Mill knew Dr. Athena would be fine. Everything was going according to his plan. But now, he needed to train his Hole fragments even further if he was going to succeed. Suddenly, he remembered his friends on The Forebearer, and in the Warp Pocket Athena had. He quickly grabbed a Pocket off his belt and modified it to become another entrance into Athena’s Pocket. He then simply stepped through, and grabbed Shrill and Seer. He then quickly took them back to The Forebearer, and flew off to parts of the Multiverse unknown. … “Bored now. Do whatever the heck you want.” Dr. Athena gasped--not that gasping in the middle of the emptiness of space in an unknown universe made any sense. She moved her arms in front of her. SHE did. Not The Knowledge. Why was zhe letting her control herself? “Duh. It’s boring to completely control someone 24/7. I’m just making absolute certain you don’t go off anywhere that I don’t want you to go off to, don’t say stuff I don’t want you to say, don’t do stuff I don’t want you to do, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.” “NOO!!!” Dr. Athena screeched in her mind. She had somehow recovered from the two asteroid impacts--probably because of The Knowledge. “I AM NOT LETTING YOU BAN ME FROM DOING ANYTHING! LET ME FREE THIS INSTANT!” She tried her hardest to concentrate on getting back to Mill’s Warp Pocket Room, tried her hardest to spawn wormholes to do so… And couldn’t. “Yeah, no. That was your last freebie, too. From now on, every time you try to do something I’ve banned you from doing, you’re getting mental torture in addition to the standard unsatisfactory results.” “UGGH!!! WHAT CAN I DO TO GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD?!” “I dunno. Probably nothing. You’re too inexperienced. Plus, I have all the knowledge in The Book of Doomsdark. I feel like stealing that one idea your friend Mill came up with. What was it, again? Anti-Holes? Yeah, I’ll get to thinking about how to do that. ME WANT! Yay. Sure, he spoiled my fun--but when we’re through with the Mezkiah, WE WILL HAVE THE FUN!!! Or, at least I will.” “Wait--what the falgen is a Mezkiah?” “Hah-hah. Told you you’re too inexperienced. To be fair, I didn’t know it was called a Mezkiah, either, until I read that book. You see, all ten of the Multiverses--which consist of Hole--plus Worm all compose the entirety of existence. And the entirety of this existence is called “Mezkiah.” I guess. That’s what the book says! Specifically, “Two Mezkiah.” One Mezkiah was way back when when only Hole existed. Apparently. I don’t remember any time when only Hole existed.” “O--kay then. Where are we, anyway?” “Oh, we’re in the 8-Hole.” “Meaning?” “We’re in the Multiverse consisting of eight Holes, silly.” “HOW THE FALGEN DID WE GET HERE?” “Book of Doomsdark. Duh. Remember, I READ THE WHOLE FALGING BOOK. I know how to go from Multiverse to Multiverse now, completely bypassing the Worm barriers! Yippity-yahoo! The only problem is, every time we do it, WORM FINDS OUT. So, we can’t really stay anywhere secretly, but I could care less. Now, LET’S GET MUNCHING!” “What do you mean, ‘Let’s get munching?’” “You know what I mean. Beat up some Holes, absorb their Holes, et cetera, et cetera, until we become THE ULTIMATE 110-HOLE!” “That’s stupid. I’m not going to do that for you! I’m not violating other people’s freedoms just to satisfy your greedy hunger!” “Then you’re in luck. I gave you some freedom, remember. You can consume them whatever way you want, whether it be by convincing them to, through sheer force, by making an alliance, any way you want. As long as I get my Holes. If you don’t, I’ll just come on out and eat them up, or I’ll just completely control you again…” “Oh, fine. But I’m only doing this PEACEFULLY. Also, I’m only doing this because YOU’LL MAKE IT HAPPEN EITHER WAY. I swear, the moment I gain control again--” “You’re not getting control again, Dr. Athena. You’re never getting control again. By the way, you should seriously stop calling yourself ‘Dr. Athena.’ That’s one of the stupidest names I’ve ever heard. Why don’t you just use your Hole name, Acel? Heck, why not make up a better name? There’s no naming legislation around here. We’re practically the most powerful beings in the Mezkiah besides Worm. Derp.” “Uh, no. Sorry. I’m not calling myself Acel just because you said so.” “Oh, fine, whatever. Look, it’s a Hole! Quickly, eat it!” “I’m not going to eat it--” “What up, mate?” A large, humanoid silvery-blue gecko-like creature wearing a cowboy hat and really Western getup just popped up in front of Dr. Athena. The gecko creature was holding a golden staff, and for some reason was constantly poking at its two enormous black eyes with the staff. It seemed to be trying to remove something. “Erp, there we go...there. That should take care of it. Got me worms out!” said the gecko. The Knowledge suddenly popped out of Dr. Athena’s head, narrowed zher eyes, and screeched, “Hold it, sucker! How do YOU know about Worm? And what is that staff? How are you removing Worm with THAT thing?” The gecko didn’t seem to notice that The Knowledge had called it a “sucker.” “‘Cause I don’t play by the rules, chum. That’s how,” winked the gecko. It turned to Dr. Athena and grinned. “Yo, is this your pet puffball? My my, it’s quite the hilarious creature.” “HEY! I AM NOT A PET--” “Err...well...you see...this puffball...kind of is trying to force me into consuming every--” Her mouth snapped shut. The Knowledge refused to allow the cat out of the bag. “Ooh, I see.” said the gecko. “Well, I think I mighty might be able to help you out with this problemo of yours.” The gecko held out his hand. “The name’s Nickel. Dom Nickel Lizard. But everyone calls me Dom. Or Nickel. Or Lizard. Or the Hole of Rulebreaking. Or the Outlaw. Or the ‘One who topples oppressive governments because FREEDOM.’ Or the New Frontier. Or the ‘Guy who travels around multiple Multiverses for some reason.’ Or the ‘Guy who Worm just can’t catch.’ Or ‘The Uninfectable.’ Or anything, really. Call me whatever you like.” Dr. Athena shook his hand and said, “How about--” “Moron!” yelled The Knowledge. “Let’s call him ‘Moron!’” “Nickel.” “I SAID MORON! Oh, fine, I didn’t care that much anyway.” “So, you a 10-Hole, aye?” Nickel whistled. “Mighty impressed. Though I’m not one to sacrifice people’s individuality for my own personal gains. That’s why I stick with one Hole.” Before Dr. Athena could reply back, The Knowledge screeched, “THIS GUY SUCKS! QUICKLY, CONSUME HIM!” “Ain’t happenin,” grinned Nickel. “No one can catch ‘The Uncatchable.’” “OH YEAH! TAKE THIS!” Dr. Athena suddenly, against her own free will, snapped her fingers. To her horror, black holes appeared all around them. She and The Knowledge were left unaffected for some reason. But Nickel was nowhere to be found, either. “Hide-and-seek, huh?” screeched The Knowledge. “Okay. Fine. I’ll play your HIDE-AND-SEEK.” The Knowledge spit out an Eon Timer and the two disappeared onto a grass planet. “What just--” “Happened? Oh, I blew up that Universe and got us over to another one. The one those black holes would have sent their matter to. Let’s eat some Lizard.” “Nah, I’ll pass.” Nickel floated down from the sky, safe and sound. The Knowledge narrowed zher eyes and muttered, “Oooh, survivalist type. I see. You’re really--” Something popped out from the grass. It was a metal box with eyes on it. “Hello. I am Stuel. I’m a Hole!” Before anyone could do anything about it, The Knowledge grabbed Stuel with zher tongue and ate him. Stuel tried to fight back, but The Knowledge had the power of ten Holes on zher. Zhe swallowed and said, “Mmmm, yummy.” “KNOWLEDGE!!! THAT’S… THAT’S JUST PURE EVIL!!!” screeched Dr. Athena. “Aaah, get used to it. Now we’re an 11-Hole! Yippee!” Then The Knowledge turned to Nickel. “Now it’s your turn!” The Knowledge stuck zher tongue out at Nickel, but Nickel just used his staff to chop off The Knowledge’s tongue with utter ease. “Wah… Hey! Dat’s Naught Fai! Now I khan eak popelee!” “Hey, I think you mean ‘That’s not fair, now I can’t speak properly’ mate.” For some reason, Nickel did not act like this was out of the ordinary. At all. In fact, he didn’t even act like The Knowledge consuming Stuel was actually...evil… The Knowledge grew a new tongue and got angry. “How the heck did a measly little 1-Hole like YOU snap off my 11-Hole tongue?” “It’s all in the staff, mate. All in the staff.” “And what exactly IS YOUR STAFF?” “It’s made of Worm. I stole it from the menacing creature when the guy ate me up for trying to break through Multiverse Barriers. Now the guy can’t catch me.” Suddenly, The Knowledge’s entire mannerism changed. “Oooh, can I see the staff. I’m a big fan of staffs. Really, really, REALLY big fan.” “Thanks, but no thanks. Here’s what I can do, though.” “Really? And what’s that?” Nickel pointed the staff directly at The Knowledge. He cocked his head and said, “This.” … Aerstron was wandering around The Mezkiah, searching, always searching. Occasionally he would come across a Hole, who would either befriend or challenge him. Those he befriended he sent on their way, a little closer to their individual goals. Those who challenged him were erased and Formatted. Floating through space, he felt his thoughts wander to the incarnations of Acel, especially Dr. Athena. How would they react when they saw him again? Would they accept what he has become? Or shun him, or worse, try to destroy him? He paused those thoughts, and began to meditate, because thinking nothing at all was better than thinking off his long off friends. ... Whatever Nickel was about to do, Dr. Athena never got to see it. She and The Knowledge were suddenly in the middle of space again. “What--what just happened?” asked Dr. Athena. The Knowledge was frowning, as if zhe was thinking deeply about something. Finally, zhe muttered, “That little jerk almost pulverized my control over you. That staff was made of Worm… Good thing I transported us away, FAR FAR AWAY, at the last second. We’ll need to stay away from that one…” Dr. Athena blinked. Nickel was THIS close to freeing her from The Knowledge’s grasp. THIS CLOSE. She stared straight at The Knowledge and screeched, “YOU LITTLE MONSTER--” Then The Knowledge screamed for some reason. And fell into Dr. Athena’s head. Suddenly, Dr. Athena felt like she had complete control over herself again. She blinked. The power of eleven Holes...she could finally feel the full onset of this power...it was incredible...vastly, vastly, incredible...This was...THE GREATEST FEELING IN THE MEZKIAH!!! She looked up and saw Nickel. He had followed them. His staff was pointing straight at where The Knowledge used to be. “Good day, mate. Really, really, really good day for you.” “THANK YOU SO MUCH--” “No need to thank me, miss. Wherever I see injustice, I come to the rescue. They don’t call me ‘The Superlizard’ for nothing. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to ask a small favor of you. “ANYTHING FOR THE ONE WHO HAS--” “No need for praises, my friend. Now, what I want you to do, is to become a 110-Hole.” Dr. Athena’s smile disappeared. Why in the Mezkiah was the very being who had saved her from that task trying to make her do it? She narrowed her eyes. “Why should I--” “Now, I know what you’re thinking, friend. You’re thinking, ‘Why would the most rugged individualist in the Mezkiah be asking you to become the ultimate 110-Hole?’ Well, I myself hate the fact that we need this to happen. But we must. You see, the Holes are all divided. And divided, we cannot defeat Worm. We simply cannot. As long as at least one Hole remains uninfected, that would foil Worm’s plans. I am that one Hole. By my extraordinary luck, I have this staff, and that will leave me uninfected, in the case that everyone else does become infected. Worm would have won long ago if it were not for me. As a result, I must be the last one to become a part of you. I sense that you are good. I also sense that there is someone within you that is good. One of you or the other could do the honors. But yes, I need one of you to do it. Voluntarily or not, gather all of the Holes.” “But what about anti-Holes?” asked Dr. Athena. “I wish it were that simple, mate. I wish it were.” “Wait--how do YOU know about anti-Holes?” Nickel blinked. “Well, I read it in The Mez--” “But I have it right here! Or, at least, it’s called the Book of Doomsdark now…” Dr. Athena snapped her fingers and The Book of Doomsdark appeared in her hand. Nickel took one glance at it and said, “That’s not The Mez I read.” “But the book was once called The Mez!” “Yes, well, that’s nice and all. Really, really nice. But that’s not The Mez I read.” “Maybe there’s multiple Mezes?” “Looks like it. The Narrator’s probably trolling us.” Dr. Athena remembered the tentacled humanoid she had met way back in HIGH. That being was the very one that had given Lord Flare The Mez to give to HER to begin with. Perhaps that version was Worm’s…intentionally given to trap Lectrue. She blinked. She had completely forgotten about releasing Lectrue. She tapped into the immense power of her eleven Holes and Lectrue suddenly popped out of nowhere. “Ugh...what the falgen--” Lectrue put his hand over his head, trying to focus. “What is going on--I just--The Knowledge--” He looked at Dr. Athena. He frowned. “Did you gain control of The Knowledge and release me?” “Yes, although I wouldn’t have gained control if it weren’t for Nickel over there.” Nickel waved. Lectrue turned to him. Nickel said, “Pleasure to meet you, mate.” Lectrue just stared at the staff. He murmured, “Worm…” Then he suddenly snapped into focus and realized what he was. “Dr. Athena,” he said, “You now have eleven Holes?” “Ummm…yes?” “Okay. I think I know what we should do. We should--” “Become a 110-Hole?” asked Dr. Athena. “Yeah, that.” “Wait, what about you? Don’t you want your ten Holes back? The Knowledge back? The--” “We can share.” “Ummm...okay...so, like…five and six? Take turns with The Knowledge?” “No. More like we both have the Holes and The Knowledge at the same time” “But how does that work?” “We fuse consciousnesses.” … A large cloud of… something was zipping through spacetime at alarming speeds. Headed straight toward one Dr. Athena, accompanied by Lectrue and The Rule Breaker. If the cloud had a face it would smile. This was going to be an interesting encounter. ... She just stared. Lectrue just snapped, “Look, that’s what I did with the ten Holes in our home Multiverse!” “But then why are YOU the only one I see controlling your 10-Hole, and not any of the other Holes within you?” Lectrue just sighed. “Well, let’s see. Wizel, Hel, and Thel are all evil, so...no, they don’t get to run me. Infinitel loves thinking anyway, and you’ve met her--all she does is sit in a throne all day long, thinking. When I was a little kid, before I got The Knowledge, Morel came up to me and injected himself into me. It had something to do with ‘releasing the chaos upon the multiverse.’ Well, nothing really happened, so I guess he was just off his rocker. Zilchel doesn’t really care, so he never does anything. Orakel is insane--if she were to run me, she would go around, brainwashing people into believing that demons or something are chasing them. Krinfiel has some sort of insane quest to maintain his integrity, so he says that he only wants to exist in reality if he’s the only one--which would force us all to separate from him. And you...well, you’ve been me before, but you felt it awkward to talk with your past self, so you never bothered being in charge of me while you are around. If that makes any sense. So it just ended up being me, most of the time. You won’t believe how convenient it is, just living in a mind all day long, living in your own fantasy world, forever.” The large cloud approached the pair having their discussion. “HELLO,” the voice boomed, “I AM CHRYSALIS, FORBEARER OF THE NEW MEZKIAH! ARE YOU FRIENDS OF THE NEW ORDER?” Dr. Athena and Lectrue just stared at this being. “What was this strange power before them?” Dr. Athena wondered. Lectrue cocked his head and frowned. “You’re bringing in a new Mezkiah? Does that mean you’re trying to help Worm give birth to Turn? That’s the only radical change I can think of that would make this whole mess immensely different.” “HAHAHAHA! NO! WORM SHALL BE FORMATTED TO FIT THE GOALS OF THE ENGINEER, JUST AS THE HOLES WILL BE!” the cloud replied, letting out an eerie laugh. “Wait--so you’re saying you’re trying to consume Worm...and every single Hole?” Dr. Athena asked. Then she suddenly realized what this meant for them. She turned to Lectrue, “I think we should get away--” “GET AWAY? YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET AWAY FROM ME, BUT THE ENGINEER HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN YOU. I HAVE NO CLUE WHY, BUT ALL WRITERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN ORDERS TO BRING YOU TO HIM. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER WRITER, WE BECOME MORE NUMEROUS EVERY DAY. THE ENGINEER WILL HAVE HIS AUDIENCE WITH YOU.” “Writers? What do you mean by that, exactly?” asked Dr. Athena. She turned to Nickel to ask him if he knew what was going on, but he was not there. He left a note, reading, “Sayonara. I wouldn’t stick around if I were you.” “O--kay, then,” she muttered. I guess we’ll just--” “Fuse.” She turned to Lectrue. He was dead serious. “Okay, how do we do that?” “Oh, it’s quite simple. I just have to enter your mind. Here, I’ll do it right now.” He disappeared. His voice still echoed in Dr. Athena’s mind: “There. I’m here. Now, I don’t want to force you into doing anything, but...I would highly suggest we leave. We have NO IDEA who this being is. Wait, what are you doing?” Dr. Athena moved closer to the cloud and muttered, “Wonder what’s in here…” As Dr. Athena moved closer to the cloud, she could sense a strange power emanating from it. “COME WITH ME, THE ENGINEER WILL BE PLEASED TO SEE YOU. HE HAS GIVEN US ORDERS NOT TO HARM YOU, NOR ANY OTHER PEACEFUL BEING. WE ARE MERELY TO FORMAT THOSE WHO HAVE AGREED TO JOINING THE NEW ORDER.” While Lectrue was fervently telling Dr. Athena in her mind that this was not a good idea, she asked, “Um...how about you explain to me what this whole ‘New Order’ thing is before I decide whether or not I want to commit? And what does it mean to ‘format?’” “MY ORDERS DO NOT ALLOW ME TO TEACH, HOWEVER I MAY SUMMON ONE WHO CAN.” And with that, a large wormhole appeared, and another cloud came through. The Writer passed through the wormhole as well, leaving Dr. Athena with this new cloud. The new cloud seemed to shimmer for a moment, and then took the form of a human male. “Hello, Dr. Athena, I am a Teacher. I have been sent ahead to teach sentient Holes about the New Order. What do you wish to know?” Suddenly, before Dr. Athena could repeat her question, The Knowledge popped out of her head and screeched, “WAAAAAAHHHH!!! I HAD SUCH A GOOD RUN THIS TIME, TOO!!!! NOW I HAVE TO BE UNDER CONTROL AGAIN!!! WAH!!! NO MORE FUN!!!” Then The Knowledge looked at the Teacher and scowled. “Who’s this loon? You know what? I don’t care.” The Knowledge just floated around, sniffing at nothing. Dr. Athena fumed at how easily it had escaped her mind--she knew that it would no longer pose a threat, but still, at least The Knowledge could have a suitable punishment… She turned back to the Teacher. “I wish to know what the New Order is and what it means to format. I’d also like to know what would happen if I decided to join your, uh, New Order.” “Well, to begin, we will start with the nature of Worm and Hole. Both consist of rudimentary particles that are capable of performing calculations on their own. When you get enough of these together, they form a computing unit of great power. The particles of Worm and Hole are the same, however, they are arranged differently for each. Think of the particles as hardware, what does the computing, and their arrangement as software, the program it is running. The Engineer has found a new arrangement of particles. He has created a new ‘software’ for these particles to run. One that will unify the entirety of The Mezkiah. Worm and Hole fragments merely need to be Formatted to be able to support it.” “Hmmm…interesting…” muttered Lectrue in Dr. Athena’s mind. “So I suppose what Worm was talking about with regards to Turn was a different type of ‘software,’ then…” Dr. Athena asked, “Wait…but who’s the Engineer? And what exactly will happen when the whole Mezkiah is united? Different Universes being united into Infins wasn’t such a good idea...wouldn’t this be the exact same thing? Or not?” “No, no, no. The Infins became corrupt due to power. When the Mezkiah is united, each being will be given an equal amount of Full. The Infins will be torn apart into their base organisms as well, free to live out their lives. All beings will be able to interact with each other on the Full level, and it will be impossible for one being to take another beings Fullness. And as for the Engineer, no one knows. He just appeared one day, and began Formatting large pieces of Worm and Hole alike.” Lectrue frowned in Dr. Athena’s mind. “I know not what this being is talking about with regards to freeing the Infins. Perhaps freeing the Infins in the disconnected time-space that got consumed by Worm. The Infins in my Hole of Thel are already freed into their various organisms.” Dr. Athena imagined herself in her mind and frowned. “What do you mean, they’re already free?” “I’m from an inconsistent future, Dr. Athena. Remember what I told you: I freed all the beings in the Infins, then Thel consumed them all, then after a long battle, I as a 9-Hole consumed Thel. Afterwards, I freed up all those beings from within Thel again. They’re living their lives in our Mind-space, hidden from our view unless we decide to look.” “Wait, but if you can do that--” “We don’t need this Engineer. We are perfectly capable of doing this ourselves.” “Wouldn’t we need extra help, though? This Engineer’s method seems far more advanced then anything we can come up with. Plus, we know we’re stuck with Worm.” “I don’t trust this being. What if it is all a ruse? We barely MET this cloud. You do realize that you can’t just go around, trusting every being you meet in the Mezkiah, don’t you? When I first met The Knowledge, it told me it was going to help me and my friends get out of the grasp of the Infins. It said it was going to help us all. I was a fool. It tricked me. It controlled me. It gave me mental torture. I don’t feel too keen on trusting some being who’s making such extraordinary claims.” Dr. Athena thought to herself for a bit. “Hmmm...that makes sense...but still…” She was snapped back into reality by the sound of The Knowledge shrieking. Dr. Athena asked zher, “What is it?” “THIS MONSTER WANTS TO CREATE EQUALITY!” screeched The Knowledge, pointing zher tongue at the Teacher. “Well, yes, I guess so, I mean, he did say that he was going to give every being equal amounts of Full once everything is united.” “BLASTED FIEND! I WILL--” Dr. Athena grabbed The Knowledge and put zher in her head. She groaned. After all this madness with The Knowledge, she finally knew what it felt like to be Lectrue. Then she remembered what she was going to ask. “Oh, yeah. How do I know you’re not making this all up?” “The only way you may know for sure is by seeing the Engineer. Your safety is guaranteed. Merely talk with him, that is all he wants.” Between Lectrue’s warnings that they could not trust this being and that they should just leave and The Knowledge’s nonsensical screamings of “SYNERGIST!” “COMMUNIST!” SOCIALIST!” “ANTICAPITALIST!” “EQUALIST!” “ANOTHER MISUSED POLITICAL TERM!” “I DON’T CARE WHAT WORDS I USE ANYMORE!”, Dr. Athena was finding it difficult to think. Was this really what was going on in Lectrue’s mind all the time? Lectrue replied, “No, it’s actually worse. Right now, in my mind--my mind inside your mind--I have taken the liberty to have all the other Holes you have inside it so you can concentrate better,” Lectrue said. “Now please. I strongly advise you to make like Nickel and leave.” “INSERT DEROGATORY TERM HERE!” screeched The Knowledge. “INSERT COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TERM HERE!” Dr. Athena just screamed, “OH FINE, TAKE ME TO THE ENGINEER ALREADY!” “You’re making a big mistake,” muttered Lectrue while The Knowledge said, “INSERT POLITICALLY INCORRECT TERM HERE!” “First, let me shut that little bugger up for a while.” The Teacher lightly touched Athena’s forehead and The Knowledge was silenced. Then he gestured to a door that had just appeared out of empty space, opening it into a room beyond. TO BE CONTINUED… ~Lord Fell-caller ~Pentachorus
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 06:34:20 +0000
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