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Child of Abomination

    • 220 posts
    September 23, 2017 7:43 AM PDT

    A peculiar notion it is to sense that something is simply unknowable.  The force of one's existence can be captured and projected as Will.  And that Will is bound to seemingly nothing.  It vibrates from the center of nothing in a place so far and away that even the Light itself cannot reach it, and so close it can exist between the smallest particle and its nearest neighbor like an ocean of nothing.

    What is a particle again, and how does it have neighbors?

    Oh never-mind child.  That is not important, or worth explaining to anyone not obsessed with uncovering the nature of reality.  It was a passing phase of my brief youth and the resources required to learn more would bankrupt the wealthiest of Kingdoms.  And the thought of training thousands of students... a nightmare worse than your mother when you set her favorite shoes on fire.  I warned you not to use Fire spells in the house.  Just light the candle with your hand and imagine the spell.  You do not have to cast to practice.  Your mind is strong enough to create a new reality just for you.

    I know that.  I did it on purpose.  She has too many shoes.

    Child you have to understand your mother is not like you and I.  She loved those shoes.  It is unfair of you to use her attachments against her when you have been through training and she has not.  You know this is true.  Your Will is not a toy for your amusement.  Bring me that book on portals with the braided bindings, set it here on the table.

    Yes Master.  But she has far too many shoes.  Those were simply the most flammable.

    Must you always repay my wisdom with snark?  I could die at any moment and you would have me spend these twilight moments calming your mother down rather than training you?

    Sorry Master, she just, is not like me, or like anything I aspire to be.  I wish she was more than she is.  I wish she would make better choices.

    If she did you would not exist.  A poor choice on a tough night was all that stood between this conversation happening, or you never being born.  But you know this already.  Why are you lashing out now of all times?  Place it here, thank you child.

    What is this book supposed to teach me Master?  I know portal magic already.

    This is a new idea I've just had as we speak.  A way to store anything with portal magic, no matter how massive, or in how great a number.

    I can already summon a bag of holding.  I can only summon a small one.  But I saw Varai summon a bag of holding so large it hid an entire library full of bookshelves.

    Indeed no small feat but imagine if that bag of holding could be locked with a key no thief could ever break?  Imagine if that lock were so strong not even a God of Locked things itself could break it?  Not certain there is no God of locked things.  But should there have been or might there be some time in the future, they would be powerless to...

    Yes Master, I believe I am starting to understand how strong this lock is.

    Petulant child.  As I was saying before you interrupted me.  A bag of holding is just a dimensional portal.  A simple trick of time and space.  You move one object from this time and space, to another time and space you can reach again through the portal.  Any place will do, but most prefer to project their things into a near Void region of reality where time and space have expanded much farther than they are here, so possible interactions are limited.  This prevents accidentally sharing a time and space with others for the most part.  Rare overlaps have been known to occur, and if you know the mind of the owner well enough, you can locate and discover their bag of holding contents with your own new bag of holding.

    So you can just imagine the same corner of reality used to enchant the bag?  And how exactly does time and space get bigger?

    Exactly. If you can know the mind of whoever enchanted the bag you can enchanter your own bag with the same information.  And expansion is a whole other theory we can explore another time.  Just trust me when I tell you that everything that makes up reality as we can observe it, seems to be growing.

    That does not sound like a very good lock will matter much at all then?  Or have a missed something?

    No you have accurately inferred the concept with no help from your Master whatsoever.

    Sorry Master, thank you for including me in your research.

    Ah yes... here is the formula.  Now if no place can truly be hidden, what if instead, we choose a place that is unknowable, even for Gods.  Even to Light itself.  Nothing can reach this place or ever know of this place, because it is not a place.  It is everything, everywhere all at once.

    You have lost me Master.

    There is no way to know what will happen, as none who lived or ever told their tales have attempted what I, what we are about to attempt.  You are no more lost than I am.  And I think that is why this will work.  Now I simply need to create the portal and supply it with enough Will to sustain it.  And you can help child.  I need you to follow this modified portal formula and combine your Will with my own.  Between us this should take only a few minutes.  Follow along exactly with me.  Focus on the formula until I signal, and we will enchant the bag together.  Be sure to focus only on the bag once the spell is cast.  We don't need a window, or a closet, to a new infinite dimension consuming all of reality in a flash of roaring Light do we?

    WHAT?!?!

    I am just exaggerating child, for a laugh.  The chances of that happening are so small they are hardly worth mentioning.  Remember focus, even after the spell has finished.

    Ok Master if you are certain, you can count on me.  I think...

    I know I can.  You are the best student I could have asked for.  You will surpass me with ease and haste.  Now let us touch infinity and see who blinks first.  Shall we?

    Yes Master!

    If only those words could have been chosen more carefully.  If only that portal beyond the foam of reality's vast oceans had never been open.  If only.

    It would be several weeks before a passing merchant would notice the smell and wander toward that small hamlet up the road she remembered visiting in her youth.  It smelled as if someone had lost livestock to disease.  A common problem in her homeland.  She was sure some assistance could be offered and maybe she could turn a few coins over in the process.  Her spirits could not have been higher, or her pleasant daydream more completely shattered when her gaze met the source of that terrible smell.

    A mangled pile of what appeared at first glance to be mutilated livestock, turned out to be far more diverse a spectacle indeed.  Among the dismembered bits and pieces of every imaginable wild creature within a mile of this area, were the barely recognizable corpses of this once quiet and peaceful hamlet.  All that remained of the sweet old man she'd met in her youth was that gnarled oak cane he carried covered in old blood and broken nearly in half and posed as some kind of horrific meat sculpture.  Just enough to recognize him for certain among the dead.

    As she began purging herself of the burden carried through several snacks and a heavy breakfast, it failed to occur to her that those responsible might still be around.  She was equally unaware as a disheveled young woman approached her silently with an outstretched hand to hold back her hair in comfort and warm greetings, despite the gruesome scene all around them.  Her scream was so loud it seemed to pierce the sky like a bolt of energy.

    Her abrupt new acquaintance did not seem the slightest bit alarmed or concerned with the heart attack she most certainly just caused.  And when she opened her mouth to speak, it became abundantly clear what had happened.  This poor girl had born witness to this event, and her mind was shattered by it.

     

    Hi beautiful lady my name is Kara, do you want to play with me?

    Oh hi there sweetheart, Kara you say?  It is nice to meet you.  I would love to play with you, but do you think we can go play over here in the meadow away from town.  So we don't get in anyone's way?

    That is the best idea I have heard forever.  Mom! I am going to play for a little while with my new friend, I will be back before nightfall I promise!  Ok I am ready let's go.

    After you sweetheart.  I am right behind you.
       

    After some time running through the meadow and exploring the flowers for insects to play with and finding none, the infectious laughter and exuberance of this poor young girl had all but consumed the day.  She had dozed off while they lay beneath a large old shade tree  at the edge of the meadow.  The horrors within walking distance had all but vanished from her mind.  If not for the lack of any bugs or animals, this place would be simply perfect.  A place anyone could see themselves staying forever.  But that sense of lifelessness, it had become tangible as the shadows began to lengthen.   

    And once the child began to dream, the nightmare of reality came back to life.  Her body gently twitching with a dream her face suggested was pleasant and full of love, set her new companion at ease for the moment.  Although that moment would not last, it would be a fond final memory.  Off in the distance, a sound like nothing she had ever heard came roaring across the meadow.  Directly from the center of that hamlet.  A sound like the screeching death cry from thousands of small animals.

     

    Mother sounds mad.  Did I sleep long?  I was having such a nice dream.  Mother and the others were all putting on a play for me.  Even Master joined in and he never joins in.  It was the best dream.

    I don't think that was your mother, child.  We need to run.  Right now.

    Oh there is no point in running.  Mother is much faster than we are.  She will just be even more mad when she catches us.  We should just head back and hope she lets us have dinner.  It will be ok I promise.  Maybe we will even get to see the show I dreamed about.  Sometimes I have dreams that come true you know.  Oh look here's mother now.

    When she awoke her head was aching from a blow she never saw coming, and she was seated on a bench next to the young woman from before.  It had gotten completely dark since, and it took a moment for her to realize where she was and what was happening.  She had returned to the village of nightmare corpse art, thankfully this time it was too dark to make out the details.  One stark detail that was apparent immediately, however, was that the large sculpture made of parts with the old man's cane in it, was missing. 

    She was not left to ponder long however, as the show was about to begin.

    Can you see ok from here?  Should we move closer?  Oh wait, I forgot to cast the spell on you didn't I?  Here you go.  Look!  I told you my dreams come true sometimes didn't I?

       

    Her screaming went completely unnoticed by the child-like woman seated close enough to exchange breath.  She must have been heard in the next town it was so loud.  She screamed for what seemed like all night, but what was more like an hour or so.  She had received a wound to her head that was far too severe to survive without healing magic.  And the last vision of reality she would know, is an image of that young woman, lovingly embracing the animated flesh golem called Mother, that she created from the dismembered parts of her friends and family, and somehow brought back to life.

     

    How can you even watch what the spirits show without wretching.  There is no way something like that could ever happen on Terminus.  Even the descended Gods relinquish their power over death.  No mere student could ever conquer death, or make puppets with corpses.  That is unthinkable magic.

    Something here does not make sense.  We know they were practicing a simple portal spell.  But a portal to where?  And what killed all these people if not the deranged student?  Could all of these shades be manipulated in some way to try and hide the truth I wonder?  It seems so real but unbelievable.  We should report this immediately.

    Have you ever not been able to see a section of time when you are searching?  This is strange.  No matter where I look there seems to be a different fold of reality here.  Something very powerful would have to have happened here for this to be the case.  Something no one meant for others to witness.  It is like even the spirits were scoured away for a brief moment in time, and there was nothing left to witness what happened.  And have you ever felt so cold?

    That is death itself casting its immortal gaze upon us.  We need to make haste.  The Historians must know of this.  Take this scroll and head South to the nearest Hall of Records.  I will head West to the next.  I must warn you my friend, I have just been shown a vision where only one of us survives this errand.  We are not alone in this deserted hamlet.  Something stirs in the shadows.  We must run. NOW!  Do not look back no matter what you hear!  GO!

    At once Master.  Be safe.

     

    If it were not for his master's quick thinking, none would ever have learned of the Grimoire, or its unknowable hiding place.  For as his vision predicted, his Master's corpse was found by other guild members on their way to the Western Hall.  Only one of them was able to deliver the information to the Historians.  If not for his master's death, it would have been an age before the Grimoire's existence was confirmed.  Abominations of death, and dancing corpse magic were no longer theories.  Dark Purpose is no longer an unproven theory to explain the undead plague.  If the Grimoire is on the other end of that Unknowable portal, the Darkness can never be defeated until someone with enough Will to possess the book, is tasked with retrieving it.  Or so they were meant to believe...


    This post was edited by ZennExile at September 23, 2017 11:14 AM PDT
    • 624 posts
    September 23, 2017 8:32 AM PDT

    Once again, thank you for your tale.  The imaginative history of the dark arts you've created is both entertaining and disturbing.

    Molto bene!

    • 220 posts
    September 23, 2017 11:31 AM PDT

    Thanks for reading!

    These are just empty story boards so far.  The real work doesn't start until I re-read it to find all my mistakes, and realize as I do how terrible the whole thing was, then re-write half of it only to realize I made it worse, then change it back again.  And then do that again like 9 more times.


    This post was edited by ZennExile at September 23, 2017 11:34 AM PDT
    • 220 posts
    September 30, 2017 9:28 PM PDT

    If there was a rabbit hole in wonderland, Alice would be playing with a Maternal Corpse-Thing... 

    This is why I have a RATIONAL Fear in Portals!