278 Blue Pill or Red Pill

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(General P.O.V)

Aden's view suddenly changed. The cottage was gone from his vision. He felt a pang of loss, almost stretching out his hand to hold onto the fantasy. But it was all for naught. He found himself in an impossible place.

Before his eyes was an infinite number of universal bubbles surrounding them from all sides.

"All of this, came about due to willing it." Lucifer begun.

"Creation is simple enough. Getting there however is the problem. As is sustaining it." He paused, turning towards Aden with a grim look on his face, hands held behind his back.

"Everything that has happened to you, from mastering your elements, to gaining a realm and the Authorities might seem like happenstance. Or dumb luck but it's not. The crooked path with turns, blocked off corners, winding dirt roads and uneven ground, all head towards something. True power. All according to The Plan."

The Plan? Aden felt a sort of strangeness coming from the word. Lucifer brought his attention back to him by waving a hand and taking them closer to one bubble.

"That's the universe you know. Beautiful isn't she?"

The color most prominent inside the bubble was blue, but it was mostly like a rainbow floating inside a glass bubble. Aden felt like laying his palm on it. He did and felt warmth.

"Yes. It is."

"I can snap a finger and smooth everything out. I can change your past. Change your dumb luck or destiny or fate, whatever you want to call it and get you out. You can find your way back to your realm, Aden and never worry about The Plan. Never worry about 'Their' war. This would be my gift to you."

Aden withdrew his hand and looked at Lucifer.

"What are you telling me? 'Their' war? Who?"

"You already know the answer to that."

The Prince Of Lies responded.

Aden closed his eyes.

"The Presence and the Great Darkness."

He muttered, no longer denying the obvious.

Lucifer placed a hand on Aden's shoulder.

"Let me tell you a story." The universal bubbles disappeared and darkness fell upon the world. The only light Aden could see was a small golf sized breach in space.

"In the beginning, there was the Light and the Darkness. They separated. From the light came three principalities, three powers created to bring about ' his' wishes. Michael, the first born, Samael, yours truly and Gabriel, you've met him before." His eyes turned sharp along with his face hardening.

Aden could only marvel as 3 individuals formed from the breach in space. A young Gabriel and Samael next to a man that...Aden's eyes widened.

That's...Dad? The angel looked nothing like his father. His dad had been black and much taller. His eyes had been a warm brown. Yet this angel, Michael to be precise was broad shouldered with impossibly huge wings and power that seemed to undulate out of him in waves.

He had blonde hair and a stern look. Yet...none of that mattered, Aden knew without the impossibility of error, that he was looking at his father. What was this? How? Unaware of his inner turmoil, Lucifer continued.

"The three of us did something that completely changed everything. We were able to touch upon the first concept, the first equation... Creation. Michael provided the power. The energy. Derived from the law of the self, the potential of abundance rippled out through the heavens."

This version of his father did exactly that. Aden could only watch in shock as infinite power was drawn out of Michael and spread out through the void, changing all. Pushing the darkness away from the light.

"I provided the actualization of that energy, derived from the law of Imagination, I gave them form."

Lucifer said in a little excitement.

"Entire clusters, entire universes constructed from giving power, meaning."

Michael's own power bounced back against the infinite and came back, changed. Life was alive. Aden could not believe the beauty of creation. The beauty he witnessed before his very eyes.

A part of him was still stuck on the fact that Michael was his father. Now, that he thought about it some more, maybe a version of him? Or some other explanation like his dad merely being a reincarnation or a piece of the Archangel's soul.

Did Lucifer know this? No, otherwise he would have said something. So what did this mean? Was that why the Presence, despite Aden being from the Dark Multiverse, friendly to him? He had even helped him shield his realm from the wide cosmic range. Was it because they were family? But how? Aden was from the Dark Multiverse. The broken worlds.

"Gabriel had perhaps the easiest and hardest task of all, he provided separation to the meaning, derived from the law of being, he provided the blue print. And from there, gave being to the Imagination of the self. "

The beauty cooled down as separation between different things was implemented. Michael had given off power. Lucifer had crafted that power into three things, Energy, Matter and Mystery. Gabriel separated those three things into constituents. Matter had solid, gasses and liquids and so on.

"That phenomenon, that instant, is the first and last time we ever pooled our powers together. It gave rise to something whole and incredible."

The whole image paused, showing the 3 Archangels with their hands up, bearing the weight of something. Not light not darkness but pure Life.

"With the self, Imagination and Being, we called it the Creation Matrix. The First Equation."

Aden's heart started beating faster and faster while witnessing the moulding of the Creation Matrix.

"You were special from the first time I laid my eyes on you. Somehow I could sense a bond. A familial one. Not quite like an angel or a demon but there none the less."

The surroundings changed once again. Aden blinked when his eyes landed on the grayish landscape, populated with over a trillion demons, all looking down at an Arena with one individual in the middle. Him. He remembered the memory. It was him against every single demon.

"In hell when you were fighting to free Cerial, I clearly understood what that bond was. It felt a lot like my big brother's power. You touched upon the self. But it was impossible. Michael is in a place only father knows. So how come you had his essence inside you? It was intriguing and confusing at the same time. Then came the advancement mission for your elements and that's when I realized that something was very off."

They left Hell, as Aden felt an indescribable emotion. Almost overwhelmed by every single statement that came out of Lucifer's mouth.

Next Lucifer accessed more of Aden's memories to show him the spiritual plane in the Avatar world. A world full of wonder and mystery, with spirits of all kinds populating it. It's beauty was only matched by Energia.

"Your soul is connected to something massive. Something similar to the core of a young universe whose laws are not too complex for a mortal to understand."

"The Great Darkness took advantage of that and chose you to bear that connection. Why you? I have no idea. The creator god of that universe, Iroh made a deal to safeguard his creation. Instead of connecting you to the core of his creation, he instead compiled the meaning of it's building blocks, the power system and the mysteries of the spirit into one artificial sentience."

"A super code, if you will. The Great Darkness could not allow you to tap into its own power as that would inadvertently expose his connection to you, so the Code pulled it's power from the bleed, the in-between of universes."

"After you used Gabriel's horn, that Super code evolved. Iroh's universe can only allow a mortal to reach grandmaster level in power. But your brief connection to an Archangel's symbol of power opened new avenues for your abilities. The Authorities and divinities are not what you think. They are a small part of the Creation Equation. A small part of Gabriel's own law of Being. Freedom, hope and the last two are expressions of the continual nature of existence. The triumph over non-living."

Aden felt his mind get blown. It all made so much...sense. In canon, the Avatar world only had the Avatar has the strongest being. There was no divinity in mortals no matter how powerful they got.

"Wait, so Iroh is the true creator of the World of Avatar?"

Lucifer blinked at him.

"That's what you're focusing on? Did you not hear me tell you that you possess 2 of the necessary potential ingredients to achieve the powers of a Creator deity? The Creation Matrix?"

Aden opened his mouth and closed it.

"I mean...it's just so shocking."

Luci rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you ask him that the next time you meet him? Hmmm?"

Aden nodded.

"Sorry. Please continue."

"Thank you."

The morningstar said sassily.

"When you died, the path you had taken up until then, whether dumb luck or whatever you want to call it was all part of Father dear's big 'plan'. The Presence saw Michael's and Gabriel's potential in you and decided to bless that potential."

"All In hopes that you would truly be the tipping point in the balance between him and his counterforce."

"And that's when everything became hectic. The universe itself begun to actively work for you. The elemental parliaments saw you as the chosen one, the emotional electromagnetic spectrum was ready for you to access each of the colors and the forces were there, merely waiting. Patient as your body and soul became stronger."

"You, Aden Strong held the collective connection with the Seven Forces Of The Universe. Eager for you to access them. Naturally, your 'creator' saw his creation get stolen away from him and it greatly upset him. And that's when he tried to coax you back to his side by using Empty Hand. When that failed, when you refused the terms, he did what he does best, corrupt. You died."

"Everyone felt it. The Endless, Heaven, Maze, hell itself. Everyone in the know felt the death of who could have been the best of us. The strongest. Iroh and I decided that we could not allow that to happen. So I tapped into the connection you and I have. As my Champion, I could bestow upon you my power. Instead, I did the opposite. I used the Presence' own blessing and traded it all away to bring you back. You still possess Michael and Gabriel's Laws inside you. The only thing you're missing is my law. Imagination."

Okay. That...

"I...I think I need to sit down." Aden said.

Their surroundings changed once more. This time they found themselves at Lucifer's penthouse on Lux. Aden stumbled to the couch and lost his strength, sitting down and supporting his head with his hands.

Lucifer looked around the office with a nostalgic expression before shaking his head and pouring himself a drink.

"You were going to be Dad's magnum Opus. A mortal with the power even above his first children. Someone who rivalled both him and the Great Darkness. Someone who could finally put an end to the balance that had been there since the dawn of time. Someone created in the dark but forged in the light. You, more than Michael, Gabriel or me or Elena were his true legacy."

"So a pawn."

Aden whispered.

"Yes. For the first time ever, he believes that the Light can push away the darkness. He imagines a world of only good. Naive but for someone of his power? Plausible." Lucifer answered without pause, handing a glass out to Aden.

"Maze would kill me if she saw me offering you a glass of liquor, but I think you're mature enough now."

Aden eyed it and received the glass after only a short hesitation.

He downed the whole thing, trying not to think of how this was working. He was in a transmission, talking to a recording of Lucifer who knew everything Ash was going to say and responded appropriately. Not to mention, the first Archangel was his father, which made Lucifer and Gabriel his uncles. Oh he also had two of their legacies.

"It's a lot to take in, I know. The good thing is that you now know the entire truth. There's nothing else left."

Lucifer comforted.

"What is this?"

Aden shook his head.

"You think you're helping me but you're not! I...I don't need this right now. I don't..."

"The burden of knowledge. In any case, now you understand what happened and what I'm offering to make sure it doesn't happen again. To save you, I used up the Presence's gift to bring your soul out of nothingness. The overload of power from trying to combine Chaos and Order when you were not ready, shredded everything apart."

"The only reason you're here is because both of them stacked all they had on you. It was all going to culminate in one huge fight where you had to pick a side. And you will die again if you go down that path. If that happens when you're not ready, there's no coming back Aden. Even with all my power, you have crossed a boundary. Your soul is no longer human. There isn't an afterlife for beings like us. You either exist or you don't. I do not want that for you."

Lucifer stated, removing his jacket and throwing it on the table. He poured himself another glass of liquor and took a large uncharacteristic gulp.

"So now what?"

Aden wondered.

Lucifer smiled, shaking the liquid inside the glass and watching it slosh around.

"Now you choose. The first option, I can give you the last ingredient and make you into what you were always meant to be. The true lord of balance. Not aligned to the light or to the darkness."

"Your very own entity. What you decide to do from there is up to you. You can fight for the darkness and usher in an age of horror or fight for the light and chase away the pains of existence. Or, you can say fuck it and keep on enforcing the balance. All that is up to you."

"Option number 2," Lucifer turned around, a sharp glint in his eyes.

"We pull a Lucifer."

Ash frowned before his eyes widened.

"You mean...abandon?"

Lucifer nodded, sitting on the table and leaning forward, hands clasped forward tightly as if praying.

"I can snap a finger and end this transmission, cutting us off completely, getting you out of The Plan. Keeping you safe. Barring you from ever coming back. Barring anyone from ever knowing where you are."

He paused, taking in a deep breath.

"You can choose to stay where you are, work towards getting back to your family and just...forget about your home multiverse. Forget about the Presence, forget about getting the people of Earth back home. I can simply change the past, make it so Earth was never destroyed while maintaining the timeline. You can live a peaceful and amazing life."

He looked deep into Aden's eyes.

"I'm giving you a way out, dear Nephew."

He knew.