Lowly Ascent

Two grand existences fought for supremacy at the core of a planet while a small and feeble human thought deeply under fierce protection.

In his mind, he focused on a form, an appearance. His future thoughts, his future name, everything that made a person a person. An identity.

Being reborn under Fate was anything but easy. Fate kept a strict logbook, everything was within its design and only the lucky ones that escaped that status could interfere with its power, even if only on the smallest levels.

In all existence, Fate was at the top, only Concepts like Time and Space, and other unnamed beings striking a balance with it.

Doom, a more recently born concept than the others, could never contend with fate. Luckily Fate's target was Cain and thus, it had to use less power to fit such a lower being.

In addition to that, Fate was intruding on Doom's world, reducing its strength more. Yet, Doom was also weak, its consciousness in the core of the planet being a sliver from the Doom overseeing the Colorless World below the Landfill, and that wasn't Doom's real body either.

"This child will become a new being! It will give me something enjoyable to see! Even Fate cannot stop that!" Doom roared, the world it ruled cracked and volcanos erupted, sending the planet into disaster. Storms raged across the surface, tornados whirled and took cities in moments.

It was the end of days.

Fate was silent, its piercing gaze breaking away all resistance, its all-knowing presence deconstructing Doom's every counterattack.

"Not even Fate can exist at the end of it all! You are powerless against me, for I am Annihilation! Nothing exists in the destruction I bring! Not even you!"

Every Concept was strong in its own right, but what made Concepts truly strong was of course, their concept. More importantly, the laws that made up such a concept. For Doom, his power was that of bringing everything to an end.

Many laws were jumbled into a power so potent that everything was reduced to inexistence.

There was no warning, no sense could warn its owner of nothing, especially nothing that destroyed all in its path.

Cain was protected, but everything around him was not.

A scentless, soundless, formless thing swept the core of the planet. The dark ocean inhabiting the space disappeared without warning, creating massive gaps, these gaps caused the ceiling to cave in, but the debris went without warning too soon enough.

It was a tide of unknown, a destination leading to a place no living being had gone. It was a True End, a tide that brought upon True Death.

Not even Fate could face such a thing, not even Fate could survive totality. Yet, the being wielding this power was also a living being. There was a weakness in Doom's omnipotence.

Translucent thin lines spread from the cosmos beyond, they unraveled and wrapped around all in sight. Some stopped and connected to something, others continued moving to find their targets.

However, the things the lines connected to were not mere objects, but the fabric of existence itself.

Planets began to hum as the space around them was overtaken by a power that dominated all. And so, life clashed with death, and life quickly began to win. The tide that did not stop found itself an unbreakable wall.

Doom could not control the tide of destruction, it had to stay back and push the tide in one direction, away. This power of it's was beyond even a Concept's control, it was power without control. However, Doom's attack had one weakness, resistance.

Once the unobstructed tide found something that would not give way, the attack would unravel.

Fate knew this, it sent an entire planet into the portal to stop the tide.

The Planet only known as Beta-C7 was home to a race of bipedal amphibians. The frog-like people lived in peace for eons under the rule of Fate, they believed themselves blessed.

Every year, they would hold great sacrifices to Fate, giving up their children, their wealth, and their lives. Little did they know, it was pointless to Fate.

It was simply ignorant to give gifts to a being who owned everything, even the very gifts given to it. But now, the race could truly give something of worth, everything they are, and were, their entire history and the world that spawned them. All of this, to stop a tide, a tide that would not stop before any other.

They were honored.

Doom laughed at Fate's tactic, "A measly planet?! How low do you think I am!"

Yet, Doom wasn't laughing as Beta-C7's core combusted and the planet was morphed into a dwarf star in seconds. From there, another change happened as the white star began to implode.

BOOM!

The star collapsed on itself, the energy released went beyond simple strength and entered the realm of annihilation.

Doom against doom, the End against an end.

Such a strong force only caused the smallest amount of backflow in the tide, but it was far more than enough.

"Oh no...." Doom tried to stop to dispel the attack it created. Unfortunately, Doom only weakened it but did not eliminate it.

"Shit...."

Fate went from defense to attack, moving closer to the window leading to its target. As it did, strings revealed themselves, strings that existed ever since Fate's birth.

Everything belong to Fate, down to the last atom, down to the protons and neutrons, down to the very electrons. Everything was Fate's! All of existence was under IT's control. All of this was IT's playground!

Above Cain's head, a small string revealed itself. This string was the condensed privilege that was Cain's life under Fate. From his very conceivment, from the raveling of the atoms to cells, from the weaving of his cells into an unborn baby, this string was Cain's chain, it was Fate's control over him.

Doom was retreating, it was moving to protect Cain, "Boy! Awaken, I have failed! We must retreat so the tide does not touch us, or it will be the death of both of us!"

Fate's strings began to force through the portal, as they passed through the world subtly shook.

"Shit, Fate's bypassing casualty to get here! How did it turn out like this?!" The portion of Doom's consciousness was having a panic attack. It had never gone up against another Concept like Fate, it was like a baby poking a dragon.

Luckily, unlike Doom, who failed, Cain succeeded.

Opening his eyes that were closed for far too long, the human known as Cain seemed almost elusive, as if he could flicker away at any moment. His eyes were no longer a majority of red, but black, with dark red whirls in ever-changing patterns pulsating at random intervals.

Doom was jubilant. "Y-You're a step away! You need to declare it! Any declaration would do! Even if you only mutter your new name! From there the ritual will act as it should and give birth to your new identity, and a form befitting that!"

Looking at his palms, the drifting human surrounded by a dark ocean lifted his head beyond the dark waters.

The ocean had already lost a huge chunk of its volume and Cain didn't have to swim long to find a pocket of air that he could voice his woes in.

His words started as quiet contemplation, but they funneled into a torrent of emotion that led up to the announcement of his name, a name that would bring fear to many beings.

"I admit, I am a sad, pitiful being, someone who's messed up time and time again. I cannot even achieve full control of my own body. Not only that, I lead myself into situations where I gamble with my life, and I am pointlessly confused about what I am to myself.

"All of that ends now, for I know who I am. I am someone who started with nothing, and with nothing, I surpassed people who had it all. Once pointless, I've gone beyond sense and achieved things I could only dream of as a young boy. Now I have strength, I have power, and I have knowledge. 

"With that, I don't wish my name to symbolize something I haven't achieved yet, so I will return one last time to my roots before I grow new ones, to the roots of a boy who ended up in a swamp filled with people only wanting to use him, roots where I was left with nothing, where I was nothing."

He took a deep breath. "I am nothing that strives for everything, I am a sad lingering soul in a world filled with people stronger than me, I am Nihil!"

Pure energy descended in droves to the depths of the planet, following Doom's ritual, the pure energy almost gained sentience as it swarmed the dark soul at the edge of an inky ocean.

Doom was maniacal as he stopped retreating to see Nihil's transformation. "You did it, Fate can do nothing now! With this! You will go beyond a mere human, beyond a Vessel only for thought! Yes! This is the truth of why Humans exist, to surpass their limits! This is what the Greater Will desires! I am certain of it!

"Oh but how could I forget, you want ownership of the cores right?! Look for strings, the energies around you should reveal them! Tug at them and bring the remaining ownership to your soul, and cut the other strings attached. B-But don't attempt to cut the golden string above your head, you'll die!"

Hearing Doom's reminder, Nihil looked around and saw black strings connecting him to something far above him, next to the black strings was a golden one that led to the portal in the distance.

He spoke, his voice full of emotion, "This is it, the last step."