(Unofficial theme song that I think of when I think of this story)
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Chapter 1 – Experimenting with the Unknown
They say curiosity killed the cat, but alchemy is filled with nothing but curious cats who try to learn more about the world we live in. Joanna’s parents love experimenting with the many things they can find in the world and are well-known alchemists. Today, her parents are leaving in a few hours to present their latest findings to the Church. They remind Joanna not to mess with their tools and she promises them that she won’t with a reassuring smile. After their carriage leaves, Joanna immediately goes to the labs to snoop around. She finds their book open to a certain page with certain symbols that appear to be demonic alongside alchemy symbols. A lot of what’s on the page is out on the tables with the marks that show what they are. The picture in the page depict different worlds and the text in it suggests that putting together these chemicals and saying what’s in the book will lead you to these worlds.
Since Joanna’s parents have never created anything dangerous, she decides to do what it says in the book to see what they’re talking about. Once she completes the formula and says the ritual, she is sucked into the mixture. Her body changes as she falls through a twister-like hole starting with her skin turning completely white. Her torso, arms, and legs are separated in half and her dress changes into a shorter version of itself. A purple choker appears on her neck to match her new dress. A blue diamond takes the place of her right eye though she can still see through it. Her left eye is pink with a lighter pink iris that takes the shape of a heart.
Once the transformation is complete, she is hurled into space and the hole behind her closes. She is above what appears to be an earth with the moon and other planets close by. Joanna floats in space with no clue what happened and what to do. A young girl who’s her age flies to her. She has black hair, a purple gem in her right eye, and a purple left eye with a black clover iris. She wears a short purple dress with black straps on the side and a purple choker to match it all.
She introduces herself, “Hello. My name is Adah. I’m here to introduce you to our wonderful universe.”
“Do you introduce everyone in this universe?”
“I do. I love doing it since I get to relive the grand experience of entering this dimension over and over again.”
“Do people usually appear here specifically?”
“Nope. They appear in their own galaxy.”
“Their own galaxy?”
“That’s right. You own all of the planets around you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that’s how this place works. Isn’t this amazing?”
“I guess, but I’m not sure if I’m qualified for this role.”
“You don’t have to be. Just try it out. If you don’t like it, then you can live under a ruler if you wish.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”
“Thank you. Now, let’s go down to your capital planet. You know how you’re floating in space? Do the same when we enter the planet so that you don’t plummet down there at high speeds. You can’t die in this dimension, but you can still feel pain.”
“Hold on a second,” Joanna says while getting used to floating, “Ok, I think I can do it.”
“Good. Let’s go then, Queen Joanna.”
The title gives Joanna a strange feeling of power. A power that she doesn’t know what to do with. Joanna and Adah fly down to Joanna’s capital planet and see the natural beauty of it. It looks like an earth untouched by humanity and death with luscious forests and flourishing life.
“What do you want to call your kingdom, queen?”
“I’ll call it…Shalom.”
“That’s an interesting name. Now, say hello to your people.”
Artificial people rise from the dust of the ground. They all kneel and bow down to Joanna.
“These subjects of yours all have personalities ready to love and serve you, but you can always change the way they act and their looks to whatever you want. You can also not only change the way your planets act and look, but you can also change your Heaven and Hell here.”
“My Heaven and Hell?”
“Yes, the Heaven and Hell in your galaxy are different than the Heavens and Hells controlled by the other rulers. You can send people to your Heaven and Hell, but you can’t send people to other Heavens and Hells. The same goes for the other rulers as well.”
“This is all a bit too much to throw on me, don’t you think Adah?”
“It takes a bit of time for everyone to get used to. It was incredibly exciting for me my first time. I spent months in my galaxy tweaking and adjusting it to my heart’s content.”
“Who taught you?”
“Nobody. I asked some of the most powerful rulers here to give me the power to be a greeter for everyone here and they agreed. We came up with a spell that gave me the sense to know when new people enter this dimension.”
“The rulers didn’t ask you to do anything else like point people to their kingdoms or suggest to people that they should make alliances with?”
“Not at all. This is a dimension of freedom, unlike the one you escaped from.”
“I thought there was plenty of freedom back at home.”
“Do you? Our lives were dictated by other people. We couldn’t live a life that we could control.”
“I honestly don’t care about that as long as I have my life in the hands of someone who knows better than I do.”
“Then maybe you should live under a ruler. There are many great and benevolent ones.”
“I think I’ll tinker with my own kingdom here first before I try that. I want to see what I can do.”
“Good luck. Oh, and I love the look you were given. Your modest personality matches it. I love the pink highlights at the tips of your hair.”
Joanna looks at her reflection in a nearby stream.
“Oh, I was naturally born with these highlights though my parents tried to give me more. They were more rebellious than me.”
“You must’ve had fun parents then. Why did you run away?”
“I didn’t. I just messed around with some of the alchemy chemicals and things they had.”
“You really did have fun parents then. Well, it’s time for me to leave. If you have any more questions or need a friend, then come to the kingdom of Camelot. You can see other nearby kingdoms with your Ruler Eyes.”
“Thanks for the help. It was nice meeting you.”
“Same to you. Bye!”
Adah and Joanna wave goodbye to each other as Adah flies away from the planet. Joanna then gets to work in making her kingdom. She keeps her people the way they are and gives them all nice medium sized houses to live in. With her powers, she erects several cities with large walls to protect them. In her cities, she builds necessary places for it such as restaurants, schools, churches, and a central place for her government to keep everything in check for her, so she can keep tabs on everything. Farms towns are made to give her people a source of food. Smaller towns are made as well to keep the planet varied. Many different kinds of forest areas are made as well including a forest of roses and flowers. Humongous waterfalls and flowing rivers are put into the world along with an ocean that takes up thirty percent of the planet. After only a handful of minutes, Joanna has completed her civilization on her planet. She then moves on to edit her other four planets and name them. Some are military bases and weapon manufactures in case she gets attacked while the others are like her own planet. Horse carriages fly in between the planets so that the planets can trade and so that people can move from one planet to the other.
With everything complete, Joanna tries to live among her people. Every artificial being acts in accordance with their assigned personalities. Wondering if they can stray from it, Joanna jokes around with one of them who is supposed to be serious all the time.
“My queen,” it says, “To what do I owe this honor?”
“Tell me, why do they have gates around cemeteries?” Joanna asks.
“Why?”
“Because people are dying to get in.”
Some people around her that have a sense of humor laugh, but this one doesn’t.
“I get it. Your jokes do well to entertain your citizens.”
“I got another one. Do you hear about the new restaurant I made? It’s called Karma. There isn’t anything on the menu because you get what you deserve.”
Again, the same people laugh but this one doesn’t again.
“Where did you learn all of your jokes?”
“I made them up.”
“I expect nothing less from my queen.”
“But wait! Here’s another one. How does Moses make coffee? He brews.”
People burst out laughing beside this one. So no matter what, these artificial people can’t stray from their personality at all. Joanna tries to live among them as if they were real people. She tells them to treat her like a normal person and they obey. Throughout the day, she can’t help but feel off while hanging out with this fake people. It doesn’t feel natural. Sure, she can edit their personalities, so they act more human, but that isn’t something she wants to do.
Joanna figures she has to do something with her time as she appears to be stuck here for good. Fortunately for her, a carriage that has a royal design to it knocks at the gates of her galaxy. Joanna didn’t know her galaxy had a gate and plays with her new powers until she figures out that she can will the gate open like how she willed everything else into existence. The royal carriage goes to Shalom and to the small house where Joanna lives. A queen steps out of the carriage and Joanna’s artificial people bow to her. Joanna steps out of her house to meet her. The queen is about Joanna’s age though her exotic red dress makes her promiscuous and older. She has a triangle golden gem in her right eye with a normal white eye with a golden diamond shaped iris. This queen also has bangles on her arms and legs and a red and gold choker on her neck. Her blond hair is curled and hangs over her shoulder. Everything about her says she is a real queen compared to Joanna.
“I’ve seen that there’s a new galaxy in the universe. What is the name of your kingdom?”
“Shalom.”
“My kingdom is called Hydrangea. My name is Sarai.”
“My name is Joanna. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Same to you. Have you thought about spreading your influence to other galaxies and allying yourself with others? Some kingdoms aren’t as nice as yours.”
“I think I’m good where I’m at. What benefits would I have if I allied myself with you?”
“You will receive my aid if you change your mind. I have control over one of the biggest armies in the universe and I have several other kingdoms allied under me.”
“Why are you asking for my aid?”
“Because we’re up against another powerful alliance of kingdoms called The Anarchy. They aren’t as kind as we are. They will block the entrance to your galaxy, so you stay trapped with no way to escape. I can even show you what they’re doing. Here, let me touch your head.”
“Uh…ok.”
Both Joanna and Sarai’s minds come together as Sarai uses her ruler’s vision to see The Anarchy attacking and enslaving other kingdoms. The two also see battles take place in space with opposing forces clashing their armies together. Sarai then ends the vision and lets go of Joanna’s head.
With this in mind, Joanna decides, “I guess I should help you out since I have nothing better to do.”
“That’s great to hear. I’ve seen that you already made your own army, but do you know how to defend yourself?”
“Barely.”
“Here’s a trick Adah might’ve not told you. You can will your arms and legs into weapons.”
Sarai changes her two hands into axes.
“Now you try it.”
Joanna wills her arm into a weapon and it becomes a katana.
“We don’t just have this as our only defense mechanism. We also have a unique magical power that each one of us possesses. For example, I can create ice spears.”
Sarai demonstrates this by conjuring an ice spear with her will. She throws it at a nearby tree and the spear goes right through it. It then grows spikes all around its surface before shattering.
“Let’s see what you can do. Just will your magical ability that resides in your soul.”
Joanna does as Sarai says while holding out her hand. Flames begin to dance around Joanna’s fingertips as the building in front of Joanna suddenly combusts into flames. Joanna’s servants quickly move to quench the fire as the building collapses onto itself.
“That’s an amazing ability you have Joanna. I’m honestly jealous of you.”
“Don’t be. I think your special ability is great as well.”
“But not as great as instantaneous combustion!”
“I guess not.”
“Usually people are jealous of my ability, but yours is something completely different. You might be what we need in ending this war.”
“I guess we should get started then. My first day here and I’m already fighting in a war.”
“Hey, it could be worse, but at least you’re fighting on the right side.”
Joanna smiles and nods as she leaves to wage war with Sarai. Joanna’s army readies itself for battle while increasing production of weapons and supplies. While leaving her capital planet, Joanna feels an odd sense that she might be doing something wrong. She ignores it for now as she doesn’t know what else to do in this crazy dimension.
Chapter 2 – Waging War since Birth
While Sarai, Joanna, and Joanna’s army travel to one of Sarai’s galaxies to plan their attack on The Anarchy, Joanna asks Sarai, “How many other galaxies are there?”
“Infinite as far as I know. There are even clusters of galaxies that are separated from us. We’ve tried to get to them and they’ve tried to get to us, but we can’t break the invisible barrier that keeps us separated. We can’t even talk to them through it.”
“Whys that?”
“Maybe it’s one of the rules of this dimension were the more technologically advanced societies can’t be with the others. One cluster of galaxies has huge black and white ships shoot light at each other that cause huge explosions.”
“So they’re from the future?”
“I guess so. I’ve also seen other cluster galaxies that have more primitive means of transportation than us.”
“That must mean we’re somewhere in the middle.”
“There are tons of cluster galaxies out there, so I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
“How did you get to this dimension?”
“I did witchcraft behind my parent’s back. A sorcerer gave me a certain spell and mixture of chemicals to use that he said would give me the freedom I wanted and here I am.”
“I’m guessing other people have done the same thing for similar reasons. Were you one of the rulers that gave Adah her unique ability?”
“I was. I was even one of the first powerful rulers in our cluster of this dimension.”
“Is her kingdom of Camelot allied with yours?”
“It’s always neutral no matter what’s going on. She’s just a girl who loves living and nothing else. I wish I could be that simple-minded. No offense to her.”
“What’s keeping you from being like her? Kingdoms like The Anarchy?”
“Exactly. People like them deserve to be kept in Hell for all eternity. Don’t you agree?”
“There’s no other way to convince them to be peaceful?”
“Not at all. The best idea that we have is to put them all into my version of Hell where they will wage an endless war. When they keep winning they will start losing and when they keep losing they’ll start winning, but sometimes they will win and lose at random so that they think they have a chance of winning their war and escaping. There will be no hope for them.”
Joanna sits in silence and thinks about what to say next, but nothing comes to mind.
“It’s okay to feel bad for them. That means you still have your conscience, but as for my allies and I, we have long since lost pity for other people who refuse to cooperate with us to keep the peace here.”
“I get it. I hope I can do something to help you, but I wonder, has anyone tried to escape from this dimension?”
“I’ve certainly heard of some people trying it, but I’ve never seen it happen. I would assume that if a person disappeared their kingdom would disappear as well or at least become vacant or without a human leader. I haven’t seen one kingdom like that. You weren’t thinking of leaving, were you? You just got here.”
“No no no! I was just wondering. I was told that I could just become a citizen of a kingdom if I didn’t want to become a ruler.”
“I’ve heard of that too, but what really happens is that you order your forces to follow the command of another ruler. You also do what the other ruler tells you to do with your kingdom. They can’t take control away from you nor can you give it to them.”
The news of no escape upsets Joanna as there’s no way to get back home. She’s worried about what her family and friends will think and the sadness they’ll feel. Nevertheless, she still keeps the hope of leaving this place in the back of her head.
“So you’re always a ruler no matter what?”
“Yes. Every leader is a great worker after all. Leaders aren’t just people who have more power than everyone. They share a responsibility with people who don’t have as much power and responsibility as them. Human citizens are much more valued than artificial ones since they offer more and can think for themselves.”
“Do you have a few in your kingdom?”
“I do. My kingdom probably has the most human citizens than the others in this universe. Speaking about it.”
Sarai and Joanna enter Sarai’s galaxy, which appears to be entirely made for royalty. The planets shine as if each of them was a sun. Once Joanna lands on the capital planet, she sees that the architecture, transportation, and the people both artificial and real all have the look of royalty and prestige.
“This place is amazing Sarai! You really know how to decorate your kingdom,” Joanna says.
“It took me days to do this. Since you should know that a day is longer than a normal one here when I say it took me days, I mean it took me a really long time,” Sarai says.
Joanna’s military force combines themselves with Sarai’s to become friends with them as they wait for their queen’s command unaffected by the beauty of Sarai’s kingdom. Sarai brings Joanna to a war room where she has six other rulers waiting for her.
“Joanna, this our alliance of kingdoms known as The Sovereigns. These are the wisest rulers from our part of the dimension who deserve the most respect.”
Each of the rulers introduces themselves to Joanna and their main functions within the alliance. Many of them share the same appearance of Sarai though they are a bit less showy. They all have the same goal and they’re putting their differences aside in making their dream a reality in order to deal with Anarchy.
“Let’s get to work,” Sarai says, “You already know your roles in this war, but Joanna has an ability here that will drastically change things up. Her unique ability is that she can instantly combust things, which include entire buildings just through her will alone. Joanna, show them, but don’t light this place on fire.”
Joanna uses her ability and combusts a piece of paper on fire. The fire burns fierce and almost burns down the table it’s on if it weren’t for a ruler who uses her ability to put out the fire.
“You can see its destructive ability. With Joanna, we can light entire planets on fire and instill a sense of fear within Anarchy. Her armies will start will a few of the lesser territories before moving on to tougher targets. What do you think?”
All of the rulers agree that Joanna should test her abilities on the lesser territories and compliment her for her ability.
“I’d like to see the faces of everyone when everything they have catches on fire,” one of them says.
“We can all have a front row seat to judge her ability. I almost wish we had a need to eat and drink, so we could further enjoy ourselves,” another adds.
“It’ll be like watching a light show. These people will get what they deserve.”
Joanna can’t help but feel bad because of how the other rulers make her seem like their personal pyromaniac.
Sarai sees this and says to her, “Don’t worry about what you’re doing. It might seem extreme, but you’re doing the right thing.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Hey, certain people can’t be reasoned with. You don’t let an active child molester or a serial killer live.”
“You’re right.”
“Remember that people don’t actually die here. Sure, they may feel pain, but they’ll never die.”
“Isn’t that worse? To feel eternal pain?”
“Isn’t their punishment justified because of what they do?”
“Ok, ok. I’ll do it.”
“Then let’s get to it.”
All of the rulers and their best soldiers follow behind Joanna as she is led by Sarai and her best soldiers to a galaxy controlled by Anarchy that isn’t well defended and is a new territory for them. Since the two sides are at war that both sides agreed to wage, the entrance to the galaxy opens for them. Anarchy readies its forces while Joanna stands alone to face them. She holds her hands out at the planets. Entire planets start catching on fire until they become like the sun. All of Anarchy’s forces and their artificial soldiers and civilians are caught up in the inferno until the entire galaxy catches fire.
Sarai, Joanna, and their forces back off from the galaxy’s entrance so that it can enclose the raging fire. Everyone except Joanna cheers and clap as the destruction unfolds. What stops their victory cheer is when the barrier surrounding the galaxy starts to crack. The barrier cracks no further, but a barrier such as the ones that contain each galaxy is known to be indestructible. The alliance of kingdoms, nevertheless, continue their cheering though they might’ve just scared themselves with Joanna’s power just as much as they’ve scared the Anarchy.
They continue to burn three other galaxies allied with Anarchy until they decide to take a break in a galaxy that surrenders themselves to the Sovereign. Joanna reflects on her rampage of destruction.
She talks to herself on a rooftop garden, “What am I going to do? This can’t be the best way to go about things.”
Joanna thinks about what she can do for the people who she basically put in a furnace. Maybe the best thing she can do now is to quickly end the war so that the fires can be put out sooner rather than later. Sarai joins Joanna on the roof and sits down with her.
“You’re doing a greater job than any of the other kingdoms have done in weeks, you know?” Sarai says, “We can rule this entire universe with just you and me at the head.”
“I don’t think I want that life, Sarai. I just want a simple life where I can enjoy what I have.”
“And you can do that as long as you’re at the ready when trouble arrives.”
“I’m not sure I want to live as a living weapon.”
“You probably won’t have to. The fear you inspired in people is potent and won’t go away any time soon. Sure, there might be one or two crazy people that come after us, but their struggles won’t last long.”
Sarai seems so set in her ways that Joanna can’t think of any way to convince her to change them. She almost wishes that she didn’t have any kind of unique power at all.
“You should come in. Everyone inside is wondering about you. You might even find a king for yourself.”
“Give me a few more minutes. I need the fresh air.”
“You’ve had nothing but fresh air all day. Well, it’s space air, but it’s not that different. Whatever just come in soon. You’re keeping your fans anxiously waiting.”
Joanna smiles and nods while Sarai heads back inside. She looks up at the sky and can see the three galaxies she’s burned in the sky. Their light radiates like the sun and it’s almost as if she can feel the heat coming from them just by looking at them. Six shadowy people find their way unto the roof. One of the impales their arm blade through Joanna’s head. This isn’t enough to put her down as Joanna tries to fight back but is then impaled through the head twice and through the chest three times. This knocks her out, which allows the six kidnappers to take her away to the capital of The Anarchy. Sarai and the rest of her allies don’t notice what happened since they were distracted by the conversations they were having. Just as planned.
Chapter 3 – A One Woman War
Joanna wakes up in a dark room where there is no light at all. She’s chained from head to toe to a stone chair that she can’t break herself out from. The chains wrap around her and the chair to a wall behind her.
She can still talk and says, “Hello?! Why did you do this to me?! Why am I here?!””
“You’re a danger to our alliance of kingdoms.”
“Anarchy…I’m not going to do what you want. You can’t keep me here for long! The war is almost over.”
“The war is almost over yes. Almost over because a random girl showed up out of nowhere, put her hands out at our galaxies, and made them into furnaces.”
“What are you going to do to me then? Keep me down here forever? Send me to your version of Hell?”
“If I wanted to do that, I would’ve already. You’re going to do what I say-”
“Never!”
With her hands out behind her, she lights a person on fire and the wall, which lights the entire room on fire. Joanna can now see everything in the room and the leader. She’s a girl like her except with her own unique look. She has dark pink hair and a light blue dancer’s dress similar to Sarai’s, but a bit different with the same bangles. In her left eye, she has a blue tear-shaped stone and blue eye with a golden spade in it. Lastly, she has a red V-shaped choker on her neck. Even though she was a bit afraid, the queen was also impressed.
“Who are you?” Joanna says as people scramble to put out the fires she started.
“My name is Miriam. I’m the leader of the alliance called The Anarchy, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
“Let me go before I burn everything in here! I’m not afraid of burning this entire galaxy down around me.”
Everyone in the room panics and leaves the room except for Miriam as the building burns down around them.
“You might be fearless enough to do that but consider this first. Do you really think you know everything about the war? Do you think that you’re on the right side of the conflict? Sarai has you turning galaxies into furnaces and hasn’t put the fire out because we’re still at war. You already know she’s going to put all of the opposing forces in her Hell, so they might as well burn from now until eternity.”
“It still doesn’t make what you’re doing right. You’re the greater evil.”
“But we’re not as controlling as the Sovereign. If we won the war, we wouldn’t send the opposing side to our Hells. Sure, we would humiliate them for a week, but after that, you’d be free to live. This dimension gives us unlimited freedom and that means everyone should be as free as they want to. The Sovereign want to control everything here with their rules and regulations. Don’t you think they’re worse than us?”
“It’s more like you’re the devils and they’re false gods.”
“What’s the difference?”
“I’m not going to serve either of you.”
“That’s the way things should be here. No servitude, no rules.”
“But that is a rule.”
“A simple rule that no one has to follow.”
“And this is the result of that.”
“It wouldn’t be this way if the Sovereign just played kings and queens with themselves.”
“There’s no right side in this conflict. I never even wanted to be here! This dimension, this responsibility, this freedom, I never wanted any of it!”
“Of course you did. That’s why you rebelled against your parents and the world just like every single one of us did.”
“I didn’t know what I was doing. It was an accident!”
“But you still did something they didn’t want you to do. Something that you weren’t supposed to. Face it. You belong here.”
“Liar! You don’t understand!”
The building falls down around them and breaks Joanna’s chains. Miriam manages to escape. She calls her forces together to find Joanna who’s digging her way through the planet to the other side. Her body allows her to dig quickly through the center of the planet until she reaches the other side. Miriam’s troops on the other side of the planet see Joanna come out of the planet. They flee to report it to their superiors because they are fearful that they can’t put down Joanna by themselves. Joanna quickly flies out of the planet and tries to reach the exit of the galaxy, but she is cut off by Miriam’s army. They surround her and are about to take her in before Miriam gets in front of them.
She says to Joanna, “Give up Joanna. Lend us your power and we will make your life better than paradise.”
“No!” Joanna hastily says before puts her hands out and burns the entire galaxy.
Even though she is caught in the middle of the fire, she barely feels anything. She felt a little singe at the start of the fire, but now she can barely feel the heat unlike everyone else who burns in agony. Joanna flies to the exit of the galaxy as it opens for her and closes when she’s out. A revelation comes to her mind as to why she didn’t burn. She’s not like the other kings and queens in this dimension. She’s neither a riot causing rebel nor an overly controlling tyrant. The thing that separates her from the rest is that she’s pure compared to them.
Wanting to end the war her way, she goes to the other Anarchy controlled galaxies and lights them all on fire. After that, she lights all of the Sovereign galaxies as well. The Sovereign try to fight back against her, but her flames are unstoppable. Once all of the allied kingdoms are set ablaze, Joanna moves onto the independent kingdoms, which there only a few of. She thinks that these other kingdoms are also to blame for the unending war between Anarchy and the Sovereigns because they chose to do nothing. Next, she tries to get to the other universes, but the barrier cannot be broken even with her fire nor can her fire bypass it, so Joanna goes back to her kingdom and burns it as well. Now, she sits on the barrier of her kingdom wondering what to do next.
She says to herself, “How did I turn into this pyromaniac? Am I supposed to be here? Was I supposed to do this? Was it the will of God or the devil?”
The emptiness of the universe answers her back in silence, so she rests her eyes for a few moments.
“Hello!” a female says.
Joanna opens her eyes and sees a woman who looks much similar to her than any of the other people she’s seen. The young woman wears a long shoulderless green dress that seems crystal-like and long brown hair. She has a white crystal in her right eye and a normal white eye with a green heart in it.
“Who are you? I swear I burned every kingdom in this universe.”
“I’m…special, let’s say.”
“Ok special. I’m Joanna.”
“Classy dad joke. My name is Esther. It’s nice to meet another person like myself or should I say unlike?”
“Why unlike? Because you weren’t given a kingdom?”
“Let’s leave it at that for now. I’ll show you more as to why. You know when I came here I didn’t expect to find like twenty suns here.”
“They aren’t suns. They’re all kingdoms that I lit on fire.”
“Well that my makes quest way easier.”
“My power doesn’t bother you?”
“I knew you were supposed to be special, but I didn’t know what kind of powers this place would give you.”
“How do you know me? Do I know you?”
“I’ve been exploring these dimensions for quite a while now. There are ones that are made of crystal, ones like this except instead of galaxies there are islands, and some made of light and darkness.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Hold on. I’ve found hidden in each dimension a piece of a legend. This legend says that millions upon millions of people came together to do the one thing they can’t do in these dimensions. Create human life.”
“I’ve already learned about the birds and the bees.”
“But you can’t make children in any of these dimensions, so all of these people dedicated their lives to doing this and roping in other people to do it as well. Because God saw how many people they were corrupting, He made for them a human child, but at the cost of their souls. It is said they reside in a singular being cursed to live this way for all eternity by themselves in its own unique dimension where they can do nothing, but regret their decision, until the end of the world when they will be given a second chance. They were still young like the two of us after all.”
“Where do I come in in all of this?”
“You are that human child. Created without a human father or mother. The second Eve.”
“What? How would you know that?”
“The highlights on your hair. You were born naturally with them, right?”
“So?”
“It’s a mark to recognize you by.”
“But I actually did have a mom and dad!”
“It was a fake reality. You never lived in the real world. You only lived in a dimension like this and never in the real world.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you were supposed to grow up to be as sinless as possible until you were old enough to enter the real world. I’m guessing that you finished whatever you were supposed to do here, and my coming was timed perfectly.”
“What about all of these people that I’ve put in their own personal furnace?”
“Purgatory doesn’t last too long if you aren’t too bad of a person.”
“Then what about us?”
“I can get us out of here. Watch.”
Esther tears a hole open in the universe with her blade arm.
“Does this get us out of here and back into the real reality?”
“I hope so.”
“You hope so?”
“I can’t control where these holes go. It’s up to where you’re supposed to go. Hey, it’s better than staying here.”
“Let’s go then. You first.”
Joanna and Esther go through the tear in the universe, which closes behind them. The two are now traveling in-between space and time to an unknown destination. Their fates are controlled by the unseen force that controls all fates.
Chapter 4 – The Path that Pushes You Forward
The hole takes Joanna and Esther to a crystal world where almost everything is pure crystal.
“Oh wow. Usually, your body will change when we enter a dimension, but this time it hasn’t. The gravity hasn’t changed for us as well,” Esther says.
“Do you usually get a good-looking dress and look?” Joanna asks.
“Most of the time I do. I remember this place. It was the first dimension I found myself in.”
“How do you keep getting in these dimensions?”
“Probably because I obsess over it when I shouldn’t. This is why I look this way, but I want to see the last secrets these dimensions hold.”
The two fly through the crystal dimension. Esther appears to know what she is looking for.
“How do you escape these dimensions?”
“You learn from your mistakes and the door you came in will let you go.”
“It doesn’t seem that you’ve learned.”
“I do, but I keep making the same mistakes over and over again. At least no time passes when you get out of a dimension. It’s as if you go in and come out instantly.”
“What are we doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I have to see something first.”
Joanna and Esther travel to the furthest point in this dimension which has the ruins of a kingdom that stretches out for miles.
“What is this place?”
“A kingdom I used to know. It fell when several other kingdoms decided to attack them all at once.”
“What are you looking for here?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to see if it got rebuilt. The leader of it left this dimension with me but the other one I knew stayed behind. I thought she would’ve rebuilt it. Maybe we need to go to the place where I discovered this place’s secret about you.”
“I’d like to see it.”
“We might as well since we don’t know what else to do.”
On the way to their destination, they see regular people just living in the dimension and other people at war. People are fighting on mythological creatures like griffins, chimeras, and giant snakes with six heads.
Esther says, “It’s always the same in every dimension no matter the differences. There are always people wanting to control everything. There are always people who want complete anarchy.”
“Sounds familiar to me. And they always fight each other I assume.”
“But no one ever wins no matter how many times they fight. It always goes back and forth, back and forth like the swinging of a pendulum. Watch out!”
Esther helps Joanna move out of the way of artillery fire meant for the flying soldiers.
“I pray that these people change, but I don’t think they will.”
“I’m sure some of them will. How many people do you think learn from their mistakes and leave these dimensions?”
“A handful while a kingdom of people will stay behind.”
“Will this ever end?”
“I might’ve seen something about that in the place we’re going. Let’s hurry now before we get hit in the crossfire.”
Joanna and Esther quickly fly away from the battle and enter a hidden cave hidden within a hole in the dimension. In the cave, they find the remnants of an ancient people. Pictures, statues, and writings litter the ground. Some of these pictures depict Joanna as an infant and what they thought she would look like when she grew up. These people depict Joanna as a goddess that would bring humanity prosperity and power greater than God’s and the devil’s. They planned to spread their power not only in these dimensions but also in the reality above it. The buildings leftover from this civilization are absorbed by the cave and appear to be holding it up. Joanna picks up one of the books off the ground and realizes something when she notices that she can read it perfectly.
She asks, “Is the universal language here English?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve asked other people where they’re from and it seems these dimensions connect people from all over the world. It seems to me that these dimensions make us hear and see the language we speak while making it understandable to others without our knowledge.”
“Everything about this is so complicated.”
“I know right? It’s ridiculous. Hey, come over here. I found the expiration date on the dimensions metaphorically speaking of course.”
Esther shows Jonna a huge mess of equations of numbers and formulas on the wall of the cave.
“I found out through these books and notes that these people needed this much space to estimate what the date was when these dimensions would disappear. They found it out apparently, but the answer isn’t clear, at least to me. I, admittedly, am not that good at math. Haha, I can’t even do percentages that well.”
Joanna looks at all of the numbers and calculations these people have made and steps back from it all. All of the writing on the wall form an infinity sign when it is put into perspective.
“I think I know,” Jonna says, “Back up a bit.”
“Ok.”
“You see how it look like the symbol for infinity?”
“Yeah?”
“This means that only God knows.”
“Oh! That makes sense.”
“But what do we do now?”
“I’ll try cutting a hole in the dimension again. Let’s see if we can’t get back to reality like this.”
Esther cuts a hole in the dimension and the two go in and pop out in what looks to be a dead dimension. Islands are spread across the dimensions with dead vegetation, a dead sun and moon in the sky. All of the kingdoms on each island are decayed and lay hollow and cold. The oceans are black and look like liquid death. Even looking at it, makes Joanna’s soul feel empty.
Esther shakes Joanna and says, “Come on. Let’s see what we’re supposed to do here.”
“R-right.”
Esther and Joanna fly through the dimension while looking for something that will catch their eye, but everything looks gray and black.
“Have you been here before?” Joanna asks.
“Once, but it was more vibrant. Believe it or not, I think the devil ruled here.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. There was a mighty king who was more handsome and powerful than any mortal here. He tried to marry a wife to conceive a child, but he never could get one. He even tried to make a man his wife, but that didn’t happen either.”
“Where is his kingdom?”
“Not too far from here actually. You’re not looking to marry him, are you?”
“No, not at all!”
“It seems that all life has been sucked out of here. I know he gave energy to this dimension, so he must’ve left for another one. We can go see the ruins of his kingdom if it’s there.”
“I think that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
“You’re probably right.”
The two fly off to the mighty king’s kingdom to find it blacker and more decayed than the rest. The atmosphere of the island chills the soul. When they land on the surface of it, their skin crawls as if insects have just entered their body. They walk into the towering castle and find no one in it.
“What reason would the devil have for leaving this dimension?” Joanna asks.
“Maybe he thought there was a wife for him in a different place,” Esther guesses.
Joanna begins to think a bit deeper then asks, “You said the millions of the souls who got sacrificed for me combined into one being right? It wouldn’t happen to be a female, would it?”
“…oh. Damn.”
Esther then begins to feel the surfaces of the castle and especially its floors.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“They are! We have to go to the dimension of this man-made god now before the devil gets to them.”
“You never told me why he wanted a wife.”
“He wanted a sinful being like him to be his wife in order to create the anti-Christ and begin the end of the world on his terms instead of God’s. Billions of people could die in all dimensions including reality if we don’t stop him! I know this is a lot to ask of you, but will you help me stop him?”
“I will. I can feel that this is the reason I was born.”
“I’m glad you’re willing to do this with me. We don’t know where the devil is or if he did what he had to yet.”
“Let’s hurry and get after him then!”
“I hope this takes us to where we need to go.”
Esther opens up a hole in the dimension and the two travel in-between space and time to stop the end of the world.
Chapter 5 – Godlike vs God-made
The portal takes Esther and Joanna to space with dozens upon dozens of planets.
Esther takes a look at them and says, “All of these planets are the different dimensions. We’re in the place in-between them.”
“Well it’s a great place to hide this being, but we shouldn’t waste any time…”
Joanna turns around to see the being that contains over a million souls. Its blond hair is like a crown. The clothes its wearing is degenerate and see-through. It has a light blue diamond for a left eye and a yellow right eye with a black line as its iris. Its choker is orange, yellow, and red with a blue diamond in the center. The being is bigger than the planets and blots out the view of the rest of the universe. Even though they are small, the being can still see them. It smiles as its child has finally found them, but a group of people lead by a king approaches the being.
The king says, “Adina! Bow down to me, be the bearer of my child, and you shall gain the kingdoms of the world!”
His voice echoes throughout the universe. Unimpressed with the king, a light shoots out from Adina’s diamond eye and sends the king and his kingdom through a portal and into Hell. Esther and Joanna are speechless because of Adina’s power.
With that out of the way, Adina says, “We have been waiting for you, Eva. Our child and the second Eve.”
“My name isn’t Eva! It’s Joanna.”
“We care not what name you were given by others. Now that you are here, you can finally fulfill your destiny. You will give us the power to rule over demons and angels that you contain in your soul.”
“That’s not what I have! I’m not here to help you.”
“Then we will absorb you and take your power from you.”
Adina grabs Joanna and tries to put her into her chest. Esther tries to break Joanna free from Adina’s grip but cannot. Joanna touches the chest of Adina and sets it on fire with her power. This causes Adina pain, but she doesn’t let go, so Joanna sets herself on fire, which makes Adina let her go.
“You will not defeat us! Our power is nearly unlimited! We will be the foundation of a new reality we will create!” Adina says as she bears the pain and tries to absorb Joanna again.
“The work of each builder will become visible, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done,” Joanna says as she burns Adina.
The dimensions around them catch fire as well. Esther watches as everything catches fire and burns like a fire on par with a hundred suns. Adina manages to put Joanna in herself, but her body begins to burn from the inside as Adina cannot control Joanna’s fire. Adina’s body breaks apart from the fire and when it explodes, the souls trapped in it are freed and disappear. The dimensions around Esther and Joanna burn out one by one.
“What do you think is going to happen to everyone?”
“If they are burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but they will be saved, but only as through fire,” Joanna says as she feels at peace because she feels like she accomplished the goal she was meant to.
“Okay, stop quoting scripture.”
“What happens now?”
“I honestly don’t know. Maybe I can truly live my life now.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Probably not because you have no idea what place is called what in reality nor will you speak the same language, but there’s always Heaven.”
Joanna smiles then says, “Okay. I’ll see you there.”
One hole in the dimension opens for each of them and teleports them back to reality. Joanna appears in a forest with her purple dress and appears the same as she was before she entered the space dimension. She wonders if she still has her powers, so she puts her hands out, but nothing catches on fire. Despite losing this great power, she’s happy. She walks through the forest and finds herself on a road with a crashed carriage. The carriage driver and horses are fine, but their supplies and food are all over the ground.
Joanna helps them out then asks, “Do you mind if you take me in? I’m homeless and I have nowhere to go.”
“You have a pretty fine dress for being homeless, but why not. We need all the help we can get,” the carriage driver says.
Once everything is put back on the carriage, Joanna travels with the carriage driver to her destination.
“Where are you from? Your hairstyle is pretty. Are you foreign?” the carriage driver asks.
Joanna mentions the place where she was from in the fake reality.
“I’ve never heard of that place.”
“It’s pretty far from here.”
“What are you doing all the way out here then?”
“I’m looking to do some good in the world. Do you know any place around here?”
“Well, the place we’re going to serves the needy and spiritually ill. It’s not a rich living nor is it easy, but you will be helping people.”
“Uh, yeah. It’s perfect for me.”
By the end of Joanna’s journey, the dimensions fizzle out and she finds herself a good life. Even though she prefers a nobler style of living, she’s at peace with her new life helping others. Something that few people rarely treasure.
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