One World to Another

[Simon]

He blinked, and suddenly he was was somewhere much different. Along with the complementary head-swimming nature of shifting through an inter-dimensional portal, but Dante was kind of used to that. He almost instinctively braked himself on the motorcycle he was riding, sliding to a soundless stop aside the putting of the motor. Did he somehow ride into one of those aforementioned portals when he wasn't looking? It didn't seem like it, at least.

New question: what exactly what this place, besides what appeared to be a void of infinite darkness... where he could still see himself? Before he could answer, the Son of Sparda suddenly became aware of a presence in front of him - a silhouette of white, of a small, almost boyish figure, grinning with a Cheshire smile.

“My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse. You interest me, so I have made you part of it. The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.”

With little other option at hand, Dante leaned to one side on his vehicle, dropping a foot down to steady himself and cutting the motor. With a brief sputter, quiet overwhelmed the void. The figure held out his hand, and an orb of some chromatic liquid, like flowing prismatic metal, appeared.

“This is Omnilium. It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours. But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most."

Dante's unconsciously adopted frown faltered, then suddenly twisted into a curt smile to match Omni's own. This deity's words were starting to sink in, their implications arising on Dante's head. Gradually, he was figuring out why he was here.

You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium. Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn.

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting."

With Omni's final words, the silhouette faded away- or rather, the void around them was set alight in pure white, in which the body disappeared into. In the figure's place was a fountain of sorts, a red crater with a jagged rim containing a pool of water and an intricate statue rising from the center to decorate it. The carving with made from seemed like obsidian, and the figure in question was a horned demon with folded leathery wings and bulky hide armor. The statue held in it's igneous paws an otherwise plain claymore, planted in the pedestal where its wielder stood.

Dante studied the statue for a moment- it looked uncannily like the true form of his father, Sparda. Then again, he had only vague remembrances of ever seeing his father's true from, and it may have been mere artistic depiction. In any case, the fact that such a thing was here was almost flattering to the Son of Sparda. Omni really knew what he was doing, it seemed.

Throwing out the cycle's kickstand so he could disembark freely, Dante hopped off his ride to stretch his legs and look around. The white void seemed more familiar and welcoming than the black one moment before. Despite the light, Dante cast no shadow, and there was no discernible transition from floor to horizon, giving him an odd feeling of vertigo. He was pleasantly surprised to see the distant sight of what seemed to be eight different gates, far away but all surrounding the fountain like a clock. The whole place gave him a slight feeling of déjà vu, something he almost welcomes in this new world.

In any case, Dante's reasoning for him being here was clear. His skills had proved him to be a powerful and awesome warrior, a fact that interested Omni and prompted the being to pull him to this world, a world of his creation. While others would find the idea of being a source of entertainment rather repulsive or unjust, Dante was rather willing to put on a show for this deity. This Omnilium, the Son of Sparda's new power source, his reason and being for existing here... he had to collect as much as he could. To grow more powerful, to fight and win battles, to call upon whatever collection of weapons he desired, to prove himself a powerful being to Omni.

At least, something like that. There wasn't actually any clear goal to be had, but that didn't immediately concern Dante. He was brought here to be tested, to entertain Omni, and that he would. The dark knight might not know anything else right now, but those gates looked like a good place to start.

But before that, Dante checked himself. He unclipped Rebellion from his back, seeing it still in his possession and still awakened, the crossguard open and the skulls still with open mouths, wailing silently. Which, in turn, meant Dante still had access to Devil Trigger - a useful boon to have, when it came down to it. Returning Rebellion, the demon hunter dropped his hands to his hips, feeling the twin guns Ebony & Ivory in their holsters. Calling upon reflex, Dante quickly unsheathed the pistols and unloaded a few shots to test they still worked as intended. They did.

In the process, though, the Son of Sparda took note of something. He felt notably more sluggish and weaker than before, and his connection to his devil half felt distant, not something he could easily tap into. He noticed the weight of his other equipment was non-present, so his other firearms were gone. His attempt to summon one of his Devil Arms also fell flat, as even when he concentrated he hit a mental brick wall.

Of course- it was part of Omni's introduction to him here. He had to weaken Dante first, so that he would have incentive to grow stronger. Obviously, Dante was going to have to work to get back to his former strength and skill level. Which was fine by the demon hunter.

He hopped back onto the motorcycle, started the ride up, and gunned the engine, pulling up the kickstand. Swerving away from the fountain, Dante aimed toward one of the gates and sped up to 80 mph. It was time to get to work.

[Simon]

Dante's chosen destination, the gate that would ultimately go to Coruscant, was manned by three Stormtroopers at the moment. To say they saw Dante coming from a mile away was an understatement, given the emptiness of the Nexus and the roaring machine with which he approached on. They were wise to call in the approaching figure before he got too close, lest anything happen to the troopers and he came roaring into the plaza without warning. Of course, they were still going to attempt their typical reasoning and control tactics before anyone could mark the person as a criminal.

"Halt!" one of the Stromtroopers commanded, stepping up and holding a facing hand out as the cyclist approached. While Dante couldn't hear the trooper because of the distance and noise, he nevertheless slowed down and slid into a stop some good distance away, well avoiding impact with the white-armored figures. Dante should've expected to find other people, as Omni said, but he just wasn't expecting to see any before he had entered one of the gates. But again, what would he know?

"Well, then. I guess you guys are guarding this portal here?" Dante asked plainly and coolly, running a pair of hands through his hair to smooth it out some more. He was still wearing his gear and hairdo from his last operation, up to fighting Argosax the Chaos, and he found himself wanting to transition into something more casual for him when given the free time. "Actually, better question- what's beyond this portal, anyway?"

The trooper let down his hand at the sight of the cyclist stopping. The last time he saw someone that looked like Dante He had murdered practically every damn thing in his way to get... somewhere. The details were lost on the lone soldier, as that offending Prime hadn't been seen in months. But whatever the case, it was actually refreshing to see a Prime stop and cooperate for once.

"Correct- we are on guard duty for this Gate, which leads into the capitol city of the Empire, Coruscant," the guard explained, speaking a muffed voice like over a radio. He took a couple of steps closer to the Prime to make his words clearer. "Are you a new individual in the Omniverse?"

Dante rolled the soldier's words over in his head. Capital city of the Empire? Didn't sound familiar to him at all, so it must be a new place within the Omniverse. Unless everything in the Omniverse was just stuff that Omni dragged here, which was stranger yet and seemed to prove the deity didn't have much creative thought of his own. When the odd-helmeted man stepped forward and asked a question, Dante seemed to think for a tiny moment, then shrugged. "Sounds about right."

"Well, then," the Stormtrooper began after Dante's response, "I guess, let me be the first to say 'Welcome'." The white-armored figure turned to one side, pointing to the Gate. "As you heard, this Gate behinds us leads to Coruscant, the Imperial capitol. The Empire is one of the major factions within the Omniverse, and by far the most advanced and expansive. You can go on ahead, but watch out for traffic with that vehicle. Any information you're looking for can be supplied by one of the Dataverse terminals to be found around Tier 1."

The Son of Sparda cocked his head, absorbing the words. "That's it? Anything else?"

A certain falter in the Stormtrooper went unseen behind the neutral visage of his full helm. He wasn't exactly expecting that question when he thought he had explained everything that needed to be. And while he wanted to say, "No, go ahead," the trooper felt indebted to warn this Prime, who was so willing to take the time to listen and talk rather than fight or run by. And just in case... he wanted to be sure of what the Prime was, for himself.

"Actually..." The voice behind the mask said, a slightly more expressive tone heard beyond his radio. "And this is a personal matter really, but - I believe you look like a certain individual listed in the Empire's major criminal database." This got an eyebrow raise out of Dante, who remained quiet while the Stormtooper explained, "Spiky white hair, red coat, a massive sword - and a horrible temper, with some level of sanity that cannot be reasoned with. I can't accuse of you being the same person, but I would advise you to be careful."

There was a moment of silence, especially to the two other troopers aside the gate who were curious about what got their mate to say that. The vigilante lookalike let out a muted hum at the implications, seeming to frown properly for the first time since this encounter began. It was almost flattering to think that someone out there was going about bearing his visage, but it became less so when he realized that this other person, being so questionably sane, had to be going around killing people or performing other terrorist actions to be listed as a 'major criminal'. It was a bad way for Dante to start out, being mistaken as a criminal.

But then again, perhaps this was his first trial here in the Omniverse.

"...How would I go about 'clearing my name', so to speak?" The demon hunter asked, maintaining a more serious, but non-threatening tone. The Stormtroopers seemed to let out a bated breath, and the lead one said:

"Our commander's stationed just beyond the Gate. Talk to him about it."

With a simple nod to the trooper, Dante kicked back into his perch on the motorcycle and revved the engine again. The guarding soldiers stood aside to let the cyclist through, and he slowly pulled forward to pass into the portal...

To be continued in Coruscant...