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Terribly sorry about this posting whilst you are, Twin, but I am limited on time.

@Lothyra:


Very well. Despite the fact that time travel is relatively simplistic.

—

Not him in particular. They were slightly off-topic, but, if you desire to listen, I shall continue. Do you?

—

I briefly look out the window, staring at the planet above at the sound of the voice. Pin-points of light upon the grayish-green planet, (with a rather exponential amount of water as well) the cities of my world. There's Aeronedium, with its xenon lamps. It is rather amazing that the electricity is still running, after 3 loä (4.5 years) without any sentient contact. There is magnificent Alcara, and the nation of Harnost in the north, and so on. They all seem... burned out. Perhaps they would not... if I had not played Sburb. Nartheon is still out there somewhere. I doubt he would have died to some pesky eldritch abominations. Somewhere... perhaps I could go find him. However, it might be best if I were to go back to my... appointment. As such, I enter the apartment before me, sorrow echoing within me as a result of my glancing at Vetas.

That was a joke; of course you didn't. I don't have a knocker, remember? My door is not fitted with a peephole either. Those without eyes or without limits to their knowledge have no need for peeping or knocking, and I am without either. I have never once peeped at or through something, and I doubt I ever will.

Haa haa, hee hee, hoo hoo.

Please come in. Welcome to my apartment. I trust you'll find it to be more palatable than your original haunt. I continue to be an excellent host.
I'm expecting one more guest later. Make yourself comfortable in the meantime. But don't touch the candy on the table. That is reserved for my guest. Let's have a look at this disc in the meantime.
You really did a number on it, didn't you? It's virtually unplayable like this. What a shame. But yes, I can fix it. It will take time, though. I estimate, by which I mean I am certain by way of omniscience, that when we are done we will have reached just shy of the end of this Intermission (fourth wall notwithstanding). If you don't mind waiting here while I complete my repairs, I will go greet my guest.

The sound of a chair pounding against some fragile object emanates from nearby.

Oh, wonderful. Another interruption. It seems she's acting out again. Greeting mister Noir will have to wait while I settle her down. I apologize profusely.

"So. Super belated gift here, but have this phone. I scratched it, but if you can't contact Scratch you can at least get his Employer." I then hand Erelye my Scratched phone.

Astria stands alone in her cabin, thinking. A lot has happened since she was whisked out of her world by a strange god of infinity. And yet she still hasn't been able to resolve other's mental issues, much less her own problems. This is a great disappointment, for Astria feels she has a duty to fulfill her role in the way the Alpha Serpent never did.

Maybe it's time.

Astria collapses into a bed, drifting into her dreamscape.

yOu.

{So, yeah, I haven't really done as much with the Tour as I intended to, so I'll probably keep it going past the intermission.}

"Incid3nt4l1y, Engin33r Lo7hyr4, if I find you h4ve be3n re5ponsib1e for 7h3 use of my own de5igns ag4ins7 me, expect to die."

A little white light near the ceiling flares brightly for a moment, then fades again... You realize that the same little lights, somehow both too bright to look at and too dim to notice, are everywhere, on every piece of technology made by the Anachron, guns, robots, ships, armor, computers, rooms. Little white lights, hard to notice... You wonder why you have never done so before, though, they are hardly concealed.

Amperzand looks at the light strangely for a moment, then shrugs.

"While I'm surprised ya don't know the answer already, being in the shipbuilding business yourself, Blue, your question'll take a little while to answer, so why don't we walk through the Munitions Tier while I explain."

We file through an airlock, then an elevator, then into a series of massive rooms full of machinery and ammunition storage, whether it be missiles, kinetic slugs, Vis tanks, or more exotic forms of weaponry, all linked into a convoluted transport system allowing it all to reach the weapons on the outside of the Outer Hull without weakening said edifice. You realize that the smallest of the periferal point defense gatlings, seemingly tiny from outside, must be firing high-velocity slugs in the range of forty millimeters, and the larger guns, the missile racks and HMDs, are firing rounds the size of small buildings themselves.

"Anyway, we didn't put air in most of the ship for a few reasons, the first of which is that it'd be damn hard to do for something this size, especially in orbit around a lifeless moon with about one millibar of lighter vacuum for an atmosphere. Then there's the part where with warships you expect to get holes poked in ya, which one wastes all the effort of putting it in, and two makes explosive decompression an issue, pullin' people out into space and all, so it's safer to just put everyone in suits and leave the air off outside the living area, which is in the center of the ship, and using big enough rooms and dirt/grass covered floors to seem like a good-size island all its own. Beyond that, oxygen is actually extremely corrosive, so keeping it away from machines is, in general, better"

We pass through the Munitions Tier proper into one of the supportive reactor chambers, where Redeyes points out a large containment cell.

"That and many like it is the reason the RPLS-SH is partially obsolete. It's antimatter storage, you see, and you only need about a hundred kilograms of it in a containment-breach warhead on any of these missiles here to convert a planet to a small asteroid field. The sole reason the RPLS was worth building is the way Bedrock makes planets behave, that and rule of cool."

After a few more tens of miles riding a tram around piles of huge bullets, we reach one of the big corridors through the Second Hull into the General Infrstructure sections of the Anachron.

On the walk between doors hundreds of meters thick, Amperzand continues his explanation.

"As for gravity, well, we do have it, both from the sheer mass of the ship, and artificial, but the artificial is pointed back along the acceleration vector of the main engines, so we can turn it off during burns and save power, or use it to absorb to heavy Gs from a combat maneuver. Though, up till the last few months, we didn't have a biological crew to worry about, what with the ship being fully automated, so we just stuck with the tenth G from the ship's own mass."

Barren landscapes.
Pure black floor, with purple marks all over.
Inky darkness, with a few glittering stars.
A collapsed animal.
One that is able to mold any armor and weapon to fit himself.
It stands up.
Hah... Again with the mysterious landscapes, huh?
Slightly depressed paths lead in the cardinal directions.
Alpha is engraved in the ground.

He treads east.
To the Alpha Junction.
Is this the exact same place?
He treads north.
To the Beta Junction.
Hmmm...

He treads east.
To the Alpha Junction.
What?
He treads north.
To the Beta Junction.
Again...?
He treads north, to the Gamma Junction.
This one is going only south...
South, to the Delta Junction.
This one does not have west.
South, to the Lambda Junction.
This one is normal...
East, to the Alpha Junction.


West, to the Alpha Junction.
Ugh.
North, to the Beta. North, to the Gamma. South, to Delta. South, to Lambda.
Hmmm... Maybe this is...
West, to the Omicron Junction.
East, to the Pi Junction.
West, to the Sigma Junction.
East, to the Upsilon Junction.


Earthquakes. Mountains rise from the ground, surrounding the center symbol.
Rubble. Dull, grey spheres roll down.
Cobalt, growing outward.
Ruby, crystalizing from the inside. Transmutating all to rubies.
Ruby mountains shift...
A path opens in the south.
Mountains jut out the sides of the south...
Omega.

Gerbil creeps toward the south.
Footsteps sounding.
Giant stalagmites rise from the ground.
Horizontal bars of similar rock line the gaps between the rocky pillars.
Inside, is something.
Lying against a stalagmite. Still, and barely alive.
A blocky human, adorned in dark green.

Hey! Is... is it you?
...
What do you want...
It's Gerbil!
Huh...? Wait... is it... Gerbil...! Finally... Rescue...
I'm too weak...
Seriously, what are these things made of?
Gerbil takes out the Tubas.
Mycelium molds...
A house emerges from the crisscrossing strands.
A portal is forced to open above the cage...
Bombs fall from it, and hit the spikes.
Those were supposed to be meteors!
And the pillars are blown to the ground.

Ah... Yes! Finally! Gerbil, you did it! Thank you!
Here's everything...
Thank you. Now, how will we get out...
Oh yes. Gerbil, do you have a Voidwalker?
Gerbil places the device upon the ground, and activates it.

Rubbled battlefield spans everywhere.
Tattered green, hills of brown.
A deep blue sky.
Pulses of decaying glitch residue hangs in the air.
What happened while I was gone?
And Gerbil explains as they stroll the battlefield, passing the time until this Intermission ends.

Not really. I'm a secretary in the shipbuilding business, which is not exactly a technical job.
Not as if I ever do my actual job, mind you, but I barely know more about ships than the average person.
I'm not doing research for my company, if that's what you're inferring. The question was for personal interest.

-Two Weeks Ago-

Blue stands over Red, who is carefully examining the machine with the two golden vials. After a few minutes, he puts it down on the table.

As far as I can tell... it's real.
...I can't believe it.
So, want to test it out with me?
Of course.

Red carefully unscrews both vials, handing one to Blue. They both down their vial. Red then reattaches the vials to the machine. They begin filling with gold liquid again.

TIME: May 23, 2014

UNIVERSE: C

Maniac witnessed what he thought was impossible.

TwinBuilder, Minecraftia's First Guardian, was shot by Scratch. Maniac stared at the screen.

For 1 and a half years he had been watching the battle. He had not thought to send his troops into battle. It was not time to show himself... yet. But now....

...He had no choice.

Bring me TwinBuilder. I would like to speak to him.

Kirh zun!

As king of the Nether, Maniac had a supply of souls. New souls appeared in the SOUL TRAINING CENTER. They then became workers, until called into battle. The OP Scale will not allow Maniac to do this in battle, however. Since, when a soul dies, the soul goes back to the Nether. The Nether has an invincible army. Well, not invincible, but like a Hydra.

Maniac wanted to have a talk with Twin.

Rehkirend uz yont yewer!

What do you mean Twin isn't there!?

Suddenly, white tentacles appeared and grabbed Maniac. They started pulling him to the screen (which was zoomed in on Scratch's face.).

Get the others to the bunker! Do not come out until I say so!!

And Maniac was pulled in.

Since Scratch teleported all relevant players to his manor, Maniac, who was, too an extent, relevant, was teleported as well. During the process, Diablo didn't come with him, and neither did his skin. So, he only had a Steve skin.

And that, my friends, is the Backstory Of Maniac.



(FINALLY FINISHED THIS! My backstory up to when I first posted! I'm done until Act 4!)

(Hey, charges aren't useless. You give up nothing from using them, so why not? It also is a bit of a personal challenge for me to get as much wealth as possible. And... uhh... I guess. We'll say Wilson has been brewing some potions during the intermission despite being knocked out and blind.)

Heh... Being an odd one out is always kind of fun. Being in a world where we just defeated a massive snake (with the power to corrupt the world around it) by using a fez found in some infinitey mazey puzzle thing does make me less stand out. Although, Wilson is rather disconcerting because he seems to think you're about half a meter to the right of where you actually are. His mouth also doesn't move when he speaks. Oh, sure, come on in. There aren't many people I would even consider not letting in. It is rather difficult to buy something from outside a store. He turns and staggers somewhat back into the building. You know, I haven't ever described what I'd imagine the store to look like. So, here we go.

It was a tall, modern looking skyscraper left over from slightly more peaceful times. From the outside, it had been patched to give it a homely feeling, provided you didn't look more than 30 degrees upwards. Above the first floor, large blast holes were common and the place looked like it might fall over. Some of these had planks over them in an attempt to prop up the building. Overall, it didn't look like a place where you would find probably the largest and most diverse potion stockpile of all of Godcraft.

Things cheered up a little inside. The floor had a tessellating pattern of differently colored stone types. Into one wall was the staircase leading both up to the untamed floors and down to the Dune and Wilson's actual alchemy station. There was a small hole in that wall as well, possibly leading to a back room of some kind. All the potions were neatly laid out on rather short tables, each with a small blackboard listing the price. One of the free corners was taken up by a 4 meter by 3 meter computer monitor with a keyboard in front of it and a few souvenirs from various adventures lined up to the side of it.

How long until the intermission is over and we can get back to destroying the godmodder again?

/null

Quite the deal of weeks. More than one, I believe.

@Generic:


Thank you! I shall put this to good use... eventually.

—

Simply fascinating. I suppose that oxygen is indeed an inhibitor, with the aforementioned corrosiveness, the fact that it is an oxidizer, and the matter of free radicals and oxidative stress.

—

The gracious cueball-headed man, otherwise referred to as Doc Scratch, grabs a broom, and walks off towards the source of the banging.

What did I say?
I have repeatedly made it clear that the wall is to remain off.
I refuse to acknowledge this foolish man's inane rubbish. His sanity-lacking charades have no place in this building, or anywhere in this reality. Am I making myself understood, young lady? Or will I have to suspend your furniture privileges again?

I can quite clearly hear the sound of a chair striking a large cueball. Looking over, I can see Scratch, and a... young elf dressed in green? She looks quite familiar, though a somewhat different version of Navela, of all people, though far more hopeless-looking. Nine loä old, likely. What is going on? This young lady proceeds to draw what appears to be a set of wands, the assigned weaponry of one expected to serve a demon of unfathomable power.

I see. It's another one of your moods. We will have to work on the ironing out of these before you meet your actual master. He is a far less gracious host than I.
Oh, is this what we're doing now?
Maybe I have not been strict enough with your breathing privileges either.

Looking back into the room, I can see that the girl has embedded the pointed ends of the aforementioned wands into the head of Scratch. They disappear in a flash of green light. Several moments later, they reappear, the girl gasping for breath. With the movements of one clearly too desperate of have anything to lose, she grips her cue-wands, and stabs them into a nearby outlet. The things one will do to escape torture. Alas. I know the feeling. Scratch, in the quick response utilized by many a suicide prevention hotline, smacks her directly in the face with his DISCIPLINE BROOM, knocking her away from the outlet.

And there go the electricity privileges.
I think now would be an excellent time for another session of reeducation regarding her purpose. A minor refresher on the nature of the prestigious employment opportunity for which she is being groomed meticulously. And since you are still my guest, it would please me to tell you this inspiring tale as well.

In a flash of green light, the two appear before me. I give a nod to Scratch, and raise my hand ever so slightly in greeting towards the young lady. She raises her eyebrows at me.

Well, I'll try to stay tuned. I'm not so active on the days I don't have school.

Quote from ninjatwist321»

Well, I'll try to stay tuned. I'm not so active on the days I don't have school.

Wait, what?

==Anachron==

"He makes a very good point. Speaking of avoiding explosive decompression, have you considered using dimensional doors for your crew cabins? Plus coolness, AND you don't need as much space or have more space for weaponry. Don't know if they work as well outside Minecraftia though."

((Talist: Meh, I suppose that's true, I'll give you some charges for use during Act 4, might as well.))

On the Preston Cole:
Of course.
We're all on the same team.
Team mates help each other out.
Sanford turns around,
Hold on a second...
Where did Astria go?
Hm. I guess she went back to bed.
Anyway, what's your question?

On Godcraft:
Quite the place you've got here.
Hank watches Wilson stagger around.
Are you okay?
You been hit on the head or something?

Dreaming:
The scene shifts again.
He's standing in a room full of monitors and offices.
The universe eater wars had broken out in full force not long after dropping piono off.
This past little while had not been fun.
And then this had happened.
Universes started grouping together.
Focused around three central ones.
Drawing in Paradox Space even.
Just one emergency after another.
Eric.
Yes sir?
You're requesting to go down there?
Yes.
We have the mainframe bearing down on the HQ and you want to go on a rescue mission?
I know he's a friend son, but now is not the time!
Weren't you already going to send a team in?
We were, but no one can get in.
There might be a way.
Look, I know you feel responsible for the OP King and all, but
Its the godmodder.
Silence.
What?
The godmodder, Remember the last crossover event from Minecraftia?
I know who it is, but how could he be responsible?
How did you find this out?
I was going over the stuff from the timeline-snap in tvtropes.
That was a weird thing for sure...
There was a message written in there.
Silence again.
Okay then, you've got your clearance.
Do Sophia and X know about what you're planning to do?
Yes sir.
Fine. But if piono DID have a...
I know sir.
Good.
Go out there and report back when you find a way in.
The man at the desk pulls out a cube-looking object.
If we call you in though, you're leaving, with or without piono.

Eric's head hangs low.
After everything else...
And now this.
The universe he created.
Gone.
Out of nowhere, a massive paradox, completely destroying everything.
Nothing left of it.
The Author stands behind him, silent.
You couldn't do anything.
And what about you?
You are the second most powerful thing in the multiverse!
How could you not protect your own home!?
I tried.
Silence.
Sophia puts her hand on Eric's shoulder.
Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault.
I know it wasn't...
At least not directly...
I just can't...
No one speaks.
There is nothing left to do but watch as the storm of perfect destruction rips apart one of the biggest 'verses known to anyone.
There is nothing left he can do.
I'm stopping you here Eric.
The dream falls away again.
You said you would
And I've decided it is not helping any.
There is one memory you need to confront.
The more mistakes you dwell on, the less you'll want to face the event.
If you are going to do this, you need to face the dream all the way through.
No more dwelling on individual losses.
No more ignoring what happened.

The world burned.
This was the home of the IUPC.
Where it began.
The first meeting.
Locked into the alarm system
The weakest point of the IUPC, fortified to call all members from any point in time to aid in the IUPC's defense.
And for the first time ever, it was needed.
And it had still failed.
Instead of protecting the IUPC, the summoning had brought everyone to one place.
To prevent any survivors in the next timeline.
The entire area had been temporally locked.
And now he was hunting them down. One by one.
Sophia held her sniper rifle close to her chest, X floated in the air next to Eric.
They needed eyes, not weapons.
They'd had others, but a close shave with the enemy had killed them.
All that was left now was these three and the flames that still burned.
Removing all that was left to tell the sad story of what had happened.
They trekked down alleyways, halls, down stairs and up slopes.
Everywhere they went, the dead lay.
As he walked he saw familiar faces.
People he had known personally,
Or people who had just been from works of fiction he'd enjoyed,
Or people whose reputations he'd heard of.
Dead.
Cut down by the person Eric had trusted.
and created.
Eric, don't blame yourself.
Piono wouldn't do this.
I already told you, his mind shattered.
I should have said something.
You couldn't have known it would be this bad Eric.
Of course not, but that doesn't mean it isn't still my fault.
We don't even know if it was piono.
Who else could fit the bill?
There's no other Minecraftian with this much knowledge of the IUPC.
No one else who could possibly figure out how to do something like this.
And then they heard the laughter.
They round the corner, and standing over another corpse...
A child.
He was killing children.
How had he gotten them here?
This was not a man.
It was a monster.
A single heh,
sonofagun
RUN!!!
Eric turned and sprinted down the alleyway, and barely saw the hammer fly past, crushing Sophia's skull.
NO!!
He turned around to face the enemy.
Stop, Eric NO!
The energy rushed towards him.
And Eric's sword rushed in the way.
Blinding light, and then nothing.
When he awoke, there was nothing left.
He was lying on hard packed dirt.
The ruins of some ancient civilization.
The ones that would have been restored to the base he once knew.
With nothing to testify of the flames and screams that had danced this area.
nothing to tell of the monster.
The monster he had created.

Eric.
Eric, I'm...
The Author turns and leaves.
Eric cries, alone.
The last one left.
The only one to survive.
All of his friends.
Dead, because of him.
The crying would not stop until he woke up.
And his life would continue.
He would not let this stop him.
He would feel better for having let loose his feelings.
A little.
But he could not let it stop him.
He had to keep it from happening again.

BEGIN ASTRIAQUEST.

but... you're... de/\d. i... i thought you were de/\d.

The other troll is standing with her back to you, arms crossed. Her hair is in a tight ponytail, and she wears a T-shirt with an all too familiar tilde symbol on it. All too fresh in your mind. She slowly turns toward you, eyes blazing with pure malice and hands holding a war club.

that's right. i'm dead. just a part Of yOur dreamscape. yOu shOuld knOw. after all, yOu're the One whO killed me.

...no. no. th/\t w/\s... somebody else. it... i'm pr/\ctic/\lly /\ different person now. keylis, ple/\se...

Keylis laughs cynically. my, hOw yOu've changed, ms. silvOn. when we were friends, yOu'd never just stand back timidly from a challenge like that. but that dOesn't change anything. yOu can't just feel sOrry fOr what yOu did and make it all better.

Your clothes flicker into your God Tier outfit, and then back again as you struggle to keep the memory back. ple/\se... keylis, don't do /\nything r/\sh. we used to be such good friends...

Keylis's eyes narrow dangerously. yeah, i remember. but like i said, yOu can't just feel sOrry and make everything better. feeling sOrry dOesn't make me any less DEAD.

dO anything rash? yOu've already dOne sOmething rash. what was it? Oh, yeah. when yOu stabbed me thrOugh the heart tO stOp me from awaking my denizen. that was swell! such gOOd times! fun! hOOray! well, it's tOO late fOr yOu, astria. i think i shOuld repay yOu fOr the favOr you did me. hOw abOut i kill yOu and make it sO yOu'll leave this dreamscape with yOur bOdy intact and yOur mind a withered husk? sOunds fair. let's see if yOur stupid gOd tier immOrtality helps yOu then.

You are deeply hurt. So this is how she feels. You know there's no reasoning with her now. You draw your Unagi Blade and clutch it tightly. Your clothes flicker into a turquoise Sylph of Mind God Tier outfit. She lunges at you with the war club.



STRIFE.

I am going to assume that I cannot use the phone I was just gifted until the beginning of Act 4. Incidentally, I apologize for the wall of text.


I am also going to state that dimensional doors violate Nartheon's Fifth Law.

—

Very well. Is there a particular reason why we have made an interuniversal journey to GodCraft that has taken months, when I could have easily traversed this unexceptionally long distance in less than an enquier?

—

I prepare for the undoubtedly extensive lecture.

It is a tale to remind her of the sacrifice she must make. One serving to remind her of all of her people of the sacrifice made by long forgotten heroes in a discarded reality. It is of this sacrifice that the one referred to as the Fanindir died to speak the truth.

Once, in this very universe, you could say, Vetas was home to a mundane race. Elfkind had never known the corrupting influence in their evolution which led them to perpetual civil war, advancement, and forbidden research.

That is to say, they had never known me.

As was true of the studious world we know, there came to be six heroes on this planet, monotonously bereft of any knowledge of the technologies and majyyks common on its later incarnation. These heroes too had six ancestors whose fortunes were intertwined with theirs. These twelve figures were not of this world, but of the sky, delivered from a reality not yet conceived.

On the eve of their race's extinction, the six heroes would begin playing a game. They would make an admirable effort, but they would fail. Their civilization lacked the technological advancement to create weapons powerful enough, whether physical, social, or mental, to defeat the challenges this game offered, despite the rapid advancement of elven society into a more modern age in the last two centuries before its extinction. But their failure was more comprehensive, more systemic, than a result of simple inadequacy so common to young players of this game, though this was a factor. Though they could not recognize it for the bad omen it was, this session was not the one in which they had been spawned. Such is the symptom of a subtle glitch affecting certain sessions, an error designed to trigger an unfathomable cascade of misfortune throughout paradox space. This glitch is the calling card of the one I serve. It is the discreet, gentlemanly manner in which he reserves his place in a universe for later visitations, though he would not visit this universe until a drastic upheaval of the timeline occurred.

The heroes, understanding their defeat was absolute, sought advice from the mother of all monsters. She offered them a choice. The heroes could either accept their defeat along with the extinction of their race, and put no others at risk, or, she could show them a path to a second chance, to a reality in which the chosen heroes of their race would have the means to succeed with relative ease, and claim the reward. This reset would come at the cost of wiping the failed heroes from existence. They would live new lives from scratch, playing different roles in the reset reality, without memory of the game they played, or the choice they made.

The heroes chose to accept this bargain, and scratched their session. In doing so, they jumpstarted the reality in which the twelve figures of legend would together be created - and I as well - and then sent back in time to take our places in history. Though I was delivered well before history began, before the dawning of life on their planet. This time around, I would oversee its development, and thus fulfill the mother's promise of an intelligent, maddeningly prepared group of heroes. One that refused to rest until victory was secured.

The young twelve would again be scattered in two groups, six modern contemporaries, and six ancients. But in addition to loosing their memories of everything that happened before the scratch, there was another catch for the failed heroes. In the new reality, they would not serve as the heroes. They would mature to become the ancestors of the six they formerly regarded as theirs, and these six would be chosen for glory. These children would be the heroes to achieve victory, and have the reward within reach.

Of course, this promise was fulfilled to the letter, as you have seen. The entire bargain was executed without a single hitch, as those authorized by my master always are. There was, however, one minor anomaly that proved to be mission critical. One of the failed heroes, in his new life as an ancient on this now brutally studious planet, began to remember, to visualize. This is his story.

This is the story of the Fanindir.

Few ever knew the Fanindir's given name, assuming quite quite reasonably that he had none, and he came to be called the Fanindir, otherwise referred to as the Nameless. Unlike his peers distributed elsewhere in history, he was not cast from the heavens under a recognizable astrological sign. Alas, there were no zodiacal signs for one of his mutant mind. His genetic deviation from the brutal intellectual world, the main front of planetary advancement, made him a pariah, forcing him to wander the world alone for many loä, concealing his intellect to avoid certain execution and public ridicule.

But it may have also been due to his mutation that he began to have the visions. Spontaneous, lucid imagery of his world not under constant turmoil and fear of change (yet constant change) before its fall. He would never see the complete picture, nor fully understand his previous incarnation's role in promoting this fall, or know of my hand in it. But the visions also showed him what he needed to see. They held the promise of his people's true potential, beneath the ages of conditioned harshness and civil war. They held the spark of revolution.

In time, the visions gave purpose to his travels. He would envision heretical ideas no one else dare entertain, let alone risk discussing. He espoused the virtues of forgiveness, compassion, and civil equality among all bloodlines and mental states. He distributed his message intelligently, careful to only preach to those receptive, never attracting unwelcome attention. But his growing movement could go unnoticed by the authorities for only so long.

The philosophers and imperial officials were livid over the unprecedented heresy, and soon, a massive sectarian war followed, spreading across the planet, and throughout the galaxy, to every location elven civilization dwelt, astounding those on the other end of the galaxy. The conflict was lopsided, of course, with the far more loyal elves given full support of Her Imperial Radiance, the Alcari Dominion (the most major world power to date, staying the most powerful Neo-Aristolian state until the end of civilization four thousand loä later), the nobles, and the large colony upon the moon of Carnisca. Inevitably, the Fanindir would be captured, and when he was, it would not be a matter of whether he would be put to the irons, but how hot they would be if he failed to recant.

During his penance, it was said that the Fanindir's compassion for his people underwent a divine transformation, into limitless, burning rage. It burned hotter than the irons shackling him to his industrial flogging post, and darker than the elder beings imprisoned upon the moon of Ot'Taer several hundred millennia before. When he was finally slain, his anger and wisdom rang through the cosmos with his last breath. This imprecation was his final sermon, and somewhere encoded in its wavelengths was the truth in his teachings, waiting to reveal itself to any who would inherit his burden.

His teachings would also persist through his surviving disciples, but in hushed tones. His following would dwindle to an obscure cult facing persecution for millennia. After his execution, the body was burned.

The Fanindir preached that after he passed, another nameless (despite the fact that his successor would have a name) would come, heralding the end times for their planet. This second Fanindir would continue his work, and lead his people to glory beyond this realm, briefly masquerading as defeat. The followers kept his teachings alive for ages, even as the uproar surrounding the movement subsided. By modern times, the Fanindir's scripture was little more than ancient superstition all but forgotten. Hardly the anathema of old. But the followers had already decided in the shadows, bringing forth one of their number, and when the Second Fanindir finally came, he would have a guardian to raise him and a mark to his name, colored amethyst.

The Fanindir required a less conventional upbringing to reach maturity. As a young child, he landed in a cavern, within the largest city of the time, the gray industrial city of Alcara. Researchers would assuredly rope it off, and examine the meteor until he was found, and subjected to the brutal dissection common of things dropped from the sky. His odds for survival would have been remote, if not for a chance encounter. The Ontari belonged to the rare class assigned specifically to the nurturing and growth of the subterranean Fusion Bulb plant vital to elven reproduction, forbidden from ever seeing the surface. While on an errand, she found the researchers exiting the cavern for the enquier, fatigued after a period of long work. Curious, she trailed their footsteps to the crash site, finding the young Fanindir, immediately recognizing him as some sort of responsibility. The Ontari abandoned her duties to raise the child, and fled to the surface. In time, she would become the first of his inner circle. But not his closest.

Surrounding his rise to infamy and throughout the rebellion were the most trusted elites among the devoted. The famous Lord-Archmage Nartheon was a wizard of unrivaled knowledge and psychic ability, though he too suffered nightly premonitions of the past and future, who upon hearing the words of the Fanindir, was inspired to break free of the hard empirical slavery expected of one of his social class, and write tomes of unrivaled knowledge and speculation that were taught up to the moment of the race's annihilation by meteors, and even after.

The Ontari was to be killed along with him. But at the last moment, their Executioner (who will remain unnamed) inexplicably took pity on her, and allowed her to escape. She absconded with the only physical evidence of the Fanindir's existence. She hid in libraries for many loä, transcribing his scripture from memory on many tomes, most of which were burned in a large revolt against the Alcari Dominion. But she was no bereft of misfortune, and was left to rot in the dungeons of Her Radiance after being captured. She spent the rest of her life imprisoned. As for Nartheon, he was enlisted in a far worse, if more prestigious service.

He was forced to serve as the helmsman for Her Radiance's imperial fleet. Wizards of such high ability were commonly linked to the ships, and used to power every system with arcane majyyk, by threat of unfathomable pain and the imprisonment of all they cherished. Her Radiance's ship became the most powerful in the fleet by far, using his unusually high intellect to navigate. Together, Nartheon and Her Imperial Radiance explored the stars for thousands of loä, usually being the first to reach new worlds of new knowledge, and waging war on their defenders. She kept the multitudes of her empire complacent through threat of psychic annihilation by way of Nartheon's power. While her empire was vast, there were still other nations upon the planet, such as Aristolium, the remnants of a once great empire, or the state of Aeronedium.

The only threat to her absolute power of most of Vetas was unification through uprising, a possibility made remote by the constant civil war and infighting of states. Of course, she was the only living being powerful enough to keep the wards of the ancient Elendir Istar intact, causing the abominations of Ot'Taer to be bound to the moon. If broken, the creatures would descend upon Vetas, and eradicate all life, if given the time.

I like to think of them as the pets I gave to their race, at the dawning of their species' evolution. Like a sentience-warming gift. Again, it's just the sort of thing a good host does.

Of course, this end proved a fitting reward for the reckless research she condoned every enquier. During one of the experiments to create automatic skill in arcane majyyk on the fringes of the galaxy, she received word of the planet's devastation by meteors. The wards had shattered. The people were being slaughtered. The Fusion Bulbs had withered. The end times were upon her people. The tome containing the incantation needed to restore the wards was in a far-off star system, and was secretly a false copy; the secret of the wards died with Istar. She ordered Nartheon to pilot the ship faster than he ever had, and he did so, at great physical duress. Nartheon managed to allow the ship to travel thousands of light years in mere hours. He died in the arms of Her Radiance to overexertion, prophesying the end of all life.

WHAT!!???!??????!!!!!!!!!!?!

The tome may have been a great prize, but it could not restore life, to her lament. In that instant, everything she knew had fallen, systematically destroyed by the creatures of Ot'Taer.

She was forced to return on auxiliary power. Her ship now travels at near the speed of light, a pale shadow of its former velocity. It would take her another five hundred loä after the event to reach her destination. She should arrive any minute now. When she does, she will find nothing but ruins and dust. If she cared to look closer, she would find a city of leprechauns, a man on the moon, and an Archagent with a taste for vengeance. But whether she looks or not, one thing will find her with certainty.

A new employment opportunity.

Anyway, the last of the six ancestors arrived a bit late; five centuries after her descendant had come and gone. There weren't many to look after her, so she ended up in foster care. I remember it like it was yesterday. And for one who has as much time on his hands as I, it essentially was. I would raise the girl to be groomed for her calling. My lessons would emphasize obedience, mastery of arcane majyyks, and being sealed in a room with nothing but a pool cue or two. As you must have gathered by now, my employer will enter this universe quite soon, and I will relinquish my charge to him. She will serve him for an eternity to be specified, and has already done so. Though she may have had an extensive lifespan, she would not have lived forever, if not for my master's curse, one of conditional mortality, with the desired outcome contingent on her service. She would live forever. And she did not intend to stay that way.

While I am a weapon of subtlety and precision, she is an apparatus of blatant manipulation and terror. She worked with the beings known only as The Recondite Ones by the learned to increase the pressure for knowledge in the civilization she was of, and thus insure the heroes would be prepared to claim the ultimate reward. But then, her work was done, and she had a singular directive left to complete before her curse was lifted. A simple recruitment job, in terms understood by the psychotically genocidal, with no chance of refusal. She would extend the same offer she was forced into accepting to Her Radiance, and then pass in a spectacular duel. This would be her ultimate punishment, and so too would this be her reward.

And so, my dear, that is an inspiring tale of your people, and why you should feel rather privileged to be in the position for which I have groomed you meticulously. Are you not grateful? Yes, surely you are, and it warms the soft fluffy material in my chest to know this.

I stare at Scratch, evidently shaken by a particular portion of it.
Nartheon... dead? No, that's ridiculous. There... he CANNOT...
I hear a plinking sound from the room containing the wall.

((Huh. So the elves were sort of... Paradox Space going back and redoing the alpha timeline of the trolls up to a certain point? Huh.))

Observation Deck:
Didn't you hear the argument Jason had with Eric?
We tried.
This thing's equipped with a slip-space drive that with the current set-up of the Trifecta allows it to warp through universe.
Or even better, Eternis could have just smashed open the fourth wall we were standing on before the ship arrived.
That would have actually put us on Alternia, at least according to Eric.
Eric also has a device that normally would have allowed us to just go to Godcraft directly in a matter of seconds.
Problem is piono's blocked most of the avenues of travel.
Somehow he's gotten ahold of an ally capable of blocking pretty much all modes of travel.
So we had to take a round-about course straight through the void.
Which hasn't been easy because of a large number of temporal disruptions.
Or something like that.
But yeah, me and Deimos had the same question.
On the upside, at least we know each other a bit better before going in.
Because its gonna be one heck* of a mess when we get there.

Dreaming:
It was quiet.
Well then, I suppose this means you've finally come to terms with what happened?
Shouldn't you know?
You're the oracle.
I'm an oracle, not a psychologist.
I have no idea whether you're crying about your prophecy, a completely unrelated chain of tragedies or just romantic mishaps.
You knew it would happen.
Yes. I did.
I knew it would happen, and even then only barely took it better than you are.
You, at least, didn't have any children in that massacre.
...
Does this mean I'm still asleep?
Not still, I was waiting for you to stop crying, but you started waking up first.
So I'm asleep... again?
Yes.
So what do you need?
I haven't got much time left.
The Narrative has seemingly decided that whatever is coming next will go better if I'm not around to influence it.
What?!
Don't worry, you won't be alone.
I still have a good deal of time left.
But now that I know what's coming, there's something you need to learn.
Really?
The last two high-words.
Eric sits there, stunned.
I thought...
They were too dangerous to give out except under the most dangerous of circumstances?
They are.
I've been going through the prophecies of the oracles before me...
I think we're coming towards what's been specified as "The Climax."
And that means?
Depending on what happens, the Narrative gets really mad and decide to restart the multiverse from scratch, or just ends the cycle of oracles for a time.
I'm trying to direct things down the second.
My vision gets really fuzzy after my death, so I need to make sure you can direct things as you can.
Then what do the high-words do?
They are the keys to unlocking the power of rune-users.
...
But... how are those the most dangerous?
Think about it.
Any of the other high-words can be circumvented or outdone by being creative with your rune usage.
Rune magic is also the only magic that works under any circumstances.
Giving these two high-words out to the wrong people could potentially mean an army of evil rune-users.
Doesn't someone have to be at the center of a Void-prophecy to use runes?
Think about what's been going on in the multiverse recently.
Good point.
But why give them to me now?
You'll need help.
And the people you want to help won't always be close to you.
You'll need to train new rune-users if you want to win this war.
Okay then. Teach me.
After a short time:
Congratulations, you are now a rune-master.
That's it?
Yup.
I thought there would be...
More? Yeah, that's what I thought too.
Is there anything else?
Yes, two things you need to know immediately.
Wait.
You're never this straight-forward about the future.
Yeah, because there's never been so few possible ways to come out of the upcoming events alive.
...
Tell me then. Fast.
Okay. First: When you feel the pulse of energy one Godcraft, whatever you do, don't go to it.
You do that then no amount of timeline back-tracking will keep the multiverse intact.
Second: Astria is in trouble.
Wait, what?
On the Preston Cole?!
Yes, you passed into the area of effect of Paradox Space about ten minutes ago, Kalare is safe, he's still got the mental connection to Paradox Space, but Astria's decided to try and do what she can with what she's been giving, Paradox Space is trying to kill her.
She's stuck in a deadly dreamscape, don't jump in if you don't have to, but if Astria is about to die, don't. let her.
You need to go, now.
Okay.
When will we talk again?
When you bring your team to visit me.
You'll find the coordinates when its time.
Got it.
I'll see you then.

And Eric awoke.

((No, nothing of the sort. If you desire to think of my universe, of all things, as a result of what you refer to as Plot-Entities, you will not get anywhere in my mind, I am afraid. They affect me personally, and my world, but not metaphysical creations as a result of a variety of things, at least in my view. Whether or not a reality sustains similar characteristics of another does not immediately denote it as being an offshoot of some other, far more important universe, luckily.))


—

I didn't mean teleportation. Flying through the void is only a problem if you do not have the wards I can cast. Imagine what I could do, if I were not an ignorant fool. Thousands of light years, in hours.

—

I proceed to look down at the jade floor, thinking. The one person I knew would survive. Was dead all along? How? This is unprecedented. UTTER DEPRAVITY; SINGULAR MINDED FOOLISHNESS DESIGNED BY A FOUR-FOOT TALL BORE IN SUSPENDERS.
But, then, perhaps this was inevitable. He was not going to live forever.
Regardless, I look up once more, glancing at the girl. She appears to be extremely bored with the current situation. Though perhaps she is interested by something. Yes, almost definitely. What is she looking at? Peering over to the clock designating the end of conditional immortality, I see... something.

What is it? What are you looking at over there?
Ah, of course. The clock. I can see you have an exemplary eye for a fine timepiece. Your exceptional taste is certainly owed to a quality upbringing. Perhaps you wish to know the history of the clock, and how I came to posses it? Yes, I can see the sparkle of curiosity in both of your eyes. It's a marvelous tale, one almost as long as it is verbosely told. Where do I even begin...

What in the world is... that? An elf wielding the handle of a white broom knocks the clock over, and leaps over it, eyes emanating the occasional flicker of english energy. I can hear the forbidden word being muttered incessantly under his breath.

HEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHHEHEHEHHHHEHEHHEHEH

The elf proceeds to leap upon Scratch, and repeatedly smack him upon his shimmering cueball head with half of a broom. Scratch appears to have gone utterly limp, but still standing. Regardless, the maddened elf continues to beat the poor First Guardian, speaking as he does.

HEHHEHHEHEHHEHEHEHHEHEHEHHEHEHEHHEHEHHEHEHHEHEH

Unsure of what to do, I glance at what is most likely Navela's ancestor. She shrugs nonchalantly. As such, I take a few steps back. A fully repaired Disc 2 slides out of the slit in Scratch's puppet back, rolling onto the floor. I pick it up. Did he have this the entire time. Meh. I enjoyed the story. Anyhow, I continue to watch the insane being flail about upon Scratch, striking anything indiscriminately with the broom fragment. While this entity could almost assuredly slay me without a thought, he is distracted. With a thought, the elf is telekinetically dragged off of the First Guardian, and slams into the wall, clearly unconscious.

HEHHEHHEHEHEHEHHEHEHHEHHEHEHEHHEHEHEheheheh heh he-

Scratch flops to the floor. He does not look particularly damaged, or dead whatsoever. Just inanimate. I am nearly certain that he will come to, to say, eventually. And there will be some form of punishment in order for the young lady, probably. This is probably justifiable. I open the door nearby, and motion to the girl in a manner clearly meant to say 'you first.' Excitedly, she sprints through, immediately running down the halls of the apartment, towards the window I looked through earlier. I stride after her, grabbing her wrist just before she attempts to leap out, and undoubtedly be enslaved by Lord English.

Perhaps it would be wiser to come with me, or at least not directly out of that window.

JOHN: wait. the thief's vriska, right? man, was she crazy! i mean she was a good friend and all, but she could say some weird things sometimes.

Right you are, Heir. The Thief began to get contacted by a mysterious being from another universe. The being traveled throughout many different universes, and had a powerful presence in GodCraft. We shall refer to him as Piono for the time being.

JOHN: piono? what kind of a name is that! shouldn't it be piano or something? are you sure that's what his name is?

Don't question it. Regardless of his name, Piono had the potential for greatness. An aspiring multiversal conqueror, he used to be fighting for good. But now, he has his own agenda, and no one knows for sure what it is. But there is one thing that is known. He started messaging the Thief. And he had the one thing that the Thief and her allies needed the most: a plan.

Naturally, the Thief kept contacting Piono, eager to get out of their self-imposed prison. His plan was quite simple: he would travel to the trolls' session, and then attempt to get them out. For anyone else, it would have been a suicide mission. But in Piono's case, it was feasible. He had an immense amount of firepower at his disposal, including an entire fleet of airships. As the duo talked increasingly, the Thief became convinced that Piono was their best bet in digging themselves out of this mess. The Thief also had plans with GodCraft of her own, so she thought it would be best to learn more about the land through any sources she could.


So, the Thief decided to partner up with the Bard--

JOHN: you mean gamzee? man, that guy gave me the creeps. dave told me about him a little and said that he was just some harmless juggalo wannabe, but i think there was something more to him than that.

You would be correct in that assumption, Heir. The Bard ended up orchestrating the downfall of an intergalactic organization, but that comes slightly later. So, the Thief and the Bard organized a meeting with the rest of the trolls to explain Piono's contact and his subsequent plan to help them escape the Veil. However, the trolls found that they didn't trust Piono. The offer sounded too good to be true for most of them, and others worried he would just make things worse. Torn and confused on what to do next, the Thief and Bard retreated deeper into the network of the Veil, secluded from the rest of their companions.

The Bard and Thief went their separate ways afterwards. The Bard, through a series of convoluted events, ended up leaving the Veil entirely. Piono then began to contact the Bard himself, giving him a mission: to find the Chaos Heart, an artifact holding an immense dark power, and give it to Piono. The Bard successfully did so, wreaking havoc throughout an array of different universes and causing horrific events. But those are a story for another time, and since I won't be seeing you again, you'll have to hear it from someone else. I'm sure you will eventually.

JOHN: aww.

The Thief, meanwhile, was formulating a plan of her own, with Piono's help.


She created a Minecraft account and was instantly transported to GodCraft. She trekked throughout the landscape, going past millions and millions of blocks, taking in the pure unadulterated carnage. She traveled until she found a secluded valley, free of any intruders. She decided that this was the best place to set up her camp. She took the resources through her setting and began building up a town. After a time, she began recruiting players who passed by to join her faction. They brought resources of their own, and over time, changed the town into a city. The Thief had created a safe haven for all, free of any war, unharmed from the desolate strife of GodCraft.

Due to the nature of GodCraft, various faces from other universes began to make their way to the Thief's homestead as well. Now, the Thief had quite a following with her. She had an army to do her bidding. But it was not hers to command. Piono wanted to use her army as a force to ravage GodCraft, conquering most of its factions and creating a gigantic group to combat anyone foolish enough to stand in its way. Over time, the forces began constructing a gargantuan ship, designed to be their main base while traveling and as a good source of support. Dubbed the MC Freedom, their army was nearly complete, and control of GodCraft was almost in Piono's grasp. Until something happened.


The Thief began to get contacted by another being. This interdimensional traveler, dubbed Eric, was the creator of Piono. Even though Piono holds immense power, he started out as a simple Minecraft account. Eric was the one who created it. Unlike Piono, Eric still worked for the forces of good, and was part of a Peace Corps for a time.

JOHN: well, eric is a much better name. i don't have any problems with that.

Of course.

Eric began to talk to the Thief, attempting to convince her that Piono had gone off the deep end and was no longer a reliable source of help. Over the course of a few conversations, he managed to show her Piono's true colors. Once he succeeded, he told the Thief about a plan of his own to break the trolls out. Eric's plan was an evacuation. Due to his universe-jumping capabilities, he could transport himself into the trolls' session quite easily and then transport them anywhere else they wanted. And this time around, the Thief knew she had no problems convincing the trolls to her side, due to a special artifact Eric had implanted into the Veil due to a very special thing called time shenanigans.

However, Piono began to realize just who the Thief was talking to. In a last-ditch effort, he began scrambling Eric's conversations with the Thief, preventing them from communicating with each other. Although the two were able to talk periodically, they found their window of opportunity growing short and shorter. Shortly thereafter, a puzzling event put the final nail in their coffin. A dimension-manipulating jester named Dimentio began to impact the trolls' session as well.


Dimentio had created many paradox clones of himself due to creating an unresolved paradox of his own. One of these clones, named Paradox Dimentio, was contacted by Piono himself to join his party. This resulted in Paradox Dimentio recieving a time-traveling machine called the TARDIS, which he then used to jump across multiple universes, including GodCraft.

JOHN: how many universes are going to be involved in this whole thing?

Countless universes have been, currently are, and will be entangled in this web that is being spun by the Narrative. However, there are really only three that matter: yours, GodCraft's, and Earth's. This Earth is not the same as yours, with no Sburb being played. It is the Earth that created Minecraft, and GodCraft to an extent. Those three universes are the ones you were able to see through your terminal. Paradox Dimentio, while in GodCraft, unleashed an ultimate attack, ravaging all three of these universes with pure Chaos energy. The paradox waves traveled through your session and the trolls' session. You may remember this, but I don't blame you if your memory is a bit fuzzy. Paradoxes tend to do that to a person.

Regardless, the paradox waves completely scrambled the trolls' chat clients. They could no longer contact the kids, or each other. And the Thief found herself unable to contact Piono or Eric. When the trolls realized what had occurred, they scrambled to the Thief's hideout. If there was anyone who could tell them what was going on, it was her. The Thief informed them of Dimentio's attack, and Eric's plan to break them out. When the trolls asked how they could get proof of whether or not they could trust Eric, the Thief did what Eric told her to.

She went to the roof of the Veil and took the artifact: Eric's card from the Inter-Universal Peace Corps, or IUPC. Although it would cease to exist later on in the timeline, the card was proof enough that Eric was one to be trusted. Now all the trolls could do was wait. But the Thief had to set the next part of her plan in motion.




Back on GodCraft, the Thief began to mobilize her army, packed with some of the most elite Minecraft players in existence, to travel to the Battlefield. She had heard from Eric that there was going to be a massive battle occurring on the server at some point in the future, with Piono taking a part in it. Now that she knew what Piono was really planning, she plotted to take him down. And so, she set her course to GodCraft, with the MC Freedom trailing along the path she had progressed ages ago.

The ship itself is quite vulnerable. The outside is a facade of the Condesce's battleship, crashlanded after the Scratch blocked all Invasion forces from the server. However, it contains a massive array of firepower on every piece of paneling the ship possesses. So when the ship finally makes it to the Battlefield, it devastates Piono's forces from the depths of Mordor, even taking out its Monster, Angalacon the Black. Shortly afterwards, the ship's main hull falls to the ground, not built to withstand the massive recoil of the attack. However, a new hull lied beneath the facade, painted blue and gold. The true ship was revealed, and the fight began in earnest.


It was an intense battle, with casualties all around. But in the end, with the help of the players already in the fight, the Thief managed to subdue Piono, her army overpowering his. And as her army faded into dust, she realized that her mission was complete, for now. All she could do now was wait for Eric to come back. But shortly afterward, forces from Earth made their way into the server, attempting to invade and destroy it. One of the invaders created a fearsome Glitch, forcefully disconnecting the Thief from GodCraft and preventing her from going back on again. The Glitch also attempted to spread to this universe, but was subdued before that could happen.

Now, the trolls have regrouped and are waiting in the Veil. With no one to contact and no one to fight, the only thing the trolls can do is wait for their promised help to arrive. The Thief has become a sort of leader, since she was the one in contact with Eric. She can no longer influence events in GodCraft, but is now trying to influence events in her home universe as best as she can.


And that is really all there is to say on the matter.
JOHN: man. that was some story! looks like they interacted with godcraft a LOT more than we did. anyways, should i continue with my story now or...?
f course, Heir. Go right ahead. If you remember where you left off, of course.
JOHN: heheh. anyway...
JOHN: the trolls pretty much stopped contacting us at this point. they talked about how the glitchiness was getting too unstable, and i guess dimentio or whoever pushed them to the edge of no return!
JOHN: but it was at this point that someone else would step in to contact us.
JOHN: you.
JOHN: although you were infuriatingly stubborn and wouldn't reveal certain pieces of information, you were our information past the events of jack's uprising.
JOHN: you filled the void the trolls left, although you would never answer the biggest question of all: why our session was becoming glitched.
JOHN: i guess you answered that now, though.
JOHN: so we played through the session a bit, and upon returning to my land from the terminal, i got my server copy of the game! which meant i could connect to jade.


JOHN: becquerel ended up saving jade, like we talked about. i think she talked to a troll or two, and then i connected to her! i set up her equipment so we could enter the game. it was funny, there was no bomb heading to her house. so we thought we had all the time in the world to get her in the game! but then, something happened.


JOHN: the volcano near jade's house erupted!
JOHN: magma and lava spewed everywhere, setting her landscape on fire! you were the one who gave us the idea to prototype jade's kernelsprite with something dumb, but we were so focused on that that we hadn't even paid attention to the volcano!
JOHN: in my haste, i dropped the thing i was going to prototype. and then becquerel came in and prototyped... himself.
JOHN: and because i had talked with you, and i knew about becquerel's power, i realized that this was the absolute worst thing we could have ever done.
JOHN: jack was immediately prototyped with becquerel's powers and become... bec noir. now he would be unstoppable!
I did warn you to prototype with something that would hinder your enemies. Not that it worked, of course. Now that Jack had the unstoppable reach of a First Guardian like myself, you had, in effect, created an unbeatable boss. This was supposed to happen in the alpha timeline too, and was what led to your eventual escape from the session. The only way you could hope to defeat Jack was by disabling his source of power.
JOHN: oh yeah! what was that again, the green sun?
Yes. Destroy that, and you would kill Jack. Of course, there's one problem: you would kill me as well. Although you recognize my deeds as evil, I am your informant and without me, you would get no information about the game.
JOHN: right. so you have plot armor. anyway, jade entered right after that.
JOHN: and that pretty much completed our session chain.
Indeed.
JOHN: yep! all of us were in the game now! heh heh... wait a minute. scratch. didn't you tell me all the bombs would detonate when all of us had entered the game?
I did say that, didn't I? Yes, it is true. When the Witch entered your game, every bomb that landed on your planet detonated. Although there were many smaller ones, the ones that mattered were four big ones, all activated upon each person's respective entry.
JOHN: but... no bomb landed at jade's house!
Oh, one did. But years in the past. In fact, millions of years in the past. Do you recall the Frog Temple situated near the Witch's tower? The one that Becquerel would never let the Witch enter? That should have entered your planet by means of the Reckoning. However, there is no Reckoning, and yet it is still here. Why then, do you think this happened?
JOHN: ...


It was I who designed those bombs. Because there was no Reckoning, I was forced to think of an alternative way to fulfill my Employer's wish. So, I created bombs that would impact Earth at around the time of your session. I held one back, however. The one fated to head to the Witch. I sent that to Earth 413,000,000 years in the past, concealed inside the Frog Temple. It would detonate along with the others when the Witch entered. And they all did, of course.
However, the bombs did not necessarily explode. They did not burst into a massive fireball and cut through the earth. The Employer had something much more deadly in mind. When the bombs all "exploded", they released something through the air. Every single one of the hundreds of thousands of bombs on Earth deployed the Red Miles.


Earth was completely destroyed.
JOHN: so... you were the one who destroyed earth.
JOHN: and this time, you weren't even indirectly responsible. you were the cause! seriously, scratch??
Oh, please. You and I both know that your planet was consigned to oblivion the moment you started this game. I could not stand by while Earth was not destroyed by the game meant to destroy it. So I improvised. Now go on and continue your story, Heir.
JOHN: fine. after all of us had entered, you started talking to all of us. i ended up heading further into my land and you filled me in on the true nature of denizens. you also told me about the god tiers.
JOHN: so i went up to my quest bed and, as luck would have it, jack stabbed me! oh boy! that was so fun!
JOHN: NOT.
JOHN: at least i got these awesome windy powers out of it, which are still proving useful to this day.
JOHN: so because i was at the battlefield at this point, i pretty much wandered around and explored. because jade had entered, the battlefield was renewed and there was this weird escher-like ring floating around it. i used by windy powers to take me and this little chess guy on a ride throughout the entire battlefield. man was that fun!
I am sure it was very fun. You got to go on a miniature crusade with the leader of the rebellion that ended up killing hundreds of soldiers in the Prospitian and Dersite armies. All that blood rested on his hands.
JOHN: ...wait. that was the guy who organized the rebellion against the black king??? oh man! he's practically a celebrity!
JOHN: he didn't seem all that upset though. but... whatever.
JOHN: oh, and another thing i forgot. jade's volcano didn't go with her when she entered.
JOHN: and it turned out that thing was crucial to us winning the game.
JOHN: so that's just another thing we can add to the list of things that screwed us over.


JOHN: meanwhile, rose had camped out in lohac. she was using crystal balls to spy on things, and it was pretty weird. i guess she was trying to find a way to look through the glitchy turbulence in our session. it pretty much cemented her role as a seer, actually, so that worked out!
JOHN: i thought she was acting a bit witchy, though. she seemed to be using occult things.
Oh, that was technically my doing as well.
JOHN: what.
I was talking with the Seer predominantly through that time period. I let her gain cognizance of places such as the Furthest Ring, and beings such as the Outer Gods. I told her some things about my deeds, just enough to let her doubt my true morality. And then, when I convinced her to ask her little oracle to see if I was evil or not, it corrupted her.
JOHN: yeah. she went grimdark. and i am pretty sure that at this time, jack killed both of our parents. so that didn't help.
Consumed by revenge, she would fly up towards Skaia and try to find Jack. You and her would cross paths not long after.
JOHN: right. she was in this really creepy castle. i found her and then we went up to look for jack, but he was there waiting for us. before i could do so much as attack, he killed me. a second time!
JOHN: and i... don't really remember what happened in between that and when i was revived. when i came to, rose and jack were gone.
Her and Jack would proceed to engage in a proper strife. Now consumed by rage with your death, her anger fueled her darkness. However, it would not be enough, and, as you would see soon afterwards, the Seer would fall to your feet. Dead, of course. Jack would then leave the castle to depart for the location of WV's rebellion. He would seek out the Courtyard Droll, and the scepter that had been entrusted to him. When he found the Droll, the scepter was gone. And yet, he still had news for Jack.
He told him that someone was seeking his services. Someone planned to launch an assault on an entire other universe, and they needed the power of another First Guardian to help out. Jack proceeded to leave the session entirely. In the alpha timeline, Jack would have stayed until your session's end. It is in this way that your timeline is merciful: the trolls' session would be spared the Slayer's wrath. Jack would ultimately join the Employer and I in our Invasion.
JOHN: so. i guess that counts as a GOOD thing? for us, at least. now i know where jack went, at least.
JOHN: once i saw rose had died, you contacted me and i... revived her. ick. i'm still a bit weirded out by that, but whatever! that ended up reviving rose as her dreamself, and i am pretty sure she awakened dave's dreamself because of that!
JOHN: so all four of us had regrouped, and with jack gone, we were pretty much stuck with no goal. our session was completely unwinnable, but we decided to play anyway. and then, it happened.


JOHN: the glitchy turbulence obscured nearly every part of our session at this point, but just like that, it all disappeared. we all wondered what had happened, so we just decided to keep building up our gates and possibly reach our denizens. none of us had managed to build up all seven gates.
JOHN: you remained coy on what had happened to the glitch, so none of us had any idea that it was transferred to the gates themselves! we all took them, but its pure aura of corruption ripped us all straight from our session...
JOHN: ...and took us all into godcraft.


JOHN: i had spawned in some plains, with no other people around. i didn't have any idea what minecraft was, and i'm not even sure if it actually exists! i guess i was in the future too?
JOHN: anyway, some monsters got me the first few times i was alive, but i quickly realized there was an instant respawn feature, so i wasn't too worried. i eventually explored the entirely landscape, and after heading through a large sea, i found an island shrouded in jungle.
JOHN: i headed there, and found an abandoned temple.
Monolithium, of course. The resting spot of the Black Monolith. An important place to the civilization of the Void, no doubt. That is, until it was destroyed. But you're getting to that, I see. Continue.
JOHN: i used my windy powers and hammers to get through the temple, and i talked on pesterchum while doing so.
JOHN: i quickly realized that rose, dave, and jade were all on the server too, at greatly different places than i was. there was no way we could meet up, so we resolved to work separately.
JOHN: mostly thanks to rose's seeing powers and dave's time stuff, we found out that there was a meteor heading for the server. i realized it too, since i had seen it in the terminal in the veil!
JOHN: i also talked to some of the players of the game who all had pesterchum accounts too.
JOHN: they told me that they were trapped in the server as well, and had to fight someone to survive.
JOHN: i told them about the meteor, and the co-ordinates of my location near the temple. that was where rose had figured out the meteor would eventually land.


JOHN: eventually i got to the center of the temple and found the black monolith. i tried interacting with it, but found it had a seal! i tried using my most powerful gear to break it, but i couldn't even make a dent in it! then the players showed up. i guess they used my co-ordinates and found me.
JOHN: we all tried to break the monolith, but then a guy broke a hole in the chamber!
JOHN: he had all these superpowered versions of the monsters i fought to get the temple, and some of them were robots! he had a giant tank, and legions of soldiers! i figured this was the guy the players had to be fighting...
JOHN: he shattered the seal in one strike.
JOHN: but before he could fully interact with the monolith, the meteor came crashing down. i guess none of them got the memo that they were right in its path??
JOHN: the temple was destroyed. but thanks to the power of plot armor, everyone else survived.
JOHN: the monolith, which granted the user what it wanted most, made the guy everyone was fighting have a copy of himself, making two of him! i later learned he was the godmodder. a weird name, i guess. not as bad as piono, though!
JOHN: i ended up fighting against him, and rose, dave, and jade all assembled with me! together, we used awesome attacks to wipe out portions of his fleet. eventually, the thing keeping us on the server was broken, and we ascended back to the game.


JOHN: but right when we came back, something happened again. dave's sprite became corrupted and got completely glitched out!
Mr. Strider's sprite was anomalous, yes. Having an entire prototyping be shunted out of it certainly did not help manners much. This, and the corruption prevalent throughout your session are the factors that led to the explosion of the sprite.
JOHN: yeah. dave's sprite exploded and killed him. thankfully, i knew about the god tiering process, and i brought dave to his quest bed where he became the knight of time! now he was at skaia, but he came back to lohac pretty quickly. he told me he was going to give up using time travel for his own reasons.
Sadly, the Knight did not wish to use his powers to their full extent, because, in essence, he did not like having to be so precise and do exactly what is necessary with his time powers. Perhaps it came has a burden to him.
JOHN: after that, jade recovered her dream self and prototyped it. i think she got really upset from being wrenched from whatever place she died, but it doesn't matter that much. she ended up heading to skaia, along with my sprite and rose's.
JOHN: all of us saw a giant light shine from skaia. none of us knew what it was, not even rose!
JOHN: and speaking of rose, she told me that she was planning to go god tier herself.
I was the one who convinced her, by the way. I told her of the Quest Crypt buried in the planet of Derse, which could be used as a last resort for ascending if you had only one "life". She flew to Derse and stood on her Crypt, waiting for the inevitable. And it came shortly after she ascended.


The Employer entered your session and destroyed Derse in one massive shot, killing the Seer instantly. She rose up to match her title. He then flew to your planet and the Witch's, the Land of Frost and Frogs, and collided them together, creating a resounding shockwave. The Witch was killed instantly. You were not. The wreckage of your planets was strewn throughout your Incipisphere.
JOHN: oh god... i remember that. as cool as it looked, it was seriously bad!
JOHN: none of us knew who the employer was at the time, and you remained as coy as ever on the subject.
JOHN: i managed to barely escape the collision of the planets, but dave recovered jade's body and took it to her quest bed. she went god tier too!
And thus completed the cycle. The Heir of Breath, Seer of Light, Knight of Time, and Witch of Space. Together they would Ascend. And you did, of course. The Witch would appear on Skaia, and the Seer would appear admist the wreckage of Derse. The Employer would travel to Skaia, corrupting it with his essence. The four of you would follow.
JOHN: yeah... together, all four of us went to skaia! actually, it was jade who zapped us all to skaia, but whatever. we saw that the black monolith was on skaia, probably the source of the light we saw! the employer was headed right for it.
JOHN: so, we did the only thing we could do: we strifed the employer.


Although this was probably more fruitless a task than engaging Jack Noir in Strife, the combined power of you and the Monolith was enough to at least push back the Employer. If he was to obtain the Monolith, his wish would be so devastating, all of your lives would be snuffed out in an instant, and all of your deaths Heroic.
JOHN: the forces of us all were enough to defend the monolith until it mysteriously left again. the employer left along with it! we had beaten another boss in an unbeatable game.
JOHN: now without a goal again, we all went back to our houses, where the glitchiness had spread to skaia, lowas, and lofaf. our denizens were still intact, so everyone focused on leveling up enough to beat them.
JOHN: you talked to us in the meantime, and you told me specifically that our session would be over soon, and to tell me to come talk to you on the beat mesa. so here i am. and now we're finally caught up to the present day.


JOHN: wow... so. i still don't see what that accomplished.
JOHN: other than reinforcing how much of a failure our session is.
That was the main thing this accomplished. Now that you can see how bad your situation is, I can offer you relief: the Scratch.
JOHN: alright. how does it work?
All you need is a set of Quills, sharp enough to Scratch the Beat Mesa we are standing on across its full diameter. Doing this will release an excess amount of temporal energy that will, normally, reset your game under different conditions.
JOHN: ...so. this is a reset button?
It has the potential to act as one. In a successful Scratch, our session will be changed, and its players will be different. Your universe will be rewritten, and you will grow up in another life with no memory of this one. You will be, in effect, lost to oblivion.
JOHN: ...oh. not so sure i like it then!
All you have to do is find a way to escape your session so that you are not destroyed along with it. If you can do that, I can guarantee you will survive the Scratch and find something else to do with your lives.
JOHN: well, alright then. if it can fix this mess, then i'll do it. what to do i need?
JOHN: wait, you said that already. i need some quills, right? what quills?
The Quills of Echidna. You will have to recover them from the Witch's forgotten planet, and also take the Seer's Strife Specibus. Inform them all of your plan to Scratch this session, and you will find a way to escape. I promise you that.
JOHN: i guess that settles that, then. i'm not so sure i should say this, but...
JOHN: thanks, scratch. for everything.
You're welcome, Heir. And by the way, I meant what I said earlier. This will be the last time you see me. Goodbye.

> END OF INTERMISSION 3

---

Act 4 begins tomorrow. Do not post normally, storypost or regular post, until I officially begin the Act. Thanks to everyone who participated in this Intermission, and as always, stay tuned.

I hope you are ready for the trials ahead.

Quote from TheLordErelye»

I am going to assume that I cannot use the phone I was just gifted until the beginning of Act 4. Incidentally, I apologize for the wall of text.


I am also going to state that dimensional doors violate Nartheon's Fifth Law.

They kind of still exist. So it's a question of whether the law is wrong or whether the universe is wrong. I'm betting on the law.