As he traveled to Node 4, holding himself together against the forces of nothing that threatened to absorb his being into it, Lêgba collected his many iterations, drawing many of them against their will. It was easy for his iterations to believe in their autonomy, Lêgba had made them to believe they were him so that they would be as thorough and curious in their travels as he would have been. Reuniting with his iterations made him feel more whole than he has felt in a long time and he realizes the powers that had been dampened by his splitting. He arrived to Node 4 faster than he would have if he had not been collecting himself.
He located the Paradise universe by feeling for the psychic pillar that Ogi emits to all of her allies. Lêgba had encountered Ogi outside of her home universe and he’d followed her psychic energy across the multiverse until he found Paradise and experienced the wonder of it.
After watching the destruction ravaging the Sad Universe, Paradise was a welcome sight to Lêgba. He enjoyed feeling inside of Paradise, and he thinks that it is almost as wondrous as the Fonlands. Each time he traveled there, he was surprised that it was as beautiful as his memory of it, and actually exceeded his memory. The worlds he passed as he traveled to the world where Ogi resided were each unique and it seemed that nearly every planet was inhabited by a different race of sentient being. Paradise as a universe truly lived up to its name.
When he arrived at Paradise Earth, he traveled to the continent on the south pole and passed through the invisible barrier that made it seem that the south pole was uninhabited. When he passed through the barrier, he saw the extremely technologically advanced civilization of the Ascendant. The temperature inside of the barrier was much more comfortable than the cold beyond it, and the city inside of the barrier seemed larger than the barrier was capable of containing. There were many spires of stone that stretched high into the sky, and many of them were covered with vines and blooming flowers of many colors. The entirety of the city showcased the juxtaposition of highly advanced technology and the natural world, and Lêgba thought it captured the nature of the beings known as the Ascendant who looked like bipedal Earther deer with deep red fur and elaborate wings and antlers that were unique to each individual. The Ascendant were very secretive, but very welcoming to friends, and Lêgba had been enthusiastically welcomed since his first visit to the south pole of Paradise Earth.
He traveled to the Top building with the highest spire in the city, and he was escorted to the office of Neu-Brosme 77, who was speaking with her idol of Ogi that was carved into the shape of large mushroom.
“I told you he would be here soon,” the idol of Ogi said, and it glowed neon green as it spoke.
“What brings you here, Vodun?” Neu-Brosme 77 asked. She was the leader of the Ascendant, duly elected by the other Ascendent.
“There is something horrible draining existences of the multiverse, leaving them suspended and unable to complete their life cycles,” Lêgba explained. “I saw the thing, or things, that are doing it. It is violent and bizarrely beautiful at the same time, like a spider’s web.”
“You have seen the Pito at work?” the Ogi idol asked with surprise. “We have had trouble finding them, only the devastation in their wake. Where did you see the spider’s web?”
“On Node 3,” Lêgba said and the Ogi statue went silent.
“She is probably probing the multiversal structure the way she does. What did the Pito look like?” Neu-Brosme asked.
“I don’t know what you are asking me,” Lêgba admitted. “All I saw were warriors of stark black, and webbing of stark white that stretched the cosmos. What are the Pito?”
“The harbingers of the end,” Neu-Brosme said. “They would descend on our universe if not for Ogi. You have come to the right place. She will have some means of dealing with them.”
Lêgba nodded and hoped that she was right. But soon, the Ogi idol spoke and Lêgba was worried for the first time in a long time.
“There is a suspended universe on Node 3,” the Ogi idol said. “It is beyond help. And no sign of the Pito. How did you find them, Lêgba?”
“I was collecting my iterations and I felt something strange from a universe so I went inside to investigate.”
“Until we are able to determine how they choose their targets,” the Ogi idol said with disappointment in its voice, “there is nothing that we can do. We are powerless, and we will watch many more universes grind to a halt while we are helpless to save anyone. The entire multiverse is in danger.”
Lêgba shook his head. He had a bad feeling about everything.
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