100 - [End] / Asher the Extravaganza Part 02

"Halt," I heard a low voice say.

Looking around, it didn't seem to belong to anyone present.

Great, another disembodied voice. How many of them have we seen up until now?

Four?

Though, unlike those times, both the boy and Kavir were frozen.

Sure, the boy could be frozen with just the power of the Paragon, but the Paragon itself?

Strange, that doesn't usually happen.

Who's the person who was pulling the strings behind the curtain?

Could only have been the Head Honcho himself, The Big Cheese, Urien, the oh-so-scary God of Death.

But up until now, he's been more like an absentee father. Why would he show up now?

"Seriously, if you want to talk I'm gonna need, at least, an avatar of you to look at. Something like a burning/not really burning bush or an actual guy. This 'voice of god' shtick really doesn't bode well with me." I said to the air.

…And, yep, there he was, standing before me. I'd imagine the God of Death differently, instead I was presented with a lanky emo.

"Why?" He asked, getting closer to me without moving. Either I was being moved towards him or the other way around.

"My limits are pretty much anything that involves children."

"Is it really that simple with you?" He asked. His tone didn't change.

"Yep."

There was a silence.

"If is that is truly the end, then, as a boon, because you have made if this far and I have taken a slight interest in you. Is there anything you would like to know before you face oblivion?"

"Once I met a guy called Aebshem, who claimed to be a prophet of yours. Is that true? I can't really imagine that you're the type of god who has favorites among mortals, or do you?" I asked.

"He, who claimed to be one of mine, was nothing to me. Not a prophet, not chosen by me in any way your minds could comprehend. He was simply a delusional man. High on his own power, believing himself to stand above the rest of you."

"That sounds a bit… harsh? I guess. Secondly, could you explain why you have taken an 'interest' in me? I don't think I can figure this out myself, seeing that you are a somewhat 'higher' being than me."

"Because you are simple but also because you are complicated. Such a sight I haven't seen in a long time."

"I'm really split here if I should take this as a compliment."

"Do try to. You don't want a lot. Why is that? You don't really want power, even if you have it. Love is not something you strife for. Glory, fame, riches, not a lot takes ahold of your being. Not even helping other people or making a name for yourself, you just meander about, strolling through place to place, just seeing where the paths leads you then disregarding it when it does not suit you anymore, why? You may blame your current state of being to the supposed status of insanity, but irrationality is also something which does not have a hold on you. No, rather, most of your decisions have a rationale behind them, even if just a fraction."

I used a spell called [Party Maker] and a little bit of confetti sprayed out of my hands. "Yay for me, right?"

"Why has Alexandra chosen you, of all the infinite beings in the infinite worlds, and given you new life?"

"Maybe she is just a bad judge of character?" I said, using [Party Maker] a second time.

And this time, a full-blown magical parade rolled in from the mists of the beach, then disappeared into it again.

Hey, I have my buff again!

Quick, I need to think of something so that I have a bit more time to think of something so that, maybe, I won't die.

"Are gods omniscient?" I asked.

"We know a lot," Urien said, "but we do not know everything."

"Can you read minds?"

"Some can, some can not. I have been around long enough that I know the hearts of man."

"It seems like you do not like Alexandra very much. Why is that?"

That should keep him occupied for a bit, and I'm sure 'reading' my intentions are gonna be hard if even I barely know what I'm doing.

Uhh, yeah, seriously, what the fuck am I gonna do?

First, [Silent Cast]. Urien was barely paying any attention to me and I think, in his god-mind, he didn't care that I'd cast even a single spell. Conveniently, [Silent Cast] is also cast silently itself.

Just to make sure that he really isn't going to see/hear.

[Silent Cast] [Silent Cast] [Silent Cast].

Can't be too careful, can I? Four times should be enough. But what now?

What spell or skill is gonna rival the power of a god? Or save my ass, at least.

Before I cast any spells, the mist of the beach lifted, finally revealing the light of the sun, or should I say 'light' of the 'sun'.

When I looked up, I saw that there was no celestial body in the sky which gave this 'planet' its light.

Instead, the light that came from the heavens was people, or 'people'.

I knew one of them; it was Alexandra.

Arigato, Alex-Sama (and all the other gods), here to save me, and everyone else's ass, I guess. Wait, I'm the only one who is left. Oh, and the kid, he was still frozen in place.

"Urien," one of the gods called out, clearly angry, "What, in the name of all that is graceful, do you think you are doing?"

The God of Death laughed, "what does it matter what I think, oh God of Love? The only thing that matters is what I do."

"Honey, the name's Qintoris, and what you do is meddle, and the meddling look is not something which lends well to your whole theme. Yours is more of a dark, loner type, far away from people and their affairs."

"I choose what to make of my own affairs." Urien retorted, "unlike most of you lot, I choose what I am. And now what I have chosen is not to be what I am. And do any of you really believe you can stop me from un-doing my being? I spent eons dealing with all manners of death. I know what I am doing. Choosing my successor, in a manner I see befit, is only a courtesy I do for the uncaring universe and the lot of you."

The gods landed.

Alexandra was at the forefront with the God of Love, as Urien called him, next to her.

  Behind them were also: 

A very unhappy, and very, very tall man in armor. 

A small, tired looking woman.

An old man in white robes and a long beard; pretty Abrahamic-God-looking kinda guy.

One had a Fu Manchu style mustache and more narrow eyes than the rest of them.

Anyway, there were a lot more but I'm not gonna describe every single one of them.

I mean, I can see them. Why would I go through the trouble of narrating the looks of all of them inside my own head?

The main point was that they were a large group and clearly upset.

One god, his face was unclear, hidden behind a large hood, walked in front of the arguing gods and they were silent as he approached.

He spoke slowly and with a sense of gravity in his words, "Long… since long ago have we performed our duties, in all unhappiness that can be imagined, in all misery that can be brought upon a being. It is not new that you are upset, Urien. But what does disturb us is that you change the given fates of mortal beings. As you know, we tolerate many things, but meddling to such a degree… we do not agree and thus we cannot look away."

"Why? We usually do. You most of all. Destiny-" Urien spoke up but was cut off as the hooded man shouted, which scared a few of the lesser gods.

"I never look away, Death God! I perform my duties aware of everything. I am aware of every strand of fate that is being pulled and all the consequences that are being brought by them. I am not grateful for the role I have been given, but my happiness is no concern because I was not made for it, neither were you. You are not a person such as these mortals you have been toying with, even tortured. You are a function, a basis and reality in which the essence of being all lie in, but it seems you have a defect. You are a function gone awry. You see yourself as one of them, something with the feeling, desire or sentiment of those who employ that which is your obligation."

"You and all of our ilk are too ignorant to know our folly but not me," the god of death said.

"Umm, yeah, can I leave?" I asked, interrupting the gods.

"You? You don't matter and have no say in the matter of anything. You are a nothing. A speck of dust, oblivious to the true ways of the world." Urien said to me, and I thought he was being unnecessarily rude. He addressed the hooded man again, "would it matter if this mortal were to die?"

"If his destiny demands so," was his answer.

"Does it this time? Or are you, as always, unwilling to share what is to happen? You are a powerful god. Fate, future, past, present, all that will be. But never once have you divulged any knowledge, even to your so-called colleagues. I am the only one who sees our true nature and rejects it. Are we truly the ones who stand above all? If there was anything other than us, it doesn't care or is ignorant to our plights."