ULTRAMagic Prelude - Chapter 25
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“Well that was unpleasant…” Desislav groaned with a shudder as he emerged from his tube. He was getting his bearings until he looked down into the pit. His head spun and sent him reeling into Dragoslava’s arms.
“Whoa, easy, big guy…”
“Drago? Drago, thank God.” He took a second to catch his breath.
Tusk emerged from his tube, feeling uneasy. “Tendrils! Strands! Ew, fibers! Sinew! Ack!” he babbled with his own shudder. “No offense, but I am NEVER coming here again…”
“Well then, organic armor” Deimos observed. “Who would’ve thought…”
Desislav looked at Tusk. He was wearing armor made of calcified plates and what looked like muscle fiber. “Are you aware of what you’re wearing?”
“Yes… It feels so weird… What about you?”
Blood-Wraith lifted up Desislav’s arm. The satyr’s body was covered in a black goo that pulsed with light like the walls before. “Amazing… How artistic… maybe I should’ve asked for something like this.”
Desislav took his arm away. “Excuse me, but weren’t you the one who tossed me into the wall in the first place?”
“Heh, heh heh… sorry about that…”
“Oh, I can’t stay mad at you, blood.” Desislav gave him a hug. It felt a little tingly, like there was a bunch of static electricity. “I’ve been through way worse… What's going on with the new guy?”
Vlastimir finally poked his face through the amoeba’s plasm and membrane. “Okay, you can let me out now…”
“...Oh just getting into trouble,” Deimos answered.
“Ew, sticky, ick, ooey-gooey… Just like that one time I got warped and twisted into a transdimensional serpent, haha-No, wait, that might have been another anime I watched… or was that a video game I played?”
Blood-Wraith was confused, but elected not to comment. “So how do we tackle… whatever this pit is?”
Deimos took a moment to assess the situation. The thing at the bottom of the pit was warping everything around it. Even he got uneasy just looking at it. “Well… I don’t want to alarm everyone, but that is a black hole down there. I was hoping for a portal or a gateway, but I see The Great Unspeaker has a morbid sense of humor…”
“What’s a black hole?” Desislav asked with worry in his voice.
“A black hole or singularity is a region of spacetime where gravity is so intense that almost nothing can escape it,” Vlastimir started to explain. “You either need to travel faster than light or be fourth dimensional or higher… which we are not. Typically they form when a big enough star dies, HA! I’ve always wanted to be sucked into one, I think…” Everyone gave him weird looks after that.
Desislav looked into the pit, then back at the group. “So no going back once we jump in… How do we get out?”
Vlastimir chuckled. “Oh I don’t know, probably a white hole, the hypothetical inverse that’ll spit us out somewhere else.”
“Hypothetical, right… Alright everyone, on the count of three we all jump. Any objections?”
There were none. The fall into the pit and black hole was a surreal experience, with the Crimson Mega Abyss shrinking until it vanished. Time stood still, yet felt like it was progressing. There was nothing to see and nothing to feel. Blood-Wraith felt strangely at home as it was like the time before he was born. He looked around only to see his friends and family frozen in place. Were they still moving? After losing track of time, a strange force hit him followed by Blood-Wraith landing on something.
“Blood, are you okay?” Dragoslava asked as she shook him awake.
“Who? What? Where are we?” Snapping out of his daze was slow, but Blood-Wraith could tell that he was in the void of space. Furthermore, he was on Leif’s back with the others.
After destroying an asteroid with a fireball, Leif spoke. “Long time no see, Blood. Sorry about the stuff you guys had to go through.”
“Oh right, dragon time…” he mumbled.
“No need! I’ve got a friend who’s agreed to take us where we need to go!”
For some odd reason, Leif was holding Vlastimir in his claws. It certainly made Blood-Wraith wonder what was even going on. Upon fully recovering from his delirium, he was greeted by the sight of a planetoid shrouded in dark clouds. These storms formed a giant eye that was looking right at them. Leif sped towards it, plunging into the atmosphere. Thunder cracked around them as the wind battered their faces. It was the bizarrest planetoid Dragoslava and Blood-Wraith had ever seen, being nothing like the others.
“Alright everyone, take five” Leif stated as he landed, followed by everyone getting off. “It’ll be a bit before we arrive at the Dark Grand Desert.”
Dragoslava looked around at the peculiar landscape. It was beyond imagination, looking as if someone had created their own take on The Unlight itself. “Just where in the blue blazes are we?” The plants made no sense, the fauna were outlandish, and the layout of the land was completely irrational.
“Simple, You’re currently standing on me.” A goopy entity welcomed them as it shook her hand. I’m the planet itself. Leif, you got the Dracul boy?”
"Yes, he’s right here.”
“Excellent. Drop him right in that pool…” He sounded a bit disappointed.
“Hey, wait a second! What is…” Before Vlastimir could properly react, he landed on something soft with a plop and began sinking. He tried to complain as his face went below the surface, but this resulted in him getting a mouthful of black goo. He made a few attempts to escape, but too much of the goo clung to him. He was fully covered in the stuff, heavy and cumbersome, and eventually gave up as the pool went still.
“It appears I may have overestimated the help he could provide,” Leif lamented. “Don’t worry, everyone. It’s for his own good… emphasis on his”
Deimos laughed. “Well given what we went through in the abyss, I’d dare say some break time is in order.”
“I bet all of you are wondering what’s going on…” The entity observed.
Dragoslava looked slightly concerned and confused. “Uh, yeah…”
Desislav swallowed and nodded. “Same…”
“First things first, call me Darkness. Secondly, I asked Leif to bring me Vlastimir. He’s been getting into a lot of trouble as of late, so I’ve elected to keep him in my blood where he can’t hurt himself. Also his former patron, The Screaming God, is annoyed at the fact he won’t acknowledge him. Getting back to your situation, I’ve agreed to take you all to the Dark Grand Desert to deal with that foolish Lich.” Vlastimir began making attempts to escape the pool, unable to break its surface. It was actually fairly humorous, all things considered.
Deimos walked over and inspected their newfound host. “You seem familiar… Don't tell me! It’s on the tip of my non-existent tongue…” It then occurred to him. “Wait a second! You’re… no way, it can’t be…”
“What is it, Uncle Deimos?” Blood-Wraith also felt the familiarity, but could not place it.
“This! This is the Prima Materia Sword!”
Darkness smiled “Dad!” He hugged Deimos, followed by Blood-Wraith. “And brother…cousin…brother, I'm so happy to finally meet you! I have heard a great deal about your adventures so far.”
Deimos took some of the blood from the pool and inspected it in his hand. “I never thought the sword would change like this. What a breakthrough! This… This stuff is essentially concentrated Prima Materia, a physically manifested form of it. I mean technically this stuff is all around us as it is the building blocks of existence, but to see it in this state is incredible. Presumably this can only exist in a realm such as the Deep Nebula, so I definitely made the right choice on the location for my sword. Utterly amazing. And let the records show, Leif, that this is one of the reasons why I should go through my convoluted reincarnation…”
“Duly noted, brother. Duly noted.”
Desislav stroked his chin, processing everything he was learning. “Okay then. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Darkness. I take it you also want to stop the Lich, but why haven’t you yet? It seems like you can. I mean no criticism, just curiosity.”
“Yeah, I hear you. The problem is twofold: I can’t actually enter the Dark Grand Desert, only go there. The other part is that I can’t attack the Lich, no matter what I do.”
“I can vouch for that…” Deimos waved his hand, forming a throne for him to sit on from the land itself. “We can’t completely control Darkness, but we do have a great deal of influence over him. We are his creator after all.”
Tusk was busy taking off his armor and placing it on a stand he had made. “Well that bites… Can I have a moment to relax?”
“Why of course,” Darkness replied. “Here, let me make things more comfortable…” He then snapped his fingers, causing a great palace to form around everyone. “I imagine going through the Crimson Mega Abyss was quite harrowing…” With another snap of the fingers, seats and rests for everyone (aside from Leif) materialized.
Things from that point onwards were fairly calm, a very nice reprieve from everything that had transpired. Darkness as a whole was a little unsettling given the surreal environment. At the same time, it came with an eerie tranquility that was relaxing the more they thought about it. Everybody would take this chance to practice their alchemy and plan for the upcoming battle. Blood-Wraith on the other hand wanted to explore. He had not come back for some time, so Darkness went looking for him.
“Blood!? Oh Blood! Blo…oh, there you are… Need some help?”
Blood-Wraith was stuck in a spherical plant pod with his head sticking out. He was also hanging from a giant stalk. “Oh no, it’s fine…” The pod gurgled. “Okay, I’m stuck. It snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking…”
“You got to be careful out here. I have no idea what most of these plants do half of the time. Everything keeps changing while I’m busy maintaining my core activity. Trust me, it’s hard being a sentient planet…”
“These plants have it out for me. I think the forest wants to eat me. I’ve had to stumble out of multiple sticky plants already…”
“Oh great, it’s one of those days… HEY! I WAS TALKING TO HIM!” Darkness shouted as a giant flower came up and swallowed Blood-Wraith. “BAD PLANT! YOU… CAN’T… EAT HIM!” He fought with the plant, finally pulling his brother out… only for the two to fall into a pod that coiled around them, sealing them inside.
“Does this happen on a regular basis?”
“Only when there’s visitors… OKAY, ENOUGH!” Darkness focused on the forest, turning all of the problematic plants into beautiful flowers and trees. “Good lord… would you believe there are weirdos into that stuff?”
“So…uh, were those the carnivorous plants I’ve been reading about?” Blood-Wraith remarked as he inspected the flowers, a bit bewildered.
Darkness gave a regretful laugh. “Kind of. Blood, I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I’m starting to think I need to invite people to come live here.”
“It’s alright. Honestly I think that might have been karma for what I did to Desislav and Tusk…”
“Nah, that was just bad luck. Again, I have a hard time controlling what grows on me.” He then handed an apple-like fruit to Blood-Wraith. “Surely you’ve had moments where you’ve gotten over excited, right?”
Blood-Wraith nodded. “Yeah. One time I raced Leif around the Singing Storm Tower only to find out he wasn’t actually racing me and had gone inside…”
Darkness laughed. “Did you win though?”
“Hm… Yes, yes I did.”
The two went for a bit of a walk after that. Things were a little shaky as Darkness tried to keep everything under control. Not wanting to get eaten again, Blood-Wraith suggested the open fields. A fine choice as they were quite nice and peaceful. Seizing the opportunity to get to know his brother, Darkness proposed they play some games. This ranged from tag to hide & seek. Things were quite lonely in the Deep Nebula, so this was a welcome change of pace. The siblings darted around until Darkness eventually pounced on Blood-Wraith.
“Hey, I’m the seeker!” Blood-Wraith stated. “That’s cheating!”
“Too bad. I won because you didn’t catch me!” Darkness proclaimed. They both laughed it off.
Sitting up, Blood-Wraith noticed what looked like a setting sun. “I guess we should head back, shouldn’t we?”
“Yeah, it is getting late… Is something wrong, Blood?”
Blood-Wraith hugged Darkness. “Brother? I don’t want to go fight the Lich…”
“Ah, I see. Don’t worry, it’s going to be alright.”
“My last battle with that monster really hurt. Everyone nearly died…” Blood-Wraith sniffled, then began to cry.
Darkness continued to hug his brother. “There there, Blood. Look at this way; you all survived, didn’t you?”
“Ye…yeah…”
“Well there you go. Look, I know it’s hard. I do not envy you in the slightest. You can’t give up now, not after how far you’ve come. If not for the others, then you at least owe it to yourself to keep going. Overcome the odds and better yourself. If you can get past this obstacle, you can overcome anything. On the other hand I don’t blame you for being afraid, especially given how young you are…”
“I wish mom and dad were here…”
“Pardon my asking, but who are your parents?”
Blood-Wraith thought about this. “I… don’t know. I haven’t met any yet.”
Darkness shook his head. “You poor thing… Alright, how about this: I can’t find your parents right now, but I can treat you to a nice, warm meal and a comfy bed. Sound good?”
“Yeah. Thanks, brother…”
Next: Chapter 26
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
“Well that was unpleasant…” Desislav groaned with a shudder as he emerged from his tube. He was getting his bearings until he looked down into the pit. His head spun and sent him reeling into Dragoslava’s arms.
“Whoa, easy, big guy…”
“Drago? Drago, thank God.” He took a second to catch his breath.
Tusk emerged from his tube, feeling uneasy. “Tendrils! Strands! Ew, fibers! Sinew! Ack!” he babbled with his own shudder. “No offense, but I am NEVER coming here again…”
“Well then, organic armor” Deimos observed. “Who would’ve thought…”
Desislav looked at Tusk. He was wearing armor made of calcified plates and what looked like muscle fiber. “Are you aware of what you’re wearing?”
“Yes… It feels so weird… What about you?”
Blood-Wraith lifted up Desislav’s arm. The satyr’s body was covered in a black goo that pulsed with light like the walls before. “Amazing… How artistic… maybe I should’ve asked for something like this.”
Desislav took his arm away. “Excuse me, but weren’t you the one who tossed me into the wall in the first place?”
“Heh, heh heh… sorry about that…”
“Oh, I can’t stay mad at you, blood.” Desislav gave him a hug. It felt a little tingly, like there was a bunch of static electricity. “I’ve been through way worse… What's going on with the new guy?”
Vlastimir finally poked his face through the amoeba’s plasm and membrane. “Okay, you can let me out now…”
“...Oh just getting into trouble,” Deimos answered.
“Ew, sticky, ick, ooey-gooey… Just like that one time I got warped and twisted into a transdimensional serpent, haha-No, wait, that might have been another anime I watched… or was that a video game I played?”
Blood-Wraith was confused, but elected not to comment. “So how do we tackle… whatever this pit is?”
Deimos took a moment to assess the situation. The thing at the bottom of the pit was warping everything around it. Even he got uneasy just looking at it. “Well… I don’t want to alarm everyone, but that is a black hole down there. I was hoping for a portal or a gateway, but I see The Great Unspeaker has a morbid sense of humor…”
“What’s a black hole?” Desislav asked with worry in his voice.
“A black hole or singularity is a region of spacetime where gravity is so intense that almost nothing can escape it,” Vlastimir started to explain. “You either need to travel faster than light or be fourth dimensional or higher… which we are not. Typically they form when a big enough star dies, HA! I’ve always wanted to be sucked into one, I think…” Everyone gave him weird looks after that.
Desislav looked into the pit, then back at the group. “So no going back once we jump in… How do we get out?”
Vlastimir chuckled. “Oh I don’t know, probably a white hole, the hypothetical inverse that’ll spit us out somewhere else.”
“Hypothetical, right… Alright everyone, on the count of three we all jump. Any objections?”
There were none. The fall into the pit and black hole was a surreal experience, with the Crimson Mega Abyss shrinking until it vanished. Time stood still, yet felt like it was progressing. There was nothing to see and nothing to feel. Blood-Wraith felt strangely at home as it was like the time before he was born. He looked around only to see his friends and family frozen in place. Were they still moving? After losing track of time, a strange force hit him followed by Blood-Wraith landing on something.
“Blood, are you okay?” Dragoslava asked as she shook him awake.
“Who? What? Where are we?” Snapping out of his daze was slow, but Blood-Wraith could tell that he was in the void of space. Furthermore, he was on Leif’s back with the others.
After destroying an asteroid with a fireball, Leif spoke. “Long time no see, Blood. Sorry about the stuff you guys had to go through.”
“Oh right, dragon time…” he mumbled.
“No need! I’ve got a friend who’s agreed to take us where we need to go!”
For some odd reason, Leif was holding Vlastimir in his claws. It certainly made Blood-Wraith wonder what was even going on. Upon fully recovering from his delirium, he was greeted by the sight of a planetoid shrouded in dark clouds. These storms formed a giant eye that was looking right at them. Leif sped towards it, plunging into the atmosphere. Thunder cracked around them as the wind battered their faces. It was the bizarrest planetoid Dragoslava and Blood-Wraith had ever seen, being nothing like the others.
“Alright everyone, take five” Leif stated as he landed, followed by everyone getting off. “It’ll be a bit before we arrive at the Dark Grand Desert.”
Dragoslava looked around at the peculiar landscape. It was beyond imagination, looking as if someone had created their own take on The Unlight itself. “Just where in the blue blazes are we?” The plants made no sense, the fauna were outlandish, and the layout of the land was completely irrational.
“Simple, You’re currently standing on me.” A goopy entity welcomed them as it shook her hand. I’m the planet itself. Leif, you got the Dracul boy?”
"Yes, he’s right here.”
“Excellent. Drop him right in that pool…” He sounded a bit disappointed.
“Hey, wait a second! What is…” Before Vlastimir could properly react, he landed on something soft with a plop and began sinking. He tried to complain as his face went below the surface, but this resulted in him getting a mouthful of black goo. He made a few attempts to escape, but too much of the goo clung to him. He was fully covered in the stuff, heavy and cumbersome, and eventually gave up as the pool went still.
“It appears I may have overestimated the help he could provide,” Leif lamented. “Don’t worry, everyone. It’s for his own good… emphasis on his”
Deimos laughed. “Well given what we went through in the abyss, I’d dare say some break time is in order.”
“I bet all of you are wondering what’s going on…” The entity observed.
Dragoslava looked slightly concerned and confused. “Uh, yeah…”
Desislav swallowed and nodded. “Same…”
“First things first, call me Darkness. Secondly, I asked Leif to bring me Vlastimir. He’s been getting into a lot of trouble as of late, so I’ve elected to keep him in my blood where he can’t hurt himself. Also his former patron, The Screaming God, is annoyed at the fact he won’t acknowledge him. Getting back to your situation, I’ve agreed to take you all to the Dark Grand Desert to deal with that foolish Lich.” Vlastimir began making attempts to escape the pool, unable to break its surface. It was actually fairly humorous, all things considered.
Deimos walked over and inspected their newfound host. “You seem familiar… Don't tell me! It’s on the tip of my non-existent tongue…” It then occurred to him. “Wait a second! You’re… no way, it can’t be…”
“What is it, Uncle Deimos?” Blood-Wraith also felt the familiarity, but could not place it.
“This! This is the Prima Materia Sword!”
Darkness smiled “Dad!” He hugged Deimos, followed by Blood-Wraith. “And brother…cousin…brother, I'm so happy to finally meet you! I have heard a great deal about your adventures so far.”
Deimos took some of the blood from the pool and inspected it in his hand. “I never thought the sword would change like this. What a breakthrough! This… This stuff is essentially concentrated Prima Materia, a physically manifested form of it. I mean technically this stuff is all around us as it is the building blocks of existence, but to see it in this state is incredible. Presumably this can only exist in a realm such as the Deep Nebula, so I definitely made the right choice on the location for my sword. Utterly amazing. And let the records show, Leif, that this is one of the reasons why I should go through my convoluted reincarnation…”
“Duly noted, brother. Duly noted.”
Desislav stroked his chin, processing everything he was learning. “Okay then. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Darkness. I take it you also want to stop the Lich, but why haven’t you yet? It seems like you can. I mean no criticism, just curiosity.”
“Yeah, I hear you. The problem is twofold: I can’t actually enter the Dark Grand Desert, only go there. The other part is that I can’t attack the Lich, no matter what I do.”
“I can vouch for that…” Deimos waved his hand, forming a throne for him to sit on from the land itself. “We can’t completely control Darkness, but we do have a great deal of influence over him. We are his creator after all.”
Tusk was busy taking off his armor and placing it on a stand he had made. “Well that bites… Can I have a moment to relax?”
“Why of course,” Darkness replied. “Here, let me make things more comfortable…” He then snapped his fingers, causing a great palace to form around everyone. “I imagine going through the Crimson Mega Abyss was quite harrowing…” With another snap of the fingers, seats and rests for everyone (aside from Leif) materialized.
Things from that point onwards were fairly calm, a very nice reprieve from everything that had transpired. Darkness as a whole was a little unsettling given the surreal environment. At the same time, it came with an eerie tranquility that was relaxing the more they thought about it. Everybody would take this chance to practice their alchemy and plan for the upcoming battle. Blood-Wraith on the other hand wanted to explore. He had not come back for some time, so Darkness went looking for him.
“Blood!? Oh Blood! Blo…oh, there you are… Need some help?”
Blood-Wraith was stuck in a spherical plant pod with his head sticking out. He was also hanging from a giant stalk. “Oh no, it’s fine…” The pod gurgled. “Okay, I’m stuck. It snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking…”
“You got to be careful out here. I have no idea what most of these plants do half of the time. Everything keeps changing while I’m busy maintaining my core activity. Trust me, it’s hard being a sentient planet…”
“These plants have it out for me. I think the forest wants to eat me. I’ve had to stumble out of multiple sticky plants already…”
“Oh great, it’s one of those days… HEY! I WAS TALKING TO HIM!” Darkness shouted as a giant flower came up and swallowed Blood-Wraith. “BAD PLANT! YOU… CAN’T… EAT HIM!” He fought with the plant, finally pulling his brother out… only for the two to fall into a pod that coiled around them, sealing them inside.
“Does this happen on a regular basis?”
“Only when there’s visitors… OKAY, ENOUGH!” Darkness focused on the forest, turning all of the problematic plants into beautiful flowers and trees. “Good lord… would you believe there are weirdos into that stuff?”
“So…uh, were those the carnivorous plants I’ve been reading about?” Blood-Wraith remarked as he inspected the flowers, a bit bewildered.
Darkness gave a regretful laugh. “Kind of. Blood, I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I’m starting to think I need to invite people to come live here.”
“It’s alright. Honestly I think that might have been karma for what I did to Desislav and Tusk…”
“Nah, that was just bad luck. Again, I have a hard time controlling what grows on me.” He then handed an apple-like fruit to Blood-Wraith. “Surely you’ve had moments where you’ve gotten over excited, right?”
Blood-Wraith nodded. “Yeah. One time I raced Leif around the Singing Storm Tower only to find out he wasn’t actually racing me and had gone inside…”
Darkness laughed. “Did you win though?”
“Hm… Yes, yes I did.”
The two went for a bit of a walk after that. Things were a little shaky as Darkness tried to keep everything under control. Not wanting to get eaten again, Blood-Wraith suggested the open fields. A fine choice as they were quite nice and peaceful. Seizing the opportunity to get to know his brother, Darkness proposed they play some games. This ranged from tag to hide & seek. Things were quite lonely in the Deep Nebula, so this was a welcome change of pace. The siblings darted around until Darkness eventually pounced on Blood-Wraith.
“Hey, I’m the seeker!” Blood-Wraith stated. “That’s cheating!”
“Too bad. I won because you didn’t catch me!” Darkness proclaimed. They both laughed it off.
Sitting up, Blood-Wraith noticed what looked like a setting sun. “I guess we should head back, shouldn’t we?”
“Yeah, it is getting late… Is something wrong, Blood?”
Blood-Wraith hugged Darkness. “Brother? I don’t want to go fight the Lich…”
“Ah, I see. Don’t worry, it’s going to be alright.”
“My last battle with that monster really hurt. Everyone nearly died…” Blood-Wraith sniffled, then began to cry.
Darkness continued to hug his brother. “There there, Blood. Look at this way; you all survived, didn’t you?”
“Ye…yeah…”
“Well there you go. Look, I know it’s hard. I do not envy you in the slightest. You can’t give up now, not after how far you’ve come. If not for the others, then you at least owe it to yourself to keep going. Overcome the odds and better yourself. If you can get past this obstacle, you can overcome anything. On the other hand I don’t blame you for being afraid, especially given how young you are…”
“I wish mom and dad were here…”
“Pardon my asking, but who are your parents?”
Blood-Wraith thought about this. “I… don’t know. I haven’t met any yet.”
Darkness shook his head. “You poor thing… Alright, how about this: I can’t find your parents right now, but I can treat you to a nice, warm meal and a comfy bed. Sound good?”
“Yeah. Thanks, brother…”
Next: Chapter 26
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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