Chapter 37: The Old Man of the Tunes

Chapter 37: The Old Man of the Tunes

Beyond the door was a high-tech looking lab, lots of computers and weird vats of liquid, various creatures in various forms, some scaly and others furry with a few looking like they were made from nothing but veins. Mixed in between them were various objects ranging from swords to weird stones and even a stick in one of them. Further down, a small old and worn wooden desk could be seen littered with scratches easily seen due to their much lighter color compared to the dark wood desk.

"Wow! This place is so cool! I get it now. This is a prison armory place where they kept people causing trouble or they couldn't understand or had weapons they wanted so they got taken and kept here for study! And now you're going to let them free and have them follow you well using those super strong things that are kept here!" Alice says first surprised then super excited feeling proud of herself for figuring it out.

"Not even slightly right, that is something you would probably find in one of John's novels or manga, I mean we don't know why they're in those tubes and secondly why would they bother following us just for freeing them? If anything, they would rampage here, go to our world and try to take over or something worse. Heck, I think only one of them would be fine to release and I'm surprised they have him, but I suppose it lends pretense to the multiverse theory of how anything can exist in its own reality and how even animation can have their own worlds that actually exist." Braedon calmly tells her as they walk forward, passing the tubes and marveling at the creatures kept inside them stopping briefly in front of a tank containing a bald white guy with red gloves and a yellow jumpsuit, pressing a button at the bottom of the tank the liquid slowly began to drain but at such a slow speed it was almost unnoticeable. Turning away, he led them deeper in.

"Who is that guy? Someone you know and want to help?" Alice couldn't help but ask while skipping around next to him, stopping every now and then to look at the objects in the tanks rather than the people, a large red pole with gold tips caught her interest along with a seemingly ordinary banana peel and even a weird hybrid weapon that combined a sword's hilt and a blade with the barrel running down its middle.

"Nope, at least not personally, instead of knowing him it would be better to say I know of him, he's probably one of the strongest beings in existence, not just in his own world but most worlds, I figured I'd help him out since honestly he's had it rough after getting too strong." Braedon tells her as they reach the desk, the scratches now able to be better seen as markings and words, strange shifting letters that are difficult to understand along with various symbols mixed in.

"So why not have him join us or help us?" Alice couldn't help but ask, feeling someone as strong as that would be a good help for them. Her question caused Braedon to pause and take his attention off the markings to look at her briefly.

"We, meaning me, John, and the rest up top, respect the rule of equivalent exchange, in science it would be more of a thing like 'every action has an equal and opposite reaction' or something like that, if we do somehow manage to convince him to join us and bring him with, something would need to be done to balance out his existence in our world, the cost for bringing one of his strength with would be far more than we can pay." He tells her, before pressing a finger onto one of the marks, wincing slightly as it cuts his finger before he pressed it to a weird eye-looking mark causing the desk to glow and bathe the room in a deep crimson.

"My oh my, visitors? It's been quite a while since someone has come here. Hmm, you don't seem like the regular sort though, who might the two of you be?" Turning to the side, what greeted them was an old man but far from human, his figure disheveled and an unnatural aura radiating off him casting a glow where he stood wearing moss-covered robes that clung to his hunched frame, while his skin, a ghastly shade of pale green, bore a texture akin to cracked porcelain. Well, none of that seemed remotely normal. What put Braedon and Alice on guard was the feeling they could feel deep within them from the collection of arcane instruments that danced like ethereal apparitions around him. A pair of dulcimers, one with strings shimmering with the radiance of moonlight upon its snow-white hourglass form and the other a rich orange with strings as red as fire burning like the sun; a flute, whispering secrets of the cosmos; hand drums adorned with cryptic symbols, all defying gravity in a haunting, hypnotic ballet as a zither and bass guitar both seemed to be strapped to his back.

As he slowly approached them, the instruments continued their spectral waltz, their otherworldly melodies echoing through the room, putting the pair more ill at ease. Tangled silver hair framed his face, and a cobweb-like beard hung from his chin as a pair of bright blue eyes filled with mirth bore down on the pair.

"Now now, no need to be so worried, I'm but an old man forever stuck in this room, finding what amusement he can with whatever is sent his way, most seem to be far too scared of me and spend as little time here as they can, not even sparing a word with this old man, quite rude if you ask me. But I'm rambling, you can just refer to me as the old man of the tunes, a magi-tech music scientist." The old man says to the pair, a hum coming from the white dulcimer knocking them back but being caught by cushions that came flying out of nowhere behind them.

"Now I know the two of you shouldn't be here, you don't have the feel the people around here have and if you were meant for experimentation or examination, you would be in tubes like the others here. And don't think I didn't notice you fiddle with the bald one's tank or my desk." He tells them with a chuckle, amusement dripping from each word, his blue eyes practically sparkling.

"I'm guessing this is where you either going to try and use us for something or report us or something else like that, possibly to get some credit or we would be your assistants and toys till you tire of us." Braedon says rolling his eyes in a bored tone.

"My aren't you the cynical one, who took a dump in your cornflakes?" The old man says, eying Braedon, a grin on his face liking the attitude. "But no, nothing of the sort, they don't pay me enough to give a damn and don't give me any respect so why should I care what those outside this room do, they only seem to care about me helping them get stronger or making their little show thing more entertaining, wasting my time, and even if I have a lot of it doesn't mean I like to waste it with their stupid matters." He tells them, getting a confused look from the pair.

"But I do want something from the two of you, and it's clear you came here for a reason. After all, so tell me why you came and then I'll tell you what I want, and we can see about finding a middle ground." He tells them, falling back onto a large cushion that came from nowhere that looked a lot fluffier and softer than their own, with gold trim.

"Wait, you're not going to rat us out or do anything to us? No offense, but everyone we've met so far hasn't given us the best of impressions." Alice tells him rather unamused and skeptical.

"Well, consider me different then. It wasn't always like this, believe it or not. It used to be about progress, pushing forward and only trusting higher beings for resources, then they got greedy, finding that the more amusement they gave the higher beings the more they could get, so they exploited the lower realms, tapping into multiversal properties and from there began to use lower beings to try and amuse higher beings. Most have forgotten our original pursuits and those that do remember are like me, locked away and only remembered when they want something." He tells the pair, his voice going from amused and happy to sad and tired, his shoulders hunched and his eyes growing dull.

"What was the original goal? You say it was for progress and pushing forward but towards what? And is the exploitation of worlds really that interesting and even worth it?" Braedon asks, curious about the old man's story and trying to fish for some answers.

"To the higher beings, it would be compared to reading a story or watching a show, they pop in and out as they please and watch the various worlds in different stages and paths, it's all the same show but it's different things happening and somehow, they find amusement and entertainment in it, more so when they can interact with things through chosen people. Some take it further and add bets on their chosen winning their world. Our pursuit was stopping things to come, there exists a reality opposite our own, the creatures there are horrid and the beings are natural-born warriors, we are supposed to prepare to face them and build up our own side, yet as I said almost everyone has lost sight of that, that brings me to what I want you to do for me." The old man explains, his tone shifting constantly and his eyes changing from blue to endless voids seemingly staring out into nothingness.

"You want us to be your agents, take your blessing or teachings and work our way up in this group till we can help fight this coming enemy of yours?" Braedon says, his tone sarcastic.

"It's a typical trope from many forms of media, either that or you want us to grow stronger and then take over and be the final line against them." Braedon finishes, the Old man's eyes returning to blue and sparkling once more with mirth.

"Nope, well I wouldn't say no to you two doing so, but rather I just want you two to take over your world, bridge it to others, and begin uniting forces to destroy this organization then the higher beings, or even just building up a force strong enough to keep your world your own." He tells them, getting confused looks in return.

"What do you get out of it, though? I mean, I can somewhat understand it would create an army for you to use to face them, but there's got to be more to it." Braedon says, confused with Alice nodding her head next to him.

"The organization has fallen from what it once was so if you destroy it, us old guys and girls can try to rebuild it to what it should be, protecting your world would give us an army like you said but can be a springboard for liberating other worlds as well, creating a better foothold to prepare, and lastly what do you think happens to worlds after the entertainment is done? Once the higher beings grow bored of a world with a ruler? They harvest it, the organization ends things either by sending something too strong for them to handle, or if they have someone or something interesting they begin hand-picking the strongest beings and items before sending down cleaners to harvest anything they can, nothing is spared at all, and when they're done there isn't even a planet left, just a void of nothingness, a friend of mine is forced to then clean that up." The old man says, his fists clenching tightly as his aura turns violent, anger now fully visible.

"They pump her full of drugs and other substances, let her loose to forcefully create a new world there and then right before she dies from it they collect her, seal her back up and then rejuvenate her before forcing her to do it all over again, worse is they feel they're gods, the higher beings and some in the organization all believe themselves to be gods now, the power going to their heads, forgetting they were once as small as the two of you are, that there exist beings above even us who are probably sickened by these actions." The old man finishes, the instruments seemingly shaking from the angry aura he was letting off before calming down.

"I want you two to fight back, to snap them back to reality, show them that ants can take down an elephant! This, though, is more directed to you, young man, rather than the blondie, or rather your host, he's far from normal and he needs to wake up, to bring forth his real strength! But don't go thinking you're the only one, some others have had this same talk and some of the older higher beings have done the same, both in your world and in others. But still, I have better feelings about you than I do others. Haha, but now why did you come here? I'm still waiting to hear that answer." He explains to them, his eyes sharp and focused, hints of anger once more returned.

Braedon was unsure what to say at first, all this information being processed, Alice sitting surprisingly still and silent.

"I came looking for something to heal a soul, rather this body's soul. I thought I'd find something here that would manage to do so since what I could find on the Jester's computer was that this place was labeled 'lab'. So, I thought something here could work. Then I saw the vats and realized it wasn't a regular science lab but rather a bio lab," Braedon told him with a sigh, getting a nod from the old man who was now stroking his beard.

"Well, I can't do anything about that, unfortunately, and I can't give you any objects here either, too strong for you lot." He says slowly gliding over to the glowing table, the drums swinging around to in front of him, a thump coming from them and shattering the table, papers flying everywhere but with a wave of his hand they seemed to turn to dust except for five of them, with a wave of his hand they seemed to fly over to the pair landing on the floor in front of them as he turned his back to them.

"Well, I think you two should go now, This old man needs some rest and to clean up, I also seemed to have destroyed all my papers including my map of merchants, the map of vending machines along with the code words for discounts and secret items, hmmm oh and it seems the common schedule of events is also missing, how clumsy of me, it seems I will need to get some new ones eventually." The old man says, his tone full of amusement as he slowly made his way to the opposite side of the room, Braedon and Alice after sharing a quick look took the papers tucking them into Alice's pocket space before quickly leaving, quietly thanking the old man before quickly going through the door to their own world. Unnoticed by all was the twitching of the bald man in yellow who's eyes where slowly opening with a blank look, the liquid now just below his chin.