Hope of Noth

Right at Endora’s Capital periphery, a light blue crown full of cracks was lying on the ground. Two of the nine spikes growing on it were already broken, and the vortex at its center was barely revolving anymore.

Energy slowly leaked out of the crown, forming Kronos’ body around it. Standing up from the ground, Kronos lifted his hand, making his divinity materialize in his palm.

“Seth, you really pulled one on me this time.” He muttered, a trace of deep rage appearing in his eyes.

“Kronos, there’s a divinity forming inside the city and one coming from outside the world.”

Kronos’ eyes widened, and he asked: “Leora and the water bitch?”

“Yes. We can’t fight any of them in this condition. We should retreat.”

Kronos clenched his teeth, looking over the city ahead of him before staring once into the depths of space. “Something is not right. That damned god of destruction did something. I know it.”

“He must have. I also felt the Tower’s presence, but we can’t risk going into a fight with Water. Now that the anchor is broken, we can retreat at the beginning and bide our time.”

Clenching his fists, Kronos’ eyes turned cold as he asked: “Can you survive me sucking this place inside?”

The voice of time took some time to reply before eventually releasing a sigh. “It will make the damage worse… who knows how much time we’ll have to absorb to recover. Let it go, Kronos. With the anchor broken, there’s no reason to do that anymore.”

“No way. I’m not letting that bastard get away with everything. I’m going to take away all that he treasures. Do it.”

Another one of the crown’s sharp spikes broke as a massive amount of energy enveloped Endora’s capital and Kronos.

In the next moment, a giant crater appeared where the capital previously was, leaving no trace of the city that once stood there or any of its people.

---

Not long after, Razim, followed by twenty demigods and Raven, appeared right above the crater.

Raven returned to his human form and looked around in confusion. “Your excellency Water Goddess? Why did you bring us here?”

Razim turned to look at Raven with a subtle smile and asked: “Nothing looks different about this place to you?”

“No, this crater was always here. It is called the Blood Chasm and was the dwelling place of the blood race. A race of wills formed after the humans took form in the world.”

“I doubt it.” Said Razim while turning to look back at the crater. “This place was sucked from time by Kronos. The new divinity you told me about also originated from this place.”

“Divinity?” asked Raven in confusion.

Razim sighed and shook her head. “Forget it. What about that god that sent me the letter? Do you remember him?”

“Seth? I do. He should be with my people.” Said Raven with a nod.

“Take me to him.” Said Razim with a glint in her eye.

The group disappeared from the ruins of Endora, appearing shortly after on a small island far east of the continent. More than 40 people were on their knees, lowering their heads towards Razim, with an old-looking man sitting at the front.

“We welcome you to our world, Your Excellency.”

“Enough chit-chat. I’ve crossed half the universe to come to this place. Is the God of Destruction or what’s left of him here?”

Augur’s face turned awkward, and he said with his head lowered. “I apologize, Your Excellency, but the destruction explosion broke the pocket dimension we were hiding him in… We also can’t feel his presence anymore.”

Razim sighed again and turned towards one of the demigods behind her. “Let’s go, Blue. What a waste of our time….”

“Wait…” a woman’s voice came from the kneeling members of the Council, making Razim raise an eyebrow and turn towards the source.

“Panther, shut up. It’s not your turn to speak in the presence of - “

Augur’s words were stopped by Razim raising her hand. “What is it? Ignore this old fool and speak, little cat.”

Panther nodded and said: “Just before he went to fight Kronos, Seth broke his soul into seven parts. One part died along his divinity; one was entrusted to us, while five were given to one of his companions. Even if the one in our care is dead, the other five should still be alright.”

“Oh? Breaking his soul in pieces?” asked Razim with a smile. “Interesting. Where is that companion?”

“We… we don’t know. She also appears to have disappeared completely.” Said Panther, and Augur agreed with a quick nod. “I can’t feel her anymore either. We don’t know what Seth did, but her presence faded before the fight began.”

“What level was she at?” asked Razim.

“Early demigod.” Replied Panther.

Razim’s smile faded, and she looked thoughtfully toward Panther. “We’ll wait for a while just outside this world’s influence. Send someone to inform me the moment she appears.”

After Panther nodded, Razim and her small group of demigods disappeared from the council’s island.

Once they were all gone, Augur turned towards Panther and said in anger. “Have you gone mad, Panther? She might have a deal with Seth, but she’s still a god. She won’t bat an eye wiping this entire world if it suits her purpose. Why did you tell her so much?”

“Because we need Seth to save this world, and Seth needs her. Even more so after the damage done to our seals. If she left, even if Seth returned, he wouldn’t have a chance against Kronos without a divinity to help him.” Replied Panther.

Augur pondered for a moment as the anger in his eyes died down. He eventually sighed and started walking towards one of the tiny houses on the side. “I’m too old for all of this. Tell me when she returns before informing Razim.”

After everyone nodded, Augur returned to his little house, and so did the other demigods of the Council.

---

While the entire world was in shambles, trying to deal with the causalities of the calamity, and the Council was occupied looking for Caitlin and Seth, deep under Noth, in a seal filled with nothing but destruction, a girl was playing around with a black and white flower.

To the girl’s confusion, the black petals of the flower started turning dark red while the white ones broke apart, forming a small orb of light.

The girl let go of the flower and moved a couple of steps back, her innocent eyes fixed on it.

As the dark-red petals started turning into energy, they took a triangular shape first. With more energy released from the triangle, a vague transparent silhouette appeared before the girl.

Blinking a couple of times, Seth looked around in confusion before his eyes landed on the girl sitting on the side.

Seth smiled and said: “Sorry for startling you, Meg.”

“It’s you.” Exclaimed Meg, moving forward again with a happy smile on her lips. “How are you here?”

Seth looked down at his body and shook his head. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out as well. It seems I have failed…”

Looking at the white petals hovering in mid-air, Seth grabbed them with his hand and allowed them to enter his energy body.

<System initializing.>

<Link to the Tower - non-existent.>

<Accessing the internal database.>

<...>

<Welcome back, host.>

‘You too, old friend. Can you figure out what happened?’

<Negative. That would require linking to the tower again.>

‘Don’t do that. Make sure to keep It doesn’t spot us. What about the source of non-existence?’

<Stable at the moment, but you will fade outside this destruction dimension. You’re only a will now with no soul or body.>

‘Figures. I need to find out what happened for my divinity to get destroyed. Was it the Tower?’

<I don’t know either. We must leave this dimension first and find out how much time has passed since we left this backup.>

‘We do, but we can’t have the Tower figure out I am still alive. If it’s responsible for my death, it might as well do it again. Can Meg carry my will?’

<She could if she had a soul, but her soul was taken away by Noth. She’s just a lingering will with a physical body. You’ll need to get a soul for her, or you won’t be able to leave Raven’s seal.>

‘I didn’t kill Noth yet?’ asked Seth in confusion. ‘What the hell happened outside?’

< There’s a chance another entity has destroyed your divinity. Maybe one of the other gods.>

‘Anyway. We’ll take things one at a time. First, we need to get Noth to release Meg’s soul. Any idea?’

<We could steal it? With you being a destruction will right now, you should be able to do it.>

Seth nodded and turned his attention to Meg in front of him. Rubbing her head, he said with a smile. “Meg, I need to go somewhere else now, but once I’m done, how about you and I go outside and travel the world?”

Meg looked excited at his words and quickly nodded: “I want to. Can big brother take me out?”

“Of course, I can. You must be a good girl and wait here for me. There’s something I must take before we can leave.”

After rubbing Meg’s head again, Seth’s body got sucked into the destruction energy. Feeling his way through the destruction dimension, he soon located where Noth’s main body was.h

The horrible entity formed around a destruction source, with destruction tentacles spreading all around, creating the dimension he was in.

Wandering for who knows how long through the seemingly endless destruction energy, Seth eventually stumbled upon what he was looking for. A giant cluster of souls bound together, pressed against one another by the destruction energy.

‘This sick thing is trying to make a soul for himself by merging the souls of normal humans… what are his chances, system?’

<Quite low with the souls he has now. Lower than 1%. He will need billions of souls to make one able to sustain his will and energy.>

‘Can Meg’s soul alone do it? With my will, I mean.’

<Her soul alone wouldn’t have been able to, but if we take this abomination out, it should be able to support your will. It’s barely a ninth of a divine will, after all.>

‘Fine, but how do we steal it? He’ll notice if we take his work away.’

<The souls are being cleansed of all memory and will by his destruction energy. You should be able to possess it using your will and escape before he notices.>

Seth didn’t delay anymore and traveled through one of the destruction tentacles, infiltrating the cluster of souls inside. As his will started mixing with the soul, the system also merged with the soul, shortening the process considerably.

It didn’t take long, and the pure white soul turned dark red.

<You now have a will and a soul. All you’re missing is a body.>

‘Alright. Let’s return to Meg.’

<Careful now. You won’t be able to integrate with the destruction energy all around. It would be best if you carved your way out.>

Seth nodded, and destruction energy covered his new soul as he cut his way out of the soul prison, heading towards Meg. When he finally reached Meg, Seth dove straight inside her body, using his soul to possess her body.

“Aaaaaa!” Meg screamed while falling to her knees, her body convulsing in pain.

‘I’m sorry, Meg. Just hang on a little more.’ Whispered Seth from inside her body as he worked with the system to accommodate her will as well.

With her convulsions finally stopping, Seth was about to begin forming a source when the system stopped him.

<Wait until we know what happened. If your divinity is gone, so is your destruction source. If your other sources survived, we need them all at the same rank if you want to complete your existence again. The tower might also notice a destruction appearing out of nowhere.>

‘But with my divinity gone, this small piece of non-existence is barely hanging on. My will would crumble if not tethered to a source.’

<The soul should be able to keep it tethered, just like the other energy wills are doing.>

‘I hope you’re right…’

With Meg’s body, soul, and will back together, Seth knew they had to get out and used his limited energy to break a hole through the destruction dimension.

As Meg was staring at the dark-red portal in front of her, Seth whispered in her mind. ‘Go through. It’s time for us to get out.’

Meg clenched her fists and jumped into the portal, disappearing from the destruction dimension that served as her prison for her entire life.