Chapter 738: Cosmic Genesis
The moment they arrived at Jamie’s penthouse, Arthur spoke. "I have a really important question—something I probably should have asked long ago."
Jamie raised an eyebrow as he sat down. "What’s it about?"
He extended his arm toward the drink bar, and two bottles along with a pair of glasses floated into the air, gliding smoothly over to the table.
Arthur watched in silence as they landed on the glass surface before finally speaking.
"I noticed it long ago, but I kept quiet. However, certain things I’ve observed make it impossible for me to ignore anymore."
"And that would be?"
"Your title—Envoy of Balance."
Arthur’s response made Jamie nod in understanding.
"So that’s what this is about."
It seemed he already had an idea of why Arthur was bringing it up now.
’Since the Aspects he possesses are Chaotic, and assuming Ranus told him about the Ordered Concepts, it makes sense why my title would catch his attenti—huh?’
Jamie’s thoughts abruptly halted as he realised something off about Arthur’s wording.
’He noticed it long ago? Meaning he was cognizant before gaining the Aspects? How...?’
His expression remained unchanged despite this realization, so Arthur, not noticing anything wrong, continued speaking.
"I’ve never heard of anything like an Envoy of Balance before. But honestly, I’m more curious about "Balance" itself, than its Envoys."
Jamie sipped his wine, nodding in satisfaction at the taste before responding.
"Balance, huh?" He sighed, setting his glass down. "If I’m going to explain Balance to you, we need to go back to the very beginning."
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"The beginning? Genesis Chapter 1?"
His question made Jamie burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! No, not that beginning. That’s the Author’s beginning. Our beginning was different."
"Oh. Enlighten me, then."
Arthur responded calmly, picking up a glass to pour himself some wine, while Jamie chuckled some more before his expression turned serious.
"In the beginning, there was nothing. But within that nothingness, two forces existed—Chaos and Order. These Cosmic Forces filled that void until they collided.
And from that collision, Existence was born."
Arthur’s eyes narrowed. "You’re telling me the entire Cosmos was created by Chaos and Order colliding?"
"Exactly. That collision also birthed two Multiverses—the Origin Multiverse, born from Chaos, and the Dark Multiverse, born from Order."
Arthur blinked in confusion when he heard this.
"Wait, the Origin Multiverse came from Chaos, and the Dark Multiverse came from Order? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?"
His question made Jamie laugh a bit before he responded.
"You’re thinking with mortal sensibilities, Arthur. Chaos isn’t inherently Evil, and Order isn’t inherently Good.
They simply are. They exist beyond such simple definitions."
Arthur processed that for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I’ll bite. Carry on."
Filling his glass once more, Jamie continued.
"These Cosmic Forces are nigh-omnipresent within the Cosmos.
Chaos exists in every corner where disorder reigns, while Order fills every crevice untouched by Chaos.
But...!"
His voice suddenly rose an octave, and he leaned forward, speaking in a lower tone.
"These two Cosmic Forces are NOT friendly with one another. They are in a constant tug of war for influence across all Existence.
In every Universe, every Galaxy, every Planet—they constantly push against each other, each trying to dominate the other.
And this...is where Balance comes into play."
Arthur silently set his glass down, his full attention fixed on Jamie as he waited for him to continue.
"Balance is the theoretical Third Cosmic Force."
"Theoretical?"
Jamie nodded with a serious expression before explaining. "To 99.999 to infinity % of the Cosmos, ’Balance’ is considered theoretical because it cannot be sensed in the same way that existences in the Cosmic Realms perceive Chaos or Order."
Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but Jamie held up a hand to stop him before continuing.
"At this point, I need to touch on the subject of ’Envoys’ a bit.
Remember when I said that Chaos and Order constantly struggle against each other?"
"Yeah."
"Good. In some cases, one force may become overwhelmingly dominant over the other.
Take the ’Witch of Chaos’ one who made me a Hybrid, as an example. Her title alone tells you which side of the spectrum she stood on.
She was an Envoy of Chaos, born in a galaxy where Order was the prevailing force. The inhabitants of her home galaxy had harnessed energy from the Cosmic Force of Order to such an extent that Chaos was completely suppressed.
To counterbalance this, Chaos chose Envoys to reintroduce its influence into the galaxy, and she was the strongest among them. That entire fiasco ended in tragedy where she wiped out her home galaxy and ultimately killed the galaxy itself, but that’s a story for another time.
With that, you can define ’Cosmic Force’ Envoys as existences chosen by these forces to propagate and broaden their power within a particular region."
Arthur nodded in understanding before speaking. "By that definition, you were chosen by the force of Balance, which somehow can’t be sensed even though it supposedly exists..."
"Exactly. Balance doesn’t announce itself with the fireworks of Chaos or the rigidity of Order. It’s entirely imperceptible to anyone who hasn’t come into contact with it, hence why many doubt its existence.
But it does exist. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have my Imperial Privileges."
Jamie responded as he raised his hand, and five orbs of Cosmic Energy—White, Purple, Red, Deep Crimson, and Blue—manifested in his palm.
"?!"
Arthur’s eyes widened at the sight. If he wasn’t mistaken, those orbs emanated the same cosmic energy signatures as his Aspects.
He felt his Aspects recoil within his soul at the mere presence of the orbs, as if instinctively trying to distance themselves.
This sensation made him uncomfortable, and Jamie, noticing his discomfort, closed his palm, making the orbs disappear, allowing Arthur’s aspects to settle down.
Once the uncomfortable feeling faded, Arthur asked.
"I can already piece together Balance’s role, but I’m curious—how did the theory of Balance come about?"
"Balance was first theorized back when ’Eternals’ and ’Aggressors’ weren’t yet a thing."
"That far back!?"
Arthur couldn’t be blamed for his shocked exclamation, as, to his knowledge, Eternals and Aggressors had existed for trillions of years.
"Yes. It happened shortly after the birth of the Origin and Dark Multiverses.
At that time, Chaos managed to gain the upper hand in its eternal struggle with Order, fully suppressing it.
It was the FIRST and the ONLY time one of the two Cosmic Forces ever managed to suppress the other on a Cosmic Scale.
The individual equilibriums in Universes didn’t matter. All of Existence was being dominated by Chaos, and it was close to consuming everything that was."
Chaos wasn’t ’Good’ or ’Evil,’ but it was ’Disorder.’
Arthur couldn’t even begin to imagine the level of anarchy that must have consumed the Cosmos during Chaos’ reign.
"That was when the six Existences who would later become the first Eternals and Aggressors, through means still unknown to this day, harnessed the power of these forces in the form we now know as the Concepts. With these Concepts and their links to these forces, they reversed the means Chaos had used to suppress Order and instead turned it against Chaos, suppressing it as well.
However, given the immense powers of these Cosmic Forces, and how their collision created the Cosmos, many found it puzzling that they succeeded without suffering any losses.
None of them died or was erased from existence. This led to the first serious theory of ’Balance’.
It was theorized that ’Balance’ was the reason Chaos and Order had never been able to suppress each other before. There must have been an error in Balance that allowed Chaos to gain the upper hand, and when that error was corrected, Balance aided those six, later known as the ’First Defenders,’ in suppressing Chaos until it was brought down to the same level as the suppressed Order."
"Equalizing the two Forces would return Balance to the Cosmos..."
Arthur muttered quietly as Jamie finished speaking, and the man silently nodded in affirmation before continuing.
"More power was extracted from Chaos in the form of the Concepts, and the creation of the Numbered Multiverses was part of their efforts to weaken Chaos by consuming more of its power.
However, things changed after that.
I don’t know the exact specifics, but it’s believed that a disagreement arose between the First Defenders, causing them to split into two factions.
One side wished to, and I quote, ’Unseal’ Order from Chaos’ grasp, allowing it to regain its influence, and then do the same to Chaos, restoring the Cosmos to its original state.
The other side wanted both forces to remain suppressed."
