Anti-Mage

While Anton sat down to talk with Felix, the primary consciousness of the Labyrinth was addressing a much more cosmic-level problem. Namely, the large hole that had just been torn from its fabric and linked it directly to a dimension anathema to it. The Labyrinth as a whole was a living entity. Not an it, the Labyrinth thought of herself as a she. She had a circulatory system of sorts, though, that was made up of various types of magic more than physical structures. Also, within herself, she had multiple Realms that acted much like organs. There was a Realm that took in her” blood” from the various Realms and then redistributed it to others constantly. She even had an area that collected what biologicals would consider refuse, which was broken down and repurposed throughout her body.

Dungeons were more akin to the pores of a creature's skin and allowed entities to enter and exit her physical body. There were other ways to do so, but the dungeons were the primary way. The nodes scattered throughout her Realms acted as the nerves of a body and allowed signals to be sent throughout, or in this case, the entities using that network. However, the entities that were the defacto rulers of the labyrinth, which could be considered lessor, or minor, gods by those who knew better, were summoned and transferred to the area she considered her “brain.” She would need all of their help if she were to overcome this latest issue.

***

“Tela, why have we been called here?” the newest arrival to what could only be deemed a banquet hall asked. Of course, he wasn’t talking to anyone specifically as the others looked up to take in the newcomer. At the same time, they perused the various delicacies displayed before them, which were being laid out before them by multiple types of elementals that moved to and fro.

“Xantier, calm down. I’m sure our host will let us know why she’s called for us as soon as she’s able,” a tall, beautiful, lightly green-skinned woman with emerald eyes called over as she popped a succulent grape into her mouth, which showcased the delicate fangs hidden within.

“I was just on my way to investigate something that had happened in one of my holdings when the call was sent, Lila,” Xantier said

“I’m sure that you understand that the rest of us were also busy,” Lila pointed out.

“Well, of course. I just expected Tela to be waiting for us if she called this meeting,” Xantier stated lamely.

“Xantier, Relax, grab some snacks and mingle. I’m sure Tela will be along when she’s able,” Lila said again with the practiced ease of a politician who knows just what to say to defuse a situation.

Xantier nodded and walked over to the table of fruits and vegetables she stood near. Xantier looked over the various items and picked up an apple.

“You always did like the classics,” Lila noted with a smile.

“Of course,” Xantier said with a grin, “It wouldn’t be a classic story if there weren’t some truth to it.

“That a nude man and woman were somehow convinced to eat an apple to gain knowledge by a serpent,” Lila said dryly.

“Are you denying that you didn’t persuade Adam and Eve to eat an apple?”

“His name was Asmund, and she was Evelyn, and it was at a party. How that was in any way compared to a story from that book from those worlds that only believe in one God…”

“Lucifer is known to have a sense of humor,” Xantier noted.

“Yes, but the story wasn’t even about him. He just happens to have the name,” Lila said with an exasperated breath.

Just then, an almost human-looking man with red-tinted skin stepped into existence beside Lila, “Did you call?” Lucifer asked before he noticed the apple in Xantier’s hand, which brought a huge smile to his face as he turned his ruby-red eyes on Lila, “I see.”

“Are you ever going to stop being so childish,” Lila asked.

“And become a boring nobody,” Lucifer said, looking thoughtfully at the question. He tilted his head up, lifted his left hand, looked to the right, and lifted his right hand. He made motions as if he were weighing something in each hand and then dropped his hands and gazed at Lila. “Nope, childish is on the table for as long as possible.”

Xantier bit into his apple to stifle a grin as Lila turned and strode away from the two men. Both watched the sway of Lila’s back and ass as she walked over to another group of individuals that made quick eye contact with Lucifer before looking away.

“Lucifer,” Xantier said with a nod.

“Xantier,” Lucifer said before he asked, “Any idea why we’ve been called here?”

Before Xantier could answer, the entire room shuddered, and the magic holding the location together stuttered for a moment. Xantier looked up with a hint of alarm as he was the first to voice what everyone was thinking, “What was that?”

A moment later, a woman with jet-black hair appeared in the center of the room and responded to Xantier’s question, “That is why I have called you all here,” Tela, Mistress of the Labyrinth, said.

Everyone in the banquet hall turned to the center of the room. Like Xantier, most were technically gods, though each had made their way to that level of power differently. Only Tela, an Avatar of the Labyrinth itself, and himself were truly divine beings who predated everyone in the room. Lucifer was a very close third on that list. So, when Tela spoke, everyone listened.

Tela looked around the room and lingered her gaze on Lucifer for a moment before turning as she continued to address everyone, “As some of you know, an unknown force has been attempting to undo the rules that had been agreed upon. While I have been able to detect and prevent those forces from entering myself, somehow, one made it through and was able to create a link back to their Primary source of power. That link has created a conduit for that energy and minions of that force to enter me at a greater rate than I can easily thwart. “

“What does that mean for us?” one of the lesser gods toward the back of the banquet hall asked.

“It means that I have been breached. It means that some of the Realms within me—some of your Realms—are now being invaded by creatures that are anathema to us. It also means that this will be a struggle as I work to seal the breaches throughout the various Realms, and we all work to destroy or remove any creatures that make it into the Labyrinth.”

Xantier looked around at the group of lesser gods. One of the younger-looking men in a corner jumped as if shocked and teleported away. Tela’s attention focused on the recently vacated spot. “His Realm has just come under attack. Those that are under attack, mobilize your followers and prepare to defend that which you hold within me or flee; the choice is yours.”

Tela disappeared as suddenly as she’d appeared, followed soon after by all the other “minor” Gods that resided within her. Lucifer, the last to leave before himself, nodded to Xantier and vanished. Once Lucifer was gone, a portal opened before Xantier, which he stepped through. As he stepped through the portal, he found himself standing on a transparent balcony that looked out into the cosmos.

“Xan, how good of you join me,” Tela said distractedly.

“Tela, how bad is it, really?”

Tela looked thoughtful for a moment before she answered, “For me, I’ll recover. Parts are gone, and others will grow back, whether the pretenders defend their Realms or not. I can cauterize those areas, so the damage is negligible. For you and the others outside that came to power outside of my body, whatever caused this has created a staging area within our sphere of control from which they can access other realities, universes, and dimensions. Short answer: it will be a mess.”

“We already have one mess to deal with, which no one wants to deal with,” Xantier said.

“What happened?” Tela asked.

“Right, you weren’t there. So, you know how there are limits for a reason?” Xantier asked.

“Of course,” Tela replied evenly.

“Well, somehow, someone has broken those limits,” Xantier said.

“Oh, him. Yes, I know. A friendly word of advice: Stay out of his way. He does his own thing, and as long as you’re not on his bad side, you’ll be fine,” Tela said.

“How do you know that?” Xantier asked.

“One of the Realms that popped into existence within me carried the memories of one of my shadows, which I absorbed. While I’m not exactly sure what he’s up to, I could ascertain from the memories I absorbed that he seems to be a live and let live type of person, unlike this new enemy,” Tela explained.

“Can he help with this new problem?” Xantier asked.

“I have no idea unless they get on his bad side; then maybe the problem will handle itself,” Tela said thoughtfully.

“This new problem, these invaders from the null universes, how exactly did one get inside of your main body? I thought they couldn’t interact with their opposite.

“As far as I can tell, it was an accident or a random ability. I’m not exactly sure,” Tela said distractedly.

“And the instigator of your issues?” Xantier asked.

“Currently, he’s within one of the few realms not anathema to creatures of the void,” Tela said.

“This happened in a Barren Realm?” Xantier asked, surprised.

“It did,” Tela asserted.

Xantier’s mind raced as he tried to figure out how that was possible. If this had happened where magic was present, it would have made sense that some mage tried a spell that opened a doorway to that which he shouldn’t have. Barren Realms, though? Barren Realms had no magic with which to open such gateways and usually only had a few ways into and out of them.

Xantier asked the only question he could, “Do you know how?”

“I believe it was ability-driven,” Tela said.

“An ability that allows someone to create a link from a Barren Realm into the void. Such an ability would be priceless in certain circles,” Xantier said.

“It would, yes,” Tela agreed. Now that you understand the situation, would you please report this to the others?

“The others, you’re sure?” Xantier asked.

“The damage is done. I am not the only entity affected by this flood of void-based monsters. The others need to be warned,” Tela said.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Xantier said.

“The best case involves physical damage to many areas within a Realm or universe. The worst case is annihilation,” Tela said.

“Annihilation of what?” Xantier asked.

“This energy type annihilates anything that is subjected to it. That’s what this energy does, after all.

Xantier nodded once and teleported away. The others did need to be notified. First, they were spanked like overzealous schoolchildren by someone they couldn’t control, and now this. Xantier was pretty sure some of them were not going to take this new wrinkle in the long-standing schemes well. Maybe he could find someone else to convey the message.

***

The last 24 hours were interesting. Anton had been portaled up to one of the stations in orbit where he’d been questioned about his origin, the history of his Earth, and finally, the SYSTEM windows that were appearing in everyone’s vision. Anton realized immediately that Felix was one of those textbook government types who would say whatever was needed and continue to plot to get precisely what he wanted. Once he’d realized that, Anton asked Felix to take him to a clean room with a table in it.

Felix had looked at him quizzically and then led him into a room.

“Alright, now you, Caitlyn, and your guards can step back to the wall there. I wouldn’t want any of you to think I’m trying to attack you, Felix.”

“What are you going to do?” Felix asked as he stepped back to the wall and motioned for Caityln and the guards to do the same.

“Okay, so I don’t believe for a second that you believe me, so a little demonstration is in order. No, I’m not going to kill myself. That’s boring and sucks, and you don’t really see anything except that my body evaporates and I reappear after a short time, so I’m going to try something new. Something I’ve never actually done before, so this will be a new experience for me too,” Anton said.

Anton paused for a moment as he considered how to proceed then nodded once and started, “So, first, I’m going to summon a knife from my ‘magical’ inventory. In my case, it’s not really magical, but that’s just semantics. Next, I’m going to cut off my left pinky finger with my knife, and then we’re going to watch it grow back.”

A look of shock crossed Caitlyn’s face but Felix looked thoughtful before he asked, “How long do you think this will take? I mean, if it’s going to take days for you to regenerate the lost limb…

Anton cut him off when he said, “Probably, no more than 14 seconds.”

“14 seconds. Are you serious?” Felix asked.

“Yes, I’m serious. No matter what happens to me, 14 seconds later, whatever damage was done is repaired. It’s been a constant since I was introduced to the SYSTEM.”

Before Felix could respond, Anton placed his left hand on the table, summoned a knife to his right hand, and severed his left pinky finger above the second knuckle. A small amount of blood spurted onto the table, which vanished with the severed digit 3 seconds later. Anton returned the knife to his inventory and then watched with the others as, after 14 seconds, a new finger appeared where the severed one had just been. He’d thought it would regrow like body parts removed from Deadpool, but it hadn’t. Fourteen seconds after he’d severed the finger, it had been returned to him just like he popped into existence after he died.

“What the fuck?” one of the guards said out loud.

“I told you he’d been severed in half by the portal,” Caitlyn affirmed.

Felix just looked at Anton as if he were a troublesome calculation he couldn’t figure out.

Anton smiled as he lifted his hand from the table and made a show of flexing all of his fingers and even popping his knuckles, “As I was saying. There is nowhere you can keep me, nowhere you can take me, and nothing that you can do to me that I can’t recover from. If my body is damaged significantly enough, I become a Specter and can go wherever the hell I want. I can also transform into a Specter at will. If I feel like our arrangement isn’t providing benefits to me, I’m just going to leave.”

“Why don’t you then?” Felix asked.

“Well, that’s the kicker. The Earth is a huge place, and I think I need to find something there. The more people that help me look for it, the less time it will take.”

“The Earth is mostly overgrown with nature. Most of the human population was moved up into orbit so the planet would have a chance to recover from the ecological damage we did,” Caitlyn explained.

“Still, someone helping me while I help them is a lot better than going alone, trust me. I got stuck in a very lonely place once. It sucked.”

“So, what did you hope to accomplish with this demonstration?” Felix asked.

“I wanted you to see that the things Caitlyn has told you are true so we can move forward as equals, not two people where one thinks he has no power over the other. I have no power over you, and while you do have the power of a host over a guest, you have no real power over me. Besides, you’re going to need the knowledge I have learned about the SYSTEM if you hope to stay ahead of the other people with powers that are undoubtedly going to start appearing now that magic is returning to this Realm.”

“And this Knowledge, you’re just going to offer it up freely,” Felix asked.

“The little knowledge I have, sure. As the SYSTEM incorporates itself into this Realm, I do expect there to be some changes. I figure it will be easier to work with and help you than to go it alone. Of course, a place to sleep and food and drinks would be nice, but I can live without them if necessary,” Anton said.

“Now you’re telling me that you don’t need to eat?” Felix asked.

“Nope. I wouldn’t be able to claim I was Immortal if I could die of hunger, would I?” Anton smiled.

After the demonstration, Anton was led to an apartment adjacent to Caitlyn’s. She was to be his point of contact and also his guide around the station. Two guards were posted outside but need not have been. Anton was pretty sure the room he was in was bugged but didn’t mind it. He did a quick look around, found the food and drinks, and tried out one of the frozen meals. He found what appeared to be a microwave and cooked his meal. A microwave was a microwave, after all.

As he sat there wondering what he should do next, a red rotating beacon came to life over the door to his room. A moment later, the floor he stood on shuddered as the door burst open, and the two guards rushed in with their weapons drawn, looking for trouble. When they saw him sitting at the dining table eating a meal, they immediately altered their focus and began searching for threats in the room and also at the door behind them.

There were two loud knocks on the door between his and Caityln’s apartment, and he heard her call out, “It's Sheppard. I’m coming in!”

One of the guards shifted his focus to the door as they both made their way to the table. Just as they reached him, the door opened, and Sheppard stepped in. She looked in, saw where everyone was, and stepped into the room with her back to the guards and Anton. She kept her eyes on the door she’d just exited and the door to the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Anton asked just as a Klaxon went off and an automated voice spoke.

Please proceed to the nearest fallout Shelter!

This facility is under attack!

Please proceed to the nearest Fallout Shelter!

This facility is under attack!

“Under attack from whom?” Anton started to ask when three individuals stepped into the room and the one waving what looked like a thick IPad said something Anton couldn’t immediately understand.

What in the actual fuck, Anton thought as his mind raced to make sense of what the armor-covered man had said. Then he understood. “They’re talking backward. He said, Where is the Anomaly?” Anton declared.

Caitlyn glanced at Anton as a weapon of some sort was pointed in their general direction, which was all the two guards needed to see before they opened fire. Caitlyn dropped to one knee, fired two shots, and pivoted on her knee toward cover as the three intruders returned fire.

Anton activated Specter and watched as the bullets from his enemies and allies found their targets and did something that he hadn’t entirely expected. Caitlyn was lucky enough to dive behind cover as the bullets from SMGs the guards assigned to him struck their targets, which wasn’t exactly what happened. The bullets the guards fired passed through each of the attackers as if they were a high-powered laser burning through flesh. It even looked like the wounds were being cauterized as no blood exploded out of their backs as the bullets slammed into the door and walls behind them.

The weapons fire from the intruders, however, didn’t stop. They passed through the guards, leaving bleeding holes in their wake. Once through the guards' bodies, the bullets passed through the walls, and new yellow strobe lights beside the red one went off as a bulkhead slammed down where the door had been sealing off the room. It didn’t matter for the three intruders or two guards; they were all dead before they hit the ground. Caitlyn, on the other hand, was moving toward a cabinet with a yellow strip around it. She reached in and placed an air mask over her face.

A minute later, the yellow strobe lights stopped, and Caitlyn removed and stowed her mask as the bulkhead doors retracted. Caitlyn made her way to the door and looked into the hallway. She looked back into the room and then made a circling motion with her left hand.

Anton deactivated Specter and appeared next to the dead guards on the floor, “What happened,” he whispered.

“No Idea, check them while I watch the door,” Caitlyn said.

“Anton walked over to three just as they popped out of existence. Anton immediately realized that their bodies had been teleported away, and the popping sound was made as the air rushed to fill the void they had left behind.

“What the hell was that?” Caitlyn asked.

“Looks like the bodies teleported away,” Anton said.

“Well, that sucks. Any idea what we’re dealing with?”

“Not really,” Anton said, “What’s up with the yellow strobe lights?

“Oh yeah, we never had a chance to brief you. This is a space station. If one of the compartments loses pressure, the yellow strobes come on, and we have to grab an air mask out of the designated cupboards. The outer hull is self-sealing, but it still takes a few moments for the hull to pressurize, as long as the leaks are minor. If the damage is from ship-based weapons fire, nothing in this room will save you if a hole is blasted in the bulkhead,” Caitlyn explained.

“Yeah, that would have been good to know. Are there any other color stones I need to know about? Kind of obvious that the red rotating beacon means we’re under attack. Besides the yellow strobes and the rotating beacon, is there anything else I should know about?” Anton asked.

Caitlyn considered the question, then shook her head, “Nope, nothing I can think of.

At that moment, a red strobe light began flashing rapidly which caused Anton to look at Caitlyn Incredulously.

“Hey, I didn’t mention that rapidly flashing Red Strobe because that one indicates that everyone needs to abandon ship, or in this case, the station because it’s lost structural integrity and/or is going to explode.”

“So, we need to abandon ship?” Anton asked.

Caitlyn hit a sequence into the pad on the door, which caused the emergency bulkhead to lower into place as she stepped away from the door, “No point; we’re at least two levels from the escape pods, and when those strobes go off, whatever is about to happen is less than 60 seconds from happening.”

Without considering what he was doing, Anton reached out and touched Caitlyn as he activated Planar Shift and willed the psychic skill to include Caitlyn in the transfer.

Planar Shift activated

NOTE: You are attempting to bring along an additional individual. The energy cost for the second individual increases the cost to (N + (Nx10)), where N equals the initial cost.

Cost to activate Planar Shift: 1,100 Psychic Energy

Planar Shift has activated

134 of 1250 Psychic Energy remaining.

Warning!!!

Planar Shift has been utilized while within the Labyrinth. Localized dimensional rules are present.

Warning!!!

Dimensional Boundary has been damaged. Labyrinth rules compromised.

Warning!!!

Link to Void noted

Warning!!!

Link to the Celestial noted

You have been ejected from the Labyrinth

Searching

Searching

Searching

Universe …013aE013013 within range.

Planar Shift complete

There was something familiar about that Universal designation. Before he even looked around, Anton opened his Personal Status and pulled up his Origin. Yes, the universe he’d originated in and the designation for this Universe matched. Only after he’d checked that did he take the time to look around. The two of them were standing in the middle of 11th St NE in Minot, North Dakota. He was less than 50 feet from a house he never thought to see again.

“Where are we?” Caitlyn asked in a very soft voice.

“I think, somehow, I’m home,” Anton said.