"Okay. So, hear me out. I figure it's more or less like this." I began. Shuffling to the right to keep away from one of walls growing serpentine heads. The many new mouths snapping at me aggressively.

"The world beyond the Veil is not like our material world. What with all its rules and… well… rules. It's not stable."

Mercy shuffled as well. Just in time to keep away from the floor space transforming into an open maw.

"You don't say." She began.

Frigid the lobster was much more succinct.

"This is known. Coffin Tyrant."

"Right. So, what I think is happening is that Pandemonium is currently reacting to what is going on outside."

The Shifter Savant stayed still. As if waiting for the punchline to a bad joke when he wasn't allowed to leave.

"Yes. So, stop it. Now that you have regained your Psy regeneration."

"Already did my giant of a friend. But I wasn't talking about my little kerfuffle back in that dimension. That universe took so much of the raw stuff of chaos up the cloaca that every new living thing that crawls out of the primordial soup is going to have at least three levels in Telepath upon conception."

I drew a breath and shuffled a bit further along to stay away from the skinless thing on fire, currently running down the halls while screaming in naked terror.

"What I was talking about was all the new talent running around."

Frigid Bloodline and Benevolent Mercy turned to look at the skinless thing as it rounded a corner.

"Not him. Her. It. Whatever it is. I'm talking about all the new high-Tier Telepaths running around with their new Veiled Princes and their new Domains over here."

"Those you have boosted." The lobster exclaimed. His voice changing pitch for the first time.

"I see. I did not foresee this kind of side-effect. But, no. New Masters pop up every now and again. The multiverse is vast, and the talents therein are many and varied. New species are brought into the fold every passing standard year and their talents join the older ones in the forever race. Most will not make it, but in the grand scheme of things, enough reach the 6th Tier and create Domains that this should not be happening."

"Ah. You are correct in that. Only, those you reference do so naturally. Under the watchful eye of the System and the Divines on this side of the Veil. Also, they don't do it all at once. Unlike…"

"The humans you have boosted." Mercy interrupted. Her ape-like face growing more somber. "Or those your Veiled-Prince is still boosting even now."

I offered her a simple smile. A bit of admonishment on my own features.

"You saw that huh?"

"I had my own Veiled Prince follow your own." She explained. "She is much more suited towards keeping out of sight and out of mind."

"Merged your Veil abilities with your stealth abilities did you? Oh golly, that sounds like a right old pain in the ass to deal with."

"I have not been killed by the few enemies I have unfortunately made in all my years. No."

"In my defence. I have picked out a very select group of people I know I can trust to level past the 5th. I have not been raising all of humanity willy-nilly. Not past the 3rd anyway. I know how to be responsible."

"A species where the weakest members are all on the 3rd Tier does not sound like a responsible use of your powers." She commented.

"On the contrary my furry lady! It is the height of responsibility! Because anyone who takes a look at my people will certainly think twice about picking a fight with them! And by extension, with me. And stopping idiots from picking a fight with me while also protecting humanity sure does sound like responsible behavior to me!"

"His logic does make sense." Frigid quipped from the side. "I do the same thing."

"You turn your body into a cryo-chemical bomb, clone yourself a trillion times, and then bum-rush whomever you're fighting." She countered. "You thinking it is a good idea does not inspire confidence."

"Has anyone made war on my clan in the last five hundred thousand years?" He asked her.

When she didn't give a reply, he continued.

"For a young species, with a relatively young Savant, I would say we did very well for ourselves."

He stopped for a second.

Turning his claws and looking at them from different angles. Lighting crackling from pincer to pincer as he opened and closed them.

"I cannot find fault in his logic. I would have done the same thing in his place. Why, I was a Groktel. An honored sacrifice bomber for my clan before my kind was integrated into the System. Self-sacrifice for the greater good is ingrained in my kind. In my species. In my blood. If one could deter enemies without resorting to violence in the first place, then that must surely represent the greater good. Now that he has regained his Psy to some degree and given me more Types, I cannot say I would not spread this gift to others."

"Thank you, Frigid Bloodline."

"Do not mind me, Coffin Tyrant. Please go on with your explanation."

"Right." I nodded. "So, what's going on is that a bunch of people are getting enough influence beyond the Veil to get their own Domains here in Pandemonium. Which is leading to the borders in Pandemonium to get all twisted up in and around themselves like crumpled paper. So much so that some of them are bleeding out into each other and into already established Domains. Like mine."

"Or like those of the blessed Divines." Frigid Bloodline spoke softly.

Mercy turned to look at him. Appearing as if she had just heard a small child running up to her and saying that spaghetti fell from the sky in heaps. But then something clicked inside of her and all the confusion vanished.

She turned to me.

"That is why Singing Metals has not killed you yet." She nodded to herself. Finally processing the implications of mystery which had been galling her.

"That is why none of the Divines have killed you yet. They are all the stuff of Psy and energy and chaos. One with their Domains. Instability on this scale would de-stabilize them to the point where they cannot materialize."

"They actually still can, just not at full strength." I corrected. Donning a sly-smile as I did so. "I have not been boosting all those people just for the protection of humanity after all. And not even those masses across all the many Earths humanity has conquered can compare to what my new Savant friends have managed."

"But I do not have a Domain." Frigid Bloodline complained. "I cannot even fully grasp my new Telepath powers. Though I can sense the Projector ones easily enough."

"That is because we are here in Pandemonium." I explained.

Then I waved my arms about the barren sea-side cave filled with frozen-over puddles.

"And this actually is your Domain. It formed around us as soon as I boosted you. That's how we escaped from the sudden collapse of the last place we were."

The small red crustacean took a few moments to process that information. Then he too looked around some more.

"I had heard that Domains were reflections of their creator's hearts and spirits."

"When they aren't slowly collapsing and reforming around the edges with a couple thousand other Domains." I corrected. Pointing at the thing which had been on fire.

"That would have been one of your Intruders rounding the corner."

"Ah!" He exclaimed suddenly. "That explains it. I thought he looked familiar."

"That thing looked familiar?" Mercy sounded concerned.

"Yes. My family was a warrior bloodline within our clan." He went on. "Self-sacrifice was our duty and what we were bred and raised to do. From ancient times, my species fought off the super-predators of our world with deterrence. With many dying so as to make a fight a losing prospect. In times of old, we fought with pincers alone. Swarming over our predators in the dozens and hundreds. When we grew civilized, we only did so in groups of three or four. Imbibing deadly toxins and letting ourselves be eaten alive. So that only a few had to die to fell a giant which might have destroyed the clan. When we developed our technology, we simply shot them, but our wars grew ever more heated in turn."

He clicked his mandibles in something that might have been nostalgia.

"That thing was a Drosfor. One of the gene-altered monsters the Grafel Empire bred for war. My own uncle died protecting the fort in which I was stationed. Rushing the thing with a belly and backpack filled with explosives."

He stopped again. And I got the impression that if he could cry, he would be doing it right now.

"I cannot remember my uncle, as I was young when it happened. But I clearly recall the Drosfor. They, and the faces of the Grafel Empire's nobles after I skinned them and displayed them on my mantlepiece."

"Oh. So that's where all the wails of despair are coming from!" I mused out loud. "I was wondering about that."

I turned my head to incline my ears. Making a show of being interested and apologetic at the same time.

Meanwhile, I was also giving thanks to Buddha that I was able to sway this crusty old butter dish to my side without too much effort. While I didn't think he'd be as hard to fight as the Dragon or the Drake, I doubted he would have gone down quite as easily as the Moving Mountain. No matter what he himself might think.

That kind of suicidal desperation tended to lead to surprising and creative means of handling problems after all. Something I myself knew full well from personal experience.

"Very well. Never mind the scenery. I will change it when I have more time and this realm of mine is more stable."

"I'm sure you will." Mercy sniffled. "Let us depart then. I tire of this place. That and many more battles await us in the wider Labyrinth."

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"Yeah. And that's the problem my lady." I stopped her. "We can't leave because none of the usual routes are stable. Something you yourself know. I assure you, I do not have some hidden ace up my sleeve that will get us out of this predicament any time soon."

A statement that wasn't exactly true, but I'd rather save my little surprise for Singing Metals and there was no guarantee she wouldn't find out what I'd done if we ended up being barfed out into the Labyrinth. That and there was a very real chance she or some other Divine might rush in and follow us out. Which would be less than ideal as far as outcomes go.

"We will just have to go about and step around each individual Domain in order to find one that's stable enough to leave." I explained once more. "And by doing so, we might start to run into some awkward situations."

"Why is that?" Frigid Bloodline asked.

"Because the best chance we'll get will be found within what is left of his Domain." She explained. "Or mine. If it is us, with our experience, we might be able to stabilize our realms enough so that we are able to leave with all our pieces in the right place."

"Very well." The fanatical lobster said afterwards. "Lead on my new ally. I will follow and care for our rear line as if you were one of my own clan."

That was about as close to pledging his full undying support as he was likely to get, so I nodded and thanked him once more for his assistance.

We moved deeper into the cave, past different turns and twists where the walls crumbled in on themselves and revealed different surprises.

From rows of jagged teeth to slobbering jaws and blinking, bloodshot eyes.

From reaching arms and tentacles to pincers clicking and clacking around.

From bursts of green fire to swelling globes of darkness that seemed to pause and stare at us before then vanishing into empty air.

Then the air itself began to grow tinted. Shades of green and yellow and red and purple taking turns in dyeing the walls and the puddles beneath us or else converging into new colors no human would have been able to perceive.

It got so bad that I myself was starting to feel uncomfortable myself. Meaning any other person would have been on the verge of collapsing.

I tried to use my [Omniscience] once more and came up with only static. The buzzing of a billion flies growing louder and louder in my mind, before they were all drowned together by the sounds of water crashing against a stony shore.

I focused some more and got back a series of wheezing and grunting sounds. As if the entire cavern and all the other realms outside of it were struggling to devour me whole.

Then we wandered further and the colors became more pronounced. Until we reached a point where there wasn't a single spot on the ground, walls or ceiling that wasn't growing some kind of living limb.

"Right. I think we've reached the edge of this place now." I muttered. "Any more steps and we'll be out in the open Pandemonium."

"While the winds of chaos are rampaging unchecked." Mercy groaned. Slapping her own face with exasperation. "How did I let myself get dragged into this?"

"Because you know I win in the end and you wanted to make a difference on the winning team." I reminded her.

"How very practical." The lobster spoke. "I misjudged you, Benevolent Mercy. I must admit I believed you too soft to survive and protect your clan's best interests. I am glad I was wrong."

"I want to protect everyone's best interests." She snapped. "Not just those of my own species."

"If you say so." He responded in a flat voice. "I suppose I do not and cannot know what motivates you. My apologies."

"Friends, we are here on the precipice." I reminded them. "We must be ready to face whatever is on the other side."

"I am ready." Frigid Bloodline answered me promptly. "I have been ready for whatever comes from the moment I felt the flow of new power. Let us go and face whatever comes with courage."

Mercy sighed. But nodded at me.

"Let's get this over with."

I nodded back and turned to the thin membrane bleeding black ooze. The very edges of the realm.

I pressed a single finger into the opening. Then I pressed it in further and pulled it out.

"No changes." I told them. "That's something I suppose."

I plunged my whole hand in next. Then my other arm and one of my legs. Then I pressed my whole body through.

I blinked and saw nothing. Feeling a dull pressure and a dull throbbing on all sides, but otherwise being unharmed.

I sensed more than heard the other two coming up behind me, and so I called on my [Unrelenting Force] to grab hold of both them and myself. Sending us flying through the empty fullness of the upside-down logic to be found here.

"It will be A-okay." I assured the both of them in the language of the Kenari.

We were almost eaten alive seventeen times over the course of the next few minutes. Or hours. Or days. It was always hard to tell in here at the best of times. When I was in my own Domain.

As things stood right now, there was a very real chance that I and my new allies could find ourselves popping out into a re-built Kenari home-world. With the Dragon and co waiting merrily for us.

It wasn't a likely outcome, but the fact that I could not rule it out was disconcerting.

We rounded up another, well corner would not be an accurate description. Another cloud of fleshy goo that materialized and de-materialized while switching positions relative to all the other walls of fleshy goo next to it. When suddenly, we were vomited out into another stable section within the realms of Pandemonium.

"Finally." I sighed with relief. "Was worried we weren't going to make it for a second there."

"What are you talking about? We just left my new realm?" The little Savant next to me spoke up.

I looked at him. He looked up at me. His little crab eyes unblinking.

"Sure." I said succinctly.

Then I looked at my other new friend.

Benevolent Mercy looked slightly better than before. In that all of her hair had been singed off. Along with her skin. And the new skin and fur that grew back thanks to me giving her the Shifter Type came in a lustrous shade of reddish-black. With no hint of white.

"My lady. I'm glad you managed the effort. I think you're really getting used to your new powers. In record time too."

"Fuck you Tyrant." She stopped and coughed up a lung. An actual lung. Complete with blood vessels attached to it.

"You say that, but I bet you're happy you got to grow another one right away."

"He is correct." Frigid Bloodline backed me up. "Self-sacrificing charges and perilous journeys are always made much easier with high-level Shifter abilities. It is known."

"It is known." I echoed him.

She hacked up another lung. Though this one came in pieces.

I looked down at the mess and noted several worms with hooked mouths slithering within the fleshy bits.

"Fall Apart." I commanded. And they did.

"Hmn?" Lobster man piped up again. "Strange. Where did they come from? And how did that command work?"

"They're Intruders." I answered. "I can't really command them to die because they're made up of Psy and emotions and echoes of emotions. They don't have a concept of death. But they can fall apart and be remade into different kinds of Intruders later."

"Why was she affected while neither of us were? She is still the stronger Telepath between you two. And I just got the Type."

"Honestly, just plain old bad luck. You never really know what's going to happen when you take a leap of faith like that. For all I knew, we could have all been separated and scattered all over the multiverse. Or we could have all died and be forced to re-grow in our own respective ways."

"This body cannot be destroyed." The small Savant said resolutely. "It is the only one who has received the boosts. All the others must merge into this one."

"Is that how it works?" I asked. Genuinely curious.

"I gain all the advancements of all the merged bodies. But I stopped advancing a long time ago." He spoke. "This body is the only one with any gains to give. It must make it out alive."

I nodded again.

"I'll do my best." Then I turned to our other partner. "Ready to move along lady Mercy?"

"My stomach." She wheezed in pain. "They're still in my stomach. I can't get them out."

I was about to move, but Frigid Bloodline beat me to it. Sending a claw into her midsection and ripping out all of her guts in one swift motion. Too fast for the human eye to follow unless powers were involved.

Her insides re-grew. Worm free once again.

"I have never suffered such indignities before." She complained loudly. "Certainly not on this side of the Veil. By the Divines, anyone else would have been disintegrated outright."

She was right, of course. But there was no point in following up with that dreadful train of thought now that we were relatively safe.

"I'm not sensing a safe passage out of this place." I told the others. "But I am sensing a passage. As in, a single one. I'm fairly sure it doesn't lead to the rest of the Labyrinth either. But I am sure it leads to a place that might lead to the outside."

"Stop." Mercy snapped. Suddenly looking alarmed.

"Man those Shifter abilities are not letting you control your body nearly as well as they should. You did get the Drake's powers right? Most of them?"

"Shut up!" She bellowed again. Her big ape eyes wide with terror.

"We should not be here!"

"Why do you say that?" The lobster asked. Confused as to the sudden change of mood.

"Because this one of those places that are always stable. Because they were created in tandem a long time ago. To bind several Domains together for a purpose. And there are things here that are supposed to keep outsiders out."

I eyed Mercy as she began hyperventilating.

"Even ones as powerful as us three."

"Ah." The small creature exclaimed without much alarm or emotion. "Yes. I have heard of the System Anchors. Placed around the other side of the Veil when the System first came up."

He looked around briefly.

"I am surprised a few of the original Divines didn't immediately manifest to expunge us from existence."

"They too are somewhat busy at the moment." I clarified. "And besides, these places only work if all the Domains are tied together at the same time. So long as I refuse to let my side of the knot be re-tied, there's no point in trying to put the bloody thing back together. Even if other Divines try to take my place, the original framework was not meant for them. It wasn't built with them in mind."

I allowed a sly smile to bloom on my face then.

"I'm sure you recall how Moving Mountain grabbed a hold of the Psy around her. Despite only having Shifter as a Type. This is something similar. An advanced application of powers not strictly within the System's purview. I know you are familiar with what I speak of."

"I am. But I was told you were still in the 9th Tier. How?"

"I am still in the 9th right now. Out there. In the present." I clarified. "But as you can no doubt surmise. Past, present and future tend to be a little convoluted on this side."

Mercy was still shivering. All her newly-grown fur standing on ends as she reared up. Like an animal waiting for a predator to make the first move or to flee.

"Let's get out of here already!" She yelled. Her shrieks carrying and echoing and bouncing along the black diamond walls.

"Your wish is my command, my lady." I assured her. "But I would feel a lot safer if we went in there, rather than risking another trip out in the depth of Pandemonium. I can't even feel my Veiled Prince anymore. Nor any of my Intruders. I don't even want to think about what must be happening in my own Domain right now, so that way is a bust in any case."

"Do we know where this passage will lead?" Frigid asked from the side.

"Probably some moment in time. Captured here for all eternity. A time-loop playing back some kind of event. Relating to one of the original creators of the System."

I shrugged.

"Probably mine to be honest. Because I was the one who snapped the connection shut on my end. But it'll probably be a solidifying collection of half-remembered memories in any case. And I remember all my life in perfect detail now. So, I'll hardly be surprised. We can just go right in, stabilize that section a little bit more on the other side and then be home free to get back to reality."

"This plan sounds convoluted." Frigid complained.

"This whole place is convoluted my new friend." I informed him politely. And the more you think something makes sense, the less sense it ends up making. Trust me, I learned that lesson the hard way."

We ended up taking another two minutes to convince Mercy to go with us. Which was odd because you'd have thought the worms materializing in her insides would have been enough to convince her we were right.

Then, we made it. Past a single possible passage in the infinite possibilities of the world beyond the Veil.

And we landed neatly in a heap. Outside my old childhood home.

"Nice. Another familiar setting." I breathed a sigh of relief. Moving to summon my Psy and open another hole to get us all out of here.

Nothing came forth.

"Oh poo." I sighed again. Getting up and already coming to grips with the fact that this was going to be one of those days after all.

"I do not like this word. Poo." Frigid quipped.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on. We came in here as real people and this world is filled with semi-sentient echoes of real people. If I don't have my powers, then the other me here has them. Because some version of me has to have them or else I would be the most real one by default."

"Nothing you just said makes any kind of sense."

"No." I allowed. "I suppose it wouldn't for a man so used to cloning himself. Okay. Look at this through my eyes. There must be powers attached to Sully. And there must be at least one Sully with powers or else the Domain crashed, the System can never be repaired and it ends up not existing in the first place. So, if I don't have my powers, then another Sully has them. Let's go find the other Su…"

I hadn't even finished my sentence when I heard the front door swinging open. Revealing a teenage version of me. Complete with a peach-fuzz mustache.

He looked straight at us. More specifically, at me. With my big frame and stark-white suit.

"Okay." I exclaimed. "This day is already getting better. Do you have all the memories?"

He blinked. Then he put his face into his hands and wept.

"Dad." He called into the house. "I think I need more meds. I'm seeing more of them now."

I shook my head in confusion.

"More of them?"

I looked around the empty street.

"What are you…"

That's when I saw him.

The form of a silver-haired human female hovering over this version of me. Whispering aggressively into his ear.

"You should do drugs Sully." The Seeking Drake purred. "You should do lots of drugs and drive your dad's car at the same time! It's a thrill I tell ya! A real thrill! Then you should start lighting fires around trash cans! It makes you feel like a real powerful man I tell ya!"

The Drake started chuckling. Other me started crying.

I cleared my throat.

"Oh! Sully! How great of you to join us!" He exclaimed with genuine delight. "I mean, I was starting to think you had forgotten about me when you never followed up! Lady Agony even went and brought in three other Masters and blew the whole Species-City into Pandemonium and I still didn't see hair nor hide of you!"

"I was busy." I responded cooly.

"Yes." He said. Nodding in a deceptively human fashion. "I can see that. Hello Benevolent Mercy. You are looking much younger these days."

He flashed her a predatory grin.

"About three hundred years younger to be exact. My but Sully does work miracles doesn't he?"

He turned his attention to the smaller Savant.

"And is that Frigid Bloodline I see?"

"Seeking Drake." The other man stated.

"How did you get him on your side!?" He asked. "Actually. Never mind that. I already know."

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