1.   Prologue

1. Prologue

Space, Time, Creation, Destruction, Fate, Primus, Chaos;

All living beings have a lifespan. No matter how long they live for, everything has to come to an end. Even for a being like Avol, who looked to be in his mid-fifties. He knew that he was nearing the end of his lifespan. He needed to find successors for himself and his fallen comrades. People who would take up the mantle to protect the countless lives that they had fought for, for eons.

"Haah..."

An exasperated sigh which seemed to contain power enough to freeze multiple worlds could be heard from somewhere in the void.

Avol sat on what seemed to be a lackluster throne and looked as though he was just starring off into nothingness. For weaker beings, that was all they could see, but for those who knew the truths of the multiverse, for a person to survive in the gap between the universes, one must have utmost strength and understanding of the concepts or at least have control over one to stay here, not to mention this being who seemed to have made this place his residence.

If one where to look at his eyes, that is even if they could, they would feel like they were staring into the abyss, and some of the weaker ones would lose their minds.

As Avol sighed, he began to reminisce about how long he had spent watching over all of the numerous lives who had been living in ignorance, not knowing once when they were in danger. This being was a guardian of some sort. He had received acknowledgment from the Will of the multiverse, formally making him its guardian, as it was nothing but a will. It was the accumulation of several thoughts, wishes and desires of the numerous lifeforms that existed in it, without necessarily taking up their bad habits, as it was something of which could be said to be almost perfect. To some extent, it showed fairness by "almost" equally blessing each race that existed, thereby making them unique from each other. Apart from blessing the races, there was only so much it could do, as there where existences that threatened it. These were beings that could shatter multiple universes with their mere presence. To all who had encountered them, they were known as the Devourers. They were a sort of hive existence that travelled through different realities, devouring the cores of the multiverse located there before they would leave said multiverse to slowly deteriorate and die only for another cataclysm like the "Big Bang" to start another cycle of creating life, only for it to be devoured again in an unending cycle. Therefore, the Will of the multiverse needed someone to protect it and all living beings from such existences.

At first there were seven of them including Avol, who were acknowledged by the Will, but after continuous battles, they either died leaving only him and Drifter, who had betrayed them and became an envoy of the devourers, but not before he stabbed his hand into his chest and taking out his source which was blessed and enhanced by the Will, before he was snatched by the spawn of the devourers.

Avol waved his hand and took out six cores of which five were entrusted to him by his fallen comrades, and the last one which belonged to Drifter, but had been purified so as to avoid the successor being corrupted in case, he sneakily left his divine sense or a wisp of his consciousness. He looked at the cores before stabbing his hand into his chest to take out his own source. Sighing once more when he looked at the sources, he prepared to send them to random places to leave the successors of sources up to fate just before he did though, the Will suddenly appeared with its avatar and said,

"Avol, my chosen, are you sure about this? You do know that after you do this there is no turning back." Avol, however looked at the Will and was quiet for some time before answering,

"I have watched over the multiverse for eons, won't you allow me rest?"

The Will was quiet for sometime before it spoke up again,

"Why do you not directly search for proper successors instead of living it up to fate? It was such action that led to me choosing a wrong person among your comrades, the same person that betrayed you."

Avol then answered, "I leave it up to fate because I believe that out there, in the multiple universes that we have protected there is someone who will be able to put an end to the devourers once and for all." He paused for sometime before he continued, "You know that when it comes to premonitions and instincts, I am hardly ever wrong and they both tell me that this batch of guardians will be different. I do not know how much different they will be but I still want to believe in them."

The Will however was not convinced and said,

"You could be wrong and then another tragedy could happen to the multiverse." Avol just smiled and replied

"You know in the universe I was born, there was a saying that went like this 'no matter what happens, in the end good always prevails over evil'."

The Will could only look at him and shake its head before it said,

"I hope you do not make the same mistake I did by choosing the wrong person." The Will's gaze lingered on Avol in melancholy as he was the first it had chosen and also the leader of the Seven Guardians. It then disappeared.

Avol released a breath before gritting his teeth and muttering, "it wasn't your fault that we were betrayed, but he was too greedy for more power." Avol then looked at the sources one last time before saying,

"I hope you find the right successors so that they can bring an end to the threat known as the Devourers." As he finished speaking though, he suddenly felt killing intent targeted at him. He turned around and saw the person who he hated from the depths of his soul as he was the one who betrayed him and his comrades, costing Avol to lose the love of his life Ariana; the one and only Drifter.

He then spoke, "Drifter, I see that after so long you finally got another source. So tell me what gives you the effrontery to come back here?" As he spoke though, he also channeled energy the sources preparing to send them to random locations.

Drifter looked at Avol and then said "I am here to take what was mine and more back from you. Hand over the sources and I might think of leaving your body intact." Avol then sneered as he knew that Drifter was lying as he would probably hand his body over to the Devourers or use it for some experiment to augment his powers.

He then raised his hands that held the already charged up sources and then asked Drifter, "Are you talking about these?" Drifter's breath quickened (if that is possible as you can't possibly breathe in the void) and then said again,

"Hand them over!" Avol however looked at the sources for a moment before a sadistic smile appeared on his face as he laughed like a madman and then shouted, "TOO LATE", before he sent the charged-up sources out in different directions of the multiverse, before he then spoke again

"COME LET'S HAVE ONE LAST BATTLE FOR OLD TIMES SAKE".

He and Drifter both disappeared from where they where and appeared at the middle with a loud sound

BOOM------

Their collision caused the nearby asteroids and rocks to disintegrate immediately. During this little exchange, it could be seen that Drifter was slowly overpowering Avol, who had a frown on his face as he noticed that Drifter had become stronger during his time with the Devourers. Drifter then spoke with a sneer on his face "I gave you toast but you refused to drink. You can only blame yourself for not agreeing to give me the sources". Avol then replied, "You will never be able to get them no matter what you do".

Avol then started channeling the last of his energy while sending a message to the Will,

"This is the last time we will speak so I want you to listen to me without interrupting me or trying to stop me. I will use the last of my energy and self-destruct along with Drifter. I want you to use the residual energy to construct a barrier to protect yourself from invasion and also give our successors sometime to grow". The Will wanted to argue but before it could say anything, Avol cut off his connection with it.

Avol suddenly grasped onto Drifter, taking him by surprise. Drifter kept his guard up expecting an attack only to notice that he and Avol were no longer in the environment of the multiverse but also not to far. Avol then smiled mysteriously and saying, "before I go, I at least have to take a piece of you with me". Drifter was confused at first before finally understanding what was about to happened. He tried to free himself but much to his dismay, Avol hugged him and did a final charging of his remaining energy while he mused internally, "I hope that our successors will be able to bring an end to the terror known as the Devourers". Then he self-destructed.

The only thing that could be seen or heard was a blinding light followed by the sound of an incredible explosion immediately after.

After everything calmed down, one could only see the severely burnt body of Drifter before it slowly but surely started healing, although he wouldn't be able to heal his lost limbs immediately.

Meanwhile, the Will appeared and began to absorb the leftover energy as it was told before it began to erect a barrier separating it from the dangers of the universe. To describe how much energy was used to create the barrier, the Will estimated the barrier would last for seven epochs (seven trillion years), although the Will had to supplement with some of its energy for it to last long which would cause it to go into hibernation.

When it was done erecting the barrier it began to feel sleepy and then started fading. Before it completely disappeared though it muttered, "I hope you are right and that your sacrifice will not be in vain". Then it disappeared completely.

…

When it disappeared, Drifter had just finished recovering and flew back towards the multiverse but bumped into the barrier. He then observed it before speaking, "Ssss…. What a strong barrier. Although it would last at most eight epochs, if I can send some attacks towards it after every billion years it can reduce it by one epoch. I've already waited for eons; I can wait a little longer. Hmph, let's see who or what can stop me then". After he finished his monologue, he then flew away into the vast unknown.

…

Six and half epochs later…

A young woman with unusual white hair and black eyes could be seen screaming while pushing for the final time, after which a baby's cries could be heard in the ward. The woman then sighed in relief as the nurse handed the scissors to the doctor who then proceeded to cut the umbilical cord. He then handed the baby to the nurse for cleaning after which the baby was wrapped in cloths and handed over to the mother. "It's a boy", the doctor said.

The woman then gently held the boy in her arms. The child had the same white hair as his mother and uncharacteristic purple eyes. However the mother wasn't bothered as she smiled saying, "Avol… I'll name you Avol Geoffrey Lancaster".