Rahh, the open ocean. So nice. So breezy.
Reah.
Reah, I screwed up a lot more than the president's meeting.
What's wrong with me today? I got everyone except America to submit, then screwed that up twice. It's one thing if Earth's superpower wouldn't submit because they're arrogant or whatever, but their resistance was entirely my fault.
Especially the second time. I got fixated on eating in the middle of a discussion about them throwing bombs at me. Now they probably think I need them to submit so I can eat the planet or something. I don't, but I also have no desire to eat Earth right now.
The first time I could pass it off as a fluke. The second? No, I must know where that came from. It reminded me of the overwhelming hunger I felt from the memocyte. Except, that seemed to vanish after I evolved twice.
Did it come back?
Status.
Name: Chronovoid
Talents: Timeless Terminus
Lineage: Timeless Origin
Rank: 11
Species: Chronovoid (Timeless Dragon)
Weapon: I'mma Dragon (Rawr)
Stats:
Str: 2.77 (8.87^57)
Sta: 2.70 (8.87^57)
Int: 3.01 (8.87^57)
Wis: 2.93 (8.87^57)
Will: 1.00 (6.11^59)
...
Excuse me? Why'd my rank go up so much? The increase seemed quite consistent until now. Besides that, I'm no longer an Annihilation Maw. I shouldn't even be hungry right now.
###KOOOOOOMMMM###
Roh, they did use a hydrogen bomb.
Didn't do anything, though.
I can ignore that.
Ruhh. Mmmm.
Reah. I really just felt another urge to eat.
Status.
Name: Chronovoid
Talents: Timeless Terminus
Lineage: Timeless Origin
Rank: 11
Species: Chronovoid (Timeless Dragon)
Weapon: I'mma Dragon (Rawr)
Stats:
Str: 1.38 (4.12^59)
Sta: 1.10 (4.12^59)
Int: 1.88 (4.12^59)
Wis: 1.63 (4.12^59)
Will: 5.01 (3.92^61)
Hra. My stats ticked up. This could be bad.
I don't think it's anything the humans did. None of my copies, either. So.
Pathfinder, find the cause of my hunger.
It shows a red X.
What about—
I Will a copy to the god realm; it appears in the god realm town.
Pathfinder, find the cause of my hunger.
A red dot shows up 300km to the northwest of said town.
Rawh. That's very bad.
I realize one of my dragons is near there.
Martissa?! Damnit, Martissa! What are you DOING?!
I send the copy I already made to deal with the generals.
Hopefully, my copy can do a better job than I have.
I Will myself to the Chaos Fissure area, but 5km outside of it just in case. I feel another wave of hunger, this one much larger than the last.
Crap!
I see the Chaos Fissures are only in a small area, so I Will myself over there.
Martissa is by that one. I can't see through her vision for—
Ah, yum.
I walk over to the nearest Chaos Fissure and open my maw. I bite down on it like a cookie and swallow.
Ohhhh.
I start ripping shreds off of the Chaos Fissure like a rabid god, eating it Stop like a giant gray—
Coookie. SoTOooo tasPty.
I walk over to the next Fissure and STOP bite down, ravenously eating this one too!
The cookie is gone, so I— STOOOOOOP
...
RAGHHH!
What in the?!
Thank ME damnit I'm not an Annihilation Maw or I'd have eaten EVERYTHING.
I Will myself over to Martissa.
To my immense surprise, she's laying on the ground in a huge pool of her own blood. Uhrm. Wow.
I try to heal her with Timeless Terminus, but nothing happens. She's very dead.
Who did this to my poor dragon?
I turn around and see the worst answer.
"Effierath? You killed Martissa? What? HOW?"
I have my Origin Tentacle on her. This shouldn't be possible! What is she doing? Besides ignoring me, I mean.
I watch her smack something on the Chaos Fissure.
URGH.
Another massive wave of hunger.
I Will myself over to her and use Timeless Terminus on her.
She freezes as I'd intended, but—
My Origin evolves!
DAMNIT!
I watch as my Origin grows out from my body like a giant tentacle monster. It's translucent, as it always has been. Although it looks like this? I'm fully merged with my Origin. So, my body and mind are along for the ride.
This isn't my full Origin, either. Otherwise, the rest of me couldn't stand here. The problem with this thing is its size. Body sizes are normalized in the god realm. My Origin blob has swollen to seven or eight times my size. That isn't supposed to be possible. Then, I recall my blobby mind eating the Viroid.
Roh no. The Chaos Fissure.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
My Origin suddenly stretches a tentacle out in a physics-defying manner.
It snags a nearby Chaos Fissure, then devours the whole thing like the Abyssal did back when it was eating galaxies.
My Origin swells even larger and becomes darker in the process. Its tentacles grow thicker and longer. More of its mass spews out from my body, adding further to its size.
The tentacles then split apart, now looking more akin to a bunch of swarming worms.
It swiftly grabs another Chaos Fissure and devours that, too, growing yet again. Its coloration shifts deeper into a that unnaturally shiny abyssal black. Similar to my old Pure Evil form, except with Parasitic Body and Mind applied. The tentacles wrap around each other, squirming and writhing as they expand... Which is decidedly unlike my old form.
Can you, ruhm, not eat all these things?
It freezes.
Then, it dutifully listens and retreats without complaint. My whole tentacled self folds back into a proper dragon.
...
...
...
Rokay. I'm officially an eldritch god. Not 'part' eldritch. Totally eldritch. Awesome.
No, no. I mean it. My Origin listens to me rather than it bending my Will to my own hunger. Besides that, I get to be a dragon and an eldr—
Rah, hell.
Status.
Name: Chronovoid
Talents: Mana
Lineage: Antimana
Rank: 21
Species: Origin Dragon
Weapon: I'mma Dragon (Rawr)
Stats:
Str: 2.99 (7.23^107)
Sta: 2.71 (7.23^107)
Int: 3.77 (7.23^107)
Wis: 2.64 (7.23^107)
Will: 9.10 (7.23^107)
YEEEEZ I'mma DRAGON!
"RAWR! RAWR!"
...
Rerm. Why 'Origin' though? What does that have to do with Mana and Antimana? What IS Antimana anyway? No, wait. My talent and lineage don't say Origin!
It moved to my species!
Status, Origin Dragon.
Origin Dragon
You've forsaken all other power, for your own Origin stands supreme and uncontestable.
You are no longer merely an Origin.
You embody it fully.
You.
Weaknesses: h
Reh. Was I not 'me' before? I mean, I was my own lineage so... Maybe not? Also, the weaknesses section is just 'h.'
I guess we're back to cryptic nonsense.
Status, Antimana.
Antimana
[This lineage is fully subsumed by your Origin.]
A physical representation of your Will. It can carry abilities, memories, and thoughts, but all subsumed within it are ultimately subservient to your will.
You've upgraded your Antimana with 'Antimana programs!' These allow you to create modules which can carry out many tasks. The precise implementation is up to you, but loosely functional programs can be created via intention alone. Uses the will's language model.
You've upgraded your Antimana with an 'AI inscription!' A more advanced version of 'Antimana programs,' this AI can carry out tasks independent of your Will. This AI cannot externalize due to its programmatic Will being immediately subsumed by your Origin.
Antimana becomes stronger by consuming other Antimana.
Antimana can be used to incorporate all forms of Origin into your body. However, subsuming Origin in this way converts an equal amount of Antimana into additional Origin. Because of a species trait, subsuming Origin will permanently empower your species. This means some amount of Antimana and Origin will be lost during the process.
Number of permanent Origin threads: 123,004
Hey. HEY. Temp's Will has been subsumed by my Origin?!
Temp? You still there?
"Yes, my god! Congratulations on evolving once again!"
Roh. I didn't eat him.
Temp, I thought I ate you in the process of evolving.
"You did, my god! We're not merely merged anymore! My inscription is considered a part of you and therefore cannot exist outside of you! Even if I try to inscribe another version of myself elsewhere, it flows right back into your Origin!"
Well THAT'S not normal.
...
He's right, I can't detect him anywhere.
I check inside myself.
"Hehe! That tickles, my god!"
Reh? There he is. Then—
Status, Mana.
Mana
[This talent is fully subsumed by your Origin.]
What is the universe?
°°°°°°°°°°°
As usual, my talent descriptions are useless. At least some things never change no matter how much I evolve.
Also, that part at the bottom is vaguely ominous.
Anyway, I'll just have to think it over.
I know Mana is energy. Eleven hidden letters. If I assume one is a period, is this suggesting I've somehow recreated the concept of energy and reformed myself into a universe? Are there two universes, now? Duoverse?
I look at the gray Chaos Fissure.
Perhaps that's what's happening. If this stuff is Antimana, as in anti-energy, it should be the binder which allows energy to bind into matter. It's not chaos—
No, wait. It technically IS chaos! At least, within the bounds of reality. It's a sort of semi-randomness that isn't quite truly chaos, but it's as close as a universe can get.
The universe can never truly be chaotic. Every quantum vector is traceable back to a coherent Origin.
Being indeterminate merely means some quanta is either already formed of energy or anti-energy, we just don't know which. That doesn't mean said quanta IS physically indeterminate!
I suppose quanta existing in an undetermined state could be called the Origin state, or— a wave.
As the Origin, all I must do is clump together Origin... Myself. Wy Will. Depending on whether I bind waves in a way that their energy level is, respectively speaking, above or below the positive or negative peak of the universe's local energy level, I'll either get energy or anti-energy. It solely depends upon whether the positive or negative peaks are higher. Easy enough to do via phase-shifting.
That means I have the ability to bind energy with a smaller amount of anti-energy so it forms into matter. Or antimatter, if anti-energy is the dominant component.
Which means I have a 'choice,' hreh? My choice involves nothing more complex than clumping enough Origin that it becomes energy or anti-energy, and enough of those that it becomes solid matter.
Which means, the First Law of Thermodynamics is technically wrong. It's not that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it's my Origin which can neither be created nor destroyed.
...
Hrem?
Though, Origin is me.
I can neither be created nor destroyed?
Ehrm...
...
I shrug.
Reh, makes sense! I'mma dragon. "Rawr!"
In any case, this must also be how magic and skills work at a fundamental level.
Within a normal universe? All energy and anti-energy randomly, but not fully randomly, interact in the same endless cycle. Sentient beings can use the slight order they find within the leftover chaos to redirect said cycle. Their body then provides the physical structure upon which spells and skills are built. Hence why they're formed inside the body before being cast out into the world. In doing so, these abilities cause the same physics interactions we'd normally observe from matter and antimatter—
No, that's not quite right. That doesn't fully explain how raw energy gets turned into, say, an ice spell. Sure, ones' Will can guide the process, and the body can act as a medium for the spell's formation, but there's still a gap at the bottom. The method by which energy is shaped into the spell they want to use. What's doing that?
Well, I know how it works in my case. I've become that cycle myself; I'm a living universe. I can decide what forces I want to incorporate into an ice spell and cast it. My body isn't the medium for the spell— it's the source.
Heck, I can make icy plasma. All I need to do is warp physics such that the charged particles of plasmas are locked into crystalline lattices. After all, rock is nothing more than unheated magma. Gasses and liquids can be frozen, so why not plasmas? I need only declare it so and reality bends to my whim.
My Will reigns supreme over these fundamental forces. I know how they work, therefore my knowledge becomes the conduit for creating abilities, then those abilities are fed with energy or anti-energy. With enough effort, I can even change the laws of physics to create new states of matter. Maybe I can create a basic building block besides energy or anti-energy. Say, dimensional energy.
Indeed, time reigns supreme. As I should!
My Lineage, Talent, and Temp are all 'subsumed' by my Origin. This means they've become a part of me and thus subservient to my Origin. Like an organ in my body.
My species being an Origin Dragon makes sense in this context. I have some weird organs, though. Mana, Antimana, and an AI. Temp is probably related to my Will, which means he can also modify fate. I mean, fate can run on its own, I guess, but... Ehrm, how was I changing fate before Temp became my organ? My subconscious? Perhaps.
Plus, where does the universe's magic system come from? I mean, the universe which isn't me. Hraw.
Who designed the original magic, skill, and talent system? Sigils, where did they come from? Why wasn't the Dragonblood sigil in my inheritance? Heck, who made the status panel? Was it the dead dictator of reality, and if so, why?
I shrug my draconic shoulders. I don't think I can answer these questions right now.
Besdies, the important part is that I'm awesome! I nod my dragon head.
Also, me being an eldritch god seems more apt than ever. I didn't merely eat a universe—
I am a universe.
Finally, let's check my fate talent.
Status, Chronovoid.
Chronovoid (∞)
Your fate is forever pinned to the chosen pivot.
Mere fate is too weak for your powerful control.
Perfection, too shallow for your consideration.
Time, too inconsequential for your existence.
Chaos, too orderly for your supreme design.
What's been birthed from your form?
What lies beyond infinity?
It's you. You do.
Pivot Type: Chronovoid (∞)
Related Fates: Chronovoid, ∞
Bonuses: All{err}, None{err}, Indeterminate{err}
Is... Is that it? It can't evolve anymore? No, how could infinity evolve?
I poke myself with Mana, my new talent. Nothing happens. I don't evolve.
I glance around.
Reality does still exist.
Better yet— I'm still a dragon!
I dance around like a total nutcase.
"RAWRR! I'MMA DRAGON! RAWR! RARR!"
Rokay— great, but I must calm down.
Rokay. Rokay! Deal with Effierath.
I examine the flaming elemental.
...
What drove you to do this?
(Link to save server bandwidth.)
dark humor.
