Raisa and her group approached it.
Alphons passed her. He said, “It’s because of this we were able to transcend so much, we were able to create the pillars of serpents, our Dyson spheres, all because of this majestic thing.”
“It’s why we figured out we could leave Jahum, it showed us a world without him, what was possible,” Raisa said.
“Jahum was a fool, to leave the center of the universe unguarded.”
A siren wailed out as the room flashed red. They all looked around. Whatever was happening wasn’t happening there.
“What’s wrong?” Raisa yelled.
One of her followers answered, “You’re being called to the central tower.”
…
Raisa burst through the control tower doors. The tower overlooked the entire island and had a clear view of the sky.
Everyone was at the window, staring up.
“General,” Raisa said.
The general watched with them. He didn’t move.
Raisa pulled on his shoulder. “General!”
She glanced up to the sky and faltered.
A face eclipsed the stars. A face of copper and a face with very much human features, a human-like nose, with human-like eyes that peered into the souls of the lives on the planet, and a wisp of a mouth. Its crystal-like pupils were an alluring hazel.
But a being of that stature couldn’t be human, it shouldn’t exist at all. The planets star was dwarfed by its size.
Raisa was the first the collective trance.
“What is that? How far away is it?” she asked.
The general snapped out of his. “I don’t know, I would say four light years.”
“Why didn’t we detect it?”
“We should have at this range.” The general turned to his soldiers. “Launch a recon team and set us to defensive positions.”
“Wait.” Raisa stopped them. If the being was traveling too fast for detection, it could be traveling faster than the speed of—
“God.” Raisa’s eyes widened.
Thousands of feet out into the ocean stood a copper colored being, towering at only a few hundred feet tall. Missing a right hand. It walked toward them.
“Attack! Attack now!” Raisa yelled. The general gave the orders to fire at will.
The sky lit up as thousands of flaming streaks rocketed at the being. The rounds bounced off him like pebbles, doing nothing to impede his advance.
Thousands of ships eclipsed the sky.
“That won’t be enough.” The general took off his jacket. “I’ll join this fight.” He was an archangel.
As he left, Anu ran in. Her eyes widened at the being and its after image still eclipsing them over head. But she kept her face on. “What do you need of me?” she asked.
“Nothing yet.”
Above them all, the general hovered as volleys of rounds were sent into the being. The ships descended down on the thing.
The general released his wings and called the energy of the stars. He hurled an immense ball of blue energy at the being. The miles of air around the being exploded as it impacted its face. It didn’t even attempt to avoid the blast, the being fell back and into the water.
“We did it,” Anu said.
“No…” Raisa muttered. As the water settled, the ships hovered around where it sunk.
Raisa stared at the spot. It was too easy. She blinked and as soon as her eyes opened there was nothing surrounding the being as it hovered up into the air. No water, no ships, no nothing. Water rushed to fill in the emptiness.
The being raised his hand. In milliseconds, everything around the tower was erased. The ships and general above them were gone.
Raisa looked down, water poured into the lab below. It was saved. The being continued its approach. Raisa could hear her heart beating as she saw death heading toward her. This thing would kill them all, how could something like that exist?
“Anu! Cut off its source!”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Anu crashed through the window as her eyes dissolved. She saw the turquoise sea once again. She flew at the being, it stopped as she closed in. She peered into it, searching for the source, for its weak point.
But what she saw was a thing of amazement. An ocean of golden waves in a golden sea, with yellow stars and golden skies, that flickered in utmost perfection. They didn’t falter, they didn’t cry, it was perfect.
It had the movements of the perfect universe inside it.
It was true perfection.
A perfect being.
A thing of beauty.
Anu grabbed her head and screamed. She screamed the loudest she’d ever screamed before. Her eyes reformed, she had to see if what was in front of her was real. Tears erupted from her eyes.
She’d seen the perfect, the ultimate, in an imperfect universe. She was going mad, a thing of true beauty would do that.
Her skin sparkled as it dissolved piece by piece.
Don’t cry.
The being spoke, it was masculine. His mouth didn’t move but it spoke with the existence around her.
He reached out his hand and as he wiped away her tears, she exploded into a light. The light swirled around him as he lit up, absorbing it.
A tear fell from Raisa’s face as she saw this. The others in the tower were speechless. Crying with her. The being closed in.
The ground rumbled as the beings hand ripped from the confines of their lab and into the sky. It zoomed toward the being and connected to its right arm, the being flexed it as if it was never gone.
Raisa wasn’t an eyeless, but she learned a little from their training, she could cut off the source. Her eyes didn’t disappear but she could see the turquoise seas. The being was something else entirely. There were no weaknesses, no source to cut off, it was moving in perfect golden unison. As if it was from another universe, it was whole.
Raisa blinked, the tower was gone. All that was under her was the ocean. And the being right in front of her.
You meddled in things you shouldn’t have.
It spoke with the air, a feat only thought possible for Jahum. The ocean floated in the air around her, she felt weightless. She wasn’t supporting her own flight anymore.
“What are you!?” Tears filled her eyes.
I’m a product of the old gods.
Those were the last words she heard as she closed her eyes.
The being looked upon it all, the woman in front of him, the planet he towered over. Creations of Jahum. The fool.
I will reclaim what’s mine.
The matter around him glowed gold. Raisa, the water, everything, as the being increased in size. He broke through the atmosphere and the clouds. As he grew to an impossible size, everything in his immediate vicinity turned into a golden energy, swirling around him as he absorbed it.
He glowed like a shining beacon in the black as he filled the nothingness of the universe.
In the distance, he saw sparkles, clusters of stars and galaxies. The energy he consumed wasn’t enough, it was never enough.
The next galaxy was only a mere few seconds away. He crashed through it, his incredible size collapsing the black hole at its center, decimating trillions of lives as the galaxy ripped apart, atom by atom and swirled around him in an indifferent wonderment.
Already the being was marking his destination for the next cluster of stars. One galaxy was never enough.
…
Leif opened his eyes. Every blink, he saw a possible future become an actual one.
They have awoken.
He overlooked a blue and green planet. White swirls painted the blue marble as a mix of green, brown and yellow peeked from behind them.
Soon, his plans would come to fruition.
The universe would be his.
A darkness descended over the planet as he closed his eyes with a smile. For he dreamed of what felt like an everlasting dream of tranquil seas and turquoise skies, with the shimmer of the faultless stars.
Postscript
Table of Contents
Part 1 – The million year old traitor
Part 2 – The eyeless, dreams of turquoise things
Part 3 – Training to see the unseen
Part 4 – Fiel, the omnipotent leader
Final – Trust of false idols, the product of the old gods
Postscript
Chaos in the Starless Nights (In A Universe Without Stars book 1.5) Page 10