The Shadow of The Sovereign wafted past the myriad terrains of the Wildlands.
None could witness its presence.
They were too weak for that.
The only ones who managed to sense the existence of The Shadow were its Generals.
In a barren land, devoid of life and abundant with frost, a great tower stood unwavering in the life-thieving winds.
It looked as if it were made out of bones.
Humongous bones.
Atop the tower, a large polar bear-like creature sat, scratching its head with one of its human arms, while its bear paw rested on its abdomen.
"Man, it's so hard to create frost authorities these days! Looks like I'm getting old," the bear lamented.
"Something like you doesn't deserve the authority to say that!" Another voice sounded from behind the bear's head.
"Well then, what's your solution to this problem?" the bear snorted, challenging the voice.
"You're a Demi-God! Just create a paradox!" The voice responded, prompting the bear to argue further.
Before it could continue, the bear stopped and looked up at the sky.
"Did you hear that?" it questioned.
The voice was silent for a few moments before it answered.
"Yeah."
As the 'sound' grew more distant, the bear resumed its argument.
This was just one of several scenes that played out as The Shadow of The Sovereign traversed the Wildlands.
Soon, The Shadow of The Sovereign arrived before a castle. The entire structure was composed of chains and nothing else.
The chains were in a constant state of motion, making the castle appear as though it were rotating.
Yet The Shadow of The Sovereign paid no heed to the castle itself, instead heading for a hut that was attached to one of its walls.
The hut seemed to have been made of dirt, with black and red worms sprouting and burrowing into the soil.
The Shadow of The Sovereign swiftly entered the hut.
There wasn't much inside—just a skeleton.
The skeleton was incredibly tall, the size of two average men. The bones were peculiar, with dots of gold embedded within.
"Wake up," The Shadow commanded as the hut began to shake.
"You still show arrogance? A slave like you dares?"
There was no anger or annoyance in the tone of The Shadow.
The shaking ceased as a sigh echoed through the hut.
The skeleton trembled as light returned to its eye sockets, and its body began to reform.
First the nerves.
Then the blood vessels.
Muscles.
And at last, the flesh.
Now a tall and emaciated man sat before The Shadow.
Fluffs of white hair covered the man's entire face, leaving only his eyes visible.
"And we meet again, ██████," the man spoke, his smile barely resembling one.
The Shadow didn't respond and instead tossed something to him.
The man's faint smile quickly vanished as he examined the object.
"Reconstruct the Core," The Shadow ordered.
The man's expression grew grim as he stared at the shards.
"You know, in my current state, I'm incapable of recreating someone who has ceased to Exist... right?" The man, despite knowing The Shadow's near-omniscience, asked anyway.
"You don't need to recreate the original Existence. Just an entity whose Existence is thinly connected to the original," The Shadow clarified.
"Well, that can be done more easily."
"I want it done within a thousand clicks," The Shadow commanded.
The man nodded blankly, then asked, "Why?"
The Shadow gazed at him.
"It knew the name," it answered.
The man's eyes widened in shock.
"We shall meet again, then, Fallen King," The Shadow spoke mockingly before vanishing, seemingly fusing back into the world from which it had been cut.
Resentment filled the man's eyes as he heard The Shadow mention that title.
But beneath the resentment lay sadness and regret.
He could never forget the faces of the Eastern Confederation's members, filled with spite as they looked upon their Lord for the last time.
He would forever be haunted by the image of Mystra being torn apart.
And by the corpses that littered the ground after he had committed that genocide on all below Divinity.
In the trillions of clicks that had passed since his imprisonment, he was certain that everything outside had changed.
No more God Kings.
No more Dragon Gods of Aether.
And, of course, no more Gods.
Yet one belief remained unshaken.
He didn't know whether it was born from experience or from his despair and the need to keep that despair at bay.
But he clung to it as long as his Existence persisted.
And as he held the fragments in his hand, that belief only grew stronger.
"I hope you don't disappoint me, little guy," Vendrick, the Fallen God King of Numerological Existence, muttered as he caressed the fragments.
—————————————————————————————————————————
When The Shadow and Abel tore Wilhelm's body apart, only a few fragments were completely destroyed. Some landed in the hands of Abel and The Shadow, while others fused with El-Eudo. But what of the rest?
The fragments that escaped both the hands of the two Deities and the lower dimensions were the ones that were truly free. Not even The Sovereign, with all his almighty power, could perceive an object that existed and didn't exist simultaneously—unless he appeared physically.
These fragments scattered across the borders of the Wildlands.
The borders, once lined with forts, had been swiftly reduced to barren wastelands in the presence of the two Deities. All that remained was a lifeless landscape, devoid of trees and animals.
The fragments, minuscule in size—smaller than blood cells—remained completely hidden and safe, though there were no animals to find them anyway.
Yet, just like the fragments in El-Eudo, they didn't stay stationary. Every now and then, they would slightly adjust their positioning, waiting for a tremor or gust of wind to exploit for movement.
Their destination?
The other fragments near them.
And so, years would pass as, little by little, these pseudo-nonexistent objects inched closer and closer to one another.
After a few hundred years,one of the fragments managed to come into contact with another and promptly fused with it.This resulted in a slightly bigger fragment that could move a bit better.
This somewhat fastened the fusing process although the slightly bigger size meant that the fragment couldn't go as far as it could previously although this distance was negligible.It still was a lot due to the immobility of the fragment.
This resulted in the complete fusion taking a lot longer but in the end it was achieved.
In the barren land, only a single fragment the size of a peanut remained.
The fragment stayed stationary for a few years.
Its limited intellect made it unable to think of what to do now that it had become partially whole.
A few years passed, and the thought of staying stationary slightly dwindled.
A few more years later, it thought of doing something else besides just staying still.
Some more years passed as the fragment began to think of what it could do.
At last, after a few more decades, an idea came: obtain a body.
The fragment didn't know what a 'body' or 'obtain' meant. It was as if it had managed to unearth commands that were buried in its being.
Since it came from within, it should be good.
Thus, the fragment changed its position again.
Now, it wanted a body.
Wind and Earth provided significant help to it as it began its journey.
In only a few decades, it had managed to traverse a distance of the length of itself!
How far it went!
Suddenly, as it was traversing, it felt something grab it.
CAW!
It was something big!
The fragment was astonished, yes, it could feel a lot of emotions.
The big something quickly picked up the fragment, which it found peculiar due to its size and flickering state.
The fragment was elated.
It took only a few hundred years before it managed to leave the barren land!
With this happiness, it let itself melt.
As the fragment melted, it fused with the big something.
The big something seemed unaware of what was happening until the moment the melted fragment reached its brain.
CAW!
It let out a cry of shock and began to flap its wings rapidly.
It didn't know what was going on, only that it was getting dizzy.
Yet before the big something could do anything, it stopped.
Clarity appeared in the big something's eyes.
CAW!
It let out another cry, yet this one was out of elation.
The fragment had succeeded in taking over!
With a few more cries, it flapped into the distance.
—————————————————————————————————————————
In one of the villages in the 43rd Sector in the Wildlands, people were running from place to place in the storm.
Everyone was panicking.
The reason?
The Village Chief's wife was having a child!
This was unexpected.
She had only been a few months pregnant!
This was highly suspicious, and some couldn't help but think of something scandalous.
Yet they couldn't just accuse her of having an illicit affair, now could they? The Village Chief, already distressed by the sudden delivery, would behead them!
Thus, the families could only scramble to find gifts to give.
They ranged from food to jewelry to cattle.
Some even began arranging marriages with the baby who was about to be born, eager to form ties.
Meanwhile, Ramon, the Village Chief, was incredibly anxious as he waited outside the house, hearing his wife's screams while not being able to do anything.
It felt as if he were in hell.
"When is this going to end?" he wondered in frustration.
Suddenly the screams reached a whole new level!
As if a banshee was wailing, Ramon quickly covered his ears in shock.
Yet as quick as it came, it had vanished as well.
Now all was silent except the pitter-patter of rain.
Ramon became increasingly worried.
What happened? That was the only question.
Then came the cries again.
This time, of someone else.
A child.
Ramon began trembling as tears appeared in his eyes.
Laughter escaped his lips as he fell to the wet earth.
He had truly become a father!
Those nearby quickly congratulated their leader.
"Congratulations Chief!" This was repeated dozens of times.
A woman came out of the house with a smile.
In her hands was a child.
Ramon's child.
The rain, although it fell on Ramon, didn't seem to come close to the woman before it slipped off.
"City dwellers were really something," Ramon thought as he held his child.
The baby's face was red, and it seemed to be sleeping.
Ramon didn't hear anything the woman said to him.
He only looked at the closed eyelids of his child.
He wanted to imprint this image into his mind.
He dared not blink lest this scene disappear.
He wanted to cherish this forever.
The day he became a father.
The day he had a son.