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Maxsaeli — Delirium Chronicle - part 1/4
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Published: 2022-08-05 16:03:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 7291; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 0
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Description
When the Founders conquered the center of the universe, they did many wondrous things...
And thanks to their efforts, the universe was changed.
Countless creatures – born and salvaged by the marvels of technology – were settled down in their domain. Freed from death and miseries of the primordial world, and united to become part of a greater whole! And having learned their lessons from the mistakes of the yore, they built a magnificent empire that was, in every sense of the word, alive! A heavenly alliance! A union! An Assembly!
And the story I’m going to share with you today… will be not about that.
No, instead, this will be a story of what was written before!
~ ~ ~
So…
If you're following this account, you might have noticed that a good portion of its content is dedicated to exploring lore of the fictional universe by the name of "Assembly ". And as I stated in some of my previous uploads, the roots of this universe come from a roleplay game that I and a bunch of my friends came up with back during school days.
Naturally, this roleplay always had a storyline on its own – and converting it into a full-fledged web-novel was one of my main goals since my graduation from high school. Yet after a few failed attempts, this idea was for a long time abandoned, and my writing had gradually shifted away from the original plot, slowly becoming something completely different and eventually manifesting into Assembly as it is today.
But now, as I gained a more or less considerable audience, I decided to give this old tale a second chance!
But before we’ll get started, here are a couple of points that should be addressed first:
- This is not a one-to-one retelling. While I tried to stick to the original as close as possible, many of the initial story bits were long since forgotten, left unresolved or were just poorly written to begin with. Thus, a lot of stuff was reworked or just straight-up omitted. By the rule of thumb, all you’ll see here was present in the original story in some form, but not all that was present in the original story ended up here.
- This story does not exist in the same canon as the current Assembly. While many characters, races and ideas appear in both worlds, their lore, backstory and – perhaps, most importantly – central themes are just too different to coexist on the same plane. You can, however, interpret this world and the world of Assembly as existing in the same multiverse, but more on that later…
So, as we got this out of the way, ladies, gentlemen and everyone else…
Let me present you one and only Delirium Chronicle!
Chapter I
Revelation of Apocalypse
Our story begins in the World of Delirium.
For countless millennia, it was a prosperous and magnificent universe – but now, the rumors of the great calamity are spreading across the stars. A calamity of truly astronomical proportions, threatening to destroy all things there are!
And in order to investigate the sources – and well as reliability – of these rumors, three champions decide to join their forces in a quest for the ancient truth:
- Maxis, the custodian – an artificial, shape-shifting being designed to withstand the most extreme circumstances. A hot-blooded, righteous and ambitious warrior!
- Valrax, the kreon – an elite agent of the long-standing Kreon Empire with access the most cutting edge technological and mystic knowledge on his people. A dedicated and disciplined soldier.
- The Grand Network – the ancient god-like AI with a somewhat bloated ego, serving as peacekeeper and mediator between various races of Delirium.
By closely researching the rumors, the champions found their first thread of evidence – a mysterious planet by the name of Twentyfourion, which was inexplicably mentioned in some of the gossips. And with the help of the Network’s inbuilt stellar atlas, they found a location of this enigmatic place!
The planet turned out to be a pretty unremarkable desert world devoid of any signs of civilization – but upon examining its surface more closely, the heroes managed to locate a certain structure. It was some manner of camp – apparently, they were not the first ones trying to uncover the mystery of this planet. And yet the camp was conspicuously empty, and its creators were nowhere to be found…
The only clue was a deep hole. Dug – or, more likely, drilled – right in a middle of the place.
So having no other clues to work with, the trio decided to walk in.
And after long hours of descent, they reached some kind of subterranean labyrinth. The catacombs, perhaps. Convoluted in shape, they were full of strange sculptures and ornaments, with their walls covered in mysteries inscriptions and reliefs – and so the Network, having access to a vast library of ancient tongues and ciphers, made an attempt to translate them.
But all of a sudden, the champions’ investigation was interrupted by a monster!
A massive winged arthropod, like a vaguely avian scorpion, had attacked! The heroes retaliated – and the creature, having taken a few hits, had cowardly retreated. And for its size, it was surprisingly quick in these narrow corridors…
But suspecting that it may be another potential clue, the champions decided to follow it – and in doing so, they descended even further down into the mazes. The man-made corridors gave a way to the formless caverns – and eventually, a chasm to a great hollow void had appeared before them. A chasm into which the creature, having spread its hitherto idle wings, had suddenly plunged!
The heroes glimpsed inside.
The cavity was truly enormous – only its stalactite-ridden ceiling was visible, while walls and floor were all completely hidden in pinch-black darkness. And far in that darkness, a certain light source was seen. A bright yellow object, shining alluringly deep, deep down. So the champions decided to fly towards it, like moths drawn to a lantern…
And as they approached this mysterious thing, the horrible realization came to them.
It was a cocoon!
A gigantic chrysalis, hosting some kind of colossal, formless being!
Around it, countless metal cages were suspended in air, with long chains connecting them to the surface of chrysalis – and inside them, the creatures were imprisons. Beasts of all kinds imaginable. Presumably, a long time ago, they were presented to the creature in the cocoon as some kind of offering – by someone or something. And now, it was slowly feeding of their life-force! Gradually turning most of them into dry, emancipated husks – with the scorpion-bird being among those lucky ones that managed to escape.
And as the heroes approached this eldritch cocoon even further, the Network started to sense an intense power coming from the inside it – apparently, it was somehow connected to the great calamity mentioned in the rumors that brought them here. So ensure the safety of the universe, it must have been prevented from hatching by any means necessary!
And with that in mind, the champions made a tough decision to slay the beasts in the cages, hopping that it would starve the thing in cocoon.
Flying from cage to cage, they put all of them down one by one – but then, one particularly large chamber had suddenly appeared before them. Large enough to serve as an entire arena…
And inside it, there was a creature far surpassing all that came before! A strange chimeric being, merged from numerous species into a grotesque, frankensteinian amalgamation. The Omni-Beast! In terrible sorrow the heroes attacked this majestic creature – and it responded with vicious fury! Even in its scrawny state, it was still able show a surprising resilience, spewing fire from its mouths and casing lightning from its claws. But eventually, it was slain too…
And yet before taking its final breath, it had suddenly uttered a deafening howl!
And the chrysalis below it began to shake and crackle…
In a matter of seconds, the campions found themselves in dire situation. The countdown to hatching had started – and so the Network resorted to using their most powerful trump card yet! By conduction a secret arcane ritual, they had summoned Planeta Paradisiacus – a wandering planet serving as they primary base, housing most of their servers, weapons, spacecraft and robotics.
With a terrific thundering violence, the planet collided with Twentyfourion – and the beast within had perished in the raging flames of impact! But not until the champions managed to hastily return to the surface and jump onto a one of Network’s starships!
And while onboard – witnessing the terrible explosion on the dark cosmic horizon – Maxis and Valrax finally had the meaning of those mysteries inscriptions explained to them.
Apparently, in the very center of the universe, there was a massive hidden megastructure – the Assembly Tower. And deep within, a terrible monstrosity was sealed! The name of it was Soursage – and the being encased in the chrysalis was none other than its very offspring.
Soon, the walls of the Tower will fail – and the Soursage’s writhing tentacles will emerge free to engulf the universe entire! Planet by planet, star by star.
But it did have a weakness.
A secret way to stop it, and to prevent the universal annihilation…
In order to uncover it, one must enter the halls of the Tower – but the Tower, given it purpose, is not easily reached! Its walls are near-impenetrable, and possess no entrance. The only way inside is through the special wormhole – a portal hidden on a distant planet and locked with the magical key!
And so, having realized the full extent of the burden laid on their shoulders, the three champions headed to their next destination.
An obscure, abandoned planet, mentioned in that fateful scripture…
Chapter II
Quest for the Key
When the champions arrived to the planet, it was already desolate and ruined for a long, long time.
Remains of countless cities were littering its surface – once full of life and wonder, but now reduced to nothing but colorless piles of concrete and metal. The flora was scares, consisting only of dry herbs and short, withered trees – and the sky was constantly shrouded but the thick gray clouds.
The entire place was almost permeated by the feeling of abandonment and decay.
And inside one of its countless ruins, completely indistinguishable from the rest, the heroes found a seemingly innocuous metal door. Beyond it, there was a staircase leading down. And deep below, there should have been the portal they were seeking.
So the champions stepped in, proceeding to descend beneath the earth once more.
And this time around, the descent was far more tedious than previously…
Zigzagging flights of stairs were stretching down for miles with no ending in sight. And whereas the catacombs of Twentyfourion had as least some sense of aesthetic and diversity to them, here it was just the same staircase, repeated again and again. The monotony was truly oppressive.
But then, the extra passages started to appear!
Doors, leading into the longs corridors that stretched into darkness…
Windows into what appeared to be empty elevator shafts…
Various gratings and trapdoors here and there…
And around this time, the strange figures started to appear as well! Lanky, shadowy silhouettes – lurking in the dark corners, darting at the very edges of the line of sight. Trying to lead the heroes astray from their pass, into the twisted corridors and halls branching of the main route – and even succeeded a few times – but eventually, the campions persevered, and made their way to the bottom of the staircase!
And in doing so, they found themselves in the small room with a heavy, hexagonal metal door.
Undoubtedly, it was a gateway they were looking for – and just as they expected, it was locked. A massive keyhole in its very center left no doubts. But then, the heroes had suddenly noticed something lying right before the threshold. A creature! It was rather small and serpentine, and was barely moving – but as the trio approached it, it suddenly rose up – revealing itself to be more like a tree root – and spoke to them.
This gate, it said, was indeed a passage to the Assembly Tower – but just like cities above, it was long since abandoned, and the Key was lost to time. But luckily, there was a thing out there that could restore it from memory – the Wise Tree. A mysterious entity somehow involved in the creation of the Tower many centuries ago. However, meeting with it won’t be an easy task – years ago, the Tree was cut down, and its stump was shattered into six fragments, now scattered far across the universe.
Only after finding and uniting all of them, the Wise Tree can be restored – and the Root, who was once a part of the Tree itself – had gladly volunteered to guide champions to the shards’ locations. And so, long and tedious journey across the cosmos had started:
- The first fragment was on the floating archipelago of frozen islands, infested by the giant spider-like creatures. By venturing to the center of it, the campions had arrived to their Queen’s nest – a large, chitinous structure suspended in air by the numerous silk threads stretching from all the surrounding islands. And after fighting and slaying her, they had found a shard inside her own stomach.
- The second fragment was in a dark swamp hidden in a large cavern – illuminated only by the luminescent bushed, fungi and fireflies. The champions had to ascend the tallest tree in this strange place to reach a temple carved in a ceiling, where the shard was stored on the altar.
- The third fragment was in a decrepit city populated by the race of humanoids and constantly terrorized by the mysterious shadow-monsters. The heroes found a shard of stump rather quickly, and were about leave without meddling in local affairs – but all of a sudden, a strange cyborg person appeared before them, and with his unprecedented charisma had convinced them to help his people after all. Eventually, all four of them charged into the city hall, a witness a massive cursed sarcophagus that was spawning shadow-monsters all along. Sensing heroes approaching, it spewed a massive devil-like creature in self-defense – and the champions took a fight, almost losing in a process, if not for the cyborg man performing a last minute sacrifice to destroy the dreadful artifact once and for all. The exact origin of it, however, remained an enigma…
- The fourth fragment was on a charred wasteland of countless active volcanos and lava rivers, populated by a race of shrimp people. Campions, guided by shrimp elder, had to make their way to the largest mountain – which, oddly enough, was the only mountain that isn’t an active volcano – where they found a massive eel-like beast frozen into permafrost above the ashen clouds. But when they tried to melt the ice, it had immediately attacked, forcing them to retaliate – eventually slaying the creature and looting the stump fragment from its body.
- The fifth fragment was inside deep underwater ruins on a cold, ocean planet. In order to retrieve it, the champions had to remove what appeared to be a giant plug in the seabed – and then escape a horrific, colossal maelstrom that formed when the waters rushed into the hollow underground cavities.
- And finally, the sixth and last fragment was inside a strange, abandoned ship, apparently crash-landed on some unknown, barren, airless moon. Quite peculiarly, this vessel was more akin to an aquatic liner than any form of spacecraft – and after entering it through the one of its numerous breaches and cracks, the champions were quick to notice that it was significantly larger on the inside than on the outside. And despite its outside looking like nothing but a wreck, its insides were, in fact, surprisingly functional! Filled with layers upon layers of giant pistons, gears and conveyer belts, patrolled by acid-spewing robots, they resembled some kind of devilish factory. Ab endless jungle of machinery – roaring, clanging and huffing for no apparent purpose…
But eventually, the heroes successfully traversed said jungles, and entered a truly massive hall – about two times larger than this ship’s entire outer size – with a peculiar apparatus in the very center. A globular, gigeresque amalgamation of pipes and convex metal plates – with numerous wired converging to it – it appeared to be none other than the ship’s heart!
According to the guidance of the Root, this is where the last shard was supposed to be hidden.
But weirdly enough, it didn’t seem to be the case this time!
And as the heroes approached the devise, intending to figure out what’s wrong, the whole ship had suddenly flinched! The heart awakened – and with a blinding flash of light, the heroes were transported onto the upper deck. The skies above were simmering with stars and nebulae, and the barren moon was left far behind – having departure from it, the ship was now drifting through the void of outer space.
And then, a deep mechanical voice had suddenly spoken to the intruders. Apparently, it was a voice of the ship itself!
It introduced itself as the keeper of the shard, and promised to grant it to the heroes – but only if they succeed in its challenge. The heroes agreed – and at the next moment, the whole deck was transformed into a giant arena. Hordes upon hordes of vicious monsters started to crawl from the ship’s underbelly – but the heroes had bravely repelled them all, wave after wave.
All, except for one!
The last – as well as the largest – beast that appeared from the vessel’s innards! Reptilian, almost draconic in its look, it possessed scales nearly impervious to harm, while any damage it did take just healed momentarily before the mortal could be inflicted.
And yet, with their unprecedented craftiness and ingenuity, the heroes managed perform a clever trick and take the beast down! A trick that was, in all honesty, just too complex to describe it here in details – so let’s say that it involved throwing bust statues like projectiles, refining the acid looted from the robotic guards and usage of one particularly large enema. The rest is up to your imagination…
And so, the challenge was completed!
And the ship – reluctantly congratulating the champions – had handed them the final fragment, dropped them on the nearest asteroid and left.
Finally, the long-separated shards were united – and the moment it happened, thick grey fog had rapidly enveloped the heroes. Deep howl of sirens and rattle of metal wheels had resounded from afar – and then, out of a misty vail, a train had suddenly appeared.
Slowly, it stopped – and a sliding door of one of its cars had alluringly opened right before the heroes’ eyes.
And having exchanged cursory glances, they walked in.
The doors closed, and the train proceeded…
Chapter III
Katabasis
Having taken one of the seats – all of which were completely vacant – three heroes had spoken to the Root once again. And from it, they had learned that the entire train was, in fact, a demon – a type supernatural being affiliated with the Demiurges, gods of Delirium! And the fact that it came for them after they reassemble the stump was a sign that divinity itself had high hopes for them!
And now, it was heading to the place of great power, capable of rejuvenating the stump back into a full-grown tree. A vortex of the primordial force of creation, precipitated at the lowest part of the universe and eventually congealed into a realm of fire that came to be known as Hell!
And so, the Demon Train, moving along its astral railway, was heading towards Hell itself.
The empty foggy wasteland was stretching all around – and far, far away, the heroes could see transient silhouettes of buildings. Echoes of the kingdoms from different planets and different epochs…
Midway through its route, the Demon Train made a stop in one particularly eerie place – an empty, yet suspiciously clean-looking city of narrow streets and Victorian-looking buildings. The cityscape was dominated by one truly massive clock tower, the sky above was pitch-black, and the only sources of light were numerous gas lamps, giving deserted streets a distinctively golden tinge. And while exploring them, the heroes couldn’t shed a feeling that they were not alone. That they were being watched. Lingering suspicions that eventually were proven entirely correct – for lured by the fleeting shadows into the aforementioned clock tower, they found themselves against a grotesquely looking demoness presiding over the city.
The subsequent confrontation, however, had ended in a draw – the distant howl of siren notified heroes that their train was about to departure, and so they rushed to the station, chased by the swarm of crow-like creatures summoned by the demoness. At the very last second, they jumped into train car – the doors slammed shut behind them, and the vehicle moved again.
And after some time, it had finally arrived to Hell.
The heroes stepped outside – and faced a colossal wall of stone, encircling the entire place.
With an equally colossal gate embedded into it, covered in eldritch inscriptions and grotesque reliefs.
Emitting deep metallic creak, the gate had opened – and the heroes began their journey to the heart of Inferno!
Rather orthodoxly, the Inferno was comprised of the Nine Circles, and was populated by the twisted, emancipated wights – pathetic victims of the Reincarnation Cycle established by Demiurges at the dawn of times. Once the most profound wrongdoers of the universe, they fell into the downward spiral of rebirths, and eventually were reincarnated here as these wretched creatures – waiting for hardships and anguish so cleanse their sins, so they can reborn into the higher strata of the world.
And as the heroes had entered their cleansing grounds, they were absolutely overwhelmed by the countless offering this place could provide!
Sure, for the sinners – with their frail bodies and meager spirits – these hellish activities were tortures. But for our heroes – superhumanly tough and absurdly extreme-loving – they were unearthly pleasures! And so in order to traverse hell, they had to fight not the demon hordes, not the devil’s charms, but their own temptations!
To just lay into the lake of burning brimstone and chill.
To jump into pit of endless flaying and dismemberment and have fun!
To plunge into hole full of snakes and worms and merge with them into a one giant glorious amalgamation of writhing, hissing, scaly piles of biomass!
And yet through the sheer force of will, the heroes persevered.
Crossing the river of Styx, they entered the City of Dis – the innermost fraction of Hell – and made their way through the gardens of screaming trees, canals of burning tar and descended the steep edges of the pit of Tartarus. And at its very bottom – the lowest part of the cosmos itself – they stood before the infernal core!
A boiling well of primordial chaos, surrounded by the spiral of charred cliffs and hills.
And as the heroes began to approach it, the Root had started to lose control.
Drawn to the primordial power, it escaped from the heroes grasp and plunged itself into the well – instantly growing into the colossal Tree of Desire. Drunk with power, it refused to leave the source and attacked its former allies when they tried to reason.
The climactic battle had ensued, and our brave champions had to utilize all of the wisdom, experience and skill they gained during their difficult journey! With Network summoning army of magical robots, Valrax firing neutron torpedoes from his quantum rocket launchers and Maxis wielding a crystal plasmic greatsword, they clashed with the arboreal monstrosity!
A furious fight had thundered throughout hellscape – and in a decisive strike the Tree of Desire was finally destroyed. Having apologized before the champions in its last moments of lucidity, it withered away and crumbled – and the stump was planted in its place instead.
With a tranquil flash of light, the Wise Tree was revived – and bestowed the Key of the Tower to the heroes.
Proudly, they returned to the fateful gate.
The Key had entered the keyhole, activating contraptions within.
With a deep, resounding noise, the gateway had opened, revealing the energy vortex of the wormhole.
And the champions, without hesitation, had stepped inside…
* * *
As they crossed the threshold, the trio found themselves amidst what appeared to be a valley.
With the peaceful hills covered with golden grass and white, glowing trees – like miniature versions of the one that aided them not so long ago.
Above their heads, there was a gloomy, lilac sky – but far above its rare cirrus clouds, one could notice the faint outline of the ginormous domed ceiling. Apparently, the whole valley was enclosed – contained within a colossal, incomprehensively vast closed chamber!
And undoubtedly, this chamber was somewhere inside the Assembly Tower.
Perhaps, it was even at its very core!
And so having activated all the transmitters in its robotic avatar body, the Network attempted to hack into the Tower’s systems – to finally unearth the mystery of the Soursage’s hidden weakness. While the other two warriors decided to investigate the strange orange glow emanating from afar – from the center of the valley, as they both concluded.
And as they approached, they noticed something.
The source of the glow was a large pit, with a whirlpool of yellow flames swirling deep down – and above that whirlpool, on a particularly pronounced cliff, the figure was standing motionless. A humanoid creature encased in the ebony carapace, from crevices and gaps of which the deep red light was flowing. And as a soon as Maxis and Valrax had noticed it, it moved.
Slowly and silently it approached them – and suddenly delivered a monologue that would make all nihilists of the universe combined feel like little babies!
It spoke about entropy and chaos.
How all there is is destined to fall apart.
How existence itself is nothing more than purposeless, meaningless suffering.
How nothing has any value. How nothing is sacred. How all must one day burn! And how anyone who even dare to resist it is simply too stupid to understand the Truth.
Maxis and Valrax had to endure through this speech. They kept their weapons ready, but didn’t attack.
Instead, they tried to argue with the creature – not to change its mind, of course, but to win some time and to prevent it from noticing Network’s machination. A battle fought not with swords, but with tongues! And as this battle continued, the Network had finally managed to crack the Tower’s code and uncover its greatest secret…
Erected thousands of centuries ago by the greatest minds of Delirium, chosen directly by the Demiurges themselves, the Tower was meant to not merely imprison, but to completely annihilate Soursage. But the reason it didn’t is that it was unfinished! For the reasons lost to time, a single – yet the most crucial – detail was never put onto its rightful place. And without it, the Tower remained idle, a mere inch from completion, for millennia to come…
And just as the Network had learned this mind-blowing revelation, the creature’s patience had finally run out.
So delivering its final one-liner about universal ruination, it turned its back to the heroes and plunged down into the pit of fire! In an instant, the orange flames of the vortex had turned scarlet red – and an immense thing started to emerge from them with furious rapidity…
Its shapeless body had spilled over from the pit, starting to engulf the entire valley like a fiery tsunami!
Its massive tendrils outstretched in all direction, touching the ceiling above skies!
And a giant yellow eye had opened in the center of this raging chaotic mass!
At the very last second, the heroes jumped back into the portal – and with a powerful blow they destroyed it from the outside. The gate cracked in half, and the wormhole dispersed into a cloud of shimmering sparks!
And the entire room had fallen eerily quiet.
While far above – over the clouds and beyond the stars, in the very center of creation – the usherer of Apocalypse began to spread its tentacles across the cosmos.
Now, the universe shall burn!
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