Eternity reached out with his new power to sense, taught to him by his father. Rather than simply seeing, he could feel the flows of the world and see where things were. And currently, looking at the flows of the world, something was off. There were… five different energies, at least one in everything. One was brightest in his brain, nothing else within. Another was a layer over everything. A third nestled in his vocal chords. A fourth lay deep within him, settled in his heart.
And the fifth moved, constantly. Permeating everything, causing it all to Change.
Eternity named these five energies. Will for the energy in his mind. Voice for that layering everything, for he felt that it was generated by tiny spirits that somehow… spoke to the world through this. Note for the energy in his vocal chords, for it was musical, energetic. Dominion for the energy within his heart, since it wanted to control the world around it-though it wasn’t inherently evil.
Then he set off to do with his senses what he’d originally wanted-finding other places to travel. He almost immediately found a planet close by, and disappeared, stepping into Dream to cross the space between worlds. There were multiple tears in space in between the two planets, so he’d judged Dream safer.
Once out, he inspected the surrounding planet, finding a dead, lifeless world. It was a rock, where nothing lived and nothing moved. Then, he noticed there was no air.
Eternity immediately teleported back, not taking too much damage. He reached out his senses again, this time sure not to replicate his previous mistake, searching for planets with sentient life on them.
The closest one was rather large and seemed like a place where a command post for this area had been set up by whoever ruled it. Eternity decided on this place to teleport to, once again crossing through Dream to appear on the planet, though he couldn’t dictate where.
Thankfully, the planet guided him to a teleporting hub, and so he landed there instead of somewhere less savory. He exited, other people appearing behind him, and walked out, wanting to see the city. Surprisingly, no one asked for any papers, and Eternity turned around to take one last look at the teleportation hub. There were destinations and prices listed on a board not too far away, and then Eternity realized it. He’d gotten himself into the stream that led here, but he wasn’t supposed to. You were supposed to pay for other people teleporting you, and if he hadn’t been going through Dream and instead went through space, he probably would have landed somewhere outside the city, somewhere he would need to show papers to get inside.
The city bustled, but Eternity walked through it without a care. Nothing here surprised him, and nothing he found was terrible.
Until someone who carried himself arrogantly made him fight. “Watch yourself, idiot!,” he screamed as Eternity bumped him slightly.
Of course, Eternity blinked at him and walked away, which resulted in his now-opponent attempting to press a spear to his spine. The spear abruptly disappeared for no visible reason, Eternity shoving it deep into Dream. More blows came, but none of them hit with any force, for Eternity was drawing it away and letting it out harmlessly.
Most of the city stared, surprised, as he simply kept walking, ignoring the bully continuously hitting him. After he was done, Eternity left, teleporting once more.
All the planets he visited were like this, and Eternity realized-most of the world was good, or wanted to be good. They were nice.
And then it all changed.
The first god ascended to godhood. They suddenly had enough power to hold an iron grip over wherever they wanted to.
More and more people unlocked this strength, gaining immeasurable power.
But power breeds corruption.
Everywhere started being taken over by the gods, and Eternity could not stop it. There were too many. So he simply hunted down the worst.
The god calling themselves Carnage stared him down, but Eternity did not care. The god had no hope of surviving. A rope of blood lashed at him and Eternity grabbed it, ignoring the spikes that attempted to push into his hand. In his other hand, Eternity held a sword, and, with a single cut, killed the god.
This scene happened repeatedly, every time a corrupted god tormented his subjects. They would die, and the only explanation would be because ‘Eternity visited.’
At this point, Eternity didn’t remember his original name. Eternity was what he went by, what he ruled by. Fear was his motivator, and the gods fell in line.
And then, the Monsters arrived.
The gods banded together, joining the Monsters. Eternity tried, but… he was not strong enough. They won and took over the universe he’d been guarding. They killed and killed and destroyed.
So Eternity fled, for the first time. It burned. It seethed. And yet he escaped to another world, and his journey for strength began anew. And he finally knew what his father had talked about, though it wasn’t the universe that outmatched him. It was the multiverse.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
But he would win.
For he was Eternity.
Jay suddenly gained cognizance of his existence in Eternity’s mind, staring out through his eyes. Behind him, he felt his clone once again, speaking to him. “Remember. You may be strong enough that this planet you’re on is your playground. But the ones out there? They’re stronger. And will be stronger until you overcome them and become the strongest. And don’t let your friends be your weakness.”
Jay snapped himself around. “You had flaws. Friends were your flaw. You loved them, in your own way, but you were never there for as long as you should’ve been.”
Eternity nodded. “Yes. You’re not repeating that mistake, which is a good thing. Continue to not.”
“So, do you want to continue?”
Eternity nodded, and the scene below changed. “This is the first pertinent event. About Amon. Me against a section of Monsters who had captured a little girl and were holding her hostage.”
The scene changed to reflect that, with Eternity standing uncertainly in space while a platoon of enemies pointed bows and other weapons at a young girl they’d captured. More were arriving, but Eternity didn’t seem worried about that-he just had eyes for the girl and her safety.
“Look at the man in the back. The farthest archer.”
Jay looked to the back and noticed him. His fingers were slipping, slowly but surely, and they knew it as well. And yet they refused to point their bow in a different direction and fire-they kept pointing it at the girl. Then their fingers slipped, and the arrow flew. It was fast-powered by multiple abilities, but not too fast for Eternity.
Time froze, and Eternity casually walked over, grabbing the arrow and making it disappear. “I had a mastery over many things at this stage. Especially time, though I’d come to learn that there’s always more to discover.”
Eternity proceeded to slowly destroy the entire army, one by one. “This isn’t a perfect time stopping. If an enemy is strong enough, they can withstand it, and break out. Like you did when those fools stopped the time of nearly the entire planet. The one you call Onyx? I’m not quite sure why he was stopped by it.”
When the entire army was gone, time resumed, and Eternity was standing next to the little girl. Jay saw the perfect force control he was exerting to keep her death from occurring in space, as well as the heat he generated for her, as well as the air.
They teleported, appearing at a nearby planet, and he delivered the child to a couple who Jay assumed were her parents. They took her, grateful, and quickly left, somewhat scared of Eternity, who simply watched.
But the girl, instead of looking away, simply stared back. Jay felt nothing… human from her. If he felt that, Eternity probably felt it too.
The scene changed again, with Eternity being chased by someone Jay felt was definitely stronger than him. “That was Clay-king Yule. A Knight of the Monsters-someone they tasked with locating and exterminating people they determined low level threats.”
“Low?”
Eternity nodded. “Low. Right now, I was a low-level threat to the Monsters.”
Jay rubbed his chin. Low.
Eternity kept running, biding his time, looking for an opportunity. Then the little girl emerged in front of him, and he didn’t seem surprised. Hooking her up with an arm, he continued running. “What are you?,” The Eternity in the scene asked.
The girl shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Eternity nodded, continuing to run. “Do you have a name?”
The girl repeated her previous words. “I don’t know.”
Eternity skidded to a stop, a massive rock face in front of him. He tried to rise into the air, but the Clay-king was above him. “What do you think about a pact?,” The little girl asked.
“What?,” Eternity replied. “I’ve seen you twice so far.”
The little girl shrugged. “I think you trust me anyway.”
Eternity sighed before replying. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Which is why I’m asking for a pact. I feel an implicit trust with you as well, for whatever reason, and I feel I have the power to call a pact.”
Eternity watched the Clay-king build up a massive ball of metal above him. “Fine.”
The little girl turned into a metal woman, just the way Amon looked, and dove into Eternity, who grimaced for a quick second before quicksilver erupted out of him, a massive spike instantly ending the Clay-king’s life.
More of their adventures appeared, as they fought together, laughed together, and played games together. Eternity was obviously skipping through his life, showing scenes from when he was young and old alike. His later scenes had Eternity trusting Amon in absolutely everything, while his previous scenes had them less and less at odds as they grew together.
The Eternity behind him spoke. “Amon is someone you should trust. Completely. We are Together. Forever. And don’t forget that. Amon will not let you go, so you shouldn’t be letting her go. The first time you merged, half and half, that was only possible because of the lingering trust from me. It affected you so deeply that you instinctively trusted her, accepted her, merged with her.”
Jay turned, facing him. He nodded, seriously. And Eternity took him at that, for they both knew Jay meant it.
Eternity pointed back at the scene, and it changed once more, with Eternity standing apart from a woman. The woman who had just vibrated and let them by in the spire.
“Let me tell you the story of the Nightingale.”