A/N: This chapter contains what is arguably Samuel Salvatore's second greatest feat for now; holding quadrillions of universes in his hands. Alpheus the World Forger also appears and helps him. Also, I'm thinking about changing Sam's personality a bit, from being mostly chill and easy-going to a more stern, assertive, and God-like demeanor. Comment if you think I should change his personality a bit because it doesn't feel right for an entity as powerful as him to be so low. Also, I'm surprised how many people are reading this, considering it is my first fanfiction.
He took Anna's corpse with him, shielding both her and his vessel with a forcefield to keep them both safe in the vacuum of the dark matter multiverse. "Alpheus!" Sam's voice shattered the silence in this cold, lifeless realm. "Alpheus!"
Alpheus was the name of the entity in charge of running and watching over this multiverse. It was his duty to create form from idea through the use of his hammer. Every thought, every idea, every possibility is brought to life through the strikes of his hammer.
The multiverse was a delicate piece of machinery, with balance being the key to its stability. When the last living thing dies, the universe comes to a close, and Death will lock the universe behind him before leaving the realm forever.
Meanwhile, Alpheus performs the polar opposite: after a universe is "claimed" by Death, an entity of his creation, the dragon Barbatos destroys them and returns their energies to the World Forge where it is reshaped into new universes.
Every moment of every day, this cycle continues relentlessly. Each second, countless empty universes are brought to a close, and countless more are brought into being. When Death refused his duty, the World Forge ran cold, new universes stopped rising into the Orrery of Worlds, and dead ones ceased to be destroyed.
He knew calling Alpheus the World Forger for anything was a mistake, especially with himself weak like this. Alpheus, just like his brothers, Mar Novu and Mobius, were guardians of the multiverse, intent on maintaining the balance and serving their functions.
After his little stunt all those years ago, he would surely be on the very top of the Monitors' 'most wanted' list.
As the Forger of Worlds, Alpheus' domain lay in a place deep in the dark beneath the multiverse known as The Forge. Every strike from his massive hammer brought a new universe to life, and any universe that came out malformed was consumed by the dragon, Barbatos, returning their material to the Forge.
However, if he had to choose between a truce with The Monitors or being devoured by The Ultimator, he would choose the Monitors any day.
Spreading his wings, he flew across the dark matter realm, searching desperately for any sign of Alpheus. Bonnie and her mother were probably long dead, along with the rest of that universe, he thought to himself. It wouldn't take long for The Ultimator to consume everything in his home universe.
"Lord Salvatore!" A voice boomed behind him.
CLANK! The sound of hammer striking metal sounded, despite the vacuum, followed by an eruption of energy around him. Immediately, a planet, almost exactly the same as his home Earth, materialized under his feet, causing him to crash down to the ground due to the sudden change in gravity.
The World Forger had just brought a universe into being around him.
"Entering my realm without as much as a knock! Such elegant guest etiquette!" A deep baritone voice spoke up behind him.
Behind him stood none other than Alpheus the World Forger, his massive hammer in hand. Side by side, the monitor towered over Sam, standing at just under 20 feet with an equally large hammer slung over his shoulder.
Alpheus wore a pair of bulky shorts forged from pink celestial metal and nothing else from the waist up. He also wore a pair of golden earrings on his elf-shaped ears and a thick, golden metal necklace around his neck.
Thick muscles bulged under his dark blue skin, and the set of glowing, bumblebee yellow eyes shone through even the darkest nights.
(Just Google it. World Forger is a DC character and I'm sure you can find plenty of pictures of him. Fuck links.)
"You know how long it takes me to find a suitable vessel!" Sam retorted, "I do not want it ruined by the sudden bursts of energy inside your realm. But as you can tell, right now is not the time for social etiquette and manners!"
Alpheus tilted his enormous bald head curiously. "What do you mean?"
"I mean there's something coming!" Sam shouted up at Alpheus, "can't you sense it?"
Alpheus dropped the hammer onto the ground next to him. Instantly, the impact released a shockwave of power that ignited trillions of stars around them in the universe. He closed his eyes and concentrated, his brows locked in a frown.
Suddenly they fluttered open, revealing a pair of yellow pupils, dilating in fear. "The Ultimator..."
"Yeah! That's right!" Sam snapped, "The Ultimator is running astray in the positive matter multiverse, and it wants to eat me, so..." He had to pause for a moment to contain his thoughts before asking such an undignified question. "Can you help me?"
"Do you understand what you have done?!" Alpheus roared angrily, his voice sending tremors through the entire dark multiverse, "by releasing The Ultimator in this multiverse, you have doomed us all!"
Sam rolled his eyes. "It wasn't ME, okay? It was some witch bitch whom I made the grave mistake of handing her a piece of my power, leading to the creation of vampires...yada yada yada...now she used that power to release The Ultimator."
Without a second thought, Alpheus picked up his hammer and waved it in Sam's face. "LEAVE. You will get out of my realm and you will get out of this multiverse, and you will take The Ultimator with you."
"Woah, comrade, where's the team spirit? Karl Marx would be disappointed in you..." Sam grumbled, "look, Alpheus. If The Ultimator consumes me, it absorbs my essence into itself, essentially giving it all of my power. If that happens, we're all fucked. In case you've forgotten, there is only one of me across every multiverse, so...yeah. Everyone's dead. Literally."
"This is your mess!" Alpheus roared, "had you just stuck to your duty, and kept the flow of life and death moving, Esther Mikaelson will never have gotten your power!"
"And where do you think SHE was created?" Sam retorted, "she and her universe were made in the World Forge! By your hand! Under YOUR hammer!"
"I have forged many universes, and each of them contained a variant of Esther Mikaelson! Not a single one of them released The Ultimator from its banishment EXCEPT the one you visited. Perhaps you should think before handing unimaginable power to a mortal!"
"Or YOU could think before bringing beings like her into existence!"
"Listen here, you little shit, I-"
"Shut up! Both of you!" A female voice screamed, "how is the blame game helping you solve ANYTHING?!"
Samuel Salvatore and Alpheus the World Forger stopped immediately and turned to stare at the young girl standing before them. "Will you two corrupt, communist politicians stop pushing the blame to each other and actually focus on the problem at hand?!" It was Anna's ghost, flickering before them.
Sam and Alpheus glared at each other for a brief moment before nodding reluctantly in agreement. "Salvatore." Alpheus began, "seeing as how you came to my realm for assistance, I assume you have a semi-applicable plan?"
"Plan? Yes. Semi-applicable...not quite." Sam replied, "follow me."
Waving his hand, he opened a portal in the dark multiverse and stepped through. "Well?" He gestured for Anna and Alpheus to follow. "Come on! We haven't got all day!"
The portal led them to the Crisis Anvil, the place deemed by Alpheus to be 'The Heart of The World Forge.' Every universe in the dark multiverse was forged by Alpheus in this place and stayed there until they can be deemed 'stable' or 'unstable'.
The Crisis Anvil had the appearance of a massive, black anvil, towering before them all at nearly 10 feet. It was surrounded by a large metal building, presumably to contain the released power after each universe is hammered into existence so it would not harm any nearby universes.
Outside the structure, floats quadrillions upon quadrillions black bubbles, each of them sparkling with stars and planets. Each little bubble was a universe forged by Alpheus.
"What is the meaning of this?" Alpheus demanded, "why do you take us to the Crisis Anvil?"
"To build a bomb." explained Sam, "as you remember, many eons ago, the Ultra-Monitor, the combined form of you and your brothers, was able to drive back and banish The Ultimator. Unfortunately, we do not have this luxury now-"
"And whose fault is that?" Alpheus demanded, "if my memory serves right, it was you who put Mar Novu out of commission. If the multiverse falls, that blood is on your hands, Salvatore!"
"Alright, shut up!" Anna snapped, "don't forget, common enemy! Focus!"
Sam smirked at Alpheus in an I-told-you look.
"You too, Salvatore!" Anna smacked him on the back of the head. "You two idiots can tear each other's throats out AFTER we save the multiverse."
Sam nodded timidly. "Understood." He raised his hand towards one of the windows on the Crisis Anvil Building and closed his eyes, concentrating on the universes outside. A bright white light shone from his palm, spreading out across the miniature multiverse outside.
Suddenly, the universes began to dissolve, transforming into streaks of starry black matter that coursed into the palm of his hand. Quickly, the matter began to gather, forming into a ball; a singular, extra-large universe was forming in his very hand.
"My masterpieces!" Screamed Alpheus, "Salvatore! What are you doing?!"
"I am collecting the necessary materials for you to forge a bomb." Sam replied calmly, "the power of the 5,040,028,230,393 universes surrounding this pocket dimension should suffice in weakening The Ultimator enough for us to finish it off. I need you to forge it all into a multiversal nuke."
"Those were eons worth of my work!" Alpheus wailed, "I demand justice!"
"Quit whining, Monitor!" Sam snarled, "your work would have been destroyed either way. At least this way, we have a chance of saving the majority of your creations. Done." All 5,040,028,230,393 universes that surrounded the Crisis Anvil have now been cast into one massive, hybrid universe which rested in Sam's hand. "Now it's your job to forge it."
A tear fell from Alpheus' eye at the sight of his masterpieces being smelted down.
"Alpheus, please..." Anna's soft voice whispered compassionately, "it's the only way. We'll repair your work when this is all over, right Sam? Sam..."
"If we survive." Sam replied, "The Ultimator embodies everything in this multiverse, including you and your realms. To destroy it would obliterate everything in the multiverse."
"Then what's the meaning of this?!" Alpheus bellowed, "if destroying The Ultimator means certain doom, then why make the bomb in the first place?! You destroyed all my masterpieces for nothing!"
"I did not!" Sam retorted, "a bomb is going to work, but only if someone else takes The Ultimator's position in the multiverse immediately after its demise." The massive, hybrid universe shrunk down to the size of a yoga ball that floated above his hand. "And that person has to be me."
"So this was all just a scheme for you to gain power?!" Alpheus roared, "you brought The Ultimator into OUR multiverse, destroyed quadrillions of my masterpieces, and unleashed the PLAGUE known as vampirism all for your own gain?!"
"No, I did not!" Sam roared back, "you think I need The Ultimator's pathetic power?! You think I care about you, your dirty little World Forge, or even this multiverse?! You are all as insignificant as a speck of dust to me!"
"Sam!" Anna jabbed him in the waist to keep him from turning their argument into a fight.
"And yet you let one pathetic little vampire push you around?" Alpheus retorted. "If we're all so 'insignificant' to you, why did take her body with you when fleeing from The Ultimator? Why is she permitted to scold you without instant annihilation?"
"You-" For once, Sam was out of counter-arguments. Why did he let Anna slap him? Why did he listen to her? Why did he save her body from The Ultimator, and leave Bonnie and her mother to fend for themselves?
"But that's a question for another day." Continued Alpheus, reaching down and taking the hybrid universe from Sam's hands. "The fate of this multiverse is in our hands."
Sam and Anna stepped back as Alpheus placed the universe on his anvil and brandished his hammer. "I require a more powerful forging tool." He observed the tool in his hands, "I shall forge it right now!"
A blinding flash of rainbow light erupted from his hands, engulfing the hammer completely. Sam instinctively threw himself in front of Anna, shielding her from the immense explosion of power that the World Forger released from the destruction of his hammer.
"Interesting..." Alpheus looked down on them from above as he let the shattered fragments of his hammer crumble onto the ground before him. "You value her soul greatly, whether you know it or not."
Ghost Anna looked at him questioningly and Sam turned away, his cheeks burning slightly. "Forger, just-forge, okay?"
"You seem embarrassed to let the girl know your true feelings," Alpheus continued to analyze Sam's behavior as streaks of energy flowed out of his hands, morphing itself into the abstract shape of a blacksmithing hammer. "Embarrassment usually stems from fear of rejection...what do you have to fear from her?"
The energy swirling around his hands condensed itself into a massive, star-filled blacksmith hammer that he held in his hands. "Salvatore. I do not get you. What do you see in her outside her physical beauty that would be of interest to you?"
Suddenly, he raised the hammer high above his head and brought it smashing down upon the hybrid universe. Immediately, an expulsion of power burst outwards from the impact. Sam, once again, covered Anna with his body, shielding her.
"See? This is what I mean." Alpheus smote the universe again, "you're protective of her, but what for? She's just another mortal!" When the monitor raised his hands to strike, the stars themselves dim. With each strike, immeasurable power, capable of destroying universes is released.
Each blow changed the fundamental structure of the universe; destabilization was key to building a bomb. First, the fabrics of reality must be hammered into non-existence, in turn, disintegrating every last speck of matter into pure energy.
Next came the process of containment. To keep the immense, destructive power of the universe from leaking out, a membrane must be forged around it, breaking only when it is punctured.
Although from the outside, it appeared as if Alpheus was just hammering the universe aimlessly, that was far from the truth. Every blow of the hammer reshaped reality to his will. The hammer was merely a conduit; a channel for his power.
While The World Forger hammered away, Sam used the time to process his emotions. Was this what love was? The feeling to want to protect, to save someone? But most importantly, did Anna feel the same way about him?
He looked over at the ghost standing next to him and then down at her corpse lying a few feet away. What should he do about this? Should he kill her completely as his duty demanded? Or should he return her to life?
The slow, constant sound of The World Forger hitting his hammer provided him with a beat to think along.
She was still as beautiful as the day they had a no-strings-attached hook-up, but what did she think of him? He has never obsessed over physical appearance before, he noted. He thought the vessel he was in looked hot but did she think the same?
Suddenly, the hammering stopped.
"Are you finished?" Sam walked up to the anvil to examine his work. It was still only halfway done. "Alpheus? Tired already?"
He had meant that as a tease. The monitors don't get tired; they were 6th-dimensional beings, fatigue wasn't even a concept to them. The World Forger had been hammering out universes for many eons without a moment's pause. However, when the massive hammer fell out of his hands, and his body jerked up straight, Sam knew something was wrong.
"Alpheus?" He approached the stiff monitor cautiously, "World Forger?" Carefully, he reached out to touch the giant just as it happened...