//------------------------------// // 32-With Infinite Power... // Story: This Beautiful Darkness Shall Protect Me... // by Timemaster //------------------------------// The floor was warming up from before, the room getting a bit brighter. "Anaxmoros," I repeated multiple times in this land of bones, laying on the sword in the ground, cowering in fear. I laugh at the baffled Vanessa, who just looks angrily at me. Not true anger, I know, but one of frustration. She begins to walk over here, but I just toss her her sword. It sailed perfectly, as if gravity was not in effect, which it wasn't, and lands right on her hand a few meters away. She grabs it, but it hilariously pulls her away from me, for its force was too much. I see some sense of admiration of some sort on her face, but it quickly passes when she slams into the wall with the sword. I laugh a bit harder, smiling like I have not in some time, and I feel something off. Pushing it aside, I quickly walked up to her greyed body, watching her color come back right in front of me. Somehow, she doesn't seem so tall anymore, though she must be a half-foot taller than me. I grab her shoulder in a friendly way. "So, what do I win?" I smile, "A drink on the house?" I could always make my own alcohol, but I find this like an excuse to get some information. She nods her head, still frustrated, and walks away from her sword thats embedded into the wall... "Ah!" I say, slamming down the mug, full of cider, and laugh with my new fellows, each of whom are some good sailors with great stories. "One day, near the island-nation Hiebe, I encountered the Hubris," Kyle the one-eyed said to us, his collection of mugs putting ours to shame, "The massive ship, composed of pure metal unlike our ships, had seen us in moments and fired upon us." Everyone leaned in, each of us flushed, as he continued, "In moments, they blasted off our sail and nearly raided our ship, but then the tides of the battle changed," he looks at Vanessa, who was still on her first cider, "literally." The sailors and I gasp slightly, "What happened?" I ask. "The Hubris, a pure metal ship that was heavy and near the rocky part of the shore, suddenly collided with the shore-line. The metal dented horrifically, which bewildered us, but we quickly raided their ship as it was nearly sinking," he smiled, holding a piece of pure gold, "from that boat alone, we stole enough money to pay for the entire navy we have now." "So why did the boat bend so easily?" I ask, making him laugh. "It turns out, the blasted idiots made the boat out of a normal steel mixture, but had to cut the cost, so they added some cheaper metals, like copper, to the sides and painted them." I look flabbergasted as we continue down the route of good stories for a few hours or so, but my eyes got foggier every minute... Vanessa carries me to my room, letting me lean on her. I am unable to form a single syllable, so I just direct her to it. I open the door and she puts me in a chair to rest a bit while she sits on my bed. "So how did you do that?" she said, " The steal-my-sword thing, not the triple shot." I almost tell her about how my intense victory happened, my smile smug as a cat, before I am suddenly smitten with a throbbing pain. In agony, I grasp my head and cover my eyes, feeling horrified. I know not of what Wright is doing, but it makes me sick. The pain falls from my head and descends through my body 'till it exits out of my toes. I lay there, nearly unconscious, while I hear the sound of several dogs running coming to me. "Are you ok?" Vanessa said, more surprised at my pain than at my victory. I only reply by nodding a 'no' to her. She picks me up very easily, my vision fading to black as she goes. ... I remember seeing an entire island, prosperous and heavily populated, be obliterated before me. My limitless power was fun to play with, but it made my scenery look much different. While I used this wonderful power, which allowed me to burn down cities who opposed the true deity, it caused me to become incapable of seeing color. I interpret this as an odd change, as it does not add up, for why would a god be color blind? I take no argument to this, for it is just the ways of the gods, and continue to blaze the heathens who dare to disobey me. Like me, their bodies charred in the streets and smelt of a beautiful battle. Then he came once more. My greatest adversary, yet my closest friend, had different uses of his power. Ever since we were both obliterated a thousand years or so ago, we have traveled the cosmos. We both have followers, but his followers are larger in number for now. His powers, the same as mine, make him my only adversary. We fought, just like all the times we met, but it only caused discord throughout the land. Every mortal in the vicinity was destroyed from out futile fight, but then something even worse happened. An apprentice to him, younger and with a less-than-pure version of our potion, joined him in attacking me. Little did he know, though, that that was a horrific mistake. I grab the apprentice, a woman who seemed to be my friends consort, and smash my head into hers, releasing a monstrous amount of magic. I see his followers, who were arriving to watch the battle, burn to death. Their large bodies incinerated in moments and light destroying both of the gods' sight. He charged at me, grinning wildly in madness, as we collided in mid-air, but, at the same time, an odd being appeared. His magic was akin to ours, and the first thing he shouted coming to us was... "You think ye' be gods?" He was an equine, one of the species I was destroying in this city, but I knew who he was. He was the false god who claims to be the son of the creator of this universe, Chaos. we ignored him for a moment, continuing our fight, but then he blasted us with an absurd magic. I, the King of this land, felt my body melt just as my adversary's body was colliding into me... I rise from the floor, seeing that my adversary must have ran, and charge at the son of Chaos. I felt oddly heavy, but my body was moving at twice the speed. My eyes were colorblind as usual, but I could have sworn I had seen colors. It did not matter, though, for the son of Chaos' body was easily decimated by my mere presence. The odd thing ,though, is I did not even move, but I had charged at him. I try to lift my hand, but feel nothing. I turn my head, but only see darkness. I blink a few times, making a horrifying discovery... That I am living with today, for I, Anaxmoros, am the King of Impending Doom, but it seemed to be my own. I laugh maniacally, watching my sword rise from the ground once more, "But I will escape my own doom!" I crawl up the bone mountain, my body turning back to how it should be. My hands easily scale the bone mountain, but I hear the mourning and pain of all my past lives. Sadly, though, I could not help them for now. I made a plan to save my past selves, however it would be intense. For the first part of it involves finally separating with my friend.