Jin fell through the floor.
She had felt it many times, she had occasionally went back to the False World during her five years. Still, though, it was strange.
She couldn't see, or more like there was nothing to see. Yet at the same time, she could feel it. She didn't know what it was, but she could feel it.
The feeling of a world outside of Worlds, the Sea of Worlds. It was awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.
Luckily, it passed as soon as it started. Once again she fell, but upwards. She let go of Xavier's hand and fell down to the ground.
She was back, she took a deep breath through her nostrils. A weight was lifted from her as she felt her mana 'unlock'.
Not only her mana, she was not only a mage. Originally she was a blood dao cultivator, her falsifiable laws returned.
Jin bit her lip with her sharp fangs, drawing blood. And once again felt the amazing power to pull the blood out of its natural paths and into the air.
She could feel the laws, everything was made of the same substance; it was all mutually affected. She vibrated her consciousness and felt her vision shift, she saw mana.
Or, she didn't see mana as much as she visualised it...as she moved the blood around by manipulating the laws she could see the mana fluctuating around confirming to the patterns.
She pulled the blood back into her injury then while it was inside her body she used an intention on the blood laws she falsified.
"Blood is healing" she knew, the intention matching with the laws and becoming an expression of healing which stitched together her injury. She smiled, she really was back.
***
Xavier let go of Jon's hand as she fell back into her world. He, though, fell back into the Sea of Worlds. He continued into his path, falling back into a desert.
Her pulled up his goggles, "For all things Holy," he looked forward, "please live on."
He started to trek. Step by step, through the desert. Not only nigh-unbearable heat, he had to endure frequent sandstorms hence the goggles to stop sand from entering his eyes.
Occasionally he would try to use a hop, falling into the Sea of Worlds and re-entering further on. Unfortunately though, whatever was in the desert stopped his plans.
He could only hope that it was a living god and not some natural phenomena; some fragment of the god's will left onto the imprint of this World.
Not all Worlds have a god, he though. All Worlds had a god at one point but even gods can die, leaving behind only a simple 'program'. Something that cannot be reasoned with, something that simply DOES without meaning or purpose.
In that case, he could only give up or hedge his bets on a quasi-god. A being, a consciousness, of that World which ascends to a point it can subtly manipulate that 'program'.
But that has only happened once, Araxis.
Xavier stopped. He looked up, a temple was at his feet. He had arrived at his destination he could only assume.
Walking into the temple, he was amazed at the grand scale; it was a thing of beauty. He stepped through the tall halls alone.
Each step echoed deep, until he reached the final room.
"Are you him?" Xavier bowed to one knee, preparing to hop if in any danger. He did not look up at the figure he saw, the moment he did see him though it was a figure on a throne.
The king creaked upon his throne, shifting position. As he did, Xavier could hear grains of sand falling o to the marble floor.
"I am. Who are you? The god of gods? The devil?" He spoke slowly with boredom.
Xavier looked up, staring into the eyes of the World's god, "Neither, I do not know what I am. But I come with a purpose."
"You claim to not be the god of gods yet are not trapped by the world, what is your purpose."
Xavier realised, it wasn't boredom. Or maybe it was, but it was also sadness, "There is a threat to even gods, the Devourer of Worlds. He will come, he drawn to these worlds including your own. I wish to kill it."
The god laughed, his voice shook the building and earth entirely. He slowed, "I welcome it, leave."
Xavier looked back up, "Wai–" he tried to rebel but his intuition warned him strongly. He stopped speaking, "I will."
He calmly hopped, falling through the floor and into the Sea of Worlds. His rift closed and the god was left alone in his throne room.
He sighed.
***
Hou dismissed William, again he was left alone. And he dissipated his body, again he became everything. He was the world.
He thought for a long time. Well, for a mortal it was a long time. He was a god, it was nothing to him. But at the same time, it was a long time. He had only just become a god, it still felt strange.
"The Devourer of Worlds lived outside...in the Sea of Worlds. Us Gods, we live in these Worlds. Worlds made of causality bound by rules and Qualia."
He thought, "Once set, it is forever. But what are these laws, what is the Qualia. And beyond it all, there's one thing above all that is unknown."
He 'looked' down into his World, and picked a random human. He instantly gained their life experience, "What is a consciousness?"
"Something even a god has, something a god cannot simply create. That was one of the issues with Araxis' False World. He had to use consciousness from his World because he could not make them himself."
"Why? Why is a consciousness so special as to be able to do anything? What is it?"
He stopped pondering and fell back into a busy which materialised exactly hen he needed it. He could sense that Xavier had hopped back into the world, the roundtable was to begin.