"Ahhh…"
A young man woke up with a slight headache.
His hair was pitch black, and his body's complexion was slightly pale.
His eyes slowly opened, and he felt a tiny, tingling sensation pulsing from his crimson irises. It was as though this was the first time he would be opening them, and that was true.
… Though he was yet to realize it.
He rose from where he lay and looked around him, still in a daze.
"Where am I? Who… am I?" he wondered.
The room he occupied was blank, empty, and dark. He could barely see within it, but it was the strange emptiness within it that perplexed him.
He was still feeling a sense of confusion concerning his existence when he noticed something in the dark, empty room: a book.
Once he spotted it, more details in the room started coming to notice.
Other than the stylish yet comfortable bed on which he lay, there was a table in the room, and on that table was a book.
He paid no attention to the bed from which he had just gotten up. Although it seemed strange, he went towards the book, as though he was drawn to it.
The pattern inscribed on it was so familiar to him. He used his hand to feel the book; the texture felt so nostalgic, as though he had a connection to it.
"Maybe this will help me discover who I am, what I am," he thought to himself.
As he opened the book, a brilliant flash of light suddenly shone, enveloping the room and blinding him for a moment.
"A-ahhh…" He would have staggered backward if his body hadn't been frozen due to the radiation he just received.
As soon as the light penetrated his eyes and went through his nerves, he could see it—memories upon memories and several pieces of information began to flood his entire being.
He was flooded with stockpiles of knowledge that he never knew existed. It was overwhelming, and pain could not even begin to describe how he was feeling.
"Please. Stop," he pleaded.
It didn't stop.
He wanted it to cease, but this was out of his control.
It felt like his brain would explode from all that he was experiencing.
Millions of years, eons, flashed through his mind as he experienced every second of it. He didn't know how much time passed while he was in this haze, but it felt like an eternity.
Then all of a sudden, it didn't hurt anymore.
The pain was gone, most of it anyway.
There was only one pain left—the one in his heart. The pain of betrayal. He felt rage rise from within him, intense rage.
It choked him, and he felt overcome by it. He clutched his chest as his heart beat with rage.
Then he slowly began to take deep breaths, closed his eyes, and calmed himself.
"Huuu… haa…"
Sooner or later, he had to come to peace with it, and the sooner the better.
At that very moment, he decided to let go of his feelings of betrayal and regret.
Instead, he would turn those feelings and fuel his conquest of revenge on the ones who had wronged him.
"I remember now. I remember everything," he said to himself.
Indeed, he did—those countless eons he spent with his siblings, the ones he spent with his comrades, the gods.
Everything was restored, even his final moments.
His name was Elish, the Monarch of the VOID.
"Enuma. Illur. Gera. Lif. Dauoi. Einvald. Mellom. Timi," he mentioned the names of his younger siblings.
A wicked grin slowly formed on his face as his eyes pulsated with power.
"I'm back!"
********
After finding the book and recovering his memory, Elish left the room, destroying everything within it and not leaving a trace.
Since the chamber's function was complete, it was supposed to be eradicated anyway.
And so, according to design, it vanished as though it never existed to begin with.
"Haa…" Elish raised his head, his hair fluttering behind him as he took in the atmosphere before him while also ruminating on what had just happened.
'I had the entire structure made as a countermeasure in case things went south with my siblings…'
Even at that, he couldn't have imagined them betraying him and him having to resort to it. He had always been accused of being an overthinker, but he had never been as grateful for that quality as he was now.
'If I didn't have a body prepared for myself… I would be dead by now.'
In simple terms, what he currently occupied was a body that was made for him to inhabit.
However, since he was the one who personally designed this body, it didn't exist the same way every other entity in the world did.
Unlike other beings that existed, this was made without the contribution of the other Monarchs and their Authorities.
It was made so that it wouldn't be reliant on the Authorities to function, and as such, independent of any interference from his siblings.
The true definition of freedom.
'I suppose it's a relief I didn't reveal this to them before I was betrayed.'
That would have been bad.
The body had been preserved in a contraption similar to a coffin to preserve it and the entire space he woke up to was also sealed to ensure there was no interference.
All so he could be here now.
'Even if the entire planet had been destroyed, the room would still be kept intact. There seems to be a boundary that prevents anyone from venturing anywhere within 50 meters of this location.'
It appeared even his siblings didn't figure things out after his disappearance.
'I reckon they were too busy cleaning up after the mess our battle made. Ah, I still don't know how long has passed since then, do I?'
There were a lot of things he had to figure out now that he was here, standing in the outside world. However, there was one thing he knew for certain.
'This feels nice…'
He spent so much time designing this body that being in it now felt so comfortable. It suited his tastes in every way.
He accessed his entire body and confirmed everything was just as he intended.
'I have the form of a young adult male in his prime, about 21 years to be exact. Black hair, red eyes, and of course a handsome face.'
All of these had been meticulously crafted for the sole purpose of being useful in the long run.
'I also possess good body build, and I appear to be a little over six feet tall, with a well-proportioned figure. Even the appendage down there seems above average by human standards… '
Everything about him could be described as 'peak human'.
However, there was something about him that differentiated him from the humans.
It was the last thing he analyzed about his body.
'A large pool of essence which has accumulated over a long period due to the cycle process I imputed into it.'
This body was designed to stockpile power the longer it remained in hibernation, at least until it was able to house Elish's consciousness.
The power it stockpiled wasn't in any way related to the Authority of Power or the Essence that governed this world.
Rather it was something different.
… Something sinister.
"It also seems my body is also perfectly healthy and immune to natural physical ailments that befall humans, or basically other living entities that should exist. Perks of being made differently, I suppose…"
The most important feature for Elish remained the fact that he wasn't tied to the Authorities that governed the rest of existence.
'A perfect vessel for me.' He smiled to himself.
That said, compared to his past stature, this body was extremely weak.
Elish had not only lost his Authority but also all his divine powers and attributes. The only thing he had going for him was the knowledge of his past life as well as the anomaly of his body's existence.
"This much is enough," he said to himself.
"It might take me longer, but I'll definitely achieve my goals no matter what it takes and who stands in my way."
But, before any of that, there was something he first had to take care of.
"Ah…" He looked at himself one final time and gave a wry smile.
There wasn't anyone to see him, but that didn't make it any less awkward for the great Monarch himself.
"... I'm naked."