Chapter 184: The Echo of Before-Time

The air grew heavier as Jin and the old man ventured deeper into the temple's heart. The narrow corridors opened into a grand chamber—vast and silent, as though time itself held its breath. Smooth obsidian walls shimmered faintly with ancient runes, and at the center stood a door unlike any other. Towering and arched, its surface glimmered with patterns resembling galaxies locked in eternal spiral.

The old man stopped.

"This is it," he said, voice soft and reverent. "The Final Door of the Temple of Tumaru."

Around them, the chamber was decorated with towering sculptures—some monstrous, some divine—and a series of paintings that lined the curved walls. Jin's eyes were drawn to one painting in particular. Unlike the others, it radiated a strange warmth. It depicted a woman with purple hair and amethyst eyes, standing atop a spiral tree that held realms within its branches.

"Who is she?" Jin asked, stepping closer.

The old man smiled, the lines on his face deepening. "That is why I brought you here. To tell you the story that existed before time itself—the story that birthed everything."

"Long ago, before the concept of time, a Silver King rose to the throne of reality. But power brought corruption. Blinded by conquest, he waged the First War. From him, the concepts of war, greed, and pride were born. His madness threatened the integrity of all existence.

"Yet, just as he reached the brink, he realized the horror of his actions. Though too late to undo them, he made one final sacrifice. From his remorse and broken purity, a new being was born—a woman with hair like dusk and eyes like starlit amethyst.

"Her beauty was not mere flesh, but balance incarnate—an embodiment of harmony between opposing truths: chaos and order, birth and death, love and wrath. She was the first to understand that beauty is not perfection, but the reflection of the universe's contradictions held in unity.

"She created the True Heavens, not as a weapon, but as a refuge from ambition. Unlike the Silver King, she did not dominate the Cosmos—she nurtured it. She birthed monarchs and overlords to watch over realms. Among her first children were Solmiras and Xavier she is the first True Elder God.

"But she also inherited a prophecy. One spoken by her creator—the Silver King himself: 'One day, your children will repeat my sins. And only one shall be born to choose the cycle's fate. Your sacrifice will guide him. Your love will anchor him.'

"And so, she scattered her soul, willing to become lost, just to find him when the time was right."

The old man's voice trailed off. Then he turned to Jin with a deep gaze.

"What if," the old man asked, "when she shattered her soul, it became two fragments? What if those fragments now guide the one she was meant to protect? And what if… they fell in love with him?"

Jin stared at the painting in silence.

"And if one day," the old man continued, "he finds out that the one he loves was never truly 'human,' but the essence of the very cosmos—would he still love her?"

Jin's eyes softened.

"He would love her more," he whispered.

"Because love isn't bound to shape or origin. He wouldn't love her because she was human. He would love her because of her kindness, her strength, her pain, her longing. Even if she was born from divinity, her choice to walk with him—through fire, through sorrow—is what makes her real. He would not only love her. He would honor her."

The old man remained silent for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

Jin turned toward the pedestal in the middle of the chamber, where a radiant crystal pulsed. "What is this?" he asked.

"That," said the old man, "is the Origin Crystal. It holds the DNA of the Firstborn—beings that lived before the Dawn of Time."

He waved his hand, and a glowing hologram of symbols appeared in the air:

1. Purple – Nocturnal

2. Crimson – True Demon

3. Golden – Spirit Beast

4. White – Lunar Praiser

5. Emerald Green – Pillars

"The Dawn of Time," the old man explained, "was the moment when the fabric of cause and effect began. Before that, the first races existed without past or future. They are the beings who walked first on the surface of Vast Expansion."

Jin furrowed his brow. "How were these races created through the crystal?"

"Through fusion with personification of the creation."

Jin asked again, "What are their powers?"

The old man hesitated. "Each race holds unique dominion. But the Nocturnal Race, the one bound to this purple crystal… they have no innate powers. That is why they were the first to fall."

He picked up the purple crystal and pressed it into Jin's palm.

"But this… will help you."

As soon as Jin touched it, light engulfed him. He felt his body vanish—he was drifting in air, a spirit beyond time. He gazed below and saw a colossal battlefield. Monarchs and their armies clashed with Overlords in a cataclysmic war. The sky itself bled light.

He saw corpses piled like mountains. The Overlords were falling.

Then... a rumble. A purple flame ignited across the sky. A lone rider descended—his black armor ablaze with violet fire. His horse galloped on flames, and when he spoke, the dead rose.

"Emerge," the figure said, voice thunderous.

Even the fallen Overlords stood once more.

"That's… Zenex," Jin realized.

Zenex charged. Alone, he ravaged monarch after monarch. Only two stood in his path: Zhel-vorah and Aurevian.

Aurevian, with beauty forged by eternity, engaged him. Their battle tore realms asunder, but in time, she defeated. Then came Zhel-vorah. Their clash shattered space. Zenex struck a searing wound across his face—but Zhel-vorah overpowered him. When he tried to kill his son.

Then a booming voice echoed—Solmiras.

"I am ashamed that I am your creator. My mother created me and I created such a disgrace," he thundered.

"I will sacrifice myself to show my loyalty and forgive my sins to my mother… to protect the world from what you all will become."

A black tornado formed, a monstrous tempest born from Solmiras' final sacrifice. It devoured monarchs and overlords alike. Only Zenex and Aurevian barely endured. In her final breath, Aurevian sacrificed herself to halt the tornado's path. Then Zenex sealed Solmiras… using the purple crystal.

The vision ended.

Jin gasped, stumbling back. The crystal pulsed softly in his hand.

The old man stood before him.

"Now," he said, "the past has spoken to you. The question is—what will you do with it?"

Jin looked down at the crystal, then up at the ancient painting of the purple-haired woman.

"I will carry them all," he whispered. "And I will not break."