Chapter 58: Chapter 58: The First Disagreement
The city no longer looked like a city.
Etherius walked through a graveyard of shattered stone and frozen ether.
The barrier overhead shimmered like a second sky.
Pieces of collapsed buildings floated unnaturally in the air where remnants of Lucien’s dimensional authority still lingered.
Everywhere he looked, reality felt damaged.
Wrong.
As though the world had suffered an injury that had not yet decided whether it wanted to heal.
Ahead of him walked the First Dream.
Or rather—
Eternia’s body carrying the First Dream.
The sight remained unsettling.
Golden runes drifted across her skin.
The star-shaped mark on her forehead glowed softly.
Four arms had vanished after the battle, leaving only the appearance of a young girl once more.
Yet Etherius knew appearances meant nothing.
The thing walking ahead of him was older than history.
Older than worlds.
Possibly older than existence itself.
His fingers twitched.
Run.
That thought had not left him even once.
If he could find a way—
A distraction.
An opening.
Anything.
He could escape.
Hide.
Regroup.
Come back with a plan.
Surely there had to be something.
Anything.
The First Dream suddenly spoke.
"Do not."
Etherius froze.
The entity did not turn around.
Did not even slow its pace.
Yet somehow it knew exactly what he had been thinking.
The First Dream continued walking.
Then casually looked toward the distance.
Toward Nysera.
Who remained standing far behind them.
Terrified.
Frozen.
Watching.
The First Dream’s voice became cold.
"Do not even think about running away."
Etherius felt his stomach drop.
The entity’s golden eyes settled on Nysera.
"If you do."
A brief pause.
"I will kill that girl."
The words were spoken without hatred.
Without emotion.
Without pleasure.
That somehow made them infinitely worse.
Etherius clenched his fists.
Damn it.
He already knew.
The First Dream was not threatening him.
It was informing him.
If he ran—
Nysera would die.
Simple.
Direct.
Final.
His thoughts immediately shifted.
The Axis.
His Axis.
The Axis of Gateway.
The First Dream had not extracted it yet.
There had to be a reason.
Etherius knew enough about Axis Holders to understand what that reason was.
The fusion was incomplete.
The Axis still hadn’t fully merged with him.
Attempting extraction now would almost certainly kill him.
Even the First Dream likely didn’t want that outcome.
Not yet.
No.
The entity wanted the Axis intact.
Which meant keeping Etherius alive.
For now.
That realization did not comfort him.
It only made him feel like livestock being preserved for a future slaughter.
Slowly.
Reluctantly.
He lowered his head.
And followed.
The First Dream seemed satisfied.
"Good."
The two continued walking through the ruins.
Several minutes passed.
Neither spoke.
The silence grew oppressive.
Eventually the First Dream stopped.
Without looking back, it spoke.
"Do not resist."
Etherius frowned.
The entity continued.
"Once the Axis completely settles within you, I will decide what to do."
That was not reassuring.
Not even slightly.
Etherius almost laughed.
Almost.
Instead he remained silent.
The First Dream resumed walking.
Eventually they reached the remains of a shattered plaza.
Half the district had collapsed into a massive crater.
Moonlight illuminated the destruction.
The sight looked almost beautiful.
In a horrifying sort of way.
The First Dream sat atop a broken fragment of stone.
Then casually tossed Etherius toward another piece of rubble.
Etherius landed awkwardly.
Pain shot through his shoulder.
He gritted his teeth.
The First Dream simply watched him.
Waiting.
Observing.
Like a scholar examining an interesting insect.
Etherius stared back.
Fear still lingered.
But curiosity slowly pushed through it.
Because one question refused to leave his mind.
Why?
Why had all this happened?
Why the massacre?
Why the Axis?
Why the war?
Why the centuries of manipulation?
Eventually he gathered enough courage to ask.
"What is all this for?"
The First Dream became still.
Completely still.
The winds stopped.
The ruins fell silent.
Even distant sounds vanished.
For several moments the entity simply stared at the sky.
Then it spoke.
Its voice had changed.
Gone was the cold conqueror.
Gone was the monster.
For the first time—
The First Dream sounded tired.
"Long ago."
Its gaze drifted toward the stars.
"Before time existed."
"Before light."
"Before darkness."
"Before reality."
"There were only five beings."
Etherius listened carefully.
The First Dream’s eyes reflected ancient memories.
Memories older than existence itself.
"There was me."
"The Archon of Light."
"The Life of Jolly."
"The Miracle of Fire."
"And the Second Dream."
The names felt strange.
Alien.
Like concepts rather than people.
The First Dream continued.
"We existed within endless nothingness."
"There was no suffering."
"No death."
"No conflict."
"No growth."
"No change."
A faint smile appeared.
"The others often called it boring."
The smile vanished.
"I disagreed."
The entity leaned back slightly.
Its gaze remained fixed on distant stars.
"There was peace."
Its voice became quieter.
"True peace."
Not the peace kingdoms preached.
Not the peace gained through victory.
Something deeper.
Something eternal.
The First Dream closed its eyes.
"We needed nothing."
Etherius frowned.
Then came the name again.
The Second Dream.
The First Dream’s expression changed immediately.
Annoyance.
Ancient annoyance.
The sort of irritation that had survived longer than universes.
"The Second Dream was different."
A pause.
"He complained constantly."
Etherius blinked.
The description felt strangely normal.
The creator of existence reduced to a chronic complainer.
The First Dream sighed.
"He questioned everything."
"He disliked stillness."
"He disliked eternity."
"He disliked certainty."
The entity shook its head.
"He believed existence should become something more."
Its voice carried clear disapproval.
"For reasons I still fail to understand."
The stars above flickered softly.
The First Dream continued.
"He experimented with his power."
"Again."
"And again."
"And again."
The annoyance deepened.
"One day he created a sphere."
Etherius listened.
The First Dream’s eyes narrowed.
"At first it seemed insignificant."
"Small."
"Harmless."
"Temporary."
The entity slowly clenched its hand.
Then released it.
"We thought nothing of it."
Silence followed.
Then—
"It exploded."
The words echoed through the ruined city.
The First Dream’s gaze sharpened.
"Light erupted."
"Energy erupted."
"Matter erupted."
"Reality erupted."
Its voice grew colder.
"The others later named it."
A pause.
"The Big Bang."
Etherius felt chills run down his spine.
The First Dream had witnessed the birth of existence.
Not through myths.
Not through legends.
Personally.
The realization felt unreal.
The entity continued.
"I ordered its destruction."
Its eyes hardened.
"Immediately."
"But they refused."
Of course they did.
The First Dream laughed softly.
A bitter laugh.
"They scattered it instead."
The ruined city seemed darker somehow.
"As a result."
"Countless fragments scattered through endless nothingness."
The entity gestured toward the heavens.
"Galaxies."
"Worlds."
"Universes."
Its voice carried open irritation.
"An unnecessary mess."
Etherius almost objected.
Almost.
Then remembered who he was speaking to.
The First Dream continued.
"The others planned to clean up their mistake."
"But something happened."
Its gaze became distant.
"They discovered life."
The word lingered.
Almost reverently.
Yet not from admiration.
From confusion.
"They became fascinated."
Its voice lowered.
"They hesitated."
The First Dream clearly remembered that moment.
Even now.
After unimaginable ages.
The memory remained vivid.
"I warned them."
The entity’s eyes narrowed.
"I told them those worlds would become a burden and the cost of creating life."
"I told them life would become a problem."
"No one listened."
A faint smile appeared.
A sad one.
"They never listened."
The First Dream looked upward.
Toward infinite stars.
Toward countless worlds.
Toward creation itself.
Then it spoke softly.
"And then the feeding began."
Etherius frowned.
"Feeding?"
The First Dream nodded.
"The universes consumed divine essence."
The words carried absolute certainty.
"They fed on us."
"They grew stronger."
"We grew weaker."
The entity’s expression darkened.
"The others panicked."
Its gaze sharpened.
"Finally."
"They understood."
A brief pause.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
"They chose sacrifice."
Etherius remained silent.
The First Dream continued.
"They chose mortality."
"They chose extinction."
"They chose death."
Its voice became colder with every word.
"As though it were noble."
The entity laughed.
A quiet laugh.
One filled with ancient disappointment.
"They called it responsibility."
The First Dream’s eyes glowed faintly.
"I called it madness."
For several moments silence returned.
Then the First Dream spoke again.
More quietly than before.
"If they wished to die."
"That was their choice."
Its gaze hardened.
"But they expected me to die with them."
The temperature seemed to drop.
The stars appeared colder.
Distant.
Unreachable.
"They expected me to surrender my existence."
The First Dream’s voice lowered further.
"They expected me to accept their decision."
The entity slowly stood.
Moonlight illuminated Eternia’s face.
For the first time—
Etherius saw something terrifying.
Not hatred.
Not malice.
Loneliness.
A loneliness so old it had survived the birth of reality itself.
The First Dream looked toward the horizon.
Toward endless worlds.
Endless lives.
Endless civilizations.
"I argued."
Its voice remained calm.
"I pleaded."
"I explained."
"No one listened."
The entity laughed once.
Without humor.
"They looked at me with contempt."
Its eyes darkened.
"As though my life belonged to them."
The ruined city trembled slightly.
A faint aura leaked from the First Dream.
Not enough to destroy.
Just enough to reveal.
A fraction.
A tiny fraction.
Of the emotions or something similar to it buried beneath eternity.
"I was not the problem."
Its voice echoed softly.
"They were."
The First Dream slowly closed its eyes.
"I spent ages trying to convince them."
The silence stretched.
Then came the final sentence.
The sentence that carried the weight of countless worlds.
Countless wars.
Countless tragedies.
Countless deaths.
Eventually—
The First Dream opened its eyes.
Golden light filled the darkness.
"I stopped trying to convince them."
The entity looked directly at Etherius.
For the first time since the conversation began.
Its gaze felt endless.
Ancient.
Bottomless.
And utterly certain.
"That was the day I decided to take action."
The wind died.
The stars seemed to dim.
And Etherius suddenly realized.
The story had not truly begun yet.
Everything he had heard so far—
The birth of reality.
The gods.
The universes.
The disagreement.
Those were merely the prologue.
The real tragedy.
The war between the First Dream and the other four primordial beings.
Had yet to be told.
And somehow—
That realization terrified him more than anything he had witnessed tonight.
