Bro, I'm not an Undead!

After the meeting, Future Skullius was accompanied back to his room. He'd left the company with a lot to think about, he knew, and was hoping they would come to good conclusions. It wasn't a guarantee, unfortunately. If he knew one truth, it was that mortals and Deities were not different from each other at all: great revelations would make or break them all the same.

…And that was why Future Skullius had not given up on his own individual plans. With or without this branch of the Aspire to Divine, his goal wouldn't change. If there was anything that threatened to derail him, however, it was…

"You're not worried about him at all?" Serenity asked him, floating beside him as a humanoid of writhing blue flame.

The outlandish spiralling power glinting from Future Skullius' eyes – the Power of Dimensions – rapidly weakened until it vanished. This was his second time trying to find Skullius since before he went to the meeting.

"There should be nothing to worry about. He – we – thrive when squashed under pressure. The Primeval Deities strong-armed him into heading to a Breaking Chasm of all places," he said, sighing, "but I think he can handle himself. They are wary of him, but he isn't the one they want to kill right now. All the grace for that belongs to me."

He'd seen it – how the Primeval Deities had visited Skullius and made demands of him, even though he didn't know what those demands were. There were perks to understanding how to channel the Power of Dimensions, but they were limited when the Primeval Deities were a target. Future Skullius hadn't realized it until a little while later that the Primevals had forced Skullius towards a particular Breaking Chasm.

"That said," continued the Future Hybrid, "I'm more concerned about the combination of what he's currently capable of and his motivations."

"What do you mean by that?" said Serenity. "You're making me anxious."

<What could he be capable of that you aren't?> COLMUUN chimed in, ghostly. He had been absent for Skullius' meeting, attending to matters close to his real body. <Now that you aren't voided, you're practically my equal.>

"Careful now. That's a gross overestimation and a dangerous way to think," said Future Skullius, scoffing. "I'm not even a Deity yet. I have limits, unfortunately." He turned to Serenity. "To your question, I only predicted Skullius' growth up to his battle with Fulgardt. Unlike him, though, I don't have a stream of subordinates, only a wife I'm confident I can protect no matter what. For the sake of his subordinates – people who are willing to lay down their lives for him – Skullius might do something… stupid. He certainly has the means to."

Future Skullius jabbed his [Entropy's Harmonizing Nimbus]. "I've been too laser-focused on everything other than the Common Reality Leagues – Fundamental Barter, Corruption, the law – to explore the possibilities of his arsenal. He's been handy with it, now moreso. He's the Warmoth and Magnus combined. I'm just a…." He didn't finish, sighing again, as though tired.

"A Prisoner?" finished Serenity.

"Precisely."

"Up until now, you've been really proud of that title, but… it's more of a burden than it appears, isn't it?"

<A prison is a prison, after all. You were sentenced to that place as punishment first and foremost, is it not?>

"Yes," said Future Skullius, face stolid. "Prisoners are perhaps the most Direction-bound beings out there. What I can do is fixed, what I'm allowed is fixed. I just hope when it's Skullius' turn, he won't be as limited as I am. That's why I wanted to steer him towards Somanda."

"What?" Serenity frowned.

"I was a clone, remember. My initial purpose was to help him stave off Uyuniya and Elita back then. I was never burdened with Skullius' personal goals. It was a relief, frankly. His greatest desire is to defeat Somanda and reclaim his soul. But if he gets imprisoned first, he might not be able to accomplish that goal. That's why I insisted that he leave everything else to me so that nothing would keep him from his goal. But of course, the Primevals are titans of Direction themselves. It's not going to be that easy."

There was a pause.

<He keeps getting derailed.> said COLMUUN. <You worry that the more that happens, he will be forced to fight even harder.>

"And the more he fights – moreso for his subordinates – the more he will be forced to use his powers to challenge the status quo. Each obstacle brings him closer to a confrontation with the Primeval Deities and the Wanderer shills."

Serenity turned visibly worried. It was complicated, and Future Skullius intentionally kept hidden some details, but she understood.

The Prison gave Future Skullius enormous power, but in some way, he wasn't free to do as he pleased – something to do with Direction. He feared that if Skullius kept involving himself in matters tied to the wider reality, he'd eventually be forced to fight more of the Wanderer's Shills and risk getting imprisoned before he could reach Somanda.

Apparently, that was a bad thing.

'Should I have stayed with him after all?' thought Serenity, and she sighed.

"Do you have any idea what kind of enemies he will face in this Breaking Chasm he entered?" She had to ask now, fearing that perhaps…

Future Skullius shrugged.

"Best case, a lineup of powerful Deities, like the ones here," he said. "Worst case, a Radical. But who am I kidding? If the Primevals sent him there…"

"A Radical… What are they like?" asked Serenity, flaring with tension. "You describe them as though they are budding Primeval Deities. I find it hard to believe that the Aspire to Divine could create things like that."

COLMUUN scoffed. <No one expected their conception, not even AKHASHA. I remember getting triggered by them when I still cared about the hierarchy – my status.>

"Case in point, I'm not sure Skullius is ready for a fight like that just yet. Win or lose, though, we will survive," said Future Skullius. "Enough about that; today was supposed to be exhilarating. We should get to testing that theory on Corruption."

The Warmoth's Void rank armour was several meters away, resting against the wall. Curiously, the armour sent spouts of frothing Amras, the kind Deities had. It was like the husk of a powerful Deity, but without a soul. It was just armour, after all, armour with a consciousness.

<I still think it's impressive that this was originally a simple Treasure before the Warmoth snagged it and modified it into his personal aegis. To change it so completely…> said COLMUUN. <Honestly, it feels more like a Reality rank Treasure.>

"It might be," said Future Skullius as he extended his hand towards it. "Or maybe after this it will."

He channeled his monstrous physical strength towards the armour.

Everything shook.

The results were immediate, which was no surprise, as Future Skullius had demonstrated this strange skill earlier: creating souls within inanimate matter through unbridled brute force.

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