--Hex

Killing the Exile finally seemed real once I'd heard the one who I assumed was 'Below' speak, and when I look back I could swear I saw Exile's lips mouth the word "fair" before the light left his eyes. A cold chuckle brought my attention back to the god who was watching me with a too human look of curiosity despite the hood hiding his face. Instead of waiting to hear my questions he opted to start speaking without any prompting on my part. "You'll never understand how long I've waited to speak with you Hex." The familiar way he spoke my name sent a cold chill down my back that only went away when I gripped the swords tighter until I heard my knuckles crack. "Your mother would be... happy to know you've conquered the last vestiges of that lost god: Though I see your darkest passenger still follows behind you closely."

One of the tentacles from beneath his robe gestured towards the direction of Pixie, and the shadow bastard as they slowly approached us. "The Player was never meant to experience the system I created, and the fragment that remains seems near indestructible. Enough about them though, you're the one I've been waiting for..." I stopped listening to him once he'd starting going on about how long he'd been waiting again, and examined my surroundings. We stood next to the opening of the canyon, and beyond where Below stood the ground fell away into a star filled pit of emptiness. Looking out I could see the faintest golden outline spread out over the horizon, when he finally saw where my attention was Below stopped speaking for a moment.

"Beautiful isn't it? I enjoyed staring out into that grand display for quite a while during my imprisonment. This is how the cosmos were before the great collision a blissfully quiet space until..." He went silent finally while turning his head towards the empty space as if caught in a trance: The hood hiding his face only added to the eerie feeling that prodded at my mind telling me to attack the old god now before the chance went away. "Enough toying with the boy Below, he's already been accepted by The Engine." The shadow bastard's voice coming from so close behind stopped me from making any decisions, and the featherlight weight on my left shoulder told me where Pixie was. When I turned to look her eyes were closed, and she had her hands out towards my arm while her lips moved in a silent chant. "I'd hoped your being here meant that you'd finally gotten rid of the Dark Passenger." Below sighed before he shook his head, and turned the hood's faceless gaze back to me.

"The Cosmos started with a great flash and bang that awoke the first entities of substantial power." As he spoke the empty background before us lit up with a blinding flash of light that took my vision away, and the sound of the explosion took my hearing shortly after that. When my vision returned the empty space was filled with constellations of varying sizes, and when I focused on them I saw bodies of varying sizes made of the stars. "We each awakened young gods in a universe still in its infancy, and for eons we lived in a golden age. Sadly prosperity bred laziness, jealousy, and the hunger for greater power among the gods all too quickly. Before we fell though I designed a number of useful creations from the building blocks of the mortals, to the shape of the universe. The Three Realms were created as a means to perfect the balance throughout the entire Cosmos. The first realm would belong solely to the gods, the second would be where the women could play with their ideas about creation, and the third would house our bloodier means for entertainment."

The background changed again illustrating the old gods words as he spoke them, and once he'd stopped again I saw the Three Realms in their first age. The First realm was filled with winged beings that followed after reveling gods in varying forms, the Second had a few different gods meticulously laying the foundation for life on a selection of small planets. When my eyes focused on the Third realm I was greeted with the scene of four demons attempting to kill each other in an arena made for two while the gods drank, and laughed among themselves as they watched from comfortable seats.

Sitting comfortably where he could see them all a beautiful god with dark eyes smiled with delight as he watched the killing start. "How'd it go from that to you being stuck in here with a bunch of blood thirsty beings?" That was the scene I wanted to see, no I needed to see who beat him. I didn't have to wait to for long though, Below seemed to want to share as much as he could with me. "Deception, and a chance that only came because I tried to defy Fate..." He'd said it in the most matter of fact way that it took me off guard for a moment, as if it shouldn't come as a surprise that he'd fallen as the background began to shift.

"The easiest way to defeat any of the gods is to have their trust first, and the means to defeat them second. My sister was born with my trust, we were two borne of the cosmos' innate desire for balance. She helped me bring in the Golden Age for all our kind, and when Fate tested my strength against Mevelar the Chaos Dragon I would've been defeated without her help."

The excitement in Below's voice contrasted with his form. A few of the mist wreathed tentacles that sprouted from below his robe swayed and twitched around me only to suddenly stop when I focused on them. "If Omega, and his kin had never rose from the remnants of the Mevelar's corpse my Golden Age would've never ended. Fate could never leave me be, and to kill Fate would be to bring all realms to the doorstep of oblivion. So I could only watch helplessly as my sister began to slowly become attracted to one of the new young gods. I wasn't complaining ignorant of Omega's little schemes, but when Xerilla aided him... I was unprepared for that. She drew from the very fabric of the Cosmos risking the destruction of everything I created to give Omega a chance to steal the Chaos Engine from me."

The scene finally played before my eyes, but the battle I'd hoped to watch didn't appear in the vast abyss. Instead I saw a much younger Below guarding a goddess with a body seemingly made of stars dotted around the darkness of space. The first time I saw my mother she was unsheathing a dagger, and stabbing Below in his back. The god king's eyes were shocked when the dagger first went into his back, but when she only continued to stab him Below turned around and threw her across the room they stood. The other three were on him before he had time to turn back around, and they hacked away at the wounded god until all that was left was a unrecognizable heap of flesh slowly bleeding the golden blood of the old gods. "Xerilla took my remains and buried them at the center of Bygone's Forest, binding my body to this prison below The Realms. If not for the System I created, and the Engine my mind would've slowly faded as time passed. Omega, Xerilla, the others none of them knew how much I painstakingly worked to stave off my true death. When your mother used my very first System as a catalyst for her dark scheme to bring you into being the first part of my mind awoke, and when Omega carelessly granted you access to the Engine the second part followed after."

Below didn't seem to want to allow me a single second to speak, and before I could interject the illustrations behind him faded away leaving behind a dark emptiness that the old god gestured towards. "Now I stand here, at the edge of truly understanding The Abyss that drove my sister towards betraying me. I do hope you're prepared to go against the will of the Cosmos in its entirety if you continue down the path I see you walking once our conversation is done." He stopped speaking then as his faceless gaze focused on me as if he'd find the answer he was looking for somewhere in my eyes. "I'll give you a few gifts that are marginally better than the one I gave your unwanted follower when we first met, if you'll take it that is. The gifts while great the greatest among them comes with a drawback that even I found too taxing after a while. The System will give you the choices before your next Realm Assimilation, but after that you won't be able to change it Hex."

I opened my mouth to question the god, but as I did I felt an icy chill spread up my legs that only seemed to be continuing up my body. When I looked down I saw a crystal of some sort forming from the ground that held me in place, and when I swung down with the swords I felt their reassuring grip fade from my hands suddenly. "Those swords aren't really here, though I'm glad you've already bonded with them perhaps that will make things easier for you to find them. After you find Xerilla of course, though I don't know how you'll manage that just yet, but I'll enjoy watching it all I promise you that." The strange old god waved as he finished speaking, and it was the last thing I saw before the crystal covered my vision completely. Pixie had fainted shortly after my crystal coffin closed whether it was from the cold, or her overexerting herself as I held the small faerie in my hands words slowly appeared in the air in front of my eyes.

[ Secret quest unlocked, system update complete... Realm assimilation completed. Would the Player like to first reselect their race, edit their stats with the points provided after a calculation of the possible points accumulated since arriving, or would you like to take a look at the offered >Old god blessings

'Check your stats first, don't bother with changing from Chimera it's already the best race out of all the mortals, and those blessings are—'

I didn't know how it worked exactly, but when I thought of going against what the shadow's voice told me another message appeared in front of me.

[ Old god blessings:

Unyielding Might >Through strengthening the Player's soul the path towards a strength that can surpass the mightiest in the Cosmos given enough time. This blessing has removed the level cap on the STR, VIT, and AGI stats.

Immortal's Challenge >Once the Player loses all their HP they will gain the opportunity to return from the dead no matter their status at the time. Should the Player complete the challenge they will return to life while also benefiting from new mystery rewards. Warning should the Player fail the challenge Death reserves the right to enlist the Player as a {Redacted}

Twelve Path Eyes >Through many challenges King Below created many great miracles, and inventions all which were made to progress the creation of the eyes that can pierce through Fate itself. This gift, after the proper Enlightenment has been reached, will allow the Player to release themselves from Fate's influence completely for a time. None of the Player's stats or accumulated statuses will increase the gift's strength only through Enlightenment see System index for more information on Enlightenment. Further explanation of this gift has been locked for the sake of the Player's sanity.

After reading everything the System had to say I half expected to hear the shadow give his input on whether I should accept Below's gifts or not. I guess he understood that I'd go against whatever he suggested, but when he didn't respond I had to assume Below wasn't lying when he said he was giving me better gifts.

[ Do you accept the old god's gifts? Once accepted the Player will begin traveling to the >Reshinir start point

It was a pointless question really, even if I didn't fully understand the gifts I'd be a fool to give them up there'd be little to show for my brief time in The World Below. 'I accept.'