LOTM:pathways of the [everlasting sovereign]

Darkness.

It was the kind of darkness that swallowed all things—light, sound, time, and thought.

Alistair Henry drifted through this void, utterly untethered. There was no up or down, no sense of weight, no feeling of a body. Just a vast nothingness stretching into infinity.

'So… this is death, huh?'

His thoughts were sluggish at first, struggling to grasp his situation, but clarity came quickly.

'One second I was alive, and now I'm… here. Wherever here is.'

Flashes of memory surged through his mind. The bright headlights. The deafening screech of tires. The little girl standing frozen in fear. The sheer, instinctive desperation that made him move before thinking. The impact. The pain. The cold asphalt pressing against his cheek as the world faded into black.

And now, this.

'Well, I guess I died saving someone. Could be worse.'

He expected some sort of afterlife—heaven, hell, reincarnation, something. But this was just an empty void, an abyss where he existed without existing.

Alistair let out a sigh—or at least, he thought he did. He had no lungs to exhale, no mouth to speak, but the sensation was still there.

'If I'm stuck here forever, I'm going to lose my mind. Can you even go insane without a brain? Hah. That's a philosophical nightmare waiting to happen.'

He had no idea how long he drifted. It could have been minutes. It could have been centuries. But just as the oppressive emptiness was starting to gnaw at the edges of his sanity, something shifted.

It was subtle at first—a ripple in the void. Then, a presence bloomed before him.

It wasn't light, yet it shone. It wasn't sound, yet its existence reverberated through the darkness. To look at it was to witness infinity itself, a being so vast and incomprehensible that Alistair instinctively felt the stirrings of something primal—fear.

And then, it spoke.

"Mortal. You have earned an audience."

The words weren't spoken in a language. They simply were, imprinted directly onto the fabric of his existence.

Alistair took a metaphorical step back, trying to process the sheer weight of the being before him. But, being who he was, his first reaction wasn't reverence or submission. No, his first instinct was sarcasm.

'Great. Not even five minutes into the afterlife, and I'm already getting judged by a cosmic horror.'

His thoughts didn't seem to offend the entity. If anything, he felt a faint amusement radiating from it.

"You have been granted twelve wishes."

Alistair's thoughts stopped.

'…Excuse me?'

He had expected something dramatic. An evaluation of his sins. A long speech about his life's worth. Maybe even some kind of cryptic quest.

But twelve wishes?

That was not on his list of possible outcomes.

"You're joking, right?" he asked, recovering quickly. "Twelve? Not one or two? But twelve?"

"Correct."

If he had a body, his brows would have shot up. "Not that I'm complaining, but I feel like I missed something. I thought karma worked on a 'one good deed equals one small blessing' kind of system. Why am I getting a jackpot?"

The entity pulsed, its presence expanding slightly. "You saved a child before your death. That child grew up to become a figure of great influence. She eradicated hunger, cured diseases, and advanced human civilization by centuries. Because of your actions, she lived, and her karma extends to you."

Alistair froze.

'…You're telling me I got a karma inheritance just because I saved one kid?'

"Correct."

He wasn't sure how to feel about that. It sounded ridiculously overpowered. Karma was supposed to be a gradual accumulation, built over lifetimes. He saved one girl and suddenly had the cosmic equivalent of a blank check?

He almost laughed. 'So I die a tragic death, and my reward is winning the reincarnation lottery. Hah. If only people knew how the system really worked.'

Still, he wasn't about to complain. If the universe wanted to hand him a golden opportunity, he would take it.

But first, he needed to be smart about this.

"What are the limits of my wishes?"

The entity remained silent for a moment before responding. "You cannot wish for omnipotence. You cannot override causality or erase existence arbitrarily. Your wishes must remain within the boundaries of a structured system."

'Figures. No instant godhood. But still… if I have twelve wishes, I can do a lot.'

He thought about simply maxing out his stats, becoming an immortal powerhouse, or creating some ridiculous cheat ability. But then, another idea took root—one that was far more valuable.

A bargain.

Alistair grinned. "I'll make you a deal."

The entity pulsed, intrigued.

"I'll give you eleven of my wishes. In exchange, I want as many posible Unique Pathways simular to those feom lord of the mysteries, fully developed, with a strong Sefirot that is created from multiple Sefirots as the pathways foundation dor advancement beyond sequence zero and a great old one even a piller."

The void stilled.

For the first time, the being did not respond immediately.

Alistair could feel it thinking, weighing his request. A Sefirot—a divine structure, an absolute anchor of power. It wasn't something given lightly, after all even if one where to be given a hundread pathways without the corresponding Sefirot it would only be trouble attracting unwanted attention.

After what felt like an eternity, the being pulsed again.

"…Very well."

Alistair exhaled, victorious. "Then for my last wish, I want to be reborn as a Sequence 5 in one of my nine Pathways—the one with the greatest potential and survivability."

The presence shifted. "Your wish is granted. Choose your world."

Alistair grinned. "Lord of the Mysteries."

A deep, resonant vibration filled the void.

"It is done."

Just as he was about to be sent away, the entity's voice echoed once more.

"Tell me, mortal. What do you wish these nine Paths to be?"

Alistair's smile widened. He had been waiting for this.

"Let's start with the first," he said, his voice laced with anticipation. "A Path centered around the mind, slumber, and the unraveling of reality itself."

The being pulsed, absorbing his words.

"And the second…"

As Alistair spoke, carefully crafting each Path, as the void shifted.

After a few minutes of Alistair detailing his pathways he suddenly started to fade slowly,as this happened he suddenly remembered something he say from earth.

As he did he turned to the cosmic entity and spoke"mr...entity i dont feel so good"the words left Alistairs mouth as he faded away as he did he heard what seemed like light laughter.

[END of chapter]