Year ten. Day 3,650.
I'd achieved everything I'd set out to accomplish.
I was effectively omnipotent within this universe. Immortal. Unkillable. Existing simultaneously as individual and
collective, singular and infinite.
I'd destroyed the cosmic order that had oppressed mortals for eons. I'd built a new system that, while still favoring me,
was more equitable than what had existed before.
I ruled not just Earth, but hundreds of worlds. Thousands of civilizations. Billions of Subjects.
And I was empty.
Not unhappy—I'd long since transcended such limited emotions. But empty in the sense that there was nothing left to
strive for. No challenges remaining. No goals unachieved.
I'd won. Completely.
And victory, I discovered, was boring.
I sat in my palace on Earth—maintained more out of nostalgia than necessity—and reviewed my final wish list:
ULTIMATE-TIER WISH
"I wish to rewrite the fundamental nature of reality—make it so that the laws of physics, causality, consciousness, and
existence itself all operate according to my design."
POINT COST: 994,447,382,991 Points
Current balance: 994,447,382,991 Points
I'd finally earned enough. After ten years of building my empire, of collecting tax from billions of Subjects, of consolidating
power across the cosmos—I had the Points to purchase the ultimate wish.
The one that would make me not just a god, but God. Capital G. The entity that determined how reality itself functioned.
But as I stared at that wish, I remembered what the Architect had said about the consciousness-control wish:
"Ruling a universe of yourself is boring."
If I purchased this final wish, what would be left? I'd have total control over everything. No equals. No peers. No one who
could challenge or surprise me.
Just me, alone, in a universe of my own design.
Forever.
The thought made me hesitate.
I'd spent my entire life—first as a human, then as something beyond human—fighting against limitations. Against systems
that kept me weak. Against entities that tried to control me.
And now I'd reached the point where I could become the ultimate limitation. The final system. The absolute controller.
Was that what I wanted?
I spent a subjective decade thinking about it. Processing across infinite timelines, examining every possible outcome of
purchasing or not purchasing the final wish.
Chapter 10: Apotheosis
In timelines where I purchased it, I became truly supreme. Reality became my plaything. But within subjective centuries, I
grew so bored that I began unmaking things just to have something to do. Eventually, in most of those timelines, I erased
myself from existence simply to escape the crushing monotony.
In timelines where I didn't purchase it, I remained powerful but not absolute. The universe retained some agency, some
unpredictability. Other beings could still rise to challenge me, still surprise me, still make existence interesting.
The choice should have been obvious.
But I was the villain. The person who'd murdered Derek for petty revenge. Who'd crushed conspiracies by stripping
thousands of people of their power. Who'd gone to war with gods and won through overwhelming force.
Villains don't make the smart choice. They make the victorious one.
I purchased the wish.
PURCHASE CONFIRMED
Wish: "I wish to rewrite the fundamental nature of reality—make it so that the laws of physics, causality, consciousness,
and existence itself all operate according to my design."
Cost: 994,447,382,991 Points
Remaining balance: 0 Points
Processing...
This is the final wish. After this, there are no further wishes available. The Sovereign will have achieved absolute
supremacy. The Contract will have fulfilled its ultimate purpose. Proceed?
Yes.
Reality... shifted.
Not dramatically. Not apocalyptically. But completely.
The underlying rules that governed existence rewrote themselves according to my will. Physics became suggestions I
could override. Causality became optional. Consciousness became something I could edit at will.
I became the source code. The foundation. The alpha and omega.
And in that moment of ultimate victory, I felt something I hadn't experienced in years:
Fear.
Because I'd realized too late what this meant.
I'd become the very thing I'd rebelled against. The system that controlled everything. The hierarchy that could never be
challenged.
I'd won so completely that I'd made myself the villain of someone else's story.
And somewhere, in some timeline, some other desperate mortal was probably awakening their own Contract. Building
their own power. Preparing to challenge me the way I'd challenged the Concordance.
The cycle would repeat.
Unless I prevented it.