High Artificer, Ch 33: Dominion

Sam had been considering plans to create a region for humanity, but now that he had more power on his hands, the question was what else he could do to make it stronger.

The differences between his old domain and this new Dominion were significant, especially the profound depth of possibility it held. He could feel the mutability of the Void and knew he could change it with a touch. 

Elements curled around him as he sat on his throne, their intensity rising and falling in waves as they swept along his arms and body. They crackled through his hair and faded away into neighboring dimensions before returning again more powerful than before.

They felt alive.

They were imbued with the potential of chaos now, ready to change into anything at his command.

Here and there, the flows of energy faded away into primal grey, forming into specks of stardust that held a weight greater than a planet. They shimmered as they bent space and time around them, and then they changed, turning into a flow of a different element as they continued their path around him.

Fire turned to Water, Ice to Metal, Earth to Wind, Wood to Lightning...and then multiple elements all came together, colliding as one into a waterfall of chaos. Space around them disintegrated only to reform a moment later with a new aura signature.

It was pure Chaos.

This was what lay at the Heart of the Void, what had given rise to this galaxy and others, the pure power of potential at the origin of all things.

Its presence should have destroyed the entire Void. It was already happening around him. Time and space were crumbling away and merging into more strands of Chaos, which then gave rise to even more.

But then it stopped.

It was contained within his aura, its effect halting a few feet from his body. The only reason the entire Void around him didn’t dissolve away under the influence of it was that he didn’t want it to.

He raised a hand and let a strand of chaos flow through the Void outside his hall. 

Space fractured under the force of it as dimensional cracks formed, but then they dissolved as well, turning into strands of silver grey chaos that swept up the energy of the chaos winds, the starlight, and even the dimensional signature of the Void itself.

It was like watching an Astral Rift sweep across everything.

He could feel the space of the Void changing there, so he halted the process and watched it play out in reverse. 

Silver grey strands of chaos gave way to dark space and dimensional energy. Then the elements appeared within the new space, raging with force as Fire and Water clashed. Earth and Wind separated, pushing each other away. Lightning crackled between the two. 

The elements calmed down as they dispersed, filling the space with energy and vitality.

It was different than before, richer and more full of energy.

Sam gathered up a handful of the hot elements and drew them back to himself, studying them as he sat in his hall.

The signature of the elements was similar to the ones that had existed in the First Age of the Void, but they were also different in some ways. The aura of Fire was slightly more fierce and the Wind was slightly calmer. 

Chaos was always changing. 

It would never create the same Void twice.

He spent a long time studying the changes of the elements as he adjusted to the truth of his new power, letting them dissolve into chaos and then recreating them again. 

With each variation, he could feel truths rising up from the Heart of the Void, giving rise to them and changing them, and then breaking apart again as he released the elements and returned them to chaos.

It was an act of creation and annihilation that transcended lesser Laws.

At the same time, it was his version of Chaos. 

Silver Chaos.

There was just enough of an element of order and his own Truth that the Chaos was bound by his will. Otherwise, nothing would stop it from dissolving the Void around him.

That was what an Eternal Sovereign of Chaos was.

He was a Truth of Order imposed on Chaos, a sovereign will that could command it without being consumed by it. 

That was also why there could be more than one of them. 

Each of the Sovereigns was their own version of Chaos, a facet of it, a way that it could be expressed into reality without destroying everything. They were the closest things to it in existence that could still maintain their own identity. 

It also meant that he could destroy and recreate almost anything. 

Destroying things by returning them to Chaos was the easy part. The difficult part would be in creating the right thing, which meant he would have to practice.  

Fortunately, he had access to the Heart of the Void, which was full of Truths across the ages. They were scaffolds he could use to help him create new things. He could also shape chaos to match something that already existed, as long as he had enough time to study it.

The better he understood it, the closer he could get. If he didn’t understand it well enough, it would be full of differences.

He’d expected this sort of power to come at the Seventh Evolution, and he knew now that there was one, but if someone missed this step at the Sixth, it was unlikely they would ever find it again. 

The Ascension to Truth was a change in the nature of one’s existence, a moment where you became more a Truth of all things than a mortal being. When you shaped yourself into a reflection of the Void, it was hard to get a second chance.

He hadn’t achieved this alone. 

He had been guided by thousands of shared memories from the Titans and the Path of Stars, as well as the World Core. Together, they were the finest heritage of Evolution that had ever existed in this Void.

Without them, he wouldn’t have had a chance.

The Titans all had the qualifications to become a Sovereign, but none of them had been able to manage it yet, not even Caerlon, who was the strongest of them. 

They were disadvantaged in this Path because of how powerful they were at birth and how naturally the higher Evolutions came to them, too swiftly to truly leverage them. They also had a habit of breaking through under duress or just due to curiosity.

Their comprehension of Evolution was instinctive, while his was precise.

He had been refined and methodical as he eked out every advantage.

It had only been possible because he started at the very bottom with the World Core guiding his steps, and then he’d become a Titan when he was at the First Evolution and inherited the Titans’ memories early enough to make the best use of them.

It was also because he’d shaped his path so closely to Primal Chaos, which was rare.

A Sovereign could only be born when everything came together just right to create a Truth that could contain Chaos.

He spent a while longer studying the flow of energy as he let the meaning in the Heart of the Void teach him. 

He could shape Chaos to bring something new into existence or erase something by returning it to its origin.

It was a nearly unlimited power capable of rewriting the galaxy, but the amount of energy he had to use to support it was equally staggering. 

Creating completely new energy wasn’t possible. If he wanted to create something, he needed to break down energy that already existed. 

Fortunately, there were many sources of easily available energy, from the chaos winds and the suns to the material of barren worlds. 

He could only create things related to his dominion, but his dominion was broad: anything made of the stars, of runes, or of the elements. He wasn’t sure what the dominion of the other two Sovereigns was, but his was expansive.

The elements made up all material in existence, while runes formed Laws, and Laws were facets of Truth.

Together, it gave him the ability to shape almost anything.

He would have to practice, but it felt like he had a decent understanding of things, so he turned his attention to his dominion. 

The insight from it poured into his mind like a celestial web. Every time his name was mentioned or someone did something interesting with the elements, starlight, or runes, he could feel it.

There were tens of thousands of events happening every second.

Fortunately, it was like a wind rustling the grass and the leaves of trees in a forest around him. He could choose to focus on a particular leaf, but he didn’t have to.

The few mentions of his name drew his attention more, and as he attuned himself to those, he could see images of his family speaking about him, as well as his friends and allies who had come from Aster Fall, the Silver Nagas who were constantly talking about him, and a few others.

Whenever they said something about him, it was a small tug on his attention.

He heard mentions of “The Lord of Silver Stars” and “The Astral Titan,” along with other titles, all of which drew his attention, but the ones that did it the most were when someone used his full name.

Perhaps it was good that most people didn’t know it.

It seemed like this was the root of the old rumor that a god could hear you whenever you whispered their name, or that you needed the true name of a demon to summon it. 

He wasn’t sure how those rumors started, since he knew there had never been a Sovereign of Chaos in this galaxy before, but it probably came from peoples’ dreams, which then turned into imagination. 

Chaos had some influence over dreams.

After adjusting to the sense of his new dominion, he looked at his status sheet again and adjusted it to suit himself. 

The first thing he did was re-add his old familiar titles. 

Then he tinkered with it a bit more. 

He had no intention of allowing a single Evolution to change who he was, no matter how powerful. He could walk around with his new title, but that didn’t mean he had to. 

As far as his friends and family were concerned, that title didn’t matter much. It would make things more difficult if everyone saw it constantly.

After a little while, two images appeared in front of him. Both were him, but they looked completely different.

On the left, there was a figure made up of stars and swirling chaos. The elements spiraled around him, constantly breaking down and reforming. His eyes held the Truth of Silver Chaos in them, making them seem like windows into the Heart of the Void.

There was no need for that figure to have a name, only a title. 

Sovereign of Silver Chaos.

High Artificer of the Void.

Age: Eternal

Level: Unknown.

This was his Sovereign appearance. It was how he looked as soon as he tapped into Primal Chaos. 

The power at the Heart of the Void changed the world around him and it even altered his Titan form to match.

The Eternal age from his Sovereign status was due to his existence in the Heart of the Void, which existed outside of Time.

He couldn’t change things that had happened in the past, but if someone a million years ago looked into the Heart of the Void at the right place, they might be able to sense the Sovereign of Silver Chaos.

The Heart of the Void was a timeless existence.

It was also very large and hard to access, even for a Sixth Evolution Titan, so it was unlikely any of the Titans had ever seen him there. If they had, perhaps they had been reassured by that ancient presence.

On the right side, there was a more familiar figure, which was how Sam had looked before his Evolution. He changed a few things about it, adding touches of power that matched a more normal Sixth Evolution change for a Titan.

When it was needed, he would be the Sovereign of Silver Chaos, a being who commanded the elements and chaos, but most of the time, he would just look like a Sixth Evolution version of his old self, although a powerful one.

Sam Hastern

The Lord of Silver Stars.

Class: Lord of Endless Starlight.

Subclass: Guardian of Aster Fall.

Level 600.

Race: Astral Titan.

Racial Evolution (Sixth Star): Astral Sovereign.

Age: 205.

Normally at the Sixth Star, an Astral Titan would become an Astral King, but due to his power his Racial Evolution was a variant that made him an Astral Sovereign instead.

The terms were close enough that few would pay attention to it, and the mysteriousness of the Titans meant that even if they did, they wouldn't understand, so he didn't change it.

It was nice to have a touch of his power present.

His age at 205 for this appearance was a placeholder more than anything. The years on Aster Fall ran more slowly, while in the main galaxy they were faster. Keeping avatars and acquaintances on both made it difficult to keep track of.

The other major change was the Truth of Endless Stars that radiated from him. It was part of his dominion, so it was easy enough, but it was powerful.

Endless silver stars moved through his aura, making it feel like the entire Void was rotating around him. They burned with the elements, each of them holding one or more elemental Laws, while silver runes appeared as well, rising up from the starlight and the depths of his aura to flare before they disappeared again.

This Truth also encompassed the runes and the elements, including the Laws that formed them, by making them subordinates of the stars. The powers of the Void were reflected in starlight, which stretched out endlessly as it traveled across space and time.

It was one of the options he could have chosen instead of becoming a Sovereign. Now it would be a good cover for his real power.

He studied the two versions of himself.

These would do.

Currently, he looked like the Sovereign of Silver Chaos, so he pulled back the expression of his dominion. The elements and chaos flowing around him receded as they turned to calm energies, and he allowed his appearance to change. 

He checked himself over to make sure everything was as it should be.

He’d been in his hall for a while, so he looked outside, checking on the status of the world and his family, as well as how Asperio was settling into his new role.

His Evolution had taken over two months. 

He had been distantly aware of things happening, but he’d left it to his avatars to deal with. He was able to let them operate independently even while his main body was isolated.

His avatars had continued to meet with his family and allies in the interim, so it hadn’t affected any of them much, which was fortunate, and they’d taken care of a few tasks that he’d been planning to do.

Namely, escorting Teron to Aster Fall and picking up Keros. 

He'd allowed Teron access to the World Core to improve his Path and then he'd taken him into the Deep Wild and dropped him on a planet that had Fourth and Fifth Evolution beasts, which would allow him to refine his abilities and level up to 600.

Sam had also given him a few artifacts and healing scrolls, including one that would allow him to escape a single time from a more powerful enemy and one that would allow him to call Sam when he was ready to return. If Sam wasn't around, then a traveling platform from the Path of Stars would arrive to take him back to the settled galaxy instead.

It should be more than enough to get him to the Sixth Evolution, and with his Path already established by the World Core, it didn't make much difference if he Evolved up on his own out there. It would be smarter for him to wait at Level 599 until Sam picked him so that he could Evolve with the help of the World Core on the way back, but it was his choice.

If the Winged Fury couldn't survive with all that support, it would be very unfortunate.

As for Keros, the meeting with the old Astral Guardian was more fun. They'd caught up on events and then Sam brought him to Council and introduced him to everyone.

The crystal flame elemental had already met with Asperio and found a place to live, and since then he’d been working on the transition to take over as the new Headmaster of Archaios Academy. As always with the Cer’Aleth, he was taking it slowly and meeting with everyone bit by bit, to make for a gradual but comprehensive change.

Sam grinned at that.

It would be good to have his old ally close by and Keros needed a break from being the Astral Guardian for so long.

He’d been there for over 10,000 years in Aster Fall’s time, which was 2.15 million years here. A lot had happened in the settled galaxy since then. Even for a Cer’Aleth, it was a significant time to be away.

It was only tempered by the fact that little of the Cer’Aleth’s culture had changed in that time period. They were traditionalists. 

Unfortunately, few of the old friends Keros had known were still alive. Even for the elementals, two million years was a long time. It was part of his sacrifice in taking up the position.

Sam would have to find a way to honor him for all that he’d done for Aster Fall. Giving him this position was just the beginning.

For now, he wanted to thank him. 

And make sure that he was as strong at the Sixth Evolution as he could be.

His dominion let him sense powers throughout the Void, in this galaxy and others, and he could tell that the average of this one was weak.

Without the Titans, it was especially vulnerable.

The lack of Sixth Evolution beings here was embarrassing.

He would have to do something about that.

Plans for ways to strengthen the galaxy began to run through his mind, even as he disappeared from his hall. 

A calm silver light swirled through the space where he'd been, wavering slightly like it was an illusion to another realm, one that was vastly deeper and greater than anything else, its depths streaked with primal stars.