Verse and Dimensions: Stories - страница 48

Venrensorys's body has been destroyed by the Supergod Council but its consciousness still remains within Beyond and the Supergod Council cannot get rid of it, so it will not be long before Venrensorys acquires a new body.

The Eternal Legion

The Supergod Council had been controlling Beyond and the many Monocosms within for longer than time as a concept even existed, and were considered by those few who knew of their existence to be the supreme source of authority. Compared to them, lesser beings (referred to as 'mortals' by Supergods) were effectively insignificant and easily replaceable. One single mortal or even divine life was not relevant to the greater effort to preserve order, balance and stability. And so, when one Destroyer in one Monocosm had attempted to murder one of the Supergods in fear, their natural first instinct was to erase it.

This Supergod, known as Paradoxus, was not in fact a member of the council yet and should never actually have entered this Monocosm. Without fully understanding the results of his actions, Paradoxus has unknowingly massively destabilitised this Monocosm. The lack of a Destroyer combined with the indecision of its Creator allowed an alternate version of the Eternal Legion to rise to power far more rapidly than within The Barrel, quickly gaining control over the entire Omniverse. They were led by an alternate version of Hyperman, who craved supreme power and authority over not just his Monocosm but the entirety of Beyond. Quickly advancing the Eternal Legion's technology to allow travel throughout The Outside, Hyperman was able to drain the two Godverses for energy and overpower and kill Creator, becoming the supreme force of authority within his Monocosm. Under his leadership, their technology grew powerful enough to manufacture Omniverses and turn their Monocosm into a Multiverse of Omniverses, with Hyperman's Godverse at the center.

After they discovered the existence of Beyond and its infinite alternate Monocosms, their next goal became taking over all Monocosms, including The Barrel. Though, no doubt the Supergod Council would prevent them, so if they wished to expand their empire they would have to take them out. They began gathering information on the Supergods as well as the other Monocosms and soon realized their Monocosm was not meant to be the way it was. They also discovered that mistakes such as that which allowed for the rise of the Eternal Legion were usually corrected by the Supergod Council, and believed was only a matter of time before the Supergod Council came to erase their empire.

From the Supergods' perspective, the Eternal Legion was a tiny threat. While they were far more powerful than any Creator or Destroyer, they were insignificant next to the power of even a single Supergod. Thus, they never actually attempted to correct the error at all. However, the Eternal Legion had no way of knowing this, and continued to remain alert, believing that a Supergod could arrive to erase them at any time.

Eventually, one of the Supergods named Unthil had discovered the Monocosm and found its contents to be intriguing. When he entered the Monocosm simply to inspect it, the Eternal Legion perceived it to be an attack and activated their trap. Using their unnaturally advanced technology combined with Hyperman's intellect and ingenuity, they were able to freeze Unthil within The Outside and stop him from requesting help from the other Supergods. Hyperman had intended to then possess Unthil's physical form, thus giving himself enough power to fight back against the other Supergods. However, what Hyperman had not expected was that even when restrained, Unthil's reflexes kicked in and in a desperate bid to survive, Unthil reflected Hyperman's own ability back at him. This caused them to both possess each-other at the same time, allowing them both to briefly share the same consciousness. Hyperman then experienced Unthil's Omniscience^3, his eternal knowledge of not just everything that could be thought but everything that couldn't as well. He saw all of the infinite Beyond Bubbles within Transcendentem, and all the infinite -verses beyond, stretching all the way out into The Barrelplex. He realized now how truly meaningless his own life was, as well as that of his empire and the Supergods. He had no will left to carry on. He let go.