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Chapter 100: Darkness and Freedom [End of Book 1]

Was power the freedom to choose what you want and do things however you want? Regardless of what others thought? Regardless of the damage that could be wrought?

Was it the destruction of a foe? Was it to see a place and just go? Was it the secret to increasing one’s life span so you could always have more? Was it the release from earthly burdens so you could be one with your lord?

What if power were all of these things plus more? What if there was power beyond being overpowered?

The answer to these questions was Zarian Darkrun and his worrisome origins.

The moment he shot himself in the head, he delivered so much critical damage he eliminated most of his vitality and life energy. There was still a chance to save him. He had leftover life energy he’d drained from fighting the kobolds.

The person who could save him, Gilbert McDonald, had Healing Force +1 as his best alpha skill for a reason. While the small-town North Floridian was no intellectual doctor, he was still the best keeper of lives in many miles on the Walled Continent.

He was the answer to saving Zarian from this death. And rightfully so, since Gilbert was quick to sense Zarian’s demolished vitality and dwindling life energy. He rushed away from the unconscious Bianca Garcia and left her under Hannah Townhouse’s care.

He sent his Healing Force +1 ahead to reach Zarian’s body. Gilbert thought little about how this could be a chance to get rid of the man who’d doomed his fellow officers. Gilbert didn’t care about how troublesome Zarian could be at the best of times.

Zarian was a fellow member of the party, a fellow Floridian. He was someone Gilbert had grown comfortable around after months of adventuring in the Infinita Star System. He was going to save Zarian, even if that was the last thing he could do.

He needed to get closer for his skill to be effective against a death strike that was wiping away the last of the wizard’s life energy. Gilbert was already riding his eight-legged steed, whose name was still taking Gilbert some time to figure out.

The Knighted Healer was sure they would make it to Zarian in time. The wizard was one of the toughest around.

Something ghostly flickered into view. A little girl with dark skin. She wore a sparkly white dress and pearly dress shoes, like she was going to church. She scared the eight-legged steed, and nothing had scared the Sleipnir before.

Gilbert had to wrestle his own mount to keep from getting bucked off, breaking his concentration for a moment. That was all it took to lose Zarian.

The ghostly figure of a little black girl in a white dress disappeared.

Gilbert urged his steed forward until he reached the home of the old village leader. Naomi Washington was sitting on the patio while cradling a headless corpse.

She had big fat tears trailing down her cheeks. Gilbert had never thought Naomi could cry. It was nearly as shocking as Zarian’s death.

The headless corpse had a lifeless cloak that was all pale white now. Even the cloak looked like a corpse.

Para was dead.

Gilbert dropped from the back of his steed. He hit the ground and staggered to one knee.

He couldn’t believe it.

The person who was supposed to be their rock, their guide, was gone. The insufferable devil was gone.

Gilbert got back to his feet and tried to push his Healing Force +1 into the headless corpse. He even tried to push his healing into the dead cloak to see if he could revive Para.

He tried and tried, but a corpse wouldn’t take his healing magic.

He was not a necromancer.

And the mortal known as Zarian was dead in this instance.

Before Gilbert could utter a word, the skies darkened suddenly. He looked up and felt his heart drop into his cooling gut.

He fell back to his knees, his Willpower completely shattered, his hands clasped as he prayed to his god from his old world. He kept staring up at the sky, but he wasn’t completely ignorant of all that was happening around him.

Naomi was laughing now. She sounded like a witch straight out of hell. Gilbert glanced at her as she stood with the corpse and pointed at the sky.

The corpse didn’t last long.

Somehow, it became the stuff of darkness and drained away.

Gilbert felt sick to his stomach.

Naomi took it all in stride, completely out of her mind. She smiled, with tears still streaming down her face. She kept pointing up with glee.

They all looked up at the sky. Not just Naomi and Gilbert. Not just Hannah or Stony the Wall Crusher Master. Not just the soldiers and acolytes.

Everyone across the Walled Continent who had a clear view of the sky was looking up. They were seeing an event that had never happened before.

It was like nothing of the legends and myths of past eras, some of which were lost to the eons of history that went long before the Restart Era.

The Corma Star.

The Star Core.

The two suns were covered in darkness.

As if they were eclipsed. But the darkness was deeper than an eclipse. The darkness had weight. The darkness had gravity.

Together, the darkened suns looked like void-like eyes.

To Naomi, Gilbert, and Hannah, the blackened stars would look like Zarian’s eyes. Though they weren’t the only ones worldwide to recognize the act of cosmic darkness having Zarian’s likeness.

Even while at the eastern foot of the Grimrock Castle Mountains, where Jack Masters ambushed interloping adventurers to sharpen his man-killing techniques, and where Foodie of the Green Hop Explorers hunted monstrous beasts for their delicious flesh and to progress herself, Jack and Foodie both recognized the darkness set upon the suns.

Jack Masters became filled with incomprehensible rage. He sent wrath-filled bolts and starry crescents into the sky as if he could strike down the eyes of Zarian.

Foodie, however, took a seat on a mossy boulder with her legs crossed. She lay her best cleaver on her lap and watched the end of the Infinita Star System unfold.

She even smiled in acceptance. She welcomed the unstoppable power of the newbie she once fed.

Many others in the World of Castles and Caverns didn’t share in her positive outlook. Not Jack. Not the Grimrock Warlock. Not the barons of Carrowmore, nor the many leaders on the Walled Continent and across all of Corma. The same could be said for the leaders of many neighboring worlds.

They didn’t like what was happening, especially when their own stars darkened.

If one was to view the entire Infinita Star System from the top down, they would see at the heart was the Star Core, which all planets could see regardless of their location. Then there were the individual mini-stars connected to every habitable planet, along with the moons that could number from one to over dozens for each world.

All was bright except for the spreading darkness in the middle. Eventually, in every corner of this contained universe that held billions of habitable worlds and countless living creatures connected to the Star System, their stars blackened.

Infinita turned dark.

Then, when the darkness became whole and complete, Zarian came to life in his true form. He was not fully awake. Not in the sense that would be human and conscious of what was happening. But he was alive as an entity that turned an entire universe dark.

And he was hungry.

Corma was the first world he consumed. Like a single piece of cereal between his shapeless jaws.

It went away with a quiet crunch.

Everyone and everything on Corma died.

Then the same happened to the neighboring worlds.

The darkness that was his formless body had no end to its appetite. Once he had a taste, he couldn’t help but have another. It was like eating the most delicious and nutritious candy anyone could ever have.

Another world disappeared with a muffled crunch, leaving nothing behind.

Another world vanished completely and became a part of the abyssal darkness. Another world followed the same fate. Then another and another and another.

He ran through them one by one at first.

Then he took them by the dozens.

By the hundreds.

By the thousands.

By the millions.

Then he took in whole galaxy clusters and super galaxies.

The hunger wouldn’t subside. The ease he felt when consuming worlds gave him no reason to stop. It was more like breathing, really. But tastier. Each world or cluster of worlds had unique blends of seasoning on them when he paid close enough attention.

Things became more interesting when certain worlds became spicier. They popped and crackled. They had a presence to them that pushed and pinched at his darkness.

Finally, Zarian paid more attention to what was happening before he consumed another galaxy cluster. His awareness sharpened. His humanity, an abysmally small figment of his former limitations when he had a mortal shell, had a realization that filled him with shock. Then disgust. Then absolute horror.

He wasn’t helping anyone.

He was hurting everyone.

But nothing could stop him. Not even himself. His hunger refused to be denied.

He consumed the divine worlds and the gods with them, completely ignoring their pitiful defense at trying to stop him. None survived him.

Except for one.

His darkness couldn’t consume Luciana Shadowfell.

For whatever reason, she continued to persist in his darkness. She did nothing about it. She simply existed.

Where his attention went, she followed, like a shadow of darkness. Zarian had no idea how that was possible. Only Luciana would know. But she and Zarian weren’t the only impossibilities.

Because Zarian’s darkness had outgrown this tiny universe. He was still reeling from what was happening when he felt the futile attempts of the Star System itself trying to contain him.

Zarian felt the Star System as both ancient runic magic and a sophisticated intelligence that was vastly old. He felt it as the last defiant embers of a dying universe that was trying to save all its neighbors from the horror that he wrought.

Zarian stopped existing as a passenger and tried to take control of the wheel. His metaphysical grip slipped away. The darkness was too vast, too unstoppable, too unbound by mortal whims to stop what was its destiny.

The darkness defied Zarian, and it defied the Star System. The darkness broke free and cracked an entire universe open like an egg.

The Infinita Star System died.

Dimensional integrity collapsed.

The darkness spread into multiple universes, multiple dimensions. Luciana rode along unbothered, remaining as a small but constant shadow who could go wherever the darkness went.

And they were joined by one more.

Another mass of darkness.

Another world eater, universe breaker, multidimensional threat. But it was smaller than Zarian’s darkness, and it had only appeared once the Infinita Star System was no more.

Zarian had no idea what the other dark entity could be at first. But when his darkness and the foreign darkness intermingled without hostility. He sensed a familiar vibe only he would know deep down.

Ariana Darkrun.

His little sister.

They were the same.

World eaters.

Universe breakers.

Multidimensional threats.

For whatever reason, she couldn’t achieve her true form until now. More importantly, she seemed more in control of herself. She was more disciplined compared to Zarian’s darkness.

While he ate and ate anything that was edible and caught in his darkness, she watched him.

Ariana, Zarian thought hazily with his mortal mind. Don’t do what I do. Stop me if you can. Please, please, stop me.

Ariana didn’t respond to him, the mortal mind of Zarian.

Instead, after watching his darkness for a while, she turned and spearheaded into a nearby universe. Then she started consuming it from the inside out with ravenous glee. In fact, she was a lot crueler.

She enjoyed playing with her food.

The mortal mind that was Zarian had never known such defeat. He’d never faced such horror as abstract, as limitless, as all-consuming as himself.

He didn’t want this.

He didn’t want worlds of intelligent life to fall to the hunger of his uncontrollable darkness. He didn’t want the impressionable darkness of his little sister to become so evil and cruel. He didn’t want unique universes teeming with possibilities to become nothing more than a cosmic buffet for the Darkruns to dine on.

Was this the truth behind their names?

Were they the darkness who would run forevermore?

What about his friends? What about his mortal pursuits?

What was the purpose of all this power?

He didn’t want this.

He couldn’t handle this.

If this was the end, Zarian figured he might as well fade away. All he had to do was let go. Let the darkness win. And be what he was. The darkness that would run forever more with or without his conscious input. Going fully dark would make it less of a torment.

Then he saw a familiar blue marble of a world.

A little place in a lame universe.

It was his home world.

It was the home world of his dead friends.

The darkness was going to eat it.

Zarian was a lot of things. He was a fuck up in many ways. He was a troubled individual hounded by an unfair life. He was once the container of a monstrous entity that he shouldn’t have unleashed with an unworthy death.

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But more importantly, Zarian Darkrun wasn’t a bitch.

He fought and fought. He raged against the darkness, against the dying of the light.

The darkness ate the old world and took every living soul there. The darkness ate the old universe and spread into another dimension, weaving in and out of different places Ariana’s darkness played in and consumed.

The Darkruns sometimes shared the same universes to eat together. They sometimes ate their own separate universes. Zarian’s darkness ate the most, and Ariana took her time to play and eat.

And the mortal mind of Zarian kept fighting and fighting. He cussed. He hurled slanders. He raged and raged. He didn’t give up. He didn’t back down.

He slowed his own darkness a teensy bit.

It was an insignificant difference. Barely anyone would notice. But Zarian’s mind noticed. So he fought more.

He thought of how Ariana was impressionable and needed to be taught better. He thought of avenging his friends, his world, and even the Star System.

He refused to disappear. He kept fighting a futile battle against an entity that was both him and beyond him.

It was a battle against an entity that was beyond dimensions and universes. It was an entity that grew large enough to be a multiverse level threat.

Zarian’s darkness broke into a more united multiverse for the first time. The darkness met a larger backlash than any before.

Primordials who’ve existed for tens of billions of years to even hundreds of billions of years used magic and knowledge they’ve honed for all their lifetimes.

There were primordials who claimed they could kill anything. There were primordials who claimed they could survive anything. There were primordials who could create universes. There were primordials who could make their own system apocalypses. There were primordials who could reshape other multiverses. There were primordials who defied countless natural and supernatural laws. There were primordials who were the supreme rulers of primordial armies.

Cultivators. Living systems. God-wizards. Unbeatable warriors. Apex hunters.

There were many primordials. And they were all considerably overpowered. Many of them have never known true defeat.

Zarian’s darkness broke each primordial who tried to fight him. He consumed them all. The supreme rulers. The apex hunters. The grand defiers. They all fell. They all became food to his darkness.

Ariana’s darkness followed in his wake and ate the lesser primordials and gods. An entire multiverse system collapsed to the Darkruns, and Luciana followed along as a shadow of the siblings’ far-reaching apocalypse.

So, the question must be asked again.

Was it Zarian’s rampaging darkness?

Was it Ariana’s happiness to follow her big bro?

Was it the mortal mind of Zarian who kept fighting a futile battle?

Was it Luciana Shadowfell who rode along unaffected as the ceaseless tragedy continued?

Or was it the person waiting for a convenient time to intervene based on his own schedule?

From across multiple multiverses, a voice spoke resoundingly:

“Geez! I look away for a little while and let things run its course and everything goes down a depressing loop! What is this? A bad anime that doesn’t understand the meaning of gradual power scaling?”

What? Zarian thought. Am I hallucinating? Who the heck was that speaking?

Zarian didn’t know how much time had passed. He had no idea how long he’d fought his own darkness and existed with a singular goal of slowing it down.

But he knew he hadn’t heard another person’s voice from the moment this entire mess began. Not even when his darkness was fighting and consuming multiple primordials did anyone’s words reach his conscious mind.

The speaker sounded male. He sounded jovial. He sounded like he could be from Florida, but a different part of Florida.

Central Florida?

He had a Caribbean accent for sure. Zarian could almost catch a hint of something Haitian in that accent. Who was this person?

Shouldn’t he be afraid?

The all-mighty voice spoke again: “I honestly should stick you back in a jar, kid, but the women keep hoping you’ll succeed and I like your moxie. You remind me a little of myself. You kept fighting even though it seemed all pointless. That’s worth something even if you’re a colossal fuck up. But who am I to judge? You can say I’m the O.G. of fuck ups. Now, let’s reverse this mess, shall we? Rewind!”

The darkness shuddered to a stop. The same happened to Ariana’s darkness. Then everything reversed. Everything moved in rewind, as announced by the all-mighty voice.

For the first time in a long time, Zarian’s mortal mind sat back and went along with the ride.

He watched as his darkness and his little sister’s darkness receded from the multiverses they had invaded. He watched the lights flicker on as stars returned to their shining glory. He watched worlds reappear as if they had never consumed them. He watched the fabric of multiple realities mend wherever a Darkrun had pierced and invaded.

He saw primordials returning to life. He saw gods returning to their thrones. He saw mortals returning to their homes and embracing their families. He saw entire systems of many natures come back online and return to their normal operation, no longer victims of the hungry darkness of the Darkruns.

He saw his darkness shrink back further and further, dropping from multiverse threat to multidimensional threat. Then it dropped to a small multidimensional threat.

He watched his homeworld return to its blue glory.

It had never looked so beautiful to him before.

He watched his own darkness recede back into the egg that it burst out of. He caught sight of Ariana’s darkness contracting and swirling away even faster. She faded behind a hidden pocket in the Star System that blocked his own further observation. Wherever Ariana was kept, it was apparent that she was under seclusion.

He watched the worlds he’d eaten return with all of their inhabitants. He watched the stars become alight all across Infinita.

Luciana hopped off his darkness and returned to her shadowed world. She waved at Zarian’s darkness as if saying farewell for now.

He shrank and shrank and shrank until he was back down on Corma, back in his mortal body. His monstrous darkness shrank down into a small, nearly undetectable bead that was in the middle of his soul.

Zarian found himself far outside of the Ride-or-Die Fort while on his knees.

His entire body was shaking. His mind was filled with too much knowledge and too many witnessed horrors.

He could never be the same again. He was broken again. He looked down at the ground and remained on his knees, stuck somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, until he noticed there was the shadow of another person standing behind him and out of direct view.

Zarian didn’t look. He swallowed dryly before speaking with a croak. “Who are you?”

The cheery man with a hint of a Haitian accent chuckled. “I’m family. Far, far, far up the line. You can just call me your Funnest Granpapa.”

“Oh.” Zarian bobbed his head up and down. “Why did you leave me alone?”

“It’s part of the family tradition. Or curse. Every male must grow up from the bottom. Every female must navigate responsibility early. It’s a shit tradition, but it’s stuck in our core now.”

“It really is shit.”

“Yeah, you can blame that on your Biggest Granmama and me.”

Zarian licked his dry lips. “This isn’t a dream is it? Did all of that just happen?”

“It’s not a dream. It all actually happened. And everyone’s going to remember everything up to their death. You’re going to deal with the consequences of that.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, buddy. Fuck around. Find out.” The Funnest Granpapa chuckled. “Don’t think that’s just for people we don’t like. That’s something we have to learn for ourselves, too. Especially when you and your crazy little sister are some of the strongest of my lineage.”

The Funnest Granpapa snorted. Something swished through the air. Zarian caught the shadow of the moving thing.

Was that a tail?

He was tempted to look directly.

He didn’t look.

The Funnest Granpapa sighed. “There are more of us. There’s the Greatest Granpapa and the Strongest Granmama and more, but we agreed to take turns when dealing with our most troublesome grand kiddos, and I’m on watch for you, Zarian Darkrun.”

“What now?”

“Like I said. You’re going to have to deal with the consequences of your rash actions.”

Zarian noticed the shadow of his Funnest Granpapa moving away.

Zarian still didn’t look up. He could be polite and rambunctious in equal measure. But this was the one time where he was truly willing to bend the knees.

The power of his Funnest Granpapa was unfathomable. But his otherworldly control had Zarian seized by the heart.

Everything was back to normal. Everything was set perfectly where it had once been. The stars. The dirt. The individual strands and currents of aura. The people. The lives and souls. From the grandest gods to the most insignificant microbe.

The Funnest Granpapa had set everything back perfectly and as smoothly as a maestro of ultimate control.

And the shocking part was that Zarian didn’t aspire to be like him. Not necessarily in the power department. He only wanted enough control where he could live his own life and enjoy the simple pleasures. Like learning spells, leading his party on dynamic quests, and competing in a thousand-year tournament.

Zarian chuckled.

The shadow of his Funnest Granpapa hesitated from leaving. The old man’s shadow turned back, and he asked, “What’s making you laugh, gason?” Boy?

“I don’t care to be you.”

Zarian scooped up some grass and dirt. He squeezed it in his palm. He took a deep sniff of the stuff. The scent of dirt and grass was wonderful.

Zarian nodded slowly before he continued. “I don’t care to have your power. I do want to have more control like you. But beyond that, I want to be here on the ground. I want to go on simple adventures and do fun quests. I want to punch a worldly god in the face. I want to convince my little sister that there are better ways to live than eating universes and primordials. I want the simple stuff.”

Zarian held up the clod of dirt and grass higher.

There was a long silence.

The weight of that silence was nearly unbearable.

Then his Funnest Granpapa burst into a roar of laughter. It almost sounded familiar, as if Zarian was hearing himself laugh, but much older, and with a thicker islander accent.

A rough hand clapped him loudly on the back. Zarian felt Para waver and move about cautiously, as if she could hardly believe she was alive again. Zarian nearly broke down and cried, but he held it in.

Para hadn’t been there while the darkness rampaged. He’d lost her. Now he had her again. He didn’t want to lose her again.

He took a part of her tattered fabric and hugged it to his chest. He was still holding onto the clod of dirt and grass. Para didn’t seem to mind getting dirty. She quivered with adoration from the hug.

“Good,” the old man said. “That’s why we’re giving you another chance. You and your little sister failed countless times before. You two end up as multiverse threats no matter how we spin the loop. The worst one was letting you be rich. Never again. That one was really, really bad.”

“Damn, I really can’t start rich?” Zarian asked.

“There are few exceptions. But generally, nope. Gotta work your butt off to get past that generational curse.” The Funnest Granpapa chuckled. “So maybe, just maybe, for this go around, you’ll actually stop being assholes and do things better. But that’s on you, Zarian. Either be the best that you can be or I guess we’ll stuff you away in a jar. I’m not joking. The jar is real, and it has your name on it. There’s a jar for your sister, too.”

“So this has happened before. Many times.” Zarian nodded slowly. “Any advice on how not to fuck up and get stuffed in a cosmic jar?”

“Take your time. Train hard and don’t cheat on your adventures too much. Practice, practice, practice control. And rely on some strong companions.” The old man chuckled again. “That’s actually the biggest difference on this go around. For once, you didn’t go solo.”

“I used to go solo a lot?”

“The rich version of you was the biggest asshole. That was a diehard solo guy. News flash. He became an outright dark villain and did things I don’t want to mention.”

“Sounds like I want to punch that guy.”

“Most people want to punch you now.”

“Point taken. So having strong companions is a good strategy?”

“Almost the most important strategy. Their success is your success. They’ll keep you grounded. So keep your companions close when you can and make sure they reach godhood, and the high quality kind of godhood. In fact, you’re doing better than me in that area when I was your age. Maybe that’ll help you conquer your darkness and teach your little sister to follow a better example of living.”

“Okay, cool. That’s a lot to take in along with everything else that happened. But I have to ask, is there anymore?”

“Hm, there’s always plenty. But this part is important. Make sure to take care of your tail. Chicks dig the tail. And when I mean chicks, I mean chicks for bachelors such as yourself. I don’t have any chicks. Don’t let your Biggest Granmama think that if she asks. You spend hundreds of trillions of years with a woman and she still can’t stop from being the jealous type.”

“Um … I don’t have a tail.” Zarian looked at the shadow tail of the old man. It moved around like it had a life of its own. He tried to feel for anything behind the small of his back. Nothing there. “Yeah, I don’t have a tail, old man.”

“You’ll see. You take after your Biggest Granmama in that regard.” The shadow of the Funnest Granpapa disappeared, gone with the old man’s exit.

Zarian sighed, already missing his family. The tradition for males to go through sucky lives growing up was lame, but knowing how much of an asshole the rich version of him had turned out tempered Zarian’s attitude toward the generational curse.

At least his family sounded cool. Or at least the old, old man did. They were certainly powerful.

Beyond the multiverse-level, for sure.

Who was the Greatest Granpapa? And the Strongest Granmama?

What did it mean he took after the Biggest Granmama?

And where was his tail? What tail would it be?

A dragon tail?

There was so much to consider and go over for Zarian. But he was also overwhelmed right now. He felt quite humbled, too. So he stayed on his knees under the autumn day and just let himself be.

Yes, he had responsibilities waiting for him. He had plenty of reasons to worry. However, as of right now, he was living in peace, accepting the world and reality around him as it was.

He wasn’t alone, after all. Para had him wrapped in the cloak, holding him lovingly while he held her back. This was nice. They stayed like that for a while as blocky white clouds crawled slowly in the blue autumn sky.

Eventually, someone else entered his peaceful sanctuary where he knelt in the dirt and grass.

“You killed me twice,” Naomi said from beside him.

Zarian turned his head slightly in her direction. “Sorry.”

She reached down and slapped him lightly on the head.

“Only one slap?” Zarian asked.

“That was for making me cry.”

Oh.

Fair enough.

She could’ve hit him way harder if she wanted. She was showing a lot of restraint, surprisingly.

She looked at him for a long while.

He remained on his knees, just vibing.

“You’ve been through something rough, huh?” Naomi said, breaking the silence.

“I’m the destroyer of worlds and realities. I went on a rampage that hallowed out the Star System first. Then I broke out like I was emerging from an egg and went on a frenzy. I ate and ate. Ariana followed my example even though she was a smaller darkness of endless consumption. Together, we grew large enough to eat primordials and multiverses like having a cosmic Thanksgiving dinner.”

Zarian nodded to himself before looking up.

“The Darkruns, my sister and I, are the ultimate evil. And I have a hidden tail somewhere.”

Naomi hummed. “Bianca was right.”

Zarian snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, Bianca was right. I’m evil to the core. And not in a morality sense. I’m an existential evil that I can’t control yet. If she were to kill me in battle, it’ll probably end the threat of my darkness unleashing.”

A red alert appeared.

<You’re wrong. Much has changed. Check your notifications.>

“Well, fuck, what now?” Naomi asked.

Zarian scrolled through his notifications. There was a good amount to look at, such as something called a Thematic Law. He brushed past that until he found the thing that called to him.

It knocked him out of his calming vibe.

“I don’t like the look on your face,” Naomi said.

Zarian shuddered before saying aloud what he was seeing.

<Your skill has advanced! From Straight Darkness +2 to Overwhelming Darkness!>

<Overwhelming Darkness (Level 1): Your original skill was straight darkness for a reason. It narrowed your power scope. Now this skill is overwhelming, on the verge of breaking free. If you don’t control it properly, or if you die, your darkness will rampage again. Scales with all of your stats plus more.>

“That’s … broken as hell,” Zarian said. “This is literally a skill that could kill me and release the darkness all on its own.”

Naomi let out a long and insufferable sigh. She kicked at a random rock and sent it flying far, far away. With a huff, she asked, “Can I hear some good news?”

Zarian scrolled through his notifications. He found the perfect thing. This one, at least, allowed him to smile again.

“How do you feel about spreading some freedom?” he asked.

Naomi perked up. “You’re joking?”

Zarian told her the good news.

<Congrats! You’ve been provided with a new alignment created by hands far, far above the Star System’s power. Hopefully, this will satisfy your savage hunger for worlds and keep you from destroying innocent universal systems only trying to follow their parameters.>

<Your alignment changed from evil +3 to free evil +3>

<You’re now one of seven available lead chair positions for the freedom alignment.>

<The freedom alignment comes with three sub-alignment choices:>

<Free Good: Now you have to muster up the goodness the usual way by digging deep for that extra burst of power. At least you’re free to do good your way.>

<Free Evil: No longer will you feel the incessant bloodlust and violent thoughts of evil. Unless you summon it from within. You’ll have to summon up the smarts, too.>

<Free For Real: You’re the most free person around. You’re so free that the gods and those with manipulative powers will have a hard time figuring you out.>

<As a leader of the freedom alignment, you can easily invite others into the freedom alignment and choose other leaders to fill the chair positions with you. Yes, this means you’re holding positions normally held by gods, but since you’ve eaten gods like potato chips, nobody’s going to hold this privilege against you. Well, they might still. But there are plenty more things to hold against you, really.>

“I don’t know if it’s me. Maybe it’s just me. But I think the Star System is mad at you,” Naomi said. “But cool. We got what we wanted. Freedom.”

“Honestly, how are you able to handle all of this in stride?” Zarian asked.

“Other than Tranquil Mind +2? My Earth-Sky Meditation advanced to +1 and lets me meditate on the move or even while fighting. And my two deaths went really quick.” Naomi shrugged. “I’m just glad you’re back and everything seems okay for now. Fair warning, I’m not saving you when Gilbert starts throwing punches. He’s getting raging drunk.”

Zarian nodded. He looked up at the twin suns. “Eh, I figured we were bound to have a fist fight eventually. I should really get him a day off to fish and stuff. How’s Hannah?”

“She would’ve shut down if it wasn’t for Bianca and the kids needing care. I’m here because I need to be here. For myself. And for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, what was it you said about a tail?”

“I’m supposed to have a tail sooner or later. It’s part of my lineage as the grandson of uber powerful super gods. Or primordial ultra gods. They’re like hundreds of trillions of years old and stuff. My Funnest Granpapa was the one who reversed everything and gave me another chance or I would’ve gotten stuck in a jar.”

“A jar?”

“Yup. A jar. It even has my name on it.”

“Hm. Okay. That’s interesting and all, but what type of tail? Is it a cat tail?” Naomi asked.

“I don’t know. But I’m hoping for a dragon tail.”

“Can I touch it first when it shows up? At least before Bianca.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Zarian was trying to speak in a joking manner. He noticed that Naomi was doing the same. It sounded decent to his ears while they went through the motions.

They were both trying to keep on keeping on. Like good Marines.

Despite how fucked up the situation was, they used humor to float above water. They could drown in the depths of existential dread later, with heavy amounts of magical alcohol.

In the background, however, a different part of Zarian’s Fractured Mind lit up with a rant:

My real family is insane. I come from insane people with insane power who can make jokes about the deaths and rebirths of countless lives and worlds like it’s nothing to them. Like ultra rich elites who live way too far above the regular person to know what it’s like to be human anymore. The rules don’t apply to them. Reality is whatever they want it to be.

He didn’t know if he should be mad at them.

He was still relieved to know he had his own people.

He had a lineage. He might not want to be like them. But at least he knew he had a certain starting point.

Now he needed to learn to control his crazy power for good this time. Or his Overwhelming Darkness would break free and devastate the lives of mortals, gods, and systems once again.

He didn’t want to watch countless people and worlds meet their end as he ate like a bottomless pit, savoring the destruction and the taste of life perishing in his endless darkness. He didn’t want to be the ultimate evil, the death of everything and everyone, especially his friends.

Ariana still needed a proper big bro to guide her. She was definitely an evil little sister. But Zarian wanted to save her and redeem the Darkruns.

Okay. Alright. I need to clean up my act. I need to control myself. For my friends and my little sister. And for myself. I need to be better at this than ever before, Zarian thought. I just need to be a better person, a better Florida Man.

No sweat.

To Be Continued

OVERPOWERED WIZARD