Lowly Ascent

In the streets of a city in the process of its destruction, a lone cat ran through the streets.

As the animal passed alleys, black tendrils revealed themselves, killing the inhabitants. All around the small animal, chaos erupted and the living were turned into the dead. Corpses piled, but the dark limbs had yet to find their mark; so they continued.

They continued to look, to destroy homes, and to search the rubble, all for the fruit.

The cat meowed and climbed onto a bus long abandoned. The feline's eyes reflected blood and bodies, its ears twitching at screams and cries. It did not know of evil or justice, it was a housecat raised by an old store owner, it did not know of pain. It didn't fathom what it was seeing, but still, it felt danger. Its instincts helped it survive.

A tentacle crept through the road, the cat hissed before jumping to a nearby AC unit. From there, the feline moved through the different balconies and escape ladders.

Luckily, the poor animal escaped certain death; making it to a part of the city not yet turned by Nihil's terror. There, the animal watched humans huddle and hold each other in hopes of living.

"Mom, what's happening? Where's dad?" The cat heard a young child's shaken voice.

The mother of the child couldn't find the words, she couldn't tell her child how she saw her husband's body get torn limb from limb.

Somehow, the woman was able to run to the nearby daycare, saving her child from the horrors beyond. Yet, she had no more strength, she could no longer move.

Seeing the scene, and the group waiting for the end, the cat tilted its head. It jumped down and began cozying up to the mother and child.

"Mom, it's a cat!" The child exclaimed.

Hushed words came and silenced the child's joy like cold water. It was for the best, they needed to be quiet if they wanted to avoid the tentacles for the longest possible time.

However, it was too late, the rest of the city was no more than a skeleton, death permeating its crumbled form. Coming from below, and above, the end came.

In an instant, screams echoed, lives taken. The mother was hung up like her husband, the tentacles ripping into her flesh and cutting her life short.

Holding the cat, the child was unable to comprehend what was happening, let alone the deaths of those around them. Tears formed in the child's eyes, and as the black limbs reached for them, fear did too. They clutched the cat tighter, keeping it from escaping.

Clawing at the boy, the cat found it all but impossible to live now, it was too late to escape, and the window of opportunity was blocked by darkness. It would die because of the child, whether the child knew or not.

In the end, both the child and cat accepted their fate, it was the only thing they could do. It was the only choice available to them. In some odd way, both came to terms in their last moments. Luck shined upon them for they did not die like those around them, drowning in sorrow and despair and still struggling against a unstoppable enemy.

Two lives were taken among hundreds, but those two were what stopped it all.

As soon as Nihil began to devour the cat's corpse, he felt it. What he felt was an overwhelming source of power.

This power came from the cat's collar, specifically, the jewel that hung from it. Immediately, all the tendrils stopped and began a mass retreat. The once grand and imposing cities were left vacant with nothing left.

The perpetrator of all this suffering left the scene.

Every piece of Nihil retreated to devour the prize, the thing that started everything in the first place; the reason why this world existed.

...

Back in the mind world, Nihil began to laugh madly. The gods gave him strange looks.

He was acting hysterical, he couldn't control himself, not when he had just won it all. He had done it; now he didn't need to kill the ones before him, their value diminished to zero.

"This was all fun, but I need to pick up a package. Stay here, I may or may not return." With that, the mastermind took his leave, exiting his mindscape to get the prize.

The gods, left in confusion, began to feel anxious and confused. They began to converse.

"Why did he leave?"

"I think he found what he was looking for in one of our cities."

"Everyone, stop. We need to escape, we can come up for a reason he left later." The Kaiser's words were right, all the lower gods agreed. They all started to look around, a few heading for the farthest reaches of the dark world they seemed to be in.

...

Nihil awoke inside a spring, one similar to the old well but far more grand, suiting his taste.

"Well, that was a nice nap." One of his tentacles came to him, unraveling the fruit of his effort before him. "But I think waking up is far nicer!"

Filled with glee and accomplishment, he grabbed the jewel, and then— nothing.

Confusion flashed in his eyes. "What am I supposed to do with this? Touching it doesn't let me get the power. Do I need Doom's help? That destructive bastard should have returned by now correct?"

Nihil took no time to sink into the pillar, from there he descended into the ground and back to the planet's core. Thankfully, he was right, when he returned, a familiar voice found him immediately.

"I must say, it was a good show. Using the gods' wariness of one another was a nice touch. If you had a cult of your own you might not have stayed hidden for so long. Fewer mouths spill less secrets."

An ominous force came forward and bathed Nihil in the essence of End, a fleeting story; an eventual darkness.

"So, how do I harness the fruit then?" Nihil was barely holding in his excitement.

Doom had a response prepared. "It depends on you. If you wish, you can become an outer god, if not, you can bath in the power and gain a soul of absolute power." He paused. "But I recommend you finish what you started, the ritual from before. Your soul isn't whole, the ritual isn't finished. Be reborn, become something completely new!"

"Become something...new?" Nihil couldn't help but repeat Doom's words. "Wait, aren't I already something new?"

"In mind, but not soul. It's not whole, so it is nothing until it is." Doom spoke with a tone of mystery.

Nihil sighed, "Well then, when can you start the ritual?"

The cosmic being's aura brightened demonically. "We can start right now."