[i]So it is the fault of the ant that the boot crushes it. Power is wrongly abused in you—but not enough.[/i] Having given more attention to taunting and making excuses than to her defenses, Cia did not reinforce her magical shield, and the torrent of lava cascading over it reduced the barrier to cinders. More than likely, the vindictive Merged would suffer lasting burns as keepsakes of the Great One. Aforgomon glanced at Cythella, who stood off to the side. [i]I am all-powerful, not all-knowing. It occurs to me that none of you alleged gods hindered her either. Did you plan all along to destroy the humans, and so abate their rise to power so that there might come to exist a true excuse for appalling genocide?[/i] The time for bickering was past, however. Cia pointed her hand at the cave ceiling, and through the rock burst a pillar of intense heat. When Flemmings stepped up, fresh from his wanton and careless deicide, his order fell on deaf ears. Turning part-ways around, Aforgomon leered at him. [i]One can only control what they comprehend, little pugilist.[/i] The realization flooded Flemmings that the Great One lay beyond him. The next moment, Cia demanded its last words in a quibbling ritual that interested the shambler not at all. Still, the beam presented a problem. Bonds forged with the old gods over the course of a month lay silent, testifying their demise. At that moment, it all became too much. There could be no recourse from this instant. If any humans still lived, they would soon be dead, their salty tears staining the earth. While gods could never die, those who accompanied Aforgomon into battle would not reappear for a long while. As the column of light drew nearer, the Great One gave a long, low gasp in the manner of one despairing. Even with these Merged destroyed, many others existed, and the young lurker could not beat every one fast enough to do anything truly great in the meantime. Only one solution remained. It reached out, into the depths of dream, but a dream never explored until now: its own. Like a massive explosion, blues and purples and whites burst outward from its position. The entire chamber suddenly melted away, and Cia, Flemmings, Landon, and Aforgomon floated in a starry void. No earth or consuming light could be seen. “Filth.” Actual sound issued forth from the creature, its true voice heard at last. It seemed remarkably normal, though backed by a strange resonance. “Is it because I look and think differently? Is it that I, alone, understand the tenets of godhood...that I am sympathetic in nature? Is it so wrong to marvel at creation? I wanted...to see things...no-one else could see. Oh, father...Yog-Sothoth...” Everything went dark, and when the Merged regained their senses, they stood in the earthen shrine once more. Aforgomon was nowhere to be seen. [center]-=-=MEANWHILE=-=-[/center] Billions of volts raced through the seabed strider's body, and might have destroyed it of only volts, not amps, gave an electric current its lethality. A plethora of volts merely widened the stream through which the lightning flowed, lessening its peril rather than enhancing it. Amphibious Aforgomon leered and Leon. [i]You who know not the energy that wreathes the heavens: flee from me, like a truant child.[/i] And Leon fled. Disagreeable words issued from Miriam as she advanced, cleverly using chunks of debris as springboards to delay her destruction by gravity squeeze. Something scarlet and intriguing lay between her fingertips. Aforgomon stood its ground, oddly still for a being in the sights of a formidable attacker. When Miriam sprang for it, it refused to move, and swallowed her orb of mist whole. Discomforted by the arcane meal, and weeping in agony at the blade sunk into its flesh, it sank to its knees. A couple quiet moments passed, and Aforgomon did not stir. Miriam's mocking laughter rang out even as the home of Leon ceased to exist, compressed into a single grain of ultra-dense dust by the singularity that ripped through it. [i]Ignoramus.[/i] The beast rose to its feet swiftly. In one smooth motion it plucked the weapon from its face, gushing a browning slime down its skin, and popped the Rakuyo into its mouth. When its maw opened wide, Miriam could see what lay inside: a spiraling chaos capable of reducing anything to mere knowledge. Evidently, this alternate Great One shared that ability with the original. [i]Greatness is incomprehensibility. It is to be unknown, and to be feared by those who fear the unknown. It is to be shapeless, limitless, breathless, unspeakable, unnameable, unnatural. To be so far removed from normality that reality itself seems but an unstable illusion manufactured for the sake of sanity. It is no word. It is a state of being.[/i] A new realization came to the creature, and its fleshless lips curled into a disapproving frown. Reaching up, it pulled its skin down over its face before holding its hand out. From memory it recalled the Rakuyo, present now only in its imagination, and created a new, gleaming version from stardust. This it embedded into the ground, a gift for Miriam, before stepping back. [i]Do not be afraid of not understanding. Every Great One whispers its affectation....you need only listen.[/i] The seabed strider began to fade, its form becoming like mud. While its godly spirit disappeared, a final intonation resonated through the Nexus. [i]The dream was long.[/i] Then it returned, perhaps forever, to the bottomless sea for acceptance.