The Beginning of the End

Meridian leaned idly against the deck railing as he watched the sun beginning to peak over the horizon. It was once again time for a new day, only this time the new day would also bring on a new loop. The god of time lived every day thousands upon thousands of times, collecting all the information he can from a single day before allowing himself to live the next one. He’d reached the very limit of June 1st. It was time to live out the 2nd for the very first time.

The clock ticked over to 7:00. Contrary to popular belief the day does not start at midnight. Since the very beginning, millions of years ago in Meridian’s perspective, the day had always reset precisely at 7am. Just as he woke up. A day beginning at midnight was almost alien to him. Why in the world would anyone start a day halfway through their sleep cycle? It just didn’t make sense. Regardless, the morning had finally ticked over to 7. It was time to once again drink the potion of his own creation and set a reset point for the day: the point in time he’d snap back to in order to relive the 2nd over and over.

“The beginning of a new day” he thought to himself, still lazily watching the sun rise. “It’s almost poetic, in a way. Ah, but I shouldn’t daubtle. Let’s see what today holds”

Meridian unfolded his large, black, feathery wings in preparation to take off. He’d always liked living his first loop devoid of any mortal interactions. As an observer, in a way. Watch and wait to see if anything interesting or out of the ordinary was going to happen. That said, “out of the ordinary” has a far different meaning to a god than it does to a mortal.

Today was different, though. Just as he was about to fly off a bright purple glow shone from the inside of his coat. Shortly afterwards a small unsealed letter shot out and began drifting to the floor. Before it could hit the ground Meridian reached his hand out to grab it. His reflexes had been honed over the years, so catching something like this was trivial. In one swift motion he grabbed the letter out of the air and brought it to his face to read over.

“Meridian,

You probably already know about this, but there’s trouble at the Citadel. I need you here promptly

Sylv”

He read over the hastily written letter several times over. A letter from his underling was always an unexpected surprise. As per their agreement communication was minimal. While all the gods had different views on mortal interaction, Meridian believed he should have as little influence on the mortal realm as possible. As such, he did his best to stay distant from those he employed. Sylvana was no different. He’d hired her to protect the entrance to the Citadel. Nothing more, nothing less. If she had the gall to write a letter to him directly it must be of dire importance. It was about 7:45 now. He’d wasted far too much of the day already. The sunrise was long gone by now. It was time for action. Without a second thought he jetted off.

World travel for someone like Meridian was trivial. He’d used his magic to create mirrors, and by extension the mirror plane. Mirrors acted as portals. A journey that could take days or weeks turned into a matter of hours. For Meridian, it turned into a matter of minutes or seconds. There was only a 24 hour window for him to get anything done, so every second counted. One moment he was standing on the deck of the tavern thinking about what today would bring, and the next he was wandering the entrance of the Citadel looking for his inferior.

The ground shook as a bright red flash of light erupted from the inside of the citadel. Following this light was the terrified screams of the wraiths that inhabited Meridian’s domain. A good chunk of them poured out of the cavern’s entrance in hopes of escaping whatever thread laid within. Whatever this was it couldn’t be good. Especially if the wraiths were up and leaving. A peculiar start to a peculiar day. He sauntered around the entrance of the citadel for a few more minutes before making his way inside.

Suddenly, something grabbed him by the arm and yanked him into a small alcove within the cavern entrance. If this wasn’t his first loop he’d have avoided it. Meridian was never fond of being touched, regardless of whether it were friend or foe. Annoyed, he turned around to face whoever dared grab his arm. To absolutely no one’s surprise it was Sylvana. She looked a bit beaten and worn, as if she’d been knocked to the ground. Her face was scuffed and scraped and her uniform was dirty. Unusual for someone like her.

“Meridian! Took you long enough. I was afraid you weren’t coming…” Sylv said, sounding out of breath. “But you know what you’re doing, I suppose. If this was really that important you would have been here sooner, right?”

“Unfortunately I don’t,” He said in his typical monotonous and deadpan voice. “Mind telling me what’s going on? I don’t get letters from you often, Sylv, this is very unusual”

“Y… You don’t know what’s going on? I thought you knew everything! How do you now know what’s going on?”

“Well, I usually know everything,” he said, a bit annoyed “But today is my first June 2nd. I haven’t the foggiest idea what the day has in store for us. Now, are you going to tell me what’s happening or-”

Another explosion erupted from within the citadel. Sylvana’s face dropped, while Meridian just looked annoyed yet again. It was about 8:00 now. Morning events like this were always a pain to deal with. His day had always started at 7:00. He couldn’t be at two places at once, and his reset point couldn’t be changed once it was set. Many early morning events like this were missed out on due to their inaccessibility. He needed Sylvana to give him a concrete timeline before he could work out a plan.

“This is your first loop?!” Sylv cried, mild panic beginning to set it. “What do you mean it’s your first loop?”

Meridian just glared back at her. “Yes, it is. I have to start somewhere. There’s always a first. Now, enough idle chatter. I need you to tell me exactly what’s going on right now before-”

“There you are~” A third voice sang out from behind the two. His voice was filled with rage as he sang, causing it to crack and jolt in an unnatural manner.

Before he got the chance to face them a white hot beam of red light shot into his back. Meridian could see the light come out the other end of his stomach as his flesh began to bubble and burn into nothingness. The skin around the burns began to blacken and decay. For a very brief moment the light faded, and Meridian could see a perfectly round hole cutting through his abdomen. The next moment, everything went black.

Meridian threw the covers off of him as he jolted upright. His heart was pounding, and he could feel the adrenaline pulsing throughout his body. He had died. Whatever or whoever was attacking the citadel had killed him, and now he was back in his room at the tavern. It was 7am once again, as it always was. He may have died, but at least he got another chance at the morning. Silver linings and whatnot.

Once he’d calmed his nerves a bit Meridian got out of bed and immediately cut through the mirror plane and back to the entrance of the citadel. It was about 7:20 when he arrived. He could have been here sooner, yes, but Sylvana’s letter wouldn’t be here for another ten or so minutes. She was a trustworthy guard, one of his best. Surely this letter had come the second she became aware of the attack.

Cautiously, Meridian made his way through the trees and over to the small hill that housed the entrance to the citadel. Several wraiths were standing idly; watching Meridian stroll through the meadow and onwards to the cavern entrance. While the wraiths had nothing but a skull for a face, Meridian could see an odd mix of fear and anger wash over them as they continued to stare. Given they had already fled the citadel it was almost guaranteed that this unknown assailant was already inside.

The wraiths began to disperse, and once again Meridian could feel someone grab his arm. Sylvana had been in the cavern entrance around this time the loop prior. Given the wraiths reaction to whoever this was, it couldn’t be good. Meridian had always hated dying. No matter how many times he’d been killed it never got any easier. So, not wanting to get himself killed yet again, he grabbed this person’s arm in return and pulled them in front of him; grabbing their other arm and holding it behind their back in the process. His grip was firm, and he wasn’t afraid to break an arm if he had to.

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey! It’s me! Ah, let go!” Sylvana yelled, trying to wriggle free from his grasp.

“Oh, it’s you. You really shouldn’t sneak up on me like that. Not at a time like this” He replied, releasing his grip and setting Sylvana free.

Sylv stared at him for a brief moment as she rubbed her arm. Unlike yesterday her face hadn’t been scuffed up yet. This was a good sign. Probably. It was only his second loop, so he’d yet to even figure out what was going on. Perhaps she wasn’t aware of the attack yet. Or maybe she was out here pondering what to do next. He wouldn’t know for sure until he asked. He wouldn’t have to, though. Sylvana immediately began her spiel.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” she said. Unlike before she sounded more annoyed than scared. “You’d better deal with this quickly, my girls are still in there”

“Right. Look, I need you to lay out a timeline of this morning. It’s only my second attempt here and I’ve yet to figure out exactly what’s going on”

“Second attempt? Second attempt in what?” She asked earnestly

“Today. It’s only my second loop. Now before you start asking questions just know I’ve already heard them. All I want to know is what’s going on.”

“What’s going on, right…. I don’t really know either. All I know is I was woken up today by a giant blast of red magic. More than I’ve ever seen before. Whoever this is managed to get past my defenses”

“Red magic…” Meridian muttered to himself.

There were a handful of people he knew who used such magic, but only one man in particular came to mind. The god of red magic himself: DC. It seemed unlikely, but given the sheer power of the blasts that’d been wreaking havoc on his home it wasn’t out of the question. Gods often had quarrels with each other and while Meridian had kept himself hidden for the past thousand years it didn’t stop him from getting involved every now and then. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d sought him out. But, like every past attempt, Meridian didn’t intend on letting DC leave this day with any of this knowledge.

Before Meridian allowed a day to be set in the timeline he’d always made sure to be completely invisible. If anyone happened to be on his tail he’d ever so slightly alter the course of the day to keep his existence in the shadows. Before he could do that, though, he had to figure out why DC was here and how he got here in the first place. It’d be difficult, but nothing he couldn’t manage.

“Tell me, did he say anything? The intruder, I mean” Meridian asked.

“He’s looking for you, that’s for sure. I vaguely heard him calling out for the “purple man” as he put it” She replied.

“Hah, of course.” He muttered to himself before turning to Sylvana. “Sylv, you’re dismissed for today. You’re free to do… Whatever it is you do on your time off”

“I’m assuming today’s just going to reset?” Sylv asked, annoyed.

“Of course”

“Then what’s the point in taking a day off? I’m not going to remember it…”

“Suit yourself” Meridian shrugged. “I’m heading inside. Do whatever you’d like”

With that said, Meridian began making his way into the cavern. The usual purple haze of the depths of the cave had been replaced with deep red fog. He could see the fog lingering before he even reached the citadel. If there were any doubts of this intruder’s identity before they were gone now. Fog like this was a telltale sign DC was in the area. Meridian had never been a fan of showing off, but a spectacle such as this always helped. DC didn’t appear to be wont for stealth. If he was in the area, he’d be sure to let everyone know about,

What lied beyond the fog was what really upset the god of time. His citadel, the place he’d built to store all of the knowledge and mementos he’d collected over the centuries, had all been destroyed. Turned into nothing but rubble. Even with the knowledge that it’d revert back to normal at the beginning of the next loop this sight angered him. How dare this lesser god intrude on his territory and run amuck. He’d never done such a thing in his life. Well, he’d never done any permanent damage. Nothing DC would remember, so there was no reason for him to hold any resentments.

Deeper and deeper he wandered into the ruins of his home. Every now and then another blast of red magic would be expelled, causing Meridian to abruptly change course and follow. DC was covering quite a lot of ground in such a short amount of time. Sure, Meridian could easily keep up with him, but he wanted to be tactful with how he approached. The last thing he wanted was for DC to slaughter him once again.

Finally, the god of red magic slowed his attack. It’d been about an hour and a half since Meridian got here, and DC was getting discouraged over his lack of progress. Sure, he’d destroyed the majority of Meridian’s home, but the elusive god was nowhere to be seen. Was he finally done with his fit of rage? There was only one way to find out for sure. It was time to approach him and risk having the day reset. Any information he may get would be beneficial to him, even if it were a mere sentence. Anything to get this attack to stop sooner on the next loop.

Just as Meridian was about to start talking he heard something which made him stop. DC seemed to be muttering something to himself. As an observer, Meridian couldn’t help but wait and listen. This could lead to something important. That, or it could just be an angry rant to himself.

“The damn coward… Coward!” He screamed, shooting another large blast or magic at the long destroyed building in front of him. He seemed to continue shouting into the void as he spoke. “I’m not going down without a fight! If I die, we all die! That’s a fucking promise, you purple son of a bitch!”

If I die, we all die. What in the world did that mean? As far as he knew the gods were all immortal. Sure, Meridian had found numerous ways to exterminate all three of his lesser compatriots over the years, but all of these scenarios he’d set up had led to the end of the world. Ending the world resulted in his death, which in turn reset the day back to 7:00. But every time a god had died in the past had been because of his direct influence. DC seemed to be more or less convinced of his own mortality, and it seemed he thought Meridian had something to do with it.

“Excuse me,” Meridian said, hesitantly approaching DC “What do you mean by that? What’s going on?”

DC whipped around, his head turning to face Meridian with his body lagging pretty far behind. A red glint could be seen in his eyes as his face twisted into that of rage and anger.

“You…” His voice trailed off. “How dare you! I don’t know what kind of twisted game you’re playing, but you aren’t playing by my rules! If I’m going down I’m taking you with me”

Before Meridian could say anything else DC summoned his flail. He spun it around with incredible force; so fast the three spiked heads seemed to meld into one solid blur of colour. Once his weapon was spinning at near terminal velocity DC took a mighty swing. In an instant it not only struck Meridian, but it cut right through his middle mass. He stumbled to the floor, no longer able to keep himself upright. In another flash DC brought the flail down on his head.

Just as last time, Meridian jolted up and out of bed. The second his mind could process where he was he jetted off towards the citadel. Last time he’d gotten there too late. He had to know exactly what time his opponent would arrive. Having a concrete timeline of the days events would be integral to his success. That, and catching DC before he started his tantrum might lead to more answers. He was still cursing the Kodin for causing such an uproar so early in the morning. It had to be early. He couldn’t have given him at least an hour of leeway. No, it had to be early.Meridian arrived at the citadel once again. This time things were calm and quiet. It was only 7:05. He had at least 15 minutes before the earliest sign of DC, so there was some time to gather preparations.

Typically, when Meridian went through his time loops he did so in pursuit of knowledge. He’d learn anything and everything possible about a given day before allowing himself to live the next one. Part of this was getting to know people. He learned from very early on just how frustrating it was to have mortals ask the same questions over and over and over again, so in order to avoid this he had everyone document their time together in a notebook. That way, when Meridian brought mortals into his home for an interview, he could simply hand them their journal and all of their questions would be answered. Not only that, but seeing a notebook written in your own handwriting is further proof of his claims. Some people aren’t open to truths such as these, so oftentimes Meridian needs proof in order to sway people.

Of course, these journals weren’t exclusive to just mortals. The gods had them as well. DC, Sandra, Oasis. Meridian had gotten to know all three of them over the years. They were the only people that could even hope to someday be on his level. The life of a god who’s above gods is a lonely one. Because of this, he’s taken great care to befriend the lesser three. Even if they wouldn’t remember him when all was said and done, it was nice to have some semblance of a friendship with someone.

Meridian darted around the citadel, using his remaining fifteen minutes to gather anything he may need. Journals of the gods, his notebook, potion ingredients, all of which he placed securely in his bag. Today was going to be a very interesting day, and Meridian had to be fully prepared for anything that may come his way.

A horrid screech erupted from the center of the citadel as several wraiths flew up and out of the cavern. The attack had begun. It appeared Meridian was so preoccupied with gathering supplies that he’d forgotten the reason he’d arrived so early in the first place. He’d come here to prevent DC from attacking. Well, he was here to catch him beforehand in hopes of talking him down. The attack may have started, but Meridian wasn’t going to let this day go to waste. It was worth a shot talking him down. Who knows, he may still react positively to his journal.

Meridian flew over to the source of the blast. As expected, he was confronted by a very angry and irate DC. His body was radiating a seering red aura as his signature red fog poured from his mouth. It very quickly engulfed the area around him. With a mighty beat of his wings, Meridian had the fog cleared almost as quickly as it set on. This caught DC’s attention, causing him to release a blast of energy in Meridian’s direction. It was a sloppy attack, seeing as he’d been caught off guard, so Meridian was easily able to evade it. Still, DC didn’t seem all that keen on having a conversation. Instead he released blast after blast in Meridian’s direction. He was too enraged to have any semblance of a rational conversation. He’d have to catch his adversary at an earlier time.

Try after try and loop after loop Meridian continued on this pursuit. No matter how early he got to the citadel or where he waited for him to arrive DC seemed to merely phase into existence within its borders. Every attempt to talk with him once inside resulted in one of their deaths; DC’s death killing Meridian as a direct result. Some would say persistence is key, but Meridian knew when to give up. Sure, DC was on a rampage within his domain, but Meridian had yet to even live past 12:00.

DC could wait. He wanted to see how the rest of the day would play out before acting on anything else. Typically Meridian spent both his first and last loops as a ghost; watching the day tick by uninterrupted and keeping notes on all of its minute details. Sylvana would understand. She knew that if he didn’t respond to something it was because he’d already dealt with the issue in another timeline. Even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t matter in the end. Live or die, she’d just come right back at 7:00. What he did didn’t matter. So, after getting himself killed for the 40th time, Meridian decided to throw in the towel. He had an eternity ahead of him to prevent this attack. For now, he wanted to see how the day would play out.

Upon waking up at the tavern yet again, Meridian unfurled his wings and set off in a new direction. The best place to watch the day go by is from above. He perched himself on the highest building he could find and got to his usual routine. Watching, waiting, and documenting. Not surprisingly, the world outside of the citadel was dull and boring. The majority of his notes were mundane. At 1:42 a Kodin trips on an uneven sidewalk, 2:27 another Kodin sneezes so hard she dropped her coin purse, etc. Just normal daily events. It wasn’t until 4:30 something of interest would happen.

Right on the dot when the clock ticked over Meridian saw a very familiar green magic circle open up in an alleyway south of town. The person stepping out of this portal was none other than Sandra, the god of green magic. As usual, she was dressed in a cloak that hid her features, but Meridian knew it was her. He’d seen this far too many times to be fooled by such a charade. Sandra walked out of the portal and took a brief look around. After several seconds her eyes locked with Meridian’s and the two stared at each other for a good moment. After the staredown was finished she backed up into the portal once more and disappeared.

Not even a minute later and Meridian could hear the familiar woosh of the portal opening behind him. This time when Sandra stepped out she was no longer shrouded in her disguise. Instead, she wore her typical outfit; an outfit that hadn’t changed much over the past 200 or so years. A loose pink knit sweater, plain grey pants, and a pair of long black socks that went up to her thighs. It wasn’t uncommon for Kodin not to wear shoes, and their claws often got in the way, so her barefooted nature wasn’t odd in any way. She spared no time in marching over to Meridian and starting her tirade.

“I knew you’d be here” she stated in her typical drawl. “I don’t know what in the hell kinda game you’re playing, but you need to stop it before it’s too late. Actions have consequences, you know! No one’s invincible.”

Her speech started in a normal yet stern tone, but by the end she was almost yelling. Meridian had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but from the sounds of it it was quite serious. The gods had never sought him out. Not like this, anyway. DC had had his suspicions for quite some time, but Meridian always remained invisible in his eyes. But Sandra? She’d never sought him out. She’d never even caught wind of his existence in any meaningful way. All of their past interactions had been solely in Meridian’s part.

Not only that, but what she was saying lined up with DC’s rant earlier. Both of them seemed convinced that he was doing, well, something. And whatever that something was would have dire consequences. Something strange was going on today, and Meridian was determined to figure out what. That said, he had to actually see the end of the day before he could decide what to do next. In order to do that, he had to dismiss Sandra.

“I don’t know what you want” he began, matter of factly. “There’s no game of any sort going on. I’m simply enjoying the scenery. Now, would you kindly leave me alone?”

“Enjoying the scenery, right. My superior already told me what was going on, and I’m sure as hell not gonna let you go through with it! I’m not dying today, you hear me?”

Before he had time to react Sandra had grabbed Meridian by the collar of his jacket and held him a foot or so over the edge of the building. It was obviously some sort of intimidation tactic, but it wouldn’t work on someone like him. Sandra was generally level headed, but when something set her off it was a domino effect of anger. Meridian had learned over the years that keeping calm usually snapped her out of things.

“Honestly, I don’t know what you want,” Meridian replied calmly. “My only “plan” for today was to sit here and observe. Is that really so wrong?”

“You smug son of a bitch!” She screamed, promptly dropping him back on the ground. “You’re bringing our world to an end and you have the nerve to be so nonchalant about it! What did we ever do to you? What did the world do to you that’d make you harbor such resentment?”

The end of the world. Now he knew what DC meant when he mentioned getting killed. Meridian didn’t know what the end of the day was going to bring, but if the gods themselves were worried over this he knew he should be as well. Things such as this weren’t to be taken lightly. Even so, he still had nothing of actual substance. He knew the gods were worried about this so-called “end of the world”, but he didn’t know when this was coming or how. And he never would, if he kept getting interrupted like this. He knew if he waited in this same spot that Sandra would come and fetch him again tomorrow. It was only a matter of making her go away.

“Look, Sandra” He began. “I honestly don’t know what’s going on. If the world really is ending, it’s not my doing. Now, please, leave me to my research. I can meet with you and your superior tomorrow”

Hearing her own name seemed to catch Sandra off guard. She definitely wasn’t enraged anymore, which was a good thing. All she could manage to do was stare at Meridian dumbfounded as he rose to his feet and dusted himself off. He returned the stare with his usual blank and emotionless expression.

The two came to some sort of unspoken understanding in that moment. He wasn’t sure if she believed what he said or if she just didn’t know how to react to the situation, but moments later Sandra produced her dreamcatcher once again and opened the portal back to the Afterlife. She said nothing as she took a step inside; giving Meridian one last glance of distress before closing the portal. Now he could finally witness this world ending scenario for himself. So, just as he’d planned, Meridian sat atop of the tower. Watching. Waiting. Keeping an eye out for anything unusual.

Finally, the clock ticked over to 6. Meridian had fully intended on spending the remaining thirteen hours of the day on the lookout, but he wouldn’t get the chance to. Right as the clock struck 6 the ground beneath him began to shake violently. This earthquake lasted for about twenty seconds. Then, with an incredible amount of sheer force, a gargantuan creature erupted from the ground below, causing debris to be shot in every direction. Buildings, streets, and any other constructs that had been above it were immediately turned to rubble.

The creature itself resembled a fat, blobby, dragon-like creature. It’s body shone bright white, which was almost blindingly bright despite the fact it was still light outside. The only colour this creature had seemed to be coming from it’s clearly visible veins. Instead of red like the average mortal, this creature’s blood appeared to have every colour of the rainbow. It was shiny and iridescent. Quite the opposite of it’s pitch black eyes, teeth, and claws.

Meridian would have loved to get a closer look at it, but he wouldn’t get the chance. Mere seconds after erupting from the earth below, the creature let out a deafening screech. As its mouth opened up to emit such a noise a bright white beam of energy erupted from within as well. The sound paired with the light caused Meridian to shield his face as the light raced towards him. A painful ringing began pounding in his head, and his flesh began to melt and bubble. Not even a minute after this creature appeared, it was over. Yes, this must be it. The beginning of the end.

Ears still ringing, Meridian found himself awake once again in the quaint little tavern he’d woken up at every morning. That creature, whatever it was, was one of incredible power. Power unlike any he’d ever seen before. He now knew why the other two gods were so freaked out. No doubt Oasis was as well, though he’d yet to talk with her directly. That problem could be very easily solved later that day, however. As long as he remained in place Meridian was confident Sandra would come looking for him precisely at 4:30. All he had to do now was wait.

A plethora of thoughts began racing through Meridian’s head as he waited idly for his associate. Thoughts and questions he made sure to detail in the journal he’d brought with him from a previous loop. He wasn’t sure if note taking would alter the course of the day in any meaningful sense of the word, but given he’d taken notes the loop prior he figured it’d be alright. 4:30 rolled around, and just as before Sandra appeared in the alleyway below the town. Then, as before, she started at Meridian for a moment before disappearing and showing up behind him. This time he fully intended on going with her to the Afterlife with Sandra.

“I knew you’d be here” she stated once again.

“Yes. I knew you’d be here as well. That’s why I’ve been waiting.”

“W… what?” she shook her head “you know what, it doesn’t matter. You’re here. You’re here, and we can talk. Hopefully I can talk you out of whatever the hell you’re planning before it’s too late”

Meridian stood from where he was sitting and stretched out his wings. “I’m afraid I’m not behind this. Not this time, anyway. Just like you, I know the end is rapidly drawing near. That’s why I’ve been waiting for you”

Meridian reached into his bag and pulled out Sandra’s journal. It was a nice purple tinted leatherbound journal with silver filigree and a green gemstone embedded on the spine. Reading through one’s book didn’t make them remember their time with Meridian, but it’s hard to disprove your own writing. This would at the very least calm whatever anger Sandra still felt and explain things. As he expected, she took the book from him and began flipping through the pages.

Unlike most of the people Meridian had gotten himself involved with Sandra never seemed all that shocked or surprised upon reading this book. Many people took a second to panic to themselves, before reading that they panic like that every time and not to be alarmed. Many of them calm down after reading, but there are a select few that just won’t believe the books, no matter what they write inside them. This was not the case with Sandra. She calmly read through the book, albeit far faster than any mortal could ever hope, then handed it back to Meridian.

“Well, shoot. You really aren’t the one behind all this…” Sandra muttered to herself, disappointed.

“Afraid not, but I’m willing to help. Today has been absolutely wretched so far, and I’d like to bring an end to it without sacrificing myself.”

“Heh, right… Well, if you’re aware of the situation do you think you’ll be able to help us out? We’re running out of time here…”

“Indeed we are. We only have about…” Meridian paused, taking a look at the clock for dramatic effect. “An hour and a half before the world ends. At least on today’s go-round.”

“And, uh. You’re sure you’ll just… Wake right back up and do this all over again?” Sandra questioned.

“Yes yes, that’s how it works.” he replied.

“If that’s the case, there’s no point in wasting your time. Not much you can get done in the span of an hour, now is there?”

He was about to say something in response, but something caught his attention. Sandra reached into the pocket of her cloak and produced the small dreamcatcher she brought with her everywhere. It was a two way portal from the Afterlife to the mortal realm. Meridian had seen this relic hundreds of times in the past. He knew exactly what it was and what she was doing when she handed it over to him.

“Perhaps we should discuss this tomorrow. Gives us more time” She said, arm still outstretched waiting for the god of time to take her gift. He did not.

“I appreciate the offer, but there’s no need for that. I have a far faster way of getting to your domain”

“Really?” Sandra shrugged and put the dreamcatcher back in her pocket. “Suit yourself, I guess”

“Well, if I’m not going to meet with your superior today, mind filling me in on the day’s events up there? I’ll need a timeline before I decide when to host this meeting of ours”

“No need. Oasis already had a meeting scheduled today. I’m sure you could sit in for that considering the entire thing was her outlining the end of the world, as she put it”

“Hah. It seems my lesser compatriots are ahead of me for once. Bravo.” Meridian clapped a few times as he shot Sandra a brief smile. She didn’t seem amused. “What time does this meeting take place? I’d hate to be late. Especially given how you are about your schedule”

8:00. That was the time Meridian had been given for this so-called “meeting of the gods”. Although Sandra did make sure to inform him that Oasis would be late, as usual. She also mentioned that she’d be far more frazzled and panicky than usual. With that, she handed her notebook back to Meridian and took her leave. He had an hour left now. An hour before the world was brought to an end once more. There was only one thing left to do now.

After making sure he had all of his belongings in place Meridian flew off the tower and made his way to the very center of town. He stood directly above where he knew the creature would erupt; waiting for it to burst from the ground and blast the world into oblivion. A front row seat to the chaos. DC would be proud. Perhaps he should tell this story to him once all was said and done. He was sure his unruly friend would be quite entertained by a tale such as this.

He was going to write a note to himself on the matter, but Meridian wouldn’t get the chance to. Just as it did yesterday, the second the clock hit 6 the ground began to shake violently. The shaking was far greater on the ground than it was from atop the building. So great in fact that Meridian found himself unable to stand upright as the creature erupted from the ground. With a mighty screech and a blast of white light, Meridian was back in the tavern once again. Of course, upon waking up he immediately began noting down what he’d intended to moments before. No use in letting those thoughts go to waste.

Once he’d gathered his thoughts and made sure everything was put in place he began making his way to the Afterlife. Unlike the other three gods, traveling between the domains was relatively simple for him. Hell, he was more or less the one to pioneer the concept in the first place. He’d quite literally invented magic circles as a whole. As such, he had far greater of an understanding of them than even the other gods.

Unlike Sandra, he had no need for a relic to allow him travel from domain to domain. His magic alone was enough to allow him to travel. Meridian had only created mirrors in order to fly under the radar of the mortal realm, given that teleportation caused a spike in magic in an area. When it came to other domains, though, he felt no need to conceal his power. When he was visiting one of the gods' homes there was no reason to keep his presence there a secret.

Meridian unfurled his wings and took off towards the skies. When traveling through worlds like this, you need to pick up a considerable amount of speed. Otherwise you’d risk getting caught in-between realms, if you could even exit your own at all. Once he’d gotten high enough into the air, he let himself drop; using his wings to gain even more momentum as he fell. Then, right before he hit the ground below, he pulled upwards and shot into the air. As he did so, he used his magic to create a magic circle above him. One that would lead him directly to the afterlife. This spectacle only took a matter of seconds. He’d been able to perfect his technique over the decades. By this point, travel like this was second nature to Meridian.

In an instant Meridian found himself soaring through the infinite expanse of the Afterlife. White fluffy clouds were below him, and an endless blue sky above. It truly was a beautiful place; quite opposite from his own realm. That’s not to say his home wasn’t pleasing to the eye. Moreso it was dark and eerie, whereas this place was bright, warm, and inviting. As to be expected from the god of blue magic. The magic of life tends to lean more towards the needs of living things, after all.

It was about 7:24 now. Sandra had told him the meeting was scheduled for 8, so Meridian had some time to kill. If he’d experienced this meeting before he may have been more comfortable intruding on it, but as of right now he didn’t know how things would play out. For all he knew, waltzing in before 8 could cause the meeting not to happen at all. Best to wait, at least this time. Once he was familiar with how the timeline played out he could adjust his own schedule accordingly. He waited around the outskirts of the afterlife for the remainder of the hour; using the time to catch up on his notes and work on plans for future loops. Anything that may help him in the future.

Finally, the clock struck 8. Right on cue Meridian took off and began his search for Sandra. It didn’t take long. The magical aura the gods exerted was overwhelmingly strong. All he had to do was follow the beacon of green magic and he’d eventually wind up at Sandra’s side. Unsurprisingly, Sandra was patiently waiting for Oasis to arrive in a deep and usually closed off area of the Hall of Records. They often held their meetings here. Sandra stood up upon hearing him enter, thinking he was Oasis. As expected. In this timeline Sandra was completely unaware of Meridian’s existence.

“Oasis! You're on time for once. What a pleasant surprise-” She cut herself off, staring at Meridian who was now standing in the doorway in front of her.

“Sorry to get your hopes up, but Oasis isn’t here yet” Meridian said, santering into the room and taking a seat. “In the meantime, why don’t you take a look at this. It’ll explain everything”

Meridian offered Sandra’s journal to her. She reluctantly accepted it; grabbing the book and taking a seat across from him. Just like always, Sandra had no real reaction to her journal. Despite the fact he’d seen it hundreds of times before, her reaction always impressed Meridian. Even the other two gods had some sort of reaction to seeing their own journals. Not Sandra. Once she was done reading she handed the book back to Meridian and sunk back in her chair.

“End of the world…” Sandra sighed, her ears drooping as she did so. “I have a feeling we’re gonna be waiting for awhile, hun. If Oasis saw anything even remotely similar to what you’ve written here she’s probably in the midst of a breakdown…”

“Actually, I don’t think she’s here at all.” Meridian responded.

“... What? What do you mean she’s “not here”? Like, not in the hall of records?”

“Not in the Afterlife. I can’t sense her, which is very unusual.” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and using them as a writing surface. “Today is full of firsts for me. Very exciting”

“You don’t sound very excited. Plus, if Oasis wasn’t here wouldn’t the place fall to pieces?”

“Not necessarily. As long as her magic remains tethered to this place it’ll keep itself running. All she really has to do is channel her magic here and she’s free to come and go as she pleases”

“Well… Shit” Sandra muttered, not sure what to make of Meridian’s words.

The two sat and waited for Oasis to return. In the meantime, they chatted about what was going on, who Meridian was, and any other random question that happened to pop into Sandra’s head. Meridian could quite literally spend an eternity talking about his past adventures. There was so much he could say if he really wanted to. But, everything must come to an end eventually. The two god’s conversation included.

9:25 was when Oasis finally made her way to the meeting. She definitely seemed more tired and aloof than usual, but Meridian knew better than to question her wellness right away. He’d have to explain himself first, otherwise Oasis would have a full blown mental breakdown trying to process it all. While he was fond of her, Meridian always had to tread lightly when it came to the god of blue magic.

Surprisingly, she didn’t immediately question Meridian’s presence. Usually, upon seeing him, she’d try to use her foresight to see who he was. After realising her powers of reading the future didn’t work on the god of time himself, she’d start to panic. Oasis was too overly reliant on her powers to the point where them not working caused her to shut down. Then, unless he handed over her journal for her to look through, she’d have a full blown breakdown. Shaking, stuttering, repeating words and phrases. The whole nine yards.

This time she did nothing of the like. Instead, she stumbled into the room as best she could before her legs gave out beneath her. Sandra immediately rushed to her aid. None of the gods were ever sick or unwell in any way unless something was exponentially wrong with them. This appeared to be the case with Oasis. Moments after falling to the floor she went in a coughing fit; expelling billows of red and green smoak into the air. Coughing fits like this were a telltale sign of a “magic overflow” of sorts. If someone’s body isn’t suited to store vast amounts of magic, or a certain type in this case, it’d expel it in the fastest way possible. That just so happened to be the respiratory system.

Meridian had seen Oasis in this state before. It was always directly linked to one person, that person being DC. He was the only one other than Meridian who could even hope to knock her down a peg. Their magic was equal in strength, so if they were to ever fight it’d largely be left to chance. It didn’t seem like they’d gotten into a physical fight this time; at least not one of any real significance. Only a battle of magic. A battle which Oasis had clearly lost.

To save her the trouble of recovering on her own, Meridian walked over to Oasis and gave her a firm pat on the back. As he did so, he flooded her system with a powerful wave of his own magic. Purple magic was vastly superior to both red and blue, which were equals, so the fastest way to drive DC’s magic out of her system was to flush it out. Meridian’s power didn’t seem to have any ill effects on his lesser compatriots. Not unless he wanted it to, anyway. The coughing fit lasted a few more moments. Finally, Oasis exhaled a large drag of purple smoke. That told Meridian that what he’d done had worked. The three stood back up and took their seats. It was at this point where Oasis finally started reacting in the way Meridian had come to expect.

Before she could ask too many questions, Meridian placed the journal in her hands and took his seat once more, telling her to read over it. Oasis was a much slower reader than Sandra was, even if they were both faster than the average mortal. That, or Oasis was far more skeptical of what was written on the pages in front of her than Sandra was. Every now and then Meridian caught the faint blue glow of her eyes, a sign she was trying to look into the future, before she’d catch herself and continue reading. After a solid ten or so minutes of reading Oasis gingerly closed the book and returned it to Meridian.

“So, Meridian.. Um.. I guess the only question I have now is what brings you here?” Oasis asked, still blatantly confused as to what was going on.

“I’m here for the meeting. I’ve seen what you have, and I’ve come here to put an end to it.” Meridian replied.

“Oh, I see…”

“Tell me now, what happened to you? Red magic isn’t commonplace in the afterlife”

“That.. Right…” She sighs “I do hope I didn’t alarm you two, I tried composing myself as best I could”

“Hun, what in the world were you up to? Meridian mentioned that he “couldn’t sense you” while we were waiting” Sandra stated.

“About that… Look, this morning I was using my foresight, as usual, when I noticed the day abruptly cut off. That tends to happen every now and then, so I attempted to look down another path but… No matter what I did, we always ended up in the same place.”

“An absolute future” Meridian chimed in.

“Y-yes, exactly that. Anyway, I sat for awhile and pondered what I could possibly do about it and… Well…”

“Well?” Sandra asked, a mix of concern and confusion in her voice.

“My only thought was to consol DC for help…” Oasis’ voice trailed off briefly, before she quickly started talking again. “Ok, think about it this way. There’s only so much I could do on my own, and even with Sandra’s help we wouldn’t have been able to do anything meaningful about the situation. As much resentment as he may have, I know DC doesn’t want to die. If we can even call it that at this point…”

“So that’s why he was after me this morning” Meridian said aloud, mostly to himself. “Well, Oasis, you’ve been a big help thus far, but I don’t think we can continue this “meeting of the gods” unless everyone is present. Now, could you please detail a timeline of events? This is integral to our success. I have a feeling so long as you talk to DC before I do the day will only end in disaster…”

“A timeline? Oh dear.. I’ll try my best, but I’m afraid I’m not the best with time.”

Oasis began detailing the day’s events thus far, much to Meridian’s dismay. Her day more or less began at around 6:45. That’s when she saw the first vision of the end of the world, followed by several more. Meridian’s day always started at 7am precisely, so unfortunately for him there was nothing that could be done about that. It may cause some issues later down the line, especially when it comes to him flying under the radar, but those were problems for later. He’d never be able to solve such things if he couldn’t bring an end to this catastrophe.

After pondering on what to do for a good while, Oasis decided she’d seek DC’s help. She spent a while longer trying to figure out the best way to get to him before deciding a two way window between realms would be the safest option. So, at around 7:00 she wandered far into the outskirts of the Afterlife and began setting up this magic circle. Once it’d been set up she talked to DC for a bit, before he became irate and yanked her through the portal in a fit of rage. After that, Oasis did her best to talk him down. She didn’t calm him, but she managed to shift his anger from her to someone else; that someone being Meridian. She wouldn’t return to the Afterlife until exactly 9:13. The only reason any of them knew this was because of Meridian’s innate ability to sense the other gods.

Meridian didn’t like what he was being told. Not only was Oasis’ recollection of the day’s events more vague than he’d like, but it seemed as if the catalyst to this whole disaster started exactly at 7:00. If that were the case there was absolutely no hope of ever getting DC to play along. Meridian had found, after years of trial and error, that the only way to stop DC’s tantrums was to either wait it out or put him out of commission. Neither of these options would help in this case. All Meridian could do now was wait until the next loop and hope to god Oasis didn’t open this portal until at least 7:01.

“Well, my dear friends” Meridian exclaimed, promptly shutting his notebook. “It’s been fun, but I believe we’re done here.”

“Now what?” Sandra asked. “Didn’t you say the world would end at 6? We’ve still got a few hours until then.”

“Yes, we do. But I highly doubt I’ll be able to get anything else of substance from today. We’re missing an integral piece to this puzzle of ours. No point in trying to continue on. Don’t you worry, though.” Meridian said, patting Oasis on the head. “Today won’t matter in the end. You won’t remember any of it anyway.”

Before either of the gods could say anything else, Meridian expelled a devastating blast of magic straight into Oasis’ skull. The area exploded into a flash of blindingly blue light. Once the light faded Meridian was back in the tavern once more. He’d never liked killing himself, but doing so was the most efficient way to force a reset. Oasis wouldn’t be able to remember the incident anyway, so there was no harm in using her mortality to his advantage. None of the gods were invincible, as much as they’d like to be. That’s precisely why he had to put a stop to this.

Without any hesitation, Meridian leaped out of bed and immediately set off towards the skies. Every second counted in this case. He could get to the Afterlife in under a minute, although it’d take a tremendous amount of effort. If he had to start every day like this there’d be no way he’d have enough energy to fight the beast at the end of the day. Using the gods and their ideas would aid him greatly, but at the end of the day Meridian knew he’d have to face this alone. If he didn’t he’d risk exposing himself to the world.

As luck would have it, Oasis’ recollection of the timeline was ever so askew. She did not, in fact, open the window to the Underworld at 7:00. She was preparing to do so when Meridian arrived, but she’d yet to actually carry out the task. Before she got the chance, Meridian swooped in. He stood in front of her and thrust her journal right into her hands. She was completely dumbfounded at the prospect. As she stared down at the book in her hands, Meridian caught his breath.

“Oh good, it seems I’ve caught you in time. I’m sorry, my dear, but I can’t let you continue with your little plan there. It’ll end disastrously” he said, still trying to compose himself.

“W-who… Who are you?” Oasis squeaked out. It was obvious she was in shambles before Meridian had arrived, and this event had just about pushed her over the edge.

“Just read this” Meridian said, tapping on the book in her hands. “It’ll explain everything you need to know”

Oasis cautiously opened the book and began flipping through it’s pages. Her eyes flashed blue several times as she was reading, only for her to catch herself looking into the future and snapping herself out of it. It was a force of habit at this point for her to let the future make her decisions for her. Meridian was never fond of her powers, but he’d gotten used to it at this point. A lot of minor annoyances had become nothing but white noise to him.

Once she was done reading she closed the book and tried to hand it back to him. She still looked very distraught, but less so than before. The book had had some answers from the previous loop that seemingly calmed her mind. At least enough to prevent a breakdown. Meridian refused the book, though. When Oasis handed it over to him he gently pushed it back into her hands.

“You hold onto that for now. You’ll need it for what I have in store for today.” He gave a warm smile to Oasis in hopes of further calming her nerves. “Now, why don’t you head back to the Hall of Records. Our meeting starts in little under an hour. Give this to Sandra and I’ll meet you there as soon as possible”

While she still seemed hopelessly confused, Oasis nodded in agreement; taking the second journal from Meridian and flying off towards the Hall of Records. Meridian stood idly for a time. This was the first loop where Meridian’s mere existence didn’t piss off DC and he had absolutely no idea what was in store for him. All he knew was that he was in the Underworld at this time, but that was only because Oasis had told him so. She hadn’t said anything about what he was doing before she made contact.

Still, he had to do it. Oasis and Sandra were level headed and rational, but they weren’t wont to take risks. Any ideas they’d come up with would be playing things as safe as possible. Not a bad thing, given the fact Meridian wanted to survive the day, but it’d only get him so far. DC was a known tactician, and a good one at that. He had strategy. He took risks. Most importantly, he had no real morals to hold him back from his goals. The gods could accomplish great things if they could stop their pointless bickering. Hell, they may be able to surpass Meridian himself if they could manage to get along for once in their lives.

Meridian grabbed a small bit of red chalk from his bag and knelt down on the soft, vaporus ground of the Afterlife. With great care he constructed an elaborate magic circle. Typically he’d use his own powers to shift himself between domains, but right now he was trying to conserve energy. If he pushed himself any further he may not have the strength to continue his investigation. It’d take longer, but he’d have to make due with lesser magic to get him where he needed to go.

Once the circle was made, Meridian pricked his finger with one of his claws and let a small amount of blood drip onto the chalky surface. The circle glowed a bright reddish purple that radiated throughout the entire area. Looking at the beams of light Meridian could see faint visions of the Underworld. More specifically, he could see inside of DC’s palace. The familiar red and gold accents were unmistakable.

Stepping onto the circle, Meridian was immediately transported into the Underworld. He found himself standing at the foot of a large, gothic style bed with a jet black base and golden pillars adorning the corners. Laying sprawled out in the middle of the bed, amidst the piles of silky red bedsheets, was the lord of the underworld himself. DC. While he prided himself on his appearance, DC was not a graceful sleeper. His limbs were sprawled out in an awkward and unnatural manner and his mouth was hanging wide open. Not something you’d expect from a self proclaimed “perfect being”, that’s for sure.

Not wanting to anger DC once more, Meridian took a seat at the foot of the bed and waited for him to wake up. He had his journal at the ready, just in case Meridian’s presence in the Underworld happened to anger his lesser compatriot. He knew that as long as DC actually read through his book he’d have him under his thumb. It was just a matter of getting him to take a look. Still, Meridian knew how to manipulate DC. As long as he wasn’t in the midst of a tantrum there shouldn’t be any issues.

After several minutes DC began to stir. He yawned and stretched, wiping his face as he did so. The second he noticed Meridian sitting cross legged at his feet he yelped in surprise and promptly scooted backwards. The initial shock quickly faded, and his face shifted from surprise to annoyance. He sat himself upright and threw the sheets off of himself, never taking his eyes off the intruder.

“Sorry to wake you, my lord, but this is important.” Meridian said, bowing his head slightly and handing over DC’s journal with both hands. “I do hope you understand”

DC’s ears perked up a bit. He yanked the book from Meridian’s hands and thumbed through the pages. The more he read, the more elated he became. Every now and then he’d giggle with delight at the tales of their past adventures. DC seemed to be in a far better mood than he’d ever been so far. At least on this particular loop.

“This book of yours is quite fascinating, darling! Tell me, what brings you to my humble abode? It’s not often I get visitors like this” DC sang out, still enthralled with the book he’d just read.

“Well, my lord, I’m afraid I don’t have good news today. It seems the world is ending, and I need your help putting a stop to it”

DC had always had one fatal flaw. While he was an expert at manipulating others, he found himself vulnerable to manipulation as well. Meridian had learned that as long as he fed into his ego they’d more or less get along. This was integral to his plan, as DC’s power would most likely be needed. He wasn’t happy about it in any sense of the word, but it was far from the most degrading thing Meridian had ever done. As long as the god of red magic played along nicely it’d all be worth it in the end

“The world is ending?” DC questioned, his mood ever so slightly shifting from contentment to confusion. “What in the hell do you mean by that?”

“You saw what you wrote. Over my past few loops I’ve seen it firsthand. An enormous beast erupts from the ground and in the blink of an eye mine, yours, and the existence of everyone else is wiped out. Not even us gods make it out alive”

“The gods… Wiped out… That can’t possibly be so! Do you really think some beast is enough to defeat someone like me?”

“As I said, I’ve seen it firsthand. Now, I’ve scheduled a bit of a meeting with the other two gods to go over my findings. If you could accompany, my lord, it’d be greatly appreciated”

DC huffed and crossed his arms, glaring at Meridian. “You think I have any interest in that? Gah! No, I’d rather we take care of this ourselves. It says so right here!” He says, pointing to one of the journal entries. “With your help we’ve even been able to take down Oasis herself. Why bother getting her and that dog of her’s involved?”

“Because, my lord, we aren’t strong enough on our own.” Meridian sighed and pushed his glasses up a bit. “Tell you what. If you can play nice for today you and I can finish her off on my next loop. Sound fair?”

“Hmm… To be involved in a game I wasn’t even aware I was playing… You promise it’ll be written down in my book?” He asked

“That’s up to you. This is your personal journal after all. You get to decide what’s worthy of being documented.”

“Well! If that’s the case, I suppose I can play nice just this once.”

DC rose from his bed and stretched once more. With a snap of his fingers his messy fur and less than appropriate choice of clothing, or lack thereof, transformed into his usual well-groomed and well-dressed self. He was dressed in something more appropriate to that of war, which Meridian didn’t approve of, but anything was better than nothing. As long as it didn’t freak Oasis out too much it’d be fine. Plus, as long as he was there to supervise things, nothing catastrophic should happen.

With that, Meridian drew another magic circle on the ground. This one was blue in colour. Like previously, once he activated it the portal glowed brightly. Faint images of the Afterlife’s cloud-like terrain and endless blue skies could be seen. DC seemed equal parts amused and disgusted at the display. Still, he took a step onto the portal just as Meridian had directed. Moments later the two of them were in the Afterlife’s borders, making their way to the Hall of Records.

For the first time in a very long time all of the gods were sitting in the same room as each other. The three of them all had varying looks of discomfort on their faces. DC was for the most part annoyed he had to be there at all. The afterlife didn’t exactly fit his “aesthetic”, and his past imprisonment there had left a bad taste in his mouth. Sandra looked about ready to kill DC. Her eyes were fixed on his every move, and her hand was ready to grab her knife at the first sign of trouble. If you listened closely enough, you could hear a silent growl coming from her. Oasis was for the most part terrified. Her face was devoid of any and all emotions, but her body language gave everything away. Meridian knew her far too well.

Before things got too tense, Meridian stood from his chair and clapped his hands together to get everybody’s attention. They all reluctantly turned their attention from each other to Meridian, who was making his way to the center of the room. A human amongst a band of Kodin stood out like a sore thumb. He’d never liked comparing the gods to their four legged animal counterparts, but taking a look at all of them together like this it was hard not to draw comparisons. The growling, the tail twitching. Even gods had their instincts.

“Well, it seems we’re all here. I’ve briefly gone over what’s going on, but only Oasis and I have seen it firsthand.” Meridian began. “I think it’s only fair if the two of you see it for yourselves.”

“And, uh… How exactly are you gonna do that?” Sandra asked

“I have my methods” He replied, turning to Oasis. “That is, if you don’t mind me borrowing your powers for a bit. They’re the key to figuring this out”

“The world’s at stake. I’ll do whatever I need to”

“Wonderful!” Meridian exclaimed. “Hold this.”

Before she had time to protest Meridian took a large glass sphere from his bag and placed it in Oasis’ hands. He’d learned over the years that, generally speaking, if you handed something to someone they’d take it without question. This was no different. Oasis made no effort to question what she was being given or why, she just took the ball without a second thought. Once the ball was in her hands Meridian took a step behind her. Both Sandra and DC were watching intently at this point; curious as to what he’d do next.

With the orb in her grasp, Meridian grabbed her by the back of the head and expelled a concentrated blast of purple energy through it. Oasis’ body went limp, save for her arms which were still holding onto the glass ball. Her eyes glazed over and began glowing with a bright purple hue. This glow trailed off of her eyes and onto the glass; projecting her visions of the future directly onto it.

DC giggled with delight as he watched Meridian take control of her body. He made it look far easier than it actually was. It was amusing to see his adversary so quickly subdued, even if it weren’t in the context he would have liked. Sandra just stared dumbfounded for a second. In a flash, she rose from her chair, drew her knife, and pointed it at the god of time.

“Excuse me, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” She yelled angrily.

“Now now, there’s no need for that!” Meridian responded. “I’m not hurting her! I’m simply projecting her visions onto the orb for you all to see. Oasis’ foresight can show a multitude of different futures depending on the variables. I think it’d be wise to look over the events of the day and then run a few test scenarios. Get a good idea of what will and won’t work before testing things for ourselves”

“I see! I’ve always wondered what was going on in that head of hers…” DC said, mostly to himself.

“Yes, right” Meridian muttered. “Come on, now. Watch closely. No need to waste any more time”

Visions similar to what Meridian had seen over the past few days flashed across the orb. All of them had a similar theme. The monster would burst from the ground, let out a mighty roar, and then a blast of energy that’d end the world. He played this vision several times over to ensure the other two had time to fully process what they were seeing. Both of them looked greatly concerned. Even Sandra was visibly worried; unusual for someone who usually showed little emotion.

“So, now that you’ve seen it. What do the two of you make of this? Any ideas?” Meridian asked.

“Seems to me we’re fucked” DC replied angrily.

“Language!” Sandra snapped. “Besides, it’s not as bad as it looks… Right? I mean, all of us together? We just need to wrack our brains and come up with an answer”

Meridian released his grasp on Oasis’ mind. She coughed slightly; more purple smoke coming from her mouth as she did. After a brief moment of confusion she went back to her usual self. It seems she was aware of her surroundings the entire time. She looked between the three gods before letting out a sigh.

“I honestly don’t know what I can do about any of this” She began. “I don’t involve myself with mortals. Goodness me, I can’t even leave the Afterlife.”

“Oh, you can.” Meridian said. “Were you not about to do so this morning?”

“I… I never intended to leave. I was simply trying to open communications.”

“Right, right. But my point still stands. Leaving the Afterlife is an option. Not only that, but I fear if you don’t accompany us we may be unable to stop this creature”

“I see…”

Oasis’ voice trailed off. She hadn’t once left the Afterlife since she first ascended to godhood. That was over 4000 years ago by this point. The very idea seemed absurd, but looking into the future brought on many visions of the four of them working together in the mortal realm. She didn’t know how to feel about this, and her foresight brought her no comfort in this situation. In all the visions she was able to see she’d leave the afterlife, only to still have the world end by the end of the day.

There was one key thing, though. In the visions where she accompanied the other gods the end of the day was pushed back significantly. Some of the futures she’d seen had even crossed over to the next day, the day starting at 7:00, only for the world to end moments after. The only problem was that Oasis had no clue what any of them did to make these futures happen.

Her foresight allowed her to look further into time, but Meridian was in control of it. Because of this any vision that involved him in any meaningful way was foggy and distorted. She could make out a humanoid figure, but that’s as far as she was able to get when he was involved. This made conveying what she’d seen to the group that much more difficult. Impossible, even. Considering she was on the verge of a breakdown. Sensing Oasis’ discomfort, Sandra chimed in with an idea. Anything to draw her attention away from whatever rabbit hole of existentialism she was headed down.

“You’ve seen this firsthand, right Meridian?” Sandra asked.

“Yes, I have.”

“So you know where this’ll happen then”

“Mhm. The epicenter is in Barrowford. Near Pelrior Abyss.” He replied. “Such a nice country, it’s a shame a monster such as this lies beneath it-”

“Yeah, whatever. Look, we know where this is going to happen. Why not go down there and investigate?” Sandra suggested.

“I already have, unfortunately. I sat there all day. There’s absolutely no sign that anything’s amiss until it’s too late.”

“Have you tried digging?” DC muttered, fed up with the situation. Everyone stared blankly at DC for a moment, which only caused him to double down on his idea. “No, really. We’re gods for fucks sake. What’s stopping us from blasting our way down there and hitting this thing where it lives. Catch it by surprise! For all we know it could be asleep right now, and we’re up here wasting valuable time with this ridiculous conversation!”

“That may be worth looking into” Oasis replied quietly. “There were quite a few paths that ended underground. It might lead to something”

DC grinned, content he managed to get one of his enemies on his side. Sandra still didn’t seem convinced, even with Oasis’ statement. In the heat of the moment she could be easily swayed. Even Meridian knew this, which is why he promptly took over Oasis’ powers once again and looked through these visions himself. If the idea did have some merit to it he’d like to see how things played out.

The visions were all pretty fuzzy, but Meridian did indeed see timelines where they traveled to some sort of cavern, and in a few of these timelines the day’s end was pushed back by several hours. None of them ended in success, but extending the day was a good start. If they could face this thing directly and figure out how to slow it down, Meridian could use that to his advantage. It was just a matter of getting everyone to play along for a few more hours, and possibly a few more loops.

“Well, it seems DC’s right. If we’re all in agreement here I suppose we should get going” Meridian said, looking over at the other gods.

“Yes, let's” DC muttered. “I’m beginning to get tired of this place…”

“Sandra, If you could do the honors?”

Sandra huffed and grabbed the small green dreamcatcher from her pocket. She seemed reluctant to do so, as Oasis had never seen this relic before, but she knew that in the end Oasis wouldn’t remember it anyway. Saving the world was more important than keeping her trips to the mortal realm a secret. Once the dreamcatcher was in her hands she threw it at the wall. It began to spin and whirl rapidly, before growing in size to be wide enough for a person to walk through.

On the other side of the portal was an alleyway that led into the city of Astra in Barrowford, right where Meridian had told them. DC was the first to hop through the portal. He’d been after this relic of Sandra’s for quite some time now. This was the first time he’d been able to use it himself. Knowing DC’s usual antics, Meridian followed closely behind to make sure he didn’t just grab the relic and run.

“Come on now, hun. It’ll be alright.” Sandra said to Oasis, gesturing for her to enter the portal. “You heard what Meridian said. As long as you channel your magic here the Afterlife nothing bad will happen.”

“I-I suppose so… It’s for the sake of the world, after all…”

Oasis cautiously stepped through the portal and onto the sandy ground below. The ground here was a lot different than what she was used to. It was gritty and hard, and the sand got under her claws and in her fur. It was also a lot hotter and drier than she was used to. The Afterlife’s environment was more or less perfect all the time. It was never too hot or uncomfortable there, unlike this place. This whole scenario was starting to get overwhelming.

Finally, all four of the gods had exited the Afterlife. Sandra closed the portal and tucked the dreamcatcher safely back into her pocket. Now that they were here, they could get to business. The behemoth wouldn’t be here for several more hours. They’d have to work fast, but they certainly weren’t in a rush for anything.

“Before we continue, there is something that needs to be addressed.” Meridian said to the group. “No one will remember today, but that won’t stop mortals from getting in our way. I believe it’s best we all conceal our identity to the best of our abilities”

In an instant DC snapped his fingers. His deep scars and patchy fur filled out more, making him look less demonic. His wings shrunk down to nothingness, and his horns followed suit. Once he closed the third eye atop his forehead he was nearly indistinguishable from the average mortal. Instead of the powerful, terrifying, battle scarred god that he was DC resembled an average black-furred feline Kodin. Unlike Oasis or Sandra, he’d been concealing his appearance for far longer. He was used to it by now.

Sandra and Oasis were more or less stuck with how they looked. Both of them had simmering gold halos that couldn’t be concealed with any type of clothing. No matter what they put over their head, the halo would just phase right through it. Meridian knew he’d have to help the both of them out. In another flash of purple light both Oasis and Sandra’s appearances were changed. With Sandra Meridian simply hid her halo, and with Oasis he hid her wings as well. Now all of them looked more or less mortal. Well, everyone except Meridian.

“Meridian, darling, what about you?” DC asked. “You haven’t changed at all”

“Ah, right.” He replied. With a flick of his wrist the twin rings that circled his own head became invisible. “Almost forgot about that. I don’t typically have to hide my appearance”

“So we have to, but with you it’s ok?” DC asked, angrily this time. Meridian just patted him on the head.

“My lord, I’m a human. People don’t question me”

Meridian smiled at DC. He definitely seemed upset, but given everything he’d read earlier he was able to brush it off. No point in arguing with someone like Meridian. If things got too heated he could simply reset the day and pretend it never happened. For all DC knew it could have happened before. There was no real way of knowing if this was Meridian’s first time doing this or not. Just the thought of it made him a bit uneasy. The four of them set off for the city center. The epicenter of the end. It wasn’t a long walk, but the silence of the group made it drag on for an eternity.

Eventually they all made it to the city center. The people of the city were out here living their lives as usual. None of them had the slightest inclination of the events to come. They were too busy living their lives to question things. Not like they could, anyway. Not even the gods could sense that anything was amiss. The only reason any of them knew was because of Oasis’ foresight and Meridian’s time travel. Imagine what would happen if they didn’t? I don’t think any of the gods dared imagine it.

“Well, we’re here,” Sandra said. “What now?”

“Now we dig!” DC explained, his hands beginning to glow with red magic energy.

“H-hold on, dear!” Oasis chimed in. “Let’s not get hasty! I think that may be a bit too extreme…”

“Psh. Yeah, sure. How the hell else are we supposed to get down there?” DC grumbled. “You brought me here for a reason, right? Isn’t this it?”

“Yes, we did, but we’re also trying to stay hidden…” Oasis replied.

“You’ll get your chance, my lord. We just need to scout the area first. There could be vital information here.” Meridian said.

“Maybe we should ask around the town a bit? See if anyone knows anything?” Sandra suggested.

“Yes, of course. Why don’t you and DC do that while Oasis and I sweep the area for any kind of unusual magic. We can all meet back here in an hour”

The two weren’t exactly enthusiastic about working together, but given what was at stake here they begrudgingly put up with it. Plus, they didn’t have to go together to question people in town. It could easily be done on their own. As long as the two of them got back on time there shouldn’t be any issues. Meridian trusted the both of them with a task like this. As much as they didn’t want to admit it, Sandra and DC were very similar. One of those similarities was their schedule oriented demeanours. He knew that if he gave them a deadline, they’d meet it to a tee.

It was Oasis he was worried about, which is why he suggested they work together. He could just as easily have done this himself and sent Oasis with the others, but that’d only hinder their progress. Oasis didn’t know how to interact with mortals in a case like this. She could talk to souls after they died, but she’d never talked to them while they were still living. If she were ever faced with a situation like that she’d most likely break down. That’d risk exposing the group as well as hindering their progress.

Oasis and Meridian’s search brought them no real results. There was nothing of any real interest above the surface. None of Oasis’ visions that ended on the surface world gave way to anything good. Only those that lead them underground had any merit to them. So, once the hour passed and DC and Sandra returned, the four made their way to the very center of the town in preparation for their descent.

DC’s hands began to glow bright red once again as he prepared his attack. He fully intended on blasting right through the ground into the very core of Mirror Domain’s surface. There would undoubtedly be some consequences, ones that one god in particular didn’t want to face, but it was a sacrifice that had to be made. Meridian made sure to reassure Oasis that this would all revert back to normal once the day way over. That, or once Meridian was dead. Either way the day would just reset and any casualties of their plans would be right back where they were at 7 in the morning.

All three of them shielded their eyes as DC unleashed a massive blast of energy. One. Then another. And another after that. The sand and rubble from the ground kicked up everywhere. It obscured the view of the area; turning it into nothing but a warzone of destruction. Meridian made sure to shield the three of them from the rubble with use of his own magic. He encapsulated them in a sphere of protection which kept the debris out.

After several minutes the blasts stopped. Well, they either stopped or DC got so far into the ground that they simply couldn’t be heard anymore. Once he was sure it was all over Meridian dispelled his magic and allowed the sphere to fade away. Then he flew up into the air and blew the remaining dust away with a few mighty flaps of his wings. Once the dust cleared, the group could see the full extent of the damage.

Where once there was the city center now stood an enormous crater. Not nearly as big as the one the creature would make at the end of the day, but an impressive size nonetheless. The only thing they could make out peering down below was the faint red glow of DC, who was making his way back to the surface. He’d long since dropped his disguise and was now proudly standing at the edge of the crater in all of his godly glory.

“Well? What do you think? Isn’t it amazing!” He sang out, gesturing to the destruction around him.

“Yes, wonderful. Now tell me, how in the world are we supposed to get down there?” Sandra responded sarcastically.

Unlike the other three, Sandra lacked any kind of wings. She could fly so long as she was in the afterlife, but then again so could everybody. It was one of the benefits of the place. In the mortal realm, however, she was unable to fly for any meaningful amount of time. She could use her magic in theory, but she didn’t want to risk it. She needed all the magic she could muster in case they happened to come face to face with this monster. Every ounce of it mattered.

Meridian just signed and stamped his foot on the ground. Once he did, enormous purple gems began to jet out from the sides of the cavern; trailing down in a spiral pattern. The gemstones had a relatively flat topside which could act as a staircase of sorts. All three of the gods seemed impressed. DC immediately hopped onto one of the gems and began making his descent, not waiting for the others to follow him. He was too enthralled with the beauty of the crystals. They had a faint purple glow which trailed down the cave and filled the place with a nice moody light.

Once his foot made contact with the crystal it briefly glowed bright red. The crystals changed colour with each step, matching the colour of the god who stepped on it. An unintentional side effect of such powerful magics colliding. As the gods continued to walk down the steps the entire place lit up with an array of colourful lights. Red, blue, green, and purple shadows danced to and fro as the four got lower and lower into the abyss.

Oasis became increasingly nervous as the group got lower. About halfway down she stopped walking entirely. Her visions of the future were becoming far too much for her to bear. No matter how many times they told her to stop, she couldn’t help herself. She’d spent the past 4000 years using her foresight to solve her problems, and now doing so was only causing more of them. Her hands were trembling and her breath was becoming shaky. When Oasis stopped, Sandra and Meridian did as well. The only one still trudging down the path was DC, who seemed unconcerned with her mental wellbeing. If anything, he was enjoying her torment.

“Hun, you doing ok?” Sandra asked, patting Oasis on the back. “You’re starting to lag behind.”

“I-I can’t do this.. I can’t do this. This isn’t going to work; nothing we do works! It’s a fruitless effort. Everything we do ends in one of us getting killed…” She responded shakily.

“Everything will work out in the end, my dear. You keep forgetting I’m involved with this. As long as I’m here we’ll be able to endlessly try things over.” Meridian said with a smile.

His words didn’t bring her any peace of mind, but they did manage to get her up and moving again. By the end of the hour the four of them had gotten to the very bottom of the cavern.

The ground floor of the cavern was made up of dull and colourless rocks. It all looked the same. The higher levels of the cave showed off a plethora of different kinds of rocks and minerals, but here it was the exact same. Not only was it dull, but it was dark as well. The only glimmer of light came from Meridian’s crystals, and even then the light was dull. A place so devoid of light and colour played tricks on the eye. Every now and then a shadow would dart across the room before disappearing into the stone below. They’d made considerable progress, but now they were at an impasse.

“My lord, are you sure this is it? There’s nothing here.” Meridian said, looking around at the empty cavern.

“I’m afraid so” he replied. “I can’t seem to cut through this stone. Very peculiar”

“Great. We dug this big ‘ol hole for nothing” Sandra growled.

“Well excuse me. I was only trying to help” DC snapped back.

“Both of you be quiet. This wasn’t all for naught. It’s progress.” Meridian replied calmly.

“How in the world is this progress? We’re at the bottom of a giant hole. That’s hardly progress” She muttered.

“This is good. Now we know that it’s not coming up from a cave or anything of the like, unless there’s anything beneath this layer of the world.”

Sandra stared back at Meridian angrily for a moment, but after awhile her eyes grew wide and her face dropped. It seemed as if she’d just realised something. She quickly grabbed the journal from her pocket and hastily began taking notes inside. Meridian just watched her curiously. It was obvious she’d figured something out. Now it was a matter of figuring out what it was.

“I think we should wait here.” Sandra said quietly. “I think I know where this thing’s coming from, but I need to make sure…”

“What a wonderful waste of a day!” DC exclaimed. “I was under the impression this was a time sensitive matter, and now you’re suggesting we sit here for the next four hours doing nothing?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Meridian responded. “If Sandra thinks she knows something we may as well”

DC continued to grumble a bit, but he trusted Meridian’s word. So, they sat. And they waited. For the next four hours they’d do nothing but wait for this creature to eventually make its way to the surface and potentially kill them all. Surprisingly, the first sign of the creature from this depth was far sooner than it would have been otherwise. About three or so hours into their wait a mighty thump erupted from below.

Several thumps later and the ground below them began to crack and crumble. The three winged gods immediately took to the air, Oasis grabbing Sandra under the shoulders and lifting her into the air as she did. One last monstrous thump slammed into the ceiling, and the ground beneath them crumbled into dust and rubble.

Lying beneath the now destroyed ground was the creature. It’s pure black eyes were staring back at the group, and it’s mouth opened to let out a mighty roar, but its roar this time was far weaker in volume. Instead of rupturing their eardrums and ending the world it merely gave the four a bit of a headache. The behemoth did nothing but watch and wait. It seems as if it’d been weakened by whatever it had been doing. Meridian knew they had less than an hour to do whatever it is they were going to do, so he’d need to act quickly.

Well, it seems DC was two steps ahead of everybody else. The second the dust cleared and this creature came into view he blasted it with all he had. No one, not even the creature, had time to react to this. One moment dust filled the room, and the next it was filled with red magic. Of course, this sent the behemoth into a frenzy. Right at DC’s attack made contact it retaliated by throwing its head; knocking into the sides of the cavern and causing the staircase to crumble and fall.

The brilliant gems making up the bulk of the staircase began to rain down from above. Meridian was easily able to evade the falling crystals. Dodging things was almost second nature to him at this point. If something hit him it was either because he hadn’t yet experienced that day or because he wanted something to hit him. This was not the case right now. Getting hit by a falling gemstone would only hinder his progress.

Oasis, on the other hand, had no idea how to react to a situation like this. She’d never been faced with a battle like this before, so when the gemstones began to reign down from above she was largely unprepared. She was struck by one of these gems, causing her to drop Sandra and be knocked out of the sky. Sandra fell into the pitch black darkness below, whereas Oasis managed to regain her bearings and take flight once again. She watched in horror as her dearest friend faded into nothingness.

“Well, I didn’t expect things to go down like this” Meridian muttered, before turning to Oasis. “You help DC. I’ll go get her”

Before she had the time to respond Meridian darted down into the depths of the world. Immediately upon entering he could feel an absurd amount of green magic completely take over the area. For a moment he was afraid that Sandra had been killed, but upon reaching the bottom he found her in the process of rising to her feet and dusting herself off. The green magic here seemed to be tied to whatever realm they were in.

Yes, realm. It took him a few moments to realise it but this was indeed a different realm. The afterlife, underworld, and citadel all had the same magical energies radiating from within them. This was undoubtedly a separate realm from where they just were. Meridian had never heard of anything like this before. It wasn’t often he learned something new, but whenever he did it caused a domino effect of knowledge. Yesterday, the real yesterday anyway, he had no idea any creature could even hope to rival him in terms of sheer magical energy, and now he was standing beneath this behemoth of a monster who was going to end the world in a matter of minutes.

Looking around he could see nothing but an endless void of rocks and stone. He wasn’t sure if the creature had destroyed everything or if there was simply nothing here to begin with in the first place. It was all very odd. The other three realms all had magnificent constructs and aesthetic landscapes that made them pleasing to the eye. This place was dull and drab and uninteresting.

But there was no time to look around. Above them thunderous blasts of red and blue echoed from above causing the ground below to shake violently. Meridian was about to grab Sandra and fly the two of them back upwards, but she got to him first. Sandra grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside into a bit of an alcove. She thrust her journal into his hands once they were out of view of the monster and hushed her voice.

“Listen, I don’t think I have much time to explain this. Just take a look at what I’ve written when you’ve got the chance to and…” She glances up at the chaos above them. “Please don’t get upset about it, ok?”

Meridian took the book from her hands and placed it back into his bag, blasts of magic still radiating from above. The area around them began to crumble as more and more shockwaves of energy shot through the area. After several more minutes of fighting the creature let out another mighty roar, this time expelling the blast of magic along with it. Once the light from the blast faded Meridian was once again back in his room at the tavern.

The shock and surprise of the situation dazed the god of time. It all went by so fast. Too fast. By the time he finally realised where he was it was already too late. It was 7:06. Oasis had already opened the portal with the underworld meaning DC would be inaccessible for today. It didn’t matter, though. Sandra was very thorough with her notes and she insisted he read over them. Out of all the gods Sandra was the only one of interest for this particular loop. So, knowing the meeting wasn’t going to come to fruition this go round, he remained in bed and began pawing over the most recent entry.

“Well Meridian, I’m afraid I’ve been hiding this from you from far too long. Or perhaps you already know. Either way there’s no record of me ever mentioning this within this book so I thought it’d be in all of our best interests if I were to start now. Forgive me for being secretive, but hey. We’re gods. We all have our secrets.

Several years ago now, after a one on one encounter with DC, I found myself awake in a vast and empty plane. DC had bested me in the fight, and as such he took my life. This realm is a place called “The Void”. It’s an infinitely empty realm where broken souls return to in order to become demons. The demon afterlife, if you will. Any soul that’s been infected with red magic will end up here if it’s not completely destroyed in the process.

Given my origins I too would be considered a demon, but I think it goes far further than that. Oasis, DC, and even you all have your own domain. A realm to call your own. I believe the Void is supposed to be my own, but because I take residence in the afterlife it’s been left to rot. That being said, the Void predates my own existence by several thousand years, so this is all speculation.

Upon arriving I was able to meet up with an old contact of mine named Chase. I did detail him in my book, but I never went over the full extent of our relationship. He was killed by DC’s magic several years ago and up until then I thought that was the end of it. After grouping up with him we banded back together to research the Void in its entirety. Finally see for ourselves where demons originate and how they’re made.

There was only one problem when it came to my studies. Much like the afterlife a demon has to die in order to enter the void, and much like the afterlife a demon will lose all recollection of the place upon exiting. Our system worked for documenting things. He’d make sure everything was written down so I could read over it and get context on the things he was saying or doing, but it just wasn’t enough. It’s hard to research something when you forget all of your findings once you’re done.

So, I went about things a different way. Much like DC and Oasis’ domains, there had to be a way to get in and out without having to meet the typical requirements. With the afterlife it’s dreamcatchers, and with DC’s place it’s that portal stationed in Vertgate. There had to be some way for me to enter the Void without having to die and putting the world at risk, so me and Chase put our heads together to figure it out.

What we came up with was a door. A door that, up until this last loop, we believed only I could enter and exit through. When I fell into that crevasse I saw the carnegie of my creation. The door had been completely smashed through, linking the mortal realm and the Void. This behemoth somehow managed to not only find the door, but completely break through its defenses. I take full responsibility for this mess, and I’ll take whatever punishment you see fit. But for the time being, you’ll need a guide. I’m the only one that can do that. Just show me this journal and I’ll take it from there.”

Meridian read through her words several times, trying to make absolutely sure he didn’t miss anything. All of this information had hit him like a ton of bricks! If there was one thing Meridian hated, it was not knowing something. He wanted to know what this “Void” was, and he wanted to know why and how Sandra kept it so secretive. Nothing had ever deliberately been kept from him like this before. Sure, not everyone is too keen on spilling their guts to some stranger when they first meet, but they always come around in the end.

It was 7:28 now. Sylvana’s letter would be coming through at any moment. He’d already wasted too much of today sitting and reading this journal. He had to enter the Afterlife and start questioning Sandra on her findings. The sooner he could get this done the sooner he could start the meeting once more and finally find a way to put an end to this wretched day. Just as expected, Oasis was not in the afterlife when he arrived. Sandra was waiting for her in the hall of records, so Meridian made his way over there to finally have a chat with this secretive lesser god.

The initial shock was the same as before, but things largely smoothed over once Meridian handed Sandra her journal once again. At least, everything was going fine until she reached the most recent entry. He could see her tail droop and her face go blank as she scanned through the lines of text. It was obvious to him this was something she never intended on telling anybody. Not even himself. She continued to stare blankly at the page for a while after finishing reading.

“So,” Meridian began. “You’ve managed to keep this hidden from me for god knows how long. Mind finally filling me in?”

“I… I’m sorry about all of this… I’m so sorry…” She responded quietly, unsure of what to expect.

“There’s no need to be sorry. This isn’t your fault. No one could have seen this coming”

“Oasis could have, if I’d have just told her…”

“No, I don’t think she would.” Meridian said firmly. “A creature like this is anything but natural. There’s something more to this that I’ve yet to figure out. That’s why I need your help. I’d like you to take me to the Void so we can see this thing for ourselves”

“I guess” Sandra muttered. “But what about Oasis? I’m supposed to be meeting here at-”

“Irrelevant. Today will loop and this adventure of ours will have never happened. You can come with me with no real consequence. Oasis will be just fine.”

Meridian smiled at Sandra. Her face was still blatantly plastered with confusion and concern, but she seemed to believe Meridian’s words. So, reluctantly, she pulled the dreamcatcher from her pocket and threw it at the wall; causing a portal to the mortal realm to open. On the other side of the portal was a small dark cave illuminated by a stone door with glowing green runes on it. The runes resembled a typical summoning circle, but this one was made of green magic instead of red. The door glowed brighter as Sandra got closer.

Of course, Meridian had his own journal out immediately; taking as many notes as possible on this door and the circumstances surrounding it. It was fascinating. For someone so dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge this was wildly exciting. He didn’t let on to this fact, though. The situation was still very serious, and the stakes were insanely high, but he couldn’t help but feel giddy at the sight of this mysterious new world.

Sandra placed her hand onto the surface of the door. As she did, the green runes began to glow brighter. By the time the door finally creaked open the glow was almost white with magical energy. When it was fully charged it lazily swung open. On the other side of this door was a cliffside. It made sense given how far underground this place appeared to be. Putting this door near the highest point would make it much harder to get to. Not that that mattered right now, though. The door’s location was arbitrary at the end of the day.

The pair made their way through the door and down a long jagged staircase that was almost indistinguishable from the regular rocky terrain. If you didn’t know such a thing was there, you’d never be able to find it no matter how hard you looked. Of course, Meridian didn’t bother learning the staircase. He could simply fly up and down whenever he needed to. Sandra definitely wasn’t too pleased with this, but she said nothing. Her envy wasn’t important right now. What was important was stopping this threat.

It took them about two hours, but eventually they ended up at the edge of a large tower-like structure. It twisted and turned in an odd manner; looking almost like a labyrinth in and of itself. The outside of the building was made of the same dull grey stone as everything else here, but it was lined with brilliant green stained-glass windows and speckled with jade. A bit showy, for someone like Sandra, but at the same time she never half assed anything she did. This construct obviously had a lot of effort put into it. Effort that only someone like Sandra would bother with.

“Tell me, Sandra, where are we going?” Meridian asked as he was led inside; already having his journal at the ready to note down anything she said “I thought we were looking for this… Beast”

“You remember my contact, right? Well, he lives here. If anyone has any information on this thing it’ll be him. No doubt about it” Sandra replied confidently

“So this is his house?”

“No. It’s my base of operations down here. We just thought it’d be best if he stayed here as well. Bit of a safety measure”

“Ah, I see. Very interesting, very interesting”

Meridian noted down everything Sandra was telling him. Most people would consider it rude to write so intently rather than paying attention, but Sandra didn’t seem to mind. She was the same way, after all. Always taking notes and writing in journals. No wonder she was Meridian’s favourite. She showed great promise, despite being the youngest of the gods.

Walking up the stairs of this tower Meridian could see rows upon rows of files. Filing cabinets, desks, shelves. Anything and everything that could store paperwork. All of the furniture in this place was that of brown, black, and green. Very elegant, but plain at the same time. Fitting for someone like her. All of the gods shaped their domains in their own image. Sandra was no different.

Eventually they made it to a large, open room. It was structured like that of a standard office. There was a large desk near the back with more cabinets behind it. In front of the desk was a set of chairs; two to be exact. There was also a few documents and paintings hung on the walls, as well as decorative plants and rugs scattered throughout the area. It was a very nice and inviting place.

Sitting behind the desk was a demon. His face looked very human, but his body was that of a monstrous beast. Almost as if someone had taken his head and stitched it to the first monstrosity they could find. He was still bipedal in nature, but his posture was twisted and awkward. Despite this, he seemed to have a pretty good handle on his body. The demon was easily able to navigate around the room, write, and do pretty much anything anyone else could. Sandra smiled slightly once she saw him.

“Chase!” She called out, getting the demon’s attention. “I’m glad you’re here. We have a few questions for you”

“Oh, Sandra!” Chase replied, hastily putting away whatever he was working on and sitting upright. “What are you doing here? Isn’t today the second?”

“Yes, it is. Sorry for the surprise visit but we have an urgent matter to attend to”

Sandra ushered Meridian over to the desk and the two of them took a seat in the chairs in front of it, Chase sitting across from them. He was very obviously confused and uncomfortable looking at Meridian. No one had ever accompanied Sandra on her visits before. No one like this, anyway. It was almost as if he didn’t know what to make of the man.

In an instant Chase’s feral instincts took over his body. He leaned over the side of the desk to look Meridian up and down; sniffing him in the process. He didn’t smell like a demon, that’s for sure. That, and he had a magical aura that far surpassed Sandra’s. Someone like him could easily be a threat, but Sandra didn’t seem concerned, so Chase begrudgingly stopped his investigation. Chase knew Sandra could keep herself safe, but he still felt the need to make sure of it. There was no telling what this guy could do, and he could easily be manipulating her like DC had in the past.

“So, what’s this about exactly? And who is this… Person” Chase asked, not taking his eyes off Meridian.

“It’s hard to explain, but long story short: the world is ending, and we’re here to put a stop to it” Sandra replied.

“Perhaps you should show him your journal” Meridian suggested, returning Chase’s stare. “Unless he’s not wont for reading in his current state. I haven’t spoken with Chase since his demise I’m afraid. I don’t know how he’s changed over the years”

Chase cocked his head in confusion. He’d never met Meridian before, but Meridian had met him. He’d met everyone, so long as they lived in the mortal realm. That said, up until now Meridian was convinced that anyone who’d died at the hands of DC’s magic was gone for good. Not even their souls made it into the Afterlife. Now, however, he’d been proved wrong. There was a lot of research to be done on this place, but all of that could wait. For now they had to focus on the task at hand.

Sandra handed her journal over to Chase for him to read over. He was significantly slower at reading than the gods were, although that was to be expected. Usually in the case of mortals Meridian would flip to the most recent few pages instead of having them start at the beginning, and then allow them to glance through the rest later. After about 5 minutes of reading he used his magic to flip through the pages until he was looking at the one from the last loop. Chase was annoyed at being interrupted like this, but it was all in good faith. There was no time for him to read the entire thing.

His face dropped as he finished the current entry. If it were Meridian telling him this he never would have believed it, but because these words were coming from Sandra the situation was taken seriously. It took him several moments to fully process what he’d read, but once he had he immediately jumped into action. He rose from his chair and started pacing around the room.

“I knew something strange was up. I just knew it!” Chase said aloud. “There’s been a lot of earthquakes over the past day or so. I knew something was strange about them. We never get earthquakes down here”

“Earthquakes?” Meridian asked. “Where are they coming from?”

“No idea” He responded, still pacing around. “You’d have to wait and see for yourself.”

“By chance has one happened today?”

“Yeah, quite a few. But I don’t usually investigate things like that. I’ve got important work to do down here. There’s no need to put myself in danger like that unless there's a good reason for it.”

“And there is good reason for it.”

The group waited around for a while, continuing to discuss the events of the day and planning on what they should do next. Meridian made sure to take note of Chase’s behaviours as they did so. Knowing what to expect would smooth things over the next go around, and that was integral to their success. But for now all they could really do was wait. Chase had given pretty accurate timestamps as to when the earthquakes would occur, but that wouldn’t help them today. They just had to wait and see what the day had in store for them.

After several hours of waiting and theorizing, an earthquake finally occurred. From what Chase had told them, this one seemed to be far closer than the others. If it were the creature behind this, it was beginning to draw near. Meridian wasted no time making his way over to the source of the quakes. Chase seemed hesitant to follow at all, but once Sandra began to leave he tagged along as well. Not like it mattered. He wouldn’t be of much use to the group if things went south. None of them would be if the creature was as powerful as it was at the end of the day. The earthquakes got closer and closer; a sign they were going the right way. Eventually the group found themselves back at the door to the Void. Only this time they weren’t alone.

The behemoth was making its way up the cliffside as they arrived, it’s massive clawed hands digging into the stone below it. It cut through the stone as easily as someone’s foot might sink into the mud. Seeing a creature of this size tear through the earth was a sight to behold. No one had ever seen anything like this before. One thing that Meridian made sure to take note of was the creature’s size. It appeared far smaller than it was during the previous encounters, although it’s body was rapidly growing in size as it clawed away at the mountainside; trying to break through the door separating the void from the mortal realm. It hadn’t yet reached it’s full power. This was something they could take advantage of.

Meridian sat idly by as the creature dug, taking notes about it’s anatomy and behaviour as he did so. Sandra seemed equally as enthralled by the thing, whereas Chase seemed just about ready to run away. Still, all three sat in silence and watched. Meridian knew they wouldn’t stand a chance in combat. Not while the creature was in this state, anyway. If he could just figure out where it came from he may be able to reach it before it became too powerful. If only he knew where this power was coming from. It had to be drawing it from somewhere. Magic like this doesn’t manifest itself out of thin air, that’s for sure.

After several minutes of watching, the creature reared its body back and ran into the wall at full force, causing the entire area to tremble. This must have been what it did yesterday, right before breaking through the door and digging its way to the surface. It reared back several more times, headbutting the door harder with each attempt. Just as expected, it eventually broke through and began making its way to the surface world to cause an end to the day once again. Both Sandra and Chase knew what was about to happen, but Chase didn’t seem entirely convinced of Meridian’s power. He became increasingly agitated the further up the creature dug, pleading for Meridian to do something to stop it. His pleas eventually stopped as a familiar white hot beam of light enveloped the area. Meridian found himself once again back at the Tavern, just as always.

Now that Meridian knew how to get into the Void without Sandra’s help, he decided it would be best if today he went in alone to try and figure out where this monster started it’s day. If he was lucky, he’d be able to put a stop to this once and for all, but only if he could get there in time. Hastily he made his way to the door separating the two realms from each other. The day prior Sandra had used her own magic to open it, but today Meridian’s would have to make due. It was far more powerful anyway. There was no doubt in his mind he’d be able to open the door.

The door shone bright green as he put his hand up to it, but promptly shifted it’s palette to purple once his magic began channeling into it. It swung open with a significant amount of force in only a matter of seconds; far faster and stronger than yesterday. An unintended side effect of his more powerful type of magic. Either way, once he’d gotten inside he shut the door behind him and jetted off in search of the creature’s lair.

Just as Chase described, there were earthquakes very early in the day. One at 8:42, 9:07, and 9:24. All three of them were extremely far away from where they’d first seen the creature. Meridian was certain that it’d spent the majority of the day making its way towards the door, so there was quite a long way to fly. The journey was long and tiring, but he pushed on nonetheless. He didn’t have any other choice. Teleportation was always an option, but you can’t teleport somewhere unless you know where it is. Sure, it’d cause a spike in magic, but at this point Meridian didn’t care if remnants of his magic persisted through the day. You couldn’t leave the Void without forgetting it anyway, so a demon or two becoming aware of his existence meant nothing.

10:23 was when Meridian finally encountered the creature. It’s body was significantly smaller than even yesterday; only reaching the size of a large elephant. Alongside it’s smaller size, it’s overall appearance was different as well. The pure white skin with colourful iridescent veins had turned an opaque grey with no colour in sight. All that remained of its previous appearance was its pitch black eyes, teeth, and claws. That, and the immense amount of power that radiated from within it. There was no mistaking power like this. Its magical signature was just as distinct as the gods.

As the creature walked it let its mouth hang open. A thick, white drool dripped from it every hundred steps or so. When the slobber made contact with the ground it caused the entire area to shake violently; no doubt the source of the earthquakes. But why did it cause them? Meridian didn’t know, but it didn’t matter right now. It was in a weaker state now; the perfect time to attack. Meridian had to make his move now, before it became too powerful to handle.

Channeling his energy, Meridian summoned a pair of twin scythes from his bag. The blade of the scythes was made of a deep purple crystal that glowed brilliantly while in Meridian’s hands. The handle was long, and it had a slot to connect the two into one weapon at what was usually the bottom of the scythes. Right now, though, he had the two of them separate; holding one in each hand.

A wave of purple light trailed the weapon as he swung it downwards with all his might. It struck the creature right on its back, which caused it to screech in agony. He pulled the blade out of the creature just in time for it to pull back and shoot a blast of white energy directly at him. The blast hit Meridian dead on, knocking him out of the sky and causing his skin to bubble and melt. A careless mistake, but one he wouldn’t make tomorrow. Despite the pain he was still alive. Alive enough to keep fighting. So, he used his other hand to swing the second scythe at the creature while he still had the strength too.

The creature let out another horrid roar as the blade struck, but this time Meridian found himself unable to remove it. It wasn’t for lack of trying either. The creature’s body quite literally absorbed the magic that made up the weapon until it was gone completely. As it did this, it’s body began to grow and warp. Meridian could see its skin stretch out to cover it’s new size, becoming whiter and more transparent as it did so. It still wasn’t anywhere near the size it’d become later, but it resembled that form even more now. This time, though, it’s veins looked more purple than anything else. Obviously a side effect of Meridian’s magic which was now circulating its system.

Once again the monster let out another blast of energy, this time finishing Meridian off. He awoke back at the tavern a bit angry with himself, but he didn’t allow himself to wallow in self hatred for too long. Instead, he took out his notebook and began detailing the fight. If he could memorize the demon’s tactics he could more easily overpower it and take it down. Power like that doesn’t help if it can’t hit anything. Once he finished his writing he immediately made his way back to the door in order to try again; this time teleporting right to where he was before upon entering the void.

It was far earlier in the morning than when he met it yesterday. The creature had yet to make it here, but Meridian knew the direction of the earthquakes. He was easily able to locate the creature, which in turn saved him time on subsequent loops. As before he engaged this beast in combat, and as before he wound up getting himself killed. Over and over he repeated this battle, each time learning more about the creature and it’s behaviours. At a certain point he knew the exact second it’d discharge it’s blasts of energy, but even that wasn’t enough. The creature seemingly absorbed whatever hits it took, which in turn made it more powerful. At a certain point Meridian realized that this was all for naught. No matter how he approached the battle he only found himself defeated in the end. Perhaps battling it directly wasn’t the answer. There were other ways to take down a foe, he just had to find them.

Seeing as violence wasn’t the answer, at least not as of right now, Meridian waited out the day until the next loop began so he could talk to Oasis. He would have done this loop, but he spent far too long in his room pondering what to do next. It was well past 7:02 at this point, and he didn’t want to deal with the aftermath of Oasis and DC’s little chat. Oasis’ mental state was very fragile, and it’d be more effort to snap her out of her breakdown than it would be to just wait out the day and catch her tomorrow. Plus, Meridian needed a bit of a break himself. Overexerting himself would only be detrimental in the end. So, he decided to live out this loop the same way any other mortal would. It’d be a nice change of pace.

The day was spent in Astra, chatting with the locals and getting feedback on his plans thus far. Typically he’d never make his presence widely known like this, but Meridian figured it’d be ok for today. It’s not like his actions had any consequences anyway. As long as he remained invisible to the world on the day that’d end up set in the timeline things would be ok. Plus, mortals often had interesting ways of solving problems. Things Meridian would never come up with on his own regardless of how many loops he lived out. It was always good to have a fresh set of eyes look over something every now and then.

Eventually the clock reached 6:00. As much as he didn’t want today to end, he hadn’t done anything to prevent it from doing so. The creature once again erupted from the ground and unleashed the world ending shockwave into the air. Meridian had prepared himself for it this time, so when he found himself in his room once again he was able to immediately make his way to the Afterlife in order to prevent Oasis from kickstarting today's turmoil. She was taken aback, as always, but a quick refresher with her journal would solve everything.

“So, Oasis” Meridian said once she’d finished reading. “I need your advice on all of this. I’ve faced this thing about a hundred times and each attempt ends in failure. It’s gotten to a point where I don’t believe killing it is the right way to go about things. At least, not like this. What do you think?”

Oasis sat and thought over things for a while. Her eyes glowed bright blue; telling Meridian she was looking into the future. She continued this for quite some time, looking into an unknown amount of timelines. While he had quite a bit of experience with her powers in the past he was still unsure just how many visions she could see in a set amount of time. It was dependent on so many different factors that the only way he’d know for sure was to take over her powers and see for himself. Eventually her eyes grew dim and her visions stopped.

“Well, you’re right about that. Killing it only ends in disaster” Oasis said quietly, shaken up by what she’d seen.

“Please tell me you saw more than just that” Meridian asked, a bit disheartened.

“I did, but nothing I can come up with works. It only delays the inevitable…”

“Delays? By how much?” He asked, perking up at her words.

“Not by long. Only a few hours. Nothing of any real significance”

“Quite the contrary, my dear friend. Anything that causes a delay is worth looking into. Tell me, now, what happens in these particular loops?” Meridian pulled out his journal, ready to write down anything she’d say.

“Well… In one of my visions I saw the three of us gods, as well as a figure I couldn’t really make out. I believe it was you from what you’ve told me before. Anyway, instead of fighting the monster directly we got it to, uh. Weaken itself? If that’s the right way to put it…”

“Weaken itself? How?” He asked, writing down what she’d just told him.

“That probably isn’t the best way to put it, but we managed to divide its attention long enough for it to deplete its power. It’s mana is relatively low from the looks of it, but it has an insane amount of stamina. It doesn’t take long for it to restore its magic and finish us off once and for all…”

“This is good. This is really good, don’t sound disheartened.” Meridian smiled at Oasis and patted her on the head softly. “I can use this to my advantage. Now, is there any way we can prevent it from replenishing its power? That may be out only saving grace”

“I don’t know… I’ve never used my powers in such a manner before. Relics aren’t really my thing”

“I see. Well, you’ve been a big help nonetheless. I’m sure I’ll wind up here once again so if you would”

Meridian slid Oasis’ journal over to her for her to write down this conversation. She’d never been the greatest at remembering to take notes, but that was to be expected. Oasis was always a bit frazzled given her workload. She was in charge of keeping the afterlife up and running, after all. Once she’d finished her notes Meridian bid her farewell and exited the afterlife. There was still a nice chunk of the day left; enough time for him to return to the citadel and gather potentially useful information.

While magic items may not be Oasis’ cup of tea, Meridian was well versed in creating them. Relics and potions were the safest way to use his magic after all. He knew for a fact that nothing he had currently would be able to help him in any meaningful way, but perhaps he had notes for an old or abandoned project that could give him ideas. He’d toyed with thousands of ideas for magical items in the past; many of which being outlandish or absurd. Of course, all of the ones he settled on were practical in their use, but that didn’t stop him from messing around with ideas every now and then.

He had several ways to transfer a curse or spell from one object to another, essentially moving its magic somewhere else, but he’d never been able to do this on a large scale. In the past he’d tried stripping both Oasis and DC of their power, but all of his attempts ended in failure. Stripping this beast of its magic may be out of the question, but he’d never know unless he tried. He could also do something in the same vein as Oasis’ manacles, but that’d require a constant stream of equally powerful magic to nullify the creature. It may be out of the realm of possibility.

Meridian was able to gather quite a lot of useful information from his trip to the citadel. Notes about old projects paired with his current research sparked quite a few ideas. It’d certainly take a lot more trial and error, but he felt he was on the right track. It was only a matter of time before this wretched day would finally be brought to a real end. An end that’d allow the society he’d ever so subtly helped along continue to flourish.

So, with all of his notes in one place Meridian once again initiated the meeting of the gods. He had far more information now than he did the past few times, so he figured that now would be the best time. Like before, none of them were all that ecstatic to be there. Sandra would much rather be catching up on her ever growing pile of work, and DC would rather be literally anywhere else than the place he’d been imprisoned for a few hundred years. Still, they’d all read their journals and they all knew what was at stake. They could play along once more for the sake of the world. Or in DC’s case, for the sake of his own survival.

“Thank you again for being here,” Meridian said, fully aware none of them could remember the past encounters. “I’ve gotten a significant amount of work done on my own, but I don’t think I’ll be able to go any further with this plan of mine without your help”

He took the old notes and plans out of his bag and laid them out on the table for the others to look through. It was a lot of notes, but it’d all be worth it in the end. If they got even one good idea from all of this it could be enough to save the world. They just had to think, and think hard.

Oasis picked up a set of papers she was familiar with. The papers detailed a set of rocks, one red and one blue, that were created to store vast amounts of magic. These stones in particular were the things she and DC had stumbled upon in their youth; the things that made them ascend into godhood. She didn’t dwell on her past too often. It wasn’t good for her mental state to fret over things she couldn’t change. Now, however, looking back on her past brought forth several ideas.

“Meridian” She began, sounding unsure of herself. “You made these rocks?”

“Ah, yes. Those. One of my biggest failures” He muttered in reply, not sure where she was going with that statement.

“Heh.. Right. Anyway, do you think we could do something like this? But with more, uh.. Precautions put in place.”

“Oasis, darling” DC sang out in a condescending tone. “A silly rock isn’t going to help us. Believe me, I’ve toyed with such a concept before. It all goes downhill the second someone touches the thing.”

“I hate to say this, but I agree with him” Sandra chimed in. “A rock isn’t secure. There’s no real way to prevent someone from using its magic”

“Note to self: The gods have an affinity for rocks” Meridian said to himself as he took notes on the conversation. It was a strange coincidence indeed.

“Ok, maybe not a rock. But I really think this idea has some merit to it. A vessel to store vast amounts of magic. It can’t be that outlandish, can it?” Oasis asked.

“I don’t think you get it,” DC snapped. “If this absurd amount of power is all stored in one place there’s nothing to stop anyone from strolling by and taking it for themselves! Believe me. Something as dangerous as this needs to be destroyed completely.”

“Instead of destroying it, why doesn't Meridian discharge it at a safe rate?” Sandra suggested. “I mean, think about it. The only reason this demon’s so dangerous is because it has all this magic all at once. If it were to be used up slowly, in a safe manner, the magic would dispel and dissolve until there was nothing left to use”

“So you’re suggesting we store all of this power inside of a relic and then drain it over time?” Meridian affirmed.

“Yes! Exactly.” Sandra explained

“And how can we be sure Meridian won’t just use this power for himself?” DC questioned angrily. “Power like this can get to someone’s head.”

“Sounds like you’re talking from experience there, DC” Sandra muttered.

“He won't.” Oasis said, cutting DC and Sandra off before this turned into an argument. “Believe me, he won’t.”

“Uh huh, right. Tell me, darling, how do you know this? Your powers don’t work right when it comes to him.” DC asked.

“Because the future isn’t absolute anymore, dear” Oasis said quietly.

Hearing this really caught Meridian’s attention. Up until now all of their plans ended in complete and utter failure. Whether they were using Oasis’ foresight or Meridian’s loops, nothing they did changed the absolute Oasis had seen this morning. Now, however, one of their plans had the ability to change her visions. The future wasn’t absolute, meaning there were a few routes they could take to prevent the end of the world. They were approaching the end of this journey, and approaching it fast.

“There’s only one problem, though” She continued. “I can’t see what happens to the relic after it's made. I can see many different futures with many different relics, but once they leave my sights they’re seemingly gone forever. A side effect of Meridian’s power, I believe”

“That sounds about right,” Meridian replied. “If I’m the one taking the relic you have no way to track it. And if you can’t track it, we have no way to tell if it’ll work long term.”

“So you’re saying this entire thing is a gamble?” DC asked. His voice sounded less angry now, with a bit of genuine concern mixed in.

“I’m afraid so…” Oasis whispered, not wanting to admit it.

“If that’s the case, why don’t we do things this way.” Meridian said, pulling out a few stray pieces of paper. “Write down everything we try in the futures we survive. Once we have a list, we can all discuss the mechanics of each and decide together what one will work best. Things may still be left to chance in the end, but it raises our odds of success.”

With all of that said, Oasis began writing down everything she could that may lead to their success. The list was considerably large in the beginning, but with Sandra’s help they were able to group similar items together until they had a smaller list of more generalized items. It certainly made narrowing things down a lot easier. The list had several different items on it. Everything from chests to beakers. Everything on the list had a common theme; that theme being that they could all store things temporarily. This would theoretically allow Meridian to expend the magic inside over time, just as they’d planned. With everything written down and sorted out, the gods could finally get down to choosing the best item for the task. With much discussion and argument, they eventually settled on something.

It was a teapot. Some would think it’s plain and ordinary, but most relics started as regular everyday objects. Hell, three of the four gods had decided to use straight up rocks as a relic, so a teapot really wasn’t all that farfetched. The magic could be stored inside of it safely, and when it was time to expel some of it it’d be easily poured out. Unlike a regular teapot, they’d also be able to prevent it from spilling accidentally. An item like this could easily be limited in such a way where only the gods could use it. That way if it happened to get lost a mortal wouldn’t accidentally open pandora's box and end the world once again.

Now that it was decided, the gods banded together to gather everything needed to create such a relic. Items like this can’t be made with magic alone. Other material components would be needed to ensure the teapot would work as intended. Magic would be required, and all of the gods would have to chip in, but it wasn’t the sole piece to this puzzle. Sandra, DC, and Meridian all exited the afterlife in order to gather these items. Oasis could have tagged along as well, but Meridian knew she’d be of no use here. She didn’t know how to navigate the mortal realm, so there’d be no way for her to find anything they needed. She wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Once they had everything in one place the gods could get to work. It was 4:00 now. There were only two hours left until the end of the world. If they couldn’t get things done this go around Meridian would have to waste another day on this. He could if needed, but given what they’d discussed in person this loop he felt it’d be best if they could finish it here and now. That way there’d be no misunderstandings that were often brought on by Meridian’s time loops.

With everything laid out in place, all four of the gods began to channel their power into the teapot. Brilliant rays of red, blue, green, and purple shot out from the area; painting the afterlife with magical dancing lights. It was spectacular! Truly a sight to behold. The gods weren’t paying attention to the spectacle, though. They were all far too focused on making absolutely sure this relic came out right. The slightest mix up could cause the entire thing to fail, subsequently ending the world as a result. It was a lot of pressure.

The teapot rose slowly into the air as swirling beams of colour circled it. All of the magic congealed into a bright ball of white light that kept growing brighter, and brighter, and brighter. After several minutes of this, it rang with a high pitched metallic “pling”, and a shockwave of excess energy shot out from within it. The bright light shot out with this wave, blinding everyone in the area temporarily. It wasn’t until the light faded that the gods could see their handiwork.

Sitting in front of them was a beautifully sculpted ceramic teapot. It’s finish was smooth and glittery, with swirling bands of red, blue, and purple which gave off a tie dye effect. It almost looked like an endless galaxy of swirls. Stemming from the base of the pot were three spouts which stood on top of each other vertically, each of which curved just right to ensure the magic inside wouldn’t just dump out. The top was capped with a small but beautifully crafted lid that would hold everything inside. It certainly looked nice, but they had no way to know it’d work unless they tested it.

But this is where Meridian would have to go into this alone. He’d greatly appreciated the help of his allies, but in order to ensure his existence stayed secret he’d have to stop this beast himself and live to tell the tale. If what he was going to do would really work, he wouldn’t have to worry about Oasis talking to DC and causing him to go on a rampage. She only talked to him in the first place because she was sure the world was going to end. If this plan was going to work, she wouldn’t see the end of the world and wouldn’t confide in DC as a result.

Meridian placed the newly made relic into his bag, along with the three journals and all of their notes. As long as these items were in his bag they’d come with him through the loops. Going through all of this trouble only to lose the relic at the very end would have been a disaster, so Meridian made sure to triple check that it was there before doing what he was going to do next.

“I’d like to thank you all greatly for your help over the past few loops.” Meridian said, clapping his hands together in order to get everyone’s attention. “You may not remember it in the end, but I’d still like to do something for you all.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” Sandra asked.

“A subtle change in the timeline. Something you’ll each appreciate, but that you won’t be able to trace back to me. It’s only fair, given all you’ve done. I never would have been able to do this without you.”

“Oh, there’s really no need for that dear” Oasis said. “I think the peace of mind knowing the world will remain in balance is enough for me”

“Perhaps. But you would have never known the world was in peril in the first place. I’d feel bad leaving you with nothing after all you’ve done. It’s more for me than it is you”

“Ah, I see. Well if that’s the case I guess I can’t refuse.”

“If that’s the case. DC? Would you come here for a moment”

Meridian ushered a very confused DC to his side and pulled out his journal. He flipped to one of the more recent pages and let him read over it. On this page DC had detailed a conversation between him and Meridian. More specifically, it was the promise he’d made to the lesser god. The promise to let him end Oasis’ reign once and for all on a subsequent loop. Most people would think this would be a terrible way to end the day, especially considering everything Oasis had done for him, but in the end no one would remember it. No one but DC, who’d remember the event as a dream with Meridian’s permission.

DC grinned maniacally as Meridian told him his plan; whispering it so only he could hear. He looked like he’d just won the lottery. Sandra and Oasis could do nothing but watch idly as he danced around with excitement. They’d never seen him happy like this before, which only confused them further. Before they had time to ask any questions, Meridian placed his hand on DC’s forehead and more or less supercharged him with purple magic energy. Enough energy to allow him to wipe both Oasis and Sandra off the face of Mirror Domain in a single blast.

This wasn’t all Meridian intended to do, but Oasis and Sandra’s gifts couldn’t be given until after the day reset. Doing this for DC was half a way to repay him and half a way to end the day before 6:00. Meridian was done being murdered by this monster. Ending the day this way was a subtle way to take control of the situation. If today could only end with his death, he was at least going out on his own terms.

DC laughed wildly as he jetted into the air; spinning around in a show offish manner before swooping down to his adversary and expelling a blast of red magic unlike anything anyone had seen before. Meridian stood to the side of all this, resting his hands behind his back and smiling at his handiwork. It was over before it began. Oasis and Sandra wouldn’t have known what hit them even if they did remember that loop. Once the red faded, Meridian was back in the tavern. Hopefully this time would be the last.

Meridian had repaid DC for his help, but he still had two more things to do before ending today for good. He’d planned this beforehand, so when he found himself in the Tavern once more he wasted no time in jumping out of bed and grabbing one last thing before rushing back to the Afterlife. Oasis’ gift would be simple, but something that’d be much appreciated. The nature of her job made her constantly overworked and stressed. Her mental state was a natural side effect of this. Meridian was going to give her a break from her work, even if it were just for a few hours.

He from previous loops that the afterlife would be fine if Oasis was gone for a few hours. In the previous few loops she’d be out of the Afterlife completely for over an hour with no real detriment. So, even though he was sure she’d stay up here, Meridian snuck up behind her and used his magic to make her fall asleep. A break from the stress, even if it were only for a few hours. He made sure she’d be comfortable and out of the way before taking off to drop one last thing off at Sandra’s desk.

Sandra never really wanted to be a god. Her ascension was more or less a fluke. Something that was never meant to happen, yet happened anyway. She still wanted to take part in mortal pleasures, despite her newfound responsibility. So, a more literal gift was in order for her. Meridian had taken a large bag of coffee from the tavern he’d been waking up at all these loops. Coffee had always been one of her favourite things, but something she couldn’t easily acquire due to the nature of her job. He knew Sandra would appreciate this, even if she didn’t know where it came from or why.

With all that said and done, it was time to end this. Meridian had his relic, so not wanting to waste anymore time he brought himself back to the Void’s entrance and opened the door. Once inside, he teleported himself straight to the behemoth. It was 7:14 by the time he got there. The monster had gotten fourteen minutes to build its power, but Meridian was confident in his abilities. With his relic in hand, those fourteen minutes would mean nothing in the end. The creature was going to be brought down, no matter the cost.

As expected, the creature wasn’t happy about being stopped. It reared its head back and screeched at Meridian, shooting a blast of energy at him in the process. Meridian had fought this thing enough times to know exactly what it was going to do and when. He grabbed the newly made relic from his bag and opened the lid. Instead of hitting him directly, the majority of the blast got sucked down into the chamber of the teapot. The relic was working as intended! Now all Meridian could do was hope his own abilities would be able to carry him long enough to defeat this thing.

Blast after blast was shot at Meridian, each of the, getting sucked into the relic upon impact. It definitely wasn’t perfect. Meridian was still taking a considerable amount of damage from the impacts. Just because the magic was getting sucked into the relic didn’t mean he wasn’t literally getting hit by a projectile. Each blast knocked him from the sky, and several caused him to slam against the walls of the Void or against the ground below him. He was getting scuffed and scraped as he got thrown around the area. Despite the pain, he pushed on. He could tell the behemoth was slowly depleting its power over the course of the attack. It couldn’t go on like this forever.

That said, this creature wasn’t stupid. After seeing the tenth or so blast get sucked into Meridian’s little relic it slowed down on the magic based attacks and switched to something more physical. While its magic was its main source of power, it was still an enormous beast with claws sharp enough to cut through stone and jaws strong enough to bite through steel. It was well equipped for this fight. Better equipped than Meridian was.

He hadn’t expected the creature to change tactics like this. Their past fights never alluded to this fact, although in hindsight he’d never survived long enough to see how it’d react in a situation such as this. Meridian still had a bit of an ace up his sleeve, though. Not only could he fly, but he could still use his magic to shield himself. Attacking the demon with his magic was out of the question, as its body would just absorb it, but using it defensively never had any ill effects. Hell, if he didn’t use it to protect himself he’d never be able to win this fight. After hours of this, Meridian could tell the monster was on its last leg. It hadn’t used its magic in quite some time, but he could still sense it within it. No doubt it was saving what little power it had left as a last resort.

The creature reared its head back and prepared to let out another screech. Meridian was sure this was his chance to finally catch the last of its power, so he braced himself for impact as he held the relic in front of him in order to catch it. But, much to his surprise, it didn’t shoot another attack. The creature let out a deafening screech, but no blast of any sort came out of its mouth. This had caught him off guard. It’d never done anything like this before. Perhaps it was weaker than he’d first thought?

Or maybe, it was a fake out. In the second it took Meridian to process what had just happened, the creature charged at him full force; knocking him out of the sky and right into the stone below. He hit the ground hard. Hard enough to further daze him. Before he had the chance to rise to his feet the behemoth brought one of its front legs down on him, effectively pinning him to the ground. Meridian didn’t have the strength to fight back, and using any of his magic to fend off the creature would only draw this fight out longer. He was at a complete loss. There was no easy way out of this.

While it still had him pinned, the creature reared its head back one last time. This time, Meridian could see the white hot ball of energy growing in its mouth. It lowered his head to his level, allowing Meridian to see the attack building up close and personal. If this blast hit him it was game over. He’d be put right back at the tavern, and all of this would be for naught. He couldn’t allow this to happen! Today was going to be the last June 2nd he’d see in a long time. He was going to make sure of it. In a last ditch effort to save himself, Meridian took the relic and threw it directly into the monster’s gaping maw. If the lid was off it’d still absorb any magic the creature still had inside of it.

It was an easy shot. The relic sailed right into its mouth and down its throat. Seconds later, the creature let out a screech of agony and stepped back. As it did, its weight shifted and the hand pinning him to the ground began to crush his lower half. The claws on its hand dug into his stomach as well, and a thick purple blood began to seep out of the wounds. It was agonizing, but he was still alive. If he could just hold on until the end of the day he could return to the citadel and heal himself. He just had to hold on for a little bit longer.

The creature’s mouth shut abruptly as it continued to stumble backwards. Meridian wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but it all became clear in an instant. The relic was trying to suck the remaining magic inside, but the creature’s body was inherently made of magic. Because of this, the relic was more or less vacuuming the beast inside of it from the inside. It’s stomach began to sink in, and its skin began to warp and tear as it imploded in on itself. It was a gruesome sight to behold. Thick black blood spattered every which way as the creature’s body finally gave out and got fully sucked inside of its final resting place. It took less than a minute, but it was finally over. Meridian had finally won.

He’d won the battle, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. His injuries would prove to be fatal unless he took care of them promptly. So, with no time left to waste, Meridian stumbled to his feet and scooped up the relic. Once it was safely in his possession he put the lid back in its rightful place and tucked the relic back into his bag. Then he slowly and painfully stumbled his way out of the Void and back to his home in the citadel. It was refreshing to see his home like this. There was no death or destruction lingering from DC’s attack, as he didn’t get the chance to in this loop. His home was just as he’d left it. Nice, quiet, and pristine.

Normally Meridian kept his relationship with his underlings distant, but in this case he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make it any further without help. He’d have a lot of explaining to do, but he trusted Sylvana with this information. If he didn’t trust her, she wouldn’t be working for him. It was that simple. With the little energy he had left he made his way over to the Citadel entrance where she often was. The second she came into view Meridian allowed himself to collapse. He knew she wouldn’t let him die. Not unless he wanted her too.

“Meridian!” Sylvana screamed, running over to him.

“Hello, Sylvana” He said weakly. “Nice to see you again”

“What the hell happened to you?! Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. I have a favour to ask you, though. Can you run inside and grab a vial of blue magic? Oh, and one of my potions as well. Temporal restoration”

Without any more questions Sylvana ran into the citadel. She knew better than to question Meridian. He’d seen everything, and he knew even more. Questioning someone like that got old after a while. Plus, his explanations were often below par. Meridian was great at taking notes, but he rarely had to explain his findings in detail. On the rare occasion he did he let his notes speak for themselves.

Sylvana returned several minutes later with both vials in hand. Blue magic may be less powerful than his own, but its healing effects were much needed right now.  He didn’t want to wait for his body to heal itself. The pain was agonizing, and quite frankly Meridian still wasn’t sure he’d survive his injuries until after he downed the potion. Once he was healed, he uncorked the potion of temporal restoration and drank that as well. With that done, the time loop was broken. Today would be permanently set in the timeline, and Meridian’s hard work wouldn’t have to go to waste.

There was still one thing left to do before the day was out. Sylvana was still here, hopelessly confused about what she’d just seen. Meridian didn’t talk to her often, so seeing him in such a horrid state was alarming to say the least. She deserved at least some semblance of an explanation.

“Meridian, what the hell’s going on? Are you ok now?” She asked, still concerned.

“Yes, I’m fine” Meridian replied, rising to his feet and patting Sylvana on the head. “Now, why don’t you come with me? We have a lot to discuss”