[Episode 190222] [Episode 190222]Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, a fitting statement. At first he hadn't noticed anything and his life seemed to get better. But like everything else in his life...
...it all went to hell.
Serving a sentence, helping build towards a better and brighter future and even being executed for crimes that deserved nothing less was one thing.
People trying to manipulate him into beoming a weapon of mass destruction was quite another. At first it started small, putting a stop to a powerhungry Kree or a malevolent Skrull but then things got worse. He'd been ordered to wipe out a civilisation not unlike Zenn-La, his former herald's, the silver surfer, home world. After flat out refusing he'd been blown up at, being accused of treason and of returning to his former ways (wich had made no sense to him).
Afterwards he'd been apologised to and it had been explained that the information they recieved had been faulty, an attempt to overthrow the empire.
That's what they'd called it after the races had decided to band together. Eventually surpassing even the Kree and the Skrull in greatness.
Looking back on it he should have taken the signs for what they were instead of ignoring them. But it seemed even with all the knowledge he'd gained he still had some of the faults of his former self in him.
A mistake that wouldn't be repeated.
He'd blindly accepter it at face value, hoping that he'd not be the cause (however indirectly) of creating more chaos. Similar situations had not occured, instead they'd tried to milk him dry for information. Technology, weapons, starships, all what they had today was because he'd supplied them with it.
He found out about a plot to manipulate him into becoming a weapon and to his dismay and horror, the woman he'd fallen in love with was a part of it all. Then again he shouldn't have been surprised, right? Just because she was a different species didn't mean she was different from any other woman he'd met.
After reporting this, at the time still foolishly assuming this had just been a group of people who'd let power go to their heads, he'd retreated to a beatiful, and luckily, uninhabited planet he'd found. He'd adopted it as a hiding spot, a place where he could go and think whenever he wanted some piece or to just relax. So he'd nurtured it, using the power cosmic to turn it into a true heaven, a complete haven of peace where he could rest and enjoy his solitude. After getting back and asking what had been done, he'd been told it had been ''dealt with''. The wound of betrayal still fresh in his mind he hadn't pressed the matter.
Eons passed and he watched as the empire grew, arrogance and lust for more power growing along with it. Unknown to him at the time, the knowledge he'd bestowed to them had been used to subjugate and declare wars on other races. Wars that had been declared, fought and won in a matter of days, sometimes hours or even minutes of starting.
Entire empires had been enslaved, even the Kree and the Skrull fell to the empire.
They had of course tried to keep it hidden and succeeded for quite awhile. But eventually he'd found out and with that discovery he'd found the true horrors that been done in his ignorance. His friend and his former heralds had been destroyed.
His friend had discovered what they had done and had rushed to inform him. But using the new technology they'd developed using his knowledge, his friend had been subdued and killed. His former heralds had been hunted down and experimented on, Nova had been the most unfortunate one. She had her powers sealed and been forcibly taken as a pleasure slave, even now he shivered in horror and felt his eyes fill with unshed tears as he remembered the recordings her ''master'' had taken. He was the one who developed the technology able to chain their powers and she'd been his reward. He didn't need to be telepathic to know the reason why the recordings had been taken when he (or usually multiple men) took her.
It was simply to prove he was her superior and he delighted in showing them to her, along with recordings of his research in the technology he developed to show that HE was the one that brought her where she was today and that SHE was powerless to do anything to stop him. He relished the surprise on the fool's face and that of his men when he destroyed them and their planet, after taking nova to safety.
It took every shred of will he posessed not to break down crying after she directed an empty gaze at him. He knew then and there that she could not be saved, she'd been broken many times and in the worst possible ways. The only thing he could do for her was give a quick painless death, after directing a lethal blast at her he collected the ashes and laid her to rest at the planet he'd claimed. He would have buried his friend and other herald there but nothing was left of them, he could only carry their memory with him.
After laying her ashes to rest and building her a shrine, he mourned for several days.
Then he showed the empire why he was feared for more then just devouring worlds, his war on them had been swift and ruthless. The empire had destroyed in mere hours after his assault, entire galaxies that had been conquered and claimed by them had been reduced to nothing in his rage.
But it seemed it would be they who would get the last laugh, they had discovered a way to reverse time and had intended to use it as a new weapon to claim the remainig parts of the known galaxy. And now had remade it into a bomb, coupling it to a magnifier that would enhance it's power to a truly terrifying magnitude in hopes of taking their would be destroyer down with them. They had failed, though unable to stop or contain the blast he had survived it.
Watching in horror as the unviverse became reduced to nothingness he rushed to atleast save the planet he claimed, he didn't know why he wanted too but rational thought had left long ago and he succeeded. And after all was done Ranma Saotome, the most powerful being in the universe, god slayer, defender against evil broke down and wept, not only for what had happened to his closest friend and comrade or to his former heralds but for the atrocitys that had been committed in his ignorance.
''I have failed, there is nothing for me now.'' He thought, blankly staring at the neverending blackness around him.
Eyes hardening in decision, he removed the planet into his subspace and focused his power around him. Eyes closed in concentration he ignored his surroundings as the power cosmic kept building and building around him, distorting the very space around him because of it's intensity. Then with a roar he released it all and for a moment the universe became white.
''At last...I can rest.'' He thought, as his eyes slowly closed. Not seeing that the explosion of power had created a rift in the universe where he ''fell'' into.
Nor would he ever see that the release of his power had created a new universe as a result of the release of his power.
Sometime later Ranma opened his eyes to see...motes of light? No, not motes, STARS. His eyes snapped open as he gazed around in disbelief at the stars around him, unknowing that the rift he'd traveled through had landed him in the universe of...
(Posted Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:29)
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