Diabolical - Chapter 18 (Patreon)

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Like a torch burning in the darkness, the golden, glowing figure of Dr. Fate could be seen, hovering in front of the sealed, hexagonal portal. The entity had drawn and redrawn countless golden runes across its surface, attempting to open the door, but its attempts were all in vain.

‘I don’t get it. Weren’t you the one who sealed this thing? How come you can’t reopen it?’

Kent expressed his confusion regarding Nabu’s apparent impotence.

‘FOOL, DURING THE WAR IN HEAVEN, AN ARMY OF ORDER BESIEGED THE FORTRESS. I COULD NOT HAVE DEFEATED NOR SEALED THE SCHOLAR ALONE.’

Evidently, the entity didn’t take too kindly to Kent’s backseat magicking.

The man stewed for a few moments before speaking again.

‘That… looked like Arthur.’

His tone was somber. Naturally, he was referring to the childlike figure they’d found at the portal’s entrance.

‘THAT ‘CHILD’ HAS DECIEVED US BOTH.’

Nabu sounded aggrieved. It didn’t take kindly to having the wool pulled over its eyes.

Kent had many doubts, but in his heart, he was holding out hope that this was all a big misunderstanding. During their first meeting, the boy seemed… genuine to him. He didn’t want to believe Arthur was working with those evil cultists.

‘But how did he survive and end up down here, and how did he enter into the pyramid? I’ve never been this confused in my life…’

Kent’s mind was reeling. So much had happened since arriving at the estate and, instead of his questions being answered, he only became more confounded as time went on.

‘HE MUST HAVE SOME RELATION TO THE FORTRESS.’

Nabu’s statement was matter-of-fact. It made sense—if an ageless being like itself was unable to bypass the defenses, then a human child wouldn’t be able to either. That could only mean that Arthur had some unusual means.

‘Maybe the owner left the key somewhere near the front door?’

Kent made an attempt at humor. He understood what his companion was saying, but didn’t want to believe it. Was Arthur really related to Vril Dox?

‘What about the cultists? They were able to penetrate the exterior, right?’

The man thought of a possibility. If the bad guys knew how to get in, the kid could’ve learned it from them. It was an effort on his part to exonerate Arthur, but questions remained. How did he survive, how did he get down here and why was he entering the pyramid?

For a time, there was silence. While Nabu struggled to unseal the portal, both man and spirit were thinking their own thoughts.

Suddenly, there was a noise, shattering the silence. It was something neither expected to hear, given their unusual location—footsteps. Someone had entered the passage behind them, and was now calmly walking in their direction!

Click, clack. Click, clack. Click, clack…

After freezing the scrawled, golden runes with one hand, Doctor Fate whirled around and stared down the hallway of black glass. Abruptly, the entity’s eyes lit up like headlights, illuminating the passage in white, resplendent light.

In the distance, a figure was outlined. A dark robe covered both its head and body, making it impossible to determine its identity.

“HALT, INTRUDER!”

Nabu’s voice sounded like a thunderclap. If a normal human were subjected to such an intense burst of sound, their eardrums would’ve ruptured. However, the figure appeared unfazed, but did come to a standstill.

“SPEAK YOUR NAME AND PURPOSE, OR BE SILENT FOREVER!”

Doctor Fate extended a hand outward. The threat implicit in the command and gesture was clear as day.

There was a moment of tense silence before the hooded individual replied.

“How characteristically unreasonable of you~”

The voice was mature, feminine and charming, with a mesmerizing lilt. The figure, a woman, if her voice was to be an indication, reached for her cowl with slow grace before casually tossing it backwards. A head of curly, black locks was revealed, framing exotic, attractive features.

However, while she was remarkably beautiful, there was something decidedly off about her complexion. Her skin was a pale, unhealthy blue, like someone suffering from frostbite, and her lips were colored purple, like nightshade. Her eyes were also extraordinary—black like ink, but with violet, glowing centers.

The Doctor was about to take action, but when they heard the woman’s voice, they froze. If it was her, well... her presence was not entirely unexpected.

“SO YOU HAVE COME, WITCH.”

The statement was spoken in a manner that wasn’t blatantly hostile, but wasn’t welcoming either.

It was unknown why, but when Arthur entered the pyramid, it activated. That signal must’ve been detected by her, or so Nabu thought. It was the only explanation for why she’d shown up so quickly.

The woman smiled, showcasing her perfect teeth.

“Of course, and it’s good I did. You didn’t even bother securing the perimeter—I waltzed in without encountering even a shred of resistance.”

There was a hint of mocking in her tone.

However, Doctor Fate didn’t pay much attention to that.

“I SEE YOU HAVE FOUND A SUITABLE VESSEL. IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YOU’VE WALKED THE MATERIUM.”

The woman ran a finger across her cheek and down her neck. The gesture was rather seductive.

“It has, hasn’t it? I’ve prepared this girl for many years, yet I never anticipated such compatibility between us. Her hateful Olympian body is uniquely capable of serving as a conduit for my power. It’s truly ironic…”

She was about to smile again, but then she frowned.

“Although, after absorbing her soul, I find myself being influenced by her. She was a strong-willed one, that much is certain.”

The witch wasn’t worried about appearing weak in front of Nabu. While they were at odds in the past, the current situation forced them into an alliance. As the saying went, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’.

“ENOUGH CHATTER. AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED, THE SCHOLAR’S TOMB HAS RESURFACED. WE MUST SEAL IT OR RISK AN INVASION BY THE OTHERKIND.”

Eeons ago, when Vril Dox discarded materialism for more mystical pursuits, he'd encountered those of the upside-down. It was unknown what bargain he'd struck with them, but it was clear that some kind of contract was formed. It was mainly because of that reason that he drew the ire of the forces of order.

As for the witch, her grudge with those of the upside-down was almost as old as time itself. She participated in the war in heaven and was instrumental in defeating and sealing The Scholar.

A frown formed between the woman’s perfectly-manicured eyebrows. Since her arrival, it was the first time she’d shown a look of seriousness.

“I will deplete the fortress’ energy while you re-establish the seals.”

She got straight to business. Given who she was, it was no surprise that she immediately understood what needed to be done.

Nabu nodded wordlessly. At first, he was planning on entering the pyramid—on his own, he couldn't reseal it even if he wanted to. After the defeat of Vril Dox, it'd taken countless sorcerers to provide the needed power. 

He wanted to know what the cultists' purpose was for breaking into it, but things had changed. If it was possible, it was safer to reseal the structure and be done with it.

Needless to say, he cared little for Arthur's fate. 

While the two of them were talking, Kent was spectating the exchange, feeling even more confused than before. He’d no clue who this woman was, but from appearances alone, she didn’t seem like she was on their side…

‘Can we really trust her, Nabu? No matter how you look at it, she doesn’t seem the type we should show our back to.”

The man was putting up a nonchalant act, but inwardly he was deeply unsettled. He was still in shock regarding the earlier mass-destruction and was only functional because he was doing his best not to think about it. Now, Nabu was consorting with someone who was clearly an evil witch. He felt like cracks were starting to appear in the walls he’d set up around his mind—it was only a matter of time until everything came tumbling down.

‘YOUR CONCERN IS NOT UNWARRANTED. SHE MAY BE A WICKED ONE, BUT SHE WILL NOT ACT AGAINST US. NORMALLY, I WOULD NOT ACCEPT THE AID OF ONE SUCH AS HER, BUT CIRCUMSTANCES LEAVE ME WITH NO CHOICE.’

Nabu’s tone was placating. Its mind was close to Kent’s, so it was able to sense the man’s distress. There would be a time for him to unwind, but only after everything was resolved. Right now, neither of them could afford to lose their cool.

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In the depths of the pyramid, inside a strange, floating coffin, Arthur’s mind and body was being transformed. He’d been severed from any and all physical sensation. The only awareness he had was of his own consciousness—it was expanding at an inconceivable rate.

It was like the metaphorical ground underneath him had vanished, as well as the ceiling above his head. The walls were gone too—he was inside a void that stretched endlessly in all directions.

However, that was the least of his concerns. Instead, what struck him so profoundly was the feeling of thinning, like he was a solid first turned to liquid, then to gas. The parts that were him were so few and far between that he forgot where he was or what he was doing. More than that, it was the forgetting of who he was that terrified him the most.

A cold, machine-like voice spoke inside his mind. Even though the sound of it was utterly foreign to him, he was able to understand it.

‘[Restoring Databanks…]’

Immediately, there was an influx of everything. His stretched-out self was infused a mind-bending quantity of information, like a balloon being filled with air. Knowledge of things he’d never studied, memories he’d never lived and emotions not his own were fused into his mind. 

Gradually, he felt himself turning into someone else.

‘Stop!’

He didn’t want this—it was invasive, disgusting and just plain wrong. His consciousness was being overwritten by that of something inhuman, like… a god. That was the only way to describe it.

There was a sense of indifference, of overlooking everything while holding the cosmos in the palm of his hand. Nothing was beyond his reach—even Heaven was only a thought away. If he wanted to, he could transcend, become truly divine in a way that was far beyond that of the common deity, feeding off the faith of mortals.

There was no ambition, power or greed. There were no desires, only… selflessness. He gained everything at the cost of his own ego. He had died—what remained was only a thing, not a living creature, in any sense of the term.

Yet, he wasn’t completely gone. Something was nagging at him.

The him from eons ago, the scholar that’d left behind the trappings of mortality, was incapable of understanding what it was, in a subjective sense. However, the small part that formed the foundation of this new existence… understood.

‘It sucks to be God.’

The whole of it could be summed up in that one sentence. To be without limit, to have it all—omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence… it was a state of perfection, but it was also stagnation.

Everything was relative, even perfection. God was infinite, without boundary and formless. To reach that state was to be incomparable to all that existed. Everything became… irrelevant. And so, perfection lost all meaning.

‘Turn me back.’

The tiny drop of humanity inside him, incomparable to the presence of that alien mind, was nonetheless capable of inducing enlightenment. The whole of him experienced a revelation. 

Like someone blind all their life, he saw the mulberry fields, dyed orange in the rays of the setting sun.

‘I don’t want to be God anymore, I just want to be... human.’

From the depths of their fused souls, a genuine desire surged forth, as if they, he,  was a man in the desert, laying his eyes on an oasis. All the riches and power in the world couldn’t compare to the value of a single cup of water.

‘[Input Accepted. Initiating Safety Protocols...]’

Something must’ve gotten through to… whatever was responsible for it all, because the voice suddenly spoke again.

[Error! Protocol Halted. Passcode required—]

However, a complication abruptly appeared.

Arthur wasn’t worried, because Vril Dox already knew the password.

‘No… there is no Arthur, nor is there a Vril Dox, not anymore. We are… 

B R A I N I A C!’

As soon as the statement was delivered, the system answered.

‘[Passcode Accepted! Resuming Safety Protocols…]’

For the new, reborn entity, everything soon turned black.

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