Universe's End

The five Founders, having realized exactly what they were up against, immediately put distance between themselves and the towering figure.

“Oh, cautious?” The First asked, his voice still warbling oddly.

“You look like some sort of demonic shit,” The Rogue said, pointing a black dagger at the world spirit.

“Relax,” The First grinned, its skeletal ram head flaring with light as its eye sockets became illuminated with green light. “Do you expect that the Eternal would allow me to kill you directly?”

“No, but you’re still a weird bony sack of moss shit,” The Rogue answered for the group once again.

“I did try to pull a fast one, I shall admit,” The First said. “Not that I expected much from it. No, I am here to fulfill my responsibilities the Eternal imposed upon me.”

“The rules,” Rory stated, realizing the obvious.

“Correct,” The First answered. “You have come to me to conquer my challenges, and I have built challenges to conquer you. In this case, the rules are simple: Dotted upon me are ten creations, anomalous existences, the ten Kaisers. Beasts which exist beyond the standard realm or classification of strength, each one with the energy of a tier ten monster.”

“Wow, wow, wow, back the fuck up,” The Rogue held his hands up. “Tier ten?”

“He said energy, not strength,” The Spear corrected. “Meaning, there is more than meets the eye.”

“Correct,” The First repeated. “What specifically that means to you all, will be for you to figure out. That aside, there are other housekeeping rules I must inform you all of. First, the… shop.”

The Founders looked at each other with confusion, the World Spirit sighing dramatically.

“Slaying my creations, the lesser creations most specifically, will award Anomalous Energy.”

“Anomalous Energy? Not Ascension Energy?” Zoey asked.

“Correct,” The World Spirit repeated itself for the second time. “The nature of how my creations were fostered so quickly, at least in the grand scheme of things compared to my elder sister, involves a form of energy that you may all find valuable. Unfortunately, it is explicitly incompatible with Enlightened beings, so while it will ‘gather’ within you, don’t expect to use it directly to grow.”

“So, this Anomalous Energy, what do we do with it, regarding this ‘shop’ you mentioned?” Rory asked.

“I was getting there. Truthfully, learning the intricacies of speech to discuss this with all of you is beginning to feel like it wasn’t worth it,” The First sighed dramatically. “Anomalous Energy may be concentrated into Anomalous Beads, a form of ‘currency’ that may be exchanged for varying boons or rewards. Or, perhaps, other uses as well.”

Lifting its hand, an obelisk of bleached bone and green moss rose from the ground before unfolding, expanding larger and larger until it was like a portable cave had appeared, a green orb of light at its very center.

“These shops may be discovered naturally, or you may spend some of your Anomalous energy to summon one. Not all shops contain the same inventory either.”

“Very game-like,” Tom noted.

“I do not know what games you are referring to,” The First said before moving on. “None of this is my idea, I should mention.”

“Eon,” Rory said, pointing out the obvious.

“Correct,” The First repeated for the third time.

Curious, Rory entered the strange cave with the green light, approaching the orb of light before glancing back out.

“Touch the orb,” The Rogue called out. “Maybe it will eat your hand!”

“It will not, as much as that would amuse me,” The First said.

Seeing no reason not to, Rory reached out, his hand entering the green light.

Wow.

Materials he’d never seen before sprang to mind, each with a listed ‘price’; whether they were expensive or not, Rory had no current reference point. Attached were small ‘descriptions,’ though it was more like just ‘examining’ one of the items, which brought the information to the fore.

Knowing this was for demonstration, Rory didn’t bother fixating on any, except for a single item listed as ‘Free.’

Interesting.

‘Purchasing’ the item, the green light seemed to shrink inward, hardening into a quartz crystal wand –not to be mistaken with the Harry Potter ‘wand’ from fiction— green all the way through except the very center, which was filled with a dusky grey, nearly black, smoke.

“Ahh, the World Phylactery,” The First spoke, appearing next to Rory instantly. “Which brings me to housekeeping number two. While Anomalous Energy may be used for the shop, it may also be injected into your World Phylactery.”

“Which does… what?” Rory asked.

“That depends,” The First said, before going quiet.

“Depends on what?” Rory asked, growing impatient.

“Variables.”

“Such as?”

“Personal variables,” The First said, looking as if it were having fun.

Finding no answers from the World Spirit, Rory switched to examining the item.