I Can Assimilate Everything

They couldn't see him in his current state…he existed in narrative space now, observing from outside the story even while being part of it!

So for now…it was time.

Time for the glorious first usage of Constellation's Dream!

HUUM!

Platinum-colored authority erupted around his ethereal stellar visage, each mote of light a potential story, a possible intervention.

The power didn't feel foreign or difficult to control…it felt like finally remembering how to breathe after holding his breath for a lifetime.

He closed eyes that existed in more dimensions than should be countable, and he began to dream himself into reality.

The process was neither violent nor gentle…it simply was, like deciding to exist in a specific location and having reality acknowledge the decision!

---

In the bounds of the Sea of Thalassara, where luminescent waters lapped at shores that existed in probability space, three figures searched desperately for any sign of the man who had exploded into pages of light.

Then the sea itself seemed to hold its breath.

And yet after what seemed like mere seconds…

Above them, space began to shimmer with platinum radiance that didn't illuminate so much as reveal.

A figure began to coalesce from the light…but not forming like matter gathering, but like a story deciding to tell itself visually.

The shape that emerged defied conventional perception!

WU! WU! WU!

Mana buzzed heavily in the surroundings as he appeared.

It was Achilles, but also not. It was human-shaped, but also fundamentally other.

His Constellation Dream Body manifested first at planetary scale, a giant of platinum stellar brilliance whose form seemed to be made of condensed narrative rather than any kind of matter.

Every movement left trails of text in the air…stories writing themselves.

His face was recognizable but transformed, features that suggested rather than defined, like looking at the concept of Achilles rather than the man himself.

Rose's water form went absolutely still, her consciousness trying to process what she was seeing!

The Eighth Adrastia Emperor King's expression grew grave, his restored power reading energies that shouldn't exist but did.

The Hive Queen's form cycled through configurations of analysis, each one returning errors that suggested existence itself wasn't sure what it was observing!

The massive figure began to shrink, its size diminishing with dream-logic smoothness until it reached human proportions.

But even at normal size, there was nothing normal about it. Achilles's Dream Body was outlined in platinum fire that wrote and rewrote itself continuously!

His form was solid enough to cast shadows but translucent enough that stars could be seen through him…not behind him, but through him, as if his body was a window into narrative space itself.

"Just... what happened?" his father asked, his voice carrying the weight of someone who had seen impossible things but had finally found something that transcended even his experience.

Achilles smiled, the expression visible despite his face being more suggestion than substance.

When he spoke, his voice carried waves that suggested every possible way the words could be spoken, all happening simultaneously.

"The Nar'Thyss are about to get a taste of their own medicine in the worst possible way," he said, his tone holdingbsatisfaction that transcended the personal and entered the realm of justice. "That's all."

He drifted closer, his movement not quite flying, not quite walking, but something between…the motion of a character moving between paragraphs.

His attention focused on his father with an intensity that made the water around them ripple.

"We can try unlocking the latent genome of the Nar'Thyss within you as well," he said, each word carrying weight that suggested possibilities beyond imagination.

"Your bloodline carries the same potential, locked away by the same mechanisms. Rose can unlock it, just as she did for me."

His stellar form turned slightly, encompassing both his father and Rose in his attention.

"And then we can see if your existence can feasibly assimilate the very Existential Authority of Fables…"

The plans and possibilities were heavy!

The implications buzzed in the water around them like suspended possibilities.

Tthis would be a fundamental change in what the Adrastia lineage could become!

From victims of narrative manipulation to the authors themselves, from characters to storytellers, from pawns to players who could rewrite the very nature of the game!

Rose found her voice first, her water form rippling with emotion. "You're really still you? Not some... cosmic thing wearing Achilles's face?"

His smile softened, becoming more recognizably him despite the stellar strangeness of his form. "I'm still me. Still your Little Fatty. Just... more."

…!

—

|Assimilation Intermission #1|

There exists a fundamental principle in existence, unwritten in any legal code but carved into the bones of reality itself: Be very, very careful whose day you ruin, because it might be your last.

Consider the gentleman who, in a fit of road rage, decided to kill what appeared to be a simple dog.

Just a dog, he thought, as he committed his casual cruelty.

The universe watched with what could only be described as anticipatory popcorn-munching as the dog's owner…who happened to be a retired farmer with a very particular set of skills and an arsenal that would make small nations nervous…discovered the crime!

Entire criminal organizations fell.

Crime syndicates were reduced to cautionary tales.

All because someone couldn't distinguish between "just a dog" and "the emotional support animal of a human weapon of mass destruction."

Or the ravager kidnappers who grabbed what they assumed was an ordinary child, already spending the ransom money in their minds.

They failed to run even the most basic background check that would have revealed her father wasn't just protective.. he was the kind of being who measured his anger in demolished star systems.

Entire galaxies became object lessons in why you should really, really verify that your victim isn't related to someone who considers "proportional response" a suggestion rather than a rule!

Existence has a dark sense of humor about these things.

It's almost as if existence itself maintains a list labeled "Beings You Should Definitely Not Antagonize" and then deliberately makes it invisible to exactly the people who need it most.

The truly terrifying part isn't the retribution itself…it's the complete preventability of it all.

One moment of research, one second of consideration, one brief thought of "maybe I shouldn't"…any of these could prevent the transformation from minor antagonist to cosmic cautionary tale.

But…they never learn, do they?