Once everybody was gone, leaving only Arran and Alec in the clearing, the two could finally focus on their main objective. “Alright now. Let’s get down to business.” Arran said. Then he continued. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here and with all the changes, I don’t remember where the door is. But let me try to find it. Hold on a sec.” With a thought, Arran’s senses seeped into the earth, penetrating through countless sedimentary layers of the earth’s crust, trying to find the entrance to the hideout. During this, Arran observed some interesting things that he couldn’t help but point out. “Wow, you’ve got to see this. Just look at the state of this crust. It’s like a completely different structure than what was taught in class. It’s like multiple layers had been added onto, causing it to run deeper than it originally should.” “What do you mean?” Alec asked, not quite getting what Arran was referring to. Arran explained, “What I’m saying is that the whole earth is at a higher
Walking through the crevice created by Alec, the duo were not in a hurry as they leisurely stilled down toward their destination.Arran casually struck up a conversation with Alec during this time.“Say, what do you actually think caused Earth to transform so much like this?”Alec’s voice coming from the front asked in a neutral tone.“What do you mean?”“What I mean is, it couldn’t have just been because the planet was exposed to transcendent energy that caused all these changes to occur. If it was that easy to change the laws of a planet, then many mortal worlds that don’t support transcendence would have been transformed by now.”“You’re the archeologist so you tell me, has there ever been a precedent like this in history before?”Alec was silent for a moment before he answered Arran’s question.“Firstly, I’m an archeologist, not a historian so I can’t say for certain if something like this has happened in history. But based on past archeological findings, so far, it’s very unlikel
Soon enough, Arran and Alec arrived at their destination. Before them was a solid wall made up of slabs of granite. The wall was 15 meters high and 100 square meters around, forming a square like structure. It was perfectly sealed except for a steel door at the top of the structure.Under the weight of the layers of earth pressing down on it, the steel door was dented and bent, looking like it would buckle and cave in, but it managed to hold despite this.Alec used his powers to clear the surrounding earth, making the steel door clearly visible. Not that it was needed, since at this depth there was no source of light present. Plus, the temperature was over 200 degrees, making it virtually impossible for ordinary living beings to exist.But none of these were any problems to Arran and Alec, both of whom possessed extra sensory perception and could withstand temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius.Once the way was cleared, the steel door became visible. Seeing it, Arran reminisced ab
Arran and Alec stood around the construct in the middle of the room, looking at it in puzzlement.“What is it?” Alec asked.“I have no clue,” Arran responded.Giving it a look for a while, Arran pondered, “It's some kind of machine?”Resisting the urge to roll his eyes sarcastically, Alec said, “Obviously. But how do we turn it on?”Arran fell silent after that, as did Alec. The construct had left them well and truly stumped. It was because they really didn’t know what to make of it at all.The construct was a tower-like device with a gray and white body it stood roughly about 5 meters, tall looking like a solid support pillar.There was nothing special or intricate about the construct's design but what caused Arran and Alec headaches was that it was completely smooth all over with no clear indicators or signs to show what it was meant for.There were no buttons or levers and no screens on the body that could be used to activate the device. Neither Arran nor Alec could make out what i
“What is this now? Can someone explain what’s going on here?”Arran asked aloud, his head spinning in confusion at the unexpected occurrence currently taking place.Looking at the glowing device before him and the blue hue of the surroundings, a bellyful of forceful retorts inside him, just waiting to burst forth from his mouth.What the hell was the meaning of this???Alec also wanted to know the answer to that question. He was as confused and incredulous as Arran, feeling like he was being toyed with all this merely being a prank to undermine his intelligence.Alec could t help but complain, “Why is not happening? Is that it? This can’t be all there is to this, right? Surely what your parents left behind didn’t turn out to be a dud, right?”Alec looked at Arran suspiciously while he questioned him. The way he looked at him was like Arran was in cahoots with his parents in pranking him to make him look stupid. If not, there was no way to explain any of this.“Why are you looking at m
Jumping right into important business, neither Arran nor Alec were given time to process what was happening at all.Realizing that the device was some kind of projector meant to display a prerecorded message from Azalea and Jeremiah that was meant for Arran, the duo was surprised. But what shocked them most was the actual content of the message that was recorded.The truth!What truth exactly… they were just about to find out!Azalea’s image did not stop talking. She said, “If you are here, then that must mean you already know the truth that Earth is not your home and that you are not human. You should have also returned to your true home and stepped into the path of transcendence.”“Honestly, I am very happy for you. But at the same time, I am also reluctant for you to step into this path cause it means you’ll become embroiled in an ancient conflict that has existed since primordial times.”“I don’t want you to succumb to your fate, a fate that has been entrusted to you by my great g
“The primordial god of light did not awaken. He continued to slumber even after the bet was won. Our ancestors then speculated that because so much of the primordial god’s power was consumed to defeat the darkness avatar, the light god slept to recover his powers.”“At the same time, the darkness god went silent. His avatar was destroyed but he was not defeated. Because he lost the bet he couldn’t directly interfere with the Etherium again but with the light god sleeping, the darkness god would definitely return.”“Fearing that he would return to attempt to seize power again, and as a punishment for their part in the darkness gods' schemes, the Shades were banished from the planet and sent to wander the stars like rootless duckweed. Finally, peace reigned on the planet for countless millennia and the Aeth set forth to conquer the entire universe.”“Sadly, just when we thought the past would stay buried, it, like a phantom came to haunt us once again.”At this point, Azalea had finishe
Arran finally knew what his destiny was — that was to slay a god!To be honest, Arran wasn’t shocked by this revelation. In fact, ever since he had stepped into the transcendent path, Arran already had an inkling that he would encroach on the territory of godhood.Whether it was to become a god or slay a god, something deep within him, an instinct of sorts, had told Arran that he would encounter those choices.Perhaps it was his destiny calling out to Arran all this time but when he heard that he was expected to gain the power to slay a god, he wasn’t surprised at all. Unlike Alec who was scared out of his wits when he learned of this.What was a god?There are many definitions or views about what or who a god is. But there was only one universal truth about the nature of gods.Gods were beings, entities, that held supreme power and supreme authority over the world.In the beginning, the universe was void, and from void sprung order and chaos and everything else. In this universe, the