The Watcher of Tutorial 3,776 took a moment to marvel at the utter magnitude of stupidity displayed in front of him as he simultaneously opened the door for the impish messenger, took the mail, and started sifting through it. His higher level and power, while mostly useless to him as a Watcher, still helped him sort through the mundanities of life faster. He internally smirked, thinking about how the Earthlings would be blown away by the strength of some beings in the Multiverse. There had never been one true individual able to call themselves the king or queen of the realm, but the tenacity of cultivators to chase that dream created a meat grinder. The few that came out the other side were monstrous, and were the only ones who stood a chance at contending for that top spot.

Nobody had been able to crown themselves simply because of how large the Multiverse was. There were always checks and balances, and there was always someone to counter you. Additionally, if one got too powerful, they would get ganged upon until they were either sufficiently incapacitated, or outright killed. Thus, the vicious cycle of blood and war continued, a seemingly infinite occurrence. Still, he understood the allure. Despite his many years of existence, he was also pulled by the desire to Rule the realm. If he did so, the [Throne] would be his…

He departed from such perilous thoughts quickly, having become quite adept at avoiding the allure of the pinnacle of existence. It wasn’t a real, tangible pull. Atleast, that’s what the best and brightest scholars and fighters had said. Instead, it was the greed and desire for power and adventure that spurred this reaction.

He broke off from that strand of consciousness, thoroughly quashing the connection, at least for the moment. It would be back, he knew. It always came back.

Dragging himself out of his not unfamiliar somber thoughts, he focused the majority of his attention back onto the now enlarged screen of a human currently undergoing a bonding. “This was that Earthling that I noted before,” he murmured before allowing the name to roll off his tongue. “Raj, eh? Tough luck for a novice, to run into a bonding so early. And with no guidance either. Such a promising talent as well,” The Watcher said, tsking at that last bit, his unwavering expression of neutrality covering the feelings of annoyance and sadness he felt below. Mostly, he felt pity for the mortal. Sighing, he dispelled those emotions with a thought, his control over his body and emotions as sharp as ever.

Sighing, The Watcher shrunk the human’s screen to the same size as the rest of the combatants, their name already nothing but a scant memory.

*****

Raj was falling.

Falling through a never ending void, his body seeming to turn numb. Panic gripped at Raj as he wondered what had triggered the sudden change. Then, his fall was immediately reversed, the area around him no longer empty. He began experiencing what could only be described as scenes…no, that wasn’t quite right. They seemed to be 4D movies about a beautiful existence. He had been floating upwards past these visions, the information hitting him like a truck, the sensations gently caressing his body. He felt as though he was the one living the life that was literally flashing before his very eyes.

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Feelings of pure cold surrounded him before he was quickly embraced into the loving, warm embrace of what could only be a parent, signifying the start of life. Frustration and joy struggled against each other as he learned how to crawl, then walk, and then fly. Regret bore its way onto his face as he was reprimanded for poor behavior. A bundle of emotions ranging from anger to depression wormed its way into his soul in the form of what could only be teenage angst. Embarrassment from when he was caught looking at the local gardener’s son for just a bit too long. This embarrassment morphed into true love as he was proposed to.

Thousands upon thousands of scenes just like these ones all entered his mind at speeds he couldn’t comprehend. Alarm bells seemed to be going off in the deepest recesses of his consciousness. Instinctively, he knew something was wrong. Even so, he simply couldn’t find it within him to care. The beautiful sights in front of him, the raw emotion, was what drove him to continue to take it in unblinkingly, not wanting to miss even a second.

Inside a corner of his brain, he had begun to fight, desperately trying to claw his way back into his body. The odds seemed hopeless, his efforts in vain. It was like throwing a grain of sand into a raging sandstorm. Still, he did not falter. The battle was truly stacked against him, however. He could feel his psyche being torn apart, his body close behind. Slowly, but surely, he gained control.

But still, it wasn’t enough. Time was his biggest enemy, and he simply could not beat out the circumstances arrayed against him. Despite that, he reached even deeper, pushing with all his might. Impossible was only a word, after all. Words only held power if the wielder gave them meaning.

Raj could feel himself succeeding, on the cusp of victory, but just failing to grasp it. That’s when it clicked. He needed a point of anchor. So far, he had just been mindlessly fighting for control. A sense of direction and a firm point of destination was what he needed. The issue with that was there was nothing to anchor himself to. He was floating, not even in space, but in a pocket of reality… he started to chuckle. Then, he broke out into a maniacal laugh. “As if I’d let mere rules stop me!” He cackled. ”After all, what are rules other than boundaries meant to be broken?”

And so, he broke them. He grabbed, not just at the nearby space around him, but also at the idea behind it. To his utter delight, it worked. Reality itself began collapsing in on itself, the visions from before not being an exception. Nothing escaped, nor would he let it. More and more of the space-stuff surged into his body, until nothing was left.

Then, despite feeling like an over-inflated balloon, he grinned. “You fools,” he spat, glancing up at the heavens themselves, as though he was challenging them directly. “It’ll take more than that to put me down.” Energy and reality crunched down on each other inside of him, pushing for their escape, but he defied the odds once more by beating them to the punch. “For I am Grounded by Reality!” The dam broke, and the Multiverse itself seemed to thunder as the energy rushed out of him, prompting him to go supernova.