The One That Calls

by Slynthen Advance

Chapter II: Clouds Begin Parting

Author's Note:

The last chapter was rushed at best, I may revise it in the future, but for now, I tried to keep this one at a non-break-neck speed.
Also, prepare for info dumps, be it now or in the near future.

Chapter II

Clouds Begin Parting

The battlefield was little more than a massacre, humans were still struggling to invent any sort of weapon that could so much as dent the hard exoskeleton of the Demoxians, let alone pierce the armor they wore. What was even more terrifying being that this was the lowest level of technology they possessed, as they agreed to the terms of war the humans had requested. That wasn’t to say the Demoxian scientists weren’t busy, for they were performing hundreds, if not, thousands of experiments on DNA manipulation. This was a truly dark time in human history, the war that finally united the human factions under one government. This new intergalactic nation had a terrifying idea, resurrecting an ancient technology, the hydrogen bomb. This would hopefully end the war, as more and more external factions were beginning to take sides.

Once the bomb was launched, the entire supercluster stood still, as it impacted Demolax, the Demoxian home world, it ignited a spark, that caused it to become a giant star, rather than the universe class planet it once was. This single hasteful act caused a mass extinction event never seen before, over ninety percent of the species was annihilated.

“Demon Vox, SIR!” Yelled commander striker, as the ship was bombarded with laser fire.

“Striker, get all the civilians in the escape pods! No one is to be left behind!” Vox responded, pointing toward the bend gate which had just opened.

“Sir! What of the troops?”

“Get them off the bridge, since it’s the section that carries the weaponry, we’ll draw their fire until everyone is through!”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“And striker! It was an honor serving with you.” Vox held his index finger up just below his right horn in a salute.

“The honor was mine, sir.” He responded, bowing to his superior officer. After a moment, Striker rose, leaving the bridge, in a sort of fast-walk.

“Run, man, Run! No time to waste on jogging!” Vox yelled, causing the commander to do so.

“Vox, the enemy fleet has called for reinforcements. There will be well more than a thousand soon.” Yerzhvold said, now manning both coms and navigation.

“Demon Yerzhvold, remember to refer to officers of equal rank and above by rank followed by location, not just location; but turn the evacuation bay toward the bend gate, and no ship that isn’t a life pod is to go through, then the major bays will follow, and finally we will enter.”

“Yes, Demon Vox.” A few minutes passed, and a message came through.

“General West, General East,” A voice rang through the ship, it was the king. “and all others aboard the United Demoxian Empire Service vessel Ingreatus, thank you for your service; I apologize for being unable to be there with you, as Duties within the empire are beginning to build up, I and the council wish you farewell, as all other ships, generals, and others have, unfortunately, fallen. As the last line of defense, you held all of Demoxian kind in your hands. That being said, thank you for doing everything you could to support and protect us all. You, and all your fellow soldiers, have done more for us than you will ever know.” And with that, moral across the entire ship fell below zero, as the bend gate closed. The only sounds remaining were those of the energy shields giving out, and lasers impacting the hull of the ship.

What little of the government remained called for peace, and the end of the war was nigh. Once captured, the generals were used as puppets, publically banishing them to different dimensions, never to be seen again.

“MARK MY WORDS, HUMANS! THE BATTLE MAY BE OVER, BUT THE WAR IS YET TO COME! I WILL RETURN! AND I WILL NOT LOSE AGAIN! FEAR OUR VENGANCE, FEAR THE ETERNAL DAMNATION THE UNITED DEMOXIAN EMPIRE BRINGS DOWN UPON YOU! FEAR THE MONSTER YOU HAVE CRATED, FOR WE SHALL DEVOUR YOU ALL! WE SHALL DEVOUR YOU IN HELL WHERE YOU BELONG! WE SHALL DEVOUR YOUR SOULS! DAMN THE TERRAN FRONT! DAMN THE TERRAN EMPIRE!” These words shattered what little control the humans had of the Demoxian remnants. These words, uttered by Demon Vox, and repeated by so many others.

“DAMN THE TERRAN FRONT! DAMN THE TERRAN EMPIRE!” Cried out so many in the audience and all those being banished. These words were then echoed throughout the supercluster, holding true to their promise.

Vox awoke from his slumber, his entire body was burning, his nostrils filled with scents he wasn’t accustomed to, and his hearing was much less acute than before. He knew what was happening, but not why. He looked into one of the gems, which were apparently abundant in this world; what he saw surprised him at first, but that quickly changed to disgust. He was now a good two feet shorter than before, the exoskeleton that his species was so proud of was reduced to nothing more than fur, and his thorns were eradicated completely. It wasn’t all bad though, his horns, crown, wings, and limb count remained the same, even if they had shifted positions. His horns pointed to the sky at around forty degrees, rather than directly ahead, there was now a considerable gap between his front most legs and the, now, central legs, at least double that for the hind legs, and his wings now folded against his back, rather than having a sort of ‘flap’ that covered them. Bearing his teeth, he noted that he no longer had carnivorous fangs, nor rows of teeth, just teeth structured similarly to the molars that sat in the back, all in a single row, in a snout.

“Oh east, if only you could see me now! You’d be laughing your ass off.” He said aloud, still in slight disbelief. He then took a minute to look himself over more closely in a vein of platinum he had polished. His coat was a dark grey color, his mane and tail, black. “Since when did I have a tattoo of a quasar with an accretion disk on my ass?” He asked, looking at his flank. “Aaand I’m talking to myself again, woundavaaa.” He sighed heavily as he stumbled around, getting used to his new body. He then heard a hurried running followed by a scratch on the door. “Who’s there?” he called out,

“Help! He’s in here with me! Help!” Some slightly feminine voice was yelling, though it was clear the voice was male.

“I asked you who’s theeeeeeerrrrrre.” He said, as he realized just what it was he was looking at. “Technicolor deer bugs… That sure is a first… Then again, I really don’t have any room to talk.”

“What do you want with me?”

“I don’t want anything to do with you! You’re bright fucking pink!”

“But you locked me in here with you, didn’t you?”

“Not intentionally, If I knew you were within ten miles of here, I never would’ve set up camp here.” He grunted as he turned the wheel to open the door. “Now get out and find someplace you aren’t going to be eaten by a predator.”

“Um… Thanks?”

“Now.”

A new voice, coming from the ceiling giggled. This one actually was feminine.

“Dear prince Azjool, WHAT NOW?” Vox retorted, as he turned toward the place it came from.

“I’m surprised you noticed me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Oh… um… I was never here.” Vox scowled at the stupidity of his new roommate. “Tell me, where did the other one go?”

“Unless you mean the pink monstrosity that just left, you’re looking at ‘em.”

“Poison joke?”

“The hell’s a poison joke?”

“Short blue flower, white speckles.”

“I did brush across one a couple weeks ago.”

“Poison joke.” She said, clearly amused by the outcome. “Come here for a moment.”

“Oh for the love of king bob the second, whaat?” He reluctantly walked over to the dark patch in the room, only to get a face full of hissing changeling. He coughed a couple times, waving a hoof in front of his face. “Anyone ever tell ya’ you bad breath?”

“No.”

“Well at least you’re not pink, I mean you’re still an equinoid insect… or would that be insectoid equine?... Regardless, I could actually tolerate having you in the same country as me.”

“Ok?... Tell me, why couldn’t I suck out your love?”

“Can’t take what’s not there… Wait a sec… Suck out my love?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Dear prince Azjool. Umm… How do I put this? Is love your food source or something?”

“That’s correct… why else would I want to suck out your love?”

“Let’s just say… I thought you meant something else for a second there.” He chuckled to himself as he shut the door. “Now, I’m going back to sleep, this is a lot to process, and I just need rest, if you need to be let out for some reason, and can’t open the door on your own, let me know.” He yawned to emphasis the point.

The dreamscape was blank this time, much to the relief of Vox. “Oh sweet Lemuria, I actually have time to process all this.” He sighed heavily, slumping over. “Technicolor deer-bugs, easily explainable as evolution for attracting a mate. Horse bug, protection from possibly hostile environment. But why would they need to eat another’s love? Because they can’t produce their own? No, I’ve lived far longer than them without an ounce of love in me, and I’m fine… physically… well… not anymore… ffffuuuuck. Ok, skip that, I’m assuming that horn wasn’t for show on that alicorn, it might be used for goring… no it was female, so I would assume not… could it have similar properties to my horns… I think so, but where would it absorb the energy from? Their coat? No, that would leave too little of a place to store it. Their mane? No, same problem. Grrrraaah! Why does the multiverse hate me so?” He sighed heavily as he now had questions that weren’t answered.

“Tell me, why do you wish to find reason in something where there is none?” A feminine voice asked.

“Good king Mularzh! Even my subconscious is telling me to stop?! Why must I be the sin of eternity?... Wait a second, I don’t recognize that voice! Who are you, and why are you screwing with my head?!” He jumped to his hooves, ready to pounce; backing away slowly. Why is there a moon? None of what’s happening makes any sense! First, colorful fucking horses, then deer, then a black bug-thing, and now this?! Either I’m having a mental breakdown, on the worst drugs known to anyone, or I’m about to! All his thoughts were cut off when he backed into another being. He bore his teeth, growling, attempting to be as intimidating as possible. It was a deep blue alicorn, with a flowing mane, seemingly made of the night sky, and wore a black crown and necklace. He relaxed when he noticed what she was, collapsing and covering what he could of himself with a mere twenty-foot wingspan. Muffled under his wings, he responded “There is always reason for the evolution of any individual species, be it great, and groundbreaking, or minor, and insignificant.”

She was a bit taken aback by this action, wondering if she had said, or done, anything to offend him. “I suppose that does make sense, but I’m curious about a few things. One, why is your dreamscape so… empty, and two, what are you?” She smiled, trying to at least entice him to be more comfortable about the situation.

“To answer your second question,” He uncovered himself, more comfortable with sharing knowledge than arguing about whether a topic of thought is relevant. “I am a creation of the Demoxian science institute and knowledge distribution center. A half breed between human and Demoxian DNA, created as a way of vastly improving our capacity for receiving and holding data as a species, as to your first, I’m not entirely sure, my mind just sees it fit on occasion.”

“Deee-mock-seeaa-anns? H-hoo-maans?”

“Sweet baby Ghoulned.” He mumbled to himself, realizing how difficult it was going to be to make this pony understand just what was happening. “I can see that this conversation is going to take far longer than I care for it to drag on for, so, I will need some form of communication that doesn’t involve you invading my mind, so I can write it down and send that to you, rather than an off the cuff basic rundown of the circumstances that led to me interacting with this set of multiverses.”

“Multi-what-now?”

It’s like trying to explain advanced trigonometry to a five-year-old. He slowed his voice significantly to get his point across. “I need to send a let-ter a-bout how I got here to save time. Ca-piche?”

“Oh, yes of course. You should be able to send one from any city in Equestria to Canterlot.” It was now Vox’s turn to be the almost-infant. “If you can give me your name, I can send somepony to get you, assuming you’re not in the badlands or dragon territory.”

“My name is Demon Vox, but I’m not in a town. There’s a poison river within a couple miles of where I’m stationed, umm… a rather dense forest is nearby, a few mountains surround the area, and I’m in a volcano… or would that be under?” He stopped there, contemplating whether or not there were more landmarks he had seen.

“Alright, I’ll send a few ponies who are more… accepting of new faces.”

“As long as they’re not like that pink shit that chased me into the crater, we’ll be fine.”