[... CRITICAL SYSTEM ERROR
BOOK OF EXISTENCE VIOLATION
ADMIN REQUESTED…]
“Valerica,” Morgana mumbled into her pillow. “Please come deal with this.”
A single speck of light illuminated the Goddess of All Goddesses bedroom. It was less a bedroom, really, and more a swamp of parchment in the shape of a chamber. A bog constructed of ignored mail. One that Valerica waded through, her dress hiked up to her waist, a frown on her face as she trudged her way over to Morgana.
“Important mail?” Valerica asked, taking the envelope from her.
“The sender seems to think so.”
Valerica raised an eyebrow, inspecting the parcel.
Ever since Morgana had fallen into her slump many months ago, notes from the System Administrators had been collecting in their little slice of heaven like scraps of unwanted confetti. And due to Momo’s addition to the System rulebook, System exceptions were occurring constantly; not to mention the burgeoning System Initiation on several previously uninitiated planets; it all made for much paperwork…
But this notice was a bit different. It was lighter weight than the rest, and on the front of the envelope, printed in big, red, angry, ink, were the words:
CRITICAL - DO NOT DISCARD - MORGANA PLEASE OPEN THIS ONE - WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU FOR MONTHS - IT IS CHAOS IN HERE - WE ARE UNDERPAID AND OVERWORKED
Valerica snorted.
“They are certainly getting desperate,” she said, ripping into the envelope with her sharpened nails. “I think this might be yet another attempt by the System Administrators to unionize.”
Splayed like a sleeping corpse on her bed of paper, Morgana did not look up as she waved her hand dismissively. “If they want to, let them. I do not care anymore. Let it all go to rot. Anything to decrease the amount of aggravating interruptions to my eternal slumber.”
Valerica huffed, crossing her arms. “Are you really so resolute about this being dead forever business? I am very prepared to call off the funeral any time now.”
“Have Kyros and all of my children shown up on the doorstep, heads down, begging for my mercy and forgiveness?”
Valerica tapped her shoe to the floor, and sighed. “Well. No.”
“Then I will continue insisting on the being dead forever business, yes.”
“But Morgana, you cannot squash them like the little ungrateful pests they are while dead.”
“I do not care about squashing any longer. Squashing is your domain. Defeatism is mine.”
“Well, technically it is Azrael’s—”
“I do not care who is in charge of what—there will be no domains left to squabble over when the Nether demons finally claim us all,” Morgana groaned, pounding her fist to her makeshift pillow. “An effort which is progressing so dreadfully slowly, might I say. Can you remind me how much of the Nether they have cannibalized so far? Any increases since we last spoke?”
Valerica pinched the bridge of her nose, growing frustrated. Still, she offered, “About five percent more of the Nether has been consumed by them since I last checked.”
“So in total?”
“Must this really be our topic of conversation every time?”
“For as long as I have deemed that the universe—and every god, mortal, and chicken inside it—is no longer worth keeping around, yes. Yes it will be. So, total?”
Valerica knew this was a battle she would not win, not now, perhaps not ever, so she sighed and capitulated. “In total… I believe they have consumed about half of … well… everything. So they are on track to devour us all in good time. Does that make you happy?”
“Deeply. Thank you. Now, deal with the letter and be on your way.”
Valerica felt a migraine coming on, and it wasn’t just the lighting.
“Very well.”
Retreating from Morgana’s room, she shut the door behind her softly, and glided through space to her familiar coffee table, which sat on a fluffy little black cloud. She slid into her chair, sipped on a cup of tea that continually shimmered in and out of existence, and pinched the letter from its envelope. As she had thought, it was rather short. Only a mere page.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Goddess,
[Nether Dokkaebi#00241] Venice has committed a Book of Existence violation.
Violation #212
Venice has killed a fellow Nether Dokkaebi, [Excalibur-grade Mortal/Burgeoning Lesser Goddess] Momo “The Ripper” Lim
System Note: It seems that [Nether Dokkaebi#00241] took advantage of the small window of time between when the last Onboarding trial was completed (so respawn is no longer an option) but before the Burgeoning Lesser God could actually ascend into the Nether and become immortal, rendering Momo Lim’s body vulnerable.
What action should be taken?
The teacup shattered in Valerica’s grip. Her hands, bloodied from the shards, trembled as she reread the page several times. A long silence weighed over the Vacant Edge.
Eventually, she stood and reached for her rain jacket on the nearby coat hanger. A dark green thing, with pockets. She shrugged it onto her shoulders.
“I’m going out,” she said, stalking out the door. She did not particularly care if Morgana heard her. “Seems I have to deal with some things in person.”
—
“M–omo? M–omo?”
Momo awoke with a sharp intake of breath, vision spinning, everything tilting wildly off-axis.
Her ears rang; her eyes were like two dry, blurry saucers. The only thing tethering her to existence at all was a soft, repetitive voice, and two cold but firm hands wrapping around her wrists, shaking her lightly.
“Oh god.”
Momo groaned as she rose. All of her ached, as if her every muscle had been violently exhausted, drained of adrenaline. Her heart ached most of all— but not in the way where it was beating too fast, but in the way that it didn’t feel like it was beating… at all.
“What the hell? Biscuit?”
Frantically, she looked down at her chest, but it seemed normal. Pale skin, no exposed ribs. The gaping hole in the shape of the demon’s fist had healed completely. But when she pressed her palm flat to her heart, where she was used to hearing the soft churn of a wheel, there was no sensation. No familiar rush of blood. No pulse at all.
Momo’s mouth fell open, and she looked to the Nether demon, who was eyeing her with childlike concern. Her shadow was more beaten-up than Momo remembered—half of its shoulder was simply gone, and there was a jagged line on its forehead, as if a serrated blade had cut across it. There was a fight here. One she couldn’t recall.
A small sheet of parchment beside her confirmed what she already knew to be true.
BOOK OF EXISTENCE VIOLATION REMEDIED
ADMIN INTERVENTION COMPLETED
YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN RESTORED
Admin intervention? Had Morgana… saved her?
She couldn’t even begin to process the thought that she had genuinely—died. Again.
But god, she certainly felt like she had.
“Did Venice do this?” Momo asked her demonic counterpart, her free hand clamping over the fabric of her shirt. “Did he — did he try and kill me?”
The creature squinted and nodded. It did not seem to have the words to explain.
Momo didn’t blame it. Poor traumatized thing.
“It’s okay,” she sighed, feeling her own adrenaline fade. “Mr. Stupid Horn-Man is gone. He’s not going to be murdering either of us again anytime soon.” When the demon’s eyebrows jumped up in fear, she corrected herself— “Not going to be murdering us again ever. Sorry. Ever.”
Momo held her hand up to the creature’s gentle face, brushing over the scar. The demon hissed, but did not clamp itself over her hand— it was pained, but not dangerous.
Keeping her hand pressed to the creature’s forehead, she cast, “[Dark Healing],” and watched as the wound closed up. She did the same to the creature’s shoulder, until the demon was no longer wincing in pain. It clapped in appreciation—apparently the only positive gesture it understood so far. Momo clapped back, and laughed.
Because really—what was she to do but laugh?
Well, actually, she did know what she was to do instead. And that was be really fucking pissed.
Her list of people she would smack the shit out of on sight had just grown from one to two.
(Sera was now in terrible company.)
Turning her head, she finally noticed something that hadn’t been there before. The surrounding walls had completely crumbled while she had been unconscious, and all that was left was their stone platform. And on their platform, where the white circle had been, a rift portal had opened. The same kind that she could create with her hands, or with the right cross-section of her swords.
“I guess this is how we leave,” Momo murmured.
Reluctantly she stumbled to her feet. She sure hoped there wasn’t another battle awaiting her on the other side of that portal, because no part of her felt ready for it. She had just recently gotten her magic back, for gods’ sake. She was in no mood for another death match.
“L—leave?”
The demon hadn’t followed her towards the portal. It stood fixed in place, hugging its midsection, looking utterly terrified. Its eyes kept drawing a line between Momo and the portal, and then blinking furiously, as if it couldn’t understand what might happen when the two interact. Like a child with separation anxiety.
Momo smiled gently at it, and wordlessly offered her hand up.
After a few moments, the creature crept forward, and held it.
“You haven’t been out there before, have you?” Momo pursed her lips, pausing. “I guess— I guess you were born here, in this dungeon, created by all my stupid emotions… ” Momo shook her head. “Trust me, there’s a lot more out there to see than just… this. A whole world. Multiple worlds. Dogs. Cats. Trees. Grass. An insane woman named Valerica. It’s actually pretty exciting stuff, the universe.”
The creature seemed to fixate on one thing in particular. “D–dogs?”
Momo nodded. “They’re very excellent. I’ll introduce you to many of them.”
The demon swallowed. This seemed to placate it.
“Alright. Come on,” Momo whispered, taking another step forward. Her foot disappeared into the rift, and she could already feel herself being pulled to the other side. “Don’t be scared.”
The demon nodded fervently, grasping its throat again so it could make the right sounds.
“D–on’t b–e scared!”
When Momo clapped in affirmation, the demon jumped and hugged her from behind, pushing them both headfirst through the portal.