"What can you tell me about the ten cities?"
"You know, you could have just asked me that, but whatever." Deer grumbled in the corner. Serpentine cringed, having forgotten that Deer was still with them.
The Primordial chuckled at their antics, before answering, his gaze locking onto the demon as he voiced out the first of the ten cities.
"Mercer is the city beneath The Constellation of Life. However, it is considered invasive to the other cities, as the overabundance of life has proven rampant and cancerous, a sign of Life breaking down and losing all control."
Serpentine flinched violently, almost falling to the ground as he staggered backwards. Deer's eyes furrowed, but as he tried to ask, he noticed the demon's lips trembling, and his breathing was slightly ragged, though it was worsening.
Deer decided not to press him, and tried to change the subject, asking The Primordial, "What's next?"
The deific figure fortunately took notice and complied, "Dastan is the city beneath The Constellation of Time. It is a city ridden with artefacts of the time domain, ghouls and guardians of timelines, and is where the sands of time were forged, the crossroad between time, fate, destiny, and probability."
Serpentine seemed to be slightly distracted from whatever made him hyperventilate, prompting Deer to let out a sigh.
"A City of Time..." The demon muttered under his breath. Time related shenanigans weren't ever really his cliche, as his expertise rather lied in the domain of dimensions. A hint of anticipation rose within him, a sense of thrill rushing through his veins, but a slight, impending dread gnawed at him all the same.
"What's next?" He decided to move on.
"Emespent is the city beneath The Constellation of Void, and it is... interesting, to say the least. It is a world of art, where creation stems from the void itself, existence drawn into the canvas of nonexistent before your very eyes." The Primordial mulled over the city of void.
Serpentine blinked a few times. "So it's just, doodles and animated drawings all around?"
"Pretty much." Deer shrugged. "Don't go into The Ink Tank though. That place is pure, eldritch horror."
Serpentine was definitely going to The Ink Tank, whatever that was.
"Next?"
"Clancy is the city beneath the Constellation of Order. It is a place where neither chaos nor cosmic energy has any hold, dampened and nulled all the same, along with various reality bending forces such as magic and even faith."
The Primordial paused for a few seconds, before adding, "Thus, the city chases after technological advancement, and they have harnessed the laws of physics in devastating ways, though they seem to mainly only prefer aerial combat as a means to settle ends."
"Huh... interesting." The demon denoted. He couldn't lie; the prospect of losing his powers scared him as much as engaging in aerial combat while riding a fighter jet excited him. "That makes four?"
"Indeed." The Primordial affirmed.
"What's the fifth?"
"Eleftu is the city beneath the Constellation of Destiny. It is a place where battles are fought to determine one's destiny, and fighters do not rely on magic, cosmic energy, or chaos force."
Serpentine's eyes widened slightly as he stepped forward. "What do they use, then?"
"Aura. Or rather, their very life force, the energy in their cells themselves, mired with their physical stamina, mental energy, and telomerase. They do not have any specific powers – only techniques, each an application of their aura."
"So just Qi Manipulation with extra steps, then." Serpentine rolled his eyes.
Unexpectedly, Deer popped in with his own share of information, "Legends has it that a powerful demonic entity won a great war and achieved transcendence, making him nearly unstoppable, and he later conquered and corrupted the moon, turning it into a demon realm."
"...huh?" Serpentine gawked, but Deer continued anyway.
"Now that the demonic entity is planning to return to the mortal world, and portals to the demon realm are opening, the mortals are injecting demonic blood into their own bloodstreams and using their human blood to try and consume it with sheer will, achieving unnatural powers."
"For Pete's sake–wait, no, wrong theology. I mean, Holy Architect!" Serpentine exclaimed.
'That could be its own separate novel!'
"Why the hell does this Citadel have so much more!?" Serpentine questioned, his eyes widened, and his voice a little high.
"Destiny's domain was inherited by The Primordial of Time after his fall, who set out to make every possibility a reality, a timestream dedicated to realising each plausible reality." The Primordial revealed.
"However, Time's reach does not extend beyond his Citadel in The Nexus of Faith, and I think we both know what would happen when the shards of a Primordial's Domain fall into the hands of humanity." The deific figure said with a strained smile, his words causing Serpentine to sigh.
"That... yeah, that about sums it up." The demon grimaced.
Serpentine had always believed humans to be the worst among the monsters, even more malevolent than Devils and Demons. Having travelled through space and time, he had seen it many times – settlements ranging from a small island nation to entire galaxies collapsing not from a devil's curse or a god's wrath, but from merely the greed of humans.
They scared him, for beyond their precision and cruelty laid a deceptive layer no fiend could match. After all, beasts did simply as their instincts guided. Tigers hunted. Dragons hoarded. Elves catered, and Dwarves built. A beast akin to humans, who claimed they would be your ally but ripped out your throat instead, was utterly unheard of.
The Holocaust, the Atlantic Slave Trade, The Rape of Nanking, The Holodomor, The ISIS Atrocities, and genocides to many to name. He had witnessed echoes of these atrocities in his long existence as a rogue, and each time, he was reminded; humans didn't need chaos to become monsters. They did it willingly.
Their creativity did not help their case. From the invention of the wheel and fire, to fertilizers and dynamite, to toxicology and catapulting plague infecting corpses, to the invention of nuclear warheads, to the desecration of their planet for their own, temporary luxury.
'That is humanity at its peak,' he sighed, 'A species that thrives in the face of death, chaos, and suffering. A species that turns every threat into an opportunity... and every opportunity into devastation.'
But of course, humans thrived the most when they were threatened. And what posed a greater threat to humanity, but other humans? So, when such a species stumbles upon the shards of Destiny...
'Yeah, no, this is horrifying.' Serpentine bit down on his lower lip, curling his fingers as he balled up his hand into a fist a few times.
He wasn't sure he wanted to go there, but he'd burn that bridge when he got to it.
"Sixth?" He asked, trying to move on, and the Primordial complied with a jovial hum.
"Gartendiphens is the city beneath the Constellation of Eternity, and it is a land of Gnomes untouched by change. They are locked in an eternal, perennial combat against the cancerous apparitions of Life, fighting against the invaders at their borders and against random rifts in space."
'Now that is something.'
Life without the prospect of Death is technically eternal all the same, so to see the very land of eternity having a feud with them was fairly ironic... and terrifying.
Serpentine was dead certain that being involved between these two forces meant certain demise. Caught between two eternal creatures, that would be no different than being caught between a collision of the unstoppable force against an immovable object, as if caught in the eye of a storm – no escape, no resolution, only the certainty of being consumed.
A bead of sweat trailed down his sideburns and dripped down his chin, but he wiped it away with his wrist.
"And might the holy number seven represent?" Serpentine's voice was loud, his tone singsong as it climbed three octaves in one flow.
"Sanandreas is the city beneath the Constellation of Death, and it is... quite frankly, the land of death. A gritty, dark city where the edge of mortality is always near, thriving on chaos, corruption, and the inevitable cycle of life and death."
"Hm?" Serpentine was slightly taken aback, "Could you elaborate?"
"No one gets to live for long." Deer interrupted, his eyes narrowed as he growled. "And no one gets to be dead for long. No new souls are born, and memories are lost, twisted, fabricated, and replaced every passing moment."
The Primordial nodded, his expression grave, "It is a city of chaos where nothing ever ends, because the very ending itself keeps dying."
A chill snaked up Serpentine's spine as he tried to visualise everything he'd just been told. A City where you suffered from both life and death, yet were allowed to enjoy neither for long, a perennial strain building as they died and came back to life. An anarchist city where memories were worthless, and where nothing seemed to have any value.
"That is... horrifying." Serpentine finally exclaimed after several seconds had elapsed. "This might just be the worst one yet."
"I genuinely don't think it gets any worse." Deer commented with a forced grin, as the Primordial blew a sigh that could probably destroy a planet if unrestrained.
"Eighth?" The Primordial questioned.
"Eighth?" The Ascended Demon affirmed.
The deific existence nodded. "Storisupleh is a city beneath the Constellation of Fate. And this one is... a particularly strange one. It is a world where your own choices affect your future, but... your choices too are predestined by the hands of fate."
"Elaborate on that?"
"Most of your actions do not affect your Fate by a significant magnitude. But enough small actions or very few large actions are enough to alter the course of your fate. This is what we call The Elasticity of Fate." The Primordial drawled, gently explaining the laws and mechanism that server as the cogwheels in the City of Fate.
'Elasticity of Fate...' Serpentine mulled over the term, before waiting for the Primordial to go on.
"When you reach the elastic limit, you are faced with a Fated Decision. The world around you comes to a pause, and you lose your ability to do anything except think, move slightly, and pick between a set of three to four choices that will dictate your future. If you don't choose within time, a random choice will be picked for you."
"This is... eerily game-like." Serpentine blurted out after a few seconds had elapsed. "This is one weird city. Not even terrifying compared to Life, Eternity, and Death. Just... weird."
"There's also the mechanism of hidden choices, but I don't really get that." Deer added, scratching his head.
"Fate also rigged the system personally using this authority as The Creator, so they can now make premium choices by simply supporting the Kickstarter Campaign." The Primordial smirked, clearly proud of his sibling.
"Ah, genius at its finest – monetizing fate itself. Serpentine chuckled. "What's next?"
"Where you are now."
"Oh?" Serpentine raised a brow.
"Ajofempyres is a city beneath the Constellation of Probability. There are thirteen factions within the city, each based on one of the possible civilisations worthy of an empire, and they are always at each other's throat." The Primordial explained with a smile.
"Every once in a while, any four of these possible factions are thrown into a titanic dimension the size of a small country, and they essentially engage in a large scaled battle royale until only one faction remains."
Serpentine's jaw hung open.
'Isn't this basically Hunger Games but for countries?'
"The winning faction gets the take over the entire small country, and they are teleported back to the mainland, where the victorious factions can ally, wage war, conquest, and do more. The thirteen factions all keep each other in check, both in terms of power and size." With those words, The Primordial finished it off.
Slowly processing the strange city, Serpentine could not help but blurt out, "Just why?"
The Primordial shrugged. "It is just the way things are. Besides, it is very interesting to watch and peer into the many possibilities it reveals."
"I–..." Serpentine sighed, "Can you at least tell me what the thirteen factions are?"
"Britons, Byzantines, Celts, Chinese, Franks, Goths, Japanese, Mongols, Persians, Saracens, Teutons, Turks, and Vikings." Deer popped in again with his very helpful information.
Serpentine raised a brow at the list. "All human civilisations?"
"For now... Or is it?" The Primordial smiled lightly.
The demon groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Just tell me the last citadel so I can be done with this." Pausing a bit, he added, "I believe only Chaos is left?"
The Primordial nodded.
"Drkrizingtu is the city beneath the Constellation of Chaos. It is a city that is currently relatively tame after I took care of Zero, but never let your guard down. In the end, this beautiful world of coexistence is nothing more chaos masquerading as order."
"What's the world like?" Serpentine questioned, his eyes shining.
The deific figure sighed. "There are abnormal magical beasts spread across the lands, seas, and skies, each wielding their own powers. The humans bind their souls with these beasts and live alongside them, borrowing their power for combat, sports, and construction."
"Oh, this is a new one." The demon smiled.
The Tamer Archetype turned into a citadel. He hadn't seen this in a while.
"These beasts morph and evolve as they accumulate more experience and energy, or press a specific trigger. Occasionally, some might exhibit an X-Factor, a unique ability or transformation granted to a beast as a watered down version of a Chaos Factor that could be invoked at will."
"These beasts keep getting more interesting." Serpentine mused.
Chaos Factors were strange, esoteric occurrences brought about by Chaos Force. Some were good, some were bad, some were situational, and some turned you into a tree. To have such an aspect as a unique ability, even if it were watered down, would be terrific.
"The beasts also have a hierarchy of their own in terms of base power and potential, segregated into five groups – Regulars, Mascots, Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic."
Pausing for a bit, the Primordial added, "That about concludes the ten citadels."
Serpentine nodded, absorbing all the information given.
Honestly, there was a lot to take in. The whole new dimension, the Nexus of Faith, the revelation of two Primordials he knew nothing about, the ten citadels, and everything about them... and the revelation with Fate before his demise didn't make it any easier.
But of course, that was fine.
Serpentine was a rogue, after all. An interdimensional rogue who stole the secrets of gods from under their noses, and still clung onto them. He had been chased by Primordials, dragged into the maws of forever, and even made love to a deity before.
The ten citadels seemed terrifying, yes, but to Serpentine, they had already been branded as just yet another stepping stones for his next heist.
After all, a rogue didn't need a plan – only the right opening.