Chapter 791: Axis Shift
It was a ruined banquet hall, with towering walls, cracked and crumbling pillars scattered throughout, and broken statues lying beneath the long, cracked stained-glass windows.
These windows cast coloured lights into the chamber, their panes depicting scenes of some kind of celebration, however, the figures at the centre of each image were marred by cracks and gaping holes.
A portion of the ceiling had caved in, leaving a large opening overhead, but through it, there was neither the sight of stars from a night sky nor the clouds of a daytime one.
There was nothing but darkness. An infinitely expanding darkness stretching in every direction.
At the far end of the banquet hall was a broken throne atop a small three-step dais, and seated upon it was a man.
He wore a brown pinstriped suit, with a top hat on his head and a walking stick held in his left hand. His free right hand tapped impatiently against the throne’s armrest, matching the rhythm of his left foot.
The man’s face was a spectacle of wonder and disorder, his features changing constantly with each passing second.
One moment he looked like a middle-aged man, the next, he had the face of a young child, and before one could even blink, he looked like an old man on the brink of death. His hair and eye colour changed constantly, along with various facial features, from tattoos to scars.
But despite the rapid changes in his appearance, one thing remained constant.
Every face he wore bore a deep frown, a clear sign that this man was greatly displeased.
Not long after he had quite literally spawned on the throne, a woman entered through one of the side doors of the hall.
Her facial features were stable, unlike his, but she was eccentric in her own way.
If one were to describe her with a single word, it would be white.
She had waist-length white hair, skin that was pure white, and wore a flowing white gown along with a matching shawl. The only parts of her that weren’t white were her ivory-coloured irises, which encircled pearl-coloured pupils.
Her features were breathtakingly beautiful, every aspect of her appearance flawless, but instead of admiration, anyone who looked at her would be overwhelmed by a sense of how wrong and imperfect they themselves were in comparison.
Gaze at her for too long, and one would begin a slow descent into philosophical madness.
Why does free will exist? It serves no purpose. It creates disorder. It must be erased. All should walk a single path to prevent existential chaos.
That line of thought would eventually spiral into questioning the very point of their existence, consumed by the notion that they were utterly ’wrong’ and ’unnecessary’ in the eyes of the Cosmos.
It was a stark contrast to the man, whose rapidly morphing facial features could drive one mad through pure fear.
Just a few seconds after the woman showed up, footsteps echoed through the otherwise silent hall, and a third existence stepped in.
This new arrival was, naturally, just as eccentric as the other two.
It was a humanoid figure cloaked in a long, black, hooded robe. They had no visible face, only a dark void where one should have been, with two glowing, iridescent lights where eyes ought to be.
They were the last to arrive, yet the first of the three to speak.
"I thought you two didn’t like THEM. So why do you keep coming to THEIR house? And really, it’s been what, two or three Eras now? Why haven’t you destroyed this place already?
Starting to regret your choices?"
As they said this, the woman standing near the throne turned toward them, and after a brief moment of silence, spoke.
"You... you’re that thing they created..."
At that, the hooded figure turned to face her and responded.
"Yes. I am that thing. The first living being to exist across time, space, and all dimensions. The reason the millions of races across the Cosmos exist, and the reason your unwilling proxies, who fight for your amusement, exist.
But in case you’ve forgotten, I am called the First Progenitor."
At the First Progenitor’s self-introduction, the woman merely scoffed and turned her gaze aside.
"Such a grandiose title..."
The First Progenitor didn’t even bother replying. Instead, they turned their gaze to the man on the throne, the one who had summoned them here, and asked,
"So? Why did you decide to convene at this location?
Are you trying to provoke me into another fight, only to run off and sic some lesser pandemonium beasts on me again?"
A moment after speaking, they tapped a finger against their head, producing a small sound as if something had just come to mind.
"Ah, I forgot. They’re called Cosmic Horrors in this Era."
The man on the throne paid no mind to their tone, his impatient tapping finally coming to a stop as he spoke.
"The Cosmic Axis of Time has shifted."
"..."
The First Progenitor fell silent.
They blinked, then asked in a confused voice,
"I’m sorry—what?"
It was clear to anyone that they were completely dumbfounded by the statement, but the man showed no concern for their reaction.
He lifted his head, locking eyes with them as he asked, his tone accusing,
"What did you do?"
"Hold the fuck up! Why are you assuming I did anything?
If the Cosmic Axis of Time really shifted, then why didn’t I sense a thing?"
In response to the First Progenitor’s question, the woman in white replied coldly,
"You’re nothing more than an abandoned creation borrowing a power far beyond your place. How could you possibly perceive what lies above your station?"
"Borrowed or not, the power is still the same. If the axis of the entire Cosmos were to shift, I should have noticed it. But I did not, which makes me highly skeptical of this claim of yours."
"Your skepticism is irrelevant before the fact that the axis has changed directions!"
The man slammed his hand against the throne, the impact shaking the entire hall as he bellowed, glaring at the First Progenitor.
"Something that should never have happened has happened. Something has occurred far earlier than it was ever meant to!"
His eyes blazed with anger, but in the face of that fury, the First Progenitor remained calm.
"Is that truly the cause, or is it merely your speculation? Just your assumption, and the reason you choose to blame me."
There was no reply.
And at that, the First Progenitor concluded,
"So it’s really just what you think is the cause, huh? I see. Oh well, I have no idea about this shift in the Time Axis you’re talking about, and I had nothing to do with it."
With that, they turned and began walking away.
"You’re free to try reading my memories to find out if I’m lying."
But just as those words left their mouth, they came to a stop. Then, raising a hand to the side of their head, as if something had just occurred to them, they added,
"Oh wait, I almost forgot."
Glancing back over their shoulder at the two behind them, they finished,
|You can’t.|
And with that, they looked away and took another step forward, completely vanishing from this space.
