I feel like I have so much of this story left. There's just a million things going on here. But I told myself that I would finish a story this year. It will be the first one I would have completed in a long time. go me!

Arc I, The Plate of Space

Chapter Twenty-Two:

The Stage Actor's Lie

Celestial intervention had brought me to the Catacombs of Arceus. When I had sacrificed the seventeen Plates for my Alterstone in this chamber, long ago, I had unknowingly set myself upon a journey. That journey had brought me here again by a cruel twist of fate, as if to remind me what mistakes I had made.

Luce held the Plate of Space in his hand. His presence had gone undetected for so long that I began to worry how long he had stood in my shadow. Somehow, he had cracked it with his hand. How — I had no semblance of an idea. But he could. He was far more dangerous than I had anticipated.

"Now, my question," he said happily. "Why is the Plate of Space weakening?"

Luce would know if I lied, by the same intuition I used to tell if he was truthful. Something told me that he already had the answer.

I dug my nails into my thighs, seeking someone's pain, even if was my own, to relieve me of the burden upon my shoulders. "I sacrificed the seventeen pillars to create this stone," I responded, biting my lip so hard I tasted bitter blood. "The trinity of Plates that remained — Space, Time, and Cosmos — were not so easily drained. But they have been since then."

Luce openly laughed. He pointed at my wrist. "All for that stone!"

My whole body stiffened. "That's what I said."

His expression, which had been so thrilled since we met, suddenly darkened. "You mean to tell me that you threw away endless amounts of power to become a human," he said, his tone vile. "Because you loved them. Because they were pretty and sweet and you wanted to be just like them, didn't you? But don't you have any idea how deceitful they are? Don't you have any clue how fucking horrible it is to be stuck in this body—!"

"You said an answer for an answer," I interrupted. I attempted to hide how scared I was. "It's my turn."

He calmed down. The swirling blackness in his eyes disappeared. "Of course," he said breathlessly. Then he smiled. "Please, go on."

"Where did you come from?"

Luce's smile widened into a full grin.

"You're asking all of the right questions, Arceus!" he laughed. "Before there was anything and when there was only nothing but a jumbled mass of chaos, you and I were born, together as one. And still, you were sentient and I was sentient, and we became two. Here I stand and there you stand, but we are closer in heart and soul than you know. You are Arceus the Pokémon and I am Luce the human, and we are merely two sides of the same coin."

"You came from the chaos..." I said hoarsely.

"The only difference between us," he said, "is that you exist only where there is life. From your thousand arms, stars and planets were born, and you created the only beings you have ever known. In their existence, you thrive. But I can exist where there is nothing, in the empty places even your thousand arms cannot reach, and I will continue to live even long after the universe has fallen and you, as consequence, yourself have perished."

He knew.

Luce knew of my mistake. That gave him all of the power I had relinquished.

"You know, I feel like I had so many more questions to ask you," said Luce. "But now that you're here, I don't really feel like talking with you anymore. I'm doing all of the work, and you're just standing there with your mouth wide open. I suppose that I have only one left: Tell me how your Alterstone holds the key to your immortality."

What? No.

"The Alterstone—" I stopped.

By the great grace of the divinities even above my jurisdiction, Luce had somewhere made a substantial mistake. Somewhere, he had assumed incorrect information, translated something wrong, listened too much to his own presumptuousness. Because the Alterstone was nothing more than that — a gift to myself, blessing me with the the ability to become a human. Its insignificance to anyone other than me is what made the sacrificing of the Plates so greedy.

The cards of fate were bestowing me the better hand. I needed to take it and run.

He doesn't know me as well as he wishes he does, I thought. He may be a fraud, but he is still a precarious foe. Take care.

"When you stole the power of the trinity and the seventeen pillars," said Luce, growing impatient and, better yet, more reckless, "the power also supporting the fibers of the universe became one with your stone, didn't it? Therefore, your immortality is also interweaved with its powers."

I manipulated my eyes and tongue more carefully than ever before. I was building a grand lie upon this crystalline stage, and it had to be delicately maintained. I needed him to believe that I was badly attempting to cover the truth.

"What makes you think that?" I asked him, as if trying to uphold the ambiguity.

His wasn't a terrible conclusion to reach, I supposed. Logically, it made sense. But my immortality was beyond the confines of the Alterstone. It was entwined with the universe, yes. When the universe fell, so would I. However, the Alterstone would not take away my immortality, only the ability to become a human.

I couldn't blame him for believing what he did. But still — a beginner's blunder.

It was easier henceforth to accept his childish carriage.

Luce angrily exhaled. "Don't avoid my question!"

Tilt your head downward. Be ashamed. Wait a few more seconds…

"Yes," I said softly. "My Alterstone makes me immortal."

Luce relaxed, satisfied. "So it's true," he remarked. "Had you ever been in my position, you would not have down what you did. You are spoiled. In the unfolding of our creation, you bequeathed immortality and infinite power. All of this, you desecrated — and for what? The ability to become human. It disgusts me, how daft you are. But truly, it is fitting. Humans are abhorrent, contemptible, untrustworthy creatures. You belong with them."

I thought of Aurelio. Loyal, warm, and beautiful.

I wanted to belong with him.

"So now you decide how you will die, Arceus," said Luce. "Either you give me the Alterstone now, receiving a quick, merciless death, and I will rule over your kingdom as the one and only immortal — or I will hunt you down, Plate by Plate, until the trinity is destroyed, and the universe collapses, killing not only you, but the precious world that you so desperately love."

"Um, let's go with neither, boss!"

"Think, Arceus. How are you going to get out of this?"

Another sacrifice would be made in this chamber.

"Let me guess," I said apprehensively. The only escape route in this chamber was doubling back through the crystal mazes. If I transformed into a bulky Pokémon, I might be able to crash through the dome above us, but I still felt drained. "Even if I pick the second option, you won't let me leave here alive. You'll destroy the Plate, temporarily weakening me, remove the Alterstone, and then kill me."

"You're good!" Luce was beaming. "I may look human, but don't underestimate my speed or strength. You gave your powers away, and now, you're in the same sorry state of existence as the universe is. And the universe isn't doing too well. But I have waited for this day. I have trained this mortal body to its limits, so that I could defeat you and take your immortality and powers for my own. What never belonged to you will finally have an appropriate host."

What an idiot.

My only other option was becoming quickly apparent.

I lunged forward, fast as the physical world would allow. Whatever strength I could muster, I concentrated it all into that one charge. A crystal shard in my hand, I held the weapon to Luce's tender, human neck. Up close, he smelled like rotting fruit and wilting flowers.

"You're fast?" I asked, a bit breathlessly.

He slowly turned his head to me. As he did, the soft skin under his jawline pressed against the shard, releasing a droplet of blood down his neck.

"Faster than you," he said.

My stomach felt warm. The pain only came long after he had dug his own blade two inches deep. I dared not look down. Luce could have sheathed the entire dagger in me if he wanted, but he had only meant to model his agility. I could not die, but I could certainly get close — and that was part of his game.

Luce pushed the dagger in deeper. He smirked at me.

Swallowing the blood bubbling in my throat, I smiled back. "Not fast enough," I managed. "And quite bad with multitasking..."

I slammed my hand down onto the Plate of Space, letting it drink what energy I had.

The Plate illuminated the chamber in an explosion of light. Luce watched with paralyzed panic as it opened a whirling, unstable portal behind us. It roared like cosmic thunder. The entire mountain trembled as if the earth was being ruptured through its equator. Drawn to its wielder, the Plate leapt from Luce's hands and into my possession.

"Give that back!" snarled Luce.

Everything after that happened within seconds, but felt spread across eternities.

I turned the Alterstone and instantaneously became an insignificant little Seedot. Before Luce could snatch me from the ground, the Catacombs of Arceus erupted with a red-hot explosion. The dome shattered. Black crystal rained down like volcanic ash. Using the last remnants of my strength, I became human again, clutching the Plate to my breast.

Trusting my Plate and my own judgment, I stumbled like a lifeless doll into the void, my strength diminishing. Luce lunged for me, his hand outstretched. His eyes were alight with crazed fury. The spinning wind suppressed all of the other noises around me, leaving me feeling like I was being dragged down into a deafening cyclone.

Luce's fingers brushed across the tips of my hair. With a final haunting shudder, the crystal mountain collapsed on top of him.

On the treacherous edge of unconsciousness, I vaguely thought: The Catacombs of Luce. Hah...

Then, dazzling as a shooting star, I fell from the sky.

End of Chapter Twenty-Two

END OF ARC I, THE PLATE OF SPACE