Leviathan Canon: The Rending
Before the True End comes, Leviathans are normally effectively immortal. They may hibernate, they may be rendered unconscious, trapped (as such in Purgatory), or otherwise inhibited in their existence, but they will still continue to be until the Apocalypse.
However, a Leviathan CAN be ‘killed’ before this time, by a method known as RENDING. What to know about it:
RENDING is the act of one Leviathan’s void entering that of another, and essentially ripping them apart from the inside out.
To give a better imagination of it; black holes are created when a star goes supernova and implodes, but that implosion becomes unstable and creates a giant rift of space, enveloping that area and everything around it; becoming a black hole, which can be similarly compared to a Leviathan’s void, but one that is living and possessed of sentience.
RENDING reverses this event within the depths of the victim’s void. It creates another supernova, but from within, and effectively seals off the Leviathan’s void, until it is wiped from existence completely.
This can only be accomplished by other Leviathans, as it requires a voidsoul with which to do it with. The older, stronger and more experienced the Leviathan, the more powerful and effective their RENDING will be.
No Leviathan is immune to RENDING. If the attacking Leviathan is too weak, they will be destroyed instead. If not, the victim will suffer its effects.
RENDING is the singular most painful experience any Leviathan can endure. No agony, whether it be bodily harm or mental torture, can compare to the sheer torment that is RENDING; essentially being unmade and becoming unwhole, torn apart from the inside out.
Leviathans differentiate the term from usual common language, and will make it obvious if they are speaking about the act itself, because it is referred to as a noun ( ‘THE RENDING’ ), instead of a verb ( ‘rending, rend’ ). It is avoided spoken about in ‘civilized’ conversation, however; even the word, when spoken of in this specific context, makes all Leviathans uncomfortable, and causes a shiver of pain in their voids. On the rare occasion it is used, it is namely to make a point, and shock others.
A Rended Leviathan will be effectively wiped from existence. This is the purest form of death for Leviathans, but also the most painful, and it is looked upon with both fear and distaste by them; for Leviathans have a strong sense of camaraderie, and to murder one’s own is considered taboo.
It is not impossible for a Leviathan to return from THE RENDING; however, very few do. Less than fifty of the total Leviathan population has suffered THE RENDING, and the number of those that have returned from it is in the single digits.
The great difficulty of returning from THE RENDING lies in the fact that it is based solely on the Leviathan’s strength of will. For a short time after their initial destruction, they are tossed in a sort of ‘Limbo’, between the plane of existence, and one of non-existence ( essentially nothing at all ). They are stripped of everything, all bodily form, all mental recognition and awareness -- everything. Nothing remains save for their one single instinct, their drive to exist.
If that drive is strong enough, if they can cling and claw through the fabric of the universe through sheer willpower alone ( a fabric that, when existing as a pure form of will, is extremely harsh and unforgiving; it is a different kind of Hell -- a Leviathan’s Hell ) -- then they may return to their original state. They must bite and claw their way through the universe as ‘will’ though, and search themselves and it for the scattered, shattered pieces of their ruptured selves. Those that fail to do so in a decent amount of time will gradually fade into the veil of the universe itself and cease to be.
Of those few that have returned, none have done so as whole. All Leviathans that have returned, they were fractured, torn and irreparably scarred. They gradually deteriorated until they were nothing but mindless, empty beasts ( or emptier, in this case ); unable to recognize their own, unable to recognize themselves. These ‘Leviathans’ are no longer considered Leviathans anymore, but regressing more to that of a black hole.
It’s safe to say that RENDING is done in only extreme circumstances, for it is the most extreme measure a Leviathan can inflict ( or endure ). Those that are involved in it, on either side, never come out of it the same as before, and as of yet -- never for the better.
