[Epilogue] Ultimate Goal [Part 1]

“So, how was my show~?”

“Well, it was a little plain for my tastes… I would have preferred a darker ending.”

“Ah~ I know what you mean, but these were my first little toys, and I didn’t want to break them~ I have to admit that they grew on me just a little bit~”

Morgan spoke to an imposing figure who towered above her, despite being seated in a large black throne. Any of the gods would recognize her in a single instant, and instinctively ready their guard. The domineering god in front of Morgan was one of the most cruel and powerful divine beings, Zymera, goddess of dark magic.

Morgan stood before her supreme authority in a place known as the dark world, a separate realm that was thoroughly soaked with suffocating dark magic. The ground beneath their feet was rocky, gray, and baren, save for the haunting trees that were scattered across the landscape, bleached white and devoid of leaves. The sky was perpetually covered by dark clouds that occasionally let loose a chaotic bolt of purple lightning. Even in such a harsh place, life still roamed the land, though not the kind of creatures that any sane person could imagine. No, these creatures took the form of horrific tentacled abominations that burrowed, crawled, and flew freely through this cursed world. Even the demons from the most hellish realms dared not step foot in Zymera’s domain.

Morgan watched as the goddess of dark magic casually crossed her legs and raised an arm up. A small section of intricate tattoos on her hand glowed purple. Bolts of energy arced between her fingers, before gathering into a ball that hovered above the center of her hand. She adjusted her fingers slightly, and the erratic energy reformed into a ring, with the center showing Earnest and Rosalind peacefully sleeping next to each other. Zymera gazed at the two lovers as she spoke to Morgan, who was currently inhabiting the form of Coltia.

“Not bad for your first time… It was a little small scale, but I don’t blame you. I know of your cautious and careful nature. Well, I suppose it was a nice change of pace. A nice little story with a happy ending… but next time though, you should aim for a larger impact. Maybe you could go to a city and dislodge all the residents’ souls, leaving them to scramble back to their own bodies, or into new ones… Or perhaps you could plant the core of a hive mind somewhere, and watch the spread of its influence as it assimilates more and more people. Well, whatever you choose, I just ask that it be entertaining. I’m sure you understand just how monotonous it is here.”

One of the first lessons that Morgan learned after ascending to godhood was that many immortal beings suffered from boredom. Out of them all, Zymera had it the worst, as she was unable to leave her realm for too long. No matter where she went, the world around her would slowly decay and corrupt due to the overflowing dark magic that emanated from her body. Even though she was one of the most powerful gods, she couldn’t go against all of the others, who agreed that she would be forbidden from leaving her realm for extended periods of time. It had become her prison.

To ease her boredom, Zymera often looked upon the world of mortals through her portal, which was how she found Morgan. The goddess watched as Morgan possessed various bodies in a hungry quest for power, which was entertaining in itself, but towards the end of Morgan’s journey, Zymera had a brilliant idea. The dark goddess helped Morgan take over a weak god’s body, then watched as Morgan created entertaining stories and scenarios in the world of mortals.

“Next time indeed~ I have quite the surprise for you though~ I’ve been working on a certain spell that I’m sure you will find quite… entertaining~”

Zymera simply raised an eyebrow as she awaited Morgan’s explanation.

“I’ve been learning quite a lot in regards to creating homunculus bodies recently~ I’ve also been developing a spell to create a link between minds~ Combined together, and you could travel anywhere you want through a puppet, experiencing the world through its eyes while your true body and mind remain in the dark world~”

Morgan saw the look in Zymera’s eyes, and knew that she had captured the deity’s interest. Perfect.

…

Coltia walked down a dusty road, headed towards an unsuspecting town. The sun warmed the hills and fields to her sides, while a light breeze made the grass and trees dance. To her side, off the road and in the grass, a young boy kept pace with Coltia. He was barefoot, enjoying the feeling of the cool grass beneath him and the warm sunshine on his skin, taking deep breaths just to smell the air. He was clearly having fun, occasionally running ahead of Coltia, then flopping down to lay in the long grass and rolling around in it. Coltia gave the boy a strange look before speaking to him.

“Quite the peculiar choice for an avatar, goddess. You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“Peculiar? You just don’t get it! Think about it, no one’s suspicious of children, so I’ll be able to go places and do things that other bodies can’t! And now that I have the chance, I wanna experience everything that the goddess Zymera couldn’t! Is it wrong to play around once in a while? No, it’s not. That’s why I requested this body. And besides, don’t you think I’m cute?”

The energetic lad lacked any of the commanding and intimidating tone that Zymera had in her normal form. Coltia could hardly believe it was really her, but it seemed like Zymera was wholeheartedly playing her role, enjoying the opportunity to be someone else for once.

“Uh huh… Well, whatever you’re comfortable with, I suppose…”

The two of them continued along until the town came into sight in the distance. The boy spoke up.

“So what’s your plan anyways? You said it would be a surprise, but come on! At least gimme a hint!”

“I can’t believe the goddess of darkness, Zymera, master of one of the primal forces of magic, would be such a bratty kid. Well, I’ll give you a tiny little hint just because you asked so nicely. The theme of the story this time will be… betrayal.”

“Oooh, sounds fun!”

“Oh, believe me, it will certainly be more than just fun. The whole point in bringing you here in this form is to grant your desires. Your desire for freedom, your desire for entertainment… I’m sure you’ll reconnect with some intense emotions you haven’t felt in quite a long time~ You helped me obtain the immortal body I currently inhabit, so I want to show my gratitude.”

“I knew you were a good choice Morgan! I have to admit that these spells that you’ve made are impressive. I would’ve never considered doing something like this!”

“Thank you. I suppose that we see magic quite differently don’t we? You wield its full, destructive power as naturally as a human breathes. During my humble beginnings, when I was but a weak mortal, I learned to delicately control and manipulate what little magic I had, ensuring nothing was wasted. I suppose that does make us a good team, and I hope that you will grow to trust me more~”

Zymera’s avatar looked at Coltia and seemed to lower its facade, speaking unlike a child and more like the domineering goddess that Coltia knew.

“Trust you? Oh Morgan, I’ve seen what you’ve done to get here. I know you, and I know what you want. Do you think that I haven’t noticed your eyes coveting my original form? I made sure to check that mind link spell of yours quite thoroughly. We certainly do make a good team, but I am still your goddess and that won’t change. Ever.”

Morgan was silent for a moment, before letting out a little laugh.

“You speak the truth goddess. I am sly, I am deceitful, I am greedy, and I desire what is yours. I could have tried sneaking something into the mind link spell, something that would trap you in that little body so that I could take over your beautiful, powerful, divine form. But I am well aware of how careful you are of me. So I didn’t do anything to the spell. It does exactly what I told you. Your mind remains in your original body while receiving all the senses from your avatar. You can break the link whenever you want, so you would never be truly ****. There would be no way for me to do anything… unless I built it into the homunculus body that you linked your mind to…”

Zymera’s avatar stopped dead in its tracks, then immediately attempted to sever the mind link to return to her original body. Nothing happened. Zymera felt a heat creeping up her neck, a long forgotten fury being reawakened by Morgan’s betrayal. No, it wasn’t betrayal, Morgan was never an ally in the first place. The heat Zymera felt was the anger and humiliation of falling into Morgan’s trap. Zymera looked up at Morgan, who wore a sinister grin alongside a look of superiority. Zymera started shouting.

“You wench! What did you do? What did you do to me? How dare you! Don’t think your insubordination will be forgiven you bitch! I will punish you for all eternity!”

Zymera kept shouting, but with every insult and threat Morgan only seemed to gain more and more enjoyment in watching the former goddess reduce herself to a child full of impotent rage. The boy was annoyingly noisy though. Morgan reached into her robe and brought out a black metal lantern, intricately designed with sharp black hands reaching around where the light would sit. Morgan filled the device with magic energy and its center flickered to life with a purple flame. Even though it was still daytime, the purple light cast dark black shadows of the claw-like hands onto the ground. The shadow hands began to move, snaking towards Zymera’s shadow, wrapping around and binding it tightly.

Zymera found that the weak form she was trapped in was now immobilized, a magic hand over her shadow’s mouth preventing her from even speaking. Morgan leaned in close to her captured prey, speaking in a quiet voice dripping with malice.

“You wanted to be part of the story? Well here it is~ All the emotions and excitement you could ever ask for~ I’m sure you won’t be bored anymore with a finite lifespan now~ Don’t you think so~? I sincerely hope you enjoy my show of gratitude~”

Zymera fruitlessly struggled to move, to cast a spell, to do something. But she couldn’t do anything. The rage and anger inside her transformed into despair. She could only watch in horror as Morgan began to draw out the spell pattern for opening a portal to the dark world, where her main body laid defenseless. Morgan spoke to her captive as she took her time crafting the spell pattern.

“I couldn’t have done this without you~ All those spell patterns that you had engraved on your skin gave me an idea. Why not engrave them inside a homunculus? Well, it turns out that it’s the perfect way to trap an arrogant goddess~”

Morgan completed the spell circle and stood back before filling it with dark magic energy. It glowed purple, the center slowly widening to show Zymera’s **** body slumped in her throne. Morgan gazed at it with excitement in her eyes, before turning back to speak some final words to Zymera’s avatar.

“You’ve done so much for me, given me so much, I hope you don’t mind if I take one more thing from you~ Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your body~”

Morgan stepped through the portal with the shadow lantern in her hand. Zymera’s avatar gave her last efforts in struggling against her binds, hoping to somehow break free, to enter the portal and somehow stop Morgan, but it was all in vain. The portal closed behind Morgan, with the shadow hands disappearing once the purple flame was out of sight. Zymera could move again, and she ran over to where the portal used to stand, but there wasn’t a single trace left. The little boy was alone, standing next to the dirt road near some human town, stuck in the mortal world. The homunculus fell to the ground, pounding a fist against the dirt as it began to cry and wail loudly.