04-22-2018, 10:41 AM
Carrefore. The Town With No Name. Nippur.
Boring. Bland. Broken.
The first of the three is a city reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory, run by agents of some sort of evil empire… not that ‘evil’ is necessarily the worst thing ever, of course, but the fact that the rulers of Carrefore—the imaginatively named ‘Empire’—allowed this entire land (which if the Dataverse is to be believed, was once entirely under their control) to be so despoiled and drained of resources that it somehow became a desert… it doesn’t say a whole lot for their skill at governance.
Further investigation reveals to me that the Empire is based in a ‘Verse’ (which is what the people here call the various lands connected by that white crossroads… the ‘Nexus’) called Coruscant, which takes the form of a single, immense city, its upper ‘tiers’ patrolled constantly by the soldiers of the oppressive government, whilst those below are crime-ridden hellholes.
It doesn’t exactly inspire much in the way of confidence. Honestly, their situation sounds like a powderkeg that could go up at any moment. After all, in my experience, citizens forced to comply with the whims of leaders whom they believe to be unjust can be set off by the slightest of sparks and rise up in rebellion... I know that in the wars of my home world, we certainly made use of such malcontents ourselves on occasion. I have no intention of getting myself involved in anything like that here, though… not just after discovering how appallingly mortal I have become. Omni’s reassurance of rebirth is something positive, I suppose… though my studies of the Dataverse soon reveal another new thing to fear. A worse fate than even death itself; banishment.
It seems that somewhere ‘beneath’—for want of a better word—the rest of the Omniverse, there exists a place known as the ‘Underverse’... which is, as its name would suggest, a type of underworld, much like that spoken about in the legends, myths and stories of my own reality. The land of the demons. Though technically sealed off from the rest of the Omniverse, special items known as ‘Banishment Circles’ (or sometimes ‘Banishment Serums’... or something else altogether… for these things can apparently take many forms) can be used to send troublesome Primes down there. ‘Primes’, I discover, are what those of us summoned by Omni Himself are called, whilst people summoned with Omnilium by Primes are known as ‘Secondaries’.
The idea that losing a fight to someone carrying one of these Circles could potentially lead to finding myself banished there… to be tortured and tormented for the rest of my existence... is hardly a pleasant thought, to put it lightly. It does lead me to another interesting find, though; on the Dataverse there are rumours—mostly uncorroborated—of people who have somehow escaped the Underverse, despite many other claims that such a thing is impossible. The most recent of these stories relates to an individual calling himself ‘King Gilgamesh’; a man with the blood of gods, clad in armour of pure gold and supposedly in possession of his own private reality in which he can store his countless treasures and armaments of war until they are needed. It’s an impressive description, I must admit, and if anyone were to be able to be break free of the clutches of hell itself, it would make sense for it to be a demigod with the vastest arsenal in existence.
He also happens to be the ruler of Nippur.
Considering my lack of interest in Carrefore, and the fact that the Town With No Name sounds like little more than a gathering place for bandits and thugs, with its leadership—what there is of it—having no real ambitions or goals beyond maintaining what small semblance of order they can cling to… I’m not too keen on the thought of heading there either. The place is a hole, nothing more than a crude imitation of civilisation in the midst of an anarchic wasteland.
Which leaves Nippur. Once a great city, before falling to ruin when its master was cast into the abyss of the Underverse… now that he has returned, though, what will happen next? Will he be content to rule tyrannically over his starving populace, or will he seek to improve their lot in life? Will he aim to expand his domain, or be content with what he has? There’s certainly no certainty of entertainment for me there… but it could possibly prove to be interesting, depending on the decisions he makes... which is more than I can say for these other options.
With my mind now made up, I just need to actually make my way there, now. This turns out to be... easier said than done. I do eventually stumble across a strange looking track cutting through the sands, that my little golden tablet—which is apparently called a ‘Dataverse Device’—tells me is a ‘railway’; some sort of strange-looking road used exclusively by vehicles called ‘trains’, to quickly and safely transport large numbers of people from place to place. According to the Dataverse, this railway links Carrefore and the Town With No Name.
I follow it, figuring that once I reach one of those places I will at least know where I am, and so can look up a map and work out what direction I need to head to reach the place I actually want to get to.
As it transpires, I end up in the Town With No Name. Wooden houses. Mean-looking sorts who glare at me as I pass by them in my opulently adorned, rune-coated carriage. I make a show of paying them little heed and acting unconcerned, though I keep as many of them as I can just on the edge of my vision… if someone plans to attack me, I want to see them coming sometime before they’re right beside me.
No one does, though, and before long I’ve passed through that dump. Now that I have this landmark to base my position on, it is a trivial matter to plot a path between this town and the Ruins of Nippur. With my magical conveyance given its instructions it turns and continues on tirelessly. For my part, I summon myself a glass of chilled fruit juice, relax amongst the cushions and pillows lining the wagon, and entertain myself by watching random Omnitube videos.
Hours pass, and at one point I doze off. When I awaken, there's a rough hand on my shoulder and someone is shaking me gently.
“Ugh...” I grumble, waving a hand lazily as if to swat the individual away. They release me and back off. Once, I would have been awake and alert in a heartbeat after being surprised like that, and in another heartbeat likely would have jammed a javelin into the windpipe of anyone who’d dared lay a hand on me without permission… but that was long ago, back when I was first getting used to the harsh realities of life as a soldier… back before I developed my Protections. Now, with my renewed mortality, perhaps I should work on renewing that paranoia.
It is only as I groggily wipe the sleep from my eyes that I realise I am no longer moving. My cart has stopped. Looking out, the first thing I see is a pair of soldiers—one male, one female—with shining, golden breastplates. Beyond them is a vast, sandstone wall, which would be impressive, were it not so crumbled. It would seem I’ve reached my destination. I give the soldiers a cheery smile.
“Morning, officers.” I stretch lazily and yawn, making sure to curve my back, so as to push my chest forwards a little as I do. And though I try to be surreptitious about it, I keep a close eye on them at the same time. The man—a rough-looking, middle-aged bloke whose dark hair is tinged with grey, but who’s still built like an ox despite his years—takes the bait immediately, his downturned gash of a mouth twitching upwards slightly in the beginnings of a leer as he ogles my body. A veteran soldier, to be sure, but apparently not the brightest.
By comparison, his female counterpart—younger than the man, in her mid-to-late twenties, I think, with shoulder-length hazel hair—simply glares at me. She may realise I’m trying to get a read on them, or she may have just think I’m a whore, and not be particularly fond of those sorts of people. She notices my gaze, but I don’t look away, and she won’t break eye contact either. I stare for a few more moments—long enough for the male guard to catch on that something is up and glance confusedly between us—before lowering my arms to my sides and sighing softly.
Behind the anger she wears like a shield, that woman has haunted eyes. I remember what I read on the Dataverse… their King was away for two years, and during that time, this place was overtaken by bandits… much like if the ‘sheriff’—whatever that title means—were to disappear from the Town With No Name, this place became a lawless hell, with the strong taking what they want and the weak having everything stolen from them.
I’m hardly soft-hearted enough to be bothered by it, but I’m not completely lacking in empathy either, I imagine this lady must have seen some dreadful things in her king’s absence… perhaps even endured some horrors of her own… so I don’t let her bad attitude bother me.
“It’s the middle of the afternoon.” she snaps, scowling at me. I simply smile back for a moment, before hopping out of the cart in a flutter of silken cloth.
“Details, details,” I wave one hand dismissively, while holding the other out towards my transport. From the vehicle’s centre, a kaleidoscopic orb of rainbow-hued light expands slowly outwards to cover the entire construct.
“Huh.” blurts the big guy.
“You’re a Prime.” the woman states coldly, pointing out the obvious.
“I sure am, cutie.” I give her a wink. She grits her teeth and clenches her fists, looking like she’s struggling to keep herself from drawing the sword scabbarded on the belt she wears slung around her hips. Hmm. Maybe best not to antagonise her anymore, unless I want my first act inside Nippur to be picking a fight with one of its God-King’s soldiers… which doesn’t exactly seem like a plan which would be especially conductive to my long-term wellbeing.
“The king wants to see all the Primes in Nippur.” the male guard grunts, a meaty palm landing on my shoulder once again, though this time his grip is much firmer than when he was shaking me, “We should take her to him.”
“Oh? He does now, does he?" I ask, "Well, I’d be honoured to meet the great King Gilgamesh… but can you give me a little while to finish extracting the Omnilium from this cart? Now that I’ve crossed the desert, I don’t really need it anymore, but it'd be a shame to just leave it lying around.”
“Fine. Get on with it then.” the woman folds her arms over her chest and the man removes his hand from my shoulder once more. It takes me about a quarter of an hour or so to re-absorb the wagon’s Omnilium into myself. With that over and done, I spin lightly around to face the soldiers again.
“All finished. Will you two splendid soldiers be escorting me to your king now?” I clasp my hands behind my back and endeavour to look as innocent as I possibly can. The man smirks, the woman scowls.
“Well... one of us has to stay behind to guard the gate, but I’d be more than willing to take you to the palace myself.” the guy says, puffing out his chest… not that he really needs to do anything to make himself look big to me; the top of his head is almost a foot higher than mine (even if my rabbit-like ears do technically add quite a bit to my height, I tend to not really count them).
“You okay with that?” he speaks to his fellow soldier this time, rather than me.
“Sure. Be my guest.” she looks away, out onto the rolling dunes of the desert. Almost the moment her eyes are averted, the large man grins and slips an arm around my waist. I must admit, I’m a bit taken aback by the unsolicited physical contact… but, eh, it’s not like I should really have anything to worry about. According to the Dataverse, Primes are generally much more powerful than Secondaries, so if Mr Muscles here decides to try anything, he’ll only have himself to blame when he gets one of my spears rammed through his eye socket.
For the time being, though, I simply smile brightly and let him lead me into the city...
Boring. Bland. Broken.
The first of the three is a city reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory, run by agents of some sort of evil empire… not that ‘evil’ is necessarily the worst thing ever, of course, but the fact that the rulers of Carrefore—the imaginatively named ‘Empire’—allowed this entire land (which if the Dataverse is to be believed, was once entirely under their control) to be so despoiled and drained of resources that it somehow became a desert… it doesn’t say a whole lot for their skill at governance.
Further investigation reveals to me that the Empire is based in a ‘Verse’ (which is what the people here call the various lands connected by that white crossroads… the ‘Nexus’) called Coruscant, which takes the form of a single, immense city, its upper ‘tiers’ patrolled constantly by the soldiers of the oppressive government, whilst those below are crime-ridden hellholes.
It doesn’t exactly inspire much in the way of confidence. Honestly, their situation sounds like a powderkeg that could go up at any moment. After all, in my experience, citizens forced to comply with the whims of leaders whom they believe to be unjust can be set off by the slightest of sparks and rise up in rebellion... I know that in the wars of my home world, we certainly made use of such malcontents ourselves on occasion. I have no intention of getting myself involved in anything like that here, though… not just after discovering how appallingly mortal I have become. Omni’s reassurance of rebirth is something positive, I suppose… though my studies of the Dataverse soon reveal another new thing to fear. A worse fate than even death itself; banishment.
It seems that somewhere ‘beneath’—for want of a better word—the rest of the Omniverse, there exists a place known as the ‘Underverse’... which is, as its name would suggest, a type of underworld, much like that spoken about in the legends, myths and stories of my own reality. The land of the demons. Though technically sealed off from the rest of the Omniverse, special items known as ‘Banishment Circles’ (or sometimes ‘Banishment Serums’... or something else altogether… for these things can apparently take many forms) can be used to send troublesome Primes down there. ‘Primes’, I discover, are what those of us summoned by Omni Himself are called, whilst people summoned with Omnilium by Primes are known as ‘Secondaries’.
The idea that losing a fight to someone carrying one of these Circles could potentially lead to finding myself banished there… to be tortured and tormented for the rest of my existence... is hardly a pleasant thought, to put it lightly. It does lead me to another interesting find, though; on the Dataverse there are rumours—mostly uncorroborated—of people who have somehow escaped the Underverse, despite many other claims that such a thing is impossible. The most recent of these stories relates to an individual calling himself ‘King Gilgamesh’; a man with the blood of gods, clad in armour of pure gold and supposedly in possession of his own private reality in which he can store his countless treasures and armaments of war until they are needed. It’s an impressive description, I must admit, and if anyone were to be able to be break free of the clutches of hell itself, it would make sense for it to be a demigod with the vastest arsenal in existence.
He also happens to be the ruler of Nippur.
Considering my lack of interest in Carrefore, and the fact that the Town With No Name sounds like little more than a gathering place for bandits and thugs, with its leadership—what there is of it—having no real ambitions or goals beyond maintaining what small semblance of order they can cling to… I’m not too keen on the thought of heading there either. The place is a hole, nothing more than a crude imitation of civilisation in the midst of an anarchic wasteland.
Which leaves Nippur. Once a great city, before falling to ruin when its master was cast into the abyss of the Underverse… now that he has returned, though, what will happen next? Will he be content to rule tyrannically over his starving populace, or will he seek to improve their lot in life? Will he aim to expand his domain, or be content with what he has? There’s certainly no certainty of entertainment for me there… but it could possibly prove to be interesting, depending on the decisions he makes... which is more than I can say for these other options.
With my mind now made up, I just need to actually make my way there, now. This turns out to be... easier said than done. I do eventually stumble across a strange looking track cutting through the sands, that my little golden tablet—which is apparently called a ‘Dataverse Device’—tells me is a ‘railway’; some sort of strange-looking road used exclusively by vehicles called ‘trains’, to quickly and safely transport large numbers of people from place to place. According to the Dataverse, this railway links Carrefore and the Town With No Name.
I follow it, figuring that once I reach one of those places I will at least know where I am, and so can look up a map and work out what direction I need to head to reach the place I actually want to get to.
As it transpires, I end up in the Town With No Name. Wooden houses. Mean-looking sorts who glare at me as I pass by them in my opulently adorned, rune-coated carriage. I make a show of paying them little heed and acting unconcerned, though I keep as many of them as I can just on the edge of my vision… if someone plans to attack me, I want to see them coming sometime before they’re right beside me.
No one does, though, and before long I’ve passed through that dump. Now that I have this landmark to base my position on, it is a trivial matter to plot a path between this town and the Ruins of Nippur. With my magical conveyance given its instructions it turns and continues on tirelessly. For my part, I summon myself a glass of chilled fruit juice, relax amongst the cushions and pillows lining the wagon, and entertain myself by watching random Omnitube videos.
Hours pass, and at one point I doze off. When I awaken, there's a rough hand on my shoulder and someone is shaking me gently.
“Ugh...” I grumble, waving a hand lazily as if to swat the individual away. They release me and back off. Once, I would have been awake and alert in a heartbeat after being surprised like that, and in another heartbeat likely would have jammed a javelin into the windpipe of anyone who’d dared lay a hand on me without permission… but that was long ago, back when I was first getting used to the harsh realities of life as a soldier… back before I developed my Protections. Now, with my renewed mortality, perhaps I should work on renewing that paranoia.
It is only as I groggily wipe the sleep from my eyes that I realise I am no longer moving. My cart has stopped. Looking out, the first thing I see is a pair of soldiers—one male, one female—with shining, golden breastplates. Beyond them is a vast, sandstone wall, which would be impressive, were it not so crumbled. It would seem I’ve reached my destination. I give the soldiers a cheery smile.
“Morning, officers.” I stretch lazily and yawn, making sure to curve my back, so as to push my chest forwards a little as I do. And though I try to be surreptitious about it, I keep a close eye on them at the same time. The man—a rough-looking, middle-aged bloke whose dark hair is tinged with grey, but who’s still built like an ox despite his years—takes the bait immediately, his downturned gash of a mouth twitching upwards slightly in the beginnings of a leer as he ogles my body. A veteran soldier, to be sure, but apparently not the brightest.
By comparison, his female counterpart—younger than the man, in her mid-to-late twenties, I think, with shoulder-length hazel hair—simply glares at me. She may realise I’m trying to get a read on them, or she may have just think I’m a whore, and not be particularly fond of those sorts of people. She notices my gaze, but I don’t look away, and she won’t break eye contact either. I stare for a few more moments—long enough for the male guard to catch on that something is up and glance confusedly between us—before lowering my arms to my sides and sighing softly.
Behind the anger she wears like a shield, that woman has haunted eyes. I remember what I read on the Dataverse… their King was away for two years, and during that time, this place was overtaken by bandits… much like if the ‘sheriff’—whatever that title means—were to disappear from the Town With No Name, this place became a lawless hell, with the strong taking what they want and the weak having everything stolen from them.
I’m hardly soft-hearted enough to be bothered by it, but I’m not completely lacking in empathy either, I imagine this lady must have seen some dreadful things in her king’s absence… perhaps even endured some horrors of her own… so I don’t let her bad attitude bother me.
“It’s the middle of the afternoon.” she snaps, scowling at me. I simply smile back for a moment, before hopping out of the cart in a flutter of silken cloth.
“Details, details,” I wave one hand dismissively, while holding the other out towards my transport. From the vehicle’s centre, a kaleidoscopic orb of rainbow-hued light expands slowly outwards to cover the entire construct.
“Huh.” blurts the big guy.
“You’re a Prime.” the woman states coldly, pointing out the obvious.
“I sure am, cutie.” I give her a wink. She grits her teeth and clenches her fists, looking like she’s struggling to keep herself from drawing the sword scabbarded on the belt she wears slung around her hips. Hmm. Maybe best not to antagonise her anymore, unless I want my first act inside Nippur to be picking a fight with one of its God-King’s soldiers… which doesn’t exactly seem like a plan which would be especially conductive to my long-term wellbeing.
“The king wants to see all the Primes in Nippur.” the male guard grunts, a meaty palm landing on my shoulder once again, though this time his grip is much firmer than when he was shaking me, “We should take her to him.”
“Oh? He does now, does he?" I ask, "Well, I’d be honoured to meet the great King Gilgamesh… but can you give me a little while to finish extracting the Omnilium from this cart? Now that I’ve crossed the desert, I don’t really need it anymore, but it'd be a shame to just leave it lying around.”
“Fine. Get on with it then.” the woman folds her arms over her chest and the man removes his hand from my shoulder once more. It takes me about a quarter of an hour or so to re-absorb the wagon’s Omnilium into myself. With that over and done, I spin lightly around to face the soldiers again.
“All finished. Will you two splendid soldiers be escorting me to your king now?” I clasp my hands behind my back and endeavour to look as innocent as I possibly can. The man smirks, the woman scowls.
“Well... one of us has to stay behind to guard the gate, but I’d be more than willing to take you to the palace myself.” the guy says, puffing out his chest… not that he really needs to do anything to make himself look big to me; the top of his head is almost a foot higher than mine (even if my rabbit-like ears do technically add quite a bit to my height, I tend to not really count them).
“You okay with that?” he speaks to his fellow soldier this time, rather than me.
“Sure. Be my guest.” she looks away, out onto the rolling dunes of the desert. Almost the moment her eyes are averted, the large man grins and slips an arm around my waist. I must admit, I’m a bit taken aback by the unsolicited physical contact… but, eh, it’s not like I should really have anything to worry about. According to the Dataverse, Primes are generally much more powerful than Secondaries, so if Mr Muscles here decides to try anything, he’ll only have himself to blame when he gets one of my spears rammed through his eye socket.
For the time being, though, I simply smile brightly and let him lead me into the city...
![[Image: Ahana_Sig_V3.png]](https://image.ibb.co/bAZXiJ/Ahana_Sig_V3.png)