Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

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Okay.

Now then, let us continue this mad path into clarity.

Merely thinking about these chapters has given me several existencial crisises in the past week, heres to wonder what'll do to our beloved comments section.

We need another Insipiens Infinitum.

There are 166 comments on that chapter as of now. Wonderful, isn't it?

Anyways, here comes the next chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you enjoy, let us begin!

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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

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Out of time... - Outside Of Reality... - Leonardo's Point Of View...

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My musings were rather suddenly interrupted as I felt something poking me on the back of my neck and turned around to see an infinitely long white thread, reaching down from the heavens.

It didn't take much for me to realize who came to visit."God?"

The thread shook and swayed at my flabbergasted expression, seeming more than just a little bit amused. Yet, the thread did nothing as it waved through the air.

Minutes seemed to pass as we stared at one another, making me feel as if I was being analyzed. Then, there was a click, resounding inside of my mind with the audio of a deranged whisper and yet, the force of a war drum being played right next to me.

It was... intoxicating, to say the least.

The thread then moved, swaying while floating in mid-air for no apparent reason. I checked too, y'know, for any sort of gravitational, magical or psionic anomaly but ... I found nothing.

It looked as if I was a cat and some gigantic person was trying to make me move by hanging a thread in front of my face and the end of said thread was curved upwards, like a snake preparing for an attack. The thread coiled around itself as it floated in seemingly no particular direction, almost as if feeling praised by my thoughts.

Perhaps the snake, the viper of Eden was not Satan, but God itself?

I never really understood why Lucifer would give a shit about Adam and Eve... but God though, God may have had cause to force them to move. ...

Wait, now the story makes actual sense.

The tree which held the apple that the duo were not supposed to eat was placed there on purpose. God wanted them to eat it, but God wished for this event to happen on its own. Sadly, mankind rarely ever moves forward unless it absolutely has to or is forced. Maybe this is why even after Adam and Eve betrayed God's expectations, God still continued on communicating with their descendants as if nothing ever happened?

Of course, all this hinges on Eden being real.

Or the bible not being complete and utter bullshit.

The thread in front of me was twisting rapidly now. While the scene seemed to indicate anger, I felt deep within me that the truth was far from it. God...

God was laughing.

And its laughter sent strange, hardly even recognizable sensations through me. I.. feel as if this is a good thing?

Yet, a thing like God is probably one that rarely, if ever really, laughs. And when such things laugh, trouble is bound to follow.

Soon after, the thread stopped in an area strangely devoid of any bone spikes, burning pools, experimental labs or cathedrals. It.. was just an empty part of the Island that was my soul, a part which waited to be filled.

The thread then turned towards me and promptly stabbed itself into my forehead. I could feel my eyes twisting backwards and staring into my own skull, yet there was no pain from this experience...

No, there was only a single word.

Communication.

It rang through my thoughts and soon I was free of the threads influence, my sight and looks returning to normal, yet the thread remained embedded into my brain."Communication?"

Questioning the word only made me think on what it meant, only to cause the very meat and bone beneath my feet to twist and turn and rise up as a small spire, the bone collapsing together to form a small white square with a myriad of the same, damascus-like patterns clearly visible upon it, yet nowhere else on this new construct.

Acting mainly on instict, I placed my hand on the erected platform and a burst of pale energy temporarily blinded me. When I opened my eyes next, what I saw was a strange mix of a phone number library and an online games friends list. There were names set on a dataslate of pure bluish energy which I could not define as it didn't match with any other form of energy I had encountered up to date.

Then again, considering where we are, it may not even exist. Either way, I scrolled through the numbers and names: Chaos, Aria, Alice, The White, Gaia, Yuko and Kali were all that was there.

... people who were connected to, or were Implausible Ones themselves.

The Thread pulsed once more.

Once found, never lost.

So, once I met one of my supposed family members, I'd always be able to contact them?

No time, no distance. Always close, always available.

I see.

Being beyond the grasp of time, means not being able to move away. Without time, we are all in the same exact spot of existence for none of us can move from it, yet we are also unbound from said time, allowing us to make use of its functions regardless?

Do not waste yourself with this.

Right, its not important anyway. What is important is what exactly are you trying to show me here, God?

I sincerely doubt that this is just your equivalent of you buying me a phone and showing me how to use it in order to get in contact with you or the others.

Pick one.

A blink of momentary confusion. Huh, maybe this is that.

Oh well, might as well get this over with then.

Mindlessly, I turn to stare back at the list and, for the briefest moment, my thoughts fall onto Chaos. She has been silent ever since our separation with rare few exceptions...

But, perhaps this isn't as strange as I'd like to think. After all, before I.. ascended, for a lack of a better term, she never even talked to me. I was always aware that there was something watching me ever since I was born and I named that thing Chaos, but it was only after I began gaining power that she actually contacted me.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I wonder why...

You changed, began showing... promise.

... which in turn indicates that I wasn't showing any promise before...

Your existence is a difficult one. There has not been a week in your life that you were not scheduled to die.

Scheduled to die?...

As in, by fate's decree?

Yet I've avoided or somehow gotten this far without dying.

When you fought the espers, the thunder was meant to incinerate you. Yet, in the midst of burning alive, you pulled upon the powers of the Life Engine and defied the will of fate. This form of event is commonplace.

Commonplace?

How wonderful.

Yomi is going to have a field day with this.

Come to think of it, I have a question concerning her for you. First and foremost, why has Chaos denied Yomi an audience so far?

The ground beneath my feet began to shake as the thread rapidly shook and twisted once more.

God was laughing, again.

Have you ever heard the phrase: Men will always seek out women whose personalities are akin to that of their mothers?

... are you saying that Chaos isn't ackowledging Yomi because she feels that Yomi isn't good for me?

Yes.

A desk of flesh and bone promptly erupted into existence behind me. I turned around and then smashed my head straight into said desk, breaking it in the process.

I felt no pain from this, naturally.

But it still served the purpose of showing just how idiotic what I heard just now was.

Anyways, moving on.

I was going to choose someone to call. At least now, I know for certain that its not going to be mother dearest.

Hmm, might be a good idea to see how Yuko is doing?

Or maybe, I should give Gaia a call just for shits and giggles?

I also kinda wonder what my daughter is doing...

Kali is out of the picture. Don't really wanna talk to someone I nearly killed just a couple hours ago.

You should have finished her when you had the chance.

I blinked and turned my eyes upwards to stare at the thread. Huh, is that so.

Well, there's always a next time, right?

Anyways, this all leaves one potential candidate that I am both interested in and actually kinda want to see all things considered. We were only briefly introduced, with a favor being promised as she offered me her mothers soul in exchange but...

I have to wonder what poor little Alice is doing right now.

Without another wasted moment, I pressed a finger onto her name.

Reality twisted and turned around me within that same instant, a myriad of colors which reminded me of Euphoria's Rainbow Bridge forced themselves into existence. A brief flash of white followed soon after and I found myself feeling somewhat nauseated.

You get used to it.

Really now?

Timeless yet able to use the effects of time.

Because becoming used to something takes time, does it not?

How am I free of its influence exactly, then?

...

A brief click resounded in my mind right as this line of thought forged itself and.. well, the nausea I felt was utterly, completely gone.

Oh. Thats how.

Reality from realization.

Thats...

Somewhat terrifying. Imagine if I had a nightmare or something in this place... how many worlds would burn from the horrors I create while asleep?

Just as many as you can create by dreaming.

So it cancels itself out, eh?

Wonderful.

Anyways, the colorful pukefest ends and we, or well I, find myself standing on thin air. Above a giant forest.

Above a gaint battleground.

In the distance, I can see Alice dressed in a simple, yet noble dress, holding a sword in her right, and only hand remaining. What exactly happened to her?

Its.. only been a few weeks since we saw each other, right?

In many ways, she is the same as you.

... experiencing and defying death on a daily basis, eh?

The scene suddenly shifted to another. We now stood on a raw, dirt road. A carriage could be seen flying through the air as some kind of giant bat monster rushed towards it. Little Alice flew out of said carrige, the man that was her coachman seemingly being torn apart by the still-spinning wheels.

She picked herself up and mustered her courage as she walked towards the monster, which was busying itself by snacking on some horses. The monster then noticed her and attacked, ripping her left arm off in the process.

She was meant to die here.

My focus onto the scene was only empowered from this knowledge as Alice took a makeshift torch, a burning piece of wood... and incinerated her own wound, cauterizing it and painstakingly peeling off what didn't fall off on its own.

The monster then fell onto the ground, rolling in pain and torment... changing and shifting from the inside as its skin adopted infernal cracks, showing off its incinerated insides much alike to what I used to look like back when I still played the game. Chaos..

No, Alice's blood was transforming the creature, giving it life anew. Yet, at the same time, forcing it to be subservient to her.

Is.. is this what our.. what my blood does to those I give it to? Make them a living puppet?

Chaos prefers to call it: transforming them into an extension of yourself.

.. like an arm, another limb, becoming sentient and alive, yet still subservient.

This is what happens to those who eat of the flesh of Chaos.

Why did I ever think that something different happens to those who eat of mine? Perhaps the ordeal is much less than that of Chaos, yet it is still the same thing.

Unwillingly, unknowingly, I have enslaved those who were loyal to me. Much the same way that I had left this forge of life to waste away.

... what does this mean for Yomi and me? Is her love just... this?

The transformation only works on those who are weaker than you. Yomi is stronger than you, stronger than she was back when she was still alive.

So how do I bring her back without making her into my slave, without placing her into a position that, should I ever become stronger than her, she transforms into.. that.

Use the theory, not the practice.

.. learn what I can from this place and apply the concepts, but do not use my blood or prima to bring her back.

For a lack of a better word, Yomi must be resurrected... naturally.

The scene then twisted back to the battlefield once more.

God's thread then receeds from my brain, yet I still felt our connection remain.

Once found, never lost.

God repeated again. The thread was just forging that connection, it is not the connection itself.

Installing it into my brain like some kind of program...

I wonder what else was installed with it.

Nothing...

For now.

Well, at least you are honest.

But of course, I'm God.

I am everything.

And nothing.

Then the world shook once more as God's insidious laughter now properly rang in my ears..

It had no sound, no voice, no form of... nothing to realize or *feel* it by. You just knew that God was laughing at you.

And it was simply, utterly, COMPLETELY horrifying.

Focus.

My attention was promptly forced back onto Alice as I observed the situation. She seemed to be fighting against a far, far larger force with only a fraction of troops on her side.

Hidden away within the forest, other life-forces came into view and what appeared to be a ludicrous and hopeless battle became a whole lot more plausible. Guess Alice must be quite the millitary genius? To pull this off.

Yet, ... the enemy's numbers are still ten times greater than her own. This is a doomed battle.

Another click suddenly formed inside of my head and a small ripple in reality was ushered into existence in front of me. I reached for it with a hand, placing it onto the ripple as if it was some kind of solid surface. I knew what this ripple was.

The battlefield below me was in stasis. Nothing was moving, almost as if someone paused a video game.

This ripple... represented a choice. I could leap into this reality and help Alice succeed. Hell, I could probably devour the entire army of around ten thousand all on my own, sparing her and her soldiers the probable consequences of it all...

Yet, in doing so, the only one who can potentially benefit is me.

If Alice feels grateful for my help, she may return the favor and if she does not well... nothing happens.

Yet if she wins this on her own...

I removed the hand from the ripple and, just like that, it dissipated from existence.

I guess this is how you feel all the time eh, God?

The thread was not here anymore. God had left me while I was thinking on this. Just as I decided not to aid Alice in order to not hinder her, God decided not to aid me in making a choice so that I may better learn from the experience.

The point of this all was to make more Implausible Ones, after all. And just helping us reach for that implausible goal would end in a wasted endeavour and a very spoiled child with God-like superpowers.

Not something anyone wants to deal with, I'm sure.

I turned back towards Alice and smiled. So she has to deal with the same shit I do, eh? Perhaps, considering that shes only nine years old, her situation is even worse than mine.

Hmmm... once found, never lost...

Maybe, if she survives this event, I should find the time to talk to her. I do owe her a favor, after all.

And I'm sure she could use the conversation, if nothing else.

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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

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Thats it for now, I have to go, bye.

I might stay for a bit to edit out mistakes and answer very early comments, but its not likely as I have people coming to get me soon.

Kay, bye see ya, ADIOS.

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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!