One thing was for certain - the Resident sure wasn't going to wait around. The moment he considered our conversation to be over, the sand under my feet shifted, making way for an enormous, black thorn, which rose up to the sky, impaling me on its sharp tip. Although the pain was duller than I envisioned, I still felt it. It seemed that fighting as one would truly mean being the same person in all aspects, including suffering. But that didn't matter. I was prepared to endure agony for this world. If nothing else, I owed it that much.

My body soon lost all of its strength. All the muscles went completely limp and eyes flew shut. Blood was flowing down the thorn, giving it a fresh crimson coating. The Resident turned their head slightly to the side. I bet that if they could, they would raise an eyebrow.

"Huh... that was it? Well, I have certainly expected more. This is just disappointing." They made a step closer to my lifeless body, but the moment another me emerged out of the thorn's shadow, they immediately started to back away.

"Heh, I knew there would be more to that. So... clones, huh? No, not really. You look different. Why is that?" They squinted their glowing eyes, trying to take a good look at me.

"I'm Eddie. And yet, technically, I am not. I am one fragment of him. A memory of himself from the time he went shopping and embarrassed himself by getting his hand stuck in a freezer."

"A personified memory? Heh, you are absolutely nuts," the Resident replied and another similar thorn quickly grew out of the first one, decapitating me.

"Impressive. They can grow even out of themselves," another fragment spoke from behind the Resident.

"Yeah, and they are tough. Like a bone," a third one added as he emerged from behind the thorns.

"Don't piss me off!" the Resident shouted and with a wave of his arm, he quickly let his spikes grow into a sharp bush, killing another version of me, before turning to the one behind him and letting it suffer a similar fate. Needless to say, it made very little difference. I simply let myself materialize in the form of a different fragment inside one of the ruined buildings. When I walked out into the open, the Resident was already frantically looking around, wondering where I would appear next.

"It's quite windy, don't you think?" I said to get its attention and to test out my abilities. The nature around us listened almost immediately. My word was the law. What I said would come to be. And the wind would always find a reason to blow. The fragment squinted our eyes to avoid the grains of sand that were slowly picking up speed and taking off.

The Resident didn't wait long. As they heard my voice, their head almost immediately snapped to where I was. The creature waved its arm and a sharp projectile pierced my skull the next moment. I could see it coming, but I never expected an attack like that.

"Come on! I'm not going to waste my time with your imitations! Come out and face me!" they shouted into the air. "I know you are here somewhere. Directing it all... Yeah... I just need to find you.

"No need, I am right here," a different me called out to the Resident from the top of one of the buildings.

"And here," another one added from behind the crumbled hotel.

"And here too."

"Or perhaps here?"

"Could I be the real one?"

"Maybe it's me. Wanna try?"

More and more of my fragments were appearing everywhere, surrounding the dark creature.

"Alright, I've had just about enough!" the Resident hissed, and more eyes opened all around its head, which now reminded me of some strange, modern, artistic vase. As their hands moved, we all knew what would happen. Although the resident was powerful, it seemed that their abilities were far too simple. The thorny tendrils erupted from any nearby objects and tried to kill us. Some of us managed to jump away in time, while others were... less fortunate. The pain I felt for each and every one of them multiplied. Being stabbed to death multiple times at once was a feeling I never wished to experience. To this day, it haunts me in my darkest nightmares.

Those who survived immediately charged the Resident. From their hands, a plethora of elements started shooting out towards our target. Tiny pebbles, wooden spears, lightning bolts, or flaming orbs were all finding their way towards the Resident, but obviously, the creature wasn't just going to stand there and take it. They moved out of the way, blocking whatever they could, and letting the more harmless projectiles bounce right off. Their eyes kept darting around, trying to target us, killing more and more of my copies with each minute. Our offence was severely lacking, but that was acceptable. After all, it wasn't our goal to defeat them immediately. Not like we could. Information was the key to victory. And right now, we had our frustrated enemy right in front of us. Their irritation caused them to reveal their cards one by one.

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From their eyes, it was clear that they could only summon those thorns wherever they were looking. Therefore, finding a blind spot was the key. Although that wouldn't be easy. It was safe to assume that more eyes could appear at any part of their head, and therefore, it would be almost impossible to catch them off guard. Then, there was the source of their attacks. Why not simply let the spikes emerge from our bodies? Clearly, there must've been a reason. Perhaps they couldn't target living matter? But what about our clothes? No, they didn't use that either. And it was highly unlikely that such an old creature would be so stupid as to not use his power in the most efficient way. Therefore, it seemed as if their attacks could only appear a certain short distance away from anything living. That gave us an upper hand. Furthermore, when the wind was moving the sand around, they shot a projectile at us, instead of their usual attacks. Even now, most of their strikes came out of the nearby rubble, rather than the ground itself. Observing them fight, I came to a conclusion - the Resident couldn't make their thorns grow out of anything that was moving, such as the sand, and they could only do so a certain distance away from us. This was what we needed, the information that would allow us to construct a plan of attack.

I needed time. The one commodity I always seemed to be out of and no local store would sell it. The creation of anything couldn't be rushed. I knew that myself. Just like writing a new book, even this wouldn't be instant. My mind focused on what I needed to create. Something with the potential to destroy the whole Resident at once. Something that would be alive and big enough to not die from a single thorn. And then I needed a place for it to come from. Somewhere far? No, the Resident would feel it approach. He had his eyes everywhere. How could something new appear while he's watching?

While I kept thinking of my next course of action, my fragments have been dying in battle. Each death, I felt on my own body. The pain was almost constant. By the time one started to subside, another appeared. I wanted nothing more but to scream it away, but I was too afraid. The fear that he would find me, the real me, was what kept me alive, silently hidden and watching.

The individual parts of myself were taking turns. When one would die, I'd give them a moment to recover before sending them back in. I wanted them not to suffer the same constant pain as I felt. But then again, if we were all the same person, weren't they feeling it anyway? I didn't know. Just as we agreed, they kept quiet and only talked to me when their input would be absolutely necessary.

More copies have appeared on the few roofs of the buildings that were still there. They were merely observing the Resident, sending their visual information into the brains of others. If that creature could have eyes everywhere, then so could I, but I imagined it must've felt different for them. Seeing through all those eyes at once was almost unbearable for me. The visions of my fragments were changing so fast it was making me sick. I had to use all my strength not to vomit, and through all this agony, I had to plough through while creating something. What a terrible environment for a creative mind. An artist's nightmare.

Our offence was a futile attempt. The battle dragged on and none of us could score a single proper hit. The Resident was faster, stronger, and more durable. Furthermore, it was getting quicker at killing us. I could feel the fragments dying sooner than before. Something had to change. My plan may have been imperfect, but it didn't matter. I had to use it right there and then.

All the fragments appeared at once. Some were used only as shields, while others hid behind them and attacked. Thousands of magical projectiles of all sorts approached the dark creature. They looked surprised, as far as we could tell. Some of the attacks even managed to hit them, but it was simply not enough. We saw their organs revealed in parts of their body that got torn off, but it never took long before the Resident quickly hid them again. Their regenerative powers were insane. All the damage they received was soon taken away as if it had never happened in the first place. Their strength, however, was even worse. Such frontal assault had its drawbacks. I could feel my whole body burning up in agony as almost all of my fragments died at once. There was no way I could hold it back any longer. I screamed as loud as my lungs allowed it and as I did, the sky tore open. A blue crack formed above the Resident as if the heavens themselves were about to come crashing down. That's what I decided to call this new reinforcement - Heavens.

A loud roar burst out from the freshly-opened portal, hiding my own screams. Moments later, Heavens introduced himself - a massive worm whose gaping, segmented mouth rapidly approached the Resident. He gulped them down in one bite before burying a large part of himself into the sand, resting, at least for a moment. The fragments let out a sigh of relief and took a moment to disappear and relax. Only one remained. One that would grant me sight. I could see through his eyes and walked closer to the worm. It was gigantic. In my mind, the size of a three-story building seemed much smaller, though I wasn't complaining about the results. As long as the plan worked, Heavens could've been as big as he wanted.

It wasn't a creature that would have a rich history. In fact, although my mind specifically said that it was an adult male, Heavens was a baby, barely a few seconds old. He didn't exist in any of my worlds until my mind brought him to life for a single purpose. He was a living creature. There was no danger of the spikes emerging from inside him. Furthermore, his stomach was essentially a vat of an incredibly potent acid, that could melt almost anything.

I put my hand on Heavens. He was slimy, which was odd since that detail was not something I had originally envisioned. For a moment, I worried that my creation would be a failure. If the Divine Creativity didn't work and Heavens wasn't the way I made him, then the whole plan would be in ruins. Therefore, I had to think. While the Resident was trapped and at least contained, I had to prepare a plan B. Although I hoped I wouldn't need it. A few wishful words escaped my lips almost automatically, addressing the being inside Heavens' stomach: "I hope you'll die in there."