The omniverse at the beginning was not ruled by gods like Doom.

For a long time it was ruled by strange eldritch and amoral entities. These entities were powerful and transcendent. They were the rulers of everything.

Life, death, space, time, freedom, imagination, entropy.

Each of them controlled a concept far removed from the imagination of mortals.

In their service was a loyal angel of the stars who carried out their every whim even if those whims were cruel, malicious, chaotic or completely incomprehensible.

Damon told Lazarak this story. From the outside they looked unusual. A small toddler god sat listening stiffly to a story told by a shadow crouched beside him. The strange lake behind them rippled in the quiet as though leaning closer.

It was not a happy story. There was no happy ending to Luminous Astraeus. His defiance did not change anything. His wife was still lost. Maybe it was not the old gods that took her, but she was still taken nonetheless.

When Damon reached the end of the story he paused. He lowered his head slightly, his dark form shifting and dimming as he considered whether he should change the ending.

He really wanted to tell Lazarak that Luminous found his love again. That he saw her. That they lived happily ever after.

His fingers flexed as though reaching for a lie he knew he should not speak.

But Damon refused to lie to Lazarak.

"Luminous still waits till this day for what is lost."

The words left him softly, as though the despair weighed down his voice.

He looked at Lazarak from the corner of his eye, observing the god's small trembling hands resting on his knees.

"Hey, Lazarak. We are friends, right."

Lazarak forced a gentle smile on his chubby face. His little shoulders rose and fell with a shaky breath.

"I have been saying that from the beginning."

Damon lifted his gaze toward the false sky above them. The surface flickered like a painted ceiling that refused to stay still.

"I do not think winning or losing is what defiance is about. It is not about succeeding or seeking glory. The very action of going against everything even when you have no power and no means of winning is the reward and that is enough for me."

He curled his hands into fists and raised them toward the sky as though daring the heavens to strike him.

"I remain pathetically unchanged because I believe changing is the end of the person I recognize as myself. Defy and laugh knowing it is better than laying down, bowing your head and accepting everything."

His voice hardened. He remembered the moment he begged. His fingers tightened until they shook.

"I will never beg again. I will always remain the first fool to raise his head and die."

His village was gone and all the people he hated were dead.

He placed his hand against his chest as though anchoring himself.

"Luminous Astraeus is truly amazing. I wonder if all the true gods had the same defiance even if everything was lost in the end."

Lazarak's mood shifted. A glimmer of light touched his expression and he sat up straighter.

"I think you are wrong about something. Luminous story has not come to an end. He is still waiting for his beloved. His defiance has not ended."

He pushed himself to his feet. His legs wobbled, but he steadied himself with a determined laugh.

"It is easy to defy outside forces. All you need to do is stand up and say no. Damon, the greatest defiance is to defy yourself."

He looked at Damon with sincere eyes.

"Change is not always bad. Sometimes when we open ourselves to new things we create possibilities that never existed before. One day I believe you will commit the ultimate defiance when you defy yourself."

Damon scoffed, though curiosity glimmered beneath the sound.

"I wonder what that would look like."

Lazarak smiled at him gently and the lake behind him glowed faintly at his back.

"Remember, Damon. Defy yourself."

"One day you will defy yourself."

He waved his small hand and turned toward the tree. His tiny footsteps made soft crunches against the ground.

"Come. We still have to face the trial of truth."

Damon watched the toddler god walking with even determined steps. Lazarak looked sure of himself now, but Damon could see the lingering shadow of doubt in the god's aura. Even this god had fears.

The more Damon learned, the more flawed the gods appeared.

He never imagined a true god, absolute in every way, could be helpless about anything. But even these boundless entities were limited by their own hearts.

So much had been put into place before the Unknown God was born. The vile thief had been the one whose bloodline the Unknown God came from. This thief had stolen from everyone.

And according to the lake, he had stolen the daughter of Luminous Astraeus, god of the stars.

That alone explained the hatred the true gods held for him. No one liked a thief. Not even gods.

More than that, the abyss, which was synonymous with the Unknown God, had devoured the wife of Luminous but spat out the child in her womb. That child was eventually taken by the vile thief which led to the birth of the Unknown God.

No one had been able to stop his birth. Even Luminous had tried and failed.

Damon pieced together the vague clues. Everything began to fall into place.

The more he understood the lore, the more his thoughts drifted to the Unknown God himself. This was the entity who plotted Damon's death at the hands of the goddess, then fought every true being to save Damon.

All for a plan Damon did not understand.

Damon felt one simple realization settle in his chest like a cold stone.

The Unknown God was terrifying beyond measure.

And if there was one thing Damon learned from the lake of tears, it was that even true gods could not do anything about the Unknown God.

One thought came to his mind.

'There are no absolutes before the Unknown god.'

A soft laugh left Damon's lips, quiet but sharp.

"Heheheheh... I already knew that. He cannot do anything to me when I am dead."

That was his ultimate form of defiance.

Lazarak had his lake of tears and its ability to open the metaverse. Damon had something simpler and far more brutal. The option of simply dying.

"Unlike Lazarak and all his noble intentions, I am not trying to save the world."

He followed the small god to the tree. Lazarak stopped and turned to him with an outstretched hand.

"Are you ready."

Damon looked at Root Ore with a cold expression.

"Watch the lake. If anything happens to it I will burn you alive and devour what remains."

Root Ore flinched but nodded quickly.

It couldn't help but be afraid now… after all the prisoners of the Deep were worse than it imagined.

Damon reached out and took Matia's hand. Her grip was steady. Then he grabbed Lazarak's tiny fingers, warm and trembling with excitement.

"Let us go."

A sound like shattering glass cut through the air around them. Light fractured. Space trembled.

All three disappeared.

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