RE: Deity - The Breath of Creation

4:38 Final Words

The return to the Four Realms was heralded with exactly zero fanfare. The Oshun stood to my side worriedly, wringing her hands as the portal snapped shut behind us, depositing us neither near the Four Realms, nor within the One World, but rather just outside both in the Void. Despite how she looked at me now, the worry there truthfully only serving to make me madder, I could tell she was a bit more confident. She’d had a fruitful time at the meeting, after all; talking with Reilly and the Emperor and even Shin had given her a few options for her recovery spot. After Sehuyun had left, and I sat in the corner trying not to explode.Shin was a little wary of letting her in, insisting that she be tested for Rot spores if she does eventually end up in his universe, but I honestly figured that was a non-issue.

The Emperor would be the one to accept her as a "refugee," in the end.

I, on the other hand, two far more important things to worry about than her eventual leaving. One; the creation of my children’s universes. Two; Sehuyun.

That dragon was accelerating the collision. She was grabbing hold of the string of fate between us with both claws and heaving, dragging her Universe closer to this one with purpose and pride and the savage fury of a Dragon seeking not her end, but her beginning. I did not know what was happening within her universe to drive her to such desperate action, but I did know what the consequences of her rage would be. And I, I stood here, now, at the edge of the One World where atmosphere turned into Void, and waited for that dragon to arrive. My children lay behind me, what they built, what everyone was building and I - I knew what I was going to have to be.

I pressed two fingers to my forehead, recalling my past lives. Eight lives, all formed like spokes on a wheel. Each of them with their purpose, their choices, their trials and tribulations. The Emperor, the Artist, the Slave, the Explorer, the Warrior, the Healer, the Blacksmith…and the final one, where I had been a priest of a long-dead religion. None were ideal for a god to embody fully. All had their purposes.

Unfortunately, I felt I did not have the luxury of “being a good example” this time. I wanted to do right. I wanted to show my children the path forward one could choose, always trying to do the right thing. I had even managed to do that with the collision, little though I had done. But I feared Sehuyun would leave me no choice in the matter. This would be a short war. Shorter than the one with the One World, but no less devastating for it.

"I - um," the Oshun stammered, wringing her hands. I turned to her, my Truesight peering through her like glass. She did not hide from me any longer, and now, I could see who she really was.

Her domain was fractured still. Science, Art, Sport, all separated; and that was part of the problem. She needed to mend it into something whole again. Something all-encompassing.

"You can go," I assured her softly, stamping down the steel in my chest and the blade that threatened to form in my hand. "Go be with your people, tend to your garden. It will help you. And try to finish the [System], would you? That will be of great use." Especially with managing the One World. I could pull gods of the Four Realms out here to help, but the [System] could potentially be used to bridge the natural, fundamental gap between natives of two separate universes.

Huh. Wait, was that why, back on Earth, certain genres of world-hopping typically included a System of some kind? Food for thought, but later.

The Oshun bowed slightly, taking a step back, then paused. "Thank you," she said, clasping her hands before her. "For everything you're doing for us."

"Don't thank me, I'm just making sure my kids have a decent home to grow up in, and my grandkids, too. Now go, and make sure your garden has not been ransacked by foragers while you were gone." She chuckled a little at the imagery, deliberately trying to lighten things up a bit, and took a few steps back. She paused, bowed again, then promptly vanished - my senses tracked her as she reappeared on the other side of the One World, where Atreum and Astraea were hard at work developing and fixing some things; helping acclimate some of the other gods who had been freed of the Rot.

And now, it was time for the kids to complete their works.

Four incarnations of mine appeared around the four universes my children were creating, as Reika spoke her next [Word]. And this time, she formed a Shadow.

"[Growth.]" She said. Her universe shuddered, the calm that the word [rest] had pushed into the chaos of her universe broken in an instant. It flexed, everything moving once again, the stress-fractures in Reika’s budding reality the rapid movement caused filling with new material the moment they formed, swelling the universe.

It was far different from when I told my realms to grow. This was no mere explosion of size; it was, fundamentally, a method of growth. The issue I had had with the Four Realms, where it struggled to grow in size while the people within grew incredibly fast and powerful, comparatively, she had decided to solve with a [Word].

Even as I watched, the tearing and ripping of the universe incited growth, like a muscle working overtime, constantly healing and becoming stronger, larger, tougher. It began to surge outward, overtaking the others, leaning on Elvira's structure, letting Alexander's river-like flow move through it, pulsing in time with Keilan's universe. It swelled and shrunk, then swelled again larger, and the Shadow was forced into being.

Elvira's had been a crown. Keilan's, a shadow of a thought. Reika's was far more pronounced; it was, for all intents and purposes, the chaos of her own realm. A piece of her did not fall off, so much as she accepted part of who she was and forcibly removed it. The chaotic, shapeless, angry part of her that made her truly terrifying; she grabbed hold of it, ripped it out of herself, and threw it into her universe. A small sound of distress echoed in my ears as I watched her injure herself for this purpose, the constant urge to go help tempered by the knowledge I was already helping best I could.

Still, I couldn’t help fidget, already looking over the gaping hole in her soul, trying to figure out how best to bandage it if it didn’t heal properly.

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The shadow merged seamlessly. Anger rippled through the entirety of her realm, red and raw and real, setting the Primordial Chaos to twitching with emotion. Reika stood for a moment, watching it, looking down at her hands. Pain wracked her body from forcibly tearing out that piece of herself, a piece she didn't hate or even dislike, but had served the function it needed.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, forcibly turning away from her self-inflicted injury to study the Shadow.

A Shadow willingly made. How would that affect her universe?

Her soul writhed, drawing my gaze back to it, Authority blooming in the aftermath - but of a different color than that of her siblings. It was hard to describe; hers was a deep crimson color, as opposed to Keilan's black, and Elvira's white. She shivered, clutching her shoulders as the flowers in her hair bloomed, died, fell, then regrew in rapid succession, bleeding the elements themselves into her universe, another addition to her universe that rapidly began to grow. Seeds of life, spreading across all her creation.

Elvira was next. Her heart hardened. Her teeth bared. Her eyes narrowed. Memories of war flashed through her brain as she took a step forward, raised her hand, and spoke; "[Defend.]" I closed my eyes in momentary shame as warriors sprouted within the depths of her hardened Realm. Not soldiers or angels, but something more akin to Curie's SystemGuardians. Autonomous warriors, whose entire purpose was to defend the realm from within. The only thing that could leave the safety of the Rooms, exiting through the walls, to go fight battles outside her universe.

Defenders. They had yet to take full shape, but Elvira took to the task with simple caution, and a pleasure that told me she still genuinely enjoyed molding their forms by hand, shaping them like clay. It was my fault she had felt the need to say this [Word], or so my own self-doubt told me. Self-doubt I could not afford to entertain right now, with everything that was happening. In reality, it was simply a matter of fact that she wanted to protect everything she had built. The Void Paradox that had taken my arm, literally everything about Morgan, the collision...everything she had experienced led up to this, and I would not deny the experiences that had shaped her.

So I replaced the self-doubt with pride at her, her decisions, and her creations.

Keilan spoke next. "[Mirror]." I blinked in surprise as his word tugged on my understanding, a completely off-handed and strange word that had very little to do with actual mirrors, and the “mirroring” being left intentionally vague. He had a shadow of a thought of what his intent was, and I hoped that didn’t come back to bite him. Mr. Boxes even seemed to stutter a bit with it, the great big ball of power he was feeding me to help my children pausing for a split second, before filling in the gaps of my own understanding.

Keilan’s universe shuddered and, for a brief moment, mirrored itself. Then with a sudden burst it fell back onto it, merging with the original realm and layering over the top, an unconscious, subconscious, mirrored version of reality. He smiled pleasantly, souls already beginning to bud naturally, splitting off from him as his wings beat in the false void. My eyes narrowed slightly as the shape came closer to its final form, something tugging at the back of my mind. Some realization that I had yet to fully understand, playing with the corners of my consciousness.

Keilan flew about his creation, poking at the nodes, grabbing pieces of primordial chaos and tugging them along, creating more and more smaller nodes further down, weaving between Rieka's movement, around Elvira's firmness, and letting the central node grow freely, connected by thin streams that pulsed. All the smaller nodes connected to the central one, branching, the power of the mind running through every inch in thudding pulses.

"[Contain.]" Alexander rumbled, the great dragon swimming through his Realm and seeing how dangerously similar it was to the Spirit Realm, flowing so freely. This was supposed to be his Shadow. This was supposed to be where he split himself, lost a piece of his being that turned into a challenge for him to overcome.

He denied that simple fact.

To lose a piece of himself was to deny that he was a Dragon, and a Dragon could be nothing other than itself. Except, he did not allow himself to become like Sehuyun - not all darkness and pride and fire. He let it surge through him, Authority running along his scales like a spider web, roaring in agonizing pain as his soul forcibly expanded. My heart stilled in my chest at the soul-crushing cry of pain, and Mr. Boxes turned one eye toward him with interest. Alexander’s great, sinuous form thrashed as his soul expanded, fracturing in places, held together by his sheer will, forcing himself to grow so the Shadow could be him, and he had to surrender nothing. All while keeping the darkness the Shadow represented at bay, letting the pain of growth fuel his desire to remain good and wise, rather than twist him to madness.

My throat clenched at his pain, my desire to go soothe it nearly overriding my rational mind. Only Mr. Boxes and sheer fucking at how he was handling it kept me from leaping to his aid. Instead, my hands clenched at my sides, fisting my purple robes as I read into Alexander’s thought process. Why bother with waiting for the Shadow to appear, when he could deal with it now?

It was a nice thought, but not how it worked. He’d still be dealing with the consequences of his choice for the rest of his life.

And as for Alexander's universe, well. That was another story all together. The constant flow of energy and chaos condensed around the edges, tubes of power and solidity encircling the pumping liquid, while a core began to form around the Four realms itself. I stood, fully, as his universe responded to his own will; growing just as fast as he. Strength filled the tubes, pushing his flowing… helping it all wind together and through the other universes like the roots of a tree, but...thinner. While a shell slowly began to creep around the Four Realms...despite its immense size, compared to what Alexander was creating.

"Bit ambitious, aren't we?" I murmured mostly to myself, crossing my arms. They were almost done now. Just one more word to complete the seven...and then what? It had taken me a bit of time to come to terms with everything I had built and done when the Four Realms were created, but they were not me, clearly. Would they need more time? A place to rest, and let their universes settle? Surely, the next hundred thousand years or so would be defining for them. Much as how I pushed for life, and that had shaped Morgan's own goals, their initial actions would likely shape their Shadows.

I looked back out into the Void, steeling my heart again. I could practically see Sehuyun from here, and for just a moment, I felt he weight of the Crown upon my head once again.

When I had been the Yellow Emperor, to unite the scattered tribes and create something resembling a peaceful nation, I'd had to do and order some rather harsh things. Executions, conquering, alliances forced through military might, the razing of villages, and more. This felt much like that. I was not going to let Sehuyun destroy my children’s creations. I would not let her beat down the gates of my city just to watch it burn, and it would not kill me, because I had to be here to lead my people, my children, into the future.

Mr. Boxes' power surged just a little, and something new from my children caught my attention.

I looked down, to find them looking up at me. Elvira, Keilan, Reika, and Alexander all stared through the reality of the One World, even in trances as they were, to meet my eyes. The eyes of my true body. One by one, they smiled. And one by one, they spoke their final word, rejecting all of Mr. Boxes’ influence, calling upon me, and only me, and their own understanding of the word.

My heart swelled, throat clenching as I realized what they were doing. Synchronizing again, the [Word] they were calling upon breaking my heart with sheer emotion.

"[Balance.]" They said.

And I wept.