POV: Statera Luotian

Only half of my mind was meditating in the beginning. The meditating half was focused on reorienting the Realm Sun and getting it back onto it's normal path around the Four Realms, while the other half was focusing on the blue boxes that were slowly explaining to me just what in the world happened, and how that bloody Paradox got through the barriers protecting the Four Realms. 

The Paradox Beast was born inside of the barriers I had erected to keep those beasts out, as they do encompass a bit of the Void. The chances of that happening are less than...well, they're so astronomically small that this is the first time anything similar has happened in the history of the entire multiverse. You simply got incredibly unlucky. Though that renegade spirit that appeared might have caused it in the first place...honestly, who would've thought that there was such a loophole in my barriers? Its weapons were teeth from a dragon-like creature in a recently destroyed universe that was famous for its illusions, hence why it could get through in the first place. The spirit slipped through a weak point in the barriers created by the birth of the Paradox, which was perpetuated by the presence of the renegade spirit. Had events not played out exactly like they did, there would've been no disaster. 

Hold up, hold up. Recently destroyed universe? What in the world is that about?!

Just as you are a creator, the Paradox beasts are the destroyers. It is a perpetual game we play, the multiverses and the Void, of creation and destruction.

Ah, I see. So basically my destiny is to build a universe up until the point that it's destroyed by the Void, which is an inevitability it seems? Wonderful. 

Not quite. There's a chance that you can eventually grow powerful enough to split off from this multiverse and go create your own, but...well, you're still too weak for the specifics. Even telling you this much is pushing it. Set your goals too high, and you'll never reach them. Take it step-by-step.

Oh, how nice. This is just going to be a never-ending battle, isn't it? What, no answer this time? I get it. So how am I going to fix the Four Realms? Or, more importantly, what is Mr. Blue Boxes going to do to help?

Well, as compensation I'll speed up the Primordial Chaos's regeneration rate, so your universe's expansion rate will return to normal levels. Other than that...you won't get much. It's a self-imposed rule that I don't influence the growth of new universes too much. This is especially so in the case of your Four Realms, which is a relatively rare universe style anyways, even without the path to immortality you left open. So in other words, you're basically on your own.

Great. I expected as much. This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it! Although I will admit that I understand the blue box's reasoning, as it's the same concept as me trying to not interfere with the mortals too much, that doesn't mean I have to like it. In fact, I don't like it. I'm feeling pretty salty about it. 

You know...I do have a name, or titles you could call me by other than 'the blue boxes.'

Nah, you're 'the blue boxes' or 'Mr. Blue Boxes' or, if I'm feeling particularly ornery, 'Blue Box-san.' Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to delve fully into meditation and try my hardest to fix what that damned Paradox and renegade spirit broke. When the blue boxes did not reply, I snorted and closed my eyes, starting to cast my divine incarnation technique while setting my true body's "meditation chore list." It could basically be summed up to 'restore Balance to the Four Realms,' but there was an intricate list of things to accomplish that task. The worst of the damage was in the Mortal Realms and to the Primordial Chaos, the former of which I would begin to work on as soon as the Realm Sun was fixed, as Mr. Blue Boxes was already fixing the Primordial Chaos. (I could feel it happening already.) Thankfully though there would be no lasting damage. I had intervened quick enough to prevent serious damage from being wrought on my universe, so after fixing the Mortal Realm to a degree, I could focus on the creation of the Lunar Star.

The big thing though was deciding on what my ten divine incarnations would do. I had already decided that three would be in the Mortal Realm, running around and checking on the creativity of the mortals, ensuring the growth of the new races that were recently introduced on Cradle, attempting to do some damage control on the chaos most certainly running through the realm, and basically just taking a more hands-on approach to the fixing the mortal realms thing. That left seven others. Two would go to the Heaven and Karmic Realms, respectively, so that narrows it down to three. The Spirit Realm could be monitored from anywhere in the Four Realms, so that wasn't an issue, but...well, there's an idea. One incarnation should be dedicated to getting the first angel in the Four Realms, be it a spirit that level of enlightenment and Karmic Virtue, or a mortal soul. 

The basic way to become an angel is through a mix of reincarnation and karma. Amassing good karma makes enlightenment exponentially easier, and upon reaching certain thresholds, gives them certain liberties and powers. Now here comes the tricky part of it -you can only reach (or break through) a single new karmic threshold once per life, hence the need for reincarnation (though that is not true for accruing negative karma, which will drop the spirit or soul down the threshold scale indefinitely depending on the severity of actions...though this need for reincarnation does not apply to spirits, as they aren't able to have physical bodies in the first place.) This makes it infinitely harder to reach the 'angel' level. And that's not to even mention the trial that happens upon reaching the threshold for being an angel! That trial in my old world was painful in every way imaginable...and I mean that quite literally! Part of the trial is to experience on a spiritual level (meaning this stuff doesn't exactly happen, but is still engraved upon the heart) every single pain that could befall a person possible, so that the ultimate level of empathy could be reached. Not many beings are dumb enough to go through that! I was one of the few who was! 

And because, despite everything, it is a good system for angels, who are supposed to be the epitome of divine love, I decided to keep that system. So I established the same system in the Four Realms. Great, so that decides it. I'd try to get a few angels up and running in the Four Realms so I can dump some of my workload -I mean establish a better management system for the Four Realms -with one incarnation. I can't create too many angels or else there would be a disruption of the Balance of the Realms, and there would be a severe, and dark, backlash to right said balance. So only one incarnation will be assigned to that. That leaves two more...one should work on developing techniques for me to use in battle, though I pray that it will be a while until I actually have to use them, and will also rebuild my Palace. Preferably bigger and better this time. That leaves the last one...that one should be free roaming. Just going wherever it's needed. Yes, that sounds good. Now then...what's left is to get started. 

POV: Keilan

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I sat angrily in my office in the Karmic Valley of my realm, very frustrated at what was happening. Only a few short years have passed since that damned Paradox thing appeared, and already I've seen an influx of negative karma and souls in general flowing through. Chaos in the Mortal Realms is a very bad thing indeed, though I have noticed that a select few souls have become shining beacons of goodwill and positive Karma, even without Mother's help. 

"The hottest of fires forge the grandest of heroes." An incarnation of Mother said from where She stood off to the side, staring at one of the souls as it passed through the Karma Kings' judgements. This one had amassed some relatively good karma this time around, so its next life would capitalize on that, but it wasn't enough for it to pass through another threshold. Generally the Karma Kings only deal with the souls who have amassed a decent sized chunk of karma, be it good or bad, while the souls who don't simply bypass the Kings, guided through the River of Souls to pass through the Ocean of Memories, where their memories will be cleansed for the next life before they are placed into the hands of the Spirit Realm, who will guide them to their new lives. "The angel task I gave one of my incarnations might be easier than I initially realized." Mother said, rubbing her chin. "Though unfortunately that comes with a few more dark spirits than usual popping up. Oh, I do hope that evil angels don't appear any time soon." She worried. 

The evil angels She spoke of are apparently on par in terms of power with the regular angels, the only flipside being that they gained that power through negative karma and energy...so basically, as Elvira so eloquently put it, they're the "ultimate jackasses of the universe. The mega-jerks." However, since either Angels or Evil Angels have yet to appear in the Realms, I am not certain as to how bad that is, or how powerful they may be...I can only imagine it to be a little over 'not good,' yet under 'really bad.' 

"Is that so?" I asked absently, watching the negative and positive karma flow throughout the lines of souls and spirits in my Realm, wondering just how in the world I was going to deal with this chaos. It was making it abundantly clear that the current system is a little too...vague? No, that's not the right word...it's not apparent enough in the Mortal Realm, where the most karma is accrued. It's less so in the Heaven Realm, as there have been a few mortals popping up there now (thanks to Elvira also creating a colony of her Avians on her Holy Mountain), as the mysterious force is a bit more...tangible. Like finding some way to show it in the Mortal Realm, beyond just sensing it. 

"Oh no! One of the Two Lovers died!" Mother cried, peering out at the River of Souls. I looked up from where I was moping, standing up and crossing the rather spacious black and silver stone office in the blink of an eye, standing next to Mother as she stared out at the River of Souls. It was a separate entity than my Valley, as various deities and spirits helped me in filtering out those who have accrued karma so they could be judged, while the rest help ferry the River through the center (though the River itself appeared to float in the air rather than snake along the bottom of the Valley) of the Valley and towards the Ocean of Memories at the 'downstream' end of the River. It was very streamlined. Where Mother was looking however was off to the side of the River, where one soul in particular was standing off to the side, staring back at the Mortal Realm, holding a little red string in its ethereal hand. 

"Which one was it?" I asked, turning to see Mother just smiling with tears in Her eyes. 

"It was the less adventurous one. A horde of illusion beasts destroyed the city that the two had been living in, and he had sacrificed himself to ensure that his beloved life would be able to live on. Now...now he's standing there, holding their Red String of Fate to make sure she doesn't do something like commit suicide so they can be together." She said with a fond sigh. "I always knew that when the shit hit the fan, that out of the two of them, that one would stand the tallest." She continued, but I wasn't paying attention to Her any longer. The red string...the red string...the red string! That was a type of karma! Waves of shock came crashing through me as I looked at all the souls, seeing strings tying groups of them together, be it spirit or soul, it didn't matter, but the strings were there! They were almost invisible even to me, but they were there! Karma ties people together! I almost missed the leap in power I gained by becoming enlightened on this, and I sat down right then and there, delving into a meditative state in order to solidify the advances by my sudden enlightenment and gain a few more. I got the feeling that my period of enlightenment was just beginning. 

Not only would this discovery undoubtedly lead to the problems of the mortals' karma being solved, but I could feel that my own personal power would increase as well. I would never again find myself as weak and helpless as when that...Outsider, or, for that matter, that Paradox appeared. The fact that Mother had to raise Her hand to defend us leaves me feeling ashamed, and the extent She goes to in order to ensure our future is awe-inspiring...so the least I can do is make it easier on Her, and give a little back. Though I intend to do much, much more. 

POV: Elvira

"Damn it!" I roared, feeling myself losing control over the ball of fire in my hand, and hurling it away before it could explode in my face again. I was attempting to combine the energy of my Heaven Realm on a more fundamental level than what I could currently do, and therefore unleash more devastating power. Unfortunately I consistently failed explosively. 

"Why do you think it's not working?" Gilles rasped, the pale deity looking just as confused as I was as he paused in doing his job. He was currently collecting pieces of Void from when Father injured the Paradox, intending to...study them. We just so happened to be in the same vicinity. "All of these things are one in the same within the Primordial Chaos, right? So it should fit back together somehow." I shook my head, stepping away from my training area, which in reality was just a space in the area where the Realm Sun circles. So not technically within the Four Realms, but also...in the Four Realms. Just with nothing for me to break. I'd already had to rebuild my castle/palace thing five times.

"That's not how the Primordial Chaos works. It's essentially a roiling mass of everything needed to build a universe, so it is both all in one and just a mish-mash of everything, like a soup where every ingredient available is thrown together. It's incredibly volatile, too...even Alexander can only withstand the outermost layer of the Chaos, to say nothing of myself, while going through it is just a walk in the park to Father. Haha!" I laughed, scratching the back of my head. Then, a crazy, crazy idea came to me. "Oh, well that's an idea!" I shouted, spinning to look at the Primordial Chaos, way off in the distance. It was still being restored, presumably by Father, so it was a little weaker than usual...which means I could get a little bit further in than usual. And, as a bonus, the pressure would gradually increase as Father fixed it!

"I know that look. What do you have planned this time?" Gilles rasped, scratching his throat and glaring at me. 

"Y'know, down on one of the planets a tribe of Fae discovered a volcano. Instead of running away like normal mortals would, they temper their fleshly bodies via cultivation by sitting in the lava flows and absorbing the essences of fire and earth. The constant destruction of their flesh only serves to make their bodies stronger." I said slowly, my mind churning. That Outsider being, as Keilan had come to call it before entering meditation, had a body and soul, a form, so tough that it could withstand a number of strikes from Father. A divine body that powerful would be incredibly useful...and I thirsted for it. Being able to shrug off all attacks like that...as much as it pissed me off that that Outsider could do it, I wanted to as well. I didn't want to be at the mercy of such a being any longer. So that's what I'll do. Gain a body that powerful...and then forge my body into an even stronger one. "And I'm going to test if the Primordial Chaos will temper my divine form. See ya!" I shouted, and shot off towards the Primordial Chaos in a flash of white light. Behind me, I heard Gilles let out a half chuckle half sigh. 

"I don't think I'll ever understand her." He muttered, before disappearing to go do his own thing as well, presumably more collecting. I guess we all are taking the appearance of the Outsider a little differently.