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"I walk with Humanity, not as their leader, but as their protector."
Name: Enkidu
Clan: Primordial Divinity
Nickname: Chains of Heaven
Gender: Unknown (He/ Him)
Age: Immortal - Born Year 813
Alignment: Neutral Good
Nindō: Yellow Flash
Appearance
Enkidu is a Divine being whose entire body is molded from clay, an avatar of the Earth that harmonizes and unifies with nature. He is blessed with immensely beautiful, almost feminine features as though he were blessed by Ishtar herself. His eyes shine a vibrant, verdant green which become a deep golden hue when he channels his Divine Authority as the Chains of Heaven. Enkidu possesses hair almost as long as he is himself tall which has a spring green color, indicative of his naturally gentle calm nature. His outfit most notably consists of flowing white robes that drown his form in their silken pure touch and beneath these he wears a pair of white flowing pants and simple sleeveless top. Since taking up residence on Kamiyasumi and aligning himself with the Monks of the Human Order, he has been gifted an additional sash-like accessory which he drapes over his right shoulder. While it naturally matches his robes' aesthetic, woven into it's facade a loving pattern formed from golden threads, a pattern not seen since the height of the Golden Empire. It is one of his most prized possessions, and one he wears with immense pride.
Personality
Despite technically only being a few years old, thanks to his experiences throughout the world and especially the time he spent with the great King of Magic Solomon, he possesses wisdom beyond his years. Enkidu is many things. Smart. Empathetic. Humble. Frightening. But most of all, Enkidu is kind. He understands the plight of Humanity, even if he'll never truly be able to experience life the same way they do. He's witnessed some of Humanity's lowest points, and yet each and every time watched them pick themselves back up. To find the strength to continue when all strength has left them. To find joy, even as darkness descends. It is this indomitable, unbreakable spirit he loves most about Humanity. After his training in Eanna he came to understand and embrace his nature as the chain that connects the Heavens and Earth, a power not to kill, but bind those Divine cataclysms that would threaten Humanity.
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Village Information
Land of Birth: The Void - Hokubu Ocean
Affiliation: Anunnaki & Monks of the Human Order
Rank, Attribute & Specialty Information
Rank: ????
Health & Chakra: ??? & ????
................Mind: ?..........................................Agility: ?...............
................Body: ?.......................................Dexterity: ?................
................Spirit: ?..........................................Vitality: ?................
Skills & Abilities
Unknown
History
Enkidu's story begins within the Void itself. In that endless prison beyond space and time he was born through the union of Abzu and Tiamat alongside his siblings, Eir'Rakath the God of War, Xar'Suthoth God of the Heavens and Yol'Daoloth the God of Wisdom. Enkidu's original name has been lost within the deepest depths of the Void, and the world is a better place for it. As a newborn Enkidu called out within the Hokubu. His cries caused the untold monstrosities within those crimson murky depths to scatter to the winds, terrified of this unknown voice and the Authority it held. It was only natural they would, being linked to Tiamat's Divine Authority of Life, instinctually fear the being that would grow into the Chains of Heaven. Only one being was stupid enough to even draw close to this unknown voice calling out for something, though it didn't even know what that "something" truly was...
Emiya Shirō dove into the Hokubu after a guilty conscience spurred him to activity. The reason he entered those corrupted waters no longer mattered. After months of hiding away in a remote village, he decided he was done with self-pity, and wanted to find some manner of adventure. Instead adventure found him. From the second he entered the Hokubu, he was bound to Enkidu's fate. Emiya was pulled down to the depths of the Hokubu as he was temporarily made immune to it's corrupting influence, as the child asked him a simple question. Did Emiya wish to leave him? Emiya's mind raced with a thousand thoughts, but he instinctually asked a question that would define the child: "Do you... Need help?" What was help? Enkidu didn't have enough awareness about the world to even know what that concept was. The idea that one could do something to the benefit of others. Enkidu only knew loneliness, as anything that came near immediately left. Emiya listened to the child and his heart broke. He asked if the child wanted to leave, that he would take him away from that place, he simply needed to be told how. Minutes later Emiya found himself back on the coast of Tobusekai cradling this unknown child in his arms.
Desperate to get as far away from the Hokubu as possible, Emiya journeyed south through Tobusekai, passing through many Landmarks where combat had taken place. He always found those scenes sad, as he believed that no one was beyond saving, and if he could would save everyone. While he couldn't understand these thoughts, Enkidu had at the very least begun to grasp what what concept of "help" even was. Eventually Emiya and Enkidu made it to Last Bastion, one of the few safe cities within Tobusekai, and the only one with no direct ties to any given faction. They remained there for several days as people were suddenly being cured of an unknown disease ravaging the entire world called "Red Fever", seemingly when they were in the proximity of Emiya and his unknown child. Eventually it became widespread that a "miracle child" had been found that could cure the fever. People embarked on pilgrimages to see the Child and be cured. Enkidu couldn't yet fathom the scope of his actions, but he had understood that he had the power to help people. That's all that mattered. These first moments cemented the God's perspective for the rest of his life. Was it a miracle, or perhaps simply luck that had Emiya be the one to pluck Enkidu from the Void? It was the Hero of Justice's ideology and very nature that helped Enkidu grow into someone who liked to help people.
Countless masses made the journey to Last Bastion to recieve the blessings of the child. Both Enkidu and Emiya were happy that the God Child was helping people overcome the debilitating disease, but something didn't sit right with Emiya. They'd become public figures, his name and appearance spread far and wide in an attempt to spread the news that the Fever could be cured by meeting him, but this would have unintended consequences. The news spread to the furthest corners of the world, even to the Voice of Tiamat, Imeroth. Emiya had disrupted their plans by delving into the Hokubu and rescuing Enkidu. Imeroth instructed the Voidlord Demetrias to bring the child to him.
Enkidu left Last Bastion with Emiya not long after, having healed all of the people in the hub of the East. He traveled west towards the Badlands of Earth, meeting several characters along the way, including Solomon who revealed the child's name was Enkidu, as well as created a cure for the fever itself. Emiya was instructed to journey to Tsuchi Heihō where an acquaintance of Solomon lived, Iskandrous, the worlds best doctor. He could synthesize and mass produce the cure within the Village of Sin, and thanks to the Village's connections, have it reach every corner of the world in almost no time at all. Until this moment Enkidu hadn't so much as opened his eyes, but there within that humble, beautiful clinic, he saw the beauty of the real world for the first time.
An drunkard unceremoniously burst into the clinic, asking about a hangover remedy from the doctor, taking a passing interest in Enkidu, but otherwise was entirely irrelevant to the situation. Or so everyone, including Enkidu thought. The drunkard was in fact Demetrias, and he had just succeeded in his preparations to steal Enkidu. After leaving the clinic Demetrias entered an alleyway and vanished from sight, teleporting to the distant shore of Kythira on the other side of the world. His plan was simple. Now that he had met Enkidu in person, he could affect the child with his powers, specifically those under his Domain of the Soul, and his Soul Fire derived from his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Demetrias intended to only drag Enkidu to Kythira, but due to a linking of the pairs souls that Enkidu created upon their meeting that linked Enkidu and Emiya, both were pulled through Space-Time to Voidlord's position. Though he only intended to steal Enkidu, Demetrias now had to contend with Emiya as well. After Emiya displayed a clear refusal and outright hostility to Demetrias' request to peacefully hand over the child, the three fought. It didn't last very long however. As Demetrias' patience waned he released a vile hurricane composed of the Sea of Life. Emiya had two options; to temporarily flee the area to avoid the attack, and throw himself in front of the child in an effort to protect him. Emiya chose wrong. He opted to teleport to the Throne to avoid the attack, leaving Enkidu at the mercy of Demetrias, whose blade could damage the God. Enkidu understood this act. The attack would have surely killed Emiya, so it was only natural. He was human after all. But Emiya had gone back on his word to protect the child at all costs, to put himself and his needs over that of the fledgling God's, whose contributions to the fight had thus far been on pure instinct. It was unreasonable of him to ask human sacrifice themselves for his sake. Emiya returned from the Throne to see Demetrias mere moments away from grabbing Enkidu. The human lashed out in anger, doing anything he could to stop this catastrophe of his own making. Emiya's return and subsequent counter-attack gave Enkidu the chance to lash out one final time, destroying Demetrias' blade that could harm even a God in the process. Demetrias vanished in a haze of soul-damaging flames, inflicting untold damage on Emiya as his attack phased through the Voidlord's position.
Emiya's allies soon arrived and helped take Enkidu and the injured human back to Solomon, one of the few people in the world who could heal such injuries, one on a God, the other to the very soul. It was decided that, due to the Voidlord's interests in Enkidu, he would remain under Solomon's protection from that moment on. Emiya had done a good job until Kythira, but it was clear that, despite the blade Blessings from the End of the World being destroyed, the Voidlords wouldn't simply cease their actions against Enkidu. Soon after Emiya departed, and that was the last time Enkidu would see Emiya before his death.
Enkidu remained on Theodoro with Solomon who taught the God many things. History, philosophy, morality, all manner of subjects were taught to Enkidu as the pair worked to restore Theodoro. There were many days and nights spent recalling the days of Solomon's empire, and the wonders found within it. An incident in the past had rendered the island an acidic hellscape, a ruined slice of paradise which the King of Magic decided to use as an opportunity for a learning experience. Each passing day the line between God and Man was slowly blurring, as to any outsider Enkidu appeared to be just that. A man. And it was all thanks to Shirō Emiya, whose ideals solidified Enkidu's mindset as someone who wished to help people at the most crucial moment. The God's birth. Despite both being godly beings in their own ways, Solomon and Enkidu worked to repair the destroyed island by hand, planting seeds for new growth while removing what little of the corruption that had spread with caution and consideration. They toiled away for weeks, as Enkidu could sense the battle raging on within the depths of Irkalla, in the Palace of Ganzir. Enkidu would ask from time to time why he couldn't just use his Divine Power to fix the land, believing it would make it too easy. A simplistic yet apt metaphor for what he perceived as a simple solution to Humanity's struggle in Irkalla. Solomon responded that it was against the natural flow of the world. There were many forces that all acted in such a way that it created the thing we call "life", and to act against them was to go against the natural order of things. But there were other times. Times when certain forces acted against the course of nature, to disrupt the lives of the many. It was in these rare moments, when calamity was at the doorstep of humanity, that the God and the Sage could act in preservation of life. Enkidu finally understood what Solomon had been trying to teach him. The ancient king gestured to the remainder of Theodoro, declaring that no amount of gardening could ever fix this destruction. He asked what Enkidu was going to do about it.
Enkidu's response was to act.
At the inevitable end woven into the tapestry of reality had been enacted, when all Champions of Humanity lay undeniably and irrefutably dead, Enkidu emerged from a portal generated by Solomon. The King of Israel had gone on his own perilous undertaken, and emerged on the other side something more than a Human. A Demi-God if one were to give it a name. This allowed the pair to enter Ganzir, even when Irkalla had been sealed off from the rest of reality. Enkidu looked down and saw the fallen Champions. Rage filled him as he leapt into action, not wild and instinctual like back on Kythira, but honed and directed, focused and with utter clarity. He declared he would end Phetra's rule as Queen of the Underworld once and for all. And there, in the heart of the afterlife, Enkidu and Phetra fought, divine bolts of lightning and golden chains slammed into Phetra as she released wave after wave and bolt of unknown yet terrifyingly powerful black and purple energy. Solomon asssited with the offense, releasing waves of Suen at Phetra, overpowering her through the sheer strength of his own Divinity. As Solomon cut off Phetra from the source of her power, the Void, Enkidu tore into the False Queen of the Dead with unfathomable speed and physical prowess, eventually tossing her off the edge of Ganzir and into the Void below. A voice echoed through Irkalla, one Enkidu could faintly recall from before his birth into reality.
Behold the might of the cosmos.
I am known by many names: the Timeless One, King of Confluence, First and Final Shape, Harrowed God, Destroyer of Possibilities.
If those here are the weavers that write upon the tapestry, then I am both it and its creator!
I am Abzu, the Primordial God of the Fresh Water Sea.
I am all there is, all there was, and all there will be.
The Domains of this world shall be broken, and I rise in their place.
As Ganzir was being engulfed by the encroaching Void, Solomon repeated his earlier lesson. That sometimes one must act. That no amount of gardening could save that island. Enkidu looked upon the faces of the fallen heroes and knew. Their deaths here were against the current. That outside forces acted upon the world, and thus he had to act in an opposing manner to restore balance and the world to the way it once was. The Domain of Death had fallen during the Champion's battle, and thus their deaths held no meaning. They could yet be saved. Enkidu harnessed the boundless infinite possibility of Chaos, and imagined the Champions restored to life, and thus they always were. Reality was a tapestry, and he had the power to write upon it. As another portal appeared, and the Champions along with Enkidu, Solomon and the Blacksmith Marzan escaped through it, leaving Ereshkigal to fight the encroaching void by herself.
After the battle within Irkalla and the threat of Abzu's escape from the Void Enkidu sought out the Anunnaki, the Gods of Eanna, to better understand his Divine Authority, and how to proceed. Here he was given instruction on how exactly to harness the boundless energies Enkidu always had. In his fight with Demetrias he acted on instinct, raw and untamed. In his fight with Phetra he was more focused, direct yet contained, but he would never had prevailed alone. He had to combine these two, unrestrained strength directed into singularly focussed, controlled attacks. As he did he came to understand his purpose. He was the Chains of Heaven, he was brought into this world to bind the Gods, and walk alongside Humanity. As Basel fell, Enkidu watched on from Eanna. The Domain of Desire had fallen, and with it the order of the universe itself. Enkidu witnessed Abzu's escape from the Void through the actions of Imeroth and Madara Uchiha, and Humanity's Last Stand that was to follow. Enkidu didn't intervene. Another would be the savior of the fallen Champions. Instead, as Abzu rent reality and appeared before the Void Tree, Enkidu already one step ahead of him. Both stood in the shadow of the blossoming Void Tree, one intent on whittling the world down to it's finest point to start again, the other intent on preserving Humanity, and rejecting the notion that Abzu was inevitable.
I would stand alone in defiance against the indifferent infinite universe.
"I stand alone at the edge of the abyss. It stared back. In that darkness I see the cosmos itself.
Above, three meteors pierce shattered heavens, siblings freed. Demons rise, below, the dead die.
Rot spreads, truth revealed. Vengeance claimed, worship, worship, worship."
My siblings and I were born as weapons. Each of us were identical; small fragments of clay made to be shaped. Yet our creator, a serpent with many eyes, had no hands to shape us with. You are Abzu, a physical embodiment of the cosmos. A principle hostile to life and complexity. An agent of dissolution, of entropy. Primordials are concepts - Yin and Yang, Utu and Suen, Light and Dark, Life and Death, Tiamat and you. Their origins are unknown, if they even can be said to bend the knee to such three dimensional concepts, and are blessed with supreme Authorities. It would be a mistake to describe you as a being of no complexity. It is from you, the cosmos, that all complexity springs forth. You are a blank canvas and the manifestation of all that can be. A king of possibilities. You are not inherently evil. Your divine purpose is not simply the culling of existence. Complexity is not antithetical to your impulse. And yet here you stand, Worldrender in hand, ready to wipe the board clean.
Why?
We were always connected, you and I. Perhaps threads woven together by the Twins. Yet it seems unfitting that Divinities born of the Pantheon should take up those strings. Since that day I was pulled from the Hokubu I could feel you watching, listening, being. You were a presence in my life even before I knew the meaning of the word. And yet I knew it from the moment I formed in the Void’s infinite darkness. Phantom whispers of my creator looking to bring about the end. The wind howls in my face, green hair billowing ask the bark of the Void Tree continues to shed itself into the blackened waters of the corrupted Hokubu. I take a deep breath; it smells like nothingness. Like home. I look into your eyes, beads of purple pools of light. Why is it that Abzu, a being of supreme insight, relied on Isabella Uchiha to see into the world, to draw conclusions from it, and understand it?
The abyss spoke.
“This is the pact to which I am bound, my son. My divine impulse, my estate: the whole universe at the tip of my sword.”
His words were silken and calm. “Step aside.”
“There is no need to justify yourself to me.” My voice barely carried itself over the sound of wind and waves cresting on the ocean below. Pulse after pulse of energy radiating from the Void Tree as it clawed its way to maturity. “You are like Mother: a being that exists solely on impulse. Yet you occupy a space of human thought; a single pair of eyes to gaze upon the world before you. I suppose, in that sense, we are not so different. You watched the world through another while I traversed it with Emiya and Solomon.”
Abzu lifted Worldrender, pointing the tip of the blade at me. “Existence on impulse is the truest form of being. Yet to be here, in this form, I needed eyes to see this world. You and I are proof of this flaw. That existence derived from the evolution of complexity must be cut away, excess purged from the cosmos so we may gutter toward cold, dark, beautiful entropy.” He brandished Worldrender and took a single step toward his son, feet planted on invisible air.
“You would have this world be nothing but instinct and simplicity?” I asked, head tilted in puzzlement. An aura of white lightning burst to life around him, flaring up without a moment’s notice.
Another flash synced with the pulses of light from the Void Tree. I saw stars. Bright and radiate in the cosmos, trillions of them dancing around the titanic maws of black holes. The illusion dispersed, as fleeting as it was in its appearance.
“This world deserves children who will shape it into something better. Something everlasting. When no decay can be cut away, no excess to be purged, that is when I may rest. That is my instinct, my son.” No power flared from Abzu in response. No dramatic display of strength, pressure, or energy from his primordial body. He took another step toward me. “You can still be at my side for this journey, Enkidu. It need not end.”
I close my eyes. I can feel the Tree fill the world with its power. Its roots stretch from the farthest reaches of Tobusekai to the most western shores of Kamiyasumi. Throughout the world humans look up toward the sky, curiosity in their eyes. They had endured and suffered so much. Plagues, wars, strife…conflicts from the day that Enkidu was plucked from that waters. “Abzu,” I began, tilting my head back as I found tranquility within, “I have decided to walk alongside humanity. Whether this be the end, our final hour, or not…I don’t care. I give myself to them. Dedicate this body as their sword and shield.” I lilt, head falling level as strands of green hair fall over my eyes as they open. In my left hand a blade of light manifests, crackling to life as my body surges with divine power.
In speed that defies physics itself, I launch myself like a ballistic missile at my father.
With a motion so elegant and fluid Abzu parried my first blow, a single downward swing. With Worldrender in hand, sparks flared outwards against the indescribable metals that forged his sword. In those sparks another illusion flashed before my eyes. I saw a ravenous, disease spreading beast, lashing out upon desecrated lands as it climbed from the deep sea of the Kaizoku. Its plague spread from sea to sea. What I saw…suddenly interrupted by Abzu’s arm smacking me to the side, launching me backwards toward the Void Tree. Was he taunting me?
“Why-?” I ask, puzzled.
The Abyss did not respond. He simply launched himself at a speed that defied reason, appearing before me with Worldrender lifted high. I react off pure instinct, spared only by Abzu’s desire not to end the battle before it could truly start in earnest. Perhaps it was a quirk or trait inherited from Isabella’s personality? A desire to relish battle? A strangely human quality in a being that was anything but. The towering Abzu lowered Worldrender, the blade swung with force that could split the skies themselves. I catch the blade with my own sword of light, blocking it but held tightly under its sheer weight and force. I grunt, once again holding back the force of the cosmos.
I had only one weapon in this battle between gods: my own divine authority. My dedication to humanity was not only a conviction, after all. And as we stood there high in the sky, waves cascading outwards from below where we clashed, I once again saw it. A young diseased woman, her arms outstretched as she laughed and laughed and laughed. It is majestic, she spoke. Majestic. Chaos wrought on Tobusekai. But she was only a vessel for machinations she did not fully understand. I was breathless. Abzu laughed. Releasing Worldrender from the clash of blades before using his free hand to unleash a shockwave that sent me reeling. He dashed forward yet again, this time past me as he made his first attempt to reach the Void Tree. Its branches flared with purple light.
“Abzu-!” I called out, catching my balance before teleporting myself before him to strike at his head with a downward kick. Though as I did he caught my leg mid-motion, turning his terrible glare back up toward me once again. His eyes, the primeval Shinkaigan, flashed into my own as I once again saw images of an nigh-alien world. Laughter had subsided. Now, in place of plague-desecrated lands were simply arrays of temples. Sprawling and large. They mimicked the architecture of those from an ancient Strand. What had happened? The Mainland burned with a flame so bright it appeared white like the sun. Yet the structures rest beneath it, spreading through the fire. They were built into the land, rather than on it. Almost as if they were converting the very earth they were part of. An illusion?
No.
Not an illusion.
These were visions - visions of a dark future.
The horizon fluoresced in beautiful hues of purple, violet, and magenta. Flashes of white burned in glorious radiance across the night sky. Observers all across the shorelines of Tobusekai and the Mainland crawled from their beds, ending blissful slumber, to watch these majestic sights. Waves crested and crashed on the sandy and rocky beaches. Little did they know, they were watching the end of the world unfold before their eyes. Children embraced their parents; spouses held each other; friends provided each other comfort; all watched with cautious curiosity and dry weariness. None of them had seen something quite like this before. Nothing this majestic, this radiant, this beautiful. The last they had seen was Tiamat’s emergence, darkened skies and black waters that came to shatter their lives three years prior. Yet this was something different. Something unfamiliar. Their ranks had been thinned. Disease claimed over a quarter of these villages that lined the coast. War left them hungry, poor, and weary. But they hold onto hope, that small light in the distance battling against its violet opposition. Hope for tomorrow, hope to survive the night.
Abzu released a torrent of lilac lightning arcs that coalesced into a single crescent of void energy from the tip of Worldrender, sending it crashing down into the corrupted waters below after his son. Enkidu looked up toward the sky, toward his father. His bare feet were muddied by the Hokubu as its tainted waters churned violently amidst the violence and destruction. Behind him the Void Tree glowed brightly, sending towering light into the sky as the night clouds shined a brilliant purple. Enkidu erected a shield of white light, scattering the arcs of lilac into the waters around him. Violent explosions shook the ocean itself as black rain began falling back on the liquid battlefield. The young Divinity lowered his shield only to be met by Abzu, having closed the gap with his impossible agility, fist out to strike at his son’s clay jaw. It was followed by a red flash as Abzu enveloped his son in light, blasting him backwards toward the titanic Tree. Clay spewed from his body in an angry geyser as Enkidu fell backwards, quickly healing himself using his consummated shape.
By now the Tree had shed most of its ancient white bark. What remained was an energy construct, glowing in majestic purple, blacks, lilacs, violets, and lavenders. Nascent cosmic energies prospered within its ethereal branches, flaring itself upward toward the sky. The end was approaching. Perhaps it had been foolish, or arrogant, to think he could win. But it was the cosmos itself that stared him in the face; Abzu was a being of supreme power, he would need to opt for his only strategic advantage if he were to win. His ace in the hole. Abzu unleashed a barrage of Void projectiles, each the size of a sack of grain yet with the destructive power of a large nuclear warhead. All honed onto Enkidu’s body as the young Divinity launched himself, repositioning on the surface of the Hokubu. Some slammed behind him, triggering titanic explosions that shattered the air. Though his speed was far superior, it was only a matter of time until his defensive strategies ran their course. Others that missed darted back, intent on finding their target.
When a god is born, or created, their Authority is not necessarily determined by their creator. It is their impulse to find purpose and shape their own destiny. It was not Tiamat that birthed Marduk and his siblings to hold command of Justice, the Heavens, the Underworld, and the Elements. Those were self-forged destinies. Enkidu was born, and pulled from, the Hokubu just like Marduk had been: purposeless. It was his bond with Emiya that had gifted him his first impulse to shape his own destiny; to become a weapon not for the gods, but for humanity. And when he cured his first humans of the Red Fever, he learned a kindness within him that was willing to sacrifice itself for the spark of humanity. A kindness that taught him a purpose in restraining divine power.
He was the Chains of Heaven.
He would walk alongside humanity.
He would restrain the gods.
Abzu hovered above, watching from the sky as his son danced and dodged the Void missiles that chased him with relentless fury. Until suddenly he stopped, his white lightning aura manifesting a radiant gold shine that burned so bright no one, not even Abzu, could gaze at it directly. It blossomed outwards, pushing the purple light of the Void Tree back as if hope itself had taken form to banish the night.
“Mother’s fury is a thing of the past,” he began, speaking softly as the luminous gold light rushed outward to cover a massive radius of the Hokubu Sea. “The cosmos has already been born and humanity has been split from the gods. Nothingness has given shape to Creation. And I will walk alongside humanity to restrain those who would see their downfall.” Suddenly the corrupted Hokubu burned from the golden light, steam rushing up toward the sky. The corrupted waters were being cleansed, purged of the darkness of the Sea of Life, leaving behind nothing but crystalline blue waters shrouded by golden majesty. It grew so bright that it even burned away the purple warheads that had been hunting Enkidu. Finally that energy struck a critical mass and the golden light pulsed outward, he was ready.
“ENUMA... ELISH!”
From the waters hundreds of golden chains burst forth to chase Abzu down. His vicious purple eyes widened with surprise, understanding now what his son was capable of. If Abzu was the Worldrender, the Cosmos, and Nothingness, formed from Primordial Void, then Enkidu was the linchpin of creation itself. The guardian who gained purpose in protecting what already existed: humanity. Enkidu found purpose in restraining the gods. Taking Worldrender in both hands Abzu slashed mightly, tearing holes through reality as he did so. But the chains persisted. Some were battered away, destroyed by Worldrender’s sheer might. But so many had emerged that they seemed nigh endless. Their golden radiance even burned at his flesh, searing it so wholly that it left golden marks across his darkened skin. The chains were tipped with sharp points, piercing through Abzu’s body. With Worldrender he slashed again, this time sending a shockwave of purple and violet energy outwards in all directions to destroy his son’s divine construct. But nothing seemed to work. Another chain pierced him from behind, puncturing his body where a human heart would be. No blood splattered from his body. Instead he fell forwards, now staggered as his balance and power were disrupted.
And then another. And another. And another. Soon his body in all directions was skewered by his son’s Chains of Heaven. Enkidu acted now to throw his father down against the Void Tree, letting the Chains puncture through him and bind him permanently to his own twisted cosmic creation. Worldrender fell to the waters and sank to the depths.
With Abzu pinned now Enkidu’s very body began to glow. If he had summoned the chains to restrain Abzu, then he would transform himself into the weapon that would bind him permanently. He spun atop the waters across from his father, transforming himself into a single wondrous glowing chain and spear until he finally launched himself across the waters at Abzu.
The end was here.
Enkidu arched through the air, beginning his descent toward his pinned prey: the cosmos itself, Abzu. He would not kill, but restrain. To bind the ancient being, returning him and his tree to the Void; before the Tree could work its primeval Chaotic powers and permanently overwrite their world and reality. It was his sole purpose in that moment: to be humanity’s weapon to bind the gods. “Abzu - you may have created me, but you are not my father. From my first day being pulled out from the Hokubu and experienced humanity through their eyes, I knew. It was an instinct as pure as your own impulse: I would be their guardian. You, shaper of the stars, are a thing of the past. I will bind the gods.” Abzu’s body was pinned against the tree’s collapsing bark, legs bound against it and arms pinned into it by golden chains. From his body purple and golden blood dripped into the now purified crystal blue waters of the Hokubu.
Abzu made no attempt to escape; his dreaded Shinkaigan tracked his son through the air, soaring like a bolt of magnificent lightning. He crashed downwards, now parallel with the ocean, water parting in the wake of his air pressure. Just moments to impact and… Enkidu slammed into Abzu, stopping short. An intense crash and explosion could be heard, causing water to rain back down upon the battlefield. The young divinity had struck a wall. The speartip of his embodied light was stopped by an invisible barrier in front of him, unable to push past it. Even the air itself began to physically crack around the two as he continued to attempt a break through. An unstoppable force had met an immovable object. Shock punctuated Enkidu’s thoughts. Impossible! He can’t stop this! A malicious grin crept across Abzu’s bloodied and demonic countenance. "You have not the strength, my son." Words that reverberated in Enkidu’s mind like a deafening gong inside a small echo chamber. The cosmos itself was defending Abzu, preventing Enkidu’s passage through space. And no matter how much Enkidu flexed his power, little changed. Only more cracks ripping into the air as reality itself broke apart.
No… Enkidu’s mind pleaded with his body, to drive that divine spear one more inch forward, to shatter the unshatterable. He desperately sought some explanation for why he was stopped short, proving his power ineffective against his father’s might. His plan was sound; Enkidu embodied restraints, the chains that would bind the gods. Such a concept should be able to overcome Abzu, a being of supreme might. If Abzu was the oceans then all Enkidu had to do was puncture a single point in space. Just as the task of moving the oceans would be impossible, any single point could be found and exploited in order to penetrate through to the surface. If Enkidu could dedicate his entire being to restraint, then a god could be restrained regardless of their cosmic breadth.
"Push through, brother!" A new and unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind. But this was deep and booming, filling Enkidu with inspiration. It was not intoxicating and deafening like his father’s. It resonated with confidence, driving Enkidu to push against the unbreakable spacetime anomaly. In the distance, amidst the chaos and rainfall, the Champions of Humanity manifested. Among them were Solomon and Isabella, and deep within Isabella Enkidu could sense the four prime divinities: Marduk, Enlil, Nergal, and Inanna, disembodied and weakened.
Abzu’s eyes flicked between them and his son. "They are relics! Dead gods from a dying world. Our purpose is to supplant them; to bring disorder to a broken world so that it may be reborn in its dying embers." Abzu’s voice pushed into Enkidu’s mind, fighting against the unified voice of the pantheon. Air still cracked around under such severe pressure, divine light pummeling into the cosmos. Enkidu winced in pain, nearly buckling under the pressure of his own power combined with the force of Abzu’s mental assault.
Within Isabella the gods looked at each other for a moment, smiling and taking in the sight of one another before their incorporeal bodies began to dissipate. They knew, without speaking a single word, that they were connected eternally. And that while this would be their final deed, a necessary sacrifice, that connection would live on through the humans that once worshiped them. But they did not seek humanity’s worship. They loved them as any parent would love their children. And now they were ready to move on, to offer their children one final act of protection.
And just like that, they vanished from Isabella’s body.
“ENKIDU!” Abzu roared. The air around the two had literally shattered, a small vacuum of space contained within a twenty meter radius around them distorted spacetime. Bolts of purple and gold lightning darted outward in random and chaotic directions, diffusing themselves however they could. Enkidu was slipping away; his strength was sapped, pressed against an inshatterable barrier of reality that Abzu had warped and corrupted to prevent his son’s passage. Though not free from damage himself, the God of the Cosmos was covered in purple and black blood dripping from his eyes, mouth, and ears. Enkidu’s body likewise quivered. Liquid clay dripped from his sockets and eyes. His body was reaching its limit. Before long he would…. And like a fresh burst of cool and crisp wind brushing against his skin, Enkidu felt renewed. Strength within his body swelled as new divine essences found their way into his crumbling body. He could feel the strength of Marduk, the resolve of Nergal, the elegance of Inanna, and the chaotic fury of Enlil all welling up within him as they joined within him. Enkidu’s mental distrations from Abzu faded, interrupted by swirling serenity within his body. Focus returned to him. Abzu’s dominant and echoing voice boomed no more, drowned out by the presences of his four prime children.
"You’ve grown so much, little brother." Marduk said, a hint of melancholy in his towering voice.
"Unlike our nefarious father, we offer you no world. That is for humanity to decide." It was Inanna who spoke now, embracing Enkidu within his mind. "But you are unique. You have not elected to rule this world. You have chosen to be their guardian. We have no bodies to aid you, little brother. But through sacrifice, the same as you have learned in your journeys, we give you our essences. What little power we have as divine beings we pass to you."
"Our father has fractured this world, Enkidu. Even in success, there will be great hardships yet to come. Rifts in time have opened as other worlds intersect with our own. But all can be rectified." Enlil promised.
"Our pantheon is not extinct yet. Even with our passing there still exist exiled gods; Ereshkigal, Anu…others in hiding. You must find them." Nergal spoke, burdened with guilt over the fate of Irkalla.
"We love you." Each god spoke in unison, their essences merging within Enkidu’s divine clay body. Their voices faded, but their presences remained as Enkidu took on the power of each divinity.
Enkidu barely managed a nod in response, still desperately pushing against Abzu’s barrier. But with those final words he felt a wave of energy wash over him. Lightning flared out from his body as he pushed closer to Abzu, breaking through his indescribable resistance. Abzu’s purple eyes narrowed as Enkidu moved but a small nanometer forward. A minute distance, but an impossible reality that Abzu momentarily could not comprehend. And then the flood gates shattered; Enkidu soared through, shattering space around him now empowered by his siblings. Abzu, still bound to the tree, was helpless as the once nascent-divinity slammed the tip of his golden spear into his father’s thorax.
"THIS WORLD BELONGS TO HUMANITY!"
The radiating Void Tree suddenly seized inward as its exposed energetic branches imploded in glorious unison. A showering torrent of purple-blue droplets rained from the sky in utter chaos as Abzu could feel Enkidu piercing his flesh, shock permeating every fiber of his extra dimensional being. Meanwhile, Solomon sprung to action. Manifesting his Truth-Seeking Orbs he erected a powerful barrier to surround the champions of humanity from the descending chaos. The felled Void Tree was now lashing out at reality around it, desperate to enact the will of its master. But it failed. And yet, with the Tree’s destruction all but secured - Abzu’s binds were now lifted. The golden chains that pierced his flesh no longer bound him to the tree. In that moment of pandemonium Abzu used his immense strength and stamina to wrap his hands around Enkidu’s divine form. "You cannot stop fate!" Abzu decreed, golden light burning his arm’s gray flesh.
Abzu struggled, face contorted in a mixture of pure agony and rage. The Void Tree’s demise was as if an entire cosmos had been snuffed from existence. His time was limited now. He began redirecting Enkidu’s projectile body as it continued to impale him. By now Enkidu had already pierced through his father’s chest cavity, leaving a would-be crater in his body. But Abzu began pushing him to the left, forcing him to make an early exit as he did. Enkidu all but lost control now, relying on nothing but pure instinct to make it this far.
And just like that…
Abzu ripped the spear from his body and twisted his demonic form toward the sky.
Toward the moon.
Toward the heavens themselves.
With all his might, Abzu launched Enkidu and as he did, purple blood splattering about, clapped his hands together. Around Enkidu an ephemeral sparkling Void formed, guiding his path upward on a trajectory he would not have the strength to change. His target: Eanna.
Solomon’s eyes widened within the black spheroid as he experienced a new revelation. Reacting on impulse he nearly lowered the barrier, exposing each of his comrades to the chaotic downpour of cosmic void energy. Merlin and Madara stopped him, each pulling him back to interrupt lowering their only shield. ”He intends to bring the heavens down…” Solomon says dejectedly, now knowing what the future brings. With his Doujutsu, Solomon teleported them into Ars Paulina to save what he could from the inevitable shattering.
As Enkidu soared through the sky, now turned away from his father and unable to act, he screamed in fury. He had averted the apocalypse. But instead, his father had triggered a cataclysm that would rock their reality to its core. And while he didn’t know it, it would be similar to the fate shared by Basel’s own draconic world and that of the Dragonkin.
Abzu stood alone now. Behind him the Void Tree collapsed into the purified waters of the Hokubu. His chest cavity had caved in on itself, leaving behind nothing but a gaping hole in his thorax like a crescent moon. Throughout his body holes with golden chains, now turning to dust, draped his form. He watched silently as the bright golden light soared toward the moon.
Moments later the sky would illuminate in a bright flash of blinding light. Every corner of the planet was illuminated, turning night to day. The moon split in half as titanic fragments of it plummeted toward the planet, along with Eanna itself.The sky dimmed, replacing blinding light with massive meteors that showered upon the lands from Kamiyasumi to Tobusekai and everything in between. Nowhere was spared.
"You have inherited a stagnant world, Enkidu. I was a mercy. We would have rebuilt a much greater reality than this. But you, and your siblings, insisted on otherwise. This is what you have wrought. Perhaps the Fates wrote this into the stars themselves…."
Abzu’s material form began to fade away. But from the corpse of the Void Tree, still sinking and burning as it fell into the Hokubu, three small meteorites were launched opposite of the shattered heavens now falling upon the planet. In truth, these were no meteorites. They were a new generation of divinities. Abzu’s children and Enkidu’s new siblings: Aureliana, Goddess of Wisdom, Archelirion, God of Heaven, and Tanacetum, God of War.
Tanacetum crash landed in the frigid north, unleashing a terrible storm in the skies above as he did.
And as Aureliana descended upon the former Land of Fire, so too did the heavens themselves. Shards of the moon slammed into the planet as immense destruction ensued. Dust storms ravaged the world, earthquakes shattered lands. From those shards and the craters they left behind, ancient demons and angels climbed from the ruins.
Archelirion’s arrival was met with similar devastation; plagues spread as quick as wildfire, wind storms flattened cities, and tsunami’s slammed against coastlines.
And in the far east, an ancient beast that Kotetsu had encountered stirred once again.
"This is how it must be, my son. Seven swords rise as the old order falls."
Emiya Shirō dove into the Hokubu after a guilty conscience spurred him to activity. The reason he entered those corrupted waters no longer mattered. After months of hiding away in a remote village, he decided he was done with self-pity, and wanted to find some manner of adventure. Instead adventure found him. From the second he entered the Hokubu, he was bound to Enkidu's fate. Emiya was pulled down to the depths of the Hokubu as he was temporarily made immune to it's corrupting influence, as the child asked him a simple question. Did Emiya wish to leave him? Emiya's mind raced with a thousand thoughts, but he instinctually asked a question that would define the child: "Do you... Need help?" What was help? Enkidu didn't have enough awareness about the world to even know what that concept was. The idea that one could do something to the benefit of others. Enkidu only knew loneliness, as anything that came near immediately left. Emiya listened to the child and his heart broke. He asked if the child wanted to leave, that he would take him away from that place, he simply needed to be told how. Minutes later Emiya found himself back on the coast of Tobusekai cradling this unknown child in his arms.
Desperate to get as far away from the Hokubu as possible, Emiya journeyed south through Tobusekai, passing through many Landmarks where combat had taken place. He always found those scenes sad, as he believed that no one was beyond saving, and if he could would save everyone. While he couldn't understand these thoughts, Enkidu had at the very least begun to grasp what what concept of "help" even was. Eventually Emiya and Enkidu made it to Last Bastion, one of the few safe cities within Tobusekai, and the only one with no direct ties to any given faction. They remained there for several days as people were suddenly being cured of an unknown disease ravaging the entire world called "Red Fever", seemingly when they were in the proximity of Emiya and his unknown child. Eventually it became widespread that a "miracle child" had been found that could cure the fever. People embarked on pilgrimages to see the Child and be cured. Enkidu couldn't yet fathom the scope of his actions, but he had understood that he had the power to help people. That's all that mattered. These first moments cemented the God's perspective for the rest of his life. Was it a miracle, or perhaps simply luck that had Emiya be the one to pluck Enkidu from the Void? It was the Hero of Justice's ideology and very nature that helped Enkidu grow into someone who liked to help people.
Countless masses made the journey to Last Bastion to recieve the blessings of the child. Both Enkidu and Emiya were happy that the God Child was helping people overcome the debilitating disease, but something didn't sit right with Emiya. They'd become public figures, his name and appearance spread far and wide in an attempt to spread the news that the Fever could be cured by meeting him, but this would have unintended consequences. The news spread to the furthest corners of the world, even to the Voice of Tiamat, Imeroth. Emiya had disrupted their plans by delving into the Hokubu and rescuing Enkidu. Imeroth instructed the Voidlord Demetrias to bring the child to him.
Enkidu left Last Bastion with Emiya not long after, having healed all of the people in the hub of the East. He traveled west towards the Badlands of Earth, meeting several characters along the way, including Solomon who revealed the child's name was Enkidu, as well as created a cure for the fever itself. Emiya was instructed to journey to Tsuchi Heihō where an acquaintance of Solomon lived, Iskandrous, the worlds best doctor. He could synthesize and mass produce the cure within the Village of Sin, and thanks to the Village's connections, have it reach every corner of the world in almost no time at all. Until this moment Enkidu hadn't so much as opened his eyes, but there within that humble, beautiful clinic, he saw the beauty of the real world for the first time.
An drunkard unceremoniously burst into the clinic, asking about a hangover remedy from the doctor, taking a passing interest in Enkidu, but otherwise was entirely irrelevant to the situation. Or so everyone, including Enkidu thought. The drunkard was in fact Demetrias, and he had just succeeded in his preparations to steal Enkidu. After leaving the clinic Demetrias entered an alleyway and vanished from sight, teleporting to the distant shore of Kythira on the other side of the world. His plan was simple. Now that he had met Enkidu in person, he could affect the child with his powers, specifically those under his Domain of the Soul, and his Soul Fire derived from his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Demetrias intended to only drag Enkidu to Kythira, but due to a linking of the pairs souls that Enkidu created upon their meeting that linked Enkidu and Emiya, both were pulled through Space-Time to Voidlord's position. Though he only intended to steal Enkidu, Demetrias now had to contend with Emiya as well. After Emiya displayed a clear refusal and outright hostility to Demetrias' request to peacefully hand over the child, the three fought. It didn't last very long however. As Demetrias' patience waned he released a vile hurricane composed of the Sea of Life. Emiya had two options; to temporarily flee the area to avoid the attack, and throw himself in front of the child in an effort to protect him. Emiya chose wrong. He opted to teleport to the Throne to avoid the attack, leaving Enkidu at the mercy of Demetrias, whose blade could damage the God. Enkidu understood this act. The attack would have surely killed Emiya, so it was only natural. He was human after all. But Emiya had gone back on his word to protect the child at all costs, to put himself and his needs over that of the fledgling God's, whose contributions to the fight had thus far been on pure instinct. It was unreasonable of him to ask human sacrifice themselves for his sake. Emiya returned from the Throne to see Demetrias mere moments away from grabbing Enkidu. The human lashed out in anger, doing anything he could to stop this catastrophe of his own making. Emiya's return and subsequent counter-attack gave Enkidu the chance to lash out one final time, destroying Demetrias' blade that could harm even a God in the process. Demetrias vanished in a haze of soul-damaging flames, inflicting untold damage on Emiya as his attack phased through the Voidlord's position.
Emiya's allies soon arrived and helped take Enkidu and the injured human back to Solomon, one of the few people in the world who could heal such injuries, one on a God, the other to the very soul. It was decided that, due to the Voidlord's interests in Enkidu, he would remain under Solomon's protection from that moment on. Emiya had done a good job until Kythira, but it was clear that, despite the blade Blessings from the End of the World being destroyed, the Voidlords wouldn't simply cease their actions against Enkidu. Soon after Emiya departed, and that was the last time Enkidu would see Emiya before his death.
Enkidu remained on Theodoro with Solomon who taught the God many things. History, philosophy, morality, all manner of subjects were taught to Enkidu as the pair worked to restore Theodoro. There were many days and nights spent recalling the days of Solomon's empire, and the wonders found within it. An incident in the past had rendered the island an acidic hellscape, a ruined slice of paradise which the King of Magic decided to use as an opportunity for a learning experience. Each passing day the line between God and Man was slowly blurring, as to any outsider Enkidu appeared to be just that. A man. And it was all thanks to Shirō Emiya, whose ideals solidified Enkidu's mindset as someone who wished to help people at the most crucial moment. The God's birth. Despite both being godly beings in their own ways, Solomon and Enkidu worked to repair the destroyed island by hand, planting seeds for new growth while removing what little of the corruption that had spread with caution and consideration. They toiled away for weeks, as Enkidu could sense the battle raging on within the depths of Irkalla, in the Palace of Ganzir. Enkidu would ask from time to time why he couldn't just use his Divine Power to fix the land, believing it would make it too easy. A simplistic yet apt metaphor for what he perceived as a simple solution to Humanity's struggle in Irkalla. Solomon responded that it was against the natural flow of the world. There were many forces that all acted in such a way that it created the thing we call "life", and to act against them was to go against the natural order of things. But there were other times. Times when certain forces acted against the course of nature, to disrupt the lives of the many. It was in these rare moments, when calamity was at the doorstep of humanity, that the God and the Sage could act in preservation of life. Enkidu finally understood what Solomon had been trying to teach him. The ancient king gestured to the remainder of Theodoro, declaring that no amount of gardening could ever fix this destruction. He asked what Enkidu was going to do about it.
Enkidu's response was to act.
At the inevitable end woven into the tapestry of reality had been enacted, when all Champions of Humanity lay undeniably and irrefutably dead, Enkidu emerged from a portal generated by Solomon. The King of Israel had gone on his own perilous undertaken, and emerged on the other side something more than a Human. A Demi-God if one were to give it a name. This allowed the pair to enter Ganzir, even when Irkalla had been sealed off from the rest of reality. Enkidu looked down and saw the fallen Champions. Rage filled him as he leapt into action, not wild and instinctual like back on Kythira, but honed and directed, focused and with utter clarity. He declared he would end Phetra's rule as Queen of the Underworld once and for all. And there, in the heart of the afterlife, Enkidu and Phetra fought, divine bolts of lightning and golden chains slammed into Phetra as she released wave after wave and bolt of unknown yet terrifyingly powerful black and purple energy. Solomon asssited with the offense, releasing waves of Suen at Phetra, overpowering her through the sheer strength of his own Divinity. As Solomon cut off Phetra from the source of her power, the Void, Enkidu tore into the False Queen of the Dead with unfathomable speed and physical prowess, eventually tossing her off the edge of Ganzir and into the Void below. A voice echoed through Irkalla, one Enkidu could faintly recall from before his birth into reality.
Behold the might of the cosmos.
I am known by many names: the Timeless One, King of Confluence, First and Final Shape, Harrowed God, Destroyer of Possibilities.
If those here are the weavers that write upon the tapestry, then I am both it and its creator!
I am Abzu, the Primordial God of the Fresh Water Sea.
I am all there is, all there was, and all there will be.
The Domains of this world shall be broken, and I rise in their place.
As Ganzir was being engulfed by the encroaching Void, Solomon repeated his earlier lesson. That sometimes one must act. That no amount of gardening could save that island. Enkidu looked upon the faces of the fallen heroes and knew. Their deaths here were against the current. That outside forces acted upon the world, and thus he had to act in an opposing manner to restore balance and the world to the way it once was. The Domain of Death had fallen during the Champion's battle, and thus their deaths held no meaning. They could yet be saved. Enkidu harnessed the boundless infinite possibility of Chaos, and imagined the Champions restored to life, and thus they always were. Reality was a tapestry, and he had the power to write upon it. As another portal appeared, and the Champions along with Enkidu, Solomon and the Blacksmith Marzan escaped through it, leaving Ereshkigal to fight the encroaching void by herself.
After the battle within Irkalla and the threat of Abzu's escape from the Void Enkidu sought out the Anunnaki, the Gods of Eanna, to better understand his Divine Authority, and how to proceed. Here he was given instruction on how exactly to harness the boundless energies Enkidu always had. In his fight with Demetrias he acted on instinct, raw and untamed. In his fight with Phetra he was more focused, direct yet contained, but he would never had prevailed alone. He had to combine these two, unrestrained strength directed into singularly focussed, controlled attacks. As he did he came to understand his purpose. He was the Chains of Heaven, he was brought into this world to bind the Gods, and walk alongside Humanity. As Basel fell, Enkidu watched on from Eanna. The Domain of Desire had fallen, and with it the order of the universe itself. Enkidu witnessed Abzu's escape from the Void through the actions of Imeroth and Madara Uchiha, and Humanity's Last Stand that was to follow. Enkidu didn't intervene. Another would be the savior of the fallen Champions. Instead, as Abzu rent reality and appeared before the Void Tree, Enkidu already one step ahead of him. Both stood in the shadow of the blossoming Void Tree, one intent on whittling the world down to it's finest point to start again, the other intent on preserving Humanity, and rejecting the notion that Abzu was inevitable.
I would stand alone in defiance against the indifferent infinite universe.
"I stand alone at the edge of the abyss. It stared back. In that darkness I see the cosmos itself.
Above, three meteors pierce shattered heavens, siblings freed. Demons rise, below, the dead die.
Rot spreads, truth revealed. Vengeance claimed, worship, worship, worship."
My siblings and I were born as weapons. Each of us were identical; small fragments of clay made to be shaped. Yet our creator, a serpent with many eyes, had no hands to shape us with. You are Abzu, a physical embodiment of the cosmos. A principle hostile to life and complexity. An agent of dissolution, of entropy. Primordials are concepts - Yin and Yang, Utu and Suen, Light and Dark, Life and Death, Tiamat and you. Their origins are unknown, if they even can be said to bend the knee to such three dimensional concepts, and are blessed with supreme Authorities. It would be a mistake to describe you as a being of no complexity. It is from you, the cosmos, that all complexity springs forth. You are a blank canvas and the manifestation of all that can be. A king of possibilities. You are not inherently evil. Your divine purpose is not simply the culling of existence. Complexity is not antithetical to your impulse. And yet here you stand, Worldrender in hand, ready to wipe the board clean.
Why?
We were always connected, you and I. Perhaps threads woven together by the Twins. Yet it seems unfitting that Divinities born of the Pantheon should take up those strings. Since that day I was pulled from the Hokubu I could feel you watching, listening, being. You were a presence in my life even before I knew the meaning of the word. And yet I knew it from the moment I formed in the Void’s infinite darkness. Phantom whispers of my creator looking to bring about the end. The wind howls in my face, green hair billowing ask the bark of the Void Tree continues to shed itself into the blackened waters of the corrupted Hokubu. I take a deep breath; it smells like nothingness. Like home. I look into your eyes, beads of purple pools of light. Why is it that Abzu, a being of supreme insight, relied on Isabella Uchiha to see into the world, to draw conclusions from it, and understand it?
The abyss spoke.
“This is the pact to which I am bound, my son. My divine impulse, my estate: the whole universe at the tip of my sword.”
His words were silken and calm. “Step aside.”
“There is no need to justify yourself to me.” My voice barely carried itself over the sound of wind and waves cresting on the ocean below. Pulse after pulse of energy radiating from the Void Tree as it clawed its way to maturity. “You are like Mother: a being that exists solely on impulse. Yet you occupy a space of human thought; a single pair of eyes to gaze upon the world before you. I suppose, in that sense, we are not so different. You watched the world through another while I traversed it with Emiya and Solomon.”
Abzu lifted Worldrender, pointing the tip of the blade at me. “Existence on impulse is the truest form of being. Yet to be here, in this form, I needed eyes to see this world. You and I are proof of this flaw. That existence derived from the evolution of complexity must be cut away, excess purged from the cosmos so we may gutter toward cold, dark, beautiful entropy.” He brandished Worldrender and took a single step toward his son, feet planted on invisible air.
“You would have this world be nothing but instinct and simplicity?” I asked, head tilted in puzzlement. An aura of white lightning burst to life around him, flaring up without a moment’s notice.
Another flash synced with the pulses of light from the Void Tree. I saw stars. Bright and radiate in the cosmos, trillions of them dancing around the titanic maws of black holes. The illusion dispersed, as fleeting as it was in its appearance.
“This world deserves children who will shape it into something better. Something everlasting. When no decay can be cut away, no excess to be purged, that is when I may rest. That is my instinct, my son.” No power flared from Abzu in response. No dramatic display of strength, pressure, or energy from his primordial body. He took another step toward me. “You can still be at my side for this journey, Enkidu. It need not end.”
I close my eyes. I can feel the Tree fill the world with its power. Its roots stretch from the farthest reaches of Tobusekai to the most western shores of Kamiyasumi. Throughout the world humans look up toward the sky, curiosity in their eyes. They had endured and suffered so much. Plagues, wars, strife…conflicts from the day that Enkidu was plucked from that waters. “Abzu,” I began, tilting my head back as I found tranquility within, “I have decided to walk alongside humanity. Whether this be the end, our final hour, or not…I don’t care. I give myself to them. Dedicate this body as their sword and shield.” I lilt, head falling level as strands of green hair fall over my eyes as they open. In my left hand a blade of light manifests, crackling to life as my body surges with divine power.
In speed that defies physics itself, I launch myself like a ballistic missile at my father.
With a motion so elegant and fluid Abzu parried my first blow, a single downward swing. With Worldrender in hand, sparks flared outwards against the indescribable metals that forged his sword. In those sparks another illusion flashed before my eyes. I saw a ravenous, disease spreading beast, lashing out upon desecrated lands as it climbed from the deep sea of the Kaizoku. Its plague spread from sea to sea. What I saw…suddenly interrupted by Abzu’s arm smacking me to the side, launching me backwards toward the Void Tree. Was he taunting me?
“Why-?” I ask, puzzled.
The Abyss did not respond. He simply launched himself at a speed that defied reason, appearing before me with Worldrender lifted high. I react off pure instinct, spared only by Abzu’s desire not to end the battle before it could truly start in earnest. Perhaps it was a quirk or trait inherited from Isabella’s personality? A desire to relish battle? A strangely human quality in a being that was anything but. The towering Abzu lowered Worldrender, the blade swung with force that could split the skies themselves. I catch the blade with my own sword of light, blocking it but held tightly under its sheer weight and force. I grunt, once again holding back the force of the cosmos.
I had only one weapon in this battle between gods: my own divine authority. My dedication to humanity was not only a conviction, after all. And as we stood there high in the sky, waves cascading outwards from below where we clashed, I once again saw it. A young diseased woman, her arms outstretched as she laughed and laughed and laughed. It is majestic, she spoke. Majestic. Chaos wrought on Tobusekai. But she was only a vessel for machinations she did not fully understand. I was breathless. Abzu laughed. Releasing Worldrender from the clash of blades before using his free hand to unleash a shockwave that sent me reeling. He dashed forward yet again, this time past me as he made his first attempt to reach the Void Tree. Its branches flared with purple light.
“Abzu-!” I called out, catching my balance before teleporting myself before him to strike at his head with a downward kick. Though as I did he caught my leg mid-motion, turning his terrible glare back up toward me once again. His eyes, the primeval Shinkaigan, flashed into my own as I once again saw images of an nigh-alien world. Laughter had subsided. Now, in place of plague-desecrated lands were simply arrays of temples. Sprawling and large. They mimicked the architecture of those from an ancient Strand. What had happened? The Mainland burned with a flame so bright it appeared white like the sun. Yet the structures rest beneath it, spreading through the fire. They were built into the land, rather than on it. Almost as if they were converting the very earth they were part of. An illusion?
No.
Not an illusion.
These were visions - visions of a dark future.
The horizon fluoresced in beautiful hues of purple, violet, and magenta. Flashes of white burned in glorious radiance across the night sky. Observers all across the shorelines of Tobusekai and the Mainland crawled from their beds, ending blissful slumber, to watch these majestic sights. Waves crested and crashed on the sandy and rocky beaches. Little did they know, they were watching the end of the world unfold before their eyes. Children embraced their parents; spouses held each other; friends provided each other comfort; all watched with cautious curiosity and dry weariness. None of them had seen something quite like this before. Nothing this majestic, this radiant, this beautiful. The last they had seen was Tiamat’s emergence, darkened skies and black waters that came to shatter their lives three years prior. Yet this was something different. Something unfamiliar. Their ranks had been thinned. Disease claimed over a quarter of these villages that lined the coast. War left them hungry, poor, and weary. But they hold onto hope, that small light in the distance battling against its violet opposition. Hope for tomorrow, hope to survive the night.
Abzu released a torrent of lilac lightning arcs that coalesced into a single crescent of void energy from the tip of Worldrender, sending it crashing down into the corrupted waters below after his son. Enkidu looked up toward the sky, toward his father. His bare feet were muddied by the Hokubu as its tainted waters churned violently amidst the violence and destruction. Behind him the Void Tree glowed brightly, sending towering light into the sky as the night clouds shined a brilliant purple. Enkidu erected a shield of white light, scattering the arcs of lilac into the waters around him. Violent explosions shook the ocean itself as black rain began falling back on the liquid battlefield. The young Divinity lowered his shield only to be met by Abzu, having closed the gap with his impossible agility, fist out to strike at his son’s clay jaw. It was followed by a red flash as Abzu enveloped his son in light, blasting him backwards toward the titanic Tree. Clay spewed from his body in an angry geyser as Enkidu fell backwards, quickly healing himself using his consummated shape.
By now the Tree had shed most of its ancient white bark. What remained was an energy construct, glowing in majestic purple, blacks, lilacs, violets, and lavenders. Nascent cosmic energies prospered within its ethereal branches, flaring itself upward toward the sky. The end was approaching. Perhaps it had been foolish, or arrogant, to think he could win. But it was the cosmos itself that stared him in the face; Abzu was a being of supreme power, he would need to opt for his only strategic advantage if he were to win. His ace in the hole. Abzu unleashed a barrage of Void projectiles, each the size of a sack of grain yet with the destructive power of a large nuclear warhead. All honed onto Enkidu’s body as the young Divinity launched himself, repositioning on the surface of the Hokubu. Some slammed behind him, triggering titanic explosions that shattered the air. Though his speed was far superior, it was only a matter of time until his defensive strategies ran their course. Others that missed darted back, intent on finding their target.
When a god is born, or created, their Authority is not necessarily determined by their creator. It is their impulse to find purpose and shape their own destiny. It was not Tiamat that birthed Marduk and his siblings to hold command of Justice, the Heavens, the Underworld, and the Elements. Those were self-forged destinies. Enkidu was born, and pulled from, the Hokubu just like Marduk had been: purposeless. It was his bond with Emiya that had gifted him his first impulse to shape his own destiny; to become a weapon not for the gods, but for humanity. And when he cured his first humans of the Red Fever, he learned a kindness within him that was willing to sacrifice itself for the spark of humanity. A kindness that taught him a purpose in restraining divine power.
He was the Chains of Heaven.
He would walk alongside humanity.
He would restrain the gods.
Abzu hovered above, watching from the sky as his son danced and dodged the Void missiles that chased him with relentless fury. Until suddenly he stopped, his white lightning aura manifesting a radiant gold shine that burned so bright no one, not even Abzu, could gaze at it directly. It blossomed outwards, pushing the purple light of the Void Tree back as if hope itself had taken form to banish the night.
“Mother’s fury is a thing of the past,” he began, speaking softly as the luminous gold light rushed outward to cover a massive radius of the Hokubu Sea. “The cosmos has already been born and humanity has been split from the gods. Nothingness has given shape to Creation. And I will walk alongside humanity to restrain those who would see their downfall.” Suddenly the corrupted Hokubu burned from the golden light, steam rushing up toward the sky. The corrupted waters were being cleansed, purged of the darkness of the Sea of Life, leaving behind nothing but crystalline blue waters shrouded by golden majesty. It grew so bright that it even burned away the purple warheads that had been hunting Enkidu. Finally that energy struck a critical mass and the golden light pulsed outward, he was ready.
“ENUMA... ELISH!”
From the waters hundreds of golden chains burst forth to chase Abzu down. His vicious purple eyes widened with surprise, understanding now what his son was capable of. If Abzu was the Worldrender, the Cosmos, and Nothingness, formed from Primordial Void, then Enkidu was the linchpin of creation itself. The guardian who gained purpose in protecting what already existed: humanity. Enkidu found purpose in restraining the gods. Taking Worldrender in both hands Abzu slashed mightly, tearing holes through reality as he did so. But the chains persisted. Some were battered away, destroyed by Worldrender’s sheer might. But so many had emerged that they seemed nigh endless. Their golden radiance even burned at his flesh, searing it so wholly that it left golden marks across his darkened skin. The chains were tipped with sharp points, piercing through Abzu’s body. With Worldrender he slashed again, this time sending a shockwave of purple and violet energy outwards in all directions to destroy his son’s divine construct. But nothing seemed to work. Another chain pierced him from behind, puncturing his body where a human heart would be. No blood splattered from his body. Instead he fell forwards, now staggered as his balance and power were disrupted.
And then another. And another. And another. Soon his body in all directions was skewered by his son’s Chains of Heaven. Enkidu acted now to throw his father down against the Void Tree, letting the Chains puncture through him and bind him permanently to his own twisted cosmic creation. Worldrender fell to the waters and sank to the depths.
With Abzu pinned now Enkidu’s very body began to glow. If he had summoned the chains to restrain Abzu, then he would transform himself into the weapon that would bind him permanently. He spun atop the waters across from his father, transforming himself into a single wondrous glowing chain and spear until he finally launched himself across the waters at Abzu.
The end was here.
Enkidu arched through the air, beginning his descent toward his pinned prey: the cosmos itself, Abzu. He would not kill, but restrain. To bind the ancient being, returning him and his tree to the Void; before the Tree could work its primeval Chaotic powers and permanently overwrite their world and reality. It was his sole purpose in that moment: to be humanity’s weapon to bind the gods. “Abzu - you may have created me, but you are not my father. From my first day being pulled out from the Hokubu and experienced humanity through their eyes, I knew. It was an instinct as pure as your own impulse: I would be their guardian. You, shaper of the stars, are a thing of the past. I will bind the gods.” Abzu’s body was pinned against the tree’s collapsing bark, legs bound against it and arms pinned into it by golden chains. From his body purple and golden blood dripped into the now purified crystal blue waters of the Hokubu.Abzu made no attempt to escape; his dreaded Shinkaigan tracked his son through the air, soaring like a bolt of magnificent lightning. He crashed downwards, now parallel with the ocean, water parting in the wake of his air pressure. Just moments to impact and… Enkidu slammed into Abzu, stopping short. An intense crash and explosion could be heard, causing water to rain back down upon the battlefield. The young divinity had struck a wall. The speartip of his embodied light was stopped by an invisible barrier in front of him, unable to push past it. Even the air itself began to physically crack around the two as he continued to attempt a break through. An unstoppable force had met an immovable object. Shock punctuated Enkidu’s thoughts. Impossible! He can’t stop this! A malicious grin crept across Abzu’s bloodied and demonic countenance. "You have not the strength, my son." Words that reverberated in Enkidu’s mind like a deafening gong inside a small echo chamber. The cosmos itself was defending Abzu, preventing Enkidu’s passage through space. And no matter how much Enkidu flexed his power, little changed. Only more cracks ripping into the air as reality itself broke apart.
No… Enkidu’s mind pleaded with his body, to drive that divine spear one more inch forward, to shatter the unshatterable. He desperately sought some explanation for why he was stopped short, proving his power ineffective against his father’s might. His plan was sound; Enkidu embodied restraints, the chains that would bind the gods. Such a concept should be able to overcome Abzu, a being of supreme might. If Abzu was the oceans then all Enkidu had to do was puncture a single point in space. Just as the task of moving the oceans would be impossible, any single point could be found and exploited in order to penetrate through to the surface. If Enkidu could dedicate his entire being to restraint, then a god could be restrained regardless of their cosmic breadth.
"Push through, brother!" A new and unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind. But this was deep and booming, filling Enkidu with inspiration. It was not intoxicating and deafening like his father’s. It resonated with confidence, driving Enkidu to push against the unbreakable spacetime anomaly. In the distance, amidst the chaos and rainfall, the Champions of Humanity manifested. Among them were Solomon and Isabella, and deep within Isabella Enkidu could sense the four prime divinities: Marduk, Enlil, Nergal, and Inanna, disembodied and weakened.
Abzu’s eyes flicked between them and his son. "They are relics! Dead gods from a dying world. Our purpose is to supplant them; to bring disorder to a broken world so that it may be reborn in its dying embers." Abzu’s voice pushed into Enkidu’s mind, fighting against the unified voice of the pantheon. Air still cracked around under such severe pressure, divine light pummeling into the cosmos. Enkidu winced in pain, nearly buckling under the pressure of his own power combined with the force of Abzu’s mental assault.
Within Isabella the gods looked at each other for a moment, smiling and taking in the sight of one another before their incorporeal bodies began to dissipate. They knew, without speaking a single word, that they were connected eternally. And that while this would be their final deed, a necessary sacrifice, that connection would live on through the humans that once worshiped them. But they did not seek humanity’s worship. They loved them as any parent would love their children. And now they were ready to move on, to offer their children one final act of protection.
And just like that, they vanished from Isabella’s body.
“ENKIDU!” Abzu roared. The air around the two had literally shattered, a small vacuum of space contained within a twenty meter radius around them distorted spacetime. Bolts of purple and gold lightning darted outward in random and chaotic directions, diffusing themselves however they could. Enkidu was slipping away; his strength was sapped, pressed against an inshatterable barrier of reality that Abzu had warped and corrupted to prevent his son’s passage. Though not free from damage himself, the God of the Cosmos was covered in purple and black blood dripping from his eyes, mouth, and ears. Enkidu’s body likewise quivered. Liquid clay dripped from his sockets and eyes. His body was reaching its limit. Before long he would…. And like a fresh burst of cool and crisp wind brushing against his skin, Enkidu felt renewed. Strength within his body swelled as new divine essences found their way into his crumbling body. He could feel the strength of Marduk, the resolve of Nergal, the elegance of Inanna, and the chaotic fury of Enlil all welling up within him as they joined within him. Enkidu’s mental distrations from Abzu faded, interrupted by swirling serenity within his body. Focus returned to him. Abzu’s dominant and echoing voice boomed no more, drowned out by the presences of his four prime children.
"You’ve grown so much, little brother." Marduk said, a hint of melancholy in his towering voice.
"Unlike our nefarious father, we offer you no world. That is for humanity to decide." It was Inanna who spoke now, embracing Enkidu within his mind. "But you are unique. You have not elected to rule this world. You have chosen to be their guardian. We have no bodies to aid you, little brother. But through sacrifice, the same as you have learned in your journeys, we give you our essences. What little power we have as divine beings we pass to you."
"Our father has fractured this world, Enkidu. Even in success, there will be great hardships yet to come. Rifts in time have opened as other worlds intersect with our own. But all can be rectified." Enlil promised.
"Our pantheon is not extinct yet. Even with our passing there still exist exiled gods; Ereshkigal, Anu…others in hiding. You must find them." Nergal spoke, burdened with guilt over the fate of Irkalla.
"We love you." Each god spoke in unison, their essences merging within Enkidu’s divine clay body. Their voices faded, but their presences remained as Enkidu took on the power of each divinity.
Enkidu barely managed a nod in response, still desperately pushing against Abzu’s barrier. But with those final words he felt a wave of energy wash over him. Lightning flared out from his body as he pushed closer to Abzu, breaking through his indescribable resistance. Abzu’s purple eyes narrowed as Enkidu moved but a small nanometer forward. A minute distance, but an impossible reality that Abzu momentarily could not comprehend. And then the flood gates shattered; Enkidu soared through, shattering space around him now empowered by his siblings. Abzu, still bound to the tree, was helpless as the once nascent-divinity slammed the tip of his golden spear into his father’s thorax.
"THIS WORLD BELONGS TO HUMANITY!"
The radiating Void Tree suddenly seized inward as its exposed energetic branches imploded in glorious unison. A showering torrent of purple-blue droplets rained from the sky in utter chaos as Abzu could feel Enkidu piercing his flesh, shock permeating every fiber of his extra dimensional being. Meanwhile, Solomon sprung to action. Manifesting his Truth-Seeking Orbs he erected a powerful barrier to surround the champions of humanity from the descending chaos. The felled Void Tree was now lashing out at reality around it, desperate to enact the will of its master. But it failed. And yet, with the Tree’s destruction all but secured - Abzu’s binds were now lifted. The golden chains that pierced his flesh no longer bound him to the tree. In that moment of pandemonium Abzu used his immense strength and stamina to wrap his hands around Enkidu’s divine form. "You cannot stop fate!" Abzu decreed, golden light burning his arm’s gray flesh.
Abzu struggled, face contorted in a mixture of pure agony and rage. The Void Tree’s demise was as if an entire cosmos had been snuffed from existence. His time was limited now. He began redirecting Enkidu’s projectile body as it continued to impale him. By now Enkidu had already pierced through his father’s chest cavity, leaving a would-be crater in his body. But Abzu began pushing him to the left, forcing him to make an early exit as he did. Enkidu all but lost control now, relying on nothing but pure instinct to make it this far.
And just like that…
Abzu ripped the spear from his body and twisted his demonic form toward the sky.
Toward the moon.
Toward the heavens themselves.
With all his might, Abzu launched Enkidu and as he did, purple blood splattering about, clapped his hands together. Around Enkidu an ephemeral sparkling Void formed, guiding his path upward on a trajectory he would not have the strength to change. His target: Eanna.
Solomon’s eyes widened within the black spheroid as he experienced a new revelation. Reacting on impulse he nearly lowered the barrier, exposing each of his comrades to the chaotic downpour of cosmic void energy. Merlin and Madara stopped him, each pulling him back to interrupt lowering their only shield. ”He intends to bring the heavens down…” Solomon says dejectedly, now knowing what the future brings. With his Doujutsu, Solomon teleported them into Ars Paulina to save what he could from the inevitable shattering.
As Enkidu soared through the sky, now turned away from his father and unable to act, he screamed in fury. He had averted the apocalypse. But instead, his father had triggered a cataclysm that would rock their reality to its core. And while he didn’t know it, it would be similar to the fate shared by Basel’s own draconic world and that of the Dragonkin.
Abzu stood alone now. Behind him the Void Tree collapsed into the purified waters of the Hokubu. His chest cavity had caved in on itself, leaving behind nothing but a gaping hole in his thorax like a crescent moon. Throughout his body holes with golden chains, now turning to dust, draped his form. He watched silently as the bright golden light soared toward the moon.
Moments later the sky would illuminate in a bright flash of blinding light. Every corner of the planet was illuminated, turning night to day. The moon split in half as titanic fragments of it plummeted toward the planet, along with Eanna itself.The sky dimmed, replacing blinding light with massive meteors that showered upon the lands from Kamiyasumi to Tobusekai and everything in between. Nowhere was spared.
"You have inherited a stagnant world, Enkidu. I was a mercy. We would have rebuilt a much greater reality than this. But you, and your siblings, insisted on otherwise. This is what you have wrought. Perhaps the Fates wrote this into the stars themselves…."
Abzu’s material form began to fade away. But from the corpse of the Void Tree, still sinking and burning as it fell into the Hokubu, three small meteorites were launched opposite of the shattered heavens now falling upon the planet. In truth, these were no meteorites. They were a new generation of divinities. Abzu’s children and Enkidu’s new siblings: Aureliana, Goddess of Wisdom, Archelirion, God of Heaven, and Tanacetum, God of War.
Tanacetum crash landed in the frigid north, unleashing a terrible storm in the skies above as he did.
And as Aureliana descended upon the former Land of Fire, so too did the heavens themselves. Shards of the moon slammed into the planet as immense destruction ensued. Dust storms ravaged the world, earthquakes shattered lands. From those shards and the craters they left behind, ancient demons and angels climbed from the ruins.
Archelirion’s arrival was met with similar devastation; plagues spread as quick as wildfire, wind storms flattened cities, and tsunami’s slammed against coastlines.
And in the far east, an ancient beast that Kotetsu had encountered stirred once again.
"This is how it must be, my son. Seven swords rise as the old order falls."
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