The CANONICALS

Origins; Thomas Chorrl.

"THOMAS CHORRL!" The judge's voice bellowed, echoing throughout the court. "You've been charged with conspiracy, grand theft auto, grand larceny and murder! How do you plead?!"

Tom stared down at the shackles linking his wrists together. His lips tilted slightly at the ends as he began to think. He chuckled to himself as he looked up at the judge. The two made eye contact and Tom's eyes flashed a deep red color, the judge's flashing the same color in response. The judge looked around nervously, confused for a moment before his head slammed to the table, now unconscious. He glanced around the room, doing the same to the jury, the guards and anyone else who happened to be in the room.

He finally brought himself to a stance, pulling his wrists apart, completely shattering the metal shackles. He grinned maniacally.

"I plead guilty, your honor," He stated nonchalantly.

Hours Earlier...

Tom marched throughout the large house, closing and opening doors, cabinets and windows completely randomly.

He grinned, "This should confuse them..." He pulled out a can of deep red spray paint from his side bag before shaking it and spraying it across the walls, painting random symbols and inscriptions. "And this should confuse them further..." He glanced around, now spotting a pillow and some clothes scattered across the floor. He quickly moved to rearrange them, placing the clothes over the pillow as if it were a human. He threw a blanket over it and walked back to the front door, slipping a small cloth out of his side bag and quickly wiping it down and leaving through the now wide open front door.

He stared down the road, spotting the large industrial building just a mile down the road. He begins walking down the barren road, trees sparsely scattering the area around it. He finally made it and bashed the lock off of the door before walking in, grinning as he held his side bag tightly. He made it around halfway into the building before pulling his side bag off and ripping it open, revealing his candles, chalk and a book labeled, "The Book of All and Null."

He began to lay the candles out, creating a strange symbol, before outlining it and stepping back, now observing the outlined book and quill on the ground. He quickly kneeled over, grabbing the book out from his side bag and flipping around three quarters into it. He grinned, staring down at the page labeled "Salice, the God of Bargain."

"Perfect," He muttered, setting the book into the middle of the circle before reading off of the page. "I alone will witness you, I alone have the strength to, I will bargain off my soul, I alone have been so bold, all I ask you in return, is a power I shall earn." He then stepped back as the chalk bega to glow golden. He laughed maniacally as the book suddenly closed and began to float within the circle.

The candles began to light up one by one, all of them with a golden flame flicking off of the wick, before flowing steadily towards the center point, creating a golden vortex as a high humming sound screeched out from it. Tom covered his ears and squinted, all the while grinning widely.

A golden man emerged from the portal, a long, red robe with dark gray highlights draped around his body. He had pale, yellow skin and scraggly hair, not to mention the golden-tinted wings in place of his ears. Within his grip was a golden papyrus and a quill. Despite his lack of eyes, Tom could feel the god's gaze penetrating right into Tom's.

"I am Salice, the God of Bargain," he began. "And you... have summoned me. What is it that you desire, sir?"

All the candles went out and the vortex swirled back into itself as The Bargainer's feet slowly lowered to the ground. Tom stared at the godly entity, shocked and in awe. His grin never left, growing wider as time passed.

"What is it that you desire?" The Bargainer asked once more, now irritated. "I may have all of eternity, but my patience hasn't been very present. Especially not while I'm in the presence of mortals like yourself."

"I..." Tom thought carefully. "I wish for the ability to escape the police; leave this plane and discover others like it."

"How simple," The Bargainer muttered, thinking carefully. "Although, I have one suggestion I'd like to make."

"Go ahead," Tom stated nonchalantly. "You're the god."

"Good," The Bargainer stated, taking a step forward to now show Tom the golden papyrus. "You wish for the power to escape, yes?" Tom nodded. "What better way to escape than to make it others' realities that you were never there?"

Tom's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about it, "How so?"

The Bargainer grinned, "You will be granted the ability to change the perception of others, asides from me and other deities you come across. And to further give you this ability to escape, you will be granted the ability of dimensional hopping, probable hopping and temporal hopping. Is it a deal?"

Tom's eyes widened with excitement, "Yes, Yes, of course—" And then something struck through his mind as he glanced down at the book, which had clattered back down to the floor. "There's a catch, isn't there?"

The Bargainer glanced down to the book also, "Very keen. I do wonder, how did you get into possession of that book there? The Book of All and Null?" He twirled his hand around, an identical book, that-be-it a different color, appearing into his grip. "It's true..." He muttered, examining his book.

"You want the book?" Tom asked.

"I want my book," he stated. "And you are to obey this command. You mortals have to obey the deities."

"Woah there man, I never said I would give it back," Tom stated, kneeling down to grab it. "But is there anything else? Anything at all?"

"Sorry, my manners tend to get shaky when I want something," The Bargainer stated. "Greed is one of the biggest sins to you mortals afterall, and I suppose that mythology had to come from somewhere." He chuckled to himself. "But there is one last thing." The Bargainer reached towards Tom's chest, tapping on it once, before slowly pulling out a blood-red orb of energy. Tom stared at it. "This right here is your soul, Thomas. And if you are to disobey me I can simply bring it to a halt and erase you from this reality."

"You want me to obey the gods," Tom muttered. "And never turn against them..."

"Yes, that is correct," The Bargainer stated, seemingly raising an eyebrow as Tom thought.

"Good," Tom stated, grabbing the golden quill that had been floating in front of him since The Bargainer brought up the proposition. He signed his name on the contract in neat handwriting and it almost instantly folded itself up and soared into Tom's chest, flashing golden before vanishing, the soul following pursuit.

"Your fate is sealed," The Bargainer commented.

"I just can't disobey you, right?" Thomas asked. "And the other gods?"

The Bargainer stared at Tom as he spoke. Worry collected into his stomach as he began wondering about everything. He nodded once and Tom grinned.

"Good to know," He stated, before disappearing in a golden flash, leaving The Bargainer to wonder exactly what he had just unleashed.

Tom reappeared outside of the police station, where everyone was absent. They had gone after his scent, leaving the station completely unprotected. He stared at his hands in awe before quickly shaking his head and proceeding.

By the time the police had arrived, the cruisers were sorted into a large throne where Tom was now sitting atop, his legs crossed as he stared down at the police, ready to test the true extent of his powers.

"Took you long enough," He finally stated, a crazed grin across his face.