A. F. Kay
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Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 29
🕑 Added 2024-11-11 02:58:47 +0000 UTCChapter 29
“It’s my Archangel body,” Ruin said. “Suppression isn’t the right word. It’s more like my body is in the way. Like I’m at the bottom of an ocean trying to communicate with someone in the sky. It takes far more energy because of all the water around me.”
Sivart spoke up. “It’s interference. That’s why you’re only noticing it now. Every time you advance a Fortification level the energy in your cells becomes more dense, increasing the interference.”
Ruin immediately knew Sivart’s statement was correct. The answer resonated with Ruin, and it highlighted a related problem that certainly contributed.
“You’re right,” Ruin said. “And I think this Saraph body only makes it worse. The Destruction Realm broke Harmony after all.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Uruziel said softly, as if thinking out loud. “This Saraph body might actually fix Harmony.”
“What?” Ruin replied unable to hide his surprise.
Uruziel bit her lip. “Give me a moment to organize my thoughts.” After ten seconds she continued. “Did you wonder why the Destruction Realm broke Harmony?”
“It was the environment,” Ruin replied. “It was so different I couldn’t make sense of it, making balance impossible.”
“I think that is partially right,” Uruziel said, “but I believe it goes deeper than just the environment. If it was just your surroundings, I think you would have figured it out and fixed Harmony.”
“What else could it be?”
Uruziel pointed at Ruin. “You.”
Ruin laughed in confusion. “Doesn’t that prove my point though. This body will only make it harder to reclaim my balance and return Harmony to me.”
“Harmony disappeared before you arrived in this Saraph body. Why do you think reclaiming your human body now will make fixing Harmony easier?”
“That’s a good point,” Ruin said thoughtfully. “I guess because I know the problem is related to balance, I figured returning to my balanced form could help. Well, not balanced to your point, but I believe my human body brought me closer to balance than this strange form.”
“What if your loss of Harmony in this Realm, from the beginning, was related to your attitude, not your body.”
Ruin processed those words.
Uruziel continued. “The Destruction Realm is so different than the Material Realm, it’s normal that you viewed yourself as an outsider, a visitor. You never felt like you belonged here, and we all know how critical feeling connected to the environment is for Harmony to work.”
Ruin swayed on his feet as the truth of Uruziel’s words struck him. “How did I not see that?” Ruin whispered. “It’s so obvious in hindsight.”
Overlord raised his hand. “Uh, I still don’t understand.”
Ruin strode forward and hugged Uruziel. He locked eyes with her. “Thank you.”
Uruziel blushed.
“Hey, hands off my—” Overlord said jokingly, before stopping himself suddenly.
Ruin raised his eyebrows. “My what?”
Overlord blushed as well and then hurriedly waved his hand. “Come on, quit stalling, explain how Uruziel is so much smarter than you.”
“Don’t think I’m going to let that comment go,” Ruin warned with a smile. Then he answered Overlord’s question. “You know Harmony works because my inner world is balanced with the obligation I feel to the outer world. But Uruziel cast a light on an obvious truth. I don’t feel that same obligation to the Destruction Realm. I don’t care about it at all. It also explains why I can’t use Harmony in the Material Realm right now. That’s because I don’t believe I’m myself in this Saraph body.”
Deryssa frowned and opened her mouth to argue but stopped herself.
Ruin frowned, unable to hide his misery. “I just realized that if I ever want Harmony to work in the Destruction Realm, I need to accept this body and my place in the Destruction Realm. Worse, I need to accept responsibility for an obligation large enough to balance this inner world. Not only should that fix Harmony here, but if I accept this body, it should also allow me to use Harmony in the Material Realm again.”
No one responded.
Deryssa spoke quietly. “I don’t understand any of this talk of Harmony, but I feel your sadness about your body. Why? Your blood traces back to the very origin of the Destruction Realm. A Realm far more powerful than your Material one. Saraph’s are considered the perfect form. Better in every way compared to your weak human body. It confuses me why anyone would be sad to have gained such a gift. You stand at the peak of the Destruction Realm.”
Ruin understood Deryssa’s points, and he believed her, but it didn’t change how he felt. He couldn’t identify himself in any way other than human. If he didn’t figure out how, Harmony—his most powerful weapon—would be lost forever in the Destruction Realm. And if he couldn’t get his human form back, it meant Harmony was lost in the Material Realm as well.
What if Ruin’s only way to get his human form back required Harmony? It would mean he was doomed to not only be trapped in this body forever, but he’d lose Harmony for good.
Trying to stay positive, Ruin gave a short bow to Deryssa. “I didn’t mean to offend you or Saraphs in general. This change just happened and I’m still adjusting.”
Deryssa returned the bow, her confusion now holding some sympathy.
Ruin recalled the overwhelming physical power of the Destruction Emperor. How even the attacks that missed Ruin affected his mental presence.
“I think my body acts like a type of armor,” Ruin said, “because looking back at that fight, despite going nuts, I was naked and vulnerable against those physical attacks.
“Until I learn how to protect my consciousness when I project it like that, I need to stay here in my mind where I have tons of defenses. Even if that makes my mental attacks much weaker.”
Uruziel nodded approvingly.
Deryssa turned and studied the sky. She spoke into the blackness, but Ruin heard her just fine. “It’s hard for me to accept that I’m in your mind. This is a feat no one in the Destruction Realm could replicate. It provides a glimmer of hope. You’re the Last Emperor, and that will bring many to your cause. Those out of favor with the current Emperor might also join you once you prove your strength. They will look to change their fate. It might be enough. A nucleus to build an army and defend ourselves from the current Emperor.”
Instead of immediately dismissing the idea, Ruin considered her words even though they made him uncomfortable. Accepting the obligation presented by the Remembrance Prophecy could provide the easiest path to accepting himself as Ruin Val’dor. And as Uruziel had reminded him, acceptance would prove critical to regaining Harmony.
Deryssa pointed into the sky. “What are those lights?”
Ruin didn’t bother looking up, he knew what Deryssa had noticed. He’d filled the darkness with those pinpricks of light to make this place more natural.
“Decoration,” Ruin said. “In the Material Realm we see faint light from distant stars, and I replicated that here.”
Movement caught Ruin’s attention, and he turned to find Overlord, Sivart, and Uruziel looking between each other.
“What?” Ruin asked.
“We didn’t want to say anything until we’d confirmed it, but there are plenty of Narrators with an interest in the heavens, and they immediately began studying those ‘decorations.’” Overlord looked at Uruziel and Sivart again, as if hoping one of them would continue.
When no spoke up, Overlord locked eyes with Ruin, and finished his explanation. “Many don’t believe they’re fake. The stars. They appear real to telescopes and most have planetary systems around them.”
Ruin glanced at the sky. “That’s impossible.”
“Maybe,” Overlord said. “It’s possible they’re perfect illusions. A few Narrators have ventured into the darkness to find out.”
“Are you kidding? Aren’t they afraid of dying? What’s the farthest anyone has gone? What if there’s some limit?”
Sivart shrugged. “That’s the problem with free will, sometimes growing as a person means taking chances and satisfying curiosity. Despite the consequences.”
Ruin narrowed his eyes. “Is that a dig at me?”
Sivart tried to hide a smile.
Ruin returned his attention to the stars and whispered to himself. “They can’t be real.”
In every direction the black void served as the backdrop to thousands, maybe millions, of stars. If all those stars had planets what did that mean? Had Ruin created a galaxy inside his own mind? The scope of something like that overloaded his thoughts and he couldn’t speak.
“What’s that?” Deryssa asked, still staring out over the platform. She pointed to a bright ball the size of a fist that had come into view and currently arced through the darkness.
A few moments ago, Ruin had wanted to spare Deryssa the mental shock of discovering that twelve planets orbited them. Planets full of Narrators turned people. Now, he found himself stunned into silence at the possible scope of his own mind.
Uruziel, seeing Ruin’s shocked expression, answered Deryssa’s question. “It’s Iridis, one of many planets here, and it’s home to several thousand people.”
Deryssa swayed on her feet and slowly turned to stare at Ruin in shock.
The truth was, Iridis might not be one of a handful of planets, but one of millions.
Comments
Nathan Emerson
So shouldn't he have a fragment of the creation and destruction realms inside him too?
Scott Emery
Dissipate does not mean disappear, it means to diffuse.
Scott Emery
The concept of entropy, as we know it today, is considered to be the amount of energy in a system that is not available to do work. Basically, it's the thing that makes any system not be 100% efficient, and why perpetual motion is an impossibility. I don't think "Energy dissipation" is a terrible way to describe the phenomea. As for the Galaxy and the universe being self-maintaining systems, as I said, that depends on time frame. For my short, mortal lifespan, sure, they are self maintaining. However, cosmic scale entities are still subject to entropy unless the laws of thermodynamics somehow function differently at scale or otherwise outside our observational capabilities. So, assuming the fundamental laws don't change, however, if left on its own the universe will "run down" in one form or another due to entropy. I am seriously not trying to be a "physics lawyer" here, this just seems like pure fundamentals.
Douglas Davis
Entropy is not the same thing as is not "energy dissipation," as you put it. To dissipate means to disappear and as the 1st law of thermodynamics tells us energy can neither be created nor destroyed. There are three thoughts as to the fate of the universe: it will continue to expand at an increasing rate due to dark energy and eventually rip itself apart, continue to calmly enlarge and cool off, or finally it will reach a peak expansion and then due to gravity collapse back in on itself.
Joe
Thank you soooooooo much for writing this story. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Joe
Honestly, I cannot wait to see what happens next. Does balance demand he get a creation body too? Or does he already have one? How many other prophesies mention him? What about all other parts of the outerverse? What does all this mean about Ruwen/Ruin's Universe? Is it the universe to rule all universes? It's all so exciting!
Joe
It has actually been one of my concerns about Ruwen/Ruin - his abilities are extreme but control is scanty, at least when it comes to his mental abilities. He needs his friends for organization an retrieval of information, for the truly insignificant (when compared to overall capacity) utility his mind is truly put to given the potential. He's is just one big ball of undeveloped and under used potential. But yeah, our universe works based on rules that can be predicted to the minutest level with mathematics - mathematics even tells us when we cannot predict things - like knowing the exact location of an electron within an electron cloud along with it's velocity at the same time (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle). Entropy is real, but the universe is not altogether chaotic. That's why we can predict the location of heavenly bodies (the Celestial type, not the other ones :-) And why Physics is a thing and so is Chemistry. But I think these are things everyone already knows.
Scott Emery
Material realm as a base becomes a fulcrum? Provides leverage the other realms can't match in isolation?
Scott Emery
Thanks for saying this. I thought so too.
Scott Emery
Thanks for the comment! I'm not sure our own universe is actually self-maintaining, considering energy dissipation over time (entropy). It is, however, very large, so the time scale makes many kinds of deterioration rather imperceptible from our short mortal perspective.
Douglas Davis
Our own universe is considered a self maintaining system, unless you are going to depart from the realm of physics and claim that a religious deity is keeping it in balance. But I do agree that Ruin/Ruwen should have a better grasp of the entities and boundaries inside of his own mind.
Scott Emery
Not too belabor the point, but in my experience, there is no such thing as a self-maintaining system. The more complex the system, the more maintenance required. These are natural laws, and if they are not taken into account, at least a little, the whole setup seems lacking.
Scott Emery
I like it, but I'm concerned about a god who has capabilities beyond his discernment. It seems to me that anything within his power should also be within his knowledge, because, quite literally, knowledge is power. If Ruin/Ruwen can't quickly learn to comprehend this, it will grow feral. His own mind will be chaos and anarchy instead of order and strength.
Samuel Strode
The narrators are the books I think the planets are the subject material
John
I don’t think the planets are necessarily a representation of the books Ruin has read, that’s the Narrators, they’re a representation of pure mental strength. Which is granted in part based off books read
John
FINALLLLLLLYYY, Ruin you have a frickin universe in your head, get with the program. So great
King Nereus
My gosh, I absolutely love this!
King Nereus
Other than just “magic”, it is also fair to say that he is smarter than all of us, and he is a deity, and he has been alive a lot longer than any of us can ever hope to be, although in fairness the time spent sleeping off the deity upgrade probably shouldn’t count in this context.
Samuel Strode
True enough
Lukas Eagleton
You gotta remember ramis ability to absorb full libraries, everywhere she goes she makes a copy of all the books! That's why perception book wyms are killed, they can amasse too much knowledge. Plus her indexing is top notch, it's a highlight of not only ruwens (ruins) mental power and ability, but hers as well.
Sean C Jackson
So if yall remember some chapters ago, possibly the last epilogue Blappy was drawing a picture of a six winged god so I'm thinking Ruwen is gonna need to return to the creation realm at some point and is gonna gain another new body and combine the 3 to have 3 pairs of wings.
Samuel Strode
Millions of planets just how many books has this man read? In all my life I have to be close to a two-thousand… I have 1300+ audiobooks currently and not all my books are recorded…
Lonnie
Io created a link to the creation realm in his mind and with his body of the destruction realm. Ruin is the material realm personified. Time to get his act together
Lena M. Lucente
Oh my ..... Good chapters. Thank you for your hard work especially when sick.
