I Became The Pope, Now What?

752  751. A God Or A Monster?

'So that's how you're the key to my fate?' he glanced at shouting Xylena, who was in a pitiful state herself. Not waiting, he flew out of the little gap in the window and zoomed straight towards a large chimney at the top of the Pope's Palace that was disguised as a simple chimney meant for beautification. Having used it a few times before, he knew the way. Time was of the essence as he could feel his thoughts getting dull. His memories and consciousness were at risk of vanishing as well with his constantly weakening and dying body. Everything felt like a chore on that short journey that seemed endless. Through the narrow chimney, he promptly arrived inside the basement, level one of the Pope's Palace. From there, his faint, flickering life flew further down the stairs. Invisible to the naked eye, he went past the guards. The further he moved, the more his size reduced. Eventually, it turned so small that barely a keyhole-sized form of his soul was left. But that was as much a boon as a bane as he found passing through the safety doors much easier. However, by that point, there was no semblance of Sylvester left in there. Like a little worm flying in space, all he had were two goals. The destination—to survive. Floors after floor, at last, he arrived at the safely guarded and secured place and felt the cold, harsh scent of death grace him. The door at the edge of the room was as gloomy as ever but now appeared as a ray of hope. He didn't have a key, but he still flew as fast as possible toward it in the hope of getting through somehow. Aiming at the keyhole, the speck of his existence struggled against the pressure. 'What even am I?' he wondered. Humanity was as distant from his existence as the holiness from the Holy Land.

He had no voice to make cries, no eyes in that guise. Clack!

Just as he dared to enter the keyhole, the doorknob began turning. A rush of dread overcame the room and sucked Sylvester in through a tiny crack as the door opened. Once again, into the darkness. He was so weak that he was harmless. Nehilius could be the one to end him, or the one to revive him. However, he was the only option left. Sylvester stopped trying to move as he realized he wasn't losing his specter-like body anymore. But it remained as small as a micro pebble, hovering in the darkness before the mighty form that only looked far more significant now. "Against odds untamed, your victory proclaimed. The battle you fought and survived, I did not expect you to win, to have thrived." Nehilius's echoey ancient voice rang throughout the space. "You glimpsed into the end of existence. A playfield for those against whom you show resistance. I know there cannot be coexistence. As such, I shall be your subsistence—you learned well, Sylvester Maximilian."

Unable to speak or hold any semblance of greater thought, Sylvester's leftover consciousness in that little pebble flew towards the massive head of the ethereal Eldritch God. Not of his own accord, but by Nehilius' control, he found his mist-like body come in contact with the glowing orb at the top of the massive head. Despite the size difference, Sylvester's body began to absorb the energy that formed Nehilius's body. It started slowly, but as the big orb lost its blue radiance, Sylvester's body started to grow bigger. At first, only his yellowish misty body grew large without any shape. But with time, Sylvester found his ability to think return, and eventually, his ability to speak and control the energy that made his body. From a single thought, the ideas multiplied. Seeing Nehilius willingly allowing him to absorb his own body alarmed his spy instinct. But was there any other option? Hadn't the giant being already proven himself? "I wouldn't have survived if you hadn't forced that higher evolution onto me." He gave credit where credit was due. "Thank you, Nehilius."

"Merely a predestined path we all walk on, Sylvester. Yours was to cross paths with mine. That's all there is." The absorption picked up the pace, and Sylvester's pure energy form started to take a humanoid shape. The orb on Nehilius' head lost all its glow and started to shrink down. "Did you know this was going to happen?" Sylvester inquired with calming thoughts. "I was made aware… of greater things than myself," Nehilius answered. It was unknown what the mighty being was thinking while witnessing the end of his life with his own senses. Was he feeling pain, or was this merely the end of a thought?

Sylvester understood it was Solis' doing. The being that had meddled in his life so much had altered his fate again without asking. "Do you know that there is an afterlife?" "Not for creatures such as I." Nehilius replied, appearing to be rather responsive, "A 'god' has no graveyard. We either exist, or we don't. For there is no afterlife mighty enough to hold all of us."

"But your soul mu—"

Nehilius interrupted him, "After a certain point, we have no soul. Our physical and spectral body joins together for greater control. When we die, we die as a whole."

Sylvester nodded and looked down at his own energy form. "Am I also… a combined being?" "That was the previous evolution. That was the most perilous, and yet you were victorious. You have risen, Sylvester Maximilian. Risen above the shackles of mortality. But what lies ahead of you is where dies immortality."

Gone was the shining orb. Now Sylvester was absorbing Nehilius' entire head. Much faster, and its size reduced at a visible speed. Sylvester's own body stopped looking like a misty hue and turned into solid humanoid plasma of burning yellow and golden, like the purest of lava. Woosh! "Hmm?" Sylvester noticed his body erupting in pure golden flames. "Where will this end?"

Nehilius responded to it even when he wasn't asked. "Ruler of my will, the limit of might is an arduous neverending hill. There are plenty more to consume, plenty more to kill. Rests within you the hopes of Marcus, you have a destiny to fulfill." Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Sylvester's nonexistent face turned into a sneer at the mention of that word he hated the most. "Destiny… Such an incomprehensible, uncontrollable concept."

"You, I, them—we are governed by the Great Will."

"And I presume that it isn't just a grand meaningless word?" Sylvester asked back as he finally reached Nehilius's torso after absorbing the whole of his two arms. The flames around his body had gotten so big that a few suns could fit in his halo of light. Nehilius's voice sternly responded, "The Great Will is the beginning and the end of all. From insects to gods, we are all still under the confines of a greater destiny."

"Even them?" Sylvester interrupted. "If not, you wouldn't be standing before I, Sylvester." said Nehilius, "None know what lies above it all. The creator is all said to be gone, yet everything lives, moves, dies. All this matter, there has to be an originator."

Now, the ancient being was being philosophical. However, Sylvester did feel there was some truth to his words. "Perhaps there is something. It makes no sense that the Primordial Gods would bring me to this reality. Even less sense after knowing that their previous pawn, Marcus, was alive."

Torso gone, Sylvester soon reached the last foot. Now, he eclipsed the leftover body of Nehilius, bigger than countless planets and stars combined. Sylvester's humanoid, solid, hard body of bright gold was now covered in a flaming glow that could very well be mistaken as a cosmic cloud.

Clearly, the end was just a moment away for Nehilius now. "That is why you are the chosen inheritor of my will." Nehilius shared the last of his words, "There exists a greater purpose for you, my fated incarnation. From the Great Will, there is perhaps something for you at the beginning of creation."

"What does that mean?" Sylvester tried to ask. But Nehilius remained enigmatic in his last moments. "I was made aware, and soon you shall be too."

When just a single toe was left, Sylvester decided to end this confusing conversation and the chapter of the Eldritch God. "Farewell, Nehilius."

"So long, Sylvester Maximilian. May that light gleam enough to overcome the darkness oncoming. You are a greater piece now in the realm of nothing."

Sylvester nodded in his godly form and took away the last speck of energy left. "So long indeed." Snap!

Woosh!

As soon as Nehilius completely disappeared, Sylvester found the reality warping around his cosmic gaze. As if he stood at the center of a Big Bang, he saw lights flickering and flying out of his flaming rays of light. Spreading in every single direction, they sparkled and began appearing like stars and galaxies in the distance. Splendid space clouds, black holes, dying stars, birthing stars, planets, and life; It was all there. "It feels…" he stared at everything while remaining in place. "Mesmerizing."

He was mesmerized, not by the power he felt but by what he sensed through his thoughts. Every single inch of the universe and void he stood in seemed to be under his gaze. What was where—life, death, birth—all under his knowledge. "I am the master of this reality." He realized fairly quickly and tried to control the unbridled being of pure energy that he had become. "This is Nehilius' domain… his universe."

Thriving ancient civilizations, space-faring advanced species, he could see the universe was massive, and some even worshiped Nehilius directly somehow, evident with their murals depicting a massive humanoid being with tentacles, the shining orb looking like a sun or a halo.

Snap!

Merely to test, he lifted his arm and snapped his finger. Out of nothing, there was now something born—a new sun rested on the top of his index finger. The difference in size was simply insane, beyond what he could consider conceivable with his still very much mortal and human mindset. "Can I even return home now? Won't I just destroy it? Or worse, invite the wrath of the Primordial Gods?" A dilemma once again rested before him. But not for long, as he realized the meaning behind everything. The reason behind his perilous journey to the Demon World. The meaning behind Diana's words, sacrifices, and her life. It was all to lead him to this very moment.

Where he stood with the power of an Eldritch God. Was he a god? It mattered not, for there was now an idea to rise even beyond. "You were right, Nehilius. There is plenty more to consume."

Snap!