Three days passed and Korah still sat in stupor and unimaginable sadness. After the third day, he stood and began to walk, his mind a mixture of horror and disbelief. There was nothing left in this valley. There was nothing left for him. His beloved was gone, and he would find a way to rid the world of everything else, and then himself. Grief and shock were giving way to confusion and hate. What had gone wrong? Why was he still alive? Where had AIO been all of this time? How had he let such a fate befall his bride? As vast stretches of ground passed beneath his feet, he left the destruction of that valley behind, and treaded into soil and green life. The grass withered at the weight of his emotion. He was heading south, toward the second settlement. Crossing through the trees, a wake of death trailed behind him, and the sky churned with black, lightning-filled clouds over his head as he went. A party of men from the southern settlement were making their way north to see what had caused the terrors of the night before. They called out to him as he walked north, and he breathed out fire and death upon them almost without even looking at them as he continued distractedly making his way south.

Back in the Capitol, Devon, Basil, and Jasper were already preparing themselves and the people for what was coming. At the moment of Korah’s agony, the force of his pain had entered their minds with crystal clarity. They did not know what could have caused him such anguish, but they did notice that there were no thoughts at all coming from the mind of Andora, and they shuttered to think what bleak and wretched thing had come to pass. Able-bodied men were called to assemble at the gates of the innermost wall of the Capitol. The farmers, herdsmen, miners, and workmen were all to be gathered from the valleys and villages around them. All were to bring nothing but the clothes on their back and come at once.

Korah’s eyes peaked over the last of the jagged mountains and onto the sprawling settlement below. There were many gathering into their homes, having seen the darkening sky to the north, and anticipating a storm, but they could never have imagined the storm that was about to fall upon them. He had no more love for them — no good sentiment — no desire to see their potential flourishing. All that remained for them was disdain. They should never have been created, and now, he would un-create them. As some people saw him approaching over the mountain tops, they went out to meet him. His gaze was fixed on the center of the town, and as he approached them, the sharpness of his hatred flashed them into shards of blood and bone, scattering in every direction. From his mouth poured vitriolic destruction that consumed the settlement as his towering image slowly crept farther inward. Fear spread, and the people dissolved into a panicked frenzy, having no idea why their most esteemed chief had turned on them. Some attempted to flee into the hills, but the whirlwinds and lightnings of Korah’s tempest swiftly overtook them. Children drove shrieking into their mothers’ embraces to escape the turmoil, but, whether in homes or streets, all were indiscriminately eradicated.

When the whole of the settlement was quiet waste, Korah cast his gaze eastward. The Capitol had to be next, and all of its surrounding territory — his brothers too, and their wives. After that, he would cleanse the earth of all human life, and finally his own. When there would be no consciousness, then there would be rest and peace. Directly to the east of where the town had been, he saw a hill that had not been there when this settlement had first begun. It was a large dirt mound, about half as big as the settlement itself. From this hill peeked out lurkers, frightened but curious. Korah thought to himself. Could these be his creations? They were so feeble and afraid. He found himself hating them; and as the strength of his hate crept into them, it tainted them and filled them up until they were packed full with it. They grew larger, broader, stronger, and more aggressive. Korah found himself ever more pleased as they continued to grow to almost twice their original size. These were a race worthy of being called his children. These could be useful to him in the cleansing to come. He gathered some to himself, and sent the others out in all directions.

Korah and his legion advanced toward the Capitol in a march that lasted thirty full days. They did not stop but to consume the forests and grasslands for food every other day. They did not grow weary or sleep. Once they came to within a day’s journey of the Capitol, they were met by Devon and an army of men: ranked, outfitted in armor, and armed with pikes. The men watched in solemn wonder, as the two titans stood motionless before each other. They could not fathom the communications that were being exchanged between these ancient minds — minds which had been acquainted for years untold. Thousands? Thousands of thousands? More? Who could know. Nevertheless, the tension of ages past was about to have its outpouring. Beside that, the men were horrified at the creatures that stood at Korah’s feet — ghastly armored things of which they had neither seen nor heard before. The lurkers were practically convulsing with eagerness to spill the blood of the men, held back only by the will of Korah, awaiting him to make the first move.

Simultaneously, the two gods charged into each other; colliding with a force that shook the mountains themselves. Lurkers sprang from their frenzy, clashing with the armored men in a second battle that took place at the feet of the archetypes. The army of men far outnumbered the mob of lurkers, but they were still no match, for each lurker was able to cut through eight or ten men before being pierced through by the pike of some brave or lucky soul. The blood of the men mixed with the black bile which spilled from the lurkers, until the valley was soaked with a poisonous refuse. Above, Devon and Korah clashed again and again, struggling, tangling, and falling over one another in collisions that carved craters into the land. The battle lasted through the night, and by daybreak, all of the men, and most of the lurkers lay opened and dead in the valley. The two archetypes continued in combat into the second day and through the night into the third. Their bodies were breaking. From Korah’s poured out heat and fire. From Devon’s poured out blinding white light. Devon continuously sent out pleas for reason or civility, but Korah would have none of it. Korah slowly hardened and deafened the very fabric of his mind, until their thoughts became altogether severed. For the first time, they were utterly cut off one from another, and had no more communion.

At the end of the third day, Devon lay motionless in the center of the caldera that had been cut out around them by the magnitude of their struggle. Korah thought within himself. Had he done it? Had he killed his elder brother? So many new realities were making themselves evident — realities of death and the cessation of being. Surely now there could be no redemption for him. He had passed the point of no return in his endeavor, and found a comfort in that fact, even a sense of identity. Beyond this, he was relieved to have evidence that death was a possibility even for an archetype. He would have his own end soon enough.

He set out east to the Capitol with the lurkers who had patiently been awaiting the next move of their leader. Surely Basil and Jasper were there with Aeva, Avellia, and Aurora. He would find them, and destroy them along with their precious humans. He reached the valley of the Capitol only to find that it had been removed somehow. The surrounding farmland and villages were all there, but the walled city itself had been taken away. The granite hill upon which the Capitol had stood had been cut smooth, flat and level; and the whole city with all of its people was gone.

In a fit of rage, Korah spewed fire and hate all over the valley, wasting every house, and consuming even the lurkers that had accompanied him. He went at full speed back to the crater of his battle with Devon, now unhindered by the limits of a lurker’s pace. Devon was gone too. This had all been planned. They had stalled him for long enough to deliver the Capitol and its people to safety. Korah knew that he had been taken in, but that would not be the end. He would not be outdone. He would not be made their fool. He would find them.