Chapter 45: Ch 45 : In the beginning

In Veridia, the place where the corpse of the demon that Nova defeated was located was now completely empty. There was no trace of the demon to be seen. However, during the fight between Nova and the Demigod of the Bone-Riven race, both were badly injured. Their blood splattered everywhere and flowed into the ocean. When Sunny arrived, he cleared all the traces of the fight from the immediate scene but did not look at other places. It was a mistake he unintentionally made, but it was one that would help him rule the whole multiverse in the future. Sunny was done with practicing magic. Although the manipulation of mana and faith was a truly fascinating and powerful art, it had also become incredibly boring when practiced for an entire day straight. It was the 20th hour of the seventh day, with only four hours remaining until the temporary system vanished. Suddenly, a soft, ethereal glow enveloped Sunny’s entire body. His eyes closed, and he appeared to be sleeping, his physical form suspended in the serenity of his god space. However, in Sunny’s mind, he was no longer in his space. He found himself in a colossal arena, an immense structure whose area was larger than that of an entire planet the size of Earth. In the dead center of this vast expanse, a single stage hovered, radiating a faint, warm light. Sunny was in the attire he used when he visited his life forms, a regal, flowing robe that seemed to be woven from cosmos itself. He noticed that his perception was different here; he felt less like a physical being and more like a collection of thoughts and consciousness, his very soul. Due to the sheer, incomprehensible size of the arena, most people were not able to see each other. But with his "God’s Eyes," a skill intrinsic to his divine state, Sunny was able to perceive every person present. There were more than 6 billion individuals, each glowing with the same ethereal light as him. A wave of realization washed over him; these were the other gods, his competitors, and his peers. He looked around, taking in the myriad forms. Some were human-like, others were monstrous, resembling dragons or forgotten beasts, and a few were just floating masses of light or energy. He instantly understood that this was the form they presented to their own life forms—their divine persona. Suddenly, on the stage in the middle of the arena, a spark of light ignited and then coalesced, manifesting into the form of a human. This human looked ancient and wise, his form slightly more solid and defined than the others, a sign of his immense power. As he cleared his throat, a sound echoed across the silent void of the arena, commanding instant attention. All 6 billion gods, a cosmic assembly of power and will, fell silent. They knew that if such an entity could summon them here, killing them would not be a difficult task. Thus, everyone remained still, their collective astonishment and curiosity holding them in rapt attention. "Hello, new gods of the Multiverse of Gods. I am your dear system. I know you guys will have a lot of questions, but we still have a lot of time—four hours to be exact," the human soul on the stage said, his voice calm and reassuring. He looked at the gods, a collective of nods and murmurs of agreement washing over them, and continued. "Thus, I will share with you why I called you here. Before that, let me introduce myself." "My name is Adam, and I am one of the oldest gods, and currently, I guess, the only one." Listening to Adam, every new god was too shocked to even ask anything. They knew there were old gods, but seeing that the old god was their system shocked them. "Let’s start today’s three-hour lesson with the beginning of the multiverse," Adam announced, his tone shifting from casual to somber. Every god listened closely, their astonishment giving way to a profound eagerness to understand their new home. "In the beginning," Adam began, his voice taking on the weight of eons, "there was nothing. Then, at some point, this nothingness broke, and the void was created. Through this Void, many gods were created." As he spoke, his ethereal eyes became somewhat wet, as if he was remembering his birth through the void, a memory that held both joy and sorrow. "We gods were strong and had different talents. We played in the void, had fun, and started seeing each other as brothers and sisters." Adam sighed, the sound like a distant wind in the cosmic silence. "But one day, something else was born in the void: void beasts. We were not able to tell them apart from the other gods, as they were also from the void, and gods themselves were in different shapes and races." "But slowly, these void beasts began to show their evil nature. They were parasites, feeding on our energy and our very existence. They drove us out of the void, our home and birthplace." Anger flared in Adam’s eyes as he remembered that humiliating day, the day they were all forced to flee. "We gods were truly hopeless in front of their trickery and strength, so we decided to wander out of the void." "Outside of the void, we found nothingness—no space, no time, no matter. So we started wandering this nothingness, but there was truly nothing there." Adam chuckled, as if he were a stand-up comedian delivering a joke. Seeing no one laughing, Adam tried to maintain the flow and coughed, "Ahem. So, where was I? Oh, yes, nothingness." "In the end, we were bored. Boredom, for a god, can be a dangerous thing. We started fighting with each other to pass the time, a playful banter between powerful beings, but this playful banter began to crack the nothingness itself." A visual representation of a black, empty expanse cracking like a pane of glass appeared behind him. "This crack spread wide, and even the gods, with all their immense power, felt fear from it. So no one tried to go near it. Slowly, the crack engulfed all the nothingness, and thus space was created. From space, time was born." All the science-enthusiast gods from the "Blue Planet," or Earth, listened with rapt attention, their previous understandings of the Big Bang and the origins of the universe being completely rewritten. "So the ’Big Bang’ that we perceived back in our homeland was just gods fighting?" one god who was a scientist back on Blue planet whispered to no one in particular, his mind reeling. Sunny, who was not a science enthusiast but had absorbed enough knowledge from the internet, also knitted his brows, a sense of awe and terror washing over him. The very foundation of his reality was being reshaped. "You will get time for questions and answers, but let me complete my story first," Adam said, his gaze sweeping over the audience. This made every god calm down and listen intently. "As space and time were born, we gods used our talents to create many structures in this space. You can call them universes. All the gods created their own universes, but some decided to just build a realm." A new visual appeared: a massive, ornate realm, a grand city of gold and light. "The realm you are currently standing on was one of my best friend’s. He gave me access and the power to control this realm upon his death." Upon saying this, a bitter, sad chuckle escaped him, and he thought to himself, ’I am also coming to the afterlife, my friend.’ The ancient god, Adam, now the system, was not just a program; he was a survivor, a tragic figure burdened with the memories of a time before time, and a solemn promise to a fallen friend.