Before the world was born, everything existed as a singularity.
No matter, no energy, no concepts , not even nothingness itself existed. It was as if nothing existed at all, and yet, everything was contained within a single point.
Then, that point became the origin from which everything began to flow.
Thus, the world was born. All things emerged from it, and the concepts of existence gradually took shape. This was the original act of creation.
However, that "origin" was not some deity of creation, nor an egg born of chaos. In truth, it was nothing, and yet, it was also everything.
Magi, wizards, as they are called in this world, refer to it as the "Swirl of the Root."
It is the "cause" of everything, the beginning of all phenomena. At the same time, it is also the "result," the end of all things.
For as long as there is a cause, there will be a result. Thus, in terms of existence, it is the "ultimate knowledge," the "absolute truth."
To magi, or "mages," as they are known here, the Swirl of the Root is their most coveted ultimate goal, a dreamlike realm that no human can reach in a single lifetime.
Any intelligent being who reaches the Swirl of the Root would gain insight into the fundamental causality and laws of the world.
They could reshape the fabric and order of reality according to their will, in other words, create a new world or destroy the old one.
It is a power equal to, no, far beyond that of any god.
And yet, despite countless beings striving toward that goal, and despite a handful actually succeeding in reaching the Swirl of the Root, all those who did vanished from this world the moment they arrived.
All evidence of their existence was erased. They were never seen again.
The vast truth of the Root is beyond mortal comprehension. The Root itself is the origin of all things.
Those few fortunate enough to enter the Swirl of the Root are like leaves returning to the root of a tree , they are absorbed, made one with the Root.
Still, the Swirl of the Root remains the ultimate destination for all who pursue the path of truth.
In fact, although the world was born from the Swirl of the Root, the Root itself does not exist on the timeline. It exists independently, as an objective presence beyond time.
The world begins at the Root and ends at the Root, again and again, in an endless cycle.
And yet, as mentioned earlier, even though the Swirl of the Root exists outside time, it still has a moment of origin.
And Alaric, was fortunate enough to witness it with his own eyes.
Alaric had his own special reasons for stealing the energy of the Dark Portal.
Originally, constructing a portal through time and space didn't require gathering so much extra energy.
He could have done it with his own power, it would've just taken more time. That's how he'd handled it the last few times.
But this time was different.
Perhaps it was the awe he felt after witnessing the power of the Titans. Or perhaps it was the stimulus of encountering the incredible strength of the dragon aspects, his "daughters."
This time, Alaric was planning to go big with this world-jump.
Since the Sea of Chaos exists beyond the timelines of all worlds, Alaric could choose the entry point when crossing into a new world for the first time.
However, that didn't mean any point in time was allowed. For example, traveling to a time before the world's creation, such an absurd idea, was completely out of the question.
After all, it defied logic.
But entering the world at the moment of its beginning, that was possible.
Of course, it required extremely demanding conditions.
Such as significantly more energy to power the portal.
Such as enhanced defensive measures.
This was easy to understand.
Even though Alaric's current power surpassed that of ordinary mortals, and he possessed the might of dragons, even dragons were still just part of the living beings within a world.
A dragon, no matter how strong or mighty, even if it could shift continents or incinerate vast forests with its breath, still needed certain conditions to sustain its existence.
Air, water, nutrients, and even if it needed none of these, it would at least need space to contain its massive body.
And in a world at the moment of its creation, there was no air, no water, not even the concept of space might exist yet.
For Alaric, who still had a physical form, entering such a realm required a way to sustain his own existence.
And to protect oneself in a place where even space might not exist, there weren't many viable methods.
Normal magic, like an "Ice Barrier," or solid protective wards.
Or abstract defenses like "Wall of Force" or "Force Field," which worked on conceptual frameworks.
But no matter whether the defense was material or energy-based, whether physical or conceptual, all of them were built on the foundation of the caster existing within a normal world.
It's like drawing on a sheet of paper.
Whether it's rice paper or parchment, clean or stained, even if the page is pitch black, at least there's still a surface to draw on.
Even if the color is covered by the background, it still exists. You could always use a brighter color to make the image stand out.
But if there's no paper at all, even the finest brush can't paint in mid-air.
So how does one draw without a canvas?
The simplest solution Alaric could think of, was to bring his own paper. In other words, he needed to bring along a space that could sustain his existence.
And the Dark Portal, or at least the energy within it , could meet Alaric's needs.
The Dark Portal, by its very nature, tears through space between two points in the Twisting Nether, linking them together.
Though Alaric and the others had only extracted the energy from the portal, its spatial-rending property still remained before being converted into raw arcane or fel energy.
And the sheer magnitude of that energy allowed Alaric to carve out a small portion of space from the world, just enough to contain himself.
With that sliver of space, Alaric successfully entered a world at the moment of its birth.
He was like an astronaut, sheltered in a capsule or escape pod, floating in the newborn world, watching with his own eyes as something emerged from nothing, as a single point blossomed into a universe.
The process of creation dazzled him, countless primal truths unfolded before him, laid bare, pouring straight into his memory.
Though he couldn't comprehend it all immediately, witnessing the birth of a world was an unparalleled fortune for Alaric.
To see the most fundamental transformations of existence, it was like learning computers by understanding machine code and low-level logic first.
In the future, when facing the higher-order "languages" built upon those foundations, the very rules of the world, this knowledge would surely prove invaluable.
Unfortunately, what lay before him was far too complex.
Though his instincts recorded everything into his mind, the overwhelming truths gradually engulfed his consciousness.
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