In the beginning, there was only chaos and emptiness. In this world, created within the everlasting dream of the ancient absolute god, Nilhilum, there wasn’t any sign of life or the theory of everything, there was only endless destruction from the conflicts between disordered thoughts.
However, there were some unsatisfied with this. They were the three children of Nilhilum, Lumenox, Meteria, and Sinux. They were the creating gods, the existences of matter, and order.
Then one day, Lumenox gathered the younger ones and stated to them. It was a long conversation but to summarize in a sentence, he wanted to drive out the chaos and emptiness of their father, Nilhilum, and create their own world. The eldest daughter, Meteria, agreed but the youngest, Sinux, could not make his decision easily and was caught in between. He agreed with creating a new world but couldn’t completely accept their will to drive out the chaos and emptiness from their world.
As a result, Lumenox had to convince Sinux with great effort over a long time. Sinux was the god who was in charge of governing the theory of everything. It was impossible to create a new order without his influence and power.
In the end, Sinux decided to accept his brother Lumenox’s suggestion under one condition which was that Sinux will create the grounds of the new world and the theory of everything solely based on his own will.
Lumenox, without much discontent, accepted that proposal. It was something only Sinux could do anyways.
Afterward, Sinux formed the boundary to block out the chaos and emptiness and created the theory of everything and the grounds of the world. Additionally, Lumenox created the light and the dark in it, and the eldest, Meteria added matter and life on top of it.
Lumenox was very satisfied with the world that they created. Although he did not embrace the conflicting disputes of the new living creatures, all living beings prospered within it so he was satisfied.
However, such happiness did not last long. He saw monsters appearing unexpectedly at places and destroying his beloved creatures. They were the demons.
Lumenox, discontented at that sight, went to his younger sister, Meteria, and asked about those foul creatures. However, Meteria did not know either. Because there were no demons among the creatures she created.
Lumenox and Meteria who thought it was strange observed the world they created meticulously and finally found the reason. The demons were the figuration of chaos and emptiness that infiltrated through the gaps of dimensions formed under the influence of the material world.
Lumenox was furious. He was dumbfounded finding out that their world was still under the influence of their father’s which they tried so hard to escape from.
Lumenox immediately ordered his younger brother, Sinux, to fix the gap since Sinux was the one who built the wall of dimension. In other words, this situation was all because of Sinux whether it was intentional or accidental.
However, Sinux refused at once. Even though he pitied the creatures suffering from the demons, he thought it was something that needed to be accepted in order to maintain their world.
It surely was intentional. Sinux created cracks in the dimensional boundaries out of his own will.
However, Lumenox held in his anger and endured. It wasn’t because he understood Sinux but it was because Sinux was too powerful. Lumenox was not a match for his brother, Sinux.
But he did not just sit and watch. After a while, Lumenox, along with his sister Meteria and many other gods they created, attacked Sinux, imprisoned him in the unbreakable holy chest, and threw it out of the dimensional boundaries into the world of chaos and emptiness. So that he could live in the world that their father created if he loved it that much.
Afterward, Lumenox and many gods sealed the gaps of dimensional boundaries and made the universe perfect. Thanks to that, the world became peaceful and those suffering from the demons disappeared for awhile.
Then, one day, as a part of dimensional boundary broke down, one side of this universe completely collapsed. It was taken over by the world of chaos and emptiness. Desperate gods tried their best to stop additional collapses but it did not end there. Soon, starting from the outskirt, there were great destructions happening in different places of the universe.
Then Lumenox realized how weak this world they created was, and how strong their father, Nilhilum’s power of chaos and emptiness within his dream was. The younger one, Sinux, knew this fact very well. That’s why he decided to slowly take in the destructive force by creating dimensional gaps like opening up water gates in dams to prevent massive water flow.
What needed to be done in the future was made clear.
In order to stop their world from destruction, dimensional gaps had to be reopened. However, that wasn’t easy to do. It was easy to block them but only Sinux knew how much was needed to be reopened to minimize the damage from the forces of chaos and emptiness.
However, the chest that Sinux was held in was already thrown in the space of infinity, Nihilum’s dream, into the chaotic place that no god of this world can go.
Eventually, Lumenox and other gods started to create cracks temporarily in areas bordering the dimensions where the forces of chaos and emptiness were becoming stronger. It was a job that required almost an infinite amount of time but if it’s not done then this world would be overwhelmed in Nilhilum’s dream again.
Then due to the dimensional gaps created, many civilizations and creatures disappeared before the forces of chaos and emptiness. It was miserable and horrible extinction but they had to accept their terrible fates in the insensitivity of the gods.
From the gods’ perspective, they were not the subjects of salvation but merely small sacrifices for the survival of the greater majority.
“Um…….”
It was early dawn with light wind. As the curtain swayed from the breeze that seeped through the window, I waved my arms annoyingly while lying on the bed. I really hate being disturbed from my sleep. I can only survive the day after when I get enough sleep today.
I opened my eyes suddenly.
Having to get through tomorrow meant that I was alive today. This was something I could never understand with my knowledge.
“What? I’m alive?”
There was an unbelievable sight presented before my eyes. The wall with golden wallpapers. Furnitures with fine patterns embroidered and semitransparent silky curtains hanging around the bed. Out the window, I could see a grown oak tree and wild birds chirping on the branches.
It was a view I vaguely remembered but definitely a familiar place.
‘Could it be my room by any chance?’
This was my room where I spent my younger days.
I just rolled my eyes out of confusion then slapped my cheeks strongly with my palms.
They hurt.
Of course, they are supposed to hurt, but they are not supposed to, strangely they are painful. It is unbelievable. It was only right that my room was supposed to have disappeared into ruins and I was already supposed to have died.
“No, what is this awful situation?”
I got up and rubbed my eyes. But there was no change in this view even if I rubbed my eyes until they turned red.
I soon laid back down comfortably after controlling my mind.
‘There’s no way I could be alive. Heaven probably looks like this.”
Honestly, today is my first time experiencing the afterlife. No one who I knew when I was alive had experienced the afterlife. So even if the afterlife seemed different from common sense, it wasn’t strange. Since no one visited, there’s no way to know if those are right.
It seemed like this was heaven. If this was firing hell, there was no way that space like this from my nostalgic memory would be provided. Anyways, this space seemed like the gift from god for going through the world that was like hell.
I had a big grin on my face. I guess god has a great sense of choosing gifts. As I lived through the generation of destruction, I longed for the peace of this era. I tightly hugged the silky blanket.
“Ah~ this feels great. This is like utopia. If I knew, I would have died earlier, no use in struggling to live.”
Then the door opened carefully and a short young guy walked in. He was my servant, Paul. I heard that he was dragged to the battlefront in the past and went missing. I guess he already came to heaven.
When Paul saw that I was awake, he quickly came up to me and bowed.
“The Grand Prince, it’s time to get up.”
I flipped over the blanket aside and raised my upper body.
“Hey Paul, so great to see you. Your skin got much better in the meantime. It looks so clean and bright. I guess heaven is truly a good place to be.”
“Huh?”
I got up and put my arm around Paul’s shoulders who looked surprised.
“Anyways, please take good care of me. Don’t be too harsh just because you got here before I did. To be honest, I went through a lot before coming here. You know, right?”
“No, what do you mean I know?”
“Hey, why are you being like this?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t know?”
“No, I don’t”
I observed Paul closely and made a fist.
“If you say ‘Surprise! Tada.’ then you will really die. I even got to the mastery level when I was alive.”
Paul trembled as he got on his knees.
“How could I possibly fool around in front of the Grand Prince? If I made a mistake, please just let me know. I will fix it immediately.”
Paul seemed like he really didn’t know anything. His expressions were truthful and I could not see any lies from his gestures.
With slight anxiety, I patted Paul’s shoulder with my index finger.
“You really didn’t die?”
When I mentioned his death, Paul’s face turned white.
“Please save me!”
“I’m not going to kill you!”
“Then you will keep me alive?”
“Of course. How can I kill a person who’s already dead?”
Paul, with much relief, looked up to me.
“What do you mean I’m dead? I’m well alive like this.”
“What are you saying? You were dragged to the battlefront in the imperial year 367 and died.”
“Imperial year 367? Right now, it’s imperial year 358.”
If it’s the year 358, then it’s before the generation of destruction. To be precise, it’s around the time when I graduated from the Imperial Aristocratic School and just had my adulthood ceremony.
As I glanced at a full-length mirror nearby, I swept down my face because I couldn’t believe how I looked right now. In the mirror, there was only a black-haired brat standing while blanking out instead of a majestic commander.
“Is it really imperial year 358?”
“Yes.”
I fell in place weakly while holding my forehead. If what Paul said is true, I certainly have time-traveled 10 years to the past. Eight years before the era of destruction began.
‘This has to be a dream.’
I hurriedly jumped up to the bed and covered myself with the blanket. I couldn’t spend such a sh**ty time again. If this was a dream, I needed to wake up quickly. But trying to fall asleep again to wake up from a dream made no sense. Soon I got up again with a frown and glared at Paul.
“Paul, if you are lying, I’m going to kill you.”