What is Order? At this moment, Wende is Order.
The great power of Chaos can compose a harmonious duet from the cosmos, and bend the natural order to his will. He can command a star, or alter the laws of a planet with a flick of his wrist. He can create life from nothing, and annihilate it back into nothingness...
This, within this cosmos, was the power that belonged exclusively to an Aeon.
After the wormhole appeared, a whisper seemed to sound once more in Wende's ear. But Its voice was dreamlike and illusory, Its words laced with madness and disorder.
"********"
Wende felt it only as a breeze passing by his ear, leaving behind a faint swirl of air. The whisper then vanished like a hallucination, and a memory that did not belong to Wende suddenly flooded his mind!
---o---
"Hahahaha! You want Aha to help you? For something so meaningless? To pretend to be devoured by a grander concept, while you yourself hide on the dark side? No, no, no, you wouldn't do something so foolish. Tell Aha, what's cooking in that brain of yours under that mask?"
During the era of the Swarm Disaster, Taichi, who rarely interacted with other Aeons, suddenly sought out Aha, along with another Aeon.
"And you, you're another one. Aha has never seen you, yet you are everywhere... You're so annoying! But... hahaha! If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be nearly as much fun in this cosmos!"
"Alright, seeing as you've made me laugh my guts out, I'll help you with this. I truly feel sorry for your followers. What on earth are you afraid of?"
"Aha, whether you believe it or not, I promise you, for you, it will be the most ultimate Elation."
Taichi's words were like an ancient, placid well—calm and full of philosophy.
"Oh? Those don't sound like the words of an Aeon... Hahaha! I'm already looking forward to it..."
According to the plan of the three Aeons, Taichi of Order would feign being devoured by Xipe of Harmony, and with the help of Equilibrium, would hand over control of the star systems he commanded. He himself would quietly hide on the unseen side of the cosmos, silently waiting for that day to come.
What was he waiting for? He was waiting for a person who could undo the future Finality.
The birth of The Finality came much earlier than imagined. Not just during the Swarm Disaster, but long before it. As one of the longest-existing Aeons, Order had naturally heard Its whispers that defied common sense...
And Its birth meant that the cosmos of this timeline would eventually meet its end at the hands of The Finality!
By a stroke of fate, Taichi received a message that did not belong to this cosmos. It was clear that this message came from a higher-dimensional space. It had been transmitted to Taichi by altering a planet's gravity, and it was how he learned that such a person would appear in the future.
He did not belong to this world. He would shoulder the heavy responsibility of ending The Finality and restoring vitality to the cosmos.
He did not come from the Tree and Sea; he came from beyond the Tree and Sea...
Of course, he wasn't the only Aeon who knew of this matter. Some had hidden themselves much earlier than he had.
But he still needed allies.
Qlipoth of Preservation seemed to have long known of Its birth and had been actively preparing for war. But his stubbornness made him unsuitable for executing a secret plan. If he, who was single-mindedly building walls, suddenly did something different, it would inevitably draw the gaze of the entire cosmos.
Therefore, Taichi sought out the most reliable and trustworthy Aeon: Equilibrium.
In the eyes of the Aeons, the scale of time cannot be measured in mere years, centuries, or millennia. Soon, that person appeared in the cosmos, and in an unprecedentedly strange way. It seemed as if some power had constructed a cycle for him out of thin air. Within this cycle, he would eventually, with Their help, obtain the power of Order...
Yes, obtain the power of Order, and replace Taichi as the new Aeon of Order. This was Taichi's goal... Even if it seemed like rushing his growth, there was not much time left for the cosmos. Fate had begun to grow enigmatic and unseeable, but it had nothing to do with the Enigmata itself. It was veiled by the fog of time and space. The original fate had become blurred beneath this veil, but traces could still be followed.
At the very, very end, Taichi met that long-lost Aeon. It was helping that "savior of the cosmos" in another form and identity. After seeing It, Taichi calmly accepted his own passing.
His passing was not the passing of Order. As long as Order did not perish, He would be eternal...
"Truly incredible, Dragon."
In the very end, Taichi left only these words, and then his form vanished with the light.
After His departure, the stars in all the galaxies that had been under the care of Equilibrium or other Aeons dimmed for a moment, but then returned to normal, as if the dimming had just been a trick of the eye. But it felt more like a lament from the cosmos for Him, or perhaps... a farewell?
"Good night, Taichi."
Tears had unknowingly streamed down Wende's face. He sat in silence under the golden tree for a long time.
What he had just recalled was this very memory of Taichi. It seemed He had realized that besides Them, there was one other who knew the fate of the universe...
Fuli of Remembrance... he had recorded it all and given it to Wende, allowing him to see the full picture of this matter from the perspective of an Aeon.
Perhaps even He, who merely recorded, was not an emperor sitting alone upon a throne of memory.
Wende marveled at the tacit understanding between the Aeons, while simultaneously finding it difficult to digest.
He had originally thought his transmigration was just a stroke of great luck, much better than those who were struck by "great luck." But now, it seemed his transmigration was just as their memories described: he had been pulled from beyond the Tree and Sea by that mysterious higher-dimensional existence.
"..."
Wende was silent for a long, long time.
Right now, he was... confused. No, to say he was confused would be normal. After everything he had experienced in this world, this was the one thing that could truly leave him feeling utterly lost...
[Take your time to think it over. I know that suddenly shouldering such a heavy burden must be bewildering. Think slowly. Time here is not in sync with the outside world. You have enough time to figure out what you need to do.]
The system screen materialized out of thin air, comforting Wende.
"I never expected you to be the comforting type. What should I call you? System, or..."
"Dragon?"