The Chaos of the End Final Part

The Collision—it was the event that started all of this. On December 21st, 2020, seven fantastical worlds crashed into the human world.

The world of the beastmen: Lysa.

The world of the draconic humanoids: Timaeus.

The world of aquatic races: Lorel.

The world of the avian folk: Gardaroc.

The world of angel-like beings: Paradisio.

The world of yokai-like humanoids: Yoenkemu.

And finally, the world of strange and startling humanoids: Lumina.

The Collision severely damaged the worlds and resulted in the loss of land, plants, animals, and people. During the aftermath, the survivors warred and things got worse until people finally started coming together. Once people did, they were able to learn of the forces behind the Collision, which started the new era of warring against the perpetrators. The people of the worlds coming together to fight those that were actively trying to make it worse brought about new potentials…

Mirai may have been one of the new potentials born—or not. We weren’t too sure. The other worlds had their heroic figures. Sword Saints, Divine Hands, Gurus, and so on. The humans had Mirai, the Hero of Time.

I may be biased, but Mirai was the single most important member. She was the reason we were able to get far enough to reach Sevelrium. She was also the one that properly illustrated to me just how bad of a situation this all was.

Mirai, as the Hero of Time, had been looping through time. She was on her 345th cycle through these events. Every time, one year after the Collisson, she would awaken as the Hero of Time. Each time, she would inherit the memories of the previous cycle and then work to try and figure some way to prevent things from getting worse.

Her story didn’t inspire hope.

Every time she tried and stopped one thing, something new would pop up. For example, Sevelrium? Mirai had actually managed to get rid of her 72 times before she became a big problem. Each time, someone else replaced her. Heck, Sevelrium was actually the person that appeared if eight others were eliminated, making her a replacement too.

This time around, Mirai tried something for the first time. She told me about the situation. In her words—

“During every cycle, you somehow managed to get to the final days.”

I learned of her journey and understood just how much of a mess this all was. When Sevelrium said—

“No matter how much you try—even if you remove me—some things are set in stone! Too much—more than you can fathom—is against you!”

—I really believed her. There were no falsehoods in her words. Mirai knew it too. Mirai would be killed and then her time would restart and she would reawaken. Sometimes, she was killed early, while during others, the final boss got to the NEXUS and did something that caused Mirai to loop back. No matter what, she always looped back…

That’s why this plan had come about. Mirai couldn’t affect the history before the moment she awakened. Actually, even as the Hero of Time, she couldn’t move super freely around the time stream. That was why her somehow making use of her future self was such a surprise for me.

Anyway, Mirai’s limitations are what required this plan. She already had 344 attempts that proved her powers alone weren’t enough, which was why now I would be the one to make this work with my power.

“Mirai,” I said, my eyes fixed on the NEXUS. “It’s going to work. If all these events are inevitable, and so many can’t be prevented—if the Collision will ALWAYS happen, then I’ll make it so that it happens earlier and peacefully. With the NEXUS and my ability, I can do it!”

I extended my awareness into the NEXUS and raw reality appeared before me like a giant landscape paintings made of smaller paintings. As I looked on, the space we were in shook and more of the NEXUS’s energies spilled out. The spots the energies hit changed. Some spots had land painted on them and flora grew. In others, water appeared. In some spots above us, a sky came into being like it was paint spreading out on a canvas.

I kept my eyes on the NEXUS’s depths and started moving around the events.

“The Collision will happen in the 1800s. There were more Sages around at that time. If they’re there, they’ll be able to guide humanity into coexistence with the people from the other worlds.”

The humans had their own power system. There were people among the humans who would become greater than human—Sages. These people, ones who claimed a sliver of divinity, would make the difference.

When the Collision occurred, the majority of our Sages had already graduated from Gaia and ascended to higher planes of existence. If Gaia were ever in trouble, they would return, but the Collision somehow cut us off from them, leaving the humans without their ‘older siblings’ so to say.

“Dear god,” I said, my eyes flying all over the scenery before my eyes. “I’m doing it. I’m guiding the Collision.” I was grabbing at air, but within the NEXUS I could see reality moving according to my direction. “I’ll guide the merge so that no world loses land or life. I’ll expand the human’s world and drop the other worlds in like they’re expansion packs that expand the world. Yeah, the planet’s mass is going to increase a few times…”

“Ven…” Mirai said, trepidation in her voice. “Have you run into a limit yet?”

“Not on doing the rewrite... But I couldn’t touch events after the Collision.”

“As you thought… The Collision changed too many of the rules… It’s too disruptive of an event.”

“Yeah. Good thing my heart was set on just mitigating the damage. With this new world, even if a Collision-level event happens in 2020, the people of the world will have time to become stronger. What we did—working together to beat the forces that slithered in the shadows—the worlds will have two hundred extra years to do it.” The NEXUS’s surges became more violent as I started touching more elements within reality. “No… I’ve got to do it. I’ve got to make sure the right people meet—”

A surge of magic flew out in the form of a lightning bolt and struck me.

“Ven!” Mirai screamed. “Are you reaching your Limit?!”

“The NEXUS doesn’t want me tampering anymore…”

“Then stop—”

“I CAN’T!” I grit my teeth and glared at the NEXUS. “I can’t just leave. If I do…”

Mirai’s voice broke. “No… No way…”

“It’ll be okay! This is why we went so far—why you said it was vital I have it—My Enlightenment—it’ll show us the way! I can use it squeeze out a few more changes!”

Enlightenment—the thing that aspirants pursued—was essentially the ability to understand reality. The gross, the subtle, the hidden—the Enlightened person—The Sage—understood everything they cast their eyes on. With the ability to understand, came the power to influence. Everything I had done—the teleporting, the invoking of Sacrifice, the sealing—it was all because of Enlightenment.

Mirai—she had been the one who helped me get here. She had locked me in a timeless bubble until I figured it out. Why me? Because she thought I was the one who had the best shot of attaining Enlightenment, given how constant I was in all her loops.

And now, here we were before the NEXUS. No human had ever seen the NEXUS. It was something that didn’t exist in human understanding until Mirai told us about it. The only reason I could interface with it was because Enlightenment was allowing me to decipher its secrets and operations in real time… Though, there were some spots eluding me. Still, with Enlightenment, it would only be a matter of time. If I just kept trying, I could keep making changes.

Or, that was my hope.

“It’s so heavy,” I muttered. “The weight of a world…” Blood burst out from my eyes and also the space between my eyes where the esoteric third eye was.

“Ven! Enough!” Mirai screamed. “We knew there were ramifications to this! That’s why you picked a time when the other Sages could help guide the world! Wasn’t the plan to just change the arena and then let the people figure it out?”

I smiled. “But I want to help them more… Either way, my fate is set—”

“Ven, can you leave this place?” Mirai asked, her bottom lip quivering as she looked at me, fiercely determined.

I knew what was on her mind. It was the hypothesis I had told her about at the time. I sighed and opened my mouth.

“Sevelrium was right. I understand it just a little bit better now. There really are many forces at play here. We knew rewriting reality would be difficult… but this goes beyond… If I remove my influence, the rewrite ceases to be, and reality resolves itself to its previous state.” I looked at the giant reality ball before me. “The NEXUS will return to its previous state… The only thing that can make it permanent is Sacrifice.” I looked at Mirai and grinned. “If I stay here, I can become a permanent addition to the NEXUS, essentially becoming the NEW NEXUS.” I pushed out a chuckle as more magic struck me. “I’ll make sure to give you a happy life, Mirai.”

Mirai’s eyes watered as she tilted her head. “No, Ven.” She walked up to me and placed her hand on my own. “Ven, you already made your Final Sacrifice when you let your friends die… You no longer need to sacrifice so much.”

“Mirai—”

“We won’t let you sacrifice so much.”

Before I could ask anything else, Mirai looked away from me and shouted. “Team! It’s the worst-case scenario! Ven’s going to try to do this all on his own!”

Suddenly, I felt familiar but also entirely unknown presences. It was like they were things that were always there, but in the background, just blending in.

Lights shot into the space from behind me and swirled around the NEXUS as they let their voices be heard. I’d never heard them before, but my Enlightenment was filling me in quickly.

“What the—” I looked at Mirai and she smiled.

“The gods of the other worlds didn’t abandon anyone. Sevelrium and her forces imprisoned them. This time, because I was able to leave things to you, I could rifle around and find them.” Mirai looked up and grinned. “Meet the gods of the other worlds, Ven!”

“Good job, lad! Lysa commends you!”

“Make sure you fight with my kids—the children of Timaeus! Their experiences will reach me!”

“You looked after one of my daughters. Please, ensure that girl has a happy life. That is all I ask. I will have the angels of Paradisio assist you.”

“Please ensure the people of Lorel are not bullied by the others.”

“So you’re humanity’s Final Sage… I wish we could have met under better circumstances. Gardaroc and the Human Sages have always been friends… Whatever, now all our peoples can join hands!”

“Quite a few yokai survived in your world… I’ll make some modifications so that they can assist the Human Sages. The yokai of Yoenkemu will greet their long-lost brothers with open arms.”

“In return for releasing Lumina, Lumina will comply…”

Mirai pulled me away from the NEXUS right as the gods made contact with the NEXUS and touched down.

“Mirai! My changes!” I yelled as I struggled against her.

“Still your heart, Venta Kamen!” roared the god who gained corporeal form ahead of me. He looked at me—a huge dragonoid man, his face scarred and his scales red. His black armor had an unmatched splendor, and he radiated a heat that stirred the heart. He grinned, showing me his teeth.

“Our sacrifice will make this new reality permanent, and then some.”

Another god spoke—she was a blond-haired beauty whose face was obscured. She stood to Timaeus’s left and had one hand on the NEXUS.

“This is quite heavy, but with seven here, we can hold up your change and add some of our own.”

I roared as Mirai kept pushing me away. “No! You people don’t understand! You have to stay with the NEXUS forever! There’s no escape!” My bloody tears started mixing with actual tears. “You jumped from one prison to the next!”

A powerful gust of wind struck Mirai and me and blew us away. Then, the god to Timaeus’s right spoke. He was a brown skinned and muscular man with the head of a hawk. Majestic wings were at his back and his arms were covered in brown feathers.

“Who do you think we are, Venta Kamen? We are the gods of worlds. You are an Enlightened Sage.” He shot me a cocky smile. “Allow us some credit, friend that I never knew. Allow to make up for our inability to help sooner.”

The remaining gods agreed, and then they all started shouting at me to leave.

“You’ll still be helping, lad! You know we can’t make the changes the closer we get to the Destined Day. It’ll be up to you to guide the new future!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you as far away from that day as we can so that you have time to prepare.”

"Hear that, Venta Kamen? You’re carrying the will of seven gods on your back! Don’t falter here!”

“This is Lumina speaking. Find the child born of Lumina and Lorel. This child may have insight that no others have.”

“See, Ven?” Mirai said, looking into my eyes. “You don’t have to sacrifice yourself here.”

Paradisio’s voice boomed through the space, but it had a soothing effect on my heart.

“That’s right. What we want, in exchange for all your efforts, is for you to have a happy life with everyone else. That’s all we want for all of you—all of our children… I’m sorry that we still needed to ask something of you, but please, you’re the only one we can rely on. Please…”

A tear drop lazily splashed against my cheek, and suddenly, my wounds were healed.

“Please don’t allow this tragedy to unfold once more.”

I felt all kinds of emotions building up inside of me, but I shook my head and nodded. “Right! Okay!” I looked at Mirai and took her hand. “We’ll do it! We’ll guide people as best as I can!”

“And we will conspire to make it so that everyone will be within arm’s reach.”

“Yeah…” I looked at my hand and then at the gods I could see around the Nexus. “I can see it now… The spots I couldn’t decipher easily were the spots that incorporated the things unique to the other worlds. But then that means…”

“Ven?” Mirai asked.

“There’s one last sacrifice after all—”

“Ven?!”

I extricated it from body and threw it toward the gods in the form of a ball of light. “Gaia died a long time ago to allow her kids a shot at ascending into a new godhood… You need this sliver of her!” The ball of light broke into seven pieces that went into each of the gods. “So, not a Sacrifice but my Parting Gift—My Enlightenment—the Enlightenment of the Human’s Final Sage!”

I grinned at them as the power became one with their own essences. Beside me, however, was a shocked Mirai.

“Ven! Your Enlightenment—”

“I… don’t think I will ever have natural access to it again,” I whispered. I cleared my throat and raised my voice. “That power will never leave you, so use it as much as you can and make my second life easier!” I cockily demanded.

The gods laughed and gave their affirmative.

I looked at Mirai as bright blue light rained down on me. “Come on, Mirai. Time to go back to a peaceful world.”

“Uhuh.”

She separated from me and pushed me deeper into the light.

“Mirai?!”

She smiled. “Ven, I have to go and die now.”

“W-What?” As soon as the word left my mouth, I realized what she meant. “The Paradox.”

“Ven, if I ever decided I wouldn’t go through with my death, this timeline would have fallen apart.” She closed her eyes. “This is happening, Ven.”

”N-No, but, that’s not fair.” I tried to run toward her, but some force was pulling me back. “Mirai! I thought I didn’t have to sacrifice any more friends!” I tried to reach her, but she was just too far away. “Mirai! Please!”

“It’s okay, Ven. I’ll still be there, remember?” A tear slipped out from her eye. “But please, if you could, could you make sure I get to have a peaceful life?”

I started being pulled away, and blue light started to cloud my vision.

“Mirai! I promise! I absolutely promise! And all of you—you too! I won’t let you down! I’ll do my best—”

***

I opened my eyes, and I sprang up. “I’ll protect the world you made!” I yelled.

My vision kicked in again, and I saw that I was in a small room, lying in a bed and wearing pajamas. There was a table, there was a television set and some game systems.

“I’m…” The memories came to me and they started filling the gaps in my consciousness. “I’m in my bedroom.”

***

Author Notes:

Hey everyone. Thanks for reading. The totally fantastical prologue is over and now we've returned to the re-written reality. See you soon! And let me know what you think so far if you've got the time!