ARC: [What Lies Beyond The Darkness Beyond Time]

Chapter 48

A Whole New World

When you're erased from history and made an impossible paradox, you're gone for good, right?

There's no way back.

See, that's what many people have thought. For the most part, they aren't wrong. Being erased from history, you need something to keep you going, something to drive you forward through the darkness beyond time in the world that never was.

Oh, you might be curious to who I am. I'm nobody, really. But, if you must call me someone…

Kaine will do.

Regardless, yeah. There's a mad world here, on the ass end of time and space, long after the universe died. It's Earth, in a way, but I don't really want to go into the philosophical details and debates about it, I'm not.. I'm not Him, after all.

Well, in short, this is the place where everything that could have been, should have been, could never have been and has been all meet, in a world that's constantly shifting between timelines that have been, could be, or were impossible due to them being eliminated. Watching this world fluidly change is mentally stressful enough to drive one mad, so maybe that's why I'm able to hang onto my sanity.

Or maybe I was already insane and it drove me so insane that I've wrapped all the way around to sane again.

Either way, I've got something to hold onto. Even if it was for a moment… I saw [That Person]. I followed them as far as I could, but eventually even I gave in. My skin was rotting, my muscles were breaking down, my bones were snapping and my mind was broken into shards. But, even so, I clawed and dragged myself forward, searching for an answer to my eternal question/

[Why?]

Why could I not be him? Why must I suffer? Why? Why? Whywhywhywhywhtywhy-

I tear at my flesh to snap myself back to focused as my body, on the edge of breaking apart stabilizes. I will find that answer. And then I will see to it, that for all of my suffering, I will have hope. Reality is a zero-sum game, for everything good that happens, something bad will happen to equal it out. So naturally for me…

Shaking my head I continue forward. To my sides and ahead of me, on this twisted, warping road are those who have tried to do the same thing. A few are still dragging themselves forward,but most are already fading, replaced by a thousand other fading souls. All of them are here. None of them are here.

This has already happened. This will never happen.

Ultimately, deep down everybody knows this journey is [pointless]. It is without a beginning. It is without an end.

It is this logic that drags them down, breaks them down until nothing more than hollow shells remain. They will return to [Zero]. Their lives and actions pointless as they write in despair, until they stop thinking. This is what I have gathered from these remnants.

For me, whose entire life purpose was to suffer and despair pointlessly, this is nothing.

Amongst this road, I am the one who is able to [walk at my own pace].

In five minutes. In five hours. In five seconds. In five lifetimes. I don't know how long this has gone on when I stop being on a road. No, instead I am [in an empty room]. Stepping forward, lights run out in ripples, like water beneath my feet as screens come up, my [desire] to move forward. Screens light up as the [Throne of God] comes to life.

Yes, removed from time, removed from space, this is where time had changed. Likely the [God from the Bible] was here, if it ever existed. But now, there's nothing. An [empty throne] who reality is ruled by a [Zero-Sum Equation].

Timelines pop up, I see [Him]

Peter Parker.

The one who I am a clone of. Who I have the memories of. Who I should be. But, I'm nothing. Pulling up on the controls, I begin to write. Every [joy] you have. Every [success].

…Every [Hope]

I will stain them with [Despair]

This is /my/ hope. My zero-sum answer.

With this equation, with these changes to history, with this everything will cha-

NOTHING WILL CHANGE.

My hand, which should have hit the button… starts to disappear.

YOU WILL RETURN TO ZERO, FOR ETERNITY.

Ripping myself backward I turn towards it. The [Thing] what sits upon [The Throne of God]

Gold and eldritch, an alien being that made hope and despair, life and death [Zero-sum]

Black tendrils extend, forming into the blackened missing hand. I snarl as I charge upon it, as a hundred thousand [Tendrils] try to stab it through. They're reduced to nothing. I find myself back where I started, my movement reduced to [Zero].

I try it again, each time different as I take different approaches, each from a different timeline that could have happened, as it quietly watches. Collapsing to my knees, it begins to move, freezing only when I pull out [That thing]

Metal, of an alien make, forged into an ornate arrow. A [_ arrow]

I move to stab it into myself. This has been all leading to this. That thing, I reached and grabbed what [Made it] so, naturally, I can make something to rival it, while I finish my work.

YOU WOULD DARE?!

In an instant, an eternity of agony hits me as my arm is gone, having never been. The thing is angry, it seems. Likely, it has seen the plans for my action, that I've committed myself to.

I see it swipe at the monitor as every [change] I'd planned doesn't return to normal.

…THIS WAS YOUR [HOPE]?

Every intended change, for the purpose of Peter Parker despairing. For the purpose of him suffering…

They were not returned to zero, but, rather, the [zero-sum cancellation] of [Despair] by [Hope] occurred.

[Checkmate] occurred.

As it confirmed its changes and implemented them I began to laugh triumphantly. It paused, uncertain as cracks appeared on its surface.

"You've lost, asshole. Your [zero sum] replacement of [despair] with [hope]? I'm sorry to say you've just lost, because that isn't the case. My intent was, from the beginning, to replace [Despair] with [Hope], so naturally, by replacing and countering my changes designed to bring Further despair to an event, a history already drenched in it, you've instead [erased the despair to begin with]. Instead of causing my despair, you've fulfilled my hopes by [Erasing My Despair]!"

That's right, instead of a [Zero Sum] he'd created an end equal to a [Positive Two]. As such, it was [That Thing]'s loss.

What can you expect?

Even if I'm not him, I still have the experiences and memories of Peter Parker, and his ability was best at annoying those smarter or more powerful into making a [mistake] and then capitalizing on it, using it to grasp victory in an [unwinnable situation].

As it begins to break down, it's laughing, with the voice of a [young man] who has accepted his defeat good naturedly. As the [Final Change] occurred- The [darkness beyond time] began to disappear, taking with it this [World that Never was] along with the [Throne of God]. There'd be consequences for this change, sure.

But, as a result, the world, no universe. No, Multiverse was no longer ruled by the absolute law of [Zero-Sum]. New chances, new hopes, new despair, all in an unbalanced way.

Reality began to rewrite itself, perhaps for the last time as a clone and a blonde haired youth watch reality unravel around them.

…So, Peter, don't look ds defeated. Don't look forward with those empty, dead eyes. Once more, strongly believe in [Your own Possibilities].

"Oh, and you, [_ _ _] who has been watching over him, who is, even now listening to me… Don't let [Her] win."

Everything fades to white.

00

Peter Parker… no, Humanity… no, Everyone who is alive:

Don't forget.

Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you.

As long as you remember that…

You'll never be alone.

Unseen, a blue flame burns brightly. Now and forever.

Story Arc EVENT:

[What Lies Beyond The Darkness Beyond Time]

END

To Be Continued...

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Publisher's Note's:

Next chapter will basically be a recap of whats happened and what possible changes have been made because of this chapter.