NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: New World
I continued to move in blank space while moving I started counting numbers in my head, to measure how much time and distance it took for me to reach the place where my intuition was guiding me
I moved at a distance of one foot with each number I count
I know the distance between my legs as I have once calculated it, on my grandchildren's request
"Kids, right? They really can make you do anything."
Feeling nostalgic, I thought about my family.
I'd give anything to see my grandchildren one last time. "Ha," I chuckled hollowly.
"Hope they're living the dream and not just eating cereal for dinner."
I didn't let my thoughts distract me and kept on counting.
"Soon, I hit a thousand. Without giving up, I reached ten thousand, then a hundred thousand.
It didn't take long to get to a million and, finally, a billion. "
At the billion mark, I noticed something radiating golden light. "Is that the sun?" I wondered. It looked tiny from a distance.
Knowing my intuition was spot on, I kept moving toward the glowing beacon.
At one billion, five hundred and fifty million, the source of the golden light became crystal clear.
"Before me loomed a colossal structure—a Pantheon, suspended in the void like a celestial island, suspended in mid-air.
Its golden light radiated with an intensity that seemed to pierce the very fabric of the darkness."
"Just how massive is this pantheon if I can see it from this far away?" I thought.
I continued to move toward the pantheon, drawn by its immense presence.
Finally, at the count of one billion, five hundred seventy-six million, eight hundred thousand, I arrived in front of the Pantheon—or more accurately, the Pantheon stairs.
It had taken me fifty years to reach this place.
I looked ahead. Each stair radiated golden light and was as massive as a mountain. Standing there, I couldn't see the top of the staircase. I felt like an ant.
I wondered, "Is this how insects feel when they see us and our enormous buildings?" Sadly, I couldn't answer, as all my emotions had faded away.
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Not distracted by thought, I gazed at the first stair—it was as tall as I was as if designed for a giant.
"If this structure were on Earth, it'd be proof of alien existence," I thought wryly.
The Pantheon stairs radiated a pure golden light, a hue I hadn't seen in a decade. The brilliance was almost otherworldly, making me wonder if I had stumbled upon a cosmic secret.
As I touched the wall of stairs, which was as tall as I was, an excruciating pain surged through my soul.
The pain was so intense that it felt like each step was draining my very essence. Perhaps it was the absence of emotion that allowed me to endure
"If I were still alive," I thought, "I'd probably die just from the sheer agony."
At that moment, I thought in surprise how many ways a person could be driven to madness or collapse in this void.
With a sigh, I withdrew my hand from the stairs, but the pain still lingered,
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I began to walk around the Pantheon, searching for another way to climb.
Even without emotions, I am still a rational human soul. Why endure unnecessary pain if there's a better option? After all, who knows if the pain could affect my soul?
The Pantheon was so large that it took nearly a week to walk around it.
But I was not disappointed. Eventually, I found a staircase that seemed designed for normal humans.
To be sure, I first touched the stairs to see if I would experience any pain. To my surprise, I felt nothing.
"it seems this stare is meant for me"
I began to climb the seemingly endless staircase. This time, I decided to forgo counting numbers as I had for the past 50 years. Instead, I simply focused on climbing.
Who knows when, but eventually, I reached the top.
What awaited me at the top was a giant stone door. I thought, "How am I ever going to open this?" As I wandered my gaze around, I soon found a small door just big enough for me to pass through.
"Ah, that's more my size," I said almost annoyed at the person who made this place
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Passing through the smaller door seemingly in my soul form, I soon entered the Pantheon.
As soon as I set foot inside, flames erupted on the numerous torches tightly packed along the walls, all igniting simultaneously.
Thanks to that the interior brightened considerably.
"What the heck? The lights came on by themselves," I muttered in astonishment.
It was my first time witnessing something truly magical. "Well, that's to be expected. This place is anything but normal."
Surveying my surroundings, I felt like I had stepped into an ancient, forgotten temple. The air was thick with the scent of moss and decay, and the flickering torchlight cast eerie shadows on the walls, revealing glimpses of old, weathered carvings.
"How can a place where not a single ray of sunlight reaches support plant life?" I wondered.
It occurred to me that the growth of these plants might be due to the continuous golden light radiating from the Pantheon.
Despite the illumination, the place had an eerie, unsettling vibe—unlike the comfortable and peaceful darkness I experienced in the blank space.
The moment I stepped inside, the sense of tranquility vanished.
"It's as if something bad is going to happen," I thought, feeling a shiver run down my spine.
"Why did I have to raise the flag? Every time I think something bad is going to happen, it really does."
The interior was impossibly vast. The chamber was shaped like a giant dome, as large as several Olympic stadiums combined—no, maybe even larger than that. Despite its immense size, it still felt inadequate for what it contained.
The reason for that was quite clear.
"If I were alive, I'd probably die again just from seeing this," I thought, adding another reason for "death in the void" to my list.
In the deepest part of the dome sat something unimaginably huge, on a throne equally massive. It was a statue of a devil, made of pure gold, with golden bat wings extending from its back and two horns as large as its face.
The first image that came to mind was Loki sitting on the throne of time.
"but the statue of the devil was as big as the Statue of Liberty
no-hang on maybe it's even bigger"
Half-expecting the statue of the devil to move,
But, it remained motionless
"Whew..." I was relived
I began searching the Pantheon to see if I could find anyone or anything. Despite the chamber's massive size, its inner structure was quite simple.
Countless torches lined the walls, illuminating more statues, all silver in color and slightly smaller than the central devil statue. These statues were spaced evenly along the walls.
"It's like they were all works of art," I mused. "If this Pantheon were on Earth, it would definitely be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Maybe with this, there would be eight."
Each stone statue held a different object—some wielded weapons, others held books or musical instruments, and some even carried torches.
"It's as if this is a temple of statues, but instead of gods, it belongs to devils," I thought.
Suddenly, a chilling feminine voice pierced the silence, reverberating through the Pantheon like an ominous whisper.
after, decades I once again herd voice
["You are being observed by the 'Heir of the Black Void. proceed to complete the 'Seven Trials of the Black Realm.' Failure to do so will result in the annihilation of your soul, erasing it from existence."]