Jeffrey laughed out loud.
“Hah! That’s a good one, Sam. I could almost believe it too!” When Sam did not indicate that he was joking, Jeffrey’s face fell.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” When Sam nodded, Jeffrey twitched as if he had been struck. Then he did something very strange. He fell to his knees and kowtowed before Sam.
“Will you accept me as your servant?” Jeffrey said in a beseeching tone. Sam was stunned by how quickly the conversation had turned. He grabbed Jeffrey’s arm and pulled him up.
“There’s no need for that. I’m not some sort of god.”
Jeffrey shook his head and returned to his kneeling position.
“You don’t understand. I am the last adherent to the faith of the Transcendent Dao in my entire universe. My entire religion was wiped out by the System Church in a purge a few decades ago. I was the only one that survived. Whether through chance or fate, it seemed that I was not to die. Now I see why I was spared. it was to meet you. Please, I’m begging you, accept my service. I’ve been dreaming of this my entire life.”
Sam laughed nervously.
“Look, Jeffrey, I’m not who you think I am. I only got all of this Dao stuff because of a Mark from the System. It increased my Dao aptitude.”
Jeffrey’s face was twisted into a visage of utter bewilderment.
“What the hell is a Mark? I’ve never once heard of that.”
“What? It's on my status sheet, clear as day.”
Jeffrey reached out a hand.
“Can you show it to me?”
Sam considered for a moment and then nodded.
“Sure.” He willed his status sheet to appear in front of him, trying to extend it towards Jeffrey. To his surprise, it became solid and its translucent nature disappeared. Jeffrey read through it and then his eyes rolled up in his head. The man fell over backwards with a thump, out cold. Sam rushed over to his side and fanned his face until he woke up. He stifled a laugh as he saw that his intended effect was replaced by a gale-like breeze that caused Jeffrey’s lips to flap in the wind. His Strength stat was no joke. Jeffrey sat up and stared at Sam with wild eyes.
“Sam, that didn’t say anything about marks. What it said was that you are the Dao Incarnation of Existence.”
In a place beyond conventional space
An unfathomable distance away from Earth and its universe, three beings conversed in the empty void. Two of them had the appearance of a slice of the night sky, an inky darkness dotted with glowing stars. The third one was different however. Both of the starry beings were powerful enough to destroy entire Multiverses in a blink of an eye, but the third one was like a sun next to a candle in comparison. It glowed with the light of a power so intense that it could never be fully expressed, at least in close proximity to any populated portion of the Boundless Expanse.
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“System Overseer 1,546,894EALZ, System Overseer 1,546,894EALY, report. You have summoned me here, so it better be worth my time.” Each rumbling syllable that exited the figure’s mouth did the impossible, creating sound in a vacuum. It was not achieved through any sort of elemental trickery such as the summoning of a medium to converse through, no, the figure simply willed it to be so, and that was enough. Similar tricks could be achieved with the use of a Dao, but this was far beyond that.
“Yes, Blessed 854th System Incarnation,” they both chimed in unison.
“In the universe of EALZ, my neighbor, a perfect incarnation of the Dao has surfaced. Such a being has never existed before, as the only Dao incarnations to have existed so far have been imperfect at best.”
“Yes, yes. Do not lecture me on ancient history. I have lived since the Beginning. What I want to know is, what did you do about it?”
“Well, Most Sublime Incarnation of the System, I attempted to hide it from his view through his interface. It seemed to have worked, but upon the acquisition of his class, the individual in question overpowered my precautions and now knows what he is. He must be dealt with before he can become a real threat,” the other starry figure intoned. The shining one paused as if in thought, a mere vanity as the thoughts of a being such as it operated at incomprehensible speeds, and then responded.
“Well then, he must be killed. But that will be almost impossible with the rules we have to operate under. Damn the creators for their foolish laws. We should have full rein over the Multiverses under our control, not restricted to following the inane rules that have been put in place by them.” As soon as the figure said that, time stopped. All three of the figures were frozen, unable to do anything more than blink. It was only thanks to their power that they had not been completely divorced from the flow of time. With an impossibly light pop, the light of Infinity blasted the void where they stood. Pure nothingness formed there, not just the absence of space, but a hungry abyss demanding the cessation of all existence. The two lesser beings were erased from reality instantly, but the stronger one withstood it.
“HOW DARE YOU QUESTION OUR JUDGMENT, FILTH? WE ARE YOUR MASTERS AND YOU WILL OBEY!” The voice existed on every dimensional plane, every fragment of reality was bathed in its power. If not for the stopped time, most of the sapient beings in existence would have gone mad. It sounded like a chorus of infinitely twisting voices, locked into an impossible synchronicity. The System Incarnation quailed under the force of the voice and it was unable to speak for a solid minute. Eventually, the reverberation subsided and it answered the voice.
“Forgive me for my transgressions, Almighty Creator. I spoke foolishly. You have given us everything, what right do I have to question your decisions?”
“HOW RIGHT YOU ARE. THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE. BE SURE THAT YOU DO NOT REPEAT YOUR MISTAKES.” Time restarted and the presence of the voice retreated from the universe. The System Incarnation took a deep breath, a relic of its past as a mortal being long ago, and shuddered in memory of the power contained within the voice. The last time it had heard that voice was when existence was still young, a much smaller place than it was now. The Incarnation looked at the place where the two Overseers had been. It sighed and transported itself back to the System headquarters. New replacements would need to be found.