With worries still brewing at the back of my mind, I returned to my inspection of the throne room. Not that I figured there was too much valuable information to be gleaned from here, I still wanted to ensure I didn’t miss anything important.
On the wall behind the throne were a couple of doors, all closed. They likely led to the meeting rooms that Vuthe and friends would use to prepare for audiences, as well as to discuss important royal business. I definitely had to visit them at some point, considering that it was likely that they’d held some information about what had gone down for the building to be as dilapidated as it was.
Obviously, I had my own theories in regards to that, given that many of the revisions I had written, even including the cursed first draft, had involved the war finally coming to the Capital of Thelvadore, which was where the palace, and therefore the room I was currently in, was located.
Still, before I lost myself in documents and the like, if such were to be found there, I wanted to at least ensure that the building wasn’t in danger of collapsing, or that there were any dangers lurking around, either in the palace, or the city surrounding it.
Most of the audience hall was just like the small bit I had explored so far, and I inspected the various weapons and armors as I went by. No weapon was displayed twice from what I could tell, which wasn’t exactly surprising. While there were only so many different weapon types, the variety within those weapon type classifications was nigh on endless, each with their own benefit and drawback.
Add that to all the fantastical additions to the roster, thanks to magic and the various different cultures and races, and I would be surprised if even someone obsessed with mediaeval weapons would be able to identify them all.
I certainly didn’t know what a good three quarters of them were. Well, until I actually saw them and got that familiar mental feedback from Vuthe’s instincts taking over and informing me about their purpose.
Quite fascinating, to say the least.
As I had already surmised, just over half the room was in surprisingly good condition, although once I crossed that line, things quickly worsened. Not to the point of immediate structural danger, but there were far more gashes, cracks, and broken weapon stands than before. The carpet was torn up, some of the armor stands had collapsed, and the equipment they had displayed now showed dents and cracks.
The contrast between the two halves made me wonder if there was a magical explanation for this. If whatever had put me here into Vuthe’s body was powerful enough, it could have had a slight temporal aspect, or the Intent to recover a possibly destroyed body could have overflown and repaired the building around it. Or, perhaps, it was simply that whatever had happened hadn’t reached that far into the room.
Even in death Vuthe’s intent for the place could’ve protected the location of her throne. A piece of furniture she both loved and loathed.
That said, I found that to be the least likely option, all things considered.
Vuthe wasn’t a Queen out of desire. If anything, she didn’t want that level of responsibility. She had founded Thelvadore as a means to an end during the war, and had planned to step down once the war was over and the people who had lived as slaves could have a normal life again. But as the war dragged on, that never happened. And looking at this place, it might have lasted until her death. If she had, in fact, died.
I couldn’t be sure about that, but I also found it the most likely explanation. Soul magick was the one thing that was taboo by divine decree. It was messing with things that laid the foundation of reality, and therefore anyone messing with it would be immediately punished by divine agents.
Of course, I couldn’t be certain that this world worked exactly like the one I had created in my imagination, but even if it wasn’t one to one, Soul magick was still a rather tricky thing to manipulate properly. Really, there was only one being that I could think of who would be capable of doing so, and had the recklessness and motive to actually go through with it.
“Took you long enough. And here I thought you’d forgotten about me.”
I spun, gaze snapping towards the location the voice had come from. What I found…
I wasn’t quite sure what to feel. The voice had been feminine, but also with an almost inhuman undertone, the sort of note that many would probably describe as ‘terrifying and otherworldly.’ Which, considering the being that had appeared as if out of thin air, was a rather fitting description.
“How mean!” She protested, a pout on her lips and voice thick with faux-hurt.
“Abyss,” I said, keeping my voice as level as I could manage.
Abyss was the second oldest character in my roster–with only the Crimson Sisters having been created before her–and one that had undergone quite the development over the years. Originally a simple shapeshifting void elemental, she had kind of developed a mind of her own. These days she filled a role that was unique to her: The first Voidborne. A living error, someone who could not care less about the rules of existence if she tried, and also entirely unbound by the reality in which she existed.
Abyss knew full well that she was fictional and was the character I used when I explored other stories and fictional worlds in my mind. Because of this, I treated her as basically a wanderer of the universes, someone who could venture beyond the limitations of her own fictional existence.
On paper, she was one of my favourites. Now? She was the only person who had any right to know who I was, and given how unpredictable she was, I wasn’t sure how she would react, now that this was real. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took issue with my existence. After all, I had made it a sort of joke that anyone aware of the existence of the creator–a character blank that kind of occupied my own position as the maker of all things in the overarching multiverse my stories played in–wasn’t exactly happy with me.
What that said about me and my own image of myself I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to. Probably nothing good.
I eyed Abyss, not quite sure what to expect of the woman. She was tall, impossibly tall, as I had imagined her to be, with a frame that was practically only skin and bones, hidden underneath a long, full robe that reached to her knees, and helped draw attention to her most iconic feature.
The lack of any feet.
Her legs just ended right above her ankles, constantly dripping voidstuff onto the ground that dissolved after a few moments, and gave her the appearance of hovering. It was the reason for her name, the Bleeding Abyss, and had been a constant feature for her character ever since she evolved beyond the initial formless blob of a void elemental.
Her face was about as nondescript as I would’ve hoped, the pale purple skin interrupted only by her eyes that I had no words to properly describe. On top of her head was a truly impressive wizard's hat, with a rim nearly as wide as she was tall.
All in all, she looked weird, but utterly harmless. Something I knew O too well to be purely a ploy. Because if there was one being that could reasonably claim the title of ‘the most powerful being in my multiverse’, then it would be Abyss, nine times out of ten.
“In the flesh,” she said, giving me an exaggerated bow. “Although I do have to admit to a certain level of… disappointment, that my creator seems so utterly unimpressed by my presence.” She grinned, and despite the fact that the expression itself might be, at best, a bit creepy on her non-descript face, to me it was utterly terrifying. “Not that I expected otherwise.”
“Yeah, well… What can I say other than that you terrify me? Normally you wouldn’t expect to meet people you make up in your mind.” At least her comment did confirm my suspicions. Despite my immediate reaction of panic, I tried to keep myself calm. Panic itself wouldn’t help me, and no matter what her goal was, this would at least be some way of finding out more. “Given your O so convenient presence here, I guess you can tell me why I’m here then?”
“Indubitably.” With a slow nod she rose once again from her bow, her expression changing to mild amusement, something I recognised as her idle expression. “You no doubt have many questions. Some I may answer. Most I will not. As to why you are here, that is relatively simple, and you likely already deduced as much. I brought you here.”
As she said, that one didn’t really surprise me. Now that I knew Abyss was a fixture in this world as well, her involvement was the most likely scenario all things considered. Not only did she know of me, she knew Vuthe personally, and given her nature, she was also likely the only being with the means necessary to properly perform a transmigration of some variety.
“Care to tell me why?” I kept my tone neutral as best I could.
She didn’t reply immediately, her head tilting to the left ever so slightly. “That is less easy to answer. A part of me simply wanted to see if I could. Another wanted to show you the world you created. For good and ill. But there are also far more pressing, and important, concerns that ultimately led me to my decision.”
“And from your tone,” I decided, expression flat, “those fall under the things you won’t tell me. Am I correct?”
“Precisely. It is good to see you quick on the uptake. I know you hold yourself in quite poor regard, so my initial expectation of your character was not a promising one. To see it disproven, even if only ever so slightly, does fill me with joy.”
I wasn’t quite sure how to reply to that, so I didn’t, instead focusing my attention to another matter. “What happened to Vuthe? And Thelvadore in general? This isn’t exactly how events were meant to play out.”
She nodded minutely yet again. “Indeed. What you see,” she gestured with one of her long arms at the state of the throne room, “is a combination of the various visions you once held for this land. I took the freedom to tweak a few things, so there might be some items you are unfamiliar with.”
“You created this place?” I raised my eyebrows.
I knew, intellectually, that Abyss was a being capable of forging multiverses. She had, in fact, brought life to many universes before, sometimes even in stories not my own. Most prominently within a tale about a certain Dragonblooded Summoner, which… I had to admit I had kind of lost track of over the years. So despite the fact that she was a rather prominent fixture in regards to the Shadow-themed summon of the protagonist of that story, I hadn’t actually read her full implementation. Something I doubt I would be able to do now, given the circumstances, which I had to admit I found a bit disappointing.
That said, to know of the capability intellectually, and to physically experience the implication were two very different things.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. An idle project I started a few years ago, one I kept you deliberately unaware of.”
“Because you planned to bring me here?” I crossed my arms, watching her closely.
“Not originally, no, although the thought did cross my mind at the time,” she entoned in a dismissive sort of way, waving her hand. Then she glanced at me, expression turning a slight tad more serious. “Ultimately, it took some deliberation before I decided to commit to that course of action. If you hadn’t messed around with the timeline so much, things wouldn’t have ended the way they did, which necessitated my involvement.” Her expression fell into something I could only describe as genuine disappointment.
I felt my cheeks burn at the fact that a being I made up in my mind was now chastising me and actively disappointed in me, my tail flicking this way and that behind me. “Pardon me?”
“You think of your… multiverse as a simple product of your imagination. But what exactly separates the real from the fictional? Why would my existence as part of an infinite universe of possibilities be less likely than me being simply a figment of your mind? You act as if the existence of what you dream up is impossible, despite being a believer in the infinite nature of the universe itself.” She shook her head, slowly turning, hands interlocked behind the small of her back as she started to pace. “I knew you to be a hypocrite. An atheist–or humanist, if you prefer–who still believes in worlds other than his own and the endless cycle of rebirth. Yet when confronted with the exact same–a final, definitive proof of your convictions–you can’t help but doubt the reality before your eyes? Even for a hypocrite I find that highly disappointing.”
My embarrassment flared up even harder. Because in a way she was right, even though I really didn’t think this conversation was helpful right now.
“Oh, no, it’s very helpful,” she interjected my own thoughts.
I gaped at that.
In return, she gave me a sideways glance and a frown. “Don’t act surprised. You are the one who wanted me to be all mysterious. By my name, you were the one who made me talk in riddles half the time. Are you even aware how much of a headache that is?”
The statement was accompanied by the faintest hint of amusement, although it got overshadowed by the sternness and genuine frustration evident as well.
She sighed yet again, shaking her head once more. “Regardless. This place is similar to what you know, but not the same. This world is based off of the Satien you know, but it also isn’t. I suppose that your obsession with reading Isekai has rubbed off on me in some ways. As to what happened to Vuthe, she’s gone. As is the rest of her kingdom. A result of your meddling with the timeline, I’m afraid. Although I will admit that I’m not entirely blameless. If I had taken better care of implementing your continued ideas to rework everything, I might have been able to prevent disaster. But I didn’t. So here we are.”
I stared at her. That… wasn’t exactly unexpected, although I wasn’t sure how to deal with an actual confirmation of events. Especially the implication that I might be responsible.
Given the context of her rant and her previous comments, not to mention the fact that I was experiencing this existence personally, this was about as real as the world I knew, even if I remembered little about it. Or, at the very least, felt so real as to make no practical difference. So I had, in a way, killed innocent people.
And even though I had issues actually internalising that same fact, a part of me shuddered at the thought. Weird or not, real or not. I couldn’t help but feel a quiet dread fill me at the sheer possibility of me having harmed someone.
“Oh, stop crying. It’s not like it’s the first time. Given how many apocalypses you decided to introduce in all manner of worlds, this hardly even qualifies as a minor disaster.” Abyss snorted, the sound equal parts amusement and derision. “But enough of all that. You can have your mental breakdown later. I’ve brought you here to offer you the chance to fix this mess. That was what you wanted to do anyway, no?”
Blinking in surprise, I thought about it for a moment. She was right that I was trying to fix the mess I made with the story, but I wouldn’t have ever imagined it would look like this. If only because… well, I was here now. I wasn’t writing this, I was experiencing it. A vast difference, and one that felt kind of hard to really internalise.
“Any particular reason why I can’t remember any details of my life before?” I decided to sidestep the issue with another question for the time being.
“Something for you to figure out at a later time,” Abyss said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Certainly not worth me explaining it to you.”
“Then what about… Well, if Vuthe’s dead, how the hell am I supposed to act the part? You know me, right? That means you should also know that I’m not exactly the best actor. And even if I was, how the fuck am I supposed to roleplay an immortal Dragon Queen powerful enough that an entire continent quakes in fear just by the mention of her name? I’m much more likely to make things worse.”
She shrugged again, finally stopping her pacing, and turned to me. “That is for you to figure out. You have all the tools that you require at your disposal. What you make of them, that is up to you. Although, a word of advice. You might not want to tell people about your origin. Trust me, one world wanderer to another, it only invites trouble later down the line. Especially if they learn who you truly are.”
That wasn’t exactly news, although I still appreciated the confirmation. I hadn’t really planned to do that in the first place, but the warning was still helpful. It just gave me even more reason not to.
“Alright… Is there anything else that you are willing to tell me? Or am I just supposed to… What? Rebuild Thelvadore? Save the world? What exactly do you want me to do?”
“Right now, I expect nothing of you. I have given you an opportunity. What you do with it, that’s for you to figure out. And I have better things to do than play babysitter.”
I couldn’t help a snort. That was exactly the sort of non-answer that I expected of her. At least that meant she was consistent with what I had imagined anyway.
Not that it helped me much.
“If you were to ask me where to begin, then I’d recommend you look into your new capabilities and the history of what happened. I’m certain you can figure it out on your own.”
“Alright. I guess that gives me a starting point. I do wonder, though, what do you expect to get out of this? I know you well enough that I know you don’t do anything without a reason. Nothing on this grand a scale anyway. So what is it you want from me?”
“Don’t ask questions you know the answer to already,” she gave me another dismissive wave, which confused me somewhat. “You have about a month before anyone will come to visit. I’d recommend you familiarise yourself with your role until then. Oh, and please don’t murder her, alright? She’s quite entertaining to watch.”
I was about to ask what she meant, when Abyss simply… vanished. No fancy spellwork, no special effects, not even a sound. One moment she was present, the next she wasn’t. The sheer lack of anything accompanying her disappearance was far more jarring than any actual display of magick could ever be. I was left with my mouth half open, watching the spot she had occupied a moment prior.
“Okay then,” I said, then closed my mouth, turning to take in the throne room once again.
This… was going to be interesting.
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