" It can only be described as a monstrosity… A killer of Gods that serves an all-powerful being that is the antithesis and equal to The One… However, in order for you to understand this demon, you must first understand the Lord that it serves. "
Tom says as he stares intensely at you. Your mind begins to race as you think about what Tom has just told you.
How can The One have an equal? Why hasn't anybody told me about it before now?
Tom continues to elaborate further in an ominous tone.
" The One encompasses all that does and does not exist. He is the progenitor and dissolution of everything that is and isn't. He exists above The Holy Omniverse and he himself is all-powerful, but despite this, there is one domain in which he has no power over. "
Utterly confused, you respond.
" That doesn't make any sense. "
You say to Tom.
" When The One first presented himself to me, he said that nothing is beyond his sight and he sees all. "
Tom nods, explaining further in detail.
" Precisely. What he told you was correct. Nothing is beyond his sight. Therefore Nothing, as in the absence of everything, is the only domain that is beyond him. "
Still puzzled, you ask Tom another question.
" But still, wouldn't the things that don't exist fall into the Nothing category? If The One encompasses everything that is and isn't, then the "isn't" part also means that he encompasses Nothing, right? "
" No. "
Tom answers.
" Things that do not exist are still things, and therefore they are within The One's domain as his very being encompasses everything. Nothing is the absence of everything, and the all-powerful being that the demon serves encompasses this Nothing. "
You think hard on what you've just been told and you ask another question.
" So what you're saying is the Lord that the demon serves is actually a great void? "
" No. Again, even a void is still something. Think of this being as a being that's existence is the antithesis of existence. A being that's being is the antithesis of being. His very existence breaks the rules of what it means to exist, so a being like him is more accurately described as an unbeing. This is the reason why The One has struggled against him for so long. For how can you defeat an unbeing? How can you defeat nothing? His power to turn everything into nothing is what has given this great unbeing its name. The only equal to The One… is The None. "
Tom explains to you the best he can.
So that's his name. The None. The antithesis of everything.
You sit there silently thinking about what Tom has just told you, and Tom continues to elaborate.
" About one-hundred billion years ago, The One's universes began diminishing into nothing. After the first few universes fell, The One began searching for the reason why his universes were disappearing. His search led him to the discovery of Black Traps within his Omniverse. As you know, all beings that The One creates are composed of Light and Darkness. Since Black Traps are made of only Darkness, The One obviously knew that they didn't belong within his creation. After the discovery of these Black Traps, The One chose to observe them. He saw them traversing between his universes and siphoning the Light from his creations, so he naturally came to the conclusion that the Black Traps were the reason why his universes were disappearing. As a measure to protect his creation, he chose to eliminate all of the Black Traps from his Holy Omniverse. This event is known as The Great Purge.
For eons, the Black Traps were snuffed out and murdered en masse. Among the surviving Black Traps, an opposition formed in order to preserve our existence. Three of our most powerful Black Traps led this opposition and took the remaining Black Traps into hiding where we survived by traversing quietly between universes and not using our powers. I was among those three Black Traps.
Unfortunately though, one night, a young child who happened to be a Black Trap used her power to siphon the Light from a rose in a garden. This led The One directly to where we were within the Omniverse and he followed us across his creation, almost killing the last of us. I only survived because the most powerful of our three leaders held off The One long enough for me to escape into another universe. As I left the strongest of our kind behind, it felt as if my heart was being torn to pieces.
Because Black Traps are singularities, when one dies, they die forever. There are no other versions of them across the Omniverse. The Black Trap that sacrificed himself was like a brother to me. We'd spent a millennia together and we shared so many memories with one another. His existence made mine whole, and on that night I felt like I lost a part of myself that would never return…
That is, until I found him lying unconscious in a very similar garden within a newly created universe, holding the book that I was looking for tightly in his arms. "
Holy shit… That explains the familiarity behind Tom's face when I saw him. I knew Tom one-hundred billion years ago… but why did The One erase my memory of him? Was I really powerful enough to hold off The One?
You're at a loss for words as you continue to listen to Tom elaborate.
" During The Great Purge, The One was completely unaware of the unbeings. Think about it. How does one detect nothing? Despite his genocidal campaign against the Black Traps, his universes were still disappearing. And when The One had almost killed the last survivor of our race, he finally saw the true reason for the disappearance of his universes.
The first time The One saw a demon like the one who murdered Aatu, the demon had skinned the physical form of a God alive and erased him into nothingness. It wasn't long after until The One discovered who this demon was serving. The One watched as that God's universe slowly fell into nothingness at the hands of The None, and it was at this moment that The One knew that he had made a mistake.
It wasn't the Black Traps who were undoing his universes, it was The None, and it always began with a demon appearing to kill the Gods of that universe so The None may come to consume everything with the least resistance. The monster that killed Aatu goes by many names across The Omniverse. Some call it "The God Killer". Some simply call it "The Demon". However, its actual name is one that most Gods that know of its existence are afraid to speak aloud. The monster that killed Aatu… was a Valghul. "
" A Valghul… "
You say to yourself as you look down at the ground thinking about it. You expected to feel better knowing what killed Aatu, but now that you know what it is, you realize that you actually feel a lot worse.
Tom continues to speak as your stomach begins to turn.
" Valghuli are entities that have no physical form. They are unbeings like The None, and they traverse the Omniverse through the thoughts of mortals. Their purpose is to murder Gods with something called "The Bite of Abrogation". Any being that suffers this bite, regardless of whether they're alive or dead, will become nothing. The reason for why the Valghuli go after a universe's Gods is because Gods hold the power of creation, and it takes longer for The None to consume a universe if that universe's Gods continue to create things. "
" Why doesn't The One or that universe's Gods kill the Valghul when it appears? "
You ask Tom with a frightened stare.
" A Valghul first appears by possessing a mortal who knows of The None's existence. It can happen to anyone, and only one Valghul ever appears within a universe at a time. As soon as a mortal thinks about The None, they become a potential host for a Valghul. All mortals who know of the Omniverse are susceptible to having nightmares and visions about The None, which is usually how he plants a seed within their minds at first. Afterwards, those mortals will often talk and share their visions with others, which in turn also makes each of them become potential hosts for a Valghul as well. When a Valghul possesses its chosen host, it takes over their mortal form and turns them into an unbeing of immense power.
As for the reason why The One or the Gods cannot kill a Valghul, it's a simple answer. You cannot kill Nothing. However, in very rare cases, the mortal host can be liberated at the cost of the mortal's life. When this happens, the Valghul always ends up possessing another host shortly afterwards. If The None is an unstoppable force, then The One is an immovable object. Nobody can really say what would happen if they challenged one another, but we can all assume that it wouldn't be good.
Thankfully, we do know one thing though. Valghuli cannot kill a God if that God doesn't have a physical form to suffer The Bite of Abrogation. Hence why it is imperative that the Gods of this universe refrain from taking a physical form. "
Faerah then suddenly stands up and walks to a window in the room, looking outside. You and Tom both turn your gaze towards her as she speaks.
" We have a visitor. "
Faerah says as you and Tom both get up and walk to the window, standing behind her. As you both look out of the window, you see Izael who's fully recovered from his wounds, walking with Mimi up the path to the cottage. Mimi's skipping and twirling on the path with a bright smile on her face as she admires the scenery.
You want to ask Tom more questions about who you were before and during The Great Purge, but you decide to wait until you're both alone again. Right now Mimi is more important and you need to be there for her as she mourns the loss of her mother.
Faerah speaks to you and Tom as she wipes the tears from her face and walks to the bedroom door, opening it.
" I'll be right back. "
She says as she leaves the door open and heads downstairs to greet Mimi and Izael like she greeted you and Tom when you both arrived. Tom then looks at you and you can see a subliminal look of sorrow behind his eyes. You can't imagine what it would be like to have a brother that you've known forever lose all memory of you.
I hope that one day I can remember… one day… for Tom.