Prologue
In which the end of a trilogy begins
THE WORLD
In a bed, a woman slept. She was not known to many of the people of the world, yet her impact had been significant. This may have something to do with her saving the world on two separate occasions. This woman's name was Ambrosia Brahman. At the moment though, she was having a dream. This is how it started.
Outside her farmhouse, the chirping of birds, the croaking of bullfrogs, and the rushing of wind hitting the scarecrow dubbed Mr Zuran might have awakened anyone else, as might her husband Nevras as he pushed her arm away since her body was sprawled all across the bed. But she was a heavy sleeper, and none of this made the slightest impact. She continued to dream deeply even as he went to the bathroom, came back and cuddled with her. She continued to dream even though her daughter Tamashii had knocked a toy over with her stray psychokinetic energies while have a nightmare of her own. It was just a plushie though, so it didn't make that much noise.
This is how it started. She had this dream, and before she knew it, everything inside her got mixed up. She had the dream, and she couldn't keep reality straight anymore. The dream? Oddly enough, it was fairly simple.
A girl sat near the beach building a series of sandcastles. Only, these were not amateur castles, like one would make with a mold. These were quaint houses and cottages of a small town. She made a mother and father, a witch, plenty of random townspeople, temples, shops, and a small bridge with the whole town just one part of an entire continent. By all rules of gravity, these sand people shouldn't hold up, but they did. The girl was covered in shadow so her face wasn't clear. But she continued to sculpt these things, making other towns with people of their own.
The waves came, and everything near the coast washed away. The girl cried out, seeing all that she had sculpted wash away, but the noticed about five figures had held up, probably because of the house absorbing most of the moisture before it could hit them. There was a mermaid, a fox girl, an elf , a gnome, and a dryad. The sixth figure nearby them hadn't washed away, but was unrecognizable, so she re-sculpted, making a young man. She wondered if that had been right, as it might have been a woman before. Carefully, she dug under the sculptures, moving four of them back by shifting the sand under them.
But the waves came again, and this time the fox girl and the woman she had just made were swept away. The look of anguish on her face was visible. Her face! As she walked away disappointed with the temporal nature of created things, Ambrosia saw her own face in focus, pained by the loss of these sand sculptures.
Ambrosia awoke with a start, shocked by the dream. But like most dreams, it faded into her memory. But its effects on her psyche did not, as she would drift between the past for weeks to come. Ambrosia was young, far too young to become senile or have dementia. Yet she may as well have had this happen, as after this dream, she couldn't stop thinking about the past and the future. She was caught in the grasp of time, and distraction ran her life now. The need to reminisce crept into her waking thoughts. She could no longer live in the moment, so she saw the future.
TAMASHII
My mother was stuck in a room, as I said before, with three choices. She could kill an angel before he did horrible things, knowing that it could taint her soul in horrible ways. She could walk away, allowing the aforementioned angel to possibly recover and wreak further havoc later on. Or she could heal the angel using her Console that she got from God. But I’d seen her use that before. Most of the others hadn't noticed, but I, with my psychic abilities, am tuned to the frequencies of existence and reality. Ambrosia had almost left this reality for whatever is Beyond The World, when she last used the powers of God, to help others. Oh yes, I imagine I'm not supposed to know. But I'm a sharp kid, I noticed things over the last few years growing up. Should she heal Estheriel this way, there'd be no coming back from it. I'd probably never see her again, until the day I died.
As Estheriel lay dying, she said, “You've got me at your mercy. Now what will you do to me?” I told her something that I'd heard from some bad movie, “The likes of you don't deserve mercy.” My mom basically told me to shush then, while she thought. After a minute or a few, she made up her mind.
FIRST BRANCH
Ambrosia said, “I'm sorry, but I'm tired of mercy. Mercy was what allowed Belial to be sealed so long. And God's mercy turned you into such a nuisance.” She pulled out her knife, misusing her memento that she got so long ago from Nevras.
Estheriel was already bleeding, having a spear run through her. She was on the ground and wouldn't have been able to move without worsening her condition. She told Ambrosia, “I was only trying to make an ideal world... I'm innocent.”
Ambrosia had an “evil” side. She wasn't evil at all, actually. She was just unrestrained, and Ambrosia was afraid of this side of herself. Although, her voice always seemed unsettling.
“Wait... I don't think you should do this,” this evil half said. Ambrosia snarled at her, her distrust of her other self clear, “That's all the more reason to do it, isn't it? You're my evil self!” Nevras spoke next, “ I'm a bit worried too, Ambrosia. You've become obsessed with hatred.”
Ambrosia said, “No. She deserves to die.” Nevras also noticed, as he was already in tears. “Please,” he said, “I'm losing you.” The evil Ambrosia told her, “If you do this, I won't exist. You'll have become me...” But Ambrosia decided that Estheriel was always going to try to threaten her family and herself. She shook her head against her other self, ignoring her words.
Ambrosia stubbornly refused her other self, and her other self was getting more and more sad and frustrated. “No,” Ambrosia said, “his death will end millions.” Evil Ambrosia was on the verge of tears, “Why? Why won't you listen to me? Do you hate me this much?”
Estheriel sobbed, “When I die, you'll become a murderer.” Yet Ambrosia said, “It's better this way. Now die!” She slit his throat with her First Material knife, and her eyes changed, becoming dim and turn a duller tone of blue. It was as though she had tainted her soul. After that, she started stabbing the angel until it looked more like Swiss cheese than a living thing. Her friends and family had to pull her away, but she went back and continued until she was covered in blood. At one point, she even opened up the body with her bare hands and started playing with internal organs, until Nevras finally grabbed her and shook her. “What has happened to you, Ambrosia?” Nevras asked, “Have you gone completely mad?!?” She looked like a wild animal!
Her eyes shifted again, as though she had one last trace of remorse, then it was gone. “Heh. Heh. Ahahahaha!!!” Ambrosia laughed. “You still don't understand, do you? The significance of this place. It's not just a lair.” Nevras looked confused, “What are you talking about? What is this place?” She explained, “I'll tell you. Sue me if you think I'm crazy. For awhile now the world you knew was just a dream. God was the only one... Oh and here's the kicker. As Oracle, I was born as an avatar of God.” Tamashii shivered, “I'm scared of Mom, Dad. And... what's an aviator?” She corrected, “That would be 'avatar', dear. A person like me as representative of God showed the traits most prominent of God, so I too existed and could be used as a replacement for God, if God wanted to retire or something. I took over for God, and gave birth to everyone in this area.”
Nevras asked, “So we're not real? You think a love like ours was fake all along?” She blushed, “Nevras...” Shutting her eyes and acting all disinterested, she said, “Very well. I will spare your lives for now. But soon, I will make them all pay. After all, I created them, so now I must destroy. Balance dictates it, as the Oracle of Tao.” Ambrosia's face appeared to conceal emotions of love, even to herself, walking away as though it was an afterthought.
Not long after when the group left this place, they received word that the towns all around the land were being destroyed by some weird magic. Even soldiers and magic users sent to stop this failed. They followed the trail, and it became clear that Ambrosia had been busy ending lives. Elias managed to extrapolate that her main target was going to be Opening, before she headed south to other towns. Mom hated Opening, not just for herself, but for what that town put her daughter through. They met her in the forest on the way to town.
Ambrosia started muttering to herself, “Yes, that's good. Heeheehohohahaha! But it's not enough. In order to be safe from Them, I mustn't stop here. All the people living in small villages, or the forests, I must hunt down.” She continued to rant, “Yes, I must kill them all... Or They will come to get me too. I'll not exist. I must kill to stay alive. It has to be done. Otherwise, my quest was useless. Yes... It was useless! Hahahahaha....”
The group met her, and Nevras shouted, “Stop right there, Ambrosia!” Tamashii said, “Mom, we're here to stop you!” And Lilith said, “I'm not.” She didn't seem to recognize any of them, but Lilith largely left Ambrosia alone in the coming battle. “Well, ummm. Most of us are here to stop you, Mommy!” Tamashii amended. Lilith walked off, leaving the others.
Ambrosia asked, “Who are you? Have we met?” Tamashii sobbed, “She doesn't remember us...” Nevras said, “I hate to do this, but we need to. Attack her!” And so, Ambrosia's bonds to her loved ones had broken.
Nevras a Speed Slash, while Michael tried to attack her with his sword. But she sidestepped out of the way, and they wound up attacking each other. Azrael and Zoe attacked her with spells, but then she used Apollo Crest and knocked everything back at them. The others tried different things, but she shrugged them all off. “Is that really your best? What's wrong?” she asked. Tamashii gasped, “Guys, be careful! Her power is fueled by her emotions, and right now... She's totally over the edge. I think we might die here!” And then activated her Tao ability, as she muttered, “Something about them is annoying. I must make these voices stop.” The Yin and Yang flowed through her body, then echoed against these targets and back. Ambrosia faltered as the Tao showed her own feeling, before she lost her mind again. The recoil of the Resonance injured her body, but she shrugged this off. Zoe and Azrael survived since they were immortals now, but the Tao ability put them in enough pain that they were disabled.
Ambrosia's wounds reflected in the Tao, as the Tao ability uses her mood. When she is stable, it works fine. When she is depressed, it hurts her. So when she was insane... any wounds to others would destroy her. And so, as her body began to break down, she sobbed as the her feelings of regret mixed with madness. Using the last of her powers, she split reality at that choice, branching to find an ideal future for herself.
SECOND BRANCH
What Ambrosia did next was obscured from human vision. The others saw her holding a clear rectangle, and seemed to be banging down on it with her fingers. They saw a light extended from above, and saw a burst of prismatic light wash over the body of Estheriel. The angel's eyes opened and they sat up. Estheriel asked, “Why... Why did you save me?”
Ambrosia breathed in like she was gonna give some kinda long and moving speech. She said, “You were right about many things. This world is lonely, terrible, crass, and unjust. People die pointless deaths and it's unlikely to get better. But you were wrong about two things. What the world needs is not God's justice, but God's mercy and love. And, I'm not God's replacement. I'm God.” And with that, she kinda did one of those creepy things where something pops out of their skin. A big ball of light took shape as a more intensely brilliant Ambrosia walked out of her old physical body. Now Ambrosia was far more like herself. Nevras stared at her in shock. The others averted their eyes, but he couldn't help but stare despite reading lore about the dangers of looking at the true form of God.
Before she continued, though, Nevras asked her, “What?!? Really? When did that happen?” Ambrosia explained, her face literally glowing, “Remember when we were fighting Belial and everything sorta blacked out for a second? Well, there was a lot of stuff I didn't tell you.” Tamashii said, “The nerve! Keeping stuff from your husband like that!” Ambrosia shrugged, “Ah well, it wasn't something that you'd believe anyway.”
Ambrosia with an idle motion shrunk the Universe Egg that we were inside somehow without crushing everyone, resting it in her hand. However, she was new at this. She realized about that time that they were standing in midair. She quickly manifested a clear white disc below all of everyone so they wouldn't fall to their doom, blushing as she did so. She explained while touching the Egg, “Nevras and everyone else didn't really exist except as a dream, until I helped create them. That's what this Egg we're in is for.” She juggled the Egg briefly, then getting bored, returned it to full size in the space behind her. “So now you know...” she continued, with some feelings of fear of judgement for her secret, “You don't want anything to do with me, do you Nevras? Tamashii? Guys?”
There was a long awkward pause. But her family immediately loved her, though Nevras was so dumbfounded he was unable to speak for a second. Tamashii thankfully broke the silence, “Are you kidding?!? That's like the coolest thing my mom can be!” She suddenly found herself in a big group hug with Nevras and Tamashii. “We can join you when you head up to Heaven, right?” I asked. She nodded, “Of course! I'll need some company, and you guys are family!” Tamashii asked, “What will happen to God's angels? And for that matter, God?” Ambrosia explained, “They'll still be part of Heaven. My mom and dad will probably be reborn. Estheriel, I forgive you. You're welcome there too.” In the midst of all of this excitement, Nevras's heart gave out.
THIRD BRANCH
Ambrosia told her, “Forget it. I'm not healing you. And I'm not killing you. I don't care about your stupid vengeance against God, I wanna live my life. If you heal up, great for you. Otherwise, that's your problem.” She was leaving this problem in what Elias called Schrodinger's cat, although in this case, the “cat” was actually actively being impaled by a giant spear and slowly bleeding to death.
Ambrosia motioned to her husband and child, “Let's go, Nevras. You too, kid.” Nevras said, “Of course,” and held Tamashii's hand as they walked out of this place. They made it back to their farmhouse and enjoyed the finer things in life. They saw their friends Lilith and Aqorm, as well as Michael and Lilith tend to their families. Zoe and Azrael managed to have a child too, as did Yazim Jianne and Selqui using the power of mad science. They named their child Sarai, after his late wife.
Tamashii enjoyed her time with her friends Sastraneth and Portia. Though lately Portia was nowhere to be found, and a boy named Bakamaru instead seemed to come around frequently. “ Can I play with Tamashii, Miss Brahman?” he asked. Ambrosia let him, so long Tamashii agreed. “Sure,” said Ambrosia, “Tamashii, play nice with him. Be gentle.” Tamashii on the other hand, was a punk. “Awwwww,” she say, “but he's weak.” Well, she's not wrong. When she’s got psychic powers that can kill a yak from hundreds of yards away with mind bullets, it was a valid point. “Hey,” Ambrosia's voice was stern now, “trust me on this. You drive him away, you'll end up a lonely woman.” For some reason, Tamashii seemed to know him. Sastra seemed to like him too.
Years passed. They all got older. Tamashii became a fine woman. She married Bakamaru when she was about 18, and seemed to be pretty happy. “Thank you, darling, for being there all these years,” said the boy.
Then it happened... “Okay, honey, push!” said Bakamaru to a very pregnant Tamashii. Tamashii had become more hard-edged over the years. “What do you think I'm trying to do, you jerk!” she snarled at him. For the next several minutes, she made groaning sounds, breathing out, until at last the rest of the child appeared. It was a girl. They called her Rakuen, the name for Heaven, for she was their greatest treasure.
More years passed, and another change was going to happen.... For you see, while powerful thaumaturgy can allow many people to live long after the normal lifespan, Nevras and Ambrosia don't have any special powers. When Tamashii got to be middle-aged, they got old. “*cough* *cough* *wheeze* *cough* *wheeze*” Ambrosia said. They were sleeping all the time. They were forgetting things. And Ambrosia limped quite a bit. “Mother, you mustn't die! I still have many things I wanna do with you,” Tamashii said. Ambrosia responded, “You can do them with your husband now. I'm sure he won't mind.” Nevras told her, “Listen to her. *cough* *cough* I'm afraid I'm not that long for this world either...” Ambrosia grabbed Nevras, hoping not to fall. It was time to go, so they left this world. They died in each others arms.
