Eternium ~ 42!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that we are getting close to the end of book 5! About ten chapters to go here. I am waiting on cover art to start up a preorder, but the book is currently going through editing! 

Just like before,  when we get to the end on here, we are going to switch to the next book, in this case CC3! exciting times guys! Also, Edits by me have added almost 10k words on this story that won't appear on patron, but will show up in your patron copy!! Let's get to the chapter!! 

~ Forty-two ~ 

“My people! It is time to gather ourselves for the exodus!” Barry was speaking into the air, and even though he didn’t seem to be shouting, he was clearly heard by the entire population of Mountaindale. “As we speak, we are activating the legendary Soul Gate! With a single step, each person will be able to enter a new realm! The realm of the dungeon’s soul! Fear not, my people! We have removed the teeth of this dungeon, and created a set of rules that it is bound by! Please gather to witness history in the making!”

Wow. That was sure a special speech, wasn’t it? Barry was preening like a peacock, and I made a note to make an actual bird with his face. Not many people would understand the reference, they would just think that they were ugly peacocks… but this is one of those things I planned to do for me, not for understanding. There was a team of Mages standing around the gate, and after a nod from Barry they started feeding Mana into the intricate structure. It began to slowly shift through multiple colorations, going from a jewel-encrusted pure white to a hot red in mere moments. 

I looked on for a few seconds, waiting until the time was right. As the color shifted from red to blue-tinged yellow, I focused my willpower on the gate. As I did so, the color changes faltered, and the entire structure rapidly became a dark charcoal color. I also felt a change within myself as something began to happen. A point of light appeared in my soul space, which began to rapidly stretch and wiggle. It. Abyssal. Hurt! 

<Ow, feces! What in the abyss is this garbage? I wasn’t told that this would hurt, what is this farce of a magical gate?> I vented my pain and rage on anyone that could hear me, and with the corner of my attention I could see Barry smile a vicious smile. He knew this would hurt! Had the Master known? I’d eat them all!

“It seems that the dungeon is actually following through on this process!” Barry announced as the gate shifted to a darker and darker coloration. No… it wasn’t changing color anymore; it was simply absorbing all the light that reached its surface! I can’t really explain the difference, but it was a strange thing to see a brightly-colored masterpiece turn into a pit of utter darkness. The entire time, a tunnel was being carved into my interior. That was the only way I could describe what was happening. A chunk of my soul was being torn open and fed into the gate to power it.

For some reason, I had kinda been expecting that I would lose a chunk of my soul to this thing, but I had honestly been expecting that Dale would need to be sacrificed to it to power the portal. Obviously, I hadn’t been intending on informing him of that fact, but good for him that he wouldn't need to be fed to something to save a bunch of people he didn't know. He would have done it, too. I’m just sure of it, he is that much of an altruist. Bleh. Good, making fun of Dale was having the intended effect of making me feel better about what was going on.

“Inform our allies.” The monster in Elven skin announced. “It is time for them to begin the march. Ensure that they bring plenty of tribute as they arrive as well.”

I perked up when I heard the word tribute. Ah yes, that would make my wounds hurt less. Getting fed some shiny and new objects and knowledge. I would glut myself on all of the things coming into me, I would take it all and use it to make sure that I could build powerful defenses throughout my soul. Never again would I allow such a miserable thing to happen to me, this much I swore to myself in a non-magically binding way.  Frankly, I didn't know what I had been expecting, and it made sense that this process hurt. I sighed as I resigned myself to the pain; there was a hole in me from an outside source. This was no different from a sword wound or a claw in the side, it was simply the location of the wound that was so grievous.

One thing that made me laugh a little was that Dale was on the floor writhing in pain. He had no idea why he was in pain suddenly, and was thinking that he was poisoned or something. Silly Dale, not realizing that we were linked. Pain in my soul was pain in his as well, after all! Alright, it wasn't funny, but I found myself feeling better after I saw it. I assured Minya that he would be fine, even though I was still feeling like someone was pouring bees made of fire into me.

Soon, the process began to slow, though the pain remained. There was a hole in me, and I didn't really expect that it would feel pleasant anytime soon. I was sure that I either needed to last long enough to heal up around the sore spot, or preferably just remove the portal and heal the jagged edges. While this was going on, I suddenly began to gain large amounts of infernal Essence and Mana. I looked toward the source, finding that The Master was using the distraction of the opening portal to collect his people into easily transportable Cores. The bodies were left where they fell; but my influence started working on them, their gear, and the slave collars that they wore. Now there was a design I had no interest in replicating. 

Barry noticed that something was off, but could only scowl since he noticed too late. He sent along a command to the slaves to die, but The Master had already secured their minds. I could see the nervousness on Barry’s face, but I was certain that The Master wouldn't get involved in the affairs of the area anymore. He had no personal stake in anything, and people had been letting him down far too frequently.

The Master arrived next to me, and in an instant eighty-seven Cores were offered to me. I absorbed them all, and soon I had the sentient inhabitants of my Soul Space. I sent along a booming voice into their area, making them flinch. <Welcome! Haven’t named this area yet, but you are in my world now! Please make sure to let me know how things are, give me feedback on things like temperature and air quality… really everything. Thanks!>

Now, I could have simply created anyone who I had the mind of in my inner world, but that required a level of trust that I hadn't really seen much of. Not only did someone need to give me a copy of their most personal object - their minds - but they also needed to provide all the energy for their body to be reborn. Otherwise I just wouldn’t do it. Now, the reason this was difficult was that the person needed to die. Most people were really banking on the portal being opened, for some reason.

Speaking of the opening portal, why was it taking so long? It felt like there was someone stretching the pain out intentionally… then I noticed that it was opening in an area where time was still acting funky. Time moved a lot faster in this area, and the discrepancy meant that I was unintentionally dragging out my own agony. Well, that was an easy fix. I shifted the landscape around, and suddenly the portal was in a standard time zone. In moments, the portal stabilized. I felt a cold wind blow into me as the air pressure differential caused the portal to start sucking in great gouts of fresh air from the outside. 

I wasn't going to complain, but it felt a little strange to go from pure air to this mix of chemicals and what tasted like the cumulative exhale of ten thousand people. Sighs of relief? Bleh. Tasted like stale cookies. The pain leveled off to a dull throbbing, and I heard Barry start speaking.

“Let’s get started!” He roared to the cheering crowd. “The faster we get everyone in here, the faster you can become stronger and wealthy in this new land!”

“We can just… go in?” Someone near the front asked in a shocked tone.

“Everyone here has been working for this moment!” Barry graciously waved at the dark stain on the world that showed a land of twilight they had never before witnessed. “Go on, find the reward you have been seeking! Those that come after will be the ones to pay tribute and tolls. Just remember, going through means that you accept the rules of the dungeon, and you will be magically bound to the agreement.”

People looked up at the sky, where a gigantic white expanse could be seen looming closer. With that final assurance that this was the best hope for survival, the first refugee stepped through and into my world. I felt something odd, like waking up at night and seeing an object that looked like a nightmare visage. It shook me, but didn't impact me. People started to pour through the air-sucking portal, and I began to think that this would be a lot harder than I had first imagined.

In the depths of my dungeon, I saw Dale’s eyes pop open and look into Minya’s concerned ones. “What just happened?”

Minya smiled at him and brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. “Progress.”