The End Times

Three years went by. In that time, organizations rose and fell.

Deep beneath the planet, in a realm of a black bottomless ocean, a human-mediated before a grand presence that eluded a feeling of demise.

'It's time.' Cain opened his eyes and asked, 'You said that becoming reborn is like a ritual, you gain a new life by removing your previous identity. How do I remove my identity?'

Doom explained, "It's typically not possible. You would need someone already severed from fate to help, after all, how can you escape fate when it controls you? You have me for this. Although, when no one could escape fate, people used chaos for a similar effect, those people didn't have the best ends. A few still live though."

'So you'll help me?' 

"Yep, but this is also dangerous, Fate will not act kindly to this, especially because it seems interested in you. However, if we're turning you into a new existence, that's not going over the line. So, are you ready to begin? That time is coming, we must hurry."

Cain grinned, "Always."

...

In an underground city inside a mysterious cave, cloaked figures walked down the barren streets and crumbling homes. They headed for the center of the city, to the temple built on a titanic piece of stone.

Upon entering the temple, the cloaked men and women forwent their hoods and cast their faces to the braziers around them. They joined the growing group of men and women looking towards a young woman at the center of the room.

"Princess, it's been so long, are you sure the Herald will return?! We can't wait any longer, Flickering Star is breathing down our necks! We need a new leader!"

Many others joined the skeptical cultist's words and pressure rose on the higher-ups of Raven's Nest. Each of them was loyal to Cain, some more than others. But with him gone so long, even loyalty dwindles in the face of power.

A recently promoted Apostle stepped forward and spoke up, "Many of you know me, I proved myself in these years helping us stay hidden from the eyes up above. Yet even when I was promoted I couldn't be marked due to our Herald being elsewhere. If we are to grow we must let another Herald take the last's place. I say one of the Apostles take this position, and I wish to throw my name in for such a position."

Darla was completely pushed aside, even though she was intelligent and strong, she wasn't as interested in growing a cult as Cain. Ever since he went into the well, she has been despondent and her popularity has taken a huge hit. She was no more than a figurehead.

The crowd soon began a vote for a new leader. The winner of this vote would then go to the altar in the deepest part of the temple to pray to the Raven of Limitlessness.

The altar was recently built, it was placed in the deepest room with the crack leading to the strange well.

Off to the side, left behind by the people who followed her most important person, Darla was thinking the worst.

'Raven...when will you return?'

...

"Okay Vessel, due to you being a human, the process of becoming a new existence should be easy. Mind you, we will be replacing your fate, looks, voice, soul, everything. However, I see you only have half a proper soul. The other half is elsewhere being protected by one of the lower gods. Due to the nature of the mean transformation, you will affect the one with the other half, for better or worse."

"That will happen? Well, I am being reborn. Wait, is it possible for me to use this connection during the ritual to take a few things we share? Say, my cores?"

Doom heard what Cain planned to do and chuckled, "Yes, something like that can be done. It will be like rewriting ownership. It should be done last after you successfully declare your new identity. If done before and the identify change fails, you'll lose the cores forever. Without a proper owner, they self-destruct."

Cain nodded and kept that in mind.

"Ah, another reminder, this is dangerous, the only real pro in doing this is to advance your soul. You aren't strong enough to handle this, I will be taking the brunt of the damage. If you had a few more cores I would only need to sit back and help here and there....Alas, I need to put in elbow grease." As Doom finished its sentence, its power manifested.

The ocean ruptured and rippled. Cain was almost flung along the currents.

Doom intervened, holding him in place as wonderous energies began to do their magic. The ocean parted and electricity sparked.

Pockets of different dimensions cracked through space like flaky skin.

Worlds convened on Cain's location. He saw places long past their time of life, worlds filled with the dead hunting the last remaining life, all-consuming fire burning everything, and even a world of fog where all that entered its grasp was never seen again.

One of the last worlds that appeared was one of life, but Cain quickly understood it was nothing but false life, like a taxidermized animal or a human encased in ice. It may have looked alive, but it was long dead, kept in a state of perfection for the viewer. Seeing it, he felt his back chill.

'An entire universe....just like that.'

Doom began the ritual, "I am the End! The Rolling Tide! The Encroaching Profligate! I am Annihilation!

"At this moment, at this time, here and now, I declare Fate to show itself! I declare this Vessel to become anew!" Doom said it's challenge.

Rumble! Rumble Rumble!

It first started as a small quake.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

But it soon became so much more.

Rumble!

The whole planet began to shake, the world began to crumble.

Boom!

Cain thought it was impossible to see any light where he was, but he was mistaken, for light crept into his eyes as a giant crack shattered all sense and intruded upon the dark ocean.

Thousands of eyes, thousands of worlds, and suns. Cosmic nebulas and storms thundered and moved as an unrelenting pressure moved onward.

The cosmic power that radiated from the crack was enough to evaporate the dense ocean, it was nothing before the All Ruler of All Things, the Dictator of Existence, the One True Ruler, Fate.

The mere Vessel of Thought couldn't move, he couldn't redirect his sight either. Before this existence had existed since the start, he felt his eyes could not even register a tenth of its power. All he saw, all he could see, was so miniscule against the pressure it gave.

"Shit! Looks like Fate likes you!"

Doom wasn't a Concept for nothing. In an instant, the pressure from Fate evaporated like it never existed. The ocean once again moved without interruption, a strong force of absolution fought against the feeling of inferiority.

Unfortunately for Cain, he didn't have time to see the fight. He had to close his eyes and focus, focus on his new form, on what he was going to be, to become.