Galaxy's First Ruler

"I will be the master of my dreams!"

Aldrich's words echoed in his mind as he opened his eyes and faced the familiar Darkness around him. But something had changed this time.

The Darkness was never uncomfortable, but it felt excessively welcoming to him this time. It was like taking a hot bath after working for many hours continuously.

The Spawn of Darkness felt the power of his element for the first time.

Aldrich took a deep breath and waited for the Call of that enormous being that would guide him to the Veil. Hours, months, and years passed, but Aldrich didn't hear that Call. Yet Aldrich wasn't concerned about it. He had a hunch that if he wanted to, he could walk through this Darkness by himself too.

Aldrich made a meditative posture as the black robe on his naked body fluttered. His white hair shimmered like a candle in the dark and his white eyes glowed like those of a feline in the Night.

If there was Time in this place, it meant nothing to Aldrich. He traced back his memories and his understandings of different Laws one by one, solidifying his insight. Aldrich didn't want to waste anything in this place and started contemplating the Law of Devil. The law that had failed him in the Dungeon.

Hooott!!!!

Aldrich had just reorganized his thoughts when a hooting sound of an owl reached into his ears. He opened his eyes and found a pitch-black owl flapping its wings in front of him. Aldrich recalled the golden-red owl that had lost itself in front of the Veil and got to know the fate of the Divine Skill.

The owl turned around and flew in a particular direction. Aldrich followed it, just as he had followed the Call in his mind the last two times. Who knew for long he would have to travel in this Darkness before seeing the flutters of that vast Veil?

*

Hooott!!!

The owl took out Aldrich from his deep meditation and he saw the enormous being again, separated by a black curtain. After ranking up to Baron, Aldrich felt the being's mysteriousness had deepened even more.

Millions of different whispers ran through his mind as an eerie pressure surrounded him. Aldrich's breathing grew ragged as the pressure concentrated on his forehead. The sapling with its one leaf shuddered in terror in response.

But in the next moment, the pressure receded like it was never there, to begin with. Aldrich let out a breath of relief and realized how different the thinking process would be for a powerful being, like the one in front of him.

Aldrich saw the corner of the being's mouth lifting as if it was smiling. The Veil opened and Aldrich saw a dark space on the other side. The owl kept flying in circles around the opening as Aldrich got sucked into it. Billions of unseen creatures howled in pain, seeing him leaving the ever embracing Darkness.

*

Aldrich hovered in space and looked at his lifeless body. The world around him seemed to stagnate as he saw the enormous asteroid being motionless in space.

Another change came as a big surprise to Aldrich. When he looked at his body, he saw himself pulling out the helmet. But unlike before, he could feel that if wanted to, he could go back to that time. His black robe fluttered, and Aldrich realized the significance of this discovery.

He also saw himself coming out of the rocket, scenes of him and others, standing in the hall, but they were all still inaccessible. Aldrich wanted to test out this newly discovered tracing of time, but unfortunately, his purpose wasn't the same as before.

Aldrich touched his forehead, and a rotten arm came out of it. Puss and flesh flailed about from the arm as it hovered beside Aldrich. This arm was the reason that had given Aldrich a premonition of something happening in the coming years. This arm was the reason that had given him the strength to claim that he could save the planet from this Doom.

This arm was Broken Faith.

The surrounding space shuddered as Aldrich felt the period of stagnation becoming over. Alas, Aldrich had no plan to plunge into his body this time. His white hair turned black but soon turned white again. His eyes became black, but the whiteness in them returned too. For a moment, the black robe around him vanished, but it got pulled back and wrapped itself around Aldrich's body again.

A brilliant burst of Mana originated in the space just as everything seemed to return to normal. The fingers of the lifeless arm wriggled and moved up and down, sensing the influx of Mana. It faced a direction and was about to go away as if being called out by something.

But how could Aldrich let it go so easily?

Aldrich's hand reached out and grabbed the arm. The fleshy tentacles wriggled and squirmed, but the arm seemed to be powerless in Aldrich's grip. Aldrich tightened his grip over the arm and it burst out into pieces of flesh and blood. Even the black rotten bones within the arm crumbled into dust.

The Black robe flailed like the vast Veil in the enormous Darkness. Aldrich hadn't forgotten that thousands or millions of years ago this robe was part of that Veil too. Tiny black threads separated from the veil and entangled around the pieces of the Arm. Aldrich stretched out his hand as the black threads, along with flesh and bones, molted and took an outline of a sword.

Aldrich felt the sting in his eyes and every part of his ethereal body felt being sliced open, as a sheathless black Katana came into existence. Its blade seemed to be made of flesh, but it also looked like it was made of bones. The katana's handle had black threads wrapped around in a diamond formation, and many of them just dangled down from the butt of the sword, like the hair of an old witch.

This was the true form of Broken Faith. A sword that could slice through Dreams and Reality all the same.

A sword that could be called one of the strongest Items in the Galaxy.