The sight of this curled up human came as a surprise to both Roley and the aspect of Horror, and for more than one reason. First of which being its complete lack of powers. No trace of the immortal essence a cultivator would possess, nor an existential gift could be felt.. An oddity that remained valid even in the domain of death.
After all, the moment a living being exhaled their last breath, faint amounts of the power of Death and Spirit would appear, forming a bridge between the physical domain, and spiritual plane and underworld for their spirit and consciousness to thread. But while that could have happened before, leaving the curled up body as the simple husk of a dead man, that did not seem to be the case, for his body also lacked the existential powers a decomposing body should produce.
That, however, was something only the aspect of Horror had noticed. Roley was still just a cultivator. A unique one, capable of wielding the primordial powers of most types of mana, but a cultivator nonetheless.
What had truly confused the two in equal manner was a much simpler notion. The notion that beyond collapsed space awaited the void. A state of existence devoid of mana and life. One that only differed with the universe Roley had experience in his horror-induced nightmare, by the lone presence of time.
The essence of time was quite a peculiar one. It opposed the essence of space, in theory, but not many understood to which extent. Most could not realize that everything within a universe was kept in place by spatial essence, which acted as the foundation on which matter was accumulated, and shaped into everything that existed.
Time, on the other hand, was what allowed matter to come to life. Its forward motion enabled matter’s interaction with the elements, any external forces, and to the nature of each existential power. Without time, the universe would be a tridimensional painting, forever still and devoid of life.
The spaceless void, however, was the opposite of such a world. It possessed the essence of time which flowed at any speed or direction its nature allowed, but it lacked the essence of space. The power that gave structure to matter. Without space, matter would fall apart. A person’s very atoms would detach from one another, as if suddenly strangers, and drift away in the infinite empty expanse.
For that reason, the void was believed to be an unlivable place, and that was not only the case for the multiverse’s native life.. But for the aspects of existence themselves.. For they were little more than mortals, once they lacked contact to the existential powers that made them into deities.
In the way the aspect of existence avoided the void, many could have learned a lot about their nature.
In theory their immense powers would be more than enough to sustain their lives, and fight against the detrimental lack of space.. But they couldn’t. They couldn’t because, in its boundless potential, the existential powers had one crucial defect. They could not be stored.
Among the most well kept secrets within the universe, the aspects of existence had hidden the fact that their entire nature consisted in the manipulation of such powers, and not their full control. Had this secret spread across the lower cultivators, while not enough to defeat them, it would have allowed them to pick and choose which aspects to serve, and which ones to avoid.
On a multiversal scale, such privilege would have upset the balance between aspects of existence, hugely favoring those who represented a more benevolent existential power. Hence why it had been kept secret.
Luckily, such a secret was hard to dig up, as the first thought of anyone who had the displeasure of witnessing the threatening concept of collapsed space, was to run, and not to examine its relationship with the aspect of existence.
Yet there it was.. In front of Horror. A curled up body, fully intact, and seemingly unaffected by the void’s lack of space. He could hardly believe what he was seeing, to a point where he had lost interest in punishing Roley and his whole attention was drawn by the new arrival.
The reason Horror had not panicked after the space had started to collapse, was because this amount of collapsed space was of no threat to him. He possessed the strength to seal any crack that appeared. He only allowed for it to grow to that size so that it could punish Roley for his offenses, by swallowing his army. Furthermore, he did enjoy the spectacle. He would have then killed Roley himself, and resumed his conquest starting with the now free universe he was currently in.
Had the collapsed space been out of control, he too would have fled the universe.
Unbothered by Roley’s presence, he pushed him away. He knew he would go nowhere without his people, and to free them all by himself would take him hundreds of years. He also felt that merging with the spatial treasure had taken a toll on his body, and it would have taken a while before the cultivator could attempt such a thing again.
Instead of bothering with him, Horror slowly approached the body, which, in contact with the lingering elements of space, had now softened. Soon the body’s muscles relaxed, revealing the dashing appearance of a young man with black hair and sharp features.
Horror kept approaching this body, until suddenly, when it had reached arm’s length, he suddenly stopped. Inside the body, faint traces of spiritual essence, mental power and ki were being produced. Three powers that, after coming in contact with one another, formed a mixture he found somewhat familiar.
In Horror’s eyes, these powers felt like three pieces of a puzzle, and he somehow felt that he should have been able to recognize whichever picture the whole would depict. It was an odd feeling, he thought.. For he had never come close enough to a human cultivator to justify such familiarity.
Yet, the more he stared with his large glossy eyes, the more he convinced himself that this had not been the first time the two had met.
With interest, the monstrous being’s hand reached forward. His fingertips, still as red as blood, coiled around the body’s arm, but then, before Horror could do anything else, the young man’s eyes opened, revealing two pears of absolute golden light. The once corpse-like body had suddenly come alive.
Immediately, the aspect of Horror let go of the arm, as it pulled it back in a hurry. He might not have been able to realize why the young man was familiar, but the golden hue of his eyes was a dead giveaway on the young man’s identity.. For it revealed him to be a member of his own kind. An aspect of existence.
The unresponsive young man slowly regained his composure. Unbothered by the sinkhole that, next to him, had now reached the size of a small house. He slowly straightened his body, stretching his muscles and cracking his bones. Once done, he looked around with the stoicism of a statue.
Before long, a soft whimper broke the silence. “Dan?” Roley said as he inspected the facial features of the young man.
Hearing his name being called, Daniel turned towards Roely, and soon recognized him. However, on his face, there was no trace of happiness or relief, just simple acknowledgment.
He seemed to be more interested in his surroundings, and in the reason why he had been dragged out of the void just as the last bit of karmic power was consumed. He had truly been on the verge of dying, and a second longer would have spelled his demise.
Yet, in his mind, a second did not feel like a second. The void was a place of pure time, with a lack of structure that did not allow for its flow to advance how it regularly would have. In the void, time could go back and forward at will, accelerate, stop, or stretch beyond one’s comprehension.
From the outside, Daniel had only been trapped in the void for a few years, but in his mind, he had been there for both a minute, and a million years. It was truly difficult for him to understand how much time had truly passed. The only constant to judge the passage of time, somewhat more reliable than time itself, was the power within his body. A power that prevented the lack of structure from tearing him apart, and erasing him from existence.
Curious about his surroundings, Daniel looked around, and as his eyes landed on the nearby aspect of Horror, he felt the same familiarity the latter had felt in his presence. Around them were uncountable more entities all belonging to either one of three distinctive groups. Cultivators, champions, and elementals. Among them, Daniel immediately recognized the figure of Der, for whom he felt the same degree of positive feelings he felt for Roley.
As his eyes landed on the surrounding creatures, he soon realized why his body had been dragged out in this place, and at this moment. A reason that had left him giddy, to say the least.
He had soon noticed that, while the elementals and the cultivators were trapped in the power of Horror, dedicating their lives to the production of such a terrible power, Horror’s champions were quite dead, and that was despite Horror himself being present. That had surprised him.
Seemingly amused by such an immense amount of death, Daniel took over the faint karmic power in the surroundings, and channeled it into his finger. Then, once most of the karmic power had merged into the light, he aimed it at Der’s figure and sent it flying in his direction.
The ray of golden light was like a sword. Bright as sunlight, it pierced through space in the middle-aged man’s direction, and when it landed, he cut through him perfectly. Roley, shocked by the sudden attack, was about to yell a few horrified words in response, but before he could, another voice broke the silence, “MEA NO! STOP!!” Der screamed in panic while flinging his arms around.
While the ray of light had sliced Der in half, it had left no damage to his body, spirit or mind. Instead, it had only targeted the power of Horror, breaking its spell and freeing the middle-aged man from its spell.
Once done, Daniel turned towards the aspect of Horror, who was now staring back at him with alertness. “I remember you..” Daniel said with a bone-chilling tone. A tone of superiority aimed at the lowest creatures in existence.
“But I don’t remember you.” Horror responded nervously, refusing to deny the familiarity he had felt. In his eyes, Daniel was almost devoid of power, and that simple attack had made use of all the golden existential power in the surroundings. Yet, Daniel’s tone implied that his standing within the pantheon was not inferior to his own.. A guess that Daniel’s following words somehow supported.
“I was there when you were born.” Daniel revealed as he slowly approached the aspect of existence. His approach was steady and undisturbed by unnecessary emotions. His confidence relayed a true absence of fear.
What shocked Horror the most, however, was not the confidence of the young man, but the meaning behind his words. He had finally remembered.. The human that had suddenly shown up when his consciousness had been born. The human that had used the power of his birth to create mana, and cause the spawning of the detestable aspect of existence every aspect of existence that was loyal to Fate had blamed him for creating.
He remembered, now..
Recalling all the abuse he had to endure from its peers made Horror forget that he was standing in front of another aspect of existence. His mortal enemy was in front of him. One whom he had believed must have died in the hundreds of millions of years he had lived, but that had somehow become an aspect of existence.
p-a-n-d-a-n-0-v-e-l、(c)om Rage began to cloud his mind, and without even thinking twice, he reached for Daniel’s throat. Not to grip it, but to tear it to shreds.
However, just before Horror could repay the biggest slight he had ever received, the corpse of one of his deceased champions exploded into an atomic bomb of golden colored light. This light instantly shot towards the two like a waterfall, and as it reached their bodies, it engulfed them into a dense golden aura capable of halting Horror’s attack.. But that did nothing to hinder Daniel’s movements.
“For you to be the first one I will kill.. It is quite poetic.” Daniel muttered to himself as the power seeped into his body, and in just a moment, he regained the semblance of a true powerful aspect of existence.
