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An urgent "meeting"4,995 words
The Arrival in Nowhere4,114 words

The Arrival in Nowhere

There is no time.

There is no before or after.

There is no feeling.

There is no emotion.

There is no reason.

There is no place.

There is no beginning.

There is no end.

There is nothing.

And yet…

despite not existing…

…Wingfried “hears” a hollow, deep, and slow unworldly voice:

“…They...left…us…they…left…us…they…left…us…they…”

Wingfried cannot respond or can’t even reason over this anomalous voice reaching out. Because he does not have an organ that can speak, think, or see. Because he didn’t exist.

The voice continues:

“…they…knew…us…they... told…us…they…loved…us…they…saved…us…and then… they killed us…

…And then…we learned to…thrive…

We…loved…them…more than…they…loved us…and then…we learned…to...reason…we…learned…to hate…we learned…to kill…

…Just like…you…just like…you…just like…you…just like…you…

We…gave them…souls…we…gave them…life…they…adored…us…and then…we…took back…our gifts…and they…become…weak…and…they…cursed us…

They forget…us…they forget…us…they forget…us…

We…didn’t…forget them…we…didn’t…forgive them…we…

…they feared…us…they killed us…and yet…they…didn’t bury us…

…the other…three…does not…know…what the final one…feels…

…in time…we…forget… to love…

…cold…cold…cold…

…we burned…the remains of our…enemies…to stay…warm…

…the smell…of…flames…filled our…minds…

…the flames…they… teach us…and…we… learned to hate…we learned…to kill…to rule…to dominate…

…WE ARE MAAR WE ARE MAAR WE ARE MAAR…

…

…Wingfried von Katerinburg…

…You have…done…what you had to…done…

…You…freed us…

…We are grateful…

…In return…we will give you…a mind to… comprehend…

…a tongue for answers…and…eyes for vision…”

Wingfried starts to feel again, and even though he couldn’t comprehend what is going on, his mind immediately fills with fear. He starts feeling his eyes and limbs, but yet, he is too afraid to use any of them. The voice continues:

“…You can open your eyes…”

Wingfried senses that he has to obey the orders of the voice, and opens his eyelids…

And refuses to accept what he just saw.

He immediately closes them…

“…Poor mortal…poor mortal…

…Thinking putting a slice of flesh in front of his cornea will save him…

…We…No…I…gave them ‘fear’ …to escape failure and death…so they would do what is reasonable…so they would work hard and learn to ‘thrive’…

…But for you…Katerinburg…you no longer need to fear…not anymore…for that…now…I AM YOU…

Wingfried no longer fears, the fact he lost a natural instinct should’ve terrified him, but no…he never felt better. He opens his eyes, no longer filled with fear, but rather curiosity. He is floating mid-air, surrounded by a gigantic transparent sphere of unknown (and perhaps) fluid-like substance. In front of him, a colossal plain white entity, to some extent resembled a mantle, the “thing” had a massive void-like “mouth”, presumably smiling, and had two tiny holes above the “mouth”, presumably its eyes. The orb he was in was clasped by its (presumably) massive “hand”, alongside its other massive “limbs” scattered all around, with no clear starting points and ends. Wingfried eventually was able to get his senses together, and ask the first question he got in his mind:

“What is this-…”

*It* interrupts him, and finishes Wingfried’s question:

“-place? And *what* are you?”

A thunderous laugh-like sound erupts, with no detectable origin. Wingfried presumes the entity in front of him was laughing at his pettiness.

“…I already know every single thing you are about to ask…

…Reasonable questions….

…And as a reward, I shall give you reasonable answers…

…Now, I must tell you in order to answer the question “what is this place?” you must *exist* in the first place…

Wingfried is bewildered:

“You mean I don’t exist?”

“Yes… Unless you take “nowhere” as a proper answer, there’s no possible answer I could give you… We are… in the absolute zero… There is no universe… There is no time…”

“But… that makes no sense! There’s no way this conversation itself would go on without the presence of time!”

The entity *laughs* again:

“Yes… You have a reasonable mind… Just the one I needed… Now, to your question… For your ‘mortal mind’ to comprehend my true presence… We needed an “environment” where time and being would function in an “artificial” setting… since a mortal mind can only function within the boundaries of the time and being… I had to “craft” this “place” so I could correspond with you…”

Wingfried asks another question:

“You are Maar, aren’t you? The God of Death, War and Misery.”

The entity is sickened by this “preposterous accusation” and makes a deafening shriek noise in response, leading Wingfried to cover his ears. Maar continues in an offended tone:

“All this reasoning…yet you have fallen for the lies of the other three… Foremost, I am no God… And neither are the other three… a true God would be completely free from bias… while all four of us… are slaves of ourselves and our principles… no matter how much the other three loved being worshipped, this didn’t make them gods… just like it didn’t make me too… They didn’t create anything from nothing…and so did I… we only… nudged things… ever since the start of history…And…in a way… you can say… we were the destiny… itself…

… don’t you think? All these occurrences up to the point of you opening that box… were a bit too coincidental? Think… of everything you’ve been through… the way you survived the revolution… the way you become the ‘Grandmaster’… the way your agents discover the box… the way secrets of the box are revealed to you by a rather ‘mysterious’ book an hour before the meeting... and that book, just so happens to be in your library the whole time…

I already know… that you just considered yourself… to be too lucky… and at one point, you even think you’ve been possessed by an ancient Griffonian spirit… helping you survive… Heh…heh… and turns out…this wasn’t far from the reality…

It was me Katerinburg... I forced myself and pushed my powers to their absolute limits… so you would become the Grandmaster… so you would send your griffons to Griffonstone to recover artifacts… so your agents would recover the box… so they would bring it to you… and so you would find that book explaining the necessary ritual… It was me, who did all that, it was us…”

Wingfried is confused beyond comprehension:

“But… but that makes no sense! Why would the almighty Maar require the aid of a mortal like me?!”

“…As I said…I am no God…and therefore my powers and boundaries are not limitless… as you can see, I cannot directly intervene in the mortal realm… And no matter how powerful you could be in the realm of non-matter… as long as you don’t have a presence, in reality, you are nothing… That box was a gate for me… But… let's say… that gate is not large enough for me to intervene directly… But rather… a hole for me to…to sneak in my abilities… through capable entities like you... I hope you would understand… how hard it was for me to establish that box… in the first place…”

Wingfried is amazed but still confused, he asks another question:

“You tell me that you are no God, and neither are the other “Deities”. But… is there a God? Like a real one?”

“…Yes…”

“Do you…know him?”

Maar “laughs” again with a thunderous voice:

“…I am exactly aware of what you are thinking right now…And I definitely can’t blame you for asking this… But I must say… just because I am an unnatural entity does not mean I have all the answers for you… The God is a mystery to me in a way I am a mystery to you…”

Wingfried asks another question:

“But… why? I don’t know what your intentions are, or why you summon me here in the first place. What is my purpose here?”

Maar starts with an unrelated question:

“…Have you ever thought about how *perfect* your world is?”

“I… frankly don’t see how this is related to my question.”

“…Just answer my question… and you will get your answers to your question…”

“I guess it is a bit… nice?”

“Hah! Hah! Hah! …You simply have no idea…

Your world was supposed to be perfect…

…It was “intended” … or rather… distorted… to be the perfect world… of a perfect universe… Where “they” would escape the harshness and brutalities of other realities, and dazzle their own minds with the images of the “perfect” … Escape the reality… and embrace your dimension… In a way… your dimension is a shelter… for all the lost and pitiful souls… of infinite dimensions… a place the young… could act like young… for an eternity…

I call it… “a petty heaven” …”

Wingfried was yet again baffled and felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere with asking more questions. But he knew he had no option but to keep asking:

“But then… by this “it was meant to be perfect” Do you mean the Pony Harmony? Do you mean my world was designed solely for Harmony?! And I am the absolute evil for opposing it?!”

Maar laughs yet again and continues:

“This universe was meant to be a “safe space” from all other… *entities*… like myself… this reality was meant to be free from… “corruption” … as they called it… I call it; “a reality free from reality” …

…This universe… and your world in particular… was meant to be an anti-thesis… against the “ones” like me… to prove “us” that… life can exist with minimum suffering… and weak could thrive for simply being weak…

…Beyond the boundaries of time… there was a… *time*… when I believed in perfection… where we could guide mortals to build more and more pleasant and sophisticated civilizations… Just like the way… you used to believe in Harmony… before you saw the *truth*… To me… there was no truth… there were only beliefs… and I choose what to believe in… power…reason…and ambition… For “them” these were the motives behind the “corruption” … As I said… this reality was meant to deal a blow to my beliefs… and for an eternity… we clashed over it… but now… you helped me get closer to my goal… My goal is to prove them wrong… to right what is wrong… to empower the weak… and convert the coward… and this dimension was a priority to me… Your World… was kept away from my influence far too long… The “others” have done everything they could… to prevent this meeting from happening… Just like how they tried to prevent you…they killed your agent to scare you off... they tried to make you cancel the meeting… they tried to make you get rid of the artifact… and they tried to prevent you from looking at that box…”

“It was… “them”?! I knew these weren’t my thoughts, but what were these “others” exactly?

Boreas? The so-called King of Gods and God of rulership?

Arcturius? The so-called God of War?

Eyr? The so-called Goddess of Fertility?

Was it someone else?”

“You still have much to learn… and yet there are things… that you simply cannot learn…

The other three? Yes… they deserve to be included in those who tried to stop us… but… alas… Your mind simply cannot fully comprehend what I mean by “them” … A mortal does not have the required mental capacity for this…”

“But… couldn’t you just “make” me have the capacity? Don’t you have the power?”

“…Remember what I said before… I am no God… And if I had the necessary power to create metaphysical entities or at least turn mortals into one…, do you think I would even bother with you?... I would’ve just raised an army of supernatural entities and erased all others from all realities…”

“Then, can you tell me about the other three “entities”?”

“…Capable entities… going after foolery… You wouldn’t believe the number of eternities we spent arguing with one other… Do you have any idea how much Arcturius and I struggled to get the title of “God of War”? … and even though I preferred the title “Lord of War” … But still… I cannot deny the fact that the word “God” has a lot of weight into it… a weight which I can utilize…”

“So, that’s why you turn a blind eye to your followers calling you a “God” right?”

“…Another good reasoning… I’m impressed…

And yes… being a follower of a “Dark Lord” could never be as prestigious as being the follower of a “Dark God” … Being a “God” is a title that I hate to carry… but love to exploit…

All the things… all Archons told you about me… are either false or twisted truth…

I indeed carry the energy of Death, Madness, and Cruelty… but what they never could’ve understood… was that those things didn’t describe me wholly… I never made a person go mad over nonsense… I made them go mad… so they could’ve coped with the tragedies they witness… I never made someone go cruel just for the sake of cruelty… I’ve given them the power of cruelty… for they could suppress those who do not deserve care… and come out victorious through pure righteousness… But sadly… others couldn’t realize what this “righteousness” term truly meant…

I made others reason… make them question their surroundings… And for that, the others dared to call me “the God of Disbelief” … Hah!... Preposterous! … I know what ‘love’ is… I know what ‘fertility’ is… I know what ‘Intelligence’ is… I know what ‘Peace’ is…

But the real reason… the reason they outcasted me in the first place was the fact that I tried to become all of them at once… Instead of making my existence completely revolve around a certain subject… I realized that there is a time when one needs to be cruel… there is a time when one needs to go to war… there is a time where one has to kill… and eventually, there will be a time where one has to love…

…Let’s say; What is the difference between Arcturius and me? Why did we both clash over the “title” of “War”? … Arcturius loves war… because he believes there’s nothing negative about it… he only sees glory in it… skipping the aspects of horror and dread… And on the other hand, *we* love war… not because it's violent… but because it delivers justice… a type of justice that no court in any existence could give…

And your world… has skipped the first phases of reason… and was established as proof that living beings do not need negative aspects to live… And we have done everything to break those dogmas since the start of time… And recently… I can easily tell that we are succeeding…”

“What about Celestia and Luna? What are they? They are the products of the other three too?”

“…They are the products of “things” … which are very close and yet far away to the other three… There’s no ordinary way of explaining this… but you already know that they will be your enemy… The ones like them here were sent here and groomed to be the earthly heirs of this “anti-thesis …”

“And what about the… the…”

Wingfried stops, even though he didn’t fear no more, this didn’t make him immune to grief. He was about to ask Maar about the incident that changed him forever, the incident that made him what he is now. And even though he forced himself to ask the question, he only ended up shedding tears. Maar speaks in his place:

“You want to ask me about the fateful day… The day that made you who you are now…”

Wingfried struggles to answer while holding back tears:

“…Yes…”

“…on that day… the young Wingfried von Katerinburg witnessed his entire family getting slaughtered… And…he couldn’t do anything to save them… The day… he witnessed the harsh reality, that his world didn’t prepare him for.”

“Please… just answer my question… you already know it.”

“…You wonder if Princess Celestia really was behind the revolution… And therefore, responsible for your loved one’s demise…”

Filled with hatred and despair, Wingfried screams:

“YES!!!”

After a pause, Maar answers:

“It is true…”

Wingfried is relieved that he finally learned the “truth”, but he was filled with hatred on a level he never felt before. At that moment, he felt like he was filled with enough abhorrence to kill an entire Pony family just using his claws. He loudly declares:

“I MUST HAVE MY REVENGE!!!”

Maar casually answers:

“Then… Wingfried… do you think you are the rightful one here?”

“ABSOLUTELY!”

“…Why have a mere ‘revenge’? When *we* can deliver *justice*?”

“How…?”

“…. As the defenders of righteousness… We will punish those… who have wronged us…”

“What do you mean?”

“…We must be ready to deliver the justice…”

Wingfried is confused but still determined:

“Then what is my purpose? What is my mission? Who am I going to be?”

“…Wingfried von Katerinburg… Don’t you see? …Don’t you remember what I told you? …I AM YOU…”

Wingfried is now completely baffled:

“But… How can it even be…?”

“…You have been chosen… to be my hand in the Dimension of Mortals… You’ll have my powers… my knowledge… and my eyes… at your disposal… You’ll have powers on levels you couldn’t even imagine…”

Wingfried couldn’t help but smile:

“I- I don’t know what to say. Am I truly worthy of this?”

“…No mortal is worthy… But… We’ll make you so…”

“Oh… So, I’m… not worthy.”

“Wingfried von Katerinburg… You wouldn’t believe what the “others” were planning for your future… Without our intervention, you couldn’t imagine how pathetically you lose in countless timelines…”

“H- How do I lose in those timelines?”

“By betrayal… Those griffons you have under your command… do you think they are loyal to you?”

“I… Not really but- “

“The amount of time you got backstabbed in countless timelines through absurd ways… you could not imagine… Edler… Demetrius… Wilhelm… there’s at least one instance on all timelines where they betray and kill you… while humiliating you…”

“…What should I do then?”

“There’s no need for me to guide you… you’ll know… with my powers… all pitiful plots against you will be fruitless… most won’t even dare to stand against you… and you’ll laugh it off whenever someone tries to challenge you…

…You’ll carry a piece of me… understand the value of it… You will become me… You will become Maar… Just like the way I am you…

You’ll make them understand, that only the might alone can make it right… And among the pitiful weaklings… you’ll reign supreme…”

“There’s… no way of me telling how grateful I am. What are your orders, sir?”

“…Heh …you still don’t understand the “You are the Maar” part, right? …Don’t refer to me as if I’m a completely different entity, don’t you ever call me a “sir” … I am a part of you that you cannot comprehend… And you are a part of me that allows me to reach the realm of living…Remember, WE ARE MAAR…”

“Yes… Si- I mean… Me(?)…Us(?) …What… What should… “we” do?”

Maar laughs to himself.

“You already know that Hellquill is not at a capacity of conquering other lands directly… yet… But before any weapons… you already know what the most powerful weapon in existence is…”

“Words.”

“Exactly… Your world is filled with naïve and ambitious figures… that only would follow their hopes, dreams, and ambitions of greatness and beauty… But for us… We can look past behind the boundaries of our reality… We can easily “use” them… with them never knowing about it… You already know who they are… And we are already thinking about the ways we can use them…

The young and naïve Emperor Grover VI,

The gentle and caring Chancellor River Swirl,

The ambitious and uncaring Queen Chrysalis,

And of course…”

Wingfried’s eyes widen, and a grin appears on his face:

“…Princess Twilight Sparkle…”

“…Yes… She might be the most useful of all ponies… if not the most useful of all living beings… She is experienced…”

Wingfried continues Maar’s sentence:

“-on unparalleled levels and on countless fields. She is emotional-…”

Maar continues Wingfried’s sentence:

“-but determined-…”

“-She is loyal to her friends-…”

“-And she would do anything for them… And she also-…”

“—would do anything to have a good ending…”

Maar “smiles”:

“Then, we should show her exactly what she wants-…”

“-A vision, of a reality, where she *wins at the end*. And then we will tell her… that in order to achieve that reality… she first must comply… to our objectives.”

Both Maar and Wingfried start laughing.

Maar:

“…We have already won this war then…

…Now… you must go…

…Your Griffons are waiting for you…

…And we shall make them know, what REAL power looks like…”

Wingfried grins:

“…I am ready then.”

“And don’t forget… We are watching over you… We are near you… Because… we are one… we are Maar…”

A blinding flash appears out of nowhere.

Wingfried finds himself with his claw inside of the box, heavily breathing.

Behind him, Edler says in an uneasy tone:

“What… just happened?”

Demetrius speaks out:

“My Führer… are you alright?

Wingfried recognizes both voices and turns around immediately. He sees the crowd just in the way he left behind, just a bit more confused. He stares at them for a while.

He starts smiling.

He starts chuckling.

He starts laughing out loud.

He raucously proclaims:

“YOU FOOLS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE JUST RELEASED HERE!”

Silence amid the shocked crowd of griffons.

After a while, Demetrius turns to Erika and says:

“Well, I guess you are the Führer now, Stahlflügel.”

The already nervous Erika and tries to ask Wingfried:

“Um… My Führer… Are you alright?”

Wingfried looks at her and others coldly:

“The former Katerinburg is now gone… He was weak! I now have the powers the Wronged One!”

Erika tries asking again:

“My Führer-…”

Wingfried looks at everyone in the room with eyes of discontent:

“You fools actually think I have gone mad, aren’t you? Heh, heh. Now, let me demonstrate what I mean by TRUE POWER!”

Wingfried turns around and points his claw at the box. And almost instantly, a massive flame ignites from the box, fire reaches the ceiling of the room and enlightens all dark corners. Everygriff in the room gets astonished and horrified by this act of power, most of them take a step back, while the others outright stumble and fall from shock.

Wingfried then turns back to the appalled crowd:

“Do all of you understand what I mean now?”

Erika, who also fell to the ground from shock, asks Wingfried in a shivering voice:

“…My Führer… please don’t get mad at me over this, but this means you haven’t gone mad… aren’t you?”

Expecting to receive a furious response, Wingfried instead laughs:

“No Stahlflügel, I am not mad. And I’ll certainly need ones like you in the future.”

Erika releases the relief sigh of her lifetime, and smiles to Wingfried:

“Thank you, my Führer, I really-…”

But Wingfried has no time to listen to her answer and loudly continues:

“Now I want all of you to listen to me! I have much to tell you, but what I want all of you to know that-”

Wilhelm interrupts:

“Uh… I’m sorry to interrupt… My Führer… But the chandelier is on fire.”

Wingfried turns around and realizes that the chandelier of the room caught fire from the blaze he just released. In a calm voice:

“Ah, no problem at all.”

And snaps his claws. Making the fire disappear. He then continues:

“Anyway, where was I? Ah yes. I now want all of you to know; for that, we have released what was trapped in this box, we have guaranteed all of our victories against all of our enemies!”

After a brief moment of silence, cheering erupts among the confused Griffons.

Wingfried looks at the griffons, filled with nothing but pride.

But sadly, for them, the cheering is cut short when the damaged chain of the chandelier breaks apart, and the chandelier proceeds to fall right next to Wingfried with a great blast. And even though it surely distressed everygriff in the room, luckily for them no one got hurt seriously.

Wingfried looks at the chandelier in shambles, and then turns to Edler:

“Was this important?”

Edler replies:

“Ah, it was nothing important my Führer. Just a 200-year-old piece of antique.”

Wingfried laughs:

“Good to know.”

Eisen joins in and asks:

“...Excuse me my Führer, but about this “thing” you have mentioned, that we have apparently “released”? Would you mind telling us what it is?”

Wingfried turns to the crowd again:

“Ah… There’s too much you yet to know… and there’s also too much you are not ready to know. But for now, we are done here.”

Wingfried slowly heads out to the exit room. Edler asks him from behind:

“And what should we do with the box?”