Мастер Исандер
Verse and Dimensions: Stories
Dig
Dig is a member of the Dragonguard who is as fierce as he is delusional. While some of the Dragonguard’s members were apprehensive of their new draconic nature, there were others who embraced it. Dig, however, took this sentiment to the extreme. He in fact full-heartedly believed that he was a "real Dragon". Dig believed himself to be the reincarnation of a Dragon named Digamma, which was slain in Pi's genocide of the Dragons.
Although there were numerous discrepancies with this story, such as there never having been a Dragon named Digamma documented anywhere in Whateverse, he still stood by his belief.
Typically, The armor of Dragonguard members are fashioned to aesthetically resemble dragon scales. Dig, however, had the actual scales of real Dragons that were slain by Pi grafted onto his body and permanently attached to it, since they were "supposed to be his scales". Dig had also undergone other numerous transformative procedures, which he obtained from all over Whateverse. These included the attachment of fully functional draconic wings and razor-sharp talons and fangs, the growth of a dragon tail, and even highly experimental and admittedly sketchy Xaspunum treatments. The rest of the Dragonguard was heavily divided in their view on Dig. Some thought he was an absolute loon and could not fathom how he was deemed worthy to join the order, while others supported him. It is strange, however, that Dig had succeeded in supposedly bearing a Dragon Flame – The Blue Flame, which belonged to no other known Dragon. As most of the other members were incinerated by the Flames they attempted to bear and people believed this to have been due to them not being true Dragons, there are those who think that Dig's bearing of a Dragon flame could be possible proof of his claims. Dig could use the Blue Flame to create “servants” for himself from enslaved brainwashed spirits, as well as form constructs. Dig fought bravely against The New God when he invaded, but was unable to defeat him and was killed. His legacy lives on, however, in the Blue Flame which he had bore. As it trickled own, the Blue Flame would find its way into many Transcendentem Continuums, indirectly influencing major events with its presence. It would eventually evolve into a new form, and then evolve yet again.
The Thunder
Qorter shot a glare at the “guest” in his library, painfully groaning. “Oh fuck, please no!” he wailed in dread.
PROLOGUE Dei happily skipped through the Peralibrary, an excitement built up within her as she scanned the metashelves upon metashelves of various inscripverses. “Good metamorning, Qorter!” Dei cheerily said, playing with the strands of godsmoke attached to her head as she walked past the librarian and winked at him.
Dei frowned as she looked back at her brother. “Sorry, Onu, I was just so excited to get to the library. Who knows what exciting new things I can uncover within these stories!”Onu burst into the library. “Dei, how many metatimes have I told you to wait for me?!” he whined, exhausted.
“-Nothing.”
Dei wore an expression of disbelief, not at Qorter’s insults but rather his statement about the Inscripverses. “No, it can’t be! It only feels like I’ve been reading in this library for just a meta-week!”Dei turned around to face Qorter, who had looked up from his library records inscripverse with an ecstatic expression. “‘Nothing’? What do you mean?” She asked him. Qorter pulled up his inscripverse and displayed it to Dei. “It means you have officially read all aleph-two of the inscripverses that my library has to offer. There is nothing left for you to read here, so maybe now you can finally fuck off you little brat!”
“Try metayears.” Qorter corrected, the utter tiredness in his voice making it even more apparent. “Even so, normal Supergods wouldn’t have read a tenth of my entire library in that metatime. Yet you’ve read entire metashelves on a given metaday, and now you’ve finally exhausted it completely!” He leaned over towards Dei, giving a look of manic triumph. “That’s it.”
Onu finally caught up to her, glaring. “Come on Dei, give it a break! You heard Qorter, you’ve already read everything there is to read in here. Maybe it’s metatime you finally put these adventuring shenanigans to rest.”Dei shook her head defiantly. “No! There has to be something else in this library, I refuse to believe that’s really it!” With that, Dei began frantically scampering through the library. “NO RUNNING IN THE LIBRARY!” Qorter screamed after her, violating another of his own rules which was “no yelling in the library”. Dei ignored him anyways, as she eventually reached the end of the library.
Dei, however, was excited. Sitting before her was a mystery long-obscured, now finally ready to give up all the secrets it had contained for a long metatime. She pried the inscripverse open, upon which an enormous cloud of even more stardust plumed out before the group. Dei squinted as she fanned away the stardust, before looking down at the Inscripverse and beginning to read it out loud. “‘Chapter 1’…” she began, Qorter and Onu groaning in unison. They could already tell that they were going to be here for quite a while…Dei shook her head again. “I’ll read this entire library again if I have to! There are never not any new adventures!” As Dei searched the top metashelf of Inscripverses, she suddenly came across a particular Inscripverse tucked away discreetly behind some others. “Huh, what’s this one?” She asked as she tried reaching for it. She tugged on the inscripverse, trying to pull it off the metashelf. Qorter, who had secretly snuck up on the two and hid behind the metashelf, pushed against the metashelf in an attempt to tip it over and knock it down on Dei. Onu gulped as he saw the metashelf starting to lean towards them, and he ran to Dei. “Be careful, Dei! You could get hur-” Before Onu was able to finish, Dei suddenly tugged the inscripverse loose with a burst of strength, causing it to be flung from the metashelf and fall on Onu’s head. Then, the metashelf fell. Somehow, Dei happened to have been residing at just the right position that the metashelf missed her as it fell, with her standing in the gap between two of the rows once it had landed. Onu, meanwhile, hadn’t been so lucky. As Qorter saw this, one of his eyeverses twitched. “Oh no!” he then exclaimed, concerned not about Onu but rather the fallen inscripverses, as he hurriedly lifted the metashelf back up. “Onu, you need to be more careful! You should always be aware of your surroundings.” Dei scolded as she hoisted up the Inscripverse from Onu’s laid-out body after the metashelf was lifted. Onu could only let out a faint moan of pain in reply, the irony not escaping him. Dei dropped the inscripverse onto an elevated logical surface with a thud. Now that she was able to observe its entirety, she took note of several external details about the inscripverse. It was one of the logically largest, thickest and heaviest Inscripverses in the entire peralibrary. It also seemed very old and obscure, judging by the amount of stardust it had accumulated. After clearing some of the stardust off of it, Dei was now finally able to read its title. “The Thunder…” she said out loud, tracing along the title. Qorter curiously approached the two. “Odd, I don’t have that Inscripverse registered anywhere in my entire records.” He remarked. Onu stood up, rubbing his head where the Inscripverse had fallen on him. “Great, another tale to give Dei some dangerous ideas.” He moaned.
Pi could see all.
CHAPTER 1
He was deeply embroiled in his “gazing” session. It was a method of diviniating cosmic information by peering into a miniature diorama of Whateverse, allowing him to view any locations, beings or events of particular interest via his Omniscience. Pi glanced briefly at the diorama, to see that a Xaragon in a monocosm had just undergone a mental breakdown. He had not to worry, however, for Pi had come to help. He entered Xaragon’s mind and relayed to him subconscious instructions for creating Idea Breakers. After that, Pi then saw that in another monocosm, the Mad God had died. However, death was only a minor inconvenience for him. He plucked a Stage II Hazard seed from his garden before spitballing the seed into the monocosm, where it created a Fracture.
With that now revealed to him, Pi instantly began rallying his forces at once.Pi looked again, to see that an Omniversal Traveler was stumbling through a Transcendentem, bewildered and stricken fearstruck. Feeling in the mood for some fun, he toyed with the Traveler, before leading him to be djinnified by the Blue Flame. Of course, there was never a dull metamoment for Pi, as he then saw a Ven’s disembodied consciousness drifting through a Beyond Bubble’s abstract plane. He knew just the fix. He took a Stage I seed, and fired a spitball into the Beyond Bubble to create a Venrensorys. Pi finally saw that a version of Oblivious’ corpse had been banished into a Kalyubi Dimension by a Supergod Council. And so he sent a primary mind into the dimension as well, to make Oblivious stronger for when they would eventually escape. Pi smiled with content at his handiwork. Of course, he couldn’t take full credit for all the ideas originally having been his own. There were some things he may have “borrowed” from the work of other beings that he observed. But he figured that imitation was the highest form of flattery. He repeatedly performed these same actions on a regular basis, but it never tired him and it never grew boring. To spread chaos, strife and destruction was his cause. It was his duty to his lord Najha-Tebah, who he loyally served. There were countless metatimes in which Pi experienced dreams (for dreams were the unifying force shared among even the mightiest of gods) of being within the Mind of Najha-Tebah; a state with a bristly, windy texture, and bolts of lightning and flashes of heat in sporadic intervals. Above were swirling chaotic colors, and there were disembodied whispers of sweet nothings accompanied by the sounds and sensation of scraping inside Pi’s mind. Pi painfully longed to be there, and knew that after pleasing his lord, it would be here that he ended up. His paradise, his heaven. Pi returned to his gazing, only to be met with disappointment at what he had found. The Fracture cult failed, The Djinn had been banished to the Kalyubi Dimension and merged with a mortal, Venrensorys was defeated and Oblivious had touched The Tree. Such was the unpredictability of metatime’s tide. It was then however that Pi finally turned his attention, to a certain Barrel in a certain Beyond Bubble in a certain Transcendentem in a certain Transcendentem Continuum in a certain Secode. As he observed the activities that were currently occurring in it, Pi grinned. Then he chuckled. And then he laughed maniacally. The metamoment he had been working towards all this metatime, the window which he had waited for so long to open, was finally here. Everything was in the exact perfect alignment, and all the quotas were met.
The Overseer had once seen better days – And he had once seen, too. However, after all the numerous battles he had experienced by now, he was worse for wear. The Overseer was attended to by several Shamans, who anointed him with medicinal oils and fed him potions intended to alleviate his pain. They rubbed orbs of green fire over his injuries, while chanting sacred incantations. While they helped somewhat, The Overseer knew deep down that no treatment could truly cure the root of his current misery: his burning desire for conquest and revenge. Everything had gone downhill for him ever since the end of the Alom Wars. His battle with Hyperman had significantly weakened him, his injuries never fully having recovered from it. Ever since that fateful battle, The Overseer had been effectively decommissioned, and he had never seen anymore action on the battlefield. The most he could now do was command his forces to do all the conquering for him, and even then they were not efficient without being led by him “in-person”.– Location: The Court of Apex, Whateverse… The Recruiter entered the throne-verse, bowing before the incomprehensible abstract entity that was Apex. “For what purpose have you summoned me?” She asked, before she sensed that all the rest of Apex’s fragments were gathered in the -verse as well. So rare was an occasion such as this, in fact so much so that it had occurred only one other metatime. Upon realizing this, The Recruiter then shuddered at the potential implications which that entailed. “The Pieces have resurfaced.” Apex declared. “Whatever it is that has reawoken them from their dormancy, it cannot be disputed that it is of great magnitude. You must gather a group of beings, and assemble all the pieces together. He will once again be needed…” The Recruiter was confused. “But, what beings am I supposed to recruit? What is the criteria?” Apex paused for a considerable length of metatime. “There is no criteria. This matter is too metatime-sensitive for us to be particular. The beings only need to be willing to help and be against whatever potential threat we are facing.” The Recruiter slowly nodded. “Yes, Apex.” She said, before teleporting away. – Location: The Omniverse, Barrel-Bt…
“You summoned me?” The Huntsman growled, after bowing to The Overseer.Suddenly, The Overseer’s presence had been graced by his greatest lieutenant, The Huntsman.
The Overseer nodded. “Yes…I must ask something of you…” he coughed. “I’m weak, I’m sure that much is apparent to you. But I cannot give up, not now. I know that the only way I can achieve my goals of conquest is by doing it myse-cough!” The Overseer entered a coughing fit, and once he finally resuscitated, he looked back at The Huntsman. “I need power, Huntsman. I must return to my original strength – no, surpass it, to crush all my opponents like dust in my path!”
The Huntsman briefly stood in silence, almost seeming to study The Overseer. Then, he approached him, drawing his spear. At first, The Overseer had a fleeting worry of possible betrayal by The Huntsman; perhaps he saw his weakness and decided to take advantage of it, The Overseer thought. However, this would not be the case, as The Huntsman held out his spear towards The Overseer. “Take it. With this weapon, you will have all my power and authority. You shall become the new Shepard, and I henceforth shall cease to exist as I currently do…” he said, a certainty of what he was doing in his voice.
The Overseer gazed at the spear, still somewhat suspicious. “But, if you will die, why do you want me to have it?”
“Unlike you, I am not selfish.” Replied The Huntsman, a slight amusement in his voice. “But truthfully, I only exist for one purpose – to hunt. My spirit is the Spirit of The Hunt. Therefore, I cannot truly die, but rather take on a new form, and live on within you.”
The Overseer looked down at the spear again, weighing his options. Eventually, he finally made up his mind. “You were always my best soldier.” he mused, taking the spear from The Huntsman’s hand. As this exchange took place, The Huntsman’s form lost its solidity. It became more…distant, and less real. Green Flames formed all around his body, burning much of it away as it was consumed by the green inferno. The Overseer expected to find blood and muscle beneath the “skin” of The Huntsman, but what he found instead were exposed twigs, bone, hay and cloth. He then realized that The Huntsman was never even alive to begin with… it was merely a thoughtform given a conduit to inhabit.
As the flames receded from The Huntsman’s body, all that remained of him was a lifeless effigy which barely resembled him. The green fire jumped from the idol and onto the spear, crawling up the handle until it entered The Overseer. The Overseer roared in a mixture of pain and rage, as the flames burned into many of his external injuries. He was surprised, however, that the flames did not further wound him, but rather served to reverse some of the damage. He was empowered by the flames, as it fully integrated itself into his form. From the Overseer’s empty eye socket, a single Green Flame was ignited, burning from it. The Overseer had taken on a completely different aura now that he was empowered by the Spirit of The Hunt, and those around him could know and feel it. He now exuded a far grander and mythical royalty than he had before, as well as a veneratable mysticism. The shamans threw themselves at his feet, now exhibiting a greater level of loyalty than they had before. “Master! What do you bid of us?!” one of the shamans eagerly asked.
The Overseer lowered his spear, pointing it at the shaman below him. “Rally all of my forces together. I am going to address them all with a message of utmost importance.” He commanded. The shaman nodded, as she scampered away to gather the audience.
Later, The Overseer stood on top of a balcony over a great chapel megastructure, facing the enormous audience gathered before him below. It comprised all his forces, which he had amassed over his eternity of conquest. A diverse range of species and civilizations, all united under his banner. Of course, there were his beasts as well, which stood among the crowd.
“Prepare…” The Hunter answered, as she looked on at her weapons. She knew that the opportunity she had awaited for so long finally arrived. It was the chance for her to right her wrongs once and for all. She closed her eyes…and sang. It was a song of her culture, a hymn that prayed for protection from enemies in battle.As a sort of “test”, The Overseer displayed his spear before the crowd, and its potent capabilities took effect nearly instantly. Systematically, all in the audience who gazed upon The Overseer suddenly entered a trance-like state of absolute loyalty, and bowed down before him. “My faithful disciples, the moment we have been preparing for for so long, is now finally soon to be upon us! We are at the cusp of realizing the end of our efforts! Today, we shall enact The Wild Hunt!” “Upon what?” asked a member of the crowd. The Overseer pointed his spear forth. “-The Hexagon Lords!” he declared, as the crowd erupted into roars of cheer. “We shall bring The Hunt to their Folded Cascade, and claim it for ourselves once and for all! Now, marshal the ranks, and let us march forth!” With that, The Overseer thrusted down his spear. Upon it striking the ground, a wave of Green Flames flared out from it, and a large horde of newly created beasts emerged from the inferno. – On Earth, in a certain Universe, a group of humans crawled out of their caves to answer to the sound of a shrill howling. While one could have easily dismissed it as the wind, this sound had a certain aspect to it which made it very grim and foreboding. One of the cavemen looked up in the sky and peered past the thick fog, to see the celestial figures of beings striding across the heavens, causing quakes with their every step. He then saw the spear grasped by the leading figure, and knew instantly what that entailed. “De er her! Wild Hunt har kommet!” he cried out, as the rest of the people screamed in fear and retreated back into their caves. However, that did nothing to prevent the Wild Hunt’s path from obliterating the Universe. – Location: The Wall… The Overseer gripped his spear tightly by his side as he and his army marched forth. He could feel the power it lent to him, the blazing path he carved towards his goal with it. He felt completely secure and confident in an inevitable victory. With every stomp through his warpath, life in all forms briefly bloomed in their place, before rapidly decaying as The Overseer absorbed the lifeforce from them. His army finally came to a stop and stood before The Wall. It was all that was between him and his goal. He turned to his soldiers positioned at the front. “Sound the war horns. I want them to know we’re coming.” he commanded, as the soldier sounded the horn without question. The signal of the horn reverberated throughout all space and time within The Wall’s proximity. The horns captured the attention of the Apeirocoalition, who received the signal on their radars. After cross-referencing all the spacetime coordinates in which the signal had appeared, the Apeirocoalition traced the source to the location of The Overseer and his approaching army. The Apeirocoaltion instantly identified The Overseer as a threat, and dispatched one of its generals to warn The Odhinites of the oncoming threat. The Odhinites, upon receiving the intel, in turn sent one of their own to inform other civilizations inhabiting The Wall. One of the Odhinites rushed to retrieve The Hunter. “Commander! Something is coming, you must see it at once!” The Odhinite said warily. The Hunter immediately peered through an observation device to see The Overseer steadily approaching with his army of Beasts, slowly and rhythmically. He did not appear to be in any rush, and it was apparent that he wanted them to know he was coming, as if to build up the tension and increase the enemies’ fear. The Overseer’s forces mobilized in a ritualistic formation, banging on war drums, clanking their tools and weapons together, stomping along their path in synchronized metronomic movements. “What should we do?!” The Odhinite asked worriedly.
Suddenly, The Overseer heard the song in the distance as he marched. He stopped, wavering for a moment. He recognized the song, as well as its singer. She had in fact been the one to teach him it, so long ago. Then, with a grim grin, he joined in the song too. But it wasn’t for himself, no. It was for The Hunter. It was a prayer of pity, for he knew that those within The Wall would need all the protection they had against his own wrath.
The Overseer glared intently at the Wall as he and his horde briskly galloped towards it. As he neared closer to The Wall, he could feel his spear acting up slightly, as if in response to approaching closer to the Folded Cascade. He played little attention to this however, as he had more important matters at hand to deal with. A swarm of stringshard entities flew towards them, and like a polo rider, The Overseer swung his spear from the Hound he was mounted on, and slashed his way through many of the constructs.As The Hexagon Lords were attending another of their annual meetings in The Folded Cascade, they were suddenly alerted to an alarm sounded by Vyotekha, their security system AI. “A large group of assorted malicious creatures are approaching.” She notified, scanning the oncoming group from afar. “I recognize one member of the approaching forces that has previously been registered in my database.” she further noted, as she retrieved a recording of the approaching forces. The Hexagon Lords saw that, at the head of the horde, a figure sat mounted on an incredibly large Dire Hound. One glanced at the recording, and grunted in frustration when he saw the large, spear-brandishing figure with a flaming green eye that was mounted atop the Hound. “When will you give up, Overseer…”
As the rest of the Hounds dealt with the other Stringshard entities, the rest of The Overseer’s forces diverted to attack other threats. The Overseer began ascending The Wall, his Hound vertically scurrying over its exterior. Several Apeirocoalitionairres began attacking The Overseer and his forces from the top of The Wall, but The Overseer managed to dodge and outmaneuver many of these attacks.
As The Overseer neared the portal leading directly to the Hexagon Lords’ base, Vyotekha sent a swarm of drones as the last line of defense against him. The Overseer clobbered these androids, before jumping off his Hound and through the closing portal, just making it to the other side.
One turned to see The Overseer crash into their headquarters. He had finally done it. After all this time, The Overseer forced his way into the very heart of the Folded Cascade, the Hexagon Lords’ hub. “Good to see you again, old acquaintance.” One nonchalantly greeted his nemesis.
Suddenly, the space above them opened, and the surface they all stood on was raised upwards and outwards, now making the floor of the space the roof of the megastructure.The Overseer rose to his feet as he glared at the six beings he stood before. Each of them he had a bone to pick with, and he was determined to make this the last time he did so.
“I highly suggest you surrender now, Hexagon Lords. For the Folded Cascade shall soon be mine, and I would prefer to not take it so forcefully to prevent struggle and bloodshed – actually, who am I kidding, I love those things, but I am still offering you all an easy way out of this.”
“We will never give up the Cascade to you!” Two proclaimed, clenching zir fists.
Six shot back with their own blast of flames at the Overseer, neutralizing the attack.The Overseer tilted his head, grinning slyly. “Oh really? Very well then. I prefer to do things the fun way anyways…” With that, The Overseer jumped into the air, instantly morphing into a form resembling that of a dragon. The Overseer roared as he soared around the fortress, spitting Green Flames at the Hexagon Lords in a spiral trajectory. One created an energetic force field to shield himself from the blast. Two bended the trajectory of some of the fire and reflected it back at the Overseer. Three sucked some of the flames into a wormhole that she opened. Four, who had activated his “Four-sight” beforehand, saw the flames coming before The Overseer brought them down, and so he leapt out of the way to dodge them before it even landed. Five nullified the flames directed towards her and made them disappear.
“Okay everyone, what do we do?!” One asked as he squinted up at the serpentine creature soaring above them. Four gazed into a few possible alternate futures, trying to find the best possible route to take. But as he was preoccupied with this, the Overseer swooped down and whipped all the Hexagon Lords off with his tail, scattering them like bowling pins.
The Overseer reverted back into his normal form, grinning madly as he looked on at the fallen Hexagon Lords. He began to approach them, but suddenly a storm of arrows came raining down on him. The Overseer cried out in pain as his entire back became lodged with ethereal arrows, which proceeded to explode and send a vibrant electric energy coursing through his body. The Overseer collapsed, retching in pain as a feminine figure, in garb aesthetically similar to his own, stood over him. “Seems like you’ve finally come out of hiding, brother.” Spoke The Hunter. She looked him up and down. “You seem to have gotten a lot…taller than when I last saw you.”
The Hunter entered her battle stance as she drew her bow once again, glaring at her brother. Though even still, she would hesitate just to call him that. As cliché as it may have been, in The Hunter’s mind, her brother had been murdered, and The Overseer took his place. Perhaps she thought in this way so that the act of killing him could be easier to swallow. She didn’t know, nor did she care. What was clear to The Hunter, however, was that she was determined to finally finish The Overseer’s life and kill him once and for all.The Overseer sputtered with laughter as he rose to his feet, his flaming green eye now burning more sporadically. “Oh, sister, always trying to undermine my efforts ever since the beginning of my existence!” He spat. “-And I’ve always been this tall!”
The Overseer swung his spear at The Hunter, but the Hunter ducked down and bashed her bow into his knee. “You know, if you had quit your flamboyant peacocking and actually tried fighting me instead of trying to look good doing it, you could have been able to kill me by now!” The Hunter taunted as she dodged another attack.
For all his impressive movements, however, it provided little practical advantage. The Overseer was thus incapacitated quickly, and he keeled over. The Hunter stood above him triumphantly, shaking her head. “I taught you everything you know, brother. Did you really believe you weren’t so painfully predictable?” she gloated, as she drew an arrow to take her killshot. But then, ironically, the unpredictable followed. The spear which he grasped began violently trembling with power. The Overseer, seemingly involuntarily, proceeded to drive the spear into his chest, crying out in pain as an explosion of energy lashed out from his body. He erupted into green fire, submerged entirely by it as he violently twitched and convulsed on the ground.The Hexagon Lords attempted to assist The Hunter and fight The Overseer as well, but The Overseer conjured a group of Beasts to preoccupy the lords so that he could keep the battle centered between him and his sister.
The Hunter and the Hexagon Lords could only watch in horror as The Overseer began mutating, as horns and bony protrusions began jutting out and solidifying…
Hyperman was sitting in his Godverse, seated atop his “throne”. In reality, however, it was more like a glorified recliner. He did not do much in his Godverse, other than just sit and contemplate… and he never left his Godverse. It hadn’t always been this way, however. Hyperman once led an existence of glory, in which he held the entire Omniverse on a leash. But ever since the conclusion of The Alom Wars, that glory was lost. Hyperman had made enemies with nearly everyone in The Omniverse because of his actions. However, in his mind he still felt justified for what he had done as he believed it was necessary to end the war. That did not mean others shared the same opinion as him, though. Although most beings hated him, Hyperman still took solace in the fact that – at least to him – he had done the right thing, even if nobody was grateful for it. Hyperman then thought about his legacy – of his father, and his brother. He couldn’t help but wonder what they would have thought if they saw him now. Although he recognized that they were cruel selfish beings, a small part of him secretly hoped that The Seventh – or at least a sane version of him – would have approved.