Chapter Text
When it began, the only thing that Gibby could perceive was a dark red fog clouded around his being. Try as he might, the Moon King could not move a muscle nor make a sound, for the vile mist made sure to suffocate any sort of freewill his unconscious mind could muster. The only thing that came forth in this tethered state was a sort of pupigerous anticipation for a heavy dread to come. As soon as fear began to form inside him, the fog lifted like a curtain.
The environment sculpted itself with the same red clay as the fog, but Gibby was able to recognize this place as that of the moon palace, specifically the throne room. Suddenly, three apparitions appeared. The first was of a single being standing in front of the two crumbled thrones, blood leaking from the many cuts that lined its large, round head and armored body. The second and third appeared together; two statues that grew like trees where the thrones had been, their geometry twisted and pulsating. It did not take long for Gibby to realize that he was looking at a vision of his past self, the very moment that he had slain the twin Sages of Sculptures.
Albedo and Umbra, the self-declared Queen and King of the moon they built, forerunners to the downfall of the Age of Sages and igniters of the genocide of the very moon beings that they had created.
His own parents.
Just the thought of his battle with those demiurges filled the king with a feeling of stress long suppressed by his conscience. As if fully synchronized with his emotions, the statues began to sway violently in front of the younger Gibby until their clay expanded and morphed into what resembled the top halves of both sages’ bodies respectively. Their long robes covered their arms and made them look worm-like as their half-circular heads peered down at the source of their demise.
“You dare approach us?” Albedo spoke with a vital anger in her voice.
“Our spirits will castigate your behavior until you beg us to destroy!” Umbra shouted, his head and torso eerily shaking back and forth.
“Enough of your idle chatter,” the Gibby apparition replied firmly, “The both of you have proven to me that you are ill fit to be suzerains of this celestial satellite. Step down from your thrones and retreat to Earth before I eliminate your beings.”
“‘Destroy us,’ you say? After everything we've done for you? We allowed you to experience the grandeur of the Hylemxylem, and even gifted you with the materials to build your own sculpted servant. You would be lost without our guidance."
“And who will rule on our desolate satellite? You? Ahahahahaha! You are not even a sage, you pompous brat!”
“Neither are you two anymore! Your destructive passions have de-emanated you out of your sagehood. Now that your flesh is just as pliable as any hylic’s, I’ll make the both of you wish you were merely exiled to the Afterlife!”
Yes, this was all very familiar. In fact, it was the exact same conversation they shared before he laid waste to the sages. Just as Gibby’s mind could wrap itself in the comfort of a familiar memory, their words began to change.
“Yes... yes… a fitting fate for us monsters,” Albedo spoke calmly, even as her flesh was slowly starting to melt, “And one that you too will inherit, sweet child. We molded you just like ourselves, and in your rule you have justly proven your violence upon your kingdom’s creatures. You always have been a true tyrant, and always will be.”
“What makes our treatment of the moon people any different to your treatment of the hylics?” Umbra added on, his own flesh falling off in little chunks, “We at least had the tenacity to permanently eliminate those who opposed us, you simply did nothing but torture them down on that ‘xylem of yours! We had expected better of you, Gibbulus!”
“What could you have possibly expected of me?!” Both the apparition and Gibby’s subconscious vessel were trembling with rage. “You sent me down to the Hylemxylem when I was barely out of my larval form! Separated from my own world and people for the sole purpose of acting as your earthly puppet! Your actions caused the sages to retreat until I was the only one left piloting that rotting ‘xylem! You both continuously denied me a position on the moon until I was forced to craft a device to take me back up there myself!”
Both Gibby and his younger apparition laughed wickedly as everything around them adopted an orange coloration.
“But you shriveled psychics did not expect your little pawn to exceed the handicaps you molded onto him! You demiurges set the stage for your own downfall at my hands!”
Both sages’ faces had been reduced down to their skulls once Gibby had finished his rant. The twin statues stood motionless.
“You have proven to be just as much a demiurge as we have been,” Albedo declared in a voice as hollow as a thrumming bass, “Only you are far worse.”
“Cease your demented ramblings this instant!” Gibby chided, not entirely sure whether the reply came from him or his apparition this time.
“You subjugate all but a chosen few to lunacy. Are you aware that your moon rays suppress their minds and make them prisoners of their own bodies? It is a genocide of freewill itself. Even we did not do that to our people.”
“S-Si-Silence! I know what my spells do, y-you weaponized corrosions! And do not dare compare my rule to your genocide!”
“He begged for YOUR help during our civil war!” Umbra shouted, the environment now changing to the color of bright yellow, “And not only did you ignore him in favor of gallivanting on your precious ‘xylem, YOU SPENT THE LAST CENTURY TORMENTING HIS ONLY SURVIVING SPAWN!”
“SILENCE!!!”
The entire palace was thus encased in harsh white light, blinding Gibby’s subconscious eyes. He blinked furiously as the next dreamy environment slowly appeared before him. It was a faded, but colorful looking place, with a blue sky above and soft soil below him. Finally able to move, he knelt down to grab a handful of the pastel tan clay he stood upon, all of which could effortlessly be crushed to microscopic proportions when balled in his fist. He must be on Earth! Gibby stood back up and tilted his head upwards to look up at the sun and confirm his suspicions, but he did not find it. Instead he saw the moon, his own celestial satellite, looming directly over him. At first it looked nothing short of pulchritudinous as it hung in the daylight sky like a great cosmic ghost. As Gibby admired its beauty, he soon felt uneasy looking at it. It seemed to grow larger and larger in front of him… wait. It was falling straight towards him! Even as his muscles commanded him to run, he once again found himself held tightly in place, this time by the hands of multiple hylics.
The terrified tyrant
screamed and struggled
helplessly as the moon fell
closer and closer until he could
finally feel its harsh, burning
radiance melt all of the flesh
from his bones.
Gibby instantly shot up from his sleeping position, his flesh caked in sweat and his muscles trembling violently. Now finally free of atonia, he made a gesture to turn on the lights in his room, then went about examining both his environment and his own fretful body for anything his subconscious might have conjured up. Nothing unusual here. His being was nice and secure in his bed chambers, glands completely unliquified.
He steadied his breathing and let out a quiet chuckle to himself. No frivolous nightmare could ever harm the Great King of the Moon!
Yet still, the visions transmitted to him in that nightmare continued to wriggle in his brain like a hungry worm. It had been so long since he had any proper dream visions, so it all must mean something! Gibby yawned and stood up to stretch. As much as his tired body pleaded with his ruthless brain, he simply couldn’t risk wasting any more time in slumber. Once he had slicked his mohawk and fitted himself in his royal vestments, the moon king examined himself in the mirror. For some reason his being looked quite morose in the reflection, so he made sure to counteract this by stiffening his posture and adopting a more darkly serious expression.
“Everything you’ve done, you’ve done for a good reason,” he reassured himself, then proceeded out of his chambers and into the palace halls. The king had multiple orders to enact today.
The first thing he did was update himself on Wayne’s current position. It seemed as though that milksop was still content to laze about in that little earthly shack he’d found. Just as he had hoped. The next thing to be done was call his court to the throne room for a meeting. His orders were simple: send someone down to the island that Wayne resided on and close the harbor port indefinitely, make sure the switch to open the port is moved far off on a different isle and heavily guarded and, of course, destroy that terminal he’s been using to travel to the southwest island. Apparently Wayne, in all his social ineptitude, had somehow been forming an allyship with some odd species of hylic, which could potentially serve as a kindle to ignite a strong rebellion.
“I trust that you and your subordinates can efficiently indulge my considerations?” King Gibby lounged in his moon rock throne as he spoke to his newly appointed head servant.
“Ah, of course, your grace!” His clawman eagerly replied in its obnoxious, hissing voice, “I and my subjects will pilot the spaceship to the recolored isle and set the switch up there. Nothing but insects inhabit that wasteland, so there will be no interference. Would you like my guards to install a projector into the port controller? It’s an unbeatable security measure, state of the art from my sibling’s enterprise!”
Gibby rolled his eyes, “Very well. Just make sure this is done as soon as possible!”
“Of course, my glorious king! As quick as the youthful gastropod preys on the, uh, oceans-juice!”
Once their brains had fully digested their tasks, his subjects cleared out of the throne room on command to enact their king’s orders. Gibby couldn’t have been more glad to be rid of that clawman for even but a few days. It was an efficient butler, and powerful bureaucrat to boot, but all its being truly amounted to was simply another source of empty suggestions and persistent flattery. Not to mention its abhorrent poetry! Nothing more than a shell of what Dracula had been to him…
No matter, he’ll at least have his Wayne back with him once more. Sooner or later that crescent whelp will truly learn what it’s like to be trapped, and once he realizes how useless his precious hylics really are he’ll cry and beg for his former position back! Gibby snickered at the mental image of it all. This time he won’t be so careless with his handling of him. As he stood up from his throne, the Moon King took a moment to examine the mangled geometry of the twin statues that flanked him. He raised his left arm, and the left statue shook in response. He raised his right arm, and the right statue did the same.
A sinister smile formed on Gibby’s rotund face. There was not a thing in this world and beyond that could match his power!