The First God

The Abyss is one of the great mysteries of the world. There have been many theories of how it came to be, but none have produced substantial evidence.

Another mystery of the world is the First God, the first human to reach the Divine Layer and be given the rank of God. His name, his imprint, and his Divine rule were never known. But it was said to be so powerful and reality-breaking that he is the reason the Guild created the rank of God to classify him. Because of this mystery, he was also named the Nameless God.

But now Elena, the being at the bottom of the Abyss, affirmed that the First God not only was her father, but he was also the creator of the Abyss. His imprint was most probably the imprint of void — the one Raphael had just acquired.

"That is quite something to process. Are you saying he created all this? The First God? The Nameless God?"

"Yes, my father did. And he made it with the sole purpose of finding someone like you. Someone who can continue and fulfill his mission."

"Someone like me?"

"Yes, he said it had to be someone to be able to defeat the imprint of the void."

"This is too much."

"You’ll understand after touching the carved sigil," she said, pointing at the sigil carved on the wood of the tree. "After touching it, you are gonna be able to leave the Abyss."

Raphael approached the sigil. He hesitated for a bit, but then laid his hand on it.

When he opened his eyes back again, the scenery had changed to an endless dark ocean.

"So there was really someone who could defeat the void."

Then a person with white robes, completely dark eyes, dark hair, and pale skin appeared behind him.

"Are you... the First God?"

The person smiled.

"I'm Amon. People did give me the title of God, yes."

Raphael parted his lips. So Amon was the name of the most powerful mage. He had so many questions he wanted to ask.

"Did you create the Abyss? How did you do it? It was with the imprint of void, right? Why did you disappear? Why did you create the Abyss? How are you communicating through a sigil?"

Amon laughed.

"So it was someone like you who destroyed my view of the world. But now that I think about it, it makes sense." He said this with a warm smile.

"What do you mean?"

"I created the Abyss after I gave up on the world. The world was filled with too many people corrupted and drunk on the power that Atherius had given them. There was no salvation other than reducing Atherius to nothingness." He paced around, and the lake started showing and shifting like a play.

"I was once a boy whose life and innocence were stolen from greedy humans who used the curse of imprints. Since that day, after my village was destroyed, I desired the void, a world where Atherius and magic didn't exist, a world where suffering didn't exist. This granted me the imprint of the void, and I dedicated my life to studying it and using it to ultimately get rid of the world from the tyranny of imprints."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes, at first I only wanted to remove Atherius, which made them possible, but Atherius tarnished our pure world a long time ago, and since then the world and Atherius have been greatly interconnected with each other..”

"So that's the mission you want me to continue?"

Amon chuckled.

"No, that objective had already been set in motion. The Abyss is the result of my divine commandment, the rule I impose on the world. The ultimate weapon that would eventually get rid of Atherius and consume it. After many permutations, that was the only solution I arrived at. But as I just said, Atherius and the world are now the same. The Abyss will absorb Atherius and grow layer by layer until it consumes the world and itself too, leaving everything to void…"

Raphael felt a cold sweat on his back, and he shivered, unable to breathe under the pressure of Amon, and his face filled with shadows.

"You want to destroy the world?!"

"Yes, or at least that was the plan. But my dear daughter convinced me to at least give the world a chance. The condition was that if someone managed to somehow defeat my imprint, with all the skills I passed on to my daughter.. And I agreed, because I was sure there would not be anyone who could defeat the void, but if that possibility existed, then it would be worthwhile for me to reconsider."

"So you aren't gonna destroy the world anymore?"

"For now, that is the case. As a young man with infinite curiosity, who had somehow obtained the ability to obtain infinite imprints, exists. For his imprint to be perception itself." He smiled.

"That indicates that my daughter was right, and there might be something good in Atherius and the current world. So I'll stop the Abyss from continuing to absorb the world for now.."

Raphael sighed in relief.

"But don't get me wrong." Amon's expression darkened, with long shadows. "If you fail to show me that the world can be saved in three months, that you can save it from the corruption and these false gods, I'll resume and accelerate the destruction of the world. I'll revive and deal with it myself. Is that clear?"

Raphael was unable to gulp or breathe or move a muscle other than nodding.

"Very well," Amon smiled. "Because of that, I'll assign you a concrete mission to be able to show me that. Should you fail it, it will prove to me that you won't be able to save the world any further. Your mission is gonna be to defeat the War God. One of the ulñtimate expression of why Atherius and imprints have corrupted this world: disproportionate, unnatural conflict."

Raphael's heart skipped a bit. The War God. One of the most powerful current gods. It is said that he commands an army of Legend-rank mages, and even two God-rank mages on his side. He had conquered an entire continent.

Amon got near and put his hand on Raphael's chest.

"One last thing. As a reward for conquering the deepest of the Abyss, I'll use the void imprint to remove the impurities of your core. I'll remove its limits, so it can be the purest and reach its maximum potential."

A surge of energy invaded Raphael. Similar to when he reached the Laws Layer, Atherius exploded in an explosion of colors. But this time was even longer and encompassing. This time he sensed not the Abyss but all of the world. For a few seconds, the world was him, and he was the world.

Everything turned white.

"Good luck, Raphael. I'll be watching. And take care of my daughter."

***

When Raphael opened his eyes again, he found himself adjusting his eyes to the bright light until the view of a snowy landscape welcomed him. The cold assaulted him painfully, so he activated his light imprint to generate a warm layer around him so he wouldn't lose heat.

"Snow! Yay!" said Elena as she played with the snow and jumped around.

She still had her Abyss armour and sword. Her white features were even more prominent, thanks to the snow and light of the sun at dawn.

Raphael smiled and let himself lie on the ground, rejoicing in the sensation of light and the feeling of freedom.

"I did it. I escaped the Abyss." Raphael chuckled.

But the words of Amon resounded in his head. He now had to convince the First God to not destroy the world. And to do that, he had to defeat the War God. The person known for never having lost once, even in the God Wars two eras ago. His revenge to try and find whoever pushed him had to wait.

But he also remembered Elena. How she fought and waited for more than a century to try to find a way to save the world.

Raphael stood up. He approached Elena and patted her head.

"We're gonna need to become stronger and find allies."

Elena nodded. Then, at the same time, a titanic roar resounded that made the earth shake.

In the far distance, on the snowy landscape, at the other extreme of the humongous snowscape, a colossal snow tiger as tall as a mountain walked towards them.