While we were climbing, I kept thinking about my Innate Power. Erik's power seems like a shadow from the outside but it's true aspect is the Void itself. Similarly, Cynthia's power looks like she controls the Earth at first but after seeing her glide from Huashan Peak, I think her power is closer to control over mass or gravity. Their powers are basically the manifestation of their essences. As Supreme Deities, they symbolize life and death, but their real innate aspects are Nothingness and Existence themselves.
My essence is set between this cycle of life and death, between emptiness and fullness. What drives zero into one and deducts one back into zero? I don't really know. Maybe it's a heart or a desire. What I do know is that 'change is inevitable.' But the Way of the Deities and Immortals is to resist that inevitable change and rearrange everything by your own will. To find a heart is to find our own desire, right?
'What do I really want right now?' I was thinking this as we reached the top of Cuihua Peak. But when I looked back to see Cynthia and Erik, I saw Aycecek sitting there and smiling, with no one else around. After scanning the area with my power and finding no soul nearby, I began to speak to her.
"Who are you? Are you Aycecek?"
"Of course not, Master! I am just your own creation, a mere shadow of your desire," she answered before continuing. "We still need her soul to create what you truly want. But it seems you understand correctly—your essence is Desire. On the other hand, you are also wrong. When you want to reverse one into zero, you must unlearn that, Desire. Normally, you just take time and let change do its part but for Divine Power, It's almost like a freaky version of the concept of Wuwei or Non-action. It sounds more like Reverse-action to me. Or perhaps, that what you think it is."
"What do you mean, 'What I think it is'? And where are we right now?" I continued questioning her.
"I feel like you're pretty dumb sometimes," she said, touching her forehead before continuing. "This is your Personal Space or should I say, your own universe. You just created an entirely new dimension from your desire. 'A reality with Aycecek' is what it is. And as for me, I'm your second thought, your parallel mind from the other side of your brain or something like that. You love thinking in multiple points of view, right? I'm one of those perspectives and a kind of assistant to control this universe."
"You might even create more of me later, who knows?" she finished with a smile.
"Am I always this talkative?" I muttered to myself, then looked at her and spoke directly. "Maybe we should call this universe 'Heaven' for now. Assistant, do you have any power?"
"Heaven, are you serious?! Do I look like an Archangel to you? Right now, I can only assist you in managing this universe and see the real world through your eyes. However, I do think I can be your second opinion out there, if you allow it." she sarcastically replied.
"Archangel, huh? Then you should be my first, Michael, but you're more like Michelle to me," I teased her a bit.
"Alright, alright! I'll be your Archangel, Michelle," she gave in. "Anyway, this Heaven is still expanding from your knowledge. The more you know and explore, the more accurate it is. And I'm the one who's rendering it into this reality. Hey! You should try to create or erase something. I can only create things from your knowledge, right now. I can't even create the things I want to. Can you create some companions for me? I feel little lonely here."
After hearing her request, I thought about the golden griffin-ram art of the Zaravani. It's truly different from the Greek, European, or Mesopotamian lion-griffins. The Zaravani ones are more like beaked beasts with long curved horns, while some have wings to show their relation to deities. Some have even suggested that they may have found a fossil of a Triceratops-like dinosaur in Central Asia, a beaked beast with many horns, a neck frill, and four mammal-like legs.
Instead of creating a real dinosaur, I decided to test my power by creating something out of the ordinary. So, I evolved a Pentaceratops into an iridescent emerald-green, fully erect four-legged scaly beast. It had a beak, a short backward nose horn, two little cheekbone horns, two long curved brow horns almost similar to Ibex horns and five-fingered clawed feet with one thumb for grabbing and fast four-legged movement on rough terrain. Illuminated light blue-green hair lined its neck all the way to top of its tail. With its elongated neck, body, legs, and tail, it really looked like a four-legged dragon from ancient Chinese artifacts.
After creating the beast's structure—including its bones, hair, and skin—and adjusting its size to be close to a very large horse, I poured my energy into this image. The moment I opened my eyes, the creature stood before me, fully formed.
"What the fuck?! I asked for a companion, and you gave me this ugly lizard," she protested.
"I'm just testing my power here. Don't worry, I'll give you a permission to design one beast freely later. And don't forget to create fish, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and all the animals for our Heaven. This beast will need something to eat," I gave her permission and an order.
"What about his name? It's hard to deal with this Kirin without a name," she asked.
"Okay, let me think. What about Lin Long, the Dragon Deer?" I asked for her opinion.
"Sounds about right. Let's call him that," she solemnly answered.
After I imprinted the name on him, he began to radiate a light for a moment. I then patted his forehead and touched his neck hair before trying to pull myself up onto his back, using his hair to ride him around for a while. But the moment I looked back at Michelle, her steppe dress had become a Chinese counterpart.
"Kris, where have you been? And what's with this beast?" Cynthia questioned me.
"I'm sorry, it took some time to manage my Personal Space. This is my newest beast, Lin Long. Where's Erik?" I responded.
"After you've been missing for about five minutes, he's been out looking for you," she replied.
"But I had been there for at least half an hour, maybe the time there flows differently," I answered, my voice laced with shock.
After that, Michelle asked what was going on. I only told her that I was fine and that Lin Long was with me because it was almost time to mark Cuihua Peak. She could see it all through my eyes anyway.
As Lin Long played in the rain, everything suddenly stopped. The sky became clear, and the brightest full moon appeared out of nowhere, illuminating the land. Cynthia lit a fire at our center before we began to change into our True Forms and dance. The wind started to swirl around the peak with us at its center, then blew out in every direction before the serene moonlight returned.
We use these distinct auras of our energy to navigate through space and time. This allows us to be with any believers who pray by our names or simply think of us, which is why they told me these people are our territory. But by marking, we can safely teleport to specific locations that not moving around. Other things that possess our energy, like our Instruments or Beasts, are also can used as location markers.
And every time we perform a ritual, we leave some of our energy there. This basically creates a territorial marker that lower-level beings try to avoid, unless it's a deity they serve—it will then become their area of protection. While sometimes this is a declaration of war among deities, with Erik already as the Black Emperor, things might not be too complicated. I think Erik and Cynthia also have their own markers in many places in China, but with our combined energy, it now signifies that the three of us are together.
After our ritual was complete, they checked on Lin Long and discovered that he was on the level of a Great Spirit, but he still couldn't speak. Normally, Great Spirits would already have the ability to speak but because Lin Long had just been created, it's possible he was simply a newborn beast that hadn't learned anything yet, or perhaps it was because he had an artificial soul. So we'll have to wait and see for now.
Then I tried to find a way to bring everyone into my Personal Space. After a while, I had the idea to make "Heaven" extend from me. My personal reality immediately wrapped around us and brought everyone, including our modified horses that we prepared, into my realm.
We were standing in the same spot, but the weather seemed much better, and the sun was still in the sky. It was as if we were back in springtime.
"We welcome you, Lady Cynthia and Lord Erik, to our little 'Heaven.' Oh, you're still in Lady Aycecek's form, just like me," Michelle greeted them politely.
"This is Michelle. She helps me manage this Personal Space," I introduced her. "Wow, you've already created some animals!"
"You are even more interesting! You have Kris's power but don't have a real body," Cynthia pointed out while holding her hands.
"Perhaps that's why she can't leave this dimension," Erik suggested.
"Ah… That's why!" I responded. "She's basically one with this realm and instantly created at the same time."
"But this realm still quite unstable, not like my Underworld, which is maintained and managed by the energy of my believers," Erik continued, offering more advice. "You might need her to manage this place, at least for now."
"We should try something, let's move to other places. Can you try to bring us to Xi'an, Michelle?" Cynthia requested.
Michelle warped us in the same manner I had, and we suddenly appeared in the middle of a modern-day Xi'an city, with no people around.
"This is what I mean by unstable," Erik theorized. "If I remember correctly, the Cuihua Mountain we were at a moment ago was from the Qin-Han era. It seems like you've stitched many spaces and times together. Did you draw this from your memory, Kris?"
"No, I just looked at an online map in the White Room last week," I said excitedly. "Hey! There might be some computers or smartphones in this city."
"Master, it might be easier to just create one yourself," Michelle suggested.
After hearing that, I began to visualize a brand-new laptop in every detail and spec, then poured my energy into it. It suddenly formed into a real object out of thin air. I booted it immediately and tried to search for Xi'an maps. It worked perfectly, just like the one from Cynthia's Personal Space. We tried to find and check other machines, but it seemed I only created the city—some places had a glitch and were still pixelated.
"This is too dangerous for us to wander around," Erik suddenly commanded. "Bring us back to Cuihua Peak, Michelle!"
The Archangel immediately brought us back to the same spot.
"That's a shame!" Cynthia said. "You and your creations will be fine but not us, the outsiders. Michelle, please find a safe place to graze the golden herd, okay?"
I brought them out as fast as I could and left the laptop to Michelle. It might help her create a more stable universe in time, and we could enter it later after the world starts to settle down. Heaven might not be as safe as I think it should be, who knows?