1 Prologue

Journeys. 

The path that was taken to achieve a goal. 

The story of an individual from their beginning to their end. 

A detailed chronicle of every step they took. 

Every thought, feeling, action and reaction. 

The obstacles they faced and the challenges they overcame. 

Their victories and more importantly, their defeats. 

A journey was the tale of a person's life that showed the life they had lived and told the following generations who they were and what they became. 

But often a story was written not by the individual themselves, but by those who had known them. Or sometimes by those who came after and had not truly known the life they had lived, only a fraction of it. 

Yet what happens when there is no one left to write that chronicle?

Nor was there anyone left to read it?

He had often pondered on those questions as the years ticked by and there had been no end in sight to the endless wars they fought. 

How would anyone know the type of man he had been?

What he had been and what he had become?

What he did in pursuit of his goal, his dream?

Who would write of his deeds, the responsibilities he took upon himself? 

The consequences of actions and how he bore them?

How was one to know the impossibility of his simple yet unreachable and unattainable dream?

How was anyone to know of his final moments?

How even to the very end when he stood alone, he, Darius Raff did not abandon his goal?

His journey in the beginning was well-known having been both hero and villain, civilian and vigilante. As a young man, Darius had been unleashed upon the world, with no teacher and no training to provide him with the tools he needed to survive. 

All he had was determination and an unbreakable will to survive. 

His goal was simple, yet long and arduous. 

Darius did not falter on this path no matter what obstacles came his way. Even as it diverged and branched off, new goals appeared for him to achieve, Darius did not sway from the path he began on. There was no other option, no choice for him other than to continue down the path he started on that fateful day everything changed. 

The burden of that singular goal weighed upon him heavily, one that grew heavier with every passing day. But Darius continued to march forward upon that unending path without hesitation or pause. 

As he fought and learned, the weight of his own life and the consequences of his actions made that weight grow. Every action, every strategy, every moment had to be weighed carefully and often, he chose wrong, allowing emotion and instinct to guide him through life. 

Each mistake was costly and made that weight grow.

As he progressed through life, allies joined him on his path, each having their own agendas and goals to strive for, a new weight was given to him, one far heavier. No longer was he fighting alone and for himself, but now he was fighting for his teammates, his allies and more importantly, his friends. The knowledge that a single mistake from him, a single wrong decision could spell chaos for them and had done so on many occasions, all of it was crushing. 

Yet Darius could and would not stop. 

As the burden of those responsibilities and the weight of his decisions grew heavier and heavier with every step he took, Darius continued along the path he chose. When that path became a hill and that hill became a mountain, Darius continued to climb even as his fight grew to encompass humanity's survival. 

Never hesitating, never ceasing, never stopping. 

Darius as he had always done, continued to strive forward unsure of when the end would appear or whether the path would crumble away beneath him at any moment. 

He just continued to strive forward.

As allies around him turned their backs on him.

As enemies welcomed him with open arms. 

Darius never stopped his endless march. 

He faced every challenge and foe that his way, clashing against humans, monsters, aliens, demons, gods and powerful cosmic entities, Darius did not back down. Nothing could stop him on his unending campaign as he scaled the mountain toward his dream. 

Even as the weights that weighed down on him grew heavier and heavier, as the souls of those who paid the ultimate price for his actions tried to grasp his body and drag him down with them, as the tidal wave of blood that stained his hands fell upon him, Darius continued to climb higher and higher. 

An end seemingly in sight. 

One that no one could see but him. 

All of his allies and friends losing hope, abandoning him and the goal they once shared, Darius continued on alone. 

But when he reached that end, Darius soon learned that those around him had been right. His goal had been nothing more than a dream, a fleeting impossibility that had been forever out of reach. 

His whole life, Darius had continued down the bloody path he had chosen, climbing upon a mountain of corpses and drowning himself in oceans of blood, all because he had believed it was possible. That his goal was always just one more push, one more step, one more climb before it was finally within reach. 

A life of peace and tranquillity without danger for him or his family. 

A life where he could settle down and live a normal life. 

A simple goal that should have been easy to achieve. 

But it had all been a cruel joke. 

Now he stood alone, as the universe around him began to crumble, devoured by the ancient entity that had come from the very deepest depths of oblivion. All had come together in order to stop this being and all had died, except for him. 

By some cruel twist of fate, when the most powerful beings in the universe perished one by one in a futile attempt to stop this being, he was the one to survive. 

Like a cockroach. 

He had survived to watch as everything he loved and cherished, perished in the face of this beast's insatiable hunger for death and destruction, unable to stop it no matter what plans he attempted to use. 

Every ancient weapon and powerful artefact that the universe had to offer they had searched for and used against their enemy. But all those plans and hopes failed and ended in the many deaths of his friends and loved ones. 

So, now he stood alone. 

The last living being of any kind facing the greatest evil alone. 

But like always, Darius did not hesitate, did not stop, he marched forward. Each step he took made the gravel beneath his feet crunch as the large gaping maw of the beast opened, ready to devour him and the last planet on its path to destroy the multiverse. 

All that stood between it and victory was him. 

The last human. 

The last mortal.

The last living being. 

A mere cockroach that despite all odds had survived. 

Clenching his fists, Darius felt the power within him surge throughout his body engulfing him, the ground around him splintering apart as wind burst out, sending dust and debris scattering in a sudden storm. He felt powerful and strong, his blood-red gaze looking to the sky and upon the beast coming down on him. 

For the first time in his life, Darius was no longer afraid. 

He was accepting of his fate to come. 

There were no more plans, no more second chances, no redos and no escape. 

This was his final moment. 

Just like that, the sudden realisation of it all loosened the weight upon his shoulders and for the first time in his life, he could breathe again. 

For the first time, Darius felt free. 

He stood straight and tall, muscles flexing as he felt the power pulsing within him. It had always been there, had always scared him and the thought of what he could do with it if he did not hold himself back and allowed himself to unleash everything he had. 

But Darius had always held himself back. 

Beneath his feet, the ground shook as the planet further splintered and cracked apart, large rock formations lifting into the air as the power within him continued to grow till it rang in his ears like roaring thunder. Then, as the beast maw closed around the planet, its power tearing at his skin, Darius let it all out in a single roar, unleashing every emotion and ounce of power within him. 

An eruption of energy burst out from his body, stronger than anything he had unleashed in the past, the planet exploding outwards as Darius thrust his fist forward in one final punch that contained everything he had. He dug deeper and deeper, feeling every fibre of his being tearing itself apart from the sheer force he was producing. His roars of anger, hatred, fear, sadness and desperation synchronise with the deafening explosion of power. 

In that moment, for a single instance, the entire multiverse bled crimson.