Chapter Text
You've heard of the story before. There once was an Ancient Hero by the name of Golden Cheese Cookie. Golden Cheese Cookie had god-like abilities thanks to a very powerful relic: the Soul Jam. She, like her comrades, wielded this Soul Jam and was destined to bring all Cookiekind an era of peace.
Well, after the Dark Flour War, Golden Cheese Cookie came back to find her kingdom as just crumbs. Every Cookie, every monument... gone. All because of Dark Enchantress Cookie and her forces. In a moment of desperation and grief, she created the Golden City, a virtual reality where everyone can be whoever they want to be and not have to worry about things like death. A place of regret.
Yet, a few brave Cookies found the Golden City and after a squabble with one of her followers, Golden Cheese Cookie promptly put the reality to rest, focusing her and the Cheesebirds' efforts on finding a way to bring her people back. However, a new force unfortunately arose during the time. The Beast Cookies.
After getting trapped with that same follower she had fought before in the Spice Ridge, she was curious as to how this new foe could handle her might. It turns out curiosity killed the cat, as Burning Spice Cookie, the former wielder of her Soul Jam, ripped off her wings and stole the Soul Jam right back before throwing her into a cage for his own sick entertainment. Yet, despite the returning grief, Golden Cheese Cookie didn't simply give up.
As she managed to escape his lackeys and him time and time again, she was shown to be a formidable foe to the Great Destroyer even without her Soul Jam. Yet, as she was crumbling, she felt as if despair and fear were finally catching up to her.
"WHERE IS YOUR RAGE!?" screamed Burning Spice Cookie as he slammed her against a wall with his halberd, the wall crumbling in an instant. As she slowly got up, you could hear the crumbs in her body cracking. Her face was filled with fear... and a need. A need to disconnect from reality and reawaken her beloved Golden City. Yet that... would be grave. She had already promised those brave Cookies she wouldn't do that! Besides, how could he reawaken her city when she was so far from it in the first place? Not to mention, he still had her Soul Jam...
"Hahahaha..." He laughed. "You're still fighting? I can see the Tides of Change coming to swallow you whole! You're crumbling... Your treasures are all on the line... And yet you still fight."
She said nothing.
"No sassy remark? I expected better from you, Golden Cheese Cookie."
Nothing. She was gripping her spear with anguish. Yet her pride...
The next thing he knew, the Soul Jam was back in her hands. Burning Spice Cookie was furious and ran forth to her, ready to slam her against the ground and bash her into nothing but atom-sized crumbs! And yet she stood her ground. As she quickly side-stepped from the attack, she purposefully touched it against his Soul Jam, reuniting both halves into the Virtue of Change.
For a moment, the entire world was silent. Not just from Golden Cheese Cookie's perspective. Not just from Burning Spice Cookie's perspective. The entire world fell in that moment. The two halves were never supposed to reunite. Not for Volition, Knowledge, Happiness, Solidary, and especially not Change. And yet, this sparked confidence within the Golden Sovereign, as she stared at the aftermath of it all. A world desecrated. All Cookies having crumbled. Even her friends.
Except for them.
Burning Spice Cookie reached for where his Soul Jam originally was, only to find it gone, a scar replacing the spot instead. Yet, in Golden Cheese Cookie's hair... there it was, a glistening blue. And her appearance was different, more futuristic and modern in design.
"... You..." He began, shock entering his expression like a wave. "... You destroyed everything ."
Silence. And then, a chortle. Turns into a laugh. Turns into a cackle.
"YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER CARED ABOUT!" He was smiling, his golden teeth seething in the light casted by the Soul Jam. "You've lost everything. I could've destroyed your closest allies and items, yet you did it for me! You and I... We are not so different."
...
"No."
She stepped forward, a futuristic spear forming in her hand.
"I didn't destroy everything and everyone. Even if I did, you forgot one detail."
"Oho, and what would that be, birdy?"
"I can simply bring them back."
"Are you crazy? No Cookie can bring back what's already crumbled."
Yet he was quickly proved wrong. As she slammed her spear head first into the ground of the Spice Ridge, everything became a neon grid. Suddenly, forming right behind her was Smoked Cheese Cookie. And Burnt Cheese Cookie. And Mozzarella Cookie. And her Cheesebirds. Burning Spice Cookie stared in shock and... horror. He was holding onto his halberd, yet he didn't try swinging it. He didn't even get up. The view of things being reanimated one by one... it mesmerized him.
"... Don't worry. They don't remember a thing." Golden Cheese Cookie steps forward and grabs him by the neck, holding him up off of the currently forming ground.
"... I shall build a new world, where no suffering exists. Pain, sadness, discrimination? All gone. Only happiness. And you're the only thing standing in my way." Her grip tightened, just like her gaze. "You shall be sealed into the very core of the world. Everyone, including those that I dare not recover, will be recovered with no memories and with different names. And you... you won't be awake to experience any of it."
"Wh... What? You can't do that. The Tide of Change will simply swallow it whole, like the rest of the world."
"I'll make sure it doesn't happen." And suddenly, Burning Spice Cookie felt himself being shocked to oblivion. Even as she let go of his throat and he dropped to the floor, even if he could still get up, all this pain jolted through his body. It almost reminded him that he too was eternal, forever. And she was right. He'd see the world change in her grand vision, yet he couldn't scream out the Truth, he couldn't get out of this restraining she had subjected him to. He was just... a vessel, a battery, one of the unlimited power sources to this new realm. And as his eyes closed, all he wishes is to show her that happiness cannot be achieved without suffering.
Thus, the world we live in now.
What if the perfect world existed? No suffering, no pain, no sadness… All is happy. All can be whoever they want to be. The world shall bask in Her Radiance’s glory forevermore in this world that she has thus built with only two hands. She too wishes to end all suffering, and has succeeded by making the world a virtual and endless city. Welcome to Her World, Her Domain. You can never get enough, you don’t have to crumble or cry any longer. For when the world doesn’t allow such impervious things, Change never touches it. Change… never ruins it .