Devourer

Chapter 197: Aberrant Secrets

I growled as I let go of the artefact at the base of the lake. Clever stuff but honestly now that I understand it I couldn’t help but find it’s design lacking. It was technically impressive, sure but it was clear that the creators favoured form over function. All of these fancy spindly extensions could be easily repurposed into a single smooth surface. That would give it more room to put in more lines of ether script. 

More protection can then be placed on this artefact to prevent anyone tampering with it. This artefact seems to completely rely on the complexity of its design as protection. There was the possibility that only the creators and a Firstborn would have any chance to effectively tamper with it.

If the creators wanted it gone, then it would be a nonissue. If a Firstborn was here and they wanted to get rid of it, there honestly wasn’t much anyone could do about it anyway. 

I could in theory just destroy the artefact, but that would not be a good idea. I do not know what exactly it would do if I ripped it out. It could just destabilise the entirety of hell and cause some kind of catastrophic collapse. It could cause hell to plunge back into Terra and drag Heaven with it. Or it could just collapse Limbo into the void with me in it. I could survive a lot of things but I’m pretty sure dimensional collapse was not on the list.

Oh well that’s something for another time. I shot back towards the surface and burst out of the water in a spray of water. I’m pretty sure I heard Regari and that girl scream when I emerged but I had more important things to do.

I shot towards my temporary camp on the other side of the mountains. When I landed I saw Mahaila reading to Rena while Alastor played chess with Rosa. 

As soon as I landed, Adhaya emerged from the ground and instantly gave me a deep bow. Her body had changed significantly, and her claws now had a different curvature. I could see she was now sporting more ranged options. 

It seems giving her the ability to modify herself through flesh crafting was a good idea. Plus the increased control from the Sovereign evolution path allows me to add more power to individuals within my hive. The control means that I didn’t have to worry about rebelling and the increased cognitive load within the Hive Mind itself meant data storage wasn’t a problem for the foreseeable future. 

I could even make the lower castes do math now!

“The purification of this world is proceeding well, we expect purification to be complete within a few weeks, potentially more depending on future developements. Barring of course the group of settlements you have taken interest in.” Adhaya replied.

Yes, that collection of settlements on the other side of the mountain were useful. Limbo as a location was still land that could be used. Its inhospitable nature could also make it a useful location for the more unscrupulous industries. With land like this, polluting the hell out of it wouldn’t be a problem. 

“We have found something of interest. We have also found an inactive World Gate.” Adhaya said.

“Say what now?” I paused as I looked at her. The aerial recon didn’t turn this up and as far as I know, there wasn’t supposed to be one here.

“A world gate?” I heard Mahaila ask and I saw Alastor had turned to look at us as well.

“Yes, it would appear so. It was buried under a kilometre of dirt, we only detected it because we were passing by the area and looking for possible outpost locations. It is inside a hollowed out cavern deep underground.” Adhaya said.

“Know anything about this?” I asked as I glanced at Mahaila.

“There are some inactive world gates, one of which is in Zarima and another in the Ostayan Wastes.” Mahaila said, and Rosa approached her brow raised.

“There is one in Necoronas as well. But the stories say that it's linked to the Pride Ring.” Rosa said, and Alastor piped up as well.

“The gates are designed to be open and closed from Hell and not the other way around. This makes Hell far more defensive, and due to the nature of the gates, destroying them would lead to rather unfortunate consequences, thus ensuring their continued existence,” Alastor said.

“Unfortunate consequences?” Mahaila asked. Well that was new, Mahaila was out of the loop.

“The Gates tether the worlds to an extent. Destroy the gates, and the world's destabilise. Some overzealous Wrath Demon tried it once, he only managed to damage it, and it still caused a large enough ether pulse to fry a city. Needless to say, that particular demon was hunted down rather quickly.” Alastor stated.

“So any idea where this one leads?” I asked and everyone shook their heads.

“I didn’t even know Limbo had a gate.” Alastor added with a shrug and the nods of agreement around me only cemented that fact.

“Alright sounds interesting. Let’s go have a look, Adhaya I assume you have already made a path.” I asked.

“Yes, my king, but for you. The path is inhospitable for their kind.” Adhaya said as she gestured casually to the rest.

“Make it hospitable I’ll need their input. Do it quickly.” I said, and Adhaya bowed before returning underground. I did note a hint of annoyance from the Hive Mind for having to cater to what they viewed as creatures “outside” of the hive. 

I addressed this problem for the Hive on Terra, but seeing as this new brood was cut off to some extent and they were all more intelligent, this seems like another issue to resolve. But that was for later. 

For now, we have a gate to look at. 

I turned to face Mahaila and saw her lost in thought.

“There isn’t a gate in the region where the Empire is, I always felt it was strange.” Mahaila mused.

“So you think the gate links to Elysia?” I asked.

“The gate is underground. We don’t know for sure we found all the vaults.” Mahaila said, and I nodded.

“Interesting…” I mused as I tracked the progress of the dig.

When the dig was finally done, I popped over with just Mahaila and Alastor. I left Rosa behind to tend to the camp. Honestly as far as input was concerned, these two would suffice. 

The gate itself was housed in this large chamber and as I scanned the walls I noticed this place was made of the same black stone that made up my first home in the Elysian woods. I turned to the side and sure enough I spotted that all too familiar control panel.

“Huh, so it is here. Judging by the walls…” Mahaila began but I was already moving towards the control panel. 

“It leads to a vault.” I said as I tapped onto the control runes. It was easy enough to operate, especially considering I use one similar to this on the regular back in Elysia. There was a powerful wave of ether and the World Gate roared to life.

“Fuck me.” Alastor muttered as he shielded his eyes. 

“Yeah…” Mahaila muttered as they both took a step back. 

“Didn’t we activate a World Gate earlier?” I asked

“No, we powered it up when it was already active. This was dormant.” Mahaila said as she gazed at the swirling blue gate. 

“This looks different…” I muttered.

“Yes, because this gate has been protected well. The connection is more stable. Although I have never seen a fresh World Gate before.” Mahaila said as she examined the gate.

As I fiddled with the control panel I found a data bank inside the system. This was new and as I peered deeper I saw the title of the data bank, “The Origin Contingency”.

“Huh…” I muttered to myself as I continued reading the data bank.

Ah now this is interesting, someone forgot to delete this entry. This was made by a group called the Aberrants. From what I gather, these Aberrants were Watchers. They were different in a way, they followed less strictly to the Firstborn’s orders but they were still loyal. 

From what I have gathered, the Watchers mainly were used as glorified janitors and gardeners, with the occasional production task of new life forms. This data bank did add some information to that narrative…

The others serve blindly, the Great Ones gave us the gift of knowledge. It is our duty to secure their rule in the distant future. They do not see the plans our creations put in motion, they do not see that there is a probability of success. The world cannot exist without the Great Ones. The world will wither and fade. 

The lesser beings need a master, we will ensure that future. Though the Great Ones view us as traitors we know the truth. The Great Ones fear each other far more than they fear the lesser beings. They do not act, they aim to use the lesser ones against each other. Perhaps the Great Ones will succeed, perhaps we are fools. But I, no WE cannot take that chance, the world needs the Great Ones, whether the lesser beings acknowledge it or not. The truth does not need their approval.

We the Watchers were made to tend to their garden, so tend we shall. We will not suffer a world without the Great Ones, it is against the natural order. 

The First were they the Last are they…

Huh looks like some of the Watchers clued into the Humanoid’s plans. These guys were loyal, in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity for these Watchers. What I would do to get some of them back…

I will die soon along with my fellows. We have been discovered by the agents of the Great Ones. It is only a matter of time. Soon we will have to depart this place, to preserve this link to the Southern Lands. I can only hope the Void Born do not find this place.

If a Great One were to emerge in the distant future, this unique gate will aid them. Their Hives will swarm and retaking the Shadow Lands would be so much easier. I hope the others were successful as well. The Gate to the Lands of Light should hopefully be secured, if the Light Born find it, they will disable it once they realise what these new gates can do.

As for the greatest amongst our number, I can only hope the Great One of the far future will have use of them when they emerge from stasis.

Emerge from stasis? Oh now this is interesting…

So there might be Watchers locked away somewhere. But where could they be… 

The entry doesn’t say much more, it cuts off rather abruptly with an unfinished sentence. It seems the Watchers here had to leave in a hurry. But whatever they did, it seems to have worked and their predictions came true.

If I ever find those Watchers in stasis I will make sure they are rewarded. They must have been good, really good to have built all those vaults, and every other preparation. In the end although I didn’t find them all, I did use what I discovered and it most certainly helped. What's more is that until now I had no idea it was ancient Watchers behind it all. This is one hell of a subterfuge campaign, they were good, reaaaaally good.

“What is it?” Mahaila asked.

“See for yourself.” I said as I gestured to the displayed text. Alastor came over as well as he peered over Mahaila’s shoulder.

“What text is that? I can’t read it.” Alastor muttered.

“Gramps never taught you?” Mahaila asked in surprise.

“We were never close, even when your master was alive.” Alastor muttered as he peered at the text.

“This is the old tongue of the Watchers. I doubt even most of the Divine Council would know the words. I doubt the Daemon Princes as well, it’s just too old.” Mahaila replied.

“Yet you do?” Alastor asked as he raised a skeptical brow.

“I had some very good teachers. People always forget how old the Crow Father truly is. Still I’m surprised you even asked that, after all your race was polishing their talons long ago.” Mahaila replied and Alastor scowled at the comment.

“Tyrants all, they think themselves wise but they were fools.” Alastor spat in response.

“They were still wiser than the lot of you.” Mahaila replied with a sneer. 

At those words Alastor visibly snarled as infernal flames ignited along his body.

“Enough, the young are weak, that is how all of you are made. Get over it.” I growled and Alastor turned away, his flames dimming.

“Magne Morninstar would know the words, if this was built here, there is a good chance she might be in on it. She was always loyal to the Firstborn. She was just out voted at the time of the Great Fall.” Alastor muttered.

“Really? I thought she rebelled along with everyone else?” Mahaila asked in surprise.

“No, she was a loyalist, everyone knew. But she kept her head down and went along with it. I always wondered why.” Alastor mused.

I glanced at Mahaila and she gave me this look. It seems we just might know why Magne Morningstar went along with the war. She knew there was an alternative. Clever in a way, with the Firstborn gone, the races will wither. So then it just becomes a waiting game. As long as the Firstborn survives they will eventually overcome the humanoids.

“Huh, that kind of explains why Firstborn pop out every now and then. The Aberrants must have found quite a few eggs from the Lesser Firstborn.” I said.

“The Aberrants?” Alastor asked and I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance. Right he can’t read it…

“We’ll explain later.” Mahaila said as she waved him off.

Now then, it mentions that the gate is special

I can feel my Hive signal emanating from the gate…