· · · · · · ·

Oh wow an update. Why? Brain shit. That why. Even more regrets now. Should have done more and better with the ancient dragons. Needed to squeeze in a scene. Oh look that whole first draft is there already. Minor tweaks. Easy.

Don't except the final chapter anytime soon, or at all.

My apologies to all the folks to were begging for updates on other stories that this dreck instead got an update. Please know almost all of this was written 5 years ago and is in no way an indication of my priorities.

· · · · · · ·

Everything in her own world was more than she could be already, while Siephied was too weak to perceive more than the solar system, and all the Phieds combined would burn up in a single sun as much as anyone else. One whole universe was filled to the brink with such pinpricks of power.

Earth was smallest, yet by far the most complex. Nowhere else did life existed, nowhere else did the flow of energy take on such demands and such miracles. The planet and its life allowed disgust, love, intelligence and every other vile detail to exist in a conflicting mess of imperfection.

In this way devils thought of the world and the gods thought no more. Gods only had their instinct to command them through this senseless stream of life, while devils could revile in their hatred for the world. Impassive gods just lived.

Seeing organic life even on the brink of death offer no clarity. The sheer herd of chaos — modern understanding of chaos, that is — brought so many varied responses. Even the way every individual gave up or held on different in small, subtle ways. Astral beings had not the benefit of generalizing things into uniformity. For them, her, now, all those tiny different stood out as stark as the wider ones, holding equal significance.

Had she not been before Lucifer, Luna would have sworn Siephied possessed true omniscience.

What a silly idea. Not when She ... existed? Did not exist? She had to be something, if She had whims contained within herself. What if Her personality only was a distortion of her perfect order, existing because the worlds existed?

For all the power of the first god, Luna could look at the world and turn the flow into her mind, but she could not look into the Void and grasp Her Nature.

Though now she had the mental space to process it all, Luna had lived the life of an organic. Only a young woman. Now bound within Phied, she heard the echoes of the gods of the other worlds.

Phied, Lucifer's will for the world to exist. Igdu, Lucifer's will for the world to end.

There had been thousands ... ten thousands ... she dared not look further, because right now less than ten worlds still had a Phied or Igdu left. Had the others been destroyed with or without their world?

Sometimes Apostles happened, but that was a word only Zelas used. They had many other names in the world, if they were noticed at all. Like Lina, most were but a whisper that only the gods heard.

Lucifer was everything and nothing, purity and darkness and all gold, yet even she held no omnipotent dominion. All of creation but an accident she'd dreamed up. The worlds were her dreams and the void the nightmares to those within, or maybe her nightmares was the wound in herself as existence continued.

If one's power was one's mind, and one's mind one's power, dreaming was dangerous business. And like all dreams, the world was subconscious, nonsensical and without purpose or intent. It said nothing over her true wishes.

None could know what Lucifer wished. They dared not ask, save one.

A lady in white reflected on the bones of Siephied. In this world, the will of a god had tangible essence. After all, a god was a little piece of Lucifer's will embodied, no matter how corrupted it ended up.

If it was corruption at all.

The altering will left by Volphied, filtered through Dugradigdu, Valgaav, Val Ul Copt. It changed them, and they changed it back until an tangible drive remained. No grand plan, but a shiver of a broken goddess.

A being far greater woke from her dream, her desire to be whole, or wholly empty soon reached.

Lina Inverse had died, and with her the ability to use magic. The planet drowned in chaos, shattering earth where chaos did not reach yet, the fleeting air took the survivors along.

Millions of souls swarmed Megiddo, desperate as they crowded into hell. No avail. The void would follow eventually.

Contrary to them, all devils threw themselves into the sea of chaos. A thousand smiles, laughter and their twisted joy and fulfillment. All the breaking world behind them, only now could they experience true happiness. Even a god could feed unrestricted on their emotions now.

Luna, she felt nothing. With no desires to build on and Volphied lacking interest, she got an early taste of this void. Dragging at the corners of her mind were her own wishes, endlessly reminding her they weren't compatible with this outcome. They couldn't do anything. Mean anything. What is a person without the threads holding together experience, personality and motivation? Conscious, at least, but not words or actions ever came to be. Emotions only, at some instinctive level.

Beyond her self, the voices of other souls rang about in a same, similar drone of despair. Lyos, Liliane, Leyunso and the four gods. Oh ... how tiny. Even whom summed up into Siephied, they were like ants on earth before the sun of Lucifer.

Nothing killed willpower like utter despair, and really ... she would have laughed had she still possessed a body to do it with. How could Volphied ever have hoped to stand her ground in face of the golden lord?

I felt the same.

Who?

Choose what you like to call me : Leyunso, Lassandra, Siephied. If you can still call an astral being the same when they changed so much they would be their own enemy, given a dose of time travel.

Just like a Luna Inverse whose core desire was rewritten isn't quite Luna Inverse anymore, is she? You wished to live free of the weight of Siephied on your future, but what if the person you'd have become without that power had a very different wish? Maybe they'd take the power when offered.

You are neither or both now, curse Volphied for that, you dreg of humanity and my corpse. I can't bring back what you lost, but I will damn well take away my sister's virus.

Like being dropped back into the womb, Luna grasped at her own hollowed mind.

Good. Struggle is you.

· · · · · · ·

Zelas had nothing left. No sight, no sense of direction, no sound. Only knowledge and Shabranigdu eroding her mind with one scratch at a time. He drew it out to feed, sadism ingrained so deep his movement towards chaos was slow.

She wanted to stop despairing to spite him, but she could not. She wasn't Luna.

If begging the Lord of Nightmares to make it end would be possible, she would. She wanted to exist, but if the end of the world was the only way it ended, then let it come.

She didn't want it anymore if this was her entire world, but right now it wasn't. Xelloss was still out there. The world could still change. She needed life, and if not that, that her child had it. She could feel happy even if Xelloss survived.

And that stung Shabranigdu.

Ah, now that she could hold onto. Why not do the opposite of Luna then?

· · · · · · ·

Luna sank down onto the golden soul edge of Siephied, the world and her mind coming into focus. Here at the edge of the newly reforming soul, there was a rare calmness.

Above her, or before her, or at the center, the four gods struggled for dominance, but she had to focus to perceive more. She didn't want to. There was no reason, just old mortal instinct to pay attention.

Volphied had supplanted all her desire with the drive to destroy the world and recreate it, for which she would have to enable Volphied to supplant a reassembled Siephied and Shabranigdu. Without Volphied, there was nothing left. Not even curiosity, the desire for knowledge, was still around. When Leyunso was done, Luna did not ask what she'd done. Her dreams were empty.

"You need to regrow this all. Your motivations." Leyunso said. "What do you have left?"

Affection. Regret. Loose pieces that didn't fit together.

She had them only because Volphied's program had been designed to steer Val and accommodate Valgaav, whom did not need rewriting because he already was so conveniently selfish and actively destructive. Not Luna's way.

Nothing else left to her.

She still wanted to exist and be independent, all of this was love for herself. Only, the feeling was fresh, without the weight of disappointment and paranoia.

It didn't become inertia.

The four gods spun around each other in a struggle for dominance. The new Siephied would be born the moment their struggle shifted. Ragrairyos had missed a thousands years of feeding, she already had the disadvantage. Who ever got her down might claim her power.

She should do something, provided her own reasoning.

Nothing.

So much of what she'd become was just a mask to give form to a revived husk. Not that masks were unusual.

All of Lina's friends had a mask. Gourry thought himself the brave swordsman out to rescue damsels, Amelia thought herself the warrior of justice, Zelgadis the cruel magical swordsman, Filia the holiest priestess ... all of them but caricatures of their real self.

Below the distant scary yet awesome sister, Luna was just wretched? She'd always known she was ugly and not cared, but it was useful to appear powerful to the outside world.

In a way losing so much of her desires was rebirth. All the power she relied on what small, but relying on power was just leaning on the mask.

Volphied had a mask too, that of a human woman with teal hair and dressed in white. This mask now floated before Luna, obscuring her sight and sense of the other gods.

"This was not what I intended," Volphied said gently. "Oh, if only my extension had not died. That damn cat. I could have guided Valgaav to do a better job, and you ... I would have taken better care of you."

Volphied reach out. "Come, let me help you."

Luna crossed her arms, or at least, it felt like she did. She saw herself do it, but whether Volphied was another question. She thought about looking like she raised an eyebrow, just to be sure.

She might not want anything, but she could hate Volphied all she needed.

"This is my world and my mind. Get out," Luna said. She ... actually wanted her away.

"Why don't you come along with me? The Black World had no astral plane, you would be free of Siephied and your sister. Take along whom you wish, this world will not last long."

Luna shook her head. "I don't care whether I live or die anymore, thanks to you."

Actually, she might be now wanting her friends and family to live, and even her will for her own life regained substance with every passing second. Volphied didn't need to be told that.

Still, strange that Volphied might have mercy. Who knew whether she meant it?

A dark hand and bright wings waved Volphied away like smoke. "Well, at least you denied entrance. I just got her frame out of your mind, so she tried talking to you from the outside."

"How did you get in?" Luna asked Leyunso, a hint of curiosity driving her. She might not have bothered if talking had involved moving muscles, but as a pure soul it was out in a second.

It hadn't even occurred to Luna Leyunso had been outside still, until now. What the ...

"I knocked on my power, and it let me in. So convenient you no longer want to protect yourself, even on a subconcious level. Now, let us talk business. You need to regrew some desires so you can get motivated. We're not going to get fusion magic if you have no goals."

Wait, how did this work. Leyunso was in places and spaces ...

"But that's not ... how are you even in here?"

For a moment, Milgazia's face shimmered over hers. "I have a host."

Luna frowned. "You're wearing someone."

"In a way. He dreams me, and the gods are not disturbed by him the way they are by me. Now, about you ... does this bother you? Do you want to do something about it? If you don't, I might be forced to take over others. Filia's still around, and so is your sister."

"You won't," Luna spat. She couldn't tell whether she disbelieved Leyunso, or meant to stop her. Maybe both.

Ah, that gave her inertia. Love. How embarassing.

Yet it set her apart from every god here. She was complicated enough to feel and think love. She could do something with that.

Luna laced her hands through the fabric of the soul and remembered she had no hands. They'd always just been a dream. Oh, that was how Volphied remained unseen. A virus in a place with no firewall, as it was called in the Black World.

The four gods, they did it wrong. Power meant nothing more than a tool on the board of minds. Method, control, craft, wasn't that everything here? It undermined gods and devils alike, sometimes by intelligence, sometimes an emotion tore down someone.

Mirth still was an option, and she let herself sink into the golden soul cradle as it slowly welded itself around the holy.

Luna had always just wanted a choice, and the only way to get there was to take over now. Be the Phied or lose her self, and to be honest? There wasn't anything to lose or keep that depended on human blood.

"That is a decent start, but you'll need to deal with their individuality too," Leyunso said. "Do you understand how?"

No. Finesse was neither Luna's preference nor her talent, she liked things the direct way. But send the fool to hell who thought she didn't see the use of it, or that she couldn't give it a shot.

"Will you help me?"

"Yes, of course. Someone needs to control the new Phied and I still can't merge with my gods. I don't trust Liliane for trying to enslave Megiddo—"

"Wait, what?" Luna blurted out.

"Later, if there is a later. Anyway, Orun is too inexperienced with holy power right now, so you're my best shot. See, unlike Orun, you already have a full fledged astral body and know how to handle soul gates. Also, we can talk. That helps. I need you to give me your mortal soul."

Without a life's worth of socialization and cultural value, it sounded absurd to Luna that ever would have mattered to her. Being human, getting the same amount of afterlife as the others. Just a human. She didn't need that.

"Tell me how."

Ripping her own soul away was as simple as imprinting her mind onto her own astral body, and letting that blend into Siephied's soul. From here on she was a copy, but then again, she'd copied herself. Not even the cells of her brain remained the same.

As she held the soul, it looked so trivial. Just a blue spot with a framework around it, hollow in itself. Too hollow. She left a few gifts within before handing it to Leyunso.

From there on, she melded into the soul of Siephied.

The moment she closed the soul, the gods lost the flow that kept them apart and disintegrated. All but a few souls remained, and after a moment, a smaller variant of Ragrairyos unfolded. At her side were Milina and Orun, but Luna had no time to speak with them.

Pain hit with the full awareness of Shabranigdu and the Sea of Chaos. For a second Luna lost herself in the screeching and tearing.

Though the gods had struggled for dominance amongst each other, they had agreed on one thing. To just go with their inate instinct to fight Shabranigdu.

Shabranigdu had bitten down on Siephied's shoulder — her shoulder, and fired his power right into the wound. Luna braced against him with full power, forcing herself into control. Maybe Leyunso willed along, maybe the gods, it didn't matter. If they wanted to recreate anything, they would need Shabranigdu's power.

She wrenched him off, pierced her tendrils forward. He bled on the astral plane, bright red and mad black. Kicking her legs down on his claws, curled her tail around his. The fool, he'd put himself into such a vulnrable position. Bracing her wings against the fabric of space itself, she tore him away from the gap.

Shabranigdu missed pieces, but Luna had all of it. All this exilerating power, existing on both planes. She burned with life and need, the only obstable to getting what she wanted so much weaker than her.

Almost, she didn't care whether the earth was gone. Almost, the only thing that mattered was that the universe existed. Not quite. Luna couldn't lose herself now, even if she wanted to. Being a god overwhelmed, but with every passing second the physical sensation became normal.

Would Lei and Zelas still be in there? Had Shabranigdu gotten to Xelloss and Filia yet? Had ...

Barely had she thought about finding people, or her powers rippled across the astral plane until she found someone familiar. She hurled a small extension of her power towards it. Her priestess.

Drifting between the rubble of earth, she found Filia as a ghost. She'd just been in the middle of tracking down Megiddo's stream, but her emotions were too muddled to ride it.

Knowing that Xelloss killing Filia so her ghost could flutter about was a thing those two did like it was sunday mass, annoying but necesary, short cut any concerns.

Luna projected in her human mirage and caught up to her. "Hey, Filia."

Filia spun around. "Miss Luna? Is that really you?"

"Nah, I'm Pudgy McPurry, the baker's mascot. My heart just breaks you didn't recognize me when you've hated me for so long. Woe."

"What happened to you?"

"Oh come on. You've seen this before. Morally depraved chimera who abuses beast folk and only cares about themselves absorbed by a Phied. I'm a bit challenged on the control part, though."

When Filia responded with a horrified look and the miasma to match, Luna quickly added, "Volphied rewrote me but Leyunso kicked her out and now I'm the new Siephied. Volphied didn't cut my affection, that kinda helped I guess, and now I wa—"

"You sacrificed yourself?" Filia said, caught between concern and joy.

Luna shuddered. "Don't get so sappy on me. Nothing in this said I stopped giving a shit about myself. I've got control of the situation now."

"In that case, thank goodness. This is so much more convenient!"

"The hell, Filia?"

Filia smiled apologetically. "I just mean, well, I was afraid this would be a overly complicated journey into the mind. I just got done with Xelloss."

Somehow that planted the idea Filia had passed into his dream. Shouln't be possible.

"Hold it, you were inside Xelloss's mind? I'm gonna guess he didn't implode cause of whatever Lucifer did to him. So what's it like in there?"

Filia reached out, laying a finger on her hand. It brought on a small flow between them, and Luna got the memories Filia cared to share.

Well, Xelloss was alive and had a piece of Shabranigdu. And probably was that floating pyramid a few thousand miles to her right. Wonderful.

Xelloss had freaked out over something related to Zelas sending him away. Filia added it with the idea that maybe Zelas still existed (and maybe they could get her back because she was pretty sure Xelloss missed her). Underlying that the curiosity to why Zelas had done it when and what was such a big deal about it.

"Huh ... taking a wild shot, that pack instinct of them goes both ways," Luna said. "It's ... oh hell, I killed her."

Luna recoiled from herself as the details resurfaced. Everything she'd seen, the emotions that had filled the air ... almost Luna cut down her own reaction, but now she could sense it all. She let the feeling come and lived it for a minute, learned it.

Filia touched her shoulder. "Miss Luna, you didn't really do it."

"No, but I could have done something a long time ago so that I wouldn't have become this. Fuck."

Now she shut it down, no time for the ooziest sap. "We're going to see whether Zelas is still around. Leyunso thinks she is and we're going to need fusion magic."

"I'll tell Xelloss. You know, it's really becoming a tragic routine, isn't it? We keep having to save them."

"Fate is cruel, that we must be saddled with such poor excuses for enemies that they would be dead several times over if it was not for us." Luna dramatically clutched her heart. "Oh, right in my heroic dignity!"

"On the bright side, they're going to be in our debt so deep," Filia said.

"Triple interest," Luna said. "To make sure we get to collect that, I need you to find Lina's soul and reincarnate her. I'll tell you where to look, but first go ... Xelloss has the Shabby piece with drones? Yes? Good, go back and tell him to send one of those to talk to me."

· · · · · · ·

When the batwinged wolf appeared before her, Zelas mistook it for a figment of madness. The fusion enveloping it didn't let it last long. Shabranigdu bore down on it, but not with as much threat as it needed to; all his focus was on a battle or another.

With a whisper, the wolf spoke.

"May you wonder what I am, it is a drone created with aid of miss Luna, who has obtained the knowledge of miss Ragrairyos. This drone is programmed to deliver and inform, but I cannot hear you. I am about to give you a human soul, it may help you regain motion. Please use it, we will need an agent within Shabranigdu."

It asked her to become a chimera.

Just as she extended her energy, the fusion barrier dissolved and Shabranigdu tore the drone to pieces. Zelas snatched the soul just in time.

It had no personality, but its soul gate stood wide open as if it were newborn. Only on the way from hell to Megiddo should this happen naturally, but this was carved open with holy hoped.

The moment Zelas slipped in, she realized it had been opened from the inside. This was Luna's mortal soul.

It took all her strength to tear loose of Shabranigdu, and she had to cut off small parts of herself to do so.

The gates closed behind her, and now not even Shabranigdu could reach her.

She had half expected being inside a soul to do something to her, but her devil instincts remained as they were. What had changed Gaav? Had it taken time?

Did it even matter?

"What do you think you're doing?" The voice outside now, truly, blissfully outside.

"What do you believe, father?" Zelas snarled, projecting only a voice. "I will live and see to Her Will."

"Do not presume you know what our Mother desires! All we need to do is end the world!"

"She changed Her Mind," Zelas said. "Or rather, Her Mind changed. Her Mind is Her Power, Her Power is Her Mind. We are Her Mind too, don't you understand? That I exist is as valid a motion as you are. I must do what I must, as much as you, and if it makes me hate everything you are, so be it."

So be it more than ever.

Luna had left her something. The magical signature of the talismans, as well as a dose of holiness that sought to burn. She tried blending her darkness with it, finding it responsive. Last, it gave her a sense to navigate Shabranigdu with. She had a hunch she'd have to thank Leyunso as well.

Even Shabranigdu had an internal logic to his energy. Not quite a flow, but there was a structure and a sense to it, enough to allow just a barely shared hivemind. On this structure lay traces of the demonsblood talisman.

If anything would work to get her range, that was it.

She projected into Shabranigdu's physical form, tiny at first. Inside his veins, on either plane.

"You are not worth keeping around to control Xelloss," he said. "I'll destroy you."

"If you could, why even talk to me?" she howled; for there was no room for her soft threats, and all the hollow for laughter. Shabranigdu was so little of complex.

Clawing out of the vein, she dug herself deeper into the flesh, followed the sensation of the shard. She herself had made it, that would give her leverage and a trace. Shabranigdu could not hide it.

After breaking through a stomach simulation, she found Lei, Lezo and Luke, all hunched around a tiny shard, just barely resisting Shabranigdu. They couldn't even project, she saw only their spectral forms.

They saw her too as she fell into the acid.

"What are you—"

"I seem to have the wrong address, never mind me," Zelas said.

"How are you independent?" Lezo asked.

Zelas put a mouth on the skinless blob she was just to smirk. "I am certain mister Lei can guess if I say I got a gift package."

"What kind?"

"It will let me take control of the demonsblood talisman. Aid me, keep Shabranigdu occupied. We will have a chance."

"I've done so twice now, I will do so again," Lezo said at once.

"I may try," Lei said. "But I cannot promise anything. There is no clear line between me and Shabranigdu anymore."

"Then I hope you will at least let the others remove you from that shard, if it must be. Mister Luke, are you still part of our scheme?"

"The world is ending," Luke said. "Even Milina's torn into Siephied. What's the point?"

"The point is hope, the fact that I can hope, and that my pack is still free. Divert Shabranigdu and it will be easier for me, and for your miss Milina. I believe miss Luna has become Siephied now, and miss Filia is still alive. They are kindly disposed to miss Milina, she is likely alive."

"Without your help," Lezo added. "Don't you want to help her?"

"Of course! Everything for Milina!" Luke tried to dramatically stand, and Zelas knocked him back down with a feather.

The other three cringed at the love he poured out, and the twisted stomach they were in clenched. Hmm, maybe their survival here had a lot to do with how hard to digest Lezo and especially Luke would be.

The four hosts began to pull at Shabranigdu. When Zelas dug back into the body, she met less resistance.

A talisman would free Shabranigdu because it could channel through souls. Zelas wielded it the same way, against Shabranigdu.

Now to just find it ... well, that should be little of a task for a wolf.

· · · · · · ·

Filia had gone into trance and her soul to Megiddo, hoping to find Lina. Luna herself was the lifeline. Just as she began pulling Filia into the world again, Shabranigdu curled back, kicking off of Luna. She hadn't been prepared for tactic and tried to catch him again, but he moved further back. Luna piled up fire in her jaws and spat it at him, but he didn't even dodge.

Cringing into himself, Shabranigru roared and trashed. The sound didn't reach her, he was out of her range. When he didn't attack in the next moments, she pulled Filia's soul out of Megiddo.

Holding open one claw, the blue pillar of Megiddo shot open. In it was Filia in dragon form, and on her back Lina's soul.

"Luna, what the hell?" Lina said.

"It's under control, really!" Filia said.

"That's not it. I just ... it's her. She's got no more human soul." Lina whirled around and saw Shabranigdu. "Why does he have your soul?"

"A bone I threw to Poodlywoo. Bitch looks like she's got fun gnawing," Luna said, pleased that her thundering voice caused Lina to cringe just a little.

But then Lina looked up in defiance, and the golden touch of chaos flared about her.

"Don't try to scare me anymore, sister," Lina said. "If you're Siephied now, I bet you can hear the Phied of the White World. You know what Lucifer's Slave will let me do."

Luna nodded. "Force of habit, little sister. I'll try not to get carried away. We have a good guess what will happen, but not even Raiphied can tell me details."

Lina gave a cocky smirk. "Raiphied should know better than to doubt me by now. After all, I became the witch queen and pulled it offer perfectly, nobody a bit the wiser I was the wrong person. I'm a genius and people really need to appreciate that better."

That deserved to get them flicked off her claw; though gently. Lina made a petulant face while she spiraled through space on Filia's back.

Luna allowed herself to enjoy that for a second, while in other worlds, the Phieds began screaming in a deafening cacophony. Raiphied aside, each of them cried out to stop it, now. Luna ignored them to her best effort, but it sank in that she had no human soul left.

Surrounding her were the human souls, silent, until Ragrairyos became Lyos. "She'll make it work. Despite everything you did, she's the strongest in this world."

Wry, Luna said, "Sending her to see the world and away from me was the best I ever did for her. Hope it didn't send her into the arms of someone worse."

Lina had gone and become the apostle of Lucifer.

Thinking about Lucifer, especially now Chaos was right behind her — do not look at it — wasn't easy or simple anymore. Her lack of existence tempted any being with a soul held together by thoughts alone, defied it, scraped at it.

Yet Lina had her laugher again and infected Filia with it. Xelloss met them with a hundred grins. The triad united, and Luna softly sent her own fears into the flow; being a god now, it was almost lovely how much more vibrant the world was when everyone's emotions was tangible. She wanted more of that.

Once the two tiny souls were inside of Xelloss's projection, Luna lost her tie with Filia. For how long, she could not tell — time itself wasn't stable anymore — until the tug of power came.

All the while, Shabranigdu struggled to get closer to the void, more desperately than gratetious now. Sometimes his grip falter, or was pulled back, and he couldn't spaw bile anymore. She wanted to see what was going on in there, but that she couldn't. It might be her kind of bloody lovely.

Luna released whatever energy was asked for, careful to not leave a weakness in case Shabranigdu took over again. More broken time later, or very shortly after that, an energy field rose atop of Xelloss. Filia teleported out, and she brought along Lina.

A living Lina, encased with a remnant of air to cast her breath with. All phieds across the world pleaded for her not to do it, but all Luna had was a small, "good luck".

· · · · · · ·

Clear words broke through the dark and brought along the impression of gold and expanse. Shabranigdu could not stop her from hearing chaos words.

"Light beyond the brightest star.

Deeper than the deepest night.

Oh, Lord of Light who shines like gold upon the Vessels of Void.

I call upon thee, I swear myself to thee.

Let the wisdom of ages be gathered in our hand by the power you and I posses!

LUCIFER'S SLAVE!"

The very citing of this name and the power that it invokes froze all devils with terror. Shabranigdu didn't even respond as Siephied pulled him further away from the chaos hole.

Zelas recovered sooner than he did, and used the moment to spin herself around the demonsblood talisman.

Now she could see again, she beheld the end of this universe. Despite everything she wanted, the beauty was unparalleled. This she had been designed to desire.

Below them a nebula of gold and brown waved out with terrible speed, though they were so far up and so small, it only looked like calm movement. Small bright lights, like young stars, flowed along towards the black hole at its end. As Zelas forced more control of what she could see, the source became clear : the sun had been caught on the other side, breaking it into fragments.

Between Siephied and Shabranigdu was Lina Inverse, small and nearly impossible to see as she stood atop Xelloss's ... why was he a pyramid? Not that this matter much when Lucifer called.

The Golden Sea's horizon rose into a humanoid head with waving hair. The face belonged to Lina, but the hair oddly resembled Volphied's clean cut sidebangs. The eyes were utter hollowness, as was the mouth when it cracked a grin.

Below Siephied and Shabranigdu, hand formed upward, never touching either. She did not need to, Siephied and Shabranigdu knew her power and its threat. They stayed as still as possible, waiting for Her to make a move.

According to Xelloss, the Lord of Nightmares had been stoic and calm when he saw Her possess Lina, so why did She present amusement now? She, the one true being amidst all these fractured, irregular pretenses.

On the astral plane, absolute nothing. No murky waves, no light or dark. Her mind scrambled to process what it perceived, but it had no form and did not allow substitute.

... this was Her.

A tiny shadow of Her on the physical world.

The name Lucifer no longer was enough to encompass her. No word could ever do this.

All the world only Her Dream. Her it been born from pain, like any child, or a whim, who knew? They could never know.

The Lord of Darkness, the Bearer of Light, She was so much greater than any of them, yet She was a Mother, and as a Mother she could see all her children in the eye. Even though her children could not look back. She only had this flimsy mask for them, which wore the universe as a gown.

Maybe Lina Inverse could see her, but Zelas did not dare to presume she did. Lucifer reflected only on Lina, that didn't mean Lina herself was special beyond what She granted her.

They spoke, but the conversation was only for Lucifer and Lina. It passed within a whisper and took hours, time had broken so who could measure?

Lucifer's hands closed around Shabranigdu and Siephied, drowning them in gold. Shabranigdu's oppressive chains fell away, only to be replaced by the sensationless void.

Zelas let it guide her where She wanted, until there was a command.

The chaos words Lina had cast did not destroy.

No sphere of destruction, the spell gave her voice the echoe of creation. Of Lucifer herself.

The massive hands blended to a golden dome, which seemed greater on the inside than Zelas would have guessed. Was ... was that the sun over there? When had this space become so big? Shabranigdu and Siephied were huge, but not so much.

Central to the dome was Lina. Around her floated the pieces of the world, slowly taking orbit around her tiny form.

Lina settled her eyes on Shabranigdu.

"Shabranigdu, deny yourself," Lina said. Though there was no air, they heard her speak.

Shabranigdu obeyed.

Everything Zelas had feared since she moment she grew her own will fell apart like dust in the breeze.

The power remained of him, clinging to the talisman and to the souls of the hosts.

Zelas had this one moment to seize control, using the talisman to give herself an advantage. Both Lei and Lezo tried for control, but Zelas already was in place. While Shabranigdu's form fell away, Zelas unfolded her wings, then the rest of her body.

It wasn't the same as before; though still the same fundament, her armor took more akin to bones, her golden crown might just be horns. It could be either, and she did not care to choose, let it be between, just as she was. One did not question gifts of self.

The deep cold of space on her skin urged her out of revelling in the power. The world died. Instinctively, she looked to Siephied, who had backed off.

"Luna, can you hear me?" Zelas called.

Siephied raised her emotionless head, then nodded.

"You can still call me Luna," she said in a grating, heavy voice — she sounded like no dragon Zelas had ever heard, but the sound was still familiar. Maybe her oldest memory.

"Have you become Siephied?"

"As much as it matters," she said. "I can give my light to Lina, you give your darkness."

That needed no further words.

Zelas howled out a ray of darkness, which met a white flare of Luna.

Lina caught the power in her hands, leaning heavily on the talismans. At her touch, the power turned to nothing.

For long seconds it remained silent, then it was reborn in golden explosion. It fell on the rift in Ragnarok, seizing it on Lina's command.

Both Zelas and Luna were pulled along, forcing them down to the bottom of the astral plane. Lina commanded them to reach into the outer premises of the Sea of Chaos and revert the stream.

How they were to do this, Zelas could not fathom, yet there they were ... just thinking about trying and the stream bent. They could not tell the difference anymore between themselves and the fusion controlled by Lina.

They were creation, the very change in the will of Lucifer embodied. Zelas felt like standing on the brink of denial of self yet reaching for the greatest freedom and fullfillment.

Zelas would have laughed if she had a mouth, and the moment she thought this, she became the winged wolf here too. Without the armor, she did not need to fight today, she had nature and life to tend to.

Skeletal still and auburn instead of red, Luna had let go of her humanity in favor of a glorious monster. Instead of bleeding, she owned her scales and her wings. Eager to join her, Zelas plunged into orbit around her, which Luna answered by flowing along.

Spiraling around each other, they created a flow of fusion that spiraled around Lina, taking along whatever the Lord of Nightmares deemed it worth to give.

The pieces of the planet and the fire of the sun, but to Zelas surprise, also all the spirits of nature.

Mother Earth was en entity far more distinct than she had realized, to the point where she felt. With a kindly nod, she passed by the Phied and Igdu, going ahead to meet Lina for whatever fate might come about.

Zelas's excitement had no way out, so she poured out darkness further, yet when they returned to the physical world to see, it still ended.

Lina Inverse still stood atop Xelloss's projection, spirits of nature around her, but everything else fell into the void like before.

Then Lina locked eyes with her. "Come along, you two. I have some deep contemplating to do you are my soundboards."

· · · · · · ·

Mother Earth, the ellusive source of white magic, was kind of weird. In the position of Phied, Luna could understand nature spirits and they just chattered her ear off. Especially the earth spirit.

Luna was overworked to the brink soon, drowning in chatter, instructions and demands while trying to manage four obnoxious gods plus Liliane to just work together. Ragrairyos was on her side well enough, but the rest?

Zelas had spent the last few hours — minutes? what was time doing? — in a trancelike unity, barely saying a word and just floating, providing energy and being content, amazed and downright spiritual. Probably had figured out a few existential secrets about herself. How did she even keep order and control her form? There were at least four other sapient creatures there.

Maybe it was just that Zelas didn't have to micromanage the recreation of an atmosphere while juggling minds. Leyunso had happily dumped all her relevant knowledge into Luna's awareness, but her experience didn't work for their whole new body.

Didn't help she had to keep up a sizeable subspace just to store the atmospheric gasses that the wind spirits had brought along. Just dumping it into space would do no good.

Gods didn't play an active part in nature, they just worked as manager. They didn't do the building. Now Luna was expected to build, and do so within the timeframe of Lina's oxygen supply.

Lina still glowed gold, but she was human. The signs of exhaustion took hold of her over time. She'd sat down now, no longer observed. Sometimes she spoke to someone; a few times this was Filia, who relayed the conversation to Luna by their bond, whenever the shelter allowed that; Xelloss for his own part might be destabilizing in this broken space.

Summoning the remaining pieces of land was tedious, but Luna had a knack for monotones as long as there was fun to be had with emotion eating.

There was no planet coming together. Just what the spirits could hold easiest, patched together with makeshift atmosphere that could not thrive on its own.

Lina had the nerve that once they had the atmosphere going to step onto the land, poke the toe of her shoes in the ground and say, "Meh, this place is gonna be boring for a long time. How long till we get any bandits or gold to hunt."

What she didn't say was where this was going.

"It may be a few times before sapient life can be reincarnated. The plants should be soon," a small spirit said. "Shall we get to spreading Megiddo's seeds, Apostle?"

What ...

Filia stood manifest before her all of a sudden, on her claw, as she felt onto a piece of mountain — when had that gotten here.

"I'm so glad you're alright," Filia said. "You are doing well. I think. It's difficult to overlook as a whole."

"Eh, you knew that," Luna said. "Me being alright and doing well." She sent off the mountain, and suddenly remembered what she had already finished.

"I mean, better than I thought. It was terrifyingly hollow the way you sound through telepathy, I wasn't sure how much of you there was left."

"We're going to need to work on that," Luna said, though she wasn't sure how much she wanted to get from Filia into her head. Filia was all teary eyed and emotional about life and maybe the world being saved, on the verge of being a blubbering mess by Luna's standard.

That earned her a short glare. Okay, so maybe Luna's standards of emotional control were a little extreme.

On the other side of the island, she now noticed Zelas speaking with Xelloss, only cause the content became relevant. "... and then we I told Shabranigdu about how she was my dragon and he was so furious, you should have been there, lord Beastmaster! The look alone! It's been the best, most nutritious miasma I've ever eaten.

A slack jawed Zelas listened. "And you did this while she was inside your mind, which did not disintegrate."

Zelas gave Filia a look that Luna would describe as a parent versus the delinquent teen who had compelled their child to do drugs. Luna vowed to save that comparison for a suitably awkward moment in the future. The now was a bit too busy with the sinking realization she was Siephied ... and not quite herself.

... gods, she was a god. That was absolutely not what she'd been after, but she could live with it. Responsibilities weren't a problem for Luna and — Xelloss waved his hand before her physical eyes; he's gotten here fast.

"Nice to see your eyes, but are they actually working?"

Leyunso mentioned she'd have to mentally focus on perceiving the physical world from now on, or she'd turn inside all the way.

"I'm here, clown. What'd you want?"

"Just to say hello and congratulate you on your accidental ascension. Miss Lina wants something, though."

Lina had returned already. How long had Luna been out of it? Time was a little hard to keep track off ...

She didn't have a biological clock anymore, Leyunso said. Oh, great.

"Megiddo's set. There's one last thing I want to do before I stop the spell time," Lina said. "Let's dream."

Spell time ... wait ...

She turned around, and Lina was still standing atop the pyramid of Xelloss's projection.

Time was all over the place, literary.

· · · · · · ·

A hearth flickered before Zelas, its golden flames the only sign this was no ordinary tavern. This was a dream. Probably. Zelas wasn't supposed to be able to dream. What had changed? Lina became more enigmatic by the hour. Minute. Second.

A dusty old inn surrounded them, stifling her newly obtained freedom. Couldn't it have been something more grand, more significant?

Even if it lacked an astral plane, or perhaps it had been constructed on it ... somehow. Who knew with chaos?

Zelas stood and turned, unaccustomed to having to actually look to understand her surroundings.

Luna sat on the counter nearby, in full out waitress uniform, arms crossed and eyes on Zelas's side of the room.

Next to her sat Luke with Milina on one table, and an oddly doubleshifted Lei Magnus shared a table with Lezo.

On Luna's side of the room were the four gods around one table, and Liliane, Milgazia, Filia and Orun around another.

The presence of some confused her for a second, but not long. All those tied to to the Phieds and the Igdus were here.

Lina had seated herself at the center of the tavern, at a table with only one chair. Everything in the room situated around her, from the arrangement of tables, the way the chairs faced, the patterns of of the wood in floor and ceiling.

They all watched her, but Lina watched the door and tapped her foot. "Where in hell is Laust?"

"He's gone," Milina said. "Zelas destroyed him to cover tracks, his soul reincarnated."

Lina spun to her. "What?"

A flower jar nearby stirred and toppled over. Out crawled a formless red blob.

Lina sighed, more irritated than resignated. "Laust was my first choice for new Igdu. Dammit, what am I gonna do now?"

"The hell you mean, Lina?" Luke asked. "Your choice? What exactly are you doing?"

Xelloss peeked out of the kitchen. "I bet it's a secret."

Filia stormed over to him. "You. Out of the kitchen! Now!"

"Why? I thought we had this whole thing about trusting each other."

"I'll trust you with my life, not with culinary art. Let go of that pot, we're not gonna see the world end because you astrally poisoned miss Lina."

"Oh, but that's not a problem, right? We'd just revive her."

Zelas snapped her fingers. "Enough of that. Xelloss, why are you here?"

"Oh, it happens to be so I've claimed one of the pieces of Shabranigdu, didn't you hear? Or perhaps the memories are fuzzy still, miss Lina did something to time," he said with an apologetic shrug. "Now, for your question, I didn't mean to devour him, but it came quite convenient. Maybe I can transfer some of this power to you? We may be a little unequal ..."

"Not once I'm done with this, depending on the outcome," Lina said. "And hurry about with the food."

Xelloss saluted. "As you command, lady Lina Inverse."

Determined, Filia followed him into the kitchen.

"Why is there a kitchen here? Tell me where we are!" Luke snapped. "Why can't I sit with Milina?"

"You're here cause I'm having a hard time thinking," Lina said, drumming her fingers on the wooden table. "See, how the new world ends up is in my hands. This is my dreaming up my own space and duh, off course there's going to be food. Don't worry, Xelloss can't screw it up. I'm having him replicate the good stuff."

"You are terribly casual about the end of the world, Lina Inverse," Lei Magnus said. "Is this a face you wear or your actual attitude? I have a hard time telling without eating your emotions."

"No hello, nice to meet you?" Lina asked him. "I don't think we talked before, what with me being busy dying."

Lei shook his head. "I would not call that myself. I can be Lei Magnus again now that you erased Shabranigdu."

"That's not how it works," Lina said. "And because of that I'm having a hard choice. In my original plan, Laust would have become the new Igdu and Claire the new Phied."

Lina nodded at the four gods, who quietly surrounded a table in a far corner. They had humanoid forms, as anyone in the room did, but no eyes in their sockets. "I can't work with that either, Luna owns them now."

"And not gonna give them up," Luna said.

"You see my problem." Lina turned back to Lei, then looked at Zelas. "I'm going to have to make this decision between a pretty rotten cast."

Lina tapped on the table, which prompted something to crawl from below it. The ensuing form resembled a human man vaguely, but shifted and altered with every movement. Red power flaked off and regrew.

"What is he?" Zelas asked.

"The pieces of Shabranigdu that I sort of destroyed three years ago," Lina said. "At least, I obliterated Shabranigdu's mind. Luke, Milina, you remember that it was locked up in Golgotha?"

"Yes," Milina said, right as Luke said, "No."

"The human soul is left and it's been using Shabranigdu's voice to make every devil forget it. Do not think about perceiving me. Simple command, no?"

Zelas strained her mind, and did recall three cages being occupied ... yet only two hosts had factored into the plan.

Again. This one wasn't even aware of. The elation of destroying and reforming the world ebbed away, familiar dread boiling up.

"The Lord of Nightmares responds to pure wishes, sometimes at a price," Lina said. "Zelas, I did not actually succeed at destroying Shabranigdu three years ago. I didn't persuade the Lord of Nightmares to do me a free favor. Like with Luke and Lezo, a remnant of the power and mind remained, but this time, the Bringer of Light had her eyes open. All that happened is that the host just wanted to be left alone by astral creatures. It got a wish, and it talked Shabranigdu to death.

Later, Laust and I guided him to the cathedral in hopes of negotiating with him. Since astral creatures could not outright react to him, but he could to them, he might be helpful in containing outbreaks. That is how Laust managed to even stage an outbreak of the other two, despite all of Rangort's power. He nicely asked his host to do it."

But then ...

"You were right, there is something like the Apostle of Chaos," Lina said. "But it's not like being a favored child. I can't just will miracles into existing, I have to work and pay like everyone. It's just a job as a gambler. Today, I declined to gamble, but I can't even tell whether that worked.

As it stands, once Ragnarok is healed, my spell is over. There will be a form of life, cycle of nature all and all that, on top of hell, in the same dimension. We get the scraps of the old gods and devils to run it and shape it.

Before then I have to decide what state to leave the world in. I can talk to Lucifer—" The moment she said this, all the astral creatures shivered, and Zelas snarled at the insolent use of the name.

"Shut it, Zelas. I am allowed to say her Name as I want, okay? Anyway, the pantheon stays, She says, but I get to shuffle the cards.

I'm just a human with like three decades of life. I'm not gonna pretend I know what's best for the world. Nobody's gonna lose their own power, body or mental state, that much I'm fine with. Everyone who wants to end the world already hopped into the Sea of Chaos and Shabranigdu's as good as nothing. That leaves you people. I can't destroy human souls with a command just so, and even if I could, that would just give all your powers to another soul.

Luna settled as Siephied, now I have to choose who becomes the new Igdu."

"Wonderful candicates you have left then," Lei said. "I don't think a single creature in here is truly good."

"I don't believe in good and evil people," Lina said. "I put my stakes in what their actions get us."

"Why not give it to Luke then?" Ragrairyos asked. "Miss Milina has a hold on him."

"We saw what happens when Luke loses Milina. Besides, I don't think they can deal with Luna," Lina said.

"I take offense to that, little sister," Luna said. "I don't have grand aspirations, I'm sure we can work out something."

"Or I could scramble it all back," Lina said. "I don't want to give that much to Lucifer."

Abruptly, she stood up and marched into the kitchen.

The remaining group waited, but once munching sounds reached them, Zelas stood up and followed.

Filia just finished saying something, the sound lost to Zelas.

"And you? If Zelas would say, take over the world, what would it be?" Lina asked without a glance; her fingers were scraping a pot clean.

"We rather like the world as it is, miss Lina. Dystopia's are quite dull, to be honest. Everyone's either oppressed or oppressing, it lacks interesting diversity. We won't exactly be short on food, assuming the new world will work that much as the old one does."

Lina gave a wry smile. "I don't know that, I just get to pick the players. Lei Magnus also offers there won't be a dystopia, but with him ... I don't know what's more to fear, an amoral lifeform that decided to learn to care for life despite the world around, or a high moral man who discarded all he once believed in by the world around him."

Filia handed her a soufflé, which cut her off for a bit. At the kitchen table, Xelloss had his eyes opened and watched quietly, sipping from the fake tea. Filia was with tea too, but didn't drink. Zelas just kept swaying her tail.

Finally, Xelloss said, "How about tetriary circumstances?"

"Thought you'd never offer," Lina said with a grin. "That beats Lei's potential."

Zelas smiled, casting a smug little look at Lei.

"What's going on?" Lei asked.

"Useful items," Zelas said. If she and Xelloss were on the same line, then the idea was to let Lina borrow Xelloss whenever she wanted. Zelas would just command him to obey Lina. A decent enough trade, and safe enough for Zelas.

"We have a deal, but I can't garantee chaos will make it smooth," Lina said. "I'm on borrowed power myself, remember."

"Now what?"

Lina finished her food, shrugged and snapped her fingers.

· · · · · · ·

When Lina stopped dreaming, all the devils vanished, and the gods remained. Luna had nowhere in particular to be, and still very little desires. She wandered after Filia, down an astral tunnel.

She arrived in front of ten thousands of dark, feathery souls. Filia stood before them atop a glowing green sphere, already in the middle of a conversation. Luna landed behind her, and paid attention for lack of anything else.

"We refused violence because violence was the very nature of our world : these conflicting desires only play into what the Lord of Nightmares moves. Without it, we have some defiance. We do not disagree per say that pacifism did not solve us, but it is not so simple in its reasoning as an aversion to violence. Do you understand what it means, now you propose this new world?"

"If it comes to pass the way we hope, it is no guarantee all will be good now. It will depend on formation, from what I gather. Miss Lina's been vague. But it will be much better, and all the more if we can bring you back. Please entrust me with this.

"You once mentioned the reasons you wish to atone were a lie, so there was no point. Have these reasons changed?"

"They have always been there, and stand loose of the kind of atonement Valgarv demanded. I seek to protect the innocent and the guilty and everyone who can think. I might not be paying for actions I did not partake in as an individual, but I would like to do so as a representative of all the golden dragons and the new tribe that shall be."

The three at the head nodded. "We do indeed wish to live and thrive again, and if there is hope for a world beyond an eternal struggle between order and chaos, we will more than glad to bolster it."

"I will do my best to make it happen."

"And we wish this to be with our own culture. Our council will remain as spirits to advice, until all is set. Will you heed us?"

"Absolutely."

At this, they faced Luna.

"And you, poor replica of our first god—"

"I'm fine with whatever my priestess does, go do your thing."

"You actually carry benefit of Ciephied's death. Her tribe never got anything useful out of us, we made sure of it. But you have powers of our god, that is tied to our magic. We will want to integrate some of it."

Luna shrugged. "I've got my own plans that'll leave lots of energy to spare. Filia can handle it in my stead for now. Sure she'll be done once I am."

They narrowed their eyes, but Luna didn't care much. Not nothing though. Weird. When Filia bowed to them, she inclined her head, and felt odd about paying respect to anymore. Was this going to be a thing, with her desires cut off suddenly growing new wills that were contrary? Ugh. All the more reasons to go ahead with her little plan.

Filia accompanied the ghosts to something incarnation related, and Luna waited. The sphere faded a little as they left, until she was in the dark with it.

When Filia returned, it was with both relief and gravitas at her task, moreso in her radiance than her calm face.

She held out a hand, and Luna flared wings to release energy. Rather casually, Filia began tossing bits into the dark.

"You still haven't really talked with her, miss Luna."

Stars began to form around them. "I'll do it later."

"And what about Zelas? If she does indeed become the new Igdu, you might be enemies."

"We always were enemies, Filia. Whatever you've got with Xelloss, it's different for us. We won't suffer from being enemies."

Filia laughed softly, it was good to hear.

Luna hooked her hands behind her head and laid back. In the real world, she felt her soul change.

Out there, Lina constructed something still, and time itself mended. The last breath of her spell was spent in chaos, and whether it worked would depend on Lucifer. They could only wait, but Filia was determined to act as if the future was a certainty.

"When you're not magically compelling me to go along with you, I wonder how we'll get along," Filia said.

"Assuming it goes away ... yeah, I guess I'd like to know that too. Probably gonna be fine. Talking works. Bet we'll still agree on a lot, cause we know the things we thought. If we don't, I guess you can try nagging me. You're godawful at the whole pure maiden soothing the brooding bad boy thing, too made of martyr. Be the nagging maiden, trust me, works better."

Filia smiled at that, but it had something sad. "You're talking more than usual. Well, at least I'm glad you had something to say."

"What, not good enough?"

"You, miss Luna, are godawful at the supportive god soothing the distraught priestess thing." It came with an accusing finger.

"Loving the prospects for my divinity," Luna said. She brushed a hand across the sky, rippling the stars and earning a blasphemous glare from Filia.

She expected scolding, but got, "Are you certain that being a Phied is what you want?"

"Loads of power, option to take on human form if I wanna, world domination without the hassle. Sounds good."

"But ... you always wanted ... you know. A simple life?"

What did she want, and how much of it was leaked to her priestess already?

Luna Inverse had many at her feet (bowing or bloody), few at her heart and little understanding of why she was this way.

"Product of a life between humans, Liliane, and looking as a corpse the entire time. Did some dying too. Very messed up brain. Everything I wanted from that life, Volphied cut it away. I guess if there's one more thing I want, it's what I'd have been without Siephied's power. Dead, probably, but that aside."

"Why do you want to know? Finding redemption?" Filia asked. She didn't mean it.

"To whom? I've very far from that. Nah, it's just for knowing myself. Gotta start somewhere." Luna laid an arm around Filia's neck, pulling her down a little. "Speaking of starts and corruption ... next time you pull a scheme, I want in on it, okay?"

"Next time, it'll be our scheme. After all, I shall have to help you subvert the Wolf Pack and who know who else."

They stood at the end of the dream. "I guess we start with a promise. I'll see you soon."

· · · · · · ·

Zelas's eyes could see the last of the universe fall into chaos, and it was by her own claws she closed Elmegiddo.

All left in the pitch was was a golden pillar with neither beginning end, only Lina but not Lina. Some eager little girl who picked up a spell, broke through the world, and then broke the world to save those in it.

Zelas didn't realized she was in orbit until Luna, opposite of her, vanished behind the pillar to emerge again withouth coming much closer. Zelas tried to stop, but they were each in their own spiral, closer and closer to the pillar.

Lina called out, the words were lost, as they fell into it.

They were nothing but minds without.

"Zelas, you gambled right," Luna whispered.

"We shall see if the whims of our Mother bring mercy."

"And I'll see you later, Poodlywoo."

Zelas growled, but had no voice, so only the impression of it reached Luna. To returned it, she not-smirked and not-saluted.

Right then, the pillar broke into a thousand strands, unfolding like a flower over their adjacent world, hell. Substance returned, and on its astral plane they were again all of their bodies.

Zelas had never even considered that she might crave the flow of the world. Now she had it, a few seconds were enough to want it forever.

They were all alone, the vast planes of nebulous hell below them, and murky sky above. The bits of the pillar converged into what one might call a sun, meant for a small island below. Little more than what Elmegiddo had been with a few stretches of seabed around it. In further distance, there were similar islands of true matter : all sacred places, or cursed places.

Lina smirked in confidence, but there was a little of the spunk missing, and she said nothing to boast.

"Now ... we sleep."

· · · · · · ·