7176 GSY (Galactic Standard Year) Within nearly every universe that has stars there will inevitably be black holes that form from those aged stars. On occasion the black holes will create a substance from their dark matter and this substance can be flung through the cosmos. This dark matter substance will collide with anything blocking its path. No destruction is caused by this collision but this will start a process within the portion of dark matter. After a period of time creatures called Umbrexes will be "born" from this dark matter. One such portion of dark matter "birthed" 73 Umbrexes, one of these Umbrexes was Ophira. All Umbrexes are born with a different flaw, some are minor flaw and some could be extreme. In Ophira's case she was born without an inate understanding of her emotions. As she explored the cavern she was born in everything was confusing to her. She didn't understand what fear was when face to face with vicious creatures, she didn't understand many things of a similar nature. But her fellow Umbrex siblings helped her out since many of them did wish to leave the cavern. After a few months some of the Umbrexes decided to stay in or around the caverns and others decided to explore far from the caverns. Ophira decided to leave the cavern and explore as the other Umbrexes told her how much more free you are outside than cooped up in a cave. Despite how confused Ophira was about the emotions she was feeling she still wanted to figure things out on her own. The young Umbrex wandered for days until she happened upon a village of anthropomorphic insects. This insect village was kind and inviting to the Umbrex. A widowed and childless mantis female spotted Ophira and viewed her as a child. "Excuse me," the mantis said, "are you lost young one?" Not knowing how to speak yet Ophira simply shook her head no. The mantis' pink and blue coloration was appealing to Ophira for some inexplicable reason so she happily approached the insect. Once the Umbrex was close to the mantis she picked up Ophira and held her close. This embrace seemed comforting to Ophira and even without knowing about the action she mimicked the embrace. The bug smiled and gazed down into Ophira's eyes as she carried the Umbrex into her home. The Mantis, Tirima Namira, came to act as an adoptive mother to the Umbrex and named her Ophira. Tirima quickly learned that despite Ophira's size she wasn't simply an infant, however the Umbrex was still like a young child. Tirima taught Ophira all of what a parent would teach their child, she taught Ophira to speak, how to make clothes, and taught her survival skills as the world around them was somewhat dangerous. Ophira's childhood was difficult, mostly on account of her current inability to understand emotions. This was something Tirima needed to spend time and care teaching Ophira the nature of emotions. It took a long time, but the Umbrex started to understand at the very least the basics of emotions. 7195 GSY For 19 years Ophira lived with Tirima, the Umbrex had grown taller and curvier as she aged. Since the bodies of Umbrexes usually grow to mimic the people they are exposed to, she naturally grew to have the same figure of Tirima. At this age she felt it was time to set out on her own. Tirima was saddened by this, but she was also happy to have been given the opportunity of being a loving mother to someone. "Mom," Ophira said in a sad tone, "thank you for everything. I just feel it's time for me to explore this vast world." With tears in her eyes Tirima hugged Ophira closely. "I know Ophira," she says as tears dripped onto Ophira's shoulder, "I'm sad to see you go, but I know I can't keep you here forever. Please stay safe out there Ophira... I'll miss you." Despite not crying Ophira was feeling the same sorrow as Tirima. "I'll miss you too mom," Ophira says as she wipes the tears off of her mother's face, "I'll be sure to visit you once in a while." After saying their good byes to one another Ophira heads out of her home village and sets off to discover what the world had to offer. 7197 GSY Being an Umbrex Ophira naturally had a large amount of power. As she lived her life and explored her home planet, as well as other planets, her power began to grow more and more. As her power grew however she began to lose herself, she visited her mother Tirima less and less as she was too focused on becoming stronger... Before long this power corrupted the Umbrex and caused her to develop a god complex. In Ophira's mind those around her were beneath her and because of this she demanded their loyalty. Since the feeling of pleasure she received from this exceeded any negative feelings she was experiencing. At this point Ophira had enough powers that she was able to teleport between galaxies and even between universes. The planet she started usurping wasn't her home, but it made no difference to her where she was since in her mind it was all hers. A village was her first step and it easily fell to her will. More and more villages submitted to her demands, however some did not. Ophira wasn't going to be deterred however as she would simple become a giant to this village, stab her sharp fingers into the perimeter of the village and threatened to crush them all if they didn't bow to her. Needless to say this threat worked and before long an entire country had fallen to her rule... 7207 GSY Countries led to continents, which led to planets, then galaxies and before long an entire universe. Nothing was enough for the horror that Ophira was becoming, even an entire universe under her control wasn't enough. Two universes, then four, seven and eventually fourteen. In ten years Ophira had become a demented dominant force controlling a tiny portion of the multiverse, and even still she set her sights on the next universe. A fifteenth was next for the Umbrex and a fifteenth she aimed to coerce in much the same way as the previous fourteen. By this point Ophira had become attuned to various methods to speed up the process of overtaking these universes given the previous five universes fell to Ophira in just over a year. This universe however, even after three days of trying, Ophira hadn't made ANY progress. It turned out this universe was under the control of some one else, someone named Somaro. These three days only served to anger Ophira as her threats became increasingly harsh to the citizens of this universe. She never went so far as to kill anyone, but her rage still caused injury to many of those that opposed her in the name of Somaro. Seven days... For seven days Ophira tried, and for seven days she failed. Her rage had hit its limit and she was completely blinded by anger. She exited this universe and grew massive enough to grasp the universe in her left hand. She glared at the universe in pure rage... "If you do not wish to bow to me," she thought to herself, "then you will bow to no one." The enraged Umbrex then grasped down on the barrier of this obstinate universe and with a combination of the crushing force of her hand and a surge of energy she destroyed the entire universe... and obliterated nearly everything within it... Ophira opened her hand and looked at the remaining debris, all that remained was trace amounts of space dust and lingering energy, there was no more life... Ophira shrank herself back to her normal size and teleported back to the planet she currently called home. After walking a few steps a sensation began to rack Ophira's body and mind, with this destructive action she began to experience immense guilt and grief. The pain was so great she couldn't walk, she couldn't stand, all she could do was writhe in pain on the ground. The pain was so great Ophira began to vomit dark matter fluids which poured out of the eyeholes of her helmet-like skull. "I... I feel like I'm dying..." Ophira said aloud for no one to hear. Ophira's guilt was so intense that it made her black out. After several hours Ophira awakened and looked around. "What... what have I done?" she said softly as she buried her face in her hands. When she removed her hands from her face she saw something standing in front of her. A pitch black shadowy creature that looked similar to Ophira, however it had what one would call a pure evil appearance. "Who... who are you?" Ophira said looking at the apparition. "I am that which you have become." the apparition said. "I don't want this..." Ophira said to the shadowy creature. "It doesn't matter," the apparition said, "there is nothing you can do to undo what has been done." "I know..." Ophira said in a distressed tone, "and even if I had the power to undo it... it would be wrong to do so..." "Why?" the apparition said in a flat tone. "Because... if I could undo what I have done, I would only be proving that I think of myself as a god... I don't want that anymore..." "What about all of the universes you have under our control?" the apparition said inquisitively, "You realize what happens if you simply give up control of them? The resulting power vacuums?" "I know..." Ophira said in a dejected tone, "But... I wasted years of my life taking over these universes, then I deserve the punishment of wasting more years of my life properly freeing them." "What about your mother?" the apparition said. Ophira shivered and looked away for a moment. She then looked back at the apparition and sighed, "Mom... She... I... I have to tell her... She needs to know what I have done..." "Aren't you afraid?" the apparition said as it approached Ophira. "Afraid?" Ophira said meekly, "No... I am terrified... I... I don't want her to hate me, although, I wouldn't blame her if she did. But... I want to do that first, I want to... no... I NEED to tell her what I have done..." Ophira looked away from the apparition, and when she looked back it was gone. Before visiting Tirima Ophira changed her clothes from the "evil god" attire she was wearing into something more casual for her. She also created a blue circular mark on the palm of her left hand to forever remind herself of what she had done. Once that was done she teleported back to her original home planet just outside of her home village and walked inside. Ophira became increasingly anxious the closer she got to her mother's home. She couldn't even enter right away once she had arrived outside of her childhood home. After standing at Tirima's front door for a moment Ophira softly knocks on the door, "Mom, are you home?" Ophira said softly. "Oh," Tirima exclaimed from inside, "yes I am, please come in Ophira." The Umbrex slowly and nervously opened the door then proceeded to enter her childhood home. "H-hi mom..." Oprhia said trying not to sound too distressed, "I... I'm sorry I haven't visited in so long..." "No no, it's okay Ophira." Tirima said in a comforting tone, "Five years, ten years, it doesn't matter, the fact you visited is what is important." They soon sat down at a table across from one another. "Ophira, is something bothering you?" Ophira fidgets a little as she looked at her mother. "I guess you can see right through me..." Ophira said, "But you are my mother so I guess it makes sense." she sighs deeply, "Mom... I have... I... I have done something terrible..." "Oh... I-I see..." Tirima said a little saddened, "Well Ophira, I am more than willing to listen. Please tell me what you have done and please take all the time you need." Ophira was silent for a moment, but eventually she worked up the nerve to tell her mother what she had done. Ophira spoke of her development of power, her god complex, her controlling of universes, and then... "Then... I grew large enough to grasp this universe in my hand... I... I glared down at it..." As Ophira said all this she was looking down at the blue mark she put on the palm of her hand. She began to shake and soon felt something coming out of her eyes and drip onto the inside of her helmet-like skull. Ophira then grabbed her skull and phased her head through it and tossed it aside as she buried her face into her hands. Ophira knew the feeling of sadness but she had never truly cried before, she was even unsure if she was able to. But recounting the tale of what she had done had driven the Umbrex to tears before her mother. "O-Ophira..." Tirima said as she stood up, walked over to Ophira and placed her hand on the Umbrex's cheek. "I'll never turn you away, I'm here to listen Ophira..." As Ophira pulled her face out of her hands Tirima wiped the cloudy black tears off of Ophira's face. "Mom..." Ophira says as she looks Tirima in the eyes, "I... I destroyed that entire universe..." The whole room was quiet... "Ophira... I can tell you feel immense sorrow from what you have done, and I can see why you were afraid to talk about this." Tirima paused for a moment, "You, you haven't done any more of this have you?" "No..." Ophira said not looking away from her mother's eyes, "I don't wish to kill any more, I don't want to control any more." "I believe you Ophira," Tirima said reassuringly, "I know you have no reason to lie to me. I know you are strong even when you were still living with me, and I know you are strong enough to resist falling into that temptation again. I know you are strong enough to make sure this never happens again." "Strong enough to make sure this never happens again." Ophira said in response as she put her helmet-like skull back on. "Strong enough to... That's it! Mom, I know what I can do. If I can develop a god complex and do what I did then other people could as well, I could prevent them from doing what I did." "You don't plan on killing these people do you Ophira?" Tirima asked. "No of course not," Ophira said, "as I said I don't wish to ever kill again. I just wish to help these people see the error of their ways since, well, I can speak from experience as to what someone can do if they take things too far." "That is true..." Tirima says, "I just ask you to be careful. If there are others as powerful as you or more powerful they may be dangerous. Not only to who they control but to you as well." "Of course," Ophira says with a nod, "I will certainly be careful as I do this." Ophira then stands up and lovingly hugs Tirima. "I... I can't thank you enough for being so understanding." Tirima smiles and lovingly hugs Ophira in return. "It's no problem at all Ophira. Seeing how you were acting showed me you didn't really want to continue being like that so I knew you wanted to do better." Ophira nods as they both sit back down. "Of course," Ophira says, "and I want to do better and be better. I will also try to visit more often. Now that I am no longer 'blinded' I should be able to come back for a visit." "Thank you Ophira." Tirima says happily, "Just don't feel obligated to visit." "No worries," Ophira said, "I won't force myself mom, but I do want to visit more often." "Thank you Ophira." With that the pair spoke of more happy things for a few hours. Ophira was more comfortable with herself and was happy to have a postive goal in life, a legitamate purpose to have this power. Knowing there could be others like her out there, and knowing she could prevent them from doing what she had done has given Ophira reason. After all, there was that Somara person, he was likely still out there, somewhere, and that was something that was on Ophira's mind. She knew she needed to find him, to find Somaro and tell him what she has done...