April 22nd, 2012, Dimensional Gap, undefined time.
The Dimensional Gap was, by its very nature, an affront to reality. It was not a place of physical substance, but of potential and dissolution, an immeasurable void that served as the connective tissue and the impassable moat between the countless worlds of the various mythologies.
It was a realm of lethal beauty, where the raw, chaotic energies that predated creation swirled in mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic patterns.
For any mortal, even a brief, unshielded exposure of a few seconds would result in their body and soul being unraveled into constituent atoms, their very existence erased. It was not a place for mortals, a fact underscored by its only permanent inhabitant: the strongest being in existence, Great Red, the Dragon of Dragons, whose title as the Dragon of Dreams stemmed from his immense size, his inviolable power, and his dominion over the realm of possibility itself.
Yet, on this day, another being traversed the formless pathways of the Gap. Ophis, the Ouroboros Dragon, the Infinite Snake, moved with purpose through the chaotic ether. After a frustratingly vague conversation with Vali, she had learned of this "Makoto's" considerable strength, but the Lucifer descendant had proven uncooperative regarding his location, claiming ignorance.
It was annoying. Fortunately, the insufferable Shalba Beelzebub had provided the missing piece: Kuoh Town, in the human world, on an island called Japan.
As she navigated the swirling currents of non-space, her expressionless face twitched almost imperceptibly.
"My home stinks of that overgrown lizard," she murmured, feeling the overwhelming, pervasive presence of Great Red slumbering somewhere in the infinite distance.
She paused, her head tilting a fraction of an inch.
"What is this?" she asked the void, not expecting an answer. A new presence had registered in her perception, alien and utterly unknown, a stain on the pristine emptiness of her home.
"Another intruder," she stated, her tone flat and devoid of surprise. Before her, space folded in on itself, and a humanoid figure coalesced from the chaos. He was tall, dressed in an elegant, anachronistic red robe, with a monocle over one eye that seemed to contain a swirling galaxy.
Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, in his chosen human form, smiled at the dragon god of infinity.
"Greetings, Ophis. It is most amusing to finally meet you," he said, his voice a smooth, cultured baritone that seemed to vibrate through the very fabric of the Gap. "Although I would love to have a prolonged chat, I fear we cannot."
"You're not from this world," Ophis stated immediately, her perception instantly identifying the foreign, invasive nature of his essence, something completely alien to the dimensions contained within and connected by the Dimensional Gap.
"Oh, perceptive. Indeed, I am. I'm surprised you noticed so quickly," Nyarlathotep laughed, a sound that was both intellectual and deeply malevolent.
Ophis looked at him for a moment longer, her face a perfect mask of apathy. "Go away. This is my home," she said, dismissing him as she began to float once more toward the distant shimmer that was her portal to the human world.
Nyarlathotep shook his head, a look of mock disappointment on his face. "I've taken a liking to this world, you see. I like it so much that I've decided I will personally bring about its doom and devastation, along with that of all its inhabitants. Doesn't it sound fun? Lovely, even?" he asked rhetorically, his smile widening.
This caused a small, almost microscopic flicker of confusion to cross Ophis's features before it vanished back into neutrality.
"What are you talking about?" she questioned, the ghost of that confusion still lingering in her deadpan voice.
"You are an interesting being, Ophis," Nyarlathotep mused, playing idly with his clockwork monocle. "You desire your beloved silence so intensely that you bother forming a faction of individuals who might, in some distant future, help you dislodge Great Red. All to reclaim your tiny, quiet spot in this vast nothingness."
He paused, letting the observation hang in the void.
"However, you are so singularly concerned with recruiting more pawns that you remain utterly oblivious to what is happening right under your nose. You are unaware of the true actions and loyalties of your own 'squad,' if we can even define that rabble as such."
Then, something happened that had not occurred in millennia. A deep, buried instinct, a primal voice from the very core of her infinite being, screamed at her to act. Without a single conscious thought, without any calculation of power or consequence, Ophis reacted. She unleashed an immense, silent wave of pure destructive force against Nyarlathotep.
The attack was not a spell or a technique; it was a fundamental expression of her title as the Infinite. A shockwave of absolute power erupted from her, so vast that it shook the pseudo-reality of the Gap itself.
The natural, chaotic colors of the void—the purples, blues, and golds of nascent creation—were blasted away, replaced by a blinding, pure white nothingness that was the utter negation of Ophis's power. It was an attack she hadn't deemed necessary in thousands, if not millions, of years.
Had they been anywhere else—in the human world, in Heaven, in Hell—the blast would have annihilated everything for light-years around. It was power sufficient to erase the planet Earth ten times over, a mere fraction of her true might, yet directed with full, instinctual intent.
For a split second, as the wave consumed him, Ophis felt a faint emanation from the being—was it… fear? Worry? The sensation was so alien and fleeting that she could barely register it before it was utterly devoured by the infinite abyss of her own released power.
The light faded, the void slowly returning to its chaotic swirl.
"I commend you, Ophis," Nyarlathotep's voice came, utterly unfazed. He stood exactly where he had been, not a scratch on his red robe, not a hair out of place.
"You used a significant portion of your power immediately, without posturing or pride. You are the first being in this world to not underestimate me. It's such a shame I need to kill you; you would have made a fine Shadow."
Another feeling, just as brief and jarring, struck Ophis. Surprise? Was that the term for it? How was it called when one's expectations were completely and utterly violated?
She had just unleashed a theoretically infinite amount of power, enough to challenge Great Red himself, and he had… ignored it. Only the Dragon of Dreams could resist her, thanks to his dominion over dreams directly countering her infinity.
"How?" she asked, her tone still a monotone, though the question itself was a profound admission of defeat.
"How did I survive?" Nyarlathotep finished for her. "You simply cannot harm me, Ophis. I am something far beyond your comprehension, something from a place your reality cannot contain."
"You know," he continued conversationally, as if they were discussing the weather, "when I first arrived in this world, I considered you and Great Red to be beings similar to Mother Nyx—almighty, immortal, and truly transcendental. My initial plan was to dismiss you, as I attempted with her, to bring about the end of humanity as a simple byproduct. I began seeding the rumor of the Prophecy of the Fall. I thought I could bait the Universe here, and he would have done the work for me, once again. But when I discovered you weren't like Nyx, that you were… quantifiable, I was overjoyed. I couldn't contain my happiness. It meant I didn't have to waste the Universe's immense potential; I could harness it for myself."
"I continue to wonder what you two are. Your nature is a mystery I am yet to resolve. You aren't like the other gods of this world—beings who are merely stronger than normal, with a limited ability to create and dictate small aspects of reality. You aren't like normal dragons; you are so far beyond them that comparing them to you is an insult. Yet, you aren't completely immortal, as another dragon god, the Huanglong, has died before. You aren't born from the Sea of Souls or direct creations of the Axiom. So, what are you?" He didn't expect an answer, and Ophis offered none. "The answer I gave myself is simple: you are just like everyone and everything else in this world. The only difference is that you are simply at the very top of the food chain. That is the only answer that satisfies me."
Driven once more by that primal, fearful instinct, Ophis gathered her power for another attack. But this time, as the energy coalesced, it was met not with indifference, but with a weapon. A spear, long and wicked, simply appeared in Nyarlathotep's right hand.
It seemed to drink the light around it, and when Ophis's second blast of infinite power struck it, the energy didn't explode or deflect; it was nullified, absorbed into the spear's dark length without a sound.
"I present to you the Spear of Destiny. What you may know as the Spear of Longinus," Nyarlathotep said, his voice taking on a wicked, triumphant edge. "Its initial purpose was the sealing of Personas, but a new, delightful application just popped into my mind."
He moved. One moment he was meters away, the next, the tip of the spear was tracing a line across her cheek. It was the most minuscule of scratches, a mere pinprick, but it began to bleed a shimmering, silver fluid.
"Wha—" Ophis tried to speak, but her breath hitched, the words strangling in her throat. An agony unlike any she had ever conceived of exploded from the tiny wound, searing through her entire being.
She clutched her head with both hands, a scream—raw, pained, and utterly terrified—tearing from her lips. It was the first time in her eternal life she had ever screamed.
Her mind, once an infinite, calm sea of nothingness, was suddenly bombarded by a tsunami of emotions. Every suppressed feeling she had never deigned to experience in millions of years—pleasure, pain, boredom, joy, sorrow, love, hatred—assaulted her consciousness all at once.
And reigning supreme among them, a terrifying, all-consuming sensation that she instinctively knew was fear. This is what fear is? Her body trembled violently, her breath coming in ragged, desperate gasps. A heart that was never meant to beat now hammered against her ribs like a frantic drum, the rhythm loud and terrifying in her ears.
"W-what is this attack?" she barely managed to stammer, her voice trembling, weak, and filled with an anxiety that cracked her usual monotone into a thousand pieces.
"What you are feeling right now is panic, Ophis. One of my favorite emotions. Don't you agree?" Nyarlathotep explained, his amusement palpable as he watched the god of infinity unravel.
Ophis began to feel a profound weakness seeping into her limbs. Her face, usually pale, became ashen. The Dimensional Gap, her home, her sanctuary, now felt hostile. The once-soothing chaotic energies now raged against her, ravaging her body and mind from the inside out.
"You should thank me, Ophis," Nyarlathotep crooned. "Not only have I removed the suppressor of your true self—your own limitless power—but I have also gifted you with the full spectrum of experience. Now you can finally feel pain, suffering, fear, and everything in between. Isn't it fantastic?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
"I'm also giving you a front-row seat to witness the birth of the new world I am going to create. Enjoy the show, Ophis. The opening act has just concluded."
With a casual flick of his wrist, he opened a jagged portal beside her. With no effort at all, he tossed her limp, shuddering form through it. He had no intention of letting her die from exposure to the Gap's energy; her suffering was far too valuable a resource to waste.
As the dragon god of infinity tumbled into the unknown, a thunderous, earth-shattering roar of pure rage echoed through the Dimensional Gap, signaling that Great Red had finally taken notice.
"I better take my leave," Nyarlathotep mused aloud. "He shall be useful in the future."
And with that, the Crawling Chaos vanished from the void, leaving only silence and the lingering echo of a dragon's agony in his wake.
April 22nd, 2012, Madagascar, Early Morning.
"Diarahan," said a calm, feminine voice.
Ophis blinked. Once, twice. Her mind was a fog of disjointed sensations. For the first time, she felt a sense of dizziness, a disorientation born from sudden awakening and traumatic shock.
She braced for the pain, but it didn't come. The healing magic had sealed the physical wound on her cheek and soothed her ravaged nerves, but it could do nothing for the turmoil within.
Her heart was beating. Fast. A frantic, alien rhythm that pounded in her chest like a trapped bird. A feeling of sheer, undiluted anxiety coiled in her stomach, a cold knot of dread that made her want to curl into a ball. Where was she? Where had Nyarlathotep sent her?
"Calm down. Everything's alright. Nyarlathotep isn't here," the woman's voice said again. The mere pronunciation of the Crawling Chaos's name sent violent shivers down Ophis's spine, an irrational, paralyzing fear that was now etched into her very soul.
The dragon god managed to turn her head, her movements sluggish and weak. Her savior was a woman dressed in an elegant, royal blue gown and tricorne hat, with short, styled white hair and piercing yellow eyes that held a strange mixture of gentleness and immense age.
"Who are you?" Ophis asked. She was surprised by the sound of her own voice. Gone was the flat, apathetic tone that had defined her for eons. In its place was a thin, anxious, and frail sound, the voice of a lost and frightened child.
"My name is Elizabeth," the woman in blue replied.
"Where am I?" Ophis asked again, her eyes darting around nervously.
"Madagascar. An island on Earth," Elizabeth answered patiently.
Ophis pushed herself up to a sitting position and looked around. Nyarlathotep had sent her to a desolate, red-dirt plain. Short, yellowing grass stretched to the horizon in every direction, broken only by the occasional stunted tree.
The sky was a vast, empty blue. She felt… lost. This was different from her former exile from the Dimensional Gap. That had been a nuisance, a boring inconvenience. This was a profound, existential terror, the feeling of a child who has not only lost their way home but has forgotten what home even looks like.
Madagascar? A meaningless name on a planet she had never cared about, a place she wouldn't have considered visiting in a million years.
And now she was here. No matter how much she concentrated, no matter how she tried to grasp the infinite power that was her birthright, she found only a hollow emptiness. She was reduced to the state of a hatchling, vulnerable and weak.
'Front-row seat?' Ophis thought, the memory of Nyarlathotep's words sending another wave of dread through her. He hadn't just defeated her; he had demoted her to a spectator in her own demise.
"Can you stand up?" Elizabeth asked, her tone devoid of pity but filled with a quiet, steady patience.
"Yes," Ophis whispered. She pushed herself to her feet, the simple act feeling Herculean.
Her body had weight now; the force of gravity pulled at her with an insistence she had never known. These trivial, universal laws were now very real, very tangible chains binding her to a world she had always viewed from an immeasurable distance.
Ophis looked at Elizabeth, who gazed back with a carefree, yet deeply knowing expression. "Are you feeling better?" the attendant questioned.
Ophis nodded slowly. "Did you save me?" the dragon asked, the concept of being "saved" another utterly new experience.
"I healed you, yes," Elizabeth confirmed. "I was quite surprised to see a little girl like you being targeted by Nyarlathotep. I wonder why he didn't finish the job or why he attacked you in the first place." She tilted her head. "Could you tell me your name, please?"
"Ophis," the girl answered simply.
The name made Elizabeth's eyes widen a fraction.
"Ophis? Oh. From what Azazel told me, you are quite different from the dragon I imagined. You don't seem like an old man at all. But now I see why Nyarlathotep wanted to… intervene. Still, the question of why he spared you remains. Fine, it is better this way."
"You too are from beyond the Dimensional Gap," Ophis stated. Even with her power diminished to a flicker, her perception could still feel the otherworldly nature of the woman in front of her, a essence that was not bound by the local rules of reality.
"Indeed. I am here to stop Nyarlathotep," Elizabeth said. "Though I am just an attendant."
With a graceful wave of her hand, she summoned the ornate, blue door of the Velvet Room. It appeared in the middle of the barren plain, a stark and beautiful anomaly.
"It is better if we continue this conversation elsewhere," she said, opening the door and gesturing for Ophis to enter.
After a moment of hesitation, driven by a fear of the unknown that was now her constant companion and a faint, desperate trust in this strange savior, Ophis, the once-god of infinity, stepped through the door and into the sanctuary of the Velvet Room.