Old History of a New World

"Tell me about this world. Why did you choose to come here?"

Ishtar had chosen to lay down on the couch after stuffing herself full, and Gilgamesh had sat down on the floor next to her. With a thought, Ishtar dimmed the lights of the room, and also cleared the center table.

"Out of all the worlds in this reality, this one is the most suitable for your growth. It is the strongest of all the highest-tier worlds, and houses the most powerful gods outside of Heaven's Door."

Gilgamesh scoffed and threw his head back on the couch, "So it's no different than any other super-world."

Ishtar shook her head, "I thought so at first."

Intrigued, he raised up again to look at her.

"I scoured many realities trying to find a world I thought was suitable. I even used the Light of Heaven to peek at the fates of the worlds I visited. I learned a lot about how The Collective works."

"The Collective," Gilgamesh probed as he started thinking; he had not heard this term before.

"The Light of Heaven recognizes all of reality as a union of differing conceptual, spiritual and physical realities. At the heart of it all is the Door of Heaven, which bridges all such gaps, creating another interconnected system within those realities. This is what is known as The Collective. All things created by and through Heaven- my father- exist within The Collective."

Gilgamesh nodded in understanding. It was not hard for him to fully grasp these concepts, as he himself had peered into certain truths and fates. However, he had never had the guidance of Anu's spirit, so his understanding was not yet complete.

"So what makes this world so special? Don't tell me it exists outside of The Collective." Jokingly, Gilgamesh offered those words up for Ishtar to refute them, but her reaction chilled him. Truly.

Ishtar sighed, "It's not that simple."

Ishtar straightened up. As she prepared herself to say what she was about to, Gilgamesh could see, from her expression, that it was something that weighed heavily on her mind.

"There is a secret that even you do not know."

Once Ishtar said this, Gilgamesh frowned and his eyes narrowed. Secrets of Heaven? They were never good.

"There-" Ishtar had barely started when Gilgamesh raised his hand. His eyes were closed and he breathed slowly.

"As much as my desire for vengeance forces me to crave this information, I cannot ignore the possibility that a calamity will befall you if you do tell me."

Ishtar's body stiffened to the point that she could not move. She could barely even breathe after hearing that. Gilgamesh was prepared to sacrifice such knowledge... for her sake?

She simply could not believe it. When had she seen this side of Gilgamesh? Never, no one had seen this side except those Gilgamesh truly loved.

So, did this mean he loved her?

"I've made up my mind, Gilgamesh. Don't you realize? My physical self is here. I banished myself from the world beyond the door, and chose to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't care about being a God of Heaven, about ruling- I don't care about any of it!"

It got harder and harder for Ishtar to continue speaking as she went on, and eventually she was red in the face and gasping for air.

Gilgamesh just looked her in the eyes and smiled.

"I understand. I'm sorry I questioned your resolve."

"It's fine," Ishtar swallowed and caught her breath, "Heaven's Edict is no joke. You know that better than anyone."

Gilgamesh expression darkened for a moment, but only that.

"Even so, I am now banished from Heaven. I do not fear Heaven nor its edict anymore. From now on, I will be by your side." Isthar saw Gilgamesh's smile and felt an odd warmth inside. At the same time, Gilgamesh crawled up onto the couch and sat next to her, taking her hand in his.

Her heart pounded as she felt his soft hand on hers; she could not look away from their point of contact.

"Go ahead, then."

Ishtar suddenly recalled what she was supposed to be doing, and laughed, shamefaced.

"Ahem! Right, um..." She trailed off; Gilgamesh only looked at her with a steady smile.

"This world- The Collective- right, so, there's a secret that only the Gods of Heaven know about. It's not that it's a secret we do our best to keep- but the opposite, kinda. We don't have to try keeping it a secret, because it's not something that someone can just figure out. You know?"

"Heh, heh," Gilgamesh shook his head slowly, "I know."

"As you know, the World Beyond Heaven's Door is an independent existence. It is the only thing that thrives in the entire universe of that reality. Can you guess why that is?"

Gilgamesh's eyes widened as he thought about what the answer could possibly be. The possible answers alone were enough to floor him, metaphorically speaking.

"Is it because... Heaven cannot create anything else?"

Ishtar tilted her head as she weighed the answer, then said, "It's not that Heaven can't create anything else, it's that Heaven cannot create anything there at all. That reality does not exist within The Collective, so there are certain things that Heaven itself cannot do there. One such thing is creating new worlds and the like."

Gilgamesh was utterly speechless at this news. "I'd not thought about it till now. I never cared about exploring that universe, and I doubt I'd have even gotten the chance."

"Precisely. Even if my family somehow allowed you to enter the void, you wouldn't be permitted to go far. The Laws there are so powerful that only Father can bypass them and traverse the void. That is part of the reason why he's usually always fully focused."

"Wait, but doesn't that mean that he needs all the power of his spirit? How is it that the five of you were able to command its power?"

Ishtar giggled, "It's funny. I remember how much Enki raved about this being something you should never find out."

Gilgamesh raised a brow.

"The 'Light of Heaven' is Father's Secondary Spirit. His actual spirit was split in two not too long before you died."

Gilgamesh was speechless yet again.

"Then how could I have manhandled him so efficiently before?"

"It's because, unlike anyone else, Father's Primary Spirit is tethered to his physical self. Him and It cannot be separated anymore. That was a sacrifice he made in order to deal with those powerful Laws."

Gilgamesh whistled, "They must be incredibly powerful, if even Anu struggles to deal with them. Just how were those Laws crafted?"

Ishtar smirked, "Therein lies the secret. How can there be Laws that were not crafted by Heaven? Heaven created everything, did it not?"

"No. Heaven did not create the World Beyond Heaven's Door, nor did it create that reality. There is something that predates Heaven- Father calls it our 'Ancestor,' but honestly, I don't think they were any family to us. To me, it seems as though they created those Laws to keep us in place, but something went wrong."

"Those Laws are most powerful everywhere except the highest world. Once you are within that world's atmosphere, the Laws seem to lose almost all their hold on you. I can't be sure, but I don't think that that was intentional."

Gilgamesh gave a 'hm,' and continued to listen.

"The reason why I chose to speak about this now is because this secret, somehow, ties in to the fate of this world. When I used the Spirit of Heaven to peek at its Fate, I saw its origin. That is why I chose it."

"What did you see?"

"This planet was crafted outside of The Collective. In Father's memories, I saw him try to destroy it, but he failed. He also once tried to take command of the planet's source, but he failed. He tried sending clones of himself, weakened tremendously, but that failed as well. The planet rejected his very spirit, just like the Laws, but he was unable to bypass them."

"I also think that this is the way it was meant to be for the World Beyond Heaven's Door. I think that, us Gods were never meant to exist in that reality. Our true ancestor must have done something to those entities that predate Heaven."

"They meant to trap our ancestor in the Void of the Highest Universe, and prevent them from gaining access to what is now The Collective. As for the reason why this world was placed in this space, it can only be that this world was what they meant to protect from our true ancestor. That is the only answer I can think of."

Gilgamesh listened and bounced ideas around in his own head. Ishtar's reasoning was sound, but for some reason he felt like she was missing something- they both were. Sadly, he could not know just what that was. All he had was a feeling.

"Father did his best to disguise the truth about this world, and then he simply built this universe around it; that was all he could do. Even so, the planet had a passive effect on this reality, and caused it to produce the most powerful beings outside of Heaven's Door."

"In truth, the only thing stopping them from overcoming us in strength is the Door itself. They are not permitted to pass through unless they achieve a perfect state of physicality, which is easier said than done for even them."

Ishtar groaned, then made a grabbing motion with her hand. A glass of water materialized, and she instantly started chugging.

"So. now, this world simply exists here, with none the wiser. Thankfully, your spirit is pretty much eradicated, so my brothers have no reason to search for you, nor examine the fate of this world. Father will be occupied for at least five million years, which doesn't give you much time to build yourself up again."

"Still, for you," Ishtar gave a knowing look at the young boy seated next to her, and looked again at how he held her hand.

"For you, it should be more than enough time. I'm certain you can uncover this world's secrets, and gain enough power to challenge Heaven once again."

Gilgamesh digested the information while also thinking about Ishtar. She had already made the greatest sacrifice she could for the sake of him regaining his power.

As he regarded her in this light, he suddenly thought of his mother, and how she was also a banished god. She, too, had lost so much for Gilgamesh's sake, and it had driven him forward his whole life, empowering him to go on fighting, even when all seemed lost. He had to fight- he had to do what both his mother and Ishtar believed he could.

If he did not accomplish that, then their sacrifice would be for nothing.

"I will begin my journey anew in this world, and learn its laws. It shall be the tool of my growth henceforth." Gilgamesh made his proclamation, which was also a promise to Ishtar and his mother.

Once his mind was fully set on this path forward, he exhaled with closed eyes. When they opened, there was a fire in them that startled Ishtar. After Gilgamesh fell unconscious due to him destroying his spirit, she had almost forgotten this look.

It was the look she had seen directed toward her family for many, many years.

"I have just one more question for you now, Ishtar."

She gulped, and subconsciously rose from her position until she was sitting up.

"What did Anu do with my mother?"

Ishtar froze, but her state of stupor did not last. She had not known what to expect, and was glad that it was a question she knew the answer to.

"She remains banished, stripped of her power and left with nothing but a spirit without its divine aspect. She may still be immortal, but that is all. All I know is that, a few billion years ago, he permitted her to leave our world on one condition."

Gilgamesh's narrowed eyes almost made Ishtar jump.

"What condition?"

She swallowed hard before answering, "She was to choose a reality at random, and could never leave it once she had chosen. She invoked Heaven's Edict regarding banished gods, and asked that her spirit be forever masked from us. Those were the terms, and they were agreed upon by both parties. That was the last time any of us saw her."

Gilgamesh finally relaxed and let out a breath. This was the best news he could have hoped for. He was not surprised that she was able to gain one last victory over Anu; she was the one that had taught him everything he knew about Heaven's Edict.

As an Elder God, her position in Heaven had been higher than almost all the gods except Anu and a few others that were deceased (thanks to Gilgamesh).

"That is good, then. Thank you, Ishtar." Gilgamesh made a quick movement, but it was still incredibly slow to Ishtar. Even so, she had not been prepared for it and, once she saw it coming, she froze yet again.

Gilgamesh planted a soft kiss on her cheek, then got up and left, as if it was no big deal. Ishtar was, reasonably, shocked.