Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

“Shit,” Q muttered in a rare display of frustration, “If Origin’s directly involved after everything you told us, then we might be in for more trouble than we thought. We’re not sure how long we have until the Overseer and his people know of our absence, and even with the time dilation in this dimension, I’d say that we have a tight deadline to keep.”

“But we still don’t know what’s going on!” Xalla added, “It’s just… never mind. Sorry, I’m not used to feeling so helpless.”

I chuckled at that. That’s the feeling I’ve been experiencing ever since I was put into the Trials. I went over to comfort the girl. “Don’t worry, Xalla, I’m an expert at dealing with these bullshit situations by now. I got this.”

Q looked over and frowned. “Ah… that was partly my fault, Walter. I didn’t know about your unique situation when I brought you in.”

I laughed out loud now. “You can’t be blamed for something you didn’t know about. And like I said before, your Site’s helped me grow faster than I ever could before, although I don’t quite understand how that works anymore.”

“It’s still strange to see you so similar yet different, Walter,” Q said, “It will take some time to get used to your sleeping state.”

Xalla nodded. “But you’re still you, so don’t worry. I don’t think any of your friends will mind waiting a while for you to get better.”

I gave her a thankful smile and snuggled up closer to the girl. It really was good to have true friends for once.

“Okay, enough with the sentiments,” I said, looking down at the carnage waging on below, “We have to figure out what our plan is. We’re in the dark so far, but at least we know that the Origin Matrix is somehow involved.”

By now the battle was well and truly raging beneath the city. The rows of golden figures were slaughtering the poor conscripted townsfolk the cultists had positioned in front. I could barely hear out the cries for mercy from the citizens, but those cries fell on deaf ears. Whatever zeal possessed the golden warriors made them little more than killing machines. The conscripted townspeople didn’t even manage to dent the armor of the main army; all they did was delay their advance by a few minutes.

The same couldn’t be said about the cultist’s main army. These ones put up an admirable fight. Our forces were channeling the might of their patron deities and slinging disease and filth in the direction of the invaders, while the more martial - or as I’d like to call them, the brainless - ones charged in bloated on the power of their berserk gods.

I saw that other divine messengers, beings like the Conduit, were standing on the various watch towers, each of them chanting something that I couldn’t make out. Waves of visible energy assaulted the forces below while simultaneously invigorating the cultists. With the help of the strange enchantments, the cultist forces were able to repel their golden enemies, and I thought we would actually win this one.

Well, I thought so until the Chosen Aspirant joined the fight.

“That’s honestly quite impressive,” Xalla said as she studied the human fighter. “He’s almost as good as that Anomaly in your party, if not better.”

Q watched with interest as well before shaking his head. “Not quite. A lot of his abilities come from help from the gods here, and he has had more time to grow since his abduction. His raw potential is still short of Walter’s Anomaly, but he is not far behind. If we’re judging him based purely on ability, then this Aspirant is one of the best non-anomalous humans I’ve ever seen.”

“Then it makes sense why he would be placed in that horrible Second Trial,” I added, “And why the Origin Matrix and the local god would choose to invest so heavily in him.”

Impressive might have been an understatement when I saw him fight. Although I couldn’t be sure what level he was - my rookie Arbiter title only displayed his class - it was clear that he was miles ahead of any of the other Aspirants. It’d be strange if he were any different, what with all of the resources of the gods and the indirect help of the Trash Matrix at his disposal.

The weapon he used was some kind of amorphous blob that transformed to match the needs of its wielder. He started his assault with an enormous bow. The Aspirant unleashed dazzling golden arrows that acted more like railgun shots as they vaporized anything in its direct path. Even the shockwaves of its passing disoriented or outright killed the cultists in their path. These shots were only stopped by the combined efforts of three of the cultist’s champions, but the long-range volley was only the beginning of Ashwin’s attack.

The Aspirant transformed his weapon into a long sword and pistol next. Anything that went even remotely close to the man was cut down with such speed and ferocity that even the best cultists could only manage to lift their weapons in a futile attempt to block his blows before being summarily cut down. The less skilled died before they even knew what had happened. Worse yet, Ashwin’s left hand seemed to move with a life of its own as it expertly picked off enemies at range with shot after shot. These didn’t do as much damage as his melee slashes, but it kept him from being surrounded by sheer numbers.

Added together with the four comrades that were always beside the man, he and his small squad were massacring his way toward the gates. Our forces were doing close to nothing to halt his progress. We managed to maybe slow him down from a breakneck sprint to a leisurely jog if that.

“The four beside him are also quite stilled,” Molly said with a slight nod of her head. “These Champions are interesting creatures, it makes me want to know how they operate.”

“You’re right, their teamwork is very advanced for a mortal species,” Xalla added, “It’d be a pity if they were to die here.”

The Xollon looked at me and Q, her intentions to preserve these five clear.

Q nodded. “I agree, I think it is paramount that we save the human, but getting the other four wouldn’t be too hard either. It’ll help placate the Aspirant when we capture him. I’ll make sure that they aren’t injured, although, at this rate, I doubt I’ll have to do much.”

I shook my head. “No, if I know anything about evil cultists and their crazed leaders, then there’s bound to be something huge hidden in reserve. I’ll bet you anything that they’ll unleash that once the five reach the gate.”

“You’ve had evil cultists of your own in the past?” Molly asked with a raised brow, “You don’t seem like the type of person to bother with mindless worshipers.”

“Uh, not direct experience,” I answered with an awkward chuckle, “I mean it’s how the movies I watched used to go.”

“Movies…?”

“Never mind,” I muttered, “Just trust me, they’ll have something prepared. The evil guys never win in these types of situations, so be ready to intervene when something goes inevitably wrong on our side.”

“Okay…” Xalla said; she didn’t understand where I got my confidence from, but chose to trust me anyway. “Do we have a place to put the Aspirant and his friends when we capture them? Our usual methods won’t work.”

Good point, normally we could just chuck him into a portal or something, but that was certainly out of the question now. I also doubt that we could afford to constantly monitor the man, and I certainly don’t trust the cultists to do that for us.

“I can handle it,” Molly said, “With the Aspirant’s strength, he can survive my care for a significant time. I think the mortals or the gods, if we can get their help at least, can take care of the other four.”

I nodded. “You’re sure they’ll be safe though, right?”

The woman rolled her eyes. “Yes, Walter.”

“Alright, let’s leave it to Molly then,” I said, “Let’s enjoy the show for now.”

Some servants came in with chairs and a wooden table and the four of us made ourselves comfortable staring. I grabbed a spot next to Xalla and snuggled up to her; it was strange given the guises we were wearing, but it’s been a while since I’d had a chance to just enjoy her company. She didn’t look as enthused about the spectacle as I was, but she seemed happy to know that I was having a good time.

I wasn’t sure about what my friends thought about the struggles of the aliens and the cultists, but I felt like a Roman Emperor watching a grand spectacle from high above. With most of my memories sealed, watching an epic fantasy siege that looked like it came right out of a movie was quite the treat. I was even involuntarily cheering for the good guys every now and then.

The air seemed to change just as the Aspirant and his party were about to breach the front gates. The Conduit and his lackeys had tried their best to halt their process, but nothing worked. Physical assaults launched by the cultists were deflected by Ashwin’s shield and curses fizzled into nonexistence; even the magical assaults were taken care of by the other four. If their offense was superb, then that group’s defense was all but flawless.

All seemed to be lost by our side before the ground before us rumbled and a massive summoning circle started to glow under our feet. Following the glow were the dreadful screams of pain that reverberated from every corner of the city. I saw that the citizens that were not conscripted as cannon fodder start to wither into husks as their very life source and energy went into the huge enchantment. Most of the cultists were spared the worst of the ritual, some kind of necklace they all had around their neck lit to protect their wearers, although not everyone seemed to have a charm that worked.

Some of the unlucky cultists had defective amulets that did nothing and they and their foes were sucked up into the massive ritual. By the time the worst of the screams stopped, only the strongest individuals on the opposing side could withstand the weird life-sucking effect. This was great for our side, but unfortunately, the majority of the golden armored beings were left a little haggard, but not otherwise worse for wear. If this was the only thing that the ritual did, then our loss was still all but certain.

I smiled in anticipation. “Things will really pick up from here!”

Xalla chuckled, mostly at seeing how excited I was, but I saw that she paid more attention to the mortals below. The same thing happened with Q and Molly, although they gave it a more analytical eye.

And just as I thought, all of that energy they took from the townsfolk and the weaker invaders seemed to channel into something. The power seemed to visibly swirl in an intricate pattern, I couldn’t make heads or tails out of what was going on, but Q and Molly seemed to be mildly interested in the arcane intricacies. I didn’t need to be a genius on rituals and magic to appreciate the results, however.

Once some kind of unseen trigger or breaking point was met, that swirling energy shot into the sky, and a huge red vortex split the sky and a figure descended from the opening. I was almost afraid that the dimensions would break again seeing the portal but true to the Conduit’s words, the mortal’s rituals didn’t strain the plane we were in. The huge figure descended from the skies. The dust, rain, and debris that whirled around the figure obscured its features, but even from the silhouette, the thing was absolutely enormous. Bigger still than that Calamity creature we released before.

Before the thing’s full features could be seen, the cultists all fell to their knees and screamed words of worship.

“The Avatar!”

“Hail the Avatar of War!”

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