The Innkeeper

Chapter 2189: The Eight (recommended song: Freedom by Pharrel)

"Interesting," said the figure, sitting atop his favorite sofa - made from the leather of this universe’s first dragon. His gaze, from within Gaia’s graveyard, remained focused on the Origin realm. To be more specific, it was focused on the Suera galaxy. To sate his curiosity regarding the one item he could not see through, resting upon that pedestal of bone, he had been sending people to that location again and again.

It was easy, really, to manipulate events and people. What took him by surprise, however, was that he had sent a group of humans to the hidden realm which contained the bone pedestal. Yet, miraculously, they had emerged without actually reaching or venturing towards the pedestal.

Such a thing was impossible, unless of course, someone else interfered.

"Very interesting," said with a growing grin. Finally, the universe was growing interesting again. Old friends were coming out to play, and interfering with his plans once more. This did not dampen his mood - no, it only improved it. The universe itself was the largest chess board, but even he could not play without opponents. Now that they were revealing themselves, it was only right that he made a move.

Thus, the entity whose true name was hidden from history, and was known only as Death, made a move.

Elsewhere, far, far away within the universe, Destiny was the first to notice Death’s actions. She would have loved nothing more than to ignore it, but that was not possible. Who was she? She was the master of the universe’s destiny. Who dared interfere with her plans? None who wished to live.

Through soft ripples, traveling across the endless web of destiny around the universe, she let her presence be known as she exacted her will, and determined the destiny for all.

In the depths of the Void, far away from any kind of existence, Fate sensed the changes, but was not surprised. After all, such confrontations were... fated. She had no interest in getting involved, yet if she actually avoided getting involved, it would raise questions. No one could know what she was up to, so... she too made a move, hidden within a move, masked from detection. How this would play out, no one could say.

Divine opened his eyes and found that he was still inside a sarcophagus. He sighed, and closed his eyes. This had nothing to do with him...exccept that the tremors of his sigh traveled through Hollow, one of the eight ruling laws of the universe, and began to rearrange reality itself right up until it reached the domain of Oblivion.

Oblivion snorted, and held nothing back. The Henali had been ignored and overlooked for too long. Perhaps it was time to show the universe what true power looked like. First, he would start by quashing Death’s influence within the Origin realm. For years he had ignored that gaze, but no longer. It was time for the gloves to come off.

Within his abode, Ventura opened his eyes filled with frustration and pain. Dammit, he could not afford such a clash, but he could not ignore it either. Fine, if that was the case...

The pain in his eyes changed, and was replaced with... resolve. He did not want to do this, but that did not mean he was a pushover. The forces following Spirit began to move. The universe would learn the price for crossing him.

Chaos, sitting upon his throne made from the corpse of the who used to be known as Love, only chuckled as he watched everything play out. Good. This was good. The players had begun to move. They all acted individually, as if many of them did not sit on his council. They all acted as if all of this... had not been preordained.

It was time to move this game forward. For too long had the universe been stationary. For too long had it been peaceful. Only through conflict, only through destruction, only through utter chaos could they create the necessary conditions for growth.

Life opened her eyes, undisturbed by everything that was happening. An unshakable serenity filled her being, as if the actions of the other seven could not bother her at all. Or perhaps it was not serenity that filled her, but an unshakable confidence.

Among the eight, she was the only one who did not make an immediate move. Instead, she just watched, and waited. When the time came for her to make a move, they would all feel it, and know who had acted.

Across the universe, there were too many hidden powers, too many influences, too many secrets. Even they could not declare that they knew everything, but they knew enough. After all, they were those who had surpassed the Dao realm - the theoretical upper limit of the universe in its current state!

Who else could stand against them, save each other?

Within the Primordial Garden, Eclipse sat on her own throne, with Nulli at her side, and her secret bodyguard in her shadow. In a moment of rare solemnity, all three of them remained silent, and extended their senses to the universe beyond. The game had actually begun long, long ago. The question was, when the dust settled, who would come out on top?

Eclipse blinked, and the strings of karma all across the universe silently began to move, unnoticed by anyone and everyone.

While the top forces of the universe began to move, for the first time in an Age gearing up for a confrontation, some of the lower, weaker powers of the universe began to move as well. Weakness and mediocrity did not translate to lack of ambition.

The sails of the Jolly Rancher were opened wide as the ship soared through the shimmering green sky of the Dream realm. The winds in this realm carried something special, something extraordinary, and though Jack did not know what it was, he knew he could make use of it.

Jack held out his hands and let his wings hang freely, allowing the blowing wind to dance all around his body, playing with his clothes and his hair.

He felt... a sense of freedom - freedom from his troubles, from the prison of the previous realm, and more importantly, freedom from the curse that had plagued his race!

He had done it. Using the Back of Atlas, he had transferred his identity as a fairy into his back, loosely mimicking something he’d seen Wu Kong do in the Primordial Garden. Since the universe no longer recognised him as a fairy, since his identity was hidden within his back, the curse no longer affected him.

Without the chains of that curse dragging him down, who could stop him now?