Hovering in the vast expanses of space was a cube created out of grey sand, spanning a size equivalent to an entire galaxy. It moved amidst cosmic chaos in its orbital path, oftentimes interacting with celestial bodies part of other galaxies.
A stream of starlight, created by the gravitational pull unleashed on a galaxy flowed into this grey cube. It consisted of star matter, hot and dense, littered with planets, asteroids, etc.
The grey cube was littered with billions of holes, each spanning a size as massive as the Earth's orbital path around the sun. This stream of starlight split and poured into the various holes, dripping through them under the effects of the powerful gravitational pull stemming from the depths of the holes.
It was a network of tunnels leading from the holes, spanning across the entirety of the grey cube's interior. Oftentimes, many tunnels connect with each other, forming nodes. Massive planets hover in these nodes, facing the starlight as countless sparks reverberate through their contact points.
It might seem like mere sparks from this scale, but in truth, each spark was a cataclysmic event when viewed up close.
Travelling through the starlight was a being of light, littered with glitters that shimmered like the stars. It was shaped like a cloud and was capable of burning any existence that dared stare at one of the glitters covering its body.
As it travelled through the starlight stream, it observed a pillar of light emanating from a tunnel, lured by the power in it, intending to consume it. As it approached a node that led to the respective tunnel, a group of planets came in its path.
Immediately in response, a variety of attacks targeted it, causing injuries to its celestial body. But despite the attacks, it continued to approach the pillar of light, stopping only upon being physically blocked by a planet.
Starlight glitters condensed around its body, intending to bombard the planet when a tusk that extended infinitely multiplied in number and stabbed the glitters, puncturing them. A series of tentacles manifested around the being of light and bombarded it with incessant slaps.
Ripples spread across another planet that slammed into the creature and sent it flying away a bit. The being of light was only momentarily dazed, following which it continued to approach the planets, intending to destroy them before being able to chomp upon the pillar of light.
This pillar of light was thin, almost hair-like in comparison to the diameter of the tunnel. It formed a straight line and seemed to head to the depths of the tunnel. From time to time, a bolt of lightning, oftentimes golden, but sporting traces of other colours accompanied the pillar of light and headed to the depths of the tunnel.
These bolts ranged from the planets at the node. The colour traces in the golden bolts varied depending on the planet it originated from.
At present, three distinct bolt streams accompanied the pillar of light and headed to the depths of the tunnel, where a ginormous planar existence swam through the grey sand. From a spot on its body originated the pillar of light. And it was this exact spot that was targeted by the three bolt streams.
Every single stream was a Bolt of Transcendence!
A tentacle of starlight slithered into the node and entered the tunnel, alarming this planar entity as 392 tendrils jutted out and raised up, glaring at the tentacle. It seemed lifeless at first glance, but the body language it displayed was one of stress amidst intense danger.
Dozens of tangible existences ranging from tusks to tentacles to hands jutted out of the group of planets and grabbed the starlight tentacle before yanking it back to the node. Only after that did the 392 tendrils relax and bury themselves in the grey sand once again.
At the bottom of the pillar of light was an existence, in the mindspace of whom played this scene.
"This is…the truth of this world?" Inala expressed his shock as he stared at the Empyrean Tusk before him, "You're…Gannala?"
"No, you don't feel like her." He took on a guarded expression and glared at the latter, "Who are you?"
[My dearest son! Well…I wanted to try this at least once. Too bad…!]
The Empyrean Tusk vanished, revealing a human male, one at the end of his lifespan. He was dressed in a cloth weaved out of distinctly coloured ribbons, with all of them dangling towards the fleets. It was an archaic style of clothing that the Brimgan Empire opted out of many generations ago.
Now, it was only worn during ceremonial situations in the Brimgan Empire.
"You're Attribute." Inala connected the dots and figured out the latter's identity, expressing his shock, "How come you're maintaining your individuality?"
"Both Minor and Major Treasures are failed Transcendents." The old man spoke, "Typically, our souls are first destroyed, preventing us from becoming Transcendents. If our bodies survive the Bolts of Transcendence, we become a Treasure. Oftentimes, a portion of our mind survives, depending on our mental accumulation."
"In my case, my mind remained completely intact, since the part of my body that survived the Bolt of Transcendence and became a Major Treasure was my brain." The old man shrugged, "Well, that was my goal in the first place. So yeah, I merely became what I had planned to become."
"Are you saying you purposefully became a Major Treasure?" Inala asked in surprise and looked around, "Also, what exactly is this place? And what was with these scenes playing outside?"
It seemed like his mindspace a first glance, but was in the shape of a pod moving through space. Reflected on its surface were the tunnels at the end of which was the node where a bunch of planets were facing against a starlight entity of light.
"Those planets are Transcendent Worlds." The old man said and pointed at the starlight being of light that appeared in their line of sight from time to time, "And that's a cosmic entity trying to consume Sumatra Continent. The Transcendents in the Transcendent Worlds are busy fighting it."
"It would continue to remain in this node until the beam unleashed by the Major Treasure of Attribute disappears." He continued, "It might lose its interest once the beam vanishes and head somewhere else that catches its fancy."
"What are these beings exactly?" Inala asked.
"Who knows?" The old man shrugged, "There's a lot to be found out, which is why I became a Major Treasure in the first place. After all, this is the safest way to research. Had I become a Transcendent, I would be fighting these beings from the Transcendent Worlds and might have been killed long ago."
"There are many things I found out in these tens of thousands of years. But there's still a plethora of information that I'm unaware of." He sighed and stared at Inala, "Based on your memories, there's a suitable example."
"The Mudropper race!" He exclaimed in interest and pointed at the starlight being of light, "In the past, a body part of a cosmic being was severed. The Sandy-Grey Void assimilated it and during the process, birthed the Mudropper Race once Sumatra Continent pulled them into the folds of its influence."
"Typically, if these beings aren't pulled into a continent's influence, they'll continue to be assimilated by the Sandy-Grey Void until nothing remains of them and they become one with the grey sand."
"You can read my memories?" Inala asked and then thought of the old man showing up as an Empyrean Tusk, "Is that why you acted like that?"
"Also, how come I'm able to converse with you when such a thing never happened to Resha?" Inala stared at the old man, "If you can read my memories, you'll understand what I'm talking about, right?"
"You're quick on the uptake." The old man nodded, "Currently, the Bolts of Transcendence are fusing the essence of Attribute into you. I'm being broken down at the foundational level and being assimilated into you. This so-called conversation we're having is merely a result of you gaining my information."
"Resha didn't get it since the Attribute simply fused with him. I was still alive in that situation and was actively influencing his biomes." The old man laughed, "If he had only fused with me for a century, my influence on his biomes would have reached a potent level, allowing him to obtain other Major Treasures without the influences countering each other. But he obtained Weapon too soon, so he didn't benefit from any of the three Major Treasures he possessed."
"It seems you understand that Sumatra Chronicles never happened, so that's good. It's merely a future that would have happened if the lot of you didn't have your memories from Earth." He then stared at Inala, "Any other questions you have?"
"Plenty, to be honest." Inala said and sat down, "What exactly was your original plan?"
"Research?" The old man tilted his head and said without hesitation, "Figuring out the secrets of the world is a man's romance. I did it before I was brought to Sumatra and even here, I continued to do the same."
"As I thought, you're from Earth too." Inala's eyes widened in surprise, "That explains the direction in which the Brimgan Empire's Spirit Weapons have been developed."
"Earth? You're mistaken about that." The old man laughed, "I originated from a different world that's somewhat technologically similar to the Earth you came from. Honestly, I'm not even a human."
"If I have to make a guess…" He trailed off and said upon reading more of Inala's memories, "My race is somewhat similar to the dolphins of your world? But our brains were bigger, and…"
He made typing motions with his fingers, "We had dozens of fins to take the place of fingers. That's how we could create tools too and build an aquatic civilisation."
"Did you try to return to your world?" Inala asked upon hearing the old man's melancholic sigh, "It should have been possible had you become a Transcendent. Why did you not attempt it?"
"My world died by the time I became strong enough." The old man shook his head and pointed at the node, "In that star stream also exist countless worlds, with many of them being planets bearing life. When they enter this system, they're targeted by the Transcendents defending the various Continents."
"Sometimes, as these planets are getting assimilated, the Transcendents will reincarnate some of the sentient races on the continents. This way, the knowledge we possess will eventually help develop the power system, culture, and technological aspects of the world on these continents." The old man then stared at Inala, "It's not long before these worlds are completely destroyed."
"After all, they'll be acted upon by the Sandy-Grey Void."