Wolf of the Tesseract

Chapter 7

...Just Recently...

Zabe crept across the roof of the archaic building. The immense, multi-level villa stood as a testament to the Prime's architectural tastes. He rolled his feet gently so that the clay roof tiles wouldn't click and crack, alerting the guards posted below.

Peering over the edge he spotted the two sentries posted near the front door of the museum. They stood barely alert, as expected after days spent guarding the tactically insignificant location. Even posting guards here might have been a show of force by Nitthogr as the armies of The Black spread out across the countryside following the capture of the capital. Guarding ancient, artistic relics and historic documents of The Prime made very little sense except to demonstrate that the vyrm's takeover was utterly complete. The historical records would likely be destroyed once the take-over was complete, anyway.

Standing resolute as a stone gargoyle, Zabe perched on the ledge and waited for his prey to move close together. They drew close for a moment, undoubtedly sharing some joke at the expense of the royal family or making a derogatory jest at Princess Bithia's honor.

His keen ears picked up the conversation. "It's the new TRX718 cellular disruptor I told you about." The guard brandished a matte black pistol. "Very limited production—very expensive. Twice the energy cycling rate and larger battery: bigger boom." He fiddled with the weapon's components. "It's not standard, but I've wanted one of these baby's for so long. There's no way I was leaving it behind during the assault—"

Zabe pounced over the edge and hurtled two stories towards the ground. He crashed down upon the two guards and they collapsed under the force of their shadowy assailant. Their heads cracked against the milled stone tiles of the reception area with thunderous force.

Swinging to his feet, Zabe skulked to the door and reached for the handle. Locked. He rifled through the enemies belongings until he located the key. Zabe also picked up the hefty TRX718 and slipped it into his waistband.

The door opened silently and Zabe hopped from shadow to shadow, skulking through the corridors and slinking around the displays. He cast his eyes to a giant mural and the relics adorning the hall; they had taught a million schoolchildren about the origins of reality, the multiverse, and beyond. Zabe's eyes caught hold of the grand creator, depicted in mosaic form. He appeared as a mighty, benevolent humanoid, giving the royal family the keys to the Chamber of Mysteries: the most secure location in all creation, and the origin point of the Tesseract. Zabe sent up a quick, silent prayer to the Architect King and continued through the dark.

He ducked into a wing branching off the middle-histories section. The archway had the title of "The Dark Years," and a free-standing sign warned sensitive visitors of the graphic content.

Zabe slipped past the bio-summaries of Basilisk and Nitthogr; his heart rate thumped high as he skulked around the full-sized replica of Nitthogr. He remained ever watchful, as if the realistic mannequin might spring to life at any moment.

Deeper inside, full wall-sized images from the Syzygyc War splashed across the walls: images of an entire planet laid waste with its population incinerated or turned to living stone. Nearly all surviving members of the reptilian dimension's race, the vyrm, pledged fanatic loyalty to the Brothers of the Apocalypse. Images showed the power of the great and vast vyrm army. Most terrifying of all, however, was an artist's rendering of the Tesseract's membrane being pressed in upon by Sh'logath, "The Great Devourer." An actual, grainy image taken in The Desolation inset from the diagram sent a chill up Zabe's spine. He shuddered and continued; he knew he was on the right path for what he sought.

At the nexus of all the histories rested a heavily secured glassine enclosure. Leaned upon a display rack lay a bundle of papers ripped out from the Grimmorium Nitthogr prior to the Syzygyc War; in fact, their removal may have been the premiere cause of the event. Displays pointed out the danger of inter-dimensional travel, pioneered by Nitthogr prior to his fall from grace as the chief cleric to the King, over a thousand years ago.