1 Humble Beginnings
'I wonder if they will attempt to kill me after this speech.' A young man thinks and sits down on a desk chair, his face wincing as he remembers the past events that seemed to last an eternity.
"I suppose I should start, huh?" He sighs and grabs his quill, placing it upon a piece of parchment. The quill dances about the paper, sending streaks of black ink forward. With each stroke and scratch of the quill, his mind feels pricks of pain, for the words he writes lay heavy on his heart.
"My name is Jacob Reymond. Some of you, however, know me by the name of Rey Nefasi." He pauses and contemplates his next words.
"The destruction that Lorea has seen, I take full responsibility for. My teacher, Hibari Kyoya, who was a Space King..." Rey crumbles up the piece of paper.
"Damn it, how am I supposed to explain this without mentioning anything about who you and I are, Hibari."
Clearing his mind, Rey stands up and leaves his small room. Closing his door, he walks into the hallway and out the front door. The sky is filled with stars and a bright full moon. The moonlight shines on Rey, highlighting his blonde hair and fair skin. With a field of agriculture to his left, a dirt road in front of him, a wooden barn to his right, and his house behind him, he walks straight ahead. Following the dirt road, Rey sees rubble and a fallen tree. "I should clear this path for merchants." He thinks as he walks up to the tree, and with a flick of his wrist, it vanishes.
"I'm still too weak. Even with my rank and soul, Soma's output was hundreds of times better than mine. One day, I'll be stronger than him." His knuckles crackle as he reflects.
Rey reaches out to the stars as he closes his hand into a fist. His eyes glint with rage and ferocity. Focusing on the things ahead of him, Rey walks back to his small home made of stone. Rey lies down on his bed to think and reflect before making his next decision.
Millions of years ago…
At the back of a spacious palace filled with white engravings and expensive gems, a man sat on a throne.
"Hibari." The man called out.
Another man appeared out of nowhere and looked at the king on the throne. He had a stocky build with long black hair in a ponytail and eyes as black as the night sky.
"My God, the Ancient's puppets have come for us." Hibari smiled. "You were right."
The man sat up from the throne. His slightly messy blonde hair fell to his ears as his eyes gleamed purple. He was handsome, and with a gentle smile, he walked down to meet the man. As he approached the man, the lights illuminated his armor formed of red threads that continuously weaved together. He placed his hand on Hibari's shoulder as he spoke.
"It's about time. Hibari, you were once the most talented genius among us. If your soul wasn't damaged, I'm sure that you would have surpassed me. From then on, you kept serving your race despite your inability to train. I can see the loyalty in your actions." He praised Hibari.
"Thank you, master, for the Space Kings!" Hibari said as he put one hand over his heart. Seeing this, the man on the throne was satisfied.
"Hibari… none of us should survive this calamity." He said in such a calm voice that it was almost frightening. "I still do not know where the ancient came from, and its puppets will overpower us soon. You know how scary our consumption is to make use of the space law. We cannot contend against an army of that size."
Hibari nodded in seriousness. He sensed outside and realized that legions of soldiers were already fighting the few thousands of Space Kings. Even though each soldier was weak, their numbers made them unstoppable.
"Then it'll be an honor to die in battle," he insisted.
To see Hibari's attitude at this moment, he could only bitterly smile.
"We are bound to lose this fight. If I am captured, then our space bloodline falls into its hands. After that, it's only a matter of time before its released. It will continue to chase me and the rest of my family down until we are controlled like those puppets." He spoke firmly, each word filled with hatred and indignance.
"Let's destroy our bloodline, wipe our memories. Then it won't need to pursue you, me, or anyone else of your family!" Hibari gulped, "Even if we have to throw away our pride, we-"
"Pride‽ Do you think I would value pride above my own family‽" He shouted. Seeing Hibari lower his head, the man sighed.
"Look, Hibari, this issue isn't so simple. After we and the other races sealed the Ancient away, I focused on comprehending time. There were only two paths that might work to preserve our race. The first was to create a miniature world inside my body and hide from the Ancient, but the difficulty of that is beyond me. Even creating this world was a challenge. So that only leaves the second option: time. If I worked on comprehending more of the time law, I might be able to preserve one of us and hope that our race lives after the Ancient is taken care of. All things die in the end, it cannot live forever." He paused and looked at Hibari, "I have learned to manipulate time, Hibari. I can send someone into the future."
Hibari's eyes widened for the first time since they spoke.
"But, master! That's too high of a price to make. Even if you could do it, that's against the law of time! If you do this, your fate will be worse than death!"
"I know! What else is there? This is the only way that we can ensure our race lives on. Enough talking, it's time." The Space God said while moving his finger. Suddenly, a baby teleported before him. "You are a genius, Hibari. Your comprehension even puts me, the famed God of Space, to shame. Your loyalty and determination set you apart. As my disciple, and as a friend, please watch over my son." He knelt.
"I refuse!" Hibari interjected. "Let's fight instead! We can win this war!"
"Stop!" The Space God demanded, and, still kneeling, looked up at Hibari. "When I send him through space-time, watch over him. My control is far too weak to foresee that much of the future. He'll need your guidance, Hibari. My control over the time law isn't strong enough to send a warrior's body through; leave it behind, I'll send your soul into his body." The Space God ordered.
"To be able to get you, the proud God of Space, to kneel to someone," Hibari winced and smiled. "this is impressive. Very well, my God. After all the life and death battles we have fought, to think you'll stop here before me." With reddened eyes, a tear fell as he crossed his arm over his heart again. "I'll take care of Rey for you. The Nefasi bloodline will prevail, I will make sure of that."
"I know you will. Regarding the condition of your soul, you know what to do if there are problems. Make sure Soma doesn't hurt Rey, though making him go through hardship is good. Perhaps you'll even find a way to restore the damage done to you in the future." He said seriously.
"Also, I will leave the power of a reverend with him. I personally stored this with three charges of space energy. You know how valuable this is; use it well." The Space God sighed, "That's all I can bring or else there's too much risk involved with traveling. Make sure you get yourself a capable body too, Hibari, his body cannot contain such a powerful, albeit fractured, soul for more than a decade or two without being negatively impacted."
"I understand. I'll seek another body as soon as Rey becomes coherent enough to understand me. Let's get this over with."
"Good luck, my friend."
The Space God concentrated and opened a portal to a faraway planet into the future. He then turned to look at Rey, who was sleeping. His blonde hair was just starting to come in and his purple eyes were closed.
"You and Hibari will be the sole testament to everything that happened here one day. Rey, you may never have my full bloodline. Please forgive me in advance! Hibari will accompany you as you grow up. At the cost of your bloodline, we shall live on in you." The Space God wept.
Rey's eyes turned from purple to black, and his hair from blonde to black also.
"Goodbye, my son." He whispered and teleported Rey through space-time.
He turned around and vanished. He appeared in the atmosphere, right before all the "puppets" fighting the rest of his race.
"Ancient! I know you can hear me even with my space techniques suppressing you. To think you'd make all these people your slaves. Despicable! For two hundred years we have been fighting you, but it ends here." The Space God's voice boomed across the planet.
"Everyone, we are trapped. Unless you want the same fate as those in front of you, I suggest you either run or self-destruct!"
Few Space Kings ran without any second thought, some continued to battle, but most submitted to the Space God's command. They condensed all the energies within their bodies.
When the various slaved enemies felt the power brewing within the Space Kings, they trembled in fear.
"Run!"
"Flee‽"
"Help me!"
"Join me in hell, Ancient." The Space God, peering into space, softly spoke.
Thousands of Space King self-destructed all of the Space energy in their bodies. A supermassive black hole formed and pulled everyone in, killing and annihilating all lifeforms nearby.
After an eon of time...
On a distant planet called Reje, there was a forest called the Vibrant Forest inhabited by humans. Two men were fighting over a lizard that was less than a meter tall and two meters with length. The scales on its body were an orange-green color and it had a ferocious bite. Its eyes seemed to be filled with passion and fierceness. This was a creature with a fire affinity named the Flame-scaled lizard.
"He's mine! I found him first, so I'll be the one taking his comprehension!"
The first man said with rage and a hint of worry. He had been stuck at the novice stage 20 for over a year, and he felt if he absorbed the beast's understanding of the fire law, he would break through into the fire adept stage 1. Otherwise, it may take him another half year or more.
"Please, you wouldn't even be able to kill this creature by yourself, I'll compensate you in advance!" The second man laughed.
He gave off a feeling of radiance and life. His eyes were a light gold color, seemingly flashing. He had comprehended the light law to Novice stage 3. He didn't need the fire affinity for his own cultivation, but he wanted to get some benefits from this situation. The bloodline understanding from the Flame-scaled lizard would dissipate after a few minutes, so he wanted to bargain with the man for some money within this time crunch.
"ROAR!!!"
As the two men were talking, the Flame-scaled lizard sent a small fireball toward the two men. The beast was also a Novice stage in the fire law. It was angered by seeing the two men fighting over its bloodline. What its fireball lacked in speed, it made up in deadly power. If someone got hit with it, they would definitely be seriously injured. The Light affinity man increased his speed to dodge, and then pulled out a blade. He flung it towards the Flame-scaled lizard at a startling speed that the lizard could barely move in time.
Katcha!
The Flame-scaled lizard used its claws to block it. The damage done to it had left a white mark on the claws. It looked at light affinity man toyingly. Suddenly, the Flame-scaled lizard's scales ignited and was drenched in a fire. It then jumped towards the two humans, trying to rip them to shreds with its teeth. The fire affinity man lit a few blades on fire and then threw them towards the beast, hoping to do some damage.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
"This...." The fire affinity man was lost for words.
He initially thought that he could take on this lizard with some losses at most, but who would think that its scales would be that strong. He couldn't even make a mark on the lizard. The light affinity man chuckled at this sight, and then took out a sword and imbued his light energy into the sword, making it sharper and studier. He then proceeded to slash the Flame-scaled lizard's throat.
The man cut the lizard's throat and blood seeped out from the wounds, but the blade got stuck on the third hit. Reluctant to abandon his sword, he tried to pull it out as he panicked.
"ARGG-" The light affinity man screamed out.
As he was pulling on his sword, the lizard released brilliant flames that scorched him. While he was in shock and pain, he took a step backward and the lizard chomped down on the man, ripping his head off.
Dead.
The fire affinity man sweated profusely as it strolled over to him. There was no hope for him to retreat or escape. It was over. If only he hadn't angered this creature, he'd still be with his wife.
"Why did I encounter such a beast...I didn't even leave anything behind for people to remember me...."
As his life was flashing through his eyes, something strange occurred.
Space broke, destroying the area around the flame-scaled lizard, then time reversed, and the lizard was still standing there. It had just died, obliterated, and now it was fine. Both the Flame-scaled lizard and the flame affinity man were dumbfounded and confused at this. Again, space broke and the lizard cried in pain, it died, and then revived. Distressed cries rang out for a few moments as time sped up. Finally, space broke again, but this time, instead of reviving the Flame-scaled lizard again, a baby appeared where the lizard once was.
"What just happened?"
He had never seen anything like this in his entire life. He was very thankful that it happened and saved his life, but why did this happen? And a baby to appear through this? The fire affinity man cautiously crept towards the baby. The baby seemed to be a month old, with black hair and deep black eyes. It was almost if one could actually get lost by staring into them. He decided to pick up the child as he walked back to town.
"I can't just leave a child here to die." The man sighed as he realized he had to go back empty-handed.
"Why do the heavens punish me so much. First by sending me a creature so strong, then by sending another person to compete with me, and now the entire creature is vaporized to the point that I cannot even absorb its understanding." The man didn't know if he should laugh or cry at this moment.
