06-23-2017, 01:09 PM
"Ah, right, immortality. Okay, first of-" Tearen began to explain only for Malon to cut him off.
"Hold on. There's someone there... ahead of us."
"Hm? That there is... we can sneak around him." He led them off the path they were taking, through the thick brush until they found a dry riverbed to navigate. Well, as dry as it could be with the rain falling, anyway. It was solid ground and let them advance decently fast compared to the thick vegetation directly to the sides of the main path. The other Prime was moving at a slower pace than them, maybe he hadn't gotten good sleep? As they passed him Malon peeked through the brushes. Her eyes widened, she grabbed Tearen's arm and dragged him along their path at a hastened pace for a few minutes, to leave the other Prime as far behind as possible. Tearen asked no questions - it would just have exhausted him to ask while running, and her if she answered him.
"What's the matter?" he asked as soon as she slowed her pace again and looked behind them, breathing heavily. Nowhere to be seen. "You know him?"
"Yes... I don't know his name, but... I met him when I first woke up here in the Omniverse. He... murdered two guardsmen and casted some sort of spell on one of their horses. He's... some sort of vampire. One of the two guardsmen, he bit him in the neck. The other, he aimed a little item at him and the guard's chest just... exploded." She shuddered at the memory. "Past his armor and everything."
"An item? Like a wand?"
"No, something made of metal. I don't know how to describe it, it had this lengthy stick pointing forward and a grip."
"Probably a gun of some description. Don't worry, at his pace we'll be leaving him behind fairly quickly." Even so, they kept a relatively hasty pace for a bit as they returned to the main path and advanced towards their next destination. Which seemed to be mountains - the terrain rapidly changed from the thick forest, though the rain stayed.
"Sorry to interrupt you... what were you saying? First of..."
"Oh, yes. First of, do you know of a being called Omni? Or have you ever seen a white-skinned, eyeless being with a very large smile on its featureless face?"
"... should I ever have seen something that sounds this scary to look at? I can't remember it, I imagine that I would though if I had ever met it. And I've heard of Omni... being mentioned all over. People keep saying 'Thank Omni' or 'Omni's blessing on you'. Is he some sort of king? Is that why this land is called the Omniverse?"
"Not quite... Omni is the god that created this world, as far as we know. He's the one that brought us all here, that made us Primes and gave us the powers of Omnilium manipulation. He has a lot of nicknames, like the Smiling God, the Faceless One and others. Many people worship him. What surprises me more is that you have never met him. Do these words not ring a bell? 'My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse.' And so on?"
Malon frowned but no matter how much she tried she could not remember a thing. "Nope... I learnt of Omni and the Omniverse when I... when I was forced to work for the Silverhand bandits. People shared what they knew with me. They never mentioned those words though."
"What's your first memory of... no. Where did you meet that vampire?"
"In a very big white expanse. There was a stone fountain behind me. He was... probably navigating the area, and came back to greet me. I also met other people there later."
"Hmm... that's the Nexus you were in. The central verse that links all the other regular verses together. What's your first memory in the Nexus?"
"I woke up... with a huge headache and my body hurting all over, I think. My bag was in a ball of hay next to me with the items I'd packed for the time that I'd run away. I had hidden it away in that same hay and I had gone to sleep in my bed the evening before... Oh, and I distinctly remember that my forehead was bleeding. I washed the blood off with the fountain water."
"Your head hurt? Could it have been that you hit it against the fountain?"
"Uh... maybe? I have no idea. I didn't check if the fountain had any blood on it."
Tearen slowed his steps and lifted a hand to his face as if to stroke a non-existant beard. "That sounds like amnesia of short-term memory due to cranial trauma - a concussion resulting in the loss of your memories of recent events. You could have fallen onto the fountain at an unfortunate angle, or someone could have beat you up. However I can see that you're a Prime, so you must have met Omni and have been given his introductory speech. You just forgot of it for some reason."
"Ugh..." She rubbed her forehead. Only a little scar remained from where she had hit her forehead, usually covered up by her hair, but it was bothering her. How much had she forgotten? Just that introduction, or more? "So... what's a Prime?"
"Primes are those who were brought to the Omniverse by Omni. Whether he created you or pulled you out of your existing world and into the Omniverse we may never know, but it's Omni's doing. Primes have special powers. First, as long as they "interest" Omni, they will be reborn. Even if you died here in Dante's Abyss you would reappear at the Nexus Fountain after a few days, in perfect condition. On that note, if you were to die that respawn is a reason for which you should leave the Nexus quickly. Other participants will likely respawn, and not all are friendly. There's been instances of things taking a very bad turn after a Dante's Abyss was held in the past."
"So we're... immortal? We have nothing to fear?"
"Wrong." Tearen lifted a finger. "There is a fate worse than death, called Banishment... with a special item, people are able to send someone to the Underverse, the place I have gone to. It's almost impossible to escape that place once you're down there, and you're stuck with Diablo and his immensely powerful subordinates. It doesn't happen much that people get banished though, even criminals. If you don't get on the wrong people's bad side you should be fine."
Malon shuddered. Stuck down there... she could not imagine how bad it had to be after what Tearen had told her, and pointing out that he hadn't seen the worst of it, nor far less. "And Omnilium summoning?"
"Omnilium is both matter and energy, everything including us is made out of it. Primes are capable of manipulating Omnilium to summon items and even people, called Secondaries, and extract the Omnilium from other things. It's what you did when you transformed that bag of yours."
"I did magic weaving, actually! It's a spell I pulled from the memories of an ancestor..."
"Trust me, it was Omnilium manipulation. You may just not have realized it."
Malon fell silent and Tearen stopped speaking after that, too. He had shared a whole load of information with her, all at once. Now it was time for her to process it all while they advanced. They descended into a cavern tunnel dimly illuminated by fluorescent blue mushrooms, following Tearen's map.
"Hold on. There's someone there... ahead of us."
"Hm? That there is... we can sneak around him." He led them off the path they were taking, through the thick brush until they found a dry riverbed to navigate. Well, as dry as it could be with the rain falling, anyway. It was solid ground and let them advance decently fast compared to the thick vegetation directly to the sides of the main path. The other Prime was moving at a slower pace than them, maybe he hadn't gotten good sleep? As they passed him Malon peeked through the brushes. Her eyes widened, she grabbed Tearen's arm and dragged him along their path at a hastened pace for a few minutes, to leave the other Prime as far behind as possible. Tearen asked no questions - it would just have exhausted him to ask while running, and her if she answered him.
"What's the matter?" he asked as soon as she slowed her pace again and looked behind them, breathing heavily. Nowhere to be seen. "You know him?"
"Yes... I don't know his name, but... I met him when I first woke up here in the Omniverse. He... murdered two guardsmen and casted some sort of spell on one of their horses. He's... some sort of vampire. One of the two guardsmen, he bit him in the neck. The other, he aimed a little item at him and the guard's chest just... exploded." She shuddered at the memory. "Past his armor and everything."
"An item? Like a wand?"
"No, something made of metal. I don't know how to describe it, it had this lengthy stick pointing forward and a grip."
"Probably a gun of some description. Don't worry, at his pace we'll be leaving him behind fairly quickly." Even so, they kept a relatively hasty pace for a bit as they returned to the main path and advanced towards their next destination. Which seemed to be mountains - the terrain rapidly changed from the thick forest, though the rain stayed.
"Sorry to interrupt you... what were you saying? First of..."
"Oh, yes. First of, do you know of a being called Omni? Or have you ever seen a white-skinned, eyeless being with a very large smile on its featureless face?"
"... should I ever have seen something that sounds this scary to look at? I can't remember it, I imagine that I would though if I had ever met it. And I've heard of Omni... being mentioned all over. People keep saying 'Thank Omni' or 'Omni's blessing on you'. Is he some sort of king? Is that why this land is called the Omniverse?"
"Not quite... Omni is the god that created this world, as far as we know. He's the one that brought us all here, that made us Primes and gave us the powers of Omnilium manipulation. He has a lot of nicknames, like the Smiling God, the Faceless One and others. Many people worship him. What surprises me more is that you have never met him. Do these words not ring a bell? 'My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse.' And so on?"
Malon frowned but no matter how much she tried she could not remember a thing. "Nope... I learnt of Omni and the Omniverse when I... when I was forced to work for the Silverhand bandits. People shared what they knew with me. They never mentioned those words though."
"What's your first memory of... no. Where did you meet that vampire?"
"In a very big white expanse. There was a stone fountain behind me. He was... probably navigating the area, and came back to greet me. I also met other people there later."
"Hmm... that's the Nexus you were in. The central verse that links all the other regular verses together. What's your first memory in the Nexus?"
"I woke up... with a huge headache and my body hurting all over, I think. My bag was in a ball of hay next to me with the items I'd packed for the time that I'd run away. I had hidden it away in that same hay and I had gone to sleep in my bed the evening before... Oh, and I distinctly remember that my forehead was bleeding. I washed the blood off with the fountain water."
"Your head hurt? Could it have been that you hit it against the fountain?"
"Uh... maybe? I have no idea. I didn't check if the fountain had any blood on it."
Tearen slowed his steps and lifted a hand to his face as if to stroke a non-existant beard. "That sounds like amnesia of short-term memory due to cranial trauma - a concussion resulting in the loss of your memories of recent events. You could have fallen onto the fountain at an unfortunate angle, or someone could have beat you up. However I can see that you're a Prime, so you must have met Omni and have been given his introductory speech. You just forgot of it for some reason."
"Ugh..." She rubbed her forehead. Only a little scar remained from where she had hit her forehead, usually covered up by her hair, but it was bothering her. How much had she forgotten? Just that introduction, or more? "So... what's a Prime?"
"Primes are those who were brought to the Omniverse by Omni. Whether he created you or pulled you out of your existing world and into the Omniverse we may never know, but it's Omni's doing. Primes have special powers. First, as long as they "interest" Omni, they will be reborn. Even if you died here in Dante's Abyss you would reappear at the Nexus Fountain after a few days, in perfect condition. On that note, if you were to die that respawn is a reason for which you should leave the Nexus quickly. Other participants will likely respawn, and not all are friendly. There's been instances of things taking a very bad turn after a Dante's Abyss was held in the past."
"So we're... immortal? We have nothing to fear?"
"Wrong." Tearen lifted a finger. "There is a fate worse than death, called Banishment... with a special item, people are able to send someone to the Underverse, the place I have gone to. It's almost impossible to escape that place once you're down there, and you're stuck with Diablo and his immensely powerful subordinates. It doesn't happen much that people get banished though, even criminals. If you don't get on the wrong people's bad side you should be fine."
Malon shuddered. Stuck down there... she could not imagine how bad it had to be after what Tearen had told her, and pointing out that he hadn't seen the worst of it, nor far less. "And Omnilium summoning?"
"Omnilium is both matter and energy, everything including us is made out of it. Primes are capable of manipulating Omnilium to summon items and even people, called Secondaries, and extract the Omnilium from other things. It's what you did when you transformed that bag of yours."
"I did magic weaving, actually! It's a spell I pulled from the memories of an ancestor..."
"Trust me, it was Omnilium manipulation. You may just not have realized it."
Malon fell silent and Tearen stopped speaking after that, too. He had shared a whole load of information with her, all at once. Now it was time for her to process it all while they advanced. They descended into a cavern tunnel dimly illuminated by fluorescent blue mushrooms, following Tearen's map.
Quote:Long post for once, sorry Alex!
Tearen and Malon are moving from B14 to E3. Leaving Harlan alone for now!