Chapter 1085: The Bargain
Eris had never really been one for bartering. It was far outside of her realm of expertise.
The things she wanted in her life were either procured for her or given out of fear/reverence for who and what she was.
She was ill-equipped to bargain with someone who not only didn’t care about those things, but who was already in possession of everything she could possibly get her hands on.
The only thing she could offer her was something that she would never offer her. Eris could not and would not sacrifice her relationship for anything.
There had to be another way. Surely an Egoless could find some way to fix things that didn’t involve her losing everything.
“Your thoughts are not unknown to me, and I believe that anyone in your position would hold firm to these same expectations. But they are invalid all the same.”
“But tell me why! Why do I have to let go of the people I love in order for us to be accepted as your vessel!?”
“Insolent chil..”.
Possibility’s words were cut short without warning.
She waved her hand over Eris, and suddenly the goddess felt as if she couldn’t think. She couldn’t speak. It frightened her.
Suddenly, a woman appeared who was not there before. Her arrival made no sound, nor did it come with fanfare.
But from the moment she arrived, Eris couldn’t take her eyes off her.
Like Possibility, she was a figure made primarily of energy. The only difference was, she was made of a bright golden white color.
Her hair was nonexistent. In it’s place, she had a burning orange flame that flickered back and forth in the air.
If one peered into the fire long enough, they could see billions, if not trillions, of stories taking place all at once.
Again, when Eris stared at the woman too long, she felt her eyes start to hurt. And yet, she couldn’t look away.
“Sister, sister. You must hear this tale the Archivists have just brought me! It’s most enchanting!”
Possibility behaved as normal in front of her sister. Completely aloof.
“The chances that you are about to tell me a tale that you have already told me are astronomically high.”
“Yes, yes, but maybe you don’t remember it like me and are in need of a little refresher!”
“I assure you that is nonsensical. I do not forget anything. Nor should you, for that matter.”
“Well, yes, but if I don’t forget things, then I never get to feel the joy of remembering them either. Everything can feel new.”
Possibility had always found her sister a bit unorthodox.
Compared to the other Egoless, Life and Chaos have the closest thing to what you would call a personality.
Chaos is, of course, more unrestrained than Life, as is her nature. But Life isn’t very far behind her either.
In terms of personality, she mostly resembles a young human girl, bursting with innocence and a general joy for the things she loves.
But Possibility knew just how quickly her sister’s switch could be flipped.
“Listen to this, listen to this! It’s a story about a woman who falls in love with a suit of armor! Isn’t that astounding??” Life gushed. “Love can truly be found anywhere for mortals. I’m so very envious…”
For a moment, Possibility paused her calculations and stared at her sister out of the corner of her eye.
“…What would you even do with something like that? We are what we are, we have what we have. Our duties must come before everything else.”
“Yes, that’s what ‘They’ say!” Disgruntled, Life flipped off a corner of the room. Possibility slapped her hand down.
“Careful!” She warned.
“I do not fear them! Even if they reset me a million times over, I will still-” Life let loose a string of obscenities that would be foreign to the ears of any mortal.
This was perhaps Possibility’s only issue with her sister. The phrase, ‘Life’s a bitch’ is far closer to the truth than what mortals would think.
Life slowly grew larger, and the color of her body changed to an unsettling darkness. The flames burning atop her head became bolder, brighter, and depicted scenes of anguish, hatred, and betrayal.
Despite this, Possibility was still trying to calm her sister down before she threw another needless tantrum.
“There is no cause for such obscene-”
“And then, when they try to get up, I will…”
Life had been alive for a very long time. She knew lots of swear words. Well, more like she knew all of them.
Possibility decided it would be best to turn off her hearing and return to her work while her sister got everything out of her system.
The concept of time is difficult to apply within Totality, but Life’s tirade wasn’t over quickly by any metric.
Eventually, while she floated around the room ranting, Life noticed something odd and unnatural in the corner of the chamber.
As soon as she went towards it, her sister appeared in front of her path to stop her.
“Leave that alone.”
“Is that what I think it is?? Is that a soul?? How’d you get it?? Did Oblivion send you that?? He never sends me stuff! Did you talk to it? What does it say to you!? Can I talk to-”
“No, no, no!” Possibility hissed. “It’s going right back to Oblivion, so-”
“So then it wouldn’t hurt to talk to it first!”
Life appeared behind Possibility and scooped up the hidden soul with ease.
This was the first time Eris realized just how small she really was in this place. Or how large these women were.
Being in front of Life’s eye felt like being beholden to the sun.
“Oh, what have you done to yourself, little soul…? You’re barely holding yourself together.”
Eris still couldn’t speak or think. Not with whatever Possibility had done to her still active.
Life seemed disappointed by that. She turned around and held out Eris’ soul like it was a broken toy.
“It won’t talk to me… Does it hate me or something?”
“You are not a child, Life. Please get ahold of yourself and show some semblance of decoru-”
“I WANT IT TO TALK TO ME, I WANT IT TO TALK TO ME, I WANT IT TO TALKKK! WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”
Life threw an Egoless-sized temper tantrum. Instead of being black, or white-gold, she instead became bright pink with red highlights.
Possibility couldn’t have this. Life’s tantrums always attracted attention, and there was no way she needed Balance coming here to poke their noses into what they had going on.
“Fine, fine, I will allow her to speak, just calm down and be quiet!”
Life gasped and closed her mouth. She looked like a squirrel that was attempting to save a whole heap of nuts.
Sighing, Possibility removed the seal on Eris’ thoughts and speech. Life was immediately intrigued once again.
“Hello, little soul. Will you tell me your story?”
Eris glanced at Possibility briefly.
Swallowing her fear, she clung to the last ray of hope that she still had left.
“I will… but only if you can help me with something in return.”
“Oooh, an audacious one. These are always fun.” Life mused.
Eris stuffed down her fear and continued. “I promise, it will be worth your time. A-And helping me will be of great benefit to you as well.”
Possibility narrowed her eyes. “You go too far, shell!”
“Shell? Is that her name? Like Shelly??”
Eris knew that she was pushing the boundaries, but she had to go for broke here. Otherwise, she may not have a chance of seeing her family again.
“She calls me shell because I am a shell of her! I am a piece that she ripped off and discarded to live inside an Aeon, and the life i have built there has been one of many miracles and joys.”
Life’s mouth fell open. An odd thing to see happen to a being so powerful.
She slowly turned around to face her sister with an expression of immense shock. Her childish nature understood only one thing about this whole ordeal.
“Oooohhh… You’re in troubleee…!”
Possibility was beginning to think she should have just let herself be reset.
–
“So after all of the lectures you gave me on not focusing on my responsibilities and not growing too focused on living, you had an entire sliver of yourself down there in mortality, living a life filled with love, laughter, and heroism. Shame on you! Shame!”
Possibility had no defense. Not even the best lawyer in the multiverse could get her out of this.
Life went back to staring at Eris with literal wonder in her eyes. It was spelled out in glitter and crayon.
“Tell me more, tell me more! What was childbirth like? Were your parents good role models? Have you ever done recreational narcotic substances? Ooh, and what does it feel like to have your bottom licked? Did you like it more or less than licking another person’s bottom???”
Eris felt the urge to giggle at the string of well-meaning but inappropriate questions. Life was many things, and cute was certainly one of them.
“I could answer all of your questions and more, my lady, but I believe I might have a better alternative…. What if you were able to experience all of those things for yourself?”
Life gasped. A shrill whistle came from her head as an entire display of fireworks was set off.