You and Celestia moved along the outer ring of Agartha, slowly recuperating from your injuries. In the span of your march Celestia's wing had begun to rectify itself, no doubt thanks to enhanced biological nature of alicorns. You yourself however were still struggling to move on your own two feet. Human's aren't as lucky. It'd take a while yet longer for you to finally be able to jump back into action. Several times you passed out from the heat radiating from the magma pool below, forcing Celestia to carry you a good bit of the way. Not that she minded, as she would constantly reassure.
"Here. Drink." she said, offering you the last ration of water from the large backpack you carried.
You politely declined, insisting that she should have it for herself. This did nothing but result in a frivolous back and forth between you two until finally you relented. It's almost sickening, the warm water trickling down your already heated throat. But it does you well, keeping you from passing out again at least. Eventually the two of you come to the entrance of the great cavernous city. The great lift that would hurtle mankind from Agartha to the surface in seemingly no time at all. The both of you step onto the dais and take refuge from the sweltering heat. All light had vanished, save for the soft yellowish-orange glow of the magma peeking in through the cave-like entrance, as well as the red lamps which dimly lit the great shaft all the way to the surface. In the darkness you couldn't see anything, naught but Celestia herself as she wrapped her wings around you in a small reprieve from the marching. Even now she cares for you. Despite her wounds and state of mind.
"How are you feeling?" you ask.
Her muzzle finds its way to your cheek as she softly prods. "Better. Within a few hours I should be good as new, you have my blood to thank for that. But you? I doubt you plan to face Judea in your current state. You need care and time to recover."
"Yes, I've thought of that. But we may not have that much time. It is anyone's guess what Judea is planning presently. We don't even know if he's moved beyond the Badlands yet, he may even be bringing Hell to all Equestria at this very moment.."
You retrieved the circular stone key from your pocket and move to carefully place it on the central mechanism.
"Do you really think him capable of something like that? From what you told me, he doesn't seem the kind."
"Normally I would have agreed with you. But as he emerged from Heaven's Door... I felt a murderous intent to him. He is no longer the man I knew back then. He has become something other, a hideous amalgamation of humanity and something beyond. My guess is that he was successful in tethering himself to Mettatron, and if so, that could be cause for him to act in ways he wouldn't have. Whereas Judea simply wanted to escape death, Mettatron wants to level the entire world. I wouldn't say it impossible that what we saw is some sort of hybrid of the both of them."
Celestia then was overcome with a pensive gaze upward.
"Should he move against Equestria as you say, we still have a little time before the situation worsens considerably."
"Is that so?"
Celestia nodded and stood, moving to help you with the lever.
"Equestria isn't defenseless. I've taken great measures to ensure its safety, even with my absence. Evil won't claim victory so easily."
You smiled at that. Then the lever suddenly gave way and the gears and cogs were set in motion, sending the lift in an eager bid upward. The sudden momentum sent you to the floor, as did it Celestia. On your back, you could see the slight glow of daylight approach rapidly and fill the dark shaft. And as you moved closer to the surface a newfound energy revived your bones. It was like an immense weight had been lifted from you. All about you was a brilliant glow and when you peered at Celestia, you understood.
The magical barrier had been lifted. Celestia stood as the dais rocketed towards the surface, her body aflame with a golden glow. She inhaled, taking in the world's magic and with a refreshed satisfying exhale, became one with the sun once again. Her natural glow returned, as well as the brilliant ethereal nature of her mane. Her eyes could once again see infinity and the boundless nature of life. You stared at her as the lift quickly came to a stop in the center of Babel. She looked as though she had been reborn, a new being cut from diamond. The princess began to look about herself, looking over her wounds. To your surprise, they were gone. Completely healed in just a fraction of a magical second. You stand, as best you can on your own two feet, and approach her. She had remained silent in a confusion. She would not speak nor look to you as she stood ever still, eyes shut tightly. You moved to touch her and as your fingertips brush the electrifying hairs of her coat. You could then once again feel the raw power that emanated from Princess Celestia.
"Celest-"
"Anon, behind me!" Without a second to lose she instantly brushed you behind her with her massive wing and lowered her horn. You weren't able to see what suddenly riled her, but as you began to inquire, you felt an overwhelming presence overhead.
From above he descended, bathed in golden radiant wings which hid his form. Hair alight with golden glory and two great horns protruding out from his head. His feet stopped just above the ground, yet the stone beneath him cracked from his weight. In a single moment you were filled with what overcame you the instant you both locked eyes after so long. Without your say-so, your legs begin to stagger forward. However Celestia's wing holds you back as she glares at the nude man across from you both. A thick silence hangs above you, swirling about the great hollow tower. There's nothing but the sounds of anticipation.
His eyes are cold, empty of any warmth. Pure apathy danced across his face in a jubilant display of mockery. Those eyes then locked with you, and in those eyes you could feel those million years locked away in the void. You turned away, fearing you'd crumble from the pressure. He then opened his mouth to speak the first words from his new body.
"Have you found the answers you sought within that ancient city?"
His voice bellowed and caused the air around you to cower in fear. You failed to reply, as did Celestia.
"I had given up hope of ever seeing your face again, Khalifa. But when you awoke from the stone that day, so too did my desire to face you once more.
He moved through the place, examining the statues of diefic angels and superb architecture of humans long gone.
"This place... Do you remember when it was we constructed it? We attempted to climb into Paradiso and take eternity in our own hands. But in the end, we'd be sent spiraling back down to Earth in a hellfire. And as those flames took root in our very bodies, it molded us into vastly different people. Burning away our past and igniting a future that'd lead us here. After a million years of suffering and torture within our purgatories, the two of us are able to stand before one another as new men."
Judea then turned to you, his eyes still apathetic and cold. But his voice, while oppressive, quivered with sentimentality. But you held nothing of the sort.
"What do you want? What happened to the magical barrier?" you barked.
Judea stared in silence for a long while before finally replying.
"The barrier was preventing my ability to leave this place, and so I destroyed it. Now that my body has been able to fully manifest in this world, I am hardly content to remain confined to yet another prison. And so I shall go forth into this new world."
You then pulled yourself from Celestia and staggered forward, eyes blurred from fatigue.
"And then what? What is it you're after?"
"I will bring this world to an end."
As he says this, you sense no empathy from him. Only a cold confirmation of his intentions. The complete and utter destruction of the world and all its people.
"Why... Why go through all that?" you say as you begin to move forward. "You've already gotten what you wanted! You are cured! What's more, Judea, you are immortal! And yet you say you'll bring calamity to this new world? A world which has nothing to do with either you or I! For why, Judea? What would bring you to such a conclusion?!"
Your voice cracked as you stumbled. You were suddenly driven to grief upon hearing those words. Though Judea was obsessed with his own longevity, he was still your friend. He was something you had sworn to always stand beside. And now he says he wishes to extend a hand of destruction across all the world. Judea moved forward to meet you, his wings falling away to reveal himself in his nudeness. Then for the first time he walked upon the earth, his feet meeting ground.
"Long ago when I was but a man, I sought to obtain infinity with my decaying and dying hands. My fear for death drove me to ask of you the impossible. In my selfishness I commanded the erasure of our entire existence, under the guise that it was all necessary to save mankind. But above all, myself. For this, I am indeed guilty.
He then went on to slowly form immaculate white and gold robes which flowed from his form like holy water. The cloth began to slowly cover his body, sewing into itself as if it were a sentient being performing a task.
"And then came time for me to claim my ambition. Only to be thwarted and betrayed by the man I thought to be the only thing left of worth in the world. The friend I saw in you. The day you flung me into that spiraling madness, my body was torn asunder, rendering me to be consciousness and that alone. All that I was began to fade yet remained scattered throughout a plane incomprehensible by man. Then in the darkness came to me a voice. An angel of salvation. Mettatron.
A crown now formed above his head. A circlet of hardy gold adorned with the ever seeing eyes of eternity.
"I took him into myself in my desperation to avoid the fate you had dealt me. In order to secure my desires, I hastily accepted his being into my own. And so I was reborn. In that darkness I was refashioned into the undying. I became that which I had sought for so long. An immortal being who would one day deliver mankind from the brink of plague. But as time passed, my own individuality would come into question. I would begin to lose myself in a mind that was ever expansive. Soon after, any trace of my original being would be engulfed by this new hybrid. Judea Zar Ayatollah ceased to exist in that very moment. And what succeeded him was a new being. One who carried the will of both he and God. I am the definitive form of Judea. With me, I carry the will of divinity itself.
"My inheritance is the will of those who have formed me. In Mettatron's vengeance against mankind, and in Judea's hatred for the one who betrayed him, I will pass judgment onto you and this world you've come to love. Solomon Khalifa, though you hide behind the facade of a fabricated new identity, your heart shalt adhere to this grand new dogma which I will set in place. In place of mankind, and in the vengeance of Judea, you will be tormented. All will be stricken from you until finally you decay and wither within the sand which covers our homeland. And from the heavens, I shall call a great tempest and bring about a great revolution where life will bow to God once more."
Judea then threw his arms out wide, his wings ever massive and erect. You struggled with your own words. What you were hearing was nearly enough to shatter all the motivation that had welled with you. But as you stumbled backwards, you felt the assuring presence of Celestia, who evermore looked determined and steadfast. Judea hovered in the air again, light cascading down around him as he refused to experience any pity for you or this world.
"You would go that far... just to spite me? You'll be killing innocents Judea! Many have already died to get me here, pointless deaths that I've had to carry on my shoulders. And what of our kin? Would you add to the death toll just to see me in despair?!"
He then folded his arms as he hovered above you, his eyes now vengeful.
"I would." he said without hesitation. The rage within you started to bubble and burst, rising up within you and resounding through your bones.
"Then I will stop you! There's no way in Hell I'm going to let you leave here! I've gotten this far with the help of those who now inhabit this world. And I will go further still. You will be the first step in my atonement."
"Hmph. Such faith in others will only serve to undermine you. Especially when you would have never gotten this far had it not been for my intervention."
"What..?"
"I thought you a man of great intelligence, Solomon. I predicted for sure you would have pieced it together by now. The Voice in your head. The voice that guided you all through your adventure, was merely but mine own whispers. Patiently prodding you in the right direction. Leading you like a horse to water. All to ensure you would find your way to Agartha, and to Eden. To me. You were very pivotal in my bid for my physicality. For ages I shepherded the centaurs, cultivating their society and way of life in preparation for the day you would one day awake and return here. As well as the djinn. Yet another tool to ensure your survival and bring you home. But I shall give credit where credit is due. You survived against all odds against the angels. Primal beings who're slaved to one single command, it was fascinating to see you strive. But now that I have returned, I am finally able to take control, and awaken their true nature. I owe this all to you."
The realization hits you hard; it nearly knocks the balance from you. Everything you had done up until now had been to some degree predestined. All of your struggle, the lives that have been lost, all playing into Judea's hand.
"So you've been waiting.. all this time...?" you mumble as a laugh escapes you.
Celestia then leaned down to your ear to calm you.
"Do not let him get to you, Anon. Regardless of the past, you are here now. You are able to do something. To correct your wrongs and stop him in his tracks."
You nod and then move forward again, staring up at Judea as he returned his melancholic stare.
"Aye, it is thanks to you that I was able to get this far. But as I see it, destiny has fated us to meet here so that we may settle the past. Judea, I should have never pushed you to this. I just couldn't bare to see you wither away... For my weakness, I threw aside all morality. I hurt friends and family alike. I even hurt the parents of someone very dear to me. But for them, I will commit myself to saving this world, and I'll settle the matter of our tethered souls. Bask in your freedom now, Judea. For I will cast you down back into Hell."
Judea had a laugh at that and craned his head in amusement.
"Aho? And what is to stop me from ending you right now in this very moment, Solomon? The only reason you yet live is due to my want to see you look upon this world in despair. I want to see the exact moment everything is taken from you, as you did to me."
"I am what would stop you." Celestia moved in front of you, standing tall and wings spread far and wide.
"How fitting. The daughter of Amalthea, the alicorn in full realization. Of course it'd be you who'd stand against me as well. But no matter. You will fall all the same."
"You are wrong." Celestia retorted. "Through this journey I have seen to power of a single man face with impossible odds. And all throughout my life I have seen the power of those who remain fierce in their beliefs. There is a unity between Anon and I. A bond that cannot be broken, bound by a promise. That unity will foster a collective will for all those who inhabit this world. As a vessel, this spirit will carry on our will and with sword in hand it will fight you to the ends of the Earth. We've felled gods before, you are not the first to come knocking on our doorstep.
Celestia then drew the radiant sword from its scabbard, it's blade still bursting with the light of a thousand suns.
"Even if everything were to all fall away, and you stood on a mountain so impossibly high... we would persist. Your fight is not only with him, but when you drew your sword at Anon you warred on all the world. And in doing so, you threatened me. For his sake and for Equestria, I will see this age old rivalry be done."
She then brandished her sword at the fallen prince, fierce commitment in her eyes. A sound like a hiss came from Judea as he beat his massive wings.
"Very well. I will answer this challenge. Go from this place and draw on your forces. Call upon the will of those who reside in this world, those who'd dare oppose me, a God! I will annihilate you on equal terms.
Judea began to ascend upward, the beat of his wings smashing into the ancient walls of the tower, causing it to rumble and become unstable.
"Solomon Khalifa. You say it is I who should bask in my freedom. I will. But you, you would do well to cherish the life you have left. Next we meet, this world's fate will hang in the balance."
And with that, the King of Angels departed, leaving the two of you in a crumbling tower.