Universe's End

Aelia crossed her arms, looking down on her younger sibling, feeling smug.

“How goes it?” She finally asked after several moments, the rest of her brethren having chosen to ignore the call, optional for them, whereas she and The First had been mandated.

“Luck,” The First spat. “Pure luck.”

The two had watched the battle unfold between her chosen Founders and The First’s pet Kaiser, a mimicry of a former Khan of her own world.

Which annoyed her that it was allowed to plagiarize her work so blatantly, but then, did it matter when it was her victory?

“Should you look so smug?” The First asked, days passing as they let their perception of time shift. “Two of your Founders are dead.”

“Dead,” Aelia laughed, a sound of grinding tectonics and wind chimes all blended, an impossibility that reflected her own nature, equal parts destruction and a bastion for life. “Is that what you believe?”

“Look for yourself.” The First waved toward the ‘window’ that displayed the events unfolding, the other three Founders still unable to find any trace of their two compatriots who’d been within the center of the utterly massive explosion, the cascading power enough to wipe out even a Kaiser in a single hit. “Gone. I can feel no trace of them upon my world. Dead.” The First spat.

“Hah,” Aelia laughed once more. “You would believe so. But no. I have learned to believe in their… impossibilities. Perhaps you lack understanding, the context, your own surface littered with nothing but monsters and given freebies. But my surface, littered with intelligent life? With enlightened life? I can tell you that those five are unusual. I must give props to the instincts of proto-me who chose them, for she chose wisely. It’s unfortunate some of the others didn’t pan out as well, but not everything goes your way. Isn’t that right, little brother?”

The explosion that had swallowed up both Phosphorus and her two leading Founders had been so powerful that it was impossible to pierce the veil, to see what had occurred.

Or that was what the Eternal allowed them to believe. Aelia had no doubt the Eternal could have shown them everything had it truly wanted to.

“Next time,” The First was all but frothing at the mouth. “My next Kaiser shall-”

“Oh, do tell yourself that, if it makes you feel better.” Aelia loomed over her brother, her teeth elongating; the desire to snap him up was oh so tantalizing, but alas, the Eternal prevented her from doing so.

For now, at least.

“With one defeated, it forms the bedrock for the defeat of others,” Aelia said, continuing her speech. “Perhaps there shall be a lull in the action for some time, only three of my Founders currently active, but when they return, prepare yourself, for it shall be the beginning of your end. To learn is to grow, to aspire to achieve, and my Founders, if nothing else, are not just good at that; they are unmatched. So go ahead, try to take advantage of their reduced numbers, send what you can after those three, they shall prove their worth, and when you fail to kill them in time, when they are once more gathered together, prepare yourself for what will become of you. Because one by one, the pieces shall be knocked over, and with each one, you will be one piece closer to becoming a part of me.”

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The First looked up at the oldest of world spirits of their stellar system, wanting nothing more than to gnash his teeth and rage, but he would not belittle himself; it would only satisfy her.

“We will see.”

With that, the First had satisfied their meeting as mandated by the Eternal and vanished from their shared space.

Alone, Aelia’s smug expression darkened slightly.

Oh, where did you two go?

She hadn't lied when she said she truly believed, from the center of her world, that her two most prominent Founders were alive and out there.

But the question was, where was there?

“No sign,” Eric sighed. “They’re gone, with a capital G.”

“Hmm,” Tom folded his arms. “Odd.”

The two were rummaging around the interior of the cloud world. After Phosphorus’s death, it had gone still, countless clouds frozen in the sky, unmoving.

Phosphorus himself had dissolved into an utterly ridiculous amount of Anomalous Energy, as well as leaving behind a few goodies- a few goodies that, had Mr. Architect been here, would have had their true worth explained.

Of them, only one truly mattered to the duo, a monster core unlike any other.