[MYRIAD: Paradis]
Within [The Lighthouse]*... (Xyrak: *For Context, visit Ch. 15)
Zeus and Hades were patiently waiting near the [Gates of Erebos], calm and composed. Thanatos and Phobos had already arrived in [MYRIAD] and were currently being debriefed by Aminon. Heimdall had gone to report the escalations to All-father Odin.
Zeus and Hades were in a pensive mood. Things had escalated to a critical point. The two along with Heimdall had almost managed to pacify and lure [The Purge] away from [The Outer Sector], but for some bizarre reason the mad beast gained a moment's clarity and abruptly bolted towards [Corzox].
And to make things worse, there seemed to be a rogue deity helping the Rift-borne. That very deity momentarily countered Hermes using an absurd formation, buying enough time to trigger a full blown invasion. The entire operation had devolved into a bloody race, all because of that rogue.
Right now the situation in [Corzox] was a mess. [The Purge] was on a rampage, the invaders were stuck in a perpetual cycle of exhaustion and death, while Hermes is presumed to be fighting against Dragon King Varcielle. At least that's, according to what Thanatos had to report regarding the war.
His report more or less matched with what Hades, Zeus and Heimdall had observed through the [Nexus].
Hades quickly summoned Charon:
"Go and invite Adrian... invite Janus to [Erebos].", he commanded Charon, who gave a resolute bow and disappeared.
"Directly confronting Janus?, Glad to see you have come to your senses.", Zeus mused. "It was about time you regulated those [Covenant] bastards."
"I have my suspicions.", Hades curtly replied. "Like I said before, [The Covenant] have been awfully quiet regarding this expedition, I just want to know why. I am pretty sure that they must have sent some agents across to [The Outer Sector], without our notice."
"In the mean time, what do you plan to do about the rogue deity?", Hades questioned.
"Hmmm... Poseidon can help me with that. I know he would be more than happy to hunt some rogues.", Zeus grinned with malice.
"And by the way, how do you plan to deal with your new recruit? He is bit of an anomaly.", Zeus inquired.
"You mean Gazeera? I have currently paired him with Deimos. Aminon will tutor him, till he adapts and evolves into a complete [Incarnation]. But for now, I am simply concerned about the deity that recommended him to [MYRIAD].", Hades answered.
While, Zeus and Hades continued bantering about [MYRIAD], Gazeera was exploring the pavilion around the [Gates of Erebos] accompanied by Deimos. They were waiting for Phobos to get debriefed.
"What exactly is [The Purge]?", Gazeera asked. "[The Retired One] mentioned him as well. Saying that it is a threat that needs to be eradicated or exiled."
"Well... it's complicated.", Deimos sighed. "Only the upper echelons of [Yggdrasil] have a decent idea of what [The Purge] actually is, but I have heard somethings about it, or rather 'him'."
"Him?"
"[The Purge] is recorded as a sentient being in the archives of [Nexus]. Most of the major deities usually consider 'him' to be a God like them.", Deimos continued. "[The Purge] used to be friendly towards us during the first cycle of [Ragnarok]. But there were some issues, and [The Purge] ended up separating from [MYRIAD], to live on as an outcast... a Pariah."
"No one truly knows about the origins of [The Purge]. But, that doesn't matter, [MYRIAD] is powerful enough to keep us safe from any threat we may face. There is nothing to worry about.", Deimos assured. "But remember, Everything I said is just hearsay."
Gazeera silently nodded, when a pale white hand casually hung by his shoulders.
"Is this the new Guy?", a cold whisper hissed behind Gazeera. "Say, how many times did you have to die to get here?"
"Boundaries! Phobos, don't be rude.", Aminon quickly followed behind, as she pulled Phobos off Gazeera.
"What?, I am just trying to know him.", Phobos snapped back, with a callous shrug. "He will be working with us, after all."
Aminon's face twisted with frustration-
"That's not how you-".
"Three times, I died three times.", Gazeera answered.
"See! He doesn't seem to mind it.", Phobos said with a smug smirk.
"Enough chatter, so how did it go?", Deimos chimed in.
"What do you mean? It went... alright.", Phobos replied, nervously shuffling his foot.
"Really? I heard that you fucked it up. That you got your ass-whooped by a Dragon."
"Oh, Fuck Off!"
"Ha!, I am just glad that you are back.", Deimos sighed with relief.
******** ******** ********
[The Outer Sector: Kingdom of Corzox]
Within [The Library of Aeon]...
"What are you?", Akelus questioned Guass.
"I am your humble audience, Akelus. I record, decrypt and analyze everything. I am Guass, The Inscripted, [The Axiom that Dreams].", Guass patiently responded, with a mild smile.
His hollow eyes reflected Akelus, it reflected the life he had led so far, the life he would lead in the future and every other possibility that didn't make the cut in the final draft, the main continuity, the Canon Timeline.
"I am not a God, nor a Demon or an Angel.", Gauss continued, leaning forward. "I am a perspective not a reflection. I have seen everything there is to see, have experienced everything there is to experience. Now I stay at the edge of [Oblivion], recording, decrypting and archiving everything [Yggdrasil] has to offer."
"Say Akelus, do you know what brought you here?", Gauss mused. "Should I help you understand?"
Akelus was visibly overwhelmed by Gauss' presence. But nevertheless, he quickly composed himself.
"I was brought here by a prophecy, [The Covenant] hired me to fulfill it.", He answered.
"True... True... partly true. A prophecy did bring you here. But, the orchestrator of this play is not [The Covenant] or their Sovereign.", Gauss remarked with a subtle smile as he continued.
"Do you know what a [Fragment of Insurgence] is? Are you curious about the entity behind the veil? Can you handle the truth of your existence? I shall answer one of these three questions, I shall be generous. Then, I will lead you to the [Source]. So, ask away..."
"Someone's deliberately shepherding me? That's troubling...", Akelus pondered, as he spoke. "Who is behind the veil?"
"A being of untold magnitude, prowess and authority. An existence beyond this reality.", Gauss declared, as he levitated from the glass throne. "An unparalleled rogue that you will fight time and time again, never to succeed. A blight, a hypocrite, a blasphemy, the spiteful [Paragon of Insurgence], Kal'Seba!"
"Now that I have satisfied your query." Gauss mused with a mild smile.
Ignoring the shock, anxiety and awe that overwhelmed Akelus after the revelation, he continued-
"Let's proceed onwards to the [Source]."
******** ******** ********
[The Outer Sector: Kingdom of Corzox]
Within the [Tomb of Hashfalhan]...
Dragon King Varcielle and [Hermes] were facing off against each other. The ominous Spectral Aura tightly embraced Varcielle within the gray fog effectively shrouding him, hiding him from [Hermes]. His swarm spread across the tomb, hiding in the fog, floating in open space and digging into the ground below.
[Hermes] casually bobbed his head, as he observed Varcielle's swarm gradually surround him. In response, he unleashed a horde of orange disc constructs across the realm.
The realm went silent, utterly still. A magnificent canvas of rage and carnage. Varcielle's tenacious mutating horde, hopelessly trapped within a single desolate frame.
[Voyage]
[Hermes] callously began purging every clone within his line of sight. After smudging off all the visible clones, he would switch perspectives by peering through one of the orange disc constructs.
The dense gray fog fiercely tried hiding Varcielle's swarm from [Hermes], with the spectral aura searing into the Dragon King, preserving his vitality.
Yet, [Hermes] continued trimming the swarm from multiple directions, substantially reducing their numbers. But, that didn't deter Varcielle from multiplying in numbers and launching more clones at Hermes from the fog.
Beneath the tomb, Varcielle was meticulously preparing another swarm. But, these were a cesspool of mutated bio-mass, that were constantly meshing and fusing with the ground of the tomb. These abominations were bubbling, evolving and adapting to merge with the realm around them.
The ground began squelching and shattering, as several fleshy roots erupted from within it alongside gushing rivers of murky blood. Varcielle had completely terraformed the floor beneath him by virtue of [Reconstruction], into an extension of himself. The entire tomb began rhythmically bulging and contracting with a steady pulse.
With the Spectral aura augmenting Varcielle's existence, the entire realm of [Hashfalhan] gradually morphed into a carnivorous pit of guttural hunger and despair. The tomb broke apart into several ginormous chunks of cosmic debris. There were bundles of many spectral strands exposed, firmly tugging onto reality, holding it in place.
Varcielle exerted himself to control the [Tomb of Hashfalhan], discretely cutting off any and all exits from the realm. Locking himself with [Hermes].
The dense gray fog got bottled around by Varcielle's secondary swarm, composed of his clones.
"Oh! Such bravado!", [Hermes] laughed with disdain. Clapping his hands, wondering whether to appreciate such courage or mock such foolery.
In response, the Dragon King simply released streams of hyper-pressurized blood across the tomb, weaving a web of solidified murky blood around [Hermes]. He was heaving with exhaustion and strain as he tugged onto the bloody web, desperately forcing the realm to compress and collapse on him along with [Hermes].
Varcielle's secondary swarm of clones discretely navigated across the carnivorous pit with the help of the dense gray fog. These clones split into several legions, spreading across the realm. This swarm always made sure to maintain some relative proximity to [Hermes].
[Hermes] remained nonchalant as ever, barely bothered by the carnivorous pit twisting and churning around him. He simply controlled his orange constructs to form an internal barrier to hold back the collapsing realm.
The carnivorous wall of flesh, augmented by the ominous spectral aura ruptured open small tears within the orange barrier. The web of blood slithered and squirmed, gushing from the walls of the infested realm. Constructing a tighter coil around [Hermes].
Using [Voyage], [Hermes] effortlessly mapped several paths across the realm. Nimbly evading the bloody webs by carefully navigating through the realm between frames.
[Hermes] would simply pick a chronological sequence of actions within his line of site, and meticulously skip several frames from that sequence.
This way he would lag through the web strands of solidified blood. Varcielle furiously tried to trap [Hermes] within an array of webs, as [Hermes] continued flickering towards the walls of the tomb.
The orange constructs began spinning, grinding against the wall gradually shredding through its mutated flesh. The walls bled all over the discs, churning heavy streams of murky blood. Discs were stalled by the blood, but were still ripping through the flesh albeit slowly.
BOOM!!!
[Hermes] crashed into the barrier, punching it with immense fury. The tomb shuddered under his unfathomable might, shockwaves rippling across the bloody walls.
BOOM!!!BOOM!!!BOOM!!!...
[Hermes] continued with his onslaught, pushing against the barrier, gradually tearing through it. Several mutated arms sprouted from the barrier, from the bloody walls. These arms grabbed hold of [Hermes], pushing him back.
Unbothered, bathed in blood, [Hermes] continued piercing through the the bloody wall.
Varcielle's secondary swarm closed in on [Hermes]. Locking onto him, the swarm grappled him, desperately pulling him back. The bleeding walls unleashed torrents of blood upon [Hermes], completely drenching him red.
Then the blood walls rapidly produced a vast horde dragon heads aimed at [Hermes], as the murky blood solidified slowly forming a binding layer around him.
Varcielle's clones firmly locked [Hermes] in place with the dragon heads charging themselves with energy.
FWOOM!!!
The protruding dragon heads unleashed an extremely concentrated beam of ethereal energy, augmented with Spectral aura.
The beam steadily pushed [Hermes] to the center of the carnivorous pit. Varcielle exhausted, continued producing more and more clones, piling them around [Hermes] over dosing them with energy, exploding them in a chain reaction.
Firmly grasping onto the blood web, Varcielle strained himself to his extreme. Desperately tugging at webs, through his sheer strength he pulled the entire [Tomb of Hashfalhan] upon himself. The realm's barrier collapsed as the realm completely imploded. The Blood walls caved in and the carnivorous pit swallowed both him and [Hermes].
BOOM!!!...
The [Tomb of Hashfalhan] was completely annihilated, and with it any hope of getting into the [Ancestral Planes]. It had been reduced to an empty, desolate space, with several spectral strands aimlessly drifting in that emptiness.
Small pieces of the blood wall remained, augmented by the spectral aura. And, out from its dead remains the Dragon King Varcielle rose again.
Clap... Clap... Clap...
"I should really applaud you for your tenacity.", [Hermes] grinned, as he switched from the realm between frames. Using [Voyage], [Hermes] had managed to completely skip the Tomb's implosion.
"I have trapped us inside a void pocket, away from [Yggdrasil]. You are never going to reach the [Source] from here.", Varcielle snapped back.
"You are a bold one, Dragon King. Suicidal, but bold.", he continued, with a smug smile. "A noble effort indeed, but all in vain. Void is not going to stop me, you know that."
Varcielle tensed up, knowing exactly what [Hermes] was going to do.
[Hermes'] presence grew ominous, as he broke into a wide smile:
"Varcielle, you know that there is a way back, don't you?", his malicious grin, becoming wider. The void pocket began flickering, as [Hermes] was breaking through reality itself.
"Godspeed...", Varcielle whispered shuddering with fear, backing up.
Being trapped in the void, [Hermes] was no longer tethered to reality as we know it. He augmented himself with [Voyage], enhancing his speed to cosmically absurd levels. He charged through the void pocket, rupturing a hole through [Oblivion] and [Yggdrasil].
(Xyrak: A bloody paradox...)
By navigating through the realm between frames, [Hermes] simply bypassed [Oblivion] back into [Yggdrasil]. The impact from his immense speed had punctured a hole through [Yggdrasil], launching [Hermes] straight into the very framework of the Tree of Creation.
[Yggdrasil], creation itself, an existence composed of ethereal fibers meshed and coiled together by a precise and sophisticated array of laws and aspects. [Hermes] was drifting within its infrastructure, still absurdly fast.
[Hermes] was making his way towards [The Outer Sector], but he was constantly impeded by the Spectral Strands that [The Purge] had woven across [Yggdrasil]. These strands were preventing him form entering [The Outer Sector].
The hole that [Hermes] had punctured through reality had immensely destabilized the void-pocket Varcielle was trapped in. It was collapsing.
The spectral strands binding the void pocket together, fiercely fighting to preserve the pocket.
Varcielle was tense and fearful, he was lost. Grabbing the spectral strands, he simply prayed to his ancestors. He kept invoking his guardian.
"Mijar El Valtoruk...", his gentle whispers echoed through the resilient strand, as [Oblivion] slowly began consuming the void pocket, reducing it to nothing.
His prayers reached [The Purge], or as the Rift-Borne call him, [The Pioneer]. The mad beast gained a moment's clarity. Craning his neck, [The Purge] peered into [Oblivion].
Locating Varcielle, [The Purge] simply grabbed hold of a few spare spectral strands tethered to the pocket and yanked the void-pocket towards [Yggdrasil]. Varcielle came hurtling back towards creation.
Varcielle was launched to the edge of [Yggdrasil], right at the entrance into [The Outer Sector]. Augmented by the spectral aura, he made his way towards the [Kingdom of Corzox]. Yet again cloning himself, and building another swarm.
Meanwhile within [The Library of Aeons]...
Gauss had guided Akelus to the [Source]:
The [Source] is a pulsing orb of ethereal and spectral strands, delicately woven into a sophisticated orb. Much similar to the [Nexus] in [MYRIAD]. The [Source] was breathing life into [The Outer Sector], everything from inanimate objects to life-forms born from it, was empowered by the [Source].
The two simply observed the [Source] for a moment.
"Now we'll have to open it up.", Gauss instructed, as he approached the [Source], summoning a glass-like scalpel.
"Huh?"
"Nothing drastic, just a gentle cut on the surface.", Gauss continued with a smile, as he made some precise incisions around the [Source]. "The [Source] had been incubating a god inside it for eight whole cycles. I had made a promise to Kal'Seba that I would entrust this God to the first [Fragment of Insurgence] I met."
"The [Paragon of Insurgence] Kal'Seba?", Akelus skeptically questioned Gauss. "The same guy that you prophesized, I will have to fight over and over again."
"It's a tad more complicated than that, but a promise made is a promise kept.", Gauss politely replied. "I had promised him that I will entrust this God with you, besides he might help you in your fights against Kal'Seba."
"And, why would I trust you?", Akelus asked.
"Because I am an Axiom, adrift at the edge of [Oblivion]. I have no faith or bias. I simply consume and archive data." Gauss remarked, digging the glass scalpel deeper into the [Source], carefully widening the tear. "And, the God I am entrusting you with, was a former [King of Cosmos]. Way before, Zeus and Kronos."
Gently plunging his hands into the tear, Gauss carefully carried a baby out. His skin reflected the very cosmos around him. His eyes resembled supernovas. He had a head full of cloudy gray hair.
Right as Gauss carried the baby outside the [Source], a formless barrier was erected across [The Outer Sector]. This barrier repulsed every invading faction, demons, Gods, giants... alike, out from [The Outer Sector], banishing them from the domain. Space within [The Outer Sector] had been completely sealed, only the Rift-borne remained.
Even as [Hermes] crashed into the barrier at [Godspeed], the barrier refused to yield or budge. He just kept venting his frustration on the barrier, with Varcielle blankly staring at him.
Gauss gently cradled the baby, handing him over to Akelus.
"He is [Ouranos], the [God of Space]. The Father of Time and Love.", Gauss declared. "I have been incubating him for eight whole cycles of [Ragnarok], undisturbed. So he will mature rather quickly. Be sure to take care of him properly, for he will prove to be a formidable ally."
Akelus was still skeptical.
"Trust me, you will need him in your fights against Kal'Seba.", Gauss reassured. "Just keep him around for a while. He will prove to be quite useful."
Akelus simply sighed helplessly, accepting what Gauss said. He cradled Ouranos in his arms.
"[The Outer Sector] is secure for now. Now, before you go...", Gauss continued, as he pulled Hrimulfr out from Akelus' ring.
Then he ripped open a portal leading to Akelus' personal domain, [The Elusive Shrine].
"With that, your task is complete Akelus. Go and rest. You are safe, for now.", Gauss gently assured. "Just be wary of [Prejudice] and [Destiny]."
Akelus simply stared at Ouranos, who was playing with his white nemean mane.
"Here now, little one." Akelus heaved a sigh of relief, gently nudging Ouranos' hand as he entered the portal returning back to his shrine.
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