Author's Note:
Bonus Chapter for Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!
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POV Rio
"Sigh. Let's hope it works this time," I say to myself.
I clear my throat and speak into the camera.
"This is Rio with Mirror model 14. The last model succeeded in connecting to a world but was deemed too dangerous to allow to exist and was reset. Dimensional Coordinates have been altered to hopefully obtain the correct world," I say to the camera.
'Just don't send me to Warhammer... again.'
The last mirror had connected to the Warhammer 40k universe; however, I wasn't in that universe for more than a few seconds before I was instantly killed as an invasion from Khorne happened at the exact same time. I wasn't that upset, as it sent me back to before I turned on the mirror, so nothing was risked. The tech I could obtain was somewhat interesting, but ultimately not worth the risk to this world.
The mirror powers on, and I take a deep breath before walking through it. After being turned into rubber for a few uncomfortable seconds, I appeared on the other side, and at first, it seemed normal. It was night, and I was in a field of green grass.
'This seems... normal. What's the catch?'
However, all that changed as the sun started to rise, and I heard the distinct sound of baby laughter. I turned to look at the sunrise, and my jaw went slack.
'Oh no.'
I then noticed a hill nearby, and several eldritch abominations jumped out from the top of the hill and started running towards me.
'Oh h*ll nawww!'
I pull out the super nuke and set it off immediately.
BOOOOOOOM
I wake up back in my bed and run towards the mirror to start redoing the equations immediately, while also adding the Teletubbies Coordinates to the forbidden coordinates section.
"Sigh. Well... On to model 15," I say with a tired sigh.
Several Days Later...
"Okay, I think I got it. Model 19 is the one. I hope," I say with a heavy dose of denial.
I power on the mirror and walk in. The usual feelings fade, and I am dropped into a seemingly normal place. But with the last several examples, I was extremely paranoid. I had been sent to all sorts of just awful universes. Warhammer, Teletubbies, Mickey Mouse, Molag Bal's Home, YouTube Kids, and the last world, which was the worst by far. A world where everything is French. That may not sound that bad, but when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Even the sounds were French. The ground, the air, and even the damn molecules that make up the universe were French.
I take out a portable microscope and make sure I wasn't in some weird reality, but thankfully, I wasn't.
'Whew. Nothing weird with the molecules. So now let's see if there are any sentient suns.'
I look at the sky and see a normal sun. This decreased the likelihood of anything other than a standard planet. The inhabitants could still be truly horrifying, but I would hopefully have less to worry about. This left only a few explorations to be done.
I choose to go north. I knew I was going North because North is whatever direction you are facing. As I was heading North, I heard something I hadn't heard in a long time.
Click Click Click
The Geiger Counter on my Pip-Boy goes off, indicating radiation.
'That... Could be a good sign.'
I followed the radiation and found signs of a battle.
'Hmm, let's get a view from above.'
I fly up, and I quickly realise that I was near a nuked city. I had cast an invisibility spell, so I decided to explore a bit more to see if I had managed to find my way home. I was trying to connect to the satellite I knew should still be in orbit, but I couldn't get a signal. I also couldn't pick up any of the signals from the Deep Range Transmitters I had set up. If I were in the USA, which was more likely than not, I should have been able to get a signal.
'Hmm, well, it seems I am close, but this isn't where I was looking for. Let's go back and see if I can alter the coordinates a bit. I might get a more accurate location.'
I leave the new world I found and shut off the power source. Then I start thinking about what I could change to alter the destination.
'Hmm, maybe I could try altering the...'
My thoughts were cut off as I heard something that didn't make sense. The hum of an active portal. I turned around and saw that the portal was still open.
"I swore I shut it down," I say while moving over to the generator and Sigil Stone.
I unplug everything and even store it, but that doesn't shut down the portal.
'What? How?'
I first checked to see if the portal was a danger to anyone, and when I found that the portal wasn't overloading but insanely stable, I was even more perplexed.
'This should be impossible. The only way it could stay active without my intervention would be one of three options. Either this happens to be the exact window that the portal would be active. Someone is forcing the portal open from the other side, which requires immense magical knowledge and power. Or lastly it's... the world that is keeping it open.'
All the options were ridiculous, with only the first option being even slightly feasible. The second option would require a lot of power, and even then, you would need at least some way to interface with the portal. I would know, as it was exactly what I was trying to do to get home. The way I was doing it was basically hijacking a destroyed mirror or the original mirror to return to my world. The last option was only possible if the world had some form of consciousness, which takes a long time and requires a strong presence of mana.
'The second option should be very easy to check for. The third has some of the features that make it at least theoretically possible, but that would indicate the world needs my help for something.'
I run the calculations and even enter the portal to see if I can determine the source of the anomaly. I also built a base around the mirror to prevent any locals from interfering, not that I was certain if there were any locals in the first place. I mean, they likely existed at one point, as evidenced by the destroyed cities. Cities don't usually just grow out of the ground without some sentient creators.
The second theory was easy enough to dismiss; the amount of power needed would be easy to track with divination magic. And if they tried to ward against that, then they would have to ward against the massive energy trail such a spell would leave. We're talking the energy to power the entire needs of humanity in the year 2000. You can't hide that much magic easily. And if they are just that good, then I can't stop them anyway.
The first theory took a bit more investigating, but I was able to determine that it shouldn't be the case. If it were, then I should be able to disable the mirror using the neutralisation spell. And while I have my qualms with Star Swirl, he was quite good at this kind of thing after the last mirror he messed with almost caused the merging of both worlds. But since that spell didn't work that strongly suggests it isn't the first theory.
'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.'
"Ugh. Great," I complain.
The reason the last theory was annoying was that I couldn't close the mirror until I either find out what the planet wants me to do, I destroy the world, or it runs out of energy. The first option is a pain in the rear, as there is no easy way to tell what the world wants. You can try and commune with it, but if the world consciousness is weak, then you will get at best vague directions. Or at worst, nonsense. The second is not much easier, as I don't want to waste my only Super Nuke. Lastly, the third option is unlikely as the world generally has immense energy reserves.
"I guess I have one other option," I say while pulling out a bomb.
'But do I really want to kill myself for this?'
Dying is really not pleasant, and I save it as a last resort or when it is absolutely needed. Like with the Teletubbies, that was a case where I did not want to leave the chance that it could bleed into the FNAF Verse. It was the same with the other universes. Strictly speaking, this wasn't that bad. At worst, I can just ignore this world and let the mirror run while I create a massive base protecting the mirror. Making a new mirror was never the issue; it was powering it and getting the coordinates correct. Power is resolved for now, and since the mirror is self-sufficient, I don't really have to deal with it.
I could also technically destroy the mirror, but that is seldom a good idea. Especially with an active portal. Things could get messy real fast.
'Sigh. There is also the fact that the world is only doing this because it needs help. And this is a pretty desperate method.'
I rub my face and give a long and annoyed sigh. Not even completely focused on the mirror, but instead on myself. As I knew, I couldn't just ignore this, and I felt the need to at least try and help.
"Fine! You win this time, Mirror. I'll try, but no promises," I say with a fake, annoyed tone.
It was at this point that I got a quest.
[Plamsel In Distress
The Spirit of an Entire World has called for aid. You have accepted this great task.
Tasks: Resolve the issue the world needs help with. ]
After getting the new quest, I spent more time exploring this new world to try and determine what I might need to do. I also took this chance to collect the radiation. It was while doing this that I got a faint sense of satisfaction from the planet.
'Hmm, maybe the planet just wants me to help it clean up?'
While exploring, I had found several instances of pollution and generally unpleasant remnants of humanity. And thinking from a planet's perspective, this could be seen as a form of infection or poison.
'Or maybe it's a blemish? I guess it doesn't matter. If the planet gave that vague feeling, then perhaps I can try and commune with it.'
After some thought, I figured it was worth a shot. The results were... not the greatest. The consciousness of this world was not that developed, so I got some vague guidance on what it wanted me to do. And it was what I already sort of guessed. Clean up pollution. Radiation. Anything that could harm the planet in the future, like old factories or Nuclear Power Plants. The last one seemed to suggest I needed to remove something else, but it was way too blurry to understand.
With a clear goal in mind, I brought over all the help I could get and started cleaning up the planet. With several hundred assistants and the technology to do it efficiently, we quickly made a lot of progress. We also used this chance to gather any materials we could. The inhabitants didn't need them anyway. So cities were turned into scrap, and it also allowed me to improve several devices I had previously invented. Water Purifiers that focus on cleaning the water and less bottling. Honestly, the hardest part was the pollution. It was more often than not so messy that only magic could clean it up. Which meant I was the main person to deal with that kind of stuff.
It was during one of these clean-ups that I noticed something odd. I was currently in the Patagonian Desert in Argentina, cleaning up a massive dumping ground for chemical byproducts, when I noticed signs of recent habitation. It was odd, as we had yet to find any humans on the other continents we had been cleaning up.
'Hmm, they seem to be about 4 days old. I guess I should investigate to see if we can figure out what happened on this Earth.'
The world was really odd. It was clear that they nuked themselves into oblivion, but that seemed to happen very recently. And yet there were no humans left. Or at least none have been found yet. Some cities and forests were levelled with no clear explanation as to how. Unless you assume that some ridiculously powerful individual did it. But if that was the case, I would anticipate sensing them in one way or another. So far, we haven't even found an intact city. The closest we found was a mostly destroyed village in Siberia. We even found a mountain or two that was obliterated. Not a good sign, but I guess I might get my answers soon.
I followed the tracks for several miles until suddenly they changed into paw prints. The trail then disappeared. That is, unless you can track it via smell or have the senses of a Witcher. The trail led through several ruins that had clear signs of looting, and I even found a few tracks belonging to humans again.
'The beast was spotted. The humans pursued.'
I stop and pick out a bullet casing.
'7.62. But no blood. Seems the beast escaped unharmed.'
I stop again as I find hair. It was several strands of various shades of grey.
I found the signs of a fairly intense firefight. The humans seemed dead set on killing the beast. I also found several broken arrows and darts. Then I found something a bit worrying.
'Blood. Human. Smells like a lot, but there are hardly any signs of it soaking into the soil. And half of the humans stayed behind.'
I sensed signs of butchery.
'Cannibals. They even took the blood. Of course, the first group I find are cannibals. But is the beast related?'
I was not sure which trail to follow. All my clones were busy, so I had to choose one or the other. After some thought, I chose to follow the beast. It had a higher chance of being friendly when compared to cannibals.
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Author's Note:
Don't worry, it won't take Rio that long to resolve this world's issues. It should only take another chapter, and Rio will be back home. Until next time, Ciao.