Chapter Fifteen.

I was standing on a plane of water so flat and smooth it was practically glass. It was opaque, and black as the sky around me, but somehow I could still see out to an infinity of darkness. The water’s surface is thin, yet immutable, hiding a boundless depth underneath the slightest of barriers. Despite knowing the ground was liquid, I felt no wetness beneath me.

Lifting my foot, I stepped forward. A single ripple spread from where my toes came down, at first spreading with impossible slowness, but suddenly accelerating with a rush of air that pushed me back as the ripple vanished beyond the horizon.

It is a call, I understand, but to what?

My answer comes in music. Haunting and slow, the melody begins softly at the edge of my hearing. It is played by no instrument I have ever heard, but as I hear it my heart aches wistfully. The song is hope, and loss; a departure from home to see new horizons and create new experiences for good or ill.

The water before me parts as an immense serpentine shape lunges into the dark sky in a riotous burst of color, stretching upwards with impossible vastness. The blackness of the sky is stained by the being’s presence like oil in water, a kaleidoscope of starlight and stellar phenomena that overtakes the void around it with every sinuous movement. I recognize the lights immediately, for they are my own— [Cosmos], though from this creature it seems so much… more.

It draws closer to me, and I can gradually make out what it is through the cosmic interference. The creature is like an eastern dragon, but instead of scales it has translucent, deep-blue skin like a newt’s, and beneath it I can see endless traces of golden lines that mark out the creature’s veins. [Cosmos] swirls around the golden veins within before filtering outwards in a display that mimics the creation of the universe, and this act of creation is the source of the music I hear.

As it settles before me, the dragon-cosmos unfurls a dozen paper-like wings that spread behind it like a corona of golden light. They flow behind it like scrolls in an unseen breeze, and I can faintly see the glow of runes marking their surface. For a moment, it locks gazes with me and I am dwarfed by the vastness of it all. Then it looks behind me, and my own eyes are compelled to follow and watch as a second figure emerges.

Dread fascination fills me as it lifts sedately from the black surface without even a ripple. It rises; a monolith of black stone, pitted and cragged with age, marred by scars of black flame that I recognize from the darkest of my dreams. [Anathema]. The monolith takes an eternity to rise— no it has already risen— no, it was always there. Indomitable, contemptuous of time’s attempt to bind it to linearity. It stands before me, and I shudder as I feel the emptiness of its regard.

“Welcome, Kosimar.” They speak in unison, their voices filling the air around me as I can’t help but bristle.

“My name is Ray!” I shout back defiantly.

Silence from both of them; the monolith indifferent, the dragon almost… pitying.

“Raymond is who you were.” The dragon speaks alone this time. “It no longer encompasses all that you are, what you have become and will yet become. One day you will grow beyond this name as well, and it is not a sad thing. To remain forever unchanging is—”

“DEATH.” The monolith interrupts, its voice burying me under a mountain’s weight as it sends me to my knees. I’m almost grateful for the— literally— heavy words though, because the force of them is enough to snap my mind to clarity. The dream-like quality of my actions fades and lucidity grips me in a terrifying claw.

What the hell is going on??

I force myself to be calm before I look at the two beings again.

“Why am I here?”

“To choose.” They say.

My perspective shifts, the water beneath me moving to the side and taking me with it. In a moment, my view has changed so that both entities are standing in front of me. The water bubbles in a line stretching between them, before pulling back and revealing a pathway made of ancient stone that ends at my feet. The dragon begins to speak again, the monolith standing silently with either patience or indifference.

“We are Exemplars of the Path. The culmination of choices and growth personified.” The luminous dragon leans forward, its face coming close to mine. “More than that, in a very real sense we are you. As you could be, though likely not as you will be. A glimpse of causality yet to come, to prepare your way.”

Well… that’s comforting. Ignoring the existential crisis of meeting my future self, either I end up as a cosmic dragon thing, or…

My eyes darted over the scarred monolith.

That. Yay.

“Any other choices?” I ask with a sigh. The dragon chuckles and pulls back.

“Many. But they will come as you reach them, and I would not seek to rob my past selves of their experiences.”

Deciding to just roll with it, I shrugged.

“Ok then, let’s start with you. What is your ‘choice’?”

A flash of amusement comes from the dragon before it lifts up into the air, forming a glowing ring with its body and spinning until it becomes a nebulous blur of light. When it speaks again, the light distorts into an image of a galaxy, floating in space.

“I am the voyager, the explorer, the creator. I wander the worlds, to help or hinder at my whim.”

As the dragon speaks, the images change. I see dozens of different planets filled with myriad alien species. Gas giants with storms bigger than the Earth that hide titanic creatures within. Ruins of civilizations spanning entire galaxies. The dragon sees it all, filled with a burning curiosity to behold all of creation with its own eyes, completing itself and its own inner cosmos with every observation. Each culture it interacts with adds a piece of an infinite puzzle, completing a picture with no end— because that is the point.

Sometimes the dragon is attacked during its journey, and it responds with power and fury. Devastating spatial storms rip continents apart, localized solar flares scour away oceans, and even moons are brought down to ruinous effect. The dragon floats untouchable above it all as it unleashes the judgment of [Cosmos] on the defiant.

The images continue, and I can sense that we could sit here for a million lifetimes and not see a fraction of what the dragon has experienced.

“My Path is the [Sojourn Beyond the Stars]. To follow it is to embrace the journey of a life infinite. To experience the universe and many more, for good and ill. It can be a lonely road, and a long one, but it is one filled with endless wonders.”

The vision ended, the dragon settling back into place and looking at me calmly.

Lots to unpack there. But first, what’s behind door number two…

“This choice is irrelevant.” The monolith speaks before I can address it. “The end does not change, no matter that path you take to get there. I will show you.”

The world shifts again, and abruptly I am floating in space above a planet. Next to me is… me. The crystal avatar of my soul floats in the empty space, looking down on the world. It turns, and I can see myself reflected in the crystal facets of its face. My avatar raises a hand towards the planet below, and in a flash it is consumed.

Anathema erupts from below the ground across the world, landmasses sinking even as black fire bursts outward. In moments, the planet is gone and I think it is over.

It is not.

Anathema spreads faster and faster in an endless tidal wave of darkness. The sun flickers briefly as it is consumed, and then the entire solar system. Anathema accelerates again, each time I hope the destruction is over and yet it continues to grow. One by one, and then in an expanding cascade the stars wink out. The galaxy vanishes. The rest of this universe follows not long after. All that remains is the hot coals of my avatar’s eyes as they pierce me with their utter apathy for the apocalypse they just unleashed. It speaks in my own voice as we float in a void of its— our making.

“I am the final, inevitable conclusion to the journey. The destined death of worlds. All Paths lead to me and not even the supposed Awakened can escape. A fraction of my truth ended the Achorai, just as it has every empire before them. Your choice matters nothing, because one day you will be here regardless. Such is the final truth.”

It spreads its hands, and the empty universe shakes.

“[A̸L̶L̷ ̷̻̳͊̽T̴̛̘H̴̻͗I̸̿ͅN̷̬̎G̶̱͂S̶̨͘ ̸̱̮̤͐͝Ë̶̘́̈̇Ń̷̖͍̰D̴̯͖͍͌]”

For an instant, the name of the Path overwhelms me. The truth of its conviction assaults my being, just hearing it spoken by the avatar is almost enough to erase me on the spot. Then the pressure vanishes, and I am standing before the two entities again. In unison, they speak one final time.

“CHOOSE.”

The sound rocked me back on my heels, and I took a second to compose myself after almost getting killed by the monolith/future me.

My first instinct was to completely reject the monolith because it was terrifying— and an asshole— but I had to stop and consider, because it was exactly the kind of power I needed. Wielding Anathema might break my agreement with the gods, but ultimately? Power was king. If I could control the apocalyptic fire without it devouring me from the inside, then I could do whatever I wanted.

Dezzahn would be a footnote as I burned my way through the Hollows until I found him. I'd never have to put up with threats from anyone ever again, let alone some glorified boat captain.

A dark part of me remembered feeling pain, helplessness, fear… and hated it. I did my best to bury those feelings, but the thought of real power at my fingertips had them screaming covetously from the dark corners of my mind.

Choose the monolith, and I will never be afraid again. Only, is that what I really want?

I had one last question for the Exemplars before I made my choice.

"What happens to the one I don't choose?"

"The paths you have walked to this point are part of you." The dragon answers. "And they always will be. What you decide now is but the first step in the direction of your future— the first of many."

I nodded slowly, looking between limitless destructive power that called to my darkest desires and unbridled freedom that reached to my soul.

I chose.

The world changed.