Dimension Splash Chronicles
Event: The Hunt Begins
Pov: The Gemlord, Eminis, and Sardlic
Time: Year 10.1 of Hiccup and Link’s existence in the game
He floated in solitude. He wanted to be alone, he needed to be alone. The Gemlord wandered deep into the vast void of his realm. He had never been this concerned, but what could possibly be done? He heaved the equivalent of a sign and put his small aquamarine face into his crystalline palms. This was a dilemma like no other. Little more than a week ago, a prisoner, a foe with a lethal amount of information had vanished from their prison. Hiccup, that boy who would not give in, had somehow escaped deletion. The Gemlord could not understand it. He would have been seething with wrath, but there was something far worse than Hiccup’s escape on his mind. Sardilic Emerald had accused Eminis Sapphire of freeing the prisoner, and Eminis had indeed showed sympathy towards him. The Gemlord felt a wave of anxiety rush through him. What if Eminis was betraying them? That couldn’t be... Surely it couldn’t. He loved Eminis deeply, and surely she knew that. Perhaps Sardilic was overstating, perhaps Eminis truly was innocent, but how on earth could any character escape from death? The Gemlord himself had picked this world and warped it into an iron clad system. No one could escape deletion, no one could cheat death, not unless a Gemnode freed them.
He had been out and alone for days, and eventually the other Gemnodes could bear the wait no longer. Three teleported to him, and with grave voices explained what had happened in the days of his absence.
“My Lord, I am very sorry to bother you, but I feel there is something you should know.”
The Gemlord looked on them calmly and bid them speak. He had had enough time on his own, and even the voices of his fellows brought some peace to his raging spirit.
“My Lord, the three characters we were told to watch, they have vanished. They are shrouded from our site. This happened less than a day ago, and we can find no trace of them. We wished to tell you immediately, but you had asked to be alone.”
The Gemlord turned the events over in his mind. So... those three characters had vanished, Link as well. Was it just a coincidence? After all, after seeing the person nearest to them be killed, the Gemlord was not surprised to hear that Astrid, Stoick, and Gobber had vanished, but for them to all vanish at once seemed planned. He looked into the concerned faces of the three messengers and thanked them.
“Thank you. Please do not hold the loss against yourself, and I appreciate your patience in contacting me. We shall carefully look into this, and then we shall make our decision. I am returning home.”
The three messenger’s eyes gave off a spark of excitement. To have the Gemlord come back would bring such comfort to the confused surge of emotions. None of the Gemnodes knew how to cope with the bitterness of Sardilic or the possible betrayal of Eminis. If anyone could make sense of this madness, it was the Gemlord, and he was returning home.
Eminis sat suspended by invisible cords. She had surrendered herself after the accusations of Sardilic, and now she had spent over a week in captivity. A Gemnode was forced to watch her at all times. Her soul had frozen with grief when the Gemlord had commanded her imprisonment. She was innocent, Sardilic was simply malicious towards her because she had opposed his tortures. Her trust in the Gemlord had suddenly been unsettled, and now she swayed in a frightening balance of insecurity. How could he not believe her? He meant the world to her, and surely he must know that she would never do anything against the Great Purpose.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a blinding red flash as Oninonix Ruby appeared beside her. He flicked his wrist, and the gravity cords vanished from Eminis’s arms. She looked at him in confusion and asked, “What is this you are doing, dear Oninonix?”
“The Gemlord has returned, Eminis, and he requires you to be present at the council.”
“But He... he doesn’t trust me. None of you do. Sardilic has turned the one being I love most against me. How can you expect me to come before him? What if I am cast away? I would rather live out eternity wrapped in those cords than be sent away.”
“Eminis, I do not wish to speak out of turn, for I do not know the mind of the Gemlord, but I believe he has found evidence that may prove your innocence, and I pray that he has.”
Eminis’s emotions tore back and forth inside her shimmering blue chest. She wanted to be proven innocent, but even if she was, they had accused her of guilt... He had not even believed her. Fear was driving them now, and Eminis knew it. They were afraid, the Gemlord was afraid. They were losing control, and that could drive them to do terrible things.
Oninonix and Eminis approached the circle of the other Gemnodes. Sardilic and Venevonix had already taken their positions close to the Gemlord. As generals, they were not only privileged to a title and color dedicated to them, they also were allowed to speak freely during the council. The other Gemnodes gave slight bows as Oninonix took his place at the Gemlord’s right, and much to her relief, Eminis received the same respect as she took her place beside to the left of the Gemlord. Luckily... she and Sardilic were separated. She glared cooly at him, and he stared back in a wickedly cheerful way. He was enjoying this. Did he hate her? Could that be possible? She actually staggered slightly at the thought. They were the Gemnodes, they were all each other had, and could one of her fellows actually hate her, and worse, could she hate him? Her thoughts were soon interrupted as the Gemlord began to speak.
“My followers in the Great Purpose, I have gathered us here because we are faced with a great and terrible problem. The boy Hiccup has vanished as you all know, Eminis, my dear Eminis has been accused, and now characters are shrouding themselves from us at an alarming rate. This may actually be evidence of your innocence, Eminis, and if it is then we can never be sorry enough for doubting you.”
Before the Gemlord could continue, Sardilic interrupted. “I am very sorry my Lord, but I have left something unfinished. I will be right back. Continue without me, I am sure you can manage.” The Gemlord gave him a nod, and Sardilic disappeared in a flash.
Oninonix let out an annoyed sort of sound, but the rest of the Gemnodes seemed relieved. Sardilic was unpleasant company. Most of them knew all too well what he had left unfinished. Someone was probably mid-hallucination, and he wanted to see it end. He was not much for counsels, and nothing seemed to be of higher priority than the torture of his victims. Eminis was almost livid. She spoke out openly, “So when we begin to decide that I am innocent, he retreats in embarrassment? My Lord, he needs to stay and live up to his accusations!”
One of the lesser Gemodes piped up before the Gemlord could answer, “You really want him around? Just be thankful he did not start talking.”
The Gemlord’s pale blue form suddenly burnt into violet light. He let his voice surge out at full power, and the sound shuddered through all those present. “Enough! That is enough. All we have is each other. Eminis, I truly believe you are innocent, and now may be our opportunity to prove it. You have felt rejection, I am sure, but I command you to never repay that. Never make one of your fellows feel hatred. If anyone can be trusted to sacrifice her feelings, it should be you, Eminis. Please, for my sake, leave Sardilic to himself.” The Gemlord’s sudden outburst shocked the lesser Gemnodes into silence, and he stared into the pale burning eyes of Eminis. He begged inside of himself. Please. Please Eminis. You must forgive. We cannot hope to exist without unity, and what do we have without each other? Eminis’s stare remained cold, but then she saw the pleading in the Gemlord’s eyes, the desperate sadness there, and it made her mind flash back to the day of Death. She remembered watching as the Gemlord stooped over the shattered body of their companion, and then she remembered why she would never do anything against him. He cared, cared more than all the others. He was the most selfless of them all, and that is why they had given him authority. Even if she had been humiliated, she would never do anything against him. She gave a slight nod, and the Gemlord’s chest felt a washing surge of relief. If there was one thing that could grieve him more than the death of a fellow Gemnode, it was hatred between them, and the Gemlord knew all too well that Sardilic and Eminis were evolving into polar opposites.
He continued, “It seems that the Characters Astrid Hofferson, Stoick The Vast, and Gobber the Belch have vanished from our sight. The three of you who were instructed to watch this confirm the fact. We can find no way to see them, and that means they have either left the dimension, which is impossible without the aid of one of us, or they have shrouded themselves. Eminis had voluntarily surrendered to custody, so we all know she could not have done it.” The Gemnodes hummed an electric buzz of agreement, but Eminis knew that characters shrouding themselves was nothing new or difficult. The Gemlord continued, “Characters have been shrouding themselves from us and others ever since we unintentionally left the shrouding spheres. You all know this, and these characters certainly have reasons to hide themselves. We deleted that cursed boy as an opposer of the Purpose, and now it is only natural for his friends to hide, but there is more.”
The Gemnodes attentions were fully engulfed, but before the Gemlord could continue, Sardilic returned. He seemed extremely anxious, but the Gemlord motioned for him not to speak. This led to Sardilic floating in his place of honor twiddling his long, dagger-like fingers. Venevonix who stood next to him marveled at his state of utter frustration and almost fear, but he soon turned his attention to the Gemlord who was speaking again. “The unusual fact it this: ALl three characters vanished from our site at once. This was a planned action, and somehow someone has managed to located three, three shrouding spheres and get them to these characters all at once. I also remind you that less than a week ago Link Flashblade Haddock shrouded himself as well. Someone is carefully hiding all of Hiccup’s closest friends from us, and they are being clever about it. I do not know how it is possible, but I believe Hiccup is still in the dimension. How he managed to escape without the aid of a Gemnode, I do not know. It is not possible, and that is why we were forced to question you Eminis.”
Sardilic could wait no longer. He moved into the center of the circle of the Gemnodes using a powerful, blinding teleport. He faced the Gemlord, and in a desperate shriek shouted, “My Lord, we are wasting time! I am sorry Eminis, I am sorry my Lord, but I was wrong! We are all wrong! We are blinded to something, I do not know what, but someone has discovered how to cheat death, and they have just succeeded in doing it again!”
The Gemlord, who normally would have discouraged such desperate and hopeless sounding statements, burst out into questions, “How? Sardilic, what has happened? Are you sure?”
“Yes, my Lord. There can be almost no doubt. I was examining the deleted souls, and I had devised a simply marvelous torture for the Character known as Skari. You should have seen what I was going to put him through. I had just probed and discovered he had children, and--”
“Sardilic, PLEASE! Get on with it. This is not the time.”
“Yes, yes... What I mean to say is this: Our system is broken, our grip is slipping, and whoever is doing this must be doing it from the inside!”
“Are you sure? What has happened?”
“Skari has vanished. He is gone just like Hiccup, and he is shrouded from our sight.”
Panic began to rush into the hearts of the Gemnodes as they heard the words of Sardilic. Everyone except for Eminis was about to go into a state of total desperation. Six thousand years had passed and no one had ever done anything in their system that they had not allowed. Deletion was not meant to be cheated, and if characters could do that, what else could they do? Hiccup had been planning something, he had learned far, far to much about them, and now both he and Skari had cheated death? It seemed impossible, but the Gemlord quickly took command of the situation.
“ENOUGH!” He yelled, and then turned to Sardilic. “Where was Skari’s corpse? Where was he deleted?”
“Mordor. Why, my lord?”
“Because when that vile boy escaped your grasp we could not find the body. Perhaps their souls return to where they fell. If that is the case, we may be able to capture Skari and anyone who may be with him.”
One of the lesser Gemnodes moved forward and spoke. “But my Lord, if he is shrouded, none of us will be able to track him with any efficiency. We have searched for years for shrouded characters. How can we hope to follow Skari.”
The Gemlord stopped and thought. This was a true problem. Without their ability of All-Sight finding a lone Strike Class dragon would be impossible. Then something occurred to the Gemlord, a memory of a deed Sardilic had done darker than any other, a deed that had brought shame to the name of Gemnode and broken the heart of the Gemlord. He looked at Sardilic’s burning green form and spoke. “Sardilic. Do you recall the scent of Hiccup?”
“Yes of course. I tortured him in my dragon form. I know exactly how he smells and tastes.” The other Gemnodes shuddered, appalled to remember what Sardilic had done.
“Very well. I believe that both Hiccup and Skari are somehow alive and in the dimension. Knowing that boy he is probably still determined to stand against us. That must not be allowed to happen. Sardilic Emerald, General of the Gemnodes and Chief of Torment, you are charged now to go and search the world until you locate Hiccup, and when you find him-” Sardilic cocked his head to the side in a hideously pleased looking way as the Gemlord paused. “-I want you to take him back to his own world, and I want you to kill him there in the most horrible way you can.”
Eminis’s heart stung at the coldness of that statement. She knew why the Gemlord was going to such extremes, but she hated to see Sardilic given exactly what he wanted. Sardilic let out a electrical, wickedly high-pitched cackle. He threw his head back, and in a terrible flash of light his form elongated, his head formed a snout full of razor sharp teeth, his chest heaved with breath, his back sprouted huge luminescent wings, and a tail shot out whipped across the void air. He unfurled himself and looked at the Gemlord with huge, glowing, reptilian eyes. “It will be my pleasure. I can think of nothing I would enjoy more, My Lord. I swear to you, if Hiccup is still on in the dimension, there is no crack, no crevice, no cave, no moon, no fortress, and no friend that could keep him hidden from me.”
The Gemlord nodded, and Sardilic sliced his glowing crystal claws across the void in front of him. A huge gash appeared and a throbbing sound as he created a rift. Sardilic let out a terrible roar, and then with a beat of his dragon’s wings he flew through the rift and appeared at the the foot of Mount Doom.
The Gemnodes returned to their duties, but the Gemlord pulled Eminis aside. “Eminis. Do you forgive us?”
“Of course, my Lord.”
“Do not call me that. Call me what you think of me.”
Eminis paused. “Of course, my dear friend, my captain, my inspiration, my loved one. I could never be angry with you.”
“But what about US? What about the others? What about Sardilic? You hurt because of what I have sent him to do. I can tell.”
“It is true. I do dislike the fact that you told him to be brutal. We are such wonderful creatures, my Lord. Must we stoop to such vile things?”
“I am moved by your sense of honor, Eminis, but remember what this human has done. Remember what the human race DID. Remember how they fell and drug us with them into darkness. Remember how they ruined all worlds. Remember the purpose, Eminis, remember the purpose. We shall never again have to live in fear, and we shall cleanse every world of all that is dark and horrible. We will be omnipotent, and we will rule with a love far greater than what we were ever shown.”
“You SAY that!” Eminis backed away from him and her formed hummed bright with anger. “But look at what we are doing now! I feel it, you feel it. Look at Sardilic! He is VILE! He is a monster and we are all becoming like him. We have almost gained omnipotence, and look at how we are using it. I hate the humans, but I do not want to see us lose our purity, and Sardilic has already lost who he was.”
“SILENCE. Enough. Enough, Eminis. I thought you would forgive, but clearly the rejection has stung you too deeply. I am not cruel unnecessarily. You WILL forgive Sardilic, and you will level no more accusations against him or anyone else.”
“-But”
“No. Nothing is to be said. You have just expressed contempt and hatred towards Sardilic, exactly what he has expressed towards you. YOU must be the one to reconcile. I send Sardilic and I tell him to be cruel because if we do not use the most terrifying measures, other’s will follow that boy, and if enough follow, the Purpose will fail, and we. Will. ALL. DIE.” Eminis stared into him in sad silence. He looked back at her, the terror of death filling his mind as he thought of those who had been lost. He looked at her, and he could not lose her. He would never lose another Gemnode if he had to torture every living thing in the universe. They were worth that, he would die for them, he would be corrupt for them, and he certainly would kill the boy for them. “I am sure no one will watch Sardilic. We are not corrupt, we do not rejoice in his violence. He will do his deed, and the deed must be done, and then he will return to us. You need not watch, and I will order him not to speak of it. Now leave, and Eminis, if you will not reconcile, it will destroy us all...”
Eminis faded away in a rippling blue flash, and the Gemlord was left alone. Were her accusations true? They could not be. He was sure that the purpose was the greatest good they could ever reach for, and he would never let another Gemnode die without a fight. That was the point of the purpose, and his conscience burned in him with a screaming wrath that what he was doing was right even if Eminis could not understand.
Meanwhile Sardilic was about to make a discovery that would change the fate of world of Dimension Splash, perhaps the fate of every world in every dimension. The enemies of the Gemnodes had grasped a ray of hope, but if that ray could be extinguished, if darkness could swallow up that light, then everything would fall into the hands of the Gemnodes.
Sardilic patrolled around the foot of Mount Doom. He had already dispatched a large party of orcs with a single blast of green flame. The orcs now lay strewn around him writhing in agony. His fire did terrible things to the minds and bodies of those it scorched, and he watched in amusement as the orcs begged for death rather than the continuation of pain. Sardilic ignored their pleas, chuckling within himself to think that anyone would beg him for mercy. He soon found the entrance to the crack of doom, and sniffing he lowered his long dragon head to the ground. There were footprints. His thick, sinuous, purple tongue flicked out of his mouth, and then his yellow eyes burned will excitement. Sardilic had only ever tasted one thing in his six thousand years of existence, and he would never forget that flavor. Hiccup had been here, been and gone, but the tracks were tantalizingly fresh. Sardilic sniffed the air and picked up the scent he was looking for. Hiccup had flown away from this area, and that would make tracking him a little more difficult, but as Sardilic thought of what he could do to the boy upon capture, he was willing to wait. His fanged maw curved upwards in a wicked grin, and he said to himself, “So the great dragon trainer and opposer of the purpose is alive and well again. Very well then, the hunt begins. Just wait until I get my teeth into you again hiccup Haddock, just you wait.”
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