Cosmic Curtaincall

{[ Geometric Time ]}

{[ Timeline AA ]}

{[ 8, 996, 827, 115 "Years" after the Twin Big Bang ]}

{[ X Coordinate: &72.99, Z Coordinate: #987.122, Y Coordinate: 9 ]}

Empty Space.

After contributing to the creation of the universe and walking through space and time, this was where Athelei was floating in absolute motionlessness. To an observer, the form of his existence was a phantom composition of myriad superimposed images and particles with animated sizes. He looked like a nebula. A weird one.

And any simple mortal who would gaze upon this cloud of information would stand to gain only one thing:

Madness. A madness so strong, that it would simply appear as an eerie calm.

Isolated from the passage of time, the cloud of Athelei's existence suddenly flickered as a humanoid-shaped shadow would make its appearance. The images and particles that stretched a few lightyears in size would collapse into this shadow in an instant.

"...Interesting," would be Athelei's first word. His entire phantom-shadow body would vibrate as he spoke and yet even this could transcend the vacuum that surrounded him to allow others to hear him.

Though, all any listener would hear would be letters and syllables all pronounced in the same instant Athelei had spoken. That's essentially what happens when you speak outside the influence of time.

"This universe…" Athelei would say, breaking his isolation from time as the world began to move. Photons whizzed straight through his humanoid body and delivered to him his first experience of human pain. "Has it absorbed 'Me' and become an infinite existence?"

WHOOOOOMMMMMMM

As if responding to such thoughts, the hum of an overwhelming yet seemingly subconscious power descended upon Athelei. It bombarded every nook and cranny of his physical presence as unexplainable pain erupted aplenty.

But Athelei made no expected reaction. He simply did not know how to. There was no reflex that beseeched his screams nor for him to flail about in suffering. Instead, came a few words,

"I have so many questions, but this feeling of… pain is not something I'm growing to become fond of."

And so, with the decisiveness similar to the abandonment of his infinite body, Athelei left this form once more. After all, he sought an end. It did not matter if it was his own ending or if it was the end of others.

As long as it bore the concept of an "end" in its withering bosom, Athelei would be satisfied.

C R A C K

The force of a supernova blasted where Athelei had left another portion of himself. It occurred in an infinitesimal point with a sound that may have been a planet-annihilating shockwave by itself. Such a grand display of force on such a tiny speck of reality meant that the universe itself was simply punctured instead.

As for Athelei?

Gone was what made him a Denizen of Infinity. His infinite body was taken while what could technically count for his soul had been obliterated. He was no longer the incalculable, paradoxical existence he once was.

But the emotion that humans would usually feel when losing an integral part of themselves had yet to manifest within him. His consciousness simply continued to float about in the cosmos as an observer. A rather special observer who witnessed the universe's subconscious hostility be exercised on what made him, him.

'So many questions, but no answers in sight,' Athelei thought. 'Perhaps a mortal body would help me put an… end… to these that which I ask myself.'

It was really curious—if not obvious—that the moment Athelei abandoned what made him infinite, his goals were already seemingly within reach. There was no omnipotence nor omniscience that aided his mind any longer.

As such, Athelei's nonexistent gaze would then be set on a planet that arrived before his wandering consciousness.

'I will let the world decide what kind of body I shall have.'

.

.

.

{[ Year 98 A.A. ]}

{[ Planet Oxhor, Holy Nation of Illyas, Church of Libra ]}

A baby is born. A human baby, might I add.

And for all intents and purposes, it was a normal baby. Athelei was not like the usual reincarnator whose first life was wrought with human experiences. He was a Greater Than 10 Dimensional Being. He could walk through time itself and traverse timelines whenever he wished. Oceans of time could quite literally be held between his fingers if he so entertained the concept of having fingers.

Even his simple footsteps could place him in any XYZ Coordinate he wished. He existed everywhere, at all times, in all manners, and all timelines.

Though, despite his infinite existence, Athelei was not a God. He was also not an Immortal.

Why?

Simply because those are human concepts. Instead of such a lofty, heavenly status, his entire being can ironically be summed up in one word: Paradoxical.

As such, the tear-invoking cry of a newborn child echoed throughout the spacious halls of the Church of Libra. The newborn was placed beneath an altar adorned by the scales of the inanimate Zodiac that shone in the tinted morning light.

"The sun had risen at the moment this child was born," A figure clad in blue robes spoke with a gentle smile on his wrinkled face. "It is a good omen."

This blue robbed priest then snapped his fingers as he drew a complex symbol in the air. It looked akin to a rune, and one that signified the Zodiac, Libra. The priest's hands left behind a milky white light until the rune was completed.

"Congratulations," said the priest as the formerly two-feet-in-radius rune shrunk down until it was the size of a coin. It stuck to the pale skin of the naked baby and fizzled out of existence in the next second.

"I pray that this boy may grow up to be an advocate of balance just like all of us."

The priest then gently put the baby back in his arms as he handed it to a young girl of no more than eight years of age, "Take care of your little brother, will you? Your parents need rest."

The girl gingerly held the fragile life in her arms while an expression of suppressed excitement adorned her gentle face. Her obsidian-coloured hair cascaded down her shoulders and was curiously grabbed by the baby in her hands.

"I... I will!" The girl took her eyes off of her newborn brother as she bowed at the priest whose back was turned, "May we all hang in the balance, now and forever!"

A pleased chuckle would then sound out from the priest in reply to her hasty prayer, "Very good, little one."