The Nihility - Part 2

Asura Ryuu's eyes squinted and moved only a tiny bit up, slightly drifting off the chessboard. But as soon as they did, they returned to the chessboard again. Even now, he didn't know the appearance of the being across from himself. The glimpse he caught when his eyes trailed off the chessboard was enough to make his mind spin. It was a darker shade of white - ashen white. That was all he saw, yet merely that caused his mind to reflect the chaos behind him. Asura Ryuu even felt that his Divine Power increased as he caught the glimpse of that color.

He knew the being was humanoid, but he didn't know why he knew that. Did that being invoke this knowledge within himself? How did he end up here when he should be awakening his Soul Spirit? Is this a part of the process?

He made one more move and shortly after, the figure on the chessboard reflected his same move, like a mirror. The only thing breaking the mirror-like balance was the pawn that was already moved before the game started. Asura Ryuu slightly adapted to the pressure on his Soul and thought of the reasons why the being opposite of him copied his every move.

He was playing chess, but his chaotic thoughts tried to find a connection to this somehow, hence his state of mind was reflected in his every move.

As time went on, Asura Ryuu and the figure became familiar with each other's thoughts through the chessboard. The figure would only occasionally comment on Asura Ryuu's move or the situation reflected on the chessboard. Even though the voice was feminine, frail and soothing as if it belonged to one's own mother, it was full of untold power, dignity and majesty. Something that no living being could understand or mimic.

The chaos around the two was still under rampage, but as Asura Ryuu guessed, he wasn't able to feel that scenery anymore. His entire soul was absorbed into the game. Even occasional flashes of thunder couldn't make him blink his eyes, as if he wanted to absorb all the meaning hidden behind the figures on the board without wasting time.

The two played chess for a long time. The interesting thing was that even after so long, there were no figures off the chessboard. The number they started with remained the same until now. Only the situations changed. The count of figures on the board stayed the same throughout the game.

How long has passed since they began? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Days? Years?

Nobody knew, and neither did the two care. For all they wanted now was to play chess. To understand each other through chess.

The games gradually intensified and turned harder and harder as time passed. Asura Ryuu slowly adapted to the aura of the being he was in presence of, even his soul started letting out wisps of similar aura which made that being happy. It finally had a partner to talk with. Even though their talk happened through chess, it was still happy.

Whether the time passed or not wasn't important to Asura Ryuu anymore. He found that the longer he 'talked' with the opposite party, the more excited he started feeling.

From a spark to flame. From a drop of rain to flood.

A mote of light to make the life and universe.

What did the singularity mean? What was the singularity?

The two of them were the singularity.

The game suddenly took a weird turn when Asura Ryuu intentionally put his King outside of the chessboard. If his King wasn't on the board, how could the enemy take its life?

The figure opposite of him smiled a bit and said: "It's finally becoming interesting."

Her gentle yet abyssal voice pulled his soul bit by bit. The game continued as the figures gradually hopped off the chessboard and even the chessboard disappeared. The space itself was the chessboard!

The rules that didn't exist before were made on the spot. The two created their own game. From chess to board-free chess. From board-free chess, to simulation-like game where the two nations warred with each other. From then on, the world was created. Both of them controlled the lives of people in the world.

Various games of different kinds took place within that world. From pure battle with 'avatars' and wars, it turned to the game of life. Leading the lives through figures. Falling in love, creating families, falling into despair, succeeding in life, breaking down in misery. All of that was a part of the game.

The game resembled the world Asura Ryuu was very fond of - it was the life on Earth.

From that, the game took a turn and evolved once again. To the realms where anything was possible. To the Celestial Realms.

At first, Asura Ryuu was slightly taken aback when the opposite party turned the environment to the Celestial Realms, but then the two again became absorbed into the game as time passed... or it didn't? Who knows?

After some time, Asura Ryuu once again let his eyes drift off the battlefield and caught a glimpse of the opposite party, excluding her head.

Ashen-white scales with outlined edges. Each edge had a mixture of colors like the gass clouds of chaos behind him. Each line was sharp and precise. The peak of perfection. There was a pair of half-unfolded wings sticking out to the sides of the girl's body. There were places where scales were not present and the flawless pale skin captivated his mind.

Only after a while did they resume the game they named "The Game of Creation", when Asura Ryuu came back to his senses. His look wasn't as restrained as before, but he didn't dare let the girl's head fall into his field of vision. He knew that if he glanced at her eyes as he was now, there would be no more of Asura Ryuu.

The game continued evolving bit by bit. Although the process was slow, it was steady and interesting. It took Asura Ryuu back to the time when he was on Earth. If only he had games like this back there...

As the game evolved, from Celestial Realms all the way to the Divine Realm and beyond, the game finally came to a stop when the scene changed and turned into a reflecting mirror. Asura Ryuu saw himself inside the mirror and saw a reflection of the girl in it, but her head was hidden beyond the edges.

He stared at the reflection of himself for quite a while and let out a long sigh. From who knows where, he gathered the strength and reinforced his soul as his eyes slowly traced along the girl's body up to her head. He finally saw her. The ashen-white dragon with eyes exactly the same as his.

How many times did he wonder how her eyes would look?

How many times did he ask himself what will happen when he looked at those eyes?

The eyes of a True God.

Yet here he is. The moment he was constantly thinking of finally occurred.

He expected great turmoil in his soul and it happened. But the reason wasn't what he expected.

He imagined the feeling of staring at the Goddess's eyes, but within them he only saw himself.

The Goddess with eyes the same as his.

Pitch-Black Abyss dotted with Crimson Stars.

Four gates to the said abyss - two belonging to Asura Ryuu and two to the girl.

Asura Ryuu: "..."

He didn't know what to say. He could only look at the smooth rainbow-colored hair flowing behind the girl's back freely, unrestrained like a waterfall. He could only marvel at the shine of rainbow-colored gems on her floating crown above a pair of rainbow-colored horns. The rainbow-colored channels running through her ashen-white scales and wings, all the way to her slender tail covered in ashen-white scales.

He felt... incredible. The masterpiece of beauty was before himself and he couldn't say a word.

The girl smiled and gently tapped his forehead with her slender finger. Immediately after, he felt a connection between himself and her.

He knew who she was, what she was.

He knew of the true overlord's name.

Her name ... he actually didn't know of it, for she didn't have one.

She is the Chaos. The Dragon of Chaos and Nihility.

The Primordial Being ruling over all life and creation.

She became his Soul Avatar - the evolved form of Soul Emblem.

Asura Ryuu has finally awakened.

His Soul Spirit is the girl before him.

She is the Dragon of Chaos. The Goddess of Nihility.

He is Asura Ryuu, the Avatar of Chaos.

The two of them form a whole. The two beings with same eyes - the two... are one.