Risen: Shatterverse - The God War

Chapter 1: Hard Questions Answered

The universe seems to have a pretty shitty sense of humour, if you ask me. Like, allowing the great and powerful Max Niekro, the saviour of the Risen and the Avatar Alliance, to frickin' die. And, in return for all of his sacrifices to ensure Life in our galaxy could continue without the threat of the cannibalistic Velkin, it allowed a sliver of him to stay behind and try in vain to fill those god-sized combat boots. Which would be me, Version Two.

Like seriously, what the actual fuck?

So, of course, that sliver is immediately thrust into the next biggest shit storm to roll over the horizon and threaten us all. The mad quasi-god known as the Collector. It and its giant machines appeared to eat entire star systems in a crazed attempt to rebuild its own universe. Not that rebuilding a universe was bad, per se. Hey buddy! We were using that shit for our own universe, fuckhead! You can't frickin' have it!

And oh, don't get me started on the giant metal bugs that think wiping out organic life in the galaxy is the solution to the Velkin. Even with the Velkin eliminated by the Vanguard of the Blood, our newest friends and associates, the K'ethik want all organic life to die anyway. Fuck those guys, too. I'm so done.

Throw into the middle of all that, your friendly neighbourhood essence splinter is so twisted and broken, I've been partially torn away from my own reality, resulting in me having probability visions about possible alternative timelines and universes. And oh yeah, I can talk to people in those alternative timelines and universes. And even bring them back with me, like my t'sang passenger I have sitting somewhere in my mind, and survivors from the Terran Ascendency.

Now, don't get me wrong. Most of the things I've brought back have ended up becoming the greatest of allies, getting us out of situations that we had no business being in. Like finding the boiled down planetary entities that gave life to the planets in the Collectorverse and agreeing to stuff them back into compatible planets to restore life to that universe. The one the Collector is strip mining our universe to rebuild. The irony is enough to choke on.

But we agreed, and our allies from the Terran Ascendency wanted to help. Which was, of course, so far outside of their realm of expertise that despite being badass as fuck, they got mishandled pretty badly. And now, to keep going, we need to find out how to fix the artificial bodies they are wearing in order to exist outside of my visions.

Like we didn't have enough shit to figure out.

****

"Have they even figured out what things they can metabolize with those bodies yet?" Naveaia asked.

"I don't know," I said, lips twisted into a thoughtful grimace. "I've only seen them drinking."

"Those bodies are alive," Hannibal said, his own expression thoughtful as he folded his arms. "They require fuel and materials for maintenance and repair, since they don't have power cores like the three of us do."

The venerable ghost looked over at me once more.

"You and your passenger came up with that repair protocol, Two. Any chance they have something in the way of restorative nutrition?"

I didn't get the chance to ask; my passenger was obviously listening in because an eye blink after Hannibal asked:

- There is a long list of supplemental nutrient packages that were developed for efficient upkeep and maintenance of those types of bodies,- it indicated even as a storm of data surged into my mind. - I had to use my genetic memory to retrieve it, but it was from the original developers so it should be comprehensive. -

It paused there as if consulting an internal reference then:

- If you are looking for an instant restorative, I would recommend the following formula ... -