Chapter 347: The Explanation

Meridia remained completely still. The translucent sphere floated between herself and Jax, suspended in the gentle currents of her Divine Domain.

Inside, the tiny creature continued glaring at both of them through thousands of luminous blue eyes. Its miniature rotating jaws clicked rhythmically as it paced around the inner surface of its prison.

For the first time since Jax had captured it, however, it wasn't trying to break free.

It was staring at Meridia and The Primordial Goddess was staring right back. The warmth that normally filled her sapphire eyes had vanished, replaced by something Jax hadn't expected to see.

Recognition, and beneath that recognition was fisbelief.

"..."

Finally, Meridia exhaled slowly, moving her eyes away from the creature and back towards Jax, who was waiting for her explanation.

"...I know exactly what this creature is."

Jax's expression sharpened, "Well with how you looked at it, I would be shocked if you didn't," He said,

Meridia nodded, "Yeah,"

Her voice had become unusually quiet.

"But..."

She slowly reached out, placing the tips of her fingers against the outermost layer of Jax's barrier.

"This beast shouldn't exist anymore, "

Inside the orb, the creature suddenly hissed, its thousands of tiny eyes narrowed simultaneously as it heard that.

Meridia, seeing this, withdrew her hand, "It remembers."

Jax frowned, "It remembers you?"

"No," She slowly shook her head, "It remembers what I am, a Primordial Goddess,"

Jax remained silent as he waited for her to continue speaking, while Meridia closed her eyes for several long moments before opening them again.

"When I said this creature shouldn't exist," She looked directly at Jax, "I meant exactly that. This beast should have gone extinct before modern civilization even began."

"..."

Jax folded his arms as he heard that, "So."

He looked from the orb back toward her, "Tell me what went on with it,"

Meridia nodded once, "I suppose you've earned that much."

She turned away from him.

The fountain behind her responded immediately. Water rose gracefully into the air. It didn't simply float. It began weaving itself into enormous three-dimensional images.

A living illusion that was displaying an ancient memory. Jax watched all of this happen quietly, allowing her to explain herself.

The water first became darkness before turning into stars. Countless beautiful stars illuminated the Divine Domain.

Meridia's voice echoed softly throughout the illusion, "What I'm about to tell you happened so long ago that almost nobody alive today knows it ever occurred,"

The stars slowly drifted apart as time passed. One of these stars became Terra, another became the Divine Realm where all of the Gods had their own divine domains.

Another became an Abyssal Dimension, thankfully blocked off from the current world.

"The world was much younger then. There were fewer gods, fewer kingdoms, fewer races. The civilizations you know today hadn't yet been founded."

The illusion shifted again. Figures appeared. Towering beings radiating incomprehensible divine power.

There were seven of them. Each looked different. One resembled living sunlight while another appeared woven from stars. One was surrounded by endless forests.

Another by oceans, which Jax recognized as Meridia. Their presence alone made even the illusion seem overwhelmingly majestic.

Jax studied them carefully, "The Primordial Gods."

Meridia smiled faintly, "Yes, the first generation.The oldest gods to ever exist."

She watched the illusion alongside him.

"They weren't merely powerful. They were the ones who shaped the foundations of reality. They raised continents, created oceans, separated dimensions and established the laws that govern magic."

The illusion showed the Primordial Gods working together. Mountains rose, seas formed and entire races came into existence.

"The world was peaceful for a time," Meridia's expression became more distant."But even they understood something."

Jax quietly spoke when he heard that, "That peace never lasts."

Meridia nodded, "Exactly."

The illusion darkened. Unknown horrors emerged from beyond the stars. Great calamities, dimensional storms, reality itself fracturing.

"A group of Primordial Gods understood that one day they might fail. That one day something might go wrong and they won't be able to respond instantly,"

Jax remained silent.

"This group weren't arrogant. They knew there would eventually come a threat too great for even themselves. So..."

The water shifted once more. An enormous circular structure appeared. Unlike anything Jax had ever seen. It looked like a laboratory built by gods.

Floating continents surrounded it. Massive divine formations rotated endlessly. At its center was a cocoon of light.

"After agreement from the other Primordial Gods, this group began what became known as,"

Meridia paused.

"The Genesis Project."

Jax repeated the name quietly, "Genesis."

"They wanted to create something out of nothing. Not a god, not a dragon or divine beast, they wanted something greater,"

Meridia looked at the imprisoned creature as she spoke, "They wanted to create the perfect guardian."

The illusion zoomed inward.

Jax watched as divine mana poured into the cocoon from every Primordial God simultaneously. Each contributed something different.

"Everyone had something to benefit, so we all gave a bit of our powers. The God of Earth contributed durability. The Goddess of Oceans, myself, contributed adaptation. The God of Time contributed limitless evolution. The Goddess of Life created biological perfection. The God of Space granted dimensional authority. The Goddess of Wisdom granted intelligence."

"And," Meridia's voice lowered, "The God of Death contributed instinct."

Jax's eyes narrowed, "They combined every divine authority."

"Yes, the goal was to create an Artificial Mythical Beast,"

Meridia looked almost nostalgic as she thought about all of this, "A creature capable of protecting the world.One that could continue defending Terra even if every god were to disappear."

The cocoon continued growing. Years passed inside the illusion. Decades turned into centuries and the divine laboratory never ceased working.

"The project took nearly two thousand years."

Jax raised an eyebrow, "That long."

"Of course, this was an attempt to artificially create something akin to a Primordial. They wanted perfection,"

The cocoon finally cracked. Something emerged and at first, the emerging creature looked beautiful.

A graceful creature composed of blue crystal and silver light. It had large wings, elegant horns, with calm golden eyes.

"It worked," Meridia smiled sadly, "At first."

The illusion continued. The young creature learned, adapted and grew stronger and stronger. It protected continents from natural disasters, and destroyed invading monsters, even working with the Primordial Gods to permanently seal the abyss away from Terra.

"It fulfilled every expectation and even surpassed them."

Jax quietly observed all of this,"So where did it go wrong?"

Meridia's smile disappeared, "Evolution."

The illusion suddenly changed. The beautiful guardian grew larger and larger as its body transformed.

New limbs appeared, more eyes were added, armor, rotating jaws and throughout all of this, its shape became increasingly distorted.

"The Primordial Gods had given it one final blessing. They wanted it to adapt forever. So that no future enemy could ever overcome it."

Jax immediately understood, "You all wanted unlimited evolution,"

Meridia nodded slowly, "It never stopped."

The illusion accelerated. The creature continued changing. Every battle made it stronger. Every injury improved it. Every spell taught it something new.

Eventually, it no longer resembled its original form.

"It outgrew its purpose. It became..."

She looked toward the imprisoned creature.

"Something else."

The illusion showed continents shaking. The Artificial Mythical Beast had become enormous.

Cities fled before it and even dragons tucked their tails between their legs and retreated.

"It no longer understood what it was protecting. It only understood that it needed to continue evolving."

Jax looked thoughtfully at the tiny creature, "So it started consuming everything."

"Yes, it absorbed mana, dimensions, magic, even concepts."

Jax remembered watching the hidden dimension feeding mana directly into it, "That explains the domain."

"It created artificial ecosystems simply to harvest energy."

Meridia nodded.

"It was trying to continue growing and eventually, seeing this, us 7 Primordial Gods moved to stop it,"

The illusion changed once more. All seven Primordial Gods surrounded the evolved beast. Their battle shook reality. Entire dimensions collapsed. Stars disappeared. Even oceans split apart.

"It took every Primordial God working together to defeat their own creation."

Jax remained silent.

"They killed it?"

Meridia shook her head, "No, they couldn't,"

Jax looked surprised and Meridia explained, "We were stronger, but by then, the beast had inherited fragments of all of our authorities,"

The illusion showed the impossible truth. Every time the Primordial Gods destroyed its body, it adapted, every time they sealed one ability, it developed another.

"It couldn't win but we couldn't kill it, so we sealed it away in a special dimension,"

Jax immediately thought about the hidden city.

"They constructed an artificial dimension. They built an entire civilization whose sole responsibility was maintaining the prison."

The white marble city appeared within the illusion. Merfolk, Ancient priests, powerful mages. Generations dedicated to one purpose.

"They volunteered. They knew what would happen."

Jax quietly asked, "They could never leave."

Meridia nodded.

"They became the wardens.For thousands upon thousands of years. The Dimension was a special space we created, as time moved on, the creature would slowly be ripped of its divine authority, lose its power and eventually die due to the special runes we placed all around the dimension,"

"So, with our work completed and the creature condemned to a death, time ticked by, people forgot, generations passed, and history left this beast in the past,"

Silence settled between them. Only the fountain could be heard. Jax looked down at the tiny creature.

"I guess the creature lost most of its power, but something went wrong with the death part,"

Meridia nodded, "Quite surprising. I'm thankful you managed to not only defeat but capture it. My guess is the beast somehow managed to destroy some the runes,"

"Well what are you going to do with it?" Jax asked.

"I'll investigate why exactly it survived, and then I'll kill it. There's no use for this beast anymore, it can only cause trouble,"