Universe's End

Eia wasn’t really certain how her life had come to be what it was.

Once she was just a wee little snake chomping on her Sire’s finger as she snoozed on his chest.

Now? She somehow had become a Khan.

Of sorts.

She was a bit of a weird case. Most monsters, when they crossed certain thresholds, would fully become alpha variants or territory alphas. Eia, technically, had no special distinction.

Her Sire had once explained that he figured she had a closer alignment to ‘enlightenment’ and thus didn’t obey the conventional rules that could normally be applied to monsters.

Enlightened monsters were essentially monsters that didn’t find themselves forced to listen to their instincts.

And Eia had somehow ended up ruling over a colony of said monsters.

“King Eater,” A cyclops bowed down to her as it entered her ‘throne’ room, a mass of bones and other natural treasures she’d bundled up and used as a glorified heat lamp.

“Stuart,” Eia said. For a monster, he had a rather mundane name that she’d expect to find in one of the human colonies.

“We bring tidings.”

“From?”

“Me!” A new voice shouted as a woman suddenly appeared behind the oversized one-eyed giant, striking a pose. Given that she’d managed to hide her presence from Eia, of all beings, was impressive.

“Oh. You must be the one called Sam,” Eia said. She’d been given a ‘dossier,’ or that’s what the String Mistress had called it, on prominent figures on the planet. Amongst them was one known as ‘Sam,’ who had an annoying ability to remain undetected by masking their presence as another presence.

“Oh, it’s Samantha today.” The woman waved down at her body. “Sam is for days when I’m-”

“Does it matter?” Eia cut off the sometimes-woman, sometimes-man, sometimes-it. “Shouldn’t you be with your people in Sky Haven?”

“Nah, by the time anyone realizes I’m gone, I’ll already be back,” Samantha answered.

“So, what brings you here?” Eia questioned. The planet’s hierarchy was odd, given the Founders’ absence at the moment. That said, Eia felt confident that amongst the peak figures, she was still the strongest. Another peak figure appearing before her therefore didn’t threaten Eia all that much.

“Would you believe me if I said I was out exploring?” Samantha asked.

“Not particularly,” Eia answered. “You’ve traveled to the opposite side of the world. Quite the distance.”

“Yeah, you got me.” Samantha raised her hands. “War.”

“War?” Eia asked.

“Of sorts,” Samantha answered. “And we wanted to make sure you and yours would stay out of it.”

“That depends- with whom?”

“Oh, not Ehkorrus, of course. With the next Oscuro opening, ourselves and the folks of former Tidal Grove will be… having a falling out of sorts.”

“You plan to enact the laws of the strong.”

“Yep!” Samantha answered. “And we believe battle lines will be drawn up, but we know that while your allegiance is to your Founder and Sire, the monster colony has no allegiance.”

“More cautious than one might take one such as yourself.”

“Appearances can be deceiving; I should know,” Samantha winked.

“Why?”

For a moment the woman looked as if she were going to make light of the question, ignoring the core of what was really being asked. Still, after a moment’s consideration, she seemed to change her mind.

“Fault lines have been fermenting for a long time now, as between the faction divisions, the chaos of the non-enlightened monsters having broken free of any restraint, and the ever-increasing number of tier-eights, there is no pressure valve, nor is there a unifying voice or set of voices. For as much power as some of us wield, we aren’t the Founders, and the other tier-eights know that. Oh, few, if any, would try their luck one-on-one, but they question something with us that they never did with the Founders: how many could we face? Five? Easily. Ten? Sure. But fifteen? Twenty? What if a trap were laid? We don’t carry the same immense pressure of inevitability. That remains isolated to the likes of yourself, or perhaps the fabled first Chief Protector of Ehkorrus.”

“And so, tensions simmer until violence is inevitable.”

“You’ve got the gist of it,” Samantha answered. “The higher-ups, alongside us top-tiers, are already planning out the ‘rules’ for how this all works. Tier eights slaughtering lower tiers seems like it could get out of hand, after all.”

“And Oscuro will be the initial staging ground to avoid the larger population learning about it.”

“To start, at least,” Samantha nodded along. “But again, we needed, or wanted, to check in with you, with the plans of the Enlightened Monsters. Few know the stories of the Bird; it was your faction that defeated him after all, but what is known is how a single Enlightened Monster was able to cause massive upheaval to the world. If not for the relatively undeveloped nature of the planet at the time, it’s likely that rather than a footnote in Founder history, it would have been something that left massive scars.”

“I am not the Bird,” Eia answered. She’d come to learn over the years that part of what had caused the change in the Bird was due to drinking in the sweet, sweet nectar known as the power of faith, a literal power that, while extremely potent, could easily cause one to begin to behave… erratically. Eia herself had found herself tempted as the faith of her ‘flock’ was placed in her, but having learned from witnessing the Bird firsthand –and the fact that her Sire had kept the power a secret– had given Eia the strong suspicion that it was a power to be cautious of. Years of maturing had meant that now, even with access to stigmata, she was not about to begin indulging.

“I am not accusing you of such things,” Samantha answered, raising her hands placatingly. “But one cannot ignore that the enlightened races are about to make themselves vulnerable. Would it not make sense for monsters to strike at such a moment?”

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“They will, but my flock has no such interest,” Eia answered.

“Well, glad to have that all cleared up then,” Samantha said, clapping her hands and dusting them off as if cleaning herself off. “Well, with that-”

“Wait,” Eia suddenly called out. “That is not the only purpose of your visit.”

“Ah, shucks, you got me,” Samantha sighed. “That’s the business side of my visit. The other is personal. I want to check out this ‘Shrine of Kaliya,’ that I’ve heard rumors of.”

“So, word has gotten out,” Eia mentally projected, sighing. “And why should I grant you access?”

“Uhh, goodwill?” Samantha asked. “Oh, actually, here I have a better answer for you. Here, for you.”

An envelope appeared in her hand and was flicked over a moment later. While the range of the message feature had greatly expanded across the planet, secure communications were still preferred to written text; there were specific skills for sneaking a peek at messages that could otherwise be transmitted over the ‘waves,’ or however magic shenanigans made it all work.

The envelope froze in the air in front of Eia, unfolding itself before straightening out. One would think a giant snake wouldn’t be much of a reader, but one of Eia’s hobbies –outside of sleeping—was, in fact, that of a reader.

Scanning it over, the serpent seemed to contemplate for several seconds, the tip of her tail snapping and swishing through the air.

“Fine, your peers present a compelling offer.”

“Oh, Lord Miguel, Lady Analissa, how you’ve come through for little old me,” Samantha said. While she looked visually younger than the other two, Samantha was, in fact, the oldest of their group, if only by a few years. Having ascended the fastest and most consistently of the group, she’d had the most graceful aging process, the opposite side of the spectrum from Miguel, who looked like an older man.

“When do they presume it will be ready?” Eia asked after a moment.

“Ehh, not my wheelhouse. What they’re proposing is something you’d expect from the top minds of Ehkorrus. Not to say our people don’t have plenty of skilled or talented crafters, but usually Ehkorrus leads such innovations. Anyways, what I’m saying is, you’re probably better equipped to assess than I am. All I know is that Analissa is a damned good inscription artist, top three if you discount the Architect, of course. Where she falls in those top three, no idea, but couple that with the fact that Miguel is still one of only a handful of Skychanters, and he may genuinely still be better than even the Lord Architect, well, you’ve got two of the best artisans in their respective fields right there.”

“Mhmm, a clever way of avoiding the answer.”

“Busted, but also no lies were told,” Samantha said, raising her hands defensively. “I genuinely don’t know when this ‘Dawn Tether’ project will be finished. All I know is, once it is, you will be the first network established and will therefore have free access to Waterfall Deeps to your heart’s content. Well, with the agreement that I get to check this Shrine out.”

“A deal shall be made,” Eia finally said, as an interface flickered to life in front of Samantha.