The Broken Gates

[Lord Durham]

Witchcraft isn't a thing for quite a few periods of Christianty. After all, magic does not exist and all power comes from God. Anything else is pagan heresy or ignorant villagers screaming about random shadows in the woods.

Could call them demons I suppose. They look like them, they use a lot of demonic imagery and it will become fairly apparent that rhey don't believe in God soon enough. But we'll see...

Actually, the term witch (wiccan) was first recorded around the 9th century. It just sounded better having the good Bishop shout 'Witchcraft!' instead of 'Wiccan!' Either way, it was just a comment about why the Church was so passive about what was going on around them. Something that Maccavity had an explanation for.

 

[HistoryDude]

My apologies about the unexpected hiatus! At least I got back before Chosenpai entered the game itself.

Aisling getting a spot in the chronicle is nice.

MSI decided to assert their authority violently! They can probably demand many things at this point, although the indiscriminate bombing probably didn't make them many friends. Why haven't they made demands yet?

Why do I feel like Ravilla could be a massive problem for MSI's attempt to establish a good relationship with the people that they're trying to uplift? She seems... impatient.

Wasn't Princess Aileann deliberately keeping some power from Dermot? I could see her trying to get MSI's aid in sidelining Dermot, even if it required acting as a femme fatale.

How many people saw Aisling's transformation, and what is going to be the general reaction to it? Will the reaction of the Church, the nobility, and the peasantry differ? How will the Norse see her?

How did Dermot get the Reality Perforator? Presumably it was given to him, but the main suspect for that would be Malum, and he shouldn't have crossed into this universe yet. If he did, why wasn't it mentioned?

I am now starting to wonder about another potential meta-story for @Macavity116 : The authAAR starts a very complex story involving different dimensions and times and then walks away from his forum-based stories for a few days. In the meantime, the readers (maybe with the aid of the characters?) change the plot and the authAAR is not sure how to resolve the chaos when that writAAR inevitably returns.

That sounds fun. It also echoes some of my ideas for Secret Future Projects (TM).

@Macavity116: There’s another shoe to drop?! What’s next? Lovecraftian monstrosities demanding worship?

Since all Macavity116 stories share a multiverse, we should see a few beings from the Shroud (Lovecraftian Stellaris). I wouldn't be surprised if other Lovecraftian elements appeared.

Does Macavity work better as Yog-Sothoth or as Azathoth?

 

[Macavity116]

Why haven't they [MSI] made demands yet?

Primarily because the game has crashed and isn't working right now.

How did Dermot get the Reality Perforator? Presumably it was given to him, but the main suspect for that would be Malum

Well, the list of suspects is very short. The only people who could have given Dermot the Reality Perforator are those who already know about The Great Lie. (The fact that they are fictional characters in a story)

So it could have been:

1. Cali D'Kara (main protagonist, Year of Hell)
2. Sarim den Iridar (minor antagonist, Year of Hell)
3. Jericho (main protagonist, The Stormbreakers)
4. Malum Ralpakin (greater-scope villain, Song of the Solitaire)
5. Ellex Camber (Main antagonist, Song of the Solitaire)
6. Pontenna Annora (Love interest, Song of the Solitaire)
7. Trig Shepminter (Main protagonist, Song of the Solitaire)

Since all Macavity116 stories share a multiverse, we should see a few beings from the Shroud (Lovecraftian Stellaris). I wouldn't be surprised if other Lovecraftian elements appeared.

You might want to widen your net. Just about every character from all of my previous stories is fair game right now.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

@Cali D'Kara - your thoughts on the whodunnit list?

 

[Macavity116]

Episode 2: The world of the gods, Wellspring of Chaos ===>​

The Broken Gates
Episode One: You barely understand your role in what lies ahead.

---

Marisol Reyes
Creator
Metro Manila, Luzon Island

​

Marisol Reyes was going to have a very full day.

She packed up her belongings, checked out of the hotel, and then made her way to the parking lot outside. She found her coworkers barely awake, drinking coffee as though it was the last beverage on Earth. Together, everyone piled into the van and the driver carried the team away.

The van dropped off Marisol and her coworkers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Marisol and her companions dropped off their gear at the employee baggage check-in area, and then reported to their duty stations.

Several hours later, Marisol clambered aboard an Airbus A380, prepared for the long day ahead, and put on her best customer service smile. Minutes later, the first passengers boarded the plane.

“Welcome to Asiana Airlines.” Marisol said. “My name is Marisol Reyes and I’ll be one of your flight attendants today. We hope you enjoy this direct nonstop flight to Detroit Metro Airport.”

It took eighteen and a half hours to fly from Manila to Detroit. Over the course of the journey, Marisol and her coworkers attended to the needs of two-hundred-fifty passengers, serving food, water, and providing what comforts they could in a pressurized steel cylinder. Babies cried, cranky women complained, someone came down with airsickness, old men rambled on about days gone by, young people asked for the Wi-Fi password.

Eventually the cabin lights dimmed. A few passengers asked for blankets and pillows, and then blissful sleep took nearly everyone on the plane. A few people stayed awake, using their phones or tablets to watch videos. The crew took it in shifts to get some sleep of their own. During her breaktime, Marisol grabbed her cellphone out of her carry-on bag and checked her email.

You have five unread messages.

Paradox Interactive Forums (1 hour ago)

Asiana Airlines (4 hours ago)

Momma Reyes (10 hours ago)

Archive of Our Own (Yesterday)

Mariposa Reyes (Yesterday)

She smiled and opened the most recent email. She bookmarked the newest update from the Paradox Forums, then settled down for a catnap.

…

Finally, after spending nineteen hours in the air, Asiana Airlines Flight 2086 landed in Detroit, a large city in the United States of America, halfway around the globe from Marisol’s home. Debarking all of the passengers took about half an hour, then the flight attendants gathered their own belongings and clambered onto another van together.

Marisol and her coworkers stayed awake just long enough to present their Philippine passports to the US Border Patrol, then fell asleep during the van ride to their next destination. The van travelled in silence from Detroit to Flint, a smaller town located in the heart of Michigan. Sometime around the middle of the night, the van arrived at a hotel located near Bishop International Airport. Another Asiana plane was visible at the airport itself, where maintenance engineers were working long hours to make it flight ready.

Marisol and the other flight attendants checked into their hotel. Feeling groggy, barely able to keep her eyes open, Marisol stumbled up to her hotel room, got inside, and dropped her bags on the floor.

Not bothering to remove a single piece of her flight attendant’s uniform, Marisol flopped onto her bed, lying faceup and holding her smartphone above her eyes. Flipping her thumb absentmindedly, she scrolled through the Paradox Interactive Forums, looking for a very specific thread.

The Last Days of the Emerald Isle, written by Macavity116.

Marisol loved to read fanfiction, she even dabbled in writing it as well. Tonight, not only would she fall asleep reading her favorite type of story, but she would drift away reading the latest work of her favorite writer. She could not think of a better way to end a day as long and arduous as this one.

As Marisol’s eyes glazed over and her breathing slowed, she noticed that Macavity116 had left an author’s note at the top of the chapter, in which he acknowledged the negative remarks Marisol had left on the previous chapter. She barely read it, skimming just enough words to understand that Macavity116 had taken her criticism into account while writing this new installment.

She started to nod off. Marisol’s phone drooped low and touched her nose. The words on the screen became blurry and hard to read. Marisol adjusted her glasses, trying to read a few more lines before she completely lost consciousness.

The phone screen flickered. Marisol tapped it. The Paradox Interactive Forums vanished completely and the screen was filled with a black space. The words “Was erwartest du?” appeared in the center of the empty void.

“What?” Marisol grumbled, rubbing her eyes and tapping the phone.

The words vanished, and then Macavity’s fanfic re-appeared.

“Uhg... okay.” Marisol said to herself.

But before she could think or say anything else, a blue light filled the hotel room so completely that Marisol could see nothing else. She groaned and tossed her phone aside, but this did nothing to help. Marisol blinked...

And suddenly, she was very cold.

...

Marisol was no longer in her hotel room. She was lying flat on her back in a grassy field. The sun was high overhead, and birds were singing all around. Marisol blinked, scrambling to her feet as quickly as she could. She peered over a nearby outcrop and gasped.

Just half a kilometer away, Marisol could see Ulster Castle.

“Wait... what!?” Marisol gasped.

No... she could not believe her eyes. Ulster Castle was a location in Ireland... and more importantly, it was from a Macavity116 story, the primary setting of Last Days of the Emerald Isle. How was Marisol standing outside of its walls?

But there was no time to examine her surroundings. A cacophony of noise told Marisol that something serious was happening around her. A loud rushing sound caused Marisol to duck! Then, something sailed over her head and alighted itself upon the rocky outcrop she was looking at moments before.

It was a fairy. She knew it well because one of the characters in Macavity’s new story was a fairy... one that had snow-white hair and eyes as red as the setting sun...

In fact, the fairy now standing above Marisol could be described in the same way... flowing white hair and deep red eyes.

“Aisling!?” Marisol breathed.

It was. The Irish mythological creature named Aisling, who played a role in Macavity’s new story, stood here as real as Marisol herself. She started to say something, but Aisling yelled:

“Look out!”

Seeing Aisling’s eyes go wide, Marisol threw herself to the ground. Behind her, there was a bang like a cannon blast. Marisol looked around and spotted something alarming:

Standing at the edge of Dermot’s private forest, there was a dangerous-looking woman, carrying a weapon. Marisol could see that she was vaguely East Asian, dressed in a mid-2000's era military uniform, and carried what was unmistakably a modern-day military rifle. (An American M14 EBR, to be precise) The letters “AFUNE” could be plainly seen on the woman’s bullet-proof vest. Her face had a dignified regal kind of look to it, as though she had royalty somewhere in her family tree.

The Military Uniform Princess held her arms out, as though inviting Aisling to attack. The fairy obliged.

“Get out of my way!” Aisling roared before lunging toward her foe. “I won’t let you near my friend!”

Aisling reached her opponent and started grappling for control of the rifle in her hands. As they fought, the Military Uniform Princess said:

“You barely understand your role in what lies ahead. Here, let me enlighten you.”

She pushed Aisling away, and then held her left hand to her own chest, just over her heart.

Marisol had read so many Macavity stories that she knew what was going to happen next. Instinctively, Marisol tried to warn Aisling.

“She’s going to throw Soulfire at you!” Marisol yelled at the fairy.

Aisling looked around and spotted Marisol for the first time.

“Stay down! I don’t want you to get hurt too!” The fairy called back.

The Military Uniform Princess pointed her left hand at Marisol. A cone of purple and blue flames erupted from her hand. The supernatural flamethrower incinerated the meadow as it careened toward Marisol. Aisling thrust herself into the path of danger. She seized Marisol’s hand, pulling her along as she ran away. Marisol cried out in terror as the Soufire inferno singed the hair on her forearms.

The Military Uniform Princess lowered her hand, and the Soulfire inferno died out. Through the curling smoke, Marisol could see that the enemy’s face was stoic, trying to hide something.

“Hold onto me now!” Aisling cried out. “It’s our only way to escape!”

“What is?” Marisol responded, and then looked ahead.

For just a few moments, Marisol could see a swirling vortex hanging in midair in front of herself and Aisling. It made her think of the Wormholes found in Stellaris. Before Marisol could wrap her head around this new development, Aisling tugged her forward and dove headfirst into the vortex portal.

With a great crash, some screaming, and a loud snap of breaking metal, Marisol and Aisling fell out of the air and crash-landed in Marisol’s hotel room. As soon as both women came to rest, the vortex portal sealed itself and vanished completely.

Episode 2: The world of the gods, Wellspring of Chaos ===>​

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Poor Chosenpai.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

and more importantly, it was from a Macavity116 story, the primary setting of Last Days of the Emerald Isle

Lol. This is like a parody advertisement.

But that's impossible. Only the deluxotron 5000 could possibly deliver such clean swoops and rays, and those are only avaliable to loyal customers of GagaCorp after 5 years of membership, pending purchase payment packaging and shipping to a fixed address no further than 5 miles from the nearest GagaCorp handling service tendor.

 

[The Kingmaker]

Mind-boggling. How did people know she got pulled into the story before she actually did?

I wonder what the mysterious German message is all about? “Was erwartest du?” ... "What do you expect?"

And now Aisling is in the real world with Marisol? The narrative has clearly skewed from what in-story Macavity told Chosenpai was in the works.

 

[Massinissa the Wise]

Aisling seems to have made it through the ending of last chapter... though... does this chapter follow chronologically upon the last one? Or are we in an alternate reality?

 

[jak7139]

So, Aisling is now in the real world with Marisol. And the Princess is not a blue-skinned MSI. Presumably one of your other characters? Whatever device Aisling touched last chapter must've brought everyone here. Now she just needs to find a way back.

 

[Macavity116]

Lol. This is like a parody advertisement.

Oh yeah. It's gonna get all kinds of weird on this thread.

Mind-boggling. How did people know she got pulled into the story before she actually did?

Well, when Aisling shouted "I won't let you near my friend." she was referring to Dermot. Her fight with the "Princess" was already underway when Marisol showed up.

And now Aisling is in the real world with Marisol? The narrative has clearly skewed from what in-story Macavity told Chosenpai was in the works.

Irreparably so.

Aisling seems to have made it through the ending of last chapter... though... does this chapter follow chronologically upon the last one? Or are we in an alternate reality?

There was a... shall we say "Phantom chapter" that got overridden by Episode 1 of The Broken Gates. The only person who ever got to read Chapter 8 of Last Days of the Emerald Isle was Chosenpai.

So, Aisling is now in the real world with Marisol. And the Princess is not a blue-skinned MSI. Presumably one of your other characters?

Correct. Her identity will be revealed in Episode 2. Anyone whose read some of my older stories will recognize this character immediately, but newcomers will get a quick refresher of just who she is and why she's important.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Continuity lockout is going to be a thing here, I think.

 

[Macavity116]

Continuity lockout is going to be a thing here, I think.

Something I'm quite worried about and planning around. That's why Chosenpai/Marisol is now the lead protagonist and not Aisling. She's going to be filling the "Audience Surrogate" role.

 

[Chac1]

This new chapter had some nice surprises. Interesting to see where you are taking this.

Mind-boggling. How did people know she got pulled into the story before she actually did?

I think there was quite a bit of speculation about this and some like @CBR JGWRR probably knew it was going to happen. I certainly thought it was a possibility but there were other candidates that I thought could meet up with the story's characters. However, I never really voiced that here, only speculated about the possibility of real people being sucked into the narrative.

@Macavity116 no doubt laughed quite a bit when there was a suggestion made that having Chosenpai sucked into a story might make a great sequel. He handled that response smoothly.

Finally, after spending nineteen hours in the air, Asiana Airlines Flight 2086 landed in Detroit, a large city in the United States of America, halfway around the globe from Marisol’s home.

I was going to suggest that if Marisol/Chosenpai is near Detroit she should stop over in the bAAR. But now she could literally be anywhere.

It was. The Irish mythological creature named Aisling, who played a role in Macavity’s new story, stood here as real as Marisol herself. She started to say something, but Aisling yelled:

“Look out!”

Marisol had read so many Macavity stories that she knew what was going to happen next. Instinctively, Marisol tried to warn Aisling.

“She’s going to throw Soulfire at you!” Marisol yelled at the fairy.

Aisling looked around and spotted Marisol for the first time.

Continuity lockout is going to be a thing here, I think.

The Dark Lord Kelebek ( @TheButterflyComposer ) is quite right.

If I may afix my hat as Chac1-tay, the Delta-grade Meta Meta Critiquer (until @Macavity116 snatches that away and bans me from this AAR) there are continuity issues here that need fixing. From the comments it is clear that the author thinks Aisling is reacting to the need to protect Dermot. But that's not what comes across for this reader. Marisol clearly interacts with Aisling because the fairy warns her to "Look out!" Unless Dermot is in the scene, who is she warning? So this isn't the first time Aisling and Marisol see each other, as indicated in the second passage.

@Macavity116 is missing Chosenpai's skills already and no doubt wishing she didn't get herself sucked into the story (even though he planned it that way). How meta is that?

 

[Macavity116]

@Macavity116 is missing Chosenpai's skills already and no doubt wishing she didn't get herself sucked into the story

That is an honest-to-goodness continuity error! Yup. Now that you spell it out I do see it.

Maybe taking Marisol/Chosenpai out of the equation wasn't the best idea. But considering this story is going to involve a few of my own characters making multiple attempts on my life, I think the karma here is going to balance out.

 

[Chac1]

That is an honest-to-goodness continuity error! Yup. Now that you spell it out I do see it.

Maybe taking Marisol/Chosenpai out of the equation wasn't the best idea. But considering this story is going to involve a few of my own characters making multiple attempts on my life, I think the karma here is going to balance out.

So, I see... you are going to test yourself like you test your characters. Well, I think most of us are behind you here.
But then there's that scenario where the readers write the AAR in your absence to consider....

 

[CBR JGWRR]

@CBR JGWRR probably knew it was going to happen.

99% certain he has actually posted this chapter before as a sample of what was coming after Song Of The Solitaire.

 

[Macavity116]

99% certain he has actually posted this chapter before as a sample of what was coming after Song Of The Solitaire.

Correct. The chapter has been edited and modified since it was shown off in SotS, but this chapter has been seen before.

 

[Midnite Duke]

I am going to start with the most confusing aspect. Why was the flight crew bussed to Flint? Is this just a delusional dream because Marisol came into contact with Flint water? Thanks for the update, I think.

 

[The Kingmaker]

That is an honest-to-goodness continuity error! Yup. Now that you spell it out I do see it.

Maybe taking Marisol/Chosenpai out of the equation wasn't the best idea. But considering this story is going to involve a few of my own characters making multiple attempts on my life, I think the karma here is going to balance out.

Except she’s back in the real world now, presuming it’s the right universe. Which means you can expect panicked/angry/insane texts from Marisol/Chosenpai and Aisling once the latter figures out how to use replicate possess a cell phone.