The darkness… the Void… it was many things, She had found. It was mesmerizing, it was beautiful, it was terrifying… but it was one thing more than any other.

The Void was dreadfully lonely.

She had two “friends”, it was true. One was once a human male, who had surpassed the physical realm and had become one with the cosmos. The other was a strange man with a passion for the wrong and right. An odd thought in the Void, where morality did not exist, but then again, he had not been born here and was not quite used to the lack of truth.

She rested on a… a cloud, she supposed it could be called (it appeared like a purple variant of the ones that floated in the skies of the mortal realms). Things in the Void had no names. They simply… were.

She felt the presence of the first of her “friends”, watching her.

“Haven’t you better things to do, Monks to guide, prayers and songs of worship to listen to?” She sighed, stroking her Rune Orb in her hands. The being sat beside her on the “cloud”.

“You understand not my role, or the way my followers perceive me.” he responded in an irritated tone.

She turned to him. She was blind (mortals would call her as such: how foolish for them to believe that only eyes could be used to see!), but she knew of his appearance, what with his long, flowing hair, his eyes that were not eyes, and his gentle smile, despite his tone.

“Gods are all alike.” She responded sharply, “Full of themselves and demanding attention and adoration. You can not honestly tell me you disregard the way your monks praise you.”

He chuckled, “I’ll admit, I do enjoy it. But I… do not really call myself a god, or my followers religious.”

Her response was a sharp exhale, followed by, “They call you a god.”

He did not reply. He folded his legs and placed his hands on his knees, as if preparing for meditation. Old habits die hard, She supposed.

Time did not flow in a straight line in the Void. She had spent years in the company of her second friend, even though in the mortal world, he had yet to even meet her. And certainly he would soon, she found. They had known each other for most of his life, and it was today that she would meet him for the first time.

In a bed, in a room, in a small house on the outskirts of the Citadel, a young boy sighed, holding his pen so tightly that his knuckles were white, an odd feat given the almost snow white paleness for which was the rest of him. In his lap was a book of spelling words. Spelling was a job for scribes, why did he have to learn it? Commonfolk didn’t need spelling or reading or math, and his parents went along their days fine despite their inability in at least the first two.

He threw the book aside and rested his head back on the wooden headboard of his bed. He wished he didn’t have to go to school nearly every day. Lessons were hard, and he didn’t have any friends. Some days, he’d spend hours in the trash-cans in which he had been shoved by the bullies. The worst was the day he had tried to stand up to a group of kids who planned on robbing the bakery next door. He had to do something, he knew, so he had rushed to tell the Lawman on the street corner. The kids had seen him do it. The didn’t rob the bakery that day. Instead, they spent the afternoon tying him to a bridgepost and hitting and kicking him. He still had bruises.

Why couldn’t he be a smith like his father? His father could teach him, and he wouldn’t have to deal with other kids.

“We put in good money so you can have a proper education. Stop whining and finish your homework.” His father had said anytime he complained.

He rose from his bed and reached under the straw-filled mattress. There was one up side, he had found, to learning how to read. He pulled a large, dark book from under the mattress and threw it on his quilt. He sat next to it and opened the hard surface.

There were big words, but he had learned to read enough of them. He had purchased this book with four months worth of allowance: a book on Shadow Witchcraft. Only magically-embedded sorcerers could truly perform magic, but it was fun to pretend he could, that he was a great wizard who could perform amazing spells anytime he wanted.

He read one of the incantations as best he could… was that a “p” or a “q”? He was pretty sure he was pronouncing it right. This spell could create a limb of shadow that could grab things. He imagined a great limb appearing before him and throwing his school books across the room. He flipped to a page of Shadow Travel and read the incantation slowly. The incantation was a long one, and filled most of the page. He flipped through a few more pages, past the pages that had been ripped out by older kids last time he had brought his spellbook to school. He finally ended on a page of… “Summoning a ... “ He couldn’t tell what the last word was. It looked like “family”, but you couldn’t summon a family, that didn’t make sense. And the word had an “r” at the end…

Ah well. The boy read the incantation slowly.

Suddenly, there was a flash in his room, followed by the appearance of a dark crack in the air. An otherworldly portal! That wasn’t supposed to happen! He didn’t actually have magic… did he?

“Hello, Child.” spoke a deep, woman’s voice. The woman who most-likely owned this voice stepped from the portal, which closed behind her. She wore a hood and matching dress, and her skin was nearly as pale as his. Half of her face, including her eyes, was covered by a dark grey cloth. In one hand she held a strange thing that looked like a torch carrier hanging from a chain, and from within this rested an ornately carved sphere.

“W-who are you?” he asked in a shaking tone. The woman glanced at him, her head cocked slightly. There was a book resting beside him (he was standing by the bed now) and it was open to a page on… blast, ink was hard to read for one who could see in shapes, not images. She paused time for a moment (ironically) while she tried to decipher the shape of the ink on the pages… “Summoning...a...familiar”. How entertaining!

“You have summoned me, young spellcaster.” She told the child, dropping the abyssal echo in her voice. “A familiar, you have called.”

“What’s a familiar?” The child asked.

“A friend.” Was Her response as she dropped to a knee to rest at his eye-level. “What is your name, spellcaster?” She asked, pretending as if she did not already know the answer.

“I’m Androxus...most people just call me Andro...or ‘edge-boy’… don’t call me that. I don’t know what it means, but I know it’s an insult.” He said, tucking his hands behind his back.

“You may call me Seris.” She responded, smiling.

“I’ve heard that word before.” Andro said, his eyes lighting, “A city that just kind of…”

“Vanished mysteriously?” Seris cut him off. With a quick thought, she made up a lie, “I call myself after it because… because I can vanish mysteriously too. I… I thought it would be funny, an inside joke.”

The boy smiled. Perhaps naming herself after a city she caused to… “accidently” implode... wasn’t the best idea? At least he suspected nothing.

“Why don’t my other spells work?” Andro asked, watching her curiously.

“How should I know? You’re the spellcaster.” Seris chuckled, moving to sit on the bed. Andro climbed up beside her and opened his spellbook on his lap. “Can you read to me?”

“I’m not much a reader. Let’s do something else.” She replied.

“Do you want to play with my action figures? I’ve got all the coolest Paladins… Well, my Karne doesn’t have his head… some kids pulled it off and threw it in the river.”

“Let me see it.” Seris offered. Andro jumped down from the bed and fetched a box of toys from the corner of the room. It was filled with wooden action figures, painted in white and silver armour. Some resembled the greatest Stagalla warriors, others resembled knights, and still more appeared to be goblins and dragons and other creatures.

He fished out a figure of a broken knight with a crystal staff, before handing it to Seris. She turned the figure in her hand, observing the broken wood where part of the figures chest, neck, and head had been snapped off. She placed it on her lap and stroked the air before her Orb, absorbing power from it, before picking the figure back up. The shadow enveloped it and formed the shape of the missing parts, before setting into the figure, changing colour, and hardening. The figure appeared as if it had never been broken. Andro snatched it back, a look of amazement in his eyes. “Woah, thanks!” He chirped, before dropping off of his bed and running the character along the ground. Seris selected a figure and sat beside him on the ground, watching with amusement as Andro narrated and played out some grand battle that the Paladins had fought in against some evil dragon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andro sat under the shade of the apple tree at the edge of the school courtyard. He would sit here every afternoon, sometimes with his toys, sometimes with his spellbook, but usually, with nothing. Anyone else observing would see him playing or reading or talking to himself. No one but he could see the tall, pale lady who sat with him everyday, eager to hear his reading skills, play Paladins with him, or simply hold a conversation. It had been several months since Seris had first met Andro. She’d visit him every day now and spend time with him, always eager to make his company, as he was to make hers.

This day, he was excitedly telling the story of how a great Paladin defeated a swarm of evil soldiers single-handedly to save a village of innocent Leipori.

Seris sat with her arms around her legs and her knees folded to her chest, happily listening. She had witnessed this battle first hand, and the story Andro knew made the Paladin sound much more noble than the actual occurrence. But, there was nothing wrong with letting a child dream.

“Who are you talking to, witch?” Snapped a voice. Andro and Seris looked up to see a nasty looking boy with a glare in his eye.

“Leave me alone.” Andro replied, frowning. Several other kids approached, a few with their arms crossed.

“What are you gonna do, cast a spell on me?” One of the kids snapped. Andro looked away, his face red.

“Hey, look at me when I’m talking to you!” The child grabbed Andro’s shirt and pulled him up. Seris watched on, frowning. Should she intervene? Should the other kids know of-

“Seris, help me!”

Seris stared at Andro, who looked back at her. The other children looked at the spot where she sat, but she knew they could not see her. They looked back at him and laughed.

“Edge-boy’s got an imaginary friend!” Stated the one who held his shirt. He reeled his fist back for a punch. Andro shut his eyes.

The fist never made contact.

“If you don’t get out of here.” Growled a male voice, “I’ll tell the teacher on you… or, if you’d like… I can deal with you myself.”

Seris was surprised… okay, that was a lie… but she pretended to be. Andro wouldn’t need her anymore, not for a long time. She vanished into the shadows as the events unfolded.

Andro opened his eyes to see another boy, his fist around the bully’s wrist, his crystal-blue eyes burning. The bully did not release Andro, but another reached for the newcomer. The boy flicked the hand that held the bully’s fist in an odd motion, causing the bully to shriek in pain and drop Andro. With a quick move, he had slammed a fist into the second bully’s stomach, before shoving that one into the first.

Just before a third could grab him, the schoolbell rang. They looked between each other, before retreating, chanting how “this isn’t over”.

“Thanks.” Andro muttered, brushing his shirt off.

“Don’t mention it.” The boy responded, “Kids like that… they only do what they do because they know they can get away with it. The trick is not to let them think that.” He winked, before holding out a hand to shake, “And by the way, I’m Lex.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seris watched from the shadows, now even invisible to her old “friend”. Androxus had grown into a fine young man in the past few years, and he and Lex were in training to join the Outer Tribunal, an elite group of Lawmen. Although Seris hadn’t allowed Andro to see him since the day he met Lex, she had watched him now and then. Within a few months of becoming friends with Lex, Andro had completely lost interest in witchcraft. Seris had attempted to remind him of his old past time the day he turned 18: She left a horned Shadow Witch Mask. on his pillow as a gift. He seemed to enjoy wearing it, although whether or not he knew it was from her, she was unaware. He knew what it was, but she noticed he never explained it to Lex, simply called it “his mask”. Lex didn’t seem to mind, and nor did Androxus’s employers.

Androxus barreled into a training dummy, before flipping over it and slamming it over his shoulder and into the ground. A basic move, and his footing had been terribly off. Despite this, he stood quickly and puffed his chest out proudly. Seris clapped, a smile on her face, even though she knew he could not see or hear her. Although his face was hidden behind the Shadow Witch Mask, she could tell he was grinning proudly. Lex passed him with a sigh of humoured annoyance.

“You’re never going to get this right if you keep your legs splayed like that.” He insisted, but Androxus was not paying attention. The two continued their practice, with Lex pausing occasionally to give ignored advice to his partner. Seris felt a strange pull from the reaches of the Void, and with disappointment, left the two.

“What?” She snapped to the bone-thin female. Not a simple Abyss-Walker like Seris, this one was instead a true goddess of the mortal realm (as she called herself, anyway) To be honest, being a “god” nowadays just seemed to mean you had followers in the Mortal Realm, who believed you gave a snake’s tail about them.

“Very funny.” The goddess interrupted.

Seris cut her sightless eyes. Gods and goddesses… they thought everything was always about them. Simply mentioning a snake caused offense to this idiotic-

“You know I can hear you.” The goddess snapped.

“What do you want?” Seris replied, crossing one arm over the one in which she held her Soul Orb.

“That one is trouble, you know he is. He is a-”

“Godslayer.” Seris cut her off. The goddess hissed at the word, as if it were a curse… Of course, this goddess quite enjoyed casting curses with the help of her mortal witchdoctors, but that was beside the point.

“You enjoy the Mortal Realm too much.” The Goddess grunted.

Seris once again cut her eyes. Even with the blindfold she wore, the goddess was aware of the expression.

“You are disrespectful.” She spoke quietly.

“You are annoying.” Seris replied.

The goddess shuffled in irritation. The long-tendril like sashes on her dress fluttered, making a similar noise to that of scaly things shuffling against each other. Why did gods need to have “themes” anyway? Seris’ theme was simply… Her. Was it that hard? It was true that this goddess connected through the Mortal Realm by her crystal cobras, but-

“If you are quite finished,” The goddess snapped, interrupting Seris' inner monologue. “I did want to ask you a favor.”

Seris paused, “A favor? Why?”

Ignoring the question, the goddess continued, “I want you to stay away from him. Destroy him if you must… he cannot complete his-”

“The god-slaying will happen, it has happened, it is happening. Why do you think I’ll stop him?” Seris chuckled, “Isn’t meddling with mortals a god thing? I am but a humble oracle.” She accentuated her point with a slight and very sarcastic bow.

“This kind of trouble doesn’t need to happen.” The goddess sighed. “Nyx has yet to catch wind, but-”

“Stick to what you know, Mother of Sorrow and Revenge, and I’ll stick to what I know.” Seris snapped. “Nyx can worry about her darkness, and I can worry about the future and past. I don’t need to be a god to do that. And besides-” She strolled past the goddess, knocking her with an “accidental” shoulder brush, “Why should I care about some goddess crying about her death? I don’t care when the mortals do it, what makes you all so special?” She continued into the darkness as her voice echoed behind her, “The time of gods and goddesses died long ago. You all should die with it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I… I don’t get it.”

“That’s because you do not remain silent. Shut your mouth, then shut your mind.” The god replied. He rested in his meditation, surrounded by stardust. Seris sighed, one hand folded in her lap, the other resting on her Soul Orb beside her. The god of… blast, what was he actually a god of? Hiding and floating up into the sky randomly? Was that something for which you could-

“Seris, you are not emptying your mind.” He interrupted her thoughts.

“I apologise if a being whose mind races with every outcome of every story may have a bit of trouble clearing it, god.” She spat.

“Do not… do not call me that.” The god said with a slight concern in his voice, “My name is Jenos. Call me Jenos… please.”

“Names are for mortals.” She scoffed. “You seem to forget that you are no longer one.”

“Forget? No, I do not forget. I do, however, miss it.”

“What’s there to miss?” She turned to him.

“Curiosity… excitement… sadness… regret… yearn for knowledge…” The god sighed, “And of course, a nice, hot cup of green tea and a bowl of steamed rice.”

Seris did not respond. The god continued to meditate, seeming to forget her presence. Meditation wasn’t her thing, she decided, and she rose to leave. Suddenly, a tremor shook the Void, and an eerie coldness washed through every being who lived in the Abyss. The feeling had not been present for many, many years, ever since the days of the God’s War.

The feeling was one known to every being in the Abyss, bringing the same thought to every one of their minds: how was this possible?

The feeling told the echoing tale of the beginning, the rise, and the end, of one of their own.

The goddess Nyx was dead.

There was an odd discomfort in the Abyss, even though the death had occurred some time before. The gods, goddesses, and even Abyss-Walkers seemed unwilling to speak to or look at one another. Truly, it had been a long time since they had been reminded that gods and goddesses could, in fact, die. But this death, a death to a mortal? It was unheard of. Even Seris was surprised by the unrest among the Immortal Realm.

Speaking of the mortal, Seris decided to pay him a visit. Her abyssal portal brought her to a small room with white walls. A crystal light adorned one of the walls, but they were otherwise bare.

In the center of the room, stood a plain, white bed. A man, at least a decade older than when she had last seen him, sat by the bedside, his face buried in the mattress. On the bed rested another man, his hands folded over his chest, his face buried under a Shadow Witch’s mask, and one of his hands covered in a thick bandage which oozed a bad-smelling green liquid. She reached a hand to touch that of the man lying in the bed.

“You… you never were just an imaginary friend, were you? Or a familiar. And I… I never had magic…?” Came a voice from beside her. Seris turned to see the spirit of her -friend? Was he her friend? She couldn’t remember-. The bandage remained on the spirit’s arm. He seemed surprised by the abyssal echo that now followed his speech.

“What have you done, Androxus?” Seris asked as if she did not know every detail of the happening. Androxus turned to his body and the man who rested beside it.

“I don’t know why I did it. She was evil, she was hurting people… I just jumped from my horse and I grabbed her. We plummeted. I...I’ve never seen a god’s body break like that. Her shatter broke my fall, but I was covered in…” He trailed off, his voice showing a slight disgust. He turned back to Seris, “You’ll wake me, right?”

Seris cocked her head, “Why would I do that?”

“I… I can’t leave him like that. He’ll rot, waiting for me to wake.” He sighed, glancing at Lex. He tried to place a comforting hand on his partner’s back, but his spirit hand could not make contact with the mortal.

“Let him.” Seris chuckled. Androxus glanced at her, his breath quickening. Seris sighed “Perhaps I will… and you owe me… but first, walk with me, Andro.”

“Do not call me that.” He muttered as he followed her into the Abyss.

Despite his reputation, no one of the Abyss cast Androxus or Seris a second glance. For that matter, most of the entities never cast them a first glance either.

To Lex, it was still the morning after his partner’s horrible fall. To Androxus and Seris… hours became days, days became weeks, became months, became years. An endless amount of time was spent between the two of them, wandering in the Void and learning the greatest secrets that not even the gods knew. And, an endless amount of time was spent with Seris waiting and watching for Androxus to return after he had wandered away from her, his mind so deep in thought that she could not read it.

One day, Androxus approached Seris as she sat beside his body in the hospital bed. Lex was still there, his face buried in the mattress.

“You never told me why you refrained from waking me.” Androxus spoke to Seris without facing her.

“You’ve never seen an Abyssal curse in action.” Seris replied.

“Wake me. Blast the curse.” Androxus scoffed.

“You do not know what will happen when I wake you. I’ll tell you what will happen.” She faced him, “You’ll lose your body first, then your mind. The curse will grow up your arm, through your chest, and will take you over. Then you will lose your mind. You’ll hurt everything you loved. You’ll hurt Lex.”

“Wake me.” Androxus snarled.

“You think you’ll be able to stop yourself, but you won’t be able to.” Seris spoke in an abysmal tone.

“I’ll never fight him, I will never hurt him. You’re going to wake me, and I’m going to keep being Androxus, the Lawman of the Outer Tribunal, and Lex will be my partner, as he has been until this point, he will continue to be. This curse will only make me stronger, you'll see. I will become powerful”

Seris frowned. There was no way, she decided, that Androxus was this dense. Perhaps overtaken with grief, but not stupid. He knew she was correct, he had to. Yet he was willing to risk it?

“Fine. Do not say I did not warn you.” She replied, raising her hand.

The spirit dissipated, and the body stirred. Lex jumped up in alarm when Androxus coughed a sputtered for a few moments, before sitting upright. Seris walked away through an abyssal portal as Lex and Androxus hugged warmly.