1.1) Victor Truman, The Usurper

It wasn’t Sunday, but a man clothed in a black suit sat hunched forward inside the abandoned cathedral. His hands were interwoven loosely between his legs; his head was hung low, with only his neck preventing it from falling to the floor. The moonlight twisted and mixed into different colors as it passed through the stained glass and isolated him from the shadows looming over the rest of the hall.

The man’s name was Victor Truman.

He loved cathedrals. He felt that a cathedral was a place of order amidst a world of chaos. The cathedral promised a world where the righteous would be rewarded once their life came to an end; it promised that despite the horrific offenses that a person may endure in life, the end would ultimately justify the means for the righteous. In difficult times, he would come here to let himself indulge in the comfort of those promises, treating it almost like alcohol or a drug.

But he knew the truth: nothingness awaited him after death. No matter how comfortable he felt now, he would ultimately die and never be rewarded–that is, unless he found a way to circumvent death.

Fortunately for him, he knew that there was a way to beat his mortality.

Victor Truman knew that gods existed. But they were not the gods of this cathedral or the gods of any other religion. The truth was that all of these gods were former humans. They were human beings who obtained the power of infinity and used it to become immortal, to transcend their physical bodies and escape mortality. He too could join them, if he simply found the Tome of Infinity that had been blessed onto this world.

But this power had been taken thirty-two years ago by an unknown individual. He knew this because when he reached the location of the Tome of Infinity, the Tome’s power had already been taken. That was when he realized that the First Skyfall was prevented by this particular individual. Yes, someone had taken hold of the infinite power and used it to fight against the collapse of the universe, prolonging the lifespan of the universe.

Victor gritted his teeth. “How utterly foolish,” he whispered, unable to contain his malice. Whoever this thief was, they were simply wasting everyone’s time. This selfish “martyr” should have just let the world end back then.

There were essentially two main ways the thief could have used this power: to temporarily protect the universe from collapse or to become permanently immortal and escape from this doomed universe. Clearly, the thief had chosen to do the former.

Victor couldn’t understand why someone would do such a thing. The universe’s collapse was inevitable, so why fight? Why not choose to become more than human? Because of his foolish choice, he had allowed two more generations of humanity to exist. Victor was a part of the first generation: he had been born a few weeks after the First Skyfall had begun its reversal.

But he couldn’t understand why he had to be born. Why was he born, when it would have been far more peaceful to have never been born? Born as a mortal, death was what ultimately waited for him in the end. Why, why, why? Why had that thief stolen his chance to never exist, to never fear and suffer?

It was too late: the consequences of the thief’s actions were irreversible. Victor Truman now existed, and the only choice he now saw was to escape his mortality and become a “god”.

That was true freedom; that was salvation. And once he escaped, he would finally be at peace. There was no room for failure; the alternative was suffering and death. He had to find this thief before his life ended and steal that power from the thief.

He had been having trouble trying to locate the thief, but it seemed that he had gotten lucky. The sky was falling again–this meant that this thief had finally given up holding up the sky. That almost certainly meant that the thief was now somewhere on Earth.

Fortunately, Victor almost knew exactly where this thief was. A few weeks ago, a sensor in the United States captured an immense amount of energy almost immediately after the universe resumed its collapse. It was so large that the analysts had dismissed it as an error, but he knew the truth. This was his little thief, having enough of their selfless quest and finally giving up, or at least temporarily.

Either way, he would have to move quickly. There was no telling what the thief would do. In the worst possible scenario, the thief could have already realized how foolish they had been and finally escaped from the universe itself.

But Victor Truman would fight for his life until the bitter end. He would never compromise his quest to escape and become a god, for that was the only way he could overcome his sorry existence as a human.

Victor checked his watch. It was almost time for the final piece of his puzzle to arrive—the weapon that would ensure his victory.

He squeezed the bridge of his nose. No, wait. Not a weapon. She’s a person. A person…

… No, wrong again. I was right. She’s a weapon. Nothing more. Don’t treat her as a human being. Don’t confuse yourself…

“… Shit.”

He second-guessed himself. Maybe he shouldn’t get her involved. Maybe he should just try to do it all on his own. Maybe just because she was the strongest person he knew didn’t mean she would ensure his victory. She could be too righteous for the job–after all, she was the reason that his plan was delayed by an entire week–she was “too busy” taking care of things in Oneiros, the underground city.

Just what on Earth could be more important than the damn apocalypse? he thought. She had already cost him so much time, making him wonder if she was worth his patience.

No, he thought. What she brought to the table nullified the risks. I just had to trick her.

Abigail Kovacs, one of the Nine Leviathans. She had the best chance of overpowering the thief, at least temporarily, until he could steal the power from his body. And besides her combat prowess, she also brought her negotiation skills to the table. As long as she believed in his lie that he wanted to help her save everyone, she could perhaps convince the thief to transfer the power over to him peacefully. Furthermore, her status as a Leviathan granted her diplomatic immunity. He would have no trouble getting to places as long as she was by his side.

Indeed. There was little reason not to gamble on her abilities.

When Victor finished thinking, he realized that he had been unconsciously shaking his leg. It seemed that he was bothered by the notion of treating her as a tool, no matter how much he tried to convince himself. There was no way to sugarcoat it: he was betraying the last person who still had faith in him.

For a few seconds, he stared at the tiled floor, his eyes losing their intensity. He closed his eyes, thinking about what could be. He could live in peace. Perhaps he could help humanity alongside Abigail after reconciling with her. Live a long life, maybe get married, maybe even have children, then…

… Then die. And return to nothing. That was his best case scenario: dying painlessly.

“No. I refuse. This is the only victory that truly means anything,” Victor said, as his voice echoed through the empty cathedral. “To win here is to win in the name of humanity. This is the only meaningful choice I can make.”

Once he transcended human boundaries, he would be able to understand everything, be unkillable, be limitless. He would beat the game of death humanity called “existence.”

Victor Truman pushed himself off the choir stall, then looked up into the stained glass, where the heavens seemed to be looking down on him. With his eyes filled with renewed intensity and will, he began walking out of the cathedral with the sole purpose of toppling his own fragile existence.

For his own salvation, he would forsake the world.