11 Tears in Time

I turned off agony while saying, "Don't do anything funny. I'll turn on agony, and trust me, it's plenty strong enough to kill some bugs."

Baldag-Ruhl laughed and said, "Ha, ha, hah. I'm here to offer you something thats dripping with temptation."

"Alright, I'm listening."

The mound of bugs threaded down from the ceiling, a few spiders creating a silken thread for them to go down with. Once they landed, the mouth formed again. Baldag spoke,

"I'm assuming you've known of that...presence that's tampering with my haven, with everything?"

I raised an eyebrow, "You mean Schema?"

"Yes. That being without a soul that would dictate those with them."

"Eh, Schema's just trying to prevent the collapse of the universe. What's an AI to do?"

Baldag-Ruhl laughed before saying, "So that's what it tells you?"

"Well, yeah."

"This Schema is restitching the natural order, preventing the flow of mana."

"What?"

"What does it call the rifts?"

"Er, cracks."

"They are rifts, not cracks."

I shrugged, "Same difference."

"Cracks implies that your universe is breaking. Rifts implies that our universe is creeping in."

"Both sound really, really bad."

"It's only destructive if handled poorly. On the other side is a tremendous flow of mana, a power that is pure and unfounded in this realm. If you help me return there, I will share what I gain from it."

I nodded, "Alright. You got me interested."

The bug mouth grinned. Disgusting. Baldag-Ruhl replied, "Then come. I've found the rift. There isn't much time now."

"What about Stacy and David? Gonna eat them while I'm gone?"

"I planned on using them as a threat. I'm glad it wasn't necessary."

I puffed as I said, "Hah! I care just enough to beat the shit out of you for killing them, but nowhere near enough to actually die for them."

"Your a grim one, aren't you?"

I frowned as I said, "My father made me this way."

"Lucky then, aren't you?"

"In my own way."

The bugs crawled towards his main body as Baldag-Ruhl said, "Come then. We've much to do and little time."

I paced with the pile of bugs. After an hour of walking, Baldag said, "Why do you listen to me? None of the others have. They blindly followed that abomination."

I frowned as I said, "Eh...You haven't done anything really. You could have killed me easily before now anyway. Especially if you could hear my words up till now. That counts for something."

"Indeed it does. I watched you grow from the little lamb to the wolf. That is why I need you. I cannot complete this ritual alone."

"What does it involve?"

"The golem cores. I can kill any single thing in this cave, but unlike you, I don't gain anything from it. The Schema as you call it, it's giving you your powers. It won't give me any, since I'm the infection it wants to stamp out."

I nodded as he continued, "So I will open the portal and go back to my own universe, where I am wanted."

I pursed my lips as I said, "Then you need my golem cores for it?"

"Yes. They act as conduits for the mana. They will let me slip through the crack we create, and you can enjoy the mana that leaks during the process. Absorbing it should increase your mana by at least tenfold."

Sounds pretty fishy. I'll play this by ear. I said,"Alright. Where do you have in mind?"

He replied, "You know of my domain's shape, correct?"

"It's circular."

"Indeed it is. It was not unintended. I've been trying to create the portal for decades, but the Lord of Worms has been taking my pools for his own. He stole the mana I collected for it, corrupting it for his own purposes. His mana grew far too thick. I and my children could do little to stop him."

Baldag turned us till we reached behind a cluster of boulders. He crawled over the rocks, so I followed him. I thumped hard on the ground when I jumped off. I'd have stumbled onto my face without the extra dexterity.

Behind these rocks is a tunnel, ten feet tall and wide enough for a bus. The stalactites and boulder formations were perfect for hiding it, along with the curves of the cave. With a begrudging nod, I said,

"I can't deny it. I'm impressed."

"You have seen nothing, little lamb."

As we stepped within, runes coated the walls from head to toe. Underfoot, overhead, and side to side, not a single inch of space was free from the formulas, incantations, or chants. The sheer meticulousness of it amazed me. It was more a detailed work of art than mere words.

Baldag-Ruhl said, "My children and I have toiled for centuries. This is the fruit and meat of our labor."

I whistled as I said, "It's damn impressive."

"And you've yet to see the masterpiece at the center. It is glorious."

I nodded as we paced forwards. The wall never fell into monotony. Every piece of it was different, and somehow, I could tell with just a glance. It was almost like the patterns just being carved created an ebb of mana. This was a construct of amazing power.

Like looking at the skeleton of a fierce predator, it made me shiver thinking of just how much potential this whole thing had. I didn't know if I could trust Baldag here. I mean, this is some serious shit.

Baldag-Ruhl said, "The inscriptions need liquid mana for their carving. I could refine a drop from each of those pools before waiting decades for them to return. That mana has radiated into the monsters here."

I nodded as I glanced about. I said, "The Schema mustn't check up on dungeons often."

"Altering my domain has been slow. You may notice a tumor on your back that appears in a day, but what about ten years? Imagine several thousand."

Gross. I said, "Man that's gross, but I get it. These rifts take a while to open don't they?"

Baldag said, "Indeed they do. They're so slow and so subtle, you could barely tell they're happening at all. Almost like a cancer growing under you skin."

I shook my head before saying, "Man you like cancer metaphors."

"It reminds me of how we are perceived. Creatures of mana that proliferate. A cancer in Schema's eyes."

With a deep, dark resolution, Baldag-Ruhl said, "I am no cancer. I am more."

Talking got awkward after that, so we just walked in silence. It turned natural after awhile. An hour or so later, Baldag-Ruhl said, "Can you run there? This journey will take at least another days time at our current pace."

With all my stamina regen, I was primed for a marathon. I said, "Of course. Let's go."

I fell into the rythm of my steps tapping then the following echo. We ran for, I don't know, five hours or so? It was a long, long time. Regardless, when we finally reached the end, I almost ran straight off into the abyss at the center.

Here was a room covered in the same runic passages on every surface. Insects swarmed in all directions, moving with the most miniscule pieces of light in the arms of each. They carried these little bits of mana, etching out diagrams at the center of the expanse. Within a few seconds, they all stopped, finished with everything.

The room dipped down into a massive, circular pit. Like a colosseum, a set of staggered circles formed steps till the bottom. They were perfect with their precision, like the stone was etched with a laser. Eight pillars with hollowed out circles supported the room. At their centers, wire claws sat still, ready and waiting for the golem cores.

A giant, blue fire lit the room at the top. It cast a bluish white light onto every surface. All in all, the scene struck me as odd. I turned to Baldag-Ruhl and said, "Why didn't you just collect the golem cores yourself?"

"I didn't wish to watch my children die meaningless deaths. The Lord of Worms would never have stopped taking the mana I needed for this. Even with their cores, he'd have just prevented me from finishing the ritual with his endless summons."

"That makes a lot of sense, I suppose. Your insects can't do too much then?"

"They are powerless without my direct control. We are legion. Without many, we are nothing."

"I was wondering, what's your level now?"

"Level?"

I weighed my hands back and forth, like a scale as I said, "The Schema assigns a level for you. It really just tells you what your raw strength is compared with others. I'd almost consider it a sort of mark of your past accomplishments."

Baldag-Ruhl said, "I don't understand what you mean by level, but I can teach you a bit about perception, little one."

From his side, a pile of bugs appeared, piling up. They swelled into a ball that then melted away. A ring was there along with a fancy looking monocle on the ground. He said, "Put these on you. They will let you see more clearly."

I grabbed them from the floor and inspected them,

Monocle of Foresight(Uncommon) - a monocle enchanted with mana. +2 Perception.

Soothsayer's Lie(Uncommon) - A ring worn by a now dead soothsayer. It isn't that he picked a fight with more than he can chew. It's that he picked a fight with someone who can chew him. +2 Perception.

I place them on, and Baldag-Ruhl's level appears.

Baldag-Ruhl, of Many(lvl 152) - Baldag Ruhl is a hivemind that gained sentience hundreds of years ago. Slowly it has gained intelligence, learning to control more and more insects. Now it is a horde of flesh eating beetles, centipedes, and locust.

Baldag-Ruhl, of Many has been a problem of extermination within his rift. He evades destruction far better than other, equally powerful eldritches. Cunning, clever, and committed, Baldag-Ruhl has survived for well over a thousand years within his domain. Little is understood of his exact method of survival.

Even further still, Baldag-Ruhl exhibits far greater intelligence than even monsters well over a designated danger level of 1000. He's been noted to use traps of extreme complexity for his schemes. He's also one of the few eldritches that is truly malicious. He doesn't attack on sight. He plans out each of his attacks, timing his assaults with excellent strategy.

Schema has designated his danger level as that of extreme. His ability to damage a target regardless of how high their health is, combined with his near elemental immunity and cunning makes him a formidable enemy. Even for those twice his level. Be afraid.

Resists elemental damage by 80%, and does % damage of health as physical damage when coming in contact. Avoid at all costs.

Oh Jesus. I swallow before Baldag-Ruhl laughs, "Has the lamb discovered that he has entered the lion's den? You never left, I assure you."

I frown as I say, "Well that's disconcerting."

"For you. It should put you at ease. At least now you comprehend what you're dabbling in."

I shrugged as I said, "Once again, you could've killed me at any point by now. You let me live. There really isn't much of a difference now anyway."

"Good to see you've a head on your shoulders. Most of your kind lacks that trait. Such powerful minds, yet they go to waste so easily."

I nodded as he crawled towards the pillar nearest to us. I followed as he said, "These pillars and runes act as safeguards against the dimensional rift. Do you see that center circle? That is where the portal will open for a few seconds. I will crawl through, and the mana that leaks out you can absorb. I need the cores for my purposes. You have them."

I nodded, pulling the cores from my pockets. I didn't touch the Corundum of Souls, however. It had appeared directly into my pocket. I doubt he knew of its existence.

I tossed the cores into the coming piles of insects. Each one went towards another pillar before placing them into the little holders designed for them. You may be wondering why I would do such a thing? The answer's obvious.

I wanted to live. Baldag-Ruhl is much, much more powerful than anything else in this cave. A level 152 would literally disintegrate me in combat, no questions asked. Fighting him was no longer an option. You may be wondering why I didn't just smash the cores and try to mess this ritual up, saving humanity from this impending dimensional tear.

I won't even pretend I'm that selfless. I'm a selfish bastard, and I don't want to be eaten alive by miniscule pincers from these bugs. Simple as that.

So I went with what he wanted. As we passed by each pillar Baldag-Ruhl explained, "It's interesting, how dimensional travel works. The process requires a catalyst, a holder of sorts. These cores will act as syphons, but I still need something more."

From the middle of the room, a mountain of bugs swarmed. Deforming like a nightmare, they huddled together, squeezing to a point. They kept condensing, wave after wave, until Baldag-Ruhl stepped out.

An ancient, moldy carapace covered his entire body. Pieces of it had fallen apart, revealing bits of mushy flesh. Pus leaked from these open wounds, making him grotesque. An inhuman, alien face pulled out from the collection of insects. In a grim spectacle, his spit drooled out as he spoke,

"As you can see, my body is failing me. This dungeon has locked me here for longer than I can fathom, that Schema pulling me from world to world. I've grown so very old now. Older than the stone beneath your feet."

The insects swarmed around me, twitching and squirming in waves. I have a really, really bad feeling about this.

Baldag continued, "You see, I can't create another body. A hivemind requires a body with a soul for harboring its might. Without it being pure however, I wouldn't be able to escape here. Just as the Lord of Worms couldn't escape, neither would I be able to. You just so happen to have such a body and such a soul."

I grimaced as I readied for combat. Baldag said, "Ah ah ah. I could kill you in moments. Your aura is indeed powerful, but it would take over two full minutes before you could even kill one of my insects with it."

My hands fell as he continued, "Indeed, I've watched you grow this entire time. Your body became like the metal your kind uses for weapons and armor, your skin like chainmail. You've grown a fine, almost perfect container for me. For that, I thank you."

My skin crawls as he continues, "By now, you've discovered I was lying about the ritual. I didn't want you to cause a fuss. It would be so problematic, hurting my new container. It reminds me, there was another, a man named Alfred Worm. You've met him. I had him in the palm of my hand as well. He was to be my old catalyst, my new body. It's quite unfortunate. You see, he was a summoner."

I lost my breath, paling as Baldag-Ruhl continued in his deep voice, "He had several cores on him that he held the conscious mana within. He was researching methods of giving them a holding cell, a sort of container. That was my downfall."

I lunged onto one knee and gripped the sides of my head, realization of what I'd done crushing me. Baldag-Ruhl continued,

"The ritual requires a pure soul, one that is uncorrupted. He made the ultimate sacrifice at that moment. As the ritual took place, he let the living spirit of those mana cores into his own mana, his own soul. He let his mind be torn apart as it held the boundless mana he collected over his life. It corrupted him, forcing my ritual to fail."

Baldag-Ruhl came closer, spreading his mandible arms, "Oh he had ruined my centuries of work with his sacrifice. I had thought I would be trapped in this place forever, slowly falling apart. Even as the the pieces of his mind shattered from holding the mana within him, he gave life to the cores. He surrounded them in pools of mana. Mana that I needed for my ritual."

Baldag glanced at the blue fire, "He had come up with a method of turning my trap against me, taking my resources for his own. He trapped himself into a pool of his own mana. thickening it until I could no longer reach him. He had become a monstrosity, a guard against my plans."

He nodded before saying, "Ah yes, I believed I would be trapped here for all eternity. Stuck in this prison constructed by that accursed presence. But that was when I was moved to a new world. A world without any knowledge of mana or of the eldritches."

I said, "That's when you met me."

"There were two of you, both being sent somewhere else. Using a portion of my ritual's runic power, I ripped one of you from the process as I came here. That is how you stayed here, in my domain. I had to protect you as you grew, preventing you from dying from all the mindless bats here."

I heaved a breath as I remembered how I survived. I palmed my forehead. Of course. This thing has been protecting me, letting me grow. That's why I could stay safe in a cove of boulders. That's why I could sleep without being eaten.

"You were so utterly, abysmally weak. I had to chew through a portion of a bat's wing for you to survive your first encounter. I had to protect you as you slept. I had to give you a goal to push you forward, before others came. You did more than I ever imagined. You killed what was left of Alfred Worm, letting me recover each of the cores. I could strengthen my ritual with them, making my new shell even stronger."

A tiny slither of despair leaked into my chest as he said, "Now your body is the perfect new shell for me. You are strong, but most importantly, you are recognized by that presence. It will let you walk out of this prison once I'm gone."

Despair turned into Dread as he continued, "But you see, with the mana from the rift here, I can turn your soul into my new carapace. I can open the rift and channel the mana to my purposes. I will crawl inside you and wear you as my new skin. I will walk right out of this prison, this Schema none the wiser. Your very soul will be my new body."

I glanced up into a pair of inhuman, twitching eyes. Baldag-Ruhl said, "Do not worry, little one. I will use your soul well. I will wear your flesh like my own."

Mandibles opened up as it spit, "Just let me crawl in."