Daily Short: Matt 18

ACT NaN-X-6-1/12

Matt was bored. He’d managed to get months displayed on the ACT link, but that was it. The races in the world below had shifted drastically toward the Dark. Humanity had retreated into a massive mega-kingdom centered around the Light pillar. It was hard to survive without a World Core, but humans were ingenious. Various factions had learned to draw on the Elemental Planes. Depending on how they managed to perfect the art, it could be a dead end or a new beginning.

Likely the humans here don’t understand that the more they pull on the Elements for power, the less human they become. Matt thought, watching another petty war erupt on the surface below. Elements are some of the oldest and best at taking a long view.

On the other hand, a person dying of cold didn’t care where the flame came from. Watching the battles was entertainment while Matt waited for Jeeves to return. Traveling through the Abyss was nothing like his own methods. There were all sorts of distractions that could occur.

If he doesn’t return within another decade, I’ll take the more annoying method of reincarnating. Matt thought, watching the Vampire tribes begin to take control of large portions of the surface. He focused on a Summoning that finally produced a good result. Oh? An Elder? She has a nice rack, that’s for sure.

The Dark-aligned races had clearly realized they were lured to a dead planet. Usually, that would be disheartening, but Matt knew better than most how perfect it was for them all. Even as he watched, the Vampire Elder began carving a massive ritual across the planet's surface. The benefits of being the strongest were evident, as all non-vampiric races assisted the working. As the first race with an Elder on the earth, the Vampires didn’t have to negotiate. It would last until another race gained an Elder. Once that happened, the two races would negotiate out something. Only drastic differences or hatred could cause that process to halt.

That would be why the Vampire Elder traded benefits instead of killing any who defied them. Matt thought with amusement. She has a rather logical and farsighted view.

Work was swift, and less than five years passed before the entire planet was enveloped in the ritual. Matt watched with deep satisfaction at the runes carved in blood-red ruby light. After finishing the final step, the Vampire Elder enacted the entire affair.

Dark ruby light sliced through his shadow-cloud form, attaching to the moon and drifting around the doomed world. Massive gravitational suction pulled the celestial body down, targeting the planet below. The attack was targeted to strike the center where the pillar of Light existed. As the moon fell, the Light pushed back against it attempting to halt the massive attack. Matt snickered as the true purpose became apparent.

The Vampire Elder wasn’t an idiot, far from it. She had positioned the ritual’s focal point to take advantage of the Light. In a perfect prediction of the enemy’s methods, the moon started to shine with golden light. The entire moon turned into an imaginary image with runes of Light woven onto the surface.

Checkmate. Matt thought, watching the show. No way to resist such a massive rock falling unless you cheat entirely.

The light could have melted a hole, but that wouldn’t do much. Slicing it in half would be even worse. So, instead, it moved to a third option, transmutation. Normal transmutation would produce variable effects that could be even more horrific. Due to that, there was only a single viable option left.

The creation of a new World Core.

It would burn a large portion of the Light, but it would also allow rules to be bound into the world. Such laws would limit most of the Dark races from expanding, at least at first. Vampires were among the few races that would slip the noose, though. Their curses of Immortality, Hunger, and Thirst meant that putting further restrictions on them was expensive.

They could become immune to sunlight, physical attacks, or any number of other nasty tricks. Compensation can take so many forms. Matt watched with a grin as the Light ignored the Vampire race. Whoever was in charge on the other side knew the stakes. Better the devil, you know, than the demon you don’t. Convenient application of intelligence.