The Book of Abbadon

The Natural Order

Tom carefully grabs the book from your hands while staring down the Valghul and attempts to open it; but to Tom's surprise, the book stays locked. As the Valghul sits in the booth, it watches Tom fiddle with the book patiently while taking another sip of its coffee. You can tell that Tom is starting to panic, being unable to use The Holy Omniverse Transcript, then suddenly he freezes still with the book in his hands. As the atmosphere changes around you, you recognize exactly what's just happened. It feels just like it did when Aatu stopped time in his realm during the Battle of Ishville. The Valghul just stopped Time, and Tom along with it.

How? How can the Valghul do this? Wait… Could the Valghul have stolen Aatu's power when it gave him the Bite of Abrogation? That would explain how Time didn't completely break in this universe after Aatu died. Without a God of Time, this universe would probably break apart at the seams because it was missing such a fundamental element.

The voice of the Valghul suddenly echoes within your mind as you remember what it said right before it murdered Aatu.

" Then allow me to take your brother's power for myself. "

It did take Aatu's powers. It said so right before killing him. Aatu was just a God of this universe though, so how is Tom affected by it? Tom's an outerversal being, so he shouldn't be frozen at all… Something must've happened to him to weaken him or cause him to be subjected to the powers of this universe…. hold on a second…

You think hard on recent events, then it finally clicks in your head.

The man with no eyes. Tom consumed the Light from inside of him. That Light must've been tainted or tampered with somehow. This is really bad… This is really really bad.

You look down at Mimi to see that she's completely frozen in Time as well, then you look back at the Valghul with a look of terror in your eyes. This is why the Valghul didn't bother killing anyone. This is why the Valghul wasn't afraid of Tom like the last time. It knew that Tom was weakened. Now it's just you and it alone, frozen in a moment in Time. Nobody to stand beside you. Nobody to protect you. You're completely at the Valghul's mercy. If the Valghul wants you dead, you're dead.

" Come. "

The Valghul says with a crooked smile as it gestures at the seat on the other side of the table in front of it.

" I promise that it's not your flesh that I've come here to devour. "

Your heart feels like it's going to explode out of your chest as it beats violently. Your body feels like a corpse as the chilled foggy atmosphere crawls on your skin. The Valghul continues to speak to you with its demonic voice.

" Take a seat. "

You reluctantly walk to the booth and sit down across from the Valghul. This is the closest that you've ever been to it. You can see its dead eyes, gray skin, and sharp teeth in great detail. It feels like you're sitting in front of an unnatural beast, and in its bloody dead eyes you feel like you can see the faces of millions of screaming dead men, women, and children being eaten alive.

The Valghul begins to speak to you slowly and its demonic voice sends shivers down your spine. Each word feels like a needle slowly being pressed through your ear and into your brain.

" When I first saw you, I didn't realize who was before me. Your power was asleep and I was convinced that you were just another weakling mortal that happened to be in the company of the Gods. "

You stay silent and divert your gaze down at the table to avoid eye contact with the Valghul. The Valghul sees this, but continues to talk anyway.

" It seems that even you don't know who you are as well. If you did, I'm sure that this little meeting would've been playing out very differently. "