Misadventures in the Multiverse

Chapter 38: The Emperor's Proclamation

A huge Multiversal Empire ship travels through the vortex between worlds to an unknown destination. Inside the ship, it is quite the buzz everyone is gathered in front of a platform waiting for something. Some of the higher-ranked officers begin to show up and take their seats on stage including The Old Man, and The Reaper close behind. The Reaper seems to have not escaped completely unharmed from the universe being reset as his new body is missing an arm, a bit of the remains seem to float near him like they are trying to reform, but the thing they are trying to reform no longer exists.

The Admiral stops to gawk at him for a moment. His uniform had much more decoration then before in the form of medals and other flashy things. Next to him was the shorter woman wearing a hood covering her body completely though what almost looked like animal ears or maybe horns too shape on the hood. "Well if it isn't the Empires' mutt such a shame what happened, and you just got your fancy new body too." The man mocked him. The Reaper seemed irritated by his presence, but one glare from Corvus stopped him from doing anything foolish.

"Don't be angry I've already been following what has been happening to you closely clearly a couple of traitors and a civilian were too much for you to handle. We should all know our limits." The Man shrugs his shoulders lording his superiority over him to The Reaper's annoyance. The Man quickly losses interest, and turns his attention to the old Man. "Sir allow me to hunt down these insects that have been giving you trouble. It's my duty to show the strength of the Empire to all." The Man suggested. The Doctor sighed not seeming to want to entertain this man any further. "That won't be necessary Fleet Admiral Marcus Novastride. They are irrelevant to our plans now they can do nothing." he walks away to find his seat not giving the man any more time to speak with him. "How rude." He smiled knowing that he was about to remove everyone's faith him soon says finding his seat for the time being.

Everyone settles down as The Emperor makes his appearance. He is surrounded by his honor guard the best foot soldiers in The Empire. They are dressed in all black like they are attending a funeral, equipped with the finest weapons. Everyone is in silence as he approaches the podium. The Emperor has not made a public appearance like this in some time. Cameras begin to focus on him live-streaming the event to other parts of the empire that can't leave their posts. 

"Children of the empire! I your leader Lucius Novastride am pleased to announce out plans to all of you. It is finally time for us to enact our greatest achievement. No doubt some of you have heard murmurs of it. We have decided to call it Project Deforestation, and what a fitting name that is." The Emperor's words were just what many in The Empire had waited to hear for a long while tired of the inaction. Lucius pauses for a moment as the crowd roars to life with cheers.

"This Multiverse is cruel and unfair. Many of you have lost people you loved, as have I, and not because we didn't have the strength or the technology to stop it, but because the multiverse demands that every reality happen. This is outrageous, and cannot stand to be any longer!" he says with passion and rage. "Now we finally have a chance to change that. We will go to the point of origin, and siphon The Tree's power and take it for our own, and then we will take out the very Thing who created it all in the first place. Because we have outgrown them, even with all its power it has become weak compared to its creation." He spits every line with venom meaning every word. The crowd has gone silent.

"I can't promise that all of you will live to see the day, but what I can promise is that your deaths will be the last, ever! You will have saved The Empire, and its people, your families, everything. No more uncertainty, and chaos. We will mold this place in our image, and no one will ever suffer hardship ever again!" He says ending his speech. At first, no one says a word unsure how to respond, but slowly the crowd begins to cheer once more ready to go to war. He grins from the reaction before turning to leave while they still clap, and cheer his name.

The admiral attempts to stop him. "My what a great speech my lord, though I think the meaning might truly be lost on the laymen." The guards look like they might attack him for daring, but The Emperor stops them with a hand wave. "It matters not nephew. Only that they are sufficiently motivated." Lucius answers. "Very true, though I can't help but be a little concerned about Corvus's end. Perhaps it's his hubris, but it seems like they are more of a threat than he leads on." Marcus says to him. "It seems like you have an issue with the man? You are not to pursue them." He says as he walks away only to stop once more to say more things. "However if they somehow interfere with our plans, destroy them. They no longer have any value to us." The Admiral seems to take that as permission to do as he pleases. "Well about that there is something I need to give you." He hand the flash drive to him he accepted it in his hand. "Insist you look at this. Preferably somewhere with no prying eyes." Marcus urges him. "Very well you don't often press things like this I will look at it later." He says walling away with his guards. Marcus just smirks.

The Woman with him lowers her hood showing her giant scaly hands, and dragon horns. Her hair is emerald green, and she has only sharp teeth. "So are we busting their heads in or what?" She asks him. "No need for such crude language you know better." He says frowning slightly. "Sorry sir." She said looking down. He pats her head smiling again. "It's alright, and to answer your question. We will have to get a little creative." A drone floating amongst the other cameras floats out of the ship returning to where it came from. It was Rebbecca's she recorded the whole thing and looked it over. She sends the video to Raleigh who is now safe on The Hopper no longer being chased by a cartoon animal.

"That's not good we don't have much time left, and this is pretty vague as far as how they are going to go about it," Raleigh said to Clyde. "We have at the most time to jump to one more world if we are going to also have time to meet up, back at Valhalla for a while that is." Clyde thinks for a moment not sure where to go it seemed his last choice was terrible where could they go now, who would help them, in a lot of ways he was overburdened with possible choices there were a ton of fictional characters that would not hesitate to help, but who was the best choice. "I think I got it."