Chapter 318: Time Is... Weird (2)

Akasha wasn’t in any hurry to go out looking for something to occupy himself with, mainly because, as always, whenever an anomaly arose, someone would eventually show up to investigate.

So, while he waited for someone to arrive and attempt to bring order to this universe, he turned his attention instead to the Goddess of the Eternal Hour.

The situation involving Sunya was no mystery to Akasha, and he had already explained it to Nara in a subtle way after her evolution.

Right now, the simplest way to put it was that Sunya existed in the future.

Back then, both Akasha and Sunya were technically responsible for an Incursion.

It was known that Akasha had shown her a dream—not implanted, but merely presented—a beautiful oasis created for the Elves.

At the time, he had no ulterior motives; in truth, it was an imitation of a World Tree he had always heard about in stories, crafted to offer comfort.

Never in a million years would he have imagined that such a vision would not only stay with Sunya for years to come but also lead to the birth of the number one ranked physique in all of existence.

However, even knowing she was in the future, he couldn’t travel there himself at this point, as he had yet to comprehend the Authority of Time.

What he could do, though, was see her and interact with her freely.

This was possible because the pond before him was not mere water, but the All-Seeing Orb, reworked and evolved into a far more potent form.

Before, he had certain restrictions... well, let’s say there was nothing within the Multiversal Level he couldn’t see.

Even if they exceeded his Dimensional status, he could still get a location at least.

However, he was certain Sunya hadn’t gone too far above what he could perceive.

"Show me Sunya Ultos"

[Sunya Ultod, Goddess of Eternal Hours: Location - Pantheos, Multiverse of Rooted Hours, 5,000 Years In the Future]

HUMMMM!!!!

In that moment, the pond answered before Melvin or Calyx could even question the words appearing above it.

Water that had been resting in a calm emptiness began to shift, not swirling like a whirlpool but more like a lens searching for focus, with colors spreading and narrowing, until the basin settled into place and came into crisp clarity.

What sat on the surface then was a tree hanging in the void between multiverses, and calling it a tree felt like a courtesy the scale did not need.

----

Before Akasha, Melvin, and Calyx stretched an elven paradise vast enough to rival the most expansive multiverses.

The trunk rose through empty void, pale gold and vibrant green running through the wood.

The canopy covered so much of that dark that the end couldn’t be seen, and the roots hung off the base in wide, still masses with nothing underneath them at all.

"The Multiverse of Rooted Hours, huh?" Akasha muttered as the multiverse looked eerily similar to the Tree he had shown her.

Inside the massive tree, the tree opened into a neat arrangement.

There were thirty-three universes set around a smaller version of the tree outside

One sector of their orbit ran white, clean and bright enough that the roads crossing it showed every joint.

The next sector ran black, the universes there visible as mass and heat more than color.

The last sector ran gray, a middle light that made the border between the other two visible.

Wooden roads connected each ring back to the inner trunk, and on the crown of that lesser tree, Treelss, bridges and hanging walks stacked in harmony.

And... at the very top of that tree, AkaTreesaw, the woman he was looking for.

The throne in the high hall was green and gold, carved from the same wood as the tree, and Treeya sat on it, back straight and both hands quiet on the arms.

A map hung in the air before her, a flat picture of Multiverses, and her face stayed on it the whole time the pond held the image.

Melvin’s mouth opened and closed once before the question made it out.

"Master..." He said as he leaned a half-step toward the basin, the black swords in his white eyes tracking the throne.

"Who is she? And how are you looking at her five thousand years from now?"

Calyx had come in on his other side without announcing it, diamond-black gaze fixed on the green-and-gold seat, tattoos along her throat dark in the courtyard light.

"This is Sunya," Akasha said, keeping his gaze fixed on her. "I met her back on Kalpa, and to cut a long story short, she was once part of Nara’s Celestial Moon."

He paused briefly, watching as Sunya waved her hands through the shimmering projection.

"But now, a hundred and fifty years later, she’s sitting there as a Multiversal Empress."

’One hundred and fifty years?’ Melvin thought to himself as his brows drew in.

’Didn’t this thing say she was 5,000 years in the future?’

He couldn’t grasp even the slightest concept when it came to time, and quite frankly, Akasha didn’t know much beyond the basic manipulation he had learned from the affinity.

He could manipulate and identify it, but when it came to understanding how any of it was possible, he was just as lost as Melvin and Calyx.

"So," Melvin said, confused, "Are you only planning to watch her?"

Akasha chuckled, shaking his head.

"Dude," he said, and with a single thought, let a dream take form. "Do you think your master’s a creep?"

In his palm, a bird appeared, conjured by his will—its feathers purple and white, delicate and small enough to perch on two fingers. He opened his hand over the pond, letting it rest in the air the water.

The bird slipped through the water as though the basin were just another doorway.

On the other side of the vision, it emerged into the lofty hall and swept a path across Sunya’s throne room, its wings flashing once on the map and the green-and-gold arms of the chair.

"I’m only going to help her out... or bring her back if she wants it."