★91
THIRD POV
"Totality."
I murmured under my breath. At this distance, he should've heard me, no, he unquestionably did, but he didn't acknowledge me. Not even a glance. He simply turned, cloak whispering across the void, and faced Inception.
"What's up?"
He asked it casually, almost lazily—even though he already knew every detail and how the verdict would unfold.
"We held a vote."
Potential said.
"It came out even. We need your decision."
"Not guilty."
Memory muttered immediately, unprompted.
Totality didn't react. He only raised a hand.
"Order."
The word wasn't loud.
Silence slammed down like a decree carved into reality itself. Every Architect stilled as if sound itself had been told to obey.
"Let's start again. Speak your truths one by one. Let the weight of your Aspects bear judgment. I'll start with you, Inception."
Same trend Inception to Absence. I stood frozen, ignored as I began to listen to their point of view.
"EARTH BO-OV-02 was mine, and it worked hard to reach 02. I don't care what led him there. He desecrated its dawn. Thousands of potential lost in mere seconds. That's guilty enough."
"Poor zone. To reach 02 and be destroyed. Potential."
All he had to do was call a name, and they'd be next.
"I do not change what is, nor return what was. I simply whisper what could be."
While Causality governs what must follow and Inception inserts what is believed to have been, Potential deals in possibilities that were never chosen, events that almost occurred.
"EARTH BO-OV-02 was destined to reach GT-HV-01. Such potential loss has a huge impact on ours. From this single core—"
He pointed accusingly at me.
"—I saw countless worlds fall. Billions of lives lost, and the 'future' almost lost its meaning. His choice poisoned the possibility. I do not testify to what was, I reveal the future that was stolen. I find him guilty."
"Acce."
He never called Acceleration by his full name. That's how fond Totality is.
"I trust what was witnessed and suspect the one who disrupted the time forward."
Acceleration is concerned with progression, escalation, and Time's forward movement.
He watched how quickly devastation escalated once the suspect returned. He sees not intent or cause but momentum and effect, and in this case, destruction was immediate and unchecked.
"His return hastened the ruin. Whether planned or not, his presence accelerated the end of EARTH BO-OV-02. Momentum broken by chaos must be corrected."{²}
"Ok—"
Without a word, the Architect of Sequence began.
"Even chaos must follow a sequence."
Sequence doesn't control Meta Time itself like Pause or Acceleration, nor does it care why something happened like Causality.
It governs the immutable order in which events unfold. For example, he can ensure that step B can never occur before step A, no matter what other Architects manipulate. He'll look past what happened and instead ask what order it was meant to happen in.
"Yes, the destruction did occur. But in the original sequence, it was meant to come after the arrival of another entity. Something rewrote that order."{³}
"So someone acted outside their proper sequence?"
"Exactly. The end order was destruction. Someone did act out of line, and I don't know or care who it is because it's beyond my Aspect. I don't find him guilty."
'This is bad. They know about my existence.'
Some specially knew of Entares's existence, but they also knew he was sealed by the Goddess of Life. If he broke out, there would be consequences, but Antares moved freely.
'Enta?'
'Yes, I'm awake. I've activated yours, so don't worry. We're safe.'
'For the time being. At this point, we'll get punished.'
'Don't give up just yet. Let's wait, the Plan won't be disrupted, and we'll be free.'
'What plan are you talking about?'
Then came those jingle bells. They lasted for mere seconds before fading, no cards this time.
'Um—slip of tongue. Just have faith. Nothing will happen.'
'Faith, the unseen hope. How about this? If you get me out of this mess, I'll grant you a free exit once.'
'R—really? Are you serious?'
It was risky but all I need to make it out of here safe and sound.
'Abyss yeah. However, the when and where are still unknown so.'
'I can wait for eternity it won't be a problem. As long as you'll keep your word.'
He replied rather enthusiastically for someone devoid of feelings.
"I will."
I spoke out loud, and the Architect's gaze landed on me. I used both palm, sealing my mouth shut. I may be executed, so interrupting them will only be worse.
"If you speak without permission, there'll be severe life-threatening consequences."
Causality warned softly.
"If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut. Causality."
Totality suggested before prompting Causality to being.
"Causality isn't about fairness. It's about inevitability. Even if the suspect appeared to act, the true cause of the destruction lies elsewhere. In short, his presence wasn't the root."
Causality isn't limited by what happened. He judges based on why it happened, and if that 'why' doesn't point to the suspect, he can not be found guilty.
His powers can trace the real cause even if it was hidden, masked, or deliberately rewritten by someone like Inception. {⁴}
"Guilt isn't about presence. It's about origin."
'Oh wow. So much from the person who threatened to cease me seconds ago.'
I kept it to myself this time. If anyone hears me, it'll be over.
'One down. With Causality backing us up, we'll be safe.'
"Hmm, strong point. And you're sure about that?"
Totality asked to confirm.
"With my Aspect."
"Good. Duration."
"I watched the line of events as they endured. The suspect's appearance was part of the Zone's timeline but not the reason it ended. There's a deviation, a line broke before he acted. Not guilty."
Duration doesn't care who was present like Return, nor does he care what was remembered like Memory. He only looks at the flow of Time. If he senses a gap or break, he knows something's wrong.
He's the timeline's auditor, a perfect backup for Causality.
"I see. Pause."
"While others race forward to rewind, I simply stop the flow. The suspect's presence in the destruction is irrelevant until I allow it to move again. You are all judging a fire while it's still trapped in the matchstick. That's irrelevant.{⁵}. My aspect isn't of much help here, so allow me to side with facts."
Totality shook his head at Pause's behaviour.
"Go on."
"The others are cheap, not solid in short, and I don't need Causality to find out if he's guilty or not. The balance weighs on Memory and Return perspective. Memory knows, Return lets us witness it, which is more factual than the former. He's guilty."
When Return rewinds, Acceleration rushes forward, Pause removes motion itself like pressing the pause button for Meta Time.
"Memory."
"I remember the fire, but I also remember something else."
Memory governs all memory as it relates to Meta Time, which was one of the first notions after the Ontic Layers.
Her powers transcend minds and affect events, histories, timelines, realities, and so on regardless of whether they have been erased, altered, or forgotten.
Her powers are unaffected by distortions, illusions, or rewrites. Even if Inception rewrote the sequence, or Return happens to rewind a false version, she'll remember the untainted truth. She wields proof, which makes her decision concrete regardless of the vote.
(There you have it."
"I saw something that none of you could feel, something only I could hold. He didn't want to return. Something greater moved him. There's more, but I find him not guilty."
"Well done. Return."
"Let all things return to the moment before they fell."
Return governs the power of undoing. Not just rewinding time generally, but can specifically return a subject to the world to an authentic state regardless of what caused its change.
He doesn't need to understand cause (Causality), experience (Memory), or the sequence (Sequence.) He simply declares that this thing must go back to what it was.
He can fake a past that never was, but with Totality here, he'll get busted. If something never existed, it can not be returned to. His judgement is solely based on what happened before.
"I believe what in my Aspect of Reversion. Therefore, he's guilty."{⁶}
"Last but not the least, Absence."
"Not everything forgotten was once known. Some things were never allowed to be."
Absence controls temporal voids. Not only time for voids, but governs want was never there, should not be or have been erased from the fabric of Time entirely.
A person, event, or choice can be deleted from ever having occurred. This isn't forgetting or undoing. It's pure ontological nullification. Absence might determine that the Zone supposedly destroyed no longer exists in Time. Therefore, no crime can be proven.
"The Zone was burned, yes. But tell me, what Zone? The one I see bears no scar because I have removed it. He's not guilty."
"I see. And you, Antares, admits you didn't destroy it?"
Totality turned to face me. His majestically hidden beauty gazed upon me.
"Yes."
"Naturally—"
He turned, his gaze unknown.
'Memory's perspective will automatically tip the scale regardless of what you all voted. That still holds because she has pure experience of what was.
Pause answer was based on Return's Reversion, which can be altered, but I checked and confirmed Return didn't change the past.
Why? I kept track of his Reversion with the Aspect of Cause & Effect, so he's clean. The past was safe and accurate, but you two found him guilty. I hereby annul Return and Pause's vote.
Acceleration said Antares hastened the ruination of the Zone, which is correct as Sequence said. EARTH BO-OV-02 was destined to ascend and fall by the hands of a distinct creature.
However, Antares broke the line and destroyed it. Acce isn't to be blame, he made the right call and voted based on his Aspect. His vote has been marked neutral.
Inception, that was your Zone, but Antares coming by isn't forbidden. Just because my descendants are wielding one of the strongest forces, that doesn't make our Zones a red zone.
You marked him guilty because he destroyed your zone. You're right but you too it too personal, vote annulled.
According to Sequence, someone intervened, and Aspect of Cause/Effect and Memory backed those up."
"I—if I may—"
"Yes, you may."
"According to the Goddess of Life and what's witnessed, Antares has a living destruction within him."
"Ah yes, that unprecedented entity. The Real Goddess advised that we should keep our hands off that thing, so what?"
"I'm not opposing Her Highness, but what if Entares is 'that' creature you talked about? The 'entity' Sequence was talking about."
"On point. But that zone will be done in by a Wraith. Memory made mention of Antares acting out of hand, but the measures Lady Elara took shouldn't be overcome that easily. Just earlier, when you invaded the Cardinal World, Entares saved Asteri, and he fell for the trap. Unless he has a way to overcome it?"
"M—maybe, yes."
"Aspect of Possibility proved with time Entares will resist that curse. According to Aspects of Continuity and Temporal Order, he's still on track. I used the Aspect of Cause & Effect and it still reads that he hasn't fully broken the curse.
I have four Aspects proving Entares wasn't the one responsible. Unless I've underestimated him, and he's simply playing with the Aspects since he's not from this Shell. Who knows, it may be possible. The Goddess is warning me not to push further regarding this anomaly. Are you listening, Inception?"
"Yes. I—understand."
Inception mumured, clearly unhappy about it.
'This guy. He's good. Talk about a detective from in a movie. I almost lost it, but I'm cautious.'
'Well, well, well. Thanks to Totality, I now know something about you, sneaky bastard.'
'What if he's lying?'
'What if he isn't?'
'You good-for-nothing star. I'll trade information about myself after you've fulfilled your promise.'
'Evil bastard. As much as I want to know more about you, I'm not ready to let you end the world in seconds. Deal.'
"Absence was neutral from the start. With Causality backing Memory, the likelihood of success is 99%, inevitably pushing for 100%, regardless of what the others Aspects choose."
"What if—"
Inception was about to complain, but Totality intervenes immediately.
"Yes, yes, yes. If Absence were involved, then no Aspect could guarantee the truth. But I've checked with Totality and he's clean. Final verdict, Antares isn't guilty. Cut him loose immediately."
At that moment, the Aspects weighing on me faded, and I welcomed my previous self.
"Thank you, I guess."
"Don't thank me. I just couldn't find you guilty, that's all."
He turned to leave, and I called out to him.
"Can I ask you something?"
"About Entares? I can't answer that."
'Thank you, Totality.'
Entares sighs, relieved that Totality isn't going to tell me anything.
"Ok. If I'm correct, who's the other Goddess besides Lady Elara? I know she's the Goddess of Life."
"She must've told you the Goddess of Life is incomplete. Just like you are."
"Me?"
I asked, and he nodded.
"She did tell me she's more than what she is and that she's not a Star to begin with."
"Exactly. Anything else?"
He asked, eager to leave.
"Is Lady Elara the other Goddess?"
"Like I said, Lady Elara is incomplete just like you are. You as in Antares, not Asteri."
"Hmm, where are you actually coming from? I don't know."
I pondered, trying to understand what he meant.
"The Goddess sends her regards. She's always watching."
He waved, approaching a shimmering white portal.
"I'll be needing your help."
"What a shame your plans have failed."
He answered as he vanished into the portal.
Before I knew it, the Architects were disappearing one after the other in the same order they came here. This means that Inception will be the last person to leave.
"I might have an idea who destroyed your home."
She turned and waited.
'I planned on redirecting that Dark Star to the Architects. But Totality forced me to take another approach.'
"Go on, bastard."
I'm free but she'll never forgive me. I don't need or care about her forgiveness anymore.
"It's here. Its's trying to kill me, too. It must've impersonated me to get someone on my plate. Looks like it failed."
"How sure are you?"
"100%. Based on my previous encounters, the Dark Stars want me dead or alive. Because others give their all in trying to kill me whilst others try to subdue me."
"I find it hard to believe a Nebula Tier is having a tough time killing a bug like you."
"It hasn't shown himself to me yet. But I'm positive it's planning something big, that fact that it hasn't made any attempt."
"I won't believe you, but it'll be worth disposing of a Nebula-Tier Dark Star. However—"
"However?"
"He's a bug I can swat away. It's so overkill and demeaning to face you lowly beings."
(Inception > and it's not close. Xd)
"That's what we need."
"Listen, you celestial bastard. There's no 'we' here."
She truend, glaring.
"You're just a pathway for me to take him down, that's if you're telling the truth. I'll confirm with the other Architects to see whether you're lying or not."
"As you wish. So, you're in?"
"Yes, but I can't participate. I'll end up eradicating this Beta Omega Layer with a single swing. Take this inside—"
She threw me a translucent orb. The moment I caught it,
"Lure him to a Hyper Space at the very least. If you can take him to Outer Space, then so be it."
She added, and by the time I looked up, she was gone.
"That won't be a problem."
I replied with a smile.
"Stop smiling like a fool."
Enta's mouth materialized on my forehead.
"If she could destroy a Layer with a swing. I wonder where we fought earlier."
"The place where EARTH BO-OV-02 met its end."
"So that Zone is positioned somewhere higher? Wait a minute. How did I even get to that zone that day?"
I asked myself, one hand raised to my chin, trying to recall an inaccessible past.
"What a minute, what's a Beta Omega Layer?"
I asked, and Enta's artificial arm slapped me from behind.
"What do you want, you fool?"
"Stop thinking and go home. The Time Stop has been released, so they'll notice your absence."
"Ah yes, you're right. Let's go home."
I hid the translucent orb in my pocket dimension and cracked a portal back to Star Island. My clothes regenerated as I made my way to the portal.
"I wonder if the celebration has ended."
"Who knows? We can host another one tomorrow."
"It doesn't work that way, you fool."
"Good for nothing star."
"Evil bastard."
We exchanged curses and headed home as if nothing had happened. As if I wasn't put to trial by pre-Gods entitles and could've been executed or imprisoned, bringing an end to my journey.
To be continued...
Check the Author's Thoughts for clarity about the chapter.