Authors note's .
(" The former version of Chapter 25 has been restructured for better pacing and clarity.
If you read the previous version, I recommend reading again — key scenes have been expanded and improved.")
SEARCHING FOR THE REALM.
"Realms are not merely places," Amamiheuwa began, her voice calm as ancient stone.
"They are not just places you travel to.
They are aspects of existence that you are forced to immerse yourself into."
Chi was halfway across the chamber when he stopped.
Not fully.
Just enough.
A fraction of hesitation where his usual carelessness thinned.
Amamiheuwa continued.
"They are primordial essences — not created, but revealed. Each one is a law that existed before the world specifically earth was created."
She turned slightly, not to face him—but to align with the idea itself.
"In the Gravity Realm, space does not hold you.
It decides you."
The air around them seemed to compress at the you.
"In the Entropy Realm, time does not pass.
It unravels."
Chi's fingers twitched.
Not discomfort.
Recognition of something he did not like.
"And in the Power Realm…" she continued, quieter now,
"force and energy is not applied."
A pause.
"It is stored."
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Chi frowned.
"Immersed…" he muttered.
His voice had lost something.
Its edge.
"So if the realm is wrong…" he said slowly,
"…you become wrong with it?"
Amamiheuwa's gaze shifted to him.
"Not wrong."
A beat.
"Aligned."
That word did not settle.
It stayed.
Like something that refused to leave.
Chi stared at her.
For a moment—
just a moment—
he understood what she's trying to imply.
Then,
Just at that moment_
he yawned.
Loudly.
"Wonderful lecture," he said, already walking again, lifting a covered bowl and peering inside.
Empty.
He clicked his tongue.
"But why do I need all that for?" he continued, moving to the next pot and anything that can contain Heavenly nourishment.
"Can't you just look into the realm he's in?"
He lifted another lid.
Still nothing.
"Doesn't she have food for visitors?" he muttered. "Or is this a suffering-only and lecture Realm?"
Amamiheuwa did not react.
"If we remove the realms humans cannot enter," she said evenly, "there are still thousands remaining."
Chi froze.
Then turned.
Slowly.
"What?"
"Yes."
"No," he said immediately. "No, that's not how numbers work."
"It is."
"So we're not searching," Chi said, pointing vaguely at the air.
"We're gambling."
Silence.
"We will just be guessing until we don't die of weariness."
Amamiheuwa said with a smerk.
That was answer enough.
Chi stared at her.
Then at the empty bowls.
Then at the ceiling.
Then he collapsed flat on the floor.
"This is ridiculous," he muttered sadly.
Udonkanka extended a hand.
Ojadili took it.
Udonkanka shifts his posture do as it aligns with the correction Realm they are in.
" Thanks " Ojadili acknowledges.
They continued forward.
The Correction Realm had changed.
Not visibly.
Not violently.
But something in its silence had shifted.
It was no longer reacting.
It was watching.
Ojadili noticed his shadow first.
It lagged.
Half a breath behind him.
Not delayed enough to panic—
just enough to feel wrong.
Udonkanka saw it too.
He said nothing.
Instead, he stepped closer and adjusted Ojadili's shoulder oncemore.
A small movement.
Precise.
Intentional.
"That is better," he said.
Ojadili blinked.
"I didn't—what changed?"
Udonkanka didn't answer.
Because the realm already had.
The pressure eased.
Not around him.
Through him.
As if something had been… corrected.
Ojadili exhaled shakily.
"Why is nature so hard on us?" he asked. "This place feels like it wants to break me."
Udonkanka's gaze remained forward.
"You misunderstand it."
They walked.
Slow.
Measured.
"This is not a trial of strength. Not courage. Not even survival."
A step.
Perfectly placed.
"This is a sequence to correct."
Ojadili frowned.
"The right action," Udonkanka continued,
"at the wrong moment… is failure."
Another step.
"The wrong action—
at the right moment…"
A pause.
"…can still pass."
Ojadili's throat tightened.
"This realm does not ask what you choose."
The ground shifted faintly beneath them.
Not rejecting.
Not accepting.
Listening.
"It's just doing what it's made for"
---
They reached it without realizing when.
A clearing.
Circular.
Too perfect.
Seven paths extended outward like spokes of a wheel.
Each one identical.
Each one wrong.
Udonkanka stopped.
Not abruptly.
But with recognition.
"No…" he muttered.
A breath.
"Not again."
The air felt… arranged.
Not natural.
Not random.
Deliberate.
Like every decision had already been made—
and they were only here to agree with it.
" The realm is getting back at us " Udonkanka muttered.
Ojadili swallowed.
"What happens if we choose wrong?"
Udonkanka didn't look at him.
"Tragedy worse than death."
A beat.
"More precise than what happened to your cousin."
Silence collapsed inward.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
Ojadili stepped closer to the center.
The paths shimmered faintly.
Not with light.
With meaning.
Something in his chest tightened.
These were not roads.
They were judgments.
---
"Not this one," Chi gasped.
They had landed hard.
Again.
He rolled onto his back, coughing.
The air here was thinner.
Sharper.
"How do you know?" Amamiheuwa asked.
Chi pushed himself up.
"If he were here," he said, still catching his breath and absorbing it's essence.
"I would feel it."
He said with confidence.
After all he is tied to Ojadili as his Chi .
Amamiheuwa did not argue.
She simply moved.
Rising slightly above the ground.
Her wrists crossed before her chest.
One finger folded.
Then another.
Then another.
Each motion precise.
Ancient.
Remembered.
Not performed.
The air thickened.
Threads of golden energy began forming between her fingertips.
Not glowing.
Existing.
They stretched, connected, aligned—
forming geometry that did not belong to mortal understanding.
Chi watched.
For once—
quiet.
She drew the threads down her arms.
Across her torso.
Into the ground.
The realm responded.
A circular sigil ignited beneath her feet.
Symbols rotated.
Shifted.
Rearranged.
Not randomly.
Deliberately.
Like a mind deciding.
When her foot touched the center—
the ground softened.
Then opened.
They dropped.
---
Heat.
Immediate.
Violent.
"Is this hellfire?!" Chi shouted, stumbling as the air scorched his lungs.
"I misjudged the threshold," Amamiheuwa said calmly, though sweat formed along her brow.
"Humans cannot survive this realm."
"Good to know after we enter!" Chi screamed with discomfort.
" If Gods can't , how then can human ."
She did not respond.
She completed the sequence again.
Faster.
The sigil formed—
unstable this time—
and split open.
They fell again.
---
Cool air.
Sharp.
Clean.
Chi collapsed to his knees, dragging breath into his lungs like it might run out.
" Humans are special beings, we can't compare eachother" She said to each .
Before he could absorb what she said , she continued.
" Let's move on"
"How many… have we gone through?" he asked.
"This is the eight hundred and forty-second."
Silence.
Then—
"I thought we passed eight hundred already!" Chi snapped, looking up. "I was expecting a thousand!"
"You are correct."
Chi blinked.
"…what?"
"This is the eight hundred and forty-third."
He stared at her.
Then laughed once.
Broken.
"What difference does that make?"
Amamiheuwa looked at him.
Really looked.
"One step," she said,
"is the difference between almost… and never."
That landed.
Chi didn't respond.
But then the word 'one's begin to linger in Amamiheuwa's mouth.
Then she remembers a more efficient way to reach out to Ojadili.
She turned slightly.
"There is one realm," she continued,
"that can locate the one they occupy."
A pause.
"It is dangerous."
Chi pushed himself up.
Slowly.
Unsteadily.
"Why do you think I am called Chi?" he said with determination as he hears that .
' Finally they are ending the guessing of realm and now doing something real'
---
Back in the correction Realm—
Ojadili stepped forward.
Closer to the paths.
They shifted.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
Each one carried something.
A choice.
No—
a reflection.
His breathing slowed.
Something inside him… recognized it.
"These aren't choices," he said quietly.
Udonkanka did not respond.
"They're mirrors."
Silence.
Then—
"They look more like death traps," Ojadili whispered.
His chest tightened.
His fingers trembled.
"We are as good as dead."
He reached inward.
For the gods.
For anything.
Nothing answered.
That was worse than fear.
Udonkanka remained still.
Watching.
Calculating.
Understanding something deeper.
Ojadili stared at the seven paths again.
And for the first time—
his fear shifted.
Not fear of choosing wrong.
Fear of choosing honestly.
Udonkanka finally too a deep breath after analysing the realm , he stepped forward.
Not into a path—
but toward the center.
And said quietly:
"The realm is not asking who you are."
A pause.
His eyes moved across all seven paths.
"It is asking…"
Silence tightened.
"…how much of you will it correct. ."