POV: the Creator

I ruffled my hair in frustration before making a fist and repeatedly slamming the smooth, stone desk in front of me, covered by pages ripped off of notebooks.

"Artorius, you moron! Can't you see that you only made things worse for everyone?!" I cursed the name of my one and only old friend as I crumpled up all the papers in front of me and threw them aside.

I then stood up and flicked my wrist, erasing the stone chair from existence, before beginning to walk toward a crater in the wall.

I rubbed my eyes a little before walking through the distorted space inside the crater that led me into an enormous rectangular place that was about 300 average humans in length and 25 in width. The place was completely made of pure white marble, and the height of the ground varied from end to end, with a level change half the height of an average human every 25 average humans in length.

What particularly stood out were the streams of blood constantly flowing on each side of the platforms, somehow seeming to synchronize with the intricate crimson markings that decorated the marble walls, ceiling, and floor.

I looked at the low end of the space. "Hmm."

I took a single step and found myself on the second-lowest platform. The markings on the floor had been reduced to a mess.

I crouched down as I raised my hand and grabbed the air, and a stack of papers appeared in my hand. He had seen all that effort to take notes in figures that would be incomprehensible to me, only for it to all be useless. He never understood the full extent of my abilities and intelligence.

'The energy used for summoning has to be in tune with the frequencies emitted by the signature of the...' I translated inwardly before.

I then took all the dried blood and turned it into a liquid form that I retracted into my body. Afterward, I extended my hand behind me and drew from the fountain of blood that existed on the lowest platform.

The few liters of blood that I drew were then channeled into a small sphere at the tip of my middle finger. After closing my eyes and forgetting the sensation of breathing, I moved my hand down and touched the white floor that was clean until the moment the red dot sunk into it and started spreading across the surface while I pictured a rift piercing through eternity.

After approximately seven days, the markings had taken their final form. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, letting go of the feeling of drowning before beginning to float upward. After reaching the height of 30 average humans, I took a good look.

Something was wrong. Some minute details felt out of place. Actually, there were hundreds of strands that didn't come across as functional.

Even so, I waved my hand and appeared in a dome that was of a saturated gray color.

I proceeded to put my hands together before slowly taking them apart, revealing a rift of utter darkness that now existed in that space. I gave the rift a tinge of crimson before shrinking it into something miniscule that floated into the palm of my right hand.

My eyes retreated to the back of my head as I started to focus on the blood flowing from my right arm and spreading throughout my body. Then I felt my consciousness connect to the fountain, from where I connected to and activated certain parts of the markings on the second-lowest platform.

My eyes went back to normal as my consciousness returned, and I pressed the thump and index finger of my right hand together before a loud snap resounded throughout the dome.

For a second, everything felt right, and the ends of my lips curled up, but then there was a crackling sound, and my expression quickly darkened. Millions of explosions occurred in a split second as the space inside the dome folded in on itself.

I was unscathed, but the dome was destroyed, and magma from all over started flowing into the open space.

I once again closed my eyes and raised my hands before bringing them down gradually and opening my eyes.

The dome was once again in its original form, but such a small thing couldn't calm my anger or stop my face from twitching.

***

At times, I had considered giving up and using the people from my planet, but each time I firmly decided against doing so. This planet was already in shambles. The people here were doomed. If I relied on such a miserable bunch, my ruins would last for just a few centuries.

I would do anything to make sure my legacy lived on for eternity.

After ten cold seasons had passed since the start of my summoning experiments, I didn't really feel the need to open my eyes to see anymore.

I clasped my hands together with a tranquil mind before repeating the rest of the spell from muscle memory. After it was completed, I waited with my eyes still closed and no real expectations in mind.

It was all the same, whether it happened now or one hundred years in the future. I knew I would succeed eventually, so the question of when was irrelevant.

However, this time, instead of explosions, there was complete silence before I felt the appearance of a person.

I finally opened my eyes and looked down, where the sight of a single human in unorthodox clothing greeted me.

'It is complete,' I thought as a wave of mixed feelings washed over me.

They weren't the feelings I usually got from a successful experiment. They were something else. Something much, much greater.

I lowered myself to the ground and met the confused and fearful eyes of the stranger.

The stranger grasped his arms and sunk his nails into his own skin as I watched and tilted my head. The stranger looked at his arm, which started to bleed after a while, and then back at me before talking in a language I didn't understand.

I moved closer, and the stranger stepped back hurriedly, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. I kept approaching in a calm manner, thinking it would also calm the stranger down, but suddenly there were tears in the man's eyes.

I sighed in exasperation and froze him before squatting and touching his forehead with my middle and index fingers.

Then I channeled a portion of my mind into a series of mental signals that could be translated by the fully functional brains of creatures that exceeded a certain amount of intelligence and sent into his brain.

After I stood up and let go of the freeze, the stranger started violently screaming and throwing up.

'Oh, I guess it would be pretty painful for creatures with such small mental capacities,' I thought, observing the creature's surprising reaction.

When he finally stopped, I froze him again and said, "Do not fear. I will not hurt you. Please tell me if you understand me, and I will let you go."

I let go of the freeze, and the man who had tears flowing from his eyes screamed out immediately, "Yes, I understand! I understand!"

He then waited for my reaction with a fearful expression, and after I nodded with satisfaction, the man's eyes grew hopeful.

The experiment was a success.

I raised my hand and made a fist as if grasping something, and the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head before he collapsed lifelessly onto the ground.

I waved my hand, and the body disappeared.

I had thought about making him the first to witness the full might of my creation, but then again, I did promise not to hurt him.

I transported myself to the center point of the rectangular room filled with markings and looked around before looking down at my hands. They were pale white.

'Maybe I should rejuvenate myself before I get to it.'

***

The Hall of Saints. We were gathered in that place for the last time, right when I had realized the truth.

By the time the gathering had ended, my eyes were bloodshot, and every single person whose existence I had known up until that point in my life had died. I didn't have a single regret.

They should have known better. They had nurtured something deep within me that they had no hope of controlling. Such idiotic actions warranted death.

Before leaving the place behind, however, I spared a single moment to gaze up at the great statue we had prayed to so many times, and when I did, I witnessed something that I would remember for the rest of my life.

The statue of the beautiful angel that had always radiated a comforting warmth that covered the whole of the building now had a goosebump-inducing malevolent presence. And even though I knew very well that it was impossible, I could have sworn the statue was smiling at me then.

***

My eyes opened wide, being greeted by a sizzling feeling that was all over my body as I was submerged in the black substance, and I quickly floated to the top in order for me to fill my lungs.

After drawing my first breath, I bid farewell to the space and transported myself to the rectangular room, simple robes appearing on my figure in the process.

I ascended to the highest platform and mentally prepared myself for the moment. And as I did so, the feelings I had experienced after the successful summoning came back to me. It indeed didn't feel like my usual success. And that was because it wasn't. It was the end of my life.

'Are you sure about this?' I entertained such a laughable question for a split second.

Of course I was. I had been working at this for so long, the idea having been born in my mind as soon as I had left that place.

I put my feet together and started.

I felt my blood flow throughout my body and connect to the roots below me. My consciousness spread all over, but then something unexpected happened. My focus wavered.

'Something is off. Something... Something is horribly wrong!'

I immediately stopped what I was doing and looked below me, where there was a circle of blood that miniscule strands extended out of. Nothing seemed out of place. Everything was as it was supposed to be.

I raised my gaze and thought about every single detail of my creation. I couldn't see anything wrong with it. In my eyes, it was completely and utterly perfect.

Then that voice rang out in my head once again, 'You can't do this! It's too cruel!'

'Too cruel?! You think such a thing matters? It is my life! There are no limits or restrictions when it comes to the truth.'

'That isn't the truth. You had a choice back then, and you know it. I will not allow you to do something like this.'

I still had not forgotten just how determined he looked as he said that. Though I didn't quite understand it, I took precautions immediately after that discussion.

However, now I realized just why he had that look in his eyes back then. "You were right, Artorius. I really did have a choice," I muttered.

I smiled a smile I imagined to be similar to the one I had seen that day and rushed over to the second-highest platform before getting to work.

I altered certain markings and erased others completely, and right as I thought I was done, an even better idea came to mind, and I burst out into laughter.

My hand moved at an incredible pace, creating markings everywhere it went, and once I was done, I looked up and imagined my words echoing throughout the heavens above.

"That's right! I will give them a chance to end it all! Do you hear me, Artorius?! I hope you watch from your great heaven as the people you believe in with your whole heart and soul murder each other for no reason over and over for eternity when they could save themselves!"

I calmed my ragged breathing and rested my eyes before moving to the highest platform once again.

'Ah, right. One more change.'

I directed my eyes up above and pointed at a small empty space on the roof.

'Commandment... preserve life... no less... number of two.'

After I was done, I lowered my hand and directed my gaze forward before clasping my hands together and restarting. This time everything went smoothly, and I smiled as I took in the sight of the markings starting to interact with each other.

It wasn't complete yet, however. As of this moment, the markings were still lacking a sufficient power source. Knowing this, I went on to finish the spell. And as I did so, I voiced my thoughts for my own comfort.

"This is my grave, my monument, my memorial. Let my ruins bestow upon you, lowly creatures, my experiences and suffering," I said before taking one last breath through my nose, closing my eyes, and clasping my hands together. "For this final spell that marks the beginning and end, I sacrifice my soul."