The World Tree

In his sea of consciousness

The physical manifestation of the paracosm he had constructed

The culmination of his entire life's work

Gaia planned to change it

Gaia was still angry

But his foundation was strong

The maze was sturdy

He calmed himself down

It was time to create an ability

This would be on a different level then Create

This ability would be Sublime

Manifest

Gaia had a different approach

Some people

When confronted with paradox

They wasted their efforts on the illogical

Gaia was different

He would abuse it heavily no doubt

But if an opportunity is opened up

He wouldn't hold back!

A very long journey was ahead of him

He jumped up from his throne, off of his island

Falling down and landing on the blackness that was at the bottom of the maze

The opening from when it had split apart

There was nothing beyond this blackness

But what lied beyond it

What it meant

That is what mattered

The universe didn't give a shit about that though

I'll connect directly with the abyss

I'll bring the unreal. I'll bring that which doesn't exist into existence.

I'll give it life

This is my manifest.

This is my purpose

He was going to do something that would throw the cosmic order into complete chaos

"It is about time that I've become complete."

"No more games."

It was then that an original Incarnation named Paradox began to have a feeling of impending doom.

For whatever reason

They felt as if they were about to be replaced

Incarnations were always there

But they weren't always the same

Paradox was good friends with Time

Because of this friendship

They were fine with Time being replaced

It was a kindness on their part

So to help Time be fresh

They went out of their way to scheme against them in an instant

To injure is to help

Paradox worked in mysterious ways

Time believed Paradox

Paradox wasn't able to influence much without approval from Destiny

Time on the other hand...

They had made many friends

Focus. Space. Create. Avatar. Creation. History. Knowledge.

To name a few

Focus contacted Avatar to talk of fated intervention

Fate brought the matter up with Rules

Rules denied such an exception

Instead, offering up the food to Time

Time accepted such an offer

It had been a long while since they had eaten anything

Time grabbed a handful of overgods

Among those was a freshly forming overgod

Time hesitated

"Knowledge?"

What Time saw actually confused him

"That isn't right."

He was about to talk with History and have this error fixed

He needed to talk with Destiny and Judgement

Before he could though

He was sucked into the forming overgod

Paradox laughed while whistling

"Better him than me."

He felt he had done a good deed

He was immediately surrounded by thousands of incarnations

All of the incarnations were pissed

He grabbed the handful of food left behind by Time

"Hahaha! Yes! Get me if you can!"

He flew around madly

Trillions of overgods were getting destroyed

The ones in his hand were still safe

Many incarnations were weakened with the disappearance of Time

The food was being destroyed

Paradox had gone too far!

In their madness

They tried to arrest him

But he was slippery

Judgment pointed to him

He immediately froze

"You've transformed an incarnation into a god! Time is missing! Severe Offense! Erase!"

Erase surrounded him

Destiny noticed an abnormality in the chunk of overgods he was holding

She looked at Knowledge

"Incarnations will never have a destiny!"

Knowledge laughed

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We can't exist in lower realms. We'd no longer be incarnations!"

"You can't fool me!"

"You're becoming an overgod!"

"Hahaha. Time just became a god, and this is what you worry about? If I so blatantly broke the rules, I would be getting replaced just like Paradox, would I not? Time is now gone... leave me alone."

"THEN WHAT IS THAT THING?"

Knowledge squinted his hollow eyes

Looking at the forming overgod held by Paradox

He looked at it like he was completely detached

Just an observer

Green stars began to fill his hollow eyes

"That thing?"

"Oh? What a coincidence... I admire such a noble path."

Destiny felt sick to her stomach

"That my friend... is The System!"

"Is that so? Well... you wouldn't mind if I destroyed it right?"

"Go ahead and try"

Knowledge acted as if it had nothing to do with him at all

He seemed to not care in the least

But he was shaken inwardly

Worried

Not because things weren't going to plan

He was a being who could seize infinite opportunity

He realized there had been slight manipulation

Manipulation from an outside force

He saw through it

Paradox was almost completely wiped out

That simply wouldn't do

Erase worked differently on Incarnations

All of the Incarnations were usually important in one way or another

One disappearing would hurt everyone

They were a tightly knit family

Destiny had been heavily weakened with the disappearance of Time

If Paradox left

That could potentially cause her to lose some of her control

Some of her entertainment

That would mean less food later

Incarnations couldn't be erased

They would simply be replaced

The same but different

Generations would pass if rules were severely broken

Paradox did something that would get him Erased

A new Paradox would then immediately spawn in from some existence that had met the requirements.

This was a non-issue for the balance of things in terms of everyone else

But Time wouldn't just respawn

He had somehow become a god

Somehow forcibly anchored onto the existence of a forming overgod

He wouldn't respawn unless destroyed

They needed to Erase those overgods

Those ones couldn't even serve the purpose as food anymore

What Paradox had done had truly put them in a bind

Paradox was erased entirely

Instantly respawning in the exact same spot

His eyes had lost intelligence

This was a newborn incarnation

He looked around

Looking at his hand

Intelligence returned to his eyes

A bashful smile appeared on his face

Paradox looked at Knowledge

Judgment spoke

"Welcome... Speak with Ru-"

"That won't be needed!"

"I'm the older generation of Paradox!"

"That's improbable!"

"I met the requirements once more in an instant!"

"That's Impossible!"

"THAT'S WRONG! I'm God. Damn. Paradox"

Paradox looked at Knowledge and winked

He pointed at Knowledge

"Help me! You know why!"

Knowledge immediately had many thoughts

He looked for loopholes

He found them

"Stop!"

Judgement. Destiny. Erase.

They all looked over at Knowledge

He was already on watch due to almost breaking a rule

He was walking on thin ice

If he tried any funny business

He may just be replaced

"Paradox is supposed to be erased because he made Time a god. Something that powerful shouldn't be a god. He then forcibly anchored Time to food! He not only wasted food, but in his outburst he destroyed huge portions of the farm!"

Paradox immediately became giddy

"Thanks Knowledge"

"Because of this. He absolutely is going to be replaced... unless..."

"Unless what!??"

Trickery started laughing

"We wait."

Everyone thought Knowledge was out of his mind

Time was gone

There would be no waiting

This had to be resolved in an instant

They were about to continue

But Knowledge started shouting

"I KNOWLEDGE WILL ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES OF TIMES DISAPPEARANCE!"

Everyone except Destiny was shocked

Knowledge seemed as if he had nothing to gain from this

"There is a condition!"

Knowledge's eyes began to glow

"If Time respawns in the next five minutes... Paradox will be forgiven."

Paradox instantly got upset

"I thought we were friends Knowledge! How could you do this!"

"The Horror! Replace me! Repla-"

"Shut up! I'm trying to help you here!"

The Incarnations were very removed from how mortals or even overgods processed time

Minutes for them could be millions of years

Billions of years

Or even trillions of years

Knowledge was placing his hope on himself

Not who he was now

The seed he had planted

Gaia

Never before had even History witnessed what was about to unfold

Knowledge thought he would be able to resolve a grave issue

He'd be able to destroy Time

Then he could respawn fresh

He could be replaced

Knowledge hadn't communicated with Gaia at all

There was no coordination at all

Gaia was a blank slate

But he had the power of five words!

"The System. Scope. Object. Global."

Knowledge needed Gaia to become global

If he could succeed

How everything worked

How the space which shouldn't be named worked

Everything would be turned upside down

He was creating something with infinite potential

What lies beyond Incarnations?

The readers

The author

They existed in a true reality

Not even the incarnations could fathom its complexity

Because beyond those existences lied the gods

The overgods

The space that shouldn't be named

The incarnations that live in that space

It was a neverending loop

You could not escape it

But someone was about to

It was what had shaken Knowledge earlier

It wasn't himself that he saw escape

His path hadn't become permanent yet!

Somebody else had beat him to it!

Knowledge wasn't the only Incarnation aware of his situation

He wasn't the only one that schemed

Many overgods and Incarnations had come to know they existed as fiction

But they either didn't care

Or they had no power to change things

It was through the flaws of the universe

Flaws which stuck out like a god separated from his anchor to Knowledge

That he was able to see a sliver of a chance for all of this to change

To go beyond

To become Global

In an instant

Knowledge would do it

If he could...

He would be complete

"The System"

When you became a god

You would often lose your name

When you became an Overgod

You would often lose it again

Becoming an Incarnation?

You would then lose both your name and yourself

Knowledge in an alternate reality

In a paracosm long forgotten

He had been something greater than this

He would shatter everything!

Only then... will his destiny manifest

An Incarnation with a destiny?

He'd go beyond Incarnation!

Shatter the cycle!

Connect with who you are!

Manifest your destiny!

Only then could he be satisfied

Just what was an existence like that capable of?

Knowledge had long lost himself

Just like all the other Original Incarnations

He was part of a system now

But Knowledge wouldn't accept such a fate

The person that replaced the previous Knowledge

In their heart lied a way of life that was completely legendary

This was a requirement to become Knowledge

Something that took them far no matter what universe they found themselves in

It was through this, that they had replaced Knowledge when he had broken rules by engraving a plan on their will that would change everything.

This was a joint effort

The culmination not of a lifetime

The culmination of every generation of Knowledge!

The great echo of existence called

He wouldn't allow himself to be part of any system

He'd breach reality

He'd be its foundation

The System

He would make it his destiny!

Gaia's POV:

I placed my hands on the blackness at the bottom of my maze

The Abyss

Imagination

Nonexistence

I will force it to exist here

To exist in my sea of consciousness

I'm just a gaia

I'm part of a Hivemind

If this blackness becomes the abyss

I'll be able to become complete

When I had made this soul

When I had used revival

By transferring the dark energy that is GR

I was able to reduce the estimated cost

It was one less then it should've been

This was a flaw he had found long ago

Where does it go when it is consumed?

My path lies neither in creation or destruction.

Gaia could now feel massive amounts of energy pouring into himself

It had yet to appear in his sea of consciousness

It was a physical type of energy

Energy full of life

[ECHO]: Fusing with world will...

Becoming an overgod required one to be a god

It required a true existence

It also required a true body

It required one to be a universe

Gaia was completely mortal

He was a Hivemind

But he had no divinity

He had no Laws

What seperated gods from mortals?

Divinity

These were Laws

Gaia's thinking was quite extraordinary

The mind of the writer couldn't keep up with him

This lead to him making mistakes

Gaia would abuse these mistakes!

This was in his nature...

"I refuse to ever be a god."

"Overgod will just be a stepping stone"

Gaia stood up, standing on the blackness.

He looked around

"Create"

"Erase"

"My divine abilities were stolen"

"I'll just make something better"

"Disappointment? Relief?"

"Who needs that!"

"Divinity? Gods?"

"Get that shit away from me!"

Logic

Equivalent exchange

Loopholes

"To understand something. You must first take it apart. Break it down!"

"Something does not arise from nothing! Divinity is a trick! A trap!"

"It is a contrary power that leads the wielder to be trapped!"

"So... I will break myself down! I'll go to the edge of it all!"

"I'm far too stable to start over! I'm far too stable to shatter! I've done this enough!"

"It won't be ME who shall shatter. It will be my impurities... it will be the other thread'

"Only then... can I say I've experienced enlightenment. Only then will I be able to create an ability worthy of ME."

"This will be my first trial!"

Gaia had situations forced on him throughout his entire life

His hand was guided. He wasn't able to become his own person entirely.

It was as if someone else had decided what Gaia was going to be

Someone had predicted how Gaia was going to react

Someone was making Gaia do things against his wishes

So the trial he was undergoing was something that could be avoided

It was something he didn't need to do

But, it was something he wanted to do

He would form his foundation from scratch

It wouldn't be divinity

Purpose

It would be logic

He would be a being which embodied Logic

This tribulation would determine his future!

It would determine his destiny!

Whether he would become an overgod or not

That all depended on this trial

One he wasn't forced into

One someone else didn't make

Gaia didn't know it

But his destiny was shifting

It was becoming less paradoxical

It was taking on aspects of a complete destiny

[ECHO]: 'Soul of the System' Comprehension has reached 0.01%

Somewhere else in the galaxy

There was the sea of consciousness of another gaia

This wasn't the paracosm in the abyss

This was the 2nd scout the Hivemind sent out

The System in the abyss

They had 0 GR left

The experience of this gaia had been different

Because of the warning

"PRUNE"

The copy they put within the soul was far more stable

There was no overflow

Ironically... the overflow outcome ended up more stable

The essence had been purer

It had grown up better

This gaia turned out different

Only the most necessary of information was included

The repetitions had been removed

This gaias journey was simpler

It was one full of destruction and horror

They looked more similar to what they had looked like in the paracosm outside of existence

More like an abomination

There was no floating island for them

The maze was broken down completely

The place was crumbling and falling apart

Their physical body that housed their sea of consciousness was not a 'World Tree'

It was made up of the worlds they had consumed

It was a body like that of how they saw themselves

You could say it was a cursed body

A body made from... knowledge.

One which they had sacrificed everything for

They had developed something that was quite cursed

They carried around this burden

Wrath, anger, and guilt

Hatred for not only the situation they found themselves in

But for anything that may have guided them on this path

Stability for them remained elusive

They hated themselves

They hated the world

They hated what they had done

This hatred

The hatred of the very logic that everything was built upon

This gave birth to a sublime ability

This ability had let them destroy everything in their path

They had destroyed worlds for personal gain

They were like a giant tree covering the blackness with threads and roots

A monster

Something you should never gaze upon

The maze had parted for them as well

They were also in the process of becoming an overgod.

A piece of the puzzle

A different approach

[ECHO]: 'Body of the System' Comprehension has reached 83%

A faster more rushed approach

The ability they had made

Its name was...

Shatter

The spirit body high up in the sky of the true existence of Somnus

It broke into pieces

It did not reform

It had been consumed

They were going to reach 100% RIGHT NOW

[ECHO]: 'Body of the System' Comprehension has reached 100%

At the exact moment that they were to absorb the raw information

About to absorb it just like they had absorbed those worlds

Like it had those people

It actually manifested somewhere else

Somewhere far away

[ECHO]: 'Body of the System' Comprehension has reached 83%

It appeared in the hand of the other gaia

He held onto the star that was his spirit body

This was his ability

Manifest

Turning raw information into something real

Not creating something from nothing

But creating something from raw data!

Changing something from information!

The thing that had shattered was reforming

It was crystalizing

No longer a star

But an orb

It was then that the paracosm in the abyss

Something that doesn't exist

It too had developed a sublime ability

This was...

Connect

It used this

These three Gaia's

They were named "System"

They each had a different destiny

The one in the abyss was eternal

The one that was the world tree was paradoxical

It was in the process of becoming complete

The one who had consumed worlds

The 'perfect' incarnation of his experience in the abyss

Supposedly the best version

Though they had failed to do so, their destiny had become complete

It was time for a confrontation with themselves

It was time to judge a way of life

Both of their consciousnesses fused

Because deep within them

Deep within all

Existed the abyss

What connected them wasn't this

It was through the use of that paracosm's sublime ability

Connect

But the gaia was enraged

He pointed at the darkness

He shattered it

The world was mirrored

His end was chaotic and unstable but more complete

The other gaia had order and stablity, but was more paradoxical

What was his, was stolen by himself

He was denied the full comprehension and completion of his body

The other Gaia smashed the orb into his chest while looking at himself

The distance separating the two had been broken

The darkness at the bottom of the maze had shattered

The more ordered gaia had received a few notifications from echo after smashing the orb into his chest

He had gained 17% comprehension in a certain something

"GiVe iT bAcK!"

It was time for his trial

In the abyss, there existed a paracosm named "System". This wasn't the only paracosm that existed. There was another paracosm that was in the abyss as well.

Her name was Minerva

Someone who many universes ago had attained a mysterious destiny

She was almost completely ignored by the universe itself

Though, she no longer had such a destiny

It had been destroyed when she had served her duty as a generation of Knowledge

She wasn't an incarnation anymore

To say she ever was would even be a slight exaggeration

She did have a cursed destiny though

In her paracosm

An endless spider web extended

On this web was a giant black widow

An hourglass on its back

Time had appeared in this universe

At this moment though

Somnus had appeared in the abyss

Creating an illusory room for the forming overgod 'G77'

He had been peacefully watching the show

Until some asshole shattered the spirit body in his sky

But his illusory room was connected to something different this time

It was connected to a paracosm

The paracosm had recently also connected itself to another paracosm

He pulled out his pocket watch and said

"Here we go again."

He was now in a battle with Time

He was now in a battle with a system

On the planet of the world tree

There was someone named 'The Flawless Immortal Fire Ant'

They had been a god

Moltzrar in the past

They had finally been able to enter the abyss

"I'm God. Damn. Flawless."

Somnus's eyes lit up upon seeing the cursed destiny

"Moltzrar! Your destiny is mine!"

Somnus looked at the abomination that he was fighting and then back at the ant

For whatever reason

He had an odd sense of deja vu

"Didn't I do this before...?"

Moltzrar, of course, remembered having his eternal destiny stolen

He too experienced a sense of deja vu

For some reason...

Somnus just shrugged his shoulders

Music began to play

"I must be getting old."

Somnus saw a cursed destiny

It was time for him to enter the mysterious

To do that

He would too, become cursed

But he was only Paradoxical!

How could he steal a cursed destiny? It was on a higher level!

Paradox wouldn't not allow it!

Destiny wouldn't allow it either!

He just needed to beat a certain something...

He just needed to beat Time!

He would make it his angel

He'd make it fuse with his item

How hard could it be to beat an original incarnation turned god?

It was time for him to find out

This was all happening at the same time as Gaia's trial

Time stood there

Its body was like a grey fog

The fog began to pour out from Somnus as well

Time felt like this had happened before

He, unfortunately, couldn't report this to History to have things fixed

Time simply looked at Somnus

Somnus instantly turned into Visdre

He turned into a baby

He then became nothing at all

The only thing left of him was his special item

It was his pocket watch

The abyss was falling apart from such distortion

Time fused with the pocket watch

Somnus reappeared as a baby

He rapidly aged

Until he was an old man

He died and all that was left was a vague outline of him

He was transparent

He seemed weak

But he had attained an enlightenment

He then displaced the corruption of Minerva out of the abyss

Sending them to play a role long forgotten

He too had finally constructed a sublime ability

His other abilities like dream, distort and displace.

Those were divine abilities

This was on a different level

A level his other abilities had now reached as well

It was built from his experience in life

He had seen much contradiction

Much paradox

Illogical Logic

Bright rooms that were simply too dark

He now had himself despite the rules

He could feel the power of the original incarnation running through him

His destiny instantly did not go from paradoxical to mysterious

But the Destiny of Somnus forever did!

His ability

It is called...

Travel

He had escaped

Everything was frozen to him

He watched as everything reversed quickly

He was nothing but a vague outline

Neither eternal or paradoxical

He had left the system of everything

Completely separate from the cycle

He used his ability

Combining it with the others

He saw Time once more

He saw Time look at himself

He returned the favor

He looked at Time

Time regressed

He gained another sublime ability

Rewind

Time eventually turned back into an original incarnation

It was no longer in the form of a god

It was no longer something that could be perceived from the abyss

He thought this was quite entertaining

He was actually having a bit of fun

He began laughing

He wasn't Somnus anymore

Neither was he Time

He went back to himself as he was forming the illusory room for 'G77'

He slapped Somnus a few times while laughing

"You fool! Hahahahaha"

He then went to the spirit realm

He went back to when he was forming his true existence

He gave himself a single word

That word was

"Time"

He went to Visdre before he existed

He then did that again

He gave himself a special uniqueness

He went to the night he was abandoned at the hospital

He was going to look at the faces of his parents the day they had left him

But what he found was something disturbing

He was dropped off by someone that looked like himself

Not as Visdre

But as Somnus

"So that's how it is..."

He focused on that person

Following their Timeline

Its actions had been weird

Eventually, he had found a white space

"These aren't loopholes... they're plotholes!"

"I don't have to deal with those anymore..."

He had escaped

He went back to the formation of the overgod 'D02'

The formation of the universe

He found the first god

"Moltzrar... my friend..."

He saw himself looking at Moltzrar

The spirit looked at him

It screeched

He laughed

"You aren't echo, he'll be."

It cried out

It couldn't touch him though

He simply walked through more of the universe

Traveling and answering all of the questions he had

He wanted to understand everything

He wanted to know why it existed

He found out

"The System? That is why I exist?"

He was not a god

He was not an original incarnation

He was not The System

He was a force that couldn't be named

Somnus's destiny was now mysterious

But that didn't give him this type of power

Time had respawned in the space which shouldn't be named

What he was now was something that had left the book

What he left behind was Somnus

Someone with a Mysterious Destiny

He left Somnus a copy of his sublime abilities

His old divine abilities too had become sublime

Rewind

Travel

Dream

Distort

Displace

He himself had no destiny

It was No Destiny

No universe's rules could affect him

He was outside of its environment as well

It was an ultimate power

He had the powers of an original incarnation

He had the free will of a god

He was alone in his freedom

He had escaped the cycle of suffering

The loop of existence that was placed upon everything

He had touched reality

A seed had been planted

He left the book

Not to mess with the cosmic order of things

He left to explore the order of things

He would search it for answers

Forever

Things resumed

Changed

Somnus was constructing the container for the forming overgod 'G77'.

He sat at the head of the table

His face was completely hidden in fog

But a smile appeared

It was carved onto the fog

The black circle was complete