I turned off agony while eyeing the bugs, “If you try anything, I’ll use that aura to kill these insects. And trust me, it’s plenty strong enough to kill some bugs.”
Baldag-Ruhl laughed, “Ha, ha, hah. I’m here to offer you something that drips with temptation. A deal of sorts that will burrow into your mind and make it new.”
I kept my guard up, “I’m listening.”
The mound of bugs threaded down from the ceiling, a few spiders creating a silken thread for them to reach the ground. Once they landed, the mouth formed again, and Baldag-Ruhl spoke,
“Do you know of that presence that tampers with my haven?”
“Presence? Do you mean the Sentinel?”
“That is its guardian. What I speak of is the crawling, insidious mind that touches this plane. It warps it, turning it inside out. It breaks the laws of nature and twists them for its own gain.”
I raised an eyebrow, “You mean Schema?”
“A fitting name for what it tries to do. That being, it exists without a soul, its touch cold as ice and its mind devoid of emotion. Despite knowing little of us, it wishes to dictate what we experience. It does so holistically. ”
I took a step back from the bugs, “Eh, Schema’s just trying to prevent the collapse of the universe. What’s an AI to do?”
Baldag-Ruhl laughed before jeering, “So that’s what it tells you, and you believe it?”
“Well, yeah.”
“You know this Schema is restitching the natural order, preventing the flow of mana to its natural conclusion.”
“Uh, what?”
“What does it call the rifts?”
“Er, you mean the dungeons? It calls them cracks.”
“These spliced domains are not cracks. These are rifts, splinters of a place that once was but no longer is. From that place, we linger here.”
I shrugged, “Does it really matter?”
The insects smiled, “Cracks insinuates that your universe is breaking. Rifts implies that our universe is creeping in.”
I sighed, “Here’s the thing – both of those options sound really, really bad.”
“It’s a matter of perspective. This spatial rending is destructive, but only if handled poorly. Within the ensuing chaos, there lies immense opportunity for any that would seize this moment.”
Baldag’s voice dripped with a deep, primordial hunger, “There exists tremendous flows of mana, a power that is pure and unfounded in this realm. If you help me return there to my home, I will share what I gain from my journey with you.”
I raised a brow, “Alright. You got me interested.”
I wasn’t actually convinced, but it didn’t seem as though this hivemind would take no for an answer. The bug squirmed, shivering in place, “Then come hither, little one. I’ve found a gateway that shall free me from this prison, but there isn’t much time now.”
I gave it a piercing glare, “What about Stacy and David? Are you going to eat them while I’m gone?”
The insects trembled, “I planned on using them as a threat. I’m glad it wasn’t necessary.”
I puffed my chest, lying between my teeth, “Eh, I care about them just enough to kill you over it. Would I put myself in harm’s way? No.”
I didn’t want it thinking it could use them against me. The hivemind spoke with a sickening delight,
“You’re a grim one, aren’t you?”
I frowned, “It’s part of surviving.”
“You are blessed that mere survival taught you these hard lessons.”
“In my own way, I suppose.”
The bugs crawled towards its main body as Baldag-Ruhl echoed, “Come then. We’ve much to do and little time for it.”
I paced with the pile of bugs. Once outside the lit torch’s sheen, Baldag-Ruhl lit the cavern with glow worms and glowflies. The fireflies fluttered through the air in a hypnotic dance while the glow worms unveiled themselves from the gloom of the cavern’s ceiling. I gawked at the sight, stunned by the overbearing beauty in this desolate place.
After an hour of walking, Baldag leaked out its words, “I wonder, little lamb…Why do you listen to me? None have before you, so you alone have given me credence. Others blindly followed Schema, but you are different.”
“Eh…You haven’t done anything yet. I’m well aware that you could’ve killed me easily before now if you wanted to. You didn’t. Based on what you said earlier, you even heard me and knew about my plans. Despite all of that, you still haven’t attacked me.”
I shrugged, continuing, “So yeah, I’m giving you a chance. Don’t take it lightly.”
I watched insects horde over the walls, the creeping tide of darkness wrapping around the cavern’s walls. Baldag echoed, “I will not. You have grown during your stay here. Your body turned from soft flesh to hard iron. Your mind evolved from the little lamb to the hungry wolf. That is why I need you. I cannot complete this ritual alone.”
“Hm…What does it involve?”
“The golem cores. I can kill any single thing in this cave, but unlike you, I don’t gain anything from it. The Schema as you call it, it’s giving you your powers. It won’t give me any, since I’m the infection it wishes to stamp out.”
I listened while Baldag stated, “So I will open the portal and go back to my own universe, where I am wanted and not abhorred.”
I pursed my lips, “Then you need my golem cores for it?”
“Yes. They act as conduits for mana. They will let me slip through the crack we create, and you can enjoy the mana that leaks during the process. Absorbing it should increase your mana by at least tenfold.”
That sounded pretty suspect, but I played the situation by ear, “Alright. Where and what do you have in mind?”
The bugs reached one of the pools, the bright blue water still and shining. Baldag trembled over the glowing liquid, “You know of my domain’s shape, correct?”
“Yeah. It’s circular.”
“This was not intended by that AI, but I’ve recreated and burrowed out this husk from the stone around us. I’ve been biding my time and building a portal for decades. During these passing years, the Lord of Worms stole my glowing pools for its own purposes. It stole the mana I collected for myself, and that cretin corrupted itself using the ambient energy.”
Baldag-Ruhl crept up the wall, “Its mana grew far too thick to pierce. My children and I could do little to stop him. You resolved that disturbance.”
Bald-Ruhl towered over a cluster of boulders that rested on the wall. It crawled over the rocks, so I followed him. Getting over the mass, I leapt off and thumped hard on the ground where I landed. Without the recent dexterity, I wouldn’t have stuck the landing. Looking forward, a tall and wide tunnel loomed into the distance.
The stalactites and boulder formations hid it along with the natural curves of the cave. With a begrudging nod, I raised a brow,
“I can’t deny it. I’m impressed you hid something like this.”
“Trust me, little lamb. You have seen nothing.”
As we stepped within, runes coated the walls from head to toe. They mirrored the runes on the Corundum of Souls. Unlike the gemstone, these runes dwarfed every other presence in the cave. The etchings covered every square inch, nook, and cranny of this place. Though I couldn’t read the lettering, every part of it flowed forth in a pleasing pattern.
The formulas, incantations, and codes came together like graceful calligraphy. The sheer meticulous attention to detail amazed me. It was more a detailed work of art than mere words on rock.
Baldag-Ruhl cackled, “You see it, and my creation has robbed you of your words, has it not? My children and I toiled on this for centuries. This is the fruit and meat and flesh of our labor. It has prevented my sanity from leaving me after all this time.”
I whistled and mouthed, “Woah.”
Baldag swelled with pride, “And you’ve yet to see the masterpiece at my incantation’s center. It is glorious.”
I nodded while we paced forwards. I expected minutes of walking, but those minutes turned into hours over time. Despite the monotony, the walls never failed to amaze me. Every piece of this place was different, and somehow, I could tell with just a glance. The patterns just being carved created an ebb and flow of energy. It coursed across every surface, and it radiated through the air like electricity.
The thing was, I understood nothing about this place. Despite my ignorance, there was a fact that was simply undeniable – this was a construct of amazing power. That was an undeniable and immutable certainty. So much so, I could feel that fact even in my bones.
Gawking at the majesty of it all, it reminded me of a fierce predator’s bones. Like those bones, this place was a lingering echo of potential. No, it was more than that. This was an insane, unmanifested cataclysm. In all honesty, I could spend years trying to describe its majesty, but words simply fell short of the masterpiece.
And this hivemind crafted it all from walls of rock. It made me feel small.
That being spoke out, “The inscriptions need liquid mana for their carving. I could refine a drop from each of those pools before waiting decades for them to return. That mana has radiated into the monsters here.”
I glanced about. “Huh. The Schema mustn’t check up on dungeons often.”
“Quite the opposite. They send hunter after hunter. I killed them as they refused to listen to reason. The AI would’ve sent stronger forces to cull me if it only understood the magnitude of this ritual. But it is similar to cancer under the skin. You may notice a tumor on your back that appears in a day, but what of ten years?”
I spoke with hatred, “Imagine several thousand. That is the extent of my patience.”
I frowned, “Gross example, but I get it.” I patted my sides, “So uh, these rifts must take a while to open don’t they?”
Baldag hissed, “Indeed they do. They’re slow and subtle, so you could barely tell they’re opening at all. They are like cancer growing under your skin.”
I winced, “Man you like cancer metaphors, don’t you?”
“I speak of it, for that is how we are perceived. We monsters are simply creatures of mana that proliferate. A plague. A bane. A cancer.”
With a dark resolution, Baldag-Ruhl rumbled, “But I will not be a cancer any longer. I am more than what that AI thinks of me. In my new home, it will be as if I live without limit. I will be able to feel the sun over my skin. I will feel fresh water over my face. I will taste delicacies and relish in an untamed and unset horizon.”
His voice resounded around me,
“For I exist in the shell of a monster, but I carry the potential of more than what it thinks of me.”
Despite myself, I admired Baldag-Ruhl as we walked. Trapped in this cavern for centuries, he remained more than merely sane. He built this enormous monument, and he carried a deep conviction within him. He had something to prove, and I could get behind that.
Those thoughts bounced around in my head while we walked in silence. That quiet turned natural and easy after a while. An hour or so later, Baldag-Ruhl chimed,
“Can you run? This journey will take at least another day’s time at our current pace.”
With all my stamina regen, I was primed for a marathon. I waved an arm in a circle, “Of course. Let’s go.”
I fell into the rhythm of my steps tapping before releasing an echo. I kept in tune with the echoes, making for an almost musical run. That continued on for a long time. Hours passed in that tunnel, yet every inch of the enormous cavern stayed etched with runes. When we finally did reach the end, I almost ran straight off into the abyss at the center.
Snapping out of my daydreams, we entered a room covered in the same runic passages on every surface. A colosseum-like structure dipped beneath us, and insects swarmed in all directions. Those minions carried miniscule pieces of light in their tiny arms. With those shining bits, they etched out diagrams at the center of the expanse.
Within a few seconds, they all stopped, finished with everything. Baldag-Ruhl’s magnum opus was complete.
I walked along the edge, finding staggered steps leading to the bottom of this place. These stairs marked down with perfect precision as if Baldag etched them in with a laser. Eight pillars with hollowed out middles supported the room. At their centers, wiry claws opened up like hands, ready and waiting for the golem cores. A giant, blue fire lit the room at its apex. It casted a blue white light onto every surface.
I turned to Baldag-Ruhl, “Why didn’t you just collect the golem cores yourself?”
“I didn’t wish to watch my children die meaningless deaths. The Lord of Worms would never have stopped taking the mana I needed for this. Even with their cores, he’d have just prevented me from finishing the ritual by assimilating even more mana. And so, I waited.”
“Alright. Your insects can’t do too much then?”
“They are powerless without my direct control. We are legion. Without many, we are nothing.”
I put my hands on my hips, “You know, I was wondering, what’s your level?”
“Hm, level? What does that mean?”
I weighed my hands back and forth, like a set of scales, “The Schema assigns a level for you. It really just tells you what your raw strength is compared with other monsters or people. I’d almost consider it a sort of mark of your past accomplishments, in a way.”
Baldag-Ruhl’s writhing form trembled, “I don’t understand what you mean by level, but I can teach you a bit about perception, little one.”
From his side, a pile of bugs appeared, amassing into a mount. They swelled into a ball then melted away. A ring was there along with a fancy looking monocle on the ground. Baldag spiraled away from the glasses,
“Put these on. They will let you see more clearly.”
I grabbed them from the floor and inspected them,
Monocle of Foresight | Tier: Uncommon – A monocle enchanted with mana. +2 Perception.
(Doesn’t factor into perk upgrades)
Soothsayer’s Lie | Tier: Uncommon – A ring worn by a now dead soothsayer. It isn’t that he picked a fight with more than he can chew. It’s that he picked a fight with someone who can chew him. +2 Perception.
(Doesn’t factor into perk upgrades)
I placed them on, and Baldag-Ruhl’s level appeared.
Baldag-Ruhl, of Many | Level 152 – Baldag Ruhl is a hivemind that gained sentience hundreds of years ago. Slowly it has gained intelligence, learning to control more and more insects. Now it is a horde of flesh eating beetles, centipedes, and locusts.
This creature has a long and illustrious history of avoiding extermination within its rift. It evades destruction far better than other, equally powerful eldritch. Cunning, clever, and committed, Baldag-Ruhl has survived for well over a thousand years within its entrapment.
Little is understood of his exact method of survival. Even further still, Baldag-Ruhl exhibits far greater intelligence than even monsters well over a designated danger level of 1,000. This hivemind has been noted to use traps of extreme complexity for its various schemes. It’s also one of the few eldritch that are truly malicious. It doesn’t attack on sight.
It plans out each of its attacks, timing its assaults with excellent strategy and depth. Schema has designated its danger level to that of critical. Even though this eldritch’s combat power isn’t as strong or capable as other eldritch in the same rating, it is considered more dangerous.
You have been warned.
I swallowed before Baldag-Ruhl laughed, “Hah, has the lamb discovered that he has entered the wolf’s den? You never left, I assure you.”
I frowned, “Well…that’s disconcerting.”
“For you. It should put you at ease. At least now you comprehend what and whom you’re dabbling with.”
I shrugged, “Once again, you could’ve killed me at any point by now. You let me live. There really isn’t much of a difference knowing the full extent of your mercy.”
“You carry an uneasy sense of calm. Most of your kind lacks that trait, whether your species or another. Such powerful minds within each of you, yet they go to waste so easily.”
He crawled towards the pillar nearest to us. I followed while keeping my guard high. Baldag gestured to the pillars using blots of insects,
“These pillars and runes act as safeguards against the dimensional rift. Do you see that center circle? That is where the portal will open for a few seconds. I will crawl through, and the mana that leaks out you can absorb. I need the cores for my purposes. You have them in your possession.”
I nodded, pulling the cores from my pockets. I didn’t touch the Corundum of Souls, however. He didn’t seem to know it existed, and I planned on keeping it that way. I tossed the cores into the coming piles of insects. They carried the golem hearts to the pillars before placing them into the clawed hands.
I gave him what he wanted because I wanted to live. Baldag-Ruhl was stronger than I’d thought, everything else in this cave weak by comparison. Fighting him was no longer my first option. I considered smashing the cores, but he’d swarm me with his insects and eat me alive if I did that. David and Stacy would die as well.
Wanting to avoid that, I did what the hivemind wanted. As we passed by each pillar Baldag-Ruhl gloated,
“It’s interesting how dimensional travel works. Most processes merely fold space-time on itself, creating a wormhole of sorts. This shall be different. We will be crossing the vastness between dimensions, where energy is unformed and ripe. To facilitate that process, I require a catalyst…a holder of sorts.”
I clasped my hands to fists as Baldag hissed, “These cores will act as syphons, but I still need something more.” From the middle of the room, a mountain of bugs swarmed. Deforming like a nightmare, they huddled together, squeezing to a point. They kept condensing, wave after wave, until Baldag-Ruhl’s true form stepped out.
I expected a strong, noble creature. Instead, an ancient, moldy shell walked out. It was a walking, insect-like abomination. Pieces of its carapaced skin fell apart, revealing bits of mushy flesh. Pus leaked from these open wounds, and its inhuman, alien face drooled from squirming mandibles. In a grim spectacle, Baldag-Ruhl spoke with agony in its voice,
“As you can see, my body is failing. This dungeon has locked me here for longer than you may fathom, despite that Schema pulling me from world to world. I’ve grown so very old now. Older than the stone beneath your feet.”
The insects swarmed around me, twitching and squirming in waves. I activated agony, giving myself some breathing room. The insects remained unperturbed, and Baldag drooled out,
“I have dwelled long on what to do while I’ve been entrapped here. I could have created many bodies from the monsters of this cavern. I have done so as replacements, but they haven’t sustained me. They would never accomplish my primary goal either.”
The monster spread its arms, “The cycle of hunting would continue. No matter my strength, I would still be trapped here. That is because escaping this place is beyond strength. That AI has made it so. I’ve reasoned that a vessel composed of other beings may be my escape from this place, however.”
I leaned over, ready to duke it out. Baldag-Ruhl laughed before pointing at me, “But that Lord of Worms stood in my way. He was once known by another name; Alfred Worm, the son of another necromancer. Alfred’s summons and manipulation of mana has proven to be my undoing for centuries.”
Baldag’s head twitched sideways, “But you killed him. His sacrifices, innumerable in number, have been undone by your lack of understanding. Indeed, I’ve watched you grow this entire time. You think you’ve hidden from me, but you have not. Your body metamorphosed before my eyes. You’ve grown into a fine, almost perfect container for me. For that, I thank you.”
My blood turned to ice and my stomach sank. I put Agony over the insects, but they stayed squirming without so much as noticing the aura. A cold sweat dripped down my brow as Baldag spoke from all angles,
“That Alfred Worm, he owned several cores that he held mana within. He was researching methods of giving them a holding cell, a sort of container. That research has been my downfall, even though I fooled him just as I fooled you. My failure came about for one reason.”
Baldag-Ruhl took a step toward me, “I need a pure soul, one that is uncorrupted. As the ritual took place, Alfred Worm let the living spirit of those mana cores into his own mana. He grafted the ambient mana to his own soul. He let his mind be torn apart as it held the boundless mana he collected over his life.”
I gulped while steadying my breathing. I wanted to hyperventilate, but I stopped that urge. Baldag’s body twitched as he spoke out,
“It corrupted him, forcing my ritual to fail. I had thought I would be trapped in this place for eternity, slowly falling apart. Even as the fragmented and tortured pieces of his mind shattered from holding the mana, he continued his cause. He took his cores, instilled life into them, and he surrounded them in pools of mana…Mana that I needed for my ritual.”
Baldag glanced at the blue fire, “He had come up with a method of turning my trap against me, taking my resources for his own. He trapped himself inside a pool of his own mana. He thickened it until I could no longer reach him. He had become a monstrosity, an undying guard against my plans.”
The hivemind squeezed its hands at me, “Ah yes, I believed I would be trapped here for all eternity, stuck in this prison constructed by that accursed presence. But that was when I was moved to a new world. A world without any knowledge of mana or of the eldritch.”
I grimaced, “My world.”
“Precisely. I scouted the AI’s energy flows, uncovering where we would land. I scouted out the domain, and I plotted. Destiny was on my side. Two of you walked into this cavern, and each of you were going to be sent elsewhere.”
My eyes widened, “Wait…You’re the reason I didn’t enter the tutorial? You’re the reason I was dragged into this hell on Earth?”
“That is how you stayed here, yes. In this domain. My domain. I protected you as you grew, preventing you from dying to the mindless bats here.”
I heaved a breath as I remembered how I survived. I grabbed the edges of my head. Baldag-Ruhl was why the bats didn’t eat me. He’s why the first bat was injured. Baldag radiated,
“You were so utterly, abysmally weak. I had to injure the first bat’s wing for you to survive your first encounter. I then killed it before it devoured you. That was not all. I safeguarded you as you slept. I gave you a goal to push you forward, before others came and undid my plot. You accomplished more than I ever imagined.”
Baldag Ruhl laughed and spread his arms, “You killed what was left of Alfred Worm. You collected the cores for me, and you even filled them with the mana from each pit. My ritual strengthened even more from your actions.”
A tiny slither of despair leaked into my chest Baldag’s body clicked from moving,
“Now your body is the perfect shell for me. You are strong, but most importantly, you are recognized by that presence. By Schema. It will let you walk out of this prison.”
Despair turned into Dread as it continued, “But you see, with the mana from the rift here, I can turn your soul into my new carapace. I can open the rift and channel the dimensional miasma to my own purposes. I will crawl inside you and wear you as my skin. I will walk right out of this prison, and Schema shall be none the wiser. Your very soul will be my body.”
I glanced up into a pair of inhuman, twitching eyes. Baldag-Ruhl hissed, “Do not worry, little one. I will use your soul well. I will wear your flesh like my own.”
Mandibles opened up as it spit, “Just let me crawl in.”