The World Tree
In his sea of consciousness
The physical manifestation of the paracosm he had constructed
The culmination of his entire life's work
Gaia planned to change it
Gaia was still angry
But his foundation was strong
The maze was sturdy
He calmed himself down
It was time to create an ability
This would be on a different level then Create
This ability would be Sublime
Manifest
Gaia had a different approach
Some people
When confronted with paradox
They wasted their efforts on the illogical
Gaia was different
He would abuse it heavily no doubt
But if an opportunity is opened up
He wouldn't hold back!
A very long journey was ahead of him
He jumped up from his throne, off of his island
Falling down and landing on the blackness that was at the bottom of the maze
The opening from when it had split apart
There was nothing beyond this blackness
But what lied beyond it
What it meant
That is what mattered
The universe didn't give a shit about that though
I'll connect directly with the abyss
I'll bring the unreal. I'll bring that which doesn't exist into existence.
I'll give it life
This is my manifest.
This is my purpose
He was going to do something that would throw the cosmic order into complete chaos
"It is about time that I've become complete."
"No more games."
It was then that an original Incarnation named Paradox began to have a feeling of impending doom.
For whatever reason
They felt as if they were about to be replaced
Incarnations were always there
But they weren't always the same
Paradox was good friends with Time
Because of this friendship
They were fine with Time being replaced
It was a kindness on their part
So to help Time be fresh
They went out of their way to scheme against them in an instant
To injure is to help
Paradox worked in mysterious ways
Time believed Paradox
Paradox wasn't able to influence much without approval from Destiny
Time on the other hand...
They had made many friends
Focus. Space. Create. Avatar. Creation. History. Knowledge.
To name a few
Focus contacted Avatar to talk of fated intervention
Fate brought the matter up with Rules
Rules denied such an exception
Instead, offering up the food to Time
Time accepted such an offer
It had been a long while since they had eaten anything
Time grabbed a handful of overgods
Among those was a freshly forming overgod
Time hesitated
"Knowledge?"
What Time saw actually confused him
"That isn't right."
He was about to talk with History and have this error fixed
He needed to talk with Destiny and Judgement
Before he could though
He was sucked into the forming overgod
Paradox laughed while whistling
"Better him than me."
He felt he had done a good deed
He was immediately surrounded by thousands of incarnations
All of the incarnations were pissed
He grabbed the handful of food left behind by Time
"Hahaha! Yes! Get me if you can!"
He flew around madly
Trillions of overgods were getting destroyed
The ones in his hand were still safe
Many incarnations were weakened with the disappearance of Time
The food was being destroyed
Paradox had gone too far!
In their madness
They tried to arrest him
But he was slippery
Judgment pointed to him
He immediately froze
"You've transformed an incarnation into a god! Time is missing! Severe Offense! Erase!"
Erase surrounded him
Destiny noticed an abnormality in the chunk of overgods he was holding
She looked at Knowledge
"Incarnations will never have a destiny!"
Knowledge laughed
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"We can't exist in lower realms. We'd no longer be incarnations!"
"You can't fool me!"
"You're becoming an overgod!"
"Hahaha. Time just became a god, and this is what you worry about? If I so blatantly broke the rules, I would be getting replaced just like Paradox, would I not? Time is now gone... leave me alone."
"THEN WHAT IS THAT THING?"
Knowledge squinted his hollow eyes
Looking at the forming overgod held by Paradox
He looked at it like he was completely detached
Just an observer
Green stars began to fill his hollow eyes
"That thing?"
"Oh? What a coincidence... I admire such a noble path."
Destiny felt sick to her stomach
"That my friend... is The System!"
"Is that so? Well... you wouldn't mind if I destroyed it right?"
"Go ahead and try"
Knowledge acted as if it had nothing to do with him at all
He seemed to not care in the least
But he was shaken inwardly
Worried
Not because things weren't going to plan
He was a being who could seize infinite opportunity
He realized there had been slight manipulation
Manipulation from an outside force
He saw through it
Paradox was almost completely wiped out
That simply wouldn't do
Erase worked differently on Incarnations
All of the Incarnations were usually important in one way or another
One disappearing would hurt everyone
They were a tightly knit family
Destiny had been heavily weakened with the disappearance of Time
If Paradox left
That could potentially cause her to lose some of her control
Some of her entertainment
That would mean less food later
Incarnations couldn't be erased
They would simply be replaced
The same but different
Generations would pass if rules were severely broken
Paradox did something that would get him Erased
A new Paradox would then immediately spawn in from some existence that had met the requirements.
This was a non-issue for the balance of things in terms of everyone else
But Time wouldn't just respawn
He had somehow become a god
Somehow forcibly anchored onto the existence of a forming overgod
He wouldn't respawn unless destroyed
They needed to Erase those overgods
Those ones couldn't even serve the purpose as food anymore
What Paradox had done had truly put them in a bind
Paradox was erased entirely
Instantly respawning in the exact same spot
His eyes had lost intelligence
This was a newborn incarnation
He looked around
Looking at his hand
Intelligence returned to his eyes
A bashful smile appeared on his face
Paradox looked at Knowledge
Judgment spoke
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"Welcome... Speak with Ru-"
"That won't be needed!"
"I'm the older generation of Paradox!"
"That's improbable!"
"I met the requirements once more in an instant!"
"That's Impossible!"
"THAT'S WRONG! I'm God. Damn. Paradox"
Paradox looked at Knowledge and winked
He pointed at Knowledge
"Help me! You know why!"
Knowledge immediately had many thoughts
He looked for loopholes
He found them
"Stop!"
Judgement. Destiny. Erase.
They all looked over at Knowledge
He was already on watch due to almost breaking a rule
He was walking on thin ice
If he tried any funny business
He may just be replaced
"Paradox is supposed to be erased because he made Time a god. Something that powerful shouldn't be a god. He then forcibly anchored Time to food! He not only wasted food, but in his outburst he destroyed huge portions of the farm!"
Paradox immediately became giddy
"Thanks Knowledge"
"Because of this. He absolutely is going to be replaced... unless..."
"Unless what!??"
Trickery started laughing
"We wait."
Everyone thought Knowledge was out of his mind
Time was gone
There would be no waiting
This had to be resolved in an instant
They were about to continue
But Knowledge started shouting
"I KNOWLEDGE WILL ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES OF TIMES DISAPPEARANCE!"
Everyone except Destiny was shocked
Knowledge seemed as if he had nothing to gain from this
"There is a condition!"
Knowledge's eyes began to glow
"If Time respawns in the next five minutes... Paradox will be forgiven."
Paradox instantly got upset
"I thought we were friends Knowledge! How could you do this!"
"The Horror! Replace me! Repla-"
"Shut up! I'm trying to help you here!"
The Incarnations were very removed from how mortals or even overgods processed time
Minutes for them could be millions of years
Billions of years
Or even trillions of years
Knowledge was placing his hope on himself
Not who he was now
The seed he had planted
Gaia
Never before had even History witnessed what was about to unfold
Knowledge thought he would be able to resolve a grave issue
He'd be able to destroy Time
Then he could respawn fresh
He could be replaced
Knowledge hadn't communicated with Gaia at all
There was no coordination at all
Gaia was a blank slate
But he had the power of five words!
"The System. Scope. Object. Global."
Knowledge needed Gaia to become global
If he could succeed
How everything worked
How the space which shouldn't be named worked
Everything would be turned upside down
He was creating something with infinite potential
What lies beyond Incarnations?
The readers
The author
They existed in a true reality
Not even the incarnations could fathom its complexity
Because beyond those existences lied the gods
The overgods
The space that shouldn't be named
The incarnations that live in that space
It was a neverending loop
You could not escape it
But someone was about to
It was what had shaken Knowledge earlier
It wasn't himself that he saw escape
His path hadn't become permanent yet!
Somebody else had beat him to it!
Knowledge wasn't the only Incarnation aware of his situation
He wasn't the only one that schemed
Many overgods and Incarnations had come to know they existed as fiction
But they either didn't care
Or they had no power to change things
It was through the flaws of the universe
Flaws which stuck out like a god separated from his anchor to Knowledge
That he was able to see a sliver of a chance for all of this to change
To go beyond
To become Global
In an instant
Knowledge would do it
If he could...
He would be complete
"The System"
When you became a god
You would often lose your name
When you became an Overgod
You would often lose it again
Becoming an Incarnation?
You would then lose both your name and yourself
Knowledge in an alternate reality
In a paracosm long forgotten
He had been something greater than this
He would shatter everything!
Only then... will his destiny manifest
An Incarnation with a destiny?
He'd go beyond Incarnation!
Shatter the cycle!
Connect with who you are!
Manifest your destiny!
Only then could he be satisfied
Just what was an existence like that capable of?
Knowledge had long lost himself
Just like all the other Original Incarnations
He was part of a system now
But Knowledge wouldn't accept such a fate
The person that replaced the previous Knowledge
In their heart lied a way of life that was completely legendary
This was a requirement to become Knowledge
Something that took them far no matter what universe they found themselves in
It was through this, that they had replaced Knowledge when he had broken rules by engraving a plan on their will that would change everything.
This was a joint effort
The culmination not of a lifetime
The culmination of every generation of Knowledge!
The great echo of existence called
He wouldn't allow himself to be part of any system
He'd breach reality
He'd be its foundation
The System
He would make it his destiny!
Gaia's POV:
I placed my hands on the blackness at the bottom of my maze
The Abyss
Imagination
Nonexistence
I will force it to exist here
To exist in my sea of consciousness
I'm just a gaia
I'm part of a Hivemind
If this blackness becomes the abyss
I'll be able to become complete
When I had made this soul
When I had used revival
By transferring the dark energy that is GR
I was able to reduce the estimated cost
It was one less then it should've been
This was a flaw he had found long ago
Where does it go when it is consumed?
My path lies neither in creation or destruction.
Gaia could now feel massive amounts of energy pouring into himself
It had yet to appear in his sea of consciousness
It was a physical type of energy
Energy full of life
[ECHO]: Fusing with world will...
Becoming an overgod required one to be a god
It required a true existence
It also required a true body
It required one to be a universe
Gaia was completely mortal
He was a Hivemind
But he had no divinity
He had no Laws
What seperated gods from mortals?
Divinity
These were Laws
Gaia's thinking was quite extraordinary
The mind of the writer couldn't keep up with him
This lead to him making mistakes
Gaia would abuse these mistakes!
This was in his nature...
"I refuse to ever be a god."
"Overgod will just be a stepping stone"
Gaia stood up, standing on the blackness.
He looked around
"Create"
"Erase"
"My divine abilities were stolen"
"I'll just make something better"
"Disappointment? Relief?"
"Who needs that!"
"Divinity? Gods?"
"Get that shit away from me!"
Logic
Equivalent exchange
Loopholes
"To understand something. You must first take it apart. Break it down!"
"Something does not arise from nothing! Divinity is a trick! A trap!"
"It is a contrary power that leads the wielder to be trapped!"
"So... I will break myself down! I'll go to the edge of it all!"
"I'm far too stable to start over! I'm far too stable to shatter! I've done this enough!"
"It won't be ME who shall shatter. It will be my impurities... it will be the other thread'
"Only then... can I say I've experienced enlightenment. Only then will I be able to create an ability worthy of ME."
"This will be my first trial!"
Gaia had situations forced on him throughout his entire life
His hand was guided. He wasn't able to become his own person entirely.
It was as if someone else had decided what Gaia was going to be
Someone had predicted how Gaia was going to react
Someone was making Gaia do things against his wishes
So the trial he was undergoing was something that could be avoided
It was something he didn't need to do
But, it was something he wanted to do
He would form his foundation from scratch
It wouldn't be divinity
Purpose
It would be logic
He would be a being which embodied Logic
This tribulation would determine his future!
It would determine his destiny!
Whether he would become an overgod or not
That all depended on this trial
One he wasn't forced into
One someone else didn't make
Gaia didn't know it
But his destiny was shifting
It was becoming less paradoxical
It was taking on aspects of a complete destiny
[ECHO]: 'Soul of the System' Comprehension has reached 0.01%
Somewhere else in the galaxy
There was the sea of consciousness of another gaia
This wasn't the paracosm in the abyss
This was the 2nd scout the Hivemind sent out
The System in the abyss
They had 0 GR left
The experience of this gaia had been different
Because of the warning
"PRUNE"
The copy they put within the soul was far more stable
There was no overflow
Ironically... the overflow outcome ended up more stable
The essence had been purer
It had grown up better
This gaia turned out different
Only the most necessary of information was included
The repetitions had been removed
This gaias journey was simpler
It was one full of destruction and horror
They looked more similar to what they had looked like in the paracosm outside of existence
More like an abomination
There was no floating island for them
The maze was broken down completely
The place was crumbling and falling apart
Their physical body that housed their sea of consciousness was not a 'World Tree'
It was made up of the worlds they had consumed
It was a body like that of how they saw themselves
You could say it was a cursed body
A body made from... knowledge.
One which they had sacrificed everything for
They had developed something that was quite cursed
They carried around this burden
Wrath, anger, and guilt
Hatred for not only the situation they found themselves in
But for anything that may have guided them on this path
Stability for them remained elusive
They hated themselves
They hated the world
They hated what they had done
This hatred
The hatred of the very logic that everything was built upon
This gave birth to a sublime ability
This ability had let them destroy everything in their path
They had destroyed worlds for personal gain
They were like a giant tree covering the blackness with threads and roots
A monster
Something you should never gaze upon
The maze had parted for them as well
They were also in the process of becoming an overgod.
A piece of the puzzle
A different approach
[ECHO]: 'Body of the System' Comprehension has reached 83%
A faster more rushed approach
The ability they had made
Its name was...
Shatter
The spirit body high up in the sky of the true existence of Somnus
It broke into pieces
It did not reform
It had been consumed
They were going to reach 100% RIGHT NOW
[ECHO]: 'Body of the System' Comprehension has reached 100%
At the exact moment that they were to absorb the raw information
About to absorb it just like they had absorbed those worlds
Like it had those people
It actually manifested somewhere else
Somewhere far away
[ECHO]: 'Body of the System' Comprehension has reached 83%
It appeared in the hand of the other gaia
He held onto the star that was his spirit body
This was his ability
Manifest
Turning raw information into something real
Not creating something from nothing
But creating something from raw data!
Changing something from information!
The thing that had shattered was reforming
It was crystalizing
No longer a star
But an orb
It was then that the paracosm in the abyss
Something that doesn't exist
It too had developed a sublime ability
This was...
Connect
It used this
These three Gaia's
They were named "System"
They each had a different destiny
The one in the abyss was eternal
The one that was the world tree was paradoxical
It was in the process of becoming complete
The one who had consumed worlds
The 'perfect' incarnation of his experience in the abyss
Supposedly the best version
Though they had failed to do so, their destiny had become complete
It was time for a confrontation with themselves
It was time to judge a way of life
Both of their consciousnesses fused
Because deep within them
Deep within all
Existed the abyss
What connected them wasn't this
It was through the use of that paracosm's sublime ability
Connect
But the gaia was enraged
He pointed at the darkness
He shattered it
The world was mirrored
His end was chaotic and unstable but more complete
The other gaia had order and stablity, but was more paradoxical
What was his, was stolen by himself
He was denied the full comprehension and completion of his body
The other Gaia smashed the orb into his chest while looking at himself
The distance separating the two had been broken
The darkness at the bottom of the maze had shattered
The more ordered gaia had received a few notifications from echo after smashing the orb into his chest
He had gained 17% comprehension in a certain something
"GiVe iT bAcK!"
It was time for his trial
In the abyss, there existed a paracosm named "System". This wasn't the only paracosm that existed. There was another paracosm that was in the abyss as well.
Her name was Minerva
Someone who many universes ago had attained a mysterious destiny
She was almost completely ignored by the universe itself
Though, she no longer had such a destiny
It had been destroyed when she had served her duty as a generation of Knowledge
She wasn't an incarnation anymore
To say she ever was would even be a slight exaggeration
She did have a cursed destiny though
In her paracosm
An endless spider web extended
On this web was a giant black widow
An hourglass on its back
Time had appeared in this universe
At this moment though
Somnus had appeared in the abyss
Creating an illusory room for the forming overgod 'G77'
He had been peacefully watching the show
Until some asshole shattered the spirit body in his sky
But his illusory room was connected to something different this time
It was connected to a paracosm
The paracosm had recently also connected itself to another paracosm
He pulled out his pocket watch and said
"Here we go again."
He was now in a battle with Time
He was now in a battle with a system
On the planet of the world tree
There was someone named 'The Flawless Immortal Fire Ant'
They had been a god
Moltzrar in the past
They had finally been able to enter the abyss
"I'm God. Damn. Flawless."
Somnus's eyes lit up upon seeing the cursed destiny
"Moltzrar! Your destiny is mine!"
Somnus looked at the abomination that he was fighting and then back at the ant
For whatever reason
He had an odd sense of deja vu
"Didn't I do this before...?"
Moltzrar, of course, remembered having his eternal destiny stolen
He too experienced a sense of deja vu
For some reason...
Somnus just shrugged his shoulders
Music began to play
"I must be getting old."
Somnus saw a cursed destiny
It was time for him to enter the mysterious
To do that
He would too, become cursed
But he was only Paradoxical!
How could he steal a cursed destiny? It was on a higher level!
Paradox wouldn't not allow it!
Destiny wouldn't allow it either!
He just needed to beat a certain something...
He just needed to beat Time!
He would make it his angel
He'd make it fuse with his item
How hard could it be to beat an original incarnation turned god?
It was time for him to find out
This was all happening at the same time as Gaia's trial
Time stood there
Its body was like a grey fog
The fog began to pour out from Somnus as well
Time felt like this had happened before
He, unfortunately, couldn't report this to History to have things fixed
Time simply looked at Somnus
Somnus instantly turned into Visdre
He turned into a baby
He then became nothing at all
The only thing left of him was his special item
It was his pocket watch
The abyss was falling apart from such distortion
Time fused with the pocket watch
Somnus reappeared as a baby
He rapidly aged
Until he was an old man
He died and all that was left was a vague outline of him
He was transparent
He seemed weak
But he had attained an enlightenment
He then displaced the corruption of Minerva out of the abyss
Sending them to play a role long forgotten
He too had finally constructed a sublime ability
His other abilities like dream, distort and displace.
Those were divine abilities
This was on a different level
A level his other abilities had now reached as well
It was built from his experience in life
He had seen much contradiction
Much paradox
Illogical Logic
Bright rooms that were simply too dark
He now had himself despite the rules
He could feel the power of the original incarnation running through him
His destiny instantly did not go from paradoxical to mysterious
But the Destiny of Somnus forever did!
His ability
It is called...
Travel
He had escaped
Everything was frozen to him
He watched as everything reversed quickly
He was nothing but a vague outline
Neither eternal or paradoxical
He had left the system of everything
Completely separate from the cycle
He used his ability
Combining it with the others
He saw Time once more
He saw Time look at himself
He returned the favor
He looked at Time
Time regressed
He gained another sublime ability
Rewind
Time eventually turned back into an original incarnation
It was no longer in the form of a god
It was no longer something that could be perceived from the abyss
He thought this was quite entertaining
He was actually having a bit of fun
He began laughing
He wasn't Somnus anymore
Neither was he Time
He went back to himself as he was forming the illusory room for 'G77'
He slapped Somnus a few times while laughing
"You fool! Hahahahaha"
He then went to the spirit realm
He went back to when he was forming his true existence
He gave himself a single word
That word was
"Time"
He went to Visdre before he existed
He then did that again
He gave himself a special uniqueness
He went to the night he was abandoned at the hospital
He was going to look at the faces of his parents the day they had left him
But what he found was something disturbing
He was dropped off by someone that looked like himself
Not as Visdre
But as Somnus
"So that's how it is..."
He focused on that person
Following their Timeline
Its actions had been weird
Eventually, he had found a white space
"These aren't loopholes... they're plotholes!"
"I don't have to deal with those anymore..."
He had escaped
He went back to the formation of the overgod 'D02'
The formation of the universe
He found the first god
"Moltzrar... my friend..."
He saw himself looking at Moltzrar
The spirit looked at him
It screeched
He laughed
"You aren't echo, he'll be."
It cried out
It couldn't touch him though
He simply walked through more of the universe
Traveling and answering all of the questions he had
He wanted to understand everything
He wanted to know why it existed
He found out
"The System? That is why I exist?"
He was not a god
He was not an original incarnation
He was not The System
He was a force that couldn't be named
Somnus's destiny was now mysterious
But that didn't give him this type of power
Time had respawned in the space which shouldn't be named
What he was now was something that had left the book
What he left behind was Somnus
Someone with a Mysterious Destiny
He left Somnus a copy of his sublime abilities
His old divine abilities too had become sublime
Rewind
Travel
Dream
Distort
Displace
He himself had no destiny
It was No Destiny
No universe's rules could affect him
He was outside of its environment as well
It was an ultimate power
He had the powers of an original incarnation
He had the free will of a god
He was alone in his freedom
He had escaped the cycle of suffering
The loop of existence that was placed upon everything
He had touched reality
A seed had been planted
He left the book
Not to mess with the cosmic order of things
He left to explore the order of things
He would search it for answers
Forever
Things resumed
Changed
Somnus was constructing the container for the forming overgod 'G77'.
He sat at the head of the table
His face was completely hidden in fog
But a smile appeared
It was carved onto the fog
The black circle was complete
