#Devaux Detemyr

[oxytoxic-skeletonin]

The End of a Multiverse(...?)

Synopsis The end is nigh, the cosmos is going to be collapsed, and there was not a damn thing they could do about it. But perhaps, even if everything is destroyed, something might survive.

Even if this is an awful end, it feels nice to write about and for characters I created and loved for many years of my life.

CW; Badly written combat, a literal war, copious amounts of body horror (Iktatra's not the sole one to blame this time!), descriptions of immense gore, and a lot of major character death.

-

This was bad. Eviveru knew that things were looking bleak. Even as he watched Kittara's fist shatter through the skull of that bitch. Nevaerys Merathalae, servant of Xul Mekuriz, Eld of madness and destruction.

Her laughter echoed from her broken jaw, and the mouths of that thing she kept in her body. It's tendrils roping backwards to pull Nevaerys from her assailant. "I'll let you all on in on a little secret~!" The insane look in the blue haired woman's eyes didn't fade for a moment. Her mouth twisted into an expression of glee. "The barrier that protected your cosmos is gone~! We've won this battle, before you even gathered your pathetic forces!" Kittara snarled, glaring her singular eye onto her. "We'll not fall without a fight." the Korathin woman called out, charging ahead once more to attack the thing that once was human. The amount of people they gathered to fend off the servants of Xul Mekuriz was paltry compared to the strange energy Eviveru could feel in the air, ebbing from all around them.

-

Arethinel's blade clashed against Wylli'vyrr's rapiers, the elven mage struggling beneath the fallen paladin's might.

"Aheheheh, I could rrrREALLY use a hand here, guys!!" Wylli'vyrr yelped. "I have gifted Humankind, and Mankind alone with the glory that is MY creation! Filthy creatures such as yourself, do not belong in MY world." Arethinel hissed, the mad paladin leaning down to drive the blade closer to Wylli'vyrr's head.

His efforts to harm the elf interrupted by bullets pelting the side of his face, tearing through his cheeks. "EY. Don't go touchin' Kitt's man, ya fuckin' asshole!" Meara called out, weaving through the battle between undead forces and eld-serving bastards as she continued firing at Arethinel with her guns.

-

"E... Eviveru... Something's wrong..." Okka'lier stammered out, a cold shiver ran down the Esyrrlian elf's spine. He backed lose to Eviveru as they stood back to observe the mayhem. "Yeah, I know..." Eviveru grit his teeth, swinging his hand outwards to cast out minor bolts of electricity at the forces that got too close to the back line. Most of them shrugging off the blow.

That wasn't the part they had to worry about. Evi grew a wicked smirk, as he quickly called down a powerful bolt of electricity to strike himself. Feeling electricity course through his body was always euphoric. Directing the flow of electricity towards one target and casting it out at the forces that drew ever closer.

He watched with the glee that he only felt as he felt that electricity flood into the body of his target, frying them from within, before scattering in chains to the prior foes he marked.

The sizzle as it tore through every foe between each mark was the only good thing in what was happening.

-

Speakers crackled to life on the Magitech mouse's head. Ornax mustered as much of his courage up that he could. Raising his thumb to his mouth and activating the microphone held within. "COME ON, EVERYBODY!!! LET'S GIVE THESE JERKS THE SHOW OF A LIFETIME!!" Ornax called out, the speakers of his ears amplifying his voice like a loudspeaker. The Robomouse pulled a song list up on his HUD. "IT'S NOT OUR CURTAIN CALL, NOR IS IT OUR SWAN SONG." Play an invigorating file with drums of war, drop in some techno beats, and spin some tunes. "I MAY BE TONIGHT'S DJ, BUT I AM NOT ABOUT TO BE A DEAD MAUS, AND WE ARE NOT GONNA BOW TO THESE GUYS!!!"

A wide grin on his face, as Ornax cupped a hand over the side of his head and nodded along to the music he mixed. Letting the magic he manipulated in his body flow out with his songs.

Ornax grinned more as he watched how the beat, how the music pumped up his allies, how he could tell that the magic was imbuing his allies with the inner strength that he lacked.

He hoped Mom and Dad would be proud of him. Standing against the end of everything.

"LET'S GIVE THEM A PERFORMANCE THEY'LL NEVER FORGET!"

- "Hah, knew tonight was missing somethin'." Karlos grinned, the pauldrons affixed to his shoulders sparking with his magic. Letting every thread he could latch on to anything around him.

Each of his 'adopted' hands holding weapons of various makes as he danced through the battlefield.

Karlos laughed like a maniac, while he cut down undead and cultist alike.

Heh, 'picking up' extra hands as he lobbed off limbs of his foes. Never got old watching people freak the fuck out when they saw their own hands or arms coming to life under his control.

Limbs, weapons, even the sands beneath his feet. They all were something he could use against this army of absolute fuck clowns.

He could take 'em, he could take ALL of 'em. And he would happily take it all from them. After all, these bastards were quite literally trying to take everything from everyone.

A lucky blow landed on one of Karlos' hands close to his body, cleanly cutting it in half.

.... That hand. That was...

"You FUCKER, that was the ONLY one that worked with smart phones!!"

Every hand with a gun tracked onto his assailant, an orcish cultist, and opened fire.

Swiss cheese, like the jackass deserved!

God damn it. That was the one bad thing about losing his original ones to those jackasses in the labs.

"HOW THE SHIT AM I SUPPOSED TO MAKE PHONE CALLS NOW?!"

-

"LARCENERS! Status report!"

Devaux called out, using levitation to stay above the madness below.

They weren't heroes, they were thieves.

The Lavender Larceners were meant to procure artifacts of terrible power, to keep them hidden from those that would abuse them.

It was agony to put his crew, his family against this threat.

But desperate times required desperate measures. It even called upon them to distribute some of these artifacts to their allies.

"SA, We're 'oldin' the line, but nawt by much!!" he heard Estoran call out. Anxiety clear in his voice, which only made Devaux more worried.

The only thing that gave him comfort was seeing Otto's 'magnum opus' of his close, the "Giant mecha" as Haruki had called it, to where he heard Estoran's voice from.

Haruki wasn't hard to listen for, he could hear the Shuri twin laughing as he weaved through the battle.

"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta-- Oh ew, definitely don't kiss me!" Haruki made a sound of disgust, Devaux could imagine the sneer of disgust on the mouse's snout. A toppling sound. "Haru, you'd be lucky if you got kissed tonight." Fumeiyo, his sister, sneered as she yanked her blade out of the spine of her mark.

Devaux smiled, at least the two of them could still find it in them to banter. That meant that they weren't completely in despair at the circumstances.

"HEY!!! I COULD get a kiss tonight if I wanted to!" Haruki yelped back.

Fumeiyo chuckled. "Well, might as well get it tonight. From the sounds of it, if it's not tonight, it's never."

Haruki gave pause as he just stared at his twin.

".... CHEEEEEEEEEEERYYYYYYYYYYYYYYL!" Haruki yelled out. He swiftly dodged another foe. "YEAH???" Cheryl responded from a distance, her voice still as chipper as ever. "THE UNIVERSE IS ENDING, CAN I GET A KISS???" Haruki yelled out again. His sister made short work of the foes that had their attention on him.

"OKAY~!!!" Cheryl said, cleaving her claws through another undead troop's armor like butter. "COOL!!!" Haruki responded. Fumeiyo looked at Haruki with amusement. "CHERYL. THINK YOU CAN MAKE THAT A DOUBLE ORDER?" Fumeiyo called out. "YUP YUP! WILL DO~!" Cheryl made another swing. Her arm was caught. "Oh no, oh no, no no no n--" Her bloodcurdling scream resounded through the battlefield, as she felt it torn clean off. "Cheryl!"

Devaux wasted no time, quickly flying towards the sound of her scream. Quickly conjuring an array of shadowbolts to strike the goliath of a cultist holding Cheryl's torn off arm. "FUCK FUCK FUCK-- CHERYL!!! OH FUCK DID I JYNX IT?!" Devaux could hear Haruki's voice growing closer and closer, the Shuri Twins were likely on their way to lend backup.

"Don't, you, DARE, touch, MY, CREW!" Devaux roared out, casting a ball of antimatter at the cultist before they could raise their weapon at him.

It was painful to watch, seeing someone, anyone, implode inwards as their own armor compacted inwards in noisy fashion.

But he was not going to overlook such a transgression.

Cheryl whimpered on the ground. Trying to hamper over towards her removed arm. Haruki scampered to her side, checking over her. "CHERYL, Are you okay?!" Fumeiyo followed suit, she swiftly yanked her lavender scarf off and wrapped it around the remaining stub of Cheryl's right arm.

"B-Boss... D-Do you think Otto can get it back on...? L-Like, usable..??" Cheryl sniffled.

Devaux sighed, his whiskers twitching. "We'll have to get you to him as soon as possible."

He wasn't going to risk Cheryl bleeding out, and while her bones couldn't break, her flesh could still tear.

"LARCENERS. FALL BACK!!" Devaux called out. Hoping the others would hear him amidst the chaos.

-

"ORUNA'AJA. WHAT'S THE CHANCES OF US MAKING IT OUT OF THIS ALIVE?" Eviveru called out towards the seer. Oruna'aja, Seer of Jyll'Nybbek, Eld of knowledge. The Xelyrr woman's eyes on her head only ever opened when she'd look into the future. The eyes that covered various parts of her body served fine to let her see the world around her.

"I am sorry, Eviveru. The future is... Gone. For all of us, we will not survive this."

Okka'lier shivered, a look of horror dawning on the young elf's face.

"I thought you said before that MY stupid ass would outlive even the stars." Eviveru growled out. He hated this.

It would have been fine if it was just him that got to experience an eternal death. More than fine, it's what he'd always wanted.

But for everyone else around him, good people, who had a reason, and a drive to live... It was fucked up beyond belief.

"You... You're correct." Oruna'aja perked up, as if having an epiphany. She turned her head towards Eviveru and opened her eyes. Looking at the pastel rainbow lights held within her eyes was always unnerving as shit.

"There... Is no future. For any of us... You... Have a future."

-

So much bloodshed, so much organic material to consume strewn about, so much genetic material to utilize.

Iktatra weaved through battle as though it were a dance, the tendrils from her body lashed out and rend through countless, poor, brainwashed fools.

It was disappointing, were she to have obtained the godhood she desired, perhaps there might have been some hope for these people.

Still, the majority of them tasted so rotten.

It's entirely likely they still would have died to her.

After all, the sweetest fruit is the most ripe and decayed.

A smile on her face, as she consumed every bit of genetic material that touched her cells.

So much new information to analyze, so many new people to mimic, so many new powers for which to call upon.

A battlefield truly was a doppelganger's buffet.

A tall armored man roared out as he charged for her, sword drawn.

Awh. It was cute.

A smile of adoration on her face as she saw him raise his weapon.

A look that didn't fade, as his blade tore through her shoulder, it's momentum stopping in her chest.

She stared at him, her smile widening as he tried to pull it from her, and found it wouldn't budge.

"Awwwh, that wasn't nice dawwring. If I had a heart, you would've cleaved it in half." Iktatra pouted.

It was delightful to watch the man grow pale and that look of fear bloom upon his face.

"My turn~."

It was always so fun to make her created body make sickening pops and tears, as she split it in half. Revealing rows upon rows of teeth, tongues, and eyes.

Gasps of terror as a would-be predator became a meal were always such beautiful sounds.

The moment the man's body flinched to flee, it was too late. The many tongues lashed out and wrapped onto the man, harshly pulling him in to her fleshy iron maiden. His scream lasted but a moment, as she closed her body, she could hear the beautiful pops of his bones and armor as they were crushed inward.

Mortals of flesh and blood were much like those treats that Meara loved... Squishers, was it? Sweet candies that popped as you bit down.

Come to think of it. Where was her darling Meara in this mess?

- "GOD, FUCKING. DAMN IT. That's FUCKING BULLSHIT!!" Eviveru growled out, feeling the electricity coursing off of himself in his anger. Oruna'aja sighed. "Though you wish only to darken death's door with your presence... It shall never come for you... As I told you before, civilizations will crumble, kings and emperors shall fall, gods themselves will be forgotten and--" "And planets shall die and stars will fade out yadda yadda yadda, the thing is that I'm going to be STUCK with the fact that out of EVERYONE here, I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO'S GOING TO SURVIVE THIS." Eviveru roared out, seething with rage.

Okka'lier shivered, Eviveru could feel the elf doing his best to use his magic to soothe Evi's temper. "I'm... I'm h-happy... I'm happy you'll at least be okay"

Eviveru looked down, seeing the lavender doe eyes looking up at him.

"Evi... You... Won't forget about me, right?"

"... Okka'lier... If I could make it be you that'd survive instead, I would... You deserve it far more than I do...." "I-It's okay... If you remember me, then... W-Well, I'll always be with you." Okka'lier smiled, through the tears that were prickling his eyes.

God damn it.

-

Maddened laughter echoed out upon the battlefield, as it was clear something had changed in the air.

"THE ELEVENTH HOUR IS UPON US~!!" Nevaerys called out.

Kittara disarmed a nearby soldier, using his blade to block an incoming sword. Her hand crushing the disarmed soldier's throat with ease.

She couldn't use a weapon, they always broke with the force she swung them with. But they could be used to parry.

Nevaerys was an elusive opponent, she hid herself behind what poor souls they controlled, living and dead.

Kittara caught glimpse of sickly tendrils firing forth from that woman, she swung her arm to throw the blade towards them.

She hit her mark, lack of depth perception be damned.

But many more seemed to grapple onto their mark, and yank back.

Kittara watched Arethinel hastily pulled towards Nevaerys.

"Come, Arethinel! Xul'Mekuriz still has need of us~."

They're... Retreating?

No...

"Savor your dwindling last moments, for this world shall be reborn anew, and I, SHALL BE IT'S ONE, TRUE, GOD." Arethinel called out.

He.. Always called that out, whenever he failed against them.

Nevaerys wasted no time in opening a portal in the air. And pulled Arethinel in with her.

No. They left far too hastily...

Kittara's hackles raised, she could feel it, the darkness encroaching far faster than it had any right to.

Wylli'Vyrr... She had to find Wylli'vyrr!

-

"Eviveru, I understand.. It is upsetting... I foresee nothing but darkness for so long... I had lost hope, but then I saw it..." Oruna'aja recollected, her brow furrowing.

God damn it, did they have any time for being--

"SPIT IT OUT." Eviveru snarled.

"She does."

Eviveru stared at Oruna'aja in disbelief.

"... what."

"A woman. She spits out your hand. Your hand exists. She is overcome with fear, and flees. But your hand exists. And from the rest of it, you follow after..." Oruna'aja explained. Eviveru sneered, that sounded like the typical seer bullshit. Sometimes he wondered if Seers were just high off their asses most the time.

"Eviveru. We may not be able to save our cosmos... But we... Nay. You can warn another. We were unprepared for the foe we face... Warn them of Perniciem. Prepare them for what they may face." Oruna'aja's voice was dire.

Electricity sparked off of Eviveru as he grew increasingly irate.

"The fuck-- You mean you're asking me to be a MESSENGER BO--"

Okka'lier's scream of agony cut Evi off. The Essyrlian elf crumpling to his knees and gripping his head.

"Okka'lier! Shit... Did I--"

Okka'lier clawed at his skull, screaming in agonizing pain.

Eviveru crouched down, and hugged onto Okka'lier. Fuck... That wasn't from his electricity.

Okka'lier naturally felt the lives of animals around him, and was in tune with nature. He felt that pain as if it were his own.

Evi braced the back of Okka'lier's head, as Okka'lier's screams died down to sobs. His body shook like a leaf. "E... Evi... E-Everything's... D-Dying.." Okka'lier choked out.

It pissed Eviveru off to no end that there wasn't shit they could do.

"I.. I know. At least--"

It wasn't supposed to happen that fast.

Eviveru had been through a land slide before, felt the earth cascade down on him in a flash and crush him beneath it.

This was far less merciful.

In a mere blink, he went from holding onto Okka'lier to try and calm him down...

To feeling everything and everyone crushed together.

It was miserable being conscious for a short period of it.

Feeling his body crushed completely, compacted by bodies of friend and foe alike.

The sickening crunches far more deafening than the screams Okka'lier had made prior. He knew broken bones of his own friend were stabbing through what little of him he could feel.

He knew that the blood around him that he could comprehend was a slurry of so many people he knew.

All their lives, snuffed out in a blink of an eye.

It was bullshit.

None of them deserved that.

Eviveru drifted in and out of consciousness.

Sometimes? He was aware that he was dead. He knew and enjoyed the comforting embrace of the void.

And sometimes, he was aware he was nothing but mixed bits in crushed viscera.

Sometimes he swore he could hear voices.

Chatter, chatter, lots of it.

Others were still there. Alive? Entirely unlikely. But still there.

That or he'd gone insane.

Which was unlikely. He sure as shit didn't believe anyone else would survive. Nor would he want someone to be alive in this mess.

Sometimes it felt like the remains of everything around him moved. Moved a lot. And sometimes it was extremely still.

He hated it. He'd rather be dead.

Every time death's sweet embrace took him from the horrifying mess that remained? He was thankful.

He didn't know how long it lasted.

Perception of time becomes warped when you're dying, and coming back to live, and barely aware in the soup of the cosmos that was your own home.

Eventually? He felt a thump, a portion of his left hand. His pinky, ring, and middle finger once more feeling.

It twitched.

It wasn't long after that he felt himself succumb to death again.

And then Eviveru opened his eyes.

A gentle blue sky overhead. Clouds in the sky, white and fluffy. The sun beaming down upon him.

He could hear the breeze through the grass that he laid upon.

Man... He never thought he'd be thankful to be alive.

At least this alive was better than mashed up alive.

Eviveru groaned, as he slowly rose to his feet, grumbling.

Why the fuck was he the one who had to get stuck delivering a message.

Oh yeah, because death was a bitch who wouldn't take him, no matter how hard he wanted it to.

If death was some manner of entity he could speak to? He would happily lay into them for not carting his ass to the void permanently.

He sighed, conjuring forth his staff. Thank fuck that his clothes were so soaked in his magic, that the damn curse he endured thought that it was a part of him.

He really didn't want to get stuck on a murder spree of any person who looked at him stark nude.

"... Where the fuck do I even start..." Evi grumbled, glowering at the land around him.

Countryside, not a settlement as far as his eyes could see.

Well at the very least, he wouldn't have to deal with any humans anytime soon.

Fluffing his wings, Eviveru paused.

He knew where he'd start.

"Hey gods, divines, eldritch entities, what the fuck ever?"

Eviveru called out.

"You fucking suck."

Yep. That was a good way to start trying to save this place, and whatever shitheads lived here.