5:14 Egos and Barriers

What was to be the gut was turning out a little bit different than I had expected.

Boitatá was draped around my neck like some sort of scaled scarf, watching wherever I looked, even if I stared at nothing, with focused intent. Almost as if the snake was expecting everything I looked at and did to have some hidden meaning or lesson. I’d tested it a number of times, having even stared at a simple blade of grass for a solid three days just to see if Boitata would react. It never did. This time, however, I was focused entirely on Sehuyun’s old universe, yet to be renamed, having finally been poured completely into the shell of the One World.

The universe itself was less firm than I had expected, as it settled slowly into place. Less like the rigid “must be a dragon” Sehuyun had tried to force upon it, and more like a great soft mass that filled in the spaces between the baby universes of my children, almost connective in a way. And to my complete surprise, it was actively shedding the draconic energy, like a snake shedding its skin.

"What do you think?" I asked Boitatá, scratching the underside of the destruction snake's chin. It opened its mouth and spat out a little gout of flame that ate away everything, space, time, energy, in that one little spot, then vanished, letting reality all flow back in. "I do agree," I said, nodding sagely. "But you need to stop hanging around me and go help Bashikhan if you genuinely believe that."

Boitatá tensed, tightening a little bit around my shoulders, wriggling and laying its head back down.

I chuckled. "You are a lazy snake, you know that?" I told it, taking a single step forward and teleporting into Boitatá and Bashikhan's universe, to find said other deity. The white turtle-crocodile was clawing his way through reality. Not destroying, but just rearranging things in a way that was needlessly aggressive, leaving claw marks everywhere.

"Khan, my friend. You seem a little aimless. What troubles you?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

He turned, holding up a pile of a hard golden material that shone in the dim light of the universe. "You," he snarled. "You promised me the ability to rise up, to challenge things, become more. I see nothing of the sort. You have not helped. You have not upheld your bargain. I sit here still, in an empty universe, with nothing!"

I scoffed. "Bargain, my dear crocodilian friend? I did not bargain. You had two options, neither of which pleased you, and you chose the one that promised survival and the ability to rise up." I leaned forward, getting right into his face, snout almost touching my nose, his anger and frustration rolling off of him in waves. But all I could see was the tantrum of a child in his yellow eyes.

“You,” he started, but I cut him off with a dismissive wave of my hand, leaning back.

"What you are missing is not a challenge, it is purpose. Up until this point you had goals. Rise up. Defeat your mother. Cast off your proverbial chains. Make the universe your own. Well, the universe is yours and Boitatá's now, and you have done nothing with it. You think yourself robbed of the opportunity to defeat your maker in combat, because she chose me instead, and I do not challenge you the way she once did. You do not feel oppressed. You do not feel like there's some great weight above you, pressing down, keeping you still. Because I welcome you to try and rise up. And you have no idea where to put that drive of yours anymore because of it, do you?" I asked simply.

The crocodile gnashed his teeth, snarled, tossed his head, dropping the stone as he spread his claws. "You arrogant—"

"Arrogant? Yes, I suppose I am. But it's an earned arrogance. Nothing I say now is untrue. It is simple fact. I am the Heavens, you exist under me, and I welcome you to rise. If you need help, all you need to do is set aside your pride." I told him.

Bashikhan snarled, snapped his jaws. He started to spin away. Then his anger spiked, so much like his creator's, and he spun back toward me, attack readied, claws bared, the intent to do battle thick in the air.

"Snake," I said, and Boitatá lunged.

It was a short battle. Bashikhan was mighty, but he lacked discipline. Very much a child. Very much like his creator had been, but without any of the oppressive strength to truly back it up.

Bashikhan slashed and Boitatá snaked around it—pun intended—wrapping around his arm, then his shell, body elongating, destructive flames flickering off of its body, searing Bashikhan's shell and scales, black turning white. The crocodile-turtle roared, his raw power surging up as Boitatá positioned its head in front of one of his reptilian eyes and opening its mouth, a tiny jet of flame flickering out. A simple hint: dead. That flame was pure destruction. Bashikhan may naturally resist it more than others, but Boitata still had him dead to rights, right then and there.

That, of course, just made Bashikhan more furious. He flexed hard, tearing through Boitatá's sinuous body, the snake ripping to pieces as a flash of brilliant light tore out of him.

"You!" he roared. But Boitatá was not finished. Its severed ends bled flames that reached out to connect to each other, pulling itself back together, igniting its entire body with the destructive breath of the Primeval Dragon.

Bashikhan surged forward, heedless of the injuries he was about to take, slashing his claws against Boitatá's side. Fiery blood splashed out of the deep wounds, coating Bashikhan’s claws and arms and continuing to sear them even as he tore into the snake with claw and jaw. Boitata did not seem to care, and gave him no chance. When Bashikhan snapped against its midsection, jaws clamping tight, the snake lunged, wrapping around him tighter and tighter and tighter, again and again and again, body thickening, elongating, tying up his jaw, limbs, body, everything, the tears in its body that formed as Bashikhan struggled healing just as quickly.

Only when Bashikhan was sufficiently bound did I step forward and pet Boitatá's head. "Good snake," I praised. The little one flicked its tongue at me, shooting out a jet of fire that washed over my skin. All that destruction, yet it just made me tingle. I ran my hand over its sides, healing what little damage still remained. It had not been that serious of a fight, despite the powers being thrown about.

"What hope do you have to beat me when you can't even beat your own friend here?" I asked, as Bashikhan sat there and struggled and writhed. His pride, his ego, forced him, demanded he fight against anything and everything. That same pride and ego that Sehuyun had refused to let go of, that had prevented her from becoming more than just the primeval dragon. If I had any say in it, he would not fall victim to the same fate.

"Look at you. So much potential. And you know what? If you want to do this all by yourself, fine. Be my guest, and I will see you in twenty eons. It is possible, but, why take so long when there is no shame in requesting aid?" I asked, reaching to the side and plucking a shining gem out of the air. It was, in truth, an oddity, and fantastic. Inside it were more different types of fire than I had ever seen in one place, colored with all different kinds of intents and flavors and lives, even. Because Sehuyun had not valued what she created, but rather what she could find. Treasures. This was a universe of treasures.

Boitata loosened its grip on Bashikhan just enough to let his jaws slip free of its coils, so he could speak.

"What are you doing?" he snarled, writhing just a little as Boitata continued to unwind.

"Oh, just collecting a few treasures I've become fond of," I told him as I continued to move about, snagging more random gems and such out of the air that just…floated there. This was a treasure hoard, after all.

"Those are mine. You are not to touch—"

"Actually," I interrupted, "they are me. Not mine. Me. Everything you stand on, everywhere you sit, is built upon me. I am part of it. So if anything, you are the one collecting what rightfully is mine. Do you understand what I'm getting at?”

I tossed a gem in front of him, dropping the rest. His eyes tracked it, then flicked back up to me.

"You are trying to fight something that will not fight back. Something you don't need to fight. What you need, is to improve. You don't have to usurp or destroy what stands here now, because it is not a throne, and it is not some being that created and destroys all. It is the energy you use and the land you stand upon that welcomes you to build what is yours. Because no matter what you build, no matter what you do, it is beneficial to both of us." I explained.

"Then why stop me?" Bashikhan snarled. "Because you fear me?"

"No, I stepped in because you were practically begging me for help," I deadpanned.

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"Lies!”

"Yeah, you were. You’ve been throwing a tantrum for the past hundred years. I can see right through you. So." I dusted off my robes, dropped the rest of the treasures that I had picked up—except for one, which was a pure white scale of Bashikhan's that looked to have been one of the first ones he'd ever shed—and nodded to Boitatá. "This is a realm of treasures, my friend. You don't have to fight what you are or what it is. You just have to accept and improve upon it. Because I only ask of you the same thing I ask of everything else. Know yourself. If you cannot even admit to yourself why you were raging for the past century, then I do not think you are ready to advance. Take a look inside. I think you will find you are not as mindlessly aggressive as you seem."

With that, I thanked Boitatá with a gentle burst of Qi and allowed this incarnation to fade like dust in the wind, feeling actually kind of amused. It had been a while since I just trampled on somebody's ego like that. I forgot how fun it could be. Ah, the simple joys in life.

Well, it wasn’t like there were many opportunities to do that, where it was actually beneficial, anyway. Bashikhan was an exception, and a nice change of pace that I could talk to him so bluntly like that. But now, there were other things to do.

*

I summoned the eight pillars.

They sat before me in my palace, each wondering with varying degrees of curiosity as to why I had brought them all together again. I had even gone so far as to pull Gilles out of Elvira's Wall Realm so he could speak for his part of the Four Realms. He fidgeted a little, gaze distant as he drummed his fingers on the table. The pale deity of shadows was understandably distracted, especially with how close Elvira was to having her child.

Solana perched on the back of her chair, fluffing her fiery feathers and clacking her beak as she munched on candied nuts. Kei sat beside her, lounging in her spot, playing with a bit of illusory fire that danced between her fingers like a coin. Fang Xu and Celene sat next to each other, the avatars of the Realm Sun and Lunar Star having just gotten out of an argument and not looking at each other, but rapidly cooling off. Xing Wu and Inesa, of course, sat beside them, Inesa having set aside her domain of Hearth and Home to embody the Goddess of Light that she had been born as, while Xing Wu, for all he cared, picked at his fingernails.

And finally, there was Randus. He drifted about between the other seven, pouring cups of tea, setting one in front of me that I sipped appreciatively - black, with a touch of honey and lemon - before he too sat down at the round table, me at its head.

"So," I said, clapping my hands together as I settled back into my comfy armchair. This was not meant to be an overly formal meeting, despite what I wanted to discuss. "First things first, I guess. Do you lot have any questions or things for me? Anything you want me to take a look at? Critique?" I asked, folding my hands in my lap.

"Alanna's been concerned about the Physical Realm and the fracturing of her empire. Well, her once-empire," Xing Wu drawled, still picking at his fingernails. I took a moment to peer closely at the Physical Realm, deeper than my passive knowing about what happened there allowed. The various nations forming there barely remained under the thin veneer of the Celestial Empire. The once-empire had fractured now into multiple different states and nations, many of which called themselves the “true Celestial Empire,” some of which deciding to drop that title entirely.

"I understand her concerns, but she is doing a wonderful job, especially now that she knows her path," I told him. She still hadn’t acted on the information the Emperor had given her, but she was the type to fully plan out her actions before she took them, so.

He met my eyes and nodded. "That’s what I told her, but figured I'd ask you just in case," he said.

I gasped. "Xing Wu, are you really asking me for help? Oh, how much you've grown," I teased.

"No," he immediately denied. "I am asking for a friend."

"Sure you are. Anyone else? Just not about the universes of the Big Four," I told Gilles, holding up a finger for him as he opened his mouth. He chuckled and closed his mouth, accepting the mild reprimand.

"We are going to try to take stewardship of the Heaven Realm while Elvira is absent," Fang Xu said slowly, and I scoffed.

"No, you aren't. You’re going to try to take stewardship of the Four Realms in its entirety. You just hadn't thought that far yet." I sat back in my chair and smiled at the sun god.

Fang Xu opened his mouth, then closed it, and Celene slapped his bicep. "I told you," she said.

"The Big Four will likely, at least not in any physical capacity, return to their roles in the Four Realms. They're still connected to it spiritually, but they are moving on and up, just as you are trying to. You don't need to take the throne of Elvira," I said slowly. "You have a throne. You have a seat of power already. Lean into that," I advised.

And Fang Xu nodded, looking back at Celene, who was frowning now. "And I told you." He teased. She scowled at him, but seemed to at least concede his point, leaving me chuckling. They worked best when they worked together.

"Solana, any questions about the Karmic Realm? I understand you've been keeping a close eye on everything. You have been doing very well so far," I said, turning to said bird. That was only natural, however, considering everything her soul had gone through. She understood karma and the reincarnation cycle better than any other beings save for Keilan and myself…and potentially Alexander.

She squawked and ruffled her feathers a little. "No," she said slowly. I raised an eyebrow at her and waited, because I could see a question building within her. She shifted from foot to foot, a little nervously. "But I was wondering when I could visit Keilan."

I smiled indulgently at her. Unlike what Gilles’ question would have been, this was not a question that came of paranoia. "Soon-ish. We'll get to that in a moment. Kei," I started, looking at the fox girl. "I can see you have no questions, but if you pour that paint on me, there will be retaliation," I warned playfully.

Kei cracked a grin, the her that was on the chair vanishing, the illusion fading, while the real her, perched on the back of my chair and holding a pink bucket, appeared from invisibility. An invisibility that had even been able to almost fool my true sight. It was a good thing I did not rely exclusively upon that anymore.

"Can't blame a girl for trying," she chirped, tossing the bucket into the air, it and the paint it contained vanishing. Probably to go dump itself upon some other poor victim, likely Morgan if I had to hazard a guess without looking. A quick glance showed my guess was wrong, the paint bucket was back in the Life-Giving Tree’s palace to be used later. Suspicious.

Kei leapt back into her chair. "Nope," she said. "I'm good. Got no questions, no nothing. I think Randus does, though."

I turned to my Deity of Dreams, who shook his head.

"I would ask what the Guardians are going to shape up to be," he said slowly. "But I believe finding it out for myself would be more fulfilling."

"As you say," I agreed. I always preferred it that way.

"I do want to celebrate the fact, however, that the first dragon god has been born in the Four Realms," Randus continued. "One of Alexander's later creations, from the third generation of dragons, found the ambition and drive to reach godhood. Its nature is not that of a divinity, but something closer to what Kei and Solana are. It is an achievement worth noting and celebrating, and I believe that means we will start seeing magical and spiritual beasts begin to rise up to divinity more often, now."

A ripple of agreement ran about the table. I nodded along, peering through space at said dragon god. She was purple-scaled, resting now in the Heaven Realm, having just ascended and only just started getting acclimated to her new power.

"Excellent. That's all, the questions then?" I asked. They all nodded, and I forged ahead, wanting to get to the matter at hand. I leaned forward, clasping my hands on the table. "I want to bring down the barrier separating the Four Realms from the other universes."

And at this, there was silence.

"What?" Kei asked, perking up.

I waved my hand, and a scale model of the universes, flattened to make it easier to see and understand, was laid in the air before us. The Four Realms in the center, the universes of the Big Four growing around it, these in turn surrounded by Bashikhan's treasure universe, with the draconic cycle sitting above and the One World encircling them all entirely.

"As of right now, I have kept the universes mostly separated. The Big Four will remain in relative isolation until they become more established. I will allow some visitors"—at this I nodded to Solana—"but as for the others, it has become clearer to me that it all would benefit more from a bit more interaction with each other, and greater energetic flow, than from remaining isolated. With the Four Realms at the center, its energy can flow outward, nourishing and affecting all the others. As the core of this cluster, as the first part of this existence, and as the universe with the densest and purest energy, it will aid the others to a far greater degree at first. Eventually, when the others reach a higher stage, they will start aiding the Four Realms again, but for now it’s all about the growth. Plus, if I'm being quite blunt, it will give you lot and the cultivators themselves yet another Heavens to reach. And vice versa, once the other universes start creating beings that can handle inter-universal travel. In the barrier’s place I intend to raise a filter that will make it easier for gods and things to adjust to foreign energies,” I explained. Silence, for a long moment.

"Are you asking for our opinions, or informing us that this is going to happen?" Fang Xu asked, his fiery hair settling into a low ember-like color.

"Both," I said happily. "I would greatly like to hear your opinions, but at the same time, this is something that needs to happen. Morgan has already started the process with its universe. Each universe has to provide its own function. However, all must still be connected."

"And you're sure that Morgan has has everyone's best interests in mind?" Celene pressed.

I nodded. "Fair question. The answer is yes. Because, quite frankly, this is something that makes me and my domains greater. And anything that makes me greater, in Morgan’s eyes, is a good thing." They all shared a look, but none could deny that simple fact.

"And what will prevent everything from just leaving of the Four Realms?" Fang Xu asked, leaning forward. “Given the opportunity, I know for a fact that many cultivators and gods would leave to go explore the other universes.”

"Why, the shell of primordial chaos, of course. And that will be the true barrier, the physical barrier. You must be able to survive getting through that in order to reach the other universes. Then, after that, is travel through the false void." I said, clapping my hands together, and settling back as the eight pillars began to chatter, muttering amongst themselves. Kei was excited. Fang Xu and Celene cautious. Xing Wu accepting and uncaring, because he was alright where he was for the moment.

I smiled, an image of what might have been flashing before my eyes. I could almost still see it, what I would have created, what the Four Realms might have become had this multiverse thing not started, so similar in shape to this, with how the regions had been splitting…but I put that out of my mind. It was best to focus on the present, not what might have been. The present was far more real, anyway.