There are many conflicting tales across the realms, all attempting to explain the origin of Heaven. It is widely known that Heaven had a will—a consciousness of a sort. So it was not far-fetched to believe that it too had a soul.
So a theory started.
It is said that Heaven too had to comprehend the Universal Dao to become what it was and that it was not the primal originator of creation—that it had started as a part of something before becoming the realms that were known.
Some dismissed it as nonsense, others took it as a metaphor, but a few... a rare few, spoke of it with passion and inscribed it in their teaching.
Underheaven was one of the rare few.
Outside a universe that was rapidly expanding, devouring the void like a greedy beast—a faint crack appeared on its edge.
From that crack, a wisp of white light emerged. It twisted, shimmered, and was flung outward, away from the ever-growing universe.
The wisp drifted endlessly, hurled across the void until even the universe from which it escaped vanished from view. There, alone in the abyss, it finally halted.
And slowly, the wisp began to change.
It reshaped itself into the figure of an old man with long white eyebrows, a flowing beard, a serene face, and eyes closed as if sleeping. The only movement was the gentle flicker of white flames that still clung to his form.
The wisp remained still, motionless. To what could have been seconds, centuries, or eons—it was impossible to tell here. Time held no domain outside its respective universe.
An ancient and rusted chain, with glowing runes materialized around his limbs. It tightened, pulling him back toward the universe he had escaped. Yet the soul resisted. The chain strained... and snapped.
The wisp lingered, suspended in the dark. Then suddenly, an explosion of light happened.
Another crack split the void, its edges shimmering. This time, the wisp moved. It was drawn toward the crack, and chains shot out, binding the flaming figure—but unlike before, the soul did not resist.
With eerie calm, it allowed itself to be pulled through.
And as the crack closed behind it, the darkness was left undisturbed once more.
***
Deep within a vast and ancient forest, a colossal temple stood.
It was so enormous that even if you were to walk away from it for a few hours, its size would remain unchanged. Trees grew from its walls, vines overgrown on its towers.
Beneath the temple was a hidden door, built with different stones than the others.
Behind it, there was only darkness and silence.
But that silence was broken, first by the slow, rhythmic sound of dripping liquid... then by a heartbeat.
It was faint at first. Then it grew stronger, louder, and fiercer.
Suddenly, white flames ignited, illuminating the chamber in ghostly light. At the center stood an egg that was stone-like in features. It rested atop a hill of bones.
A second later, the shell started to crack. A pale human hand shot out. Then, with a shuddering groan, the entire stone-like shell crumbled to dust, leaving a naked boy with mucus clung to his body.
He inhaled sharply, choking, and coughed up a thick, translucent fluid.
"Ha... ahaha... HAHAHAHA! It worked!"
The voice was childlike, yet filled with madness. It echoed through the chamber.
This child was Underheaven.
'It actually worked... I truly survived.'
He had made a gamble when he was attacked. He had chosen to sever his soul from his body to be able to escape, but something had interrupted his escape and he lost awareness then.
Although it would have been terrifying to lose consciousness in that situation, he didn't recall anything else other than suddenly regaining it in a confined space. In an egg, of all things.
He had no idea what type of vessel his soul had chosen, but souls choose vessels according to what matched their potential and form more, and with how powerful his soul was, the vessel that could contain it had to be special.
From as far as he could see, he seemed to be a human child. He was not deformed in any way from a quick inspection.
'Where am I?'
Looking around, everything was slightly blurry, as if out of focus. He took a few seconds to remove the remaining mucus from his face to finally see—only to see a sea of bones.
The eerie part of it all was that they were all human.
He took a step forward and stumbled, falling face-first into the pile of bones. A groan escaped his lips.
'Ah... right. This new body... it's weak.'
Even walking had become a challenge. He had to get used to his new gravity core and muscle mass fast and get out of here fast. Being born in the middle of a sea of bones was not exactly the most reassuring way to be reborn.
He tried to get up a few times, only to fall back down again, trying it a few more times before he finally gave up.
He lay there, exhausted until something above caught his eye.
A skeleton.
It loomed over him, its limbs chained with golden chains that went to the four corners of the room, causing it to look like an 'X'. Its tattered golden robes hinted that it was feminine. A jagged golden spike impaled its ribcage, driven through the back, and strangely, though nothing but bone remained... it bled.
Its crimson blood dripped slowly from the tip of the golden spike to the ground, where a pile of mucus was. It must have been dripping on the egg.
He stared at it in silence, not sure what to make of it. So far, the circumstances of his rebirth had been strange, and that was an understatement.
Had it been anyone else reborn, they would have probably panicked, but he didn't. He had lived for far too long to be shaken by something of this level, although it did make him curious about the nature of it all.
Looking at the pile of mucus, he noticed something. Crawling to it to check what it was, his eyes landed on a spear. Its shaft was made out of stone—even its blade. There were some strange runes inscribed on it that he didn't recognize, which made him hesitate slightly to get closer to it.
'How... curious.'
Runes that he didn't recognize. Now he was slightly shaken. He was a person that prided himself on being knowledgeable in many things. In his long life, he had found some small joy in hunting for knowledge of ancient eras before him and had mastered many forms of array formation. Even if it was something he could not understand, it wouldn't take him long before figuring it out.
So seeing something that he could not even begin to make heads or tails of slightly made him go on high alert instinctively.
Failing to decrypt the runes, he gave up.
'Was this in the eggshell with me as well?'
Assuming from the massive amount of mucus, it was under. It was probably the case. Since it was with him in the eggshell…
He crawled forward and reached for it. As soon as he touched it, a red energy was released from the spear and travelled through his arm and soon covered his body.
The energy didn't hurt. It felt hot, but at the same time, it felt warm in a comforting way. Soon the energy stopped flowing, and the stone spear had turned into a true spear with an obsidian-black shaft and a red blade. It had no other unique design and would have looked like an ordinary spear if not for the glowing white runes.
The spear was probably the treasure that this room was supposed to hold. As for why it was within the egg with him, he could not tell.
Something else had happened as well when the energy had entered his body. The exhaustion he felt had been washed away, and he was filled with energy. He felt stronger.
Smiling, he lifted himself and finally stood on his two feet. He didn't struggle much, and the only challenge remaining was to balance himself, which was quickly solved.
He took a step forward and this time, he didn't fall.
Looking around the room again, he noticed a gigantic doorway in the distance. He grabbed his spear, which was lighter than it looked, and gave it a few swings.
Of all weapons that could have been in this room, the spear was the weapon that was chosen.
The weapon he spent most of his life mastering, as well as the weapon that was aimed at him in the final moments of his last life—and now the first weapon he would wield in this life as well.
Life can be ironic that way.
Sighing, he walked toward the door.
'Ah... Right.'
Turning back, he headed to where the female skeleton was and used his spear to cut off chained parts of the skeleton, causing it to drop.
'Those clothes would be better used on the living than the dead.'
Wearing the tattered robes, he looked at the corpse of the skeleton before putting his hands together and bowing slightly, before turning around and leaving.