"The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it's only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That's the only lasting thing you can create."
― Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
"You seem different…" Huan leaned in, a cherub faced infant under both arms. The other eighteen crawled around their chamber floor, bright eyes hungry for knowledge of their new world. "It's your eyes… they keep changing, gaining even more depth…"
"My other avatars are studying the laws," Ven let out a deep breath that carried a trace of summer. He'd lost count of the number of avatars his true body had created, but even the brief period of study brought a change. "I'm growing closer to the realm…"
The chorus of the living worlds grew ever more clear, alongside the gentle hum that was the realm itself. One voice hung steady, above the others, a leader in the song's direction. Eden, the most developed will. As loud as the realm will, but more coherent, it added a melancholy note to the music in his mind.
"Alright…" Huan pressed her face, nose to nose with his, and squinted into his eyes. "Just make sure you don't lose yourself… Grandmother says grasping a law, even in part, can alter the foundation of your soul."
"I'll be careful," Ven sighed into her face and closed his eyes. The mastery of laws was worth the risk to his identity, even now his cores blossomed with energy, more than ever before. "Feel free to let me know if I've changed for the worse."
– – – –
A newborn avatar stepped from the void, onto the tranquil surface of Eden. Ven glanced around the empty garden and settled under the shade of the tree of life. Unlike the many Earths, Eden had yet to name a champion. The only world in his realm to sing a song of sorrow and it decided to neglect the creation of a mouthpiece.
"What's the problem?" Ven tapped a gentle drumbeat onto the ground with his palms. "I can't help, if you won't speak up, you know?"
Eden continued her sad ballad, unable, or unwilling to answer. Wind shifted the branches above, loney gusts that came from over the mountains. It carried the smell of rain and a breath of life. Even the air here was more, pure and filled with unrestrained creation.
"There is a truth here…" Ven sifted a handful of loam between his fingers. Thick, black soil, heavy with mossy perfume. "A more refined version of the One God's domain, the remnant of the complete law of creation…"
Legs crossed, Ven let the scant trace mingle with the rest of the laws in his realm. Slow at first, but with a momentum that snowballed to a rush, Eden's concept of creation gained volume and prominence. Where it travelled, it left a mark on the other laws, changed them in a way Ven recognized.
"Amazing…" All of Ven's avatars, in every corner of his realm, shivered as the laws they studied underwent a subtle shift. This addition left their principles intact, but broadened their scope and depth. "Are these really the true laws… the natural order before my original universe was lost?"
Dante's claims about his home reality had gained even greater credibility. This fragment of the Creation Law carried portions of almost every other law. A more complete version that created a chain reaction he couldn't stop. Truth or not, it reshaped the fabric of every law connected to his realm.
"What are you up to?" The system's avatar popped into existence beside him, head tilted as she squinted under his skin. "You've introduced a change, one I can't process…"
"What do you think about Dante's claim?" Ven eyed the system in surprise. This would be a first, an event that was beyond her influence. "Is this law trace really a truer version, a real version of what used to be?"
"Maybe…" the system shrugged, eyes still focused past Ven's flesh, into the core of his current avatar. "It's certainly a more powerful law, even in its broken state, it's changed the natural order inside the realm."
The system settled to the forest floor by his side, shoulder to shoulder as they leaned against the massive Tree of Life. She closed her eyes, silent as Ven continued to take in the changed laws. Not only were these laws more powerful than before, but they had greater clarity. His progress toward familiarity skyrocketed, the difference between a walk and a run.
"Once I have a basic understanding of the laws of the realm, I'll need your help again…" Ven tapped his knee against the system avatar's leg, a hint of a grin on his lips. If Cain was right, he would need a vast sum of power to scale up the flow of time. "I want to fast forward the realm, as much as we possibly can."
"So needy," the system scoffed. She tossed her hair to clear it from her face and gave him a look of mock resentment. "What would you do if I said no?"
"I'd get Min to ask you," Ven snorted. "You might reject me, but not our little sister!"
"Cheater…" the system sighed, starlight eyes focused on the heavens. "One day we're going to run into a real problem, you know… you're growing faster than I am, eventually I won't be able to keep up with your… appetite for my power."
"Future problems for future us," Ven rubbed his palms over his face. The Titan had said much the same, that his hunger would one day transform him into another mindless hunter. "For now, my gut tells me we're still not powerful enough… whatever waits for us on the upper levels of the labyrinth, we'll need all the strength we can muster if we want to come out on top."
"We could run… collect more Earths, more multiversal fragments to empower the realm," the system glanced at him through the corner of one eye. "We don't need to charge toward trouble, you generate enough as it is!"
Ven pondered her words, rolled the idea around in his mind. It left an uncomfortable taste and did nothing to ease the warning in his heart. They could not escape, not from whatever hunted them. Ven knew, without knowing how. This foe would never give up.
"I won't run," A grin bared his teeth, a sharkish display that matched his current mood. "It's not my style, or yours for that matter… the overbearing system that can grant any wish shouldn't ever turn their back on an enemy!"
"We'll see…" she returned her gaze to the skies, the many Earths that wrapped around her orbit. "But I hope you're right…"