ultramagicalternate

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 18

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“Wow, this is all levels of strange…” Blood-Wraith remarked as he looked around at the abandoned experiments and disheveled cabinets of Warehouse Omicron. It was like peering into a window of the past he was never meant to see. He then picked up a folder full of papers and tapped in on the table to straighten them out. “Any info on me?”

“Doubtful, given that you were fairly late to the party.” Gummi answered as he picked up a box of documents off of the floor.

Lia wiped her finger across a dusty, glass case and grimaced a little. “Actually we were curious as to whether or not your abilities could have been applied to our research, Blood.” She went to a filing cabinet next to her old desk and pulled out a packet of papers that she then handed to him. “Here you go, if you’re curious.”

Blood-Wraith nodded as he skimmed through the report and noticed a curious detail. “Wait, you guys thought I was an ar’ton?”

Lia paused and snickered a little. “And to think that was utterly top secret not too long ago… Yes, Blood. Given your potential, resilience, and nature it was a safe bet. And taking into consideration our great interest in the ar’ton, there were actually plans to capture you for study…”

Gummi shook his head. “You guys planned to kidnap Blood-Wraith? The boy who was popping off with new forms and magic every week?” This warranted a few chuckles.

“How so, exactly?” Blood-Wraith questioned with morbid curiosity.

“Probably with Gummi’s spider magic, I’d imagine,” Andelin pointed out as she walked over from some broken test tubes.

“Oh of course!” Gummi lightheartedly complained. “Because I totally could have gone toe to toe with Drago, Leif, Tusk, and Desislav, HA!” His old exasperation from the end times of The Eternal Church could be felt and it made the others laugh.

“Gummi has spider magic?” Mal wondered as she walked over to the main table. “What do you mean by that?”

Putting his hands together, Gummi pulled them apart, causing sticky strands of silk to stretch from them. Notably his arms had turned shiny black, resembling spider chitin. “Yeah, it’s… Let’s just say I let myself be experimented on a little back in the day. It was a different time…”

“Hold up,” Blood-Wraith interjected as he held his hand out with it having turned shiny black, just like Gummi’s. “No, it can’t be…”

“Actually yes, because the spider you killed at the Metal Oasis was the one I got my spider powers from…” Gummi’s whole body then turned to segmented, black chitin, with four extra spider legs coming from his back and glowing, yellow eyes. “That spider was a familiar of The Great Dark Lurker, a spider astral god-go figure.”

Blood-Wraith then assumed a similar form with glowing blue eyes and looked at himself. “So that’s why Azure Spider always felt off, yet natural, and why I can spin webs-because Baxter told me the armor he made for me didn’t account for that ability.”

Gratiana then stepped over and placed her hand on Gummi’s shoulder. “Dear…”

“I know, mom,” he said as he reverted back to normal. “Hey, I made it work, despite the surreal, spider-based dreams I’m plagued with… I mean, I’ve always been in the shadows after all…”

“Sweetie, I’m still concerned for you, even to this day.”

“Well Leif did become friends with Lurker back in the Epoch when they were young,” Mal pointed out as she placed a folder on the lab table. “He probably views Gummi as a replacement and Blood as a good friend in need of help. Of course Gummi may also be seen as an ally given what’s going on now and his change of circumstances. Lia? Here’s… Blood, are you going to stay like that?”

He looked down at his sleek, chitinous body and nodded. “Well it’s dangerous in here after all, isn’t it?”

The clicking sound Blood-Wraith’s chitin made was a little unsettling, but Mal had to concede he would be ready just in case things went south. And given what she was sensing it was quickly turning into a good call. “Fair enough, I guess. Lia here’s the files for the various construct types. Side note, the files on me are off. I’m actually genderless, not female.”

“You’re not a girl?” she asked, a bit surprised. “But your voice? And mannerisms?”

“To be fair, we’re all in agreement that I was originally supposed to be a female primordial. You can keep referring to me as a girl though.”

“Don’t do that on Will’s Earth, Lia,” Blood-Wraith added. “Will told me and Mal about how some Earthlings are very sensitive when it comes to topics such as gender and pronouns…”

“It makes me wonder how they would react if they met an entity like me…” Mal noted. “I’m not worried about them offending me, I’m more worried about their potential for infighting.”

Lia thought about something Milosh had been suggesting back when The Eternal Church was in full swing and shuddered. “I am so glad Milosh is dead, as that would have given him ideas… Anyways, thank you, Mal,” she said as she opened the folder and retrieved a key card. Lia then went to her desk, swiped the card through a scanner, and pressed the power button to the tower computer that sat next to a bulky CRT monitor. “After this starts up we’ll be able to do a quick containment integrity check and…” The computer began making awful noises and started boot looping. “NO, not now!!”

“Jeez, it must have been off for too long…” Gummi remarked, the computer’s malfunctions starting to worry him a little bit.

“Shoot, maybe we should have brought Barry and Vapor 6 along…” Blood-Wraith concluded.

Gratiana then stepped over and placed her above the case. “Hold on, I have an idea…” She focused and electricity arced from her palm, causing the whole computer to jolt upwards an inch. It startled everyone and scorched the case, but after a momentary black screen the computer went straight to the desktop. “There we go.”

“Incredible!” Lia complimented. “What did you do?”

“Well it looked like the Magic Energy Battery, or MEB for short, needed a little invigorating.”

“Goodness, it’s running just like new… Alright, let’s see who’s still here…”

The process of checking the warehouse’s database was a bit slow as there was a lot to go through. Things were going fine until errors started popping up. Missing Mimics and Haze were to be expected, but what scared Lia was the Juggernaut. The system was confused and claimed it was missing, but also present. Lia felt a massive sting of adrenaline, but relaxed a little when she saw that the Imperator was still contained. She got up, took a breath, and turned to the group. Her worry was as plain as day on her face.

“What’s the verdict, Lia?” Gummi asked.

“We need to check the testing area.” She then retrieved a rectangular key from the top drawer of her desk and grabbed the key card. “Be extra careful as I have no idea what the actual status of the constructs are. Stay alert and tread softly.”

It was unsettling to head to the farthest reaches of the warehouse with Lia’s warning in mind. After she entered a code into the keypad, swiped her card, and undid the lock, a huge metal door slid into a slot into the wall with a low rumbling sound. It was dark and dusty, so Lia flipped a couple of switches. The dirty bulbs of the overhead lights struggled to illuminate the room, but what could be seen was foreboding to say the least. Glass tanks lined the walls containing the Mimic constructs with 16 through 20 missing. That was to be expected. 

As the group searched the room for anything out of the ordinary, Lia thought she heard some rustling that was not them. Upon coming to the Juggernaut’s tank, her heart dropped. It was empty and the door was open. “Everyone?” she choked out. “We have a problem…”

Gummi quietly stepped over, careful not to alert or disturb anything. “What is it, Lia?” he whispered.

Before anything else could be said, what sounded like a man’s voice roared at the group and the owner of that vocalization charged at them. It had to have been the Juggernaut. Barreling through Gummi, it went straight for Lia. The construct got a hold of her, but she escaped its grasp with a burst of fire from her mouth (a technique taught to her by Waramunt as a means of self defense). From the light that was briefly provided it could be seen that the Juggernaut had the typical black and red color scheme of a typical shadow construct, but appeared to be made out of glass and wood. Mal ran up to get in between it and Lia, but the construct picked her up and tossed her aside.

Gummi then picked up a telephone and chucked it as hard as he could at the head of the construct, with it making an audible ding sound. Their foe snapped its head towards him, switching targets for just a moment. Gummi had to be careful as he backed up, as one wrong move could easily unleash another shadow construct. Using some web from his palms, Gummi latched a metal box and hurled it. Unfortunately the Juggernaut caught it and tossed it to the ground with a loud crash. A low growling indicated its anger, but that frustration had blinded it to the mischievous trap that had been set…

The Juggernaut tripped over something and fell flat on its face with a thud. Blood-Wraith laughed from the ceiling as he had managed to lay a tripwire that went on to suspend their attacker above them. He quickly skittered to cocoon and subdue the construct, but it managed to get itself down with a maneuver of brute force that took a chunk of ceiling with it. The Juggernaut then began swinging the web and rubble around, clearly planning to sling shot it at Blood-Wraith. As the boy panicked and crawled out of the way with the construct adjusting its aim, Gummi took a massive breath. He then ran up and belted out a loud elk call in the construct’s face.

Stumbling back in pained confusion, grasping its head, the Juggernaut stumbled into a strange field of magic that rendered it helpless as it flailed in the air. Mal had her hand raised and was focusing hard. The spell she had in mind was a gamble, but there was no other option that did not result in a drawn out fight. She spoke an incomprehensible void spell that caused the construct to rapidly spaghettify. It cried out in defeat as it vanished into nothingness, leaving behind an eerie silence. The group did not say anything for what felt like an eternity as they were quite shaken up from the ambush.

“You okay, Lia?” Mal asked as she helped her up.

“What-what was that?” Lia struggled to say. “Did-did you kill him?”

“No, I just sent him to where he needed to be. Leif would have been really upset with me if I killed someone…”

“Hold on, where did you send him?” Blood-Wraith inquired as he crawled down the wall.

“Earth… 23, I think.”

“Will’s Earth? Are you sure about that?”

“No… yes… maybe? I can’t really control where that spell leads. Also I believe that construct will call himself ‘Anderson’ in due time.”

“Well at least he’s out of our hair,” Gummi said in a hoarse voice. “Mom, Andelin? Are you two alright?”

Gratiana went over and hugged him. “Oh my goddess, your poor throat! Andelin, could you prepare some more tea once we’re out of the warehouse?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Perhaps some green tea or camomile will help…”

“Aw, mom…” Gummi said, a little embarrassed.

Lia took a breath to steady her nerves and smiled. “Well I guess I’ll have to update the database then…” She then realized something that caused panic to settle in. If the Juggernaut was able to get out, what of the Imperator? “We need to check on Audamar, right now…”

Andelin readied two cards and led the way. “Let’s go, Lia. I’ve got your back…”

The two hurried to the farthest end of the room and beheld in horror the empty state of the glass tank. “Source! He’s out!! He got out!!”

“Easy, Lia,” Gummi tried to say. “This doesn’t mean he’s still alive. It could have easily been a… no, damn it, that wouldn’t be an ideal outcome…”

“Let’s not panic, Lia,” Gratiana interjected. “Surely your team installed a failsafe, correct?”

Andelin exhaled. “The Imperator was not ready to be utilized and required more testing. It wasn’t ready for the failsafe…”

“DAMN IT, MILOSH!” Lia screamed as she banged the glass tank with her fists. “WE NEEDED MORE TIME!”

“Alright, then we’ll just have to fight it!” Blood-Wraith declared. “What’s a single construct compared to The Lich of Old?”

In any other situation Blood-Wraith’s bravery would have been encouraging… had Lia not known the full details of the Homunculus Project. “Blood, do you not understand what I meant by potential?! We gave him the ability to grow and improve-it’s what we needed to test! I mean jeez, he’s already a level 2 construct and Source knows what else he can do! I was playing with fire and it’s about to burn us!”

Blood-Wraith was unphased and took a breath. “Lia, we can do this! We’ll take him on, all of us. It’s the guild’s duty to keep the Cosmos safe and by the Source, I am going to do that…” A series of alarms with red lights then went off. “Um, Lia?”

“The Omicron Contingency… EVERYONE OUTSIDE NOW.”

Boris and Stanislav heard the commotion and were ready to act, but were worried when the group came rushing up, urging them to head outside. A strange shadow construct leapt off into the air from the warehouse roof and Lia knew exactly who it was. “What was that!?” Boris demanded to know.

“Boris, Audamar is going to lead a platoon of shadow constructs to secure The Eternal Church!” Lia answered.

“The church we leveled-damn it! What do you need us to do?”

“Head to Castle Haugen, warn Sten, send some knights, and be ready to call The ULTRAMagic Guild at a moment’s notice!”

“Roger that! Let’s go, Stanislav!” Boris ordered, the two running to their vehicle and tearing out of there once it started.

Blood-Wraith took a breath and focused, turning into Indigo Wolf-Remembrance. Gummi followed suit, turning into a giant Elk that glowed with arcane energy. “Quick, on our backs!” Blood-Wraith instructed as the great beasts knelt down. “Like it or not, Lia, we are going to have to fight!”

“Alright, but I hope you two can run fast…” she replied as she hopped on with Mal.

“Haha, Gummi, how about another race then?”

Gummi snorted and shook his head at Blood-Wraith as Gratiana and Andelin steadied themselves. “Ha, now? Of all times? Alright then…”

Next:

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 17

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Mal was happily talking to Gratiana when the four entered the parlor. The former leader of the Blades of Dunja was of utmost beauty with magnificent, blonde hair and dressed in regal attire. She smiled and stood up upon seeing her son. “Gummi, there you are…”

“Hey, mom,” he replied as he went to hug her. “Alright, let’s get down to brass tacks…”

“Of course, but let’s have a little tea first,” she said as they sat down. “Blood, Lia, welcome.”

“Good to see you again, Gratiana… er, permission to speak freely, ma’am,” Blood-Wraith replied, realizing he was technically on duty.

“Granted, Sir Raynot,” she answered with a giggle.

Lia sighed as she poured herself some tea. “I suppose all of you want to know the particulars of The Homunculus Project, correct?”

“Ideally,” Gummi confirmed. “Given that some of the gemstones I was tasked with acquiring were fairly dangerous to get a hold of.”

“By the source,” Mal put in. “Just what were you guys up to if it was that perilous?”

“Stronger and better constructs,” Lia began to explain after a sip of her tea. “When I was brought into the Blades to replace Torunn, many ideas were being floated around as to how we could regain the advantage against King Sten. Adriana was sent off by Andelin and Torunn obviously leaked a good deal of our secrets…”

“Aren’t you glad I had Adriana go off exploring given that she was going to kill Milosh?” Andelin interrupted with a cheeky smile.

Lia shook her head, holding back a laugh. “So I took a look at a shadow construct that had returned and wondered if they could be improved. My proposal was to vastly upgrade Dunja’s work and thus the Homunculus Project was born. Warehouse Omicron was set up as a secret lab so we could work without King Sten noticing us…”

“With a hex to hide it, from yours truly,” Adriana added.

“So how far did you get before the project was scrapped when Blood and Leif went to challenge The Lich?” Gratiana inquired.

Lia took a breath as there was clear worry in her voice. “The Mimics were a success, for the most part. Valdemaras made use of one in the Tower of Babel, but that was one we had already deployed. The Symbiont type was meant to be worn as a living suit and would bring out the full potential of the construct rather than the wearer. Haze was the only one we made and I heard it escaped…”

“Hold up, Haze?” Blood-Wraith cut in, then turned to Mal. “Mal, remember that one construct Dunja told us about?”

“Yeah… Lia, Dunja gave that one a soul fragment so it could leave and live a better life.”

While certainly endearing, Lia quickly realized something crucial. “Wait, do we know where he is right now? And how he’s doing?”

“Um, Lia?” Gummi interjected, unsure of her intentions.

“Oops, sorry-it’s just that we never accounted for Haze being given a soul fragment and I’m curious to know what that did to him.”

Gratiana pondered the thought, also curious. “Well if he left The Unlight we’ll just have to wait for him to show up again.”

“Ha, I’ll bet he’ll turn up with Will in the future,” said Blood-Wraith, certain of himself.

“What makes you say that, Blood?” Gummi wondered.

“A hunch… And Will told me some top secret stuff when he was in the past with us. Apparently the ACF, M.A.I.G., and The Liger Brigade were moving around an anomaly and it makes me wonder…”

“Oof, careful, Blood,” Mal cautioned. “That’s probably some really sensitive information…”

“Guess I’m a professional leaker then, hehe,” Blood-Wraith mischievously remarked as he bounced around in his seat, causing the others to chuckle. “Keep that on the down low, aye, guys?” They all agreed.

“Anyways, any others we should know about, Lia?” Gummi inquired. “Any other symbionts?”

Lia would have laughed if she did not have to discuss the last two types of constructs she had worked on. “Next was the Juggernaut, which was meant to be a super soldier. Anne was interested in that one, and especially the last type we worked on.”

“One second again,” Blood-Wraith interrupted once more. “Lia, Will said he had fought against some stronger than normal constructs during the incident at Red River City, of which Anne was heavily involved. You don’t think she turned the Juggernaut blueprints over to that awful Sebastian, do you?”

Lia took a second to contemplate that notion. She was not thrilled about it in the slightest. “I wouldn’t be surprised, Blood. Now as for the last type, the Imperator was designed to have an artificial soul that would give him potential. Audamar was the only one we made and Anne really wanted him, but he was just not ready yet. And as to be expected Dunja found out about the whole thing and wanted the entire project shut down. The Lich’s defeat pretty much doomed it all and I am praying that Audamar has shut down, as I still do not fully know what he can do. You can understand now why I have been so nervous about all of this.”

The group went quiet for a second as Lia’s words and concerns sent a chill down their spines. “Well no use sitting around here,” Gummi concluded as he got up. “Let’s keep our guards up and hope for the best.”

Lia’s house sat on Dove Street, placing it a bit out of the way of the main roads. It was a modest, three-story house with an octagon window, all of it being fairly unassuming in the grand scheme of things. Oddly there was a vacant lot for a backyard and it was just big enough for a warehouse. Lia would have loved to go for a casual walk around Shadowland, as she always enjoyed the Victorian architecture. Alas she had more important things to take care of at the moment. Two knights were standing outside the property, one with his helm on and the other without. While Lia’s arrival was a big deal, Sten did not want to bring attention to it. The Eternal Church had truly died out ages ago, but Sten never considered himself a betting man.

“Hey, Boris!” Gummi called out as the group approached. “Hey, where’s your shield-cannon?”

“Good to see you, Gummi. And I would have brought it along, but Captain-General Karlov advised against it. Oh, everyone? This is Stanislav, my squad mate and a skilled pyromancer.”

“Greetings, everyone,” Stanislav said in a slightly raspy voice, followed by an attempt at a proper bow that was hindered by his armor.

“Now, Lia, shall we head in?”

She sighed as she looked at her old home. “Of course, Boris. As a warning, it’s probably a bit dusty…”

“One second, everyone,” Andelin interjected as she went over to the front gate. “I bet all of you are wondering where Omicron is?”

“Surely it’s underground, isn’t it?” Stanislav reasoned.

“Nope.” She snapped her fingers, causing a card to fly to her. Slowly a large warehouse faded back into existence behind the house. “Viola! I mean, there were plans for it to be underground, but obviously those never materialized.”

Once his amazement wore off, Boris gave Andelin a concerned look. “Just how many of your cards are still around the city?”

“Actually that was the last of my old hexes.”

“And you’re sure about that?”

Andelin laughed as Lia led the way inside. “You have my word on the honor of my gold blood, Boris.”

Dust and cobwebs were everywhere as they all entered a modest living room. With everyone coughing and sneezing, Andelin tossed out one of her hexes. It flew around the house and did its best to collect the copious amount of dust. Andelin was not thrilled over having to eventually empty the card, but the improved air quality was worth it. The hex obviously could not clean up the general mess and clutter, however. Lia was not sure how to feel as she wandered her old home. The memories of her time in The Eternal Church were not pleasant to revisit. On top of the mantle was a photograph of her, Milosh, and several other high ranking members of the church from so long ago. She was about to take it out of the frame and tear it up with bladed fingers, but Gummi stopped her.

“Let’s… let’s not forget our past mistakes…”

Lia sighed and set the frame face down. “No, let’s not.”

“I trust we need a key to get into the warehouse?” Boris asked. “Or should we knock the door down?”

“No no, the key is in my bedroom. Blood, Gummi? Could you both stay here with Boris and Stanislav and make sure nothing happens?” They both nodded and agreed. “Everyone else, follow me…”

Lia led Gratiana, Andelin, and Mal up the creaking stairs into a long hallway with a window at the far end. The door to Lia’s room had already been opened thanks to Andelin’s hex, so they went on in. The room was a bit lavish (if a tad disorganized for the time being), but Andelin’s house still topped it. Pardoning herself as she did, Lia flopped onto her bed and allowed herself a moment to relax as the others looked around. She was not out of the woods just yet, but it felt so good to lay on her own bed for once. It would have been perfect if Waramunt, Odo, and Buster were still around… and Omicron was not looming over her head. Lia then noticed Mal looking into her closet and sat up.

“Wow, these armored dresses are actually quite impressive,” Mal remarked.

Lia shook her head with a calm sigh. “I’ll admit that they got the job done, but at the same time I have to roll my eyes over how much cleavage they show…”

“Well it doesn’t look too bad, all things considered… What the…?”

“What’s the matter… oh,” Lia replied as she realized Mal was looking at her more risqué attire. “Ha, now you know why I didn’t want the boys up here. Either way I don’t ever plan to wear those again. Those days are behind me and… well…” Lia put her hand on her belly and sighed. She was not exactly out of shape and still retained a mostly healthy physique, but it was easy to tell she had put on some weight since her days with The Eternal Church.

“Goodness, dear,” Gratiana said with concern in her voice. “You didn’t let your diet slip too much, did you?”

“No, it’s just… Well, hot fudge sundaes are to die for and Odo makes a mean chilidog.”

Andelin could not help but laugh a little, as she had indulged herself in the past with similar concoctions under her own stressful circumstances. “Well don’t worry, as Torunn will certainly be coming up with all sorts of exercise routines to get you back into shape in no time. Now, Lia, the key?”

“Ah yes, that,” she said as she went over to a cupboard with a vanity mirror above it. Lia had to stop for a second as she was caught off guard by the woman staring back at her from the somewhat dirty glass. For a moment she did not recognize herself as the woman she saw had gone through Hell and back to atone for her sins and protect the innocent. Lia smiled, not regretting a single choice. Buster was a sweetheart she vowed to keep safe and she did just that. Maybe there was hope for her after all. After opening up a secret compartment in the top drawer, she held up a dull, gold key. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Andelin questioned, knowing what was ahead of them.

“I have no idea, but I’ve got nothing to lose… er, I mean that in a good way!”

Mal giggled. “Lia?”

“I mean Buster’s not here, so we’re good to go… Damn it! That sounded so insensitive!”

“I know what you mean, Lia,” Mal assured her as she put her hand on her shoulder. “Buster may be safe and sound in Universe-23, but you’re going to keep fighting no matter what…”

“Exactly! Thank you, Mal,” Lia said with a hug. “Argh, it still feels like I’m on the run… and well, I haven’t exactly had a moment to clear my head and whatnot…”

“Understandable,” Andelin replied. “Perhaps a quick visit to the lab might help then?” she proposed as she gestured for the four to head out.

“Andelin!” Gratiana chided as they entered the hallway.

“What? I meant that in ernest… and also I couldn’t resist,” she replied with a giggle.

“It’s alright, Gratiana,” Lia conceded. “It’s all still bothersome, so perhaps going in and confirming that everything is all good will finally let me move on.”

“Don’t worry, Lia, we’ve got your back,” Mal reassured.

“Truthfully it’s not my back we should be worried about-it’s whatever unholy creation that was left behind in the warehouse.”

Andelin did not want to admit it, but she felt the same dread. “Well, here's hoping the boys brought their A-game today. Not to be a prophet of ill-fortune, but I can sense something stirring in the warehouse…”

Next: Chapter 18

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 16

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“What are you looking through, Blood?” Mal wondered as she stepped over to the dining table.

“Oh, just some reports on shady organizations trying to or who have tried to infiltrate The Unlight,” he answered as he sifted a document aside. “Theobold said I should check them out yesterday before we went to see Lia, given my trips to Universe-23.”

Auda mosied on over, fixing her red hair a little. “Jeez, Mr. Fire, working on a Saturday morning?” She then glanced over to his food. “Are you going to finish your toast?”

“Yes,” he replied as he ate some.

“Okay,” she said with a satisfied tone of voice and a smile.

“I see the usual culprits are here,” Mal noted as she picked up one of the papers. “What’s ‘Herba-Witch?’”

“An MLM with ties to The Eternal Order,” Blood-Wraith answered.

“M…L…M?” Auda tried to rationalize. “What’s that?”

Blood-Wraith took a sip of his orange juice and cleared his throat. “Multi Level Marketing. They’re pyramid schemes that sell garbage products, making money by financially strong-arming their employees to upsell people so that the top makes as much money as possible. Imagine if Milosh tried to charge you to join The Eternal Church, then kept charging you more and more to climb the ranks…”

“Actually he did try that at one point, Blood,” Mal pointed out with a chuckle.

“Oh… well my point still stands. Apparently MLMs are fully legal where Will comes from…”

Auda looked incredibly confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s some nonsense about how since they are selling a ‘product’ they’re not technically a pyramid scheme… even though they are functionally a pyramid scheme in every sense of the concept. Funnily enough, Herba-Witch is not only barred from setting up shop in the Market District, they are outright forbidden from even entering it.”

Mal was stunned by that fact. “Goodness, you’d have to truly anger King Isenhard to pull that one off…”

“I have no idea even how Will even puts up with all of this nonsense,” Blood-Wraith admitted. “He really wanted to stay in the past with us, something he made clear before we went to the train station to send the Future Squad back home…”

That broke Mal’s heart, as she could sense the pain and anguish Will felt from Blood-Wraith’s tone of voice. “Aw… well perhaps we can convince him to move to The Iron City or Shadowland when it’s his time to properly join the guild?”

“Or he could even live in the forest!” Auda eagerly suggested.

Blood-Wraith chuckled. “Well remember he had some issues to work through…”

“True, but obviously we were able to help him with those,” Mal pointed out.

“Good point, given that I was at the forefront of the issue, ha,” Blood-Wraith replied as the doorbell went off. “Oh? Now who could that be?”

“I’ll get it!” Auda said as she hurried over to the door. She was surprised when she opened it. “Blood, it’s for you!”

“Hey, Blood!” A man with dirty blonde hair and soft golden eyes called out. “May we come in?”

“Hey, Gummi, come on in!” he said as he got up and walked over with Mal. “Also Lia, hey! What brings you two here?”

“We’re heading over to Shadowland to crack open Omicron and want to use your tunnel over to Andelin’s house just to be safe…”

“Tusk also recommended your skills to us for this mission,” Lia added.

Blood-Wraith exhaled with a smile. “Gee, thanks, Tusk… Then again, I have been curious to explore one of those warehouses… hum…”

“Mom will also be there,” Gummi clarified. “She went ahead, no doubt to shoot the breeze with Andelin.”

“Alright then…” Blood-Wraith said, thinking about all of it real quickly. “Can Mal come along?”

“I don’t see why not, the more the merrier I suppose.”

Mal chuckled at the thought of working alongside Lia. “I don’t mind in the slightest.”

Auda nodded, knowing she was not going to be allowed to go along. “And I guess I’ll hold down the fort then, Mr. Fire,” she lamented as she wandered over to the couch.

Lia caught that nickname and giggled. “Pardon me, but ‘Mr. Fire?’ I don’t recall that from the intel reports…”

“Yup. It’s what I call Blood given that he’s made of fire that doesn’t burn.”

Blood-Wraith gave a nostalgic chuckle. “Yeah, you should have seen it when we first met… Oh, Lia, this is Auda, Tusk’s niece.”

“Oh, well hello, sweetie,” Lia said as she went over and shook her hand. “Goodness, you are such an adorable little thing.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “You’re not going to turn Uncle Tusk into a rocking chair, are you?”

“Oh heavens no, dear,” Lia answered, shocked she had brought that up. “I promise you that was purely an intimidation tactic… I’m never going to live that down…”

“Baby steps, Lia,” Gummi reassured her with a pat on the shoulder. “Baby steps.”

“Let me know how it all goes,” Auda said as she took the remote and turned on the television, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“Well actually, Auda, it would be great if you could tell Vex and Drusa what’s going on when they get back,” Blood-Wraith suggested.

That was fair enough and Auda nodded in agreement. “Sure thing, Blood.”

Heading down to Blood-Wraith’s basement, Lia was impressed with how organized all of it was. Shelves and bookcases lined the stone walls, and there were tables loaded with various wood and metal projects in the center. Gummi took pride in telling Lia how he helped Blood-Wraith optimize the space he had, and even detailed a fake-out prank he pulled on him, to Blood-Wraith’s chagrin. The door to the secret room surprised Lia as it was just a normal-looking door now. Blood-Wraith had long since removed the angel language mechanism, as it had become too cumbersome to justify keeping around. This room, which once held some of Milosh’s most secret experiments within The Iron City, now merely held chests and crates.

Making their way through to another doorway, the four entered a chilly chamber that was clearly Andelin’s work that led to an impossibly long tunnel lit by magical torch light. Parked on the rails at a buffer was a reasonably-sized minecart. Blood-Wraith went about quickly checking the wheels and mechanisms while the others waited and looked around. Again, Lia was utterly impressed, wondering just how Andelin dug out the tunnel in the first place, especially right under her and Milosh’s noses. Truthfully it was a bit unsettling knowing that Andelin was scheming behind their backs the entire time, and she could not immediately discern why Andelin performed such actions in the first place.

“Alright, everyone aboard,” Blood-Wraith said as he hopped into the minecart.

Gummi helped Lia in, with her realizing an issue. “Um, Blood? What about Mal? I don’t think she would be able to fit…”

“That’s okay, I’ll run,” she stated.

Lia was confused by that notion, given how long the tunnel appeared to be, even for someone such as a marathon runner. “You’ll run?”

“Yeah. I’m a good runner, remember?”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” Blood-Wraith said as he adjusted some final mechanisms.

“Don’t worry, I won’t. See you guys at Andelin’s!” Mal then assumed a ready stance and took off like a bullet, bolting down the tunnel as her slender legs quickly carried her out of sight.

Gummi exhaled after a tinge of adrenaline wore off. “Nothing against Mal, but it’s always surreal seeing her run like that…”

Blood-Wraith pulled a lever, causing the minecart to lurch forward and begin moving. “She’s faster than Indigo Wolf. We’ve tested it.”

As the three sped down the rails, the noise of the wheels on the tracks filling their ears, Gummi wanted to sate some of his curiosity. “Hey, Lia?” he spoke over the noise. “What in Abaddon is even in Omicron? Lord knows I certainly wasn’t allowed in…”

She hesitated, but knew she would have to answer eventually. “The Homunculus Project. We were working on making stronger shadow constructs, but I’ll save the rest of the details for when I don’t have to shout over the tracks.”

“Stronger constructs?” Blood-Wraith questioned. “Was it that big of a deal?”

“Oh absolutely,” she answered. “They were going to be our ace in the hole against Shadowland and The Iron City.”

“So that’s what Milosh was so fixated on before the beast blood nonsense…” Gummi remarked. “Lia, do you still have your beast blood?”

“Yes, I held on to it… not sure why.”

“Good thing you didn’t take it then, as the poison Claudius and I created was intended to trigger strokes and shut down the nervous system in a violent reaction with Gudrun’s modifications. If I could do it again, we’d add more of Chemical X-2-5 to speed up the process, as I nearly got pummeled by Milosh…”

Lia grabbed her neck and cringed. “And you snuck all of that past Gudrun?”

“Barely…”

“Well either way, something deep down told me Milosh’s plan was going to go up in smoke, so I held off.”

“Ha, no doubt you angered some lackeys?”

“Indeed, but I threatened to have them excommunicated.”

Gummi smiled, proud of her. “Hey, even you turned on Milosh once he lost his marbles…”

She sighed, recalling what she had thought back then. “I’d dare say you’re right, Gummi. And to think I had become infatuated with that man…”

“Well shoot, Lia, no one can really fault you there. You were at a low point and we all know Milosh was a slick talker. He had me brainwashed for the longest time, so don’t beat yourself up…”

“Hey, I thought you guys wanted to wait until the ride was over to talk,” Blood-Wraith interjected with a laugh.

The two also laughed. “Well, I guess it just got away from us,” Gummi conceded.

“No worries, as we’re here anyways,” Blood-Wraith said as the minecart slowed to a stop.

Unlike Blood-Wraith’s house, Andelin had a staircase leading straight into her fancy, luxurious home. A pleasing chime went off as they opened a door into the hallway. Andelin promptly went to greet the three, smoothing out the top of her brown hair and straightening out her cherry red tuxedo (not that it was necessary). “Blood, Gummi! There you are!”

“Hey, Andelin,” Blood-Wraith replied as they hugged.

“Andelin,” Gummi said as he shook her hand. “Ha, you weren’t at the tower yesterday…”

She gave a guilty smile. “My apologies, I was helping Sten’s knights with the obvious… Lia, it’s good to see you again.”

Lia chuckled and shook her hand. “Even after the unpleasant words we exchanged last time we saw each other?”

Andelin in the cleanest move held out a card between her fingers. “I don’t hold grudges unless it’s Gudrun.”

“What’s this?” she asked as she took it. Notably it had a picture of a treasure chest on it.

“The rest of your money. I held on to it, figuring you’d need it if you were going to join us. You know how adamant Torunn can get at times.”

Lia was honored and flattered, not sure what to say. “You didn’t have to do this…”

Andelin put her hands on hers. “I insist. And keep the card as a wildcard. You’ll never know when it will come in handy.”

“A good call too, as she apparently ran out of funds by the time she arrived at the Tower of Babel,” Gummi stated.

“And I spent it all on keeping Odo and Buster safe, something I will never regret,” Lia said with a parental-sounding pride.

Andelin had to laugh, with a mix of sympathy and her own pride. “I talked to Yvette yesterday and you’re consistently proving her right, that you were never truly a bad person, Lia.”

“Oh my, is she here now?”

“No, she’s at Castle Haugen, as she’s become good friends with Queen Yngvild. We’ll head to the castle once Omicron is all cleaned up. She’s incredibly eager to see you again, and Angus.”

“He’ll be here once we’re all done, just in case things go south,” said Gummi. “Er, here’s hoping it doesn’t…”

“Very good,” Andelin replied with a clap. “Before we head out, let’s have a spot of tea,” she declared as she began to lead them to the parlor.

“Oh, Andelin?” Blood-Wraith interrupted. “Did Mal make it here okay?”

“Indeed she did. We were a little surprised, but I have enough tea and biscuits to go around.”

“Awesome, because I know the tunnel can be a bit treacherous at times…”

Next: Chapter 17

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 15

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“Alright, the paperwork is all taken care of and we should be just in time…” Blood-Wraith noted as he and Mal walked down the busy halls of the Singing Storm Tower, which served as the king’s castle of The Iron City, floating proudly in its skies.

“Are you sure about that?” the tall, slender primordial questioned.

“Yes,” Blood-Wraith answered as he straightened out his knight’s uniform, with the two stepping into a parlor to get out of the hallway. “Pink went to Regnault, fuchsia went to Octavius, and goldenrod went to Theobold…”

“And the puce?”

“Left it at my office this time!”

“Awesome… you didn’t accidentally also turn into one of your letters from Eloise this time, did you?”

Blood-Wraith went a little red in the face. “No, not this time-but hey, Theobold was cool about it… Of course now he wants me to keep him updated on what Eloise is doing…”

“Well it’s not the worst state of affairs, given Eloise’s boldness,” a handsome man with almond-colored hair stated from one of the tables. He appeared to be organizing some documents.

“Oh hey, Audawakrs,” Blood-Wraith said as he and Mal stepped over to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello to you too, Sir Raynot, Mal. I’m just getting ready for the big debriefing with Lia today. I figured I’d get my notes all in order beforehand.”

While he was going to take a seat as Audawakrs’ papers were interesting, Blood-Wraith's instincts told him to stay standing. “Right. I would have been here yesterday to greet her, but I had paperwork to work on… followed by Auda and I watching anime.”

Audawakrs chuckled. “I envy your ability to immediately unwind like that. Gummi and I were helping Quasar finish up with getting all settled in yesterday. Thankfully I had my papers ready ahead of time. Recalling my time under Milosh wasn’t exactly a walk down memory lane.”

“Oof, yeah, that’d be quite the task… oh, any word on how Gebhard is doing?”

“Perfect timing on that, as I just received a letter from him the other day,” Audawakrs answered as he began filing his documents into a folder. “To sum it up, he appears to be making good progress and hopes to return soon.”

“That’s great to hear…” said Mal, only to be cut off by some commotion in the hallway.

“Whose baby is that?!” they heard a steward call out.

Blood-Wraith chuckled and shook his head, as he knew exactly who it was. “I got this…”

Happily crawling down the hall, with guards and stewards getting out of the way, was a baby with blonde hair and red eyes. “Ba ba!” he babbled as he neared the parlor.

“Come here, you little stinker,” Blood-Wraith said as he picked the baby up and held him against his torso. “Thaddues…” the baby laughed as he tried to bop Blood-Wraith’s face.

Mal laughed as she wiggled her finger in Thaddeus' face, causing him to also laugh and play with it. She could tell the boy was full of energy. “No doubt Kresimira is on her way…”

“Goodness, already traveling around…” Audawakrs noted. “He goes and wins the fight for the Cosmos and can’t even be bothered to settle down in his next life. How old is he again?”

“6… 6 months,” Blood-Wraith replied.

“Quite the precocious tot then. It makes me wonder if he’ll join the guild when he’s old enough.”

“Ga!” Thaddeus said with clear enthusiasm.

“Sounds like a yes to me,” Mal deduced.

Blood-Wraith shook his head, like an older brother would. “He can join as soon as he gains ULTRAMagic, assuming he goes down that path. Obviously he won’t be allowed to go on missions until he’s well and ready…”

“Thaddeus, sweet pea?!” a mother’s voice called out.

“In here, Kresimira,” Mal answered as she stuck her head out of the room.

“Oh thank goodness,” Kresmira said as she hurried in and gently took her child from Blood-Wraith. She had her lavender hair tied back in a ponytail and was dressed in formal-yet-modest attire. “Thaddues, don’t run off like that…”

“Good afternoon, Lady Kresimira,” Audawakrs greeted as he stood up, his folder at his side. “I trust he had a good nap that led to his burst of energy?”

“Hello, Audawakrs-and yes, he did. Obviously I did not want to leave him alone back home, so I carefully brought him along to today’s get-together. When he woke up I had one of the apprentices, Amelia, play with him to keep him occupied. It was going well until we got distracted by Corentin’s experiment, allowing Thaddeus to go wandering.” Thaddeus gave a laugh that seemed like he was apologizing. “Oh don’t worry too much, sweetie. Just be careful next time, my adorable little munchkin…” she said with a silly tone of voice and booping his nose, making the baby laugh even more.

Adriana’s voice could be heard approaching just then. “Now Audawakrs should be here by now…” She then stepped into the parlor, with Lia behind her.

“Captain Hawthorne,” he welcomed with a polite bow.

“Ah, Audawakrs, excellent. Hello, everyone…”

“Lia, it’s been a while.”

Lia had a slight, awkward smile sneak onto her face as she shook his hand. “Goodness, it’s-it’s great to see you again, Audawakrs. How have you been doing?”

“Wonderful, thanks to the guild. No hard feelings over Droomopolis?”

“Not at all, dear… I mean back then it was a different story…” They both laughed at this. Lia then turned her attention to Kresimira as she heard a baby bubbling its lips at her. “Oh, hello, Kresimira… um, wow, it’s… I mean… how are you?”

“Fine, Lia. You?”

“A lot better than in the past…”

“Well that’s fantastic. No more stealing from my work for your speeches I trust?” Thaddues gave a cheeky laugh following that.

Lia could not help but give off a remorseful chuckle. “You have my sincerest apologies. I… I certainly admired your writing prowess…”

Kresmira shook her head with a smile. “Well if you’d like me to teach you some good pointers, don’t be afraid to swing by the house sometime.”

Lia then noticed the baby, who immediately endeared himself to her. “Oh my goodness, is this Thaddeus?”

“Ga!” Thaddeus answered.

“Hello, sweetie,” Lia said as she bent down to his level. She and the others laughed as Thaddeus attempted to play with her face. “What an adorable little thing…”

Kresimira smiled, flattered by that. “Thank you, lord knows it’s certainly been an interesting time as a first-time mother.”

Mal was discovered to be standing over Lia, which slightly startled the group. “Lia…”

“Oh goodness, Mal!” she cried. “Um, wow, I was not expecting you… um… oh, I’m sorry about what happened at the Abyssal Void Gulf.”

Kresimira was surprised and Thaddeus shared this attitude by looking confused. “Goodness, just what happened that would warrant being in such a foreboding place like that?”

“The cult tried to capture me for study, but failed when I busted out my star magic, haha,” Mal proudly recounted as she moved her arms in a vague, martial arts style.

“Wait, you know star magic?” Blood-Wraith wondered.

“Yeah,” Mal said with a nod. “I learned gravity-style star magic from Master Gragmund and General Leofwine Aldershaffe back in the Epoch.”

“Ah, neat.” Blood-Wraith then held out his hand to Lia. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lia.”

She was surprised by how welcoming he was, despite all that she had done, and shook his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, Sir Raynot. I can’t even begin to thank you for everything that you’ve done…”

“Hey, all in a day’s work, heh. Oh, I take it you’ve met my sister before?”

“We’ve certainly crossed paths, Blood,” Kresimira stated as she steadied Thaddeus in her arm. “A year ago I would’ve been stunned by this turn of events, but now I’d argue its par for the course. I’m just glad you’re here, safe and sound, Lia.”

“Thank you, Kresimira. Of course, I’m not done yet…” she then got out a special key. “I’m not looking forward to this, and I am really hoping the things that were being worked on in Warehouse Omicron shut down. I know shadow construct research is frowned upon here, if not forbidden…”

“Ah,” Audawakrs interrupted with a raised hand. “Any information will greatly help, regardless of its nature or purpose. We may not be creating shadow constructs here, but we can certainly use the research to fight them more effectively.”

“Haha, true, very true.” Lia then set the box she had been carrying down on the table. “I have a present for Thaddeus from Ozymandias…”

“Goodness, what would prompt such an act from a god himself?” Kresimira questioned.

Lia smiled as she pulled out an old, fluffy, brown teddy bear that had looked like it had seen countless eons pass by, but was no worse for wear. Thaddeus’ eyes lit up, like he was seeing an old friend for the first time in ages and immediately started grasping for it. “Here you go, sweetie,” Lia said as she handed it to him.

Following a round of ‘aw’s’ from the group over how Thaddeus tightly hugged the bear, Mal quickly realized who the stuffed animal was. “Wait, is that Mr. Snuggles!?” she exclaimed.

“You’re familiar with this toy?” Audawakrs inquired.

“Yeah, that was Leif’s teddy,” she said as she felt the bear’s soft fur, with it bringing back countless memories of the Epoch.

Kresimira was stunned as she looked at it. “How did Ozymandias get a hold of it? Surely such a relic would have been lost to the sands of time…”

Lia felt her heart growing in size as she saw Thaddeus lovingly hold on to his teddy bear. “He found it out in the void, rescued it, cleaned it up, and was going to keep it as a memento of Leif,” she explained. “Ultimately he decided Thaddeus should have it.”

“Ga…” Thaddeus said, followed by a happy laugh.

“The Evangelist of Old gave it to Leif when he was really young,” Mal added. “It was his prized possession during the Epoch and I’m glad Ozymandias was able to find it.”

“Aw, that’s so cool,” Blood-Wraith commented.

“Thank you, Lia, and Ozymandias too,” Kresimira said as she made sure Thaddeus was steady, then looked at the clock. “My goodness, we best get back to the others. Best of luck with the debriefing, Lia. And considered the hatchet well and truly buried. Now, Thaddeus, let’s go show your father and the others your teddy bear…” she said as she left the Parlor with Thaddeus.

Blood-Wraith nodded with a happy sigh, then turned to Lia. “Thanks for all of the help, Lia. We really appreciate what you did for Odo and Buster.”

“Well given all of the trouble I’ve caused, it was the least I could do,” she replied.

“Adriana, we didn’t cause you too much trouble with The Vermilion King’s mission, did we?”

Adriana sighed. “While it was a massive risk, it did pay off in the end. I can’t stay mad over it. Now, since all of that is out of the way, Lia, Audawakrs? Shall we head to the debriefing?”

“Of course, Adriana,” Lia replied.

“Lead the way, Captain,” Audawakrs answered as they followed her out of the room.

“Blood, would you like to come along?” Adriana quickly inquired.

“I’d like to, but I promised Auda I’d help her with her homework,” he answered. “Still, call me if you guys need me.”

“Will do, Sir Raynot. Best of luck to you and Auda.”

Blood-Wraith gave a slight sigh of relief once the three were out of earshot. “Heh, I’m still a little frazzled from yesterday’s paperwork. Want to spend the night, Mal? Auda and Drusa want to turn things into a slumber party since it’s Friday.”

“Oh, sure,” she replied with a clap. “That sounds like a lot of fun.”

The two took a ride down from the tower to the lift station and stepped out into the fresh, spring air. A sluggish winter had left some snow in the shadows and crevices of the city, but the sun was at a point where it could really start warming the streets and buildings. People were out and about despite the air being a little nippy, and thankfully Blood-Wraith did not have to deal with another ice dam that winter. Blood-Wraith was feeling quite good as The ULTRAMagic Guild was growing steadily and Lia, Odo, and Buster were finally safe. Mal could sense this positivity and it put a smile on her face. Things were definitely looking up for everyone.

After a quick stop at a convenience store, Blood-Wraith had something cross his mind as he and Mal made their way down the sidewalk. “Hey, Mal? Did you hear about the mega pyramid the Central Unlight Explorers found in the Green Raiser Jungle in the southern Unlight?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Drago told me about it. It’s as tall as a mountain, covered in jungle growth, and is called the ‘Abyss Spire.’”

Mal shuddered a little. “Ooh, they need to be careful around that one, as it may be linked to entities known as ‘The Lost Gods,’ which predate the Outer Void itself.”

Blood-Wraith seemed a bit concerned. “Wow, really?”

“Yeah… My friend, Aava Janzen, also known as ULTRAMagic Sylph, was brave enough to try exploring it. Her and Mind-Wraith made multiple expeditions into the pyramid and, well… something happened that Mind-Wraith wouldn’t talk about. Furthermore, Aava completely vanished and never returned.”

“Oh no… did-did she die?”

“I don’t think so. She left with her gloves on her last expedition and somehow The Eternal Church found them in The Valley of Eons…”

Blood-Wraith paused, coming to stop at his usual fountain as he realized something. “Hold up, do you mean Lia’s gloves?”

“Yup. And they looked like they merged with her body, so to me that says Aava is still out there… I think.”

“So what do you think happened to the two? Aava and Mind-Wraith I mean.”

Mal gave it some thought as she looked up at the clouds. “I think they found something truly ancient and forbidden, and have resolved to keep it a secret for now…”

“Jeez, that’s a long time to keep something a secret, isn’t it?”

“I know, and that makes it a bit concerning… Hmm… If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the pre-void stuff I just mentioned. Here’s hoping the Central Unlight Explorers stay safe…”

Blood-Wraith gave an uneasy chuckle. “Jeez, the Cosmos and the Outer Void just keep getting more and more mysterious as time goes on.”

“Ha, you’re telling me? I once stood exactly where we stand now, only this place was a vast forest back then.”

“Yeah, haha, true. Anyways, let’s get back home, as Super Hyper North Fist Fighter! will be on soon. It’s a shame Auda isn’t out of school yet as it’s going to be a funny episode.”

Next: Chapter 16

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

Minor fixes updates are done (well almost...)

Despite all of the chaos going on right now, I have applied some minor fixes to ULTRAMagic Interval. I was rereading it for lore that relates to ULTRAMagic Eon 2 and noticed there were some things I could fix up. Unlike before, these updates are incredibly minor and do not require you to reread the book in any capacity unless you want to. I will note, however, that the epilogue was fixed up to fit the current vision for the series (hopefully I don't have to do this again) and I did add some foreshadowing for future books in the final chapters.

I haven't updated Interval on Blogspot yet, but I am getting to that.

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 14

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In the depths of the void of the Cosmos, far beyond the reach of any sane voyage lay a hidden realm amongst a graveyard of failed universes. This realm of blood red wastelands, rusted metal forests, and screaming stars was the home of Karnage Dethgrave’s tower, and the base of operations for The Eternal Order. Standing at the top of the brutal, sight-rending tower was Karnage himself, waiting for something. He was discontent as his blood red eyes scanned the horizon, the wind blowing his long, pitch black hair around. There was a sneaking suspicion he was going to be angered that day. Not helping his mood was a giant planet approaching his realm… but he quickly realized he could have a little fun with it.

The planet was a grotesque, unholy aberration with a bulging eyeball and a creepy mouth licking its chops. Clearly it wanted to eat Karnage’s realm and was salivating at the prospect of such a delectable meal. Karnage smirked, readied a lightning bolt made of red blood, and hurled the spear as hard as he could into the eye. The planet felt nothing at first, but stopped as its face contorted into a horrified look of unimaginable pain. It then imploded on itself, collapsing into a black hole that unraveled in a screaming cacophony, becoming nothing. Strange, nigh indescribable shadow entities found themselves lost and displaced in the realm. Karnage snapped his fingers, sending a horde of monstrous shadow constructs after them.

“Oh my, quite the strike, Karnage,” A man made of metallic red crystal complimented. He was flanked by two, scarlet skinned women who were caressing his body. “Alas, we may have just killed a potential recruit…”

Karnage groaned, utterly annoyed. “Our recent string of failures are precisely because we are letting in the worthless rabble, Crimson God. It’s not about having numbers, it’s about seeking out the cream of the crop… AND WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT BRINGING YOUR FOLLOWERS INTO MY TOWER!?”

THe Crimson God frowned, then snapped his fingers to send the women away. “You’re no fun… Mmm, how about I take some of that tension away then?” he cooed as he slinked around Karnage, caressing his face… Karnage’s growling was completely ignored. “We used to have so much fun back in the epoch…”

Karnage then shoved The Crimson God aside. “I don’t need pleasure! I need results…”

“Oh phooey! You've been such a stick in the mud ever since you reincarnated!”

A vein popped in Karnage’s head, as there was a certain detail that was being left out. “I’m the killjoy here? Wasn’t it you who recommended The Dead God to me?! THE ONE WHO RATTED ME OUT!?”

The Crimson God recoiled, taken aback by Karnage’s anger. “Oh come on, it was just one little mistake…”

“ONE LITTLE MISTAKE THAT SET US BACK BY SEVERAL ERAS!” Karnage was about to throttle The Crimson God when he noticed a skeletal knight in gnarled, red armor approaching. “Ah, Sanguine, what news do you have for me?”

Sanguine gave a respectful bow, not relishing the news he was about to share. “Valdemaras has returned…”

“Very good, now we can begin the next phase of the plan…”

“He returned empty handed.”

Karnage felt several more veins burst. “WHAT!?!” he roared.

“Furthermore, The Vulture God is dead…”

“WELL, THE ORDER IS ABOUT TO LOSE ONE MORE MEMBER THEN!” he shouted as he stormed past Sanguine.

Sanguine turned to The Crimson God. “You agitated him, didn’t you?”

The Crimson God ignored that question. “I assume Valdemaras also didn’t retrieve the playthings I requested?”

Sanguine had a mild look of disgust on his face as he exhaled. “Father, with all due respect, now is not the time…”

As the two made their way down to the grand hall, slamming and angry shouting could be heard. The Crimson God burst out laughing as Karnage tossed Valdemaras around and screamed obscenities at the rat. “HA, look at him beg for mercy!”

Anne gave The Crimson God a disapproving look, her red lips frowning as she fanned herself. “Wasn’t it you who recommended Valdemaras, Crimson God?” Valdemaras was slammed on the ground before them and dragged away, getting dirt all over Anne’s clothes. “AND LOOK WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO MY ELEGANT, RED DRESS!”

“Never send a rat to do a man’s job-that’s what the undesirables are for,” the brown haired German who resembled a general commented. He shared Anne’s initial disapproving look as he cracked his neck.

The Crimson God flared his nostrils, clearly annoyed. “Hold on, Sebastian! Didn’t you just fail to start World War III?”

Sebastian groaned. “Hector Fang’s death was a minor setback, as I was still able to acquire Conquest’s power…”

“Ha, ignoring the fact you got your rear handed to you by The General of Old, failed to claim the power of the other horsemen, and got kicked out of office…”

“Well then how about you get off of your ass and actually do something for once, Crimson God!?” Another god interjected. This one was a dark figure who was always shifting, appearing glitched and distorted.

“UGH, Running God! How dare you!? I’m always doing something!”

“Like sending in Valdemaras while you sit around with your perverted followers?”

“It was a tactical choice! Do you want Lord Anti and his cohorts after us?”

The Running God slammed his foot on the floor as Karnage sent Valdemaras into a wall. “You could have done this job! Void I wish there was a higher dimensional equivalent of diseases…”

“MERCY, GENERAL DETHGRAVE, MERCY!” Valdemaras screeched as Karnage stomped towards him, shaking the tower with his anger.

“NO, YOU MISERABLE WASTE OF A RAT! Not only did you get The Vulture God killed, fail to kill Lia, and lose the tower to the enemy-YOU LET BUSTER ASH GET AWAY!! WE COULD HAVE BEEN IN CONTROL OF THE COSMOS BY NOW!”

“ANOTHER CHANCE! I’ll go find Buster Ash right now! I can easily find where he is hiding! PLEASE, ONE MORE CHANCE! I BEG OF YOU!” Valdemaras pathetically pleaded.

“NO!” Karnage declared as he summoned a spiked greatsword. “You have failed me for the last time!”

As Valdemaras let out one more, ear piercing scream, Sanguine shook his head. “I’ll clean up the mess afterwards…” he said in an unenthusiastic voice.

Just as Karnage was about to strike, a sickly red chain of energy coiled around his arm, stopping his strike mid swing. The colossal statue above the entrance then began to animate, causing the tower to rumble. It was a grotesque, macabre statue of a skeletal corpse whose horror would shatter the sanity and psyche of any normal man. The eyes lit up red and it turned its head down to witness the spectacle below it.

“Master?!” Karnage questioned. “What is the meaning of this?!”

“ENOUGH, Karnage,” The Sepulcher God ordered. “Your punishment is not necessary, as I still have use for him…”

Valdemaras immediately began groveling before the abhorrent effigy. THANK YOU, MASTER! I am not worthy!”

“Return to Universe-0X and await my orders. DO NOT fail me again, Valdemaras.”

“Of course, my master, my glorious master,” he replied as he stumbled into a blood-like portal.”

Karnage growled and spat on the ground as the portal vanished, putting away his sword. “Insufferable animal, you live for now…”

“As disappointing as that failure was, we’re not finished yet,” The Sepulcher God clarified. “Gudrun?”

A woman with golden hair emerged from the shadows, carrying several books. She had a devious, clever look to her face, making her incredibly seductive in a subtle way. She looked as if she was going to tie one to a train track and smoke a cigarette while explaining how that abduction was going to lead to the collapse of the world’s economy. “I knew Valdemaras was going to drop the ball, so I did a little digging.”

Karnage was tossed the first book, a trembling tome with an agonized face of black and red lava. “The Agony Codex?”

“The Scarlet Agony is off the beaten path and should be undetectable by the enemy. And it should have a useful artifact for the plan. All you need to do is go find it and refocus your efforts on Blood-Wraith and Odo…”

“How intriguing,” Karnage said as an evil grin stretched across his face. “Well done indeed, Gudrun.”

Next she tossed a disheveled and nasty book to The Crimson God. “The Scathing codex for you, Crimson.”

He held the awful thing and grimaced. “And I’m supposed to do what with it?”

“Use those spells to throw off The Hunger of Old, as he’s getting too close to this realm.”

“Right…” Strange insects were crawling out of the hairs of the book, making him gag as he sent it away.

Gudrun then held up a leather bound grimoire that looked professionally made. “And this is for me and Hecate-The Codex of Old. With this we’ll really be able to start messing with The Spiritus Magni on Atlangea. Anne, Sebastian, I’ll need your help for this one.”

“How wonderfully done, Gudrun,” Anne complimented as she circled her. “Are you sure you don’t want to be named the heir to the Vozenilek fortune? You’re just the lady we need…”

“Save it for when we win,” she answered with an evil chuckle.

Sebastian straightened out his uniform with a subtle, maniacal grin on his face. “Then let’s get moving as I need to pay General Lundberg back in kind for ruining my plans…”

“Do not fail me again, Sebastian,” The Sepulcher God cautioned. “The General of Old is not to be taken lightly, even if he walks in the light.”

“And the rest of you don’t blow it,” Gudrun warned as she, Anne, and Sebastian stepped into a portal. “It was a hassle and a half to collect those books.”

The Sepulcher God then turned his attention to The Running God. “I trust your expedition to the Obsidian Hexecontahedron was successful?”

“For the most part… barring the parts that intersect with the True Abyss…”

The statue’s eyes shot out red beams that gave The Running God’s body a metallic sheen to it. “Now go.”

“Alright then…” he said with a sigh, dreading the parts of the hexecontahedron he would have to venture into. A warping portal that looked like a digital screen appeared that made a static hum as it was stepped into.

Karnage cackled maniacally as he reveled in his new found success. “Well this certainly makes up for having to pretend to be Morrigan’s lover!” He then snapped his fingers, opening up a portal or screaming fire. “Well, time to go see what this Scarlet Agony is all about…”

“Karnage, do not develop tunnel vision,” The Sepulcher God interjected. “If you go through with this plan and kill Blood-Wraith Raynot, my magic will not be able to protect you if he returns sanctified by God…”

Karnage laughed at how ridiculous that notion was to him. “Pardon me, but what!? How absurd! What next?! Are we going to call a ceasefire to fight censorship next!? HA!” He then vanished into his portal.

The Sepulcher God sighed. “I see that those armistice contingencies will be necessary now…”

The Crimson God was appalled by this notion. “Sepulcher! You’re not suggesting we work together with Lord Anti and The Tyrant God, are you?”

“Crimson god, I have foreseen events where chaos in certain universes destabilizes entire sections of the Cosmos. As much as I oppose God, the Cosmos is of no use to me if it’s in complete disarray.”

“Desperate times for call desperate measures, father,” Sanguine remarked as he summoned his stewards with a snap of his fingers to clean the grand hall.

Looking around with a sigh, The Crimson God realized something grave. “Karnage is going to blow it, isn’t he?”

“Not only that, but his under-the-table machinations across the Cosmos may jeopardize our plans as a whole,” The Sepulcher God lamented. “As much as The Running God betrays us, his actions are out of spite and that is something I can work with. Karnage on the other seeks power and has begun sowing the seeds of authoritarianism and tyranny across the Cosmos to such an extreme degree that it will render any timeline sterile and useless.” To hear The Sepulcher God this concerned was not a good sign in the slightest.

“Karnage has been growing more and more power hungry ever since he betrayed Wulfric,” Sanguine added.

“Then why don’t we just get rid of him or reign him in already?” The Crimson God wondered. “I’d rather my followers not be lined up against a wall and executed because Karnage is so obsessed with his ‘results’ hoohaa.”

“As much as I want to, Karnage can still be useful to us,” The Sepulcher God answered. “If he succeeds with his current plan, I will bring him to heel. If not, we’ll move onto the next plan and work towards undoing his blunders.”

The Crimson God felt a knot of anxiety for once in a rare time, only for it to be overridden by a laugh from deep down. It took a couple of tries for it to escape his mouth, but when it did he laughed the hardest he ever had. “HAHA!!! Hey, at least it’s not me messing up for once!”

Next: Chapter 15

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 13

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Buster gazed out at the seemingly endless waters of The Great Stone Lake from the Sublimatio Apex Balcony while Odo finalized his spell that would send the younger brother away to safety. The clouds and mist had vanished, allowing for a truly breathtaking sight as sunlight glistened off of the calm waves. Something that weighed on Buster’s mind was the question of what would happen next. Truthfully he was hoping everything would just fix itself right then and there and he would not have to go into hiding. He then conceded to himself that such wishes were naive. It would have also invalidated everything they had just gone through. All of it was a conundrum for Buster as the gentle lake breeze caressed his face.

“It’s strange how close The Unlight can feel to Earth at times,” Waramunt said as he stepped over to the stone railing. “And as progress continues to march on back home, tainting its beauty, The Unlight remains pristine and unburdened. I’d even go so far as to call this realm Eden.”

“Well surely Earth still has some beauty to it?”

“Undoubtedly, despite all of the parking lots and shopping malls. Many forests and valleys remain intact for you to enjoy their relaxing splendor… only for you to find a discarded plastic bottle, a shopping bag is discovered at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, and a processed chip bag gets left behind in a cave, destabilizing its entire ecosystem…”

Buster felt bad, but then realized something that brought him an odd comfort. “Well how’s that any worse than Milosh occupying Shadowland, Anne ordering an attack on Droomopolis, or Karnage hunting me for my ULTRAMagic?”

“True, but those are things we can easily fight back against. So many people swear fealty to and worship money where I’m from. God is clearly nothing but primitive barbarism, all hail the markka and the dollar-screw the euro. Your government then pulls the rug out from under your feet, says you can’t do this and that, and lo and behold they have an army of soulless sinners reveling in the irreverence. They don’t care if they ruin lives and sabotage humanity’s success, they’re getting paid to do it!”

“Well… then it sounds like The Eternal Order has set up shop on Earth and we need to go and stop them.”

That led to a moment of silence from Waramunt. “As much as I want to lay the blame at Karnage’s feet for his meddling, there are a lot of people who have rejected the light and accepted the material. We can’t treat everyone like they’re a willing accomplice of The Sepulcher God…”

“I get that, but things won’t change if we don’t act, even if it’s merely defiance.”

Waramunt smiled as Ensio walked over and gave a reassuring caw. Buster reminded him of someone he knew all too well from Earth. “I suppose conflict is our existence, for without it we wouldn’t exist in the first place.”

“It sounds like Earth’s a mess, but just look at what Odo and I have gone through… and don’t even get me started on The Great Uncity.”

“Don’t expect a free ride regardless, as Earth demands you work! Work work work! You work until your bones ache, come home to rest, and then get a letter from the taxman saying that your taxes are going up because a group of upper class degenerates need a new yacht…” Waramunt sounded incredibly angry despite initially calming down. While it was clear he never experienced that issue first hand, everything he had just said was only the tip of the iceberg of things he had to say about Earth.

Buster had to laugh a little. “Goodness, and to think I’m heading off to Milosh’s universe… Will I run into you, Waramunt?”

He paused with remorseful silence, contemplating how to answer that. “I have no doubt you will, but it will be at my lowest. Do not pity me, rather learn from my mistakes. And fret not, as no matter what I do, I nor the Eternal Order will lay a finger on you, as your protectors won’t allow it. You’ll be in safe hands with some of the best friends you have ever known.”

“Thank you, Waramunt… I suppose it would jeopardize the timeline if you told me who you actually are?”

“Absolutely, but don’t worry, it will all make sense in due time.”

“Buster, the spell’s ready…” Odo called over to him.

“Well I’d dare say your train is here, my boy,” Waramunt encouragingly remarked.

Everyone else stood before the portal of softly twisting, warm pastel colors. It was quite soothing and inviting. Buster sighed as he looked into it, seeing a faint glimpse of a familiar man standing with six others. “So I guess this is it then?”

Odo gave him a hug, not wanting to let go. “You’ll be safe this way, I promise.”

“I’m going to miss you, brother…”

“Me too, Buster. Me too.”

After saying goodbye to everyone, Buster began to walk towards the portal. A ribbon of light enveloped him, changing his appearance. Turning around to face his friends and family one more time, Buster had become a human with brown hair, purple eyes, and a smile on his face. “See you guys later.” He then stepped into the portal, with it vanishing in a beautiful mist of rainbow sparkles.

Odo was quiet after all was said and done. He had nothing to say as he had done it… He had gotten his brother into hiding. So many things rushed through his mind as the anxiety mounted inside of him. Was Buster going to be okay? What if he got hurt? What if someone else went after him? A single tear fell to the ground, with Odo wiping his face. He then turned to Waramunt. A fire had ignited in Odo’s soul that could not be doused and it could be seen as clear the magnificent sky in his eyes.

“Waramunt, tell Sylvia I’m interested in her offer…”

“Haha, actually she anticipated this,” Waramunt replied as he handed him a black, coarse playing card with a texture similar to charcoal.

“Odo, are you sure about this?” Lia questioned. “Anne’s side of the order is not playing around.”

“Seriously, Odo, at least come home and rest up in The Iron City for a little bit…” Dragoslava added.

Odo paused, then wrote his name on the card with a raven’s quill in red ink that glowed like embers. “I can’t rest after what they did to me and Buster,” he said as the card turned into a pitch black claymore. “Karnage is still out there after all.”

“Well we can’t argue with him with determination like that,” Ozymandias commented, with Tereza nodding. “Best of luck to you, Sir Odo Ash. You have my blessing. Stay safe.”

“Thank you, Royal God,” Odo replied as he held up the claymore. A giant raven flew towards the tower and picked Odo up by the blade, carrying him off into the distant horizon.

Waramunt shook his head with a smile, being brought back to when he accepted Sylvia’s offer. “Well I better go with him and make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

Lia sensed what was about to happen and hurried over to Waramunt as he walked over to the railing. “Waramunt, I will see you again, right?”

Waramunt gave her a kiss on the lips. “Of course you will, my love.” He then presented her a beautiful, thornless, dark red rose. “Here, a promise from Sylvia that I’ll return safe and sound.”

“I’ll wait as long as it takes,” Lia also promised as she accepted the flower.

“That’s all I could ever ask for,” he said as he summoned his spectral sword. Waramunt then held it up for another raven to come along and carry him off, just like Odo.

Adriana crossed her arms and smiled. “We still need to get Lia back to The Iron city, but mission accomplished.” This made the whole group happy and relieved.

Tusk gave a triumphant laugh. “Now let’s go get Angus and Cornelius and skedaddle before something else happens…”

Once everyone was ready, the group departed from the tower and headed for the boat. Looking back on the tower one last time, it began slowly fading from existence before finally vanishing in a spectacular, vermilion mist. Notably the island had shrunk a great deal, which was very surreal for the group. They could not help but stay there for a second, taking it all in. The sudden tranquility lifted a weight off of their shoulders, but also triggered a sensation of eeriness.

“It’s finally over…” Serjiel stated. “No more chaos, as the tower has found its true home-a dream in a realm for its ilk. It’s an honor to share this moment with all of you.”

“Same here, Serjiel,” Tusk said as he patted him on the shoulder. “Auda is going to riddle me with non-stop questions, no doubt about it.” The others laughed and chuckled.

“It feels odd to have it gone like that,” Yoshihiro noted. “Strangely I found it growing on me, but at the same time I’d rather not have another rat invasion.”

Dragoslava hopped onto the boat with the others following suit. “So, Cornelius, what do you think of The Unlight so far?”

“It’s strange, to say the least,” he answered with a laugh.

“Don’t worry, lad, you’ll get used to it,” Angus said as he patted him on the back. “Spend a few weeks here and it will feel just like the Cosmos proper.”

Yoshihiro saw Tusk starting the boat and went to the wheel once the engines started. “Here, Tusk, let me. I’ll take you guys to the far shore, then return the boat so I can also go tell the guys at the LWIO what happened.”

“Fine with me,” Tusk said with a shrug as the boat took off. “Adriana?”

She was a little nervous as she glanced around, notably to Lia. “I don’t like being down a man, but we do have Drago here…”

“Precisely!” she agreed. “Don’t worry, Captain, nothing will happen to Lia under my watch.”

“And I’d be damned if any harm came to my daughter,” Angus assured. “Lia, that rat Milosh didn’t hurt you or put any moves on you, did he?”

Lia laughed. “Oh, father… It wouldn’t matter as he’s long since dead. Oh, um, speaking of that… Adriana? I know everyone doesn’t fully trust me yet and that’s fully understandable, but I need to go to Shadowland as soon as possible, as there are some important things we need to retrieve from my house-that I hope hasn’t been torn down…”

“Absolutely not, as Sten has been very careful in handling these matters,” she replied.

“Good, because my house just so happens to have one of the major secret entrances to warehouse Omicron.” This caught Adriana, Dragoslava, and Tusk off guard.

“Well I’d dare say that warrants utmost attention then…” Adriana concluded.

“Don’t worry, Lia, we’ll send Blood with you,” Draoglsava promised.

“Why Blood-Wraith exactly?” Lia questioned. “I’m not calling into question his abilities-given what I know about him, but what can he do for us in this matter?”

“Agreed,” Adriana added. “Could you elaborate, Drago?”

She smirked. “He can turn into a dragon, hello?!”

“Ah… fair point, Drago.”

Lia thought about the prospect for a second. “Well I suppose it would greatly help given how powerful he is… and I’m not sure if the projects in the warehouse have deactivated or not…”

“Be careful about this, Lia,” Angus cautioned.

Tusk nodded, looked at the waters as gusts of wind hit his face, then had an idea. “Well hey, not only Blood, but also Gratiana and Gummi.”

“Oh my goodness…” Lia said to herself, then wondered about Tusk’s logic. “Wait, why them specifically?”

“Well aside from making up with them, those two are nothing to sneeze at in regards to their abilities. Gummi’s elk form is a force to be reckoned with and I swear Lord Leonard is on the verge of giving Gratiana her honors back.”

“Hold up, what did you say about Gummi?”

Tusk smiled. “The beast blood plot and poisoning, remember? The Beast of Old blessed his sample of blood and now he can turn into a giant elk powered by arcane energy… Hey, Lia? What kind of beast do you fancy yourself as? Say you got that beast blood of yours cleaned up and what not…”

She was not sure what to say to that odd question, although the vast waters of the lake did give her an idea. “Um, well, perhaps a swan? They’re such gorgeous birds and I was always disappointed that they could never live in Glacierhaven.”

“A fantastic choice, Lia,” Angus encouraged. “Considering you’ve always been as pretty as one.”

“Father, please,” Lia said, a little embarrassed, with the others chuckling. “Tusk, I suppose if The Beast of Old blesses me, I will go to speak to Lord Driskoll about purifying my beast blood.”

“There you go,” Tusk happily replied. “I’ll get a hold of The Beast when we get back… assuming you’re okay with it, Adriana, haha.”

She exhaled and shook her head. “Well normally I’d get on your case for undermining my authority, but if Lia is meant to become a blessed beast, then so be it. It would certainly be a boon to the Blades, given the benefits of Valerie’s hawk form. And I can’t deny that Blood-Wraith, Gummi, and Gratiana would be quite the team to go with you to your old home, Lia.”

“They’d knock it out of the park, no two ways about it,” Dragoslava assured. “Any leftover shadow constructs are about to be torched by Blood.”

Lia sighed, concerned about Omicron. “Here’s hoping he’s on top of his game,” she noted. “As I pray Audamar has shut down like the rest…” That comment was a bit quieter, and to herself, as she was starting to dread the idea of the trip to Shadowland…

Next: Chapter 14

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

Wicked Angel Mto

Relevant Posts: Inferno, Toco, Heaven, The Eternal Order, Ianoda, The ACF-100 incident

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Wicked Angels are a strange and obscure type of angel that represent the shadow of normal angels. Typically observed with servant angels and cavalry cross angels, these angels manifest with adverse powers compared to their normal counterparts. An angel that heals will have their shadow bring affliction. An angel who focuses on saving wealth may have a shadow that will focus on gambling. While Wicked Angels are viewed as "evil," they are still subject to God and are overseen by Ianoda.

Something caused the wicked angel Mto (A fire angel of the wind subangle) to grow interested in the realm of Man, greatly concerning the servient angel Toco. Where one goes the other goes, and a wicked angel acting on their own is never a good sign. Many believe the igniting conflict in Inferno between the 4 emperors and Satan & Mephistopheles (and their armies of nephilim) are the cause for this, especially with The Eternal Order ramping up their efforts to take control of Earth-23.

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So Wicked Angels are actually a thing in Enochian angel magic. Lon Milo DuQette talks about them in his book Enochian Vision Magick. The angel Ave told Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley about the wicked angels, but also told Kelley no, they're evil. And you can easily find these angels on the Great Table... but I'm not telling you how. If you are that curious, buy a copy of Enochian Vision Magick and research it for yourself.

This may actually be the first time Mto has ever been depicted in art form, let alone even appeared to us, as Enochian angel magic is a bit off the beaten path and Enochian Vision Magick was published in 2019. Is this what he looks like? I don't know. What does he do? Again, I don't know. I don't have the full insight yet to contact Toco and ask him what he does. Of course, I could work that into the lore to make them more mysterious...

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 12

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That night’s dinner in the luxurious, Victorian-Greek dining hall felt like a true victory lap for the group. While it was true that Gudrun had gotten away, Valdemaras had failed spectacularly, with Lia and Buster happily enjoying their scrumptious food. And if The Vermilion King was to be believed, everything was going according to plan. Ozymandias and Tereza were simply upbeat in every possible regard, recalling their past adventures (that did not involve them enabling The Sepulcher God). It was surprising to see Ozymandias so jovial despite the slaying of The Vulture God a couple of days prior. And of course The Vermilion King also had his fair share of stories to tell. Truthfully Lia, Buster, and Odo were hoping the night would last forever, as it was vastly preferable to the conflicts that waited far outside the tower.

The next day saw the group at Ozymandias’ living space so he could tell them his tale of how he became intertwined with the tower in the first place. Ozymandias lived in what could be best described as a truly grand palace that defied the confines of the tower’s structure. It was breathtakingly beautiful, consisting of Roman architecture with traces of Babylonian. The group was in awe as they marveled at the countless artifacts, treasures, and art pieces that lined the walls, indicating the eons of travel that the tower had undertaken. And in the center plaza of the palace was a golden statue of two primordials very familiar to everyone present.

Tusk gave a joyous laugh seeing the statue of the dragon, feeling a great deal of nostalgia. “Drago, take a look at the statue of Leif.”

She smiled, her eyes nearly welling up as she witnessed the glorious depiction of their late friend. “Goodness, I should’ve brought Blood and Desislav along.”

“I owe everything I now have to Leif and The Madman of Old,” Ozymandias said as he stepped over to them. “They’re both unsung heroes that deserve more recognition.” There was a subtle longing in his voice, no doubt indicating he wanted Leif to return despite how pointless such a wish was. “Gather around, everyone, and I shall tell you my story. The only thing I ask is that you don’t pity me, but learn from my mistakes. I take no pride in my past actions, but I also won’t run from them.”

“I raise my glass to that, Ozymandias,” Waramunt stated as the others got comfortable around the large pedestal of the statue. “As natural as tears are, they won’t bring back the dead…”

“Nor will they solve our problems, Waramunt. Only reaching the light can do that.” Everyone else heard Ozymandias say ‘Waramunt,’ but Waramunt himself heard ‘Valentin.’ “Now this is a long story of mine, but I will do my best to condense the countless eons of history, haha.” He then waved his hand in front of the statue, causing Leif and The Madman to hover up into the air and out of the way as a pool of bubbling gold rose at the base of the pedestal.

“Incredible,” Dragoslava remarked as she took a seat at a nearby table, getting out several notepads and pens. “Are you two sure you’re ready for all of this to be written down?”

“Yes, Dragoslava,” Tereza replied. She then looked at Ozymandias and nodded. “There’s no use in keeping quiet about it anymore.”

Ozymandias looked up and took a breath, steadying his nerves. He then conjured up a younger figure of him from the gold. “I was never a truly special god, just one out of many with nothing meaningful to his name…” The gold statuette looked depressed and lonely as a group of other gods chatted and laughed with their followers in the distance. “I was and still am tenth dimensional, with nothing for man of the Epoch to revere, so naturally I grew a bit desperate for something, anything… and then he came along…” Everyone shuddered a little as a skeletal statuette appeared and offered the lone god what looked like an apple.

“The Sepulcher God,” Waramunt remarked. “Of course that charlatan would just so happen to be in the neighborhood.”

“My desire for success no doubt caught his attention, so he came to me with silver words, offering to help me achieve the glory I desired. All I had to do was help him with his master plan…” His gold statuette sunk back into the pool, causing it to bubble widely. “And thus I became The Royal God…” Emerging from the liquid gold was an imposing figure in the image of a mighty king who commanded his underlings to gather vast riches for him. It was easy to tell that this newly christened monarch was not a true leader, however. “In hindsight I did too many embarrassing things to recount…”

“I’d imagine you could relate to The Royal God, Waramunt?” Adriana tactfully inquired, hoping to get some information out of him.

“Certainly, Captain,” he replied. “Albeit I was never visited by The Sepulcher God, obviously.”

“And fortunate you were, as no one should ever have the displeasure of meeting with that irreverent excuse for a god,” Ozymandias continued. “Now what really thrust me into the limelight was the aftermath of the shattering of The Tyrant God, a vocal and vehement opponent of The Sepulcher God…” What appeared from the pool next was a bestial god striking down an ar’ton, followed by The Madman destroying The Tyrant God. “Framing The Tyrant God would have worked had The Dead God not interfered, helping The Behemoth God one moment then ratting him out the next, followed by our higher dimensional troublemaker helping Lord Anti reassemble himself…”

“Well I’d dare say The Sepulcher God needs to be more mindful of the help he enlists…” Serjiel noted.

“If any of you are wondering why The Eternal Order has adopted such a cutthroat mentality of leaving behind anyone who does not yield results in recent times, The Dead God is probably one of the reasons why,” Ozymandias stated with certainty in his voice. “Now since there was a power vacuum, I filled the position and got to work with a campaign of subterfuge to get the heat off of us, no thanks to The Behemoth God’s arrogance…”

“So where does Tereza play into all of this then?” Adriana wondered.

“Perfect timing, as this was around the time when I entered the scene,” she answered. “I was made Ozymandias’ right hand woman.” A new statuette appeared out of the gold, depicting a less powerful version of Tereza. And as to be expected, The Sepulcher God was there, offering her a fruit like he had done for Ozymandias… except this time there were terrifying specters of unspeakable form dancing around the two. It was clear they were something else entirely and gave the group chills. “I… I was a lowly ar’ton of water who had learned about the horrors of the Outer Void and the True Abyss and… I was scared, with The Sepulcher God offering to make it all go away… and I was stupid enough to believe him.”

“Hold on,” Adriana interrupted. “Tereza, pardon my asking, but what made you so scared? It can’t be any worse than The Reverse Serpent…”

Tereza shuddered as the water-like substance that filled her metal frame began to freeze, with the strange ice even creeping towards the group and starting to crawl up some of their legs. “There are gods-dark, ancient gods that predate the Outer Void and slumber in prisons impossible to reach. They are horrid things that we should never have found about, that should have remained forgotten! Even in their slumber they quietly influence everything and we can’t even fight back! And understanding them? Good luck with that one!”

Ozymandias stopped Tereza and gave her a hug, trying his best to soothe his panicking lover. “Easy, Tereza, easy. The Ancient God has everything under control, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean we're not in danger, Ozymandias!” she reminded him, accidentally causing everyone else to be encased in a thin layer of ice up to their torsos. “Oops, my apologies…” Tereza said as she focused, melting the ice and drawing it back into her.

“The Ancient God?” Serjiel questioned, somewhat confused. “Ozymandias, is this something the guild should be looking into? At the very least to quell Tereza’s fears…”

“No. For now focus on stopping The Sepulcher God. I have no doubt he will try to rouse The Lost Gods if he is able to usurp God. And we can’t let any of that happen. Thankfully, like I said, The Ancient God has our backs-doing his best to keep his kin asleep.”

Tusk sighed, letting out a fair amount of oxygen. “Jeez, no wonder Eustorgio lost his marbles back in the day… aside from the obvious. What next? Lost Lost Gods?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, Tusk,” Ozymandias replied with dread in his voice. “The concept of infinity is truly terrifying once you grasp the full scope of it… and speaking of Eustorgio, perfect segue!” The change in his tone of voice to energetic again was a little surreal, but the group remained quiet as the gold pool shifted and brought forth the three great mages of the Epoch. Unfortunately they were arguing amongst each other, with Leif and Eustorgio spearheading the heated debate. “Eustorgio was on to me, Tereza, and the others, but no one believed him, or were too afraid to speak up for The Mage of Old. And of course The Deep God’s prophecy sent him over the edge, causing him to begin directly opposing us and The Sepulcher God. And Eustorgio’s plans to stop us inevitably drove a rift between him and his family. I felt no sympathy at the time, until my first major failure, the attack on the dark angel home realm of Luna…”

As a moon rose from the pool, Waramunt realized how familiar it looked. “Wait a second, isn’t that the moon?”

“Indeed,” Serjiel replied. “But what we see as the moon is merely an illusion across the Cosmos, hiding the home of the dark angels.”

“I’ve heard of the dark angels, but I lack the proper insight as to what separates them from regular angels.”

“Dark angels are ancient beings that rose from the darkness when God shone his light on the Outer Void and created the Cosmos,” Serjiel began to explain. “In this regard they are similar to Seraphim, Cherubim, and Ophanim in how they predated the arrival of the angels across the various versions of Heaven all over the Cosmos. Eclectic and reclusive, they prefer to explore the Cosmos and beyond rather than getting involved in our conflicts. Zozena and Schwarzes are notable exceptions, obviously.”

Tusk had been nodding along when the latter name caught him off guard. “Hold the phone! Schwarzes is a dark angel?”

“You never noticed that, Tusk?” Serjiel questioned.

“Not really…”

“Well I will note that it was not obvious at first until I started noticing the oddities of his existence… annoyingly the majority of dark angels won’t let him into Luna yet, so we cannot figure out how or why Schwarzes is a dark angel. Again, they are incredibly reclusive, so gathering more information on them is difficult. And all of you can understand the need to clear up Schwarzes’ origin given where and who he came from.”

“Well actually I know a dark angel who wanders the Pool Expanse Reality Errors…” Odo started to say.

“I’m sorry, ‘pool expanse?’” Waramunt interjected. “What in the blue blazes is that?”

“You know how Reality Errors tend to reflect the reality of the Cosmos when it overlaps with The Unlight?”

“Acutely aware…”

“Well take a concept like public pools, apply that to Reality Errors, and have that expand into Somnium, allowing it to become a realm in and of itself.”

Waramunt took a second to think about it and nodded. “How strange…”

“People from your Earth are obsessed with that whole liminal space weirdness and I think the concept of liminal pool realms may have escaped out into the Cosmos,” Dragoslava noted.

“I see… I’m not too well versed in internet culture, so that’s a bit of a new one for me.”

Odo cleared his throat, returning attention to himself. “Getting back to my friend, her name is Ezomathon and she’s a little more sociable than the other dark angels. While the Pool Expanse is quite big, it shouldn’t be too hard to get ahold of her, especially for Valentina and Schwarzes.”

“Huh, we’ll have to look into that one,” Serjiel noted. “Thank you, Odo.”

“No problem. Now, Ozymandias, the attack on Luna?”

Ozymandias gave a guilty chuckle. “I know I promised to tell you guys my story, but I was also kind of hoping you would keep talking, haha. Anyways…” He snapped his fingers, causing the moon to shift over to a scene of a great city of immense proportions at the south pole. “Tereza and I were after The Inverted Philosopher’s Stone held by Lemogethon at his castle. The inverted stone is a powerful artifact from a different time that grants one the ability to collapse superposition, so you can understand why The Sepulcher God wanted it.” The liquid gold was following Ozymandias’ story perfectly and the group was eager to know what happened next. “We launched our attack, but Lemogethon was one step ahead of us and severed his castle from Luna, plunging it into the Dark Void. We tried to chase after it, but The Dread God stopped us. The Tyrant God’s old mentor is vastly more cunning than The Sepulcher God and is not someone you want to get on the bad side of. And of course this blunder of a defeat revealed how truly dumb The Sepulcher God is…”

Adriana noticed a familiar snake slithering around the miniature Dark Void landscape and took a breath to ease her nerves after the surge of adrenaline she felt. “Oh dear…”

“That’s right, we disturbed The Reverse Serpent,” Ozymandias recounted with frustration in his voice. “The poor thing slithered out of universe with alarmingly high levels of Iteration Generation Loss, hoping to find a place to rest… and then we came along, scaring it and no doubt waking up all sorts of dangerous entities in the process. This whole fiasco shone a light on The Sepulcher God’s schemes and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he will get us all killed if not stopped! There are forces he’s meddling with that even the thirteenth dimensional entities will not trifle with!”

Dragoslava had to pause to shake her cramping hand. “Ow… well ain’t that a fine howdydo… Wait a second, Adriana? Why are you guys so up in arms about the serpent again? It sounds like he’s a victim to me…”

“Well again, Drago, we’re reevaluating what the synopsis to GRO was actually referring to,” she assured. “I really wish Mads would just spill the beans already…”

With a nod she got out another pen and flipped to the next page. “Yeah, I know that feeling, in regards to Achasiah and Deimos. So what happened next?”

“Aside from a string of failed schemes, no thanks to The Crimson God?” Tereza answered. “Ozymandias and I fell in love, given all the trouble we had gone through together.”

“Looking back on it, it was inevitable and the beginning of the end of us as cohorts of The Sepulcher God,” Ozymandias added. “Our last big mission was during the Epoch-transition phase where we were to claim the tower for The Eternal Order…” a recreation of the tower itself sprung forth from the gold, with Leif, The Madman, and The Automaton of Old guarding it as Ozymandias and Tereza approached. “The Monolith of Old was on to us and used the tower as a trap. We were both defeated, with I becoming the Tower Arbiter and Tereza being sentenced to be the warden for The Requiem Cosmos.”

“And yes, our hearts certainly grew fonder for each other over that period of time,” Tereza added with a hint of lovingness in her voice. “You know what happened to me; I was let go for good behavior at Lord Anti’s request.”

“As for me…” Ozymandias paused, needing to take a breath as he felt a lump of guilt build up in his chest. It could be sensed that he was growing rightfully emotional. “After millennia of wandering the Cosmos with the tower, Leif came to visit me a night not too long ago…” The golden pool shifted to a scene at the top of the tower with Leif and Ozymandias. “Leif had learned of my history over the eons and had taken pity on me, even going so far as to ask God to restore my honors should he forgive me…” The gold shifted one last time, returning to the statue of Leif and The Madman. “And then? He… he forgave me…” Ozymandias struggled to say. There was a brief moment of silence before he dropped to his knee and began to cry profusely. “HE FORGAVE ME, DESPITE THE IRREVERENT ACTS I COMMITTED. Even after all the pain I caused him, Eustrogio, Mal, Ermenrich, and Tiberius! HE FORGAVE ME, OF ALL PEOPLE.”

There was a surge of emotion in the room as the group remained silent. It was hard not to shed a tear alongside the troubled god. Even though Tereza got down beside him, the tears continued to flow as regret and sorrow spilled forth from Ozymandias. At the same time, hope could be sensed in the emotional release. Dragoslava closed her notepad, calmly got up, and went over to Ozymandias with Tusk. There stood a deity that had contributed greatly to all of the grief the two had experienced over the past decade, but they were not mad, not in the slightest.

“Royal God, I forgive you,” Dragoslava said with a gentle smile.

“Same here,” Tusk added. “Water under the bridge, as trees don’t hold grudges.”

Ozymandias could not help but give a comforted laugh through his tears as he shakily rose to his feet. “Is it any wonder all of you became friends with Leif? Thank you, but please keep calling me ‘Ozymandias,’ as I don’t want to forget my past mistakes.”

Buster was trying hard not to cry, with Waramunt putting his arm around his shoulders, like a father would. “I’m glad you and Leif were able to reconcile, Ozymandias,” he stated. “See, Lia? If he can move on, you can do it too…”

“You’re absolutely right, Buster,” she replied in a hopeful tone.

Waramunt ruffled Buster’s hair with a smile on his face. “We all have the light within us, waiting for it to be let into our lives.”

Odo shook his head with a smile, having figured out who Waramunt was thanks to some insight he had received from Dragoslava in the past. “So, Waramunt, how’s Earth-23 this time of year?”

“Splendid, but are you sure you want to send Buster there? It’s fraught with danger and uncertainty…”

“I think he’ll be fine. He’s all grown up now after all.”

“Then follow me,” Ozymandias said as he began to lead the group to the exit. “I know a truly beautiful section of the tower to see him off in.”

Next: Chapter 13

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 11

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“So, kid, what did you think of your first major mission?” Tusk asked as he tapped Yoshihiro’s arm. The group was waiting in a Victorian-styled parlor while that night’s dinner was being prepared.

Yoshihiro sighed and slouched a little on the sofa. “That was something else and I never want to do it again…”

“Well, until we get rid of The Eternal Order you’re going to have to keep grinning and bearing it.”

“I know… You know? It’s kind of surreal to know you guys were off hunting The Lich of Old back when I saw Blood and Drago at the Lake Outskirts all those years ago…”

“Er, not quite, as that was right before they met Leif. To be fair, I did sense Blood pop into existence and probably would’ve gone to meet him had the forest been near The Iron City…”

“You’re sure about that?” Serjiel questioned with a subtle, cheeky smile as he stepped away from some relics on a shelf he was observing.

“Well yeah, I…” Tusk took a second to process what had been said, and then it hit him. “Oh haha, very funny. Yes, I would’ve gotten off of my roots for Blood-Wraith.”

“Mads could definitely relate to your plight back then,” Adriana stated as she took a sip of her tea, across the coffee table from the two. “With the great burdens and uncertainties on your shoulders…”

“So I trust he also butted heads with you?” Serjiel put in.

Adriana exhaled. “Oh so now it’s a night for witty banter I take it?” Everyone else chuckled, including a couple of the stewards. “While we never butted heads as it were, Mads definitely needed encouragement to get a job done sometimes, and to merely leave his house in general.”

“It was the lack of training, wasn’t it?” Tusk replied.

“Undoubtly, considering he had to be drafted into ENCOM in the first place.”

Buster stepped away from the fireplace, as his side was quite warm. “I remember Odo being a bit all over the place when he first became a knight…” He then took a biscuit from the plate with the teapot and spread some jam on it. “I wanted to help him, but then he showed me the goliath of a book he had to study and… well let’s just say I don’t envy him in the slightest.”

A steward was called to the door, and stuck her head into the hallway for a brief second. “Everyone? A guest will be joining you…”

“Oh, really?” Adriana questioned with utmost curiosity. “Well send them in…”

Stepping into the cozy parlor was a strong woman in a blue trench coat, with long, dark brown hair and green eyes. “Hey, guys!” she said with a wave.

“Hey, Dragoslava!” Tusk welcomed. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, just checking in on all of you since you went a bit radio silent. The whole guild’s worried sick-and speaking of which…” Dragoslava pulled out a flip phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Blood… Yeah, they’re all good… Well of course I made it to the tower! Why else would I be calling you?” She paused for a second, realizing her gaffe. “Er, okay, okay, good point… Yup, see you tomorrow, bye.” She then closed her phone, with a kind steward taking her coat for her. “And apparently Ozymandias would like me to write down his story.”

“Really now?” Serjiel noted. “Such an archival will be quite the undertaking. Are you sure you’re ready for his no doubt storied history?”

She shrugged. “Can’t be any worse than the reports I have to write up for The Central Unlight Explorers Guild.” Dragoslava then turned to Buster. “Hey, Buster. Long time no see”

“Hey, Drago,” he replied as he accepted a hug from her.

“How are you doing, buddy?”

“Great-safe and sound, thanks to Odo and the others.”

“That is fantastic to hear, even though you probably had a few close calls,” she said as she patted him on the shoulder, receiving a nod in response. Following a round of greetings from the others, Dragoslava went right over to Lia. She was sitting by the fireplace, having been reading a leather-bound book. “Lia, it’s been a while…”

She set her book aside and got up with an awkward smile starting to creep across her face. “It’s… I… Dragoslava, I am so sorry for the cult’s activities in The Valley of Eons all those years ago. I know it’s a lot to ask and it’s debatable if I deserve it, but can you forgive me for my sacrilegious behavior back then? I mean, it was my idea to raid the valley…”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s in the past,” Dragoslava said as she shook her hand. “Besides, you guys didn’t actually do that much damage. Also consider yourself lucky I didn’t have my metal skin or R1 Voidcannon back then, haha!”

Lia paused as she took her hand back. “Metal skin? What do you mean by that?”

Dragoslava smiled and metalized her arm, it turning metallic black with silver veins. She then closed her hand a couple of times, the metal stretching and flexing like normal skin. “Surely your intel told you about that little shindig with The Lich of Old at the Metal Oasis?”

Adriana had to chuckle a little. “Lia, out of all people, you should know about that…”

Lia nodded as she looked at the arm, recalling those bygone days. “Ah… Ah, okay, I remember now. Sorry, it’s just that it’s been so long and we never really acted on the intel as there were bigger things to worry about. Is the metal really indestructible like those insufferable lackeys I used to command had claimed? You know how those cowards could get…”

“Want to give it a whack?” Dragoslava asked as she held up her arm.

“Oh my, really?”

She nodded. “I can take it.”

Lia hesitated as she put her fingertips together, took a breath, then turned her right hand fingers into talons. “Alright then, if you insist…” It felt so strange to take a swipe at Dragoslava given that they were allies now. As Lia raked her fingers across Dragoslava’s arm, nothing happened save for a sudden, sharp pain she felt in her appendages. “OW OW OW,” she exclaimed as she took her hand back and shook it, catching everyone’s attention and concern.

“Lia, are you okay over there?” Waramunt called out from the far wall bookshelf.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m fine… ow ow…”

Dragoslava wanted to feel proud over that, but it was overridden by pity. “Jeez, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No no, I just whacked my fingers,” Lia answered.

“Yeah, I know that feeling…” Dragoslava then noticed something was off with Lia’s arm and went to inspect it. “Hold up a second, I shouldn’t have hurt you that much… I thought these were gloves?”

Lia sighed and rolled up her sleeve, revealing that the glove had fused with her arm. The polymateria was snaking up to her shoulder like veins would, a state of affairs that would have been impossible for her to inflict on herself. “It… it merged with my body. There’s no reversing it, as these are my arms now. And we don’t know why.”

Serjiel stepped over and gently twisted Lia’s arm, with it stretching like rubber. “Strange, but it’s not the worst fate. Polymateria is a blessed substance after all. Perhaps these gloves sensed your plight once you turned your back on The Eternal Order?”

“Waramunt and I have been wondering the same thing,” Lia said with a nervous, yet hopeful smile.

“Speaking of which, is that him over there?” Dragoslava inquired with a chuckle.

“Yes-Waramunt, dear? Could you come over here? You need to meet Dragoslava…”

“Coming, my darling,” Waramunt said as he put an old, thick book back on the creaking shelf. “Make a note of that, Ensio; Will and Bethany need to read that one…”

Tusk had to do a double take on that comment as he turned around and placed his arm on the back of the sofa. “Will? You know Will, Waramunt?”

“Yeah, like our Will?” Yoshihiro added as he also turned around.

Waramunt froze, realizing the gravity of his blunder. “I… I know… I know of Will, yes! I’ve heard great things about him… like how he enjoys reading books containing esoteric knowledge.” His nervous chuckle was followed by an exasperated squawk from Ensio, indicating they had discussed this issue before.

Dragoslava could see Adriana’s frustrated look and quietly snickered. “Nice to meet you, Waramunt,” she said as she held out her hand. “Thanks for helping Buster, Odo, and Lia.”

“It was an honor, Lady Raynot,” he replied as they shook hands. “And it is a pleasure to meet you too.”

“You’re from Universe-23, aren’t you?” she asked as she took her hand back and inspected it.

Waramunt froze again. “How-how do you know that?”

Dragoslava gave a slight, mischievous giggle. “I can sense it, as I’ve been to Universe-23 before and it’s where Desislav is from. Plus I’ve also been to Earth-23 and met Will on one of his Liger Brigade missions, specifically the Ireland mission…”

“Wait, really?” Adriana interrupted. “Why did neither of you bring that up last year?”

With a groan Dragoslava went and prepared herself a biscuit. “Do you know how badly I wanted to catch up with him? We couldn’t bring anything up as Schwarzes, Zal, and Beorhtric weren’t sure how it would affect the timeline. Freaking annoying…” She then took a bite of the biscuit, the strawberry jam pleasing her taste buds.

“Well surely you two chatted in the future?” Serjiel reasoned. “Given how talkative he was I’d be surprised if he didn’t.”

“Yeah, probably…” Dragoslava then went over and sat next to Tusk on the sofa. “Hey, Waramunt? Why do you guys even put up with democracy in the first place? It sounds like tribalist nonsense, especially given the ‘activists’ I encountered on the Ireland mission…”

Waramunt sighed and slowly facepalmed. “Well firstly to clarify, no country where I’m from is a true democracy. That would be an utter nightmare. Secondly, would you believe that as a person in his 90s I still don’t have an answer to that issue? A noble king humble before God is truly invaluable, but as rare as buried treasure. Elections can serve to enact the right leaders, but there are so many bad actors solely motivated by money… and only run for office to make as much money as they can, screw everyone over, and then get out with their golden parachutes while we have to clean up after their messes!” Waramunt was audibly angry by the end of that.

“Not to mention the tribalism Drago brought up…” Serjiel put in. “Waramunt, do you have  religious conservatives and socialist-leaning liberals in your timeline?”

“They’ve changed over the decades and never adhere to a consistent ideology, but yes.”

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD,” Serjiel cried as the flames of the fireplace roared for a second, startling the others. “I HATE human politics! I was just trying to fight in the wars to defeat The Lich and they were getting in the way! The religious wackadoos kept accusing me of being in league with that degenerate Satan and the liberals used me to browbeat the conservatives while sympathizing with The Lich!”

“All while all of them claim to be fighting against the system whilst screaming and crying for the politicians to protect them?”

“YES! MOTHER OF GOD, THEY ARE HYPOCRITES LIKE THAT! Ha, I’ve heard horror stories about timelines where people abandon belief in God and start putting faith in money and their governments…”

Waramunt gave a hearty, sympathetic laugh. “I mean, that literally is my timeline in certain regards. So many people claim that they are ‘progressive’ and don’t believe in those barbaric religions any more… despite putting stock in materialism and-or postmodernism, which I’d argue is more backwards than being a man of piety…”

Serjiel facepalmed and groaned. “Why do humans have to be so petty? No offense, Waramunt…”

“None taken. And don’t even get me started on how both sides accuse you of being the worst of the worst when you don’t agree with them… ignoring the fact that I have been dedicating my life to killing a certain despotic member of The Eternal Order who needs to die…”

Buster looked utterly appalled over what he was hearing. “How… how do you guys even put up with that nonsense?! All of those people sound like the kind of thugs Milosh would recruit.”

“Milosh was from Universe-23, Buster,” Lia pointed out with a chuckle.

“And people wonder why The Great Uncity is having so many problems, given the people from all over the Cosmos they let in,” Dragoslava added. “I’m not saying don’t let people in, I’m just saying be mindful of where they come from.”

Waramunt then crossed his arms, with the look of a proud father about to bestow sagely advice. “Well if you ever want to rustle the jimmies of both sides, Buster, tell the liberal you love your country and the conservative that their elected official could do better-it works every time…”

“That sounds more like you were antagonizing them, Waramunt…” he rebuked.

Dragoslava snicked, unable to hold it in. “I mean, he’s not wrong. You should see Captain Briggs and Lieutenant Irons when they have to deal with anti-Liger Brigade activists. Surprisingly they attract ire from both sides.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll admit I am a bit of a court jester in that regard,” Waramunt conceded. “Allow me to give you some more practical advice: If you want to win any argument, let your opponent speak. Let them speak until the cows come home. Get out a cigar or a glass of wine while they tire themselves out. Not only will you have time to formulate your argument, your opponent will be too exhausted to disagree with you when it's your turn.”

Buster looked disheartened, averting his gaze as he leaned against the wall. “I mean jeez, Odo wants to send me to Earth, but I don’t know how I feel now… It all sounds soul crushing…”

Waramunt stepped over and patted Buster’s shoulder. “It is, lad. It’s certainly a massive headache, but you’ve always got an indomitable strength within you. My late Uncle Ensio once said that when a despot demands you bend the knee, you put your foot down and say no-and if enough people follow suit, you’ll have a revolution on your hands. A strong man says the things he truly feels, unfaltering in his path in life. And if you deviate from the path? Keep moving forward and you’ll find the light you need either way.”

Buster smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Waramunt. Universe-23 can’t be all that bad if it has people like you, Desislav, and Will. Still sounds like a mess though…”

A steward then entered the parlor with a respectful bow. “Ladies and gentlemen? The feast is ready.”

“Most excellent,” Waramunt replied. “Let’s retire this conversation for now and go eat.”

“That’s a shame,” Adriana said as she and the others began to leave the parlor. “As I’d love to hear more of your philosophies. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had a rousing poker night with Brigadier General Dryden, as he has similar reservations about politics as a whole. Thankfully the majority of our ideologs got swept up in the apocalypse at the coils of The Reverse Serpent.”

“Haha, really now? I mean I’ve certainly heard good things about General Dryden. We’ll have to continue this conversation some other time then, as I am starving from the earlier battles.” 

Next: Chapter 12

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 10

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Buster quickly ran over to one of the great, ornate turbines within the chamber, trying to get a feel for how it worked and what they were dealing with. The blades were spinning, but it was not enough to power the machine in the center of the chamber. “Shoot, and I bet the wind’s about to pick up too…”

“Right you are, but The Unlight’s weather is certainly fickle,” Iudris pointed out. “Radboud, the turbines will work if the wind we produce is consistent enough. Prepare your best spell and cast it on my mark…”

“Here we go…” he said as he began to focus.

Lia went to shut the doors of the chamber, but Cornelius stopped her. “Wait, don’t!”

“What? Why? What if Valdemaras sees us?”

“Possible, but he may become just as suspicious if he sees the doors close.”

Buster nodded, taking a look down the hall. “Good point, Cornelius.”

Lia gave a concerned sigh. “Let’s hope you’re right about that one.”

A light above each turbine lit up once they were spinning fast enough, but it was not an easy task for Iudris and Radboud. The magic required of them was demanding and the chaos of the battle in the library made it incredibly hard to focus. Not helping matters further was Radboud’s arthritis, but he would just have to ignore it. Slowly but surely all four lights were activated, except for the crystal above the center machine. Buster, Lia, and Cornelius began to panic, but as if someone had sensed their plight a strong gust of wind whipped through the chamber, giving the turbines the push they needed to finally activate the beacon. It was a relief to see the crystal begin pulsing with light alongside the successful chimes of the activation alert.

All of the library heard the sound of the beacon, including Valdemaras. His blood turned to ice and he roared in anger as he effortlessly knocked Tusk and Odo aside. “NO!!! NO NO NO!!! BASTARDS!!! ARGH-I’LL KILL THEM ALL EVEN IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!!!”

“HE’S GOING FOR LIA AND BUSTER!” Odo cried as he scrambled to his feet, racing after the foul rat, with Tusk right behind him.

Lia saw Valdemaras out of the corner of her eye and ran to Buster’s side in a panic, with Ensio cawing wildly in an attempt to alert everyone. “Dear, you wouldn’t happen to have another plan, would you?!”

Buster had a feeling this would happen and began to focus. “It’s a gamble, but I’m willing to take it…” he said as his arm assumed the shape of a cannon again. The scarlet glow beginning to emanate from it was intense, like that of a rising sun.

For Valdemaras it was do or die right then and there. His vision had gone red and his mind was a complete frenzy. In that instance he did not care about the plan, Karnage, or the Sepulcher God for that matter. The rat’s only goal was to kill the prey that had eluded him for so long. Frothing at the mouth and with fangs bared, Valdemaras leapt for it as he was shot at by bullets and magic spells alike. His quarry was right there and he was already imagining the ripping and tearing he was going to inflict. The blinding light from the boy’s cannon that was being pointed directly at him? Completely futile as the taste of his succulent flesh was already tantalizing Valdemaras, the sensation of it melting on his tongue intoxicating him. And then, all was still as an unbelievable silence deafened everything…

In front of Lia and Buster stood a man with a wicked grin on his face. He was of fair skin and glowing, blazing red eyes. Standing tall and proud, he was adorned in obsidian armor with a flowing, crimson cloak. A crown of black and orange metal sat atop his regal head of brown hair, and a strange aura of all that was foreboding and unknown in the Cosmos enveloped his terrifying presence. This was The Vermilion King, and he was accompanied by a powerful dark angel. She had long silver hair, chaotic wings of shadow, and wore fearsome, black and red armor. The king laughed in Valdemaras’ face as he held the helpless rat in the air with an invisible force. For all the huffing and puffing The Eternal Order had done over the countless eons, it was cathartic to see them helpless before his majesty’s righteous might.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” The King mockingly asked. “General Zozena?”

“A slimy, detestable sewer rat, your royal highness,” she replied.

“ARGH, VILE WENCH!” Valdemaras shot back. “I’LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM…” The invisible force tightened its grip. “Curses… curse you all…” he choked out.

“A curse on me?” The King incredulously questioned. “Such a declaration is rich coming from the lackey of the god who killed my father, The Tyrant God…” The Vermilion King laughed again, but this time it was laced with sorrow and a thirst for vengeance. “Valdemaras, do you want to know who killed your father, The Rat God? And his brother, The Decaying God? It was me…”

“You?! YOU!?!”

“YES, ME!” The King answered with a terror-inflicting glee that shook the entire library. “Before my rightful punishment as the hands of God, I made sure I took an eye from The Sepulcher God…” He then brought Valdemaras in close. “My humble advice? RUN. Run as fast as you can and crawl back under the rock you slithered out from. Because when I’m done, there won’t be a single trace left of The Sepulcher God in the Cosmos or the Outer Void. And you? YOU’LL MAKE A NICE PLAY THING TO SATE MY BOREDOM ONCE JUSTICE IS SERVED!”

Valdemaras was sent flying, tumbling out of the library with The Vermilion King laughing as hard as he could as the rat began screeching like a scared coward with his tail between his legs. Everyone tried to watch as Valdemaras fled, but only those at the entrance saw him exit the tower through a blood-like portal with what little remained of his rats, leaving the shadow constructs behind. The remaining constructs were easily finished off by Adriana, Serjiel, and the librarians. Everything then went still for a moment afterwards as everyone collected their bearings, with Iudris going to check on the librarians. After sending away her shotgun and straightening out her beat up uniform, Adriana went to convene the group and make sure Lia and Buster were alright.

“Well that was certainly quite the little shindig,” Adriana remarked as she picked up a knocked over table. “Is everyone alright?” After getting satisfactory answers from the others, she turned to The Vermilion King. “It is an honor, your majesty,” she said with a proper bow.

“Likewise, Captain,” he replied. “I know you had your reservations, but you have my eternal gratitude for seeing this through.”

“Certainly a risky game you’re playing, your majesty,” Serjiel pointed out. There seemed to be ambient anxiety in his voice.

The King sighed, a strong hint of empathy with it. “Indeed, Serjiel. I never bet unless I know I can win at the lowest cost possible, however… hold on.” He snapped his fingers.

“Your majesty?” Adriana wondered.

“Pardon me, just getting Gudrun out of the tower. I don’t want to bring her to my kingdom, if it’s all the same with you. Hopefully Ozymandias and Tereza weren’t caught too off guard by that…”

Tusk laughed sympathetically. “Val! You two made it just in the nick of time.”

“I’m glad you’re all safe, sweetie,” she replied… followed by foot tapping directed at The King. “Of course we would have been here sooner if a certain someone had not felt the need to show off…”

“My apologies,” The King said with a laugh.

“I certainly agree, Valentina,” Adriana added. “Although demoralizing the enemy is certainly an effective strategy and always welcome in my book, despite the life or death situation we were in.”

“Well hey, all’s fair in love and war-wait, is that the phrase?” Yoshihiro questioned. “Aw, who am I kidding? You all know what I mean, haha,” he said with a smile, causing the others to chuckle.

“Well either way that’s a weight off of our shoulders,” Odo said with a sigh of relief as he sheathed his sword. “Buster, were you planning to use that Hyper Cannon spell?”

Buster looked down at his right hand and noticed it was still in cannon form. “Er, yes. And it would’ve worked…” he said as he shook his hand back to normal.

“Buster!” Odo scolded. “You know that would’ve left you wide open! I’ve told you before and say it again, The Eternal Order are a bunch of dirty fighters who won’t give you a moment’s rest.”

Buster groaned, then realized something about the battle. “Hey, wait a second! You used your beast form, the form Barna told you not to abuse!”

“Well yes, but I did it to protect you.”

“And I wanted to use Hyper Cannon to stop Valdemaras once and for all.”

Waramunt laughed as Odo grumbled. “As someone who has spent nearly a hundred years and counting pursuing a vendetta against one of The Eternal Order’s members, I say if the final blow requires an all out attack, go for it.” Everyone in the group looked at him weirdly for that one.

“Zozena and I know who he is, but we’re not saying for the sake of the Flow of Time,” The King put in. “Just know that there is merit behind his words.” That certainly caused Waramunt to go wide-eyed for a moment, with Ensio nervously stepping back and forth on his shoulder.

“Right…” Adriana noted, knowing nothing else was going to be said. “Now we should probably get a hold of Ozymandias…”

The Vermilion King checked an imaginary watch and nodded. “Actually he should be here in 3… 2… 1…”

“Is everyone okay?!” Ozymandias said as he entered the library with Tereza. He hurried over to the group while Tereza tended to the librarians. “Gudrun annoyingly found The Agony Codex and… hold on a second…” Ozymandias went right up to The Vermilion King. “You know something I don’t, don’t you?”

Odo had a bad feeling and stepped over to them. “Your majesty, why did you let Gudrun get away?”

“I have an angle…” he answered as he put his fingertips together.

“What angle?” Ozymandias questioned, confused.

“Now there will be some friction…” The King noticed Valentina giving him a very disapproving look, tapping her foot again. “Okay, a lot of friction-but if my plans work, not only will we get rid of Karnage, but we’ll also have a massive advantage against The Eternal Order.”

“And you’re sure about this?”

“Er, mostly…”

Odo growled a little as he never liked it when people kept secrets from him. And he did not like that last bit of uncertainty. “Will Buster and Lia be safe?”

“Absolutely,” The King reassured. “Or at least no worse than what they just went through.”

“Fine…” Odo groaned in concession. He then went over to Lia. “Lia, in case the worst happens, can I trust you to look after Buster?”

“It would be an honor, Odo,” she answered with an almost motherly pride. “My parents and I will make sure nothing bad ever happens to him.”

“Thank you,” he said with a hug. “Welcome to the family, sister.”

Lia was caught off guard by this. “Wait, you really mean it?” A hug from Buster confirmed this.

“You did help save Buster’s life, Lia,” Waramunt pointed out. “Despite your past with The Eternal Order, you’ve done more for the brothers than most others would.”

She felt a tear well up in her eyes, but held it back. “I suppose you’re right, Waramunt.”

“Also hey, Ash and Ascher!” Yoshihiro pointed out. “It works, aye? Aye?” This made the others laugh.

Tereza then approached the group, holding some books. “Odo, Iudris says the library should be back up and running soon. Would you like to begin your research?”

“Actually I would,” he replied, accepting the books he was handed.

“Then allow me to help you, son,” Radboud offered as he took the lead. “I know this library like the back of my hand… Well, for the most part, haha.”

As the two headed off into the library, Cornelius turned to Ozymandias. “With your permission, Tower Arbiter, I’d like to go and join the ULTRAMagic Guild.”

“Permission granted, Cornelius,” he answered. “With the tower heading to Somnium and becoming static, it would be ideal to have the guild’s presence here.”

Tusk laughed again. “Then we’ll definitely have to put Audawakrs and Gebhard on the case given their quests for knowledge.”

“Audawakrs joined the guild?” Lia questioned.

“Yeah, remember how he went turncoat on you back in Droomopolis?”

Lia thought about it and then it came back to her. “Oh right, I remember now.”

“You’ll even get the chance to speak to him as he lives in The Iron City now,” Adriana pointed out. “Despite his upbringing, he’s turned into quite the royal alchemist.”

“And hey, maybe he can teach you a thing or two,” Tusk concluded.

Lia could not help but chuckle to herself. “Goodness, it’s going to be quite the reunion isn’t it?”

“No question about it,” Ozymandias said. “Now then, I’d dare say a feast is in order to celebrate this victory of ours.”

“After all of that, I could eat an entire field of clovers,” Tusk remarked.

“Clovers, Mr. Willfort?” Wramunt playfully questioned.

“Yup, clovers. They're great for growing saplings and a good snack in general… for me and my people, not you guys, ha.” The others chuckled in response.

“Don’t worry either way, Tusk,” said Ozymandias. “The Tower Chefs are some of the best in the Cosmos.”

Next: Chapter 11

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 9

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The coast seemed clear in the hallways leading up to the Sublimatio Library, but the group knew better than to make such assumptions given all of the chaos they had been through. Thankfully Waramunt was there to greet them, but something was off. Ensio was not with him and he was speaking oddly. He had awkward inflections, put emphasis on the wrong words, and he would not stop speaking informally. Lia had a good idea as to what was going on and these suspicions were confirmed when he gave a subtle salute to Lia that was used by members of The Eternal Church. With a flick of her wrist, Lia chopped off the head of the imposter with a clean swipe. Everyone else was frozen in shock, trying to process what had just happened.

“LIA, EXPLAIN!?” Adriana ordered, still trying to rationalize what she had just seen.

“That was a shadow construct, Captain,” Lia answered as the head rolled to her feet. “Specifically this one was from the Homunculus Project, something I personally oversaw in Warehouse Omicron.” She then picked the head up and peeled off the fake skin, revealing what she described. The others nodded as they visually inspected the black and red skull. “Honestly, is that rat really that stupid? This looks like Construct-16, one of the failed constructs…”

Fortunately Ensio appeared cawing above the group’s heads, with the real Waramunt running up to them. He looked worried, out of breath, and a bit roughed up all around. “Thank…God… You’re all alright! Valdemaras was hinting at this crude imitation of me and I noticed something was off on my way here.”

Lia went and hugged him, then tidied him up a little. “Don’t worry, dear, we’re all okay… despite a close call we had in the Coagulatio Library.”

“Waramunt, were you able to take care of Valdemaras?” Adriana inquired.

“No. I was only able to hold him back. He’s certainly a persistent vermin. Let’s get inside quick, as I’m certain he’s on his way.”

Everyone hurried into the library, with the librarians securing and barricading the doors. If the current situation had not been so dire, the group would have stopped to admire the eldritch majesty that was the Sublimatio Library. Any semblance of Earth architecture was gone and instead the library invoked that of a temple from another dimension that paid reverence to storms and the heavens. The library itself focused on magick, alchemy, and the occult, allowing for a truly otherworldly atmosphere. Radboud met with the group immediately, also giving his son a hug and making sure he was okay. While not the physically strongest father, it was clear he was an experienced and storied individual, with faded brown hair and golden eyes.

“Goodness, my boy!” Radboud said as he patted Cornelius’ shoulder. “I haven’t seen ruckus this great since The Dead Sea War! Are you sure everything’s alright on your end?”

“We made it here without a scratch…” Cornelius started to say.

“Barring the crude little parlor trick we had to deal with outside,” Lia added, still annoyed that her work had been desecrated. It still stung despite having left The Eternal Order a while ago.

“Ah, I see those foul blaggards are up to their dirty tricks as always,” Radboud replied. “You all will be happy to know that the Chief Librarian has everything locked down and ready to go…”

“Well almost ready to go, as we can’t activate the beacon just yet,” an older gruff voice said. The man in question was tall, strong, and had graying red hair with light indigo eyes.

“What’s wrong, Iudris?” Radboud worriedly inquired. “I thought we had a good front blowing through-Oh, everyone, this is Iudris Schindewolf, the Chief Librarian.”

“Hold up a second,” Tusk interrupted. “Barna’s Uncle Iudris?”

“Haha, indeed, lad,” he answered with a smile. “And given all the chaos happening, I really wish I had learned to fight like my brother and nephews. Alas I’m a scholar, not a soldier. As for our weather situation, the winds from outside still need to pick up enough. We’re incredibly high up, so it shouldn’t be a problem… but I sense we’re not going to be given that courtesy…”

Adriana looked at the doorway and grimaced. “Lock and load, everyone,” she instructed as she summoned an alien-looking shotgun with her magic.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, are we?” Yoshihiro asked as he assumed a ready stance.

“I’d dare say this is just a clearing we’ve found ourselves in,” Serjiel remarked as he loaded both of his revolvers. “The worst is yet to come…”

Waramunt leaned over to Lia and softly said “Grab Buster and make a run for it when I give the signal…”

“What signal?” she replied quietly.

“You’ll know it when you see it…” He then held his right hand behind his back, giving finger signals to Iudris and Radboud that led to the two whispering ‘Rainbow then fire’ to the other librarians.

A massive thud was heard at the entrance, followed by Odo drawing his sword and taking a breath. “Here he comes…”

After a moment of quiet there was another loud thud, with the great doors starting to buckle. The next thud began to split the entrance open. And finally there was a mighty ramming charge that obliterated the doors, with Valdemaras looking quite proud of himself as he shook the rubble from his fur. His rats were dwindling, but he made up for the deficiency with shadow constructs that waited behind him. The librarians readied their rifles, as they knew there was going to be a brutal fight.

“ENOUGH OF THIS CAT AND MOUSE GAME!” Valdemaras barked. “This ends here and now! I will have Lia and Buster’s heads on a silver platter by the time we leave!!”

Odo electrified his sword, with it giving off the fiercest hum of electricity imaginable. “NO, you’re leaving here as a charred corpse!” he growled. “I’m through playing games…”

Valdemaras laughed, with his legion trying to follow suit. “HA, AS IF, PATHETIC LITTLE BOY.”

A rat had snuck too close to the group, so Odo stabbed and electrocuted it. “TRY ME.” Valdemaras naturally growled at him so hard that it nearly turned into a roar.

Seeing the conflict about to ignite, Waramunt stepped forward waving a white handkerchief around. “Quick parley, gentlemen. Before we start this brouhaha, Richard of York gave battle in vain…”

“What!?” Valdemaras snapped as he focused in on Waramunt.

“Richard of York gave battle in vain,” he proudly reiterated.

Valdemaras took a second to think about the strange babbling from his enemy, then put it all together. “A RAINBOW!?”

And with that confused exclamation, Waramunt threw a powerful fireball straight at the rat’s head. With Valdemaras flailing about on the ground, Lia ran with Buster to the entrance of the beacon chamber while everyone else sprang into action. Tusk and Odo went to deal with Valdemaras, Serjiel and Yoshihiro took on the rats and shadow constructs, and Adriana began giving orders to support the others and keep the beacon chamber safe. Everything erupted into sheer chaos as shadow constructs filed in to replace the ones that were rapidly destroyed. It was all turning into a harrowing situation, but the group and the librarians were not going to take the attack sitting down.

Odo was going to kill Valdemaras, one way or another. His sword had turned into the giant mace from before, and he had assumed a form that was more akin to an armored, skeletal beast. He let out a howling roar and began charging wildly towards his enemy. Given that his friend was going all out, Tusk focused and assumed the form of the mighty tree titan within him at roughly the same size as Valdemaras. What followed was a fierce clash of blows that nearly broke limbs, the combatants slamming into each other with great force. A punch to Tusk’s jaw dislocated it, but he immediately snapped back into place and whacked Valdemaras upside the head with both of his fists, breaking one of the rat’s horns in the process. With Odo’s ferocity prompting equally measured responses from Valdemaras, any rat or construct foolish enough to get in between was done for.

A group of shadow constructs tried to gang up on Odo, but he roared and let loose a shockwave of lightning that stunned them. Serjiel took the opportunity to pick them off with his revolvers. Valdemaras tried to go after the demon in response, but Tusk violently yanked him back by the tail. Yoshihiro caught wind of this and used an aura technique that created a sphere of great gusts around him that drew in gunshots and redirected them towards their enemies. Seeing a golden opportunity to greatly thin the enemy’s numbers, Serjiel cast a special spell on one of his revolvers and took aim at the aura sphere. He fanned the hammer like a madman, catching his ally off guard. Yoshihiro was being overworked and Serjiel’s gun could have exploded at any minute, but the results were undeniable.

Adriana was doing her best to keep track of everything, but the mayhem of the battle was pushing her to her limits. She was a tactician, not a commander. Her hopes that her old commanding officer, Brigadier General Dryden, would come out of nowhere and take control of the situation were dashed with each passing moment. The evolving uncertainty was driving the captain mad, agitating the undead plague within her, and her magic could only soothe her for so long. The lack of Ozymandias and Tereza did not help either, but it was safe to say they were off dealing with Gudrun. Adriana would just have to grin and bear it until the battle was won.

From a tipped over table Adriana did her best to command the situation, giving orders as to how the librarians were to support the others and take out various targets. Things were going mostly smoothly (aside from the elephant in the room) until Adriana saw something that curdled her blood. Valdemaras had leapt towards her with the intent to kill in his pitch black eyes. In the nick of time Valdemaras had been hit with a laser blast from Buster, whose arm had taken the shape of a cannon. Tusk then dragged Valdemaras by the tail again and began repeatedly slamming the abhorrent beast around like a ragdoll. That save lit a fire in Adriana’s core as she could feel the adrenaline surge through her veins, giving her the will to keep fighting. Her orders became more concise, allowing the librarians to take out even more of the enemy.

Lia and Buster had a bad feeling that the battle was going nowhere as the shadow constructs continued to pour into the library. They had to do something to turn the tide in their favor and looked around for something, anything. Nothing came to mind until they looked down the hallway leading to the air beacon. It was then when they had the same idea and it could be seen as plain as day on their faces. The beacon had to be activated right then and there as it was clear Valdemaras had no plans to retreat any time soon. Even if the beacon was not ready, they had to do something, even if it meant powering it with their own magic.

“You thinking what I’m thinking, Lia?” Buster wondered.

“Absoluely, sweetie…”

“Iudris, does the beacon have a manual activation like the earth beacon does?”

“Argh, no, and I’m kicking myself for not implementing one like Donatas did…”

“Hold up, what if we use our magic to help it along?” Cornelius proposed. “Dad, you still know wind magic, right?”

Radboud thought about it, then hesitantly nodded. “Well of course I do, my boy, but I can’t make any guarantees in regards to the strength of my gusts…”

“Good enough, Radboud,” Iudris replied. “Waramunt, go inform Adriana and the others of our plans!”

“Yes sir!” he said as he started to head in that direction. “Ensio, stick with Lia!”

As the crow settled on Lia’s shoulder, she looked down the hall, then over to the battle. “Here’s hoping we can pull this off…”

“We have to, there’s no other choice,” Buster stated. “Alright, let’s go!” The five then ran as fast as they could down the long hallway, with some of the librarians moving to guard the entrance.

Adriana had noticed the activity at the hallways entrance and was slightly confused when Waramunt came hurrying over. “Waramunt, what’s going on?! Why are Lia and Buster running away?”

“They’re going for the-hold on!” he had to pause to throw a fireball at a straggling rat, incinerating it. “They’re going to try and activate the beacon themselves, accompanied by Iudris and the others.”

“Are they mad?!” Adriana questioned as she shot a shadow construct. “I mean if they can pull it off…”

“Exactly. They’re going to make it go off, come Hell or high water.”

The captain groaned a little, the pandemonium of the battle wearing on her despite her earlier vigor renewal. “Very reckless, but I’ll take it if they can get it going. Men! Make sure nothing gets past our line!!”

“And don’t worry, I sent Ensio with them…”

Adriana could not help but laugh a little as she took another shot at a shadow construct. “No offense, Waramunt, but how is a mere crow going to fend off a giant rat if this mess hits the fan?”

Waramunt chuckled after torching another rat. “Not to throw Ensio under the bus, but I’ll concede I did that more for peace of mind. He’s a good familiar, but not a miracle worker. Let’s just hope Tusk and Odo can keep Valdemaras distracted for long enough…”

Next: Chapter 10

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

UMAE - Character Busts Volume 1 - Prelude (1-2)

Relevant Posts: ULTRAMagic Prelude

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I want to try something different. Here's some of the characters of ULTRAMagic Prelude, 3 of them I haven't drawn outside of sketches. Now if you want to know more about these characters, read ULTRAMagic Prelude. And yes, Blood, Corentin, and Tusk's designs have been updated and I will eventually update the cover to ULTRAMagic Chaos to reflect his color palette change.

But hey, how about some trivia anyways?

Blood-Wraith:

Blood has often been mistaken for an Ar'ton, given how he manifests in his true form (pictured above). Several Ar'ton, Tereza, Lord Anti, and Terrus assert that he is an Ar'ton and doesn't realize it. It is also believed his black metal body reflects the nature of the void, where he was born.

Dragoslava:

Drago often sports the title of "Dragoslava the Indomitable." This is a tradition that was popular with the ancient Descendants (of the Epoch-Modernity transition phase of the Cosmos) to commentate their achievements. Her father, Duke Radovan, gave her the title in order to keep the tradition alive.

Desislav:

Desislav's family is Slavic, a notable oddity amongst his fellow satyrs as typically satyrs hail from the Mediterranean. Satyrs from the Balkans are not unheard of it, but it is rare to see a family line that stayed there long enough to become Slavic.

Kresimira:

Kresimira has many talents in addition to alchemy including poetry, painting, fencing, step dancing, knitting, sculpting, and yoga. She is also fluent in many languages, including Earth languages such as English, French, Gaelic, Latin, Japanese, Irish, and Spanish.

Corentin:

Corentin will not wear a shirt in casual settings as clothes tend to irritate his upper body, getting caught on his staples. His body also needs to be occasionally repaired, something his father, Barna, usually does. He did learn how to repair himself during The Great Hunt, however.

Tusk:

Tusk is not a fan of swimming as his body tends to break out in Moss and Fungal growths if he is too wet for too long. This is something all Tree People experience, with Tusk being considered a bit high strung in regards to such growth outbreaks. Thankfully his mother is a master of coming up with remedies.

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 8

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“Rats… MORE RATS!?” Lia yelled, her impatience flaring up now that she was properly rested. Valdemaras had sent some of his brood towards the Coagulatio Library, with a group of librarians stopping them from entering with magic-powered, flintlock rifles. “STUPID RATS!!” Lia screamed as barbs extended from both of her gloves. She slashed and pierced the rats efficiently, fueled by anger drenched in exasperation. Her fury was appreciated by both the group and the librarians, albeit both were slightly concerned for Lia’s emotional well being. “I’ll give Glacierhaven some credit-at least the biting cold kept these pests away!”

“Your help is greatly appreciated, Ms. Achser,” one of the librarians said as he slung his rifle around his back. “We were about to…”

“Hey, guys!” Cornelius interrupted as he emerged from the entrance. “Long time no see.”

Adriana chuckled. “Cornelius, you saw us yesterday. I trust everything’s alright aside from the attempted rat incursion?”

“Well firstly, sometimes a day feels like an eternity in this tower. Secondly, hopefully, haha. Everyone should be ready for the next beacon activation.”

Lia nodded, then looked down at the filthy barbs of her gloves. “Oh shoot… Buster, could you be a dear again and help me clean up?”

“Sure, Lia,” Buster replied as he retrieved her rag from her pocket, followed by wiping off her right glove.

“Thank you, sweetie,” she said as she took the rag back and cleaned off her other glove. “Using both gloves at the same time can be such a bother…”

The sleek shine of the gloves caught Cornelius’ eye. “Hey, what are these made of?”

Thinking he heard more skittering, Serjiel interjected. “Let's continue this discussion inside just in case anyone else shows up…”

“Of course! Right this way everyone…”

The Coagulatio Library retained the timeless nature of the halls that preceded it, but the library itself also felt strangely modern. One could easily compare its structure and architecture to late 20th century Earth in a way that reflected its ageless nature. The artificial sun shining through the windows also gave all of it a warm, cozy feel that was like a nostalgic afternoon. Coagulatio itself was notable for focusing on history, politics, and the arts. It was relatively normal in comparison to the other libraries.

“While we wait for the chief librarian; Lia, those gloves are fascinating,” Cornelius pointed out.

“As much as I’d like to take credit for creating them, they were appropriated by The Eternal Church from Happa-Patea,” Lia admitted as she rolled up her sleeve. The glove was shiny and skin tight, making it look like Lia’s arm was made of metal.

“Hold up, is this polymateria?” Cornelius wondered as he inspected the glove.

Lia nodded, then took her arm back. “Milosh was desperate to get his hands on this stuff, which is one of the reasons he wanted to recruit The Lich of Old.”

“Ha, if that wasn’t a massive pipe dream or what,” Tusk recalled with a smile on his face. “It makes sense why Baxter-the living planet Deimos’ old Prima Materia Sword became-hid out in the Outer Void. Dangerous, but I think any risks the Outer Void poses was better than getting bled dry by Milosh.”

Lia shuddered at such a notion. “As for when these were made, I always assumed the Epoch…”

“When there was plenty of the stuff,” Cornelius finished. “Do you know how badly I want to rebuild my body with polymateria?”

“Why exactly?” Serjiel could not help but wonder. “I may be a demon and lack the understanding of the subtle nuances of human biology, but your body looks fine to me…”

“Well truthfully I’ve been wanting a shiny, stretchy body for some time now and the human body is going to give out eventually, let’s be real for a second. The stuff I could do with a body like, let me tell you-OW!”

Cornelius had been lightly hit upside the head with a book. “You are not going to replace the body God sought fit to bestow you with, young man…”

“Mom! Think of the magic possibilities!”

“Out of the question.” Cornelius’ mother was older with light brown hair and faded green eyes. The family resemblance was clear as day between the two, and it was easy to tell just from that exchange that she cared deeply for her son. “Perhaps you should get working on the Philosopher’s Stone doohickey you were so adamant about back home then.”

“This is my mother, everyone…”

“Lena Andriessen-it’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”

Following a round of greetings, Cornelius turned to his mother with a mildly annoyed look. “I’m still joining the ULTRAMagic Guild…”

“That I’m okay with, given your refusal to socialize back home.”

“Mom…” Cornelius groaned in embarrassment, rubbing his arm.

“Oh?” Serjiel noted. “May we know more?”

Lena chuckled with a subtle, nostalgic smile on her face. “While our old community was not the most conducive for mages and alchemists, this little rascal never went out and made friends. And then he just ran away, causing me, his father, and sister to worry sick about him.”

“Well I did have a friend you wouldn’t let me hang out with…” Cornelius rebuked.

Lena gave him a stern look that said ‘we are not having this conversation again.’ “Zenta Kyler was a hooligan. She was more likely to win a drinking contest than she would a beauty pageant…”

“Mom, she only drank whiskey on special occasions…”

The group was trying really hard not to laugh as the two had a bit of a back and forth. It was incredibly endearing. Serjiel chuckled to himself, as he could certainly relate to Cornelius, recalling the rebellious phase of his youth. “Well it certainly sounds like Zenta has a bit of potential and the guild could definitely straighten her out. And as for you son ending up here, Lena, this isn’t the worst place to run away to, especially since it appears all of you went looking for Cornelius and stayed here?”

“That they did,” a golden, somewhat deep voice answered. The man it came from was around seven feet tall, and had natural white hair with brown eyes. “Not too long after Conerlius arrived, Lena, Fanni, and Radboud came looking for him. Lena and Fanni took a liking to this library, while Radboud’s interests were in the Sublimatio Library. Now then, everyone, I am Donatas Wolfgang Raynot, the chief librarian. The beacon chamber is ready to go and you are more than welcome to come watch.”

“One second, with all due respect, sir,” Adriana interjected, having realized something interesting about Donatas. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Duke Radovan Archimedes Raynot, would you?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking about that too,” Tusk added.

Donatas smiled and laughed. “I’ve been wanting to visit my younger brother for some time now, ever since The Descendants returned home. Hopefully I can do that with this move to relocate and settle the tower. It was possible to leave the tower beforehand, at the risk of it ending up somewhere you had no idea where. Now follow me, the chamber is this way.”

After a quirky tale of how Donatas once helped Radovan with some sound advice on how his younger brother could win the heart of a fair maiden (who would later become Duchess Rose Raynot), the group entered the earth beacon chamber. The beacon in question was a Rube Goldberg-esque machine consisting of gears, cogs, wheels, plates, and levers. Explaining it did not do it justice, so Donatas proudly went to the top platform and placed a metal ball onto a track. From there it traveled to a mechanism that caused a plate with a rock on it to go down, releasing more balls to repeat the process, further leading to the machine to whir and light up. It was an incredibly satisfying sight to witness… but then something went wrong at the fourth and final rock plate.

Something was off as the rock itself was all wrong. It was too big and oddly shaped. Some of the librarians went to go and inspect it, but Lia cautioned them to stay back. There was a whiff of a rancid odor she knew all too well. She readied her gloves and Adriana followed behind with a combat knife ready just in case the worst case scenario happened. As if sensing it had been caught, a giant rat infested with pustules and sores leaped from the plate with a horrid screech towards Lia. The group’s blood ran ice cold as they froze in shocked horror, but Lia went straight into fight mode.

The chamber then plunged into utter chaos as Lia held the biting monster at arm’s length, her taloned fingers digging into it like that of a bird of prey. She screamed in primal rage at the rat, utterly fed up with constantly being ambushed by the disgusting and festering bottom feeders. Instructing Lia to turn towards her, Adriana then ran up and repeatedly rammed her knife into the rat’s back. Once they were sure it was almost dead, Lia threw the rat to the floor. Using her gloves as a catalyst for her magic, she snapped her fingers and cast a spell that lit it on fire, finishing it off. Lia looked quite satisfied as she heard the grating death rattle of the malignant creature, that could only be charitably described as a rat, with the others covering their ears.

While all of that was happening, another rat had tried to leap at Donatas, but he had grabbed it by the neck with an inescapable vice grip and looked it dead in the eye. The rat rapidly turned to stone, with Donatas slamming it as hard as he could on the ground. It shattered so violently that the other librarians had to dodge out of the way lest they get hit with the shrapnel. “VILE VERMIN! Donatas shouted. “How did they even get in!? Is everyone alright?!”

Yoshihiro used his magic to search the chamber for traces of Valdemaras’ essence and quickly narrowed in on the problem spot. “Donatas, over there!” he called out as he pointed to a crudely covered spot in the wall that was just inconspicuous enough to ignore as mere clutter.

“Misrable cretins… Lena, call Radboud and tell him to put the Sublimatio Library on high alert! Cornelius, get a hold of Ozymandias!”

“Yes sir!” they both said as they rushed out of the chamber.

“Lia, are you okay?”

“Yes, I am…” she responded (albeit a little shook up) as Adriana assisted her in cleaning off her gloves. “Buster, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Lia,” he replied as Tusk and Odo relaxed.

Donatas sighed as he walked down the metal stairs. “How do they keep finding you? Surely the tower has been making it difficult for Valdemaras and his abhorrent spawn…”

“They no doubt have Lia and Buster’s scents memorized by now,” Odo stated. “And Valdemaras has a one-sided vendetta against me, so there you go.”

“You have my condolences, Sir Odo,” Donatas said as he went to the lever on the far wall. With a sigh he pulled it, causing the giant crystal above the machine to pulse with light. “I wanted to use the machine, but I see that The Sepulcher God hates fun.”

“And this probably means Valdemaras is getting desperate. Great…”

“Then perhaps a way forward that’s off the beaten path is in order?” Serjiel proposed, with Buster nodding. “Does such a path exist, Donatas?”

“Follow me,” he said with a nod. Leading the group to his quarters (which was a miniature library in its own right), Donatas went to a book shelf at the far end of the room and pulled on a loose book. The shelf rattled out of the way, revealing a long corridor that let out a rush of cold air. “This will take you directly to the Sublimatio Library. I wish you all could stay a little longer, but we have an emergency on our hands.”

“Thanks for your help regardless, Donatas,” Adriana said with a salute.

Cornelius then entered the quarters, rushing over to the group. “Guys, Ozymandias said Waramunt is doing fine and on his way to Sublimatio.”

“Well shoot, let’s go moving then,” said Tusk.

“Oh, real quickly,” Yoshihiro interrupted as the others began to step into the stone tunnel. “Donatas, the next library has void grimoires, right? For Odo’s spell…”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t,” he answered. “And if not for whatever reason, you’ll find something just as good, Odo.”

“Excellent,” he said with a thumbs up, a moment of optimism Buster appreciated.

Donatas then thought for a second, wondering if there was any more help he could provide. “Cronelius, go with them just in case something happens.”

“Of course, sir,” he agreed as he took the lead. “You guys would probably get lost without me. There’s a lot of twists and turns the maps don’t tell you about.”

Making their way down the chilly, silent corridor, Odo had an unsettling thought. “Serjiel, I don’t think Valdemaras and Gudrun are really after us anymore…”

“What makes you say that, if I may?”

“We all know Valdemaras is nothing more than a dumb rat, and he’s probably lost track of his mission already. Why else would someone like Gudrun be here? She could easily capture Buster and Lia right now…”

Tusk groaned, not liking the implications. “Any thoughts on The Agony Codex, Cornelius? We heard Gudrun rambling about it after a close call on the way to the Coagulatio Library.”

“Not good,” he replied as he pulled a lever that opened up another part of the passage. “Lord only knows what she wants in the godforsaken realm that the book leads to. Thankfully the codex is well hidden in the tower…”

“Unfortunately Gudrun is quite persistent,” Lia pointed out. “Trust me, I know her all too well in that regard.”

Adriana shook her head and groaned. “We should have gone for back up…”

“Yeah, but what if Valdemaras and Gudrun followed us back to the Central Unlight?” Tusk rebuked. “We’d just be bringing the problem with us and Odo still wouldn’t have his spell. Honestly I think the best course of action is to call on The Vermillion King and have him sort this all out. Plus if things don’t work out for Odo in the library I’m certain his majesty can help out.”

Adriana stopped for another groan, pausing the group’s progress. “We should have brought some knights and more guild members, no two ways about it!” she said with a frustrated slap of her thighs. “And you have a point, Tusk…”

“Well I helped save the Cosmos before, so I like to think I have some expertise on these matters,” he said with a slight smugness.

“Such obstacles and complications are unavoidable, and will arise at any time, Adriana,” Serjiel reasoned.

“I know, I know. I’ve read so many books on warfare and combat discipline that I should’ve seen at least part of this coming-but if we knew all that were going to happen there’d be no conflict in the first place…” She sighed, then resumed walking, indicating for the group to continue their journey. “The Undead Plague is something I can grasp. The Unlight? That’s a completely different can of worms…”

“Keep rolling with the punches, Captain,” Tusk reassured her. “Just like Blood, Drago, Desislav, Vlastimir, and I did so long ago. This mess we’re in is no worse than what we went through with Leif.”

“I suppose you’re right. Thank you, Tusk. A good leader knows how to adapt to the tide of battle and it’s about high time I quit complaining and actually act like the captain I am.”

“Just make sure you bring more people next time,” Cornelius snuck in with a chuckle, causing the others to laugh.

Next: Chapter 9

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 7

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With a fortunate reprieve from the rats, the group was able to take in and appreciate the architecture and decor leading up to the Solutio Library. The halls were a mix of a Victorian and classical Greek design, and one could easily hear the works of Beethoven, Mozart, or Vivaldi playing in their head as they marveled at the amazing paintings of vast oceans. Of note were the depictions of various gods of the waves, with one of Poseidon standing tall and proud alongside other sea-owing Olympians. It was interesting for Tusk, Serjiel, and Yoshihiro to see, given how closely they worked with the titan Cronus.

The entrance to the library was in sight, but Tusk sensed something odd that was shared by his guildmates. It was nowhere near bad, rather it was Ozymandias? What was he doing at the library? Since the group was so close they hurried their pace. The Solutio Library itself was like walking into an ancient, Greco-Roman temple, lit by a magical, sunny sky. As for the focus of the library, it was on the mind, medicine, and science. After being welcomed by the librarians, the group saw Ozymandias walk into the lobby accompanied by Tereza. The two were laughing over something, no doubt a past adventure.

“My apologies, everyone,” Ozymandias said to the group with a warm smile. “We ended up here after dealing with Gudrun for the time being and figured we’d take care of the water beacon.”

“And you should have seen the grand fountain itself…” Tereza added, then paused. “Actually, a round of medical examinations wouldn’t hurt for them. Ozymandias?”

He nodded as he indicated for a group of librarians to step forward. “Certainly, given all that they’ve been through. And then we’ll take a moment to observe the fountain.”

The librarians collected Odo, Buster, Lia, and Yoshihiro, then took them deeper into the library on Adriana’s permission. She then turned her attention to Tereza. “It’s good to see you again, Tereza.”

“Agreed, dear. It's been far too long. I trust you’ve gotten back into contact with the others?”

“For the most part. Mads is not helping like he should be, but it’s fine…” Adriana then snapped her fingers, causing a folder full of papers to appear in her hands. “It’s a good thing you’re here, Tereza, as we need your invaluable expertise on the Requiem Cosmos.”

She took the folder with a look of concern, as she had noticed the title of one of the documents and did not like the look of it. “Oh my, and I know you wouldn’t have brought this to me lightly…”

“There was an update to Grave Requiem Overkill released somewhat recently, and after reviewing it with Valerie and Andelin, we’re concerned for Earth-XT49. Furthermore we have reevaluated the synopsis to GRO and we’re questioning if the creator of the games was actually referring to The Reverse Serpent by the end of it.”

Tereza nodded along as she thumbed through the documents. She then stroked her chin, contemplating something. “Truthfully I’ve always wondered about that… I’ll see what I can dig up. Do you need any more help, Ozymandias?”

“For now, no. Best of luck with your research.”

“Alright. Still, don’t hesitate to call on me if any of you need help.” Tereza then vanished into a cloud of vapor, leaving behind a shimmering mist.

Adriana then glanced over to Tusk, who was giving her a mildly incredulous look. “What?”

“So you get on our case for wanting to help The Vermilion King, but this is okay?”

Adriana exhaled. “Alright, fine, I’ll eat cr-shoot. Ahem, fine, I’ll give you that one.”

“To be fair, Tusk, The Requiem Cosmos is quite important,” Serjiel reasoned.

“True, I just wanted to yank her chain a little, haha.”

“A dose of self-awareness never hurts anyone,” Ozymandias added, giving the impression he was alluding to something. “How about we go check on the others real quickly?”

Aside from some minor injuries, Odo, Buster, Lia, and Yoshihiro were all given a clean bill of health. And while they were at it, Ozymandias took the group to go see the water beacon. The giant, spectacular fountain was an intricate structure with beautiful displays of water moving to and about. Above the top most basin was a shining crystal high in the air, illuminating the chamber with a sparkling light that shone like light reflecting off of a pool of water. It was truly a breathtaking sight whose creator could only be imagined, and helped restore the group’s vigor even more.

Since Ozymandias wanted to check on something on the path to the Coagulatio Library, he figured he would accompany the group there. The architecture and interior design had turned to that of a rustic-Victorian style with an ageless feel to it. As for the paintings, they shifted to great scenes of the arid wilderness, depicting vast canyons, majestic vallies, and towering mesa’s. The ceiling artwork depicted a clear, cerulean sky that gave the impression the sun was beating down on everyone. And it legitimately felt like the group was walking atop the colossal elevations given how high up in the tower they were.

“So, Ozymandias?” Tusk said as they continued their walk. “What’s the deal with you and The Eternal Order? I’m not letting that battle with The Vulture God go. It takes a god to kill another god…”

Ozymandias sighed with a chuckle, as he knew the topic would come up eventually. “That’s because I was The Royal God in the past. And yes, I was regrettably a cohort of The Sepulcher God. We don’t have the time to recount the entire story at the moment, but what I can say is that Tereza and I were partners in crime. During the Epoch-modernity transition phase, we tried to claim the Tower of Babel for The Sepulcher God… but obviously we were thwarted by The Madman of Old and his allies. Guarding the tower was my punishment and Tereza was sentenced to be a warden of The Requiem Cosmos.”

Something was off with that explanation, and Yoshihiro could sense it. “Wait a second, you were? Pardon my snooping, Ozymandias, but I can sense your divinity…”

He stopped and shook his head with another sigh. “Observant, Yoshihiro. Tell you what: I’ll regale all of you with my tale once all of the beacons are activated…” The others nodded, but Ozymandias then sensed someone approaching that made his blood run cold. “Quick, everyone stay still and keep quiet!” he said as he cast a haze around the group that rendered them invisible.

The group could feel the shakes of something giant approaching… and then they saw it. A dragon with dark golden scales was looking around for something. It was Gudrun, no two ways about it. She was a bit on edge, mumbling about the incompetence of Valdemaras and The Vulture God. Of note was that Gudrun appeared to have scars all over that looked like they had been born of explosions. Furthermore her left head horn had been broken in half. Just who could have done such a feat if Ozymandias was hiding them from her? Gudrun then thought she sensed something and brought her head uncomfortably close to the group, utterly terrifying them as her sulfurous breath assaulted their noses. Thankfully something distracted Gudrun, causing her to shift her attention.

“Dumb rat can’t even capture a little boy and a traitor…” Gudrun groaned. “Miserable fools are lucky I’m not on the job… Alright, Hecate, let’s see if this compass of yours actually works…” She held out a strange, flesh and bone device that trembled and extended a metal arrow in the opposite direction of the group. “Let’s hope the Agony Codex is that way, as I don’t want to be here when all of the beacons go off and The Vermilion King shows up…” Gudrun began to walk away, but stamped her foot in anger. “That’s another thing that braindead rat messed up!” After a drawn out groan, a blood-like portal appeared that she vanished into.

Ozymandias dispelled the haze once he was sure the coast was clear, then went over to inspect the residue left behind by the portal. “The Agony Codex? What would she want with a maddening tome like that?”

“Can I ask why we’re not dealing with Gudrun ourselves, given that you and Tereza are here?” Yoshihiro questioned. “Surely it wouldn’t be that difficult, would it?”

“Gudrun has strange magic, fueled by Cause & Effect manipulation. It’s what makes her so hard to apprehend, even for gods such as myself. Fortunately she can’t go hogwild as it would put her on Lord Anti’s radar… although that’s not much of a reprieve.”

“Good lord, even the Ar’ton are having trouble with The Eternal Order…” Tusk lamented.

“The Coagulatio library is not too far ahead,” Ozymandias said as he pointed down the long hallway. “Hurry and you make it there before anyone else shows up. As for me, I need to tend to Gudrun once again.” He then stood up and hurried off, vanishing in a flurry of golden sparks.

Odo then went to Yoshihiro and patted him on the shoulder. “I know you meant well, but I’d rather not put Buster and Lia in the line of fire.”

“Never put the VIP on the front lines, Yoshihiro,” Adriana warned. “Even if absolute victory is guaranteed, something could still go wrong.”

Yoshihiro thought about it, then sighed with regret as he felt like a fool. “I’m… I’m sorry. I wasn't using my head…”

“It’s alright, Yoshihiro,” Buster assured. “I want to stop Gudrun too, but now’s not the time for that. It’s best if we keep moving.”

“Same here,” Lia added. “Trust me when I say that it was best we didn’t confront her. I’ve had the displeasure of working with her before.”

Serjiel then indicated for the group to resume walking and went over to Yoshihiro’s side. “Your bravery and desire to fight is commendable, but temper that fervor. Also do not beat yourself up over this, as these lessons can only be learned out in the field. If you want to truly prove yourself to us, show that you can be flexible and adapt to the ever changing situation and circumstances.”

Yoshihiro smiled and put his arms behind his head. “Thanks, Serjiel. Don’t let Gragmund catch wind of this, he’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“Ha, Tiberius can certainly attest to that!” Tusk added.

Turning his attention to Adriana, Serjiel was curious to know more about the papers she handed off to Tereza. There was a strong feeling that they would be relevant to the ULTRAMagic Guild. “Captain, may I inquire about the documents from earlier? Valerie is one of our own after all…”

She gave a light sigh, feeling lenient thinking about the implications of the intel. “I suppose now would be fine. It is top secret at the moment, but… Lia, Odo, Buster? Can you swear to secrecy for what I am about to discuss?”

“I swear,” Odo replied with the seriousness of a knight.

“I swear,” said Lia. “And I’ll provide any intel I know, if it’ll help.”

Adriana chuckled. “Very good. Buster?”

“Absolutely-I swear!” The others chuckled in response.

“Alright then…” Adriana took a breath and straightened out her coat. “So the intel in question is about the aforementioned update bringing The Eve of Chaos DLC to GRO. It added a great deal of lore that suggests The reverse Serpent may be trying to connect The Requiem Cosmos to the Cosmos proper. Why? We’re not sure yet…” She could see the subtle concern on everyone’s faces. “Honestly this is tame in comparison to things we at ENCOM have had to deal with… and you know, the fact that The Reverse Serpent escaped. Personally I’d love to see Tatiana and the rest of ENCOM again… I just wish we knew what the implications and ramifications were…”

“Wouldn’t that imply Anton has something to do with this?” Tusk proposed. “You know, given how close he and the serpent are, from what Blood-Wraith has told me about the games?”

She nodded as they made their way around a corner. “Oh absolutely, no doubt about it… Lia, how would you feel if I told you that Anton Bloodthresher was Milosh Proch?”

“WAIT, WHAT!?” she exclaimed, causing the whole group to stop. “He’s still alive!?!”

“No, the Milosh you knew is dead…”

“No two ways about that one,” Tusk put in.

“Anton is his reincarnation,” Adriana finished.

Lia took a second to process that, then put two and two together as a realization finally dawned on her. “So that’s why you actually joined the blades-you wanted to assassinate Milosh!”

“A plot Andelin thankfully foiled, in hindsight… still a little annoyed over that…”

“Hold up a second… I know Anton did not rejoin the order, or at least I don’t think he did. Just what is he up to then?”

“Given that he is Deep Specter and a strong candidate for the core personality of The Tyrant God, we firmly believe he has resumed his war against The Sepulcher God. It would be nice if Mads would give us the answers we need, but he’s continuing to be secretive and drip feed us.”

Tusk could not help but laugh. “The Raynot’s and the Schindewolf’s probably aren’t going to be thrilled about this, but I’ll admit that we should take any help we can get at this point. And I know, that’s rich coming from me given my past with The Lich of Old.”

“Oh my goodness…” Lia was stunned, an aspect of her world view having been turned on its head. “Well, I’ll… when… when we get back to The Iron City, I’ll really wrack my brain and see if I can provide something useful… I have to admit I never saw any of this coming, though. Milosh was a schemer, but I had no idea there was so much history behind his actions.”

“Thank you, Lia,” Adriana replied. “Any intel, no matter how minor, will help us out immensely.”

Next: Chapter 8

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 6

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“Ruckus! Nothing but ruckus these days,” Séamus complained as he stepped out of the rattling, metal lift. His face was wrinkled and his hair was gray, but his green eyes were just as sharp as they were the day he entered the tower. “Lia, what are you doing back here so soon?

“Aisde from running from Valdemaras, we’ve come to activate the beacon.”

“Really now?” he replied as he set some books aside. “What would you youngsters need with that?”

“Orders from Ozymandias,” Angus answered. “I assume you got the note I sent you?”

“Give me one second.” Séamus quickly checked his vest pockets, got out a folded piece of paper, and held a scratched monocle up to his eye. “Ah-ha, I see… bad winds afoot, no two ways about it, but we’ll drive those sodding, dirty rats out one way or another.”

“Ha, Valdemaras or the constructs?” Angus jokingly asked, causing the both of them to laugh. “For our new faces, this is Séamus Gallagher, the Elder Librarian of Calcinatio.”

“A good evening to all of you.”

“An honor to meet you, Elder Librarian," Adriana said with a respectful bow. “I am Captain Adriana Hawthorne and I come by way of The Blades of Dunja to escort Lia to The Iron City. And these three are Serjiel, Yoshihiro Higasa, and Tusk Willfort. They’re from The ULTRAMagic Guild and here to help Odo and Buster.”

“ULTRAMagic you say?” Séamus commented as he straightened out his vest. “Good old David Livesey and young John were looking into that hocuspocus if I recall correctly.”

Yoshihiro thought he sensed something familiar with the latter name, then tapped Serjiel on the arm. “Our John?”

“Let me ask-Séamus? You wouldn’t happen to be referring to Johnathan Hawkins, would you? As we have a John in our guild.”

“Depends,” he replied. “The son of Jim Hawkins, from The Admiral Benbow, southwest of Bristol?”

“That would be him.”

“Well blow me down! How’s the lad doing these days? Still sailing or did he finally settle down for that guild of yours?”

“He’s doing fine, and keeping things lively with his tales and music.”

“Excellent to hear, as his father was never the same after returning from Treasure Island. I had a lurking suspicion it wouldn’t have been good for the young Jim, and I’ve been worried how’d that affect John ever since. David and Squire Trelawney certainly got an earful from me and the missus when they got back from that fateful voyage.”

Séamus then glanced over to the grand clock on the far wall and was shocked to see that it was well past dinner time at 7:30. Everyone took that as their cue to head to the dining hall. The spectacular hall was large with four, incredibly long, masterfully crafted tables. Some of the librarians were sitting at them, peacefully eating their meals despite the chaos from earlier. Illuminating everything were three chandeliers of immense proportions, and on the walls were grand paintings of the greatest alchemists and philosophers from across the Cosmos. Odo and Lia both felt relaxed and at ease for the first time in a while as the aromatic smell of warm food filled their nostrils. There was a wide selection of Irish dishes being served that night ranging from Stobhach Gaelach, Dublin Coddle, and Shepherd’s Pie.

“Oh my goodness, this brings me back to my childhood…” Lia remarked as she ate her stew.

“You should try some of the stews my father, Hazarel, makes some time,” Serjiel insisted as he wiped his face. “They were to die for and helped take the edge off after a long day on the battlefield.”

“And Gragmund also makes some really good soups you should definitely try too,” Yoshihiro added.

Adriana took a sip of her water, set her mug down, and cleared her throat. “So, Lia, in regards to your upbringing?”

She sighed as she put her spoon down. “Ah yes, that… Where do I even begin?”

“Allow me, Lia,” Angus interjected. “We Ascher’s hail from the fallen kingdom of Glacierhaven, a once great city at the frozen limits of the Southern Unlight. We were all miners, smiths, and craftsmen, dealing with winter every season. Not a day went by where your feet weren’t freezing or your pipes weren’t frozen in the morning.”

“Pardon my tree-ness, but that sounds unbearable,” Tusk put in. “How’d you guys even stand conditions like that?”

“Galcierhaven had access to some of the richest veins of alchemical ore in all of The Unlight,” Séamus clarified. “They’d mine some good rocks, process them, and ship them off to Feuerland and other kingdoms in return for the things they needed to survive.”

“Which was going fine until that godforsaken Gudrun had to go and collapse Feuerland with her stupid ambitions…” Angus rubbed his face and sighed as painful memories returned to him. “Glacierhaven was in its twilight years when I was born and I didn’t realize it back then. My parents argued, people at the local pub were always fighting over how to manage the city, but I always thought it was supposed to be like that. Cue my adult years when I finally realized how bad things were. When Yvette and I planned on having a child, we knew we were on borrowed time and would have to set out for greener pastures eventually. Despite how troubling and difficult things were, Lia had a reasonable childhood… as reasonable as a dying kingdom could provide.”

“Oh dear…” Adriana felt a little nervous, as was natural when prying into a family’s history. The fact that she could sense that she was bringing back unpleasant memories did not help in the slightest, but she had to continue for the sake of the mission… or so she told herself. “What happened then? With Lia, I mean.”

Lia sighed again as she calmly and slowly rolled her spoon along the edge of her bowl. “Well you finally hit your rebellious phase, there’s a particularly bad winter, a famous tower you enjoyed visiting finally collapses, you say a bunch of regrettable things to your parents, and before you know it you’re off on your own in the streets of The Great Uncity causing trouble with… I mean, you know the rest, right, Adriana?”

There was a moment of silence, broken by Angus. “Lia, me and your mother want you back. To Abaddon with the past and all that was said, we miss you and have been worried sick about you…”

“But father, I’m a wanted criminal…”

“What did I just say, young lady?”

Lia was speechless, so Séamus spoke up. “Lia, let me share with you some words of wisdom my grandpap once told me. The past is behind us, the future is uncertain, but today is a gift; that’s why it’s called the present. If you were not meant to be here today, you would have been cast into the abyss a long time ago.”

“I… I suppose you’re right…” Lia admitted as she finished her stew.

Tusk chuckled. “I mean, Lia, you’ve literally saved Odo’s life right before we got here. Keep in mind that he was your ‘enemy’ a year and a half ago.”

“And more than just saving me,” he added. “Adriana, what do Englehart and Dunja plan to do with Lia once she’s safe in The Iron City? I don’t want to see her rotting away in a jail cell, nor does Buster.”

She finished her water and took a breath. “I suppose now is a fair enough time to discuss that. Should everything go according to plan, Lia will be monitored for the following year, then inducted into the Blades of Dunja assuming she maintains good behaviour.”

This caught the others off guard, with Lia almost choking on her drink and nearly dropping the mug on the floor. “Wait, WHAT?! Excuse me?!”

“Well aside from Torunn being Torunn, Dunja and Englehart believe your talent as a speaker is being wasted and as an ENCOM captain I firmly agree with them. We all know how awkward Englehart and Dunja are with speeches at times, and you would be perfect as a speaker for the crown and a speech writer. And you know there’s no arguing with Torunn when she gets fixated on something.”

Lia chuckled to herself, recalling their past clashes. “Good point, Adriana…”

“Lia, it would make your mother and I so proud if you became a knight of The Iron City,” Angus stated as he tapped the table. “You’ve got the voice of an angel, the lungs to match, and the wit of a skilled writer. I remember all the tales you used to tell as a schoolgirl-all the straight A’s you got in your language and writing classes? You’ve got talent and the king and queen wish to foster that. This is an opportunity for you your mother and I could only dream of.”

She shook her head with a smile. “Alright, father, I’ll give it a shot.”

“On a side note, Adriana,” Odo put in. “She’s got a knack for gunnrmancy, but her soul magic could use some work.”

“Duly noted, Odo,” she replied.

“Gunnrmancy?” Séamus questioned. “Can’t say I’ve heard of that one…”

“It’s magic primarily facilitated through weaponry,” Serjiel answered. “Wands and staves can also count, depending on the nature of the spell. As an aside, my grandfather knew how to divine the future with my guns when they were his.”

“How fascinating. Now that I think about it, David may have been going that way with his studies.”

Angus cleared his throat and stood up, looking ready to announce something important. “Séamus, it’s time to start training Diarmad as my successor, as I’ll be leaving for The Iron City when all of this is said and done.”

“Well now! Are you sure Merrick is ready for such a responsibility?”

“With your guidance, Séamus? Absolutely. I hate to fly off into the sunset on all of you, but I need to be there for my family. Besides, I’ve been cooped up in this tower for too long and need the fresh air.”

A good night’s sleep was just what Odo and Lia needed. One would think the two would be haunted by nightmares, but thankfully they slept like logs in their comfy beds. Buster on the other hand had trouble sleeping that night. A lot was on his mind and it was to be expected given all of the pressure he felt. Tusk did not mind staying up, so he chatted with him to alleviate their worry. Hearing about the guild’s adventures renewed Buster’s hope and made him want to join. He would ideally have to wait until Karnage was vanquished and for things to settle down, but Tusk promised him a spot regardless. It also helped that Buster revealed he had natural ULTRAMagic, but it also made Tusk fully realize why Buster was in such great danger.

While the group had breakfast, Angus and Séamus took a group of librarians to the beacon chamber to activate it. It was a grand contraption that resembled a light house, with four basins lining the walls lit by flames in the colors of the four classical elements. Above the beacon was a platform with a larger, special basin. Each flame was brought by torch and was lowered into the shimmering oil. Séamus spoke a spell in ancient Gaelic and a sterling white flame lit up the room, causing light to pulse from the giant bulbs of the beacon and out of the chamber, like a guiding beam in the vast fog of The Unlight. A series of successful-sounding chimes rang out in the library to signify the beacon’s activation.

Angus wanted to go with the group to the other libraries, but he needed to stay behind to protect the Calcinatio Library. Plus Séamus insisted he start getting Diarmad ready to succeed him as Chief Librarian since he was so insistent on it. Still, Angus gave the group a special book full of maps of the tower. Notably it had a section on ways to get to the other libraries with ease. And given that Tusk had accidentally torn the previous map in their last encounter with Valdemaras, the book was a godsend. With a final hug, Angus bid his daughter farewell for the time being. Lia promised she would make it out alive, as now she had something else to strive for; reuniting with her family.

“Now that my head’s clear, I’ve had a realization…” Odo said as the group walked down the halls of the tower.

“What’s that, Odo?” Tusk wondered.

“I became a knight for the wrong reasons. I did it because I wanted to be a knight in shining armor who dutifully protected the citizenry to the glowing praise of his peers… you don’t do it for the honor and glory, you do it because it has to be done and to protect the innocent. It even goes so far that you may have to be ready to strike down your fellow knight in case they stray off of the path of light. Without you there’d be no order…”

Buster knew that tone all too well and interjected “Brother, you better not start self-loathing again…”

“No, no-It’s just the self-awareness is kicking in. I wasn’t ready to become a knight.”

Tusk stopped Odo and patted him on the shoulder. “Look, as green as you were, you did us in The Unending Forest a massive favor by keeping The Lich out that year before Blood-Wraith showed up. And what was I doing? Sitting on my arse being a tree. My guilt was kicking in hard given all the hard work you were putting in. If anyone wonders why I was so testy with Auda the day I met Blood, there you go.”

“I had a lot of fun hanging out with the rest of the Willfort’s,” Buster added. “I really want to go visit them again some day.”

Odo smiled… and then realized something truly dire as a surge of bile shot into his throat, burning like the terrible fear that had occurred to him. “Lia, I know your intel is limited, but how did Karnage find out about Buster?”

She felt a tight knot of anxiety in her throat and swallowed hard, wishing she did not know what Odo had beseeched of her. “It… It was your encounter with The Lich in the forest…”

“DAMN IT!” Odo roared as he kicked a sconce pillar, nearly breaking it. “SOME KNIGHT I AM!”

“Brother, please!” Buster pleaded, trying to calm Odo down.

“Yeah, take it easy, Odo,” Yoshihiro added. “How was any of us supposed to know Karnage was scheming that far back?”

“I should’ve known…” Odo growled with utmost frustration towards himself.

Serjiel sighed, feeling bad for the brothers. “This conflict is utterly maddening. And to think I could have potentially stopped the Lich back in my universe… perhaps it’s best it stays the way it all turned out…” he lamented.

“Wait, why didn’t you?” Odo asked.

“Well firstly I had a lot of untamed power thanks to my newfound ULTRAMagic at the time and could’ve easily ended up destroying a residential area of the Heaven Apex Tower…”

“Ah… good call, good call…” he admitted.

“And secondly, what would have happened to us now? Would Blood-Wraith have come into existence? Would the modern guild itself even be around? Such hindsight haunts me to no end. I definitely drew some ire from my battle brothers that day, but if only they knew the things I know now…”

The group went deathly silent, unable to bear the thought of things turning out differently, despite how well off they would potentially be if Serjiel had gone for it back then. “Well that’s an unbelievably terrifying thought to consider…” Adriana concluded.

Tusk took a nervous breath. “Well it’s like what Will said back when the Future Squad was around: Everything happens for a reason. Let’s not dwell on the past and keep moving forward…” He shuddered, recalling all of the times he had kicked himself for sitting around as a tree.

Next: Chapter 7

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

Treasure Island © 1883 Robert Louis Stevenson

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ULTRAMagic Babel Chapter 5

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“Hold on, Buster,�� Odo said as he indicated for the group to stop as they entered a hall decorated with carvings of flames and ceilings ordained with paintings of the stars. He then ran over to a nook, with the death rattle of a rat being heard after a good whack. It was then tossed out into the open. “I knew I smelled something foul…”

Lia was about to compliment him, but noticed another devious rat clinging to the ceiling and was perched in the perfect position for a sneak attack. “ODO, LOOK OUT!” The knight dodged instinctively, with Lia whipping out her black-gloved hand. A shiny, thin barb extended from her index and middle fingers that struck the rat without mess. It then fell to the floor with a lifeless thud, an odorous substance oozing from the wound that was a far cry from blood.

“Nasty…” Tusk remarked as he took up position to protect Buster.

“I should probably leave out the part where we’ve seen Valdemaras eating his own brood for sustenance once they’re full of enough rot…” Buster noted as he went to Odo and Lia, with the others grimacing (save for Waramunt, who rolled his eyes at the degeneracy of the rats). “Thank you again, Lia…”

“D-don’t mention it, sweetie,” she shakily replied as she cleaned her glove with an old, soiled rag that had finally seen its day. She then handed it to Waramunt so he could incinerate it and handed her a new one. “We’re all in this together, Buster.”

Odo groaned and kicked the dead rat. “Damn it, I should’ve seen that coming… Jeez, I’m so tired…”

“Then perhaps we should see if the Calcinatio Library has extra lodgings?” Waramunt suggested, receiving an exhausted look from Odo.

Adriana nodded and looked around real quickly. “Agreed. If we’re not going to head back for reinforcements, we should at least make sure we’re fully rested. A tired soldier is an immediate liability.”

“A liability, ha…” Odo muttered, then exhaled. “Alright, let’s hurry up then, before more rats show up…”

Sensing someone he did not want to, Yoshihiro assumed a ready stance, ran towards the entrance of the hall, and leapt into the air for a flying kick. “FIRE & AIR - IRON LANCE!!” Valdemaras was sent careening into the far wall with a loud crash. “HA, been snuck up on by the chaos wasps one too many times for that nonsense to work on me!”

“SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!” Odo complained.

“CURSES, CURSES!” Valdemaras shouted as he thrashed about trying to collect his bearings. “CURSES! YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME!” he declared as he stomped towards the group, teeth bared and fists clenched.

“I believe it’s pertinent to mention that I hate rats,” Serjiel said as he readied his revolver. “They make great target practice, however…”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Serjiel,” Odo replied as he readied his sword and electrified it.

Waramunt then held up his hands, halting everyone. “If I may, gentlemen,” he said as he put on a white glove adorned with an embroidery depicting an alchemical salamander enclosed in the seal of God. “Mr. Dykstra here has one fatal weakness…”

“NO, YOU WOULDN’T!” The giant rat shot back…

“FIRE!!” Waramunt roared, snapping his fingers and sending a great burst of flames at Valdemaras. The abhorrent creature was repeatedly screeching loudly in abject terror as he flailed about in a panic with each burst of fire. “GO! I’ll hold him off while all of you get to the library!”

“I SAID NO SPLITTING UP,” Adriana protested.

“JUST GO!”

“Can you handle it, Waramunt?!” Lia questioned with rightful concern.

Valdemaras tried to throw a punch, but recoiled in pain when a fire burst burnt his hand. “I’ll send Ensio if things get out of hand!” Waramunt assured. “NOW GO!”

“Fine, but no heroics!” Adriana ordered as she led the group out of the hall. “You’re my responsibility now, just like the others! Meet us at one of the libraries!”

The rest of the group then booked it as fast as they could to the Calcinatio Library, with Lia guiding the way as she originally planned to meet Odo and Buster there when they initially got separated. Reaching the entrance area revealed a group of red and black entities made of what looked like tar, glass, and gears, trying to break in. They were shadow constructs sent by Karnage, no doubt about it, and a group of librarians were fending them off with a myriad of magic ranging from pyromancy to blasts of magical energy. Leading the defense was a tall and strong man, with dark brown hair and a goatee who was not in a good mood. This changed when he saw the group approaching. He needed to get them into the library safely and the shadow constructs were not going to make that easy.

After burning three of the constructs to cinders with black and white fire, he called out. “LIA!”

“FATHER!” She called back as the group hurried over.

“IN IN IN!” he ordered as the librarians guided the seven inside, minus Serjiel who went over to the man, with both of his revolvers ready. “Alright, everyone else get inside! I’m going to burn the rest of them!”

“Allow me, Mr. Ascher!” Serjiel cocked his guns and skillfully sniped the heads of each of the remaining constructs, not missing a single shot. The Librarians were utterly impressed as the demon blew away the smoke from his barrels.

“Nice shooting, gunslinger!” Lia’s father complimented.

“All in a day’s work, and call me ‘Serjiel,’” he said as held out his hand.

“Angus Ascher,” he replied as they shook. “Now let’s get inside and lock the doors before more constructs show up.”

The Calcinatio Library was a magnificent part of the tower dedicated to theology, spirituality, and philosophy, decorated with a persistent fire motif. There were the usual unending lines and rows of gorgeous, ornate bookshelves filled with all sorts of tomes, but also what looked like the entrance to a debate hall led to by a vestibule in the left hand wall. A debate had even been in progress in the fantastic auditorium, but was interrupted by the chaos of the more important matters at hand. After making sure the other librarians were okay, Angus went to address Lia and the group.

“Lia, I thought I told you to stay out of trouble!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, father,” Lia replied as she accepted a hug from him. “Those dirty rats kept ambushing us.”

Adriana was amazed to encounter one of Lia’s family members and went right up to him with a salute. “Sir, I am Captain Adriana Lesley Hawthorne of The Blades of Dunja and I am here to escort Lia to The Iron City.”

“Still running a foul of the law, aye, Lia?” Angus jokingly remarked, with her shaking her head. “It’s an honor to meet you captain,” he said as he shook her hand. “A female officer though?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“No, not at all. I just figured serving the crown was more of a man’s job,” Angus answered as he straightened out his librarian’s uniform. “Odo, Buster! How are you boys hanging in there?”

“Wiped out…” Odo groaned as he went over to an empty table and took a seat, slumping in his chair.

Buster sighed, concerned as always. “Valdemaras has been running us ragged. Can we spend the night here to rest up?”

“Of course you can, lad,” Angus answered.

“Oh, Angus,” Odo interjected. “The Treeman is Tusk Willfort, and the other is Yoshihiro Hiagasa. Them and Serjiel are from The ULTRAMagic Guild.”

“Ah, I see,” he replied as he shook Yoshihiro’s hand, then Tusk’s. “A pleasure to meet both of you. Tusk, your father wouldn’t happen to be Sigmund, would he?”

Tusk nodded with a smile. “Yes indeed, Angus.”

“Thought I recognized the family resemblance. Sigmund would occasionally visit Glacierhaven to help out when he used to travel.”

“Yeah, dad told me about those adventures,” Tusk said as he took a seat next to Odo. “So the reason why we’re all here isn’t just to check out a book or two, ha. We’re helping Odo get Buster into hiding, but we’ve also come here for the beacon.”

“The beacon? What would you guys want with that old contraption?”

“No doubt you’ve heard from Ozymandias about The Vermilion King and his plans?” Serjiel inquired.

“Ah, those,” Angus said with a nod as he stepped over to an intercom panel in the wall. “We’ll need help from the Elder Librarian for that.” He then pressed a couple of buttons, causing a light to activate and the microphone to buzz a little after a tone. “Séamus, we need you in the lobby.” There was a moment of silence, with Angus holding his finger up with a mischievous smile. “Old man! We need help with the beacon!” he called out into the device.

Not a moment later an older, Irish voice spoke over the speaker. “Confound it, Angus! I heard you whippersnappers the first time! I may be old, but I’m not that old yet! I’ll be with you in just a minute…” The others chuckled once the communication ended with a beep.

“I have to admit that the staggered activation plan is a bit surprising to me,” Angus pointed out. “Why not activate them now all at once and be done with it?”

Serjiel stroked his short beard and gave it some thought. “Doing it that way may draw unwanted attention. If everyone starts preparing all at once, it will be a dead giveaway to what we’re doing. I imagine it would also make it hard to be secretive, and Ozymandias may want to catch Valdemaras and Gudrun off guard.”

Tusk nodded, a realization dawning on him. “Yeah, that and it may be really hard to find the spell we need with that level of chaos going off all around us…”

“That’s a good point,” Odo agreed as he sat up. “I was wondering about that, but it makes sense when you put it like that.”

Angus sighed. “That Ozymandias, always thinking two steps ahead…” A steward brought over a tray with a teapot and some cups, of which he started to prepare, but Lia took over. “Far be it from me to grasp what goes on in a god’s head.”

“Oh, father?” Lia interrupted as she poured her tea. “What happened to my mother? You know, after all the… well, you remember…”

“She went to Shadowland, looking for you not too long ago.”

Lia froze, utterly petrified over the implications. “When?”

“A year after you joined that rat bastard Milosh…” Lia looked utterly terrified, causing Angus to realize that she had never found her. “Ha! Well I guess Yvette’s disguise worked pretty well then!”

“A disguise?” Lia then recalled a seamstress who was always a vocal critic of her and Milosh… one she could never bring herself to apprehend. “Virginie Kavanah?”

Angus nodded. “That was her…”

“IS SHE OKAY!?” Lia exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table and startling everyone else.

“Easy, Lia, she’s doing fine. She sent me a letter just last week asking if I’ve heard anything new about your whereabouts. Apparently last year Queen Yngvild commissioned her to make a new quilt for Prince Folkvar…”

“Oh thank goodness…” Lia said with a sigh of relief.

Adriana’s confusion in regards to the Ascher’s was mounting, so she set her cup down and spoke up. “Lia, you clearly care about your parents, so why in the Sam Hill did you join up with Milosh in the first place?”

Lia sighed again, then took a sip of her tea. “It’s… It’s a complicated story, Adriana…”

Angus then heard a lift rattling towards the lobby and stood up. “It’s certainly a tale that should be told, no two ways about it. Since Séamus is almost here and it’s past dinner time, let’s save the history for the table. I’d rather recall all of this comfy and with a warm plate of food, if it’s all the same with you.”

Next: Chapter 6

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)