Akamori plummeted into a swirling void of energy. It bathed him, permeating his soul, and merged with him. It was cold and sent a shiver through him. He could feel the absence of warmth. The antithesis of Sala’s golden aura. This was cold and foreboding, and it saturated his body. He breathed the energy in deeply, and it responded with eagerness. Pouring deep into the center of his essence. His veins turned violet and black, tracing him in dark lines that contrasted with his light skin easily. The roots of his hair darkened from red to black as the energy saturated his body and merged with his spirit. He was growing in power. Then all light faded.
Akamori saw nothing but the black expanse of the void. No visible spectra existed. Then, just as suddenly, light and energy exploded into view of his consciousness. He knew intuitively that this was the creation of their reality. He also knew with certainty that he was present for this creation. That their reality was made for them by unfathomably powerful elder beings, and they created him for the sole purpose of changing this reality as needed. He knew their names somehow, and yet it slipped from his mind like water pouring out of his hand. He knew all things created eventually must be undone. That was his role, his purpose in reality. To unmake it. He was a Destroyer. No… an agent of change. The first to touch this plane. His purpose was to return matter and energy and even souls back to the process. The cycle of life. He knew this, and more. He knew all.
Time progressed at a sped up rate. Stars formed, and others died as they collapsed under their own mass. Millions and billions of years condensed into a span of moments. Worlds formed. Life developed. Ascended. Then collapsed. As civilizations hit their apex and fell into decline, he swept in to remove them, making room for others. The galaxy changed and shifted in this manner for eons. This somehow intrinsically made him feel lonely.
He felt a presence with him. It was aware of him, but it did not address him. He felt a kinship with it, a familiarity he couldn’t place. Like a sibling or long-time friend. He felt a resonance in himself. The presence was somber, and he detected anguish in the feelings. A reluctant acceptance. Arrayed before him were hordes of void dragons and undead. A great evil had consumed all life in the galaxy. Behind him remained the last vestiges of all civilized life that survived. A modest fleet of battered ships. He knew they would fall if he did nothing. But he also knew that acting would seal his doom. Faced with a damned choice and an inescapable destiny. Save all life and destroy the undead, and seal his own fate. The alternative was to watch callously as the undead snuffed out the remaining flame of life and continue his existence. It occurred to him in that moment that he was experiencing this moment as both himself and Xanofex.
He pondered the ever changing multiverse of realities, and it fell neatly to two odds. The first being a galaxy of the undead, if completely unchecked, would consume. The fabric of the cycle broken because of energy that no longer returned to it. In the other, he saved the fleet, and gave his life in return for breaking the divine law. The other gods in the pantheon would pounce on him. His magic would be consumed, and eventually on down the line, the odds of Sauridius getting his retribution, though remote, remained possible. Xanofex would then have to put in place a contingency plan to ensure life would carry on in his stead. He placed his bets on that remote chance. It aligned most with his moral compass and it’s what she would have wanted.
He scoffed to himself, his lip curling into an amused smirk. So that was it then. He extended a hand, brilliant energies flaring in the enormous palm of his hand. Violet and black power pooled together, then mixed with red as he added fire to the mix. The energy swirled and roiled violently. Then, he fired the spell out, and swept his hand to the side. In his wake, the undead and void dragons were all erased from existence. Only swirling motes of matter and energy remained as evidence there had once been a civilization ending threat arrayed just before him. He turned behind him to watch as the refugee ships fled to opposite corners of space. His work finished, he allowed himself a moment to admire them. The tiny fires of life that burned within those vessels, defiant of the gods who would sit back idly and watch as they snuffed out the last lives in the galaxy. Not him, though. This war had cost much, up to and including his own existence. But it was worth it if this was how it had to be.
Sure enough, reality warped in front of him, and the pantheon arrived. Grim expressions adorning their faces as they braced weapons for a battle. They came to fight him. To remove him from existence for violating the divine law of intervention for mortal benefit. It was sanctimonious bullshit since others were doing the same thing unpunished. But he knew that fighting them and removing even a single god would invariably tip the scales towards defeat well beyond his death. The best impact he could leave is to spare those would prove instrumental in ending this well after his own part resolved. Their part had yet to be played. So he spared them to do so. Accepting his fate openly.
He cast away his sword, the Godslayer. He watched as the obsidian blade with its violet runes drifted away from him. It called to him, pleading for him not to make this choice. He gave it a sorrowful smile. Sometimes making the hard choices meant sacrificing the present to mortgage the future.
They delivered a killing blow, and as his consciousness faded, the pantheon set upon his body, consuming it ravenously. His energies splitting up and becoming a part of the pantheon. Even the lesser creator gods took on enough destruction magic to become viable problems. Satisfied with his choices, he welcomed oblivion. His watch as a destroyer had ended finally. He realized that, for once, the first decision he’d made of his own accord had been so powerful. He marveled at the sense of freedom he’d felt in his choice. All to prevent the total collapse of existence.
Stolen novel; please report.
He found himself back in the wellspring of energy. It continued to pour into him, swirling in and around him. As it did, though, an acute pain resonated throughout his body. The more he took on, the more it hurt. The magic continued growing more and more, and the more his power grew, the more tempting it was to remain.
“Wait! Before I go, I have questions!”
“There is no time for questions. For now. I am giving you the tools you’ll need to succeed going forward.”
A cold, sharp, piercing sensation punched into the very center of his soul, and he felt a shift. The seal on his back unlocked yet another small fragment. One more step closer.
“There. You are not yet whole, but you are closer than you were. There are still parts of you locked out of grasp, but I have at least lessened the Seal’s grip on your soul.”
Something pulsed, grabbing his attention. The blade. It was urgent with him. Perhaps it sensed his pain? The longer he remained here, the more the magic threatened to break him down, forever becoming a part of it. He was aware of how to leave the wellspring and pull himself in that direction. Eventually, he fell out of the wellspring, gasping and heaving. A dark violet aura ringed in void writhed around him for a moment before fading into the light.
System Info: Infusion gained. Void Magic: +3 Aetherpool. +3 Void Resistance. You now have access to the cold expanse of the void. Gravity and disintegration magic at your fingertips. Just be careful where you point it, eh?
System Info: Item gained. Void Crystal. As black as obsidian. It appears to drink in light around it. Cold, and yet familiar. This crystal belongs to you, and you alone. It pulses with a dark and cold magic native only to the void.
Amara gasped and kneeled down to pick him up. “Akamori, are you ok?”
He gave her a weak nod. Her eye flashed white, pulsing its awareness of the dark magic that now stirred within his chest. Rising shakily, she helped steady him and squinted at him. His brow furrowed. “What?”
“It’s nothing, just… your eyes. They’re darker than they used to be,” she frowned.
He shrugged. “Maybe just a side effect of the magic or something.” He glanced back at the swirling orb of energy. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Just you so far,” Sirsir said.
A moment later, Rayshe emerged wordlessly, though he looked like someone had walked across his grave. Sala was next, and Yasiin brought up the rear of the group. He looked at his hands ponderously, then to the others, and nodded.
Sgt. Sirsir lugged his heavy machinegun up, “Everyone’s here, we should pull out before the Demons rally.” The squad gathered itself up, shaking off the magical sluggishness. After effects of saturation with aether, Akamori had heard his father talking about it once and called it languor. The magic saturation weakened the body as it struggled to adapt to the magic. Akamori likened it to feasting heavily. The body had to digest the magic and assimilate.
The squad emerged from the cave in a tight wedge formation as it sprinted for the teleportation portal, waiting for them at the drop site. Akamori curiously noted that he could almost see the faint magic tether between the portal and the ship. The void magic link between the two portal ends. The magic resonated within him with a familiarity. As they neared the portal, the Sgt. posted up at the portal mouth and opened fire with the heavy machinegun laying down defensive fire for the squad to pour into the portal as the demonic army rumbled over the hillside. A billowing cloud of dust rose on the horizon at the approach. Akamori paused at the portal mouth, drawing his rifle from his personal portal pocket, and opened fire, this time feeding the rifle the dark magic he’d just gained. Black bolts with violet cores launched from the muzzle into the demon hordes. Akamori frowned. His shots were having less effect than the Sgt’s. Where the gold bolts burned and sizzled on the demons, his own black bolts were splashing against their thick skins and leaving behind only angry red marks.
As the rest of the squad finished entering the portal, the Sgt. backed up to the portal, and nodded for Akamori to go first. Akamori dove into the portal and felt the cold of the dark magic wrap around him. Then, a moment later, he emerged from the opposite side of the portal in the Crasher’s cargo bay. He kept his weapon trained on the portal’s maw. A moment later, Sgt. Sirsir backed through, still firing into it. A beat later, a large black axe emerged with a lavender hand holding it. The portal winked off, severing the hand. It fell to the floor with a wet splat and a loud clash of metal as the blade bounced off the deck plate. Black ichor spilled out of the severed wrist.
As soon as the Sgt. got accountability for everyone, he gave the Lt. a nod. Akamori noted he was looking a little less like he’d just seen death up close. The Lt. sent a message spell to the captain on the bridge. “All present and accounted for. We now have four void mages.”
“Excellent work, Lt. Casualties?”
“None, sir.”
Morwen breathed out a sigh of relief. They could ill afford any casualties at this stage. Otherwise, they’d risk losing the sector. Her gambit paid off, thankfully. This time. She doubted she could make that kind of risk repeatedly, though.
“Good. Report to the bridge and we’ll make preparations to depart for the Forge.”
The message spell canceled, and the fiery image of the captain’s portrait extinguished into a few billowing embers that winked out.
Lt. Rayshe sighed, “Filthy dwarves,” he growled as he shoved his way through the squad for the ramp out of the bay.
“Someday he’s gonna try to sit down, and that stick up his ass is gonna make him fall over.” Akamori said under his breath with a smirk. Amara giggled, but the two straightened out when they saw the Sgt. looming large next to them.
“Dismissed techs,” The Sgt. said. His voice dripped with warning, but the corner of his lip tugged ever so slightly upwards. Was that amusement on his face? Maybe there was an actual human under all those muscles after all.