Prototype's Gate

"Lae'zel, does the creche have a merchant?" Astarion asked, his voice echoing slightly in the big hall.

Lae'zel looked up from the egg she was cradling and pointed to the right without a word.

"Thank you for sparing me the attention," Astarion replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Lae'zel didn't react, much to Astarion's growing frustration.

They stepped through the door and spotted an adorned githyanki female wearing a red cap. Barrels, crates, and chests were neatly stacked beside her.

"Ugh, blood, rust, tsk'va... Is there no odious substance not smeared on this delivery?" the woman said, inspecting some crates. "I heard this plane was disgusting, but I didn't think it would be like this."

"Care to trade? I guarantee all my stuff's spotless," Wyll said with a charming smile.

"Fine. But your paraphernalia had better be pristine. What are you looking for?" she replied, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Show us the best stuff you have," Astarion interjected from the side.

She eyed the group for a moment before turning around and walking to a chest. She rummaged through it for a few moments before bringing forth a pair of gloves and a knife. The gloves were made of brown leather, and Alex could see traces of magic all over them, but the knife was a true eye-catcher.

The knife had a distinctive and intricate design. The blade was uniquely shaped, featuring jagged edges and an angular, almost lightning bolt-like pattern. The metallic blade had a golden hue, giving it a regal and powerful look. At the base of the blade, near the hilt, a red gem was embedded, adding a mystical and valuable appearance to the weapon. The hilt was designed to match the grandeur of the blade, with ornate engravings and a structured, almost architectural look. The entire knife was bathed in a radiant purple glow, indicating it possessed magical properties.

Wyll noticed Astarion drooling, staring at the knife.

"How much?" Wyll asked, turning his attention back to the githyanki woman.

"The gloves are 860 gold pieces and the knife is 1200 gold pieces," she said.

Wyll started to sweat hearing the prices. "That's a lot of gold," he said, eying the goods.

"Take it or leave it. I still have items that need cleaning," she replied curtly.

Alex stepped forward and pulled out a small pouch from one of his pockets. He opened it, revealing some precious gems.

The githyanki snatched the pouch and inspected every gem inside. "That's enough for the gloves," she said.

Alex took the gloves and tossed them to Astarion, who barely caught them. Astarion looked at the gloves and then at Alex several times.

"What? Why?" Astarion asked, unsure why Alex was giving him the gloves.

"Do you want me to take them back?" Alex asked.

"No. Please forget that I asked," Astarion said, putting the gloves on.

Without any more money to spend, they headed for the captain's quarters. They stopped at the door for a moment. Wyll turned around and looked at the group one last time before opening the door and stepping inside, only to stop abruptly.

The room had at least a dozen githyanki, all armed. "Please, ch't'ai, I can explain," a female githyanki said, following behind a male githyanki. The male was wearing different armor than the rest. It was darker in color, and the gems that adorned it were purple instead of red. The male turned around and glanced at the woman, his eyes cold and stern.

"The latest batch of cultists knew nothing of the Astral Prism. They were just trying to find the Moonrise. They all headed there—my gish have drafted plans to assault the tower. They are ready to fight, ch't'ai. We could sift the missing artifact from the tower's ashes, if you would give us—"

"Quiet. Find the Astral Prism, Therezzyn—my patience falters," the male replied, looking into Therezzyn's eyes.

"Yes, ch't'ai..." she replied, turning around to the githyanki in the room. "You heard him! Go."

Despite the orders, the githyanki didn't move. Instead, they turned their gaze to the ch't'ai.

"Do as she says. She remains your kith'rak. For now."

Therezzyn was not pleased by the ch't'ai's words, her face contorting into a mean scowl. The ch't'ai walked through a metallic arch, and Therezzyn walked to a silvery device with red gems that looked like a peacock tail. Once the ch't'ai and his entourage were gone, Therezzyn took out one of the middle gems. This caused a gold force field to form, blocking the way.

Wyll moved around as the rest of the githyanki left the room, some throwing venomous glares at the group. Once all the githyanki left, the group stepped inside. The room was fairly big. To the left were some crates, chairs, a table, and a notice board filled with maps. Ahead, next to the force field, was a githyanki woman, still like a statue. To the right, before a fireplace, was a long table with papers laid on it. Therezzyn was pacing next to it.

Next to the table was a gruesome sight. Two wolves, as big as a man, were eating two dead gnomes, their blood splattered all over the floor and wall.

As the group approached, she stopped her pacing and looked at them. The wolves stopped their eating and raised their golden eyes, ready to pounce on their master's command.

"An istik. In my creche. You are one of the mercenaries sent to bring the weapon?" Therezzyn asked.

"The istik is with me, honored kith'rak," Lae'zel said.

Therezzyn looked at the egg Lae'zel was carrying before moving her gaze back to the group. "So noted. But my question goes unanswered. Do you bring the weapon?"

Wyll turned around and looked at Alex.

"I think I have what you're looking for," Wyll said, bringing forth the artifact.

"I sincerely hope you know what you're doing..." Shadowheart said from the side with a worried expression.

"Ch'mar zal'a Vlaakith! Give it to me," Therezzyn yelled.

Wyll put the artifact on the table, and it floated to Therezzyn. The color of the artifact changed, turning from red to purple.

"Yes, there it is. Exactly as described. The inquisition will finally come to an end."

Suddenly, the artifact started to shake violently before flying back into Wyll's hand, glowing with a red-orange color.

"Tsk'va! Trickery, heresy, how did you—You manipulate it when I cannot? It appears you have been chosen, istik. You are lucky it is not for me to question why. Go seek the Inquisitor below. And take the cursed thing with you," Therezzyn said as she walked past them to the fan-shaped device next to the arch, putting back the gem. The force field disappeared, and she waved for the party to pass through.

"In a world of demons and dragons, you are scared of wolves?" Astarion asked as he spotted how Shadowheart looked at the wolves.

"Everyone is frightened by something," Shadowheart said, leaping away when a wolf came closer to her, showing its blood-smeared fangs as if to mock her. "Get away from me!" Shadowheart yelled, running next to Karlach.

Karlach threw a glare at the wolf, scaring it enough to return to eating.

When the party was out of the room, all eyes turned to Shadowheart.

"I suppose you've noticed I'm not terribly fond of wolves... They are ravenous predators with fangs like daggers—it's hardly an irrational fear to harbor. You've been decent to me so far. Maybe if you can...don't make me face any more of them. At least not alone."

"Everyone's got their own fears. We won't judge yours," Karlach said. "Right, Astarion?"

"Yes," Astarion said, not very pleased.

"Thank you," Shadowheart said with a small smile.

The arch led to a massive cave with a wide bridge that led to another chamber. The pit under the bridge was so deep that it looked like a never-ending void.

Wyll sighed. "I'm really glad you are with us," Wyll said to Alex before throwing a final glance at the group. Everyone was ready, judging by their expressions. Lae'zel had the egg tied behind her back, her flaming sword gripped firmly in her hand.

"Open it," Wyll said to Karlach, who nodded back. Karlach pushed the metal door wide open, revealing a massive ruined room. In the middle of the room, sitting next to a round silvery platform, was the ch't'ai.

As the group approached, they spotted more githyanki around the room, all staring daggers at them.

"My ardents spoke of one of our kin that escaped the crashing ghaik slave-vessel," the ch't'ai said, eyeing Lae'zel.

"Vlaakith's justice in flesh," she responded.

"You have accomplished much, child. I'm pleased to finally meet you," the ch't'ai said with a small smile on his face. "I heard there is so much goblin blood on your hands that it soaked into their children's nightmares." The smile dropped, turning into a serious expression. "To business. I suspect you plucked something precious from the ghaik ship. Something that belongs to us. The weapon. Give it to me." He said to Wyll.

"Do it. Do not disobey the Inquisitor," Lae'zel urged from the side.

Wyll brought forth the artifact, ready to hand it over, before he froze.

"So - it is found," a woman's voice said, coming from the silvery platform. The platform started to glow with a golden light, then materialized into the figure of Vlaakith, towering over everyone in the room. Her fiery, glowing eyes fixed on the group.

All the githyanki fell to the floor, kneeling.

"This is bad," Alex thought, trying to appear calm. He still could hear the voices of the githyanki killed by the zaith'isk, asking with desperation why they were lied and betrayed.

"Vlaakith gha'g shkath zai!" the ch't'ai said, his gaze on the floor.

"My Queen - shkath zai!" Lae'zel said from the side.

"You are permitted to look upon me. You are invited to kneel," Vlaakith commanded, eyeing the still-standing party.

"The Deathless Queen has spoken. You will obey," Lae'zel said.

Taking a deep breath, Wyll kneeled, followed by the rest of the party.

The projection seemed to magnify as Vlaakith kneeled down to look at Lae'zel. "These attendants you keep - you taught them well. My child. My Lae'zel."

"Ch'mar, zal'a Vlaakith. You know me."

"Urlon of K'liir speaks most highly. As did Al'chaia before him," Vlaakith said as she stood up. "You seek purity. I may yet grant it."

She kneeled again, this time looking at Wyll. "Istik. You bear that which is ours. But are you friend, or are you thief?"

"I'm just the one who found your weapon."

"You will be rewarded beyond your mortal reckoning. This 'weapon' you carry - the Astral Prism - it is corrupted," she said as the artifact flew into her projected hand.

"I will cleanse it for you, my Queen. Tell me how," Lae'zel said.

"There is someone inside. Their mind is warped, broken - a blight. They are an agent of the Grand Design, sent to sabotage the Astral Prism, our last line of defense against the return of the Ilithid Empire. As long as they live, the Prism is compromised. Kill him. Do this and I will cleanse you and your allies. Do this - and ascend."

"Ascension? My queen. An honor gained, a burden borne," Lae'zel said, her gaze moving to Wyll. "You must accept. Refuse, and you will know my fury."

"I can't do that. The person inside protects me from the Absolute," Wyll responded.

"You are being LIED TO. I WILL BE OBEYED," Vlaakith shouted, her voice digging into their minds.

"Tsk'va. Do not defy my queen!" Lae'zel yelled to Wyll.

From the roof came crashing down a figure. The impact was so great that it pushed everyone away.

When the dust settled, it revealed...

"Zeus!" Wyll shouted.

Zeus looked down at his feet, the silvery platform destroyed. "Obey this bitch," Zeus said, raising his head and looking around the room.

A few minutes ago.

After getting the egg, Wyll felt a tug in his mind. He looked around and spotted Glut staring at him, tapping his helmet.

Wyll realized the meaning of the gesture, so he stopped resisting. He could feel his mind linked to another.

(Can you hear me?) the mind asked. He recognized the voice - it was Zeus.

(Yes, I do,) Wyll responded.

(Good. As you realized, Lae'zel's devotion to her queen is too great, and I doubt she will leave it behind.)

Wyll agreed with Zeus.

(Play along, extract as much information as you can from the captain. And if things go south, I will intervene.)

"No! What have you done?" Lae'zel yelled.

"Htak'a!" the ch't'ai yelled, unsheathing his sword and rushing at Alex.

"Hta'zith!" the ch't'ai shouted, raising his blade up.

Alex was prepared to dodge before he felt something attacking his mind. The attack was strong, but not enough. Alex shifted his arm into a shield and absorbed the hit. The hand of the ch't'ai almost dropped his sword from the reverberation.

"Leave now!" Alex shouted to the party as he kicked away a githyanki that mist-stepped next to him. The attack was strong enough to break some ribs.

Gale nodded and opened a dimensional door. The spell took a lot out of him, as he almost fainted on the spot. Wyll quickly came and caught him.

A githyanki came rushing toward them, ready to kill before they could escape. Karlach intervened, blocking the attack with her axe.

"We are not leaving you here!" Karlach yelled back as she tried to cleave the githyanki in two. Unfortunately, the githyanki was much faster than her, easily retreating.

"This place is about to be flooded with githyanki! Go away already," Zeus shouted back.

Everyone had already walked through the door, Karlach being the last.

She took one last glance at Zeus before she passed through the door.

"Focus on the armored one. We will track them after we kill this one!" the ch't'ai shouted as he tried to land a hit on Alex.

"I can finally go all out. Let's see how strong these elites are," Alex said.

A pair of flaming scimitars appeared in Alex's hands, and the temperature around him suddenly spiked up. The marble under his feet melting.

The githyanki took distance, resuming their attack from afar, but Alex was on them. He was prepared to phase, but his mind buckled. He felt like the room was rotating, his mind getting tired, his control over the elemental energy slipping away. Using his will, he focused his elemental energy on the weapons they were using. The githyanki quickly dropped their weapons as they started to brighten up from the heat. The pain was enough to shake their concentration, allowing Alex to recover a bit. He phase-shifted next to a githyanki and decapitated it. He shifted his arm into a whip and swung it around, eviscerating two more githyanki.

The remaining two githyanki, one of them being the ch't'ai, looked at each other for a moment . The subordinate used Misty Step, teleporting to a corner of the room and opening a dimensional door. Alex could see the other side of the door; it led to a city. As the githyanki prepared to step through the door, he suddenly collapsed, blood leaking through his ears, eyes, and nose.

The ch't'ai, seeing what happened to his comrade, realized there was no way out. He took a fighting stance as two purple swords appeared in his hands, with three more flying around him.

Alex dismissed his scimitars and absorbed the excess heat around the room back into his body. His right arm shifted, becoming a bluish blade with a red fiery edge.

Both of them locked eyes before rushing at each other.

Alex rushed ahead. The ch't'ai sent his three floating swords at Alex. Despite his tough armor, the blades pierced him, but they did no physical damage. Alex almost slipped from the mental pain but didn't slow down.

Their swords met. The ch't'ai's purple swords shattered like glass.

"Tsk'va," the ch't'ai barely had time to whisper before his body split in two.

Alex's arm shifted back, and he consumed the bodies. "Those were strong warriors," Alex murmured, overwhelmed by their memories. The ch't'ai W'wargaz's memories were especially potent, living hundreds of years and fighting thousands of battles.

Alex could feel more minds rushing to the room, likely alarmed by the commotion he caused. He phase-shifted next to the door and closed it. His arms shifted, becoming three-fingered with small holes in the palms. Quickly, he covered the door with web.

"This will hold them for a while," Alex murmured as he turned right.

Alex stopped in front of a wall. A pair of statues flanked him, one to his left and the other to his right, a small mechanism under them. He raised his hand and threw a big blob of slime on the wall. The stone softened up, and with a light push, the wall collapsed, revealing a secret passage. Following the passage, he stopped before a metal gate with a golden sun on it. With a light push, the door opened, revealing a set of stairs that led down.

The stairs led to a hall sectioned by semi-opaque golden force fields. He walked to the force field and started to siphon the energy. The energy felt like the rays of the sun on a summer morning, soothing his mind like Selune's magic when the moon was full. The force field started to flicker, and he heard a crack. He moved away just in time for a crystal to hit the ground and shatter.

"This must have been the energy source," Alex said as he walked into the next section. To his left, a device emitted a golden energy that flowed over the ground like a wave. Alex spotted two bright blue crystals inside the device. He jumped to the ceiling and slowly let himself down using some web.

He put his hand on one of the crystals and siphoned the energy until they lost their color and cracked.

With the device gone, Alex walked to the force field that was blocking the way and did the same as before.

The next section was identical to the last. The hall led to a huge cave with a set of stairs that led to a large platform in the middle of a bottomless pit. The platform was as big as the one he fought Grym on, adorned with a golden symbol of the sun. In the middle of the platform, floating in place, was a mace that showered the cave in golden rays. Surrounding the mace were five golden armors, standing still like statues, with golden rays shining through the cracks of their masterfully crafted armor.

"Those must be constructs," Alex thought as he walked up the stairs.

The armors twitched and seemed to look at Alex but did not attack.

"They must be confused because I have the same energy as them flowing inside my body," Alex thought.

The armors remained peaceful until he got too close to the mace.

Alex's arms bulged like a pair of wrecking balls. After a few swings, the armors became nothing more than empty cans.

The mace was a magnificent artifact with a dark, intricately adorned shaft and a radiant, star-like head. The head featured a glowing central orb, surrounded by golden spikes that emitted a brilliant light. The shaft, segmented and decorated with golden inlays and symbols, exuded a blend of strength and elegance. A fist-sized piece of amber flecked with crimson was set in the handle, emitting a radiance of its own.

The mace floated gently over an altar that had a triangular socket for something.

Alex put his hand over the socket and filled the hole with his flesh, but it did nothing.

Looking around the room one last time, he grabbed the mace and pulled. A force opposed him, but it wasn’t strong enough. As soon as the mace left the altar, the platform clicked, and the concentric rings around it rotated. One of them rose over Alex’s head, forming a force field, trapping him inside. Four pillars rose around the platform from the pit, each with a white crystal at the tip.

A set of concentric golden circles gently floated from the ceiling and stopped once they were at the same level as the pillars. The pillars started to glow, each shooting a beam of light into the center of the golden floating device. The circles began to spin faster and faster until they became a blur.

The stone arch ahead started to glow, and a portal that led outside opened up. Alex spotted the metal turret on the roof of the monastery. The turret had a similar design to the golden circles that floated above its head. A beam of light shot from the rapidly rotating golden circles, hitting the turret. The turret, humming to life, turned around 180 degrees, and the big crystal at the tip moved down. It started to glow as it was charged by the golden ray.

Alex quickly started to siphon the force field, but no matter how much he absorbed, the field didn't falter. He shifted his arms into hammer fists and banged against it, but still no result. Each time his fists hit the force field, all their momentum was stopped.

"There is still a way out," Alex said as he looked at the almost charged turret.

Alex gripped the mace and consumed it.

Everything warped around him, and he found himself sitting in the middle of a meadow. The sky was blue with tinges of red and pink, like when the sun is about to set or rise.

He looked at his hand and realized he was wearing the same clothes he used to wear back in his world.

"Hello there," a gentle voice said. Alex turned around and raised his gaze. A gigantic man stood before him. His visage radiated the bright shine of the morning sun, and his hair burned with flaming orange-red fire. His face was handsome, his body young and slender yet muscular. He wore colorful robes of reds, pinks, and yellows. A red and golden sash embraced the god's waist. He wore golden sandals and floated.

"So you must be Lathander," Alex said. After consuming the memories of the inquisitors, he found out that the Astral Prism wasn’t the only relic they were searching for.

"The one and only," the man said with a charming smile.

"Do you intend to punish me for absorbing your blood?" Alex asked.

Lathander's radiant face darkened, akin to a solar eclipse.

"What you did is a great sin," Lathander said in a deep voice. Alex felt as if his soul was being crushed by his words. "But it’s not a big problem," Lathander continued, his voice returning to normal with a gentle smile on his face.

"You don’t need to be scared of me, Alex. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have wasted my time arranging this meeting," Lathander said as he sat before him, waving for Alex to do the same.

"You know my name," Alex said, sitting before the giant.

"I know more than that. I know everything about you."

Alex didn’t respond, just looked ahead at the beautiful landscape.

They sat like that for who knows how long.

"What do you think of me?" Alex finally asked.

"You are a poor child, carrying the sins of a man who is long dead."

Alex took a deep breath.

"Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I never regained His memories."

"From death, life," the god whispered. "You 'died' once and have been reborn. You are not the same as Him, and deep down you know that. But despite that, you keep tormenting yourself for the mistakes of someone else. I wanted to meet you because I saw the potential in you," the giant man said as he put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "There is always another dawn."

The surroundings shifted again, but this time Alex found himself back on the platform, the pillars turned off and the force field gone . The only light came from the portal leading outside. Alex looked at his hand. The blood of Lathander was gone. Taking a deep breath he stepped through the portal.

END OF ACT 1