Beyond The Impossible

Heaven

The luscious green field of grass is so perfect that it doesn’t even move in the gentle breeze.

Even when a portal connecting to a different portion of Heaven opens, the scenery remains absolutely perfect.

Gilgamesh stops to take a deep breath of the pristine air, waiting for everyone else to come through the portal until Roxiana closes it.

<Welcome to the Forest Of The Cedars, maidens and warriors. My humble corner of Heaven.> Gilgamesh introduces the place, gesturing towards the forest on the other side of the field.

<So this is your ideal world, uh? Any chance it could also include some pants?> Noriko Null tells him, since all that covers the hero’s privates is Torn’s trench coat tied around his waist.

<Are we safe in here?> Vesta asks, still holding tight to the old man that is Heaven’s recreation of her dead husband.

<Leiko should take some time before she can breach the barriers that separate different sectors of Heaven. But we should probably move out before the beast gets here.> Roxiana explains.

<“The beast”? That doesn’t sound promising.> Quantum comments.

Just before the ground is shaken by something running through the forest.

<No. It sounds like fun.> Gilgamesh says, smiling.

His words are almost inaudible thanks to the deafening roar of a monster emerging from the forest.

It’s a raging bull, an angry animal of immense size: its hoofs step on the forest’s cedar like they were nothing, and a gust of wind more powerful than a thunderstorm comes out of its nostrils.

<How is that fun!?> Kari exclaims.

<That is the Bull of Heaven. I have fond memories of slaying it with my good old friend Enkidu, back in the day; now I get to do it all over again every single day!> Gilgamesh exclaims excitedly, especially now that the bull is running straight towards the visitors.

<Have at thee, monster!> he shouts, ready to run into battle… and then only managing to take a couple of steps before red glowing swords cut though the animal’s tendons, and the Bull falls to the ground in immediate defeat.

Following that, a scythe made of pitch-black Ichor decapitates the beast, drenching the whole pristine field of grass with hundreds of gallons of bull blood.

<What did you do!?> Gilgamesh complains.

<It was attacking us.> Torn defends himself, moving out of a pentagram-shaped portal next to him.

<I was going to slay the monster! You don’t steal another man’s trophy like that!>

Torn raises an eyebrow, not really understanding the hero’s point, as his father Reaper emerges from a hexagon-shaped portal wielding his Ichor scythe.

<We don’t have time for games. We should proceed to our target, now.>

<As much as I don’t like agreeing with a Demon Nazi, he’s right. We’re supposed to find the Tablet Of Destinies; where should we go to find it?> Noriko Null asks.

<Why, the Tavern of course.> Gilgamesh answers.

<I’m being serious. I get this is your fantasy world, but there’s no time to…>

<He’s right, you know. The Forest Of The Cedars and the Tavern are all there is around here; feel free to scout the place if you want.> Roxiana agrees.

<That’s not a bad idea, actually. Vesta?> Noriko says, gesturing towards the sky.

<On it.> Vesta agrees, leaving her husband to take flight.

She flies into the sky, expecting to reach orbit and have a look at what kind of world this is… but she quickly realizes that the sky goes on forever: there’s no outer space here.

In fact, looking down she can see the world is a flat disk. There’s a river in the middle, but everything else is just a couple hundred kilometers of cedar forests and empty fields of grass.

She dejectedly returns to the ground, where she’s forced to admit to Noriko:

<They’re right. This world is completely empty, except for just one small building near the forest.>

<Better move on then. Who’s ready for a drink?> Gilgamesh asks.

 

The Tavern

The visitors emerge from a pentagram portal to find themselves in front of a very old little building.

Old in the sense that it’s been built with mud bricks in the Sumerian style, but also in the sense that it seems to have weathered an eternity.

A sign written in Ancient Sumerian has been hammered into the wooden door, and it reads “We are always open”.

<I’d love to say this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s not even the weirdest I’ve seen today.> Noriko has to admit.

<Come my friends, this is the place where I go every day after slaying the Bull Of Heaven. This is where your journey towards absolute knowledge begins!> Gilgamesh boasts, leading the party inside the building.

Which is definitely more interesting than the outside. Not only it’s visibly much bigger than it should be, but it’s also very crowded.

A bunch of scantily clad women of various humanoid races immediately swarm around Gilgamesh.

<Who are all these people?> Noriko wonders.

<Ignore them, they’re just entertainment. My apologies ladies, but I have no time for fun today.> the hero tries to excuse himself, but it’s easier said than done.

The crowd pushes the others away; Noriko in particular is pulled aside by someone. She’s about to punch the person when she recognizes that grey face as belonging to a particular Lar.

<Hello, successor. Fancy meeting you here.> Teraph greets her.

<Teraph? What are you… I thought you couldn’t be solid in Heaven.> Noriko says, recalling her encounter with the ghost of the previous Nexus host from her own part of Heaven.

<Not in your dream. But I’ve physically been in this tavern before, when I was alive: my psychic impression is much stronger in here. Come, I have to introduce you to the bartender!>

<Teraph, I don’t think this is the time for…>

<You want to talk to the highest power in Heaven? Let’s have a drink.>

Teraph drags her up to the counter, where a bunch of Sumerians are merrily drinking their sorrows.

There’s a woman at the counter, a beautiful Ur woman with shining bronze skin and a generous cleavage. As she turns towards them, Noriko is surprised to see she has no face.

And yet she’s still able to talk, delivering two glasses and a cup in front of them.

<Here you are. Enochian bourbon for Teraph, Kelpian wine for Roxiana, and triple shot of espresso for Null. You will be satisfied, yes?>

<How… how do you know what I like to drink?> Noriko wonders, suspicious of the whole thing.

<Some presentations are in order. Noriko, this is Siduri, the tavern’s alewife and…> Teraph introduces her, but the strange bronze woman cuts him off.

<Siduri is the name Gilgames gave me. I have no name, yes? He could not comprehend being in the presence of an ambassador of the Celestial Empire. But you three are heirs to the Usurpers, yes? Then you will be able to understand.>

<I’m not so sure about that anymore.> Noriko admits, taking the opportunity to take her espresso.

<You are the current Nexus of the Usurpers, Noriko Null, Daughter of Bob, Slayer of Vermin, yes?>

<Slayer of Gods, actually.>

<Vermin, yes. You want another drink, yes?>

<Listen, Siduri or whatever your name is, we’re kind of in a rush here. Heaven is destabilizing, and unless we find the Tablet Of Destinies it will all be destroyed. Do you know anything about that?>

<An Usurper is being resurrected, yes? They will not breach the Tavern. The door will stay closed. But the Tablet? The other heir asked for it. You may see it but not touch it, yes?>

<Alright, I give up. What the heck is she talking about!?> Noriko asks her predecessors.

<Siduri can be frustrating, believe me, I know. I spent millennia in Heaven with her, before I decided to go back to reality. Her speech pattern didn’t get any less annoying.> Teraph says.

<And you call yourself a Nexus host? I discovered more things about her and this place in a few days than you did in an eternity.> Roxiana boasts, pausing to take her drink.

Then she turns to face Noriko and look her in the eye as she explains:

<Siduri is the only being in Heaven who has been here longer than Gilgamesh. I haven’t figured out what she is, not exactly, but she’s not a goddess. She’s something more ancient.>

<She’s the only being I could entrust guarding the Tablet.> Gilgamesh explains, finally reaching the counter after fighting his way out of his adoring fans.

<We talked for eons and yet she hasn’t revealed all her secrets to me. But I know this: her people, whatever they are, fought the Drylon at the beginning of time.>

<The Genesis War. Winner takes the universe, yes? But the Usurpers were too clever.> Siduri says.

<The “Usurpers”… the Drylon. Did they die in that war?> Noriko asks.

<No. We could not defeat the Usurpers. They stole the universe from us, yes? But even the Usurpers were not able to destroy us. Only exile us. Lock us out of their realm.>

<“Sealing the edge of the universe”.> Noriko says, echoing a sentence she has heard far too many times to count. The Drylon’s last warning.

Siduri continues her story, cleaning the counter with a rag as she talks.

<We still exist in the Celestial Galaxy. No way to leave, sealed forever on the other side of the Eternity Wall. But the Usurpers still could not comprehend ending a war without winning it. They created Heaven to communicate with us; it’s the only access point to the Celestial Galaxy from the universe. They wanted to convince us to admit defeat and acknowledge them as our masters.>

<And now they’re all dead.> Noriko comments.

<Their visits grew in rarity. And then one day they stopped coming to talk, yes? Not sure why. I stayed here waiting for them. It was my duty. But nobody came until Gilgamesh found me, yes?>

<I was the first one to come here for five billion years, thanks to Teraph’s technology. I brought the Tablet Of Destinies here so that nobody could ever find it again: this is supposed to be the most impregnable place in existence.> Gilgamesh explains.

<And the best possible lead to the greatest mystery in history: what happened to the Drylon. If it’s a question that can ever be answered, Siduri is the best lead.> Roxiana excitedly adds.

<She’s barely intelligible, so that’s not a great start. But none of this will actually matter unless we use the Tablet to stop Heaven from self-destructing!> Noriko reminds them.

<That will not happen. The Tablet cannot save you, yes?> Siduri adds.

<Why not? I was told it had the power to do so!>

<Yes, it does. But you will not be able to use it, even if you are an heir to the Usurpers.>

<I’m assuming that with “heir” you mean “Nexus host”. But I’ve unlocked plenty of Drylon devices before, this one won’t be any different.> Noriko boasts.

<Well… not exactly. We’re talking about something fundamentally different from all other Drylon technology you’ve ever encountered.> Teraph adds.

<The Tablet Of Destinies was created to give supreme authority over the universe to the Drylon: it’s more secure than anything. The Tablet can only be used by a Drylon.> Gilgamesh explains.

<Now you tell me!?> Noriko shouts.

<We managed to use it against Kronos because Zeus found a Drylon Seed for us… a sample of their genetic code. But I destroyed all the Seeds left in Heaven, and there are no more left. Or there were, until…> Gilgamesh continues, interrupted by Noriko.

<…the one in the Vial, which has now infected my mother. Would that be enough to unlock the Tablet?> she asks.

<Conceivably, yes. But the Seed we used had yet to corrupt a host: since it lacked an active mind, we were able to trick the Tablet to answer our commands. But now…> Teraph realizes.

<You’re saying that the only chance we have to prevent the destruction of both Heaven and the Galaxy… is to give the most powerful weapon in the universe TO MY MOTHER?> Noriko asks.

Teraph, Roxiana and Gilgamesh respond with a blank stare.

<Forget coffee. I need a much stronger drink now.> Noriko sighs.