The Cloudbreaker's Perspective
When Lynia was next aware of anything, she found herself in a great palace of glass, its gleaming walls letting through enough of the light that it needed no windows. Or perhaps not glass, but ice. It was as jagged in its construction as it was bitter in its frost.
A voice cackled from somewhere, bounding across every surface. "This mortal, wishes to know the God Emperor Kasiell!" The self styled God's laughter filled the frozen hall, and at once, Lynia saw the face of a man she had only ever heard of, never seen, descending the grand staircase at the center of the atrium.
"This mortal wonders if the God Emperor remembers his face. Perhaps the last few centuries of subjugation have dulled your memory, O Former Creator Archmage." Gregor gave in to the urge to grin, from the doorway opposite the stairs. He barely raised his voice, but could still be heard distinctly despite the distance.
"Yours is a face I wished to forget on purpose. What purpose have you, then? Why does the Archmage - the usurper himself - need to come down to MY planet? Come to brag? Maybe the Creators truly were better off without me?" Though she stood in the middle of the atrium, Kasiell did not see Lynia.
"It's not that joyful of a tale, I'm afraid." Gregor, too, gave no acknowledgement that Lynia was there, as he approached the Emperor. "The Universe is in dire straits. Galaxies are collapsing. We cannot forestall the end of days without more Matter, and the only Planet left that can bear us any, is yours." What Gregor spoke of, Lynia could not understand. Matter? The Universe? Was Gregor not some anonymous hero, to Kasiell?
"Still playing with the building blocks of All Creation. It's a lost cause, I assure you. I'm more than happy to live out my last days here, unbothered, if you and the rest of the damned Vessel will be on your way." What was this Vessel? Why did they act like they had known each other?
"Please, Kasiell, you know I wouldn't come here if it weren't so vital."
"Of course you wouldn't! You were all too happy to banish me here in the first place, and for what crime? My failed experiments? Ought I remind you, I was trying to SOLVE the Matter problem with them?"
"The experiments could have been forgiven. As could the supply of matter. As I recall, it was you who chose to get upset about it."
"That's putting it generously, isn't it?"
"As ever, then, you choose to hold your grudge. So be it." Gregor retrieved a small rod from the tattered satchel at his hip. "The continued health of the universe cannot be guaranteed unless this planet lives its natural life span. The Vessel has been watching. You've been shortening it."
"And what of it?" boomed Kasiell. "I'm doing the universe a favor! You want your Matter so badly? I'm expediting it, especially for you!"
"Hastening the harvest by poisoning the crop!" Gregor shot back. He pressed the button on the rod, expanding it to full length, into a form that Lynia thought she recognized. "Your God Emperor act, subjugating and exploiting the Life of this planet to your ends, is destroying the people's will to Live. Just because the apple has fallen from the tree, does not make it good to eat."
"Enough metaphorical nonsense! Kill me if you think you can, and maybe you'll save your damned Universe. Or further humiliate me, who tried to save it himself!" He thrust a bare hand downward, casting a shower of bright blue lights to the floor, with a compounding crackle.
Gregor jabbed the rod into the ground in front of him. "Fine, then. We're long past reason."
And from the heavens themselves, a pillar of burning light descended upon them. And in a single blinding flash...
... Lynia awoke again, with twice as many questions as she had before.
