A tremor, more violent than any that came before, shakes my island. Alarmed, I jump to my feet, turning toward the direction I know it came from.

An elongated line thrust into the Sky, the Bane erupts in a shower of golden sand.

I stagger, feeling the hit like someone had ripped off one of my fingers.

The culprit appears in view as the Bane slumps down.

The plates making up its long, powerful body glint blood red under the Sky’s dawn light. The beast’s serpentine shape coils over itself again and again, dozens of feelers and claws protruding from it. Two pairs of limbs, one crab-like, the other wickedly clawed, clench beneath the three heads of the monster. A dragon's head snaps and belches smoke and fire. A lion's head roars and clenches razor-sharp fangs. The third head, insectile in nature, opens and closes its pincers, while waving a long, fleshy trunk.

Azakar, the Creator Beast Class: Divine Beast Level: 9153

The monster bellows, roars and clicks violently, three mouths united in a desire for blood and destruction.

I watch it.

Oh…

Before I realize it, I am running.

I should be scared for my Core, I know. My works can be rebuilt, my child can hide in the Treehouse. If my Core ruptures, there is no telling what damage my island could sustain. Depending on the power of the blast, the entirety of my work could go lost. It could all be reset back to zero. The most sensible choice would be to try and hide.

But I won’t. I can’t.

My darkest nightmare is here. An Other, with the power to spoil my kingdom. I shall not escape from such an invader. My pride, my very nature as a Creator, as me, won’t allow it. I won’t let it ravage what I built. Not one of my creations. Not one of my children. Not a single grain of sand on my island.

As I run, my child flits around me, panicked by my emotions. I calm him with a thought, directing him toward the Treehouse. He obeys, rushing in a torrent of glittering feathers toward the refuge. As I watch him sink into it, I bitterly hope that, whatever happens, it will be sturdy enough.

Pain slashes through me, and I stagger. Without needing to look, I know that the monster is savaging the beheaded corpse of the Bane. Its rage is just as sharp as the teeth it sinks into my skin, feeling like a torch pressed against my cheek. Unthinking, burning, aimed at all and everything, nothing and nobody. It’s a creature of chaos and destruction, an abomination. I hate it. I hate it!

Au’Makh emerges from my body in reply to my hatred, erupting with golden light.

Sure enough, the monster is coiled around the Bane, all three of its heads working to rip apart my creation. There’s no desire for sustenance or a particular design behind it: it just rages against the closest thing it has at hand.

The senselessness of it all infuriates me. I could understand if it did what it did to sate its hunger. I could understand, even rejoice in its vitality. But this… this pointless destruction… it’s… it’s unforgivable!

The bolt of golden energy is let loose before I realize it. It soars through the still air, smashing in an explosion of sparks against the monster’s flank.

It flinches, roaring, before turning to me. Three sets of eyes align themselves on me, before narrowing dangerously. Besides animal thoughtlessness, I see the same hatred I feel reflected in them. This beast is an incarnation of chaos. It hates me just as much as I hate it.

Teeth and tentacles emerge from my body, whipping and glaring.

The Bane’s limp body slumps as the monster gives me its undivided attention. I cannot but look over its being once more.

Azakar, the Creator Beast Class: Divine Beast Level: 9153

I falter. The difference between our levels of power is… unfathomable. Yes, it is but a beast spawned by the Sky, and I am a Goddess. But is it enough to overcome such a huge distance?

The monster roars, all snapping pincers and wicked teeth. The sound hits my island like a wave, making it jolt and rock. It runs across golden rock and sand, toppling works, filling the air with whirling dust.

The monster’s presence feels like a bloody shroud. I grit my teeth. Can I stop it?

I don’t have the time to ponder over it.

The monster – Azakar – pounces. Its body elongates, skyrocketing through the Sky, fast, faster than I could have imagined. It’s on me in the blink of an eye. Its claws sink into neck and shoulder. A wave of pestilential breath hits me like a fist as I find myself staring into its three open mouths. It reaches for my face, just as I panickedly signal for Au’Makh to fire.

The bolt smashes against Azakar’s lion head, sending it crashing against its brethren in a shower of blood and broken teeth. Howling with three voices, Azakar is rocketed, its claw ripping away a chunk of me as the beast almost loses its grip.

Pain and fear don’t stop me. Clenching my teeth, I reach for the insectile head with three tentacles. This monster is too powerful for me to unmake, but that doesn’t mean I cannot rip it apart.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Ignoring the trunk’s slamming against my forearm, I wrap the tentacles around the head. Waving fingers and biting teeth sink in. I feel chitin bending and breaking, sludge-like blood running on my skin.

A claw smashes against my face, almost sending me sprawling. I growl, holding on. Grabbing the trunk, I give it a violent tug. It tears, blood spurting out.

Azakar howls higher. It hits me again, and this time I cannot hold on. I fall to the ground, the monster pouncing on me. As my back hits the ground, I desperately raise my arms. The lion and the dragon bite into them, severing one at my elbow and crippling the other.

I screech and kick, my foot twisting into a bone spur as it thrusts into Azakar’s belly. Au’Makh lets loose a bolt into the beast’s flank. Azakar howls and shudders, but doesn’t draw back. It pushes down on me, stupidly trying to reach my head even though my mangled arms are in the way. One of its arms lashes out for Au’Makh, grabbing the eye in a massive hand. Au’Makh shoots, severing an appendage. For a moment it’s free, but then Azakar throws an entire coil over it, burying it under its flesh.

I struggle violently, both with my body and with Au’Makh, but neither can break free. My eye unleashes bolt after bolt, and I can feel the smell of burned meat, but it won’t break free before Azakar reaches me.

Desperate, I throw my conscience around my island, seeking for something to help me. I find it quickly and, with a rush of furious relief, I put it into motion.

Azakar flinches as my island shudders, but it doesn’t understand the danger quickly enough. It is pitched off me as the Bane slams against it, the monster howling and roaring in fury.

I struggle to get up, the skin of my arms bubbling as they regenerate. I manage to get up to my knees before Azakar throws what remains of the Bane aside and pounces. Moving quickly, I lift my regenerated hand and hand a blow on the dragon head’s chin, while grasping the snout of the lion with two tentacles.

Azakar struggles, but before it can retaliate, Au’Makh explodes out of its coil in a flash of blinding light.

The monster screeches, truly wounded now. It throws itself forward, slamming me out of the way as it careens through my island.

I blink as, faster than a snake, the monster’s body elongates until it encompasses the entire length of my island. Rocks and debris fly out as it plants its hands and claws into the ground and starts to heave.

With a jolt, I understand what it’s trying to do.

My island groans. Cracks run beneath my creations.

“Stop it!”

I throw myself against Azakar’s body, beating it wildly with my fists, bludgeoning it with my tentacles. Au’Makh echoes my despair, loosing bolt after bolt into the beast’s body.

“Stop! You’ll ruin everything!”

Metal plates bend and break. Blood spurts. But it doesn’t stop. It doesn’t listen. The stupid beast only exerts more strength, trying to break my island to pieces. No. No!

Furious, I rear back. My fist sinks to the forearm into Azakar’s body. This time, it feels it.

Azakar screams, in pain this time, its surviving heads thrown back.

I don’t allow it to regain itself. Breaking into a sprint, I run toward the body’s top. I jump.

“Die already!” I screech, crashing down on its back with both of my feet.

The blow sends Azakar’s chest digging through my island’s ground. The beast rears back, and both of its mouths opened into a screech of agony. It remains like this for a moment, then it slumps heavily.

Panting, I wait for it to start trashing and fighting again, but it only twitches weakly.

Did I…? I did it! I can barely believe it. Excited, relieved, I jump down from the twitching body. I am going to kill it entirely before it can heal. I will…

I freeze, pain stabbing through my chest.

I look down. A stinger, like a scorpion, pierces through my Core. Trembling, I look back. Azakar’s tail is curled back, its deadly tip embedded into my back.

I was watching only the mouths. I didn’t… I didn’t see it.

A cry of denial is ripped from my lips. My Core cracks, then ruptures. Everything disappears in a flash of blinding light.

I die.

----------------------------------------

Death is lonely.

I fall down an endless pit, my thoughts floating around me like so many stray birds.

Do you know how far you fall in a thousand years? It’s not a long time. But it’s long when your only companion is regret.

I should have done better. I should have seen that stupid tail. I should have won. Instead, I am stuck here. And I can’t do anything to stop it.

What will happen to my island? To my children? Will they be gone when I return? Will I return to an empty Sky?

That stupid monster. I hate it. I will kill it. I will rip out its heads. I will dig into its eyes with my fingers until they explode out of their sockets. I hate it. I hate it!

My rage. My regret. They move inside me like a living thing. Shadows, flickering under my skin. Like tongues. I can use them.

Death is ink into my gold. It’s part of Life. It’s part of me. I can use that too.

I do, and then there are two of me.

Skill Unlocked! Aspects: your rage at your first death pushed your being to new heights. A new Aspect of you is starting to be born. Aspect Unlocked: The Reaper Teeth chatters. A mouth fills with saliva. Death is unescapable. Smacking lips. A dragging blade. The Reaper comes.

The other me looks back as we fall together. Wide, red eyes. A lipless mouth. Teeth as knives. This one is that moment of rage and hatred and regret frozen. Forever. For now, it’s a bud, but it will do well.

My focus flows away. I forget. My child… what did I want to do? Who am I? I am… me.

My desire. What was it? Disorder. Discord. Chaos. Many minds. Division. No understanding. Cannot be allowed to. One. Unity. Order. Perfection. Harmony. Love. The Work. Joy. Children. My children. Me. The Sky. The beast. Hate. The clouds, they sing. They distort. Golden sand; it seeps in the wind. I am (many) me. I am (in)sane. I am Cre-death. The Mother. The Reaper. The blood that boils. So pretty. Blinking gold. A sweet pain in the brain. Searing. Delicious.

I blink. An image before me, so clear. The Sky. But it’s only a cover, a slice of the apple. It peels away. I see the beneath. Another layer. A world. Pristine. Untouched. Full of potential.

No. Not pristine. A bruise on the skin. Many. They wave. They were dead. They will be born. They aren’t there yet. The snake without skin; it bites its tail. It never did.

I see (not). I (don’t) understand. I need to (not). There’s no correlation in the world beyond death’s wall. No cause and no effect. There’s only the KnOwInG.

I SeE aLl.

Aspect Unlocked: the Beyonder -Error- -Error- -Error- -ThE bEyOnDeR- -Error- -Error- -Error- -iS- -Error- -Error- -Error- -bEyOnD- -Error- -Error- -Error-

I return. I remember.

A new thing. Paracausal knowledge. Will. Has been. Won’t. Is. Cannot be put into words. Too narrow.

Dangerous. The knowledge. Difficult to bring into the causal world. To retain. Causes damage. Holes. Hidden Aspect. Keep it away. Sealed.

She agrees. She always has. She will be. It’s no mere bud. It has always been. It floats here. Beyond. Seeing all. Knowing all.

But I remember this. Another layer of the apple. Beneath the Sky. Lesser. Less creative. Less energy. More solid. The rocky shore. Delightful. Another world. For me.

Need to remember.

I blink. The fall slows. My Core is a bright light. Somewhere away. Getting closer now.

No paracausal. No place for it. Not in the waking world. But this little thing. This I remember.

How are my children? My home? That damn beast. Stupid. I will kill it. AnD tHe SiX wIlL bE mInE. The FiRe BuRnS aLrEaDy.

Away. No place for you. Stay here, other me. Dream. Stay BeYoNd.

My Core. Closer now. It shines brightly. Cover my eyes.

The light grow. Grow. I don’t fall anymore. The light is everything. I reach for it. Bring me home. Please.

I open my eyes.

I breath. A simple motion, but my body awakens to it.

It flows through me, and the fire inside is stoked by it. Electricity runs through. My core quickens. Until I am… me.

I am alive.

I blink.

Slowly, I let out a shuddering breath. I am… scared. Scared to open my eyes and see what? My island, gone? My children, snuffed out?

I grope blindly, but my perceptions find nothing. My island is an extension of my being, an arm and a spot of feeling in my mind. But where it should be… there’s nothing.

I breath, trembling. My children are little petals of light always fluttering in my mind. But there’s nothing now. No plant. No petals. No flowers.

Loss, terrible and piercing, strikes me. Did I lose it all? All my work? My children?

I open my eyes, hoping against hope not to see what I know I will see.

Reality is cruel.

The Sky is empty. Wherever I look, I see only the still light of dawn and the golden clouds. My island is… gone.

I cover my mouth, stifling a sob. My children… they…

It emerges slowly, rising from the edge of my mind lime the rising sun. Another arm, another body. Mangled, broken, its presence shielded by the first confusion of rebirth, but very much alive. Its presence emerges in my fogged mind like a numb limb waking slowly.

I turn, my lips parting in wonder.

My island. It wobbles horribly as it emerges from the cloud, tilting this and that way as it struggles not to tip over. The mangled stump of the Bane dangles beneath it, leaving a stream of dust that makes the island look like a decrepit shooting star.

I reach out, feeling the aches riddling that poor limb of mine. One thousand years worth. And yet, it’s still standing. Even from here, I can see the mangled remains of my creations.

But then…

Petals flutter into my mind.

A small, golden figure flits across my island’s surface. My child, rushing out in a torrent of tiny, beating hearts and fluttering wings. He beat his wings, call out to me and sing in excitement.

He's here. They are all. They are still alive.

I cover my mouth again. This time, the sob comes out.