Down I dove. Farther I went. There was no end to it. Not a single hint of one in sight.
All the sounds from the surface had completely faded into the distance.
~Why am I letting myself fall? I'm a god. I can fly.
Among those swirling thoughts, that had come to mind.
Though, despite this obvious revelation, I still allowed myself to plummet. I did not know where I was headed, or what would happen if I reached the bottom. All I knew is that I was definitely not going to die from a petty fall.
~Isn't this where I usually wake up? Or… do I need to see one of their memories first? No… Usually someone else wakes me. Then… Am I stuck here until Mia decides to wake me?
The more I fell, the more I began thinking idly. Letting my mind wander as my body wanders deeper into the abyss.
Drip.
All it took to snap me back to reality was a single tiny droplet of water, cold to the touch as it splashed against my nape. Back to reality my mind returned, my guard once again up like a fortress, my awareness at its peak. A dark presence loomed behind me. I spun around.
Hands. Stretching out like parasitic worms from the abyss' liquid walls— towards me, their target.
I needed to defend myself, and quickly.
~A barrier.
A barrier would be the most basic form of protection and the quickest to create. But what kind?
~Light? No. Light travels through water. Lightning? No, that would just add a charge to it.
Then the idea came to mind. I had to create a barrier of flames so strong it would evaporate the water. Crossing my arms, my eyes locked on the many hands grasping at air as they attempted to grab me yet to no avail. I had created weight on my wrists and ankles, causing gravity to push harder down on me and accelerating my seemingly never-ending descent.
As if somehow sensing my change in velocity, the arms shot out towards me. I spread my arms out wide in a single swift motion. From my chest, my very core, blinding white flames released from my body in a burst of light.
The sight that welcomed me once my vision returned was both unfamiliar and unwelcome. The black waters had turned into white gravel. Sturdy like cobble, shining like marble. And before me, in place of an entanglement of aggression that were liquid hands, a single black giant.
Its giant hands swooped down, quickly grabbing me. Oddly, despite its grip strength, it did not feel painful in the slightest. This was likely due to the fact that his fingers were slowly phasing through me, like a ghost, as he closed his massive palm. As the darkness continued to envelope my entire body, I could hear voices. They were screaming… wailing… crying out— all around me.
"Why did this have to happen? Why did this happen to me? Who's responsible? I knew from the beginning I didn't belong here, why did I come here? What kind of hellhole is this world? There's so much… shit around. Perhaps…"
~I'll purge it all.
The thought raced through me in the blink of an eye. And after that very same blink, a vision came forth: a boy looking at the world with cold, dead eyes. It was a familiar look that I knew all too well. I had a similar expression, almost exactly the same, when I decided to leave the Void behind.
Then, everything went black.
…
"Purge it all."
The voice echoed in the darkness. Faint sounds rose from the dead of silence, whispering in an unpredictable pattern.
HONK!
A car horn blared, the sudden sound nearly destroying my eardrums with its immense pitch and amplitude. I began to open my eyes in response.
The glaring yellow rays of the sun penetrated my retinas, quickly fading into a clear blue sky. The tips of skyscrapers scratched the edges of my vision as I tried to gather where I was.
"GET OUT OF THE DAMN STREET."
Somebody was shouting. At who, though? Me, perhaps?
"I SAID—"
HONK.
"GET OUT OF THE, DAMN, STREET. KID, IF YOU DON'T MOVE, I'LL JUST RUN YOU OVER!"
~Out of the street?
I sat up, finding myself in the center of a crossroads with impatient cars surrounding me. There was a ton of loud noises— horns and the screeching shouts of people. Many people were staring at me.
"Road rage. A common occurrence in the mind of humans who drive vehicles. It is a result of everyone being so used to a faster pace of living. Nobody likes delays, yet they don't care if they delay others. A clear sign of their selfish nature."
The voice muttered.
A hand appeared above me, offering itself to me. Reaching up, I took it quickly and found myself pulled to my feet. The one who helped me was surprisingly— none other than myself. However, this one's eyes were not gold, but blood red.
"Before you ask any questions, how about we get you out of the street. The idiots didn't even bother calling an ambulance. Worthless trash, aren't they? To think that there's so many of them that it causes it to be a common occurrence that us primordials end up looking like them."
"Huh?"
I stared at the look-alike quizzically.
"Ah. Just come with me."
The boy, clearly another doppelganger, took me by the hand, and led me off the street. Traffic quickly resumed as we walked along the sidewalk.
The passerby seemed to avoid us. They would stray away as we got closer. Their eyes were all filled with fear, but they weren't directed at me. They were directed at— him.
Yet, the boy continued to walk as if there was nothing wrong. He, the look-alike, glanced at me for a moment and then continued to speak.
"As you already know, the energy of the void carries with it fragments of information it gained after flowing in and out of different worlds. These fragments of information take sentient form and thus, we 'gods' are born into existence."
"Yes. That's right… That's common primordial knowledge. Like how the first primordials were born from–"
"Correct. The original primordials were born from Chaos during the birth of the universe. We primordials all refer to Chaos by many names and titles, namely one: The Void Before, which further refers to it as how the void originally was before the first worlds were created. This place, Earth, supposedly being one of them. I'm sure you're also aware of the concepts of multiverse and omniverse that only few mortals believe to be true. All the while, we of the Void know it to be true."
"Isn't that just more common knowledge amongst primordials?"
"Basically."
"Then why even bring it up?"
"There's a simple answer. The fact that you're here means you've been experiencing it too."
My look-alike stopped and stared at me with a seriousness I never thought I would see on myself again after I left the Void. Another familiar, yet unwelcome expression: one of pure malevolence.
I narrowed my eyes as I stared back at the red-eyed boy.
"There's a saying in some worlds. I'm sure you remember it."
Our eyes were locked, as if we were fighting a silent battle with our minds.
I had spoken calmly when I gave my response, yet I understood that he had nothing but bad intentions in mind. This was going to become physical.
"Yes. I do remember." The look-alike spoke.
"The eyes of a god will glimmer and shine like the golden gates of heaven, yet the eyes of a devil boils like crimson blood and gleams in scarlet flames."
The red-eyed boy smirked at my comment, letting out a faint chuckle.
"Well then, let's get this game of chase started, shall we?"
Snap.
Pressing his index finger and thumb together, he flicked them across each other to create a resounding echo. In an instant, the scenery changed. The blue sky had inverted to a crimson red, muddled with black clouds that smeared across the sky like bloody scars. The tall towering buildings were tilted, crushed, and cracked. Debris lay scattered across the ground, varying from large to ginormous.
Standing in the midst of it all, my look-alike grinned at me from ear to ear and with a shout he called out to me.
"Humans are trash! If this world has taught me anything, it's that very lesson! So I'll purge them all! If they want to kill each other so badly, then let the wars rage on, I say! Let them wipe each other out to their hearts' content in every single world! AT THE VERY LEAST, IT'LL BE ENTERTAINING!"
I let out a sigh.
It was perfectly clear to me that in this timeline, this version of me had been consumed by the flaws of humanity and had become a god of destruction. Such a being could only be described in one way— 'Unhinged'.
With a groan, I muttered.
"Geez. I hope my brother didn't end up like this."