Auxtralia

5th of August, year 3321

Auxtralia was perhaps the most remote region in the world. Almost nobody dared to travel there, to the point that most of the indigenous people had never interacted with anything other than a small handful of people in their village and some neighboring tribes.

As a result, most technology was exceedingly primitive.

A farmer was busy plowing his field when he suddenly felt a vibration in the air that seemed to make his whole body shiver.

Nervously, he looked to the sky and saw two figures floating just below the clouds, unmoving.

After a few seconds, the figures turned towards a certain direction and darted into the distance, leaving shockwaves in their wakes for miles around.

When the shockwaves reached his farm, the seeds that he had just sown a few days ago instantly matured, sprouted, and bore luscious fruits and vegetables.

The farmer dropped to his knees and buried his head in the dust.

"Gods…" he whispered, as he vowed to himself to never forget the sight he just saw.

…

"Both of us have always sucked at directions… was it this way?"

Two men stood suspended in air just below the clouds with clueless looks on their faces.

"I have no clue… it has to be somewhere around here. We've been traveling for almost a month and we still haven't found where he settled. We'll have to go max speed and cover more ground."

The brothers bolted off into the distance once more.

…

After what seemed like ages, the brothers descended into a small, seemingly deserted, village.

The village seemed deserted due to many of the houses being ravaged, clearly from spirit beasts due to the claw markings and relentless destruction.

"I sensed some of his lingering aura here, so it's clear he was here for at least quite a few years. And it seems like there are a few other normal humans around as well." Bob observed.

Bob's senses were the keenest out of the three brothers, so he usually ended up as the de-facto leader of the group in their past journeys.

"Are you sure?" Matt wondered.

If this was where brother Dylan was, why would the village be destroyed? Surely there was no spirit beast, even among the legendary tiers, that could defeat him or threaten the village he resided in.

As such, it did not make any sense for Dylan to live in a village such as this.

"I'm not too sure… but perhaps that guy will know the answer."

Bob turned around shouted to a nearby brush:

"Come out, we both know you're there. Don't worry, we mean you no harm."

After a few seconds, a pale looking old man wedged himself out from a nearby brush.

He wore simple but tattered clothing, indicating that he was a peasant, a farmer, or both. He was unarmed.

"W-who are you… why did you come here? Can't you see we've suffered enough?" The man pleaded.

His eyes were laced with fear. Clearly he had been through a lot recently.

Brother Bob dropped his shoulders and smiled, attempting to seem less intimidating, as he stepped forward.

"We mean you no harm… we're simply looking for our brother. His name is Dylan, do you know him? And what happened to this village?" Bob asked.

Upon hearing the name "Dylan," the man's face lit up.

"D-Dylan's brothers? Then you know where he is, right? Please tell him to come back…"

Brother Matt shook his head and chuckled.

"If we knew where he was, why would we be asking you?" He affirmed.

Seemingly realizing the same thing, the man's face sunk.

"Tell us what happened here." Bob commanded.

His voice was laced with authority, but also warmth. It compelled the man to answer their question, but also relaxed him at the same time as he was obviously panicked.

The man visibly calmed down as he took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Dylan was a guardian that has lived in our village for generations. Even my grandfather's grandfather's generation doesn't know when or how Dylan first came to us, and we have lived alongside him here in this village ever since."

Bob and Matt looked at each other. This confirmed that this was definitely where Dylan had went after their vow. They gestured to the man to continue.

The man nodded.

"As you may know, this land is extremely dangerous… the only reason our ancestors had survived in the past was due to them learning the spirit beast's habits and living a nomadic lifestyle to avoid them. When Dylan came to us, that changed. His strength was unimaginable… he defeated every single spirit beast that came anywhere near the village and protected us for generations!"

"As a result of this protection, however, our ancestors grew complacent… they settled down in this area and relied on Dylan's protection and had neglected to pass down their heritage of how to survive in these lands. I guess they thought that after so many years, he would never leave us…" the old man lamented.

"But just recently, he disappeared. About four months ago now. As a result of his disappearance, the spirit beasts in the area sensed it and attacked… we had no chance. There are only a handful of us left in hiding at this point."

The brothers shook their heads in sorrow. It was clear that many had died over the past few months.

"Old man, can you show us where Dylan lived when he was here? Or where he was last seen?" Bob asked.

"Of course, follow me…" the old man said as he limped away.

A few minutes later they arrived at a small, humble hut just outside of the village.

Dylan had always been very low-key, so Matt and Bob were not surprised in the last by the humble hut. They could definitely see Dylan living here.

Brother Bob walked up to the hut and began to sense through his bloodline again.

"I can definitely feel him having previously been here, but… it's weird. His aura seems to have just… disappeared from this spot. As if he teleported." Bob observed with a confused look on his face.

Matt was visibly confused as well.

While the brothers were capable of many awe-inspiring feats such as their strength, speed, and flight, the one thing that was not possible was teleportation.

This was not due to a limitation in their strength. More so, it was due to a limitation of the world.

The brothers were able to manipulate space, such as distorting it to seemingly appear in two locations at once. This was similar to taking a sheet of paper and crunching it together - all four corners would end up collapsed on one another, but once the paper was stretched out again, the corners would be back in their original locations.

Nothing, in terms of space, was permanent.

This was simply a reality of their plane of existence. The life energy in their environment simply was not thick enough to permanently support space traversing.

As a result, even if Dylan had traversed to another location from here, they would be able to sense the ripples and follow it.

But here, they sensed nothing.

"Unless…" Matt perked up.

"Unless… did he do it? Did he… ascend?"

Brother Bob's face grew pale.

"Impossible… there's… there's no way he would… or even could." Bob remarked with an incredulous look on his face.

Long ago, when the brother's reached their full potential and had surpassed the level of even the Gods, the universe began rejecting them.

Whenever they released more than 20% of their power, they would feel an unbearable pain assault their bodies, as if the universe itself was trying to tear them apart.

Like all laws, they are governed by that of the universe they exist in. The heavens could not possibly allow a being to exist that was stronger than itself. This was the primary reason that the brothers made a vow and sealed away a portion of their strength, among others…

However, they had noticed another anomaly as well. When the brothers released 30% of their true power, ripples began to appear in the space around them as if a barrier was being shattered. It felt as if they could simply grasp this barrier and tear it apart, unveiling another realm.

The backlash from the heavens, however, was unimaginably painful and had almost killed them.

While never confirmed due to the implausibility of attempting it, the brothers concluded that there existed different planes beyond theirs. Different dimension that likely harbored stronger beings and thicker life aura - a superior realm.

The brothers had discussed this hypothesis in detail many times, and every time concluded that it was impossible to ascend to this superior plane. The backlash of the heavens would be simply too great.

Even with their strength, they would die.

In truth, all 3 of the brothers had long grown bored with this world. Human beings are naturally competitive. They always wish to grow and to evolve. With unmatched power comes a longing to be challenged and given an opportunity to evolve.

As a result, the concept of a higher plane of existence was something that burned them with desire through the years. Just the thought of beings as strong as them, or even stronger, made them tremble with excitement.

But unfortunately it was just not possible…

…Or was it?

Matt has always suspected that out of the 3 of them, Dylan yearned to ascend to the higher realm the most. While all of their strengths were astronomical, it can be said that Dylan was the weakest of the three brothers. As a result, he held a strong desire to surpass the other two.

But how was he to grow stronger if he could not face anybody who could give him a challenge?

Bob's face turned grim.

"While it's unlikely, it's definitely possible knowing him… if we can reveal the barrier in this area we should be able to tell if it's been breached and therefore deduce whether Dylan stepped through or not. We'll have to do it."

Brother Bob analyzed the situation and quickly determined the most plausible act. Although it was possible in theory, it was dangerous nonetheless.

"Agreed - we'll have to do it together so we don't get torn apart by the backlash of the heavens. Splitting the burden should be enough for us to handle." Said Matt.

Brother Bob stretched out his arm towards the old man's village as a ball of blue light formed. It shot up into the sky and shattered into pieces, scattering over the village and seemingly covering it, like snow falling.

"Old man - your village should be fine now. This aura should be enough to ward off any spirit beast for the next thousand or so years. Out of respect for this being where my brother decided to settle down, i've decided to do this."

The old man's face lit up in excitement and he began to praise:

"Then-"

Brother Bob cut him off.

"But, do not allow yourself or your kin to repeat the mistakes of your ancestors. This will not last forever. Relying on the power of others is a fatal mistake. Re-build your village, grow strong yourself and create strength for your future generations."

Bob spoke with a gentle yet dominant tone, seemingly warning the old man of the dangers of complacency.

Bob knew the dangers of attempting to breach the dimension barrier. Even though he and Matt were going to attempt to share the burden, it was still possible they would die.

If that happened, the old man and the survivors from his village would surely be wiped out.

In truth, this was a gift out of respect for the love that this village had likely shown his brother through the many years.

"Yes sir, i'll remember that, and thank you…" the old man knelt on the ground respectfully.

Brother Matt turned towards brother Bob with a solemn look…

"Well, i guess we should get started then…"