Prince of Heart- God DAMN IT, I'm not even busy why do these take so long even though they're so much fun.

About 2 sweeps ago

Eridan approached the large marble door for the final time, surrounded by the deceased bodies of angels that had been a complete bitch to kill for him. Those damn monstrosities AND these idiotic angels, all on one planet? He had nary a second to breathe in between blasts from his Ahab's crosshairs, though it's not like it wasn't fun to blast the bastards to smithereens. The door stood before him imposingly, almost menacingly, the entrance to what seemed to him a large church, judging from the towers that stood atop the building, as well as the faint sound of bells ringing throughout the land around it. His approach, aside from the angels and imps, had been lovely, with the air around him filled with the brightness often present on his planet, the black architecture emanating the pure whiteness in the air. The place really reminded him of the places of worship back home, where those lesser than him would go and worship whatever phoney being they believed in. He had fun making fun of said people though, often turning their noses up at real life science behind their made-up events; they just couldn't handle how smart he was compared to literally everyone else. You really had to have a certain level of intelligence to understand his atheistic views, and ah, how hard Eridan had it, being too smart for his own good.

He lowered his gun to the ground, the nozzle dragging along the concrete below him, before he came to a stop a couple of feet from the door to examine it. The structure was quite remarkable, or more adequately described as unremarkable to Eridan, considering his experience with elaborate structures like his castle, though it did sport a elaborate engraving on it. On the door was a largish drawing that took up almost two thirds of the entire structure, depicting a figure directly in the middle of it, his arm held high, and around his were what seemed like angels falling, due to their wings, and buildings crumbling to dust, with a small beam flying up into the sky from the figure and directly into the head of a bloodworm like creature with a glowing beam of light for a head. The carving was rough and worn from what must have been centuries, but it seemed ridiculous and, if Eridan was being honest, quite fuckin crude of a drawwing.

Eridan snarled and dropped his gun, the object clattering loudly to the ground. He paced slowly to the door, and attempted to use his entire body to push the thing open, but alas, it wouldn't budge. He continued, stubborn to the end, using all his short might against his most worthy opponent; an inanimate object, but his results turned up the same as before. He stopped briefly to take a breath, leaning up against the door, where he managed to notice a bit of the carving he had missed, a sentence it seemed, of a language he had never seen written before. Qui destruit mundo, est in se aperire ostium invenire spe ad Deum. He couldn't even say it out loud it was so fucking ludicrous. He wiped the sweat off his brow, and took a step back from the door, clenching his fists beside him, and stared up at the door. Clenching his teeth, furrowing his brow, and scrunching his nose, he screamed out to the door in hope, "i havve been through hell and fuckin back you stupid fuckin door! i havve killed more angels in this dumb game than i evver did lusi for fef back on alternia and you havve the GALL to not open for the prince! for YOUR prince! howw fuckin dare you i demand that you open for me. right. noww! right noww! open you dumb door or i wwill havve your dumb fuckin door guardian and your dumb fuckin door friends executed before me! do i make myself clear! i cant havve come here for nothing you shitpan! there has to be an answwer for evverythings thats happened! there has to be… i… i… i fuckin wwish you wwould open already. i hoped for some fuckin answwers to this place! i hoped that you wwou-"

Instantaneously, the carvings on the door lit up, slowly rising up the beam coming from the figure in the middles hand, before hitting the bloodworms head and beaming out from the door in a bright show. Each of the three pillars from on top of the church lit up, firing white beams directly into the sky, and the sound of bells ringing came from above Eridan. Slowly, the door crumbled open, pushing itself far back, and rolling out of the way to reveal the insides of the church, which quickly lit up as well to light the way down a spiralling series of steps. Eridan squinted, looking up at the towers above him, before looking into the insides of the building in confusion. Eventually, he shrugged his feelings off, and picked up his step into the unknown depths of the church.

Eridan, guided by the torchlight into the depths of the church, descended steadily down the steps, with only strange carvings along the way to entertain his attention. Crude carvings he would tell someone, anyone, if they were here. He guessed as he perused such carvings that he was the mysterious figure they centred on, purely based on the fact that that figure was often shown to be worshipped AND feared by those awful angels, seeing as the figure had no discernible physical traits. Who else would be worshipped on this miserable excuse of a planet? But some of the carvings seemed unflattering to him, often depicting him alone in a vast wasteland of nothingness and destroyed buildings, but that wasn't ALL he did. He could create when he wanted to, God damn it. He wasn't some all destroying monster, o-or an evil force of nature. He was a God damn Prince, making a God damn kingdom for himself in the new universe. That's it.

He finally found the bottom step, the ground beneath him blending black and white together as it made a path before him to a second double door, this one just a few feet taller than him. With a furrowed brow, he moved forth and pushed the double doors open, only to be greeted with an almost blinding light coming from within, prompting him to put his hand in front of his eyes. Eventually, the light faded to a manageable level, and he lowered him arm to see the cause, going wide eyed at the monster in front of him. The monster had the body of a yellow and purple striped serpent, though much larger than himself as it looked down on him, coiled around a treasury of grist and bucks, and a bright, shining ball in place of his head. Eridan felt imposed, the serpent towering over him, and as he entered further, the thing reared its head down to him, the light now capturing his attention instead of blinding him.

With no visible mouth to speak of, the thing gargled out, "Eridan Ampora, descendant of Cronus Ampora, I have been expecting your visit for some time."

Eridan swallowed a glass of air, before replying with a steady breath, "howw the fuck do you know that?"

"Skaia told me that fact sea-dweller, just as it tells me everything else, whether to be or has already been." The creature began to slither forward, its enormous body making loud clinks in the marble below it, as it wrapped around him, keeping its body a few feet apart from Eridan. "My name is Zelus, and I'm the Denizen of the Land of Wrath and Angels, your planet."

"the god that all these despicable angels followw. i remember the name as i blasted your soldiers to smithereens!"

The thing almost seemed to chuckle, "I know Prince. Excuse my haste, but I find it surprising that you haven't shot me down yet. Why?"

"huh? i dont fuckin knoww i got distracted by- wwait a fuckin mint blood second i thought you kneww everythin?"

"I do. I was curious as to what your reasoning was though. Dear Prince, I always knew you wouldn't kill me in this timeline, but I do not know the influence of such a decision."

"there is no damn reasonin you glorified toilet i just dont feel like doin it is all."

"You don't feel like murdering me in cold blood? Unusual," the monster leant its head in towards him, "seeing how you murdered most of the innocent consorts of this land."

"the angels? they attacked me i had to do it to them."

"Do you think they might have only attacked you because you fired first?"

"they came outta nowwhere of course i wwas gonna gun them dowwn."

"And you don't think you should have stopped after they screamed in pain for a full minute? Or when they were begging you to stop?"

"i dont need to argue this shit wwith you. i wwon. thats it. noww givve me my prize."

The serpent paused for a moment, before leaning back and uncoiling its body, slithering back towards the large piles of grist and bucks behind it. "Of course, Prince. But, there is a choice to be had, a choice to be made."

"the one that givves me grist straight up."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I must give the choice none-the-less, if you have the time?"

"i dont so givve me the money."

"Well I must give it anyway, unless you fight and kill me, in accordance to the rules of the game." Eridan groaned in response, his finger slowly finding its way to the trigger of his Ahab's Crosshairs', but managing to keep himself capped long enough to hear the monster out. "Eridan, this game is far from over, but I can guarantee you one thing: you will not survive your actions if you go on like you have been. This is where my choice for you comes in: in order to live to see a new universe, you must follow through hardships, learn to not only accept your role as a Prince of Hope, but overcome and use it to benefit others. You must learn your actions, and become a vital member of your team, but must endure hardships and witness the deaths and betrayals of those closest to you. Once your envy, jealousy, and zealous nature are under control, you may strive, and live free."

"and if i refuse?"

"You die, as other versions of you have in the infinite universes."

"howw?"

"If only there weren't a million ways. I'm sorry, but I am not allowed to disclose such information."

Eridan bit his tongue for a moment, thinking over the choice, before quickly coming to the conclusion, "fine. wwhatevver. im a fuckin prince i can handle anythin."

"Can you? Well that is an interesting thought. But just remember: when you think it's all over, that there is no way to progress, you mustn't give in to your instincts. Don't throw away your shot Eridan."

"i… i wwont. im god damn eridan ampora and i wwill not let that go to wwaste."