Immortal Druid

[POV: Wo Li]

All it took was a blink of an eye, and I found myself inside a grand palace.

The first thing that caught my attention was the throne room. It was vast enough to make me feel insignificant, with towering pillars disappearing into darkness and a floor of polished black stone that reflected the faint, otherworldly light hanging overhead. At the far end of the hall sat a magnificent obsidian throne.

A man occupied it.

He wore dark robes that concealed most of his figure, and countless chains wrapped around his body, binding him to the throne from every direction. His face was hidden behind an expressionless mask, leaving only a pair of eyes visible beneath it.

I tightened my grip around my staff.

“Void Sovereign?”

The moment the name escaped my mouth, I instinctively prepared myself to throw hands.

The Monster within me immediately stopped me.

“Calm down.”

The chained figure tilted his head slightly.

“I believe this is our first meeting,” he said softly. “Even if I were to count the past iterations, I cannot recall meeting you before. How curious, then, that you already know my divine title.”

My grip tightened.

“What are you talking about?”

I forced a puzzled expression onto my face and deliberately shrugged. “I just guessed. You look like someone who would have a grand title such as the Void Sovereign.”

It was a terrible lie.

I knew the Void Sovereign from Legacy World Online.

He had been a raid boss in the main quest, one of the most powerful beings players could encounter during the latter half of the game. Defeating him required the cooperation of the highest-grade elementals in the game's lore. Even then, the battle had been infamous for its difficulty and how it affected the game world.

There was very little known about him.

That was not particularly unusual. Most of the boss characters introduced during the latter half of the game had sparse lore, leaving players to piece together their identities through item descriptions, quest dialogue, and environmental clues.

But the Void Sovereign was different.

Even compared to the other mysterious bosses, his lore was practically nonexistent.

I had always assumed that was intentional.

Now, standing before the actual Void Sovereign, I suddenly wondered whether the developers had simply known far more about him than they ever revealed.

“Ah, I see.”

His eyes lit up beneath the mask as he examined me.

“You are different.”

I frowned.

“Different from what?”

“Before, you were ruled by chaos. It consumed your thoughts, your instincts, even your very existence. You did not seek to restrain it. You merely existed within it, allowing it to carry you wherever it pleased.”

His gaze seemed to pierce through me.

“But now, you are trying to tame it. You are attempting to impose order upon something that was never meant to possess one. How amusing. You have not escaped the chaos, yet you are no longer content to be ruled by it.”

I stared at him. I had no idea what he was talking about.

Lately, all I felt was chaos.

Everything had been spiraling further and further beyond my control. I had been thrown into one crisis after another, constantly forced to react to situations I barely understood. No matter how much power I gained, there was always something beyond my reach.

I had so many questions.

And looking at the Void Sovereign, I had the distinct feeling that he knew the answers to at least some of them.

“Don’t be distracted.”

The Monster's voice brought my attention back.

“Ask what you came for. The existence before you is not a friend, so I advise caution. The chains binding him exist for a reason. However, ask the right questions, and you may find answers that need knowing.”

I almost sighed.

This was probably the height of stupidity. I had entered the palace of an ancient god, found him chained to his throne, and the first thing I had done was casually call him by his 'divine title' or whatever that meant.

Now I was taking advice from the monster living inside me.

Still, if I was already here, I might as well go for broke.

“What are the chains for?”

I could practically feel the Monster recoil internally. If he had possessed a physical face, I was certain he would have been shaking his head at me. The Void Sovereign remained silent for several moments. Then he answered with complete sincerity.

“Hmm. I don't know.”

I blinked.

That was not the answer I expected.

Unlike the other beings I had encountered, the Voice of the World remained completely silent around him. I could not sense even the faintest reaction from it.

That meant I could not tell whether he was lying.

Even when dealing with Ox-Head and Horse-Face, I could listen closely to the Voice of the World and sometimes discern whether their words carried deceit. But the Void Sovereign was different. He was hollow. There was simply nothing for me to grasp.

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The Monster spoke again.

“He is telling the truth. He truly does not know. He probably made himself forget. So that whatever is bound to the other end of the chains would not break free.”

The Monster paused.

“Like you, who acts as my warden, the Void Sovereign before you is a warden of something. While he rules the Underworld as a Supreme Being, he is also a prisoner of his own making. He burdened himself with a duty he chose to bear, simply because he decided that someone had to.”

There was something strange about his voice. The Supreme Monster sounded almost nostalgic. He had never been this talkative before. Usually, getting information out of him was like trying to pry open a sealed treasure vault with my bare hands.

Yet now, he was freely telling me things about himself and the Void Sovereign.

For a brief moment, I almost asked whether he knew the masked man personally. But the Monster was right. I shouldn't be distracted. I had come here for one reason.

“Mab.”

The Void Sovereign's head tilted.

“I want Mab back.”

He slowly repeated the name, as if testing its weight upon his tongue. “Mab?” His eyes narrowed slightly. “Mab. Mab.” Then recognition dawned upon him. “The Fairy Queen?”

I nodded.

“Ah. That annoying lass. Nyx's sister.”

My eyes widened. “You know them?”

“Know them?” There was a hint of amusement in his voice. “I am their uncle.”

I stared at him. “Their uncle?”

“Yes. Mab and Nyx are my nieces. Hmm. I believe there has been a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?”

“The Sisters of Destiny cannot die.”

I froze.

The Void Sovereign spoke as casually as though he were discussing the weather.

“They are godspawn. Born as demigods, they possess a higher form of immortality. Even should they perish, death is merely a temporary state for them. They will simply be reborn anew.”

I stared at him.

My mind went completely blank.

I had come all this way because I thought Mab had died. And now her own uncle was telling me that she could not truly die. I lowered my staff. I had absolutely nothing to say for myself. I had just barged all the way into the Underworld to resurrect someone who apparently did not need resurrecting.

I felt like a complete idiot.

I internally asked the Supreme Monster, “Did you know this?”

The Supreme Monster was not a singular entity. It was a multitude of different selves, each expressed like a grain of sand contributing to the whole that I perceived as a soul. In other words, it was a collective.

At my question, the entire collective simply went quiet.

Not a single one of them answered me.

They deigned not to acknowledge my question at all.

There had to be a reason why the Supreme Monster had allowed me to go through all of this. He had told me to ask what I came for, but I had already asked about Mab, and I doubted that was what he had meant.

So, here goes nothing.

“What do you think of resurrection? Bringing people back to life?”

The Void Sovereign answered rather quickly.

“Heaven does not like it, but the Underworld could not care less.”

I blinked.

That was surprisingly frank.

No wonder I was smote by Heavenly Tribulation every time I brought someone back to life.

The Void Sovereign continued before I could say anything.

“The Underworld facilitates the path toward the afterlife. For most, that means reincarnation. For others, it may mean either damnation or salvation. Bringing someone back to life is merely a detour. No more. No less.”

His voice remained calm, almost indifferent.

“Even immortals can die. Even gods may fall. Everyone and everything has an end. Even the universe as you know it.”

I stared at him.

That was very ominous.

There was something about the way he said it that made the words feel heavier than they should have been. He had not merely been talking about death. It sounded as though he were reminding me of a truth that even the greatest beings tended to forget.

Death was the greatest equalizer of all.

I hesitated before asking my next question.

“What do you think of... primordial beings?”

The Void Sovereign fell silent. This time, the silence felt deliberate.

I waited patiently, but he just looked at me as if contemplating how to answer.

“I believe you have overstayed your welcome.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Regardless, you asked, and I have to answer.”

The Void Sovereign shifted slightly upon his obsidian throne. The chains binding him gave a faint metallic groan, though he made no attempt to struggle against them. His eyes settled upon me, and his words were never more blunt.

“What do I think of primordials? They are animals. Slaves to their baser instincts.”

I remained silent, unsure what to think of the contempt in his tone.

“You have your trials and burdens. I have mine.”

One of his hands slowly rose.

“Go.”

He gestured with a single hand, and the world disappeared around me.

I felt as though my entire body had been pulled through an impossibly narrow space. My vision blurred, my stomach lurched, and the next thing I knew, my feet were firmly planted on solid ground.

I looked around. I was outside the Underworld.

The enormous gates towered before me, their imposing silhouettes stretching toward the darkness above. The familiar figures of Ox-Head and Horse-Face stood nearby, both staring at me as though they had been expecting my return.

I sighed.

“...What a waste of a trip.”

“Don’t say that,” said Horse-Face. “I had fun skewering you, so on the bright side, it was not all bad.”

From the delight in his voice, I could tell he was thoroughly entertained by my disappointment.

This guy had serious issues.

He was starting to get on my nerves.

I reminded myself of the difference in our power as I looked around. There were a lot of cadavers in my likeness scattered throughout the area, some lying motionless near the enormous gates while others were piled farther away. Whatever had happened here, I was not about to pick a fight with either of these two just because Horse-Face had a twisted sense of humor.

“Wo Li!”

A familiar voice suddenly called my name.

I turned around just in time to see Nyx rushing toward me.

She threw her arms around me and pulled me into an embrace before immediately holding my shoulders and examining me from head to toe.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” she demanded. “What were you thinking? You could have died!”

“I’m fine,” I assured her, surprised by how she was acting. “But how are you here?”

Nyx's expression softened slightly, though the worry remained in her eyes.

“Ward was based here in the spiritual plane. They have different outposts scattered throughout the spiritual plane, and one of them was here in the Underworld.”

She paused.

“But...”

Her gaze shifted toward the two enormous titans standing before the gates.

“It seems I’ve been exiled, so they won’t let me in.”

“What if I go?” I offered.

Horse-Face immediately burst out laughing. “No, you can’t.”

I frowned, trying to remedy it by taking an example of Horse-Face's brashness. “The Void Sovereign and I are tight—”

BOOM!

Ox-Head slammed the butt of his enormous axe against the ground. The impact shook the surrounding earth. “You cannot speak his divine title so lightly, fool!”

I froze, thinking to myself how Horse-Face was not really a good example. Horse-Face and Ox-Head might be good friends, but I wasn't that guy to them. I couldn't believe the usually gentle giant was becoming this angry at my choice of words.

The Supreme Monster kindly explained the reason. “A godly being takes their divine title as their true name. To speak it lightly is to offer the greatest disrespect.”

Horse-Face started laughing again. “Don’t be so hard on him, Ox-Head! It’s not like you are the Sovereign’s biggest fan, either.”

I doubted Horse-Face was defending me. He was probably just trying to make fun of Ox-Head.

"Humor me, stupid horse," said Ox-Head. "If I don't become angry on behalf of the lord we serve, would you?"

"If observing decorum and politeness is defending his honor, then I'm doing that already aplenty. We are not getting any younger, Ox-Head. You need to learn how to relax a bit more, like me."

"I'd rather die."

"But you are already dead."

"I'm a spiritual being, not dead."

"I don't know about that."

"Of course, you know. You are like me!"

"No, we are not alike. You don't know how to relax."

"..."

Ox-Head looked like he was done with Horse-Face, exasperated down to the bone.

Horse-Face's expression changed. The playful amusement disappeared from Horse-Face, replaced by something far more serious as he looked down on me. “I am afraid we will not be seeing each other for a very long time.”

I stared at him, asking the obvious. “What?”

“The Lord Sovereign has decided that, from now on, the Underworld will close its gates.”

Nyx's expression immediately changed, her voice trembling. “What!? The Underworld... is closing its gates?”

Horse-Face nodded. “For the foreseeable future. And that's why Ox-Head here is being so grumpy.”

Nyx's face paled. “What does that mean?”

Horse-Face looked toward the enormous gates behind him. “The gates of the Underworld are the boundary between the living world and the afterlife. If they close, nothing crosses them.”

Nyx took a small step backward. “But souls have to enter the Underworld.”

“Yes.”

“They have to be judged.”

“Yes.”

“They have to reincarnate.”

“Yes.”

Her voice grew increasingly frantic.

“Then what happens to everyone who dies?”

Horse-Face did not answer immediately.

That silence told me enough.

The consequences were unimaginable.

If the Underworld closed its gates, the dead could no longer proceed along the natural path of death. Souls would have nowhere to go. The dead could not be judged, reincarnated, damned, or saved.

The cycle itself would be interrupted.

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