Chapter 108: The Voice Beneath the Realms
The silence in the Astral Chamber was thick, as if the universe itself held its breath.
Kael stood in the heart of the Infinite Labyrinth — a realm that existed not within one reality, but between them. Here, walls of ever-shifting mirrors reflected not only the body but fragments of the soul, memories, past selves, and discarded fates. His Authority flared subtly around him — not to show power, but to maintain coherence. Even a being of his caliber could be swallowed by this place.
"Where are you?" he whispered, not expecting an answer.
But one came.
A voice. Cold. Female. Layered over itself a thousandfold.
"Beneath you."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
The floor beneath his feet — or what appeared to be a floor — shimmered and gave way, revealing a spiral staircase made of translucent thought-threads. With a breath, he descended, each step accompanied by whispers from timelines he had never lived. In one, he died as a child. In another, he ruled the cosmos already.
After what felt like hours — or seconds — he reached the chamber.
A woman stood in its center. No, a presence wore the guise of a woman. Her eyes were voids filled with moving stars, and her hair bled liquid darkness into the air.
"Are you the Voice?" Kael asked.
She tilted her head. "I am what speaks when the Realms fall silent."
"Then speak."
She smirked, revealing sharp white teeth that gleamed like collapsed galaxies. "You seek to understand the war you've been drafted into. The war of Authorities, the Ascension Spiral, the throne beyond reality…"
Kael waited.
The Voice continued. "The truth is, there was once no Authority. Only The Source. And from it splintered the first Seven Concepts — Time, Space, Death, Life, Fire, Will, and Energy. You are an echo of that Energy."
Kael blinked.
"You mean… I'm…"
"The embodiment of Energy in its most recent form," she confirmed. "But your kind forgets. You forget what it cost to fracture the Source."
She raised a hand. A vision erupted in the space between them: A great crystal heart, splitting, bleeding reality like molten gold. From it burst primordial beings, who immediately began devouring each other for dominance. The war of origin.
"And yet, you strive to unify what was never meant to be whole again."
Kael stepped forward. "Then why am I here?"
"To decide," she said simply. "To decide whether the Spiral continues, or collapses."
The chamber shook. Far above, Kael could feel the disruption — another Authority had entered the Labyrinth. And it wasn't friendly.
"Your enemies grow bold," the Voice mused. "Even the ones hiding in your memories."
Suddenly, the mirrors around them shattered, revealing a flickering face — Zeraphin. But it wasn't the Zeraphin Kael knew. This one was twisted, corrupted, fused with something… ancient.
"Parallel echoes," the Voice murmured. "This one fell to the Forgotten Depths."
Kael clenched his fists. "Can I fight him?"
"No. But you can become what he failed to be."
With that, she stepped back, dissolving into motes of stardust.
Left alone, Kael turned toward the echo of corrupted Zeraphin — and walked forward.