Blood Shaper-Chapter 45Book 6:
Hungering Void smirked at Kay’s horror as it continued to talk. “Without breaking the barriers that surround this universe I can’t get my mouth around it to start taking bites. That’s not really how it works but, dumbing it down for your puny mind and all.” It narrowed it’s eyes at Kay. “It’s still not clicking. What is it about you that I’m sensing? It’s annoyingly hazy and indistinct. Oh well, I’ll get it eventually. What to do while we wait? What to do, what to do?” I suppose I’ll keep answering questions and giving you little tidbits of knowledge before your inevitable end.”
Kay’s mind was flickering with fear, the desire to attack, and the knowledge that he couldn’t, yet. “… What reason do I have to not attack you right now? If you’re going to eat the universe anyway, what does it matter if the people I love are crushed by gravity or eaten by you?”
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“Besides not being able to change anything?” The being flicked it’s hand dismissively. “You’re nothing. As I’ve said, a speck. Even if you could kill this avatar,” It touched it’s chest and then waved toward the sky, “It does nothing to the real me out there. The only thing in this universe that’s capable of harming me is you precious System and I’ve already diverted it’s attention nicely.” It pulled the broken screen fragment out of nowhere again and waved it around before tossing it on the ground between them. “Using François, or whatever his name was, I managed to isolate that chunk there and then tear it free of the rest after pumping it full of my energy. By it’s very nature it can’t be fully disconnected from the rest of itself, so it’s a perfect little tool to increase the level of ‘corruption’ the rest of it has to deal with and keep it from looking my way. Without it’s interference the veil between realities is much more malleable.” It sighed dramatically with patently false regret. “That dear Frenchman was my favorite pawn for so long, and you went and ended him so quickly, you know? It’s a shame. He really was a peach.”
“I wouldn’t know, I never really met him. Just the poor husk you turned him into.” The eldritch monstrosity had finally made a mistake and Kay finally had a plan of action. He tried to keep any thought of it from the front of his mind while he secretly started beading up drops of blood at the base of his chair. He didn’t know if the creature could read his mind or not, but he wasn’t going to risk the only hail mary he’d found.
“Oh, I didn’t change all that much. The high ranking French churchman, the pride of his family and a candidate for higher position within the Church couldn’t deal with a reality that didn’t match his preexisting world view. He ended up on this dirt ball like you did, although he arrived through different means, and then his mind broke. The idea of there being other worlds where life was possible was something he muddled through, with difficulty, but that didn’t break him. But encountering non-human sapient beings and encountering what in his mind was a god-like existence called the System that didn’t give a shit about his position or prestige? His brittle little mind shattered and he went mad years before I touched him. Almost all of his insanity was his own, I just directed him and fuddled with his perceptions a little so that he stayed more stable than the rest of my minions.”
It shrugged. “In some lesser realities I have cultists that worship me in one guise or another but here I had to rely on the vampyr. Most of the little fleshlings susceptible to worshiping my kind or those of similar nature are already spoken for, especially in areas where the veil is thinner. Cultists tend to last a bit longer than anything blessed with fractions of my being because they’re more likely to keep a sense of self preservation, but direct pawns are usually more precise and direct. It’s a trade off, but my precious little inquisitor was the best of both worlds. He was just the right amount detached from this reality for me to actually whisper in his metaphorical ear instead of just making broad nudges or effectively taking over the host body. Things really started picking up once I got him in my clutches,” It shot Kay a droll look, “And then you had to show up.”
“I’m not going to apologize for that.”
“I wouldn’t care if you did or didn’t. You’re nothing.”
Red droplets rolled across the floor, little orbs of blood made smaller than physically measurable slowly marching toward their final destination.
“I wonder what was different between the two of you?” Hungering Void’s head lolled on it’s shoulders as it languidly looked at Kay. “You’re both tiny little nothings, you’re from very similar worlds, yet you rolled to your feet when the train of a new reality hit you and he crumbled. Where does the difference lie? Would a version of you from his Earth break the way he did? Would a version of him from yours survive intact?” It rolled up into a regular sitting position and placed it’s chin in one hand, it’s elbow planted on it’s knee. “One of my main personality traits, which again, is wrong, but what can I do when speaking to a mortal, is curiosity, you see. It gets quite pronounced into actual, mortal curiosity when I’m forced to limit myself to such a small container.” It tapped it’s cheek with one finger.
Kay had to keep the conversation going. “It’s possible that with historical differences I never existed in his version and he never existed in mine. Plus, you’re not thinking of differences between culture, personal history, how we were raised, the time periods we grew up in…”
“But why would I care about those?” It continued to stare silently at him for several minutes. “Would you want to go back?” It eventually asked him. “To Earth, your Earth? I could take you there. Leave this doomed world behind and return to where you belong.”
Kay froze in place. Not out of desire or consideration, but in shock. That was completely out of character for this being so far. “… No you can’t. The way you’ve talked about yourself and the fragmented bits of information you’ve given about how reality works says it wouldn’t be possible for you to take me back. And even if you could you wouldn’t.”
The being chuckled darkly. “You’re correct. I can’t and wouldn’t. Why would I? It wouldn’t serve me in any way. But I do want to know the answer.” It leaned forward with a predatory glint in it’s eyes. “Well?”
“No. I wouldn’t accept that offer if you were genuinely making it to me.”
“But would you want to?”
“Of course I would. Grief doesn’t end, it just fades. Some part of me will always long for the world I left. But I have a life here and people I love, which you’re threatening. I wouldn’t leave them here to die just so I could survive on my own.”
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“Bah.” It screwed it’s face up in disgust and boredom. “Of course you wouldn’t. Silly mortals focusing on the existence of other beings as if that matters.” It flicked it’s eyes onto Kay before going back to staring at the ceiling. “Still nothing. Obnoxious. Where was I? Oh, yes. Mortals being fools, as always. What would you had said if I offered to take your loved ones with me and place them on your Earth? Do you care about the other random lives on this world enough to stay and die for them?”
“… You can’t be trusted.” Kay replied after debating how truthful to be. “You eat worlds and universes. If you could get to Earth, any Earth, why would you leave it alone? You’ve literally called mortals beneath you and a general waste of your time, why would you even transport me or anyone else in the first place? The only way you’d ever do anything helpful for a ‘limited existence’ like myself would be if it was in your interest. I’d have to either be a massive problem in your way you wanted to remove, or taking me back there would benefit you to such an extent that it would outweigh the indignity of acting as transport for mortals.”
“You’d be surprised how many in similar positions fall for that trick. Dangle whatever their heart’s desire is in front of them and they leap for it, no matter how inane it is for it be in front of them at that time and place. At least the little mortal that minutely changed the timing of my meal isn’t a gullible fool.”
A microscopic line of blood connected the bottom of Kay’s chair to the discarded, broken fragment of the System. A thin film of plasma and blood cells began coating it in infinitesimal increments as Kay kept the avatar of an eldritch cosmovore distracted.
“It’s too bad for you that you didn’t arrive on this world centuries ago, you might have actually stood a chance of delaying my meal into happening outside your lifetime. You never would have truly been able to prevent me from eating, but you and yours would never have known I was waiting outside your universe to feast on everything you know and love.” Hungering Void’s eyes glowed brighter with green energy and anticipation. “And what a feast it will be! Do you know what your System is? What it represents?”
“No,” Kay slowly shook his head. “I doubt I understand enough to answer your questions affirmatively.” Keeping an eldritch being talking wasn’t in Kay’s normal skill set, he sometimes needed help keeping regular people talking, and his speech was growing a bit stilted and he was choosing out of place words. It didn’t seem to notice though.
“Correct! Rejoice that I am about to fill you in on a facet of reality you would have otherwise never glimpsed. Your System is a connection.” The being stared expectantly at Kay for a reaction. When it didn’t get one it rolled it’s eyes. “Of course you don’t get it. You know that your System is a part of many worlds, yes?”
“I do.”
“And you know that a multitude of those many worlds exist in different universes.”
Kay’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t know that, but I thought that might be the case.”
“Well, the lovely little foolish System is a connection inside of those universes. Within the barriers that would normally keep a being like me from eating them all.” The being’s grin spread and spread until it consumed it’s entire face. Teeth of all shapes and sizes glinted in light that came from everywhere and nowhere, each one speaking of endless lives snuffed out, of universes consumed, of worlds used as aperitifs and desserts. It was a view of unspeakable horror and Kay couldn’t help but flinch away from it. The smile grew a little bigger in response.
The impossible mouth kept speaking in a voice filled with dreadful glee. “Yes, you’re seeing it. A whole buffet open for me to enjoy with impunity. A lovely trail that will lead me from universe to universe without needing to fight with a single shield, barrier, or veil. Do you know, I’ve been looking for such a thing for lengths of time you wouldn’t comprehend? A true smorgasbord for me to enjoy. I won’t need to eat for eons! I still will, of course, but I won’t need to.” It leaned forward, radiating menace and satisfaction. “And your System can’t do anything about it! It separates each worlds version of itself into little packets, but as I’ve said, nothing can truly break them apart. It knows the threat this represents of course, and it usually is able to split off worlds that become dangerous to the rest of it’s network. It can’t this time though! That was one f the first parts of it I saturated with corruption and rot to make sure my doorway into the buffet stays open!”
It stood from it’s chair and stretched up and out into sideways dimensions as it’s body wriggled in impossible geometries and flashed with otherworldly, unseen colors. It was painful to Kay to look at it before it became vaguely human again, including it’s face. “Now then. I’ve grown impatient. I think I’ll split you open and see if I can find what little secret you’re inadvertently hiding that way. If I can’t, then oh well. Any last words?”
Kay stood, drawing the blood from the chair up into his armor, moving the unseen trail to end at his boot. “A question actually.”
“Oh, more? Well, don’t let it be said I can’t be gregarious. What is it?”
“You’ve said a couple of times that you cant fit your whole existence inside this avatar, because it’s just a shell to interact with this level of reality, which is beneath you.”
It sighed and inspected it’s nails. “Yes, I do hate it so. It’s why I have emotions like curiosity and spite instead of higher, truer states of being. I think some of my puppet even slipped into this one.” It looked down at itself with a sneer. “I vaguely remember other avatars and I don’t remember any of the others being this chatty. Which is to your temporary benefit, of course, do be grateful.”
“That means you can’t bring your full power here to fight me. You’re limited to what can fit here, as it were.”
“True, but so what?” It gave him an unimpressed look. “I possess the ability to control your local gravity, along with other facets that you can’t do anything against. You can’t stop me.”
“Can’t I?” Kay snapped his hand back and the tiny thread connecting him to the broken piece of the System thickened and tensed. The shattered screen zipped through the space between him and Hungering Void to land in Kay’s grasp. He slowly turned it to show the being the screen’s new look, blood red with slightly liquid edges. “Wouldn’t you need this in order to do any of that?”
The eldritch avatar took a heavy step forward and the floor shattered into a small crater beneath it’s foot. “Irritating pest. Do you think you’re doing anything other than delaying me?” It roared out. It’s voice was full of shrieks, the sounds of asteroids colliding, of planets dying, of suns going dark and suns going nova, of black holes ending galaxies. “I am eternal! I exist outside of the constraints of such things as time! This reality will be my meal eventually! All you do is make me inclined to torture you for eternities instead of granting you a swift death!”
Kay slid the screen, which was buzzing slightly and throwing up interesting lines of text inside his armor and sealed it in a film of his blood. “Is that all I’m doing? I thought I was delaying you long enough for the System to purge all the corruption you put in it and be able to seal this universe off from the others.” Kay smirked at the thing from beyond realities. “This world might die, and I might die with it, horribly or not. Either way, you’re an enemy, and I have no reason not to fuck over my enemies’ plans every chance I get. Besides,” the last taunt fell from his lips unbidden and he had no idea where it came from. “If you hang around outside one world long enough the tortoise is bound to catch up with you.”
The avatar froze in place, it’s expression shifted without movement into one of incredulity and shock, then surprisingly fear which quickly became rage. “Him!” It launched itself forward, it’s body unfolding into an elongated shape that closed the distance between them in a blink. It slammed flowing, shape changing limbs into Kay’s jest and blasted him through the roof and into the air above the palace. It followed through the hole after him as it continued to stretch and grow, roaring with range with a mouth that was no longer anything close to human.
