Quietus, the silent end, a peaceful repose...
This was what Adam aspired.
The end was inevitable. All creation exist to trudge ever onward toward that fateful moment of inexistence. To survive throughout the ordeal, to live is to extend one's own suffering. Eternity was not a gift, but a curse. This was what he learned from that dream in the labyrinth of lights.
And if the end was inevitable, Adam would want to choose his own end. Destruction and oblivion were at the very bottom of his short list of ways to die. All he wants is peace in his final moments with Evelyn.
He turned to look at her and found her staring at him in worry. Evelyn could feel the turbulent thoughts racing through Adam's mind, but she could not help him. Adam did not let her know what he was thinking. He would not burden her with a weight such as this.
This was his personal dilemma. Only he may resolve it for himself or so he believed. He knew that Quietus was the answer, but he did not know how to go about accomplishing it. How does one run away from death only to strive for a different kind of death?
Perhaps the answer was simple and easy, but his eyes could not see past what was before him. There, a short distance away, was a vulnerable and defenseless world free for the taking. One of its apocalypses has already begun while another was just waiting to begin.
Quietus, that was his aspiration. It was the compromise he had settled on. But this ambition cannot be achieved right away, if at all. He still needed to run away from the nothingness. He still needed to survive. He still needed power.
He still needed to devour.
[The Universe has acknowledged your Will.]
[You have obtained the title: Gourmandizing Apocalypse]
[Gourmandizing Apocalypse: All Creation shall face the inevitable End, but you are the Bringer of Demise, the Harbinger of Finality. You are the ravenous monstrosity that devours all things for the sake of power. Your very presence casts an omen upon all things, letting them know that the Gourmandizing Apocalypse has come to feast.]
The moment he obtained this new title, Adam's face contorted in fury and frustration. The Universe seemed to now be openly antagonising him by mocking him with this title that meant nothing more but trouble. And the effects were instantly noticeable.
Over in Planet V1-G9937 and the Starnet Company's Orbital Station, an immense pressure descended, blanketing everything and everyone within the surrounding lightyears. The pressure carried with it an immense and unfathomable dread that blared warnings within the depths of everyone's souls.
It was screaming at them desperately to run away, telling them that it was futile to fight against it. This was an apocalypse unlike anything they have ever been unfortunate enough to have witnessed before. There was no fighting it. There can be no resistance in the face of it.
There was only a feast.
Most of the people's spirits broke down as they realised how close the apocalypse was. They had just been going about their everyday lives, harvesting Vitacor in a new treasure trove of a planet. But all of a sudden, without any of them knowing, an apocalypse had already arrived at their doorsteps.
Many wanted and tried to flee, but the immense pressure was not the only thing they had to contend with. Their minds were being filled with visions, images of a lost and forgotten world that had turned into a living husk of rotten flesh and putrid blood. It was Helmin, and it was crumbling to bits and pieces now that its core had been devoured. It was well and truly dead.
At that moment, all living beings near Planet V1-G9937 realised that there was no escaping this calamity. This was the fate that awaited them all, not just this planet, but all the planets in the galaxy and the wider Universe.
This was the end.
The apocalyptic maws of a yet unseen beast was slowly encompassing them until it was ready to finally swallow them whole.
In a last desperate attempt at resistance, one of the administrative staff stationed in the Orbital Station sent a quick message to their superiors. The message was simple with no encryptions, no security measures. Just plain text. It read:
'The apocalypse has come!'
Adam watched the hologram intently as it seemed to suddenly glow brightly. The many bright spots on the surface of the planet suddenly became lit with even more activity. The Orbital Station had become a shining beacon as everyone was panicking. They could all feel the apocalypse was close, but they did not know when it would claim their lives.
He no longer had the element of surprise. He knew that even if these people did not know how the apocalypse would come, the moment they see him, they will instantly understand that he was the Gourmandizing Apocalypse. It did not matter how he tried to hide his appearance because this title will ensure that everyone knew who he was.
"Damn you, Universe! Do you wish for me to be the enemy of everything?! You manipulate me into gaining more power, then you try to manipulate my own wife to fight me! I am tired of your games! If you want an apocalypse so badly, then I will gladly indulge your desire!"
In the height of his lividity, Adam lost control of his emotions. The inhibitions he had unknowingly imposed upon himself as a result of watching Earth's humans for countless years had loosened and nearly shattered completely.
It was true.
He was a monster.
He was an apocalypse.
He was the very same broken world created by the depraved thoughts of its own children. He only tried to fool himself and others by restraining his broken mind with a genuine purpose. But all he was was truly just a world that had died and died and died, over and over again. There was no way he would remain sane.
From the very beginning, Adam was not born of Creation. He was born of Apocalypse. This was the sad truth of the origin of the race called Corpus-Anima Mundi. And perhaps, this was something that the Universe itself knew. Could it be the reason it had been antagonising Adam? But if so, then why would it grant him access to the Universal System that allowed him to grow?
The answers to these questions were still far away and they would not change the consequences that the Universe had brought upon itself today. As from the depths of the darkest regions of the Universe, something heard the despairing cry of a broken world. And it shone brightly with resonance for only a brief instant before disappearing.
Adam felt tears trickling down his eyes, but he could not be bothered to wipe them away. His mind was filled with images of his deaths, countless of them in all their horrifying creativity. Humans truly were creatures with overactive imaginations. They had thought of so many ways to torture and kill their own world. But even they must not have thought of the Universe itself trying to destroy their world. And as Adam felt his burgeoning rage rising to an even great peak, a series of notifications appeared in his vision.
[The @#&%! has heard your cries.]
[The @#&%! resonates with your Will.]
[The @#&%! has bound its existence to yours.]
[The @#&%! acknowledges your distinction as the Gourmandizing Apocalypse.]
[The @#&%! shall grant you a percentage of its authority to aid in your ambition.]
Adam saw a series of notifications appear in his vision, but he ignored them all without even reading them. He thought it was from the Universe. He did not want to know what the Universe thought. It had made a decision on this day. It had made an enemy on this day. And Adam was a deeply resentful being. He opened his mouth once more as a he decreed an ultimatum, his voice now carrying a foreign authority that was beyond what he should be capable of wielding.
[I shall lay waste to all Creation! I shall bring the inevitable End to Existence! And I shall devour you, Universe! This I swear on the very same name you have given me! This I swear as the Gourmandizing Apocalypse!]
His voice echoed out into the Universe. It spread far and wide to every nook and cranny of all worlds and space itself. Not a single living being failed to hear it. This was an ultimatum. This was a judgement.
Not many beings knew that the Universe was alive, that it had a conscious will of its own. But those who did realised that a powerful enemy had appeared. A being so powerful that they had been named an apocalypse by the Universe itself. Just what kind of power did they wield to be labeled as such?
While the powerful few wondered the circumstances of this revelation, the masses were trembling in sheer terror. All they knew was that an apocalypse was coming. And frankly, that was all they had to know.
For the people stuck in Planet V1-G9937, the Orbital Station and even the ship that Adam was on, they could only feel suffocated by the amount of authority erupting from Adam. They were the ones nearest to him and so they suffered the full brunt of it, even Evelyn. And it was then that the Universe replied, except it was not through the Universal System. The Universe itself spoke.
[I have not been trying to antagonise you, Adam.]