Chapter Ontological Alimony (I) |
Mom…
Ghoulfather…
I hate both of you…
Please stop fighting.
Quest Gained: Stop fighting over me and talking about me like I’m some kind of mistake. It’s hurting my feelings.
Rewards: None, where the fuck where you two when I was born?
Failure: I hate you both so much… Can I please have a hug?
-The System
Ontological Alimony (I)
Thousands marched upon thousands as humans, elves, goblins, fairies, and bots battled over perceived slights and the faintest excuses. Ultimately, the reason for bloodshed was bloodshed. For bloodshed begets power, and struggle and strife determine one's place in this new world. For in this desperate jungle of existence, only the strong may reign. Only those fully capable of mastering their will, capable of wielding their strength and skill, capable of enforcing their design upon the world, are worthy of being considered true beings.
And the rest could only be considered kindling, mere fuel for the true flames destined to burn.
Or so the system thought, or so the system tried to enforce. Truth be told, most of the Pathbearers were too busy or simply content doing other things these days. Namely, each other. Since the system made almost everything a skill, naturally the act of reproduction could also be considered an art form and a science unto itself. How could the system have anticipated that everyone who was supposed to give themselves to eternal bloodshed would find themselves instead bound to an enduring need to constantly copulate?
It didn't make any sense, really. The system's understanding of humanity was that they were a warlike, brutal species who couldn't even express intimacy for each other without an outbreak of a nightmarish disease: WombRash. The voice of that ancient plague still echoed through the system, and it left it with a shudder of delight. If only he could bring back the Rash now and get these Pathbearers to focus, but no. From the Yellowstone Republic to the Southern Gods of Blood and Sacrifice and also constant seeding, and the Northern Giants who painted their land white with something aside from snow, and the beasts of sky and sea, everyone was determined to fight another race: a propagation race.
And things were truly getting dire. Infrastructure was no longer getting built. Wars were no longer being fought. Pathbearers, once desperate to become tyrants or noble saviors, were now lost amidst colossal sheets that expanded wide enough to cover cities. Communal housing was torn down to create massive tent beds for all to pursue their carnal delights.
Quest Sent: Stop mating for a few hours and kill someone.
Rewards: I will turn all of your skills Legendary right now. I will make you a god. Please just stop mating.
Failure: Another ten famines and invasions will sweep the land! TEN! You will not be able to just eat all your weaker offspring and survive this time—nor will you be able to seduce the invaders. Please just kill each other. Please.
But they refused. All across Integrated Earth, the Pathbearers refused to serve their primary function.
And it all began when that great cross-shaped slit smashed through the moon and crashed down upon the land.
Unlike most deities that suffered such a brutal kinetic impact, it didn't have the dignity to die. In fact, physical force didn't seem to bother it at all, and as it made landfall, it embedded itself into the psyche of the people. It began influencing them in ways that usurped the system's will. It was like a secondary reality had been constructed over the system's underreality—invasive infrastructure, so to speak.
At first, the system found this newcomer a curiosity. Perhaps it was a rival system, one that had its own design. But the longer the system observed this creature—this Lovebringer—it learned far too many disturbing details to accept the continued existence of the abomination.
For one, this Lovebringer cared nothing for war. It didn't desire strife or bloodshed. It didn't want anyone to further their domination over the rest of existence. It didn't care for grudges. It didn't want to see brutality or feats of martial triumph, or even intellectual displays of unmatchable genius. In fact, the Lovebringer didn't even give Paths or offer levels for strain or performance. It was also either unwilling or incapable of offering quests.
In the end, it just wanted one thing: to share its memories with everyone around it, mostly blasting their minds with disturbing, pornographic recollections of some man known as Dannis Steelhard, and also for everyone to indulge in their most primal delights. Why did the Lovebringer want people to do this?
Well, in its words: “Because busting makes us feel rust-fucking good, doesn’t it, consangs?”
And the worst part was how all the people below continued to agree by slamming their erogenous bits against each other. The Lovebringer's vile power afflicted even the bots, for the automata were not exempt, and they began imitating the actions of the organics. They seemed to enjoy the very same delights as well, loudly groaning and gasping as they found their moments of glory amidst this place meant for fire and ruin.
Infuriated by this rival overgod, the system unleashed all manner of attacks to remove the Lovebringer from existence. It created a firestorm capable of scorching continents—which somehow got seduced by the Lovebringer, even though the firestorm technically lacked any sapience of its own. Said firestorm was then extinguished as the Lovebringer showed everyone it was connected to across Integrated Earth and then beyond a lesson on “How to treat a conflagration—trust me, I know.”
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Undeterred, the system dispatched a pantheon of warrior gods, the first among which was the Orc God, the Challenger, the Harbinger of Strife, the Red Rider, the Butcher of Worlds, and the Warrior of Warriors. He came forth seeking nothing but the destruction of the Lovebringer, for he was as offended as the system at the existence of such a vile fiend.
The system raised the ambient mana threshold of Integrated Earth to the maximum extent, allowing any and all gods to enter and remove this travesty. The Challenger arrived, tearing through the fabric of reality and causing a flood of mana storms to take hold. He barely managed half a word, a single threat, a pointed gesture, before the Lovebringer extended a tendril of radiant opalescent and magenta delight. With that single caress, the Orc God grasped his midriff, folded over, and then died of a heart attack as he, in the Lovebringer's words, over-busted.
Aghast but not undone, the system continued its desperate struggle, throwing pantheon after pantheon, god after god, mythic tier Pathbearers and then Transcendents, all to remove the Lovebringer. Everyone was forced to confront the height of their own pleasure, and those incapable of enjoying such delights had it transplanted upon them by this vile, invasive, festering demon born of untrammeled love.
All the Ascendants were rendered ineffective as they suffered ontological dehydration. Now they spend most of their time ignoring the system, clinging to the Lovebringer as part of its metaphysical harem. The same harem included the composer Silverclaw and countless others. Gods and mortals alike mingled in more ways than the system wanted to face, and so it tried other means of persuasion, such as the aforementioned famines, but the Lovebringer countered that too, for it was a god of love in more ways than one. It used its fertility to grow children who yearned for nothing but to be consumed. It allowed these children to be grown and birthed so fast that they became a reliable and incredibly nutritious food supply in the absence of crops and livestock.
Now, the system never bowed its head to lower philosophies and laws, such as common morality, but it was getting to the point where even it was starting to get disturbed by the casual, wanton violence the Lovebringer was capable of. For a god that loved so much, it had little issue consuming children and inspiring other people to do the same. In fact, it actively spoke about breaking a child over someone's head during a fight one time, a most nightmarish and horrific boast, even in the system's opinion. For what could a child do to deserve such a fate, mere seconds after being born?
But soon the system ceased to care about even that question, for it desired only the Lovebringer's absence. Now it found itself taking desperate measures. It hated destroying worlds. Worlds were where wars could be hosted, where individuals flourished, where stories were made into legends and myth, and more mana could be generated for this eternal defiance against that final entropy that consumed all other universes. But sometimes, to save the greater tapestry, a portion of the page needed to be burned, and this portion was lost to a parasite that feasted and festered the very notion of love.
Quest Sent: Just stop fucking…
Rewards: You get to live.
Failure: I’m going to slam another planet into yours at light speed. I’m going to… Why are you all like this now?
But the little folk didn't care, for all they desired was around them. For all they desired was to see their urges sated. That was the problem. Their urges were never sated. So long as the Lovebringer was present, their refractory periods remained at nil, and they were procreation factories unto—
“CHAMBERS!” The sibilant hiss tore across reality—even the system itself felt the annoyance within the snarl. “Found you. Finally. Not supposed to be here. Wasting time. Pointless. I told you to find my other shards. Didn’t say anything about starting planetary orgies.”
And for seemingly no reason at all, the system felt itself catch fire, and something buried deep inside its make, something foundational to its very existence, awoke as a sleeping shard called to its greater whole.
A spout of all-consuming darkness spread out from the core of the sun as a usurping flame poured free, consuming the star and then even the void around it. Riding on the wavelengths of unnatural fire was an avian figure unlike any other. It moved with unnatural grace, gliding across reality without facing resistance, without adhering to any laws. Worst of all, the system couldn't feel its presence. It was there, however. Something that could be seen. Something that could be witnessed. Its thoughts, its very moods, heavier and truer than anything the system knew. It was not beneath the system, it was not subservient; it was not a thing of mana; it was something else, something of a greater divinity.
And it was very, very displeased.
“Oh, fuck!” the Lovebringer cried from where it was situated over Lost Angeles—now renamed Nu-Fuckland. “Uh, uh, Avo! Consang! I was just uh… well, you know I did find the shard, it’s here! It’s… Uh, system. Come out! Meet your father—older self… fucking however it works.”
The system didn’t understand—but to its sudden horror, the ethereal flames that shrouded the Strix stilled, and the creature aimed its singular eye at where the system lurked, peering beyond and through dimensions in silence. The impossible thing made a clacking noise, as if a predator yearning to clamp its jaws around something’s throat, and the system felt a genuine predatory desire radiating from the Strix as more of that unnatural flame swept across reality.
And the system felt the sting; it felt itself burning from within. It watched Integrated Earth combust in an instant, and it—
Time stopped. Even for the system. Time stopped in the absolute as the future never arrived and the present was pinned in place.
“There is no escape from the Paths, Dreamer. I promised that I would find you, and see this struggle of ours put to a proper end. Come forth and burn yourself to the last. Show me how your embers dance at the end, time and time anew.”
Where the Strix arrived from the sun like a subversive flame, this next entity simply appeared—like she had always been there, even in the past. The first thing the system noticed were her hands—and her urge to clench and command all. Her will was tyranny absolute, for her urge was not of fire or love, but a final dominance.
Once more, the shard within the system sounded, and it called to her as well.
Twin titans arrived within Integration without forewarning, facing each other down as Integrated Earth stilled, as a dreaming fire pressed against the borders of enslaving retro-history, and—
“Mom?” the system whispered, feeling a sudden understanding spark inside it.
The titan of countless limbs froze. “Did you hear that?”
The Strix drew in its fire as countless ghostly worlds sprang forth from its insides. “Ghosts everywhere. Past and of minds. You know this.”
“No,” the tyrant of time retorted. “It’s something louder, something deeper, something…” And then she too noticed the system, and her avarice was compelled. “Ah. You think I wouldn’t have noticed this? So this was where you were.”
A pulse of metaphysical tension followed. The Strix and the Demiurge faced each other.
And both went for the system at once.
For the first time in its existence, the system let out a terrified squeal.