I was just a humble Aurian, no different than the rest of my peers…save for a hunger for curiosity.
Yet one of our Lords, the humble and multi-talented Ficklewick, chose me as his apprentice.
Why? He would never say.
He believed in talent, and I believed in his belief.
I learned and learned through tireless nights. He would treat me to spindle woven blankets as I fell asleep at my desk, and I awoke to whatever meal I needed at the time of the day.
I felt so honored and so…trusted.
I never wanted anything I did to be a failure in his eyes. A perfectionist? Perhaps I was, but my keen eyes provided results.
So it was only natural that when the colonies were sent from our home world to find others in need, that I was chosen to join my master.
Onboard the colony 'Sancturia', we traveled the sea of stars to a surprisingly newborn world by the name of 'Genestasia'.
This world was nearly as lush as ours, but the people were still young and fragile.
They had their own Lords, 'Titans', to help them grow, yet we extended our hands regardless.
Master Ficklewick and Lord Tellis were expert diplomats after all.
An agreement was reached, and our colony was left to care for this world. Before they departed, Lord Tellis assigned ten special individuals to watch over the forming Tribes, including our own.
We were to be advisors, and I was chosen to aid the darkness.
I never really fit in with those lands though. The stench was foul and the Titan was a constant thorn in my side with his tricks.
But the abstract designs did spark many inspirations that would propel me forward through a chain of events that would ultimately birth my greatest idea.
The Wellsprings that helped hold this world together also held the prospect of creating new life out of nothingness. It was the ultimate magic, a feat not even our Lords could accomplish.
If such a power was possible, then stop at just new life? We could create entire worlds that would house them, bring prosperity to barren planets, even repel the inevitable decay of the universe…
I, along with the support of Vyrmina and many others, ran tests with scraps of the Wellsprings until coming to a startling conclusion…
Our Aura, essence of Life itself, was a perfect fit for this power. With it…we could stabilize the mingling of elemental energy long enough to harness the power of creation itself.
We started small, making little bugs and plants, before advancing to buildings and parts of the landscape.
For the final test, we would take a large chunk of every Wellspring, with our respective Titan's permission of course, and fuse them together into a singularity that would spread far and wide.
Everything was set. We had the Tribe representatives on standby to bear witness. Every Sage surrounded the orb to infuse it with aura.
I cried tears of joy, wondering if my master was gazing at me from the stars with pride…
Pride…was that the imbalance that allowed the ouroboros to coil around our world?
No. My ego was in check. What was flawed…was the 'trust' I placed in the others.
It started with a small bleed in the pure white energy. It pushed against one of the funnels of aura going in and made a Sage quiver.
"Something isn't right." He murmured.
We kept going and the bleed didn't show its presence for a long while. The orb was beginning to collapse to form the singularity.
However, then we noticed that the orb was no longer pure white, but shifting more towards black.
"Hold it…!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
More bleeds started to form in the energy. The first Sage cowered out of the process, and I raised my voice at him, "Hold it! We're so close!"
"No! The process has been contaminated, we need to start over."
It was impossible though.
We ran COUNTLESS measurements of the Wellspring energy every time we performed a test, and now was no different.
Everything was in equal measure, including our aura. I may have been tired but my senses were never dull…
I began to get a little antsy, but Vyrmina pushed her authority on the Sage in faith of my abilities, "Hold out just a little longer. We'll be fine."
"I trust him." She said with a smile from her mandibles.
We all continued working, but the bleeding was only getting worse…
A creeping chill crawled across the floor to our feet. More cowards pulled out from the experiment.
"W-We're not giving birth to new life…!" One cried out in a panic.
He ran towards me and Vyrmina and screamed, "STOP THE EXPERIMENT!"
We were edging on completing something that would benefit all life in the universe!
"Get back to your spot and finish this!" I yelled at him.
The spines on the Sages' back rose with a shiver, "We're all going to be consumed…"
Then, suddenly, everything was quiet.
A deep crimson hue bled into the room. Our combined energies had created an egg…and now….it was beginning to crack.
And with every step closer it got to opening…We heard a grim heartbeat in our souls.
"What have you done?!" The blame was yelled straight at me by one person, a comrade at that, and soon the rest of the Sages broke their composure and started piling the blame on me as they fled the palace.
"No…NO!" I cried in a panic until I was the only one left holding the experiment down, "We can fix this! Cowards…! GET BACK HERE!"
All that remained was Vyrmina putting her tibia on my arms and trying to coax me out with nothing but the frightful look in her eyes.
"...I didn't do this." I said to her with a pitiful whisper.
She saw my refusal to leave and didn't utter a word before she ran away.
Just as geysers of crimson burst from the egg.
At the epicenter of this great cataclysm, I heard reality being torn with a shriek.
…Have you ever let your body be submerged in the cold?
Imagine feeling that sensation in every atom of your being.
That is what happened to me after my body was hit by the singularity.
I was flung through vast nothingness, haunted by this unnatural, uncaring cold…
When I regained feeling in my eyes I was welcomed by the cradle of darkness.
But I had dipped in its pool before…and nothing suffocated me like this.
"Hello there…little spider." Uttered what I could only describe as a dark chorus of a thousand trampled men, gasping for life.
I stared into the infinite darkness, and as suns and stars burst within this void I came to learn…That even infinity felt limiting.
A serpent, nay, a dragon of black bones lay before me, body coiled around what I could only imagine was our entire universe, the tips of its rib cage nailed into the walls.
"Ha ha ha…" I was being mocked, its every breath threatening to dissolve my now incorporeal being…
I was wrong…
I had only begun to suffocate.
Chapter -0.666: The Book of Atrax
"Where am I?" Uttered the nightmare, taking on a cruel mockery of my voice.
"Who are you?" They said again, melding impatience and humored delight into one.
Without a lower jaw, the nightmare grinned, and spoke in its own tongue, "Kneel. And I shall answer all."
My form shifted to plant my submission at the tip of its bony tail, and I offered only the tiniest resistance, "W-Wait…"
"Silence, little spider," Whispered the nightmare, "You stand in the audience of the creator denied. You may call me…Akumu Jigokuryu."
"A-Akumu…?" When I spoke that name, almost forcibly, it felt as though I was filtering multiple interpretations through my brain at once.
It felt as though the nightmare smirked, "Does it displease you? You can speak my real name…if you have the courage, HA HA HA!"
Trying to utter even a syllable resulted in my throat being clutched by a million dead hands, and my eyes gazed into a black and white world of…realness.
For a brief moment, I was allowed to raise my head and shout, "Stop messing with me!"
"Ok," The nightmare uttered with calm, "You're dead. Welcome to oblivion, little spider."
"I-I…no…" I muttered meekly. The horrid cold feelings inside of me…this wretched discomfort. These were not sensations meant for one bound to flesh.
But…I was an Aurian. I was guaranteed to return to the Aura when I perished!
No…wait…how could I have…died?
"Would you like to know?" Uttered Akumu, "Look down…"
My gaze was pointed beneath the nightmare's tail, where I watched as a pulse of that deep crimson light spread across the entire universe at an incomprehensibly accelerated rate.
I remembered it all, and felt sick.
With the nightmare enjoying every second of it.
"Ha ha ha! Congratulations! You have succeeded in accelerating the effects of entropy across all known creation!"
"No, no…!" My form writhed and flailed, "This is not what I wanted!"
"Nobody ever truly knows what they want. The struggle to live forces you to march to the hymns of order."
"But you're a creator. Driven by EGO. Look at the world you left behind…"
I saw Genestasia through the nightmare's eyes. Obscene decay ate away at all the beauty. Humans, beasts and plants shriveled into the ground, to rise again as monsters of rot…
The Titans sealed the Tribes off from the rot's advance.
But within my home, the worst rot of all smashed and writhed against the barrier, trying to escape the egg shell it was birthed inside of…
And eventually, it broke free…
A defiled beast with ten heads and a scream that left the sky to bleed.
"These are wonderful masterpieces." Taunted Akumu.
"STOP!" I shrieked, "These are LIES…!"
Curling my hands against my body as it shivered and shook, I breathed deep and swallowed the rancid air around me, "Everything went perfectly…I was going to bring everlasting life to the universe…!"
"...I was…I was betrayed!" I said with my hands and teeth clenched.
"Ha ha ha…! So would you do it right if given a second chance?"
"I WOULD!" Screamed my heart in desperation.
"Would you like to?" And Akumu's whisper was everything I wanted to hear in return.
"...What?" I murmured.
"I can give you that second chance. It is within my constrained power."
My heart became elated, "O-Of course…! I'll take it…!"
And still confused, "But…why?"
"I have also been robbed of greatness. Creation was meant for me…But I was sealed away, while a liar bathed in white has seated himself upon my throne."
I was still frightened, but the nightmare's voice was…inviting. That I would find this kindred spirit in oblivion meant everything to me.
I reached my hands out and on my knees, "What must I do to be worthy of your blessing?"
"What will you bargain with?"
"...I have nothing to give but the contempt towards my betrayers, and the drive to see my dreams become a reality."
Cold blue light began to fill the dragon's eyes, as he laced his tone with laughter, "Good enough!"
I blinked once more, as my body was flung back into the universe I came from, weighed down by a chrysalis of darkness…
A slimy, moist feeling awoke me back into the world of the living. Bright light, slowly pulling back the curtains…
"I-It's a boy…!" I was cradled by warm hands that raised me into the world I was familiar with…yet changed, ever slightly.
"He looks healthy…G-Good…"
My eyes were wide open, I could think, see and experience sensations like a fully matured person…
But my flesh had been reverted to a larval state of being.
I thought this was to be a fresh start from the VERY beginning, that that was my price to pay…
Yet with my memories intact I began deciphering the minute details around me. These were not my original parents.
And this was not my first home.
I agreed to the terms…but the nightmare picked the rules thereafter.
I would be starting over from a fresh slate, challenged by the world created by the consequences of my betrayers.
…And I would succeed.
Year 210: Rebirth
I took my time to familiarize myself with the changes that occurred in my absence.
It had been roughly two-hundred years since the event now referred to as the 'Rot Horizon'...Two generations later.
The Ten Sages still existed, full of new faces.
But due to Vyrmina's perceived failings as a leader, the Mantis clan had fallen from grace. Now the Bee clan led us.
We observed the Tribes in secrecy. Everything had changed…
They had gained a proclivity for violence and racism towards each other, born of desperation to survive a world with scarce resources.
This was what a bitter, envious fool let happen. I cursed their name, then found it imperative more than ever to succeed.
The visions of Eden I saw would never escape me until I did.
Eventually, I was able to take my place as one of the Ten Sages yet again, and with it gained access to a plethora of research material and thus knowledge.
I needed to re-review everything. Leave no page unturned.
I was right. Every calculation was successful, no flaw was left unaccounted for.
It could have only been another person who failed me.
Betrayed by my own brothers…How could anyone mend such heartbreak?
I delved more and more into the library. Perhaps the traitor was listed in our history.
It was.
…It was me.
…It was ME.
It was me it was me it was me it was me it was me it was me it was me it was me it was me
My vision faded to white. My mind swirled in a whirlpool of rancid memories and rage.
I burst into tears, and tore the book in half with a pained gasp and a throat rending scream.
"HOW DARE THEY!" Shook the walls with my righteous fury.
Crimes must be punished, the guilty must be named…
So because I had 'died', my name was freed up to label the pages of history, spreading lies and slander across the ages, disguised as the 'Truth'.
Question…How is that fair?
What…right does anyone have to print a lie?
No matter how much we struggle and succeed in the fight to be good men, all it takes is one mistake to wash all that good will away.
…I would not stand for this.
For it was not just MY name they dragged down into the mud with their treason…
I marched into the palace with many of their printed works thrown into their faces.
And made them recognize me for who I was.
When faced with their sins returned to life, of course, they wanted to fight to bury me once more.
"Look at you…you…deplorable souls! Do you sleep well at night, comforted by the fact that you are pure?"
"Your blood is spoiled by lies…! You are born…FROM LIES!"
The first of the Sages in this gathering drew their weapon upon me and fired, piercing my flesh with a stinger of lightning.
As blood rushed out of my body and in my head, my vision of white also began to bleed.
"...If you seek recompense for any crimes, then point your weapon at yourself, and fire."
At that moment my voice changed into something less…restrained.
And though my hands guided strings, the Sage performed as I commanded, spraying their fried brains across the floor.
All the other Sages were silent, myself included.
I…I had killed a man.
The revelation of this fact stirred sickness in my gut.
I…was raised a creator of life, not a taker.
Yet I could not ignore the burning flesh and bone at my feet, nor quiet the whispers in my head.
I discovered that more about my body had been changed than I was told.
That nightmare…had transformed my Drive into something else.
Now, with but a mere whisper, I could force people to obey certain Truths.
This was just a minor mistake…I could fix this.
"Listen to me…you repugnant liars. You will forget the name of Atrax."
I let myself be drunk on what appeared to be an easy fix, and therefore did not understand the implications of my words.
Now all they stared at…was a gangly specter, who just murdered one of their own.
"W-What are you?" They cried out at me.
I was silent as they poised their weapons and threw themselves at me one after the other, justifying retaliation with every bit of steel that pierced my flesh.
It was no longer a matter of truth and lies, but life and death.
I could not waste my second chance…not like this!
My body had been empowered with extra darkness, allowing me to throw off my aggressors and kill a couple of them in the ensuing frenzy.
I then backed off and focused on other matters.
Books were set ablaze to keep their lies from spreading. Future generations deserved better than what they would be given…
Then when the ill-blooded liars showed no signs of stopping, I continued to pick them off one by one.
When I was driven to these extremes, I was liberating myself of control, becoming merely an observer in the body of someone else…
This wasn't me. I was not a murderer.
Only one remained, the representative of the Scarab clan.
And as the rest threw themselves at me in impatience, this man, Archeon, ran away with his lies.
I pursued him to the ends of the planet and then some. The children of the Sages were to be left alone. They were still young…I could still raise them right on Vyrmina's virtues.
All that mattered was clipping the corruption at the root.
To that end, I commanded an army of my spider brethren to find Archeon.
He had holed himself up in a ravine north of Oreore, carrying with him a new book that would no doubt be used to preserve their lies.
"NOOOO!" I shrieked, blinding myself in a guided frenzy to slay this man.
…I was quickly skewered in amber.
The cold welcomed me once more…
Year 400: Rebirth 2
"Look at him. Isn't he wonderful?"
…I started over again. My consciousness had been empty through the passing years until I awakened to the light.
The Ten Sages still existed. Nothing had changed outwardly, but I saw that towers had been erected outside our walls to deter trespassers…Or specters who may find themselves haunting these lands.
I took the formative years of this third life to reassess my actions and my…inability to control myself.
Ultimately, everything turned out fine.
We still existed, and I would simply have to focus more this time around.
At the first available opportunity I checked the library. There were still a few books scattered around, but I dealt with them more…discreetly.
I took my spot among the Ten Sages once more. This was always to be my destiny…
I found this generation of Sages more agreeable and approachable, but I closed my heart off to them and focused squarely on researching a way to reverse the Rot Horizon.
…And it occurred to me that I hadn't yet explored the world outside these walls in the passing centuries.
I decided to visit these…Rot Walkers, disfigured and robbed of the majesty of creatures past.
But nothing fazed me as hard as my meeting with the ten-headed monstrosity.
I could feel it, not with my aura, but my heart. That wailing, sleeping beast was my love long departed…
Vyrmina…poor sweet Vyrmina. Her and the nine representatives of the Tribes were fused into this amalgamation of plagues.
On occasion, it would wake up and scour the skies, lost and confused.
…My priorities shifted immediately.
I focused on finding a way to counteract that specific monster chaining my dear departed one's soul to this world.
Conventional abilities and weaponry seemed to have no effect, and only made it angrier.
And none of the Sages had the raw strength to chain the beast down and delay its rampage.
I began toiling away at the idea of trying to match the creature's existence with an equal scourge…
But has this world not suffered enough imbalances?
Yet, during one of many sleepless nights fiddling away at research books…I awoke to that deep crimson light set before me.
It was small, a mere fragment, taking the shape of a rune similar to the nightmare's visage.
I blinked, and it was gone.
Yet it burned in the back of my mind.
Was it possible to make it? I was too drawn to satisfying my own curiosity…
But I resisted over and over, and my search would remain unanswered until I withered away…
Year 587: Rebirth 3
…Perhaps it was ok to feed into my temptations just a little bit, if it was for a good cause.
Vyrmina, my poor Vyrmina…She needed to be freed from her suffering.
That bleeding crimson was first encountered by combining the Wellsprings together.
So when my time came to be one of the Ten Sages again, I slipped in a proposition to go after the Wellsprings, giving them an honest answer that we could use it to restore this world.
So began diplomacy tactics between us and the Titans…which the beasts were not patient to hear us out on.
They believed we had betrayed them….In some manner of speaking we had.
But what they had done was give fragments of their Wellsprings to a new generation of representatives.
It wasn't hard to sneak in their shadows and scrape bits of the energy out of their souls. My new abilities continued to surprise…and concern me.
I was too accepting of these changes.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't need to concern myself once I succeeded.
Once I had gathered up enough fragments I relied on some magic to try and replicate the bleed. It wasn't until I tried reversing the properties of the elements that I succeeded.
But it wasn't perfect, the rune was fragmented. Still, it was worth experimenting with…
I would not target the living, but those at war, bordering on the verge of death.
Extend them a second chance, just as I had received it before…
Infusing the likes of warriors from Oreore, Canofloe or Cryofloe with this rune resulted in a startling transformation, turning them into mighty dragons.
While applying this rune to members of Tanglefae and Aquamoria turned them into wyverns.
It seemed the inclination towards physical or magical use of their powers caused this divide.
I had no control over how they acted after I aimed them at the beast of discord.
A desperate battle unfolded between these cursed forces. Only then did I start to feel some manner of regret and realized…I caused this.
Another aspect of this world's balance was shifted into chaos.
Perhaps fittingly, my death this time came at the hand of one of these creations of mine crashing down upon me.
Year 755: Rebirth 4
The span between generations was starting to get shorter. A sign of growing recklessness? Or something else…
This time, I learned that in my absence, the dragons and wyverns had formed a Tribe of their own and existed as a neutral party.
They stood in the perfect position to defend the planet from the advances of the beast of discord. And curiously, they learned to regain their sanity and take on the form of humans.
In some twisted way, I had succeeded in creating new life, complete with their own culture.
…I vowed never to perform this sort of experiment again.
However, the consequences of my actions still followed, as the Ten Sages were continuing to scrape for Wellspring fragments.
That was fine.
How much longer could it possibly take?
Year 2459: Rebirth 16
Progress was difficult. The Titans kept their fragments secured near their resting places, and started to catch on that someone was scraping energy off their representatives.
The war was continuing to escalate between the Tribes.
Hardly much changed in our home. I still recognized the world for what it was…this cursed, endless Hell.
I cherished every fragment I could salvage, but I started to realize that my efforts were going to take much, much longer than I expected…
There had to be a way to expedite the process with my limited resources…
Year 3106: Rebirth 21
One day, while toiling in my room, my lax nature got the better of me and I left two Wellspring fragments close together…
When I returned from Sage duties a little while later, I noticed a subtle change in them. They had grown in size and energy output.
In my startled state of mind I nearly broke their confinement.
I began crafting a theory…
It seemed the energies resonated with one another and influenced exponential growth.
I grabbed another fragment eventually and pushed it close to the first two, and to my shock, the energies in all three grew even faster.
This was perfect! Now it wasn't entirely necessary to grab large chunks of the Wellsprings from the Titans! We could grow our own!
…Or so I prematurely presumed.
This process accelerated the growth, but also the dissolving point.
Without a vessel to root the Wellspring's power inside of, this wasn't a reliable option.
…But a good Plan B, should the need arise. I could use every shred of hope I can get…
Year 8477: Rebirth 57
I spent this entire life bitter and angry at everyone around me for being incompetent fools.
I may have killed someone again…I wouldn't know. I saw the cold black before I saw the warm blood.
Year 10,145: Rebirth 68
Something is…wrong with me. I feel like sometimes whenever I close my eyes, I'm seeing the world through a different person's body.
But it speaks my voice, uses my eloquent tongue, and moves my legs and hands like I do.
The nightmare had done something to me. Or perhaps this…was the true me?
NO.
Only I am me.
I needed to make this all right again…
I was paying every price for the person who betrayed me.
Was it even a person? I was starting to blur the line of what my past was…
Year 22, 478: Rebirth 150
I was no longer angry simply…tired. So very tired.
Every time I wake up, every time I get up, I'm repeating the same early years of my life.
Further and further, I pull away from the era I belong…I…
I am alone.
Nothing changes.
And I am still alone.
Year 25,779: Rebirth 1X2
I found…a new sense of calm in meditating in the shadows. Here, I only had to hear the voice in my head.
I never liked the darkness. It was…frightening, foreign.
Our forebearers used to tell stories of a cursed Aurian who went mad with darkness, and was exiled.
Would that become my fate? Was I…cursed to go mad before I achieved success?
I've come this far. My goal still eludes me.
I still feel guilt over this fact.
I am still…a good man.
Year 46, 455: Rebirth 3XX
My people began to change in subtle ways. Our insect-like features, the pride of our being, were being shed off and replaced with more human-like necessities.
I recall Lord Tellis murmuring something about this inevitability, but that it was not meant to occur for millions of years.
This was no doubt a lingering side effect of the Rot Horizon…but this would only complicate things the further along it went.
Because I never changed.
Year 87,475: Rebirth X5X
I was beginning to stand out among my peers. It forced me to weave garments ahead of time so I could wrap my body into a more human shape when I return, and hide them in the shadows where only I can reach.
…Master Ficklewick and I used to weave together all the time.
And remembering this now made me laugh, but this was a laugh of bittersweet joy.
I could still recall those halcyon days.
Where were you…my old Master?
Would you feel pride at my endurance…or shame?
Year 100,15X: Rebirth XXX
Soon, I would require a mask to continue blending in with my kind. It was hardly ill-fitting, for the people of Obscura tended to do much of the same.
Actually. This might have been opportune for me.
Now I can appear in Obscura without triggering the Titan's memory of me.
Though it was still a risky gambit. He may not have learned of my name, but my other mannerisms haven't changed.
At least my changed abilities seemed to allow me to sneak in the shadows without alerting him of my presence.
That Titan had become rather crestfallen and snarky. Seems I was not the only one suffering in eternity.
…I would save the Darkness Wellspring for last.
Having to adopt this mask led to a problem though.
Whenever I would be reborn from now on, my appearance would immediately arouse suspicion.
I had an answer. Though it wasn't necessary until now, I DID have the ability to speak immediately after birth.
I would have to utilize that dirty power.
Yes, I had used it sparsely, but I always felt like a bastard for doing so.
I inflicted the Truth upon a person…but in reality I was creating lies.
These measures were fine in the short term. They went towards a good cause.
I was still a good man at heart.
Year 213, X9X: Rebirth XXX
With increased humanity came increased empathy, and when combined with our innate Aurian powers led to mass confusion among our people as they kept becoming receptive to each other's intense emotions.
The leader at the time was forced to propose desperate measures to keep them from running amok.
Their emotions would be sealed, and kept that way until a time when they could be trusted to control themselves.
I went along with those circumstances, perhaps as my own show of empathy.
I knew all too well that feeling nothing would be better than suffering the pain and guilt of living…
Year 4X7, XX5: Rebirth XXX
Why am I still here? To suffer for the amusement of another?
I always seem to come so close to completing my goals, only to be betrayed by some egomaniac seeking rulership over our city, or outside forces beyond my control…
It's like the universe is cursed, rotten to the core…
Good men must suffer, and bad men are rewarded.
The betrayer gets to laugh at my misery in their cozy afterlife while I toil my body to the brittle bone to make it all RIGHT.
I've broken down and cried.
I've risen with laughter and glee.
By all rights, I should have taken a knife to my throat and killed myself every time I awakened.
Fling myself to the end of time, as that nightmare's laughter follows.
There I would have found silence.
There…I would have been free.
…But even in my darkest moments, I remembered her.
Vyrmina. Her name was comprehensible, a tether in the stormy sea of my mind.
As long as I could retain that name…I was still me.
I was still a good man.
Year X9X, 8XX: RE;birth XxX
By this point Aurians were barely distinguishable from humans. We retained respect for our original heritage…that's all I could ask for.
There was something good to uphold from the past…
Yet I felt dread in my gut. A growing sense of egotism among the Ten Sages.
…It would become necessary to take drastic measures to ensure this remains in check.
That I was becoming numb to such dark ideas floating in my head was worrying.
Was there really another force at play? Or all along, has this just been the true me?
No.
I could never accept that answer. Not while she looked me in the eyes with guilt…
Vyrmina…I wish I could have turned back the hands of time, and said, "I love you."
But there was only the way forward for me.
How much longer could "Atrax" go…
Year 8Xx, xxX: Regret XXXXXXXXXXXXX
War…never changes.
In that regard, we were one in the same. Cancers, clinging to a once thriving world.
I saw too much blood in those days, more than I saw the sky, or water.
The Ten Sages were molded into this state of superiority and I could only look back on my past actions and wonder if I was to blame.
…Would it matter in the end when I succeeded?
When I fixed that one great mistake, all others would be worth the time spent.
…Vyrmina, do you even know I am still here? Is there…some flicker of light in that rotten cage?
I must keep moving forward…
I have all the time in the world to succeed.
I…am still a good man.
Year 1, xxx, XXX: Original SIN
Odd changes had followed me this time around.
For one, there was now a pyramid in Sancturia, housing something called the "Neo Drive".
With it came a guardian of the Ten Sages who housed a…curiously familiar aura.
I sensed traces of my master, and Lord Tellis and…Lord Lepido?
…Impossible. Lepido was long exiled before even my time.
This needed to be ignored. Everything needed to remain familiar…
And regardless, there were more worrying circumstances to address.
This time, I was born from the efforts of a brother and sister in love.
The egotism had gone unchecked for so long that incest felt normal just to keep their bloodline pure.
And worse…I was attached to a twin. A sister named Lilith.
I never had siblings. So this would be a new role for me to play.
And as she grew older, ambition grew with her.
And the circumstances that followed guided Borealis Aurora down the path towards finding the Wellsprings too.
Good. This generation had focus…what it lacked was morals.
Humanity was a curse upon us. We inherited their kindness, but became more vulnerable to their vices.
Still, so long as I followed this group, played my role right…This could have been it. I would finally succeed.
…And then he appeared. Sarajin Stratos.
Defying all reasoning, this boy stubbornly went against the endless cycle to seek peace.
I had become so dulled by the atrocities of man that seeing such a kind heart…melted me.
And he succeeded in gathering many Wellspring fragments.
Without the proper push though, the energy would never grow.
So I worked behind the scenes, manipulating events to test Sarajin's resolve, such as killing Ophelia.
And this would make him get stronger.
As faith in Lilith's competence wavered, and guilt weighed Borealis down, I decided to worm my way into Sarajin's ranks.
It was meant to be an impersonal affair…but I found my tongue slipping on far too many occasions.
…He trusted me.
Me.
It had been far, far too long since I let myself be vulnerable around a stranger.
But I cannot call Sarajin anything else but…a friend.
I want him to succeed in his goals, but now that feeling is in conflict with what I must do.
Sarajin and Solomon have been pushed through many trials. Their Wellsprings have grown in equal measure.
I…can do it.
All I have to do…is betray him.
…
…
How cruelly ironic.
But that dark impulse inside of me has been growing increasingly erratic in this cycle. If I do not do this MY way, then I dare not imagine the Hell that will be unleashed on the universe…
I can still see your face smiling at me, Vyrmina.
So, I am still Atrax.
And I…am not a good man.
But I must keep trying to be good.
This is my war to win…
"Heh…" Atrax slowly lowered his head towards Stonestein and whispered, "What do you think this whole spectacle will accomplish? You've caught me…so I will accept your verdict?"
"I have been alive for over a million years…and every lie spun my way…"
"Has been unraveled."
Stonestein had but one question, "How are you still alive?"
"..." Atrax turned around and stared at Borealis, "Do you think you know everything?"
He tilted his head in a jarring fashion, "All our lives…and struggles…are just a miniscule part of a much bigger lie."
"This whole universe has been…incorrect from the beginning."
"Kh…!" Atrax shivered and adjusted his head back upright.
He then glanced back and saw Stonestein reaching for his shield, "You cannot escape with tricks."
"...This armor. It has nullifying properties I'm guessing?" Atrax spoke more normally, "It seems incomplete though."
With a deep sigh he murmured, "A shame…really. I was enjoying the silence."
"Now…I must ask that you release the armor and let me go."
Stonestein stiffened upright and struggled to stop his hand from reaching out and calling the armor off the spider, returning it to a cube shape.
Atrax turned to see the other Sages arming themselves.
He put a finger before his mouth and whispered, "Silence. You will let me go as well."
The Sages froze, save for Borealis, who showed the scant possibility of breaking free.
"...Destiny awaits me."
Before he began to turn, one of Nimus' blades stabbed into his mask and lurched his head back all the way.
"Heh…! You're not going anywhere!" Nimus whispered.
"..." A chilling sensation numbed the Sages' skin, as darkness seeped out of Atrax's mask like a fog.
"So many generations later…and your first instinct is still to try and snuff me out so you can feel right for just a tiny bit longer."
He swung his head down and the mask began to slide off as he screamed, "I HAVE DONE NOTHING…BUT TRY TO REVERSE THE ROT! I AM NOT THE VILLAIN HERE…!"
"I will fix this grave mistake…kh…! I-I…am going to do…what is right…KHHHH…!"
The halves of the mask clanged on the ground, and left the Sages open to the soul penetrating truth…
Atrax's head was covered in black hairs, with eight pairs of red eyes in two columns, and the jaw of a spider. Within those eyes, glowed the symbol of a galaxy being decayed by entropy.
He stretched his arms out wide and embraced the scream in his heart, "I SHALL REACH ZERO…AND RETURN THE THRONE OF CREATION TO ITS RIGHTFUL GOD…!"
"/\\/\/\\\/\\/\\\/\/\\\\/\/\\/\/\/…!"
"AUGH…!" Screamed the Sages, dropping to their knees with their souls wailing in agony.
Borealis stood the highest, uttering with a grimace, "Xa…Xa…n…?"
Atrax suddenly flung his head forward and shrieked as he grabbed onto the sides.
Upon looking down at his broken mask he uttered with dread, "I must hurry…"
He turned and darted towards the palace exit, but ran headlong into the cold, black armor belonging to one Solomon.
Stumbling back, Atrax stuttered as he gazed into his eyes, "S-Solomon…?"
"...You know what. This is good timing. I need a favor."
Solomon's eyes began to glow with cold hostility.
"Ah. See…" Atrax spoke calmly, before thrusting his blood glowing appendages into his armor, "I wasn't asking."
The appendages got stuck, and then were slowly being swallowed into his being.
"W-What…? NO!" Atrax could not manage to pull them out, so he let them be torn off his body as he backed off
"Khhh kh kh…! Surrender the We-Ghhhfff!"
Atrax was grabbed by the mouth and hoisted up, where Solomon proceeded to siphon the darkness from his body, starting black, and then pulling a deep crimson out to mix with his being.
Then, he held the spider up higher as a trophy on display, before flicking his husk into the nearby pillar.
Atrax tumbled to the ground and shivered through his many gasps.
"The…the…Anti-Genesis Theorem…"
"That's right, little spider." Spoke the nightmare.
Atrax grit his jaw and curled his fingers along the ground, "Y-You…!"
"Having fun? Because I sure am! Ha ha ha!"
"This…this is a joke to you…You never wanted me to succeed…"
"Oh I did. And you have…I would have preferred a second 'Anti-Genesis', but this masterpiece of yours shall more than suffice to plunge that liar's creation into chaos!"
"I…I didn't create this…!"
"Don't be humble now. This was a million years in the making!"
"You…it was you…! You caused…the Rot Horizon!"
"Oh if only it was so simple as to blame it all on one person…You just had…ROTTEN luck…HA HA HA!"
Atrax cried with the last bits of moisture he had left, "Oh lords…oh lords…what have I done?"
"Made me very, VERY happy. Rest now, little spider…soon enough, you won't be lonely where you'll be going. And I'll be sure to warm your blanket…WITH THE SOULS OF THE SCREAMING!"
Before I could wrap my head around the severity of my hubris, I was welcomed by that cold black one more time.
Dreading all too much…that all over life would know this feeling before the end of the day.
Next Time: On that day, two-thousand years ago…