Beyond the threshold of the hidden realm, a vast starry expanse unfolded before Solanky—larger, by several magnitudes, than the infinite source space, the void, and every realm combined. Within that endless field of stars hung trillions of universes, and scattered among them, countless planets teemed with life. Most of these lifeforms mirrored what he'd already seen throughout the infinite source space and the void, save for a handful of beings whose forms set them apart entirely.
These strange figures belonged to the lineage of the hidden realm's creator—the forsaken god. The instant Solanky laid eyes on them, recognition struck like a physical blow: they bore the same features as the beings sealed within the forsaken horde nest. His hand moved instinctively toward the nest, but Supremo caught him mid-motion. Draw that out here and you'll wake the wrath of the transcendent entities lost in meditation. You are not ready for that fight—not with the blade, not with the armor. They would outclass you entirely. The words arrived only in thought. Solanky let the impulse die; even at full strength, the source-defying body armor could only match him to a peak-level entity, and any transcendent being he crossed would mark him for annihilation without a second thought.
Supremo took him by the hand, and the world blurred as they teleported down to one of the living planets below. A sweep of his palm raised an invisible barrier around them both, sealing Solanky off from the world beyond it. "Take out two forsaken corpses," Supremo said, "the ones from the nest you claimed in the forbidden vault of the Sky Hybrid Sect, back in the god realm. We'll need to wear them if we want to move unnoticed through this realm."
Solanky obeyed. Supremo clenched his fists, and the two corpses dissolved and reformed—crystalline, humanoid, near-perfect mirrors of a human form, save for a long tail reminiscent of the old elite bloodlines of the Bayoka clan, though absent their horns. Supremo extended a hand, and Elisa was pulled from the depths of the internal world space to appear before him. Both she and Solanky stared at Supremo in confusion, but he paid it no mind, weaving seals until an engraving flared to life on each corpse's forehead. Only then did he turn to Elisa. "I won't be exploring this world in this body—the smallest ripple in the higher conceptual laws would rouse those transcendent entities, and I need them undisturbed while I search for why a realm meant to exist in the Beyond has fallen this far below it. So you'll stay with Solanky, as his companion, for now. Trust me—there are concepts and truths waiting here that will serve you well once you cross into true entity level."
With that, Supremo turned away, and Solanky caught his final thought before it faded: Whatever happens, don't reveal the source-defying body armor. At the peak stage these corpses now carry, only a transcendent entity could threaten you. Supremo then pressed their bodies into the two forsaken shells. The engravings flared to life at once, and the once-solid crystalline forms melted into a slick, liquid crystal that wrapped around Solanky and Elisa like a living second skin. Their features shifted, reshaping into the forsaken likeness, and their strength surged to late-stage entity level.
Solanky could hardly reconcile it—the corpse he now wore had once registered, to his senses, as weaker than an infinite source god, yet now it matched the strength he carried while wielding the blade itself. Supremo caught the confusion on his face and explained. "Back then, your own strength was what unlocked the nest's true potential. These bodies had their life essence stripped by something at the transcendent level—their souls and consciousness destroyed, but their physical shells left intact. And within the infinite source space, any body devoid of consciousness has its power suppressed by the collective will of every living being across every infinite source world, and beyond it—every being, that is, except transcendent entities, whose consciousness is woven into every fiber of their form, making them nearly impossible to kill without unmaking the body entirely."
Solanky absorbed this in silence, then took Elisa's hand and descended from the planet's skies toward a distant hill. Partway down, Supremo vanished from beside them, leaving only a final thought echoing in both their minds: Live on this planet for four samsaras. Learn its people. Join their armies if you can—the privileges will open doors to deeper secrets of the forsaken, secrets that will carry you both closer to the Beyond.
...
At the foot of the hill, Solanky and Elisa came upon a cluster of forsaken youths—their strength comparable to early-stage entities—cornered by a pack of monsters carrying mid-stage entity power. The beasts resembled horses crossed with something reptilian: bear-like feet tipped in sharp, elongated claws, and heads that blended the features of a monitor lizard and an alligator. Unlike the mindless, instinct-driven creatures common to other realms, these monsters carried genuine intelligence, capable of reason, and fluent in the native tongues of the forsaken and other beings alike.
Their leader stepped forward. "Hand over the transcendent grass of eternity, and you'll be spared. Refuse, and you'll die alongside your friends." At the demand, one of the forsaken youths shrank backward, clutching a plant streaked gold and silver, its fragrance warm and strangely soothing. The moment Solanky saw it, he understood exactly why these youths had been hunted down. In the time he'd spent merging with Supremo as his main body, he'd learned that of all the realms above and below the Beyond, only the forsaken realm could cultivate plants capable of benefiting even transcendent entities—the sole place in existence with such nurturing power.
He also knew what the plant could do: the transcendent grass of eternity could heal any being below the transcendent level instantly, mending even a shattered soul or broken consciousness, granting a second chance at life itself. The youths had claimed it because their chief—a late-stage entity and their village's protector since childhood—had fallen gravely wounded defending them from an invasion. Retrieving the grass had become their rite of passage, paid for in the lives of comrades who hadn't survived the journey back.
One of the monsters noticed the girl clutching the plant, edging backward behind her companions in a desperate bid to slip away unnoticed. "Clever," it sneered, and lunged. Terror sent her stumbling, and she fell hard to the ground. As the beast closed in on her, a calm voice cut through the air: "You dare lay hands on my kind."
The words alone carried enough weight to slam into the monster leader's body, shattering the bones in every limb outright. Its comrades rushed to its side, only to be crushed beneath the same crushing pressure. Looking up, they found the source—a graceful, feminine figure of the forsaken descending from the hilltop, wrapped in a soft white radiance. It was Elisa.