[Author Note: Sorry for the delay!]
Xavier hovered in the middle of the spherical room somewhere deep inside his mind.
All around him, he could sense a presence. Since he’d reached this room, obtaining a deep meditative state the likes of which he hadn’t even realised was possible, and started communing with the spirit, the soul—whatever it was—of the original Xavier Collins, that presence had grown stronger.
He wasn’t sure if it had grown stronger because his awareness had grown, or because the original’s attention had strengthened on him. Perhaps it was a little of both.
Calling this Xavier Collins the original didn’t feel quite accurate, either. He’d said he was the original but also possessed the souls of every other Xavier Collins to come after him. Even the souls that had died, he possessed their memories, their personalities…
Xavier wasn’t sure how any of that could even be possible. It baffled him. Did he just possess the personalities and souls of those Xaviers that had perished long ago? Or—
His mind was wandering, trying to avoid the answer to his question.
The presence had paused after Xavier had asked:
Did the Interdimensional Dragon come from me?
The pause felt as though it stretched a long time, but really it had only lasted a few seconds. That made him wonder how the presence was conversing with him at all, given he was inside an incredibly powerful time dilation field. Then again, this being might not have the same “time constraints” as those who still lived and breathed in the mortal realm.
Yes, the presence said. The Interdimensional Dragon came from a version of us.
The answer knocked Xavier right back into his body. He looked around the room as though looking for someone to talk to about this revelation.
“Roln?” he whispered.
He could feel the mental construct in his mind, somewhere deep, but he wasn’t answering.
Xavier wrapped his arms about his knees and tried, and failed, to fully absorb the information.
He was responsible for the deaths of countless innocents.
He was responsible for the deaths of countless universes.
Xavier released a long, unsteady breath. He simply sat there a long time until those breaths became steady, then he returned to the spherical room deep inside his mind to commune with the original Xavier Collins once more.
The answer had only given him more questions.
How? How could such a thing be possible? How could it all lead back to me? You have to be mistaken. I mean, I’ve always wanted to be important, wanted to do something with my life, wanted more, and I’ve finally gotten it with the path I lead—more than I ever bargained for, really. But this? A version of me—of us—reached so high for the stars that they eventually ate them?
He was rambling. Despite the deep meditative state he’d achieved he didn’t feel that perfect inner calm.
How could he, after a revelation like that?
The presence was still there, but it didn’t reply.
If… if that’s really what happened, then I couldn’t have done it on my own, could I? I must have joined with three others to make the transformation work. Isn’t that what was required?
I wonder if I have already told you enough. It is… unusual for me to have a conversation with one of us that still lives.
The insight that I gained, that told me I was on the right track… that came from you.
Yes.
Xavier thought about the implications of that, though his mind was still full with the news that the Interdimensional Dragon, the very threat to his universe—to every universe for countless billions upon billions of years—had come from a version of him.
It reminded him of the time he’d met a Void Being version of himself, seeing how lost he’d become. He couldn’t imagine ever becoming so lost as to become a Void Being, and yet this was so, so much worse…
If you gave me that insight… does that mean you’ve given me others? He paused. Is that how I’ve gotten this far?
The pause between that question and the presence’s answer was even longer than the last.
That is rather complicated. You have gotten as far as you have because of you, Xavier Collins. I, we, cannot influence the mortal planes. We have not paved the way for your victories.
Okay… why am I sensing a “but”?
However, even from here I have the ability to guide. To nudge. To assert a subtle influence. There is much I have learnt from being in this state, Xavier. More than you could ever imagine. More than Roln, that dead Wanderer inside your mind, could imagine. But even for me there still remain mysteries out there in the multiverse.
Yet from the knowledge I have gained, I can tell you this. Your existence is no mistake. The multiverse… it is almost like a System in itself. From the very first universe all the way to now, every time a new universe is born it learns something from the universe it was born from. Whether it is born at the beginning of time or near the end, for many universes are born late from choices branching off—you see this first hand whenever you create an unfolding…
I digress. I am not the only entity, the only soul, to have reached this type of existence. The number stretches to another small infinity of its own. As more Xavier’s are born, live, and die, I mature further. I obtain every scrap of information, every thought, every feeling, every sensation. Even while you still live, Xavier. I know everything about you.
I am you, and more.
This is why I believe the multiverse is like a System. It appears to be reaching for something. Maturing Ancestral Souls—for that is what I have come to call myself. And as Ancestral Souls mature, our ability to inform and guide and influence our mortal counterparts slowly grows. Every version of us that lives benefits from the knowledge, even in a small way, of every version of us that has lived. Yet even so, your choices are your own, and some versions of us struggle to ever interact with the knowledge and insight I have obtained.
You, Xavier, are the first I’ve made this kind of contact with. The first I’ve spoken to.
Xavier shut his mental apparition’s eyes. This was far too much to swallow, especially when he was already dealing with that other revelation.
Many thoughts occurred to him then. Again, his answers only gained him more questions. He wondered just how many questions his Ancestral Soul would be willing to answer.
His first question was simply one to clarify confusion.
What about reincarnation?
Rhaalir had once told him there were different places for a soul to go.
Some souls remained tethered to the mortal realm—whether they had unfinished business, were locked here by a necromancer or a reaper, or by some other method—while some souls got lost in the void, never making it to the Otherworld where they became Otherworldly spirits like Volkarin and the Spirit of Time, or any number of other spirits he’d communed with or even summoned to this world to fight for him.
Yet there were other options, too.
Sometimes, a soul could be reborn. Though Xavier had always wondered how such a thing could be possible. What made a soul leave this mortal realm, and what made it reincarnate?
Volkarin had been reincarnated, but that had been a forced reincarnation. He retained his memories from when he was alive.
But there were other types… some souls were reborn completely, even on other planets to their origin world, without retaining their memories.
Reincarnation is not natural. It is a forced state, and it deprives the soul of what it truly needs. Many Systems have experimented with reincarnation, as have many other beings. You have done this yourself, bringing Volkarin back to life in a host body, though that kind of reincarnation is better than the memory-wiped version.
Regardless, I see how you are getting off track, Xavier. Ignoring the main revelation to explore other things that your mind catches. Trying to put off what is most important. I understand what you are feeling right now.
Xavier almost said, “How could you?” but that would have been foolish. This Ancestral Soul likely understood what he was feeling better than he did.
It’s all my fault. So many lives lost because of me.
There was another one of those long pauses.
I understand this guilt you feel. I have lived—if you were to call my current state living—with it for longer than any System has existed. But no matter the connection we share, it is not your fault. It is not even my fault. You are only responsible for your actions, not the actions of others, nor even other versions of yourself.
Xavier knew that, rationally, yet the guilt persisted.
Is this the reason so many versions of us end up trying to save the universe? Is it your influence?
Even without my influence, even when I don’t touch a version’s life at all, many of us walk that path. Still others walk a different path. A path that leads to… well, I think you can imagine.
Xavier shut his mental apparition’s eyes. The revelation was insane on so many levels. It felt absurd that it could even be true. It felt absurd that he could even be speaking to the original version of himself at all, let alone learn he was the Interdimensional Dragon—or, perhaps, at least a part of the Interdimensional Dragon.
I know I asked before and you did not tell me, but I need to know. Did I make the transformation with others?
You think if that’s true, then maybe it wasn’t a version of you who did this? That, perhaps, you had been corrupted by those others?
Well, maybe…
There were no “others.” Four separate versions of Xavier Collins made the transformation together. They thought it would make the transformation more stable, having four beings who shared the same origins. But they lost themselves in the process. The biggest thing that connected each of them was their hunger for power. That became their driving force.
Can you feel the Interdimensional Dragon, as you can feel other versions of us? Can you influence it?
The Interdimensional Dragon cut off its connection to me long ago. Now, I know you have more questions. We could talk for an eternity, and I would be a liar if I said I didn’t relish this opportunity. Oh, there is so much I could share with you… and perhaps, one day, that will become the right choice. But right now, you need to return to reality, Xavier. You need time to absorb this knowledge.
But you could help me, Xavier replied. The S Grade True Dragon—tell me, should I face it?
Xavier felt something in the presence shift. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He zeroed in on it. After a while he realised it was an emotion he was sensing. Amusement.
Do what you think is best.
The presence didn’t disappear. It remained there, staring at him with that same level of intensity. Xavier hovered at the centre of the spherical room deep inside his mind. He had more questions, so he asked them, and he waited, but the Ancestral Soul, despite still being there, was no longer answering.
Eventually, Xavier did as the Ancestral Soul had advised. He returned to reality, sitting inside his body and taking slow, deliberate breaths.
One thing was for certain, after learning what he’d learnt…
He couldn’t share this type of information with anyone.
If anyone learnt that a version of him was the most feared being in the multiverse, how could anyone ever trust him? How could they trust his intentions? His leadership?
He had to keep this a secret.
I wonder if the System even knows.