Chapter 26 — The Birth of a World II
Afternoon sunlight streamed through the window, scattering warm gold across the room. Soma leaned on his desk, watching an annoying little gecko crawl lazily along the wall.
"We should introduce new living beings into that world," he said thoughtfully.
Alex's light pulsed brighter in agreement. She floated closer, her glow flickering playfully as she reached for the gecko.
A few minutes later, Alex hovered beside him, holding the tiny creature in midair.
The gecko squirmed, kicking its four limbs in protest, trying to escape her gentle grip.
Soma smiled at the sight, then closed his eyes.
Moments later, a thin black portal materialized before them — a window-like shape stretching six feet tall, shimmering faintly with dark light.
---
Soma studied the floating device carefully. "It's a teleportation gate," he explained. "But unlike the Void Filler, it doesn't have absorption capabilities."
Alex nodded and floated closer. Without hesitation, she released the gecko toward the portal.
The instant the creature touched the surface, its body dissolved into streaks of light. A faint flash — and then silence.
A small, glowing soul drifted out from the black window — silent, and fleeting.
Soma froze. "What happened? How did the gecko die?"
Alex tilted her head, frowning. "We'll need to test the mechanism of the teleportation device."
She floated toward the window and soon returned, holding a frog she had found outside. Her form shimmered, and she possessed the amphibian.
Then, without hesitation, she leapt into the portal.
A few moments later, the device pulsed — and both Alex and a faint soul emerged on the other side.
Alex's tone turned serious.
> "When the frog entered the portal, its body was disassembled at the molecular level, converted into energy, and transported to the new world.
But during the process, both the frog and the gecko died."
Soma rubbed his temples. "But why? Why can't we teleport directly into that world?"
> "It might be a safety protocol," Alex replied. "The atomic structures of Earth and that world are fundamentally different. If we teleported matter directly between them, the interaction could behave like antimatter — and the resulting reaction might destroy the entire world."
Soma's eyes widened. "So… we can't teleport any living being at all?"
> "No," Alex said calmly. But that won't be a problem for the Creator. With the Rune's power, you can create infinite life directly within that world.
Soma exhaled slowly and nodded, a small smile forming. "Good point."
He glanced at the clock, then stretched. "Time for dinner."
---
When he went downstairs, Savitri was sitting in her room, eyes fixed on the television.
The news anchor's voice carried a tone of quiet tension:
> "It has been more than ten days since the mysterious blackout event, but officials have yet to release a confirmed explanation.
The global economy remains unstable — stock markets are in freefall, and major industries are on high alert.
Earlier this morning, the United Nations announced the formation of a joint scientific committee — bringing together the world's leading intelligence agencies and top physicists to investigate the phenomenon.
New Delhi has officially approved their cooperation and pledged full support."
Soma listened to the news, smiled faintly, and finished his meal in silence.
After waving goodnight to Savitri, he headed back to his room.
Clicking the fan switch, he lay down on his bed, gazing up at the ceiling where Alex's faint glow shimmered.
"More than a million years must have passed there by now," he murmured.
"Let's check on that world."
Alex merged with him in a beam of soft light.
Soma closed his eyes and focused on the Rune's Closed Eye —
and once again, his consciousness drifted beyond the veil.
-----
When he regained awareness, he found himself standing on the white platform he had created eons ago. The air was perfectly still, and the world below shimmered like a memory suspended in time.
Behind him, the small house remained unchanged — untouched by decay or age, preserved exactly as the day he built it.
He turned his gaze toward the vast blue planet beneath him.
Now, two moons circled its orbit — one a pale silver, glowing softly like Earth's moon, the other smaller and red, trailing behind in a slow horizontal dance.
For a long moment, Soma simply watched in silence — the miracle of change unfolding across millennia.
Then, with a faint flicker of thought, he teleported down to the planet's surface.
The air here was thin and bitterly cold.
Half the world lay under a dense ceiling of black smoke — so thick that sunlight could not pierce it. The continents below were blanketed in ice.
He stood amidst a frozen forest — colossal trees stood like gray statues, their skeletal branches heavy with frost.
Every now and then, the faint outline of a frozen creature appeared beneath the glassy surface of the ice — animals caught mid-motion, perfectly preserved.
Soma's breath formed white mist as he exhaled. "Alex… what happened here?"
Alex hovered beside him, her light faintly dimmed by the cold air. She turned toward the west, her voice calm and analytical.
> "It looks like a massive volcano erupted," she said. "The smoke must have blocked the sunlight for decades, perhaps centuries. Without sunlight, the temperature plummeted — triggering a global freeze."
Soma's eyes narrowed as he looked farther across the horizon.
From this vantage point, he could see a massive crater — easily hundreds of kilometers wide — carved deep into the planet's crust.
Its center was barren, a desolate pit that radiated silent destruction.
> "It feels like an asteroid strike," Alex murmured. "Possibly the same event that caused the volcanic chain reaction."
Curiosity stirred within Soma. He took to the air, flying toward the impact zone. The closer he got, the stronger the eerie red glow became.
When he finally reached the crater's heart, he found a colossal boulder half-buried in ice.
It pulsed faintly — a dull, rhythmic glow like a dying heartbeat — casting ripples of crimson light through the frozen mist.
Soma frowned. "What's that red glow?"
Alex floated near the surface of the boulder, her light reflecting across its fractured form. She extended a field of energy, scanning.
> "I'm not sure," she said after a pause. "It's radiating an unknown form of energy. Highly charged — almost like solar plasma."
Soma closed his eyes and summoned the Genesis Ring.
---
SOUL STORAGE
1. Soul Fragments: 7,309,700
2. Awakened Souls: 15,120,300
3. Intelligent Souls: 127
4. Transcendental Souls: 0
5. Immortal Souls: 0
6. Divine Souls: 0
---
He opened the Creation Tab.
> All-Seeing Eye — Grants the user the ability to perceive and analyze all things, unveiling their true form and properties.
Requires: 950,000 Awakened Souls.
Yes / No
Soma selected Yes.
The air shimmered. His vision widened — reality unfolded in layers, every particle glowing with detail.
He focused on the massive asteroid before him.
Text appeared before his eyes in golden light.
> Object: Fragment of a Stellar Core
Length: 5 kilometers
Mass: 9.8 trillion tonnes
Status: Continuously emitting charged particles and high radiation
Soma inhaled sharply. "Nine point eight trillion tonnes… and radioactive?"
He glanced around at the lifeless ice fields, realization dawning.
"This thing… it's poisoning everything around it."
He pressed a hand against his forehead, thinking hard.
> "I have to remove it — but how can I move something so massive?"
He fell silent for a moment — then his eyes flickered with an idea.
Wait… what if I create another Void Filler — one powerful enough to absorb the entire thing?
He closed his eyes once more, summoning the Genesis Ring and focusing on the Creation Tab.
> Pocket Dimension — Creates a teleportation link to a 10-square-kilometer parallel space.
Anything absorbed is stored safely within this isolated dimensional pocket.
Requires: 13,000,000 Awakened Souls.
Yes / No
Soma chose Yes.
When he opened his eyes, a small black dot had formed in the center of his palm.
He reached toward the asteroid, his fingers trembling slightly from the energy pressure.
The moment he touched it, the surface of the asteroid rippled — bending and stretching like molten rubber before collapsing inward.
In seconds, the massive rock was gone — devoured completely into the singularity.
Soma exhaled a long, shaky breath, lowering his hand.
The red glow vanished. The cold air felt lighter — as if the planet itself sighed in relief.
He smiled faintly. "That's better."
Then, in a flash of light, he returned to the white platform above the planet.
Alex floated beside him as he extended his hand toward the world once more, accelerating the flow of time.
Beneath them, clouds began to shift.
The black smoke thinned. Ice receded. Rivers glittered anew under the returning sunlight.
Life, faint and distant, began to stir again.
Soma watched quietly — his expression soft but thoughtful — as centuries passed like seconds beneath his gaze.
----
Watching the planet slowly recover, Soma stood in silence — his reflection shimmering faintly in the light of the twin moons.
Below, the oceans glowed with faint life; the clouds had thinned, sunlight painting soft gold across the horizon.
It was beautiful — but fragile.
He exhaled softly.
"Alex," he said, his voice thoughtful, "what should I do to make sure something like this never happens again?"
Alex floated beside him, her body pulsing with faint light.
> "The Creator must establish guardians," she replied calmly. "Beings who can protect this world in your absence."
Soma's eyes lit up with recognition.
> "That's a great idea! If I create beings like you — and give them access to the Rune's power — they could protect this world from cosmic disasters."
He closed his eyes and summoned the Genesis Ring, focusing on the Creation Tab.
> Guardian — A being capable of channeling and wielding the Rune's divine power.
Suddenly, a message appeared: "A single soul can wield only three Runes' powers."
He adjusted the Guardian's parameters, and another message immediately appeared.
Not enough souls.
Requires: 10,000,000 Awakened Souls.
Yes / No
Soma groaned. "Ten million souls?"
He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking aloud.
The Soul Collectors gather only about three and a half million souls per day… which means I'll need at least three Earth days just to create a single Guardian.
He sighed, his expression softening into a grin.
> Alright then… let's try something different — something a little more magical.
Closing his eyes again, he focused on the luminous script floating in the air. His mind filled with images of old myths and childhood dreams — and he began to write.
> Dragon —
A colossal creature, one kilometer in length.
Capable of flight and the use of magic...
The glowing text trembled.
> ERROR — ERROR
The words dissolved into smoke.
"What the—?" Soma frowned. He erased the line and tried again.
> Dragon —
A long, powerful creature capable of wielding magic...
Again, the response came instantly.
> ERROR — ERROR
The letters blinked out of existence.
Frustration tightened in Soma's chest. He opened his eyes.
"What's going on? Why won't it work?"
Alex floated closer, her expression calm but sympathetic.
> "What's wrong, Creator?"
I'm trying to create a dragon, but the Rune keeps showing me an error," Soma said in frustration.
> "The Rune is showing an error because dragons are magical beings," Alex explained patiently. "And in this world… magic doesn't exist. It's like asking the Rune to create a round square — a paradox."
Soma stared at her, speechless for a moment.
"So… you're saying, to create a magical creature, I'd have to change the laws of this world?"
> "Exactly. The very foundations of reality would need to be rewritten."
The word law lingered in Soma's mind — and suddenly, his eyes widened.
"The Ring of Dominion," he whispered. "The Seventh Ring… the Ring of Law."
He raised his head.
Then maybe… I can use it to introduce magic into this world."
Without hesitation, Soma visualized the Dominion Ring.
A vast golden circle formed before him, its patterns shifting like living light.
A new message appeared in radiant letters:
> Requires: 1,000,000 Awakened Souls.
Yes / No
He didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
A surge of light erupted around him.
The air vibrated as a white screen appeared, hanging weightless before his eyes.
Soma stood in silence, watching the blank light ripple like water.
Then he began to write — each word carrying both intention and awe.
---
MANA
Mana cannot be created nor destroyed — only transformed.
It is the silent current beneath all existence, the raw essence of creation itself.
Flowing through air, earth, water, and every living soul, mana binds the world together —
the unseen pulse that gives form to life and motion to the cosmos.
---
As he finished the final line, the white screen flickered — and the entire world trembled.
The air shimmered.
From the planet's surface, thousands of radiant filaments erupted — threads of color, weaving through the land, sky, and sea.
They spread across continents, winding around mountains, rivers, and living things.
Even the atmosphere seemed alive with soft energy, glowing like northern lights stretched across infinity.
Soma's breath caught.
He activated the All-Seeing Eye — and at once, the invisible became visible.
Each thread pulsed with the same word, glowing in different colours:
> MANA
Soma smiled, awe softening his expression. "So this is… magic."
He opened the Soul Storage.
---
SOUL STORAGE
1. Soul Fragments: — 7,309,700
2. Awakened Souls: 170,300
3. Intelligent Souls: 127
4. Transcendental Souls: 0
5. Immortal Souls: 0
6. Divine Souls: 0
---
He sighed softly. Only a hundred and seventy thousand souls left… nowhere near enough to create a dragon.
He glanced at Alex, whose glow reflected faintly off the white platform.
"Let's go home."
Alex nodded silently.
Soma closed his eyes, visualized the Rune, and focused on the Closed Eye symbol.
The world blurred — colors fading, light folding inward — until everything returned to stillness.