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Chapter 264: She Who Shut Her Eyes
🕑 Added 2025-04-20 05:28:54 +0000 UTCThe first vision was related to Fu Xuan.
“...to accept my eye is to bear endless pain. Your nature as a long-lived species makes it a tool of torture, rather than a tool to seek the truth.”
“Knowledge exchanged in pain. With it, I would not make the same mistake in the future.”
The bestowal of Nous’ eye. It firmly rested in the middle of her forehead. It took on the form of an amethyst-colored gemstone.
The moment it opens is the time when everything becomes clear. Divination became as clear as peering through a transparent wall.
The second vision was during the Third Abundance war. Things deviated largely without Aleph’s presence.
“...the future.”
The coldness in her body made her feel she was at the lowest level of the Shackling Prison. The only thing that remained in her pink-gold eyes was helplessness.
Everything they predicted using the Omniscia turned into reality. The Cloudpeer Telescope was brought by her teacher to the forefront of the war. It attracted Lan’s rainbow arrow, destroying friends and foes alike.
The Third Abundance War closed the chapter to another tragic war born by Xianzhou.
Fu Xuan closed her eyes. Yet, she could still see it.
The nebulous mist in her path dissipated. It revealed a single path ahead.
One.
All the possibilities she divined…
All the futures she thought were endless…
They revealed nothing but a single path resulted by her ‘choice’.
“...There is only one path in destiny.”
The future began deviating further.
Fu Xuan continued her career in Luofu. The events of the Third Abundance War created a significant impact on her, to the point she now firmly believed her teacher’s teaching. The notion that only a single future existed took root in her mind. She gradually forgot Nous’ original words.
“Across every moment, we stand at a maze marked by our footprints. I could only give you a problem and the capacity to perceive it.”
In Fu Xuan’s mind, she answered her own question. It was useless to question it further. The helplessness of that day unknowingly removed a portion of Fu Xuan’s self.
Stuck in a quagmire of broken answers and a false sense of accomplishment…
“Huff..!”
Fu Xuan found herself back at the table. She looked at Aleph’s golden pupils, only to see the silhouettes of clocks. His right eye showed a clockwise arm movement. His left eye showed an anti-clockwise arm movement.
She met his gaze and felt an uncontrollable urge to continue looking.
She blinked and found the feeling was gone.
“How was it?” He asked.
“...I could see it happening to myself.”
“Self-acceptance. A rare trait.”
Fu Xuan’s story went just like that. It took a long time for her to wake up. She gave up in the face of pure despair.
Such was the route most people of this world take. Seeing and knowing the sheer difference between them and an Aeon are two different things. The former results in worship and revelry. The latter results in unbreakable will or utter despair—no in-betweens.
Fu Xuan took the latter path. She stayed on the ‘utter despair’ path before being able to have a small urge to ‘change’.
“Do you know the Theory of Imaginary Tree?”
Aleph asked her a random question all of a sudden.
“The Genius Society’s founder?”
“That’s right. You do know about it.” He said. “It will be easier to explain things.”
Clap-!
The paradise disappeared. They are now under the branches of a ‘tree’. Its pure golden-orange lights illuminated the dark sky.
Ripple-!
Fu Xuan saw her own reflection beneath her feet. The floor was made of a liquid—a water.
“The water beneath us is the Sea of Quanta. The branches above belong to the Imaginary Tree.”
Aleph went silent after his explanation. What followed was a sped-up process of the cycle between the Tree and the Sea. Branches grow from its trunk. Some of them don’t make it, causing these branches to fall below.
The never-ending cycle continued—that was until the appearance of Aeons. Their presence influenced the Tree’s growth. A single branch from before bore a dozen now. The branches no longer grew at a few lines, but rather, into an entire Tree with millions, if not trillions of branches.
In the end…
‘Fate is predetermined… for the mortals, that is.’
Aleph chose not to speak. He realized why Aeons do not speak of an absolute answer.
Just like a star’s supernova, even mortals (i.e., non-Aeons) could shine as bright as an Aeon, albeit briefly. The founder of the Genius Society who contributed to Nous’ Aeonhood was one such being.
Their short bursts could affect the entire universe—in turn the Imaginary Tree.
To keep these possibilities, Nous gives the ability to perceive the problem, not the answer to the problem itself.
Even Aleph is aware that the answers he got could be proven wrong. That was how big the world is; the pursuit of answers does not stop.
Only one being remains unaffected by it…
‘Terminus. What do you see?’
A trace of respect emerged due to Aleph’s repeated clashes with Finality. They are the sole being who was above all; the one who represented the unstoppable end. They are not hostile; merely a natural force imposed as a part of the world.
‘Fu Xuan. I can see why Aeons choose their Pathstriders well.’ He nodded. ‘Who could have thought that Aeons rely on mortals to see things they could not?’
The attractiveness of the Trailblazer in the future becomes reasonable. After all, that person is an error in everyone else’s sight.
‘That reminds me… Stellaron Hunters. Maybe I can walk around the world more.’
Aleph stopped his musings when he saw a clear intent in Fu Xuan’s eyes.
Clang-!
The teacup was placed back to the saucer. What she saw within the teacup was a combination of indescribable colors. Her brain immediately stopped ‘thinking’ about it. The moment it did so, it stayed on the pure-white color.
‘This…’
It was Aleph’s first time seeing [Infinity] reflected someone’s compatibility. It was different from the [Door] and [Finality] he granted to Herta. It was his [Door] authority enhanced by [Infinity].
What Fu Xuan got was [Infinity] itself. It showed her compatibility with this authority is the best.
Hum-!
A silent shockwave spread throughout their surroundings. Fu Xuan found herself losing consciousness.
The last words she heard was:
“You may shut your eyes, my friend.”
