NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: [3]: Prologue (III)
In a certain dimension.
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"Humanoid Phrases are the ones who lead the others, classified into ranks: low, medium, and high. There is a reason why these invaders are attacking worlds," explained Yog-Sothoth, while waving his hand and projecting a disturbing image.
In the image, a crystal humanoid led an army of millions, marching against a defenseless world.
Through the image, legions of those crystal beings could be seen moving across a seemingly infinite space, a dimension reminiscent of a kaleidoscope extending endlessly.
This was the dimensional rift, the barrier that separated the countless parallel worlds.
Suddenly, the crystal humanoid stopped and raised its hands, making a grasping gesture that opened a breach in space, connecting it to another world.
The low- and medium-ranked Phrases began biting the opening, following the orders of the humanoid Phrase, widening it so that the high-ranked Phrases could pass through.
What followed was a spectacle of chaos and destruction.
The low-ranked Phrases lunged at the corpses, searching for something in their hearts, as if longing to find a treasure, despite being emotionless machines.
The humanoid Phrases didn't stop there; they ordered the others to conduct the same search.
Finding nothing of value, they simply left, leaving behind a decimated civilization.
Aiden watched the war with a single word echoing in his mind: terrifying.
It was, indeed, terrifying...
"Are you wondering why these beings are invading civilizations?" asked Yog-Sothoth, noticing Aiden silently contemplating the images.
Aiden nodded, confused.
The actions of these invaders seemed to follow no logic; they sought neither resources nor territory, merely leaving desolate worlds in their wake.
What one expects from an invader is a reason, a motive: hunger for power, need for resources. But from these images, it was clear that this was not what they were after.
Were they simply evil?
That was the question tormenting Aiden as he observed those crystal beings.
"The Phrases invade worlds in search of their queen, who left them behind thousands of years ago. They are simply following the traces she leaves in her wake," explained Yog-Sothoth.
"Queen? It makes sense that they would have one, but what does that have to do with invading all these worlds and, worse, with what they do to the corpses, like opening them and searching their hearts?" Aiden frowned, unable to get the image of those monsters killing innocent people out of his head.
"To understand why they do that, I need to tell you from the beginning. It's not such a long story," replied Yog-Sothoth, preparing to recount the tale.
"The Queen of the Phrases fell in love with a dimensional traveler who arrived in her world by pure chance. At first, they didn't get along, but blah, blah, blah... over time, they fell in love. The queen grew so fond of him that she decided to escape with him."
"She thought her subjects would choose another king without issue, as she had been on the throne for thousands of years and there were many candidates among the humanoid Phrases. But she never imagined her race would go to such extremes to pursue her," continued Yog-Sothoth.
Aiden frowned, thinking that the queen was either too irresponsible or perhaps naive to believe that her race, after being ruled for so long, wouldn't go to such extremes.
"But what does that have to do with invading worlds? If they didn't find their queen in the world they arrived in, would they simply destroy it out of rage? And why would they check the hearts of all the people they killed?" Aiden asked, frustrated by the confusion.
"Well... that brings us to the true culprits of these invasions. Although the queen was irresponsible, she never used the Phrases to invade other worlds. The culprits are the humanoid Phrases who desired the queen's power to become the new king. They commanded the low-, medium-, and high-ranked Phrases to search for their queen in different worlds," explained Yog-Sothoth.
"I see... now I understand a little more. The humanoid Phrases were just selfish bastards who wanted the queen's power for themselves from the start," said Aiden, his expression dark and angry.
Every time he thought about the innocent people dying for such selfish reasons, something inside him broke, and rage drove him to want to destroy those monsters.
"But I still don't understand why the Phrases do that with the corpses. I mean, why check their hearts?" Aiden asked, unable to make sense of such strange behavior.
'Is it some kind of fetish for these monsters?' he wondered.
"The reason they search within the humans and other living beings they kill is because the queen is inside one of them," explained Yog-Sothoth, as Aiden listened, completely stunned.
"Before leaving her home world, she had to transform her body into an orb to escape the sight of all races. Then she entered the dimensional rift and arrived in another world. That orb inserted itself into the heart of a human to recover strength, as transforming into that form to escape had left her quite weak. The queen could possess the human her orb entered, but she chose to regain her strength slowly without harming that person."
Yog-Sothoth let out a sigh and looked at Aiden before continuing.
"The queen didn't want to kill the human or living being that hosted her. She simply waited in silence until that person's life ended naturally from old age. Then, unconsciously, after regaining some strength, she would travel to another world and enter another host to continue recovering and rebuild her body."
Aiden also sighed.
"I see... The queen was too pure and innocent; that's why she chose to recover her strength without harming anyone. But what she didn't realize was that this action left traces her subjects would follow. Even though she didn't mean to cause harm, she did so unconsciously."
"Exactly," Yog-Sothoth nodded.
"The queen, in that state, is like she's asleep and only acts according to what she decided with her lover. He is also filled with guilt, as he cannot communicate with the queen while she sleeps. The only thing he can do is fight as many Phrases as possible and save as many as he can from the invasions. Luckily, he's quite strong and has managed to save many people by warning them beforehand and helping them."
"That world you're going to protect as part of the deal has already been destroyed once. However, with the help of the queen's lover, who fought against the Phrases long ago, some kingdoms managed to survive and rebuild their civilization. Although it's quite underdeveloped now, the Phrases will return since the queen is regaining her strength in that world once again," explained Yog-Sothoth.
"I understand the story of these beings a bit better now. The queen and her lover only wanted to have an adventure together, but because of the humanoid Phrases who desired the queen's power for themselves, these tragedies happen," said Aiden, clenching his fists as he looked at Yog-Sothoth with determination in his eyes.
"I'll do my best to protect that world with everything I've got. At least for these 100 years, I'll break my bones, sweat blood if necessary, but I'll fulfill my part of the deal. You won't regret choosing me."
Yog-Sothoth nodded with satisfaction and smiled. "If you've already made your decision, then let's make the contract."
Aiden nodded and waited for the cosmic entity's actions, ready to accept his destiny.
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End of Chapter
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A/N:
Here's the third chapter of the day.
This storyline of Aiden versus the Phrases takes place 100 years before the start of the light novel and anime "Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni."
It's an isekai anime full of clichés, where the protagonist, Mochizuki Touya, dies from a lightning strike sent by God, and then that same God grants him powers and reincarnates him in a fantasy world with a super-powerful smartphone.
Have you ever seen it?
This arc will be short, where Aiden becomes powerful. I'll try to move through it quickly, but I want to explain how Aiden attained his strength so that when he travels to another world, you can understand his abilities more or less.
By the way, I'll upload Chapter 4 in a few minutes.
I'll give the protagonist a magic based on a light novel from one of my favorite anime series.
Guess if you want!
Also, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me if the grammar is okay since English isn't my first language, and I'm translating the story using different tools like ChatGPT.
Thanks!
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