The Void.
That was what the inhabitants of this layer tended to call it. As they were few and far between, it was a well-accepted term.
One of these inhabitants was Gog. Gog was a being with immense power- not far off from that of a god.
But Gog was not a god. They were a Gog.
And Gogs tend to be very… animalistic. Granted, there is but one, though this only proves my point further.
Gog, out of the exactly one Gogs in existence, was certainly the most feral. They lived in plain sight, shifting between dimensions at will. Whenever Gog exited the Void, anyone unlucky enough to see Gog and willingly acknowledge their existence would likely never see their families again.
Or anything.
Because they’d be dead.
Gog did not like being looked at, and this was but one of their many issues. They also sported an unsettling gaping mouth, disheveled ears, stiff limbs, and less-then-average eyesight.
But, like, their tendency to kill dudes on the spot was more than likely the most glaring example of bad behavior.
For the most part, Gog’s attitude went unchecked. The few regular inhabitants of the void were very well-spread, and felt fit to simply ignore Gog’s antics and their existence in general.
Almost all of them, that is.
Today, Gog was looking down at the pile of mushy ashes that he had just created. Mushy ashes exist apparently, and they were super gross.
These ashes had formerly been Gasparo, a homeless Mario knockoff who’d lived in infamy for about 15 minutes before the joke got old and he was subsequently kicked into the street and ran over a few times.
After he spent all his remaining money on the expensive medical bills, he was forced to live in box and beg. Until, of course, Gog had walked by.
Gog stopped looking at the pile of useless, grainy rubble and was about to return to their daily walking-around-creepily-and-aimlessly before a voice stopped them.
“Hey.”
Gog stood still. For a brief second, they almost seemed to recognize the voice, but quickly put such thoughts aside. They wanted to be ignored, and this new person was making it difficult.
Gog turned around slowly. Standing several yards behind him was a red anthropomorphic dragon.
Gog did not recognize the backwards-jutting spines on the dragon’s head, nor his outrageously angular snout. This was a completely new face to them.
Minus the eyes.
Had it not been for this being’s eyes, Gog may have been convinced that this person did not know who they were. But Gog was not braindead. In fact, even if they had not previously met, Gog would still have two separate universes full of knowledge telling him who this person was why they weren’t who they seemed.
The “stranger” grimaced. “Is it that obvious? It’s the eyes, isn’t it.”
Gog was silent.
“Damn it, it’s always the eyes that give it away. I need to start wearing, like, sunglasses or something.”
The dragon’s eyes were completely black, with the slightest of white pinpricks in the center supposedly serving as pupils. They were, indeed, very obviously unique.
Gog was not in the mood for this. In their opinion, this was a waste of their time.
Also Gog really did not like this person and was very much not interested in talking to them.
The dragon flicked his eyes downwards slightly. “Aw, c’mon, don’t be like that…”
Gog had been silently directing raw energy into their paw, but quickly hid the offending appendage behind their back.
The dragon rubbed his forehead in his hand. “Well don’t try to hide it now, I’ve already seen it.”
Gog looked away.
“Oh my god, you’re literally acting like a child.” The dragon crossed his arms in disappointment. “I know you’re not the most… civil being in the multiverse, but I expect better from you, Gog.”
Gog’s head whipped back towards him and their hand came back out to play, wildly flinging a Disc Of Extreme Power at the dragon.
“Woah!” The dragon shifted to the side, watching the Disc Of Extreme Power fly past and explode several hundred feet behind him.
“Alright, geez, sorry.” The dragon looked back at Gog. “I expect better from you, ‘Gog’.”
Gog did not attempt to vaporize the reptile again, a clear sign of approval. The dragon sighed impatiently.
“Alright, before I get sidetracked and complain about your tendency to throw a fit whenever someone doesn’t put the extra inflection on your name, I need to talk to you.”
The dragon took a step forward. Gog took a step back.
This continued for a while.
After a few hundred yards of nothing happening, the dragon put his clawed hand over his face and sighed.
“Look, are we gonna do this the easy way, or…?”
Gog did not respond.
Instead, they took another step back.
The irritated winged being clenched his fists. “Alright wise guy, I’m as powerful as you, so don’t you go starting nothin’.”
Gog’s answer consisted of another step ba-WHACK! The dragon suddenly slipped forward, faster than a mouse that just found a box of Fun Dip, and socked Gog right in their vacant, vaguely discomforting face!
Gog slid back a couple feet, but was left mostly unharmed. That is, before they were grabbed around their barely-existent neck and hoisted clean of the ground by the dragon’s outstretched claw, woah dude!!!! This is some intense stuff right here man, I’m sweating bullets just writing this. This is some crazy business if I do say so myself.
I say so. This is some crazy business.
The dragon narrowed his super-black eyeballs, like, SUPER black eyeballs and tightened his grip.
“Look, Gog, despite what the last twenty minutes may have suggested, I’m not here to mess around and play hopscotch or whatever. My patience is dwindling. With you, and with the effort it’s taking to keep this body stable.”
Gog continued to be absolutely nonplussed.
“You’re gonna listen to me, and you’re gonna listen good, y’hear?” The dragon flung his non-choking arm out to the side. “Your goofy, lovable, murdery antics have been causing a crapton of issues around here, and I don’t just mean the deaths of dozens of random-ass innocent people.”
The dragon leaned in closer.
“And believe me, the fact that I have to say that is already upsetting.”
The dragon held Gog out a little further away from him and gestured around to the Void.
“You see this dimension? It’s really close to the most highly populated layer, meaning that a good many things in one dimension affect the other.” He turned and pointed at a nearby office building. For example, these buildings are only tangible because they’ve been standing long enough in the adjacent layer.”
Gog stared at the dragon with his big ol’ eyes.
“Now, I know what you’re trying to communicate to me with those big ol’ eyes. You’re wondering where in The Fan’s name you fit into all this, yeah?”
The pile of burnt Gasparo, though previously thought to never again be relevant ever, suddenly found itself being pointed at by a pointy dragon finger. The rubble, had it been alive at the time, might have been offended.
Because pointing is rude.
“That’s where. You’ve been so careless with the direction your energy takes, you’ve been seriously messing things up over in the other dimension! Random explosions, mysterious disappearances, a new urban legend consisting of, well, you…”
The dragon turned back to Gog, who was still complacent in his tight grip.
“Are you starting to get the picture, Gog? These people aren’t even supposed to know that you exist, and I’ve found six webpages and twenty-two blogs devoted to what the community’s calling a “Goghunt”. This is a major issue and you aren’t even trying to make anything better!”
Gog suddenly went rigid in the dragon’s grasp.
“What, what did I- oh no.”
Gog’s eyes began to gleam with the light provided by a thousand suns, all of which were severely offended.
“Okay no, it doesn’t count because I said it as part of another word and not your na-“
Gog threw their limbs out in every direction and an explosion of light and energy erupted from their center, throwing the entirely misunderstood dragon backwards.
“OW god geez man- OH NO I am not taking part in one of your entirely-too-destructive temper tantrums! Don’t you even start!”
Gog started.
“NOOOO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”
The starting continued.
“I will literally demist you, Gog. This is unacceptable, dude.”
Gog turned towards the disgruntled dragon, eyes glowing brightly and muscles tensed.
Raising their arms above them, Gog conjured a beam of pure energy and launched it towards their unwilling opponent.
Dodging the blast, the dragon glanced angrily at Gog. “Well, smart guy, If that’s how it’s gonna be, I guess I have no choice.”
Gog’s mouth moved slightly, stopping the dragon in his tracks.
“…”
The dragon’s expression grew apprehensive.
“Yyyyyyyooooooooouuuuuuu…”
The dragon’s eyes widened.
“Yyyyyyyyoooooooooouuuuuuu fffooooooolll…”
The dragon’s eye twitched. This was going to be a bit more complicated than he thought.