Chapter 84

I left in several different ways, mainly, rifts portals, and warping though. I had several different objectives, but the main ones were to look at the current state of the world.

You, however, will only get to hear a small portion of a few of the kingdoms, and conflicts, and only see a small portion of the work I put into setting everything up.

Space, even though I have memories of experiencing its presence, it was still strange to feel the intense heat of the sun traveling through my new body.

As I took in the freeing feeling of floating through it, I was also moving directly towards what I was previously looking for. Hundreds of thousands of small debris circled the earth, most of which was either rocks or old technology which had been smashed to pieces over thousands of years and somehow avoided falling back down and burning in the atmosphere, or leaving orbit and making their way into the void.

Just barely holding onto its life and also avoiding detection from the rest of the new magically enhanced technology, was a small and almost undetectable sphere that looked no different from the rest of the debris orbiting the earth.

I held it in my hands as a small spark of electricity appeared within it. The device came to life and with a little help from me, a strong piece of protective plating was removed as the parts holding it in place released it. A now completely visible screen that had the number forty-two etched into the corner of it began playing a video.

——————

Across the void and in the night sky another me stood in the void of space, seemingly waiting for someone or something to show up.

Suddenly, another cloaked figure appeared next to me, a protective bubble erected around him.

"I found the one who has been causing all of the chaos, you all might want to see this." The figure said before turning to me and addressing me itself. "Stay right there."

"You going to keep me here?"

The figure chuckled at my response. "I don't have enough faith in myself to pull that off."

Five more cloaked figures joined the first. Barriers which managed to allow them to breathe properly appeared around most of them.

One without a barrier moved forward. "So this is where all of those signals were coming from."

"I expected a satellite maybe or a human who didn't know his limits... We were told that others outside of earth existed, but we weren't expecting a visitor so soon, so what brings you here?"

"I'm here to warn you about a full-scale invasion."

The six figures tensed up.

"When?"

"Twenty minutes or so." I answered after looking at my bare wrist for a moment.

"Why tell us this?" One of the six asked.

"Because you are not the main targets."

"Well then, you can expect our resistance. Had you negotiated before acting, maybe things would be different."

"No, they wouldn't because this involves your employer, who I currently have in captivity."

"Is that so?" One of the six without a barrier asked before moving closer.

"It is." I answered, prompting them to attack, but rather than attack me, they turned and launched towards the other five, whose robes had been coated in a crimson liquid.

"How is it that not one but all six of you have such an open heel?"

I'm not even sure if they heard me as they were busy tying up the one who had let his thirst for blood get ahold of him, and judging from the painfully howls as he drank to toxic liquid, he couldn't hear me either.

——————

"Back so soon, I expected a bit more of a wait?"

"The queue was a bit too long for me, so I ended up returning sooner." I said while looking over the cell Samael was still contained within. "I see that you liked your new place enough to willingly re-enter it, good on you."

The dark strands of power holding him in place faded as panic briefly appeared on his face.

Unfortunately for him, another and more solid form of energy replaced what was previously holding him in place.

"You changed. Why wasn't I able to sense it?"

"Because I didn't allow you to." I answered before a projection appeared before me.

"After my departure, I managed to get my hands on the missing information. Maybe this will help to jog your clouded memory." I paused for a moment before turning to him. "I hope you don't mind that you are not the only one seeing this."

The room lit up as the projection changed the scenery of the room.

——————

I should be close, for once your bodies will be removed from the rift intact.

beneath me sat a large compound with hundreds of people busily working. A large research center was built around a crater that was hidden beneath it. Several alarms went off as I appeared within the most heavily monitored room within the compound.

I ignored them as I cleared the surroundings. Sunlight replaced the artificial lighting, and the mechanical and magical whirring quieted down as everything and everyone was relocated.

After the sounds of nature flooded into to crater and a few moments of eerie silence, several beams of energy that fell from the sky, interrupted the quiet and were followed by the coughing and groaning of several people.

"Well... That was something else."

"Five fingers and five toes, I'm all here, thank God."

"Not so quick, remember what the professor said, our perceptions could change without us realizing it. Who doesn't remember having five digits on each of our limbs."

One of the seven raised their hand which was very clearly missing a finger.

"Right... Speaking of the professor, has anyone tried to get in contact with him?"

"You won't find any signal here."

"Holy sh... so uh how long have you been here miss, uh sir. No, don't tell me, your one of those non-binary folk aren't you." One of the four men from the seven asked, before being cut off.

"Alright, that's enough from you." One of the women present cut him off.

For some reason he kept going though, perhaps it was the smile I had on my face which seemed to coerce him into continuing his line of thought.

"What? I'm sorry, but they really came out of the blue. Several communities of different people were nearly squashed as they added hieroglyphs to mathematics which already had letters, shapes, and everything else swimming around in there." The man grabbed his head in frustration.

Maybe something happened to himself or someone close to him.

Maybe the complexity was too much and he disliked it.

Depends on whatever these communities, of which he speaks of, were. Were.

"Ever since you returned." I said as I finally answered his question.

The seven looked at me strangely as they heard me speak.

"You know, for a language which was created within a few years, you really managed to create a strangely unique accent."

"She's right, what country were you recruited from, somewhere in the middle east?"

"I didn't create it. You might want to get comfortable, things have changed since your mission... changed a lot." I said while the ground shifted and created steps for them to sit on.

——————

"Final Action. In the event that, well, that we all die. The selected few will gather as much evidence as possible and catapult it into space within the device you are viewing it from right now."

"It requires electricity, doesn't matter how much, even raw lightning might set this message off, but if you're watching this, then you probably already knew that."

"A while ago we sent an elite force of seven into an anomaly. When they returned their entire beings were off. Their friends and families reported their findings but were ignored by all. Except for us, that is."

"After several members going missing while investigating the seven, we finally got the green light for this project."

"What you will see next was at one point classified which will not matter if the worst-case scenario has occurred."

A muffled voice interrupted as the projection paused.

"What?" I asked the restrained devil.

"Just skip to whatever it is you are trying to show me."

"You should've said that before the intro ended."

The projection continued as a familiar voice was heard.

"Security is a bit tight, don't think you are being a bit too paranoid?" Samael taunted as he appeared within the pristine and well-decorated room.

"I doubt it, seeing as you managed to get in..." The only other person present in the room answered before standing up. The middle-aged man looked at the intruder his mind seemingly preoccupied as he understood that every single security protocol was bypassed.

"You can call me Sam." Samael told him and walked up to the desk the other man was previously sitting at, making sure to knock over any precious items he passed.

"You know, I expected a lot more from you. It was just a simple task and you managed to be swayed by those inferior creations. To think they would let such a weak-minded person lead this country, maybe I overestimated you all. Tell me how you managed such a thing."

The leader smiled before shaking his head and sitting down. "So you really did end up coming. Just recently everyone was screaming that the end of days were coming."

"So, Samael angel of darkness I presume. You must be filled with questions, like why I'm here and not one of your minions, puppets?"

"What they are doesn't matter, just get on with it and you might fall over without knowing what happened."

"Were." The leader corrected.

"Excuse me?"

"Nearly a decade ago, the world was nearing the end of its existence as every country had weapons of mass destruction pointed at each other. Things seemed to boil over when the initiator of it all and the leader of a strong country disappeared. Several countries pointed their weapons here and it seemed like if anything else had happened this room would've been a crater, but then they didn't fire. several important leaders from all over the world disappeared within a few hours. Everyone was just getting to celebrate when even the leaders of countries who seemed to have been just defending themselves disappeared, and it didn't end there, husbands, neighbors... everyone, seemingly indiscriminately gone."

"Things seemed to be terrible, but as the remaining regained control, and calmed those who thought the end of days were coming, we noticed that the remaining had one thing in common. Our senses of reality weren't warped. When we eventually set up education facilities, entire towns and cities faded from the map once again. It was only last year that the disappearances ended."

The projection faded as I looked over to the devil who was calmly looking back.

"Who are you?"

"Still no remorse? I guess it should be expected, you were created by one of his more ugly personalities."

"Speak not of them!" Samael yelled as he remembered the ominous threat he had received years ago. Dark wings sprouted from his back as the surroundings shook for a moment.

"A smart use of darkness, although it seems like you are borrowing this from elsewhere. I hope you don't mind too much when I incorporate it myself." I said as the dark walls became completely solid.

——————

On the shaded part of the world, I flew using the wings previously mentioned. A large chain of buildings sat secluded from the rest of the city below me. These buildings were nothing compared to larger facilities in the rest of the world, but at some point, they would evolve into the Orange Vault Corporation.

The things they did here would be swept under the rug and hidden but they would keep their values the same... spreading them and changing the world for the worse as they expanded their influence.

After silently landing in an open window within which a disabled kid lay feigning sleep, I was surprised by his voice calling out to me as I attempted to leave the room.

"You have wings. Are you an angel?"

"Hah. I'm not even close to being one. Those were just something I picked up recently."

"Then... can you teach me how to use them?"

"you just met me and you are asking for this much."

"I know, it's just... I want to fly. I know I could do it, but I'm stuck here, in this bed. Could you take me far away?"

"What would you do when you got away, and couldn't get those wings to work?"

The kid looked at me with a confused expression as if there was never a chance of failure. "Just give me a goal to reach for and I'll do whatever it takes."

He laid back down and stared at the roof before releasing a sigh. "I'll go so high that I'll never have to touch the ground again."

"I hate it here."

I smiled softly as the building shook beneath me.

Below ground level, several miles of facilities lit up and the workers stepped out of their cells, wondering if what was going on was real.

Prisoners of war, Those who committed petty theft, many who had spoken up and were imprisoned for suspected conspiracy to commit treason, suspected spies from foreign kingdoms...

Brought in from the overflowing prisons all over the kingdom, with promises that would never be kept. What would be later known as Orange Vault, had one too many ties with the government and it wasn't until they hid their demons that they were seen as one of its limbs.

But all that didn't matter as they reached the boundaries of the prison without anything impeding them.

"Then get up and follow me."

——————

"The seated find Ms. Teller guilty."

"Guards."

A few armed guards approached a shocked woman, already drawing their handcuffs, yet stopped just outside of arms reach.

"What are you do..."

"So many simple rules you give yourself."

Within a small courtroom in a large town, the lights flickered as I appeared.

"Seventeen teenagers committed suicide as a result of harsh laws put in place a month ago. Locking away Ms. Teller was a smart move. After all, taking away the only person they were able to confide in and find acceptance with will end things here won't it. The shock on her face is from surprise, right? She couldn't believe that she would be caught for creating an... illness within them."

"It's not the fact that those who led them to such a point, and who wiped their bloody hands off on her like a napkin, legally, of course, are what truly haunt her right."

"Alex..." One of the people present muttered as they recognized me, causing the stunned judge to be broken from her stupor as the man next to her relayed the information.

"Alex Erebus. You are a wanted man, and you had the gall to step into a courtroom."

I ignored her as I looked to the man next to her. His feet clenched as I turned to him, but from what everyone else saw, he was stonefaced, compared to the emotional facade he had not long before I had arrived.

"You've done a lot in your life. You could say that you single-handedly built this city."

"Mr. Redhome has done a lot for this community and is a respected member of it."

"Not with your own money of course." I continued causing his mask to melt away slowly.

"A sum of wealth disappears from everyone's pockets and ends up in yours, but not of your own doing of course."

I sighed as I saw that I was not going to get through to him. "That book never made any sense, but I guess that's what you get for having a desperate man trying to mortify a few... Still, it's very easy to emulate it. 'These will do.'"

Two guards who were slowly building up the nerves to approach me turned and ran as a loud buzzing shook not just the building but the rest of the world.

——————

"Where did Alex go?" a woman in scarlet and purple asked six others who had just exited a portal with her.

"You brought the seven here?" Samael asked as a stone door appeared in front of me.

"Mhmm. You managed to make some ungodly beasts here." I answered as a creature appeared in my hands. A winged insect with a multitude of beast parts grafted onto it, but the most disturbing part was the human face which let out groans as I brought it closer to my ear.

"Those aren't to be messed with." Samael warned.

I ignored him as I released the mismatched beast. After looking around for a while the creature flew up to the seven who all looked at it in horror, expecting it to attack them at any moment.

After a moment it turned and looked at Samael, who was watching curiously, before shrieking and slamming into the cell that held him in place. It fell to the ground as stunned for a few moments before looking up with a crooked smile. "Hehehe." It laughed as it flew around the cell.

A small red welt grew in size on the devil's face as his attacker laughed at him and circled him. after a minute it faded and was replaced by a dark symbol all left by the beast.

"These will do."