Naomi

My vision went non-existent as I thrash around to shake the grip. One second, I was in a man's warm arms. Next, I am in a cold coarse one. I cannot win at all. "Let me go! Let me go!" I screech at the man of the abyss. He shoves me onto the sub-zero ground. I cry silently as my vision returns not to Netedinark's ruined palace, but in a different world. The world is much more ruined than the first one. The architecture is similar to the gallery in Netedinark's palace. The white stonish build with skeletons all around it emits radiation. There's smoke all around us and that has been going on for many years. It's cold and breezy. There's no star, just endless twinkles of tiny stars all around me. They are too far away to be colourful.

"Such a keeper," I gasp to Netedinark's ghoulishly voice. His voice is subtle as a ladder drilled into the Earth.

I spin around. "What is this place?" I demand, but I fail as a nervous wreck, "Is this Uedie?"

"You wanted to know what Uedie, my previous world, Naomi, isn't it that right?"

"You could've told me."

"There's too much of it." More like you wanted to torture me again.

I look around. "You once ruled this place?" I ask him.

"All of it," he replies with sad confidence.

This place looks a lot better than Teketa. "Not gonna lie, this place looked great," I admit. He grins.

My body is split into four quarters. A quarter of me wants to stop him from attacking me. The next quarter is telling me to shut the heck up. The third quarter of me wants to get out of here. The last quarter still has that fight in me, but is holding back. It's more split than Markus's internal battle with his wrath.

My body shifts further away from him. Don't even think about becoming friends with me after what you've done! I will never forgive you and don't get any closer or I will burn your throat to bits! I can literally feel my expressions tighten into a scowl. There's no way I am hiding my emotions beneath an endless sea of coldness. In fact, my throat is dry and swelling up from the presence of him. Any minute now and my vocal cords will slam shut and I won't be able to breathe and talk. It will be a cruel respiratory failure that ends me, not him.

A flash of oblivion radiates from Netedinark as he casts a vision around us. Many story buildings with spherical structures. Buildings are full of whimsical colours, instead of a dark hive with light. It's brighter than Teketa. The species that lived here are dressed in bright clothing, something I see in fantasy high priest movies, games, and stories with photos. They dally amongst each other.

"It was before the Cosmos Order was established," says Netedinark behind me before the visions fade away back to ruins.

"Cosmic what? I am not from around here, y'know?" I did sound a bit snippy on that one, but it's too late to withdraw that.

"Long ago, there was a universe war between Gods. There used to be so many Gods that it was hard to keep control. There's no balance and the Gods took whatever they pleased." Another oblivion vision hits me. I look up and see the past. There were planets near Uedie and light-years away. I saw the bright lights, indicating the advanced civilizations that had developed.

"But some of them were too rambunctious; they would hop around, trying to claim them. This caused the bloodiest war. There were Gods that wanted to summon order and there were Gods that loved feeling the thrill of destroying a planet. They didn't care about their people. The tension was too much." I watched the planets turn red and explode into billions of bits with trees, people, buildings, and rocks on them, doomed to drift into space.

"Which side were you on?" I abruptly asked him.

"Neither," he says with a growl. He calms down, "I wanted to tend to my beloved people that I adored here."

I sigh. "Something tells me that both sides don't take neutral ones either."

"Oh," he smirks, "Your little planet does the same thing as well." He doesn't make it a question.

"Pick a side or die," I said exasperatedly, "You're still going to die even on either side." The only way to pick is to learn the hard way of being indecisive or stubborn.

"Bracus and a few others were neutral, so we conversed."

We were in a polished shiny castle with magic crystals. They had white light dancing inside them like Gaeriscelleh's pathways. I saw Netedinark. He still looks the same way as he does now. He talked to three other Gods. One reminded me of a phantom floating with no legs. This phantom God had one eye where the mouth was supposed to be. They talked with their mouth open. I thought they would chew their eye off. They were bald as well. Another one had blue skin in golden metal clothing. They had golden ripped chains locked into their rest. The God's hair was messy and knotted, but still somehow looked clean. I didn't see Bracus anywhere.

"Um, where's Bracus," I ask Netedinark.

"He never has a distinct form," he tells me.

"But he looks like a wolf."

"He's chosen to take that form. A false form," he says, starting to become irritated and harsh. It's best for my interest to shut my mouth and watch his woeful flashback. I still find it hard for me to pity him or say anything while he tells me his sentimental story just after he tried to use me as an incubator by force. It was hard to see Bracus, but another vision showed Netedinark talking to him. I can only see him chatting as if a parent was seeing their child talking to their imaginary friend. I can't hear Bracus's voice while Netedinark's voice speaks out loud.

"They're starting to get close," he said to him. His tendrils seem more animated back then, waving and pacing around. Now they seem dead on his back until he attacks. They were matching his emotions. They are slow, but tense. They're not smooth, but coarse branches. They would cause a rash on someone's hand if they rub them.

...

"I don't have the power to put a planetary shield. I'm a weak God, you're not. Can you help me"

...

Netedinark literally goes pale. His skin shifted dark grey on this one. Something Bracus has said to him has hyped his nerves tenfold. His nerves ignited my own. I feel him behind me getting closer. My bedbug jumps up my spine. Honestly, it feels like a giant maggot wiggling around on me and trying to pick a spot to nest on.

Don't even get close to me.

"No shield," he grimaces. His voice turns ever darker, "No protection. I thought Izoo and Feca were neutral, but they were in the Anarchy Faction."

Thousands, I mean, millions of meteors rained down, blowing up towns. The atmosphere turned into a poisonous blistering red. Uedie's citizens scattered around, trying their best to escape the meteors crashing into the ground. The ground erupted with dirt, gravel, and remnants of the buildings. They were not advanced enough to leave the planet. The planet became an oven within the weeks of raining meteors.

A family of a young couple- The mother appeared as a Viking Priestess with her hair pulled back in braids while the father was in high white silk robes. Their children were also in silk clothing. The daughter was wearing bright forest green while the son was in lapis blue. Their children were ahead of them as their spherical home was burning to the ground.

"Don't go too far out, Iandie and Rare!" The mother shouted after them. All of them were fleeing. Their breaths were heavy, exhausted, and perturbed by the smoke. The little girl screamed loudly as another meteor crashed nearby, nearly hitting her. The explosion was nearly deafening.

"Watch the melting sky!" The father warned.

"Where should we go?" The son asked. His voice distorted.

"Wherever is safe!" Mother replied.

The father halted. "Stop!" He called out. He noticed something ahead. The children stopped running; the parents caught up to them. A four-mile asteroid hurtled past them, close to landing. They watched it as it crashed. Muffled explosions turned into deafening blasts as the sound shockwave passed them. The mother and father wrapped their arms around their children. Rock vapour and heated material blast with frightening heights began to spread in all directions, speeding towards them.

"C-Can w-we run?" The little girl asked as she stared into the impending death.

"We can't, Iandie," father replied.

They made the children turn around and hold onto them tightly, making them face away from the blast. They knew it was coming. There was nothing they could do about it.

The mother sniffled, "We love you both, very much," she said to them, clutching Rare hard. The children didn't cry, nor shake. They let their parents coddle them, smother them one last time.

"No matter what happens, we aren't leaving. Will to goodness that our Lord is all right."

In a matter of seconds, the blasts swiped by, disintegrating them with an orange and red shockwave.

"I couldn't save them," Netedinark said to me, "Among millions of others killed by it."

The heat in the vision was so real that I am inhaling a pyroclastic cloud. My human lungs would've been filled with fluid, glass, and charred air. Still, it feels like it's choking me from the inside-out.

I squeal so loud as Netedinark claws into my shoulders and pulls me closer to him. Awe is replaced by panic. My body tosses around, desperate to escape his grip. His tendrils wrap around me, stifling my movement.

"Let me go!" I demand.

"If you want to see everything, it's better to see it through my own eyes," he whispers dangerously to my ear. I know he is a sadistic jackass and I should've been more prepared for that. He snarls and stabs his claws deep within my eyes. I scream as oblivion oozes around my eyesight into the sore eyes of Netedinark.

"Why didn't he fight for us? Only just watched?" An Uedian whispered to another as Netedinark dreadfully walked by. The person was yards away, but the words made it feel like he was much closer. They never knew that he tends to the critically wounded while his world becomes less hospitable by the second.

"Millions of us died! Left defenceless in this fzar wasteland, and he is not doing to help us. He is a God! He should've helped us out-Even prevented it!"

The heat, ruins, and starvation killed the rest of the population. By the time Bracus finally arrived to help, all of them were dead. His empire died with despise for his name. Unease rattled Netedinark's heart with a near-breaking wire.

"Sorry for your loss, Netedinark," Bracus whispered to him. I still couldn't see him, but his voice was the same, "Many other Gods have lost their species as well."

Netedinark looked up. The star whimpers out as the phantom God wiped the bright light blue star into nothing. No blackhole. No neutron star. Nothing. Why didn't even make the star go boom and engulf the poor Lesser God himself? These destructive Gods must love the suffering they give to others.

"I have done nothing to piss them off! Why me?" Netedinark cried.

"They don't care who you are. Feca loves to fool and destroy anyone," Bracus replied flatly.

An azure-colour borders my vision, something I never noticed with Netedinark's vision. He doesn't add wicked borders or foggy effects. I see the phantom God implant a distorted cloud inside the Uedian's head. It's blendable, but noticeable like a focal zoom. The sigh goes back to Bracus and Netedinark again.

"Way to use their powers for nothing, but evil and destruction." he rasped and glared at wherever Bracus was standing. His voice becomes hurt, "You knew about this."

"Geris destroyed my world, Netedinark," Bracus argued, but he remained cold, "A long battle ensued. We were both in equal power. His intention was to kill me. His desire is far too radical than the ones that destroyed the planets. Don't rule another life until this war is done. There's little of us, but more insignificant of them."

"They destroyed not only the light of this world, but my own, Bracus! When this war is done, there'll be no light left in the universe to sustain the brightest of minds. If they can't thrive in light, they shall thrive in darkness."

Bracus sighed and said, "Suit yourself. I don't believe the universe is done for. It's only a matter of time until we can rebuild. We can replace mortals."

"Ten thousands of Gods were slaughtered in this civil war. Countless planets, stars, and galaxies joined the corpses until finally the war was over. A law has been created," he says to me as the vision fades. I jerk my jello body away from him with heavy gasps. The blue borders in my vision did not go away after disconnecting from his grip.

"I've created the Teketa with my abilities and my ruling. I want them to live and be strong."

They are alive, not everyone agrees with your ruling, and why am I getting this sudden feeling that what you're creating was not right?

"Still, what you've did to me was unacceptable," I said bluntly, "And you had the nerve to tell me-"

"I didn't use this as an excuse, Naomi," he growls back, "Don't jump to conclusions so early. You've pretended to be one of my people for quite some time. If you wanted to uncover my secrets and my ways, you should've gotten close to me, dear."

"I didn't agree with it! Bracus assigned me! In fact, I did uncover something that you need to hear- Your troops want more secularity. You'd rather want to wage war than set them fre-"

"I've given them freedom. I've given them privacy. I've given them homes. What else do they want from me? They should follow me in return."

"They shouldn't have to; however, they'll respect you more if you had more than military."

"They would be dead if it weren't for me!" He raises his voice. His tendrils are sharpening and becoming more coarse than pumice.

"You'll repeat Uedie, Netedinark," I warn him, "This time, it'll be on yo-"

"No! Don't you dare say it!" His tendrils riled up, "Teketa won't become extinct."

"Your ways will kill them," I slip. I don't know if it was on purpose or an accident. Possibly both, "Let them be like Uedie too! It was a beautiful planet."

"Your side is killing them. You want to wage war and I will prevent that!"

"We are trying to live too, y'know?" I snap back.

"This has been going on for far too long! I want my land and the soldiers I've lost back!"

Well, that's on you too.

His tendrils jot around, ready to pounce someone. That might be me,

"And it starts with you." Yep, that's me. Fri-

His tendril charges at me with the sharpest edge that it can manifest. Adrenaline kicks into me. I dodge with speed. He is relentless. He shoots dark daggers at me, but I create a shield to prevent them from hitting me. Attack after attack, shield after shield, he wants to downright kill me, but I won't let him.

"Call off your army's attack!" I urge him while I block a tendril from stabbing me into my gut with a shield, "Nothing will happen to them if you just recall your troops. More of them will die. Ilit can't recover them all if you keep going."

"I know she won't! That's why I try to use you to help her out! I will try to find ways to keep Teketa going in case of extinction! I can't keep creating them with my bare hands! It drains me."

"I didn't agree with that and looked how that turned out!" I sneer. My aura is now red. I am about to go all out on him and mess him up.

"You should follow a God's command, mortal, regardless if you agree or not! Those who disobey will have nothing, but oblivion coming their way!"

"That sounds familiar," I comment mockingly.

Gosh, will it ever go through to him? Looks like this universe is not so different after all too. Pretty sure, I've already mentioned that. Twice.

My lovely sword with a red graphite texture as a handle and an unbreakable titanium long edge appear. I cut off a tendril. He growls as another one grows back with ease. "For your information, I don't follow any God!" I cut off another tendril, "And that includes Bracus!"

A void takes over. I am now in Netedinark's true lair. The three D's: Deep, Dark, and Depressing. My body locks up. He is nowhere to be found. A strong force from behind me knocks me off my feet. I don't feel the impact of landing. I still feel as if I am falling into an endless pit. My back spasms as my wings snap back, catching my fall. I look up, trying to find the foundation that I once stood on, but everything is too damn dark in here. I look around, trying to find him. All I can hear are incoherent whispers around me.

My spine stiffens up as my chest bursts with blood. I can barely see the tendril coming out of my chest from the darkness around me. I gasp and cough up blood. I don't feel anything other than the exhaustion seeping in. I can't find him anywhere. He has made himself invisible.

He rips open my abdomen, my sides, my arm, and eventually, my throat. I fight the lethargy forcing me to close my eyes even if it's inevitable. My body glitches in and out of existence. No Matrix green effects, just flashing. I can't tell if I am being erased from existence or not, but it feels like it. I don't feel anything, but why do I still feel conscious about it? My consciousness is present this whole time.

"You're nothing, but a monster that killed her own mother!" I hear Netedinark screaming at me from all around me. I open my mouth up to speak. Blood chokes my voice down.

"I've tried to spare you and give you another chance to see through my eyes, but you're more focused on yourself! You've invaded my territory and caused nothing, but havoc! You disturbed the peace more than made it!"

Want me to go that route? Humans can destroy planets for a long-term if we let our monstrosity take over.

"Delusional!" I weakly bark back, "You did worse. Wake...up!"

"Naomi!" I hear Bracus's voice wake me up from an even deeper trance. The void goes away and I am back on Uedie, lying on the ground with a pool of my own blood. It's a shame that I'm used to seeing it. I lie there as Bracus and Netedinark tussle it out. My wounds heal in an instant, but memories don't forget the wounds. I stare up at the twinkling dead sky while the ambiance of sorcery and swords ruin the mood. My eyes are fixated on the foreign universe.

"Naomi, get off the ground now!" Bracus barks in between clashes. I got up. My body is still in a blank state. Vertigo throws my balance off; I don't know if it's all in my head. I wish everything going on around me is an absolute mania created by my mind. I want to escape. Should I battle? Should I do anything? Should I just watch from the sidelines? I am not cheering Bracus on like he is my saviour. My emotions are devoid and so are my thoughts. Something so dangerous in a battle, but I feel I am no longer in it. Bracus is in his false form- A Fai. He was in that same form when he rescued me from Netedinark.

"Naomi, your friends need you!" He informs me as he cosmically opens up a portal to Verantuvia.

I don't say anything. My wings spring back to life on my back.

"Markus lost control! Better save your friends!"

Not this shit again.

"Alright..." That is all I can say before walking to the portal in no hurry.

Behind me, I hear Bracus say with an atomic boldness, "We're below the stability of the Higgs Field; let's fight like Gods as you so desire!"