Chapter 23: Cruel Redemption.

A Couple of Hours before Baal appeared before Xerneas,

Baal had just finished briefing Lugia on him leaving. He granted it an enhanced form of Ocean Manipulation in their humanoid form which could be transferred to its children. This would allow it to keep the legendary birds under better control in future. Whilst he was visiting their abode, he found the perfect replacement for himself as Ocean's Embodiment, A penguin-like pokemon that reminded him of an Empoleon. He assumed it was what evolved into an Empoleon in future.

He granted it a human form with a lesser form of ocean embodiment. If anything occurred, Lugia could quell the Empoleon line and vice versa. As with the Lugias, this ability allowed the Empoleon who Baal came to know as Quintus to give it to his children when he steps down.

He still left his Clone in the temple though. Together, Lugia and Empoleon can deal with Groudon and Rayquaza individually. If they needed help, Baal told them to go to the Elven forests and keep a good relationship with them or else his clone would wake up to 'sort things out'.

With that Baal disappeared from the oceans and appeared in Xerneas' Chambers.

......

Xerneas smiled at him before she grabbed Baal's hand and walked through the portal with Everette the Celebi. Baal's eyes glimmered as he looked forward to finally eating a burger or drinking a smoothie or any number of things that one could do in the modern world of pokemon.

However, before he could open his eyes to a new world, the people around him seemed to stop. In fact, he looked around and everyone behind him in Xerneas' chamber had also frozen.

'What the hell is going on?' He thought.

Blink.

He had only closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and he was now in another place altogether.

In a white space, the sound of book pages being flipped echoed around. Baal's eyes opened and it seemed to be a very plain, pure white cuboid-like room. Only a single, old, black man sat on a chair in front of him flipping through the pages of a book.

His eyes finally looked up at Baal and waved for him to sit down on the chair opposite him,

"We don't have much time young man, please. Sit." The aged man with a unique Tennessee accent spoke.

Baal felt like he knew this old man so he took a seat and waited patiently for this old man to explain himself.

"A quiet and patient one you are eh? No matter, let us cut to the chase then," The aged man said before smiling, " Because of this small gap in space-time, I can finally speak to you. You have in your possession...a unique piece of me."

He spread his arms wide before stating, " I am the Spirit of fiction, Mythos. I have other names, Men Tifery, God, The Deity of Fiction, The Abyss from which Sin arose, The Primordial Void, yadda yadda. Well, I was until a certain event occurred where only my spark was left... This spawned into what you call... your system."

Baal's mouth widened to a gobsmacked level before his eyes took on a darker tinge,

"Is that why I've been relatively unlucky in my life..."

This...Spirit pursed his lips in a melancholy smile, "Fortune or Unfortune is subjective, after all, if you didn't die...You'd never have got to experience those new things, get stronger. Nor would you be here right now, who knows? You might just have had a boring dead-end job. If you that's what you want though, I can make that happen."

This spirit seemed very...eccentric to Baal before his eyes gained clarity. He thought over all the things that had happened to him in his life before concluding that good cannot exist without bad. Otherwise, evil will be spawned out of the one rogue good anyway.

"Baal, this is just a remnant of my original self. You can choose to accept becoming the new God of Fiction or not but do remember that this isn't a done deal. You can still be killed by various means, the system will slowly ease you into the role. On the other hand, I can cleanse your memory and send you back to your original reality. The choice...is yours." The Spirit Spoke with a tense look.

Baal was silent for a while,

"Why me though?"

"I'd love to tell you that it was because you were special Baal...but you weren't. You were just the one whose desire spoke the loudest to my domain of fiction. You so badly wanted to wake up in another world after death that...You fit my criteria. That is it. You weren't a chosen one or whatever other garbage you may think. You, or should I say, your heart was just in the right place at the right time sonny," The spirit replied.

Baal nodded. He knew that he wasn't the son of some god or some reincarnation of a demon lord. This question was always at the back of his mind from the beginning though. His eyes suddenly gained a clear, focused look as he stared deep into the spirit's eyes,

"I'll do it," Baal said tensely before a smile bloomed on his face, "but I'll do it my way. Just don't interfere and I'll be alright from now on. And Seriously, you're the god of fiction and you don't even have a book shop?!"

The Spirit smiled as it nodded to Baal's conditions before a spatial warp began encompassing Baal, "Oh and Baal before you go, about your new lady friend...Fiction and Reality. They are both subjective and only a thin wall separates them."

Baal grinned back as he disappeared back into the modern world of pokemon. Next to the old man, the figure of a woman who appeared patient began manifesting. She seemed like an attendant waiting for her rich old boss to say something,

"My lord...is it done?" She asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Yes...Yes, it is. You have paid your dues woman." The old man said, "I took your soul because of karma, you understand that correct?"

"Of course my lord" She replied calmly, "But you also gave me a chance to change. Oh, the number of times I got mad at this dumb-dumb you chose but...I can say that you made the best choice. Even though other people's hearts yearned for another chance as well, there weren't many hearts that wanted to uphold such a sense of growth like him."

"Yes. Very true, I think it was suitable what you did bringing him to this world. His heart was true but his mind was unfocused. Both of those are now in sync. Great souls are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser beings such as you to light their flame," The old man continued, "One question though...Why did you do it in the first place?"

Sighing she continued to explain that back then, without him, her entire world seemed like it was crumbling and so if she was going to face destruction so would he. They would be together even in death, forever...

"Yes...and I made sure of that," The Spirit said with a tragic smile on his face. He knew that it was necessary to allow her to stay next to her beloved even though she could never truly talk to him. To him, she was just a system...a technological marvel he should use to get his own way. Something never to be loved or even acknowledged by Baal. She even broke down crying once or twice, screaming for Baal to discover her and yet she could only watch on. He continued,

"But now your time has come, you have improved as a person. You have become a completely different person from what Baal knew of you. You need to go forward and endeavour on your own."

Waving his hand, he smiled at the girl as she began tearing up,

"I don't want to go," She wept, "Please, I'm not ready yet."

"Everything's got to end sometime Natalia. Otherwise, nothing would ever get started. You will awake in your greatest desire, the world of Harry Potter as heir to a great bloodline with a loving family and attend Hogwarts." The old man expressed a melancholy smile as he began concluding, "Remember now, You have your own life to live there. Finally some words of advice in case you EVER forget. Never be cruel. Never be cowardly. Remember, hate is always foolish and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Natalia...Your dues have been paid."

With a bright blue light, the white space now only had one final person remaining in it. The old man crossed his legs as sighed and began speaking to himself, "I've lived too long... Goodbye, Mythos"

With a smile, his body began dissolving into a white mist. The mist then seemingly began being drawn into a core within itself...

After a while, nothing existed in the white space but a green, shimmering crystal with a spark inside of it. This was what many would call the most beautiful crystal in the entirety of existence and it just floated peacefully in the centre of the white room.