AMBROSIAIt was probably time to come clean to Nevras about these sidequests. I had managed to keep Nevras occupied with fishing, building projects, bounty hunting, and so on. He wasn''t gonna buy this much longer.

    NEVRAS

    It was weird. We had been going to all of these places, because Ambrosia said that it was mandatory for us to get training before facing down Belial. But lately, she had been more focused on me than her quest. She kept saying there was no rush and her “I like to take my time, I like to do it right” attitude seemed to pervade her daily outlook. She had been spending more time with me, and I was glad of that. But some of these training quests... she had us gather song sheets for Aqorm, and had her practice at bars. She had Lilith pick up the right knife for becoming a chef. I suppose it was okay, as some of these character sidequests did awaken ultimate weapons. But then, most of the party was allowed to go on dates. Not that I''m complaining about our dates, mind you. But... I mean, we went to trade items only for a reward of sushi. That one made me start thinking. sea??h thё N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    “Hey ummm, Ambrosia, not to be nosy, but when are we going to enter the Void?” I asked. It was an honest question, as we had celebrated Christmas at the village from from Christmas Eve to Epiphany, among other things. While I expected an answer, what I didn''t expect was her to start bursting into tears. She bawled, “I had no choice! I needed to spend time with you! You were gonna leave me, and I made up all of this as an excuse!” Wait, what?!? I asked, “What do you mean I was gonna leave you?” She explained, “Ohhhh ummm, I guess I''m busted. Look, you remember how sometimes we''d die and God would Reset things? Well ummm, there was a whole timeline where I went into the Realm of Void, but you didn''t really follow me, saying that ummmm I don''t remember because it sounded like an excuse.”

    I had to verify this, “We''re going to Heaven. Right now.” She scratched her head, confused, “Why Heaven?” I stated what should be obvious, “God sees everything, right? So, he should be able to show me what happened.” And so, we boarded Bahamut, taking the others along for the ride. The first time we came here, we came on foot, so it was weird to just fly in on Bahamut. I was so worried that she''d crush those clouds or something. Everything seemed okay, though.

    Once in Heaven, we passed a lot of angels, who looked at us funny. After a minute or two, I realized why. We had Michael as an archangel with us, which was startling enough, but we also had a demon with us. And yet, despite all the funny looks, nobody actually teased or bullied us in Heaven. Also, we kind of were riding in on a dragon.

    We came again to God''s tent, Ambrosia and I entered alone, and we explained our reason for being here.I will show your alternate realities, God said,keep in mind though, even the past branches into probabilities, and the future is even more uncertain. And so, he showed us a vision.

    The rift had stabilized into a regular Gate, and was no longer sucking matter inside or pulling it out. Bahamut was able to land much closer as a result. The group rejoined Azrael and Zoe, who looked much stronger as a result of fighting difficult battles, but were tired. We stepped closer and closer and closer to the Gate, obviously nervous but willing to enter a strange new world. But then... “ I think this is as far as we go together,” I said. “Sorry.” Ambrosia looked shocked. “But why?” she asked. I sighed, and then made up something that was obviously an excuse, “I don''t really feel like I know you that well yet, and going to another world takes a lot of commitment. I''m just not ready. Besides, I''ve got obligations to take care of at home... You know, at the palace.” She sighed, “I understand.” I got on Bahamut''s back, whispering, “Take me home, please.” As I rode Bahamut back home, wind whipping my hair around, I asked Bahamut, “Hey ummm, can we chat?” She said, “Hold on, I''ll drop you at Phoenix where there''s ground.” She landed at the foot of Phoenix Castle. Bahamut took a moment, and she surrounded her body with a gigai, crunching her bones down to fit inside the much smaller skin. “Clothing,” she said, and I scrounged around my backpack for ummm... extra clothes. A girl with green eyes, and onyx hair that glistened like the rainbow with a borrowed brown cotton dress looked back at me. “Well? What did you want to talk about?” I opened with a question, “Bahamut, have you ever been in love?” She explained about how dragons don''t have sex normally, and how the female never feels anything for the male. I worried, “Does Ambrosia feel that way about me? Was it one-sided? Is that why things never got serious?” She giggled, “C''mon now! I don''t personally know about love, but I''ve seen you humans. I know it when I see it. She''s definitely into you! What''s really the problem?” I explained my fortune. She laughed while pressing her hand a few inches from her mouth, “Ohohohoho! You silly human! If you love her, tell her how you feel! Don''t let your terrible luck ruin your life! You go to her.” I thought about it and said, “You know what? I will go back to her! I can change my destiny. Only...” She asked, “Only, what?” I explained, “Only, she''s probably given up and gone in by now. My best chance is to wait at the portal, because I''ll get separated if I try to go after her inside there. It''s a big world in there, but she''ll have to come out there!” And so, I waited.

    Here, destiny branched. I saw two options, either I waited for about a month then assumed she was dead, or I never stopped waiting seeing myself become old and gray. Meanwhile, I saw Ambrosia. She made it into the Void, where grey covered everything, muting out all color. I saw her travel the world by boat, being careful not to spend too much time outside. I saw her make it to the Tower of Sorrow after visiting Belial''s Castle and failing to get in. I saw her pushing through the Void Wastes until finally she got to the Mountain of Fate. She went up the mountain with her friends, but insisted on going to the peak alone. I saw her come down, and take the Transport Coin. I saw her use the Tao abilities but there was something off, like she was really cocky afterward and abused the heck out of her abilities. When she used them against Belial, however, she died, and then everything faded to white. The vision ended.

    God explained that what happened after this is redacted, and could not be shown to any normal humans, which despite our strength and skill we still qualified as. Then God said, Reality branches in the past as well as the future. There is another past, in which you survive, Ambrosia. Would you like to see it? I nodded. Why wouldn''t I see a less depressing version of my past? Alright then, I''ll show you, he said.

    In this reality, I waited as before. But this time, instead of fighting Belial with her Resonance, the others fought, and realizing they couldn''t beat Belial, Azrael told them, “Everyone leave this building, I am going to ring this Bell.” They stood outside and despite being unable to hear anything due to the thick walls of the castle, the very edge of the castle vibrated slightly. As I looked around from my omniscient viewpoint, I saw the grass nearby dying. They went back inside to check for any bodies. Azrael said, “It''s over guys, Belial is gone forever.” Then, her body crumpled to the ground. Zoe called out, “Azrael!!!” They buried her body outside and Zoe used her magic to grow flowers. Afterward, we returned to the New Earth via the portal we came through. She was years older, for time didn''t pass at the same rate inside the Realm of Void as it did outside. Apparently, they had become lost on the way back, looking for an open portal. Ambrosia and I continued to adventure, touring the country. The vision ended.

    We refused to watch any other alternate realities, thanking God for his help. Before we left however, God asked if we wanted to fight him. It will help you feel ready for a fight with Belial, he said,Ambrosia, I know you are afraid, but this will help you come to terms with your battle and what is to come afterward.

    We agreed to a battle, so long as God didn''t destroy us forever. He couldn''t promise this, but he promised that he wouldn''t die, which was a relief I guess? He also agreed to bring us back afterward. After three rounds of battle, all of us were defeated.

    It started out okay, with Azrael and Elias casting all kinds of buffs like Haste and Bless, then adding Protection prayer to prevent attacks. Then, we attacked with all sorts of elemental spells, Void attacks, and even Hellfire. None of it did any good, and then God did ridiculously underpowered attacks like poking us, flicking at us with his finger, and even blowing on us. It was devastating! We were beaten within an inch of our lives, and our best attacks left not even a scratch. Even Cthulhu wasn''t this insanely powerful. See? God said, now you feel better about fighting Belial, don''t you? Well, I suppose I understood that Belial wasn''t nearly the worst I could face, but I''m not sure it really made me feel better. I still wasn’t confident I’d beat Belial.

    “Just one more thing,” Ambrosia asked God, “since I lived through my first battle with Belial, I want to know why I lost. My Tao ability was so powerful, but....” God explained, The Tao is powerful, fully as powerful as I Am. But it can only be used as effectively as its user. The Tao can be used in a state of emotional Balance, in which case there are not side-effects. When they are manic or depressed, there is an imbalance of Yin or Yang. Nevras broke up with you, you said. This is why you sucked. Huh. I wasn''t aware that God was in the habit of saying the word “sucked.” In any case, we were set here, so next it was time to head to the Realm of Void.

    Our trip back on Bahamut was slower than usual. Typically, she would get us from Point A to Point B with wind blowing so quickly that we usually had to hang on tightly and there was never much time to talk, but right now her pace was more like the aerial version of a horse''s gentle trot. “Hmmm?” I spoke up, “Does it seem like Bahamut is kinda just gliding along?” Ambrosia nodded, “Yeah kinda... what''s up Miss Dragon?” Bahamut spoke, her lyrical voice somehow carrying to us in the rush of wind, “It''s just... I''ve been carrying you around, back and forth since I joined you humans, and you seem different right now. What has happened?” As the winds blew a gust of cold air at us, and I shivered, we explained recent events. Bahamut typically kept us warm by her body hear, which was much like a hummingbird in that she was significantly cooler during activity than when she was in relative torpor, so contrary to what one might expect, the faster she went, the more comfortable it was. Bahamut had known some of our past from riding with us, and she knew some of it from hanging with us in human form, but this latest development definitely needed to be explained. “...And that''s what happened,” I explained. Bahamut nodded, “I had wondered why you humans took so many side trips. If you''d just asked me, I could have told you that time reset. We dragons don''t forget such things like you humans!” I grumbled for awhile at everyone keeping secrets from me. Seriously, a dragon should know better!

    BELIAL

    I had waited for those mortals to stop me long enough. If they wouldn''t come to meet their doom, I would bring it to their Earth. Gathering my power, I summoned forth meteors and darkness, and even Void itself, as I had done in ages past. Brimstone fell and burned woods into waste, the shadows were unsafe to walk in for they rotted the flesh off your skin, but worst of all was the Void. People would be walking around and suddenly the road would disappear, the ground would disappear, or even the person walking. I would get my revenge. I would make the world go away.

    GOD

    I need to talk about Harry Harlow. Many years ago, or as Ambrosia would say, awhile back, a scientist studied rhesus monkeys. He began his studies with the intent to show the importance of caregiving and companionship on social and cognitive development, specifically in response to a generation of therapists that insisted mothers weren''t important and physical contact was considered harmful to infant development. Many unwanted children wound up in adoption clinics back then, so he studied this on a non-human subject. This sounded like the best intentions, and in an ideal world, it would have been. But this world is not ideal, it is designed to help those souls born into it grow more mature. He started his tests with switching milk between a cloth or wire surrogate “monkey”, which the monkeys overwhelmingly chose the soft one even when food was given, using the other only when hungry. Then he tried abandonment and reintroduction, or replacement of monkey parents with surrogates. The monkeys that were abandoned tended to be lonely or depressed, while those raised by a surrogate tended to be odd, ending with those raised by nonliving surrogates like dolls being practically autistic.

    But it gets worse. When his own wife died and he was treated by shock therapy, his tests profoundly changed. Medical therapy at the time was... lacking in sense. You don''t cure a man''s grief by torturing him! Following her death, Harlow began to set up something called the Pit of Despair, suspending these monkeys in a constant state of fear and nervousness, often setting those involved in extreme isolation in close corners, but like some of the 20th century prisons, it was set up so the monkey would also be tied to a “rape rack” and torturing surrogate mothers called iron maidens. The same way as Harry himself in response to loss and torture, they went psychotic. You might ask why I bring this up. It is because this is Belial''s past.

    Long ago, when the Earth was young, Belial was a new demon. He was born with a human heart and soul, something I repeated in Lilith. The demons of old were simply split off evil from angels, they were barely defined as life, more to be pitied than hated. Belial was driven from his village for being kind. He was left to wander alone. Most mortal weapons do not injure a demon''s rough skin, but town guards used cold iron, silver, and elven to torture his body and drive him away. To simply tell him that he was not welcome by putting up walls to prevent his entry would be fine, but instead they left their gates open and enforced their safety with cudgels. Belial grew bitter and he lashed out and attacked his attackers. And yet, to his credit, he never really became psychotic like the monkeys, because he knew he had a choice. But then, Estheriel and Michael came, and sealed him inside an urn, trapped in darkness for an interminable period. From out of the urn, Belial harnessed darkness and Void, as Belial sought to destroy everything. And he might have, if it were his to destroy, but he destroyed nothing. For you see, I split the world into the New Earth and the Realm of Void. His demon kind would have befriended him here, but he had nobody, trapped as he was inside an urn.