"If we believe in nothing, if nothing has any meaning and if we can affirm no values whatsoever, then everything is possible and nothing has any importance."
― Albert Camus, The Rebel
[Intruders detected… initiating lockdown protocols…]
"Intruders?" Ven frowned, aura focused into a spike that opened the way to a different parallel. "How is that possible?"
[Another connection was formed at the moment you completed your spell… It seems that your friends have found their way inside at the same time as the Earth.]
Ven left his body on auto-pilot, consciousness projected inward. The system star shone before him, with Earth set into a stabilised orbit. A black sphere rose from the very edge of the sun, moved by the power of the system.
[The one known as Cain is resisting, but this realm cannot remain, unless it is bonded to your inner world forever.] The system complained as it dragged the compressed realm before Ven's nose. [It is not the same as a planet, the space within is comparable to a small universe of its own.]
"Can I go inside…" Ven glanced at his body. This form was a projection, his inner self. "Or will it trap my spirit or something?"
[You will be fine, all of Cain's realm is now a part of your inner world, though it will destabilise over time unless you take ownership and bind it to this space.]
Ven nodded and rushed forward, through the black wall the system had erected. He appeared above Avalon, just in time to witness the Dragon God's wrath.
"JUST LET THAT VOICE DO ITS THING," The draconic goddess slammed her tail into the newborn jungle and unearthed a tide of sand. "It's power saved you but you'll never succeed in stealing away more!"
"A man can dream," Cain brushed sand from his hair. His face tensed, a glance above that met Ven's eyes. He leapt into the air and grabbed his friend's hand. "When the hell did you get back, unfilial apprentice!"
"You guys came to me," Ven laughed as he shook with Cain. "You're conspiring to steal the energy of my inner world, you know?"
"Impossible," Cain snorted as he waved at the blackened sky. "If you had this kind of power, you could have solved all our problems with a snap of your pointy fingers." He scowled as he pulled Ven closer. "Unless you've been hiding your strength to play some kind of game…"
"No games," Ven rolled his eyes as he extracted himself from Cain's grasp. "That star isn't a part of my power… more like a support relic."
"HUSBAND!" Huan lept, prepared for a heroic catch that never came. Ven ignored her and stepped aside.
"No time for that now, Huan," Ven poked Cain in the chest and gestured to the realm. "This place either needs to go, or you need to turn over ownership to me, it's destabilising itself and my inner world by being here."
Cain fell silent. He turned to face the desert expanse that surrounded Avalon. Ven reached out to touch the man's shoulder, concern in his voice.
"You don't have to give it up," Ven gave Cain a shake. "I can send you out into the new parallels and you can latch onto the side of this multiverse like before!"
"No," Cain waved his hand, a sigh on his lips. He reached out and pulled a multicoloured star from the air. "This is the realm core," The miniature sun rolled between his fingers. "I'm forever linked to this place, but It was never mine… not really." He gave a gentle push, a move that sent the star forward in a slow drift. "Once you fuse with it, you'll be the true master of this place."
"If you're a part of this place… doesn't that make me your…"
"Don't say it or I'll take it all back," Cain snarled as Ven snagged the star from the air. "You'll be the apprentice, from now until the end of all things!"
Ven smiled, a warm sense of connection in his heart as the multi-coloured light slipped beneath his skin. A tremble shocked his core, a blow to the mind that drove him to the edge of his inner world, positioned next to the system star.
[Detected instability between the user's inner world and a conquered realm… initiating automatic stabilising routines to preserve users soul…] Ven's system spoke with a dry tone, as though the forced mechanical words irritated it more than his abuse of its functions. [Reshaping and integrating the user's new inner realm…]
Vens bleak, starlit inner world exploded, filled with the flame of his system's star. A wash of white fire that reached out to Ven's new realm. A deep tone shivered down his spine, a note that signalled the birth of a universe.
Space collapsed, even the system's fire fell, drawn into a single, horrible point. A resonance, the hunger in his heart as it looked up, shook his mind. His giant appeared beside him, eyes focused on the unity of energy and mass.
"That's not for eating, big guy," Ven patted the creature's knee. "The system will give you a good feed, after we're finished here."
It ignored him, as always, silent and desperate for food. Ven shook his head and returned his focus to the singularity. The void black sphere rippled, a blush of colour in a place it shouldn't be. The roar of a disgruntled beast, interrupted in its meal.
A ray of luminous force, followed by another, and more, heralds to the coming of a storm. The grand contraction reversed, a singularity spilled open to the glory of the world. Repurposed fire, transformed and hammered until it became something more. Vast and nebulous, a filament formed of uncountable galaxies.
The mighty web wrapped itself around the system star, a true display of its impossible size. Starlight returned to the world, released by the system and rained into the reborn realm. Two planets drifted in its orbit, closest to the joyous deluge of power. Earth trembled, no doubt very afraid of the 'forbidden star' that it now lived beside. The second… the second rivalled a gas giant for mass, a surface of green, dotted by countless lakes.
"Avalon…"