LIMINALITY
Table of Contents
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 56 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 ENDChapter 14
Descending further down to the shimmering green light that was steadily luring him towards it, Janus kept his focus locked on what he saw while still being wary of the forest surrounding him. As he got closer, a flash of brightness temporarily blinded him for a moment before opening his eyes.
Now standing in an empty, night forest with nothing but his thoughts and spear, Janus became confused about where the source emitting that light was. He is sure that he himself has clearly seen the bright, shining green that attracted him here. Yet, the moment he went over it, not only had he been blinded by it but also had something mysterious disappear from his sight.
Even his voices were bewildered by it, unable to fathom how anything could disappear without being sensed by them. For all his impressive abilities as a primordial deity, the Dreamlands is something he never expected to be constantly stumped by its mysteries.
Suddenly a bellowing, smooth, and icy tone of voice appeared behind him: "You must be the one who is destined to kill me," as the mysterious stranger continued to speak. "How unfortunate indeed, perhaps it was fate that you ended up here on this very night."
Swiftly turning around, what stood there was an eight-foot-tall, hooded entity with sickly green skin and staff. However, what made him more shocked was not the appearance but rather how someone like this individual is capable of not being detected by all forms of senses that Janus would know of, which should be impossible as he himself can detect anything or anyone if he wills it so.
"Who are you?" Straight to the point, he is not wasting any beat of even conversing with this person, especially given the nature of how worrying the atmosphere has become. "And what do you want from me?" Gripping tightly on Genitalis with his right hand, he was prepared to defend himself if need be.
A callous laugh echoed through the forest, expressing amusement on his monstrous face. "Who am I?" He repeated, lifting his head to gaze directly into God's eyes, "I have many names, child. Many. Names. You may call me whoever you wish, but I prefer the name Cthulhu." The mere mention of its name caused chills to run down Janus' spine.
Something is wrong—very wrong. Janus can't understand what's going on, but it's like a creeping feeling waiting to consume him whole. Trying to comprehend what's happening, "Cthulhu..." Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, "What business do you have for bringing me here?" Trying to keep calm about what is about to come.
Tapping the tip of his staff, "I came here to have a generous proposition with you," a sly smirk flashed across its face. "Child, do you wish to join on my eternal quest to destroy this pitiless world?" Such a ridiculous claim would make Janus question his own sanity. "A simple offer that would make one rethink the nature of life," he continued to preach in his own opinion of how wonderful the prospect of such a thing was.
"You're mad; this is nothing but absurdity in itself," scoffing in disbelief at what he is hearing, "why would I ever wish to aid such an endeavor? You must be truly lost if you thought that you would convince me to do something foolish." His grip on Genitalis tightened, ready to strike.
What he got was an amused laugh: "Ah, hahaha..." Cthulhu felt both disappointment and acceptance of the situation. "Of course you would say that," he said, taking a step forward. "At least it was worth a try." Suddenly, his eyes glowed green as reality around them began to distort in blood-curdling ways.
Unusual eldritch horrors began to crawl, climb, levitate, and phase from the very fabric of this reality itself, manifesting their terrifying forms while desperately trying to escape from their hellish domains. Eyes, limbs, organs, tentacles, and much more would be the main images that would describe this horrendous sight.
"Stay focused, you fool!" Portunus shouted in response to Janus, who had become overwhelmed by this madness, "This is no time to be dazed by simple illusions! Think and observe what the truth of what is occurring before us is."
A green bolt of light appeared before his eyes, striking onto his chest as he was completely caught off guard by this undetectable attack, knocking off his feet from the ground through extreme force before being violently thrown across the trees as the distorted world laughed in pure insanity from this maddening nightmare.
A reverberating crash can be heard when he was finally roughly slammed against another tree, severally damaging it at the cost of bringing Janus to a halt. "This is..." a dark blue-colored liquid fell down from the side of his forehead, watching it drip onto the grass with grace.
"Unbelievable."
His voices returned with panic, urging him to get up and continue the fight that is currently ongoing from this encounter: "Get up and fight!" Quirinus angrily demanded, with a slight fear in his tone, "That was a sneak attack; how did that slimy bastard manage to slip past all of us?! Get up, or all of your efforts are in vain!" He kept ranting on and on about what just transpired.
"Come on!" Portunus shouted as well, urging their distracted host to pick himself up and prepare for the coming conflict: "Don't just stand there, Janus! Snap out of it; you're smarter than this!" Urgency in his tone was sadly not enough to get his attention.
Culsans, on the other hand, whistled with growing excitement, "Wow! I never knew that this guy had it in him." Pointing out to the ominous figure that had managed to successfully hurt him in this level, "I gotta hand it to that guy; I would have been on the floor screaming and crying if he shot that at me! That was just... wow."
Tearfully screaming at the top of his lungs, Saturn didn't find the current situation all too amusing. "Ahh! Were all going to die! We're all gonna die!!" Continuously shrieking in horror, crying while thinking that the worst was yet to come, "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this!! Do something!!"
A concerned tone erupted from her voice: "This must be the first time you seriously got hurt." Watching the rather surprised Janus, who has witnessed this firsthand, "after those Zoogs, we shouldn't be surprised if there are threats more powerful than we ever imagined," showing her support for this sudden turn of events, "just hold on and pull through, alright?"
The narrator was listening to all of this commotion and began to wonder whether he should get involved in the mess they are currently in or simply wait for the inevitable outcome to happen. And judging from how everything is right now, he chose the latter.
While his voices were occupied from witnessing such a life-changing event, Janus felt so many emotions that had lingered within his own self for the very first time: surprise, doubt, confusion, and most of all, excitement. He never felt this in ages, and for the longest time ever.
Don't get him wrong, the pain was definitively, well, painful, but it gave him something new that had awakened within him. Is this what humans call adrenaline rush, or battlelust? He couldn't tell which one was which, but none of that really matters to him.
Because he is finally feeling what it means to be truly alive.
Slow, amused laughter erupted in front of him. Lifting his head up to see the approaching assailant who just attacked him earlier, he asked, "Is this all you have, child?" Cthulhu calmly inquired as he started walking towards him, "If this is the power that the God of Beginning and End possesses, then all of your reputation is nothing but falsehood."
Mentally smiling at this special change of events, he calmly held his spear while bringing himself up to his feet. Despite him being somewhat injured, it barely did any significant damage, leaving him unharmed enough to endure such impact and survive it. "Thank you." His sentence made the robed figure tilt his head in curiosity.
"You are thanking me for nearly killing you?"
Nodding his head, "for real," he nonchalantly explained himself, "you just made my entire journey worthwhile!" Throwing his beloved weapon, it moved so fast that the concept of speed no longer applies to such force as it directly pierced through Cthulhu's chest.
"Hm?" Out of all the warriors and heroes he fought, the great dreamer had never imagined he would also feel this level of pain. "What an interesting sensation..." He quietly commented to himself, admiring the foreign experience he had received for the first time ever.
As for Janus, euphoria kept him ecstatic; his thoughts focused entirely on the incredible satisfaction and fulfillment that his opponent had given him. Spreading his arms, he arrogantly stated, "My name is Janus, God of all beginnings, gates, transitions, time, choices, duality, doorways, passages, and endings," presenting himself to the dark, mysterious stranger who was staring at him with those pair of bright emerald eyes of his.
Taking out the impended spear without much effort, Cthulhu stared at the beautiful weapon with his left hand and said, "Wonderful." He muttered to himself, astounded by the wonders it was emitting. "Now then... is that all you have to offer, Janus?" Nonchalantly throwing it towards him in the air, the god of time then caught it with grace.
"Not really," he responded with no hesitation whatsoever, "it isn't the end of me by any means." Clenching his fist tightly, he then dashed towards him with such astonishing speed, "in fact, this is only just the beginning of our dance." Holding his spear in his right hand and positioning himself to perform a thrust attack, he went all out and hit his target with perfect accuracy.
However, what happened next shocked everyone to their very core. Despite the spear hitting him dead on and piercing through his skin, the great dreamer instantly switched themselves from the different reality of where Cthulhu was the one who stabbed him, and Janus himself got wounded instead; the reality of what was happening is reversed in an instant.
"Cause and effect," he simply declared. The eldritch assailant then grasped his own weapon and pushed further into Janus, causing him to let out an agonized gasp. "The moment you drew first blood against me, I saw what's about to happen and then proceeded to create an outcome where I stabbed myself in the exact same moment you would have done the same to me."
Grunting painfully at the moment when the magical staff reached through his body and came out on his back, "Then let's see about you stuck in the future!" Quickly, he warped reality around them to the point where the infamous big crunch would consume the entire universe in singularity. But when it all finished, the great dreamer's expression was one of pure delight.
"Leaving me here, aren't you?"
Without wasting his breath, he teleported himself into an enclosed temporal bubble, bringing him outside of time as he watched the rather anticipated Cthulhu witness himself instantly get imploded into a super massive singularity. Then, the entire universe itself gets crushed by the deceleration of everything before coming to a stop. Leaving the god of time and transitioning with nothing but himself in this endless ocean of nothingness.
Staring at the now-gone universe in front of him, "its done," virtuous, he went back to the present moment as he let out a sigh of relief from finally finishing this fight without putting up much of a fuss. Even though the entire area was desolated with rubble and debris, he felt satisfied for accomplishing all this hard work.
"We won!" Saturn happily cried out, celebrating this glorious victory for themselves. "I thought we were actually going to lose for a minute there," he mumbled, proud of himself for surviving such a horrifying ordeal while continuing to boast about this fantastic achievement.
"I knew you could do it," the narrator then spoke, a pleased tone within his voice. "Your performance was most exceptional and flawless," he complimented, truly amazed at Janus' unwavering abilities and skills in defeating such a formidable opponent as if it were nothing.
But their faces came to naught when Janus saw not just two glowing, emerald eyes within the darkness of the forest but dozens of them as they stepped out to reveal complete replicas of Cthulhu surrounding him in every direction.
"There is..." Widening his eyes, "more of them?!" He was bewildered to see so many of them at a single place, finding this whole ordeal far more troublesome than he would've imagined. He might have beaten one, but it appeared there was more to this fight than he thought.
One by one, they all spoke in unison: "You and I exist outside of causality itself; we both reside in a state where all events are always happening simultaneously," all of them explaining in perfect harmony, "only Nyarlathotep, or the destiny that has come to fruition, has the power to stop us."
"You know Nyarlathotep?" Janus was baffled when his enemy learned of the person responsible for bringing him here: "Who...who are you really?" Dreadfully confused by everything that was transpiring in this moment, all he wanted to do now was just get this over with.
Each replica smirked collectively as they began to explain what they are: "I am the Great Darkness, herald to the outer gods that dwell deep beyond the stars of our universe." Every single one of them gestured in a slow motion, their gestures synchronized and their bodies moving in tandem with one another, "and its time to let you know the other reason for bringing you to such place."
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