Heaven was still trembling.
But this time, it was no longer just a vibration.
It was a deformation.
In the Hall of Convergences, the celestial projections showed the battle that was unfolding.
Michael and Uriel were fighting.
Facing them:
SCP-682.
Every clash produced a wave that passed through the entirety of creation.
Galaxies folded.
Newly born universes froze.
Lines of causality simply vanished from existence.
In the projection, Michael advanced.
His body, fused with the Divine Sword, shone like a sacred singularity.
Each movement of his wings cut through realities.
Uriel, behind him, blew into the Trumpet of Celebration.
The sound was not a simple noise.
It was a law.
Each note temporarily restored the structures of existence, preventing reality from collapsing under the pressure of the battle.
But SCP-682…
had reached such a point where some of their attacks caused it absolutely no damage, or the damage was not significant enough and was quickly overcome by it.
In the Council Chamber, no one spoke.
The Seraphim observed.
The Thrones calculated.
The Archangels remained motionless.
Then a Seraphim murmured:
"At this level, this is a battle of endurance. Both sides have no means of defeating the other definitively with a single attack. Unfortunately, in terms of endurance, 682 has the advantage. The longer the battle continues, the greater the chance that Michael and Uriel will lose."
This statement was not even refuted.
Sera remained silent.
Her gaze was fixed on the projection.
Michael had just cut into the conceptual structure of 682.
But it only left a thin wound that quickly disappeared.
The battle was becoming much more intense when suddenly—
the projection distorted.
The image of the battle flickered.
A new presence had entered the field.
An absolute silence fell across the chamber.
In the projection, space bent.
A silhouette appeared.
It was an angel… but different.
Its body was immense.
Its wings were innumerable even by angelic standards.
Each of them was composed of thousands of smaller wings.
Its body seemed made of a multitude of angelic silhouettes fused together, and eyes in an almost infinite number.
Voices echoed around it.
Not one.
Thousands.
As if an entire choir spoke through a single existence.
In the Council Chamber, several angels suddenly straightened.
— Who is that?
— This presence…
The eyes of several angels widened.
Wait… that isn't a fusion… but whose fusion is it exactly… could it be…
Finally, all of them realized that it was the fusion of the angels who had left the Council after Sera decided to once again seek the help of the Leviathan despite Job's warnings.
Fusion had been one of Sera's strategic options against 682 before the Leviathan.
Why?
Because considering that only 5% of the Council's angels had fused, and that this fusion produced a being already at the level of a mid-rank Seraphim, while the angels involved were only Principalities, Angels, Archangels, and Virtues—this represented an incredible peak of power.
But several reasons had made Sera abandon this idea.
First,
this ability is irreversible. If all pure angelic entities fused, they would never be able to separate again.
Second,
the being born from this fusion, even if it possessed the memories of all the angels, would have an unpredictable personality. It might try to destroy creation, or feel superior to GOD considering the power it could possess.
Third,
since the being would have just been born, it was possible that it would control its abilities in an unstable way. But since it would have to confront 682 directly, there would be no time for learning.
The angel raised its head.
Its eyes looked at SCP-682.
Then Michael.
Then Uriel.
And finally…
Michael observed the being.
Then he asked:
— Who are you?
The entity replied calmly:
— We are Myriads, for we are many.
In the Hall of Convergences, the angelic Council continued to observe the battle.
Michael, Uriel, and Myriads were fighting SCP-682 in a space where the laws of reality shattered every instant.
Each second of combat destroyed billions of possible universes.
But suddenly—
another phenomenon appeared in the chamber.
A luminous tear formed at the center of the Council.
The angels immediately turned toward it.
A silhouette crossed the rift.
Then another.
The first was Baraquiel.
The second was a human.
Sera spoke immediately.
— Baraquiel.
He slightly bowed his head.
— Sera.
Then all eyes turned toward the man.
John Constantine.
Tired, covered in dust, and visibly very nervous.
He looked at the chamber filled with angels and sighed.
— Well… I guess this isn't the moment to ask for a drink.
Silence…
Constantine blushed visibly.
He had wanted to lighten the atmosphere but it had not… well, you noticed it yourselves.
Sera spoke.
— Well, I assume Baraquiel had time to explain the situation to you and why you are here. I would like to apologize for the rather sudden summoning, but we wish to benefit from your help.
Constantine pulled out an old burned notebook.
— Well, according to the testament I copied from my ancestor Job, the Leviathan's seal should be located beneath the Bermuda Triangle.
A murmur passed through the Council.
Sera thought for a moment.
Then she spoke:
— In that case, Lucifer, Baraquiel, Hamiel, and you, Mr. Constantine, go to Earth to negotiate with the Leviathan and free him.
Constantine thought to himself:
An excursion with angels and the Devil to go free one of the most dangerous existences in all creation according to my ancestor… honestly… I've seen worse.
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE
The ocean was calm.
Too calm.
At the exact center of the Bermuda Triangle, the water seemed… different.
Lucifer looked at the surface.
— The seal is not in this world.
Constantine lit a cigarette.
— No.
— It is below.
Baraquiel frowned.
— Under the ocean?
Constantine shook his head.
— Under reality.
At first, it was just the ocean.
Water.
Silence.
But as they descended…
reality began to change.
The water became thick like liquid glass.
Then suddenly—
it disappeared.
They fell into a black space.
A new reality.
Hamiel murmured:
— We just crossed a dimensional barrier.
Constantine nodded.
He himself was protected by Hamiel and Lucifer.
The layers of reality became more and more unstable.
Lucifer, Baraquiel, Hamiel, and Constantine continued descending beneath the Bermuda Triangle.
Each level crossed seemed older than the previous one.
Some realities were almost empty.
Others contained impossible physical laws.
In one of them, time fragmented into thousands of directions.
In another, space was curved like an infinitely folded sheet.
Constantine explained while moving forward:
— According to my ancestor's testament… God created this prison as a set of folded realities.
He gestured with his hands.
— Imagine a sheet of paper.
— God folds it again and again until it no longer resembles a sheet.
— Then He places it inside another sheet which He folds the same way.
— Then He repeats.
— Again.
— And again.
Hamiel murmured:
— An infinite structure of nested realities.
Constantine nodded.
— Exactly.
— And the Leviathan's seal is hidden in one of the deepest layers.
They crossed one final barrier.
Then…
they arrived.
Before them stretched an immense space.
A black ocean extended endlessly.
But it was not the primordial waters.
It was something else.
A containment space.
A place created to hold a single thing.
Suddenly the water moved.
A gigantic mass slowly rose.
At first they thought they were seeing a mountain.
Then two.
Then three.
Then the entire ocean seemed to rise.
And then…
an eye opened.
An immense eye.
Its size exceeded several galaxies.
Constantine froze.
— My God…
The creature slowly emerged from the water.
Its body resembled that of a gigantic whale.
But a cosmic whale.
Its skin resembled plates of universes.
Its fins distorted space around them.
Its breathing made the layers of reality vibrate.
It was Leviathan.
The creature spoke.
— Who dares disturb my sleep?
Hamiel answered calmly.
— We need your help.
Leviathan observed the intruders.
Its immense eye analyzed each of them.
— I see "He" has created truly interesting creatures.
Constantine intervened.
— The "He" you are referring to… is that God?
— If that is what you call Him, then yes, it is indeed Him… what would His creation need from me?
— Well, it's a long story, but there is an intruder spreading destruction in our world that we must stop, and only you are capable of doing it.
Leviathan smiled.
— I see… you are trying to free me. But my seal can only be broken in one way.
Hamiel asked:
— How?
Leviathan replied:
— By pronouncing the First Word.
Constantine frowned.
— The First Word?
— The Word of God?
The creature replied:
— The word that separated light from darkness.
— The word that marked the beginning of creation.
Hamiel raised his hand.
— Wait.
He looked directly into the colossal eye.
— We cannot free you without conditions.
Leviathan let out an amused rumble.
Hamiel continued:
— If you help us defeat the threat destroying creation… you may leave and return to the primordial waters. But you must never attack creation.
Leviathan remained silent.
Then he burst into laughter.
A laugh so powerful that the realities imprisoning him trembled.
— Very well. But I also have a condition.
All eyes turned toward him.
— My brother Behemoth… you will free him as well, and he will return with me to the primordial waters.
Hamiel thought for a moment.
Then he replied:
— Deal.
Leviathan slowly closed his gigantic eye.
— Then speak the Word.
An absolute silence filled the space.
Then Hamiel spoke the oldest words of creation.
— Let there be light.
The moment the words were spoken—
the seal exploded.
A gigantic wave crossed the layers of reality.
Leviathan rose.
Free
His colossal body began rising toward the higher levels of existence.
But suddenly… someone appeared.
A man.
Sitting on a rock in the middle of the black ocean.
Constantine frowned.
— Wait…
— That's…
The man raised his eyes.
It was Job.
And he spoke.
His voice was calm.
But his words echoed like a curse.
He recited an ancient passage:
"Let those curse it who curse the day,
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan."
— Book of Job 3:8
The instant those words were spoken—
everything changed.
Sera.
Gabriel.
Uriel.
Baraquiel.
Hamiel.
Lucifer.
Myriads.
All the angels.
All celestial beings.
Were struck by unbearable pain.
As if their minds were being torn apart.
In the Council Chamber, the Seraphim fell to their knees.
Myriads screamed with thousands of voices.
The angels were seized by visions of the time of Job and saw him speak those same words.
And it was a realization for the angels.
Wait… that passage from the Bible… it was a prophecy concerning those who would awaken Leviathan.
Questions formed in the heart of each of them.
How had Job guessed that we would free Leviathan?
Why does this passage resemble a prophecy… as if GOD had known that the Foundation—no, that all of this—would happen, and that we would awaken Leviathan?
From the beginning this passage had been a warning.
Did GOD know that the angels would awaken Leviathan?
On the battlefield—
Michael, Uriel, and Myriads were overwhelmed by visions.
They felt as if their heads would explode.
The words spoken by Job still echoed in their minds.
Finally Michael ordered:
— Retreat.
Myriads opened a breach in reality.
Uriel followed.
And the three entities disappeared from the battlefield.
Silence fell again.
682, now alone, did not fully understand what had happened.
He finally concluded that those beings had capitulated.
But then…
he heard a sound.
A strange sound.
An impossible sound.
The sound of water.
At first it was faint.
Like a trickle.
Then a stream.
Then a river.
Then the sound became deafening.
A waterfall.
SCP-682 slowly turned his head.
And saw something he had never encountered.
Water.
But not ordinary water.
The entire space began filling with black water.
It flowed from a gigantic tear in reality.
Then an immense shadow appeared behind the cosmic cascade.
Leviathan was arriving.
The original ocean spread through space.
And the instant the water touched SCP-682…
something happened.
Something impossible.
SCP-682 forgot.
He forgot what life was.
He forgot what death was.
He forgot adaptation.
He forgot survival.
Every concept that constituted his existence began disappearing.
His perfect mind emptied.
His evolutionary memory collapsed.
His conceptual structure began dissolving.
The reason was simple.
He had been plunged into something that preceded everything.
The primordial Nothing.
The water surrounding him was not simply water.
It was the manifestation of the original sea.
The personification of the void that existed before creation.
And within that void…
concepts did not exist.
Everything that made SCP-682 perfect was erased.
His body began to regress.
His immense cosmic form contracted.
His adaptive structures disappeared.
His infinite evolutions collapsed.
His body became simple again.
Primitive.
A lizard.
Then smaller.
Smaller.
Smaller.
Finally…
he measured no more than five centimeters.
A small trembling lizard in the black water.
But he had not disappeared.
Above him, the colossal silhouette of Leviathan fully emerged.
The cosmic whale observed the tiny creature.
Its gigantic eye, as wide as several galaxies, fixed upon the minuscule lizard.
A deep silence followed.
Then Leviathan spoke.
His voice vibrated through the primordial ocean.
— Interesting.
He observed the tiny creature a little longer.
— You survived the primordial Nothing.
His voice echoed like cosmic thunder.
— Few beings can exist here.
— Even fewer adapt to it.
The small SCP-682 trembled slightly.
He was no longer the perfect entity.
No longer the evolutionary machine.
But something within him…
had survived.
Even after losing everything that made him invincible.
Leviathan continued observing.
Then he murmured almost with respect:
— You have lost everything that made you perfect.
— And yet…
— you still exist.
The primordial waters continued flowing around them.
In the distance, the entire space had become a cosmic ocean.
And in this absolute silence…
Leviathan understood something.
This tiny lizard…
might not be as simple as it appeared.
The cosmic ocean still covered the battlefield.
The colossal body of Leviathan floated in the waters of primordial Nothingness.
Before him, almost invisible in this immensity, was a small five-centimeter lizard.
What remained of SCP-682.
Leviathan observed it.
Silent.
His eye, vast as several galaxies, analyzed the creature.
— Interesting…
he murmured.
— Even deprived of its concepts… it still exists.
He studied the small creature for a long time.
Every scale.
Every reaction.
Every trace of former perfection.
But then he received a telepathic message.
Even before an entity capable of devouring everything, the voice remained calm.
— Entity identified as Leviathan.
— We wish to establish dialogue.
Listening to the words, Leviathan was curious. Who is this? Do they come from the same world as this lizard? Interesting. (The Foundation's hologram had never managed to reach Leviathan before, so he does not know the Foundation.)
The agent continued:
— We have come to retrieve the creature you are observing.
The colossal gaze rested on the small lizard.
— This thing? I must admit it is interesting.
The agent replied:
— We know.
— We have contained it for a long time.
A silence followed.
Then the agent continued:
— We ask you to release the primordial waters around it.
— We can take it back. We kindly ask you to grant this request, please.
Leviathan thought for a moment.
Then he looked again at SCP-682.
Even reduced to almost nothing…
something within it persisted.
An ability to adapt.
Even against primordial Nothingness.
Leviathan murmured:
— Fascinating.
Then he moved slightly back into the black ocean.
The primordial waters began withdrawing around the small lizard.
Space slowly stabilized.
Leviathan then spoke:
— Very well.
— Take it.
— I have studied it. This thing has no more secrets for me.
A dimensional opening appeared.
A Foundation containment capsule emerged through a stabilized portal.
Stasis fields immediately surrounded the small creature.
The lizard was pulled inside.
Then the portal closed.
— We thank you infinitely for your cooperation.
Leviathan simply replied:
— This world is strange.
— Your creatures as well. Hmm… a Supreme GOD, huh… anyway, I do not care.
These words had a real impact on the Foundation agent speaking with Leviathan, because it meant that Leviathan, through a simple spatial rift, had been able to deeply perceive the world of the Foundation.
Then his immense body began moving away.
The primordial ocean flowed with him.
And space slowly returned to its form.
In a reinforced chamber, the capsule opened.
Inside was a small lizard.
Five centimeters.
Calm.
Motionless.
A scientist observed the creature.
Then he declared:
— Standard containment procedure.
The usual protocol for SCP-682 had just been reactivated.
But something had changed.
The creature was no longer the evolutionary horror.
It had become… simple again.
Just a simple lizard.
A researcher murmured:
— Impossible…
Another replied:
— Maybe.
— But we will follow the protocol anyway.
In the depths of the cosmic ocean…
Leviathan continued moving away.
And soon…
he would depart toward the primordial waters.
Because a promise still remained to be fulfilled.
Free his brother.
Behemoth.
And somewhere…
the angels of the Council were beginning to understand a disturbing truth.
The world might have just escaped a catastrophe.
But… GOD might have had the answers from the very beginning.