Above The Sky

Chapter 2013 - 24: Two Hundred Million Years of Waiting

[Then let’s begin, the second reincarnation]

The first era has ended.

Then, it’s the beginning of the second era.

Everything starts over, everything begins anew.

It’s like a game that is continuously rebooted and restarted, where the initial players enter, and the world begins to operate independently, then reincarnates over and over again.

Some return to the server after completing the beginning, while some choose to enter the more developed timelines. The souls of the Terra People in the Revelation Server are the so-called players, the information they copy is the players, and nothing changes. They play countless times, and it remains fresh as if it’s the first time.

Essentially, the Flame Reincarnation is not a living world.

It is a tombstone.

Storing everything of the Terra civilization, relying on the ’Ritual’ of ’Reincarnation,’ the ’Spark’ can be almost permanently preserved.

"Isn’t it boring?"

[No]

"An identical world, don’t you get tired?"

[A little]

"The thirty-fourth reincarnation... it’s almost two million years, the surface of small Terra has cooled down, we can try using Thousand Stars to collect solar energy and cosmic dust to restore Terra’s mass."

"Can you still hold on?"

[I can]

[Whether human or demon, they ultimately become ashes, as long as the core data remains intact, the ’circulation’ caused by the intersection of the Domain of Void and the material world will continue]

[As long as it continues, I can continue, don’t worry about me, Ian, go do what you want to do]

[You go and wait for the results you want, let me keep burning]

The Ashen King knows no fatigue, no annoyance.

Many people have said that immortality is a curse.

The immortal will lose everything, lose what they love, lose what they desire, the immortal will lose again and again, left with nothing but themselves.

The immortal will say goodbye to all their concerns, they will lose their humanity, lose their beast nature, lose their fear of death, lose their yearning for life, eventually losing even their desire for immortality, then abandon their own life.

For the short-lived Humans, acknowledging everything about immortality almost seems like mocking the brevity of their lives.

So, for the Ashen King, who in some sense can be considered ’immortal,’ what does he feel?

The answer is nothing.

The Ashen King from beginning to end, had no extra thoughts.

He indeed lost everything, even unable to perceive this world. He can only observe as a bystander as reincarnation progresses tens or hundreds of times faster, even as he can accelerate his thoughts, observe individual lives like watching movies or reading novels, peruse everything in this world, but in the end, he will still finish watching the movie, finish reading the novel, and feel that ’melancholy of the story ending.’

Even when he has nothing, he will still lose.

But the Ashen King doesn’t care about these.

[Why do people think immortality is painful?]

[Why does losing have to lead to sadness, to feeling lost?]

[Why do people always believe that flames will inevitably extinguish? Clearly, the time the sun burns is far longer than the civilization of Humans, yet foolish and weak Humans point to that fleeting spark, confidently declaring that the blaze is short-lived and will eventually extinguish?]

[All of it, whether it’s the monotony of life, the disappearance of dreams, the end of civilization, or the unchanging all things, I can endure, I can conquer]

[Because...]

[I really, do not want]

[Do not want to turn to ash]

If Humans have a template for personality, then from the beginning, the Ashen King was not human.

Humans are essentially a short-lived species, focusing on pursuing what they want throughout their life. Some want to stand atop mountains overlooking the masses, some want to stand before others teaching the public, some want to lead armies conquering all directions, and some embrace the world wanting to settle all difficulties.

Some want to stand in the Royal Court, some want modest wealth, some advocate benevolence, some morality, some love and hate, some self-interest.

All these dreams, desires, and joys are reasons for Humans’ hearts to stir. Some are realized, but most are unsatisfied. Some are gained, but more is lost.

People disdain, even fear losing.

So people, Humans, cannot imagine, a person with infinite lifespan, endlessly gaining, endlessly losing possibilities.

That’s simply the greatest pain in this world.

But the Ashen King cannot understand this pain.

Because the dead become ashes.

Become unable to affect this world, become unable to see this world, becoming void.

All meaning, all dreams, under the long wash of time, will become meaningless. Even transforming the world, changing all Humans’ bad habits, creating a perfect civilization, but tens of thousands, millions of years later, the civilization turns to ash, to dust in the nihility, then all of it is simply meaningless.

Nihility.

The only thing that can counter nihility is ’eternal existence, infinite continuation.’

To counter this nihility, this utterly boring nihility, the Ashen King will burn—forever and ever, burning on.

Even if he peels away his own consciousness bit by bit, tears apart his soul, turning his entire being into a pure ignition machine, it is thus.

The thirty-fourth reincarnation.

The seventy-second reincarnation.