Kiana was stunned by her future self's power. Then again, there wouldn't have been this 'chaos' if they weren't strong. Towards her, she felt a different kind of respect. The future Kiana is, in a sense, Kiana. The two are one and the same. She knew what she would feel had she been in the same situation as hers.
However, it is precisely because of it that Kiana wasn't affected by her depressive mood.
"If it is not enough, then I will step onto the True Immortal Realm."
"..."
The future Kiana's star-like purple irises held a trace of helplessness. Out of habit, she heaved a sigh.
Even she was stunned by her singlemindedness!
"The True Immortal Realm… It is merely a major realm away, but none could easily step onto it. It requires luck and will that transcends reality."
Seemingly unconvinced of Kiana's words, her future self began to simulate a distinct aura.
Hum-!
Rumble-!
The pitch-black void shook intensely. Motes of white light gathered around the future Kiana. They converged to form a familiar figure. The hems of his white and blue robe had just been formed when a foreign power gathered across space. They filled every corner of this place. Still, it became blind to the 'image' formed by the future Kiana's power.
Before long, a faint image of a man emerged. His face was blurred even with her help. Still, Kiana recognized him at a glance. The moment he met his bright golden pupils, she was brought to a sea of stars. Galaxies gathered together in a tide, forming a mesmerizing river of stars encircling the dark void.
"Everything is small in the face of the infinite scale."
The future Kiana appeared beside her.
"Every world has their stories, and so do ours."
The stars within the river shifted. Once they reached a higher point of perspective, Kiana discovered these stagnant stars were actually moving. It was their low standing that made them look like they weren't. More incredulously, Kiana saw other figures standing taller than them. They were sparse compared to the seemingly endless span of this 'River of Stars', but their presence dwarfed all the other worlds.
At the 'pinnacle' were existences whose existence was so blurred she forgot about them the next second. That was the only way for her to avoid their attention.
'Where is it..?'
Disregarding this anomaly, Kiana searched for the tall figure of the golden tree. She scoured through the countless stars below. Her mind was exerted to its fullest. Yet, she could not find a trace of it.
The future Kiana saw her actions and said:
"Look further right."
"Ah..?"
The moment she did so, her lips parted. Her eyes reflected countless golden branches. It was a Tree of significant scale, greatly outweighing the stars moving across the 'River'.
'This is…'
A sense of familiarity struck her. It made Kiana pause momentarily, scrutinizing it carefully. The moment she noticed something, her irises shrank. Her heart tightened as it fell to a numbing chill.
"The first began in nothingness. The second is to create. The third spells extinction." The future Kiana paused for a while. "All of it came true. Between himself and the others, he chose the latter."
The vast 'Tree' flooded Kiana's mind with countless information. From the birth of the smallest cosmic dust down to the events that occurred within, she saw them all. These memories were fleeting, however, as they were forcibly erased one by one. All that was left is a sheer sense of magnanimity held by this 'Imaginary Tree', its scale approaching infinite.
As to how it achieved it, the sense of familiarity Kiana felt from it explained everything.
It was all due to Shi Tian!
"The future is not ours to dictate. It belongs to you… to the present."
The future Kiana's gaze turned resolute as she continued:
"We are merely giving you the ending. It is up to your actions how to write the missing gaps within, ultimately rewriting the epilogue. Treat it as a figment of fiction, if you must."
The maturity of her future self became evident at this exact moment. The future Kiana was worn by the tribulations as much as the others. Still, she found a tiny sparkling light amidst it all. That was how she treaded the myriad worlds, witnessed countless stories in her wake, and arrived at an answer. She is giving Kiana a peek at the answer sheet.
"The cycle of salvation… Do what we could not do."
Thus, the curtain to the unthinkable future approached its end.
*****
The future projections' descent did not result in any tangible change in reality. They existed within another time frame—inside the River of Time that hasn't even been created yet. The Imaginary Tree still relies on the 'temporality' established by Fuli and Nous, the past and the future respectively. Add to that the chaotic nature of the Sea of Data, it was simply impossible for disturbances to manifest in the real world.
That should have been the case until now.
The glimmer of dim red light illuminated the Droidhead's mechanical body. THEIR abnormality soon reached the Miss Witch who was in the middle of an experiment. THEIR proactive establishment of connection to Herta caught her off guard, much less the contents THEY brought.
Simultaneously, her experiment over the Path of Remembrance was forcibly halted. The extraction and division of a 'memory zone' relied on the stable flow of memories. Unfortunately, the said memories turned unstable just a moment ago.
The mirrors that surrounded her, acting as her most useful assistants, froze upon seeing the sight of it. The lines of warnings and red lights meant nothing in the face of her ultra rare expression.
"Madam Herta, the Memory Zone Partition is failing. Should we…"
"It's meaningless now." She replied. "Halt it."
"...Understood."
Herta paced back and forth. Thoughts flickered between her eyes. It wasn't long before she fully processed everything Nous had sent back.
"Things are going to get interesting again."
The development followed her words. The first to 'see' this major change wasn't Erudition, but Remembrance. The Garden of Recollection couldn't properly react to the fiasco just now. They were the ones struck the hardest by this 'change'.
"Reassurance… So this is your plan from the beginning."
Black Swan's chestnut-colored pupils stared at a distance. Most people would see nothing. It is different in her eyes, however. Sitting at the pinnacle of the world, Aeons rarely intervene on a large-scale. THEIR gazes are often limited to a certain place. The temporary 'deadlock' served as THEIR breathing time in the upcoming upheaval—the war between Aeons.
The first to break this rule wasn't any of the other Aeons. It was the Aeon others thought hadn't even been born yet.
Reflected in Black Swan's eyes was the towering image of the Father of Anasrava—
"You have become Fuli."