Chapter 6
The Tscheapwhetzar floated through the homesong, allowing himself to be carried to death. It was peaceful. It was returning home. The chain in one hand, and the shadow of the touch with Destiny helped keep him focused. The slipstream carried him into warm, comforting nothingness.
But this nothingness was nothing more than a gateway. It was not the end. Not even close.
He burst from the state of nothingness to behold a towering, golden wall. No, it was not the gates of Saint Peter. This was nothing that anyone back on Earth would have dreamed of. This was a special barrier between the Accursed and the afterlife. It was also the final hurdle for those who took the Path of Enlightenment.
The Tscheapwhetzar had once walked that road. He still bore the markings and token from that journey. Without them, he would have perished long ago. He had much to owe to the big man upstairs for those experiences and the tremendous gifts he bore. But they were also his shame.
Before him was Truth. And in the moment where he could have gone beyond what any living member of the Accursed had gone before, he turned back. He was a coward. A conniving, lustful, prideful monster. And he loved that part about him.
He could not go on.
But what he could do was take his great prize!
The Tscheapwhetzar hurled the chain in a thunderous bolt of red lightning right at the wall. It fused with the Truth. What he had just done was blasphemy beyond anything the Tscheapwhetzars had done since the Fourth Silent War.
If this is what I have to do, then so be it! The alternative to my defeat is something that the Realms and Reality cannot afford.
Plus, this will make me a legend!
Carefully, he began hauling himself back up the chain, letting his connection with Destiny guide and protect him against the lull of submitting his will to death. He didn't want to die. That desire to not die had saved him countless times before. But there was something precious beyond that final Truth. And it beckoned him. Even him, a wretched monster.
"No," he growled in his throat. "I refuse to die!"
Hand over hand, he returned.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
So it was that the Tscheapwhetzar forged a Death Chain. It was legend from the First Silent War, but it had never been confirmed. The Tscheapwhetzar had forged it through many different links, seeking to not only rob death, but preserve the connections that bind all living beings, especially those who can love.
He was a monster who detested that emotion, but he could put it to great use. It would become a powerful weapon.
But it was not just a Death Chain that he gained. He now had a pantheon of gods at his side, access to powerful spirits, heroes of legend from different worlds, and powers that could reshape entire planets. He was the Corruptor and Collector after all, and he had just brought in a powerful harvest.
It was not just their powers he wanted, but also their stories. As he looked at Toph and Aang's healthy baby boy, he knew one thing for certain. Even for a monster like himself, power without a guiding star, and people to share it with, was not really power. Rather, it would be vain ambition and a force within the void. The key to his power were all the lives he brought under his banner, and each and every one of their stories.