--- Section 1 ---
Tepeu will of course accompany you on your journey towards the bottom, and it'll be helpful that he's already been as far as the seventh layer before. The Border has managed to establish consistent communications now thanks to automatically adjusting to the electromagnetic interferences that change with each layer. However, when you're inside the Underworlds, communications will break down regardless. Some deino come to see you off, saying you'll have nothing to worry about if Nito's with you, since she's the only one who can beat the bat-man, and that they'll host a xoqqer ritual for her when you return. Nito, on the other hand, can't help but think her victory over Camazotz was only due to compatibility, and that the way she is right now, she'll never be able to beat Tlaloc.
Once Kukulkan joins up with you, she seems unusually happy. It appears she's glad to see that Tepeu is bragging more about his accomplishments, as it shows personal growth on his side. Mashu agrees, and Gudao mentions that Tepeu tends to flick his glasses up quite often. He explains that doing so is not intended to be some cool move to show how smart he is, but rather that he "designed them so that he wouldn't have to see what must not be seen".
As soon as you leave the city you run into some Ocelomeh you have to fight. With that out of the way, you later set up camp for the night near a maize field. Tomorrow you'll head for the third Underworld, the Galactic Dunes.
--- Section 2 ---
While Kukulkan eats enough maize to feed a small village (saying things like PHH is evil for keeping such delicious inventions such as roasted maize from the rest of them), you ask Da Vinci for a bit of an infodump. Specifically, since Kukulkan is the god of this Lostbelt, wouldn't it make more sense for her to take a deino form? Da Vinci agrees that based on how we think of worship and beliefs in gods, it would make more sense. This leads her to get to the main topic at hand, instead, which is regarding the origin of the American continent as far as the world of magic is concerned, and the origin of this Lostbelt. And so, Da Vinci dons her glasses and gets to it.
She starts by recapping some stuff. The surface-level relationship between Mayan and Aztec civilization; how when you entered this Lostbelt you didn't see the South American continent, but the Pangean supercontinent; how you crashed in Mictlan after the mysterious light sank the Border. The mention of Mictlan is important, since as is clear from the name, this place has more characteristics from Central America, than South. Da Vinci surmises this is because the basic ideology is based on mythologies of the same region in PHH. Thus, it might be more accurate to call it the Latin American Lostbelt, but since the entry-point coordinates were in South America, we'll keep calling it that.
Da Vinci
Now for inference #1. We'll thoroughly probe the myths of the American continent.
The mythologies of the region identify closely with Earth's nature, but at the same time, lean towards a stellar viewpoint.
In fact, there are several murals and artifacts from the American continent depicting what appear to be "rockets aimed at the sky".
And for what reason? There's one accepted theory in the world of magecraft.
That there was some presence at the dawn of Mayan civilization with practical knowledge of the cosmos.
She is of course talking about alien life. "Something" that came from outer space, but not necessarily in the form of life one would expect. At the time of the fifth mass extinction, 66 million years ago, a massive meteorite fell on the Yucatan peninsula in America, setting the planet ablaze and annihilating the dinosaurs who reigned on the surface. There's a lot of evidence so that we can know this happened, but something interesting is that the impact created a set vast underground cavern system, which later gave rise to the water springs (cenotes) of the peninsula with groundwater coming up. Da Vinci thus infers that the Underworld of Xibalba from the Mayan mythos was a result of living among these vast underground caverns. This was then taken into Aztec myth and became Mictlan. But there's more to those ideas than might seem.
Da Vinci
Those weren't transmitted just by oral tradition or cultural records, but also a primordial fear remembered in their bodies---
The magecraft world's speculation is that the information may be etched into their genes.
And in this case, those genes would not simply be human. These people would definitely be human, but also had non-human factors mixed in.
Da Vinci
Quite a lot of resources were contained in the meteorite that fell on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Rare metals only produced in minute quantities on Earth, to be sure. And things that had never existed on the planet---
Extraterrestrial material.r]Possibly even organisms.
The meteorite that fell on the Yucatan Peninsula quite literally had alien life on board.
Intelligent life from another celestial body came with the meteorite, combined with the life on Earth, and restored the surface to promote new life. They would've had to be a species with different reproduction systems than ours, that could reproduce more quickly and spread over the whole surface. In other words, vegetation, or more specifically, fungus. Once humans came around and started worshipping stuff, these would also be revered as "incarnations of nature", spawning the gods of this land. This was the "divine element" which came to Earth 66 million years ago.
As Mashu and Da Vinci keep on talking about this, Gudao has a short line about how something about this seems off. Da Vinci continues, saying they would be more like roots or threads than fungi (TL note: I don't know if Comun mentioned it, but the reason Rayshift's and our usage here on BL changed from "Maia" to "Malla" is because of this thread mention; it's supposed to be "thread", and the reading is "malla" because it's spanish or whatever). Mashu tries making an analogy with God's Holders, or Tradition Carriers in the world of magecraft, to which Da Vinci says the logic is the same, but different points of origin, since those would be the ones who pass on divine blood through their lineage, and thus are able to replicate AoG Mysteries. In the case of Aztec myth, considering the number of times the gods "appeared" before people, it is best explained by kings or the like acting as hosts for the "Divine Filaments". Da Vinci also surmises that near the end of the Age of Gods, the filaments most likely realized they'd never be able to return to space, and so they staked their hopes on the next species (humans) and just stuck around.
So, Tepeu gives the TL;DR: history diverged after the filaments crash landed on Earth. In PHH they chose humans to carry on their wish of "going back home", and in this Lostbelt they chose the deinos. In other words, the divergence point is 66 million years ago. Da Vinci seems sure of this, even if there are some inconsistencies. Some stuff she's still not sure on is why Kukulkan is not a deino, why the Filaments chose the deino instead, and why they didn't go extinct with the fifth extinction event.
Now, moving on to the second big lore point, Da Vinci asks what is most special about the deino, and the answer is their skin.
Da Vinci
Their dinosaur-like physical strength is a given, but they also have chameleon-esque camouflage, and thought-based communication.
The diversity of species, all herbivorous, able to nullify physical shocks with biowaves,
and their high intelligence, most of all. They couldn't have evolved these traits in Earth's environment.
I don't mean to say that they can't be smart. It's just that herbivores can't be so active.
The energy spent on intelligence and thought can't be met by plant-eating.
Which means the deinos are replenishing their energy by a means other than food.
Mashu
The Doctrine of the Sun---subsisting only on water and sunlight! So you're saying the deinos are...
Da Vinci
Yes, they are photosynthesizing. This is how the Divine Filaments evolved them.
A plant-animal hybrid. That is dinosaurian mankind, the deinos, and the prime species of this Lostbelt.
They are far, far superior to us humanoid mankind, and have stood as the apex species for 66 million years.
You talk a bit again about how the deino are basically the embodiment of Kirschtaria's ideals, and then conclude that to fully solve the mystery of this world, you need to reach the Observatory below. Later that night, Gudao has a dream of the "past" of this world again, but with the narration seemingly speaking more directly to them.
By and large, Da Vinci's inferences check out.
We are the ones who fell from the cosmos. The ones who drifted to this planet.
The ones who, 66 million years ago, caused the fifth extinction on your Pan-Human History world.
But this is an alternate story.
A tiny deviation in trajectory brought us to the world about 250 million years sooner.
---The beginning of a Mictlan far different from that of your world.
The supercontinent was maintained by the roots for 234 million years. However---
66 million years ago, this planet approached its third mass extinction.
In the time of your Pan-Human History, the world ended, restarting as the Cenozoic Era.
And we chose them. Not you, the ones who would arise later.
The children of the Paleozoic, who strove to live on this planet, much like you who had yet to be born.
Gudao wakes up and has a conversation with Kukulkan, who is patrolling the area. She explains that the "stars" you see above aren't actually stars, but simply phosphorescence from Malla, which just happens to look like the cosmos. The only thing in this world that could be considered a celestial body would be the sun, and even that is a fake. Gudao then asks Kukulkan if she just pretended to be asleep during the conversation earlier, which she admits to. She says that it would be better for her to stay out of it, since if you started asking her questions about the true nature of this world, she would have no choice but to answer, and she couldn't exactly lie to you either, so it would be better to just not have that happen. You ask if she's hiding something, then, but she turns the question on you, saying you definitely withheld something from Da Vinci yourself. Surely you know whose dream it is you've been seeing already, and perhaps you instinctively know that if you revealed as much to the others, Kukulkan would have to take you out. Whatever the case (that was more of a joke from Kukulkan), she explains that the dream was that of Malla, the Divine Filaments of Mictlan. She's unsure how you've come to synchronize with Malla, but now that you have you are of course free to share and speculate with the others, even if it might produce a mess for a certain somebody down the line.
--- Section 3 ---
You're on your way to the third Underworld, an odd place where it's always night, covered in oases and cool breezes, showing a vast galaxy. It's the sole desert in Mictlan, where deino can't survive for too long, given the lack of sunlight. Of course, as with the other Underworlds, Tepeu is completely wrong, and at this point he's just gonna give up. What you see is definitely a desert, but it's not cool, and it's not a galaxy in any sense. It's just a bunch of sandy platforms floating around. In fact, the gravity is all messed up here, and 400 meters up it turns into a zero-gravity vacuum. It's also way hotter than the rainforest, where your Mystic Code barely kept up with cooling you down, and so there's no way you'll make it here. Unfortunately, you cannot retreat, as you've already entered the place. Kukulkan sobs, saying if only she had bought some yellow cucumbers you could've been fine. As it turns out, that's one of the things you got from Daybit back then, and so both you and Tepeu will be fine. It's really god, but then you get another random battle, except here it turns out for some reason, you can't perform spot/instant/shadow summoning!
Something in here is blocking your ability to summon, but Nitocris says she'll handle it until you figure it out. Then, suddenly, you see something shocking. It's a huge hoof of gold, over sixty meters tall. Nitocris is quick on her feet and cover you all with her divine cloth to keep you safe.
--- Section 4 ---
The divine cloth completely envelop you, allowing you to remain undetected as long as you do not move. This will surely give you some time to figure out what's going on. Da Vinci starts explaining that this place corresponds to Pancuetlacalóyan, the fifth level of Mictlan in Aztec mythology: a desert with oases and strong winds and zero-gravity. To cut things short, in order to overcome this Underworld you just have to pass through the eight oases. Unfortunately, they're on all those floating islands, so you don't really have any way to do so. Da Vinci has to explain gravity to Tepeu, because if you could go high enough, then when you fell you'd be able to land on the islands, but unfortunately neither Habetrot nor Nitocris can fly that high in the first place. Basically, you'll just have to take a walk around and hope you don't get stepped on.
--- Section 5 ---
As you walk, Nitocris takes care of sand worms that inhabit the area. You suggest she pulls out the cloth to rest a while, but she assures you she'll take care of this. She was the first Servant summoned for the purpose of eliminating this Lostbelt, yet she was unable to protect the Border, she was bested by Tlaloc, and she couldn't participate at Mexico City. At this rate, her being here will be pointless. Habetrot says it's not her fault, after all, it was the giant of light who sank the Storm Border. Tepeu finds this interesting, so you explain that in addition to Daybit, the Alien God, and ORT, you have another enemy here: whatever that giant was. Kukulkan seems nervous to talk about the subject, only saying that since you only saw it once back then it probably won't be coming after you again.
Mashu and Gudao actually seem to catch on to what's happening, but Nitocris interrupts them as more enemies are incoming. Gudao suggests Nitocris rests, but after seeing her despondent, Kukulkan urges her to fight with all her might, and so she does.
The large hoof that attacked you again is beaten, and the wind around you stops. Suddenly, you see a very pretty and fluffy boy lying unconscious. You rush over, and he recognizes that you speak PHH tongue, asking you for water. Fully restored, the man says that when the time comes, he will repay you in full for this kindness.
He asks you to introduce yourselves, and proceeds to say that Gudao's name sounds familiar. After everyone else introduces themselves, you ask his name, but he simply says he cannot give it to you, because it would be too much trouble. However, the reason he was on the ground was because he was ordered to make this place an "Edin of flowers and sheep", and he collapsed from being overworked. He filled the desert with flowers, but since there are no sheep here, he used the sandworms instead. He then explains how the scary bat-guy (whose name he doesn't remember because he doesn't wanna remember dudes' names) came here and turned the goddess of this place into a scary one. The scary goddess drained the place of magical energy (which is why there are no flowers right now) and created the Heaven's Thunder Temple to rule this place from. Since you apparently destroyed the temple in your battle earlier, the storm around it has subsided.
Unfortunately, that has made the goddess angry, and so you need to flee with the mysterious man. As he turns around, you just see a familiar sheep, but he just starts talking nonsense when you mention it. He says he doesn't like being subjected to background checks since he has plenty of dirt to uncover, and then, a voice rings out.
???
By dirt, you surely mean all the debts you won't pay. You've finally shown the true colors hidden under that fleece, Dumuzid.
Are these the ones to be damned for destroying my temple?
You should be honored. The goddess of the underworld has come to personally crush you underfoot.
Naturally, you will share their fate, sheep god. I'm quite thankful for your blatant disobedience, it's very unlike you.
You expected the kind Ereshkigal to let off the hook? Shame for you. Ereshkigal, I am not.
I am the cruel, merciless, and licentious goddess of the underworld, Ninkigal.
All who enter my garden are my property, without exception. You are now my work force!
--- Section 6 ---
You're not actually nervous at all about meeting Ereshkigal here, which she finds very confusing, considering how big and scary she is. She also doesn't seem to remember you, and so introduces herself once more to you in hopes that perhaps you just didn't hear her the first time. In this Underworld of hers, all guests are treated equally as slaves. However, despite all her scary words, you know that's the same Ereshkigal summoned in Babylonia, so maybe she'll remember deep down. You thus decide to just run at her, waving like a moron.
Of course, she refuses your advances, but Dumuzid assures you she's actually just Ereshkigal Alter and nothing more. Eresh explains that the bat told her "be who you want to be", and thus she became a perfect goddess, with no jealousy towards Ishtar, an invincible goddess who knows no defeat, ruling the underworld without so much as a single mistake. In other words, the Command Spell was only used to tell her to be true to herself, and she willingly Altered herself.
Since you don't exactly have much else in the way of choice, you're just gonna beat her up with the help of Kukulkan. However, during your battle you're assailed by countless hoofs. This is the Boundary Gorge, Heaven's Thunder Palace. While Ishtar rode Gugalanna as a Divine Beast, Eresh has no need for such a thing, or rather, it's not cost efficient. Instead, she only brings out the legs which act as pillars for the temple. In that case, she can deploy any number of them she wants; all for the cost of a single Gugalanna. She proceeds to surround you with a wall of hoofs, and Dumuzid flees. Eresh actually says that it was Dumuzid who drained the magical energy from this place, and says that she will punish him later. For now, she'll imprison you for eternity.
--- Section 7 ---
You wake up, in cages, way too weak to break out. You'll be worked to the bone: breakfast, labor (mining), lunch, labor (mining), dinner, labor (magical energy extraction), bedtime. Repeat until all her magical energy is back (also no vacation leave). She likens it to the building of the Pyramids, but Nitocris schools her about how that was totally not the case.
Ninkigal
You're the one not understanding things here, Nitocris. How long do you intend on playing devil's advocate regarding your past?
I'm certain now after that battle we just had. You still have yet to realize the true reason behind your summoning.
As a fellow netherworld queen, you should be capable of exercising an Authority equal to mine in an Underworld Border.
Yet you have shown no indication of doing so, or even the nerve to try.
If you were summoned in your own land, in your own country, you should act the way you did in life, with the pride you held onto in life.
However, we are in a foreign land now. This is a battle with the Human Order itself at stake. It is the future that ought to be protected, not yourself from when you were once alive.
The Alter form is merely a consequence. What's truly important is what you can do.
The dream I had in life was to turn my underworld into a flower field that extends as far as the eye can see.
Of course, that dream came true. After all, Mictlan is brimming with magical energy from the Age of Gods.
But that won't do. This is no Holy Grail War. My dreams are not my main priority.
In exchange for the flower field, in exchange for the right to return to Chaldea,
I have become the ultimate goddess in this underworld.
For that is my role---my pride as a goddess whom the people had faith in.
She then switches the subject, since it appears Gudao isn't with them in the cages. As it turns out, when the others were knocked out, Gudao escaped alongside Kukulkan, somewhere. Actually, two of the legs were stomping off-beat, so you managed to slip under there. Anyway, you got to some cave where you took up shelter. Kukulkan is sad that she's acting so weak when she should be really strong, and so it's time for some trademarked Gudao charm. You say that it's obvious she's holding back, especially since she's not even using her Noble Phantasm. It must be because she's not "allowed" to get along with us or something. Even so, you think she should just say screw it and go for it. She thinks that maybe that's simply too trusting of you.
Kukulkan
I'm the god of this Lostbelt and you...you're the humans of Pan-Human History.
Isn't it more likely that I'm just pretending to get along with you, like I'm doing now, so that I can kill you?
But you just laugh it off, because no way she would betray you now. You know this, because she's the same god as Quetzalcoatl. This really makes her perk up, saying she won't hold anything back anymore. She asks you to establish a magical energy path, completely revitalizing her. Now she's all fired up and ready to go. At that point, Dumuzid in his full sheep form appears, asking if you're done talking. He asks if he can take credit for what just happened, and you threaten to turn him into an oversized pillow and give to Ishtar. He promptly apologizes, and so you set out to beat Ereshkigal.
--- Section 8 ---
You go to confront Eresh, and depending on if you're a guy or girl Dumuzid is either very sad or very enthusiastic about this situation. Regardless, you're currently in the air, and you're just going to airdrop right on top of the enemy. Kukulkan asks if that's really okay but you have a lot of experience falling out of the sky. As a gesture of respect towards a goddess of PHH, Kukulkan will fight in her usual manner.
This is totally a high-tech spacesuit, and she'll prove to you how strong she is. She blasts off, as you continue to the ground, and land with a forward roll.
Ninkigal
So you fell from the sky and rolled around! You'll scare someone half to death, so don't do that again!
But what game is "on"? You're fighting against me? What can a magus who can't even summon Servants do---!?
You're betting it all on that goddess, then? She's a thousand times better than that runaway Dumuzid.
I accept your challenge out of respect for your valor! Come forth, O Boundary Gorge, the Heaven's Thunder Palace!
A summoning of six Divine Beasts, try besting them if you can!
You beat Ereshkigal and her Gugalanna (hooves), which means you now have your third Command Spell back. More importantly, when Kukulkan annihilated Gugalanna with her Noble Phantasm, everyone else were able to clearly see that she was the giant of light which sank the Border, so now the secret is out completely. Tepeu humbly apologizes for his god, but Kukulkan says it seemed like a great idea at the time. She's the one who guards Mictlan, after all, so it would only make sense for her to eliminate those who came here to cull this world before they even entered. Not to mention, she figured you couldn't be reasoned with, like Daybit, but she knows better now, of course. Either way, she's saved you twice now, so she's obviously not hostile. As such, you'll defer an actual decision to Gordolf later.
Turning to Ereshkigal, she explains that her rules in this place were established on the premise of being the strongest goddess, so they all became null the moment she lost to Kukulkan. Just as before, she can't leave this place still, so she's just gonna stay there and sulk. Also, Mashu points out that you did get your Command Spell back, but Ereshkigal actually remains an Alter. Ereshkigal explains that the Alteration process was not a forceful one, but rather that the bat offered a deal and she accepted of her own volition so that she could become stronger and be of more use to Chaldea. That said, all the battling you did here was really just out of jealousy for Ishtar, so she's kinda just talking shit.
Either way, she says, she wouldn't have turned herself into an Alter if it wasn't absolutely necessary, asking if we have any idea at all what awaits us down below. That's why she'll remain an Alter in this Underworld, just in case, same as the previous two guardians. Before sending you off, she makes sure Kukulkan knows that she's gonna want a rematch at some point, and she'll pull out a win with a Noble Phantasm even stronger than Gugalanna and Meslamtaea.
Originally Posted by Rafflesiac
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
