Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Breaking Chasm #90…

It was the second meeting now, and this one was proving to be longer-lived than the last and also a little more heated.

The twenty-three leaders of this branch of the Aspire to Divine were growing equally as critical of Future Skullius as they were reverent of him by the Consternal.

"The Radicals are still the best thing you have ever conceived to date, but I believe you applied them wrong. You were so thrilled by the idea that you had created seven beings with the power to elevate your organization to a tier of strength closer to the Primeval Deities than before that you never considered another way to use them other than war," said Skullius casually.

"They were drones. Monsters. Most of them didn't get a taste for living – the pleasures of simply enjoying what it means – until after the Reaping of the Zephyr. But you could have leveraged their absolute obedience in other endeavors, most of which, I grant you, would have required patience… something you didn't have."

Several of the twenty-three frowned at this, openly expressing their dissatisfaction. For all their respect for him, they couldn't stand hearing Skullius berate their choices.

Of course, Skullius was unbothered by their reactions.

"And still now I question whether the proceeds from the Reaping of the Zephyr outweigh the wrath you garnered from the Primeval Deities afterwards. Strong as they are, the Radicals are still no equals to the Primeval Deities. You had to go through the trouble of hiding them, one per important Breaking Chasm, and making sure they suppress all traces of their strength and life energy to the limit. So, what was the point? If I recall, one of them was found and slaughtered after they accidentally drew too much of their strength, right? How is this any better than what you were doing before?"

"Pardon me, my lord, Skullius." Finally, one of the twenty-three couldn't keep it in. "How do you know any of this? You seem to be privy to much more than what we shared with you about our background." He hesitated only slightly with his next words. "And respectfully, what would you know about the rights and wrongs of this? The cruelty of the Primeval Deities has gone unchecked for too long. The response from the Aspire to Divine has not been perfect, but we have stifled a lot of the suffering the Primevals have caused. You've seen it here – in this Breaking Chasm – the billions we have saved. Rather than question our methods, tell us how the results we have garnered so far are not worth it."

To his surprise, Skullius' response was swift and solemn.

"Have you stifled suffering, though? I will give you no credit for the billions you claim to have saved because the trouble you went to in order to develop the Radicals cost billions of lives too. I bet you would call it a for the greater good kind of thing, and if it actually were, I'd be tickling your fancies right about now, but it wasn't. You didn't even break-even – the number of people crushed between you and your goal of replacing the Primevals outweighs and outnumbers those you have saved. For an organization with plenty of people capable of multi-dimensional traversal, your thinking is strangely stunted – one–dimensional."

The twenty-three shuddered.

"How do I know all this, you ask?" Skullius chuckled. "Well, my father-in-law once told me, Whoever created the idea of imprisonment was a cruel bastard, but he must have turned a new leaf the day he was forced to release a prisoner who begged for mercy. The prison I told you of is in many ways a hell, but in others, it really is just a means to give you a different outlook. In there, history about anything and everything – in an abstract form – can be read and interpreted. Your eyes see through things that even the Primevals can't… if you can survive the stimulation, of course. I happened to survive to the end of my sentence."

And indeed, Skullius had told them about the Wanderer's prison, describing the things it did to him – the horrors – but only now did he explain that there was much to gain from being imprisoned and horrified. For the crime of defeating a set number or quality of the Wanderer's shills, you would be imprisoned, but you would also have the opportunity to escape your sentence as a new being.

Skullius almost found it funny. Everything wrong with this Reality started because the first people to exist feared extinction. But because of the way the Immors was programmed, extinction was never supposed to be a thing at all initially.

Everyone was paying the price of fear – a price no other Reality except this one suffered from.

"My lord!" one of the twenty-three rose from his seat and bowed. He shed away his ego in an instant, much to Skullius' – and everyone else's – surprise. "Forgive our doubts. You know better. You are stronger. You demonstrated that right at our doorstep by slaying a Primeval Deity. Neither the Radicals nor the Zephyrs are your equals. So, lead us. We will give you everything. Even our loyalty. You are right. Our belief in the idea of eradicating suffering has eroded, leaving us to serve the idea of the Aspire to Divine instead. Perhaps we are no better than the Primevals. So…you can teach us. You can help us stop this madness once and for all."

A pause.

The others followed suit, bowing and begging as well.

…But Skullius' response wasn't what they expected. He laughed.

"You're already giving up on that idea you had? I thought it was a decent one." He shook his head. "I already said I'd help you, but I'm not willing to take charge of the entire Aspire to Divine. What I intend to do… is to teach you. My goal isn't the demise of all the Primeval Deities, after all – only AKHASHA."

"AKHASHA only?" one asked, baffled.

"Yes. He is the main problem, you see. After he is gone, you can solve everything else if you listen to me carefully."

And so, they listened.

"The Primeval Deities have a distinct advantage over you in four respects: the Power of Dimensions; Zu'sse; the |Greater Cosmic Law|; and the Common Reality Leagues. However, there are caveats."

"First, the six known dimensions aren't as hard to traverse as you all think. Anyone who can traverse in four dimensions can learn to reach the rest without a hefty jump in their overall power."

"Second, the full potential of Zu'sse is something anyone capable of using it already has access to. You all realized this after you caught a Zephyr and obtained the secrets of the Primevals. The majority of Zu'sse users are just rather terrified of burning through their Broader Existence. I'm sure you get what that means."

"Third, the Primevals – the YOMMR`, to be precise – may have invented the Common Reality Leagues, but they cannot stop any of you from reaching the zenith of that power structure. Some fools among you seem to think it's blasphemy to revel in the elite power you acquire the further you go up that ladder. That's not principle – it's stupidity."

"Lastly," Skullius cleared his throat, "the Primevals are the pinnacle of mastery with the |Greater Cosmic Law|, but there are two aspects of the law that even they aren't able to master so easily. Even after countless Consternals, it's a challenge. The Wanderer is a rather… smart fellow, after all. Only a select few have the ability to grasp those two aspects fairly quickly – well, one moreso than the other."

One of the twenty-three gaped.

"You don't mean…"

"Yes," said Skullius, proud that he caught on. "As far as I know, very, very few of the Wanderer's shills have ever realized it, but that's the reason they are all capable of using light and darkness from the beginning."

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