Cyber Fair: The Weight of Eternity (Escape from Club Apophis, 36)

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STORYLINE: Jihoon panted with exhaustion. The burning baseball stadium slowly reformed around him, a nightmare refusing to end.

"Take my hand, and we may journey to a place where we can speak privately. Away from your shadow."

Jihoon looked down at the massive, armored hand extended to him. He didn’t move.

The Ruler chuckled, a sound like grinding stones. "Caution is wise. But surely you do not wish to remain in the ash?"

"And go where, exactly?" Jihoon asked, his voice raw.

"To my own sanctuary.” He tapped his forehead. "I possess a rare gift. I can enter the minds of others, and open my own in return. Do not worry. You will be shielded from your other self. You may exit at the time of your choosing." He offered his hand again.

Jihoon glanced back at Lathandro, who was beginning to twitch in the dirt. He was waking up. They would just fight again. And again. And again.

Taking a shallow breath, Jihoon reached out and grasped the offered hand.

The burning stadium blew away like ash.

The suffocating heat of the fire was immediately replaced by a biting, arid chill. The cold scraped through his torn clothes like broken glass. Jihoon spun around, shivering. They were standing on a dune of pale sand under a vast, star-choked sky. The edges of the Milky Way bled across the horizon. There was no city. No neon. No signs of civilization in any direction.

"Where are we?" Jihoon breathed, wrapping his arms around himself. "Is this place real?"

"Yes. It is real." The Ruler spoke calmly. "A memory of my home, hidden far below the sands.”

He clapped his hands once.

The sand trembled. A sleek obsidian hovercar condensed from the desert winds, assembling itself like blown glass, its gull-wing doors sweeping upward in total silence. A few yards ahead, the desert floor parted. A colossal, hidden hangar door groaned as it lifted toward the sky, revealing a shaft of pure darkness leading deep into the earth.

"Few have ever seen my private residence. Come,” the Ruler said, gesturing to the vehicle.

With nowhere to run and the cold biting through his ruined clothes, Jihoon climbed into the passenger seat. The Ruler sat beside him, and the hovercar glided forward, plunging into the subterranean abyss.

The massive hangar doors sealed shut above them. For a moment, the darkness was absolute.

Golden lights flared to life, revealing a colossal tunnel. The hovercar hummed through miles of carved stone corridor.

Jihoon spun in his seat. They were traveling down a causeway so large he wasn't sure where it ended. Towering limestone statues lined both sides of the corridor, illuminated by severe under-lighting.

As the hovercar sped past them, Jihoon noticed a pattern. The statues were all of the same person. Same posture. Same severe jaw. Same stern stare. Then he recognized the face. As they drove deeper, the artistic styles shifted.

"The statues," Jihoon stammered, his mind struggling to process the scale. "They are all you?"

"It is a tradition, begun long ago. Every decade, without fail. I commission a new likeness."

"Wait, what?" Jihoon stared ahead. The corridor had no visible end. The glowing statues blurred together. He gripped the door handle as the world began to spin. Acid welled up and stung his throat. "How old are you? Really?"

The Ruler kept his golden eyes fixed on the road ahead. "These monuments are no different from a modern photograph. A memory caught in stone, so I might remember who I was."

Silence filled the cabin.

Jihoon watched, paralyzed, as the fashion and art styles of the statues evolved outside the window. He saw the Ruler carved as an ancient pharaoh, then sculpted as a marble Greek god, then cast in bronze as a Roman conqueror. The materials changed to steel, then carbon fiber, and finally, towering holographic projections that flickered in the dark.

The air left his lungs as if a boulder had been dropped on his chest.

The hovercar finally slowed, gliding into a sprawling, subterranean cave. Rising from black sand stood massive pyramids of basalt, laced with glowing gold circuitry that pulsed like living veins.

The Ruler parked, and stepped out, his boots sinking onto the soft shifting black sand.

"Was it really necessary to show me all that?" Jihoon asked, climbing out on shaking legs. He eyed the ancient being warily.

"Yes," the Ruler said. He produced a clove cigarette and lit it. The scent of burnt spice drifted into the air, the embers flaring bright orange in the dim light. He exhaled a thin stream of fragrant smoke. "That causeway is your future, young Jihoon. I needed you to see the scope of eternity. Do you have a plan for your long life? These are the things we must discuss before I permanently bind your soul in the Opening of the Mouth ritual."

Jihoon shot up from his defensive slouch. "Stop playing games with me. That isn't funny."

The Ruler smoked calmly, looking utterly bored by Jihoon's panic. "It is not a jest."

"You watched me get beaten half to death from the bleachers and didn't move. Not to mention, you are literally a monster!” Jihoon yelled, the echo ringing off the pyramids. "Why should I trust anything you say?"

The Ruler held up one massive, armored finger. "Cursed. Not a monster. There is a difference."

He began to stroll towards the pyramids. Light beams shot up from their capstones to illuminate the vast volcanic chamber. It was so large that a dense fog hid the roof. Water seeped from the lava tube walls and collected into reflective pools below.

Jihoon scanned the cave. There was no other exit. He had no choice but to follow.

The cavern was utterly silent except for the soft splashes and the rhythmic pulse of the gold circuitry in the pyramid walls. No wind. No insects. Just the smell of clove smoke, dampness, and something older underneath it. It smelled like stone that had never seen the sun.

Jihoon stopped walking. He looked up at the nearest pyramid, flanked by two colossal statues of a jackal-headed god. It was taller than his university's main building. Taller than anything had a right to be underground.

"You are cursed, Jihoon. There is nothing you can do to change that fact. But you can choose for yourself how you wish to live with it. I faced this same reality once myself. My solution was to guide the world from the shadows. To uphold my ancient faith of Ma’at. Order. Balance."

Jihoon rubbed his aching head. He gazed at the immense neon-lit pyramid. "And what if I don't take this deal?"

As if his actions were a reply, the Ruler took a final drag of his cigarette, dropped it to the stone path, and crushed it beneath his boot.

Sweat dripped down Jihoon's back. The cave seemed to lean closer around them.

"My servant, Lucian, has claimed your other half," the Ruler finally said, turning to face Jihoon. "Lathandro is his child now. But your human half, the boy I speak to right now, remains unclaimed. Unanchored. I can offer you the power to combat Lathandro. I can ensure he never steals your body from you."

Jihoon’s shoulders slumped. The adrenaline of the fight finally drained away, leaving his bones feeling like lead. "I don't trust you. And I don't trust your offer. But go ahead. Tell me the price."

The Ruler’s golden eyes seemed to glow brighter in the dark.

"I will become your Master, just as Lucian is the Master of Lathandro. I will be the Order to his Chaos. This is the only way to balance the Apophis gift locked inside you before Lucian unleashes it upon the world." The ancient vampire extended his hand one final time.

"Say yes, Yoon Jihoon.”

I really loved the idea in this chapter, and being able to fuse Cyberpunk and Ancient Egypt!   ...The from pyramid is The Bearded Guy's Nova Citadel at Cyber Fair. I tinted its glow from cyber to gold. And the large pyramid in the back is the LORE's Cultist Temple, which I also tinted its golds. I love how both of them have a cyberpunk cult type of feel. I'm so happy I could show you them both.   ... The Ruler is wearing the Rodex Urbacifix jacket and pants at Cyber Fair. I got the black and gold one, but there are other color options you can choose.   ...From REKT X NEO is the amazing Beast Gauntlets. These aren't just for looks, they come with badass special effects and attacks. The punching the floor move and razzed giant hole in the ground is brilliant! Love it. Check out the animated clips pf the effects below.  ...The VR goggles are from SOLE and they come in wide range of color choices. They are unrigged and mod, so you can adjust and position how you want.   ...In the image below you can the sporty ShoeMinati XBakin shoes the Ruler is wearing. I used the black and then choose what shoelace color I wanted, but there are much more colorful and inventive color combinations you can purchase at Cyber Fair.

On him, The Ruler of the Night:
Jacket: Rodex - Urbacifix Jacket LegacyM [mesh](Cyber Fair)(199L)
Pants: Rodex - Urbacifix Pant Legacy [mesh](Cyber Fair)(199L)
Visor: SOLE - SA - Visor EDGE WALKER, Dirty [mesh](Cyber Fair)(359L)

Shoes: Shoeminati - xBakin - Black, LegacyM [mesh](Cyber Fair)(350L)
Armor: REKT X NEO - BEAST GAUNTLETS [mesh](Cyber Fair)(349L)
Hair: NO.MATCH - NO.BACKUP, male [mesh]

Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: Del May - DM Stand still 

Setting:

Small Pyramid: The Beared Guy - Nova Citadel [mesh](Cyber Fair)(299L)

Large Pyramid: LORE Cultist Temple [mesh]

Statue: meadowWorks Anubis Sandstone Statue [mesh](250L)

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky: