Nothing But Pain Remains Part I: Apotheosis of Hate

Calatravos bellowed a deep, frustrated growl as Izhari set her feet and focused her hearing. The great beast was ahead of her to her right. Mathael was directly in front of her. High in the air, at the top of this stone tower, she could feel the air moving more potently. Something above her buzzed with great, unstable power.

Calatravos took a single heavy step forward, and Izhari made her move.

In a single screech, she threw her free hand forward with malicious focus. A beam of pure black cut through the air between her and her target before bursting forth across the entirety of the realm. Calatravos let out a frightened, disembodied grunt, then fell into two pieces, sliced in half at its center point.

Though Izhari couldn’t see his reaction, Mathael scoffed in surprised fear as his hand raised to his mouth in shock. His familiar was dead.

Izhari was already moving on.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE LEXICON?” Izhari growled.

To her surprise, Mathael laughed in spite.

“Doing? It is DONE. Do you think I am some sort of fool that would explain my plan before completing it? The Lexicon are gone! All the tomes have been cleansed. The Shores of Time are erased. There will never be any memory of the past.”

Thunder rolled across the clouds and something enormous creaked as though under great strain. Mathael glanced upwards as he flinched and held his head. Izhari could hear the pain in his sigh, but she did not know why. Still, Mathael steadied himself and returned his glare to the voidspaker before her.

“All that knowledge. All that wisdom, and the peoples of the world squandered it. So I will deny it from them for their own good. From this point on, only I will ever know the truth. And in time, I will find the origin of magic and erase it for good! The scourge of the maji shall never return!” he commanded.

“And now, the only maji left is you, voidspeaker. Thank you for proving to me that you are only a beastly weapon that must be destroyed,” he snarled as he lifted his hands.

Izhari could hear the memory star falls streaking through the heavens above and she finally understood. Her rage paused long enough for her to process what she was piecing together.

“You moved the memory orbs here, and hid them in the heavens so that only you would have access to them. But you can’t control it. The secret is breaking, and that’s why the star falls are occurring.”

“Very good,” Mathael admitted.

“But I created a solution. Thanks to your salaryman familiar’s wisdom. I found his knowledge in the Lexicon and realized the best way to control this information was not through a single source, but through an army of terminals. All those indifferent souls will now be put to use. Their memories are gone. Instead, each of them is now a repository for specific subjects. When I need something, I will visit whoever holds those memories. With their aid and enough time, I will find the secrets I am searching for, and will extinguish magic once and for all.”

“KNOWLEDGE IS NOT YOURS TO CONTROL ON YOUR OWN! IT BELONGED TO EVERYONE!!” Izhari screamed.

“It did, and none of them cared. Live as long as I have and you will see that all most ever want is to be left alone. They do not want the world to be better; they want their own existence to be content. If they have that, then they have enough. They do not deserve such resources, and if left to their own devices, they would stagnate into oblivion. I have given them peace. Now, I will shape the world once more to be a world where war never returns.”

“BUT YOU AREN’T CREATING PEACE YOU ARE CREATING SUPPRESSION!!” Izhari challenged.

Mathael spat on the ground before her and stepped down from his podium.

“If you care so much for the peace and freedom of this world that cast you aside, then come. Show me your better reality!!” Mathael shouted as a curtain of energy fell from the heavens and locked the two of them alone at the top of the tower. Rage returned in full force, and Izhari’s eyes faded to black.

“THE ONLY REALITY I CARE ABOUT IS THE ONE WHERE YOU ARE DEAD!” Izhari sneered.

“Then come and try. Lead the world to its damnation, you wretched beast!” Mathael raged.

With that, two simultaneous explosions burst out across the sky.

Far down below them, at the base of the tower, Tomita was rushing through the hordes of sleepwalking workers. He was making his way to the dozens of supervisor figures that were connecting the beings to their workstations. Though he would be of little help in the maji duel, Tomita was scrambling to create something that would aid his master.

All he could assume was that this device was powered by Mathael or was giving him power. So he was going to sabotage it. Years of corporatism had given him a great weapon for destroying projects: bureaucracy.

When he reached the edge of the cubicle farm, he shouted out to get the supervisors' attention.

“Supervisors! Supervisors! To me! Urgent news from Mathael!” he lied.

The bookish, focused beings looked up in confusion. All around them were half-dead subjects waiting to be used, but this hume was cognizant and speaking. They stopped their work and moved to the strange visitor. Just like that, the flow of workers stopped and began to back up in waiting.

Once the supervisors were near him, Tomita frantically began to formulate his plan. How would he best interrupt them? How could he sow chaos? What from his existence had ever brought the most turmoil to organizations?

“Reorgs!” Tomita whispered as he snapped his fingers.

Indeed, the most inefficient, time-consuming waste of manhours Tomita had ever been subjected to was either an organizational restructuring or trainings. Trainings! That would be next. For now, he started to articulate his plan as the robed figures reached him with consternation.

“Welcome! Friends! Allies! Who is in charge here?!” Tomita blurted.

The supervisors looked around in confusion before pointing to a small, nervous creature. Tomita approached the creature and put on his best business face.

“Congratulations! You’ve been promoted! Mathael needs you in the tower immediately! You are now in charge of systems maintenance!” he said as he patted the creature on its shoulder.

Before the creature could respond, Tomita was pushing him towards the tower.

“Aaaaaaaand… you!” he said as he settled on his next target.

“Can you, uhhh, explain what this is?…’’ he asked the perplexed worker.

“…Mathael’s memory organization system… he has organized every memory into categories that are filtered into these memory holders…” it explained.

Though Tomita hated to admit it, he appreciated the efficiency.

“Finally, someone gets it…” he sighed as he refocused and grabbed the worker’s shoulder.

“Congratulations! You have been appointed as project lead! You are now in charge of all operations for this project! Thank you for your hard work! Do your best!” he said.

Behind them, the crowd was building as more and more slack-jawed walkers arrived. But none of the supervisors knew what to do. They were all confused by this strange new arrival. Tomita smiled to himself in success and decided to keep going.

“Now! As a new leader, you must report for training!” he said.

“But, I know what to do?” challenged the new supervisor.

“Alas, you do not. New processes and best practices are being deployed. You must go to the tower for training. And all of you must join for mandatory trainings for your positions as well!” said Tomita as he angled all of them towards the tower.

Far above them, he could hear explosions. Izhari’s battle with Mathael had begun. He hoped his efforts down on the surface were useful.