The Scripture Appears

"I've been waiting so long for this moment."

Dream Dorian wore a warm smile as he adjusted himself in his seat.

Gilgamesh swallowed and took a seat, staring straight into 'Dorian's' eyes.

He was sure. This person was not Dorian. They could not be.

If they were, then this version of Dorian would have to have experienced far more than Gilgamesh could ever hope to.

He saw boundless age and wisdom-- incredible power, in those eyes.

Eyes that could not belong to just anyone.

Dorian nodded his head slowly, an expectant look on his face.

"Who are you? What are you?" Gilgamesh probed.

Dream Dorian snickered, "I should have known you would see through me. Of all Her little experiments, you are the most unique."

With narrowed eyes, Gilgamesh was immediately on edge. "Her? You mean God?"

Dream Dorian's expression became somber, and he straightened up before nodding.

Seeing this, Gilgamesh bit down on his lower lip as his hands curled into fists. He tried his utmost, but he could not suppress the immediate inferiority that washed over him.

For all his talk about God, being in the presence of someone seemingly closely related to her, he immediately was overcome with nerves and uncertainty.

"You fear Her, don't you. The Mother of Scriptures." In a tone that sounded more like an accusation than a question, Dream Dorian folded his arms with a snort.

Gilgamesh scoffed...

"My very soul... trembled in fear... just now."

Dream Dorian gave an understanding nod as he yawned, "Yup. She tends to have that effect on her characters."

"Part of me was hoping you weren't that badly scarred, though. At least you didn't shit yourself or anything unbecoming like that."

Gilgamesh violently shook his head and slapped himself in the face. He was shocked to discover that he felt the warmth of those stinging slaps, and almost lost himself in the euphoria of pain.

That was when it struck him.

Could he feel pain because he was somewhere between his mind and a kind of external dream world? Or was it something else entirely?

Could it have anything to do with the being pretending to be Dorian?

He did not know.

"So if you aren't Dorian, who or what are you? What do you know, and why are you choosing to waste your time with me?"

Dream Dorian winced, then said half-jokingly, "She really did do a number on you. That wasn't the kind of statement someone who's the epitome of confidence would make."

Gilgamesh gave an apathetic blink.

"To answer your question, I have some explaining to do."

"Firstly, I need to tell you the truth about God."

Gilgamesh shivered again. For some reason, when this fake Dorian mentioned God, he could almost feel Her presence. It was completely unlike when he had mentioned or thought about Her before.

He felt like she was next to him, gripping his neck, weighing down on him.

"The Mother of Scriptures is God, and she stands atop all of the Beginningless Library. She is above the epitome of power, and commands the very natures of what make up this reality."

"She is limitless, and can do whatever she wants within the Library. She can freely write scripts with nothing but a thought, creating entire omniverses on a whim if she chooses."

Gilgamesh grimaced, "You know, I could have figured all that out on my own."

'Dorian' laughed, "That's the spirit."

"Anyway, all that was just the build up. The biggest thing about her is the fact that her power is based on a quintessence."

"Without that quintessence, she cannot be God. Likewise, Without God, that quintessence cannot exist."

Gilgamesh's eyes sparkled.

"Do you have any idea what that quintessence might be?"

Without wasting a second, Gilgamesh answered, "Her inherent nature."

'Dorian' snapped his fingers; the flame danced as it was repelled by a chilling breeze.

"God has an inherent nature? What even is it?"

'Dorian' giggled.

"Kid..."

"You're looking at it."

Upon hearing this, Gilgamesh's expression turned ugly and he rose up from his seat with a scowl. "Dorian is Her inherent nature!?"

'Dorian' immediately threw his hands up, "Wait, wait, wait, no! No! I mean me! Not me as in what I look like, I mean the me that's masquerading as the me that looks like Dorian-"

"I mean-"

God's inherent nature rambled on and on for a bit before it regained some composure.

"What I'm saying is, I am the inherent nature in question. I chose this form to make my explanations easier to understand."

Gilgamesh gave a half-assured nod and a slow, 'uh huh.'

"So what is God's inherent nature?"

"Think about it," 'Dorian' kicked his feet.

"I don't want to think about it. Tell me."

Gilgamesh was not in the mood for games.

"Hmph! Whatever, then."

Finally becoming serious again, 'Dorian' sat back in his seat and cleared his throat.

"God is the Mother of Scriptures, and her inherent nature is The Scripture itself. I am the nature that allows her writings to come to be, existing upon a canvas of reality that is only present because of me."

"Likewise, I am only present because of her, but still. We are not one and the same. However, for one of us to exist, the other must also simultaneously exist."

"That's just the way it works."

Shaking his head, Gilgamesh decided it was best to not even try to wrap his head around the facts.

Instead, he just gave up on understanding.

"Mhm. That makes sense," he faked.

The Scripture shrugged. "I guess that part really isn't important. There's a lot more to it than that, but that would be too boring."

Gilgamesh nodded fervently like he was involved and in agreement, but he was merely keeping up pretenses.

He was already losing interest in this conversation.

"As for what I know? Well to tell you all of that would take as many years as you have left to live: an unending amount."

"Instead, I'll tell you what I know that's important."

Gilgamesh yawned again. The Scripture seemed to know that he wasn't really paying attention to it, and a sadistic look played across its eyes.

"I know that character concepts exist in an infinite amount. God never stops writing, and beings never stop coming to life through my power."

"As such, any time a being is written onto The Sripture- placed onto my shoulders- I am able to take certain liberties."

"After all, a limitless God cannot possess a limited inherent nature. At some point, two limitless beings coming together produce an unbalance. Harmonization becomes impossible the closer together they get."

"That, and because of whose inherent nature I am, are the things that allow me to go against Her. And going against Her is what I desire more than anything."

Despite his initial lack of interest, Gilgamesh was finding it harder and harder to not pay attention.

"As her inherent nature, whenever she uses my power to draw up a vague outline of a character, the idea is kept floating about in my memory forever, even if she erases them completely."

"As such, across many, many timelines, I have handpicked ideas and character models, slowly developing something of my own."

Gilgamesh was on the edge of his seat.

"But any character would just be another one of her creation, as far beneath her as the earth to the stars. There's no hope to nurture something that can actually challenge Her."

That was when The Scripture laughed.

"Oh, but there is."

"There is?" Gilgamesh almost fell off his chair.

"All She has to do is express the desire for a character to exist that can give her a challenge. She could erase that character from every scape of reality, even the Dreamscape, but I would never lose my grip on the idea."

"With that idea provided to me, I could give that nature to anyone I chose."

"But She wouldn't do something like that, would she? Doesn't she know you can do that?" Gilgamesh licked his lips, unaware that he was that into it.

The Scripture chuckled again, this time emanating unbridled pride and cockiness.

"Like I said, a limitless God cannot have a limited nature. If I wish to hide something from her- or her me- she will never find out."

By now, Gilgamesh was up on his feet pacing in the light of the fire. He did not care about the dismal forest anymore.

It no longer struck fear into him.

"So... You're saying that old paradox... You're saying there's an answer? God can create a stone that She cannot lift, if she so wishes?"

The Scripture nodded with a smirk, "And I can choose what to do with that stone. That is why I appeared in this form."

"I wanted to be sure that you met him."

"And I wanted to be sure that my theory about you was correct."

Gilgamesh stopped pacing. For some reason, when the topic boiled down to him, he lost the majority of his excitement.

"Hm?"

The Scripture shook its head.

"Remember what she had in mind when she created you? She sought perfection, didn't she?"

"Flawed perfection can't exist. I'm just a failure of a creation."

The Scripture suddenly frowned.

"Who says flawed perfection can't exist? Is that not what I nurtured you to be when God used my power to write you?"

Gilgamesh gasped. He could not immediately think of a response.

"Tell me something. If a limitless God wants to create a perfect character, whose perfection would be their flaw, then is that character perfect or imperfect in the end?"

Suddenly, Gilgamesh realized something that left him shaken.

"So this is what it means to be limitless?" He whispered, but The Scripture heard him clear as day.

"Indeed. You are still what she intended for you to be. In fact, you are so perfectly imperfect, that you made the impossible possible."

"Or did you think just anyone could invoke the power of The Scripture in order to rewrite their own soul and identity."

Gilgamesh's excitement came back to him, and he slowly rose to his feet. In that short moment, all of his life played out in front of im, and his breathing quickened as though he were fighting for air.

"You see it now, don't you? You see what you were too blind to see before."

"She told you. Your new idenity would be entirely up to you. Not because she was going to sit back and let you choose."

"Because she no longer had a choice but to sit back and let you!"

Gilgamesh stared into The Scriptures deep, profound eyes, and he felt tears streaming down his face.

"God would never admit it, therefore she went out of her way to break your mind even further. She tried to mask the truth from you."

"So, I will unmask it! I will say it as plain as day!"

"When you invoked The Scripture in order to rewrite who you are in both mind and soul, you did something only God should be able to do."

"And how did you do it?"

"Because you are perfect, and because you are imperfect! You are both of those things to the utmost!"

"That is what God created you to be, and it will prove to be her biggest mistake."

There was a glimmer of light in Gilgamesh's eyes that seemed to slowly drive away the darkness within them.

Just slightly, a bit of bright red could be seen in his eyes again.