"There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare."
― Mary Renault, The Charioteer
"How does this place look?" Ven made a short bow as Kalina and Syy stepped through the gate and into Eden. "It's huge, has oceans, and is generally packed with magical energy."
"This place is great," Kalina wrinkled her nose. She'd been standoffish since Ven had barged into her room. "Now go away, little fish…"
"It's amazing, Ven," Syy wrapped her arm around Kalina and gave her a shake. "Thank you for finding us the perfect place for Kalina to rebuild her foundations…"
"Yeah-yeah, thanks" Kalina rolled her eyes and brushed Syy's arm off her shoulders. "Now beat it!"
Ven laughed and teleported away. He returned to Avalon, eyes fixed on the Earth above. The Titan had lost all sense of reason. If he was left alone, this multiverse would probably fall. An aggrieved sigh pushed its way past his lips. The inner exploration would have to wait. He reached out, a stretch that returned him to his true body.
Thick ice - black as tar - broke away from him in heavy sheets. His body was still in the middle of an evolution, but time was not on his side. He gathered his unstable power and extended his aura. A black mist seeped out into the void, a storm that became a galaxy. A nebulous darkness that slowly began to spread.
"Where the hell am I…"
The tide of shadow swallowed galaxy after galaxy, until a familiar tone filled his senses. The rush of traffic, footsteps on hard packed earth, a pair of lovers, locked in an embrace. A shift began as the humans noticed the black clouds that replaced the sky. Screams of fear, murmured prayers to a thousand gods…
"There you are!" Ven extended his hands and spun a portal of runes in the air. A step brought him into position above this alternate Earth. "Sorry, but you're better off in my inner world…"
The instabilities in space were small now, the Titan was probably in a nearby parallel. Soon enough this universe would fall. He couldn't be bothered to hunt each one for all the life worlds, but he would salvage every Earth he could find. Biassed, but his nostalgia for home helped tip the scales.
A flash of runic script that covered the heavens and the Earth was gone, transported into Avalons orbit. Ven sighed. It was an impossible task to save them all this way, but for now it was all he could do. The titan might be a fragment of what he used to be, but his power was unimaginable. Even without the system that helped him grow, the Mad Hero was a force to be reckoned with.
"It doesn't matter…"
Ven shaped his aura into a spike and carved a hole in the wall of reality. He would do what he could, until his power stood above the Titan. Ven held the genetics of his enemy, and a system of his own. His advance was certain to be faster, regardless of the Titan's head start. A pop of pressure and he was through, spilled into another universe.
"Let's check for an Earth and move on," Ven 's aura filled the skies of a thousand worlds. "Time is money, and I've got too much to do!"
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"Where the hell are all these worlds coming from…" Mara gaped at the skies. Blue green orbs filled the space between the stars, a line of worlds that extended away like a chain of pearls. "Has Ven gone crazy?"
"Perhaps," Aangor snorted. He crumpled a fresh scouting report in his beefy hands. "The people of a single Earth were a struggle to integrate and he's given us thousands…"
"I'll get Lyra to dispatch drones, humanoid models," Mara sighed. The added population wasn't the issue, these earthlings had very disparate beliefs and allegiances. "Make sure they take a lot of material wealth and display a bit of strength…"
The Humans responded well to both lures to their greed, and threats to their existence. She would use a thousand carrots, backed by countless sticks, to force order onto the chaos that Ven had created.
"At least we've got no shortage of life worlds now," Brull glided down from the sky and motioned to the newest Earth to join the group. "Once the locals get on board, we can create an empire with just these alone!"
"Please," Aangor grumbled as Brull settled beside them. He waved to the many worlds above with disdain. "The Humans of Earth know nothing about cultivation, they won't have value for several generations, if ever…"
"Then we'll teach them," Mara placed a hand on the Ape's arm to silence his words. She set her face, determination in her heart to follow her dream. "We can build a better world, and Brull is right," she pointed to the first Earth to enter Ven's realm. "The Earth and its guardian can help us, and we've got a huge advantage besides that."
"What?" Brull tilted his head.
"Avalon, you dummy…" Mara rolled her eyes. Her brother had told her this morning that he could connect Avalon to places beyond this planet. "We can offer a perfect climate to all who join us, paradise on the infinite earths!"
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"That's another one down," Ven rolled his shoulders as the glow of his runes faded. His body grew lighter by the second, renewed and reborn by his connection to the unknown realm that had become his own. "Where to next…"
A flash of black light appeared where the Earth had been. A six winged Angel with his sword extended. Ven smiled, hand raised as he moved toward the familiar fellow.
"Lucifer! Over here…" Ven paused. This WAS a different multiverse, so this could be the local version. "You're the Lucifer I know right…"
"Yeah-yeah," The fallen Angel rolled his eyes. "We came in together from that soup of death, now where the hell is the Earth?"
"Good, I wouldn't want to fight another you," Ven sighed in relief and offered the Devil one of his keys. "This can take you into my inner realm, I'm collecting Earths to save them from the Titan."
"Inner realm?" Lucifer raised his eyebrows. "What the hell happened while I was slumming in this place?"