章 52: V2 Chapter 1 The Nexus
"Well then...isn't this place interesting..." A strange creature muttered in a female voice as she glanced at her rather bizarre looking surroundings.
The creature in question looked like a shrunken down version of a Xenomorph Queen that stood about three feet tall. Honestly though, the creature was rather cute, in fact it kind of looked like a somewhat realistic plushie in a way. Despite its rather cute appearance the creature in question was still extremely deadly to say the least. Its sharp bladed tail could easily be used to cut through flesh and muscle, its inner jaw was quite capable of puncturing through skull and bone alike, and that's not even mentioning its extraordinarily corrosive acidic blood that can break apart metal like water flowing through tissue paper.
Of course this wasn't the beings true size, however few people in the area actually knew that, in fact the creature's true form was much closer to six meters then it's current compact appearance. Anyway, despite the entity's lethal capabilities and its acidic blood there was still something off, the creature seemed both weary and very confused as it scanned its surroundings over and over again.
If you hadn't figured this out by now, the chibi version of a Xenomorph Queen was clearly me, and boy, had I found myself in one weird ass place. (So this is the so-called Nexus I'm guessing...)
After figuring out how to use my new Minimize Gift and leaving Goldy behind in that clockwork realm of his, I had found myself here, on top of a massive and somewhat futuristic looking ziggurat. A ziggurat that towered over most of the surrounding area, a fact that gave me one hell of a view to say the least. In front of me was a constantly warping and seemingly infinite city, if you could actually call this fucking mess a city anyway.
There were skyscrapers stacked on top of each other one after the other, sci-fi looking Towers that rose up into the air right next to medieval castles that were seemingly made up of completely random materials. What looked like massive chunks of various landscapes and environments were just floating through the air along with various clouds, most of which I hesitated to even call clouds, I mean seriously, one of them was made up of eyes and teeth while another was just...well...a ball of screaming grass. There was even a bloody volcano erupting of in the distance for fuck sakes, a volcano that was spitting out boiling chocolate and massive flaming marshmallows instead of lava and smoke. And that's just what I was currently capable of seeing, after all the seemingly endless mess just kept going and going further than the eye could see.
It was as if someone with way to much enthusiasm and way to many drugs had taken different parts of various world's and smash them all together into a sea of what the fuck! What's more was that the whole place was constantly shifting and changing as entire buildings just disappeared out of nowhere only to be replaced by something completely different. Even the fucking sky and weather was a mess, I mean seriously, it was stunningly beautiful in one area off to my right while the region just next door was currently dealing with blood red skies as well as molten metal pouring down from above.
(At least I'm not the only one confused here.) I muttered internally as I looked around at the hundreds, if not thousands, of other beings that looked just as confused as I was, a large amount of which weren't actually human from what I could tell.
A lot of them were freaking the fuck out however, not that I actually blamed them for that but still. Some were screaming and babbling in various languages I didn't understand, some were laughing to themselves like lunatics while others were yelling at those around them to just stay the hell away. In fact there was one guy in medieval armour that was shouting something about demons and god, all the while he was attempting to attack some kind of balrog like thing that was honestly just trying to calm the guy down from what I could tell.
(I'm just glad that I didn't end up like that guy...or at least I think it's a guy anyway...) I muttered looking as I glanced at the blob of skinless flesh that was covered in screaming male faces.
(Still though, it's nice not having Goldy constantly yapping and commenting inside my head every five seconds.) I hummed somewhat happily, however that happiness was quickly soured by my current surroundings.
As I continued to think to myself however, something floated up next to me. "Excuse me miss?"
Turning around, I noticed that the slightly mechanical voice had come from a multi-coloured ball of light that was currently hovering several feet off of the ground and left a slight trail behind itself as it moved. Actually though, it wasn't the only one of its kind, in fact there were dozens upon dozens of them. Each one was seemingly manifesting out of thin air just above the ziggurat and shot downwards, each of them heading towards a different person that was currently present.
"Yes?"
"Welcome to the Nexus, Miss Carmen." I was about to ask how exactly it knew my name but quickly stopped myself, after all if Goldy could read my memories with ease why couldn't these things do the same. "I am Helper 3488652145 of the Caretaker Division 53512, would you be so kind as to come with me."
"To where exactly?" I asked with a tilt of my head.
"I will be guiding you to your Mentor who currently is waiting below for your arrival." It hummed in an overly enthusiastic tone
(Goldy did mention something about this before I got transported here.) I thought with a slight shrug.
"Alright, lead the way I guess."
"Thank you for your quick response, please follow me."
With that however, my new little buddy began to float along as I followed behind them at a steady pace. Eventually they ended up leading me towards a stairway which led down to the ground below, a place where I could already see a large crowd of various entities of different sizes and shapes beginning to form. I wasn't the only one making my way down either, most of the apparent newcomers were still freaking the hell out but some were also beginning to head down along with me.
"By the way, what exactly are you?" I asked once we had reached the bottom of the absurdly long stairway.
"I, and those like me, are called Helpers, it is our job to assist the residents of the Nexus when we are needed. Additionally we also help manage the various establishments that you may find throughout the Nexus." They hummed as they bobbed through the air.
"Are there only helpers or are there other things like you lot out there?" I asked with some genuine interest.
"There are, quite a few in fact." It answered happily. "Helpers are only one of several different types of Caretakers, each type has a different job and function to carry out within the overall working of the Nexus as well as the various outputs scattered throughout the territory of Chaos."
"Good to know I guess." I mused in thought.
However though, I was quickly pulled back to reality a moment later. "Anyway, we're here!"
"What are you on abou-oh..."
I hadn't even realized it but we had come to a stop in front of something, a figure, a figure that was over twelve meters tall despite the fact that it was currently sitting cross-legged on the ground. Said figure just so happened to be a massive bear-like thing that was seemingly made out of molten mercury. It had no mouth, however its body was covered in glowing eyes, each of which were filled with far too many glowing white pupils of various shapes and sizes. Additionally it was incredibly muscular with bone-like plates covering parts of its body, these armoured plates seemed to shift and move ever so slightly as they seemingly floated on top of the creature's liquefied form.
The thing that actually took me by surprise however was not the being itself, no, it was the fact that this massive monstrous bear made of liquid metal was currently holding a cardboard sign with the words "Don't be afraid, I'm actually a big softie" written on it in bright colours. The sign itself looked as big as my body but in their hands looked no bigger than a post-it note. Honestly the completely serious and slightly grumpy look on the bear's face only added to the somewhat comical scene.
(I know I should feel intimidated but...but that's just adorable.)
"I have brought to you your charge, good sir." The massive bear-like creature simply huffed while responding in a language that I didn't understand at all, it sounded rather guttural and was made up of various growls and grunts.
For a moment I was worried we wouldn't be able to communicate at all, at least that was until they turned to me and spoke in a low rumbling male voice that had a slight accent, an accent that I couldn't exactly place the origins of. "So...you're the new brat that I gotta take in this time?"
"I suppose." I hummed somewhat awkwardly.
He didn't seem bothered by my standoffishness, in fact there was a slight hint of what I guessed to be understanding and pity in his eyes. "What do you go by kid?"
"Carmen."
"No last name?" He asked with a curious gaze.
"None that I use anymore." I mused while suppressing a certain memory that I currently couldn't be bothered dwelling over. "And you are?"
"My actual name isn't something that can be said in your tongue, so just call me Decker, for now anyway, after all everyone else I know does." He mused with a shrug of his broad shoulders.
With introductions out of the way I still had one thing I wanted to know. "And...errm...what exactly is with the sign you're holding?"
"A friend of mine thought that it would make me more approachable." He explained with a rather annoyed look on his face that seemingly wasn't directed at me.
(I have a feeling that this "friend" and I would get along great.) I chuckled internally.
"Very good." The Helper suddenly spoke up catching my attention. "I'm glad to see you're both getting along."
"Thanks for guiding me here I guess." I muttered, not knowing what else to say.
"You're welcome!" It squeaked happily, only to then go completely silent a moment later.
The atmosphere began to grow more awkward as the silence continued, at least until the Helper spoke up once more. "Anyway..." It hummed while hovering in place above the ground. "Now that you have been delivered to your Mentor I can finally die, yay!"
"Wait...what?!" Was all that I managed to get out before the little guy seemed to implode in on itself before vanishing completely.
"Oh shit!" I yelped not at all expecting that. "Did...did it just kill itself?" I asked while turning to look at Decker with a shocked expression.
"Yeah...they tend to do that..."
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