《The Deepest Dive》Change for the greater good.
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Ishani was third through the Gate this time, but she emerged to find Chris making a coffee for his god, with a fire going and snow blanketing the ground around them. It was night and a full moon hung in the sky above them. Chris noticed her arrival and pointed at the moon, "Look familiar?"
The moon above her was strange, but also familiar, it took a second but then it clicked, it was the same moon, Luna, that she saw every now and then through the light pollution, but rotated by about a sixth of a full turn.
"That's our moon!"
It was a measure of her shock, that Ishani didn't notice Ngaboux's incarnation come up behind her and place a hand on her shoulder.
"No, it's not your moon, but it might be, one day. We're lucky, my avatar was both right, and very wrong. I'll explain more when everyone else gets here, we've probably got a few hours. The temporal differential is increasing, so I should just have time to explain the situation to everyone before my tether snaps. That's why the circle broke." Ngaboux gestured to the blackened ruined stumps of what had been the stakes holding the gate in place in time.
"There's debate about the moon!" Chris shouted. "Anyway, I'm making dinner, I caught a fish!"
"He caught it with his claws, it was positively savage. I loved it." Ngaboux walked over to Chris and laid their hand on his shoulder, while grabbing the coffee he'd made with the other.
Chris preened himself while he started chopping the vegetables, obviously enjoying the attention.
"Uh, should I come back later?" Ishani asked, clearly uncomfortable.
"This is technically a religious service, I just have a personal connection to my god. Anyway, it's purely platonic."
"I won't deny though, I did have a hand in choosing my avatar's form" Ngaboux said, trailing their hand down Chris' arm.
"You'd better pull up a chair, I expect us to be waiting all night."
To the immense relief of Ishani, Lin came through a few seconds after this pronouncement.
"Oh thank the fates you're here. I mean, you made it safely, through the Gate. I mean yes. Glad to see you." Ishani's mouth was running away with her relief.
"Ah you pulled the creepy stunt. Was it lech or lich?" Lin's voice sounded somewhat annoyed, insofar as Ishani could tell what a walking rock's voice indicated.
"I resent the implication," said Ngaboux. "But it was lech."
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"They do this to everyone new." Lin said to Ishani, "It appeals to their sick and twisted sense of humour."
"I am a god, everything I do is by definition divine. It can't be sick or twisted. Anyway, this is a common form of hazing in my home realm. If you object to it, you're being culturally insensitive." The god of magic then went to the edge of the circle and began to repair and prepare the circle around the gate. "The moment Adili and Wolfgang get here we're going back to parity. I've got an industrial strength enchantment for this, but I think it'll only last at most an hour for us. We'll get everything put through then. We already sent back the message for that while you were en route"
It took only about another hour for Wolfgang and Adili to appear, steaming plates of food being presented to them as they arrived. Ngaboux threw another message through the Gate and then activated their new and more powerful circle. This time the glow of mana was subdued and almost pretty, the resulting blast wave from the activation was a bit more vigorous though, knocking everything magical they had on them, armour and weapons mainly, out of service for a second until normalcy was restored. The sky outside the circle was a blur now, and no sooner had the circle been activated than the gate was busy with attendants carting in supplies, pieces of building and everything they'd need for a six-month deployment.
Ngaboux gathered them together around the table that Chris had been cooking on and started to explain."As you know, I have a lot more senses than you all, and I've got a lot more intelligence, as in the statistic. Though in my avatar's case, standard definition too. Anyway, that means I can process a lot, very quickly, in ways you can't begin to imagine. There is no hidden dungeon. There's a Gate with two sides, one here, one back where we came from. Our side is extremely normal, it's this side that's interesting. This is not a dungeon. This is a universe. Universes don't normally link to universes spontaneously and stably. However, this is not your realm in the past. This is... sort of an echo of your realm. It looks like another realm, another universe, which is the mirror of your universe. The bridge between the two realms is acting like a pump, pulling magic from... somewhere and pushing it into both universes. This means there is no core, there are no monsters to kill. There is however a lot of research to be done, for a start is this dangerous to us? How long will it last? What happens if this world grows like yours did? Will they make a portal to a parallel version of my realm? Will there be two Chrises? Luckily you have the foremost expert in parallel universes in at least two planets right here. Chris will be largely doing research for the next few months, it's your job to aid him and protect him if needed. Ishani, you'll have to work closely with him for this, and it would be helpful if you were in your other form. If you'll allow me, I can use the magic here to make you an elf again. Don't worry, I'll make you a developmentally equivalent elf. No one wants to be literally baby-sitting you. I'll have to hurry you though. I've got maybe fifty minutes left and this spell will be quite taxing, it'll take at least thirty minutes to cast. I can reverse it when you get back, no problems. I'll owe you a favour too, and a favour from a god has to be worth something."
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Ishani paused. "I, would like that? I think? You can definitely reverse it when I get back, if I want you to?"
"On my honour as a god. Shall I take that as a yes?" Ngaboux began moving their hands in large circles, glittering runes hanging in the air as their hands passed through it.
"One quick question, before you get into the spell." Ishani asked. "How do you drink coffee and eat food if you're a construct made of precious metals?"
Ngaboux smiled "Magic. It's my purview after all. Now if you're quite done, I'll continue. This probably won't hurt too much."
Proof if, proof be needed, that gods can lie. Ishani was in agony as her body started to change from the inside out. Each cell was remade, and the human body began to fight the intruder. The change was accelerating though, and after a few minutes, the elven body was fighting the remnants of the human body. When she crossed the bridge, the whole her body changed at once, or it felt like that anyway. This was excruciating, the pain built and built until she gladly succumbed to unconsciousness. An agony later, she came to, and the change was complete. She was now an elf, and she felt very strange. She had been laid down on a bed, which hadn't been there when she had fallen. She was indoors, and out the window, the sky was blue and unchanging.
Wolfgang was sat in a chair across the implausible room she found herself in. "You're awake again then. Are you back to yourself now? Drink this, it'll help." He picked a water bottle with a drinking straw in the lid and passed it to her. She took a sip of the liquid, it tasted like artificial fruits, sugar and salt.
She looked around, noting that the room appeared to be part of the temporary buildings that they'd brought with them. Things looked strange though, different. Wolfgang was a ruddy dwarf as normal, but his voice was somehow more drawn out and his skin and hair were more red than she remembered. She took a deep breath and the scents of the outside world assailed her, she could smell the rain that had fallen last night, the ice in the mountains, the rich smell of humus in the forest below. Suddenly remembering, her hands flew to her ears, the delicate points and the lack of lobes confirming that she was in fact an elf again. A fully grown elf, for the first time in her life. She looked at her hands, longer and more delicate than before, still the same dark, warm brown as before though, just a little more refined and a little more other.
"Yeah," she croaked, before taking a larger swig "Yeah, I'm back. How long was I out?"
"Oh not too long, about a day. But you've been completely rebuilt, so I think that's actually pretty good going. While Ngaboux was still here, the attendants managed to put together about half the buildings, then the cirlce snapped and we've got about a month until the rest of the supplies are in. Don't worry, we have food, shelter and water. Adili and Chris are sulking because the Howitzer didn't make it through. Lin seems pretty happy about it though.
"Anyway, you drink up, have a shower, it's just through there. There's clean clothes over in that wardrobe. Once you're ready, head on through to the kitchen and we'll catch you up on what Ngaboux needed you to be an elf for. A real elf, not a pretend elf like Adili. That made him so snippy, it was funny.'But I am an elf!'. Hah."
Wolfgang stumped toward the door, stepped through it and closed it behind him. Ishani decided that actually she'd shower first and went to do it.
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Rise Of The Greatest Magus
A magical school. A talented boy. Things should've gone perfectly, a talented magus should've been created within the walls of this school. Yet it is now, now that he is here that all these horribly dangerous events transpire. Traitors of the continent are hidden within the school. Mage supremacists are making their move. Schools will fall and cities collapse when the events begin unfolding. So what will become of this boy, wanted by both groups? Will he perish under their manipulative hands or will he rise and bring magic society to a new high?
8 354The Girl Named Rino
Oh. Hello. I didn't see you come in. No, don't worry. I don't need to hear your name. I already know what it is. I also knew that you'd come up at around this time. But, at the same time, I also didn't know. It's very hard to put into words - but that's what happens when you become the Chaos God. Your psyche gets messed up, big time. That's even more so for me, who was already warped enough to confuse reality with imagination - and, even make the rest of the universe believe that it was so. But, enough about me. Let's talk about you. You seem to come from a very far away land. It's faint, but your presence is there - in a relatively primitive planet. No wonder, no one wanted to stay in, or conquer your region of the universe - there's nothing worth controlling there. Your existence, much like your entire solar system, also seems to be pretty insignificant. Tell me, is your race capable of destroying your own world? Oh, you're already well along the way? Global Warming? Pollution? Overpopulation? Nuclear weapons? Wow... it's been many millenia since I'd last heard of such ancient concepts from someone who is actually living through it. Still, good job getting that far. That means that your world is now, at least, worth considering as a possible place to install a World System. If I find the time, I'll try surveying it. You can just thank me, later. Oh wait! What kind of person am I, not even offering my guest any hospitality. I'm ashamed. Please, take a seat. What would you like? I have everything the multiverse has to offer, whatever it is you want - I can get. Ah! After we talk, would you mind, if I asked you to do me a tiny favor? There's this girl, I want to keep tabs on. She's in one of the Worlds that I preside over, it's called Aiarthe. But, for some reason, I can't see her - not directly, at least. All I need you to do, is check up on her from time to time. Whether you do it as a pure spectator or through someone else's eyes, is entirely up to you. Really!? You would!? Wow! Thanks! You really did me, a huge solid there! For agreeing so quickly, how about I get started on surveying that planet of yours, right now!? You can help yourself, to anything in the fridge! Well, see ya!
8 231From the Dark, Comes Life
All I ever wanted was what normal people wanted. A simple life, money to supply my and her needs, and children to watch grow old with us. However, life has this way of making a joke out of your dreams, your desires, and honestly, your personal opinion. It was at the height of my career that my life went from all wins to back to back losses. At first, I was optimistic. I felt that I could overcome this. This wasn't something that could keep her down. She was stronger than this. We were stronger than some disease. At some point, it even look like she was going to make a strong recover. We already bought tickets and were planning our next step in life. Talking about kids, that blue house and white picket fence. Ho... Instead, I stood in front of a freshly dug grave. I stared at the casket that was being lowered into the muddy ground. I did not say my last goodbyes. How could I when everything she was, she had become, she was going to be was in my face like a fresh slap. Our house, my work office, the blackness behind my eyelids. It was a fresh reminder.. Then, I got this fresh start.. This crazy bish summoned me.. Summoned me from a world where I had went down the wrong path. To a world where there was no right and wrong for me. There was no peers I had to look into the eye and see pity. There was no more of walking to her grave and telling her what I had become after she was gone. It was simply just us in my heart. The way she look when she at her worse, the strong vigor she held in her soul. Comforting me while I was attempting to comfort her... Ha, this new world.. I wondered.. is this not a fresh start? Should I care about what will or wouldn't happen? As long as I can recreate what I lost? Should I care about what I shall become? Let's find out how far I can fall in the pursuit of what I desire...
8 231The Omega's (Manx2|Werewolf|Mpreg) Omega Series: BOOK ONE
Max and Allen are both Omega twins, Omega's are treated poorly and only used for sexual pleasure. Their parents abandon them, their pack disowned them and now these feminine twins are living in the wild desperate to survive. With their pups along their side, they fear the worse, they fear they won't last long. That soon changed when their pups decide to chase a wild hare, scared and worried Max and Allen chase after their pups until they accidentally walked into another packs land. Blood Moon packs are known for killing rogues without hesitation, they both fear this'll be the end until the big bad scary Alpha of Blood Moon pack happens to be their mate.
8 268Poetry Jar // Wattys Shorts Winner
A WATTYS SHORTS WINNER: POETRY CATEGORY#1 in Poems#1 in PoetryA collection of poetry about the most powerful feeling in the world. Love hurts, but love heals. Love shatters, but love fixes what's broken. Cover by @salemkeating
8 166I FELL IN LOVE WITH MY MANAGER (JENLISA)
Lisa was a mentor who almost spent her youth in New York. She never thought that one day, she'll comeback to Korea just to be a manager of a top idol from their entertainment company. Who would think that their cat fights would make them slowly develop something that is both new to them?
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