The Man Who Sold the Universe.

By the time you hear this transmission, my universe will most likely already be devoured by the False Night. The Great Devourers were cut off from our universe after the events at Nile when great warriors pushed them back, and sealed us away, forever protected by those who might stand against the Darkness.

Unfortunately those other gods still prevailed, and were allowed entrance. Chief among the deities which have wronged me are Megalon, Antares to those Grecian worshippers. The Greek God of War, akin to Ares, yet bloodthirsty and mad.

I am He Who Was Once Known As Guard. I was kleshed on a Megalonite world named Forest. I am the 7th generation of my kind, Kzin Ultra Sapiens, created to be a guard for one of Megalon's chosen people, the Doom Whistlers. I realize now that my previous actions were not of my own choosing, and thoroughly regret them. Even now, I still feel the threads of mystic energy tying me to one Archibald Swift, captain of the Four Winds. He is dead now, but that only stops a Doom Whistler for so long.

Ever since we were forcibly separated, my mind and soul purged of his infection, I have thought of him. I have wondered what my life would have been if not for this child I was created to protect and serve. Perhaps I would have lived a full life as a captain of the Red Keep, as was my cover. I could have stayed there, fighting an endless battle with the Razuud and Saruud kin to the west. It would have been like what I have heard Nirvana and Valhalla to be described as. Endless bliss.

I could have had it.

They stole it from me.

I want it back.

It took years of searching. But I found them.

There were some officers of the False Night's army left on this world, although they were cut off from their Lords due to the Nile Event. There was one in particular I communicated with, as he was a warrior with similar motivations as myself. He was once known as Haalk, the Pain Lord of Megalon. Now I only know him as a Vulture of The Night, a mid level officer of their horde. He, like myself, was forced into his previous allegiance, and joined the minions of the Devourers for vengeance. His base of operations is hidden away on a planet whose name I never learned, on a continent that was never named. I could always see one of the two orange suns in the distance, though the world was covered in ice, with farms dotting the land out to the horizon.

When I came to the planet during my search, I learned that there was a cave in a relatively remote area that the locals viewed as sacrosanct, the home of some evil spirit. I heard their myths, accounts of a warrior in glistening armor appearing in the dead of night, and children disappearing soon after. All that went to dispatch of this creature never returned. It seemed like a perfect place to start searching on this world.

When I reached the cave I was greeted, none too warmly, by what seemed to be a cross between an owl and a man, all encased in a clear armor, all angular and sharp. I could see in his cold stoic eyes that he did not want me there, as well as what happened to the others who tried. The spirits of those dead warriors danced in his eyes, searching for some escape from their prison, locked away from their proper afterlife.

As I stepped towards him the ground shook, red energy tracing along the ground towards me, arcing up like miniature lightning bolts. I let them enter my legs, ignoring the searing pain that I felt throughout my entire nervous system. It would not do to show weakness in front of the Vulture.

He watched then, his head leaning to slightly to the side, as if waiting for some response, some indication of the results from his attack. It was all I could do not to laugh, not to mock this warrior. He had what I desired, and I would not run him off.

I approached again, holding my hands up, growling a greeting, letting my soul reach out towards him that he might understand. When he made no response, no attempt to shutter his mind to me, I spoke again, "I know what you are, minion of the Devourer, Lieutenant of Gog. I seek him, as I know you do. We must bring the False Night to this broken universe, that it might be cleansed. Join me, and we will shatter the walls that separate us from Nirvana."

It was his turn to laugh. A cold guttural call, which vibrated the ice around us. I knew I had him, that he was mine to manipulate. With his broken connection to his Gods, always seeking them out, I would be able to find a breach and bring them here.

We worked together for months then, strengthening our bonds.

Before long though, I felt him. The child I was created to protect. His ties to me had long been severed, but he was back in the world of the living, granted another body to inhabit by his God. I felt his tendrils reaching out, attempting to draw me back to Megalon.

"What better vengeance," I thought, "Than to show him the death of his universe on a more personal level." The Vulture agreed, though perhaps too readily.


When I made it back to the planet in which I was bound to Archibald, I found something I hadn't expected. His new body was that of a four foot, tanned and freckly little redhead boy. It was disconcerting to see this child in front of me, a blade sized for the eight foot warrior I once knew strapped to his back. The grey ghi of his new order was clean and proper, not stained and battle torn as his clothes once were.

I dropped to one knee, feigning the respect I once was forced to show him. He bade me to rise with a wave of his calloused hand.

Memories of a dream I once had flooded back to me then, the torture I endured during the training I received on Forest tearing into my mind, unbidden and painful. As I watched Archibald seated on his throne, overseeing my repeated evisceration, endurance training they called it, I began to realize that it was no dream. It was more memories that had been stripped from me, coming back to re-instill that fear I was once forced to have. He was working his way back into my soul, reinfecting my consciousness. I felt the dark echoes of his Lord, gloating as he presumed to take me back into their horde as a rabid lap dog. I sectioned off a piece of my consciousness, willing myself to be free of their influence while at the same time allowing them to take hold of a tightly controlled section of my aura so that they would suspect nothing.

It was my life.

They would not take it back.

I would not let them

Soon, Archibald relaxed his stance, confidant that he had me under control again and that there was no need to be on the defensive. This would be his undoing.


I told him of the world I had found, giving him false memories of the ice planet to sift through, letting him think I had found a treasure trove of resources hidden underneath the surface. I knew he was greedy, he always had been. He immediately ordered me to take him there, not bothering to do any reconnaissance through his own channels. That was unlike the old warrior I knew. Perhaps he had gone soft during his time in the afterlife. Regardless, my trap was unfolding well.


When we had landed planet-side I immediately set forth for the cave, sending Archibald images of an entrance to a mine, an easy opening to the resources. He followed me readily, bouncing along the surface, those small legs pushing off with more force than should be possible allowing him to keep the pace I set.

When I stepped into the cave, I quickly noticed a change in the entranceway. It seemed as though there was a cave in while I was gone, leaving only a small entrance through to the rear of the cave. I allowed Archibald through, following behind.

He froze moments after he breached the hole. I could feel the anger and betrayal tangible in the air. Once I made my way through the hole I could see why. There was the Vulture, standing in all his armored splendor, violet energy lacing through him. He laughed, the ice vibrating as it had before.

Archibald turned to face me then, his eyes flashing as he glared at me. "You," he said, his voice calm, as ever, “How could you? You are under our control, our bound servant."

I positioned myself in front of the hole then, ensuring he could not escape, my ears flapping slightly, giving away my mirth. I bared my teeth slightly then, offering a challenge, "I was your bound servant child. I was created to be yours, but I have broken those bonds. Now I have brought you here to see what your actions have caused."

He began reaching up for his blade, slowly, deliberately. The Vulture unfurled a whip from his fingertips then, the coil black as night and dotted with stars. I recognized it instantly, a Whip of the Leviathan. It was said in the old legends that those that were struck would relive their worst moments, all their wounds reopening, all illness reinfecting.

I placed a hand to Archibald's shoulder, "Still your hand. Nothing will help you now."

He turned again, dropping his hand as he saw the whip. "So this is it then," he questioned, "This is how I die? He could see the souls trapped in the Vulture's eyes, I knew. He wouldn't be so concerned with death otherwise.

A growl crept through my throat, the words rumbling out slowly, each seeming to be punctuated with another growl, "No. Nothing so kind. You betrayed me since birth, controlling every action I made while pretending that I had my own free will. Having me believe that I was doing a job, doing my duty protecting you, when you could have just as easily had any other do it. It was no honor. It was slavery. I see that now."

The Vulture and I began to circle, so that Archibald may watch me while I spoke. My tirade began to grow in volume, though the calm growling of my throat never broke into anger, "I was denied my honorable death, or my life of valor. I was denied my name because I was forced to be your pet. I was denied a universe of bliss, so that you could be protected. And what for? So that you could try to take over that world? That galaxy? What petty plans."

I willed my own set of armor to rise then. It was something I had been working on since I learned what the armor of the False Night looked like. It had no unholy aura, as I had not yet breached the wall, but it looked real enough to fool him. Archibald began stepping back, away from me. He began inhaling quickly, "You mean to destroy the universe. Everything! They were sealed away, and you mean to bring them back."

My black fur began to be dotted with stars, shifting and fading with each breath I took. It wasn't of my own doing, so I searched inward. I could feel a new link forming. A tunnel threatening to breach the wall, reaching outward to the Devourers hungrily waiting for an entrance to this shuttered world.

Archibald's eyes widened. His mouth slowly opening as realization set in. "You already have. Do you realize what you have done? You've doomed us all!"

Before he can react, I've already drawn a silver blade and run it through his throat. It takes some time for Death to creep into him, attempting to steal his soul away from us. The Vulture reached out then, plucking it from his body, sealing the soul away in his eyes. I watch the form of the true Doom Whistler pounding on the glassy mirror of the Vulture's eyes, trying to escape, before fading into the dance of the other souls.

I sat then. My entire body quaking as the tunnel began to grow. I could feel the energy from outside creeping into my bones.

---
"The transmission cuts off there lord. We believe the universe to be destroyed soon after." The ensign turned in his chair, swiveling around in the command bridge to face his captain.

The captain sighed, flicking on the communications relay between his ship and the rest of the fleet, "We have an issue. All men report to battlestations. Another universe has been brought under by the hordes of the False Night. It will be even rougher for us now."

Affirmatives flooded back from all callsigns, the entirety of the space fleet of the Earthan Empire ready to once again fight off another invasion.

One voice came back slower than the rest, the voice garbled, but understandable, "I was once Guard. I have earned my name. I am World Eater, Star Gorger, and I have come for your reality next. Prepare for Nirvana."