Chapter 28: HP World mysteries III

Noah remained silent for a moment longer, gazing at the horizon without haste. Then he slowly turned his head toward Death.

"What if I decided to cross over?"

The hooded figure didn't respond immediately. She seemed to hesitate. It lasted only a second, but it was enough for Noah to notice.

"You don't want to answer," he said, unsurprised. "That's fine."

He calmly raised a hand and spoke the true name again—this time, with intent.

The reaction was immediate.

Death collapsed to her knees, her body trembling. She didn't scream, but her hands clutched at her chest, as if something invisible was tearing her apart from within.

Noah waited.

After a few seconds, the trembling ceased, and the figure slowly stood again. Though she had no face, her voice was now softer.

"You cannot go," she finally said. "You are a physical being. The afterlife is not a place you can walk into or access through portals. It is a purely spiritual plane. Only souls can cross that threshold."

Noah narrowed his eyes.

"But you have a body."

"I am an exception. My bloodline originated in the afterlife. I wasn't created in this plane. That's why I can exist in both—though only briefly. My structure is different. You, on the other hand… are made of matter. Entering the afterlife with your body would be like trying to swim through fire."

Noah nodded slowly. He didn't seem disappointed—only thoughtful.

"Then it's a fundamental difference in nature," he murmured. "Not just a dimensional barrier, but an incompatibility of existential states."

Death said nothing.

Noah stayed silent a little longer, pondering, before speaking again.

"You may go," he said without looking at her. "Return to the afterlife."

After a brief pause, he spoke once more.

"Before you go… bring me your race's records. I want to see them for myself."

Death hesitated for only an instant, then nodded faintly. She raised a hand, and in the air before her, several dark scrolls bound with ancient seals materialized. Leaving them before Noah, she vanished without another word.

Noah was left alone, standing atop the mountain.

He placed one hand in his pocket and closed his eyes for a moment as he considered his next steps.

Looking at the scrolls, he waved his hand and stored them away before leaving the mountain.

Hours later, Noah sat at his desk. The table before him was covered in notes, quills, and a dozen sheets in various stages of translation.

The scrolls Death had given him were written in a dead language—filled with symbols and arcane structures that didn't correspond to any modern magical system.

But Noah had no trouble with it and simply began translating.

Each translated sentence was written down in a notebook beside him.

Several hours passed in silence.

When he finished, he leaned back in his chair, studying the lines of translated text.

As his eyes scanned the words and symbols, the truth began to crystallize in his mind.

The contents were both revealing and terrifying.

The most ancient and powerful creatures—those that had once ruled the worlds through their magic—possessed a deep understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe.

These races, upon reaching a certain level of power and knowledge, were able to perceive and manipulate the very laws that governed existence.

Each law was a fundamental force, and those who mastered them held the power to alter reality.

But such laws were not easily controlled, and only the wisest could even attempt to fully comprehend them.

Noah understood clearly that the most powerful races didn't merely understand magic—they could perceive and wield cosmic laws:

the Law of Life,

the Law of Death,

and the Law of the Soul.

These three laws formed the fabric of the afterlife, the spiritual plane where souls went after life.

The Law of Life allowed souls to be born and find purpose,

the Law of the Soul ensured they could exist and evolve,

and the Law of Death destroyed them once their cycle ended—allowing for new souls to be created.

All was interconnected in an eternal cycle that maintained the universe's balance.

But the ambition of the Reapers, a race older and more powerful than the others, led them down a dangerous path.

They were the native guardians of the afterlife, but their hunger for power drove them to attempt something far greater.

According to the records, the Reapers didn't just protect the balance between souls and the afterlife; they sought to transcend the very laws that governed existence.

Their plan was a dark ritual that channeled the Law of Death, attempting to imprint it onto the bloodline of the Reaper King—their ruler—allowing him to evolve beyond anything imaginable: into an entity powerful enough to steal one of the universal laws.

The ritual was meant to alter the nature of the afterlife itself, making the Law of Death far more active.

The Reaper King hoped that by doing so, he could not only transcend the limits of his species but also gain absolute power—free from the constraints of the universe's laws.

But at the critical moment, when the Reaper King was about to achieve his goal, something unexpected happened.

The Universal Will—that abstract force that maintained balance—sensed the imminent danger.

The "eye in the sky," as the records called it, perceived the anomaly the Reaper King was about to cause.

If the ritual succeeded, the Reaper King wouldn't just become a being beyond its control—he would alter the universe's very foundation.

The cosmic authority would not allow such defiance.

In a desperate act, it destroyed the cocoon where the Reaper King was undergoing his transformation, halting him before he could reach his goal.

But it didn't stop there.

To ensure nothing like this could ever happen again, the Universal Will decreed that the bloodlines of all magical races would slowly degenerate.

The magic of all powerful beings began to fade with each generation, leading to the extinction of nearly every ancient race.

Those who had once been gods and monsters, wielders of unimaginable power, were reduced to mere echoes of their former selves.

The Reapers, the race responsible for the tragedy, were nearly wiped out in less than a century.

All but one.

Death, the last of her kind, was left alive.

As a reminder of her race's failure, she was bound to the afterlife and condemned to eternal service.

The Universal Will made her immortal—tasked with managing the flow of souls and preserving balance—but without the power or freedom the Reapers once held.

Death, immortal and bound to the afterlife, became a mere guardian—a shadow of what her race once was.

Noah closed the records with a serious expression, processing the magnitude of what he had learned.

The war, the ritual, and the intervention of the Universal Will had forever altered the fate of magical races.

And yet, all of this knowledge was now within his reach.

"So… all of this—the races, the bloodlines, magic… it was all a consequence of the Reapers' ambition," he murmured.

"And now, magical creatures are doomed to fade, while the afterlife remains unchanged."

The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in his mind.

The Universal Will would not allow the balance to be broken again—but Noah was already beginning to see a path forward,

a way to change that fate,

to restore lost bloodlines…

or even transcend the laws themselves, just as the Reapers had once tried.

His gaze hardened as his mind began to form a new plan.

"This world… has far more potential than I originally believed."

With renewed determination, he rose from his chair.

He knew that his next step would be crucial—

for he was about to undergo a process that would change him forever.