NOVEL NEXT A Golden Dream
Huh... it is one of those dreams again, I found myself in the city of marble, one clad in eternal glory.
A city full of beauty and history, I can see the images of the plebians around this empty city. People of different backgrounds, of different colors, all live in harmony.
Heh, such an idealized version of the City that accepts All. Rome, the eternal capital of civilization.
"It seems like I finally met you, Romulus.", I smiled, seeing the muscle-bound man with long bronze hair and golden eyes in front of me, standing in the middle of the street.
"Well met, Charlotte Silvi.", he nodded.
"So, what lesson do you want to impart on me this time?", our last meeting was over a year ago, when I killed him.
"It is not me who wish to meet you.", the King of Emperors shook his head, "It is my brother."
He walks toward me, his visage changed into a man with a smaller frame, yet still muscular. But he has scars covering his entire body, each scar tells a story, of the gods he killed.
Remus, Divinity's Scourge, the man who ended the Age of Gods. He stares at me with the same gaze I bear, the calm eyes yet hides a burning inferno beneath them.
"Hello, my successor, Charlotte Silvi.", he nodded.
"Hello, Remus.", I nodded back, "Why do you want to meet me?"
"Follow me.", he turned around and left.
I followed him, each step we went away from the beautiful ideal utopia version of Rome... into a land where the red sky hung perpetually, with corpses of the gods bleeding into a golden stream of ichor.
"Why are you showing me this?", I asked as we stepped into the bloody stream.
"Because it is the best way to show my nature, my successor.", he looked back at me, "I live and thrive in conflict, that is all there is to it."
"That's not true.", I rebuked him, "You and Romulus are the two sides of civilization, you are the flame that burns away the obstacles to humanity, and Romulus built the world I live in."
I just hate it when I doubt myself, thinking lowly of myself... Remus is me... he had been a part of me when I was born. Him saying that is just the same as me making little of myself.
I despise it.
"Remus, by shedding the blood of gods, you had done more than enough for humanity.", I got up close, grabbing his toga and pulling him close to me.
My azure eyes and his golden ones met, staring into each other. We are the same, yet different at the same time.
"Listen to me, do not doubt yourself or think little of yourself. I am the proof of your path, of the journey slaying gods over a thousand years. Many civilizations have risen and fallen all because of you, all because you created the opening for them to exist. Do you think you can just be here sulking over the futility of life?! How dare you!!", I grit my teeth, "Life is inherently meaningless, it is human will and that alone gives life meaning. Yes, you live and thrive in conflict, it is all you ever known. But to think that it is all to it?! You are mistaken!"
"You have a meaning! Every damn life in this world we call home has a meaning!! You who sacrificed your history, only becoming a footnote in this ever-flowing river, like the countless nameless out there, you contributed the most for the fall of divinity!"
I think I am getting unnecessarily angry over this... but I can't stop. Not now.
"I looked up to you, you know? Like Gilgamesh, Pandora, and Romulus. You all achieved something great, you are all remembered by history. Your deeds are so great they sprung into legends! People still sing about them today!"
"But my legends were never recorded—"
I slapped him, "Do you really think so?! There isn't a legend or story about you is a feat of its own!! Do you think people would record a figure who defiled their deities?! No!! Someone as ridiculous as you shouldn't exist!! However, everyone remembers you."
Then I chuckle to myself... as I remember a legend in the infinite library of humanity...
"Don't try to deceive me, Remus. The Destroy of Civilization, the Scrouge of God, Divine Punishment, Attila the Hun. Despite trying to remain anonymous, you had to reveal yourself. It is human nature to want to be remembered... you can't resist it. Your ever-burning fire that hunts the divine leads you back to Rome."
He sighed as he stood up, I let go of his toga, "You caught me, and in the end, I was remembered..."
"No matter if you are remembered as the slayer of gods or the man who razed the world... you were remembered.", I smiled, "So, what do you want to teach me?"
"There is nothing to teach you, Charlotte.", he shook his head, "I just want to see your nature, my successor."
I chuckled, "That's it? You just wanted me to run my mouth off to the point of soring my throat to validate you?"
"This is a dream, you can't get thirsty.", he chuckled, crossing his arms.
Well... I guess I feel a lot better now? With the Mongol Empire 2: Electric Boogaloo happening while Babel just exposed itself to the world, I just need to sit back and relax... until the promised day.
"By the way, who was the Shar of your time? I already knew Typhon and Yggdrasil.", I asked.
"For Shar, it was a tree named Bodhi and it backstabbed me.", he stated with an unsavory expression.
"The same tree the Buddha sat under?", that man is the only person who doesn't exist in my library.
"Oh, him...", an amused chuckle came out, "That guy was really something, despite being human he reached an enlightenment so great that it transcended even the Star Gods, merging into one with the entire cosmos."
I widen my eyes... wait... Lovecraft recorded a being that is stronger than Azathoth, the literal thing that birthed the entire universe, something so powerful the mad writer only caught a glimpse of...
Yog Sothoth, The All in One, is so powerful that the universe itself barred the being from doing anything but observe.
"A human became an Eldritch Being...", I muttered to myself.
"He was so entuned with the universe he escaped the boundary and limitation of mortality and the cosmos itself.", Remus nodded.
An Eldritch Being, creatures of the universe born from the void of space... so a mortal can ascend to the same level as the ones born of the void...
Wow... just... wow... I can't begin to think of the prospect of that. Hehahahahaha! The Buddha isn't even the Akasha, yet he did something way beyond what I can do!!
"Hah... well then.", I got over the Buddha rather quickly, "Shall we move onto a different topic?"
"No, I think your time here is done.", he shook his head, "You proved that you don't need the wisdom of the old, and proved your conviction is stronger than my own."
This world of blood and gold began to fade. I stare at Remus, whose visage is now split into two brothers. In history, one ends another, a classic tale of fratricide. In truth they separated, each walking their own path for humanity. Yet despite it all, they had each other's back, no matter how far they were away, no matter how different the truth was.
That is what family should be...
I open my eyes, finding myself on my bed. Hmm~ the gentle sway of the ship is nice.
Talking with Remus might be a little bit short but I got something out of this. Another part of myself reconnected...