The Sun - Lord of Mysteries (fanfiction)

Chapter 78: Great Old Ones

Diana stood on the deck. Her wide eyes stared at the huge golden star in front of the voyager.

It was the Sun.

The star that gave life to the earth. It was the golden fire kindled to bring warmth to all of creation itself.

Her eyes rested on the golden rays of the arch emanating from the sun. It is the only illumination that gives vibrant hues to the dark space of the cosmos.

Diana always knew that the sun was different from the countless stars that dotted the dark ocean of space, but she had never felt it personally before.

And, there was a huge difference in knowing and feeling.

It was breath-taking in every sense of the word. It was cosmic in power and magnitude. It was something otherworldly, something sacred, something inviolable.

She felt too small compared to the infinity of the sun. Yes, in her perception, the sun was an infinite and boundless star. It was the embodiment of the authority of a god.

She saw more...She saw an infinite ocean of light in the sun...

She immediately closed her eyes and blocked her perception of the sun. She knew that if she continued, she would be lost in the infinity of the sun.

"Diana, come to helm. The Lord calls us all there. He wants to tell us something." Lucas yelled, standing on the steps.

Diana turned to him, and a smile appeared on her lips at the sight of Lucas. She pushed away the thoughts of the sun and went to the stairs.

She gave him a light kiss on the stairs in the sunlight.

"Does it have anything to do with what happened on Venus?" Diana asked, turning her back on him.

"Yes." Lucas said with palpable disappointment, staring at her lips.

Sensing his intense gaze of desire on her, Diana snorted and ran away before the bastard could make another move on her.

"Damn! Why do you always have to be like Diana?" Lucas swore and chased her.

Within moments, they reached the helm, where others were seated at a wooden table.

The table was long, with two chairs at the head and three chairs beside it.

Standing at the entrance, putting their smiles aside, they turned serious when they noticed the solemnity around the entire helm.

"Come inside." Aucuses said, waving his hands after noticing them.

Diana and Lucas entered the helm. They settled into two chairs to the left of the table and in front of them was Blaise, sitting across from them, their Lord and Earth Mother seated at the head of the table.

The golden sun was clearly visible to all of them, as the rudder was open and exposing them to infinite outer space.

Aucuses turned his gaze to the golden sun in front of him. It was created by him, using his authority. It also fully embodies his authority.

The sun is not an ordinary star like in his former reality. Hell, everything in the cosmos, even if it resembles the universe of his past life, is fundamentally different.

The astral world encompasses the entire cosmos where all the authorities of the universe are present, so the stars and planets of his previous universe should not be able to withstand the corruption of the authorities, unlike the celestial bodies of the cosmos.

As he previously stated, the cosmos is vastly different and dissimilar to his previous universe, as well as many other fictional universes.

Now returning to the sun, he created it, as the previous one went supernova with the fall of the ancient sun god. And, his sun is not bound by material laws; he could make the sun as small as a ball and as big as a solar system with just a thought. His sun couldn't also be measured or understood by any being below the gods. The fate for those who attempt it is certain death with their souls destroyed in flames of sun.

Aucuses drank a glass of wine as his thoughts ran through his head. Finally, he put down his glass and focused on them. He sees their nervousness hidden behind their calm faces. It was to be expected by the fact that they had no recollection of the that incident would make them realise the gravity of the entire situation.

"Did any of you know the legend of the creator during the 2nd era? Not the ancient sun god, but the original creator." He asked them, breaking the silence on the table.

Lucas and Blaise were silent, while Diana contemplated. She snapped her fingers as a legend flashed through her mind. It was what she found in a book, while exploring the ruins of the 2nd Era.

"The ancient gods believed that the original creator left nine entities. It was said that they were kingdoms, castles, keys, rivers and seas." Diana said, remembering the legend. Her gaze was unconsciously drawn to the Mother of Earth as the goddess seemed lost in a daze. Still, she continued on.

"The ancient gods are said to have searched for it all their lives, believing it to be a legacy left by the original creator. It was said that the Demonic Wold Flegrea tried to find the castle, but never succeeded. This is the legend I found in one of the 2nd era ruins."

"It is the one." Aucuses nodded. "As you all guessed, the nine entities left behind by the original creator are real. All nine entities exist on earth. They are called 'Serfoit'."

Sefirot... The word repeated itself in his mind. They actually guessed that might be true when they saw their Lord's solemn expression, as Diana said the legend.

'Things left by the creator? There is a castle...A castle! Could it have something to do with that in my dreams?' Blaise's mind ran quickly with his thoughts, making a far-fetched guess.

'Serfoit..' Diana thought, remembering all the important information. 'Above the sequence. Could the Sefirot have anything to do with that?' She suspected.

"The Sefirot separated from the Original Creator." Aucuses continued. "There are nine; Sefirah Castle, Chaos Sea, River of Eternal Darkness, Brood Hive, National of Disorder, City of Calamity, Tenebrous World, and Key of Light."

'Sefirah Castle...' Blaise thought in a daze, as the name started to echo in his head.

'If we divide the interchangeable paths into different categories, there should be 9 in total.' Diana calculated. '9 categories and 9 sefirot...'

"Are they really on Earth, but why have we never heard of them? And what are they for, milord?" Lucas asked with curious eyes. Of all of them, he was the least affected by the secret.

"It's on Earth. But expect Sefirah Castle and Chaos Sea, all others are sealed." Aucuses replied and waved his hand in the air.

The sunlight converged above the table and turned into letters that revealed the secrets of the cosmos to them.

It stated,

"God Almighty, Creator, Maker, The Omnipotent and Omniscient, Lord of the Astral World:

Chaos Sea + Visionary Uniqueness + The Sun Uniqueness + Tyrant Uniqueness + White Tower Uniqueness + The Hanged Man Uniqueness + 1 Author Beyonder characteristic + 1 White Angel Beyonder characteristic + 1 Thunder God Beyonder characteristic +1 Omniscient Eye Beyonder characteristic +1 Dark Angel Beyonder characteristic.

Lord of the Mysteries, King of Space-Time, Beacon of Destiny, Embodiment of Sefirah Castle, Dominator of the Spirit World:

Sefirah Castle + The Fool Uniqueness + Error Uniqueness + Door Uniqueness + 1 Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic + 1 Worm of Time Beyonder characteristic + 1 Key of Stars Beyonder characteristic.

Eternal Darkness, Singularity of All, Space-Time-in-One:

River of Eternal Darkness + Evernight Uniqueness + Death (Eternal Sleeper) Uniqueness + Twilight Giant Uniqueness + 1 Knight of Misfortune Beyonder characteristic + 1 Pale Emperor Beyonder characteristic + 1 Hand of God Beyonder characteristic.

Demon of Knowledge, Aracana of Madness:

Knowledge Moor + The Hermit Uniqueness + Paragon Uniqueness + 1 Knowledge Emperor Beyonder characteristic + 1 Illuminator Beyonder characteristic.

Key of Light, Endless Disorder, Incarnation of Fate..."

The nine ways of the great old ones were presented to them.

Diana, Lucas, and Blaise's expressions were stunned, their wide eyes gazing at the knowledge of the great old ones.

Many thoughts and assumptions flashed into their minds and filled their hearts in stunned silence.

Seeing this, Aucuses continued with a solemn expression. "Sefirot are required for gods if they are to transcend the sequences themselves."

"Yes, there is another level above Gods. It's called "Above the Sequence". However, Ancient Sun God gave it different names. He called it 'Great Old Ones', 'Outer Deities' and finally 'Cosmos'."

The moment Aucuses revealed the secret of the cosmos, an eerie aura filled Voyager.

Lilith, who had remained silent during their conversation, abruptly rose from her seat and stared at the barrier.

Rumble!

The invisible barrier had materialized in the astral world. It started shaking and trembling.

In the middle of noon, the crimson moon suddenly appeared on Earth. The colour became extremely saturated and expanded exaggeratedly. It was as if it hung on the roofs of every house. Aside from that, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all lit up at the same time, emitting light of different textures.

Looking down from the cosmos, the Sun, Earth, Venus and Mercury seemed caught in an invisible storm and were shaking in place.

On Voyager, Lilith felt the rage of Great Old Ones. "Their" fury shattered the starry sky.

She can sense "Their" rage was actually directed at Aucuses due to his audacity and arrogance.

Aucuses ignored "Them" and looked at his angels, who were still perplexed by everything that was going on.

"I promised you that you would eventually know everything," Aucuses sighed. "I'm sorry for doing this. But it's necessary."

Diana, Lucas and Blaise rose from their seats as their instincts cried out in danger, the kind that could easily threaten their lives.

But before they could react, sunlight fell on them, coating them like a layer over their bodies.

"Open your eyes." said Aucuses in a deep voice.

They immediately felt the reality around them stretch like rubber. They shot out of the voyager at incredible speed, with reality returning to normal.

They were like shooting stars in space that travelled even faster than the speed of light. They passed Mercury, Venus and Earth in the blink of an eye, while their screams echoed throughout the astral world.

They stopped abruptly right in front of the Earth, but before they could catch their breath, they shot away again as a powerful force carried them towards the barrier.

The moment they reached the barrier, everything around them fell into darkness, eternal darkness at that.

Darkness engulfed them and finally stopped them in their tracks. They took a break to calm their minds and hearts, which were filled with confusion, sadness, terror and bewilderment.

Diana tried to open her eyes and failed before realizing they were open. Most of the space was the darkest of all greys, but this one was pure black. It was as if someone had extinguished the stars and the sun. The darkness was heavy, oppressive, almost suffocating.

Suddenly, a slippery sound echoed through the eternal darkness, catching his attention and making his hair stand on end.

Something has crept into the eternal darkness, waiting to be seen, felt and heard.

When they realised this, their hearts filled with horror and fear. Their bodies shivered as they sensed the darkness, which terrified them to the core.

"Light!" Lucas screamed as if his life depended on it. "Light! Light!"

He desired to illuminate the darkness and make the unknown known to them. But he immediately regretted it.

The light illuminated the darkness and revealing the unknown.

In front of them stood a thin barrier. In this godless depth they saw luminous planets and the moon.

The crimson moon collapsed in an ocean of blood and transformed into a gigantic, indescribable figure with countless eyes.

The brown jupiter flared up and transformed into a gigantic tree with myriad branches extending into the infinite void. There were tree warts and flowers growing on the branches, from which sticky mucus was dripping out....

The red mars spit in the centre, revealing a pupil filled with countless resplendent stars, all of which were perpetually in supernova.

The yellow saturn became illusory and expanded. It merged with the ring around it, turning into a colourless ring with blinking eyes on both sides.

The blue neptune collapsed into a massive and twisted figure, intertwined in strings that vibrated and produced melodies....

The astral world shook and crumbled in "Their" anger. "Their" malevolent gazes passed the barrier and fell entirely on Aucuses, while disregarding the angels of the sun.

Diana, Lucas, and Blaise's minds nearly exploded and collapsed when they looked at the great old ones.

'Mother Goddess of Depravity, Mother Tree of Desire, Supernova Dominator, Ring of Comeuppance, Inextinguishable Ravings...'

The names of the Great Old Ones struck their hearts and minds like a heavy sledgehammer.

The oppression of the Great Old Ones weighed them all down and made them realize their own frailty and insignificance. It also destroyed all the pride and vanity they had. They began to spiral into an abyss of their own despair and hopelessness, on the verge of losing themselves forever.

"Light!"

A deep voice sounded, as light illuminated them and drew them out of the darkness. Then, the reality warped around them, throwing them to voyager.

On the voyager, Aucuses looked at the angels kneeling on the floor, trembling. Their heads down, and their bodies were drenched in sweat.

"It was the cosmos." He finished with a sigh.