Immortal Kingdoms

Chapter 268 Prologue: Skies Beyond Sky

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Author Note: This chapter contains a "Lore Bridge" between the world of Immortal Kingdoms and the world of my future fantasy novel, Skies Beyond Sky. The vast multiverse and multiple timelines of the novel Immortal Kingdoms will be connected in one way or another to a few of my future projects! 

…

Earth's Solar System, year 4,028 of the Gregorian Calendar. 

Space quivered. 

A woman carrying an infant in her arms slowly stepped out from a tear in space. Her long, colorful hair glittered much like her beautiful eyes. In her arms, soft invisible energy circulated around the infant. 

Through the wraps, a pair of pitch-black, innocent eyes that occasionally flashed a deep crimson, curiously inspected the depthless space all around. 

This woman was no other than Wendy, and the infant in her arms was no other than Aria. After Leonardo was captured by the Interstellar Supreme Court's people, and directly after the youngsters from the aristocratic Immortal Kingdoms of the higher dimensions were sent to the Core Mainland, Wendy was tasked with taking little Aria, and with Rosaline's help, crossed near Earth's Solar System. 

"I can't get anywhere closer, lest the planet would be destroyed…" Wendy muttered to herself, deep concern in her eyes. 

How was she supposed to make contact with Maria all the way from here? Any attempts of releasing energy would disturb the formation surrounding the planet, and that formation was erected by no other than the Interstellar Supreme Court. 

While Wendy was deep in thought, she didn't notice a young woman in black formal attire, neon eyes, and long black hair standing not that far from her. 

That woman's curious gaze was locked with Aria's, and the latter was uncharacteristically quiet as she stared back. 

"This child has the Young Master's bloodline, what a fascinating surprise…" Nightshade finally spoke up after a few minutes of observing Aria. 

Her words, albeit soft, startled the living light out of Wendy. Not even the co-soul inside her sea of consciousness noticed this woman's presence, let alone her pitiful spiritual sense as a High Divinity. 

A chill went through Wendy's body as she stared stiffly at Nightshade, while the latter smiled faintly in response. 

"She's very strong." 

Wendy heard the co-soul, whom she would call Arcadia, transmitted gravely. Wendy didn't need that warning, as her survival instincts screamed at her from the depths of her heart. 

Cough! Cough! 

"You'll scare the baby, Nightshade…" 

Soft coughing echoed from afar. Once again, Wendy snapped her head to the side, only to see another beautiful woman with flowing white hair, a white dress, and a white umbrella. 

What caught Wendy's attention was the white handkerchief with a crimson stain of blood as it plastered closely to the woman's pale lips. 

When Wendy heard the coughing, that woman was nowhere to be found. However, when her perception registered the voice and presence of the woman, she was already standing within arm's reach, staring intently at the infant. 

Wendy couldn't help but think to herself; how powerful are they? Yet, they walk around as though it's no big issue… How come the planet didn't get destroyed? 

Wendy's eyes flickered as her temperament changed, the uncontrollable tremor in her eyes settling into a distant, cold mirror as Arcadia switched over. 

She furrowed her brows. As for Maria, seemingly understanding the confusion that riddled Wendy's eyes, she said lightly," In this world governed by laws, we define the strong based on two things… cough… cough…" 

Nightshade stepped closer, holding Maria by the arm as she comforted the latter by caressing her back gently. 

"Allow me, Madam…" whispered Nightshade before looking over at Arcadia. "There are two categories of strong; those who can break laws, and those who can ignore them completely." 

Nightshade's words were flat, borderline gentle, yet they shocked both Wendy and Arcadia. 

Arcadia was shocked because, with her background, she had a sliver of understanding about how strong must one be to completely ignore laws. She knew that Nightshade didn't simply refer to the laws of the lower dimensions of this stellar world as Wendy might have interpreted, but referred to the laws of an entire plane. 

The laws of planets, galaxies, dimensions, world barrier, and stellar world… All of them are inextricably linked to the laws of the plane containing them. Hence, Arcadia was beyond shocked. 

"Are you related to Leonardo?" asked Arcadia, still somewhat wary. 

Maria coughed, unable to answer. It was Nightshade who gave Arcadia a look, the neon in her eyes swirling about like the haze of stars as she commented lightly, "Two souls in one body? Hm, no… One of them isn't an original soul, interesting. We could sense Young Master Leonardo's aura on your body, and it's especially pure from this baby, hence why the Madam decided to come personally despite her injuries." 

"I'll let his disciple do the talking," as Arcadia's eyes flickered once again, a touch of emotions bubbled within the colorful eyes. Wendy gasped, feeling a little out of sorts since she had already deduced the status of the woman in white. 

"Uh…" Wendy was tongue-tied for a moment before she introduced, "My name is Wendy and this is… Well, she's Master's daughter, her name is Aria…" 

There was a touch of warmth in Maria's eyes, but she was someone who experienced far too much, and thus, she coughed and asked, "Something must have happened, right?" 

Wendy nodded, a bit surprised that neither of the two women stepped forward to take the child. Still, she proceeded to explain the situation in the higher dimensions, the predicament of House Hestia, and how Leonardo was 'escorted' back to the Core Mainland of the plane and his contingency plans. 

"This happened faster than I'd anticipated," Maria murmured, yet another fit of coughing seizing her throat. 

"Madam…" Nightshade worriedly held onto Maria's arm, concern flashing in her eyes. 

Maria took a deep breath, shaking her head. "It's fine, I've made plenty of preparations over the past few years… Just go and get that item." 

Of course, Maria was referring to the sealed heart. While Wendy was confused, Nightshade turned her back to the group and disappeared. Wendy blinked, only to find Nightshade standing there once again, a sealed box in her hand. 

"Are we really leaving?" asked Nightshade. "This little place…" 

This planet carried far too many precious memories to Maria and Nightshade, especially those moments of living like ordinary people in a family of three. 

Maria coughed, the handkerchief already beyond crimson in color. "I've made preparations…" 

Even as she spoke, she began to chant in the ancient infernal tongue, a syllabus incomprehensible to both Arcadia and Wendy flowing from her mouth. As she chanted, invisible ripples of energy flowed from her body as a small, barely visible hourglass appeared in the space between her eyebrows. 

Black sand flowed through the hourglass as it spun counterclockwise. 

At first, Wendy was confused while she observed the planet in the distance. However, moments later, she was shocked to notice the rotation and orbit speed of not only planet Earth but the entire Solar System come to a grinding halt before gradually spinning in a backward motion. 

Thump! 

A soft, muffled heartbeat echoed from the sealed box, and the invisible energy quickly inflated from the Solar System into the depths of space. If Wendy had sufficient spiritual sense, she would uncover that this energy, although centered on Earth, had locked down the entire Milky Way Galaxy. 

… 

On planet Earth, all across the globe, the Evernight Group buildings began to dissipate from existence, leaving behind nothing but an illusory, black hourglass per building. However, no one noticed these particular details as everyone seemed to be in a daze while moving backward. 

No… they weren't moving backward. It was time itself that was being reversed. 

Year 4,000… Year 3,200… Year 2,900… Year 2,100… Year 1,998… 

There was no stopping until finally, the planet went back to the eras of the Medival Ages and a few centuries behind. The Invisible force solidified, assimilating into the sky and atmosphere. 

… 

Far in space, Wendy watched all of this unfold with a gaping mouth. 

This was a whole new level of power when compared to Eternus as he used this particular martial intent, withdrawing a few years from Veranda when that Incarnation of Will, together with Uranus, Elyos, and Asmodian attempted to steal Arcadia's core. 

Maria's face grew increasingly pale as black blood poured from her pristine eyes, unlike the crimson blood on her lips. Then again, most of the blood in her body was that of a normal human ever since she implanted a human's heart. 

"Nightshade…" Maria whispered softly, her voice barely audible. 

Nightshade understood, and her eyes of neon lights suddenly intensified as one dim ring after the next lit up with multicolored light. She pressed her hand on Maria's back even as she muttered, "This will use my last reserves of energy… I'm not like you, my energy source is quite unique… If in the future…" 

She looked into her core reserves to find 3% of her core energy in reserves. Nightshade, an Andromeda, doesn't follow the cultivation path of the various races across the planes. 

Maria muttered, "You'll definitely find an opportunity somewhere, don't worry." 

Nightshade took a deep breath, focused, and nodded. 

Boom! 

Maria felt a vast power pour into her body, and following this, her speech of the infernal tongue grew more coherent. She pressed down with both hands, and space quivered once, twice, and thrice. 

Then, the scene all around them blurred as though experiencing a glitch, and the next moment, everything returned to normal. At least, this lasted for a few moments before Earth and its Solar System collapsed. 

"This…" 

Wendy felt a pang of disappointment and grief, not knowing how to comfort the Madam— she certainly hadn't expected this outcome. While she contemplated, Arcadia's voice echoed in her head. "Silence is your best option." 

Wendy bit her lip and said nothing. 

"Let's get going…" 

Maria collected herself, looked down at the silent heart, and turned her back even as Nightshade escorted the woman. Wendy sighed, holding Aria close to her chest as she followed obediently. 

… 

"Master, I have a question…" 

"Hah, little girl… You and your questions, what is it this time?" 

An old man and a young girl sat face to face, in a sea of glittering stardust. The little girl had long purple hair, purple eyes, and a cute round face. 

She asked sheepishly, "Is our era really cursed? Is our cultivation flawed?" 

The old man remained silent for a moment and sighed. 

"Who knows? Each of the former eras had a complete cultivation inheritance and a prosperous cultivation environment, but all of them went through the merciless cycle of destruction upon reaching the peak of cultivation… The last era was different; according to rumors and heresy, it was the Palace Master of the North Star Palace that broke the cycle, resulting in…" 

The old man didn't continue talking. 

In this era, while the universe might not necessarily reach its peak of evolution, that also means they wouldn't need to worry about certain death in the future. 

The little girl tilted her head and said, "Master, didn't we uncover records from every powerful civilization from that era? How come we didn't find anything about the North Star Palace?" 

The old man went silent for a moment and said, "That's because no one wants anything related to those monsters to resurface in this era…" 

Even as the old man spoke, his body shuddered whilst his muddled eyes lifted, peering into the distant galaxies. 

There, he saw an unbelievable scene. 

In a patch of empty space, the void shuddered as an entire galaxy phased into view and silently disappeared without a trace.