Chapter 10 Part 2

At first Avery felt nothing except for a strange sense of peace and harmony. He focused on the Tome and his vision seemed to blur slightly. For a moment, he thought that he could see the words of the text even though the Tome was facing away from him. After a moment more, he could hear his own voice speaking the words of the spell.

Armegon glanced up momentarily and saw himself standing beside Ultrecht. At first he wondered if he was hallucinating when he noted that in some strange way, his eyes burned as they were drawn to the bruise that lay near the side of his image's head. That was where he had hit his head when Sounder of the Charge had crashed. With an insightful and uncharacteristic pang of compassion for his comrade, Armegon realized that he was seeing through the cursed eyes of Avery.

Ultrecht felt the three minds merging and struggled to concentrate on the spell he was casting. The feeling of unity was intoxicating and Ultrecht found his fatigue and weariness slip away as his mind, a container of immeasurable knowledge was charged by the passionate fire of the mind of Armegon. His body perked up as the constitution and internal healing power of Avery took over that part of the being.

Without warning, reality peeled back like a tearing sheet of paper. Ultrecht drifted through a void. Though he could not see them, he knew Avery and Armegon were present as well. They, like him, hovered in the blackness devoid of any sensation.

Suddenly a voice penetrated their minds. Let there be light.

Instantly there was a blinding flash and an explosion followed with a mass of matter and energy expanding in all directions. Rapidly the new universe cooled and clumps of matter coalesced into galaxies and stars.

This is how it all began the voice spoke. Witness the scope of creation.

The universe seethed with dying stars and the birthing of new ones with planets. Some of the dead stars imploded into black holes which were themselves new universes being born. It is a never ending chain, the voice told them. Each universe is but a bubble from a different universe.

The scene changed and Ultrecht found himself drifting closer to a bright yellow star. A single blue planet whirled about it and Ultrecht recognized his home world. He watched transfixed as his own race rose from the dust of the planet in the seas and then walked the land. Eons of time passed in the blink of an eye and he marveled as civilization arose and matured in mere seconds.

The passing of time slowed somewhat and instead of millennia, only months were passing each second. He saw cities growing like a fantastic plant or crystalline outcropping. He saw individuals born grow old and die in a span of moments.
All the happenings were passing incredibly fast and yet by some unknown means he understood it all and remembered everything.

Gradually events playing before him began to look familiar and Ultrecht came to understand that the replay of his world's history was approaching his own time. Again the vision slowed and Ultrecht saw the great battle against Lasir played out again, only this time when defeat was inevitable, he saw Lasir flee the planet.

Suddenly the scene lurched and Ultrecht cringed as he flew back among the stars. The image of Lasir flew before him through the void. Suddenly ahead of him he saw a brilliant flash as a star in their path ended its billions year life in a supernova eruption. Lasir dove straight into the heart of the event and Ultrecht followed. At the center of the explosion, a newly formed black hole was just beginning to ingest matter and energy. Lasir dove through the opening and Ultrecht followed.

Again they were in a new universe, newly formed. Time passed rapidly again and Ultrecht found himself observing a civilization arise on a planet about another yellow star. This race matured and spread out among the stars. They colonized and mastered their inhabited universe.

Ultrecht saw Lasir descend among the people and whisper in the ears of the leaders of one race. A war erupted as the one race sought to subdue and conquer the others.
These children must be restrained for their own good. Ultrecht saw ten stars fall from the sky and take humanoid form. They restrained the aggressors and restored and enforced peace.

Then Lasir approached one of the ten and entered the luminous body. Again the war erupted, and when the ten luminous beings prepared to restore peace, the possessed one turned against the remaining nine. The war escalated to tremendous proportions and spanned millions of worlds and dozens of galaxies.

The war was savage and the outcome came abruptly. Time slowed almost to normal as a lone figure, a head of state for some governmental body addressed the conquered races.

"Bow," the speaker demanded. "Bow and worship us as the gods we are!"

Such is as it happened. These children must learn from their own experiences the folly of their ways.

The conquerors were gathered onto a single world with a green sun and cut off from the worlds they had sought to conquer. A blue star passed into the solar system and became entrapped.

So be it. Thou shalt remain here until the blue sun no longer burns.

Again time passed rapidly and Ultrecht watched as the isolated world with its new gods and their master--the Lasir possessed Godking--matured. The world grew and thrived and for several thousands of years resembled any other world that he had watched mature. But gradually the new gods became bored and stagnant and hungered for that which they could not have.

Ultrecht watched as Lasir departed his host and moved silently among the mortals stirring trouble. The Godking, free of Lasir, took wives and relished in his mastery of the world. Then Lasir began to work on the Godking's own offspring. Whispering promises of glory and power into their eager minds.

Ultrecht saw the Tome of Creation brought before the Godking's descendants and he saw the spell of summoning being cast. In the blink of an eye, Ultrecht watched a replay of events that led up to their arrival and the departure of their friends followed by the most recent occurrences until time stopped with Ultrecht, Avery, and Armegon standing around the Sword of Justice and the Tome of Creation. Then the vision ended.

The spell only lasted a matter of moments, and when it was completed, a single being stood before the Abomination with the sword called Liberator in it's hand.

The composite entity was a masterful blend of its three components. Ultrecht's consciousness was the dominant, whether by design--since he was the spell caster--or by accident, it was the consciousness of Ultrecht that was in control. And yet, Armegon and Avery were still there. Ultrecht could feel their thoughts as well as his own. Communication between the mentalities was almost instantaneous. The new Overlord was a mortal trinity.

Ultrecht relished in his new found power. He flexed muscles that had been constructed and toned by a life living off the land as a ranger. He felt his blood searing through his heart, charged with the fury magic of a sorcerer. All that waiting to be coupled by his own command over the elements.

But that was not all. Avery's compassion and healing senses were balanced by the fiery passion and confidence of Armegon. And, both of those were fueled by Ultrecht's vast knowledge and logical intellect.

Ultrecht looked out over the plain of the wasteland. Through the cursed eyes of one who once saw all the world's sickness and injury. He saw the potential for life and beauty as well. The antennae that once translated any spoken language, could hear and communicate with the very matter of the cosmos itself. His memory roared with the unlimited knowledge of one who had witnessed the birth of the universe and all that had taken place up to that point. His unleashed intellect comprehended the most subtle of changes in the environment and understood their affect. Even the most minuscule of chaotic effects were within his ability to control and predict. He had total comprehension and was omniscient of the past.

The Overlord felt the raw power within and knew that he had been brought into existence for a purpose. It was not accident that the spell of summoning had chosen his comrades and himself two years ago. The Tome of Creation had purposely determined who would be chosen. The enemies of Lasir would fight him again just as they had done before.

The Overlord was enraptured at the sheer beauty of the physical world about him as seen with eyes and understanding beyond that of even the greatest immortal. The perfection of subatomic structures and the grace of the living organism were laid out for him to appreciate.

The Abomination roared with pure rage. Hundreds of the deadly tentacles lashed out flailing at the Overlord, catching the new entity in mid daze.

Ill prepared for battle, Ultrecht did not sense the coming attack, but Liberator did. The Dawn of Law slashed upwards and severed a whole mess of tentacles with remarkable ease. The stubs withered like a cotton fiber in a flame.

The Overlord was snapped back to attention by the commotion.

What have we become? one mind thought.

We are one made from three, returned another.

We are one under attack, reminded the third.

Lasir has challenged, they thought in unison. It appeared that only when reflecting inwards did the three minds diverge. Beware! The Abomination holds the power of the Godking and then some.

Ultrecht began to expand. His new body increased in size by will alone. Soon he was of equal height with the Abomination.

"Yield Lasir," Ultrecht urged. "To continue would mean your destruction."

A raspy laugh chilled the air and echoed from the nearby mountains. "My old enemies and now my one time brother," the Abomination replied. "Avery Armegon and Ultrecht, yes I am Lasir, and also the Godking. Remember that the Godking was an Overlord too. Do you think that I can not deal with you when I so readily dealt with him?"

The Overlord did not reply.

"Oh but this is sweet. Not only will I get your power, but also the Tome, and glorious revenge against a trio of enemies.

"If you are so sure of yourself," the Overlord questioned. "What is it you intend to accomplish?"

"You fully well know," the Abomination replied. "With the Tome, I will free myself of this prison and drain the universe of all life. Then I shall move to another universe, preferably your home, where I will proceed to do the same there. And when I have consumed enough, It will be my pleasure to feast on the Creator Himself."

"To do this you must pass me by," the Overlord challenged.

"Then let the contest begin," the Abomination answered.

We are untried in this form. We can't afford to make mistakes. One of the minds of the Overlord warned.

The Abomination hurled a massive flame at the Overlord. The Overlord barely even noticed the heat. He reached out, plucked the flames from the air and returned the gesture. The Abomination showed no sign of any harm.

The Overlord cast forth bolts of lightning unlike anything seen in nature, but the Abomination simply absorbed it all.

Spell after spell was hurled back and forth and all in vain as the two superpowers battled, and yet the Abomination simply grew larger and larger.

The Overlord called forth the full power of the beings in its composition. The elemental control of Ultrecht harnessed the magic within the very planet while the fury of Armegon magnified the magic and channeled it into Avery's magic weapon. Green fire erupted from the blade and covered the monster. At first there was no effect as the Abomination simply absorbed the energy. Gradually, though, more and more of the magic was being turned aside as the Abomination was not able to absorb the power as fast as it was being applied.

The action did not go unnoticed. There is but one way. If the fiend wishes to consume energy, then we must feed it more than even it can handle.

There is only one source of energy that we can tap that will accomplish our goal and not destroy the lives of this world at the same time. The blue sun. It was a wanderer. This world was not formed from the same matrix of life as the blue sun, so the death of the blue sun will not destroy life here.

The loss of the blue sun will change temperatures on this world drastically.

So we must adjust the orbits of the solar system to compensate.

The orbit will have to be lowered in energy in order to place the planet close enough to the green sun to maintain temperate conditions.

It is agreed then?

It is agreed!

The Overlord expanded itself again into the ethereal realm and grew to astronomical proportions. Within moments the Overlord looked down upon the tiny world and reached out his hand and seized the blue sun. Then taking the star within himself, the Overlord resumed his original size.

The Abomination leaped across the league of wasteland to hover above the tall humanoid figure that radiated like a miniature sun. The Abomination's many tentacles raised and curled to point at the Overlord. Bolts of pure darkness shot forth and engulfed the figure.


A darkness covered the Overlord. Like a thick cloud of ash and dust, the darkness crept like a living thing and assaulted the luminous being within.

Enough! The Overlord erupted like an exploding volcano. Blue-white light blasted outwards shredding the veil of night that the Abomination had woven about the two combatants. The Overlord burned with the might of a living star. The surging passion of the fury magic fed the elemental control of the universe, and a bolt of pure solid light flashed across time and space to rend the Abomination asunder.

The Overlord burned with magic, power, and knowledge. No living thing had ever imagined the resulting combination. It was the very magic of all life desperately trying to stave off the death that the Abomination represented.

The monstrous vampiric blob writhed in agony and for the first time in its existence as Lasir, knew fear. It played its last card and began to absorb the energy of the magic and power that the Overlord was assaulting it with.

The mistake had been made. All three minds within the Overlord were watching for that exact moment. Ultrecht turned Armegon's power loose. The Overlord exploded with the might of a supernova. All of the blue star's stored energy went into the magic with enough force to rip the fabric of time and space and delete the whole world from existence. But Avery was there too, and the empathic restraint of a healer held the magic in check and refused to allow it to do harm to anything except the Abomination.

Ultrecht channeled the magic and drew all his elemental command into one massive surge. The Abomination warped and hemorrhaged several times attempting to digest and shunt the magic away to other uses, but the Overload was too great.

In a flash of multicolored light, the Abomination burst. Fragments of the creature flew through time, space and dimension to millions of billions of destinations, totally and eternally impotent.

Then turning his attention across the world, the Overlord healed the dying and weakened with a wave of his hand. The dead he could not help for that was beyond even his power. He set the stricken land to rights and cleansed the Abomination from the realm of mortal men.

Still blazing with raw energy, the Overlord directed the excess of its power inward and expanded itself more and more until once again it stood in a void looking down at a single greenish yellow star orbited by several planets. Reaching out with his will, Ultrecht molded the orbits of the planets to compensate for the loss of a major source of heat and light. He drew the planets inward to a point where they would maintain the same climate.

What of the Tome?

The Tome is too great a power to leave among mortals. We must place it where it will be inaccessible.

Ultrecht reached out with the mighty hand of the Overlord and thrust the Tome of Creation into the very heart of the green sun that was the source of life for Asille.

The Tome is impervious to the heat of the star's core. It will remain there until the end of time for when that star dies, no one will remember its existence.

We could keep the Tome for ourselves. We have the power to protect it.

Have we the strength of resolve to keep from making the same mistake as that of the Godking? His lust for power turned him from the Creator. Lasir seduced him with promise of power and the Tome was instrumental in that. For us to believe that we can withstand the same temptation would be to make the same mistake.

Lasir is not dead. You can not kill the evil one. He has only been banished to another place. Only at the end of eternity will the Creator deal with him permanently.

A whirl of color and a ringing of chimes filled the Overlord's eyes and ears. When it faded, they were once again three separate individuals.

Well done My children. Again the mysterious voice sang to them like a symphony of bells. There was beautiful music in the air and the whole world throbbed like a laughing child.

Ultrecht found himself standing on the dark gray plains of Gly-ou-vogue. To his left was Avery and to his right, Armegon. Before them was a figure of radiant light that was silhouetted by clouds.

"What happened?"

I have returned you to your natural form. You have served Me well. The mantle of guardianship of this realm has passed for I have returned.

The three looked at each other, and then back, but the figure was no longer there.

"Was that who I thought it was?" Armegon asked.

"It was," Avery confirmed. "There can be no doubt." He stepped forward and knelt down. There in the ash of Gly-ou-vogue was a sprig of grass. "Who else could bring life to this wasteland."

"Father?"

Armegon turned and saw Sam standing nearby. "Sam," he called with more emotion than he himself had expected. "What’re you doing here?"

"That nice old man, Woeden, sent me. He told me that I would have a task to do after you had finished yours."

"What is your task?" Armegon asked as he hugged his adopted son.

"The glowing man in the cloud told me to write everything I saw down and tell the world about it. He touched me and gave me this." Sam held out a peculiar object. The object was a silver hoop about palm sized with a strand of metal spiraling in towards the center. As Armegon looked closely at the object, he could not see the end of the spiral. The strand of metal faded away into thinness, and as far as the eye could detect into another world as well.

Avery stepped up to Sam. His eyes were wide. "It’s gone," he said reverently. “The curse is gone. I only see death and sickness if I look for it now." Avery put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "The lad is changed too. His lifespan has been lengthened. He’ll live a hundred years, perhaps longer."

Armegon did not reply. He was standing with his eyes closed. A smile passed across his lips. "It was Him," he said quietly. "The very rocks and stones are singing with joy at His return."

"He has blessed us for our work," Ultrecht added.

"What did you get," Armegon asked opening his eyes.

Ultrecht smiled. "A secret," he answered, "a secret."