When the man ascended, the world shook. Thankfully, it didn't shake for long. Ascensions were normally quite tame things, what with the power of Sebar the Administrator restraining the burst of energy that would damage most of the world’s natural systems. But, occasionally, a god would break these restraints, either through sheer power or through a single-minded attempt to free themselves from perceived limiters. It would require an insane amount of effort, however, and the only gods who would even attempt this mad act were ones that had already gone crazy and were only trying to ascend to gain more power to destroy with, not knowing that breaking the barrier didn't actually result in them getting an extra increase in strength.

  Now, Sebar never let these newly ascended mad gods live for long. He always asked his brother, the god of destruction, Mekatol, to slay them before they could wreak the havoc their new power allowed them to. Mekatol always agreed, with one condition. They would get one conversation with him before they were slain. Mekatol always held out hope that one of these non-conforming gods rebelled for a good reason, and not just pure insanity. He had never been right before, mostly because the act of rebelling against such an overwhelming force drove the few that thought they had good reasons insane, but it was still, technically, a possibility. So when Mekatol opened the white space where he spoke to these rebelling gods and wasn’t instantly attacked, his hopes were high.

  “Who are you?” The man floating in the white space spoke, seemingly completely collected. He was garbed in the outfit of a storied general, with medallions and awards of honor covering almost every inch of it. The suit itself was quite nice and seemed to not have seen much, if any, combat.

  “I am Mekatol. Who may you be?” Mekatol was probably the strongest or second strongest god on this plane of existence, so his mere voice was enough to shake the pocket space they were both in. However, his physical form was quite diminutive, contrary to his great presence and even greater power. He looked like an elderly man and was clothed in a suit of pure white, pearly white hair and an indistinguishable face

  “I’m Androlius. Have you come to destroy me? If so, then you will not find it to be as easy as you may think.” The man, Androlius, readied his power for a last stand once he heard the name of the one that had entered the white space.

  “I hope that I will not need to, but if you attack me, then I will be left with no choice.” Androlius put his energy mostly to rest. Such a being was not one to be tested. However, Mekatol noticed Androlius doing something small with his power. Even with all his great insights into the way of magic, Mekatol was unable to tell what exactly Androlius was doing. It looked a lot like someone fidgeting, so Mekatol ignored it. “To get straight to the point… Why did you damage the protections on ascension? They do not limit your power in any way and only function to keep the lower order beings safe.”

  “I can’t very well be noticed unless I do an extraordinary act, no? So many beings ascend to godhood that even that isn’t enough. I had to do something to get noticed. And what luck it was that you are the one who came to talk to me about it.” Mekatol’s interest was piqued by Androlius’s statement. It was a very promising start, and kept his hopes for the man high.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “How so?”

  “How else could I tell you about how to achieve world peace through the power of destruction?” Warning bells flared in Mekatol’s mind, but he pushed them to the side for the moment. He did, however, subtly start building up his power.

  “I would suggest elaborating on that.” Androlius’s face morphed into a grin.

  “Well you see, life is inherently chaotic. It is both untame and bound by the forces of evolution into a loop of slaughter, consumption and multiplication. Even since the very beginning, when it was all merely single-celled organisms. Creatures have grown larger and more complex, but they are still fundamentally the same. How can true peace exist when such things are disrupting the order? Therefore, the only solution is to eliminate everything. Only then will peace be achiev-”

  Mekatol sighed. “I thought something finally had changed. It seems I was wrong. No sane being makes its way through the barrier around ascension. Sebar is still right, I suppose. Now, it is time for you to go. Permanently.”

  Androlius broke out into a mad laugh. “HAHAHAHAHA! If you will not support me, then I will just have to do it myself!” The energy that Androlius had been building up was finally released in an incredibly powerful wave of destruction. If allowed to spread, it could have destroyed all but the most powerful life on the planet below, and there were so few life forms at that level that they couldn't possibly repopulate the world on their own. Unfortunately for Androlius, he was in a pocket dimension personally crafted by the strongest god, that of creation, and facing the second strongest, that of destruction.

  “No.” All the energy Androlius released was instantly obliterated, and a large portion of his power was siphoned away with that one move.

  Androlius let out another mad laugh. “You think you can stop us? Our movement will not be stopped by the likes of you! We will destroy all life, all gods, and then there will be true peace!”

  “You cannot destroy destruction itself.” A very thin needle of energy shot out of Mekatol and blasted towards Androlius.

  “Destruction can only exist if there is something to destroy! So if we destroy everything, then there will be nothing left making destruction a thing! And you cannot stop u-” The needle of power tore through Androlius and instantly incinerated all parts of his soul, divine body, and remnants of his magic.

  Mekatol let out another sigh. “A facade of sanity… I shouldn’t have been fooled. It seems I was too optimistic. I guess I should tell my brother that the insane god is dead.”

  Mekatol opened a small hole in the pocket dimension and left to go speak with Sebar. “He might want to know about that threat the madman made… or not. It probably has no substance to it.”

  …

  When Mekatol informed his brother of the death of Androlius, he ended up not mentioning the threat. He never could’ve known the far reaching consequences that decision would have, and the threat to life he left festering.