The light that swallowed the void was blinding, more than anything Steven had ever felt. For a moment, his mind was filled with pure energy, pulsing with the vibrations of existence itself. The Codex thrummed in his hands, its power relentless, reshaping the very fabric of reality. But as the darkness around him collapsed, the silence that followed was even more deafening.
He felt himself falling, but there was no ground. No sky. Only the lingering pulse of the Codex. It was as though the universe was holding its breath.
Aetheron's voice cut through the stillness, distant but firm. "Steven... do you feel it?"
"I do," Steven replied, his voice distant, his mind struggling to stay anchored. "It's like the world... the universe itself is resetting."
The air began to shift around him, not with force, but with inevitability. The rift was gone, replaced by something new—something yet to be defined. He could feel the reality bending around him as though the universe was drawing a breath, gathering itself before the next stage of its existence.
The Codex's glow dimmed slightly, but its presence still burned within him, a steady reminder of what had been done.
"I've changed it," Steven whispered. "I've rewritten everything... but..."
"But what?" Aetheron pressed, stepping closer through the shifting fabric of reality.
Steven clenched his fists, the weight of the Codex suddenly heavier. "The Absence... the Origin... none of it was supposed to end like this. I thought rewriting it would give the universe more... purpose. But what if I've created a paradox?"
Aetheron looked at him, his gaze filled with both concern and understanding. "Change isn't without consequence, Steven. The universe has a way of balancing itself, even if we don't fully understand its design."
As the final remnants of the old world faded into the new one, Steven couldn't help but wonder if he had made the right choice. The rift, the Absence, the Origin—they were all gone. But in their place, a quiet uncertainty lingered.
"This power..." Steven muttered, the Codex pulsing again, this time with a sense of unease. "It's not over."
Before Aetheron could respond, the void shifted once more. A figure appeared—a familiar, ominous presence.
It was Pain.
"Did you think you could rewrite everything and leave me out of it?" Pain's voice echoed through the newly formed reality, his form shifting in and out of focus like a storm on the horizon. His eyes burned with the fury of a thousand worlds.
Steven's heart clenched. "You... you're not real. I erased you."
Pain smiled, a cruel, twisted grin that made the very air tremble. "You erased the old me, yes. But reality is a cycle. You've learned that the hard way now, haven't you?"
The landscape around them began to fracture, cracks running through the newly shaped universe as if it were a shattered mirror. Pain's power surged, defying the changes Steven had made. "I am the force of destruction, Steven Lethal. You can't rid the universe of me that easily."
Aetheron raised his sword, his eyes narrowing. "What's happening? This was supposed to be over."
Pain chuckled darkly. "It's not over. Not as long as I exist. I am the inevitable, the imbalance that will always find its way into existence. Even if you rewrite everything, I will be there."
Steven's hands tightened around the Codex, his gaze unwavering. "I won't let you destroy this new world. This is my reality now."
Pain's form twisted violently. "Then prove it."
The space around them tore open, and a storm of cosmic energy erupted, the very foundation of reality shaking under Pain's power.
---
To be continued