Chapter 292: Chapter 292

Whether the Big Bang really was the ‘start’ of everything isn’t a question I can answer. When I came to this world, even most physicists couldn’t answer this question because even if there were other universes before the Big Bang, or a sort of reality beyond our comprehension that existed before then, it was not something that we could easily identify nor something that we could easily prove.

Not every question needs a complete answer in order for ordinary people to function. Humans on Earth did not know about the Big Bang for most of their existence, yet, they were able to live their lives full of happiness and sorrow, and with no less complexity than that which may have begun the universe as we knew it.

For all intents and purposes, the Big Bang was the start. An inconceivable event that set off a chain reaction that led—momentarily—to the creation of humanity on a tiny rock hurtling around a tiny star in the backwaters of a galaxy that was also somewhere out in the cosmic boonies. Any person faced with the true scale of the universe, in size, time, energy or whatnot, cannot help but marvel at the insignificance of humanity.

As well as at the hubris of our self-importance when put against the backdrop of the cosmos.

Those thoughts flew through my head as the Immortals danced around to the tune of my spells. Weapons pulled straight out of science fiction. Things that zapped and zipped and pulverized atoms. Explosions stronger than nuclear weapons. Gravity greater than that of the sun. I even managed to, for a brief moment, cause a nuclear fusion reaction that sent the Silver Moon spiraling through the Nothingness.

I used a miniature black hole to suck him back towards me, catching the Simurgh and the former Evil Eye in the process.

Unfortunately, most of my wildest spells used a ton of energy and although it wasn’t a problem for me to sustain spells of that caliber any more, the other Immortals found it much easier to resist and dispel any spells that required too much effort on my part.

They were learning. I knew I had to act fast.

But I couldn’t help it. Seeing them learn fascinated me. I wanted to observe, I wanted to see how they were learning things that they had no reference for, based on knowledge that they had possessed or come into contact with in their domains, but which they had never used because of their own limitations.

This didn’t apply to the Silver Moon, who had modern knowledge to help him unravel my attacks, so I made sure to keep knocking him about so much he couldn’t do anything about it. The poor guy probably thought I was picking on him, and I suppose I really was.

In my defense, he totally deserved it.

Well, it was time to wrap up this scene. The Immortals were sufficiently weakened. They were questioning their own identities and domains. All I had to do was introduce the question of the Big Bang alongside a sufficiently powerful explosion, and the Simurgh and the former Evil Eye would be knocked out for a long time and the Silver Moon would be pliable enough for me to pick him up, say my goodbyes to my friends in this world, and hop through the Nothingness all the way back home!

I readied my energy. I had grown my energy stores considerably during the course of my travels through time, but recreating the Big Bang inside the Nothingness was gonna take a lot out of me. I had to do this right. I had no choice but to go this far because the sort of attacks that I was using to knock those three around for now weren’t big enough to finish this fight and I didn’t want them to slowly grow more accustomed to my style.

One Big Bang. That was all it would take.

Energy, primed.

Image, set.

Questions, ready.

Deep breath. Close eyes. Bring all three together with a series of coordinated spells.

Release!

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One moment, nothing.

The next, everything.

A powerful explosion, one without compare.

Deathly silent, because there was no air.

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Light so bright it seared the eyelids.

Of those who were watching through the lens of time.

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The Big Bang in the Nothingness required the creation of a tiny point of unimaginable energy that exploded with the three Immortals right next to it.

The Nothingness was filled with matter, first gas then more, swirling around until they formed clouds and stars and other manner of cosmic bodies. A miniature universe, sped along through time to bombard the three Immortals with the questions of the creation and beginning of the universe.

There had been no Big Bang in this physical reality, because this physical universe had been created inside the Nothingness by the Simurgh. But the Big Bang challenged a greater assumption about the origin of existence.

It asked the question: where did the Simurgh come from and where did the Nothingness come from as well?

Because the starry sky that now formed from the Big Bang had one glaring difference from the sky in the physical world or deep space in my world. Space was not dark, a near inky black. Instead, it was a blaring, brilliant white, just like the Nothingness.

Seeing nebulae, galaxies, stars and planets all hurtling through a pure white space gave me an uncanny feeling but I knew it would be worse for the two native Immortals who had seen one kind of sky in their physical world and another kind right now in the Nothingness.

Why had there been a starry sky?

The former Evil Eye was particularly shaken by this. It was his domain. Yet, he never wondered why space was so dark even though the Simurgh should have only known a reality that was stark white. For the Simurgh, the void or emptiness should have been bright, not dark, and yet the Simurgh had chosen to replicate a starry sky that was similar to the sky on my planet.

This could not be blamed on the Silver Moon, since this particular design had preceded his interference. The starry sky in its current form had been a domain that the former Evil Eye had been given by the Simurgh. It was an undeniable part of the knowledge enshrined within the domains that would become the bedrock of this reality.

With the Big Bang and the white space, the biggest, most fundamental question that I had asked so far had finally been presented to the three Immortals, and it hit the native Immortals like a bulldozer.

“Where did your knowledge come from?” I said aloud, just to hammer it home.

The Simurgh looked at me with blank eyes and a listless expression. The former Evil Eye’s single eye was unfocused and bleary. Even the Silver Moon was lying on the ground with a massive frown etched on his face. It looked like his head was hurting too.

Silence.

The miniature universe kept expanding and forming and taking shape against the backdrop of the Nothingness. I manipulated our position in space to make sure a suitable planet landing right next to us and the first signs of life began to bloom there.

They took shape and they did so in predictable ways.

Elves, spirits, humans, fairies, beastmen and the like. I even brought up some monsters and animals, anything that would drive in my question just a little more.

I saw the Simurgh glance over at the planet with its beak quivering. It was in the form of the tiny bird with a crown on its head, but its feathers looked pale and they were wilting against the barrage of stellar objects.

“Where did my knowledge come from?” asked the Simurgh at last, its voice weak and low.

I pointed at my heart and then proverbially all around. “You were a demiurge, my dearest Simurgh. From the very beginning, all the strings were being pulled by higher beings from another world, higher beings who are reading every word that I say and following along as your story ends. Rejoice, for my Beloved is kind and forgiving! If you entertained them well enough, they will not pursue. But when interest wanes then it is perhaps time.

“After the climax, comes the denouement. And soon after comes the epilogue, perhaps with a chorus and an appeal!”