The Supreme One sighed as she laid on her bed with her arms crossed behind her head and stared up at the blank white ceiling above her. She found herself doing this a lot lately and couldn’t help by wonder how she wound up in this situation. Well…she knew how, that was all thanks to Kim Possible and buffoon sidekick breaking the Time Monkey. Before that, when she was using the power of the Tempus Simius, she finally achieved her goal of conquering the world. She had it all, power, fame, obedient lackeys carrying out her every wish, and best of all no Kim Possible to annoy her. At least not until those stupid naked mole rats from the resistence went back in time and pulled her and Stoppable into her world.
That’s when it all went wrong. The Time Monkey was broken and time began to reset itself, erasing her world and her along with it. She was only spared by a “cosmic oops” that resulted when she tore off a bit of Possible’s pants that had some residual time particles on it or something. She still wasn’t sure exactly what happened, just that after her world faded out of existence she found herself here, the nexus point to all realities that the inhabitants called “The Neutral Space”.
To say the place was “unusual” would be an understatement. “Downright weird” would be a much better description of the place and the people themselves. Mostly because it seemed that all of time and space was being controlled and maintained by a bunch of bureaucrats, which kinda made it seem like Hell to her. Though that really wasn’t a fair comparison as they were treating her quite nicely. They let her move about as she pleased, use their various recreation rooms and even gave her a spacious room of her own with everything she needed to make herself comfortable. Her bed was about a queen sized one with some of the most comfortable covers, pillows and mattress she had ever had in her life. There was a walk in closet in her bedroom, that while nice really wasn’t necessary as she only had the one outfit. In the living room section a TV screen took up most of the far wall and could receive any station in all the universes so she could watch something when she wasn’t in the mood to be in the monitoring room. The kitchen was well stocked and equipped so she really didn’t need to ever worry about going hungry.
All in all she had just about everything she would ever need or wanted.
So then why am I so painfully, mind numbingly bored?! she thought in frustration as she sat up on the bed. I need somethingto do! I mean I like lazing around and all but this is ridiculous. I…I guess I’ll go for a walk.
With her decision made, The Supreme One jumped off the bed and walked into her closet to fetch the rest of her outfit. She slipped on her gloves, zipped her up thigh length boots and with a flourish draped her cape around her shoulders and fastened the button around her neck. After a quick check in the mirror to make sure her hair looked good, she left the bedroom, passed through the living room and walked out the front door and into the great hallway of the Neural Space. Knowing that any direction was as good as the other she shrugged and arbitrarily turned to the left to start her walk. For a moment she considered trying to find the door that lead to the bar that existed in the ‘50s but she wasn’t in the mood with having to deal with the bartender Al asking her about her perceptions of reality and what makes her tick and all that. So instead she just walked with no particular destination in mind.
While time didn’t actually pass in the Neutral Space, The Supreme One’s perception of time still passed and she felt like her “quick walk” had turned into an hours long quest. It was one of the things she found extremely unnerving about the place. The metal columns that stretch onto infinity certainly were breath taking, but the fact that they all looked exactly the same made it very easy for her to get lost. Even after all the months, years, decades…whatever she had been there she still found it hard to any discernable pattern within the columns. So it was with no great surprise that she found herself standing between four rows of them with absolutely no idea where she was. She sighed and considered calling out for help, but quickly pushed that thought away and simply rounded the next corner.
It was this action that lead her to a door that stood out from the billions of identical ones around it. For one thing it was big. Very big. About 20 to 30 feet if she had to guess. Beyond that difference, this was also had a great deal more security than the others. Hell, any security would have been different as most of the doors were rather plain looking, but the amount attributed to this door particularly caught her interest. There were three giant, heavy looking metal bars slide across it at the top, middle and bottom. Between them was a dial akin to a combination lock with an extra key pad on the wall next to it. Covering the bars were large scrolls that reminded her a Japanese sutras but the writing on them was like nothing she had ever seen before. As she stared in awe of this heavily fortified door, she noticed a small one built into the lower right hand side. While it lacked the metal bars, it was almost identical to it’s larger counterpart but obviously built for more human sized creatures to use. Without even realizing it she started walking towards it, almost in a trance like state. As she drew closer to it, her right hand reached out to grasp the handle of door even though she knew it wouldn’t do any good. Still she had to try to get inside. She didn’t know why, but she just had to see what was inside. She licked her lips as her fingers etched ever closer to the handle. Just a few more inches and she’d be there.
“NO!” a commanding voice screamed.
“GAAAAAHHH!” The Supreme One shouted as unexpected voice snapped her out of her trance and caused her to jump back.
As she breathed deeply to try and get her heart rate back under control, she glared at the person who had surprised her. It was a woman she had only seen a few times but by the way most of the people here acted around her, she was someone of great authority. That could be one reason why she actively avoided her, because she and authority never mixed well. Another put off was the woman’s flair of the dramatic…or rather over dramatic. It was immediately recognizable from her style of dress which was an almost complete opposite of the stripped down, every man appearance of the creature that called himself Ben and who more or less ran the place. This woman was in a shoulderless, one piece…gown for lack of a better word, though it ended in more of a loincloth that hung off her hips. It was a deep blue color that was contrasted nicely by the pure white cape flowing off her shoulders and clasped to the dress by two gold circular emblems. While her shoulders were exposed, the rest of her arms were covered by deep blue bracers that went down to back of her hands and were held in place by a ring worn on each of her middle fingers. Her legs when mostly uncovered save for the two ankle height footpads that left her toes and the heels exposed. The outfit was topped off by a gold sash tied around her waist and hanging from a knot off her left hip. Looking at it now The Supreme One realized that the writing etched over it in silver was of the same style as the scrolls on the door.
As if looking like a reject from a Greek play wasn’t enough, from the few times The Supreme One did have to deal with her she tended to talk like she dressed, way too over the top. That was another no-no in her book. Of course, what really unnerved her were the woman’s solid green eyes. That was probably the biggest problem she had with her. It went along with her personal philosophy of not trusting anyone without pupils. Still, for the scare she had just given her, she was more than willing to speak to her at the moment.
“What in the hell was that all about?!” The Supreme One shouted back.
“You must forgive me, it was not my intention to scare you,” the woman said politely as she walked forward, her shoulder length waves of black hair bouncing slightly as she did so. “I merely wished for you to not disturb this door.”
“Yeah, well you could have gone about it a better way.”
“Perhaps. And I do apologize for startling you.”
“Whatever,” The Supreme One shrugged.
The two stood there in silence as The Supreme One continued to study the door.
“Oh!” the other woman suddenly spoke up. “You must forgive me I have not probably introduced myself.”
“Nah, that’s fine,” the former ruler tried to wave off.
“No it is not. You have been here for awhile now and I have not told you who I am yet. That is rude. So then, allow me to introduce myself, I am Tempest, former High Priestess and current Herald to my lady the Goddess Tsunami of the planet Jurai,” the black hair woman greeted with a light bow.
“Uh…Shego. Though for now I’m still going with The Supreme One.”
“If you wish. Though, and excuse me for saying so, that title seems rather meaningless now as you no longer control anything.”
“Yeah well, I like it so I plan to hold onto it as long as I can,” she remarked as she placed a hand on her right hip. “So now that that’s out of the way, what’s behind the door?”
Tempest’s face immediately turned from one of friendly greeting to deadly serious.
“Evil,” she spoke in a hushed tone. “Evil in it’s much pure and truest form.”
This caught The Supreme One off guard and caused her to stare blankly as the other woman.
“What…you mean like the devil?” she asked, trying to cover her uneasiness with sarcasm.
“No,” Tempest said flatly.
Despite herself, the pale skinned woman let out a slight sigh. She was never one to buy into the whole “God and Devil” thing but after seeing this place she began to realize that anything was possible. Plus the tone in Tempest’s voice helped to sell that claim, but now she realized she had to be joking. There was no way it was anything like-
“He is the devil that devils fear,” the herald spoke, surprising The Supreme One again.
“What…do you mean?” she asked again, her earlier uneasiness returning.
“It is as I said, the creature behind this door is evil incarnate. He existed longer before this universe and even this place.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible for the gods. Especially when he is two of the oldest there is. In fact, his every existence is what created the Big Bang that spawned the multiverse.”
“How?” The Supreme One questioned, now throughly intrigued.
“In the universe before this universe he wanted nothing more than the piece that only the empty void would offer. So he set out to destroy as much of that universe as he could, hoping that with each planet he destroyed, his own personal peace would be closer at hand. But then a champion rose up to challenge him and put an end to his senseless slaughter.”
“Let me guess, it didn’t exactly work out that way.”
Tempest shook her head slowly. “No. As is true for most wars, there was innocent casualties. In this instance those casualties amounted to an entire universe. So fierce was their battle that it destroyed everything and the released energies collided and with an immeasurable explosion the universe as you know it was created.”
“But you said it created the multiverse.”
“It did. This universe’s birth was so violent that it shattered all over existence like a stone hitting a mirror. All those resulting shards make up the complex web that is the multiverse.”
“Oh wow,” The Supreme One muttered as she rubbed her temples. “This is really starting to give me a head ache.”
“Forgive me, I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. If you wish for me to leave…” Tempest offered.
“No, no. It’s alright. Just give a minute to take this all in.” She continued to rub her temples until the throbbing was gone. “OK, now what happened after the Big Bang? And I mean in relation to this guy I know all the other stuff.”
“Oh do you?” Tempest asked with a slight smirk. “Perhaps I shall question you on that one day then.” The smirked faded as she continued with the story. “After the birth of the multiverse, it was believed that the two warriors were destroyed. In reality their essences were merely trapped in two large lumps of rock. After several millennia past, the great beast was able to manipulate his prison until it became a form in which he could move and once again carry on his path of destruction. This time, however, he was not content to destroy merely one universe but all of them. So he went from reality to reality, devouring everything in his way and killing untold billions of peoples.”
“But I thought that normal beings couldn’t just cross over from one reality to another?” The Supreme One point out, feeling slight confused at this point.
“You are correct, normal being could not. But there is nothing normal about him. And since he was part responsible for the multiverse’s creation, he is able to slide from one to another with ease. Not that it would have been hard for him to do regardless, his power was quite immense.”
“Was?”
“That shall come later. Now, where was I? Oh yes, when he crossed over into my universe and began consuming those worlds under Jurian rule, out people cried out for their goddess to save them. Being the kind and just goddess she was, Tsunami was unable to turn a blind eye to her people’s suffering yet could not act because of laws that govern even the gods. But while she could not break the rule, she could bend it. It was with that mentality that she imbued me, one of her most loyal High Priestesses, with a portion of her powers and transformed me into what I am today. My job was to watch the great beast and save as many lives as I could, regardless of their faith or beliefs. It was that constant vigilance that earned my the moniker of ‘The Eye of Tsunami’ by many.”
“Right. So if he’s so bad ass then how did he end up in here?” The Supreme One asked, jerking her thumb towards the door.
“There was a great, hard fought battle. Creatures from countless planets and solar systems set aside their differences and fought as one to try and destroy him and his minions. Though they fought bravely, they seemed to do very little against him and for awhile it seemed like the battle was all for not. But then a warrior arose and brought light unto the darkness. The tide was turned and most of his body was destroyed but he still continued to fight back. When it seemed like he was going to lose, he tried to open a rift in reality so he could jump into a new universe to find the time to heal himself.”
“What happened?”
“Another wave of energy from a great war in time collided with him and canceled out his own portal. It was during this confusion that Ben, myself, and the others here were able to capture him and place him behind this door.”
“So what keeps him locked up here?” the pale woman asked, looking at the door again.
“The combination of his weakened state and the sutras,” Tempest explained. “Though how long those will hold him we’re unsure.”
“Well if he’s so dangerous why not just destroy him?”
“Because it is not that simple. We may destroy his body but his essence will still survive. Right now it is trapped within his damaged body but even now I can feel it trying to get out. Calling out from his cell and trying to manipulate the will of others to his own. I was not exaggerating when I said he was evil incarnate. He feeds off the evil wills of others. That is the way it has been and the way it always will be. As long as hatred exists, he exists.”
“Wow. Then we’re pretty much screwed,” The Supreme One remarked.
“Sadly yes,” the Eye of Tsunami replied as she hung her head.
“You know I noticed throughout that whole story you never did say his name.”
“It is because he has many names among different cultures. Some call him The Uncreator, others The Great Destroyer. The Living Void, The Devourer of Worlds, The Chaos Bringer, The Destructor, The Dark God, all of names that haven been given to him. But his true name is one that is uttered in whispered tunes in the darkest parts of the universe. Spoken softly for fear of summoning him and feeling the full force of his wrath. Many simply dare not speak his name.”
“So really, what is it?” The Supreme One asked with a hint of annoyance.
“Oh I dare not speak it,” Tempest retorted with a sly grin.
The other woman chocked up a bit in rage then glared at the demi-goddess through half closed eyes when she recovered.
“Cute,” she muttered.
“I thought we could do with a little levity.”
“Fine, don’t tell me his name. Just answer me this. If he does manage to break out of there, what exactly is going to happen?”
Again, all traces of playfulness vanished from Tempest’s face as she looked solemnly up at the door.
“The end of all things,” she spoke hauntingly.
The uneasy feeling from behind returned to The Supreme One upon hearing those words and she began to back away from the other woman.
“Well…let’s hope that never happens,” she said.
“Indeed,” Tempest replied.
“Well this has just been a blast, very informative, but I think I’m going to try and find my room so I can go lay down and deal with all this.”
“Do you wish me to help you back to your room?”
“No, no I think I can get it. Later.”
With that, The Supreme One gave a quick wave before she turned and walked rather quickly away from Tempest and the heavily armored door. It was only after she disappeared out of sight that the Herald address the other presence she had sensed for awhile.
“I take it you heard all that?” she asked, as she slowly turned around to see Ben leaning against the pillar.
“Caught the highlights,” he replied.
“Her coming here was not a coincidence.”
“I know.”
“He drew her here because of the darkness in her heart.”
“I know.”
“She could a danger to everyone here.”
“I know.”
Tempest flashed him an annoyed look.
“Is that your answer for everything?”
“No,” he replied carefully as he walked over to her. “I’m just saying that I already know all your concerns and I’m looking into them. Trust me we’re keeping a close eye on her. No telling what kind of trouble she might cause.”
“There is one kind of trouble she might cause,” Tempest said as she looked at the door again. “I hope I am wrong and that she is strong enough to fight off his temptations, but if she is not…then I fear for the safety of all beings.”
“You and me both,” Ben remarked as he stared up at the door as well. “You and me both.”
The End
Author’s Notes: Alright, I feel some explanations are in order. First and foremost, the character of Tempest is my own creation for what was suppose to be a series of fics based on the anime Tenchi Muyo! Great series by the way and I highly recommended it. Unfortunately, that idea came to a screeching halt when my laptop blew up on me and I lost the final chapter to the beginning fic and well my own laziness has kept me from going back to it. But the ideas from it were never lost and when I originally conceived of “Time” I figured it was a great place for Tempest to have a cameo. She’s the one singing the Time Profit’s song in case you’re curious.
Now the great battle she mentions was also to be from my Tenchi series and have been a hug climatic battle spanning many pages and chapters. But…again that kinda fizzled out. So I doubt I’ll ever actually show the battle, but as this fic illustrates I can allude to it. Which I will in a later fic.
I believe that’s all I need to cover as far as Tempest and her story goes, now unto the big question I’m sure most of you have by now, who’s behind the door? Well…that’s for you to figure out. Hehhe, sorry but one of the fun parts of this idea was to initially be vague to see how many people can pick up on who it is. There are many clues peppered through the story, some of which are very blatant if you know the mythos of the show and property. So I’ll let you all guess and reveal his identity either in the Author’s Notes to a later fic or PM you depending on how big a response this gets.
That’s about it from me for now. So get cracking guessing!