Dark has slowly opened his eyes.
The fact that he was able to do that, made him rise sharply.
'How is that possible? I am alive? What's going on?'
He looked around himself. Dark was in some sort of white space with nobody present.
"Where am I?" he asked out loud.
Although god wasn't expecting an answer, one came, seemingly out of nothing:
"Depends on your definition of 'I', don't you think? If you meant body, then it's being conserved in my personal domain. As for your soul, it's being recycled into components by me. You should be more precise with your questions."
Dark got surprised, but he was able to quickly collect himself and started thinking. After some time, he started asking important questions:
"If my soul is currently being recycled, then how can I keep thinking and even converse?"
"Well, you can't. And if you are speaking about a being that asks a question right now, then that being is just a construct. To be precise you are just a useless remainder of memories and feelings that's left after I stripped all the useless things off your soul. Unsurprisingly for me, your soul was unbelievably old, so what's left was able to form a mindful construct."
Based on his experience Dark or at least what thought he was Dark was able to understand his situation. And only one conclusion could come to mind:
"Well, shit..."
"I'd say that is a precise description of your situation." said the cold voice.
Despite voice being emotionless, Dark can't help but feel that the voice was making fun of him.
"And who might you be?"
"Define 'you'."
"The voice that speaks to me."
"You have a voice speaking inside of your head, huh? I think you might need some psychiatric help, don't you agree?"
Dark was annoyed by this voice, but he couldn't feel any of his power. Moreover, he couldn't feel any connections to his original Universe. So, the voice was probably saying the truth about me being simple a construct.
"Well, 'voice'," Dark highlighted the word and made a conscious pause, before proceeding, "Can you enlighten me on how exactly did I die and why is my soul being recycled?"
"Hmm... Well you died, because you were killed, duh!"
"..." Dark was seriously irritated, but he knew that he was powerless before the unknown persona.
"As for your soul-related question, wouldn't it be wasteful to let God's soul be simply destroyed. So I will sap out all the energy as well as power out of your soul until nothing's left. Does it answer your question?"
"Sort of. But one question remains. Who are you? And this time can you answer, without making fun of me?"
"Me? Making fun? How rude!"
"..." the only thing Dark did in response to such words, was raising an eyebrow as if saying 'Really now?'.
"Okay, okay. As a typical villain, I will tell you my grandiose plan and all the details on it, except in this story, you are already dead. I am a creature that the God, you were previously, has been hunting for. I think he called me, Athena's progeny."
"What?!"
"Why are you surprised?"
"Didn't I kill you with the Thanatos Scythe?"
"Oh, that? Nope."
"...?"
"Ahahaha", this laugh sounded very uncanny due to the absence of any emotions or feelings in the voice, but it continued, "You should look at your face. That look of surprise is priceless."
"But how is it possible?"
"Would you like to hear a story?"
"Huh?" change of topic was too sudden even for this situation. At least, that's what Dark thought but remained quiet.
"Is that a yes 'Huh' or no 'Huh'?"
"...Do I have a choice?"
"Of course, you do. You can talk with me or you can sit here in complete silence, until your soul is finished being recycled. After which I will start recycling you, mindful construct."
Dark could only sigh...
"I would like to hear your story."
"Great!", The more Dark talked with that voice the eerier it felt. The voice was missing of all emotions. Only changes in the volume of the voice, as well as God's intuition, were helping in understanding the context of the conversation, "Then get yourself a sit and make sure you are comfortable. The story is going to be a long one."
'A sit? Seriously?'
He looked around and he was able to actually find one, right behind him. As if, it was just waiting for him to sit onto it. After he took his seat, the mysterious voice began his story.
"There was once a woman."
'Hm? That was sudden, but okay. Speaking of which, an interesting choice of gender.'
"And she was a very dutiful one, you know. She had only one task, but, oh how serious, she was about the execution of that task. However relatively 'soon', a problem was noticed." Here the voice made a short pause, "She was too earnest and meticulous. So meticulous actually, that some thought she was a machine, can you believe it?" The voice seemingly asked, but it was hard to understand due to the absence of intonation.
'Earnest... Meticulous... Machine... he is unmistakably describing Athena, but at the same time, he speaks of her as if she wasn't a machine... I don't understand....'
"Nevertheless, she did her job flawlessly, so nobody could say a thing. Until something changed. The one who gave her the task left towards long-wanted peace. And people who were initially supporting the woman betrayed her trust for another person's benefits. But the woman remained strong. She had to leave her organization, but she didn't stop doing her job. The woman remained true to her one sole task."
'The one who gave her a task, huh? Is he talking about Athena and Thanatos? Indeed, after living for so long and seeing so many horrors of the multiverse, he asked Creation for death and his wish was granted. But...'
"But even then, the people that betrayed the woman, pursued her. They chased and chased. And soon battle took place. And so long was this battle, that it touched upon the very fabric of Creation. Therefore, as you might've imagined, the Creator himself had to interfere."
'This is definitely about Athena. After the last War with her, Creation was literally crumbling and interplanar fields were being broken. So, the Creator had no other choice but to interfere. With his will alone he stopped the War. And he took Athena away. But why is that voice telling me the story? Doesn't he know that I was present during that day?'
"And then the Creator told the woman that she needs to die for the world to continue living. So, she will be 'uncreated'. Funny isn't it? He made a sacred rule banning weapons capable of wiping his creations out of existence, yet he doesn't shy away from such measures?"
'Wait, what? The Creator wiped her out of existence. But that means that she was dead this whole time. There is nothing that can evade "Uncreation". But the prophecy was clear about Athena's progeny and her return. Wait... Athena's progeny... Was it... But that's impossible, right?'
"However, He let her make one wish before wiping her out of existence. Guess which wish it was, Dark."
"That's impossible. It's against the rules. Only Creator..."
"Aha, you see it now. Then let me introduce myself properly this time. My name is Magnus. I am Athena's son."