Tom discreetly reaches for the book and you hand it to him while you both stare at the Valghul. Tom then attempts to open it, but to Tom's surprise, the book stays locked. As the Valghul sits in the booth, it patiently watches Tom fiddle with the book while taking another sip of its coffee. You can tell that Tom is starting to panic, being unable to use The Holy Omniverse Transcript, then he suddenly freezes still with the book in his hands. As the atmosphere changes around you, you recognize exactly what's just happened. It feels just like it did when you were in Aatu's realm where time was frozen at the Battle of Ishville… The Valghul just stopped Time, and Tom along with it.
How? How can the Valghul do this? Could the Valghul have stolen Aatu's power when it gave him the Bite of Abrogation? That would explain why Time only malfunctioned temporarily after Aatu died. If the power over Time was lost completely, then this universe would probably break apart at the seams because it would be missing a fundamental element.
The voice of the Valghul suddenly echoes within your mind as you remember what it said right before it murdered Aatu.
" Then allow me to take your brother's power for myself. "
It did take Aatu's power. It said so right before killing him. Aatu only had power over this universe though, so how is Tom affected by it? Tom is an outerversal being, so according to the Gods in Sovarohm, he shouldn't be frozen at all… Something must've happened to him to weaken him or cause him to be subjected to the powers of this universe…. hold on a second…
You think hard on recent events, then it finally clicks in your head.
The man in the red robes. Tom consumed the Light from inside of him. That Light must've been tainted or tampered with somehow. This is really bad… This is really really bad.
You look down at Mimi to see that she's completely frozen as well, then you look back at the Valghul with a look of fear in your eyes.
This is why the Valghul didn't bother killing anyone. This is why the Valghul wasn't afraid of Tom like the last time. It knew that Tom was weakened. Now it's just me and the Valghul alone, frozen in a moment in Time. Nobody to stand beside me. Nobody to protect me. I'm completely at the Valghul's mercy… If the Valghul wants me dead, I'm dead.
" Come. "
The Valghul says with a crooked smile as it gestures towards the seat on the other side of the booth in front of it.
" I promise that it's not your flesh that I've come here to devour. "
Your heart feels like it's going to explode out of your chest as it thumps violently. Your body feels like a cold corpse as the chilled foggy atmosphere crawls on your skin. The Valghul continues to speak to you with its demonic voice.
" Take a seat. "
You reluctantly walk to the booth and sit down across from the Valghul. This is the closest that you've ever been to it. You can see its dead eyes, gray skin, and sharp teeth in great detail and it feels like you're sitting in front of an unnatural beast. As you look into its dead and bloody eyes, you feel like you can see the faces of billions of screaming dead men, women, and children being eaten alive.
The Valghul begins to speak to you slowly and its demonic voice gives you goosebumps. Each word feels like a needle slowly being pressed through your ear and into your brain.
" When I first saw you, I didn't realize who I was in the presence of. Your power was dormant and I was convinced that you were just another weakling mortal that happened to be in the company of the Gods. "
You stay silent and divert your gaze down at the table to avoid eye contact with the Valghul. The Valghul sees this, but continues to talk anyway.
" It seems that even you don't know who you are as well. If you did, I'm sure that this little meeting would be playing out very differently. "
Shit. The Valghul knows that I lost my memories. It knows who I am though, or at least who I was. Should I take an opportunity to ask it questions? No… No, that would put it in an even more dominant position than it already is. Just don't give it any information. Let it talk, and only respond when necessary…
" How was your reunion with the frozen one over there? Did you rekindle your little friendship that you had both lost for billions of years? "
You sit silently as the Valghul continues to speak.
" No? He didn't tell you much, did he? Of course he didn't. He probably hasn't even told you your own name… or at least what your name used to be all of those billions of years ago. "
Your eyes light up with curiosity as you instinctively look back at the Valghul. The Valghul grins, seeing that it has your interest as it takes another sip of coffee before continuing to speak.
" Ah, he hasn't… how unsurprising. I don't blame him though. With a past like yours, I would be cautious telling you anything as well if I were in his shoes. "
" Why? "
You ask the Valghul timidly. The Valghul then leans over the table and gets close to your face. Its demonic voice rattles your bones as it responds to you.
" Because he's afraid of you. Afraid of what you once were. Afraid of the things that you've done… "
The Valghul then leans back in its seat and takes another sip of coffee before it continues talking.
" Back in the olden times, you and my Lord were not too dissimilar… Do you remember anything before The One took you prisoner, Abbadon? "
Upon hearing the Valghul say that name, you feel something awaken inside of you.
Abbadon. That was my name.
" You may not remember who you were, but the Omniverse remembers you well. Almost every God in the Omniverse can recall the tragic tale of Abbadon. The mortal who became so powerful that he thought that he could rival The One. It's a pathetic story, really. A story that ends with the most powerful mortal who ever lived becoming nothing more than a slave and an experiment for The One. "
No. That's not true. It can't be. The One is a force of good in the Omniverse. He's the creator of everything. He IS everything. This demon plans on destroying this universe. It's evil. I can't trust it.
The Valghul finally reveals that it can read your mind by responding to your thoughts out loud.
" Oh? You think that I'm the evil one? If you stood against my Lord like you stood against The One, then he would've given you an honorable death. My Lord would never do a horrible thing like imprison and experiment on you, then erase your memory afterwards and ask for your aid. The One is a coward who is afraid to face my Lord… Funny how an all-powerful being resorts to hiding and using others as tools to fight his battles when he encounters another that equals his strength. "
You finally work up the nerve to converse with the Valghul and respond to it.
" You and your Lord plan on undoing this universe like you've already undone many others. The One creates and The None destroys. I watched you murder Aatu and torture Izael with his brother's dead body. Even if The One is using me, you're still no better than he is for what you've done. "
The Valghul flares its nostrils in irritation, but pauses to collect itself and responds to you patiently.
" When a human sees an ant pile, do they tend to care if another human steps on it? Of course not. Ants and their hills are so tiny and insignificant to them that the majority of humans could care less if a thousand ants die and their hill gets destroyed.
Put yourself in my shoes and think like me. Mortal and immortal beings are like ants to my Lord. Little tiny insignificant ants, and their universes are like ant piles. My Lord sends me into a pile to kill the queens, and when the entire colony is in disarray, my Lord comes to step on it.
Now I bet you're wondering… why would my Lord want to remove these ant piles? Well… what else do you expect him to do when these little ants build their piles on his land? "
You scoff and reply to the Valghul.
" That's bullshit. The Omniverse doesn't belong to The None, it belongs to The One. The One created everything, and you've been trying to undo all of his creation. "
" Think about it, Abbadon. Before there was everything, there WAS NOTHING. My Lord didn't come into the Omniverse after The One created it. The One began creating The Omniverse inside of the Nothing that my Lord encompassed. We have only been trying to return existence back into the natural order, before The One appeared and began defiling my Lord's domain. These universes are the ant piles… and my Lord owns the land. "
The Valghul says to you as it finishes the last of its coffee and it sets the cup on the table. You sit there in silence as you think about what the Valghul has just told you.
If what the Valghul's saying is true, then who's actually in the right? Even if The None is the rightful owner of existence, is it better now that The One has created people to experience existence as well?
The Valghul reads your thoughts and responds out loud once again.
" It is true that there has been plenty of happiness and good memories for the beings of existence since The One has created them; but there has also been an equal amount of suffering and trauma that those beings have endured because of it. Before the arrival of The One, there was no suffering. There were no traumatic experiences. There were no horrible things such as sin and evil. There was simply Nothing. Ask yourself, does the existence of joy justify the existence of suffering? Would existence be better off if it simply WAS nothing? "
You're feeling conflicted as you sit in front of the Valghul. The Valghul can tell that you're on the edge, so it speaks to you in a friendly manner.
" Would you like to know your past, Abbadon? Would you like to know who you were? I promise that I'll tell you anything you'd like to know. Just ask me, and I will give you an answer. "
You look the Valghul in its eyes and you see no sign of deceit or malice. Through the emptiness of its rotten and bloody eyes, you only see a look of humble honesty.
Even though this information is coming from a Valghul, this is probably one of the only opportunities for unfiltered information that I'm going to get…