Antonio's body vanished as if it had never existed, and the cave fell into dreadful silence. There was no movement, nobody. That was how the end of our hero on Earth came to pass.

  After a long time, Antonio's consciousness returned, and he found himself in total darkness, scared, not knowing what was happening to him.

  "Where am I... Am I dead?" Those were the first thoughts that came to his mind. He then remembered—he'd been in a cave. The marks. The call that had taken him to that cave. And he had touched it.

  As if waiting for him to remember, many lights started to shine, like in the cave, but on a much bigger scale.

  "What... are these the same lights I saw? They feel much more real now, and I feel small, like an insect in front of these mysterious lights and marks." He felt overwhelmed. He didn't understand what he was seeing, but he could feel it.

  "Why am I here? I was in that cave, and I touched..." He remembered now.

  "But where is this place?" He looked at himself. He still had his appearance, but he was somehow transparent, floating in this space.

  Then all the light rushed toward his body—pouring onto him. He felt a sensation like never before. He felt at home, like a piece of him that had been missing was found by chance.

  Visions began to appear in his mind: the creation of the world, the creation of different races. He saw many entities unrecognizable to him.

  The flow of time reversed and advanced in the next vision—a power beyond the reach of humanity.

  He felt a familiar presence. He had never met it, but this familiarity was beyond time and space.

  "Who are you, and why are you showing me all these visions?" He couldn't keep it in anymore—he needed an answer. Was all of this done by a god? Why do this to him? Why call him?

  He was sure now. Everything had happened because of this mysterious presence he felt.

  Was he chosen for something? The feelings weren't lying to him.

  "Tell me, why did you make my life this miserable?" He felt scared but also angry.

  "Return me to Earth right now! I don't want to see all of this anymore!" He mustered the courage and shouted with anger toward the presence.

  A vision of a sphere appeared to him, containing immense energy. There was an entity inside it—a baby, yes, a baby—and it gave a feeling of loneliness.

  "What is this? What are you trying to show me?"

  In this vast space, there was nothing—only emptiness.

  That feeling of loneliness entered him. He could feel those emotions, those feelings, even though it was just a vision. But to him, it felt like he was living it.

  "I... I see. I can feel it, but I still don't understand why you chose me."

  A feeling was transmitted to him. He felt lost, then he felt pain.

  The vision changed. It showed the sphere—or maybe an egg—cracking. A being was born, and with it, the numerous marks glowed.

  All those marks seemed to venerate it. They gave a feeling of submission and bowed to its grace.

  "Is this you? Is that where you were born?" Antonio could feel the marks' veneration of this mysterious being.

  And then something unexpected happened.

  An attack came from who knows where, aiming for the baby. The marks reacted with extreme speed, beyond human understanding. Many marks and lights were destroyed, but sadly, the child was wounded.

  "You were attacked? But why are they attacking? Who could be this heartless and attack a baby?" Antonio felt the pain the baby felt.

  The entity that had attacked was coming—they could feel it.

  "Run! Run! I can feel it coming!" Antonio was immersed in this vision. It felt like reality to him now.

  All the marks and lights that remained united their power. Chains appeared around them, becoming like a web.

  "They're fusing together." Antonio watched the scene. It was majestic and tragic.

  Then they transferred the power to the child in hopes of saving it.

  When all the light fused with the baby, he grew in an instant, now looking like a five-year-old. Then he was enveloped in a cocoon.

  That entity roared with fury. A feeling of indignation came from him—how could those lights and marks fuse with that baby? Why choose that recently born entity without power?

  What are they? Are they gods or evolved lifeforms, beyond the concepts we humans understand?

  Antonio contemplated, but he remained focused on what he saw.

  The feeling being transferred to him now was one of distress.

  Even though the child was helped by the marks, it still wasn't enough.

  The cocoon was opening, and what came out was a child around nine years old—a little boy.

  It looked at Antonio, and he felt it within his soul—something horrible had happened to it.

  "Do something! Run! Try to survive! Don't give in to this feeling of defeat!" Antonio felt rage building inside him.

  The child was afraid its existence was disappearing. The attacker was devouring it.

  After all that time it took to be born, the loneliness it endured—just to fall victim to someone jealous.

  "But why? Why did he do this to you?" Antonio felt a wrenching pain in his heart.

  The child began emitting a blazing light, burning so brightly it seemed like a dying star in its last brilliance. The light exploded, but it wasn't the end.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  From the child's last lights, a new entity was born—no, two of them. Two serpents, so big, so vast, impossible to know their whole length.

  They were majestic.

  They soared around the vast space. They looked bigger than stars, bigger than galaxies, and they never stopped growing.

  They looked at Antonio.

  "How could they see me? Is this really happening right now? But how is it possible?" Antonio felt confused. All of this was beyond what a human could understand.

  One gave a sense of calm, while the other gave a sense of utter destruction and rage.

  When they looked at Antonio through this strange vision, as if telling him something, the new feeling transmitted—he couldn't understand it.

  "Sigh, what a sad fate. One was robbed of its chance to live, and two were born from it. A destruction of one life was the birth of two."

  The two serpents coiled around each other. It was also at this time that the entity that attacked made its presence known again—it had been waiting for this moment.

  A deep voice filled with malice was heard. "Sacrificing so much to destroy your existence, but I didn't expect this surprise. I was the only one courageous enough to do it—I, Azh'Koth the Devourer!"

  The entity was overflowing with pride, as if it could already savor a delicacy. Antonio felt it—the serpents born were in danger.

  The two serpents coiled around each other and emitted a bright light that took everyone by surprise.

  "What! How can it be? Nooooooo!" The terrible entity made a cry of pain, as if it couldn't believe it.

  "What's happening? What have they done?" Antonio was curious. He couldn't see well.

  It was then that he saw a beam of light—with all the colors one could imagine—coming from the serpents. They hurt Azh'Koth, the one trying to devour them.

  One of them fled after the attack. One stood guard, as if trying to buy time for the fleeing one.

  At that moment, Antonio understood—it was sacrificing itself for its brother.

  "How could fate be so horrible? Why be born if it's just suffering waiting from the beginning?"

  Azh'Koth was bound by something. It was struggling to free itself.

  "Ahhhhh, it doesn't matter how long it takes! I will find your other half and devour him, but I will start with you!" Azh'Koth broke free from the shackles of light.

  The last serpent was in danger, but all Antonio could do was watch, for all of it was just a vision shown to him.

  The entity stretched out a hand—it was darkness itself.

  "What can I even do? Why show me things that can't be changed?"

  That hand felt like darkness was trying to capture the last serpent, but it attacked with a beam of multiple lights again, this one weaker than the first.

  The hand wavered a little, but it kept coming.

  It was then that a star appeared from who knew where, passing by this restless zone. Antonio could see something in it.

  "Is it myself that I'm seeing in that star?"

  It showed a projection of his life on Earth, and others that seemed unrecognizable to him—it was his soul, he was certain.

  That star, as if sent by fate, passed near this turmoil zone of supreme beings. The last serpent sprinted in that direction, and the entity followed it with rage.

  "You won't escape! I lost one of you already—you will be devoured by me or just be destroyed!"

  It was enraged. It seemed to know what that star meant. It felt toyed with.

  "How dare the river of destiny obstruct my path? I will find whoever tried to help them today!" Azh'Koth felt rage. He shouted into space. He wasn't sure if someone had really helped those serpents, but he was known as unreasonable.

  Now that delicious snack would disappear right in front of him, or even forever, if he didn't get it now.

  The star accelerated in the serpent's direction, as if it had found its fated one.

  A way of survival appeared before the last serpent—it was Antonio's soul, and long before he was born on Earth, it was his existence.

  Laws existed in this universe, and it seemed the serpent felt it could survive if it could reach that star.

  Only the one following knew what would happen if the serpent reached the star, and that feeling of unrest was sensed by the serpent, which made it joyful. It didn't know why it was attacked, but instinct told it the entity wasn't anything good.

  "Argh, there is no other way after all this sacrifice—die, you primitive beast!"

  Azh'Koth attacked. A dark beam flew toward the fleeing serpent. The energy grazed the serpent, and it hissed in pain, but it didn't give up. Fate already had a destiny for it.

  It was severely hurt—just from that attack grazing it, it had lost strength. But with the momentum, it fell onto the star, and a miracle happened—a distortion started to appear on the star.

  The lights and marks that had disappeared to save the child reappeared all over its body and fused with the star—and that was Antonio.

  "No, no, no! Why will it love you so much?" It was the desperate cry of someone who had lost the most precious of treasures.

  With the fall and fusion of the marks and light with the star, a name was given to the new entity. The laws of the universe manifested, and Uhn'Zaka was born, representing courage, transformation, and survival.

  A young god was born after many trials.

  New memories filled Uhn'Zaka, the newborn god. They were inherited from the laws of creation itself.

  It was born as a lesser god—born from the sacrifice of trillions of essences filled with marks of creation, making it the most valuable thing in the whole universe to the high gods.

  Azh'Koth had discovered the child when it wasn't even born yet, even though it was hidden by the universe itself. But luck wasn't on the child's side.

  Now it was weak, not born with its full potential. It was reduced to a lesser god, one that could only be manifested by the spirit of a totem. The child, fearful that its existence would be consumed and erased, had created the twin serpents—so that at least it wouldn't disappear completely. A way to preserve its own existence from total oblivion.

  "I understand now. All of it was just destiny, and it's not fair, but I just happened to be in your path, and you fused with me." Antonio realized it was not something in the control of the serpent or him—it all just happened by fate.

  The vision shifted to the god who had attacked them. He was hurt badly by something. It seemed he'd made a big commotion trying to get Uhn'Zaka, and the creation laws had attacked him.

  A feeling of rage and powerlessness was felt by the serpent. It had somehow survived, emerged victorious from its first challenge, and hissed at the god, as if defying it and promising it would pay one day.

  A pained feeling soon arose—it remembered its twin, born from the same burning essence.

  "I'm sure it will survive. You gave it enough time to escape," Antonio thought.

  Uhn'Zaka was confident its twin had also survived this calamity. Now it was time to restore some of its strength. It needed a world that was not dangerous to send this soul that had fused with it.

  With the knowledge it had gained, it spent the little power left to create a wormhole that would soon transport this star, containing the soul of this human, to a planet.

  But it needed a random destination—it would do its best to send it to a remote universe so it could restore its strength there and find its twin, far from danger and this malevolent god.

  It could feel that its twin was happy its brother had survived. Now they just needed to reunite one day, and vengeance would be upon the evil high god Azh'Koth and all those watching from the shadows.

  It sent a message to the other half—they needed to meet one day when they returned to the center of the universe, but they should go to a secluded place to rest.

  With that, the vision was over. Antonio saw the symbol of the twin serpents before him.

  "If I'm right, after that, you took my soul to Earth, and now it's time for us to return to the central universe?" Antonio asked the presence he'd felt here. When he arrived in this dark space, he knew now it was Uhn'Zaka.

  Uhn'Zaka sent a feeling of agreement but also refusal, as if telling him it was not the time to go to the central universe.

  Still, they would go to a new world where they would develop their power. In the world Antonio was in right now, resources were scarce, and it wasn't worth staying there anymore.

  "Sigh, all of this seems pretty unbelievable. From a simple life on Earth to this universal stuff." Antonio was still in disbelief. But all that was happening to him was as real as he could feel.

  "But what about my family on Earth? They'll be heartbroken by my disappearance." Antonio couldn't help but lament.

  He'd left people he cared about on Earth. He didn't even know if he was still alive right now.

  Sensing Antonio's feelings, Uhn'Zaka felt extremely sorry. It didn't know that awakening from its slumber would take Antonio away. It also couldn't control when Antonio would appear in the cave—it was all random, or maybe fate.

  "Don't worry. These are things that happen out of our control." Sensing Uhn'Zaka's feelings, Antonio tried to reassure him and tell him it wasn't his fault.

  Getting the reassurance, the serpent entered Antonio's body, and marks appeared on his skin. He could tell the serpent was using power to transfer him to a new place.

  "Where are we going?" he asked in his mind.

  A feeling came with a short answer he could understand.

  "New world to get stronger."

  It was the first time Antonio heard Uhn'Zaka's voice. It was a child's voice—calm, peaceful.

  In his mind, he could feel a playful presence. Maybe all this time, this lesser god had been in slumber, and it hadn't matured much—it was still a child.