Chapter 962: Urgent Retreat
"I’m more concerned about meeting the first of those Drifters."
Arthur’s words echoed just as the three of them emerged from the spatial tunnel into a circular room with a minimalistic design.
[This is the Hall of Origin. It was the meeting place of the Primordial Progenitors of Harmonia,] Celestia immediately said. [The entire structure itself is a relic of the Previous Era.]
Arthur didn’t respond as he looked at the circular hall, noting the oak-brown wooden roundtable in the centre, divided into ten equal parts, with lines of cosmic energy running through the table to show the partitions.
Each section had a crest etched into the table, and ten seats faced each section, each one a simple wooden oak chair with cushions of different colours.
On the walls behind each seat was an arched cosmic gate, though aside from the one he, Aleksas and Quinn had just stepped through, all of them were dormant.
The walls of the room were black, and there were no lights hanging from above. In fact, the room had no ceiling, only an open expanse where the ceiling would have been, and looking up, one could see a myriad of constellations of different shapes, sizes, and colours.
Arthur could also see what looked like miniature models of entire universes in that open space, and from it streamed a constant flow of liquefied cosmic energy that poured down into the hole at the centre of the table.
Finally, Arthur turned his gaze to the only seat at the table that was tucked in, chained in multiple places as if to prevent it from being stolen. The section of the table in front of it also had two chains running to the hole in the centre, tied to the legs of the chair beneath the table.
"Do you guys have a thief problem or something?" Arthur asked, and Quinn chuckled in response.
"I don’t think there’s a single being in the Cosmos who could take anything from inside here without being caught."
She took his hand and pulled him along as she walked toward the chair, but just before she could tell him to touch it, a monotone voice echoed across the room.
[That would be most unwise.]
Arthur, Aleksas, and Quinn immediately turned around, and suddenly standing in what Arthur was certain had been empty space only moments ago was a woman with a stoic expression.
Even though Arthur looked directly at her, he couldn’t make out much detail of her facial features, as if her existence hadn’t settled on a single set of features.
She wore a flowing white dress, and her multicoloured hair cascaded down to her knees, her eyes glowing with the same iridescence.
’Am I seeing things, or is her hair made of pure cosmic energy?’
[You’re not seeing things, Master,] Celestia replied. [It really is.]
’You know her?’ Arthur asked telepathically.
[I don’t remember much, but I at least know what that thing that looks like a woman standing in front of you is.]
Just as Arthur was about to ask why Celestia had said ’looks like a woman’, she continued,
[What you’re looking at is the Avatar of the Origin Multiverse itself.]
Arthur immediately facepalmed at Celestia’s words, and the sound of his palm hitting his face drew the attention of the others in the room.
"Don’t mind me, I’m just getting a headache from all the information coming at me today," he said, raising his head and then addressing the woman before them.
"Exactly what did you mean by saying it would be most unwise?"
The woman replied in the same monotone voice as before. [Quinn wanted you to touch that chair.]
Then she turned her gaze to Quinn. [You may not realise it since you and Aleksas were already Ultimates by the time you arrived here. However, there is a certain level of power required to unbind any of the seats in this hall.
Arthur does not possess that level of power, so if you had made him touch that chair, you would have placed him on a one-way path to death.]
By this point, Arthur was already numb to the big revelations, so he didn’t even flinch at the mention of potential death. His focus was on the fact that this woman knew his name without him saying it.
"And, uh, how exactly do you know my name? I don’t recall giving it to you."
[You don’t need to give me your name,] she replied. [I know the names of the Masters of every single universe that exists within this 11-dimensional collection of space-time continuums that those of this Era have chosen to call the Origin Multiverse.]
"Ah, so you’re the multiverse itself, huh? Okay, that’s cool. I’m not going to question why a multiverse has an incarnation in the first place," Arthur said, shaking his head as if trying to shake off his rising headache.
At this, Origin simply said, [You can direct your question to the Cosmic Forces that the original multiverses both come from.]
The moment she said that, Quinn raised her hands and interrupted. "Wait, hold on. Origin, you said there’s an Existence Realm requirement for this?"
Origin nodded silently, and Quinn frowned.
"Bummer," she said, glancing back at the chair and letting go of Arthur’s hand.
Aleksas, on the other hand, focused on something else. "You mentioned a Realm requirement, but not whether he would succeed in unbinding it."
Origin tilted her head slightly at Aleksas’ words.
[Didn’t you bring him here because you knew he could unbind it? Or did you bring him here only to confirm if he’s the last of the Primordials of this Era? If it’s the latter, you don’t need to go through all that. I can confirm it for you. He is the last of the Primordials.]
Right after saying that, she shook her head before continuing. [Unfortunately, he’s nowhere near strong enough to interact with the conceptual forces required for you to begin your Calculations of The End.]
The last ominous-sounding term made Arthur close his eyes as he exhaled. "So, who’s going to explain to me what these Calculations of The End are, and exactly what ’End’ you’re trying to calculate?"
The answer to his question came from Aleksas.
"The End of the Cosmos," he said. "You’re aware of the Previous Era and how the cause of its destruction remains unknown.
We want to understand the circumstances that could bring about the end of our own Era because we don’t want it to become another past iteration of the Cosmos.
Based on relics we’ve uncovered over the years and the information we’ve forced Hyperion to cough up, we’ve concluded that the Primordial Progenitors are capable of calculating the potential end of an Era, but only if all 10 of them are fully gathered and have pooled their powers."
Arthur didn’t respond immediately, his mind recalling what Celestia had told him right after she regained her first set of memories.
Celestia had said that the Harmonia Era’s Primordial Progenitors had discovered the impending end of that Era and had tried to prevent it. However, they all failed, which was why the Harmonia Era was now known as the Previous Era.
Arthur wanted to ask Aleksas if the Levites had told him about this, but just before he could speak, Aleksas suddenly frowned.
Quinn acted in the same moment, grabbing Arthur by the arm.
"Kid, we’re leaving."
She began pulling him as she walked, raising her other hand to activate one of the arched cosmic gates lining the walls of the room.
"Aleksas," she called.
"I know," Aleksas replied.
That short exchange was enough for the two of them to understand, and as Quinn pulled Arthur toward the gate she had activated, Arthur demanded, "Wait, what’s going on?!"
Quinn answered his question with a single word.
A name Arthur genuinely did not want to hear.
"Luka."
"!"
The moment she spoke, she pulled Arthur into the cosmic gate and vanished from the Hall of Origin.
At the same time, Origin bowed lightly to Aleksas before her entire body dissolved like mist.
A second later, one of the arched cosmic gates in the room glowed, cosmic spatial power swirling in its centre, and a woman stepped out.
She was tall, possessed dazzling beauty, with striking grey eyes and blonde hair cascading over her shoulders.
Not a single fluctuation of energy could be felt from her existence, and as she entered the Hall of Origin, she tilted her head slightly, a small smile on her face as she waved.
"Hi Aleksas."
