Chapter 11: The Eternal Future of Ephemeral Life (8800)

Chapter 11: The Eternal Future of Ephemeral Life (8800)

[This is a story that took place in an era so ancient, far older than any civilization]
[A story about a group of ephemeral beings, born and dying within a single day, floating in the radiance surrounding the First Flame that ignited the brilliance of the multiverse]

Born amidst the void, the foam after the burning of the flame, within the leftover scraps that nurtured worlds, in the silent and boundless light, there existed a simple structure, or rather, a simple form of life that appeared in the world.

It had no name, and still has none to this day. If one must describe it, it could only be called 'Ephemera', for its lifespan was so fleeting that it likely did not even last a single day in some worlds.

This life had no 'self', nor 'wisdom'. Its simple structure could only accomplish one thing: 'record' everything around it, and then 'transmit' it to other individuals. These Ephemera, knowing neither when they were born nor when they would die, formed a small cycle within the eternal light.

The death of each individual Ephemera would ultimately give birth to numerous juvenile Ephemera. But before that, it would entrust all the information it had recorded to another adult Ephemera. Gathering information was the process of their self-growth. Then, this adult Ephemera would do the same, passing on the memories of the previous Ephemera along with its own to the next Ephemera. And in this long process of transmission, a new generation of Ephemera would mature, a new cycle would begin again, and the cycle of the Ephemera would grow one turn larger.

Naturally, the information they carried also grew one turn larger.

Adult Ephemera continuously passed on their respective memories to one another, while the equally ephemeral juveniles quickly grew into new carriers for recording and transcription. Among these numerous different individuals, the information that was constantly transmitted and exchanged evolved from the initial, tiny instinct that could be completed with a single information exchange, gradually becoming so vast that it required more Ephemera to fully record, even requiring the entire swarm of Ephemera to coalesce together, continuously transferring and passing on to each other without pause. This occupied all their 'time and lifespan' in an eternal mission, except for the act of self-division before death.

Birth, memory, being transmitted, transmitting, death, division, birth, memory, being transmitted, transmitting, death, division... The eternal, endless cycle was their instinct, their mission.

The entire swarm of Ephemera became an increasingly massive memory stick, an incredibly vast information repository.

For them, they could not stop for even a moment, could not rest for even an instant. For the life of an Ephemera, they could not hesitate, could not think, could not waver.

They had to move eternally, transmit eternally, die eternally, then divide themselves, and nurture new things. They had no long sleep, no rest, no pause whatsoever, because 'sleep' meant 'death', and 'pause' meant 'loss'. Even if a single Ephemera made a mistake, abandoning its instinctive mission to record and transmit information, it would cause a 'lack' of some information, representing eternal 'forgetfulness'.

But at this time, the Ephemera did not yet understand what 'forgetfulness' represented. They simply maintained their vast cycle, endlessly repeating the reincarnation.

Then, a long time passed.

The ephemeral Ephemera, within this increasingly vast and boundless cycle, spent endless time, until one day, other 'civilizations' discovered them.

These were races born in the derivative worlds of the First Flame. These complex intelligent beings, bathed in light, after long evolution and development, finally stepped out of the void and began to roam the heavens... And upon arriving near the First Flame, they discovered these simple, unintelligent swarms of Ephemera that merely circled the light.

They were not the oldest beings. Compared to the Ephemera, there were many more powerful or weaker primordial monsters. The Ephemera were born in the radiant domain long after the multiverse environment had stabilized, far inferior to the most ancient beasts born in chaos.

Their power was not strong either. The essence of an individual Ephemera was a simple knot of energy and information. The information and energy carried by such a thing were extremely tiny. The energy of hundreds of thousands of Ephemera was not even enough to light a candle.

They did not even have wisdom. Pure information exchange merely represented the basic recorded memories of all Ephemera since the first one at the dawn of their birth. The vast majority was meaningless redundant information. Not only did it fail to ignite the spark of wisdom, it was even inferior to multicellular organisms.

They were not vast either, and could even be called minuscule. The size of a single Ephemera was not even comparable to a bacterium. They were even the smallest 'life' that many civilizations could discover in the void.

But their swarm was incredibly vast.

Their numbers were infinite.

In fact, this phototropic collective had even formed a hazy, dim mist that covered a small part of the endless light of the First Flame.

They were not ancient, not powerful, not intelligent, not vast, but they still existed, from ancient times until now. Until today, other life forms born later than them evolved into intelligent beings, developed civilizations, and then came to this place.

The information carried by these curious intelligent species became the 'second kind of light' that the Ephemera could receive, besides the First Flame. It was a variable, a catalyst, and besides the eternal cycle of the Ephemera, it represented 'infinite possibilities'.

That was the dawn of 'wisdom', the dawn of 'self', and also the dawn of 'possibility and the future'.

It, They, at that moment, truly opened their eyes, raised their heads from the shell of self-isolation and self-cycling, and began to look upon this vast multiverse.

[The ancient primordial civilization taught the ephemeral Ephemera many things. They taught them to think, to judge, to react to external actions. They guided an isolated group onto the grand stage of the multiverse, and then taught them what friendship, beauty, hope, and love were.]
[Of course, they also taught them what 'forgetfulness' truly was.]

After a long time, the civilization that had enlightened the Ephemera disappeared. Where did they go? Even the Steel Force of the multiverse had become too ancient and blurry to remember that memory. Even searching the memories of countless Evil Gods could not find a single trace. This was not surprising, for the Evil Gods appeared after the Sage of the Future, and the truth of this matter was probably something even the Sage of the Future could not recall. How could the Steel Giant God possibly access the memories of that era?

But perhaps there were no other complicated reasons. That civilization was likely simply destroyed in the long passage of time, and then forgotten.

That was an extremely novel experience. A loss of information. An end to a cycle. A dissipation of the past. The arrival of true 'death'.

And that was the dawn of the 'future'.

[No... absolutely unacceptable.]
[We... do not accept any forgetfulness.]

The spark of wisdom was ignited.

The Ephemera came to understand: the antonym of memory... is forgetfulness.

And for the Ephemera, who eternally remembered, who eternally inscribed everything, this was absolutely unacceptable.

[These ephemeral Ephemera, the memories of their entire lives, are ultimately entrusted to other Ephemera as proof of their existence. If their kind forgets, then they never truly existed, which is equivalent to a part of the Ephemera swarm being missing, and that great and long record would no longer be complete.]
[Forgetfulness is eternal passing away—even more terrifying, more fearsome than entering the event horizon of a black hole.]

This was unacceptable.

Joshua's voice and will shook the multiverse. In that brief instant, everyone heard, saw, and knew the eternal cycle of the tiny Ephemera and the final 'awakening' that gave birth to the spark. To this, the Giant God was silent for a moment, and then, amidst everyone's guesses, spoke in a deep voice, confirming the conjecture of all beings.

[This is the origin of the 'Sage of the Future'.]

The essence of the Sage of the Future was similar to that of the Evil Gods: an eternal existence that condensed all the memories of a race, a civilization, and a collective.

No, that statement was wrong. It was not that He was like the Evil Gods, but that the Evil Gods were like Him.

The 'Eternal Deaths', who could only see eternity, yearned for eternity, yearned for light, just like the Ephemera who could only see light, like moths who could only see flame. They called out, wailed, roared, and howled, heading towards the distant countless lights, towards those beings that still continued 'memory' and 'forgetfulness', still releasing infinite heat and 'possibility'.

And this was the reason why the so-called 'Evil Gods' attacked, destroyed, and turned all newborn civilizations into new Evil Gods. They were not good, nor evil, not righteous, nor wicked. The Evil Gods had no purpose, no desire. It was not that they 'wanted to destroy', but that approaching them caused 'destruction'. And that so-called attack, that so-called transformation, in a sense, was merely 'remembering' everything.

And this was the truth of the so-called 'Evil God Invasion' and 'End of an Era'.

Nothing more than a story of a group of Ephemera who wanted to remember everything, extinguishing the flame and inscribing it upon themselves.

[The Sage of the Future cannot tolerate forgetfulness. It is precisely because He eternally remembers all the past, everything since His own birth, recording nearly infinite information of this multiverse, almost becoming the living Akashic Record of this multiverse, that He can 'remember' the eternal past, 'stand firm' in the vast present, and 'open up' the infinite future.]
[He rejects death—hence the birth of the Evil Gods, the 'Eternal Death'. He rejects that not everything can be remembered—hence absolute chaos is born from nothing, clinging to all things. He rejects that what is forgotten cannot be recovered—hence infinite parallel universes, infinite parallel worlds, and even infinite futures come into being.]
[The multiverse splits, just as the Ephemera of old split after death. The 'Sage of the Future' probably could not understand at first why other civilized races and other Sages would resist Him. Wasn't everything remembered? Didn't everyone gain eternity and an infinite future? No longer needing to worry about being forgotten, no longer needing to worry about being destroyed, no longer needing to worry about death! Because infinite parallel worlds bear all possibilities, and the tributaries of infinite future possibilities, under the power of the Sage, will become undeniable reality. Even if the heavens are destroyed and the stars fall, there will still be a possibility of their existence.]
[Eternal Death, Eternal Memory, Infinite Future, Infinite Possibility.]

At this moment, Joshua raised his remaining left hand. In it, there was a hazy chaotic light. It was the power opened up by the [Sage of the Future], a special power related to the [First Flame]. It connected to all things, recorded everything, transmitted everything, and used this as the source to nurture infinite parallel universes.

The Giant God clenched his fist. The hazy chaos immediately burst into brilliant light. And all beings could see: countless Evil Gods, countless forgotten civilizations, forgotten races, forgotten names, were all recalled in the infinite parallel universes. They were never forgotten, never abandoned. The [Future] remembered them, so they existed eternally, indestructible, until the end of the multiverse, and would never dissipate.

[The purpose of the Sage of the Future is to 'remember' all the information of this multiverse. And after remembering this multiverse, He, They, should 'die', and then, in this way, transmit all the 'memories' to the next 'multiverse', using countless 'Evil Gods' as seeds and all the civilizations of the past as prototypes, to nurture a brand new 'future'.]
[The infinitely splitting multiverse is just like the infinitely splitting Ephemera. The transmission and inheritance of information are also just like back then. What They want to do is nothing more than what the Ephemera of old did—only the carrier has changed from Ephemera smaller than microbes to the entire multiverse.]
[Eternal memory, then eternal transmission, maintaining everything eternally. Even the final calamity of the multiverse's destruction cannot terminate this process.]

—In other words, this is essentially no different from the infinite division and inheritance of the Ephemera. This is also a civilization of 'inheritance', and the strongest 'order'!
—An ultimate 'order' so grand and unimaginable, taking the multiverse as its unit, that all beings within the multiverse are merely parts and foundations, a structure of memory, whose self-will is utterly irrelevant!

It has nothing to do with beings. It is a story belonging to the 'Pan-Multiverse Ephemera'.

"But isn't this good?"

From the distant other side of the multiverse, such a voice could be heard. A civilization spoke up in confusion: "We pass away, yet we still live in the infinite future, in infinite parallel worlds. We are forgotten, but the Sage remembers. Everything we strive to achieve no longer needs to worry about being meaningless; it is even destined to bear fruit. We can accept failure, that is our own fault, but if we can be 'remembered'... even in the next multiverse era, we can still be remembered."

"Isn't this what is called 'happiness'?"

After this doubt was raised, more civilizations, more individuals, felt lost. They always felt that the darkness that shrouded everything was so terrifying, that the endless chaos was destined to represent eternal finality. But now Joshua told them that the darkness that shrouded everything only wanted to remember everything, that the essence of the endless chaos was a tool for recording, and that in the eternal future, there would still be a place for them.

Countless hearts that were not firm enough, countless beliefs that were not stubborn enough, countless wills that were not mad enough, countless wisdoms that were not foolish enough, began to waver at this moment, began to question the necessity of 'resistance'.

After all, it was the Sage. The most ancient, the most powerful, the first in history to have a record of defeating and killing other Sages, the Sage representing the infinite future.

[But—]
[Do you want to accept a future that is not walked out by yourselves?]
[This kind of happiness is merely the lowest kind of happiness! To place all your hopes on the happiness of your counterpart in an infinite parallel world? This is a more illusory thing than a dream. Except for the Sage, except for that swarm of Ephemera who, since the dawn of their birth, have been constantly dying and leaving their memories to another individual, who would understand, who would want this kind of happiness?]
[True happiness, true freedom, their true meaning, is the right to resolutely refuse even happiness itself, the right to completely reject the 'future' you do not want!]
[Demand more, crave more! What we want, what we deserve, is not a gift from anyone, but the best future we can grasp ourselves!]

Joshua raised his hand, putting down Hei and the others. The Giant God looked around the multiverse, infinite power surging within his body.

[Whether He is correct or not—I don't care about such trivial matters.]
[But I know that I am correct.]
[The core of the Sage of the Future is memory, all the 'civilizations' that are remembered, that is, the infinite Evil Gods. Through them, He has already grasped more than 99.8% of the possibilities of this multiverse. The total mass of the Evil Gods is five hundred times, or even more, that of the existing multiverse star rivers and orderly civilizations. Their existence allows the Sage of the Future to hold an advantage in battles within this multiverse, allowing Him to develop any future He desires in the infinite parallel universes.]
[But as long as we hold them back, fighting against this enemy five hundred times our total, the Sage of the Future will lose His greatest trump card. Annihilating the Evil Gods is annihilating a part of His true body, and it is also our path to victory.]

Joshua loudly proclaimed this to the intelligent life of the entire multiverse. He wanted to break the advantage that the Sage of the Future had hidden in the darkness of history, to let everyone know His essence, the source of His power, His form of existence, and His weakness.

This was, of course, not Joshua's achievement alone. It was the achievement of all the Sages of the past, all the pioneers.

[The first three Sages—Psionics, Arcane Power, and Life Energy—were born after the 'Future'. He knew the entire process of creating their powers, remembered their essence. Coupled with their lack of vigilance and targeting against the Sage of the Future, and the lack of coordination from other Sages, even though they fought bitterly, they ultimately could only be defeated and pass away.]
[But Element and Aether should be the two most brilliant geniuses after the Arcane lineage. They were both supposed to open up new possibilities on the path of Arcane, becoming the second and third Sages of Demons. But they both sensed something was wrong, and thus took a different path, creating Element and Aether. On the scale of the multiverse, they almost simultaneously advanced and then joined forces to resist the 'Future'.]
[And the time they joined forces to resist the 'Future' was so long that they held out until the appearance of 'Holy Light', 'Shadow', and 'me'.]

Initially, the supernatural powers created by the Sages were not specifically targeted against the 'Future'. Even Element and Aether only sensed a slight anomaly but had no way to counter it. Every process and every detail of their advancement was within the sight of the 'Future'. Even if their strength were equal, there was no reason for them to win, let alone the fact that they were originally slightly inferior to the Future.

But afterwards, both Holy Light and Shadow realized this. They began to plan to target, restrain, and counter the 'Future'. Even their advancements were kept secret, doing their best to prevent the other side from obtaining their information.

But even so, they were at a disadvantage. After all, they did not know the existence and essence of the Future, and could only leave various clues for later generations.

[And I am that later generation. I am the destruction of Chaos, the terminator of the Future.]

Joshua's voice was calm and firm.

He was indeed that later generation.

He advanced to become the God Sage in the First Flame. Not only could the Future not perceive it, but He could not even determine the process of his advancement. Yet Joshua, while analyzing the memories of the many Evil Gods and ancient civilizations, detected the essence of the Sage of the Future.

From the very beginning, he had been fighting against Evil Gods and Chaos, and from the start, he had been vigilant. Besides bringing the 'Path of Levels'—'Fighting is Reward'—for all beings, and the path of the God Sage, his true essential path remained, until now, unknown to anyone, its name unknown.

And his power was born precisely to shatter this eternal, infinite future.

"But Master—time."

At this moment, the star-obscuring Black Dragon roared: "You have only just advanced. Can you truly intervene in the battles of the Sages who have been fighting for countless years?"

"Everything you said is meaningless in the face of absolute power."

[Exactly, time.]

But to this, Joshua was not at all concerned.

[The Sage of the Future and the other Sages have been fighting across countless universes and infinite parallel worlds for an unimaginably long time. But this does not mean much. When Sages fight Sages, it is impossible for either side to grow stronger through battle. They are fighting with everything they have, in every region, every angle, every possibility. There is no room for progress, not even for thought.]
[When the Sage of Psionics was born, the Future's progress was probably already over 99%. But so many years have passed, so many Sages have been born, and His progress is still stuck at 99.8%.]
[And the fact that the Sage of the Future could speak to me before, while the other Sages could not, proves that even facing the siege of four Sages, He still has room to spare and holds the upper hand. But even so, as long as His progress cannot reach 100%, He cannot open an essential gap with the other Sages.]
[Because a Sage is infinite power.]
[It is precisely because of the sacrifices and sharing of all the previous Sages that enough time was left for me to tell you all this.]

Earlier, Joshua achieved Divinity. And the essence of a God is wish. The essence of Divine Power is the power to fulfill wishes.

Gods are wishes, Gods are dreams. And the change brought by Divine Power is to bestow Joshua's dream upon this world. From now on, battle is no longer just a means, but can also be an end. It can give all beings more possibilities.

[Battle is my wish, my dream.]
[But pure battle would only plunge this multiverse into an endless hell.]

Joshua opened his hand, and infinite illusions spread, enveloping all things. He showed everyone the future that the 'Sage of Strife' could bring. A future where civilizations, races, or individuals each attach themselves to powerful 'Sources of Strife'. They go to worlds, to civilizations, to fight, to provoke strife, to stir up endless battles and variables in the multiverse through endless slaughter. The blood and bones of the defeated are drained by the victor. The entire multiverse becomes a giant crucible for raising monsters, and the new Sage is the victor of this eternal war.

[Every Sage who walks forward has a profound influence on the Sages who come after.]

Joshua withdrew his fist. He opened it again. This time, it was a new illusion, belonging to the future of the 'Sage of Emotion'. A multiverse where everyone, in order to gain power, gradually cultivates a complete set of methods for simulating emotions. Their emotional forces continuously merge and condense, finally forming beasts, monsters, and overlords representing the major emotional forces. A civilization's, a race's, an individual's originally complete emotions, through prolonged cultivation, would be reduced to a single extreme.

Different emotions might not all be enemies, but there are inevitably opposing emotions that are natural mortal enemies. In the increasingly chaotic sea of the multiverse, to become a new generation of Sage, one must survive these numerous obstacles and transcend all extremes.

[The Sage of the Future created our future. He cannot directly attack you, because you are also part of His memory. Only those who have attained the Eternal Anchor are seen by Him as anomalies, and He will attack them, thereby losing the possibility of targeting the Evil Gods.]

In Joshua's palm, countless 'possibilities of Sages' were flying. 'The Sage Who Broke the Shackles', 'The Sage of Pure Will', 'The Sage Who Advanced the World', 'The Second Steel Sage', and so on. All the Near-Saints present forgot everything else. And all the Legendary Limit powerhouses also felt a vague tremor. They knew that this was the 'possibility' Joshua wanted to tell them about, the possibility of becoming a Near-Saint, of becoming a Sage! Joshua held nothing back. He released all the results of his contemplation for everyone to see.

For a moment, the bodies of the vast majority began to surge with immense distortions. Their accumulated experience was already sufficient; they only lacked a bit of unresolved confusion. And now, the puzzle was solved. They naturally began to advance.

Then came a sharp shout.

[This is not the path you should walk!]
[Try to learn, not to imitate. Think about this line of thought, not copy the answer. These are all possibilities belonging to 'me'. Are you me?]

This immediately jolted all the powerhouses who were immersed in subconscious 'imitation', or even 'replication', out of it. They woke up and immediately felt a chill run down their spines, or else sighed with regret and unwillingness.

The path near the Dao is the greatest temptation... But indeed, even if they were to walk the 'Path of Strife' or the 'Path of Emotion', they were completely different individuals and existences from Joshua, both in thought and logic. The path of another might be a smooth road for them, but for themselves, it would be the most potent poison.

Not to mention anything else, regarding the 'Path of Strife', everyone felt that Joshua would probably be very happy, but they might not be. In fact, it could be said that there were very few in this multiverse who would look forward to such a future.

[The Evil Gods are the foundation for the Sage of the Future to control the future of this multiverse, and also the 'memories' He must take to the next multiverse.]
[The Eternal Anchor is that which cannot be remembered and taken away; it is a destined existence. It is a node that is destined to occur. Even in infinite parallel worlds and infinite parallel universes, it will definitely happen.]
[What the Sage of the Future wants is a future completely controlled by Him, everything derived from His memory. His thoughts and dreams are the eternal multiverse, the origin of infinity. And the Eternal Anchor is the stain that hinders Him, not the eternity of His memory.]

"But Joshua..."

At this moment, Number 3 couldn't help but ask: "You cut off your own path to the Eternal Anchor..."

[That is a trivial matter.]
[Others might think this 'destiny' is very important, but I have never cared about 'destiny' or 'absoluteness'. And the Sage of the Future will not stop me either.]
[I cut off the Eternal Anchor, and also cut off my connection to the infinite parallel universes. In His world, I cannot appear again. As long as He annihilates me in this original, primordial multiverse, He can one hundred percent annihilate me, unlike other Sages, who, even if defeated, would probably need an incredibly long time to suppress and wear down.]
[But by the same token, He cannot use the infinite parallel universes He derived, the various 'futures', to attack me. He can only use His own power within this multiverse to fight against me.]

After leaving behind information that made all Legendary Limits and Near-Saints ponder deeply, Joshua's body began to gradually become illusory, gradually expand, and then 'fill' the space between this multiverse.

[As long as there are enough Near-Saints, they can resist the erosion of the multiverse by the Sage of the Future, keeping His progress forever stuck in the present.]
[And in this way, His hidden trump cards cannot be used. He cannot occupy the upstream of everything and influence everything downstream. As long as His progress stagnates, the 'Infinite Future' will not continue to 'derive'.]
[This is the method for those who have not yet become Sages to resist the 'Future'.]

You have your battlefield, and I have mine. For now, farewell, my friends.

Indescribable, majestic, and unimaginably vast fluctuations were stirring up a great tide. The source of these fluctuations had set sail. It began to trace back, heading towards the source of everything, the beginning of everything, the first light!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The entire multiverse was shaking with these footsteps. The heavens, the stars, the myriad worlds and races, even beings without souls, without eyes, without ears, without touch, could all clearly sense, clearly see, hear, and perceive that something 'infinite' was roaring, swimming against the current. It was heading towards the battlefield it sought, towards the 'final conclusion'!

And the intangible fluctuations, for the second time in a short while, the infinite fluctuations that changed the multiverse, were flowing and overflowing towards all existing things!

[...Defeating the Sage of the Future is indeed impossible.]
[The most ancient Sage, who defeated Psionics, Arcane Power, and Steel Force, and is evenly matched with, or even slightly superior to, the other four Sages. Even with me added, it is unlikely to change much.]

At this moment, everyone felt that something had been fundamentally changed. All the logic in the multiverse was replaced. A certain thing had eroded the original concepts.

It was not any tangible supernatural power, nor any phenomenon that affected the multiverse. It was something that moistened everything silently, imperceptibly, infiltrating all worlds.

[But the meaning of life and civilization is to overcome one impossibility after another.]
[And I, even more so, must overcome all 'impossibilities'.]

The radiance of the flame was brilliant. Infinite light, infinite will were shining in the infinite distance. Infinite fluctuations crossed an infinitely long distance. He passed by a familiar powerhouse, several unfamiliar powerhouses. He sensed that on this path, there were many beings swimming upstream. They had been advancing from an unknown ancient era, but now, he was surpassing them.

And what was this? Was it necessity? Was it destiny? Or was it chance, just a huge accident?

It was all, and none.

And whether it was these exceptionally powerful beings with surprised expressions on their faces, or the ignorant children of any race, any life, any being with blood and flesh, could all know.

The existence named [Miracle], like the sun, was resolutely flying past in the endless, silent darkness.