- You monster… What have you done…

I stare blankly into the dead horizon as I listen to these last words. I don’t even bother to look at her face, and the words are just that - they fade into nothingness, like empty promises thrown at the wind. It wasn’t their fault, just my overthinking, that lead to all of this.

Looking at the pitch black sky with no star to see and no sun to shine a brittle light, feeling no ground stable enough to stand on, sensing no air still pure to breathe and not puke with the putrid smell of flesh, fat and bones… I can’t help but think about my achievements. What did I want from the beginning? If it was this kind of world, then I’m a monster indeed, the monster who shattered reality.

- Have you… No…

The woman finally dies, joining one of the many rows and mountains of corpses, maybe buried by a collapsed building, who knows. I actually wanted to know what else she had to say.

Sometimes, I wish someone stronger than me would just appear out of nowhere and beat me to an unrecognizable chunk of flesh. But that never happened – every battle I’ve fought, I’ve won. In fact, every single moment of my existence I was hoping for a hero to appear and defeat this… What did they call me again? It is just so many names and so many titles, I can’t keep track of them all.

It was not my death I was hoping for, just for someone to stop what I was doing, to stop me from going further into madness. It could be love, war, or just a glimpse of wisdom, so long as it helped me get out of this prison that is myself.

Why should I care? To organize a system one must disorganize another, that’s how things are. But if it’s this level of disorganization, how long will it take for another system to be built from scratch? I can’t wait that much for things to be fixed, to attain some level of normality I was used to.

I might destroy everything before it is even completed.

…

If that’s how things are… I might as well finish things in the old way. One word should be enough, so long as I have my own image in mind. Not like I have something else to disturb my thoughts.

- Death.

I’ve seen this happen countless times to them, usually it begins with a desperate scream and blood being drawn from every orifice. I’ve read somewhere that blood tastes like iron… Mine tastes like shit. I should’ve looked into the bibliography more carefully, have they ever studied the blood of the Demon King? I don’t think so.

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… What is this place. No matter where I look, it’s an endless white… The opposite of the world I’ve made. Is this a place for people who died?

Suddenly, a voice enters my mind, invading from all directions.

- Carthe, you've learned a lot since the last time.

- Who are you?

- I am the world’s consciousness, just a messenger of what is about to happen, something created from nothing, that also returns to nothing. My existence is short, a millionth fragment of a second, and has no impact on reality.

- What is this place? Shouldn’t death be the end?

- Death is the end indeed. Of a test. This is the place your present self meets your former selfs, stablishes an objective and moves on to the next world.

Huh?

- The next world should have been your last before you achieved maximum clarity, but the universe needs you in the tests of many other talented individuals, with the knowledge you possess from this life, specifically.

- I don’t understand what you’re saying… This is very confusing.

- Without memories of the past, this is expected. I could explain what is happening to you right now, but all memories of this place will be erased once you pass on to the next world. Hearing this, you still wish me to explain?

- Is that so… Then I have only one question before I go, if all of this is the truth, of course.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

- Time is on our side.

- You said my knowledge is needed where I lead. But if there’s the opportunity, I will destroy everything all over again – I grab my chest in wonder, thinking of the devastation I was responsible for. I don’t know if I can control myself.

- That is up to you. Change happens the moment you set your mind into it.

That wasn’t a direct answer…

Well, talking all day with a supernatural being above my comprehension, when I can’t even keep it for further inspection, is just meaningless.

- Any time, then.

In a moment, my mind warps and I feel like being erased from history, yet the process seems so natural to me I just stare in awe at the disappearing white horizon, now as tiny as a room. Deeper and deeper, I fall into darkness as my consciousness dies down.

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I stare blankly into something I can only describe as a wooden chair, what was I doing? I can hear many whispers and this is certainly not the world I’ve destroyed with my own hands, as light still shines.

The feel of someone or something touching my shoulder breaks my frozen glance.

- Teacher, are you okay?

I turn to look at the human who spoke. He called me teacher… What is happening here? It’s like nothing I did ever came to be.

- Yes, I’m fine, thank you for the concern – what did I just say? I should be torturing this human for information, maybe question all of them together… I need to find out where I am.

- It’s just… Your iris changed its color… That’s very strange – says a female, far in the back seats.

- My iris? I’ll see that at the end of class. Well, where did I stop the lesson? – just what am I thinking, playing along? That’s not me.

- Oh, you were talking about the history and use of the Word of Power. But honestly? I don’t see why we still learn about them when no one else uses them nowadays. For more powerful and precise magic, we need to make use of calculus, topography, visualization…

- What you said is half right – with this phrase, I’ve caught everyone’s attention.

- And how so?

- I guess… That’s something I should be able to explain. Please consider this example: if I want to make a fire for a camp, should I use a casting or a word of power?

- Word of power – answer everyone without a single divergent.

- And why is it?

- Because words of power require much less energy to make than a casting. To make a casting just for a fire would take way more experience in that particular field of magic.

- That is correct. Now let us say we want a huge fire, the size of this school. Casting or word of power?

- Casting!

Now, the one to make silence is me. I’m expecting them to answer this, but at the same time I wonder the best way to explain things.

- Teacher, can I answer why?

- Go ahead.

- While words of power would definitely facilitate this big fire, we wouldn’t be able to control it properly and it would need a continuous stream of energy for it to work. With a single casting, we can easily make a big fire with no problems involved.

This amount of knowledge… It is so outdated, I don’t even know where to start.

- The answers so far are good… But they are lacking. In fact, I do think you should throw away all the knowledge of magic you possess and start anew.

With the last sentence, an outburst of moans, complaints and rage-induced commentaries fly about, and the students abruptly empty the classroom, except for one girl.

- How surprising. Want to proceed with the lesson?

The girl fidgets and avoids staring directly at me, but opens her mouth to produce a discrete sound.

- I-I think you gave a bad example. If you wanted to differentiate words of power from castings you should have started with the principles behind them… We are all s-serious students here, we don’t need to be t-treated like k-k-kids – she speaks, breathing heavily on the effort of muttering some words.

- That… Seems logical. I wasn’t concentrated at the moment, so I just spoke whatever came to my mind. In fact, you should try this sometime.

- No way! – she blurted out, only to cover herself in shame.

- Why not? You made a good remark right now. I’m sure you have more kept to yourself.

- It’s just something that I needed to get out of my mind… Th-then excuse me…

She’s not staying… That’s better for me. I needed some time alone. Does my abilities still work?

- Book of Ages – I utter to myself, materializing from dust a very old book sealed with nine incantations.

Years ago, I’ve removed the incantations one by one with great efforts. If I get it done once, it won’t matter afterwards. All I need is a word.

- Break – now, I can use the book.

The Book of Ages is one of the few magics whose principle I can’t grasp. A tome that keeps every single event in the world preserved, that goes beyond me. But then again, many things I’ve used go beyond me – I only know of the process, not the results, such is the nature of the word of power.

I stay in the room reading many passages, of this place throughout history, of the overall state of the world and of the most important events occurring in it, as well as my own past. One passage, specifically, made me squint my eyes:

“[…] professor Annabelle of the Royal Academy becomes possessed by the spirit of Demon King Carthe.”

As the memories of this body hits me like a wave, for the first time I feel what humans describe as pain. The veins near my head throbs profusely and I can feel my eyeballs being torn out of my sockets, my torso being hacked out and stitched continuously.

Then, I feel nothing. I simply leave the body.

- Argh… My head… Huh, classes are over already? It’s still noon, strange…

My spiritual body drifts nearby as the woman tidies her dirty brown cloak. I pry out my hand at her shoulder before a thought crosses my mind. Should I claim this body for me, is there any use for the human to be left alive? But those thoughts are cast aside as I glimpse upon my past. All the death, all the destruction… Pointless.

A world devoid of any hope and dreams, so useless, so boring… Yet that’s all I’ve ever known since I’ve been born.

…

If she had my powers, what ending would the world experience?

That is something I’m very curious about.