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Interlude part II
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Mortar Mage let one of his gadgets take the lead as he and his allies entered the temple to fend off invaders. Dozens of fighters came at them with barely any sign of life or willpower in their eyes.

As he fought, Mortar saw Dexios use contraptions of his own that were designed to contain their foes. Most of the actual fighting was left to Mortar and Toyenna.

They found Styx alive, though bleeding and unconscious on the floor. Toyenna finally showed off her healing ray for the moment they were examining the beaten god. He was going to make it, but he wasn’t going to be much help in a fight.

Within the main chamber of the floating temple, Hades and Hel fought against a towering menace of a man that threatened to unravel the divine quilt of life and death. Mortar entered in time to see a weapon strike the unknown man, and turn to dust upon contact. The man laughed, but Mortar Mage caught him off guard with a fireball to the back of the head.

It became a fight of three on one, as Toyenna was told to stay back due to an unknown risk to her body. She helped Dexio collect the unconscious bodies of everyone who worked the temple. Hel continued to use ranged attacks, for the little good they did, until Mortar had a thought.

“He might be absorbing the density of any object we hit him with,” he said.

“What are we supposed to do?” Hades asked, dodging an attack from the menace.

“Invulnerability comes with an element that can bypass it. This isn’t the same thing, but I’m willing to bet that heat and energy based attacks will still work, even if we have to whittle him down.”

Hades let out a scream and conjured a lance of fire and lightning. He lunged and brought it down, point first, into the menace’s face. He pushed and he pushed.

Mortar Mage threw a barrage of fireballs and arcane blasts at the menace from behind. Between the two of them, they were at least causing their foe’s skin to glow with heat, his body to stagger, and his voice to show signs of struggle.

“Move it!” a woman shouted. It was Hel.

Hades and Mortar slipped away before Hel flipped open the nozzle on a hose that she had aimed at the overgrown invader. Gushing fluids impacted the menace, and he screamed as his limbs stiffened. Soon, he was nothing more than a frozen statue.

“You boys and your love of fire,” Hel quipped with a raspy voice. She dropped the hose and walked away.

“She does have a point,” Hades said. “Still, what do you think we should do with him?”

Mortar said, “I’d say imprison him, but it doesn’t look like the land of the dead will do much good for that.”

He received a frank and stern expression from the renowned god. Then a slap on the shoulder as Hades roared in laughter. “Dexios, where did you find this one? I like him!”

***

“Warren? I require your input on something,” said Toyenna.

He couldn’t see her at first as Warren entered the room. “Where are you?”

She stepped out of hiding. Toyenna was wearing a casual, yellow dress with a ruffled skirt. And was she wearing makeup?

“What’s this?” Warren asked her.

Toyenna explained, “My normal clothes required cleaning, but I had no backup in my wardrobe. Your mother suggested that I go buy more clothing.”

“Sensible. I’m glad you had money for it.”

“I did not know what to do, and I found some human girls who were willing to give me something called a ‘makeover.’ I do not understand this. I am trying. I feel . . . this was a mistake.” She tried to make for the door.

Warren caught her by the arm. “Wait, wait, wait.”

“This confuses me. I must change out and wait for the washer to finish.”

“Wait, you mean naked? Or do you have other clothes too?”

“Others are variations of this. Please let me go, Warren. I do not wish to hurt you.”

“You look beautiful.” He waited for her to respond. She said and did nothing. “You look fine, more than fine. I mean . . . Toyenna, there is nothing wrong with looking the way you do. If you hate it, say the word and I will let you go.”

“Hate; no. I’m simply confused.”

“Tell you what: I know that the universe is a dangerous place right now, but let’s take some time to ourselves. Give it time to figure out whether or not you like this outfit enough to keep it.”

“What do you suggest?”

“How do you feel about movies?”

***

Enid pressed a ring into Warren’s hand. It was silver, and plain except for an etching on a section of its surface. The ring barely fit Warren’s index finger on either hand.

“This belongs to you now,” she said. “There is a record, stored in the Paragon City Library, that needs to be continued. Ask for the family chronicle by name, and show them this ring. As long as the person at the desk is aware of the record, you should be able to access it.”

“Have you never thought to return to Earth and continue your work yourself?” Warren asked.

“I’ve thought about it, but every time I visit the mortal realm, it scares me. There’s always so much fighting, and so many changes that I have difficulty keeping track. No, the record needs new eyes. New hands. Your sister might be able to observe and write as you have proven yourself able, but that’s too far into the future to tell.”

“Sister?” He put a hand on her belly. “Wow. It’s funny how things finally hit you.”

“Maybe one day she will get to read your magazine. I know your father is fighting the urge to pick up every future issue you’ve yet to print. He laughed harder than I’ve heard in a while when someone used one of his better known names while referring to an archer running around without any clothes on.”

“Oh yeah, that was the story about a medical doctor who got lost in a jungle until a nomadic, subterranean tribe found and treated him.”

“That’s the one,” Enid said. “Did one of the tribesmen use transformation disguise himself as a woman just to see the doctor home safely?”

“So the story went. They had triplets recently.”

“Triplets!”

“Now the good doctor jokes that their medicine worked a little too well.”

***

He heard the reminiscent sound of objects being flung varying distances while someone went looking for something. Warren entered his father’s workshop and saw his father foraging through papers and tools.

Warren noticed an odd pack on the floor with “S.O.R.E.” written across the back. It looked like it had a couple slits on the sides where wings could potentially come out, and the pack seemed worn in a few patches.

“Hey, son,” Dexios said.

“Hi. What are you looking for?” Warren said.

“Research notes. I found the machine I built and used, as you see there on the floor, but I had some papers tucked away thinking I might finish some art pieces based on what I found.”

“Found where?”

“The beginning.” He kept looking, and managed to find a large sheet of paper with some markings on it. Warren only gave him an inquisitive stare. “The beginning of everything. The universe.”

“You were around for the beginning of the universe?”

“Of course not. Well, yes. Actually, it’s more like I went back to take a peek, because I wanted to see it with my own eyes. It was inspiring for some of my art; I never thought I’d see better. Then I met your mother. Now, there’s an odd effect of using time travel to see an event during the birth of time itself; left and right become mirrored.”

“I’d have loved to see that. Why the sudden interest in it now?”

“We might have a little problem. I’m hoping this can help me circumvent it entirely.”

***

Warren and Toyenna watched from the observation deck while the ship approached their destination. Many other ships approached it as well, and some were taking potshots at one another.

The gods and demigods were fighting one another for power over their domains since the last ruler was killed by a daughter no one knew he had. Some fought the rest out of spite for their numbers. Now, everyone with god blood and superpowers converged around the “little problem” that Dexios had spoken of.

Since the attack on the Underworld Temple, it was suspected that some of these gods who fought out of spite were ones who were banished aeons ago. It was possible that they were part of the reason that the fighting spilled into other realms.

More of that reason came from advanced androids—Toyenna’s entire line.

The androids were built by a separate entity entirely, but their impact in this situation was undeniable. That was what Dexios told Warren. Together, Dexios and Toyenna were looking for a way to make things right.

A hand brushed his, disturbing Warren’s thoughts. He saw Toyenna’s hand shaking. He grabbed it, clenched it, and offered her his warmth.

“Warren,” she said, “I think I’m scared.”

He said, “It’s OK. I’m here for you.”

Truth be told, seeing the “little problem” ahead frightened him as well. It was not so little after all. Never had he imagined there would be anything darker than black, or that he would look at it from a presumably safe distance. It was the same shape no matter what angle anyone looked at it from, and right now it was shaped like an egg. Eggs hatched and their contents spilled out. If this one cracked, time wouldn’t just cease to follow anyone’s rules. Matter wouldn’t simply shift from one state to another. Light would never shine anywhere, because there would be nowhere. Even gazing at the edges from this far felt as though the time doing so, or more, had never existed in the first place; that he didn’t matter in the slightest.

So Warren and Dexios surmised that sending any person or recording device into that last instant of nothing resulted in it being no more. The one god who had flown into it already would have learned that if there was time to learn. His soul would have joined the countless others if it simply were.

Before them was where everything ended up eventually. It was the end of the universe, on the edge of the eternal realm.

***

Red lights flashed overhead while Mortar Mage and Toyenna ran to meet Dexios. Their ship had been boarded by unwanted visitors, and they drove them out. It was a matter of time before more came.

“Good, you’re here,” said Dexios.

“Mom’s safe,” Mortar said.

“I figured she would be. Ship, seriously, you can stop with the red alert now!” The flashing persisted. “Bah! Machines, I swear. No offense, Toyenna.”

“None taken,” she said. “We are more stubborn than humans or the like.”

“A couple of big guys I know would probably laugh at that. Anyways, you’re both probably wondering what’s happening. It turns out nearly everyone here thought that someone was going to break a former king out of his cell.”

Dexios pointed out of the small window, and the view zoomed in on a rock hovering close to the end of the universe. On top of it was a stone fortress surrounded by fast, circling rings of fire, ice, and something transparent. The writing that appeared on the window labeled it as a “chrono acceleration barrier.” All three rings whipped around the rock and fortress like an illustration of an atom.

A number of gods were kept inside that prison, bound so that they could not use their powers to escape. The banished gods were meant to be worse, but none had ever been seen in ages until the attack on the Underworld Temple. Mortar tried to remember what they were called from the one time he’d read it in that old text.

“We’re up against a faction called the Vanquishiri Bahitians,” Dexios said. That was the name in the text, damn. “Every ship here has received a message saying that the Vanquishiri are preparing to throw an entire realm into the end of the universe.”

“An entire realm?” Mortar asked. “Is that even possible?”

“It shouldn’t be. If it were, though, and they managed it, it would pull everything else into it at an exponential growth. All it would take is . . . ah.”

“What?”

“This could be a problem.”

“What would it take? A rock? A super fatty kids’ meal?”

“Mere objects.”

“Wait, what you’re saying means that the realms are tied somehow. That makes sense, because I can move between this realm and the mortal realm at will when I shouldn’t.”

“You can do that even though you’re only a quarter god. That means they’ve figured this out, and they’ve chosen what to throw into the end. If I’m right, they picked something tied to all realms, something with enough history to hold all ties.”

“Earth; my Earth. They’re going to throw in the planet Earth and start a chain reaction. Then why is everyone fighting still?”

“The message said something about one of our ships or miniature celestial bodies having the key.”

Toyenna turned suddenly. “Teleportation powers have been detected.”

“Dexios!” shouted a man from another room. His voice was deep and booming.

The trio left the observation deck to meet their visitors. Mortar prepared a couple of gadgets designed to entrap someone in large quantities of taffy-like substance, stripped temporarily of superpowers.

Around the corner leading to the bedrooms, they found two men. Both were tall and imposing, both looked furious, but neither looked like he was attacking.

“There you are,” one of them said. “Do you have this key?”

Dexios said, “I’m afraid not. I recommend looking anywhere big enough to store a planet.”

“A planet?”

“Yes, Prometheus, a planet. My son and I suspect the Vanquishiri have done something with the planet Earth; his version of it to be more precise. If we’re right, the mortals will be going mad, and their oblivion would spell the end for everyone.”

“This would not bode well. Come, let’s spread the word and find this planet.” He left with his partner.

***

Everyone aboard Dexio’s ship watched the ensuing discord surround the end. One of the ships exploded. Two beings in what looked like spacesuits flew and wrestled with one another. How many eyes besides their own were on the prison when it changed?

The rock and fortress vanished, and something spherical and larger took its place. That something was the Earth, but it was only halfway here in the eternal realm. Mortar could see through it like it were a projection.

Now it was drifting closer to the end.

“We have no choice now,” Dexios said.

“What do you mean?” Mortar asked.

“I had hoped there would be more time. I had hoped we would be better prepared to solve the mortal realm’s problem with our fighting seeping through it. Toyenna, it is time.”

There was silence, vast and terrible.

She said, “Understood,” and left the room.

Mortar said, “Time for what? What are you doing?”

He looked between both parents. Dexios appeared more solemn than he had ever known the man for the past month. Enid was holding back her tears.

“Listen, son,” said Dexios. “There is a chance this will not work. There is a chance that it will work at a higher price than any of us will ever understand. I want you to go with Toyenna to make sure nothing goes wrong, to the best of your ability. I want you to remember that you have a home down there that needs your protection, and will need it for the years to come. I am sorry for everything, and I know there is no way to make it up to you.”

“Dad, I will come back,” Mortar promised.

***

They landed with a thud upon the dirt. Mortar Mage got up and clicked his device, but the portal wouldn’t close. In fact, it was shaking, and tweaking into the last shape that he saw the end.

“We have to go,” Toyenna said.

He couldn’t help it, and so they flew. Along the way, patches of the sky flashed unnatural colors and textures. People screamed and either ran and crawled across the pavement as Mortar and Toyenna passed.

Inside of the lab that Dexios had helped rebuild with a few cooperating gods and titans, Mortar and Toyenna made for the controls. He examined them to make sure they were working properly. The technology was just beyond the Earth, but it could catch up in a few years. The equipment was working.

There was a sound of steam and something opening. Mortar looked to see Toyenna stepping inside of one of the tubes around the room.

“Wait, what are you doing?” he asked.

Toyenna put something small and black above both ears. They lit up with a couple colored lights the size of pinpricks. “I’m doing what I came here to do.”

“And what is that?”

“Warren, please. The others are already on the way.”

“The others?”

“There’s a blue lever on the second console. When they enter this building, flip it around.”

Mortar shook his head at first. Then there was pounding and banging against the walls and roof of the building. Whatever was trying to get in was strong. The door opened, and there were shadows. Mortar decided to trust Toyenna. He flipped the blue lever.

As the other androids came into view—all with the same toy soldier uniforms and a blank, mortifying expression on their faces—the tubes glowed with a blue light. Toyenna made thudding sound in her capsule. The other androids fought against a pull that Mortar could not otherwise see until they all snapped into their respective tubes.

“Close the doors; use the green lever,” Toyenna said.

Mortar Mage did so.

“Next, use the orange on number four.”

Mortar did that as well. The glowing changed. All of the androids writhed. Now the whole room appeared to illuminate white from the center even though there was no light source there.

“One more; the silver one on number three. You know what to do.”

“No I don’t,” Mortar said. “What am I doing? What will any of this do?”

“This will close a dimensional rift, and pull the mortal realm out of harm’s way. Doing so will also put us all to sleep.”

“And then I can wake you, right? Then we can do more together right?”

“Once we slumber, we must all remain dormant. Warren, my time with you was precious. I want it to mean something. Please, flip the last switch. Let our time together last in your dreams, and your heart. Maybe someday, I can awaken again. Maybe someday, I can be as kind and wonderful to you as you were to me.”

“You’re asking me to pull the plug on the woman I love.”

“Warren, the universe must move forward in its rightful course. Let me sleep. Do it. Pull it now.”

His hand shook. Mortar Mage braced it, and the lever came down. With it, the light dispersed into natural shadow. The black devices over Toyenna’s ears popped. The androids shut their eyes and became still.

The whole world was silent. His connection to the eternal realm was severed.

***

The present

“. . . There was a burden destined to bind the one. There was a champion lost to what he knew and loved. He was a man from Paragon.”

The bard played the last few strings. Of course his song was paid little mind by the audience he had. It was a song for him, more than for them. While preparing his next song, the bard gazed out the window to see the eternal realm outside. The end of everything was that way.

Take care, my son.