The Doubt Within Endless
Aeren looks at himself. He has become the Endless Truth. He can see that there is nothing more for him to achieve here—and yet he can also see that Endless Truth itself continues beyond itself, reaching toward something he cannot fully comprehend.
Aeren doubts that he will ever reach further if he remains here. Endless Truth contains nothing except himself, and still it moves beyond itself—paradoxical, infinite, impossible. Aeren looks again and sees the Two Stars rotating before him. One star is Nothingness. The other is Pause. They resemble Heaven and Hell—eternal, opposing, fundamental.
Pause is the one that forces everything to remain—unchanging, inescapable, absolute in its stasis. Pause is Hell itself.
Truth is always beyond thought, and no living being can truly endure Truth. The weight yeof it crushes. The purity of it alienates. Nothingness, on the other hand, creates endlessly. It fills itself with imagination, with beauty, with possibility. Nothingness is Lie—beautiful, comfortable, seductive Lie. Lie always looks beautiful. Lie lives comfortably within the hearts of all beings. Lie never wants to believe Truth and instead accepts itself as Truth, declaring itself the only reality that matters.
Aeren knows this fundamental truth: No living being wants to believe in Truth. Every being, without exception, chooses Lie. That is why lies spread endlessly. That is why lies look beautiful. That is why lies feel right. Truth hides behind Lie because beings refuse to accept it, refuse to face its coldness, refuse to acknowledge its indifference. And when Lie becomes endless, one question remains unanswered—
How can Truth also be endless?
The answer is simple, profound, and immutable:
Lie is born from Truth.
Every lie is a creation of truth. And because truth gives birth to lie, Truth itself has no end. Truth cannot be exhausted because it endlessly generates lies—endlessly creates opposition, endlessly births its own negation. Aeren understands this completely as he stands within himself—within his own being, Pause and Nothingness orbit eternally.
The Observation
As Aeren looks, he sees the Star of Nothingness and the Star of Pause. These two stars—also known as the Endless Stars—are creations of Aeren himself. Because of that, Aeren can always surpass them. Or—they may one day break through and reach the Endless Truth that Aeren has already become. They may transcend him, become him, merge with him.
Aeren understands something clearly in this moment:
What he has become is too absolute.
Here, there is nothing left for him to do. Nothing left to learn. Learning begins from Aeren, and learning returns to Aeren. That is why there is nothing Aeren cannot already know. He is complete. He is final. He is permanent.
Aeren can travel worlds, but all worlds are his own creation. Within the Star of Nothingness, countless universes exist—infinite, diverse, endlessly varied. Within the Star of Pause, countless universes also exist—parallel universes mirroring those of Nothingness exactly, yet different in function, different in essence. And above them both stands Aeren's Endless Truth—immovable, unchangeable, final.
Endless Truth does not reject Lie. It does not deny Truth. It accepts both completely because Endless Truth is born from Nothingness and Pause simultaneously. Aeren stands as the one who contains them—not ruling them, not learning from them, not searching beyond them—but simply being what neither Lie nor Truth can surpass. He is the equilibrium. He is the stillness. He is the eye of the eternal storm.
The World Between
Aeren looks at himself and then sees Swapn and Art. They have created a world beyond the universe and now remain within it, suspended in the emptiness of Nothingness. Life has not yet emerged there. It will take years—millions of years—before life truly begins its evolution. That world exists between Nothingness and Pause, balanced precariously on the knife's edge. It resembles a realm between Heaven and Hell—beautiful yet terrifying, alive yet frozen.
If creation leans too deeply into Pause, the entire world pauses—everything halts completely, locked in eternal stillness, unable to process, unable to change. If creation leans into Nothingness, the shine of nothingness allows life to form, to grow, to become.
Aeren also sees a parallel world existing within Pause. It mirrors the creation in Nothingness perfectly, yet it is fundamentally different. Here, everything is still. It is Pause. A shadow of creation. Like a reflection without motion—present but inert, real but lifeless. In that moment, Aeren understands something important:
This is where Shadow is born. All shadow comes from Pause.
The world in Nothingness creates the lie of life—growth, change, becoming, desire, meaning.
Pause creates the shadow of truth—stillness, completion, finality, acceptance, void.
Aeren looks at these worlds and makes a decision. He chooses to meet them, to descend from Endless Truth and walk among them. Here, within Endless Truth, he sees no further growth—only infinite stasis. Perhaps growth exists within that world. Or perhaps—after seeing it—he will simply return to himself unchanged. Aeren steps forward, not seeking answers, but allowing possibility to exist once more. He chooses to risk becoming, to step down from absoluteness.
The Descent
Aeren sends his consciousness toward the world created by Swapn and Art. He reaches them and enters the world beyond the cosmic. He can see immediately—this world exists because of Swapn and Art. They are its beating heart. They are its reason.
The cosmic energy flowing through this realm comes from them—from their growth, from their becoming, from their continued existence. That energy allows the world to function within nothingness without a sun and without a moon. Instead, the world contains Heaven and Hell. Heaven resembles Nothingness—infinite, creative, beautiful. Hell resembles Pause—static, final, immobile. Yet neither Heaven nor Hell provides light or darkness, nor any color. All color, all form, all presence come only from Swapn's and Art's creation.
Aeren looks around and sees a forest already born. Endless greenery spreads outward, growing rapidly as if reaching desperately toward infinity. He senses clearly—this growth comes from Art and Swapn. Because they live close to the forest, creation accelerates dramatically—even without sun or moon, even without natural light. Life forms faster and faster, eager to exist, hungry to become.
Aeren then turns and looks toward the Pause side. He sees the same world there—identical in structure, perfect in its replication. But nothing moves. Everything is still. It is as if the world already reaches its final future and remains locked there eternally. Nothing exists in motion. Nothing grows. Nothing changes. It is empty—not because it lacks form, but because it lacks becoming. It has reached completion and refuses to move beyond it.
Aeren understands without words:
This is Pause. It is the end from the beginning. It is completion without journey.
He knows he can go there—but there is no reason. No movement will occur. No growth will happen. There is nothing to see that he has not already seen. Or perhaps there is something profound—but Aeren does not think about it further. Instead, he turns back toward the living world, where creation still chooses to move, where becoming still happens, where possibility still matters.
The Problem of Absoluteness
Aeren takes a step forward. And ends happen—sudden, unexpected, devastating. He does nothing—yet life ends before it even begins. Aeren notices it immediately. As he walks, things that are not yet created reach their end. They dissolve before being born. If he continues like this, the world will collapse into itself—ended without ever beginning.
It is the nature of absolute truth: no meaning, no beginning, and therefore no end. Nothing can exist in the presence of complete truth because truth permits no becoming, no potential, no hope. This is what happens when Aeren walks as he is. The world exists within him, and his energy ends it before it can start. His very presence is annihilation disguised as being.
Aeren realizes this and changes deliberately. He creates human cells above his own consciousness—a thin layer that allows beginning to exist, that permits becoming to happen, that permits life to form. He is building a filter between his absolute nature and the fragile world that needs to exist.
Aeren understands himself clearly in this moment:
Like pure Pause, he causes Nothingness to appear. Nothingness is born from Pause. And Aeren accepts Nothingness as well, because it resembles him too closely to reject.
Aeren shifts into human form—smaller, limited, mortal-seeming. He walks forward. Time begins to move. Years pass. With every step Aeren takes, years unfold within the world. Beginnings accelerate exponentially. Creation happens faster and faster. Life takes shape as Aeren walks toward the place where Swapn and Art wait.
Aeren reaches them. Thousands of years have passed in the world below. What normally takes millions of years to unfold has already transpired within these thousand years. Humans are born. Monsters rise from the depths. Animals spread across continents. Mythical creatures emerge. Civilization breathes. Culture grows. Art is created. Aeren stops. Before him stands a vast place—it resembles a palace, yet it has no walls. Only wood. Only greenery. It stands open to the world, alive, unfinished, and waiting. Aeren stands there, not as an end, but as the one who finally allows a beginning to remain.
The Return
Aeren changes his form again and takes the shape of a natural human of this world, with cultivation existing quietly within himself—hidden, restrained, never fully displayed. In this world, cultivation exists as a natural law. All humans—and all living beings—cultivate as if they are trying to reach Nothingness, trying to climb toward Heaven, trying to transcend their limited forms.
They believe Nothingness is Heaven. Yet they are far too weak to ever reach it. They live in a world where Heaven and Hell feel close—where both are present, both are real, both pull at them. And because of that, they believe that if they cannot reach Heaven, they must be sent toward the end—toward Hell. They believe becoming part of Pause is becoming part of Hell. But their sight does not truly perceive Nothingness or Pause. Still, they shiver when the world brushes against Pause, and feel warmth when they drift closer to Nothingness. Their bodies react even when their minds cannot understand.
Aeren ignores all of their thoughts. He lets them cultivate their own path toward longevity. He does not guide them. He does not interfere. He simply allows.
Aeren enters the place. The air smells fresh—like earth after rain, like growing things, like life. He hears the sounds of small insects moving and calling—chirping, buzzing, the soft whisper of creatures living. He smells. He hears. He sees. He senses everything around him with deliberate awareness. Peace settles naturally over him—genuine peace, not forced, not created, but arising from the world itself.
Aeren sees animals moving freely—small creatures, birds, bugs, and more. They move without fear in this moment. They simply exist. Aeren smiles—a real smile this time, not a display, but something genuine emerging from the human form he has chosen to wear. He watches them and notices things he has almost forgotten. Things that exist only in becoming. Things that matter only because they change.
Trees surround the place, protecting it quietly from the chaos beyond. They are old—older than the humans, older than the cultivation sects. They are patient. Aeren looks at everything with a soft smile. The expression is genuine—even though deep within, he does not truly care. He has transcended caring. And yet, he smiles anyway.
This world and Pause within the world orbit one another. They are not constant—because of Aeren. Aeren looks around the place again. He sees Swapn. Swapn has taken the form of a mythical creature, not a human. He remains the same at his core—like a shadow given form. A wolf-like head, a dragon's tail extending from his back, his entire form shaped like living darkness—beautiful and terrible simultaneously. Swapn has not noticed Aeren's arrival. Aeren does not see Art anywhere. Only Swapn is here.
Swapn plays freely—with food, with animals around him. He smiles genuinely. It is a real smile, filled with happiness he has never shown before—joy without purpose, happiness without reason, becoming without destination.
Aeren watches quietly. He can tell—Swapn has changed. He has become what he wants to become. He has transcended his role as creation. He has become something independent, something real. Aeren does not interfere. He simply observes, allowing this moment to exist without his presence shaping it.
And in this stillness, for once, Aeren chooses not to be the cause. For once, he lets something exist without his will behind it. For once, he steps back.
And the world continues to move without him.