This was the end; Yttirum was certain of it. The horrific scene before him seemed to confirm it as he watched in horror as he laid his eyes upon a skaldic guard lying on the floor. His organics were bubbling up in these awful boils and tumors, leaking a sickly yellow ooze that Yttirum wasn’t even aware they could produce. The tumors themselves seemed to react to the group’s sudden presence, squirming, writhing, and pulsing rapidly as if they were a hive of insects.
“Iiitttt,” Artillery said as the world around Yttirum came back into focus. “That’s not good.” For the first time, Yttirum could hear a twinge of concern in his voice. Artillery was aware of what was happening, and whatever it was, it scared him.
“What in Karzahni is a multiverse well? And what the heck happened to him?” Neirex exclaimed as she joined the group again.
Artillery returned a sharp glare at Neirex. “Read my mind one more time, and you’re dead.” He spat angrily as he moved closer to the skakdi. “Influx of multiverse radiation, gods, I wish we had a better name for that.” Artillery seemed so casual about this, but this time it seemed forced, like he was desperate to just get this situation over with. Without another word, Artillery shot a laser into the Skakdi’s head, killing it instantly.
“What caused this.” Yttirum finally spoke up as he watched the toa of light pull out a strange device and begin scanning the body.
"Oh, dear god.” Artillery murmured as the device let out three beeps. “Someone’s opened a well.” He said this as he began hitting the side of the device in some vain attempt to get it to cooperate.
“Is that bad? I’m assuming that’s bad.” Neirex chimed in, shifting Taox’s weight to her other shoulder, an action that almost cost her balance.
“Very. We need to act fast; I’ve already got the device tracking the radiation to its source; it has to be nearby considering our friend over here.” Artillery responded as he began jogging in place
“But what about the Mahri?” Yttirum inquired as he watched artillery grab a disk from his pocket, one that was too large for him to possibly fit in the pocket.
“If I may, I shall keep an eye on the mahri until you return. I have a feeling my target may be upon this fortress soon.” Ahurewa spoke up, something that earned a sharp glance from Artillery. For some inexplicable reason, Ahurewa’s mere existence seemed to disgust him.
“That’ll have to do.” Artillery responded flatly before addressing Yttirum and Neirex, “Sorry, but you two don’t really have a choice in the matter, if we don’t act quickly, you can say goodbye to your universe.” He gave an insincere apology as he placed the disk on the wall and took a step back. Before either of them could register, the disk had carved out a perfectly circle-shaped hole through not just one wall but several. Yttirum poked his head through and saw that the hole went all the way to the outside of the fortress.
“And you didn’t use this earlier, why?” He complained as he stepped away.
Artillery climbed through the hole and gestured for the others to follow. “I won’t bore you with the technical details, but if we’re able to fix this, I’ll be sure to give you the five-hour lecture, PowerPoint included with purchase.”
And with that, the group was off to Karzahni knows where to find Karzahni knows what.
To be concluded
Hey look at that the two people who read this fic didn’t have to wait 10 years for the next chapter.
Anywho you read that right, next chapter’s going to be the last chapter of this accursed story and I can finally be free to write other creative projects suited for other websites.