Chapter 116 – John Newman and the Chamber of SecRats.

Floor five of the Skaven Under-Empire.

His enemies were still the same, a bunch of small Rat-men with worn-down equipment in old drapes and robes. They had just finished dispatching a group of them and John was feeling alright with his progress so far. Alright. Not satisfied. How could he be satisfied when he existed in relative safety and the love of his life was with… her?

The Gamer’s swift steps brought him around a corner. At the end of a short corridor, a giant door stared back at him. To be exact, the depiction of a horned rat did. The head of the beast sat in the middle of a pentagram. On the stone, its bone-white colour stood out immensely and in the sockets red gemstones glowed. Four greyish horns protruded from the skull, each of them ending at a point of the satanic star. The mouth of the creature filled the last of the five points.

This was most certainly new. John accepted and gave away the Sandman’s Key (not like he had an alternative offering). If the turnout was even a fraction of the Bonus Level it would be worth it. The Sandman’s Key, an ordinary rusty key in appearance, hovered in the air and up to the horned rat’s head. Then the key vanished. The pentagram turned counterclockwise once, making it appear like the depicted creature broke its own neck to accommodate him. The stone door parted with ancient grinding.

“You stay here,” John commanded Aclysia and the elementals. Gaia was consistent with the promises of safety, at least, and he wanted everyone to get ready to continue immediately.

The room was small. Small enough for the four coal basins in the corners to illuminate everything. A fifth one was hanging over a throne. It was a similar construction to the one the Lower Warlords were always sitting on, simple grey stone, but much larger and of higher quality. The boring grey rock was smoothly carved and polished. On top of the throne sat the creature depicted on the door.

The three-metre-tall being had a muscular, naked body with short black fur covering most of it. Like the image, he had four horns whose tips, along with the nose of his bare skull, invoked the image of a pentagram. A rat tail extended from his back, slung around the backrest of his throne and then came to a flopping rest on the floor. The empty sockets of his skull were suddenly filled with two red lights. John knew they rested on him.

“Ah, an end to my long, long wait – to boredom and missed opportunities. You would be the Gamer, John Newman, I presume?” The horned rat asked in a voice that was equally deep and inhumanely rat-like, squeaky and high pitched. Occasionally, John felt like he heard the sounds of elongated crow cawing or the barking of dogs.

“How would you know?” John asked. He vaguely recalled sporadic mentions of a Rat in the group chat. Was this the very same entity or just an elaborate 40k reference?

The horned rat shrugged. “I am a being of Gaia. She offered me an opportunity and I took it. The knowledge she shared with me does let me know the basics of your situation.” The skull creaked, exposed teeth shifting and perhaps even growing as they filled out an undead grin. “I have been watching you slaughter the images of my stupid children with glee, Gamer.” The Horned Rat chuckled. “Maybe, maybe you will face my actual children one day. I hope they will not be your enemies at that time.”

John shifted his weight back and forth, curiosity fighting his urge to move on and get stronger. In the end, he decided to just ask his questions first. “So, these are not actually real?” he had assumed so, but he wanted confirmation.

“No.” The creature’s teeth slowly returned to their previous position.

“But you are?”

“Yes. The difference is that I am a being that can travel between Illusion Barriers on its own. I am a God, although one most people rarely think about. Just use that Observe of yours and see for yourself.” He made an off-handed gesture. “Peek at all there is to see about this creature you see before you.”

Seemingly he spoke the truth. Those were some pretty bad combat Stats for his level. “The beings you humans create for sport and training are fundamentally different from us true Abyss-born creatures.” The Horned Rat kept explaining. “The unlucky ones break out into reality, to be eliminated by Gaia once they violate her rules. Smarter, luckier, or stronger ones escape their Natural Barrier of spawning, setting out to become a part of the Abyss. A capable few become gods and travel the flow of the world, the current that connects all Illusion Barriers. To kill time, in this world ruled by the Godslayer. Where we end up is often at Gaia’s whims.”

That explained Nathalia, the dragoness had just been sleeping and Gaia thought it a prime opportunity to put her in a chest in his dungeon. The RNG of this game was busted to no end. There was no way to ever know what was happening, one day he might be the hero to save a girl and the next moment that girl was murdering his girlfriend.

‘I have no time for this.’ John told himself and concentrated on the anger the echo of Thana’s laughter ignited in his heart. “Will you just keep speaking or is there something to this? I was promised some kind of reward.”

“Yes, yes, angry one, there is a reward.” The Horned Rat answered with a chuckle. He extended a hand and something very small materialized. He tossed it at John who barely caught it. A twenty-sided die now laid in his hands. “On an even number, you shall receive the number times 500 as Experience, on an uneven number you shall be granted that number in levels randomly distributed amongst your skills times two. Furthermore, if your roll is a 1 you shall lose a level but if you roll a 20 you shall gain one. You get three tries and you may pick whichever number you like the most. Now, throw the dice.”

The closed door behind John left him with no other choice but to oblige. The risk for this leading to a bad outcome for him was astronomically low. Three 1s was a chance so small it was not even worth considering. This whole thing was loaded in his favour.

John threw the die once. An eight. “Four thousand experience, not bad, not good, but not bad.” The Horned Rat commented, “Last I checked you were Level 44.”

Freezing up, the Gamer looked up, “Wait, how do you know that?”

“You think, think that you are the only one with information gathering magic?” the Horned Rat was amused. “I am a God of Knowledge, unlike Nathalia, I can see things of interest like this. You should learn to trust few, Gamer. It will be necessary when you begin handing out favours, rather than receiving them. Continue. Show me the luck of your hand.” The entity sounded more invested in this than John was.

John picked up the dice and threw it a second time, this time it landed on the number five.

“A bad roll, the lowest quarter.” The Horned Rat lamented for him. “10 Skillpoints spread randomly certainly isn’t bad, but you should really aim higher. Try throwing it with a spin, that’s a good trick.” John threw the God a very annoyed glance but all that did was make the Horned Rat chuckle. “You are of no threat to me, young one, not yet anyway and your goal is short-lived. Your anger and hatred for Thana will be gone in time.”

“What makes you so certain of that?” John growled as he threw the dice for the third time.

“Because I know her life, from birth, to rebirth and I see glimpses of the future and her completion. You will show her the truth, truth burning as pale as her skin.” His bone face creaked as it curved again into a demonic grin. The words of the God echoed in the chamber, shaking John to the core, shaking the whole floor of the dungeon, “Hear my words, John Newman for this is my prophecy:

You shall have met the Betrayer of all,
You shall have met the Betrayed by all,

A whisper in your ear,

You shall have awakened her burning rage,
You shall have awakened her true flame,

Makes your mind so clear,

You shall have seen the winds of regret,
You shall have seen the dust of red,

Whatever you may send,

You shall have known the lie itself,
You shall have known the schemer’s face,

It will not matter, the lie it shall,
your best friend, he will fall,

And after this prophecy comes to an end,
She shall ascend.”

As his words ebbed away the dice rolled over the stone floor and finally came to a halt. For a moment, the two of them just stared. The Horned Rat rubbed his chin, eyes turned inwards, as if he was contemplating what he himself had said. Then, suddenly, he clapped his hands. “A fifteen, that is WAY better, 30 Skillpoints randomly distributed are bound to get you something good.” It was odd to hear the interplay of sounds reduced to such a casual level, after what had just happened. “I assume you will take that?”

John just nodded, too busy with what else he had just witnessed. “What did you mean by all that?”

The Horned Rat laughed out loud as he started working some magic. Arc for arc, little arcane projectiles flew towards the Gamer, each granting him a Skill Level. “You will learn to never ask Gods of Knowledge this question, John Newman.” The door opened back up, the screeching of stone accompanying both the god’s amused tone and John being lifted in the air by the spell. “Like the tide, fate is uncontrollable in its entirety, but those that have enough information can predict many outcomes and those that understand many outcomes can nudge the base effects. All questions you ask me will be answered in a way that I deem helpful to my cause. We will see each other again one day, Newman.”

And with that he was thrown out of the Secret Room.