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Chapter VII

The great shutdown

Days ago, the coming of Soursage was the prelude of apocalypse.

But now, the shutdown of the Grand Network marked true beginning of the end!

A wave of panic swept across the universe. Its realms fell disconnected. Countless millennia of wisdom were lost in an instant. And driven to the brink of insanity by all of this, crowds of anarchists overrun the streets, spreading chaos and iniquity!

Numerus planets were set ablaze way before the flames of Soursage could even have a chance to touch them.

And the main culprit of all of this – the devilish Blue Prawn – had escaped the twin planets with the Dexter Orb in his claws, bewitched by mystic spell that prevented it from hatching, and now was nowhere to be found…

Valrax had to return to his khreon homeworld to help his people at least somehow manage the civil unrest. And so Maxis – who by this point had obviously restored their body after the encounter with the Prawn – was left completely on their own.

Amidst the scorched battlefield.

On the outskirts of the dying world…

But there was a ray of hope, still!

For centuries earlier, when Maxis just proved themselves to the Network as the trusted ally, they had learned about a secret backup protocol, capable of restoring the Network even after its complete annihilation. But no further specification were given – and so now, Maxis had to figure out the way of bringing back the cosmic balance themselves, until it will become too late…

Having borrowed one of the khreons starships, the first thing they did was heading towards the ruins of Planeta Paradisiacus. Destroyed many days ago during the confrontation with the larval Soursage spawn, it had been long since severed from the Network itself, and thereby untouched by the curse of the Shade. And yet deep inside its crumbled remains, scattered around the orbit, residual bits of Network’s memory could still be found. Or at least, Maxis believed that they did…

So together with the acquainted hacker – a runaway princess of the squid-faced ionites – they scoured every inch of the orbit, salvaging anything that looked like it can still be functional. And eventually, in the fractured circuits of the space debris, they did find something resembling the backup protocol after all!

And coordinates extracted from it had brought Maxis to one of the farthest reached of the universe.

To a distant, desolate planet, orbiting a meager white dwarf.

If decrypted data is to be believed, this is where Network backup was hidden.

This is where the universal balance was ought to be restored!

* * *

As Maxis stepped onto the surface of the planet, amidst a barren rocky plain, a strange feeling of the place doused them almost instantly!

Something about this planet was clearly off.

Its thin atmosphere was composed predominantly of xenon, and thus emitted a peculiar, bluish glow from the electrifying solar radiation. Everything was under a hazy veil. Nothing casted shadows. All sounds were dull and muffled, as if underwater.

Together, it all gave off a derealizing, almost dream-like feel.

Like if landscape was viewed from an old, desaturated TV screen.

But even more uncanny was a constant feeling of a foreign presence. As if somebody was there, looking.

But it was not the same feeling they experienced in the gold-tinged, Victorian city.

Not in a slightest…

At one point, Maxis had clearly heard what sounded like whispers coming from behind the steep hill – but after crossing it, they saw it was just a wing blowing through the strange, reef-like stone structures.

At another point, they saw what appeared to be a small town of a horizon – but upon walking closer, they saw that it was just a strangely-shaped rock formation. With street-like crevices, house-like rocks and even hollow cavities inside some of them, it looked almost like an actual livable space – and yet, in a strange case of architectural uncanny valley, it clearly wasn’t!

As the sun slowly went down – and the twilight set in – Maxis also started noticing strange lights coming from the horizon. Unsurprisingly, these too were nothing but a natural phenomenon.

And as they wandered through this liminal desert in search of the backup devise – surrounded by illusory whispers and shadows, overwhelmed by the oppressive solitude – bad thought started to flicker in the depths of their mind…

Doubt…

Regret…

This place… it had such a profound sense of being removed from anything else, that it was easy to forgot that the world outside was even real in a first place. Soursage, Tower, the people of Delirium – all of them felt like some distant memory at this point. An old dream. Unnerving stillness and tranquility permeated this place, numbing all senses. Almost begging to leave everything behind. To cease all movements. To lie down. And to let oneself be consumed by the void…

But then, Maxis was suddenly snapped back to their senses by a vison of a great pillar in a distance!

Among the sheer flat plane that surrounded it, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

And while its vaguely artificial appearance was once again just a facade, there was still something notably… different about it, compared to its surroundings. And so having summoned their ship to this point of interest, Maxis decided to climb to the top of this peculiar structure.

And the further they climbed, the stranger it got.

On a surface, its shape resembled a huge column made of haphazardly placed stone blocks and obelisks – and yet the exact arrangement of its parts had some unmistakably… organic feel to it. And as Maxis finally reached the top, they found themselves on the small circular platform – surrounded by uneven fence of upright positioned blocks and overlooking a landscape of myriad distant lights.

And in the center of this platform, there was a boulder. Covered in patched of what appeared to be cyan luminous moss…

And atop this boulder, there was a relic!

A small, silvery devise, reminiscent of a flash drive.

Yes, that was it!

And just as Maxis had grabbed this thing from the rock to thoroughly check its authenticity, they heard a strange slithering noise coming from below. And as they glimpsed down across the edge of the pillar, they were horrified to witness countless squirming tentacles coming from the earth at the foot of the structure! Yes, they was completely right when they noticed how organic-looking were the outgrowths of the surface of this pillar – turns out, the pillar was alive all along. And having lured into pray onto its top, it started to unfold its feeding processes I order to engulf it!

Usually in such situation, Maxis would just fly away by growing wings on their pack – but now, in thin atmosphere of this cursed planet, it wasn’t really possible. Even by gliding, they won’t be able to leave the area covered be tentacles.

But at the final moment, when the writhing tendrils had almost touched to upper platform, the good old starship had finally come to a call! And jumping toward in the last ditch of effort, Maxis tightly grabbed onto its fuselage, crawled into the cockpit and pushed the accelerator pedal with all their might – leaving this planet once and for all!

And then, while the ship was still drifting through the space, they walked into the cargo hold – where, among other pieces of salvaged electronics, a single Network’s avatar lay.

Carefully, they inserted a data storage device into the port inside avatar’s cleft open chest – and to their greatest relief, the avatar had suddenly come to life…

* * *

Naturally, the version of Network’s mind extracted from the relic was outdated, and thereby unaware of the tragic outcome of the battle for the Twin Planets. And as Maxis informed them on the sorry state of affairs, they reacted with an understandable shock.

But even more shockingly, they pointed out how their resurrection alone won’t fix such a profound disturbance!

For despite having the exact personality and knowledge of the original, they possessed not even a sliver of their initial power – and with all their equipment across the universe unaccusable, tainted by the curse, regaining such power will not be an easy task. But luckily, the hazy memories painted the pictured of a secret place somewhere in the universe that could help to accelerate the process!

So having taken a full control of the spaceship, Network directed it towards is.

And as they flew across the nebulae and constellations, they gave confused Maxis a few more details.

The place in question was known as the Pendulum Zone – it was located in the uppermost part of the Delirium, opposite to Hell, and contained a massive, pendulum-shaped megastructure. Allegedly, this massive devise was erected by Demiurges to regulate the wheel of reincarnation – and if the Network’s assumption were correct, it could somehow reboot their source code, and thus cleanse them from the influence of the curse!

And so, after a long voyage, they had finally reached the legendary pendulum.

As they descended onto its mountainous surface, they beheld some truly wondrous scenery – countless gears, pistons, springs and other clockwork machineries embedded into the very landscape! Some were tiny, while some were comparable to the mountains into which they were ingrained. Jointed, brass trees were swaying peacefully in a distance, held together by chains and belts, and numerous patched of tiny metal blades protruded here and there from a lilac rock, giving the impression of waving grass fields.

And somewhere among this splendor, the secret temple was hidden, holding the mystery of the Network’s restoration. But as they heroes ventured forward, eager to uncover this temple – a strange feeling of ill omen had suddenly overwhelmed them!

As if somewhere in the universe, something immeasurably bad had just happen. And this time around, it wasn’t just tricks played by their minds, like it was on the nameless planet before.

For mere minutes after the foreboding, they noticed how gears of the Pendulum started to all jam and move strangely.

Later, they saw how the stars above them started to fade, one by one!

And then, all of a sudden, the mighty mountains on the horizon momentarily exploded, crumpling into the swirling clouds of black powder – and from them, the all-consuming wave of decay began to sweep toward the heroes!

And even more suddenly, the translucent cubic entity had appeared before them!

Entity, in which the Network had recognize the Supreme Demiurge! And without elaborating further, this Cube opened a rift in a space-time, grabbed heroes with its telekinetic power – and threw them right into the portal mere second before the avalanche of black dust had consume the valley entirely…

Chapter VIII

Through the looking glass

When Maxis and Network came back to their senses, they found themselves in a strange place…

They were stranded amidst the swamp of viscous, grayish slime – with unusual, twisting plants growing in small grooves here and there. The entire area was covered in dense fog – but even through it, the ominous sky could be seen right above! Instead of a sun, there were seven smaller lights scattered across the firmament. And behinds them, the countless moons were swirling around – some small, while some taking huge portions of celestial expanse.

And from this sky alone, the Network concluded with deathly certainty – wherever this place was, in was not a part of Delirium!

And just as they tried to figure out what kind of a strange realm they were sent into, a sudden earth tremor had interrupted their thoughts – and following it, a massive black worm emerged from the slough!

With vicious fury it attacked the champions.

They retaliated – but alas, all they had now were Maxis’s natural claws and Network’s energy blasts, and this was not enough to damage the worm’s corrugated shell. Eventually, however, they managed to triumph by figuring out that the worm had a weak point in its gullet – and thus allowing it to swallow them, only to explode it from within.

And as they crawled out from its yellowing sludgy remains, they noticed a mysterious vehicle approaching them from a distance.

Mostly wooden, it appeared like a small shack propelled by four robotic legs – capable of slowly striding across the marsh. And as it reached the heroes, it stopped – and a strange creature walked from inside it. A bearded humanoid with three arms (two right and one left) and nine eyes all round its face – quite unusual features, unseen anywhere in Delirium…

After heroes had magically learned his native tongue via telepathy, he asked them about two mysterious meteorites that had supposedly fallen somewhere in this swamp. The heroes realized what he was probably talking about, but out of caution replied that didn’t saw any (which was technically true). Instead, they asked the stranger to give them a ride to the ruler of this mysterious world – and while initially hesitant, the stranger had eventually agreed.

So aboard his prowling house, Maxis and Network made their way to what they assumed to be the capital of this strange realm – a city of plateresque, coral-like buildings, dominated by a massive orange tower. Certainly, this tower was where the local ruler resided. But how it can be entered without causing any trouble?

And this is where Maxis remembered their old trick – the sewers!

They explained it to the Network – and together, both of them crawled through the pipes up the tower, to the very highest floor. Quietly and carefully, they emerged from the toilet – golden and inlayed with precious stones, indicating the sheer opulence of the local monarch!

But as they left the royal bathroom and made their way to the presumed throne room, they were met with a shocking picture.

The king was dead!

Just before they came, someone or something had assassinated the sovereign – quite possible with the intention of framing the heroes as perpetrators! And to make matter even worse, mere seconds after they entered the hall, slithering sounds started coming from behind the door.

So in ordered to avert the suspicion, Maxis had done what any other sane person would do in a situation like this – they flayed the king’s corpse, devoured the insides, put the skin on like a bodysuit and impersonated the monarch! Meanwhile Network had hastily crawled onto the ceiling and shape-shifted into a chandelier.

Somehow, it worked.

And as a visitor – a kind of brain slug creature – had entered the room, they didn’t notice the deceit.

Instead, they merely informed their "King" that the so called "Horned Demon" had once again challenged him to a duel in the field northward from the city. Maxis, while having not a slightest clue of who that Honed Demon was, had accepted such challenge anyway – and as the slug left, two of them made a decision to meet with the Demon after all.

Perhaps, it will be able to reveal them some secrets about what this place was and why they were sent there by the Cube…

So deep in the night, they entered the field.

And in the dim light of numerous moons – some of which had numbers of glowing dots engraved onto their surface – the heroes faced with the Horned Demon. A humanoid creature that, quite fittingly for its name, was made entirely of horns!

Despite his title, he didn’t seem to have any connections to the demons of Delirium. And pointing on of his horns at Maxis – who was still wearing a King’s skin – he declared his ambitions to take the King down in the fair fight to usurp the throne. To which Maxis, dramatically ripping mask off their face, replied that they don’t support monarchy to begin with! And then they, along with the Network, explained to the Demon who they truly were, and how they got in there.

Demon, notably confused by such a revelation, said that he knows nothing about any place called "Delirium", and was convinced that his globe and a sphere of celestial bodies orbiting it were all there is – but after thinking for a while, he recalled that there was an ancient city located even further north from the capital.

According to the old legend, he said, it was built by a mysterious deity that had no relation to the local divine lineage, and had allegedly descended upon this world from the cold void beyond the sphere of stars.

After that, the champions and the Demon parted ways – and heeding the latter’s words, Maxis and Network ventured northward in search of the mystical city.

And after a few days of travel, they had finally reached it.

But as they entered its spacious streets, they were quick to notice that it wasn’t even a city in a traditional sense. None of the building was a livable one – instead, all of the structures around them were used to house the immense clockwork machinery, suspiciously similar to that seen on the surface of the Great Pendulum.

Undoubtedly, this place was created by one of the Demiurges, who visited this strange alien world eons in the past. But why?

And as the heroes pondered on this profound question, they had finally reached the gates of the city’s central palace. And there, amid the central city square, they were met by the Clockmaster – a mysterious mechanical being wearing dark robe and theatrical mask, and also a sole inhabitant of this otherwise desolate place.

Before letting the heroes in, it asked them a bunch of questions. A small quiz on a matter of Delirium history, which took no effort for them, but would obviously confound any of the local residents – thus further confirming their initial suspicions about this city’s origins.

And as the Clockmaster let them in, and guided them to very top of the castle via the massive circular staircase, the heroes had entered a majestic hall. Aside from pillars, tapestries and other decorations, it was mostly empty – and the only thing that drew their attention was what appeared to be a large mirror on the wall right before the entrance. But as they walked closer, they noticed that it wasn’t really a mirror, as it didn’t reflect the room back on them – instead, it overlooked a strange black void, illuminated by a faint yellowing glow from a distance, and filled with occasional black clouds and floating rock debris.

And as Maxis had reflectively touched the surface of this this mysterious thing, a number of waves swept across it – and then, all of a sudden, a bunch of black shards had erupted from inside it.

And as all three tried to figure out what were these shards, they realized that that if combined properly, they would form a cube identical in size to the Supreme Demiurge – except blackened and completely opaque.

So suspecting that this may be the actual remains of the deity that brought them here, the heroes rushed to the closest hospital, hoping that it will have equipment capable of telling them whether or not the god was even still alive. And to their greatest surprise, when they glued all the shards together and attached all manner of monitors to them, they detected some weak activity inside. But then – even more suddenly – the ECG devise, which they attached too, despite Cube not even having heart, started to display a strange patter of signals!

Upon glimpsing on it, they were quick to realize that it was the encoded message! And after deciphering it, they learned the profound truth – turns out, the Cube had also jumped in the portal right after the heroes, but in a process was caught in the avalanche of black dust.

And as a result, their mind was separated from their body!

The body was stuck in the limbo between worlds – fractured and tainted – while the mind had actually managed to make it all the way unharmed.

But unfortunately, it had landed on the opposite side of the planet.

In the grim kingdom ruled by the dreaded Dark Lord!

Chapter IX

The uprising

Now, that it was discovered where the Cube’s mind was hidden, our champions were faced with the task of actually retrieving it from the Dark Lord’s grasp.

As the Clockmaster explained, the Dark Lord was the King’s brother – and many years ago, they divided whole planets into two kingdoms. And while the kingdom they had landed on remained bright and prosperous, the other one had gradually descended into depravity and corruption. Now, it is a violent place where might makes right, and where Dark Lord rules with terror instead of righteousness…

And so the heroes – infuriated by such injustices – ventured to the other side of the globe in order to vanquish the bloody tyrant! For long days they walked through the alien forests and fields, crossed rivers and mountings – and eventually, they reached a massive chasm encircling the entire planet, with the boiling incandescent magma seething deep beneath.

And quite conveniently, there was a feeble rope bridge hanging right nearby – and by traversing it, the heroes had officially entered the Dark Lord’s grim domain!

The sky on this hemisphere was all in orange and reddish hues, the forests were withered and full of thorns, and the building were all jagged and spiky – indicating how unprecedentedly evil this place truly was. Its cities, sown with dry bones, were ruled by the bloodthirsty warlords – and their streets housed all sorts of despicable vices!

But by scouring these depressive landscapes, the heroes managed to find themselves an ally in a form of another Horned Demon! Just like his congener from earlier, this demon – whom we shall call "Demon II" for the sake of convenience – was planning to overthrow the current governor. But unlike Demon I, who was just a lone freak, Demon II was actually far more successful in his revolutionary endeavors, managing to create a full-fledged underground resistance under his command. And as Maxis and Network team up with them, they make a decision of finally putting their long aviated plan into action!

Early in the morning, the rebel forces clashed with the royal guard in a bloody battle at the foot of the royal tower! And while the Network had remained down there to protect and coordinate them, Maxis had burst into the building to meet with the Dark Lord himself!

Floor after floor they ascended, eliminating guards along the way.

And finally, they had reached the throne room!

Pretty much identical to the throne room of the previous tower, except for just one thing – a massive trapdoor on a ceiling above the throne itself.

Open wide – almost invitingly…

And as Maxis passed through it and onto the rooftop, they met face to face with the ruler of this unholy place!

Encased in plate armor with a dark cape and a black sword in his hand, he challenged Maxis to a fight to the death. And convinced that a mere sword won’t be able to hurt them, Maxis recklessly charged into a battle, clashing with the blades spouted from their very hands. A decision they’ll come to regret very soon…

For just as the Dark Lord manage to land a single hit on the Maxis’ shoulder, the custodian recoiled with a strange sensation clouding their mind.

As if… the Lord’s sheer evilness was physically injected into their own psyche through the tip of that cursed blade. And invigorated by this evil, the deep thoughts – the bad thoughts from the past – started to resurface once more. Doubts. Regrets. Temptations to abandon the pass of righteousness…

But Maxis was higher than that! They had moral principles – and no amount of magical brainwashing could lead them astray from their noble goal!

So with a great violence, Maxis grabbed the tainted arm and ripped it of their body – casting it aside along with intrusive thoughts. And as a severed limb had rapidly turned into a writhing pile of greenish flesh and crawled away, they quickly grew a new one – and attacked the Dark Lord with even stronger ferocity!

And in doing so, they noticed a peculiar magical crystal hanging on his belt – and sensing its significance, they deftly snatched it!

The Dark Lord, enraged by such action, had rushed toward Maxis in order to reclaim the praised trophy – but with a masterfully timed dodge, custodian managed to evade the tyrant’s blow and throw him off the roof.

And as he had plummeted to the ground, the battling creatures below had partaken of the blood from his splattered body – and satiating their bloodthirst with it, they stop fighting and went homes, marking the successful end of the Horned Demon’s revolution!

But then, as Maxis was inspecting the crystal, they suddenly heard a faint voice telling them the grab the Black Sword – dropped by the Dark Lords mere seconds before the fatal fall – and hurry back to the kingdom they came from. At first, Maxis was deeply confused by such a request, as the sword seemed to be of pure evil – but given that the voice almost certainly belonged to a mind of Supreme Demiurge themselves, they had reluctantly agreed.

So jumping down from the tower (which they could survive easily, unlike the Dark Lord), they reunited with the Network and – after giving the Demon II some parting guidelines of how to establish a proper democracy – headed back to the kingdom of light.

But as they triumphantly returned a few days later, they were met with uneasy picture…

Preciously vibrant capital was now all pale and quiet, and its streets were unusually empty.

And as they walked towards the central square, they were suddenly confronted by their old fried – the Horned Demon I, with the White Sword in his hand! Turns out, after the heroes’ departure, he somehow managed to sneak into the royal tower and steal the regal relic – which, in the eyes of the kingdom’s subjects, allowed him to claim the title of the next monarch.

Maxis pointed out how this is absurd.

To which Demon replied that they – as the wielder of the villainous Black Sword – had no right to object.

Infuriated by such a statement, Maxis had declared that people should be judged not by the color of their swords, but by the content of their character – and infuriated by these words even stronger, the Horned Demon attacked them!

And Maxis attacked back!

And as the swords connected in a piercing clash, both creatures beheld how their weapons suddenly phases to gray – and then completely switched colors, in accordance to their wielders’ moral alignment!

And taking advantage of a profound confusion of the Demon, Maxis dealt a powerful blow right into his face! It didn’t wound him – since his head was made of horns – but it did considerably stun him. And as he was lying on the ground, still struggling to come back to his sensed, Maxis approached him and insert the sword right into his demonic chest.

In an instant, Maxis’ strong moral code was injected into the Demon’s mind, causing him to realize all the awful things he had done throughout his life. A profound, terrible shame had overwhelmed his entire being.

And unable to bear such a heavy burden on his shoulders, he exploded!

And as it happened, the inhabitants of the city – cowardly hiding in their houses until that moment – went to the streets and congratulated Maxis, offering them an option of becoming the next king. To that, Maxis just explained them the concept of democracy yet again – and then, both of the heroes had returned to the hospital to finally restore the Cube.

With a great caution, Maxis put the magical crystal into the Cube’s body – and miraculously, the deity had come back to life! And having expressed the sincerest gratitude to the heroes, the Cube had finally provided an explanation of what was going on all that time.

Turns out, soon after the Dark Shade was released, it managed to find a way on intervening into source code of creation itself! And tainting it with the very same curse it used to taint the Network, it caused the entire universe to rapidly crumble it a black dust.

But the Demiurges had foreseen such turn of events long ago!

So centuries earlies, one of them had visited this other universe – close, but completely separate from Delirium – and granted two swords to a pair of princes. On its own, each sword could be used to channel one’s willpower into another entity – but if combined, they can perform much, much greater feats!

And so welding both of the blades together into the singular Sword of Good and Evil, Cube had transported Maxis and Network back to the Clockwork City, right into the mirror hall.

And having approached that mirror once again, Maxis stabbed the sword right into its center!

And in an instant, the curse was lifted from the world on the other side – and both Delirium and Network were restores to their pristine state. And with that done, and the Logicron found, the time of the final confrontation with Soursage was coming close.

But before that, there was still one more thing needed to be done…

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Description

Chapter VII

The great shutdown

Days ago, the coming of Soursage was the prelude of apocalypse.

But now, the shutdown of the Grand Network marked true beginning of the end!

A wave of panic swept across the universe. Its realms fell disconnected. Countless millennia of wisdom were lost in an instant. And driven to the brink of insanity by all of this, crowds of anarchists overrun the streets, spreading chaos and iniquity!

Numerus planets were set ablaze way before the flames of Soursage could even have a chance to touch them.

And the main culprit of all of this – the devilish Blue Prawn – had escaped the twin planets with the Dexter Orb in his claws, bewitched by mystic spell that prevented it from hatching, and now was nowhere to be found…

Valrax had to return to his khreon homeworld to help his people at least somehow manage the civil unrest. And so Maxis – who by this point had obviously restored their body after the encounter with the Prawn – was left completely on their own.

Amidst the scorched battlefield.

On the outskirts of the dying world…

But there was a ray of hope, still!

For centuries earlier, when Maxis just proved themselves to the Network as the trusted ally, they had learned about a secret backup protocol, capable of restoring the Network even after its complete annihilation. But no further specification were given – and so now, Maxis had to figure out the way of bringing back the cosmic balance themselves, until it will become too late…

Having borrowed one of the khreons starships, the first thing they did was heading towards the ruins of Planeta Paradisiacus. Destroyed many days ago during the confrontation with the larval Soursage spawn, it had been long since severed from the Network itself, and thereby untouched by the curse of the Shade. And yet deep inside its crumbled remains, scattered around the orbit, residual bits of Network’s memory could still be found. Or at least, Maxis believed that they did…

So together with the acquainted hacker – a runaway princess of the squid-faced ionites – they scoured every inch of the orbit, salvaging anything that looked like it can still be functional. And eventually, in the fractured circuits of the space debris, they did find something resembling the backup protocol after all!

And coordinates extracted from it had brought Maxis to one of the farthest reached of the universe.

To a distant, desolate planet, orbiting a meager white dwarf.

If decrypted data is to be believed, this is where Network backup was hidden.

This is where the universal balance was ought to be restored!

* * *

As Maxis stepped onto the surface of the planet, amidst a barren rocky plain, a strange feeling of the place doused them almost instantly!

Something about this planet was clearly off.

Its thin atmosphere was composed predominantly of xenon, and thus emitted a peculiar, bluish glow from the electrifying solar radiation. Everything was under a hazy veil. Nothing casted shadows. All sounds were dull and muffled, as if underwater.

Together, it all gave off a derealizing, almost dream-like feel.

Like if landscape was viewed from an old, desaturated TV screen.

But even more uncanny was a constant feeling of a foreign presence. As if somebody was there, looking.

But it was not the same feeling they experienced in the gold-tinged, Victorian city.

Not in a slightest…

At one point, Maxis had clearly heard what sounded like whispers coming from behind the steep hill – but after crossing it, they saw it was just a wing blowing through the strange, reef-like stone structures.

At another point, they saw what appeared to be a small town of a horizon – but upon walking closer, they saw that it was just a strangely-shaped rock formation. With street-like crevices, house-like rocks and even hollow cavities inside some of them, it looked almost like an actual livable space – and yet, in a strange case of architectural uncanny valley, it clearly wasn’t!

As the sun slowly went down – and the twilight set in – Maxis also started noticing strange lights coming from the horizon. Unsurprisingly, these too were nothing but a natural phenomenon.

And as they wandered through this liminal desert in search of the backup devise – surrounded by illusory whispers and shadows, overwhelmed by the oppressive solitude – bad thought started to flicker in the depths of their mind…

Doubt…

Regret…

This place… it had such a profound sense of being removed from anything else, that it was easy to forgot that the world outside was even real in a first place. Soursage, Tower, the people of Delirium – all of them felt like some distant memory at this point. An old dream. Unnerving stillness and tranquility permeated this place, numbing all senses. Almost begging to leave everything behind. To cease all movements. To lie down. And to let oneself be consumed by the void…

But then, Maxis was suddenly snapped back to their senses by a vison of a great pillar in a distance!

Among the sheer flat plane that surrounded it, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

And while its vaguely artificial appearance was once again just a facade, there was still something notably… different about it, compared to its surroundings. And so having summoned their ship to this point of interest, Maxis decided to climb to the top of this peculiar structure.

And the further they climbed, the stranger it got.

On a surface, its shape resembled a huge column made of haphazardly placed stone blocks and obelisks – and yet the exact arrangement of its parts had some unmistakably… organic feel to it. And as Maxis finally reached the top, they found themselves on the small circular platform – surrounded by uneven fence of upright positioned blocks and overlooking a landscape of myriad distant lights.

And in the center of this platform, there was a boulder. Covered in patched of what appeared to be cyan luminous moss…

And atop this boulder, there was a relic!

A small, silvery devise, reminiscent of a flash drive.

Yes, that was it!

And just as Maxis had grabbed this thing from the rock to thoroughly check its authenticity, they heard a strange slithering noise coming from below. And as they glimpsed down across the edge of the pillar, they were horrified to witness countless squirming tentacles coming from the earth at the foot of the structure! Yes, they was completely right when they noticed how organic-looking were the outgrowths of the surface of this pillar – turns out, the pillar was alive all along. And having lured into pray onto its top, it started to unfold its feeding processes I order to engulf it!

Usually in such situation, Maxis would just fly away by growing wings on their pack – but now, in thin atmosphere of this cursed planet, it wasn’t really possible. Even by gliding, they won’t be able to leave the area covered be tentacles.

But at the final moment, when the writhing tendrils had almost touched to upper platform, the good old starship had finally come to a call! And jumping toward in the last ditch of effort, Maxis tightly grabbed onto its fuselage, crawled into the cockpit and pushed the accelerator pedal with all their might – leaving this planet once and for all!

And then, while the ship was still drifting through the space, they walked into the cargo hold – where, among other pieces of salvaged electronics, a single Network’s avatar lay.

Carefully, they inserted a data storage device into the port inside avatar’s cleft open chest – and to their greatest relief, the avatar had suddenly come to life…

* * *

Naturally, the version of Network’s mind extracted from the relic was outdated, and thereby unaware of the tragic outcome of the battle for the Twin Planets. And as Maxis informed them on the sorry state of affairs, they reacted with an understandable shock.

But even more shockingly, they pointed out how their resurrection alone won’t fix such a profound disturbance!

For despite having the exact personality and knowledge of the original, they possessed not even a sliver of their initial power – and with all their equipment across the universe unaccusable, tainted by the curse, regaining such power will not be an easy task. But luckily, the hazy memories painted the pictured of a secret place somewhere in the universe that could help to accelerate the process!

So having taken a full control of the spaceship, Network directed it towards is.

And as they flew across the nebulae and constellations, they gave confused Maxis a few more details.

The place in question was known as the Pendulum Zone – it was located in the uppermost part of the Delirium, opposite to Hell, and contained a massive, pendulum-shaped megastructure. Allegedly, this massive devise was erected by Demiurges to regulate the wheel of reincarnation – and if the Network’s assumption were correct, it could somehow reboot their source code, and thus cleanse them from the influence of the curse!

And so, after a long voyage, they had finally reached the legendary pendulum.

As they descended onto its mountainous surface, they beheld some truly wondrous scenery – countless gears, pistons, springs and other clockwork machineries embedded into the very landscape! Some were tiny, while some were comparable to the mountains into which they were ingrained. Jointed, brass trees were swaying peacefully in a distance, held together by chains and belts, and numerous patched of tiny metal blades protruded here and there from a lilac rock, giving the impression of waving grass fields.

And somewhere among this splendor, the secret temple was hidden, holding the mystery of the Network’s restoration. But as they heroes ventured forward, eager to uncover this temple – a strange feeling of ill omen had suddenly overwhelmed them!

As if somewhere in the universe, something immeasurably bad had just happen. And this time around, it wasn’t just tricks played by their minds, like it was on the nameless planet before.

For mere minutes after the foreboding, they noticed how gears of the Pendulum started to all jam and move strangely.

Later, they saw how the stars above them started to fade, one by one!

And then, all of a sudden, the mighty mountains on the horizon momentarily exploded, crumpling into the swirling clouds of black powder – and from them, the all-consuming wave of decay began to sweep toward the heroes!

And even more suddenly, the translucent cubic entity had appeared before them!

Entity, in which the Network had recognize the Supreme Demiurge! And without elaborating further, this Cube opened a rift in a space-time, grabbed heroes with its telekinetic power – and threw them right into the portal mere second before the avalanche of black dust had consume the valley entirely…

Chapter VIII

Through the looking glass

When Maxis and Network came back to their senses, they found themselves in a strange place…

They were stranded amidst the swamp of viscous, grayish slime – with unusual, twisting plants growing in small grooves here and there. The entire area was covered in dense fog – but even through it, the ominous sky could be seen right above! Instead of a sun, there were seven smaller lights scattered across the firmament. And behinds them, the countless moons were swirling around – some small, while some taking huge portions of celestial expanse.

And from this sky alone, the Network concluded with deathly certainty – wherever this place was, in was not a part of Delirium!

And just as they tried to figure out what kind of a strange realm they were sent into, a sudden earth tremor had interrupted their thoughts – and following it, a massive black worm emerged from the slough!

With vicious fury it attacked the champions.

They retaliated – but alas, all they had now were Maxis’s natural claws and Network’s energy blasts, and this was not enough to damage the worm’s corrugated shell. Eventually, however, they managed to triumph by figuring out that the worm had a weak point in its gullet – and thus allowing it to swallow them, only to explode it from within.

And as they crawled out from its yellowing sludgy remains, they noticed a mysterious vehicle approaching them from a distance.

Mostly wooden, it appeared like a small shack propelled by four robotic legs – capable of slowly striding across the marsh. And as it reached the heroes, it stopped – and a strange creature walked from inside it. A bearded humanoid with three arms (two right and one left) and nine eyes all round its face – quite unusual features, unseen anywhere in Delirium…

After heroes had magically learned his native tongue via telepathy, he asked them about two mysterious meteorites that had supposedly fallen somewhere in this swamp. The heroes realized what he was probably talking about, but out of caution replied that didn’t saw any (which was technically true). Instead, they asked the stranger to give them a ride to the ruler of this mysterious world – and while initially hesitant, the stranger had eventually agreed.

So aboard his prowling house, Maxis and Network made their way to what they assumed to be the capital of this strange realm – a city of plateresque, coral-like buildings, dominated by a massive orange tower. Certainly, this tower was where the local ruler resided. But how it can be entered without causing any trouble?

And this is where Maxis remembered their old trick – the sewers!

They explained it to the Network – and together, both of them crawled through the pipes up the tower, to the very highest floor. Quietly and carefully, they emerged from the toilet – golden and inlayed with precious stones, indicating the sheer opulence of the local monarch!

But as they left the royal bathroom and made their way to the presumed throne room, they were met with a shocking picture.

The king was dead!

Just before they came, someone or something had assassinated the sovereign – quite possible with the intention of framing the heroes as perpetrators! And to make matter even worse, mere seconds after they entered the hall, slithering sounds started coming from behind the door.

So in ordered to avert the suspicion, Maxis had done what any other sane person would do in a situation like this – they flayed the king’s corpse, devoured the insides, put the skin on like a bodysuit and impersonated the monarch! Meanwhile Network had hastily crawled onto the ceiling and shape-shifted into a chandelier.

Somehow, it worked.

And as a visitor – a kind of brain slug creature – had entered the room, they didn’t notice the deceit.

Instead, they merely informed their "King" that the so called "Horned Demon" had once again challenged him to a duel in the field northward from the city. Maxis, while having not a slightest clue of who that Honed Demon was, had accepted such challenge anyway – and as the slug left, two of them made a decision to meet with the Demon after all.

Perhaps, it will be able to reveal them some secrets about what this place was and why they were sent there by the Cube…

So deep in the night, they entered the field.

And in the dim light of numerous moons – some of which had numbers of glowing dots engraved onto their surface – the heroes faced with the Horned Demon. A humanoid creature that, quite fittingly for its name, was made entirely of horns!

Despite his title, he didn’t seem to have any connections to the demons of Delirium. And pointing on of his horns at Maxis – who was still wearing a King’s skin – he declared his ambitions to take the King down in the fair fight to usurp the throne. To which Maxis, dramatically ripping mask off their face, replied that they don’t support monarchy to begin with! And then they, along with the Network, explained to the Demon who they truly were, and how they got in there.

Demon, notably confused by such a revelation, said that he knows nothing about any place called "Delirium", and was convinced that his globe and a sphere of celestial bodies orbiting it were all there is – but after thinking for a while, he recalled that there was an ancient city located even further north from the capital.

According to the old legend, he said, it was built by a mysterious deity that had no relation to the local divine lineage, and had allegedly descended upon this world from the cold void beyond the sphere of stars.

After that, the champions and the Demon parted ways – and heeding the latter’s words, Maxis and Network ventured northward in search of the mystical city.

And after a few days of travel, they had finally reached it.

But as they entered its spacious streets, they were quick to notice that it wasn’t even a city in a traditional sense. None of the building was a livable one – instead, all of the structures around them were used to house the immense clockwork machinery, suspiciously similar to that seen on the surface of the Great Pendulum.

Undoubtedly, this place was created by one of the Demiurges, who visited this strange alien world eons in the past. But why?

And as the heroes pondered on this profound question, they had finally reached the gates of the city’s central palace. And there, amid the central city square, they were met by the Clockmaster – a mysterious mechanical being wearing dark robe and theatrical mask, and also a sole inhabitant of this otherwise desolate place.

Before letting the heroes in, it asked them a bunch of questions. A small quiz on a matter of Delirium history, which took no effort for them, but would obviously confound any of the local residents – thus further confirming their initial suspicions about this city’s origins.

And as the Clockmaster let them in, and guided them to very top of the castle via the massive circular staircase, the heroes had entered a majestic hall. Aside from pillars, tapestries and other decorations, it was mostly empty – and the only thing that drew their attention was what appeared to be a large mirror on the wall right before the entrance. But as they walked closer, they noticed that it wasn’t really a mirror, as it didn’t reflect the room back on them – instead, it overlooked a strange black void, illuminated by a faint yellowing glow from a distance, and filled with occasional black clouds and floating rock debris.

And as Maxis had reflectively touched the surface of this this mysterious thing, a number of waves swept across it – and then, all of a sudden, a bunch of black shards had erupted from inside it.

And as all three tried to figure out what were these shards, they realized that that if combined properly, they would form a cube identical in size to the Supreme Demiurge – except blackened and completely opaque.

So suspecting that this may be the actual remains of the deity that brought them here, the heroes rushed to the closest hospital, hoping that it will have equipment capable of telling them whether or not the god was even still alive. And to their greatest surprise, when they glued all the shards together and attached all manner of monitors to them, they detected some weak activity inside. But then – even more suddenly – the ECG devise, which they attached too, despite Cube not even having heart, started to display a strange patter of signals!

Upon glimpsing on it, they were quick to realize that it was the encoded message! And after deciphering it, they learned the profound truth – turns out, the Cube had also jumped in the portal right after the heroes, but in a process was caught in the avalanche of black dust.

And as a result, their mind was separated from their body!

The body was stuck in the limbo between worlds – fractured and tainted – while the mind had actually managed to make it all the way unharmed.

But unfortunately, it had landed on the opposite side of the planet.

In the grim kingdom ruled by the dreaded Dark Lord!

Chapter IX

The uprising

Now, that it was discovered where the Cube’s mind was hidden, our champions were faced with the task of actually retrieving it from the Dark Lord’s grasp.

As the Clockmaster explained, the Dark Lord was the King’s brother – and many years ago, they divided whole planets into two kingdoms. And while the kingdom they had landed on remained bright and prosperous, the other one had gradually descended into depravity and corruption. Now, it is a violent place where might makes right, and where Dark Lord rules with terror instead of righteousness…

And so the heroes – infuriated by such injustices – ventured to the other side of the globe in order to vanquish the bloody tyrant! For long days they walked through the alien forests and fields, crossed rivers and mountings – and eventually, they reached a massive chasm encircling the entire planet, with the boiling incandescent magma seething deep beneath.

And quite conveniently, there was a feeble rope bridge hanging right nearby – and by traversing it, the heroes had officially entered the Dark Lord’s grim domain!

The sky on this hemisphere was all in orange and reddish hues, the forests were withered and full of thorns, and the building were all jagged and spiky – indicating how unprecedentedly evil this place truly was. Its cities, sown with dry bones, were ruled by the bloodthirsty warlords – and their streets housed all sorts of despicable vices!

But by scouring these depressive landscapes, the heroes managed to find themselves an ally in a form of another Horned Demon! Just like his congener from earlier, this demon – whom we shall call "Demon II" for the sake of convenience – was planning to overthrow the current governor. But unlike Demon I, who was just a lone freak, Demon II was actually far more successful in his revolutionary endeavors, managing to create a full-fledged underground resistance under his command. And as Maxis and Network team up with them, they make a decision of finally putting their long aviated plan into action!

Early in the morning, the rebel forces clashed with the royal guard in a bloody battle at the foot of the royal tower! And while the Network had remained down there to protect and coordinate them, Maxis had burst into the building to meet with the Dark Lord himself!

Floor after floor they ascended, eliminating guards along the way.

And finally, they had reached the throne room!

Pretty much identical to the throne room of the previous tower, except for just one thing – a massive trapdoor on a ceiling above the throne itself.

Open wide – almost invitingly…

And as Maxis passed through it and onto the rooftop, they met face to face with the ruler of this unholy place!

Encased in plate armor with a dark cape and a black sword in his hand, he challenged Maxis to a fight to the death. And convinced that a mere sword won’t be able to hurt them, Maxis recklessly charged into a battle, clashing with the blades spouted from their very hands. A decision they’ll come to regret very soon…

For just as the Dark Lord manage to land a single hit on the Maxis’ shoulder, the custodian recoiled with a strange sensation clouding their mind.

As if… the Lord’s sheer evilness was physically injected into their own psyche through the tip of that cursed blade. And invigorated by this evil, the deep thoughts – the bad thoughts from the past – started to resurface once more. Doubts. Regrets. Temptations to abandon the pass of righteousness…

But Maxis was higher than that! They had moral principles – and no amount of magical brainwashing could lead them astray from their noble goal!

So with a great violence, Maxis grabbed the tainted arm and ripped it of their body – casting it aside along with intrusive thoughts. And as a severed limb had rapidly turned into a writhing pile of greenish flesh and crawled away, they quickly grew a new one – and attacked the Dark Lord with even stronger ferocity!

And in doing so, they noticed a peculiar magical crystal hanging on his belt – and sensing its significance, they deftly snatched it!

The Dark Lord, enraged by such action, had rushed toward Maxis in order to reclaim the praised trophy – but with a masterfully timed dodge, custodian managed to evade the tyrant’s blow and throw him off the roof.

And as he had plummeted to the ground, the battling creatures below had partaken of the blood from his splattered body – and satiating their bloodthirst with it, they stop fighting and went homes, marking the successful end of the Horned Demon’s revolution!

But then, as Maxis was inspecting the crystal, they suddenly heard a faint voice telling them the grab the Black Sword – dropped by the Dark Lords mere seconds before the fatal fall – and hurry back to the kingdom they came from. At first, Maxis was deeply confused by such a request, as the sword seemed to be of pure evil – but given that the voice almost certainly belonged to a mind of Supreme Demiurge themselves, they had reluctantly agreed.

So jumping down from the tower (which they could survive easily, unlike the Dark Lord), they reunited with the Network and – after giving the Demon II some parting guidelines of how to establish a proper democracy – headed back to the kingdom of light.

But as they triumphantly returned a few days later, they were met with uneasy picture…

Preciously vibrant capital was now all pale and quiet, and its streets were unusually empty.

And as they walked towards the central square, they were suddenly confronted by their old fried – the Horned Demon I, with the White Sword in his hand! Turns out, after the heroes’ departure, he somehow managed to sneak into the royal tower and steal the regal relic – which, in the eyes of the kingdom’s subjects, allowed him to claim the title of the next monarch.

Maxis pointed out how this is absurd.

To which Demon replied that they – as the wielder of the villainous Black Sword – had no right to object.

Infuriated by such a statement, Maxis had declared that people should be judged not by the color of their swords, but by the content of their character – and infuriated by these words even stronger, the Horned Demon attacked them!

And Maxis attacked back!

And as the swords connected in a piercing clash, both creatures beheld how their weapons suddenly phases to gray – and then completely switched colors, in accordance to their wielders’ moral alignment!

And taking advantage of a profound confusion of the Demon, Maxis dealt a powerful blow right into his face! It didn’t wound him – since his head was made of horns – but it did considerably stun him. And as he was lying on the ground, still struggling to come back to his sensed, Maxis approached him and insert the sword right into his demonic chest.

In an instant, Maxis’ strong moral code was injected into the Demon’s mind, causing him to realize all the awful things he had done throughout his life. A profound, terrible shame had overwhelmed his entire being.

And unable to bear such a heavy burden on his shoulders, he exploded!

And as it happened, the inhabitants of the city – cowardly hiding in their houses until that moment – went to the streets and congratulated Maxis, offering them an option of becoming the next king. To that, Maxis just explained them the concept of democracy yet again – and then, both of the heroes had returned to the hospital to finally restore the Cube.

With a great caution, Maxis put the magical crystal into the Cube’s body – and miraculously, the deity had come back to life! And having expressed the sincerest gratitude to the heroes, the Cube had finally provided an explanation of what was going on all that time.

Turns out, soon after the Dark Shade was released, it managed to find a way on intervening into source code of creation itself! And tainting it with the very same curse it used to taint the Network, it caused the entire universe to rapidly crumble it a black dust.

But the Demiurges had foreseen such turn of events long ago!

So centuries earlies, one of them had visited this other universe – close, but completely separate from Delirium – and granted two swords to a pair of princes. On its own, each sword could be used to channel one’s willpower into another entity – but if combined, they can perform much, much greater feats!

And so welding both of the blades together into the singular Sword of Good and Evil, Cube had transported Maxis and Network back to the Clockwork City, right into the mirror hall.

And having approached that mirror once again, Maxis stabbed the sword right into its center!

And in an instant, the curse was lifted from the world on the other side – and both Delirium and Network were restores to their pristine state. And with that done, and the Logicron found, the time of the final confrontation with Soursage was coming close.

But before that, there was still one more thing needed to be done…

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