Chapter 101: The 5th Dimension!

5th Dimension… Omni Prison…

Josh Aratat awoke to silence—the kind of silence that had weight, as if it pressed down on his chest like gravity.

He opened his eyes to a place so strange, so alien, that even his imagination struggled to comprehend it.

He was inside what could only be described as a prison cell, but not one like those found in the human world. This cell was built from smooth, white marble, polished to such a degree that it shimmered like a mirror under invisible light. The floor reflected not just his body but fragments of thoughts—phantoms of memories he hadn't even remembered having.

The walls were seamless, the corners unnaturally perfect. There were no bars, no visible locks, and yet, there was no exit.

Josh tried walking to the edge. A few steps in and the shimmer would ripple, not unlike water, and then reject him gently but firmly. He was trapped—freely mobile within confinement, like a bird in a sky-shaped cage.

He glanced outside.

What he saw stole his breath.

Rows upon rows of similar cells stretched out like an endless sea of penitence, each one glowing faintly in hues of muted violet and green. The structure resembled a coliseum turned inside out, with no visible sun, yet all was bathed in an ethereal glow. Suspended walkways spiraled in all directions, defying gravity, disappearing into portals and geometries that should not exist.

And in the cell adjacent to his left, he saw it—a python, enormous and coiled, its scales shifting in colour like oil on water. The creature's sheer size could flood its cell with coils, but then it would shrink, tighten, morphing into the form of a tall, sleek human woman with eyes like glistening emerald blades.

She was not beautiful in the way mortals understood beauty—she was terrifyingly divine.

The serpent's voice came smooth and musical, slithering into Josh's cell like a whisper from deep waters.

"Young man... I like you," she said, her voice stretching vowels with serpentine grace. "You sit still, composed. Not many do that when they first arrive here. No panic... no denial... It's as if you belong."

Josh said nothing. His expression was unreadable. His hands rested calmly on his knees, his back straight as if sitting on a throne rather than in a cage.

The serpent goddess narrowed her gaze slightly, intrigued and annoyed in equal measure.

"My name is Avalon. Serpent Goddess of Reversions. Eons ago I was worshipped on sixty continents across four worlds. Now… I cannot even remember how long I've been here."

She shifted again—into her full human form this time. Hair black as void, lips painted like crimson sin, and skin that shimmered faintly like pearl touched by moonlight.

"That cell you're in," she said, pointing with an elegant finger, "belonged to the Trickster God himself. I'm guessing... he tricked you into taking his place, didn't he?"

She chuckled—soft, but laced with venom.

"What a bummer."

Still, Josh did not move.

Avalon frowned, folding her arms beneath her chest.

"What are you? A monk? A mute?" Her tongue flicked out for just a moment—forked, inhuman, betraying her true nature. "Or are you just meditating on your pitiful doom?"

But Josh's silence was not born of despair.

It was focus.

Calculation.

A storm being folded into a single drop of still water.

Avalon suddenly leaned in closer to the edge of her cell, studying him with more respect.

"No... You're waiting. Planning."

"Interesting…"

The glint in her eyes darkened, as if some ancient part of her stirred. She licked her lips unconsciously.

"Be careful, young dragron. This place eats hope the way I used to eat sacrifices—whole."

The 5th Dimension was a place whispered of only in the most forbidden tomes, a realm so far removed from the natural order of things that even the gods tiptoed around its edges.

It was not made for mortals.

It warped laws, twisted truths, and fed on essence.

Here, a massive prison spanned the horizon—a gargantuan lattice of interlocked planes, pillars of glowing energy, and prison cells crafted not from iron, but from concepts.

Some were forged with guilt, others bound by shame, and a few—like Josh's—fashioned from balance and exchange. For every soul that left the 5th Dimension, another must enter. And now, Josh Aratat was that offering.

But this was only one side of the realm.

The other?

A land so deceptively lush it was often mistaken for paradise. But crawling through that seemingly idyllic land were ants—colossal, intelligent, and tirelessly industrious. These creatures did not sleep, did not hunger, and did not differentiate between living matter and stone. If they came across anything that wasn't one of their own, they repurposed it as building material.

Flesh. Bone. Soul.

Mountains were not made of rock in that place.

They were built from lives.

Josh understood now why so many feared being cast into this realm. Escape was rare, and most who entered… were forgotten.

Josh sat silently on the cool, gleaming white marble of his prison. His cell was minimal—no shadows, no corners, no noise—yet it was suffocating in its perfection. The shimmering floor reflected not just his image, but the world outside, distorted like dreams seen through smoke.

To panic would change nothing.

So he didn't.

Instead, he crossed his legs and continued to meditate.

He had spent the first hour trying to summon David Stormborn, the kingly system interface avatar, but nothing came. The system was silent, and that was unsettling. Josh had always relied on it like a second brain, but here, in this lawless layer of existence, it felt like a signal lost between worlds.

Still, his heart didn't flutter with fear.

What would fear solve? Nothing.

So he focused his thoughts. Breathed deeply. Let the quiet sharpen his instincts like a whetstone. Every second counted.

Avalon in all her beauty would never have thought that a human she met eons later could completely ignore her.

Next door, Avalon, the Serpent Goddess of Reversions, watched him intently. She slithered and hissed, morphed into her enchanting human form again, lips red as blood and eyes that could slice a man's soul in two.

She expected worship.

She expected fear.

But Josh gave her neither.

It infuriated her—and intrigued her.

"You ignore a goddess?" she asked, her tone both seductive and sharp. "When I walked the Earth, men offered kingdoms for my smile… and screamed prayers while I devoured their hearts."

Josh didn't flinch.

Avalon narrowed her eyes, folding her arms. No arrogance. Just stillness.

She hadn't seen such poise in eons.

She hissed softly.

"You're not from any bloodline I know… and yet you sit as though you carved this cell yourself. Who are you?"

But Josh said nothing.

The silence was deafening.

Not emptiness—but deliberate silence.

A weapon in its own right.

The 5th dimension was a scary place...

In this realm, balance was everything.

Through time, powerful beings had risen across dimensions—humans who wielded titanic magic, who bent the elements and shattered the limits of mortality. But nature had its rules.

For every god with no end, there had to be a man with too short a lifespan to serve as his nemesis.

For every immortal who grew mad with time, there was a mortal who burned bright and brief, snuffing out injustice before disappearing into history.

Josh was part of that order.

A man given terrifying strength.

But he knew—without control, even power was meaningless.

And so, here he sat.

Waiting. Listening. Calculating.

The game had changed.

And Josh Aratat was already two moves ahead.