Emily POV:

“Emily, run to the portal! Now!”

Acedia shouted at me in a panic.

“B-but..”

I didn’t understand a thing that was going on.

First I was rescue after my captor was blown into oblivion in mere seconds, then forced into a body hastily created by Acedia, and now an enormously powerful voice descended from up high, ready to smite us with his hatred.

Not only that, Acedia seemed terrified beyond belief.

“I said now!”

The last word was filled with such power it made me jump and run away to the portal as fast as I could.

And when I looked back for a second, he was already dead.

His Soul left and simply disappeared into the oppressive white mass of this place.

His vacant body was crushed by the pressure and was pulled downward by some strange force.

For him, who just summoned a blue-coloured hellfire and made an Immortal disappear without a trace, to be gone from one moment to the next…

A truly outrageous force must be present here.

I ran harder and harder, desperate to get to that circular mess of colours, but no matter how fast I was, it didn’t seem to be getting any closer.

“Like I’d let you! I’ve got so much stuff planned for you! The both of you!”

The voice resounded once again in this strange realm, but I paid no head to the words.

I simply ran and ran, selfishly thinking only of myself, not wondering why the voice shouted both of you.

However, from the side, I could feel my end nearing.

Somehow I was able to see it.

A wave so powerful and large that it would crush anything in its path.

There was no escape and my pace began to slow down.

But, when my inevitable doom finally arrived, it was deflected by something and simply continued without me feeling anything of it.

Around me a strange purple shield, the colour of Energy in its purest, was formed.

I was utterly amazed by it.

Even though I could sense it wasn’t much Energy, it seemed so powerful.

And it was.

It protected me from that wave of ungodly power.

Seeing this, how could I not stand still and stare at it in utter bewilderment?

“Keep moving!”

The power of the voice was on par with that of the one hunting me, but it echoed much less compared to it.

I instantly recognized it.

Acedia.

I don’t know why or how I could hear his voice after I saw him get crushed so easily, but it filled me with courage and hope.

As long as he’s still here, I’ll be fine.

He has that power.

So, once again, I ran as fast as I could towards the portal, the purple shield all the while staying around me.

“You know?! It was that bastard from the Darkvoid, wasn’t it?! God-fucking-damnit! Once I’m done with you, he’s next!”

The unknown man talked again, and although I thought the last wave was powerful, he easily proved me wrong.

From the side, a wave a thousand, ten-thousand times stronger than the previous was thrown at me.

But, I kept running, believing I could make it as long as Acedia was there with me.

Although I haven’t had the time to truly get to know him yet, and even though I utterly despised him for most of my life, it felt as if right now, I could trust him with my life.

I was right.

The wave washed over us and it kept coming, but aside from the enormous pressure present outside the bubble, I felt nothing.

However, I could see the shield struggling to keep up.

As the power kept flowing I could see small parts of Energy slowly splintering of the shield.

I don’t know why, but it broke my heart every time I saw a piece of it go.

Acedia was holding this up to protect me, even though he could’ve much more easily escaped by himself.

Yet he stayed with me, undoubtedly hurting himself as the torrent of power was thrown against us.

I ran faster, straining myself to the utmost, as to make Acedia’s suffering end as quickly as possible.

“HOW ARE YOU STILL HERE! I WILL FUCKING CRUSH YOU!”

The closer I came to the portal, the angrier the man hunting us became.

However, I wasn’t scared of it.

Even though he became angrier and more powerful the closer we came to the portal, he seemed to become more childish.

“WHY?! WHY! WON’T! YOU! FALL!”

It sounded like the petty rage of a spoiled child.

His power, too, seemed to change from the continuous wave of energy into a simpler form of brutish strength.

The pressure now came from all sides, making the shield dented and in some places even crack, but it held up.

Even though the pressure was much more than before, there was no finesse behind the power.

The portal neared us and I could feel freedom was just a few metres away now.

“I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN, YOU HEAR ME! I WILL SEND MY ARMY AND MURDER YOUR WOMAN AND CHILDREN! NOT FOR A SINGLE DAY WILL YOU NOT LIVE IN MISERY!”

It sounded like a childish prince abusing his power to bully those he didn’t like.

An utterly spoiled brat not knowing how to properly behave and use his power.

It sounded utterly disgusting!

I can’t believe I was once like him.

How I want to punch my former self!

And there it was…

Sweet freedom!

As soon as I stepped through the portal, an unfamiliar scenery was in front of me.

Mountains eroded by time, covered by lush greenery everywhere and a large, clear sky above my head.

But no city, no palace, no nothing.

Then, I heard the portal closing like the popping of a balloon and before I could turn around to watch it, I heard two childish screams bringing joy to my ears.

“ “Mom!” ”

I quickly turned and looked, smiling brightly and on the verge of tears.

I saw them running towards me and rushed to embrace them, allowing them to tackle me to the ground.

I felt Damien’s horns poking my stomach painfully and, when I draped my arms around them as we lay in the grass, felt Anna’s familiar soft feathers.

I don’t know how long it has been for them, but for me, it felt like I hadn’t seen them for at least weeks, perhaps even months!

Hearing their soft whimpers and sniffs made my already unsteady heart break, forcing the floodgates open as tears streamed down my face.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry…”

I repeated again and again, trying to comfort them with my weak and cracking voice.

It didn’t take long for the both of them to finally look up to me, all our faces covered in tears, mucus and smiles.

I rubbed their heads and we continued to simply smile at each other for a while.

Smiling as if all the worry in the world has faded.

I don’t need the city.

I don’t need the servants.

All I needed, was right here.

I felt truly blissful, until Anna suddenly asked something.

“Where’s Acedia? We need to thank him!”

Damien happily nodded his head at her statement, both their eyes staring at me with bliss.

I forced us both to stand, for some reason picturing Acedia standing a few metres away, smiling down at us.

Indeed, I owe him more than my life.

A thank you is the least I can do for now.

“Acedia, I…”

I started as I turned to look roughly at the portal’s previous location.

However, there was no-one there.

I looked around a bit, but found no sign of him.

“Mom?”

Damien spoke.

“Where is he?”

Anna continued.

“I, I…”

I couldn’t help but stammer.

Possibilities flashed through my mind.

Was he washed off of me at the last moment?

Did the one trying to kill us shut the portal before he could get in?

Did he use his life to protect me?

Especially the last possibility made my just recently stopped tears start flowing again, but something interrupted me before I could.

A sound and sight so horrifying, it stunned me.

Out of nowhere, a loud, shrieking noise was heard, howling like the wind and cutting like a knife.

It was so loud, I could feel my eardrums ready to burst and underneath me, the ground seemed to crack by the sheer force behind the shrieking.

And even then, the sound got increasingly louder and louder.

Immediately, I dropped down and covered for my children.

I tried to connect to the Energy and make a shield, but was denied.

Using the Energy linked with my Soul, I created a shield for Anna and Damien, trusting I would live through it.

I pulled them to my chest and took a look at what was happening around me while my head was being assaulted by the ungodly screaming.

What I saw, was the apocalypse.

The sky was painted with the familiar Energy-purple and Soul-white.

Not the oppressive blankness of the other realm, but the true, pure white of the Soul.

Everywhere around us, the earth was starting to crack and the mountains started to sink in, as if there was a pocket of space underneath it.

Purple lightning struck down multiple times far away in the distance of every direction, and from these thunder strikes, giant craters were formed, visible from the elevated position we sat.

Luckily, none of these seemed to come particularly close to our position, but still, I had to urge to run away as quickly as possible.

But to where?

Lightning was everywhere.

Where could we go where it’s safe?

The surface was assaulted by lightning, the whole of the sky was dyed purple and the earth seemed to shatter simply by the might of the shrieking wind.

There is nowhere to hide.

All I can do is protect Anna and Damien and hope for the best.

Acedia POV:

Hahaha, we finally escaped!

As soon as we went through the portal, I destroyed the Soul resembling Emily’s the same way I destroyed the one in Death’s realm, hopefully able to make it disappear forever.

Not only that, I destroyed Emily’s body, too, with but a simple gesture, cleaning up all traces of the woman that assaulted us.

But as soon as I destroyed the Soul with Blue Fire and converted the body into Energy, something changed.

No, everything changed.

Before I could even start creating a new body and try to create a new Soul, I was swept away by the world.

Everything seemed to expand as my being was absorbed.

The entire world was visible, then the entire solar-system, then the entire galaxy, then a large collection of many galaxies bunched together, and then… and then…

My scope continued to grow larger and larger until all of existence was visible to me in all its splendorous glory!

All the planets, all the galaxies, all the stars, all the mountains, hills, grass, humans, animals, everything was visible!

I could sense it all up to the edges of existence, and there I found my borders.

The ‘sight’ of it was hard to describe, but it seemed something like this.

Outside of existence – or rather, outside of my realm, I could sense two others.

One pure white.

One pure black.

These two realms seemed to form a sphere around mine and made contact with each other everywhere apart from what bordered mine.

And everywhere these two connected, they shifted.

At every place and at all times, these two seemed to push each other with unimaginable amounts of power.

Power vast enough to easily crush my pathetic-looking realm.

Death and the Devil were in constant war with each other, and if even one of them took but a single second to focus on my realm, it would be destroyed without the slightest trouble.

That was how feeble it looked.

The only thing that allowed it to stand, was their undivided attention in trying to destroy each other.

I had always held some doubt of the Devil’s words, but just as they were almost too good to believe, it was also too hard to resist believing it.

But it was all a trick, as to be expected of the Devil.

The Devil wanted me to attack and destroy, or at the very least, distract Death so he could swoop in for the kill.

It was clear this ‘alliance’ wasn’t to make his life easier; it was to make the only one who could stand up to him disappear, so he could claim supremacy over existence.

Death’s goal was the same.

But why?

What is so amazing about my realm?

I looked everywhere, scanned every planet shallowly and all blank space in between them too.

And there I found it.

Like a giant furnace it sat at the centre of it all.

In the middle of my realm, Death’s realm and the Devil’s realm sat the giant purple-and-white coloured orb, constantly pulsating and pumping out Energy as well as Souls.

That was their goal.

The source of everything.

Death’s power was created by devouring and absorbing Souls, then deforming it into the Blank that was Death’s power.

The Devil’s power on the other hand, was created by devouring and absorbing Energy, then turning it into the Dark that is his power.

All the while it was also responsible for turning Energy into matter and settling souls into matter that would become the living.

Everything living had a Soul, although those of microbes and one-celled creatures were very small and unnoticeable.

Although now, I could sense and use it all.

However, although I’ve never been this powerful, being able to use every Soul and all Energy as simple as stretching my arms…

It was not enough!

They were constantly sapping the excess Energy and Souls from my realm and turn it into their powers, leaving mine unable to grow!

If things were to continue like this, it would either be an eternal stalemate – with me being the weakest – or one of the two will at one point break through and devour the other.

And when that happens, everyone is doomed.

That is why both of them messed with me.

One pushing me to the edge, hoping I would snap and kill everyone to give him the Souls needed to get that slight edge needed win the battle.

The other manipulating me to distract the other, giving him the distraction needed to catch the other off-guard and win their eternal struggle.

All the while, I am nothing but a pawn!

They only reason I exist in their eyes is for their own ends!

The only reason my world exist is because as soon as one goes in to claim the Furnace of Creation, the other takes the chance to finish him off!

I will not stand for this!

Death has tortured me long enough, and the Devil’s manipulations will end by my hands!

Because I’ve got access to the one thing they don’t!

The Furnace!

It was clearly made out of both Energy and the Soul, but it was not a part of me like everything else.

Not yet, at least.

It was right in my centre, so I didn’t need to travel to it or anything.

I only needed to do one thing…

With a mixture of Energy and Souls, created from the billions of Souls, both big and small, and the Energy in the vicinity of the Furnace, I reached out towards it slowly.

Around it was a slight space of nothing, a true vacuum, and I tried to grab through it to take a piece of the Furnace.

And as I did, I noticed only one thing…

Pain!

Pain everywhere!

It burned everything it touches with such ferocity, it remoulded my Soul and Energy back into its primal state, adding it to the sphere.

And every time even the tiniest portion was taken, it felt like having one of my limbs torn off.

But I will not give in!

Constantly, I drained more and more of my realm into raw power, attacking the Furnace with almost everything I had!

I cannot imagine the amount of planets gone by now, the innumerable amount of mortal’s – and Immortal’s, if Death’s lackeys were still around – lost in this attempt.

But even if I cared much about the mortals who see me as nothing but a pile of evil – let alone Death’s lackeys – this is absolutely necessary, even for them.

If I don’t succeed, they will be doomed sooner or later.

The longer I put this off, the more chances either Death or the Devil get.

Of course, I did spare Emily, Damien and Anna as best I could, but the amount of focus it take to not go insane because of the pain is immense, so the best is all I could do.

“NOOOO!”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

I heard the two shouting in fury, but it didn’t matter.

I sensed neither was willing to take their eyes of the other, afraid to be backstabbed as soon as they attack me.

“Getting the upper hand!”

I shouted through the pain.

Endlessly I kept pouring it in and got closer and closer to grabbing a piece of the Furnace as piece after piece of myself was ripped from me in burning agony.

Then, after literally burning through 2/3 of my power, finally, for a single second, I touched it and took ripped off a small part.

It was almost unnoticeably small, able to fit on top of a normal, human-sized finger.

But it was enough.

With this, victory is one step closer…

“You fool! We could’ve been the greatest allies! Ruled all of existence together while we indulge in all the power we could dream off!”

The Devil tried to sound angry and disappointed, but all I pictured was a large grin.

“Hahahaha! What upper hand! You failed, Acedia! Just like you always do! As always, you're a fool!”

Death didn’t bother to hide his contempt as he sneered childishly at me.

They hadn’t noticed.

I focused my half-wrecked mind on the planet of Emily, Anna and Damien.

I constructed a body for myself, taking the recently met mirror-image created by Death as example.

Then, I took some Souls from a large amount of microbes and one-celled organisms from a plant with life in its infancy, forced them to melt together and pinned it on the newly-created body.

Placing the body on the planet, I placed myself inside this body and Soul, cutting myself off from the power of my own realm.

Immediately as I entered my ‘regular’ form, I felt an exhaustion overwhelm me and embraced the encroaching unconsciousness.

It was painful beyond belief.

A constant torture of having every piece of myself slowly ripped off and thrown into a fire.

But, I succeeded.

Under my control, hidden inside the newly created Soul, a piece of the Furnace of Creation lay hidden.

With it, I will build op my power and destroy those that manipulated me for all my life!

No matter what happens!

I will have the last laugh!

But first, just for a little while, let me rest.

I embraced the unconsciousness as I fully entered my new body.

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I hope I'm not going to fast with the story, since I originally thought I would take it slower, but it just didn't turn out that way.

Please let me know what you think!

All your comments are appreciated!