“Morbis Ventum”
Chapter 11
Once a god speaks their words of power upon arriving on a world, they are almost impossible to remove. Nothing short of the complete annihilation of everything that god could have possibly touched, right down to every being they have interacted with and the air that the words were spoken in will suffice. This is not an option inside the Omnithaneum as the librarians enforce a strict no-violence policy, and they have the power to enforce it. No hostile god can be allowed entrance into the Omnithaneum. Any and all methods may be taken to stop them, including the destruction of the planet involved, and the complete erasure of their universe if it is necessary. – on The Omnithaneum, from The Chronicles of The Founder
The voice that Joshua’s recognized as Filth emanated from the surroundings as the flies formed into the rough shape of a human. Foundation followed through the entrance, radiating so much anger that it formed a visible aura around him. Joshua couldn’t help but wonder if that was an ability or not.
“Filth, you were allowed into Macrocosm on one condition. Do you remember what it was?” Each word that Foundation spoke was slow and carefully chosen.
“Hmm…nope! Can’t remember a thing.”
Filth spoke in a mocking tone filled with almost childish glee. Foundation’s hand twitched, and the body of flies that Filth possessed began to twitch and contort. It wasn’t a real body, as Joshua had learned during their previous encounters, but whatever Foundation was doing caused Filth to scream out in pain.
“Hey, that isn’t fair damn it. We were all allowed to enter your little game so long as we didn’t use any outside powers, and I’ve kept my end of the bargain. You can’t go cheating by using yours!”
“The other part of the deal,” Foundation replied, “was that you don’t try to use Macrocosm to reach outside worlds.”
“I Haven’t! I mean…not yet, at least. You can hardly act against me just for entering the library. Besides, I got in here through entirely legitimate means! I am allowed to follow around anyone with my Blessing, as is any other god. No outside powers were involved. Those were your rules!”
Foundation considered Filth’s words for a moment before clicking his tongue and releasing whatever force suppressed the fly-body. Filth had started sounding desperate near the end, as if afraid that Foundation would break whatever deal they had been talking about. Joshua had no idea what was going on, only that he was both at the center of it and barely had a say in the matter.
“…Fine. I will not take any steps to stop you from accessing Macrocosm’s Omnithaneum, but no farther. If we detect you or any other god trying to breach the walls to the outside, we will purge it all, no matter the consequences.”
Foundation turned around, leaving back through the door to Grazurus, never even turning to look at Joshua. Whatever had just happened, the young Blight Lord’s part was over. The moment that Foundation was out of sight, Filth broke out into laughter. The librarians went back to roaming the halls, and what few players were present continued on with their tasks. Most of them likely didn’t think of this as anything more than a random event, or perhaps part of a Paradigm Shift, but Joshua knew better.
What had just happened was important. Filth had followed him into the Omnithaneum, somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. Was it by pure chance that his Blessing had let Filth follow him? Had the Plague God somehow planned all this out from the start? Whatever Filth’s plans were, it seemed like he wasn’t finished with Joshua quite yet, as he turned to address the stunned player.
“I have you to thank for all of this, Joshua. I’ve been trying to break into this place for millennia, but that bastard has managed to stop me every time.”
Millenia? Was this all part of Macrocosm’s lore or something? Joshua had never been one for reading about a game’s backstory before. He had always been more concerned with leveling up quickly and getting equipment to sell.
“I can see the confusion on your little face. You have no idea what’s really going on here, what’s really at stake. You will one day. I just wonder if it will be under my command, or theirs.”
Filth’s body dispersed into countless flies before Joshua could reply. The flies scattered throughout the library. Any that came too close to a librarian burst into flames, but most were allowed to roam freely.
Joshua spent a moment thinking about the strange event but shrugged it off. Whatever had happened was clearly over his head right now. It would be better to focus back on the game and move past all of this, especially now that it seemed Foundation wouldn’t be hunting him anymore.
The best way to get his mind off the encounter was to start exploring the Omnithaneum. It was enormous at first glance, and even larger once he started paying attention. The area he was on now seemed to be the ground floor, a single massive marble hallway 50-foot across that stretched out of sight in either direction. The walls were lined with millions of books, though few people seemed to actually be reading them.
Joshua used Airborne Pandemic to climb above the bookshelves, which stretched roughly 30-feet high, just to be met with a similar sight. On both sides were more walkways with their own bookshelves. The library resembled a massive cavern, with each side sloped with periodic ledges filled with books. This pattern repeated high into the sky, far above where clouds were forming. Most of the doors to other worlds seemed to be at the very bottom, but there were other doorways scattered among the infinite shelves.
There was no visible light source, but the entire library was lit regardless. Joshua saw one of the librarians disappear through one of the doors on a higher ledge and was shocked by what he saw inside. It was another cavern, just like this one. On the other side were even more doors, and even a few other players. Twisting his head, Joshua could see hundreds of similar doors in this cavern alone. Just how big was this place?
Not seeing much choice, Joshua jumped back down to the bottom of the cavernous library. He was just going to get lost if he went through the higher doors to another section of the Omnithaneum. Besides, while looking around, he had spotted a familiar face at the bottom.
“Hey, Centus!”
The powerful member of the Demons Who Corrupt was on the ground floor. He was one of the only people that were actually reading through the books. Most of those who entered seemed to rush through towards their destination.
“Who are yo – oh, it’s just the recruit. I have no idea how you managed to make it to the Omnithaneum after that incident with the strange purple mage, and I don’t really care. Do you still want to join us?”
Joshua was stunned at how fast Centus went through the introductions. There was desperation in his voice, which was the last thing Joshua expected to hear. Something was wrong, and he wanted to know what. He had already thought about and dismissed the idea that staying on Grazurus. Now that he was tier 5, the city of WestDrift couldn’t offer enemies with a high enough level to be worth fighting, while the Demons could.
“I do, but what’s going on? You weren’t in nearly this much of a rush last time.”
“Things have changed back on Sanctum. We have never been able to reach an Omnithaneum door before the Saints Who Cleanse, as one of my soldiers told you a while ago. That soldier is dead, along with almost all the others that you saw.”
“…what?” Whatever Joshua had been expecting, that definitely wasn’t it. How could that many super soldiers be dead?
“The Saints took personal offense at the idea that we might beat them for once, so they have devoted their entire military force towards wiping us off of Sanctum. That includes warships, countless soldiers, and even thousands of outsiders like you. We are putting everything we’ve got into fighting them off, and that includes new recruits.”
Joshua took a moment to think over Centus’ offer. Getting thrust into a warzone sounded like it would be a lot of trouble, and definitely not something he would be able to get out of soon. On the other hand, it also meant a steady supply of higher-level enemies, r
einforcements to help him fight, and a steady stream of powerful loot he could sell. There was just one thing bugging him.
“I’d be more than happy to join, but how much help could I be? Even as strong as I’ve become, I’m not even a match for a single one of your soldiers.”
Centus let out a little laugh before responding. “You won’t be fighting anyone like that, so long as you’re smart about it. The battlefields are big enough that you can pick and who or what you fight. We are willing to offer quests for the extermination of hostile outsiders, and you will be rewarded for killing them even outside of quests.”
The Demons had certainly done their homework. They knew exactly what to offer and would gladly pay the price for any help they could get. Joshua couldn’t help but smirk.
“All right, you’ve convinced me. Just point me towards the door to Sanctum and I’ll get to work.”
“…We lost it.”
They had already lost Sanctum’s Omnithaneum entrance? The situation was even worse than Centus had made it out to be.
“Well,” Joshua replied, “how am I supposed to reach Sanctum?”
Centus pointed towards one of the doors a short way away. Each door, Joshua noticed, matched whatever place it connected to. A door to a cave was made of stone or resembled a cave entrance, a door to the inside of a home was made of wood or brick. The door that Centus pointed to was made of jagged red and black metal and was clearly artificial.
“The Nineveh, along with our entire fleet, is in orbit above Sanctum right now. Head through that door and tell them I recruited you. They can get you set up in one of the drop pods.”
Centus turned back to his book, ending the conversation. Joshua started walking towards the jagged door but turned after just a few feet with one last question.
“If you guys are so strapped for manpower right now, what are you doing in here? Shouldn’t you be out there fighting?” Joshua couldn’t see Centus’ face, but he could practically feel the man’s weariness at the situation.
“I am here searching for a way to defeat the Saints. Their holy magic is what allowed them to conquer the various civilizations that compose the Demons Who Corrupt, and the Omnithaneum is the only place that might offer us an answer to it. It just means reading books…so many thousands of books.”
Centus set his head down, returning to his reading, while Joshua walked away. He stopped in front of the door to the Nineveh, suddenly besieged by doubt. Was this really the best idea? This war might take days, and he had been making good progress on Grazurus. Reaching tier 6 within the next few days was a possibility, especially if he could make his way towards a higher-level area.
Joshua shrugged these thoughts off and stepped through the Nineveh’s door. As tempting as Grazurus was, joining the war on Sanctum presented too many opportunities to pass up. He arrived on the other side standing in a circular room with the Omnithaneum door in the center. The room was made from the same red and black metal that the door was.
In front of Joshua, sticking out of the ground at chest-height, was a pedestal with a computer monitor on top. Behind the monitor was the room’s only exit. It lit up when he stepped towards it.
Unauthorized User Detected
State Name and Purpose
There wasn’t a keyboard or other interface, so Joshua spoke instead.
“Zandrius, here to join the Demons Who Corrupt and participate in the war for Sanctum.”
Processing…
Please Proceed to Recruitment Officer
The door behind the terminal opened, and Joshua quickly left the room before it decided to close again. The door led to a hallway that he followed for a few minutes, with no other doors in sight along the way. Eventually, the hallway deposited him in what must have been the Demon’s recruitment office.
Once there, the process went smoother than he had expected. There were a few other tier 4 players already there, most of them either monsters that had followed his footsteps or people chasing the wartime profits. The recruitment officer, another Rector like Centus, had watched Joshua enter from the direction of the Omnithaneum and had already guessed the situation. All that Joshua had to do was confirm that he wanted to join the Demons Who Corrupt in a notification box.
Are you sure you want to join the Demons Who Corrupt?
Joining a faction will grant 10% bonus EXP when fighting that faction’s enemies, and grant access to special faction-related quests. The Saints Who Cleanse will consider you a permanent enemy.
The only downside to joining was something that had already happened. Joshua quickly selected yes. Once everyone else in the room had done so, the recruitment officer ushered them towards another room filled with what must have been drop pods lined up against the wall, ready to launch. Joshua hesitated to call them drop pods, given how tiny they were. The pods were barely large enough for him to fit inside with his armor.
Joshua climbed into one, watching as the officer came around sealing all of the pods. His was among the middle of the pack, so he was able to see as each pod was ejecting from the ship with a loud whump sound. As more people started dropping, Joshua couldn’t help but feel excited about what was to come. Dropping out of orbit at high speed, even if it was only simulated in the game, was something almost everyone wanted to experience. Unfortunately, orbital drops like these were only done by military forces during training and the occasional wealthy-but-eccentric businessman.
When it came to be his turn, Joshua barely felt a thing. There was a slight rocking, a loud noise, and he stared as his pod raced away from the Nineveh towards Sanctum. The ship was everything he had imagined it to be when it had been described to him. An absolutely gigantic ziggurat, almost as big as Sanctum itself, sitting just far enough away that the gravitational forces didn’t cause them to collide.
The Nineveh
Tier: 23
Level: 87
HP: ?.???T/?.???T
Joshua tried to rub his eyes when he saw the number, convinced it was an illusion, but the drop pod didn’t offer enough room. Was that capital T for a trillion? The Nineveh didn’t just have a tier and level but over a trillion health? The implications were severe. Would players have that kind of power one day? Joshua couldn’t help but shiver with excitement at the prospect.
Further beyond Sanctum, far away from the Nineveh, was another equally absurd sight. A planet-sized cathedral flew opposite the Nineveh, its opposite in every way. Where the Nineveh was black and red, with jagged metal mountains and countless guns, the cathedral was smooth and made of what seemed to be marble. It was hard to tell at such a distance.
The Cathedral of Apotheosis
Tier: 23
Level: 91
HP: ?.???T/?.???T
Joshua, upon seeing these two ships, was in awe. How long would it take for him to command something on this scale? Weeks? Months? Years? Now that he knew it was possible, Joshua felt a new fire in his chest. Now that he had a concrete goal to reach for, it was time to take things more seriously.
Scattered between these two massive ships were countless thousands of smaller ones locked in an epic battle. Smaller didn’t feel like the right term, given that some of these ships had to have been several kilometers long. He hadn’t escaped their noticed either, as some of the Saint’s ships began to open fire on the drop pods.
Chapter 12
The Nineveh is a marvel of stubborn engineering. Make no mistake, it was sheer stubbornness that allowed the Demons Who Corrupt to build the Nineveh. They had no help from gods or an empire providing limitless resources, but they refused to stop until they had a true capital ship that rivaled the Cathedral of Apotheosis. It could even be argued that the Nineveh is the greater of the two since the Cathedral of Apotheosis is primarily made up of special ritual chambers and prayer rooms that the Saints use to create new gods. – on Saints and Demons, from The Chronicles of The Founder
Joshua’s drop pod shook as the sky around them exploded. There was a flash, just barely visible thro
ugh the pod’s window, below his position. Another one of the pods had exploded, killing the player inside instantly.
There was another flash and a loud bang. The pod just behind Joshua’s had been hit as well, and it wasn’t the last. Nearly a hundred drop pods had set out from the Nineveh, and there was a line of explosions that marked their course.
Joshua heard a loud screeching sound immediately before his pod wrenched off its path. Whatever hit his pod had torn a massive gash through its side, and the pressure almost sucked him out. As strong as his character had gotten, Joshua wasn’t confident about surviving a fall from the upper atmosphere. It probably wasn’t actually the upper atmosphere, but still.
Wait, why was he afraid? He could literally fly. Staying in the pod was the safer choice, but it didn’t matter when a second shot tore the pod wide open. Joshua was torn out of the pod at high speed. He was grateful for this a second later as the pod was torn to shreds and exploded like the others.
Joshua fell through the sky like a bullet, cutting through the air. He didn’t know how long a fall like this was supposed to take, but after nearly three minutes the ground only appeared marginally closer.
He didn’t have the time for this. Joshua immediately began thinking of a way out of this situation. Killing himself was always an option: just respawn on the Nineveh and try to take another pod. It was tempting, but another drop pod would just get shot down again. No, he needed a way to survive and reach the ground quickly.
While Joshua was thinking up a plan, a new problem presented itself. Namely, the issue that he was freefalling while wearing a suit of plate armor. He was already falling much faster than he had poorly guessed his terminal velocity would be, a fact that made itself clear when he heard a sonic boom. His armor started to melt and catch fire, acting as a makeshift heatshield from the friction.
The Omnithaneum Page 11
