[Lumeria - Academy Dormitories, Evening]
Aldric stood in HIS newly assigned room—a modest space with a bed, desk, and window overlooking the city. The Academy had offered HIM luxurious quarters befitting someone of HIS demonstrated power, but HE had declined.
HE wanted to experience student life as it truly was.
But tonight, there was something HE needed to do.
HE had visited the dragons. HE had restructured the Spirit Realm. HE had given humanity a new gift.
Now, it was time to address those who had existed before HE began creation.
The Primordials.
Aldric stepped to the window and looked up at the stars. "Entropy," HE said quietly, HIS voice carrying across dimensions. "Come. We should talk."
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then reality tore.
[Between Spaces]
The room didn't change, not exactly. But it was as if another layer had been added—a space between the physical world and the void beyond. A place where only the most ancient beings could exist.
And in that space, something manifested.
Entropy.
The oldest of the Primordials. The first consciousness to exist in the void before IT began creation.
Entropy's form was difficult to perceive—sometimes appearing as a robed figure of absolute darkness, sometimes as a swirling vortex of dissolution, sometimes as simply an absence where reality ended. Ancient beyond measure. Powerful beyond mortal comprehension.
But before Aldric, Entropy seemed... smaller. Diminished. Like a candle before the sun.
"YOU CALLED, SUPREME ONE," Entropy's voice rumbled like the heat death of universes. "I AM HERE."
"Sit," Aldric said, gesturing to a chair that suddenly existed in this between-space.
Entropy hesitated, then took form—a tall, gaunt figure shrouded in tattered robes of shadow, with eyes like dying stars. It sat.
"You've been watching," Aldric said. It wasn't a question.
"I HAVE WATCHED SINCE YOU DESCENDED," Entropy confirmed. "AS HAVE ORDER AND CHAOS, MY SIBLINGS IN THE VOID. WE ARE... CURIOUS."
"Curious," HE repeated, a slight smile on HIS lips. "That's one word for it. Tell me, Entropy, what do you think of My creation? My world? My humans?"
Entropy was silent for a long moment.
"THEY ARE... FLEETING," it finally said. "BRIEF SPARKS IN THE INFINITE DARK. THEY LIVE, THEY STRUGGLE, THEY DIE. ALL THINGS RETURN TO ENTROPY IN THE END. EVEN YOUR STARS WILL BURN OUT. YOUR GALAXIES WILL SCATTER. YOUR CREATION WILL ONE DAY BE SILENT AND COLD."
"Yes," Aldric agreed calmly. "That's true. All things end. Even universes have their twilight. But that's what makes them beautiful, doesn't it? The temporariness. The struggle against the inevitable."
"BEAUTY," Entropy said, and there was something like confusion in its ancient voice. "YOU SPEAK OF BEAUTY. YOU, WHO ARE ETERNAL. WHO ARE BEYOND ENDINGS. WHY DO YOU CARE FOR THINGS THAT WILL ULTIMATELY RETURN TO NOTHING?"
"Because they exist now," HE said simply. "Because in this moment, they are real. They love, they create, they grow. Isn't that enough?"
Entropy stared at HIM with dying-star eyes.
"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU, CREATOR. I HAVE EXISTED SINCE BEFORE EXISTENCE. I WITNESSED YOU BRING FORTH REALITY FROM THE VOID. I SAW YOU SPEAK, AND LIGHT WAS. I SAW YOU DREAM, AND MATTER COALESCED. YOU ARE SUPREME. ABSOLUTE. BEYOND ALL."
"And yet here I sit, in a mortal form, in a student dormitory," Aldric said with amusement.
"YES," Entropy said, and now there was something like frustration in its tone. "WHY? WHY LIMIT YOURSELF? WHY WALK AMONG THEM WHEN YOU COULD SIMPLY... KNOW THEM? YOU ARE OMNISCIENT. YOU COULD UNDERSTAND THEM WITHOUT THIS... CHARADE."
"Could I?" Aldric leaned back in HIS chair. "I know facts, yes. I know events. I know cause and effect. But knowing about something and experiencing it are different. I know what pain is. I've never felt it. I know what fear is. I've never experienced it. I know what it means to be limited, finite, vulnerable. But I've never been those things."
"AND NOW?"
"Now I am," HE said. "This body can feel tired. It can feel hungry. It can feel the weight of others' expectations. It's fascinating."
"YOU COULD UNMAKE ME WITH A THOUGHT," Entropy said quietly. "YET YOU CALL MY EXISTENCE FASCINATING."
"I could," Aldric agreed. "But I won't. You serve a purpose, Entropy. You and your siblings—Order and Chaos—you are the fundamental tensions that make reality interesting. Without you, nothing would change. Nothing would grow."
Entropy was silent, absorbing this.
"THE OTHER PRIMORDIALS," it began carefully, "ORDER BELIEVES YOUR DESCENT IS A TEST. THAT YOU ARE TESTING YOUR CREATION TO SEE IF IT DESERVES TO CONTINUE."
"And what does Order think will happen if it fails?"
"ORDER BELIEVES YOU WILL UNMAKE EVERYTHING AND START ANEW. A PERFECT CREATION, WITHOUT FLAWS."
Aldric laughed—a genuine, warm sound. "Order would think that. Always seeking perfection. No, I'm not testing them. I'm simply... curious. I want to see what they'll do with the gifts I've given them."
"AND CHAOS?" Entropy asked.
"Let me guess. Chaos thinks I've gone mad and abandoned My throne for entertainment?"
"...YES."
"Chaos isn't entirely wrong," HE admitted. "There is an element of curiosity, of wanting to be surprised. But it's not madness. It's love. I love what I've created. I want to understand it fully."
Entropy seemed to struggle with this concept.
"YOU LOVE THEM," it said slowly. "THESE HUMANS. MORE THAN THE OTHERS."
"Yes."
"WHY?"
Aldric stood and walked to the window, looking out over Lumeria. The city sparkled with magical lights, airships drifted between towers, and far below, humans lived their lives—loving, arguing, dreaming, struggling.
"Because they are creative chaos contained in mortal shells," HE said. "They have the Spark—My own creative nature, condensed. They can imagine things that don't exist and make them real. They can look at the world I made and say 'we can improve this' and actually do it. They're arrogant and humble, cruel and kind, destructive and generative. They contain multitudes."
HE turned back to Entropy.
"And unlike you, unlike the gods, unlike the angels and spirits—they don't live forever. They know they'll die. They know their time is limited. And yet they love anyway. They create anyway. They try anyway. That's courage I find... inspiring."
"COURAGE," Entropy repeated. "THE SUPREME, INSPIRED BY MORTALS."
"Why not?" HE said. "I made them. They're My greatest work. Of course they inspire Me."
Entropy stood, its form flickering between shadow and void.
"YOU ASKED ME HERE FOR A REASON BEYOND CONVERSATION."
"I did," Aldric confirmed. "I want you and your siblings to leave My creation alone. Don't interfere. Don't test them. Don't try to corrupt the Spirit Summoning system or any other magic. Just... watch. As you've always watched."
"WE CANNOT CREATE," Entropy said. "ONLY INFLUENCE. WE ARE BOUND BY THE COSMIC LAWS YOU ESTABLISHED WHEN YOU BEGAN CREATION."
"I know. But influence can be powerful. I'm simply reminding you—these are My children. My beloved humans. My world. Touch them, and I will act."
The threat was delivered gently, almost kindly. But the weight behind it made reality itself shudder.
Entropy bowed—a gesture of respect from a being that existed before existence.
"WE WILL OBSERVE ONLY, SUPREME ONE. YOU HAVE MY WORD."
"Good." Aldric smiled. "You may go. And Entropy?"
"YES?"
"Thank you for coming. I know you don't have to. You existed before I began creation. In a way, you're the only beings who aren't truly My children."
"WE EXISTED IN THE VOID," Entropy said quietly. "BUT YOU GAVE THE VOID MEANING. YOU GAVE EXISTENCE PURPOSE. WITHOUT YOU, WE WOULD SIMPLY... BE. UNCHANGING. ETERNAL. EMPTY."
It paused.
"PERHAPS WE ARE YOUR CHILDREN AFTER ALL. JUST THE OLDEST ONES."
Aldric's expression softened. "Perhaps you are."
Entropy faded, returning to the spaces between reality.
Aldric was alone again in HIS dormitory room. The between-space collapsed, and everything returned to normal.
HE sat on the bed, considering the conversation.
The Primordials were ancient. Powerful. But they were bound by laws HE had established. They couldn't create, only influence. They existed in the gaps, in the tensions that made reality dynamic.
Order sought perfection and pattern.
Chaos sought change and unpredictability.
Entropy sought endings and dissolution.
But all three were bound by the framework IT had laid down when IT spoke the first word of creation.
They could observe. They could influence, slightly. But they couldn't unmake what IT had made.
Only IT could do that.
And IT had no intention of unmaking anything.
[Meanwhile - The Void Between Spaces]
In a place that wasn't a place, three consciousnesses met.
Entropy. Order. Chaos.
The three Primordials who had existed before all things.
"THE SUPREME HAS SPOKEN TO ME," Entropy announced. "WE ARE TO OBSERVE ONLY. NOT INTERFERE."
"AS EXPECTED," Order said, its voice like crystalline mathematics. "THE SUPREME PROTECTS ITS CREATION. WE KNEW THIS."
"BUT IT WALKS AMONG THEM!" Chaos laughed, its voice like storms and madness. "THE ABSOLUTE ONE, PLAYING MORTAL! THIS IS DELICIOUS! UNPREDICTABLE! I LOVE IT!"
"IT IS TESTING THEM," Order insisted. "EVALUATING. MEASURING."
"IT IS LOVING THEM," Entropy corrected quietly. "I FELT IT. THE SUPREME... LOVES ITS CREATION. GENUINELY."
The three were silent.
"LOVE," Order finally said. "AN INEFFICIENT ATTACHMENT TO TEMPORARY PHENOMENA."
"A BEAUTIFUL CHAOS," Chaos countered. "AN UNPREDICTABLE FORCE."
"AN ENDING DENIED," Entropy said. "THE SUPREME LOVES THEM KNOWING THEY WILL DIE. LOVES THEM DESPITE THEIR IMPERMANENCE. PERHAPS... BECAUSE OF IT."
Another silence.
"WE WILL NOT INTERFERE," Order declared. "THE SUPREME HAS COMMANDED IT."
"I HAVE NO DESIRE TO ANGER THE ONE WHO COULD UNMAKE US," Entropy agreed.
"AGREED!" Chaos laughed. "BUT OH, THIS WILL BE FUN TO WATCH! GOD GOES TO SCHOOL! WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY DISCOVER WHAT IT IS?"
"THEY WON'T," Entropy said. "IT IS SUPREME. IT IS ABSOLUTE. EVEN THE GODS DON'T SUSPECT. THE SUPREME VEILS ITSELF PERFECTLY."
"THEN WE WATCH," Order concluded. "AS WE HAVE ALWAYS WATCHED."
"AS WE ALWAYS WILL," Entropy agreed.
The three consciousnesses dispersed, returning to their respective domains.
And in the spaces between, in the tensions that held reality together, they waited.
Watching as God played student.
Hoping the mortals would prove worthy of such love.
[Lumeria - Morning, Next Day]
Aldric woke to sunlight streaming through the window. HE had spent the night in genuine sleep—not because HE needed it, but because HE wanted to experience it.
Dreams. Fascinating things. HE had given mortals the ability to dream, but had never experienced one HIMSELF.
Now HE had. Strange, nonsensical images. The mind processing experiences without logic. It was wonderfully inefficient.
There was a knock at HIS door.
"Aldric? You awake?" A familiar voice—Sera Ashford.
HE opened the door. She stood there in her blue Arcane robes, looking nervous.
"Hi," she said. "I, uh, heard you got admitted. The whole Academy is talking about you. The boy who broke the Measurement Orb. I thought you might want someone to show you around? Since it's your first day and all?"
Aldric smiled. "That would be wonderful. Thank you, Sera."
She blushed slightly. "It's nothing. Come on, classes start soon. You'll want to see the Arcane Tower first—that's where all the advanced magic theory is taught."
As they walked through the Academy grounds, students stared and whispered.
"That's him..."
"The one with unmeasurable power..."
"He looks so normal..."
"Marcus von Haltren is furious. Said the testing equipment must have been faulty..."
Sera glanced at HIM. "You're going to have a lot of attention. Everyone wants to know who you are."
"Just a student," Aldric said simply. "Like everyone else."
"No offense, but you're nothing like everyone else," she laughed. Then grew more serious. "Did you... did you try forming a Spirit Contract yet? With your power, you could probably bond with something incredible."
"Not yet," HE said. "I want to understand the system first. Learn how others are doing it. There's no rush."
No rush indeed, HE thought with amusement. After all, I created the system. I already understand it perfectly.
But HE didn't say that.
HE was here to learn how humans experienced magic, not to demonstrate what HE already knew.
As they walked, HE felt the Weave singing around HIM, spirits dancing in their realm, and somewhere far above, divine beings continuing their duties, unaware that their Creator walked the Academy halls.
Perfect.
Absolutely perfect.