Archon's Purpose

Archon was the first to feel the power, the warmth, the radiance of his Father's presence in the void and called out to Him. There were several things that were on his mind that only his Father could address. As he waited for His arrival, the deity wearing a gold embroidered toga looked out at his domain, only recently finished to a point where he felt he didn't need anymore. A modest, in his mind, Roman palace stood with creeping vines crawling up the sides of columns, growing out of golden clouds. The columns themselves were polished marble, the floor was obsidian, and the ceiling of the main chamber had a mosaic relief of his Father surrounded by the six Primordials, his elder brothers and sisters, each surrounded by representations of their purpose and power.

Xuanyue was above surrounded by ocean waves made of nebulous clouds, galaxies forming within them. Nuwa had a person, a human, in her hand and as the mosaic shifted one could see the person being empowered by her presence. An ever expanding universe was present behind her. Continuing clockwise around the portrayal of his Father was Qinglong, an ornate scale and perfectly symmetrical shapes, buildings, and monuments in his claws. Majestic trees enveloped his coiled form. Baihu was opposite to him, where a nine would be on a clock. Her ferocious black and white striped form showed a manic expression, grinning with madness swirling ever present in her eyes. Surrounding her was an assortment of random colors made to shape into explosions of chaos. Her claws were slightly animated looking as if it was destroying a building while her face radiated the glee she felt at the act.

Between Baihu and Xuanyue was Siwang. A shroud of black so dark that light seemed to get sucked into the nothingness of her garb. The only visible colors were the white skull at the head of the cloak and the burning sapphire orbs in the sockets of the eyes. Behind her was an oversized scythe and a kusarigama, a chain with a weight on one end and a hand held scythe on the other. At her feet were hundreds of skulls of various beings and behind her, juxtaposed with the weapons was a harrowing gnarled dead tree.

Opposite her, below Qinglong, was Zhuque, wreathed in majestic scarlet and golden fire. In the center where she seemed to be breathing was a golden orb. But if you looked closely you could see that orb splitting over and over until it formed a fetus, then a newborn, growing older before the cycle repeated.

In the center of it all was his depiction of his Father, Corvus Rigel. His name echoed throughout creation when Unova gave it to him, so Archon and the six were very much aware of who their Father was. The centerpiece radiated gold and multicolored lightning. In his right hand were seven miniatures of himself and the Primordials. In his left was a still forming universe being created out of a black and white mist, the chaos of creation. His body was encircled by the gold and the lightning.

Archon frowned at this mural as his eyes passed the lower left side, his hand stroked his beard while mulling over his frustrations. As it stood, there were two spaces blank to the left of Zhuque and below Baihu. Four Primordials opposed the natures of each other. Xuanyue and Nuwa, however, had nothing to keep balance opposite them. And it was precisely this that he needed to speak with his Father about.

Looking out of his palace he could see an amphitheater with a silver judges bench, a bronze prosecution and defendant's stand, a gold jury box, and raised levels of marble seating surrounding that for an audience. Archon wondered how long it would be before arbitration would be required of him. He didn't doubt that it would happen. He just wondered about the when of it. Thinking about the long eons ahead of him, he sighed to himself.

"If you sigh too much, don't be surprised if you gain a few wrinkles, Archon." A voice called out from behind him. The voice thrummed with power, making the listener feel small and insignificant, as if His words could shape reality and birth miracles. And since he himself along with his siblings were shaped from the intention behind those words, that was quite literally the truth of the matter. With a smile on his usually stoic face, Archon turned and bowed to his Father, Ruler, and Creator. He raised himself back to an upright position upon seeing his Father motion him to do so.

"Father, there is something important we must discuss." Archon stated, his voice a tempered even tone with only slight variance. Just enough to not sound too monotone but not enough to be considered overly expressive. However, even with his demeanor, it was difficult for Corvus to completely take him seriously as the light played off his bald head and his golden leaved circlet. Holding in his chuckle. He spoke.

"Yes, there is. However, I would like to hear your concerns first. Who knows, maybe the thing I want to talk about is similar to your troubles? Mine has to to do with adding another destructive and probably evil god aside from just Siwang and Baihu." Said Corvus. His eyes flashing with an excited fervor at the prospect.

'Amazing.' Thought Archon. 'It seems as if Father is already aware of my concerns. As expected of him.'

"Indeed, Father. It seems we are of this same mind. We require two more Primordial Gods, or, barring that, just two entities that would be able to counteract the forces of Eternity and Infinity. All four of the others oppose one another, save for Nuwa and Xuanyue. I would be irresponsible and undeserving of my purpose if I was not upset at this gross imbalance between existence and nonexistence, good and evil."

Corvus' eye brows raised in modest surprise. He placed a hand on his chin as he started thinking. 'I hadn't thought of that. That said, Oblivion would be a good opposite to Eternity, but what about Infinity...' He turned to his son. "What conceptual powers would you suggest?"

"Father, I would suggest Entropy versus Infinity, and Transience versus Eternity. To start, as a universe expands beyond it's natural limit, all matter within would be thrown into chaos and disorder, or a state of entropy, eventually returning to the chaos of creation at its base state, only for the cycle to begin once again. As for Transience, one can say that nothing is eternal, not even time. In the grand scheme of existence, there must come a point of non existence, of oblivion. Without non existence, there would not be a concept of existence, just as if someone was always happy, he wouldn't know the meaning of sad, and at the same time, happiness would have no value and thus cease to exist as an emotion. Of course, telling this to Father has no meaning, you must already be aware."

Impressed, Corvus nodded his head, following along Archon's thought process. 'Looks like I can expect a lot from Archon as time goes by. He'll likely be able to give me advice on a lot. Still, Transience, huh? I suppose that makes sense. One minute is a moment gone forever after it ends. It's transient. Eternity is forever, so its only opposite would be something fleeting. How would that come about as a god though... Well, I guess I'll just have to do it and find out. I can always return them both to nothingness if I don't get it right. Plus, there's nothing saying that I have to do this now. There's still so much for them to do before the next two become necessary.' Corvus thought of the vast chaos inside of him and the very limited bits of creation here and there in the form of the Primordial's domains. Clearing his throat, and remembering Unova's advice about putting up appearances, Corvus looked to Archon with a look of pride on his face.

"Well done. That is exactly how I will go about it. However, something you need to keep in mind, is that right now, there isn't a balance between existence and nonexistence. Look around us, past your domain... Right now, there is so little of creation, and so much stray energy and matter. Almost overwhelming creation. Don't you think it would be a good idea to hold off until it just before it becomes necessary?"

Archon's eyes widened at the realization. He looked up to his mural, Corvus' eyes followed. He winced in a little embarrassment at how Archon viewed him, but there was nothing he could do about it, and wouldn't discourage it. Archon looked lost in thought for a moment, before looking down at his hands.

"Apologies, Father. It seemed that I couldn't see the proverbial forest for the trees. I was so focused on the balance between my siblings that I didn't think of creation at large. You are completely correct."

Corvus nodded. He wouldn't admit that he hadn't thought of the overall picture until just now either. However, there was something else to talk about.

"These two new entities. They won't be like you and the others." That got Archon's attention.

"What do you mean?" Corvus took a deep breath and answered.

"I don't want them to be a major part of the multiverse. Just a force for balance and to temper Creation to become something more solid, more stable. They'll be more like a program, set to engage whenever Creation reaches a point where testing the limits of it makes sense. Other than that, they'll be able to dismantle universes when the balance is threatened. The main difference between you all and them is that you all have free will. They will not. Evil and destruction will be their sole drive, unlike Baihu and Siwang. Both of them can be viewed as both forces for good and evil. Chaos brings destruction, but also inspires evolution, ways to overcome the chaos. Death is universally feared by mortal beings but is just another part of life and also enables the cycle of rebirth. These two… they will be nothing but pure hatred, evil, madness, and destruction… While I know that they're necessary for the balance that I created you to protect. I don't want them having the free will to do evil when it's not necessary. Mortals will be able to do that themselves perpetually throughout the millennia without divine inspiration or manipulation from them. The only time I want that to happen is when I decide that it needs to happen, not whenever they decide. So… I'm not going to let them decide."

For a brief moment, Archon could sense a deep hatred from Corvus. 'It seems Father is not completely impartial. However… I think I can understand his reasoning, evil without a leash will just destroy everything that He aspires to create. Still… I can't help but feel that this decision is going to hurt us in the future… When the time comes, I will have to keep an eye on how those two perform, closely. If there is something amiss, I'll bring it up and He'll be able to rectify it then.'

"As you will, Father."

Corvus nodded, and turned to the rest of the palace and the amphitheater. "I love what you've done here. The Roman architecture fits you very well. If you want more Italian things, you could add a few olive trees, maybe a grape vineyard."

"I didn't believe that they were necessary. My domain follows my function." Archon stoically replies while looking out between his large columns to the golden clouds surrounding his palace.

"Archon. You have an eternity to spend here. If you need anything you can't create yourself. You can always ask me."

For a fleeting moment, Corvus could feel a desire welling up in Archon, but it just as quickly left him. "What is it?"

"Nothing, Father. I merely thought for a moment that horticulture might be nice. I was able to create look-alike vines, but they don't truly grow. It'd be-" Before he could finish, Corvus snapped his fingers and a forest filled with all the types of trees he could think of surrounded the Palace for miles. He had a bonsai in his hands suddenly. And handed it to his son.

A rare smile played across his face as he though of raising all of his trees for years to come. Archon looked to his Father with gratitude in his eyes. When he was about to voice it Corvus stopped him.

"I don't need a thank you, you're my son. I would like to do anything I can for you to make sure you have everything you need. Let me know if you need anything else. I'll be visiting the rest of your siblings for a few days."

And then He faded into mist.

'He may not be impartial... but I'm sure he'll know what to do when the time comes.' Turning his eyes back to the unfinished mural, he frowned. He tried to shake off the uneasy sense of foreboding he felt looking at the empty spaces, but it kept eating away at him.

'Does... Father have to be the one to make them?'