Lost Soul: Extras

7: Through The Ages

Time is a fickle thing. It can be fleeting and valuable when you know it's running out. Time can also have very little importance when you know that it might never run out. Infinite time often leads to melancholy and apathy. Any action seems less meaningful when you have no deadline to do it. Such a lonely existence is devastating. The only kind thing Fate did was make two such souls.

Encryption is more prone to a pessimist point of view. It didn't take him long to ponder the long-term consequences of his position. That more dreary outlook is part of the reason that Encryption started to be drawn towards Genesis. The younger god isn't exactly dumb, but he is much more positive and hopeful than his counterpart. A possibly endless existence of servitude does not immediately bring him dread. Once Encryption gave Genesis a chance, it didn't take long for them to become friends. The two gods will always be the only person in the Multiverse who can completely understand what the other has been through.

Upon seeing the emptiness of Encryption's void, Genesis gave the other permanent access to his own void where the AUs are stored. It was confusing to distinguish the two different areas in conversation. They decided to call Encryption's domain the Antivoid while Genesis' will be called the Creation Void. Both areas exist outside of the AUs. The two gods spend a lot of time in the Creation void watching AUs.

Running a universe isn't easy. Taking care of an entire Multiverse is almost impossible to do perfectly. Genesis and Encryption spend large amounts of time trying to use math or certain patterns to uphold their respective sides of the balance. Through this, it becomes obvious how diffident Fate's methods were with creating the two. Genesis isn't stupid but lacks a lot of life skills any normal monster would have. He doesn't know basic math beyond addition or subtraction. Encryption finds himself painstakingly explaining every little detail of formulas that he tries. Algebra and Calculus come easily to him. Genesis is thankfully a fast learner with math concepts that are much simpler then running a Multiverse. Encryption finds Genesis's lack of social skills to be a little harder to teach.

Genesis is apprehensive about talking to anyone from the AUs. Encryption is the exception, but everyone else will disappear. Genesis already feels terrible when the Multiverse resets. How worse would he feel knowing them all personally?

"By that logic, would you prefer that no life exists at all? Should these monsters and humans not have their lives at all if they will eventually end?" Encryption asks, giving the other a skeptical look.

"No! That's not what I'm saying," Genesis protests, "I just don't-"

"Don't you want to remember each one? Until we can get a Multiverse to remain stable, I want to remember each AU and every monster that lived there," Encryption says, his voice softer as he watches an AU through a portal. The god of destruction can tell that Genesis is the type of person who thrives when surrounded by people and suffers without. It's...... familiar and comforting.

Hesitantly, Genesis agrees. He slowly reaches out to a few AUs with Encryption always trailing behind. The older balance keeper would be lying if he said that he didn't also enjoy interacting with the other AUs. It was a major shock for every world they introduced themselves to. No one is alone as they thought they were. Genesis's and Encryption's power could be intimidating, but Genesis's friendly demeanor won over many monsters. Encryption found acquaintances in the more subdued AUs. It wasn't perfect, but things seemed to get better as Multiverse began lasting for months and then years. Everything changed when Fate decided to switch up the game.

Genesis remembers the AU collapsing around him, but it's the first time that he's blacked out. He comes back to consciousness which a distinct feeling of wrongness. Genesis slowly sits up from his spot on the floor of the Creation void. Every movement feels heavy. His vision doesn't seem to be working right and distorts the colors around him. There's a strange feeling around his neck that makes it itch. Genesis freezes with a hand raised halfway to his throat.

There is thin, blue webbing between his boney fingers. The same membrane is present between the bones in his lower arms. Genesis continues to investigate his body with a growing sickness. There are fins on the back of his upper arms, lower legs, and all the way down his spine. Genesis has the dim thought that he's lucky to have legs. He looks half fish and half skeletal. With a hand that's tipped with sharp claws, Genesis scratches at his neck. There are slits where gills breath water in and out. Sharp claws catch on the edges of the scales. Where fins meet bone, Genesis has patches of blue-green scales. The scales itch. The ones at his neck are almost painfully irritating, and he scratches at them harder. A few scales come loose with blood leaking into the water.

This body is wrong. Genesis feels uncomfortable and agitated in his own body. There's something else pinned in the back of his head. A name. Nexus. Fate gave him a different name for this different form. It hurts. He's still scratching at the scales around his gills when he stumbles to his feet. Nexus only dimly process that his spear has been transformed into a small trident as he picks it up off the floor. Magic feels strange as it moves through the water. A rift opens up. A strong hand keeps Nexus from stumbling on his way through.

Encryption's domain has turned nearly pitch-black as if little light reaches these depths. Nexus almost flinches when he looks up and sees the other's face. Whereas Nexus's new body seems to be designed for colorful reefs and sunny waters, Encryption has been remade for the depths. His eye sockets are larger and lack visible eye lights. Above each eye socket are small yellow patches of glowing yellow scales. The same glowing patches appear on his hands, feet, and down his back. Encryption's fins are a mix of black and deep blue. He has the same sharp claws, but his teeth are also visibly sharper.

"Genesis?" Encryption asks as he steadies the other.

"Y-Yeah," the Creator replies shakily. "She gave me a new name. Nexus." Names are the smallest thing that has changed, but Nexus is so shaken up that it's the first thing that he can think of to say.

"Abyss," the Destroyer replies simply with his own name. He too is shaken, but it's not the first time his body as been twisted and changed. "Fate will likely punish us if we don't use the new names, but between us, our first ones remain."

This drowned Multiverse is uncomfortable for the two gods, but that is no reason to condemn the monsters already living here. They did the best job that they could. Monsters sensitive to the smell of blood on the water could always smell iron around Nexus. If anyone asked about it, they'd have to face Abyss's ire. Nexus wore bandages around his neck for the entirety that Multiverse's lifespan because he couldn't stop scratching at his gills.

Fate liked the look and continued to make him wear cloth around his neck in later worlds.