Part Six: Destiny
![[Image: 8224907964_4497ee798e_c.jpg]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8224907964_4497ee798e_c.jpg)
With the assistance of the Dream Doctor's magic and the power of Prometheus, the process was remarkably quick. As Prometheus opened Cole to the power of the Well of the Furies, that power was focused on a complex nexus of being that was Rularuu. Ruladek, Uuralur, Kuularth, Chularn, Aloore, Lanaru, and Faathim, all shards of the Ascended being known as Rularuu were drawn into the maelstrom of power that was Marcus Cole. The incarnate potential of all humanity reached out and embraced the fractured god, melding the power of Rularuu and temporarily making the many into One. And within that One, Marcus Cole fought to maintain his being, his identity, his soul. A lesser man would have been consumed utterly, but Cole was no lesser man. He had survived much, witnessed much, set his mind on the greatest and most terrible acts any man had conceived. No one could dominate Rularuu, but Cole was able to become the voice of Rularuu, its focus. He became RulaCole, an infinte power guided by unlimited potential.
Cole thought he knew power. He had gained the power of Tartarus through the Well of the Furies, and eventually surpassed that by becoming a champion of the Well. He even managed to transcend that by becoming the Devourer of Souls. All that paled in comparison to the power he now wielded as RulaCole. With a thought he could lay waste to all of Paragon City; he could destroy his enemies in mere moments. What need did Rularuu have for the schemes of man? Rularuu would confront the Coming Storm and defeat them. Rularuu would...
Cole. He was Marcus Cole. Not Ruladek the Strong, pulverizer of his enemies. Ruladek would lay waste to the entire planet just to see the Battalion crushed beneath his boot. Cole would not destroy humanity, he would save it. He was their protector, their savior. He would bring them into the fold of Rularuu, extend the domain of the Shadow Shard to encompass the Earth, and spread its protective umbrella across the innocent of this world.
That was Faathim the Kind speaking, not Marcus Cole. Marcus Cole. This was the fate of Rularuu: in Ascending beyond mortal limits and gaining vast cosmic energies, his every thought teemed with power. His every inner voice became a juggernaut of force. Rularuu would not be denied. That which was Rularuu and sought to destroy his enemies would not be denied, not even by Rularuu himself. That which was Rularuu and sought to protect his people would not be denied, not even by Rularuu himself. With ultimate power came the ultimate sundering. With no voice preeminent, all voices had power. All voices became imbued with the power of Rularuu. Thus was born Ruladek, and Lanaru, and Faathim.
But though they all writhed in a titanic struggle for dominance that threatened to extinguish him, Marcus Cole discovered one small advantage. Though they were all separate, they were all also one. They were all Rularuu, their separate identities masking their common being. Marcus Cole was a part of Rularuu, but he was not Rularuu. He was separate. He had a unique identity the others lacked. And while they struggled against themselves they did so with the same will and the same reservoir of power. Cole had his own will. Cole had his own power: the power of potential tapped from the Well. It bound Rularuu together, but it was of Cole alone. Rularuu contained a power he could not possibly hope to match, but that power was set against itself. Cole commanded a power above the struggle, and with it he began to assert his own will upon Rularuu.
The Mender had called him insane, and perhaps it was true. Cole focused his will as no other human could, becoming a single dagger of purpose at the heart of Rularuu. As he did, all else fell away. Humanity, the Mender, the plan, even her. There was nothing but singular purpose. Eventually, he felt a shift as the other voices that were Rularuu were quelled. He was RulaCole, and Cole was the master.
Cole realized the Mender spoke the truth when he said this was not a permanent path to power. Cole could not long last against the almost infinite strength of the Voices of Rularuu. He could not long control the uncontrollable. As Rularuu himself lost to his powerful voices, so too would Cole eventually sucumb. The power necessary to control Rularuu would eventually fracture him as it did Rularuu. Singularity of purpose defined Marcus Cole, it was at the core of who he was. He would not allow himself to be fractured as Rularuu was. He had no choice but to continue with the Mender's plan. Exactly as he said he would be.
For the first time since the transformation, Cole extended his senses outward to perceive the world beyond the mind of Rularuu. The Dream Doctor was gone, as was Prometheus. They had left to fulfill their other tasks. Of course, RulaCole needed no assistance from them any longer. For a moment, Cole felt all the voices agree with him. His part in the plan was clear, as was all others. As RulaCole, he now saw the full tapestry of the scheme of the Mender, and even as RulaCole he acknowledged a hint of admiration. Soon, he would travel to the place known on Primal Earth as the Rikti War Zone. There RulaCole would begin the process of sealing this world from all others. This would bring the Battalion and their forces. Prometheus and the humans would have to engage them, draw them in. Timing would be critical. If the full might of the Battalion reached Earth, even the might of RulaCole might not turn them back, at least not without turning the Earth into ash. But they would have to allow the Battalion to get close enough for their advanced guard to reach the battle site, and the humans would have to hold them off until the end. One task remained. Someone would have to destroy the last tether this world had to all others: the Rikti portal. How ironic that for all its danger as a portal for an invading force, its threat now was as a mere piece of twine snagged onto the corner of reality that must be severed.
The effects of the task given to RulaCole would not be felt instantly. Rather than simply shattering this reality as Rularuu had done once before, RulaCole would now empower the Battalion's own emcompassing bubble to pinch Primal Earth from the rest of the multiverse. As that bubble collapsed around Primal Earth it would reach a critical point where the power RulaCole invested into it would trigger a potential detonation in reality, and if all went as planned Primal Earth would be cast off into Dreamspace. Once initiated, the process could not be stopped. But the Mender hoped that the Battalion would try anyway, expend their last days struggling against the very barrier they sought to wrangle humanity within while they drained it of incarnate potential. Earth would have a few days peace before the end.
And then, of course, there was the question of what the Battalion would face after the end. The barrier enclosed them all, but in its final moments it would transform only the reality of those attuned to the Well of the Furies and its potential. The Battalion would be left behind in a parallel bubble of reality, still trapped, but no longer a part of the reality of the new Primal Earth. That which was Cole would be absorbed by the transformation. What happened to Cole after that moment even RulaCole did not know for certain. Rularuu himself, freed from the influence of Marcus Cole and the Well of the Furies, would quickly return to his place of power, the Shadow Shard, the voices of the one becoming separate again.
There was, of course, one other entity not of Rularuu and not of the Well of the Furies which would be left behind. Deep within Rularuu, Cole heard the voice of Lanaruu the Mad laughing. And for the first time in decades Marcus Cole, emperor of Earth, found himself laughing as well.
With the assistance of the Dream Doctor's magic and the power of Prometheus, the process was remarkably quick. As Prometheus opened Cole to the power of the Well of the Furies, that power was focused on a complex nexus of being that was Rularuu. Ruladek, Uuralur, Kuularth, Chularn, Aloore, Lanaru, and Faathim, all shards of the Ascended being known as Rularuu were drawn into the maelstrom of power that was Marcus Cole. The incarnate potential of all humanity reached out and embraced the fractured god, melding the power of Rularuu and temporarily making the many into One. And within that One, Marcus Cole fought to maintain his being, his identity, his soul. A lesser man would have been consumed utterly, but Cole was no lesser man. He had survived much, witnessed much, set his mind on the greatest and most terrible acts any man had conceived. No one could dominate Rularuu, but Cole was able to become the voice of Rularuu, its focus. He became RulaCole, an infinte power guided by unlimited potential.
Cole thought he knew power. He had gained the power of Tartarus through the Well of the Furies, and eventually surpassed that by becoming a champion of the Well. He even managed to transcend that by becoming the Devourer of Souls. All that paled in comparison to the power he now wielded as RulaCole. With a thought he could lay waste to all of Paragon City; he could destroy his enemies in mere moments. What need did Rularuu have for the schemes of man? Rularuu would confront the Coming Storm and defeat them. Rularuu would...
Cole. He was Marcus Cole. Not Ruladek the Strong, pulverizer of his enemies. Ruladek would lay waste to the entire planet just to see the Battalion crushed beneath his boot. Cole would not destroy humanity, he would save it. He was their protector, their savior. He would bring them into the fold of Rularuu, extend the domain of the Shadow Shard to encompass the Earth, and spread its protective umbrella across the innocent of this world.
That was Faathim the Kind speaking, not Marcus Cole. Marcus Cole. This was the fate of Rularuu: in Ascending beyond mortal limits and gaining vast cosmic energies, his every thought teemed with power. His every inner voice became a juggernaut of force. Rularuu would not be denied. That which was Rularuu and sought to destroy his enemies would not be denied, not even by Rularuu himself. That which was Rularuu and sought to protect his people would not be denied, not even by Rularuu himself. With ultimate power came the ultimate sundering. With no voice preeminent, all voices had power. All voices became imbued with the power of Rularuu. Thus was born Ruladek, and Lanaru, and Faathim.
But though they all writhed in a titanic struggle for dominance that threatened to extinguish him, Marcus Cole discovered one small advantage. Though they were all separate, they were all also one. They were all Rularuu, their separate identities masking their common being. Marcus Cole was a part of Rularuu, but he was not Rularuu. He was separate. He had a unique identity the others lacked. And while they struggled against themselves they did so with the same will and the same reservoir of power. Cole had his own will. Cole had his own power: the power of potential tapped from the Well. It bound Rularuu together, but it was of Cole alone. Rularuu contained a power he could not possibly hope to match, but that power was set against itself. Cole commanded a power above the struggle, and with it he began to assert his own will upon Rularuu.
The Mender had called him insane, and perhaps it was true. Cole focused his will as no other human could, becoming a single dagger of purpose at the heart of Rularuu. As he did, all else fell away. Humanity, the Mender, the plan, even her. There was nothing but singular purpose. Eventually, he felt a shift as the other voices that were Rularuu were quelled. He was RulaCole, and Cole was the master.
Cole realized the Mender spoke the truth when he said this was not a permanent path to power. Cole could not long last against the almost infinite strength of the Voices of Rularuu. He could not long control the uncontrollable. As Rularuu himself lost to his powerful voices, so too would Cole eventually sucumb. The power necessary to control Rularuu would eventually fracture him as it did Rularuu. Singularity of purpose defined Marcus Cole, it was at the core of who he was. He would not allow himself to be fractured as Rularuu was. He had no choice but to continue with the Mender's plan. Exactly as he said he would be.
For the first time since the transformation, Cole extended his senses outward to perceive the world beyond the mind of Rularuu. The Dream Doctor was gone, as was Prometheus. They had left to fulfill their other tasks. Of course, RulaCole needed no assistance from them any longer. For a moment, Cole felt all the voices agree with him. His part in the plan was clear, as was all others. As RulaCole, he now saw the full tapestry of the scheme of the Mender, and even as RulaCole he acknowledged a hint of admiration. Soon, he would travel to the place known on Primal Earth as the Rikti War Zone. There RulaCole would begin the process of sealing this world from all others. This would bring the Battalion and their forces. Prometheus and the humans would have to engage them, draw them in. Timing would be critical. If the full might of the Battalion reached Earth, even the might of RulaCole might not turn them back, at least not without turning the Earth into ash. But they would have to allow the Battalion to get close enough for their advanced guard to reach the battle site, and the humans would have to hold them off until the end. One task remained. Someone would have to destroy the last tether this world had to all others: the Rikti portal. How ironic that for all its danger as a portal for an invading force, its threat now was as a mere piece of twine snagged onto the corner of reality that must be severed.
The effects of the task given to RulaCole would not be felt instantly. Rather than simply shattering this reality as Rularuu had done once before, RulaCole would now empower the Battalion's own emcompassing bubble to pinch Primal Earth from the rest of the multiverse. As that bubble collapsed around Primal Earth it would reach a critical point where the power RulaCole invested into it would trigger a potential detonation in reality, and if all went as planned Primal Earth would be cast off into Dreamspace. Once initiated, the process could not be stopped. But the Mender hoped that the Battalion would try anyway, expend their last days struggling against the very barrier they sought to wrangle humanity within while they drained it of incarnate potential. Earth would have a few days peace before the end.
And then, of course, there was the question of what the Battalion would face after the end. The barrier enclosed them all, but in its final moments it would transform only the reality of those attuned to the Well of the Furies and its potential. The Battalion would be left behind in a parallel bubble of reality, still trapped, but no longer a part of the reality of the new Primal Earth. That which was Cole would be absorbed by the transformation. What happened to Cole after that moment even RulaCole did not know for certain. Rularuu himself, freed from the influence of Marcus Cole and the Well of the Furies, would quickly return to his place of power, the Shadow Shard, the voices of the one becoming separate again.
There was, of course, one other entity not of Rularuu and not of the Well of the Furies which would be left behind. Deep within Rularuu, Cole heard the voice of Lanaruu the Mad laughing. And for the first time in decades Marcus Cole, emperor of Earth, found himself laughing as well.