Mitutu Parasu

[Cain]

The God heaved a heavy sigh.

Death was beyond frantic. Every second that Alexander remained missing, Death grew more and more unstable. It was a secret. Not many other Gods new such things, and even the other Entities turned their eyes from Death in his episodes of wrath, wary of his seemingly endless rage. He acted as a blind animal, lashing out in the Void at whatever laid nearest. Cain had intervened on more than one occasion to end Death's rage. In this place surrounded by the certainty of oblivion, Cain reflected. A mere fiction that was also the real truth.

This void... the evolution of nothing started and ended in the breath of a bug, the blink of a man's eye. This was not a part of any dimension or universe. The void stood separate, a fluid within the cracks of the Omniverse's structure. The void was primordial chaos, older than existence itself. As Cain did in all planes in his region, he stood here in it's center, observing what lied around him. Silence. Too much silence. A mortal mind might go insane. There was no hum nor a heartbeat, no breathing or motion. No light, no perception... yet Cain was as a beacon, and this empty place was malleable to the strong.

[Solomon Black]

One thousand five hundred and thirty three years ago a boy was born in a small shack. His father was a militia enthusiast and a farmer and his mother was a stay at home saint. When that boy was nine, his parents had another child and to afford both, they sold one. The eldest. This boy was raised to become a living weapon and a monk, though only one succeeded. This boy became the most powerful weapon in the universe, but not a emotionless, trained, and centered monk. No, this boy became a warrior and a brother and when he lost his sister, all he could be was a warrior without a cause. So instead of having a cause, he instead, fought for others causes. He did this for so long that it now takes a cause of global catastrophe for this boy to interfere. Leaving the boy, now a man, lives by certain words.

"Millions don't matter. Call me again when it affects billions."

Solomon mostly wanders, gets into a fight every couple decades or so. The only time Solomon ever seems to move with purpose, is when he catches a whiffs of his goals. The Key to Time, and the Key to Death. Nothing else matters to this old soul. Nothing. Solomon has learned the only way to free James is to understand time in its totality, an impossible task but given a few more millennium he bets he will get it. To save his sister, that will require Solomon to find a way to... retrieve a soul from Deaths embrace. All he needs is her soul, her spark, her existence and he can make the body for her.

Solomon tried bargaining with Death and that only served to piss off the malevolent force with a conscience. The other gods or little to know help. Most still view Solomon as mortal, human. Despite being almost as powerful and equally as immortal as them. In his, modest, opinion.

Solomon continued to ponder in though as he moved through The Void. Somehow immune to it's effects Solomon found this way of travel very... calming, if not slower than the usual inter dimensional transportation that many call breaching. The Void, and it stands up to its name. Empty, but somehow full. Nothing, but clearly contains... things. Maybe it was just his humanity speaking but how the hell does this exist... or not exist.

"Damn Paradoxes." Solomon mumbled as he continued to move through the place primordial. On second thought, this place may not be for me. I prefer places that are, over are not. Solomon was prepared to go in a hurry when something caught his eye. Strange, that something could catch ones eye here. So the Immortal quickly moved towards the thing, and quickly discerning that is was more a who. Probably a God. Who knows though.

[Cain]

Cain had long sensed a different presence in the Void. Once he had sensed before, long ago. One he had felt many times since. One of two that Cain felt inhabiting this place that were similar to the energy beings that dwelt within, but far different than the Demons and Angels that lived in the void. It felt almost mortal, but not fully. Cain had even seen the being in question before, his perch in many planets of many planes allowing him to see many things. Many timelines and dimensions. Cain's knowledge was not infinite, but it was extremely relevant.

He mused over the individual, and it approached him. The large figure turned to face the man, and Cain's size pressed itself against the boundless surroundings. He did not float in the void, he stood as though he were fixed in place. A long, tattered cloak covered his form and acidic green eyes struck all that they cast a gaze upon. His age was carried in that tattered cloak however, with marks from all eras and battles engraved upon it. The cloak was an illusion, it existed at Cain's behest and vanished as he choose. To Cain, all of reality was an illusion. Everything was mutable, and everything subject to change as he saw fit.

That was the nature of Cain's existence: to be the sentient manifestation of the Omniversal core. The large being, standing nine feet in height faced this man who came towards him, this Solomon Black. Those eyes narrowed and stared at this man who thought himself as a God. He expressed curiosity in his covered face, remaining silent at the man's approach.

[Solomon Black]

Solomon  flowed with the nothing until he was next to the giant, looking him eye to eye. Even though his feet were far off from the others. Once in a proper position Solomon halted and stayed still. The two simply staring at each other for a few seconds before Solomon broke the silence.

"I'm Solomon, though I presume you know that." He said nonchalantly. He looked the clearly non-mortal up and down.  Judging from the power of this thing, it looks how it wants and it looks old and worn. Using the amazing powers of deduction Solomon presumed that even for something like it... it was old. However, he could just as easily be wrong. Not that is mattered anyway. "Who are you though?" Solomon instinctively scratched at his scar and had a hand on the hilt of his sword. Not that a sword could do anything, but 99% of things did not like being stabbed. Solomon was not hostile to Cain however, it was more a precaution to everything else that resided here.

[Cain]

Cain observed the man's motions, his informal manner of speech, even his very approach to the God. It was brazen, with no caution until he was within arm's reach and he was already speaking. Cain mused over this act, and replied in due course. "Who possesses the life of a God and yet fathoms only the mortal reality? One of few, one of few," he echoed the last part of his words, a deep and gravely voice rumbling from his form as he tasted the implications upon his tongue.  "It is a new form of life that mimics an old one. Greetings, Solomon Black. I am the Dread God called Cain."

He extended a massive hand towards Solomon as though he awaited a handshake, and stared at the man. "You may surrender your hands from your sword at your leisure. Such a tool is immaterial here in the Void."

[Solomon Black]

Solomon released his sword handle and shook the dread gods hand. "To one of my caliber, it is little more than a toothpick anyway, but when used correctly a simple sword can cut a planet in half." In reality, Solomon kept the sword because it belonged to his father. A gift when we left a normal life behind to become what he was now.

He rested his hands in his pockets and mused on what Cain had said. Was he referring to himself, or Solomon's state of being. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Dread God Cain. You aren't the first god I met, but the first I have encountered in the void." He said with his own, cold speech. Solomon never spoke with anything more than a empty voice. Void of emotion and spoke only matter-of-fact.

Solomon's humanity used to always be wary of angering gods, forces and even death itself. However in time he learned there was nothing they could do to kill him, and nothing he would do that could result in eternal imprisonment. Still, it was intense to meet one. Trillions of billions of mortals exist and even the most powerful aren't much. A God, that is something else entirely. Something that is pure power. Even without the fear of death or pain, Solomon must always be careful to to get on the wrathful sides of these sons of bitches.

[Cain]

"It is not the weapon that cleaves the planet," the God replied. "It is the one who wields it. Some beings are powerful enough to destroy entire worlds, while others require the assistance of powerful tools. In the end, it is not the use but the user, though in your age I am sure you have become painfully aware of this fact." Cain withdrew his hand from Solomon, retracting it back beneath his cloak. His gaze never left the mortal, those acrid eyes still aching to melt through the layers.

"Things hardly are this way by chance. I am always within the infinite blackness. I am in every dimension within my region, always watching the infinity unfold. It is a sense of duty that drives me, and obligation that binds me young one," he explained. To Cain, Solomon was young. Just barely an infant in the scheme of his life, while infinitely lesser in the scheme of the omniverse. "You travel through the void, and though I have knowledge of what has been, and what is, I dare not make predictions of the future. For what purpose do you travel through the Void, Solomon?"

[Solomon Black]

"Crisis." Solomon said, though he did not say why and made a point of it. He had business there. Not exactly private business, but Solomon doesn't exactly wanna promote what he is doing to the world. "I have work there." He added, feeling that if Cain wanted to know, he might as well say that much. Everything this guy says is cryptic, even if its plain and simple it sounds mysterious. He was right about a lot of things though, the sword was little more than a sharp metal stick. It was Solomon that can cleave planets in two.

Actually, that is almost what he was hired to do. What was happening with Crisis and Amara was... unfortunate and he was hired to dissuade the conquerors from continuing. Help the resistance. He knew little and would be explained more once he arrived.

[Cain]

"Crisis," Cain's eyes sharpened into daggers. "Mercenary of worlds," he said, "I know of the business you conduct. I must warn you away from Crisis. This is an event in which you must not involve yourself." The Crisis conflict was a very volatile one indeed. An inter-dimensional war-- not unheard of, not exactly rare, but this was an instance that the Gods could not solve on their own. At most, these events had lasted for about a day. The Crisis-Amara breach was a different matter all together.

"Crisis is a world that brought catastrophe upon itself, not a world that Amara purposely breached into. They were invited to wage war, and just like it is in the nature of some beings to push their natural boundaries it is in the blood of others to conquer those too weak to stop them. It is unfortunate, but the Amaranth are hardly at fault for fulfilling their role." He paused, letting this sink in for a moment.

"I will not stop you from heading to Crisis. I will not stop you from heading to Amara. I won't keep you from interacting with the beings in those worlds. But if you attempt to alter the course of events, then I will have no choice to intervene. The only one who has authority to close the breach and stop the invasion is the God who watches over Amara, and he has made his position on the matter quite clear. I can not allow an interference with the world's natural evolution to take place."

[Solomon Black]

"Cain." Solomon said without blinking. Letting everything sink in for a few more seconds before he replied. He gets this a lot. Gods telling him not to interfere. Usually they have something of great power shouldn't be handled in such a way and the balance of things must be maintained. Solomon usually turned around and the gods words would go nowhere. Solomon has gotten quite adept at interfering but keeping it small. In the case of Crisis that is his intention. Instead of blowing down the door, uprooting the entire city and demanding they stop, he is more like to do something here and there to tip the scale or give them a fighting chance. "I don't care about either worlds petty squabbles. However people are dying down there, billions of them. I can't let human beings be slaughtered and wiped out just because of your rules. They aren't my rules."

"Thank you for the warning still, but I know what I am doing." Solomon said, "I will be honest with you though, I had considered closing the breach if I needed to, but good to know the backlash if I did." Solomon definitely needed to stay low key now. Cain would be watching and so would he local God.

[Cain]

"No, they aren't your rules," Cain stated. "They are my rules. And I will enforce them. If you attempt to intervene in a natural course of events, I will stop you because they invited that tragedy on themselves. You may not know it, but the Amaranth were once Human too. They're simply an evolution of humanity, and have as much right to exist as any other human does. It doesn't matter whether you intend to make a small shift of huge impact. You're changing the outcome. The world's fate is it's own."

He kept his gaze steady and stern. "The rules we follow are to prevent destruction of existence. Even if you don't see the ramifications of what you do, we can. We know. We aren't stupid. Most of use have lived for tens of thousands of years and some much longer than that. I disallow it to prevent history from repeating itself. Your one change that you want to tip the scales? I can not allow that, especially from one with no concept of the potential havoc and the inability to see what we do."

[Solomon Black]

Solomon held his gaze as the god spoke, "You make standing by and doing nothing sound so righteous." He turned his back to Cain and calmly began to walk away. "I am a mercenary of worlds and I work for a price." He stopped and turned his head to look back on Cain. "Give me something I want, and I will stay out of their war. He turned the rest of his body to face Cain. Even if he nothing came of this meeting, Solomon learned one thing. The Amara/Crisis war was bigger and more important than he realized. It meant more that the lives of two worlds, but what?

"There is something I am looking for. If you help me find it, I will be contractually bound to stay out of the war." Solomon ran a hand through his hair and waited to see if Cain would take the bait. His cold green eyes meeting the acrid eyes of the God. Neither wavering.

[Cain]

"Little being," Cain told him. "You are but a child in my eyes. I could spend eons describing to you why you are wrong, and it would accomplish no more than describing sensation to the comatose. What you identify as passiveness cannot be denied, because in my passiveness I allow for the natural order of reincarnation. I understand what you do, but you can not understand what I do and rather than trust my judgement on the matter you are a slave to what you perceive. Common knowledge dictates you will attempt to defy me regardless of what I tell you."

Cain sighed. "Yet, you bait me. I do not know if you are intelligent or the opposite, but I do not wish to see unwarranted harm come upon you simply because you are foolish. I am aware of both things you seek, Solomon. I have observed your losses and the scar they left upon the dimension in which you lived. You wish to locate one who has become lost, and retrieve another from Death's embrace. I can not help you with the last. My knowledge is limited on the first... but I can help set you on the right path. All you must do, then, is break your prior contract and make a new pact with me. Information for placation. As vile a circumstance as it is, I must not allow for you to intervene in the Amaranth conquest."

[Solomon Black]

"Most people would give you this long speech about being given great power and doing nothing with it. I will not." Solomon said, glad that Cain would at least be willing to help but unwilling to express anything but apathy at any point. Solomon's demeanor of an apathetic, distant man was never a lie. He was for the most part a uncaring man. It was this doctrine of fate that irked him. "I will break the contract with the resistance on Crisis for information on how to help retrieve my friend. As for the other," Solomon hesitated. His sister was always a tough subject and his loss was always reason enough to be wary of what he can do. James accidentally wiped out an entire kingdom, without even trying. "As for the other, I require no help. Death has made his position quite clear on the subject. She rests with him now."

Solomon always found strange amusement with dealings with gods. However, this circumstance there was no amusement. Solomon may find James, and once he caught a scent, billions of lives be damned. His sister and best friend matter more to him than anything. "So, Cain, what can you tell me?"

[Cain]

"What do you know of how time functions?" This was the Dread God's introduction to the subject at hand. "Time is cyclical. A man goes back in time to stop a dictator. The man fails. The dictator lives. The man goes back in time to stop a dictator. The man fails. The dictator lives. Time is immovable. It can not be changed or altered." This was a lie. The Dread God himself had at one point moved time and changed reality. Ten minutes at most, he had discovered. Any more than that...

"But, what if the man goes back and one time, a single, solitary time he succeeds? He kills the dictator. The tyrant lies dead. But it's an illusion. A lie brought on by an impossible occurrence. The man did not change the future, because the future can not be changed. Instead, he created on accident a little side world. A branch from the Omniverse, and one that has half-life. An unstable alternate timeline where the future he has created has wrongly come to pass. In our timeline, the cycle continues unbroken. He dies. The tyrant lives. He goes back, and dies again only for it to repeat. Your friend James is in a similar situation. He is in a world that never could be."

[Solomon Black]

"Interesting, so James changed the past and is his own little world in time." Solomon mused on the though for a while. Taking what he could from it and deciphering as much as one would. "So that rules out literally spiraling through the time stream." Which was good. That meant James ended up somewhere, in sometime. Which means Solomon had to find the where.

Addressing Cain again the mercenary nodded his head ever so slightly as if to say thank you, "Every action has a reaction in the Omniverse. The Shattering destroyed my home, my family and took my friend. That was just him leaving. I wonder what it would look like at the impact zone." Solomon turned away and started walking in the opposite direction, "Your contract stands Cain. I will not interfere in the outcome of the war." With each step as he walked away, another body would flicker off of his. An exact clone, and it would disappear into the nothing. Solomon stopped after fifteen steps and turned back to face Cain. As he did a final clone stepped out of Solomon as if he never turned back before fading away.

"Anything else? I do love when I receive bonus pay. I will even chalk it up as owing you a favor."

[Cain]

"One last thing," Cain added. "It is uncertain what has happened to your friend. I do not know where he had landed, but I offer a warning. I believe I comprehend what it is you intend to do. I will be watching, because nobody has ever been able to successfully enter an alternate time stream once it has been created. You'd need to take time to understand when the point of divergence was. If you are off even a microsecond, you may not make it. You may just wind up in your own alternate timeline, with no way of knowing whether or not you were successful."

The large being pressed itself forward towards Solomon once again. "Alternate timelines are not real, but to the beings within them they are very real. Your friend could be dead. He might be forever changed. He may have lived a thousand lives by now. I am merely warning you that more can come of your venture should it be... poorly executed. You might bring something over that shouldn't be here. It won't last much longer after that, but depending on what crosses through it could cause immense destruction. You would likely bear the fate of Alexander... no, the three entities would do you justice, not condemnation."

[Solomon Black]

"If I know James, he may as well have taken his version of our universe and completely taken it over. That man is everything I am, but with more will and passion to use it than anyone I've met." Solomon's form began to ripple and his body was torn apart into hundreds of copies that flew and then disappeared in every direction leaving the original behind, slowly fading away. Off to let his selves look everywhere and let Solomon fry the big fish and go back home for the first time in five hundred years. His voice echoing throughout the nothing with no movement of his mouth.

"Unlike you, I was not meant to be what I am now," Solomon then added, "Or maybe I was." With that, he had faded.

[Cain]

As Solomon departed, Cain made note to keep track of him. He returned his gaze unto the void.

"I was not to be what I have become either."

With that, silence became the companion of the darkness once again.

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