Chapter 17: The Sixth

Beautiful, the world around him was undeniably beautiful, Rylan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, it all felt so real, Even more than axiom had, Like he was here, not in his small apartment, Here.

“This was Axiom.” Daragura said. “A replica I'm creating in your mind so you can better understand me.” His voice sounded normal, still a sensation to the ears but it had lost it’s godly property, Rylan spun around to see him and was met face to face with a man his size but with the similar features of deity, hair shorter and eyes that no longer glowed albeit they retained their unnatural sparkle.

“What happened, is this your true form?”

Daragura smiled before giving is reply. “That form you saw in the reverie was my True, but since this place is something I'm creating out of my imagination, you get to see me how I see myself.”

“A man?”

“A vessel.”

“For what?” Rylan pressed but rather than answer Daragura raised a brow to say. “Is this really what you wanna discuss.”

He corrected course, turning back to the vastness of the valley, he took in another deep breath.

“If this was Axiom, what happened to it?” He asked, recalling the red tinted skys and volcanic terrain, the dense chaotic Arkana that filled it's air in comparison to the one he felt right now, calm and fluid. With a blink, their surrounding changed and they were suddenly in the middle of a town, People moving about but they weren't normal, Elves, Fairies, Giants. Creatures he had only ever seen in games or in fiction were wandering about.

“Axiom was once peaceful, an oasis to every creature you can see and we ruled over them.” Like ripples in a lake, the visual in front of him distorted and was replaced by one of six beings standing around a large physical map, floor rent robes and hoods hiding their features apart for the one who stood at the end, Daragura. “We guarded our world with all we had— till one of us made a bad choice. Like me another one of the six was a vessel, unlike the rest who were immortal entities, our powers were passed on.” He paused and the visual changed, All the figures darkened apart from the one on the opposite end. “My counterpart was that bad choice, we are meant to preserve the standing of Arkana, to make sure it wasn't tampered with but as they say nothing is more dangerous—”

“—than an ambitious man.”

Daragura side eyed him, noticing the look in his eyes as he stared at the figure with something close to reverence.

“He thought the last world wasn't good as is, He thought our protection had made our people weak but he didn't act immediately, He grew his power, mastered himself and for the first time in all of existence.” His voice dropped like what he was about to say was still a great source of pain. “Mastered Arkana.” The words were heavy and even if Rylan didn't completely understand the gravity of what was being said, He could feel it's magnitude in every word said and every pause taken. “He was above us in every way imaginable, No longer equals, We were no longer a match. So with no one to stop him, he brought down the curtain on our age of peace and brought forth chaos.”

“You're saying, he's responsible for the simulation?”

“No, he was just the catalyst.”

“How?”

“Axiom never had beast, we had creatures like your world has, different but the same But what he did forced power into everything, into the soil, into the plants, into the sky, into the creatures of the land and the air and the sea and Even our own people.” His voice cracked. “Some were lucky to retain a fractions of their minds but most fell into rampaging madness. He turned this world into a wasteland So the rest of us did what we could to save it.”

“What do you mean by that.”

“We searched for a world that could accommodate ours and we found yours, But the presence of Arkana created a disparity, a difference too large to ignore hence a bridge needed to be made—”

“The simulation.” Rylan completed.

“Yes, The power of merging two worlds was immense, it took the power of all five of us to create that bridge and but I was the only one who remained after it's creation began. Weakened, with the last embers of my power I created the reverie, a cage where time isn't a concept, so I can live till the bridge was completely built and I found someone I could pass the power to. I didn't expect it to take so long, a thousand years of idle weakness while he grew in strength.”

“So the goal of me receiving this power is to bring him down but if all five of you couldn't do it then I doubt I can.”

“You can, I didn't pick you because I think your heart is pure, I picked you because you're like him in the ways necessary.”

“You might have made a wrong choice. I'm not a good enough person to risk my life for the sake of others.”

“You’re right, you won't do it for the sake of others, you'll do it purely for your amusement.”

Rylan let chuckled softly. “You think you know me?”

“I do.”

He smiled, unable to think of a way to disagree when he remembered the reason he had been brought into this mirage in the first place. “What happens when this simulation end, when the bridge completely forms?”

“The bridge had been using the means of players to integrate arkana into your world and once it's fully integrated.” Daragura paused, a faint attempt at sparing Rylan for an inevitable fate.

“What happens?” Rylan pressed calmly.

Daragura looked at him, an almost apologetic look in his golden eyes.

“The merger begins.”