The Empire was peaceful.
Which meant Kael Veyris had too much free time.
That was usually a problem.
Kael sat beneath the Elder World Tree.
Tea in one hand.
A blank piece of paper in the other.
Ashvattha immediately became suspicious.
"Kael."
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
Kael thought for a moment.
Then answered.
"I am creating a library."
The wives froze.
Ignisia sighed.
"How big?"
Kael looked thoughtful.
"Large."
Genesisra narrowed her eyes.
"Define large."
Kael smiled.
That was never a good sign.
"An infinite library."
Everyone groaned.
Far beyond realities.
Far beyond dimensions.
Far beyond ordinary existence.
Kael raised a hand.
And a library appeared.
Not a normal library.
An endless library.
Infinite shelves.
Infinite books.
Infinite halls.
Infinite knowledge.
Infinite possibilities.
Every book contained an entire structure.
One book held infinite dimensions.
Another held infinite narratives.
Another contained infinite cosmologies.
Another contained infinite frameworks.
Another contained infinite laws.
Another contained infinite systems.
Another contained imagination itself.
And within every book existed countless beings.
Beings that viewed dimensions as insignificant.
Beings beyond space.
Beyond time.
Beyond life.
Beyond death.
Beyond fate.
Beyond reality.
Beyond narratives.
Beyond frameworks.
Beyond existence itself.
Each book was a complete story.
A complete reality.
A complete hierarchy.
Kael looked at them.
To him.
They were books.
Nothing more.
The wives watched in silence.
Verdelia looked at one shelf.
"What is inside that one?"
Kael glanced at it.
"A cosmology containing beings who believe they transcend all concepts."
"And that one?"
Asked Ignisia.
"A narrative where every character exists beyond dimensions."
"And that one?"
Asked Genesisra.
Kael looked.
"Oh."
"That one is interesting."
"What happens there?"
"The inhabitants believe they are beyond all existence structures."
Silence.
Ashvattha laughed.
"Of course they do."
Kael smiled.
To the beings within the books.
Their worlds were vast.
Infinite.
Impossible.
To Kael.
They were pages.
A single glance allowed him to see every narrative.
Every framework.
Every law.
Every system.
Every cosmology.
Every possibility.
Not individually.
All at once.
The infinite library existed before him like an open collection of stories.
He could rewrite any page.
Change any event.
Delete any chapter.
Create new worlds.
Remove old ones.
And he did not need effort.
One thought.
One glance.
One decision.
A story changed.
Another story vanished.
A new cosmology appeared.
An entire framework rewrote itself.
The library adjusted accordingly.
Ignisia stared.
"You aren't even using power."
Kael shrugged.
"To me."
"They are stories."
The Dragon Goddess shook her head.
"That sentence becomes more ridiculous every time you say it."
Suddenly.
One of the books opened.
A powerful being emerged.
Its presence shook countless narrative layers.
Its aura surpassed the concepts within its own story.
It looked upon Kael.
"I stand beyond dimensions."
Kael nodded.
"Okay."
"I stand beyond reality."
"Okay."
"I stand beyond existence."
"Okay."
The being frowned.
"I stand beyond all frameworks."
Kael looked at the book from which it emerged.
Then turned a page.
The being disappeared.
Silence.
The wives blinked.
"What happened?"
Asked Verdelia.
Kael pointed at the book.
"I rewrote chapter twelve."
The being no longer existed.
Not because it was destroyed.
Its story simply no longer contained it.
Ashvattha laughed so hard his branches shook.
Meanwhile.
Kael returned to his chair.
Watching the infinite library.
Watching infinite stories unfold.
Watching infinite realities grow.
Watching infinite frameworks evolve.
And every one of them.
Every dimension.
Every narrative.
Every cosmology.
Every law.
Every system.
Every hierarchy.
Every existence structure.
Every imagined possibility.
Appeared to him as fiction.
Stories resting upon shelves.
Stories he could rewrite.
Stories he could erase.
Stories he could create.
Simply by deciding to do so.
Ignisia sat beside him.
"You're going to spend all day doing this, aren't you?"
Kael looked around the endless library.
"Probably."
The Dragon Goddess sighed.
"I knew it."
And somewhere beyond the infinite shelves.
Beyond the endless stories.
Beyond the countless frameworks.
The Architect of Existence smiled.