2721

Note:

There will be numbers by some phrases or words. If you scroll to the last page and look at the little article corresponding with the number, it will add to the full experience of the story. I’m sorry for the format of this feature, but I know not enough about technology to put it at the bottom of the page containing the number.

-The God of the Stairway-

The entire universe was spread at his feet. Power, control, and… restraints? He looked at the little black book he held in his hands. Restraints. He wanted to be confused, nervous, but that was one of the chains that bound him. Multiple chains made of a shadowy, unbreakable, substance kept him from descending upon the planes of existence.

He glanced at the figures behind him, chained in a likewise manner. They stood in a semicircle, looking at him expectantly. He could not show emotion. To do so would mean being sent where the rest of departed souls went. Into Ghazdagh’s control. He joined the figures, chains rattling behind him.

He set the book on a lonely, yet elegant, pedestal. The now familiar sound of chains rattling drifted through the void. The figures shuffled their feet as they formed a full circle around the little black book’s pedestal. He joined them as a more heavily chained figure took a single step towards the pedestal.

“We are the Voidwrought.” The figure intoned. “We are the law itself.” He continued, devoid of emotion. “We have obtained a newly departed soul. One that was once called Rithuthir, savior of the philosophical plane belonging to the bestial existence.” The figures in the circle nodded once in unison. The Voidwrought who had spoken before turned to Rithuthir. He nodded to Rithuthir, indicating that he could now ask questions.

“If what you say is true,” He spoke cautiously. “That book is a conduit to other planes of existence, like the ones I just saw.” The Voidwrought spoke in unison.

“Yes.” The Voidwrought who he had come to understand was their leader, continued in more detail.

“It is a communicator of the void. Not a portal through which you can travel. There are… other things for that.” The leader took another rattling step towards the pedestal. “What you now stand in is the void between the philosophical planes of bestial and humane existence. There are seven copies of this book, placed in each void, placed between each existence.” The Voidwrought had now reached the pedestal. “They act as a link between the voids. Other than that I would think they were just some foreshadowing riddle our God has placed here.” Rithuthir started at that.

“Before I died you told me that the Gods we worshiped were faulty, put there by ourselves. You said they were the opposite of what we were meant to represent, and would have us forsake them. You used me as a conduit to my people, leading them away from the great beings they worshiped.” It pained him to say that so devoid of emotion. The Voidwrought-His leader raised a hand over the black book.

“You know nothing, boy. The Gods your people worshiped were human beings, powerful ones yes, but corrupt. They are the ones who the Creator replaced with Gazdagh, a fitting punishment on your plane. There is a God, single, one. Most people are too ignorant to notice, but you will soon see. You will soon see.”

Rithuthir looked nervously at the figures who surrounded the pedestal, they had begun to chant. The Voidwrought leader opened the black book and rays of glorious light illuminated the void. The alien light waved as if it was a long banner flown in a nonexistent wind. Reaching around Rithuthir and the others, the light began to gather, swirling in a wonderful stream of colors. Suddenly the light retreated into the book.

For an instant the void was dark, and then the light lurched back, forming a flaring pillar of opalescent color. It raged, burning it’s visage into his eyes, and then at the edge of his vision he saw the opalescent light start to creep over his sight. Soon he could see nothing but the brilliant color. The light slowly crawled back revealing not the void, but a… tomestone?

“A tomestone yes, or in other words a library.”

Rithuthir started as he noticed a strange creature who was moving his fingers over an odd pad. On a flat board that emanated light, symbols appeared in correspondence with the ones he touched on the segmented pad.

--- “It’s called a computer.” I said. Rithuthir shook his head as the fabric of the universe focused on me. “Well what do you think, pretty nice place eh?” Rithuthir glanced around his book infested surroundings. He nodded. “I’m guessing you’re wondering where you are as well?” Rithuthir nodded again as I read his mind. “ I believe Pratchett would call it L-space. Or rather, it’s something like it. More of an A-space. Author-space to be precise. I’m so focused on my work that requires serious amounts of simulated knowledge, therefore generating power, then mass, matter, and the warping of that matter allows you to be here with me, now.” Rithuthir immediately was confused. I laughed heartily. “He certainly was a genius, Pratchett. Very respectable man.”

“You, you’re the God they were-” Rithuthir began.

“Speaking of? Yes” Laughing, I gestured around the A-space I had generated. It was filled to the brim with books. I proudly walked to a group of pedestals holding my favorite books. Ones written by J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Terry Prattchet, and of course myself. Rithuthir, who had followed me, gazed at the books lined there. I gestured to them.

“What are these? More... conduits?” Rithuthir asked. I smiled, amused at his lack of knowledge that was, as the Author, entirely my fault.

“Yes and no. For the most they are just books, though highly prized ones if you ask me. But,” I raised my finger to stop the question I knew he was going to ask. “ they are also representations of something even better.” I stopped in front of the little black book, glowing with the opalescent light I had claimed. It was sitting on the most grand of the pedestals.

“What?” he asked, still rather confused.

“Well, in short, universes, and in some cases like yours, multiverses.” I snapped my fingers and a holographic map appeared in front of me. Rithuthir gazed at it, dazed at its magnificence. “This is what I like to call the Stairway.” I widened my grin as I said the words. Rithuthir started to utter.

“Is…” then thought better of it. I nodded.

“Yes this is it. My creation. The Stairway . To heaven I might say. Led Zeppelin is to blame for not only the Cosmere, but now this.” I smiled, missing the people that would understand, but loving that I could talk to my characters all the same. “The Stairway is only one of many existences1.” I made the map expand filling my A-space with the Wheel, Middle earth, the Cosmere, and thousands of other book’s worlds.

“Ah” Rithuthir gasped at the expansive map. I pointed to the Stairway, which was barely visible.

“We are existence number 2721 to be exact” I laughed once again, watching as Rithuthir marveled. “Rithuthir, I would like to ask you something.” Rithuthir blinked as the map collapsed on itself, disappearing.

“Wouldn’t you-” I chuckled once again finishing his sentence.

“-know what I’d say? Yes, but for the sake of the audience, answer.” Rithuthir looked confused again. “Let me ask you, Rithuthir. Do you want to live again?” Rithuthir perked up, and cautiously answered.

“If it is possible, yes.” I laughed.

“Oh, it is, just not how you think. The life you just experienced was experienced as a spiritual entity with no physical form on a philosophical plane, governed by the philosophical laws held in a little black book. You just lived in a spiritual world of ethical importance. Soon you will be sent to a physical world, given a body of your own, and governed by the natural man, or in other cases, like yours, the natural beast, dwarf, elf, wizard, dragon, demon, and so much more. First I’ll send you into the Soulvoid, where most people go after dying”

“B-” I held up a hand reassuringly.

“With all protection from Gazdagh’s3 influence over the dead. And to boot, you’ve earned around twenty thousand units of the land of the dead’s currency. I’ve made it a very interesting place, you can purchase what things you want to eventually gain in life, supernatural powers, magical ones, perhaps in the rare case of a good person, natural druidic powers. At least that’s what most people go for. There are also options for soulmates, if you’re interested in that kind of thing. I digress. You gain more currency the better you’ve aligned with the philosophical laws, all depending on the ethical plane you lived in. Fortunately for you, you were rather aligned. Of course all of that was due to the fact you were the chosen one of the Mustili4” I smiled mysteriously.

“You have only lived through one third of life in the Stairway, I may look like a fourteen year old kid, but here I am Alpha and Omega, you are inferior to me because your life hasn’t even begun!” I laughed, quite maniacally5 and snapped my fingers. Sitting down at my desk again as Rithuthir slowly dissolved into my opalescent light. I cracked my knuckles, I reached for the keyboard, put on my headphones and watched as my A-space started to fade.---

Rithuthir shook his head as the bizarre light faded, and the encounter with the strange, but oh so real, God of the Stairway ended. He looked about him and realized that he was no longer chained, and in fact not in the same void6. This one was even more vast, and filled with other souls which were crowding odd, dark, buildings that dotted this much more ‘populated’ void. He felt around in his pocket, and found drops of blood, solid, yet he could not mistake the thing he had spent his life spilling.

It was odd, yes, but after his encounter with the God of the Stairway he imagined it made a sort of grotesque sense. He walked towards the largest building, and the most populated. He brushed shoulders with all sorts of creatures great and small, many of which he didn’t recognize. He approached a true Voidwrought, chained forever. Like I was about to be. He thought. For his life, he was indeed grateful to the God of the Stairway. Yet, he couldn’t help but feel the physical existence would be just as bizarre as his recent encounter.

As he cleared his throat, the Voidwrought looked up from the ever mysterious little black book, small enough to fit into a pocket easily.

“Excuse me, but what is this place? Sorry,I mean, what can you buy here?” The Voidwrought put the book down.

“This would be the one place in the Soulvoid where you don’t buy anything.” The Voidwrought smiled7 when Rithuthir frowned. “This is where, if you oblige, you gain the powers you had, if any, in the previous life.” When Rithuthir shuddered, he added. “You can customize for one thousand.” Rithuthir stuffed his hand into his blood filled pockets. It emerged full of the scarlet drops. The Voidwrought’s eyes widened slightly. “Well. I’ll need your name, and then your customization input.” Rithuthir sighed.

“Rithuthir.” At his name, the Voidwrought skipped a beat.

“Rithuthir, as in the savior of the Bestial plane?” Rithuthir nodded slowly, recalling what the God of the Stairway had called him. “No wonder you have so many drops.” The Voidwrought opened a door leading to an enormous room full of filing cabinets, and Rithuthir took the opportunity to look around the great domed building. Everything was made of that dark, indestructible substance that the Voidwrought’s chains were. There was, unsurprisingly, a large statue of the God of the Stairway holding that omnipresent little black book. Around it was a group of Voidwrought talking to a large audience. As he listened he realized that they were explaining, more or less, everything that the God of the Stairway told him.

“Alright, your customization please.” He turned to find that the Voidwrought had returned.

“Oh, sorry.” Rithuthir cleared his thoughts. “I request that each time I enter my reality alternating state, no Voidwrought can influence my actions8.” The Voidwrought blinked.

“Well. Reality alteration eh? Interesting. You will be downgraded, understand? You can’t alter the entire face of your plane, as you did before.” The Voidwrought marked a few things down in Rithuthir’s file. Just as the Voidwrought made the customization, that opalescent light began to creep over his vision. The Voidwrought looked up. “Oh looks like you’re being born already, well at least you got the customization done just in time.” The Voidwrought mocked smiling, then turned to another customer as Rithuthir was transported to the physical plane. His last words as a spiritual entity were

“Carnage!9”

A note that this ties directly to future books that are in the making. Please, for the future of the Stairway do not use the contents of this short story for personal gain.

Thank you

This is also part of a complex series called the Stairway which, perhaps, in a few years time will come to light, the prologue to this future first book in the Stairway will introduce Rithuthir, the now dead savior of the Bestial plane.

Hopefully I’ll see you then.

-The God of the Stairway-

1- of course all books are generated, through their Authors and readers, into universes that exist in a grand Extensiveverse, though Authors are only permitted to enter the parallel of their own due to the copyright pact2

2- the copyright pact is a divine power that contains authority enough to bind Gods.

3- Gazdagh was a great wolf the size of a mountain that threatened the entire of Rithuthir’s homeworld. Rithuthir died putting Gazdagh into stasis, and in a thousand years from his death his powers will manifest in another vessel, just as his spell of stasis breaks.

4- The Mustili were a clan of sentient badgers that inhabited Rithuthir’s homeworld. You see, all of the inhabitants of Rithuthir’s home were animals of various species, not a single human lived on his plane.

5- As you no doubt know, all Authors are in some part insane to spend their lives creating and ruling worlds that are built solely upon wild imagination.

6- The Voidwrought in the void he previously had visited were looking about rather confused, then gave up upon the occurrence of one of them remarking “Well, there’s no real point anymore, the God of the Stairway probably whisked him off, so now we can go back to the party he interrupted, at least we don’t have to act so ominous and whatnot” They then looked around in dismay as they realized I had taken the pizza away and left only a card saying, GET BACK TO WORK.

7- When I say smile I mean a slight twitching of the mouth, as Voidwrought have their personality stripped from them upon becoming what they are.

8- The Voidwrought who had governed over Rithuthir’s homeworld could possess his body when he used his powers, and used it to set into motion the war that commenced upon Gazdagh’s appearance.

9- A swear developed on his homeworld after the Great Carnage, the event where Gazdagh more or less wiped out his plane's entire population.