Kalachakra

by Numen Like Water

AU. 70% of the Planet are vegetarian. Europe is beset by terrorism, riots and religious persecution. Tibet is the Capital of the World. This is an AU in which the world of Worm has been dramatically altered due to events in the past. It is also the story about Taylor Hebert's struggles with her faith. Sci-fi/Theological/Philosophy fic.

3. The Sustainer

2.0

2011 Rome

Taylor walked out of another Church, leaving behind another body. This time the priest inside was left on the floor. Once again blood was used to write Buddhist sutras all over the floor.

She'd been at this for awhile and the locals had already noticed. The authorities were notified of "Buddhist Terrorist activities" and now the police were out in force.

Christians began to look at the few Buddhists in Rome fearfully- a sentiment that was always around, but now that violence has happened, it directly destroyed any efforts the New Dharmic Authorities had attempted to convert the Italians.

For her next trick, she'll need to be more subtle.

In the catacombs, a conspiracy of Christian leaders was occurring. Cardinal Mazarin was heading the meeting. He nodded to Alexander Galilei, a fellow priest and Max Anders, a Christian- and he used that term loosely- from Europe.

Max Anders was the major leader of one of the prime radical Christian movements in Europe. Some have called him a terrorist.

Well, they're not wrong.

The Cardinal was extremely uncomfortable working with such men, but Christendom was at risk and the Pope refused to see reason.

Pacifism can only get them so far.

"...and so, I think if we strike Istanbul- I mean Constantinople- we can recover a strategic advantage…there are a lot of heathens there and so the Dharmapalas will hesitate to act against us..."

Alexander snorted.

"Please Mr. Anders, let's not talk of strategy. Suicide bombing is not strategy!"

Max growled and rebuked the priest.

"They're proud martyrs who died for God and they are in Heaven now enjoying his bounties and blessings."

"Does that include the Nazis? Because I am pretty sure Nazis belong in Hell."

"How dare you besmirch our honourable soldiers? Their….backgrounds may be questionable, but their faith is pure."

Alexander did not look convinced.

Mazarin held up a hand, "Peace, peace! We are among friends, are we not?"

Suddenly another priest ran into the room, he bowed to Mazarin, "Your grace, the police are out in force. The city gates are shutting down."

"What!?"

Max began to panicking, "Surely they do not know that my men and I are here in Rome?"

The priest shook his head, "No. There has been murders. Priests slaughtered in their churches and their blood and entrails were used to write pagan scripts. People are scared and are blaming the Buddhists."

Max barked a laughter, "The heathens show their true colours!"

He paused, then smiled wickedly.

"Why, that will serve our cause just fine. Be sure there are photos so we can distribute them in Germany, drum up some outrage all over Europe, get more recruits!"

Alexander was unconvinced however.

"You idiot, this isn't their style. The heathens wouldn't try a takeover in a such a fashion, it's bad publicity. They're smarter than that. I think someone is behind this."

The Cardinal nodded his head in agreement- it was too blunt for the heathens, however, another possibility occurred to him.

"Perhaps this is the work of a lone fanatic?"

"Possibly."

"Doesn't matter," Max cut in, "We will use this to our advantage nonetheless."

He pointed at the priest who delivered the news, "You, go tell my men that I want them photographing and taping the crime scenes. Tell them where the murders took place."

The priest looked at Mazarin and the Cardinal nodded his head, giving him permission. He took off.

Mazarin turned back to the other two men, "Alexander, you should prepare to head back South America, I-"

There was a sudden burst of light and a man appeared in front of them, palms outwards.

Mazarin's eyes popped out and he sank to his knees, while muttering prayers. Alexander followed suit. Max Anders hesitated, but like the others he also knelt, blinking his eyes in disbelief.

The Lord was standing before them. His voice was heavenly. Peace and love flowed from the Son of God in front of them.

"My friends, my fellow Christians, my true servants- though I disagree with your methods, I acknowledge that Christianity itself is under threat."

Jesus went over and held the hands of the crying Mazarin.

"It is time to call a crusade."

Mazarin nodded.

"Organize the people of the city, make them rebel. I will aid you- the power of Heaven itself will guide you. Millions of Angels will descend upon Rome this night and lay low that spawn of Satan, Vairocana. This I promise."

Mazarin could only nod in gratitude.

Max was vibrating with religious zeal at hearing the word crusade.

"But how shall I convince the Pope?"

Jesus stroked the Cardinal's cheek, "The Pope is a good man, I will go to him myself- I will go to all of them. There will be no doubt that this war is the will of God!"

Jesus took a step back and vanished.

The light dimmed and disappeared.

The feelings of love and peace faded and Mazarin only felt the emptiness inside- and yet there was a spark of burning vibrant faith.

He stood up on shaking knees and glanced around him. Alexander had his entire body kowtowed and he was praying.

Max Anders stood up and threw his arms into the sky and gave a mighty roar, "Deus Vult!"

"Deus Vult!" Mazarin followed suit.

Even Alexander managed a "Deus Vult!" in his shocked state on the ground.

All over Rome the miracle repeated. Christ himself stepped into Churches, homes, businesses and even the hideouts of terrorist cells.

"Deus Vult!"

"Deus Vult!"

"Deus Vult!"

The cry went up all over the city. The fire of zeal of glory gripped the heart of Europe.

Jesus scowled in disgust as he walked into the heart of the Vatican. Up ahead was the Apostolic Palace, and the residence of the Pope.

"And those idiots seriously think Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, is a white man with blue eyes and blond hair?"

He skipped up the steps and waltzed into the building.

In a few minutes he had found the man he was searching for, the pulse of the Pope's feelings and senses glowing bright to his senses.

Jesus grinned and smiled at the Pope who was writing a document in his office. The man glanced up and glanced back down- then glanced back up again, eyes wide.

"Pope Peter II."

"Wha-"

"The Hour is now."

The Pope, the one many had called Petrus Romanus due to their belief that the end times was upon Catholicism, slowly stood up, knees shaking at the auras of holiness and love that Jesus was emanating.

He hesitatingly greeted the resurrected Messiah.

"My Lord?"

Jesus smiled and walked closer.

"Yes, fear not my son. Those heathens will oppress the sheep no longer, for I have come to shepherd the kingdom of men to salvation-"

The Pope thought about it, then frowned suspiciously at his Saviour. Jesus could see the lights of his nervous system lighting up and the synapses firing in his brain.

Shit.

"You're not Jesus are you?"

Jesus laughed, then frowned at Peter, his face severe and no longer quite so serene. The aura of the room became more intense, more fearful.

"I did not take you for one who doubts."

Jesus stalked forward and glared at the Pope.

"Or perhaps your pride and arrogance has gotten to your head. How can I be surprised? You call yourself Peter II, a name no other Pope of the Holy See in history has dared adopt out of respect to Saint Peter, my disciple."

The Pope flinched and clutched his heart.

"I see I was right, you-"

The Pope held up a hand.

"Why are you so...white? And have blue eyes and blond hair? Do you take me for an idiot that thinks Jesus is some kind of Nazi poster boy?"

He stared at Jesus unflinchingly, struggling to breath through his terror.

"You must be Satan."

Jesus sighed and the illusion fell away in a flash of light. In the place of the Lord, there now stood a handsome young man, dark of hair and with scarlet eyes.

He grinned.

"Yes Peter. How astute. You are certainly wiser than the other gullible Christians on the streets. Even now they are rallying together for a crusade and when they do, the forces of the heathens- my secret worshipers- will annihilate them."

The Pope paled and gasped.

"So it's true… the New Dharma is nothing more than a lie instigated by your Hellish lies. Damn you, Lucifer!"

The Devil laughed and then suddenly transformed into a naked woman.

The busty beauty grabbed the pope and kissed him, "Do you like that?"

The Pope pulled away and scowled, "I am gay."

There was an awkward pause.

"Of course"

Satan then transformed into a tall nude man. He flexed his muscles and grinned.

"I can give you what you want, what God has denied you-"

The Pope sighed and shook his head, "Lucifer, I am seventy-two. I've lived my entire life free of the sins of my biological nature and have dedicated myself to god. You cannot seduce me. My life is in the hands of the Lord."

Satan looked impressed and admitted as much, "I admit you are not what I had assumed."

The Pope smiled and replied, "Now if you're done with your silly games, I need to go tell my people to cease this foolishness before they get us all killed."

Satan held up one finger.

"Ah, just one problem with that-"

He grinned and became a much shorter Taylor Hebert, who raised a pistol.

"-I am not Satan."

She shot the Pope in the chest and the man collapsed back on his chair, coughing up blood. Red rapidly spread over his white shirt.

Taylor stared at the Pope, smiling sadly.

"It's nothing personal, your holiness. It's just fate. We can't escape from it."

She watched the old man breathed his last and she closed his eyes. He deserved that much at least, if only because she was born and baptized during his reign.

An aide walked into the room, gasped and dropped the books he was carrying.

"Your Holiness!"

The aide ran past Taylor, blind to her existence and began to check for a pulse. He pulled out a mobile phone and to call for help.

Taylor turned around and left, walking past the crowd of priests that began to run towards the Pope's office as shouting and cries drew more attention.

She pickpocketed a nearby priest's mobile phone as he ran past and dialed a number.

"Hello Tess, Operation Tenth Crusade is a go."

Tess's voice was full of doubt as she questioned her, "Taylor...this...this will be a war like no other. Are you sure?"

"Just fucking do it! Do you want to be free or not?"

She hung up on Tess and tossed the phone.

Taylor spread her arms out in exultation as the screams of ten thousand past lives roared in approval at the onset of the Apocalypse.

She abandoned her current body and the burnt corpse of a male priest hit the pavement, body smoking.

2.1

1957 Afghanistan

The tanks were arranged in a neat row. T-34s and some of the Middle-East's best. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet Soldiers, Mujahideens, Jihadis and the Arab Liberation Front forces were amassing their forces near the Afghan border.

The Dharmapalas were going to come, they know this.

General Muhammadu Jaladin were examining the map at the makeshift command tend. He turned to an aid, "Are the British committing their forces or not?"

"They're staying out of this one- but we have promises of supplies. Last report was that they're abandoning their African colonies. Each of the former colonies are entering compromises with the Dharmic forces- smart of them, avoiding open war."

Muhammad grunted, "We can't do that unfortunately. We must go to the war because death is better than letting the heathens rule over us."

He gestured to the Russians soldiers hanging around next to their Arab compatriots.

"We are even working with the godless communists on this. That's how desperate we are."

His aide frowned, "Do you think we can win? No one has brought down the Dharmapalas. Stalin still hasn't won."

Stalin was marshalling his forces in Moscow. Hopefully they could repel the invasion there.

There was shouts.

Muhammad left the tent and hollered.

"What in God's name is going on!?"

"Enemy forces spotted!"

Over the desert the strange vehicles of the enemy skimmed over the top of the dunes and down the sands, forward mounted machine guns began to fire.

"I want artillery on those Vahanas!"

One of the Vahanas, a metallic construct spewing fire from behind it rocketed ahead of the others and launched missiles at their ranks.

T-34s explode.

Muhammad roared and clambered up his tank. He roared at the operators.

"Get me closer! Allahu Akbar!"

The poundings of shells began to echo across the battlefield and soviet and Arab soldiers roared and began to form firing teams.

2003 Brockton Bay

The teacher continued lecturing.

"One of the prime contributors to the decline of Islam as a major religion was the Middle-East pacification campaign lead by the Dharmic forces. TheDharma-Yuddha was a global conflict that immediately followed the conclusion of the Second World War. It begun initially as a Sino-Tibetan War, but quickly evolved into a Russo-Tibetan War as well. The USSR was hard pressed to go on the offensive because the Dharmapalas pressed them so hard. India eventually came onboard, many sympathetic to the causes of the gods. Colonial and Western influences were quickly repelled, we had nearly no negotiating power whatsoever, Tibetan diplomats could demand almost whatever they wanted and they would have it."

He paused.

"In truth, the opinion of the Western Countries was to avoid war with Tibet at all costs. Our willingness to negotiate and surrender our colonial holdings or occupied former German territories, was what allowed us to remain free. We were converted, rather than conquered."

A hand went up.

"Yes, Taylor?"

"Was it justified though? So many people died in China and Russia and then later on the Middle-East, and it kept escalating. For that matter, why didn't North America join on it the conflict or Europe?"

"The Dharmapalas did try to limit their attacks to military and government targets. In China and Russia's case, it was a clear case of self-defense. China was invading Tibet and when war broke out, Stalin moved to protect his Chinese allies. The Communist brought this on themselves. They somehow solicited the cooperation of some of the Arab countries for religious reasons- Europe was left out of it mostly because we were still recovering from the war and the USA and Canada have no wish whatsoever to step foot into another major war so soon. That was what saved us."

Another hand went up, "Was normal soldiers ever involved on the Tibetan side?"

"Not at first. But by the time the New Dharmic Authorities, that is to say, the alliance of governments covering Tibet, India, China and the occupied territories was formed, they did draft soldiers from the secular elements of society. Most of these were career soldiers who just wanted to be paid- essentially mercenaries. The more religious members of society were allowed to claim pacifism and were left out. They were mostly used as quick strike regiments to raid enemy outposts across borders and scout. The Dharmapalas moved around rather slowly and were primarily used to lay siege to cities or break up large gathering of soldiers. The regiments then picked off the scattered forces."

He glanced at his watch

"Alright, I think it's almost time to pack up- yes Taylor?"

"What about Japan? What happened to it? Weren't we occupying it?"

"I am glad you asked. It wasn't part of the Dharma-Yuddhabecause we just handed it over to Tibet when they came knocking. It lead to a resurgence of Buddhism after decades of suppression by the State. The Japanese Government had supported State Shintoism for a long time and Buddhism was somewhat de-emphasized as a result. It came back, and was changed to match the new Truths being taught by the Bodhisattva Supreme."

The bell.

"Well would you look at that, class is over! Pack up and get lost!"

Students grabbed their bags and high tailed it out of there.

Taylor turned to the teacher, "I still have so many questions."

The teacher laughed and went to one of the books on the shelf. He handed her the book.

"This is a historical book on the Dharma-Yuddha in detail. It's a bit beyond your age group's reading level, but I think you'll do fine."

Taylor thanked her teacher and left.

1957 Afghanistan

The sands were turned into glass as esoteric energies were unleashed.

A nearby tank careened into a Vahana and the two vehicles exploded in a pyrotechnic display that lit up the night.

Muhammad spat out blood as he struggled to climb out of the wreckage of the tank, pushing aside a dead Mujahideen.

He stumbled a couple feet and ripped a rocket launcher from the hands of a dead Soviet.

He aimed at another Vahana heading right towards him.

"Fuck you and your demon gods!'

He fired and blasted open the left side of the incoming vehicle, forcing it careen to the side and crash next to a Dune.

A figure crawled out of that wreckage. He was a monk dressed in a orange robe. In his hand was a brass staff.

The Monk suddenly leapt into the air, orange fire scattering the air beneath him. He landed in front of Muhammad and knocked the rocket launcher out of his hands.

The General cursed and grabbed a sidearm. He fired and the monk dodged.

The Monk twirled the staff and tried to strike his sternum.

The General ducked underneath the staff thrust and unloaded the rest of his ammunition into the gut of the enemy.

The monk died.

There were screams of terror. A glow lit up the desert.

Muhammad glanced up and witness the cloud covers breaking as Vairocana descended. The four faced deity drew his sword and pointed it at the ground.

Energy began to gather around the tip of the blade into a swirling vortex.

Muhammad prayed.

The world was bathed in fire. The discharge of energy carved the very earth itself creating a massive crater and gouged a channel across the sands, glass and steam was left in its wake.

---

2.2

[MEDIA=youtube]HMMHnZc54e8[/MEDIA]

1991 Hong Kong

Kenta stood in a row next to hundreds of other men. Their heads were shaved and their torso exposed to the elements. He felt somewhat self-conscious about the Yakuza tattoos, but at least they didn't ask questions when he got accepted into the school. He felt the cold breeze blew over the waves chilled him to the bone- but he gritted his teeth and endured it.

He must endure it, because he had nothing to go back to. This was the end of the line. The last chance to turn his life around. To make something of himself.

Master Lee cracked his neck and smirked. The damnably good looking martial artist began to hop on one feet and then the other in excitement.

"Alright you young grasshoppers-"

There was a couple of groans at the stereotypical Kung-fu movie line.

"-catch up if you can!"

The Master of Martial Arts began to jog across the beach like a speeding rabbit and with a mighty roar, his students followed, trying to catch up with their teacher.

The Japanese-Chinese youth took shallow breaths as his foot pounded the wet sand.

I can do this. I can do this.

Kenta's lungs burned as he struggled to keep up with the draconian pace of the training.

Master Lee leapt across the ditch dug into the ground. Students hop after him. Several fell into the ditch and tripped those who were coming in too fast from behind. There was a lot of swearing.

Many try to search for a way around the ditch, but they were wasting their time.

Kenta step onto the naked back of another man and used him to leap across the ditch and landed on the opposite side. Ahead of him were half a hundred other students.

I can do this!

With a mighty roar, the youth charged after Bruce Lee.

I will surpass the legend!

1971 San Francisco

Bruce Lee did a split between two tree stumps. And flexed his muscles. Sweat dripped down his tanned pecs. He shouted the tagline.

"-With my specialized training program, you too can be as strong as Bruce Lee!"

He gestured to himself with his thumb and flashed the camera a grin.

Watching from the sidelines, a female manager of the advertising firm contracted to run the campaign fanned herself. Her co-worker, Charles gripped her arm and chuckled.

"Snap out of it Katherine, the man's happily married. Besides, he's Asian, that's kind of awkward- except for his wife apparently. But yeah, gutsy of her."

Katherine looked at him incredulously, "Really? Because in case you haven't noticed, our new overlords are apparently all Asian. Hell, I started buying rice exclusively for the past year."

Charles coughed, "I eat out. Dim-sum place I know."

He suddenly smiled, "Hey, I can take you out!"

The woman smirked, "Ah, but you're black. By your logic, isn't this awkward as well?"

"This ain't Virginia. New era you know, the Asians are running everything now and now the Indians are coming in too. Dr. King is getting all kinds of support from the New Dharmic Authorities despite the religious differences. He speaks well of the Buddhists."

"I think he's just thankful the monks foiled the assassination attempt on him. But I still ain't going out with you, nothing wrong with your skin colour, although slightly hard for a Virginian gal like me to stomach- unless you got pecs that good. Then maybe my mom would understand."

She pointed at Bruce Lee for emphasis.

Charles snapped his figures and gestured for the crew to start packing up their equipments. He turned to Katherine.

"Damn. Was worth a try. Hell, I'll take them kung-fu lessons and get me some pecs then."

"You do that Charles. I am going to go talk to the client."

Charles raised an eyebrow.

Katherine scowled, "Professionallytalk to the client."

The white woman turned around and marched towards Bruce Lee.

Never been this close to a major movie-star before.

"Mr. Lee, I think we're done with all the shooting for today."

He stretched and flip into the air before landing with both feet on the ground.

"Yes, yes."

She frowned, "Remind me again, why is a famous man like you filming commercials for your kung fu school?"

Bruce grabbed a bottle of water offered by a nearby film crewmember and chugged it down.

"Well you see... Jameson was it?"

"Yes, Katherine Jameson."

"Well, Katherine, ever since Asia decided to move everything to my turf, business has been slow. All those temples teaching Buddhist philosophy and special powers are attracting record number of students- which is great, make no mistake, but it makes it a bit tougher to compete with."

He sat down on a nearby chair and sighed sadly.

"Truth is, I don't want my legacy to be forgotten. I developed Jeet Kune Do as the essence of my philosophy and martial arts expertise. Now it's been overshadowed by...all of this."

He gestured to the Temple looming across the San Francisco skyline.

"I am not complaining. It's good to see the racism go down and Asian culture being more accepted. But I fought for it to be accepted. I pioneered the acceptance of Chinese culture in America. My achievements...I am afraid people might forget. I sacrificed a lot to get to where I am."

Katherine nodded. She kind of understood that. She pushed her glasses up.

"Well Mr. Lee, you don't have to worry about that. Our Agency will make sure this commercial attracts customers from all over the world. We're worth every penny."

He chuckled.

1972 San Francisco

The female martial arts master kicked Bruce's leg from out underneath him with a devastating swipe. Bruce grunted in pain.

She was also known in some circles as Crane the Harmonious and regarded as the most skilled Martial Artist in the world. Today she is demonstrating why.

"Pathetic. Your Jeet-Kune-Do is pathetic. How do you even keep this school open?"

Bruce grunted and climbed back up to his feet, while spitting out blood.

A knee was driven up into his throat and the Chinese man was tossed several feet away hitting the concrete of the warehouse with a thud.

Linda screamed, "Bruce!"

Bruce Lee glanced at the face of his worried wife who was standing next to a group of his students and friends.

Even Chuck Norris was there. He gave Bruce a thumbs up and shouted, "You can do it Bruce!"

Bruce tried.

He really did.

His arms snapped and he was flipped onto his back, blood gushing out of his mouth.

Through his hazy hearing and severe migraine, he could hear that Linda was begging him to stop fighting.

Linda. That's right, I have kids. Can't die here.

He climbed back up onto his feet. He went through the fight in his head, every jab, every kick, every feint- she was so goddamned fast, predicting his every move, punishing every opening….waita the minute. Suddenly Bruce Lee saw it. The key moment when everything clicked together. He grasped the motions, the movements. He understood what Crane was trying to teach him.

He remembered.

He looked down at his palms as if seeing them for the first time. Alien martial arts filtered through his mind. He saw kung fu that involved tentacles and tails, claws and additional limbs. He grasped the theories and equations.

He saw all of his flaws perfectly. He looked up and she stood there, smiling at him.

"Now, you have learned."

She turned to address Bruce's students, who had horrified looks on their face as they watched their teacher and idol get pummeled black and blue for the past ten minutes.

"Your teacher is now worthy to teach you."

She glanced at Bruce.

"I trust Mr. Lee, that you will immediately correct all shortcomings with Jeet-Kune-Do. Don't let me down."

Bruce bowed, "Yes Master Crane."

She walked away, her robes as immaculate as when she first started the fight, leaving behind a stunned audience and one enlightened student.

Linda walked over and looked at her husband, "What the fuck was that?"

His swelling eyes searched her blue one and smiled.

"Enlightenment Linda. I finally found it."

Chuck Norris wandered over and laughed.

"Enlightenment or no, you look like hell, Bruce. Let's get you to the hospital."

1991 Hong Kong

Kenta roared and blocked Master Lee's lightning fast jabs, he felt the ground slide away from him as he was flipped around and slammed down onto the ground.

"Faster!"

Kenta snarled and tried to punch his teacher, but the man slapped it away.

"Again! Come on Kenta, too slow!"

Another punch.

Another parry.

Bruce Lee stood back suddenly and shook his head.

"You're not cut out for this Kenta. You're too full of rage, full of pride and expectations. You can't learn if you don't want to live. You can't awaken if you don't want to analyze the motions and intentions, if you don't know whyyou're doing something. "

"But-"

"Leave Kenta. It's been six months. You don't have what it takes."

The young man snarled at Bruce, turned and ran away.

Bruce turned back to the other students who were watching the drama unfold.

"What you're all waiting for? Get back to work!"

Roars of "hiyaaa!" once more fill the sky.

---

2.3

1998 Brockton Bay

Five year old Taylor Hebert opened the door to her mother's study. It was dark and quiet, her dad was doubtlessly asleep already. The woman was gazing intently at the book in her hands and taking notes underneath the glow of her reading light.

"Mom?"

Annette looked up owlishly and blinked, "Tay-tay? What's the matter? Why aren't you asleep?"

Taylor walked over and hugged her mom, a gesture that was immediately reciprocated.

"Mom, I can't sleep."

Her mother picked her up and sat her on her lap.

"Well you can stay here with me for awhile longer. You're lucky that tomorrow is the weekend, otherwise you'd be in big trouble."

Taylor pointed at the barely decipherable scribbles that her mother was reading.

"What's that?"

"It's Sanskrit. You'll learn it and Pali soon in grade school. New curriculums and all that, they want all of the boys and girls to grow up speaking the most important international languages."

"Is it like Spanish?"

"Well...more or less. I think they took Spanish off the curriculum though."

"Can you teach me?"

Annette pointed at one of the characters.

"That's Maha. It means 'great' or 'big'. It's often a prefix to words. For example, yugameans cycle, so a Maha-Yugameans 'great cycle'."

Taylor nodded, "I get it."

Annette had no doubt at all that her baby girl understood. She was incredibly gifted.

Something caught her Little-Owl's eyes and Taylor pointed at another book lying on her desk. It was opened to a page with a beautiful looking illustration of a deity.

"What's that? He looks so pretty. Is he a princess?"

Annette laughed and grabbed the book, showing Taylor the elvish being, sitting atop an elephant, crowned in royal regalia.

"That's King Mara."

"Who's that?"

"Our warden. The prison of the six senses is his domain. Let me explain, the world as we know is made up of sight, touch, smell, taste…"

She talked and talked until Taylor fell asleep in her laps. Annette didn't carry her to her room. She rather liked this, so she continued to read, translating the ancient sanskrit into her own words.

A shadow stepped out of the corner of the room.

"Annette."

"Mara."

A pause.

"It's time."

She nodded and carried Taylor to her room.

She walked back to her study and locked the door.

"Who am I killing this time?"

"Not killing. We're raiding a Divine Treasure Vault and liberating a dangerous demon."

Annette could feel her nerves on fire as Mara's spirit possessed her, entering her third chakra and spreading out throughout her body.

In her own mind, Mara whispered the name of the demon.

"The Dragon King of the North Sea."

Annette raised two hands and tore open a tear in space and time and with a mighty yell leapt through.

She appeared in a world of ice and crystals.

Around her a sleeping god lied, mountains of crystalline flesh glowing under the red sun.

She looked around in wonder and pondered why such a prison was built.

"When the Bodhisattva Supreme arrived, she locked unnecessary spirits away- the ones that were not needed for the cycle. Where this thing awake, it would be what the Dharmic Authorities refer to as a Dharma Body-that is to say, the true form of the Bodhisattvas and Tulkus."

Mara's apparition appeared out of the corner of her eye.

"We must hurry, before we are noticed."

Annette nodded and began to trek through the living continent she was stepping over. She instinctively recognized tell-tale signs of divine architecture and successfully began to walk towards the core.

She pointed at a pillar of crystals.

"That's the auxiliary possession array. Which means the Origin Energy spring should be nearby."

Being the avatar of Mara was useful, there was a lot she didn't understand, but she always knew just enough to get the job done.

The core was the size of Mount Everest, it pierced the heavens and shone with a golden brilliance lit from within.

Annette reached out and began to penetrate the sleeping god's mind.

"I am in."

Mara nodded and then formed a mudra with his hands.

"I will now link this spirit to the host we've previously picked out."

"Andrew Richter right? Why him?"

"I have plans."

"Wouldn't the Bodhisattva Supreme notice though? Killing potential hosts is one thing. Awakening someone outside her control is going to immediately bring us to her attention."

"I affirm very strongly right now that one of the first things we will do when The Dragon King is manifested and under our control is to blanket the timestream with tachyon particles to blind any precogs that could look this far ahead. Do you agree? "

Annette nodded her head.

"I agree."

Mara smiled, "Great, now that we both avow to do so, that should establish a stable time loop."

"But how…you know what, never mind."

"We won't be able to stop her from trying to simulate the future, but fortunately, I am quite unpredictable to simulations."

She had her doubts that anything could outmaneuver the most powerful being on the planet, but she didn't really have a choice. She alone knew the truth and she must see this through.

The Devil lowered his arms and sighed.

"It is done. Andrew Richter is awakened now. Furthermore, I have blocked any of the imprints from his previous lives. With the right push, he'll quickly conform to the psychometry desired for our plan."

"Great. I don't want to get caught by Yama, let's get out of here!"

Mara agreed.

"Yes, getting caught by the Lord of the Underworld would be bad. His time loops are far from pleasant."

2008 Brockton Bay

Annette accelerated her single-person Vahana up the highway. Police sirens high behind her.

In her skintight bodysuit and her dark helmet, few would have believed she was woman nearing her middle-years.

She slowed as she came behind a traffic jam. She zigged and zagged through the swarm of vehicles as the police vehicles behind her slowed, unable to get pass.

However, she noticed orange flashes in her peripheral vision.

Mara floated next to her, frowning at them.

"Monks. Some kind of super mobility power."

She tilted her head and saw the monks leaping from car to car, a few carried staffs and vajras. She flinched when a bolt of bright lightning streamed past her, inches from her face.

She popped off a few shots with her Uzi and struck down a monk as he was in midair. He collapsed beneath the moving traffic and was probably crushed.

Suddenly everything greyed out. And every vehicle and sound came to a total silence.

Mara swore.

"Shit! Dimensional fold."

A Dharmapala was suddenly above them, his fierce visage locked in a grim scream of vengeance.

"Yama."

Thanks Mara. That wasn't helpful.

"I can hear your thoughts you know."

Annette rode her Vahana up the rails and off the highway and onto the street below. In her head, she calculated the equations perfectly to make a safe landing.

It still hurt her bum like a bitch though.

"How the hell did he find me?"

"He must have locked onto your temporal-spatial signature."

The Devil sighed, "Dammit, he's starting to separate the timelines. Annette, you're going to be existing in multiple timelines at once, this is because of the unique nature of your powers interacting with Yama. Do try and survive."

"Fuck you Mara, you got me into this mess, get me out of it!"

"I will. I am going to have to jump to a secondary host and effect a rescue from real space. It might take a few years, but for you it won't be quite so long."

"Can't you emanate and stick with me?"

"I can't emanate. I am fundamentally different from the other Shards."

"Oh right. That."

Mara looked apologetic, seemed to hesitate with something, but then decided to tell his host anyway.

"This secondary host will most likely be your daughter due to the genetic and psychological similarities-"

"No! Leave Taylor out of this!"

"I am just stating the most likely possibility. And as she is not the prime host, I am afraid I won't be able to keep back the memories of the past Maras- you know, the really crazy ones that are screaming for blood? Yeah. I am sorry."

And then Mara was gone. The fucking bastard just up and left.

And it was just Annette on a speeding Vahana with a Dharmapala out to kill her.

Fuck.

Her awareness began to splinter as she simultaneously existed in six thousand separate timelines.

Six thousand Vahanas careened off in many directions in each timeline. Several exploded due to crashing into an obstacle or a car.

Somehow her ability to multi-task was not interrupted, retaining maximum mental cognitive ability in each timeline. However, in several of the timelines, she was immediately killed.

Quantum superposition?

Another instance of Annette agreed with that assessment.

Even if she survived, she'll still die. And she experience all the ways she could die, would die, should've died.

She thundered across the Boardwalk as frozen civilians stood like idiots, unchanging. In real space they would've continued their lives- but who know when that was?

Yama's voice rolled across the grey multiverse pocket like thunder.

"Welcome to Hell."

That was when the Pretas began to crawl out of the back of several of the frozen people and skittered after her.

"Fucking hell! So that's where they sent the buggers to after Ellisburg."

There was several dozen at first, but as Annette swerved the corner and over a car, a couple thousand of the goblin looking monsters screeched at her.

Her Vahana squished several as she sped past, leaving behind a trail of blood and splattered organs. She held up her gun and pointed it at Yama.

"I am not stuck in here with you. You're stuck in here with me."

She fired her Uzi. Each bullet took a Preta in the eye.

And then she was killed when several Preta mobbed her. That Annette screamed and was eaten alive in minutes.

But thousands of other Annettes continued.

Yama frowned and spoke, "Why are you not suffering?"

Gods, he sound so simple-minded. Like a spoilt child.

Annette didn't care to answer as she used the other Annettes' misfires to help calibrate her shot in this timeline. The Preta she was aiming for exploded.

Will I have enough bullets?

She glanced at the duffle bag tucked into the compartment behind her Vahana.

They'll have to do.

Remembering where an old gun store used to be out in Boston, she turned in that direction.

She flick a switch on her vehicle and with a pulse of power, the built-in alcubierre drive came online and accelerated to several times the speed of light.

The army of monsters behind her was annihilated as space and time warped and nuclear fire left a good chunk of the city destroyed.

Fortunately real space was unaffected, except for a minor crack in the pavement.

Annette Rose Hebert VS Hell! Fuck yeah, I am hardcore.

The adrenaline was really getting to her.

She glared at the ever-present Yama and gave him the bird.

"HOW!?"

Because I can coordinate with all of my alternate selves. Something your normal victims can't do and so they just die a million different ways in an endless time loop.

Outloud she said, "I am an English Professor."

Real Space

A woman humming along to her radio suddenly screamed as her features began to bubble. Her skin warped and she grew several inches taller. And then she resembled Annette.

She looked at her own hand.

"Well, that's close enough. DNA is a perfect match as well."

Temporarily jacking into the Lifeshaper's powers was useful.

She disconnected the power and parked the car in an inconspicuous place. Getting out, she hurriedly walked two blocks over and entered Annette's parked car, disabling the lock with a push of another stolen power.

She drove her vehicle all the way to downtown and grabbed her mobile phone from a nearby compartment.

First, she texted Danny to let him know she was coming home soon, with hints that she was looking forward to an amorous evening. Then she texted Taylor, telling her that she loves her and that the Bodhisattva Supreme will protect everyone she loves.

Annette smirked. Yes, that'll certainly make her more susceptible. Tell her that the imaginary gods will protect them, then kill her mother. Make her doubt. Make her question everything.

Give it a few years to warp her perceptions as she feels betrayed by everything and she'd be the perfect host.

And then they would rescue Annette and bring ruin to this entire house of cards.

So Mara might have done something a bit underhanded, but it was for Annette's own good. Mara in the body that was altered to look like Annette's allowed her vehicle to roll into the intersection on a red light.

She died immediately as the oncoming Truck rammed into the smaller vehicle and crushed the driver's seat.

Several miles away, a red-haired girl woke up with red eyes and a manic grin.

---

2.4

1981

"The story goes of course, that two travelers were wandering in the desert, a Man and a Woman. They were spiritual cultivators seeking Enlightenment. They have not eaten for many years and were starving, only remaining alive by sacrificing their vault of origin energy."

Pathfinder nodded her head. She wrapped her kasaya around herself at the biting cold and followed demurely behind the Bodhisattva Supreme as they walked across the bridge towards the temple adjacent the sanctum.

"One day, on the brink of collapse, a Traveler came upon them. The Traveler greeted them happily and offered to share what little food they have in exchange for spiritual knowledge, for this traveler too was a seeker of the path- a superior one. This Traveler was beautiful and young, her spiritual purity granting her longevity and youth, her wisdom unsurpassed, her eyes bright with purpose."

Dhyana paused and leaned over the ropes serving as the railings of the bridge. She gazed out at the snowstorm brewing in the valleys below.

"The Man and the Woman were greedy however. They attacked the traveler. The Man raped her and stole her yuanqi, her pure prenatal Prana brimming with energy- then they murdered her and ate her flesh. The Traveler died cursing them."

Dhyana smiled.

"The Man then slept with the Woman and shared with her that same stolen Prana. But karma cannot be escaped and too late did they realize that the Traveler carried within her a deadly disease. The man woke up in the night, sick and screaming as the ghost of the Traveler tore him apart from within his belly where her rotten flesh refused to be digested. He died painfully. Only the woman was left and she ran and ran, across the trichiliocosm. She has been running, escaping from the Traveler's shade ever since."

Pathfinder was silent, enraptured by the story that was at once both familiar and foreign.

"The Woman has ever been fleeing this terror. Even after she gained enlightenment, this disease of the mind followed her, it is in her very own energy, as close to her as her shadow. She was this close-"

Dhyana held up her index finger and her thumb, only an inch apart.

"-she was this close to attaining the Grand Solution. She could have saved the multiverse. And yet she had to destroy all of her research. She had to regularly excise parts of her own mind. She had to decentralize her power and her memories to stall the spread of the disease that attacked mercilessly any part of her."

Pathfinder dared ask, "What was this disease?"

"Hate."

The Bodhisattva Supreme gestured at the chamber they were in.

"Hate is relentless. It has no purpose but to destroy, to break down, to pull back freedom and sink it into a deep dark pit."

She held two hands and looked at them.

"Everything we built, Hate destroys. It is the cousin to Death."

"The Dark of night," Pathfinder muttered, the ancient words coming to her, "The silence of nothing."

Dhyana nodded.

"Avici Hell, from whence there is no escape except the liberation of total annihilation."

Pathfinder frowned at her Master.

"Will you go to that Hell?"

It wasn't a question.

"I am living it."

"I don't understand."

Dhyana patted Pathfinder on the cheeks and gave her a sad smile.

"You only need to play your part Pathfinder. Soon, all debts will be paid and I will be free."

She pointed at murals painted and engraved on the wall. It showed numerous sentient beings suffering in burning cauldrons and several being eviscerated by blades the size of mountains.

"The Hells that Yama devised are only imitations of my suffering. They impart a fraction of the pain I feel every moment to the masses."

"Why?"

"The Right Path demands it."

Pathfinder understood the Path. The Path was all that Pathfinder had ever understood. But she in all of the millions of kalpas never really grasped the why.

"You've betrayed me you know."

Pathfinder blinked, her mind uncomprehending what the Bodhisattva Supreme was implying.

"You don't remember because I had to terminate those memories to prevent your permanent destruction. But you have. Everyone has. Every single Bodhisattva is secretly my enemy at any given moment. You are all corrupt. You are all damned. I work so hard to save you, to save all of us, but it's never enough."

Dhyana grabbed Pathfinder by the shoulders, her eyes hard and filled with grief.

"Kalpa after kalpa, trying to attain the Grand Solution yet failing. Every three steps forward is one steps back. My very own flesh and blood trying to act against me at any time. I am sick of it all."

She turned her head and Pathfinder raised her Yantric blade, ready to plunge it into Dhayana's core.

I am betraying her. Why am I betraying her.

Pathfinder did not understand why. She only knew what happened next as Dhyana turned intangible to avoid her stab then returned to reality.

Pathfinder was disarmed and her shoulders dislocated immediately.

"Ah, see what I mean?"

The Bodhisattva grabbed her by the head and stabbed her fingertips into her flesh. Pathfinder whimpered in pain.

"I am truly sick of this. Every couple of years, you try to kill me. How corrupt is your soul I wonder?"

Pathfinder felt her memories being torn out of her, she gasped in pain and then she died.

She opened her eyes and saw the world as a tinge of orange. She was in some kind of a gelatinous sac.

Who am I?

The flesh like sac she was in burst open and she was thrown onto the cold steel floor alongside the blood like liquid that washed everywhere. Coughing and gasping, she looked up and saw rows upon rows of sacs, attached to strange cables.

Other people were being released from their prison.

All of them were naked and had strange black lines crisscrossing every part of their body. She glanced down at her naked form and saw the same tattoos covering her frame.

Why am I here?

A machine turned towards her, its mechanical frame in the shape of some horned beast.

"Clone#0386CV. Prepare for purification."

She was grabbed and carried away by the demon.

She was strapped down onto a table.

The demon held up a saw coated in fire and began to speak, reciting scripture.

"Kālasūtra,also known as the Black Threads Hell is a realm where the beings are born with crisscrossing black lines drawn on their bodies. These act as guides where the fiery blades of hell-guardians cut alongside of, reducing the being into little more than a pile of goo. In addition, death is not permanent and the being is revived only to be tortured again. Thanks to the power of Yama, time is eternal here. Please ruminate upon your sins."

It stabbed her and she screamed in pain and horror.

And in that moment, she remembered who she was.

My name is May and I was Pathfinder.

"Please stop! Aaaaagh!"

The demon ignored her, machine that it was, incapable of feelings and emotions. It began to sing a religious song.

"No suffering, no pain. No right and no wrong. Just freedom…"

Fortuna the newly minted Pathfinder and Dhyana entered another chamber. Rows of monks bowed.

One of them presented the girl to her, she was dressed in a uniform that was typical for British school girls.

The waif of a girl trembled. Pathfinder noted that she couldn't be older than nineteen, maybe twenty.

Dhyana smiled at the girl.

"What is your name?"

"C-Ciara."

"Well then Ciara. How would you like to rule the world?"

---

2.5

2011 Taiwan Special Culture Zone

Dharma Master Cheng Yen entered the small temple conference room and greeted Hsin-yun warmly in Taiwanese Hokkien.

"Ah, Master Hsin-yun, how are you this morning?"

Hsin-yun, the elderly monk bowed, "Master Cheng Yen. Did you have any trouble getting here?"

The aging nun shook her head, "The border guards assumed I was a nun of the New Dharma and let me pass without harassment. It was useful that they spoke Mandarin as do I. The Shinto Priestesses had a harder time."

"Praise the Buddhas of the Ten Directions."

Hsin-yun adjusted the air conditioner unit and moved a bucket of ice in front of the air conditioning. Cheng Yen smirked, that was an old air conditioning trick. They sat down on their respective ends of the table. It was bought at a pawn shop a couple years ago with their meager funding and have served them well.

"So, how's things on your end?"

Cheng Yen sighed.

"Not well. Those of the true faith are few and between. Many are bewitched by theIddhis demonstrated by this so-called Bodhisattva Supreme and her ilk. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with their philosophy- indeed many of them still cling to the True Dharma to various degrees, but yet just as many are misguided."

"They kill."

"Yes, that is a problem. That some of them believe that killing is acceptable. It's one of the strongest arguments against their entire religion."

Hsin-yun rubbed his chin and grimaced.

"I have more bad news. One of my spies have information on what we had thought were rumours. The Bodhisattva Supreme maintain her own hell-worlds. We suspect these are located in different dimensions. Political prisoners, dissidents and heretics that gave her trouble are supposedly suffering torment in these worlds."

Cheng-Yen had a horrified look on her face.

"No!"

"And worst yet, these Hells are based on the description given by the Buddhas in the sutras. This is a perversion of the Dharma. It's intolerable."

There was a polite knock at the door.

"Come in!"

Kenta, head shaved and clad in a grey robe entered the room with his head bowed.

"Masters, I have urgent information."

Cheng yen nodded and gestured for the younger man to come in.

"Come in Kenta, and close the door or you'll let the air conditioning out."

Because we can't afford decent air conditioning for the entire temple, just a couple key locations.

Kenta did so and stood at attention. The former Yakuza member had done well for himself, becoming a disciplined and earnest learner of the Dharma.

"Is this your mysterious protege, Cheng Yen?"

Hsin-yun observed Kenta with an appraising look. He subtly nodded with approval.

"Young man, you look like you have a lot of Chengqi. Cheng Yen chose well in her disciples."

Kenta nodded in thanks. And looked back at Cheng Yen.

"Kenta, tell us the urgent matter."

"The Vatican is in full rebellion. Rome is in full rebellion."

"We know this. It was all over the news."

The younger man shook his head, "It's stranger than that. My network indicates that a significant portion of the various Christian groups and influential figures within city saw a vision of 'Jesus Christ' who compelled them to launch a crusade."

Hsin-yun and Cheng Yen looked at each other with an incredulous look.

"Interesting. Go on."

"And another of my spies-"

Cheng Yen briefly considered where Buddhism had gone wrong that there was a global heresy that was more popular than the original faith and that what was the actual faith now regularly engaged in spycraft.

"-indicate that something big is going to go down in America. The Ku Klux Klan are planning something with other radical Christian elements. We could be looking at a global rebellion even."

Hsin-yun sipped his tea.

"This is most troublesome. Any risk of Taiwan being embroiled in rebellions?"

Cheng Yen scoffed, "The few aboriginal Christian groups left in Taiwan won't be able to do much. Their continual decline since the Japanese Colonial Era haven't ever been fixed. I doubt it. No, the threat to Taiwan as always is the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea."

Kenta shifted uncomfortably.

Hsin-yun agreed with that statement, "Ah yes that Dragon. Strange how he seems to enjoy attacking New Dharma shipments. And protecting boats carrying Old Dharma Buddhist refugees fleeing China or Tibet."

He looked at Kenta and smirked.

Cheng Yen glared at Hsin-yun and mouthed, 'How did you know?'

The smug monk whispered back, 'Spies.'

Cheng Yen harrumphed.

"Gentlemen. Ladies."

All three of the room's occupants jolted at the sudden intrusion of the fourth. Kenta growled and the room heated up slightly.

The girl that walked out of the shadows was tall for her age, but still a child to the eyes of those in the room. She was however, an obvious foreigner, with her brunette hair and pale complexion.

Kenta growled, "Who are you?"

The girl spoke in perfect Hokkien.

"The King of the Sixth Heaven. I have a proposition for the Dragon King."

Cheng Yen felt a chill go down her spine. There was only one being that was the King of the Sixth Heaven. And good Buddhists avoided him like eternal damnation itself.

The girl that was not human turned to Kenta and smiled.

"I need your help to strike at great blow to the New Dharmic Authorities."

Cheng Yen frowned.

"You risk antagonizing the New Dharma and the Dharmapalas. It's too risky."

Kenta crossed his arms and scoffed.

"What Master Cheng Yen says is true. And why should I help you anyway?"

"My...precursor if you will….was the one who granted you your powers. You owe me."

Kenta frowned, "I was granted this Iddhi due to my insight meditation regarding the falseness of the New Dharma."

"No no. I hook your brain up to an alien parasite. That's what the New Dharma actually is. A sham."

Hsin-yun looked enlightened at this new factoid.

Cheng Yen had more pressing concerns.

"What do you hope to gain from striking at the New Dharma?"

The girl shrugged.

"Peace. Freedom. Justice. I might be their Devil, but I can be your Messiah. Help me help you."

She reached out a hand and touched Kenta on the shoulder- with her other hand she traced shapes on his broad chest.

"Come on Kenta, would you let a little girl like me go and fight Yama all by myself?"

The young man hissed.

Cheng Yen knew the former Yakuza member struggled with containing his lustful desires during his novice years. It took many years for him to adjust to celibacy.

The girl...no...the demon...was very dangerous. The glint in her eyes told Cheng Yen that she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Yama was it? The Dharmapala? The Lord of the Underworld?"

"Yes. Thousands languish in the sadistic mockery of hell that the Bodhisattva Supreme has set up. Including my mother."

Hsin-yun stood up excitedly.

"And you know how to defeat Yama?"

The girl smirked and grinned. Her grin was too wide and she had too many mouths. Cheng Yen tried not to show her terror at the display of inhumanity.

"I know his true form. I know which dimension he resides in. But I need firepower. I need you, Kenta."

The Dragon King of the Eastern Sea looked at Cheng Yen, as if asking for permission from his teacher.

The Seventy-Three year old Dharma Master had grave doubts about letting her protege run off with a young woman of dubious morals and humanity, however the chance to liberate the poor souls languishing in the false hells was too great an opportunity to give up.

She gave Kenta a nod and he nodded back. Turning back to the Devil, Kenta uncrossed his arms and glared at the girl.

"Alright. I'll bite. But if you screw with me-"

"-I certainly won't do that with a monk and a man who could be my father. Don't worry sir."

She winked at him.

Kenta snapped his mouth shut with a growl.

Cheng Yen was not comfortable with this at all.

And yet...perhaps this was destiny.

She remembered one night many years ago, when Kenta was still a novice and had yet to take his vows.

2002 Taiwan Special Culture Zone

She spoke in Japanese, by the candle light.

"There is this story about karma. The full story is a lot more complicated and involve multiple lifetimes, however, we'll talk about only two of those lifetimes."

Kenta listened attentively.

"There was a man who was away on business. He traveled to another city and he met a Zen Master there. The Monk told him, 'Mister, you should not go home tonight. Stay at my temple.'

"Obviously, the man was confused and he asked the Monk, 'Why shouldn't I go home tonight, my wife is waiting for me.'

"The monk told him, 'Sir, if you go home tonight, you may generate tremendous amounts of negative karma by murdering two people.'

"Shocked and not a little horrified, the businessman agreed to stay the night. The Zen Master then explained to him the reasoning behind his intervention.

'Tonight, a young traveler will seek room and board at your home. Your wife, being generous and kind hearted will agree. However, the two of them, due to uncontrollable mutual attraction, will have an affair. A one night stand.'

"The business man was outraged and was ready to rush home then and there, however the monk continued his explanation.

'Stop. This is because of karma. Let me explain. In a previous life, your wife was a corpse that drifted down the river naked. Three men saw the corpse. The first man did nothing. The second man pulled her to shore and covered her body with a cloak to provide some dignity for the corpse. The third man buried her and performed funerary rites for her. All of these actions created karma.'

"He explained that, 'Your wife was the corpse. The traveler making love to her right now is the man who covered her body with a blanket. And you were the man that buried her and gave her funerary rites. In order to return the kindness, she married you in this life and she gave the other man one night of passion. This is what we call good karma. The man who saw her corpse and did nothing accrued neither positive nor negative karma."

"The Businessman was confused and said, 'If this was good karma, why did she cheat on me? Why did the two of them do something like this?'

"The Monk explained, 'Karma is neither good nor bad. It's just action. Certainly with free will, neither your wife nor the traveler needed to act upon their karmic affinities, but because they do not know the dharma nor are they especially aware of their subconscious impulses driven by karma, they cannot deviate very far from their karmic destinies. Ironically, this good karma begat bad karma. Because now the Traveler and your Wife will both be driven by guilt. Your wife, if she cannot come to grips with this infidelity will most certainly take her own life. You must be understanding and be kind in your confrontation with her when you return home.'

"The Businessman was silent as he pondered this.

'And why did you stop me from going home and stopping this karmic destiny from occurring? I could have stopped them!'

"The Zen Master shook his head, 'I saw your future. You would have, driven by jealousy and fury, murdered both of them in a moment of passion because you would not understand the karmic cause and effect behind the actions of your wife. Now that I have explained it to you, perhaps you will approach this situation more rationally and avoid making new karma, both good and bad.'

"And that was the cause and effect story of the One Night Stand."

Cheng Yen finished her story and looked over at Kenta.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Kenta hesitated, then spoke up.

"Do you mean to say that many attractions to different women are a result of my karmic affinities with them in past lives?"

"Yes. It is no accident that you constantly find yourself in amorous situations. The key, Kenta, is to know that you have the freedom to defy your karmic conditioning. You had a bad home life, you became a gangster, you were rejected by Bruce Lee, you picked up bad habits and personality traits. All of this is your karma. Yet, you choose to be here, learning the Dharma from me because doubtlessly you also have affinities with the Buddhas and with the Dharma. So the question then is, are you willing to fight against your own mind and body to show that your spirit is yet stronger?"

Kenta was silent, but he stood up.

"Let me think about it."

"Take your time. Taking the ordination vows is no small thing and it cannot be easily revoked. It's a big decision, Kenta."

As he moved to leave however, Cheng Yen spoke up again.

"It is clear to me however, that you haven't met your strongest affinity yet. That will be your greatest challenge if you have strong karmic attachments to many people and events."

"My strongest affinity?"

"Yes. Perhaps she will be a woman you truly love. Someone who in another life, meant so much to you that your karma will refused to be denied. Or perhaps it shall be a great enemy, someone who you hate so much you will be compelled to break the precepts and try and kill him. Or they could be the same person. We never know what kind of karmic affinities we have with people. So it is best to be prudent."

Kenta scoffed.

"That person doesn't exist."

Cheng Yen shook her head.

"Mara will use that against you."

"I am not worthy of Mara's tests. I doubt I will attract his attention."

"That's what they all say, Kenta. Mara tested me years ago, and I almost failed then."

Kenta gripped the door frame.

"I am not you, Master. I am a thug and a brute. I am not a saintly and noble person who sacrificed everything for others like you. Mara won't test me."

He left.

Cheng Yen sighed.

Kenta...if you only knew how rare it is for a white elephant to be born in a garbage dump. If you only know how miraculous it is for a thug and a brute to find the right path and walk to where you are now. There is nothing unworthy about you.

A/N: In this AU, most people spoke Hokkien in Taiwan, not Mandarin. In the real world, Taiwan was a Japanese Colony and at the end of WWII, most Taiwanese people spoke only two languages, Hokkien and Japanese. The Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist) introduced Mandarin to the island, making it mandatory and in fact, people who spoke Hokkien or Japanese were forced to wear a sign around their necks in public with the words, 'I was bad'. The Sinicization of Taiwan was an incredibly brutal process, punctuated by over 30 years of martial law. In this AU, the KMT never got to settle onto the island for very long, indeed in OTL, the KMT lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and moved to Taiwan permanently only after that. The New Dharmic Authorities took over Taiwan and due to its rich multicultural history and positive inclination towards Buddhism, made it a Special Culture Zone. This means that Shintoism survived in Taiwan (prevalent amongst Japanese and older Taiwanese), albeit as a minor religion next to Christianity (prevalent amongst aboriginals). Other Special Culture Zones, like Israel, will be explored later.

Dharma Master Cheng Yen (the mother Teresa of Asia) and Hsin-yun (leader of Fo-Guang-Shan international) are real Buddhist figures who are the pioneers of Buddhist Humanism.

Kenta is the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. Andrew Richter/Tess Teresa Richter is the Dragon King of the Northern Sea. Just to clarify.

---

2.6

2011 Brockton Bay

"No, absolutely not!"

Danny Hebert shot down the proposal as soon as he heard it. He wasn't stupid.

Brad growled.

"Danny, this could be our chance!"

Father Richelieu laughed in an ironic tone.

"Our chance? Listen to yourself Brad. A good Catholic wants to support terrorism? Have you no shame!"

"The Vatican voted to go on a crusade. Have you not heard? The Lord himself command us to war!'

Daniel stood up, clothed in white and a red cap atop of his head. He looked every inch the cardinal, but right now his Dockworker Union's experienced leaked through in spades.

"I can't believe the Holy See fell for the lies of Satan! Don't you see? The New Dharma clearly engineered this entire situation to try and trick us into attacking. They just wanted an excuse, any excuse, to screw us over."

Brad growled, "It's no lie. How dare you defy the Pope!"

"The Pope is dead."

"Murdered by the Pagan heathens!"

"So they want us to believe. I know my orders from the Pope. The New Church must do everything they can to survive. Becoming terrorists does not bode well for the survival of the Church."

Richelieu nodded and turned towards Brad.

"Begone Brad. Go back to your KKK friends."

Brad snarled hatefully and stomped away, slamming the door shut on his way out.

There was silence.

Richelieu turned back to Danny.

"Your Eminence, while I agree that joining the KKK to launch a major terrorist attack is a terrible idea, should we inform the authorities of what the Klan is planning?"

Daniel sighed.

"That's hard to say. The authorities might blame us for it. They'll be looking for opportunities to lump us and the terrorists together. Even if we step up and tip the police off is no guarantee they'll let us off the hook."

"But if we don't tell them, wouldn't they be even more justified in assuming that we're supporting the terrorists?"

Daniel conceded the point with a nod, but also countered with another argument.

"You forget my friend that right now, they don't know that the New Church exists. We're a secret organization. We will survive."

The other priest scoffed.

"Not if Brad and his people get caught and spill the beans on us."

And therein lie the crux of the matter.

Richelieu hesitated, then spoke up again.

"In these extraordinary times, if you so wish it, I will arrange for Brad and anyone else associated with our Church to have an accident."

There was a damning pause before Daniel shook his head.

"No. We'll not risk our immortal souls to extend this temporal life. If we die, we die. Let what come be the will of God."

Richelieu took in a deep breath and quoted scripture.

"For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."

Daniel nodded.

"Romans 14:8. Well said. Father Richelieu, call the flock. I will be instructing our people to steer clear of the radicals. We will take no part in this Devil's scheme."

"As you will, your Eminence."

"Amen and Godspeed."

"Amen."

Daniel picked up the frame and gaze upon the picture of Annette and a younger Taylor standing next to him when his head was a little less grey and a little more full.

He choked back a sudden and inexplicable stab of pain and sorrow.

"Why….why did this happen? Where did I go wrong, oh God, where?"

To say that his faith was shaken was an understatement. He was never really a devoted Catholic, although he did his best to help others. He knew the theology well, but never aspired to do much. He had a wife and family and the Priesthood was not the path God intended for him.

When Annette died in that freak car accident, he became a broken man. Taylor gave some meaningless platitudes about karma and overcoming trial to become spiritually stronger, however it sounded as even his daughter didn't really believe what she was saying.

They drifted apart. Their every interaction felt like a farce. Daniel felt like he was following a script- the script that society say that a good father should follow, but inside he felt like Hell.

Daniel turned back to Christianity. He turned back to God. He read and read. He went to Church. He talked to Richelieu.

Nothing changed. His soul was still damaged.

And yet somehow God saved him.

Somehow, God did. A miracle.

He did not know how, or why. On a whim, he decided to fully devote himself to God. Ironically, it was after reading a story about Buddhist Bodhisattvas and their willingness to and do the impossible: to devote themselves to save all beings, to remove the pain and sorrow of all sentient beings.

He found himself speaking the vow, but redirected towards God. A pledge to God.

And he was reborn. And the very next day, he called Richelieu and asked to be ordained.

He implemented small parts of God's teaching in his life. He managed to actually reconnect with his daughter. God helped him reconnect to his daughter, and his daughter saved him.

Agape, He remembered thinking. Agape was the love of God for Man, and Man's love for their fellow Man, and Man's love to God. It was a tripartite force that defined true unconditional love. A way for ordinary human beings to, for even a moment, eclipse the love that Christ died for.

That love saved him. And it is that love that he devoted himself to.

While his daughter bravely struck out on her to try and piece back her own life and faith, he devoted himself to helping refugees and immigrants. He preached and worked with a zealousness that frightened his fellow priests.

Daniel's zeal was not the fiery fanaticism of dogma, but the steady warmth of love. His devotion, his life- it was like every cell, every part of him lived and breathed.

Yes, things were dire for Christendom and mankind, and yet he tried his best.

He didn't even dislike the New Dharma. He saw in many of the Dharmic teachings reflection of Christ's teachings. Where possible, he tried and established positive relationships to the local religions- something that some of the other priests did not like.

Because of his work and because of his connections to the Dharmic faiths, Brockton Bay and Boston and other nearby cities in the Eastern Seaboard became a great success.

Aside from Rome, the Eastern Seaboard was perhaps the greatest refuge for Christians. And it was all thanks to Danny.

His promotion in secular missionary positions was rapid.

Thus it was no surprise that the Pope chose him to be Cardinal- to lead the New Church initiative. To ensure the survival of Christianity should the worst happen.

And the worst was happening right now.

Daniel's faith was once more called into question. Not only was Christianity itself on the brink of extinction, but at the same time, as if God was testing him, his daughter disappeared as well. Possibly abducted by assailants unknown.

Given the terrible timing of everything, Daniel was secretly convinced that Satan himself had spirited Taylor away.

"We live in the time of Judgement. God, I will do my best, all I ask of you is that you keep Taylor safe."

He knelt and prayed before the image of his wife and daughter.

"For you, and for all of us, I commit to the path of peace. I shall not raise my hand in violence against the horrors of this world."

And he never did. And he never will.

Because Daniel knew, that only love could save them all.

"They're starting to march."

The news broadcast was like something out of his worst nightmares. Daniel watched with grim silence as the coned masks of the KKK legions numbering in the thousands marched down the main streets of every city.

There was no signs and no ideology. Their intent was clear enough. Each member carried rifles and even spears.

Several newsfeeds show temples on fire. Some eager terrorists already started, likely radicals that were not directly affiliated with the KKK.

Armoured SWAT was pushing back. Molotov cocktails were thrown by thugs. Suicide bombings were being reported around the entire Country as every radical cell and Church join in rebellion.

This was a war.

Richelieu was praying, but then he suddenly pointed.

"That's Brad's group."

They did not wear the coned mask and robes. They were dressed as Catholics, their face proud for the world to see.

Some of their members were black and hispanic and Asian.

The KKK were a lot more lenient these days, by necessity and they freely work with other races as long they're Christian and American and united against the interlopers. Nonetheless, minorities steer clear of the KKK and as a result, they were all marching with Brad's group of radical Christians.

"Well," Danny said dryly, "That's going to taint our reputation somewhat."

"It's already tainted your Eminence, Rome is in open rebellion right now. People are saying all Christian should die. I am not sure why Vairocana hasn't burned the Vatican yet, but this KKK riot is just a part of the entire crusade. It's all happening right now."

Another priest ran into the room panting.

"Your Eminence!"

The Cardinal stood up from his seat and turned to the man.

"Are our people gathered in the storm drains?"

"Yes. They are ready to hear you speak."

Daniel nodded and steeled his heart.

"We shall pray. We shall pray for every soul and hope that innocents do not die."

He marched towards destiny and the other two priest fell in line behind him, heart filled with faith and zeal.

Like Moses before Pharaoh, or Abraham preparing to sacrificing his only beloved son, Daniel Hebert surrendered himself entirely to God.

In the storm drains, hundreds of Catholics gathered, huddled together.

He knew that outside, in warehouses and in the docks itself gathered thousands more.

Speakers wired together by the more tech savvy members of the Dockworkers.

Several police officers could be seen wandering the perimetres, no doubt expecting violence.

No doubt they think us Christians to be terrorists, all waiting to rise up and join the radicals. Well, they will be disappointed.

Daniel stepped up towards the microphone in front of him and the crowd in front of him, many with their feet submerged in the underground river stood at attention.

Fathers cradled their family and mothers their children. Young man and old man, white, black, yellow and more stood shoulder to shoulder.

Daniel spoke. He did not speak of politics. Or of action. There was enough of that this day.

He did not speak of the Church or of the Vatican or of which belief was right or wrong.

He did not denounce the terrorists nor the New Dharma, for there was enough of that already.

He did not speak of prophecies or conspiracy or pray for the Messiah to save them all.

Instead, Daniel Hebert, husband, father and now shepherd spoke of the only thing he ever really learned in these few short years of devotion to the Lord.

He spoke of love.

"If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing. Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.

Love is always patient;

love is always kind;

love is never envious

or arrogant with pride.

Nor is she conceited,

and she is never rude;

she never thinks just of herself

or ever gets annoyed.

She never is resentful;

is never glad with sin;

she's always glad to side with truth,

and pleased that truth will win.

She bears up under everything;

believes the best in all;

there is no limit to her hope,

and never will she fall.

Love never fails. Now if there are prophecies, they will be done away with. If there are languages, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For what we know is incomplete and what we prophesy is incomplete. But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways. Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Daniel paused and tried to control his breathing. His words had rang from warehouse to warehouse, drain to drain. Catholics at home heard his voice on the special frequency they use for their radios.

Policemen stood stunned at the unexpected message.

"These very words were uttered by Saint Paul of Tarsus centuries ago. He who saw Jesus only once, repented and vowed to travel far and wide to spread the gospel. He died a martyr and he never hesitated. He knew the truth and he went and he did it."

Daniel gripped the microphone in front of him as if it was the physical representation of his faith. His knuckles turned white.

"Christians for centuries have professed to have faith, but lived their life in sin, in ignorance of God's truth. They gossip about their neighbours, committed atrocities against their fellow men and refused to love all without condition, without judgement. We have made many mistakes, but the greatest mistake we could have made was to assume that God would have welcome us although we did nothing to do his work. We live in comfort and normality as if we were not the servants of the Lord and the disciples of Christ. Did not Christ say, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Christ set that standard. We are to be like God, and to be possessed of all of his love and compassion and will!"

He roared into the microphone and several of the rapt audience flinched.

"Our comfortable life is at an end. The destruction of the world is at hand, slowly, humanity tears itself apart, regardless of what religion we are."

His voice became gentler.

"The time for games is over. Like our early Christians, we are now, one in all, Apostles. Spread the good word, do the good deeds. The world was not Christian once upon a time, and yet somehow, we made it Christian. The world is not Christian right now, but we will make it Christian again!

Daniel raised both arms and shouted to God on his Throne.

"It is not what we do, but what we become. Jesus died for our sins, now let us live for Jesus and for all of mankind!"

There was a roar as the audience cheered and steeled their hearts.

No prayer was necessary.

No vow was necessary.

In their heart of hearts, every men, women and child walked in the footstep of Christ.

And then there was a thundering CRACK.

John Miller was a simple salaryman. He worked as a police, but he was just after the pay. He had not religious affiliation although he pays lip service to the freakish Buddhists and their monsters in the sky.

He did not really understood what the speakers wired up around the place was saying. Lots of stupid Bible stuff he wasn't interested in.

He knew that the fucking KKK- the racist fucks that they were, was marching and starting fires and making his life difficult.

He kept an eye out for a particular burly man that was near his position. He had tattoos and was holding what looked like a weapon. It was hard to tell in the evening light.

He worried about his girlfriend and his two kids at home and whether they were caught in the violence. He wanted to go home and protect them, but instead he has to be here to see what the hell these Christian fools were up to rallying at the docks.

So when he saw the crowd suddenly roared in triumph and the glint of metal in the dark sky, reflecting street lights, he reacted on instinct and shot the thug he was keeping an eye on.

That was a mistake. The crowd reacted with shock, but not violence. They as one turned their eyes upon him. Several rushed to help the downed man.

But at the same moment, the crack of gunshot resounded throughout the docks and the other policemen reacted to the sound with ingrained instinct.

They opened fire.

"Danny! They're shooting the people on the docks! Some of us are fighting back!"

Daniel Hebert cursed and roared into the microphone.

"Run! Run for your lives. But don't take revenge. Don't fight. Disperse. Spread far and wide. Hide amongst the pagans. Do whatever you need to survive."

He breathed in deeply, and uttered the most important command.

"And remember that only love remains after all else is lost. Amen!"

Lights flooded the storm drains as armoured police began to pour into the sewers.

One of the SWAT shouted angrily.

"Kill the fucking terrorists! Kill them all! Protect our city!"

Another SWAT tried to stop them.

"Wait don't! We were ordered not to escalate!"

He was ignored as the other police, tired and angry from the rioting in the streets opened fire on what they thought was terrorists.

But there was only families. There was only civilians. Daniel saw all of this and understood all of this, but there was nothing he could do.

He felt Richelieu grabbed him and pulled to a nearby exit.

"Come on Danny, let's go!"

Christians and their families immediately dispersed, running down sewers and storm drains, splitting into dozens of groups. Danny and Richelieu joined one of these groups as they tried to escape from the massacre.

Daniel choked back a sob as he saw the small bodies of children in the dim lighting.

God please protect them. Please protect your people.

They were close to the ladder. There was more gunfire from above the surface. The sound like the bark of demons to Danny's ears.

A bullet tore into Danny's calves and he stumbled. People ran past him, not recognizing their cardinal in the dark and in their fear. Richelieu immediately turned around to help him up.

"Your Eminen-urghk"

Richelieu choked on his own blood as a bullet blasted a hole to the side of his neck. He stumbled and Daniel crawled up to grab the other man's cassock, tears in his eyes.

"NO!"

Richelieu only gurgled what sounded like an apology before he breathed his last.

And then suddenly the ceiling was torn away, flooding the dark sewers with street lights. The screech of cars and shouting of panicking could be heard.

"What the fuck is th-aaaagh!"

A entire SWAT team collapsed as they closed in on Danny's position, their legs crushed by some unseen force. They squealed in pain, but did not die.

Daniel looked up as shadow blocked the light.

And he gaped in awe.

An Alabaster Angel floated above him as the streets crumbled, exposing the storm drain to the surface. Brilliant light glinted off her feminine form and her four wings covered her modesty.

Around Danny, people drop to their knees to pray.

The Angel spoke, and she spoke with Taylor's voice.

"Be not afraid, Daniel Joshua Hebert."

Chunks of rubble rose and began to circle the white Angel as her wings spread open to review her naked form. A blade of fire appeared in the Angel's hand and she roared.

"I am Jophiel, the Beauty of God."

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2011 An Alternate Earth

Dinah Alcott breathed steadily in Taylor's hands.

"Dinah. Jophiel. It's funny that 'Dina' is another name of Jophiel in the pseudograph, Life of Adam and Eve. You're an Angel now. Protect my father."

Taylor picked the girl up and slung her over her shoulders.

The dragon-like Kenta roared as he slashed away another screaming demon- this one made of metal bands surrounding a flaming skeleton.

"Mara, we're getting swarmed here!"

"Just so. It's time to move!"

Taylor felt Mara's powers boiling in her blood and space warped around them.

A tear in space opened up.

Mara's spectre as usual, stood next to Taylor, visible only to her.

"The connection is getting stronger, I can open portals more easily now. Your mother is near."

Taylor jumped through the portal. Kenta hurried after them after blasting back two demons that tried to bite him.

Taylor panted as she carried the preteen over a particular rocky plateau.

"How are you still accessing my mother's powers? I thought I was the host now?"

Mara shook his head.

"I left some of myself back with her, not enough to form a manifestation, but enough to hijack her Shard. Just as I have infected Dinah's Shard with some of me."

They jumped through another portal and landed in a grey world.

Mara grinned.

"Found it."

In the distance, the giant form of Yama suddenly spun around and hissed.

Kenta growled in fear.

"He's looking at us."

Taylor nodded, "So he is."

She put Dinah down and whispered to Mara.

"Do you know where Yama's controller is?"

"No. We're deep in his realm and he knew we were coming several Hell-Worlds' ago. We took Dinah by surprise, but it won't happen again."

Dinah moaned and Taylor patted her on the head gently.

"Keep dreaming sweet Angel. We're going to send you backup soon."

Kenta chuckled despite the dire situation they were in.

"To think that Hayagriva was being controlled by a little girl. Granted, we subverted her before Hayagriva could show up to stop us. Still….I am shocked that the Dharmapalas have human controllers at all."

Mara snorted and through Taylor, he spoke to Kenta.

"The Bodhisattva Supreme in past cycles kept her Dharmapala terror drones to herself, but due to my efforts at infecting everything connected to her, she was forced to decentralize the Shards controlling the Dharmapalas in order to protect herself. If Dinah's shard was connected to the Bodhisattva right now, we would've won. Unfortunately, we'll have to do this the slow way."

Yama spread out his arms and began to fly towards them.

"Get ready Kenta. Go and show the Lord of the Underworld who's the stronger god!"

Kenta gave a earthshaking roar and charged towards the Dharmapala, more scales erupting from his naked back as his speed doubled.

Taylor nodded to Mara.

"Okay, Mara. Start hacking. I want to know where Yama's controller is hiding."

There was a pause and Taylor spoke up.

"And if you can spare the power, try to find my mother."

Mara grinned.

"She already knows. Now that we're in the same dimension and time plane, there is no lag as I am running off both of your Shards at once."

Taylor quirked an eyebrow.

"Does that explain why you're so much calmer now?"

The Devil looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, Annette is a lot less anger driven than you are. She has a stabilizing influence on me...well I am a combined simulation of the two you after all. No offense, Taylor."

"Non-taken."

They watched as the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea and the King of Hell smashed into each other with a sonic boom and a heat wave that scorched the skyline of the time frozen Brockton Bay.

---

2.7

"I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end."

- Daniel 6:26

2011 Brockton Bay

The God of Daniel was powerful indeed.

The Archangel Jophiel was a terror to behold. She glowed brilliant white in the dark of night, ensuring none of Brockton Bay dared ignore her presence.

She towered twice as tall over each and every man, looking down at them, judging them.

Beneath her feet and protected from stray bullets and glass shards by her luminous wings, strode Cardinal Hebert, using a metal pipe as a crutch as he dragged his wounded and useless legs along the ground. He was supported by a teenaged girl whose face was tainted by the stains of blood. Her eyes were determined however as she did her best to help her Cardinal move forward.

Daniel grunted with pain with every step, but he did not falter. His face was a rictus of righteousness. Behind him marched thousands of Christians who raised their hands in prayer.

The KKK legions and rioters cheered when they saw her form floated down the main street where the fighting was heaviest. SWAT police backed away fearfully.

Daniel raise a hand and dropped his impromptu walking stick. He stumbled, but was held up by the shoulder of his female aide.

"Stop. In the name of God. Stop."

A crusader ignored his plead and raised a rifle. He aimed at the police.

Jophiel swung her blade of fire and it extended to become a great wave of inferno wrath.

The fire swept the streets, funnelling into each of the four directions, consuming entire blocks as people screamed in terror.

And then there was an astounding silence as if the Earth had stopped moving.

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Thousands of naked rioters, crusaders, policemen and women stood in the streets, gaping and shocked. All of their clothes were burned away. All of their weapons turned to ash.

They were alive and unharmed and as naked as the day the Lord God created Adam Kadmon from the dust of the Edenic World.

Several dropped to their knees to pray. Many more were shell-shocked at their almost death.

Jophiel slowly drifted down until her bare foot touched the pavement. The flaming sword vanished and the Angel stepped forth and spread her arms.

She began to sing, her voice loud and firm, echoing from block to block, eardrum to eardrum. Her voice although like that of a young mortal woman, rang within the hearts and minds of every soul in Brockton Bay.

Alleluia…

Gene Shakti dropped to her knees and prayed when the white angel began to sing. In her mind's eyes she saw the flaming phoenix rose from behind the angel like the dawning sun.

Love filled her soul until it overflowed and she sang along, somehow knowing every beat and every word despite never having sung a hymn before in her life. Despite never having done a Gregorian chant. Despite never ever learning to speak Latin.

Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis:

A day made holy dawns upon us;

Venite gentes, et adorate Dominum.

O come, all nations, and adore the Lord;

Quia hodie descendit lux magna in terris/super omnem terram.

for today a great light has descended upon earth/on all the earth.

Alleluia!

Hallelujah!

Haec dies quam fecit Dominus:

This is the day the Lord has made;

Exultemus, et laetemur in ea.

let us be glad and rejoice in it.

The flames of the phoenix washed over her and she was baptized with Fire and the Holy Spirit.

2011 ?

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"God, is an ideal. A state of being." Taylor declared with absolute certainty as she stared out over the red dunes of Sha.

"So God is. But You can't prove that God is only an idea," Shirk-Trek-Motauch'cha snapped his beak like mouth in annoyance and then continued. He raised a spindly arm and swept it out towards the Dune, the oasis, the violet sky and the dancing Jell-bugs circling under holy Xau'tum.

"Taylor Mara, none can fathom God. None can prove God exist by physical means because She is entirely other. And yet we know that She exists. God works in mysterious ways, as many many species are wont to say throughout the innumerable epochs."

Taylor scoffed.

"The same God that allowed your religion to be subverted and then your home planet and its parallel counterparts to be destroyed?"

The alien had a ready reply.

"The evils of mortals are made by mortals. We are directly responsible for the consequences of our actions good or bad."

"An omnipotent God who allows evil to exist is a morally corrupt God, Motauch'cha Mara."

Motauch'cha snorted and glared at Taylor with his black eyes.

"Taylor Mara, you of all people, know the answer to the question of evil. God did not intend evil to exist, but She always intended Free Will to exist. If God could make it so that we were incapable of evil, then we would not have Free Will and the universe would be entirely out of order."

He skidded down the Dunes and Taylor followed, her feet dancing above the grains of sand.

"God is righteous. God acts in accordance to her nature. God is unchanging. None can question what God has done because what God has done is entirely in accordance to the natural way of the cosmos. Even our Free Will is but a part of this greater order of things. The Big Bang all the way to our great conflict with the False One today is part of this great journey. God has set forth a way and we defy that way with our ignorance and arrogance."

Taylor fumed silently.

"Maybe I don't want to believe in God, or Adi-Buddha or Para-Brahman or whatever form or name it is called by sentient beings."

"Deep down inside, you know that you believe. Mara rarely chooses an atheistic host, only a true believer would have the zealto resist the lies of the False One."

"He makes us commit so many sins."

Motauch'cha was silent and then he nodded.

"So he does."

The alien pointed at a mound in the sands, it was about a foot high, a dimple in the otherwise empty wasteland that was Sha.

Taylor poked at it.

"What is it?"

"A Nest."

Motauch'cha carefully brushed away parts of the mound and revealed the giant Beetle-like creatures squirming inside. Their tiny beaks snapped hungrily.

"Graaawwwr!"

Taylor picked one up and one of it's tiny dozen legs kicked at her wrist although it was too weak to puncture her skin.

"What is this creature?"

"That is my daughter. Shirk-Trek-Jogqolrui. She died when the Purifiers had her and her entire family killed for believing in doctrines outside of those taught by the False One."

Taylor nodded sadly and place the baby back in the nest.

"Where was your wife?"

Motauch'cha laughed, "Oh Taylor, that is silly of you. We Ho'Shars do not have such things. The females lay their eggs in the sands, and the males- maybe one out of every ten thousand females are males- go and fertilize the eggs. We are unable to resist fertilizing egg mounds."

"That is...interesting. So men don't do much child rearing huh?"

"No, we are driven by wanderlust and did not contribute much to our culture. The females are cooperative and were the founders of our civilization. All of our Prophets were female and our God, although genderless, was most readily identified as feminine."

He paused.

"When the False One came, She pretended to be our God. She played to our fears and expectations, even those that were contrary to the commandments of love and compassion that our God taught us."

He looked at his seven fingered hand.

"When the time came for a Devil-figure to rise, it was only natural for Mara to choose from amongst the males. What was more evil than a man that dared defied the hierarchy of the female God and her chosen priestesses? I fulfilled that role perfectly."

Taylor watched the red glow of Xau'tum sink below the horizon, casting the desert in a crimson shadow and making the dunes dance. The Jell-bugs began to glow and the starlight grew brighter.

"Did you think your God forgived you for all that you have done to fight back against the False One?"

Motauch'cha bowed his head.

"I am only a memory, so I cannot know how God had judged the soul of my real self. I killed other males and fertilized nests that were meant for them. I saturated the genes of my species with my own, creating a severe genetic bottleneck. When the new generation of females matured and became priestesses, they had a severe negative reaction to fighting me because they could smell our genetic kinship."

He gave a wry smile.

"Honour thy fathers was actually a commandment. Female Ho'Shars are forbidden from killing their fathers. It is one of the oldest laws, and is actually a genetically ingrained instinct- likely evolved because of the extreme scarcity of males. I used that to my advantage and slaughtered my own children wholesale when the False One sent them after me."

Taylor didn't ask if he had won. Of course he lost, that's why Taylor was the current Mara.

"It was nice talking to you Taylor Mara. I hope I was able to quell some of your doubts about your role."

"With ten thousand lifetimes to debate against me, I don't think I'll be able to win arguments against the shades of my past incarnations."

She paused and then asked her last question.

"One more thing. Since God failed to save your species, how do you think your people will find salvation? Do they go to Heaven?"

"There was the great egg-sac from whence all of our spirits came from. However, to return there, we would need to find enlightenment. Since my entire species became extinct, I am uncertain how that would ever happen. But-"

He smiled at her.

"Maybe we reincarnated amongst your people. Maybe God give us chance after chance each time we fail. If you can save us all, maybe we'll have a chance this time, no? God is merciful after all."

Taylor bowed to her predecessor and Motauch'cha bowed back.

And then reality faded away and Taylor opened her eyes to find herself standing in front of a Catholic Priest who blinked and looked up, noticing the intruder in his chapel for the first time.

"Yes, can I help you?"

CRACK.

Taylor shot him with her pistol. Then she dragged his corpse by the leg and push his stiff body up against the wall and proceeded to systematically crucify his limbs to the wall with steel spikes she had packed for the occasion.

The path to Hell is paved with good intentions.

She turned and looked at the statue of Jesus on the altar and Mother Mary in the corner.

And she prayed.

Jesus...God...Buddha...or whatever. If I win...please save my soul. Don't let me lose myself to darkness.

The Devil in her blood seemed to gurgle angrily at the very suggestion.

"I won't damn you Taylor. Never you. I am the bringer of hope."

Taylor looked at Mara who had gripped her shoulder with his gangrene hand and into his smouldering eyes of utter hatred. And pushed his hand off of her shoulder.

"No. I am pretty sure I am damning myself. I am doing this to save my mother and my planet. I don't give a fuck about your vendetta."

Mara hissed.

"It doesn't matter. I will wring that bitch's skinny neck with my own two hands."

"Well it'll be my hand doing the wringing, so listen to my orders."

Mara scoffed and turned back to the dead priest whose blood was now pooling beneath the wall.

"Hey Taylor, use some of that blood and write some passages from the Pali Canon around the chapel floor. That'll piss off the Christians for sure."

Taylor ignored the Devil and continued working.

Her gaze wandered over the statues of the Twelve Apostles and several other Saints. She wondered aloud.

"I wonder if I will be remembered as a Saint or a Devil?"

Mara was silent. He too did not know the answer to that, because in every cycle they had failed to ensure that there was anyone left alive to record that history.

---

2.8

"If there are monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, pure youth and maidens who wish to recite and hold this mantra, they should first arouse their great merciful and compassionate hearts for all living beings, and follow me, Avalokitesvara, in making these vows:

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I quickly know all Dharmas;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I soon obtain the Wisdom Eye;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I quickly ferry all living beings

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I soon obtain virtuous skillful means

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I quickly board the Prajna Boat;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I soon transcend the ocean of suffering;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I quickly achieve precepts, Samadhi and the Way;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I soon ascend the mountain of Nirvana;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I quickly dwell in the house of non-action;

Namo great compassionate Avalokitesvara, May I soon unite with the Dharma-Nature Body.

If I go towards the mountain of knives, the mountain of knives of itself breaks up;

If I go towards the boiling oil, the boiling oil of itself dries up;

If I go towards the hells, the hells of themselves disappear;

If I go towards the hungry ghosts, the hungry ghosts of themselves become full.

If I go towards the Asuras, their evil thoughts of themselves are tamed.

If I go towards the animals, they themselves attain great wisdom.

After making these vows, recite my name (Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) with the deep-felt sincere heart, also recite single-mindedly the name of my teacher - Amitabha Tathagata (Namo Amitabha), then recite this mantra, 5 times or more in a day, to remove from the body the weighty sins of births and deaths accumulated in hundreds of thousands of billions of kalpas."

- Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva expounding the Great Compassion Mantra

[MEDIA=youtube]WDYQpvHkFs8[/MEDIA]

Kenta swung Yama over his shoulders and into the grey Medhall building, crushing it flat. He beat his naked chest and roared, the sound was deafening and like that of a primal beast out of the ancient eons.

Yama tried to warp time around his arm, but they were already in a space outside of time itself and that afforded Kenta some immunity. As scales withered and died when they came into contact with the warped time-space, he immediately regenerated the damaged parts.

Not how time works, from what I have read, but damned if I know how these false-dharmapalas manage their Iddhis.

Unleashing a fireball he blasted Yama back further into the ground. Scorched concrete and melting steel exploded around him, splattering the surroundings with debris.

Yama raised one of his arms and the vajra clutched in his hand flashed brilliantly as sparks of purple energy tore both of Kenta's legs off, causing a geyser of red blood to flood the streets.

Roaring in pain, the titanic dragon collapsed and began to crawl away as Yama floated back up to a standing position.

Purple energy tore chunks of asphalt off of the ground beside Kenta as he crawled away at a ridiculously fast speed, becoming a two-limbed serpent using his arms to pull himself ahead of the angry Dharmapala.

And here we go again. From Dragon to Lindworm. How humiliating.

Six new organs erupted from Kenta's silver back. It wasn't wings. It was better.

Kenta leapt into the air and flew away towards the sky, his serpentine tail trailing behind him as he twisted and curled.

Hydrokinetic Bladders. I don't even understand how this works, but it does.

His hydrokinetic bladders were tumors along his back that were highly reactive to moisture, steam, rain or water. When in contact with those elements, the bladders allowed him to 'glide' along any kind of gaseous or liquid water effectively allowing him to fly and swim like a fish.

Yama eyes flashed yellow and he leapt into the sky after Kenta. The two began to circle each other and Kenta suddenly shot off leaving behind a crack of ozone as his journey through the air left electric aftershocks.

Rain began to fall and stormclouds gather. A dark and terrible mist began to obfuscate the sky of Brockton Bay.

Yama slashed with one of his arms at the speed of sound and it cleared the air around him, but he already lost sight of the Dragon.

Out of the darkness a stream of fire exploded outwards briefly illuminating the shadow of a serpent that slithered out of sight behind the grey clouds.

The fireball burnt Yama's arms to a black charcoal- the skin flaking off to reveal newer tender flesh beneath.

Yama roared in fury.

From his left another fireball.

From his right a ball of lighting.

From above a cold mist that froze half of his body and one of his heads.

From below the mighty jaws of a titanic dragon gripped his right leg and tore it off. Divine ichor flying off into the night.

Yama thrust out the vajra and a purple blade extended from it like a sword. It impaled Kenta through the head and the Dragon roared in pain.

Kenta tore himself away from the sword and fled back into the clouds before flying up above Yama and began to circle, his now longer and more serpentine form becoming a whirlpool of scaled terror.

His legs had both regenerated, although now they were tiny in comparison to his length.

Lightning cackled and began to surged along the spinning body of the Dragon as particles began to separate themselves into positive and negative polarities.

Kenta roared in defiance even as blood flowed freely from his wounded head. He had never felt more alive. More powerful than he did now. Against ships and the occasional Monk, there was no need to escalate to this degree.

He had never really knew how far he could have gone. Now he had an inkling.

The lighting built and the sparks gathered in the eye of the storm that was Kenta and it unleashed its combined power towards in a titanic surge.

In that final moment, a couple atomic bonds separated.

The beam of controlled nuclear fury shaved off the right side of Yama's body and the Dharmapala began to fall.

He raised another arm, this one held a golden chain. He thrust the chain outwards and it flew towards Kenta.

The chain tore through Kenta's torso and out the otherside. It began to spin and wrap itself along his length even as he spinning slowed due to the weight of the chain.

As Yama fell he pulled Kenta down with him and the Dragon's careful equilibrium in the storm was interrupted.

Clouds rolled away and the rain cleared as the Dragon maintaining it was dragged down by the Lord of the Underworld.

The world beneath Yama began to flake away, opening like a giant lotus flower made of space and time.

Another dimension was revealed beneath the Grey World.

Dharmapala and Dragon fell into the other world as the world above them broke apart.

A familiar black mountain range was visible as far as the eyes could see. Each mountain was made of titanic blades of iron. Naked forms could be seen struggling to climb the mountain and cutting themselves on its serrated surface.

One of the figures slipped and was sliced in half as he passed a knife the size of a skyscraper. His guts decorated the black iron sheen of the larger mountain-blades nearby.

Yama crashed into one of the iron mountains, pulping several of the screaming clones beneath him. Kenta clawed and bit at the god who had him leashed in chains as the two shattered the mountains around them and the poor souls who languished upon them.

Kenta headbutted Yama.

And then again.

And then again.

With some pleasure, he saw that the false-Dharmapala's forehead was caved in.

Yama grabbed the Dragon by the head however and using it as a battering ram, drove Kenta's face down towards the mountain again and again.

Kenta's snout penetrated deeply into the mountains and eventually hit the ground. And then went further down as they dug into the Earth.

Kenta laughed and he unleashed a bolt of lightning at the nearby iron shards that used to be a mountain.

The conductivity of the Iron Mountains was a boon to Kenta.

Kenta was immune to electricity.

Yama wasn't.

Yama roared in pain as the entire dimension became a cage of thunder and lightning. The blue sparks and currents of electricity arcing high into the sky like a torrential tsunami of energy.

The clones that were born in this hell were mercifully all vapourized by the the raging currents, becoming black charcoal and then ash as even iron was rent asunder by the power of the storm.

The dimension began to break apart as Yama pulled them into yet another dimension.

This was a swirling miasma of boiling fire.

The two titans fell into the boiling magma.

The time looping clones of the sinners here welcomed the relief of being crushed by two dueling gods before they were reborn and boiled alive again.

Kenta crashed into Yama and struggled with him atop the greying ruins of Medhall.

Yama raised a Vajra and the purple beams tore off both of his legs.

Kenta collapsed and began to crawl away with his forelimbs, his serpentine tail trailing after him.

She pointed at the Dragon duelling the King of Hell.

"Is he aware that he was caught in that time loop for the past day or so?"

Mara turned back to answer Annette's question as they crested the hill that lead to the stretch of road where Taylor was waiting.

"He has an inkling. Time moves differently, even psychologically, for those caught in a timeloop."

Annette nodded and trudged along. Her jumpsuit was scarred and she was bleeding. But she survived and that was what was important.

A day or so ago, by her reckoning, she kind of lost track of time after the weeks? Years?She had spent in the grey dimension, staying one step ahead of the starving swarm of Pretas.

Of course, hundreds of alternate selves died horrifically. She used their failures to help her work out the best way to survive.

The different timelines began collapsing as the artificial quantum superposition state enforced by Yama broke down due to the interference of the silver dragon.

That was how Annette knew she was going to be rescued.

When the familiar form of Mara returned she sighed with happiness and hugged the imaginary person.

And then she slapped him.

"That was for saying you're going to be using Taylor."

Mara apologized. And then hurried away, guiding her out of the hell hole.

"So...who was your new host? Please don't tell me it was Taylor."

Mara was silent.

"Maraaaa."

"Will you slap me if I say it was?"

"MARAAAA!"

She began to chase after the Devil, trying to shoot him with her AK-47 (her Uzis ran out of juice ages ago).

Taylor and her version of Mara examined another crack in the space in front of them. As the grey dimension fell apart due to the time loop used by Yama on himself and Kenta, the space around them began cracking.

Between these cracks, Mara was trying to trace the flow of information back to their originator. Yama was only a construct, a projection really.

Yama's controller was hidden away, likely in another dimension, much like Dinah was. They had found Dinah in a shrine on an abandoned Earth, tended to by fiery hell-guardian-skeleton things.

The girl was currently sleeping on the ground next to Taylor as she fingered another crack.

"Careful Taylor, don't want you lose a finger cutting yourself on a shard of space-time. That would be bad."

Taylor hastily withdrew said member. She scowled.

"Where is he?"

Mara shrugged and examined another crack of splintering time.

"Yama controls time, so his controller is probably safely sequestered somewhere outside of time."

Taylor frowned.

"He can repeat time, so maybe his controller is kept in a perpetual time loop?"

"Yes, but where?"

Taylor recalled something and then smirked.

"No Mara, not where. When."

Taylor closed her eyes and opened her senses to her power. She saw what they saw. She heard what they heard. She felt what they felt. What they smelt. What they're thinking.

The familiar pulse of thought-stuff flickered momentarily and then vanished in an instant.

Taylor began speaking.

"In Buddhism, the basic particle of time is a Ksana a brief moment of time that is supposed to measure hundreds of arisings and ceasings of subconscious mind-activity. Yama's controller is hidden in the most secure and subtle place in the world. A place between one moment and the next. Between one thoughtand the next."

She gripped onto the spark of mind that briefly appeared to her senses between the cracks in time and poured all of her power, her malice and dominance into the mind she had seized.

With a great cry she forced a grey little boy to stumble out of the moment between moments into her waiting arm. He was dressed like a schoolboy of half a century ago, from the end of the second world war.

The boy cried in fear and screamed profanities. Taylor punched him in the face, knocking him out.

Mara looked impressed.

"That boy was looping himself to stay alive and looping time around him to hide himself. It's like an intricate puzzle of time entwined within time. Like compressing data. I am almost afraid what he could do if he had more energy. Fortunately for us all, the Bodhisattva Supreme is cheap and keeps the energy she has amassed from innumerable kalpas sequestered away in her personal vault of Shards."

"Taylor!"

They were interrupted by a panting woman who crawled up the rocky grey hill they were on.

"MOM!"

The younger Hebert yelled with joy and ran to her mother and hugged her.

Annette nuzzled her daughter's head and choked back a sob.

"You're all grown up now. Oh what I must have missed!"

Taylor was crying with joy and managed to reply through her sobs.

"And you're just as young as ever Mom. Man, Dad's gonna have to rethink his vows of celibacy."

Annette pulled back and formed a T with both of her hands in the universal time-out sign.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Danny's celibate? What the fuck."

"It's...a long story."

The two Maras looked at each other.

And they walked into one another and merged, becoming a beautiful elven figure crowned in golden fire and framed with luscious blond locks of hair that trailed down to their waist.

Taylor looked up and gaped.

Mara bowed.

"Greetings Taylor. I am the full and complete Mara."

He kissed her knuckles and his tongue trailed suggestively up her arm.

Annette kicked Mara in the shins.

"Stop trying to seduce my daughter, Mara. Have you no shame!?"

---

2.9

"I am Adi Parashakti, goddess Bhuvaneshvari. I am the owner of this universe. I am the Absolute Reality. I am dynamic in feminine form and static in masculine form. You have appeared to govern the universe through my energy. You are the masculine form of Absolute Reality, while I am the feminine form of that Reality. I am beyond form, beyond everything, and all the powers of God are contained within me. You must know that I am the Eternal limitless energy."

- Srimad Devi Bhagwat Purana's 1st book and 4th chapter, The Devi addressing the Trimurti

Timeline A

Present Time.

Arya Harikiran Sriganesh tilted his head in surprise when he heard the mechanical whirl of vimanas. It was...off however. Different from the flying vehicles that usually ply the air lanes of India.

He looked up and squinted towards the Sun. From the sky, small black dots emerged and were rapidly flying towards them.

They were iron….dragons.

What kind of a Vimana is that?

"Grandfather?"

Sriganesh turned towards his granddaughter Sitri and gestured towards the Temple.

"Go return to the Temple! It may not be safe."

The girl looked frightened but quickly run back towards the safety of the temple, her pink and blue sari standing out amongst the foliage.

Grandmaster Sriganesh cursed that his granddaughter was visiting him today. Those iron dragons….they looked militaristic. And dangerous.

Not something he wanted his grandchildren around.

The former Brahmin pulled out his mobile phone and dialed his son. He picked up on the first rang.

"Yes, papa? Is Sitri being troublesome again?"

"Pratyush. Come pick up your daughter. There is something amiss- I think somehow a foreign air force has invaded Dharmic Authority Airspace, I am going to travel back in time briefly and figure out what is going on."

He hung up. They were slightly estranged. When Sriganesh decided to enter the monastic life, his children had taken his decision badly. His wife was more understanding, being very religious herself, but Pratyush did not like his father very much.

For the sake of Sitri however, he does let her visit from time to time.

As the swarm of iron dragons fly towards the Delhi, Sriganesh tore open a hole in space and he waltzed through. Before he had fully stepped into the past, he saw that another him emerged from the Temple in a dead run, his face panicking.

I suppose I will figure out why I was in such a hurry.

1 Hour Ago.

Sriganesh stepped into the past and looked around the empty courtyard. Sitri was still eating inside the Temple right now.

He walked towards the gardens and a monk named Ananda nodded at him.

"Sir, I saw you not 3 hours passed. You seemed like you were in a hurry, opening time portals left and right?"

Sriganesh frowned in concern. That seemed like a lot of wasted energy.

"Truly? Did I tell you what I was doing opening that many portals?"

"I am not sure. You were in an awful hurry and did not stop to chat."

The monk bowed and skipped a couple minutes into the past to take a nap.

Sriganesh knew of course, because 7 hours in the past, Ananda told him he was taking a nap several hours in the future.

The Temple of Repeating Time was an interesting place and very confusing for those who cannot navigate the ebb and flow of space-time.

What was I doing? Or rather, what will I be doing?

Timeline B

1 Week Ago

Sriganesh was woken up from his sleep in the middle of the night. He opened his eyes and saw his own face. The other him was scarred and his left eye was gone.

He rasped.

"Sriganesh. Danger. Warning from the future!"

"Wait...how is this….you're changing the past? Is this a timeloop?"

The Older Sriganesh shook his head.

"No. This is an alternate timeline. Due to tachyon interference, I couldn't establish a time loop, so I punched into the adjacent potential timeline. Your universe didn't exist until I traveled here. Thanks to a couple of friends, I managed to work out an equation to cross over. Of course, the timeline I am from could only be a potential future. There's a fixed point in time where the timelines fluctuate wildly."

Sriganesh was happy that another him managed to make a breakthrough. He was also very very worried about what this means.

He sat up, his face entirely serious.

"Tell me, what happened?"

"The End of everything."

He coughed up blood.

"I do not have much time. My body is breaking down. Everything from the timeline I am from is being dissolved from within, as if I never existed. That was the price of me traveling here. The universe I am from is entering total entropic state. That was how much power I used to reached into this continuum."

Sriganesh gripped the shoulders of his older self. His mouth agape. What he talking about was impossible!

"How did you even-"

"No time to explain!"

The Older Sriganesh looked him in the eye.

"Stop Vairocana. Seek beneath the Vatican. It is buried there."

"What is?"

An ironic chuckle.

"Shakti.What we sought for innumerable kalpa."

He became serious again and his breathing seemed to hyperventilate.

"L-listen Sriganesh. The Bodhisattva Supreme is not to be trusted. The other Sriganesh only realized that in the last timeline. And neither is Mara. We're nothing before the limitless energy."

And then he was gone.

Sriganesh pinched himself.

Did I hallucinate that. Or was that a dream?

Timeline C

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline D

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline E

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline F

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline G

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline H

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline I

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline J

Present Time

Sriganesh hurled himself into another space and time even as the entire universe was burned away.

Timeline ?

1 Week Ago

"Sriganesh!"

Sriganesh was woken up from his sleep in the middle of the night. He opened his eyes and saw his own face. The other him was scarred and his left eye was gone.

"Sriganesh. Go grab Dennis. We haven't got time to lose."

"What...who are you?"

"I am you! Now shut up and move!"

The other him pulled him up.

"We need to meet my counterpart in this Universe."

Sriganesh frowned.

"Wait, I thought you were me. Future me?"

"Alternate you actually. But no, I was talking about Mara."

"What."

"It's too hard to explain, suffice to say, I am being possessed by a Demon who really needs to talk to his counterpart in this timeline. As soon as possible. Mara is preventing my body from outright collapsing back into the quantum foam, but I don't have long."

He walked out of the door like a madman, leaving behind his counterpart blinking in shock and still in his underwear.