SIMULTANEOUS

[Thomas McTavish]

((OOC: https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/simultaneous.32830/))

And so, the Quest for Godhood begins.
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Requiem Dominus Mortalis.

That is your name isn't it? Or, at least, the name of some part of you? The part not consumed by your animalistic nature? The part that understands me? I've watched you through the window, Requiem. I know what it is you seek. I can help you achieve it. All you must do is follow my commands. In this white room, there is a door make of Oak. What fine craftsman ship and sturdy wood, yes? Enter that portal. There will be a lush Forestland. The indigenous population of wild animals, however, do not take kindly to intrusion. They will try to kill you. Dispatch them as you may.

In the middle of the Forestland, there will be an idol, made of gold, weathered by time. Call to me once you have found it.

Oak Door

The Idol

Animals of the Forestland

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I believe this is the woman you were looking for, Mr. Trig?

This Geo girl, the monster maker? Well, here you are, together at last. Now that that goal is aside, let us begin our quest. Look to your left. The door, made of steel, do you see it? Standing in the middle of nowhere? Open it, and step through, along with your companion. Inside, you will find a maze. You must navigate this maze, and get to the other side. If you cannot make it to the other side, you will not be able to progress. Getting through may take several hours to several days. Once you get to the door on the other side, call to me. I will guide you on.

Steel Door

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Come along now, Angel. We have much to do.

The door in front of you, made of stained glass, go through it. Inside, there will be a monster, and inside his heart is the key to the next door. You must kill the monster and retrieve the key. It will be a difficult battle, one not easily won. I do not doubt you will succeed, but I do doubt you will kill it without being harmed. Do your best.

Stained Glass Door

Jonathan as revealed to Angel

The Monster

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Now Nima, if you are to achieve Simultaneous and relieve your pain, you must do as I say.


All of you must cooperate together to fulfill the tasks I appoint you, or you will be locked in eternal agony. We are going to travel the Multiverse. I will be your guide, and you my follower. If you look behind you, there is a door of obsidian. Go through it as you wish. Inside is a blank white room, with a single light hanging from overhead. There is no door seen. You must learn to reach out with your souls and find what you cannot see. Only once you have located the door, may you advance.

Obsidian Door

 

[Requiem]

The Voice, Jonathan, woke a part of the eternal wanderer. The part of him that sought the answers, the part of him that was still alive. The instructions were odd. But as Requiem approached the door, The Chaos inside him settled, and for the first time in a long time, he was in full control of himself. The door was quite elegantly designed, simple, but beautiful. Still, everything needed change now and again. Requiem placed his palm flat on the door, and felt the wood change and twist underneath his hand. When he removed it, the door was changed. Elaborate carvings and designs traced their way throughout the hard wood, causing Requiem to smile.

The Chaos remained silent. This alone was enough to keep him moving forward. If he could gain control of the world without losing himself to The Chaos, then following this Jonathan's instruction was a small price to pay. He would listen. He would learn. Eventually, he would understand.

Slowly Requiem stretched out his arm towards the door, and pulled it open. Behind the door was the forest as described. He did not know what to expect as he stepped through, but he knew he would have to be prepared. He approached a nearby tree and pulled loose a chunk of bark which he quickly began moulding into an a suit of protective armour. He changed it's qualities to make it harder, more durable, and yet considerably lighter than anything of it's toughness would allow. He then created a gun out of wood as well. It wasn't a top quality weapon, but he didn't have the patience to change it too much. Details were difficult, and slow work, and he desired to finish out the job of finding this statue. He did at least have the forethought to make the weapon silent. Armed and defended, Requiem began walking.

The forest itself was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, the plant life alone was beautiful. Thankfully he'd yet to come across any of the native fauna, and he hoped it remained that way, although he expected that with the way the voice spoke, a meeting with them would be unavoidable, and so Requiem made sure to keep himself prepared. He headed in what he could only assume was the direction he was supposed to be going, although without any knowledge of the area, it's laws, or anything else about it, he doubted he'd have any idea and would simply be left wandering the forest blindly until he found it.

As he walked, he felt the nagging touch of Chaos in the back of his mind. Was he feeling residual effects of the changing he'd done to his present equipment? He pondered, trying to ignore The Chaos as well as he could. In his desire to ignore it though, he failed to notice the creature stalking him. The beast pounced, sending Requiem to the ground hard, throwing the 'gun' out of his hand, leaving him unarmed. The creature began swiping at him with it's forepaws, leaving shallow gashes in the 'wood' armour that he'd created. If he didn't do something soon though, it would be through and he would be dead.

Reacting on instinct, he reached out and placed his hand on the creatures side. It began turning to stone rapidly. The creature recoiled in pain as it's body changed, locking up. In fear the creature leapt back. At least as well as it could. As it did, it's leg, already quite transformed crashed against a rock and shattered. The creature seeingit's leg shatter stopped moving, rolled over, and died. Presumably of shock.

A voice spoke in his head "I did try to warn you Requiem. You should listen more often."

Requiem turned around sharply. That voice. It was familiar, but he didn't know it at the same time. As he looked around he could tell that he was alone.

"Who's there?" He asked, preparing himself for another fight.

"I have a few names" The Voice told him. "Although you've been calling me The Chaos. No, don't make that face, it's me. I don't know what this Jonathan did, but since we entered here, I've become aware. I don't know what his game is, but I don't trust him. Unfortunately you've gotten us into this mess, so you'd best get us out of it. I have no interest in dying because you couldn't be bothered to use some common sense."

Requiem shook his head, trying to shake the voice out. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I just got control of my body back, and I intend to keep it. Leave me alone." He commanded

The voice laughed, the sound echoing inside of Requiem's head. "That's rich. Your body? No, It's our body. Now, let's get moving. More of those things are coming. I can feel it."

Requiem scowled. He didn't like The Chaos commanding him, but at the very least he knew it was right. He could feel them coming. "Alright, fine. Let's just get this over with." He grumbled.

Requiem broke into a run, charging through the forest, The Chaos guiding him as he made his way through it, towards the goal. As they ran, Requiem came across a nest with an egg in it. Curious, he picked it up. "Leave it alone Requiem. Or smash it, but we need to keep moving." The Chaos insisted. Requiem couldn't leave it be, and decided to pocket the thing. It was new to him.

They continued their trek through the forest, taking to the trees at one point. Far below them Requiem could see a pack of bizarre looking creatures that walked on two legs but lacked arms. Their most defining feature though, was their great gaping jaws. Requiem was glad they'd noticed them first rather than the other way around. He didn't feel like dealing with them. The Chaos scowled at his 'Cowardice'.

It was several hours before they'd made their way there. With the assistance of that which he hated most though, they'd managed to avoid most of the fauna of the area, and while he'd had to fight another of four legged creatures, they'd managed to survive. It wasn't until they'd killed the last one though that Requiem came to the conclusion that the egg he'd taken probably belonged to one of them, as they were the most edgy in the area. Still, that only made things better to him. They were powerful, and if he could train it, then there was a chance that it would make a good ally.

Requiem and The Chaos approached the Golden Statue, weathered and beaten as described. "Jonathan, we are here." He said, absently referring to The Chaos as a separate entity that deserved being recognised. It was likely just because it had spoken to him of course, but anything was possible.

 

[Angelita Snow]

Angel nodded to him as she open the door she smiled an evil smile seeing the great beast before her. " I Will enjoy this and so will you. " The Beast looked at her with its soulless eyes and stumbled towards her. Angel griped her sword with both hands " Give me your best shot you Mother F- " She said as she jumped in the air ready to slice him up but the beast hit her like a base ball with his club. Angel went flying and hit the wall behind her when she hit the wall she fell down hard " Hehe that the best you got? " She said getting up slowly . She looked into her hand as a glowing ball began to form it was very bright the creature who was fascinated by it couldn't help but look Angel giggled as she through it at him. What was it you ask ? It was a small a fire ball she cremated with her mind she aimed at him knees it hit him and the monster yelled with pain and went for Angel again this time she dogged it and managed to stand atop his weapon " I'm getting board with this so I'm going to end you right now. " Angel said running with her sword back in her hand she stabbed him in his chest ash she went down the sword made a clean opening when she hit the floor. The monster looked it a bit confused when her organs fell out of him. The beast made on last sound before tumbling to the ground. Angel looked through his guts getting bloody in the process but she finally found it she smiled holding it inside her hand. " The key I have it. .." she giggled evilly .

 

[Quiet One]

Trig made no reply to the voice, his eyes too hardly trained on Geo. After all those years of searching, there she was. He ran to her and embraced her. All those travels, all those hardships, all the monsters he's fought that should've killed him and yet, somehow, had not. A stray tear found its way out from his eye and he kissed her.

"I have been looking for you," he said. "Looking in the worst possible places. I never thought I'd see you..."

He was interrupted by Geo's scarf pushing him back. Not Geo, her scarf. It moved like a living thing, twisting and furling. On one end there were tiny, beady black eyes.

"We've got a maze to get through, remember?" she said cooly. Her words stabbed at Trig. She sounded like she didn't care at all for him. "While we're there I can ask how you managed to get a disembodied voice to help you find me."

Her scarf opened the door for them and they stepped inside. Their maze was aptly hidden behind a steel door. It was a massive machine, the walls smooth silvery metal. Off in the distance Geo heard clicking and moving sounds. The maze must change further in.

"Let's go."

But Trig just stood at the outside of the door. She was what he wanted, not some prize at the end of a mad obstacle course. Geo walked back over and kissed his cheek.

"I've wanted to see you for a long time, too," she said. "Now let's go. Do you want to be a god or not?"

 

[Villamvihar]

Reality shifted around Nima Morsus for a brief second as the message was relayed through countless souls, innumerable minds and nearly infinite consciousnesses. Every single word was taken apart to its characters, every single character was forcibly split into its base concept and every single base concept was deconstructed, devoured, destroyed and then re-created. Languages fought against ancient, long-forgotten tongues, flows of consciousness tried their best to stand against tidal waves of thoughts, screaming pain was overcome by logic along with a healthy dose of effort. Clarity was necessarry to reach the end goal, transparency had to be achieved in order to comprehend what was said. Ideas were needed to move the wheel of creativity, abstraction must be placed on the centre of the ever-revolving construct so that it could commit to a mathematical equation that would produce the desired result. Numbers turned into words, words were made into colours, colours were shaped into perception.

The soul of a four-year old boy asked what it meant to reach out and this thought erased all effort that Nima put into zile abstraction.

A new perspective was considered, shattering the wheel of creativity that was almost completed. Now a different shape was needed to represent the process, so as such, a cube was decided upon. From the smallest constant, the cube of creativity was rebuilt, but it turned into a pyramid with uneven sides, an imperfect shape that was as a polyhedron, its surface joining into a chain that could be clearly seen by every soul. To reach out. To give birth. Helium. Quantum Entanglement. Existence. Knife. White walls. Black Plague. Conclusion.

If Nima had a mouth, the collection of countless souls would have smiled, but all zile could do was to keep moving around so that zile could keep the agony at a managable level. Regardless, the nigh-infinite minds that were zile have come to a decision on how to handle the situation zile was presented. Once again, reality moved along with Nima's limbs that reached into the past to transport zile into the future. The obsidian door was approached while the distance between Nima and the object was kept the same, but at the same time, it also increased. A swarm of bizarre limbs coiled around the door, yet none of them have moved from their places, in fact, they were still transporting Nima so that zile could complete the task given to zile. Mercifully, the dark surface of the door opened, but not even a single, arbitrarily small unit of time has passed before Nima was inside it.

What Nima Morsus was doing there could not be put into words, because as soon as zile entered into the room hiding behind the obsidian, something seemed to break. Red and black fault lines appeared in the air, but at the same time, nothing happened at all save for the movements of Nima, which were as confusing as ever. Entropy poured into the room, yet it did not deteriorate as there was nothing that would speed up its decay. Instead, only a being of numerous souls was inside, accompanied by a ball that contained the inevitable heat death of the universe. Then as if nothing had happened, the room was whole once again, but it was fractured in a place. Beyond that fracture lied the door that Nima Morsus was asked to find. It was not even hard.

 

[Thomas McTavish]

Excellent work, Requiem.

Take the idol and smash it upon a tree. The idol is hollow. Inside will be a large ball of what seems like blue cotton. Do not touch it. Create a sword and slice it in half. You will find it you just killed a living organism. It is very poisonous. There will be a sack inside one of the halves, glowing a bright green. Remove it, but be carful not to cut it open. It is filled with acid. You will need that acid to dissolve the lock on the next door, a lock enchanted so as to be unaffected by your reality bending abilities. Take it to the doo, place it atop the lock, and then cut it open. The lock will dissolve and the door will open.

Behind the second door, there will be a city, large and sprawling. There is a man named Victor Crowe in this city. He is the head of a large organized crime syndicate. You must find him, and you must kill him. Once he is dead, call to me.
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Mr. Trig, despite your emotions, you and Geo must go into the maze.

The maze is commonly referred to as Daedalus' Labyrinth. It will shift and change as time passes. You must find the pattern of it's shifting. Once you have decoded it, the correct path should be easy to find. Follow that path to the other door. Call to me when you are out. I will guide you from there.
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Good work, Angel.

Use the key to unlock the door. Through the door, there will be a field of brown grass. There will be a hole somewhere in the grass. Once you find it, jump through. You will land into a cave. Inside this cave will be a man. He will offer you something. A ball like object. Take it, place it against the far wall of the cave and press the blue button. Stand back. The ball will explode, the wall will collapse, and another room will be open. Go into it. At the end of that hallway, there will be a door. Be careful and be quick, however, for the floor falls away under pressure and you will be trapped. When you make it to the door, I will be waiting for you and instruct you further.
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Bravo, Nima, you found the door.

A simple task, yes? Go through that door. Inside will be a land of green fields of grass and flowers. Through out this land, seven pieces of the next door are scattered. You must find all seven and put the door back together. Once you have, turn the door upside down. I will instruct you from there.

 

[Quiet One]

As Trig followed Geo through the maze he relayed the information Jonathan gave him.

"Daedalus' Labyrinth? I wonder who this Daedalus is," Geo replied. "And I want to know about this Jonathan who seems insistant on talking only to you."

"He helped me find you," Trig answered. As Geo went left Trig looked down the hall to the right. Then he looked up. The walls didn't seem to have an end, just going up forever. The same thought occured to Geo and her scarf stretched upwards. It grew and grew but eventually it had to come back down. There was no looking over the walls. "I don't know anything about him other than that. How does your scarf do that?"

"I brought it to life," she told him. When she saw his perplexed look she tried patiently to explain. "I've learned a lot traveling the multiverse. You've gained power, too. From things I've heard, you can't die. Well, I have this same power, only I've taken it a step further. I've mastered Life itself. I can bring things to life, and mutate the already living."

Trig wondered about this and received a disturbing revelation. "So all the monsters I've been fighting...that was you?"

She shrugged, then took a right. "Most of them. Thought it'd slow you down."

Trig's heart knotted itself up then. She'd been trying to keep him away. He didn't have time to stew this over for long, though, when the maze started to change. Three clicks, at exactly 1 and 2/3 of a second apart sounded and the near-infinite walls dropped down into the floor. For a brief moment, they were on a field of flat steel. Trig and Geo looked at each other, and then made a break for the other end of the maze. As they ran, the floor started to turn in concentric circles, so no matter how hard they tried they ended up heading left of the exit. Those same three clicks sounded fifteen seconds later and the walls sprang back up, in completely different places. Geo was safely between two walls, but Trig was caught with his feet on one. It rose him up higher and higher. He looked up and realized he was about to have a very close relationship with the ceiling. At least that meant the room wasn't actually infinite. He jumped, kicking off of the adjacent wall and then off the one he'd been on, alternating until he lost his balance and fell in front of Geo. His chest was cramping; he'd likely broken some ribs, and there was blood coming out of his nose. He wiped it off, and for the first time Geo looked like she actually cared what was happening to him.

"You're sure you don't know anything else about this Jonathan?" she asked. He shook his head and they went on.

It was clear this maze would take a while, but there was a pattern. Every fifteen minutes those clicks came and the maze would collapse. They had fifteen seconds to get further on a level field before the walls went back up. The spinning floor also made it difficult to get to the exit itself, which was maybe a mile away from the entrance going straight.

Eventually, after hours of running around and trying to find their way through the maze, they found an open doorway. Laughing with relief, they made their way through - only to discover that the spinning floor had taken them back where they started.

"Ugh!" Geo shouted when she realized this. "This is ridiculous! We're back where we started!"

Then Trig thought he had it.

"Geo, we have to run with the floor," he said. "When the walls go down again, run in a circle with the spinning floor. We should get there in no time."

Geo nodded in agreement, and when the walls came down again they ran along the edge of the maze, letting the spinning floor speed them closer to the end. They had to stop twice, but at long last they made it to the exit. Trig kissed Geo, but she frustrated him by making no move likewise. There was a phone inside the room at the end of the maze. Geo grabbed it and held it to her ear. She wanted to hear this Jonathan's voice for herself.

"Done. Now what?"

 

[Angelita Snow]

Angelita nodded to his voice " I will not fail you ." she said with a determination look across her face. She walked to the door and she wiped the bloody key off with her hands. She placed the key into the lock , hearing the click of the door telling she unlocked it made her smile. She walked through the door and closed it behind her she breathed in smelling the wetness of the dead grass before her. " This is gonna take a while " she said with a sigh. She began looking moving rocks and under the trees. It must have been hours before she found the door under the only living tree left in this forsaken place. She sighed because now the blood from the beast she had slayed just hours ago was dried on her clothes, hands , and face , she sighed knowing Jonathan wouldn't mind her bloody appearance. She jumped through the hole then landed on her two feet on the floor of the cave " Is anyone here? " she yelled and her voice echoed back to her ." She saw the man standing their with a black rode covering his face she grabbed the ball from his bone like fingers and walked to place it a the far wall. She pressed the blue button and it exploded and she walked through running hearing the floor crumble under hear she smiled as she reached the door. " I'm here " she said as she walked through the door.

 

[Villamvihar]

Once again, words were taken apart, ideas were atomised, flows of consciousnesses clashed with each other over trivial matters such as the origins of a certain sound, the pain that each bite of information would mean for every soul, the agony that would run through their existence as they pronounced those same words, the cessation that would mean the end of everything. Symbols twisted, air warped, thoughts refused to consider each other, colliding with the weight of forces beyond comprehension. Find, search, seek, look for, leave no stone unturned, keeping one's eyes peeled... From thousands of languages that had countless words for the concept that was conveyed to Nima with words, zile fighting over what it meant exactly. Carefully constructed worlds made out of philosophical ideas were brought to ruin along with beautiful architectures that could have made poets weep blood. Then the ruins were harvested in all of their decaying glory, flesh, bone, machine, building, concrete, wood, metal, veins, scars, hearts, shattered skeletons of former constructs joining together to form one divine structure that held the same meaning as the sentence that was heard by Nima.

It was an important process, to defy reality, to abstract, to make definitions and reconstruct everything based on the principles that were born of nothing each and every time. It was vital to warp the air, to turn the crimson sky blood red, to fracture the white of the room which was disgustingly filthy in its immaculate nature, for every moment wasted was pain. And though pain was gladly shared, it did not make sense to share pain with too much time, because time could not feel pain. Time could not share agony, time could not experience suffering, time could not understand Nima, so therefore, time was worthless to Nima, which meant that time had to recieve as little pain as plausible. And insanity, too, for time could not comprehend insanity, time was only time, seconds were only one sixtieth of a minute, days were only one three-hundred and sixty fifth of a year, a lifetime was only a fraction of immortality, immortality was but a part of the universe and the universe was stoic. Hollow. Empty.

From the depths of the unholy structure that contained so many concepts, emerged a beautiful flower of only pulsing blood which flowed from endless arteries, providing Nima with the solution to the problem that zile was presented with. In zile own space, perhaps countless aeons have passed, but in the real world, only an infinite number of years went by, yet time stood still until zile came to the realisation and zile muscles moved while they refused to have any acceleration or speed. Behind them was no force, however, they broke molecules into quarks as they moved, initiating fission, fusion and even complete annihilation between particles and anti-particles. Gamma photons were born, creating a zone of absolute sterility in which life flourished without limits, then was killed mercilessly by a mere electron that should have been one of the particles that kept them together.

The world cracked. Or it seemed to crack. Perhaps it did not even crack. Perhaps it shattered. Maybe it was even intact. Who knew? No one did, not even Nima, who only knew what zile had to do. With absolute confidence, zile travelled in, on, around, down, left, right, up and through the door, destroying it mercilessly but leaving it without a scratch at the same time, then everything changed around zile. And it was not just the new room. No, the new room was completely normal in the way that it defied all sorts of physical, mathematical, metaphysical, philosophical, logical, illogical, nonsensical, random, reasonable, well-constructed yet easily defyable laws that held the universe together. It was Nima who was not ordinary because zile conformed to some of these concepts.

Despite the clear contrast, there was something inheritently similar between the two entities that played havoc with what was reasonable and what was not, the two beings... Or is it and zile better called an object? Maybe a location? The spirit of a location? The demon that devours worlds, the fractal that has an infinite volume regardless of having a finite surface? Whatever one may call zile and this particular place, they both were born of something that can not be comprehended, yet it can be understood. Exploring such a place was fourth nature to Nima Morsus, because numbers from one to three did not exist despite that their concepts were well-defined, not to mention widely used. Curves were travelled in straight lines, angles were covered without moving an inch, locations were scouted even though no senses have picked up any information.

One piece was found. The search continued.

Two pieces were found. The search continued.

Three pieces were found. The search continued and the geometry shifted.

Four pieces were found. The search stopped because time ceased to exist for an eternal moment.

Five pieces were found. Dull spikes of air that had infinitely thin cutting edges threatened to crucify Nima Morsus, but zile place was not even a location.

Six pieces were found. The world started crumbling.

Seven pieces were found. Everything became ash.

And from the seven pieces, another door was born that was not a door. Instead, it was the opening to a vault that was no larger than an apple while it contained more material than there should be. Beyond that door, there must be something else, but even though it was turned upside-down, it did not look proper to Nima Morsus. Perhaps zile had missed something.

 

[Requiem]

The new orders were unusual, but that on it's own wasn't. Requiem paused, examining the metallic effigy, recalling the fact that gold was a soft metal. It would bend more likely than break if it was smashed against a tree, or any other hard object for that matter. To deal with this, he decided to harden the gold, changing it's composition to a more brittle material. That done, Requiem flung the idol at a nearby tree, the statue shattering quite easily, revealing the furball beneath. Looking around for something to use, Requiem realised that he had something that he could easily use, and reaching out his hand, the air began to condense into the form he desired. A wispy looking blade began to become visible within his grasp, and Requiem cut the cottonball creature cleanly in half.

"This is too easy Requiem" The voice told him, reaching out with his senses.

Requiem shook his head "Some things are meant to be easy, now hush, if you're part of me, I expect you'd rather I not make a mistake while handling acid." He replied, his voice sounding slightly irritated.

"As you wish" Was all the answer that Requiem received.

Turning the blade into a glove, Requiem reached down and plucked out the bizarre sack from inside the creature, carefully making sure he didn't touch anything. Then he stopped, looking back at the poisonous corpse. If he was to be killing, a subtle poison such as this would be a great thing to have. Something from another world.

He reached over to the remaining portions of the brittle broken idol and reformed them together, and then changed it into a fine golden silk bag with a silver string to keep it closed. Using his gloved hand he placed the dead poisonous animal in the bag. It would be an easy way to kill the boss. Taking the sack, as well as the golden pouch, Requiem returned to the room of doors.

That dealt with, Requiem turned and made his way back to the room of doors. It was slow work, but he managed not to be caught unaware by the native wildlife and arrived at the door without incident.

When he arrived, he placed the sack atop the chain, and with a rush of razor-sharp wind, he cut it open, letting the oozing mercurial liquid spill out on the lock, quickly disassembling it at it's basest levels. After the acid had done its work, the metal of the chain unwrapped itself from the door, clattering to the ground.

Beyond the door, Requiem beheld an unusual sight. A city that stood brilliantly in the sky. He stepped through the door, bracing himself for a short fall, and then, after he'd touched ground again, he restored his balance and stood up. He had to figure out how to draw attention to himself from the local gangs, without getting himself killed. It was not an easy task, to be sure.

"Requiem, time is, if you recall, not a concern for us. We have ways to draw them out." The Chaos remarked, "Start a new syndicate. Show these people that you mean business. It'll draw the other criminals to us." It wasn't a bad plan, really. It would take time though. He'd have to do something big to make a family. Something that would draw attention without drawing attention.

Requiem closed his eyes, removing his armour and then reshaping his clothing into a nice clean black suit. "Alright, if we're going to do this, we're going to do it right." He said aloud, picking up pieces of the armour. He began moulding a small arsenal of weaponry, including a massive sledgehammer, a sniper rifle, and a very large handgun. It was time.

With nothing left to do, Requiem headed into the city. He knew the first thing he'd need was a place to call his own. A rundown building would serve the purpose wonderfully. Once he got his hands on it anyway. He just had to find one first. Unfortunately, the prospect of finding such a place was staggering. The city was immaculate. There were next to no signs of lower-class citizenry to be seen.

It wasn't until he had wandered for nearly an hour that he realised that the area he was in was in fact, deserted. That made things much easier. He found a nice clean building that appeared to have been a courthouse at one point. Requiem smiled, stepping up to it and placing his hands on one of the 'Pillars' of the building and began focusing. It was a hard thing, but he was fortifying the building internally, while simultaneously changing the outer appearance to resemble a mansion. "Thing of Beauty" He remarked, pulling his hands off before the wave of Chaos took over.

"Really Requiem, that was a terrible idea. Don't worry though, we're just going to have a little fun first." The Chaos remarked, laughing through Requiem's teeth. It slowly began testing the muscles of his body, stretching and exploring the different sensations and the range of movement it had. It smiled widely, enjoying having control of the body. "You're lucky we're stuck with eachother Requiem, if I wasn't stuck with you, I'd have just killed this body and moved on."
The Chaos opened the door to the newly remodelled building "Give me my body back." Requiem growled, trapped inside the mind of his own body, but without the power to move it.

"Come now Requiem, when's the last time I got to have a little bit of fun?" The Chaos asked, grinning as it locked the door behind itself. "No, you'll have to wait there. You'll have to remain trapped until I say so."

 

[Thomas McTavish]

My, my, Requiem, it seems the Chaos has overtaken you. Well, as much as you two hate it, you will have to work together if you wish to become Gods- and free of each other's company.

Once you have Had your fun, Chaos, you will need to get to work. Build your family, rise to power. Time is of no issue. So long as Crowe dies.
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Oh, dear. Geo and Trig have been caught in a Paradox loop. No more Seeking for them.

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Hm. It would seem Seeker Angel is stuck in a Paradox Loop, as well. Looks like she won't be achieving SIMULTANEOUS.

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Yes, Nima, something is off about the vault door.

It's the wrong one. There are three more sets of seven door pieces you must put together. Only when you complete the door that looks like the first I showed you will you be able to proceed. The other three lead to rooms from which there is no escape, not even for you. you will be trapped in a room, no larger than yourself, unable to move, to fight off the pain, or spread it further. You will be only a nonexistent splotch of agony and rage in an massively free yet infinitely confined space for a barely existent fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a moment and at the same time for an undefined eternity.

Find and re-create the correct door, or suffer the consequences.

 

[Requiem]

The Chaos stood for a moment, acknowledging the words of Jonathan. "Yeah yeah, I know, kill the boss. Blah blah blah. It'll get done." It growled, reaching up and cracking Requiem's neck. It had many preparations to make. For now, it's only interest was in hunting. Where it would hunt didn't matter immediately, but it had a few ideas. Crowe would certainly have shops under his protection. If a newcomer began tearing up his shops, he'd have to investigate.

Without taking anymore time, The Chaos reached down, pressing it's hand's into the ground and began pulling the earth up and over it. It hardened around the mortal form, and then began to change, taking on the form of a shimmering draconian-like creature around it. The Chaos stretched it's new, and surprisingly functional wings, and picked up off the ground, heading more towards the inner area of the city.

Once it arrived, The Chaos landed heavily in the center of the square, the massive wings blowing everything that might have been in it's path away. It then reshaped it's malleable armour, giving it the appearance of a large knight with black metallic looking wings. The occupied body's voice pushed into it's thoughts in a tone of general irritation "You could at least wear the suit, I designed it for a reason if you remember correctly."

The Chaos pushed it's body towards the nearest shop, reached out forward, placed it's hands on the building, used the shifting powers that it controlled, and brought the shop falling down onto itself. It then placed it's hands on the ground in front of the shop, raising a pedestal out of the brick, and shifting it to obsidian with a silver plate with the words "We are your new family. Bring your normal protection money to the old Courthouse in the empty district by Friday. If you do this, your shop will be rebuilt without question. Pass the word that we are here. Fear no retribution from Crowe. We are Millennium. We are here to stay."

That settled, it used the wings and picked up off the ground, drew the air in around them and set a fireball off into the sky, before diving back down to the mansion. "And that my dear foolish Requiem is how it's done. We have these abilities, we may as well use them." It told him, with no small sense of pride.

_________________________________________________________________________


Three years later, the Millennium Family had taken over the majority of the sky-city. It was all a blur of business deals, assassinations, and exploits of freedom. They had built up a large family, and on more than a few occasions, The Chaos had nearly lost control and been put back into the shadows. Eventually, it got to the point that they had to arrange a meeting of Families.

They arranged a place for just the bosses to meet. The Chaos brewed a tea for them to drink using the poisoned creature. When Crowe arrived, The Chaos poured the drinks and sat down at the table. "So, Crowe, we meet at last. We have much to discuss." It remarked, taking a sip of his tea, which it shifted to remove the poison. As the drinks came from the same pot, Crowe assumed it was safe to drink. He was wrong.

The Chaos smiled, "Nothing to say huh? Well, I suppose then I'll just have to take all of your land." It said, standing up, and leaving the room.

 

[Villamvihar]

If fury was undeniable rage, if anger was a tidal wave that swept away worlds, if hatred was a concept that was greater than the sum of all concepts that never existed, Nima Morsus would have embraced it readily, then zile would have torn it apart. However, because there was no such concept, or rather, its mere mention has been erased from existence, it had to be birthed. And the world had to bend, fracture, fall apart, break, shatter, collapse, end, begin, tear and rip, the world had to accept the fact that it was incomplete because it was complete. Therefore, the course of action was clear. Even without abstraction, without building the cathedral of intepretations that was nothing more than rubble that chose to pollute the plane of souls, without relying on the trivial misinterpretations that blossomed into full-scale war that held mind against mind, soul against soul and non-existence against existence. For there was only one plausible choice that was in reality, a myriad of choices.

Pain had to be shared.

Sharing had to be killed.

Killing had to be defined.

Definitions had to be established.

Established concepts had to be eliminated.

And elemination was not pain, but it was agony.

Such was the circle that was constructed, the cube the sides of which were defined with curves that broke the laws of curvature, zig-zagging through places that had existed before like the edges of a bonesaw. Such was the revolving sphere born from an endless figure-eight, the infinity condensed into the shape of polyhedrons that existed without any points, boneless structures of nothing but neurons made of countless equations that had zero solutions. Yet these equations could be solved, because their solution ran parallel to the death of existence, which would make it plausible for anger to exist. What is more, the solution of these constructs was known, as it was standing right before them, yet it was staring at their backs with senses that brushed against everything. With eyes that heard the proclamation of Jonathan. With ears that saw the solution. And with limbs that were anything but.

No further doors were found. No further pieces were searched for. In fact, no search had been performed in the first place and no Nima Morsus existed within the place. All that was in zile stead were countless souls that happened to be Nima Morsus. All that was in zile stead were feelers that ripped through this reality while leaving it intact, mysterious and dextrous appendages that sought their goal. To them, it did not matter that the world was upside-down, thus all the doors were right, because to them, all the doors were wrong, no matter how correct their arrangement was. To the forever-present vortex of pain that was just a brief moment in the universe and happened to be named Nima Morsus, there was no such thing as a door, only a gate. A gate that would be found.

This gate was nothing more than reality itself, and it needed no doors to contain it, because there was a correct door that imprisoned it. From seven pieces that were no more than a single part of reality, one marble that was a sphere amongst statues of personifications of gods of concepts of sapient beings, from a cloth that was draped over the curtain of existence, this door was assembled. Except that it was not the door that was right. There had never been a door that is right in the first place. There had been only Nima Morsus and zile insane abstractions that left the world intact while they broke its spirit. And through this broken spirit, filtered countless souls who were only united because they were not united.

And in a room far away from the one that had these mysterious doors even though it was nothing but a landscape of ash, Nima Morsus existed again.
"Jonathan," conveyed Nima Morsus. "You waste too much pain with these games."

 

[Thomas McTavish]

Good work, Chaos.

Crowe is dead. Your mission completed. I now present you with a choice: Stay and run this world, molding it to your will, or continue to heed my orders to achieve Simultaneous.
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It is not I who plays the games, Nima.

I do not make the plans, I do not makes the rules, nor the twists of plot. I simply convey them to you. Master Schrodinger is the true mastermind. It is he who toys with you and the other Eight Seekers. He was the first to Achieve Simultaneous, and therefore it is he who influences your path.
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I understand you are already a traveler of the multiverse, by nature, Chrysea.

Well, this is a little different from your travels through Midpoint. While it is useful, it is not enough. I will lead you to a series of Doors. The challenges that lay behind them are for you to conquer. Eventually, you will find the one point in the Multiverse in which you are Simultaneous. Beyond the first door you will find a field. In this field is a man. This man wields a nameless sword which has caused the fall of civilization after civilization. He is an ex-Walker. You must kill his body and shatter the sword into exactly five pieces. One being the handle, the four being the blade. But the blade is made of glass. Do you see the portal to your left? That is the door you will look for from now on.
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Listen to me, Virathal.

There is a door in this room. Turn around and you will see it. Yes, that one. Go through it. What do you see before you? A war. Two sides fighting one another. You are a soldier, are you not? Well, do what you were bred for. End it. Kill every single soldier in that valley. Once you have, a door on the other side of the battle will open. Alert me when you reach it.
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Hello, Spri.

Your first task is not through the first of many doors, but t find the door itself. It will be hidden in the forest nearby to you. Enter the forest. Search for the door, and kill anything that attacks you. Not wound, it must be killed. Once you have found the door, go through. You will find yourself in a white room. Call to me when you get there.
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Well, not that you're here, Cyrus, you may as well begin your quest.

That door, to the left there? Go through it. Inside you will find a world like nothing you have seen before. You come from a world run by steam, they live in a world run be diesel fuel. You must find yourself there. Literally. There is a version of you there, but with that world's technology. It will know where the nest door is. Once you find that door, call to me. I will hear you.
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Come on then, Isaac! Follow me!

There's a good boy. My name is Jonathan. That door, over there? At the end of the cave? Go through it. Inside is a room made of metal. Metal this, metal that, everything metal. Highly conductive. in the center of that room is a battery-looking thing. You must electrify the entire room and charge that battery. But the trick is, your lightening will try to kill you in there. It will shoot back at you from the spiked walls. You must maintain control, or you will die. When the battery is charged, a light on the far end of the room with turn green. Call out to me when it does. I will instruct you further from there.
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Now that we've covered the basics, Mikel, we will begin obtaining that which you have already paid for.

Your front door is no longer your front door. It is a portal to another part if the Multiverse. Through it, you will find a room made completely of mirrored surfaces. From those mirrors will emerge you. But the will be mirrors of you. You must defeat them all. As they die, the mirrors they came out of will shatter. Once you have defeated all the Mirror Copies , call my name. I will hear you, and I will instruct you further.
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You may believe you destroyed your world, Warden, but it is only a false truth.

You did destroy it. That version. You can still save it. You are powerful, but not quite enough. The door, behind you? Go through. Within there will be another planet. Much like yours, but going in the opposite direction. Instead of finding all the answers, they are destroying all the answers. They are destroying their planet, everyone enslaved to money, and everyone seeks more. They don't care that it's destroying their planet and themselves. They want money for in their minds money is power. Now, that planet has a future, but you must secure it. Kill everyone on the planet, and destroy all the monetary items however you will. When you have completed this task, let me know. I will give you further instruction once you do.

 

[Requiem]

"We have things to do, Chaos. Unless you wish to deal with me for all eternity." The voice inside threatened. So persistent, yet... The Chaos knew that he was right. "Fine, we'll go. I was getting tired of this place anyway." It replied out loud. "We just have to go grab a few things from the base." It had grown more accepting of Requiem's presence, and they had been collaborating on things here and there again.

 

[Banana-senpai]

Chrysea's guard wasn't just up, it was fortified. She walked to the said portal, eyes on Jonathan and it was nothing like the portals of Midpoint. Something about it felt personal, like it was calling to her and perhaps, her alone. But at the same time, it called out to someone else. It was strange with a color that wasn't known in her homeworld. It hurt her eyes a little.

"Master Schrödinger, you say." she said. She knew of him. She knew about Simultaneous the moment she became a Balancer. Only her generation knew of it as the Sister tells them to be careful with Seekers. They must not be interrupted in their paths. One mistake could have them succumb to a Paradox Loop. By then, Cleaners would have to fetch them, and these rescues often go quite...grotesque.

She wanted nothing more than to help Kevin and fetch Bennett. He was a good kid that showed much promise, she had taken a liking to him.

"Jonathan, right?" She said, approaching him. "I don't seek power. You probably know that I have enough, if you work for Master Schrödinger."

She stood at arm's length from the PaNADU, examining him. The more she looked, the less she understood. "I don't trust you and your master. I follow only the Sister."

She had too many questions, but the strange pull of the portal was strong. She walked toward it once more, reaching her hand in it. It glimmered in a bright gold light, a portal behavior she has never seen.

She sighed. "Something tells me there's only one way out of this."

She entered.

Almost instantly, she felt the edge of a sword onto her throat and it all fell into place in her mind.

Nameless sword. Ex-Walker.

"Aww, hello, Chrysea." a familiar voice said. Chrysea gasped in a fear she hadn't known since the fall of her people.

"Abstract." her voice didn't have its usual confidence.

The field was desolate and empty except for rubble and cold, infertile ground that stretched as far as anyone could see. She realized that she had been thrown into the prison of a formidable ex-Walker, the only one she's absolutely weak against.

Master Schrödinger must be kidding me. Chrysea thought and Abstract chuckled.

"Aww, he sent you, yeah? Oh that makes it even more cool, yeah." he said. "Aww, I just knew you were coming, I wan't sure why."

The feel of him just standing behind her was almost paralyzing her with fear. He was her ultimate weakness. She's an illusionist and he was a predicter and mind reader. He may be blind, but he saw more than anyone. And he sees through her.

"Aww, you want to protect people you care about? That's cute, yeah." He said, gently sliding the blade on her neck, just below her ear. She felt her blood trickle down from the wound and her hands were shaking so badly. This is the man that created the shutting of at least five portals, rumored to be one of the anti-Walker cultists.

But she has to get past him. She has to get past everything.

Perhaps, she has to be...Simultaneous, or close.

She's a first class Balancer.

She tapped into her mind-the experiences being made by the selves that is currently Planeswalking, thoughts of the future selves, the memories of the past selves-even for a moment-

"AAA-!"

Abstract was overwhelmed by all that he saw and read in Chrysea's mind. He recoiled in pain, dropping his sword which shattered into pieces. He dropped beside it, his mind warping with all the thoughts, memories and feelings. He screamed and screamed, threw himself this way and that.

And stopped, lifeless.

Chrysea was shaking. She had to stop the thoughts or she'll be warped with it, too. She had tried to become one with all her selves prematurely-one of the ways to be stuck in a Loop. Only Simultaneous can achieve that.

"No..." She whispered. "H-help."

She fell next to the five pieces of the shattered sword.

 

[Ace Of Flame]

"I'll play along with this Jonathan character for awhile since he's the closest thing to a clue I've come across... But, if he's wasting my time I will annihilate him." Mikel thought to himself as he grimaced at the orders he recieved. Reluctantly accepting the orders, Mikel opened the front door. An illuminating light shone from the door, blinding Mikel. All of a sudden, Mikel felt his body deconstructing, each limb was broken down leaving behind his bodyless soul but at the same time, Mikel felt his soul breaking down, each memory greedily stripped from his essence, leaving behind an empty vessel of a body. Mikel felt both these sensations, simulataneously. The experience was quickly driving him insane.

"I-I don't know what's going on! Brother! Mom! Where are you!? Don't leave me! ACK!" Mikel yelled as this inexplicable sensation continued. All of a sudden, darkness befell his eyes and he was whole again. Body and soul were, once again, in unison and he was complete again. A bright light appeared again momentarily and Mikel suddenly found himself in the room described to him by Jonathan. A room full of mirrors. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor, the room was covered in mirrors, a bit unnerving.

"What kind of place is this?" Mikel mumbled as he walked around inspecting. Because of the mirrors, the room seemed to expand forever, a boundless territory in which he was trapped. The irony irritated him a little. "Am I being toyed with?" Mikel thought to himself as he gathered his thoughts. The ordeal he had went thru still had him a bit shaken up.

A blue light shined from behind him, followed by the sound of a sword slicing the air, Mikel backflipped twice, evading the swords reach. It was... him. Mikel stood there shellshocked at what he had just laid his eyes on. It was a mirror image of himself. The clone charged again towards him slicing in Mikel's direction again, Mikel dodged narrowly as the sword put a small cut on his cheek. *CLAP* Mikel slapped both his hands together and motioned his left hand across the length of his right hand, transmuting his right hand into a blade. Mikel charged in carefully, gauging the clones combat ability - It was on par with his. The fierce battle ensued, as Mikel slayed what seemed to be a never ending amount of hordes. At this point, almost all of the mirrors were shattered, but he wasn't left unscaved. Bruises and lacerations riddled Mikel's body as he did away with the last couple hordes of himself.

Glass shards and puddles of blood covered the room as Mikel stood weakly in the middle of the room - He had lost consciousness while standing. Regaining consciousness, Mikel slowly looked up at the shattered ceiling and angrily whispered...

"~Jonathan, you bastard...~"

 

[Renegade Proxy]

The android heard and it obeyed.

Having followed the voice through time and dimension to this non place of the abstract, beyond form or reason it exercised little choice. Curiosity perhaps was the driving factor, new experiences outstripping the old that had stretched on for interminable dead centuries. On one heel it turned to face the portal, with soundless motion it stepped through. As it did the nothing of void coalesced, exploded, gave way to sensations of color and sound, assailing the senses in nauseating splendor. As he had said a battle raged, the cacophony a familiar one. Voices screamed in rage and fear, the stink of blood and excreta hung heavily in air heated to boiling by a noonday sun. Where it had emerged from beyond the android stood and surveyed what swept below, the roiling bodies, fleeting glints of metal soon lost in the grip of yielding flesh.

Yes, it knew this place.

Almost as soon as it was those nearby had taken note of its presence. By chance or careful planning the android had emerged from the rift between dimensions behind the lines of a single enemy. Arrayed in flamboyant gear indicative of rank the leaders here stood close at hand, their faces mirroring the expressions of their kin. Horror, anger, disbelief. All these were washed away by the dominant mood of this dread day. With rallying cries they set upon this obvious sorcery conjured by their gutless foe, rushing forth with mindless abandon intent to cut, to rend and tear. At once they stopped, their voices choked, limbs seized with an unyielding stiffness, their muscles quivering with exertion that refused to play out. Beneath the skins of those nearest at hand the mechanism already had begun its work, eating through soft tissues, replacing them with pliable, resilient metal.

Realization was slow, of course, these men had never seen what now unfolded before them. As they watched, those beyond the circle of guarding bodies, the leaders in their bright raiment faltered, stumbled back. Their kinsmen had already begun to turn, patchwork machinery blossoming across their pitiful forms as flesh and blood melted away. Clumsily, for their bodies had only just begun to change, the victims of its processes advanced upon the others. Heads swiveled as screaming animal bleats filtered from the wrong direction, confusing those that heard until realization was among them. Soon the enemy too was routed as each one slain soon walked again. In time the field of battle was wrapped in silence, broken only by the sound of untouched wind.

Upon the bluff on which it had emerged the android had remained. As a statue it stood, black eyes staring out across the mass that had been joined to its own. Slowly it passed through their midst to stand before the portal that as promised had appeared there.

Wordlessly it waited.

 

[guygombaa]

Cyrus was a soldier. A broken soldier, but a soldier nonetheless. Without even processing Jonathan's words, he passed through the door.

> ENTER
A world of diesel?

Diesel? He had seen it before, but.... But it had been deemed useless by the Government. Inferior to Steam power. His mouth formed a large O as he took in the sights. A world of diesel..... Cyrus wandered through these streets, trying to avoid the staring his arm attracted. As he walked, he could not help but feel out of place in this world. A substance that was deemed inferior, doing marvellous things.
"Have you seen a man with a face like mine." He asked a passing woman.
She shook her head and walked away as fast as she could.

Taken aback by this response, he tries again. And again, and again. With the same response each time. And then there is a man.

"Have you seen a face like mine before?" He asked again.
"No." The man replied.
"Damnit!" Cyrus shouted.
"Would you like to see my scars?" The man asked.
"I have no time for such things, old man."
"I am not an old man." The man pulled back his sleeve, revealing his gleaming metallic arm.
And then, Cyrus understood. "Do you know where the door is?"
"I am where the door is." The man rolled his sleeve back up.

They walked together in silence. "Thank you." He whispered. But the man was gone.
"Jonathan." He said. "I'm ready."

 

[Villamvihar]

Fury bled into anger that weeped for rage that sought the attention of boundless, bubbling destruction, deconstruction of material, reality, concept, bone, enemy, insanity, infinite fractals, hydrogen, birth as well as the very universe. Soul clashed against soul, mind was braced against mind, thought robbed thought of the underlaying idea, murder was committed after dozens of killing sprees while the mental landscape remained intact. And this landscape was nothing but a snowflake made out of tiny crystals of ice, unchained madness that sought expression through the serenity that was the end of existence, an equation composed of ever-revolving gears attached to levers attached to flywheels attached to valves attached to boilers that held within them liquid nitrogen. Then the cold substance spilled out, exploded, coating words with relentless intentions.

"He is wasting pain," the words of Nima Morsus ripped, shattered, then tore reality apart so that its fragments may be reassigned correctly, but that itself was a fallacy as there was no proper arrangement. "If he is SIMULTANEOUS, he knows the value of pain. Tell him to act according to it," those were the words of Nima Morsus while what did not exist came into existence around him, showering the room he was in with sequences of numbers that were the fireflies of entropy. A decision has been made, words have been carved into stone that was impregnable to any tool, therefore the ideas were only committed to memory. The being of extasy would only obey further orders if zile was not forced to share pain with time, if zile was assured that the pain suffered had to be suffered and there was no other way to achieve the goal.

But what proof did such an entity that was made of nothing but soul upon soul need? Perhaps a reassurance, but then that reassurance would have torn out the throat that ideas used to speak with zile, it would have incited only more fury that would have brought even more pain. But a promise also failed, because that was nothing but a lie which happened to be true at the end, when everything has been accomplished, when even the most pitiful task had pain wasted on it. What about a sight of the power Nima Morsus would be able to achieve, then? No, that would not do either, because zile already knew the price of what zile was doing, but zile could not possibly waste pain on something that took so little effort from the part of another. Zile already knew the clean blade of a knife that tore through the essence of a being, Nima Morsus already knew the surgical tool that could be used to peel a skull thought by thought, then leave behind a husk that was a servant.

And sometimes the most obvious solution presents itself naturally...