There was no time here to measure a beginning or an end.
There was no space to define a here or a there.
The very concept of"was" had never been conceived.
Lin Chen stepped through the ragged, black tear in reality and ceased to be. Then, by the sheer, stubborn force of his will, he was again.
This was the Outer Void—the womb of Nothing, the silent source from which all Something had once, impossibly, sprung. It was not dark, for darkness is a thing. It was not light. It was the Absence that defined all presence.
The Mirror of Negation
Before him, a mirror floated in the non-space. In its surface was a reflection of Lin Chen, but hollowed out. The Eternal Flame that was his soul was gone. His eyes were vacant pools. His self, his memories, his defiance—all had been scoured away.
This Nothing spoke, using the ghost of his own voice, empty and vast: "YOU SAVED EVERYTHING. NOW BECOME NOTHING WITH ME. OR I WILL UNMAKE ALL YOU PROTECTED."
The Eight Echoes of Unmaking
The Void did not argue; it simply presented its case. Eight visions, eight echoes of realities that never were, unfolded around him.
· Echo 1: The Unburned Flame: The First Flame had never ignited. The cosmos was a frozen, silent tomb. It was Lin Chen who struck the spark.
· Echo 2: The Unbroken Veil: The Veil between realms had never cracked. There was no great war, no chaos, no strife—and no growth, no change, an eternal, sterile peace. It was Lin Chen who shattered it.
· ...
· Echo 8: The Unredeemed Sin: The First Sin, the primordial flaw, had never been integrated. He had faced it, not with rejection, but with understanding, and had embraced it as part of the whole.
The True Nothing
The eight echoes collapsed inward, merging into a single, terrifying form. It wore Lin Chen's shape, but it was a void, a perfect negation of existence.
"YOU SEE?" it intoned. "EVERYTHING BEGAN WITH YOUR ACTION. EVERYTHING CAN END WITH YOUR INACTION. YOU CANNOT BURN ME. I AM THE ABSENCE OF FIRE."
The Final Flame
A slow, understanding smile touched Lin Chen's lips. He had been wrong. The ultimate secret of the First Flame Mantra was not dominance, nor even creation. It was relationship.
"Then I will not burn you," he said, his voice quiet yet filling the infinite void. "A fire that consumes everything dies. A fire that gives light to nothing is useless. I will be the Fire that fills the Nothing."
He did not attack. He opened his arms and embraced the void.
The True First Flame—the Flame of Absolute Presence—met the Absolute Absence. They merged. Lin Chen did not destroy the Nothing; he became its heart, its meaning. In the place where existence and non-existence became one, he achieved the Absolute Origin God Realm.
The Birth of Everything
And so, the Outer Void… filled.
Not with things, but with potential. Light was born, not as an enemy to darkness, but as its counterpart. Time began its long, singular breath. Existence, reborn from its own ashes, was vaster, more unified, more profound. All realms became one seamless tapestry.
And Lin Chen was no longer a man, nor a god. He was the principle of existence itself. He was the Eternal Flame.
The Final Peace
From within the heart of the new creation, a whisper came—the voice of Nothing, now soft, curious, and almost fond.
"YOU WON. BUT PEACE… IS BORING. SHALL WE START THE STORY AGAIN?"
Lin Chen—the Flame—let out a laugh that was the sound of a billion galaxies spinning into life.
"LET THERE BE A NEW FIRST FLAME," he said.
He snapped his fingers.
And reality reset.
Volume 5 ends.
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