Zamasu felt the sharp ripple of a planetary disturbance in the back of his mind. This was a regularly occurring burden of being a god; however, as a Supreme Kai in training, the painful notifications were almost constant compared to when he was just the North Kaio. A direct result of the dramatic increase in planets now under his care.
Initially he found them bothersome, giving him frequent migraines. With Gowasu's guidance, however, he learned how to distinguish between ones that were worth looking into, and which ones were just noise, so that they didn't consume all of his attention. And most of them really were just noise; easily ignored, and then eventually quieted down by the Kaio of whatever region it originated. This one, though, was a little too loud, along with something else that gnawed at Zamasu's mind.
"Master, am I wrong that there appears to be quite a large disturbance appearing suddenly this morning?"
Gowasu closed his eyes and sipped his tea, considering the question thoughtfully.
"No, you are correct, I have noticed it myself. He opened his eyes and considered his apprentice. "I've been waiting for it to diminish, but it appears to only be getting stronger."
"Yes, and coming from the North sector."
Gowasu narrowed his gaze, anticipating his student's next request.
Zamasu twisted his hands nervously behind his back. He had to choose his next words carefully. "Might I..WE…go investigate?" He was beginning to get a bit frustrated and bored with his training, if he was being honest. "It is my old sector, after all, and I might be able to provide my replacement with some insight that could be of assistance."
Gowasu let out a sigh and placed his tea cup down with a thud, promoting a few drops to spit out of the top. His apprentice was intelligent, passionate, and extremely talented; but Kami, was he restless. He was beginning to worry that Zamasu might never succumb to the fact that Supreme Kais rarely directly interfere with universal disturbances, even large ones. This was a fight he had regularly with him, and he was beginning to view his hand chosen successor more as a petulant child than a wise Lord of Lords.
"I suppose this is why Supreme Kais are usually born, not made." He flashed a stern look Zamasu's way and watched his face twitch slightly with hurt. "Kaio's are traditionally more active in their duties." Gowasu placed both hands to the sides of his tea as he sprang up from his chair and pointed a finger at the green Kai. "Supreme Kais are NOT. You must try and break yourself of this habit, Zamasu!"
Zamasu gave a deep bow. "Yes Master, forgive me for consistently forgetting my new place." He dropped his head lower, his silver hair covering his full line of sight. "I only wish to do everything I can to help bring peace to our universe."
Gowasu walked over to the young Kai and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Oh for Kami's sake, stand up. You didn't do anything wrong, it's fine."
Gowasu observed his apprentice in the morning light. Tall, powerful, impressive, and easy on the eyes, Zamasu had such a fantastic future ahead of him if he could just shake those too tightly wound screws dug deeply into the serious parts of his personality.
Gowasu also noticed Zamasu's tense neck muscles and clenched teeth. He watched as he struggled to swallow a lump that had formed in the back of his throat. His hands were balled into fists at his sides as he stood perfectly erect. He could feel the flashes of chi jumping and electrifying between the striations of his muscles. Zamasu was a powder keg ready to blow.
Ignoring his better judgement, Gowasu chuckled and slapped the trainee on his back. "Aright. C'mon. Let's go take a look at that sector of yours." Surprised, Zamasu nervously smiled and laughed, returning his mentor's playful gesture. "Maybe there's a lesson for you to learn at the end."
"Of course, thank you Master!" A rare genuine smile spread over the Kai's face.
Gowasu smiled in return, but made a mental note of how rare it was to see Zamasu's face light up anymore. He was so enthusiastic (dare say even chatty?) when he was first invited to train at the Sacred World. Year by year, though, that light seemed to be leaking out of him, like small bursts of hot steam. Gowasu worried about what was filling into those newly vacant areas of his heart.
On the surface, Zamasu presented himself as a Kai possessing much wisdom and understanding; however, he had been making some troubling remarks lately during casual conversations with Gowasu. Nothing major, but they did disturb the old Kai. Remarks against the sanctity of creation that Supreme Kai's swore to protect. At times, even some mild aggression towards other Kais he disapproved of. A seed of doubt was beginning to grow in Gowasu's mind that perhaps he was forcing Zamasu to be something he could never become. Banging a square peg into a round hole. He wanted so much for his apprentice to prove that gifted Kaio's could be promoted with great success. Possibly opening new doors for others, as a result. But there was a reason that Supreme Kais were usually born, not made….
Still, watching Zamasu smile with kind eyes as he looked down at his mentor in thanks, made Gowasu shake that fear - for now. He was only in the middle parts of his training and still had a great amount of time to replace those hard parts of his personality with patience and understanding, given the proper mentoring. Gowasu believed in him, and it was still too early to write him off as a mistake. Or so Gowasu tried to convince himself.
…...
The Temple of the Sacred World balked at the rules of physics. Much bigger on the inside then its outside predicated, it housed everything a Supreme Kai would need. The Kais ate, slept, bathed, trained, studied, meditated, and enjoyed leisure throughout the large enclosure. There were also rooms that were kept secret from Zamasu's eyes until he completed his training. Today, Gowasu decided it was time for him to see one of those rooms.
"Will we be going to the viewing room Master? I think we passed it." Zamasu took note as they walked past the usual observatory.
"No, no - something new I'd like to show you today."
"I see." Zamasu tried to hide his excitement at this prospect behind a well controlled grin.
The two Kais walked in locked step next to each other in silence down the long corridors. They made a left past the main library, which held millions of encyclopedias containing the evolutionary history of every living creature in the cosmos. Part of Zamasu's training was to memorize the cladograms of all the organisms who were currently under going rapid evolutionary change. He spent quite a bit of his time in there, with a cup of tea, reading and hand writing out various evolutionary trees trying to commit their common ancestors and genetic sequences to memory. It was a difficult task at times, as the books automatically updated whenever a major genetic sequence shifted or a new branch formed- sometimes happening while Zamasu was actively reading the pages. Gowasu would ask him to make predictions about certain species based on the status of their home planets' spheres, and which ones might be in need of watching over. Zamasu was particularly good at this, deducing quickly that planets whose hydrospheres were in peril inordinately had species undergoing severe environmental pressures and needing the most nurturing.
On the other side was the entertainment room, where Zamasu laughed to himself about the inordinate amount of time Gowasu spent on God Tube. He didn't know for sure, but suspected that the old Kai had a predilection towards uploads containing attractive mortal females. Zamasu didn't understand the need to study mortals of any kind outside of his job, and truly hoped desiring them in any facet wouldn't happen to him as he aged out.
"Behold Apprentice - the alternate observatory."
Zamasu snapped his head around in confusion. Where were they? He tried to get his bearings in space and time. He hated this, where rooms and hallways suddenly appeared where they weren't before. Walking down one way and finding himself turned around on the complete other side of the Temple. It was disorientating, and he grunted in frustration. He didn't like that Gowasu was in control of his perception of reality.
The moment was short lived though as they entered an impressive empty room shaped like a massive planetarium, its ceiling so high it looked like dark empty space. In the center were four colored spheres, arranged in the cardinal directions of a compass. Zamasu gasped at the momentous view in front of him.
"Well, go ahead. See if you're right."
Zamasu snapped out of his trance and looked towards the center at the four spheres. This was another thing that annoyed him. Lack of directions. Instead of telling him how to activate the observatory, Gowasu would do what he always did- watch him fumble around trying to figure it all out. Seeing if he was clever enough (or worthy enough?) to activate the necessary technology to do the job of a Supreme Kai. Sometimes he nailed it, most of the time he failed. Gowasu always reminding him afterwards the importance of humility. "Productive struggle and a growth mindset are the tools to success, Zamasu." Zamasu had heard that phrase so many times now. His anxiety grew as he walked towards the center and observed the compass spheres.
The spheres were different colors but not marked. He easily recognized that they represented north, south, east, and west. But which one was north? His hunch was that the disturbance was coming from that sector. Was it the sphere on top? ( North, up, South, down?) Too easy. Zamasu shook his head to gather his thoughts. Concentrate. "The Sacred World of the Kai's does have a rocky core, but the magnetic field is weak. It's possible the spheres aren't even aligning with it. So what to do?" Zamasu flicked his eyes towards his mentor as he weighed his options, and cleared his throat nervously.
"C'mon Zamasu, make your decision! If it's an emergency, we must get moving!"
Zamasu clenched his teeth angrily as he leered over the spheres. "When in doubt, meditate," he thought. Meditation was not a particular strength of his, but still, he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. "The disturbance feels strongest…." Zamasu turned his head like an antennae until he felt it; the ripple suddenly a wave over him, coming from the left side of the room. "There!" He snapped open his eyes and with a smug grin reached out for the sphere behind him hovering his hand over it. Using his chi, he unlocked it, and with a bright burst thousands of individual projections of planets shot up and out into the emptiness of the dome. A projection screen flitted on in the center. "Waiting for prompt…"scrolled across the screen.
"Haha! Very good Zamasu!" Gowasu laid an approving hand on his shoulder as Zamasu stood gaping at the swirling projections around him. "Those are the planets of the North sector."
"What is this place master?" Zamasu snapped out of his trance. He was only used to the traditional room with a few screens that he could call upon one or two planets directly.
"This observatory is very special. Saved only for the Supreme Kais. It helps us to make better informed decisions about whether personal interference is necessary, or not." Gowasu flew up to a planet that had red star bursts trickling out of it, like it was injured. "See here, this planet is having a disturbance." Gowasu swiped his hand in front of the planet, activating the screen at the front. "Images of the planet's distress will show up here."
Zamasu watched as the screen in the front activated. At Gowasu's touch, the planet sent signals to the teleprompter, and images of a cataclysmic natural disaster were shown. The picture illuminated his face as it scrolled through images of rubble, fire, and dying biodiversity. Zamasu felt a touch of sadness for the struggling biosphere.
"But master, it seems like just a more impressive version of our regular viewing room." Zamasu crossed his arms in front of his chest and knitted his brow. "Why keep this a secret until now?"
Gowasu let out a chuckle. "You'll see in a moment." Gowasu dropped to the ground and approached the screen. "This screen is a form of hyper intelligence - created by the Omni King himself. It integrates all of the possible pasts and futures of this planet and can create a short clip of one of its many possible timelines."
Zamasu noticeably gasped and dropped his arms.
"All you need to do is send it a specific prompt." Gowasu swiped again at the screen until a green line appeared. "Like this - 'show me a timeline in the near future…say 100 years….where I did not interfere with this planet's current disturbance.' "
On the screen it flipped and swirled through images like a kaleidoscope until it landed on a specific view of a beautiful mountainside. Mortals of the planet peacefully mulled about.
"Huh." Zamasu was amazed. "And that future is for certain to happen?"
Gowasu swiped his hand right, changing the images until he was satisfied with what he saw. "Well, it's one of many possible timelines- but yes, it is a direct image of a timeline where I did not interfere." Gowasu looked at his apprentice. "You look troubled."
Zamasu thought for a moment. "But master, what if there is a future that directly opposes that one? That you just happened to not see by random chance?"
Gowasu nodded in approval. "Very perceptive. It has its limitations. I would ask the same prompt several times - maybe tweaking things a bit. By using statistics I would come to the most reasonable conclusion possible."
"Amazing." Zamasu was a bit at a loss for words. "I do see how it can be helpful in deciding a best course of action."
Gowasu nodded. "Of course, the best course of action is always what the Supreme Kai feels is right in his head and heart." Gowasu pointed to his chest. "Technology merely aids us in gathering appropriate data."
Enlightened, Zamasu took to the air and searched for planets showing a large disturbance. There was a disturbing amount of them. "What is going on in the North Sector?" Being a North Kaio for four hundred years, he was acutely aware of what constituted a healthy balance of functioning planets to dysfunctional. It was the Kaio's job to do what he could to help those planets in need, and then the God of Destruction's job to eliminate those who were beyond repair. "Rumshii will be waking up soon at this rate," he shivered. Meetings with the universe's God of Destruction were fleeting, but rarely pleasant. Or so he heard.
Zamasu spun around mid-air, looking for any signs of an obviously sick planet, one sicker than the rest, that could be the cause of the disturbance he felt. He rubbed the back of his head in thought. There was nothing obvious. He landed and trotted over to Gowasu.
"Master, I can't seem to find the source." Zamasu shrugged his shoulders. "Could it be a collective of all of those planets?" He looked up to scan the sky once more. "There are an awful lot in need of aid." Far more than when I left as Kaio, he thought bitterly.
"Indeed." Gowasu nodded. "Well, there are two possibilities; either your hypothesis is correct, which is possible, or…"
Zamasu cocked his head to listen, intrigued by another possibility.
"Or, it is a call for help from the North Kaio's planet itself."
Zamasu stared hard at Gowasu. "But how is that even possible? I held that post for 400 years, I am not aware of a way to signal for help."
Gowasu smiled . "You don't need to. The planet will do it on its own if it's under enough distress." He observed the planets swirling about ahead. "It would not be included among the other planets because technically the Kaio's planet is outside the north sphere."
Zamasu clenched his fists eager for a fight. "Can we see what exactly is going on now please? That is my old domain and I still care very much about it." Zamasu knew it was a rookie mistake to admit that as he should equally spread his care to all the quadrants as a future Supreme Kai, but he couldn't help it.
Feeling his powerful apprentice losing his patience , Gowasu initiated a new prompt. "Please show me the North Kaio's planet at this moment, if that's possible." Gowasu wasn't sure if a prompt in this observatory could work like that if not first tied to one of the projected planet holograms. For the sake of his increasingly agitated apprentice, he hoped so.
The screen flashed its kaleidoscope images (calculating calculating) until it landed on the North Kaio's planet. Zamasu ran up to the screen, barely a nose away in distance as he watched. The scene before him was utter chaos. The tiny planet was over run by what seemed to be enormous subterranean worms. Zamasu counted at least twenty that he could see. They rose up and down out of the ground, like a pod of whales, gnashing their multiple rows of needle like chainsaw teeth. They left gaping holes and leveled any infrastructure that was there, leaving an impression of swiss cheese on the planet. A few mortal humans were seen chasing and yelling at them with primitive looking tools, trying not to get eaten in the process.
Zamasu seethed. "Where is the North Kaio!?" He searched his mind trying to remember the name of his successor. "This is completely unacceptable, mortals and monsters touching the ground of a divine planet …it's..it's…blasphemous!"
Gowasu furrowed his brow as he watched the scenes unfold. "The North Kaio may be in need of some assistance after all," he admitted, after failing to connect telepathically to him. The images were indeed disturbing. But more worrisome was Zamasu's reaction to the innocent creatures and mortal humans causing the mayhem. They would hardly be any trouble removing; like flicking an ant off one's arm to a Kai. Especially one as skilled as Zamasu. He stared hard at his apprentice. "However, I must add, although it is discouraged as a practice, there are no formal consequences for mortals- animal or human - who happen to come to our sacred worlds, or interact with us directly. It's happened before many times across the ages for various reasons. Even when they're destructive, we do not choose death as our first option." Gowasu noticed Zamasu choosing to remain silent.
"Do you understand, Zamasu?"
Zamasu glanced at Gowasu from the corners of his eyes. Those mortal cretins were desecrating sacred ground. Did Gowasu not care at all? He was far too lenient in his old age.
"Zamasu?"
"Yes…I understand."
Gowasu considered his options with a heavy sigh. On one hand, it would be entirely appropriate to send Zamasu to help handle the situation. Supervising the Kaio's was an important job of the Supreme Kai and this was a wonderful opportunity for him to cut his teeth on not only observing them as their superior, but disciplining one as well. It would also allow him to get out some of that nervous energy he had pent up; on the other hand, he also realized that he didn't entirely trust his apprentice not to use too heavy a hand in either situation. He seemed to have a disdain for other Kai's who were not up to his standards, instead of a desire to genuinely help guide them towards his expectations for the greater good of the universe. Same for mortals, though to an even more concerning degree. He watched Zamasu pace like a tiger in a cage as he swiped through the images of his old home.
"Alright, Zamasu. I think it's time you headed there to lend your assistance." Gowasu made up his mind to trust him. He needed Zamasu to show him his faith was not misplaced.
"Just me?" Zamasu was certain he heard incorrectly. "Aren't you coming too?"
Gowasu walked towards the Kai with his hands behind his back. "You've completed a good chunk of your training and this is an excellent exercise in decision making and conflict resolution for you." He presented Zamasu with a pair of orange potara earrings. "These will grant you some limited powers of a Supreme Kai. I've been waiting until the right moment to give them to you, and I think this might be it."
"Oh…thank you Master Gowasu!" Zamasu was acutely aware that his ears were bare despite being offered the clothing of a Supreme Kai when he began his training. The potara earrings were an important milestone in his training, and he had been anxious to get his own pair, though he didn't know they had varying levels of power until now. "What sort of power do they bestow?" He fumbled a bit clipping the first one to his left ear. "If you don't mind me asking, I mean."
"Not at all." Gowasu watched Zamasu attaching his earrings. "First, and most importantly, you can't be a Supreme Kai without them. No Kaio will listen to you as their superior if your ears are bare. They are absolutely necessary for you to assert your rank independently."
"Is that all Master?" He looked a bit disappointed.
"No. I haven't finished...patience Zamasu." Gowasu walked to the center of the room and disabled the sphere. The planets sucked down as dramatically as they came and vanished in a final flash of light. "They will also allow you full use of the entire Temple, including all of its rooms and almost all of its amenities and technologies." He chuckled. "Up until now, actually," he gestured towards Zamasu's potaras, "you would be mighty frustrated trying to get a prompt through on the screen in here." He tapped his own earrings. "Potara's are necessary to access alternate timelines."
Zamasu bowed respectfully. "I am very grateful for your trust. I will do my best to make myself worthy of wearing them."
"So damn serious," Gowasu sighed to himself. "Alright let's get going."
Zamasu winced. Kai-Kai. It eluded him. He needed Gowasu to transport him to the North Kai's planet like a child being driven by their parent. Despite working on the technique for years now (actually it was one of the first lessons in a Supreme Kai's training curriculum) he just didn't have it figured out yet. It required a delicate balance of deep mental concentration coupled with the timely destruction of every atom in space and time and their rebuilding in a new location. It was tricky, and Gowasu was doing a poor job in helping him fix what he was doing wrong.
Gowasu sensed his apprentice's discomfort. "You will get it eventually, all Supreme Kai's do." He walked towards Zamasu slowly. "You have the destruction part down, it's the meditating and rebuilding you need to practice more."
"Yes Master."
It was the same feedback he'd gotten over and over again. Gowasu had no practical exercises with which to isolate and help him fix these problems though.
"Please try to clear your mind of distractions, Zamasu. You'll have a lot of very important decisions to make in the next few days that are all on you."
Zamasu folded his hands behind his back and closed his eyes. He tried not to smile too noticeably. He was excited. Some time away was exactly what he needed. He felt a pull at his elbow as Gowasu gripped the fabric of his shirt.
"Kai-Kai"