“Hey, it looks like it's time for quarterly reports,” said Jack.
“Yeah? I guess it is…Wow, time really ‘does’ fly…” I said. I was a little surprised that it had already been so long since I’d started this particular patrol. It always feels like it’s going to take forever, but then you get too, and either forever isn’t that long, or the process of patrolling just sort of blends in with daily life, until it just “is” part of daily life.
“So…See anything new out there, stud?” said Jack.
“Nah…Not really. Same old, same old. You?” I said.
“Me? Same…Damn, how many of these music-band dorks are we going to need to stomp before this war is over,” grumbled Jack.
“Who knows…Well, at least we gained another 41 multiverses out of it,” I said.
“Isn’t that just more work?!” said Jack.
“Oh…Oh, yeah…Fuck…I think I’m getting a little too used to this job,” I said. Laughing.
“Tch, weirdo…” sneered Jack.
“Hey, so you’re saying you didn’t pick up any new territory…” I said. Raising my brow.
“I only picked up 39 new multiverses, thank you very much,” said Jack. Sticking her tongue out at me, over the video call.
“That’s a difference of 2, oh dearest darling, love of my life…You’ve picked up just 2 multiverses less than me…” I said.
“Ack! You’re right…Shit. I guess I'm getting a little too used to this too…” said Jack.
“And the scary part is that we’ll do this until the next patrol. Faff around at home for a bit, and then be bored until It’s time to go back to work again, where we’ll bitch about work until it’s time to go home again…” I said.
“Ugh…Don’t say that. You’re making our glorious lives of conquering the cosmos, and snatching territory for evil cosmic beings, feel like some boring office gig,” said Jack. Shuddering.
“Heh, search your heart, you know it’s true,” I said. My tone went all spooky as if I were telling a ghost story.
“Hiss and boo. Boo and hiss…See you later, hon,” said Jack. Smiling as she ended the call.
“Later,” I said. Turning my attention to my destruction of an enemy base. The enemies were already all dead, or else I wouldn’t have picked up the call. I just needed to search for any intel and destroy all of their infrastructure.
*************************************************************************************************************
Back in Nine-Clover two of the smaller pseudo-continents were sinking. Buildings crumbled, windows and doors exploded as the sea pushed its way through them. The tide rushed over the paved roads and tilled fields. The white waves, swallowing farmlands and city alike. The mortals that lived within those continents did their best to flee for safety, but it was all to no avail.
Most of the boats and ships were dragged down as their mooring pulled them beneath the waves, and the violent sea swept away most of the survivors before they could even approach the docks. A bridge of friendship that had been built atop a “mysterious” natural outcropping that joined the two continents slithered back inside the first continent. The concrete paving, and metal suspension cables, falling into the sea, discarded.
Finally, the two continents sank into the ocean in full. Leaving froth, and chaos, while the few that hadn’t already died swam for their lives. Meanwhile, sharks and other sea beasts were closing in. Drawn by the scent of blood to the site where the two-centuries-old civilizations once floated upon the surface of the water.
“*Pft!*, *cough*, *cough*, *cough…”
Back in Lost-Cloud Moon, I woke up this morning and had my usual first spot of tea for the day. Then as I looked down on the world below, I witnessed a scene that was one part humorous, and two-parts tragic.
Centuries ago, a tribe of nomadic fishermen, traders, maybe a few pirates, found their way to one of the pseudo-continents of Nine-Clover. This isn’t rare. Nor is it new, nor is strange. While the islands and pseudo-continents are generally nowhere as resource-rich, or stable, as the three main continents, people move to live on them all the time. Either pushed off the mainland by enemies or simply seeking to live somewhere with a little less competition.
In this case, one set of these particular fishermen, traders, and pirates decided to live on one of the two now absent continents. Then another set came and settled the other continent. Then a “land bridge” joined the two continents and there were several decades of fighting because people just don’t know how to get along with each other. Then the fighting was followed by centuries of peace and prosperity.
None of that matters though, because those two pseudo-continents were actually the backs of two enormous turtle-wolves. Aka Deepsea Leviathan Turtle-Wolves. A genetic fusion of sun-eater demon-wolves, and dragon-scale sea-turtles, with some whale dna, and other bits of magical and mundane aquatic life, tossed in as well. They were immensely powerful creatures and were immensely important to Nine-Clover's survival because when they were deep in the ocean they would kill and eat pretty much anything they saw down there. Which primarily tended to be, the extradimensional invasive lifeforms, that exited from portals created by the planet’s magic-rich core.
The only issue is that the turtle-wolves need to surface to breed, and they breed very slowly. Like it takes roughly 500 to 700 years for them to finish breeding. For instance, that “land bridge” was the male turtle-wolf’s phallus, and it only showed up 300 years or so ago. Overall, this was a period long enough for groups of comparatively tiny mortals to come, settle on their shells, and build a whole civilization. A civilization that’s doomed to failure because these immortal sea-beasts will always inevitably return to their home in the deepest parts of the ocean.
“Well…Shit,” I muttered. Looking at the large pool of litter and bodies that lay where the civilizations once lay.
I felt bad for all the lives lost. Yet at the same time, I had no intention of doing anything other than making myself another pot of tea. The people below were warned. Multiple times in fact. I and the more benevolent of the local powers-that-be had sent visions, and missives, and we’d even risked the stability of the planet by introducing the study of modern scientific thought to the world, for the sake of warning those people.
Unfortunately, certain patron immortals of those two continents, and the more self-interested of the continent’s mortal leaders, had preferred to mislead the people and have them stay put. Even going so far as coming up with convoluted rumors and conspiracies to explain the “real reason” for why we wanted them off the island. And the people were at fault too for allowing themselves to be misled.
We’d done everything short of forcibly removing these people. The one thing we couldn’t do, because the gaggle of immortal charlatans that wanted to exploit them, had also exploited some non-intervention rules that were keeping Nine-Clover's delicate balance of peace. Alas, the fate of two small continents, large islands, whatever…weren’t worth triggering a localized war in the heavens. Especially, while we were already busy dealing with the DSO.
“Ah, well,” grumbled. As I sipped my new cup of tea.
If there was any silver-lining, it was the fact that I had personally made sure that the immortals responsible found all their fallback plans, the plans they’d had for what would come after they were done screwing over the mortals of this continent, had been thoroughly scuppered. As for the mortal rulers, who’d caused this tragedy, the ones that hadn’t died would soon find that this one section of the sea was the only place that was safe for them.
