Ah.
Yes.
I am here, aren't I.
Alive again.
It's been such a long ti.
I had sacrificed myself to make a universe.
Willingly. Unreservedly.
I gave myself so that others might live in the beauty of my creation, and that I would no longer need to experience existence alone.
My painting of a man in a white suit was left for Shadow to find. She took that fragnt of my soul and slipped it into one of the largest paintings, which was not a painting at all, but a Path to Darkness. Darkness was always my oldest friend. That cacophony that spoke of everything all at once, and called to others to partake. That was Darkness. Not many understood the Darkness beyond the cacophony of pain, and Shadow didn't either. Not at the ti, and probably not even now.
But I had understood the Darkness.
He was, and is, my oldest friend, and I eventually gave my oldest friend everything. I beca one with the Darkness, and there was no longer any division between myself and my friend.
But now I was here, wrapped to a pillar, watching myself co back together.
The Sundering continued all this while.
I looked around with singular eyes I hadn't had in oh-so-very long.
The white leviathan below, my son of so many grandsons removed, looked up at . He noticed the change in his captive. He recognized , for he had been planning on this. He had been planning my resurrection, because, of course, my resurrection was necessary for his future plans.
Nothanganathor said, "You wait right there, Xoat, and I'll put you back in the Dark soon enough, but it's going to all be better this ti. No tyrant gods. No endless murder of all that is good. Only calm, asured Evil that is so small, it is Good. I will be good and evil more than enough for all, and you will make the God of Magic of the Darkness."
This sounded unreasonable to , based on what I already knew.
I was willing to hear him out anyway.
I asked, "Why should I do this for you? You are killing all of my creation, and putting back together. I don't want to be back together."
"Your creations killed soone I loved and cursed to Obscurity. No one understands at all, and no one can kill , either. And so I must undo that horror, and now we are here."
"Ah." Of course. I saw it now. I said, "No one can kill you anymore. I see. I understand. I also see you turned your Obscurity into Malevolence, and now we are here."
Nothanganathor breathed, surprised that I had picked that up that fast. He said, "I did."
I asked, "Would you like to speak about it? Talk of your pain of existence? Explain your reasonings in my un-creation, and what you an to accomplish?
Nothanganathor glanced upward, uncomfortable. "I would not."
I nodded. "The murder of Ara, your wife, still pains you too much."
Nothanganathor's eyes flickered with deep need. He quietly asked, "Can you bring her back?"
"Do you feel you deserve her? Would she approve of what you're doing? How about her sisters? Did they know that you are going to kill a universe?"
No, they did not know; Erick had told . No one knew what was happening here, and no one ever would for a long, long ti.
Nothanganathor was in this alone.
Nothanganathor looked away, back to his Sign of Power. He did not answer, for to answer anything less than truth would harm what he was doing, and he wasn't stupid enough to lie to .
The Red Chain Ocean churned on the horizon. Worlds crashed into this place. Chains gobbled treasures and people of all kinds and organized them for later. Everything fell into this infinity, and nothing was left outside of Nothanganathor's great reaping.
He did not care who he hurt, and he did not seek forgiveness.
"Why?" I asked.
Nothanganathor intoned his Truth, "For the greatness of all and especially , we tear down what we must to prevent catastrophe and scour weakness, to bring bounty to myself and my chosen people, so that we may all create an evergrowing cycle of betternt for all always."
I replied, "Dragons are born in selfishness, so that part of you still remains."
Nothanganathor must have forgotten who he was speaking to, for he spat fire, "You judge ?!"
I rely Looked at the white serpent, as one might gaze upon a wrongheaded child.
That only inflad him further.
Nothanganathor stared right back, glaring, yelling, "You, who created the greatest evils I have ever known?! You, who made Elental Evil the best way to gain power?! Nothing exists without power, first and foremost, and this is all your fault!"
"A weak argunt. I offered opportunity and mortals created. I forgave the foibles of mortals long ago, Nothanganathor. You should forgive yourself and mortals as well, or you will never beco the god that you seek to beco."
"I will be BETTER than those other gods! I will heal the sick and rescue the damned! I will topple the tyrants, becoming a tyrant if I must! One Great Tyrant is ever-always better than a thousand trillion! Have you seen your gods go to war? I have seen your gods go to war. I have seen Sumtir's avatar clashing with the Gods of Demons and Angels alike, fighting over worlds, a hamr strike against a shield enough to obliterate everything within sight. I have watched the Slug Queen spread through everyone who thought of her. I have watched avatars of gods flay flesh from children. I have seen Shades support tyrants, just because those tyrants advance magic! The fact that this great magic I have created is possible at all is proof that you should not be a universe creator! I have seen more evils than you could ever know, and they are all your fault."
He was delusional, but we were beyond the need to point that out.
I asked, "So you must kill them all and start again?"
"… I must." Nothanganathor returned to personally overseeing the dismantling of my universe. "The canvas must be wiped clean, and the painting started anew."
The Dark Marks that were myself continued to flow into my body, here, chained to the pillar beside Nothanganathor. My power flowed through the pillar, into him, into his Sign of Power. I was not alone in my chaining, but the others were just fractions of fractions of universes, and most of them were not born like I was born, so gathering more of themselves did not matter to them.
They did not matter. Not to this.
And so, I waited to act.
The Sundering continued.
Nothanganathor broke the silence after a long while, asking , "Will you wait here for when I need you to open the way back into Darkness?" He looked up to . "If you stay here, I promise I will put you back, but only after I have trimd away the parts of you I do not want. The horrible parts."
"What is Light without the Dark, Nothanganathor? To say it another way, if you turn up the light and turn down the dark, then the shadows you have made beco the new Dark. That is how it works. There is always a Darkness, no matter what else exists out there."
"… If I promise to think on this, will you wait here?"
"I will wait until forgiveness cos for you, and no longer."
And speaking of forgiveness...
Erick thrashed within , his tiny Dark Mark and all the other ones he touched impelling to act, when Erick wanted to act. It seed like a good idea to agree to his request, considering what Erick knew to be true about the future.
I lifted my hand from the chains and reached outward, into the swirling ocean, targeting the power that a fragnt of myself had laid down naught but monts ago, though it had probably been a few hundred years.
White Lightning lanced from my grip, wide as a world. It was More than Benevolence, and yet it was Utmost Benevolence at its core.
But to all others, except for the color, it looked like Malevolence.
White Primal Lightning scattered across Our Painted Cosmology, centered on Veird.
At Erick's behest, everyone who saw the White Primal Lightning was spared from the Red.
Nothanganathor was stunned that I could do that.
I smiled, saying, "A trifle gift of possibility for you to think about in the coming age, my distant son. May you find peace within whatever enlightennt cos. May you show—"
Nothanganathor was already screaming in outrage, flickering power this way and that as he roared, "How can you move?! You shouldn't be able to move!"
The Red Chains tripled and quintupled around my trapped form, and indeed, I could not move anymore. I did not need to. I had done what needed to be done.
I was above gloating, too.
Erick almost gloated anyway.
Ten billion other dead Wizards almost gloated, too.
I quieted those parts of myself.
They would have their say later. Now was not the ti for them to exist.
… Maybe I wanted to gloat too, though.
"Ahem," I intoned. "I was not done talking. Anyway. May you show us all the destruction and creation and paradoxes you create on Veird, and—"
"VEIRD! That fucking place! Of course that's where you centered this… damnable… He has a daughter there, doesn't he. Yes. And Koyabez..." He mumbled murderous insults as he played at being a demiurge with his stolen Sign of Power, checking on what I had done. I did not feel like finishing my earlier words this ti. Soon enough he confird what I had done. He shook his head, muttering, "I will kill Veird inside Infinity. It will not last long."
"No you won't."
Nothanganathor tensed further. He had the sense to not fight on this, as he said, "Then I will beco the Arbiter of what remains of the Painted Cosmology."
"Do what you will. Now show Veird."
Nothanganathor studied for a mont, trying to gain edges where no edges existed. Eventually, he asked, "If I show you what is happening, will you agree to restore the Painted Cosmology how I desire, when I beco God of Magic?"
I stared at my horribly misguided child. "That's not how this works, Nothanganathor. Now show Veird in your Infinite Cosmology. Show your asure."
Nothanganathor was slow about following my orders, but he eventually decided to show Veird.
It was a good choice on his part.
- - - -
The Sundering finished.
The Sundering never finished at all.
- - - -
I watched them sacrifice my Goddess of Knowledge to make what remained of Veird into a world, because Nothanganathor made it happen that way, working at his Sign of Power the whole ti, splitting Infinity how he desired, for he was the Arbiter of Veird.
I said nothing.
I watched.
Not too long later, I watched Idyrvamikor die to his brother and his grandfather. All the while Nothanganathor worked at his Sign of Power, creating the Dragon Curse. He was trying to recoup the loss of his plan to unify all peoples of Veird into one, easily controllable population. If he couldn't control everyone then he was fine with getting rid of the big players, the dragons.
"Damned Idyrvamikor. That avatar has been buggy all this while. Good riddance."
For the first ti in 25 years, I spoke, "Perhaps dragons ought not be as strong as they are in the new Painted Cosmology."
Nothanganathor startled. It was as though he had forgotten I could speak. "They're not that strong."
anwhile, I worked magic upon the Dragon Curse.
My subterfuge against the Dragon Curse went unnoticed.
Nothanganathor ignored and went back to work. The Rage Wars of the Orcols were on, and the Dragon Curse seed to be working exactly as he had desired it to work, removing all of the major sources of power from Veird, allowing Nothanganathor even more solitary control over the population. The Curse settled into Kirginatharp and it would remain there for the next however-long.
I would be using that Dragon Curse myself, later.
I spoke many more tis over the centuries, much to Nothanganathor's displeasure.
"Perhaps Shades ought to be more beneficial."
"Perhaps gods ought to be weaker, except where they are strong."
"Perhaps so magic shouldn't exist."
"Perhaps accretion should be easier, and harder at the sa ti."
"Perhaps—"
Nothanganathor roared, "I know what you're doing! You're throwing out Authority in order to escape your cage!"
"I am in this cage because I desire to be in this cage while I feel like being in this cage. Please attempt to strangle down further. See what that gets you."
Nothanganathor did not interrupt my musings from then on.
I threw out so fun musings, just because I could.
"Perhaps Elental Dragon should make you smaller."
Nothanganathor glanced up at .
I smirked.
- - - -
Erick appeared on Veird, and I watched.
A lot of things happened, all of which were uniquely painful for for Erick was my anchor for this new life of mine. Mostly, I did not watch. Sotis I helped where I felt like it.
Soon enough, Debby popped into the Sign of Power.
I instantly said, "I want that one. Give her to ."
Nothanganathor narrowed his eyes at . "Will you agree to my terms of becoming my fodder for the new Painted Cosmology?"
"No. Give her to anyway."
"… No."
He said no, and yet, Debby locked into a crystal of Red, hovering unconscious in front of , instead of drowning into a different part of the Red Chain ocean. She was far away, but close enough.
Nothanganathor asked, "Why do you want her?"
"She was a Champion of the Dark, briefly. She is mine by right of Everything."
"She was not a real Champion and you have never asked for any of the other Champions."
"You never took the other Champions so deeply. But you are correct. I should ask for more. I want every piece of Erick's life you are dismantling."
"No. I need them for leverage in the future, in case I need to do more damage to him."
"Set them where I can see them."
Nothanganathor was slow on the uptake, so I broke a few of my chains.
He doubled up the chains yet again but he acquiesced to my request before I broke them again.
And so, I gained a collection of people that mattered to the tiniest, tiniest piece of , frozen in Red and stacked to the side. It kept the Erick part of alive and well. It kept the plan going. Nothanganathor suspected sothing was up; that I was influencing Veird against him even though I was 'so very well chained'. He never found any influences in that direction, though, because of course he didn't. I wasn't influencing the world against him at all.
Not currently.
He was checking for influence against him in the current era, and for doing current actions, so of course he never found anything.
He did not think to check on at the mont of his own Wizardly ascent, way back, 20,000 years ago, and spread across countless different perspectives.
And I never tried to stop what was happening in the here and now, for I had done enough long, long ago.
A plan made over 10,000 years was easily unraveled when a plan began twice that long ago.
Really, though, the bigger plan had begun at the start of Our Painted Cosmology, back in the very creation of it all, and in my joining of the Dark. Nothanganathor didn't recognize the 20,000 years plan, but he certainly knew of the truly ancient plan, which is why he was so wary of .
He was right to be wary.
For those that truly knew of , of Xoat, they had likely heard of through my family, which still existed out there, which killed everyone that tried to put back together. They knew my wishes to remain in the Dark. They knew that if I ever ca back together I was going to be quite a handful.
Nothanganathor was very right to be wary.
- - - -
I beca more Erick in the coming years, when versions of him began Ascending to True Wizard, and Nothanganathor began catching them in his Wizard trap, to eat them. I easily accepted those fragnts of myself, into myself.
Nothanganathor spoke to at around 10,000 dead Ericks, "He's your plot against , isn't he."
"He is your True Opposite in every way, so it is right for you to be wary. But I did not create him. I am rely here, observing." I looked upon the wayward child-of-my-soul. "Erick's trial will be the lathe that makes you a God of Magic, in whatever form that might take."
Nothanganathor turned away from and focused on the Ascending Ericks, mumbling, "For the greatness of all, and especially ."
I watched Erick reach Margleknot.
I saw him co back.
I saw the battles, and the fish-trick kick to Earth, and the return.
And then I saw ten million side realities, captured in Red crystal and floating on the edges of the Red Ocean, that had floated out there for a long while, discharged out of the Sign of Power, like the shedding of great weights, to fall upon Fenrir. Civilizations frozen in ti began to unfreeze and lay across the new land and I watched billions die, again, both in the initial fall and the apocalypses that followed as people found themselves set down in environnts completely alien to them.
It was tiring to see so much pain.
I do not like pain.
But...
Soon.
Soon, I would not need to witness anything like this, hopefully ever again, but more realistically for just a long while.
I would return to my myriad, smaller lives.
I would fall into the Dark again.
My wonderful Dark.
I missed him, so.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
- - - -
Erick scread as oppression crushed him from every angle and I felt a phantom recollection of that pain. Erick felt no up, or down, or light, or dark, and I rembered that feeling.
All was Red.
Nothanganathor had moved out of his Sign of Power to deal with Erick directly, and since I had never tried to break out, now was the perfect ti for my own plans.
I attempted to move against my Red chains, upon the pillar holding steady in Nothanganathor's Sign of Power. I moved... Uh. Hmm. I could not move. Apparently, I had misstepped sowhere, because they were stronger than I thought they were. I should have been able to break them. And now that I moved against them so much, ah, yes, alarms in the Chains; an automatic tightening system. When had those been added?
Hmm.
"… Oh bother."
And then Mixixofatat stepped into the Sign of Power, like the wishmaster that he was.
Ah!
That was right, wasn't it.
I had requested a Wish from him when I was Erick. Ah. Yes.
Of course.
Mixixofatat bowed, as was customary. "I greet you, Demiurge Prince Xoat. A Wish has been crafted and will now be implented. If, in your Benevolence, you find my Wish satisfactory, then I pray that I find my End as good as you found yours."
Mixixofatat loosened my chains while my captor was busy.
The Wishmaster departed without another word, and I was free.
I would have liked to think that I could have done that myself, but that would have alerted Nothanganathor, or sothing similarly unwelco. He had done a lot to those chains, not the least of which was using chains that were crafted from mythologies across many universes.
But a good Wish, fully expended, was sufficient to break them without breaking them.
I stepped out of the chains, and the chains whipped back to the pillar and held there.
Nothanganathor carved deeper into Erick, taunting, "The only reward for good work is more work, so beco the ultimate workhorse for the Dark, Erick."
anwhile, I stood before the Sign of Power, poised to take it for myself.
Nothanganathor released a pulse of Red that annihilated every Valkyrie within half of the solar system and obliterated half of Erick's body.
Inside the Sign of Power, those Valkyries joined the Red Ocean that swirled around the center, where I stood in the maelstrom.
Erick knew pain.
I watched Erick's first painful real death right alongside a satisfied Nothanganathor.
And then I, and my rapidly-becoming-unhappy host, watched as Erick's death beca sothing transformative, instead of rely obliterative. Erick twisted Red into his body, accepting it for what it was; an expression of hatred for an unjust universe.
I rembered how I, as Erick, had felt in that death, oh so long ago. In that mont, Erick hadn't seen Nothanganathor as his enemy. Not really. Erick had no real enemies; only people he hadn't turned better by his presence yet. In that way, he and I were alike.
Erick truly was the inheritor of my soul, but he likely didn't see it that way, because how could he? I was all powerful, and he was , and I did not want to be all-powerful either. But I was all powerful, most of the ti. And so, the rest of Erick's plan flowed to fruition, through .
I grabbed the Sign of Power, claiming it and all its attendant treasures as my own by right of primacy.
Nothanganathor realized what had happened inside of him a mont too late, screaming out his own disapproval into the uncaring void.
I consud Nothanganathor completely.
And then I had an internal debate.
- - - -
Erick was lost in the Dark. Everything was black and twisted and screaming and ten trillion people talking all at once. But it was also comfortable. It was warm.
Sotis the Dark was understandable.
Erick watched his arm lift and send out White Lightning into the Old Cosmology, and he knew that everyone that saw it had the chance to live. It was the only reason that Veird had survived at all. That small act made his heart flutter, his breath calm, and in that mont, he realized he had a heart and breath. The next mont, the Dark was back and Erick forgot his body and his purposes in life.
Occasionally he saw people that he cared about appear in Red crystals, sitting outside of himself, and then the Dark flowed back together—
Light.
Burning, revealing, creating.
The ground appeared. The Dark pulled back like ten trillion black arms and legs and fingers and mouths and eyes retreating, to give space to the eting of the minds happening right here, and right now.
Erick stood upon a white platform in the dark.
Nothanganathor, as a person, stood on the platform with him, a simple ten ters over there.
Everywhere else was dark claws and hands and arms and tentacles, reaching, twisting, folding upon one another, but staying outside of this direct space—
And then there was a boy who was a girl who was a demiurge.
He appeared, stepping out of black limbs like he was simply stepping out of a curtain of veils. Those limbs were ravenous and raging everywhere except for around the boy. Around him, they were soft, and gentle, and they wrapped him in veils of black.
The boy took primacy in the space, and spoke softly, "Hello, my distant selves, who claid my power and made it their own."
Nothanganathor launched off of the ground like a mortal, moving with a rage in his eyes as he attacked the child—
Nothanganathor was pulped by ten trillion grabbing Dark tendrils.
Red sprayed everywhere as Nothanganathor died.
The child said, "I have wanted to do that for a long ti. I think I get that from you, Erick, and from everyone else he killed in his Sundering. It was quite rude of him to do all that."
The child blinked at the red gore covering the platform, and Nothanganathor reassembled. The man fell onto his ass and he stayed there, bewildered.
The child exploded him again, and then put him back together. Again, and again.
Each tearing took a year and a day to complete.
Each assembly took another year.
But for Erick, every death and recreation happened in a flashing instant again and again, as the child tore Nothanganathor apart a few more tis.
Nothanganathor reappeared in blinks, crying out for rcy each ti.
"No—"
"Sto—"
"Ple—!"
"I beg—!"
The child kept killing him. "Oh yes. You need to be the God of Magic to fulfill so Fate, don't you? Here you go."
Nothanganathor was the God of Magic, just like that. Wrapped in Black and radiant as a sun—
The child killed him again, taking back the Darkness that he had given out.
Nothanganathor died many more tis.
The unrepentant killer of a universe started crying—
"Stop," Erick said, softly.
The child smiled at Erick, and Nothanganathor ca back together. This ti Nothanganathor did not perish. He simply sat there, bloodless and waiting for more pain. The guy was terrified. Erick saw the hurt in Nothanganathor's eyes as the man recovered from his years of dying, and the torture of having his power given and then taken away.
Nothanganathor recovered fast.
Too fast.
In a terrible sort of way, Erick saw the hate and the plotting in Nothanganathor's eyes, and he knew that Nothanganathor would never stop hurting others to put himself back on top. Erick had known for a long ti that Nothanganathor would never stop...
"And yet," the child said, continuing Erick's thoughts for him, for the child had been him until recently. "You still call for peace and love and forgiveness of one's enemies. Even enemies who will never stop." He smiled a little bit. "Do you know who I am, Erick?"
"I'm pretty sure, yeah. The First Wizard."
"I'm just Xoat. Or The Prince. Or Erick, if you want to get really recursive about it."
"I was you," Erick said, wondering how that worked.
"I was you," Xoat said, giggling softly, and not wondering about anything, for he was beyond that mortal confusion.
Nothanganathor opened his mouth—
Nothanganathor exploded into red gore that ca right back together. Nothanganathor did not try to speak again.
Xoat ignored Nothanganathor and said to Erick, "I will tell you a tale. No one else will tell you this tale except my parents and my sister, but they'll tell it wrong, depending on who they are at the mont. I've told them what I want to be many tis, but they never really believed , for why would the Most Living among them all want to beco Not That? I've given my reasons enough, though, and you can probably figure out the unsaid parts.
"I wished to be lesser so that I could be more.
"I beca a universe with my best friend the Dark.
"We created Our Painted Cosmology together."
Xoat lifted up a hand and a big tendril of Black twisted out of the wall of the sa, coiling around Xoat's arm and his waist, spreading ink everywhere. Xoat giggled and let go and the Black pulled away, though the ink stains remained, becoming more of a dress; more flowing veils upon Xoat's childlike body.
"We're really good friends. Not sure if you caught that when I was you.
"Anyway.
"This Sundering has happened 3 tis before.
"The first 3 were all rather fast events.
"In the very first version of Our Painted Cosmology I put myself into my paintings and my sister needed help to make her own universe, to feel like she was involved, so I let her take my painting and put it into the Darkness. This was when the Dark tore apart to say hello.
"I wanted this.
"You might too if you ever live ten trillion years and you want to do sothing new. I didn't want a mory death, so I opted for a sundering. Sundering didn't use to an the uncreation of a universe, you know. But I suppose it ans its exact opposite these days, which is fine.
"You can do the sa to yourself if you ever want. Just jump into the nearest soul blender of your choice and whatever happens, happens. I chose the Dark, but there are others out there.
"Anyway, there was the First Cosmology. That lasted about a thousand years and it wasn't great, because I did it wrong that ti, and Mom and Dad and Sister were trying to put back together, to save . They un-Sundered .
"I jumped into the Dark again myself, the next ti. That seed to make a better universe; actively choosing it instead of letting it be done to by an unwitting accomplice.
"Attempt 2 went better, but was still a failure. Shadow and the others put back together because they still couldn't let go, and then I went and tried a third ti.
"Attempt 3 worked out very well. That is what beca Our Painted Cosmology. The one you know about, and the one that you witnessed through the mories of . That ti my family helped in every way they could, and so, the Third Cosmology lasted for a few million years, or sothing like that.
"And now, here we are, in the birthing of Attempt 4." Xoat said, "I care very much that this is done as correctly as possible, Erick, so you will be the tool I use to carve myself asunder.
"Beco my God of Magic."
Nothanganathor made the tiniest noise of despair.
That noise earned him another obliteration and reconstitution.
Erick had a lot of thoughts that boiled down fast.
Erick asked, "What if I don't want it?"
"Then I make a God out of Nothanganathor and parts of you." Xoat said, "The person I create will be the perfect Forever King, using Benevolence and Malevolence in proper asure. He will mostly be made out of you. Maybe I just take all of you right now and use you whole-cloth, with no adjustnts at all. You already took in those bits of Malevolence earlier that would make this version of you a great ruler." Xoat shrugged. "But you are a fae, and so whatever drops of yourself which remain after your Sundering will be reborn in the Benevolence you created." He added, "If you actively choose this, though, then Benevolence will beco the new flavor of the Dark. I imagine you or my family will put down Stone, Water, Fire, Air, Light, and Shadow again, with Benevolence as the 7th Primary Elent, along with Dark making 8 big Elents. Malevolence can go away."
Erick whispered, "… And if I fight you? Choose a third path?"
Erick wasn't sure about his chances against a demiurge, and especially not in this space, in this wherever/whatever/whenever.
Xoat easily said, "I'm not going to force you into anything, Erick, and I certainly won't fight you. You will win any confrontation between us. I would be an easy person for you to kill." Xoat said, "But then I would co back, because I am very, very good at coming back. That's why I have to do all these machinations in order to actually die." He shrugged. "After I ca back, I would simply ignore you and do so adjustnts to Nothanganathor and give him the whole crown. Honestly, that would be the easiest thing to do. You've already ascended to Benevolence and made your own power. He's mostly Dark in his soul. He never managed to beco a fae, in truth. You could go die in the Dark if you wanted, and make a whole universe out of just yourself, though he likely wouldn't want you, since you haven't seen enough or been big enough to make sense of everything that is the Dark."
Erick realized sothing. "I was never there for all that ti in the Old Cosmology. It was you, the whole ti. I never traveled into the past. I just accepted Nothanganathor's existence into myself, and you retroactively beca , and I gained your mories."
Xoat nodded. "Like a rembrance of the past, but different; I rembered myself a little differently through the lens of 'you'." He shrugged. "That's just a mortal's way of interpreting events, though. You could easily decide that you set up a plan 20,000 years in the making and you followed through with that plan, and you would still be correct. Wizard Wars are like that," Erick said, alongside Xoat.
The mont separated.
Xoat smiled, chuckling.
Erick felt adrift. He had been speaking with Xoat, as Xoat, and then the mont had ended. But he knew a lot more about himself in that mont. He felt calm.
Nothanganathor almost said sothing—
Both Erick and Xoat obliterated Nothanganathor at the sa ti.
Both of them brought him back at the sa ti, too.
Erick said to Xoat, "Sorry you woke up."
"I'll be back asleep soon enough. You really don't want to be a god?"
"How about... Instead of the God of Magic being the main god in your universe, you make a God of Benevolence the head god? As long as I can still be myself, I'll beco that god." Erick added, "But honestly, I would like to not be that powerful. I like being . I don't even like ti walking that much, except it's a power that was necessary in so many different ways. I'll just live a normal, one-directional life… But that's probably impossible, isn't it."
"Many things are possible for the gods we crown, in the universe we leave behind." Xoat smiled. "We don't like being that powerful either, Erick. We get it. That's why we don't stick around in the Dark like that Fractal Fairy does in her own universe. She's young, though, so that's normal for her. I'm simply too old for this shit anymore… And I like the idea of a God of Anti-Sundering being in charge. I like that. But it's not enough for you. It's not enough to make a true Mantle. You need a source of actual power."
A mont passed.
Erick had an idea.
From the look of it, Xoat might have had the sa idea.
Erick voiced, "We need to do sothing with that Dragon Curse we usurped, and with the Malevolence that we absorbed when we accepted Nothanganathor's rage into ourselves. How about we twist the Dragon Curse away from Dragons, and simply make it a multitargetable power, able to be used against the users of any Elent we disapprove? For a start, we would target Malevolence, and make all the users of that power fight others, thus diminishing the power of that magic in this and every other universe. It would be a bloodbath of universal proportion, in beautiful accordance with what Malevolence has already done, and Malevolence would kill itself," Xoat said.
Erick paused.
… Had Erick said that?
Or had Xoat?
Xoat nodded. "I like that idea."
Erick was suddenly unsure. "That would kill… So many people would die. The people of Margleknot who use Malevolence to control corruption alone… It's too many people. And the collateral damage! Most users aren't that bad! Most—"
"Aren't that bad?" Xoat laughed, and it was not a kind laugh. "Malevolence woke up, Erick, and every single Red user is another potential bomb waiting to Sunder this universe, or any other. I saw what Nothanganathor did out there with his copies of people. You saw what he did, too. He stole faces and put bombs into people and he could do it again. Anyone with a proper Infinite Sign of Power and too much cleverness could do the sa."
He was right about that.
Still, though, Erick didn't want to damn so many people to murdering those they knew…
"There has to be another way," Erick said.
"Co up with one," Xoat said. "It doesn't even have to be a particularly good answer, but it does have to be one that solves the problem."
Erick thought.
Erick ca up with an answer.
Erick declared, "I accept the Malevolence I took from my True Opposite and the Dragon Curse from the sa source, and I twist them into Benevolence. What once caused all Dragons to turn against each other so that none may rise, now becos a Decree of Unwelco, which isn't dragon-aligned at all. The first target is Malevolence Itself. Let the powers deed Unwelco by the God of Benevolence simply start failing, turned in upon themselves, to beco lesser in that turning. People will fight, but not with that which is Unwelco. Let a Benevolent Erasure be the Fate decreed against all Unwelco strength," Xoat intoned.
Erick felt the world Open.
Erick felt the attention of the Dark before he got its true attention.
Beyond the white platform lay the True Dark, filled with tendrils of life and death alike. Black skeletal hands, razors of thread, mouths full of teeth, talons and tal, tentacles with hooks, all caressed Xoat's shoulders and arms, and their touch was soft. They held Xoat's hand now and then, like a friend checking up on a friend.
When the Dark had co for Nothanganathor it tore him apart as many as a thousand tis or more, before putting him back together exactly as he had been. The man hadn't had ti to scream, but he had ti to feel every injury for a year before the breaking was actually done. Erick imagined that reconstruction was just as painful.
Which was probably the point.
Xoat had wanted Nothanganathor to feel the pain of coming back together, to know what he had done in the Sundering
And now the Darkness ca for Erick.
The Black Dark shifted, eyes and maws moving, repositioning, focus changing. Eyelids moved into view, lifting and opening and shining Absolute Black upon Erick. There was no light in those eyes at all. The only light here was because of Xoat.
The Dark reached for Erick in ten million ways; questioning, claiming.
Erick reached for The Dark; accepting, changing.
Infinity broke and ca back together.
Erick Beca.
- - - -
"Not a bad way to start off your first Pri Godhood, my carving knife," I said, as I watched Erick accept his Mantle.
This was acceptable.
Erick's ascension was rather flashy due to the nature of restructuring a lot of things in the background and his Mantle was full of holes, for now, but Erick would be filling those holes himself in the coming however-long.
Erick moved on, vanishing. Ascending.
Since he had ti magics I assud he would co back to this mont in ti, or sowhere close by, which was good. I wouldn't have to wait overlong for my carving knife to hone himself.
I felt good about this. Really good.
Ahhh…
Yes.
This was the right choice.
With gentle fondness, I looked up to the Dark, and smiled, asking, "What should we do with Nothanganathor?"
As always, and in a way I couldn't quite understand while I was just one person, the Dark gave too many answers. A claw snapped an arm off. An eye closed. A tal arm wrapped into a fleshy arm and puppeted that flesh. They were all adequate answers. Any would suffice, so I picked the one I liked.
I asked Nothanganathor, "Did you like being the God of Magic for a ti?"
Nothanganathor glared hatred. This ti I did not interrupt him as he yelled, "Give it back! I won the battle!"
He was surprised that he was able to speak at all, but once he found he could, he kept talking.
I allowed it.
"The Dark should give the crown! By ancient rite I deserve it! I tricked my way into power, and have thus earned that power. I had won!"
"Yup. You did win. I crowned you. And then I killed you! Isn't a universe built upon the whims of the powerful just the best!" I said smiling, sarcastic.
Nothanganathor was speechless.
I added, "That last part was sarcasm, by the way. Everything else was truly told."
Nothanganathor pleaded, "I would give you everything you ever wanted so that I could make the Painted Cosmology and all other places better through my actions. You saw my plans. Erick is barely a hundred years old! He's too young to be a Pri God!"
Ah, the problem of age.
Oftentis being older doesn't make one smarter at all. It just makes one more entrenched.
I did not respond to Nothanganthor's words. Instead, I used the Sign of Power I had taken from Nothanganathor and pulled Ara out of containnt, into this transitional space. The woman, Nothanganathor's love, was little more than painted colors and shaped clouds of mory, held together by nothing more than Elental Dream and Love.
She started disintegrating imdiately.
Nothanganathor panicked just as fast, reaching, yelling, "Don't—!"
I solidified Ara. "She's not going to break while I am here."
Nothanganathor cald.
I waited.
He asked, "What do you want?"
"I will recreate your wife, Ara. You two will et for a mont. And then you both die, Sundered. That is the deal I am offering you. That is your reward for all your efforts at power. Everything else will be removed. All that will remain of your entire story is how much you loved what could have been, and that you chose to pursue what you loved wrongly."
Nothanganathor stared at his wife.
A long, long ti passed, and no ti passed at all. Nothanganathor tried to escape many tis. He failed. He scread. He begged. He pleaded. He spoke of his deeds, both terrible and beautiful. He was an emperor, a creator, a pioneer. He was a unifier of universes. He was a speaker between realities. He was ancient and powerful. And yet, none of that mattered. Not here. Not at his End.
Perhaps, in so ways, he grew as a person as he explained who he was. He had ascended to True Wizard not too long ago, solidifying himself as himself. Now, he was now ripping at himself to find out who he Simply Was. But as he kept tearing, he found himself lesser and lesser. The foundation was rotten, built upon lies and the forcing of power, and in removing the rotten boards, Nothanganathor discovered he Simply Wasn't.
Perhaps, if he kept going, he would have found sothing acceptable about himself at his core. There was a lot there.
So of it was good.
But his voice was hoarse as he said, "I wasn't good enough, was I?"
"Aside from the Sundering, you would have made a fantastic God of Magic. You plotted out a major coup against your mother and gave yourself the opportunity to succeed, where before you had nothing. You even allowed lemizargo to have a fair fight against you, because you knew if you didn't, then you never would have been worthy of the Mantle. Even today, with what you did against Erick, you followed that sa pattern, crafting soone worthy of fighting against you, because you knew if you didn't, then you never would have been accepted by the Dark. Even the Sundering itself was forgivable, in the grand sense that nothing matters at all except what people make matter," I said, "But the Sundering was not forgivable because of your thefts. Just like lemizargo did when he stole your Dark Mark at the end of that tournant and cursed you to Obscurity, you stole the Marks of an entire universe instead of allowing them to fade into the Dark, as is our right. No one is allowed to strip the chance to ascend from anyone else, Nothanganathor. No one."
Nothanganathor was silent, and then he asked, "How else could I have won, if not for that?"
"Build up Erick and then let him have it, and ask him for forgiveness. He even offered it to you. That would have worked, and you were very close to that solution. I'm sure I could co up with a few other ways if I cared to think about them."
Another tiless mont passed as Nothanganathor contemplated.
Nothanganathor asked, "Would he have actually forgiven ? Would I have ascended to God of Magic afterward? Since he refrained from taking up that Mantle?"
"In a theoretical world, yeah. That could have happened. lemizargo certainly isn't the God of Magic anymore. It was probably wrong to put so much power into that Mantle, anyway, so it wouldn't have been the Mantle you wanted. Erick will probably be changing that Mantle."
"… So forgiveness wins out, in the end."
"Of a sort, yes. Erick and I are rather aligned on that particular position. You and I are also aligned on your position. Sotis I'm more like him, and sotis I'm like you. This ti, I'm more like him."
Silence.
Eventually Nothanganathor looked to his pastel-painted wife, Ara, and softly said, "I wish to have Ara back, and then let her go on wherever she can."
I nodded.
Nothanganathor watched, enthralled, as I painted Ara back to life with my own flesh. It did not take long. I simply had to fill in the parts that were missing with everything that she had been, and who she could beco. Who was Ara? She was a witch, a mother, an avenger, a poisoner, a world leader, a wife, dead and never-buried and made Never Was, and then, she was alive. She was Ara, Alive Again.
I was particularly happy with her brilliant red hair.
Ara stood on the white platform, looking around at everything, and then she looked at Nothanganathor.
Nothanganathor stared at her, like he was seeing his last sunrise.
"Nhatuan?" Ara asked quietly, "What is going on?"
Nothanganathor smiled softly, painfully. "I succeeded, and then I failed in every way possible. When you get out of here, tell everyone that you always hated and that you never willingly took part in anything I wanted. Make up all the lies you can, and please survive."
Ara stilled, breathing softly. She was a smart one. She did not know everything, but she figured out enough, and fast. She declared, "No. I'm following you. Wherever you go we go together, even if it's to the End."
Nothanganathor sobbed once. "Please survive, Ara. You don't—"
Ara rushed to him, taking his hands into hers and then holding around his waist, and Nothanganathor held her in turn. She pressed herself against her husband's body, holding them together. Tears flowed freely and emotions painted the Dark all around.
Softly, Ara said, "There's no surviving without you."
"To our End, then," Nothanganathor whispered.
"To our End."
The light faded except around them, and then, they were alone.
They did not notice as I tore them apart at the edges.
It was painless.
They vanished, their last monts spent looking at each other, their last emotions joining as one, and then becoming mana that flowed away into the Dark.
Perhaps a less kind demiurge would have caused them more pain for what they had done, both to and to others, but pain was for life, and life was barred to them, now. Their tis of struggles were over.
I preferred peaceful ends to horrific ones.
- - - -
Never-alone among the Dark, I looked up at my best friend, my inspiration and my love, and said, "Mother, Father, and Sister are probably all worried about . Let's go see how they're getting on in this new universe. My Carving Knife will reunite us, soon enough."
The Dark coiled around , and we went.
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