It was the final day of their holiday, and the princes were in the library, deep in study. Suddenly, a portal tore through the air in the center of the room.
Leon and Leo stared at the swirling aperture for a moment before simultaneously smiling. Whatever lay on the other side was bound to be exciting. Without hesitation, they stepped through.
The portal led them to a small, isolated hut in a distant land. The structure looked ancient and rugged, appearing as though it had stood for centuries. Scrolls and glowing potions lined the shelves in meticulous segments. As the boys stepped closer to observe the artifacts, a raspy voice echoed from behind them.
"Don't touch anything, young ones."
They both spun around. A man who looked well over a hundred years old stood there, leaning on a long staff. He possessed a mane of long, grey hair and wore an ancient cloak with a deep, shadow-casting hood.
"Who are you?" Leon asked.
"And why did that portal lead us here?" Leo added.
"The portal led you here?" the man mused. "That means you are the ones I have been searching for... I am Marlin, the Supreme Sorcerer and the Watcher of this universe. And both of you have made a very grave mistake."
Leon and Leo exchanged a confused glance, wondering who this man could be and what "mistake" he was referring to.
"I would like to have a word or two with both of you," Marlin said. Suddenly, the interior of the hut dissolved. In an instant, it transformed into a vast, empty chamber. A table manifested from thin air, accompanied by two chairs on one side and a single, ornate chair on the other.
"Sit."
As soon as he spoke, both princes were forced into the chairs. They were visibly unsettled, realizing the stranger was manipulating reality itself without the need for a single incantation.
"Do you prefer tea or water?" Marlin asked.
"Huh... water," Leon stuttered, and Leo nodded in agreement.
Immediately, two glasses of water materialized in front of the boys, and a steaming cup of tea appeared before the old man.
"Alright," Marlin said, taking a slow, deliberate sip of his tea while the princes watched him, bewildered. "Let's get started."
The princes could see that the man was suppressing his mana, a technique the royals are specifically taught to master due to their own excessive mana pools.
"As I said earlier, I am the Watcher of the Universe," Marlin began. "And due to an incident that both of you participated in, the entire multiverse is on the verge of collapse. I don't know exactly what you did, but whatever it was is causing the multiverse to collapse in on itself."
"We didn't do anything that could result in a multiversal collapse," Leon countered. "Why would you believe we are the ones responsible?"
"Well, I need to explain the cosmic hierarchy to you so you can understand its functions. Perhaps then you can figure out what you did to cause this instability."
"There's a cosmic hierarchy?" Leo asked, genuinely excited by the prospect of such knowledge.
"There is," Marlin replied. "First, we have the Multiverse, which contains an infinite, ever-expanding number of universes. Each one has a Watcher, like myself, who protects that universe from threats that could bring it to its end."
"Infinite universes?" Leon asked, stunned by the scale.
"Yes. And then there is the Void beyond the universes, which serves as a container for reality and a passage to higher planes of existence. The Core Box is what holds these infinite universes together, preventing them from collapsing, but the Core Box is powered by the Void—the infinite nothingness that transcends the multiverse," Marlin added, pausing to take a sip of his tea.
"The Demon Realm, or Hell, exists on a higher plane than the Void. Above that is the Spirit Realm, and above that is the White Void, which totally transcends everything beneath it. That is the place where Death, Life, and other fundamental concepts exist. And then, beyond even that, is the Point of Finality: the end of everything."
Marlin took another sip of his tea before looking them in the eye. "So tell me... which plane did you affect? Which one is causing this multiversal collapse?"
The two of them stared at each other for a long moment. They hadn't realized that creation was so vast, or that the Void held such critical importance.
"Hmmmm..." Leon finally replied, his voice dropping an octave lower. "That would be the Void."
"You destroyed the Void Core Box? That explains why the multiverse is collapsing... now we need a spell and an immense amount of energy to remake it," Marlin said, standing up as if preparing to leave.
"Hmmm... not the Core Box... we kind of erased the Void itself," Leo said, stammering.
Marlin froze. He turned back to the princes and asked, "The Void itself?"
"Yes," Leon said, his tone laced with panic.
"That can't be. No human has that much energy. It would take the combined effort of all the Watchers throughout the multiverse to destroy the Void... this is a serious matter, so stop playing around. Was it the Void Core Box or the Void itself?" Marlin asked with a deadly serious tone.
"It's the Void itself. I'm certain of that," Leon replied.
After a brief, heavy pause, Marlin muttered, "Come with me." The entire room shifted back to its original state. He walked to the back door, but as he swung it open, what lay behind wasn't another room—it was a portal to another place entirely.
They walked through the door and emerged into a pocket dimension. Inside were an endless number of people who looked remarkably like Marlin.
"This is the Council of the Watchers. We are here to determine the damage and the solution," Marlin explained.
"Wait, are they all Marlins from different universes?" Leo asked curiously.
"Not all universes are the same, nor do they share the same timeline and people, but the Watchers are beings appointed by the Celestial Deity, given the roles of Keepers and Watchers of the Multiverse," Marlin said as he stepped forward. "However, the Watchers are immortal beings who exist across eras. They all possess similar names and physical structures and are all highly enlightened in terms of magic."
"So, all of you are variants from different eras?" Leon asked.
"That's partly true. We are all variants from different eras, and we all bear similar but slightly different names," Marlin said. "Everyone here answers to one of these five names: Marlin, Merlin, Mirlin, Morlin, or Murlin—both male and female alike."
"Shall we begin?" Merlin asked, having waited for Marlin to finish explaining things to the children.
"Sure, we shall," Marlin said, clearing his throat. "Have we discovered what went wrong? These kids claim it is the Void itself, but I highly doubt that. It might be the Void Core Box; since the Box is only as large as a planet, they might have confused it for the Void."
"In my research, I managed to create a pathway to the Void Box," Mirlin replied. "And though it was in disarray, the connection held, which means the Void Core Box is still intact."
"But that can't be! Humans do not possess the power to destroy the Void. If the entire Council tried, maybe we might have a chance, but two little kids couldn't possibly do that," Morlin stated.
Marlin turned toward the princes. "Could you tell the Council who you were fighting and what spell you used that affected the Void?"
"It was the Demon Lord Shina," Leon replied, stepping forward.
"And we used a Twenty-Four Way spell to erase everything, including the Demon Lord," Leo added, joining Leon at the front.
"That's impossible!" Marlin countered. "That would take the combined effort of twenty-four highly skilled mages, all reciting a particular spell in perfect unison without the slightest mistake—and even then, it wouldn't be enough. You would need an overwhelming amount of mana, enough to destroy and recreate entire universes. Do you expect us to believe that both of you possess such a mana pool? I can sense that you are suppressing your mana, but there is no way you could be suppressing that much."
"I don't think we have that much mana, but we did perform the spell," Leo replied simply.
"Then prove it. Stop suppressing your mana and let us see for ourselves exactly how much you possess," Marlin challenged.
The two boys released their hold. Instantly, the entire dimension began to quake. The sheer, suffocating force of their mana brought the entire Council of Watchers to their knees.
"It's too much! Stop! It's too much!" they screamed in unison. The princes quickly pulled their power back, suppressing it once more.
"How is that possible?" Merlin gasped, struggling to stand. "With that amount of mana, you could certainly destroy the Void... but how do mere children possess such an inhumane level of power?"
"Well, I believe it's because of the royal lineage," Leon replied. "I've heard the royal bloodline has a naturally large mana pool."
"I have been with the royal bloodline multiple times over the centuries, and none have ever possessed this much," Marlin countered. "Each Watcher has twice the amount of mana a normal royal possesses, yet you two have an excessive amount that could bring an endless number of Watchers to their knees. It is certainly not just the royal bloodline."
"Then maybe—" Leo started, but Merlin interrupted him.
"As much as I am curiously invested in this back-and-forth, the source of their mana pool is the least of our current concerns," Merlin stated firmly. "How do we fix this before every universe is destroyed—or, if we're lucky, collapses into one? What is the plan?"
"There is only one way to go about it," Marlin said, standing tall. "We need to recreate the Void, and we need to do it fast before the Core Box collapses."
"Can't we just recreate it the way we destroyed it?" Leon replied. "After all, we still have the required mana pool for it."
"Not quite," Marlin countered. "Recreating the Void requires significantly more energy than destroying it."
"How much more do we need?" Leo asked.
"Ten times the amount used in destroying it," Marlin replied.
"Ten times?!?!" the princes screamed in unison.
"Yeah, and that means we need not just two of you, but at least twenty people of your power level," Marlin explained. "Even with the combined effort of all the Watchers together, that only adds up to five, leaving us with fifteen more slots to fill."
"Wait... then how do we get the other fifteen?" Leon asked curiously.
"There is another way, but it would literally mean sacrificing ourselves," Marlin replied grimly. "We would need the energy of a Watcher and their life-force just to keep the Core Box stable for a single day. That would mean sacrificing a Watcher every single day, forever."
"But that would mean leaving their universes prone to threats, right?" Leon asked, his voice tightening.
"And if we don't do it, every universe will be destroyed once the Core Box collapses," Marlin answered.
Both princes looked at each other, stunned. They hadn't realized their actions would cost this much. Up until that instant, they had acted without fully weighing the damage, but now they understood—their actions had consequences, and countless lives were at stake.
"Could we at least see the Core Box?" Leon suggested. "Maybe there's something we can do about it."
Merlin looked at the Council of Watchers, and they all agreed in unison; if there was any way to fix the problem without sacrificing themselves, they were all in agreement.
Marlin tapped his staff on the ground, and a portal opened leading to a new location. Marlin and the princes walked through it, appearing in a white, crystalline space the size of a planet. It was riddled with spiderweb-like cracks spreading in multiple places.
Marlin took a deep breath and said, "This is the Void Box, or the Core Box. And as you can see... it is collapsing."