Chapter 239: The Fading Constellations
Adonis walked out of the underground armory with heavy steps. The Chaotic Harem Sword rested in his right hand. The obsidian blade pulsed with a desperate violet light, casting long, frantic shadows against the stone walls. When he finally stepped back out into the sanctuary gardens, the sight nearly broke his heart into pieces.
The grey sickness had spread incredibly fast. The vibrant, healthy green grass was now the color of old ash. The majestic, blooming flowers looked like brittle glass ready to shatter in the wind.
His family was sitting completely still on the picnic blanket. They looked like perfectly carved marble statues. Ignis, Minos, and Devon were curled up together. Their eyes were wide open, but they were staring at absolutely nothing. Myria, Aria, and Sylph held hands, looking confused and entirely hollow. The beautiful elemental magic that usually danced around the children was totally gone.
His wives were not doing much better.
Claudia had dropped her polished sword entirely. She was staring at her empty hands with a blank, vacant expression.
Sapphira and Ice Isabella leaned against each other, their bodies looking somewhat transparent.
Millia and Valentina sat with their heads bowed, surrendering to the creeping numbness of the void.
Only one person looked up when Adonis walked across the dead grass.
It was his first wife, the Star Empress Mariana. Her gorgeous hair usually sparkled like a vibrant, swirling galaxy of purple and gold. Now, her hair looked like dirty, melting snow. The starlight was desperately fighting to stay alive, flickering weakly in the oppressive grey atmosphere.
Adonis dropped to his knees in front of her. He reached out and gently touched her pale cheek. Her skin felt terrifyingly cold.
"Mariana, I am so sorry. I brought this upon you. I brought this upon our perfect home."
Mariana blinked slowly. It took her a few seconds to process his words. The cosmic virus was eating away at her cognitive functions, stripping away the brilliant mind that once ruled the cosmos. She raised her trembling hand and placed it over his hand.
"Adonis, The sky is completely empty. The stars stopped singing to me. Everything feels like it is turning into dust. Are we dying?"
"No, You are not dying. The universe is sick. An old enemy from my past is trying to erase us. They want to turn our happiness into a blank slate. But I will absolutely not allow that to happen."
Mariana looked at the glowing obsidian sword in his other hand. The violet light reflected in her dimming eyes. A tiny spark of her old, regal authority suddenly flared to life deep inside her chest.
"You are leaving," Mariana stated. It was not a question.
She knew her husband better than anyone else in the entire universe.
"You are going to fight them. You are going to the very edge of reality where the darkness is coming from."
"I have to," Adonis nodded, a single tear falling down his face. "If I stay here, the sickness will consume me too. I have to find the source. I have to go to the Farthest Edge and sever the connection. I will fix the sky for you, my love. I promise I will bring the stars back."
He started to stand up, ready to tear a hole in space and leave the sanctuary behind. But Mariana gripped his sleeve with a surprising amount of strength.
"You are not going alone," Mariana declared stubbornly.
Adonis shook his head. "Mariana, you are too weak. The virus is draining your life force. If you leave the sanctuary, the raw void outside will tear your soul apart in seconds. You need to stay here with the others."
"But If you go alone, you will get completely lost," Mariana argued, "The enemy is deleting the map of the universe. The planets are turning into static. The cosmic roads are dissolving. You have raw power, Adonis, but you do not have navigation. I am the Star Empress. Even if the stars are dying, I can still hear their final whispers. I can guide you through the dead zones."
Adonis looked into her eyes. He saw the absolute determination shining through the terrible grey sickness. He knew she was right. His power was pure Chaos. He could destroy anything in his path, but Chaos was terrible at finding directions.
If the universe was losing its structure, he needed someone who understood cosmic structure to guide him through the ruins.
"Okay," Adonis agreed softly. "But you must stay very close to me. You must not let go of my hand."
Mariana offered a weak, beautiful smile. "I have never let go of your hand since the day we met."
Adonis raised the Chaotic Harem Sword. He did not swing it like a weapon. He pointed the tip of the obsidian blade at the blank, white sky above them.
"Vexa, let’s go."
He pushed his divine intent into the crystal, commanding the fabric of reality to part ways.
The air tore open with a sickening, tearing sound. A swirling portal of deep, violet energy appeared in the middle of the dying garden.
Adonis looked back at his sleeping children and his fading wives one last time. He etched their beautiful faces into his mind. He used their images as an anchor for his own sanity.
He then grabbed Mariana by the hand, and together, they stepped through the portal, leaving their fading Eden behind.
The transition into the cosmic ocean was incredibly violent.
Adonis and Mariana emerged in the middle of deep space. However, it did not look like the beautiful, vibrant universe Adonis had created eons ago. It looked like a magnificent painting that had been left out in a terrible rainstorm. Its colors of the nebulas were bleeding and running together into a messy, brown sludge. Entire solar systems were flickering in and out of existence like broken candles.
The silence here was much worse than the silence in the sanctuary. It was a heavy, oppressive static that made Adonis’s ears ring.
"Which way, Mariana?" Adonis asked, wrapping his arm around her waist to support her.
The lack of gravity made her feel incredibly light, almost as if she were already a ghost.
Mariana closed her eyes. She reached out with her cosmic senses, trying to feel the pulse of the dying galaxies. She pointed a trembling finger toward a massive expanse of pure, suffocating darkness in the distance.
"There, All the light is being pulled in that direction. It is a massive drain at the bottom of the universe. We need to follow the dying light."
They flew through the decaying cosmos at terrifying speeds. Adonis used his power to fold space around them, skipping across lightyears in mere seconds. But the journey was taking a severe toll on his wife.
As they flew closer to the Farthest Edge, the grey virus in the atmosphere grew much stronger. Mariana’s breathing became shallow. Her skin turned translucent. The remaining starlight in her hair began to fall out, leaving behind strands of brittle, white ash.
"I am forgetting everything... Adonis, I am forgetting how we met. I am forgetting the taste of the strawberry cake we ate today."
"No! Focus on my voice, Mariana! Focus on the sword!"
He channeled his power into the Chaotic Harem Sword. The weapon was originally designed to destroy, to break the rules of reality.
But Adonis had spent centuries transforming his chaotic intent into a protective force. He ordered the violet light of the sword to expand. The energy bloomed outward, wrapping around Mariana like a thick, warm blanket of pure affection.
The violet energy acted as a metaphysical shield. It fought back against the grey void, forcefully tethering Mariana’s soul to her physical body. Her translucent skin solidified just a little bit.
"Adonis," Mariana gasped, "Why is this happening? What kind of monster wants to completely erase the universe?"
Adonis swallowed hard. The guilt sitting in his stomach felt heavier than a dying star. He looked down at the woman he loved more than life itself. He decided he could not lie to her anymore. If they were going to die at the edge of reality, she deserved to know the absolute truth.
"They are not the monsters, Mariana," Adonis confessed, his voice filled with deep, crushing shame. "I am the monster."
Mariana looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Before this universe existed, there was another one, It was full of arrogant gods, cruel kings, and strict rules. I was born in that old world. My original name was Khaos. I was a child with a void core. The kingdoms destroyed my home and murdered my parents. So, I destroyed their entire world. I became the Archmage of Chaos. I unmade everything. I murdered the Primordial Celestials. I sat alone in a dead, empty universe until I finally realized my mistake. I created this new universe to punish myself, to start over. But I did not completely kill the old gods."
He pointed toward the massive wall of darkness approaching in the distance.
"That is the vengeance of the murdered Celestials," Adonis said bitterly. "They have gathered together in the void. They want to destroy everything I have ever loved, just like I destroyed everything they ever built. This is entirely my fault."
He waited for Mariana to push him away. He waited for her to look at him with horror and disgust. He was the Primordial Villain of the Universe. He was the reason her children were currently dying.
Instead, Mariana reached up and gently touched his face.
"You are not Khaos anymore," Mariana said firmly, "You are Adonis Kingsbane. You are a lazy emperor who likes to take naps in the garden. You are a kind father who reads books to Devon. You are a loving husband who always compliments my baking. I do not care about a dead universe I never knew. I only care about the man holding me right now."
Adonis felt a massive wave of relief wash over his soul. Her love was illogical. It defied the rules of cosmic justice. And because it defied the rules, it perfectly fueled his chaotic power. The violet veins in the obsidian sword pulsed brighter than ever before, burning away the grey sickness in their immediate area.
"Thank you," Adonis whispered, kissing her forehead.
They suddenly slowed to a complete stop.
They had arrived at the Farthest Edge.
Before them stood a massive, shifting wall of absolute nothingness. It was not just dark. It was the complete absence of reality. The grey virus was leaking out of the wall like toxic smoke.
As they floated before the boundary, the grey fog began to swirl and take shape. Massive, terrifying faces appeared in the mist. They were the faces of the ancient kings Adonis had erased.
They were the faces of the celestial gods he had crushed eons ago. Millions of vengeful, hollow eyes stared down at the tiny man and his fading wife.