Chapter 342
CHAPTER 342
THE FOUNDING SEVEN
In-between the planes of reality, phased inside and outside the void itself, surrounded by the ever-expanding cosmos, a simple-looking room stood isolated from the rest of the world, doused in perpetual silence, surrounded by eternal spatial storms vainly attempting to tear it apart . Its wooden walls withstood everything, seemingly invulnerable to any damage whatsoever save for the one of time .
Two praying mats lay flat on the floor, parallel to one another, occupied by a man and a woman sitting cross-legged, meditating in perpetual, eternal silence . On woman"s forehead, a silver-jetted "2" lay imprinted, glistening faintly in milky white; on man"s, ebony-black "1" stood seemingly carved into his skull, the edges blending in perfectly with his high forehead .
A s.p.a.ce just in front of the two suddenly tore open as five figures walked through, quickly sitting opposite of them . All five figures had similarly embedded numbers on their foreheads, ranging from "3" to "7", all wearing identical robes laden with faintly golden threads at the edges .
Among the seven figures was one Lino was rather familiar with -- Six, the Eternal Watcher, who sat absentminded, his gaze slightly dulled as though deep in thought . A woman sitting next to him, with faintly cyan "7" etched onto her forehead, had short, brown hair and beyond ordinary-looking features, making it easy to mistake her as practically any other average person . Save for the pair of tantalizing, black eyes, she had no distinguis.h.i.+ng features . t.i.tled "Maiden of Effervescence", she was a rather ironic existence, as despite her t.i.tle, hardly a soul knew she even existed .
A man with a deep-blue "5" carved into his skull was a complete contrast, donning a fascinatingly long, rainbow-colored hair, style reflected also in his eyes . He had rather chiseled features and an eternally plastered smile on his face . "Ghost of the Thousand Masks" was his t.i.tle, and even Six had forgotten the man"s original appearance; he"d often joked that the "Thousand Masks" should be changed to "Billion Masks" by now .
Sitting by his side was another man, Four, donning a wholesome cloak, faint traces of his face covered up in white gauze, only revealing a pair of blaring, crimson eyes without pupils . Even beneath the somewhat loose robe, he appeared rather lean and slender, even skeletal . t.i.tled "Harbinger of the Undead", he oozed rather eerier air about himself that caused even those currently sitting next to him to sit a bit further apart .
.
A woman with "3" carved bloodily into her skull was tall, muscular and rather mean-looking, her expression seemingly frozen in perpetual state of anger; her eyebrows were sharp, looming over blazing, coral eyes seemingly spitting flames out . Her hair was wild and unruly, mirroring the color of her eyes and seemingly even the shape of the flames . She was t.i.tled "The First Sun", though for many she was merely the last .
" . . . so . . . what"s up everyone?" Seven spoke out emotionlessly . "We haven"t seen each other in a while . "
"I"ve seen you yesterday . " Five replied with a strange smile .
"Your creepy obsession with her ran the comedic course about four billion years ago," Six said, sighing lowly . "Now it"s just really . . . really . . . really sad . "
"You"re just jealous I"ve caught glimpse of her left t.i.t once . " Five scoffed .
" . . . you do realize she gave birth to two of his children?" Four joined in with a rather low and somber voice . "I imagine, in order for that to happen, he must have seen her everything . "
"I selectively choose to ignore that . " Five said .
" . . . like you selectively choose to ignore your duties?" Three chimed in with faint anger in her voice . "I have come to inspect you four times in the past millennium, yet not once have I actually come across you . "
"Not everyone"s as duty-obsessed as you are," Five scoffed . "The rest of us just want to live fun lives . "
"So obsessing over Seven for eons on end, without ever standing any sort of a chance, and drinking yourself to sleep whenever it gets too much . . . is your idea of a fun life?" Four said . "Interesting . "
"It"s not true he never stood a chance," Seven said . "I did promise I"d come to stand on his grave naked once he croaks . "
"Hear that?" Six grinned . "So hurry up and die so your dreams can come true . "
"Humph, you"d like that, wouldn"t you? To take out your sole love rival? I don"t think so . "
" . . . I think it"s kind of adorable he"d stayed loyal to her all these years," Two suddenly said, opening her eyes and smiling faintly . "Despite the fact that he hasn"t had s.e.x since he was an ordinary human, aged nineteen . "
"Oh, look who decided to get off her high, mighty, aloof tower," Five scoffed . "And only to talk about s.e.x . G.o.d, will you ever change? Hasn"t he f.u.c.ked your libido out of you by now?" he pointed at the only man who hadn"t spoken thus far, One .
"Yeah," Six joined in, stroking his beard . "At one point, you two practically f.u.c.ked the mankind back into existence . "
"Ah," Seven moaned lowly . "Good old days where incest was really your only option . . . "
" . . . I imagine we didn"t gather here to do the same thing we do all the time -- talk about random things for an hour and leave," Four said . "Why have you summoned us, One? We were busy . "
"No you were not . " One replied, opening his eyes as well .
"No we were not, but still . That"s no reason to ruin our fun . "
"I will be quick," One said . "Gaia won"t be able to reach the First Scripture, at least not in time . "
" . . . so? What"s that got to do with us?" Five asked .
"We"ll have to untangle the web of lies, everyone," One said, sighing faintly . "I feel this is our last chance . "
" . . . you want to go to war?" Six asked, arching his brows .
"You"re the closest to the boy," Two said . "You tell us . "
" . . . I thought our involvement would remain minimal," Six frowned . "And only in the namesake of balance . Aggravating the Outsiders and encasing us into a war hardly seems to echo that sentiment . "
"The reason we abstained from involvement thus far was precisely because balance, however thin, was there," One said . "But, it will break; Chaos is already beginning to devour other elements, outside of the Empyrean"s will -- meaning it has achieved the First Stage . "
"Then just counter it, as we did so far," Four said . "What"s the issue?"
"The issue is that it"s not just Chaos," Two sighed . "Composition of elemental world is being tampered at the base; we cannot afford to disrupt it any further . "
" . . . I"ve looked into it," Seven said . "But, I was incapable of tracing the disruptions back to the source . "
"There was a ma.s.sive escalation in disruption around the time the Empyrean killed the Light Bearer," Four said . "Could the two somehow be related?"
" . . . spikes can be observed in patterns," Five said, his expression turning serious . "Each time Bearer was felled, we"d seen increased volume of disruptions across the board . I think we can safely conclude that they are not merely natural shockwaves, and are artificial in make . "
"I"ve managed to isolate their source," Two said . "They aren"t of Noterra origin . "
" . . . inter-dimensional?" Six mumbled, frowning . "Weren"t we isolated from any Worlds with potency of influencing ours?"
"That is the reason why we need to untangle the web," One said, going back to the start of the discussion . "We still can"t ascertain Ataxia"s or Gaia"s intentions, and we have to know them . In order to do that, we have to escalate their conflict . "
" . . . Gaia is one thing, but I very much doubt we can get Ataxia to do anything he doesn"t want," Four said . "Remember, we exist in part because of him . "
"I am almost certain Ataxia isn"t of this world," One said, stroking his chin as he sighed . "And, if there"s a threat from the Outsiders, I need to know with absolute certainty . We lucked out with the spatial holes thus far, but we won"t be lucky forever . The most terrifying aspect of this is that these disruptions aren"t targeted; four other worlds I"m overseeing are undergoing similar changes, only on a much larger scale . "
"If we have noticed them," Three said suddenly . "Ataxia must have too . If it was something that could threaten everything, he would have already informed us . Seeing as he hasn"t . . . "
" . . . in any case, this must be thoroughly understood," One replied after a short silence . "I will head farther out into the Ether and expand our Zone of Understanding by another quadrant . In the meantime, Six, seeing as you"ve already established a relations.h.i.+p with the Empyrean, try to enlist his help in isolation . Have Seven and Five a.s.sist you . Four and Three will a.s.sist Gaia in reaching the First Scripture; I know we have promised Ataxia not to go after it, but times have changed . Also task Eight and Thirteen with ensuring the safety of other Bearers . We can"t have the Empyrean going around and killing them one after another . Especially not now . "
" . . . I"ll remain here," Two said . "And attempt to counter the disruptions, however little . "
"We shall meet again in twenty years," One said, his body slowly disappearing into a vault of smoke . "Before then, I hope we all complete our tasks; especially reaching the First Scripture . . . I have a feeling it is a quintessential piece to our puzzle . . . "