NameIess

The door twisted around God Killer's arm, growing acid-dripping teeth which it attempted to sink into his shoulder. Behind him, Subversion laughed softly and melted into mist. The odds may not be quite what they appear to be. The best way to surpass impossible odds is to cheat, after all.

God Killer stood on an infinite plain of greyness in a place with no sun, waiting for his quest to continue. Subversion appeared beside him, midnight black hair fluttering behind her as if in a breeze. She wore a dress made from shadows, and her silver eyes seemed to glow with an ethereal light as she regarded the would-be wielder of a Plotblade. "Before you are two doors." She gestured, and a red brick wall appeared before God Killer, two identical wooden doors set within it. "Open one of them, and you will be attacked by a vicious and deadly monster. Behind one of them is another set of two doors the same as these. There are thirty sets of these doors you will have to pass through before reaching your final trial." She chuckled softly. "it would appear that your odds of reaching the final door without being attacked by a monster are less than one in a billion. Do you think you can defeat these odds, or will you turn back and give up on your quest?" @CoderDrag0n8

"Marvelous." Malevolence murmured. "My machinations meandered mightily-or failed outright-in my absence." He coughed. "I mean to say, you needn't worry about immediate danger to your position as the wielder of that Blade. However... I believe I could eventually be a threat to you. So, to solve this, I wish to come to a resolution with you."

Malevolence regarded the crown impassively. "So." He said. "You claimed it. Not surprising." Turning his gaze to Rebus's face, Malevolence smiled in an almost-confident manner. "As you know, I have been... absent." The smile became a grimace, then flickered back in an instant. "What has transpired while I was away? What deeds of evil did you accomplish to claim that Blade?"

In a crackle of lightning and a flash of light, Malevolence appeared. His eyes glittered with a new light. The light of understanding, the light of truth, the light of insanity. "Rebus." He said softly. "We must speak." @Dragonheir

Ch. 32., page 219 in the physical book, while she's talking to Xisis: Should be "for her to speak first", right?

"Of course. Except better." Cricket can't go back on his own without dying or at least risking death. But it's fine, I'll just have Omen pick him up again, angrily. Omen appeared in front of Cricket, taking the shape of a skeleton with lines of blood leaking from its empty eye sockets. "There you are. Take my hand and return at once, or I shall banish you from the Dreamsmith's presence for good." He turned to Tam and Bat. "Terribly sorry to interrupt. This fool here just... well, it is no matter. If the Dreamsmith had not insisted, I would have left him here ignorant."

Can't do that either. Interacting with the real world in any way risks him getting dragged deep into the World of Dreams, which would prevent him from doing the Dreamsmith thing at all.

Dreamsmith can't appear to Cricket. He's in the afterlife. That's why Omen has to be involved. And Omen would certainly be too indignant at Cricket leaving early to drag him back to the Dreamsmith. Although the Dreamsmith might be able to convince him to do so.

Bruh. He passed the trial. That's why the Dreamsmith convo was happening. Also I think you may have missed my last post. "Justifying my actions?" Nameless laughed. "Oh, that would be silly. I don't need to be in the narrative role of the hero in order to fix the Thread. Why would I bother with morality?" "So... do we have to go to him to get it?" "I see." A wave of power washed over Rebel, and he stood in the throne room among the ex-hunters. The king stared at him, crystal crown glowing with power. "I know your plan for this city. I will not be tempted by your Plotblade."

"Yeah." Moni sighed. "I'd be going on a traumatic quest one way or another. At least in Ragnorok, not too many Narrators are willing to get involved. They don't want to be trapped here." "That's because they're all idiots." Nameless strolled into view, waving at Moni and Perseus happily. "It's easy enough to make a clone of yourself, then send that clone into Ragnorok. No trapping of self involved. Hello again Moni. I see you're upset. Funny, how you call me a monster when the real Nameless is the one who hurt you so badly." I think we've completed our mission, so we should get out of this cursed place before we all die. "Do you see her?" The Dreamsmith laughed softly. "I think you may not understand your position. The trial was not what you think. Omen put you in an impossible position on purpose." "Huh. I thought I was being fairly one-dimensional, but I suppose everyone has their own opinions."

"Perhaps I must take up that role." Nameless stroked his chin. "There seems to be precious little place for me in any of the plots ongoing otherwise." "Nameless' medallion... didn't the Dreamsmith have that?" As he sat, Rebel felt a faint jolting sensation. Then, suddenly, he felt a presence watching him. You... I did not notice you before now. Who are you hiding from? The voice that spoke in his head carried a regal air, words echoing with power. "It's fine." Moni shrugged. "My Author... wants me to grow, I guess. So if you hadn't dragged me off on this quest, then he would have made someone else do it." -- The king looked at each of the hunters in turn. "Very well. I believe your story." The pressure in the room vanished in an instant, and he walked back to his throne and sat down. "I will not surrender my crown to anyone. It is a sacred artifact. Take that message back to your master, if you can get out before the rifts seal shut and trap you here." -- "Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself. I am the Dreamsmith." "Hm." Subversion exerted her will, commanding the Enuller to drop the shield and do a handstand. "Very well. I shall do so, in a bit." The voice laughed wryly. "Too busy now. Have to go somewhere."

The guard led Rebel to a pair of very large doors made from solid gold, where he had a quick whispered conversation with a pair of guards. He turned back to Rebel. "The king is busy at the moment, interrogating enemy spies of some sort. He'll be able to see you after that, however. Assuming nothing else comes up."

"Not if I fix things." Nameless' eyes glittered in a sinister way. "I do believe I could change the perspective of certain Narrators. Make them see things the... right way." Balitan nodded slowly. "Ah, I see." He glanced down at his notepad. "Although, it might help if you clarified a few points. This is a hypothetical hybrid power system? A creative magic system requiring balance between Order and Chaos?"

Wait, what's going on with the gods?

"Rebus is fine, as the new Narrators go. He seeks power worthy of him, and while he is involved in the plot he is in a villainous role, which is much healthier for the plot than acting as a protagonist." Nameless held up a finger. "However, neither he nor Tam nor you hold a candle to Bacon. That man is quite nearly a perfect Narrator. If all were like him, this Thread would be a better place." "No." Moni said softly. "I haven't been okay in... a long time." -- The king turned back to Simon. "Playing games? Is that what you think I do? My city is under attack, and you have information about the cause of the attack!" "He wants your treasures!" Jacob exclaimed. "Malevolence, our master. He sent us to deliver an ultimatum. Surrender the treasures of your kingdom, or be destroyed. We know nothing more than that, I swear!" The king spun on Jacob, glowing eyes narrowed. "You... speak the truth." -- A kindly voice spoke from behind Cricket. "I'm afraid Rebus can't reach you here. Not safely, at least. You'll have to wait before going on a quest to destroy Malevolence." Unintelligible took it, never taking his eyes off of Malevolence. The villain in question took a long sip of his tea. "Very well. I'll tell you what I can." He cleared his throat, then continued in a casual tone. "In the immediate future, I seek to claim a certain artefact of great power. A crown that grants one the power of a Narrator. I am doing so by laying siege to the city of the king that holds said crown, with the aid of my withergeist rabbits. They tear reality around the city. Soon it will be entirely surrounded by the void, isolated and alone. If there is no outside interference in the city, my conquest will be inevitable." He shrugged ruefully. "Although I doubt a lack of interference is very likely, especially since I'm telling you about this plan. Anyways, that's my short term plan. Longer term, I plan to find some way to control the withergeist rabbits. As of now, they help me only because they think I am useful and want me to stay alive. I've heard from certain sources that bonding a withergeist will allow me to control other withergeists, which is why I asked you about the process. However, you've confirmed that the process requires a willing withergeist, and the rabbits have proven reluctant to bond me. I think they do not wish to be controlled again." Malevolence took another sip of tea. "Long term, I want to claim the ultimate power of evil and become the greatest Antagonist this thread has ever seen. Is there anything else you wanted to know?"

Better. Got pneumonia, but I’m mostly over it.

With a crackle of lightning, about fifty pages of reading/skimming, and a dramatic burst of power, all of the characters of Nameless continued doing exactly what they had been doing before, with a few quick Authorial actions to counteract some unfortunate side effects of an extended absence. "I... was more hoping for an in-depth explanation of how this power works and what the basis of its existence is." -- The captain examined Rebel suspiciously. "Perhaps." He turned, waving for Rebel to follow. "Come on then. This is obviously too great a matter for one such as me to decide. I shall see if the king is not too busy to grant you an audience. If he is, one of his officials shall hear your... sales pitch." "Not necessarily." Nameless said, uncertain as to whether or not he still had an audience. "It could be demeaning to everything else. When written correctly Narrators are far too powerful to be directly involved in the Plot directly, at least not as a matter of course. It forces Plotlines to shift around them, either restricting their Narrative powers for no reason other than Plot, or forcing every character that opposes a Narrator to have a narrow subset of powers that makes them capable of standing up to the practically limitless powers of Narration." "Oh. This is going by much faster than I thought it would." Moni said briskly. "All right. So we sneak in, you... kill Surtur and his top cronies, then me, Kion, Faunus, and hopefully Palsu if he's alive can leave while you remain here to make certain no remnant forces come back in to terrorize Ragnorok?" She drooped, and the haunted look in her eyes that had been there ever since she'd seen the murder of the Faceless imitating her hadn't entirely gone away. -- "Oh for the love of-" Jacob said indignantly. "You know full well why we're here! I'll admit that these aren't ideal circumstances, but we hardly need to keep our purpose secret!" The king turned towards Jacob, and the Hunter froze, mouth moving soundlessly. "You're... rather intimidating." He finally managed to get out. -- Malevolence laughed, and the drones fired-and Cricket was torn from the vision. "Oh dear." Said a voice. "Omen won't like that. Don't worry. I'll help you out, since it is my fault this stalled so badly." "It appears this memory plotline has wrapped up, which is perfect timing. I'm going to seamlessly reinsert you into the trial, so that no one will know anything has changed. Actually, I might just change the timeline so that you never left the trial, and this memory thing as well as the meeting with Nemesis happen after the Trial's natural conclusion. Anyways, brace yourself (if you remember this) for re-insertion in 3, 2, 1... annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd go! The drones fired, slaughtering the prisoners. Spears of darkness lashed out towards Cricket, seeking his heart. Then everything froze. Omen appeared in front of Cricket as a foggy figure, swirling with anger. "By attacking recklessly, you have allowed Malevolence to slaughter the innocents. You have failed this trial." Author's note: This is unrelated to the removal from trial. Omen didn't notice that because of the Authorial interference. Unintelligible smiled at Sequence supportively, then returned to glaring at Malevolence. "Indeed we did." Malevolence said thoughtfully. "Thank you for you information. Now... you want to know my plans, goals, and aspirations? How much detail? Immediate plans, or more long-term too? I'll tell you whatever you want to know, although I would appreciate it if you kept details of my most secret plans to yourself." "Fine. Who's next?" Subversion surveyed the class. "Hopefully you're better at resisting than she was. Perhaps I should try manipulating multiple of you at once, simply to provide a better challenge." -- Somewhere far above in the Authorial planes beyond even Narrators (not literally, since this is still bolded, but shh. Don't tell them that.) "I think we should end the trial offscreen, or with a simple post." A voice said regretfully. "It has drawn on too long, and all momentum has stalled. I take full blame for this, as my absences and failure to push it forwards are what led to the loss of momentum. I was too busy, I suppose. The bane of all Authors." @xinoehp512

"Oh?" Balitan looked up. "What is it?" The captain snorted. "The power of our king is far greater than any technology you could give us." Moni came to a stop, reaching into her map. "I think we're far enough away that they won't be able to track us. Let's figure out where we are." Subversion suppressed a grin. "I suppose that's a fail." She turned to the teacher. "Should I continue, or let someone else have a turn?" The king turned his gaze onto Lane, leaving Simon to slump to the ground. "Malevolence? Who is this Malevolence, and what does he want with my kingdom?" Even as he voiced his confusion, Cricket felt the answers entering into his mind. Phantom memories filled his mind. Malevolence had taken over a kingdom with the aid of his rabbits, claiming an artifact of great power and using it to establish domination over a wide area of the Thread. Several groups had attempted to defeat him, and all who did so failed. Cricket had been part of one such attempt, leading a rebellion against Malevolence, but Malevolence had caught him and his followers in a trap, killing some, capturing others, and scattering the rest. Shortly after, Malevolence had issued an ultimatum. Every day that went by without Cricket turning himself in, he would execute one hundred innocent people. Malevolence laughed at Cricket. "You're right. I don't want to fight you. Accept your death or accept the deaths of these poor innocent people." He snapped his fingers, and a dozen combat drones popped up, taking aim at the gathered prisoners. "Well?" "Narrators entertain their Authors by telling stories. They shouldn't act like normal characters. At least not all the time. It demeans them." Malevolence nodded. "If you answer my questions, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about me and my plans."

NameIess nodded slightly. "Perhaps I do. But then again, you've hardly met me. Anyways, good luck getting betrayed by Rebus eventually." NameIess sighed heavily. "Don't worry, I don't hold it against you. It's the fault of your Author more than anything. Not making Narrators right. Honestly! You'd think they had no idea of the long traditions of Narrators in this thread." "You cannot fool me with your lies." The king looked directly at Simon, and a force threw him back against the far wall. "I ask again. Whom do you serve? That is all I wish to know. Tell me who sent you and why, and you may just live through this day." Malevolence noticed Cricket immediately, rising from his throne with a sneer. "Cricket! You've come at last. I knew you couldn't continue to refuse my invitation forever." He gestured to the line of prisoners awaiting execution. "Will you accept my terms? Your life in exchange for an end to the deaths?" "He might not be dead." Moni noted. "He seemed confident that he could meet up with us again." She hurried on, and their surroundings began to blur. In moments, the camp had vanished. "Do you know where your resistance army is from here? It helps if I know where I'm going." Nameless angrily interjected that the primary purpose of a Narrator was, in fact, telling a story.

"What the people of the Thread think does not matter. If anyone, it's the Author's opinions of me that matter. They can have a broader view than their characters" Nameless shrugged. "But as I said, I probably don't need Protagonist." Nameless cocked his head. "You really are more of a character than a Narrator." -- "Alright, I think they're distracted enough. Let's move." Moni stood up and started running towards the edge of camp, in the direction opposite of the way that Palsu had gone. @Dragonheir@LessName@TwinStorm

"Doesn't feel right? That makes so little sense to me. What's the point of being a Narrator if you don't create characters? To have all this power, and never use it for anything real?"

"I'm curious about the new generation of Narrators. Why don't you want to?"