The Gods

A/N: I felt this chapter and the next three drew on a bit too long so I rewrote them which caused some delay, no worries uploads with continuing as usual now.

"Hmm? This feeling…" Two large eyes slowly opened. They were like stars piercing through the black backdrop that was space. Its entire body gave off a passive golden light, illuminating and bringing the breath of life to everything it touched. It was an eastern dragon, the type you would expect to see in Asian folklore.

Its scales were a darkish yellow in contrast with the fur that lined its back shining bright like golden silk. Its body alone stretched for thousands of miles, its whiskers weaving through space and its pure white horns that lay atop its ahead that were almost transparent.

The tale of creation changes as time advances forward, however, if you went back far enough you would come across The Two Brothers. At the very beginning of time, a single being in the form of a dragon created the cosmos. A god that faced only loneliness and solitude after creation.

And so this being split itself apart, Its personality, Its aspects, and Its power. Two sides one light and one dark. This was the origin of the gods that created Remnant. Both of them beliving so truly that the other was merely a copy while only one of them was the original. A sad truth that displayed how fallible these gods were, yet also displayed their power.

Floating in space in its true form the God of Light glanced around. Vast arrays of planets and stars surrounded it. He was the core of a system that made no logical sense, something that couldn't possibly exist. It defied gravity that planets and stars could all be so close to one another.

Yet by his power, he could hold this fragile balance in place. An unimaginable number of civilizations existed on each of these planets, in each of these localized ecosystems. All of them were untouched by such things as Aura, Semblances, Grimm, and even Magic.

Since leaving Remnant behind millennia on top of millennia had passed. After all that time, even the very memory of such a place existing began to fade from this god's mind. Yet now he heard familiar voices calling out to him. A look flashed across his face as he raised his head and began to fly upwards.

He flew beyond the tangled systems of stars and planets that had him as his center until they were completely below him.

"It's been quite some time since you created us. I see your taste has not changed over these thousands of years." Materializing in front of him, out of blue smoke was a figure that matched the voice he heard.

"Jinn it has been some time. I suppose you being here means me and my brother have been summoned back to Remnant. Though I'm surprised only you are here where are the others?" When the relics are brought together and utilize their power the spirits inside of them would be sent off to appear before him signifying he and his brother were being called back to Remnant.

But right now the only one in front of him was Jinn, the spirit of the Relic of Knowledge. In response to hearing his question Jinn smiled.

"You would be surprised how much can change in a few thousand years. The unexpected and improbable suddenly become inevitable. I think you'll see that for yourself when you return."

…

Days had passed since Shen traveled down to the vaults containing the relics, and since then no one had seen him or heard a word. Yet to Shen those 'Days' felt as if they had been stretched out. He had been brought close to death multiple times and experienced all kinds of fatal injuries.

Yet none of that came close to what he had been feeling for the past few days. His inners were overloaded and exploding inside his skin, his bones being reduced to dust, and his own flesh melting. He had been forcefully deconstructed multiple times only to forcefully rebuild himself through the power of his Devil Trigger.

[You still hanging on in there?]

'I'm- fine…'

[Really? Cause you look like crap. Like literally, if an animal ate you and then-]

"I get the idea…" In his current state just speaking was nearly impossible for him. The pain was enough to make a normal person go insane and it relentlessly attacked his mind. Somehow he felt he had gotten better at dealing with the pain, but it still came in waves. The empty calm before a massive storm.

The number of times his screams had echoed in this crimson cocoon couldn't be counted at this point. Another jolt of power flowed into Shen's body violently. It caused his entire being to spasm. His mind went blank once again as every bone in his body cracked as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

At this point, it had formed a large puddle under him.

He was forced to activate his Devil Trigger again which quickly stitched his body together regenerating it at a rapid pace. At the same time, it returned his ability to think semi-straight.

'But still, why is that my thoughts only getting clearer?' Shen's regeneration was at an insane level, if you wanted to kill him you needed every Life Fiber in his body to be destroyed. However, it wasn't infallible, if he sustained too much damage too quickly or regenerated too much without any time to rest it could be overpowered.

Yet after all this time had passed his body had been ripped apart, yet his regeneration wasn't slowing down at all. In fact, it was only getting better, and his thoughts were becoming less foggy even in the midst of the pain. Taking a moment to think, Shen realized there could only be one reason behind this.

Opening up his System Menu the answer appeared right in front of his face.

{Personal Information}

Name: Shen

Level: 23 [1,043,215/29,353,400]

Race(s): Life Fiber-Hybrid (94%)|Human-Demon-Hybrid|

…

'So I was right.'

This explained everything and at the same time made Shen slightly fearful. The power from the relics was counting towards the limits of his Life Fiber-Hybrid percentage despite his level not going up. It's also why he was slowly feeling less pain and his mind was becoming less foggy despite it making his thoughts go blank before.

Before it had capped at eighty percent, at that level his entire body was made of Life Fibers. Because of that regenerating was even less of an issue, I mean who knows how many gallons of blood he had lost during this, yet he was still relatively fine. However, there was still one part of him.

One thing that still remained 'Human', and that was his mind. As Shem thought that he saw the percentage rise once again.

{Personal Information}

Name: Shen

Level: 23 [1,043,215/29,353,400]

Race(s): Life Fiber-Hybrid (95%)|Human-Demon-Hybrid|

…

As it did the pain he was feeling dulled and his mind began just a bit clearer. With every percentage, his mind would change and his thoughts did as well. And that's what both interested and terrified him. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, or how carefully he tried to act, his human mind affected him.

One such effect was his arrogance, when he first came to this world he was careful always planning ahead. But the moment he reached a certain point Shen began thinking of himself as invincible. And while there was truth in that, that arrogance got him nearly killed twice now, once by Ozpin and another by Penny.

He could have easily avoided both situations if he had been more careful and gone straight for the kill. But instead, he played around his plans were set back four years and Atlas had time to create a superweapon like Penny.

These were the weaknesses a human mind brought along with it. In fact, there were so many Shen couldn't count them all. But no matter how many he listed or didn't, that didn't change the choice before him.

Allow the change to take place, or stop it. Remain human in at least one last way or fully give himself up.

'Heh, just thinking them out loud makes it obvious… ' The choice was clear.

{Personal Information}

Name: Shen

Level: 23 [1,043,215/29,353,400]

Race(s): Life Fiber-Hybrid (96%)|Human-Demon-Hybrid|

…

Jinn and The God of Light had long since left his section of the cosmos, leaving behind the numerous planets and stars. Instead, they had traveled to a more desolate part of space. Here it was like a dark film was wrapped around an invisible sphere. The stars were dim and almost invisible.

The only light came from a red dwarf in the center that lit up these dull heavens. It was violent and unstable, seemingly boiling with radiation. And circling in its orbit was a planet much larger than that of Remnant. Covered in horrible storms that it was impossible to see the surface hidden beyond the clouds.

The lightning was visible even from where they were in space, Jinn looked on in interest with a smile, while The God of Light sighed. He could sense that life existed on that planet, hanging on by a thread yet still fighting for survival. In the end, all he could do was shake his head.

Like his brother said before, he may bask in the powers of creation however he does not own them. After what happened on remnant the two of them decided to keep out of one another's way. He could do as he liked and his brother would do as he preferred.

As such he could not save these people.

Floating there over fifty thousand miles from the planet, the two of them heard a roar. Looking up The God of Light watched as a dark void tore itself open in the space above them. Inside you could only see darkness as a purple blur flew out from it.

It was a horrifying creature taking the form of a western dragon with torn wings. Its body was made of a deep purple material that seemed fluid. As it dripped off of its body it turned into a purple mist that wrapped itself around it like a cloak. Its ribs were visible and so was its spine.

Its soulless eyes glow with a bright purple, the only thing piercing the dark cloak surrounding its horrendous body. The sheer size of it was on par with The God of Light.

"Why have you come." Its voice was deep enough to make your bones tremble. This was the other god born from that dragon so, so long ago. The God of Darkness, creator of the Grimm and mistakenly Salem.

"Brother, we have been summoned back to the remnant." The two of them were polar opposites whether it be ideals or appearance. However that wasn't to say they never agreed, Remnant was a world they built together and Salem's punishment was one they agreed on as well.

However, those occasions had long since passed.

"Remnant?" The God of Darkness tilted his draconic head which was nothing more than a skull in reality.

"Yes, the world we left behind all those millennia ago. You shattered their moon as we left." The God of Darkness narrowed his eyes before they widened a bit.

"Ah yes, that world, I remember it now. Of course, you would leave them some way to contact us again…" Raising his head The God of Darkness continued.

"However, I have no interest in returning to that world. After all, it was a promise YOU made to them, so I have no reason to follow along."

"That's no-" The God of Light was about to say something when suddenly both he and his brother noticed something.

"Oh? Well isn't this peculiar, I don't think I could have predicted something like this would happen." Jinn was holding her hands in front of her face with an intrigued expression. Her body was beginning to fade into mist, and she was becoming translucent.

"Hmm? Is this a creation of your's brother? Why is she fading away?" The God of Light frowned.

"I'm not sure, Jinn is the consciousness of one of our gifts to them, knowledge. It should be impossible for this to happen…" As she began to fade even faster Jinn looked up towards The God of Light and The God of Darkness.

"Even though you're my creator I was never one to ruin something so… interesting. Still would expect so many impossibilities would happen as of late? I can't wait to see how you three interact with one another…" As she said that her voice faded along with her body, seemingly disappearing into thin air.

Her words still lingered, however, something neither brother could ignore. Who was the third person she mentioned?

'Has something truly happened during the millennia we were gone?"