The ascension of love – to crown eternity.

Narrator P.O.V (???):

"The beginning of this long story goes back a long, long time ago. Beyond the very dawn of creation, and beyond the chaos that nested before it, in a time almost forgotten by now."

A woman with a thin face, a somewhat pale appearance, and dark circles under her eyes sat on a wooden chair. In front of her, as the bookshelves around her suggested, was an open book.

"During the time known as the pre-epoch, a certain girl was born. "The first". She was not very different from some other beings of her time on the surface. What was special lay in her soul, in her very essence. Brighter, larger, heavier, immeasurable even. With a quality unmatched by any being up to that time."

Letters filled the old pages, recounting the events of the course of history. The first illustration of that book showed a certain existence that was born into a race long forgotten.

"Abandoned at birth, the cursed child soon discovered that, for some reason, she attracted a certain instinctive dislike and distrust from everyone in her village without exception."

"No matter how hard she tried, she was always met with the same cold, almost hostile response. So, one day, she decided to leave her hometown and travel to see the world."

"Every story begins with a wish. This one, no exception, in search of that warmth she never felt but could see among others, the girl began an almost eternal journey."

The pages of the book ran one after another under the woman's fingers. In the illustrations of the book, The girl grew until the "shine" of her "essence" was revealed, until her flesh "ascended" to a level unattainable for most, until she became what she should truly be.

"It was a long journey, longer than any other being's, even compared to my favorite story. In a lawless world, the girl sometimes acted with kindness even if she would receive rejection. On other times, she gave in to her wrath, giving the death to the unforgivable."

That being went from a little girl who didn't know why she was an outcast to becoming a mature woman, burdened not only by the loneliness that persisted since her birth, but also by the supreme power of her very soul.

"The ascension was over. Those questions were answered. However, the girl who had become a woman was not happy, not at all. Now between a rock and a hard place, that nameless woman used her last resource."

The woman's agile fingers, which seemed to have gone through an unimaginable amount of pages before, reached a certain part of the story in the book in her hands, a special one.

"Following the special guidance of a will from a "higher" dimension, the divine throne, she took control of it. Crowning herself as the first true goddess, she painted the creation upon nonexistence. Just like a blank canvas being filled with "colors" to form a "painting". She created the grand unfinished work; the void."

The next "illustration" of that book shows the primordial goddess of madness sitting on the throne belonging to her concepts. Madness, disorder, fear, beyond, oddity, strangeness, foreign, immeasurability, void, several more and finally...chaos. All of these formed the throne of chaos that reigned over all creation.

From that throne of madness, located in "the divine throne", she ruled over all of "creation". Everything was going well, but, as if all these concepts that formed her "essence" were not enough to prove it, the lightless eyes of the first creator did not give good omens at all.

"Non-existence congratulated the creation. The first heaven, [Chaos], arose, ushering in the first epoch. The first queen, now named [Khaos], the creator goddess in one of these myths, began to give a new form to the void."

The next page showed something that would empty the stomach of any being with a low mental strength, then, slowly driving them to madness and destroying their very intellects, reducing them to just mere mindless beasts.

In the new picture of the book, up and down are indistinguishable at all. Left and right are mixed together in a whirlpool like tomato sauce. Everything is...chaos, just [madness].

It was like looking into the bottomless abyss whose whispers beckon you to just fall into it. That...place, if it could be called that, was the void. The true primordial sea of chaos. The Heaven and the earth yet to be separated. It was a incomplete chrysalis of the "creation".

That place seemed like a mirror that reflected the twisted incompleteness of its creator, it could not be called nonexistence but it could not be called creation either. Still, the queen tried to complete that world in vain, very little by very little. The future still looked...bright.

"But, it was it truly like that? The first queen's heart is empty, her yellow eyes have no light, the shadow of loneliness still follows her and her very existence is still imperfect, twisted."

Realizing that even the beings of her creation rejected her, the queen, stronger than anyone but more powerless than anyone as well, left without knowing a chance to that being to be born ; The second primordial god; [Despair].

"The throne exists to give birth to a complete creation. It has a special mechanism called the "self-destruct factor". In the moment that God has suicidal thoughts, some being of her same magnitude will be born to kill her, thus making room for a new true god to ascend."

That woman with dark circles under her eyes turned to the next page with her fingertips. On it, the illustration showed an unknown mountainous shadow looming over the void, approaching the divine throne of that queen.

"The second [Great Old One] was [despair].

The amorphous beast that is formed by the very concepts of destruction, despair, fatality, malice, corruption, depravity, oblivion, nihil, decadence, the end of all times, apocalypse and epilogue. A being with more instinct than intelligence with the duty to "erase" the void."

The illustration showed the supreme beast of the void, that is like a whirlpool, that doesn't have a permanent form. The ultimate beast has countless fangs sprout from more fangs, hundreds of it's beastly eyes spin chaotically.

Sometimes it is like a dragon, sometimes like a black tornado with long limbs, sometimes it is the darkness of outer space, and in the end is just a horror beyond human understanding that causes all faith to be abandoned, all fear forgotten, and all investigation to finally stop.

"That second primordial God born with the permission of the throne and that special will, only followed that purpose for which that was created, and tried to do it is job; leaving that canvas of the creation blank once again"

That woman continued to advance through the plot of the book. The pages detailed and illustrated the conflict between the primordial gods, as well as its conclusion: That infinite "darkness" covered the entire [sea of chaos].

"The queen was strong, but the nature of that beast was veey special. It could kill primordial gods through [oblivion]. That beast was, after all, the absolute end of all stories in the void."

Then that first epoch of all ended with the first queen barely managing to escape from that beast with horrible, almost incurable wounds, yet, managing to survive to that mortal battle.

"Now it was time for the task of the creation to continue. More of these primordial gods were born under the firm supervision of the throne. More beings whose "essence" was made of several "concepts" over which they "reigned" were "released" from that [supreme reality]"

The woman began to read the next part of the book; the second epoch where many rose up to fight each other for supremacy. That beast of the end was chained by that divine throne. And so, the war of dawn in which Infinite stars literally rained down across [the void], began.

"Thanks to the unparalleled might of the third primordial, [Infinity], others of her kind were forced to ally against her. [The Four Truths], the group of [Enlightenment], [The beginning and the end], [Fundamental forces] and lastly [Fate], was formed to fight a [celestial spirit]."

Some final illustrations of that second epoch showed a colossal star surrounded by infinite stars falling towards the four beings of divine nature. Finally, all are shown being suddenly bound by invisible chains that restricted their actions; the paradox of omnipotence began.

"The direct access to [the divine throne] was blocked until the paradox was resolved, and [despair] served as its guard. [The primordial star] was finally defeated by [the four truths], and they managed to reach an agreement between themselves and the throne; they would paint the canvas of the void together."

That woman's seemingly omniscient book showed the end of the second epoch and the beginning of the third epoch; the laws of the four together painted a large part of creation, managing to further stabilize part of the void.

Even so, the scope of the throne still did not reach the entire void thanks to the change of power; Then, the paradise of the gods, Little Garden, was "just created" by the four truths.

"In the second epoch governed by the laws of the four: [Causality], [Duality], [Impartiality], [Inevitability]; several other primordial gods, the candidates for the throne, were born too."

That woman's hands turned the pages of the book. Different events, the rise of myths, the connection with human history, the growth of the primordial gods, all of this was shown in the book that then came to the "final" page.

"All that to get to this point, huh?" The woman closed the book, leaving it on her table, and took another special book which she opened. The look in her eyes was resigned and guilty, but there was some unconscious anticipation in her body. "The title is going to be decided!"

There were already quite a few pages in that book filled with illustrations that told the story of a boy as he grew up. The bright and dark moments of his life, his happiness and his sadness, as well as his dreams, desires and hopes. That was his story yet to be finished.

"Once upon a time, a somewhat foolish but handsome young man became involved with a young woman whose time was numbered. The young woman wanted a future and the young man fulfilled her wish no matter the cost. That wish was the origin of this story."

Every story begins with a wish. This one was no exception. And that wish was her sin, her biggest regret, as well as her infinite joy. That was paradoxical, wasn't it? But it couldn't be helped, such was the nature of that wish and the love of the one who fulfilled it just for her.

"It is the end of the third epoch. The silent war will erupt once more when all the Great Old Ones battle, the half of one of them, a special young man, embarks on his new journey of love towards tomorrow, an eternal tomorrow."

In the middle of her infinite library, that special woman whose wish was granted sits, reading her favorite book while lovingly caressing the illustration depicting [primordial love], and its encounter with [primordial domination]. [The meeting of the young man and the dragon].

"Mikhael..."

That special woman held the book with some affection, it looked quite new compared to the other old book, and its design was "beautiful". The words magically wrote themselves on the book. The title writren in the cover was:

[The ascension of love].

***

Life was a rather curious thing, wasn't it?

"Does it taste good?"

Mikhael thought, as he looked down at that half-full cup of tea in his hand. He stared at that image reflected in the tea for a moment. Another very curious thing. Something like a statue made of...glowing liquid mercury...?

The image carved into the liquid metal statue that somehow held that permanent form was that of a young man in his early 20s or so. He was somewhat androgynous, very beautiful in appearance, but still with some remarkably masculine chiseled features. That was him.

"Exactly how does this work?"

Answering a question with another question was quite rude. His companion, who asked him that question, did not take it personally. She simply responded playfully to Mikhael's sincere curiosity with her seductive voice.

"I make it work because I want it to."

Mikhael nodded in understanding at such an unreasonable response. Surely one couldn't break the laws of physics just by wishing it, but then again, he wasn't one to talk about that. And, considering all, it was reasonable.

He took another sip of tea under the satisfied gaze of his companion, and remembered a fact. He was dead. Like, dead, REALLY dead, VERY dead. So dead that if you hit his body with a stick like in movies, he wouldn't move.

"Tastes pretty good, somewhat familiar I would say."

That very delicious tea from that little shop in London that he visited 47 times between 4 and 5 years before his death?

Strangely, he couldn't remember with whom. A memory, one of the "leaves" of the limitless "branches" of the huge tree called "memory", was "pruned" for some reason. Probably a personal decision of his.

Mikhael's companion nodded. She was a "woman" in her twenties or thirties, who looked like a juicy ripe fruit, surely in her prime. She was the one who "revived" him.

If it wasn't already obvious since she was able to resurrect Mikhael's consciousness, she wasn't human. At least, humans didn't have golden horns that looked like a crown, or purple eyes with vertical dragon pupils.

At another time he'd say it was good cosplay, but the woman's sheer beauty and majestic temperament told him she was the real deal; A dragon from fairy tales stood in front of him.

The woman with long white hair, so shiny that it would make women ask her what shampoo she used, curved her full lips into a smile as she revealed a fact in her speech. The kind of fact that would...disturb the "normal" people.

"It should be familiar to you, since it's a tea I took from one of your memories, Mikhael."

Mikhael raised an eyebrow at these words.

Since she could violate the laws of physics, as well as bring his consciousness back from the dead, it wouldn't be strange if she could spy on his memories. Still, he just curved his lips into a somewhat cheeky smile to answer.

"Messing with my brain on the first meeting? What's next, my heart...? Miss, at least take me on a first date before we hit those levels."

The divine-looking woman seemed amused at his audacity. At times like this one, others would be getting paranoid about whether they were brainwashed or not, and yet, this young man was just joking with her like this.

"Date? We can have one whenever you want. Although, I would prefer to skip a few steps, and do with you far more interesting things~"

Mikhael thought then, that if he had a heart, it would surely beat faster from that look she gave him. It was one of the reasons why he was so calm. One of his powers could let him feel people's emotions, now, was receiving a huge amount of lust from right in front of him.

That was good. Having desires meant having weaknesses. It would be more troublesome for Mikhael to deal with some emotionless deity. Not that he would complain, the woman was very beautiful, and the beautiful always had privileges, that was the way of the world.

"One of my few hobbies is "appreciating" that which is "beautiful", so, I certainly wouldn't refuse such a curious offer, beautiful miss..."

The woman's eyes flashed for a second with some excitement at that answer before she contained her emotions. It wasn't strange for him. If there was something he had absolute confidence and pride in, that was his charm.

"But, before you "help me" with my "hobby", don't you think it would be appropriate for us to talk about certain...topics? For example, why did you revive me, where are we, and I would also love to know what your name is."

The beautiful woman was slightly startled. A blush appeared on her pure snow-white skin. She fake-coughed into her fist and gave him a wary look for some reason. Still, her inner lust was still exuded from her being to him.

"You're right. Let's take care of business first. Let me introduce myself; my name is Kurma, the world king, and a pure-blooded dragon."

Mikhael wasn't surprised by the obvious like as her race, instead he focused his attention on other details; ones like that special name.

"Kurma...? You mean like, THAT Kurma...?"

Kurma smiled smugly, as if to say that he was finally aware of her greatness. "Yes, exactly, THAT Kurma, one of the famous ten avatars."

"Color me impressed." Mikhael was raising his hands as if in surrender. He was dealing with something divine. It wasn't his forte, but even he knew about that myth. [The world-bearing turtle, Kurma]. The title of world king seemed quite fitting for her. "Should I worship you or something, beautiful miss goddess?"

"We both know well what kind of..."worship" you want to "give me", you bold scoundrel~" The divine woman smiled at him, that natural seductive tone of her voice seemed to drip with honey. Oh...she found out about that.

Mikhael was a man with weaknesses and no excuses. So he would say it straight out with some pride; Yes, he honestly wanted her to help him with his hobby. The dragon woman was a total hottie even by his own standards.

"Then, miss goddess..."

"Mikhael, I allow you to call me by my name, you are worthy of that. Also, do not attach too much importance to my "identity", it is just something superficial, something like a mask that we wear." Kurma said with a soft laugh.

"Kurma it will be then" Mikhael said to which she nodded with some sort of "satisfaction".

A mask, she said? What kind of being used the identity of a god's avatar as a mask? For what purpose? Mikhael mentally questioned those topics before just pushing them aside.

"As for where we are, that's a simple thing to answer." Kurma just touched the white table between them with a finger. A "wave" spread from that and these surroundings "changed". The "walls" became transparent and let one see what was "outside" from the beginning.

Chaos.

That was what came to Mikhael's mind when he saw what was outside that isolated space they were in. At least to him, that looked like a limitless red sky, full of yellow stars shining in that infinity. The stars in the sky are dancing, skimming through the "waves" in the red sky. Waves that move like whirlpoole, just shifting everything around. All of that was just chaos.

At times, the red sky even seemed to take the shape of a face. A face that for some reason seemed very familiar to him. That couldn't be, there is no one so...peculiar in his memories.

"What do you think of that view, Mikhael...?"

Kurma's sudden question brought him out of his thoughts. However, she didn't give him time to respond as she revealed something.

"This place is called [the void]. It is a different "dimensional space", a gigantic gap between worlds. You can understand it as a big sea in which there are little ships called worlds that have each their own space-time continuum."

Kurma then just explained it more simply with a metaphor when she noticed his somewhat confused expression. He understood what all these concepts referred to, but he truly didn't know much about the science behind them.

"Oh, I got it. It's just like an omniverse, right?"

"Yes, you can understand it like that." Kurma said, nodding. "Right now we are right there, outside the worlds, in the middle of the void."

One question was asked by the young man's gaze. What exactly on earth was he doing here? Okay, right, maybe he wasn't worthy of heaven, he would admit that. But, he now felt like a baby alligator flushed down by a toilet!

"I found you here, just in the middle of one of many journeys through the void. At least at first, I wanted to see who managed to survive here. Now, it's different... it's more personal."

"..."

Mikhael felt that dragon's gaze again. Kurma was looking at him as if he were a delicious piece of meat, there was some greed in there too, as if he were a treasure of great value. Or perhaps just a rather attractive opposite sex.

"..."

Mikhael met that divine being's gaze boldly. Dying did wonders, giving courage perhaps was one! They both looked at each other for a moment before smiling again simultaneously.

"As to why I took the trouble to fix and revive your conscience. You can't know that yet. It's enough for you to know that I have a special offer, one just for you and only you, Mikhael~"

For some reason, Mikhael felt a deja vu. As if he had already been fooled by similar words from another woman. But it was interesting enough to see what she would offer, so he listened carefully to what she was saying.

"You see, I'm from a special place called Little Garden; the true paradise of all the gods that consists of a collection of many multiverses. At the top of that are beings like me, who can bend the very laws of physics to our liking."

"Unfortunately we are limited by one thing: the several paradoxs of the omnipotence."

"[If an invincible sword clashes against a certain invincible shield, who would win?]"

"[If a certain god tried to create a stone that he couldn't lift, it would only prove that he is not omnipotent. Because if he fails to create it, he can't do everything because he failed and if he succeeds, he can't do all either.]"

"[If there are more than just one omnipotent god, wouldn't they have to ask each other for permission to make any change in creation? Which one of these gods would have more authority than who? Who will decide that?]"

"The center of Little Garden, the only system of the paradise of gods, imposed such logical errors on we all due to some circumstances. Which caused us to be limited in terms of the power we can use, but, we all are still mighty."

Mikhael understood the situation. If all beings of Kurma's class are at the same level, then one of them being proven as non-omnipotent would make them all be non-omnipotent, at least, that system would make sure of that.

"Added to other complicated circumstances, we all decided to continue battling amongst ourselves through apostles. A tiny portion of omnipotence, with the name of [Gift], is given to those people, who raise our flags to fight."

Kurma rose smoothly from her chair. A tail full of white scales moved behind the woman's wide hips. She walked slowly as the sound of her heels echoed in the room, and arrived at his side so to then speak directly into his ear.

"Do you finally understand what I desire from you? Be my knight, bring me glory and honor. I know well your nature and heart. And I know too about all your regrets, fears, and desires."

Kurma wrapped her arms around his neck, sitting on his lap as she was whispering to him with her naturally seductive voice. Her scaled tail wrapped tighly around of them.

Mikhael felt his nose invaded by the woman's natural scent, as well as that soft but plump body working to seduce him. Dragons really were proactive beings at this, weren't they?

"What I ask for is your loyalty, as well as your talents. Believe me, you have the qualities needed. A little touch here and there, and you will be truly unmatched among your peers..."

Kurma looked at him straight in the eyes. "In return, I will offer you everything. Be it fame, honor, patronage, gifts, even women..." She paused for a moment and then smiled as she spoke. "Or reviving the already dead people."

Having desires meant having weaknesses, having emotions did it too. Mikhael realized that she had also grasped his weakness, and he was at a disadvantage in this negotiation due to the difference in power between them.

But does that matter? No, it didn't matter to him. He would fulfill his oath no matter the cost. So the only answer he had now was...

"That [everything] you were talking about just now..." Mikhael said while wrapping his arms around the divine being's waist and smiling boldly. "Does these words include you too~?"

"Do you think you can handle a pure-blooded dragon, mortal?" Kurma allowed that without showing any annoyance. Even more, she just tightened the grip of her tail around of them.

"I do."

Kurma smiled with much more interest than she would have liked to have shown. Some expectation was clear in her purple eyes or in her smile. "Then we have a deal, my knight."