Mundane Lives: Commitment

[SF-5101: Variant 10E]

"GAZEERA!!!", Deimos bellowed desperately.

The draconian cloud swallowed Gazeera through his huge and mighty maw. Gulping him down in one go. Gazeera roared as he fell down a spiral of spectral strands, as each strand kept lashing him. His head throbbed and his vision blurred, as his mind was muddled with pain.

He opened his pitch black eyes wide, as they turned navy blue and his white iris took the shape of a clock. He looked around desperately trying to find a way out, through those torrential spectral waves. He tried to claw at the cloud with one hand and was swinging his palisman [Bailka] with the other, but to no avail. He was pushed deeper and deeper into the torrent.

"AAAARRRHH!!!", he yelled in rage. His armor [Koharun] gleaming brightly.

[Frames:

Anxious and alert, Gazeera approached a hollow wooden door. He nudged it a bit. The door opened as he cautiously entered the room. It looked like a prison. Domed and sturdy. At the center lay a dragon adorned with resplendent and magnificent gold scales, a luscious red mane. He looked like a wraith, translucent. Chained, with his neck restrained by a barbed collar.

He rose his head facing Gazeera. Gazeera froze in his tracks, as the Dragon's spectral eyes stared down at him.

The Dragon said, "Release me."]

Gazeera's eyes shone brightly within the spectral torrent of the cloud, as a dark shadow loomed over him. The insides of the cloud started to shift, it started to whirl. The spectral strands latched on to Gazeera dragging him along with it, marking his forehead.

"Hrrrmmm...", Lord Hades frowned, as he gazed upon the draconian cloud. The cloud started shifting and warping, it's form distorted and swirled. At the edge of the cloud Gazeera's head popped out, still latched on by the spectral strands holding him down. Deimos quickly rushed towards him.

"Aaaaahhhh!!!", Gazeera gasped in pain.

Lord Hades' cloudy face twisted with a smile. The dark shadow looming over Gazeera glared at him.

The spectral strands that had latched onto Gazeera pulled him back inside, as the draconian cloud recoiled and shot him out. Gazeera was flung into the dead and dim space. As he was flailing around, Deimos grabbed him yet again.

"Well,.. it's good that you weren't carried away by that.", he sighed in relief.

The Draconian cloud rammed against the space again breaking it, as it rushed out from the rift it just formed.

"That was quite the venture.", remarked Lord Hades.

"I-it just swallowed me in.", replied Gazeera, flustered.

"Don't worry about it.", assured Lord Hades. "There are many entities like that. I am actually glad that you got to witness one. Know this we are not the only entities in [Yggdrasil], be careful and cautious."

"You did well.", commended Deimos. "But yes, it helps to stay cautious."

Gazeera nodded as he took a deep breath grasping everything that happened so far.

Lord Hades raised his hand emitting a bright white beacon across the universe, which shrouded every [Incarnation] present. They got sucked into the light and were transported back to [MYRIAD].

************* ************** *************

[Paradis: Lighthouse]:

Cerberus the mighty beast nestled beside the Spectral portal, peacefully sleeping. The portal pulsed and a group of [Incarnations] arrived. Cerberus peeked through one eye and went back to sleep.

"Welcome Back!", chimed Aminon, as the cohort of [Incarnations] arrived at the [Gates of Erebos].

The [Furies] led the [Heralds] out of the Lighthouse, while Thanatos dispersed the [Reapers].

"This was quite an eventful journey.", she continued, approaching Gazeera and the rest.

"Take him to the Shrine of [Lethe] and Temple of [Mnemosyne].", told Lord Hades, pointing at Gazeera. "Have him witness the reincarnation for both the cases."

Aminon nodded and bowed, gesturing Gazeera to follow her.

"So how good is he?", Lord Hades asked Deimos.

"He can keep up, does not fuss around. I might say pretty decent.", replied Deimos.

"Hmmm...", pondered Lord Hades. Turning to Cerberus he asked-

"What do you think about him?".

Cerberus grunted and went back to sleep.

"Really? You barely take a liking to anyone.", Lord Hades remarked.

"I will take my leave now.", Deimos curtly spoke as he disappeared.

"Thanatos.", said Lord Hades.

"My lord.", Thanatos appeared in shades of black, bowing.

"Monitor the outer sector for anything unforeseen.", Lord Hades commanded. "Something big is going to happen soon."

"Yes, my lord.", replied Thanatos. "Sir, here is the list of rogue deities and entities you asked."

"What about [Durmungar]?", asked Lord Hades. "How far have you reached in finding it?".

"Sir, we are making progress. It seems like the demons are planning on using it soon. That's when we will retrieve it.", replied Thanatos.

"Okay, just keep me posted about it", said Lord Hades.

"Yes, my lord.".

Lord Hades dismissed Thanatos who disappeared in shades of black.

He got out of the Lighthouse and made his way to his tower. He went to his cabin, where he fiddled around with some cassettes, DVD's, albums, etc. He was working on the list that Thanatos had given him, when-

"Hello, brother.", a majestic [Incarnation] arrived. This [Incarnation] had a fair complexion. He had magnificent Cloudy White hair and sharp blue eyes, adorning a splendid white crown. He wore a cloudy grey toga. His robust figure leisurely resting over an armchair.

"Lord Zeus, brother. What brings you here?", inquired Lord Hades.

"Oh ho ho ho!!, you already know why I am here. Why did use it? Why did you use Pandora's Box?", replied Lord Zeus, amused and gleeful. "I thought we had agreed on not using it anymore."

"I had to confirm certain circumstances.", replied Lord Hades.

"Oh, do tell me your reason, brother. I am just curious to know what made my stoic brother break his own rules, and trust me I am not the only one.", said Lord Zeus.

" 'He' has made an appearance.", said Lord Hades. "I used Pandora's box to force 'him' to show himself."

"Seriously?", Lord Zeus became grim and grave.

"Yes, my suspicions were correct. By producing these many [Incarnations] of similar world-view, someone is planning on unifying all the realms together.", replied Lord Hades. "And I think it is safe to assume that 'He' is behind it."

"So you risked using Pandora's Box over a hunch.", Lord Zeus frowned.

"But that hunch happened to be real, brother.", replied Lord Hades. "I witnessed him."

"Then it seems we should be vigilant.", said Lord Zeus.

"I have already sent Thanatos to monitor the outer sectors. He shall keep us posted once every month.", assured Lord Hades.

"I will inform the other sovereigns.", said Lord Zeus, his eyes grimly glinting. "Find 'him', scour the entirety of [Yggdrasil] if you have to."

"Rest assured, brother. We will find 'him'. And when we do, we will be prepared.", replied Lord Hades. "Just one last thing, 'he' seems to be drawn towards [Incarnations] of the name [Walpurjis]."

"Good to know, I will keep them in check.", replied Lord Zeus, as he got up and disappeared in sparks of lightning.

Lord Hades went back on working over the list of rogue deities and entities.

*********** ************ ***********

[MYRIAD: Nexus Zone]

Akelus wandered amidst the hustling bustling crowd of [Incarnations] in the market. It had been a week since he arrived in the Nexus Zone. He made his way towards a tavern named [Dawn], it resembled an old wooden shack. It had a rusty iron door. Akelus knocked it thrice.

The door creaked open as he entered. The tavern was dim and cold, pretty spacious. There were several [Incarnations] seated inside, talking and whispering to one another. There was a band of nymphs and sirens serenading in the background.

Akelus made his way towards the bar, his white robust physique illuminated in darkness. His nemean figure draped in an orange tunic, his hands adorned with spectral and light beads.

"The usual?", asked the bartender, he was an old man with the head of a humanoid serpent.

Akelus nodded as the bartender served him a cool glass of spirited mint water.

"Was anything put up recently?", Akelus inquired, after he gulped his drink down.

"Most of the bounties have already been reserved by the pantheons.", sighed the bartender.

"Really?, It has been a rough week, can you just do me a favor for now, please?", Akelus requested.

"There is nothing much I can do about the major expeditions as they are issued and auctioned among the pantheons themselves.", explained the bartender. "But there are some escort and recon missions."

"I have been doing the same bounties for a over a week now.", Akelus groaned in annoyance. "Aren't there any better missions than these?"

"No there are not.", the bartender curtly replied. "You were personally recruited by [Hypnos], but you just had to refuse the offer. Well this is the issue with running solo Akelus, you have no one looking after you."

"Whatever, old man. Just give me a heads up when something good arrives.", spoke Akelus, as he got up to leave.

"Akelus remember to go through the list I gave you. Since you are running solo, it's better to know which factions are active in [MYRIAD] and the trades they specialize in.", reminded the kind bartender, with a benevolent smile. "And, don't worry about the missions for now. I will do my best to get something good for you."

Akelus smirked as he left the tavern. He made his way through the crowd bustling in the streets. He walked up to a junction. Here there were several stores and workshops, exchanging goods and resources. This junction was a crowded place with several [Incarnations] huddled at different stores.

Akelus walked through a crowd making his way to one of the [Exchange Units]. The [Exchange Unit] had the symbol of a cloudy hourglass. It was supervised by an [Incarnation] that looked like a Lyre*.

Akelus opened his golden ring, and took out some resources. These included weapons, minerals, ores, etc., from different universes and their timelines.

The Lyre scanned through the resources. After sometime it spoke rhythmically.

"Do you not have any resources from the prime universe?", it inquired.

"Hahaha, no.", Akelus chuckled. "You can't expect me to have such valuable resources every-time, but the current batch of resources are not bad either, they are from the SF and WU zones. And a few of them are from the SN zones closer to the prime universe."

The Lyre sighed in rhythm, it spoke-

"What do you expect in return?".

"Few [Dreamscape] augments, Ethereal augments and spectral mule [units].", replied Akelus.

"Okay.", the Lyre agreed as it summoned a few orbs shrouded in dark grey mist, glowing faintly white along with some ethereal white cubes, and a pack of spectral steeds, with glowing smoky eyes and a spectral cloudy physique.

Akelus stored the augments in his golden space ring and led the Spectral Steeds by the noose to a workshop. As he entered the workshop.

"What can I do for you?", asked an extremely huge and gruff entity, he had a single eye on his face. He was a Cyclops.

"Just augment my golden space ring and my gauntlets.", Akelus spoke, as he gave the Cyclops some [Dreamscape] augments.

The cyclops doused his hammer into the augment till it was completely shrouded in dark mist, he then fused the augment to his hammer and held his hand forward. Akelus placed his ring over the Cyclops' hand. The Cyclops hammered the ring with the [Dreamscape] augment, a faint glowing light covered the ring as the mist dispersed. The ring resonated for a bit and then calmed down.

Akelus wore his ring and stored the Spectral Steeds inside it. Next he gave the Cyclops some Ethereal augments and his gauntlet [Fudan]. The Cyclops held the gauntlets in one of his palms, while he warped the ethereal augments with his other palm into an orb. He then shattered the orb and transferred the ethereal essence to the gauntlets augmenting it.

Akelus took his gauntlets and stored in his golden space ring. He exit the workshop back into the crowded streets.

[Pathfinder]:

His eyes gleaming brightly with a single golden trail of arrows forming a path in front of him. Following the golden arrows he made his way out of the market. Still inside the [Nexus Zone] Akelus flew, following the golden trail of arrows to a pocket dimension.

The dimension had a violet outline and was constantly shifting from one point to another. Akelus had named it [Elusive Shrine].

He made his way to his [Elusive Shrine] and entered it. The dome enclosing the [Elusive Shrine] rippled around him. Inside the domain was a very fertile and prosperous plane. The realm was dim and dark. Several stars studded across it's dome. Cool breeze blowing across it's expanse.

There was a huge field, a decently big house and several nodes both ethereal and spectral leading to several other sub-domains and timelines. Some of the nodes had resources falling out of them periodically.

Akelus summoned the spectral steeds and led them to a barn. There he put those steeds into a stable. It was spacious space close to a spectral node and had an ethereal node on top, that periodically chucked a warping black orb while the ethereal node released stocks of ethereal strands. There were few other animals kept near the barn. A big black oxen, a yak covered in golden brown fur, several ethereal blue roosters.

Akelus smiled upon his accumulation and left the barn.

He visited his field supervising it. The resources on the field were abundant but they were growing all over the place.

"I need to find someone to manage this place, the yield is too low right now.", Akelus thought as he sighed.

He entered his house. It had four rooms, all of them were furnished properly.

"Master.", entered a spirit in the shape of a Dice.

"Prepare my bedroom and synchronize the new mule unit.", commanded Akelus.

"As you wish, Master.", spoke the Dice, as it disappeared.

"Today was an utter waste.", he sighed, as he went to his bedroom. "I hope Old Man finds me something good tomorrow."

He opened the door and fell on his well made bed.

"Shou.", he spoke.

"Yes master", the Dice shaped spirit reappeared beside him.

"Don't wake me up tomorrow.", Akelus told the spirit.

"Yes, master." the spirit named [Bangshou] replied.

[Next Day]

A zither played in the background.

Akelus groaned and woke up.

"Shou, I had told you to not wake me up.", Akelus spoke annoyed.

"Master, Old Man [Agathos] is calling you.", replied [Bangshou] the Dice.

"The bartender?", asked Akelus.

"Yes master."

Akelus snapped his finger and a voice was transmitted to him.

"You didn't report in today.", [Agathos] communicated. "You know what, never mind. I have got a job for you. It's high profile. One of the minor pantheons has requested for it. I have recommended you. And, don't even think about refusing the offer, payout is better than what you are getting right now."

"When should I meet them?", enquired Akelus.

"Right now.", replied Agathos. "They are already here."

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