Ava's memories deepened, bright and terrible. The dungeon walls faded, replaced by endless light golden, pure, and vast beyond imagination.
He was no longer Ava the student.
He was Avalokita, standing upon the shining plains of the Boundless Heaven one of the axis of all creation, a realm that transcended time, space, and every layer of dimensional existence and nonexistence. Its light flowed beyond the reach of causality itself, where past, present, and future existed as a single living breath.
The air shimmered with divinity; reality itself here was woven from pure idea, every mote of light carrying the breath of a universe. Cosmic cities drifted across the radiant expanse, their size unknowable some vast enough to cradle galaxies, others so small they could fit within a thought. Their foundations were carved from eternal law, their walls etched with luminous truths that only gods could read.
Before him stood his family hundreds of brothers and sisters, the Shimna, radiant beings born of both Heaven and Hell. They were not bound by concept or law; they were the living truths upon which the Omniverse was written. Their mere existence defined the structure of reality itself.
Across the boundless ocean of infinite hyperverses stretched the great architectures of higher existence vast systems built upon concepts, laws, and rules. Yet the Shimna stood beyond all of it. They were not shaped by those systems; they were the truths that shaped them.
At the heart of the assembly stood two thrones: one of pure light, one of flowing shadow. Upon them sat his parents Sunyata, God of the Omniverse, and Lady Death, Queen of Boundless Hell.
Their presence silenced all creation.
Sunyata's voice resonated through every layer of existence. "My children, the cycle continues. Your mother and I must depart for a time. The Omniverse must learn to balance itself. Until we return, it will rest in your hands."
A ripple of murmurs passed through the divine crowd. Ava stepped forward, head bowed.
Lady Death's gaze, sharp as starlight, met his. "Avalokita," she said softly. "You will govern chaos. Where it arises, you will restore balance. Where destruction brews, you will contain it."
He knelt, placing his hand over his heart. "I will not fail you."
And for a time, he didn't.
Centuries passed like seconds. He ruled the Boundless Heaven with calm and reason, his presence a steady light within the eternal expanse. From his throne above the Boundless Ocean the living sea where infinite Hyperverses floated like luminous pearls he watched the Omniverse bloom in harmony.
His brothers and sisters carried out their divine duties, each a guardian of some fundamental truth. They were the Guardians of the Absolute, embodiments of the laws that gave existence its shape. Some watched over great forces Love, Hate, Power, Strength, and Greed while others tended the gentler threads of creation: the pulse of stars, the roots of trees, the depths of oceans, the birth of multiverses.
Together, they maintained the song of balance, each truth resonating with the next, a perfect chord that held the Omniverse in motion.
And under their care, reality thrived until the day it didn't.
The alarms of Heaven rang out like thunder, their sound shattering the stillness of eternity. A ripple of darkness spread across the Boundless Ocean.
From its depths rose Veyrath, the God of Dominion, a being whose hunger for control had consumed even the gods of his own realm. Within his Abyssal Crucible, a Hyperverse forged from devoured suns and collapsing worlds, he had built an empire where every spark of light bowed to his will.
So immense had his power grown that even the walls of reality could no longer contain him. Driven by the belief that Heaven's order was weakness, Veyrath tore through the veil separating his realm from the Boundless Heaven itself bringing with him the roar of collapsing Multiverses and the scent of dying higher Realms.
The intruder burst into the divine halls, cutting through guardians, angels, and lesser deities. Chaos spread before anyone could stop him.
And then Ava saw it.
Soryana his sister, the Shinma of Love falling.
Her golden blood stained the marble floors of Heaven.
Something inside Ava broke. His heart ignited with a fury that made the Bounders Ocean tremble.
He appeared before the attacker in a flash of golden and black and purple fire, summoning a weapon that hadn't been drawn in eons
the Black Lotus Chaos Sword.
Its edge burned with the flame of collapsed realities.
With a single swing, Ava cut the god down. The very fabric of Heaven shook as the intruder's body dissolved into black ash.
He knelt beside Soryana, placing his hand over her wound. The lotus flames softened, shifting from black to gold as they sealed her injury. Her eyes fluttered open, weak but alive.
But it wasn't enough.
Not for him.
That god's death did not quench his rage it only opened a door.
He left Heaven soon after, descending into the slain god, Veyrath Hyperverse. His anger festered into obsession.
He stood above their world like a storm given form. "Bow," he commanded, his voice splitting the sky. "Your god is dead. I am your ruler now. You will follow my law, or be erased."
Entire pantheons fell to their knees. Cities burned. The Hyperverse was remade in his image its skies gold, purple and black, its people chanting his name.
When word reached Boundless Heaven, his siblings descended to stop him.
Soryana, still weak, stood before him, tears in her eyes. "Brother, please. This isn't what Mother and Father wanted. Return the Hyperverse to its Gods and people."
Another Shinma placed his sword in the ground beside her. "You've gone too far."
Ava's fury ignited again. "Too far?" he roared, voice shaking the heavens. "Because I punished those who nearly killed her? Do you think mercy would have saved her? Do you think Father's compassion would have stopped him or any other God?" He stepped forward, eyes burning like collapsing stars. "No more. I will make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Forget compassion."
He turned, gesturing toward the endless legions kneeling below. "No. Because of their recklessness, my sister almost died! I won't wait for chaos to come to me I'll bring it to them. Every world, every god, every realm will bow! Only then will there be peace!"
His siblings stepped back as divine energy poured from his body, golden fire streaked with black and purple.
"Leave me!" Ava thundered, his voice shaking the heavens themselves. "This is no longer your heaven it's mine!"
With a wave of his hand, legions of black, purple and gold soldiers erupted into existence beings of flame and shadow, forged from his chaos itself. They struck the marble gates of his family's castle, driving out his brothers and sisters, scattering angels and spirits alike into the sky.
The once-peaceful Boundless Heaven burned with fire.
But even then, Ava's fear lingered beneath his rage. A whisper in his mind repeated over and over: If one god could rise against us, another will come. Another will try to take everything I love.
So he made his decision.
If chaos would always return, then he would become chaos itself.
He looked out across the Boundless Ocean, where infinite Hyperverses floated like stars upon the sea. His golden eyes flared. The strings of life shimmered before him countless threads stretching through creation, connecting every being, every thought, every time.
He reached out.
And the Omniverse trembled.
Using his Life Strings, that transcend all layers of dimensionality. Ava extended his will through the Boundless Ocean, then activates his omnipresence weaving through every realm at once. The strings pulsed like veins of light between his fingers.
With a single command, he seized them.
Every god. Every pantheon. Every mortal. Every star. Their narratives, their choices, their very fates bent beneath his hand.
He moved them like puppets, reshaping destiny itself.
Those who resisted those whose will refused to bow met the blade of the Black Lotus Sword of Chaos. Its strike did not kill. It erased. Each cut severed a life string, removing the victim from time, space memory, and existence altogether.
Entire hyperversus disappeared without a trace.
And as his power grew, so too did his madness.
He no longer conquered for protection or justice. He conquered for the sound of it for the thunder of worlds collapsing beneath his laughter.
The Boundless Ocean shook as he unleashed wave after wave of chaos, his sword cutting across the void. Hyperverses shattered, falling into the dark waters like broken glass.
"Look at it," he laughed, his voice echoing across eternity. "Even in death, they create beauty! Their destruction gives birth to something greater!"
The Omniverse trembled in fear. His name spread like a plague across all creation.
Avalokita the Shinma of Chaos.
Entire pantheons prayed not for salvation, but for mercy.
The other Shinma rose against him embodiments of every truth the Omniverse had ever known.
Love, Hate, Pain, Suffering. Nature, Time, Dream, and Silence etcetera.
Each came forth, radiant and terrible, their divine essences clashing with the storm that Ava had become. They fought to restore balance, to end the spiral of destruction he had unleashed.
He faced them all, and one by one, he cast them down. Their light faltered beneath his chaos, yet his hand refused the final strike. Some fragment of love still bound his heart, keeping him from erasing them completely.
And then, at last, the skies of the Boundless Heaven split open.
And Sunyata and Lady Death returned.
Their arrival silenced all existence and nonexistence.
The Boundless Heaven that once glowed with divinity now burned under Ava's reign of chaos. Standing amid the ruins of his throne, he faced them, the Black Lotus Sword still dripping with cosmic fire.
His voice was sharp and filled with contempt.
"You're fools! Weak! You let them roam free while they plot against us. These lesser beings deserve no choice, no freedom. They must bow! We are their gods! With the life strings, I can make them perfect obedient peaceful!"
Sunyata's face was calm, yet sorrow darkened his gaze. "I'm disappointed, my son," he said. "You were the last one I believed would fall to the illusion of control. You sought order, but all you found was vanity."
Ava's aura ignited, his body radiating power that twisted all of reality itself. "Then stop me if you can."
Father and son clashed, their battle shaking every realm. Time unraveled. Reality split apart under the weight of their blows. Chaos met compassion. Light met shadow.
And in the end, Sunyata stood victorious.
Ava fell to his knees, his wings torn, his flames dying.
"You leave me no choice," Sunyata whispered. With one motion, he raised his hand, summoning a vast seal of light. "You will learn what it means to feel to suffer, to love, to understand."
The seal struck him, transforming his divine form into pure spirit. His body dissolved into light, his power sealed away.
He fell once more through the burning layers of creation until he vanished into the depths of the Shadow Omniverse.
As he descended, Sunyata's voice followed him, echoing faintly through the collapsing light.
"When he learns compassion," the god murmured, "when he truly loves… only then will his power return. Only then will his banishment be undone."
Darkness swallowed him whole.
Then silence.
Ava's eyes opened slowly. His breath trembled. The echoes of eternity faded from his mind, leaving only the dim light of the dungeon around him. The air was heavy with dust and ash; the memory of Heaven's fire still burned behind his eyes.
He blinked, grounding himself in the present. The visions dissolved like mist.
For a moment, he just stood there silent, cold, remembering.
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
Soft, deliberate, echoing across the broken floor of the dungeon.
Ava turned his head, his golden eyes sharpening. Someone is here.