A land without life
Chapter fourteen : a land without life
Caelum sat hunched over the long bronze table, his head propped up by one hand as he scrawled notes into a thick book. flipping through the pages of a thick book, caelum sighed.
The once-empty white room had become his workspace, scattered with notes, diagrams, and rough sketches of theories. His hand moved steadily as he jotted down calculations, refining the concepts behind the world he planned to create.
His other hand twirled a pen absentmindedly as his eyes darted across the pages, after what felt like an eternity, he finally dropped the pen and rolled his shoulders.
Another deep sigh escaped him as he stretched, his back cracking from the hours spent hunched over.
"That took way too long." His muscles tensed, then loosened, a deep relief settling into his limbs.
"Damn," he muttered, rolling his shoulders. "How can making rough sketches take forever."
"I feel like someone clocking out of a grueling shift." Caelum muttered rubbing the back of his neck as he stood up from the chair.
"Even though planning out a proper world took more effort than expected," caelum looked across the table with the look of dedication.
"Now that the groundwork is properly laid out, it is time to start executing."
He pushed himself up from the chair, shaking off the stiffness in his limbs. His fingers traced the surface of the table absentmindedly before reaching for the quill, after grabbing his beloved quill, He stepped toward one of the two windows he had drawn earlier.
Gazing out into the vast expanse of the cosmos. Caelum felt an indescribable feeling, the white room drifted like a lone island in an ocean of stars, floating in silence. It felt distant yet oddly peaceful.
The white room was like an isolated sanctuary amidst the expanse of nothingness.
Caelum lifted the quill and pressed its tip against the air, letting his willpower flow outward.
"Let's tweak the room first, it needs more functions."
With a single stroke, a pulse ran through the walls. A barely perceptible vibration rippled across the floor, as if the space itself acknowledged the change.The connection had been established now, all he needed was intent.
A low hum vibrated through the floor beneath his feet, subtle but noticeable, the space was responding to his command.
He thought about exiting.
Instantly, his body shifted. The white walls faded from view, and without a single movement, he found himself outside, weightless in the cosmos.
He turned back to look at the room, now a floating, glowing mass in the void.
Rubbing his chin, he nodded in approval. "This should make things a lot easier."
Efficiency was key. The last thing he needed was to waste energy every time he wanted to step outside.
He let out a deep breath, then closed his eyes."From now entering and exiting will be a hell of a lot easier."
For some reason caelum looked proud." for my lazy ass, redefining the entrance so I can enter and exit with just a thought is a damn good idea."
But his lighthearted mood quickly faded as he refocused. His expression hardened, his grip tightening around the quill. 'time to get serious.'
Closing his eyes, he slowly raised the quill, his hands steady despite the excitement surging in his chest.
When his eyes snapped open, his willpower surged.
A massive wave of energy pulsed out of his body in an instant, invisible yet powerful, like a tidal force breaking free of its restraints.
With a single stroke, energy poured from him, shaping into intricate geometric lines in the air. Each movement of his hand left behind translucent markings, layered upon one another, forming a grand design. The complexity grew, lines twisting and bending, connecting into something vast and intricate.
His vision blurred slightly, the complexity of it all made his head spin but he kept going.
His fingers trembled from the sheer strain of maintaining precision. When the final stroke was complete, he released the quill.
As Caelum let go Everything locked into place.
A wave of exhaustion slammed into him like a brick wall. His knees wobbled, and a deep dizziness took over. A sharp breath left his lips as his body struggled to stay upright.
His face twisted in discomfort, the weight of willpower depletion pressing down on him like an anchor.
"Shit..."
His expression twisted—a mix of dizziness and pure relief. A thin layer of sweat coated his forehead, his breathing ragged.
As his eyes were slowly adjusting, the empty void below was no longer empty.
A faint glow illuminated the darkness beneath him.
Caelum looked down with his eyes widened.
The once-empty void was no longer empty. Beneath his feet, vivid green fields, rolling hills, and scattered clusters of trees forming naturally across the terrain, sprouting into existence.
The landscape expanded outward, stretching far beyond his immediate vision. The landscape unfolded continuously, expanding beyond what he could immediately see.
It was no mere patch of dirt. This was an actual landmass.
Caelum could feel it growing, shaping itself according to the definitions he had laid down. Though it wasn't big, The stretch of land beneath him was roughly 800 square kilometers, comparable to a large national park.
As He took a long, steady breath, staring at what he had just made, He felt gravity return.
THUD.
His body dropped, the weightless sensation vanishing as his feet met solid ground. The impact sent a dull ache through his legs, before he could react, he landed with a heavy thud.
"Ow—fuck!"
He groaned, lying flat on his back, staring up at the sky. The exhaustion lingered, but a small, incredulous smile crept onto his lips.
"That… was draining as hell."
He dragged a hand down his face, catching his breath. 'The last time i had exhausted my willpower like this was when i didn't breakthrough the willpower cap, but this..'
"This was like getting sucked dry in an instant."
After a few moments, he slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. The wind rustled through the grass, the leaves on the trees swayed gently, it was all real.
But when he looked up, his expression hardened.
The light existed but there was no visible source, As if it were daytime, but there was no sun in sight. no celestial body casting shadows—just a luminous expanse pretending to be a sky.
His jaw tensed.
"This feels off," he muttered.
'Sure enough, i have defined the space to be bright as day, but looking at it now, it feels artificial.' caelum felt like he was Missing something fundamental.
'Without a proper day-night cycle, this place didn't feel like the real world. It feels more like a simulation.'
On instinct, he lifted a hand, watching the way the light hit his skin. There were no directional shadows, no change in intensity. The illumination was flat and unconvincing.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"I really half-assed that, huh?"
With a tired sigh, he pushed himself up, hands resting on his knees before he straightened. His limbs still felt weak, but he ignored the fatigue.
"Hah."
Taking slow steps forward, he walked through the land he had created.
The grass beneath his feet rustled lightly. The air, though artificially crafted, carried the illusion of a natural breeze. Every sense registered this place as real, yet he knew better.
Without a doubt It was just the start, he still had a lot to refine.
With his hands in his pocket, caelum walked. "The sky needs a proper day-night cycle. A functional world couldn't rely on a fixed brightness, ugh it feels, lifeless?"
His lips pressed into a thin line.
"I'm going to need a damn sun and moon."
The sky needed fixing. The lighting needed a proper source. There were too many missing elements for this to be called a true world.
His mind churned with ideas as he took in his surroundings, mentally sorting through the changes that needed to be made.
As he felt the air, the wind hit his skin—He couldn't help but smile.
"It still feels quite nice here"
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As Caelum walked across the landscape he had created, his steps were slow and deliberate. The world around him stretched far and wide, rolling hills, fields of green, scattered trees. But, the further he walked, the more he noticed something unsettling.
'Everything lookes the same' because caelum had a relaxed walk around the land, he noticed the biggest flaw he wouldn't have otherwise.
'Every tree, though slightly different in shape, shares the same color, ugh even the same texture?' he started noticing more and more with each passing second.
The hills repeated in near-identical slopes, the grass lacked variation, and there were no small rivers or changes in terrain. It was as if someone had copied and pasted the land without adding the finer details that made nature feel alive.
His fingers brushed against the bark of a tree. It was solid, real to the touch, but the more he observed it, the more artificial it felt. It had no knots, no signs of weathering, no imperfections that made a tree unique.
His lips pressed into a thin line.
"This feels… kind of hollow."
He continued walking, moving through the hills, letting his gaze wander. There was no sound beyond his footsteps, no rustling of leaves, no distant chirping of birds, no hum of insects.
"Even the air doesn't seem to carry any scent" caelum muttered to himself like he usually does, looking around as he felt no warmth from the unseen sun, no moisture from an absent river.
It felt like an abandoned stage. A place meant to be a world, but with none of the elements that gave a world its soul.
His expression was a battlefield, as he stopped atop a hill, overlooking the land below.
"mmmmmmm, Probably because there's nothing alive here."
His own voice sounded strange in the silence.
He let out a deep sigh, running a hand through his hair. "This isn't a world, it is more of just a huge plot of land."
Caelum wasn't wrong, as it looked like a large, lifeless canvas waiting to be filled, and yet, the more he thought about it, the more contradictions he noticed.
With another slow exhale, he turned on his heel and, with a simple thought, willed himself back.
In an instant, the empty land vanished from his sight. The white walls of his room within the cosmos replaced the endless greenery, and he found himself standing in front of the long bronze table.
"Haah~"
As soon as he was in the white room, caelum sank into the chair, threw the quill on the table and leaned forward with his elbows on the surface, fingers interlocked as he stared at the notes he had written earlier.
Everything about this so-called "world" was wrong.
It existed and that's all, it lacked the fundamental pieces that made existence meaningful.
There was light, but no sun to create it.
There was land, but no ecosystem to sustain it.
There was air, yet nothing that required it to survive.
He drummed his fingers against the table.
"I wanted to create an environment that mimics life, but... there's nothing here that should allow it to exist naturally." with a complicated look caelum looked away from the notes.
"The contradictions sat at the center of everything. It's just functioning because of the quill's power."
His gaze dropped to the quill resting beside his notebook. Even if he wanted to fix these issues now, he could feel the limits of his willpower pressing against him.
'my reserves are running low.' caelum rubbed his temples, leaning back in his chair.
"I can't think straight anymore."
Pushing himself to his feet, he stretched his arms above his head before letting them drop to his sides. There was no point in forcing his mind to keep working when his body was already running on empty.
With another simple thought, his surroundings melted away.
The white room slowly faded, then the cosmos washed away as if being erased by a paint washer.
Then soon weightless feeling of floating vanished.
"Huh?"
When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted with the familiar scent of his room, he was back home.
"Is it already night time?"
The familiar sight of his apartment greeted him—the darkness that filled his room, the slightly bright light of the moon passing through his window, messy desk and the bed left unmade.
Everything felt small compared to the vastness of the place he had just left, but at the same time, there was a strange sense of comfort in returning.
Letting out one last breath, he turned the lights on and dragged himself toward the bed, feeling the exhaustion settle deep in his bones as he glanced at the clock.
12:35.
Even if time didn't exist inside the painting, the time in the outside world went by.