Chapter 371
They began to show closeness again, but this time upon a different foundation.
No longer rooted in curiosity or situational necessity, but in a deeper understanding of each other's wounds and a conscious choice to move forward together.
They appeared like an ordinary couple, sharing space, time, and purpose, though the shadows of the past still lingered—no longer dominating, but quietly present.
Gentleness replaced tension, and their conversations began to be filled with plans rather than painful questions.
Especially for Myra Astrielle, the transformation within her was significant.
She began, slowly and with full awareness, to understand how she had blinded herself all this time.
Her ambition for revenge and burning resentment had filtered her entire perception of the world, narrowing her life into a single destructive purpose.
Xavier's confession of Alaric's remorse, and his own sincere sacrifice, became the catalyst for deep self-reflection.
Gradually, she began to loosen her grip on the sins of Alaric Syah's past.
She learned to separate the ancestor's actions from the individual great-grandson, and more importantly, she learned to forgive—not to free Alaric, but to free herself from the prison of hatred she had inhabited for years.
Furthermore, after the corruption of the religious leaders and elders in her world was fully exposed through their second betrayal, that world no longer felt like home to Myra.
She had lost faith in its system, its leaders, and her future within it.
The decisive moment came when Xavier revealed his plan.
He would resume traveling, crossing each universe within the multiverse.
His purpose was to analyze the origin of the authority known as Perception Alteration—the rare ability that allowed him to manipulate reality—with one primary limitation: it could only be used after he fully understood the boundaries of his opponent's power.
Xavier possessed only a fragment of inherited memory from Alaric about his teacher, the original wielder of that ability, who had stated that Perception Alteration and the five elements did not originate from any race or living being.
It was a cosmic mystery calling out to him.
Upon hearing this plan, without hesitation or prolonged deliberation, Myra Astrielle spontaneously decided to join him.
Her old world no longer held appeal, while the adventurous and knowledge-seeking side of her reawakened.
She chose to leave, abandoning a world filled with wounds and betrayal, and together with Xavier, to traverse universe after universe.
'Something discarded for being deemed imperfect.'
Throughout their journey across countless worlds, crossing unimaginable dimensions and exploring each universe-box budding within the boundless silence of the multiverse, Xavier and Myra encountered many limits.
They faced impenetrable walls of reality, seas of antimatter, and voids governed by entirely different physical laws.
Yet they also discovered wonders, countless civilizations, and knowledge that shook the foundations of reason.
The journey itself became a cosmic education, stripping away old prejudices and filling them with an understanding of how small their former conflict was compared to the true scale of existence.
The rigidity of their former thinking slowly melted, replaced by broader curiosity.
Eventually, after a search that may have spanned immeasurable relative time, they arrived at a place that defied ordinary description.
It was not a library or archive in any conventional sense.
It was a center, a nexus, perhaps even a consciousness itself, containing every cosmic record and piece of information from all realities.
That information was not confined to the four dimensions of space-time they once knew, but extended into 5-D, 6-D, and beyond without end or boundary—a hierarchy of dimensions dizzying to the mind and humbling to the soul.
There, before an ocean of pure and infinite existential data, the truth they sought was revealed.
The origin of the mysterious Perception Alteration, along with the five fundamental elements accompanying it, finally revealed its source.
The cosmic knowledge disclosed that those powers had not evolved from any living being, were not created by demons or their allies, nor were they products of the physical universe.
They flowed directly from a fragment of the essence of the Almighty.
More precisely, they were residues, remnants, or fragments of the Almighty's own being, once "discarded" or separated because they were deemed imperfect, disharmonious, or perhaps too wild and potent to remain unified within the Absolute Whole.
Those powers were splinters of Divinity cast into creation, becoming laws and possibilities accessible to certain beings across realities.
And within every cosmic record, in every sector of the universes they examined within that colossal archive, the name of the Almighty was recorded with consistent reverence and awe.
Only two words, simple yet resonating with immeasurable power—a name that might itself be the vibration of creation.
Those two words were Quil-Hasa.
'A great event that nearly shook the heavenly reality.'
Together with Xavier XVII, Myra Astrielle continued to dive into the boundless sea of cosmic records before them.
Their consciousness, perhaps expanded by the place itself, glided through streams of pure information about the structure of reality, the birth and death of universes, and the most fundamental principles governing everything.
Amid the infinite ocean of data, certain pieces of information drew their attention like lighthouses in a fog.
These records carried a different weight, a resonance signaling their importance within the grand narrative of the cosmos.
One of the most significant discoveries was a record of a great event that nearly shook the foundations of the Heavenly Realm—a supreme reality or dimension serving as the center of many myths and divine hierarchies across worlds.
That event was a massive rebellion, a conflict occurring within a realm that was supposed to symbolize order and perfection.
The rebellion was led by a tremendously powerful figure, the second-ranked Archangel among the council of thirteen Archangels who safeguarded cosmic balance.
His name was recorded with two titles: Equinox, and another darker and more infamous one—King of Lucifer.
He was not alone.
Equinox, or Lucifer, was supported by several other Archangels who chose to rebel.
The record listed their names, each bearing its own weight of authority and tragedy.
Ahael.
Anity.
Emhtartako.
Regord.
Together, they formed a rebellious faction whose power nearly equaled—or even threatened—the cosmic stability maintained by the remaining council and the highest authority in the Heavenly Realm.
'Hoping for a sign, a greeting—anything.'
Driven by burning curiosity after learning the name Quil-Hasa, Xavier XVII focused his attention.
Within the endless ocean of cosmic records, he began filtering information, searching for the biodata or essence of the entity known by those two words.
Various narratives flowed into his consciousness.
They began with how the universe—or perhaps the multiverse—was originally a realm of pure chaos, a formless disorder without law.
Then, through the presence or will of Quil-Hasa, that chaos was ordered.
Laws, dimensions, and layered realities were created, a colossal structure emerging from the will of an incomprehensible singularity.
Yet among the many tales of creation and dominion, Xavier's attention suddenly caught upon a specific piece of information that carried a more personal and tragic tone.
To be continued…