Chapter 1400: Taking the step
"...We believe that a Great Truth Chosen once ended the universe."
Robin’s brows furrowed, his voice sharp with disbelief. "Do you have any evidence to support that claim?"
"Not conclusive evidence," the old man admitted, slowly shaking his head. "Only a trail of speculation woven from pieces of reality. Using certain cosmic laws, we can determine the age of stone itself—and some planets in the mid-belt are as old as billions of years. Are we truly to believe the universe floated in barren silence for eons, just chunks of rock adrift in the void—until we suddenly emerged only 97.8 million years ago, in all planets, and at the same time?! Why is that entire era completely missing from all record?"
He exhaled heavily. "And yet... we find no trace of any massive war, no sign of celestial destruction. As I told you—no documents, no carvings, no whispers in the dust. Nothing remains before that time. And still... on nearly every planet, signs of intelligent life and structured civilization begin at the exact same moment. It’s as if every intelligent species and their civilizations vanished all at once... only to reappear together in perfect synchrony."
Robin’s eyes narrowed. "And what does that have to do with a user of the Law of Truth?" he asked firmly, voice steeled with skepticism. "If all life appeared at once, how do you know that a Truth Chosen was responsible for it?"
"Because," the elder said, tone low and ominous, "to erase all civilizations, to reset the universe without leaving a single trace—and to do so without damaging the planets themselves—is an impossible feat. Utterly inconceivable. Except, perhaps... through two master laws of the seventh stage: Truth... and Will." He raised two fingers. "Disrupting any other master law of the seventh stage would destroy the very fabric of existence."
He clasped his hands behind his back, his tone turning grim. "Will is the simpler one to grasp. If a person were to comprehend it to the seventh stage, they could will all things to vanish, or will to alter memories across the cosmos. Everything could be explained that way. But in 97.8 million years... no one has ever managed to so much as brush against that law. Which leaves us with the only remaining candidate—Truth."
He took a step forward. "We believe that the seventh stage of the Law of Truth allows its wielder to manipulate the universe’s contents directly. He could erase entire patterns from reality, wave a hand and dissolve all he sees—returning it to void. A person wielding such power could easily enact a catastrophe of that magnitude."
"You believe," Robin repeated mockingly. He scoffed, his voice dripping with irritation. "Yet again, just assumptions... speculation piled on more speculation. Everything you’ve said from the beginning is just conjecture. If the Cosmic Elder himself knows nothing for certain, then tell me—who possibly could?"
"No one!" the old man snapped, waving his hand with sudden fire. "No one at all. We live inside a sealed bubble. Tragedies befell us once—and we never even knew. Greater ones lie in wait within the Ancient Belt, and all we can do is run from them. We are chess pieces. Blind, insignificant pieces... who know nothing. Who have only their guesses and fragile hopes to guide them."
Robin said nothing. He stood silently, absorbing the words. He could feel the heat in the elder’s voice—not anger toward him, but a fury born of helplessness... of knowing nothing despite the burden of age.
And the truth was... no one had ever reached the seventh stage of any master law. No one truly knew what had happened in the lost past... and no one was sure what the future held. For someone expected to be a wise leader, an ancient guide—there could be no more bitter truth than that.