Tale of Abaki

Tale of Abaki was a short story by Greg Farshtey. It was written as a sequel to Spiral of Ingestion. However, it was never published due to the Boncle series being canceled. Greg later disclosed the details of the story in an online Q/A form.

Chapter 1
The first chapter follows two young Boncles, Johnathan A. Baki and Gregory A. Baki. This chapter introduces them and their personalities. They are shown to be very adventurous, always venturing out further than their parents say they should. This chapter shows many snippets of different adventures they had had throughout their lives.

Chapter 2
This chapter focuses on a specific adventure of the two young Boncles. They venture deep down into a cave. There they find a large room with two swords chained to rocks, each on an opposite side of the room. Each of the two decides to take a sword for himself. As soon as they picked up the swords, they each felt a strange sense of attachment to the blade. They took the swords home and held on to them the rest of the day, even going to sleep while gripping the swords. That night, both had strange dreams. Gregory received a vision of a dark figure, telling him it was his destiny to use the power of his sword to bring destruction and darkness upon the universe, and eventually, bring the end of all things. Johnathan received a vision of a glowing figure, telling him it was his destiny to be the bearer of light, to use the power of his sword to help all lifeforms throughout the universe, and to eventually save the universe from annihilation.

Chapter 3
Neither Jonathan nor Gregory thought much of the dreams they had the previous night, and went about their day as normal. However, they both kept their sword close to them at all times. Despite ignoring their first dream, the two continued to receive visions. Eventually, they learned of The Great Ingestion, a process in which The Great One will eventually ingest the entire universe. Gregory is told that this is why he must destroy the universe first. Since The Great One cannot be defeated directly, the only option is to destroy everything, as with nothing left to ingest, The Great One will be starved. Johnathan is told that he must do good throughout the universe and build up power and reputation, and, eventually, with the power and will of the whole universe backing him, he will be able to stop The Great One and save the universe from ingestion.

Chapter 4
After their latest visions, Jonathan and Gregory realize that it is all true, and finally decide to confide in each other. They realize their goals are polar opposites and that it is their destiny to one day fight each other for the fate of the universe. The brothers had already formed a very strong bond, but they knew they could not allow themselves to grow any closer, as it would only make their inevitable confrontation all the more painful, and would distract them from their ultimate goals. So the brothers decide it is for the best that they part ways.

Chapter 5
This chapter shows the exploits of each of the brothers, as they learn to use the power of their swords better and grow more and more powerful. They travel across the world, Gregory leaving a trail of destruction wherever he goes, and Johnathan helping anyone he can along the way. Eventually, they each built up enough power to forge armor that grants them divine power. They then take flight and begin patrolling the universe.

Chapter 6
As the bringer of destruction, Gregory has gained the power to control the Winds of the Void. He creates great space vortexes that destroy entire star systems. As the bringer of peace, Johnathan gains the power to control the Light of Creation. He travels around, bringing world peace to many planets across the galaxy, and using his light to restore what has been lost. However, the brothers are going out of their way to never meet. Their connection is still too strong, and they are putting off their confrontation for as long as possible.

Chapter 7
This chapter cuts to Hell, and shows Grevolus, who had been trapped there, along with the Abaki Sword. It is revealed that he has been using the great power of the Abaki Sword to control parts of reality. He had planned out the destinies of Gregory and Johnathan, and used the Abaki Sword to forge a connection with them so that he could influence them along the way. However, after being in Hell for so long, Grevolus had gone completely insane. His mind has broken into two. Each side of himself created the destiny for each Baki brother, and his two halves were constantly at war within his mind. The only thing they had in common was contempt for The Great One, and the desire for revenge, since The Great One was the one who had sent Grevolus to Hell. That is why each side of his mind created a different plan for defeating The Great One.

Chapter 8
In this chapter, it is shown that Gregory and Johnathan have reached intergalactic levels of power. The chapter shows the first intergalactic journey of each Boncle in tandem, as they traverse the great space between galaxies for the first time. As they traverse the vast expanse, they receive visions from Grevolus (though they do not yet know the source of the visions). They are told that they are almost ready to complete their missions. They receive instructions on what they have to do next.

Chapter 9
The chapter opens with Gregory arriving at the core of the universe. He has now amassed enough dark power to corrupt the core, thereby destroying all the universe and starving The Great One. As he is staring into the core, contemplating all he has done and what he is about to do, Johnathan arrives. From helping others he has amassed enough positive energy to meld with the core, gaining its power, and becoming powerful enough to fight The Great One head-on. This is the first time the brothers have met face-to-face since they left home all those years ago. They try to argue with each other, to convince the other that what they are trying to do is wrong, but deep down, they both know it cannot be done. They had both come too far to turn back now. They had committed to their missions. So their only option now is to fight.

Chapter 10
The chapter depicts many fight scenes between Gregory and Johnathan. The fight is long and difficult for both sides. Eventually, Johnathan emerges victorious. As he stands over the defeated Gregory, he receives a vision telling him to finish off his brother. He refuses and heads for the core. As he touches it, knowledge of the universe fills his mind. It is too much for him to handle, but as he struggles to resist it, to consume the orb before it consumes him, another vision strikes, but this time it was different. The power of the core redirected the vision and allowed Johnathan to peer into Grevolus. He learns the story of Grevolus, and how he has been using the Abaki Sword to manipulate him and his brother since they were children. He knows that of course, Grevolus is right, that The Great One must be stopped, but now knowing the truth of the Abaki deck and its relation to the cause of the Great Ingestion, he becomes confused, then enraged. He realizes that Grevolus is, in fact, the cause, and this realization fills him with the determination to fully absorb the core. After absorbing the core, he goes to his brother to tell him what he has learned. However, Gregory is not very receptive to the information. Johnathan then realizes that it is the power of the core that has allowed him to break free of Grevolus' control. He then shares the power of the core with Gregory, allowing him to break free as well. They then decide to head to Hell and teach Grevolus that they are not his puppets. However, while the core allowed them to break free of the control of Grevolus, the connection with him couldn't be severed. Johnathan uses this connection to find the location of Grevolus, and he sets out together with Gregory to confront him.

Chapter 11
This chapter opens with Grevolus in a panic. He had led Gregory and Johnathan to the one thing powerful enough to resist the Abaki Sword. He had inadvertently taught his puppets to break free, and now his plans for revenge were falling apart. The brothers then arrive and give Grevolus one chance to explain himself. However, Grevolus is completely insane, and his explanation just sounds like mad rambling to the brothers, so they use their combined powers to fight him. Grevolus fights back against the two, but even with the power of the core, they struggle to fight him. The core may have been powerful enough to nullify the influence of the Abaki Sword's spell, but its attacks in person were a different story. The Abaki Sword is an extremely powerful artifact, and a more skilled and sane wielder of the sword may have been able to fight back more effectively, and the brothers use this to their advantage to land one major blow to the sword. This hit wouldn't do much to the sword, however, since Grevolus tied his soul to it in a similar way to that which he controlled the brothers, it and this caused the attack to reverberate back at him. This inadvertently shatters Grevolus' connection with the brothers and sends a wave of energy throughout the room, afflicting all three Boncles. This wave hits Grevolus hard enough that he gets sent to Double Hell, bringing the Abaki Sword with him, as it is still bound to his soul.

Chapter 12
The chapter opens with Grevolus in double hell, it is revealed that the shattering of his connection with the Abaki Sword has caused him to regain his sanity. He ponders the events that have happened and thinks back to the past. It is revealed the true reason as to why he stole the Abaki Deck. Grevolus was not happy with the state of the world and felt that The Great One had neglected the universe. He planned to use the deck to replace The Great One so he could end racism once and for all. However, The Great One figured out where Grevolus fled to quicker than he expected, causing him to panic and turn the Abaki Deck into a Sword to defend himself. He ponders what to do next.

Chapter 13
This chapter opens back with the Baki brothers. They are pondering what to do next. They know they still need to stop The Great One, but they realize both of their plans were flawed. Destroying the universe is too extreme just to stop the Great One. After all, what would they be saving? Furthermore, the Great One could just create a new universe to ingest most likely. They also realized that even the power of the Core of the Universe would not be nearly enough to stop the Great One. So they needed to formulate an entirely new plan. With Grevolus banished to the depths of Double Hell, they were the most powerful beings in the universe after the Great One himself, so they knew it was up to them to stop Him and save all things from ingestion.

Trivia

 * As this story has never been published or released officially, it is unknown whether it is currently counted as canon, though most fans consider it to be canonical.