Chapter 435
However, Alaric had never known the true origin of that power.
He had never known where his master came from, where his master went, or what purpose his master had in granting him such an extraordinary power.
For thousands of years he lived, for thousands of years he ruled, for thousands of years he waited, yet there was never an answer.
And now, after such a long time, he began to suspect that there was something far greater behind all of this.
That his master was not merely an ordinary human, not merely a mysterious wanderer, not merely a powerful hermit.
There was a possibility, Alaric said in a voice that was almost a whisper, that his master had a connection to something that was The One Supreme.
Something that governs every box of the universe.
Something that is the source of all sources of power.
Something that might be the key to understanding why this universe exists, why all of us exist, and what the true purpose of all these struggles and sufferings is.
And you, Xavier XVII, are the only one who can uncover that mystery.
Because you are the final heir of my bloodline.
Because you are the last holder of the Authority of Perception Alteration.
Because you are the only human left in this world who is free to go anywhere, do anything, and become anything.
Xavier listened with mixed feelings.
There was confusion, because all of this was far too vast for his still-young mind to comprehend.
There was fear, because he did not know what he would face out there.
There was doubt, because he was not sure whether he was capable of carrying out a mission of such magnitude.
But above all of that, there was something else.
Something that made his chest tremble, made his eyes shine brighter, and made his blood flow faster.
There was curiosity.
There was the desire to know.
There was an urge to go and see for himself what lay out there—beyond the world he had always known, beyond the boundaries that had once confined him.
And when Alaric finished speaking, when the old man looked at him with eyes filled with hope, Xavier made a decision.
He would leave.
He would leave the village that had been his home all this time.
He would leave the territory he ruled as the descendant of Xavier.
He would travel across world after world, universe after universe, box of reality after box of reality, to uncover the secret behind the Authority of Perception Alteration, to reveal the origin of the power flowing through his blood, to find the master of his master Alaric, and to understand his connection with the One Supreme that governs everything.
And thus, Xavier began his journey.
He stepped out of the silent palace, leaving behind the corpses that had already found peace, leaving behind the throne he would never sit upon, leaving behind the world he had conquered yet no longer meant anything.
He stepped through the mist that once protected his village, crossing the boundaries he had never crossed before, passing through doors leading to other realities that could only be seen by those who possessed the Authority of Perception Alteration or something similar.
World after world he passed through, universe after universe he explored, box of reality after box of reality he opened and entered.
He encountered countless creatures, civilizations, and wonders he had never imagined before.
He learned many things, fought in many battles, and witnessed both beauty and horror.
And in every place he visited, he always searched for clues about Alaric's master, about the power he carried, and about the One Supreme that might be the source of everything.
The search was long and exhausting, sometimes pushing him to the brink of surrender.
Yet he continued walking, continued searching, continued hoping that one day he would find what he sought.
Until finally, after wandering for so long, after passing through countless worlds and universes, Xavier arrived at a strange place.
A world that felt different from every world he had ever visited.
A world that somehow felt familiar, even though he was certain he had never been here before.
And it was in that world, in a place both foreign and strangely like home, that Alaric appeared before him once again.
This time, the old man smiled with a different smile—a smile full of meaning, a smile that said the long journey had finally reached its destination.
Through Alaric's testimony, Xavier finally learned that this world, the world he had just stepped into, was the old world.
The world where Alaric's life began.
The world where Alaric was born and raised.
The world where Alaric first met his mysterious master.
The world where all of this mystery began—and perhaps where it would also end.
"Not because the stars gave guidance, but because my past led me here."
And when awareness began to creep back through his entire existence, when those long and dark memories slowly settled once again at the bottom of his soul, Xavier opened his eyes.
He was no longer in the silent palace, no longer in the middle of the sea of peaceful corpses, no longer in the world he had conquered and abandoned.
He floated in the pitch-black void of space, surrounded by endless emptiness, illuminated only by the faint light of distant stars.
His body moved forward at an immeasurable speed, darting through the void like an arrow released from a colossal bow.
His glowing golden-yellow eyes stared straight ahead, toward a direction only he knew, toward a destination he had chosen long ago.
There was no doubt in his movement, no confusion in his gaze, no unrest in his heart.
He had taken this journey for so long, had crossed so many worlds and universes, had passed through so many obstacles and wonders, that the direction now felt like his second heartbeat, like an automatic breath, like a pulse that no longer needed thought.
This journey carried him through sights that would leave anyone speechless—if they still possessed a mouth to gape.
To his left, a gigantic planet floated calmly, yet its shape was not spherical like most planets.
It was shaped like a sofa.
A colossal maroon sofa with soft cushions orbiting around it like tiny moons.
The star at the center of that solar system illuminated the sofa planet with warm light, making it look like the largest and most luxurious piece of furniture ever created.
Xavier sped past it without even glancing, already accustomed to countless absurdities.
In the distance, a swarm of ant-sized black holes gathered like a colony of cosmic insects, spinning around one another in a complex dance of death, creating tiny vortices that devoured the surrounding cosmic dust.
Elsewhere, ancient pulsars danced gracefully, their radiation bursts moving in rhythms that only they themselves could hear, flickering like colossal disco lights illuminating the darkness of space.
Xavier flew past all of it—past cube-shaped planets spinning stiffly like gigantic dice, past asteroids that sang in frequencies only certain beings could hear, past purple nebulae that released a fragrant scent despite the vacuum of space—passing through all the absurdities that had become ordinary sights for him after such a long journey.
To be continued…