MAGUS INFINITE

I did not care that Aurora and Mel were looking at me as if I were insane when my booming laughter swept across the devastation I had created, but I felt a great sense of relief in my heart, and not even the end of the world would change this.

I had remembered reading in the library that children and teenagers had a high threshold for insanity, as our minds were still formative, and many taboos were not set in stone.

I had killed tens of millions, and yet I could still laugh at the silly antics of my sister; was that not insanity?

Maybe it helped that my powers and the scale ofr the devastation was so massive that my mind could not accurately glimpse it, although my soul was able to do thios, but as Death Consort, whatever negative effect I should be feeling from this was not exactly gone, it was just numb... despite everything that happened, my heart was still dead, and the only two beings in the world that could make me feel the warmth of life was right here with me.

”So, Elric.” Aurora nudged me. ”I told Mel that you had the power to return everything to the way it was, and everyone that you killed can be brought back to life.”

I stared at her and understood that the fox had laid the foundation for my sister’s resilience, if she believed that I was now a godlike being who could reverse the very permanent act of butchering nearly an entire continent.

I had been considering how I would explain my actions to my sister, or justify this madness in a way that would not have her hate me, but if she believed that everything I had done could be reversed, I could see why she was not too afraid of me.

The distorted voice of the fox came through the link we shared, as Death Consort had suppressed her connection with me, and if not for the fact that I was brute-forcing our connection, it would have been nearly impossible to hear her voice inside my mind.

”Elric, I hope you understand the grave danger you are in and the consequences of your actions here.” The blue eyes of the fox flicked to the storm cloud above me, filled with the souls of the dead. ”They are all connected to your soul, Elric, and you know what that means.”

I considered this for one moment, and my eyes widened with realization and horror. The loop was an amazing and terrifying tool that preserved my progress, even if I died over and over again; the world returned back to the way it was, but the changes in my soul always carried over.

What would it mean if I died in this loop, with the souls of all the dead attached to mine?

Would it mean that every life I had taken would become permanently bound to mine, and when I go back in time, they would all follow me? Meaning that the moment I woke up in the past, half the continent would simply cease to exist.

The thought made me shiver and pushed past the coldness in my soul. No matter what happened, I could not let this be the case. Of course I had killed a lot of folks that deserved to die, but I had killed many others that did not.

I had made a promise to many that I would change the world and make it a better place for them, but if I were to go back now, then I would change the world in such a permanent manner that nothing would ever remain the same again, and I did not know if I could live with such guilt, or bear the consequences of my actions.

I muttered inside my head, ”Everything remains the same, but only me changes... this would break the world. If I die, the order of things would be permanently shattered.”

The fox cocked her head to the side, ”Oh, of course that is what you would think about, but Elric, I was referring to something much more permanent. This loop, whatever it is that brings you back, that massive engine that only you can see and hear. You told me that when you repeatedly die in quick succession, it strains to bring you back due to the nature of your soul. What do you think would happen with your present state? Would you be able to return, or would you break the engine and end the loop?”

I froze, as the full understanding of the danger I was under made itself known to me, and then the soft giggle of Death touched my soul, and a sense of weakness filled my body as the connection I had with the field of skulls was suddenly erased.

”I told you, Beloved, every road leads to me. I covered the skies for you to rule in peace, but your time in this world is over, Beloved; return to me, and become one with me.”

The sky above me suddenly brightened, as a formless light pierced through my storm, and through the eyes of the dead, I could see that this light covered the entire continent.

’No... no, this could not be happening, not now, I cannot die now.’

Even as horror filled my soul, I reached for Mel and drew her to my side, as the high heavens, far above the cloud where the Sovereigns battled... screamed.

The sound that erupted was a force that pressed down on the world like the palm of a god, flattening the skull-fields, silencing the storm, and driving the souls in my chains into a frenzy of terror.

I looked up, and I saw the light. It was a pillar, a column of pure, white-gold flame that descended from the heavens, that appeared slow and incredibly fast at the same time.

It was the size of a city, and it was aimed directly at me, and I knew with every fiber in my body and soul that I could not avoid it. The Sovereigns above had finally noticed me. And they had decided to end me.

”No,” I whispered, but it carried the weight of a million souls. ”Not now... Not with her.”

I pulled Mel closer, wrapping my arms around her, and I turned my back to the pillar. I could feel the heat of it even from miles away. The cold thing in my chest screamed, and the chains on my back rattled, and the souls in my storm wept.

I had no time to think or plan. All I had was my body, my will, and the love I felt for the girl in my arms, and the sheer understanding that I could not die yet.

The pillar fell.