“Like whispers in the wind, we were scattered throughout the cosmos. Yet it does not matter, I am a mere watcher and architect. It does not matter where I go, it does not matter where I come from, for my grand archives endure and I must synthesize more data for my… collection. Now, agent of chaos, what brings you to I within my stellar causeway.”
“Voh hoh, I wanted to see who entered this corner of space. Mmm, you are quite close to my wanderings and I just wanted to check in on my neighbor.”
The two stood in a dance of light and shadows in the cosmos on a long and wide platform of solid energy and metallic stone.
“I assure you Lafek-tahl, as you are quite known to me, that I have no quarrel with you.”
“Interesting, voh how interesting! You know of me but I know not of you! I feel an aura of your power!” Lafek-tahl’s silvery and golden face widened in laughter with bismuth hair flaring. “What will you do with it? May I guide you to wonderful worlds to use it?”
“Your trickery and plots will not grip me. I act of my own accord.”
“Oh really? A shame, a shame!” Lafek-tahl rolled their piercing red and blue eyes with a shrug. “I was looking forward to you shaking things up! Now, who are you, oh strange one?”
“I am Rasaiael.”
An entity stepped from the darkness and revealed her faceless nature with only two eyes that glowed to the waves of her words. Her skin was coated in sleek, reflective scales of the night that shined brightly as her wings, a fusion of energy and crystal, fluttered. Surrounding her tall slender body was sleek golden armor of smooth curves and chromatic robes.
“I am an archivist, the Ascended Sentinel.”
‘Voh my, you’re not from the countless worlds here.” Lafek-tahl smiled wide and clapped their hands together. “That’s fantastic! Now tell me about what it means to be an Ascended Sentinel.”
“I call for an exchange of information if you wish to know.”
“Sure, sure, whatever!” Lafek-tahl stamped with their curled toe shoes. “Now let me know!”
“Hold.” Rasaiael raised up her glowing hand with four long fingers before pointing. “You first. Answer this: are you the architect of the portal over transterra?”
“Why, I have naught an idea what you’re describing,” Lafek-tah mischievously said.
“Are you the one who scatters?” Rasaiael slowly closed her fist in annoyance.
Lafek-tahl felt a disrupting wave of pressure to which they have never felt before, tearing at the fabrics of their being. In all their time among the dimensions, planes, universes, and dealing with entities and powers, there was no attack like it. The twisted radiation of agony reached deep among the webs of their existence and compelled them to talk.
“No, I am not!” The encroaching sensation halted, Lafek-tahl scrunched up their lip. “Why such a serious demeanor, shiny, giant space woman?”
“Every second falling to your ploy is a second wasted.”
“Voh, I can tell you could easily wipe me out of existence.” Lafek-tahl chuckled. “Then I’d be out of your hair! If you had any.”
“You are worth more to me alive if the legends are to be believed.” Rasaiael stepped forward as her stellar eyes shifted between gold and cyan. “Even if you were to perish, I know it would not be the end of you.”
“Quite the inquisitive one arentcha!” Lafek-tahl clapped. “Would you like a sundae?”
“Mock me at your own peril.”
“Oh fudge! You’re right, that came across as so, but I wholeheartedly mean to be sweet.” Lafek-tahl placed a hand behind their back to reveal a vanilla ice cream bowl slathered with chocolate fudge, butterscotch, and whipped cream ending in a smiling cherry. “It’s delicious! I just must share it or ice cream!”
Rasaiael leaned forward to inspect it with a finger around her chin, Lafek-tahl wiggled the sweet treat enticingly.
“I must admit I am blindsided by your offer. I had thought the union of form and speak of sundaes only existed with the humans of transterra.” Rasaiael said. “You look much as a human jester from such a planet but I know that could not be farther from the case. Now I must know, are there more humans out there?”
“Voh? You don’t know? There are humans everywhere! As many as there are elves, orcs, dwarves, anordis, zouanis…” Lafek-tahl counted on their fingers as the sundae floated in midair. “… cows, chickens, potatoes, Zeus, Thors…”
“Hm? Fascinating, utterly fascinating.” Rasaiael tapped her chin. “This confirms that not only are humanoids and transterran animals convergent and divergent evolutions but they are duplicated across the forces of the multiverses by the mere existence of their perceived gods. From Transterra to Raia…” Rasaiael sighed. “Fascinating, but boring, it must apply to other sentient-kin and concepts as well.”
“Now your turn! Your turn!” Lafek-tahl seemed deeply interested as they tapped their feet around. “What is transterra?”
“A collection of planets beyond all reason, a small interdimensional alliance with powers that eclipses mine.”
“Vhoa-hoh-hoh! That sounds powerful! Where do I find it? Where? I must know!”
“You best well not provoke lest you find your otherselves chased by the mass annihilation of nonexistence.”
“Mmm, I’m an agent of chaos but despite being a fool, I’m not foolish!” Lafek-tahl pulled forth another sundae. “I’d only want to try…” They smiled achingly wide beyond any humanly bone structure. “… the sweets.”
“Hm, you are an interesting entity. I dare not share that knowledge nor do I know the path from here but I shall answer what I am.” Rasaiael placed a hand on her chest.
“Voh boo, but yay! Yay! Yay!” Lafek-tahl clapped.
“I am the Ascended Sentinel, a weaver of paths through the cosmos and the watchful scholar of realities.” Her heavenly wings fluttered bright as her hands stretched outwards. “I am a valtrossa explorer of the astral planes and my journey has just begun. The powers vested in me, by the love of all that I hold dear, grants me the eyes of the empyrean freedom that I share among the loved. By such, I am merely an observer.”
“Voh, that’s quite some power you get from observing and love if it can kill at least 6 of me across the multiverses!” Lafek-tahl put on a monocle. “I see! Just like you!”
“No doubt you are an observer as well, one to sow discord wherever you can.”
“I sow fun!” Lafek-tahl spun around to a formal bow. “And voh, hoh, hoh is it a joy!”
“Hmm, you’re a dangerous one. Whether I were to go along or counter your plots, you would enjoy it either way because of the paths it opens.”
“Bingo-dingo-dongo! Right on the money!”
“And by that, you care not for those who are irrelevant and weren’t descended from your schemes.”
Lafek-tahl grinned. “So harsh! I care! We all have our role to play no matter how small. Whether I live in the care of a small village as myself, save a world, grow the rising tides of darkness, or wreak havoc upon my spoiled subjects, I want to nurture them like the bablets they are for the grand stories. They can’t just disappear without meaning!” Lafek-tahl raised their arms with a top hat and cane in hand. “The show must go on! There’s no point to an existence that sees no point, such an existence brings everyone down.”
“I see, you ‘love’ all your perceived ‘toys’.”
“How many dongos can I bingo for that answer!” Lafek-tahl happily swung their cane back and forth. “Not enough!”
“You are truly an entity.”
“The one and many!” Lafek-tahl bowed.
“You are almost insufferable to continue existing even for the potential benefits, but that fight will be the will of others to challenge you.”
“Voh? Am I that bad?” Lafek-tahl frowned. “Here, I just want to eat some sweets.” Lafek-tahl popped a piece of candy in their mouth, showing that they’re carrying a huge bucket of candy. “Want one?”
“No. We are done talking.” Rasaiael turned away to the ominous green star as it casted a long dark shadow. “For now.”
“Mmm, vokei dokei! I’ll see you!” Lafek-tahl drifted off as they bit into a piece of candy shaped like a fowl leg. “I just wonder what massacres are going on!” Lafek-tahl’s body distorted and warped into light, disappearing into the cosmic abysm with a flash.
“Was it wise to not rid of them?” A disfigured being stepped from the darkness.
The being was human but the flesh was grey and void of color, coated in a shiny auburn and violet biomass that plastered their body. Their mouth and nose were fused with a feeding tube that connected to their stomach and back as their eyes glowed a deep crimson fire. A whole arm was distended and clawed while the other was practically untouched except for small anomalous veins. Their legs were a mixture of humanity and biomass. Despite all the obstacles including the long spiny protrusions, they wore reflective metallic cloths and plates along with a peaked cap with a smiley face badge.
“Only time will tell, Steiner.” Rasaiael said.
“Sometimes, you go too far for knowledge.” The being stretched. “I wish you would call me Mayumi. You make it sound weird.”
“Lafek-tahl strives for chaos, no matter the motives—in fact they would prefer the rise of contradictions.”
“So you mean they disregard alignments, or put it simply, don’t care about the notion of ‘good’ or ‘evil’.”
“Indeed.”
Mayumi sighed, the tubes glowed a blue energy. “So, what ‘toys’ they prefer remains to be seen.”
“And so, I will watch them.”
“How…? You remain an enigma to me.” Mayumi used her gigantic claw to rub her face. “Should we not find Jeb and the others?”
“McTaggart will find his way, no doubt the others.”
“True, true.” Mayumi dexterously fiddled with a knife in her hand. “By the way, I can’t believe there’s a chance to meet Thor in these parts-unknown. Thor is an actual living being, not a myth. Or at least a wielder of power and name I assume.”
“Does it remind you of home in the Toramus galaxy?”
“If a warmachine by the same name reminds me of home then perhaps, but yes I remember the mythological stories I read in my academic years decades ago.”
“Will your god be all that you hope them to be?”
“Hm? I don’t worship the person and honestly I don’t know what I’m expecting other than a greeting. Judging by Zeus’ existence, there must be the whole Olympic pantheon.”
Mayumi squatted and petted a small, carapace-wrapped creature, of the same biomass, whose back legs thumped in excitement.
“Part of me wonders if I can infest a god.” Mayumi held her chin with her hand. “With their consent of course. Now if there’s any god I want to ‘infest’, it’s Athena…” Mayumi smiled, lost in imagination before she shook it off.
“If you can achieve the infestation of a god, aside from your primal lust for Athena, that’d be remarkable.”
“Are you telling me the valtrossa, in general, never experience lust in a form or manner?” Mayumi crossed her arms.
“They do, I just ascended.”
“Your humor is as dry as sand.” Mayumi shook her head with a suppressed chuckle.
“Just like humans, there are those without lust or very little of it.” Rasaiael held up a ball of liquid energy that slowly phased into her face. “I still find it fascinating that you’re comfortable in that form of biomass.”
“It’s just a second skin that compliments the first, though it is messy looking it is weaved and fused beautifully where I just must keep it.” Mayumi picked up the small creature that was almost too large to carry by a regular human. “How else would I naturally tie myself as the cerebral sentient to xiost the xiost?” Mayumi exhaled deeply. “Why is xiost a verb and a noun? I should just use host, I never understood humanity in the Anfel sector even if they were from Raia.”
“Do you plan to xiost a broodcluster wherever you go?”
“Host—xiost.” Mayumi shook her head before placing down the creature as it scurried off. “A small host in the shadows perhaps. I don’t have means for interstellar travel without accumulating large amounts of biomass and resources but I don’t need anyone panicking because they see a xiost swarm.” Mayumi held out her mutant arm.
“The causeway I created shall connect us from place to place and act as a hub for our exploration as I summon warp portals.”
“Well that’s convenient.” Mayumi placed her limbs on her hips. “You’re full of surprises.”
“My ascension as a sentinel opened forth paths I could not conceive of and the likes of Jeb and the people of transterra are to thank for my state of being.”
“Oh so you use his first name but not mine.”
“It does not matter. The main cause of concern is the lack of knowledge of what lies in this universe as I sense a familiar energy.”
“Of course you’d just brush it”—Mayumi sighed—“nevermind. I feel it too. I’ve been curious since, well, that.”
Mayumi pointed to the monolithic planet in the distance whose size was unrivaled to any other astral body in the visible cosmos. Through their unnatural vision did they see a planet of infinite continents and oceans of all shapes and colors that made it appear as a kaleidoscope of rainbows.
Suns of silver, veridian, or crimson—the many colors and sizes did not matter—all orbited the vast world of worlds. These suns allowed nebulas and entire solar systems to exist above the monolithic superplanet. Joining them were planets, moons, comets, meteoroids, asteroids, gas giants, and all, whether they encircled the immense megaplanet or in a set spatial location above it.
Unfamiliar strange cosmic phenomena existed in bounties: Tears in reality opened avenues to strange colossal beings as titanic pathways, composed either entirely of atmospheres or oceans, connected entire star systems and planets. Within the pathways rested space platforms, some with fantastical supercities, and planetary continents that were rife with enormous glittering crystals. Some of these glittering crystals casually changed forms from gas to liquid and back to stone or somewhere inbetween. At many points and eddies were twisting vortexes that opened and closed without purpose. Lighting space—besides the suns—were glowing gas voids, churning bubbles, and cosmic whirlpools. Strange, unknown materials formed patterns that intersected and diverged as they twisted in ways that defied logic. These were only a few of the strange cosmic machinations that entered and left reality on a whim. Though it was all concentrated closer to the monolithic planet, it extended forth around their causeway.
“I’ve seen many things in Toramus that twisted and destroyed the boundaries of known reality but I have never seen anything like this. I mean, we fought together and seen the same terrors.”
“As strange as it is, even stranger that some lands appear… ‘standard.’ There is no doubt that Lafek-tahl will be among that galaxy.” Rasaiael raised a hand towards the planet. “And I shall read the flow of energy to carry us off.”
“By the stars, that megaplanet is the heart of the galaxy isn’t it.” Mayumi placed an arm on her hip. “If I had not met the learned ones from the powers of transterra, I would be terrified.”
“This will be an adventure for both of us, a bounty of knowledge to learn from.”
“You are definitely a scholar, oh Ascended Sentinel.”
“You tease, but is it not true, Queen of the Infested?”
“Ew, don’t call me that.” Mayumi moved beside Rasaiael and nudged her with her elbow. “I didn’t say it wasn’t true, like that name. Aside from that, oh, I am ready for an adventure.”
Rasaiael smiled without a mouth, and then clenched her fist. “I found an anchor. I remember now, from Wind Pearl.” Rasaiael turned to Mayumi. “It’s mana.”
“Mana?” Mayumi crossed her arms. “I wonder if the cralobstri of Toramus and their magics originate from here.” Mayumi sighed. “It’s been too long since we’ve seen Wind Pearl, I miss her wonderful magic shows.”
“It has.” Rasaiael returned to face the great planet. “Now, behold.”
Rasaiael opened her arms as her hands emanated electrical energy that bound itself in front of her, the crackling shock created a sphere of power before expanding into a glassy, round, cyan portal. The portal revealed an island of bismuthian crystal sands and violet fungal trees whose glowing, starry veridian shores were connected to an interstellar waterway.
“This is to take us to the path of water that connects the planets.”
“A dip couldn’t hurt, a rinse of my ‘hair’ oughta feel wonderful.”
“Are your tentacles not self-cleaning?”
“They are, but it still feels nice.”
The two of them stepped through the portal and were transported to the wondrous island.
Mayumi witnessed that it was a cove in the midst of space. “I wish I had a comfortable not-flesh outpost here, but a xiost one will do.” Mayumi raised her xiost claw as the flesh melded a bulging, veiny lump that grew and grew. The lump changed into a thick pale biomass, writhing with organs, that flowed off of her hand.
“Are you making an infested duplicate of yourself?” Rasaiael eyed Ayumi. “Though it is odd you did not make it using the way of the egg.”
“Ha, if you mean a combination of human DNA I collected, then yes, since I have no corpse stock of fallen foes.”
The biomass shaped itself into a being of Mayumi’s dimensions except it appeared as a completely different person with a total change of form from Mayumi’s.
“I am never not amazed that I can make an animal from my instincts, let alone follow my mind.”
“What is your psionic directive to it?”
“It’s going to weave a resort that feeds off the waters. Sure, a flesh resort, but a resort no less.” Mayumi stepped into the bright green waters.
“That sounds unpleasant.”
“You get used to it, I haven’t yet learned how to alleviate the unpleasantries. Aside from that, this water is wonderful!” Mayumi dipped her hand, flicking the water. “Say, should we worry about time at all?”
“Time? Steiner, time is an illusionary nonfactor, a form of relativity as different realities work with one another.”
Rasaiael stepped onto the water, passively gathering samples into the air. One side of the green water was dyed blue. Then they melded as a ‘struggle’ for prominence.
“As the blocks of our reality intermingle with those of this dimension by our mere existence, the interaction between our reality and theirs leads to eccentric results the more we exert basic influence and desires. This even applies to the varying realities I can feel across space. The more we passively progress to our ends, the more we can control the flow of ‘time’ on multiple ends.” The blue water became prevalent over the green yet part of the colors mixed together that reverted back to blue at will.
“It’s Mayumi.” Mayumi sighed. “You actively feel more cryptic than when we were in the academy. But you’re saying our existential reality must overcome this reality through our willpower to remain separate and control this reality’s hold on time.”
“Indeed,” Rasaiael returned the water, “the studies from the transterran academy were eye opening to the greater truth. However, not all realities are alike and hold different effects and interactions.”
“That I remember from the academy, let alone everything here feels alien even if they are familiar in one way or another.” Mayumi said. “We already see how mana has changed the nature of physics in this collection of realities. Yet, I still feel remarkably powerful, if not more than from where we were.” Mayumi held her head in hand. “If we didn’t go to that academy, I would consider myself crazy.”
“Regardless, though we may be more powerful, we should be careful in how we act as you do with your broodcluster.”
“I agree.” Mayumi splashed deeper into the waters. “This feels amazing,” she ran her claw through her tentacular ‘hair’, “you must try it.”
“Perhaps later, I’m curious about the existence of the gods.”
“Thor?”
“That and more.” Rasaiael stared at the monolithic galactic planet of planets. “We must start somewhere, and I feel a familiar presence aside from Lafek-tahl. Considering what they said, they will lead us somewhere… interesting.”
“Familiar presence? Hmm.” Mayumi tapped her chin. “Anyway, I thought you did not want to deal with that clown… jester… whatever they are.”
“They will teach us about this multiverse and its dimensional planes but make no mistake, will we not fall to their plots.”
“Affirmative,” Mayumi’s feeding tube melded into her body to reveal a wide maw with many sharp teeth, she used her hand to drink the water. “Delicious, fresh, and oddly fruity with no specific fruit coming to mind. Mmm!” Mayumi took a deep breath of satisfaction before reforming the feeding tube. “Shall we be off looking for the planet, Ascended Sentinel?”
“Yes, Mayumi, onwards in this alien dimension.”
Mayumi tilted her head. “You used my name…”
Rasaiael and Mayumi followed the streaming interstellar waterway before being carried off by its currents. The power of the flow distorted reality, carrying them off at a speed beyond light, yet space appeared all the same as they moved past countless stellar bodies and phenomena.
“Amazing!” Mayumi yelled as water splashed with immense force. “It’s like sailing through space! But in this instance, I’m swimming and you’re gliding.”
“This is quite the experience.” Rasaiael vapidly said.
“Ready for an adventure!?”
“Knowledge awaits, my dear friend.”
Zelastar 