Then They Were There

During Null's rest, his conscious was stuck in a sort of lucid dream that he had no control over.

He had no idea when it began or when it would end, but in his dream, he was back in his mind space reliving a memory. 

The creator rose into the air before delivering his silent message to Null. Despite not hearing the message, he somehow understood its meaning.

A decrepit screech of a voice spoke eerily before his dramatic exit, "How far would you travel for the sake of the girl?"

The dream blurred into a third person view of himself as he mouthed words of his own in response to the unspoken message.

"I'd scour the infinitely expanding edges of the universe and devour all that would lie in my wake."

Next, he moved into a vision of a gate. The reaper's chilling gaze focused upon his location, but Null was already onto the next view.

He stood in a vacant cosmos filled with nothing that expanded around him infinitely. He could make out the constellations around him, but with no frame of reference, the best he could do was memorize the formations as best he could and bide his time.

.....

Unbeknownst to Null, five souls had made their ways to their respective worlds the instance they crossed the gate.

The first wound up on planet Mamon, a world blessed with elemental energy which the natives dubbed 'mofei'. 

They thrived in their world with the usage of magic which they used by way of the mofei; the creatures on this particular planet were born with mei veins in their body.

These mei veins allowed any creatures capable of sensing the mofei in the atmosphere to filter through their respective element and conjure plumes of flames and spears of ice. The mofei of the planet covered your basic nature elements: fire, water, earth, and air. 

However, at the current state of evolution, the humanoid race became the most proficient manipulators due to their higher intelligence. 

For the dumber of the species, they could at best use mofei manipulation to the best of their natural instincts.

The stronger, more adaptative threats could utilize their bodies to become lethal weapons and even strategize with their given strengths. 

The population of a native humanoid race, Imeni, was pitifully low with only as much as a million spread throughout the safe lands in protective villages.

There was very sparse contact between the tribes, which inevitably made it so the cultures of each differed in many ways.

In a remote village surrounded by wooden fences, a female Imeni was screaming in pain while she held the hand of a male with a concerned look on his face.

"How is it doctor? Is our baby healthy," he asked while caressing his wife's tightened hand.

"I'd say he's more than healthy sir. Just look at his curious little eyes. It looks like he's all ready to explore the lands wouldn't you say?"

The doctor passed the baby to his parents.

As the baby looked up at them, he smiled and let out a heart melting giggle.

"My baby boy hasn't cried a single bit. He must be a brave little thing right Kazim," she turned to her husband with a rejuvenated look.

"He's more than that Meira, just look in his splendid eyes. He's got sparkles in his eyes like unrefined meirite. By the Makra, our child will surely grow up to be something special."

"Yes. Our little Klein looks so eager to please his mom with his charming smile. That's already more than enough for me."

....

Two of the souls arrived on the same exact planet in the same exact location!

This time, it was planet Lokhil, the home of a race of slender figured humanoids; the Shetavi, as they called themselves, were a fearsome group as they practiced with innate spiritual partners.

The spiritual partners, or Livelli, were chosen randomly at birth and coexisted inside a special organ inside of the beings on the planet capable of growing it. 

As it was a rarer kind of mutation, only the Shetavi and a few other secular species possessed the ability to grow it.

The way the Livelli existed was that they would mature overtime with their hosts, sharing their memories and morphing their qualities based on the qualities of their hosts.

When they reached the age of maturity, they would be capable of manifesting a physical form for as long as the strength of their host met their needs by way of infusing a substance called 'Ki' into them.

The ki of Lokhil was a neutral form of energy that made for the perfect rejuvenation for exhaustion of any kind; absorbing the ki took patience and diligence as the slightest distraction during the process would render attempting to do so impossible.

The different clans were split by the form their Livelli took upon maturing. As it was impossible to determine beforehand, children were sent to nursing facilities and taught to find the tool or weapon that suited them most.

The Shetavi noticed that one could increase their odds of guiding their Livelli by increasing their understanding of a specific item.

So, if a young Shetavi was talented with a sword, their odds of obtaining a blade of some sort substantially increased. If they went further and grasped its concept, they could form a weapon that suited them perfectly.

The Chief of the Sword Clan stood among close family as his first-born son was welcomed to the world. 

What should have been a joyous moment was ruined by the scream of a woman.

"What is wrong with that baby!"

It was just a peek over the doctor's shoulder, but what she saw horrified her. 

The baby bore a frown on its face, but that was not the cause of the fright; the baby just sat there in the arms of the doctor, four arms of his own were examining his form.

As if it wasn't creepy enough, he fought his way out of the hold and crawled into bed beside his mother.

He would deal with this shit later.

...

The final two souls found themselves separated into a separate plane. 

In this foreign boundary, floating islands full of lush lands and rapid waterfalls lie between two realms of golden clouds and molten rock. 

Above the clouds and one would find a paradise home to the angels and celestials alike.

Below the rock reside the wretched creatures of the damned. Too many to name.

The first soul found its place buried under a pile of red corpses; the most basic creature of the infernal lands and by far the weakest was the imp.

They were a feisty lot that banded together to take down everything in their territory before moving onto the next.

One of the bodies in the pile was squirming inside; something was clawing its way out from the inside.

With a gory squelching, a hand tore through its torso and the imp inside crawled its way out onto the steaming floor.

Because they matured quickly, imps were tough even as a newborn and would grow as they consumed and fought. 

But this imp in particular looked strange; his skin was pale, and he looked less monstrous than his birther.

Two devil horns poked upwards from the top of his head, and he had no tail. His eyes were focused, and he looked to have awareness as he scanned his surroundings.

He looked up at the molten stone ceiling that stood higher than he could see clearly. 

Rivers of magma covered the lands and fell from above unpredictably as there was such a staggering distance to the bottom of the region.

The newborn imp cared naught for the hellish expanse, "Ay prawmiz," his eyes shone with dedication.

He did not know how, why, where, or anything of the like, but if there was one thing he did know, it was that he was starving.

With the vow in his heart lighting his red pupils up, he scrambled his way towards the pile of dead bodies and began munching.

All the while he was repeating the same words in his head through the blood and raw meat, "Ay prawmiz."

One bite, 'Ay prawmiz.'

One tear, 'Ay prawmiz.'

One gulp, 'Ay prawmiz.'

One scream, "EVANJUHLEEEEN!!!"

...

Null saw five flames of differing hues light up in certain areas of the solar map before him just as he was getting bored.

They were each periwinkle, cerulean, amaranth purple, deep maroon, and a honey white in vibrant tongues of flame.

He easily noted their positions alongside the constellation groups in the surroundings. 

Something like this was bound to be important for him. He was under the assumption that his creator left behind for him to figure out by himself.

The dream ended there, and Null awoke inside of Theef's ship.