It hurts… It hurts too much.
A body, abandoned by its soul, drifts endlessly through the silent void of the cosmos. Starlight bathes its form, revealing a face drenched in blood.
I'm losing my body; I can't regenerate atoms for my body anymore…
The eyes of the fallen body struggle to open, but blood floats freely, smearing across them like a crimson veil.
I think Éloïse is dying… perhaps that's why I'm dying too…
He was struggling to even lift his finger; moving his arm was yet another challenge. His facial expression clearly shows that he has lost faith in surviving this tragic end.
A smile flickers—warm, fragile—as his eyes close, as if his soul were leaving his body, even though his body doesn't feel like it has a soul.
I wish I had at least protected Éloïse… So right now I wouldn't be dying here in this empty void all alone…
He breathes once, twice… But breath means nothing in space.
Mom, it was true… cosmos is really a cold graveyard…
…
"Wake up… Wake up, Henry."
The darkness covering his eyes starts getting clearer, and he feels like someone is shaking his body to wake him up.
But in the face of losing hope of living anymore, his eyes didn't open fully and closed the next moment.
"Éloïse, close his wound; he'll not die until you are alive… So don't panic."
Éloïse… She is alive… That means I still have a chance of returning… But I don't have the power to regenerate atoms for my body…
He slowly feels like his body is getting its energy back, and the next moment, he tries to open his eyes, and this time, he opens them without struggling.
The first thing he saw after opening his eyes was long blonde hair. Aside from hair, he saw the metal roof with some parts covered with transparent glass.
From the transparent glass, he was seeing shining stars far, far away in dark space. From the imagery of all this, it seems to be a space station he is on right now.
His voice felt broken and slower, as if it hurt him while he tried to speak; his breaths got normal, and his senses seemed pretty normal now.
After feeling everything right about his body, he let out a relieved sigh while lying down on the floor of the space station.
He turned his head to his left side and tried to examine the blonde-haired girl but was unable due to her long hair covering her.
He put his left hand's palm on the floor and pushed it downward to lift himself. After a little bit of effort, he lifted himself and managed to sit.
And while doing this, the blonde-haired girl heard his breathing and turned around. The moment she saw Henry sit up, she quickly held him so he wouldn't fall back.
"Be careful; your body still needs energy to work properly."
A gentle voice, like a breeze, came out of her mouth.
"Don't worry, I'll take it from here… You…"
He replied to her with a smile, but then his eyes widened with shock as he saw her arm, which was cut off.
"Éloïse… What happened to your arm?"
She narrowed her eyes toward the right side of her arm and held the cut end of her arm with her left hand. A gentle smile passed through her calm face.
"A small price to pay for going against a human who is obsessed with his dream."
Henry sighed with hopelessness and forced himself to stand up; he gripped his palm tightly and opened it again. He did this for some time before putting it on Éloïse's right shoulder.
"Anyway, what is this place, and… who was with you just now? Who was trying to wake me up?"
Éloïse quickly knocked out of her thoughts and looked upward to Henry. She held Henry's hand and stood up.
"This is Namira, a space station of Cosmos hunters. And the one who was with me was Hyacinth's clone."
Henry nodded as he listened to Éloïse; he reached out his left hand toward Éloïse's missing hand. He removed the clothes from the arm and found a bandage covered in blood.
"Hmm, remove the bandage. I'll set your arm first."
She didn't react but instead started removing the blood-soaked bandage with her left hand. As the bandage left her cut arm, the blood started dripping slowly from it.
"Why didn't someone heal it? Mom could have done it; even Anastasia could have done it."
He holds her left arm from its edge and closes his left hand's fist near it. After closing his fist, some light flickers out of nowhere near Éloïse's arm.
And then those light particles start getting closer to each other and start forming an arm from the cutting edge.
After a short time, the arm was complete, and Henry opened his fist and let Éloïse's arm go. Éloïse tried to move her arm, and she was able to use it normally.
"The human body and all things in the universe are made of atoms, so I build a new arm with atoms."
Henry swung his arm and cut through the air like a sword as his hand moved a wormhole-type portal open in front of him.
"We have to go; he is not down yet."
Éloïse nodded, and without a second thought, she followed Henry and entered the portal. After they both enter the portal, it gets close, leaving the space station empty.
…
The portal opens near an asteroid, and Henry and Éloïse step out of it. They didn't land on any solid place but stepped outside in a wide open space.
They seem to be breathing easily without any mask or special suit in space, as if they don't need air to breathe.
The portal closes, leaving a faint light behind, which vanishes right away. Henry looks upward and finds out that all four primordial maidens fight to the death with the one single enemy.
Four primordial maidens, the highest authority of the universe, combined to fight against a human.
They all attack at once; meanwhile, He stops all of them without any effort. It feels as if he is playing with them all.
Henry didn't wait for anything and moved toward the guy whom all the maidens were fighting. But before he went any further, he turned around toward Éloïse and spoke in a hurry.
"Go to others; they can't hold Lilith all by themselves."
With Henry's snap, a portal appeared behind her. Éloïse turned around to enter the portal, but before she could do so, a hand came and passed through Éloïse's chest.
Henry's eyes blinked in disbelief, and he shouted Éloïse's name. He saw blood that was coming out of Éloïse's mouth. Her eyes turn pale white as if her body is starting to die.
Suddenly, Henry also felt extreme pain in his chest as if his hand had passed through his body, too.
He tried to turn around and stare at others, and the moment he turned around, he saw that the guy was missing from there.
Henry moved his eyes toward Éloïse and saw him standing in front of Éloïse; he took his hand out from Éloïse's body. Afterward, Éloïse fell into the empty void of the cosmos.
Henry's eyes also started getting dimmer, so he nearly fell, but before he could do so, he shouted while a massive amount of power came out of his body.
And that massive power covers that guy fully in itself and starts shrinking. He tried to resist but was unable to, as if something from inside that power holding him in.
"Eryndal… this is a parting gift from me… before I perish with her… Suffer all alone in nothingness…"
Afterward, Henry's eyes lost their light and grew darker as he also fell into the empty void of the cosmos.
Meanwhile, Eryndal screamed in anger and tried to resist being captured, but all was in vain. And in the next blink of an eye, Eryndal, with that power, vanished, leaving a firm blink of light behind.
All four maidens were there, witnessing what had just happened. Hyacinth [Maiden of Life] looks toward Anastasia [Maiden of Fate] with a serious but sad look.
"Anastasia… I don't sense any living being in the whole universe other than us…"
Anastasia put her hand on her head while closing her eyes. She thinks for a moment before opening her eyes again.
"We have to reset the whole universe from the start, but we will change the fate… And rest assured, Eryndal will still be sealed; Henry seals him in nothingness, outside of the universe."
Naiadine [Maiden of Nature] leaned close to Anastasia while putting her hand on her shoulder. She looked toward the dying star, far away from them.
"Even stars are dying… This battle sure was for the fate of the universe."
The star goes supernova at light speed, and its powerful waves start spreading throughout our cosmos.
"Let's not waste time and do it. The universe will be reborn once more… And everything will have a new start."
Death [Maiden of Eternity] speaks while she consumes all the energy of a supernova via her palm and calms down the star to its final rest.
Anastasia opened her arms and spoke out while immense power was released from her body.
"Guardian of the universe, lend me your power to help our universe be reborn for the sake of a better future."
All three other maidens nodded and pointed their hands toward Anastasia and started releasing their powers. All three of them start leaning close to Anastasia.
Anastasia is in the center while all three maidens release their power and send it toward Anastasia. She consumes all of it and starts speaking, as do other maidens who also continue speaking with her.
"Ooo, flower of the universe, guarantee us power to rechoose the fate of the universe and give it a new start."
Anastasia smiled while staring at Hyacinth and gave a nod to her. Every other maiden also gives Anastasia a nod.
She consumed every bit of energy that was released by other maidens in herself, and with that, three other maidens were also consumed within Anastasia.
The amount of power within Anastasia starts glowing in neon color, and it starts shrinking until it consumes Anastasia and all of the universe in it.
The only thing that remained behind was an empty void, nothingness. For a second, it feels like the universe has ended and there's nothing left behind.
And in the blink of an eye, that neon light, which consumes everything in the universe, goes big bang once again, giving birth to a new universe.
The particles and objects of the universe move around on every side within the speed of light, and from that, once again, the cosmos's journey begins.