Savros stood, unable to move his body, but from what he could see, the town was gone. He should be facing the tree in the center of town, but all he could see was ash and rubble. It was dead silent.

  "Ha-ha-ha-ha. Oh, it's so delicious." The laughter and the voice were coming from somewhere in the back of his mind. He tried to but still couldn't move. The tryptic energy still felt like a tornado inside him. What's going on? He tried to ask but couldn't move his mouth. He tried to look around, to no avail. He couldn't move his eyes. Unable to move or speak, he couldn't look for his uncle. If he'd survived the attack, maybe his uncle had as well. If he could just look around a little. He put everything he had into trying to turn his head, but his body completely ignored him.

  Suddenly, to his surprise, he took a step forward, then another, and he heard the voice again, louder and more assertive this time.

  "Savros, your time has ended." As the voice spoke inside his head, he could feel the already intense energy rapidly growing more intense with every word.

  "Out of gratitude, I allowed you to live your natural life, unaffected by my presence." As the voice kept going and the energy kept rising, the surrounding ash lifted into the air and swirled around his body.

  "That life has now expired." Savros could feel walls crushing in around him, pressing him into the corner of his own mind, trapping him there, unable to produce any effect no matter how hard he tried. He was left only able to observe through what used to be his eyes and ears.

  "This vessel belongs to me now." The walls felt absolute now. He couldn't struggle against them any more than he could battle against a mountain.

  "I don't understand. Who are you?" he thought.

  "Ha-ha-ha-ha. I have been called by many names across many ages. At the beginning I communed with the Ol'Gud, who called me Dae. The Az'Reign worshiped my name; Az'Regin'Riel. The inhabitants of Living Space call me Tryptic energy or magic."

  "I am De'den'Dae. It is my life that gave this universe form. And it will be my life that takes that form from it."

  The energy inside him suddenly skyrocketed, seemingly unbound and infinite. It continued to rise, with no signs of stopping or even slowing. Savros witnessed as his arms lifted out in front of him and the entire planet immediately disappeared into sparkling dust. Confused but unable to move, Savros could only watch. He looked out through his eyes and saw only the darkness of space. The stars began to move as Savros' body turned in place. Under and behind him, scattered across the inky backdrop, was his home planet, converted entirely to dust. As he watched, even the dust broke down into nothing. A few seconds later, there was no sign a planet had ever been there.

  Savros raged and fought against the rigid walls of his confinement. To no avail. The only effect it had was eliciting another volley of laughter from De'den'Dae.

  "I am the end of all things. You have the honor of baring witness to my glory."

  Savros watched in horror as De'den'Dae skipped his body across Living Space, instantly transporting from one system to the next. De'den'Dae was enjoying himself thoroughly. Sometimes he would go down to the planet and wipe out all the life he found before wiping away the planet itself. Other times he would wave Savros' hand and wipe away entire star systems at once.

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  The next day Savros watched as De'den'Dae wiped the Center from existence. As De'den'Dae Surveyed his handiwork, Savros realized there were no stars to be seen in half of Living Space.

  Over the course of three days, De'den'Dae, in Savros' body, wiped out every system, destroyed every star, and left nothing, not even destruction, in his wake. At the end of the third day, Savros found himself looking down on the pyramid of the First World. Which, as far as he could tell, was now the last world. With his body slowly spinning in space, Savros could observe no stars or anything at all to break up the uniform darkness.

  De'den'Dae laughed again, "Ah, fulfillment is grand. This was worth the wait." The darkness contained in De'den'Dae's voice was far beyond that of space itself.

  Something was changing in his head. As De'den'Dae laughed and spoke, Savros could feel the walls holding him begin to weaken. He could feel his body again and the energy swirling around inside him. The space in his head had grown enough that he was no longer trapped in the corner of his mind.

  Thrusting his consciousness forward, he smashed through the final weakened barrier in his mind. His consciousness flooded forth, reclaiming its rightful home. De'den'Dae had emerged and taken over at a highly chaotic moment, the moment of his death. But after being trapped in his own mind for days and after watching De'den'Dae destroy everything that had ever been, he was in a different state of mind.

  Savros' consciousness flooded into his mind, mixing with De'den'Dae as the energy tried to vacate his body. Rather than pushing it out, Savros used his own energy to increase the speed of the vortex. Faster and faster, he spun, the vortex of energy inside him. He pushed the energy into the same corner he'd been trapped in. Still increasing the rate of the vortex, he kept pushing the energy into the corner. Tighter and tighter and faster and faster. Savros pulled De'den'Dae firmly back into his body and crushed him into a fully walled-off corner of his mind.

  De'den'Dae laughed at him again. His voice sounded far away and weak. "You can't contain me. I am infinite, unlimited, uncontainable."

  Savros could hear him but paid him no attention. The energy was still coming in; he was still packing more into that corner. When it finally stopped, he knew he couldn't contain it and that no matter what, this much energy would kill him if he used it. Unsure of what to do, he thought back to his uncle, always teaching him how to take care of himself, and his father teaching him to help others and his mother. His mother always had time for anyone and never used harsh words towards others. Polly, who had his back from the moment they met, and Jaen, who would always help those who needed it, and Shin, the most incredible A.I. in existence and a true friend. All he could think was, "They deserve better."

  Floating alone, except for De'den'Dae raging in the background of his mind, Savros turned to survey what was once his home, what was once Living Space. The idea of everyone everywhere being gone was too painful. De'den'Dae was growing louder in his mind, and Savros could feel that eventually, De'den'Dae would overpower him again.

  He didn't know what else to do, so he held the faces of his friends and family in his mind while the tears froze and drifted off his face. Savros summoned all of his strength, every bit of his energy, and with one word released all of himself, and as the blast was already starting, he opened his mind and poured all of De'den'Dae into it, fueling it with infinite tryptic energy.

  A light appeared above Savros' head. An instant later, the light expanded to fill all of Living Space. Savros could no longer feel his body and could no longer sense De'den'Dae at all. The swirling vortex of energy was gone. All that was left was light.

  As the light faded, Savros' limp body drifted alone, unprotected, in the vacuum of space. The light extinguished, and all was dark again. Savros could feel his body and was surprised he felt no pain. "I must be dead." He thought.

  Alone in the darkness of space, Savros closed his eyes, prepared to give in to death. He'd already lost everything and everyone important to him. Then he'd lost everyone and everything that was ever important to anyone. His death was a fitting end to this nightmare.

  Alone in the cold, inky blackness of space, he felt warmth on the side of his face. He opened his eyes and saw a star to his right, where moments before, there was only darkness. He looked around. As his eyes adjusted, more and more stars illuminated the darkness.

  A wave of energy rushed past him as countless new stars twinkled into view.

  Savros floated alone in space, gazing lovingly at the countless stars twinkling at him in thanks from all across living space.