An instant punch from Diamond struck Jay, reaching beyond the bounds of his force manipulation to send him flying, multiple bones broken and now rapidly healing. When he tried to punch Jay again, he twisted with the punch, absorbing the lessened force and shooting it through a finger which briefly touched Diamond’s chest, sending him flying back for a change.

Gold was suddenly to his right, and Jay bent himself out of the spear’s way, a plume of Thought crushing him into the ground, a superheated tendril of quicksilver about to stab into him, courtesy of Amon.

Platinum, the person he had only identified a name for because he was obviously wearing a spiked platinum helmet, blocked it. The tendril made no headway against the massive shield the man held, until it latched on, trying to pull it out of the man’s hands.

Diamond reengaged Jay, who masterfully redirected momentum until he felt he had enough for a good blow and slammed his elbow into Diamond’s chest. He felt multiple bones break, Diamond shooting back into Gold’s arms, sending the both of them flying back.

Suddenly, Platinum did the unexpected and pushed forward, moving fast enough he seemed to teleport. Instantly, Amon loosened her tendril, and Jay turned, directing the shield rush past him while absorbing as much of its momentum as possible. Amon blocked a strike from a god who had taken his opportunity to get behind Jay and shoot a barrage of ice at him.

Amon’s shield disappeared, revealing the god directly behind Jay, just before a gun flowed out of Jay’s back, along with Amon’s hand and face. It looked like a body was crawling out of his back as she lifted the gun and pointed it at the god’s face. “Goodbye, idiot.”

Jay redirected his force into Amon, who put it to good use. As she was doing so, Jay superheated the bullet and filled it with the essence of Blood. The bullet spun, building torque as the massive force built up behind it.

With a Thought, the gun fired, straight through the god’s brain. Everything was silent for a single moment as Amon retracted herself into Jay’s body, the gun firing without recoil thanks to their mastery over Force.

Then the god’s head exploded, and he fell over, clearly dead. Diamond was suddenly there, his first strike landing on Jay’s chest. His ribs instantly healed, but more strikes landed before Amon could react, a spear jutting out of Jay’s chest and nearly through Diamond, though he dodged.

The world suddenly fractured, and everything went still as Jay looked around, cracks running through the fabric of reality. One crack let him see past what reality was keeping back, and he saw it. Nothingness. The Void. A place where time did not exist, and neither did space nor anything brought by reality.

The world healed itself, revealing Gold standing in front of him, ripping a knife through his neck. Jay coughed up silver blood as his throat healed, grabbing Gold. The world fractured once again, and Gold was out, standing far away from him, along with Diamond. “You killed one of us. Now we get serious,” Gold said. He looked like he was about to lick the blood on the knife, and then thought better of it, what with Jay being a blood mage.

Jay looked up at the unmoving stars and saw one that yet moved. “Let the Lonely Star Shine Calamity on the World.”

Gold rushed for him, and the world fractured, but Jay didn’t stop. “The First Calamity. Famine.”

Gold was in his face, and Jay deflected the knife, stepping aside and launching himself up using the gained force to avoid a blast of pure energy from another god. “The Second Calamity. Rot.”

Another blast of energy shot at him, but Jay shot himself backwards with a little more force, avoiding this one as well. “The Third Calamity. Endless Night.”

The world fractured, giving him enough time to spit out another Calamity while stuck waiting for it to heal. “The Fourth Calamity. War.”

Diamond was suddenly in front of him, with his fist puncturing Jay’s stomach and pushing right through. With the last of his force, Jay pushed him out, healing himself and announcing the last Calamity. “The Fifth Calamity. Cataclysm.”

The Lonely Star above them shone in acknowledgement. First it shone down Famine, and Jay felt himself grow weak from not having enough food to eat. It didn’t affect him much. He and his mother’d been quite poor.

Then it shone down Rot, and Jay felt fungi grow on him as he slowly started decomposing while alive. Then Night descended, and it darkened his sight, but he still had Amon and his other senses. Injuries started building on him from War, and cuts slowly built on his body.

Then Cataclysm emerged, and Jay started drowning, burning in lava, being torn apart by a beast-all at once. Then Jay mastered the Calamities and could suddenly heal, his body restoring itself, the fungi falling off with nothing to eat.

The Lonely Star shone above, and Jay opened his eyes. Diamond was writhing on the ground, a giant mushroom growing out of his head. Gold stood with the other gods, glaring at him, not seeming to be affected too much. They were pushing back the effects with their own abilities. “No more pulling punches. You die now.”

A barrage of energy blasts fired at him as the energy-wielding god flew at him, every shot just barely missing him as he dodged. They quickly closed in, the energy blasts stopping just as Jay settled into a stance the back of his mind whispered to him.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Then he batted away fists, blasts, and everything that came his way, his mind vaguely recognizing the stance and the fighting style to be the same as the one Eternity had used when awakening to Force.

A brief use of Force had a god staring at the hole in his stomach, while the energy god simply dodged or blocked his uses of force. Gold, he simply could not hit, and was the only one doing damage to him, every strike of his dagger hitting some place within him. This could not continue.

Jay roared, a blast of force pushing everyone back a step as a sword pushed its way into his right hand. Then he continued fighting, but the situation had changed little. They were far too experienced in fighting to be deterred by any weapon.

An energy blast knocked Jay back, and he reached for healing.

To his surprise, his affinities refused to respond, overworked.

In that moment, Diamond was upon him, finally having overcome the Calamities Jay had pulled into existence.

Jay grabbed Dominion, embracing the arts of a Render as Aura erupted around him, fire blasting its way out, burning Diamond’s hand into a crisp. Diamond shrieked at the loss of his only working hand. Jay’s enemies avoided the circle of flame, watching Jay and waiting for his next move. What’s next?

You’re Eternity. Figure it out.

Jay dropped the circle of flame, his Voice calling out to the surrounding spirits. The earth rose, making the energy-wielding god stumble for a second, enough for Amon to stab a tendril through his foot. Jay lunged with a quicksilver blade, but the god dodged, a blast sending him right back to where he’d come from.

Song erupted as Jay grabbed Dominion, an energy blast that had suddenly entered his Aura grabbed by his Dominion and redirected by Song, shooting at Gold, who blocked it.

Oh. I get it.

You realize how stupid you are, now?

Jay grabbed the crystallized Memory within him and pulled it out, letting it float above his palm. Gold’s eyes widened in fear. “DON’T LET HIM USE THE MEMORY!”

The gods sped at him, but it was too late. The drop fractured, then shattered, exploding into tiny, evaporating pieces.

A pane of glass covering the world around him seemed to shatter, everything moving once more. Gold lunged, but Onyx was suddenly there, keeping him from moving to kill Jay.

Jay nodded at Onyx and Elena, and then fell over, lost in himself.

Gold stared at the couple and then screamed at the sky. “I don’t care anymore. First Diamond, and then the brat makes us fight you? I accept the pact.”

Onyx watched Gold transform. He turned to Jay’s body. “How long is the kid going to be out for?”

Amon popped her head out of his body. “As long as it takes.”

Onyx turned to Jay’s team. “I expect you to protect him. I’ll hold Gold off until he’s back up. Good luck.”

Crystal nodded, turning to Jay’s body. “Huh. Alright. I’ll reveal what I’ve been working on, then.”

Catherine nodded. “I suspect we’ve all been working on something. So he doesn’t get too far ahead of us. No more time to hide it, though.”

Drake nodded. Shadowy armor coated him. “No more time for talkin’. Look lively and fight.”

Holes appeared in the world, twisted beings ripping themselves out and descending on the crew. “Kill dem demons!,” Catherine roared, charging forward.

Onyx watched Gold transform. His eyes turned red, his skin ashen gray. Gold grew claws as black cracks ripped across his chest, inciting screams from him. “Gold. Are you happy with yourself now that you’ve bound yourself to the Monsters?”

Gold screamed. “SHUT UP!”

He was suddenly in front of Onyx, claws ripping across Onyx’s chest, leaving black gouges in his chest. Onyx blinked. “Hm.”

Gold came back in for another pass, but Onyx was faster this time. He shone with an inner light, smacking Gold away. “You’re burning your soul?,” Gold asked Onyx, facing away.

“Yes. This is my end. Even if I cannot defeat you, Eternity will.”

Gold turned around. He was changed now, unrecognizable as who he had been just moments earlier. “I can’t say I don’t regret some things that have led me here. But this is my path, and I will not turn back.”

Onyx shrugged. “None of that matters to me. I don’t need to win. Eternity does.”

“What makes all of you so… confident that Eternity will come back and win? I mean, he came back, but before you knew that, why were you so confident he would?”

A smile graced Onyx’s face. “Eternity… is different. He went through so much pain, people betraying him at every corner, and yet he still decided he’d go good. He was the strongest, though he wasn’t without flaws. Jay, though. He can be just as strong, without many of those flaws.” Onyx took a glance upwards at the Monsters. “The Monsters are scared of him because he was the strongest and now he’s back. They’re not scared of him for the right reasons.”

“And what are those?”

Onyx laughed. “The Monsters deigned to harm his friends. They won’t survive once he sets his sights on them. Eternity will not lose.”

Gold sighed. “You still haven’t given me a definite reason.”

Onyx pulled out a box, setting it down in midair. It floated to the midpoint between them, and then opened. “This is a line from Eternity himself. I recorded it secretly, just so I could play it if ever needed.”

A voice played from the box. It sounded strained, as if the person was just about to start a fight. “You oppose me. I am fighting for all the right reasons. You are fighting for the wrong ones. Trust me when I say this-if you decide to fight, you will not win. I say this for I am Eternity.”

The last phrase carried so much weight behind it that the pressure forced Gold to his knees, his body crushed and bones breaking, blood spraying out of him. Gold died from Eternity’s name simply being spoken by him, but got up once more as someone above shoved his soul back into his body. It healed, and Gold spoke. “I see now.”

There was nothing else Gold could say, and Onyx simply nodded back, for he had nothing more to say, either. Then Gold rocketed towards him and the fight started.