Jump 445: Kill Six Billion Demons

Jump #445: Kill Six Billion Demons
>Four of Wands (Completion): A chance to rest and rejoice, having successfully resolved a matter of great import.
>Age: 19
>Location: Palace of Radiance
>Identity: Drop-In, Human
>Drawbacks: (+1200) Pursued, Target of the Thorns, Kill Seven Black Emperors
A palace to an eighth demiurge appeared overnight. Everyone is going to take offense to this, of course, from the highest to the lowest.
>I Want It Back (Free, Drop-In)
It's nice to be able to blend in at times.
>I Choose King (1900, Drop-In)
It's also nice to not let the world get me down when I can't blend in.
>Imagination (Free, Human)
Isn't that what got us into this mess in the first place?
>The Art of Lying To The Face of God (1600)
I'll tell you about the magic. It'll free your soul, but it's like trying to tell a stranger about rock n roll.
>Demiurge (1100)
The Keys are very very VERY interesting when viewed through the knowledge I gained with the mastery of the Kaleidoscope. And the power boost is nothing to sneeze at either. Makes it an interesting way to get from point A to point B when I don't want to be obvious.
>The Sanctioned Action (400)
When one can see the local multiverse, all that needs to be gained is the knowledge of how to manipulate it. Between the Kaleidoscope, being the Sylph of Space, and mastering the Sanctioned Action... well. Quite frankly all I'd need is to be able to create ex nihilo - I've got everything else down if I ever want to play god short of full omnipotence.
>Sword of Maybe (0)
It's still a broken sword and will probably never be anything besides, but is deadlier than it ever had been. This is a very sobering thought.
>Paper People (Free, The Art)
The paper arts are just plain silly, burn them to keep warm when chilly. Not my bag, but if you've got power, the silliest thing can still be frightfully effective while otherwise coming off as harmless.
>Palace (Free, Demiurge)
I have no idea what I'll do with this - suppose it's another thing to add to the demesne of my soul?

It's honestly at this point that I begin to wonder why I'm still continuing. By now, I don't need the promised reward to keep doing what I'm doing, and to be terribly honest I don't think I have for a very long time now. But then I look at the path behind, look to the dark road that stretches ahead, and... well. Don't stop me now. Because I'm having a good time, HAVING A GOOD TIME--!

http://youtu.be/HgzGwKwLmgM

Focus.

Right.

>"Did any of us exist before pen was put to paper? Do worlds end when the pen stops writing? Have you ever heard one hand clapping?"

Maybe I oughtn't worry about such things. I've certainly seen enough in my days that I'm not willing to dismiss anything out of hand. Like a palace carved out of a single massive piece of volcanic glass appearing from the aether. Like a Dragon clad in the stars with a gold-mailled fist and a broken sword, who appeared from the aether and slew Mottom in a battle that killed for miles around and cracked Throne itself.

>"I see the myriad worlds of the universe as small fruit. Why would one care for a single fallen peach when they might pluck a dozen more from the tree?"

The prophetess among them spoke of one named Kill Six Billion Demons when the remaining six of the Seven met at their Concordance, before screaming and hissing about a dark spot. She never returned to her palace, her entire procession disappearing into a bank of fog - but it was later found that they seemingly fell to the wrong destination on the King's Road, the destination a barren shattered world, strewn with nothing but corpses.

>"They say there are seven, but any who has felt its touch has known the eighth without question, for it squeezes the heart in an iron grip and does not relent. The Orthodox know it even if others prefer to forget. Despair."

Whispers accused the obsidian palace of being related, and the arriving war party pronounced it to be deserted and illuminated by otherworldly colors. It was annihilated, shattered, but restored the next day. And the next. And the next. The now-Five were understandably uncomfortable about this situation, and massive bounties were placed against the Dragon, but for some reason the endless hordes of those who would hunt him were killed before they could get close to him by others. Apparently, the Dragon had allies. Allies who sent the hunters' heads back to the Five in paper boxes.

>"Power is not a means to an end. Power is not an end in itself. Power simply is. If it is offered to you, you'll never have it for your own use, only as someone else's proxy. If you have it, you need not ask for it."

Offers of power and ambition and royalty reached the Dragon, and instead the Five became Four, the Four became Three. The King's Road started winding in strange directions, with new doors that opened freely, and some old doors no longer responding to any key.

>"Man cannot be remade without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. And so it is with the universe, though its suffering is of a rather different quality."

Legions of angels had taken a role in actively hunting down the disruption that had thrown Throne into riots despite all attempts to crack down, chaos that had only grown when the sun started moving over it once more. The Three, too, clashed with the Dragon repeatedly and left him wounded. Worlds shattered. Worlds were reknit from the pieces. Perhaps sensing the impending climax of the conflict, Throne's populace were beginning to leave it behind, moving to other worlds within the Wheel. Only the most suicidal or foolhardy stayed.

>"..step 23,402 of 40,593, use Kaleidoscope to scatter this one's essence across the heavens of a hundred thousand worlds. Step 23,403, wait three seconds. Step 23,404, pull this one back together again. Step 23,405, step through the mirror. Step 23,406..."

And it came to pass that the Dragon faced the Three, their legions, and the angels. They expected him to stand alone as he had before, and instead found themselves facing an army to match theirs. The battle was indescribable, the magics and destruction rained upon the Red City enough to shatter the corpses of the dead gods. The Dragon had been careful to not slay any angels with his broken sword, but Mammon and Solomon David certainly met their ends upon it. Jagganoth... his end was more complex, but eventually time ends all. And so it was with him, eventually pinned down, cut away from his unaging immortality, rotting to dust in an instant as the nails in his back corroded to cobalt dust.

>"When gods make war, pray that they find the wisdom to seek peace, for their wrath unchecked will burn the very stars to dust."

When all was said and done, the demiurge Zoss appeared in the ruined Black City and slew the Dragon seven times. Seven times, the Dragon returned, each time wounding Zoss further, until Zoss could fight no more. They chose to palaver, then, and after reaching some sort of agreement... the broken blade was made whole by Zoss, now the color of sunlight rather than moonlight. The golden blade bisected him, both halves dissolving into cinder and ash.

And then the Dragon leapt into the Void and was seen no more. Nor did any other demiurge or angel return.

The woman named Allison bore witness to all of this and more. Her story was that of picking up the pieces, bringing order to the chaos left behind, and bringing 777,777 worlds together in the decades that followed.

But that is a story for another day.