A/N: This is not the final chapter. It's just a name.
Taking her hand again, he continued to explain the cycle of life energies.
"I deliver lifeforce to you from The Source when you are born..." A flurry of energy emanated from their touch, swirling around them. Anna felt a comfortable heat flow into her hand, up her arm, and through her spirit. It was an euphoric feeling, better than a hot shower, better than the sex they had, even better drinking fresh blood straight from a vein.
"...and disperse it from your essence when you die." Finally, a blinding flash of white light engulfed them both and rendered everything around them completely invisible.
A second later, she woke up, gasping for air in Sam's arms, on the hard metal floor of the world forge where her body lay. "Sam..." she whispered hoarsely, "Sam...you saved me!" The whole experience felt like a dream. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him like there was no tomorrow.
He nodded, kissing her forehead silently. "As for you, Alpheus." He shot World Forger a glare. "I would appreciate it if you didn't take such a tone with me, especially when you ask a favor of me."
"Mr. Salvatore..." Alpheus looked at him, his eyes filled with tears. "My realm...my tools...my masterpieces...please. You have to give me something. The Ultimator trashed my realm because of you. You smelted down my work to fight The Ultimator. Death, I'm begging you."
Sam smiled up at Alpheus kindly. After his sex with Anna, a few favors for the World Forger were very much in order. "Anna, dear...I must do some reality-warping." he gently pried her arms off himself as he walked up to the fallen Crisis Anvil and the half-finished multiversal bomb.
"I will restore your realm and your masterpieces." He told him solemnly, "I prefer to pay back what I owe."
He picked up the bomb and examined it in his hands. In about half of the universes contained in it, the fabrics of reality have already been completely obliterated. That needed to be fixed first, before anything else, because without reality, matter cannot exist.
Then came separating the hybrid universe back into its many components. This part, although nearly impossible for 6th-dimensional beings like Alpheus, was a piece of cake with the new power he has usurped from The Ultimator.
The individual universes flew out of the hybrid in streaks of starry black matter, reforming into their original states. Stars continued to shine, planets reformed, and the order within the dark multiverse restored itself.
The 6th-dimensional reality around them, which was also managed horrifically due to the presence of a 10th-dimensional entity, was also repaired in a wave of his hand. Energy swirled in his hands, shaping itself into a blacksmith hammer.
"Lord Salvatore..." Alpheus looked down at the materializing hammer in Sam's hands, "what is that?"
"I destroyed your hammer didn't I?" He replied, "so here-" He tossed the hammer at Alpheus, willing it to grow up to a wieldable size for the giant monitor. "-consider it a little...compensation for my intrusion."
Alpheus stared down at the 14-foot long hammer that rested in his hands. "I believe it is an improvement to the one I destroyed during my fight with The Ultimator. Go on. Give it a try." Sam smiled happily. Fucking Anna had put him on an all-time high for the rest of that day.
The World Forger walked up to the fallen Crisis Anvil, gripped the edges of the giant slab of metal, and hoisted it back up. Readying the hammer before himself, he raised it high above his head and brought it crashing down upon the anvil-like he had been doing for billions of years.
CRASH! A shower of sparks burst from the impact, each spark birthing into its very own universe. In one strike from Alpheus the World Forger, billions of universes, all teeming with life, sprang into existence simultaneously.
"As you can see, your new hammer holds significantly more power than any tool or weapon you have held before." Continued Sam, "however, there is a cost. If you wish to keep that tool for yourself, I require something in return."
"What do you need?" Alpheus asked gruffly, taking a seat on the anvil and cradling his hammer in his arms protectively. The tool not only increased his chances of forging stable universes, but it also greatly amplified his power. It was a tool that he could only dream of.
"I need you to repair my universe." After The Ultimator's presence, his home universe, and the several million others close to it must have no doubt been shattered to smithereens due to the presence and power of a higher dimensional being. Sam didn't have the skill needed to seamlessly restore multiple universes to their original state, but Alpheus definitely did.
Alpheus looked deeply troubled by this request, almost like he was debating with himself whether to defy his function or accept the deal. "You know it is not in my function to do that." He sighed, "once a universe dies, it is destined to be returned to the forge. To do otherwise would be to defy the nature of this multiverse."
"Is that a yes or a no?" Sam asked threateningly, "one word."
"The Presence decreed that all those who defy their function will be punished severely. I assume you have heard about The Hand who refused to die once her function was complete? And I assume you remember where your previous act of defiance landed you?"
"Ah yes…" grumbled Sam, "that pesky little Hand who made that crazy little multiverse far far away...Perpetua, was it? Yeah...that was nasty. Are you going to repair my universe or not?!"
"I cannot!" Raising his new hammer, he stamped it hard on the floor in a tapping pattern, creating a surge of power with each strike. It was a sort of communication code. "Take the hammer back if you please. Defying my function is not a risk I am willing to take."
Immediately a dark shadow soared overhead, taking the shape of a massive bat-like creature as it encircled them, its glowing purple eyes clearly visible despite the altitude. Suddenly, the creature dropped out of the sky, colliding with the ground in an Earth-shattering crash landing. The impact caused tremors so powerful, it shook Anna off her feet.
Through the dust cloud, a pair of giant bat-like wings spanning almost 30 feet in diameter opened, revealing the body of a hooded giant almost a head taller than Alpheus himself. In addition to the wings, the creature had two grey-skinned and extremely muscular arms and two equally buff legs, shrouded in a kilt held up by metal chains.
(Google the name. He's a DC character, so plenty of pics.)
The pair of glowing purple eyes pierced through the dust alongside Alpheus' yellow ones, giving Anna an uneasy feeling. The Dragon Of The Forge, The Destroyer of Universes, Barbatos now stood before them, awaiting its master's orders.
"I would prefer it if you could be a bit more humble," said Sam dangerously. With a wave of his hand, the dust cleared, revealing Barbatos in full detail. His hands were boney and claw-like, and there was another pair of tiny claws on the ends of his great black wings which had purple wings running through them.
"Lord Salvatore!" Barbatos' voice was high, cold, and throaty, yet there was definitely a hint of fear and respect in his words. "What brings you to the Forge?"
Sam completely ignored the dragon, maintaining a threatening stare of dominance with Alpheus. "Is this the choice you make?"
"Yes!" Alpheus threw the hammer to the ground and turned to his dragon. "Barbatos. Clean up needed in the Orrery of Universes."
"Oh no, you don't…" Samuel Salvatore's eyes turned bright white as he levitated into the air. "I may not have expressed myself clearly back then, but your choices were not 'heal my universe' or 'destroy my universe'. Your choices were doing it on free will, or by force!"
A brilliant explosion of white energy exploded from his body, sending cracks through the 6th dimension. Alpheus and Barbatos shielded their eyes and faces as Sam unleashed a fraction of his true form, a power capable of cracking the foundation of reality just with its presence. The ground split beneath them, unleashing a heatwave of hellfire as a hell-mouth opened.
Anna clung on tightly to Sam's body, afraid that she even let go for a second, she would get wiped out of existence. She could feel that they were floating; there was nothing beneath her feet, and his height seemed to fluctuate occasionally. Even though she squeezed her eyes shut, she was still seeing white from his power.
However, as quickly as it all started, everything calmed down once again. The white light faded away, a thud marked his feet touching the ground, and immense shaking stopped. She daringly opened her eyes.
They were standing over a crack leading directly down to the Infernos of Perdition, and in Sam's hands, held two tiny figures, no more than seven inches tall. They were the two giants, Alpheus and Barbatos, who towered over them just mere seconds ago. She quickly climbed off his back and stepped aside out of slight embarrassment.
"Alpheus," Sam demanded the little blue Monitor calmly. "Today you will repair my universe." Tipping his other hand, he dumped the dragon, Barbatos, into Hell.
A tiny scream echoed through the air as Barbatos attempted to fly with his wings, only to find them downright ineffective. "There." snarled Sam, "I believe taking away alternate options should make your decision-making easier. You WILL take your new hammer, and you WILL fucking repair my universe!" He thrust the tiny Monitor on the ground and slammed the hell mouth shut with a hand wave.
A swirl black dark matter swirled around his body as Alpheus grew back to his normal height. He slowly walked over to his hammer in a defeated gait, picked it up, and slung it over his shoulder. "I understand, Lord Salvatore."
"Good." In a blur, Sam zoomed before him and ripped the hammer out of his hands, and thrust the handle clean through his chest without any apparent effort. "And let that serve as a warning-" Alpheus dropped to his knees, his 6th-dimensional energy leaking from the wound in a massive funnel. "-don't. Defy. Me."
"Yes my lord…" Alpheus uttered.
"Then we're clear." As easily as he impaled him, he yanked the hammer back out of his chest. "Fix my universe." The moment the weapon left his body, the wound closed.