Origin Seeker

Chapter 271: Dust / Ash

After separating his intelligence, mind, and wisdom, it was as if he died. There was no thinking, no awareness of any kind. After separating everything, his person just vanished. And his body actually did disperse into nothing. With no mind or consciousness, there was no image, no spiritual body. 

The Keeper watched as the three aspects of his self drifted to the Divine Seas. His mind was implanted into one, while his Intelligence was written into another. Then, his Divine Light was poured into the third, simply filling it up. 

As his mind and intelligence wrote themselves into the Divine Seas, the Keeper saw the tunnel of Divine Light Dream created pour out. Every drop of Divine Light went into the Divine Sea. And there was a lot. The Keeper was shocked at the amount that filled the vessel. It was only a bit less than the amount that had been used so far. This meant that Dream had only used half of his Divine Light to create the existing Divine Seas. And there were now 11 Divine Seas!

The tunnel of Divine Light closed as the last drop went into the Divine Sea. It was now an ocean of pure light. At the same time, Dream's mind finished fusing with the Divine Sea, and his intelligence finished writing. 

Upon completion, the three Divine Seas flashed. 

"Oh... I'm just a soul now. So this is how those class 6's felt huh?"

A voice echoed from Dream's Divine Seas. He was currently nothing but his soul, and his mind was now in its new home. Of course, this came with a wave of profound realization. Dream was now occupying a higher soul, and with it came vastly increased abilities in every way. His mind felt faster, and he felt like he could comprehend the secrets of the universe. 

But like when he created the Divine Sea of physical reality, he quickly grounded himself, not letting his mind drift. He still wasn't yet done. 

"The next Sea, that of Dust. Wait, Sophia. Hey, are you finished?"

[I'm already done.]

"Oh! How is it?"

[...Different.]

Sophia wasn't sure what to say. After being cut out of Dream's soul and drifting in limbo for a bit, she made contact with the Divine Sea. The Sea made a connection with her, and together the two bonded. Dream made it so Sophia could bond to the Sea how she needed to, so the process was smooth. After that though, Sophia felt the great wonder that came with becoming a higher soul. 

She was... more aware of everything. Her base abilities were increased dozens of times over and she was able to make contact with every other Divine Sea as if it were a limb. Each of Dream's Divine Seas were created from his Divine Light, and despite being technically separate vessels, they acted as a singular entity. Thus, the Divine Seas all connected to each other automatically. It was like the soul bond between Dream and his wives. The pieces of soul were separated by distance, but they acted as if they were still together. 

Sophia was quick to receive data from everything, and she had watched when Dream's mind and intelligence had fused with the Divine Sea. It was a bit surreal, what was happening. They were now an evolved soul, supported by vessels of pure Divine Light. Despite Sophia feeling vastly increased ability, she also felt... dry. Her Divine Sea was empty besides the vessel, and she could feel that when it was filled, she would be powerful beyond imagination. 

But more than that, she was overwhelmed by the thought of what Dream would be. He was the owner of this soul, all of their power his. If every Divine Sea was filled, what would he become? It was hard to imagine what else he could become so good at. 

Dream chuckled at her response.

"Good different? Are you mad?"

[Mad? As thanks for giving me a better soul, I'll overlook the harrowing moments of abyssal isolation.]

"Hehe, sorry. Well, we're almost done. Just got a few more to make."

{Few more?}

The Keeper spoke at that moment, a slight tone of disbelief. 

{What more could you create? Don't tell me you plan on creating all of the Prime 14 Seas.}

"Oh, but I do. Would that not be what it means to be an Archon? Or, shouldn't the Archon's successor be capable of this much?"

{In the best case, yes. But actually achieving the feat of combining every Divine Sea, containing it all within one soul, is not something so easily imagined or hoped for. The primary reason for this is due to Dust and Ash.}

"And how they're opposite?"

{Indeed.}

The Keeper nodded solemnly.

{At your level, even making contact with Dust is a practically hopeless endeavor. For example, the 11th and 12th monoliths, written by the 11th and 12th Emperors. The 11th Emperor was the only one under the Archons who was capable of realizing Dust upon evolving his soul, and the 12th Emperor the only one capable of realizing Ash at a similar time. Two people in all the cosmos who realized those intangible concepts at your level. There were people who realized Dust and Ash just after their evolution, and even during. But before? Only them. Thus, only they were able to build Divine Seas of Dust and Ash, paving the way for them to become two of the most glorious Emperors under the Archons.}

"So discovering Dust and Ash is really hard, huh?"

Dream concluded, his soul floating around. The Keeper felt odd as Dream's soul drifted by him like some kind of fish, but just nodded. 

{Yes, it's hard.}

"Luckily I was able to touch a concept. That was the only thing that let me realize Dust, because Dust is the bridge to concepts. I guess I'm actually not as impressive as them since they were able to realize Dust and Ash without concepts. I couldn't have done that in the same situation."

{Nonetheless, you have done it. Now you have the ability to do what only one has done before. But, to contain both Dust and Ash within you, I don't hold much hope.}

"Mana and Runa are mutually annihilatory. I guess Dust and Ash would be the same only on a much higher level... Still, won't know until we try."

With those words, Dream's soul suddenly formed three more Divine Seas, the Divine Light streaming from the Sea of Divine Light. Then, once the three were formed, he suddenly pondered. 

"You know, my inventory hasn't been integrated. Let's do that."

Without much thought, Dream formed yet another Divine Sea. Then, he found his inventory that was now suspended amongst his other Seas. He moved the inventory over, infusing it into the Divine Sea. 

Like that, an entire dimension was created on top of the Divine Sea. Everything within Dream's inventory appeared above it. When it was done, Dream was made aware of everything within the inventory, as well as the nature of the inventory itself. It truly was its own dimension, and with its support now being an evolved soul, it was greatly strengthened. 

Dream turned his attention to the neutron star that was still floating above the legacy space. With a thought, the star disappeared, reappearing above the Sea of Inventory in a miniature form. Dream was surprised as he felt no pressure. More than that, he could observe the entirety of the neutron star. He was mesmerized by the extreme physics of it, especially with his newfound strength. 

But he pulled himself away. After getting his inventory back, he found the class 6 souls. He summoned 9 of the souls that were yet to be used, placing them in front of his own. 

The Keeper was surprised, but merely watched. 

Suddenly, the 9 class 6 soul cores exploded in a brilliant golden cloud. With his Will, Dream found and extracted all of the intangible golden particles that he could find. These particles were Dust. It was the endless source of a soul's energy, and the bridge to conceptual power. 

After a bit of time, Dream gathered all of the intangible particles he could find. The result was a flowing ethereal orb about 10 feet wide. 

"Dust..."

He muttered as he observed it. Then, without warning, he dumped everything onto one of the Divine Seas. 

When the Dust and Divine Light made contact with each other, it was the Sea that cracked under immense pressure. When that happened, Dream extracted Divine Light from his supply and reinforced it. 

But this didn't solve the problem. The Divine Sea continued to crack. Thinking, Dream observed the collision of the two forces. 

What he saw was the Dust trying to change the Divine Light, and the Divine Light resisting the change. The Divine Light didn't want to accept the Dust. 

At least, that's what Dream initially saw. Digging deeper, he began to feel the nature of Dust. 

"The monolith said Dust was orderly. The Dust... it actually wants to strengthen the Divine Light. Or, more like reinforce it. Dust doesn't change things, it resists change. That's what orderly means. And the Divine Light is breaking under the immense force of the Dust. The Divine Sea wants to contain the Dust... but maybe there's no need for total containment."

With curiosity, Dream inserted his Will into the Divine Light and Dust. Then, the Divine Sea broke apart into billions of particles.  

"How about I use the power of Dust to contain itself."

With those words, the Dust began to infuse into the scattered Divine Light. The two combined, and before long, the pure white Divine Light turned golden. 

"Oh, almost forgot. This is my soul, so I naturally need my own Dust."

As if remembering something inconsequential, Dream suddenly poked another hole in space. Out of this hole came a stream of intangible golden particles. This was his personal Dust. 

There wasn't a lot of it, but that wasn't the point. After the Dust of the class 6's mixed in with the Divine Sea, Dream infused his own throughout the whole thing. Like that, he took control of it all, linking the foreign Dust with his Divine Light. 

When this happened, the scattered Divine Sea began to solidify again. A golden Sea was formed with strength far surpassing the others. From this sea radiated endless power, endless energy. Its force surged through the rest of Dream's Divine Seas, and for a bit, his Will expanded out of control. 

The Keeper mustered his own energy as a wave of profound power washed over him. Dream couldn't bother worrying about him as he was hit with waves of both enlightenment and euphoria. 

When the Dust connected to the rest of the Seas, Dream finally couldn't hold back. The seal from the Keeper in his mind space directly shattered, unleashing the power of his concepts. And with the Dust as the bridge, the white cracks spread throughout his mind space. As for the cracks that threatened to shatter his mind space, those disappeared. His mind space was stronger than ever. 

Only, the white cracks that opened the door to concepts continued to expand, covering the entirety of his mind space and bringing down unfathomable pressure. What came with it was unfathomable awareness as well. Dream was suddenly able to connect with the concepts that acknowledged him, and from them came the ability to comprehend and wield their power. 

Of course, Dream dove into the massive ocean of knowledge it offered. He found himself glancing at the space around him. He directly observed the dots that were present throughout all of the material world, including space. Then, he was able to glimpse at their true nature. That of information. He could actually see their values, their states of existence. It wasn't any number, but something far deeper. 

"It's their conceptual existence."

All things had their root as concepts. All things were ruled by concepts. Nothing was outside them. Thus, within every thing, there was a conceptual foundation. This information was it. The information wasn't a tangible thing that could be controlled by any science or technology. It was purely conceptual, intangible, both nothing and something. 

And Dream was able to read it. Not well. He took some time to adjust, and only when he concentrated could he actually observe the conceptual information. But the data he received baffled him. Suddenly, he found himself solidifying physical theories, understanding them in their entirety. The information behind all matter gave a glimpse at the why of physical phenomena. It was something that had never even been conceived as far as Dream knew. After all, no science or technology could even begin to touch upon these things. 

For a long time, Dream's soul sat there, his Will scanning over everything in the vicinity. He also sent his Will into his inventory, viewing the neutron star that was a giant orb of extreme physics. He found himself laughing and feeling shivers of excitement as he came to gather more and more information. 

And it wasn't just physics. It was magic too. Dream was able to view the smallest units of mana, and through this he found that in this place, mana was present everywhere. Even if there was no mana in an area, there was still a foundational film of mana that remained. Like dots and how they were present everywhere, even in empty space. 

And then, Dream was able to view the information state of mana. This brought with it a surprise. Dream saw that all mana only had a singular state of existence, and it was flux that brought change and differences. Flux was the force carrier for mana, so when flux increased, the information state changed more. Dream was able to view this information and how flux imparted change to mana. 

Dream already somewhat understood that flux was the force behind mana. It was what made it move and take on properties. But this was seeing that fact in a whole new light. Flux was the thing that changed the information state of mana. It was simple and endlessly complex in its profundity. This led Dream to think of Will. 

Will was a medium for change. When Dream used his Will, he could bring change to flux and thus change to mana. Or he could directly manipulate things. This was changing the informational state of a thing's existence. His Will's ability to impart change was basically the indicator of his power. 

And after the Dust filled his soul with strength, Dream felt his Will become that much stronger. Only, he was surprised by something. When he went to go move energies around, he found that he actually wasn't any more powerful. He couldn't impart more force to flux or mana. It was like his soul wasn't any stronger. This greatly contrasted the feelings of power coursing through him. 

Curiously, he turned to the Keeper. 

"Hey Keeper, why isn't my soul any stronger?"

{...It is.}

The Keeper responded oddly. After thinking of something though, he spoke again. 

{You've created a Divine Sea for Dust and filled it. Your Will attains its energy and power from Dust. Only, Dust is but one side of the coin. Think about what Dust is, and remember Ash.}

"Dust and Ash... Wait, I get it!"

Dream's soul shook a bit. 

"Dust is orderly! It doesn't change things, and in fact does the opposite. It seeks rigidity. And Ash is the opposite of Dust. Ash seeks to change things, make it not just chaotic, but inherently different. So if I want a greater capacity to alter the informational state of a thing, then I need Ash. If I want to do the opposite and reinforce something, then I need Dust. So my soul is indeed stronger, but in a different way than I thought."

Dream felt things click in his mind. His soul was in fact much stronger than before. Only, his increased power didn't add to his ability to impart force or change. This meant that his ability to move mana was only a bit better than before he created the Divine Seas. 

However, his ability to reinforce things was now many, many times greater. This was the power of Dust, an orderly energy that sought to make things stay the way they were. Dream could use his Will to do just that. 

Or, in more profound words, Dream could better maintain something's informational existence. He could make it more difficult for something to be changed. It was like making a rock harder, or steel have greater tensile strength. 

Dream quickly pondered many things. This wasn't exactly a good thing when trying to make weapons, since weapons sought to destroy. But that didn't mean he couldn't make weapons with this power. He would just have to change things up a bit. And worse case, he would have to become a turtle for a bit until he corrected his power balance. 

But this brought up another challenge. Dream had tons of Dust from those class 6's, and he made a Divine Sea for it. But he didn't have an equal amount Ash. Thinking, Dream turned his attention to the two empty Divine Seas next to him. One was for Ash, and the other was for his Gray Mist. These would be the final Divine Seas that Dream would create. 

Using this Will, Dream moved his entire supply of gray mist into the first Divine Sea He then imbued it with comprehensions from the monolith as well as his own. This created a system that fused mana and runa, creating more gray mist. More than that though, there were some concepts of neutrality within that reinforced the neutral nature of the gray mist. 

And amazingly, Dream was able to view the informational state of the gray mist as well. What he saw was... baffling. It was all zero, yet also one. He couldn't differentiate the state of the gray mist. 

He suddenly thought of something. 

"Quantum mechanics. This is superposition. Gray mist is neither one or zero. What if I interfere with it though?"

Saying that, he reached out toward the gray mist with his Will. Then, he reinforced it with the power provided by Dust. Amazingly, it instantly turned into mana. 

Dream observed this for a while before suddenly reaching out to the second empty Divine Sea. Poking a hole, he suddenly brought out a black substance, murky yet grainy, like particles of black carbon blowing through the wind. 

This was Ash. All beings had it at some level, or at least that's how Dream understood it. If one could change things with their Will, then they had Ash. Without Ash, there was no change. Dream naturally had his own, and he pulled this out, fusing it with the Divine Sea like he did with Dust. 

Only, it was a vastly smaller amount compared to the Dust. Dream didn't have any souls with Ash in them, so he could only use his own. The result was an empty gray Sea standing in great contrast to the vibrant golden Sea that flowed with waves of Dust. 

And when the Sea of Ash completed and connected with the rest of the soul, the Keeper was alarmed to see the Sea of Dust immediately start attacking the Sea of Ash, and vice versa. The two wanted to annihilate each other as they were brought before each other. 

{If you cannot handle it, then cut out that Divine Sea! It will destroy you!}

The Keeper was solemn as he warned Dream. The next moment though, he was a bit shocked as he saw the Sea of Gray Mist step in between the two. 

The Dust and Ash met in the middle of Dream's soul, clashing with each other and annihilating each other. But when the gray mist stepped in, the center of annihilation was shifted into the Divine Sea itself. Waves of Gray Mist crashed into the center of annihilation, and suddenly, more gray mist was produced from the fusion of these two opposite energies. The Divine Sea of Gray Mist was rapidly filled to the brim before becoming denser and maintaining its level. 

The Keeper was shocked as the problem fixed itself. While there was only a small amount of Ash, meaning a lesser power behind the center of annihilation, it was still amazing to handle the two endless and opposite forces. Dream was fusing their power and creating gray mist from it. 

"You know, now that I think of it, was this the reason for the girl's powers trying to annihilate each other?"

Dream thought back. He had dealt with this exact problem before, thus why he was able to solve it easily. Luna and Iris had opposite powers that sought to kill each other, no matter the distance and no matter the obstacle. Perhaps it was the conflict between Iris's Ash and Luna's Dust. 

But there was one big detail that this theory implied. 

Sophia asked.

[Wouldn't that mean that Luna and Iris occupy a singular soul? That's the only way for their Dust and Ash to conflict the way it did. If they had separate souls, that wouldn't happen.]

"I think that's exactly what that means. I don't think even the girls know this, and their father doesn't either. I knew they were twins and had an abnormally deep connection, but I didn't think it was this deep. They should be a single person, but something happened and they formed two psyches. Their class advancement when they started killing each other was the thing that broke the power balance between them, and I had to step in. Otherwise, in the case that they didn't kill each other, one would have died and the winner would dominate the soul afterward. Very interesting..."