical being, but instead an Image of a golden eye covered in electricity and wires. It was dim compared to the waves of rainbow energy crashing into her, barely strong enough to stand on its own, but still able to resist the madness around her due to a shield of black light which had formed around her. The barrier not only protected her but was also dragging her through the ocean of energy at insane speeds, flying through millions of different law structures every second, completely overwhelming any thoughts Saria could form.
Time lost all meaning for Saria, minutes stretching into years only to turn back into seconds. She was stuck in this flow, her awareness dimming the more time passed, but eventually a change pushed her awake, as her Image passed through a barrier in the sea of energy. Past the barrier the energy went from a dense infinitude of meaning into a mere fifteen laws which governed existence, with Saria able to feel and merge with all of them in her liminal state. There were ten base laws which filled the fundamental energies, and attached to them were five artificial ones which hummed discordant notes into the otherwise perfect harmony. Three managed to hit some semblance of a matching tune, but two were flat and flimsy, yet still they formed into an orchestra that echoed throughout the ocean of energy. As she dove into them Saria’s mind briefly become one with the music, her consciousness almost fully gone with her only thought being to merge with the whole.
Then her Image arrived at its destination, the shield instantly disappearing once it had fulfilled its purpose, prompting a wave of panic from the now aware Saria. She braced her mind for the battering of her life, but the sea around her was calm as a few hundred crystal like Images floated along its waves. Most of the Images were the same, depicting rat like beings gathered into circles worshiping stars, but there were two who stuck out due to their uniqueness and power.
There was a floating grey hand covered in glowing technological implants clutching onto a set of green puppet strings, radiating a feeling of control and arrogance found only in the truly talented. Yet strong as it was, it was a candle to the sun that was the Image next to it. It depicted a massive humanoid figure cloaked in a robe of stars, which floated above an ocean of billions of rat like beings all reaching towards him in worship. She could feel laws covering every inch of the Image, four resonating with the base she had felt before, and one artificial which she felt was deeper in him than in the ocean itself. Before she could admire the figure any further, the Image crushed down on a floating scroll radiating a feeling of deeply kept oaths floating a level below it, which Saria hadn’t even noticed. The scroll turned into a stream of silver energy, which the figure shaped into a claw that it used to tear out a piece of her eye and a piece of the hand. It then collapsed the claw into a pair of grey green bracelets which promptly faded from her senses. The moment they fully disappeared Saria’s mind destabilized again, as foreign memories poured into her consciousness. Saria fought the battering as best as she could, trying to keep her mind from falling apart, but it was a losing battle. Before she could fully go mad, the figure reached out to her and condensed her back into a physical form.
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Saria collapsed onto the floor, her eyes squeezed shut as she was overwhelmed by both the return of her physical sensations, and the millions of impressions pouring into her mind. She saw herself tinkering with tens of thousands of different materials. She saw herself surgically implanting her body with a dozen different gadgets. She saw herself creating a coin filled with dense grief, crying all the while. She saw herself studying space, and how it filled every aspect of reality in her surroundings, and how the sea of energy connected vaguely to an infinitude of different planes just out of reach. She saw herself summoning a single piece of rock from one of those planes, using a similar one as fuel, along with a fortune in black crystals. She saw a funeral attended by thousands of people, an empty home, a sanguine haired man hugging her, a speech given to millions of fellow students, a busy lab, a floating purple elemental. Then it all disappeared in a flash, as a foreign being reached out from a new connection she only vaguely understood to rip back most of the memories. The only things that remained crystal clear, was the concept of a language and a strong understanding of Space. The being than reached past her mind to get a sense of her body, taking a copy of her mental enhancements before pouring in a few of its own. Her body started growing denser and stronger, her senses deepened, and she could even feel a deep itch forming in her glabella as an eye emerged. Her nanomachines were screaming in confusion, each asking for some sort of direction, but all she could do was to tell them to quiet down as she dealt with the distracting memories in her mind. Luckily her brain was well above standard, and so soon she calmed down enough for her to be able to process the world around her, where two voices were speaking to each other.
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“…decided to share your Spatial understanding, I am surprised you had enough for it to be a worthy exchange.” A regal voice said somewhere near her.
“Well, there would be no point in having two alchemists, and I have always been interested in Extranar Teleportation. I even briefly majored in it. “A voice gasped out next to her. “I have to say I didn’t expect someone this filled with memories, I can barely process a hundredth of them, but the few that I can grasp are incredible. Her plane is fascinating. They have no supernatural elements, only technology, and she is the culmination of all their expertise. Her mind is capable of millions of calculations in a second, able to process the work of thousands on her own. She is perhaps the most intelligent person I have ever met. Such a being is well above anything I had expected, even from someone as powerful as you.”
“Well, I am a Sovereign, I hope you learn to set your expectations a little higher next time.” The voice chuckled. “Yet still, I must say your luck is incredible, getting a sapient familiar is beyond rare, especially one who seems to be your equal in potential. With her you won’t even need to look for a third partner, merely train her up to match the standard.”
Saria opened her eyes at that, staring in confusion at the sight around her. She was in the middle of an underground room made out of craggy rocks, collapsed in the center of a stone circle filled with thousands of dull black engravings. All around her were hundreds of panting bipedal rat like beings who were all staring at her, and at the two human like beings conversing next to her. One was a regal brown skinned man, with elaborate black robes which matched his flickering vertical third eye. The other was a grey skinned man with black hair and a burnt orange third eye, who was wearing grey robes which failed to cover the silvery implants all over his body. The latter was rubbing his eyes, which had developed into a silver copy of her own golden ones, and from what she could see there were also nanites in his, each constantly altering the lens to provide perfect sight. She felt a faint connection to the man, not one of servitude but almost familial. She felt an instinctive desire to trust the man, which she immediately railed against in anger.
“What the fuck do you mean training! I’m not going to turn into some weird sex slave for a pair of shoddily dressed assholes!” Saria yelled out at the two, using the same language which had been downloaded into her brain. Her mouth speaking before her brain could stop her.
At that the grey skinned man’s face turned apologetic, and he quickly stepped towards her with his palms raised in peace. The regal man took a step back, allowing the other to take control of the situation with a small smile.
“I assure you, by training we merely meant to improve your personal power. I am deeply sorry if I offended you in any way during the ritual, I was not prepared for a sapient being to emerge from the familiar ritual. I was expecting something like a hivemind or some deep-sea squid of massive size, not a sapient biped.” He said while scratching his neck awkwardly. “Regardless, what’s done is done.”
”Who are you then huh!? And what do you mean by familiar!?” Saria yelled out, her golden eyes narrowing as the nanites within zoomed in to catch every movement of his face.
At that he took a breath and bowed to her in a flawed imitation of the rich pricks from her home country, his stance horrible and his face scrunched in discomfort. Though she had to admit that his poor attempt at diplomacy did manage to calm her down, since his horrible execution being pretty solid proof this wasn’t pre planned.
“My name is Darvon Lunuen Zhaber, a Doyen of my own path, and a member of the ruling family of this plane. The familiar bond is one that merely allows for the exchange of benefits, with me getting a better deal due to being the summoner. I have no method to control you, nor do I have any legal ownership of you. I promise you this in my name as a Zhaber.”
Darvon stood up at that, straightening awkwardly, clearly not being used to being formal in any capacity. The Sovereign chuckled at his antics, only laughing louder at the look Darvon sent him in response.
“I’m sorry, I just have never seen such a failure in planar etiquette. You really need to work on your diplomatic skills Darvon. If you like I can arrange for a tutor, though the few I know might balk at such a challenge.” The Sovereign laughed again before turning to Saria and performing a perfectly fluid bow. “I am Sovereign Busari Enel Zhaber, one of the leaders of this plane. I understand your confusion in this and assure you that you are in no danger, and completely free to do whatever you like.”
“Can you send me back then?” Saria asked immediately, though more out of spite than any sort of desire to return to her prison.
“I’m afraid not, as we do not have enough material connected to your plane to form a purposeful Extranar transmission. Though once you grow into yourself and are able to taint some objects with your impact we would be more than happy to send you back.” Busari answered, and Saria found herself instinctively understanding everything he said, his words sparking up the foreign memories related to Space.
Feeling quite lost even with her most important questions answered, Saria sped up her perception of time threefold in order to giver herself time to contemplate. She had been teleported into a foreign plane, bonded to what seemed like a maybe prince of the ruling family of an entire plane, and had been given access to supernatural powers. She was not a slave, and from her testing of her mind through her nanobots, had not been mentally altered in any way aside from the injection of memories. Overall, this did not look like that bad of a deal. It was already much better than what she had been looking forward to over the last couple months. Plus, she had always wanted to wield magic, this just may be her chance, all she had to do was stop acting like a crazy person and instead return to the confident rebel leader she had been for over a year.
Having thought that, Saria stood up, her mind immediately compensating for the extra strength in her body and composed herself. She pulled her back straight, gave her best politicians smile, and with a quick elegant bow introduced herself.
“I apologize for my earlier crazed state, I had not been prepared for this.” She said and straightened, enjoying the shocked looks of the two men as she did so. “My name is Saria Wyla, inheritor of the God Brain, and ex leader of the rebel group Freeborn.”
“I see you have received some diplomatic training yourself, maybe Darvon won’t need a tutor after all.” Busari chuckled. “Can’t say I can judge you for acting shocked when you were involuntarily torn from your home.”
“Again, I am deeply sorry for forcing you into this.” Darvon said in a completely earnest tone that showed no political training. Maybe he wasn’t a prince.
“It is no problem, in fact you did me a favor. I had been in the middle of an incredibly dangerous situation, and without your intervention I would have likely died.” Saria said, while smoothing down her crumpled prisoner uniform.
As she did so one of the rat like beings who was clutching a smooth stone rushed over to Busari and whispered in his ear.
“I am quite relieved to hear that Saria, though it seems I don’t have much more time to entertain you two, so let’s get a few details settled.” Busari said, waving over one of the rat like beings from the pack who scurried up to him. “Bukut go and grab the introductory codex from the library and bring it to me.”
The rat like being nodded and vanished in a flash of black light. Busari turned back to the two, opening his hand to show a pair of metallic bracelets, one grey and the other golden.
“These are your familiar bracelets. I took the liberty to add a little art to them in order to make them a bit more fashionable.” Busari said, as he tossed them their respective bracelets, each engraved with the opposites Image. “Saria, I know you don’t understand Binding quite yet, but just know that these represent your familiar bond. They are almost completely indestructible, but even if they were to be destroyed all that would happen is you would lose the ability to sense each other from a distance. The abilities themselves are quite permanent.”
Saria nodded at that, rubbing her glabella where she could feel a slit forming. She didn’t know what opening that eye would do, so she just left it closed. Before they could say anything else Bukut appeared with a stone crystal in hand which he quickly handed to Busari who gave it to Darvon.
“Darvon, I had meant to speak to you more on the competition after giving you this gift, but it’s more important for you to take the time to settle your familiar. I shall give you a week to return to your home and celebrate your ascension before I contact you again. I wouldn’t worry about anyone finding out about your ascension for at least two weeks, but I would still recommend telling Scout Maroc to watch out for any intruders regardless. He is more than strong enough to handle anyone short of a Sovereign.”
“Thank you Lord Busari, I greatly appreciate your patronage in this. I have seen the gifts you can give and want you to know that I am more than willing to compete. I just need a couple days to get everything in order.” Darvon answered back with a smile.
“Perfect.” Busari said before turning to Saria. “Now I’m afraid I have to leave, but you will be in very capable hands with Darvon here. I have set aside a private room for the both of you to go over the fine details of what is to come without anyone snooping in. Bukut will take you there.”
At that Busari nodded to both of them and vanished in a flash of black light. Saria felt a wave of relief fill her at his disappearance, her six-sense relaxing from the full blast it had been at for the last hour. She noticed that Darvon relaxed as well, letting out a nervous breath before chuckling to her with an understanding look in his face.
“He is a nice man, but he is powerful enough to shatter a continent with ease. Hard to relax around someone like that.” Darvon said, before warily glancing at Bukut and the leftover beings who were chittering at themselves. “Especially when next to such fierce loyalists like the Brob.”
At that Saria glanced around and was unnerved to see that every single one of the Brob were all excitedly indicating at where Busari had been with fervor filled eyes. It was clear that they worshiped the ground the sovereign walked on.
“What exactly did he do to get them to worship him like this.” Saria asked hesitantly.
“Well, he saved their race from annihilation, and then proceeded to teleport their home continent into an entirely different plane.” Darvon said with a faint look of desire in his eye, before turning back to Saria while indicating towards Bukut who was patiently standing by the exit. “But grand as that story is, I’m afraid we need to head out now, wouldn’t want to keep Paragon Bukut waiting.”
Saria nodded at that, and after smoothing down the last wrinkle in her torn clothes walked towards Bukut with Darvon following alongside her. Towards a new life.