Aether Story

The Aether Story is a story introduced in the Zombies mode of Call of Duty: World at War and featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. It is followed by the Dark Aether Saga.

The Treyarch Zombies Timeline can be used to view exactly when the events of the Aether Story occurred.

In The Beginning[]

In the beginning, there were only the Aether and Keepers. Among them were two beings who would later be known by many names. One would be known as Doctor Monty, the other being as the Shadowman. In time, the Keepers crafted the Summoning Key, a device that allows them to manipulate the Aether. Holding power over reality itself, they used it to create Agartha. The Keepers later mastered the ability to travel between dimensions.

At some point, several Keepers, among which the Shadowman, began experimenting with the Dark Aether, an energy beneath creation. The Dark Aether corrupted and corroded their souls, and the corrupted Keepers became known as the Apothicons.

The Apothicons created the Aether Pyramid, a device capable of absolute power. A schism formed between them and the Keepers untainted by the Dark Aether. Soon after, a war broke out between Apothicons and uncorrupted Keepers. Facing defeat, the Apothicons hid the Aether Pyramid on a moon within one of the newly discovered dimensions. After banishing the Apothicons to the Dark Aether, the remaining Keepers took on the mantle of Guardians. Trapped in the Dark Aether, the Apothicons evolved over eons into twisted creatures that now bear little resemblance to their Keeper brethren. They desired, above all else, to return to Agartha.

By September 5 CE, the Apothicons, knowing the Earth has a gateway to Agartha, sent meteors containing Element 115 to the planet in different dimensions across space and time. They believe humanity will one day use Element 115 to wage war among themselves, opening a rift that will allow the Apothicons to escape the Dark Aether.

The Great War[]

On January 15th, 1292, the Great War between humanity (including the Wolf King) and the Apothicons began across dimensions. During the war, Sir Pablo Marinus was saved from the clutches of a Margwa by four heroes known as Primis. On December 31st, 1299, after more than seven years of war, Primis (with the Keepers and the rest of humanity) defeated the Apothicons, bringing the Great War to an end. Before they seemingly disappeared from history, Primis instructed the Wolf King to begin building his castle that would later be known as Der Eisendrache.

Several years later, honoring the Wolf King's dying request, his loyal servant Arthur scattered and buried his bones in the grounds of Der Eisendrache, accompanied by the King's Wolf. Arthur was then teleported by temporal rifts to Resolution 1295 in 2025 Angola.

Ultimis Story[]

In 1885, a blacksmith named Jebediah Brown was living in a mining town called Purgatory Point in the Old West. The mine contained large amounts of Element 115 which started to affect people who went down there. One of the miners turned into a zombie and attacked Jebediah's mother, killing her. Wanting to find answers, Jebediah went down in the mine where he spent five days without realizing it. Later, on April 19th, Jebediah had a vision in his sleep. Two angels asked him to build a machine, a Pack-a-Punch Machine, which became a success in the town. On June 30th, Jebediah had another vision; the two angels asked him to create an Agarthan Device. The Agarthan Device had three components: the blood of an elder god found at the bottom of the ocean, an Elemental Shard created by forging four human souls to a rock of Element 115, and a metallic Vril vessel. Jeb managed to craft the vessel, but had no means of obtaining the blood or the souls.

After crafting the Vril Vessel, Jebediah upgraded it with the Pack-a-Punch. As a result of this, and the fracturing of the Earth after Ultimis helped Maxis launch rockets from the Moon in 2025, a temporal rift was created, transporting the entire town, including Jebediah, to an underground cavern in Angola. Afterwards, zombies began to overrun the now buried town, killing its inhabitants including Jebediah.

On June 30th, 1908, a meteor containing Element 115 crashed near the Stony Tunguska River in Siberia. Over the next decades, more deposits of Element 115 were discovered in Germany, Japan, the United States of America and on the Moon.

In 1931, after a large deposit of Element 115 was found in Breslau, Doctor Ludvig Maxis formed Group 935 as an international German-led research team, becoming its head scientist. The Der Riese facility was established at Breslau. Maxis sought to use the newly discovered element to improve the human condition by developing advanced technologies. He invited Doctor Edward Richtofen, who would later be known as Ultimis Richtofen, to join Group 935. Richtofen agreed, secretly acting on behalf of the Illuminati's interests.

By 1939, Maxis and Ultimis Richtofen started working on the first teleportation experiments with a Matter Transference Prototype. The experiments were unsuccessful. The subjects were teleported, but their chemical composition was altered, leaving them catatonic and changed. Ultimis Richtofen also began the development of the Wunderwaffe DG-2. In the same year, Maxis turned to the Reichstag and the Nazi Party for additional funding. They agreed to the request, expressing interest in Group 935’s weapons research, teleportation technology, and the reanimated undead subject to help the Axis win the war.^[1]

Ultimis Richtofen and Doctor Schuster continued working on teleportation and successfully teleported a walnut during Test Trial 151. The result, however, failed to impress Maxis who revealed to Ultimis Richtofen that Group 935 would be soon funded by Nazi Germany. Ultimis Richtofen worried this would lead to mass defections. He decided to continue the experiments with Schuster behind Maxis' back.

In early 1940, Ultimis Richtofen and Schuster conducted the first human teleportation test. Ultimis Richtofen was so confident in its success that he volunteered himself. He was teleported to the Moon where he encountered the Aether Pyramid, calling it MPD. While inspecting the device, Ultimis Richtofen was electrocuted and began hearing many voices of corruption, including the Shadowman's. He was then teleported to Shangri-La in the Himalayas where he was worshiped by the natives who built an altar in his name. Ultimis Richtofen also encountered the Focusing Stone for the first time. Corrupted by the Dark Aether, Ultimis Richtofen was gradually driven insane by an obsession to reach Agartha.

Ultimis Richtofen returned to Der Riese a few weeks later with a plan to build a station on the Moon, called Griffin Station. He also renounced his involvement with the Illuminati. Frustrated with Maxis' alignment with Germany, other disgruntled Group 935 scientists joined his cause.

Several months later, Maxis contacted the Reichstag High Command requesting additional funds stating that Der Riese lacked not only the funding, but a sufficient volume of Element 115 as well. In response to his request, Nazi Germany built two new facilities in Berlin for Group 935. They were known as the Kino Facility, a repurposed theater, and the Asylum Facility at the Wittenau Sanatorium. The Imperial Japanese Army handed over the Rising Sun Facility to Group 935 which collaborated with Division 9 at the facility site. Group 935 also established a facility in Siberia near the Tunguska River and a research facility at Der Eisendrache, called Eagle's Nest.

By 1942, Griffin Station was completed. Ultimis Richtofen appointed Doctor Groph as lead scientist and tasked him and Schuster to discover a way to power the MPD. While at the Rising Sun Facility, Maxis developed the Ray Gun Prototype while H. Porter worked on the 2nd Generation Model. In May 1942, after soldiers returned from Africa, Ultimis Richtofen reported that they found a number of artifacts from an American town. Among the artifacts and documents recovered, was pieces of the Pack-a-Punch machine from Jebediah Brown. Ultimis Richtofen gave the schematics to H. Porter to replicate Brown's work. Ultimis Richtofen also discovered plans for the Agarthan Device and the Vril Vessel, as well as the Vril Device.

On June 13th, 1942, as a result of temporal rifts caused by Ultimis traveling through time to reach the Kino Facility in 1963, Doctor Monty reached across time and space and offered little nudges. One nudge is helping Group 935 to develop Element 115 fused elixirs. They created four medicinal beverages known colloquially as Juggernog, Quick Revive, Speed Cola, and Double Tap.

At Griffin station, Groph and Schuster unwittingly discover how to charge the MPD when Schuster killed a rat near the device. Its death inexplicably began charging the device by filling its tank. They reported their findings to Ultimis Richtofen who began sending soldiers and scientists to be sacrificed to charge the MPD.

By the end of 1942, Maxis expressed concern over Element 115's impact on Ultimis Richtofen's behavior. Although no longer trusting him, he left his daughter Samantha in Ultimis Richtofen's care as Maxis himself was transferred to the Kino Facility with his assistant Sophia to focus on creating Germany's undead army.

In 1943, Nikolai Belinski, who would later be known as Ultimis Nikolai, was captured during the Battle of Stalingrad and became a test subject for Group 935. The same year, Takeo Masaki, who would later be known as Ultimis Takeo, was captured by Group 935 on the orders of the Emperor.

In 1944, Pablo Marinus, a Mexican spy, was captured by Group 935 at Der Eisendrache. In his cell, Pablo wrote of visions of a Great War. He described a "great battle against strange demon-like creatures who were trying to devour the Earth". In his visions, he saw four knights protected him from certain death. He made a note that the knights wore tunics similar to the statues in Der Eisendrache.

In 1945, OSS operative Peter McCain infiltrated Group 935. In July 1945, Richtofen traveled to the Siberian Facility to do further research on "live specimens". As her temporary guardian, he took Samantha with him. Ultimis Richtofen also brought the Vril Device with him. Several days after his arrival, a Reporter was arrested near the facility. When Ultimis Richtofen interrogated him, the reporter revealed he was working for Mr. Rapt who was looking for several artifacts, among them the Vril Vessel. After Ultimis Richtofen refused to give him the vessel, he ordered the guards to kill the reporter.

On August 1945, Group 935 began to transfer three test subjects for experimentation: Ultimis Nikolai, Pablo Marinus, and Ultimis Takeo. Ultimis Richtofen began experimenting on them few days after their arrival. Ultimis Richtofen also started looking at a way to create an Elemental Shard in order to build the Agarthan Device

Suspecting Group 935 would lose control of their experiments, Peter's handler, Cornelius Pernell, sent a Marine Recon Team lead by "Tank" Dempsey, who would later be known as Ultimis Dempsey, to extract McCain whose cover had been blown.

In September 1945, during an operation with Harvey Yena, another American spy, Ultimis Richtofen extracted Pablo Marinus' spleen. He noted that the barrier to unlock the human mind was not located in the spleen. Believing Marinus dead, they dumped him into the river. However, Pablo survived and would later awaken in a pocket dimension at the bottom of the river before swimming back to the Siberian facility where he would remain for the next 20 years.

Several days later, the Recon Team arrived at the Asylum Facility where an outbreak occurred. Ultimis Dempsey was captured and sent to Ultimis Richtofen in Siberia to replace Pablo Marinus. Ultimis Richtofen continued experimenting on Ultimis Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo and documented the personality traits of his test subjects. Dempsey's "intellect seemed low, but his will was strong." Takeo was "still staring at the floor, muttering what sounds like some kind of proverb over and over again." Nikolai had "recently begun responding to stimuli, but only after injections of a new serum made primarily from vodka." Ultimis Richtofen noted that their minds had been almost entirely broken, with no memory remaining of who they once were. While at the Siberian Facility, Ultimis Richtofen also experimented on Samantha.

As he continued to find a way to build the Agarthan Device, Ultimis Richtofen managed to siphon a piece of the souls of his three test subjects into a processed rock of Element 115 using the Vril Vessel. He used his own for the fourth soul required. As the souls were injected to the rock, it transformed and created a shard of glass. Unbeknownst to Ultimis Richtofen, by forging their souls to the Element 115, he bound his soul and the ones from Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki and "Tank" Dempsey to the Aether across all dimensions. All their different versions were now connected to the Aether through time and space.

After learning from Harvey Yena that Maxis didn't mass-produce the Wunderwaffe DG-2 as promised, Ultimis Richtofen started plotting to destroy Maxis and his daughter. He vowed that he would no longer continue to work on Maxis' undead army.

With the war over, Maxis returned to Der Riese in October 1945 and ordered Ultimis Richtofen to do likewise so they might continue their work on the Matter Transference Device. Several days later, Ultimis Richtofen arrived at Der Riese with his test subjects and Samantha. On October 12th, Groph contacted Ultimis Richtofen to inform him the MPD had been powered up and was awaiting the conduit.

On October 13th, 1945, during a series of teleportation test trials, Maxis used Samantha's dog Fluffy as test subject. Fluffy, now changed was teleported back into the chamber. When Samantha saw Fluffy, she ran inside the teleporter. Maxis chased after her and Ultimis Richtofen sealed them in the test chamber before teleporting them away.

While Maxis was teleported to the Crazy Place where he learned the power to merge with electricity, Samantha was teleported to Griffin Station. She ran inside the MPD where she became corrupted by the Dark Aether. When he learned about the incident, Ultimis Richtofen ordered Groph to teleport Maxis to the Moon to coax Samantha out of the device. Maxis approached the MPD and he persuaded her to come out. Once she did, Maxis gave her the instruction to "kill them... all" before killing himself and merging with the technology of Griffin Station. Samantha then entered the MPD and unleashed the undead upon the base killing anyone involved with the organization.

The next day, an outbreak occurred at the Der Riese Facility. H. Porter activated the alarm before killing himself. Ultimis Richtofen returned to the facility where he awoke Ultimis Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai. With no recollection of who they were or who Richtofen was, they agreed to help him. The four would become known as Ultimis.

Richtofen's Grand Scheme[]

Several days later, Ultimis traveled to the Rising Sun facility where an outbreak occurred. In the facility, Ultimis discovered the corpse of Peter McCain who died during a parachute incident after being ordered by Cornelius Pernell to rendezvous at the facility. Ultimis Richtofen also recovered his diary, which contained his research notes concerning Element 115, and began to formulate a plan to defeat Samantha.

A week later, Ultimis returned to Der Riese where Ultimis Richtofen planned to use the teleporter to return to the Moon and confront Samantha. However, the Wunderwaffe DG-2 overloaded the teleporter and sent Ultimis to the Kino Facility in 1963 causing Ultimis Richtofen to drop his diary which was later recovered by the Soviet Union.

This marked the first time Ultimis traveled across space and time and resulted in temporal rifts occurring across dimensions. In light of these developments, Monty felt obligated to step in and began to make changes in the background across time. He helped Group 935 invent Perk Machines. He also added chalk drawings to the walls.

When Ultimis arrived at the Kino Facility on October 28th, 1963, they located a Lunar Lander and flew to the Ascension Facility.

In the weeks prior to Ultimis' arrival at the Ascension Facility, a Russian scientist from the Ascension Group named Yuri Zavoyski became corrupted by Samantha's voice after reading Ultimis Richtofen's diary. Yuri tricked his colleague, Doctor Anton Gersh, into activating a Gersh Device. The rift created allowed Samantha to travel through. It also absorbed Gersh, destroying his body and trapped him inside the Casimir Mechanism. Yuri was also absorbed and transported to the Pentagon.

When Ultimis arrived at the Ascension Facility on November 6th, 1963, they found the outbreak had occurred and Gersh begged them to free him from the Casimir Mechanism. At the same time, in the Pentagon, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Fidel Castro, and Richard Nixon were discussing a future alliance between the United States and Cuba to fight Samantha when an outbreak occurred inside the building. Yuri, who was responsible for a prior outbreak in the Pentagon, was sent by Samantha to thwart their survival. After Ultimis freed Gersh from the Casimir Mechanism, he sent them to their next destination before beginning his travels across space and time. With the departure of Ultimis from the cosmodrome, both outbreaks were contained, and Yuri was arrested.

Ultimis arrived in a locked room at the Siberian Facility on March 17th, 2011 where George A. Romero, who had stumbled upon Group 935's research, was making a movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, and Michael Rooker. An outbreak soon occurred, and George Romero was turned into a zombie. The actors recovered the Vril Device for Ultimis who were then teleported to their next destination. The fate of the cast and crew remained unknown but six weeks later, Romero's assistant, Sally, was teleported to Shangri-La and trapped inside a time loop while looking through Romero's research about Group 935.

As they continued their journey, Ultimis arrived at Shangri-La on April 25th, 1956. With the help of two explorers trapped inside the time loop, Brock and Gary, Ultimis acquired the Focusing Stone.

Now in possession of the Vril Device and the Focusing Stone, Ultimis Richtofen was ready to return to the Moon. Ultimis Dempsey, however, fired the 31-79 JGb215 while inside the teleporter. This caused Ultimis to travel to the Pentagon, before the November 6th outbreak had occurred. Meanwhile, Yuri was sent by Samantha to release the zombies kept in the Pentagon before being sent to November 6th. Once in the Pentagon, Ultimis traveled to Groom Lake, Nevada where they used the teleporter to reach the Moon.

Once inside Griffin Station, on October 13th, 2025, Ultimis reactivated the MPD which revealed Samantha as she was when she entered the device back in 1945. Ultimis Richtofen then used a terminal to power up the Vril Device and merged it with the Focusing Stone. However, he encountered Maxis inside the terminal, who tried to stop him. However, Ultimis Richtofen was able to complete his Grand Scheme and switched his soul with that of Samantha's, gaining full control of the Aether, while Samantha was trapped inside Richtofen's body.

Ultimis Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo then decided to help the disembodied AI Maxis stop Ultimis Richtofen. They launched three missiles at the Earth in order to sever the link between the Earth and the Aether. However, the calculations were made in haste, causing catastrophic destruction to the Earth.

Meanwhile, in 2035, Victis was able to activate all three polarization devices in Maxis' favor. Maxis, now corrupted by the Dark Aether, returned to the Moon in 2025 and plucked Samantha from Richtofen's body to join him in Agartha before destroying the Earth and all its inhabitants. As a last bit of revenge, Maxis trapped Ultimis Richtofen's soul in a zombie, creating Undead Richtofen, leaving his body in a catatonic state.

Ultimis Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai, and Richtofen's catatonic body were then accidentally teleported back to Groom Lake on August 3rd, 1963 where they were captured by Pernell and kept in Hangar 4 to be experimented on. Several months later, on October 13th, Undead Richtofen stepped out of a portal from the Empty Earth and remerged his soul with Ultimis Richtofen's body, waking him from his coma. Some time later, Primis teleported inside Hangar 4 where they freed and met with their Ultimis selves. Nikolai, now assuming the role of leader of the group, revealed to Ultimis there will be a war to be fought, a great war, before teleporting away from the hangar.

Victis Story[]

The missile launch by the Ultimis crew in 2025 left the Earth as a post-apocalyptic crumbling wasteland littered with undead hordes as civilization collapsed. As survivors began to band together to form small human communities and shelters to protect themselves from the now global undead threat, Maxis realized the failure of his original plans due to hasty calculations and began contacting survivors to help him with his "Plan B": activate global polarization devices and open a gateway to Agartha, where he would overpower Richtofen and use its energy to heal the Earth. Unbeknownst to his followers, Maxis secretly planned to commandeer the Aether's energy for his own use to open the gateway to Agartha and reunite with Samantha, which would ultimately destroy the Earth and its people.

Ultimis Richtofen, unsatisfied with his limited power over the undead, planned to activate these polarization devices as well, which would grant him further manipulation of both zombies and humans and mend "the Rift", a direct gateway to Agartha, which would eternally damn the soul of Samantha Maxis in the process. Limited to communication with only those capable of hearing the voices of the Aether, Ultimis Richtofen began his own quest for unlimited power.

Over the years, Maxis' followers started constructing the first polarization device near the Hanford Site in Green Run, Washington State. However, his followers began to doubt his goals and, believing him to be evil, proceeded to destroy the devices. Meanwhile, The Flesh, a society of survivors who ate the undead was formed. As its members ate the flesh of the undead, they began to hear Ultimis Richtofen who tried to persuade them to construct the polarization devices. Eventually a battle broke out between Maxis' followers and The Flesh, with only a few left to escape as an undead horde descended upon them.

Several years later, in 2035, Marlton Johnson, the sole survivor of the nuclear incident at Camp Edward and the missile strike, met with Abigail "Misty" Briarton in a diner near Green Run where they also encountered two more survivors, Russman, a former Broken Arrow operative, and Samuel J. Stuhlinger, one of the remaining members of The Flesh, who used a stolen bus for transport. The four would become known as Victis.

Activating the Polarization Devices[]

At the Hanford Site, Victis was contacted by Maxis, who revealed the town contains a polarization device required for his plans. At the same time, Ultimis Richtofen contacted Samuel instructing him to foil Maxis' plans by activating the tower in his favor, beginning a race for power between Maxis and Ultimis Richtofen. Victis ultimately activated the tower for Maxis, consuming the essence of the entity called Avogadro.

Victis was then teleported by Ultimis Richtofen to a skyscraper in the crumbled city of Shanghai, Province 22, China, in an attempt to gain control of the tower located there. Maxis also contacted Victis, hoping to convince them to give him control of the tower. Richtofen tried to blackmail Samuel into cooperating by threatening to reveal to his allies that he had consumed undead meat. Every time the group failed to carry out the objective and was killed by the zombie horde, Richtofen would use his power to bring them back, with no memories of their previous failures or deaths. Victis ultimately activated the second polarization device in Maxis' favor.

Victis managed to escape the building they were trapped in and started to wander the world to reach the Rift, hoping to find answers about the unseen forces commanding them. They traveled through the remains of Europe, crossed the Sahara Desert and by December 31st, 2035 found a Western town buried underground near the Rift in Southern Angola. The town was transported from the 1800s to underneath the mining facility by a temporal rift triggered by the fracturing of the Earth ten years earlier. In one of the cells, Victis found Arthur who had been transported to the town from 1318 by a previous temporal rift. Maxis once again contacted the survivors, imploring them to activate the last spire in his favor. Meanwhile, Samuel was tasked with the same objective by Ultimis Richtofen, as it was also the last tower he needed to mend the Rift and gain unlimited power.

Retrieving the Kronorium[]

Following Maxis' victory, the Victis crew was contacted by Primis Richtofen and offered an escape portal from the soon-to-be-destroyed Earth. Primis Richtofen had discovered his connection with Samuel Stuhlinger shortly after the events of Origins in Dimension 63 and had decided to use Victis to acquire the Kronorium, a book needed for his plan to find the Summoning Key. Primis Richtofen also instructed Undead Richtofen (Ultimis) to pursue Victis and recover their blood vials.

The escape portal led Victis to an abandoned Broken Arrow facility which Russman had previously worked at. There, they recovered a fragment of the Elemental Shard before providing blood samples which transported them to Empty Earth, still being chased by Undead Richtofen.

Escaping the zombie horde led by Undead Richtofen, they arrived at Zero Base; a facility created by some version of Maxis in the Empty Earth. While some of Victis felt that they were finally safe in Zero Base, Primis Richtofen informed Stuhlinger that the Empty Earth was a tangential world which would soon collapse due to their intrusion. Their only way out would be to recover the Kronorium stored within the base. After taking possession of the Kronorium, they departed through another rift while Undead Richtofen collected the blood samples they had left behind.

Victis arrived inside Richtofen's lab beneath Alcatraz in Dimension 63 where they met with Primis Richtofen. Upon reading the Kronorium, Primis Richtofen discovered numerous timelines documenting their fates and learned about the Blood Vials. He would later write on the page "I know now what I must do - E.R. 4/7/41". He then left his lab and collected Victis' blood samples from Undead Richtofen in the Empty Earth, retrieved the blood samples of Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca (386A) and Michael "Finn" O'Leary (481B) in 1934, then gave the prisoners' blood samples to his younger self in 1914. Primis Richtofen then returned to the lab. He then offered to put Victis "on ice" inside suspension devices where they would be kept safe until "the final world arrives" which Victis accepted. Shortly after being placed in stasis, the Primis crew from the future teleported to the lab and Primis Richtofen gave the later version of himself the Victis blood samples.

Primis Story[]

In Dimension 63, in 1300, Sir Pablo Marinus (who had been transported back in time from the Pocket Dimension by Victis) began documenting the Great War, including everything he had learned about the Keepers, the Apothicons, and Element 115. Regarding Element 115's power, he noted that a site in northern France contained massive deposits of the element. In northern France, a tomb was constructed to honor the fallen soldiers of The Great War. Within it, statues of Primis were constructed to symbolize the hope that if one day a great evil falls upon mankind, they may return.

Several centuries later, Doctor Ludvig Maxis and Doctor Edward Richtofen, who would later be known as Primis Richtofen, joined Group 935. In 1914, Primis Richtofen was visited by an older version of himself who handed him two blood vials and explained that he would need this blood and, when the time came, they would protect him. The older version of Primis Richtofen then left through a rift.

In 1916, Group 935 discovered the journal of Sir Pablo Marinus. Using information gathered from the journal, Group 935 began work at a dig site in northern France, where they discovered a series of underground tombs. They struggled to gain access of the tomb's main chamber until the entrance unexpectedly opened when soldiers listened to a recording of "La Source Noire". The camp's exposure to Element 115 began soon after.

In 1917, Group 935 experimented with Element 115, dubbed Divinium by Maxis, and successfully created "localized energy fields which appeared to function as portals.". Maxis noted that objects could pass through them and speculated the rifts may have opened gateways across space and time. After witnessing the corruption of her father by the Dark Aether in the House, Samantha reached out to the Dimension 63 Maxis through the rifts Group 935 had opened. She begged for his help and revealed she was his daughter.

Group 935 continued experimenting with Element 115 and the rifts. One day an "ancient box" arrived through one of the portals. The box had the power to manifest weapons from different eras. Maxis feared Element 115 was disrupting the space-time continuum. Following the installation of Element 115 powered generators, reports surfaced of "ancient figures emerging" from the dig site corresponding with the mysterious deaths of several Group 935 soldiers. Using Element 115, Group 935 later constructed four Giant Robots including three named Freya, Odin and Thor. Primis Richtofen noted that despite Group 935's progress at the dig site, he was troubled by Maxis' growing obsession with Sir Pablo Marinus' diary.

Meanwhile, Primis "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki were dispatched by their respective governments to gather intel and investigate on Group 935's weapon technology and capabilities.

By 1918, Maxis had become obsessed with Samantha, who spoke to him constantly. He believed her to be the "key to everything" and eventually swore to no longer serve Group 935's mission.

On June 4th, 1918, Element 115 awakened the undead knights from The Great War who quickly consumed the camp. Maxis was rendered catatonic by the element but Primis Richtofen was able to remove his brain before he turned. Primis Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo united with Primis Richtofen on the battlefield, put Maxis' brain in a drone and helped free Samantha from her imprisonment in Agartha. Maxis' brain followed her to Agartha.

When Maxis' brain arrived in the House in Agartha, Doctor Monty decided to step in and, despite the absence of his soul, recreated a physical manifestation of Maxis' Dimension 63 form. Monty then erased the original timeline's Dark Aether corrupted Maxis from existence. After cleansing the remaining corruption from Samantha, Monty united her with the Dimension 63 incarnation of her father and Fluffy. At this point, Monty revealed to Maxis his plan: to resolve the paradox wrought by a multiverse and create a new reality - one free of the Apothicons. But it would only work if they enlisted the aid of souls who had lived through and survived the fracturing. Samantha sent Primis to the Ultimis dimension in 1943 where they formulated a plan to stop Ultimis Richtofen and prevent the events that were about to unfold.

Richtofen's Journey[]

Primis Richtofen alone was teleported to the House in Agartha and reunited with Maxis. Maxis explained to Primis Richtofen the plan to secure the Kronorium and locate the Summoning Key and warned him that the "test subjects must never be allowed to be awakened". While inside the House, Primis Richtofen discovered his connection with Samuel Stuhlinger and decided to use Victis to acquire the Kronorium.

Primis Richtofen traveled back to 1940 in Dimension 63 where he contacted members of the Illuminati and enlisted their help to build a laboratory facility beneath Alcatraz. Several days later, he met with Stanley Ferguson and convinced him to assist with the Illuminati’s construction of the Alcatraz laboratory. Having overseen the construction of a laboratory beneath Alcatraz, Richtofen returned to the House in Agartha where he began to communicate with Stuhlinger. Together, they persuaded Victis to travel to a variety of locations in order to recover the Kronorium.

When Primis Richtofen returned to the laboratory in 1941, he transported Victis to the lab to meet them. Upon reading the Kronorium, Primis Richtofen discovered numerous timelines documenting their fates and learned about the Blood Vials. He would later write on the page "I know now what I must do - E.R. 4/7/41". He then left his lab and collected Victis' blood samples from Undead Richtofen in the Empty Earth, retrieved the blood samples of Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca and Michael "Finn" O'Leary in 1934 and gave the latter two to his younger self in 1914. Primis Richtofen returned to the lab and offered to put Victis "on ice" inside suspension devices where they would be kept safe until "the final world arrives".

Shortly after putting Victis in stasis, the rest of the Primis team arrived in the lab from the Proditione Fracture and Primis Richtofen gave them Victis' blood samples. Following their departure, Primis Richtofen learned the location of the Summoning Key and traveled to Morg City. There, he learned that the Reporter had the Summoning Key and confronted him. The Reporter, who had been warned by Monty's letter not to give the Summoning Key to anyone, ordered Richtofen to stay away before attacking him. Primis Richtofen killed the Reporter in self-defense but was unable to retrieve the artifact as the crate containing the Summoning Key had been sealed with ancient magic.

In Morg City, four individuals with checkered pasts: Floyd Campbell, Jessica Rose, Nero Blackstone, and Jack Vincent were influenced by the Shadowman to kill someone they knew. They were then drugged and, upon waking, were manipulated into conducting a ritual, thinking it would absolve them of their sins. Instead, it allowed the Apothicons into Dimension 63. After realizing their mistake, the four worked with the Keepers to defeat the Shadowman and trapped him inside the Summoning Key. Primis Richtofen returned to Morg City and stole the Summoning Key (with the Shadowman trapped within it) from the four before leaving the dimension. Primis Richtofen then traveled to Dimension 2210 where he secured the soul of a young innocent. Returning to the House, Monty was able to give the innocent soul a physical form, named Eddie. He also took custody of the Summoning Key, though the Shadowman ominously promised "I'll be seeing you...", foreshadowing his planned escape. Primis Richtofen then returned to the Ultimis dimension where he stepped out of a teleporter moments after Ultimis Richtofen had teleported Maxis and Samantha away and killed his Ultimis self, triggering fractures across space and time.

Shadowman's Plan[]

The Shadowman was the only Apothicon to survive the banishment in the Dark Aether and traveled across the multiverse to find a way for the other Apothicons to reach Agartha.

Posing as Mr. Rapt, the Shadowman hired the same Reporter across different dimensions to retrieve the Summoning Key as well as components for the Agarthan Device.

After learning the fate of Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca, Billy Handsome, Albert "Weasel" Arlington and Michael "Finn" O'Leary in Dimension 63, the Shadowman contacted the Warden of Alcatraz during the 1930s and corrupted him.

In 1932, Salvatore DeLuca, Billy Handsome, Albert Arlington, and Michael O'Leary were convicted and sent to Alcatraz. The next year, on April 1st, 1933, Arlington convinced the other three that they could build a plane and escape the island. By the end of year, however, the others realized the plane would never be completed. Embittered, they plotted to get revenge on Arlington.

On December 31st, 1933, DeLuca, O'Leary, and Finn lured Arlington to the roof and killed him. The Shadowman revealed to the Warden that he would transform the island with the souls of the four mobsters and create a trap to ensnare Primis Richtofen inside a Pocket Dimension.

In January 1934, just a few days before they were executed, Primis Richtofen stepped through a portal and secured the blood samples of DeLuca and O'Leary. On January 19th, 1934, Salvatore DeLuca, Billy Handsome and Michael O'Leary were executed by electric chair for the murder of Arlington. After their execution, the Warden killed himself with the electric chair before disappearing from Dimension 63.

In late 1943, the Reporter recovered the Summoning Key in the South Pacific, the Seal of Duality, as well as a rock of Element 115 in Russia. He then interviewed Stanley Ferguson, a retired guard who worked at the Alcatraz prison between 1933 and 1941. Ferguson gave the reporter a detailed account of the death of four mobsters and their plan to escape the Rock. After learning their fate, the Shadowman went into the past and contacted the Warden of Alcatraz in the 1930s.

On December 31st, 1943, the Reporter arrived in Morg City, as requested by the Shadowman, to track down Floyd Campbell, Jessica Rose, Nero Blackstone and Jack Vincent. Over the next few months, the reporter gathered enough information and sent a telegram providing their details. The Shadowman then influenced Campbell, Rose, Blackstone, and Vincent to kill someone they knew.

Aware of the Shadowman's actions, Monty wrote to the Reporter, warning him to not give the Summoning Key to anyone.

On April 21st, 1944, Primis Richtofen arrived in Morg City. The next day, he learned that the Reporter had the Summoning Key and confronted him. The Reporter waved Monty's letter to Richtofen and ordered him to stay away before attacking him. Primis Richtofen killed the Reporter in self-defense but was unable to retrieve the artifact as the crate containing the Summoning Key had been sealed with ancient magic.

Several days later, Floyd Campbell, Jessica Rose, Nero Blackstone and Jack Vincent awakened in a twisted version of Morg City. The Shadowman tricked them into performing rituals which gave the Apothicons access to Dimension 63. After realizing their error, the four then worked with the Keepers to defeat the Shadowman and trapped him inside the Summoning Key. At this point, Primis Richtofen stepped through a portal, stole the Summoning Key and thanked the four for their efforts before leaving the dimension. The next day, the Apothicons consumed Dimension 63 and its inhabitants. Inside the Summoning Key, the Shadowman contacted the Warden of Alcatraz and revealed to him that he would transform Alcatraz with the souls of the four mobsters and create a trap to ensnare Primis Richtofen inside the Pocket Dimension, thus creating a cycle.

Quest for the Souls[]

In the Ultimis Dimension, Primis Dempsey, Takeo, and Nikolai were teleported in by Samantha and arrived at the Der Riese facility moments after Ultimis Richtofen teleported Maxis and Samantha away. They ordered Ultimis Richtofen to awaken the test subjects, Ultimis Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo, who had been kept in stasis prior to the outbreak at Der Riese in the original timeline. At this point, the teleporter activated and Primis Richtofen, now in possession of the Summoning Key, emerged and killed Ultimis Richtofen then collected his soul within the Summoning Key, triggering fractures across space and time.

Now inside the Deceptio Fracture, Primis lit up a beacon within the facility enabling Maxis to know where and when they were.

Using a Giant Robot at Der Riese, Primis pursued a Group 935 truck, carrying a cryostasis pod containing Ultimis Dempsey. The robot, however, was shot down by the soldiers, forcing Primis to continue on foot. They reached a gondola station, which took them up to Eagle's Nest. However, they were too late to stop Ultimis Dempsey from being launched on a rocket toward Griffin Station. As they carried on with their mission, Primis Richtofen posed as his Ultimis self to fool Doctor Groph, though the latter gradually became suspicious of Richtofen's abnormal behavior. Eventually, Primis redirected the rocket containing Ultimis Dempsey's pod to hit the castle courtyard. In retaliation, Groph activated a failsafe, preventing them from tampering with the pod. Primis used the Vril Device from the cryopod to conjure up the spirit of a Keeper. The Keeper then teleported the MPD from Griffin Station to the castle but became corrupted by the Dark Aether in the process, forcing Primis to defeat it. Primis then used the Summoning Key to activate the MPD and launched dozens of V2 rockets toward the Moon, destroying it along with all Group 935 members within Griffin Station. As they approached Ultimis Dempsey's pod, Richtofen revealed his plan to eliminate their Ultimis counterparts and preserve their souls inside the Summoning Key. Dempsey, though initially resentful of the idea, agreed to the plan, and took it upon himself to disable the pod's life support system, ending the life of Ultimis Dempsey. As he died, Primis Richtofen used the Summoning Key to capture and preserve his soul. With the death of Ultimis Dempsey, their goal at Griffin Castle was completed.

Primis then teleported to the Proditione Fracture, where they were taken hostage on board a Japanese ship in the Pacific Ocean. While a Japanese officer was interrogating them about the Summoning Key, a massive wave struck the ship sending everyone off their balance. A brief fight then ensued and the officer dropped the artifact. Primis then jumped overboard as the ship exploded and swam to a nearby island where they found a Division 9 facility. Primis discovered deep inside the facility a giant Thrasher, locked within a cell, which was revealed to be Ultimis Takeo who was being experimented on. Ultimis Takeo revealed to Primis Takeo that it was the Emperor himself who had ordered Division 9 to torture and experiment on him. Primis Takeo offered his Ultimis self a chance to right the wrongs of the universe, which he accepted. Ultimis Takeo committed seppuku, with Primis Takeo acting as his kaishakunin. With his death, Primis Richtofen was able to secure the soul of Ultimis Takeo inside the Summoning Key.

Primis then teleported to Primis Richtofen's laboratory beneath Alcatraz where they met with an earlier version of Primis Richtofen before he acquired the Summoning Key. The earlier Primis Richtofen gave them the blood samples of Victis and Primis stepped through a portal to their next destination.

Primis accidentally teleported over the city of Stalingrad in the Agonia Fracture. During the freefall, they grabbed onto the corpse of Peter McCain, who had gone through a portal, and activated his parachute to land safely. They discovered an ongoing battle between dragons and Russian Giant Robots with Ultimis Nikolai as the sole survivor fighting zombies inside a Manticore mech. Upon noticing Primis, Ultimis Nikolai attempted to kill them, but was thrown into a building by a dragon before he could succeed. He later questioned who they were and if they could help him. Eventually, Primis reached S.O.P.H.I.A., an A.I. made from the brain of Maxis' assistant Sophia who had been attacked by a zombie during their stay at the Kino Facility. She asked them to perform several tasks before a master password could be typed in, prompting Primis to complete the Ascension Protocol. As they continued to follow S.O.P.H.I.A.'s instructions, they found Gersh, who recognized them, yet knew they were not the same versions who freed him. Primis tricked Gersh into entering the systems of S.O.P.H.I.A. to extract information from him leading to his destruction. With the Ascension Protocol completed, S.O.P.H.I.A. flew away through space and time in hopes of finding Maxis. During their mission at Stalingrad, Monty contacted Primis stating he had "seen their misdeeds" and asked them to fix the universe as they were partially responsible for its fracture. Primis then reached Ultimis Nikolai who made a temporary truce with them to kill the dragon. However, upon the dragon's death, Primis asked Ultimis Nikolai to surrender. Ultimis Nikolai refused and a brief fight broke out between them. Ultimately, Primis defeated Ultimis Nikolai who was then approached by his Primis self. As he approached, Ultimis Nikolai asked if he would "kill him now". Primis Nikolai apologized stating he wished there was another way and remarked he was suffering the same pain. He explained that Ultimis Nikolai turned to alcohol to hide agonizing memories of his wife's death during an air raid. In a fit of rage, Ultimis Nikolai fired upon his Primis self. However, the shot hit Primis Nikolai on his armored plate, causing no damage. In retaliation, Primis Nikolai responded by killing his Ultimis self, allowing Richtofen to secure his soul.

With all the souls collected, Primis Richtofen sent them to the House in Agartha where Monty turned them into children. When the souls arrived in the House, Maxis told Samantha and Eddie to put their toys away before coming down to the basement.

Creating a Paradox[]

At some point, Maxis became overwhelmed by the voice of the Shadowman begging for his help from within the Summoning Key. When Maxis took the artifact, he released the Shadowman and became trapped inside the Summoning Key himself. Once outside the House, the Shadowman opened a gateway for the Apothicons, fracturing and corrupting Agartha and revealing the Apothicon sun. Primis fought the Apothicons and the Shadowman. During the battle, S.O.P.H.I.A. arrived in Agartha. Using the Summoning Key and the Kronorium, Primis defeated the Shadowman with the help of S.O.P.H.I.A. Maxis, still inside the Summoning Key, and S.O.P.H.I.A. then plunged inside the Apothicon sun destroying the Apothicons and purging Element 115 from the final universe.

After the battle, Monty realized Primis drank the blood from their blood vials, blood coming from realities already closed off. This prevented Primis from fading out of existence and resulted in a paradox. As Monty was looking for a way to get rid of Primis, Primis Richtofen suggested he send them somewhere none of their other selves had ever been to. As a result, Primis was sent back to 1294 where they saved Pablo Marinus during the Great War between humanity and the Apothicons, ultimately creating a loop in time.

Breaking the Cycle[]

The Great War[]

When Pablo Marinus arrived in Northern France in 1294, having been transported from the pocket dimension in Siberia, he fought alongside the Wolf King. He was saved from a Margwa by Primis Richtofen, after the Primis crew had been sent to the Great War by Monty.

At this point, Primis Richtofen realized that Monty was lying about securing a better tomorrow. He realized that going to the Great War wouldn't break the cycle, as it was the end of their loop. Primis Richtofen finally understood that Monty wasn't inherently evil, he was trying to survive by saving the multiverse the only way he knew how. By fulfilling the prophecy of the cycle, Primis Richtofen and Doctor Monty had forged an endless loop.

With the help of Pablo Marinus, Primis Richtofen started a plan to break the cycle. As Pablo Marinus was defending him from the zombies, Primis Richtofen powered up a teleportation device to travel to the Alcatraz Pocket Dimension. Before he left, Pablo gave him the elemental gem from the Staff of Fire. Primis Richtofen would then be known as Post-Great War Richtofen.

Alcatraz Pocket Dimension[]

After their deaths, Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca, Billy Handsome, Albert "Weasel" Arlington and Michael "Finn" O'Leary were trapped inside a perpetual cycle in the Alcatraz Pocket Dimension created by the Warden for the Shadowman.

The four mobsters began their escape plan before realizing they weren’t in the prison. While fighting off the zombies and the Warden, they constructed a plane based on Arlington design before taking off and crashing against the Golden Gate Bridge.

Upon arriving from the Proditione Fracture, another iteration of Primis arrived in the Alcatraz Pocket Dimension, farther from their destination than they intended, and made their way to a laboratory on the west side of the island. In the laboratory, they found the earlier version of Primis Richtofen, before his journey to Morg City, reading the Kronorium as he waited for them to arrive.

The lone Richtofen stated they were late before giving them the blood vials. He then strongly advised Primis Richtofen read the Kronorium again before he left via his own portal. Upon reading it, Primis Richtofen realized the pages had changed.

Primis traveled through the cell blocks while fending off zombies to escape through another rift. However, this was prevented by the Warden who destroyed the rift before Primis could leave. Primis Richtofen then realized they were now trapped inside the Alcatraz Pocket Dimension as the Shadowman had intended.

While exploring Alcatraz, Primis Richtofen began hearing Samuel J. Stuhlinger inside his head and realized the lighthouse must have triggered a chain reaction in the Aether. Primis also discovered the Warden's inner sanctum where they found the Warden's body attached to an electric chair. As they were retrieving the Kronorium, Arlington, now in the form of a seagull, stole the book. After recovering it, Primis placed it on the Warden's body. Using the Kronorium, Primis helped several spirits trapped inside the dimension before placing the Summoning Key inside the Warden's body to be used as conduit to his soul. This resulted in the partial destruction of the lighthouse which fired a red beam of light towards the sky and prompted the Warden to attack Primis stating they now belonged to him before knocking them out and locking each of them in a cell.

The Warden explained to Primis that they would be trapped in the Pocket Dimension forever, suffering, with their blood extracted by his machine as it was the key to keep the gateway opened and also freed the Shadowman and the Apothicons.

However, after the Warden left, Arlington arrived and helped Primis escape their cells. As they ran back to the lab, they were stopped by the Warden who turned into a giant version of himself. He was, however, restrained by the spirits of Salvatore DeLuca, Billy Handsome and Finn O'Leary who launched him into the sky. Inside the lab, another cryopod was revealed and Primis started its thawing sequence. Primis then confronted the Warden in front of the Dark Mechanism next to the Model Industries to prevent him from acquiring the last piece of the Mechanism. During the fight, Primis Richtofen decided to step inside the Dark Mechanism and gave his blood. In the meantime, the cryopod opened revealing Post-Great War Richtofen wearing chainmail and holding the elemental gem. He joined the fight and used the gem to kill the Warden and the zombies, freeing their spirits from the pocket dimension.

Post-Great War Richtofen revealed to Primis Nikolai that the future had changed and handed him the Kronorium advising him to read it. He explained to Primis Nikolai that he must keep his soul in order to defeat Monty to which Primis Nikolai replied "Who??". Several portals appeared and Post-Great War Richtofen moved to the Dark Mechanism where he revealed to Primis Richtofen that the cycle was now broken and that their insurance policies - the blood vials - were no longer needed. He grabbed the Summoning Key and joined Primis, who had smashed their blood vials, before stepping through the portals leaving Primis Richtofen to die as the pocket dimension was collapsing.

Nikolai's Grand Scheme[]

After leaving Alcatraz, Primis Nikolai, now assuming the role of leader, Dempsey, Takeo, and Post-Great War Richtofen teleported into Hangar 4 at Groom Lake in 1963 where they met and freed their captured Ultimis selves (including the post-merge of the catatonic and Undead Richtofen). Primis Nikolai revealed to them that there would be a war to be fought, the Great War, before teleporting away from the Hangar.

Acquiring the Elemental Shard[]

Primis and Ultimis then arrived at Camp Edward, Nevada on October 13th, 2025. They reactivated the facility and its A.I, Rushmore. The Elemental Shard to proceed was locked inside the American Pyramid Device and Rushmore tested them before granting them access to it. During their exploration, they found Peter McCain trapped inside an android.. With the help of Rushmore, who deemed Peter "someone very important to humanity's future", Primis and Ultimis transferred him to an Elemental Orb, which then flew away from Camp Edward. When they opened the Pyramid, they released Cornelius Pernell who had been transformed by the shard into the monstrous entity Avogadro. With the release of Avogadro, a nuke was detonated but was ineffective. They managed to contain Avogadro inside the APD long enough for Rushmore to transfer it to the Hanford Site. After they retrieved the shard, Maxis contacted them saying it was "too late". Maxis then teleported Samantha and Eddie away from the House before being devoured by Monty. When Samantha arrived at Camp Edward, she unleashed her fury causing tremendous damage to Camp Edward before stating to Eddie that they would fight the Great War, kill Monty and burn the House to the ground.

Resolving the Paradox[]

After their journey to Camp Edward, Primis and Ultimis, accompanied with Samantha and Eddie, settled down in a forest. They proceeded to celebrate their future victory around a campfire, drinking and eating. Primis Nikolai explained to them that the Great War, the Apothicons, the Keepers, the Dark Aether, the Shadowman and Monty are just legend and tales from the Kronorium. He revealed both the Shadowman and Monty became corrupted by the Dark Aether, one from his own ambition and the other trying desperately to save his friend. He revealed the greatest war was the war they were fighting against themselves. As they keep celebrating, Primis Nikolai told them to think about what they desired, where they would like to go. Unbeknownst to them, the members of Primis and Ultimis had their drinks poisoned by Primis Nikolai. All of them, save for Primis Nikolai, Ultimis Richtofen, Samantha, and Eddie die to help resolve the paradox. With Primis Richtofen's death, Ultimis Richtofen reverted to Undead Richtofen.

Undead Richtofen then contacted Victis who exited their cryogenic pods and stepped through a portal before the Alcatraz Pocket Dimension collapsed. Victis arrived in the abandoned Group 935's Siberian facility of a different pocket dimension and was instructed by Undead Richtofen to build an Agartha device. In the facility, they encountered Pablo Marinus who had survived the operation performed by Ultimis Richtofen in 1945 and had been living inside the facility as a hermit for 20 years.

Pablo Marinus told Victis he could build the Agarthan Device for them. Victis recovered the Vril Vessel inside the facility as well as the blood of an Apothicon inside the stranded Ascension Group ship. They also retrieved the Elemental Shard sent by Primis Nikolai and gave them to Pablo Marinus. When the Agarthan Device was completed, the presence of the Apothicon Blood caused the species of Apothicons and Keepers to reunite as one, resolving the duality that existed between the species. As Victis activated the Agarthan Device, it started to evolve, affecting all the Element 115 in the area. Primis Nikolai tasked Victis to stay close to the Device and to protect it until it reached its final state. Once charged, Victis returned the Agarthan Device to Pablo Marinus who used it to create a portal in order to go to The Great War and help Primis Richtofen in breaking the cycle. Victis then retrieved the device and sent it to Primis Nikolai.

Using the Agarthan Device, Primis Nikolai destroyed the Summoning Key to open The Way Through before killing Undead Richtofen. With the destruction of the Summoning Key, reality collapsed, and the entirety of creation started to fade away including Victis, the zombies, the Apothicons, Element 115 and Monty himself. Everything that spewed forth from the Aether was banished to where they belonged, the Dark Aether.

Primis Nikolai then asked Samantha to kill him. With the death of Primis and Ultimis, the paradox was resolved. As the multiverse faded away, Samantha and Eddie walked towards the light and into the new universe - and a better tomorrow.