NOVPUBSiva did not know how many years he had lived for.
A millennium? Eons? It was difficult to tell how the time passed when one was made of just bones.
Although this place was his eternal resting place, he was not absolutelynfined to it. Heuld leave andme back as he pleased.
However, in order to betterntain his curse, he had tome back every once in a while.
When he had a mission tomplete for the master, he would leave. Once he was done with the mission he wouldme right back to rest on his rathermfortable chair.
He has once been a great Celestial being, ruler of a vast territory in the myriad realms.
He had been felled eventually.
Most Celestial beings would have had their body turned into God Ash, and their souls would reincarnate after they had gathered up enough Divinity.
But he was not so fortunate.
His curse made it so that his former identity was burned away to oblivion.
In other words, an anomaly was created.
The God, Sekth, no longer existed.
And in his place, Siva, the self-proclaimed destroyer of worlds, was born.
Siva existed because Sekthuld not.
And because Sekth was dead, Sivauld live.
Heuld live forever.
Granted forever was rather subjective...
Wielding Sunfire, a rather special flame, Siva trulyuld burn down entire worlds.
What made this Divine flame so terrifying was its ability to burn everything. Even Sekth, the original wielder of this flame was annihilated by it.
But there were exceptions.
Thanks to the circumstances surrounding his creation, Siva, was the only being in the universe that Sunfire would not burn to oblivion.
He was the only creature thatuld, in theory, possessmpletentrol over this flame.
Which was why he was perplexed.
Yes, Siva was perplexed.
Everytime the human died, he would bring him back to life, not allowing his soul to be annihilated by the flames as well.
This was his trial.
This was the human's decision, to bear the power of Sunfire.
Usually, it would take a few years, but eventually, the soul of the being would be damaged beyond repair by this repetitive cycle of death and rebirth.
Then Eternity would claim them and they would be swallowed by the void.
That was how it was meant to play out.
So why?
"You wan to eat Sunfire?" Siva asked with a chuckle, unsure if he shouldmmend the human's foolishness or bravery.
Just as he expected, a moment later, the human was turned to ash from the inside out, leaving behind nothing but glowing red hot bones.
Siva sighed and prepared to bring him back.
Chanting under his breath, he activated the spell.
The magic was activated. The layers of flesh began weaving back into place.
A moment later, they began burning.
If Siva still had a face, he would have frowned,
"Hm?"
That was not supposed to happen.
He tried again.
This time, the fleshuldn't evenver the bones before they burned away.
Siva sighed, "Was it too much? Perhaps I overestimated the human..."
The eyes of fire floating within the hollow sockets suddenly noticed something.
The bones of the human had yet to be turned to ash even after all this time.
Instead, the bonesntinued to glow red hot.
Siva was even morenfused.
There were a lot of surprising things about this human.
Heuldn't help but chuckle again,
"I guess I'll wait and see."
Sure enough, after a long time had passed, the Sunfire began to etch runes onto the bones of the human.
Siva rgnized those runes, but he knew not their meaning.
Because their meaning has been burned away. They were meant to be forgotten by him.
But the fire remembered.
Over theurse of what seemed like an eternity, these runes were slowly etched into every inch of the bones, giving them a golden sheen.
With every runempleted, thecoon of flames grew even more intense.
Siva let out a huff and looked up,
"You are relieved, aren't you... I certainly am."
Siva shook his skull,
"Of all creatures that exist in all the planes and realms, it had to be a human. And such a weak one at that."
"Huh? So what if he has Demon blood flowing in his veins? What, it is not Demon blood?"
Siva took a closer look, peering beyond, into the very essence of the human.
"I see. What a strange creature this is. No wonder that man..."
His bones rattled.
He turned to Cain, or rather, what had been Cain,
"Worry not, human. Take your time. After all, you have Eternity on your side."
***
Cain found himself in a world of light.
It was a beautiful world.
Above and beneath him, there was an incandescent radiance steaming in from everywhere.
Ug was also warm and it filled him withmfort.
He tried to remember why he was here, but heuldn't piece his thoughts together very well.
"I think I was... dying."
Death? 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
Death did not exist in this place.
He looked around.
Within this world submerged in golden rays of light, there was an infinite number of strange shapes and symbols floating all around him.
Some were beautiful, some were ugly.
Others were simple, a few weremplex.
But they all had meaning.
They all had purpose.
Left with nothing to do in this realm of light and floating sigils, he decided to observe them.
Time flowed indefinitely.
Cain had no idea how long it had been. Over this period, even as he observed and analysed these things he now knee were called runes, he was also able to learn more about himself and what he was.
His mind revealed his life to him.
Like a play, the things he had lived out unraveled before him.
This kept him from losing his sanity and sense of self as he dove further and further into this knowledge.
He absorbed it like a sponge, not wanting to leave anything behind.
The runes were detailing something.
Not a skill.
Not a spell.
Somewhat of an ability, but not really at the same time.
Rather, it was a state of being.
He recalled the description of {Scar of the Astral Seeker} rune he had.
***
{Scar of the Astra Seeker}: There once was a creature who dreamed of a burning star. Enamored by its splendor, he decided to paint a picture. In doing so, his world, body, and soul were allnsumed by the star.
***
It was not quite like it, but something similar.
The runes were the picture, and he was just an observer.
"Could this be the secret tontrolling Sunfire?" He had asked himself..
He had his doubts.
For one, even after observing so many runes, he had notme across the rune for 'fire' or 'flame'.
In his study of magic, he hadme to know the runes that represented each element.
Depending on the runic language, each element had different runes or sigils thatuld represent them.
Having studied a lot of magic, even if he was not familiar with the runic language, he would have rgnized simple elemental runic patterns.
In the beginning, he didn't understand the runes. However, with so much time on his hands, he had begun to pick it up.
When heuld eventually under a fair bit, that anomaly had revealed itself.
"Sunfire is not an actual flame. Rather, it is the essence of something I am yet to diver that manifests as a flame."
It wasnfusing and was meant to make no sense. But it did. At least to him. The question was;
What did Sunfire, the physical manifestation, represent?
Was it the manifestation of Sekth, its primogenitor, or was it something else...
"This is going to take a while..."
Fortunately, he has a lot of time on his hands, perhaps even forever, to figure it out.
A long time passed.
Just when he was on the verge of giving up hope, a revelation appeared.
It came in the form of a string of runes that read as;
"The Creator bore many children. One of them, is the endless void thatntinues to grow towards eternity. The other is Eternity itself. Sekth was born of both, and from him came the everlasting Sunfire."
"The Void and Eternity were created by the Nomad. And the Nomad created the Celestials. Sekth was a Celestial, meaning he was created by the Nomad. However, no one knows exactly how all the Celestials were came to be, right? Ituldn't possibly have hand made each and every one of them, right?"
It made sense, really...
Maybe a few of the Celestial Deities and Beasts were born of the Void and some otherncepts and monstrosities the Nomad had bore before live hadme into being within this universe.
Either way, it didn't matter, because it had given him a clue.
If he was to imagine Eternity as a lightless, infinite void, the same as the endless Void, then Sekth, its child,uld very well have been a literal star born from it.
Then wouldn't Sunfire be a representation of Eternity and the Void also?
"But that doesn't make sense. The Void and Eternity areld, lightless, and theynsume all. On the other hand, Sunfire, is bright, Divine, and burns forever._
He paused...
"It burns forever."
All fire needed fuel to burn.
Even then {Flame of Darkness} would be extinguished once there was nothing left to burn.
But Sunfire was different. It di not need any fuel.
Instead, ituld burn endlessly for eternity.
"If all flames need fuel, thenuld it be that—"
The world of light trembled,
"Eternity is the fuel of the Everlasting Sunfire."
