Written By: Epicstu Wyyvernwriter

“Now, bring me my Wyyvern Knight of Time,” Stu ordered.

“We haven’t created the Wyyvern Knight of Time yet, Sir,” Victor pointed out the unfortunate fact.

Stu thought for a moment, he had seen Time on the Knight’s roster for round 1 even though he had no recollection of forging Time into a Wyyvern Weapon. “Then make sure we send Time back here when we do. If things go wrong, we will need a paradox to put it back right,” with that, Stu left the Multiverse to find Epic.

“I’ll make a note of it,” Victor replied after him.

*          *

Trapped by a force she could not eat, Ilean found herself face to face with superior Willpower, “Ilean!” Madoline shouted to her, but Ilean’s attention was driven towards the man walking towards her by fear as she backed away searching frantically for a way out, “he’s so small, this should be easy for you,” then she remembered Ilean’s size compared to the Titan’s she had eaten as the Man licked his chops walking closer and closer to Ilean, “No!” she rushed trying to push the man away and was surprised to push him as far back as she did. “Not her! Please, don’t eat Ilean! She’s all I have left! Please!” The Man paid her no heed, backhanding her out of his way. With a tumble, she rolled but managed to grab her pistol as she returned upright. Too late, Madoline aimed at the Man and she froze in fear and anger as he belched satisfyingly. The Man looked at her just as she managed to pull the trigger once. The shot grazed the Man’s shoulder wounding him and then he disappeared. Madoline fell to her knees “After all this, we lost? No, I hesitated. This is my fault. No, I take it back!” she prayed to whoever would listen. “I take it back! Please!” she wept, “Let me take it back.”

Then a bell tolled that was heard by all, Living or Dead, across Time, Space, and the Void. At that moment, next to a lonely tree, a three-foot-tall, excluding the ears, Fennec Fox of the Northlands with a clockwork hammer in his right hand pulled a journal from the ground that had been buried there long ago. He blew the dust off the cover and flipped through the pages, reading the entire handwritten journal cover to cover in a manner of seconds. He smiled and to his hammer replied, “Yeah, we found her.” He held his hammer in the air and Time’s bell tolled again.

*          *

Mad wandered a World, beautiful and flourishing, but it was the God-Wyyvern’s creation, and she hated it. There was no one she would not steal from, kill, or stab in the back. No one was worth her sympathy, because they were all his and she hated him. Strange waters consistently supplied her with all that she needed to survive, and at the end of ten years, Mad had finally found him. Looking up at a statue of the widely proclaimed hero she stood in the center of a city of people just like her. “The God-Wyyvern’s creation, no doubt,” Mad thought to herself as she noticed a plaque with the phrase ‘Slayer of the Apex. Hero and Savior of our World. Long Live the King.’ She looked onward toward the castle down the main road from the statue. People walked along the streets and sidewalks leaving a foul feeling in the pit of Mad’s stomach. They were fake to her, nothing but animated figures, and she cared not for any of them. Her focus, the only thing real to her, was the Man who ate her friend and the God-Wyyvern who created him. ‘I’ll kill them both,’ she thought as she walked the steep steps to the Castle entrance. Much to her surprise, the Castle was open to the public. She took her hood off and kept walking until she had reached the doors to the throne room.

“Madoline Cor?” the guard at the doors asked her.

Surprised, to say the least, “Yeah?” Mad replied.

“The King’s been waiting ten years for your arrival,” said the guard as he held open the doors for her and gestured for her to enter.

Mad entered the throne room cautiously, resisting the overwhelming urge to pull her pistol and murder every last one of the God-Wyyvern’s creations, “Ah,” said the King enthusiastically, “but then you would also have to kill yourself,” he laughed. “Come forth, Madoline Cor, and know me better, Woman.”

“I don’t answer to that name anymore,” Mad replied, “ and I know everything I need to know about you, Monster.”

“A Monster, am I?” the King replied. Mad pulled her pistol and aimed it at the Kings forehead, “Why kill me? We are both of the God-Wyyvern’s design. A warrior such as yourself should be crowned Queen of all. Not chasing some pointless vendetta.” Mad lowered her pistol. “Good, now come. You must be starving from your recent odyssey, and there is much food to be eaten,” the king laughed heartily. Still hesitant of the King’s seemingly goodwill, Mad sheathed her pistol and looked at the massive table with mounds of food overflowing from bowls and plates. “I haven’t eaten in ten years,” the King said as he took a massive bite out of a gigantic drumstick.

Mad went for her pistol again, this time pulling the trigger without hesitation. The King fell dead, and all became dark and void of life. “I offer you a throne, a lover, and the promise that you and your offspring will never know hunger and yet still you spit in my face!” boomed a voice from all around her.

“You destroyed my Universe, my family, my friends!” madoline argued unphased by the God-Wyyvern’s invisible presence. “You sent the Titans! You betrayed your creation!”

“I made you and your Universe! You along with the rest of my creation were never anything more than a means to an end!” the God-Wyyvern replied angrily as he appeared before her, and she fell to her knees in fear. “It is high time you learned your place, my child.” Suddenly a sound like flowing waters and a Being kin to the God-Wyyvern appeared. This Wyyvern was every shade of blue imaginable and appeared as a massive Stingray-ish serpent made out of waters. Its roar was comforting to Mad, but to the God-Wyyvern, it was not. “Wyyvern of Life, huh? I am the Alpha!” the God-Wyyvern shouted jealously at the Wyyvern of Life’s clear love of Mad, “I am the Omega! I am true God and true Wyyvern! Me! There can be no other!” and rushed the Wyyvern of Life and the Living Realms.

After timeless eternities of Battle, in the heat of it, Epic, Wyyvern of Life and the Living Realms was cast down by the God-Wyyvern as Stu, Wyyvern of Undeath and the Underrealms arrived mere moments too late. Enraged, the Nekolich assaulted the God-Wyyvern only to be halted and suspended in a paralyzed state, “Finally, there will be only me,” the God-Wyyvern proclaimed.

“The Devour of Life will come, and anything, all that you do will be for not. You cannot save Life from him, only we could” Stu struggled to say as the God-Wyyvern slowly tore him from existence. When it was finished, the Nekolich’s hold over the Wyyvernwriter’s Multiverse vanished, and the Devour of Life stepped out from his now unlocked puzzle box.

The God-Wyyvern rejoiced, ignoring the Nekolich’s warning. He had won. Mad wept over the Wyyvern of Life’s corpse. She felt as though she alone had failed them all. Then Time’s bell tolled again, and Epic could no longer grant Mad agelessness.

*          *

Trapped by a force she could not eat, Ilean found herself face to face with superior Willpower. Fear gripped her as she backed away searching frantically for a way out. Mad opened her eyes slowly and got up from where she had landed, feeling as though she had been struck in the gut with a hammer. Moments too late, “Ilean? Ilean!” she fired her pistol at the man she had watched devour Ilean twice. He had gone, however, before her first trigger pull and she was alone again. With full memory of her ageless first ten-year odyssey, the twenty-two-year-old woman fell to her knees, “WHY?!!!” she cried out to the heavens. “Why?” she wept. “What is this?” but no one answered. Something within her began urging her to repeat her odyssey with the hope that Ilean could be brought back. So she did, this time sticking to the shadows and avoiding conflict whenever possible. She harmed no one, but she still hated them all. At the end of her second odyssey, Mad found herself forced to watch Ilean be eaten by the man a third time. Ten years older than she had been and she had achieved nothing, yet something within her still urged her to continue on. So she stood up and headed out into the God Wyyvern’s Earth again. Epic did not follow her anymore.

*          *

“You know not what you are capable of, Brother,” Time said unto Edward. “You are all powerful, and your Will is matched only by the Devourer of Life.”

“That is why only you can fight him, Brother,” said the End unto Edward. “Only you equal his Will. Just remember, as one who is among the Living, your snow is the only thing between you and the Devourer’s jaws.”

“And without Zesrial’s faith,” Time added, “it will fail you. You are the only one who can fight the Devourer of Life. Not the Undead. Not Hell. You, but only with her faith. If she does not believe in you, then you will lose.”

“Just don’t kill him,” urged the End.

“Wait,” Edward suddenly became distracted. “Do you hear that?”

“It’s probably a prayer, Brother,” replied Time.

“Best be getting to work there, God,” the End jested unto Edward with a chuckle.

*          *

Snow began to fall as Mad reached the first Village of her repeating odyssey and she paused remembering how she had burned it to the ground for no reason other than they were his and she hated them because she hated him. This time she walked right into town and saw a sign labeled Cor’s. Taking a breath before entering through the finely carved wooden door into the surprisingly well-decorated tavern she suddenly felt at ease. There was a roaring fireplace, a singing Bard who’s voice was at the very least decent, and a bar. Mad’s eyes grew wide and tearful. The Bartender looked exactly like her grandmother, Reavasai.

“Well don’t just stand there,” the elderly woman at the bar beckoned her. “Come in, come in. You look so scrawny, you must be hungry and thirsty. Come on in, don’t be shy. I don’t bite,” she jested. “I promise. What would you like?”

Mad walked towards the bar slowly and sat down on a stool there. “What is your name,” she asked the Bartender.

“Reavasai Cor and this fine establishment belongs is all mine,” she replied. “What’s your name?” Mad wept because Reavasai did not know her, “what’s wrong child?”

“Nothing,” Mad sniffed as she dried her tears and smiled, “my names Madol…” she paused a moment. “Mad. Just Mad.”

“Well, just Mad,” Reavasai replied as she filled a wooden mug with fresh golden hops and a thick head from a large cask. “Here you go,” she slid it over to Mad with a smile, “on the house.”

Mad stared into the Mug for what only seemed like a moment when the tavern started on fire. She looked up as she was dragged to a window by Reavasai and thrown to safety, “Grandma!” but it was too late, and she ran from the fire leaving the village. As she looked back, she saw herself standing there, sadistically watching the flames she had herself set. Mad ran to tackle herself, but only grabbed air as the past version of her was gone. The village burned to ash, Mad stood back up slowly. “Oh God, what have I done,” then she ran to the second place of her repeating odyssey with the memory of what she had done there, “please let me not be too late.”

*          *

“Take care, Brothers,” the End warned God and Time. “Tampering with the Fate of another, even when necessary, can bring forth unique and sometimes contradicting consequences. I foresee her becoming what we need, but she will come at a price. A price possibly set too high.”

“You do not seem to receive consequences for your tampering, Brother,” God replied.

“For the same reason you are always in the right place at the right time, Brother,” the End replied then rolled his eyes, “and why almighty Time here doesn’t leave behind any paradoxes.”

*          *

Edward watched over Mad, but allowed her to age through every ten-year odyssey after her first. Where ever she went, his snow fell and ensured she would not make it in time to stop herself from doing the horrible things she had done. He did this so that she might feel the full weight of her actions and to see if she would overcome the cold. After she continued to fail again and again, unable to save anyone, she began to aim at herself. By the end of her fifth odyssey, she had chosen the Fate of her sixth. She had had enough of herself.