Fethrin - The Void Paradox

==I - The Oasis - Kibou==
Kibou arrives in the Void Paradox
Kibou Shinrei was not what most people would consider especially normal. At least not by his standards of normal. Having your entire world, all of your friends and family, everything, wiped clean from the slate of existence and being thrown into the void for god knows how long would do that to you. Then again, he wasn't the best judge. He had been unusual for as long as he could remember. He had partial amnesia, and had no idea what his life has been like before 7th Grade. And at school, everyone was mindless, saying the same things, asking the same questions. The one week repeated for infinity. It was like they were robots, programmed to do exactly the same thing over and over again. Sometimes it felt like he was the only one with free will. Apart from her of course. He had only talked to her once or twice his entire life, but she seemed oddly familiar. And then everything had gone downhill. He had watched as his world crumbled around him, his friends turning to dust and his parents being wiped from reality. Even the world was falling apart, shattering at it's very seams. And it was all her fault. And then, she had looked at him, a smile that still gave him nightmares stretching across her face, and she vanished. And then the ground beneath him gave way, and it all went black.
He drifted in that everlasting blackness for what seemed like centuries, though no-one except the gods themselves could have known how long it truly was. It was like the universe has eaten him for breakfast, let him digest halfway then spat him right back out, physically unchanged but mentally scarred. Well, he wasn't entirely unchanged. A mark of what had been, a mark that would never let him forget what he had been through, was present on his arm. It was small and inconspicous, but it was there all the same. A scratch on his shoulder that never healed. And by never healed, that means never healed. His school uniform was torn and dirty, but it didn't matter. He didn't want to remember, so he tossed it into the abyss shortly after he obtained new clothes in the oasis. That was what he called the strange place he had been taken to, a small bubble of life drifting through the endless void. It was a paradox that something so full of creation could exist in between the great mess of anti-matter he had been in since she destroyed his world. When he fell from above, passing through the bubble as a result of luck, as he stood, his eyes weeped as the sun burnt them, so bright compared to his prison.
Yet although it was as bright as day, outside of the bubble was black, the type of black that will suck you in and mesmerize you if you look into it for too long, the type of black that murderers see when they close their eyes. His footsteps rang out against the pavement as he leisurely strolled, taking in the green of the grass and the gray of the great mountains ahead of him. He scaled the path up the alpine behemoths, and soon discovered that he was not alone in this strange haven. People of all sorts, from normal humans to aliens so bizarre his mind could barely comprehend them, relaxed in the coffee shop at the mountain's peak, and as he looked down upon the verdant valley below him, he saw even more denziens going about their lives, seemingly used to this new world that he didn't know in the slightest. He made his way over to the elevator and took the glass box down, taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling marketplace below. The lift touched down and he ran outward, rushing through the exotic marketplace, filled with travellers bringing wares from all corners of the realm, their voidships docked in the air at a large tower that loomed above the rest of the area.
Well, most of the area at least. There was another building, twice the size of the tower, an ornate castle carved from basalt, red hot lava streaming down it's sides into pools at the foot of the chateau. It was eleven stories tall, and as wide as the mountain it stood behind. Completely contrary to it's imposing exterior, Kibou noticed a sign outside, which in bright red letters read "OPEN FOR BUSINESS". He wondered what business could possibly go on inside that terrifying place for a second, and his mind immediately went to some of the shadier parts of Destiny's Double Lunatic College. Shuddering, he turned his attention away from the dark building and to another one, a grey complex held up by four pillars containing a sickly green substance. Now this was more his style. Science had been his forte back at school and he knew a few things about Chemistry. Tragically, he saw that the large blast door was shut, and it didn't look like it would be opening any time soon. The final building in the valley was simply a small brick room with strange symbols carved around the door. Gripped by curiosity, Kibou peeked inside the building and saw a hatch on the tiled floor, flickering in and out of his plane of reality. Interesting. However, Kibou was not in the mood to be taken to a different layer of existence, so he quickly exited the room and went up to a random person on the street.
"Excuse me, but could you tell me where I could stay for the night?"
"The hotel over there's always open"
The person walked away, obviously confused by Kibou's lack of knowledge. He sighed and made his way over to the dark building, which was apparently a hotel. He reluctantly pushed open the great obsidian doors, being careful to mind the spikes, and walked up to the reception desk. Sitting there was a squat red figure, with eyes that not only looked like buttons, but seemed indeed to be buttons. It had two red wings stitched to it's back, and looked morbidly obese. It barely spared a glance at him then tossed a large obsidian key, which hit him square on the forehead. Grimacing in pain, Kibou grabbed the key and made his way to the stairs. In his hand, it morphed into a keycard and read room 207. Making his way up to the second floor, he navigated to the seventh room and entered, balking at the somewhat unorthodox scenery. It was very badly lit, and had a black and purple colour scheme, with a skull aesthetic. A shiver made it's way down Kibou's spine and he decided to find himself some new clothes. As if responding to his thoughts, new clothes appeared in front of him, similar to what he was already wearing but without the signature traces of his terrible past. He stowed the old schoolwear away in his cabinet and promised to himself that he would never look at them again.
Checking the grotesque clock, Kibou realized that it was only midday. Taking his wallet off the dresser and ignoring the small book labelled the Fethrinomicon, he walked back out of the building and went to explore the marketplace. He looked around, seeing everything from congealed blood to nanites to dragon hide. Glancing to one side, he saw a unicorn sleeping in a cage and next to it a bundle of spaceship parts. People were shouting out their wares, and the sensory overload was muddling Kibou;s mind. In a semi-trance state, he walked over to a counter and purchased a packet of "Pyropuffs". Surprisingly, his currency was accepted in this strange universe, which was somewhat peculiar. He opened the Pyropuffs and ate a handful, only to find that they were incredibly spicy, and his mouth felt like it was on fire. He ran over to another stand and bought some "Uber Water" to wash the taste out, only to burp from the fizzy substance, sending a jet of flame outward. Kibou jumped back in shock, only to see that nobody had took note, and were just going on their way. Holding his Pyropuffs and his Uber Water, he stumbled over to a bench and sat down, groaning. It had been a long day.
And of course, things just had to go wrong. The man Kibou had bought the Uber Water from had realized that he actually just gave him a rubber band and some paperclips, and was running towards him at breakneck speed. Grabbing his food, Kibou began to run, ducking through stands and dodging past customers. He clambered up onto the top of a stall and jumped over to the laboratory, clinging onto one of the pipes that crisscrossed the building's exterior. Scaling the unstable tube, he looked down to see the man, a fat piglike humanoid with two rabbit ears, shouting at two people dressed in modern-looking armour and pointing upward. One of the guards looked up at him and he saw it's automaton face. Fear consumed him and he dropped down onto the balcony, only to see two more robots standing outside. They looked at him and gave chase. Not looking, Kibou slammed straight into a retinal scanner. He could see it's flashing light in his eye and couldn't believe his ears when a female robotic voice said
"Authorization successful"
The doors in front of him opened and the guards stopped moving. Kibou barreled inside and crashed into a stand holding several vials of contrasting colour. A tall boy who looked slightly older than he was looked at him judgementally.
"You should probably be more grateful. The automatons would have ripped you to shreds if I didn't stop them. My name is Niko, and this is the Lab Of Science"
"Uh, hi"
Niko chuckled and led Kibou inside. His brown hair was slightly darker than Kibou's, and his eyes were a deep purple colour. A long white cape that was torn and tattered hung from his shoulders, and an oversized shirt with a strange yellow symbol was what he wore. He looked like he had just been punched, and a bit of blood was coming out of his nose. The schoolboy frowned. Something didn't seem entirely stable about Niko's presence in this reality. After following Niko for a while, Kibou ended up in a chamber with a large holographic projection of Earth in the center.
"Kibou, right? I let you in here because your energy signature matches that of an Earth that was recently destroyed"
"...what"
It was all coming back to him, the memories, the bad dreams, her, all the stuff he had locked away in the nothing, everything. Kibou screamed and promptly fell flat on the floor, cliche flashbacks ensuing.
it was cold, Kibou noted. Very cold. He wouldn't have noticed it normally, it was cold all the time, but this was a different cold. The kind of coldness that comes when you know your worst enemy is right around the corner. The coldness that gives demons nightmares. Chills coursed their way down his spine and he watched as the trees behind him folded in on themselves and out of existence. He held the crowbar tightly, having taken it from the supply closet to deal with well, the threat. He had known this was what he had to do after he watched his parents turn to dust and his friends dissapear one by one. He could hear her humming to herself, her little nightmare song. He approached and struck with the crowbar in one motion, only for it to dissapear in his hands before it hit her. She turned, her unnerving face staring straight into her eyes, her skin rotting away at a rapid rate. She smiled.
"I know everything, Kibou"
She chuckled and dissapeared, then everything went black
Kibou woke with a start. He was lying in a small bed in a grey room. Groaning, he stood up. His head ached. He couldn't quite remember where he was. A figure with purple eyes and a torn cape, who looked quite familiar, walked in. Kibou tried to speak but found his throat dry and all that came out was a croak. The figure, who he now recognized as Niko, smiled at him.
"I've been doing some research, and I might know a way to get your home back...."
----
The idea seemed out there, for sure. Definitely very farfetched. But what fascinated Kibou so much was the total strangeness of these so-called 10 items. He listened patiently as Niko recounted the ten - The Nunchaku Of Reality, The Waraxe Of Wrath, The Dagger Of Deceit, The Flask Of Fear, The Scythe Of Sorrows, The Helm Of Hate, The Pike Of Pain, The Graph Of Greed, The Diary Of Darkness and the Drug Of Destruction. Each had their own magical properties, but when all 10 were combined they granted a wish to the user. And luckily, Niko had already gotten half of them - the Waraxe, the Dagger, the Pike, the Graph and the Diary. He led Kibou down the steps to a chamber where a strange purple field was contained within a steel shell. Niko stepped inside and Kibou followed.
The moment after the duo stepped on, they were warped to a small stone vault with five pillars erected inside it, each with a strange artifact placed on top. The first, a great purple axe with an ornate handle more gruesome than Kibou's room. The second, a small yet deadly dagger made of a sickly green metal. Then, a black handled pike with a blood red head. Second to last, a golden graph that showed some sort of currency's value. And finally a shabby diary that gave off an aura of pure evil.
"They're named after The Nine you see, some of the most evil beings in the universe, except for the Nunchaku, which, well, nobody knows why it's named what it's named."
"Ok....?"
He looked over the items one last time, then back at Niko.
"Where are the other five?"
"That's the problem, I have no way to find out. I'd need god-level scanning power to figure it out, someone who could scan between universes."
"...oh"
There was no point them. Kibou grimly made his way back to the teleporter and into the lab once again. He checked his phone. It was somewhat different, more futuristic. That was strange. What was even stranger though was the fact that he was getting reception here in literally the middle of nowhere. It was 5:30. He groaned. He must have been out for ages. Slowly making his way down to the two blast doors, he strolled back to the chateau and went to relax in his room. He flipped between channels on the archaic TV for a bit, before deciding on one named News Of The Void. And, with the obnoxious reporter shouting about how some god was an idiot, he fell to sleep, for the first time in a long while. As he dreamt, he had no dreams, and for the first time in years, he finally felt safe.
That was definitely not the right thing to feel. Because little did he know, something big was coming to this Void Paradox, and it would tip the scales of the entire Fethrin multiverse askew.
==2 - The Scales - Kibou==
Some new people end up in this strange oasis
Kibou had been in The Void Paradox for around six months at this point. One fateful day, he found himself strolling through the marketplace, inspecting the various wares for sale. He noticed, peculiarly, an android standing next to the apple salesman.
"Would ya like an apple mate?"
-{apple /ˈap(ə)l/Submit noun noun: apple; plural noun: apples; noun: apple tree; plural noun: apple trees 1. the round fruit of a tree of the rose family, which typically has thin green or red skin and crisp flesh. used in names of unrelated fruits or other plant growths that resemble apples in some way, e.g. custard apple, oak apple. 2. the tree bearing apples, with hard pale timber that is used in carpentry and to smoke food.}-
"So does that mean ya want one?"
Absolutely horrified, Kibou watched as a chainsaw extended from the robot and cut straight through the apple vendor, who promptly toppled over, sliced clean in half. A second android cocked it's head curiously, and began to scan the area
==Credits==
*Kibou and Niko belong to Llamarian Creations
*IRA-IS belongs to Cyan Thunder, who should get a wikia account already
==Gallery==
Kibou.png|Kibou
Her.png|Her
Niko.png|Niko
i-i.png|i-i
IRA-IS.png|IRA-IS
Category:Stories
Category:Excelsior1
Category:Llamarian Creations