Мастер Исандер
Verse and Dimensions: Stories
War against The Hazard
By now, partially due to his discouragement, the being was beginning to become stagnant, subsiding into a cocky complacence and toxic pride. He was overly confident in his abilities, and began to selfishly abuse them. In his downmetatime, he experienced an existence of self-destructive hedonistic indulgence. Often, the being used his power as a means of advancing selfish goals, and subjugating and taking advantage of others below him. Apex was disappointed by this, starting to lose faith that this being could be their champion since he had seemingly already cast aside some of the virtues – Humility, Nobility and Generosity. He was slowly losing grasp of what was supposed to be truly important, and Apex knew this. So, deciding that real combat experience would remind the being of his duty, Apex sent him on a training mission, to take out a minor External Hazard attack. However, this experience would prove to be much more harrowing than expected.
Although the monstrosities of the External Hazard were no-doubt quite horrifying, the being was able to overcome his fear soon, and managed to hold his own in battle well. However, it was what came next that truly shook him.. As he was fighting a Hazard servitor, the being was caught off guard when it called him by his childhood nickname in some of its taunts, speaking as if another voice was coming through it. The being was taken aback by this, because the only other being who could have known his nickname was his brother. This threw the being off, and he lashed out in retaliation by exterminating all the enemies he came up against. The enemies consisted not just of mindless Hazard servitors, but also other beings who seemed to have free will. The being knew that one of the virtues Apex desired was Justice, and so he sought to kill everyone so that no enemy could evade justice. However, these enemies likely could have been talked down or taken as prisoners instead, and so the being lost not only the virtue of Justice, but Mercy as well.
Upon returning to Whateverse’s capital, the being and the rest of Apex's forces learned of the source behind these new attacks: a being known as The New God. Deep down, the being knew after learning about him that this was his brother. He had no idea how this had happened to him, or what led him to starting this war. The being felt a heavy sense of responsibility and guilt for this however, believing that if he had never accepted to train under Apex in the first place, or even if he hadn't acted so incompetently after the fact and took his duties more seriously, the chain of events leading to The New God’s uprising never would have been set into motion. He felt that it was because of his actions that his brother followed down a path of darkness, and it caused him internal turmoil.
The being entered a deep depression, secluding himself away as he wallowed in self-pity. His confidence had been eroded, and he felt nothing like the hero that others claimed he was supposed to be. He began contemplating if the New God was actually right, and it was he who was rightfully worthy, and not the being. Pondering on such thoughts only served to make the being feel even worse, and retreat into a deeper state of despair. This led to the being losing Faith, Courage and Hope, now having forsaken all of Apex’s virtues.
Eventually, as the being was wallowing as he had been for quite some metatime, he suddenly felt a great disturbance that knocked him down. The being discovered that the Dragon Pi had arrived to wreak terror upon Whateverse after leaving and disappearing earlier. He now apparently was aligned with the New God, and was exterminating countless Dragons. As the being looked on, he knew that he couldn't just stand by helplessly. He felt that he had to do something, anything to help in some capacity.
Despite the warnings of Apex and even the Dragons that the being was very poorly equipped to fight against a being as powerful as Pi, especially since he was still mortal, the being nonetheless pressed on anyways. The being knew he wasn't ready, and that he wasn't yet well-enough trained to take on such a threat. But he also knew that if he did nothing and stood by idly while Whateverse fell before Pi and The New God, he would not be able to live with himself.
And so the being advanced past Apex, losing them in the chaos before he forcefully entered their Armoryverse. From it he took the ornate Knight gear stored within it, which were supposed to be meant for Apex's soldiers as told numerous times to the being. However, that did not matter to him at this metamoment because he felt that what he was doing was for a greater cause. The being proceeded to don the ornate armor and equip himself with weapons, before charging into battle. The being wasn't thinking – just doing. The being then confronted Pi, slowly approaching him with his sword drawn. With this, Generosity and Nobility was restored to him.
He and Pi dueled viciously, “blade” clashing against “claw”. Despite the being's immense resolve and determination, however, it was for naught against Pi. The conflict was stressful, terrifying and painful. The being learned a hard lesson in this battle, which is that one should never underestimate their opponent. Eventually, Pi overpowered and befell the being, and resumed his genocide of the Dragons.
As the being lay semi-conscious, he thought of how much of a failure he was. He was beaten within mere metainches of his life, and thought that this was how he was going to die. He thought he was going to die because of his own recklessness, his own stupidity; and still many others would also die, because of his failure.
-But no. He wasn't going to let that happen. The being knew this was not the metatime for weakness. He was determined to at least do something worth something if he were to die now. Faith started to rekindle within the being. He mustered all the strength he could to rise up, even as the sounds of many Dragons' deaths could be heard around him. Metainch by agonizing metainch, the being slowly tried to lift himself up, fighting against the weight of his armor as he pushed against it. But his arms soon became weak fast, though he still kept trying to stand even despite this.
But then, after two Dragons named Alpha and Omega fused into Alphamega and sacrificed themselves in a devastating attack on Pi and collapsed, their “blood” washed over the barely-living body of the being, completely bathing it. Whatever was in the substance instantly healed the being, reinvigorating him and greatly boosting his power, as well as even enhancing his gear to an extent.
The being almost seemingly jumped up onto his feet in a flip, glaring at Pi. Pi scowled at him, and with a bellowing breath he blasted a stream of Yellow Flames at the being. But as the Flames receded, the being was still standing and glaring at Pi, with a great resolve in his eyes. He then proceeded to fashion an imposing blade, formed from the congealed blood of Alphamega, to use as a weapon. Hope was reignited within the being in a blaze. With Pi weakened and the being empowered, the playing field was now level between them. The being more than proved himself in battle, as he quickly defeated Pi and impaled him in the chest. With this, Justice was restored. But before the being could finish him off, Pi was starting to escape. The being was going to pursue him at first, knowing he might have been able to catch him in metatime, but something held him back. The being realized that even more damage would have been done if the battle continued any more, and that he had already technically won. And so, Pi was able to teleport himself away to safety before he could be killed, as Mercy was reluctantly restored to the being. Although he didn't fully defeat Pi, the being had won a significant victory for Whateverse. He now felt as if something new now existed in his soul, or maybe it was that this thing had always been there, but had finally awoken from a long dormancy.
Whatever the case, it was here that the being thought he proved his worth to ascend to the status of a Transcendent Deity. He knew that he was now needed more than ever, as what Dragons still remained had left and taken hiding in a secluded realm. And so, following Pi's defeat, the being approached Apex, asking to be granted the status of a Transcendent Deity. Apex denied the request, stating that the being had been too reckless in his actions and was not ready for it.
Rather than being disappointed, the being was instead angered. He reacted by telling off Apex, not fearing any consequences that would result from his rant as he stated how incompetent and ignorant of a leader that Apex was, and how the being had worked hard and sacrificed so much.
When the tirade had concluded, the being expected Apex to be angered and perhaps even push him, and so he was surprised to see that Apex seemed pleased. This was because in his rant, the being had inadvertently restored the final virtue: courage.
The being looked down to see his form starting to twinkle and spark with energy, as a bright light enveloped him. Within the light, the core aspects of his being were altered and enhanced. He was not just becoming a Transcendent Deity – he was becoming Apex’s champion, and in fact a Fragment. As the being reflected on the virtues he had fulfilled, he realized that on his native earth, there was one archetype who stood as the paragon of those virtues: a knight. Therefore, in his new form, the being was adorned with grand shining armor as he became a knight – The Knight. And so, in his new form he was henceforth known by that title.
The Dragonguard
Apex knew that The New God was soon preparing to launch his final attack, and so they began to prepare as much they could. The Knight was called to form the Dragonguard at the behest of Apex, who feared that with most of the Dragons in The Barrelplex extinct and all remaining ones in hiding, Whateverse would be left more vulnerable to attacks by the External Hazard or any other potential threat of a similar caliber.
The Knight was reluctant to assist Apex in this, primarily since he did not view himself as a capable leader, or one who could somehow garner respect and obedience from all the other Transcendent Deities (who learned much faster than him). Despite this, he agreed, since he knew that the Dragonguard was truly needed by Whateverse. The Knight formed the Dragonguard by gathering all the other Transcendent Deities under Apex's command, as well as recruiting more mortals from various verses to train as new Transcendent Deities and further build up their forces.
Unfortunately, The Knight knew next to nothing about professional combat and even less about training others in the art, having barely remembered what the dragons taught him in his training. So, he largely improvised in his instruction, which led to some mixed results.
Each member of the order, upon joining, had a draconic motif in their physical appearance, and wore armor which was aesthetically similar to dragon scales. This was because the Dragonguard were intended to carry on the legacy of the Dragons, and this style was a tribute to their predecessors. Some felt uncomfortable about their draconism, while others embraced it, going so far as to make themselves as much like actual Dragons as possible. Some even went to the extreme by trying to become the new bearers of some of the left behind Dragon Flames, but as they were not true Dragons this always ended terribly with a violent death.
The Dragonguard would see several adventures in which they were deployed, neutralizing threats posed by the External Hazard all throughout Whateverse.
The Final Battle
Eventually, the Dragonguard's finest metahour came when The New God stormed the Capital of Whateverse with his full forces. This in turn prompted Apex to deploy his own full arsenal, including the entire Dragonguard. Prepared or not, every member of the order was called to arms to defend Whateverse from the threat that The New God posed. All fought bravely, and many died sacrificing themselves for the cause they fought for. One by one, all of the Dragonguard was befallen.
Eventually, The Knight was the last one standing, and for the very first metatime in a long metatime, The Knight and the New God finally came face to face. Two brothers, who once started out as the closest of friends, now were the most bitter of rivals. And all of this over a simple mere title. But to them, it was so much more than that. The Knight was hesitant to fight the New God, but the New God meanwhile was absolutely determined to kill him. He could never forgive The Knight for seemingly abandoning and forgetting about him. The New God viciously attacked The Knight, bringing down his weapons upon this "false hero". The Knight was quick on his feet, swiftly dodging and sidestepping the blows as he parried the New God. Everything they had been through together before was now meaningless. Their friendship, meant to last forever, now was worthless. Even as chaos and anarchy unfolded all around the two, they were only concentrating on their fight with one another. The Knight all the while tried to convince the New God to "snap out of it" and give up on his destructive ways. But the New God still did not heed, only focusing on trying to kill the Knight. The Knight, with a heavy heart, realized that he could not save his former brother, who was too far gone. The only option was to kill him. The Knight finally released any restraint he previously had in battle, putting his full effort into his attacks against the New God. The New God was surprised and caught off guard by this, staggering at first. But he quickly regained his composure and started parrying the blows. But then, the Knight dealt a devastating blow when he slashed his sword down the New God's chest, opening a massive wound which began bleeding out.
As the New God stood there, he glared intensely at the Knight. But then, a grin formed on his face as he summoned before him his entire army of forces. The New God proclaimed to The Knight that this infinite army were his devoted followers, and that by drawing from the collective support of his army he would be able to ascend to a level of divinity beyond even Whateverse itself. With The New God attempted to enact the ritual, intending to ascend by drawing upon the belief and support of all his subjects.
The Knight looked on in horror, and was about to despair when he suddenly realized something: The New God was an enormous jerk. There was no way his "followers" were truly loyal. If The Knight could exploit this, then he would be able to strip the New God of any potential power he could gain and ruin his ritual, thus defeating him. And so, The Knight gained the attention of the New God's army, turning all their focus instead towards him rather than the New God. As The Knight addressed the army, he told them all about the laundry list of the New God's cruel deeds. The things which The Knight revealed disgusted and even mortified many in his army. This caused them to withdraw what little genuine support they had towards him, and they instead gave it to The Knight.
And so, ascension ritual went horribly wrong, with the New God trapping himself in Nonexistence. He may have not been entirely dead, but the state he was currently in was only a small percentage above Death. He was most certainly stripped of all his power in his blunder, and thus because of these factors The New God was largely considered defeated at that point.
Legacy
This entire ordeal greatly emotionally strained The Knight. He only stuck around a bit longer to help clean up the aftermath. After that point, he retired the first chance he had.
The straw that truly broken his back, was when The Knight discovered that [REDACTED] was partially the reason behind The New God's corruption, having destroyed his lover. He felt betrayed to have not known this, and he became estranged from Apex and all the Fragments. The Knight realized that he could not bear such a heavy burden that came with his position any longer. No matter how many metatimes Fate tried getting into his face and screaming that he was important, The Knight just wanted to be normal. That was all he had ever wanted in the first place. He desired to go back to as much of a normal life as possible, now that he carried out his purpose. With that, he removed his armor for good, ceremoniously scattering it across Whateverse and sending them towards whatever destinations that chance determined.
Even after assuming an inconspicuous mortal identity and life, however, The Knight still found himself unable to fully rest. He could not completely disassociate his warrior mentality from himself, as it was the core of his very identity. In everyday scenarios, flickers of The Knight's inner warrior would surface in response to certain things that he witnessed or was exposed to, and this horrified him. So, to satisfy this part of himself, The Knight would metanually embark on a nomadic "pilgrimage" of sorts, across all of Whateverse. During these excursions, he adopted an unassuming guise so as the could. With this also came many battles. Over metatime, The Knight engaged in epic duels as he fought against a diverse range of opponents, many of which having stood as legendary figures in their own rights. And after all of them, The Knight still stands undefeated. In metahistory, all of these encounters and battles remained separate and unconnected, as The Knight was under a different guise every metatime to cover his tracks. Over metatime, the infinite amount of battles and duels have taken a gradual toll on The Knight, who despite being immortal is still susceptible to the same injuries and aging just as a normal mortal. However, his status as a transcendent deity, and in particular as The Knight, always prevented him from dying completely no matter what happened to him. The only way that The Knight could truly die, was if he died honorably in combat with a worthy opponent. This was the primary reason that The Knight engaged in many duels, as he believed that this next enemy could be the one that would finally give him peace. That always proved to be just wishful thinking, as The Knight seemed to be too powerful to lose to any opponent he faced. And so, all that he amassed were more scars, more injuries and more pain. Eventually, The Knight decided that it was unlikely he would ever face the opponent that could finally kill him, and so he permanently resigned himself to his mortal life, existing in quiet solitude to collect dust.
Over the course of his travels, The Knight had found it almost surreal how everyone else perceived him, and how much of himself had been altered by the tides of metatime and legend. Everyone else viewed him as an infallible legendary hero, a paragon of mortal aspiration, and an embodiment and enforcer of all that was right and just. Despite how utterly ridiculous this notion was, The Knight in a way preferred to be remembered like this, rather than the truth of what he was really like. In truth, he was a selfish coward, who fought not when needed by others but rather only when he himself needed it. He figured that the spirits of mortals would be better off not knowing this, though. The more weathered and beaten he became, the more gladly he allowed himself to become forgotten and obscure.
Legend has it that those pieces of the Knight's gear are now still scattered all throughout different points in Whateverse, waiting to be found and reassembled on the metaday when The Knight would once again be truly needed, and called upon to his greatest and truest purpose…
The New God
The New God was a disgruntled mortal human who, after having underwent several traumatic experiences, chose to wage an all-out war against Existence to avenge all he had lost and take his “rightful” place as a Transcendent Deity within Whateverse.
History
Early Life
The real name of The New God is long lost, having been obscured by the passage of metatime, but many other details still remain.
The being who would eventually become The New God was once a human mortal, native to a version of Earth which was eternally trapped in the Middle Ages. This meant that no matter how far into the future it was, science and culture and society would never progress past a medieval state. It was in this backdrop that the being was born sometime in the 5300s AD, alongside his twin brother, into a wealthy noble family in a kingdom somewhere in Europe. As the twin brothers came from nobility, all of their wants and needs were typically met near-immediately. The being was accustomed to never lacking whatever he wanted or needed, and he could never recall a time when his parents ever said "no". Because of this, the being had a somewhat entitled outlook on life. The being’s manners, if he would have ever displayed them anywhere outside his estate, would have been viewed by others as absolutely horrendous.
Still, however, there was one thing above all that the being desired, something that his parents were unable to fulfill: his thirst for adventure. Nearly every day, the being peered out the windows of his family's estate, looking past the large stone walls surrounding their home as he imagined all that laid beyond it. His primary escape from reality was found in the fairy tales that he read every day, imagining himself as the bold heroes of those stories.
As their parents were the only others who lived in the estate, and the servants were not the most talkative type, the being's closest friend and confidant was his twin brother. The two brothers seemed tailor-made for one another, as if by design, sharing many common interests.
However, the one thing that they could never agree upon was what they wanted to do with their lives. While the being had aspirations to be a hero, idolizing the knights that protected their kingdom, his brother wanted to live out a quiet and mundane adult life.
Eventually, the two became adults, and took their places in society. Due to his Right of Nobility, the being achieved his dream of being a knight with minimal effort. As a paladin for his kingdom, the being enjoyed many societal privileges that did not come to the common peasant or even that of nobility. He additionally was given more admiration, recognition and respect than he could have ever asked for. And since war and civil unrest were practically non-issues in the kingdom, the being never actually saw any combat and thus was able to enjoy only the positive aspects of knighthood without any negatives. The being’s brother, meanwhile, went on to become the successor of the noble line, and following their parents’ passing he inherited the entire family fortune. He remained in his estate in solitude, living out a mostly quiet hermited life. He did not mind this however, and in fact preferred it. The two brothers often visited each-other from time to time, remaining close even if physically distant. At the end of his life, as the being looked back on the events in them, there was not really anything that the being wished to change at all. He was perfectly content with the way it had turned out.
There was, of course, more to this than would meet the eye. After the deaths of the two brothers, existence persisted without them. Everyone else proceeded to go about with their lives, and the Sun continued shining and the Earth continued rotating. In the grand scheme of the Universe’s functioning, nothing was significant or important to it about the two brothers. Still, As was inevitable, the Universe and everything within it would ultimately succumb to entropy, collapse and die. However, this is not where the story would end. The Universe which the two brothers occupied was an Oscillating universe. This meant that after the Universe died, it resulted in the creation of a brand new universe from itself, in which all the details were the exact same as the previous universe. This was essentially an enormous self-repeating universal Time Loop.
The above description of events was roughly the formula of how every single lifetime played out for the two brothers. Nobody within the Universe, including the brothers themselves, were aware of this loop, having no memories of the previous universes in the current one. To them, their current cycle was the only lifetime they ever lived in. All the cycles were largely the same, with the one major thing remaining constant throughout them being the two brothers' lifelong friendship.
This changed when, suddenly, as the next cycle came to pass, one of them was gone, with no trace left behind at all. While the remaining brother had no knowledge or awareness of this yet, since memories of previous cycles were supposed to be inaccessible, the consequences of his brother’s absence created a devastating butterfly effect that completely rearranged how each loop would play out going forward. In the new loop, the being was the only child of the noble family, and thus was its sole heir. Due to this, his parents were even more protective of him since he was the only one who could carry on the family legacy. The being’s dreams of becoming a knight were immediately dashed by his parents, who told him that it was “too dangerous” and that the responsibilities of bearing the family name far outweighed personal desires. Without anyone else to act as heir, the being was trapped into the role. While the inherited fortune was immense, barely any of it was ever used for personal pleasures. The duties and responsibilities that came with lordship were very mundane and frustrating. The most irritating aspect of it for the being was that he believed his subjects rarely properly listened to his orders or did anything exactly as he specified. The being wished that he could have just been able to have all his subjects do everything exactly as he commanded, with no resistance or disagreement. His life was absolutely miserable for him. The being never met any desirable women and he never bore any children, partially in spite of his own parents dumping heirship onto him. He didn’t want to burden any future generations with the same weight, and this defiant act of causing the noble lineage to die with him was the one action he could exercise to laugh in the face of his ancestors. Even despite this, the being felt little joy or excitement in his life, and no admiration or respect ever seemed to have been given to him. The being was bitter to the very end, dying alone and empty.
This became the basis for the new template of how the cycles would play out. After the first hundred repeating cycles, as the being lay dying at the end of a life, he could not help but feel a nagging sensation in the back of his mind that something was wrong. Some faint gut feeling told him that there should have been a better outcome to his life, and that he was supposed to have been more fulfilled and accomplished. Above all, he felt the sense that something was missing, or rather stolen from him. However, he could not place his finger on what exactly the void in his life should have been filled by.
Slowly, as the being progressed through the next few cycles, small fragments of more information came back to him, and he remembered more what his life was supposed to have been before. He gained a greater self-awareness, but fearing being labeled as insane by the superstitious inhabitants of the kingdom, he kept this to himself as much as he could. However, the full picture still was not yet there. As the being became more self-aware and aware of the cycles, he began to recall his past lives. The further he honed this skill, the further back he was able to see. Finally, he was able to perform past life regression far enough back to see how his life had used to be. He saw everything that was supposed to have been his, and all that he was rightfully entitled to. Finally, after searching through the various past lives, the being found the one in which everything changed, and he was able to see the truth of what had happened.
In one of the loops, both brothers were in each-other's company, as usual. Then suddenly, a higher entity calling herself "The Recruiter" appeared before them, and told them that "Existence itself" was at stake and that she needed virtuous mortals with the capability to fight divine threats. With that, the Recruiter put both of the brothers through a series of tests and trials. Somehow, for some reason, only one of them passed the trials – the being’s brother. The being was left behind as his brother departed from the Universe with the Recruiter, who erased the being's memories by destroying the Universe to begin the next cycle.
Upon recalling these memories, the being was infuriated, both by having "his" dream taken away from him because he was not seen as worthy by the Recruiter, but most so by the perceived abandonment of him by his brother. The being believed that it was his brother’s fault for his lives having become so miserable, and that he was the cause of his suffering. The being refused to believe that he, of all people, was not worthy while his brother, of all people, was. To him, it was a travesty and an outrage. A deep-seated resentment and jealousy began budding within the being, as he was determined to prove the Recruiter wrong and reclaim the glory that he felt should have been his.
The Birth of the New God
The being began training, in every aspect of his life. Now that he was self-aware of the cycle, he did everything without fear of consequences, knowing everything would reset itself in the end. The feeling was comparable to having a lucid dream, knowing that one was dreaming and therefore could do whatever they desired. He discovered methods of retaining knowledge as he passed into other cycles, thus allowing him to possess multiple lifetimes worth of training and skills, mastering them to perfection. Then, the being began intentionally exposing himself to all manner of pain, building his tolerance and resistance to it. He proceeded to escalate factors even further, by outright killing himself and throwing himself towards the most horrible, painful and gruesome deaths possible. This was all done to diminish the being's fear of death itself, for one who does not fear death is indeed an incredibly dangerous adversary.