Chương 553: BECMI Chapter 552 – About Eternal Ambitions

Aelryinth … The trip Across time to the other Alternity was like taking ten steps through a misty corridor, Time re-aligning itself about us. I could see our arrival point had an infinite number of them extending off to the 'left' beyond my ability to sense, presumably points into the past that could be exploited if you knew what to do… or had the key, like Edge did.

Aelryinth... Contrary to expectations, there was nobody there to meet us on our arrival. Mostly that was because everyone knew it was going to be a monstrous amount of time on the Other Shore between visits this time, and we might need time to adjust. When Edge discretely came back into the Markspace on the Far Shore, that was bloody apparent. A Level 70 Eternal coming into a Markspace with mortals in it was way up past most of them, beyond their ability to 'see' without her actually flexing about it.

There was only one Immortal in this Markspace, but he seemed to be doing well, although he was definitely far below the Tier of Master Ialo and Captain Emeril on the Far Shore, or Bloodcrown and Himmelstern. From there, the only Eternals present now were Cirruluxul, the unique Storm Dragon who had accompanied Edge back here, but had made it clear that her home was now on the Other Shore and the Ringlands they'd built there. Given four thousand years of investment in that world, that was only proper.

Cirru was likely one of the most powerful dragons in existence right now, which would not be appreciated by the local Ruling or elder Dragons at any level. It was easy to get back home to her own realm, and a world where the Ruling Dragons were actually equals or inferiors to her now. She would mostly be cleaning up some matters left behind here and departing the planet as her residence. Regardless, visiting would only be an Interplanetary Teleport away once Confluence passed.

The Sama and Briggs of this side kind of blinked at the two of us there in Markspace. They were both Eternals who couldn't and didn't really want to leave this world, staying in control of their own Federation. They knew the result would be that those who went with me would massively out-Level them, but that didn't much concern them. Seeing me come in so Wide and Deep was a bit of a shock, like a compressed and dense gemstone, instead of the massive glowing crystalline wonder that was Lady Edge there.

The upstairs study was prepared for a meeting for us, and the three parties involved met us quickly. Ever the cheeky one, Sama promptly poked Edge several times, then examined her finger, finding nail and finger both intact.

"I was sure it would crumble on contact, Briggs!" she exclaimed, holding it up for him to examine, too.

"So was I. Good gods, Edge, your weight in the Markspace is probably forty times what it was before! I can only tell you are there because I'm also Eternal!" he protested heartily, but still bent down to give her a hug.

"It's not been long for us, but welcome back!" His bones creaked when she hugged him back.

"Owww…" he said theatrically.

"All Stats have to be at 75 or higher to reach Level 67, the equivalent to an Immortal Hierarch," Edge informed them patiently.

"That's not the equal of a Power of Ten 75 Stat, as you know, but it's still over 50."

"And doubtless you reached 100 on your mentals," Tek, the Green Immortal here, smiled and shook her hand as well.

"And you are, sir?" he asked for everyone.

"May I introduce you to Aelryinth, a traveler stumbling by from Terra-Luna, a Terra alternate. He will be traveling on using a Pyramid as an anchor focus, but is departing from here instead of the Other Shore because of what we've discovered about Confluence," Edge interceded smoothly.

"Pleasure to meet everyone. And yes, Sama and Briggs, I'm THAT Aelryinth. Continually sued by Sauron, yes." They both opened their mouths, looked at the Rings on my hands, closed them, blinking as they looked between the two of us, wondering how awkward matters were.

"Confluence?" Tek asked, not filled in on the underlying facts and choosing to ignore any hesitation with his questions.

"There's going to be an issue with the immigrants returning if they want to?" he continued sincerely.

"Yes." We all sat down, Sama pouring the wine for everyone as she recovered her poise swiftly and Edge continued.

"The timelines are increasingly resonating as 'current time' catches up via the Portal, and the Other Shore, as an offshoot of this timeline, will either merge or be destroyed as they both hit the same 'Present', as I informed you all might be the case. However, the alternity has been massively reinforced on Nown by the existence of active Forsaken for four thousand years, and can't be wiped as easily as the rest of the continuity.

The gods of Heaven are currently arranging matters for Nown to take up the full temporal momentum of the alternity and shift the megalith into orbit on the other side of the sun here, effectively taking the entire force of the merging upon itself, allowing the rest of the alternity to fade away without a problem." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"And keeping it a complete secret from the Immortals here, at least until they go exploring the system," Briggs nodded slowly in understanding.

"Yet travel between here and there could be done with IX's… or the Mirrors, with very little problem.

"What are we looking at for forces?" he inquired.

"Over two hundred and fifty of our own Eternals, consisting of most of the Masters who left here, and a considerable number of their children. The highest are the Mick and his wife Laurentine, who are sitting at 61 and 60, respectively." Briggs clenched his fist with grim excitement.

"That's a lot of power to withstand the Immortals. The gods?"

"Heaven can already be accessed for souls here, although the Immortals are not fully aware of such things as yet. When the other timeline ceases, the Pantheon can place itself here smoothly… but I imagine Lunia, Haki, Dame Adama, and Helos can already cross the divide and manifest here if they wish. They've all reached Greater God status over there, and completely dominated the Immortals there in conflict."

"Is there going to be problems with conquering Eternals?" Sama had to ask.

"I know Magni went over there, and I assume he survived?"

"He's 52 or so, last I checked," Edge answered her calmly.

"And I doubt it. Thor and Sif dominated all of them over there, of course, being Emperor and Empress giving them a Karmic advantage none of the others could match… and also providing them a great example to live up to.

"No, none of them have much interest in mortal-level conflicts now. Just looking after Master-strength Aspirants in combat tends to try their patience. Most are raring to go exploring other worlds, but are notably wary of Immortals attacking them if they do." She turned her eyes on me.

"Master Aelryinth gave them an alternative." They all blinked, and turned to look at me.

"There is an alternate Earth out there in another multiverse, one dimensionally much closer to my home. A Shard of mine who came to be known as Traveler ended up there. She sent out word to us of a great and horrible magic that dovetailed with other things I have experienced.

"It is part of one of the great Cancers upon Creation, or it was. She might have solved it on that world. Something called The Shroud." I glanced at Tek.

"Can you repeat that?" I asked him evenly.

"Repeat what?" he asked, blinking. Everyone stared at him.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"That is the same reaction as the Avatars of the gods had on the Other Shore," I informed everyone else as they wondered what had just happened.

"Immortals and gods can retain no knowledge of the Shroud. Don't worry about Tek being confused, he'll forget he was confused, too." Sama whistled, Briggs cracked his knuckles as they glanced at one another and the completely oblivious Tek.

"That is some nasty, subtle shit, Ael," Sama said hesitantly.

"It's reaching all the way into another multiverse?"

"It only seems to affect beings at a higher level of existence. I've been told Immortals are fifth-dimensional beings?" I pointed at Tek, who nodded once.

"Eternals, however, are not. Basically Eternals are mortals who have just stepped beyond death and won't die of natural causes. They may have taken magical steps to make it very hard to kill them, but they aren't Immortal, and any special energies they master aren't intrinsically part of their status."

"Obviously they are concealing something from the gods," Briggs rumbled, staring at me intently. This version of him had darker skin, but the same pale violet eyes, although this Sama was still a blonde with heavens-blue eyes. Both still had overwhelming physical, spiritual, and magical presences, related to being Ranthas, massive amounts of ki, and their Forsaken Auras, of course!

"The reason Traveler is important is because the Shroud was also behind an attack on Terra-Luna that we tracked back to a world called Pantera. We assaulted the Shrouded planet with Terra-Luna's full power, and found out that the entire world had been wiped of any life above the elemental." I. e. down to the dirt.

"The demi-lich in charge of it was working on the magic to kill off the land spirits, than the planet itself to empower itself." I paused to let them digest that before continuing.

"Apparently this Shroud is a cover for a vast necromantic empire of mind-boggling size. It musters an army of the dead of a world it has just conquered, opens Death Gates to other unsuspecting worlds, and marches its army through. When it does, the Shroud descends.

"The gods are cut off completely and lose all memory of the world. This amnesia spreads to direct Divine servants, such as Fiends and Celestials, and even many of the stronger Aberrant entities and powerful things of Mythos.

"All the dead start getting up at midnight, which rapidly creates a disaster situation for the living even before the crisis created by an army of a hundred million undead showing up.

"The Shroud cannot be completely lifted until every undead creature on the planet is basically destroyed, once it encompasses the world. It never managed to establish itself on Terra-Luna, because we annihilated the arriving army and destroyed the Death-Gate, then chose to attack before they made another attempt with a larger force.

"Given our calculations, we estimate that somewhere between 1800 and 9000 worlds have fallen under the Shroud and been purged of the living. They are likely adding on average a world every year, minimum, to that tally." Sama and Briggs stared at me. Tek did for a moment, then completely forgot what I had just said.

"That… is an excellent quest for a bunch of Eternals," Lady Edge pointed out calmly for them.

"Fuuuuck. It's almost tailor-made as something to occupy any number of Eternals and remove them from the field!" Sama spluttered indignantly.

"The gods can't help at all?" she protested. I shook my head slowly.

"No celestial anywhere I've asked this of can retain knowledge of this information. There's probably a way to get some help, but the gods will still forget about it.

"I posit that keeping severed Avatars under the Shroud and below the Eternal limit will allow those Avatars to retain awareness, and any Celestials with them. However, if they contact their greater selves, they would be wiped of all such knowledge if they retain any Divinity," I could only sigh.

"Likewise, Celestial servants might retain their knowledge while under the Shroud, but not if they leave it… barring certain magical means."

"And you can provide a route to this grand quest of saving worlds when you leave," Sif winced. I nodded slowly.

"And I will without hesitation provide it to Eternals who want to counter the Shroud. I am under the very distinct impression that there are many worlds that need all the help they can get, and they don't and won't know it until millions of undead pop up in an army no normal world could possibly stop, and all their buried dead come back to life to kill them."