An Unpleasant Entry

[Takanomiya Hijiri]

Hijiri couldn't help but grin. Somewhere at the back of his mind, a small part of him was taking note of this, and was horribly embarrassed by it. His usual, cool, cold demeanour had been cast aside like it was nothing...

Not that that should have been much of a surprise, really. After Kaguya's death, they had all been distraught, himself in particular... frankly, Hijiri hadn't been sure how much longer he could stand to live with the pain. Loathe as he was to admit it, the Young Master had been the one person who mattered most to him, and knowing that he himself had been directly responsible for what had befallen the boy...

It was not a particularly pleasant feeling, to be honest. With the Ogres gone now, the Earth was no longer in such dire need of supervision, which meant that his duty no longer had to come before everything else... he had actually begun contemplating suicide, he was that far gone.

And then Kaguya returned. To call it a 'happy occasion' might have been something of an understatement, to say the least, and though he knew the others likely wouldn't let him forget his lack of composure any time soon, he was willing, for the time being, to just enjoy the moment.

They were all back together, everyone was safe and sound, and with their old enemy vanquished once and for all, it seemed like they might actually stay that way. It was hard not to be optimistic at a time like this, even for him.

And then they were gone.

One moment the others had been right beside him – they were holding hands, even, like a bunch of little kids – and the next, he was alone, his fingers closing on air, standing on nothing, in the midst of a pitch-black void...

Or, then again, perhaps he was not entirely alone.

“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.”

The speaker was a white silhouette, the only detail of which he could make out was that wide, grinning maw. Unable to control his own body, Hijiri was unable to stop himself from reaching out as the figure handed him some sort of shimmering, rainbow-coloured orb.

“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.

The strange object vanished almost as soon as he touched it; seemingly being absorbed into his body somehow.

“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.”

No sooner had the being – 'Omni' was the moniker it had claimed – ceased speaking than it and the darkness around it began to fade, until the area before him was an entirely white void, this time around.

Still confused, despite the strange being's brief explanation – and perhaps even in denial, for who would actually want to believe that there truly existed a creature of such power that it could arbitrarily tear them away not only from their loved ones, but from their entire reality, on the merest of whims? – Hijiri turned, looking all around, desperately hoping for some sign that this alabaster wasteland did not actually go on forever.

And he got one. Then immediately wished he hadn't.

The object that stood before him was a beautifully carved fountain; it would have made any work of art on Earth or on the Moon seem crude and ugly by comparison. The scene atop the fountain was that of a beautiful woman holding a glass aloft as her waiter poured clear, fresh water from a wine bottle into it, endlessly. Over the rim of the glass the liquid spilled, to fill the sparkling pool which surrounded the pedestal upon which the statues stood.

It would have appeared almost divine, such was its perfection, such was the level of detail which had gone into the making of it, were it not for the masks the pair wore. These were not the same grey stone as the rest of the fountain, but pure white, each with a gemstone above their narrow eyes, a wicked grin, and jet black horns. Ogre masks.

And as if that alone wasn't an obvious enough clue as to Omni's intentions towards him, both statues faced him directly, looking down upon him as they smirked. Oh yes, there was no doubt at all in his mind that this would-be deity had brought him here for little more than the privilege of watching him suffer and die... and then, if what it had said was true, to watch him be reborn, only to die again, and again, and again, and again, until at last it tired of the spectacle and allowed him to pass on for good.

Well.

Shit.

[Takanomiya Hijiri]

Fists clenching as he looked up at those horrid masks, Hijiri focused on releasing his true form, intent on powering-up, and smashing this thing to rubble – if for no other reason than to vent some of his anger.

Instead of the usual sweet sensation of strength filling his body, though, he experienced a strange jarring feeling, and found that he somehow instinctively knew he'd need to gather more Omnilium before being able to release his full power again. A lot more, actually. Apparently Omni hadn't been lying when he had said Hijiri would be nothing without that strange substance; in this reality it seemed that everything really did rely on it in order to function, to the extent that even an ability which had been completely natural and effortless back home was now impossible for him to use.

His teeth grinding in frustration, the Battle Rabbit... or rather... the human, glared up at those mocking smiles. Okay, so he couldn't use his true form, that was undeniably a heavy blow, but even without it, he was not necessarily powerless. Omni had at least deigned to give him a little of that Omnilium to get him started, so he might as well see what could be accomplished with what he had.

Focusing his mind on the katana he had owned back in his own world, and holding his hands out before him, Hijiri saw the small globe he had been given rise back out of one palm and begin to expand. Slowly, over the course of several minutes, it grew into a long, thin ovoid shape, before fading away to reveal his trusty blade within.

Grabbing the katana and unsheathing it, he tossed aside its scabbard and leapt up, atop the large pedestal, and grabbed the arm of the female statue to steady himself. He had been able to lower his weight and make the jump easily enough, so it seemed like he had at least maintained his limited ability to manipulate gravity, which was something to be grateful for, he supposed.

Stretching back his arm, and holding that pose for a couple moments as he focused his power around both his fist and sword, he then swung at the fountain with all his strength, releasing the charged energy just prior to the weapon's impact, to add substantial extra weight to the blow.

With a loud crack!, the blade's edge buried itself in the stone mask, and when he jerked it free a second later, the thing shattered into dozens of pieces.

“Gah!” taken by surprise at the sight of the cruel visage revealed beneath the mask, he leapt backwards, off the pedestal and across the pool, then took a couple more quick steps backwards after landing.

His sword had done nothing more than put a slight notch in the woman's nose after cutting through the ogre mask she had worn, so the expression Omni had given her was perfectly clear; with wide eyes, raised brows, and a crazed grin much wider than any ordinary mouth should have been capable of producing, the statue's face looked inhuman and fanatical. Though her expression was the least of his concerns; it was those eyes which really bothered Hijiri.

Rather than being carved of stone, they were... well... they were all too real-looking for his taste. Okay, so presumably they were merely coloured glass. That was the most likely explanation, he was sure. Extremely well made glass eyes. That must be it... surely not even a creature like Omni would have actually given his fountain real, living eyes. That would be just too weird. He had simply imagined seeing them move, obviously. It must just be some sort of optical illusion which made it appear as though she was staring directly at him.

Picking up his scabbard and sheathing the blade, he hurriedly turned and walked off without giving the statue so much as another glance. At this rate it would take far too long to tear down, and if he did eventually find some more Omnilium, he could always come back and deal with it later. Yes, he didn't have the time to waste here, that was all there was to it. He wasn't creeped out by that thing at all, and he certainly wasn't running away.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he could have sworn he felt its gaze following him as he strode off into the white waste, headed in a completely random direction.

[Takanomiya Hijiri]

He hadn't been walking for long before he noticed the little specks in the distance, breaking the monotony of this pale land. He couldn't determine what they actually were at that point, and didn't want to waste any of his last, tiny reserve of Omnilium on a pair of binoculars – not when he might well have to spare that for food and water – it was all but impossible for him to judge distances when everything looked the same, so for all he knew, Hijiri might well have days of walking before reaching whatever they were.

Or so he thought at that point. In actuality, it only took him a little over an hour before he was close enough to determine that the objects in the distance were actually gates of some sort. He was heading for a spot directly between two of them: to his left, one looked to be nothing more than a couple of palm trees, bent over and presumably fastened together somehow; whilst the other, off to his right, appeared to be made of some sort of metal, though he was still too far away to tell much more than that... he did, however, spot movement near that archway, he was sure.

If there were people there, he supposed he might as well attempt to communicate with them. It wouldn't be particularly shocking if they attacked him on sight; as far as Hijiri was concerned, Omni had already made his hostility abundantly clear, so he was fully prepared to have to defend himself... it was hardly an ideal scenario, but he knew he'd have to confront someone eventually, so it might as well be now, before he was weakened by hunger and dehydration. He had to get them to tell him how to acquire more of this Omnilium if he was ever to have any hope of surviving in such a desolate land. If that meant using force, then so be it.

Just under an hour later, after turning to angle his path towards the metal gate, he arrived at his destination, and saw that the structure actually consisted of several smooth, interconnecting steel sections, surrounding some sort of warped, brightly coloured area. In his left hand he clutched his scabbarded sword, and as he approached he pressed his thumb up against the weapon's guard and pushed it back lightly, freeing an inch or so of the blade's length, to be sure that it would be quick and easy to unsheathe should the need arise.

The two figures he approached wore strange black and white armour like nothing he had seen before, and each held a gun of some sort, however they kept the barrels pointed down as he headed their way, apparently trying not to antagonise him. It was possible, he supposed, that they too were merely victims here, living in fear of running into some blood-crazed lunatic who would tear through them like wet paper. Though they made no move to stop him, the former Battle Rabbit came to a halt anyway.

“Good day,” he began, still eyeing them warily in case of a trap, “I was hoping you two could answer some questions I might have?”

“Questions?” asked one man, seeming to loosen up a little, now that he hadn't been immediately murdered, though his compatriot didn't so much as twitch, “Are you new here?”

“Yes, I suppose I am. I met a... thing called Omni. He said something about having to gather some 'Omnilium' stuff...” he glanced around at his surroundings once again, double checking to make sure there were no rainbow-coloured globes lying around which he had somehow not spotted earlier, “though it doesn't exactly seem all that plentiful around here. I don't suppose either of you could explain how exactly I'm supposed to do that?”

It did occur to Hijiri that asking this openly might not be the best possible approach; if this stuff really was as rare as it seemed, these two might try and kill him, simply to get rid of their competition. Fortunately, it didn't seem like that would be the case; hearing that he was utterly clueless about his current situation did seem to put them both at ease.

“Ah, of course, I'd be happy to, Mr...?”

“Takanomiya. My name is Takanomiya Hijiri.”

“Mr Takanomiya? Okay, then, let's get started...”

And so, over the course of the next hour or so, the strangely armoured man – a 'stormtrooper' he called himself – gave Hijiri a basic rundown of the Omniverse; 'Primes', 'Secondaries', 'Verses', summoning, death, rebirth, and even some background information on a few of the bigger, more influential groups which claimed dominance in their various regions. This gate – which was actually some sort of portal, he was informed – led to a vast city named Coruscant, which was ruled justly by their benevolent Emperor, an old man who had been the first 'Prime' ever abducted by Omni, and had selflessly sought to build a place to house those who followed, should they prove friendly.

Sadly, many had not, including a being named Diablo, who had raised an army of monstrous and demonic creatures at one point, and sought to take over the entire Omniverse, before being sealed away after the Emperor had temporarily joined forces with his arch-nemesis, the tyrannical King Aragorn of Camelot, a man who approved of the use of 'heretical' magic, and had many supporters who advocated genocide against non-humans.

It was quite the tale, he had to admit, and he found himself feeling a little sorry for these people, who had only tried to do good, but had been so weakened by wars and competition that much of their fine city had fallen into disrepair and had been taken over by vicious criminal syndicates.

Not that he was going to actually let them know he felt that way, of course. As a man who had until recently run a sprawling business empire, Hijiri was well aware of the value of keeping one's intentions to oneself. Not to mention, he did prefer to avoid appearing sentimental whenever possible.

“I see. Well, thank you very much for the history lesson... now, though, I believe you mentioned something about an easy way of earning Omnilium at one point during all that?” he hadn't wanted to interrupt the stormtrooper earlier, lest he come across as being desperate; he wouldn't exactly have much of a negotiating platform if they realised he barely had enough of the stuff left to feed himself for a day or two... and unfortunately, though he had assured Hijiri that it was plentiful, the man had yet to explain exactly where it came from, or how one went about retrieving it.

“Oh yes!” his tutor's voice was eager, and he nodded a few times as well. The helmet he wore may have been intended to look intimidating, but the man beneath it clearly had no interest in perpetuating that impression. Hijiri heard a slight sigh from the other stormtrooper; apparently that one was none too pleased with his excitable co-worker. “If you're willing to help the Empire out a little, our superiors will be more than happy to pay you for it. Normally we use a currency called 'credits' in Coruscant, but since you're a Prime I'm sure it'll be no trouble to arrange for you to be paid in Omnilium instead, if you'd prefer.”

“Hmm... help out how, exactly? Would I need to wear one of those... uniforms?” he had no idea how powerful stormtroopers were in an actual fight, and he was sure that their outfits must serve some practical purpose... but his people had never really bothered with armour, much less anything that looked like that.

“No, no,” the man laughed, “this gear is only for stormtroopers; you can just wear whatever you like. Now, listen up, if you want to earn some money then the best way you can do that is to join the EPD – the Empire Peace Division – and the first thing they're likely to ask of you is to go down below and prove yourself by taking care of some Prime or other who's been causing trouble for them... are you sure you're up for that?”

Honestly, Hijiri wasn't convinced he really was. In fact, it occurred to him then that this might be exactly what Omni wanted; he had surely kidnapped Hijiri knowing full well that he was the kind of person who would – even if he might not always be the most morally upstanding of individuals – feel compelled to help protect those weaker than himself... which apparently meant having to fight another, much more experienced Prime. With an effort of will, he prevented himself from reacting; in business, it paid to be confident. If he were to make any sort of good first impression with these people, he couldn't afford to seem like a coward, regardless of his personal reservations. And since Omni had apparently been telling the truth about Primes returning from the dead, even if he was killed, he'd likely get another chance.

“Of course,” he replied, nodding sharply and maintaining the cold, detached expression he generally wore, “it shouldn't pose a problem.”

“Glad to hear it. Well, just follow me and I'll help you get all the paperwork sorted out and then you can be on your way.” so saying, he turned and calmly strode through the strange portal like it was nothing. People could get used to anything with enough time, Hijiri supposed, and gingerly followed him.

…

“Hey, wait!” the other stormtrooper suddenly burst out, spinning to look at the portal through which the others had both already passed. He growled in frustration. “Dammit!”

He wasn't worried about letting the Prime through; even when they were known criminals, stormtroopers weren't expected to stand up to Primes without backup, so there was no danger of being reprimanded for that. No, what it was that had annoyed him was that his partner had taken it upon himself to go and show this guy around... five hours before their shift was due to end.