A/N: Biggest swing of the fic incoming. Hope it lands.
-x-X-x-
Axel flies faster than he's ever flown. In less than a minute he finds himself at what can only be described as the peak of the world. High in the air, he can look around in every direction and see the curve, see the… dome-like shape that the world has up here. It's an interesting sensation, but he doesn't let it get to him. He's on a mission, after all.
Peering down below, Axel sees nothing but dark, dark ice… at first. Then he looks a little closer and realizes that it's not the ice that's dark. There's something down there. Something black rather than blue, buried beneath the ice. And… its huge. Axel can only see it's edges because he's so high up and because he's looking for something in the first place.
It reminds him of the shadow Euron's Kraken gave off beneath the waves, except several times larger. For a moment, he can't help but stare. And yet, staring won't get him anywhere. Lips thinning out, Axel points Winter's End downwards… and drops.
The Colossal Valyrian Steel Sword drives through the ice a heartbeat later and so does the rest of him, with Axel pushing his body to its utmost limits. He's not just falling… he's flying downwards, using every bit of his strength and speed to do as much damage as possible on impact.
In just a second, he breaks through hundreds of feet of ice and finds himself in the air again, specifically the open air of a truly massive cavern. Within that cavern is the black shape from before but no longer covered up. Axel gets an up close and personal look, this time around.
However, even as he's staring at the glossy black of what he can only assume to be stone, Axel twitches at feeling the Seven abruptly cut off in the back of his mind. They've been with him ever since his near death experience, growing stronger these past few months and offering their assistance and advice whenever he needed it.
He'd honestly gotten used to their presence, so to suddenly have it be gone… well, the ensuing silence is somewhat deafening. Right up until something in the black thing below suddenly starts to shift with a loud noise. Flying down, Axel watches as a hole in the side of the glossy black slowly opens up, revealing a tunnel. Eyes narrowing, he floats closer, running a hand across the outside surface.
It feels… more like metal than stone if Axel is being honest. Strange, he's never seen metal of this coloration before. It's darker than even Valyrian Steel. And… was all of this black structure metal? That was more metal than Axel had ever seen in his entire life, all concentrated in one place.
… But no matter. He knew why he was here and it wasn't to admire the local architecture. With a scowl, holding Winter's End in one hand, Axel floats closer to the hole to peer into the pitch black darkness beyond. Just as he's starting to contemplate going inside, however, lights like nothing Axel has ever seen before begin to fill the space.
They aren't torches though… maybe some kind of lantern? Or perhaps it's magic. The lights appear to be embedded in the ceiling, floor, and walls themselves, illuminating the tunnel and revealing it to be a relatively normal looking corridor. If one ignores the magical lighting and the fact that it's almost perfectly square-shaped.
Axel doesn't dare set his feet down on the floor though, instead flying his way inside and following the hallway deeper into the black structure. He sees some branching corridors on either side of him at certain points, but none of them are lit and he has no intention of getting lost in here.
Instead, he stays within the hallway where he can actually see… until eventually coming to a large chamber. Axel stares around himself in wonder, not quite sure what he's looking at. More magic, perhaps? There are… bright lights everywhere, and one particularly large light in the wall that seems to have shapes and colors on it. Axel can't make heads or tails of it but when a voice suddenly speaks out… well, he recognizes that much.
"Welcome Viltrumite."
The voice is inhuman. Scratchy. Unnatural. Axel twitches, his eyes narrowing as he growls and looks around to try and find it's source.
"The Great Other, I assume."
"That is what the parasites have named me, yes. Do not worry, I have blocked them from perceiving this conversation. We will not be disturbed."
Parasites? He was talking about the Seven, wasn't he? Axel frowns, caught off guard a little bit by the Great Other's words. It almost sounded like the Great Other thought he was doing Axel's a favor. Or that they weren't enemies or something. And they were definitely enemies.
"I understand things might have been difficult for you. Your ignorance has nearly proven to be your undoing multiple times. But you have won and I am helpless before you. So, I would like to make a deal."
A deal. Axel almost laughs. If he actually knew where the Great Other was, he would already have skewered the bastard and ended this. As things stood, he needed to finish this fast because even if it had been only minutes since he'd left the Wall, every second was another second that the undead were assailing the massive fortification and threatening his people.
"This planet is nothing to your kind. A mere speck in the greater cosmos. When your progenitor returns for you, it will not matter how you have conquered this world… only that you DO conquer this world. I can offer more to the Viltrum Empire than any of the primitives on this planet. Your progenitor will be pleased if you agree to work with me."
The Viltrum Empire. Fuck, now the Great Other had Axel's curiosity. Those on the Wall would have to hang on for just a little bit longer.
"You keep using words like 'Viltrumite' and 'Viltrum'. Explain what that means."
"Of course. The entire galaxy knows the power of the Viltrumites, of which you are one. The Viltrum Empire controls thousands of worlds through the power of each of its members. You are what you are because your progenitor came to this planet and created you with one of the primitives here."
His mother. The Great Other was talking about his mother. And… thousands of worlds? Axel's head spins a bit just taking it all in. The Seven had talked about the empty expanse above, the abyss where nothing was said to survive. But it sounded like things weren't quite as empty as they might have believed… or hoped.
If this was just one world of many and the Empire his mother came from had thousands of worlds in it's sway… Axel swallows hard, trying to wrap his mind around the concept. It's not easy, not by a long shot.
"Your progenitor will return. When they do, they will expect you to have conquered this world for the Viltrum Empire. I do not know how much time you have left, but if we work together, it will not be particularly difficult. I will submit to you, Viltrumite. All that I have will be yours. All you have to do is allow me to wipe this planet clean and draw energy from the parasites that linger upon it."
He was talking about killing everyone. He was talking about Axel letting him kill everyone. The urge to laugh in the Great Other's nonexistent face bubbles up again, but something else that the invisible being has said needs to be addressed first.
"Parasites. You keep saying that. What do you mean? What exactly do you even want from this world?"
"… This world is not unique, but it is uncommon. In the entire universe, the metaphysical phenomenon witnessed here have only been observed in less than five percent of all planets. The energy parasites that the primitives call their gods, that are born from thought and belief and fueled by worship and sacrifice… they can be harnessed and drained. I can harness and drain them. It is why I came here so many cycles ago. It is why I am still here now."
Energy parasites. The Seven had said that the Great Other was from the empty expanse just like Axel's mother. Axel was Starborn… but the Great Other was truly from somewhere else. Some… other place. And it had come here to target the Seven and other gods, apparently. Because it sounded like gods and the like did not exist on every world out in the abyss. They were rare if Axel was understanding correctly.
And the Great Other… the Great Other had come here specifically for them. He'd been drawn to this world because of gods like the Seven. On the one hand, they were to blame for all the death and destruction he'd visited upon this world. On the other hand, the Old Gods had stopped his first attempt at wiping the world clean and harvesting the divine. Along with the Children of the Forest and the First Men, they'd cut him off and built the Wall out of their divine power.
The Great Other called gods parasites, but the Old Gods had made the ultimate sacrifice to save not themselves, but their worshippers. They had slaughtered themselves on an altar of divine ichor and viscera, all to give the living mortals of this world another eight thousand years of peace.
How could Axel possibly spit on their sacrifice by doing anything less than fighting to his last breath? And more than that, how could the Great Other possibly think that he would ever turn on his people, no matter what his origins were?
"You truly are 'Other', aren't you? To possibly think for even a second that I would side with you over my people."
The lights flash a bit on the walls in front of him.
"They are primitives. You are Viltrumite. They are not your people. When your progenitor returns, if you have not completely conquered this world in the Viltrum Empire's name, then you will be a failure in their eyes. I am offering you salvation. Acceptance is only logical."
Axel sneers, lifting up Winter's End and looking around for any sign of where this bastard is hiding.
"Fuck your logic. And fuck my 'progenitor' too. If the bitch who birthed me does come back, she can have my people and my lands over my dead body. Now come out where I can see you so I can kill you and end this."
"… Resisting the Viltrum Empire is futile. I see that now. Even an ignorant, untrained, and all around weak example of the species such as yourself has proven enough to completely disrupt my plans. However, you will die in an instant if you stand against your progenitor."
Axel narrows his eyes at that. He's done talking. But it doesn't look like the Great Other is going to just come out to play. Which leaves one option… time to see just how durable these black walls with all their flashing lights really are.
Launching himself forward, Axel stabs the biggest light with the most colors and shapes on it first. He's happy to see Winter's End cut through it like butter, even as lightning jumps out at him, a defensive measure that barely even stings. A laugh tears its way out of Axel's lips as he feels a tingle.
"Who's weak now, bastard?!"
"Stop. This is irrational. I am your only hope of survival."
"FUCK YOU!"
"Your progenitor-."
"FUCK HER TOO!"
"You cannot… conquer… this world… without me."
"JUST FUCKING WATCH ME! This world is MINE! It's not yours to conquer, and it CERTAINLY isn't my mother's!"
Axel can tell he's getting somewhere. The voice is getting weaker. Rougher. More… uneven. Axel's teeth are bared in a feral grin as he continues to tear through his surroundings. The metal walls of this place turn out to be relatively weak to his sword and body and he rips through them without hesitation, seeking anything and everything that might represent a source of power or lifeforce for the Great Other.
The more he destroys, the faster he moves. Seconds turn into minutes… but Axel refuses to let it turn into an hour. He goes faster. Faster. FASTER.
And then he hits something important. How does he know this? Simple, because everything explodes. Axel's eyes widen as he's buffeted but not really rocked by the explosion. He flies up all the same, letting the blast propel him up and away from within the black structure.
Up, up, and up some more… until finally, he finds himself above the explosion's massive smoke cloud. It looks faintly like a mushroom as he flies back a bit and just stares at it… and then down at the world below him. Blinking owlishly, he looks around to realize… he's in the abyss. The empty expanse above his world.
He finds that he can't breathe up here, but he'd already instinctively held his breath when the explosion started, so that's no big deal. For a long moment he just stares around himself and then at his world. Its not a dome, he realizes, but a sphere. Are all worlds like this? Like orbs floating in the empty expanse of endless night?
Then, he remembers why he wanted the Great Other dead so badly. Fortunately, he can actually already see the Wall from here. Damn, the thing looks like almost like a snake from this high up. Grinning wickedly, Axel flies down, turning into a projectile as he lances through the air and slices his way towards the Wall.
He needn't have rushed though. By the time he gets there… it's already over. As he'd expected, or rather as he'd hoped, the Great Other's destruction has ended the undead threat for good. The army of corpses assailing the Wall have fallen to pieces, collapsing into massive piles of bone and rotten fresh that now litter the entire northern face of the huge fortification.
The Second Battle for the Dawn is over… and they'd won. Axel grins wider as he gets close enough to see people celebrating down below. And when they see him… they raise their hands into the air, cheering and shouting for him, for their King.
They've done it. Axel even feels the connection with the Seven restore itself in the back of his mind. He hums thoughtfully, considering what the Great Other had told him. Not just about where his mother came from, but also the true nature of the gods of this world as well.
… All of that can wait though for another time. Today? Today was a day of celebration and this date would remain one for as long as Axel lived. So he did swear.
It was finally over.
-x-X-x-
A/N: Heh, writing sci-fi from a fantasy POV is hard. I hope I did a good job of describing the Great Other being an alien and having a massive fuck-off mothership without actually being able to say "yo he's an alien with a massive fuck-off mothership" lmao.
Also, Great Other in whatever afterlife alien cyborg AI thingies get: "Oh I forgot to tell him he's functionally immortal too. Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually."
Only epilogue stuff left after this btw.