SS #5: The World That Lived

Timelines after timelines died but this is the story of how a timeline lived beyond its destined death.

It all started in August of 2021 when Nazar opened his eyes wide as he sensed a white light of destruction coming like a tsunami.

The light was coming closer, and his body stiffened in the black space.

He clenched his fist as he sucked in a breath.

Nazar narrowed his red eyes and swung his fist forward.

His fist flew through the white light, breaking it into pieces, thus averting the death of his timeline.

The timeline lived.

It survived.

But…

When he flew down to earth, he found the dead bodies of his loved ones.

His body froze, his eyes widened, his chest well up, and his stomach started to bloat, as if he were going to throw up.

"Hrk?!"

He fell to his knees and held his neck tightly.

Everyone he ever loved or the ones who cared for him were killed and their bodies were piled up in front of him.

The bones that were in the wrong place, the guts that were spiraling out of their slender bodies, the blood that were streaming down and dying the world red beneath them.

"Gu-uh-urk!"

The struggle between breathlessness and cry, the struggle between pain and confusion, he was not sure what to do.

He just fell to the ground and let his eyes become moist and burn his skin.

The man who stood at the top struggled to control his emotions without hurting himself.

"W...y…"

The streams of blood coming out of the pile of bodies reached his face.

He had seen a lot of blood in his life. He had destroyed worlds, after all. He had slayed down billions and watched their blood create tsunamis, all while he laughed like a maniac.

But when it happens to him, he lost himself.

"Why…?"

He forced his body to shut down completely.

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December 2028, London:

Inside a train that run high above the ground, he rested his elbow on the cushion of the uncomfortable blue seat. He rested his face on the back of his palm as he turned around and stared out of the window and into the grey foggy city.

"How…?"

After a year passed, his body regained its consciousness and he was over their deaths. He had forced his body to grieve while it was shut off.

"How long has it been…?"

Seven years since they all died.

Everyone he knew was gone.

Everyone he loved was gone.

Everyone who loved him was gone.

Friendless and without a family, he set sail once again on a lonely journey as a human, avoiding contacts with anyone if possible.

He lives alone, he goes to work as a security guard at night, staying away from everyone and hurts himself whenever he gets a chance because being the most powerful being ever did not prepare him for something so simple.

"But why…?"

Why would anyone kill them? Why would someone to this far to hurt him?

He did not need to look deeper to find out the answer to his questions.

He is evil.

He committed evils and ruined people.

Now he is paying the price for it.

Everything has a price. Be it good or bad, everything has a price.

He swallowed his saliva to wet his dry throat as his eyes welled up ever so slightly.

"One day…"

One day he will do what?

Rise up and kill his enemies?

Then what?

Will the pain go away?

Will everything be okay?

No.

Nothing ever will be okay.

It's done.

There is nothing more left to do.

"Why them?" he muttered as a drop of tear fell from his eye and swam on his cheek.

"Was that book so interesting?" an old frail man with white hair sat next to him.

Nazar quickly removed his hand from the cushion of the chair and sat straight as he was talking a lot of space.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized to the old man.

He quickly raised his hand and wiped the tear off his face. He thought he was fast enough to avoid being seen, but the old man saw it and nodded with a soft smile.

"Mm-hmm, don't be shy, it's normal."

"..."

He stared at the old man in front of him.

What does he understand about the struggle he went through?

This old man has been living a good life for the last few decades. What would he understand?

No.

This is what the old Nazar would have thought right before stabbing his hand through the man's chest.

But he, the one right now, he smiled stiffly.

"Indeed, it is as you say, sir."

The old man chuckled as he glanced at the book Nazar was reading.

"Was it the book?"

"Oh, this?" Nazar raised the book and looked at the cover. "Just rereading an old book, I used to enjoy a lot... with a friend. I wanted to see if it felt the same."

"Mm, friends are a treasure, no?"

"Yes, they are," he looked down and nodded with a sad nostalgic smile. "As for this book… It's a light novel called Overlord. Really good."

"What is it about?"

"A man gets transported into the world of a game. He is stuck there are his in-game character, who was a lich, an undead."

"I see… Weird concept."

"Yeah…"

They sat down in silence, not talking for the rest of the journey. After a while, Nazar got up and left the train and slowly walked home.

It was a small home in the middle of a busy and dirty street.

He stood in front of it and stared up to the sky.

I have explored the multiverse yet when I look at the stars, I feel as if I have achieved nothing in my life.

The few stars he could see from behind the grey veil of clouds shone brightly.

In the past he would have raised his hand and touched the stars.

But now… he can't do anything.

I have achieved nothing in my life.

He pinched himself in the thigh to stop thinking and moved forward.

He entered his home, an old broken and cheap home, unbefitting of the Supreme God of Everything.

He entered lazily and lied down on the couch, letting out a long sigh.

And as usual, he moved his hand and reached the table near his head and picked up a photograph.

The photograph was of him and a red-haired beauty with beautiful blue eyes.

"Solace…"

He remembers their first night, not as master and servant, but something more.

He remembers their first night, not as master and servant, but something more.

He remembers her red hair flowing as she moved up and down.

He remembers her beautiful eyes drunk in love.

He remembers her painful moans of pleasure.

He remembers sweet puffs of her warm breath on his ear as she hugged him tightly.

He remembers the soft sensation on his chest.

He remembers her arms around his neck.

He remembers her calling out his name with love.

He remembers this as if it was yesterday.

A yesterday so long gone he can never return to again.

Because the one he truly loved, the only one whom he fell in love with without outside interference, is dead.

She was killed.

She is dead.

And he couldn't bring her back.

"If only…",

Every day, he wakes up in the noon, then leaves for a faraway park, sits down, and reads. Then takes a train back home. He comes home and looks at her photograph for hours, dreaming of the lost days.

Like a madman, when the pain worsens, he stabs himself with a kitchen knife.

Today, it was his right thigh.

"Haaa…" he breathed out, relaxing his body in the kitchen.

Then as usual, he bandaged it and went to work.

Late at night, nobody enters this chemical facility - that shouldn't be in the city, but corporations have their way - so he walks around and around and around, not taking a single break, hoping that this job will break him.

Hoping a chemical would fall on him and kills him.

Or a gangster would come and shoot him up.

Anything…

Anything so he can die.

But why?

He can't die.

He knows that.

So, why? So, why does he do this?

Days passed. And more days passed. And even more.

But he noticed something odd.

Every day, he meets that old man after coming back from the park.

Every day, that old man asks, what is he reading.

Every day, he explains the story of a different book.

Every day, his expression becomes a little softer.

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Years ago:

He regained consciousness where he fell.

The corpses had lost its flesh and were nothing but bones.

The only other thing left from them was the stench, this horrible stench that could knock someone out unconscious.

He stood up.

He looked at them.

He raised his hand.

"Rise," he said slowly.

But they did not rise.

They did not come back from the dead.

"How does it feel to be helpless, God? How does it feel to know you can't change your fate? How does it feel to lose everything?"

He heard a monologue from behind him.

"The Supreme God of Everything… What a joke."

He turned around and saw a man in dark robes and red flaring eyes - X.

"Are you happy now?" Nazar said with his arms spread wide.

"Happy?" X laughed hysterically but for a moment. "HAPPY?!"

He held Nazar by the collar.

"Oh, far from it. I will make you suffer more. And more. And MORE. AND MORE! You will never see the light at the end of the tunnel, you bastard."

"I see…"

"This experiment was a failure. Next one shall--"

Before X could finish, Nazar moved - moved so fast X could not react - and punched him in the chest, breaking it into small pieces and damaging his very existence.

"!!"

"I have become one with my power. There is no more conflict, I will end this right here and now."

"Oh, that won't work, God, because if you were to do that, this world will die and can never be recreated. Unless…"

Nazar was not sure what to do other than stand still and stare at this man.

The confidence he had mustered up a moment ago was starting to splinter.

"Turn off your powers, live for an eternity, and when the day you die - not of suicide, of course, but be killed by someone or something - then the world will enter it's phase of rebirth. I will make sure they live again, sounds like a good deal, no?"

"..."

He didn't have to do what X asked of him.

He didn't need to do that.

He could just kill him right here and be done with it.

The world will be better for it.

"I suppose you could do that" X spoke smugly with a shrug, "but would you risk the ones you love to die forever?"

"..."

"Aha! You could always become omnipotent again and bring them back. How does that sound?"

X did not wait for his answer.

"Wait, never mind."

He stabbed his hand into Nazar's chest, forcing his mind to wish for a state of powerlessness.

"Live and hope you die. The moment you die, your powers will come back and create a chain reaction that will either destroy this world or give birth to a new one. So..."

X's eyes flared once more, lighting up the bright up world red.

"What is your 「WISH」, God?"

"I…"

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January 2029, London:

Once upon a time, London was a beautiful city that was meant to flourish even more beautifully. It was meant to become another utopia next to New York and Tokyo.

But five years ago, Bradley Conglomerates took over the city and turned it into an industrial ground. Nuclear power plants that light up every corner of the world, hub of technology and space stations, and more.

The year changed a moment ago, but there were no celebrations.

No one celebrates anything here.

"Every night I remember another world. Every night I remember another death. Every night I remember another failure."

Nazar leaned back in his old sofa and spaced out.

"When will the trail of blood end?"

He sat down and watched the dirty night sky.

Nothing ever changes.

He can't die.

But does he want to?

What is better?

A world without them or a world with them?

Of course, the latter.

But achieving that is not concrete. He could ruin it all.

"Then what about…"

What about this world?

What about these people?

This world has come far enough, people are happy as it's being pushed towards a better world.

What about them?

Do the other people in this world even matter?

Are humans so worthless? Are the other alien races so worthless they aren't even worth the consideration?

လလလ

Years ago:

"I…"

Nazar narrowed his eyes.

"Let me make it simpler. You have three options," X held out his index finger, middle finger and the ring finger. "Option 1, live here and lose everyone. Or your power return but! That means either everything gets destroyed or a better world is created."

Nazar thought hard about it.

What would Solace do in this situation?

What would Emily do in this situation?

And what would Emma do in this situation?

"But if you kill me, then the option becomes one; the death of everything and more. Not just this multiverse."

"...Huh?" he looked up with an unbelievable expression.

"Doesn't matter. Do you agree with my terms or not?"

"..."

He looked down once more as he thought about X's offer.

"But if you wish to recreate a better world by yourself... I have implanted a bomb that will instead lead to destroy it."

X giggled evilly.

"The only way to ensure your absolute victory is if you take your place as our true God once again."

Nazar clicked his tongue and did not try to think about the last option.

"I agree."

"Great!"

X patted him on the shoulder but Nazar slapped away his hand.

"Know this, whatever happens, I will defeat you. You will lose."

"Cute."

Angry, Nazar shunned away his powers.

However, he did not think about it hard enough.

He did not think what would happen if he turns them off in anger.

"!"

The moment he turned off his power, a large explosion shot outwards, destroying the city of London, and reducing it to ash."

"Haha!"

X contained the power before it destroyed this world and absorbed it.

However, he quickly fell to his knees in pain.

"I knew you would do that, so I poisoned my power. That poison will forever be within you, eating you. You can't remove it."

"Poison, huh…? I will become numb to the pain soon, but yes, it's hard to get rid of it-- Ahhhh!! You have me a neat idea. I should try that one day. Or use someone else to poison you."

"Tch," the powerless Nazar clicked his tongue.

"But this… it's surprising. Something you came up with? Something original? By yourself? I don't believe it."

Nazar rolled his eyes and X narrowed his.

"Do you remember the stories you used to read? The one where an undefeated Demon King ruled the world and could not be felled by anyone. So, they had to summon heroes from other worlds to save them."

X forced his body to stand up.

He found it hard, but he had to stand up.

"You are not the hero of this story. You are that undefeatable Demon King. And me…" X spread his arms wide, even he found it hard in this pain. "I am the hero will put an end to your tyranny."

"..."

"Of course, I am not a good hero. I will use anything to defeat you."

"Your mind is twisted; you do not know what you are talking about."

"Perhaps," X shrugged, " but one thing will never change."

X narrowed his red eyes.

"You are the villain of this story."

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2029:

Days passed and Nazar continued to see that old man.

Every day, he would ask him about different books.

Nazar would talk for a long time, telling him about the many stuff he has read in his lifetime.

Fantasy, sci-fi, action, adventure and more. He would talk passionately about it.

And the old man listened carefully.

At that time, Nazar did not realize one thing.

This was the first time he had gotten this close to someone in a long time.

This was the first time he made connections with normal humans in the many worlds.

In every other world, he had never made connections with ordinary humans.

Every other human he knew was someone special in one way or another. Although he did not count his family because that's different.

"Why…?" he questioned slowly.

Why would this old man listen to him?

Was it because he wanted to waste time while on this long train journey?

Or was there another reason, a grander reason?

“What book are you reading today?”

"This… it's an old book I wanted to read a long time ago but never got the chance. It's called Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan."

"Star Wars, eh?"

The old man nodded as his eyes darted away from the book and stared out the opposite window with a nostalgic smile.

"It's been too long since the first movie, I was just a young man, but I remember as if it was yesterday."

Before Nazar could come up with something to say, the old man continued.

"I did not like the… what-you-call-it-- Ahh, the prequels? Hated those," the man shook his head with a bitter look.

"I see…" Nazar nodded. "Truth be told, that is my favourite era of the franchise."

The old man turned to him in reflex.

"Why?"

"I feel like the world building and lore expansion was fantastic here. Plus seeing a world before it fell into a, uh… I don't know, a dystopia? Either way, it was interesting to see the world in its glory days."

"I see, I see," he clicked his tongue. "But not for me."

"Understandable. In general, I am a huge fan of stories that has a lot of world building. I think it's quite fun. Geo-political and economic centred world building is perhaps the best."

"Well, that's quite an interesting taste in books."

"Is that so?"

The man nodded.

"I also do love stories that focus greatly on expanding powers and showing the science behind it. It helped… me…"

He slowly trailed off as a depressed and pained look overtook his face.

The man wondered what happened but before he could question it, Nazar left the train as it was his stop.

He did not say his farewells to this kind old man, he just run away.

The old man watched him run away but did not understand. He was worried something bad might happen to him.

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Power. Power! POWER!

He hates that.

He hated his power.

Power is nothing but misery.

But at one point, he did his best to understand the science behind powers from fiction so he could use it well. If he had not wasted that long on learning powers, he probably would have been a little weaker.

Of course, that is just a lie he tells himself to sleep better. A way to bring himself down and damn himself further.

Damn it!

He went home and stabbed himself in the hand with a knife.

"Haa…" like a drug addict, he exhaled a long breath blissfully.

The wounds are deep, but they always heal because at the end of the day, he is not a human but a God pretending to be one.

He cannot kill himself but every day, he hopes that something would kill him by accident. He wants to bring about a different world, but the rate of success is low, so he is conflicted.

However, what about this world?

Should he damn everyone here?

And what about that old man? Does he deserve to be killed for the selfish reasons of this one man?

He sat in one place for a whole week without moving while he thought.

For the first time in a long, exceptionally long time, he did not look at Solace’s photograph at night. Not once did he miss looking at her picture, but this week, he dared not even go close to it.

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A week later, Nazar went back to work. He made up a lie about being in an incident and the manager let him off without a warning or asking for proof.

Although he went back to work, he avoided the park and that train route so he wouldn’t meet that man again.

When near that man, for some odd reasons, he feels like he can trust him. He feels like he can tell the old man what has transpired and perhaps, like he saw in all those comics and movies, the old man will give him an answer.

No...

He threw away his thoughts.

The last thing he needs is doing something like that. The last thing he needs is bringing an old man who did nothing into this chaos.

“Huh…?”

Nazar was standing in the station as a train travelled fast in front of him.

The chilly air caused his hair to flap.

“Since when…?”

It has been so long since he trusted any human.

But more than that, it has been so long since he cared for a human.

He did not want this old man brought into his life.

He did not want this old man to also die by the hand of X.

He did not want this old man to suffer for Nazar’s crimes.

“Damn it...” he muttered as he bit his lip in anger.

The door of the train cabin opened.

Nazar walked into it.

Fine, I should avoid looking at him from now on.

However, the train travelled, and he reached his station, but the old man could not be seen anywhere.

The next day, then the day after that and the day after and the day after, he was missing again.

Nazar merely brushed it off as it was unimportant. The old man perhaps changed his train route.

But deep down, there was an ominous feeling dwelling within him.

Weeks passed and the feeling worsened.

Just as he was about to forget about the old man, a middle-aged woman sat next to him and handed him a letter.

“Hm?”

“Are you him?”

Nazar swallowed his saliva as he looked at her as his body stiffened.

He was scared someone had found out about his past.

He was scared someone saw through his current look - black hair, blue eyes, white face with short facial hair and the bone structure has been changed ever so slightly - and found out who he really is.

“W-who?”

“The one my father-- The old man used to talk with?”

“...” Nazar hesitated to answer her. “Yes.”

“He asked me to give you this.”

The woman’s expression saddened.

“He… My father passed away.”

“!!”

Nazar was not sure how to react, so he froze in his place.

Certainly, he did not hate the old man and he did not consider him a stranger, but then what does he feel about the old man?

Did he care about that old man so much that his body froze in one place and started cursing himself?

If it were his old self, he would save him from this bad fate.

Fate…

Humans are weak, they are born weak and they grow frail before they die weak.

It's a fate they cannot change.

“Please read it,” the woman told him.

Nazar nodded and opened the note.

[Hi, I am the old man from the train, but of course you would know that.

In any event, I hope you are doing well, and I wish the best for you in life.

I am sorry but I hid something from you. Something I wish I told you earlier.

I know who you really are. I know that you blew up the city.]

Nazar paused reading as looked around with suspicious eyes.

No one was looking at him. Did anyone ever look at him?

Since WHEN?! He thought anxiously. Did I leave behind clues? What-- How?

[In that blast a few years back, you killed my son.]

His breath got caught in his throat, so he coughed to clear his throat.

Nazar’s face turned red as he struggled to breath or even think.

“What…?”

He massaged his neck as he tried not to think about what he just read.

[He died. His wife and his children too. They were incredibly young, school age.]

Nazar scratched his forehead.

“What did...” he muttered in a broken voice.

In this timeline, he has killed many people, but not once has he harmed a child directly. He also tried his best not to harm them indirectly.

He might be a terrible man, but he still had a few rules. Surprisingly.

[You killed them all. But I don’t hate you. I don’t. Well, that is wrong. I hated you at first. I wanted to kill you if I ever saw you. Then I did. I saw through your veil. But seeing you weep like that… the hate seemed to have vanished.

Talking with you, I realised you are paying for your crimes.

The pain and suffering are apparent on your face, so I wanted to free you from that.]

Nazar stood up abruptly with wide eyes, so wide it seemed it would fall from its sockets.

[You seem like a good man and that might have been an incident, so...

I forgive you.]

Nazar raised his hand to cover his mouth.

He found it even harder to breathe, but he wanted to avoid letting out a sound.

The shock and horror on his face was apparent, but no one looked at him - as usual.

[So, it’s time to stop hurting yourself.

Maybe you hid it well, but when you raise your hand, the cuts can be seen.

As I s̶a̶i̶d̶-- wrote earlier, I forgive you. Stop hurting yourself--]

Before he could finish reading the letter, someone appeared behind him and looked at the letter over his shoulders.

“Oof, that’s not good.”

Nazar’s body jerked as he took a step forward and looked back.

A man in black robes was standing behind him - X.

Worried, Nazar looked at the people. He was worried they would get hurt. He did not realise he was feeling like this towards humans.

“What happened…?”

The world around him was frozen.

He and X were the only people who could move.

“That old man...” he clicked his tongue with a shake of his head. “Such a shame.”

“!!”

Nazar narrowed his eyes.

“What did you do to him?”

“Nothing~” X shrugged while whistling happily.

“Stop LYING TO ME!” Nazar snapped at X. “DID YOU DO ANYTHING TO HIM?”

“No,” someone else teleported behind him.

She had long silver hair and glowing purple eyes.

In her hand, she was holding a black glowing sword. A glowing black sword shouldn’t make sense in this world, but this was the Queen of Virrasil, the one who once had Null as her slave.

Without saying another word, she stabbed the sword, 「Void Blade」 into his back and it came out of his chest.

Humans are weak and they are not important to the cosmos, but they are important to the people around them. The way Emma was to me. The way mom was to me.

Nazar’s vision was flickering.

The next moment, he would die, and his powers would return.

Then…

If I choose to damn this world, what happens to all of them?

“What is your wish, God?” X sneered down on him. “Will you damn everything or give birth to a better world?”

What would Solace want me to do? What would Emma want me to do? What about mom? And Emily? And...

His vision started to blacken.

Just a moment and it will all end.

What about this old man?

“I am getting bored, so give me an answer.”

What…

At the last moment he had one thought.

A thought he never had before.

What did he really want for this world?

What was his wish for it?

What would I choose?

Nazar’s vision turned pitch black.

It meant one thing the end of the world nears.

"I…"

Light came into his eyes.

Power came into his body.

His hair turned white once again.

His eyes turned crimson red.

His face structure returned to normal and that silly facial hair was gone.

I could have stopped the first cataclysm but didn't because I was wishing for a better world.

"I failed."

With a white light coming to wash away the universe, Nazar stood still and spoke in a broken voice.

"I failed to create a better world for them. For myself."

"Well, of course."

"But no more, you hear me?" He looked at X with serious eyes. "NO MORE!"

He touched the Void Blade and it changed.

The darkness was answering to the new master.

The sword changed direction and it shot out of his chest and into the Queen, killing her.

X giggled as he watched her die.

"Your days are numbered. This white light? The memory wiping? IT WILL NOT GO AWAY! I WILL SURVIVE!"

"Cute."

"I will survive. This me, the real me, this one will travel through the death and destruction and survive. This me, right here, will be the fall of you. This me, right here, will make sure to defeat you no matter what the price I will pay for."

X blew a raspberry in a state of boredom after he yawned.

"I will become someone who won't follow your path--"

"Hehe," X laughed victoriously. "I have seen the future. Your other self will follow my plan like a pawn. Oh, and the Dragon's too."

Nazar's body twitched once he heard the name of that mysterious being

"He will follow our plans and no matter what he does, he will not stray away. Because emotions is a weakness you have. You care too much about… Well, only about five people, but still, too much."

"Then I will throw away these emotions if I have to. I will defeat you!"

"Meh, I don't see it."

The white light came ever closer, just centimetres away.

Nazar was sure he could win.

But…

X smiled thinly.

"You have already lost."

The white light hit Nazar, destroying his soul and body, and revealing his existence.

This existence, which was bigger than anything, X struggled to move it, but he did it anyway. He pushed it and put it in the past body of Nazar.

And thus, a new timeline began.

The last one.

The current one.

And this Nazar… he failed.

လလလ

"Siiiiigh, I will make sure no one remembers this world except…"

X looked up at the sky, looking beyond the blue veil and into the unknown.

The darkness stared back at him, but his gaze was so powerful, even the darkness whimpered away.

Behind the infinite darkness, a sliver of light was hiding itself to stay unseen, but it seems, it was too late. But did the man really see it? Or was he imagining it?

"Dragon, it's time to reveal yourself. I have put you in a position where you can no longer hide."

The Dragon, nowhere to be seen, did not respond.

But X did not care.

He knew. He knew that the Dragon heard him.

"Let's begin the final round of our chess game."