A Game of Gods: A Multiversal Challenge

... There was only silence in Rey's mind; Mal-Keshar was gone.

"He...he..."

Rey stared at the sword, jaw trembling slightly. "Gave himself up to attack that...that..."

Rey squeezed his eyes closed, grinding his teeth, then tucked the sword away again, raising the Big Baby even though his hands were shaking. "I'm going to kill you, Omega. I'm going to kill you."

Omega moaned softly as the sword found its mark, green and orange fluids spattering everwhere as he slid off his panlaquin and slumped to the floor. All that could be heard in the room was his quiet, faint moans of pain and the occasional scrabble as he tried to reassert his broken ravaged, body. But even the strong body of a Nomad could only take so much punishment, and it seemed that after enduring hell at the hands of his rformer comrades and the Challengers, who had delivered the final blow, it seemed that not even he, one of the greatest of the Nomads, could survive any longer.

" You... kill... me...?" he moaned, spitting out something that resembled a tooth. " So...is your death, mortals. Accept it well.

With the final ssqueeze of a cybernetic implement, something depe within the complex began to trill alarmingly. The control room began to shudder and jerk- anyone who was orbiting the planetoid would see that the entire planet was beginning to shake itself apart, an enormous portal opening in front of it as it began to enter a dark and lightless void, something that likely nobody would surive. Inside the control room, Omega's barely living body shook with laughter, as bloody entrails dragged from his stomach.

" Goodbye." In fact, his entire body- or at least what was left of the misbegotten creature, barely alive, was moving away from them- stretching to an infinite point on the horizon as spacetime itself was clearly warping. The challengers may have begun to notice that the entire control room too was beginning to stretch, compress, and distort in bizarre ways not thought possible by the human mind.

edited 29th Jun '11 5:53:05 PM by Locoman

"He's warped time! We've entered an event horizon!"

Phi disappeared from Omega's view and five bullets replaced him, flying to Omega. Phi meanwhile went to Narumi and picked him up. " I'm not letting anyone die on me again..." Phi thought, carrying Narumi to saftey.

edited 29th Jun '11 5:57:21 PM by Psyga315

Gordon struggled to his feet. The wound in his stomach was held shut by various combine medical gels and bandages, which were working quickly to heal the damaged tissue.

"Die?" he asked, even though Omega was unlikey to hear him. "Not likely."

He turned to the others. "We're leaving. Now."

Blink looked around wildly. "Uh... uh.. what's happening?!"

edited 29th Jun '11 5:57:49 PM by AnnoR

Rey blinked, staring at the encrouching trouble. "What...what is that..."

"Ah, this isn't my area of expertise..." Lux looked around, nervous.

"The nutjob's making spacetime tear this planet apart!" Kisame said with horror.

"How in the Hells are we getting out of this one?" Kimimaro muttered.

edited 29th Jun '11 6:04:55 PM by DKN117

"No. I refuse to die here!"

Spriggan said, lowerig his G36C.

Durant and Michael looked with confusion after they fired their weapons. The Black Stig had fired a few rounds from the K3 handed by Spriggan from the hip before Omega's demise.

edited 29th Jun '11 7:08:37 PM by Ominae

As space and time continued to distort and blur, warping the walls and ceiling of the already bizarre central control chamber, the challengers who were fighting for their way out may become aware of a presence nearby. Whatever it was, it was clearly intangible, yet everyone would gradually become aware of a... force nearby, hovering over all and bathing them in its presence Unlike the hovering spectre of Omega, who was now nowhere to be seen except for a faint green dot that appeared to be miles away, this presence did not seem oppressive or hostile. That said, the being did not emanate any overt happiness or joy; but if anyone were to examine the emotional aura emitted by it they would see that it was clearly obeying an order or command rather than out of an instinctive compassion for the hapless Challengers.

After what seemed to be a brief moment of contemplation (but with time and space deteriorating around them, who could really tell?) the being swung into action. The keen-eyed among the challengers might have caught the hem of a white robe, a wisp of hair on what seemed to be a balding forehead, but what most would only see was a blur of pure white light, moving with incredible speed and dexterity as it began to shepherd the confused and disoriented Challengers to safety. In front of them, a portal flared to life, crackling with energy as it struggled to maintain its coordinates as space and time continued their steady collapse, the planetoid bomb unceasing in its march down into the maw of the massive wormhole…

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As soon as anyone exited the portal, it is likely that scarcely few of them would believe what they were seeing. Far from the spiny, disturbing turmoil that was the degenerating control room, the challengers would find themselves in what, for all intents and purposes, was the living room of what appeared to be a large and rather stately Victorian manor.

The illusion, if it really was that, was well-executed, from cozy chintz armchairs to an immaculate tea set. In the corner, a polished stone and marble fireplace crackled merrily, while in the other corner was a large bookshelf. It was here that the illusion began to break down. Many of the books were in entirely different languages or totally indecipherable, and a fair number of them could only charitably be called ‘books’- papyrus scrolls sat beside advanced holographic knowledge storage units, while stone tablets etched with blood and written in an alien language were stocked besides the complete works of Charles Dickens.

To the right, down the hall and down a large stone spiral staircase, was apparently a ballroom, a large round room with smooth tile-inlaid floors and majestic pillars holding up a round roof adorned with a skylight. But again, the appearance was deceptive, for no dancers could be found. Instead, surrounding the central floor was a ring of portals, a solid light hologram of a certain challenger hovering above each one. If one was to look through the portal, they might catch glimpses of familiar places and things- clearly these were the way of returning to their home universes should they so desire. It seemed that now was the time for the challengers to go their separate ways, although apparently their new benefactors were considerate enough to offer them a place where they could say their goodbyes in what was hopefully peace and quiet...

______________________________________

And, in what remained of the Nomad’s amphitheatre, another development was taking place. For any that would venture there now would find enormous letters cast in burning white fire, thousands of feet high. Whatever had made them, the Nomads would notice, was not of their kind, but with stern intentions to cease their reprehensible actions nonetheless.

OMEGA, AND MANY OTHERS, ARE DEAD.

YOUR COLLECTIVE FOOLISHNESS NEARLY DESTROYED EXISTENCE.

CEASE THE GAMES, OR SUFFER GREATLY, NOMADS. THIS IS YOUR FIRST AND LAST WARNING

These harshly worded commandments simply refused to go out, no matter how hard any Nomad would try, and the austere command forced upon them would no doubt dissuade the majority of their number from tampering any further, for beings that could do such a thing were no doubt powerful indeed and would likely brook no rebellion.

______________________________________

The nameless place. The place that the most advanced of multiversal travellers could never truly exploit, for what can be created in a realm of chaos and nothingness?

And yet, against all odds, protected by cutting-edge technology and, perhaps, simply a stubborn refusal to die, something was now sinking steadily into anarchy- a planetoid inhabited by precisely one individual, barely alive, trapped forevermore in a prison of his own devising. Doomed to wallow in eternal agony, his wounds never healing, his machines inoperable, destined to do nothing more than trap him in endless pain.

They say that even now, a discerning spacefarer wise in the ways of the multiverse can hear his eternal screams of hate and agony… the screams of a being, broken in body and soul, something that once fancied himself to be a god…

edited 29th Jun '11 7:14:02 PM by Locoman

Rey blinked, looking around, blinking. "What...where are we...?"

"Well..." Kisame said, looking around. "This is... odd."

"Why do I get the feeling our troubles aren't over yet?" Kimimaro said.

Galen was sitting on a couch, breathing heavily. He looked around. "Where..." he stopped and swallowed. "Where is Link?"

Phi and Narumi crossed the portal. Phi then sets Narumi down. He then sees the burning letters.

" ... Easier said than done. The games were slower than slugs anyways... I just want this to be over with... So I could be... with..." Phi stopped and slumped to his knees.

Rey walked along, looking at the various portals, stopping at one with a scene of a large mansion on a sprawling landscape, blinking as he stared at it a moment. "That...that's my house..."

edited 29th Jun '11 7:30:42 PM by MystyGlyttyr

The Doctor breathes in and out. "Where are we? The library of the multiverse?"

Gordon held the wound in his side.

The combine medical gel and bandages was not yet finished repairing his wouding, but it was about halfway done. He didn't care where he was, why this had happened, he didn't care about any of it. He was going home.

He was finally going home.

Gordon smiled.

"It's over," he said, turning to the other challengers, still smiling. The H.E.V suit was covered in blood, Gordon was clearly tired... but he was alive.

"It's finally over. I'm going home. We're all going home," he said. He took one step towards the portal that depicted an image of himself above it.

"It's been an honor fighting alongside you. All of you," Gordon said, turning to face the challengers. "Even those of you I disagreed with, even those of you I hated. We made it through this together. We beat this. We won this game of 'gods', not them. Even after the hell some of us... all of us got put through. Even after they attacked us themselves. We made it. We won."

He continued to smile, a surprising amount of warmth resonating from the expression.

"To all of you, goodbye."

With that final statement, the theoretical physicist backed through the portal and vanished.

But he left something behind.

His crowbar lay outside the portal, along with a stack of combine medkits to help treat any injuries that may still need it.

Blink stared at her new surroundings. Where was she? Where was this? It wasn't the decaying world that had been lft behind, that was for sure... She quickly scanned the room of challengers. She had one main thing on her mind, finding Naoto, and then helping anyone who needed it.

Abruptly all the portals in the chamber shuddered and collapsed, dwindling rapidly into nothingness and leaving the Champions and their Nomad allies trapped in this new location.

The Doctor grabs his screwdriver. "We're not going home yet ladies and gents."

Eta sees the words in his dreams. He shudders and shakes in the Doctor's arms.

This post was thumped by the Codfish in a Derby Hat

Rey blinked at Gordon's abrupt exit. He looked as though he were about to say something, but stopped himself, just shaking his head slightly, a very faint wry smile on his face...he wouldn't have expected any different, really. But when the portals abruptly vanished, he blinked, clutching at the Big Baby, still at his side. "Ah hell..."

"Well," said Sub-Zero, "we've won this tournament. But I've got the feeling that soon, more warriors will be dragged into this mortal kombat. I suggest you all warn anyone who might be dragged in by the Nomads for another tournament. It has been an honor fighting alongside you." He turned to Rey. "Especially you, Mr. Mysterio. You may not be a superhuman, but you fought bravely with what you had, and that takes a lot more courage than fighting with powers." He pulled out a sword hilt he had saved and formed an icy blade. Then, he presented it to Rey. "Take this as a reminder of your time here. Use it well, and use it often- it's not going to melt any time soon."

edited 29th Jun '11 7:46:08 PM by TestYourMight

"I hate this..."

Spriggan shouldered his G36C. The other three did the same.

"Sub-Zero. Not yet. The portals have closed. Something still needs us."