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Chapter four — The Gate Within
Azeroth lay still in his crib, trying-—and failing—to calm the frantic beating of his tiny heart.
"…Damn," he whispered in the privacy his mind, "definitely a protagonist-level grandpa."
The moment Viscount Alfred stepped into the room, he had nearly died from sheer panic.
Being stared down by such a level of powerhouse was the kind of stress that should come with a medical warnings and trauma insurance.
He really thought he'd been exposed.
Only now, with the room empty and quiet, could he finally suck in a shaky breath of relief.
But the encounter also opened another school of thought in Azeroth's mind.
His grandfather was strong—terrifyingly so— but clearly not the strongest in this world. If he had been, the Clinton family wouldn't have the declined status still.
Which meant there were people out there even scarier than his grandfather... people whose slightest curiosity could probably peel him open like a fruit and discover secrets he couldn't afford to reveal.
The more Azeroth thought about it, the colder he felt.
This world was dangerous—far more dangerous than he initially believed.
Still... not everything about the meeting was bad.
It was the first time Azeroth had ever felt essence with his own body.
And the sensation... the sensation was indescribable.
Ecstasy, warmth, clarity—it had flowed through his veins like liquid lightning, and for a moment, his frail baby body felt alive in a way it never had before.
He couldn't measure it precisely, but he was certain: his physical capabilities had at least doubled, maybe even tripled in that moment.
For a three-month-old, that was absurd. With a body that small, such a boost meant he could probably sit up—or maybe even toddle—if he tried.
No wonder those soldiers' were so strong and their bodies looked forged from iron.
And beyond that….. his grandfather's words still echoed in his mind:
A mutated physique...
semi-opened core...
One-in-a-million genius...
Azeroth didn't know what all of that truly meant yet, but his instincts whispered one thing clearly—that this was his advantage.
Who knows, this mutated physique might even be his cheat.
It also means he did not have to go through the trash phase or be bullied by others, as most protagonists do.
He could just skip all that and move straight to the terrifying genius phase or in his case, the terrifying young master phase, seeing as he was an heir to a noble family.
He let himself smile at that.
There was his family too.
From what he'd observed so far, the Clintons were surprisingly... sane.
There seemed to be no arrogant idiots or petty young masters plotting in the back, no backstabbing siblings waiting to push him off a balcony. Everyone behaved with a kind of composed nobility that was refreshing.
Even the servants were treated well.
In a world where personal power eclipsed armies, that kind of decency was sure to be
rare.
Sure, there might be some rotten apples hidden somewhere. But compared to the horror stories he'd read, being born into this family was practically winning the jackpot.
He lets all those thoughts go as he focused on the most important part of the day.
Essence energy.
He had felt it once—thanks to his grandfather
—but now he wanted to try to feel it again, by himself. To seek out whatever his grandfather called a "semi-opened core."
He wasn't quite sure why, curiosity, maybe it was instinct.
Either way, he surrendered to it.
Azeroth calmed his breathing and closed his eyes.
Letting the memory of that moment pull him inward. The warmth. the pulse, the strange, tingling comfort— as he searched for the
"semi-opened core" his grandfather mentioned.
On Earth, people had always praised his high IQ, but still, that wasn't what made him exceptional.
Instead it was his ability to focus. To shut out the world and pour his entire mind and being into a single task until he mastered it.
That same ability stirred now.
His breathing softened. The world dimmed.
He sank deeper.
Then—
Time... shifted.
It stretched. Deepened.
His consciousness distilled like fine dust roamed around everywhere and nowhere through his body.
He didn't know how long he drifted like that before something changed.
Before he saw… it.
Azeroth stood—though he had no body—in front of something he had no words for. A presence. An anomaly. A shape that struggled to be.
He didn't know how to describe it.
Didn't know if it had a name.
It glitched.
Flickered.
First a bottomless pool of black water that bubbles like boiling tar.
Then a golden statue whose face glitched and blurred into static. Halos of frozen sunlight adorned its back.
Then a towering pagoda stretching beyond sight.
The forms flickered faster and faster, each one glitching and stuttering like a broken frame in reality.
Finally, the shifting stopped.
A gate stood before him.
A towering, immeasurable gate whose edges stretched beyond comprehension. Even now, it glitched faintly, as if resisting the constraints of form.
Azeroth's breath hitched.
"What the hell...? What is this place?"
He should have been terrified.
He should have been scared.
But strangely... he wasn't.
There was this pull.
This... familiarity.
As if this place had always been part of him— something he had forgotten and had only now remembered.
Leaving him feeling... complete?
Interrupting his thoughts, the gate pulsed faintly in a gentle call.
Azeroth swallowed, nerves twisting with an instinctual urgency he couldn't understand.
He had to—no needed to open it.
He didn't know the why—only that he must.
And before he knew it, he was before the gate.
He placed a trembling 'hand' on the surface—though it didn't feel like touching a surface at all. More like touching the idea of it.
He pushed.
Nothing happened.
Not even a shiver.
He growled in frustration.
The sense of instinctual urgency tightening even more.
"Move….. you... bastard!"
He pushed harder-every ounce of will, every thread of concentration, pouring into the action.
The gate groaned.
A sound like grinding mountains echoed through the space.
Ka-chunk—
Creeeeeeak—
A sliver of space, borderline invisible, opened.
Then—
BOOM.
Light—no, energy-leaked out through the crack, slamming into him with raw force.
Azeroth gasped—
because the moment it touched him, His mind blanked.
If the feeling of essence was intense and ecstatic, this feeling was… divine.
But before he could even concentrate on the sensation, His Consciousness flickered—
And he blacked out.
——————
Far Away
In a void without stars, without life—not even the idea of it—a naked male, humanoid figure floated in perfect stillness.
His beauty defied comprehension, like an artwork carved before the very laws of imperfection came to be.
Now and then, a shimmer rippled across him
—green and soft, like waves brushing the shore of a nonexistent sea.
It was unknown how long he had remained like that but, In that empty expanse, a voice echoed. —soft, feminine, yet carrying enough complexity at its core to birth a big bang.
Universes exploded into being around her syllables.
"Awaken, oh time of the $&#%*^€£ and heed my call. For the fallen lives."
At those words,
His eyes— which had been sealed shut for too many eras snapped opened.
Revealing brilliant, enchanting green pupils that In their depths swirled a compilation of broken timelines and forgotten moments.
The man rose.
A sign, and flash of green drowned the void —
He vanished.
Only a wisp of that green remained behind.
It brushed against the newly-born universes formed from the woman's voice—
triggering chaos.
Time fractured.
Accelerated in some places—stalled in others.
Effects now preceded cause and paradoxes piled upon paradoxes.
Until the young universes imploded under the weight of the anomaly, crumpling back into nothing.
Silence reclaimed the void.
As if nothing had ever happened.
———
Across incalculable distances, more beings stirred —pulled awake by the call of the same.
And just like him, they all heeded.