#also unrelated but if it was like anywhere near the realm of normality i would wear gloves a lot lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blacinfinity1289 · 3 years

Text

Yo,

"Normal speech" people talking.

'Normal thought' people thinking.

"Kyuubi/Dragons" Kyuubi or Dragons Speaking.

'Kyuubi/Dragon thought' Kyuubi or the other Dragons thinking.

"Jutsu/ Magic" is being used.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail. They belong to their owners. I don't even own the cover photo. Enjoy.

Not Yet

Prologue

New World and A Deal

In a place famous for duking out a conflict, 2 figures fought. Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke fought. They fought for their own ideals. Naruto's being the one to bring his Rogue friend back to the village he called home as he gave his word to Haruno Sakura, his teammate. Sasuke's was to go to a man who can give the power to kill 'him'. The person who killed their parents and his clan. The man who he looked up to in his childhood. The man promised their parents that he will take care of him in their absence. The man who he called Older Brother.

This is not just a clash of ideals but morals as well. Sasuke was prepared to kill the blonde annoyance if it comes to that. He is prepared to do anything to attain power. Naruto is also prepared to do anything to bring Sasuke back to their village. Do anything to bring his 'brother' back to their home.

They clashed again and again but no victor emerged. Sasuke's Sharingan fully matured in their clash. Naruto used a tail-less bijuu cloak to keep up with Sasuke's newly improved speed and reflexes. Sasuke activated his Curse Mark Level 1 to counter Naruto's boost in power. Naruto entered the 1 tail version 1 cloak. Sasuke activated his Level 2 of Curse mark to counter it. It is still a stalemate. Tobi, or rather, Uchiha Obito came to watch the fight and if possible, capture the Kyuubi Jinchuriki if possible and the moment presents. He is watching the fight lazily with his Sharingan. Awaiting an opportunity to get the Kyuubi. The fight reached its peak.

Naruto charged with his Rasengan, his signature attack which is highly enhanced by the potent and corrosive Kyuubi's chakra which changed the normal blue ball of chakra into a reddish-blue ball of spiralling chakra. Sasuke countered it with his Chidori which merged with the vile nature of the Cursed Seal and changed into Purplish black. The two attacks collided with each other. No one is giving in to the other. Both the combatants continued to channel all the chakra they had into their attacks.

Soon, because of these unrelenting forces, a tear occurred in the space surrounding the attacks. It moved to Naruto's side of the attack. It is a blackish white hole that started to suck in everything in its radius. Obito knew that. It is a long-range version of his Kamui. Which means Kakashi is here. He watched in interest what happened next. But he didn't expect the result.

The tear widened. Instead of a blackish-white hole, it is completely black with purple tints and started to suck Naruto in. Sasuke fell to the ground in exhaustion and is looking at his blonde-haired friend in confusion. He didn't understand what was happening. Obito felt his right eye activate and chakra channel into it, automatically. Half of his reserves were drained dry and the blonde Jinchuriki was gone, fell into the tear in space without any trace left behind of him. Kakashi also felt similar effects, but his complete chakra reserves are drained from the use of his left eye.

Inside the Seal

The Kyuubi is watching the events with a bloodthirsty grin. The blonde idiot is using his Chakra more and more. If this continues, he can tempt him to break the seal. Suddenly, he saw a tear in space and his eyes widened. 'There is no way such a minuscule attack created a tear in space' he thought to himself. He knew the power in both the attacks may be high, but it is not even compared to his Bijubomb. So, there is something external that created the hole. He sensed the Scarecrow, the teacher of his container activate his Mangekyou and the effect being pulled towards Naruto's side. But unlike just being sucked into it, the blonde fell into something deeper.

It is a black void with a purple outline filled with nothing. He knew what is going to happen. Due to the high concentration of power and reckless use of a space-time Ninjutsu, the blonde is not sucked into space-time jutsu, but instead, he is tearing the dimension and probably gonna go into another one or gonna die. He didn't care for his life though. This means his freedom. He got a murderous grin on his face. He is going to enjoy and soon, his cage burst open and his chakra started to forcefully rip out of the cage. Everything sealed in the seal had unlocked and brought them into the mindscape. He is going to add insult to injury. He got his chance.

"Hahahahaha" he laughed in glee.

"See that Naruto. You are dead now" said the Kyuubi, confusing the blonde boy. As soon as Naruto came in, 2 more holes formed and came out a blonde man and a red-headed woman. All the chakra in the vicinity surrounding Naruto got sucked into the hole which closed as soon as he got completely sucked in only leaving a small gap. The chakra from Obito and Kakashi also followed in and due to their lingering chakra another crack opened on the other side and Naruto slowly started travelling in its direction. All the chakra that got sucked didn't have anywhere to go but Naruto, as he is the only other source of Chakra there and latched to him soon merging with him.

"Kyuubi," said Minato, impassively.

"Minato," said Kushina in confusion.

"Yes, Yondaime. It's me. But I think you should be worried about your son now" he said with mad glee. Minato seeing the cage opened turned to Naruto who had a shocked look on his face.

"Naruto" yelled Kushina and hugged her son tightly. For Naruto all this is new. He finally met his parents. The people he wanted to find out from his childhood. 'Yondaime is my father' is the only thought Naruto had and involuntarily hugged the woman hugging him.

"What happened Naruto. Why is the seal broken?" Minato asked. Kyuubi laughed and too happily replied of what happened.

"So, Naruto is being sucked into another world because of the hole in space," asked Minto awestruck.

"Yes" replied the Kyuubi happily.

"And why are you not sucked away with him, I thought the Shiki Fuin is a soul level seal," asked Minato. Kyuubi gave him a toothy smile and replied.

"Because we Bijuu can't cross the dimension. We can unless the user has higher power to take us. We are bound to the realm of Elemental Nations for eternity" he said Cheerfully. He is happy that he had finally got his freedom after 100 years of imprisonment. Naruto slowly started moving towards the hole on the other side.

"Well, it can not be helped then," said Minato and hugged Kushina who is hugging Naruto, making it a family hug. Naruto went back from the hug and punched Minato in the stomach. Which hurt him a little.

"Why" is the only question Naruto asked.

"I'm sorry that I placed this burden on you son, but when I faced that masked man who claims to be Uchiha Madara, I couldn't help but think of your future. That is why I entrusted you with the power of the Kyuubi so that one day you can master it with the help of your mother. I sealed some of our chakras in you as a way which enables us to meet you at some point in time in your life, but I didn't expect that to be like this" said Minato, regret and guilt evident in his voice.

"I saw your childhood from the seal and I regret sealing the Kyuubi in you and blindingly believing the villagers would understand and fulfil my last wish," he said in a sad tone.

"I'm sorry, son," said Kushina. But for Naruto, it is different. He finally met his parents. The newly acquired chakra in him triggered something in him. His eyes changed from that of Cerulean blue to Red with 2 black tomoes in each of them.

Naruto hugged his parents tightly.

"It's alright guys. I am fine and I got the chance to meet you. That's enough I forgive you" he said with a smile that shames the brightness of the sun.

"Thank you, son. We felt blessed when we had you. We loved you so much" said Kushina.

"You have made our lives more brighter by being our son. Thank you for choosing as your parents, son" continued Minato.

"No matter what, remember that we always love you, Naruto," they said in unison as the hole neared and the Kyuubi was 1/4th of its original size, looking at them in amusement.

"Even in your last seconds, you continue to amaze me. Humans" he said in a deep tone.

"As you have impressed me, I'll give your son one of my abilities, which might help him in this new world," he said and pushed some of his chakra into Naruto which got absorbed instantly.

"We shall give you our most powerful Jutsu as well, son," said Kushina and transferred some of her chakra into Naruto.

"You already know Rasengan. I failed to master it completely. Find a way to add your elemental affinity into it son, as for my most prized Jutsu, I have sealed it in your seal. When you think about it, you will get it. Think of Hiraishin and you will get it" he said and the Kyuubi almost disappeared.

"Finally, freedom" were his last words as his chakra completely vanished from the seal into the Elemental Nations to reform.

Minato and Kushina saw Naruo's body slowly disappear as well, so they moved forward and hugged him.

"Thank you for being our son, Naruto," said Minato.

"No matter what, we are proud of you," said Kushina.

"Well be watching you from the other side, Naruto. Don't come to join us soon. Add our life to yours and live a long, happy life" they said again in unison. Naruto gave them one last smile and replied.

"I will, Mom, Dad, that's a promise of a lifetime," he said, tears falling from his eyes freely. All the chakra that is surrounding him merged into including that of his parents and they disappeared in gold particles. Naruto cried tears of joy. His wish to see his parents has come true. He finally met them and they loved him a lot. His eyes spun wildly large amounts of chakra unconsciously being into them, his eyes bled and a pattern appeared in them. Instead of 2 tomoes, they have a swirl pattern in them.

But just before he entered into the new dimension completely, Naruto could have sworn he had seen a man who is made of pure chakra with a blue ethereal form leaving his body, some of his chakra left in his body as he is still alive. As the Kyuubi explained about forcefully being ripped off a living vessel leaves a small amount of residue behind as in the case of Kyyubi's chakra being left behind and his parent's chakra merging with his own and now the man's also included. But what shocked Naruto is the expression on the man's face. He had a sorrowful expression as if he lost something important. Naruto didn't have enough time to think about it as he is fully concentrated on the tear. His body flew towards the tear. When he reached the tear, he was violently shoved into space like a star. His body heating up because of the friction.

July 7, X777

A few moments earlier, Heartfilia Manor

Layla Heartfilia has opened the eclipse gate to allow the Dragon Slayers access from the past to the present. She had a key missing, so she used her own life force to supplement it. It has gone perfectly. All the 5 Dragon Slayers has passed through it without any problem. However, soon as the gate was about to close, another star passed through the gate before it was completely closed. The star went in another direction as compared to the Dragon Slayers to North. She didn't know how there was a sixth one, but she didn't think much about it. Her health started to deteriorate as it is and she fell unconscious after that.

Naruto was violently shot into the air and travelled into a far north and crash-landed into a thick forest. His body was severely burnt and bruised because he travelled through space and his chakra coils have largely expanded due to the extraction of the Kyuubi and he is suffering from a severe case of Chakra Exhaustion. He couldn't do anything but open his eyes for a moment to see brilliant yellow reptilian eyes looking at him, curiously, before going unconscious.

For Aldoron, this is all different. He knew the date and year and what is going to happen today. The Dragons will use the Eclipse Gate to come to the future to defeat Acnologia. He is one of the victims after all, and his fight with the Apocalypse Dragon has left him in this severely weakened state. He saw a star coming in his direction and landed in front of him. He saw into the crater curiously to see a child, who smelt like a fox. He may be around 10-12 years old, according to his estimation. And the fact he managed to stay conscious through all of this ordeal impressed Aldoron. When leaned to get a look at the child, he managed to get a glimpse of Red eyes, which changed into cerulean blue, which looked confused at him before he lost his consciousness. His body was burnt and bruised as if he had travelled in the void and Aldoron got into work. If he planned this right, the boy I. front of him would be his key to defeat Acnologia for him.

He saw the boy heal himself and it is very fast. He also helped the healing process by sending his Nutrients into the boy helping him recover faster. Naruto was unconscious and came to his mindscape. He saw the residue of Kyuubi's chakra behind the seal. It would be at least 6-8 tails worth, not that Naruto know it, it is locked away in the cage. When he tapped it, it opened and the chakra came rushing into him, engulfing with its vile nature and bloodlust. Naruto felt rejuvenated and bloodlust at the same time. So he willed it back and due to the absence of the Kyuubi's will, the Chakra went back into the cage roaming aimlessly. Naruto sighed in relief. He finally got rid of that fox that haunted him unknowingly for his whole life. Now the first question that came to his mind was, where was he. He knew that he saw some kind of gate, which he passed through when he entered this place. And he could remember that he saw yellow glowing reptilian eyes like Orochimaru's before going unconscious. He shrugged it off. He is going to go face whoever it is when he woke. He should know whether what his father told was true or not and he thought about the Hiraishin and a scroll came in a puff of smoke. He opened it and read.

'Dear Naruto,

If you are reading this, then you must have met my chakra in you. I am sorry that I have to place the burden of the Kyuubi in you. But I can't think of a better person than my son who can defeat that masked man, who claims to be Madara Uchiha. In this scroll are the contents of mine and your mothers most treasured possessions. The right one is mine, while the left one is your mothers. Kushina and I love you, son.

Your loving Father,

Namikaze Minato'

Naruto opened the scroll by channelling some chakra into it. He saw 2 sides like his father said which had Kanji for Tou-san and Kaa-chan on it. He pressed his finger on his father's side and it took some blood from and opened.

There are 3 scrolls in it. One scroll has the Kanji for Rasengan, another for Hiraishin and another for Jutsu on it. Before opening all these, he also opened his mothers scroll. In a puff of smoke, some scrolls came out. One has the Kanji for Chains on it. Another has the Kanji for Benihime on it and another Uzumaki Clan Jutsu and finally a letter from his mother. He opened it and read.

'Dear Naruto,

If you are reading this, then that meant that you have met mine or Minato's chakra in you. I'm sorry that you have been placed with the burden of becoming the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. I know how it is to be a Jinchuriki and the loneliness you would feel. When she is about to pass the Kyuubi to me, Mito-baa-chan had told me that the only way to defeat the hole caused by the Kyuubi is to fill the hole with love. She explained that because of her love for Shodai-sama, she had managed to defeat the loneliness. I also found love in my friends at Academy and Minato. Find someone to love and protect, son. That will fill your heart.

Your loving Mother,

Uzumaki Kushina'.

He opened the Hiraishin scroll and started reading it. He sealed all the other scrolls into the large scroll and continued his reading. Both scrolls had sealing supplies in common. They had paintbrushes and ink in them. As he is in his mind, he didn't need any food or sleep here. He read for what felt like days.

Outside World

Aldoron has been observing the child curiously. After he started treating him, he felt a foul presence that had abnormal amounts of Bloodlust and Killing Intent to it. It surrounded the boy for a minute and it disappeared as soon as it came. But what flabbergasted Aldoron was that the boy's body healed more than what was healed in the last 3 hours. His skin was back to its tan completion where it is pale before. The bruises on his skin also healed to some extent. His magic or something like what which Aldoron couldn't decipher also increased by a margin of 30 times, but dropped as soon as the cloak disappeared. Aldoron continued his observation as his future plans depended on the boy in front of him.

2 days Later

Naruto was fully healed from his exhaustion and dimensional travel. What would take weeks for others or at least a week with Aldoron's help took the blond just 2 days to completely get healed. His reserves are still recovering as they are currently at 25% of his total, expanded reserves because of the extraction of the Kyuubi and merging of all the chakra that the hole sucked into him. He woke up groggily, sitting in an upright position. He knew that he was in a forest as he saw it before going unconscious.

Aldoron peeked at his large head as Naruto woke up. His body seems to have adjusted to his new surroundings as he stood up, keeping balance. He looked in all directions to get a perfect idea of where he was. Naruto looked up to see a giant wooden head looking at him. This confused him. 'Did a tree bark looking at me and it is interested in me' thought Naruto to himself. He was confused. But Uzumaki Naruto doesn't give up, that is his Nindo, ninja way.

"Um, excuse me Bark-san, can you tell me where I am" asked Naruto. The Dragon seemed to be confused like didn't it understand him. 'Now I should learn a new language again' thought Naruto. He sighed to himself and gestured to the Dragon like writing in the air and the Dragon nodded to him.

1 week Later

It took him 1 week to learn the basics of the new Language. Midway, he discovered the secret of his signature technique which changed everything. As Naruto was doing his daily routine, which included him and the Dragon shouting to each other what they are thinking about the progress and the Dragon drawing weird symbols on the dirt to explain it to him, he was in his mindscape, skimming through the scrolls his father gave him. It had the Shadow Clone Jutsu in it as well. His interest piqued, Naruto read about the Jutsu.

Shadow Clone Jutsu:

Rank-B

The Shadow Clone Jutsu (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu) is a technique developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

Similar to the basic Clone Jutsu, this technique creates copies of the user. However, these clones are real instead of illusions. The user's chakra is evenly distributed among every clone, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power. The clones are capable of performing techniques, including the Shadow Clone Jutsu itself, on their own and can even bleed, but will usually disperse after being hit by a strong enough force. The clones can also disperse on their own or be dispelled by the user of the technique. When dispelled the user and other clones get the information that the clone learned. This technique requires at least jounin level chakra reserves and dispelling multiple clones at once may cause brain damage and leads to death in case of low chakra user. clones depend upon the amount of chakra that the user has.

This revelation made Naruto jump in joy and he made nearly 100 clones. All of them practising already learnt letters of the language and the Dragon appreciated his effort and made different texts on different trees and ground, thus speeding up his learning the language. He learnt more than half of it and just the difficult ones were left to learn, which he is sure of learning in the next week.

He was completely healed now and his reserves are full. He also learnt another useful technique from those scrolls. Which is called Great Clone Explosion (Bunshin Daibakuha).

Great Clone Explosion (Bunshin Daibakuha).

Rank-A

Range- 5m

The user creates a shadow clone, intending for their opponents to attack the clone at close range. After a certain amount of time has passed, the clone detonates, creating a large explosion. It is that simple. Just make a clone, go near the opponent, then BOOM. Naruto had a devious grin on his face at that. Oh, how well he is going to use on Kakashi or Sas..u..ke. It hit him like a train. He is not going to do anything to them. As he is not with them and probably, won't gonna meet them as well. He had tears falling from his eyes and his eyes changed to that of a fully matured Sharingan.

Suddenly everything seemed clear to Naruto. He went to a nearby stream to see what's wrong. There he saw it. Instead of his bright blue eyes, his eyes were Red with 3 Black Tomoes in them.

"Sharingan," said Naruto aloud. 'But how' he thought. From what he knew, only Uchiha can awaken their Sharingan. If he had one, then that means he is an Uchiha it something' his brain hurt at that. 'That's why I don't like to think more' grumbled Naruto to himself. 'Whatever, I had Sharingan now. Cool' exclaimed the blood and danced around like a headless chicken.

"What are you dancing for Brat" came a gruff voice that reminded Naruto such of the Kyuubi.

"Nothing you old Lizard" he called out getting a growl out of the Dragon.

"Now that you have learned the language, let's get into business, shall we," he asked and Naruto nodded. He knew that anything is not free or done from the goodness of heart is a weakness as seen in his case when he did his best to save Sasuke only to be thrown into this new world, getting separated from his home. That made him chuckle humourlessly. 'Home, now that is new. I was not treated well from the beginning. Always the stupid kid and the Demon who use make trouble. No one even cared for me there. Jiji did his duty as a Hokage, not to care for him as he blindly gave all power to the council. Kakashi didn't even teach him anything but Tree walking. Jiraiya is a different case entirely. He couldn't get past my father's death and taught me Rasengan as a right of passage. Tsunade, she loved me, yes, but she couldn't do anything as she herself is stuck in the past' thought Naruto to himself.

'Wow, what a family do I have' he couldn't hold back anymore. 'If have to get another chance to have a family again, I'm going do everything in my power to protect them' he vowed to himself and went to the place where they could talk.

"So, what do you want from me," asked the blonde in a business tone. A near-death experience did wonders to his attitude and behaviour.

"Straight to the point, eh. Well, I want to make a deal with you" said the Dragon.

"Tell me already. I should know where I am and plan...things" Naruto said the word planning, something new to him. He is a person who plans on the fly and for him to plan everything out before doing is something to get adjusted to.

"I expected at least that much. After all, you are not supposed to come from the Eclipse Gate" he said in an amused tone.

"So that thing is called the Eclipse Gate, huh. That's a nice name" said Naruto offhandedly.

"Yes, it is an instrument" he stopped himself there.

"Well, let's come back to business. I want you to be my student and learn my magic" said Aldoron.

"Huh," said Naruto in confusion.

"Let me tell you about the world you are in. This is called Earthland and you are in Guiltina, a place where we Dragon Gods live in. We use magic here and there are so many types of Magics. I particularly use Dragon Slayer Magic, God Slayer Magic and a combination of both. I also use Earth Dragon and Water Dragon Slayer magics as wood made of those both elements. There are some more that I will explain to you when the training begins. Different kinds of Dragon Slayer Magics are lethal to Dragons. There are other magics like God Slayer Magic, Devil Slayer Magic and others that you can learn. Magic comes from the particles of Ethernano that is present in Nature. Is this clear so far" asked Aldoron and Naruto nodded. Then he explained about Mages, Guilds and Kingdoms. He also explained about the Dragon and God slayer magic in detail, how they can consume their element etc.

"So, you want me to become your Dragon Slayer," asked Naruto in conclusion.

"Yes, that way I can take revenge on Acnologia when he comes for the remaining Dragons," he said in a grave tone.

"Is this Acnologia powerful" asked Naruto.

"Yes, so powerful, that I can't defeat him on my own when I fought him and all these wounds are because of him," he said gesturing to all the cuts and bruises on his massive body.

"What is in it for me," asked Naruto.

"Powerful magic, possibly family in the remaining Dragon Slayers and a life full of adventure, probably," he said. At the mention of Family, Naruto made his decision.

"Then I accept," he said with a cheerful tone. Aldoron was taken aback by his acceptance.

"Are you sure?" he asked to confirm. Naruto smiled at him and nodded his head.

"Well, then I'm going to implant a Lacrima which will give the ability to use my magic," he said, gesturing to the greenish-black Lacrima crystal he pulled out.

"This is maybe painful," said Aldoron and Naruto nodded. He doubted that, he didn't scream in pain when the Kyuubi was forcefully extracted from him after all. The Lacrima was put above his chest, where it merged in. He did feel a bit of pain like his body is restructuring. His chakra and magic mixing. Forming a more powerful variant. He could feel his reserves expand and power course through his body. After 5 minutes it settled. Naruto sighed in relief.

Aldoron was surprised. The child in front of him didn't feel in pain, not even flinch. 'He must have done through alot' thought the old dragon.

"Ok, Naruto are you ready to learn the Magic," he asked as if to confirm. Naruto nodded his head.

"Good, let's begin," he said and Naruto just made a cross sign. 100 clones popped into existence, this shocked Aldoron. He didn't he can do this many clones.

"Go on, tell me what to do and we are going to do it," said Naruto gesturing to his clones, while he sat in a meditative position and started meditation.

And Cut.

That's it for this chapter folks. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Read, Review and Comment your opinion on the story.

If you have any questions, ask me in reviews or PM me.

Any suggestions are welcome.

RR.

Thank you for reading.

Black Infinity 1289,

Ja Ne.

#fanfic #naruto #fairy tail #strong #dragonslayer #godslayer #my fic

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kantuck · 5 years

Text

Eternity

"Eternity" By Kantuck Nadie Nata-akon Wednesday, May 8, 2019

"So this is heaven?"

That odd thought was the first thing that crossed my mind. It was at least comforting to know the line of people(?) I was behind, was somewhat short, seeming to lead to a yep, you guessed it, Pearly gates. Self-proclaimed by at least the Christian beliefs.

I had religious studies, but I had no idea what the Muslin faith, or Buddhist, or Tao or the multitude of other religious beliefs spoke of. After all, I was a man of science who held a different view. But I guess what the Methodist instructors told me was still in my memory onion. Anyway...I guess the reaper had a slow day since there was only what? A few thousand all marching toward it.

Finally, I passed someone I took as St. Peter who smiled at me (again according to the Christian faith), and then stood before a glow I took as God. I didn't see a physical being, /but I felt as if he smiled upon me/, and so it begins.

Wondering what's here hmm? Well let me describe, for its easy.

Omnidirectional white. Yes, that's it. Unless I'm meeting someone or by the wall that seems to stretch to infinity no matter where I look, it was white. No forms, no shadows, no nothing. So this could go on, being infinity large or just a box barely wider than my arm length.

But myself. Yeah, I was at least at peace. The cancer that took me was gone, and so the pain the doctors, bless their souls (some may already be here.) helped me with.

However, everything was fine. I met some great laudables of the past (two of my heroes, Dr. King and Dr. Sagan for example) but being as I am, I had trouble with socialization. The shuffleboard and pretty nurses didn't interest me anymore (And I had more than enough of such in the brief time I was in the home.) I merely _existed_ and was this going to my fate?

An eternity of...SHEER UNRELENTING BORDEM?

I remembered suddenly what Dr. Asimov wrote in his final autobiography. Something in the realm of "...it wouldn't be heaven to me, if I could not write..." Seems that even in heaven I didn't have a photographic recall which confounded, and aggravated me no end. Still...The /meaning was there/.

Hmm, there was this obscure story of Sherlock Holmes going to heaven after the Reichenbach Falls of "The Final Problem". Which after he reached heaven, he too was bored to hell -- literally. But after performing a service to St. Peter to help find Jack the Ripper who somehow got into heaven, St. Peter rewarded the great detective by returning him to earth to continue his grand mission.

A morose feeling came over me, and, I couldn't help but to laugh.

"WHAT IS SO AMUSING?" boomed a voice out of the white.

I wasn't surprised at the voice, so with a good-heart question, I looked up and said "Who is this? I've been good!" I half-expected to hear "It's the Lord, Noah..."

It seems that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost -- which ever way he labeled himself as, had no sense of humor, but then...

"Hello sir." Not sure exactly how to address him.

"Hello Mr. Serri."

There was an undetermined amount of time that passed between us which hit me strange. As I understood it, time does not exist here, but yet, if time doesn't exist...then what was I doing just a (moment?) before, while thinking of Bill Cosby? Or Dr. Asimov? Or...ug, time mechanics made my brain hurt, even when H.G. Wells described it to me in a 19th century way.

I broke the silence, "Sir..." I looked around at the unending white "Is this all there is? This for an infinite amount of time?"

The glow didn't change, but the voice had a modulation of surprise. "Doesn't it please you?"

I looked down for some reason. I felt as if I wanted to please him and not disappoint him. "No sir. I'm board. There is no music, no animals, no Earthly beauty."

"You were reminded of what Isaac Asimov, wrote, wasn't you?"

I jerked my head(?) up at him, in which he said,

"No, I don't normally read your thoughts, but it was broadcast so strongly because you have a great deal of affection with him. After all, he wrote to a 12-year-old boy."

I swear I felt him smile once again. "Yes sir, he did, uh, but yeah. What he wrote."

There was a odd tingle as he touched me, and I recalled exactly what Dr. Asimov wrote.

"Don't disparate. He's here as well still doing as he loved in life. Why he even finished his story "Foundation." I believe he called it "The Final Foundation, and now at work on his 500th novel."

I looked wide-eyed at the glow, "Oh how I wish I could read it now."

"I'll put you in touch with him. I know he'd love to have another of his fans reading his works."

"Thank you!' A huge smile crossed my face.

"Also don't concern yourself about Bill Cosby."

I looked away, "He's..." I looked down, "Down there?"

"No. He sinned, but his punishment, although harsh, is finite. His purgatory will end eventually, for he did a lot of good too. You all are sinners, you cannot help that."

I couldn't help but to agree with him, knowing things I did that I wasn't proud of. He surprised me when he added.

"Your first sin was peeing on your father when you were eight months old, and laughing about it."

I looked up at the glow, "I...did?"

That same self smile "You was very young; an infant, so it's overlooked.

I laughed some, the tension lightening. "Thank you, sir." But after a moment(?) I had to ask. "But is this my fate then? To drift around this "heaven" for an eternity. Seeing nothing, meeting only people, yourself. " I smiled, "reading the great works of my favorite authors?"

"Oh no. A poet said, "The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell and a hell of Heaven."

"Milton" I added. Now my memory was indexed and google was working at top speed.

"Yes. Asimov shows that your 'heaven' can be anything you desire.

"Even?" I asked.

"Yes...within limits of course."

I smiled, "Of course."

For a time we didn't speak. He let me gather my thoughts then something from my childhood and adulthood came to mind. "I can't return to Earth, right?"

"Not in a physical sense. That is allowed only for very special cases." There was something like a chuckle "Even Sherlock Holmes was rewarded once."

I couldn't help but to smile. "I could go back however as a spirit?"

"Anytime. Just think about where you'd want to go, what time and you'll be there."

"Even..." I didn't want to even hope, "Even anywhere in the /universe/?"

"Even that. Of course going to other parts of the universe requires knowledge /of the place/. But you can learn that on your own.

A sense of joy, of hope, of desire flooded my incorporate being. I felt something I haven't felt in decades. A childish desire..."I can spend eternity exploring the universe? Go anywhere any /time/?

"Until the Universe dies. After all, this place exists outside of the universe so yes."

I felt like hugging the father, but I held off, almost giddy. I couldn't help but to start laughing. Which I then felt him again smiling at me. "Thank you sir! I only wish I had known this when I came in!"

"Well, you had to make your own mind, make your own decisions. That is one of the gifts I gave you, aside from life and the animals and Earthy beauty as well."

I was too giddy, too happy to feel anything but pleasure. I was babbling "I can spend an eternity learning, and I don't have to worry about breaking my glasses!" Then I tested my new ability, thinking of my home of my childhood. Suddenly there I was.

I was standing in a room. One I recognized as the old family room, and on the TV was a man with a bunch of children in the studio, wearing a brown hat and glasses. "Hellllooooo CARTOONERS!" from a booming voice, and the mascot in a silly brown and green dog-like suit with a big green head on his head, beeping a horn.

At my feet, I had a box of legos that I was assembling, and I could see my aura...an odd thing to see now. A soft glowing blue light around me. I could sense I was enjoying life, not knowing what life was ahead of me.

From there, nothing could stop me. I immediately was transported to the moon and I literally walked over every inch of it. Looking into lave tubes, and deep crevices, and seeing things that would only be seen ultimately when man actually /lived/ on the moon. Later, I flew to Mars and looked over Vikings 1 and 2 and the other probes.

No planet was out of reach; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Kupiler belt. I spent a few hundred years exploring our Sol system, watching Man finally getting their head out of their -- ohhh the first FTL ship. I watched in amazement when FTL 1 disappeared. Finding out he appeared where I was, just a moment or so later. (His ship dropped out of warp into the heart of a star a few light-years away.)

As God said, I had to /know/ where to go, so I spent time jumping from the Sol system to the nearest stars. I loved the view of Alpha Centari A, and B. Jumping to Proxima Centari and exploring the planets of it.

By the time a millennium had passed, I had already explored the local group of stars, watching civilizations appear on various planets. Humans hadn't reached out this far yet, and besides these civilizations wasn't anywhere near a post-warp society.

As I watched the various civilizations, some self-destructed into mad genocidal wars, some destroyed by a planetary catastrophe.

Some planets I had to spend decades to even /find/ the people. Beings so primordial who knew how to hide in the very space-time of the universe. These "first-borns" born when the galaxy was forming...then some so incredibly malevolent I was glad I was a being they couldn't detect for I would be afraid of my own existence around them. "Shadows" I heard some called in various languages; I tended to agree.

By an inordinately long time, I finally stood at the event horizon of a black hole.

Energy beings flitted, and hovered just faint centimeters from the point of no return (while I had already explored the very heart of black holes billions of years earlier.) These energy beings, like basking sharks, was soaking up gravitational energies, the dissipating heat energy of atoms, molecules, dust and asteroids -- sometimes gorging themselves when a stray star drifted too close, and was shredded by the intense gravity.

It was then, this uncountable trillions of years in the future, I finally asked the him.

"Sir? Is this it? The death of the universe is the last amount of knowledge I can gain? Will I never learn anything more?"

As I watched those Black Hole basking sharks, flittering around, desperately trying to survive in a universe losing more and more energy, growing forever colder, darker and empty. I knew I could exist here even longer, for the age of the black holes would exist even uncountable trillions of years more into the future.

Even now, I already was running out of the ability to learn. All I could gain was 'what was alive' and 'spacial locations.' All planets had disappeared, all life aside from these black hole basking sharks and some others existed. But all was mindless, instinct driven life.

"No, Mr. Serri, an infinite time means infinite learning." A feeling of a smile "Just as Asimov said. "Education isn't something you can finish."

"But how? I was sadden by what I could see "My universe is now dead."

"Come with me." he said as he touched me. There was a -- feeling only. One moment we were at the black hole the next back in Heaven, at the site of what looked like a door. He opened it, we stepped though, and in another omnidirectional white area he bellowed "Let there be light."

I smiled, I knew what this was at our feet. A swirling mass of energy, which immediately exploded outward, swelling within seconds, trillions of times larger than we. A whole new universe was beginning to form.

"You just have to wait a few days for the first beings to be born, then you can explore until it dies."

I smiled up at him "Thank you sir."

This time a Cheshire cat smile "Your welcome, Mr. Serri. It's a simple gift."

"A gift of eternity." I thought and watched.

end

#religious #science-fiction #fantasy

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beelieveinfandom · 7 years

Text

A Better Birthright Chapter Six

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 AO3 Link

I would recommend reading this chapter on AO3.

Morning came like it always does, slowly and filled with the sounds of thousands of crows.

Mizar rather wished it was more like other mornings, where although there certainly were plenty of crows making plenty of noises they weren’t anywhere near her personally. The crows would have relatively quiet stretches where they kept a fairly even level of calls, but every now and then a squabble would break out or a hawk would fly overhead and the world would become a cawcophony of cawing.

There was really no point in trying to get more sleep once dawn broke.

The light of day made the entrance to the Unkindness’ lair rather intimidating. Not only was the hole huge and vertigo-inducing in its indeterminate depth, but the morning sun reflecting on the thick metal border shined with a painful blinding brightness, obfuscating all details of the entrance behind its wall of light.

No amount of light could swallow up the pit entirely, though. It was simply too large and too deep.

Crows were peeling away from the megamurder in small groups, presumably to go about their normal crow business of getting food or socializing or stealing cows.

The sun had moved behind a hill by the time breakfast was done, making it reasonable to actually look at the entrance. The seamless metal walls had somehow made it through the centuries completely unweathered: the only disruption to the unnaturally smooth surface was a line of glyphs written in an old runic alphabet that were cut into the metal. The letters’ edges were sharp to the touch.

A steady stream of cool, moist air rose from the hole.

It felt like they should be doing something to prepare for the presumed long trek ahead of them, but no one could think of anything specific to actually do.

No sense stalling. It was time to descend.

The staircase was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but there wasn’t a guard rail. As no one was quite ready to fall to their death, they walked single file down the seemingly endless spiral.

It was quiet. Surprisingly so, considering the stairs were made of metal. The sounds of each footstep were soft, like the sound was made by something far away.

Nav spoke up, disrupting the steady footfall.

“What is this place?” they asked. The chamber swallowed any echo that their voice may have formed.

Alcor eased into the physical plane. “What would you be willing to give me for an answer to that?”

“I don’t know if I’m that curious,” Nav said.

“I’ll bite. I know a bit about the Unkindness and their Keeper, but this structure looks like something built by the ancients that the crows just took advantage of.” Mizar put her hands on her hips. “I’ll get you an animal around the size of a deer within a week for an explanation of why this place was built.”

“It’s a bit of a history lesson,” Alcor said.

“Seems like we got a bit of a walk ahead of us, Mizar said. “Gotta talk about something. And I think I can handle whatever the past can throw at me.”

“Well then, I accept your deal.” Alcor grinned as Mizar’s hand flashed with blue fire. “And it’s not really complicated. Mostly it’s just… people.” Alcor shook his head. “Before the calamity, people made devices that had the potential to annihilate everything in a stupidly large area. Any one of these could create a continent-wide disaster, and there were a lot of them. To try and minimize the damage caused if there was an accident, they built and kept them deep underground, in highly reinforced bunkers like this one.”

“Why would you risk making anything that dangerous?”

“That was the whole point. I mean, there were times when it wasn’t, when the devices could do such useful things that they were considered to be worth the risk, but people are drawn to raw destructive power and they raced with reckless abandon to make the thing with the biggest possible boom. It was generally said to be about defence, because if your neighbor has a weapon how can you be safe unless you have a better weapon? No one is going to attack someone who has a bigger stick, or so the logic went. Not that it really should matter how much better your things are if your neighbor can still wipe out all life on the continent, but that never seemed to stop anyone.”

“So that was the calamity, then?” There was a note of uncharacteristic melancholy in Mizar’s voice. “A war with weapons that shouldn’t have been made?”

“Nah,” Alcor said, “people weren’t quite that dumb. They were well aware how bad it would be if anyone actually set off any of these weapons, so they locked them behind impassable walls of bureaucracy. They really were built to be symbols more than anything else. The Calamity was actually an accident, as much as anything doing what it was built to do can be said to be an accident. It’s pretty fortunate for Earth, though. If these things had gone off outside of their protective bunkers I don’t think the planet would still be remotely habitable.”

“How do enough of these things go off on accident to cause the Calamity?”

“Shenanigans.” Alcor shrugged. “Basically, many of them ended up connected in the dreamscape due to an overlooked quirk of magic, one got triggered by a series of unlikely events and the power of its blast set off a few others. Then everything got amplified by an unrelated device and you got yourself a worldwide apocalypse.”

“If only a few of them went off, does that mean that there are still intact ones that could cause another Calamity at any point?” Mizar asked, alarmed.

“They’re all way too decayed to be even a minor threat anymore,” Alcor said. “Unless you were to go into their bunkers, then they’d be a major cancer risk.”

“So if this was supposed to be a bunker capable of containing some awesome weapon, why is it all open? Shouldn’t this be solid to absorb all the energy or whatever?”

“What we’re on was originally the outer wall of the bunker,” he explained. “The center was a very large building filled with maintenance stuff and various security things. This specific place is special, you see. When its bomb went off it exploded so hard it ripped through the dimensional barrier, and the bunker collapsed and fell through.“

“The whole thing collapsed?” Nav said. “Are these stairs going to be intact further down?”

“The outer layer of the bunker was just about the sturdiest thing people could make back then.” Alcor dismissively waved his hand. “It’ll be fine.”

“Wait a second, are we entering a different dimension?” Mizar asked.

“Sort of,” Alcor said. “When the rip first happened it led pretty much directly into a different dimension, but since then it drifted apart from this one. We’re essentially entering a bubble connecting our dimension to another; it’s a threshold space maintained by both while being a part of neither of them. Once they drift far enough it will burst and the rift will either heal or lead directly to the chaotic realm between dimensions.”

“A chaos realm rift?” Nav said. “That sounds like it’s probably a bad thing.”

Alcor shrugged. “Shouldn’t matter much to you - you’ll have died long, long before it’s going to be an issue. And anyway there’s nothing left there that’s stupid enough to try anything.”

“Left?” Nav asked. “That sounds like a story.”

“It’s a great one.” Alcor grinned. “What would you be willing to pay me to hear it?”

“Oh would you look at that?” Nav looked down over the edge. “There goes my interest. Hopefully it won't hit any crows on the way down.”

“So,” Swift said. “Future danger aside, this is completely safe then? I don’t want to take Jorge someplace too dangerous; he doesn’t really have reflexes.”

“I wouldn’t call it completely safe.” Alcor put his hands on his hips. “The stair’s lack of a rail is a serious OSHA violation. Also the air is probably carcinogenic, but what’s a little cancer ever do to anyone?”

The darkness grew around them as they descended deeper, growing thicker until it swallowed the last stray bits of light. They couldn’t see each other; even Swift’s cavern-evolved goblin eyes were useless. The only thing remotely visible was Alcor, but even the constellations that peppered his dark form were dim. The sky itself seemed to be missing - where the circle of light had been now held only blackness.

They had not descended anywhere near far enough to possibly justify the morning light’s absence.

It wasn’t very cold and yet their skin tingled like it was on the edge of numbness.

Mizar put a hand on the wall to guide her and stared at her flashlight. Looking at it straight on, she could see its circle of light, but pointing it at the wall it cast no illumination unless it was uselessly close.

Distant caws drifted up the open space.

Sharp fractures in the wall caught against Mizar’s fingertips like hooks. Smooth bumpy waves of warped wall surrounded them, so her fingers would rise and fall, only a few millimeters at the edge but whole inches right before the sudden jagged tear. A transfixing dance between smooth and sharp played out under her fingers.

“I’m not the only one that’s more than a little spooked, am I?” Fred asked, her voice clear and close. “Cause this place is causing me a bit of a concern right now.”

“I would certainly be happier if I could see the stairs ahead of me,” Nav said. “Sturdiest material of the ancients or not, that talk of powerful weapons and collapsing buildings makes me nervous.”

“I feel like I’m going to fall forward eternally with each new step,” Plessy said. “I like it here.”

“You would, you weirdo,” Nav said.

“Sure, I may be a weirdo; I will give you that. But what does that make you? For a weirdo is something that one is, a fixed part of one’s very being. But dating a weirdo? That is a choice, and a choice that you made handedly,” Plessy retorted.

“That makes me fucking awesome,” Nav said. “Cause weirdos are, in my experience, pretty much the greatest people this world has to offer, and by dating one, some of that innate coolness is transferred to me by proxy.”

“So,” Plessy said coyly, “what you’re saying is you only love me because I’m basically perfect in every way.”

“That’s it.” Nav flicked their arm up. “That’s exactly it. I’ve never been so called out in my life.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t hold it against you,” Plessy said. “I’d probably become enamored by my own charms too, were I not immune to such things.”

“Oh, you’re immune to being charmed now?” Nav narrowed their eyes.

“Completely above it,” she responded.

“Oh reeeeeally?”

“Absolutely,” Plessy said, her head high. “I’m so far above it I’m at grave risk of suffocation from how thin the atmosphere is up here.”

“You’re really cute when you’re full of shit.”

“A genuine compliment?” Plessy giggled. “Noooooooo, my one weakness!”

“And you better believe that there’s more where that came from!” Nav said, grinning.

“Is there nothing I can do to obtain your mercy?”

“No…” Nav shook their head. “No, it is far too late for that now. Do you have any last words before you take your onslaught of admiration?”

“I love how dramatic you are.”

“Heh,” Nav chuckled, the darkness swallowing their cocky grin. “So it’s a duel then?”

“If fate has conspired to bring such an event to fruition then so be it,” Plessy said with a heavy weight to her voice.

“I love your ironic seer shtick.”

“Is that so? Well I love how you laugh at my dumb jokes.”

“Your jokes aren’t stupid, they’re hilarious. I love how funny you are.”

“You guys are really cute,” Fred said.

“A challenger has appeared!” Nav exclaimed. “You know, Fred, you’re a delight to be around.”

“You brew a great cup of tea,” Plessy said.

“Oh… no, I didn’t mean to get involved.” Fred blushed. “Thanks for the compliments, though. You’re really nice.”

“Yeah?” Nav’s grin was evident in their voice. “Well your face is really nice.”

“Your welcoming presence is a breath of fresh air,” Plessy said solemnly.

The talk helped fill the space and made the voluminous cavern seem slightly less like an ancient tomb. It was still incredibly freaky, going down down down to destination unknown, each footfall paired with a panicked moment before the next step was felt where it seemed there was no next step, there was nothing but the darkness to fall through forever.

Needless to say, it was slow going. And there was a lot to go through. Without any visible sky or light, it was impossible to gauge how much time passed, winding around slowly through the darkness. It was definitely a long time, though, far longer than anyone wanted to be walking down stairs, impenetrable darkness or not. But eventually, after everyone’s muscles were starting to get sore, after it seemed like there was nothing in the world beyond this staircase, specks of light started to appear down below.

The lights were ethereal colorful streaks that raced up and down, not perfectly straight but as if tracing out some indecipherable ruins. The lights themselves were too faint to illuminate the room but their dancing reflections along the walls revealed what fingers had already figured out; the walls were no longer the peculiar smooth material of the ancients but rough, textured stone.

The cawing stopped as they approached the lights, leaving the room in haunting silence, only broken by the occasional flapping of wings.

The farther down they went the more lights there were. They still were dim, but together they were just bright enough to dimly illuminate the forms of crows lining the edges of the stairs like the world's most precarious railing.

They finally seemed to be reaching the bottom.

Streaks of light were grouped together in the center of the room likes bars of a cage. Within was a truly massive bird, whose shimmering form appeared to be made of liquid. Their tail poured down like a waterfall into a perfectly circular pool beneath them. The lights around them filled their form with an ever-shifting rainbow, dancing off their surface onto the walls, its pastel echo briefly revealing the dark iridescent rainbows hidden in the feathers of the numerous birds that filled the space.

And the birds were so very numerous. Thousands of beady eyes shone in the darkness, all fixed on the party. They covered the floor, they perched on crevices in the walls, they lined the staircase. With each step forward came the sounds of wings as someone landed behind them.

At last they made it to the end of the stairs, to solid and flat floor.

The room exploded in cawing. They could make out some words in the noise, but it all seemed to run together as a single presence of sound.

The large bird at the center of the room spoke, their haunting voice clear and easy to make out through the inescapable presence of the chatter.

SO YOU HAVE ENTERED OUR DOMAIN WE WERE NOT EXPECTING YOU SO SOON FORGOTTEN ONE

“Don’t mind me, I’m just tagging along with her,” Alcor replied, gesturing at Mizar.

THE BURNING HEART WHAT BRINGS YOU TO US

Mizar walked forward, slowly and purposely, until she was at the edge of the pool in front of the entity the crows were referring to as The Keeper.

“Oh Keeper, of the Unkindness,” she said.

“I am Mizar, the Twin Star, high priestess of the demon Alcor, the Light Breaking through the Darkness. I am here on behalf of those of the Pack of Even Hand, of their first mother and of this child.

“I would ask of you to return what you were given by the child. I would beseech you to return to him his emotions.”

WE WILL GLADLY RETURN IT BUT WE WILL NEED IN EXCHANGE A SECRET A FORGOTTEN PATH OR

SOMETHING SHINY

“I have for you an offering,” she said. “A forgotten path, freely given.”

For a minute the cawing intensified to the point that talking was impossible.

“I am the last shaman of the Fallwood people.” She spoke slowly and clearly. “I am the last to know our rites. I am the last to carry our history. Master of the Lost, I offer you the name that I was offered upon my birth. I offer you all that comes with it. This name is not an identifier but an identity. It is a title, it is that history. The name is a signifier that its bearer has gone down the path of shamanhood. I offer you a name, Keeper of Secrets, and through it I offer you my birthright.”

THESE TERMS ARE PERMISSIBLE

COME FORWARD WITH YOUR OFFERING

Mizar stepped forward, testing the depth of the pool in front of her. Her foot stayed on the surface, however, and having established she wouldn’t sink she confidently strolled over to The Keeper. When she was a few feet in front of them, the liquid suddenly stopped supporting her and she plunged into darkness.

She gasped in surprise, only to find she had no problem breathing.

It was warm beneath the surface. She felt lightheaded and fuzzy. Strange noises came from above. It was like someone was talking very far away. There was stuff down here. Big piles of weird things. She thought about her childhood. About learning what she was going to be doing. About the rituals she would do. About the people she would lead. About those who came before. And the more she thought about it, the less she remembered. It was warm. She was warm. What had she been thinking about? Maybe she should get out of this, leave this… wherever this was. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

She walked aimlessly for awhile before it got shallow enough for her to surface again. Her head hitting the open air was like falling face-first into the snow; the cold shocked her system and her thoughts became coherent again almost instantly.

She finished walking out of the liquid and tried to wring out her hair, only to find it was already dry.

Jorge was walking towards the pool with the same slow, aimless gait that he seemed to do everything with. He walked like his legs were a separate entity with separate intentions that he didn’t know; like he would be surprised to arrive at whatever destination his legs brought him to if he could only muster the energy.

He reached the pool and collapsed down to his knees like a dropped ragdoll. He cupped his hands together and took a drink from the dark liquid.

Almost instantly he started coughing. Deep, heavy, choking coughs like something was caught far down his throat.

Swift rushed over to help. He slowed as he got to Jorge, moving a hand to the child’s shoulder.

Jorge pushed him away. “You did this!” he said hoarsely. “Why would you do this? Everything was fine the way it was!”

He was angrily blinking back tears.

Swift sighed. ”I guess that answers the question of how you’re feeling.”

“How am I feeling? I feel awful! I feel like shit! I never wanted to think about what happened again and now I can’t stop.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Swift asked, his voice betraying that he already knew what answer he was to receive.

“No I don’t want to talk about it!” the teen shouted. “I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want anything to do with it! And why would I want to talk about it with you? You’re the one that did this to me! This is all your fault. I hate you! I hate you I hate you I hate you!”

Jorge ran away to the stairs, shoving anyone in his way out of it. Taking the stairs two at a time, he quickly ascended out of view, which didn’t mean much considering how dark it was. Your hand could get far enough away from you to disappear from sight if it got especially ambitious.

“Well that’s probably not the response that you were hoping for,” Mizar said to Swift. “Sucks, dude.”

“I mean, it isn’t ideal,” he said, “but it’s about what I was expecting. He’s been through a lot and hasn’t dealt with any of it. It’s only natural that he would start with some pretty negative emotions. Honestly, I’m glad to see anger; I was worried he would just shut down again.”

“You gonna try to calm him down?” Mizar asked.

“Me? No. I’d probably bugger it all up, honestly. I’m… not the best at helping someone work through their trauma. We got some people back home that know what they’re doing though. At this point I’m just here to make sure he can get to them safely.”

“Should we be concerned that he’s running ahead?” Nav asked.

“He’ll tire himself out long before he reaches the top.” Swift looked up the stairs for any sign of his ward. “Still. We should probably go after him.”

“Like, right now?” Nav asked. “I was hoping to rest a little first. I’m still tired from the climb down.”

“I’m not sure I could rest right here,” Swift said. “Anxiety over Jorge aside, I feel like I’m invading the crows’ space.”

“Wait, we’re leaving already?” said Fred. “I was hoping I could get something back from the Unkindness, while we’re right here and all.”

“What’d you have Taken?” Nav asked.

“Oh, nothing as hoity-toity as my emotions or nothing, just some dried cantaloupe actually, but I’ve been craving it somethin fierce lately and hey, no sense leaving the butcher empty handed.”

“Fruit,” Swift said, in the same way as one might respond to being told that white picket fences were actually mind controlling parasites, and were secretly responsible for all of society's ills.

“Yep,” Fred said, completely oblivious to any subtext. “Got it awhile back and kinda forgot about it for a ways. Then one day I wake up with that hunger that only cantaloupe can fill and get all excited ‘cause hey, I just remembered I got some. Two shakes and a beat later I find that I can’t find it. I’m not even certain that it was Taken, to be open as a peach, might have just lost it.”

“What were you planning on giving up in return?” Nav asked slowly.

“Oh I got all kinds of childhood memories I could best do without.”

“Memories?” Nav asked disbelievingly. “For some fruit?”

THESE TERMS ARE PERMISSIBLE

“Oh, nice,” Fred said. “So how’s this work then? I just walk over here thinking about that which I’d rather not think about and-”

Fred plunged beneath the surface of the liquid.

Fred emerged from the liquid, after a minute or so, triumphantly holding a leather satchel.

“Personally I wouldn’t have returned the bag. Let’s see her carry a pound and a half of dried fruit with her hands.”

“You’re a bit of a pedantic prick, aren’t you?” Nav said.

“I like to think of it as teaching the value of careful wording.”

“So a pretentious pedantic prick, got it.”

“Pretty much,” Mizar said.

“Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Mizar shrugged. “Maybe if you tried being less of a pretentious pedantic prick I wouldn’t feel the need to call you out on your shit.”

“Well maybe I’m old and have been through things you couldn't dream of and have earned the right to conduct myself in however prickish of a manner I like.”

“Then you should learn not to get offended when people tell it like it is.”

“Well I’ve gone and done what I was gonna go and do,” Fred said. “Anyone else have something they might want back or should we be off?”

“I would appreciate it if we would go follow Jorge,” Swift said. “If that’s alright with everyone. I wouldn’t want to stop you from being reunited with that cool leaf you saw once just because I want to keep an eye on the child in my care.”

“You want some cantaloupe?” Fred asked, as they started to walk.

“...” Swift put his face in his hands. “I kind of do, actually.”

It didn’t take them long to catch up to Jorge. He had stopped fairly close to the bottom and sat down, legs dangling off into the dark abyss. Not that anyone could see that through the supernatural blackness.

“I hate stairs,” he declared. “They’re awful and there are too many of them and I hate them.”

“You ready to go home, Jorge?”

“That would involve climbing more stairs, so no. I’m not ready to go home. I’m going to sit here forever and never climb a stair again.”

“We can rest awhile if that’s what you want,” Swift said gently.

“No I don’t want to rest here,” Jorge said with his voice raised. “It’s dark and creepy and I don’t like it.”

“Well, what do you want, then?” Swift asked.

“I want to be at home, like I was,” Jorge said. “Not feeling all these things, like I was. Not here. Not in the dark on the stairs surrounded by more stairs and hating everything. It sucks, Swift! This sucks!”

“Well, the faster we get moving the faster we can get home. Then it can suck slightly less.”

They continued to ascend the staircase. Mizar’s thoughts drifted to her childhood. She could still remember the general shape of things; what she learned and why. When she tried to remember any details, however, she started to feel all warm and fuzzy again, and the harder she tried to focus the more lightheaded she got.

She could still remember her exponent just fine. Which was a relief? Yes. She wouldn’t want to forget about him, no matter how much it still hurt.

The ascent went considerably faster than the descent had. The sky revealed itself as a circle of light after what felt like no time at all, at least compared to what they had been expecting. And once they could actually see the stairs ahead of them they could move considerably faster. They were at the top before they knew it.

The sun had barely moved from the position that it had been when they went down, despite the fact that it seemed unlikely that a whole day had passed.

They took a short rest and started down the long trek back to the Pack.

It was late evening when they got back. The area was still crowded, despite the hour. The buzz of people going about their evenings and the literal buzzing of bees filled the air, undisturbed by their presence.

The Bright One came out to greet them, led by an eager child.

“It is good to see you returned,” she said. “Did you find what it was that you sought?”

Jorge took that moment to run off - the thought of sitting there while people talked about what had just happened to him like it was some sort of victory to be celebrated was too much to bear.

“Yeah,” Swift answered. “He’s definitely feeling things again.”

“And not too happy about it, or so it would appear.”

“No he…” Swift sighed. “I wish I could do more for him. Feelings ain’t my strong suit.”

“He will heal in time.” The Bright One smiled. “For now I imagine that he will want some space. We can have-”

She stopped and looked behind her.

A wave of silence swept through the crowd, which parted leaving a straight path between the party and the oldest and strangest looking dryad any of them had ever seen. Not that that was saying too much considering that dryads were somewhat rare, but the half-wolf form that she took was bizarre by most any standards. Her skin, where visible, was ether rough, flaking bark, or fleshy in a way that just looked wrong. The moss that hung off her fur was so prevalent that it was impossible to determine what was hair and what was plant. Each step shook her whole body; even standing still it seemed like the wind might blow her away.

Dominating her features were her massive branch-like antlers, covered in fiery leaves. Withered brown leaves hid amongst the bright reds and golds.

She was hunched over a staff - a small tree, really. If she were to stand upright, she would probably be pushing twelve feet.

“First Mother,” The Bright One said in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you to be active.”

“I’m old, not dead,” the First Mother said, her gruff voice skillfully projected. “I can still uproot myself when the time calls for it.”

She turned to Mizar.

“So,” she said, “you must be the latest Mizar.”

“That’s me.”

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Mizar,” Mizar said. “My name is Mizar.”

“Well that’s sure confusing.”

“That’s what I said!” Alcor said. “But she was all ‘oh who cares it’s perfect’.”

“And of course you can’t deny your twin star anything.”

“Look Catreena, have you ever tried fighting with a Mizar? Once they’ve made up their mind about something they’re impossibly stubborn.”

“Whatever.” She turned back to Mizar. “I heard you all went out of your way to help one of my kids.”

“It was nothing, really,” Mizar said.

“Oh, it’s something alright. A Mizar traveling with Alcor… you got something you want to get done. And you still went out of your way to get some kid what he needed, even if he didn’t want it. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” Mizar said.

“So tell me, what is it that you’re doing?”

“I’m going to fix the corruption,” Mizar declared. “To bring back what was lost with the Calamity.”

“No you damn well aren’t,” The First Mother snapped.

“Excuse me?” Mizar asked.

“There are some things that are better off forgotten, kid,” the First Mother said. “Don’t get me wrong, low infant mortality rates and a stable population were great. I’d love to see the return of vaccines and what have you. Instantaneous communication? Still miss that. But the other crap? The social side of things? You don’t understand what it was like to live back then. To be a preter, to be the wrong ‘kind’ of human, to move wrong, or act wrong, or look wrong, or to be born under the wrong circumstances… you might as well not be a person. There had been millennia of power and wealth being secured by a small group of people and everyone outside of that group didn’t matter. We had the ability to cure just about any ailment but people still died of sickness because they didn’t have the right resources to exchange for treatment. You could communicate instantly with anyone anywhere on the planet, but everything was monitored and if you said the wrong thing you would be locked away.”

“How could a small group of people keep control for that long?”

“There was a lot to it,” she explained. “Partially, they had the best of the best of the wonderful technology of the ancients. When you have a whole fleet of machines, any one of which could take down a small army, no one is going to successfully overpower you. A lot of it wasn’t brute force, though. Information was carefully controlled. It didn’t occur to many people that there was any better way things could be. Conversation was monitored to the point that it was almost impossible to find or plan protests, don’t mention an actual revolt. And there was a lot of propaganda, saying that everyone was being treated equally, and those who said otherwise were just lazy, not working hard enough, and trying to get special treatment. Or that anyone could become one of the elites with enough hard work, and because of how hard the elites worked they deserved the obscene amounts of power they held.”

“This does make some of the things I’ve read make more sense,” Mizar said. “They were really obsessed with work, weren’t they?”

“In this area, yeah. Other places put less focus on work ethic and a bit more on other things to control the masses.”

“Were there any places that didn’t put a huge effort into ‘controlling the masses’?”

“I don’t know, probably. It was a long time ago and I didn’t give a rat’s ass about foreign politics back then.” She shrugged. “But most of the world was a powder keg. If the Calamity hadn’t happened first it really was only going to be so long before someone figured out how to summon the right demon to bring it all down. Then again, people had been saying that for centuries before the Calamity happened, so maybe it really was a stable clusterfuck. Whadda I know?”

“How did things get that bad?”

She made a noncommittal grunt. “I was never a history person until my life became history. If I had to guess I’d say the answer probably has something to do with colonialism. That’s definitely why white humans were in control, at any rate.” She shook her head. “Anyway, enough about the shitty past, let’s talk about the shitty present. Where you headed to that you think you can do something about the corruption at?”

“Apparently the largest collection of books on magic from before the Calamity is still intact,” Mizar said. “I’m starting to get an idea about what I might do, but I need to get a lot more information before I can hope to execute it.”

“So you’re going to Gravity Falls,” the First Mother said. “You’re with Alcor, so I’m sure you’ll be fine, but... be careful. You’re not the first person to get the idea that finding that library might be useful. It was a pretty common quest back when people still remembered it existed, actually. But the people who go looking for that place, they had a tendency to disappear. I haven’t heard of anyone making it to that town since the Calamity happened, and we get our fair share of people from everywhere, what with being one of the only suppliers of honey and all.”

“I don’t suppose you would know what might be making people disappear?”

“They wouldn’t exactly be disappeared if they could come back and say what happened, now would they?” She sighed. “Anyway. I’m old and tired, so unless you have any more questions I think I’m going to be off and and sleep for a couple months. But before I do, Horned One, can we talk?”

Fred looked up in surprise. “Well, sure. And it’s Fred, if you will. I haven’t really done anything to earn a formal title or nothin.”

“You have horns,” the First Mother said. “Ergo, you are the Horned One.”

“Well I suppose that is a pretty literal thing, and I can’t really deny that. But the way you’re saying it makes me think there’s more to it than just that, and I’m not sure I’ve really done anything to earn being the Horned One instead of just being some guy with horns.”

“There is more to it than just the horns, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t you,” she said. “Look, I don’t mean to make an argument out of this, let’s just talk.”

The First Mother led Fred slowly away from the rest of the group, towards the grove of trees in the center of the town.

“How long do you think you will be staying?” The Bright One asked.

“I’m itching to get on the road again, if that’s all the same to you guys,” Mizar said. “We’ll stay the night. And in the morning? We’re going to Gravity Falls.”

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

#A Better Birthright #Transcendence AU #My Shit #fic

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