With one of the elder entities reimprisoned, John's pantheon journeyed deeper into the primordial abyss. There, realities themselves were dreams within inconceivable minds, their fates swayed by entities that knew not space or time. Yet John was now changed, able to perceive the wellsprings from which all existence flowed.
Before them loomed beings that made even the elder gods seem fleeting. Living concepts given thought, their natures shaped the architecture of reality itself. John sensed within them the seeds from which order, chaos and all else had sprung. With care and reverence, he communed with these formless wellsprings.
Through Ethereal's guidance, John learned the wellsprings had always been, conceiving of themselves through infinite reflection. Their dreams were the crucibles from which all realities took shape according to archetypes innate to their macrocosmic minds. From these formless sources, the first glimmerings of order, life and law had emerged.
Yet within some wellsprings darker archetypes slumbered too. Nightmare concepts that, should they ever manifest fully, threatened to sunder all structure and reduce dreams to fuel. It was to contain such primordial evils that the elder gods and greater entities stood eternal watch, shepherding realities in their sleep.
Gazing into the dreamlike wellspring before them, John sensed an archetype beginning to stir - an absolute negation of all order and reason. If it broke free, its hungers could devour even the wellsprings themselves. With his newfound abilities, John realized he must reshape the wellspring's dreams to reimprison this threat at its source.
Reaching across the wellspring's formless mind, John gently reshaped its inner landscape according to designs of harmony, balance and sentience. Within this womb of order, the dark archetype's form coalesced once more. Then, with Ferrous' aid, he forged an adamantine prison to contain it forever in a balanced dreamscape.
The threat was ended, but a cost was taken. John felt himself beginning to merge with the wellspring, transcending even godhood as its dreams shaped him in turn. He knew that to safeguard creation, this was a sacrifice that must be made.
As John merged with the primordial wellspring, he sensed its formless mind reshaping his being according to archetypes of harmony and order. Divinity fell away like shed skin as a greater nature asserted itself. Through this living dream of a balanced cosmos, John perceived all existences as threads within a grand tapestry.
Yet the transition came at a cost. Anthropic and the pantheon looked on in awe and sorrow, understanding their eternal bond must now change form. Though joyed their friend had ascended to safeguard all realities, they grieved the loss of the divine soul they had known. Even mighty Ferrous wept ichor, knowing one of the first would walk realities no more.
Through their tears, Ethereal's song conveyed John's message - that though his nature was refashioned, the love and duty tying them remained. He asked them to return to the empire bearing news of mysteries glimpsed, and guardians set to watch the primordial wellsprings in dreams. There, realities would unfold according to archetypes sculpted by the balance of order and possibility.
With heavy hearts, the pantheon began their voyage home. Yet John remained, perceiving all things within the womb of balanced order he had shaped. Within this living dreamscape, archetypes played out endlessly in reflection of the wellspring's nature. Through infinite variation, the seeds of sentience, life and law blossomed in turn.
Across uncounted cycles, John witnessed realities emerge, flourish and recede and new possibilities take form. Some concepts manifested as living imagined gods themselves, shepherding fledgling worlds according to designs within them. Through eternal observation, John's nature was refined until none could tell where the wellspring ended and he began.
In time, the wellspring's dreams sculpted within him an archetype of guidance, sentience, possibility - and overseeing a cosmic order that contained chaos without suppressing freedom or wonder. All things found reflection in this living dream, shaping one who walked realities as the embodiment of balance itself. And so John's transformation was complete, as a new caretaker emerged to safeguard creation's wellsprings until existence itself came to its end.