One cannot simply do a world shaking event such as destroying the Book of Names and revealing the existence of the scepter of the ancients without trying to clean up matters. At least not if you intend to minimize the chaos such events will cause and I did both in order to defuse the various issues that are set to shake the world in the future. That is why I am currently standing in the office of one Eachan Meritorious, the Grand Mage of the Irish.
"I must say," the elderly mage says genially as he looks me in the eye. "For all the trouble that it took to get you here. I still don't know your name."
I smile. "Achilles Swift," I state simply, extending a hand of greeting to the tall man. It was a good name as any. The codename of Achilles has stuck with me for the past few decades. I might as well make it official even if it is a little too on the nose about my invulnerability. And to be honest Swift has been the online moniker I had been using for even longer. It had some bittersweet memories attached, but it mattered to me. If I am going to go by any name in place of my original one I might as well choose something meaningful to me.
"Eachan Meritorius," the man says reciprocating. "Now, you've left us in quite a conundrum you see," he says as he gestures to the great deal of letters on his desk. "You must some idea on how your presence alarms many individuals."
I nod. Teleporters were feared in this world because they are able to appear anywhere they want, heedless of any protections against it. It meant that if they know where they want to go there is nothing that can stop them from simply entering the inner sanctums of sorcerers and causing havoc. In fact they earned their reputation during the previous war where they did did just that. And here comes a teleporter armed with what is perhaps the most powerful weapon in the world, one that has shown itself capable of destroying the book of names. An artifact that has, up to this point, proven itself indestructible.
"Not really the talkative type are you?" the Grand Mage states. "Very well. I wish to hire you," he states plainly.
That takes me aback. "Just like that?" I ask. "I thought you people see me as a threat?" I ask.
"Yes, just like that," Meritorius says. "I will be frank with you. Having such a dangerous unknown has many of my compatriots worried. If I can short circuit the issue by offering you a job then I will take it," he says. "Besides just stating that you are part of the Irish sanctuary will be useful given the… problems out there."
Ah, I finally understand his aim. "The Supreme Council is still pressuring the Irish Sanctuary for control?" I ask.
"So you know about them?" Meritorius says with a sigh. "Yes. My presence and precedence keeps everything in line, but many sanctuaries around the world wishes to lay claim to the last legacy of the Ancients that are stored in these halls, but we can talk about it later. For now, will you consider it?" He asks.
I hum in thought before finally nodding. In the end I preferred to work with local systems. It was simply too troublesome to form a new group with the limited time I had if they were anything more than ad-hoc friendships. The DC Universe taught me that.
---
"So, we are back to being agents of the law once more," Alucard remarks, leaning on the back wall of my study, suitably cloaked in shadows though I note that they are darker now than before. His old trench coat has also been died black, a sign that it is his focus for necromancy.
"Weren't you already working for the Sanctuary detective?" I ask coyly as I gaze down upon the number of books that I was able to obtain from the Sanctuary. They were common things in truth, but I have not yet resorted to Alucard's preferred method of goading another to attack in order to assimilate knowledge of local events.
"Indeed," Alucard agrees, "but my version in this world only did so to distance himself from the Necromancer Temples. They viewed me as their messiah set about to bring their prescious Passage."
"And I take it that you disagree," I state sardonically, finally giving the man my full attention.
The vampire grinned, "Yes. Quite violently too. Though they do not take no for an answer and the latest displays of power does not dissuade them," he says as he gestured to his face, so different from the skeletal one he had in the past.
I quirk my brow in irritation. "And you need to learn the value of keeping things tame Alucard. What is it this time?" I ask.
"I wished to test the monsters of this world. My previous self was an avid monster hunter after all. It is only right that I test myself now when I have more to rely upon," Alucard says, revealing the bloodthirsty nature he has. At my look his grin stretches further. "You aim to remove the sources of chaos and conflict in this world before they actually appear. I need to find some way to entertain myself."
I could only accept that. "Very well. But back to the matter at hand," I state standing straight back up and looking at the window behind me, currently showing a rather twisting setting, representative of the turmoil in my mind. "What are the temples doing?" I ask.
"They are getting more and more insistent," the vampire says, shrugging. "I will continue to rebuff them but they are snooping where they should not. Still it will probably be a few years before they move considering the information I have on them," he says.
I can only nod. "Very well. Alert me when they prove too dangerous." I state and at the dismissal the vampire moves off of the wall towards the door. Internally I grimace. The relationship between him and I have gotten more distant as of late. I shake my head, matters to take care of later. I look to the papers scattered across my desk, printed copies of the various books and notations along with an annotated timeline. I have a lot of work to do.
---
From there things entered a…pattern. I was essentially hired on as muscle, a trump card to use against any threats that would appear against the Irish Sanctuary. It played along with my plans anyway. So many world ending events centered around Ireland that becoming the go to person to get rid of major threats played to my hand. When Baron Vegnous is broken out of prison I was present to kill him and claim his soul. From his memories it was a simple matter to hunt down the grotesque and find Lord Vile's armor. I stored the Isthmus Anchor, the remains of a Faceless One, in the depths of the House of Mysteries.
I even managed to earn enough respect in the years that I was able to release my shadow over the facility with relative ease. The Desolation Engine is never stolen as I would always appear whenever something untoward happens in the Sanctuary proper. I even managed to build a reputation of it even if being known as the Irish Sanctuary's guard dog was grating in many situations.
I will admit that I…lashed out at those things, regularly going out to deal with threats more proactively. The remnants were no more, the Scepter proving able to easily kill them all. I will admit having a Remnant familiar in my dark binding proved useful in numerous occasions even if I did find the mind control rather off-putting given that I was essentially giving out extensions of me.
The only threat that I did not truly derail within the first two years was Argeddion. I simply could not find him and I was wary of trying to look directly for him. Despite the thousands of souls I have in my arsenal, and the sheer breadth of power that I can call upon that did not mean that I could defeat Argeddion. The way he was defeated required too much coincidence to guarantee success.
see," I state despondently. "You will not change your mind on this then?" I ask once more to be sure.
"No," the bald man says. "I will not be dissuaded about this. Magic will bring the world peace," the most powerful sorcerer in the world says with the conviction of a zealot. "You may doubt me, but you will all see what I see in humanity by the end of all this" he promises before getting up and looking around once more at the well-appointed meeting room. "I thank you for the hospitality, but I must go. And I must thank you for giving the time to speak with me." At that the man begins to walk to the hallway leading to the exit. My goat headed butler holds the door open for him.
"Argeddion," I call out from my seat.
The man stops and looks at me, his form just partially obscured by the door. "Yes Swift?" he asks.
"You know that the moment you walk through that door I will have to stop you right?" I ask.
"Indeed, but I don't think anyone can stop me now that I am awake," Argeddion says before he leaves.
I sigh and lean back on my armchair. "Alucard," I call out.
"Yes?" he hisses out from the shadows of the room.
"Tail Argeddion," I ask. "I will have to prepare for plan B."
"Very well," the shadow says before rushing towards the front door, under its gaps.
---
Mages that have sealed their True Names are powerful beings. True Names are the very heard and source of the magic of this world. Every individual has it and to know it and lock it away is to gain direct contact with the source and wield power beyond any being in existence. Darquess was able to stalemate the entire pantheon of Faceless Ones by being nearly impossible to kill even as she failed to kill them as well. Argeddion plans to give sorcery to the entire population of Earth and will be largely unopposed by the natives.
Which is why I am standing in the antechamber of the House of Mysteries. "Come Argeddion," I order and in a flash of magic Argeddion appears, standing stock still and in the middle of a speech.
Immediately confusion appears on the man's face. Enough for me to launch a blast of magic at him that sees him flying through the door, though none the worse for wear. "Achilles," he says with consternation on his face as he looks at the bleak surroundings of the world. "What…" he says before he stops when my shadow opens up and releases the brutalized chest of the Grotesquery.
With that my will reaches out and the house vanishes back into limbo. A thing about dimensional travel, at least in this world. Even if a sorcerer develops the power to traverse dimensions they require an anchor to home in to another dimension. A piece of something from another dimension. The fragment of a Faceless One that was used as part of the Grotesquery was one such thing and now it was no longer present. Even Darquess never really developed a way to traverse dimensions, so I doubt Argeddion will be able to come back.
Based on old results the Faceless Ones would be swarming the man soon after I left. I was not subtle about my entrance after all and they were still rather bitter about their banishment.
---
"So Argeddion is gone then," Meritorious says wide eyed. Placing papers back onto his desk, he leans forward and pays me his full attention. "I would ask how you went to another dimension, but then I remember that you are a teleporter and you claimed to have destroyed the Grotesquery," he says, "that was a dangerous risk," he says.
I shrug. "It was but it was the only way I could defeat Argeddion. The man was exceedingly wary of my scepter," I state.
"Indeed I do no doubt that," he concurs, "But I would rather face Argeddion and his insane plan rather than a flood of Faceless Ones." At that he sighs and leans back, age seeming to pile on his face. Sorcerers live a rather long time. The stronger their magic the slower they age. Tanith Lowe, a particularly middling mage still looked like she was in her 20s despite being close to a century in age. What did it say about Meritorious that he looked like a grandfather despite being one of the most powerful mages in Ireland.
"Things are getting out of hand," he groans.
"Oh? I ask questioningly. "I thought I have been dealing with many of the problems that are cropping up."
"It's the fact that there are so many problems that I think things are cropping up," he says with ire in his voice. "In the past five years there have been more incidents and global threats that has been brought to my attention than there was in the past five hundred years!" the Grand Mage of Ireland rants, worry and anger and fear and so much more laced in his voice. Then he stops, a look of…realization appearing on his face.
"Achilles," he states slowly. "Did you know these threats were going to appear?" he asks with a far too calm voice. Ah yes, this world did have oracles and seers in them so being able to predict future events was not too far-fetched. I know I've certainly displayed abilities that did not fit the current paradigm already.
I nod easily enough. "Yes, though I have been working hard to dismantle them," I state confidently. "Don't worry though," I add. "The issues should be just about handled."
The old Grand Mage leans back into his high backed chair. "I doubt that," Meritorious says. "But I'll believe you for now. You have at least been…reliable during these past five years. Is there anything else to report?"
I shake my head in a negative.
"Very well then," he says and that is the end of that.
---
"Well that was a rather productive decade," Alucard says as we watch a grand clock tick down the seconds until the end of the jump.
"Indeed," I state. "But did you really have to be so messy when dealing with the Necromancer temples?" I ask.
The old vampire shrugs. "It was a way to pass the time," he says nonchalantly. "You do thinks your way and I do thinks mine and I particularly like doing things messily as you say." At that the familiar full fanged grin appears on his face. "If you don't like how I do things then don't send it to me."
I sigh in defeat. "Fair enough," I breath out. "Did you at least get what you desired Alucard?"
At that the man huffs, the fleshy form of his body falling away into rolls of shadows to reveal the skeleton underneath. "No. Ah I wish we were back in the previous world. So many foes that I could have fought," he whines.
"And so many angels to smite you," I counter.
And with that the gong struck.
This place has changed again right?" I ask as I look around me in the vast plane surrounding the land, trying to locate the change that has been done to it. Ever since the end of my trail every jump after had something new added to this world. Its purpose was beyond me but I still wished to pay attention to it.
"Yes," my benefactor says, turning away from the looking at the emptiness above the vast plane. "And you shouldn't bother looking for the change. The alteration was done in unseen parts of this place."
"I'll take your word for it then," I state refocusing on the glittering man. "So the next jump. What is it?" I ask.
"You have gotten impatient have you," my benefactor tuts.
"Ha!" Alucard exclaims. "Indeed. He found the previous world rapidly become boring after he fixed all sources of world ending threats."
I open my mouth to argue but close it in consideration. "I guess I did," I murmur. Was I becoming a battle maniac like Alucard? No, I was interested in solving and fixing problems. Something to look into later. "Besides that," I state. "the next jump?"
"Very well here," my benefactor, throwing me a crumbled peace of colored paper. I catch it in my hand and rapidly find the paper to uncrumple into a multi-page packet. More reality warping. Looking at the papers in front of me I can only frown. Over my shoulder my sire looks down at the words on the front and gives a loud laugh.
"Am I going to have to worry about eldritch abominations often now?" I ask. Lovecraft was the next jump and I just came back from a world where one of the major threats were the Faceless Ones, another eldritch threat, and before that was Justice League dark which was chock full of the stuff.
"Just this last one I'm afraid," my benefactor says.
"Afraid?" I ask. "I thought you'd lighten up the challenge for me now that I am a proper jumper," I state pointedly.
My masked benefactor shrugs. "I try to scale the jumps to be within your difficulty level so as to not prove too easy. Taking jump after jump of mundane worlds would be rather wasteful of the resources assigned to me after all."
I sigh in defeat. "Someday I will find out more about you and your backers," I state grimly.
"We hope so," the masked entity says. "Now, please choose."
I look through the papers, passing the ones I finish reading to Alucard. My perfect memory ensures that all of the information is known to me. Already the perks I need to pick are known to me. The Necronomicon is the key. It is a potent source of information and power that would help. None of the perks were really that useful and helpful to me too much.
"I guess I will be sitting this one out," Alucard says, distracting me from my thoughts.
I look quickly to Alucard, questioning my ears at what I just heard. "Alucard? You are not participating? Why?" that last part was unneccesarily loud.
Alucard lifts the items page in response. "The only companion options are importing myself as a research assistant or a Shoggoth. I do not want more mental corruption to influence me unduly," he notes archly. "I do not like sullying my thoughts further."
I can only nod in understanding. Alucard did not like the drop in memories, feeling they diluted his essence. A rather funny thing given how that was the reason the Major rejected vampirism, but then again to enter into a non-drop in background was rather jarring in just how seamless the fusion is. Both memories were held in equal measure. It was normally not an issue given the sheer similarity but the different experiences can be jarring.
"I guess you'll be spending the decade inside the House of Mysteries then," I state as I make my selection.
A thought passes and a pen manifests out of my shadow. A trick I've learned for convenience. I originally planned to be a Researcher but with Alucard not participating I opt to be a drop in. The Necronomicon is still paramount but Son of Old Man Henderson is also selected for the variety of benefits it provides especially the luck perk. Something that I have yet to possess. Weirdness magnet is taken as a drawback because the problems that follow me should be doable given my abilities. Crawling with love is a must if only because the regular forms of eldrtitch creatures of the world would cause too much destruction. It would allow them to more easily infiltrate the world, but it is better than the alternative. Finishing it all up and tallying everything in my mind I give the crumbled paper to my benefactor who immediately burns it to ash upon it reaching its hands as if not wanting to touch it.
Spoiler: build
"Good…Good," my benefactor says slowly. "Then let us send you on your way. And good luck. Oh and do say hello to Nyarlahotep for me," it says before the world around me shifts.
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