Ash stood face-to-face with himself — not a reflection, not a shadow, but the Original, the one who first forged stars from silence, who gave birth to the very concept of creation.
The Original looked at him with unreadable eyes, the kind that had seen eternity lose meaning. His voice rang not in air, but in existence itself.
> "So… you are the version of me that survived."
Ash clenched his fists, the flames around his aura flickering erratically. "I didn't survive. I lived. I suffered, I grew… I chose."
The Original leaned forward slightly on his throne of concepts. "And you forgot… for millions of years. You forgot who you were. You became mortal. Fell in love. Felt pain. Cried. Bled."
Ash stared back. "And in doing so, I became more than you. I didn't just create life… I understood it."
The throne pulsed ominously.
> "Then why have you come back?" the Original asked.
Ash's voice was firm. "Because I want to know the truth. Why did we die? Where are the others? What made you abandon everything?"
The Origin Being rose slowly, and for a moment, Ash felt the universe tremble.
> "They didn't die," he said. "They chose to sleep. We were becoming… unstable. Our power, our minds, our souls — they began to split. We were never meant to be eternal. Our emotions evolved beyond containment. Madness followed."
Ash swallowed. "But I'm still here. I haven't fallen into madness."
The Original's expression softened. "Not yet. But you're close. You came to the edge… ordered the destruction of all humans, remember? You only turned back because of them."
A silence passed between them.
Then Ash asked, "Is that why you made me forget? Forced me into the reincarnation cycle? To reset yourself?"
The Original nodded. "It was the only way. The final failsafe. When a Supreme Being becomes unstable, a version is reborn in the cycle of life, pure and innocent, until their memories return."
Ash stepped closer. "But now I remember everything. What happens next?"
The Original's voice was barely a whisper now, heavy with time.
> "Now… I pass everything to you."
Suddenly, the Origin Zone trembled as the throne began to dissolve — the last root code of creation unraveling.
> "You are now the True Supreme Being, Ash. The others must awaken. And when they do… some will resist. They won't accept change. They won't forgive life."
Ash's heart pounded.
"Then I'll stop them."
The Original smiled for the first time. "Then you are truly ready."
A blinding surge of knowledge and power surged into Ash. He didn't scream — he accepted. Every reality, every law of physics, every blueprint of every world and species — it became part of him.
Ash opened his eyes.
The Origin Zone bloomed in color for the first time in billions of years.
Behind him, the twelve sleeping Supreme Beings stirred.
Ash, now radiating like the very core of existence, turned away from the throne and whispered:
"Let the new era… begin."
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