“Even a fool learns something once it hit him”
– Homer, The Iliad
“Wake up, Woman!” Ven pounded on the system barrier, fire in his eyes. It had been almost a hundred years, and still she refused to answer. “I’m about to go insane out here, I’ve created a ring around your star twice over!”
The Titan had not taken any breaks, and so Ven had leapfrogged ahead, over and over. The actions became so rote that his hands could cast the runes by themselves. More Earths than there were stars in the milky way, wrapped like Saturn's rings around the vast white sun.
“Come on!” Ven smothered a sigh and sat, back pressed to the barrier. He was exhausted, both in mind and body, and his evolution had reached a critical point. “I’m going to have to sleep soon, and I think it’s going to be a long one…”
“Older Sister is resting,” a small voice tickled his ears, like a child who was afraid - but determined - to speak. “What do you want with her?”
Ven turned. Both the Minder and Giant were crouched, ready to run, a few feet away. She glared at him with fire in her eyes, while Giant gorged himself on warm plasma without concern. Dan smiled, a move that caused the girl to flinch.
“I need her help with a spell, one that will take more energy than I can spare,” Ven beckoned her closer and patted the solid core beside him. “But she’s been asleep for so long, I’m afraid she won’t wake up at all…”
Giant strode forward and slumped at Ven feet, a sight that wrinkled the Minder’s face. She edged closer and peeked around her friends bulk, into Ven’s eyes.
“What kind of spell… something evil?” She glared daggers at him, hands fixed on Giant as she tried to force him to his feet. “Come on Giant…”
“Maybe,” Ven laughed. This woman had turned his Giant into a lazy house dog. “I plan on stealing all the Earths from this multiverse in a single move… I’m sure that’s evil to someone!”
“Earths… you mean those planets that keep appearing?” The minder squinted as she stepped a bit closer. “Why do you keep adding more of them?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Ven waved a hand and projected an image of the Titan, very much like his sleepy Giant. The projection reached out and swallowed a sun, before Ven dispelled it away.
“That fellow is eating entire universes,” Ven rubbed his temples and laid back against the barrier between him and a solution. “I’m just trying to save the most familiar part of them before he can gobble everything up.”
“Oh…” The Minder sank to her knees and leaned against his Giant. The beast let out a contented sigh and drifted into a peaceful sleep. “What does your spell need to work? Maybe I can help?”
“Probably not…” Ven smiled at her honest expression. “I have to marshall the power of this star, then focus it into a bunch of runes… I can make the runes, but the star only listens to your Older Sister.”
“Hmmm…” Face pinched, the Minder placed her palm onto the barrier between them and the core. A flare of white pulsed from her heart, into the depths of the sun. “I think I can direct the energy Older Sister has already set to release… but I can’t make her give up any more.”
“Really!” Ven leapt to his feet and grasped the Minder’s hands. He didn’t need more, he just needed it to freely travel into his runes. “That’s amazing… let’s get started right away!”
He released the woman’s hands and raised his own to the skies hidden above the flame. His eyes shone with inner light as a tide of runic script flowed from his body. Complicated waves, linked by mountainous words of power. The blanket spread to cover the star, a coat of gold to compliment the white.
Ven painted layer after layer, until the worlds beyond disappeared behind a tight knit weave. Sweat beaded at his neck. Even forming the shell of this spell drained his reserves. He glanced at the Minder, and gestured for her to act.
“I can’t hold this for long…”
She nodded, face set in determined lines. One hand raised toward his formation, she placed the other onto her heart.
“My god…” Ven raised his eyebrows as the sun below twisted into a vortex of fire. This little woman was probably the strongest being in his inner world, if she could marshall the power of his system like this.
The flames linked to the runes and a hum rattled at his bones. His spell began. A hand that reached out, beyond the realm, and shaved a fraction off of infinity. Countless Earths, clipped from their place, alongside their suns. They popped into place, scattered throughout the endless realm within his soul.
“It worked!” Ven clapped his hands, honestly surprised. “I thought for sure I’d have to…”
A surge of power slammed into his heart. The energy from his realm transformed from a river, to a collision of oceanic worlds. Formless and untouchable, it blitzed through his cells like a cold wind. The hand of sleep curled into a fist and slammed into his temple, a blow that brought him darkness.
----------------------------------------
“Hmmm?” Eyes bright, this multiverse’s Concept of Fate flicked her fingers and summoned a small orb of light. She kneaded it between her palms and shaped it into a small, white dove. “Go, tell the others that our home is under attack once more!”
The bird gave her an assertive coo and vanished into the void. She frowned. Something had been off for some time, but now a whole segment of the multiverse had vanished. A worm had burrowed into her multiverse from the outside, and she would have its head!
“Trouble?”
She glanced to the side. Her faithful butler, the holder of the Concept of Balance. She nodded.
“Parts of the multiverse have vanished, devoured by some monster from beyond,” She gripped the ruler in her hands tight, until it creaked under the strain. “Whatever it is, I haven't seen such power since…”
Since Identity battled the Titan and shook the omniverse. If such an event happened again, she doubted her weakened multiverse would survive.