1 The Story of a Hero

The vast universe is separated into four planes: the Abyssal Plane, the Mortal Plane, the Heavenly Plane, and the Nirvana Plane.

For thousands of years, the nine races that lived in those planes coexisted peacefully. They lived amongst each other under a single ruler. However, with the death of the strongest person, the Lord of Nirvana, there began the struggle for power.

In the Nirvana Plane, the highest amongst the four, the creatures fought each other in a bloody battle. Each race presented their own hero—their champion—the one they wanted to hail as the new Lord.

But they never settled on an agreement.

They were all equally as strong.

….

The war lasted for centuries, but none lowered their swords.

The higher beings of Nirvana completely neglected the harm that their battles brought upon the lower planes. They had overlooked the fact that they were consuming the World Essence faster than it was created.

Due to the scarcity of World Essence, the very essence that sustained life throughout the universe, some planets began to perish. Their plants withered, followed by the deaths of their animals. Then...their people.

These planets became nothing but a big black ball that hovered in space.

The universe mourned. It wanted to help, but it could not intervene directly.

So, it sent someone.

….

One day, Kazmun Reha, the Great Elder of the Oracle race, saw a prophecy in her dreams.

In a plane beneath Nirvana, a human child will be born. He will have unmatched talent and unparalleled strength! He will reign supreme and stand above all.

Fearing that the highest seat would not fall on her race's hands, she let the message be known, spreading it far and wide, even to the planes below.

At first, the others did not believe it. But due to the Great Elder's hasty actions, they found no reason to doubt. The rulers of each race took the only solution to solve their problem. To at least have the chance of taking the throne they oh so desired.

Destroy the lower planes!

Just when they were about to descend, they suddenly found themselves unable to do so.

The universe did not permit it.

They were trapped in Nirvana.

….

After two centuries, the hero finally came. A man from the Heavenly Plane. He challenged the champions from each race and he struck them down one by one.

His name was Phen Metheziah Uriel.

After he took the highest seat, every being in the plane bowed down to him.

With him at the peak of Nirvana, the war ended.

But...he didn't stop there. He had a greater vision.

He bestowed the people autonomy.

He lived amongst each race, emphasizing their importance in the universe. He proclaimed that each had the power to govern themselves and did not need someone to lead them.

They followed his advice, and the races prospered more than they ever did in the past.

All the races came to respect their new ruler. The ruler that he, himself, said they didn't need.

….

Eight centuries later...

Phen Metheziah Uriel, the current Lord of Nirvana, smiled, though bitterly.

Is it over? Have I succeeded?

He pondered.

At the peak of Nirvana, he realized that he had nothing to hold on to. He had nothing to treasure.

He had outlived the woman that he loved, a castle maid he grew up with back in his hometown, and he had not loved ever since.

He had no friends because no one could ever stand as his equal.

With all the power in his hands, he could do nothing.

He was merely a tool created by the universe to save the lives of other people.

But the universe forgot one thing.

He himself was a person.

Who was supposed to save him?

He closed his eyes.

I have served my purpose…

With a single breath, he broke his own Essence Sanctuary honed by a millennium's worth of cultivation. The world essence he had gathered throughout his lifetime, once more, returned to the universe. His existence faded into stardust, swept away by the whirlwind of time. Along with it, was the revival of the planets that had long been dead.

The universe had seen the man it sent disappear. In truth, he had done more than what it had expected.

Does he not deserve a second chance?

The stardust that had just dispersed gathered. It traveled through time and disappeared into the void.

….

Phen Metheziah Uriel who was supposed to be resting in eternal slumber opened his eyes once more.

Although blurry, he could barely make out the figures of people looking down on him.

Although faint, he could barely hear the thumping sounds that his tiny heart made.

He was alive.

….