My name was Zarael Cross, as my memory serves. As I was told, I also used to be a man named Alesar Helix. I had been about to reach my thirtieth year of life, in both of my past lives, but terrible circumstances came to be. Since then, I was an ageless being of the Void, a place of nonexistence that laid in-between worlds as large as universes and as small as atoms. Currently, I am referred to as Grey Blade, named so for my distinct grey sword. I am a soldier of the Omnihilum, an organization which I have come to wish I was never a part of, and soon will no longer be a part of. The Omnihilum, for the sake of spreading information, is a patchwork group of other beings of the Void like myself. All of its members generally want to assimilate each other's nonexistence, but keep that urge in check for the opportunity the organization gives: the opportunity to assimilate the existence of beings of existing worlds, which grants us more power.

I was quick in accomplishing my tasks, using my innate combat abilities and my grey sword to wrongfully end the lives of countless beings. As a result, I caught the attention of a superior, Lilav Ochi, who eventually came to give me love that I never reciprocated. I have recently come to find out from Drachma however, that she always had her eye on me, to make sure I was within her grasp at all times. I have no intention of continuing to live like I have, or to live like how the old god Drachma, or my life partner Lilav, what remains of my past lives' life partners, do. In the event though, that I do not make it, that someone were to find out about my abandonment and overpower me, I wish to keep in writing the story of Zarael Cross and his acquaintances, and of myself, compiled from his memories in me. Someone will eventually find this text, as difficult as I will make it to be found, and hopefully it will be something to be remembered.

Zarael Cross, my past life from whom I had inherited the memories I started with, was a good human man. He was also a good godson, a good husband, and a good friend, three things that he felt were important for him to be. His birth parents, farmers that were one of the many that ensured enough food in their world, were also good people, willing to provide shelter and food to anyone that they came across that needed it, including criminals released from prison. Although, one of these released criminals would turn against their kindness and kill them. Zarael's godmother, Jene Tryce, was able to at least save him, and set him on a good path. For most of his childhood, she would teach him as a mother and as his self-defense and ability teacher, helping him figure out how to best use his ability to calm others. He would listen, accompanied by school mates and a family friend a year older named Alusiae, who he would marry later in life. Regarding Alusiae, she was the daughter of scientists who were friends of Zarael's parents. Knowing that they would not be capable of providing her with sufficient familial love, they asked Jene if she would take her in. She accepted the responsibility without regret, letting Alusiae decide on whenever she would visit home. Throughout their time together at Coscesis Magica, the boarding academy where Jene worked and resided at, Zarael and Alusiae would take part in the average school life, and engage in a friendly rivalry that they settled before graduating. From then, they would both follow the career path of Peacekeeper and Council Member respectively, careers which they would use to do what good they could in Orbiscus, the world they lived in that was a patchwork of environments. As a Peacekeeper, Zarael settled disputes before they escalated into violence. As a Council Member, Alusiae was part of the council that worked with the monarch and head priest or priestess on matters that affected all of Orbiscus. Things would go nicely for Zarael, Alusiae, and Jene, for years, though there would come the day, before the end of his twenty-ninth year, that was the first day of an end that threatened to erase all that was of their world. The Omnihilum would attempt to break through the protection that prevented the world from being erased, placed by the self-sacrifice of a powerful Geomantress, a woman who had great skill in controlling the ground.

2: The First Morning of the End

It had begun like many other days in his past. Zarael was still asleep and Alusiae was at her vanity table, which she often used as a writing desk.

"Zarael, it is time to wake up," she said at the break of dawn, waking him up to the sight of her sitting at the vanity table.

"Good morning Alusiae, did you sleep late?" he asked, getting out of bed to retrieve his day attire, a white suit and a black sword in its scabbard.

"Not too late," she began, "I decided to save reviewing these papers for this morning, and stayed up for just a while after ten to finish editing."

With his suit on and his sword, named Aspotum, at his hip, he went to her and looked at what she was working on. In front of her was the most recent version of a proposal she was trying to get King Karotehn and the council to agree on, regarding the conversion of the desert land in the north-eastern landmass into usable farmland. Alusiae was a part of the council that governed our small world, called Orbiscus. As such, she was responsible for presenting new ideas on how to best maintain or improve aspects of it.

"You have been working on this for quite some time," Zarael said, hovering his head over hers with his hands on the back of the vanity chair, "I am sure the king will find it acceptable."

In the mirror was a clear view of Zarael's pale skin, grey eyes, and grey hair, as well asAlusiae's light skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. She was wearing her purple court dress, practical for everyday wear.

"I hope so," she said with a smile, likely appreciative of his support, before dropping it and continuing to speak. "The next future point I can see has not changed. A sudden drop in food supplies would be terrible, and we will one day not have enough time to ensure that measures are made to avoid that."

When she was done, she proceeded to roll up the latest version of her proposal, signalling Zarael to move away to let her get up. A few seconds after doing so, Jene called them down for breakfast. Walking out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, they greeted Jene and helped set the table for breakfast.

"Did you two sleep well?" she asked when they were all seated, putting her green hair behind her shoulders and looking at them with her green eyes upon her dark brown face. She was not wearing her glasses this morning.

"We did," Alusiae assured, for both herself and for Zarael. "How about you?"

Jene sighed before saying, "I slept well enough, though I had an odd dream. You two were children again, and I had to feed you my mother's special salsa until you grew round."

"It is a good thing then that your gift is not prophecy through dreams," Zarael joked.

After they all laughed for a few seconds, they ate their breakfast. They did not talk much while they cleaned up, nor while they left the house to get into their horse-drawn carriage. Like every other early morning, Jene would be taking them from their home to the capital, Mediterbis, which was further south. She would then be heading to Coscesis Magica herself. She was a teacher there, where all of Orbiscus' children could go to receive education. For the most part, the travel was uneventful, so Alusiae and Zarael rested some more as the carriage went down the forested path beside the north-eastern lake of Orbiscus' central landmass.

A few minutes later, Jene's voice would be heard saying, "Zarael, Alusiae, it is time to wake up. We will be at Mediterbis soon."

Zarael awoke right away, letting Alusiae keep her eyes closed for a few more minutes. Looking forward at the capital, Zarael first laid his eyes on the castle, eye-catching with its cloudy crystalline material and central tower that nearly reached the clouds. It was in that tower that King Karotehn resided, and where the council held its meetings. Moving his eyes over the rest of the capital, he saw the similar and simple rooftops of the buildings that were built taller than Mediterbis' walls. After a few seconds, he moved his head to look around his immediate area, farmland that surrounded the capital. They would soon be at the open iron gates of Mediterbis.

"Alusiae, we are at the capital," Zarael informed his wife, when they were at the capital's entrance.

Alusiae opened her eyes, and did not waste any time in getting off the carriage. The two of them said their goodbyes to Jene before she left, proceeding to enter the city themselves.

As usual, the streets of the capital were full of people moving around to get to their destination. With Mediterbis' being as small as it was, there was no real need for people to use carriages, but the freed up space did not seem to do much for natural crowds. Taking a while to get to the castle, Zarael and Alusiae parted ways once they got there, with him heading towards a side building and her towards the inside of the castle.

Just about to open the door to the Peacekeeper Head Office, the door swung inwards and a familiar person appeared before Zarael. It was Fulmin, the king's youngest son and one of his old schoolmates.

"Good morning Zarael, ready for another day of helping those in need?" he asked.

"I always am," Zarael replied, letting Fulmin pass by before going into the building.

"Peacekeeper Zarael! Peacekeeper Fulmin!" someone shouted from elsewhere, causing both Zarael and Fulmin to stop and look in the direction of the voice. It seemed to have come from the young man running towards them from the way south. "There has been murder in the Church of Gaea!"

That outburst got a lot of people's attention, and got Zarael and Fulmin ready to move. Wasting no time, the two Peacekeepers and the young man, likely a regular civilian based on his clothes, ran towards the Church of Gaea. The general populace seemed to have figured something had happened, and made way for them, making their trip quicker.

"Peacekeeper Fulmin! Peacekeeper Zarael! Thank goodness you two are here," said a lady in priestess attire, a simpler version of Gaea's clothes depicted in texts and visual art.

She beckoned Fulmin and Zarael into the church, and they followed after asking the young man, if he had not been asked to do so already, to stand in front of the church entrance and inform people that there was a murder investigation going on. Inside the large building, the priestess and the Peacekeepers went through the big set of doors to the main room. In there, they were met with the sight of priests and priestesses that had supposedly decided to stay with the corpse until Peacekeepers arrived. Approaching the blood covered altar that the deceased was slouched over, both Zarael and Fulmin did not react in shock when they realized through the deceased's face that she had been the head priestess. Internally though, they were both very much surprised. While it was true that there was no form of security in the Church of Gaea, there had never been a case where a crime had taken place in it, never mind a murder of a head priest or priestess.

"Head Priestess Vena… how could this have happened to you?" Fulmin said in sadness, having just lost a family friend. "Have any witnesses of the crime in action come out?" he asked the priestess that brought him and Zarael in.

"I am afraid not," she answered, shaking her head.

"Have you determined the cause of death?" Zarael asked the priests nearby.

"We only dared to move her head to see her face, and noticed that the blood came from her mouth. We are unsure if there are other injuries though," one of them answered.

Fulmin said Zarael's name, and the two of them proceeded to gently move the deceased head priestess off the altar and onto the floor, facing upwards. There were no visible wounds.

"When was the last time Head Priestess Vena was seen?" Fulmin asked to the priests and priestesses.

"We saw her last night, leaving the outer hallway through that side door. She seemed fine, and was not accompanied by anyone," a priest said as a nearby priestess nodded.

"Did she eat or drink anything before then?" Zarael asked, considering the possibility that she had consumed poison that did not act immediately.

"As far as I know, she only ate at the daily meal times," a priestess answered.

Deciding to have someone speak with those assigned with cooking the daily meals the previous day later, Zarael asked Fulmin if he would like to stay here while he went to notify the king and the council. Fulmin said that he would, and Zarael quickly made his way out of the Church of Gaea, running to the castle as soon as he was outside. Through the castle doors, Zarael ran up the nearest stone staircase, running up the castle's floors to the one that had access to the central tower. Ascending the tower, he eventually reached the council room, below King Karotehn's chambers. Any discussion that had occurred stopped when he was seen by the king, who raised his hand to stop it.

"Zarael? What has happened? Why are you here?" Alusiae asked, three seats to the king's left, who sat immediately in front of him.

"Head Priestess Vena is dead, her corpse found leaning on the altar in the main room of the Church of Gaea," Zarael said, getting straight to the point.

3: The First Moment of Eternity

I was almost caught writing by Lilav. As Grey, I had been unaware of my past lives for an immeasurable amount of time. Memories from Zarael had been taken from me when I spawned in the Void, making me an amnesiac. It was only recently that Lilav decided to return my only set of memories, in the hopes that something in me would make me love her in return. She would not appreciate my leaving, or my writing about Zarael and Alusiae. For now, I will be writing about my experience after I first awoke in the void.

I had opened my eyes, and at first I thought that I had not opened them, or that I was blind and seeing what blind people saw. Neither were the case, and in my view lay a world of pure darkness, dotted with the occasional moving figure that was lighter in shade enough to not be unnoticeable in the current environment. I was in the Void, the nonexistence that laid between worlds as large as universes and as small as atoms. Taking a look at myself, I too was just noticeably not as dark as my environment. In trying to remember what I looked like, before I entered the Void, I soon came to the realization that my figure was not what I remembered it to be. I was thinner, and it did not look like I was wearing my Peacekeeper suit. Confused, but not at all worried, I proceeded to see what I could still do. Unsheathing my sword, which was oddly grey in colour, I swung it a few times and pretended to fight something. It did not look like Aspotum, so it made sense that it needed to be handled differently. Seeing as it was not the sword I once wielded, I named it Remotiam. Though I remember how I was trained to use the sword defensively, if I ever were to use it at all, I felt like ensuring my offensive skill with my sword was intact was more important. Satisfied, I sheathed my sword and continued forward, not caring about what I could come to encounter. Walking in the Void for what seemed to be like an eternity, I came to once again look around my environment, or lack thereof. It had not been entirely empty, save for other beings of the Void, as I had originally believed. Once in awhile, I would come across large structures appearing and dissolving into nonexistence. Once in awhile, I would come to hear the fear, anger, and sorrow of beings from Existence being dissolved. Deciding to take a break, I stopped walking. There was a large, beastial being of the Void in my way anyways.

"Hello there little Voidling, I'm afraid you're not going to be continuing anywhere from here," they said, visibly licking their lips and making their motive clear. Had this been a habit they inherited from a past life? Or somewhere else?

"I will take that as a threat, and I shall meet that threat with the edge of my sword," I responded, taking Remotiam out of its scabbard and brandishing it.

Laughing, they said one more thing to me. "Very well then, we shall fight, but please, tell me about a past life if you aren't a natural Voidling."

"I was once a man named Zarael Cross, but I know I am no longer him," I said, getting ready to end them.

"Then you shall cease to be as Grey Blade," they said, before engaging in battle with me.

The fight was a fierce one. I did what I could, but there was no denying they had plenty of experience against those with close ranged weaponry. Before I managed to create a deep cut, I received deep claw marks on my free arm. Seeming to be exhausted, which I now know can never happen to a being of the Void, they staggered backwards and got me to lower my guard. That was a mistake, for immediately they recovered and clawed me in the chest horizontally. It was then that I lost the only memories I had, those that were Zarael Cross' when he existed. Circling and getting behind me, I did nothing as their paws covered my eyes and rendered me unconscious. As I am told by the old god Drachma, that the other being of the Void then changed into Lilav, who then took me to where I would wake up for the second time in the Void, and where the Omnihilum would find me and take me into their ranks.