As Varian was resting between Sarah and Sia, a beam of light mixed with red, yellow, and blue appeared from the sky and before he could react, it engulfed him.
"I…" Varian floated around in what seemed to be endless space completely dark save for the occasional twinkling from the stars far beyond.
Before he could think any further, three lights so brightly lit up around him that he was forced to close his eyes and even seal off his senses.
"Haaa!" Only after a couple of minutes did Varian unseal his senses and dared to open his eyes.
What stood in front of him were three bodies that were so vast and big that if not for his senses extending for more than a thousand miles, he couldn't even grasp what these bodies were.
But thanks to his extended senses, Varian was able to 'see'. And he saw himself standing right in between three gigantic cosmic bodies that were hundreds of times larger than the earth itself!
If they wanted, any of these bodies could grab and balance earth over their fingertip.
Forget the giant turtles that looked like mountains, these were the real cosmic beings that were at the apex of the pyramid.
And for some reason, Varian felt even this form of theirs was a compressed one.
"…Primordial Gods?" Varian calmed down and guessed their identity.
Even with his senses, he couldn't 'see' their faces. Even when he tried, only a curtain of light was visible to him.
As he understood it, he wasn't even qualified to see them even after they were long dead.
"Hello, did you bring me here to say hi?" Varian said lightly.
After calming down, he realized there wasn't much to fear. If they wanted to kill him, they already would've. Besides, these gods were long dead. What's in front of him was likely a projection or a will left behind.
So, he tried to communicate and understand his situation.
"Y..asrw…awrh…" Some unintelligible words sounded in the space before they changed into intelligible sentences, "The one who cleared the trial that was never meant to be, are you the god who came after us?"
"A god after you three?" Varian frowned. "The six gods of the six tribes? Was this trial set up for them?"
After these three gods died, the six gods were born alongside the six slivers. Since these three knew about the new six, then maybe...
"Oh, you even managed to combine the chaos and order, unexpected," An ancient voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere rang in Varian's ears.
Varian's body shuddered as if he was standing in the bone-chilling cold while his body sweated as if he was standing in the scorching heat.
To date, no one, not even the strongest Sovereign he encountered or even Boo who was very familiar with the Celestials or even that Prince of a Kingdom knew he had the slivers with him.
But this god, no, the shadow of a dead god found the slivers instantly!
"You might be able to do what we couldn't, no, you should." The voice continued. "It's the important thing, the only important thing."
Varian's vision suddenly brightened up as two burning stars appeared up above and shone their light on him.
No, they weren't stars. Those two huge shining orbs were eyes.
"Gulp," Varian swallowed his saliva and stared back at those eyes. Just by staring at them, Varian's eyes stung, and a sharp pain as if needles were prickling his eyes reached his brain. But gritting his teeth, Varian stared at those inhuman eyes with a mad will.
"This cosmic seed is the only success we had after many attempts. We haven't been able to use it to achieve the purpose. But maybe you can. And all the experiments and knowledge from the experimental sites will also come to your aid.
Of course, you'll also need to get the four slivers. The only way you can finish the purpose is by bringing together the powers of six slivers and the cosmic seed." The ethereal voice said.
'Finish what?' Varian didn't understand what Cosmic seed was or the important thing they wanted him to accomplish. But if he voiced that doubt, his 'identity' as a god would be shattered and he might fall into unnecessary risk.
Even though these gods were long dead, their remnant power was more than enough to kill him a million times over.
So, Varian didn't want to expose his identity and risk getting into trouble.
"Enough talk. Do not let us down. Farewell," An ethereal voice said and Varian felt a force pushing him away.
As Varian was about to sigh in relief, the system's voice sounded in his mind. [Host, you better ask them to clarify what they meant. Even the System doesn't know. These entities predate the slivers. And missing such crucial information is bad.
If anything happens, the System will protect you. These aren't even corpses of the dead gods, they're just a shadow.]
Varian wanted to slap this stupid system. Why didn't it speak until he was about to be thrown away?
"Wait a minute!" Varian yelled and the force pushing him stopped. "I'm not a god, I'm a mortal who wields the slivers. I have no idea about the cosmic seed you're talking about. What experimental grounds? What is the important thing?"
A scary silence followed his words before a creepy gaze scanned him from head to toe. Everything, including his Origin, was exposed in front of that creepy view.
"To think this is the case," The yellow-eyed god said in a low tone, "Since you own the slivers, so be it. Even though you wouldn't be able to achieve the goal, at least, you're qualified to know."
"The Universe is too complex to be created at once. So, we decided to build something that can grow. This world inhabited by those natives is called cosmic seed," The red-eyed god began. "As implied by the name, it can incorporate other worlds into itself and grow into the cosmos."
