An Immortal's Retirement: To Achieve Peace

I navigated through the place as best as I could. Traveling through folds of space and layered universes was as boring as it could ever be without worrying about some asshole tracking you down to rob and pillage you.

There was no worry here. Even the void within this region was well-patroled. With soldiers being seen in the distance, each of them armed and ready for conflict. I suppose to them, this was their city, and the void was merely one of the small alleys that divided the neighborhoods, and most of the higher realms had direct portals that connected them.

Only when navigating to the lesser realms would you find yourself leaping back through the void and wading through a sectioned-off part of nonexistence. The creatures here were many, most were humans of one kind or another, some beasts, few insects, and rarely, you’d see a few angels and eldritch making their way around one of the higher realms.

Those ones were dangerouse. Beasts would behave if their lives were on the line, but insects were risky and more machine-like, and angels and eldritch beings were even worse.

But they would behave, at least while in Lynoria. It would be a different story outside of these realms, but while they were here, or floating through the void that encapsulated Lynoria.

That was also a weird concept. Privately owned pieces of the void. Nothing, contained inside of something. I didn’t really understand the concept but realm engineering was far beyond me.

I traveled through the infinitely folded realms, like a man wandering through an unfamiliar building looking for that one specific room meant for him.

Now infinity was a weird concept, but it was everywhere within the grander multiverse. And the more you grew in power, the more you grew to understand it, and yet never fully grasp it.

It was like Plato’s allegory of the cave, except you never truly reached the end. Each realm one reached revealed even more truths about the universe and hinted at more profound things, and you’d think in that moment of enlightenment that you had seen it all. You’d look and see the edges of a universe, a realm that had infinite space and infinite mass and you’d see all of it at once and think, Ah yes, I have it now.

And then you’d see the void, then the wider multiverse, then a celestial realm, one that contained infinite lesser realms around it, constantly growing and spreading out further than you had ever imagined. And then, finally, you’d think you’d seen it all.

Then you’d see the Sea of Death or the Realms of Imagination, or the Dreaming. Realms so vast and infinite that you wouldn’t even dare to enter them because you could never find your way back out. Infinite realms so large that just glancing at unprepared could cripple your soul and mind into nothingness.

But for this type of infinity, there was a way to navigate it. You had a point to reach and you aimed for that point. It was like taking a walk down an endless hallways. If you were trying to reach the end of that hallway, you’d be going forever, but if you were just trying to get to one specific room, you’d find it eventually.

No the true gap between those two ranks is that of one and infinity.

Wukong’s words echoed in my brain. I wondered which infinity he was talking about. The one I could flip through like a book or the one so big that I couldn’t even look at it without preparation.

I moved, pushing myself through the nothingness. Eventually, I found the room I was meant to visit, or the realm, in this case. It was a lesser realm and once I entered it, I realized there was only one occupant.

A fifteenth-ranked World King sat in the center of a white space. Now a lesser realm was still an infinitely vast universe, meaning it could harbor stars and galaxies and even life. Earth had been located in a lesser realm of sorts, and this universe was similar to that one, except for one major difference.

There was nothing else here, only the World King and his belongings occupied this space. A whole universe had been turned into an empty office.

“Yes?” The cultivator said with a questioning tone.

He was draped in a dazzling blue robe, one that shined and glimmed with starlight. No, not starlight, but actual stars. His robe was an entire realm all its own. It had stars and clusters of galaxies, planets, nebulas, and even life.

I could see little dragons and men, they were too small for a mortal eye but I noticed them, fighting and battling.

The dragon was lizard-like and had large leathery bat wings, and the man wore a knight’s armor. He was barely at the fifth rank and the dragon itself was similar.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I raised my head, looking up from the clothing and towards the man’s face.

“Yes, Honored Master,” I replied.

“It’s a gift from Athena’s Grove, woven by a grand disciple of Athena herself.”

“A magnificent gift.”

“Indeed it is,” he replied. “Now, why have you come?”

I presented the man with my jade piece, sending the thing floating over to his side and furrowed his brows.

“I see, then this is a serious transaction? I assume you have the funds for such a request?”

“Yes Honored Master,” I replied.

The man reached into his robe and pulled out a large and pointy wizard’s hat, one that was every bit as spectacular as his robe. It too was made out of a realm, one filled with giants and faeries and things of the fey.

The man walked a few paces and grabbed a hold of an intangible door handle and opened it. Suddenly a portal appeared, one that led to a celestial realm. The man walked through it and beckoned for me to follow, and I obliged.

I felt the change as soon as I’d stepped through. The air, realm, qi, and even the Dao of this place were entirely different. Shelves surrounded me, ones that towered infinitely above me, layered with unending knowledge.

“Welcome, young one, to the sect of the Eternal Tome,” the man said without turning towards me.

“Here, I will guide you to what you desire, but first the payment,” the man said with practiced ease.

I looked around, still slightly transfixed on the place. My senses spread far and wide, trying to find an end to the collection of knowledge and yet, there was nothing, only shelves and shelves of information.

The realm itself was too large for me to see, too big for me to truly comprehend.

This was the home of The Keepers of the Eternal Tome. Three different celestial realms made up the core of Lynoria, the first and the most important one was the Sect of WuKong, the second was the Sect of the All Blade, and the third group was The Keepers of the Eternal Tome.

All three of these forces, led by their respective leaders, had come together to establish Lynoria ages ago. Wukong lent his name and reputation and the Sect of the All Blade gave it an immense workforce and regulatory committee, and finally, there were The Keepers of the Eternal Tome.

They were probably the most unnecessary piece of the three Celestial Sects that ruled Lynoria, but they were also the most valuable. The Keepers were one of the ancient Sects, a group so old that no one really remembered a time without them. And throughout all of existence, they had only desire. To record and catalog all that was, all that is, and all that could be.

The robed wizard cleared his throat.

“Ah yes, my apologies,” I replied.

The man nodded. “It is understandable. The tome is vast and unending in beauty.”

I nodded. Again, I spread my mind out to the outer edges of their limits, trying to just glance at the edges of this place, and again I failed. It was too much, infinite infinities were there, one layering over the dimensions of the other.

I retreated my senses.

“Sorry,” I commented with a half-hearted apology.

I’d normally be worried about insulting the man but the fact that he was both a Lynorian native and that my act of observation had been more of a complementing act instead of an insulting one assured me that I wouldn’t be struck down.

“Yes, yes. Look and see as far as you can and know that what you see is only a piece of a piece of piece,” The wizard said with a slight smile. “That’s what we keepers say after all.”

Then the man walked and I followed. The gaps between the shelves were stationary and regular, each book, scroll, and jade perfectly placed based on whatever order it was that ran this place. I could feel the very realm itself wanting to sort me out, put me in a book somewhere.

Celestial realms were strange things. Higher realms had will and tribulations and some lesser realms did too, but celestial realms were practically sentient. They had their own rules and reason, and things would go the way they pleased.

It was like gravity. If I had a book in my hand, the realm would probably yank it out of my hand and teleport it into one of its shelves, documenting and sorting the knowledge as it did so.

Finally, we seemed to be approaching a building, one that was the size of a large house. It was plain white, much like the realm that I had found the wizard in.

Ah yes. The dealing room.