Lowly Ascent

In a desolate swamp with no life in it, Cain made camp while eating the decaying corpse of a reptile. The animal was three-legged and had bluish-green scales with a wide body and a short and thin head. Its tail was giant, being larger than the rest of the reptile's body.

It was also where most of the meat was.

None of this mattered to Cain, eating for him was using his mist to dissolve his prey, he didn't need to prep the body or skin the beast like a mortal, he didn't even need to chew his food.

As the mist slowly devoured the animal, Cain went over his path so far.

"I've traveled for a long time, and just in the past week I've made it through seventeen dead zones and still not a single territory; occupied or otherwise. Am I in the lawless zone as I've read in the past?"

The Lawless Zone was an area coined by Scholars. It was the intermediary line of the Outer and Middle Zones, being filled only with dead zones. It was a place where many Gatherers and criminals hid, but the Lawless Zone was so large it was nearly impossible to find other humans or intelligent life without knowing where to go.

The Lawless Zone made up more than 10% of the Outer Zone, it was the natural formation of all that is dying to fully decompose.

"Ha...at least once I make it to the Middle Zone, it will be nothing but civilization. Hopefully, the Dream Core will recover by then. So far it's been my best cloaking method."

Unlike the Outer Zone which had Territories and Dead Lands, the Middle Zone only had Territories filled with life, each Territory ruled by a Ruler. Not only that, each Territory was diverse, having taken in many Territories and Dead Lands alike to achieve intricacy.

"Since I've only been through a few Dead Lands, it'll be another few years until I make it to the middle zone, I hope I won't die of boredom."

It was no lie when the Lawless Zone made up 10% of the Outer Zone, it was truly big. Some Gatherers suspect it was the System's way to bar out those who shouldn't enter, Gatherers and lower lifeforms alike.

...

A group of humans made camp in a dead grassland, in the main tent, an elderly man bowed before a cloaked figure. From time to time, a mechanical ticking noise would resound inside the tent.

"Lord, our scouts found a change in terrain. The earth has shifted again, our previous route is gone."

In the Landfill, maps aren't typically made unless they focus on a single territory. The world changes often and trade routes between civilizations are always changing in the Outer Zone. Many times traders will have more than a hundred different routes prepared over a massive area in case anything happens, which it will.

Hearing their subordinate, the person in the cloak didn't seem to mind, their tone even hinted they already calculated such a change.

Beep! Crank! Clank!

The figure made strange noises as they rose and spoke, "The world forever moves, the air continues to sing. Even now, I feel the voice of the world, its lingering whispers fill my audio receptors. It's building up for the eventual event I have foretold. Things such as this will become more common, Fate has given those under the System's tyranny a chance."

Lifting their hood, the figure revealed dripping blood and moving gears. Wires flickered as welded flesh wriggled and breathed with the machine.

It was Ation, the Machine God of the Cannibal Tribes in the Land of Dead Deities. The Machine that strives for flesh, the Machine that fits itself with it.

"What is the new route looking like?" Ation took a scroll from a table inside the tent and looked at the recent report that was brought to him earlier.

While he read, the elderly man answered his question.

"Lord God King, the new Territory that has come forward is filled with a barbaric race that pillages itself over and over. The power the scout saw seems to be something concerning sacrifice. The barbarians capture their enemies and then bring them back to their camps.

"The men are bred with the winners women and the losers women are raped. However, these barbarians seem to have a short birth period as the babies are born no more than a day later. At that point, the babies born from the losing men are caged and the losers themselves are sacrificed in some strange ritual, men, women, children, the elderly, none are spared.

"Only the children born from the rape are kept. We saw harsh training and ink needles but nothing else."

The Elderly man added, "The ink the scouts saw believed to be derived from the blood collected from the sacrifice mixed with another liquid!" He then urged, "Lord God, I recommend we kill the barbarians and move through the territory, if we find its core it will also be a plus."

Ation stood still and finished reading the report, only then did its glowing eyes lock onto the elder.

"We are not strapped for time, the event I foresaw through the world will not come for a long while. Make camp on the fringes of the territory, we will conquer the barbarians and learn their secrets. If possible, we will find the core for study."

"What?! B-But Lord they are mere barbarians!" The elder objected.

"Oh? And were you not also from a race of tribal cannibals? I have gathered many ignorant groups and have given you great knowledge and graced you with the option to follow me. Do not forget where you came from." The machine warned.

"I-I will my Lord God, I shall take my leave." The elder jittered and backstepped in a hurry.

Remembering its time in hiding, in the land of sand and dead gods, the machine stopped its movements, memories being pulled from its data banks.

Ation's voice lowered, becoming hushed, its gears whirling silently, "At that time, the world hummed Manus's name...of the Monarch of the Universe. I spared that human and even helped that child. And now only a few days ago the world spoke of the Rhythmic Laws, the one that came after the Human Ancestor, from my data and the future I foresaw, the next should be..."

Ation's eyes shone, its gears ringing as he said, "The Spring of Nonexistence that Swallows All, the Monarch of Black.

"But....I haven't heard that name before. Why would I foresee the world whispering of such a title? Shouldn't it go in order, the next being the title of that being..." Ation's gears began to whirl again.

...

Cain spent years on the move, killing only to replenish his mist and then moving again.

"Damn it, the times coming soon, I can't suppress the other Origin any longer, they should have awoken long ago. Thankfully, the Dream Core has almost repaired itself fully."

Moving through some brush in a forest of bones, with long trees dripping a red liquid, Cain came before a patch of green, the desolate land quickly becoming full of life.

"Did I make it to the Middle Zone? Impossible! Is this a Territory mixed in with the Dead Lands?"

Walking through the forest, Cain entered a clearing, he was surrounded by trees but no other life could be seen.

In the center of the clearing was a large metal pillar sticking out from the ground.

'Interesting.' Cain began to walk deeper into the clearing.

When he laid down his twentieth step, the ground fell apart and he began to plummet. This was no problem for Cain, but his confidence suddenly dropped.

'Why can't I use my cores?! How come this happens so often?!'

The dark tunnel was long, and Cain continued to fall before he saw something.

'Is that? A pile of clothes?!'

He was wrong, it was a pile of bodies. Cain crashed into the pile, his consciousness leaving him, but he tried to hold on.

When he opened his eyes again, Cain saw himself falling again. This time, he saw the earth roots beneath the Landfill.

'Oh no! I'm going to hit it!'

Cain was falling at a terrifying rate, he couldn't maneuver around the Earth Root!

'Shit! I'm going to hit it!'

Cain braced himself for pain, but nothing came. He saw another earth root below him but it differed from the one he was about to hit. Looking behind him, he realized that somehow, he avoided the last earth root!

'Why didn't I hit it?'

Again, Cain was about to hit another root, this time he didn't brace and watched as he passed right through. He finally realized why this was happening by looking closely at himself.

'I'm out of my body? I'm just a soul?! Wait...where is the other guy, he has the other half of my Origin Core!'

Cain couldn't see a thing, the earth roots were huge and congested together this deep in the earth. Every 5 seconds he passed through one.

But eventually, he passed the roots and entered another place entirely.

'T-This...this is that place that swallowed the Dream Realm! Why am I here!'

Cain entered a place devoid of color, a gray and monotone nightmare. Deep down millions of feet, massive maws tore apart everything, reducing whatever it ate to nothing.

Luckily, not far away was the other Cain with the second half of their origin.

'Fuck! Fuck Fuck Fuck! Going down will result in death, what do I do?' As Cain panicked, he felt a strong pull.

Looking over, titanic earth roots were holding an orb almost too big for it. All around the orb were entities that made Cain feel more threatened than he ever had, his instincts screaming at him to avoid those beings.

The entities were just as colorless as the world around him, they didn't move and seemed almost dead. They did nothing as the two Cains were pulled into the giant orb.

Before Cain hit the wall of the orb, he felt a massive amount of energy, more than the Dream Realm, more than Netherane, more than the Spirit Lands. He'd have never felt so much energy, it was as if all the energy in the world was before him.

Greed overcame his heart as his vision went black as he hit the lusterless wall.