Chapter 40:Family
After the festival another two days passed.
Now Ank was lying in bed while watching the ceiling and thinking about Maya .
Ank was starting to feel something for Maya but he was not sure.
And thinking what will he do ,will he accept Maya and complete the quest or reject her .
What i do ,
Boom!
A massive explosion happened outside the house and dark clouds covered all the village. The atmosphere turned black with smoke , thunder split the Skys, and lightning hit across the ground everywhere in the village from the dark clouds and villagers were running across the village. And some kind of negative feeling that was decreasing everyone's strength and spreading fear .
Ank quickly woke up from bed and rushed towards other room and then went to countyward to watch Maya and Arthur.
But Ank didn't find anyone.
When Ank quickly ran outside the house his inner voice was saying something bad was going to happen and he remembered the quest about Maya.
Please… let nothing happen to them. Please…
For most of his life, Ank had never cared about anyone except his mother Creation. But now… things were changing. He didn't even notice and now he was attached to Arthur and deeply cared for Maya ,the time he spent with Maya and her smile .
And something happened to then terrified him.
He pushed harder, running through smoke and flame.The whole village was in chaos and in destruction, everyone who had courage helping other people to escape.
Ank was now desperate ,he didn't care about any other thing in the surrounding,while runing a memory came into his mind .
A voice from long ago.
A man's voice.
Words that he had forgotten.
The person that Ank asked a question.
The answer he got surprised him and at times he thought that was useless until the person's word came true.
It had been years ago.
An unknown planet ,
The sky on the planet was blood-red, painted by a dying sunset and the corpse of monsters was everywhere.
In centre, Ank had been lying on the cracked earth, the dragon sword that Ank got from the system was in his hand ,his heart beat was moving fast,his body was completely covered in blood and seat .
Ank was nearly killed billions of monster from 100 hours and he was completely exhausted.
And then, the man appeared.
The man had walked up out of nowhere. Standing in front of Ank ,Ank felt his presence but ignored him.Ank knew he would not do anything to him and he was exhausted .
Why you had come here
Then he heard ,he looked down at him with faint amusement.
And then, in that calm yet thunderous voice, he asked:
"Oh, Ank… do you really believe you'll conquer the universe?"
He came to meet Ank, After he learnt that was his dream.
Ank stood up from ground and his face show reckless and brimming with arrogance, had answered without hesitation:
"Yes. I will."
The man chuckled—low, bitter, and said.
"Why were you so confident? What makes you think you'll achieve what no one in history ever had achieved?"
When he heard his eyes burned with stubborn pride.
"Because I am the strongest."
The man's gaze sharpened. For a moment, the air grew colder, heavier, as if the world itself judged Ank's boldness. Then the man smirked.
"Strongest? You're forgetting about those four."
At the mention of them, Ank's expression became dark
"…Don't make me remember those four."
The man's lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"They are strong as hell, aren't they? Each of them, a monster in their own right. Stronger than you… at least for now."
Ank clenched his fists. He hated the truth in those words. His pride screamed ,he did want to lose to anyone.
"Even so… I will surpass them. I will become the strongest. Just wait."
The man tilted his head, studying him as though trying to peel away every layer of his soul.
"And after that? What will you do once you reach the peak?"
Ank had gone silent. He hadn't thought that far. Conquering, surpassing, winning—that was all his mind ever held.
The man's eyes glimmered with something unreadable—mockery, perhaps pity.
"You haven't thought about it, have you?"
Ank forced a grin. "Then I'll build the greatest army the universe had ever seen. A single soldier from my army will be strong enough to destroy an entire planet."
The man gave a quiet laugh, though it wasn't filled with joy. It was the kind of laugh one made when they already knew how the story would end.
"What a grand dream."
"Yes. My dream is to become the Emperor of the Universe."
The man's laughter stopped. His gaze turned sharp, piercing.
"And what if power corrupts you?"
Ank met his eyes with absolute certainty. "Power cannot corrupt me."
The man's brows lifted slightly, as though amused by such blind conviction.
"And once you've created this impossible army of yours, what then? After you've conquered, ruled, and destroyed—what will you do?"
Ank shrugged. "…I'll think about it later."
The man fell silent for a long moment. The air around him seemed heavier, as though even the world waited for his judgment.
Finally, he gave a faint nod. "Oh."
But then Ank had turned the question around.
"What about you? What is your dream?"
The man's expression froze. For the first time, his composure wavered. His lips parted, but no sound came out. Seconds stretched into eternity. The setting sun sank lower, painting his face with shadows.
At last, he spoke.
"…My dream is to live happily. With family."
Ank blinked. The answer was so… ordinary. So small compared to his grand ambition.
"Family?"
The man nodded. "Yes. To find a woman who loves me… one I can love in return. To make a home. To live together in peace."
Ank stared at him, dumbfounded. "You want to waste your life on something like that?"
The man didn't flinch. His eyes, however, carried a quiet storm.
"Yes."
And when the man said in quite an irritated tone after realising what Ank said. "Did you just call that a life not worth living? It's a waste of time." did you
You know ,for this I will fight you and kill you ,but as my friends I passed this but remember if you say this again ,I will not pass this.
Ank quietly nodded ,he knew if he fought with him in his current condition,he would win but at a very high cost and he didn't want to do this now.
Man once again said after understand Ank condition,
The man's voice dropped to a low murmur. "You're young, Ank. You don't understand yet. But one day, when you meet someone you love… you'll remember my words."
Ank laughed, arrogant and unshaken. "That will never happen to me."
Love was useless for me , I wanted only power and control and then I achieved everything. I will come to you and you will know I am not corrupted with power and my dream was not impossible.
The man laughed and said ,Ank you knew I was once like you but I had changed, then I realised my dream was unreal.
But as friends I said good luck to you.
The memory ended. Even now, as Ank sprinted through the village in eyes , regret was showing into his eyes not to believe the man's word.
Because he had learned, years later, that the man had been right.
Ank had found love.
And he had lost it.
But the story didn't end there.
Because the man too… had suffered the same fate as Ank.
The man's dream had never come true.
The woman he loved died before his eyes. And when she did, the gentle dream of family crumbled into dust.
The man was reborn—not as a lover, not as a dreamer,not as a hero but as a monster.
He lived only for battle. Only for blood. His name was lost to history, swallowed by fear and legend. No one knew whether he was alive or dead.
But one thing was certain:
The love he once held… had turned him into a beast.
And now billions of years later ,Ank will face someone related to him in the future that will leave a mark on Ank ,Ank will once again think that seeking peace in the Universe was useless and he once again moved to dominance.