The lack of mist within the void completely threw me off. I honestly hadn't expected my death to affect the space in this manner.
The screams were gone, and Iz was as well. A quick view at the mistless fulcrum left me feeling a bit disappointed. It looked rather pathetic and barren without Iz.
It resembled more of an apocalyptic environment than one of eldritch horror. I would have to fix that.
I shifted my attention from the environment and back on the tower. Or, as I recently renamed it, the screaming spire. Though, it was not doing much screaming right now.
I stepped forward and arrived instantaneously at the top of the tower, within the room that held the book. Thankfully enough, the book was alright.
Nothing had happened to it. It was technically a part of the universe I had created, so I wasn't sure if I could completely remake it if it was destroyed.
The only thing wrong was the stillness of the faces. They looked to be sleeping and stationary. That wouldn't do.
With a single thought, the screams started up again. With another, I give them all one connected consciousness.
It didn't think in the same way an animal or a human thought. In fact, its thought process was also different from that of Iz. No, instead, this was the sentience I imagined a planet would have or a hive mind.
It was the sentience of a force-given form. Iz's thought processes were not entirely human, but they had similarities.
Whatever I had done was entirely different. There were no emotions recognizable by the human mind. The thought processes were foreign, and they had only one objective.
To obey me.
And my current order was for it to scream for eternity.
My mind attempted to understand its thoughts and failed wholly in its endeavor. The best I managed to get was something that felt like contentment and affirmation, but it wasn't quite that. Even I didn't completely understand what I had made.
"You will have no name and no title, but it is your duty to guard this book against invaders." There was no reply to my sentence, only continuous screams.
Despite my fascination to learn more about what I had created, I turned my attention away from the walls of screaming faces. I wanted to head back into my universe and look at what had changed, but given how long it had taken me to get in here. I didn't doubt it would take me just as long to enter it.
Anything that I planned to adjust or add to the fulcrum would be completed now. There was no point in waiting until I came back.
Once I teleported myself to the tower's roof, I looked down at the floating island within the void.
It was empty.
Which was an aesthetic that I liked but had started to get bored off. Especially without Iz. It was just a singular floating island in a void.
My eyes roved through the void until my mind settled on what it wanted to do. In the next moment, various islands made of a pure black tar-like substance started to appear in the void.
Each covered with the same faces as those within the tower. I then connected the sentience of all of them with that of the screaming spire. The sound of the scream that emerged was deafening.
I frowned.
That wasn't what I wanted.
I then adjusted the screams to play at multiple frequencies, most inaudible to the ear. The change was closer to what I wanted but not exactly. There needed to be a more eldritch aspect to it.
That aspect came in the form of chanting. Nearly half of the faces were made to chant. Some were audible to the naked ear, but most were not. I was getting closer but not close enough. I just needed one more thing.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Looks like I would have to go back on the no title idea I had.
"You shall be the [The voices of Insanity]. The shift was immediate and sent chills down my spine. My gut clenched as my heart dropped.
I felt the encroaching fingers of a dark depression. My heart beat faster as panic crawled up my soul.
"Silence!"
It all stopped.
I found myself sweating and my fists clenched. That had not been expected at all.
I had created something powerful enough to affect me. Thankfully its primary objective was to obey me.
It wasn't the only powerful thing I had created, but it the first thing that had ever affected me in such a manner. For a solid couple of minutes, I was tempted to destroy it. But after much deliberation, I decided against that.
It had done what I had made it to do. I just hadn't been prepared.
After I recollected myself, I allowed the voices to start up again. This time I was ready.
The voices slipped of me as I simply willed them to not affect me. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth. Thankfully this was my own creation, so my power was absolute over it.
However, I needed to be prepared next time. I didn't want to die in the future because I created a powerful beast that killed me by accident.
I glanced around at the void once again. The island was still unchanged, but that was okay. Upon Iz's return, it would go back to what it once was.
The rest of the void was very much different. It was now filled with islands as far as the eye could see. All covered in screaming faces, all working together to create an unsettling symphony.
It was amazing.
I wanted to create more things, but my want for creation no longer burnt so brightly. So I then turned my attention back to the connection.
I could still feel Iz and Deventus strengthing it. The progress was still slow. Hopefully, with me being on this side, the time needed to repair it would decrease substantially.
Having access to the world was fine and dandy, but I didn't want it to feel like days every time I crossed over. That would get annoying really quick.
It needed to be fixed, but for now, it would be pushed to the back. The first thing on the agenda was seeing the progress of my universe.
Again with only a thought, I felt myself being dragged somewhere. Previously the transfer had been smooth and with little disturbance. Now it was an entirely different story.
Imagine flying on a plane through a storm powerful enough to cover the earth. Then imagine you were flying on that plane for weeks on end. Then finally, imagine having no entertainment.
Mediation was all I could do throughout my turbulent and chaotic journey.
My arrival on the other side could not have sooner. As I burst into the universe, I felt power coursing through my body.
I had been strong before, with my cultivation and god abilities. Now, however, was completely different. I felt the shard of evolution expand as the rules of earth were removed from it. I felt my soul surge in power.
It was intoxicating. I felt like a God.
The power was so consuming that it was only 30 minutes later that I pulled myself out. Once I had regained my senses, I allowed myself to take a breather.
Firstly I wanted to know how long it had been. A quick look back in time gave me an answer that I hadn't expected. It had been 120000 years since I had been here.
How was that possible? The time flow rate is only 100 years to one 1day. It shouldn't have been more than a couple hundred years.
Had my death also disturbed the flow of time? Questions raced through my mind, but no clear answer was available.
Following that discovery, I finally paid attention to the planet below me. It looked nothing like I remembered. What on earth had happened?
The first and most obvious change was the sheer size of the thing. What had once been a slightly larger than earth planet now reached the size of an entire solar system. The sheer size had been so great that I had to use my god powers to figure it out.
The second most obvious change was the numerous stars circling the planet. All in all, they numbered 18 in total. The rest of the original solar system was nowhere to be found.
The surface also looked much different. There definitely hadn't been cities in the clouds before, but now there were cities. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that there was one gargantuan city in the sky.
A quick peek at the past told me that they still weren't as technologically advanced as modern-day humans.
No instead, my creation had decided to turn into a xianxia world. Cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Major powers had risen, and the world was almost unrecognizable.
It was only the last pieces of culture and the faces of the dominant races that made me believe that I hadn't teleported to the wrong planet.
Humans were still dominant but not the greatest. The monkeys had massive empires, as did the lizards. The thunderbirds ruled an entire section of the planet, unchallenged.
As I took everything in, I could not help but conjure up a chair and sit down. Then a table was made and a glass of tea. My shock at the changes had turned into disbelief. I could only sit and admire it all.
The landscapes had changed immensely. There were all sorts of new wondrous terrain, but the one constant was the all-encompassing mist.
So this is where Iz had come to.
Was he the one responsible for the changes?
I knew the answer was available with simply another look into the past, but I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to take away the wonder of discovering it for myself.
I took a sip of my tea. The changes made me want to stay, but I planted my foot down. Knowing me, I would probably stay here for millennia. No, I needed to fix the connection first before deciding to explore the world.
I could reduce the time ratio to a crawl and come back later. That way, I could explore this world in its current form. However, until the connection was fixed, I wouldn't stay.
If the time flow was messed up here. I didn't want to risk it being so out of whack that my body over there dies from aging or that damned cancer.
I stood up from my chair after finishing the tea before reaching out with my senses. In an instant, I felt the presence of Deventus and Izupu.
With another slight expansion of my senses, I felt the presence of other divine beings.
A lot had truly changed.
The beings weren't numerous. They were only about 6 beings, at least the ones that felt the most like Deventus. There were many that were lesser, but I paid them little attention.
"So, divine beings, an expansion of the planet, and multiple suns. The only thing missing is an... and there it is."
My senses turned to the northern pole of the planet.
An honest to god natural-born eldritch abomination slept under the ice. Once again, I was tempted to stay, but I shook it off.
I locked on to the presence of Deventus before I "pretended" to be Teno.
I summoned a storm above her position before teleporting myself in the middle. I felt the gazes of several of the other divine beings. They were at her side and likely hostile.
Then slowly, I descended and landed in front of the shocked face of Deventus.
There were 4 other gods who all stood agitated and ready for battle, but my attention stayed on Deventus.
"Teno?" Her voice was still without emotion.
"Yes, it's m.." Before I could finish, her fist smashed into my stomach, and I was sent flying.
The punch didn't hurt, and I was quickly able to reorient myself. Only to see the face of an angry face of Devetus right in front of me.
I hadn't even felt her move.
"That was for leaving."