There was always a distinction in the essence of understanding our soul. If a soul reaches a higher state, inherent characteristics tend to devolve to higher thinking.

What makes a mortal is its failure, and what makes a god is its perfection.

Which leaves two states of beings, the inferior and the superior.

One filled with empathy and change.

One filled with ambition and purpose.

—Journal of The Seer

Time has passed since the day I felt what it like to be a mortal. I have wandered centuries across the void and seen things beyond mortal comprehension.

I left a trail of swords for the young warriors to follow my ideal wisdom, but here I am standing in the highest heaven, wondering at the frailty of a mere mortal.

I have nothing left but the yearning of the less—worshiped and revered for my prowess.

It’s always been a question from a philosophical standpoint.

What’s in it for a mortal for a god, and what’s in it for a god for a mortal?

***

I still remembered the time when the gods witnessed my arrival towards ascension, their expression was everywhere with their faces telling everything from shocked to fear.

Despite not being a god, my reputation found me everywhere, earning me the title, the Mortal God and the Farseer.

Occasionally, a god would descend from their throne, asking about the angle of their future. Causing me to earn the monicker Farseer. And while many are those who followed in my footsteps, not a single one of them could place their abilities on a par with me when it comes to prediction. Leaving me with an astounding amount of connection from the gods above.

Their fear was well-founded. I was truly untouchable just by the amount of connection I possess. But what gods or mortals have truly known me for was my title, Mortal God.

I have outlived any gods since from the start of an era after the gods have fallen from the skies, which had ushered the mortals with an endless amount of shards resulting of their fall, while also came to known as Divinity taken from the phenomenon from which a god dissipates, leaving a shard in its place.

Each shard possesses the ability to track the progress of the holder as they traverse through their advancement. Its true function is to give the holder certain enlightenment from the previous holder’s knowledge.

And a shard can only called divinity if the holder entirely grasps the knowledge contained within it.

Though a shard, there were many that differed, mainly, each shard has its own ranking.

[Stone shards] shards that contain minuscule amounts of essence within it, but surprisingly huge for a shard and resembles that more of a rock than a shard. It's commonly known to be sold in establishments rich with resources that are occupied by certain individuals, increasing part of their progression depending on the shard.

[Crystal shards] a piece of shards that was scraped from a divinity shard and carries that of 1/5 of a [True Shard] essence and twenty times of a [Stone shard]. Its rarity even surpasses that of a [True Shard] since some of it can be reassembled and turned into a pseudo [Divinity shard].

[True shard] a complete form of its material, guarantees possession of an ability. Skyrocketing their progress to almost 20% depending on the progression the entity specializes with and while leaving 10% of its essence if the entity wishes to reallocate the essence to one of their skills. Its essence is constituted more than five times of its shard.

[Divinity Shard] the highest form of its material as well the origin of gods ascension, once a mortal reaches the pinnacle of their mastery, it materializes into a blue shard, taking its form of a crystal shape. This shard can only be gained if the entity wishes to bestow it or an entity possessing it falls from the sky.

There are countless worlds that gods have taken their slumber and rest their remaining life as god. But In the end, it also reminded me that in a face of death, everyone else is treated the same… a shard.

Unlike any other mortal or gods, I possess a shard special of my own, and not just special, but unique, a Divinity Shard. One that even those gods possess would pale comparison, even for its size. I would wager any divinity shard out there is less than 1/10 of my divinity shard.

As an arcanist researcher, I had traveled countless world filled with treasures and alike, and one of my tasks were to exactly find an anomaly. Being a researcher, my job was to find the source of an unstable Rift which caused some of the Rift Dwellers dimension/dungeons to drift from the system that our universe knew for as [Escalade].

A fortification and control to supervise the rifts to maintain the balance for other sentient beings to delve into.

And this world just happened to be out of the reach of the Escalade. The creatures in it seem to be capable enough to learn the arcane masteries left by the gods. But what really astounded me was that their practice seemed to be focused on circulating the essence from the air rather than absorbing the essence on the shard.

A new circulation of energy, a milestone for essence breakthrough! It was the first thought that came into my mind.

And for a hundred years, I learned the language of species home to this world, its central dominion. Which is known for its control over the knowledge of their essence in all parts of their practice and the central core of their culture.

The Dominion.

Naming after the legend of King Aster. The Asterian Sanctuary. Commemorating the source of their power to the Agrarian Pillar, which houses the Seer Stone.

But as soon as it was discovered, there was no seer stone, only an empty carved shape crystal scraped from the pillar.

Not until I came into presence in front of the Agrarian Pillar. The pillar was responding to one of my divinity shards, and when I had looked closer to it. I realized the pillar was less or more exaggerated in contrast to its legend.

But rather, it was the technology which the Acolytes had already deciphered long ago after the fall.

The fallen gods know it as the [Glade], but the Acolytes prefer its name to be called Shard Reactor.

The Shard Reactor can change to any form according to the master's wishes. But under a premise, the crystal must be capable of harnessing the essence deep inside the divinity, as well as redistributing its essence to different energy, and one of them being Mana and Essence in deciphering the mystery of void.

Once a divinity shard reaches its complete state, the essence in a process will change into a solidified form, with only the exception of the Shard Reactor reversing it into a liquid form.

But this Shard Reactor in front of me, even as an arcane researcher, there’s nothing like it from any reactor I have ever seen. It was brimming with essence and energy, like a blazing flame swirling around it.

Without hesitation, I cast a spell to hide my presence and followed it up with a concealing spell in case of my information regarding my findings would leak to the council. Responding to the reactor, I placed the divinity shard toward it. Afterward, blazing flames swirled to the sky and danced around the divinity, absorbing the flaming energy around it.

[You have awakened unidentified energy from the unknown divinity shard]

Just after the process was about to be done. Though the reactor looked untouched in the eyes of a mortal, it won’t deceive an arcanist's perception to recognize the changes that had just occurred in the area's vicinity. So, out of safety concerns, I left an illusion spell to camouflage the scattered energies drifting around it.

Since then, I have grasped the unique shard that any being would chase for the Destiny shard. And unlike from any divinity shard. I possess certain abilities that, in theory, were impossible to wield. Eternal, Farsight.

The amount of knowledge contained inside it was colossal, even for a god. Leaving no room to achieve its complete state, and instead, only a marginal of its knowledge can only be obtained from it.

Living through the endless passage of time. Not only did I have received the power of eternal life and while gaining an understanding through it, also caused me to form the divinity of death. Granting me the power of death, predicting all the future foreseen events for those who I have touched.

And whose death did I learn it from? It was my death, my death... I laughed at the irony of it, to think that even given with the gift of eternity. I still haven't escaped from the shackles of destiny.

I was haunted by my divinity, nothing but a mortal who has gone beyond the scope of knowledge. But regardless of who I was, it still didn’t change a single thing. I'm still a mortal. I was weak, susceptible to changes, moods, failures, opinions.

Eternity? no, whoever encountered it, deciphering its secrets will only lead you to foresee the events of your death.

But luckily, I have found means to release my spirit in my divinity. Since the essence of the divinity was made from a material upon the death of a god. I have to look through countless knowledge, relieving myself from the shackles that Eternal Shard imposed on me.

And that was to understand and comprehend a divinity of my own.

And for a moment of recluse, I have finally detached myself from the shard. I might have lived a long life, but there are still things that I haven't done yet. I was a researcher, and I am an arcanist. The secrets of the universe are still far within my reach. And for everyone who seeks for the truth, life will always be precious to them, especially as an arcanist.

So there's only one thought on my mind. If I wish to transcend death, I have to awaken as death itself.

My shard might share the name of eternal, but its price was to live your life as a mortal for eternity. A mortal with nothing but endless essence of life and secrets holding the origin of the universe.

And yes, this was the price of my godhood, a power so great that it had come with a price.

So at the end, I have unbind my Spirit form away from the divinity shard, releasing it and hid it in one of my pocket dimension, allowing me to ascend the divinity of death to become a God.

Knowing the secret of the mysteries didn’t let me attain eternal life as a mortal, but what I received instead is the knowledge of my death. Every time I lowered my eyes and sense the crystal beside me, it reminds me of my death.

But In a flash of moment, I suddenly felt a dagger punctured right through my back. As I felt my decaying energy slipped away from my ethereal body. The dagger appeared right in time, hindering my incantations along the process, stopping the eternal shard to be detached from my body.

Responding instinctively, I took the chance to look at the person behind me, and to my surprise, a look of someone familiar appeared in front of me, as it stared deep into my eyes with a glint of greed flicking in its eyes.

“Why, of all people, why you?” I asked, with incredulity hanging on my face.

But soon I realized, right after looking through the look of his eyes. I have seen nothing but a man whose sign of age took its toll on his sanity.

All I needed was a single glance from his face and I could already tell everything he was intending to steal the destiny shard from me and keep it for himself, while killing me along to guarantee his secrets.

He was desperate, desperate to prolong his life.

And without hesitation, I silently constructed a spell in my mind in preparation to seal the destiny shard from another place, while carrying along my spirit form. After the preparation was done, I turned my head to Ragnar, throwing him with time alteration spells to buy myself more time for the spell to be constructed.

Noticing the changes, Ragnar's face turned grim, so without hesitation, he activated his bloodline talent. Dragon transformation. Following up with a roar as its immense body rammed through my defensive array, which I had arranged long ago. Causing me to defend with nothing but to pray for the last array to hold him enough at the end.

Among the many dragon gods, Ragnar was the first god who had ascended among their species after the fall. I witnessed his rise to ascension when I was still a mortal. Cherishing the memories when I was still by his side. As I watched him struggled to transform into a wyrmling and while running around in circles looking for his mother.

Now given with all the current situation. All of that shattered at this single moment, and without any hope of reconciliation.

With all the defensive spells deemed useless from the obvious gap of our levels. In fact, It would have lasted longer if not for the dragon transformation taking its place and ram through all my defensive array.

But even with the odds not in my favor, I still have a trick upon my sleeve.

“What happened to the Fus Koh Dah, Ragnar? I thought it was your favorite memento before transforming,” I said with a smile, hoping that he could still recognize the bond we shared through our memories.

He hesitated for a second, but right after clenching his fist in decision, an immense pressure instantly emerged from his presence, pushing me to the ground.

And within a flash, an aura of death instantly flashed over me, as I saw a hand emerge slowly approaching right in front of me, coming forth to take out my life without a hint of mercy. But right before it reached me, a slight pause of hesitation took over him.

I had bet right... grabbing the chance; I thrust my spell into the sky and evoke the spell that I had prepared for this moment.

May the spirt guide me to the place of end and to its gate

Right after casting the spell, I watched my soul shatter into fragments, drifting into the void. As i watched the fragments of my soul, in a moment of seconds, vanished into the void drifting towards the unknown.

I thought...

In the end, even In the front of death, I was no more than a mortal...