Human Side Stories: Sheridan Creighton (Patreon)

Human Side Stories: Sheridan Creighton

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Commissioned by Blue Flaming Wings.

Wordcount: 2500

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The void between worlds is beyond a human being’s ability to comprehend. It is the land of Dreams and Infinity, simultaneously infinite in size and scope, yet those who traverse it with enough will can find themselves wherever they wish. Even the greatest of Sorcerers can scarcely make of it enough to traverse the different dimensions it surrounds and encompasses. The Chimera merely locate alternate Earths filled with human life, like a shooting star coursing through the eye of a single needle, in their search for more biomass and souls to include in their crusade to fulfil their mad objective. Yet, besides Aspects, their only rival in the traversal of worlds is Dimension Lost’s wielders. All of whom are uniquely gifted with unerring determination in their ability to visualize what they wish and desire.

Yet, here I was trying to do something that the Chimera could never accomplish, that every Aspect would be strained to complete, and which every user of Dimension Lost would balk at.

I was searching for my daughter in the Dimensional Gap. 

The costs of the project were immense. Given my family’s insistence on coming along, I not only took from humanity its only ship capable of traversing the Gap unaided by Infinity Spheres, but also Telos Karma and the aid offered by my other children. How much did I take for my simple desire to find Valerie? Commanders of high quality, warriors peerless in any other age, and equipment that could slay gods and provide tactical knowledge unknown… right when the Avatar of Destruction once again appeared in all its glory and all its horror. 

There will be much that needs to be repaid when I return and I could not do so yet. The course and aim of the ship was true. We were slowly, but surely finding our way through the Gap by using the connection forged between souls. The study had been theoretical, the machines had yet to be tested, and its success was a surprise, but the same means to traverse the Gap meant we could only have a singular course and aim, especially due to how the Gap changed and flowed around us in a manner that was beyond our understanding.

To go to Earth now would be to abandon Valerie in both our hearts and minds, with the possibility of the bindings between us all breaking, and so she may forever find herself lost to the Gap. Was she even able to return now? Did the loss of Albion shake her to the point she could only aimlessly traverse the Gap? How could I risk abandoning her, especially when we would not arrive before the passage of an entire week? 

In truth, the decision I made when Valerie disappeared decided what was to happen already. 

We will search for her, even as Earth fights. 

I could only hope that Earth shall win the battle, so that upon our return we can do more than pick up a handful of survivors to whisk away into the Gap in hopes of warning the next world of the results of my foolishness. 

Hope was all I had as I waited for news instead of sleeping. 

…

The Herald was a ship whose systems would be the cornerstone of the Temple of Time. It’s ability to traverse the Gap was the foundation of the Aspect of Time’s means to surge into what Was. Originally, it was merely a testbed project, something that would never see the light of day. A passing curiosity that would be pursued, but through the limited information and schematics provided by the Reincarnation of Odin, it was transformed into one, last hope for Mankind if all was lost. It was an ark that could carry survivors across the Gap, to other worlds, courtesy of the reverse engineering of an Aspect’s greatest superweapon by one of its creators. A ship that could find humanity another home to rebuild, as well as form the foundation of an interdimensional civilization that could surely overcome any enemy, if all was lost.

And, I continued to guide it through the Gap in an empty bridge, while Earth faced a threat unlike any other. 

I was alone as I watched and willed the Gap to move around us, until a familiar click reached my ears.

“They have calmed down and offer you their apologies.” Elena changed very little from the woman if first met many years ago. On the surface, she no longer wears her old, black-and-white wardrobe, electing for color in her chosen maid outfit. Toda’s colors were a navy blue over white. However, she has practically not aged a day since we first met, while I had streaks of gray running through my head. “I advised you to keep what you knew a secret, especially when we could do nothing to help.”

“You did, but I didn’t feel it was right.” Elena merely shook her head at my worlds, before striding towards me and wordlessly sitting upon my lap. She said nothing, offering no words of comfort, yet nonetheless comforted me in her own way. Tomoko’s influence was as clear as day, but I made no mention of it. “Thank you for helping calm them down.”

“Tomoko and Elisabeth did all the work. I only stood at the door and did not permit them entry.” Elena brought up her legs and held onto my shoulders with her arms. She forced me to cease holding the armrests and hold her instead. A calm fell over my heart that I hadn’t known I’d missed. In these last few weeks, I had barely spent any time with her and the others. Everyday was a strict routine of exchanging duties of navigation only disrupted by the news I gave. Today, I have run three shifts guiding the Herald through the Gap, while my children protested and voiced their innermost thoughts. “So, let me share some of the burden, my dear. You can’t do everything yourself. Not anymore.”

I was not weak. My abilities and strengths have merely grown over the years. In mind, body, and spirit, I have only grown more capable, with time’s efforts barely reaching me. Only disease or wounds can take me now, as is the case with much of the current generation and all that shall come after them. However, the time will never come when I could do the same as Concepts and Aspects. 

Miracles did not come forth from increasingly impossible situations simply due to my mere presence. 

No matter how much I wanted them to.

“I’m envious, Elena, of Li Song, Coda, and all those who were chosen to become Concepts.” The pain of saying those words, as I sat in mankind’s last hope and guided it through the Gap, was akin to heartache from yearning that’ll never be sated. A dream that I could never have was held by others. The power to choose both my ideals and those who I love was not mine and never will be mine. Never did I want anything more than to be able to protect my daughter and stay true to everything I believed in, too. “I want to be like them. I wish that I could have all their strength and power. I…I dream about being chosen for the responsibility of becoming humanity’s protectors… and being worthy of one of the two Mantles placed in humanity’s hands.”

Conflict and the End. 

Li Song and Coda. 

One stood tall and was barely withheld by Reality. Amidst humanity, he stood as what everyone who fought yearned to be. The soldier that everyone wished to have at the direst moments. Not only that, but his presence was so great that monsters could only flee before him, as they feared any all retribution he could offer. In his presence, those will ill intentions and wicked hearts could only dip their heads in meekness and hope to be beneath his notice. The most wicked, most powerful, and most vile sought to destroy him, to make a mockery of what he was, and so they wasted themselves upon a willing shield, as innocents were idly protected by Li Song’s mere existence. 

Then, there was Coda. A girl who can traverse between worlds with ease, who could save anyone and anything who wished to be saved, and took the pain of others upon herself without hesitation. She strode amongst the downtrodden, sickly, and hateful without judgement. Hers was a heart utterly bereft of hate, who would sacrifice everything for the sake of a single, other person, and would take upon herself the hatred of the entire world, if it would grant everyone besides herself happiness. She reached out for even those who would harm her, even as she suffered in their mere presence, for the infinitesimal chance to save them. 

Then, there were the Concepts who stood before them. 

They have not wronged me, yet I could not look upon either fairly. Whenever I heard of them, I felt irrational anger and envy. I wished to have their power, despite knowing how each of them struggled. Only Lorelei Altringham, among the Concepts, had a childhood similar to a normal human and that was because her mother and father shielded her from innumerable attempts on her life, as she remained secluded and isolated for her power and abilities that all yearned for. The others were born to war and conflict, lived the entirety of their lives fighting, and survived as normal human beings in a world filled with superhumans and monsters. 

And, Li Song was raised in a wasteland, believing in nothing but strength of arms and freedom, as after his parents died. 

While Coda had no name, was raised as a doll all her life, and knew only pain. 

How wretched of a man I am to yearn for their power and responsibility without caring for the circumstances that gave them their pow—

“Who isn’t? I want their power. Tomoko does. Elisabeth, surely. Leviathan and Ophis, too, probably.” Elena’s words have a way of carving through the ache in my heart. Did she stop time to do something strange to me as I wondered and pondered? No. she held onto me with both her hands, and no matter how fast she’s become, she couldn’t have done anything without that distinctive click. “Those two have power and the freedom to fight to reach past their limits. The Concepts, through them, overcome their gods, too. While we can only watch and wait, even as they reach out for us and offer us aid.”

A yawn left Elena’s lips. Has she slept since I’d interred myself in this command chair? No. That question didn’t even need to be voice. Of course, she hadn’t. Tomoko and Elisabeth wouldn’t have slept either. No matter what, they stayed beside me and believed in me, even if I doubted myself. They only intervened and argued against me when they believed I was doing something wrong. And, usually, they spoke to me before such issues arose. Elena said nothing, simply closing her eyes as she lay against me. Tomoko and Elisabeth were probably both already asleep and preparing for the day ahead. 

“You… have made me feel worse, Elena. Those words were of little held and you reminded me that Li Song eschewed power in order to give us all more.” Alas, my words were not heard. Elena was now asleep and I had only the ever-swirling, scarlet expanse before me as company. She was not feigning her slumber, either. The rise and fall of her chest was too steady for that. I enjoyed my wakefulness only due to the ship providing me with magic and keeping me well-rested, as I had no current substitute. “But… I suppose the days have passed when you simply called me foolish and walked away, aren’t they?

Elena has come far from the young woman who’d thought me a vampire upon our first meeting. In the span of a handful of years, she became a Dhamphir Knight, my wife, and then a mother, then she continued to train and learn, even as more responsibilities fell upon her as our household grew. Still, the woman I first met long ago still remained. She was still bad at conversing and relied upon me to fill in the gaps. 

“You’re right. I’m normal. I’m just a father who wants to fight for his children, instead of letting them be protected by people I barely know.” We all wanted to protect the children. They were strong, capable, and powerful, but they shouldn’t have to be. Was I glad that they were talented and mighty? Yes. Absolutely. However, did I ever want for them to fight, risk their lives, and bury them? No. No half-decent parent would wish for those things. And, I would wish to do all those things in their stead, so that they could live their lives happily. That was what my silly wife said, if ever-so-slightly abridged. “And, just like everyone else, I wish that I am more than I am… while ignoring that I can still change and be different, especially with the help of another.”

In another time and in another place, Li Song was subsumed by Lucifer and he would become the Aspect of Conflict. With that Mantle, Lucifer created the Aspect of Time and rewrote history with the aid of the remains of CORE, thus wounding Reality and killing an infinite number of lives. However, through his actions, he created Li Song. A young man who’d grant power to all humanity, who’d make nearly every child bulletproof, and put divinity in the reach of those who trained and worked hard enough. He was silly, strange, and selfless to a fault… yet I couldn’t imagine a better man to be the Aspect of Conflict, especially when I could see him as an ally to be kept instead of a possible foe. 

However, the most important thing I’d forgotten in my envy, was the fact that the reason I could stand with my children now and command the Herald was because of his actions. He broke past the barriers that held me back, which I’d never been able to surpass, while doing the same for the rest of humanity. 

The world, which had been growing more deadly and dangerous to the previous generation of humanity, suddenly contained more hope and light. Old swords were taken up, partnerships reformed, and old friends met. No longer were Angels and Devils the only ones who could call upon veterans with mountains of experience more than the new, even if our pool was much smaller in both years and numbers. 

I could not have gathered my family and led them out here, if not for the gifts freely given to me and mine. Even if my children were strong, experience had its place in the world, especially as it came with another, important tool that is quite difficult to find amongst the young and technically-experienced. 

Gut instinct. 

And, thus, with Elena asleep in my arms and the climax of the trip dealt with, the baleful scarlet of the Gap yielded to bright, shining Silver. 

I had much to say to Valerie, but first it shall have to be of the mess regarding Destruction. 

Even if she couldn’t get us all back there with her, she could certainly go and be of great assistance to the Preservers against Destruction.