Chapter 293: It’s Been Too Long

"Wait... we’re actually characters in a novel?"

Akasha asked, still seated in the quiet, his mother’s weight warm in his lap, her long, almost-gray hair spilling over their light-brown skin.

In that moment, Akasha drifted into yet another whirlwind of thoughts.

He had spent eighteen years—a life filled with mornings, hunger, and aching loneliness—only to discover that it was all an elaborate illusion.

And he couldn’t deny it... when he was finally born into what he thought was reality, he truly believed he was in the real world.

But if he was only a character in a novel, then what was this couch beneath him?

What was this realm of flowers and rolling hills?

What was the heat of her body against his, if all of it could vanish the moment the page was closed?

Was he still trapped in an illusion, only this time one that felt far more convincing? Akashi’s eyes followed the flicker of realization across his features.

She gave a soft chuckle, her gaze sweeping over him from head to toe, as though the struggle playing out within him was something she had anticipated all along—and, in some quiet way, found endearingly amusing.

"No, not ’we,’ but you, my dear son," she said, shaking her head. "At this moment, you and countless others exist only as words upon a page."

She smiled softly and gently tapped the tip of his nose.

"But that is only for now."

Upon hearing these words, Akashi exhaled with an almost instinctive sigh, sensing once again that his mother was being deliberately vague.

"Mother... could you please explain more clearly?"

"Well," Akashi said with a faint smile.

"It’d be a shame to ruin the surprise," she continued. "It’s better you discover it for yourself on your journey through Pantheos. All you need to know is this: Pantheos was created to give everyone a chance to become real."

At those words, Akasha didn’t answer right away. Instead, he let all the pointless thoughts drift away from his mind.

As always, if he couldn’t find the answers right now, or if there was nothing he could do to change the situation himself, he wouldn’t waste energy worrying about it.

"And Grandfather?" he asked at last, giving a small nod.

"Well," Akashi said as she rose to her feet.

The sudden absence where she’d been in his lap was oddly... uncomfortable.

As she rose to her feet, she gave a slight shrug, as if the question had been anticipated and dismissed as meaningless.

"Father can’t be explained," she said. "He’s just... ineffable."

Then, her tone softening into something more grounded, she added, "Soon enough—once you move beyond the first realm of power—you’ll get it."

In that moment, Akasha’s brow arched as a memory surfaced.

"Right... I’ve recently ranked up," he murmured, no longer a Cosmic Union, but now an Unbound God.

He couldn’t quite pinpoint what had triggered it.

At first, he thought he needed to complete a few final adjustments, but deep down he knew the change hadn’t truly happened until the moment his hair transformed.

In that moment, he shrugged as well, not dwelling on the topic any longer as He stood.

A light stretch pulled through his shoulders, the long pale hair sliding down his back.

"Well, I guess it’s time to head back to Dream Land."

He had been gone for quite a while, and during his destruction of the Universe, he had taken a select group of people into his Domain.

With that settled, he extended his hand toward his mother, almost like an invitation.

"Are you coming with me?"

Akashi’s laugh came bright and without a second of consideration, as if the question had been an insult she was delighted to receive.

"Well, duh," She said as their hands locked, "I’m never being away from you again."

Then she glanced past him toward Aethea.

Aethea hadn’t budged from her spot, simply watching them like she was tuned in to her favorite TV show.

"Scram," Akashi said, the teasing tone doing little to mask the warmth behind it. "And make sure you come visit me again soon."

"Whatever," Aethea said as she rolled her eyes, flashing a smile. "Just be sure to entertain me well."

The gesture was small, sisterly, almost bored, and it told Akasha more than a speech would have.

Whatever Aethea was— companion or perhaps something older—she was not a servant being dismissed.

It was clear from the mark beneath her eye that she was indeed a part of the so-called Ineffable Pantheon.

Before Akasha could gather his thoughts, Aethea disappeared without leaving the slightest trace behind.

It was as if she had never been there at all—one moment she existed, and the next she was gone.

Watching her sudden departure, Akasha shifted his gaze toward his mother.

"So... are you planning on bringing this realm?" he asked.

For a moment she only looked at him, pale hair framing the purple mark that now matched his, then she lifted her hands and waved them the way someone waves dust from a table.

Instead of replying, they disappeared.

In their wake, the realm started to fall apart, breaking down like ash drifting away with a final, gentle breath.

The hills blurred at the edges until they no longer remembered what it meant to be hills.

The pale-purple sky faded, becoming less a color and more the ghost of one.

The couches dissolved into shades of gray before vanishing entirely. What followed was nothing more than a slow, patient unraveling.

----

When Akasha and Akashi reappeared, they found themselves standing right in the middle of the void.

Beneath them floated Dream Land, the massive mountain peak drifting in emptiness, framed by the familiar arrangement of what had once been the Orin Star System.

But beyond those six worlds, everything was different.

The surrounding void was now filled with scattered universes, multiverses, and dimensions, each arranged in the shapes of strange sigils and mysterious symbols.

All of them were only minor hubs, and from each one thin, luminous threads climbed upward—silver, gold, colorless, all colors—drawn taut toward the main hub of existence far above.

Pantheos.