Breathing heavily, sweating bullets, and frantically looking around, I didn't even dare to twitch a muscle. It felt as if I attempted to even think the man would eradicate me from existence once again. And as he walked down the black stairs, somehow able to withstand the sheer natural pressure of this man, his form altered yet again.
It was slender. It was slick. It was beautiful. And while retaining the exact same previous features from before, the man turned into a woman, the slight inner folds of the robe displaying her widened hips and slimmed waist.
"You may also call me the Sangria-Eyed Queen. The Queen of All Queenless Worlds. The First of The Perfect Beings. The First of the Primordial Creatures… The Queen of All Chaos…"
The god's voice had adjusted to the body, entering a higher-pitched tone but still retaining the same grittiness and threatening tone which rained on me before. It still planted me on my knees and prevented my mind from even thinking of moving.
"And you must be… him… My grandson."
My hands quivered as the woman's eyes stared down at mine. And upon kneeling to my level, she cupped my chin and raised it so I stared right into her eyes, dead on, giving me absolutely no mercy. It hurt. Just staring into her eyes was painful and torturous, as if hot pokers were constantly being shoved into my pupils.
"Pathetic. So pathetic. How could somebody this weak be my grandson."
Thoughts couldn't even race through my mind as I was more focused on just surviving this encounter. I wouldn't be able to mull it over if I was dead. And on top of that, I could always question my grandfather or, no… who was my grandfather? And who was my grandmother-
"We are both your grandfather and grandmother… so be grateful you were born into our lineage… you lowly punk."
VWOOM
All of a sudden, a dark light burst into my vision, and from the corner of my eye, I saw a pale white figure dressed in long white robes. An almost demonic dark halo circled around the top of his head while his bright red lips opened, calming down the figure inspecting me. And it wasn't just a surface-level inspection but something deeper, as if she was trying to gauge my soul.
"If you kill him permanently, I won't forgive you."
His eyes were cold. My grandfather's eyes were ice cold, yet he had a smile on his face. It was so creepy that I nearly pissed myself just being in the presence of that smile. And as he turned towards me, his cold and almost lifeless eyes grazing my skin, I shivered, and then… everything went dark.
I died.
Once again, gasping for air, I looked at the two primordial figures standing before each other. Face to face, at the same height, their forms seemingly molded back into their humanoid vessels while their previously grotesque and most likely original forms faded from existence.
Massive holes littered the blood ocean below us, with that not even being the most horrifying part as ravines the size of countries split open through the blood below. The scattered bones of skeletons floated effortlessly on the rippling waves of red. So while the waves of blood attempted to fill each hole and tear in the expanse of crimson below, the two beings glanced over at me.
I died.
Gasping for air, I found myself on my hands and knees, looking up at the two beings now right in front of me. Their eyes dug inside my body and attempted to claw my soul out while I just stayed there, helplessly hoping for somebody or something to save me.
My flesh, still attempting to gather back together after seemingly exploding from existence itself, rippled, sounding the end of its reconstruction. And this definitely wasn't the work of my own regeneration, but most likely the properties of this world… or maybe the gods in front of me took pity and decided to reconstruct me on a whim.
"I'm sorry…" A gentle voice graced my ears, sending a shockwave of warmth through my body.
I looked to my right and saw my grandfather, who was dressed in white, had shifted into that of a woman. He had the exact same pure and timely figure and clothes but now had wider hips and a slimmer waist. Of course, his face also looked way more feminine… looking even healthier and younger than the gods which I used to think were perfect.
"This is the version of our grandson who has surpassed all? Are you fucking kidding me?" A grating voice then followed up, tearing down any comfort my now grandmother had created.
The Sangria-Eyed Queen had shifted back into her form of a younger man. In fact, both of them looked to be only slightly older than me, and I still looked like a young adult, maybe in his early twenties.
"No, this is the version of our grandson who is the result of every other one. He has surpassed all because he has been helped by all. Version 1-19 even gave him some advice… though it may have been a bit discouraging."
"Tch… what a fucking disappointment… so, what happened to his mother? Did she at least-"
I died.
Gasping for air and then rolling over onto my stomach, I felt my own face. Slowly, it was regenerating, but even now, my ears and nose were still forming back onto my body while the image of two godly figures fought above me. In the air, one had wings made of flesh, blood, and bones, while the other had wings made of clocks and outlined but still invisible blocks of space.
Both had humanoid forms, but their phases were grotesque creatures. And just by looking at them, everything went dark. All five of my senses were silenced, and as soon as I thought I had survived as my thoughts continued to derail… everything went null.
I died.
"Huff… huff… huff… huff… huff…"
"He seems tired."
"Of course, he's tired, you fucking idiot!" The man with white robes shouted, causing the woman with dark red hair to roll her eyes. The man then swerved his eyes back to me, where he almost seemed to cradle me with a gentle gaze. "I'm sorry. Your grandmother, er- grandfather… uhhhh… your grandparent here is a bit erratic after her slumber."
"Geez… mortal language… what a pain," The woman scoffed before slowly standing up. The man, muttering a few hateful words towards the woman, helped me up, allowing me to gaze over the plane of blood that was seemingly untouched.
"What… what happened to everything? And weren't you just… I-I…"
"Shhhh… Just calm down. They're a bit angry right now due to her being disappointed in you… and I don't have much time to answer your questions… you're going to be retracted soon. An apotheosis only lasts for a moment in the real world… and time is quickly running out."
"Aren't you a time god, though?"
"I indeed am, but an Apotheosis is something of an entirely different beast. I nor your other grandparent control such a thing… the being responsible for such an event is long gone. But if we have the chance, let's meet again… my grandson."
As he brought me into a tight hug, he looked over at the woman standing not too far away. She stared off into the distance, absorbing the blood-red view ahead of her. And after gesturing for her to come over, she just rolled her eyes.
"Fucking stank ass bitch… ahem…." He cleared his throat, glancing at me once again. "I will always love you and come to your need…"
"Then… can you tell me about these different versions of myself then?"
The man just smiled before letting me go, causing me to drop into the ocean of blood beneath us and feel my lungs fill with the same irony substance once again. It was painful but tolerable, and as a foggy sensation began to cloud my mind, I let myself drift off.
…
"Orion! Orion! Orion!" A young woman shouted at me, her glistening golden eyes and pure white hair with highlights of light blue streaking down, accentuating an almost angelic aura around her. "Oh, thank the gods, you're awake!"
"Don't… thank those assholes…" I groaned, slowly sitting up while holding my face. Everything hurt from my mind to the deepest chambers of my heart. And to be honest, I could hardly think straight, but with a cool and icy feeling slowly emitting from Asia's hand, everything that was sore began to ease.
"So, how was it?" A second voice captured my attention from behind Aisa. It was the demon queen as she leaned towards me. Her smile only grew wider. "Your eyes… those god marks… they tell me you've truly become a demi-god. You've awakened as a being of pure power and destruction."
[Apotheosis has been completed]
