4 Dominion's System is Pretty Cool, Not Gonna Lie

So you're talking in my brain.

<Yep. That also means I can hear all of your thoughts... and see your memories.>

'Huh. Quite invasive, don't you think so?'

<That's the point of this partnership. You agreed to this.>

'Wait. No, what? I didn't agree on anything.'

<Well, we did that whole weird galaxy-brain bullshit earlier, didn't we? Why are you acting all brand new?>

'Maybe it's because you didn't explain anything to me, stupid.'

<Ugh. Do we really have to do this? Can we just do this later?>

'...'

<Please?>

'Fine. But we need a plan. It's great that your super over-the-top entrance earlier scared the shit out of the monsters nearby.'

<Yes. That's because I'm their leader!>

'Pardon?'

<Yeah. I am pretty much the god of the monsters here in Dead Gardens.>

'I... All of these are happening way too fast.'

'Okay, okay! Sheesh, calm down, God of Terrorism. Not everyone is as fast as you. Why don't we start from the very beginning? I really need an explanation here.'

<Ugh. Alright, fine! I was once a god in Firmament, so I got hella fucks every single day, and then the other gods must have wanted all the sex I'm having too because they got so fucking mad at me, so you know, yadda, yadda, yadda, they did this whole political scheming thing and kicked my ass outta Firmament forever, right? But I said I'm not cool with that! So I rallied every monster in this wasteland to wage war against the other gods. But those motherfuckers have other plans, apparently, because when I announced my plan to wage war against Firmament, they just shrugged and established human control on the wasteland. If you didn't get that, they basically just flipped their middle-finger at me and said, we're too busy to fight you, so fight these weak humans instead! THE NERVE, RIGHT!? They didn't even take my threats seriously because my power is limited without my connection with the Firmament. So, a thousand years have passed, and my war against the other gods is still raging. And another thousand years passed again, and I met you. Any questions?>

'That's... a lot. Like, a lot. I don't think I understood some of that.'

<HENCE, WHY I SAID WE SHOULD JUST TALK ABOUT THIS LATER INSTEAD!>

'WHEN THE FUCK IS LATER THEN!?'

'Haa... Alright. We need a plan, at least.'

'Spill.'

'System? Like, your godly power? You want me to use your godly power?'

<Yes. Wow. You just asked me three questions that all had the same answers. You really are a scholar.>

'Hey! Ugh... Are we really just gonna sass each other till we destroy Firmament?'

'Downloading? ...WOAH!'

Dominion wasn't lying when he said he was downloading his System. When I blinked, translucent words were already hovering before me like they were plastered on my eyes. It says, "DOWNLOADING..." with a few numbers below it and a few bars that swiftly gets filled up.

'What's happening, Dominion?'

No use arguing with this guy. I just sighed and laid my body on the cold, hard ground. Well, it's not really my body. It's Gres'. Ugh. I will never get used to this. I closed my eyes and waited for Dominion to finish. But when I did, instead of pitch blackness, the translucent words hovering in my eyes greeted me instead with the darkness I expected.

The words "DOWNLOADING..." then changed into "INITIALIZING..." accompanied by an unknown logo I had never seen before. It was a pentagon with an inverted triangle inside; a yellow circle that looked like a miniature sun loomed in the middle of it. Slowly, my vision was corrupted by some sort of queer energies playing chaotically behind the hovering words. Green. Black. Then, crimson. Followed by a deep tint of violet that formed an array of Mandala all about my vision. It almost felt like the lights had gripped my eyeballs and were now trying to squeeze them till they pop. My eyelids were shut, but the symbol still remained. The only difference was that it was now colorless.

'What's this, Dominion? You have some kind of logo too?'

<...>

'Hey, no need to be so tense on me now! If this is some serious shit, I'm sorry for making fun of it.'

<It's not that...>

'There's no need to explain it if it's too personal.'

<Nah. It's not personal or anything. It's just... That's the sigil of the Firmament gods.>

'Oh...'

<It's pretty much the only proof I have left that I was once a god.>

'That's... I see. I'm sorry, Dominion.'

<It's okay. You have the right to have all of these questions. I'm sorry for being too impatient with you too. I promise to explain all of these someday. Just give me more time to arrange my thoughts first. You saw how terrible I was at explaining if put in the spot.>

'I understand. Come on, no need to be so polite to me now. You were so rude earlier!'

<Oh, shut the fuck up, Firmament trash.>

'There we go! Haha! That's the Dominion I know.'

I did as he commanded. And well, what I saw was beyond exciting; no words could have warned me of the dangerous beauty lurking underneath such malevolent veil. The fog that once blanketed the wasteland had been lifted, and it beheld a grandeur landscape I never would have expected.

'It's amazing...'

"Amazing" is definitely not the right word to use in this scenario, but even with my vast vocabulary, I still cannot, for the life of me, find the right way to explain my surroundings. Pink clouds hovered above my still trembling body while the sky itself was blood red. The first thing I saw was the rising sun upon the distant horizon and the enlarged moon directly above me, towering over my pathetic mortal shell. I noticed the striking rusted chains wrapped around the spherical moon, but what caught my breath away was the face on it, looking down at me with a serene smile. As the sun slowly rose from the distant skyline, those gigantic chains enslaving the moon slowly dissipated while some completely shattered, turning into dust polluting the distant galaxies.

'I... I think it's beautiful.'

<Hah! Looks like we already have something we can both agree on. I never understood why they hated this. Oh, and that moon is Frederica. Say hi to her.>

"Err... Hi, Frederica?" I said out loud with an awkward chuckle.

I didn't know if the moon responded, but I heard loud gurgling coming from it, and that's enough for me to fool myself into thinking that it greeted me back.

Around me, I saw a rather melancholic-looking forest. Withered trunks of leafless spruce trees stretched into the distant horizon. Even without the System, I would still be able to feel the seeping evil lurking within this dilapidated forest. Voiceless screams gripped these ancient trunks, like malevolent sprites hell-bent in tormenting this place. And I felt nothing—just a crippling sense of emptiness. But oddly enough, that void in my chest calmed my disturbed psyche, giving me enough courage to push through this unknown place. I felt like I had every power in me to conquer this place. I couldn't possibly explain this adequately, but the feeling exists. I was like a child straddled to sleep by a monstrous entity within the grasp of his demoniac claws, yet I didn't feel the need to panic, for the warmth of the demon's palm was enough to quell the trouble in my mind.

Beneath me was the pitch-black ground where I stood. Cracks and dust decorated the soil, showcasing the absolution incurred upon this land brought by a ceaseless drought. Funny enough, the leafless trees still stood firm in this lifeless hellscape. The beasts of the field and the fowls of the air were nowhere to be seen, but I could hear their roars and growls. Did my hearing just improve somehow? I don't know if that was the case, but I could swear that I heard things coming from miles away.

'Huh, fog of war? Is that what you people call that?'

<Yep. Plus, it's much, much cooler that way, don't you think so?>

'I guess? Well, let's test it out.>

"FOG!" I uttered out loud, and almost instantly, the fog returned as if it had never disappeared at all!

I followed what Dominion said again, and sure enough, the fog of war disappeared.

As I was gazing underneath me, I saw a few words hovering a few inches above the soil, which said, "EDGE OF THE WORLD."

'What does Edge of the World mean, Dominion?'

<Oh, that? It's just what the people of Firmament call this place. Different folks and different tribes have different names for this area in particular, but collectively, all agree that this is, indeed, the edge of the world. So to save us the hassle of using literally hundreds of variations of the same name, I just used one that might be more familiar for you. Edge of the World. Makes sense?>

'So, I guess I am quite literally thrown at the edge of the world, huh?'

<Don't worry about that. I'll get you out of here. Come. I made a light trail on the ground. Just follow it, and I'll explain more about this System on our way there.>

Sure enough, I saw a trail of light leading to my left side when I looked down.

Then, I looked at my hands.

And then I looked at my lifeless body on the ground. Well, my former dead body, to be precise. It's lying on the floor like a ball, pale, limp, unusable.

I still can't believe it. I'm really leaving my body behind just like that.

'Hey, Dominion. Before we go to our destination, I have to do something first.'

<Hmm? What?>

Without explaining my intentions, I knelt on the ground and placed my palm on the dark soil. Cracks then began to appear underneath my former body, and it enlarged swiftly until it turned into a large hole. The corpse fell into the dark abyss before the gap closed again in a snap, like hands clapping.

I stood up while dusting my hands. "Let's go." Then, I followed Dominion's light trail.

'Shut up.'

Well, I really have nothing to rebut against him, to be honest. I mean, Dominion's System is pretty good, not gonna lie. How could I possibly complain?

'Shut up.'

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