I would have liked to have remained, nudging this conclave of Gods in a direction that would benefit the Tuatha de Danann, but that choice was taken from me. After my suggestions were voted on and passed, and once Tia was transported to the newly created Senate and her new duties explained, it was time to leave.

Gwyn ap Nudd opened a rift in time and space before I could voice my concerns. I had wanted to visit Morgan le Fey one final time, but events conspired to make that impossible. I did have the time to send her my [Blessing]. Tia had agreed to keep an eye on the Sidhe, which was more than I could ask. She knew the Tuatha de Danann were no longer in [Sleep], even if she would have to wait thousands of years to speak with me again.

The [System Administrator] used the time it took for the rift to open to fold Apollimi, the Atlantis Pantheon, and those Atlanteans that had survived and agreed to follow their Gods to a new world within a pocket dimension. A dimension that looked like a deck of cards. Each card was formed to contain one of the Gods, with a final card holding the Atlanteans that had survived.

A place where they would remain in stasis, unaware of time or distance, to retain their sanity. It was not for the weak-willed to stare out into the abyss betwixt and between. Things that had been lost and forgotten, dreams and nightmares alike, tended to stare back.

The journey back was more wondrous than the journey to Urd had been. I had attained [Rank: God -SS] level and the perks that came with it. My perception of time and space, the understanding of what Gwyn ap Nudd was doing, had protected me from the limitations of my Sidhe body. And although I was still learning the limits of my [Authority], I had settled enough into my [Domain] to stare deeply into the abyss and see the wonders and horrors that made their home betwixt and between.

What before had been a journey of beauty the first time, only made possible because of the aura of protection that Gwyn had radiated, was now so much more. My understanding of the workings of [Law] and the permutations of the multi-verse in flux allowed me to see what had been beyond my comprehension.

If before I thought the journey was one of wonder, this time I was fascinated by the underlying language of mathematics, the structure of the multi-verse writ large, there for anyone who could see to see. The curtain was drawn back from the workings of the multi-verse, and it was there for anyone who would take the time to try to comprehend what they could see and understand, free for the taking.

I understood why some Gods lost themselves as they contemplated the firmament that defined the multi-verse. The language of creation was transcendent. It drew the eye in, and for those who could see, it tempted them to continue to observe and watch the flow of creation, destruction, order, and chaos.

To see what was, what is, and what will be. And to see it all destroyed. It was a vivid reminder that for every purpose under heaven, there is a time. And as broken down into [Law], a psychical touchstone of string theory, that purpose was the cycle of life and death, order and chaos, creation and destruction.

Everything would end, but that ending would be the beginning of a new cycle.

I forced myself to turn away before I lost myself to the transcendent harmony, the perfection of the beginning, and the ending that the Alpha and Omega had willed into being. I might return at some point. But for now, my goals and desires were still centered around fulfilling the directive my new [Authority] and [Domain] had gifted me.

Even with my gaze diverted, my understanding of the multi-verse and my role in it continued to expand. Those mysteries that mortals strove to uncover, those secrets of why and how, were now mine.

I was able to look upon the faces of the Alpha and Omega and see that moment when they willed creation to conform. I watched that moment before the universe existed when the multi-verse was formed. An explosion of energy and matter was sent hurtling across what had been nothing more than void before that moment.

Those who wondered what came before the universe’s creation or what came after the final embers of the last star flickered and died would have found those answers here. And even among Gods, it took a certain level of awareness to withstand that knowledge, to not lose themselves and their purpose in the grand design behind creation.

The Alpha and Omega were the answer. The reason for existence was as simple as that. Before that big bang, the void was infected with energy and matter, and before [Law] was established, there was an awareness, a sharing of ideas between them.

They created everything by imbuing every particle of matter with the smallest gift of their divine essence. Atoms, molecules, animals, people, and Gods were all gifted with that essence. How much essence and how well you were able to control that essence determined your place in the hierarchy of life, death, heaven, and hell.

And for the Tuatha de Danann, they had been entrusted with something else, given a [Geas] to protect the Summerlands. That one place that existed betwixt and between. The place where the Alpha and the Omega first came together. The place where the spark of divine intellect formed and made way for the coalescence of that spark that allowed the Alpha and Omega to become.

It was the reason the Tuatha de Danann were so feared and why their connection to the Summerlands was so coveted. Because in this place of betwixt and between, if a God were driven enough, lucky enough, or powerful enough, they might chance upon that spark of [Divine Will] that placed everything in motion.

Before, there was an Alpha or Omega. Before void. Before matter. Before the Divine took shape. Any God that was able to grasp that understanding of what came before. An understanding so profound that it transcended even the Divine. Then that God might supplant the Alpha and Omega and gain the power necessary to spark their own version of creation.

And if that ever happened, the battle for Ragnarok would seem like nothing more than a snowball fight. The multi-verse would tear itself apart, trying to absorb or destroy the competing ideals of creation.

Because for all the myriad galaxies, universes, and multi-verses, there could only be one System of creation. One place of order and chaos to define and encapsulate the entirety of everything that is, was, or will ever be.

I understood my place in the firmament. I was a bastion of defense, one of the Tuatha de Danann who would stand as a[Guardian] of that place betwixt and between. The Tuatha de Danann was that line in the sand. We were the last line of defense because if anyone or anything were able to contend with and overpower the defenses of the Summerlands, then the Alpha and Omega would counter that affront and respond.

Everything would cease to exist. There would be no more betwixt and between to invade, no place to attempt to understand the forces that allowed the Alpha and Omega to embrace their Divinity.

It was a reaction so absolute that it was why the Tuatha de Danann had been entrusted with their guardianship. The souls of Sidhe, the armies of Gwyn ap Nudd, and the ability to restrict entrance were all barriers to confound any attempt to circumvent the rules that established that place.

And because the Tuatha de Danann were unique amongst Gods. Because they didn’t create multiple Avatars spread across multiple universes, they were uniquely suited to understand what the ramifications would mean if the Alpha and Omega chose to act.

There was no choice; we would stand firm. That we had been placed in [Sleep], that we had allowed ourselves to be trapped in [Sleep], had come perilously close to the Alpha and Omega hitting the reset button.

If Gwyn ap Nudd had been lost to [Sleep] with the rest of the Tuatha de Danann, that would have been game over. We were Gods tied tightly to nature. Our [Authority] and our ability to spread that [Authority] as a singular entity across the multi-verse gave us a perspective that no other God or Cosmic Entity might enjoy.

We had been given a [Geas] by the Alpha and Omega, and no Tuatha de Danann, no Sidhe would break that [Oath].