Riveting Ripples 1 (Patreon)

Tags: harem, multiverse, empire building, Rust, Worm start, post-GM,

Tags to be added here as the story progresses.

-VB-

Riveting Ripples
Chapter 1

-VB-

Hi.

I’m Alan.

I’m a dumbass that chose to fill out a CYOA page thinking it was just make-believe fiction.

It was real.

I took a lot of bad options.

I took Slaughterhouse Nine Target, Endbringer Target, Geas that fucked with my mind, mental disorder, bloodthirsty, irritable, not so gentle push, Case-53-. Yeah, I took a lot of bad ones, which explained why Leviathan, in the final battle against Scion, somehow managed to hit me instead of Scion in one instance even though I was nowhere near Scion at the time.

Did I mention that I had to fight Scion right off the bat?

Because I had to participate in Golden Morning right off the bat.

Ugh.

Okay, so I made a mistake playing a CYOA and then sticking around. I also made a mistake of choosing two really shitty details for my Geas and Mental Disorder: harem and hypersexuality, respectively.

Yeah, I know. I’m a fucking pervert. On top of that, I am a closet pervert! How the fuck am I suppose to get a harem going  when my real life experience in anything romantic was two girlfriends over a period of a decade?!

Not at the same time, either. One at the beginning of the decade and another at the end of that decade.

The only fucking reason I lived was because I took all of the points my shitty choices got me and dumped them into multiple broken powers that really didn’t matter in the end because despite making myself into discount Gilgamesh-Yaldabaoth hybrid with respawn mechanics of Rust and the mobility of Doormaker in my hands, I still got my ass handed to me by Scion. A lot.

It’s only after I died a few times that my arguably “weakest” power, Immunity, kicked in and made his golden beam of doom ineffective against me.

That’s when he started pummeling me with asteroids as boxing gloves, by the way.

It wasn’t until he burned the entire area we were in that the respawn point I’d put down (a sleeping bag) had burned away with the assault and I respawned elsewhere.

Now, I’ve fought in Golden Morning. In fact, I was the sole reason why Scion was held down to a single world for a full half-day. With such power, what was I going to do?

It took me no more than a few minutes to think of an answer.

Personal superpower was good and all, but I wanted more than that. Why be a hermit or be at the bottom of the totem pole when I could be at the top?

I wanted to build a kingdom.

-VB-

"Is he dead?" I growled as I dug myself out of the ashes of some rural countryside. There was no farm or greenery as far as my eyes could see, because Scion had burnt this side of the continent in the battle that saw me out of action temporarily. Other parahumans who were as tough of at least half as tough dug themselves out, too, though their eyes glowed dimly with blue of Khepri's mind control.

Immune to the control as I was, I fought with a radio. Yes, all I had for communication was a bloody radio.

"[... He's dead.]"

"Thank God!" I spat as I let my ass drop to the rubble. I ignored all of the blood and sweat on me, and focused on disinfecting and closing all of my wounds.

Sure, I fought with might no less than an Endbringer, but I was far squishier! Hell, I died a few times, too. If it wasn't for the generic respawn mechanics inherent to most games and Gamers, I would have died a long time ago.

But I lived and contributed, if slightly, to the Golden Morning.

Scion - the Warrior - was dead.

Of course, the Titan Crisis now started its countdown over all parahuman universes, but my Shard and I weren't going to stay for that.

I would stay a bit longer, however, to see how the rest of the parahumans do. It would also serve as an opportunity to find parahumans who might be open for recruitment.

Suddenly, the few capes who were here all stopped glowing from their eyes.

'And so Khepri dies,' I hummed. 'Hope Contessa doesn't kill Taylor Hebert.'

Golden Morning had come to an end.

Opening a Door with my Doormaker, I emerged onto Earth Gimel and the refugee camps that have been set up there.

Most of the people here were from Earth Bet North America, but looked one and all like Syrian refugees from my original world. They had some of their belongings, phones, and clothes, but there was a distinct lack of food and sanitation.

I watched as parahumans arrived from their battle. Some collapsed immediately while others dithered before sitting or laying down. What few doctors and medics that were in camp rushed to help.

Among the arriving parahumans was Tattletale.

"So you lived," I grinned.

She glared at me. "Didn't you die?" she snapped.

"Oh, I did. It's a curse to be immortal, because I have to talk with you," I groused before glancing over her shoulder at the other parahumans who were coming through. "I see that she's not here."

"No, she isn't. She left."

"To die?"

"..."

After a while, I clicked my tongue. "When you see Contessa, ask her how many bullets it took," I hinted before pushing off from the edge of a wooden crate I had been sitting on since my arrival an hour ago. There was a moment of silence before Tattletale really got angry for a moment but also … understanding.

Khepri couldn't be allowed to live, after all. Perhaps Taylor would survive but Shard-Human Synthesis wasn't exactly a well-studied science, which made the chances of her survival with Khepri removed abysmal at best.

I turned and looked around. The civilians who had been helping the parahumans immediately backed off when they saw me start to move. They'd seen me fight and I was not a neat and clean fighter.

"Where are you going?" Tattletale asked with a snap. She didn't like me, and that was fair. I did threaten her before when she pushed too far with her words.

I paused in my turn away from her to think about how I should respond. She couldn't read me with her Shard, so I took some time, which made her irritated.

I walked up to her and patted her head, and she slapped the offending appendage from her.

"Nothing you will ever know," I grinned as I rubbed in her face her inability to read me. "See ya." And then with another Door, I was gone from Earth Gimel with but a back step. I made sure to etch that angry look on her face into my memory. It was a petty revenge, but that was all I had to enjoy right now.

That said, it was time for me to go out and see the multiverse.

My first destination away from Earth Bet and its sister universes was the world of Azeroth from the Warcraft games.

My reason for being here was simple: I wanted this world for its resources and knowledge. Life here breathed magic. It’s why the people here could make points that could instantly heal upon consumption because magic could be “formulated” from the remains of animal and plant life that grew here.

Besides, building a kingdom in this world was not an easy exercise. If I succeeded here, then I would succeed elsewhere with no more difficulty.

First, I needed to know where and when I was in Azeroth’s history. Making a quick Door in front of my face, I peered through it. The other side of the Door was high up in the atmosphere, and allowed me to look down at the continents…

Continent?

Singular?

Huh?

“Wait, wait, wait,” I muttered to myself as I expanded the Door so that I could grip on its edge and look closer. I pushed the Door around and …

Oh God. This was Ancient Kalimdor, the supercontinent that existed on Azeroth before the night elves blew it up. Actually, when was I -.

Sparkling light at the center of the continent caught my eyes.

Oh no.

I looked closer, and saw the Well of Eternity, a pool of unfathomable arcane power left there by the Titans, the creative “shapers” of this universe.

I watched … as a lake as big as the entire state of New Mexico began to churn uneasily.

And then that churning turned into -.

I didn’t hear it, but I saw it. The entire well exploded not with a fiery explosion but a lightning infused hurricane storm. I grimaced as the huge chunks of the landmass began to sink below others, drift apart, and become overrun by the ocean.

I arrived in Azeroth just as the Great Sundering happened.

Crud.