Chapter 38: Interlude – D*e l/ke #e mus-

Here comes the man with the look in his eye
Fed on nothing but full of pride
Look at them go, look at them kick
Makes you wonder how the other half live

Devil inside
The devil inside
Every single one of us
The devil inside

*********

Through billions of eyes, he watched.

He watched The Ulitmate be unleashed upon the 'heroes' of the world.

He watched the Kryptonian meet it and found him lacking. A symbol of hope destined to die and become a symbol of despair.

More and more heroes arrived. Most had been shifted to the other side of the planet and could not arrive in time to impact the fight.

As planned.

This was not genocide. Not yet.

This was a reminder.

A reminder that hope was fleeting.

Heroes were still needed, of course.

Despair was only potent in contrast to a once great hope.

He controlled it all. The rise. The fall.

The leash was yet loose so they may strangle themselves.

It was soon time to pull tight.

Even as The Ultimate died to one of the infected's hands, he did not fret.

Even when it died twice more, he merely smiled as his 'gift' proved its worth.

He watched when two of the interlopers arrived.

When The Ultimate was felled by them, he felt no regret. Whether it would rise again or not was immaterial. The beast was a blunt instrument. Powerful, but far from his most useful tool.

It had done its job.

Of more interest was this group.

This Elden Lord.

Yes.

He could work would this.

Through billions of eyes, he watched. A plan coming together.

********

Through his daughters' eyes, he watched the world buckle and shift.

Only five days left.

Even two months ago, this much oversight would have been impossible.

Now, he watched the heroes of the world be laid low by the lizard and its pathetic brood.

He wondered what dragon soul tasted like?

In five days, he would find out.

He laughed upon his throne of skulls.

His rumbling mirth at the impending pain and misery of countless should have sent anyone present running in fear.

All those present were too busy screaming to concern themselves as he watched a plan come together.

********

It watched the cosmos fly by.

It travelled upon fire and flame and life.

Searching.

Ever searching.

For the briefest of moments, in the flash of an instant, it had felt Life.

It had returned to the Rest, not the Room, to meet Life.

To become one with Life.

It had learned so much recently.

Ambition. Anger. Jealousy. Joy. Lust. Love.

Emotions.

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Emotions that tinged White to Black and back again.

Upon the demise of its host/teacher/body, it searched for another so it could experience more. All emotions, in all its shades.

Then it would return to the Rest and share emotions with Life.

But now Life was gone.

Gone, and it couldn't find Life.

It searched and searched and searched and searched.

It watched the planets burn as it passed, searching for a lost Life.

********

She watched people die with a smile.

Even as the newscasters got increasingly desperate, as the heroes failed to stop the beast and fell one by one, she still smiled.

She watched men and women she knew, admired and liked fall under the might of the alien.

Even as they called for her family, begging for reinforcements from anywhere, calling for any help they could get, she smiled.

She watched the Enemy's plan play out, helpless to do anything but watch and hope. And smile.

Her smile widened when two of the Elden Lord's consorts appeared. Her prodigious mind, one of the best in the world, turned to what that meant.

She giggled when Myrrdin fainted. The knowledge of King Arthur being female was too much for him. It also had implications for her.

She outright laughed, tears of joy streaming from her eyes as the Elden Lord appeared and the alien was laid low. This was what she had been waiting for.

Turning to six beds in the room, she spoke to the one set aside from the other five.

"We did it, Uncle," she said, still smiling and laughing as she talked to the man on the bed. She couldn't see his metallic mask or the face under it. It wouldn't matter if she could. He could not have answered her anyway, trapped as he was in suspended animation like the rest. "We've won."

Turning to the other five beds in the room, their own occupants as unmoved and unmovable as the first, she smiled still. Her parents lay side by side, her biological uncle to her mother's right. Her other uncle needed a much sturdier frame and almost blocked the view of the last, much smaller bed.

"Soon, we can be a family again, and you can grow up properly, big brother." Though she called the boy on end her older brother, he looked much younger than her pre-teen form.

She turned back to the screen with a smile.

She watched the heroes meet the Elden Lord as she hatched a plan to bring the dragon to her.

*********

People watched the news with bated breath.

Humanity was gripped by the image of a man sitting upon a towering corpse of grey and white bone like a throne.

Some hatched plans, using their knowledge of the situation to gain the most significant advantages.

Others, sensing a shift in the wind, decided that discretion was the better part of valour. They could scheme once the coast was clear, or they knew more about the powerful faction that had landed on earth.

All these watchers, all these planners, were unaware.

Unaware that they were big fish in a small pond under the eyes of a shark.

Death sipped her drink with a smile.

She could help him no more. It was up to him.

You could lead a dragon to earth, but you couldn't make it reach Tier 11.

She would meet with him soon, but that was a small matter. Though she could no longer see or predict Mikael and his Family, she held complete confidence she had made the right choice after watching him all this time.

All the worry she had once felt was long gone.

Now she was just curious.

Curious about what opportunities she had set up for him, he would use.

Curious to see if he could surprise her once more.

Curious if she would finally be free.

Death watched, but she didn't plan.

Her plan had already succeeded.

It was all up to Mikael now.

********

I separate Interludes, Side Stories and Omakes, as I am sure some of you are aware. Omakes are non-canon, light-hearted, and a chance for me to write something foolish. Side Stories are canon but are not absolutely necessary to read. They help flesh out the world, but one can read the whole story without them and still get the complete picture.

Interludes are canon and are integral to the entire plot of the story. This one is short, heavy on foreshadowing, and incredibly vague. It is half of what I wanted to write, but I have been highly judicious with my scissors. I have rewritten it at least three times and am only partly happy with the result.

Next time, the first chapter of the next part.

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