//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 - ...and one man, in his time, may play many parts. // Story: The Lost Chronicles of Auric Fulcrum // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// "Fraaaank! You're out of cereal again!" I sighed and made my way to the door, which opened up into the kitchen on my first try. Kat Shifter, or Allison, was there. She'd requested...I think asylum is the only word that can fit. See, she'd seriously fucked up in her home reality...or rather, the Equestria she'd made into her home, and she figured the next, best thing she could do, would be to aid me in the coming conflict. However, she also didn't want to put a burden on her 'home' any longer, so she did the next best thing: Shack up with me until the time came. Which it rapidly was. Nine times out of ten, I had no problem with my gravity-shifting guest. She'd...recovered, eventually, from the circumstances I found her in, and taken to training with her powers at around the same time I trained with Concordia. Sometimes we even sparred so that I could get used to the staff. The Everfree would recover. Eventually. The odd occasion that she was a problem was when the kitchen ran out of human-friendly food. Measured Thought had gotten used to the idea of humans needing a larger supply of protein, specifically animal protein, and Kat tended to handle hunting on her own pretty well. But I...well, when we ran out of human-friendly food, I tended to shift into pony form for breakfast, then go grab groceries. Kat couldn't do that. So she complained. Right up until I made her coffee. She shut up then and just nursed what she called 'the elixir of the gods.' My coffee tended to have that effect. Especially when it was well-made. I groaned at her complaint. "Then go into town and get some!" "And have the townsfolk ask if I'm your sister again? No thank you!" I rolled my eyes at that, and let out a mischevious smirk. "Oh, it's not that bad, you know." She turned to me and raised her eyebrows. "Oh? How is it not that bad?" I merely smiled at her. "Twilight's wondering if I kidnapped a human female from Earth to be a-" She waved her hands at me before I could finish my statement. "Ah! No! No, no NO. SO much NO." I couldn't help myself and doubled over laughing. Kat just scowled at me. "And now you wonder why I don't go into town. This world doesn't know me, you're further along in time than I was when I left my world, and...and I can't run into your Fluttershy." I sobered up at that and nodded once. "So. Any preferred brands?" She hummed a bit. "Anything that isn't made of grasses." I nodded and went to leave. She finished her thought. "I'll let it slide if you make coffee." I waved a hand in her vague direction. "Pot's still got some in it, help yourself. Just leave a cuppa for me." The last thing I heard before I left was the sound of a cabinet being opened while the shifter looked for a mug... ----- I sighed as I examined my Mirror. So large a conflict...so soon a conflict. So many would fight, from everywhere...And then a figure obscured my scrying. A shadowy little thing at first… and then he came into focus, albeit much closer than originally expected. I looked on for a moment before realizing I could see the back of my head… where did he- I turned around quickly to see a human figure glaring at me impatiently, tapping his black leather shoes incessantly in a way that reminded me of a child waiting in line. He appeared to be an old, wrinkled man, worn ragged in both figure and in stride. And while he may have looked old, but I felt that his skin masked a being more ancient. He wore a suit that fit tightly, as if the tailor had been equipped with a vacuum cleaner, and while it was faded a pinstriped blue, it had not a speck of tarnish on it. He peered expectantly at me, waiting for some unknown initiation. “Um. Hi?” He looks off into the distance and gestures to me, as if trying to get his point across, “See!” he exclaimed “Ha! A much better welcoming than the last buffoon.” He thinks for a second, before adding, “Comparatively.” I blink before looking back into the Mirror. “Are you...talking to the Multiverse at large? Or merely someone in it?” He put a finger to his chin for a moment before deciding to say “More like something. And besides, that was more for my own benefit, what little ‘benefit’ I have anyways.” I started at that, trying to process the meaning behind the words. Something? Little benefit? This...is getting all sorts of strange... He paused again before changing the subject. “Regardless, I’m here for you and an agreement affecting all of the pieces on the board, not just you.” I scowled and made a face. “You should know then that I despise the way Teridax refers to us all. But out with it. Why are you here, whoever you are?” “Because I can’t be much of anywhere else at the moment, although...” He opens up his suit to reveal a pocket watch, gracefully checks the time, and notes, “I may have to be somewhere else in a moment. So I have a favor to ask of you.” I couldn’t resist. “Or somewhen else. Fine. Ask your favor of me, and I will at least consider it.” “I would like to request a lack of interference between our parties. I would like to dispose of any corpses that this dimension accrues by the time Teridax’s little ‘game’ runs it’s course.” “...Why?” “Because,” he responds, as though answering the question of a child, “it’s my job. I’ve been employed to get rid of any of the void material before it becomes… destabilized.” “And as those that once crossed...or were dragged through the Void Eternal, we’d have a good bit accumulated on or in us. Huh. Didn’t think about that…” I mused over the revelation. Void-stuff was useful, and I’d forgotten just how useful after that banishment I’d done. It only stands to reason there would be Something that would want to make sure the mortals didn’t play with the fire of the gods… “And no one has had a chance to play, that’s because I’ve been doing my job. You see, there are beings about the place that like universes like this intact, my employers, and well… Gaping holes in the universe don’t do the void very good. Makes it a much worse place to be in. It’s like a gas put in a vacuum, It tends to expand.” he said, putting a major emphasis on the final word. “Did...Did you respond to my thoughts?!” Creepy. As. Hell. This is why I don’t work with psychics. “More like why they don’t work with you. Dear.” he said, tacking on the last word with a sarcastic emphasis. I clutched my head and quickly got my breathing under control. “Just...just please don’t. The mind is the last sanctum sanctorum of any normal man, and I’ve grown used to having it.” I immediately felt a force receding, before I even spoke the words. “Apologies, thoughts are often faster than words and my occupation requires me to work… expediently,” He paused before attempting to continue, but I cut him off, asking the disturbing question that had plagued my mind for a minute now. “What would you do with the bodies? I want a clear answer.” “I would like to host a funeral,” he stated ‘matter-of-factly’ and then added, “-and then cast them off into the void before they catalyze.” “I’m assuming that means something to do with the Void-energy they’ve unwittingly absorbed. Fair enough. But make it happen all at once. And send invitations to the survivors of...whichever side. I’ll not send off allies’ corpses without all who wish to say a few words first getting a chance to.” “Thank you, I assumed you would not do the same for the opposition, but then again, the hero usually has a different take on the subject. That’s what makes them the hero. No?” I sighed and looked at the mirror. “Truthfully, I try not to kill at all. But sometimes it’s just unavoidable. However, if our coming deaths are your job, then who am I to stand in your way?” A thought tugged at my mind. “Do your bosses have any take on what I did a few months ago? With Omega and my Banishing him to the Void Eternal?” This question he answered with ease. “His being there makes as little difference as your travels there or your eventual arrival there,” he stopped himself for a second, “But he is noisy, I’ll give him that.” “Very well...you know, I just now realized that I never got your name.” “Few do, this is one of only a few linked universes that I have spoken to one of you alive. My name is mine and mine alone, but if you wish truly for my name, you may only have my occupation: The Undertaker.” He said, grinning as he finished with a small bow. I smiled and extended my hand. “I assume you already know all my names, then, but seeing as you will be doing a great service to the Multiverse, no matter which side wins, I tell you now...refer to me by my first set of names. I trust you.” At this point he lost some of his professional composure. “All of your names?... Wait a sec! You’re the one who got all the Displaced to spam every universal inbox!? Do you know how much that clutters up the place!?” I blinked at that. “What? I was referring to the fact that I’ve changed my name so many times and accrued so many titles that using my birth name is a sign of trust between me and another. What the bloody hell are you talking about?!” “You reminded me of one of the first few notes that came flying in. So many titles. Not nearly as much as that Xante fellow, but still, everyone who found that sent out their own. The first multiverse chain letter.” He pulled back his emotion, but it was too late. I blinked at that. “Hum. Interesting. Didn’t expect so large a response. I mostly sent it out because...I knew they’d need it. Because someone, somewhere, needed to do something about The Merchant.” He couldn’t quite respond to this. “Well…” He withdrew his golden-chained watch again and quickly flipped it open, “It appears this may have to be the end of our meeting. But, fair warning, we may meet again somewhere down the road, and I may be the only one left to attend the service.” “Just...is anyone going for him? He shouldn’t be allowed to continue his deeds. That’s all I want to know: that even amongst those that Dwell Without, that someone...somewhere, takes him to court for what he’s done.” He responded to me, but not really to the question itself, “I’ve been hired, not for fame, not for money, not for anything of physical value. There’s a difference between good and self benefit. I work for those hold the latter with high regard.” “I have ‘whens’ to be and ‘wheres’ to go. I think our time together is at an end.” he finished. “Y’know, my Mirror slash Looking Glass is right here, you could use it…” “Why thank you.” He nodded, took a few short steps to his left, and bid himself adieu. Masking his presence quickly was the feeling it left, a physical emptiness, kith and kin to the feeling I’d felt when I’d Banished Omega. Apparently, he’s worked with the Void for so long, he’s started to emanate something that mimics it. ----- Kat and I were in my lab, and I was in my human form again. In one hand, I held Eureka, in the other, Concordia. My clothes were in their combination coloration, and, funnily enough, on my way back to the tower, I'd found a large Psynergy stone. Well, more accurately, I'd caught the glint of one from the border of the Everfree, and went to touch it, then ended up draining it before I could stop myself. I'd thought it would just be a small one, but apparently not. My reserves by this point were somewhere around 40%. Not enough for Immortality, but if Umbra had done as I asked...where I was going, it wouldn't matter. I put a hand to my mirror and focused. The glass rippled quite a bit before it showed us a serene-enough looking planet...with, thankfully, none of the natives Umbra had described. A clear-looking plains. I nodded and gestured at the Mirror. "After you, Kat." She gulped and walked forward before casting a skeptical eyebrow at me. I merely smiled, and she breathed deeply before walking into, and through, the Mirror. She stumbled a bit on the plains, but soon began to look around her with wonder at the new, somewhat peaceful planet. I followed through a second later. Looking around showed me that we were, in fact, in the clear. I hummed a bit and suddenly, a bit of prose struck me from my old life. "'The time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of many things.'" Kat looked at me like I was crazy, which, in all honesty, who's to say I wasn't? This didn't stop me, though. "'Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax, of cabbages, and Kings.'" She seemed to catch on, and smiled as I finished my rhyme. "'And why the Sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings...'" I looked to the sky then, and my expression turned grim. "The time has come." I raised Concordia and bellowed it this time. "THE TIME HAS COME!" I gathered what power I though I needed, and issued my Call and Challenge. "I call now to those who have allied themselves to me! To all who have replied to me, to those I call friend! To my fellow Displaced who fight on the side of the light, I CALL TO YE! The time has come! To those that hold my Token, find a reflective surface which ye could walk through, and I shall guide thee!" I then turned around and shot a blast of raw power at the ground a good ten feet behind me and Kat. I felt around and found enough gems and crystals, merged them into a solid sheet of reflective material, gave it a solid backing of stone so it would function exactly like a mirror, and raised it out of the ground. A good rumble later, the massive thing was as tall as a house, and nearly as wide. I quickly linked it to my Mirror back home, which was a bit tricky, but eventually manageable. "And to Teridax, I tell ye this. Come to me. Fight me. The time has come for us to settle this. But know you this: The Golden Dawn shall ne'er fall before your League of Shadows! I have faith in those that ally themselves with me! I have faith in my friends, their power, and faith in the power I wield! Even a drop would be more than enough to send you into the Void Eternal for all eternity!" A golden shockwave rippled out from me as I finished my speech, carrying my words across the boundaries...