The heaven's are equal
A phrase, heavenly in both purpose and meaning. For it was made in the image of the greatest being above.
Who had conquered the vastness of space, their mere presence enough to seed life on planets that had been abandoned and destroyed by others.
Words made in the image of the greatest of beings imaginable.
Clouds above, who filled in the vastness of the great void.
My hand reached for the stars, through the hazy clouds and the all consuming night. For above were the gods, and further… even further than the gods were clouds.
Who reigned down upon us in bursts of heavenly destruction.
Those beings who called themselves the heavens.
Yet they weren't even a being. More a consciousness that spoke for the vast expanse of clouds that painted the void white.
A being that one would call the heavens. Who dictated laws that even those gods, self proclaimed and proclaimed by all.
Even they, in their almost omniscient power, had to obey such rules.
For even the heavens had another name. Spoken in whispers, in the depths of the mind.
Pure destruction.
It was not the kind that one would find in a world, in a battle of gods. But erasure of the whole. Where a fight would always leave a trace, even in the most extreme cases.
Where all was well and done. Those within were dead.
There would always be some memory, one that the world, the people, the gods, it would be recorded for all to see and hear of in the consciousness of the universes.
But the heavens, they left no trace, when one went against. They would be erased from all of time. All of history.
Their actions, the consequences, all would be gone.
Pure destruction.
A death so total.
Though when I breathed again, once more my head was filled with other tales. Rather than the destruction wrought upon by those heavens.
Rather the laws that the universe was beholden to, decided upon by the heavens.
A most common law.
Where one would fall, another would rise victorious. Create a tale of prestige and power.
And so I imitated that law. Created within me a simulation of such battles, so fierce that even one… one misconstrued line, or even a twitch of my eye.
Such would be the death of my power, for one would equal the other, and then some. A battle, a stalemate that would be broken by such a twitch.
Yet it is a technique that, if done right, would bring one equal to the heavens.
For they were equal. In their laws, in their enforcement.
And in their power.
Yet none had ever been able to surpass the heavens in even one aspect. Confined to their laws.
"This…"
I muttered. There was a pulse within my soul. That page that had come with me, even in this reincarnation of mine.
It pulsed with energy. Rose forth and corrected my posture.
Not of my body. But of my soul. Metaphorical hands and illusory palms. Placed over my head in a symphony of seemingly endless trumpets and clouds.
And beyond words… beyond even the grasp of the soul. The energy that raged within my body. Battling forever waging a war on the other.
Where one would fall, the other would absorb such energy, pulsate with power before falling to another.
A process that gradually formed the strings and strands of Qi into another. A golden strand. Against one of pure black.
I exhaled. That page did so too. And with it came a break of my focus. Sweat poured down my face.
"Are…"
There was another voice. It was tinged with such worry. It sounded like… like…
I could not focus. And so I merely raised my hand. Shot forth that strand of blackened Qi. And with it the world seemed to stop.
For those in the vicinity only.
I could feel each and every touch of the ground. And for one second I was able to grasp onto that nascent power I had once held.
Only for it to fall between the gaps of my fingers.
So that when I opened my eyes. To the slaughter of those beasts.
Dead.
There was no other word. They had fallen across the ground.
Those that had not yet suffered a fatal wound had fallen where they stood. And… and…
"Guh…" I fell to my knees. My vision swam and the only thing I could see was the pure white fur of that fox.
"Okami…" I muttered. And with that final… that final word. My vision faded.
…
When I woke… I had no sight, merely gazed upon an empty nothingness that stretched into infinity. Where one might be lost in a mere gaze of such power.
Yet when my eyes broke. The cover that had been pulled on them, lifted.
What I saw was a picturesque scene.
Upon my chest was one I had come to like… to…
I could say nothing more of his stature. Merely of the weight he held upon my chest. The difficult rise and fall of my heart as it pumps blood through my newly created veins.
Veins which held within them fonts of heavenly energy. Golden… just as the heavens were and are.
A power that reached several stages above what I should ever be capable of.
And in that moment of peace.
My eyes stolen towards the clouds above, the crested sun that had risen above the field of hills.
I breathed. A mere breath that placed my heavy eyelids once more over my eyes. A veil that separated me from this world.
"Thank you." I spoke, so softly, a voice that seemed so… so out of character for me.
But between those words of mine, in the written tone, was a thankfulness that words could not convey.
My mind seemed clear, oh so clear. And… and that weight… Okami who sat upon my breasts. He…
He meant the world to me, the only thing left of a friendship… of a mother that could be.
And so my arms wrapped around him, pulled closer and closer, until I felt that any further would suffocate him.
A hug that seemed to bring forth feelings of melancholy and loneliness, only slightly separated by the warmth that his paws… his body gave to me.
Maw placed over my shoulder, to hug me too in this moment of… of absolute weakness.