Beyond all things, there was emptiness that contained emptiness. In that emptiness, there could be nothing but emptiness.
Infinitely void.
Even so, there existed three things that defied this law of emptiness:
A Book, hovering in the confines of emptiness, large enough to house all of Existence.
A white orb, shining in the void, illuminating nothing yet everything within the emptiness.
A black orb, cosuming light, perpetuating emptiness, yet having no effect; in an empty world, there was nothing to be emptied.
Standing above the Book, skimming through its pages with a mighty hand, a young, noble-looking man assessed the words on each Page.
"Even in this Volume, the 'Absolute Authority' Gilgamesh can do as he pleases. To think that the 12th is even more powerful..."
As that noble-looking young man spoke to himself, he eventually reached the second-to-last page of the Book.
He frowned, but his frown suddenly exploded into a mess of raw emotion, all of them uncontainable.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! YES! YES! MASTER!"
"MASTERRR!!!"
He let go of the Book and raced toward the orb of light.
The Bright Speck glowed as it welcomed his approach.
"What news, Arthur?" Out of the speck, a voice emerged that fused with everything. Whether it was male or female was indiscernible.
"Kyahaha! Master, great news! Great news, indeed!" The man called Arthur could barely contain his excitement.
The Bright Speck glowed curiously and patiently awaited his report.
"Master, the 12th is vulnerable now! We can make our move, and perhaps secure it!"
Without even needing to ask for confirmation, the Bright Speck glowed and grew until it was a blinding white sun, far larger than the Book.
"YES! YES!!! AHHHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"DO YOU SEE, DARK ONE!" The Bright Speck shouted over to its Dark counterpart.
"Regardless of your past victories, this time I have come out on top. So what if you possess the 11th!? I now have the 12th in my grasp. How are you supposed to stop me!?"
The Dark Speck made no sound, and continued to thrive in darkness.
Arthur felt his Master's joy, and laughed along in celebration.
Suddenly, the Bright Speck's laughter ended.
"Arthur, summon the others. Tell them to erase the Constriction Binds, and rewrite Time yet again."
Arthur nodded, but suddenly faltered.
"Um, rewrite it how, Master?"
The Bright Speck's glow turned sinister, and it's body that had stopped increasing in size suddenly began to grow some more.
"Get rid of the separation between Past, Present and Futures. That is how you all must rewrite it."
Arthur's eyes widened as his pupils quivered.
"You mean to summon individuals from the other Books? Is that necessary?"
Suddenly, a red light flashed on the Bright Speck's body before it snorted coldly and returned to white.
"Hmph! He asks if it's necessary! You were not yet created then, so I guess I have to excuse you for forgetting."
"The 11th conquered the First Book, while also destroying the 5th and two of my most powerful creations. Had I kept fighting against him, I would be left with no pawns."
The Bright Specks flashed a plethora of colors as its tone became complex.
"I was forced to remain neutral and allow the 11th to ruthlessly bash my body, day in and day out. If he were any more powerful, I might have been gravely injured."
Arthur finally understood, and also marveled at the strength of the 12th.
"It will be done, Master. Time shall be rewritten. Which individuals from the Books must we summon?"
"Sigh," the Bright Speck flashed a grey color.
"You still don't understand? You aren't summoning individuals from the other Books."
"You are summoning the First, Third and Fourth Books themselves."
Arthur was taken aback, and started to shiver at the implications of such a thing. While he did so, he remebered certain details of Previous Volumes, and his breathing became erratic.
"Also, send 'Him' to claim the 12th. It's time we broke the 11th."
"I-I-It will be done, Master!" Arthur hurriedly left his Master's presence.
The Bright Speck finally shrunk down to its original size, and returned to calmly existing by itself. In the opposite direction, the Dark Speck also did the same.
"If you could still speak, I wonder what you would be saying to me right now?"
It suddenly chuckled.
"It doesn't matter. I declare this the 12th and Final Gilgamesh War."
"Let it begin."
Within the emptiness, after those words were spoken, nothing was ever the same again.
. . .
Within the Second Book...
Many days passed.
Ateah had encountered a few villages, but she passed by them as she sought an opportunity to experience self-discovery.
She had indirectly performed strange and mystical things without even knowing, and had changed many lives.
When she found a certain village, a young boy there had lost his lucky coin. Handing him a mundane-looking coin, Ateah told him that it was a far better good luck charm, as it had been given to her by her Big Brother.
That boy would grow up to advance to the Soul Evolution stage as if overnight, despite not having a single shred of cultivation talent. All his dreams would come true, because of that coin.
When she crossed a large bridge over a desolate, seemingly bottomless, fissure in the earth, she saw an old man walking his donkey.
The donkey's foot had gotten stuck between the wooden planks of the bridge, so Ateah offered him a hand while also tearing up her old servant's clothes and bandaging the donkey's foot.
"You need to be more careful," she jokingly told the donkey as she pet it on the nose.
The donkey brayed; the old man thanked her.
That donkey would, in a week's time, develop genuis level intellect and experience an insane soul-growth.
It would become capable of speech, and would eventually be regarded as Lord Daoist Donkey-Sage.
Ateah continued on her way, performing similar casual yet mindblowing feats, then departing.
However, there was one constant.
Each time she performed such an act, a little feather would materialize out of no where and fall toward the sight of her miracle.
Most of the feather's went unnoticed; the ones that were found were objects of wonder, and drove people mad over them.
In various regions, all-out wars would soon break out over those feathers. Whoever held them had the power to turn their lives around completely.
Observing all these things with rapt attention, Clara felt like even her common sense was forcefully dashed.
This little girl was like a god.
No.
She was above even gods!
Immediately, she understood that, being Gilgamesh's sister, Little Feather could never be ordinary.
But this...
'She's not even giving commands... Or is she...?'
'Why does everything go her way?'
Clara could not hope to grasp the truth, even if she relied on her abilities that were considered all-powerful in this world.
Perhaps not even the servants of The Ghost could-- or The Ghost itself!
Clara could only watch and wait. She was afraid to do anything else.
She even started to doubt her purpose. She felt like, if anything could be a threat to this little girl, then it would definitely be able to instantly kill her.
She shuddered at the thought, continuing to follow Ateah in secret.
One day, Ateah was walking toward a beach.
The water was still, with only minor ripples as the cold wind blew meekly. Wherever the water's surface was disturbed, horrified faces would emerge in puffs of smoke, shrieking or wailing as they rose into the sky.
Ateah looked around at the tranquil beach.
"So this is what the sea looks like? Apart from all the ghosts, it's actually quite nice here. I think I like the sea!"
She walked over to the sand, removing her sandals and wiggling her toes in it, experiencing its coolness.
Growing excited, she walked to the water and dipped her feet in, but suddenly yelped.
"So cold!"
As she strolled around and thought about what she had been doing, she sighed.
"Why can't my inherent nature just show itself already. I can't keep Big Brother waiting."
With a frown, she sat on the sand and watched the water, feeling frustrated.
As she was staring off into space, the calm and chilling wind suddenly whipped up, bringing with it a strange warmth.
At the same time, in the distance, a small wave appeared, stretching across the entire beach.
Ateah noticed it and gasped as her eyes widened.
The winds only grew more powerful, forcing Ateah to squint her eyes. The small wave continued to grow, and eventually it became tall enough to cause Ateah to worry.
She started to put a large distance between herself and the water, only then noticing that the water level was slowly dropping as the wave approached.
She cotinued to retreat further, until she had reached the furthest palm tree from the beach.
Then, she started climbing up. Only when she felt like she was high enough did she stoo ascending, and looked down at the beach.
"What the hell is happening!?"
The palm tree swayed and the wave continued to sweep across the water, before finally crashing on the shore.
The sound of that crash was like thunder.
Clara had already noticed the peculiarity of this situation.
In fact, she felt that pure energy of the Book appear again, lying beneath the surface of the environment.
However, she began to doubt that this was same energy.
For some reason, it felt far purer.
Purer than the purest energy of the Book.
As the water raced across the sand and crept further and further inland, Ateah finally descended.
Looking around, she suddenly let out an angry grunt.
"I forgot to grab my sandals!"
While looking around to see if she could hear them, she heard a soft groan.
Instantly alarmed, she searched for the source of that groan. Eventually, she found that as the water was slowly receding, a young man's body was showing itself.
He appeared to be in his teen years, maybe just as old as Gilgamesh or slightly younger.
His hair was a dull green when wet, but shimmered in the dim light. His eyes were of the same color, and his skin was milky and smooth, almost like a woman's.
He was dressed in a fully white outfit that clung to his body, soaked through and through.
As the water raced past him, he sputtered and spat before quickly sitting up, whereupon he groaned again and clutched his stomach.
"Are you okay?" Ateah asked.
He opened a single eye and smiled at her, "So you must be the 12th."