As Nava Terragon woke up, he found himself in a dark room.
"Where am I?"
Amidst the darkness, a mysterious woman's voice echoed through the void:
"Let's make an exchange—one concerning 'memory'."
Nava wanted to question who she was, but he found his body couldn't move. It felt as if he were being controlled by something or someone else.
Then, suddenly, the once-dark room blazed with light. A vast cosmos unfolded before his eyes.
At the center of a spiral galaxy, a crystalline band of light coiled like a serpent, surrounded by countless shattered and intact planets orbiting this cosmic spectacle—a breathtakingly beautiful sight resembling a crystal goblet.
Nava was utterly drawn into it. Its beauty felt ethereal to him, a man who had only spent his time reading, who had not experienced what it truly felt to be free.
For him, it felt like... Freedom.
"I dreamed of a wisp of light, a chalice of crystal."
"That radiance spoke to me: Pray listen, to this fable of the stars."
🔮 The Divination
The space shifted around Nava, condensing into a dimly lit divination room.
The mysterious figure, now clearer—reciting the prophecy—lightly tapped a card on the table:
"Nameless one, fateless one, you who come from beyond the wasteland, cloaked in starlight."
"Go forth, ride the solar winds, and you shall return to my embrace.
Simply walk toward that light."
The mysterious figure drew a card from the deck and flipped it over to reveal:
Destruction • Nanook
The birth of the universe was an error.
Civilization is but a cancer quietly festering around the stars,
And strife is the only language spoken by sentient beings.
To rectify this mistake and erase the blemish of existence, Nanook became the avatar of entropy.
Amidst the golden flames capable of incinerating all creation, the God of Destruction stood with golden eyes that coldly regarded the world—bringing equal ruin to all civilizations.
Facing this divine being, Nava couldn't help but feel oppressed. The sheer intimidation it radiated far surpassed that of anything he had felt in his entire life.
This crushing feeling left him feeling surreal, and made him mutter,
"Destruction..."
🏹 The Paths Revealed
The space shifted—streaks of light, like meteors, blazed across the starry expanse.
The Hunt • Lan
A centaur-like deity drew back their bow, aiming skyward, infinite might coalescing upon its string.
They roam the cosmos, loosing arrows of light like shooting stars, purging the abominations of Abundance!
As the vision unfolded, Black Swan continued her proclamation:
"But fear not, children of the earth!"
"For the arrows of light shall come, to cleanse the wicked blight,"
"Follow the tracks they leave, and seek the storm's might!"
With this spectacle unveiled, Nava felt undeniably drawn to it, as if it were his destined path to take.
A mystical melody rose, notes woven with boundless truth.
Erudition • Nous
Next appeared a portrait of scholars, interspersed with enigmatic numerical sequences governed by esoteric logic.
"Celestial bodies guard their secrets; swift calculations bind all roots."
"Yet it stays silent, like most, veiling the cosmos' heart,"
"Listen to the stillness, and learn where stars rest,"
In the cold, silent depths of space, a planet-sized supercomputer hummed amidst the void.
At its core pulsed a massive red indicator light, rhythmically blinking—as if gazing down upon the stars themselves.
Looking at the red light at the core of the supercomputer, Nava couldn't help but feel that the answer he had been looking for was right in front of him.
It felt divine, truthful, merciful; it felt like he was looking at the meaning of knowledge itself.
Abundance • Yaoshi
"Let the traveler's staff strike the earth," they said, "once, twice."
With the utterance of prophecy, the divine embodiment of life slowly manifested before him—first, a pair of bare feet, then hands cradling grains.
Like a compassionate deity, mourning the suffering of mortals, grieving for the world's pain.
"Tiny sprouts shall grow into towering canopies."
"Sweet rain shall drip from the branches, washing away your ailments and poisons."
A god with the form of a man yet the visage of a woman, draped in a hood, exuding benevolence—gentle and sorrowful for all living things at first glance, yet in the next moment, radiating an eerie, unsettling aura.
Yaoshi bore six arms, each adorned with crimson beads resembling eyes.
Gazing upon mortals, unrestrained in bestowing boundless affection!
Between compassion and strangeness, the divine nature of Abundance Yaoshi stood even more pronounced.
This was the nurturer of all life, the God of Elysium—whose very existence was to ensure life flourished endlessly.
To those facing decay and sickness, prayers could be offered to Them.
They had granted countless beings life and immortality.
Yet in the cosmos, They had also wrought endless calamity!
Nava felt that his soul was healed and his body rejuvenated to perfection, but nevertheless, his hatred for people who thought immortality was a blessing increased, for a reason he didn't know why.
Nihility • IX
"Cover your eyes," they said, "lest the encroaching darkness unsettle your soul."
Amidst countless swirling stars, an Aeon whose form seemed woven from the galaxy itself opened Its adorable eyes.
"For it shall make your soul heavy as lead and your feet numb beyond feeling."
All things to resist nothingness.
All things rush toward nothingness.
All things succumb to nothingness.
Nava felt his body go numb like he couldn't feel it at all. Yet, aside from the shock of his body being fully numb, he felt... Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all, and that unsettled him most of all.
Preservation • Qlipoth
"They said. 'take up the lapis lazuli tablet.'"
"Recite aloud, recognize the clay bricks for what they were forged, know who laid the foundation of the walls!"
With these hymns, a deity forged from stars emerged—flames unlike that of Destruction, but a protective blaze that guarded all living beings, embodying the divine principle of Preservation.
Upon gazing at the Amber Lord, Nava couldn't help but feel all the numbness vanish, replaced by the feeling of being protected.
"Amber Lord..."
Muttering those words, he couldn't help but want to stay here and not meet any divine beings anymore. He felt as if he were being treated as family with these protections.
Harmony • Xipe
As a chorus of countless voices rose in song, the narrator continued:
"Then, they said: 'o you who have reached the end, go forth to the paradise that embraces all!"
A deity of threefold visage—pieced together like a mosaic—radiated an aura of all-encompassing Harmony.
"Join this grand hymn and feast, listen to the pulse of billions upon billions of hearts, and be embraced-"
As Nava looked upon this divine being, he was drawn into what the so-called prophecy said. But trying to 'read' what they said, he couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
Elation • Aha
"Behold—the court jester's sweet lies, the sailor drunken as a skunk."
What followed was a mysterious silhouette shrouded in darkness, cradling countless masks of laughter and sorrow.
Nava felt immense 'happiness' seeing this being shrouded in darkness, but trying to control his emotions was hard for now, so he let out all of the 'happiness'.
Suddenly, after the fleeting figure of Elation vanished, what followed was a maw vast enough to devour galaxies.
A body forged from black holes, an insatiable devourer, the ancient beast of yore:
Voracity • Ouroboros
Then, suddenly, a list of the following divine beings appeared:
Hear the babes laughter in the mirror (Beauty) The tide (Propagation) slips into dreams (Enigmata) The scales crumble (Equilibrium) Heralding the unseen heir (Remembrance)
After all of them finished appearing, Nava felt all types of emotions: from hunger to awe, to disgust, into confusion, to neutral, and into reminiscing.
Trailblaze • Akivili
The recitation of prophecies neared its end as the final Aeon manifested:
"In the end, measure this world with your body, engrave all things upon your heart."
A train streaked across the starry cosmos, accompanied by countless meteors as it journeyed toward unknown horizons.
"They say this is the path you must walk—Akivili, set forth once more!
Akivili!"
After seeing the train, Nava felt attracted to it. Unlike that of the Hunt, he felt like home was near him every time he saw the train of Akivili.
"Countless stars streak across tonight's sky—if you choose the right one... It will carry your wish to a thousand worlds."
Finally, the narrator of these prophecies slowly closed the book of existence.
💡 The Choice
Then the space around Nava shifted once more, but this time, fifteen cards appeared, each filled with words like Destruction, The Hunt, and so on.
Feeling like he was compelled to pick, he rushedly picked Erudition. Suddenly, he was thrown into space, drifting. Looking to his right, he saw nothing. But when he turned to his left...
There he saw Nous, The Erudition Itself, looking at him, causing his body to stop moving. Then, Nous uttered words he normally wouldn't be able to comprehend but managed to somehow:
"Reader, ask some questions."
Hearing those words, there were only three questions he could think of, and he uttered them without shame:
"What is the truth? Where am I? And what is an Aeon?"
As soon as Nava finished saying those questions, he immediately got an answer:
"You shall find the truth of your own and find out your meaning in this world using your specialty."
For the third question, Nous straight up threw him every piece of knowledge an elite-ranked person should know and made him THEIR Emanator.
Suddenly, Nava's brain overloaded. He felt like he was calculating billions of equations at the same time and failing all the time. Then, he fell unconscious, with Nous looking at him and said,
"Lan is coming."
As sudden as They looked at Nava, They vanished, leaving Nava alone drifting in space.
After drifting for a few more hours, a centaur-like being suddenly appeared and looked at the unconscious man.
They, unlike what Nous did, did not make Nava Their Emanator, but instead gave him the ability to detect on the level of an Emanator.
They suddenly looked at a random direction and immediately ran towards there, sensing the unmistakable Abundance energy.
Thus, no one finally came to look at Nava. They were already observing him, after all, with Elation and Enigmata eyeing him intensely. One was curious about what he would do, and the other was amused with his choice.
_______________________________________________________________
Okay this was long due to the fact that it's easier to make chapters when I only have to slightly bend some things on the original one and the fact that I also just copied this fables about the stars to another fanfic and slightly changed it is making it easier