The Book of Cosmi

Chapter 16: Inescapable Depths

| One Republic / Cosmic |

Counting every moment of every day is grueling, how long has it been now...? A couple years? I tried talking to Ose. She could easily be mistaken for dead. Whatever Gaea managed to do to Ose was terrifying. I've done everything that I could to contact the outside world. This really is my eternal torment. Maybe the torment isn't the torture that I'm going through but rather my attempts at trying to escape this hellscape. I'm so tired, so drained. I just want help. Our realm, my sister, it's all in jeopardy and I can't do anything because I am stuck between four chains and an eternal fire burning underneath me. I truly made Zexaos inescapable, diabolical, heinous, devious, horrendous, insane. Now I was living through my own creation, something powerful enough to even limit a being with infinite power. I was once again at fault of my own creations... I couldn't really feel anymore. Annoyance and rage lacked within me, sadness and depression boiled up in me from time to time but never came to fruition, it always dissipated. This truly was the inescapable depths of Zexaos.

There had to be a way though. Right? Nothing is impossible, right? The confinement of these chains was what I had to escape from, but my muscle mass had exponentially decreased and my power overall had become all but infinitesimal. But even then, with all this time I've spent alone, I formulated a plan, a plan that only has a small chance of working, I have to execute it perfectly the first try and if I don't, my already eternal punishment will become truly eternal.

The plan? Fight Tartatus one on one, take him back to my side. But that plan had to have plans even before it. The overall plan was simple with incredibly tedious and difficult execution. First, I had to break free from the power strains, these Vitality chains. I would have to use every last ounce of my dying power and extract power from Ose, not enough to kill her though, and of course I'll free her as well and take her with me. That will give me nearly the perfect amount of energy to release these Vallen Kigeao chains. After that happens, I will then proceed to find my way out of this sub-realm of Zexaos and escape it. I don't know what horrors await me here after I escape, but only time and fate will tell me that. Once I finally free myself, that's where I will become a known and open threat to every god living. A lockdown will occur and the entire Cosmi Army will be alerted, if Gaea didn't abolish it. Gaea will be chasing to kill me or capture me once more. What does this mean? I'll have to defeat Zexaos extraordinarily quickly, but no promises can be made unfortunately, I can't even say this plan will work.

No time to waste though, I needed my sister back... I opened my eyes to the burning nether around me, these chains were burning at such a high temperature, but at this point I didn't even feel them. I looked around a bit more and then at my arms and hands... pitch black like a shadow. What happened?! I looked down to my legs and realized the same thing, pitch black completely. I was confused to another degree... but now that I've acknowledged it, my body, my form, it does feel a bit changed... is this what Hestia meant when I became "One Republic" this is what she meant when I was no longer Cosmic? I see now... it's not that my powers were completely drained but I also have a completely new form, whether it's weaker than Cosmic or stronger than him now, I'll just have to test and see. I turned my head enough to see Ose, she looked dark and near death. I scoffed in annoyance but I had to execute the plan no matter what. I could feel her Vitality still within, Ose was alive meaning this was not a lost cause of a plan. So, then I proceeded onwards with my plan. Extending my hand out into a palm, I began to center all my energy and power in me as best as I could. It was difficult to say the least, I couldn't find my power but I kept on persisting until I saw the golden light of order and the dark blue void of chaos slowly being extracted from Ose's body. This didn't mean I had it though, I still had a long way to go, I needed enough power to break these chains and I didn't even know if Ose had enough power left in her body to even break through them. I spent maybe a good few hours here trying to extract this power from Ose, and the time in Zexaos' Inferno felt like an eternity, it was not fun... I had to focus on my task, no amount of pain or distractions made me flinch and if I did, I would have to restart. As the chaos and order energy seeped into my shadowy body I finally felt that I had the needed power and energy to break through these chains. I stopped extracting Ose's energy and clenched my fists together... I threw both my arms outwards and both my legs outwards, shattering the chains with relative ease... I was free. I WAS FREE!

Until I realized a fatal mistake... I was over the eternal flame of this inferno and now I was falling right for it. I messed up. I killed myself. This is how it all ends. As I fell I embraced death with open arms... as I fell into the eternal flame, the flames ate me alive like its very own breakfast. The Omniverse had fallen into the hands of Gaea and I had failed as its ruler... now I would never see my sister again. Flames engulfed my body and I felt... nothing?

 Confused as to why I hadn't felt like a charred piece of meat yet, I realized what it meant by me being "One Republic." I was a shadowy figure with no form anymore, I was a wandering soul at this point, lost, with only one goal. I was still me, I was still Cosmic, but I was only my soul... my dark, empty, translucent soul. My form was hardly physical anymore, but a mistake on Gaea's part was keeping me slightly physical so I could still be tortured painfully down in my prison bubble with Ose.

I floated amongst the eternal flames, I was never in danger, I was more safe in this prison that I was out in the realm. This idea of safety did not stop me from what I wanted though... to save my Omniverse and get my sister back. With new knowledge of my new form I instantly launched myself out of the eternal flame, right back to the area where Ose and I were chained up in. I ran to Ose's prison and broke her free from her chains. I caught her in my dark, shadowy arms and saw all color and life come back to her almost instantly. I brushed her hair back gently and held her like my child. Even if she was Cosmos' creation, she too was also my child and I cared for her dearly. I looked around for any suspicious traps and things that may have awaited me in this prison bubble here, but I found nothing of the sort... I really would've thought there was going to be monsters and beasts, but there wasn't... so I'd go right on to the next step of my plan which was escaping this hell. I calculated every single step and movement I made from here on out while also making sure I kept Ose safe and close to me. Scavenging this place took forever and ever it felt, but then I saw in the distance a purple portal. That was my gateway out. Why would Gaea make a portal here that I could traverse through? Well, it's because Gaea isn't me, she can't just traverse Zexaos like a local park, Gaea simply isn't me. Despite the rift seeming so close, it took me quite a while to make it there but now, here I stood in front of it. This would send me right to the mainland of Zexaos and destroy this prison bubble that Ose and I were trapped in for so long. The moment I stepped through this portal, all hell breaks loose... everything I've waited to do for ever will come to fruition. I took a breath in and exhaled, I looked at my shadowy hands and I held onto the pitch black, shadowy musketeer hat I wore.

Then, I walked through the portal into Zexaos' Inferno.