Interlude - Hell Cometh

Eyeless Watcher 937J642L506D

Interplanar Apeiron Barrier Matrix . . . Imminent Failure

Action Required . . . Initiate Emergency Containment Protocols 

Emergency Containment Protocols . . . Failed

Contact to Delphic Administrator . . . Failed

Escalating Trouble Ticket . . . Failed

Initiating Emergency Failsafe . . . Error! User Input Required!

Reinitializing . . .

Interplanar Apeiron Barrier Matrix . . . Imminent Failure

Diagnosis . . . Initiate Emergency Containment Protocols . . .

Verina dismissed the strange text which scrolled across her vision against a freely floating blue screen. She placed her hands on her scaly hips and let loose with a deep, hearty laugh.

A woman with reptilian features, Verina had dull, rough-looking skin resembling scales and yellow eyes with vertically-slit pupils. A flattened, stub of a nose with wide nostrils centered her oval-shaped, elvenoid face. Metallic, hair-like strands grew down her back to her waist in tight braids which shimmered and seemed to writhe with any change in lighting. She wore a deceptively simple tunic with plain-looking rope as a sash with a sturdy, practical-looking little mallet tucked through a hoop in the rope.

The Gorgon was surrounded by chaos . . . or, more accurately, fractured Order.

Reality buckled under the residual energies which lingered after the cataclysmic battle. Jagged fractals spiderwebbed across the fabric of space itself and Verina marveled at the marvelous destruction she had wrought.

Nearby . . . In the distance . . . At the other end of the chamber. . . Behind her . . . Verina frowned in annoyance at the tricks the fractured space was playing on her perceptions. She triggered a command via her neural augment and space became more stabilized, albeit temporarily. The fractal fissures spreading through the fundamentals of reality halted, then began to reverse course.

Verina used the respite to reassess her surroundings.

The chamber was of fairly standard Delphic design: lots of boring, sourceless white light and floating, gently-humming crystals. Normally the sound from the individual crystals would merge into a single, harmonious whole. However, with many of them darkened, fractured or outright destroyed, they instead produced a dissonance that sounded - to Verina at least - like the sweet clarion of victory.

"I've extracted the Delphi's core. What are your orders, Verina?"

Verina turned her attention to her android Protector, who crouched nearby. To any but another Gorgon, the Protector would have been indistinguishable from Verina. Which was, of course, another layer of protection. Why provide enemies with only one powerful, nigh-indestructible menace when you could force them to fight two?

The android clutched another crystal in her scaled hand. But unlike the rest of the junk surrounding them, this crystal was a true Delphi's core and shone with the brilliance of a nascent star. Sure, the Delphi had been weak (and possibly a little insane, if Verina were to judge) but its core was still a nearly priceless prize in the right . . . morally flexible markets.

"Secure the core in dimensional storage and try to find anything else of value, Verina Stheno," Verina commanded. "Once you're done, prepare to depart."

The crystal vanished from view as if it had never existed. The Protector rose to her feet and began to move about the chamber in a deliberate search pattern.

Satisfied, Verina turned her attention to the chamber's third and final living occupant. Another Protector, there was again no obvious difference between her and Verina, except for the overt disapproval on this android's reptilian face.

"You risk complications between the Protectorate and the Tribunal, young Verina." The disapproval etched across the Protector's face was just as evident in the android's voice.

Verina scoffed dismissively. "You're even younger than I am, Verina Euryale," she replied.

The android's yellow eyes narrowed. "Don't avoid the point. Murdering a Delphic Administrator carrying out its duties is a serious offense almost anywhere across the Planes."

"Not within the Gorgon Protectorate," Verina responded disinterestedly. "Nor the Hells, it would seem. We've been over this, sister. The deed is done."

"The deed is done," Verina Euryale conceded.

"The deed is done," Verina Stheno echoed as she returned to stand by her sisters in a triangular formation. The trio of identical sisters - the Gorgon and her two android Protectors - gazed at each other with unblinking, yellow eyes. Then Verina Stheno continued. "There are no objects of significant value remaining in this chamber."

"What a cheap Delphi," Verina Euryale snorted and the Gorgon sisters shared identical smiles.

"Worry not, Verina Euryale," Verina eventually said. It wouldn't hurt to compromise a little, she decided. They were sisters after all. "You may proceed with your plan."

Verina Euryale titled her head in gracious acknowledgement. A thought allowed the Delphi Administrator's silly blue screen to return to her view. It still displayed the strange text scrolling on an infinite loop. 

The Gorgons had jammed all outgoing communications of course. No sense letting their bounty call for help and summon a true challenge, after all.

But then the text abruptly stopped scrolling as new words appeared in Verina's vision.

Initiating Emergency Failsafe . . . User Input Received!

Failsafe System Integration . . . Initializing.

The Gorgon trio's gazes met once more and Verina nodded.

"Let's collect our pay. I'm eager to find if the Hells have anyone more worthy of our attention."

A command via her neural augment deactivated the spatial stabilization field. The fractals - which had until then been slowly shrinking - seemed to halt. Then they began to expand once more.

A different neural command summoned a Planar rift. A kaleidoscope of infinite fractals manifested before them into a rectangular, door-like plane of multicoloured luminence. The tunic-clad Verina Stheno was the first to stride through. Verina was next and lastly, Verina Euryale followed.

Then the Planar rift imploded silently, leaving nothing behind but a devastated chamber and lingering spatial fractals slowly spreading throughout reality itself.