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Null's Reflections - An Anthology

Negative_Null

By Negative_Null
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Negative_Null

Negative_Null

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All right, for my 2000th post, I'm going to finally publish my little project I've been working on for a while.

Null's Reflections is a collection of stories that takes place in... the entire multiverse. Actually more than that. It's a multiverses of multiverses. Every possible world is fair game for these stories. 

I won't give too much away, obviously, but keep a look out for references, but also know that there's things from places there's no story equivalent of on Earth. 

There will be five arcs, with multiple short stories in them, and there might will definitely be other stories that aren't directly part of any of the arcs.

I'd love any and all feedback. I've worked a long time on these characters and worlds.

Won't you sit down and reflect a moment with me?

Arc 1: Deadly Sins

Spoiler

Chapter 1: Climbing the Tower

Spoiler

Chapter 1: Climbing the Tower
    Stephen Vale rarely regretted being in charge of everything. This was shaping out to be one of the exceptions. 
    At the time of this disturbance, he was overseeing a new recruit, gauging whether his talents and powers would be useful. The boy seemed like the sort of pawn that Null would find useful. Vale didn’t understand the reasoning entirely. Null always wanted cunning people, ones who had to think in strange ways to exceed their own limitations. Vale always thought it would be better to just recruit people who didn’t have such shortcomings.
    But then, one did not question God.
    Vale frowned, prodding the cloak, which hung, unsupported, in the air, as if it had been frozen in the same position as when the boy took it off. “So this is completely immovable?”
    “Yes sir” said the boy. What was his name? Vale glanced down at the file Chrysler had given him. His name was Cole Farlain, but Chrysler noted he had taken an alias of Stasis. Chains, the boy thought he was some kind of superhero.
    “That’s certainly interesting. What can you do with it?”
    “Well, sir, it could stop bullets or even a car. I’ve been experimenting with using my power to fly, since I can stop myself from falling. I’ve used it to trap bad guys, too.”
    He really did think he was a superhero. Nothing Vale hadn’t seen before. He considered the best way to extend the invitation. “Cole, I think you could certainly be useful for us. I’ll have to-”
    He cut off as a door banged open behind them. “Stephen! We’ve got a problem.” Deren El-Deriel Neljika marched into the room, as usual completely unaware of the current situation.
    Vale took his hand off his gun holster. “I’m busy, Deren. Surely you can deal with it yourself.”
    “Sorry, can’t. It’s Prince. He’s gone off the deep end.”
    Vale groaned inwardly. “Cole, you’re dismissed. Go find Chrysler, she’ll get you settled.”
    The boy saluted awkwardly and grabbed his cloak. As he touched it, it lost its strange property keeping it in the air, and he swung the cloak over his shoulder. Vale waited until he left before speaking. “Off the deep end how?”
    “I’ve been tracking him. And others, too, but Prince is the one that worries me the most. You know most of us hang out in one or two Realms unless Null tells us to do stuff.” Deren looked around the room. It was mostly bare, mostly used as a place to train or experiment. Someone, probably Crimson, had set up targets at the end of the room opposite the door to use as a kind of firing range. The targets were torn up and scorched by everything from fireballs to lightning strikes to more arcane magics. Vale had brought in two chairs for Cole’s interview, and Deren pulled the back of one chair toward him, sitting down without asking. “Well, Prince has been traveling all over the multiverse in the last few weeks. He left the Ariaphor Prime Realm, then went to Brightlyn Dione IV, Earth Harry Potter 12, and-”
    Vale interrupted him. “I don’t really care everywhere that he’s been. What has he been doing that’s worth interrupting me?“
    “All of those dimensions are all but destroyed.”
    “You can’t be serious.”
    Deren shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what’s going on. The survivors I found are worshipping him like a god in the ashes of battlefields.”
    “That’s impossible. He doesn’t have that kind of power. He’s just an illusionist.”
    “Yeah, one of the most powerful illusionists that you’ve ever found in Existence. Besides, Stephen, he’s insane. He made these people kill each other somehow. Null teaches his Foundations to exceed their limits and I guess this was the result.”
    Vale pointed a finger at him warningly. “Don’t speak ill like that, Deren. Null has his reasons.”
    Deren rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Someone needs to go stop him before he destroys another civilization.”
    “Why can’t you do it?”
    “Are you kidding? You want to shoot me every time I walk into the room. He’ll just kill me straight out!”
    Vale sighed. “Fine. I’ll go talk with him. Surely he’s got a reason of some kind. Null must have assigned him to it. Where is he now?”
    “Corendor Arcanis.”
    “That’s smack dab in the middle of Medran’s Dominion. What’s he thinking?”
    Deren fell uncharacteristically silent. “I don’t think he’s thinking at all. Go and see for yourself.”
                                                                                                                                 * * * *
    Vale walked through the Nexus towards the armory, passing doors and hallways that seemed to flicker in and out of existence.
    The Nexus was a kind of sub-dimension, created by Null, somehow. His Foundations used it as a base of operations, setting up meetings, supply caches, and training facilities. While most rooms were persistent, there were certain… irregularities. Certain features would change in a blink of an eye:  an electric light would change to a glowing rune, a door would change from oakwood to Retrenchen iron, or even a whole hallway appearing and disappearing. The room Vale and Deren just exited had appeared around a week ago, and while rooms had never disappeared while being used, Vale expected it to be gone within the next few days.
   The concept of “days” was just as hard to pin down. Null hadn’t set up any sort of natural lighting, and the many varied people that lived here made creating a schedule of any kind very difficult. Jay came from Siren, a planet with 18 Prime hour long days, and Crimson’s native planet had 40 hour long days. Vale’s own planet had a 22 hour long day, although he was sure that had changed since he had last been there. Deren swore that on his planet the nighttime was brighter than the day, although Vale didn’t understand how that could be true. Why wouldn’t they just call the brighter time day, then?
   Even the concept of an “hour” was artificial. The Council of Gods had chosen Earth Prime to serve as their basis of time division, and Null, of course, followed the Council’s lead in everything.
   Regardless, the Nexus eventually had fallen into a kind of rhythm. An unspoken agreement between the Foundations that, while in the Nexus, they would follow a 24 hour day schedule.
   Fortunately, few of the Foundations spent much time outside of their assigned Realms. Vale was one of the exceptions to that, as someone needed to manage the many affairs and problems that came up.
   They passed Chrysler, who was leading the boy towards one of the permanent rooms to stay. She was a good soldier, and had done this kind of thing many times before. The boy wouldn’t truly be a Foundation until Null came back to the Nexus and connected him to the network of power, and it was impossible to tell when Null would return. Therefore, the boy had to stay here until then. It was also good to get him acquainted with some of the other Foundations, the intricacies of worldhopping, and the roles that the Foundations filled on different worlds. He’d certainly have to give up his fantasies of being a superhero. Null had a kind of non-interventionist policy for his Foundations, which was unique among the Council of Gods. Hopefully Prince didn’t ruin everything in whatever stunt he was pulling, the chained fool.
    Coming to the armory, Vale reached for the doorknob. Before his hand reached it, the door disappeared altogether, before being replaced by a plasma ray shield. Vale sighed, and then deactivated it, stepping inside. Deren followed him, looking worriedly at the doorway, as if he was worried it would turn back on while he was going through it. 
   The armory was full of equipment from every corner of Existence. Vale could see enchanted swords, cybernetic suits, spellbooks, and machine guns just from the entrance. More importantly, the armory contained the most important weapon; information. The armory housed files not only on the many worlds Null controlled or had visited, but each Foundation and their respective magic systems.
   Vale left Deren to tinker with some of the explosives, which were likely some of the least dangerous things in the room, and opened the door to the file room. Inside were two women, taking up the little remaining space in the crowded room with papers and folders. There was Moria Smedry and… Vale wracked his brain, trying to remember the new recruit’s name. She had joined only a few months ago.
   The two were a strange pair. Moria wore clothing similar to Vale’s own, modern-day clothes, and wore a pair of glasses tinted a strange color, which she called Lenses. She would have fit into any Earth Prime university, which made her very useful for missions there. The other girl instead wore a long gown with her left hand covered by her sleeve. It was some kind of cultural taboo on her plane, although Moria’s bare hands didn’t seem to bother her. 
Moria looked up as Vale entered. “Oh, hey Stephen. What’s up?”
   “Just need to grab something in here. What are you doing?”
   Moria rolled her eyes at his brusqueness. “Palahi wanted to help me clean up in here. She says it reminds her of home.” 
   The other girl looked up at Vale and nodded, then said something in another language. Moria laughed.
   Language was odd in the Multiverse. An experienced worldhopper could usually make themselves understood through magic, and Null’s network of power allowed each of the Foundations to understand each other. However, if Palahi chose not to use those powers, she could say whatever she wanted without Vale being able to understand. Apparently Moria spoke her language, or maybe she was using her Oculator magic.
   Palahi smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Brightlord.” She stood up and straightened her dress. “How may we assist you?”
   “Well, while you’re here, you might as well help me. I need to find Prince’s file.”
   Moria started looking through the stacks of papers at her feet. “I thought I just saw that. We’ve been reorganizing these. I think that we should be able to make this a little more orderly. You had them by some weird alphabetical order, I think, which makes it hard to find things if you don’t read Sirenian.”
   “I think it was Jay who was in charge of these, now that you mention it.”
   Palahi cocked her head. “What is this Prince’s name?”
   Moria stopped her sorting and looked up at her. “It’s not a title. Well, maybe it is. I don’t talk to him much, he’s kind of creepy. But like, I think that’s his actual name.” She looked at Vale next. “What’s wrong, Stephen? You looked like you smelled something… file.”
   As she said it, Vale did smell something vile. A product of her Talent, which did strange things whenever she made a bad pun. As far as Vale knew, she couldn’t control when it came out very well. He pushed through it though, and grabbed a stack of files himself to look through, making sure to breathe through his mouth. “Prince has always gone by that name. My guess is that it’s actually a title and he for some reason doesn’t want to tell us his birth name, but I don’t know for sure. “
   Palahi made an odd gesture, as if crumpling something in a ball and dropping it. Most likely a gesture of dismissal. “Regardless, I believe I set a file by that name over here. I believe that a better way to organize would be by homeworlds, and that was one of the few files that did not list one.” She picked up the file she indicated and opened it. “Indeed, this is the one. He is an illusionist, of a kind?”
   Vale nodded.
   Moria gave him an odd look. “Haven’t you worked with Prince for like, years?”
   “Centuries, maybe. I lose track.”
   Ignoring Palahi’s gasp of surprise, Moria continued. “Why do you need his file, then? I’d think you’d know the guy inside and out.”
   “Something happened. Deren thinks he’s gone crazy or something. I need to know what I’m dealing with if he is. Obviously I didn’t know everything about him.” Vale held out his hand towards Palahi. She was obviously very confused, standing with her covered left hand against her chest, but gave the file to him. Vale scanned the file quickly. There was very little information in it. Native planet: unknown. Name: unknown. Weakness: unknown. The most filled out part was his powers and abilities, which Vale had already memorized.
   Main powerset: Illusions. Prince is able to create incredibly detailed and large illusions, exceeding the scope of other powerful illusionists like Alein Nell and Mysterio. Rather than create the entire illusion himself, Prince’s powers draw on the mind of the victim, creating a stronger illusion through their imagination combined with his own. Also unlike most illusionists, Prince can influence all senses, even creating phantom pain, although no effects will be lasting outside of the illusion.
   Minor powerset: Emotional manipulation: Prince also has the ability to read and influence the emotions of people caught in his illusions. While it doesn’t seem that he has the ability to completely control emotions (such as changing complete joy to complete sorrow), he can shift them around a fair amount.
   Vale sighed. There was no new information there. He had hoped there would be information that he had forgotten that might explain what had happened, but there was just so little information. Maybe he should go see if there was an official assignment for Prince to be where he was. As he went to put the file down, though, the information page shifted. On top of the various mission files and photographs, there was a new page, covered in a scribbled passage. This passage was in a different language, one Vale couldn’t read. He looked at it for a moment, then at the two women. Both of them seemed unnerved, although Moria was looking at the page, while Palahi seemed more unnerved that he had just read it. Her culture was certainly odd.
   Moria looked closer at the scribbled page. “What could that be?”
   Vale grimaced. “A message of some sort.” He used his power, reaching into the fabric between dimensions. Fortunately, his target was very close, right in front of him, in fact. A tiny portal opened up in front of him, and a Lens fell through and into his hand. As he held it up to his eye, he could now read the scribbled passage.
   Moria frowned. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
   “Do what?”
   “Take my stuff.”
   Vale looked at her. “I’m not taking it. I’m making a temporary copy of it.”
   “Still. I don’t like you using it. I don’t care that your whole thing is copying our powers. I wish you would leave my Lenses alone.”
   Vale didn’t understand it. They were just tools. What he did understand, however, was the passage in front of him. As he looked through the Translator’s Lens, the strange scribbles resolved themselves into readable English.
   I hope you find this, at least eventually. I’ve planned my desertion for quite a long time now. By the time you’re able to translate this, I’ll be far away, out of even your reach, Vale. 
   I had hoped to make some of you see my point, that the gods are only trying to keep us down. I think I’ve found it, a way to become one of them. But of course, you are all led by the nose, kept as tools for him.
   Think about me, late at nights, when you wonder about where the Null, Lord of Nothing will take us.
    “Sorry to disappoint you, Prince, but my nightly regrets are taken.” Vale muttered, folding up the paper and sliding it into his pocket. He dismissed his copy of the Translator’s lens and nodded to the women. “Thank you for your help.”
    “Of course Brightlord,’’ said Palahi. “If I may speak…”
    Vale paused. This girl was unusual in her deference, reminding Vale of his earliest days. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be reminded or not. “You may.”
    “Well, on my world, illusionists like this are bound by oaths and Ideals. Everyone with powers is, but for us, it’s the most important. You see, with a power that changes the world so much, it becomes that much more important to see the Truths that lie beneath the illusion. That kind of power causes reality to become… disconnected. This Prince is dangerous if he doesn’t have any truths like that. I… I remember, before I was able to admit to myself the truths about myself, feeling that I needed my illusions to hide, to change myself. I thought ‘all they are good for is to stop my pain for a while.’ I would expect your Prince to think much the same.” Palahi finished, sounding almost as if saying that was setting down a huge weight.
    Vale considered. Even if this wasn’t necessarily useful information, it was obvious that it meant a lot for Palahi to say it. Best to acknowledge that. A good commander knew when something mattered more to the soldier than to the superior. “Thank you, Palahi.”
    He left the room, more concerned than when he had entered.
                                                                                                                                * * * *
    Corendor Arcanis was a large interdimensional trade hub ruled by the god Medrano. While he was presumably one of Null’s allies, any allyship in the Council of Gods was a tense and fragile one. Prince attacking one of the dimensions within the Realm could have catastrophic consequences. 
    Normally, Vale would have to hop between worlds until he could find one close enough to get into the specific dimension Prince was in. Because he was in the Nexus, though, Vale’s natural ability was powered up through Null’s power. He could hop directly to Prince, and hopefully take him down before the illusionist realised it.
    If Prince escaped, though, Vale would be on the same level as him, stuck with hopping through one dimension at a time, reliant on tracking him through disturbances in the fabric of space-time. 
    Best not to allow that to happen. 
    “Deren, which dimension of Corendor Arcanis am I aiming for, exactly?’’
    “He’s in the Prime dimension.”
    “Chains of the First God, he’s going to start a war. That’s the crux of Medrano’s power over that realm. An attack on that dimension will destabilize every world in the Realm, if it doesn’t start unravelling reality itself.”
    For once, Deren was completely serious. “I know.” Then the moment passed, and he cracked a grin. “So let’s hope you don’t mess it up too badly.”
    “You better hope not, since you’re coming with me.”
    “I am?”
    Vale glared at Deren, and he wilted. Old sergeant’s tricks still worked, after all this time.
    “Ok, I’ll come. Just try not to shoot me if he makes me look like a goblin or something, all right?”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    Vale concentrated, gathering sparks of dimensional energy between his hands, shaping it into a portal connecting the two worlds. It took a moment because of the distance between the Nexus and Corendor, but not nearly as long as it would have on a normal world. As the portal took shape, Vale drew his gun and stepped through, Deren following.
    Vale had visited Corendor Arcanis before, as a representative of Null. He expected to see a grey sky crisscrossed by glowing leylines, and towers built at impossible heights using primitive stone and brick. 
    The sky was the same, but was filled with smoke. There was a tower lying in rubble at Vale’s feet. Lightning struck a few feet to their left and both Deren and Vale dived behind some of the rubble, using it as cover. 
    They had portaled into a battlefield, although not of the kind Vale was used to. Small squads of wizards ducked behind hastily erected fortifications, peeking out to throw fireballs or summon erratic lightning at each other. A few more daring squads were marching between the fortifications, holding arcane shields that deflected most of the projectiles, then destroying the fortifications in a swift barrage of blasts.
    “Prince’s work,” said Deren. “This is what the last few worlds I saw looked like as well.”
    “Where are the authorities? This is a Prime world, there should be some worldhoppers stationed here to keep peace.”
    “Like, I don’t know, them?” Deren pointed in the opposite direction, over the pile of rubble, and Vale saw two people that obviously didn’t fit here, fighting against each other. There was a man wielding a spear surrounded by a violet aura frantically avoiding the attacks of a figure in futuristic power armor. Vale recognized both of them as Medrano’s Foundations; he didn’t know their names but had seen them before. 
    He ran toward them. “Stop! Stop! Why are you fighting?”
    They didn’t stop, but a voice came from under the helmet of the armor. “For the glory of the new god!”
    “Taeryon, that’s heresy! You serve Medrano!” shouted the other man. He was obviously terrified, but Vale had to respect his bravery, staying in the fight to try and break the space marine out of whatever trance he was in.
    “I deserted my first god for Medrano, and where did that get me? I was cast out of my world and forced to serve here. I spend every day guarding his plans, defending his interests. But now I will fight for the glory of passion, for my own freedom!” the marine caught hold of the spear and jerked it out of the man’s hand, pulling him close enough to grab with his other hand.
    Vale didn’t stay long enough to see the end of the fight. He dashed back to their makeshift fortification. “They’ve all gone crazy!”
    Deren shrugged. “Well, I told you. What now, since you’re so in charge?”
    “We need to find Prince. He’s got to be around here somewhere for all this to be going on.”
    “Not necessarily. Ariaphor Prime was like this, and I was told he’d left weeks ago.”
    Vale groaned. “Chains, I hate everything about this. Let’s check and see if he’s left yet.” Vale started gathering power again, similarly to how he had opened the portal. Instead, he shaped the violet sparks into a model of the dimension. He pointed to a hole in the side, as if someone had poked a ball with a knife. “There. He’s left already. And he’s going towards...Corendor Mundane, looks like. One of the sub-Realms attached to this one.”
    “How do you know that’s him, and not someone else?”
    “Medrano doesn’t give his Foundations worldhopping capabilities like us. He-” Vale cut off as another errant lightning strike arced down towards the pair. Acting on old instincts, he half-threw, half-dragged Deren out of the way, and they both pressed themselves against the rocks as the space marine leaped over the rubble and charged at one of the wizard fortifications. Judging by the scorch mark on his armor, he must have been a target as well, whether accidentally or on purpose. “It doesn’t matter. Make sure we don’t get hit by anything while I open another portal!”
   Deren nodded. For all his attitude, the man could take an order when it was necessary. He used his power, absorbing ambient light around them. Perhaps noticing the sudden shadows, one of the wizard squads aimed a few projectiles at them. Deren quickly manifested a shield out of a black metal, deflecting the brunt of the attack.
   Vale concentrated, trying to ignore the shouts and explosions. He had just made a portal, and using his power again so soon was draining him.
   “Stephen…” Deren said warningly.
   Vale looked up for a moment, and saw the battlefield. The space marine had torn down two of the wood fortifications with his bare hands, leaving broken bodies in his wake. The few remaining wizards had realized that their spells were barely scratching his armor and were fleeing. “I’m working on it.”
   The power started coalescing in his hands.
   The marine bellowed a war cry, calling for a challenge.
   Deren absorbed more light, plunging the pair into darkness.
   The marine charged the spot of darkness, sensing that there was still blood to be found.
   Deren threw up a shield in front of him, the black metal holding the power armor’s fists back for just a moment.
   The portal opened.
   “Quick, get through!”
   The pair dived through the portal as the metal started shrieking under the stress, and they heard one last battle cry before the portal closed.
   Lying on the ground, Vale felt like he would be fine if Prince escaped again, because at least then he would have some time to rest. 
   Raising his head, however, found a spear head held inches from his nose. Rough hands pulled him up into a sitting position, and he saw a circle of uniformed men around him and Deren, each holding steel weapons and ready to kill. The weapons varied, here a sword, there an axe, even a few odd weapons he didn’t recognize. But as the circle parted, Vale saw the most dangerous of any of them walk through.
   A short man, who was impossible to place in age. He could have been anywhere between a teenager and middle-aged. He wore black, sloppily, as if he had barely spent any time to arrange himself after sleeping in the expensive coat he wore. What identified him, though, was his hair and eyes, which changed rapidly in color and style. Vale had never learned whether his ever changing hair was a purposeful and frivolous use of his powers or something natural about his race or abilities.
   He was only just now realizing how little about Prince he had actually known.
   “Good to see you again, Vale! I must say, I hadn’t expected you so soon, but we both know the value of being prepared.” Prince motioned to the soldiers. “Bind them, and then bring them to the Tower.”

 

Enjoy, and make sure to let me know if it sucks or not :P 

It I don't post a new chapter for a couple weeks, please bug me to get started on the next one. I want to finish this, I just suck at motivating myself sometimes.

Edited by Negative_Null
Formatting is weird for some reason :P
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