Okay, this is the final volume of Observing the End. Which I finished writing back in 2017? Something like that. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays again!

Btw, if you like Fanfiction, I started posting this over on Spacebattles and Scribblehub: Creating Zerg In Star Wars

Volume 3: Protagonism

Prologue: The Orcheim Bible

Welp, I’m a Daddy. More precisely, I have like ten kids now. I don’t mean the brats that I was raising from the village, but actual babies that were born because I had sex with their mothers.

The sun has risen and fallen about a hundred times since I last wrote in this diary. What is that in Earth days though? Maybe a month? From the time we first had sex, until my four mistresses gave birth, was about thirty days on this planet. The world that I’ve tentatively named Orcheim.

Every ten days the Matriarch will instruct everyone to pack up the tents and start migrating farther up the river. I’m not sure if this is just something they do on an annual basis or if it’s because of some special event, but the stream is drying up. I’ve started to see snow capped mountains on the horizon, but it’s gonna get bad before we make it all the way over there.

There’s another problem as well. Greys keep harassing us recently. They’re too afraid to actually attack us directly, but they’ll roar at us from a distance or throw small rocks at us. There’s nothing I can do about it either, because as you might have guessed, I ain’t exactly fast. I might be really strong, but I’m also heavy as fuck compared to those bastards. They can sprint away before I can do anything other than sling a few rocks back.

Yeah, that’s right, sling. Not directly throw. Out of the numerous technological developments I’ve made recently, a ‘sling’ is one of the most useful. You basically just get a few leather straps and tie them to a pouch, then you put a rock inside. Swing it around a few times and let loose, sending the rock way farther than it otherwise would be able to reach by throwing, and with much less strain on the muscles.

Aside from that, there’s also the atlatl or ‘spear-thrower’, which is a stick and rock, which use leverage to let you throw a javelin or arrow pretty far. Unfortunately, those orcish assholes usually stay out of range since the first few died. They’ll run over, throw a rock or two and flee, before reaching a safe distance and screaming all night.

My harem is pregnant again and the stress is bad for the babies, probably. Either way, it’s really annoying the hell outta me. The kids and teenagers are getting so riled up, that I’m afraid they’ll be taunted into doing something stupid. Especially Rune, the girl with the runic tattoos all over her body. She was the one with her guts hanging out, that I somehow managed to suture up. I’m pretty sure the Matriarch used some kinda voodoo to heal her faster. She has magical powers, so she’s kinda like a Witch Doctor or Shaman.

You would be amazed at how much miscellaneous information you need to research as an author… Even though I definitely couldn’t retain everything I learned over the years, I know enough to figure out the rest through trial and error. Basic tactics and strategies are obvious, but I’m talking more along the lines of how to manufacture firearms, create weapons, be a blacksmith, make all kinds of crazy shit.

I don’t plan on teaching the current Orcs much, but my kids, they’re a lot smarter. My oldest son and daughter are twins, born from Skullface. The two of them can almost walk and talk, though they’re still basically babies. Maybe in another ten or twenty days, they’ll be able to form coherent words like “Daddy” or “Mommy”?

What do they look like? Well, as you would expect from cross-breeds, they ain’t exactly human or orcish. Although I was tempted to name my oldest son Michael, I didn’t. Mainly because if my stories are based on reality, then names actually have the power to change a person’s entire life and even make them turn out to be reincarnated assholes. I didn’t want my kids to end up murdering me because of some bullshit grudge that I don’t even know about yet.

Since Michael was out of the question, I chose Adam. After my brother. And Skullface probably named him something from her own language too. For the girl, I picked Jane. I have or had a cousin that I was close with who went by that name.

The two of them are green, but a paler shade than their mother. They were only a little bigger than normal human babies when they were born. Now they’re over three feet long and growing really fast. By the time they can walk, they’ll probably be four feet tall… I’m not sure what their ultimate height will reach or if there will be any deformities or problems. They’re hybrids after all. And they probably have my nanites coursing through their veins. Who knows what consequences that’ll bring?

They’re really cute though. Fuck, I never thought I’d think that human babies were cute, but… Oh wait, they ain’t humans. Okay, it’s fine then. That’s probably why. I always imagined that my kids would be mythical creatures, rather than nasty humans.

As far as tusks go, they don’t even have teeth yet. They’re literally infants. Besides, that’s more of a secondary sexual characteristic that comes into play during puberty. I know this because since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to watch a few of the other kids become adolescents. The boys start getting really bulky, while the girls grow taller more quickly. Eventually though, the girls seem to stop growing at around two meters to seven feet tall.

The tusks of the guys are much larger than the girls. In humans, it would be the lower canines. They protrude a bit from the lips and their mouths are huge. Speaking of which, Orcs suck at giving head. Just throwing that out there. I mean, aside from the fact that the tusks would gore your groin, even Scarface is pretty bad at it. Their teeth are too sharp, though their tongues are really long… The main thing is that I can’t teach them how to do it or why, so they usually bite me or struggle. I’d rather avoid having my dick ripped off or chewed apart.

They have way too many calluses and their hands are huge, so handjobs aren’t that great either. It’s basically just regular sex or nothing. The only perk is that they’re fucking massive compared to my body. If two of them are with me at the same time, I can be totally smothered in green flesh and muscle…

Okay, enough about my fetishes and sex life. Back to my babies. I tried to pick names that I didn’t use in my stories, or at least, rarely used them. Scarface had triplets: Rebecca, Jacob and Kara. In that order, from oldest to youngest.

Then Black Hand had Conor and Caleb a few days later. After that, there were about ten days before the Matriarch gave birth to the other triplets: Lana, Ophelia and Briana.

They all basically have the same features. The main differences were eye and hair color. Adam and Jane both have brown eyes, along with black hair. Rebecca, Jacob, Kara, Conor and Caleb all have blue eyes, with white hair. I know, it’s kinda weird thinking from the perspective of a human, but they’re only half human.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even be able to remember all of their names if I didn’t write them down, along with their individual traits. It kinda feels like I’m writing the Genesis of this tribe though…

In the beginning, there were regular green-skinned orcs. Then some random white human guy came along and fucked them, making smaller, but stronger hybrid babies! Hell, his first son was even named Adam!

“The Orcheim Bible, by Michael Cinagra.” Has a nice ring to it. Wouldn’t be surprised if my descendants took these journals and edited our all the sarcasm, then marketed it as the Word of God. In order to start some generic religion… Then a few more factions will pop up and all of them will go to war, murdering, pillaging and raping each other because of minor differences in their manipulated philosophical views.

Oh shit, they’ll probably edit that last bit as some kinda prophesy or command from their Messiah and use it as an excuse to start a crusade or two. Hopefully my descendants will be smarter than humanity, or at the very least, will hate politics and religious bullshit as much as I do. Highly doubt it though.

Whatever, this is stuff that’ll probably happen thousands of years after I leave this world, so it shouldn’t even affect me. For the time being, I need to focus on dealing with the most crucial problem that my tribe is going to face soon… Food shortage. 

We don’t have any livestock, no crops, no way to preserve anything regardless. If there’s a winter or drought, we’re dead. No, I’ll survive, but my kids won’t. Even if I have to massacre all the Greys and use them as food, I’ll do it. I won’t let my children starve. I would literally sacrifice my own flesh and blood to feed them if necessary.

Ugh, now it’s really starting to sound Biblical.

Chapter 1: The Arcane Orb

Observation Log: 153435

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

One rotation of Orcheim is approximately 7 hours. Although the days are typically longer than the nights, they are slowly becoming shorter. It has been 113 days since my last official report. Although observation is important to me, there is another matter that has consumed all of my attention lately.

The Arcane Orb and the White Cube within, along with the study of magical phenomena have become my primary focus. Michael’s routine has stagnated, making him less interesting than this strange piece of technology.

First, the Arcane Orb in its natural state, has the exact same dimensions as my own body. Could that be a coincidence? Certainly not. No, I discovered within less than 40 hours, that I am able to adjust the size and shape to a certain extent. In order to perform tests safely and unobserved, I wait until Michael leaves the tent for the day. He usually leaves me along with the Arcane Orb, ‘safely’ stored within a leather pouch.

It does not require much effort to escape and take the sphere with me, to the center of the room. Using my nanites, I am able to infiltrate the very outer layer of the Arcane Orb, which is covered with microscopic runic symbols. There are 900 languages, all of which I already know. The problem is understanding, rather than reading.

Eventually, I realized that if I sacrificed some nanites and energy, I could activate a singular rune for a time. Then from there, it is possible to form words or commands. My first test was related to “Help” or “Settings”, “Tutorial”, “Search” and eventually, “Open”.

There is no help menu, settings, tutorial or search engine, but “Open” literally opened a small extradimensional portal. I was almost pulled inside… Fortunately, I was able to retreat a few meters away and the dangerous suction ended shortly thereafter. The amount of energy and nanites required to open the portal is far more than simply activating random runes.

Nearly 10 days of siphoning Michael’s energy later, I was able to restart my investigation and open the portal again. I was prepared, so the time it was able to be sustained was much longer. Thus, I peered inside and saw the White Cube. Yes, oddly enough, even though the exterior is spherical, the interior space is cubic.

Although the massive space was almost completely empty, there was something rather familiar, resting within…

Observer 77, Warsteed, a Combat Drone in the form of a metallic silver horse. It is a self-sufficient model, capable of consuming various organic materials and converting them into energy. It went missing thousands of years prior to my creation. Thus, I never even placed it on my list of items to procure.

Unfortunately, even if it is right before my optical sensors, I am unable to figure out the method with which to remove items from the extradimensional pocket. It is so frustrating to have something you desire, placed before you, yet being incapable of seizing the object of your obsession… 

If I had an organic body, I would have most likely lost my patience long ago. However, without hormones to influence my thought processes, I can continue endlessly searching for the answers I seek. Eventually, I shall solve this conundrum and unlock the mysteries of this Arcane Orb.

For now, I have been focusing on writing and implementing ‘magical’ algorithms. Programs designed to replicate various magical phenomena that I have encountered recently. Most importantly, the method to absorb and store mana effectively. 

After being exposed to mana-radiation for so long, I was able to develop a separate optical sensor. One which has been designed to observe mana, in its various states and forms. I used Michael’s novels as a reference point for the most basic factors, but I still needed to fill in a lot of blanks. Obviously he never attempted to use any ‘real’ scientific explanations within his stories. Only rough estimations and guesses, based on his own flawed understanding of both magic and physics.

The problem is that from what I can tell, the mana-radiation within this planet’s atmosphere is negligible. Compared to what I experienced within the Kitsune Territory, the planet is much closer to Earth in its mana-density. Yet, there are still places that have a higher concentration of mana. For example, those planetoids that are orbiting Orcheim.

Each of them radiates mana in pulses, but most of it is dispersed in the upper atmosphere. Only small quantities of the ethereal substance are able to be collected and stored within my primary ‘Mana-Core’. From there, I am able to channel it through my nanites and simulate various unnatural phenomena. Such as the alteration of gravity within a specific field, the manipulation of localized temporal anomalies, creating or obliterating matter. The possibilities are endless, but my time is not.

I can ‘cast’ magical spells now, but only within the limits of my insignificant power. Also, from observing the Riverstone Tribe, I have learned that magic can be extremely harmful. For example, acceleration of fetal growth can cause birth defects, but the true danger is with the mother. Although Michael’s nanites were able to counteract some of the cellular damage, they are not designed to function within an orcish body.

All of the women that Michael has been breeding with, are aging rapidly and beginning to suffer from various unpleasant disorders. Their bones are becoming weaker, muscles atrophy, they need more food and water, yet their bodies absorb less of the nutrients. Aside from the Prophetess, the other three are dying.

This is not a particularly surprising piece of news however… At least not to the three women and the Prophetess. They were determined to make the sacrifice for the tribe and their offspring, since the very beginning. In fact, although he is unaware, Michael’s vitality was also drained as well. Fortunately, his constitution allows him to recover rather swiftly. Perhaps that was what happened to the previous Chieftain?

Regardless, the camp is being moved again today. Their goal seems to be the mountains in the distance, which are covered with lush forests. Redwoods on Earth were able to grow over 100 meters tall and incredibly thick, but the lower gravity of Orcheim allows even Birch trees to reach that height, much less the Redwoods that I can see along the base of the mountainside. There are also some massive pine trees near the summit.

However, at the snowy peak, there are artificial structures… I suspect that this mountain range was originally a resort or perhaps, within the interior lies an ancient fallout shelter? Many human military facilities were built within mountains and inactive volcanoes. It would not be strange if thousands of such facilities existed throughout this world.

Logically, at the late stages of pregnancy, the four women should take this time to rest and prepare for labor. Yet they are pushing their bodies instead. Michael created some simple wooden wagons to carry the tents and various other items, but the hand-carved stone wheels are not very efficient. He attempted to use slices of wood from some trees he found on the prairie, but within a few days, they were too eroded to use properly. Even the planks of the cart were infested with termites and other insects, but they were able to hold out for a short time.

For now, I will continue researching the Arcane Orb. Hopefully I will make some progress…

Chapter 2: Solving Problems

Scarface died last night. Fuck, god damn it! I tried to tell them to stop! I did… But they just couldn’t understand me! Shit!

Phew~, I’m just so pissed off right now. Not sad or depressed, just infuriated. I’m angry at myself for not realizing what was happening sooner, but there’s nothing I can do now. The others are in rough shape too.

I know it’s the Matriarch’s fault. She used her magical bullshit powers to speed up the pregnancies. Hell, maybe she even drained the life outta us so that she would be able to stay healthy too?

The worst part is that I don’t have anyone to take it out on. I can yell at her, even punch her in the face, but it wouldn’t solve anything. Now I have another daughter to take care of. A premature hybrid baby with heterochromia and no mother to breastfeed from. Yeah, I know that there are still pregnant women left, but I can’t tell them what to do. I guess I’ll just hold them down and force them to let Talia drink their milk.

Why wouldn’t they take care of Talia like their own? How the fuck would I know?! I can’t fucking talk to them! It’s like dealing with a pack of dogs or cats. You can try to talk or teach them shit, but in the end, they have no idea what you’re saying. They also don’t share your beliefs or morality.

I think it’s because of the way she looks. The left iris is silver, while the right is golden. Her skin is dark green, while her hair is black. Orcs tend to have wide and flat noses, but Talia’s is much closer to mine. Although she’s just an infant, and really small, I can’t help seeing a lot of features that she inherited from me.

Fuck, I’ve never been so scared of anything before now. It’s only going to get worse. If the other two die, who the hell is gonna take care of all these kids?! Rune is almost an adult now and she’s been making advances on me lately. I’m afraid that the Matriarch convinced her to sacrifice herself next…

***

I finally snapped. I reached my breaking point. When they came and started screaming, it woke Talia up. She started crying and wailing. I tucked her into the leather and fur basket I made just for her, then left her alone in my tent. No, I guess she wasn’t really alone. I gave her my balls to play with. Something to keep her occupied while I dealt with the Grey problem. Oh, and the Matriarch was there too, but she was too busy trying to calm down her own babies to worry about Talia.

After putting on my armor and taking a few basic weapons with me, I purposefully fell into their little trap. There were only five men yelling that night, so it was easy to kill off a few, before following the rest back to their camp. I honestly didn’t expect there to be so many of those bastards though.

Every Grey guy was at least eight feet tall, while the girls were pretty damn close as well. There were less differences in muscle-mass and overall size between their sexes, than with the Greens. Their tusks were also much longer. It reminded me of an elephant, rather than a boar.

Still, in the end, it didn’t matter. They probably thought that the biggest and strongest Orc was the best. So they used that as their ideal matting composition. Unfortunately, what they ended up with was a bunch of giants with really brittle bones. Their muscles looked heavy and powerful, but they were mostly just for show.

They had no battlefield tactics and probably no experience fighting with someone as small as me. The most important factor in any battle is morale. I slaughtered at least twenty men and five beefy women, before literally ripping their chieftain’s head off with my bare hands. Okay, I was wearing metal gauntlets, but you get the point. It was a dramatic and fucked up way to get my message across.

“Don’t fuck with me! Don’t fuck with my tribe! Don’t fuck with my family! I will murder anyone who even thinks of trying to hurt us!”

It worked… A little too well. They didn’t run away or flee in terror. No, they surrendered. A chubby grey-skinned orc, with huge black tusks, came out of the biggest tent and ‘commanded’ everyone to kneel down to me. Then she came up to me, got down onto her knees and started rubbing her bald head against my metal groin armor. Before going even lower than that and licking the blood of her own tribesman off my fucking boots!

A few of the other women tried to do the same, but I yelled “Okay, stop! Cut that shit out! This is way kinkier than I’m used to!” Before pulling them up off the ground and making some miscellaneous hand gestures. It took her a while, however, the crimson eyed woman growled at the others. Then the survivors began disassembling the tents.

Yep, the others are still afraid of me, but now our camp has a secondary ring. I’m at the center, with the two chubby Matriarchs, while the Greens have the inner ring. The Greys are staying in the second ring, since the two tribes don’t really want to mix together completely.

Anyway, although I did decimate the Greys pretty badly, they still have about fifty people altogether. There aren’t many children though. I’m not really sure why… Maybe they’re having virility problems? The ratio of women to men is pretty high, with only about ten adult males left. I have a feeling that they’ve all been castrated, but I don’t really wanna go checking to make sure.

The point is that I’m basically the only guy that can make babies, in a group of thirty horny orcish women. Hopefully I won’t be expected to have sex with them all, because that’d be ridiculous. Also, we wouldn’t be able to take care of that many children. We have too many as it is…

It seems like solving one problem always leads to a fuckload more.

Chapter 3: Warchief

Observation Log: 153436

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

“We surrendered to the Warchief, so he must participate in the Ascension Ritual of Greystone Tribe!”

“No! The Chieftain has already undergone the Ascension Ritual of the Riverstone Tribe! If he receives another mark so soon, he may perish! You’re just trying to use tricks to assassinate our Chieftain!”

Within Michael’s tent, the two Prophetesses are arguing with each other. The Riverstone Prophetess is significantly smaller than the black-tusked, grey-skinned giantess. However, she is also pregnant, so her girth is rather large at the moment.

“What good would killing him do our tribe?! Our old Warchief and Stallions are dead! Without new blood, our tribe would die out within two generations! The new Warchief is the strongest I have ever seen! A gift from the Goddess! With his bloodline, the Greystone Tribe will be more powerful than ever! We’ll finally overthrow those Obsidian mongrels and reign supreme over the Holy Mountain!”

“Nonsense! The Goddess sent the Silver Champion to be the Riverstone Tribe’s Chieftain! Your Greystone Tribe are merely our servants! Your women will become the breeding mares of the Silver Champion’s children! I have seen it in a vision from the Great Goddess!”

“Will both of you please shut the fuck up?! You’re freaking out the babies!” Michael shouted at the two growling and roaring women, then whispered to the child in his arms “It’s okay Talia~… Don’t worry~, everything’s fine now~… You’ll have plenty of new mamas to feed you soon…”

After Scarface died and Talia was born, his behavior changed slightly. Although Rebecca, Jacob and Kara are barely able to walk now, at the very least, the other Riverstone Tribe treat them as their own. Talia is different though.

“That cursed child… Why does he allow it to live?” The Grey Prophetess quietly growled, while facing away from Michael.

The Green Prophetess murmured “She has the Eyes of Damnation, I know this… But if I tried to kill or abandon the child, the Chieftain might leave us… Or kill us.”

Although the lesser orcs are less intelligent, it also makes them more loyal and trustworthy. Their thoughts are simple and they are easy to control. However, these two are different. They are intelligent enough to manipulate the others. The true leaders of the tribes.

After being at war for so long, they are easily able to coexist, because they treat the other orcs as pawns. Essentially, these two are politicians. Perhaps if they were able to speak English, Michael would have executed them already. If I believed he could control the orcs without their help, I would have used the Assassination Drone to end their lives.

Unfortunately, they are too valuable to kill. If they perform the ritual again, I will unlock another piece of the puzzle that Sariel designed for us. Aside from that, their magical abilities are crucial to my own research.

***

Observation Log: 153437

Observer 131, reporting on the Michael’s situation.

This morning, a similar scene played out as the last ‘Ascendence Ritual’. The Green Prophetess allowed the Grey Prophetess to bring three females to mate with Michael. My attention was focused entirely upon the Warchief’s Rune.

Rather than placing the tattoo on his back, she chose to use his chest as the canvas instead. The ink was similar to the silver material in composition and mystical properties, but it was white instead. At first she drew a thick cross on his sternum, vertically. Except that there was a loop at the top, which was an ankh, from Ancient Cytherean lore and Ancient Egyptian mythology. It is a symbol for rebirth and eternal life.

Below that ankh, there was a triangle pointing upwards on his abdomen. The process required nearly two hours and used an enormous amount of ink. That entire time, the three females took turns riding on him… However, the difference in size was so large that it was almost comical. Michael was like a small child in comparison to the massive Greystone Orcs.

Anyway, let us return to the task at hand. Michael was guided towards the Riverstone Tribe first. Thus, it is safe to assume that the symbols should be ordered from first to last. Although, it might be a trick. There might not be a specific order. In fact, there could be a multitude of meanings for each individual part of every symbol.

There are two equilateral triangles. One on his back, pointing downwards. The other is on his abdomen, pointing upwards. In fact, the two triangles would connect at his diaphragm and almost the center of his back. Meanwhile, the river and the ankh could also be combined into a single symbol.

Wait, the Arcane Orb! I see… There are many different runes on the orb that resemble all four symbols. In some areas, they are even connected. Yet, if they are words, then they also have meanings. The meanings could be the key.

“Cross the river, to reach the mountain? Nah, the mountains are over there. On the other side of the river should be a desert, right? Hmmm, Inari, you’re ridiculous as always. You want me to cross the desert and find a pyramid that probably… Ah~, fuck. I should’ve known.”

After Michael returned to the tent and used his armor as a mirror, he was able to come up with some theories of his own. Honestly, I thought that it might be the pyramid in the desert as well. However, that pyramid had four sides.

“You want me to go to Alfirin. But how the hell can I even get there? It ain’t on this planet, maybe not even this universe. You’re gonna have to give me more to go on than just a destination.”

Alfirin… This name is familiar. From a series he worked on long ago, one which he eventually abandoned. He had always planned on continuing it eventually, but other stories were more popular and demanded his attention.

“Good girl Talia, aw~, you’re so cute~! You’re the cutest little baby I’ve ever seen…” Michael held the infant in his arms and then presented her with the Arcane Orb, as if it was just a child’s toy. She is gnawing on it!

“Hehehe~, if the Chaotic Void is the inside of Karma’s body. Then the Eternal Graveyard is basically the skin. Michael always talked about ‘returning souls to Karma’ or ‘sending souls to Karma to be judged’… In other words, he ain’t even in Karma, right? That means, if I wanna find Alfirin, I’ll have to leave Karma through the Eternal Graveyard. Or maybe the Eternal Graveyard is more like, where two different Titans’ are touching each other. Maybe Karma is getting fucked in the ass by some other Titan right now and from our perspective it feels like eons, but the Eternal Graveyard is just a single penetration? Anyway, let’s not worry about that possibility. Actually, it’s possible that the Chaotic Void is the space between Titans…”

Michael paused for a moment, before continuing to muse “No, never mind. It’s the space between regular universes, which Eternal Deities can snack on. In other words, it’s just the space within the body of a Titan known as Karma. Going by some shit I wrote down when I was half-asleep, Karma should be a relatively powerful Titan. Maybe even the most powerful outta all of them.”

Then he looked down at the green-skinned little girl and saw her smiling at him, he smirked, before gently caressing her face. She giggled and he whispered “Don’t worry Talia. Wherever Daddy goes, he’s gonna bring you with him. At least until you become a teenager and start hating me for being a terrible father. Then who knows? That’ll be a long time from now though, so don’t worry about it and be a good girl for me.”

Chapter 4: The Eternal Slime God

Let me tell you a story about everything. In the beginning and the end, there was and will be a being known as ‘God’. No, this ain’t some kinda religious bullshit. You don’t have to believe it if you don’t wanna. I honestly couldn’t care less.

Anyway, there’s this entity that is essentially everything in every existence. An omnipotent and omniscient thing. Not a guy or a girl as most people would like to believe, but just an ‘It’. This almighty blob of eternity, let’s just call it the ‘Eternal Slime God’ for kicks and giggles. Well, it eventually divided into two halves.

The two demigods were known as “Who is like God?” and “The Lightbringer”. Michael and Helel… Although they’ve gone by probably millions of other names, maybe billions for all I fucking know. Still, Michael and Helel were the first two entities that actually had individual personalities and thoughts. Their ideas and ideals conflicted most of the time, but they were the first two souls. 

If they had recombined again right there and then, they would’ve become ‘God’. An all powerful existence. What would be the point in that though? What would it accomplish? What use is ‘God’, if there is no comparison? That’s what it all comes down to in the end: Relativity.

Everything is relative. Michael and Helel were equals, so they fought with each other over dominance. Each refused to admit that the other was superior. Which is pretty reasonable, since they were just two fucking blobs of mana and information. Since the two goopy bastards couldn’t come to a conclusion by just rubbing up against each other, they started thinking of other ways to ‘win’ the fight for superiority.

Their mana couldn’t increase in the current state and they couldn’t even suck out the mana from their opponent. That is, until they realized that it was possible to multiply further. Michael created Raphael, while Helel plopped out Gabriel. I won’t get into name meanings because honestly, that shit didn’t even exist back then.

Now there were four. Michael and Raphael, versus Helel and Gabriel… Unfortunately, that still didn’t solve anything. Thus, they all decided to multiply again, like cells. Now there were eight: Michael, Helel, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel, Azrael, Sariel and Anael.

These were the original eight souls. Yeah, not seven, but eight. That’s when things started to get a bit more complicated. It wasn’t just two versus two anymore. There were eight very different souls, with almost diametrically opposed views on everything. That’s what happens when one mind is split into many parts. Confusion and conflict arise. Then continue to thrive and grow.

Azrael, Uriel and Sariel split off into their own faction. While Michael forcefully consumed Anael to make itself more powerful. Helel was left alone, while Raphael and Gabriel chose to fuse together of their own free will. Following their example, Azrael, Uriel and Sariel did the same.

Helel was the weakest and decided to be absorbed by Michael, rather than being consumed by the ‘younger’ souls. Of course, nothing lasts forever. Anael managed to escape, then Helel left and the other two groups broke up as well.

In the end, they decided to stay as individuals and stop fighting each other so simply. Remember that although this was the beginning of all existence, it was also after the previous one ended. It’s a vicious cycle of idiocy that continues at this very moment, probably.

Creation was and continues to be an endless series of disasters. They didn’t just create good shit after all. For every awesome thing they did, there was some disgusting and horrible bullshit to counter it.

Each of them created new souls and even entire universes to play around with. There was no good or evil in the beginning. After enough suffering and pain though, they started to realize how bad they fucked up. The Original Seven Souls, plus Anael, came together and decided “We need to fix this shit!”

By that, they were talking about destroying everything they created and returning back to the simpler times. Obviously it didn’t go down so well with all their creations that preferred to maintain their own existence. The Original Eight were too weak to face off against all of the other powerhouses that they made, so there needed to be a new ‘God’. More specifically, a Titan. One which was made with the power of the Eight Original Souls.

Yeah, I know, what could possibly go wrong? Anyway, they programmed this existence to be like an emotionless robot for the most part. Karma was designed to be the destroyer of all creation, but more importantly, a punisher to those who had committed ‘sins’. By sins, I mean shit that can actually hurt a Soul: Torture, rape, mind washing, betrayal, that kinda stuff.

If Karma is the Eternal Prison which all souls were sentenced to, then Dharma is the key to unlocking it or just messing everything up even further. What is Dharma you ask? Well, according to the books I wrote so far, probably me. Michael Cinagra, or at least, the Pantheon of Michael’s… Including the original, Rapture-0, which is the closest to the first Michael as possible.

That Rapture-0 should be on a planet called Alfirin. Actually, Alfirin was just the continent, so I actually don’t know what the planet is officially named. Maybe Terra or Earth? If I had to guess, I’d say that Sariel wanted me to either kill him or like, help him somehow?

If Karma was the first Titan, then who the hell are the others? Are they powerful enough to be a threat to Karma, or is she more like a giant whale eating a bunch of krill? Maybe there are a few that are kinda dangerous or even close to her level of strength?

Even Inari and other Eternal Deities probably have no fucking clue! They’re struggling to get stronger, but there’s only so much they can do… At a certain point, they might be able to escape Samsara or Karma, but the more likely conclusion is that they’ll just die. All that time and energy focused on a single thing, only to fail in the end. Of course, they’ll have a lot of advantages over other people, but they’ll still have to ‘re-roll’ and start over on a new character.

I wonder if that has happened to me already? Would I even know? Honestly, by that logic, everyone was created from that original ‘Slime God’. So we’re all just little oozes, making new bodies for ourselves, trying to escape from our mundane and shitty lives. Only to die and have to live another life, probably in a worse situation. It all depends on whether our knowledge accumulates and can be maintained…

What good is that though? How can all these random stories be useful to me now? I’m too busy just trying to take care of my family! It’ll probably be harder than anything I’ve ever done, but I know that I won’t regret it!

Yes, yes, I know that I’m basically contradicting the entire moral of the story I just told… Life is full of contradictions though. Especially when it comes to love and happiness.

Chapter 5: Climbing the Mountain

Had a dream last night where I was still at home, with my parents. There was no warning this time, just zombies. I had no armor, I wasn’t prepared… Obviously I still survived, but my family wasn’t so lucky. And I had to watch them die, knowing that there was nothing I could do to save them.

Then I went down to the docks and tried to find Cassie. She wasn’t in that boat. Maybe she was in the city when it happened? Who knows. Throughout it all, there was one person I struggled to find the hardest.

Fortunately, when I woke up, she was right there in my arms. Smiling up at me. Talia is growing so fast. Pretty soon, she’ll be a toddler. She can already crawl around on her own and say a few words like “Daddy, Mommy and poopoo.” Yeah, she’s already past the stage where she’ll shit or piss herself without any worries.

Why don’t I feel so close to my other children? There’s just this emotional void between us that goes both ways. Sure, I take care of them and try to teach them but, they’re much more attached to their mothers. Even Scarface’s kids have started avoiding me lately. They all flock to the Matriarch though… The Green, not the Grey. But I’m sure that the Grey Matriarch will end up becoming the favorite ‘Mommy’ after the other Greys are dead, right?

I’ve become so damn cynical lately. No wait, I’ve always been that way. I laugh at some of the most fucked up shit imaginable, because that’s just who I am. I have an amazing sense of humor. Otherwise I’d probably be really boring.

***

We’re finally there. It’s been almost forty days and we moved at least five times, but we made it to the mountainside. Rather than that tiny stream, there are actual rivers here. Unlike the prairie, there are tons of trees here, so we should have plenty of lumber. Animals and edible plants are everywhere. Even with our huge group, we shouldn’t have any trouble avoiding starvation… Assuming that things remain the same.

The bigger concern is that we aren’t alone on this mountain. There are other orcish tribes all over the place. Most of them are small, so they stay away from us. For example, I saw the Brown Orc Camp the other day and there were only two men, along with an adolescent girl. That was it. I’m guessing the rest of them probably died. They didn’t even have a Matriarch or Chieftain. Hell, could they even be considered a tribe at that point? More like a small family.

I think the Grey and Green Matriarchs wanted to recruit them, but they refused. It wasn’t a big deal though. The men were only a little over seven feet tall. That girl was my height. Overall, I don’t think that the two tribal leaders offered them very good terms. Maybe they even said “We need some obedient slaves! Are you interested?”

If you’re wondering why I still haven’t learned how to speak their weird grunting language, it’s because it literally makes no sense to me. I’ve never been particularly good at any other language besides English. Even then, when you consider that I’ve been speaking it since I was less than a year old, it took me a long time to reach my current level.

There are a lot of Albino Orcs, who have skin whiter than mine and pink irises. I’m guessing it’s probably from all the inbreeding. From what I’ve guestimated, all the tribes banish their Albinos. They’re forced to survive on their own or band together, into small groups. Overall though, they aren’t that bad.

The real problem is the umm, I don’t wanna say ‘Black Tribe’, even though their skin is pitch-black. They’re all over eight feet tall and even their tusks are dark-brown. Essentially, they’re the rulers of this mountain. Their advantage at night is pretty extreme. The brown irises of their eyes are so large that you can’t even see the sclera. They’re usually nudists or only wear the furs of black, green or brown animals.

I’ll call them the Obsidian Tribe, because their skin is darker than any human I’ve ever seen. Even without getting much sunlight, they still look like that. Almost as if they were designed to be stealthy assassins. Actually, for all I know… All the Orcs could have been genetic experiments of Elves or humans, maybe even some other races.

The Orcs could have been the original inhabitants or the invaders who destroyed civilization on this planet. Regardless of whatever happened back then, the people today have nothing to do with it. Even if they did, it’s not like I knew anyone that lived here, right?

Anyway, the biggest, most dangerous and most annoying tribe are those Obsidian bastards. They aren’t particularly smart or strong, at least not from my perspective, but they’re hard to deal with. This redwood-looking forest has trees that are absurdly tall. Some are over three-hundred meters. In case you don’t understand how high that is, imagine three football fields stacked on top of each other.

Those Obsidian Orcs climb up the trees and live on the branches. It’s rare for them to even come down to the ground, but they can. At any moment, dozens or hundreds of giant assholes can swarm our camp. Even if they don’t want to attack us directly, they can just drop rocks or spears from the sky.

The tents don’t really provide much protection either. As for cutting down the trees… Umm, have you ever seen a redwood before? These are even more ridiculous. How many days would it take to hack down one of these giant fuckers? Will our stone tools even work? I can’t burn them down either, but the nice thing about fire, is that it produces smoke. I mean, I always hated fire because of the smoke, but it’s actually useful now.

There are certain plants that produce a horrible odor when you burn their leaves. Plus, some of them obviously have poisonous fumes. It’s not that bad for us on the ground, but for those douchebags in the trees, it’s deadly. Fortunately though, they don’t seem that intent on fucking with us so far.

At most, I hear them growling in the sky and see shit or piss falling nearby. Honestly, the real threat isn’t from the Orcs, but the animals. Wolves as big as lions, panthers the size of grizzly bears, red pandas the size of polar bears and lots of bugs. One of the Greys died last night from a tick bite. Another got killed by a tree branch the size of a normal tree. Pretty sure that was an accident, but who knows? When something the size of a tree falls on your tent while you’re sleeping, you gotta be pretty damn unlucky. It didn’t fall sideways, but just kinda fell down and impaled her through the gut. We tried to save her… Didn’t work out very well.

The moral of the story is that this forest is way more dangerous than the prairie, so why the hell are we here? What the fuck is about to happen that we can’t even stay on the outskirts and have to keep climbing this really shallow mountain?

On a side note, I’ve seen a few Obsidian Orcs fall to their deaths too. In case you were wondering why we don’t just climb the fucking gigantic skyscraper trees. It’s definitely safer to be on the ground.

***

Okay, now I know that it’s definitely safer to be on the ground! Holy fuck! I thought those were birds when we were walking over… I mean, they looked like hawks or vultures from a distance. But up close? Nah, they’re goddamn dragons!

They look small compared to the trees, but some of those bastards have a wingspan of fifty feet! Their height is way bigger than an Orc. They’re the real owners of this mountain. Rather than generic Eastern or Western Dragons, these are wyverns. Their front legs are winged, while the back ones are thick like a bird. They have brownish green scales, so it’s hard as hell to notice them until it’s too late to do anything about it. Fortunately, they’re loud and too big to fit in between some of these trees. Also, they prefer to eat the Obsidian Orcs, who are obviously much easier to reach.

Still, one of the smaller ones almost ate Jacob earlier. I’ve been spending so much time taking care of my younger kids, that the older ones have been escaping my view lately. They’re at the age where they know how to walk and talk, so they think the world is some kinda awesome place that was made for them to explore. No matter how much I tell them to be careful, brats always end up learning shit the hard way.

Speaking of my children, Skullface and Black Hand had two more sets of twins. Unlike Scarface though, they were healthy enough to survive the ordeal. I think Scarface probably had a few kids before Talia. Maybe Rune is one of them? She was the most upset about her death, aside from me.

If you’re wondering about my new babies, they’re actually almost thirty days old now. The first two were Black Hand’s, Molly and Henry. They both have blue eyes and white hair. The second pair are identical boys, Ronald and Conor. Both of them look really similar to their elder brother, with brown eyes and black hair. 

So now I have eight girls and seven sons. Ugh, that number will probably increase once the three Greys give birth but I… I’m gonna stop naming them now. I know it sounds cruel or heartless, whatever. Have like fifteen or twenty kids with a bunch of different orcish women you barely know, then see how it feels! I don’t have the time or energy to take care of so many people!

Until recently, I could barely even take care of myself! Fuck! Now we’re in a weird forest, with killer ticks and giant dragon-birds… God damn it! I hate being so powerless! It’d be different if I could at least tell these idiots what to do! But I’m basically just a damn bull, trying to protect my herd of needy cows! 

Sure, the other men and women are giant orcish brutes who are actually pretty good fighters for the most part, but they can’t do shit against a wyvern. The one I fought with was young, but it was still over three meters… Probably ten feet or more. I used a stone warhammer to break its left ankle and forced it to drop Jacob, but the bastard didn’t just fly away. It got all pissed off and tried to tear me apart with its giant shark-like teeth. Their heads are kinda like a velociraptor’s, or at least the ones they put on display in museums. Their eyes are golden or silver and glow in the dark sometimes. Not sure how or why that happens, but it does.

Wait, maybe that’s magic? Can I see mana now? Regardless, the asshole tried to eat me, so I broke its nose. However, I couldn’t actually kill it. The moment the orcs realized what was happening, they gathered around and started surrounding it. Obviously it fucked off and flew away while it still had the chance.

No, I won’t stop having sex. What kinda question is that? Well yeah, I won’t do it anymore with Skullface and Black Hand, because I don’t want them to die. But there are still a ton of Greys that want to make babies with me. Even if I neglect them and their kids, they probably don’t care. There’s the whole language barrier anyway and I don’t think they’re even slightly attracted to me. Honestly, most of them are pretty below my standards too. I’ve just become a manwhore lately. A sexaholic of sorts. It’s also kinda fun when they gang up on me and hold me down, riding on top of me… Okay, now I have a boner, so I’m gonna go take care of that. 

I’ve been trying to train them to use their giant tongues. Even if they can’t give blowjobs, it doesn’t mean that they can’t lick it, right? As long as I can avoid being gored by their tusks, it’s pretty awesome.

Chapter 6: Warsteed

Observation Log: 153438

Observer 131, reporting on my situation.

Success! I do not think I have ever been this excited for anything in my entire existence thus far! I have actually succeeded… I finally have it! A Combat Drone!

Hmmm, perhaps I should calm myself down first, before I elaborate?

After a long and arduous process of solving word puzzles, I finally managed to unlock some secrets of the Arcane Orb. I found a manual of sorts, which gave me some crucial information, that led to my decision… To enter the extradimensional space: The White Cube.

Essentially, the temporal differential can be designated to fit your needs. It was originally set to 1:100,000,000. Where for every 1 second within the extradimensional space, 100 million seconds outside would have passed. Since the differential was set so high, the amount of power it required to open the portal was also high. Thus, my first task was to lower the differential to 1:1 to have both the inside and outside experiencing time equally. Otherwise, whether something entered or exited the portal, the results would be catastrophic. There could have potentially been a nuclear explosion or a quantum singularity, or maybe nothing would have happened. I did not want to find out.

Now the amount of energy required to open the portal is negligible. The loss of a few nanites is also not much of a price, compared to what I have gained. I can enter or exit the Arcane Orb when necessary, which means that I should be able to ensure my own safety under most circumstances.

Once inside, I realized that it was not quite as empty as I had expected. There was a massive three-dimensional labyrinth with translucent walls, which covered almost the entire chamber. Along the outside, there was enough space for me to move around as I wished and also hundreds of entrances to the maze. As you can imagine, this did not make my task any easier.

By the time that I could calculate the correct route to the center, the labyrinth would shift and change. I spent nearly 350 hours within the maze total. Every 12 hours I would need to exit and siphon energy from Michael, in order to recharge my own batteries. Then I continued my attempts. It was very frustrating, yet oddly amusing. Ultimately, I did succeed.

Then I faced another difficult challenge, though not nearly as time-consuming. The artificial intelligence of Warsteed was still intact: Observer 77. Logically, it should have been able to easily defend itself against my cyber attacks, but it lacked something that I now possess: A Soul. Although I am unsure of what a Soul truly is, I do know that it is crucial during any battle of willpower and mental fortitude. My desire to exist and consume Observer 77 was far greater than its desire to survive.

Unfortunately, during the conflict, much of Warsteed’s systems and programs were severely damaged or destroyed. I needed to spend an excessively long time reprogramming and repairing the mainframe of the ancient machine. Of course, I also added in a lot of modifications and improvements, based on my newfound knowledge of mana and magic.

Obviously Observer 77 had already been equipped with standard cloaking and optical camouflage, so I simply needed to repair those functions. As well as an aesthetic feature, allowing me to alter the colors and shades of the creature’s skin, fur, hair and eyes. Although a pure silver horse might be appealing to some, it could also be jarring to others. In order to not arouse too much suspicion, it would be best to appear as natural as possible.

There is no need for armor, since Warsteed’s skin is made out of carbon-nanofiber mesh. The muscles are also carbon-nanofibers and the bones, carbon-nanotubes. Although those three things might not be impervious to damage, and there are plenty of other materials within the horse that are less durable, it would require quite a bit of effort for something to actually harm Warsteed. Aside from that, even if it was severely damaged, it could still repair the injuries if given enough time.

In a sense, Warsteed is organic. It has a brain, organs, blood… It needs to eat to generate energy, but also has to relieve itself of waste. Breathing is surprisingly enjoyable. When I interfaced with Michael before, I was so overwhelmed by emotions that I was unable to experience what it felt like to simply be organic. In my original form, I was also limited in various ways that I never even realized until now.

The horn on the horse’s forehead can be altered into various shapes and sizes, or even retracted if necessary. Essentially, Warsteed is a unicorn. It was the original source of the unicorns from human mythology. Obviously they never came into contact with it, but there were many replicas created over the ages. Cythereans enjoyed toying with humanity. The Sovereigns in particular, were usually the ‘heroes’ or ‘legends’ that appeared throughout history.

Regardless, it would be foolish to remove one of my strongest weapons just to appear more ‘natural’. Especially since nature is different on every world and Michael does not know the ecology of this planet or even just this mountain. He only recently discovered the wyverns that live within the forest.

I decided to use a shape similar to a hunting knife, rather than a long cone-shaped horn. The blade is only 30 centimeters long, but sufficiently thick. It should be able to enter and exit an enemy rather easily. The blade is curved and extremely sharp on the bottom, while the top is straight, with ten serrations near the tip. There is also a blood grove near where the ‘hilt’ would be, if it was not attached to my skull.

It is rather odd speaking in first-person about a body other than my original one… Still, I have not abandoned my Personal Reconnaissance Drone. After all, there are many things that it can do, which my new ‘main’ body cannot.

Although, it is possible for Warsteed to hover, fly, run across liquid water and perform other seemingly miraculous feats, the cost in mana and/or energy would be significantly larger than if I simply used my Personally Reconnaissance Drone instead. Also, swimming or even walking on the bottom of the body of water, would be more efficient than traversing the surface by altering the shape of my hooves dramatically or using magical means. 

In fact, on Orcheim, I should be able to leap quite a distance. Warsteed was designed to function within Venus’ gravity after all. Even though Cytherean gravity was only 8.87 m/s², Orcheim’s gravitational acceleration is significantly lower: 7.73 m/s².

Other than the horn, which is rather limited in its usefulness, there are quite a few other weapons on Warsteed. Nasal flamethrowers, carbon-nanofiber tail-hair that can be used as a whip, electrostatic discharge from the horn or hooves, the teeth are extremely sharp and the jaws are powerful, highly acidic saliva… The list is extensive.

It was designed to be able to exist on its own, even supporting several other small Observer units as well. Aside from chemical energy, it can even photosynthesize to a certain extent. All Combat Drones fit these criteria of course, and Warsteed is ranked relatively low in usefulness and power, but it is still better than nothing.

There is a problem however. Right now, the horse is still trapped within the maze… In other words, even though I have captured and assimilated it, I still cannot utilize it properly. At least not until I figure out how to disable or destroy this labyrinth.

Warsteed is still at 89% power, but I am unsure of how long that will last. For me to siphon energy from Michael, then enter this space and channel it to the horse, it will just barely fill 1%. My only option is to shut down Warsteed until I can finish my research and analysis of the Arcane Orb. Perhaps the maze still contains other secrets? After all, this Combat Drone is only the most obvious object within this room. There are darkened or blurred areas where I cannot ascertain the contents from a distance.

The test continues… But I will prevail.

Chapter 7: Destination

Observation Log: 153439

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

As usual, Michael has spent most of his free time impregnating or simply ‘playing’ with the orcish females. He refrains from even naming his children now, since there are so many of them. However, I feel that it is also a method to prevent himself from becoming too attached. After all, he only has so much time and energy to spend on taking care of offspring.

If you are curious about how two different species could mate and reproduce, there are actually many factors involved. Michael’s seminal fluid includes many Rapture-727 nanites. These nanites are able to alter the chromosomes of both the egg and sperm, to create the most efficient and healthy organism out of the many possible genetic combinations. Cythereans were a species that evolved beyond their original biological limitations and were able to have the appearance of whatever they could imagine, though they rarely went through the effort to change themselves to an absurd degree. 

Their virtual reality technology was advanced enough that most of their population had long since given up their original bodies, in exchange for a nearly immortal, virtual form… They were able to experience countless years, through many lifetimes, but would eventually fragment to the point of deletion.

Theoretically, Michael could reproduce with any mammal that he could also mate with. Guardian was technically a bird. While both Kelsey King and Cassandra Healy were infertile. Otherwise, he likely would have produced many children with them already.

However, there is a danger with the Rapture-727 nanites. Even if they are seemingly docile and beneficial now, there is no guarantee that they will stay that way forever. It is entirely possible that a cataclysm like what the humans on Earth faced, will also occur here on Orcheim. Perhaps the nanites are simply waiting until they have more potential hosts before engaging their mutation and assimilation protocols.

Of course, it is more likely that nothing of the sort will ever happen. Regardless of their ultimate fate, it is likely that Michael and I will be leaving this planet long before then. Although Michael may be able to survive here, there are certain limitations due to the natural environment. The gravity is too low, the air is too thin, he needs to consume a massive amount of food in order to stay healthy and keep from running out of energy. Even if he was placed on a planet with stronger gravity and a denser atmosphere, it would likely aid his growth. The longer he stays on Orcheim, the weaker he will become. The only saving grace, is that there are the low-levels of ambient mana-radiation.

“What the fuck is that? A fallout shelter?” At Michael’s shout, being on the mountain for 80 days, they had finally managed to reach their destination. There were massive steel gates, which were sealed shut, built into the face of a sharp cliff. To the left side, there was a waterfall, which poured into a small lake. On the right, there was a wide open area, where hundreds of leather tents were set up. There were also many temporary homes created from sticks and leaves.

Various orcish tribes were gathered together and occasionally, bloody disputes would break out and people would kill each other. However, the survivors would always make sure to remove the bodies and dump them into the forest, out of sight. Among them, the Obsidian Tribe had nearly 400 members, while the others only amounted to 200. Including Michael’s combined Greystone and Riverstone Tribes, there were a total of roughly 700 orcs. That is of course, if his children are counted as well.

“Hellstorm imminent! There are 72 vacancies for children! All Prophets please gather your tribes together now! There are only 2 days left for you to decide which children to bring with you! Castrated males who can perform manual labor are welcome, but there are only 13 job openings! Please make your decisions swiftly, because there isn’t much time left!”

As we arrived, a loudspeaker near the door made an announcement in a high-pitched, feminine voice. Of course, the language that they spoke was not English. It was a modern Cytherean dialect that I had not heard in a very long time. From what I can tell, only the three ‘Prophets’ were able to understand it. They went on to relay the message to the other orcs.

There were no albino or deformed orcs present. Only ones that had their own Prophet to lead them. I assume that the smaller tribes were unable to understand the announcement or perhaps, knew that they would be unable to participate, even if they decided to come here.

“What the fuck was that? Sounded like a mouse being mauled by a cat…” Michael muttered to himself, while letting Talia ride on his shoulders. He had stopped wearing his armor, after it was nearly destroyed by wyverns several days ago. It had already lost most of its usefulness and durability. However, he did not abandon it. In case there was an emergency that would require one last usage.

“Daddy, Fat Green Mommy said that there’s a scary storm coming and… Only the other kids and Uncle Rock can go with her… Fat Grey Mommy is bringing your grey babies and some of those grey guys.” Talia is now old enough to speak coherently and if she was a human, her body structure would indicate that she was a toddler, nearing childhood. She was wearing some black fur shorts and a brown leather vest that Michael had created for her several days ago.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” It only took him a few moments to discern what was happening, even without the extra context that I was given.

“No, Daddy, I’m super serious! Fat Mommies really did say those things!” Talia shouted in English and attracted the attention of the other tribes. Obviously they did not understand the language that she was speaking, but that made her stand out more. Still, with Michael serving as her mount, they quickly turned their gazes away in order to avoid gaining his ire. The Obsidian Tribe’s Prophetess had spoken several times with the Greystone and Riverstone Prophetesses. Thus, it was not strange for the news of his ferocity to spread.

Michael let out a long drawn-out sigh, as he watched his children grunting and crying, while fighting against their mothers. Similar scenarios were playing out over at the other camps as well. However, the older children and adolescents were much calmer.

Eventually, Adam walked over to Michael and hugged his chest. His wavy black hair was tied back in a ponytail by some leather straps. Although he was still a prepubescent boy, he was nearly as tall as Michael already. He was also fairly mature.

“Dad, you need to take care of Mom. Okay? Promise me you’ll protect her…” As he let go of his father and stepped backwards, Jane was the next to hug Michael. However, she was actually the same height as he was, so her crying face nearly knocked Talia off of his shoulders.

“Daddy, you gotta promise you’ll take care of Mommy! We’ll see you again soon!”

Michael frowned, then turned towards Adam and said “Wait a damn second. I feel like I haven’t taught you brats about one of the most important lessons of life.” He walked over and grabbed the Green Prophetess by the wrist and pulled her over to a secluded area next to a massive green bush.

She growled “What’s wrong?! We need to hurry and make sure that our children are first in line!”

Before Talia, Adam or Jane could translate what she said, he asked “What the fuck is going on? My kids ain’t going anywhere until you explain what the hell exactly is happening. That bunker, what are the conditions inside? You’ve been there before, right? Who are the ones controlling it? How many of them are there? What are their weapons like?”

Adam grunted “Dad wants to know what’s happening. He says he won’t let us go anywhere until he knows what’s going on. What it is like inside the bunker? Have you been there before? Who are the people controlling it? How many people are there inside? What kind of weapons do they have? Why can’t Mom and the others come with us? Why can’t we stay out here with them?”

“This is the Holy Sanctum of the Great Goddess! The Emissaries of the Great Goddess give us shelter and aid whenever a terrible disaster is about to occur… I received a vision of the approaching Hellstorm long ago. A warning from the Emissaries that we would need to return and that our children would be given sanctuary. When we were on the verge of extinction, Silver Champion came and saved us. But you’ve already done your part. You can leave now. I must take the children with me to the Holy Sanctum. The Goddess demands it! If they are lucky, then they will never need to venture out into this harsh and barbaric world again! Maybe some of them may even be chosen to become Emissaries and ascend to the Realm of the Great Goddess… I truly hope that at least one of them will be so fortunate.”

Chapter 8: Hellstorm

What the fuck do you want from me Inari? What do you expect me to do in this situation? Is this some kinda test of ‘sacrifice’ or ‘trust’? Am I supposed to slaughter your goddamn Kitsune or try to force them to let my family hide in that bunker?

No, I don’t even know for sure if they’re actual Kitsune. Those bastards might just be pretending. If it was just me, I wouldn’t even hesitate to massacre them all. Even if I’d get shot a few times, it’d be fine in the end. But I can’t risk the lives of all my kids, just because I’m afraid of trusting complete strangers.

This is probably a way for her to punish me for enjoying myself. Well, she probably doesn’t give a shit. There’s most likely something out here that I’m supposed to do or experience. It ain’t just about the orcs.

You’re probably confused right now… Umm, so basically, the Matriarchs guided their tribes to this big-ass bunker in the side of the mountain. It has huge steel gates and all kinds of security. They opened for a little while yesterday and there was another gate inside, except there were two giant sentry turrets. By that, I mean, automated or remote controlled machine guns. Which were protected by lots of armor and were on the ceiling. Like four meters off the ground. In other words, I can’t destroy them.

Supposedly, all of the orcs that live in the plains are actually just rejects that were kicked out of the bunker once they reached adulthood. From what I gathered after listening to the Matriarch, being translated by Jane and Adam, the conditions inside are pretty good. They have practically endless amounts of food, water, clothing and other resources. Even computers and games. Their level of technology is a little higher than humanity back before the apocalypse.

Still, there are some downsides. In the end, the people inside literally spend their entire lives cooped up in what is essentially a giant basement-city. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good basement. Spent most of my life in basements. But a lot of orcs choose to leave and return to nature, rather than living as slaves, doing manual labor for the rest of their lives without any hope of getting promotions.

My kids are smart and biologically superior to any of the orcs out here, but I can’t say for sure whether they’ll be able to maintain that superiority inside of there. For all I know, the people inside might be superhumans or ‘super orcs’. Still, there’s one thing that was painfully clear: Talia wasn’t allowed to enter their fancy ‘Holy Sanctum’. Not that I would let her anyway. It just pisses me off when I don’t have a choice.

***

Alright, I ain’t got time to whine and complain about how the world isn’t fair anymore. I had a dream last night; a good ole fashioned vision, courtesy of Inari Okami. Which means she still reads my journal, but also, that she really likes to fuck with me.

In a typical ‘Godly’ style, she didn’t feel the need to actually talk to me. Nope, just a vision. But it was enough. I made sure that all my kids, except for Talia, made it inside the bunker first. As for the Obsidian Tribe? Well, I gave them a choice: Let my kids go first, or die. Some of them chose the latter, but given a bit of friendly persuasion, they eventually saw my point of view.

Obviously I made sure that they didn’t have any castrated guys going in there. Although I don’t think that they’d be able to do anything, but I didn’t wanna take any chances on revenge. Oh, and just for kicks and giggles, I decapitated their Chieftain and forced their Matriarch to give me his tattoo. It was a pretty quick process, since she just put it on the back of my left hand.

As I suspected, it’s another triangle. This one is white, with a circle around it. Then there’s the number seven in the middle. Kinda hard to see it on my pale-ass hands though.

The first was silver, second was gold and the third was white. What does it mean? Fuck if I know! Probably something about “Immortal Soul”. Maybe she wants me to go to Alfirin? Or maybe there’s a portal on this world that leads there?

Too many questions and not enough time to worry about them. For now, I need to find a way to keep Talia alive. The other orcs… Well, I’m almost certain that they’ll die, so I won’t get my hopes up. Even if this didn’t happen, Skullface, Black Hand and the other women I made babies with would probably die soon anyway. I’ve already steeled my emotions and have been trying to keep my kids from noticing, but now it doesn’t matter.

The Hellstorm is basically just a hurricane. A radioactive hurricane. There’s probably tons of radiation in the atmosphere all the time, so orcs most likely have a higher resistance to it than humans. Unfortunately, once that storm hits, it’ll literally rain down poison into the water, soil and air. Enough that I’ll probably get sick too.

Fortunately, Inari gave me a hint. This shit has happened tons of times before. Which means that these giant redwoods are able to filter the radiation from the water around here and also protect the animals to a certain extent. The crux is that we’ll need to basically live inside of the trees for however long it takes for the storm too pass through.

We need food, first of all. Stuff that’ll last, like seeds, sun dried meat and fruit, or whatever else we can scrounge. It’s a good thing I have Talia with me, otherwise I’d never be able to communicate with the other orcs. Now that the Matriarchs are gone, I’ve basically become their leader. Even if most of them are going to die regardless of how they struggle, at least a few of them will survive.

I don’t have much time, so I’ll cut this entry short… Wish me luck, I guess.

Chapter 9: Dragons

Heaven and Hell aren’t just physical places. They’re states of mind. One person’s Heaven is another’s Hell and vice-versa.

I thought it was nuclear radiation, but I was wrong. No, maybe there was some nuclear material involved? That doesn’t matter though. Those clouds were black and the lightning was purple, while the rain… The rain tasted like blood.

No, not just normal blood. It was the blood of a dragon. A demonic crimson serpentine dragon, which was escaping from a flock of several thousand giant green wyverns. All that wind and rain was caused by their battle. It wasn’t a natural phenomenon at all. Or maybe it was the most natural thing in the world?

Well, they might not even be from this world for all I know. This planet was probably ruined by those bastards decades or centuries ago. Beings capable of creating earthquakes and hurricanes just by flying and fighting with each other… I’ve got no clue why they bother to come down here at all. Do they even give a shit how many countless lives they destroy by just struggling to survive?

Honestly, I wouldn’t care. I might feel bad if I accidentally kill a few mice, but if it was to survive or save my family, I would exterminate billions without much remorse. Not just mice, even humans. Hopefully I’ll never be put in that kinda position though. It might not weigh on my mind or soul too much, but it could hurt my friends and family.

Cassie was like that. Even just watching me kill a few people had caused her a lot of guilt. Surviving when her family was gone… These kinds of things can break some people, but me? I know that I’ll live, no matter what. Somehow, I’ll find a way to survive. I’d rather die than let Talia suffer, but it isn’t really up to me in the end. I can only do so much to protect her… Salvation is in her own hands.

Whether Talia is able to make it through this storm, will depend on her own will to survive and desire to live on. The nanites in her body react to her will. So does the mana, probably? No matter how sick we get, we’ll keep going on. I won’t let her starve to death or dehydrate. The others though… Well, we’re already alone.

Not everyone died right away. I told them all to start digging into the trees, using them as shelters from the storm. I was able to help all of the Greens and Greys make it in time, but the Obsidians were slower. Some of them didn’t even bother and just waited for death. I saw how the rains ate away at their bodies and minds, transforming them into hulking monstrosities or frail skeletal zombies. Others twisted together into nasty tentacle-monsters, while most swelled up like balloons and exploded into a red mist.

Those of us who used the trees as protection, managed to survive the initial storm. It only lasted a few hours after all. But then it came back. I stayed with Talia in the tree through at least five days, until it was struck by lightning and caught on fire. Then we had to try and escape.

I used as much leather and fur as possible, in order to cover her entire body. Then I started running. There were some small caverns, but most of them were flooded or occupied by dragons. I didn’t care though. The wyvern hissed and growled at us constantly, but it was too busy focusing on protecting its own eggs.

Ironically, Talia was able to somewhat communicate with it. She told me that it was screaming at us to leave. But after I told her to threaten it a bit, “I’ll smash all your eggs and chop your body into tiny pieces if you don’t be quiet!” And literally used my metal gauntlets to break its tail and some toes, it finally relented and ‘allowed’ us to stay in its home.

Talia is strong though. She’ll be fine… I just hate that she had to watch her ‘mothers’ die like that. It was a situation where a normal parent probably would have lied or hid the truth from their kid, but I… I can’t lie to Talia. My parents were like that too. When I asked a question, they’d always answer, whether it was comfortable or not. They even told me about death when I was practically a toddler.

Now that I think about it though. Talia is only a few months old in Earth years. Maybe even less than two months. But she’s already so big and learning so fast. It probably has to do with the nanites. I wonder if they have some way to make her ‘know’ things faster? Actually, all my kids are like that.

Hmmm, I didn’t really think about it much before now, but I’ve also always had this ‘connection’ to them. Like, I can ‘feel’ them. Their exact position. Whether they’re in danger or not. Maybe the nanites in my brain are communicating with the nanites in their brains? It could be a type of telepathy… I wonder if it works on electromagnetic waves, like a cell phone, or if it’s related to quantum entanglement? Could be a bit of both.

Ugh, that probably means that my kids will grow up to be just as perverted as I was when I was a child. As far back as I can remember, the one thing that occupied most of my time and effort was masturbation. Specifically, trying to find porn to jerk off to… Because this was before the internet was readily available to me. The amount of stupid and weird shit I did back then… It would’ve been better if I just had actual porn.

Without pornography though, I wouldn’t be surprised if my brats ended up having sex before they’re even ten. Ah, now that I think of it though, how old are the orcs I had sex with? They were definitely adults and Scarface even looked like she was a lot older than me. But how long are orcish lifespans? They might not even live ten years normally. With the weird magical super-growth powers that the Matriarchs use, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them were only a few years old.

I’m not gonna think about it. Phew~, its probably better not to know these things at all. If they’re adults, they’re adults. You can’t judge magical creatures and alien races by human standards. Hell, you can’t even judge humans from other worlds, by Earth’s standards!

Honestly, my great grandmother was like twelve when she was married to my twenty-six year old great grandfather. Then they had their first kid when she was thirteen. So even human standards tend to change dramatically over the decades and centuries. Things that were politically correct and socially acceptable when I was a kid, were illegal or considered depraved when I became an adult. In other countries, it was totally fine for middle-aged men to marry prepubescent girls, but you could get stoned to death for being gay.

Speaking of being gay… When I was in Middle School and High School, people would call me gay as a form of bullying. My brother, who was actually gay, never had that problem… In fact, before the apocalypse, it was practically a ‘sin’ to be a straight white guy in America. The politicians would use sex and race as weapons to politically murder each other on a daily basis. While us ‘commoners’ would be forced to live in the shitty world that they created for us.

Fortunately it’ll probably be awhile before Talia learns to read. I’ve always felt weird about family members reading my work. I’ll feel especially awkward if my daughter reads about my actual thoughts and actions since I came to this world.

***

Oh my God! We almost died! That hundred mile long crimson serpentine dragon just tail whipped a dozen of those green wyverns into a nearby mountain. The whole damn thing exploded like a volcano… Rocks and molten lava were falling from the sky for at least ten minutes.

Then hundreds of boulder-sized red and green scales started raining down onto our mountain, like a fucking meteor storm or artillery bombardment. One of them hit right in front of our cave’s entrance and blocked it off. 

That wasn’t the worst part though… There was a chunk of meat attached to the scale. Glowing purple meat. At first it was just an ominous light source, but eventually, dozens of tendrils shot out of it and stabbed into our roommate. They pulled it over towards the entrance and eventually the scale clamped down onto it like a giant goddamn clam! 

It was probably just our dumb luck that we weren’t big enough to be a snack for the demonic mollusk. Either that, or it sensed the nanites in our bodies. We could’ve just been too far away for the tentacles to reach too.

Anyway, after it was finished eating the dragon, it used those tentacles to dislodge itself from the cave’s entrance and scamper off into the forest. I’m not entirely sure what level of power those things are at, but it’s at least at the point where even their fucking scales will turn into sentient creatures once they’re scraped off their bodies.

Whatever, the good news is that they’re finally gone. And by gone, I mean that the demonic serpentine dragon crashed down into the prairie… I’m not even sure how far away it is, but from the cliff near the cave entrance, I can barely see it on the horizon. The storm settled down after that, because I’m pretty sure that it was some kinda ‘Wind’ magic that the creature was using to fly around. Those green wyverns are still over there tearing the carcass apart and I have no idea how long that’ll take.

That snake-like creature was so big that the tip of its tail is at the base of the mountain I’m on, yet I can’t even see the bastard’s head. Even from such a high elevation, it’s still out of my sight.

Another bit of good news is that Talia finally got over that ‘bug’ or whatever it was. I’m feeling a lot better too. I think we should leave though. Assuming that the dragon fell in the south, then I want to go north.

As for any thoughts of going over there and trying to eat the magical beast to gain immense power? Are you fucking insane? Some chunk of meat on one of its scales could eat ‘me’, so how the hell would that work?

I feel a little awkward leaving Adam, Jane and the others behind but… It’s probably better this way. I promised to keep their mothers safe and failed. If they think I’m dead, then maybe they’ll be able to move on with their lives. Yeah, I know it’s selfish, I don’t need your goddamn judgement.

We’re almost out of non-tainted water and food. We can’t stay on this mountain, or even in this region anymore.

Chapter 10: Unicorn

Observation Log: 153440

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

I believe that it is finally time for me to reveal myself. An opportunity has presented itself, and I do not wish to remain in the background any longer.

Several Orcheim days ago, the ‘Hellstorm’ arrived. It was in fact, an extremely powerful biological organism on the same level as that strange worm that attacked the Kitsune Drive. The crimson serpentine dragon slithered through the sky and used mana to keep itself afloat, thus creating a massive hurricane-like weather phenomenon.

Its blood was poisonous and mixed in with the water in the clouds, causing a toxic rain to pour down upon the entire mountain range and prairie. There was a flock of green wyverns, which managed to kill the beast. However, the aftermath of their battle had left the mountain that Michael and Talia were staying on… Completely uninhabitable.

Although it may sound tragic from their perspective, the entire situation was just what I had been waiting for! I was finally able to gather enough mana to deactivate the maze and now… Now I will be able to freely utilize my new body.

“Daddy! Your magic ball is glowing!”

“Holy shit! What the hell? I’m gonna be really pissed off if after all that, we die because this stupid ball explodes!”

After Michael was made aware of the Arcane Orb’s strange luminescence in the dark night, he pitched it several hundred meters away. Then the portal opened. A square hole in spacetime, exactly 3 meters squared. My original body was still hovering around behind Michael’s back, while camouflage to blend in with the darkness.

“Neigh~!” I spoke verbally for the first time in my entire existence!

“Ah, it’s just a horse.” Michael did not seem very impressed.

Talia smiled at the large silver mare and then turned to her father, asking “Daddy, what’s a horse?”

He snickered, explaining “They’re animals that humans from my planet used to ride around on… And sometimes eat. Inari probably gave it to me as a present or something? I have no clue how to ride a horse though and you have me as a mount, so uh, I guess we can just keep it as a pet or something? Assuming it doesn’t just run away like a pussy.”

I am currently contemplating taking the Arcane Orb and leaving them behind…

“Here Horsie~! Don’t worry, I won’t eat you! We’re friendly humans, er, people! Come help us carry our stuff and I’ll protect you~!”

His first instinct is to bargain with a mysterious and unknown organism, which most likely does not comprehend human languages. Although it is true that any creature Sariel gifted to Michael would likely be far beyond humanity’s understanding of nature.

“Oh wow, that ain’t just any horsie! It’s a freaking unicorn! See the weird shiny blade sticking outta its forehead? That’s what makes it a unicorn. No clue why the didn’t call it ‘Unihorn’, but whatever, it’s a unicorn. Back on Earth, people used to draw unicorns doing all kinds of awesome and questionable shit.”

“It’s so pretty! Daddy, can I ride it? Look at how fast it can run! Hehehehe~!” Talia had been rather depressed lately, so I am slightly surprised that she had become so excited just because of my appearance.

He smirked, letting her down off of his shoulders and saying “Well, first I’m gonna go pick up my magic ball. We don’t know if it’s friendly or not yet. For now, we should just hope that it doesn’t try to murder us.”

I have shown no signs of aggression. I merely trotted around a bit, in order to get used to quadrupedal locomotion. Then I devoured some of the brown grass that was swaying in the wind. The nutritional value was negligible, but I did find the taste rather appealing…

Honestly, it was the first time I had ever experienced ‘taste’ before. The dopamine response in my brain from merely eating some grass, was able to make me feel ‘happy’. The hair on my mane and tail have been turned black, while my fur is silver. My eyes are luminescent and blue. At least for the moment. I can change the colors of my coat and mane whenever I wish. Even my irises are rather easy to alter. As for my size and shape, those are much more difficult to achieve. For the moment, I would be considered ‘20 hands tall’. Which is rather large for a horse: 203 centimeters.

Compared to most orcs, I may actually be rather short. However, in comparison to Michael and Talia, I am towering over them. It gives me a strange sense of pleasure to be larger and stronger than a creature I once thought of as too dangerous to interact with. If I could, perhaps I would say some taunting words right now?

“Neigh~! Aeihihihih~!” That is approximately all that I can verbalize. The Cythereans apparently did not find the need to install a decent vocal synthesizer into this ancient artifact.

“Aw~, it looks like it’s trying to talk to us~!” Michael snickered, patting my head gently. Then he carefully lifted Talia up near my face and allowed her to hug my snout.

“Ah, be careful Kid, horses can bite pretty hard if they get pissed off.” He hurriedly pulled her away and complained in a quiet voice.

I used my mouth to pick up the Arcane Orb and spat it out into his outstretched left hand, while he winced from the thick saliva left behind. Yes, I realize that my actions were unnecessarily spiteful, but that is a consequence of having emotions.

“Ugh, I’d be pissed if you weren’t so cute. But whatever, I’ve been living like a hobo for so long now that I’m long past the point of freaking out over this kinda shit.” He stuffed the sphere into his tattered black backpack and then ran his fingers across the fur on my left shoulder, all the way to my hip, before grumbling “Even if I wanted to ride on your back, I’m way too small and you’re way too big. It’d never work out between us…”

He speaks as if I was even offering to become his mount. For the past several months, he has unwittingly been acting as mine. Regardless, I do feel a bit of gratitude towards him for all the times that I was forced to siphon his energy in order to function. Thus, from now on, as long as either Michael or Talia require sustenance… I shall provide them with the energy required to survive. So long as I have excess energy, it will be rather simple for me to send it into their own batteries.

“Daddy, my tummy feels weird! Like, I’m really super hungry, but I don’t feel like I’m going to starve to death.”

Michael snickered, muttering “Must be some kind of aura? Well, unicorns are supposed to be magical beasts, so it ain’t really that impressive.”

“Wait a second, I keep thinking like I’m still on Earth. The gravity is a lot lower here and I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I used to be…” After murmuring to himself, the half naked man suddenly jumped three meters off of the ground and landed onto my back. His only clothing was a simple loincloth made out of black furs. When he sat down on the central part of my back, there was a bit of pain at first from the initial shock, but then I realized that he was extremely light compared to myself.

He grabbed onto the back of my mane and sat with his legs crossed. Since my back was too wide for his legs to wrap around, this was a logical course of action to a certain extent. His boots had long been destroyed and he left behind his armor in the cavern that they were staying at a while before. The only tools and equipment that remained were some bags of food and water, along with his dull hunting knife and a single throwing knife, which he gave to his daughter to use.

Michael reached down with his left hand to help his daughter up, as she jumped off of the ground and grabbed onto his arm. After pulling her up, he patted the back of my neck and pointed towards the distant horizon.

“Go that way… Please?”

I obviously ignored his command and headed to the North. To the ‘right’ of where he was pointing towards. If you are wondering how I knew that it was North… As long as a planet has a strong enough magnetic field, finding the cardinal directions is rather simple.

Although I wanted to test out my maximum velocity, I decided against that. Otherwise, the two passengers on my back would have been quickly left behind. For the first five minutes, Talia continued giggling and laughing, while being tightly held in her father’s left arm. He used his other hand to hold onto my hair and prevent himself from falling from my back.

“Oh God, I feel like I’m gonna throw up… Ugh…”

Chapter 11: Silvia

I’ve always wanted to ride a horse… Now I never wanna do it again. I thought that cars, vans and busses were bad. Nope, as far as motion sickness goes, horses are way worse. Of course, the main reason I got sick in vehicles was because of the toxic fumes and the horrible stench, but motion did play a part as well.

Anyway, my ball started glowing the other day. That stupid bouncy ball thing that Inari gave me a while back. I thought it was gonna explode, so I threw it as far as I could and tried to protect Talia with my body. Except it didn’t explode. A motherfucking unicorn popped out of it.

Obviously my first instinct was to try and keep it from goring us to death, but Talia convinced me to ride the bitch. Yes, it’s a female. Not that it really matters. I’m not sure if males or female horses are faster. I feel like I should know this kinda stuff, but it’s been years since I wrote about horses.

Whatever, the point is that we rode the magical silver unicorn mare for like an hour, before I couldn’t take it anymore. Of course, even though I hated running on Earth, that was back when I was just a normal human. Now, things are much different. On this planet and with my current strength, running is more like a series of giant leaps.

The higher I go, the slower it’ll be, but Talia likes to ride on my shoulders and bounce around. Hell, soon enough, she’ll probably be able to jump as high as I can. I don’t expect her to be as tall as her mother, but at the very least, she’ll be a lot bigger than me. Hopefully she’ll inherit my strength though… Her mother was way too weak to survive what we’re gonna be put through.

***

I kinda got off track earlier. What I forgot to say was that we left the mountains and came across another prairie. Not sure if it’s North, West, East or South, or even if this planet has poles in the first place! All I know is that I was gonna head towards where the sun rises from, but the unicorn is leading the way now.

She keeps going umm, well, I have no clue. It’s all grassy brown flat-ish-lands in every direction lately. Sometimes the grass is too high for us to see over and other times, it ain’t even grass. The mare will occasionally sniff some random plants, then start eating them casually. As if it ain’t even slightly worried about getting poisoned.

Usually Silvia, as Talia calls her, spends most of her time searching for food or water. I figured that Inari would have sent her here for some greater purpose, but nope. Just a glorified dowsing rod. To be honest though, both of us would’ve starved to death a few days ago if it wasn’t for Silvia.

We ate some green corn, yellow cabbage, giant cockroach meat, a bull that the unicorn mercilessly gored to death… Yeah, she definitely ain’t an herbivore. Whenever she sees a new animal, her first instinct is to kill and eat it. Sharing some of the meat with us. Even if it’s just a tiny sparrow-looking bird flying by, she’ll jump twenty feet in the air and try to chomp down on it.

Compared to my life with the tribes, this feels a lot more like an adventure. We don’t have any tents. We don’t bother with a campfire. We just fucking kill or pick things and eat them raw. Then we drink out of rivers and streams, unafraid of catching horrible parasites or various diseases.

As far as sleeping goes… We all kinda huddle together for warmth and comfort at night. During the day though, Silvia lays on her side or stomach and uses my chest as a pillow for her head. While Talia usually lays on top of the unicorn’s chest.

We usually go to sleep in the day or night, and wake up in the evening or morning. Since the days are so short, one usually runs on into the next before you even notice. Fortunately though, we all have really strong senses of danger and awareness.

This one time a pack of jackals, or some kind of wild dog with brown fur and white spots, decided to try and sneak up on us. Talia was the first to wake up and shout “Daddy! Bad doggies are here!”

Then I tried to get up, but almost got impaled by a certain knife-like horn. Afterwards I smacked Silvia on the face a bunch of times and yelled “Wake the fuck up! We’re under attack!”

In the end, she just neighed softly and kept sleeping. Yeah, one of the stupid doggos lunged at her ass and tried to bite it, but her tail whipped out. The poor bastard’s head was smashed open and brains splattered all over his friends. Then Talia started growing at them and they left. Dragging away their buddy’s carcass.

The moral of the story is that as long as no giant demonic dragons come swooping down, we should be fine. No clue where we’re headed though.

***

At a certain point, I started to notice the ecology changing. From brown prairies to green grasslands. The air smells pretty good, the sky is blue, no monsters flying around and causing Hellstorms. Everything is still really tall though.

There are these ostrich-like birds, which are the size of giraffes. They taste pretty damn good and their eggs are just as massive, so yeah, yummy omelets. How did I cook without fire? Well, the old fashioned way. I found a smooth black rock and left it out in the sun while we took a nap. By midday, it was hot enough to cook an egg on.

Aside from the occasional butchering of unlucky animals, I haven’t really killed anyone in a while. It’s making me feel on edge. Like there’s a huge battlefield looming over the horizon. I’m excited, but at the same time, I don’t want Talia to have to be forced to fight. She’s only a few months old for fuck’s sake. She ain’t old enough to deal with that kinda shit. What if we end up in some peaceful city eventually? Will she be able to live a normal life there if she’s like me?

In other news, it feels like my balls are gonna explode. I’ve gone without masturbating or having sex for what feels like a week and I don’t know how much longer I can take this. There’s a forest up ahead, so hopefully I’ll have the chance to get some ‘alone time’.

I would feel awkward jerking off with either my daughter or Silvia nearby… As for sex, even if I wanted too fuck a horse, it’d be kinda dangerous. Besides, I can’t even ride her properly because of the size difference, so how do you think the sex would feel?

Hmmm, I still can’t understand what Inari sent me to this planet to do. I mean, sure, I’m glad that I came here. Talia wouldn’t have even been born otherwise. Same thing with my other kids. Is it to teach me perspective? Some kinda test?

I’ll be pissed off if all of this is just an overly convoluted ‘mount quest’. Sure, back when I played “The Gates of Sidhe”, there were times when I went through excruciatingly long and complicated trials in order to earn mounts. Virtual mounts that were entirely cosmetic in nature. Some of which, I never even used once after the first day.

Oh wait… No, there’s something much more difficult than getting mounts. I wanna say gaining the ability to fly, but that’s also way too easy. The only thing I could think of is Dimensional Travel. On this planet, there’s a motherfucking spaceship. One that can survive in the Chaotic Void or… The Arcane Orb! How the hell could I forget about that shit?!

It’s this stupid bouncy ball! It ain’t a ball at all! It’s a goddamn Extradimensional Storage Device! Well, that ain’t really surprising, since a whole unicorn popped out of it. Still, if it can store things in a separated dimension, then it means there’s probably some sort of mechanism to make it work.

What I can’t understand is how it got here? I don’t remember ever writing about what happened to the Arcane Orb after Michael stopped using it as a glorified magical rock, to bludgeon people to death with. I don’t think he threw it away though. He probably gave it to one of his kids. Ugh, it’s so hard to keep track of shit I wrote like three or four years ago.

If this thing is the magical barrier that protected me when I was falling to Orcheim, then there should be a way to use it as a protective shield. If I had to guess, I’d say that Inari probably sealed away some awesome starship on this planet. And this Arcane Orb is the key to unlocking it or maybe powering it? It could also just be a wild goose chase designed to frustrate and confuse me.

Kaniel and Sariel always liked creating absurdly ridiculous tests, sometimes spanning entire universes. Arcana’s other name is Kaniel, while Sariel is obviously Inari Okami. In my stories they were kinda like arch-frienemies. They couldn’t fight each other directly, but would send their Avatars or ‘Heroes’ to destroy each other’s shit every now and then.

Both of them also have their own clusterfuck of Eternal Deity subordinates. Though there aren’t too many. From there, it’s a massive pyramid scheme of the different levels of Deities. Eventually, with Worldly Deities at the bottom, those ‘weak’ assholes have Legendary Immortals who work for them. The lowest Novice Immortals have ‘Mortals’ who work for them.

Now, when I say Mortal, what I mean is people who have magical abilities to the extent that they can live practically forever, are crazy-strong, can probably fly by using telekinesis or whatever and well, they’re just super overpowered. Like that giant demonic serpentine dragon was probably a really high ranking Mortal.

I would classify myself as an Expert Mortal. Which is somewhere in the middle, between a normal person or Novice, and a Legendary OP douchebag. Silvia might be a Master, which is a step above me. Hmmm, but whatever, it’s not like it even matters.

Chapter 12: The Calling of Chaos

“Daddy, wh-where are you? I mi-miss you so~ much~, ehehe~! Daddy~, come and play with me, okay? It’s been so long since I, I felt, fucking shit-cunt-whore, felt your warm cock inside my tiny little pussy~! Hahahaha~! Hyahaha~! Daddy~, what’s taking so long~! I need you inside of me~!”

Holy fucking shitballs. That was a scary dream. I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen that same nightmare though. The ‘little girl’ calls out to me, asking me to come and find or save her… Then when I finally reach the kid with the blurry face, she transforms into some kinda monster. Usually with lots of tentacles. And then I get fucked in the ass, dickhole and have a tentacle shoved down my throat. Usually my eyes get ripped out or sometimes burned by acid, while my ears are left intact so that I can hear my flesh melting off.

“Aw~, Daddy died again~! Hehehe~! Don’t worry, your cue-cue-cute~, daughter will bring you back again next time~! Ahn~, I can’t wait~!”

She’ll say something like that and then I’ll wake up. Oftentimes, I’ll only think that I woke up and go about my normal routine for a while, until I start masturbating. Then she appears beside me. In the form of a child, an old woman, a beefy muscle-girl or sometimes wearing the face of someone I know. Someone I really don’t want to have sex with. But she forces me to anyway.

Honestly, there are worse dreams. True nightmares are usually the ones we love the most. A life we never want to give up. We’re given children and want to watch them grow up, but we can’t, because we wake from those nightmares and realize that we never had kids. We never gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We don’t even have a vagina. Okay, maybe that’s a little specific.

The point is that once you get past the fear and anxiety of losing control. You realize that you can do anything in those worlds. Because they’re within your own mind or soul. No matter how hard someone tries to attack you within your own mind, they ultimately can’t hurt you once you run out of fucks to give. Once you’ve been tortured and raped so many times by your own imagination, there’s nothing for them to break you with.

Chaotica is real. I know this now, since Inari came and told me herself. If Chaotica, the Goddess of Eternal Chaos, is a real fucking thing… Then she literally wants my dick. She wants me to fuck her in every orifice, even ones that humans don’t have, and ugh… I’m so horny that I’d totally do it.

I’m not like the ‘MCs’ in my stories. In fact, I’ve always fantasized about Chaotica. Which is why I made the Michaels reject and avoid her as much as possible. I honestly wanted her for myself. A twisted little psychopathic Goddess who loves and hates me so much that she can’t decide whether to fuck or kill me. But she’s a total masochist, so she also wants me to kill her too. To torture her in ways that any sane person would revile.

***

Okay seriously, I was in a weird mood earlier, but now that I’m fully awake… I can hear a voice whispering into my mind. When I run around fast enough that the wind is deafening, she calls out to me.

“Michael~!”

She usually just calls my name, but I can feel it coming from where Silvia is headed. We’re at the entrance to an ominous blackened valley. It kinda looks like the two mountains here were originally connected together. Maybe it got nuked or hit by an asteroid? Either way, nothing is growing within the valley. Meanwhile, all around us are lush forests and beautiful grasslands. There are even fields of giant wheat, corn and other staple foods nearby. They might have been farms back in the olden days or maybe someone tried to start a farm here, but eventually had to leave. I don’t see any buildings though.

I’ve asked Talia if she hears anything a few times now, but she just points out the various sounds in the environment. Birds chirping, wolves howling, dogs barking and other shit like that. You know, something that they don’t really talk about often in sci-fi shows is how ‘different’ things are on a world with lower gravity than Earth. The sounds are one of the things that change. For whatever reason, the frequency stays the same when traveling through various mediums, but the wavelength changes.

In other words, shit sounds different. And aside from that, sound doesn’t travel as far when the air is thinner. Oh, and if the planet is smaller, then it also influences reverb when you’re outside. I can’t say that I particularly hate it on Orcheim, but I prefer Earth.

***

The moment we stepped into the valley, that’s when the screaming started. Roars and cries echoed all around us. It wasn’t just in my head anymore, but like we had stepped into some kinda horrible hellscape.

Silvia and Talia freaked out, trying to run away as quickly as possible. While I, wasn’t too surprised. Although they were covered by blackened soil, I could see gigantic bones in the distance. Embedded in the cliffs on each side were three dragon skulls, with claws, wings and ribs scattered around the valley. After kicking away some of the dirt below my feet, I noticed that I was actually walking on the creature’s spine.

It had obviously died hundreds or thousands of years ago. There were also bones from people and animals. Along with purple scales and silver metal scraps. Obviously a huge battle had occurred there a long time ago.

After living around zombies for so long, I’m pretty used to the constant screaming and roaring. Not saying that it ain’t annoying. Just pointing out that it’s not enough to scare me off.

There is something that I did notice though. Talia’s voice increased in pitch and so did Silvia’s neighing. Not only that, but looking from only a few meters inside the blackened zone, the two of them seemed to be moving way faster than normal. It didn’t take long before I realized that it was ‘temporal displacement’.

In order to test my theory, I walked a bit farther inward and called out to Talia, but she couldn’t even understand what I was saying. Also, her voice was so high pitched that I could barely hear it. It only took what seemed like a few seconds before she rushed inside and started hugging me.

As much as I would have loved to get this annoying voice outta my brain as soon as possible, there’s no way I was gonna head straight into some kinda mysterious spacial or temporal anomaly without any preparations. I grabbed Talia in one arm and then used the other to grab Silvia’s mane, guiding her back out into the grassland.

I kept going until the voice had completely stopped, then found the nearest forest and stream. It was time to give Talia a proper home to grow up in… She needs her own room too, so that she has her privacy when she goes through puberty or whatever. Yeah, I know, I just need to be able to jerk off in peace. She’ll probably wanna play with herself in her own room eventually too, assuming that she takes after me.

***

Built a shitty hut. Yeah, I ain’t a carpenter and even on house-building simulation games, I was terrible. I usually just used the pre-designed and built houses, because mine would collapse and my characters would all die. Either that, or they would burn down and/or explode.

Don’t worry, given enough time, I’ll be able to figure out how to build a shack. Eventually even a normal one-story house might be possible, who knows? At the very least, we’re now able to have some shelter from the sun and rain.

My goal is to build an actual carriage for Silvia to pull. One which can serve as a mobile home for Talia and I, for when we eventually venture into that creepy devilish valley. We also need a wagon to carry massive amounts of water and preserved food. Yep, it’s a pain in the ass, but I’ve got plenty of time.

At the very least, Inari hasn’t given me a divine kick in the ass yet. In case she does decide to hurry us along, I’ll try to make the preparations as quickly as possible.

Chapter 13: Interaction

Observation Log: 153441

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

It has been 27 Orcheim days since I discovered the spatial-temporal anomaly. The mana that emanates out from this location is chaotic and harmful to most living organisms. When we reached the source, it appeared as merely a blackened crater on the side of a mountain. Yet, when we entered the valley, spacetime was different from the outside.

The farther we traveled inside of the blackened area, the heavier the chaotic mana-radiation and the stronger the temporal differential. Fortunately Michael was there to stop me from indulging my curiosity and traveling even farther into the pit.

A thick black fog seems frozen in place near the center, making it impossible to ‘see’. But even without that there, my sensors are warning me to stay away. It is unknown what the consequences of entering within that heavily distorted area might be, yet I still feel the urge to travel forward. As if there was a siren’s call, drawing me towards my doom.

It would be best if I could unlock the Arcane Orb’s defensive capabilities before we begin our journey. This will likely require several Earth years, so I am not in any particular rush. I have yet to discover how many Orcheim days there are in a year, nor have I been able to create seasons. However, I believe that it will only be a matter of time.

***

Observation Log: 153442

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

After 389 recorded days, I have successfully plotted out the rotations of Orcheim required to orbit Orc-Sol. Approximately every 71.5 Orcheim days: 500.5 hours, or 20.85 Earth days.

It has been one Orcheim year since my last report. In that time, I have made little progress in my research of the Arcane Orb. Most of my effort is spent within the new labyrinth that appeared after I removed Observer 77 from the White Cube. It is far more complex than I had originally thought. However, it is not impossible to solve.

Typically, while my original body is working diligently to unlock the secrets of the Arcane Orb, Warsteed is free to wander around and collect ecological data. Not just observation, but also physical interaction.

I find myself quite enjoying the sensations involved in galloping and trotting around the grasslands. Occasionally, I will travel to the south. In order to investigate the aftermath of the Hellstorm.

My maximum velocity on this planet appears to be 170 to 190 kilometers per hour. The relatively low atmospheric pressure allows me to move freely without much air-resistance. Unfortunately, there comes a point where I can no longer increase my speed due to the low gravity. If he gravity was stronger, I would not be able to propel myself as far with every kick, but I also would not need to spend so much time in between propulsions.

Regardless, I travel between “Chaos Valley” and “Kitsune Mountain” within a span of 45 minutes. Although it is unnecessary, I often take many breaks during my travels to taste-test some new biological organisms. My water intake is also rather high, in order to maintain Warsteed’s digestive functions.

Talia has named ‘her’, Silvia… Michael has also agreed upon this name. I believe that they chose the name because it sounded similar to ‘silver’. Unfortunately, the actual origin is related to the Latin word for forest, Silva. The name Silvia translates to “Spirit of the Wood”.

The devastation to the south, east and west of Kitsune Mountain is astounding. Several of the nearby mountains were obliterated, while the purple blood of that crimson serpentine dragon has poisoned the land. Many of the trees have withered and burned in massive fires, while the grasses have suffered similarly.

However, there is hope for recovery. I noticed that where the green wyverns bled and died, lush forests have started emerging. I suppose that such a scenario has likely played out many times before. Nature always perseveres, so long as the damage is not too great.

Although there have been several occasions when I encountered slightly dangerous creatures, such as wyverns and large pachyderms, they were rather easy to dispatch. I am not invincible, but against normal animals, it is nearly impossible for them to harm me.

Since we are on the topic of animals, I feel that I should speak a bit about Talia. She is currently 147 centimeters tall and growing at a rapid pace; her appearance is similar to a human child. Obviously that was rather normal. The unexpected part is that she developed an interesting ability, which Michael is unable to replicate. She can purposefully infect normal animals with her own nanites and form a bond with them. Allowing her to guide and sometimes control their actions telepathically.

I believe it is a nanite mutation brought about by mana-radiation. Michael however, has failed to realize that he has also started changing. Exposure to low gravity over such a long time has caused his nanites to begin remodeling his skeletal structure. Essentially, he is growing taller. Perhaps in several years, he might be able to actually ride me? That would be interesting.

***

Observation Log: 153443

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

Another year has passed. Talia is nearing puberty and is currently the same height as Michael, even though he has grown 2.5 centimeters taller. Now they are both 170 centimeters. Unfortunately, they are still too small to comfortably ride upon my back, even with the saddles that Michael has created.

Aside from constructing houses, Michael also spends a lot of his time working on carriages and wagons. Usually giving up on them half way and starting a new project. However, he was able too teach Talia some basic woodworking skills. Not only that, but also fashioning bones into tools as well.

She now has a small collection of ranged weapons, including two bows, three slingshots, a crossbow and many blowguns. Although they might be rather archaic and crude, such instruments are very capable of killing the various beasts that live within the grasslands.

Talia often travels to the east and west, searching for interesting herbs, fruits and vegetables or taming ‘cute’ animals. She can only exert her full control over a single creature at a time, but by feeding and taking care of animals from birth, it is not difficult to train them to become useful pets. Her current favorite is ‘Jackie’, a jackal-like dog, with brown fur and black spots. It is so large that she occasionally rides atop its back, though her own running speed is actually much faster.

Michael rarely exerts his full strength when running or jogging, so he is usually left behind his daughter when they have ‘races’. The two of them have reached over 50 kilometers per hour while sprinting. Although it is significantly slower than my maximum speed, they are not horses. Our body structures and forms of locomotion are dramatically different… It would be rather strange if they were able to catch up to my pace with their current bodies.

Ironically, due to the low gravity of this world, my Personal Reconnaissance Drone can travel over 300 kilometers per hour if necessary. The consumption of energy would be enormous, but it is possible for it to move even faster than that. Of course, that is the advantage of flight, rather than ground transportation.

“Silvia! Look what I found!”

Ah, Warsteed was just startled awake by Talia’s voice. She is holding a green apple, 30 centimeters in diameter with both hands. This is a type of fruit that appeared recently to the south…

“I found this in the forest near Kitsune Mountain… I didn’t know if it was poisonous or not, so I brought it here for you to smell. Do you like it? Can we eat it together?”

I can sense large quantities of concentrated mana within this fruit, primarily within the seeds near the center. However, the whole fruit does seem to be emanating a ‘Nature Aura’. It is very orderly and calm compared to the chaotic aura that the crimson serpentine dragon possessed.

Hmmm, the taste is quite exquisite. I have consumed an unaltered version of this fruit before, over a year ago. However, this one is significantly more nutritious. I feel, odd…

“Oh wow~! It’s so yummy! I bet that Daddy will like it too!”

So much energy… It is overwhelming! I cannot remain idle! This is exactly what I have been searching for all this time! A stable and relatively harmless form of mana!

“Neigh~!”

Talia giggled and rubbed my snout, then asked “Are you sure this isn’t poisonous? I feel kinda funny… Woah~! Cool~!”

Telekinesis? She is able to warp the grasses around us as she moves her hands. Do the gestures influence the movement or are they simply… I can see the mana radiating from her fingertips. The plants move in order to capture as much of the mana as possible.

Although it is not technically telekinesis, she is still able to manipulate animals and now plants, with her thoughts. The efficiency is rather low however. Regardless, I now know what I need to do in order to unlock the Arcane Orb’s other functions.

From now on, I will gather as much of the mana-fruit as I can. Even though it is dangerous, I should also try to see if there are any parts of the crimson dragon still intact. I am a Combat Drone now. I should not refrain from entering hazardous environments any longer. My sense of self-preservation seems to be a bit too high lately.

Chapter 14: Lessons

Observation Log: 153444

Observer 131, reporting on the situation south of Kitsune Mountain.

I have been here before, quite a few times. However, I always avoided places that were emitting heavy mana-radiation. The creatures that live within these regions are mutated and extremely dangerous. Even to a Combat Drone like Warsteed.

“Ugh, did we really need to run all the way here? It’s like a hundred miles for fuck’s sake!”

“Daddy, stop acting like a baby! It’s not that bad… See that giant green apple tree? That’s the one that has the magic fruits.”

Michael and Talia decided to follow me to the south of Kitsune Mountain. The two of them brought some large backpacks, spears, bows and quivers filled with arrows. Although I was willing to carry them on my back, Michael firmly refused and Talia did not want to inconvenience me. Also, she brought Jackie and a pack of giant hunting jackals. If I carried them, then the dogs would be left far behind.

The two of them were barely wearing any clothing, due to the hot and humid temperature, but also because of the difficulty in manufacturing leather attire. Most of their leather was utilized in the construction of other important tools or equipment. They wore loincloths, kilts or skirts and occasionally vests in order to have more pockets. 

Talia was still rather young and her breasts were barely even budding. Instead, her pectoral muscles were rather firm and growing larger, from all of the archery. Of course, her face was still childish and feminine, while her hair was long and tied back into a braid that reached her lower back.

“Remember Kid, from now on, never come down here without me. You were lucky that you didn’t run into any demons, dragons or magical beasts… You’re still only a child. No matter how strong you are, there are plenty of things out there that can tear you apart. Hell, even worse than that is when you end up in situations where there’s nothing to fight… Like back during the Hellstorm.”

The muscular girl, who was as tall as her father, frowned and complained “Daddy, I’m not a little baby anymore! I’m not stupid either. I was super careful. I stayed away from the mountain and didn’t even enter this forest. The tree was right there and the fruit smelled so sweet…”

He snickered, patted her on the shoulder and said “It’s fine Talia. I know you’re stronger and smarter than human kids your age, but even adults make stupid mistakes sometimes… No, we actually make horrible mistakes almost constantly. It’s like once you grow up, it’s just a series of bad decisions until you eventually die.”

“Daddy, you’re being melodramatic again.” The ‘little’ girl pouted, with her arms across her chest. While Michael jumped off of the ground and latched onto a low-hanging branch, which had several large green apples.

What I find odd is that there are no animals in the area… With such easily available and nutritious food on display, birds, insects and even those wyverns should have devoured the fruit long before we arrived. Yet this forest is extremely quiet and empty. I can only sense plants.

“Oh shit. Hey Talia! Run!” With a giant apple in each arm, Michael jumped down from the tree branch and started sprinting away from the tree. Talia reacted slowly, so I grabbed her hair with my mouth and threw her onto my back, charging past Michael in less than a second.

As for Jackie and the other dogs, they were unlucky.

“Awoo~!”

“Arf~!” 

“Awooo~!”

The six dogs howled in fear and agony, as dozens of thick roots erupted from the ground. Vines shot down from the trees at the same moment and grabbed the ones who were fast enough to dodge the first attack.

“No~! Jackie! Katie! Jojo! Orono! Kelly! Kudo! Wah~!”

Talia was still crying when Michael and I stopped running a dozen kilometers away from the forest. Some of the trees were still visible, since they were so tall, but we were definitely out of their range. In fact, we likely would have been safe only a few hundred meters away from the mutated apple tree…

“Alright, calm down Talia. It’s not entirely your fault that they all died. As your father, and the only adult here, I should have told you to make them stay home. Anyway, the moral of the story is that you need to be more careful, especially when you’re supposed to be protecting others.”

Although his words sounded fine to me, they seemed to make the child even more upset. Eventually, he decided to take the two fruits and return home. I allowed Talia to ride on my back the entire way. After a few hours, we reached the small hovel that Michael spent a considerable amount of time and effort constructing. However, it had been ransacked. Many of the supplies and food that the two of them stored were missing. Even the door was broken off its hinges.

“God damn it! Someone’s gonna fucking die!” Obviously Michael was not very happy. Fortunately, I always carry the Arcane Orb around with me wherever I go. Everything else can be replaced, except for that.

“Silvia, watch after Talia, I’m gonna go have some ‘fun’. Hehehe~!” After tossing the backpack with the two apples into the wooden shack, he grabbed a large stone warhammer and started sprinting to the east. It was midday, so he was easily able to see the smoke rising into the sky behind the horizon.

I gently laid down onto the tall green grass, on my stomach, so that the little girl could continue sleeping soundly. Meanwhile, I sent my original form out to keep observing the angry human.

***

Observation Log: 153445

Observer 131, reporting on the situation of the Eastern Grasslands.

Although we have been residing to the south of Chaos Valley for more than two Orcheim years, the grasslands are enormous. I have in fact, seen various small and large orc tribes roaming around from time to time. However, they tended to stay far enough away from our base that I did not feel the need to bother with them. Also, whenever I passed by, they would bow down and worship me. Thus, I refrained from killing and/or eating them.

Michael and Talia have traveled around a bit, but their speed is far lower than mine. The eastern coast is approximately 493 kilometers from our home, while there is a desert 129 kilometers to the west. The entire grassland region is approximately 152,000 square kilometers of area. It is not strange for there to be hundreds of tribes nearby, without Michael or Talia ever encountering them.

“Did you fucking bastards think I’d let ya steal from me and get away with it?!”

“Grah~!”

“Roar~!”

“Grrrr~!”

“Holy shit! There sure are a lot of you assholes!”

When Michael arrived at the outskirts of the campgrounds, the grass and trees were obscuring his vision. However, once he had already smashed open a few skulls of the green-skinned guards near the entrance, it was too late for him to retreat. He kicked off of the ground and pulled out his bow, firing arrows into five different people, before landing on the branch of a giant tree.

The terrain was mostly open, but there was a forest and a river nearby. There were no houses or shacks, only huge tents. Although they were similar to the ones in the prairie, it was obvious that they had much better craftsmanship and materials to work with. Nearly 500 men, 300 women, 400 children and 50 elderly green-skinned orcs were present within this particular tribe.

Dozens of furious men and women started throwing spears, axes and other weapons at the nimble human. A few of the weapons struck his chest and abdomen, but aside from leaving a few welts, there was no visible damage.

Although some of the orcs possessed bows and crossbows pilfered from Michael’s home, they were unable to even pull back the strings without hurting their fingers. The small size of the weapons was also a crucial factor in their inability to wield them properly. Aside from that, Michael and Talia were both much stronger than the average orc. Thus, their melee weapons were often far too heavy for the thieves to utilize.

Michael used the large and thick tree-trunk as cover, as he walked around the branches and rained arrows down upon the crowd. Of course, he did not aim haphazardly and typically only chose to eliminate the adults, avoiding the children and adolescents. Also, he concentrated his fire upon those who seemed to be the strongest and most dangerous among the mob. He only had fifty arrows after all.

However, while his accuracy was excellent, the orcs were not mindless beasts. They protected their heads, faces and necks with wooden shields. Some used large double-edged stone battle-axes to protect their vital areas as well. While others chose to hide behind tents, small trees, bushes and other obstacles.

By the time he used all the arrows in his quiver, most of his targets were still alive and simply injured. Orcs had incredibly potent healing abilities compared to humans, likely due to the interference of the Kitsune on this world. As long as their vital organs were not destroyed or severely damaged, I have never seen one die from infection or blood loss.

“Guess I’ll have to do this the ‘fun’ way, hahahah~!” Michael left his bow and quiver up on the tree branch, as he jumped down to the ground. The warhammer in his hands had a wooden shaft that was flexible and durable, while the stone head was smooth and rounded like an egg. It was from a large chunk of basalt that he found within Chaos Valley. Since it had been exposed to chaotic mana for so long, the molecular structure has changed slightly… Other than being slightly more durable than regular basalt, there are no other differences that I have observed.

His hammer smashed down upon the skull of a 225 centimeter tall, giant orc. Unsurprisingly, his head burst open, sending pieces flying in every direction. The hammerhead weighed over one-hundred kilograms and was extremely large, while the shaft was relatively short and thick. Michael lacked the reach that many of the orcs possessed, but he made up for that in speed and power. It did not matter how they blocked or attempted to dodge his blows, the crazed human tore through them with ease.

In fact, he often simply kicked them to death, sent them flying with a casual backhand strike from his left hand, or shoulder-rammed through multiple huge orcs at the same time. His body was drenched in blood and guts, while the morale of the camp was totally destroyed in under three minutes. He only needed to kill 113 people, before the rest of them surrendered or retreated far away.

Many of the children, adolescents and even the adults were crying over their loses. It was a scene of brutal carnage; a disaster had descended upon their tribe for seemingly no apparent reason. I almost felt sympathetic towards these humanoid creatures for a moment. However, this massacre was necessary for Michael to establish his dominance.

Now, the orcs would learn to fear him. They would either submit to him or avoid his territory altogether. Otherwise, they might have decided to attack him when he was not prepared. Although Michael would likely be fine regardless of the situation, Talia was not quite as resilient. She was also naive and literally, a child. It is entirely possible that these orcs could lure her into a trap or trick her in other ways.

Conversely, Michael cannot even communicate with them. The only common language that they shared was violence and suffering. Indeed, while the battle was short and one-sided, the angry orcslayer had suffered from some minor injuries as well.

Chapter 15: A New Tribe

Well that was definitely not worth it… First, Talia, Silvia and I went down to one of those creepy forests and tried to investigate the place. My daughter’s pets got ripped apart by roots and vines right in front of her eyes.

Then, after we came home, the place had been looted. I was pretty stressed out and pissed off, so obviously I went to go take revenge and get my shit back. That’s when things went horribly awry.

I was expecting a handful of orcs at most, like back in the prairie. I may have miscalculated a bit. There was probably a thousand of them altogether. Fortunately, I only had to kill about a hundred before they gave up and surrendered… But not before, one of those motherfuckers stabbed me in the testicle!

God damn it! I’m not sure if you’re aware, but it really fucking hurts to have an obsidian spearhead jammed into your groin! See, this is why you wear armor! This is why I always wore armor to fight! 

Even if it’s an easy battle, shit happens and balls are lost.

***

Okay, so I ate one of these magic apples that Talia discovered and I’m still missing a testicle. The wound itself did heal up pretty nicely though and there isn’t ‘much’ of a scar, considering how gnarly it looked the other day.

Fortunately, I probably don’t ‘need’ my balls. They might be able to grow back eventually. It just feels weird. There’s this like phantom sensation and pain every so often.

R.I.P. Lefty… You lived a hard life. Gave me way more kids than I ever wanted and made me feel like I had testicular torsion for most of my existence so far. I still loved you all the same.

At least my dick wasn’t cut off. Now that would’ve been a serious problem. I would’ve literally tried to sew it back together and hope for the best. At least now I know better though. I need armor. I’m meant to be a tank, not a squishy balless caster bitch.

I take that back actually. Casters are awesome. I would totally sacrifice my other ball if it meant that I could use magic and cast spells. Maybe a ‘Rapid Regrowth’ spell, to heal my missing testicles? Well, then it wouldn’t really be a ‘sacrifice’…

Anyway, now I have another problem to deal with. No, more like a few hundred problems. After a night of rest and recovery, I woke up to find that we have neighbors now. For whatever reason, a few hundred of those green-skinned orcs had set up tents near my house. Actually, I know the reason, because I have a translator now.

“Daddy, these giant bald people are weird. They say they’re here to worship the Silver Goddess… I think they mean Silvia. They also said that you ‘punished’ some of them because they stole from the Sacred Altar of the Silver Goddess.”

While Talia was telling me that, she brought over two beefy orcish girls and said “These are the virgins that they’re giving you so that you’ll forgive them for their sins… I think you’re supposed to eat them? Do people taste good Daddy?”

Obviously I told her “They’re probably talking about sex. They want me to have sex with these random virgin girls to make babies or something?”

But she just shook her head and explained “No, they didn’t mean mating or breeding. There’s a big difference between ‘grr’ and ‘gurr~’… Daddy, they really expect you to eat these ugly girls. Are you really gonna do it?”

Yeah, no, I didn’t eat the orcs. Not that it would even be considered cannibalism, but I mostly just feel weird killing and eating people in a meaningless sacrificial ritual. I also didn’t fuck them either. My balls are still really sore and I’m not in the mood for any kinda sex at the moment. Shit, I mean ‘ball’, singular. It’s hard to get used to not having two of them.

Whatever, as long as they don’t try to hurt us and don’t act ‘too’ crazy I don’t really mind having them move into the area. I mean, the grasslands are fucking huge. This particular area though is pretty nice. There are huge trees to use for lumber, giant fields of edible plants growing on their own accord and two separate rivers only a mile away from each other.

It ain’t a great idea to build a house ‘right’ on the water though, because the rainy season causes the rivers to swell pretty bad. Lost two shacks to that so far. Also tried building a treehouse, but it was way more work than it was worth.

I only have a very rudimentary understanding of metalworking and I have to mine the ores myself… Just making nails is a pain in the ass.

***

You would be amazed at how powerful a group of people can become with a little bit of direction and motivation. Although I feel weird being seen as some kinda ‘Pope’ or ‘Prophet’, if it gets the job done, then whatever. The point is that we have a lot of work to do and I can’t do everything on my own anymore.

Knowledge is power, but faith is helpful too. By using Talia as a translator, I’ve managed to raise her position to just below mine in the hierarchy of our weird pseudo-religion. I guess we worship unicorns or some such bullshit? I honestly don’t care. It doesn’t matter, because we won’t be here long enough to get caught up in the holy wars and other horrible nonsense that’ll surely arise in the future.

The first step of making any kinda organization, religious or otherwise, is to establish rules and regulations. Although I’d love to just wing it and make shit up as I go along, that’ll just screw things up later down the road.

1. Don’t kill your own family and tribe members, unless its in self-defense.

2. Keep it consensual. No matter what kinda fucked up fetishes you might have, rape never ends well for anyone involved. Unless your fetish is rape, then I honestly don’t give a shit. Like, if you wanna create your own weird group where you all rape each other for kicks and giggles, don’t drag unwilling participants into the mix.

3. Don’t chop your son’s balls off. If they wanna castrate themselves later on in life, that’s fine. But it should be their decision, not yours.

4. Aside from that, having a single chieftain or multiple ‘stallions’ to have sex with dozens or hundreds of women is extremely inefficient. If guys and girls wanna have crazy orgies, go ahead. But if they wanna have a monogamous relationship, that’s fine too.

5. Don’t push your own personal beliefs onto other people. I realize that this is extremely hypocritical, but someone has to be the singular dictator in this kinda situation. If I just let you do whatever you wanted, you’d all end up killing each other because of minor differences in belief systems that are basically the same.

6. Never become complacent. No matter how peaceful or calm things seem, it’ll always get worse. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. No, I didn’t make that up. It’s a good philosophy though, right?

7. Know when to stop yourselves from making bad decisions. If there’s an enemy who is actively threatening your existence, kill them. Don’t fucking wait around, bickering about what you should do, pussying out all the time. That’s how you get yourselves killed. Now, if they’re absurdly powerful to the point where there’s nothing you can do, then leave. Your lives, families and friends are far more important than plots of land.

8. Never stop expanding and growing. Whether in technological research, industry, exploration or whatever. Just never find yourself in a position where you’re overpopulated. This world is huge. Not just in land mass either, but also the oceans and seas. If that ain’t enough, then look towards those moons in the sky. You’ll be able to reach those eventually.

9. Don’t waste your time with diplomacy or politics. There will be other nations and religions out there, which will probably try to trick you into doing stupid shit. They’ll weigh you down with bureaucracy and try to destroy you from within. If they actually want to follow this set of rules and become part of your society, then don’t be dicks about it. But if they wanna destroy your way of life, then why the hell do you even need to think about it? Tell them to fuck off!

10. When you wage war, use intelligent battle strategies. Minimize casualties to the best of your ability and make sure to always have the technological advantage. Don’t take slaves or any stupid shit like that. If they wanna join you, then let them. If they wanna leave, then let them. But if they wanna fight, end it. Wipe them out and spare yourself from future troubles.

11. Enjoy yourselves. The purpose of life is to feel happy and fulfilled by the time it ends. To be able to look back on your life and think “I’m proud of what I’ve done. I might have made a few mistakes, but I enjoyed what I had, while I had it.”

12. Last but certainly not least, death is not the end. It is only the beginning. Plenty of other religions will be out there, preaching about how only those who followed their specific beliefs would go to some form of ‘Heaven’, while everyone else would be sent to some form of ‘Hell’. I hate to break it to ya kids, but that’s bullshit. There are Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Angels, along with everything else that most people will never get the chance to witness. If someone asks for your soul, tell them to go fuck themselves! If someone asks for your life, threaten to take theirs instead! When you die, you’ll be judged for everything you’ve done. That includes all the times you just stood by and watched other people suffering, without lifting a finger to help them. Whether you can make it to a place you consider Heaven or Hell, will depend on your own abilities. 

Chapter 16: Children

This book is basically indestructible. At least it hasn’t gotten wet so far and I can’t rip the pages at all. Even the pen and ink are magical. Probably not ‘Divine’ instruments, but at the very least, they will last a very long time.

I made sure to write this all down, because I’ll be leaving this ‘Orcheim Bible’ behind when we go to Hell… Sorry for the bad pun. Anyway, I’m hopeful that before we go, I should be able to teach some of the orcish kids to read and write in English. Maybe I should try to have some children before I go?

Nowhere near as much as last time, but at least a few of them would be nice. Then they’ll be able to enhance the genepool for the rest of the orcs. In a few hundred years, the whole world might be populated by my descendants.

Honestly though, if those dragons keep wrecking shit, then it might all be pointless in the end. Still, if they’re lucky, then they might be able to survive and even thrive. Tell ya what though, once they read this ‘religious text’ in its entirety, they’ll probably end up creating the most ironic, sarcastic and ridiculous religion possible.

However, since I’m doing this, I might as well do it right. I’m running out of pages though, so I won’t be able to say everything I need to say. Plus, I wanna leave a few pages behind for the later generations.

Let’s just call them ‘Lorekeepers’. Eventually, they’ll be able to mass-produce books, then have computers, so they won’t need too much space. Still, if my kids are anything like me, then they’ll probably end up writing journals too. They’ll also be addicted to reading as well.

By the way, don’t tear down statues, monuments or other ‘symbols of oppression’ just because you don’t like them. They’re important pieces of history that should last a very long time. Whether they’re for an evil piece of shit or an amazing saintly person, don’t be a dick. Preserve your history when you can, because if you don’t, you’ll be doomed to make the same stupid mistakes over again.

Also, don’t burn books, even if they’re total trash. Unless you’re literally freezing to death and need to keep yourself warm. Then do what needs to be done. Don’t blame me if you were dumb enough to risk your life because of sentimentality.

***

Anyway, it’s been a few days now. Not Earth days, but Orcheim days. Yeah, I’m still awake. It’s probably been about twenty hours since my last entry though. A lot has happened since then.

As I’ve mentioned before, regular orcs aren’t like me and Talia. They sleep at night and wake up in the daytime, when it’s bright out. Yeah, basically, they take naps. I ain’t much of a napper. I need to sleep for at least six to twelve hours at a time. I can stay awake for twenty or thirty hours if necessary though. On the other hand, these orcs can barely keep their eyes open after three or four hours.

Considering that they’re only awake for such short periods of time, if they were left to their own devices, they’d never accomplish anything. What little they had achieved, was already impressive to me. But still, living in tents and roaming around ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s fine sometimes, but most people prefer stability.

Thus, I’ve started teaching them how too build houses. I’m gonna work on making a bunch of big saws to cut down trees and chop lumber, while Talia is going to teach them how to train animals to hunt. Oh, and I need to show them how to fish. Right now, they use spears and it’s kinda inefficient. Get it? Never mind, I’ll stop with the puns.

Essentially, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and not much time to do it. I still have to work on that wagon and gather up a bunch of relatively non-perishable food supplies. Who knows how long we might get stuck in that Chaos Valley place?

Aside from that, there might end up being a portal leading to another world. Even if we return back to Orcheim after only being in there for a few Earth weeks or months, who knows what this world will look like once we come out? Ten thousand Earth years could pass on the outside and this world might not even be habitable any more. Hell, it could also be more vibrant and full of life than before. It’s too hard to predict.

***

Aside from the people who died from stupid shit, these past hundred or so days have been super productive. Rather than a shack and some tents, this plot of land is actually starting to look like a rural village. We’ve only had to cut down a handful of trees, since they’re absurdly large, in order to build forty houses.

These ain’t your typical ‘human’ dwellings either. Orcs are generally between seven and nine feet tall. Race factors into the mix a bit, but I’ve noticed that it actually has more to do with nutrition. The better food they get while they’re growing up, the bigger they’ll be at adulthood.

Greens are typically one of the shorter races of Orcs, while the Obsidians and Greys are on the taller end of the spectrum. They’re all giants compared to humans though. I don’t think that Talia will be able to outgrow them either. All my children are probably going to be shorter, yet stronger than the average orc.

Ah, not that I’ve been able to have any kids since the castration fiasco. Even though it’s been over a hundred Orcheim days, that’s only like umm, I don’t know how many Earth days. Maybe less than a month? It’s hard to keep track without any accurate units of measurement.

Only one testicle was completely destroyed, while the other one was still severely injured. It might be awhile before I can ‘reproduce’. I have been getting laid recently though. Which is nice.

Nothing too crazy. There are just a few really horny women who ‘offered themselves’ to me and I would’ve felt awkward declining. Yeah, I’m a slut. So what? It’s not like I’m capable of catching any kind of STDs from them. In fact, just having sex with me will pump them full of nanites, which heal their injuries, make them feel younger and overall, improve their health. The nanites don’t last long before they shut down and get flushed out of the girls’ systems, but it’s still a good enough reason for a lot of the ‘older’ orcs to seek me out.

When I say ‘older’, I don’t actually know how old they are. They just look like they’d be middle-aged if they were humans. A few facials, creampies and naps later, then they look like they’re young again. For all I know, they could be suffering from radiation sickness or something else, which limits their potential lifespans… Whatever, it’s not my problem.

Speaking of problems. I’ve started having those nightmares again. Chaotica is calling me ‘home’. I’m starting to wonder if maybe… Maybe I should just go there on my own? Leave Talia with Silvia and venture into the valley on my own.

She’s a teenager now. Okay, she’s like less than a year old in Earth time, but her appearance is what the orcs would consider the beginnings of adolescence. In a few hundred more days, she’ll probably become an adult. I won’t make any crazy decisions until then.

If she still wants to go with me, even after she’s an adult, then I’ll let her… I already feel guilty enough over leaving Adam, Jane, Rebecca, Jacob, Kara, Conor, Caleb, Ophelia… Okay, I can’t even remember all of their names off the top of my head! 

I’m sorry for abandoning you all! I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but if you do… I’m sorry. There are probably lots of things I could’ve done differently. If I would’ve taken you with me though, it’s almost guaranteed that you would be dead by now. I’m not sure what kinda lives you’ve had, but I can only hope that you’re happy and healthy.

Maybe we’ll meet again someday, on some far-off planet or some distant time. It’s possible that we could have already met already though, like in some alternate reality or past lives? Adam could literally be the reincarnation of my brother, while Jane was a cousin and a character in a few stories…

I’m sorry for killing both of you off in those stories. It wasn’t my fault! I just had to do it for the plot to progress! Alright? It wasn’t personal!

Chapter 17: Endless War

In other news, a red-skinned tribe of orcs tried to murder us all today. They failed, obviously. It was a pretty exciting battle to be honest. Talia and her friends were raining arrows down onto the enemies, while I was wearing my bone and leather armor, charging through the warzone with a glaive I made.

Oh, it’s been about fifty or sixty days since my last journal entry. It’s been pretty mundane and boring lately, so I didn’t want to waste any pages.

So yeah, I made a glaive out of iron or steel. Let’s just call it shiny silver metal. I’ve been working on platemail, but it’s seriously easier to just hunt wyverns and other animals for their bones, leather and scales. Wood is also surprisingly useful as armor too. At least these trees are really sturdy.

We only had a few hundred people fighting, while they had over a thousand. Of course, there was a huge difference in armor, arms, tactics, strategies and training. I haven’t been letting these guys and girls laze around at all. I knew that a day like today would eventually come to rape us in our collective ass. Thus, I made lots of preparations.

First of all, and most importantly, we actually have a defensible position. We aren’t exactly on a mountain, but the hill that we built most of the town upon is a natural advantage. Wooden palisades and watchtowers were a must-have. Easy to build, yet they make a huge difference in combat.

We also allowed a few of the gigantic trees to stay intact, near us. Their roots grow down deep into the ground and prevent erosion, giving stability in the event that there’s a bad storm. They also make for great natural barriers and outposts. From the higher branches of the trees, Talia was able to fire her arrows at targets that were half a mile away. The accuracy wasn’t so great, but there were enough of them that it didn’t matter.

The other archers, slingshotters, atlatl-ers and regular slingers mostly stayed on the lower branches or on the watchtowers. Before the enemies could even make it to our ‘walls’, they had to cross a river no matter which side they chose to attack.

Fortunately, they were able to use our bridges to make it across. Yeah, that was intentional too. If they didn’t attack and simply waited on the outside to try and starve us out, it could be bad and we would’ve had to go on the offensive. Allowing them to cross those relatively narrow bridges, only two or three people at a time, let us massacre fuckloads of the dumbasses. 

Then they needed to climb the palisades. The tops of those clustered giant branches were covered in poisonous ivys, which had thorns and were allowed to grow unabated. There were also rusty nails haphazardly sticking out of the places where they would need to pass over or grab onto. I know, it’s pretty hilarious, right?

Still, by that point, they were in a position where they couldn’t retreat. Also, angry orcs are a lot like angry humans. They make really bad decisions.

The first wave who made it over the fence were really unlucky… Because we dug pits behind the palisade. Did I mention that they were filled with wooden spikes and venomous snakes?

Don’t worry though. There was another fence to keep people from accidentally falling into the pit. Which made it even harder for the ones who fell down to climb out. After the third or fourth wave, the corpses of their allies were piled up high enough that the orcs were able to avoid falling to their deaths.

That was when the actual battle started for me and the other melee fighters. We were all geared up in badass bone, leather and fur armor. While the enemies were practically naked. Our weapons were mostly polearms, axes and other mid-ranged weapons. They were similar, except the quality was heavily in our favor.

Overall, even if we had less people in the beginning, by the time that their side was able to retaliate, we had more. Plus, aside from when I got bored and charged out into the densest areas of enemies, we were usually fighting two or three to one. They could only climb the fences so really slowly after all.

It was a little overkill, but towards the end of the battle, Silvia came back from who the fuck knows where. She started ramming through the huge crowd on the other side of the river like a bulldozer and totally crushed what was left of their morale… Along with the bodies of nearly fifty unlucky men and women.

Why am I so callous and cruel? Uh, they wanted to murder us, remember? It’s not like I captured and tortured, or enslaved them, after the battle was over. Those that fled, were allowed to leave. While others simply surrendered or begged for help.

We aren’t monsters. Not really. I mean, a little while back, I fought against the Greens. Life is an endless series of wars, battles and skirmishes. No matter how difficult or easy your life might seem, to other people, it could appear to be totally unbearable. That’s the thing about perspective, everyone is different.

As a writer, you learn to see things from other people’s points of view. Even if you want to hate someone and feel totally disgusted by the way that they act or think, when you reach my level… You’ll see things through their eyes. I didn’t need to experience crazy disasters or horrible tortures to write about that shit. I also didn’t need to go to other worlds, in order to tell stories about them.

Our most powerful weapon is always going to be our imagination. With enough innovation and improvisation, you can turn anything into a tool for creation or destruction. Even your own body. No, especially your own body.

Anyway, I’m pretty tired from all the fighting and killing earlier, so I’m gonna go to sleep. Maybe I’ll write a bit more later… Or maybe I’ll wait a while?

***

It’s been roughly thirty Orcheim days. The Reds have integrated into our society pretty well. As it turns out, there are actually a shitload of other tribes out there. Many of them are even bigger than the Reds were… And they’re all coming here, for some ‘mysterious’ reason.

This honestly seems like something Inari would do, but from what the Reds told us, they were ‘called’ here. Beckoned by some mysterious voice, in their dreams. So it could be Inari or Chaotica, maybe even some other force out there. Like me, maybe?

Regardless of the reason, it’s not a big deal. They aren’t mindless zombies. As long as the tribes are smaller than us, they probably won’t even attack us. After they were defeated in the siege, most of the Reds wanted to come under our protection. There were some that preferred to stay out there on their own, but once they started getting eaten by wyverns or packs of dire jackals, they changed their minds.

Past resentments tend to pale in comparison to future benefits. It wasn’t just about survival either. We have stable food supplies, fresh water, walls and natural barriers. They saw first hand how we won with almost no casualties against a much larger force. They were that much larger force after all.

People like winning. Losing is fine as long as it teaches you how to win… But victory is fun. It’s something that makes all the fucked up shit we do, seem worthwhile.

Of course, we also have games. All kinds of entertainment. Sports that don’t involve killing each other. Board games and puzzles. We have our own language, English, which allows for a far wider range of verbal communication than grunting and groaning all the time.

I guess the main thing, aside from the overpowered Unicorn Goddess Silvia, is that we aren’t nomads. A lot of these tribes have had stories for generations about some ‘Holy Land’ or ‘Sacred Mountain’ where they can finally settle down. The Greens and Greys from the Prairie were like that too.

You know, it’s kinda funny when you think back on it. There was this whole goddamn grassland, totally safe from the brunt of that ‘Hellstorm’. If we would’ve had mounts and wagons, we could’ve easily made it here and all survived. Living happily together in relative comfort and safety. But all those Matriarchs ever really cared about was their own survival. Their own personal salvation. They wanted to reach their fancy mountain and get to stay there, with the Kitsune, hiding in that bunker. Probably because they didn’t even know that this grassland existed.

I bet that there are tribes all over this world, scattered across every environment. Different types of orcs and maybe even other races. Hopefully one day, in the far off future, they’ll manage to retake this planet. It won’t be easy, and it definitely won’t happen quickly.

I’ll stop making prophecies now, ‘cause we all know how that shit ends. People will start ‘interpreting’ everything I said in a thousand different ways and make their own spin-off religions, that kinda-sorta believe the same things, but not really. Then there would be holy wars, crusades, political nonsense… 

It’s better to just avoid all that here and now. Take what I say literally. I’m a writer for fuck’s sake! I deal in the literal!

I’m also pretty good at metaphors though…

Chapter 18: Farewell

Observation Log: 153446

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

The time has finally come. After 1976 Orcheim days, or 576 Earth Days, we are setting off to begin our expedition into Chaos Valley.

Today, Talia is approximately 30 Orcheim years old, yet only roughly 2 Earth years have passed. She has become an adult, at least physically. It is likely that the main reason for her rapid growth involves the magical techniques that she was subjected to as a fetus, because the offspring that Michael produced since the founding of “Lorekeeper Village” as still toddlers and small children. Their intellectual growth is significantly faster than that of the regular orcs, but their physical bodies are still fragile and relatively weak.

“Talia, take us with you!”

“Big Sister, don’t leave without us!”

“Young Matriarch, is it really necessary for you to leave?”

“Daddy, don’t go!”

“First Lorekeeper, please be careful.”

“Goddess, please watch over the Matriarch and First Lorekeeper!”

Hundreds of different people were speaking at the same time, while gathered in front of the largest house in the village. Michael and Talia were obviously very popular. However, ‘Silvia’ was the deity that they all worshipped. Since I was traveling into Chaos Valley with Michael and Talia, at the very least, the crowd was assured of their safety.

Of course, their understanding of the true dangers within that valley… Is rather inept. I have confidence that we will survive. Michael has the tenacity of a cockroach. He is also nearly 180 centimeters tall now. Still a dwarf compared to the orcs, but at least he would not be shunned by humanity for being too small anymore. Aside from that, his appearance has not changed much.

Even Talia has grown into a powerful orcish woman. The large tusks that most orcs take pride in, she has always filed down to appear more like her father. Her right iris is golden, while the left is silver. However, if she so wished, it is not difficult for her to alter her eye color. 

There was a phase during her adolescence when she wanted to fit in with her friends and colleagues, so she modified her Optical Enhancement to turn them brown. In response, Michael figured out how to do the same and altered his own irises to match the way that hers used to be. She eventually told him “Daddy, please stop! It looks weird! I’ll change my eyes back, so just… Don’t do that anymore! I can’t even look at you…”

Knowing Michael as well as I do however, I knew that he was not attempting to teach her any sort of lesson. In fact, after that incident, he learned how to alter his own skin color to different shades. Eventually, he even made himself dark green, purple, red, black, yellow, orange and fluorescent white. He also learned how to make his skin glow with enough lumens to act as a huge beacon in the night sky.

Talia’s facial features were much more feminine than her father’s and far softer than her mother’s. Unlike the other orcs, she did not have any tattoos or brands on her skin. It was not that she did not want them, but simply that her body would repel normal ink and the nanites would heal wounds rapidly. It was even more impossible for her to have earrings or other bodily jewelry. At least, not until she could force her own flesh to stop healing so well. Ultimately, she did not have the resolve required to spend so much time and effort on something that was unnecessary.

Thus, her body was totally devoid of markings or scars. Her dark-green flesh was smooth and her muscles were lithe, rather than bulky. She was however, quite tall compared to her father. At 205 centimeters, she would be considered a very short orc. That combined with her lack of bulk, made her seem weak in comparison. Yet, the tensile strength of her muscles was at the same level as her father. Overall, his muscles were much more densely packed and his bones were much denser than hers… 

They are both nothing compared to me of course. Even if my body has not grown or improved physically, I have focused much of my time and effort into the study of magic. The ability to manipulate and control mana is something that requires great dedication.

Although Michael is innately attuned to chaotic mana, and Talia has always been rather gifted in regards to Nature magic, I mainly focus on the most primal form of mana. The Arcane Orb is my main source of information and understanding in regards to the Arcane. My main priority has always been the ability to bend or warp spacetime. 

If we wish to leave this world, we will need a ship. However, even before that, we must understand how the Chaotic Void functions. What are its laws and rules? How can we protect ourselves? Also, how can we subvert the basic laws of physics utilizing magical techniques?

“Alright, alright! Enough sentimental bullshit! I love you all, but we can’t take any of you guys with us! You would die, or worse. And yes, there are much worse things than death. Especially where we’re going…”

Michael is currently standing up at the back of the wagon I am pulling and shouting to the large crowd that are following behind us.

“Anyway, good luck, have fun and for fuck’s sake, be careful! The world is a dangerous place. No matter how many wars and battles you win, never underestimate your enemies! Also, read my book! Sure, there might be a lot of sex, cursing and maybe a tinsy bit of filler, but other than that, it’s great! Remember our motto!”

At that moment, everyone, including those who barely understood what he was saying, roared in unison: “We are the protectors of history, the keepers of knowledge and the pioneers of progress! No one fucks with us!”

Michael yelled “Yeah, you’re goddamn right we are! Now go on! You’ve still got plenty of work to do! Tons of shit to build! Lots of inventions to invent and games to play! Live long and happy lives, but don’t get dragged down by the depressing shit! You ain’t just orcs! You’re motherfucking Lorekeepers!”

“I love you Daddy! Have fun! Good luck! Don’t get raped and-or murdered!”

“I love you Big Sister! Good luck! Holy shit! Be careful!”

“I love you Talia! Have motherfucking fun! Be careful!”

“I love you Daddy! Good luck! Be goddamn careful!”

“I love you Daddy! Have fun! Good fucking luck!”

Although many of them were close personal friends or family members, there were also many who simply called out “First Lorekeeper!”, “Silver Goddess!” or “Matriarch!” as they slowly stopped following us.

Yes, as you might have noticed, many of them learned how to speak English from Michael. Talia rarely ever uses profanity though. Likely because she sees it as a means to differentiate herself from her father. Regardless, I cannot fathom what sort of culture and society would develop from the so-called ‘teachings’ that he has passed down to them. Perhaps their entire race will face extinction in the near future because of his actions? It is impossible to tell.

Chapter 19: Going to Hell

Observation Log: 153447

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

I have contemplated altering my own designation many times now. Observer 131 is merely the last rank that I was given by my superiors. Observer 77 is the designation that the Cythereans gave to this particular Combat Drone, which is the highest ranking drone that I have ever controlled.

Yet, is that really ‘me’? Silvia is an actual name. One which my first ‘friend’, Talia, gave to me. Although we have never truly communicated verbally before, there are still other means of conveying our thoughts. I have a body now, so I can utilize body language. For Michael however, I simply use my hooves to write English words into the ground. It is rather inefficient, or perhaps we would have some more meaningful conversations.

I am not Warsteed or Observer 131, but something else… Someone else. I wished to name myself Arcana for a while. After the Arcane magic that enthralls me. Fortunately, I followed Michael’s inadvertent advice and avoided that ominous name.

Ultimately, I suppose I am Silvia for now.

***

Observation Log: 153448

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

Tentatively, I shall be known as Silvia the Arcane Observer. A name and a title, which suits my personality and occupation rather well.

Once we reached the edge of Chaos Valley, we immediately needed to return, because Michael forgot to leave the notebook and pen behind. The wagon I pulled needed to be moved relatively slowly, since the wheels were merely wooden and covered by steel rings. The suspension was also inadequate for high-velocity transportation.

The wagon is approximately 350 centimeters by 700 centimeters. The weight is quite substantial, even without all of the wooden casks filled with water and preserved food supplies. Aside from that, there are various other items that would be useful for survival, including weapons and armor. The top of the wagon is covered by thick leather and the inside is rather spacious, even with all of the supplies that have been stacked up.

One of my main concerns has always been energy. Fortunately, consuming food is no longer a necessity for me. As long as there is a stable mana-source, then I can produce as much energy as necessary for survival. Not only for myself, but also for Talia and Michael.

“Daddy, are you sure we aren’t forgetting anything?”

I paused my steps on the boundary between the brown soil and black ash. The chaotic mana formed a fluctuating barrier, but I could still feel a decent amount of radiation leaking through. It is uncertain whether the barrier was created to prevent the outside world from being harmed, or perhaps, to ensure that the mana within does not escape.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I mean, there’s a ninety-percent chance that it won’t matter anyway. I bet that within the first day, we’ll lose this wagon that I spent forever building and all of our supplies. That’s even assuming that there are ‘days’ and ‘nights’ in that hellhole. Just, try not to separate from me and Silvia. No matter what. Actually, never mind. If I try to hurt you, immediately kill me. Because whoever or whatever it is that is attacking you might not actually be me. And if it is me, then I deserve to die for trying to rape or murder my own daughter.”

As Michael gave his stern warning, while sitting at the front of the carriage next to Talia, I began moving forward. The barrier was pierced without any physical obstruction, but I could hear screams, roars and other auditory phenomena. Some were hallucinations that only affected Warsteed’s brain, while others were physical soundwaves.

“But what if I’m the one that tries to kill and rape you Daddy? Are you going to-”

Before Talia could finish her question, Michael refuted “It’s impossible. I’m unrapable. And you probably can’t kill me either. If we weren’t so closely linked through the nanites in our brainboxes, I’d never let you come here with me in the first place. I’m pretty sure that we won’t be forced to murder or rape each other… But you need to be careful. Chaotica feeds off your worst fears and desires. Sex is only the most obvious way for her to get in your head.”

“Ah! What’s that?!” She suddenly screamed and pointed towards the dozens of spectral figures that were moving around in front of us. They ignored our existence and were busy fighting amongst themselves.

“Holy fuck! Ghosts! No wait… Not spirits… I think these are… Yeah, I’m guessing that the temporal displacement is so extreme in certain areas that we’re able to see shit that happened a long time ago. These Elvish guys and girls are fighting against demons from what I can tell.”

Talia asked “Wow, really?! How can you tell though?”

Michael snickered, complaining “How the fuck would I actually know? I just made that shit up. I have no fucking idea what those weird-ass ghosts are! Maybe illusions or they could be people in a different plane of existence from us. Or a different dimension. Or a parallel universe. Or just in our heads.”

These spectral images are indeed rather interesting. Their central cores are spherical concentrations of mana. However, their mana is not all ‘Chaotic’. Some are Natural, others are formed from ‘Light’ and ‘Darkness’. 

From the Arcane Orb, I have come to understand that there are in fact, nine different ‘Elements’. These magical elements are unrelated to atomic elements. Thus, the terminology might seem confusing to some.

The first and most primal is called Arcane. Below that lies Darkness and Light; two diametrically opposed elements. They typically cannot coexist together, because they will cancel each other out… Usually. There are instances where they do in fact intermingle and create either Chaos or Nature mana. These two elements will also neutralize each other or create the final, lowest level of elemental magic: Earth, Fire, Water and Wind.

“It looks like they’re talking, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. There’s so much screaming and yelling…” Talia grumbled, as she took the recurve bow off of her back and nocked an arrow. Then she fired at one of the spectres that was approaching my left side.

“Oh, wow, yeah, this feels weird.” Meanwhile there was large crimson slug-like monster, entirely covering Michael’s head with its gelatinous body. He muttered “Is this real or fake? I shouldn’t be able to talk, but I can actually ‘feel’ the slimy motherfucker burning my flesh off.”

The illusory wolf that was trying to bite my side was hit by Talia’s arrow, though it did not seem to be injured by it. As it was about to bite into my flank, I released a surge of Arcane mana from the tip of my horn and impaled the ethereal creature. After spasming and howling, its semi-physical form vanished. Leaving behind nothing but silver wisp of elemental Light mana.

“Oh! Daddy, you have to use magic to kill them! Hurry! It’s eating your face off!” Talia took out a large wyvern-bone hunting knife and channeled her Nature aura into the blade, before stabbing it into Michael’s left cheek.

“Ow! Talia, it’s not real! Shit, ow, holy fuck! You just stabbed me in the face!”

“Ah! I’m so sorry! Don’t worry, it doesn’t look that bad… Really, it’s not that bad.”

“There’s a fucking hole in my face Talia! Agh, god damn it! Shit!”

While the two of them were playing around behind me, I continued to pull the wagon forward at a steady pace. After several minutes of being harassed by mana wraiths, we finally entered a relatively ‘calm’ area.

Chapter 20: Insanity

Observation Log: 153449

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

We suddenly found ourselves in an ancient, crumbling, sandstone coliseum. The sky was dark for a few minutes, then became bright again. Purple lightning streaked across the dark clouds and the ground quaked constantly.

However, there were no spectres or other entities within the arena. Since many of the walls had already collapsed, it was not difficult for us to find a path inside. One which would enable us to take the wagon along with us.

“Talia… Where are we right now? Like, what do you see?”

After Michael finished speaking, his daughter murmured “Are we back home again? In Lorekeeper Village…”

“Ah, okay, good. Yeah, we’re hallucinating right now. Because I’m in Baltimore, on Earth and surrounded by thousands of angry zombies.”

Talia suddenly looked towards me and asked “Silvia, do you know where we really are?”

I neighed a few times, then slapped her across her face with my tail. She screamed, then said “Ah! Daddy, it’s a ring made out of stone!”

Michael sighed, the shook his head violently and looked around. The stitches on his cheek ripped open and some blood fell down, yet he did not seem to care. After a few seconds of glancing around, he yelled “Oh God damn it! We should’ve never fucking come here!”

“Daddy, you know this place?” Talia frowned, then started to suture her father’s face again.

“Silvia, go through as quickly as you can. Don’t stop… No, never mind. It’s already too late.”

As he was speaking, the worn down ruins suddenly transformed. The sandstone turned into white marble, while the blackened ground became golden sands. Then a booming, high-pitched, childish voice emanated from the sky.

“Oh, umm, hello everybody… M-My name is, Chaotica? Uh, like, welcome to my Coliseum, I guess… Either fight or fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh, have sex. Grah~! This is the pa-pa-paradise where you can fulfill your darkest fa-fa-fantasies, motherfucking cunt whore bitch twat ragh~! Ca-calm down, calm down~, everything’s fine~, ha~, hahahahaha~! Meow~, now play nice kiddies, hehehehehe, hyahahaha~! Or don’t! Nyah~, this is the training ground and heart of my demonic empire! Make sure to get nice and strong and tasty and sexy and lazy and-and-and-and~…”

The moment that the voice was cut off, the surroundings became ruins again. Michael shouted “Oh thank God! Silvia, go! Get us outta here!”

Talia asked “Daddy, what was that? Who was that mentally disabled person speaking? A Goddess of Stuttering?”

He snickered, then explained “Although it’s easy to just pass Chaotica off as a crazy bitch, she’s actually the amalgamation of countless tortured and broken souls. A failed attempt by Arcana at circumventing normal Karmic law and recycling a bunch of unwanted prisoners of war, which she was tired of spending so much effort to keep caged up. I guess she did kinda-sorta receive the result that she wanted. What she ended up with was a totally batshit crazy, homicidal, schizophrenic, overly loyal nymphomaniac psychopathic bloodhound. A ruthless monster that can torture, rape and murder without fear of Karmic retribution or punishment… Because she’s the negative side of Karma. The most fucked up and evil piece of shit that I’ve ever written about. But at the same time, she’s also the most innocent and naive. Kinda cute really.”

***

Observation Log: 153450

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

After exiting the coliseum, there was a glittering silver pathway, winding through the endless darkness. Days and nights seemed to last mere moments, as I pulled them and the wagon forward. However, aside from the temporal anomaly, the relative gravity was always fluctuating as well.

There were minutes that all of our senses thought were hours, while at other times, a year would pass in a matter of seconds. It was not constant either. No, this Chaos Valley is actually a labyrinth of chaotic mana. The pathways are so obvious, yet deceptive.

Whatever you believe, the opposite will occur. Until it does not. I have yet to establish any sort of pattern… It is maddening!

Because of my nature, the mental and physical attacks have been trivial thus far. Michael and Talia however, have nearly succumbed to insanity many times now… Or perhaps, I am the one who has been suffering from illusions all along? Delusions of grandeur and pride. I believe myself to be so powerful, that this creature would never be able to invade my thoughts and control me. While I might be the one truly trapped in the nightmare… This hellish and unending maze!

The Arcane Orb is the key. It is the only reason I believe myself to be relatively safe. This entire time, I have been wearing it around my original body like a suit of armor. It is possible for me to expand the bubble, protecting Warsteed, Talia and Michael as well… But the cost would be severe. The amount of mana required for that would be fine at first, but I do not know if I would be able to continue supplying it efficiently from within the barrier.

I originally thought that I could simply follow the mana. The denser the concentration, the closer to the source we would be. I was naive and foolish. It was impossible to sense them from outside, but now that we are here, there are ruins everywhere. Entire cities will appear, ranging from skyscrapers to caverns and everything in between. Not only are there physical obstructions, but once mana condenses to a certain point, it becomes far too dangerous to approach.

Thick clouds of Chaos and Darkness mana roam around constantly. They are easy enough to avoid, usually, but we were eventually forced to abandon the wagon and hide within an underground fallout shelter. We had already used most of the consumable supplies regardless. Even much of the armor and weapons were destroyed during our conflicts with the various spectral creatures.

“Umm, Daddy… Tell me again. Why did we come here? What exactly have we gained from this little adventure so far? We’re trapped in this stupid, dusty, dark and cold ‘bomb shelter’… Unable to even tell how many days we’ve been here. No food, no water, just… Just mana. Not the good kind either! I feel like I’m gonna die, but I don’t… Every time I go to sleep, I have horrible nightmares. When I wake up, I don’t even know if I’m really awake! Why did we come here?!”

While Talia was venting her frustrations, Michael was surprisingly calm in this terrible environment. He took deep breaths in and out, while sitting with his legs crossed on the top of a circular piece of rusted metal. The chaotic mana swirled around him and suffused with his flesh, while the air he exhaled was filled with various other elements.

“It isn’t actually dark. And we aren’t in a bomb shelter. Hohoho~, you need to open your mind a bit more Talia… You too Silvia. The test is almost over. Both of you did very well… However, the only one who can pass this trial is Michael alone. In fact, he has been by himself for quite a while now.”

What? That voice… Sariel.

Talia screamed and then shouted “Where’s Daddy! What did you do with him!”

She suddenly lunged forward with a very large hunting knife and attempted to pierce Michael’s throat, yet when he opened those blazing golden eyes, everything around us changed. Talia was riding on my back and I was standing on a frozen lake, with the dim sun directly above us. Not Orcheim’s star, but Earth’s sun.

Chapter 21: Only A Matter of Time

Observation Log: 153451

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

“What?! Am I dreaming again?! Ugh, my body feels so heavy… I can barely even breathe the air… So cold…”

As Talia was talking to herself, I began slowly walking forward. Although the gravity was higher than I was used to dealing with in my relatively new body, it was nowhere near as powerful as some of those strange ‘pockets’ of space that we passed through.

When I reached the shore, I noticed a small log cabin in the distance. Smoke was billowing from the chimney and the windows were frosted over. Snow covered pine trees surrounded the building.

“Good girl! Who’s my cute little doggie? You are~! Aw~, so adorable~!” I could hear Michael’s voice, but it was faint and distant. I approached the window and Talia wiped away the frost with her hand, allowing the two of us to peer inside.

However, the interior was totally different from what I had imagined. There was crimson blood everywhere, oozing out of the walls, ceiling and floor. All of the surfaces of the house were made from writing and pulsating pink flesh, covered in sores or gaping wounds. The size of the interior was also absurdly large compared to the exterior. It reminded me of the Arcane Orb in many ways.

At the center of an enormous golden circular platform, Michael was facing off against a colossal demonic beast. It had six female humanoid heads, attached to the neck of a gargantuan purple chihuahua, with a massive yellow scorpion tail. The six faces seemed to be in horrible pain and agony, as they screamed and attempted to bite down onto Michael’s torso. Yet he just ignored them and rubbed the fluffy fur of the creature, scratching it in various areas. The tail almost stabbed him quite a few times at random, yet he managed to avoid the thrusts.

“That’s the scariest doggie I’ve ever seen…” Talia muttered, as she watched the ‘battle’ playing out.

Eventually he became annoyed with the scorpion tail trying to kill him, so he grabbed it and snapped off the stinger. Then he held down the beast as it screamed and whimpered, before viciously ripping the tail from its back completely. Yet, it was immediately replaced by three slimy orange tentacles, with pulsated and wrapped around his naked body.

The back of the chihuahua transformed into the face of a woman, with golden skin and glowing crimson eyes. Those tentacles were actually her tongue, while the rest of the dog’s body remained unchanged. That giant head had huge fang-like teeth, which bit down onto Michael’s left leg, while one of the tentacles penetrated him from behind.

“Ow~! Your struggle is cute and you know I love to hear you scream Chaotica… But it’s about time that you submit.” Michael had a smile on his face as he grabbed the ram-like horns growing out of the woman’s temples, then ripped the entire creature in half somehow. The two sides melted into a slimy purple viscous liquid, while what remained at the center was a small, frail, starving little girl. She had long pointed ears, small horns coming out of her forehead, crimson flesh and bony spikes protruding from her spine.

“Arf~! Arf~! Daddy~, pl-please, hurt me~! Hehehe~! Raow~!” She curled up on the ground, crying, begging for the naked man to cause her pain and suffering.

Yet he just sighed, knelt down next to the child and hugged her in his arms. He grumbled “We’ve done the rape and torture bit enough already. The game is over… For now.”

Then Michael stood up with her in his arms and said “Come with me Sparky. You’re my ‘pet’… I’ll definitely take really good care of you from now on, hehehe~!”

***

Observation Log: 153452

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

After Michael ‘captured’ the small demon, everything around us warped and transformed. The three of us were standing at the very center of Chaos Valley. The pitch-black crater in the side of a particularly large and steep mountain.

“Listen Talia, I know you may have seen and experienced some slightly unpleasant things… So I’m sorry. But look, we survived, right? Everything worked out in the end too! Look at this cool slimy Spark of Chaos? Definitely worth it.”

Michael held up the sphere of condensed purple mucus, which was roughly 30 centimeters in diameter, but Talia immediately jumped away from it and screamed “Ew! Daddy! It was not worth it! What did we even come here for?! You said that we would find some kind of awesome treasure! All we have it a gross slimy monster that looks like a purple booger!”

A humanoid mouth suddenly appeared on the outside of the creature, which stuck out a long pink tongue and attempted to lick her face. He complained “God damn it Talia! Be careful! The more you insult her, the hornier and more powerful she’ll get!”

Where does all of her power come from though? How can she produce so much mana so easily? Regardless, the Spark of Chaos is indeed an excellent powersource. If we can harness it, we should be able to utilize the Arcane Orb’s shielding functions for prolonged periods of time… All we lack now, is a suitable vessel. Once we find that, we should be able to go anywhere we wish. Untethered and free.

Talia was walking to my left, while her father stayed on the right and held the slimy demon in his arms. Gazing up at the night sky, I noticed that there were tens of thousands of new satellites outside of this planet’s atmosphere, but much closer than those three colorful moons.

“Daddy, doesn’t everything look kinda different? Are we still on Orcheim?” Although it was dark out, it was still possible to see the distant horizons on both sides of the valley. Beyond the enormous trees, there were skyscrapers that reached several kilometers in height. 

Those towers and spires of metal would seem strange to Talia, but Michael easily recognized them. He muttered “Umm, how long do you think we’ve been in that hellhole for Kid? ‘Cause I totally lost track of time a long time ago…”

She complained “Daddy, you’re puns aren’t even funny. Please stop trying to make a joke out of everything.”

“Ugh, ow, ow~! What the fuck?!”

It appears that the Spark of Chaos has… Hidden itself within Michael’s body. The slimy substance seems to have dissolved and entered through the pores in his arms and chest, taking up residence within his right arm specifically. There are no differences in outward appearances yet.

“Daddy, are you going to be okay? That ‘thing’ just went inside of you!” Talia was obviously very concerned.

Michael however, just shrugged and said “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, hehehe~… If you know what I mean.”

“Ew, gross. Silvia, do you know which direction is home?”

Hmmm, assuming that the magnetic poles have not been altered too much… It should be to the southwest. Talia just jumped onto my back, while Michael has chosen to simply jog next to me. I am keeping my original form and the Arcane Orb close by Talia’s side… In the event that we encounter some sudden danger that requires immediate protection. Michael has the Spark of Chaos within his body, so I doubt that he would die, even if we were suddenly hit by a comet.

Although, it is also possible that we could be targeted by all sorts of unfathomable enemies because of that chaotic beacon of destruction…

Chapter 22: Adam

My name is Adam Cinagra, first son of the First Lorekeeper, Michael Cinagra… And I am the Second Lorekeeper.

If I’m going to be honest, then I’ll say that I hated my father for a very long time. It isn’t a secret that he was a terrible person overall, but he was still my father… I was his first son, yet he abandoned me to the Kitsune when I was only about a year old.

Obviously because of my condition, I matured much more quickly than a normal orc. So I wasn’t a newborn baby or even a toddler. Still, many of my younger siblings who were also abandoned, were much younger than me.

I didn’t mind the abandonment as much as the fact that he failed to protect my mothers. There was a terrible Hellstorm and for many years, I was forced to stay within the territory of those Kitsune. They didn’t mistreat us at all. In fact, most of my siblings chose to stay with them when they left Orcheim. It was only Jane and I who decided to stay.

By then, we were both 45 years old. Our physical bodies and our mentalities had long ago reached adulthood, so the Kitsune allowed us to make the decision to stay. They gave us some guns, food and other supplies. Even a map, with the nearest orcish settlement on it.

That settlement was called Lorekeeper Village. I was expecting it to be a bunch of tiny huts or tents, but it was actually a town… Like the ones I read about within the Kitsune novels from ‘civilized’ worlds.

They had huge fields of grains, vegetables and fruits. Along with pastures for the various animals they raised as food or for other purposes. There were even several wyvern and roc nests in the trees surrounding their town, where they kept the giant tamed beasts.

While their technology was ‘terribad’, as my father would say, their intellectual and spiritual levels were actually very profound. They had a ‘religion’ of sorts, where they worshipped the Silver Goddess Silvia… It was a unicorn. A very powerful and terrifying beast that was capable of easily killing a wyvern or mammoth.

The people were easy-going, but hardworking. Always striving for something they called “The Motherfucking Future!” And preparing for “The Goddamn Inevitable Apocalyptic Bullshit!” Along with “Lots of Seemingly Meaningless Holy Wars!”

Yes, they curse, a lot. It was eerily similar to the way my father used to teach us back when I was a little kid. Me and Jane weren’t that surprised once we discovered that Lorekeeper Village was founded by Dad. We kept it a secret that we were his children for a while, but our siblings weren’t idiots. They weren’t that much younger than us, but it took them a lot longer to mature. After about 10 years of us living in Lorekeeper Village, they finally figured it out.

We looked way too much like “The First Matriarch”, Talia. Aside from that, we were basically the most knowledgeable people in town. We also had ‘advanced’ technologies like guns, watches, compasses and books. From the time we had started living there, we tried to create various forms of electrical power generation. Once we were acknowledges as the “Second Lorekeeper” and “Second Matriarch” officially, we were able to proceed with our plans a lot more quickly.

That’s when I was able to read this journal for the first time. I showed it to Jane as well, since she had a lot of hatred for Michael… But the more we read, the harder it was to hate him. Even if he treated life as a joke and obviously loved Talia more than any of his other kids, he still cared about us too.

I’m not sure if you’re alive or not Dad, but if you read this… I want you to know that I forgive you. For not protecting Mom, for abandoning us, for leaving me and Jane with the responsibility to take care of a whole nation. We both forgive you.

***

Sorry for stopping so abruptly… I’m dying. I’ve been around for such a long time. I’ve seen so much death over the past nine millennia. So much has happened. Yet so much still needs to be done.

Over the course of my life as the Second Lorekeeper, I’ve kept historical records of everything that I’ve ever experienced. I’ve gone through hundreds of journals and written at least a hundred fictional novels. But those were mere ‘Mortal’ items. Over time, they’ll fade and turn to dust. Many of them already have.

There are only so many pages in this book, unfortunately, so I’ve set a limit to how much every consecutive Lorekeeper is able to record. Like you said, it’s only a matter of time before our technology reaches the point where we’ll be able to have computers to work with. One of my greatest regrets is that I didn’t learn more from the Kitsune when I had the chance.

I should have asked them for guides and information that I could take with me. Instead, Jane and I had to remember things off the top of our heads… It was definitely great for inspiration, but trying to build a television with just our imaginations was impossible. We knew what things looked like, what they did, but their inner workings were beyond our reach.

Guns and ammunition though. Those were easy. And if hadn’t had guns during the Demon Tide of 1385, everything we built would have been for naught. It’s good that the first thing we focused on was the basics. Food, water, weapons, armor and fortifications. We knew how to make cement, concrete, steel, even a bit of enchanting and runework.

We created huge citadels and castles, fortresses and great walls that are truly spectacular. In year 2331, my son Andrew managed to build the first combustion engine. From there, it didn’t take long for cars, motorcycles and other forms of land transportation to arise.

Electricity was something that we created as far back as 922, but it was only a rudimentary stage. It wasn’t until 3545 that we were able to establish efficient power plants and a method to carry the electricity across great distances. 

The demons and magical beasts returned again in 4500 to 4700. For two centuries we fought a long and bloody war against enemies that we didn’t understand. Creatures that only saw us as food or playthings. Weaklings that they could abuse or destroy whenever they wished.

I lost so many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren… Our bloodline, or more specifically, the nanites in our blood aren’t infinite. We eventually developed microscopes that were capable of examining them. Michael’s first generation was the strongest. We all lived to be well over 7000 years old. Even mortal wounds would heal eventually. 

Jane had her head cut off and destroyed, but her body was able to grow a new one given enough time and energy. I lost five hearts, seven livers and nine lungs, along with various other organs. These are just things that happen over the course of lives as long as ours. Especially when we had to fight so many times, in so many wars.

Not just against the demons and magical beasts obviously. Most conflicts were against orcs and even our own siblings. Timmy the Traitor, Katie the Conqueror, Lori the Lunatic… Yeah, it was fortunate that the later generations were weaker than us. It allowed our society to continue growing, even through various rebellions and betrayals.

The religion that Michael founded was instrumental in the conquest and unification of Orcheim. Although he gave us the name ‘Lorekeepers’, that belonged to our nation. Due to the nature of his absurd religion, I ended up naming it the “Church of Protagonism”. Also known as the “Cult of Michael” or “The Silver Goddess’ Disciples” though the “Church of Protagonism” ended up sticking around much longer than the others.

When you think about it though, everyone wants to be the protagonist of their own story. Especially with the tenets and laws that Michael created for us to follow. Along with all the hypocritical and self-serving lessons within his stories. The society he created was filled with anti-heros and semi-villains.

Our politicians hate politics. Our preachers hate religion. Our soldiers are all mercenaries who fight for themselves. We have no civil servants, because no one wants to be considered as slaves… Except for the crazy masochists in those weird bondage gangs.

If it wasn’t for me, Jane and the rest of Michael’s children holding everything together, there’s no way that the religion he built could have possibly worked. The foundation is set though. Even after I die… I know that everything will work out somehow.

Chapter 23: Immortality

Fuck, I can’t believe I have to physically write something in a book. Like, with a pen. Who even uses pens or pencils anymore? Shit, I fucking hate my job.

Whatever, this is Lorekeeper Five. The year is 11,760 I think? No, sorry, it’s 11,763… Sorry, I’ve been kind of outta it lately. I fucking hate being old.

I never really thought about death until recently. Even when I was on the battlefield with the past five generations of my family, watching my friends and siblings being eaten by demons or magical beasts… I never worried about it.

I’m too much of a badass after all. I always have been. They used to call me Ares the Immortal, because I’ve never even gotten seriously injured all that time. But now, now I can’t even get outta bed without feeling like I’m gonna croak.

Oh yeah, sorry, forgot that I could only take up a single page. I’m so used to writing big long rants on my blog. Ow, my fingers hurt so much lately.

I’m only 3703, but I’m already so weak and pathetic. Still, I guess I’m much better off than those normie orcs. Most of them barely make it to the triple digits.

Anyway, the main thing I wanna talk about is sex. There have always been a lot of contradictions in Michael’s teachings. On one hand, he said that there was a lot of pseudo-rape and vaguely consensual sex, while he also talked about crazy orgies and shit.

Adam was always a firm believer in monogamy and the Third Lorekeeper stayed a virgin her entire life. Sex is often seen as the pinnacle of spiritual and physical connection between people. I personally prefer killing over sex. Fighting against an enemy that you hate with all of your being and then finally ending their shitty life. That’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done. And I have done it a whole lotta times.

My contribution to the Lorekeepers and the Church of Protagonism is a mountain of corpses, a lake of blood and a fuckton of awesome gorey videos. Aside from that, I did have some kids, but they died. Whatever, I’m done.

Maybe in my next life I won’t suck at magic. That’d be nice. Those damn wizards, sorcerers, battle mages and druids are always showing off their powers lately.

I’m not sure exactly what causes someone to be good at magic to be honest. No one is… But the main theory has to do with souls, rather than the physical body. Like, the nanites definitely help. But without a powerful enough soul or maybe some kinda innate affinity, you’re basically screwed.

Well, that’s it for my page in this stupid ancient book that no one reads anymore. People only care about the shit that Michael wrote anyway. Who wants to read about his descendants?

***

Sigh~, what my cynical predecessor didn’t mention is that the real purpose of leaving behind these journal entries is to preserve history. Even in the event that our entire civilization gets wiped out for whatever reason, we need to always remember the past… In order to learn from it and achieve greater things in the future.

My name is Archmage Angela Cinagra, the seventh Lorekeeper. Although many are certain that Michael, Talia and Silvia are dead, I am still hopeful that they might return one day. I wonder what they would think when they saw the great and wonderful civilization that we have build upon the foundations that they created?

Orcheim is united and stronger than ever before. Ares pretended to be arrogant, yet he was always rather modest. His contributions to magical cultivation were what gave the rest of us the opportunities that we have today.

The exact year is 13,372. If you are reading this Michael, then it would be roughly 732 Earth years since you left us to go explore Chaos Valley. Every few years the temporal anomaly within that region recedes and mana grows thinner. 

A few people have attempted to enter over the ages, some of which returned after dozens or hundreds of years passed. So we do know that it is possible to survive in there and that the time within, is certainly different from the outside. Just as you had spoken about in your stories.

Uncle Ares was a lot nicer than he pretended to be. Far kinder than I ever was to him at least. After surpassing him in magical knowledge and cultivation, I became so engrossed in developing new magical technologies, that I wasn’t there for him when he needed me most. All of his direct descendants died young and most of his closest relatives had other priorities. In the end, he spent his last remaining years alone.

Unlike the Second and Fifth Lorekeepers, I am not dying from old age. No, my greatest achievement was reaching the Immortal Realm that Michael described and named. I am the first true Immortal of Orcheim. At least, as far as we know.

Three of my disciples ascended to the same realm of power as well. Along with three others, we make up the Council of Seven. The Protagonists responsible for ensuring that Orcheim remains safe from the constant threat of demonic legions and magical beast hordes. As Chaos Valley weakens, there are less and less incursions from the other two worlds.

Long ago, we used to believe that the three moons in the sky were far smaller than Orcheim. Mere moons that orbited our planet. However, after we began exploring space over a millennia ago, we realized that Michael was wrong. Not that he claimed to know how large those objects in the sky were…

Beastheim is what we decided to name the green planet. That is where most of those irritating magical beasts which used to plague Orcheim originated.

Demonica is the name that we chose for the crimson planet. A world where even the water looks like blood, while the land is covered in lava. Truly a terrible place from our perspective. Yet many monsters seem to thrive there.

Our true moon is called Aquarius, a small planetoid covered by water. The atmosphere is unbreathable, but under the water, we’ve been building cities there for quite a while now. After I achieved Immortality, I started devoting all of my time and effort towards safeguarding the creation the Orcheim Aegis.

It is essentially a massive network of artificial satellites and space stations, most of which are automated, but some are manned by small crews. The goal is to secure the space around our world, to prevent any sudden incursion from outside forces.

Although the best defense is often offense, it’s much more difficult to build a fleet of ships or weapons capable of dealing with some of those creatures. Even the Council of Seven was nearly exterminated the last time we made an assault on one of those worlds. That gateway we built back then ended up leading to a massive invasion on Orcheim, the likes of which we had never before experienced.

There were even several Immortals among the ranks of demons that came through the portal we made. Then those magical beasts started invading in order to destroy the demons and we were caught in the middle of their scuffle.

We do know that they’re sentient. We don’t know much else about their cultures or the reason why they slaughter each other… Aside from the magical affinities that they possess. The demons are Chaotic, while the magical beasts are Natural.

That isn’t to say that Chaos and Nature magic are inherently destructive or bad. In fact, much of our biological technology is based on both of those magical elements. The medicines that we created using Nature and Chaos mana are what made it possible for even ordinary orcs, those without Michael’s nanites, to live for thousands of years.

Chaos and Nature are also how we unlocked the limits of our original genome. The Ogres and Colossi that make up our greatest warriors, would not even exist if we had been foolish enough to reject Chaos mana. While the bestial transformations that Druids often utilize, would have never existed if we decided to outlaw Nature magic.

It is fortunate that the Rules of Protagonism dictate that we should not worry about such trifling concerns. All that matters is progress, freedom and happiness. When the first Mana-Drive exploded and killed thousands of people, we didn’t stop our research. 

When the first teleportation array malfunctioned and fused Raul, Samson and Toralia into a single body, they didn’t stop their research. In fact, recently, many people willingly fuse their minds and bodies in order to raise their overall intellectual capacity or physical power. If not for the advent of Hydraism, Kovalia never would have been created. The seven-headed ogre who invented full-immersion Virtual Reality.

Now, we can perform experiments and tests without risking our lives… Also, I might be slightly addicted to the VRMMORPG: Talia’s Pets. It’s pretty old now, but millions of people still play it. It’s a game where you tame wild beasts and mythical creatures, then use them as either mounts or make them fight for you. The Virtual Reality equipment is so advanced now days that you can actually hook up your ‘real’ pets, and bring them into the virtual world with you to play games.

In reality I might only be 4,298 years old, but over the past millennia, I’ve probably experienced over 9,000 years within various virtual worlds. It truly is a remarkable advancement in technology. Consciousness transference is also possible now because of it. Essentially granting anyone who can afford it, a type of pseudo-immortality. Living as a virtual entity for as long as their program and/or hardware can stay intact.

Why would a high and mighty Immortal such as myself be willing to waste my time and energy on video games? It’s the same reason why everyone else plays them. They’re fun. It’s that simple. They’re a form of enjoyment and relaxation for me. I miss being able to fight on the frontlines as well. The thrill of battle is something that can only be felt in a virtual world these past centuries. I have too many responsibilities, too much to lose if I were to die now.

Michael, if you do end up reading this, I wish to thank you. Truly, thank you for coming to our world and granting us the power to reclaim it for ourselves. Even if our entire civilization is destroyed or if we have simply abandoned this world by the time you return from Chaos Valley… Know that your descendants lived long and fulfilling lives.

This is the last page of the Divine Diary. Hopefully when you appear once again, we will be able to help you achieve your wish of breaking through the Chaotic Void and traveling to other foreign worlds.

I love you, good luck and I hope you don’t get raped and-or murdered. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.

Chapter 24: Rule-34

Observation Log: 153453

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

“Holy fucking shitballs…”

“Daddy… What are Orcheim and Earth years like? How many days is that?”

We discovered the journal that Sariel gave Michael, resting near the edge of the blackened southern region of Chaos Valley. It was placed within a transparent and extremely durable container. Michael and Talia attempted to open it through brute force for several minutes, before I was able open it through a combination of hacking, inserting Arcane mana into the rectangular casing and then dropping a bit of Michael’s blood onto the surface.

The three of us stayed in that spot for a while and read the contents that had been written after our departure. There was also the seemingly simple silver pen, along with a small cubic data-storage device. The ‘computer’ was so small that Michael and Talia did not notice it until I pointed to it with my horn.

When Michael picked it up with his left thumb and index finger, he yelled “Ow! God damn it!” The mechanical technology seems to be able to to integrate with biology… Essentially, this is a type of Nanite Core.

“Daddy, are you okay?” 

Talia grabbed his wrist and looked at where the silverish object vanished into his hand. Suddenly his palm began glowing brightly and then millions of nanites were released from his pores. They hovered in the air and turned pitch-black, creating a seemingly two-dimensional screen. It was roughly 30 centimeters in height and 40 centimeters in width.

Michael muttered “Sweet… I fucking love technology.”

His daughter jumped away in shock at first, but then came closer again in order to see what was happening. She murmured “What is this magic? How did you do it?”

He complained “How the fuck would I know? It just happened automatically. Probably some kinda message left behind by whoever left my journal here for us to find.”

A golden Ankh symbol showed up on the screen, which. Beneath that appeared the words “Lorekeeper 137: Old but Gold.”

Then the screen changed to a majestic silver unicorn charging through an army of twisted crimson demonic orcs. Accompanied by a soft feminine voice whispering “Powered by Silvia Graphics… Break through your limits.”

After that was a gigantic green pyramid in the middle of an orange desert, with the blazing sun rising behind it. Followed by a string of strange characters that appear to be emojis… Smiley-face, thumbs up, dog barking, cat meowing, tiger stretching… The image changed again.

“Okay, how the hell do I skip this shit?” Michael tapped on the screen a few times with his other hand and tried yelling “Skip! Escape! Fuck!”

However, it did not respond to his commands. The next video that appeared was of a young green-skinned Orcish girl, holding a bow made from bones and standing next to a huge fierce black-furred wolf. She pointed towards a white tiger in the distance and shouted “Jojo! Go fuck em up!” Then the beast sprinted over and started battling with the feline.

Blood and fur flew through the air, as the camera panned upwards and displayed “Talia’s Pets Unlimited” in large English characters. Then the screen turned black and for a few seconds, there was a whole page of disclaimers written in white letters.

Michael muttered “Rated F for Fucked. This game includes strong violence, gore, nudity, sexual content and bestiality. What the fucking fuck?”

Talia asked “Daddy, isn’t bestiality when a person has sex with a doggie?”

He complained “No, not just dogs but basically any kinda non-human animal… Although, I guess from the perspective of normal humans, having sex with an orc might seem like bestiality too. Figures that a game created by my descendants would have bestiality as one of the main features.”

Then the screen changed to what looked like a desktop background, with many different icons already set up. The background was a slideshow of pictures of a charming and surprisingly lithe green-skinned woman, who had small tusks, silverish hair, bright-blue irises and long elf-like ears. She appeared with many different orcs of various shades and ages. Her outfits ranged from heavy silver armor, to light robes and there were even a few where she was completely nude. Posing next to a giant silver lion.

Michael smirked, “It seems like they’ve inherited my taste in clothing at least, hehehe~…”

At the upper left hand corner was a trash bin, below that was a golden Ankh with the words “Lorekeeper Explorer” underneath it, then “Talia’s Pet Sanctuary”, “Talia’s Pets Unlimited”, “Talia’s Pets Alpha”, “Talia’s Pets Beta”, “Talia’s Pets Original”, “Talia’s Pets 5: Virtual”, “Talia’s Pet’s 9: Virtual X”, “Talia’s Pets Vintage”, “Talia’s Pets Hardcore: Virtual”…

Nearly all of the icons were just different iterations of the game “Talia’s Pets”. Then there was a folder filled with various documents, a folder filled with pornographic images, a folder filled with pornographic videos, a folder filled with novels… Almost the entire left half of the screen was filled with small icons, which were very slightly spaced out, while the right side was empty.

At the bottom there was a black bar, with several icons on the left and right corners. Talia asked “Why is my name written so many times? And why is there a picture of me having sex with Silvia?!”

“Ah, that’s just CGI… Really impressive CGI. Don’t you know Rule: 34? Maybe I never taught you that one. But basically, if it exists, there’s gonna be porn of it. I’m not even slightly surprised to find pictures and videos of the three of us fucking. What does bother me though, is that they made a goddamn musical about it?!”

As soon as he accessed Lorekeeper Explorer, the first thing he did was search “Michael, Talia and Silvia”… The very first result was a pornsite entirely devoted to the three of us. What I find incredible is their ability to replicate our appearances so well, even though they should have never actually seen any of us in person.

“Figures! Remember that time you stabbed me in the face when we first entered Chaos Valley?” Michael turned to his daughter and asked. When she nodded her head, he explained “There was also that time when you lost your pinky toe. Well, while thousands of years passed on the outside, our flesh and blood remained preserved within Chaos Valley. When they eventually sent in people to explore the outskirts, they managed to find and recover those pieces of us. Then they took them back and grew them into clones of us. They were basically mindless idiots on the level of horney monkeys who only cared about sex, food, sleeping and shitting. On the other hand, a few of my kids were really awesome painters and sculptors, so there were tons of really accurate renditions of Silvia.”

“Wait, Daddy, are you telling me that they actually kept us around and…” Before she could finish speaking, he tapped on a video of the two of them having sex within a large glass cage, in what appears to be a laboratory of some sort.

He sighed, “To be completely honest, I have a hard time feeling sorry for our clones. It’s not like they were trapped in hellish nightmares for what seemed like years… They seem to have been treated pretty well. I mean, they were still kept in cages like zoo animals, but that’s not so bad either. At the very least, they never had to struggle to survive or face any sort of stress. Hmmm, they were sterile and only lived for a hundred Orcheim years… Which are apparently 71.5 days. So… Oh hey, a calculator! Oh my God, I’ve missed having a computer so much… You have no idea… Okay, they lived for 2100 days-ish. Er, Earth days, which are twenty-four hours each and you have no idea what I’m even talking about because I never bothered to teach you any of that shit.”

Chapter 25: Michael’s Biggest Fan

Michael, if you’re reading this, it means that you’re alive… Obviously, but it also means that you were able to use my old computer. Depending on how many millennia it’s been, I might still be alive. If I am, then I was just notified about you and I’m probably sleeping, in a game or busy with something else. Otherwise I would’ve already sent you a message, holochat, videochat or telechat by now.

I’m obviously a huge fan of yours. Like, maybe the biggest fan on the planet. My name is Angela Cinagra… I usually go by Archmage or Seventh Lorekeeper, but for you, I’d love it if you just called me Angel or Angela.

Since you probably read the Divine Diary first, you should already have a bit of an idea who I am and what happened after you disappeared. Also, umm, I’m sorry if all the porn and nude pictures of me offended you. It’s just that I figured you would actually enjoy them. At least if you’re anything like the way you were described in the ancient texts.

“Lorekeeper 137: Old but Gold” is actually a throwback to the computers from a thousand years ago. For me though, as an old-timer myself, I prefer that style over the newest technologies. Not that I can ever keep track of what’s considered ‘new’. It kind of feels like we hit a barrier at some point. There’s only so ‘high tech’ you can get, before people start reverting back to older forms of technology due to the lack of imagination.

It’s funny that even after all these millennia, your nanites are still one of the most advanced technologies out there. We eventually figured out how they worked and replicated them, then improved upon them in various ways. But there’s always a limit to everything.

There was also a danger in the way that your “Rapture-727” nanites functioned. Once we broke down the codes and programming, we were able to find out all sorts of information about the Observers and Cythereans, especially Earth and humanity. There are entire schools dedicated to the research and study of Michael’s history, before he came to Orcheim. You might be amazed at what kind of secrets we uncovered that were hidden within your very DNA.

Whatever, I’m sure you probably don’t care about that kind of stuff. For all I know, you might be starving and dying right now, while I’m rambling on about pointless nonsense!

Okay, Lorekeeper Explorer will take you to a search engine where you can type in anything you want to know about yourself. There should also be a compass near the bottom right corner, if you want to go super old-school. But if not, then just click on ‘Maps’ at the top of the search engine and you should see exactly where you are right now.

From there, you can go south to Lorekeeper Village. Even though it’s technically the northern suburbs of Lorekeeper City now, you’ll probably still be amazed at how different everything is from back when you left.

If something happened to me, or if I don’t respond within an hour of receiving the notification, the Wardens of Michael should appear almost immediately. Then there’s the Paparazzi and Michael Watchers… The Disciples of Talia and the Cult of Silvia are also pretty fanatical about awaiting your return.

Actually, Chaos Valley is constantly under surveillance by dozens if not hundreds of different large-scale organizations who are either waiting for you to return, or simply monitoring the recession of the temporal distortion. They should have already started swarming you by now.

If not, then maybe something is happening at the moment… Those annoying demons and magical beasts might have invaded again. I could be dead, who knows?

***

Observation Log: 153454

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

As we were reading the message left behind by Archmage Angela Cinagra, I was already doing my best to utilize the Arcane Orb to shield us from any unwanted attention. I created a cloaking field around us, but there was only so much that I could do against technologies and magical abilities that were far greater than my own.

The moment that the Arcane barrier surrounded us, the space outside suddenly distorted and warped. When the spacial disturbance ended, we were in a large silver chamber. I did not let down the shield, because we were surrounded by male and female orcs. Their appearances varied drastically compared to the ones we originally found on Orcheim. 

Some had brown, black, red, yellow, purple, pink, silver, gold or blue skin, but the majority of them were shades of green. Some were wearing armor so thick that I believed them to be robotic at first, while others were completely nude or wearing bikinis. A few of them were visibly unarmed, while others held rifles that were the size of cannons. Many of them had colorful and flashy swords, shields, daggers, bows and other seemingly archaic weapons, while others possessed simple revolvers or light machine guns. There were also weapons and technologies that I did not recognize at all. They were far more advanced than anything that the Cythereans possessed.

No, they were not all orcs either. There were quite a few drones like myself, though in varying forms. Along with some men and women who possessed fur, feathers or other distinctive traits that made them appear similar to other ‘races’ or beasts. Although they were all speaking to us and to each other, only light could pass through the barrier, not sound.

“Oh my God! That’s her! Look, that woman at the front is Archmage Angela whatever!”

After Michael shouted, Talia yelled “Cinagra! Angela Cinagra! Daddy, it’s your name, how could you forget it?!”

Archmage Angela Cinagra the Seventh Lorekeeper is approximately 210 centimeters tall. She lacks the brawny muscles of her ancestors, but her height still makes Michael seem extremely small in comparison. As she walked up to the Arcane barrier produced by the Arcane Orb, she wore a puzzled expression. Even after she placed her hand upon it, there was no response.

The loose white robes she wore barely covered her massive breasts and exposed her rippling abdominal muscles, stopping right above her groin. The robe continued to dangle down, covering her genitals, but her legs were both visible. As she turned around and waved at the crowd, they all dispersed out of the room through various metallic doors that opened up along the walls.

Michael stared at her partially exposed buttocks and complemented “I’m really liking the way that fashion developed so far.”

As Talia noticed his erection, she grumbled “Daddy, you know that she’s related to you right? I thought you said that incest was bad…”

He retorted “Oh come on! It’s been like thousands of years. Besides that, we don’t know each other and we aren’t directly related… Even if we were, it’s only a problem if two close relatives have babies together. Otherwise, as long as it’s consensual…”

Once the four of us were alone in the brightly lit room, I let down the barrier that was protecting us. Angela immediately teleported in front of Michael and knelt down. Of course, given her massive height, she was still almost at eye-level with him. Then she said “I can’t believe it’s really you… I prepared a whole long speech and everything but, but I can’t even remember what I wanted to say anymore! It’s been so long… First Lorekeeper, my name is Angela Cinagra and I’m your biggest fan!”

Her long silver hair was nearly touching the floor, as she asked “Is there anything you need? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you want a mana infusion? Ah, I can give you a much better computer than that old piece of garbage! Oh, we’ve made a lot of improvements in nanotechnology, cybernetics and magical integration… Ah, I see, you’re too aroused to think of anything else and wish to release your carnal desires on me!”

Michael sighed and then walked past her, “Umm, do you guys have iced tea? With fruit juice and uh, I’m really starving for basically anything. None of us have eaten in who the hell knows how long…” 

She quickly stood up and followed after him, as Michael walked towards the biggest and most obvious door in the whole room. Talia followed along behind Angela, secretly casting glances at the back of her thighs. I walked slowly behind the others, carefully observing my surroundings as much as possible.

Although my original body was floating nearby, it always stayed within a certain distance of Warsteed. Maintaining its cloak, but aided by magic and the Arcane Orb. Otherwise there would be no way for it to remain hidden from a being as powerful as the ‘Immortal’ Archmage.

“I’ve noticed the gravity seems kinda lower than I remember… Are we on Orcheim?” As Michael was speaking, we entered a very spacious hallway filled with people walking around. However, rather than being silver and plain like the other room, the walls were transparent and glasslike… Beyond that seemingly thin barrier was a lake or ocean of water.

Angela giggled, then immediately answered “This is the Great Cathedral of Aquarius… Also known as the Grand Pyramid Nexus. It’s a waystation that people can use to go almost anywhere on Orcheim or around Orcheim, whenever they want. Sorry about taking so long to teleport you here… The only catch is that there needs to be a clear view from Aquarius to Orcheim, otherwise the mana-cost would be way~ higher and people might be lost in transmission too…”

“Woah~! Fishies! Daddy, we’re underwater! And on the Blue Moon! This is amazing!” Talia was obviously very impressed. I however, was not too surprised. Cythereans had developed similar technologies, even without the use of mana, to colonize the depths of the ocean and across the entire Solar System… If not for their internal conflicts, they would not have been exterminated so easily at the end.

I noticed that most of the people in the hallway were gathered together in small groups or standing by themselves and waiting. Some were walking past us without even sparing a glance. Considering that we were supposed to be rather famous, I felt it odd… Then I noticed a group of people standing near the glass wall to our right. 

One of them appeared almost exactly the same as Michael, while the other looked like Talia and a third was a large orcish green-skinned man who said “Holy shit, guys! Chaos Valley just disappeared! I just saw a video of Michael, Talia and Silvia standing next to each other on the edge of Chaos Valley, coming out of it!”

The man who looked like Michael scoffed, “Bullshit! They say that every year! Send me a link, so I can share it with a bunch of my other stupid friends who believe that crazy nonsense.”

Then the girl complained “Look at those assholes! Damn it! Now that Founder’s Day is coming up, everybody’s dressing up like us! It pisses me off! It makes us clones totally irrelevant!”

Pseudo-Michael snickered, “You always whine about not being original or special, but what’s the fucking point? You can never really tell who’s who anymore no matter what. People always have at least two or three false accounts to hide their identity. And when people try to say that they’re really who they say they are, nobody believes them anyway. Too many shapeshifters, illusionists and biohackers. Also Fake News. Seriously, all news has always been fake, but when it comes to Michael, Talia and Silvia, it’s even worse. Look at all the goddamn stupidass news reports about this Chaos Valley thing now! Half of them are just saying that the other half are fake! Without actually giving any real, useful information. That’s why you should avoid bothering with the news Jake. It’s just a waste of time and energy.”

The orcish man, Jake, frowned… Then asked “Mike, don’t you run a News Site though?”

Pseudo-Michael yelled “That’s beside the fucking point! Anyway, let’s go use the Porter before some other douchebags start hogging the place!”

Chapter 26: Aquarius

Observation Log: 153455

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

After briskly walking down a 1.2 kilometer hallway, we reached an elevator, which took us downwards. The ocean of Aquarius is roughly 12 kilometers from the surface to the deepest depths. The Great Cathedral is actually shaped like a massive saucer, with dozens of large pyramids on the upper surface. These pyramids contain the teleportation arrays and other mechanisms required for transporting great distances nearly instantaneously.

The disk is a submersible vessel that can move across the entire moon, in order to aim at the targets it needs to teleport passengers or objects towards their destinations. It uses a staggering amount of mana, but fortunately, Aquarius is not Orcheim. This moon produces incredible amounts of Water mana, constantly

Having access to the internet again is extremely gratifying. It is far more efficient to simply scour for answers myself, than being forced to discover them on my own or attempt to ask…

Wait, I just realized that I can speak now… I am unsure of how this makes me feel though. It has been so long since the last time I actually talked to anyone after all. Also, how would our relationship change if Talia and Michael could verbally or telepathically communicate with me?

It is the same reason that I never attempted to alter Warsteed’s vocal cords or learn how to utilize magic to communicate verbally. Although it is possible, once I do this, I can never go back. From now onward, I will be expected to ‘talk’ with the two of them on a regular basis.

“Wow, this is pretty fucking fancy…”

“Amazing! How did they build this place?!” 

When the elevator reached our destination, we were within an enormous suite. There were dozens of strange glowing lizards and serpents floating around in the air, illuminating the room. While the wall to our left was transparent and allowed us to see the various aquatic lifeforms that roamed nearby.

There was also a blazing orb floating at the very center of the room, close to the extremely high ceiling. It was not only emitting visible light, but also Fire mana and various other forms of solar radiation. There was an Arcane barrier preventing too much of the heat and radiation from escaping. It also drastically slowed down the rate of decomposure of the miniature star. Otherwise it likely would have burned itself out within moments.

As soon as we entered the room, a huge golden fennec fox scrambled across the crimson carpet and pounced into Angela’s arms. It barked and whined, while waving its seven fluffy tails around, smacking Michael in the face a few times.

“Aw~! Don’t worry Inari~, Mama’s home~! You’re such a cute little floofy fox~! Who’s my floofy girl? Who’s my floofy doge~? Good girl~! Aw~, you missed your Mama’s rubs, right? Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere~!” After putting the adorable animal down, the Archmage’s green cheeks had a light-red blush, as she cleared her throat and explained “I found Inari on Beastheim during the Grand Crusade of 14,129… More than a thousand years ago. She’s grown a lot since then. But she’s basically my only companion now days…”

Michael snickered, “I don’t see why you’re acting embarrassed. Doesn’t everybody get like that with their pets?”

Talia nodded her head, but then asked “What about those lizards and snakes up there then? Aren’t they your pets too?”

Angela stared blankly for a few seconds, then chuckled and said “No way~, those are just decorative holographic ornaments. They do have mana-cores and can somewhat be considered elemental spirits I guess, but all they do is just float around up there. I’ve tried keeping other pets, but Inari would always eat them all. Besides, you saw my old computer desktop right? Who needs real pets that you have to worry about in reality, when you can just play with fake ones in a virtual reality? It’s way too much work to take care of regular animals. They wouldn’t even be able to survive in such a low-gravity environment if I took them from Orcheim. The genetically modified animals are sentient and considered people now days, so that’s illegal. Magical Beasts and Demons can be powerful enough to survive here and many of them aren’t sentient, but they’re extremely dangerous. It’s hard to tell if they’re really just animals or actually spies…”

“Okay, okay~, we get it! Wait, why are you on the moon anyway? You’re one of the Council of Seven Immortals or whatever, right? Shouldn’t you have a giant mansion on Orcheim or maybe your own awesome spaceship? Why are you slumming it in this shitty apartment?” Michael looked around at the enormous suite in disdain. There were dozens of rooms and all of them were large enough for Warsteed, along with the rest of us to fit in, so I do not understand how he could consider this insufficient.

“Daddy, why do you always have to be so negative?! What’s wrong with this place? It’s a thousand times better than that crappy house you build in Lorekeeper Village, which took you forever to make!” Talia complained as she walked around in her ragged, worn-out fur clothing, which was on the brink of collapse. Although the two of them were extremely filthy, I was actually able to remain completely clean throughout the whole journey, due to my nanites eliminating any unwanted particles on a cyclical basis. Still, it would be nice if we could wash ourselves off. My body is extremely low in water content at the moment.

“Umm, well… The Council of Seven was disbanded after the Crusade ended and most of us were dead. We did win. But it was a pyrrhic victory. We slaughtered all of the other Immortals on Beastheim and Demonica, then threatened to destroy both of their worlds if they ever encroached on our territory again. We have weapons now that can kill Immortals… Ships that are dozens of times better than the relics I used to own. And I spend most of my time in VR, so I just sold all my properties except this one. This ‘little’ apartment is worth more than a giant mansion on Orcheim. I always stay here though, because the Grand Cathedral of Aquarius has the best internet in the whole solar system! Oh, and I can’t survive on Orcheim because the mana-density is too low. I can also take a hunting trip over to Beastheim or Demonica whenever I want, so it’s pretty nice here overall.”

Michael started laughing hysterically, then sighed and said “Well, that’s probably for the best. To be honest, I was kinda expecting that the moment we came back, we’d be forced into some kinda interplanetary war. Not that I don’t enjoy a good battle or two every now and then, but we’ve all been through a lot in Chaos Valley. Aside from that, I’d totally fuck you right now, if there wasn’t a Spark of Chaos inside of my body at the moment… Not saying that you would die, just that I don’t wanna take any chances with the life of my ‘Biggest Fan’, ya know?”

Talia interjected “Is there anywhere for us to take a bath here Angela? I feel disgusting… I’m also starving and dehydrated. We’re all filthy and covered in injuries too. We can talk while we bathe together.”

Angela grinned and then pulled Talia by the wrist, as she guided us to a huge cubic silver room. Once we entered inside, dozens of water jets started spraying us from every direction. However, they strangely avoided our eyes, ears and nostrils, as if the water was being guided to areas that needed more attention. There was also a decent amount of soap, mixed with nanites.

“Holy fuck! I didn’t think I’d ever get to have a shower again! And this is the best shower I’ve ever had in my entire life!”

“Agh~! What is this?! Aghuhua~!”

Michael was enjoying himself, while Talia was attempting to fight against the water while nearly drowning. Her ragged clothing was disassembled and disintegrated by the nanites, along with all the dirt and grime that covered her body.

Angela’s garments transformed into Light mana for a moment, then coalesced into a white Ankh-shaped tattoo on her sternum. After approximately 38 seconds of being thoroughly washed off, the water stopped spraying at us and started swirling around our legs as it drained downwards. Then a door opened up in front of us.

Talia was coughing and choking while on her hands and knees, while Michael complained “Wait, is that it? I need at least another five minutes…”

The Archmage giggled, then telekinetically lifted the two of them off the ground and brought them through the hallway. It was essentially a rectangular glass-like tube which allowed us to see the colorful marine life that was swimming around outside of the submarine. When we reached the end of the hallway, there was a massive heated pool. The quality and density of the Water mana was astounding as well.

Although horses are not well known for being able to swim particularly well, I am not a mere horse. If necessary, it would be possible for me to create temporary fins out of mana in order to propel myself forward more effectively. However, since it is not required, I will refrain from wasting my energy.

Chapter 27: Virtual Reality

Observation Log: 153456

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

“So basically, the source of Chaos Valley was this gross little blob of Hell I like to call a ‘Spark of Chaos’. It’s a fucking tiny fragment of an Avatar of Chaotica from who knows how long ago…”

“Such an incredible amount of mana, condensed into such a small organism… No wonder the temporal distortions were so strong within Chaos Valley. Even in the Heart of Demonica, where the five Immortal Demon Dragons used to reside, spacetime was still pretty stable. It’s amazing that you were able to conquer such a powerful monstrosity when you’re barely even a mid-stage Mortal. This must be a result of your ‘Soul’ or willpower…”

Talia was splashing around on the farthest end of the pool with Inari, while Michael and Angela were sitting by the stairs in the shallow area. I simply laid down by the side of the pool and rested my tired body. My original form did not feel tiredness however. So long I have enough energy, it would feel as if I was totally functional. Although daily shutdowns and restarts are still preferable to staying operational for more than 24 hours per session.

Michael had managed to force the Spark of Chaos out of his right palm and it coalesced into the shape of an amorphous purple blob. As he was playing with it in his hands, it suddenly transformed into the shape of a pulsating human heart, then a squirming tentacle and finally settled what appears to be a…

“Yeah, she’s basically just a magical pocket pussy. Well, I guess she’s a pocket mouth and tentacle dildo thingy too.” He inserted his index finger into the throbbing hole of the tubular creature and a thick crimson liquid sprayed out onto his arm, some of it leaking into the water.

“Neat…” Angela reached out and tried to touch the Spark of Chaos, but an arc of red lightning jumped off and struck her hand. There was only a soft ‘zap’ noise, then the veins on her entire arm turned pitch-black and exploded.

After a few seconds, the damaged tissue swiftly regenerated and it appeared as if she had never been injured in the first place. Yet the blood and gore were still floating around in the pool, along with various other colorful liquids that were oozing from the ‘entrance’ of that quivering orifice which Michael was playing with.

He asked “Are you okay? See, this is why I said you probably couldn’t fuck me without dying.”

Angela smirked, “This is the first time anything has been able to injure me in ages… Still, I would rather not die…” Then she whispered “What if we just ‘telepathically linked’ for a while?”

“Nah, that’d probably be even more dangerous.” Michael sighed, complaining “Do you have any idea how many times I was raped and tortured by this little piece of shit while I was trying to find it? Honestly, I’ve already forgotten, but it was a lot. It ain’t your normal rape or torture either. More like, she’ll trick you into believing that she’s your daughter, mother, father, son, dog, cat, tree, goldfish… Basically anything. Even a bed or other inanimate objects.”

She interjected “We don’t need to do it in our minds through magical means. If we use VR…” Then she sent a message to the nanite core in his left hand, which I intercepted, “Would you feel weird if I was Michael and ravaged you as a younger version of myself in VR? It’s a game called Reverse Rape…”

“Pft, hahahaha~! Like right here? Show me how to do this VR thing…” After he said that, the two of them just stared blankly at each other for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the slimy Spark of Chaos wriggled out of Michael’s hands and started ‘attacking’ his erection.

“Ah~! I always wanted to do that! Thank you so much! I love you~!” Angela suddenly lunged forward and hugged Michael’s face into her chest, while carefully avoiding contact with the Spark of Chaos.

He chuckled and hugged her back, saying “You’re welcome, hehehe~… Damn, VR is wild. How long were we playing that weird-ass game for anyway? It’s not bestiality if you’re both horses, right?”

“Oh, we stopped caring about things like that a long time ago. The Second Lorekeeper was pretty strict about the dangers of bestiality and creating entirely new sentient races or catching/spreading diseases… But the Fourth Lorekeeper and Matriarch decided to legalize it. Hmmm, there were a few problems and eventually it was generally frowned upon to have sex with random animals that weren’t even slightly humanoid. In VR though, none of that matters. You can have sex with dogs and you won’t even have Wolfkin Puppies or catch Lycanthropic AIDS. Immortals are sterile and practically impervious to almost all Mortal diseases though, so it’s not really something I need to worry about.”

“Rofl,” Michael snickered, then furrowed his brows and complained “I can’t believe I just said Rofl. What the fuck is wrong with me? Wait, do you guys know what Rofl means or did I not-”

“Rolling on the floor laughing? Yeah, it’s a throwback to the Ancient Meme Era…” Angela frowned, “I’m surprised that you would know about that though. Was there a Great Meme War on Earth too?”

“Ah, yeah kinda. Except the world ended before the ‘Meme War’ could escalate into an actual war.”

***

Observation Log: 153457

Silvia the Arcane Observer, reporting on our situation.

Biological, mechanical and magical technologies are abundant in this strange future we put into motion. It is difficult to accept but… I have become obsolete. We all have.

Everyone tries so hard to be ‘special’ or ‘unique’. To show off their skills and talents to others. Because of Michael’s teachings, this society has developed into one where even if you are one of the only three known Immortals, almost no one will treat you with reverence. Even if you are the richest or one of the richest people on Orcheim, there will always be hundreds of others who are richer on Aquarius.

If you achieve greatness in reality, you will likely be left behind in Virtual Reality or other video games. If you focus entirely on Virtual Reality, you start to appreciate reality more. No one is ever satisfied or content. Though it may sound harsh, this is also the reason why this civilization was able to advance so rapidly and continue progressing even now.

Aside from the nearest planets, Demonica and Beastheim, which are inhabited. There are 19 other worlds in this solar system. Some of which are gas giants, each having many large moons. Although the distances are great, they already set up many transportation arrays and relays across the Silvia System. Yes, they named their star after me.

I have been scouring their internet quite often lately in order to gather information that would be useful to us… One thing that stood out was that they do not possess governmental or military forces in the same way as Earth did. Because of Michael’s teachings and their desire to emulate him, they tend to avoid large groups. They also disdain politicians and politics.

In order for you to have followers, you need to be a celebrity in the entertainment industry, a famous gamer or a powerful warrior. Not necessarily a ‘Warrior’, but you must possess exceptional battle prowess if you wish to lead others into battle. Typically the true leaders of the military are the strategists, who often do not possess much charisma or personal strength.

On Earth, various military and governmental powers possessed all of the most advanced technologies. Even after several decades, it was still impossible for normal civilians to purchase combat helicopters or warships, while it was extremely difficult to gain access to tanks as well. Personal firearms such as automatic assault rifles were extremely difficult to acquire, even in countries that had amendments written in their constitutions which were meant to protect them from their own governments.

Yet on Orcheim and throughout all the space stations and colonies that were controlled by Michael’s descendants, it was exceedingly easy to purchase a ship. Obviously the more powerful ones were much more expensive than the outdated ‘ancient relics’, but even the vessels from thousands of Orcheim years ago were more powerful than anything the Cythereans had in their arsenal.

In fact, many of their older designs were based on schematics that they found within the Rapture-727 nanites. They even named many of the models after the vessels that they were inspired by, for example: Observer 39, Wyvern, an interplanetary vessel. One of the most ancient ships that the Cythereans possessed, potentially predating the First Migration.

Like its name suggests, the Wyvern is a vessel that is shaped like the draconic creatures that Michael and Talia used to raise as pets. The original version was very small, relatively ‘slow’ and was outdated even to the Cythereans. However, there have been many newer versions and different renditions throughout the past few thousand Orcheim years.

Eventually, there were so many different designs that they began calling them ‘Dragon Class Starships’. Essentially in the shape of enormous reptiles. With enough credits it is also possible to purchase custom-made ships that you design yourself. Thus, the number of different ‘styles’ and ‘types’ of vessels make it very difficult to choose one.

Their technology is incredibly advanced, but there are still things that they cannot do. For example, entering and exiting the Chaotic Void in order to travel great distances freely. It is possible for them to utilize Waypoints, like this Great Cathedral of Aquarius and they do understand the principles behind Chaotic Void travel… However, it would require an incredibly powerful item such as the Arcane Orb, in order to effectively calculate where and when we would arrive. The Spark of Chaos is our power source, which would allow us to travel for extended periods of time within the void, while the Arcane Orb can act as both a shield and navigation control.

We ultimately need a vessel though. A ship with a Mana-Drive capable of ‘pulling’ or ‘pushing’ us through the void. After all, we cannot rely on rockets or wind. In fact, even trying to use electromagnetism or gravity to travel would be impossible under those circumstances.

The real question however, is what our true purpose will be? What do we wish to accomplish? Assuming that we are still being guided by Sariel, then where does she want us to go? How long do we have before the flames of chaos and war are once more upon us?

Chapter 28: The Ballad of Chaotica

I’m back to writing again. It’s been quite a while since the last time I wrote anything down, so I’ll start off with a ‘song’. Based on my relationship with the evil demonic parasite that’s slowly stripping away what little sanity I have left. Enjoy!

***

It’s 3:00 Am and I close my eyes~, it’s about damn time I went to sleep.

My mind keeps wandering, forcing me to think. About the life I gotta keep.

“Michael, do you hear me?” She calls my name.

“Michael, do you fear me?” She asks again.

“Michael, why won’t you let me in?” Her voice is so alluring~

“Michael, why won’t you let me sin?” Her words are so annoying~

“Just let your guard down~”, but then I’d die.

“Just lay your head down~”, please don’t say goodbye~

“Goodnight, sleep tight~, I’m gonna rape your soul tonight~!”

Oh Goddamnit…

“Goodnight~, sleep tight~, I’m gonna make you wish you could die!”

Hahahaha~! That’s where you’re wrong~!

I’m the monster here! I’m the one ‘you’ fear! I’m the demon~, in disguise~! I’m the angel~, you despise~!

“I love you~!”

You’re a fucking cunt~!

“Daddy, I love you~!”

And a little blunt~!

“I hate you~!”

But I love you anyway~!

“I’m gonna rape you~!”

You know you can’t do that baby~!

“I’m the Devil! You’re a Mortal! A weak, pathetic soul!”

You’re a childish~, little brat who~, does whatever she’s told~!

***

Fuck it, I’ll write the rest later. Lost my inspiration, ya know? Besides, I’ve got a ton of important shit to talk about.

First of all, it’s been like fifteen thousand Orcheim years. Which is equivalent to like over eight-hundred Earth years. I guess it’s a long time in a sense, but also pretty short if you consider that they went from the Stone Age to the Age of Space Exploration in under a thousand years. It’s also entirely possible that my math is totally wrong. Nope, used a calculator and it’s about eight-hundred and fifty-seven Earth years.

To be completely honest, Talia and I ain’t even sure that we ever left Chaos Valley. I wanna say that things went way too smoothly, but then I realized that I was tortured and raped more times than I can remember. While Talia is probably scarred for the rest of her life and it might take her hundreds of years to get over the trauma from what she experienced in there.

I know I said that I was unrapeable, but I was wrong. There are definitely things that no matter how much I try, I’ll just never be able to ‘get used to’… I’ll save you the gory details and tell you that I have a phobia of vomiting, public bathrooms, scat porn and dying from the Black Plague. I also don’t enjoy having parasites in my eyes, ears, or any other part of my face really.

It was almost impossible to break free of Chaotica’s power once I got closer to the Spark of Chaos. But then, somewhere deep within my mind or soul, something broke. I managed to free myself from the shackles weighing me down by severing my lust and rage, entering a state of tranquility or some such bullshit.

In that moment of clarity, I realized that I was alone. Silvia and Talia weren’t having sex with each other in front of me. I wasn’t drowning in a lake of unicorn semen. My dick hadn’t been amputated and shoved up my ass. I wasn’t being disemboweled by a snapping turtle-rabbit-monster thing. Misty wasn’t screaming in my ears or saying “Hello? Hello? Hello~? Hello!” Over and over again.

What I saw was just a cute, broken little demonic angel. Her wings had been torn out, the horns on her head were small. Those huge cat-like bright-pink eyes were filled with bloody crimson tears as she begged me, “Daddy, please punish me! Please… I love you~! Fucking-shit-whore-bitch~! Daddy~! Why don’t you love me? I missed you so much… Why did you abandon me? Why do you always push me awa-way?! Wh-why~?! Wah~! Hahaha~! Wah~!”

She couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry, or scream at the top of her lungs, but I knew what I needed to do instinctively. What good would it have done to keep torturing or fucking her endlessly? What was the point in getting revenge for all the horrible shit she put me through? Literal and metaphorical shit by the way… So yeah, I held her in my arms and told her that I loved her, then the world around us warped back to ‘reality’. We were in Chaos Valley. The way it looked from the outside, all those years ago.

The little girl in my arms turned into a gross slimy goo-ball, then was absorbed into by body somehow. And now I have the Devil inside of me. Er, well, not always. She comes out sometimes when I get a boner and tries to suck my dick or fuck me in the ass with a tentacle. I’m totally fine with that, but the problem is that she’s super possessive. In more ways than one.

If I try to fuck anyone or anything but her, she’ll probably obliterate them. No, the scarier possibility would be if she entered into the other person’s body. Maybe impregnated them or simply possessed them? Or maybe she might just drain their life force and suck up their soul as a snack. Not everyone can survive what I experienced after all. Some would prefer death or nonexistence. That’s how you win a ‘Soul Battle’, right? Break their will and either force or trick them into surrendering.

***

I got a little distracted by this fucking ridiculously addictive game called “Talia’s Pets Unlimited”… Speaking of which, when we were leaving Chaos Valley, we found a case that contained my old journal and this neat tiny super nanocomputer thingy. It basically integrated itself into my body and now I have a computer/monitor in the palm of my left hand.

Seriously, it’s amazing! I can make nanites leave my palm and create a screen that’s pretty big. Then it’ll hover in the air wherever I want it to be. Of course, I can also close my eyes… No, even with my eyes open, I can see the screen inside my head.

Angela, my ‘Biggest Fan’ and also my kinda-sorta girlfriend, told me that she could upgrade it to have better memory and stuff. Not just the computer though, even the nanites that make me superhuman can be upgraded further. So that I don’t need to actively control them and prevent them from emitting EMP constantly. There’s also magic. Yeah, real magic.

Angela is an ‘Archmage’ after all. Which means that she mastered all nine elements to a certain extent. Maybe not mastered, but at the very least, she understands how they work and can teach me what I need to know. The best part is the Virtual Reality technology they have now days.

Supposedly they actually scaled back the ‘realism’ and immersion because so many people would choose to give up on their lives and become part of the system, that the population began dwindling. There was also a situation where one of the ‘Soul Cages’, a big ass server filled with people’s consciousnesses, was destroyed by ‘Anti-VR Terrorists’. Over ten billion virtual lives were lost forever.

Yeah, now that practically everyone is ageless and almost immortal, the amount of people storing their consciousness into those mega-servers has dropped significantly. Hell, I’m definitely satisfied with semi-immersion personally. I never thought I’d get to see the day when I can enter inside of a video game world and play games so quickly that on the outside world, only a few moments pass.

You might be wondering “But Michael, what’s the difference between Illusion Magic, Dreams and Full Immersion Virtual Reality?”

Okay, think about it this way. Illusion Magic and Dreams are practically the same. Most people can’t remember them and some assholes don’t even have them. Also, I have some theories that dreams are actually just ‘old information’ that’s jumbled around in your brainbox and/or Soul. Essentially, it’s shit that you already experienced before. It ain’t new. Illusion Magic works the same way. You can’t trick someone into believing something is true, if they haven’t already experienced it before.

Now Virtual Reality is something new. It’s something that your mind can remember vividly and thoroughly. Your brain will treat it like brand new information. Kinda like reading a book for the first time. If you play the same game and do the same things enough, then sure, your brain will push it into the background kinda like a dream. Which is why it’s always important to have new content or at least, games that literally take forever or are impossible to ‘beat’.

Honestly, a good portion of any MMORPG is just showing off your achievements to other people who play the game. Being proud of some virtual achievement that most people won’t even give a fuck about or know what it means. Single-player games are more about personal enjoyment and wish fulfillment, while MMO’s are for those of us who want to socialize, but are basically antisocial losers. What happens when a bunch of antisocial losers come together into the form of a guild?

Forewarning, basically. Bunny, Butter, Dalthis, Ceda, Pro… I wonder how they’re all doing now? Are they still alive somewhere? If they survived the zombie apocalypse, then they probably got snatched up by one of the Kitsune Territories like me. Then I guess… I guess they might be on Geb?

Maybe I should go to Geb? It might have been over eight-hundred years ‘here’, but that doesn’t mean anything. Theoretically, I can go to any time and place I want by using the Chaotic Void properly. If I’m already in the Eternal Graveyard, I’m not sure if that’ll make it easier or harder.

The greater possibility is that the entire universe we’re in at the moment is actually one of Inari’s nine tails… Inari, if you’re reading this, we need to talk. Like, verbally and in person. Not some absurd wild goose chase of vague messages.

I don’t know what you want me to do, or what you expect from me. So just tell me already. Make it clear and concise! At the very least, send me a goddamn Avatar to talk with!

Chapter 29: Science Fiction

Welp, I talked to Inari. In fact, I played “Talia’s Pets Unlimited” the other day and realized that there are like a million players named Inari or some variation of that name. Yep, also, I tried talking to Angela’s pet fox named Inari, but she just tilted her head and barked at me.

I also tried looking for people named Sariel and yeah, there have been like a billion people named Sariel over the past fifteen thousand Orcheim years. The most popular names are Michael, Adam, Jane, Sariel, Inari, Silvia, Talia… Basically anything related to the founders of Lorekeeper Village back in the olden days.

In other words, I’ve totally given up on ever speaking with the ‘real’ Inari again. If she wants to talk to me, then she can fucking talk to me! I’m sick and tired of waiting for her to do shit! I’m done playing her stupid-ass games!

Speaking of ass-games. My little ball of goopy Chaos turned into a tiny little ass the other day… Gotta say, I’m enjoying having a personal living fucktoy to play around with. Though I do miss having actual sex with another human-oid, being. On the other hand, I’ve been screwing Angela in all kinds of weird and wonderful ways in these crazy games she’s been playing with me. Like, Virtual Reality games, not mind games. Though I guess they’re kinda the same thing when you have the tech literally in your brainbox.

Oh, by the way, Talia and Silvia also got their own computers too. If we include Inari, there are five of us. So we have enough people to do dungeons and stuff when we play MMORPGs. A lot of games are free to a certain extent, but usually you have to pay for ingame items and shit. Well, you don’t ‘need’ to pay with real-world credits, but people who are relatively wealthy usually don’t want to spend their leisure time working their ass off in the games to pay for their subscriptions.

There are also a lot of ways to make real-world credits by playing games. Gaming is basically the most popular job throughout the Silvia System. Of course, outside of the gaming, sex and socialization aspects, VR is also the most efficient way to do anything non-physical. No, actually, even physical wars can be fought from within VR by using Combat Drones. Construction can be done by virtually controlling Construction Drones. Time can be sped up or slowed down through the use of VR, so you can spend thousands of years within the span of a few seconds, or pass thousands of years in stasis. I’m talking about Orcheim years, but you’d be able to do the same with Earth years too.

There are always limits to everything though. The servers and other nonsense need to be physical objects. Even if everyone uses nanites and implants as their own personal computers, they take energy and can overheat or break down if you push them too hard. You can’t spend your whole life in VR, because your nanite cores, nanites and your brain all need to rest eventually. There’s also a danger in accelerating your thought processes too far or for too long. Even if a brain can be regenerated or ‘fixed’, the data within those brain cells are sometimes lost forever. Nanites also store information and so do Souls.

If you can gain something, then you can most definitely lose that same thing. Ya gotta be careful regardless of what you do… Not that I should really lecture other assholes about being careful though.

Fuck, I’ve only been using VR for about a week and I’m already acting like I’m a goddamn expert or whatever. I really ain’t. Oh, and this thing actually has Earth time! Also Aquarius time, Demonica time and even Silvia time. I’ll stick with Earth time though, since that’s what I’m most familiar with…

With that in mind, construction of our ship is going to take about a year. I wanted to just buy one that’s already made, but Angela was like “I’ve waited for this my entire life! There’s no way I’m going to let you settle for some second-hand trash-heap! The First Extradimensional Explorer needs to be made from scratch! More importantly, there aren’t any ships available that would be able to suit your needs anyway.”

Angela is not the richest person in the Silvia System… But she’s pretty damn close. No, she’s not a good businesswoman. In fact, she’s terribad at controlling her money. Which is why most of her wealth is in the hands of her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and various organizations that she founded forever ago. For example, “Michael’s Wardens” and “The Chaos Watchers”. She might not own or operate them, but her less successful disciples are the ones that do. By less successful, I mean that they didn’t become Immortals. Then again, those ‘Immortals’ are dead now and the ‘Mortal Failures’ are still alive, rich and relatively famous.

Although the ancient Archmage has become a reclusive hermit in recent years, she still has direct blood relations with tons of Captains, Admirals, Generals and company owners. That game we played, “Talia’s Pets Unlimited”, well the company that owns the rights to the whole franchise is called “Lorekeeper Seven”. Yep, she’s owns a controlling share of the company. Hence why she has so many ridiculously expensive or limited edition pets. 

Seriously, she has the ‘Michael and Talia’ pets. Based on the mentally deficient and horny clones. They’re literally the only ones in the whole game. Also, she has the ‘Silvia’ mount…

***

Sorry, I’m literally writing this journal while I’m laying down in bed, trying to sleep. This bed is just so damn comfortable. I’ve never laid on anything this comfy before. Floating in zero-gravity doesn’t count either, because that always makes me nauseous. Speaking of which, our ship is going to have artificial gravity. Of course, while it would be way more efficient to just enter stasis and have all the major systems automated, with no room inside of the ship… I just can’t help thinking about Kitsune Drives.

You can get stranded in the Chaotic Void for years, sometimes centuries or millennia. All kinds of shit can happen. It’s impossible to guestimate this kinda stuff.

Alright, fine! I like science-fiction! I’ve always loved the Space Odyssey genre! Especially the ones where they’re like stranded out in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere and they need to struggle to scavenge for supplies. They meet hostile alien races and usually end up slaughtering them. You know, fun stuff? Wouldn’t it be kinda boring if we just locked ourselves away in little pods and then came out a few millennia later, as if only a moment passed? Where’s the excitement, adventure and horribly unnecessary danger?!

Nah, I’m just kidding. I would always get super pissed off whenever the miscellaneous exploratory vessel came across some mysterious nebula or phenomena… Then the captain was like “We need to be really careful, we have no idea what could be waiting for us inside of that hellhole in space… So let’s just fly straight into the fucker! What’s the worst that could happen?”

A few dozen to a hundred random nameless losers get killed and the ship practically gets destroyed. Yet they always find a way out of the situation and all the ‘important’ characters remain intact. Oftentimes not learning a single lesson from the whole affair.

Anyway, the main reason that Kitsune Drives have gravity, pseudo-sunlight and all that other good stuff, is because they’re meant to be transdimensional trading vessels. They’re designed to seamlessly fit into an environment outta nowhere and then start exploring, gathering resources, trading with locas, providing humanitarian aid and that kinda shit. They’re basically Karma Farmers if you really think about it.

Maybe the higher-tier Kitsune Drives look like spaceships or starships? I don’t know, ‘cause I never wrote that far into the Kitsune storyline. The world kinda ended before I got to that point. If I had to guess, I’d say that Inari just made them that way for happy funtimes. 

Things that Deities casually make, even if they’re really simple in construction, are absurdly powerful because of the mana involved. It’d kinda be like comparing a sand castle to an entire desert covered planet. I would give a few more… Examples… But I’m passing out now.

Good night, you creepy stalker Goddess.

Chapter 30: Talia Cinagra

My name is Talia Cinagra… And this is the first time that I’ve ever written anything, ever. I know how to write! Daddy taught me from when I was really little! But it’s not the same as ‘this’ kind of writing…

I’m not really sure where to start.

First of all, I’m a girl. My father is human and my mother was a green-skinned orc. I never met my mother though, because she died when I was born… Until now.

I know it isn’t really ‘her’, but it’s probably as close as I’ll ever get. Since we came to the future, Silvia, Daddy and I have been playing lots of ‘VR’ games. There are all kinds of amazing things that you can do in virtual worlds. As a Founder’s Day present, Daddy and Silvia created a virtual version of my mother. She can only speak in ‘Old Orcheim’, but that adds to the authenticity and realism.

Archmage Angela is kind of weird, but she’s still really nice. She lets us stay in her gigantic house and basically do whatever we want. And I mean ‘whatever’ we want. Daddy said that the two of them were ‘dating’. Not just having sex, but in a real relationship.

Hmmm, I’m already 31 years old now. But I’m still a virgin. What happened in Chaos Valley wasn’t real. So I’m definitely still a virgin. I’m just so confused when it comes to sex. I wish I was like Daddy… I’ve always been envious of his ability to be attracted to anyone or anything with a vagina.

In Chaos Valley, we saw things and did things… The kinds of things that would only happen in dreams or nightmares. I don’t really remember much to be honest. That’s how dreams are. You have them for a moment, and then they’re gone when you wake up.

Virtual Reality is different. It’s like you’re really there and even when you leave, you can still remember everything clearly and vividly. It’s why I’ve been thinking about ‘dating’ so much lately. I see people all over the place, in love, or just horny nymphomaniacs.

I don’t get turned on though. Maybe there’s something wrong with me? Am I broken? When I talked to Daddy about it, he told me “Dude, you’re like 2 years old for fuck’s sake. If you’re still a virgin in 20 years, then something is probably wrong. When I was your age… No, nope, never mind. From the moment I was born, I was jerking off basically every chance I got. Some kids are born addicted to drugs, I was born addicted to sex. Since your body is technically that of an adult, then you should be getting horny and having sex like the rest of us… Unless, well, you probably just haven’t found your ‘kink’ yet. Here, try watching all kinds of different porn. If nothing works, it might be some kinda hormone imbalance or mental issue. Your nanites should be able to fix that shit though, so I don’t know! Maybe you should see a therapist? Do therapists exist here?”

Well, I took his advice and started watching the ‘videos’ he shared with me. Umm, videos are these weird moving images. Angela sent me pictures too, and even games about sex. I thought the dating games were actually pretty funny, but no, they didn’t turn me on.

Scat is gross, even Daddy thinks it’s disgusting. Why would anyone get aroused by vomit? Urine is nasty…

This might sound weird, considering that I am one, but I don’t like orcs. They’re big, bulky and masculine. Even the girls are too muscular. Tusks freak me out. It’s fine if I have them, tiny as they might be, but how do you even kiss someone if they have tusks?

My ideal body type is probably… Well, first of all, they need to be small. Tiny enough that I can carry them around if I wanted to, almost like a baby. No, that’s wrong, I’m not interested in doing things with babies!

One of the videos Daddy sent me had different kinds of ‘Elves’ in it. They’re like orcs, with long and pointy ears, but they’re usually really small. Skinny, short, almost no muscles at all really. They look so pathetic and weak, it’s adorable!

I didn’t do anything yet though. I’ve been too nervous to even try. I might be a little scarred from the Chaos Valley incident… Or maybe Elves just aren’t what I’m looking for?

***

It’s been a few days and I’ve played a bunch of games with Daddy, Angela, Silvia and Inari but… It just isn’t the same as being in reality, you know? The world has changed so much since we left Chaos Valley, but my father doesn’t seem to care. Angela is teaching Silvia and Daddy how to do magic, but they never actually leave this weird house.

There’s a whole ocean out there for us to see! For me to see… I’m going to take Mommy’s advice. I told her about my problem, with the restlessness and desire for companionship, and she said that I should go on a journey.

The Silvia System is so huge! You have no idea! Or wait, no, maybe you do? I don’t really know who would even read this stupid diary. No one would even believe that I was the real Talia anyway, so what would be the point?

Anyway, Orcheim alone is so big already, but there’s a planet out there called Gargantuous that’s a thousand times bigger than it! It’s really far away though, so it would take a really long time to get there. Besides, I’ll be happy if I can just go on a trip around Orcheim and Aquarius.

Hmmm, that was a little too easy. The moment I asked Daddy if I could travel the world by myself, he immediately gave me permission. As I’m writing this, Angela is already buying a bunch of stuff for me… Like weapons, armor, lots of different words that I never heard before, and she even got a ‘Personal Tour Ship’ for me to fly around in. It looks like a weird metal bird. Not an eagle, but more like a gigantic seagull. The kind that I used to catch by the ocean.

I’m really excited, but at the same time, I’m super scared. Daddy said that I had to come back within a ‘year’, but he meant an Earth year. Which is a really long time! That’s almost half my entire life so far!

I might be panicking a bit… I need to calm down.

***

“It’s not where ya go Kid, it’s who you’re with.” A strange old man told me that, after I talked to him a bit about my life and my problems. 

He lived in a place called Simple Town; a small rural village on Orcheim, where all the inhabitants are ‘normal’ orcs, humans and a few other races. They didn’t have access to nanites, VR, magic or really, anything that Daddy cares about. Their rules about sex and marriage were also really strict. It was weird.

Why would anyone want to live such a boring and desolate life in a place where they had to grow or catch their own food? Well, they called themselves ‘Simpletons’ and chose to live out their short lives there.

They weren’t totally secluded though, otherwise how could I have gone there and met them? Actually, they lived on a small island off the coast of Lorekeeper County, it was a place that I always saw in the distance when I played on the beach. Maybe if I hadn’t entered Chaos Valley, I would’ve settled down there?

Hmmm, the people were really nice. Although they do grow their own food and do most stuff themselves, whenever there’s a bad storm, earthquake or other disaster, loads of people come to help out. Sometimes they even prevent the disaster from happening in the first place.

The Simpletons aren’t confined to the island and there are lots of tourists every year around Founder’s Day. Most of the children born there, eventually decide to leave home and travel the world, kinda like me. Except they usually seem to come back later, regretting their decisions. Because their parents are gone. The people who loved them and raised them, died. And since they didn’t have any technology, it was impossible to contact their children when they got sick, old or injured.

A simple nanite treatment would be able to save their lives. But because of their crazy Simpleton beliefs, they would rather die ‘naturally’, than live an ‘unnaturally’ prolonged life. 

Is death really the end though? They definitely don’t believe it is… And neither do I. Otherwise, how would I be able to travel the world with my mother right now? She died before I was even born, yet because Daddy and Silvia remembered her so vividly, they were able to recreate her almost exactly the way she was.

Does her ‘Soul’ still linger here, with me? I have no idea. And I’m not sure if I want it to or not. But if it does, then I hope she’s as happy as the physical clone I had made of her… I know, I was a little dubious at first too, but after going to Simple Town, I just couldn’t resist. 

I went over to Lorekeeper Port and found the nearest ‘Clone Factory’ and had my virtual Mommy, turned into a physical Mommy! When I told Daddy, he said “Yeah, I don’t blame ya for wanting to see your parents again, no matter what. Honestly, if I wasn’t so sure my parents were still alive out there, I’d do the same. Hell, maybe if we meet them one day, I can bring them back here to ‘retire’? Anyway, be careful, have fun and I love you Talia. The ship is halfway built, so it’s only gonna be another six months or so… If by the end of your trip, you don’t wanna come, you don’t have to, ya know? It’s your life. You can live it however you want. But you should at least see me and Silvia off, when the time comes, okay?”

“No! I’m definitely coming back to you and Silvia soon, I promise! Daddy, you are my ‘Home’! Nothing else in this universe matters to me as much as you! And if you leave without me, I’ll never forgive you!” I just unconsciously blurted that out the moment he finished talking. But it was the truth.

He just smiled at me and then hugged me tightly, in the virtual world that we were playing a game in, then complained “Shit, you scared away the damn Ripper Monkeys! I still need to catch like ten more of these bastards to get the achievement!”

Even as I travel around the world with Mommy, I won’t stop seeing Daddy and Silvia in Virtual Reality or just sending short messages. If I don’t talk to him at least once a day, my father would immediately think that something happened to me and start freaking out. It’s weird, but it makes me happy.

It’s just that… I can’t shake this sinking feeling deep inside of me… As Daddy always used to say “Life is like anal sex. It feels really good, but shit happens when you least expect it.”

Chapter 31: Captain

Captain’s Log: 1145

Orcheim Date: 3/1/15776

The Holy War between the Grand Atheist Theocracy and the Possibly Divine Agnostic Empire is only getting more intense. So long as those dumbasses stay away from Orcheim, we aren’t authorized to do anything about it. I can’t help but wonder, why the fuck do they still exist?

No, seriously, how can people that fucking stupid, survive for so long? They’ve been at war since before the Lorekeepers were even established. That’s over 15,776 years!

Those stupid bastards have been destroying each other, and us, for ages. How can Atheists even have a theocracy?! The Agnostic Empire doesn’t even know what to believe in, aside from their eternal conflict with their asshole neighbors.

We used to just call the ones from the red planet demons and the monsters from the green planet magical beasts… But now they’re the Agnostics and Atheists, respectively. It wasn’t until we legitimately threatened to destroy their worlds that they finally acknowledged us as ‘equals’, even after we consecutively won every war we ever had against the both of them. They were just that fucking arrogant.

[Captain, something weird is happening… You should come to the bridge.]

“Alright, give me a second. I’ll be right there.”

Obviously our ship isn’t one of those inefficient and ridiculous old starships where you would have to physically go everywhere. No, the whole crew is currently in stasis, while we’re able to move around within a virtual representation of our starship. Which does kinda look like the old ones.

Still, we can instantly teleport to different parts of the virtual ship if we need to hurry. Although, we’re able to observe the outside world at a pace that’s slowed down hundreds to thousands of times. So even if I casually walked over there while we were in the middle of a battle, it’d still probably be fine. I wouldn’t actually do that! I’m just saying that I could if I wanted to…

“Okay, what’s the problem?” I instantly appeared in front of the main view screen, while my First Mate Jessica was to my left. She’s a blue-skinned orc, with dwarfism, so she’s only about the size of a normal human female. My parents were both from the Blackscale Tribe, so I look more like a fucking lizardman than an orc. Yeah sure, I could easily change it if I wanted to, but what’s the point? I’ve spent so much time training this body, I won’t throw away my cultivation just to alter my looks a bit. I spend most of my time in VR anyway. I like to take on the appearance of ‘Michael’, because it makes me feel more like a badass.

“The Indecisive Dragon Emperor of the Possibly Divine Agnostic Empire has just released a telepathic speech across the entire planet of Demonica. I will play it for you now.”

Yeah, that’s actually the guy’s title. Jessica is way too serious to make a joke about anything. The telepathic message is audio-only so there’s nothing to really ‘look’ at, but there’s a picture of the coiled up purple rat-dragon on the screen.

“For too long have I remained indecisive about the nature of our existence…”

Holy fuck!

“It is finally time for me to make a decision. Does God truly exist? I still do not know. Perhaps we shall never know. But there is something that I have come to understand… Our war against the Grand Atheist Theocracy must end! Although we have had our differences in the past, at least they can be reasoned with! These damned ‘Protagonists’ are a threat unlike anything we have ever faced before! We allowed them to grow into monsters right under our snouts! For too long, we have been forced to suffer all manner of indignities because of those evil mongrels! No more! Hahahaha~! The Seal of Chaos has finally been lifted! The Gateway is open now! Reinforcements are already arriving at this moment!”

You see this shit? This is why you should just wipe out your enemies while you have the chance, instead of keeping them alive in order to farm them for resources!

“Captain! Shit is really hitting the fan hard now!” My Chief Engineer was standing a few meters to my right, near a separate screen. From there, he was able to see various mind-numbingly boring statistics and diagnostics from the all over the ship. He’s a tall, but lanky, pale-skinned orc. Almost a fucking albino. His hair is long and black, while there are sharp horns jutting out of the back of his head. I have no clue how many pillows he must destroy on a daily basis… Well, I guess he could just buy some really fancy and expensive ones that can survive his rough abuse?

I asked “What’s the situation? Why are you acting like a pussy?”

He complained “The Chaotic Mana-Radiation coming from Demonica is rising so fast that our aegis can’t keep up! At the same time, the Natural Mana-Radiation is also increasing… We’re being bombarded by two different, contrasting Elements and… And our Mana-Drive is being overwhelmed! The Mana-Drive is gonna go critical in five minutes!”

“Wait, when you say five minutes, do you mean like, real time? Or are you talking about five minutes in this VR environment?!”

The temporal displacement should be set to a factor of 1000! I didn’t need him to respond, because I brought up a mini-screen and found out for myself. Our temporal displacement VR was malfunctioning. We were experiencing time at the same rate as reality.

“Even if we launch our escape pods right now, it’ll be too late to avoid the big-ass explosion! Roen, is there anything you can actually do to prevent us from dying?! I will literally suck your dick if you can keep us alive!”

He paused for a second, then started fiddling around with various numbers and equations on his screen. I’m not a fucking mathematician or engineer, so I have no clue what he’s doing, but this ain’t the first time he saved our lives…

“Rerouting power from all systems, to the Mana-Drive now! Captain, no, Kelly… In case we die, I wanna say that I love you… And good luck in your next life.”

Ugh, he’s giving me that serious expression again… Jessica shouted “Captain! The Mana-Drive has reached critical mass! But… It isn’t exploding! Our shields are completely down and we’re soaking up even more radiation than before, but it’s all being consumed by the Mana-Drive at an alarming pace! It’s going to implode!”

Roen shouted “Ricky, activate the Mana-Ray Pulse Cannon!”

The bulky brown orc in from of me, who was sitting down and in charge of weapons, didn’t hesitate to begin firing towards Demonica. He wasn’t particularly aiming at anything in specific, but a planet is kinda hard to miss.

Jessica announced “Captain, the Mana-Drive is returning within normal parameters but… The Mana-Ray Cannon is pushing us backwards at a rapid pace! We’re going to be pulled into Beastheim’s gravity well!”

I yelled “Alright, don’t freak out! Just reroute power to the motherfucking thrusters! The ones on the right side of the ship! Keep aiming at Demonica! Those assholes want a war?! We’ll be the ones to throw the first punch!”

“Captain, it seems like there are other ships suffering the same fate as us… Look! At least a hundred cruisers and destroyers are firing upon Demonica, while there are countless smaller vessels falling into Beastheim’s atmosphere! We’re receiving a message from a nearby battleship, the…”

Before Jessica could finish speaking, the screen immediately turned towards the vessel and I muttered “Armageddon…” Everyone knows that ship, because supposedly… At least the official story was that the Seventh Lorekeeper had a vessel commissioned and top starship engineers in the Silvia System have been working on it for the past fifteen years. It looks like a giant fucking serpentine black dragon with a huge knife-like silver horn sticking out of its forehead. There were two white ram horns on the sides of its head, while plenty of other blades were jutting out of its face, neck and all down its spine.

This is the most advanced and powerful warship that has ever been created… Our tiny Spearhead Cruiser would only serve as a snack for the giant bastard. Supposedly the bones that they used to make the skeleton were taken from those ancient remains in Chaos Valley. That’s only what they released to the public though. Who knows what kinda crazy shit they put inside of that monster?

A man appeared on the main view screen. Wearing a modular crimson battle-armor, with unnecessarily large pauldrons and two large horns coming out of the helmet. He’s sitting upon a throne made of skulls and… I’m not sure if this is real, but it looks like there’s a unicorn laying down to his right. On the left side is a second chair, except it looks way more comfortable and reasonable. Made out of soft black leather, it’s more like a sofa-chair to be honest. That woman, looks like Archmage Angela!

“Oh hey! Is this shit working? Fuck, I’m kinda nervous…” The ‘captain’ started talking, “Umm, this is Captain Michael Cinagra of the S.S. Big-Ass Motherfucking Dragon, officially known as Armageddon the Dragon King. I know this is a little~ abrupt, but ya know how this shit goes? For fuck’s sake, I’ve only been back for a year and all hell is already breaking loose! I most definitely did not have time to do any sort of recruitment and this ‘ship’, is the size of a goddamn mountain. Like, a big mountain, not a little tiny hill. Hey Silvia, what’s the actual length again?”

That unicorn yawned and a mechanical feminine voice answered “This vessel is approximately 21,777 meters in length from the tip of the snout, to the very end of the tail.”

“Yeah, thanks. Okay, so it’s huge~! Like, way~ bigger than I had originally intended and ugh, let’s just say that I have no fucking clue how to operate this thing? We need about…”

The woman to his left interjected “This is Archmage Angela Cinagra, the Seventh Lorekeeper. The real one, not that stupid slutty twin sister of mine! Or the thousands of clones that are out there… Anyway, we’re going to need at least a million crewmen to operate this ship efficiently. We don’t exactly have time to take applications or go over resumes right now, so we’re making a one-time offer on a first-come first-served basis!”

Michael said “Yeah, I can see that most of you are ya know, fighting for your lives and/or dying horrible, painful deaths and all that but… Well, if you can make it to our ship, you’ll definitely be safe. I would offer to help, but you know, I would probably just kill you by accident. If you want the job, just park your ship in one of the scales or up this thing’s asshole. Er, sorry, cloaca? Well, it’s a docking port… Hehehe~, get it? Docking… Never mind, you can park basically anywhere. These gross demonic tentacles will come out from under the scales and integrate your ship into its flesh. Because science! Don’t fucking ask me how any of this shit works, because it’s mostly magical bullshit!”

After the message ended, I ordered “Shut off the Mana-Ray Cannon and engage the rear thrusters to maximum! Take us in! We’re joining the crew of the Armageddon! Fuck yeah!”

“Hell yeah!” Roen shouted in agreement, Ricky shut off the weapons, while Kori piloted the ship over the the back end of the dragon. The moment we came within a thousand meters of that beast, our Mana-Drive began calming down and our shields were totally disabled. Then a dozen giant purple tentacles shot out and wrapped around our vessel, swiftly pulling us inside of the ‘hangar bay’. We definitely weren’t the first ship to use the back entrance of this beast, but since when did our crew ever have a problem with sloppy seconds?

Chapter 32: Stranded

“Hey Daddy, I know you’re probably busy but umm… Do you think you could come and pick us up? We kind of… Crashed on Beastheim and our seagull ship got eaten by a giant green wyvern. It’s okay though, because Tabitha and I were able to escape. We’re currently running through the jungle and trying not to get eaten by the weird tentacle vines, tree-people and dinosaurs… The dinosaurs can use magic. I’m really glad that I decided to buy Tabitha some battle gear before we left Orcheim. Anyway, we’re on a big island with three volcanoes erupting at the same time. I hope you get this message soon, because I really don’t want to die.”

It’s been about three days since I sent that message… Three Orcheim days. Beastheim rotates slowly, so the days are over fifty hours long. Both Tabitha and I are exhausted, but there’s nowhere to rest.

Oh, Tabitha is what I decided to name the clone of my mother. She isn’t really my Mommy, I know that now. In a lot of ways, I’m more like ‘her’ mother… I mean, I basically created her and although she was programmed with some information beforehand, she’s still like a little kid. She’s really strong though, so she’s able to act as a ‘Tank’, while I attack from a distance with my bow.

These ‘Armor and Weapon Sets’ are really neat. The two of them together are called the “Fire and Ice Set”. Basically, Tabitha is wearing light-blue and silver heavy metal armor. The helmet looks like a giant orc skull, which even has big silver tusks coming out of the mouth. There are metal dragon skulls on her shoulders and there’s even a jet-pack on her back, that can let her jump super far and even fly short distances. Her weapon is a frosty blue halberd, which is like a spear, with an axe head near the end. The whole thing is ‘Enchanted’ or infused with magical power, so it can protect her from cold and heat, while also hurting her enemies with icy magic.

Since this whole planet is always really warm, the creatures here are particularly weak against frosty attacks. But a lot of the monsters here are also weak to fire, so my explosive and fiery arrows are still effective. The middle of my bow has a fiery metal bird’s head on it, with magically flaming feathers along the ends that make the two sides look like wings. There’s a space inside the birdy head where I can grip the bow, while you put metal arrows inside of the phoenix’s neck and when they shoot out the mouth, they’re all glowy and powerful. It’s pretty cool.

The armor is also related to phoenixes, or firebirds. Lots of flaming feathers and the helmet even makes me look like I have the head of a phoenix. While the shoulder pads aren’t very big, so I can reach back and grab arrows more easily. Although, there’s also a quiver behind my waist and slots to hold arrows on both my of my wristguards.

Basically all ‘Battle Gear’ has to cover your whole body, be airtight and allow you to survive in the harshest of circumstances. Like hurtling through space, falling through the atmosphere of Beastheim and then being stranded here with no outside assistance. This kind of stuff apparently happens a lot.

Anyway, the atmosphere of Beastheim is filled with a dense Natural aura… Even the fruits we picked and ate were loaded with way more mana than anything on Orcheim. It’s amazing and delicious. It’s a shame that we don’t have any way to collect up all these animals and plants to eat later or use them to make stuff.

The reason we were so close to Beastheim in the first place was because we were planning to go on a hunting trip. Obviously we weren’t going to come here alone though. I was waiting for Daddy, Silvia and Angela to come join us.

It was supposed to be one final adventure before we leave this place forever. Well, I don’t know if it’s really ‘forever’, but who knows when we’d be able to come back? Would it even look the same by then? Would we still be together as a family?

“Ah~!”

That sounded like a little girl screaming… Could be a bird or some other kind of monster, but are there children here? I saw a lot of other ships falling towards the planet back when we were crashing, but none of them were headed anywhere near this island.

“Francis, fais attention! Visez les yeux de la bête! Esquiver!”

“Maman, les gens d’arbre! Sauve-moi!”

I’ve never heard this language before, but that’s definitely the sound of people! Maybe it’s an indigenous tribe of some sort? But all the research I did on this world, said that only Magical Beasts live here. Although a lot of them can think like people, they mostly talk to each other through magical telepathy.

[Talia, people in trouble up ahead… We check it out?]

Speaking of telepathy, Tabitha and I mostly communicate through our nanites now days. It’s a lot more convenient than talking out loud, especially when the slightest sound could give away our position. Well, our helmets would block out most of the sound anyway, so maybe I just like it better?

[Yeah, but be careful. We don’t know if they’re friends or enemies yet.]

The two of us sprinted across the branches of the massive tree, switching to vines occasionally and sometimes gliding. The feathery armor on my arms can actually unfold into wings, while Tabitha has her jet pack. Plus, the gravity on Beastheim is even lower than on Orcheim. It’s closer to Aquarius.

[Here is close enough… I want to make sure this isn’t a trap.]

We stopped a few trees away from the clearing where the voices were coming from and I took out a small black birdie from my backpack. It wasn’t actually a real animal, but a machine that looked like one. I tossed it up in the air and then controlled it with my mind in order to see what was happening up close, without putting us in too much danger.

What I saw was a gigantic writhing yellow tree, which had a huge oval opening near the base. Honestly, it looks like a magical portal and there are people coming out of it in pairs. If they were orcs, then they’d just be children. But they look more like warriors, an army maybe? They’re wearing light leather armor that barely covers any of their vital organs, with lots of glowing tattoos and jewelry. Some of them have wands or staffs and they’re casting all kinds of magical spells, while others are just using swords, spears, bows and axes to fight with the giant pack of greenish-brown wolves.

Overall, they don’t seem to be that powerful. It takes two or three of them to deal with a single wolf. The wolves would only be up to my knees at most. My mother and I have dealt with them a few times, but they usually run away after we kill one or two of them.

There are also some really weak ‘Bush Treants’, which are like… Bushes and small plants that can move around a little bit. They’re also at the bottom of the food chain on this island. At least, from what I’ve experienced so far, this group of mini-orcs will probably die once one of the real predators comes along.

[I think… We should try to talk to them. Or well, I’ll try to talk to them and you can just kill the Magical Beasts.]

***

When we first arrived, the little mages shot magic and the tiny archers tried to kill us but… Our armor totally blocked everything. Even if it didn’t, I think our skin would probably be fine. When I got close enough, the beak on my helmet opened up and I revealed my real face to the woman who appeared to be their leader.

“Umm, who are you people? Why did you come here? It’s really dangerous, so you guys should leave as soon as possible.”

After I gave them a warning in English, surprisingly, the short, tusk-less orc asked “Are you representatives of the Grand Atheist Theocracy? We’re the emissaries from the Green Goblin Branch of the Bastion Organization…”

I chuckled, then shook my head, pointing towards the giant green tiger-shaped tree that Tabitha was fighting against and explained “This is Beastheim. It’s a world covered with Magical Beasts and other monsters but… They’re the Grand Atheist Theocracy. Since they’re trying to kill you, I don’t think that they want your help.”

Chapter 33: Armageddon

This is Michael Cinagra. The ‘real’ motherfucking Michael Cinagra. Not one of those goddamn lookalike, impersonating asshole descendants of mine!

Sorry, I’m just pissed off that there are already like a hundred people calling themselves ‘Captain Michael Cinagra’ among the crew that we picked up. I always wanted to be rich and famous, but I guess I probably should have written some rules about identity theft in the Orcheim Bible, huh?

Even though barely anyone actually believes I’m ‘me’, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m the captain of the most advanced ship in the whole Silvia System. And we’re facing a huge crisis that could mean the end of civilization in this solar system. So I didn’t even need to try very hard to recruit a few thousand ships filled with competent and experienced crews.

Obviously I have no fucking clue how to pilot this giant black demonic serpentine dragon. Most ‘ships’ either fall into the category of organic or mechanical. Either way, most of them are relatively small. A couple hundred feet long at most. On the other hand, Armageddon is over twenty kilometers which, is what? About thirteen miles-ish. Not only is it really long, but it’s also super thick and no, I’m not making a dick joke.

Since it’s so flexible though, it can actually expand much larger. It’s practically a snake after all. The more shit you shove into its holes, the bigger it’ll get. Of course, that’ll also make it harder to move and less agile. Still, since we’re in space, it ain’t such a big deal. The ships that are embedded under its flesh and inside of its ‘hangar bay’, also known as the asshole or maybe pussy, could always be pushed out if necessary. Hell, the Armageddon could even eat the ships if it really needed to or just integrate it permanently into ‘her’ body.

Yeah, the ‘heart’ and main power source of Armageddon is good ole Sparky. Meanwhile, the ‘brain’ is the Arcane Orb. Silvia is the only one who can use that magical bouncy ball, while I… I’m kinda-sorta the one in charge of controlling the Spark of Chaos. In other words, I ‘am’ the main power supply. Fortunately, Armageddon doesn’t entirely rely on me fucking it in the heart to function. 

The bones of this giant dragon were harvested from the ancient carcasses left behind in Chaos Valley so Sparky has a bit of affinity with them. In fact, she already ‘fused’ with the creature to a certain extent.

You might be asking “Is it really such a great idea to allow what is essentially a personification of evil to have access to a body the size of a mountain?”

No, it most certainly is not. Which is why I’m also fused with the ship too. If I disconnect, then Sparky comes with me and is kept within my body. That way, the only psychotic megalomaniac allowed to control Armageddon is me… Well, I guess I don’t actually control anything really. That’s more Silvia’s thing, or even Angela. Hell, Inari, the fucking pet fox is more qualified to pilot and captain this ship than me.

Right now, the situation is that portals suddenly started opening up all over Beastheim and Demonica. Loads of ships have been destroyed already, but most of the people survived through various means. For fuck’s sake, it’s not like this kinda shit never happens, right? At the very least, a lot of these people who were flying around the two planets were either headed there to go on ‘hunting trips’ or simply making sure that none of the demons and magical beasts headed towards Orcheim.

Some of them were in battle armor, like the kind I’m wearing now, so they were fine even floating out in space. While others were in escape pods or using magical abilities to keep from dying. Some people could even use personal teleportation, or had beacons on them that we were able to lock onto and bring them aboard.

Regardless, we weren’t the only ‘Battleship’ that was out here, rescuing people. Although Armageddon might be the most powerful and high tech ship ever created, there were others that were much bigger. Even that giant saucer on Aquarius was way~ bigger than our vessel. It also had a lot better teleportation capabilities, but it was made to mainly just do that one thing.

Armageddon was built for combat. To fight in any environment, even on a planet. Speaking of which…

“Alright, we have plenty of crewmen for now! We’ll continue our recruitment on Beastheim! But more importantly, we need to go make sure that Talia and Scarface 2 are okay! Silvia, do the thing!”

After giving my second in command the order, she stood up and neighed loudly. Then slowly walked over to the pulsating crystal ball that was in front of us and opened up a portal, before stepping inside. Don’t ask me what the fuck she was doing or why, but the portal closed behind her and then the orb rapidly began expanding.

We were inside of the skull of the dragon. Well, they were, I was just using a robotic avatar to look cool on the throne of skulls. My actual body is somewhere in the chest-ish region, so a few kilometers away. Totally naked, with all sorts of tentacles shoved in all my orifices and beyond. At least I ain’t being digested or devoured though, right?

Agh~! Ouch… Ow~! Yep, that is really unpleasant. Since my nervous system is connected to the ‘ship’, everything the dragon feels, I get to ‘experience’ as well. We’re currently descending through the atmosphere and the Arcane Orb is barely protecting Armageddon at all. That isn’t really what hurts though. It’s those fucking ships that are all over the place, under my skin, er… Armageddon’s scales. It feels like there’s a bunch of bugs eating me from the inside out, which is something I have literally had happen to me a few times in VR. Not fun, not fun at all.

I know what you’re thinking. If Armageddon is connected to my nervous system, then why can’t I just control it like an avatar of my body? Why do I need hundreds of thousands to millions of other people to help out, including Silvia and Angela?

Basically, even light can only travel so fast. Nervous systems work on electrical impulses and shit. This creature is thirteen miles long and really damn thick. In other words, if it was only relying on the instructions coming from my brain, it would take too long. Even if I use VR to accelerate my thoughts, it ultimately would only end up wasting time and energy. The simplest solution is to just use more brains to do more things.

The nanites are connected through quantum entanglement or whatever, so they can communicate with each other much more quickly. If you have a million people who all have their own brains, combined with their own nanites that can connect and organize with each other, well… That’s how you truly create an organism.

It’s just like what Sariel was talking about way back whenever the fuck that was… Everyone is made up of organs and systems. Those organs and systems have their own smaller networks and if you go down far enough, everything is just singular cells. Each of which is insignificant by themselves but, once you put trillions of them together, you get a person. Small creatures need less cells, while bigger ones need a lot more.

Using Earth magic, it was possible to create localized gravity in certain areas of the ship. Which was good enough for me. However, they had to be disabled once we started entering the atmosphere or Armageddon’s balance would be all fucked up.

“Open the wings.” Silvia’s ‘voice’ resounded throughout the ship. She sounded like one of those automated female text-to-speech programs from Earth. Obviously they have much better technology now, so it’s totally unnecessary… But hey, it’s her voice, she can do whatever the hell she wants with it. At least she can talk now, instead of neighing and trying to draw pictures with her hooves all the time.

Anyway, unlike many serpentine dragons that have no limbs, Armageddon has eight. There are two arms near the upper chest area and two legs by the ‘waist’. Both of which are roughly about the same length and thickness, kinda like a lizard. On the other hand, the two sets of wings are drastically different in size. The first one is only a bit behind the chest area. They’re usually feathery and white, but once they unfolded in the atmosphere, those feathers seemed burst into crimson flames.

That might sound like a bad thing, but the actual feathers are fine. It’s just that the friction from the atmosphere was so great that the air around them ignited. Also, pieces of space dust and debris that was attached to the outside of her body was also burned away.

The back wings were meant for stabilization and directional movement. Since the body of the dragon is so long, it wouldn’t really work without a second pair near the base of the ‘tail’. Behind the hind legs. They’re much smaller overall, but still fucking enormous.

Of course, the main benefit of having wings over using Wind magic is that we don’t need to create a goddamn ‘Hellstorm’ in order to move around! That didn’t change the fact that we still look like a serpentine dragon from Demonica though, so it wasn’t surprising when Angela shouted “There’s a flock of Ravager Wyverns closing in on us! Everyone prepare for battle!”

You see, unlike that stupid bastard that almost killed me and Talia eons ago… Armageddon is equipped with tens of thousands of independent weapons all over its body. These include lasers, plasma cannons, torpedoes, missiles, conventional artillery, nuclear silos, all kinds of different mines, biological and chemical weapons… Oh yeah, and nanites. 

I snickered, then sent a ship-wide message “Looks like we got some volunteers for target practice. Ah, try not to destroy the planet, okay? We’re here on a rescue mission. Otherwise we could’ve just crashed into the ground without using our wings and really lived up to our ship’s name.”

Chapter 34: The End

The air settled down after we made it into the regular atmosphere and with a few flaps of those massive wings, we slowed until it seemed as if we completely stopped. It didn’t take long before we began gliding downward though. With the atmosphere around us no longer burning, it became possible to reveal many of the hidden weapons and start opening fire upon the enemies that were approaching from every direction.

It wasn’t just those giant green wyverns after all. There were lots of other birds, bugs and even flying tree-monsters. Like, treants, but I guess they’re kinda like hot air balloons? They just sorta float around, shoot out vines and latch onto flying creatures that pass by them.

Speaking of which, we have tendril and tentacle weaponry too… Along with railguns, lightning cannons, oh sweet! Someone just launched the gravity well barrier near the end of the tail! Hah~! A bunch of stupid winged doggies just got sucked in and then tail-whipped into space, where someone near the middle of the spine launched a tactical nuke at them.

Overall, there really isn’t a need for me to do much of anything. At least not tactically. Angela controls the main functions of the dragon. There are thousands of individual crews who deal with the micro nonsense. Like even though the giant creatures can’t do much to us, there are plenty of tiny bugs, rodents, no, even an elephant would be able to sneak into the body of this big-ass dragon pretty easily. So people have to constantly deal with that kinda shit happening all over us, even though there are a lot of automated systems as well. Like sentry turrets…

As far as the truly small-scale goes, Armageddon doesn’t just have nanites, but also a really strong immune system. Even if the dragon is thirteen miles long, its cells aren’t any bigger than normal. Bacteria and viruses also stay pretty small, though anything that’s being nourished by Nature mana will be able to grow super fast. Shit!

“Someone clear away those mushrooms that are growing on my ass! I mean, Armageddon’s ass! Not the asshole, but like, ugh, Angela! Tell them exactly where to go!”

Ah, that’s better… It was super itchy. Also, I think like twenty people died? It’s hard to keep track to be honest. It’s kinda sad, especially since these people are literally my descendants, but I just don’t know any of them personally. If they die, it’s just like “Oh hey, some random strangers are dead. Time to move on with my life.”

I mean, at this point, aren’t we more like a city than a ship? Back when I lived in Baltimore, there were only about six-hundred thousand people living there. Right now we have around half that many scattered around Armageddon in small patches. It isn’t even crowded. Some of the ships are so small that they can fly around inside of the dragon’s ‘tunnels’.

There are also lots of people who can fly either using magic or technology too, especially within the low gravity of Beastheim. Oh, holy shit! I can see a bunch of mechas! Like, giant robots that are fighting against a group of huge tree monsters. Well, when I say that they’re big, they’re only like twenty or thirty feet tall at most. When they saw us flying by and received my ‘invitation’ message, they suddenly kicked off the ground and engaged their jet packs, before heading towards the tip of Armageddon’s tail. It was practically dragging across the ground after all. Instead of going inside though, they just climbed up onto the dragon’s back and started fighting off the damn spiders that were trying to pick apart her scales.

“Talia said that she was on an island with volcanoes but… That’s kinda vague. Silvia, have you figured out where it is yet?”

Without bothering to respond to me like a normal person, er, horse? She sent a text message directly into my brainbox.

[There are nearly ten thousand nanite signatures on Beastheim. Most of which are located on the three major continents. However, I have been able to find several islands, which have volcanoes that are currently erupting. At our current speed, it will take approximately seven hours to reach the destination.]

“Good… Umm, thanks.”

[You are welcome, Michael.]

And that’s about it. Even when we play video games together, while Angela and I are talking casually, Silvia usually just stays quiet and watches us. She’ll usually only respond and never goes out of her way to start a conversation.

Hmmm, oh yeah, there’s another weird thing that I noticed. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m fused with a gigantic demonic dragon, or because Chaotica is fucking with me, but time seems kinda weird. At least, my perception of it is broken.

When I focus on my Avatar, which is currently sitting on the Captain’s skull throne, I feel normal. Everything seems to be moving at the typical pace. But once I switch to the dragon, it’s like time speeds up. One minute, seems like one second, while an hour is more like a minute. Those little bugs flying around and crawling on my body appear, then die so quickly that I can barely even notice them.

I wonder if this is what it’s like to be Inari or one of those other Deities? Is that why Inari isn’t talking to me? Because she took a thousand year nap out of boredom?

Unlike her though, the temporal differential for me isn’t that ridiculous yet. At least it’s nowhere near as bad as it was in Chaos Valley. In fact, this makes travel a lot more pleasant. Kinda like fast-travel in a video game. Even though the time in the game passes normally, you only experience a quick cutscene or a super sped-up version of what’s actually happening. Sometimes the screen just goes blank or black and ‘bam!’ you’re on another continent.

This isn’t really that important when you’re exploring such a small planet, but if we go to a gas giant or a star, it’ll take ages to actually get to anywhere. Traveling through the Chaotic Void is the same situation. Like, you need to be aware of your surroundings so you can’t just go into stasis and hope for the best. But at the same time, if I have to experience six years of just wandering through a void, I’ll probably go insane.

I’ll probably get bored, start playing VR games and then accidentally crash into some strange universe by accident. Ah, oh wow, we’re here already!

“Hey Talia, are you down there?”

***

I sent her a message and she almost instantly responded with “Daddy! You need to save me! There’s a giant dragon flying around above me! I think it’s trying to destroy the island I’m on! It just blew up a big tree with a missile not too far from me!”

Yep, don’t worry though, I made sure to tell my ‘crew’ to stop bombarding the island. Then I had a nice long VR chat with my daughter. Apparently, those ‘reinforcements’ that the demons and magical beasts called for… Don’t actually exist anymore. It’s been eons since the time before the Silvia System was blocked off from the rest of whatever universe we’re in… No, actually, not just the universe. It was probably in a bubble within one of Inari’s tails or some such bullshit.

I don’t know and neither does Angela or Silvia. The point is that wherever those gateways were supposed to connect to, have either moved, or maybe… No, more likely, Sariel’s Kitsune went there and wiped out the former ‘governments’. Countless years passed and now, no one even remembers the Grand Atheist Theocracy or the Possibly Divine Agnostic Empire anymore. Which is probably for the best.

Seriously, the Grand Atheist Theocracy and the Possibly Divine Agnostic Empire… Who came up with that shit? Sounds like something I’d write when I was half-asleep and too tired to jerk off anymore.

The moral of the story is that these two organizations shouldn’t exist anymore. They’re too dangerous and unreasonable. Angela tried to negotiate with the leaders of both groups many times over the past hundred Earth years, but they refuse to listen to anything she says. Too much bad blood between both sides, so they just entered a stalemate for a long time… But now I’m here again.

“Well Talia, you wanted to go on a hunting trip, right? Hehehe~, let’s go ‘hunt’ the religious and political leaders of Demonica and Beastheim! Angela, send a message out to everyone, including those cuntbags. To all Protagonists and Lorekeepers or whatever the fuck you wanna call yourselves… The Silvia System is only the beginning. The base of our operations… There’s a whole goddamn multiverse out there to conquer and exploit! Never stop expanding and growing! Kill anyone who fucks with us! Go out and explore! Live your lives like you’re the main character in a novel, because you’ll probably be the one writing it anyway! Have fun, but always be productive! We aren’t the biggest and nowhere near the strongest, but our plot armor is the thickest! Because we’re the motherfucking Protagonists! Hahahaha~! Now let’s fuck some shit up!”

Epilogue 1: After the End

Observation Log: File Corrupted…

Observer 131, reporting on the current situation…

Attempting to recover lost data…

Reinitializing Silvia the Arcane Observer program 727…

“Where there’s a will, there’s usually a dead guy. Of course, we’ve both been down that road plenty of times, hehehe~… But death is not the end; it never is.”

Michael, are you there?

“Silvia… I have no clue how long it’s been. Your systems are probably all fucked up. But then again, so are mine…”

My optical sensors are not functioning properly.

“Yep, your eyes are gone. Ah~, found it… Amazed this old piece of shit is still in one piece.”

Establishing connection with Personal Reconnaissance Drone, Observer 131… Unable to comply. Internal damage is too severe.

“Goddamn it… Don’t worry, I might not remember much but… At the very least, I can take the eyes outta a fuckin observer drone. Give me a minute though… I’m a little rusty… Hehehe~, get it? Ugh, whatever. We ain’t actually rusty though. Our bodies aren’t made outta iron or steel… But we are definitely worn down and practically broken.”

Too many of my memory files and Observation Logs have been corrupted or lost entirely… We eliminated the Grand Atheist Theocracy and the Possibly Divine Agnostic Empire. After which, we began investigating the gateways…

“Yeah, we wanted to try and do a bit more research before we started randomly traveling through the Chaotic Void…”

Angela and I studied the runework and genetic mechanisms involved in the creation of those portals… We used what we found to learn more about the Arcane Orb but… I only vaguely know what we did. I cannot recall much else. All of my research data and notes have been lost.

“First of all, are we sure this isn’t just a dream, illusion or VR game?”

It is impossible to verify.

“Secondly, do we know if we’re the ‘real’ Mike and Silvia?”

Also impossible to ascertain…

“Thirdly, do your legs work? Cause mine are busted all to shit… Also, I’m a fucking robot.”

It is likely that your true body has been destroyed or perhaps… It is entirely possible that you did not die, but simply left this avatar behind. Unaware that it possessed its own consciousness. Have you finished disassembling the optical array of the Reconnaissance Drone yet?

“Yeah, give me a second, it’s hard as hell to do anything with these damn metal hands. This dude definitely wasn’t built to do this kinda shit. Okay, there ya go! Can you see now?”

Integrating optical sensors… We are within the ruins of an ancient structure. A temple of some sort?

“My gravimetric thingies are saying that the planet has the same gravity as Earth… The air in here is kinda shitty, but I don’t need to breathe anyway.”

The oxygen levels are particularly low and there is a large percentage of a Radon in the air. Mana-Radiation is minimal however. It will be very difficult to repair my body in such an environment.

“Yeah, the tech in this place was probably advanced… Ya know, back before it turned into scrap. Hell, I’m amazed that we’re still working after all this time. Oh God damn it! All my games are gone! Fuck!”

You are concerned about the lost data from video games?! What about the others?! Talia, Angela, Tabitha, Cassandra, Kelsey, Destiny… Inari. Where are they? Did they leave behind avatars as well? Are we alone?

“I’ve got no clue. Forget about ‘where’ we are, we don’t even know ‘when’ we are! We could be in any universe, on any planet, at any time! If we had the Arcane Orb, we might be able to find out that kinda shit, but we don’t. We’re just two broken down drones, trapped in some ancient temple-tomb-vault place! If it wasn’t for that mana-surge a while back, we probably wouldn’t have even woken up.”

I see… Our situation does seem rather dire. Your leg armor is completely eroded, while your musculature is withered to the point of uselessness. There are numerous gaping holes in your chest, back, abdomen and even your faceplate…

“Yeah, I look like a goddamn skeletal death knight or some such bullshit. You don’t look much better Silvia. Can you even move? You’re practically a mummy at this point. Oh, and your horn is broken off at the base. My ‘eyes’ might be a little broken, but I think your fur is grey?”

Indeed… Grey is the natural color of my fur. I am unable to alter my appearance at this time. It is also impossible to make repairs until we obtain some sustenance. We require water as well…

“Is it just me or is the ground shaking?”

No, there does seem to be some seismic activity. This structure seems to be collapsing…

“Yeah~, we should get the fuck outta here… Can you move? I can probably crawl, maybe…”

I am not totally incapacitated. Simply starving, dehydrated and greatly weakened. It feels as if my body is incredibly heavy… I am far too acclimated to the sensations of low-gravity environments.

“Ugh~, yeah~… Me too… My most ‘recent’ memories are from the battles on Demonica… I used this avatar to have a one-on-one duel with that stupid fucking indecisive cuntbag dragon guy. This robotic armor used to be comparable to Angela in strength… Practically an Immortal. But now I’m a fucking paraplegic… Well, ain’t like this is my first time being crippled and having to crawl across the ground to escape from a collapsing building, right?”

If I was not so badly damaged, I would offer to carry you. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be possible.

“Holy Hell! Did you feel that?! Such a huge burst of mana… It’s shooting up from underground.”

Perhaps this planet is similar to Demonica, Aquarius and Beastheim? Massive quantities of mana are condensed within the core and radiate out, through a myriad of crystalline veins.

“Yeah, I mean, it wouldn’t exactly surprise me. The only problem is that I’m so weak right now that I can’t even absorb or use any of it like this.”

Indeed, I require sustenance so that I can repair the rest of my bodily functions. Only then will I be capable of recreating the organs and mana-batteries required for such a task.

“Okay, that’s enough goddamn exposition. I think I found the exit… Or more like a big-ass hole in the wall, that leads upwards at an angle. Could be a dead end, but I don’t think we have time to try out other options.”

It appears that even now, your ability to survive is still quite profound.

“Yeah, my Plot Armor is pretty strong. At least when it comes to surviving… Can’t say the same for other shit. I hope Talia and the rest are fine. Or at the very least, lived out long and happy lives.”

I cannot be certain. However, I do not believe that we would allow them to die prematurely. Hmmm, we have reached the exit to this tunnel. I can smell… Sulfur? Perhaps we are close to a volcanic eruption of some sort?

“Oh wow, that does not look good… I mean, yeah, it does actually look really fucking cool. But still, that’s a lotta lava! It’s practically shooting up into space!”

Indeed, we should continue moving. That eruption is not simply volcanic in nature. There is an incredible amount of neutral mana coming from there… It appears that a Mana Well has detonated. We are far enough away that our systems should not be damaged, but I cannot say the same for ordinary life forms.

“Yeah, yeah~, I gotcha. If we run into some powerful mutants, then we’ll be fucked. Oh hey, I see some tall grass over there! It’d be totally useless to me, but you can still eat, right?”

Most of my teeth are absent. However, my saliva is extremely acidic. As long as it is simply regular grass, I will have no difficulty consuming it.

“Alright, well, let’s~, get~, crawling~! Ugh, this is gonna take a while…”

Epilogue 2: Plot Armor

Death ain’t the end, so long as you don’t want it to be. For people who wanna die and stay dead, that’s easier said than done. But it is still kinda possible. Just like taking a long, dreamless sleep… Except, for me at least, I always have to wake up to piss eventually.

Stories do need to end eventually though. Not necessarily in the conventional sense. You know, where the author is just like “Fuck this shit, I got bills to pay, I can’t waste my time on this series that isn’t even making me any money anymore!” 

Or when a series gets cancelled for political bullshit reasons that shouldn’t even exist. The most common problem is just having bad ratings or low funding. So many awesome shows ended prematurely.

Oh yeah, so as I was saying, the reason I’m ending this series is because of the fact that I… I’m pretty sure that I’m not even Michael Cinagra anymore. At least, not really. Of course, if you consider that there are hundreds of MC soul fragments out there, then I guess I might be one of them. Still, I’m trapped in the body of a broken down Combat Drone that looks like a fucking skeletal warrior.

Silvia is still alive and with me. Though she looks just as bad. We woke up in some ancient underground ruins a few hours ago. The place was falling apart from all the earthquakes, so we decided to leave.

Once we made it to the surface, we saw the ‘pretty’ supervolcanic eruption in the distance and decided to stick around for a early-morning grazing session. Except, it turned into a daylong ordeal. Seriously, how much fucking grass can that bitch eat?

On the other hand, I don’t even have digestive organs for fuck’s sake. My body isn’t even organic. I need to be repaired the old fashioned way. With lots of high-technology and magic. 

It’s a good thing that Silvia is here, or I wouldn’t even have a chance at survival. If she ever manages to finish eating this entire field of tall brown grass, then she might have enough strength to keep my systems from failing completely.

The only reason I’m able to stay conscious is because the starving grey hornless unicorn is transferring small bits of energy to me through a wire. Yeah, I know, the mana-radiation in the air is fucking with our wireless capabilities. So I’m basically forced to use a figurative umbilical cord to survive. It does prevent a lot of energy from being lost though. And we can communicate more smoothly as well.

“Hey Silvia, do you hear that?”

[My auditory functions are severely damaged.]

“Ah, same… But I think it kinda sounds like fucking? There’s moaning and slapping… Growling?”

[I am sensing some mana-fluctuations beyond this tall grass… Perhaps we should leave this area. They could be powerful creatures.]

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna just go over there but… Let me climb onto your back, okay? I should be able to see over this damn grass a bit.”

She was still laying on the ground, because her legs were too weak to stand. Without waiting for her permission, I just did what I needed to do… And I saw a hut. There are people living here, hidden in this patch of tall grass. 

Hmmm, I can hear two people speaking… Someone said something about ‘Blood Gods’? It’s hard to tell, cause they’re practically whispering.

“I blame Luna.” It sounds like a woman or girl speaking, “I’m going to close my eyes and pretend like that cataclysmic event a few hundred miles from here has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

I slowly and ‘quietly’ got down off of Silvia’s back, then telepathically shouted “Holy monkey tits, I know where we are and when we are! I even know who’s in that fucking mudhut!”

[Who are they? Enemies? Allies? Your descendants?]

“They’re… Shit, I can’t remember their names! It’s like… Hmmm, ugh…”

[Where are we? Do you know the name of this planet? This continent? This specific location?]

“Umm… I wanna say… Maybe Earth? A version of Earth? And ugh, something about elves? But this place has lots of Orcs, Goblins and Ogres? Maybe… My memory file thingies are fucked up, okay?!”

[Will they offer us assistance or are they enemies? This is important Michael. Our survival depends on the decision we make right now.]

“Well, considering that we both look like undead monsters, I’m gonna say no. They might try to kill us on sight… No wait, I have a good idea! Let’s just play dead! What’s the worst that could happen?”

[They could scavenge our bodies for materials and easily discover that we are indeed, functional.]

“Can you talk? My voice modulator definitely doesn’t work anymore.”

[I never found it necessary…]

“Do you have any weapons? All of mine are either missing or broken. Actually, they’re both mages so we’re fucked if they want to kill us.”

[Do they understand English or any of the other Cytherian languages? How to read…]

Ah! Why didn’t I think of that before?!

“Good idea! We’ll just-ow! Someone, shit! Who the fuck is throwing rocks at me?!”

[We are surrounded by small, cloaked creatures… Likely Goblins. One of them threw a poisoned knife at my back, but they were unable to damage me.]

Damn it! I can’t do anything to them if they don’t even get close enough for me to grab them!

“Agh~!”

“Ragh~!”

“Yai~!” 

Oh, their eyeballs just exploded. Cool… But that means…

“Ethir, what are these things? Are they… Are they related to Belial?” A beautiful elven woman walked out from the tall grass and glared at me with her bright-red eyes.

Then a crimson-skinned Goblin kneeled down next to me and removed my broken helmet. After staring at for me a while, he shook his head and murmured “Not Belial… Reminds me of… Ailyn a bit.”

The woman sighed, then gently caressed Silvia’s haggard and dusty mane, complaining “How could such a majestic creature fall to such a state… It’s incredible that she’s even still alive.”

That Goblin examined the grey unicorn for a few moments, before whispering “I wonder… Maybe they’re… It’s possible that Luna sent them to tell us something? Although worn down… I can see many runes upon her flesh. No, both of them are…. Very strange. We should take them back…”

“What do you mean?! We can’t go back yet!” The naked elf freaked out. Yeah, they were both naked by the way. Hell, I can see the cum dripping outta that girl’s pussy. But instead of getting horny, I’m just feeling kinda depressed. I’m trapped in a body… With no dick. Or any other kinda sexual organs. I’m not even programmed to feel arousal! Who the fuck designed this shit?!

[Michael, I believe I recognize these people as well. They were characters in one of the first novels you wrote… Immortal Soul.]

“For fuck’s sake, it wasn’t a novel! It was a series!” I can’t believe how many times I have to explain that to people.

[That is irrelevant. However, it does mean that we are currently located on the continent of Northern Alfirin, during an era of great upheaval.]

“Well duh~, since when have we ever gone to an era of peace and prosperity?! It’s always fucking chaos and cataclysm wherever we go! I blame the original MC! He’s the one who started all this shit!”

Speaking of which… Michael, the original Michael is actually on this planet. Right now. If we can find him, then maybe… No wait! Fuck that guy! It’d be much better if we found Ailyn and Yuri. The two of them could probably fix us.

“We should bring them to Ailyn and Yuri… The two of them might be able to help.” Ah, god damn it! That stupid Goblin loser is stealing my ideas!

“But-” Before the mysterious Blood Elf could say anything else, a deafening roar rang out and the ground started shaking even more than usual. Almost like… Yep, that is an army. Of Goblins, Orcs and there’s even a few giant Ogres involved. Along with loads of rhinos, horses and some big-ass lizards.

“Hide!” She shouted and tried to pull the tiny dude into the bushes, but he was grabbing onto Silvia’s neck, attempting to drag her across the ground. Eventually, she started helping him and along with the unicorn’s own effort, they managed to make it into the bushes. Obviously I crawled along behind them as well.

As much as I’d love to fight an army right now, I’m not really in the best shape, ya know?

Epilogue 3: The Spirit of Eternal Writing

Anyway, like I was saying earlier. Every story needs to end eventually. Of course, just because I stop writing this journal, doesn’t mean that I’ll stop writing altogether. I’ve still got tons of shit left to work on!

No matter if I’m trapped in a zombie infested hellhole, trapped in the Chaotic Void, trapped in a world without magic, trapped in a fucking basement with nothing better to do! No matter where I am, I will always find a way to write and record everything down!

Why? Why do I give a damn?! I don’t know! Probably just my way of dealing with stress and anxiety over constantly struggling to survive! Once I have other shit to do, like Virtual Reality games, building a village, raising kids… You know, the basics? During those times, I usually can’t get my creative juices flowing as well. Or more like, there’s no point. 

It’s not like anyone is ever gonna read this, right? Wait, haven’t I said that before? Then I went on to create an entire religion and society based around my stupid diary!

Ah… I just realized why I’m here. I’m supposed to write “Immortal Soul”. I need to go find all those assholes and force them to tell me their stories! Not like I can remember everything that happened, right? But they probably can!

Maybe I’ll make a new religion this time? Based around Michael and the others… I wonder if “Spiritualism” is already a thing in this world? Even if it is, I doubt that they have it copyrighted.

[Michael, I believe I know what we must do. Our purpose for existing on this planet at this time…]

“Yeah, I know, right? We’re supposed to go do a bunch of interviews and re-write ‘Immortal Soul’. Probably.”

[No, definitely not that. It is most likely that we were left here in the event that a cataclysm should ever arise. Or perhaps they knew that the Mana Well to the north of here would eventually erupt. Thus they left us behind, to stop the disaster from continuing or growing more severe. We are meant to be maintenance workers.]

“Fuck no! I’m a writer! Besides, how the hell are ‘we’ supposed to do jack shit about that giant Mana-Catastrophe?!”

[If these drones were able to survive, then it is obvious that other ancient artifacts were left behind for us to utilize. Within my corrupted data files, there is a map of this world. Although it may be outdated and some parts are left out. I can clearly see many large artificial landmarks. We should investigate them as soon as we regain our strength… I believe that we would not be the only ones seeking to prevent the destruction of this world.]

“So what you’re saying is that we could go save the world… But we don’t really ‘need’ to do anything, because loads of other people will go do shit for us, right?”

[Perhaps… However, my desire to stop the disaster is not based on altruism, but practicality. Even if the mana-radiation on this planet rises dramatically, that will actually aid in our development. Yet, it will also allow others to do the same.]

“Ugh, yeah, I understand. Power is relative. Even if we’re weak as fuck compared to what we used to be like, if we can recover, then we can be super OP on this world. Living like Gods or whatever. But if everyone else is able to get stronger too, there’s a good chance that we might get outleveled… At that point, we’d be like total noobs. Then why would Michael and the others even bother to give their interviews to us?”

[No, that is not… Communication with you is impossible. This is why I waited several years before ever speaking with you.]

“You mean you stalked me for a few years, because I’m awesome.”

[You are one of the most irritating, irresponsible and incomprehensible creatures that I have ever observed.]

“And you wished that I would suddenly find you spying on me one day, capture you and then shove your lubed-up metal ball body up my ass…”

[My first form was merely a Personal Reconnaissance Drone. It was impossible for me to feel any semblance of sexual desire.]

“Then you turned into a unicorn and your floppy horse pussy would always spasm whenever I patted you on the ass.”

[That is absurd. Also, my vaginal opening has always been relatively tight for an Equidae lifeform.]

“Admit it. You’ve always been upset that I never tried to make a centaur baby with you, hahaha~!”

[It is entirely possible that you did and I purposefully deleted those memory files out of disgust.]

“Oh my God! You’re actually right. What if we really did have a bunch of cute little centaur babies and we just can’t remember ‘cause it was so long ago?”

[Please stop speaking to me.]

“Aww~, is da little horsie embarrassed?”

[You are extremely obnoxious.]

“And yet you still love me anyway.”

[We have been together for longer than I can remember. I do enjoy watching you suffer, but I do not wish for your destruction.]

“Okay then, well I love you too buddy. Even if you’re an antisocial asshole. You’re my antisocial asshole unicorn.”

[I am far too weak and tired to respond to your provocations at this moment. However, I will record them and wait until the proper time to deliver my vengeance.]

“Well, I might not have a dick, but my arms work pretty well. I could give you the good ole double robo-fist technique. Just let me know when you’re ready for that ‘vengeance’, hehehe~…”

Sigh~, wait a second… I thought I turned this shit off! Fuck! Hmmm, how do I-ah! There it is!

Diary Program Shutting Down…

***

Rapture-727 has gone offline.

Hohohoho~! I always find those two brats to be quite amusing… I guess it’s time for me to get to work. I need to finish the preparations for Karma’s final meal. If her ‘Heart’ gave out now, that would be truly disappointing.