Art's Fourth Breakthrough
Aeren looks at Art carefully. He can see the confusion within Art clearly—the hesitation, the uncertainty about how to proceed. Aeren notices something else as well—even though nothingness is pressing against the black hole, trying to break it, trying to dissolve it, the black hole resists. It does not shatter into nothingness. It cannot absorb space anymore, yet it still holds itself together with stubborn determination.
Aeren turns his gaze back to Art and speaks calmly:
"Art, does the size truly matter? As long as you teach it emptiness manipulation through the thread you create, it will work perfectly. The black hole will expand infinitely within your structure. Size is irrelevant here."
Aeren understands Art's hesitation completely. He has seen this doubt before—in himself, in G1, in every being facing the unknown.
Art looks at Aeren. And in that moment, Aeren sees it—the moment of breakthrough. Art has already broken through. His universe expands. Its size no longer has limits. Its expansion becomes infinite, uncontainable, unstoppable.
Art no longer needs expansion granted by nothingness. He can now expand by himself—autonomous, independent, complete. Art stands there and fully breaks through into the Cosmic Energy Circulation Realm. No visible change happens to his body at first. Yet inside him, understanding explodes like a supernova. Art begins to know more about the universe—not through learning, but through being. Not through accumulation, but through transformation.
His body starts shining brighter in nothingness, growing larger and larger—like a child who suddenly understands and whose surroundings transform into adulthood through awareness alone. Reality reshapes itself around his expansion.
Aeren watches this quietly, with patient observation. And through Art's breakthrough, Aeren realizes something profound:
Even in nothingness, growth still happens. Change exists. Nothingness is not constant. Not absolute. And if change exists within nothingness, then even beyond in emptiness, everything still exists somewhere.
Aeren stands in silence, watching Art glow and expand—understanding deepening without needing words. The realization settles into him, reshaping his perception of the void itself.
The Teaching Moment
Art looks at Aeren and asks:
"Father… but how should I do it? How do I connect the thread to the black hole? I don't understand how to make them work together."
Art does not understand the mechanism. He cannot see how his emptiness-thread should connect to the black hole, how they should merge, how they should function as one. So he can only question Aeren, trust Aeren, wait for guidance.
Aeren looks at Art. He can see the growth clearly—the expanded form, the brightened expression, the deeper awareness. Yet it is still not infinite. There are still layers to understand, still depths to reach. Aeren answers calmly:
"Create a thread of universes and connect it within your clothes—weave it through the fabric of your being. Connect the black hole to this thread. Then everything will work for you naturally. The structure will maintain itself."
After saying this, Aeren turns and walks into nothingness without waiting for a response. He does not explain further. He does not offer additional guidance. Only this—and trust that Art will understand.
Art stands still for a moment, processing the words, feeling their weight. Then realization reaches him slowly, like dawn breaking across an horizon. He understands the meaning behind Aeren's words—not through intellect, but through intuition. He begins working on his own thread—not copying Aeren's method, not imitating his style, but creating something uniquely his own. His creation. His solution.
The Infinite Walk
Aeren keeps walking ahead into the void. Art follows behind him, no longer questioning, no longer hesitant. They walk together through nothingness. Along the way, they encounter many CosmoSpiens—beings at various stages of development, struggling through their own realms, fighting their own battles with the void.
Aeren does not interfere with these encounters. He does not guide Art's choices. He lets Art grow through direct experience, through meeting others, through learning in real time what it means to exist in this place.
As they walk, Aeren understands nothingness more deeply—its infinite realizations, its endless hunger for truth, its paradoxical nature. With every step forward, both Aeren and Art grow visibly. They shine brighter. They become more beautiful. They absorb more lies within nothingness, more paradoxes, more contradictions.
Aeren and Art themselves begin to become lie—a lie that nothingness starts to believe as truth. Nothingness's obsession with discovering truth becomes so wild, so desperate, that it allows Aeren and Art to grow infinitely without resistance. Nothingness offers itself freely. And Aeren and Art take everything nothingness has as they walk deeper and deeper into infinite creation. The void feeds them. The emptiness strengthens them. The lie becomes their reality.
Art's Fourth Realm
As Aeren walks through nothingness, Art begins to break through again—another barrier crossed, another realm achieved. Art enters his Fourth Realm of the Universe.
Aeren understands it immediately without observation—the Universe–Body Synchronization Realm. In this realm, the universal body and its growth—the parts turning colorless, the evolution toward nothingness—begin to synchronize perfectly. From a distance, it looks like a single, complete body of colorless existence. But in truth, it is not whole. This synchronization can be used in any part of the universe simultaneously.
Colorless evolution rises higher than dark energy itself. Life within the colorless parts exists beyond the limits of cosmic dark energy—freed, transcendent, reaching toward something higher. Yet the moment the breakthrough occurs, dark energy reacts violently. It spreads wildly, refusing to let colorless evolution dominate completely. Colorless energy and dark energy begin competing with each other in desperate struggle. Their creation becomes infinite. Their expansion accelerates. Their circulation grows faster and faster. Awareness widens exponentially.
Art's inner emptiness deepens with each step. He grows while being pulled by both dark energy and colorless energy—a being caught between forces, strengthened by the tension between them. Emptiness forms more clearly within him, taking shape, becoming structured.
Aeren continues walking ahead without pause. He looks through all of nothingness—through every layer, every possibility, every hidden corner—and understands completely. Nothingness has already given him everything he needs. There is nothing left unseen. Nothing left unknown. Everything within nothingness reveals itself to him completely, without resistance, without secrets.
Aeren stops walking. He does not move forward anymore. There is nothing in nothingness that Aeren has not already seen, already understood, already absorbed. And so Aeren chooses to stop walking in nothingness. He stands still, patient, while Art continues becoming behind him.
The Completion
Aeren looks at nothingness and stops. He turns back and looks at Art.
Art has become reliable—no longer only a child, yet still young enough to understand nothingness and its creations. Aeren does not need to teach him anymore. Art has learned everything that nothingness can show. He understands himself—his realization, his Realm, his place, his purpose. Art has become complete in his own right.
Aeren sees another change happening in real time. Art's body grows not only from within, but within nothingness itself. Nothingness begins to believe in Art—to recognize him as real, as true, as part of itself. And because nothingness believes, Art's existence strengthens exponentially. Nothingness is now investing its own power in Art's growth.
Aeren stands still, watching quietly. For the first time, there is nothing left for Aeren to give. And nothing left for Art to take. Only becoming remains—infinite, eternal, unfinished.
Aeren breathes.
His breath connects across distant nothingness—reaching across impossible distances to the place where Swapn exists, consuming CosmoSpiens, growing through conquest. Swapn reacts immediately to this call. He returns to Aeren, answering the summons without hesitation.
Aeren observes him and notices the change at once. Swapn's size has changed dramatically. His realization has changed. Aeren sees that Swapn's growth has begun to move beyond the lie of realization and is becoming something closer to real truth—a truth that nothingness itself begins to believe.
This alone is enough for Aeren to understand something deeper:
He, too, is becoming closer to nothingness. He is beginning to see what nothingness believes as truth. Yet Aeren still knows one thing clearly—Nothingness does not create Aeren. Nothingness does not create Swapn. And because of that, Aeren can still recognize his own creation and the cause behind it.
Aeren looks at Swapn for a long moment. Then he looks at Art. Art shows no reaction toward Swapn. That is natural. That is expected. Art has seen Swapn many times in nothingness. Nothingness is endless, yet without space. Through the Eyes of Emptiness, Art can always see Swapn—always aware of his presence, always understanding his journey.
Art feels familiarity toward Swapn—not attachment, not closeness—but recognition. Like two humans floating in a vast ocean. They know each other exists. They understand each other's nature. They want to help each other—yet each follows a different path. Neither wishes to disturb the other's way of living in the endless ocean of nothingness. The void is large enough for both their journeys.
Aeren watches them both carefully. And in this quiet moment, nothingness does not interfere. It simply observes. Aeren looks at Art and then at Swapn. Both of them turn toward Aeren simultaneously, as if sensing a shift in intention.
The Choice
Aeren looks at them and speaks through emptiness:
"This nothingness is endless. It has an end here and a beginning there. There is no path to reach it. And because of that—after understanding this completely—I decide to take nothingness with me."
He pauses, letting the words settle.
"So you two must follow nothingness with it. Or…"
The words stop there—incomplete, unfinished, leaving the choice open-ended.
Art and Swapn do not react outwardly. No movement. No sound. No visible change. But Aeren can see it clearly—They are stunned. Their emptiness trembles. Their awareness freezes for a moment in shock. The silence stretches between them, vast and heavy.
Nothingness watches. It remains silent. The choice hangs unfinished in the void.
Aeren's words sink into them slowly. The meaning reaches Art and Swapn, yet neither of them can fully realize what Aeren is truly saying. What it means. What it implies. They look out into nothingness—at the countless universes spread everywhere, at the growth they can gain by walking through this infinity.
They understand this much: If Aeren truly takes nothingness with him, then all these universes—the ones they grow through, the ones they consume, the ones that sustain them—will lose their meaning for them. Because those universes will exist within Aeren. And if they enter Aeren as well, they will become something closer to him—their growth feeding his indirectly, even though Aeren does not need it, does not want it.
But what shocks them more is a deeper question—If nothingness disappears, what will be left? Art begins to think desperately. If nothingness is the true end or the true beginning, then what remains after it? Is it creation? Or is it only a new emptiness being born again? Is there anything beyond? Confusion spreads through Art like poison. Curiosity follows it. Wonder follows wonder.
Swapn feels the same terror and confusion. He does not understand this situation either. He has no answer. No direction. No framework for understanding what Aeren is proposing. Both of them look at Aeren with questions burning in their eyes. They do not know whether they are even allowed to ask. They do not know if questioning would be acceptable.
And in that moment, a deeper doubt forms within them both—Is there any question left that can still be answered? Has Aeren already transcended the ability to explain? Nothingness remains silent. And the silence itself becomes the only response. The void gives no answer.
Affection
Art looks at Aeren and finally asks, voice trembling through the emptiness:
"What do we have to do, Father? Where do you want us to go? What should we become?"
Aeren looks at Art. A small, soft smile appears on his face—genuine, warm, unexpected. He looks at Art with a gentle expression. He raises his hand slowly and places it on Art's head, patting him lightly—showing affection without words, demonstrating care through touch, connecting through contact rather than speech.
Then Aeren speaks calmly:
"Nothing. You only have to enter my emptiness. Come into me. I will handle everything else. There is nothing you need to do, and nothing you need to worry about. I will bear this burden."
Art stands still, receiving the words, receiving the touch. The warmth of his father's hand on his head. The gentleness in the gesture. The promise in the words.
Swapn watches this moment from a distance. Confusion rises within him—genuine shock. A quiet astonishment follows. He never expects to see this—Aeren showing affection, Aeren showing emotion toward another being, Aeren being tender. Swapn does not react outwardly. He does not question it. He does not interrupt this moment. He simply observes, silent, as something changes within Aeren that even nothingness does not interfere with.
The emptiness remains calm. The void remains still. And the moment passes without resistance—a father's love existing in the space beyond creation, beyond destruction, beyond understanding.
Aeren's hand rests on Art's head.
And in this gesture, everything shifts.