RinoZ
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TDYK (The devil you know) The Demesne .3
🕑 Added 2019-11-26 07:03:23 +0000 UTCRepost this one since I edited it.
For those who don't know, I post little bits and pieces of other stories that I tinker with. The devil you know is one such, and it should be searchable here on patreon. Or on Royal Road where I posted it after I leaked it by mistake... >.<
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Theo ignored his chair for the moment and turned to the other half of the screen that held a model of his realm. When he reached for it he found that the model was too small for him to touch the finer details. He considered the issue before he decided to try something.
He withdrew his hands and pushed two fingers towards the menu, close together. Then, when he felt they should be close enough, he slowly drew them apart, as he would on a tablet computer. To his shock, it actually worked! The size of the model responded to the distance between his fingers and he was able to zoom in close enough that he could see the individual stones on the ground.
He also noticed that the overall size of the 'ring' that was the outer limit of the menu enlarged to accommodate the increased size of the model. He tested for a moment and it didn't seem as if there was a limit. If he drew his hands far enough back, the model expanded to overlap his entire realm, such that the model and the real thing existed overtop each other.
He brought it back to a more manageable size quickly, worried that he might be charged AU for flame expenditure or energy drain. When he reached out to touch the flame model this time, he found that he wasn't able to add anything to it, but he was able to change what was there.
At the moment the rock beneath his feet was roughly a metre thick and formed the square shaped island which encompassed his, and Bbl's, entire world. When he used this function of the menu he was able to reshape and change that material, so long as the size of his realm didn't grow or shrink.
That gave him a thought. He exited that menu and went back to the main screen where he selected the 'expand territory' option again. Once in the screen he attempted to shrink the size of his demesne but found he was unable to. It seemed that once he enlarged his territory he would be stuck with the result.
He pushed that thought to one side and returned to the second menu option. He decided he didn't need to make anything right now but there was something about his current realm he could fix. He resized the realm model so he could interact with the loose rocks that made up the ground beneath his feet and attempted to change them to smooth stone.
When he combined his gestures with clear thinking of his objective, the process became smoother and he decided to add some flair by including a lined tile pattern cut with groove into the black stone, each line a metre apart.
When he was finished he looked closely at the model to admire his work and happily paid the 1 AU cost required to enact the change.
Much like before, he noticed the change through his feet before anything else. The stone seemed to melt together to form a smooth surface in moments.
Bbl scuttled about as the stone beneath his legs shifted.
"Fuck! Warn me next time!" he shouted.
Theo felt that was fair.
"Alright I will. What do you think?" he asked.
"Of what?"
"The changes I've made!"
The small crab rotated on the spot a few times to look in each direction.
"You changed the shape from a circle to a square and you made the ground smooth."
Theo nodded and smiled.
"… That's it?" Bbl asked.
Theo was silent for a moment. He felt it was much better than before. He was only experimenting with the system anyway. He explained his thoughts to his advisor but the crab just scoffed.
"You can literally make anything you can imagine using AU and the realm stone. All you want to do is make squares! Lots and lots of squares!"
"Well, what was the first thing you did when you were a Demiurge?!" Theo demanded.
"Made a palace" the crab said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Theo pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to fight of the headache he felt build the longer he spoke to Bbl. The idea that he would spend a huge amount of his loaned finances on something as needless as a palace, right at the beginning of his tenure, was so irresponsible and stupid that it nearly made Theo physically ill there and then.
He took a few deep breaths and reminded himself that Bbl was a failed Demiurge for a reason. Perhaps he should question the crab more closely so that he could learn what not to do. He might be able to extract some value from his advisor that way.
Satisfied with the first two menu options, Theo turned his attention to the third. Before he opened the market he turned to Bbl and tried to get some information before he dove in.
"So, what can you tell me about the marketplace?"
"Ah, the marketplace. Got your eyes on it huh? Essentially it allows Demiurge from all across the Chaos to trade without having to actually go to the trouble of meeting each other, which is difficult in a place called the Endless Chaos. It also leads to far less wars since it's possible to buy what you want, rather than having to fight for it."
Theo was confused.
"Trade what? You said yourself just a moment ago that you can create whatever you want from AU using the realm stone. What do they have to trade?"
"Heaps of things soft-brain! Mostly, souls and information but there are other things that you probably can't access yet."
"Souls?"
"Right. Like, there's no point swapping around ordinary souls but if there's someone special you wanted to get your hands on, they're going to be down here somewhere."
Theo just stared at the crab.
"Got an ex-wife?" Bbl asked.
"What?! I don't even know! Shut up!" Theo spluttered.
Bbl shrugged.
"Other than that, Demiurges can loan each other servants for a price, sell artefacts, assistance in conflict, mediation, broker deals, pretty much anything."
"But my access will be restricted, right?"
"Right. Besides that you have hardly any currency to work with so there isn't going to be much you can afford. I wouldn't waste any time or money on it, to be frank."
Theo nodded slowly as he considered the crab's words. Since Bbl said it was a waste of time, then it was very important he took a good look at it. He waved his hand over the option in the menu and in a matter of seconds was confronted with a list of items that filled his screen like a spreadsheet.
He grasped with his fingers to try and scroll up and down the list and found that he could, but after a solid minute of scrolling he hadn't found the end of it.
"So many listings!" he exclaimed out loud.
"Obviously, you mush pile! There are Billions of Demiurges within our marketplace zone. There's going to be Trillions of listings in there. Some domains make more AU from the market than they do from souls!"
Theo latched onto something that Bbl said.
"Wait. What do you mean, our marketplace zone. Isn't the marketplace connected to every domain?"
The crab waved its hands in exasperation.
"Of course not! The Endless Chaos is ENDLESS. Infinite universes, infinite souls, infinite domains, infinite Demiurge. Trying to manage an infinite system is difficult, so the Administration breaks the chaos into regions. I've heard that domains of a certain size are able to access the markets of surrounding regions as well but, I, uh, never got that far."
If one tried to imagine a limitless hell it was just too difficult a concept to wrap your head around. Theo had to imagine that if the multiverse contained an unlimited number of universes, then at a bare minimum the Endless Chaos had to be of a size similar to his own universe, which has stupidly large already. And throughout that space were domains, just like his, trillions of them. No, more than that, much more. Quadrillion? Quintillion? Sextillion?
The sheer scale of it boggled his mind, far too much for one person to grasp.
Theo shook it off.
Focus on the issue in front of you. Nobody said you had to grasp the nature of reality in your head today. Push it to one side.
Theo refocused on the marketplace menu. There had to be a way for him to filter this list. He searched the space and found several icons in the top right corner. He tried to determine what they might represent but after he thought about for a few minutes he gave up and waved his hand over the first one.
The list went blank immediately. He stared at the blank screen.
He waved his hand again.
Nothing.
Had he wiped it clean? Was it a 'clear' function?
Or maybe this was what he was after!
He waved his hand again and thought 'Information'.
Bam! The menu was once again filled with listings. When he inspected the details on each one he was able to see that each of them pertained to information in some way.
Bingo!
He waved again and this time tried to narrow his search down.
Information for new Demiurge costing less than 90 AU.
Again the list was repopulated according to his criteria but there were still thousands of listings. Theo sighed and selected the first one so he could inspect it.
The title of the entry was "Arrak's guide to new Demiurge". When he poked it, the entry expanded and he was able to read a broader description.
It read: "Are you a new Demiurge in the Endless Chaos? Confused? In need of advice and guidance? Look no further than Arrak's guide to new Demiurge! This guide will put you on the fast road to success. Power, influence and longevity are just one purchase away! For the low price of just 10 AU, you can secure your future. Who knows? Perhaps the next Tzuramon will be you!"
What the hell is this garbage? Theo thought to himself.
He moved onto the next entry, and the next, and the next and each one was the same lame pitch, as if they were selling penis enlargement services rather than critical information that might save an individual from torment.
Theo sensed he was starting to be frustrated and took a moment to calm himself. He should have expected this, he should have known that 99% of the entries on the market were going to be trolls or scams. It was like that on every market on Earth and now that he was in literal hell with devils, it only made sense it would the same or worse.
But from the moment Bbl had told him that information was sold on the marketplace, he'd wanted this. His mind churned due to the sheer number of unknowns and intangibles in his current circumstances. He felt a deep unease and his mind itched at the idea that he didn't know what was coming next. Training of some sort? He was on probation? What was out there?
He had Bbl as an advisor, sure, but he didn't trust the crab. From his own admission Bbl was a failure of a Demiurge, who had been re-trained by the Administration. How reliable was he? Not to mention that information that comes from only one source and isn't verified can't be trusted by default. Theo's instincts were screaming at him to find more sources to try and understand where he was, and what was going to happen to him next and the only place he thought he might get that is through this market.
What to do then? There was no way he could ensure that he wouldn't get scammed, no matter how convincing an entry in the market listing was, there was no way for him to know that it would actually deliver what it said it would, and Theo didn't even bother to ask Bbl if he could get a refund. The Endless Chaos wasn't built that way.
Theo leant back and massaged the bridge of his nose. It was all trash. Without any way to verify the contents of what he was purchasing, he would be forced to buy on blind faith. That was something that Theo was not prepared to do. Frustrated, he swiped at the screen with one hand, closing it, and turned his back on the realm stone.
The market was a dud, quite possibly a trap. When he thought about it rationally, it didn't make sense for such a function to exist at all if there weren't a way to make a valuable transaction. He could only infer that perhaps such functions were locked to him for the time being. Perhaps later, when he had repaid his loan, or completed his training, there would be new functions for him to use in the market that would make it usable. For now, he refused to gamble.
He wouldn't gamble.
That left him with few options. His greatest need was information, but he had limited sources. In fact, right now, he only had one. Theo didn't trust Bbl. The crab was incompetent, a failure of a demiurge. To make matters worse, he acknowledged no fault of his own in the downfall of his realm, which meant he had learned nothing from the experience. The crustacean advisor was further tainted by his relationship with the administration.
Theo had only come into contact once with the strange organisation that controlled the Endless Chaos, but he was far from confident they held his best interests in high esteem. Adelaide had been business like, but cold. Almost as if they didn't care whether he succeeded or failed in his new role.
Theo cared. A lot!
"That was disappointing," he muttered.
Bbl waved a nonchalant claw.
"Of course it was. Other Demiurge exist only for you to devour in glorious warfare, so that you may seize their souls and consume their land to enlarge your own realm. There's no point trying to trade with them."
"And how did that work out for you?" Theo asked flatly.
"I was betrayed! And unlucky! If I hadn't been backstabbed then my rise to the top would have been inevitable!"
Passion and rage burned in the eyes of the crab as he gesticulated wildly with his claws. Bbl appeared to still have trouble accepting his new role. Theo sighed and sat down, face to face with his crabby advisor.
"Since your my only source of information, we're going to have to go through this."
"Of course! You couldn't hope for better direction that what you'll get from me! The great Bbl! The Endless Chaos hasn't seen a star burn so bright in a million years!"
"… but you failed."
"I fail at nothing!"
Except everything you've ever done in your entire existence… Theo kept his criticism on the inside. He wouldn't allow the crustacean to fail at being an advisor, since that entailed an ending he didn't care to envision.
Theo settled himself steadied his breathing and squared his shoulders. He reached up to settle the glasses before he remembered he didn't have any.
"Alright then, advisor. Let's go through this from the beginning. So. Where is this?"
"… where is what?"
Theo waved a hand at the swirling chaos around them.
"This."
"The Endless Chaos?"
"Right."
"…. Right what?" The crab exclaimed, frustrated.
"Explain that."
"Oh my chaos." Realisation slowly dawned in the eyes on top of the small stalks that extruded from his shell. "You want me to explain… Everything?!"
Theo nodded, his face set in a polite but serious expression.
"At least twice."
Just when he was about to give up, he found something that intrigued him, a simple entry, short and written in straightforward language.
The title of the listing read: Advice for new Demiurge. He could see in the details of the listing it had been made by "Lorrel", and the description read: Take it or leave it. The price was 50 AU.
It was one of the highest prices he'd seen for information of this kind. For whatever reason he felt inclined to believe this listing was genuine. The person who'd listed it clearly didn't care to try and persuade people it was genuine, rather, he felt they had put the price on it they thought was fair and literally said 'take it or leave it'.
Of course, it could still be worthless, but Theo was desperate.
He waved his hand and confirmed the purchase.
He and Bbl both leapt back as flame manifested in the air between Theo and the menu. The fire twisted itself into a shape and faded to leave behind a small book, almost a pamphlet, that Theo snatched out of the air as it began to fall.
"What the heck is that? You bought something? What a waste!" Bbl cried.
The advisor scuttled about as he tried to get a glimpse of what his employer had purchased but he was too short to see that high. He sighed and clacked his claws in frustration. How far he'd fallen. With just a little bit of luck he'd have been a king, a god! The multiverse itself was against him, he thought, full of resentment. He couldn't understand how this useless sack of flesh was in any way worthy of the same opportunity that had been given to him.
Oblivious to the feelings of his crab assistant, Theo opened the pamphlet and began to read, the slight curve upwards at the corner of his mouth the only indication of his mood.
Comments
RinoZ
The start of it was posted ages ago. You can search it here or on royal road. I put up other stories here from time to time.
Shiro Fuun
No idea what this is
