Chapter 261: Aeternae – Chapter 241: Welcome To the New Eternity

The Goddess of Life and Light shuddered as she felt more of the worlds she ruled over splinter into a myriad of tiny shards. That alone was not inherently unusual — some worlds did simply spawn temporary copies of themselves from time to time — but these shard-versions stayed. "What has she done now?" she murmured as she began mentally cataloguing the fractal-like changes. "Another alteration she never would have made in the past..."

Her mother had gone on and on about the few worlds that just randomly created copies of themselves. She had not liked them, and had only let them be because she had made a promise ages past that she would. Now, it would seem that she had much grander ideas for these worlds. Perhaps even others.

Ferio herself had always thought that having multiple versions of the same world was a good thing. Not only would the mortals actually do more things and figure out their shit faster, but any deity in charge of one such world would also gain power more quickly. More mortals meant more worship, after all. And any world offering the potential for so much power was a prime target for holy wars as the Gods and Goddesses tried to take it for themselves.

The Goddess let out a sigh at the memories of the [War in Heaven]. She had quite enjoyed fighting some of the other Gods for control of the Fractal Worlds, especially the way they squirmed in her grip and begged her to not raze the worlds to the ground. Unlike them, however, she had no need for silly mortal worship. No, she, much like her mother, was simply divine by nature. They had no need to take power from legions of weaker beings.

"I guess it's time to investigate," Ferio mumbled to herself before she disappeared from her Dominion. The people of her world would expect her arrival, but they would be sure to appreciate it. They should have learned after the last time, after all.

///

Aperio flared her wings and put her arms above her head, letting out a satisfied sigh, a slight touch of her magic always making sure Caethya was still sufficiently supported. Her body did not need the stretching, but it still felt incredibly good. Maybe because I want it to? She disregarded the thought, instead wrapping one of her feathered appendages around her love.

The Demigoddess was still asleep, leaning against the All-Mother's waist with her arms wrapped around it. Showing Caethya how the first implementations of the multiverse came into existence had seemingly been quite taxing for her love. Not that Aperio was surprised; even she felt a little exhausted after pushing and prodding countless worlds to go where they were supposed to. She had even had to make some small adjustments to the System, as her initial implementation was not quite perfect. It had worked well enough, but that was not sufficient when it came to Souls.

Luckily, changes were easy enough to make, and with each moment that passed Aperio understood more about the way Souls interacted with the world and all its reflections.

She did have to give her old self some credit, as watching all the Souls reacting to their new experiences — and the subsequent gain of power that came with it — was quite the sight. It also made it quite a bit more obvious why she had settled on this way to give mortals not only a chance at life in the first place, but also grow. The tiny spheres were a lot more versatile than she had assumed. Sure, Aperio had to change quite a bit about her System for them to work, but even without that they could accomplish a lot more than she had initially thought possible.

A soft yawn at her right caused the All-Mother to shift her attention away from the tiny spheres. Caethya stretched herself for a moment before she sunk back into the All-Mother's wing, using a hand to try and pull the feathered appendage over herself. Aperio obliged and let her love move her wing like the blanket Caethya wished it to be.

The All-Mother smiled as she added a touch of her magic to offer just a bit more comfort. Caethya might not have done the heavy lifting for the change, but her mind — while strong — was still not made to see an unravelled universe, as Aperio did. Despite her best efforts, she was still mortal after all. Just a matter of time, the All-Mother mused to herself as she shifted her attention back to Earth. She will understand the nature of my creation sooner or later.

A small flex of her mental muscles caused her vision to shift back to Earth, only to catch on a Soul that she herself had brought back. It now seemed to not quite be as in tune with its home as it should be. Perhaps Adam's stay on Verenier had changed him, or maybe his Soul was special from the start. Whatever it was, Aperio would have to figure it out. There was no way she would allow an errant Soul to ruin what she had just set in motion.

///

Adam couldn't help but look behind him yet again. No matter how many times he checked, he could not change the feeling that he was being followed. That wasn't the only weird thing, however. Ever since he had felt what was most assuredly Aperio's mana washing over what seemed like the entire world, he felt like he was walking through more than one world at a time.

Just moments ago, he had bought himself some food from one of the many street vendors in Riverburg, but after rounding a corner he had held something he had never purchased. It was a most surreal experience and would usually make him think he had taken something he shouldn't have, but he knew that was not the case. The only thing that he could think of that could even be possible for these feelings was Aperio's plan to make a multiverse.

Just thinking about that idea was already weird, but it was most certainly within her ability. The weird phenomena could certainly be explained that way. Well, besides the fact that I am apparently the only one that it's happening to?

Sure, other people might be pretending that nothing was wrong, like he was trying to, but that was not a given. Like it or not, he was a bit different from the people of Earth. Though he may have been born here, and even spent most of his twenty-four years of life on the planet, it was no longer truly his home. Verenier had taken that spot quite handily. When the switch had been made in his mind, he did not know. 

By Verenier standards, he had only gained a meagre amount of magical prowess, but on Earth he stood firmly in the upper echelons of ability. He didn't know for certain whether his stay on another planet had changed him in ways other than giving him access to magic well before the other Humans of Earth, but he had a hunch that it had.

For a moment, Adam considered offering a prayer to Aperio, but he dismissed the thought. He had tried to do that shortly after he had arrived on Verenier to get her to send him back, and that had never worked. Now that he had actually gotten to know her a little bit — a fact he still found largely unsettling — he was quite sure that the All-Mother only answered the prayers of, perhaps, five people. He was most assuredly not on that list.

Adam rounded another corner, the little motel that had essentially become his home on Earth finally coming into view. Despite its rather run down look, he had found it to be not only one of the most comfortable places he had been to, but also staffed with quite wonderful people. The only thing he disliked was the Vampire that had booked the attic and kept pestering him with questions about Aperio he did not have the answers to.

It had one important trait that caused Adam to quicken his step, however. For one reason or another, the weird reality-shifting phenomena did not occur inside the motel. When he looked outside, he could still see such things happening, but the building itself seemed to be somehow excluded.

"Welcome back," the old man said as Adam finally entered the little motel. "Kira got the books you asked for, she left them in your room."

"Thank you, Hannibal," Adam replied, offering the man a nod. "I assume she still refuses tips?"

"Naturally. Werewolves are quite proud beings, she more so than others." Hannibal gave a chuckle. "I'm still a bit surprised she is helping you as much as she is and hasn't tried to get you to take her to your two friends. It's quite clear now that they are not Fae, but Elves, and Kira despises them."

"I heard Gregory mention something similar, but made it out to encompass all Werewolves," Adam began. "Did they have, like, a huge war or something in the past?"

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Hannibal hesitated for a moment before he shut the ledger he always kept by his side. "There was a war, yes," he said carefully, "but the reason for their hatred stems from the fact that lycanthropy does not occur naturally. At least, it didn’t at first. A few Elven tribes in eastern Europe sought a way to fight the ever-growing presence of Vampires in their lands, back in the early sixteenth-century. They started abducting Humans, subjecting them to various experiments in the hope of creating something more effective against the blood-sucking menace than their Fae-touched silver.

"They succeeded," he continued, "but not before they had slaughtered entire cities and twisted the Humans they took into something entirely different. They never stopped treating them like glorified cattle and foot soldiers, but they also weren't dumb. To this day, Werewolves cannot directly attack an Elf outside of a full moon."

Hannibal let out a sigh and absentmindedly rubbed the leather binding of his ledger. "Their hatred is justified, yes, but it is also directed at people who have tried — and succeeded, in many cases — to stop this from happening in the first place. The entirety of the most prominent Moon Elven tribe has always been opposed to the creation and subsequent enslavement of lycanthropes, and have even found a way to reverse the process. Still, they are now among the most hated groups, according to multiple Werewolf sources."

"That is not what I expected," Adam said, not quite sure what else he was supposed to say. Up until a few months ago, he had not even known that Vampires, Werewolves, and the like existed on Earth. He had grown up under the blissful assumption that his world was beautifully boring aside from the conflict they brought upon themselves. "I assume Aperio fits the bill for a Moon Elf around here, doesn't she?"

"Aside from her stature, yes. Though everyone with even an inkling of magical knowledge — actual knowledge, that is — will not easily cross her. Poke and prod to test her limits, sure, but not do something they would assume would upset her immediately."

"Actual knowledge?" Adam asked as he set himself down in one of the all-too-comfortable arm chairs that were dotted around the lobby. "I assume you mean everyone who has studied magic before the System arrived."

"I do, yes," the old man replied. He gestured broadly at the room they were in. "This place was built centuries ago with knowledge long lost and techniques we will probably never rediscover, thanks to the convenience of this System. It opens the gates for everyone to become someone, yes, but it also sets us on a path of perpetual conflict in the name of personal growth."

Adam could not help but let out a laugh at the comment. "You make it sound like we don't fight each other all day already."

"We do yes," Hannibal replied. "But most people keep to the ancient rules because they know what a true fight would bring. The Elves and Werewolves have shown us that. The Dead Sea did not get its name because it is inhospitable, but because of the slaughter that took place there. To this day it requires skilled necromancers and droves of lively people to keep it in check."

"Or what? We would be overrun by zombies and skeletons?"

"Something like that," Hannibal said. "Just trust me when I say that you want the Dead Sea contained."

"I have no issue believing that."

Adam had seen what kind of beasts had popped up in response to everyone receiving a Class. Even the one Aperio had killed in Australia. And she said she didn't want to stand out… He simply shook his head and dismissed the thought. It didn't really matter what he thought about the All-Mother or her actions. If she wished to do something, she would. Nobody could stop her.

As if the thought of her had attracted her attention, the sight of the lobby vanished to be replaced by a black expanse that appeared to be infinite. The only things Adam could discern were a stream of lights in the distance; and the All-Mother, sitting on what looked to be nothing, one wing draped over Caethya who was, apparently, using the literal creator of everything as her bed.

Aperio regarded Adam for a moment, her eyes seemingly looking right through him to something he couldn't perceive. She nodded to herself as she had apparently found what she was looking for and, before Adam could even greet her, his perspective shifted.

No longer was he looking at the world through his eyes, but instead he now sat in the All-Mother's hands, somehow seeing his body still standing there, frozen in time. A slight warmth flowed through him.

"I will be done in a moment," Aperio said, as if that would explain anything. "I need to stop your Soul from trying to break itself."

Adam tried to reply, but he could not speak. He could not even move. Before he had time to further contemplate his new state of being he was back in his body, feeling refreshed and somehow a lot lighter than before.

"What was that?" he managed to ask, his voice not sounding hoarse like he had somehow expected.

"Like I said, I had to repair your Soul," the All-Mother replied. "I would normally ask for permission first, but it was urgent. Your stay on Verenier anchored you to it, which caused your Soul to not behave as it should on the split Earth." She let out a small sigh. "It was an oversight, but it is fixed now. Your Soul will no longer try to exist in multiple realities at once. You are now, [Unique]."

The last word caused a small System window to appear, informing Adam that he had been granted the title of [Unique] and that he would be the only version of himself in all of creation. Forever. When he dismissed the message and went to look at his [Status] he was surprised to see that the title wasn't there.

"It is a hidden title," Aperio said, causing Adam to squint at her. "I did not read your mind. I can see you looking at your [Status]."

"So… was that the reason I saw reality change around me ever since you did whatever it was you did?"

"Yes," Aperio replied with a nod. "But it is over now. If you wish to go back, you only have to tell me. For now, you may stay in my Void for as long as you wish."

"Thanks… I think." Adam was, in fact, not sure what he should think. He sat himself down, trusting he could do as Aperio and Caethya were doing. "I think I need a moment."

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