TEoEAN?
Somewhere in the endless space, far beyond the heavens. It was out there.
...
Deep in the middle of a forest, an injured boy lay flat on the cold ground, his body bruised and aching.
{I finally have a body... but where am I?}
{Where was it? Who was she? And... who am I?}
{I don't remember much. Only a few pieces of my past.}
...
In a dimly lit room, a young girl with snow-white hair and glowing blue eyes sat quietly with an old book resting in her lap. Her beauty was unparalleled across all seven heavens as her soft voice filled the quiet room while she read the pages.
˹Inside a pitch-black room, eight figures sat in high-backed grand chairs arranged in a circle, each one radiating a power so destructive it could shatter the heavens.
They ruled over everything, gathered together in discussion about the state of the heavens.
"Haha!" The King of the Dark End of Existence leaned back in his grand chair, a confident grin on his face. "Our fifth heaven is growing faster than any of yours."
"That is true." The Queen of Light Before Dark offered a calm, gentle smile. "Your side is growing fast. But the environment of our second heaven is still the best in all the seven heavens."
The Spirit Awaken King clicked his tongue, a deep scowl on his face. "My sixth heaven has the cleanest, purest air. None of you can match that." He turned his head toward the leader of the seventh heaven.
"It is so nice to see everyone here." The Queen of Perfection rested her hands together, a sweet smile on her face. "It feels like the old days."
"Yes." The King Who Rules sat up straight, crossing his arms proudly. "And our first heaven is as strong as always. No one has ever dared to break a single rule here."
"Oh, that sounds so boring!" The Queen of the Essence of Life waved her hand dismissively, a playful smirk on her face while ignoring the sharp glare from the King Who Rules. "No one breaks the rules? How dull. Our third heaven has the biggest population. That is much more exciting."
"Don't make me laugh." The All-Knowing King shook his head dismissively. "The rest of you still use old weapons like swords and bows. Our fourth heaven has advanced technology that is far ahead of everyone else." He turned his eyes toward the dark figure. "What about you, Master?"
The Nameless Eternal sat motionless, a mysterious figure wrapped in thick shadow. He spoke slowly, and the whole room fell dead silent. "I was once in a place called the eighth heaven. It is lost now, nobody lives there. It has the knowledge required to reach the supreme world."
The room went completely quiet. The other rulers exchanged glances, total confusion written on their faces. To them, the 'eighth heaven' and the 'supreme world' did not exist. The ideas made no sense to them.˺
As she finished reading, a cloud of spinning spiral smoke suddenly appeared next to her.
"Is that the end of the story?" The cloud of smoke drifted in place, its spiraling form hovering beside her.
The girl closed the book and turned her gaze toward the smoke. "Oh! Hey, Nx. You are here. Are you spying on a pretty girl like me?" She tilted her head, a confident, teasing smirk curling on her lips.
Nx went completely still. He turned toward the open window and started to fly away.
She snatched him tight with her hand, puffing her cheeks out in an angry pout. "Where do you think you are going?!"
After a few minutes of squeezing and teasing Nx, her shoulders relaxed as she finally calmed down.
"Haha, you really love stories!" She puffed her chest out proudly. "Before this, you couldn't even talk. It looks like training with me has made you a lot smarter."
{Yeah, no. I was forced to be her training dummy.} Nx tumbled slightly in mid-air.
The girl stood up, smoothing down her outfit. "To answer your question from before... yes, that is the end. But the eighth heaven is just a myth."
Nx floated closer to the book, observing the pages. "Why does the book claim to be a real historical record if it is just a myth?" He hovered right near the text. "And what is the 'supreme world'? Is it a real location?"
"Oh, it's just a story for kids." She tilted her head with a sweet smile. "It is full of lies. Besides, you are more of a mystery to me than those. You have been with me ever since I was five, and even after nine years, I still don't know what you are."
Nx drifted back, his smoke dimming slightly. "Everyone else calls me 'Waste' and 'The Cursed One.' I don't know anything else about myself."
Wanting to cheer him up, she softened her expression with a warm smile. "That is a bad name. I will tell everyone they must address you as Nx."
"Thank you, ******." Nx floated up, resting right on top of her head like a small hat.
{Wait, how does he even talk when he doesn't have a mouth?} The realization suddenly popped into her head.
Yet, back in her mind, remembering the day she first found Nx brought a cold shiver straight through her.
{Guessing from her look, she is thinking about that day again.} Nx remembered the story she had shared with him long ago.
...
She had snuck out of the grand palace alone to pick wild flowers...
When suddenly, the sky turned a dark, bleeding red. And she remembered seeing something burning, falling straight out of the sky.