I was enjoying my newest bout with my evil double. Anansi had turned me into Kamen Rider Weaver as usual and I was using new Elementriggers. I had gained ones based on the four elements and ones based on light and dark. My evil double swiped his arm at me as I simply twirled out of the way. “Dude, you’re becoming washed up,” I quipped.
“You’ve spouted enough lies!” he shouted. He fired shadow balls at me, but I twirled out of the way.
“So predictable.” I then pulled out a pair of black Elementriggers and pressed the button.
“What’s the word?” called Anansi, currently serving as my belt.
“Shade!” I replied. The Elementriggers then split and I replaced my Base ones with them. Just then, shadows flowed around me.
“Flowing Darkness! Weaver: Dark Form!” My armor took a shadowy appearance. My double fired shadow balls at me, but I simply let them hit me. They didn’t do any damage. I then dropped into a pool of darkness, then popped up from a pool behind my double. I then spin-kicked him.
“…Did you just-?” asked Anansi.
“Yeah!” I replied as my double tried to find me. “I always wanted to do that!”
“Please don’t do that again!”
“My fight, my rules!” I then pressed the buttons on my Elementriggers.
“FINAL STRIKE! FLOWING SPIDER STRIKE!” As shadowy hands from the floor grabbed my double, I jumped into the air, fired web strings, and pulled myself towards my double while sticking my foot out. My attack struck true and he exploded again when I landed behind him. Once the explosion died, it revealed my double in his human form. I powered down and Anansi assumed his six-armed humanoid shape. Anansi then webbed up my double.
“What were you hoping to accomplish here?” I asked my double.
“That tome is mine, you hear me?!” he roared. Anansi’s eyes bugged out in apprehension.
“What tome?” he asked.
“You know, THE Tome! The Tome of the Multiverse!”
“That’s a myth!”
“You and I both know that’s a lie! It was the very book Nyame gave you! The one that contained the Stories!”
“Now that’s a lie,” I remarked. “Nyame kept the Stories in a box.”
“And where did you hear that from?!”
“From various sources, even academic ones, on the internet. If you’re trying to tell me Anansi’s lying, well, that IS one of his abilities.”
“HEY!” protested Anansi.
“But he DOES tell the truth when push comes to shove and multiple versions of him becoming the Keeper of the Stories say that Nyame kept the stories in a box. Therefore, hypothetically, if Anansi were to tell me that the box he showed me yesterday had the Stories, I’d believe him.”
“Did you really need to say that? I don’t trick people unnecessarily!”
“Explain how you paid the price for the Stories in the first place.” Anansi opened his mouth, then sighed. I had him there.
“The Tome, Anansi!” demanded my double. Anansi just opened a portal and flung him back to his universe.
“He never could see the bigger picture,” muttered Anansi.
“Anansi, what was he going on about?” I asked. Anansi tensed up. “…If it’s about something too dangerous, I’ll happily drop it.”
“No, no, you need to know,” replied Anansi. “You’re one of my more mature students. You can be trusted with that knowledge.” He sat down on a rock and began weaving his tale. “The Tome of the Multiverse is a book where anything your write down becomes reality in a few seconds. You become the Author of the Multiverse and can change timelines to your whim, even going so far as to remove all the bad stuff…and continue a story for all eternity, even when it’s gone past its expiry date.”
“…Okay, yes, conflict’s necessary for life,” I said, “but what’s so wrong about continuing a story?”
“Everything has to end, my student. Civilizations, gods, planets, stars, universes, even stories. Something new has to take the old one’s place. That’s what makes life worth living.”
“What does the Tome look like? Where does it live?”
“…I’m afraid I can’t tell you. …No, check that, I won’t.” I was a little angry, but kept it buried.
“Why not?”
“That kind of power drives a person mad. I tried to use it and I almost lost my family. I had to establish guards in the Tome’s universe, guards connected by a hive mind so they could constantly check themselves against temptation. Believe me, if a god can’t wield that book without consequences, a mortal doesn’t have a hope in Hell.” Anansi then smiled. “Ah well, that’s enough doom and gloom. Now, come on! We need to get home!” As Anansi opened a portal home, I thought about what he said.
I did some research on where the Tome would be located and what was guarding it. It was located in a universe with only stars and asteroids, no planets to speak of. I had the means to create a crew, but I needed a ship, so I headed to a universe where starship travel was practically the name of the game. Universe 0-N-L-1-N-3 of Multiversal Cluster 5-T-4-R-T-R-3-K, the universe of Star Trek Online! The rift I had opened deposited me to Earth Spacedock, the main hub for Federation players. In that universe, I adopted the name of Kahn. I made my way to the spacedock’s bar and lounge, Club 47. I looked around to see if anyone could help. Just then, I saw my four characters come in. Three of them were women and the one male was a Jem’Hadar First. One of the women was a short Liberated Romulan Borg. How could I tell? She was grinning and wore Romulan civilian clothes instead of Borg armor. She still had a Borg eyepiece and the ashen skin of the Borg, but she had a cutesy attitude and stance. The second woman was a Klingon of average height with a seductive swagger to her movements. That didn’t exactly detract from her Klingon Warrior’s attitude. The third woman was a tall one with spikes around her face and eyebrows, reddish-pink skin, long limbs, and a long neck. The Klingon woman saw me and smirked. “Typical,” she chuckled as she sized me up. “I join my more experienced teammates of Valkyrie Division to get some refreshments and who do I find? The little runt!”
“You can talk, Captain Beefcake!” I replied. The Klingon and I stared each other down. …She then laughed in approval.
“Welcome back, Kahn, old friend!” said the Klingon, Tarj’agh of the Minor House of Luk’ergh, Captain of the I.K.S. Katana.
“What brings you here?” asked the tall woman, Captain Galmak of the U.S.S. Augustus Washington.
“Actually, can we all talk in private?” I asked.
“There is a private area here,” offered the Jem’Hadar, First Teran’tekal of the D.V. Glory. The four led me to a secluded area of the bar.
“Now,” asked the Liberated Romulan Borg, Commander Sarvem of the R.R.W Brutus, “what can we do for you?”
“I need to borrow one of your ships,” I explained to everyone, “one that you don’t see yourself using anymore.”
“What for?” asked Teran’tekal.
“…You don’t want to ask that.”
“Too late, I just did.”
“First Teran’tekal, you REALLY don’t want to know!”
“Khan,” growled Tarj’agh as irritation reached her voice, “you are not speaking plainly!”
“I’m a Romulan,” said Sarvem, “so I like my secrets, but we can’t exactly give you a ship we don’t want any more unless you tell us why you want it.” I grimaced. Time to tell the truth.
“I’m using that ship to get into a universe where a book floats in space and is guarded by a hive intelligence.” Galmak arched an eyebrow.
“This wouldn’t be the Tome, would it?” she asked.
“…How did you know?”
“You’re not the only one who knows about it.”
“The Tome?” asked Teran’tekal. “The book that can warp reality as we know it?”
“The book that makes whatever its wielder writes in its pages happen in real life?” quizzed Tarj’agh,
“The book Anansi doesn’t want anyone to get near?” inquired Sarvem. I nodded, confirming their suspicions.
“You were right, I DIDN’T want to know!” gulped Teran’tekal.
“Think about it!” I urged everyone.
“Oh, we are!” said Sarvem. “Which is why we’re not helping you!”
“Sarvem, come on! At least let me use the Caesar!” I pleaded.
“You wanna know what that hive intelligence is made of?! I’ll give you a hint: they’re like me!”
“…They’re former Borg?”
“The Tome is surrounded by a Borg Unicomplex,” explained Galmak. “Anansi took a Cube into that universe a long time ago and added more drones and materials to make the Unicomplex. They’re long severed from the Collective, so they’ve made their own hive mind.”
“Then that makes them weaker,” I remarked.
“They’re functioning on basic Borg commands,” growled Tarj’agh. “We’d still be assimilated in ten seconds flat!”
“They’ve even learned how to assimilate and preserve Jem’Hadar,” continued Teran’tekal. “The Founders ordered me to avoid them at all costs unless there’s a chance of victory, and I don’t intend to throw away my life for defeat!”
“Tarj’agh, surely going through the Unicomplex would be a glorious battle!” I asked the Klingon. She scoffed at my attempt.
“If there WAS a chance of a glorious battle, then I would take it! As it stands, going against a Borg Unicomplex is foolhardy and the wind does not respect a fool!”
“Galmak, this would be a chance for Starfleet to deal more crippling blows against the Borg!”
“No, it would mean that they would learn more Starfleet secrets and I’m not about to become the next Locutus!”
“Sarvem, you would be able to prevent others from being assimilated!”
“Are you kidding?! With my combat experience, I’d be reassimilated! Forget it! You got our answers, we’re not helping you go through a Borg Unicomplex just so you can get a book that would make you a god!”
“But-!”
“Our decision is final!” barked Tarj’agh. “Leave us!” I looked all four of my first characters. Never had I felt so betrayed.
“…Fine,” I hissed as I opened a rift. If they wouldn’t help me, then I would use someone else.