The Rubbish Realm

Interlude 1a

Interlude 1a
Continued from the scrolls of Basilius
If only that had been the end of Brady, if he had simply collapsed in the cave, if he hadn’t made the greatest and most horrific discovery in the history of the worlds, if he hadn’t dared to find what should not have been found. But there is far more to this tragedy.
There he was, on the ground, unconscious, with the most powerful artifact this world has ever seen at his fingertips. And it only kept crumbling. When he awoke, the artifact was waiting, yearning to corrupt his innocent soul with promises of power, riches beyond his wildest dreams. And the worst of it was it could actually deliver. “You’re back.”
It made no effort to conceal what it wanted. Brady felt its malevolence, how it wished to darken his soul to match the cave it had lain in for so long - and he liked it. Something about the purity of its darkness, the midnight nestled in its core, drew him in, and he smiled to himself, whispering “Manipulation goes both ways.”
If it heard, it didn’t react, instead chilling him to the core. “Mortal, are you? I can help you with that, mold you to rule the worlds for a thousand years… at least.”
“Worlds, plural?” The malicious grin never left Brady’s weary figure as adrenaline pulsed through him. How had he gone, in such a short time, from being nearly dead to nearly immortal? And better yet, why?
“I come from Perelandrea, the world below. Your new home.”
Magic? How could he resist? “What are we waiting for?”
And with that, the artifact whisked him away through an unseen portal, the caves walls seeming to ripple as they disappeared.
I told them they should have sealed the cave better…