Ash stood quietly for a mont after the visions faded, the weight of what he had just witnessed settling over him.
Even with his current power, the Mother had remained almost completely obscured in the mories — a faint, glowing silhouette whose true form refused to reveal itself. That alone was enough to deepen his curiosity.
"So, I’m guessing you’re clueless about the Father?" he asked, turning his gaze toward the Dream.
The Dream tilted her head, her colorful eyes showing genuine confusion.
"The Father...? I have never heard of such a being. The Mother was the only one who talked to us in the beginning..."
Ash waved it off casually with a small shrug.
"As I thought."
He chose to let Male and The rchant off the hook because he was aware of their intention to enter Nonexistence.
If his understanding was correct, based on the patterns established since the ti of the Organisms, this course of action aligned with a greater truth.
While looking at the Dream he thought inwardly, ’I suppose... the Mother is the creator of all existence, while the Father is the originator of all that is Nonexistence.’
If this premise held, it ant that he would soon have the opportunity to encounter the Father through Male’s journey.
With this in mind, he would allow those two to continue living until they outlived their usage.
After a brief pause, he offered Dream a clear and unmistakable choice, his voice calm and easygoing.
"Well, like I said, beautiful... I can give you two paths," he said, raising two fingers.
"One: join and beco more than you ever imagined. You’ll still be a Reality and keep your Dreams, but without the limitations of sothing like mana. You’d be free in a way you’ve never known.
Or two: I simply set you free to live as you wish. But be warned... if you get caught up in my plans after that, there will be no saving you."
Hearing all of this, the Dream was silent for a long mont, her flowing silver dress shifting like mist as she considered his words.
Her ever-changing eyes studied him carefully, searching for any sign of deception or hidden intent.
She finally asked, her lodic voice tinged with quiet curiosity,
"What exactly would the first option entail?"
Though it sounded good... from her knowledge nothing could escape the grasp of mana, not even the Nightmares that crawled through the rift that day.
Ash’s smile remained calm and confident as he answered.
"Well, I’m like you after all," he said, technically not wrong. "I’m a Reality, but not one bound by Mana. I am a Reality of Gods."
In that mont, not just the Dream’s but Ancestor Sealing’s eyes widened as well.
"Y... you’re a what?!" the old man exclaid, his voice cracking with disbelief.
Ash tilted his head slightly, looking at him with mild amusent.
RIIIPPP!
Before Sealing could say another word, Ash reached out with a simple, almost lazy gesture.
His fingers closed around the old man’s lips and pulled them off — not taphorically, but literally. The flesh ca away cleanly, like tearing paper, leaving a raw, silent gap where his mouth had been.
Sealing’s eyes bulged in horror.
He tried to scream, but before any sound could escape, Ash blinked once.
The wound sealed shut instantly — smooth, leaving unbroken skin where his mouth had been. The Ancestor clutched at his face, staggering back in silent panic, unable to utter even a whimper.
The Dream took a small step back, visibly taken aback by the casual brutality. Her colorful eyes flickered with unease as she studied Ash more carefully.
"You... you are a Reality of Gods?" she asked, her lodic voice tinged with both caution and genuine curiosity.
"What does that an?"
From what she knew, her brothers and sisters they all were similar to an extent. Like ntioned before, the Original Realities, they all were made embodying opposites sides of existence.
But... Gods?
That was sothing foreign to not just her, but perhaps anyone not from Earth.
Ash turned his attention back to her, ignoring the mute, panicking Ancestor Sealing who had dropped to his knees, still clutching his sealed face.
"Well, it’s best if I just show you."
Ash floated upward a short distance into the silver-lavender sky, his form glowing with pure Divinity.
As he spoke, he began demonstrating with effortless ease.
"Gods," he said, his voice carrying calmly through the air, "are beings capable of doing things beyond thought. With the potential to shape reality in whichever way they see fit."
HUMM!
With a casual wave of his hand, he created a small sun in the sky above them — not an illusion, but a real, burning star that cast warm light over the plain.
Then, with another gesture, he made it rain golden petals that turned into birds mid-fall before dissolving into light.
He continued, forming entire landscapes in seconds — a crystal-clear lake appearing where there had been grass, then turning into a forest of silver trees that grew and aged in monts before fading away.
"Gods do not beg anything or anyone for power... the system we follow, it’s not to restrict, but to push one beyond the thought of possibility."
The Dream’s eyes widened, her colorful irises swirling faster as she watched.
’This... isn’t this what Dreams ant to be?’ She thought as she continued to watch him.
Ash descended slowly, landing back in front of her.
"To be a God is to be sothing akin to a Dream," he said. "But if one beca a God of Dreams... or sothing even beyond a God... then what would they be able to do at that point?"
The Dream was silent for a long mont, her ethereal form shimring as she processed his words and the demonstrations.
She finally spoke, her lodic voice soft but direct.
"What will you gain out of all of this... and what is your purpose?"
Ash didn’t answer imdiately.
He looked up — past the shifting sky, past the silver-lavender hills, past the very fabric of the Lost Reality itself — and gazed directly at the Fourth Wall.
At first, he could only sense it faintly.
Little did he realize then that this feeling would spark the thought of whether he was actually living inside a novel.
Then, he saw it clearly. That mont marked his first step into the stage of Omnipotence—he could finally read the book.
But now... he could actually touch it.
A small, knowing smile ford on his lips.
He answered vaguely, his golden eyes still fixed on that invisible boundary only he could truly perceive.
"What I want is freedom too. But not from so Mother or Father..."
He paused, the smile deepening just a fraction.
"But from the Author."
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