ULTRAMagic Eon 1 - Chapter 26
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The Singing Storm Tower was a bit busier than usual, which seemed to be the norm as of late. Ludwig and Rostislav were keen to listen in on the various conversations that passed by them, hearing all sorts of discussion about the Tower of Babel. The two were worried as they knew its appearance in The Unlight was still a year out, but that did not stop Rostislav’s paranoia from flaring up. Wandering around to find someone who could show them to Will, the two ran into Torunn Craddock. While she was preoccupied giving instructions to one of the stewards, she was not terribly busy at the moment.
Torunn was Weaver’s cousin and the leader of The Blades of Dunja, having earned the position for her efforts in spearheading the liberation of Shadowland from Milosh Proch. Originating from Universe-0Z, like Weaver she was quite different from the average person despite being human. She had orange skin and brown hair whose ends wisped up like calm fire. She was also quite muscular, owing to 0Z humans having the potential to become vastly stronger than other versions of humanity. She noticed the two men approaching and paused what she was doing to address them.
“Hey, the rest of the Future Squad!” she announced. “How are you guys doing today?”
“Hello, Torunn,” Ludwig replied. “We were just looking for Will as Blood wanted to check up on him, but got called away for guild business with Deimos.”
“Ah, that’s what I figured. I guess Will is still in the Nexus with Dunja and Aureolus, as no one has come out of there yet, aside from people delivering supplies to them.” She leaned over to consult with one of the stewards, then returned her attention to Ludwig and Rostislav. “Here, I can take you to go see them. Real quickly though, I couldn’t help but notice that Will feels a lot like Weaver from time to time. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear he’s Weaver’s universe-oh what was it? Oh yeah, 23! Universe-23 counterpart.”
Rostislav thought back to when he first met Will and nodded. “Yeah, now that I think about it and given the time we’ve spent with Weaver as of late. It’s not impossible, just look at Ludwig from Will’s universe…”
“Wahr, wahr,” Ludwig said with a nod.
Just as the three were about to head off to the Nexus entrance, a woman came hurrying up to them, nearly stumbling multiple times. She was a slightly messy woman who looked like she spent way too much time studying. Her long, dark blue hair was messy, her glasses were a tad crooked, and her odd military uniform was noticeably untidy. While hard to believe at first glance, this woman was Adriana Hawthorne, a member of the Blades of Dunja. Research and tactics were her strength and she had joined under bizarre circumstances.
“Torunn!” Adriana said with a stumble, narrowly avoiding falling over.
“What’s good, Adriana?” Torunn subtly shook her head as Adriana scrambled to organize her papers.
“My newest speculatory report on the Tower of Babel’s trajectory is ready.” She then handed her superior a messy folder stuffed with papers.
“Shoot, General Thornefield will want to see this pronto. And it’s good timing as Fyodor is visiting at the moment…” Torunn looked in the opposite direction, then back to the three. “Adriana? Can you take these two to the Nexus for me?”
“Yes Ma’am!” she replied with an eager salute. “Follow me, gentlemen!” Adriana then tripped over her laces, landing with a thud. This made the two wince a little.
“Adriana, please tie your shoes…” Torunn chided.
“On it, Ma’am!” she replied as she got up and began tying her laces. “I was so eager to deliver that report that I completely forgot…”
“Don’t worry, she’s harmless,” Torunn whispered to Ludwig with a chuckle. “See you guys later,” she said as she walked off.
Adriana brushed off her coat, adjusted her glasses, and stood up straight. “Alright, gentlemen. The Nexus Door is right this way… or was it this way? No, it was definitely this way!” she said as she began to walk.
“She’s always been like this?” Rostislav quietly questioned Ludwig.
“Pay attention to the glasses, Private,” he whispered back.
Despite her initial confusion, Adriana easily led the two to the Nexus Door. The means of opening it was a special password that Dunja had given to the royal court and the Blades… that Adriana was fumbling for some reason. Thankfully all of the Future Squad had also been given the password and Ludwig was able to help Adriana. Heading inside, Will was running around, casting spells with a dark-purple haired man while Dunja, Aureolus, and a green man watched. Initially Rostislav was a little disoriented by the Nexus and its physics, but he quickly got the hang of how the realm behaved.
“Your majesty!” Adriana called out. “Ludwig and Rostislav wish to see Will.”
“Ah, Adriana, boys, welcome,” Dunja replied.
“Your majesty,” Ludwig said with a bow.
“Hey, Dunja, Aureolus,” said Rostislav. “And… hey, Grass God! It’s been a bit.”
The Grass God shook both of their hands. “Rostislav, Ludwig-meeting you guys a bit early, but glad to hear I’m still hanging around in the future.”
“FINALLY,” Yale cried as he flew to Rostislav’s shoulder.
“Oh, there you are, Yale,” Rostislav replied. “Where have you been?”
“I came here to check on Will-but get me out of here! This place is eerie.”
Rostislav and the others laughed and chuckled. “Sure thing, buddy.”
“So how are things going with Will?” Ludwig inquired.
“Pretty good,” Aureolus answered. “Blood would be happy with his-hey, where’s Blood? I sensed him earlier…”
“Aqua World with Deimos, Drago, Desislav, and Tusk. Apparently the crew of The UST-ARC 3 are really starting to explore the surface of Aqua World.”
“Ah, I see. Here’s hoping Blood gets to visit soon.”
Dunja turned her attention to Will, then back to the others. “Things have been interesting as he’s been really taking to void magic…”
“Interesting is an understatement,” The Grass God added.
Before anything else could be said, Will prepared a massive, powerful spell that caused their area of the Nexus to tremble a bit. “NEZ, ROH, QUN, XHRA!” A gigantic, futuristic energy cannon appeared by his side that he pointed up towards the horizon and away from the group. “MEGA CANNON!” An enormous, destructive beam of energy shot forward, nearly blowing everyone back. Mads snapped his fingers, opening a portal into space for the roaring beam to exit into. Upon the beam ending, the cannon vanished and Will fell backwards. “Whoo, Hell yeah…” he said with a thumbs up as he laid on the Nexus floor. “Mads, where do you send it?”
“Oh, just a timeline that needed an enemy space station destroyed,” he said as he helped him up.
“Wait, Mads?” Adriana quietly noted.
“Wow…” Will was amazed, but also secretly concerned. “Oh, Ludwig, Rostislav! This is my void patron, The Undead God, but you can call him ‘Mads Sagan.’”
“SPECIALIST SAGAN!?” Adriana exclaimed, startling everyone else.
“Uh-oh, I’m in trouble,” Mads admitted with a laugh.
Adriana took off her glasses, revealing her piercing, amber eyes. Her hair straightened out and her uniform tidied itself up, a contrast from the clumsy persona everyone had been accustomed to. She marched right up to Mads and got in his face. “Mads! You visit me one time, vanish, and I find you here of all places!?”
“Good to see you too, Adriana…”
“Please tell me you know where Anton is because I know he’s running around the Cosmos proper at the moment.”
“Mm-hmm, yup.”
She felt her blood run cold for a second. “Re-really? Where?”
“Can’t say.”
“That’s an order, Sagan.” Mads shook his head. “Are you disobeying a direct order?!”
Mads nodded. “Yes, because I know things you don’t. Trust me, you’re going to need to stay in the dark just a little bit longer.”
Adriana gave him an incredulous look, dumbstruck by what she was hearing. “What the-did you talk to him or something?”
“Just the other day.” Mads could see Adriana’s confusion growing and cleared his throat. “Adriana, we have bigger things to worry about than Anton and The Reverse Serpent. And you’re about to figure out why Tereza was in The Requiem Cosmos in the first place.”
Adriana was quiet for a moment and sighed. “Can I at least get back into contact with ENCOM to tell them what I know?”
Mads’ smiled and handed her an ENCOM laptop. “Use this.”
“Thank you. So, um, how’s everyone doing back home?”
“Pretty good-Anton destroyed HQ and we had to fall back to The Ashen Necropolis, but we won in the end…”
“EXCUSE ME, WHAT!?!”
“You haven’t played Grave Requiem Overkill yet?” Mads was receiving the most baffled and panicked look from Adriana. “Oh, Adriana?”
“What?”
“You blew your cover…”
Adriana slowly looked over and noticed Dunja’s surprised expression. What was left of her confidence sank to the bottom of her feet as she realized the obvious. “My-my Queen, I-I can explain…”
“Well, dear, withholding information from me and Englehart like that is fairly serious, but… um, who are you exactly?”
After taking a second to compose herself, Adriana stood at attention. “Your majesty, I am Captain Adriana Lesley Hawthorne, tactician for The End of The World Combat Brigade, or ENCOM for short.”
Dunja nodded, taking it all in. She was unsure what to make of the ‘ENCOM’ association, but she had a feeling it was of grave importance. “Alright then, fair enough. I mean, I don’t mind having a decorated officer under my command. Would ENCOM be on our side, Mads?” He also nodded. “We’ll have to talk about this later, Adriana.”
“Of course, my queen,” she replied.
The Grass God noticed Will’s confusion and patted him on the shoulder. “And now you understand why we were leery about him…”
“Duly noted, Grassy…” Will replied. “Captain Hawthorne, I am Private William Ford of The Liger Brigade, first class in line for a promotion. I’ve met General Dryden and he is a great man and leader, no two ways about it. Mads also told me some of his past.”
“Oh, well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Private Ford,” she said as she shook his hand. “Pardon the glasses, I just use those to fit in and…” Adriana sighed. “...hide myself from Anton, but I guess that’s not a problem anymore.”
“Dryden helps oversee The Liger Brigade,” Mads pointed out. “That makes him Will’s commanding officer.”
“Really now?” Well what do you think of him, Specialist?”
“He’d make a great edition to ENCOM, if a bit quirky…” Mads then sensed something odd about Will and stepped over to him. “Hold on a second…”
“Uh, Mads?” Will was a bit put off by Mads’ strange actions.
“Don’t panic, Will. I’m just…” he got uncomfortably close and sniffed the side of Will’s head. His eyes turned to that of a snake’s for a moment and he even hissed like one before backing up. “No way…”
“Mads?” Adriana asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Dryden, you absolute mad lad!”
“What is it, Sagan?” Adriana demanded to know. “I don’t like it when you know something I don’t…”
“Dryden administered The Undead Plague to The Liger Brigade, M.A.I.G., and GRENADIER! Jeez, he must have figured out how to create a stable version of the disease…”
Everyone was speechless, with Will looking nervously at his right arm. “Wait, was that what that classified vaccine was?”
Rostislav went over to Will and patted his left shoulder. “Well, um, I guess that explains why your blood has a snakey aftertaste to it, Will…”
“Pardon?” Adriana interrupted, utterly baffled at that assertion.
“I’m a vampire…”
“Mads, what is this ‘undead plague,’ if you don’t mind me asking?” Ludwig inquired.
“It’s a long, complicated story, but in simple terms it is the essence of The Reverse Serpent’s power that allows ENCOM operatives to properly combat The Undead Plague. It also creates undead hordes from nothing by collapsing superposition, but that is a whole higher dimensional physics lesson I am not prepared to give.”
Yale then realized something concerning. “Wait, so if the serpent was sealed in the Requiem Cosmos as I’ve heard through the grapevine, why was Dryden doing all of those injections then?”
“That would imply that the serpent has a good chance of escaping, correct?” Dunja questioned. “I mean, why would the director of ENCOM do that if there was no need?” She then noticed Aureolus deep in thought. “What’s the matter, dear?”
Aureolus crossed his arms and sighed. “The Reverse Serpent has escaped into the Cosmos proper. I’ve sensed slithering around in the Abyss of the Cosmos. It’s laying low at the moment…”
Adriana felt her adrenaline surge through her veins like fire as she grabbed Mads by the uniform. “WHY DIDN’T YOU DO ANYTHING, SAGAN!? AREN’T YOU 11D!?” she yelled as she shook him.
“Yeah, and my dad is -12D with mastery over superposition collapse-what do you expect me to do?”
“Is there anything we can do?” Will wondered, hoping there was an answer. Given the back and forth Mads and Adriana had been going through, he was a bit skeptical that there was a solution.
Aureolus gave the matter some thought and had an important realization. “Well I think we can relax a little as I’m pretty sure Anton and the serpent haven’t joined The Eternal Order. They would’ve used those two against us by now, let’s be real.” This seemed to have everyone in agreement. “Also let’s not tell Blood and the others about this just yet. They already have enough to worry about as is.” Again, everyone was certainly in agreement.
Ludwig had to take a seat in one of the recliners, as he felt a bit overwhelmed. “And I thought The Decaying God was bad enough…”
“Well if it helps all of you feel better, I haven’t seen any Undead outbreaks in the Cosmos proper,” Mads reassured. “And my dad has been a lot more coherent ever since leaving the Requiem Cosmos. It makes me wonder if the imprisonment was actually doing more harm than good…”
Adriana gave a defeated sigh and also took a seat. “Well, Will, consider yourself an unofficial member of ENCOM.”
Will was surprised by this. “Oh, wow, er-yes, Ma’am!” he said with a salute. It did not do much to shake everyone’s mood.
Seeing that everyone was incredibly uneasy, Mads snapped his fingers and summoned a large, flat screen television. “How about we take a break and watch a movie or two? Me, Ulrich, and Tatiana did this all the time when we were stressed back home.”
“That would be lovely, Mads,” Dunja said as she sat down. “Then we’ll get back training, as you’re not done yet, Will.”
Will chuckled as Yale flew over to his shoulder. “Yeah, Mega Cannon took a lot out of me.”
“So what movie do you have in mind, Mads?” Adriana wondered as she and the others got comfortable.
“Give me one second,” he said as he got out what looked like a flip phone and dialed a number. “Ulrich, hey! Got a moment?... Get over here pronto, as we’re going to watch a movie or two… yeah, things got a little heavy after I found out Dryden’s been busy on Earth-23… yeah, he broke out and… no, it’s nothing to worry about, I think… Oh yeah, definitely bring Quasar along… Alright, see you soon.” He then closed the phone and sent it away. “Will, ready to meet a Discordant God of Chaos?”
“Oh, of course. Is he a friend of yours?”
“Old friend, from the Requiem Cosmos,” Mads said as he snapped his fingers again, summoning a popcorn machine, some snack stands, and a small fridge full of drinks. “Also this is before Quasar joined the guild, so be careful what you say, but that goes without saying.”
Next: Chapter 27
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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The Singing Storm Tower was a bit busier than usual, which seemed to be the norm as of late. Ludwig and Rostislav were keen to listen in on the various conversations that passed by them, hearing all sorts of discussion about the Tower of Babel. The two were worried as they knew its appearance in The Unlight was still a year out, but that did not stop Rostislav’s paranoia from flaring up. Wandering around to find someone who could show them to Will, the two ran into Torunn Craddock. While she was preoccupied giving instructions to one of the stewards, she was not terribly busy at the moment.
Torunn was Weaver’s cousin and the leader of The Blades of Dunja, having earned the position for her efforts in spearheading the liberation of Shadowland from Milosh Proch. Originating from Universe-0Z, like Weaver she was quite different from the average person despite being human. She had orange skin and brown hair whose ends wisped up like calm fire. She was also quite muscular, owing to 0Z humans having the potential to become vastly stronger than other versions of humanity. She noticed the two men approaching and paused what she was doing to address them.
“Hey, the rest of the Future Squad!” she announced. “How are you guys doing today?”
“Hello, Torunn,” Ludwig replied. “We were just looking for Will as Blood wanted to check up on him, but got called away for guild business with Deimos.”
“Ah, that’s what I figured. I guess Will is still in the Nexus with Dunja and Aureolus, as no one has come out of there yet, aside from people delivering supplies to them.” She leaned over to consult with one of the stewards, then returned her attention to Ludwig and Rostislav. “Here, I can take you to go see them. Real quickly though, I couldn’t help but notice that Will feels a lot like Weaver from time to time. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear he’s Weaver’s universe-oh what was it? Oh yeah, 23! Universe-23 counterpart.”
Rostislav thought back to when he first met Will and nodded. “Yeah, now that I think about it and given the time we’ve spent with Weaver as of late. It’s not impossible, just look at Ludwig from Will’s universe…”
“Wahr, wahr,” Ludwig said with a nod.
Just as the three were about to head off to the Nexus entrance, a woman came hurrying up to them, nearly stumbling multiple times. She was a slightly messy woman who looked like she spent way too much time studying. Her long, dark blue hair was messy, her glasses were a tad crooked, and her odd military uniform was noticeably untidy. While hard to believe at first glance, this woman was Adriana Hawthorne, a member of the Blades of Dunja. Research and tactics were her strength and she had joined under bizarre circumstances.
“Torunn!” Adriana said with a stumble, narrowly avoiding falling over.
“What’s good, Adriana?” Torunn subtly shook her head as Adriana scrambled to organize her papers.
“My newest speculatory report on the Tower of Babel’s trajectory is ready.” She then handed her superior a messy folder stuffed with papers.
“Shoot, General Thornefield will want to see this pronto. And it’s good timing as Fyodor is visiting at the moment…” Torunn looked in the opposite direction, then back to the three. “Adriana? Can you take these two to the Nexus for me?”
“Yes Ma’am!” she replied with an eager salute. “Follow me, gentlemen!” Adriana then tripped over her laces, landing with a thud. This made the two wince a little.
“Adriana, please tie your shoes…” Torunn chided.
“On it, Ma’am!” she replied as she got up and began tying her laces. “I was so eager to deliver that report that I completely forgot…”
“Don’t worry, she’s harmless,” Torunn whispered to Ludwig with a chuckle. “See you guys later,” she said as she walked off.
Adriana brushed off her coat, adjusted her glasses, and stood up straight. “Alright, gentlemen. The Nexus Door is right this way… or was it this way? No, it was definitely this way!” she said as she began to walk.
“She’s always been like this?” Rostislav quietly questioned Ludwig.
“Pay attention to the glasses, Private,” he whispered back.
Despite her initial confusion, Adriana easily led the two to the Nexus Door. The means of opening it was a special password that Dunja had given to the royal court and the Blades… that Adriana was fumbling for some reason. Thankfully all of the Future Squad had also been given the password and Ludwig was able to help Adriana. Heading inside, Will was running around, casting spells with a dark-purple haired man while Dunja, Aureolus, and a green man watched. Initially Rostislav was a little disoriented by the Nexus and its physics, but he quickly got the hang of how the realm behaved.
“Your majesty!” Adriana called out. “Ludwig and Rostislav wish to see Will.”
“Ah, Adriana, boys, welcome,” Dunja replied.
“Your majesty,” Ludwig said with a bow.
“Hey, Dunja, Aureolus,” said Rostislav. “And… hey, Grass God! It’s been a bit.”
The Grass God shook both of their hands. “Rostislav, Ludwig-meeting you guys a bit early, but glad to hear I’m still hanging around in the future.”
“FINALLY,” Yale cried as he flew to Rostislav’s shoulder.
“Oh, there you are, Yale,” Rostislav replied. “Where have you been?”
“I came here to check on Will-but get me out of here! This place is eerie.”
Rostislav and the others laughed and chuckled. “Sure thing, buddy.”
“So how are things going with Will?” Ludwig inquired.
“Pretty good,” Aureolus answered. “Blood would be happy with his-hey, where’s Blood? I sensed him earlier…”
“Aqua World with Deimos, Drago, Desislav, and Tusk. Apparently the crew of The UST-ARC 3 are really starting to explore the surface of Aqua World.”
“Ah, I see. Here’s hoping Blood gets to visit soon.”
Dunja turned her attention to Will, then back to the others. “Things have been interesting as he’s been really taking to void magic…”
“Interesting is an understatement,” The Grass God added.
Before anything else could be said, Will prepared a massive, powerful spell that caused their area of the Nexus to tremble a bit. “NEZ, ROH, QUN, XHRA!” A gigantic, futuristic energy cannon appeared by his side that he pointed up towards the horizon and away from the group. “MEGA CANNON!” An enormous, destructive beam of energy shot forward, nearly blowing everyone back. Mads snapped his fingers, opening a portal into space for the roaring beam to exit into. Upon the beam ending, the cannon vanished and Will fell backwards. “Whoo, Hell yeah…” he said with a thumbs up as he laid on the Nexus floor. “Mads, where do you send it?”
“Oh, just a timeline that needed an enemy space station destroyed,” he said as he helped him up.
“Wait, Mads?” Adriana quietly noted.
“Wow…” Will was amazed, but also secretly concerned. “Oh, Ludwig, Rostislav! This is my void patron, The Undead God, but you can call him ‘Mads Sagan.’”
“SPECIALIST SAGAN!?” Adriana exclaimed, startling everyone else.
“Uh-oh, I’m in trouble,” Mads admitted with a laugh.
Adriana took off her glasses, revealing her piercing, amber eyes. Her hair straightened out and her uniform tidied itself up, a contrast from the clumsy persona everyone had been accustomed to. She marched right up to Mads and got in his face. “Mads! You visit me one time, vanish, and I find you here of all places!?”
“Good to see you too, Adriana…”
“Please tell me you know where Anton is because I know he’s running around the Cosmos proper at the moment.”
“Mm-hmm, yup.”
She felt her blood run cold for a second. “Re-really? Where?”
“Can’t say.”
“That’s an order, Sagan.” Mads shook his head. “Are you disobeying a direct order?!”
Mads nodded. “Yes, because I know things you don’t. Trust me, you’re going to need to stay in the dark just a little bit longer.”
Adriana gave him an incredulous look, dumbstruck by what she was hearing. “What the-did you talk to him or something?”
“Just the other day.” Mads could see Adriana’s confusion growing and cleared his throat. “Adriana, we have bigger things to worry about than Anton and The Reverse Serpent. And you’re about to figure out why Tereza was in The Requiem Cosmos in the first place.”
Adriana was quiet for a moment and sighed. “Can I at least get back into contact with ENCOM to tell them what I know?”
Mads’ smiled and handed her an ENCOM laptop. “Use this.”
“Thank you. So, um, how’s everyone doing back home?”
“Pretty good-Anton destroyed HQ and we had to fall back to The Ashen Necropolis, but we won in the end…”
“EXCUSE ME, WHAT!?!”
“You haven’t played Grave Requiem Overkill yet?” Mads was receiving the most baffled and panicked look from Adriana. “Oh, Adriana?”
“What?”
“You blew your cover…”
Adriana slowly looked over and noticed Dunja’s surprised expression. What was left of her confidence sank to the bottom of her feet as she realized the obvious. “My-my Queen, I-I can explain…”
“Well, dear, withholding information from me and Englehart like that is fairly serious, but… um, who are you exactly?”
After taking a second to compose herself, Adriana stood at attention. “Your majesty, I am Captain Adriana Lesley Hawthorne, tactician for The End of The World Combat Brigade, or ENCOM for short.”
Dunja nodded, taking it all in. She was unsure what to make of the ‘ENCOM’ association, but she had a feeling it was of grave importance. “Alright then, fair enough. I mean, I don’t mind having a decorated officer under my command. Would ENCOM be on our side, Mads?” He also nodded. “We’ll have to talk about this later, Adriana.”
“Of course, my queen,” she replied.
The Grass God noticed Will’s confusion and patted him on the shoulder. “And now you understand why we were leery about him…”
“Duly noted, Grassy…” Will replied. “Captain Hawthorne, I am Private William Ford of The Liger Brigade, first class in line for a promotion. I’ve met General Dryden and he is a great man and leader, no two ways about it. Mads also told me some of his past.”
“Oh, well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Private Ford,” she said as she shook his hand. “Pardon the glasses, I just use those to fit in and…” Adriana sighed. “...hide myself from Anton, but I guess that’s not a problem anymore.”
“Dryden helps oversee The Liger Brigade,” Mads pointed out. “That makes him Will’s commanding officer.”
“Really now?” Well what do you think of him, Specialist?”
“He’d make a great edition to ENCOM, if a bit quirky…” Mads then sensed something odd about Will and stepped over to him. “Hold on a second…”
“Uh, Mads?” Will was a bit put off by Mads’ strange actions.
“Don’t panic, Will. I’m just…” he got uncomfortably close and sniffed the side of Will’s head. His eyes turned to that of a snake’s for a moment and he even hissed like one before backing up. “No way…”
“Mads?” Adriana asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Dryden, you absolute mad lad!”
“What is it, Sagan?” Adriana demanded to know. “I don’t like it when you know something I don’t…”
“Dryden administered The Undead Plague to The Liger Brigade, M.A.I.G., and GRENADIER! Jeez, he must have figured out how to create a stable version of the disease…”
Everyone was speechless, with Will looking nervously at his right arm. “Wait, was that what that classified vaccine was?”
Rostislav went over to Will and patted his left shoulder. “Well, um, I guess that explains why your blood has a snakey aftertaste to it, Will…”
“Pardon?” Adriana interrupted, utterly baffled at that assertion.
“I’m a vampire…”
“Mads, what is this ‘undead plague,’ if you don’t mind me asking?” Ludwig inquired.
“It’s a long, complicated story, but in simple terms it is the essence of The Reverse Serpent’s power that allows ENCOM operatives to properly combat The Undead Plague. It also creates undead hordes from nothing by collapsing superposition, but that is a whole higher dimensional physics lesson I am not prepared to give.”
Yale then realized something concerning. “Wait, so if the serpent was sealed in the Requiem Cosmos as I’ve heard through the grapevine, why was Dryden doing all of those injections then?”
“That would imply that the serpent has a good chance of escaping, correct?” Dunja questioned. “I mean, why would the director of ENCOM do that if there was no need?” She then noticed Aureolus deep in thought. “What’s the matter, dear?”
Aureolus crossed his arms and sighed. “The Reverse Serpent has escaped into the Cosmos proper. I’ve sensed slithering around in the Abyss of the Cosmos. It’s laying low at the moment…”
Adriana felt her adrenaline surge through her veins like fire as she grabbed Mads by the uniform. “WHY DIDN’T YOU DO ANYTHING, SAGAN!? AREN’T YOU 11D!?” she yelled as she shook him.
“Yeah, and my dad is -12D with mastery over superposition collapse-what do you expect me to do?”
“Is there anything we can do?” Will wondered, hoping there was an answer. Given the back and forth Mads and Adriana had been going through, he was a bit skeptical that there was a solution.
Aureolus gave the matter some thought and had an important realization. “Well I think we can relax a little as I’m pretty sure Anton and the serpent haven’t joined The Eternal Order. They would’ve used those two against us by now, let’s be real.” This seemed to have everyone in agreement. “Also let’s not tell Blood and the others about this just yet. They already have enough to worry about as is.” Again, everyone was certainly in agreement.
Ludwig had to take a seat in one of the recliners, as he felt a bit overwhelmed. “And I thought The Decaying God was bad enough…”
“Well if it helps all of you feel better, I haven’t seen any Undead outbreaks in the Cosmos proper,” Mads reassured. “And my dad has been a lot more coherent ever since leaving the Requiem Cosmos. It makes me wonder if the imprisonment was actually doing more harm than good…”
Adriana gave a defeated sigh and also took a seat. “Well, Will, consider yourself an unofficial member of ENCOM.”
Will was surprised by this. “Oh, wow, er-yes, Ma’am!” he said with a salute. It did not do much to shake everyone’s mood.
Seeing that everyone was incredibly uneasy, Mads snapped his fingers and summoned a large, flat screen television. “How about we take a break and watch a movie or two? Me, Ulrich, and Tatiana did this all the time when we were stressed back home.”
“That would be lovely, Mads,” Dunja said as she sat down. “Then we’ll get back training, as you’re not done yet, Will.”
Will chuckled as Yale flew over to his shoulder. “Yeah, Mega Cannon took a lot out of me.”
“So what movie do you have in mind, Mads?” Adriana wondered as she and the others got comfortable.
“Give me one second,” he said as he got out what looked like a flip phone and dialed a number. “Ulrich, hey! Got a moment?... Get over here pronto, as we’re going to watch a movie or two… yeah, things got a little heavy after I found out Dryden’s been busy on Earth-23… yeah, he broke out and… no, it’s nothing to worry about, I think… Oh yeah, definitely bring Quasar along… Alright, see you soon.” He then closed the phone and sent it away. “Will, ready to meet a Discordant God of Chaos?”
“Oh, of course. Is he a friend of yours?”
“Old friend, from the Requiem Cosmos,” Mads said as he snapped his fingers again, summoning a popcorn machine, some snack stands, and a small fridge full of drinks. “Also this is before Quasar joined the guild, so be careful what you say, but that goes without saying.”
Next: Chapter 27
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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