Chapter 83

"They've always been terrible."

"They? You're already separating me from them within your own mind."

"And you're not even considered an adult within your own society, yet here you are."

Alex didn't respond and waited for him to continue.

Samael sighed. "I came back to a world filled with peace."

The atmosphere changed for a moment before he put up his relatively uninjured arm.

"Or so I would like to say. Hate, distrust, bullying, and a pressure looming above everyone, not too different from how it is now… right?"

"It seemed like the whole world was about to go to war, and for what? For a few petty thing that the majority of the people never cared for, but a few, a few fools… who lived separated from the rest of the world seemed to hold onto their aggressions."

"You're dragging this on, using small truths to cover up, so, I'll ask you more clearly. Why go on a murder spree, and take over completely afterwards?" Alex asked as he rested his head on his fist.

"That's much easier to answer, I was upset with how things had turned out."

"Too much freedom huh?"

"The opposite."

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"There was a law as you call it, for just about everything, and everyone actually believed that they were happy-"

"The book. Why change it?" Alex cut him off causing a look of scorn to appear on his face briefly.

"Why not? it wasn't supposed to exist in the first place but was created by a bunch of random people."

"It's not like I changed much else, I mean look, you know that the other kingdoms still hold onto their beliefs, I just refined everything here."

"And those that get crushed by these refinements, are they just fodder."

"Those who get crushed shouldn't exist in the first place, they…"

"They are told how to act, how to live, what to believe, and even still, they don't follow what they are taught. Am I right?" Alex asked.

Samael went quiet as he tried to understand Alex.

"You're all covering something up. It doesn't matter what it is, I'll find out eventually." Alex said before standing up and turning to leave.

"Where do you think you are going?" Samael asked.

A thudding sound was heard.

"That's what I should be asking." Alex countered.

Samael grunted as a dark energy kept him stuck to the chair. The walls in the room shifted as they enclosed around him, and eventually he found himself within a cell.

He laughed. "This won't hold me! I know you are out there, you best hope you can solve your internal issues before I get out!"

Alex however, couldn't hear him as he had already stepped through a door which faded as he stepped through.

He was greeted with endless swarm of beings who were stood in a single file lines seemingly waiting to move forward.

A humming noise filled his ears as a robotic device flew up to him. He squinted as it scanned him for a few moments before handing him a band.

Alex thought a few moments before putting it on.

"Welcome, step into the nearest line, and the band will display the estimated waiting time."

The humming of the robot suddenly made sense to him. He looked around as every other murmur and whisper around him also seemed to make sense.

He stepped into the nearest line and looked at his wrist as a few characters showed up before morphing into numbers.

'Twelve weeks huh?'

He leaned around looking to wherever the line led as the robotic hum moved away.

"First time here?"

"First, can people come and go as they please here?"

"Not many, but those who do, usually achieve what they came out here for."

"And you, you must be getting closer and closer judging from how your speaking, right?" Alex asked as continued to look down the long line.

As he released some spacial energy a loud zapping noise was heard and a hum was heard from nearby. "The use of spacial magic is not permitted in this area. Please refrain from further use."

The being in front of him laughed before patting Alex with one of its many appendages.

"I did the same thing first time I got here. Don't worry about the long wait, it's definitely worth-"

"'Where did it go?'" The being asked the rest who had gotten in line behind Alex, only to get no response other than he had just disappeared.

Alex stared ahead at a sphere of writhing black mass as a human looking man appeared next to him.

"You know, you just skipped a long series of steps that were put in place to make sure those who make it this far won't die."

"I'm more dead than alive right now." Alex said as he looked at the man.

The vision that his eyes and mind saw were in conflict and he turned back to the black mass as he listened to what the man said next.

"Yes I can see your bodies condition quite well. If this is a last ditch effort, then I can assure you it won't end out how you hope. This is an ancient soul, i can see that you are strong so I am willing to take you to one that might be more suitable."

"It's not my body that I'm talking about." Alex whispered quietly as the dark mass was pulled into him.

Dust lifted off the ground as he fell to his knees, unable to fully process the physical and mental pain he was being put through, he seemed to be fully in shock as he sat there unmoving.

"Another dead. Even with access blocked some seem to always have their own ways in to the deadliest of places." The man said before moving to take Alex's body out of the room.

But before he could, my body seemed to get eaten away as the dark mass completely destroyed it to down to the last atom.

I'm sure that if I were not preoccupied I would have laughed, but I am, so i didn't, and I was too busy making sense of everything. I remembered everything. Not just my life as Alex, but every life before and after that point. The only reason I was in control was because they had already died, or hadn't even existed yet, and my soul was already slightly altered.

It felt a bit strange as it always did, after all my soul was completely different and maintaining everything was like crawling like a child that had prosthetic limbs, but it was still doable and after a moment a new body materialized as the dark mass that served as many things disappeared.

I wasn't even give a moment of respite as five golden beams of light appeared in the room, but it didn't end there, hundreds of portals created from varied energies and powers opened up.

Those who arrived through portals seemed upset. "Damn it, I was late!"

"Hello, welcome to godhood, it's time for your final trial, and this will determine your ranking, so no holding back." One of the gods that had arrived in a golden light said before a formation of completed runes appeared below me.

As I was still getting used to this body I'm sure I didn't even blink at this point, even thought the light from their teleportation formation would've blinded me previously.

"Ehehe, seems the formation might need a bit of seeing to."

"No, it works perfectly fine." I said as I held out a hand and a drop of darkness fell from it."

"Time is ticking, and things need to be done, I'm sorry I won't be completely here for your congratulatory sparring, but as I've said there are things to be done." As I said this a copy of myself faded into existence while I disappeared from the area.

"So… I'll race you to where the teleportation thing was supposed to take me."

——————

Holdensburg… barely any time had passed but things felt different.

"Alex, your back! Did something changed about you? Never mind that." Timothy exclaimed before his face changed to disapproval.

"This wasn't part of our plan, you killed the leader and the entire kingdom is in chaos at the moment."

I'm sorry, but the way he spoke, I couldn't help but laugh. "Killed, that cockroach? He's the equivalent of Frankenstein's monster it would take a lot to kill him."

"Who is Frankenstein?"

Ignoring the man who's mind was being messed with, I turned to the camera crews who were filming the aftermath of everything. "I have something that you all may want to see." As I said this Wyatt and several other hooded figures appeared, unaware that they were not in their secret hideout anymore as I messed with their perceptions.

"But you'll cost people their lives, we have rules for this."

"Rules? Rules are set for the weak to follow. Who is going to stop me from doing this?! Hmm, are you?" Wyatt asked.

"No of course not."

"Then go! You've heard my orders."

The hooded figures all looked around in confusion.

"What?"

"Sir, when did we get outside."

"Who will stop you indeed… I could, but then who would stop me, after all rules are only there to control the weak." I said.

As I walked up to the men, the hoods meant to conceal their identities melted away and they were forced to face the cameras.

"Alex." Wyatt growled.

"If you're out there listening don't listen to him, Alex is a devil, a beast-"

"There is a very simple way to solve this problem, the corrupt should not have this power in the first place so with that done, now the timer ticks down." I said before stopping to think.

"Seven years. It should be enough time to force him to keep his promise." I looked directly into the camera for what I said next.

"For all you truly good people, I hope you won't hate me too much, but the process has already been described. How did that book say it, a corrupt tree brings bad fruit. So understand that I have no choice but to take drastic measures."

With that a dark orb appeared in front of me. It rotated rapidly before becoming a blur. Rocks and debris attempted to be drawn to it but were kept back by an invisible barrier.

Eventually the dark orb ignited.

'Absolute madness, watching you create this… energy, that illuminated everything.'

"Things aren't as they seem, humanity used to question everything, but then came the gods, in stories and in books, and we became content with their will and work being mysterious. Accepting that we would never truly understand what was going on behind the scenes. Never looking behind their motives never looking into their thought processes."

"Things aren't as they seem."

'If you had, you would've seen the many faces of god a lot sooner.'

With that said, I arrived in that dark domain.

"You've finally arrived master."

"Uh uh. Enough with that." I ended their acting before it even began.

"Everything was made through him, not me." As I said this I released the bright orb into the sky.

The dense darkness that existed was drawn into it and within a few moments a colorful world was revealed as the bright mass found it's place in the sky.

"He twisted his own creations to try and recreate everything. Disowning them while simultaneously saying that everything in all creation was made by him. Sin and evil even the darkness included."

"The satiation of primal desires and the desire to go further. Even pride, who seems to be exactly the same no matter how you look at him, has changed. Maybe you should see it for yourself." The bright energy washed over the sins as their entire beings changed.

"You… we-" Pride started off, but was cut off as another Alex arrived.

"Enjoy your reunification with humility?" The other part of me asked

"I'm sorry if you were hoping for a one on one, but it seems that I've run out of time." I said as hundreds more of me appeared.

"Follow me." one of me said before leaving with the seven.

The rest of me all left to do their own thing.