Until death?

by Andur

  “No. Find Aengus and Sharid first!” I hope Enyo wasn't discarded in the wrong place.

  Enyo starts to sidle along the ground. It seems like she chose a direction at random, but I know that it's not the case. I equipped Enyo's new body with the latest technology available before I gave it to Aengus. Vision, sound, smell. Enyo is the perfect spy.

  Then I become aware of the silence in the room and turn around. Everyone's eyes are stuck on me. Some in fear, some in disgust, some in curiosity. “What?”

  “Is that really Enyo?” -Miruliru

  “Yes?” I don't get the problem. I was so nice to repair her broken soul and give her an honourable occupation.

  “And her body....” -Gwalonna

  “Is a tail for a cat-suit with an anal plug.” I still don't get the problem. It's the perfect cover. Nobody would suspect a high end spy in such a disguise.

  “Fascinating!” -Chiffre

  “T... That's worse than I thought! Sharid! And now Enyo! You are forbidden to choose the divine punishments from now on! You are the worst!” Miruliru explodes in my face. The majority of the ambassadors nod.

  I shrug my shoulders and turn back around. “I just followed Seria's wish..... she was worried about her brother's love life. How could I turn down a wish from my cute daughter. And Enyo should be thankful. If i hadn't repaired her soul, she would stare into a wall for another few million years.” I mumble to myself while I watch Enyo's progress.

  After a long tunnel Enyo suddenly slides into a crack in the wall of the cave and becomes silent. A few demons pass her without taking notice. After a few seconds Enyo starts to move again.

  She reaches a big cavern. And there it is! A Sphere. Demons are sacrificing people to the accursed thing while a slightly bigger variant is in a praying position before it. It looks like the monster I just slew at the plaza!

  There are people waiting in rows to be sacrificed. And on an altar slightly elevated above the others are Sharid and Aengus. They are displayed like a big trophy. Their clothes are torn and they are unconscious.

  103 - Rescue mission!

  Asheim, Embassy

  Enyo starts to sneak forward while I put my armour on. The armour was brought by the small group of warriors which will accompany me on this rescue mission. There are ten of them. Together with me we have eleven people.

  When I am ready, I turn towards them. “You all know what to do? Enyo has an emitter which is able to rupture a pathway. She will place herself right next to Aengus and Sharid. As soon as she activates it we go in, take them and take a pathway to get away. No heroic deeds.”

  “I will go with you.” Miruliru hops out of her chair.

  “You are not armed!” I won't take responsibility if something happens to her.

  “I don't need to be! I will just crush that Sphere. It's a golden opportunity.” Miruliru draws two crystal daggers.

  “Then I will join too! I can't let a young maiden onto a battlefield without protection.” -Carne

  “Tch! Creep!” -Miruliru

  “If it's like that I have to join you too.” Chiffre gives us a confident smile.

  Suspicious.... If they all want to go into the lions den then ….

  But my thoughts get interrupted by Enyo. “Massster! I am under the altar. Ssshould I sssend the sssignal.”

  I turn towards the group. “Everyone. Line up and touch me. I will recognize Enyo's signal the easiest. Just follow me onto the pathway.” After a few seconds everyone is ready and I turn towards the screen. “Send the signal Enyo.”

  Then I concentrate. A few seconds later I recognize the right pattern on a pathway in the direction of Sharid's homeworld. It's like the pathway is vibrating in a certain frequency.

  I enter the pathway and from one moment to the next, I am besides Aengus and Sharid inside the cavern.

  The others also appear around me.

  I lose no time and grab a bag from my belt. It contains small mana crystals. They are especially made to absorb mana as fast as possible. Each of them has the size of a finger and there are about fifty of them.

  By tilting the bag, I pour the content into the air where the crystals start to float. They are held by telekinesis and they are my new ammunition against those things.

  The first demon who starts to move after our appearance gets a crystal directly between the eyes. It drops like having it's strings cut. Mwahaha! No more instant healing!

  “We can't use the pathway!” A guard with Aengus over his shoulder gives me an alarming information.

  “It's a trap!” Carne kicks a rock into the maw of an approaching demon which starts to get a couching fit.

  “The Sphere has to be the source of the dampening field! There are no other possible sources here!” Chiffre points at the Sphere and starts to charge into its direction.

  I send two of my crystals at the sphere, but they get blocked by the bigger demon while a flood of smaller ones starts to pour into the cavern.

  The big monster must be some updated version. It smacked the crystals out of the air like nothing.

  Two of my guards start to attack the accesses to the cavern with attack magic. They know that the demons won't be hindered for long by it. But killing the demons wasn't their intention. With a rumble, the entrances cave in and stop the flood of demons.

  Chiffre reaches the big demon which is guarding the Sphere and gives it a thundering blow with his mechanical arm.

  But again, the monster is unimpressed and sends Chiffre flying with a swipe of it's claw.

  Everyone is occupied with at least five demons. I never wanted to be in such a melee fight again, but there is no choice.

  I deal with the small fry by sending my crystals via telekinesis into them and advance towards the big monster.

  We have to deal with the Sphere and escape fast. Sealing the exits can be only a temporary solution. If the demons free them of the rubble we will be overrun.

  And there is still the possibility of a cave in. It's not like ….... yeaaah... why... not? I look up towards the stalactites at the ceiling. Previously they didn't enter my mind.

  The big demon has its full concentration on me now. But I don't need to alarm it by using my crystals.

  A little push and *Crack!*

  *CRUSH*

  I loosened a stalactite above the demon and it was compressed into an ugly looking mush. I may have added a little too much power while the big chunk of rock was falling downwards. Without any further hindrances, I crush the Sphere with my crystals.

  Throwing a stalactite at the sphere would have had no effect. The crystals are harder than any metal. It would have been like throwing feathers at a rock.

  “It's gone! Get out of here.” I scream through the cavern.

  My group starts to disappear one by one. The guards with Aengus and Sharid make their exit first while the other guards grab every mortal who still looks alive and take them with them.

  “Yyyou won't beee so lucky forrever! We will eat you!!!”

  The crushed demon to my feet gives me a few nice parting words? Eeww... it's already starting to heal. “Sorry. Maybe some other time.” I send a crystal between it's eyes to kill it.

  After I confirm that everyone is gone and nobody is left inside the cavern, I take a pathway back towards Asheim.

  ***

  “It's mine!”

  “No! We have to free her!”

  “This is a technological wonder! A soul inside non-living matter! This has to be researched!”

  “It's a person! And no research object!”

  “You don't understand! This is the greatest discovery since the dawn of creation!”

  “Ask the perverted creator!”

  “It's against the pride of every scientist to be taught by someone else!”

  “Let go!”

  “Never!”

  “Massster! Ssssave me! I will rip!”

  I watch with a bored expression while Miruliru and Chiffre are using Enyo to play pull the rope. For r
eal... they are like little children. “Did you two ever think about asking Enyo what she wants?”

  “Massster! Give me permission to ussse the Ssssecret weaponssss!” -Enyo

  Whatever. It's only self-defence. “Fine....”

  *Splurt*

  *Slip* “Waaah!” “Eewww!”

  Suddenly Enyo sprayed Miruliru and Chiffre with an oily substance and slipped out of their grasp. Chiffre fell on his butt while Miruliru barely managed to keep standing. Now she is sliding hastily towards me and wraps around my left leg.

  “Massster. I didn't believe it. But the lubricant isss a very ussseful sssecret weapon!” -Enyo

  “Come back here Enyo! We have to get a proper body for you. I will search for a good reincarnation.” Miruliru stretches a hand towards Enyo.

  “I am fffine. No need for another body. Massster made very good work.” Enyo flatly refuses Mirulirus offer.

  “Why? How can this be!” Miruliru slides to the ground besides Chiffre.

  “Like I said. Enyo's soul was ravaged and twisted like nothing I have ever seen. If I wouldn't have helped, it would have taken a few million years until she starts to work properly again. But even for me it was hard to repair something with so many parts missing. I spliced the soul of a snake into her for stabilization until she heals on her own. That's why she prefers this body for the moment. And before you ask. I used a snake because I needed a weak soul which couldn't overpower Enyo. And because it was fun.” I give them a short explanation while grinning.

  “You managed that with two souls...” Chiffre starts to drool on the floor. That guy is becoming creepier with every invention of mine he gets to see.

  “What? Like the dem....” -Miruliru

  But I interrupt Miruliru “Nooo. Not at all. I am not an idiot! I know my handicraft. The souls aren't fused together. They just complement each other. When Enyo's soul is healed properly they will divide on their own.”

  “I like my body. And ssserving the missstresss.” Enyo confirms my explanation.

  Miruliru drops to the ground as if she has given up while Chiffre starts to write some notes.

  I turn back towards the tactical situation on the screen. At least I could save Aengus and Sharid. From the looks of it they took no permanent damage.

  But if I look at our situation.... “I wonder if the multiverse will take permanent damage....”

  104 - Inevitable?

  Asheim, Embassy

  Everyone freezes up. “What are you talking about!?” Chiffre stops to take notes about Enyo.

  “Errr.... nothing. Forget what I said.” I don't want to explain it. Too much of a hassle.

  “No! What's this talk about damaging the multiverse?” Gwalonna doesn't let go of the matter either.

  “It's just an obscure theory of mine. I have no proof and if it's true.... then we are screwed anyway.” I turn my seat towards the window.

  “Don't talk bullshit and tell us what's going on.” -Carne

  I tilt my head while I think about a smart way to explain it. “What's a soul? How comes it to be?”

  “An energy body which gathers information? It interacts with the multiverse through a physical organic body. Namely us. Souls don't come into existence, they simply are.” Chiffre gives me an out of the book answer.

  “That's true. But to be precise. A soul is a quantum wave that interacts with the whole multiverse through observation. What's the state of a quantum particle which has an observer and a particle which has none?” I fold my hands while I try to lead them to the right question.

  “The state of a quantum particle that's observed is defined. One that's not observed is undefined.” -Chiffre

  “So a soul defines the multiverse by observing it. By the presence of an intelligent observer, our mutliverse is stabilized in its current state. That has always been that way. As far as we know. And the number of souls seems to be finite. Even souls which seem to be very young are just old ones which have lost their memories, or rather their gathered information.”

  “So what happens to the multiverse if there aren't enough observers left to define it? The calamity is forcing all observers into a single being by merging everything into one.” I stretch my legs to have it a little more comfortable.

  “Esoteric bullshit....” Zanders mumbles to himself.

  “So if there aren't enough observers, the multiverse goes back to an undefined state? But that theory is strange. The size of the multiverse should be defined by the number of souls, if that's true. We should be able to see some kind of effect while the Calamity eats the observers. Without a proof such a theory is on very wobbly legs....” -Chiffre

  “Why should we see a continuous effect and not a sudden collapse? The multiverse is always trying to keep the stability and correcting the logical errors. If there are not enough observers, it smooths the mistakes over. Why are there stars in the sky with no intelligent life? Shouldn't they vanish?” I continue my train of thoughts.

  “There are such stars. Aren't you rebutting your own theory?” -Miruliru

  “No. I am strengthening it. Those stars are there because people have always looked up to the sky and saw them. They remain there because they have to be there, or otherwise there would be just a mostly black sky for most planets. The other proof that strengthens my theory are the remnants of the first outbreak of the Calamity.” I wave towards the sky. “Tell them Warden. Were there always void zones throughout the multiverse?”

  ~The void zones are a recent phenomenon that started to appear during the first big fight against the Calamity. The Ascended couldn't explain the expanding zones, where the natural laws of nature aren't followed. But the void zones stopped growing when the Calamity was sealed away, or at least the speed of their growth became very slow.~

  “So the multiverse isn't in its best shape as we see it?” Miruliru has a concerned voice now.

  “Unfortunately.” Seems like they get the idea. “The void zones are just the first sign that the number of observers is becoming too low. I ask myself what the undefined state looks like. Will it go *poof* and everything ceases to be? Or will the multiverse just dissolve into a big void zone with strange undefined physical laws? That brings me to the last proof of my theory. The void zones are areas which don't follow known rules. Yet the space around our planets is perfectly fine. Why is that?”

  “Because there are enough observers there to stabilize the space....” Chriffe's voice sounds very convinced now. “So we have to increase the number of observers in order to avoid an unknown outcome.”

  “How? They are in the belly of that thing above our heads!” Gwalonna waves at the ceiling.

  “We have to find a way to stop the Calamity.” Carne walks towards the window and takes a look outside.

  “I will go back to my society and tell them what's going on. We will think about possible solutions.” Chiffre disappears without further ado.

  I continue to think about the possibilities on my own, but there are no definite answers. The others keep talking for a while. Then they start to leave in order to inform their societies.

  While I watch the setting blue sun, I think about my possibilities. Everything we could do is bad. But I don't like bad endings. I despise them.