“Whamana… Whamana… Whaman!” said a voice within the darkness.

Whamana, who was mostly known as the Decisive Player, slowly opened his eyes. He suddenly found himself floating in a world of darkness. The only light in the place was coming from his body, which was glowing in a brilliant white light. He was surprised to find himself there to the point he had feeling in his body. He used his arms to feel his body and he was surprised to find himself solid.

“Why…? Why do I have my body?” he asked while looking confused.

Just then, he heard a familiar voice near him say, “Hello, Whamana. It’s been a long time since we met.”

Whamana was surprised to hear the voice and he swirled around in the dark to see who it was talking to him. He was surprised when he saw a large glow of light that seemed to be stationary in the emptiness of that dark world. At first, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously because he remembered seeing that light somewhere before. It was a strange light that seemed to possess a mind and a will of its own.

“Where have I seen that light before…?”

“Whamana, did you forget me after such a long time since you left the God Plane?” the voice asked in an exasperated voice.

Upon hearing the term ‘God Plane,’ he realised whom he was talking to and a small smile formed on his face as he relaxed.

“Oh… It’s you, Creator?”

As he said the name out loud, the light quickly changed shape and took on the form of a human being. A white mouth appeared on the white being as it appeared to be making a small smile on its white face.

“Very perceptive of you to recognise me,” The Creator said brightly. “Many have forgotten that I am always around even though they believe I am far, far away from their reach.”

Whamana shrugged his shoulders and said, “Unlike all the beings you created, you don’t possess an actual form. You’re an omnipotent being capable of doing anything at will, so something as simple as changing your form is easy. So yeah… It’s only natural that I’d recognise, plus you are the one that created me.” Then, he looked around at the dark world and asked, “So, where am I? And, what is this place?”

“It doesn’t matter where you are,” The Creator said shortly.

“Fine. Then, answer me why I’m still have a physical form or the fact that I’m still here?”

“Your thirst for knowledge never ceases to amaze me,” The Creator said and he smiled again before he said, “I brought you back from the Unknown.”

“The Unknown? IS that where I’ve been this whole time?” Whamana asked and The Creator nodded.

“After sacrificing your spirit energy to bring Lakshman Reddy back to life, you lost all spiritual recognition and thus, ended up getting piled up with all the rest of junk in the Unknown.”

“That’s right! I did that!” Whamana said and he looked pleased with himself. “Thanks to me, he lived, but I do wonder what happened after that. Do you have any idea what possibly happened to him after that?”

The Creator’s white body suddenly glowed bright pink, which made Whamana look very annoyed.

“You didn’t add a please at the end of your sentence,” he said cheekily. “Be nicer to someone when you ask someone a favour and make sure to end with a ‘please’ for politeness.”

“Stop teasing me and show me what’s happening to him right now!” Whamana demanded irritably.

The Creator’s body suddenly became bright red and fumes started exhibiting out of him. The darkness suddenly began to swirl around wildly as tension began to thicken in the air. Whamana was shocked as he suddenly realised he angered his maker and quickly apologised for his rude behaviour.

“I’m sorry for my rudeness! Please, forgive me!”

The Creator nodded in satisfaction as his body glowed bright green. Whamana took the colour to mean that he had calmed down and he sighed wearily. It had been a very long time since he met with The Creator and he quite forgot to mind his manners around him.

“So… Could you please show me what Lakshman Reddy is doing right now?” Whamana asked him curiously.

The Creator nodded and said, “Since you asked so nicely, I shall.”

He raised his white hand to the side and in an instant, a white holographic screen appeared. Whamana turned to see the screen was filled with white dancing dots and they were moving around madly.

“Terminal, show me what Lakshman Reddy is currently doing," The Creator said to the holographic screen.

“Yessu!” said the dancing dots.

For a few seconds, the holographic screen continued to be danced with filled with dancing dots. Then, the screen became completely black and a moment later, an image appeared on the screen. Whamana widened his eyes in amazement as he saw Lakshman appear on the screen while smiling. He was apparently sitting in some sort of room while surrounded by seven women around him.

“Ah…!” Whamana said in sheer happiness in seeing his face. “He’s changed quite a bit in the appearance, but his hair’s the most change there. I remember it being spiky black, but now it’s almost straight with it standing up slightly.”

“This is his current form two years after you last saw him,” The Creator said to him. “He has grown quite a bit in these two years and his power has also risen to a satisfying level.”

“Wonderful!” Whamana said in a happy voice. “I’m happy to see he had grown up so much in just these two years and I’m also glad to see the seven Destiny Queens gathered around him. Hmm?!”

He made an explanation sound when the screen seemed to have panned out to give a wider display. To his surprise, the person sitting opposite to Lakshman was none other than the God of Energy, Engraut.

“Huh?! Engraut? What’s he going there?” Whamana asked and he looked worried.

“He is there to explain a bit about Lakshman’s past along with the small detail about the Destiny Queens, which you seemed to have left him to do in your place,” The Creator said and his body turned an annoying yellowish colour.

“Ah… I was supposed to do that, but unfortunately, Lakshman’s heart was pulled out and I had no choice, but to use my energy to restore his ripped out heart,” Whamana said and he looked uncomfortable. Then, he quickly recovered and smiled as he said, “Anyway! I’m glad he gathered the seven of them and soon, his destiny will be fulfilled!”

The Creator looked at him for a moment before waving a white hand at the holographic screen. The dancing dots stopped dancing and made a smiling face on the screen before vanishing in a puff of black smoke.

“I have answered everything you requested and now, it’s your turn to answer my requests.”

Whamana leaned back slightly in the dark world and formed a small smile as he said, “I thought as much. Knowing you, I was sure you wouldn’t have brought me back without a powerful reason. Fine. What request do you have for me to answer to?”

The Creator began glowing in orange colour and he spoke in an annoyed voice.

“Do not treat me like I am some sort of schemer,” The Creator said indignantly. Then, as his colour returned to pure white, he asked, “My request is about learning what you do to Lakshman Reddy from an early age.”

“What I did? Do you mean my doing my best in absorbing everything that I deemed he didn’t need?” Whamana asked and he appeared to be surprised.

“Yes, but even with that, his growth was unnatural and strange, which confused me. That’s why, I want to better understand what you did to him, right from the very beginning.”

Whamana made a small frown on his face as he asked, “You’re The Creator, the maker of everything! Are you saying you couldn’t see into his mind to find out for yourself what I was doing?”

“Not quite. I had tried and found that the boy was being shielded from external factors, such as myself, from the God of Live, the God of Freedom, the God of Justice, the God of Destruction, the Goddess of Fate and the Goddess of Protection. With them protecting the boy from my infinite power, I did not delve much into that matter since they are doing so much to protect that boy from the Eye of the World.

Then, after you left, I became able to see into his mind, but I could not find out anything at all. So, explain to me what happened in there. Why did he grow up to fight with sword and energy only? What happened to the five years of magic training he received from a certain individual known as Sumara Manjuvad? ”

Whamana folded his arms and closed his eyes for a moment as he floated there. A few seconds later, he reopened them and he smiled as he looked up at The Creator.

“Fine. I will answer,” Whamana said shortly and The Creator nodded in satisfaction.

“Answer me why the boy uses only sword and energy? What happened to the magic he learnt? Was the teacher bad or—?”

“Hold on!” Whamana quickly said and The Creator stopped speaking to listen. “No! Sumara Manjuvad is an excellent teacher, no doubt about it! Her explanations of the concepts behind the magic and then their execution was spot on. In fact, Lucky could’ve mastered his magic training in 2-3 years’ time.”

“You interfered,” The Creator said and Whamana nodded in agreement.

“I certainly did. I had observed how the young Phoenix Titans quickly became overconfident with their exceptional inborn talent in using magic, never knowing their strong negative feelings brought the Voice of the Phoenix to the surface. That title should actually belong to me since it stated in the Phoenix Clan’s records as it is a conscious without the Phoenix Titan that leads them into doing good.

I was easily pushed aside each time the Phoenix Titan was reincarnated and after committing crimes, the negativity within the Phoenix Titan’s spirit grew to an extensive large amount. That’s why, after the Phoenix Titan died 8000 years ago, I requested the God of Life to please hold back the next reincarnation until all the collected negative energy from the spirit is released. He agreed and it took 8000 years before we were reincarnated once more, along with the Voice of the Phoenix.

The Voice of the Phoenix became weak due to losing all of its negative power and that gave me the edge. I quickly fought and suppressed its consciousness away with my own power and allowed the baby to grow up into an innocent, stupid, dumb and dense headed fool. I know I did unjust to the kid, but I had no choice in the matter, with that lethal thing lurking deep within him. It’s like how easily a powerful demon controls a weak-minded human into doing something bad without the human ever realising it or becoming aware of it until it’s too late. The last Phoenix Titan was the same, realising the horror of his actions when the racial war because of him.

Anyway, I focused on absorbing all negative thoughts, blocking his complex thoughts and made sure to make him focus only on using sword and possibly energy. Using magic became a taboo for the newly rising Phoenix Titan and I also made sure to do all these things without the boy ever becoming aware of my presence within him. In essence, I became the very demon that almost controlled him into becoming a total fool!

Whamana looked very sad at himself at the words he said about his actions. He was truly unhappy with his actions, but he had steeled himself and prepared to do whatever it took him to fulfil his mission.

“If I let him grow up without any interference, the Voice of the Phoenix would’ve easily pushed me aside and taken over the boy’s mind before making him do terrible things as usual. I had no choice because there wouldn’t be next time since there might not be a world to be born into after this!”

The Creator nodded his white head in understanding as he said, “That explains it, but this whole thing started right before the death of the First Phoenix Titan, Ashura Rangavardan, right?”

Whamana nodded and said, “The Great Ancient Darkness killed his wives, the first Destiny Queens in order to weaken him. It worked and in a fit of rage from losing his wives, Ashura attacked the great darkness and weakened it in the process that it had to sleep for a very long time. Unfortunately, defeating it also cost him his life and thus the reincarnation process of the Phoenix Titan began. However, the Great Ancient Darkness placed a powerful curse on him, which became the Voice of the Phoenix.

Now, it’s going to return several years from now and I wanted Lakshman to be pure to fight it. That’s why, I forcibly took over his mind and made sure any and all complex thoughts about the techniques and the world are dulled and he focused solely on getting stronger. His personality was innocent and he never once thought of hurting a single creature, except the monsters that hurt him and the people around him. His strong sense of righteousness was even greater than Ashura’s if I have to compare.”

“Oh? Then, explain to me why he was so suddenly almost killed when two Serprad Demon Clan warriors stumbled into him while they chased after a mutated Two-Headed Cerberus?” The Creator asked curiously.

“That was entirely Tetra’s fault!” Whamana said forcefully and he suddenly looked very angry. “That stupid Sacred Spirit sensed the birth of her new master, but could not confirm that it is Lakshman Reddy. Apparently, she was suspicious of his strange behaviour, which was nothing like that of a new rising Phoenix Titan.

In order to better assess him, she remained deactivated until the time Lakshman met the two Serprad Demon Clans. She momentarily activated her powers and used them to forcibly hold his powers back. Because of that, he missed the movement of the demon warrior and he became stabbed in the chest. Then, she used that opportunity to come into Lakshman’s quickly fading mind and there, she met me.

I was so furious with her that I almost came to slap her in the face! However, she is a Destiny Queen and I quickly calmed down before explaining what I’ve been doing, which she quickly understood and followed according the plan I laid out to her. After that, you should know what happened.”

The Creator nodded in understanding and he smiled at how angry Whamana looked.

“Calm down,” he said in a calm voice. “One man’s efforts changed the very future. Your actions helped Lakshman to develop into a fine young man. Now, he is the king of Floria Kingdom and married to seven of the Destiny Queens. He has done lots of effort into demolishing the slavery system in his kingdom, the false believers of Shambasa Religion and is now going to go head to head against the Slavemancer in order to take down slavery for good and get Dominic Rutherford and Shalany Jagabadasen.

You need not fear him losing control to the Voice of the Phoenix. He met it and he understood its evil nature, which is why he spent the last two years concentrating mostly on suppressing it unconsciously so it would not rise up and take over him like it did in his past lives.”

“That’s amazing!” Whamana said brightly as he cheered up at the news. “My boy…! Only two years have gone and he’s grown so much! I am really proud of him!”

The Creator nodded in agreement, but his smile vanished and his body began to glow in purple colour. Whamana noticed the colour change and he realised The Creator was anxious about something, which was strange to see.

“What’s the matter?” Whamana asked while looking worried.

The Creator looked at him slowly and said, “The God of Life choose the wrong time to let Lakshman Reddy reborn.”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s because his mortal enemy has been awakened; the Calamity Titan,” The Creator said and his purple glowing body became darker to show his unhappiness.

Hearing the title of who it was, the colour drained from Whamana’s face and he exclaimed, “No… No…! No! It can’t be! He shouldn’t be awaking just yet—!”

The Creator nodded and said, “That was the case, but he was awoken by a selfish boy some hundred years ago and the Calamity Titan granted him the power of the Demon Eyes: Controller.”

“So…! It was him after all that gave him those eyes!” Whamana said and he looked angry. “I always thought there wouldn’t be any chance of Kaizukamra giving him such powerful eyes, but it was actually him…! It makes sense now!” He quickly looked up at his maker and asked, “Please! You have to warn Lakshman about his mortal enemy! Please!”

The Creator shook his head and Whamana demanded, “Why not?!”

“In the year, 7777 of the WAR Era, I watched the world heading towards its destruction with many of the world leaders fighting each other over to dominate the world. I wanted balance in this world and so, I entered the Physical Plane as Zekadraite Askajengret and put an end to the war in three years. Thus, I ended up becoming the Emperor of the World and that was when the IRN Era began.

I spent the next 1000 years trying to keep peace around the world while helping them progress with their learning and such. However, by the end of the 1000th year, I realised how foolish I had been with them constantly trying to fight each other instead of trying to live in peace. They were like rapid animals that lacked the basic thought to understand that they were destroying themselves.

After that, I firmly chose to never assist the dwellers of the Physical Plane ever again. How they live, where they go and what happens to them is left up to their fates. Their destiny is decided by what they choose to do and where they eventually go from those choices. Like that, I believe it is only right to leave Lakshman Reddy to his fate and see where he goes.”

“Are you saying I should waste my endless torment of having to watch from the sidelines as each Phoenix Titan failed in what Ashura originally imagined for his reincarnations to do?” Whamana asked while looking frustrated.

The Creator looked at his creation and made a small smile as he said, “You are needlessly worrying. His fate is strong and if they ever meet, you can be confident that he will survive the ordeal.”

“B-B-But—!” Whamana began desperately. “With his current transformation as the Phoenix Titan, he will never defeat the Calamity Titan! He has to unlock the final seal and awaken his true transformation! Only then can he hope to defeat Calamity Titan and there’s a problem with that since many bad things will happen once the final seal is broken!”

“Do not fear because his fate is strong. Believe in him and hope for the best. That’s all the best we gods can offer to mortal beings,” The Creator said and Whamana looked disappointed. “However, I want you to go to the Cycle of Rebirth.”

“Huh? Return to the Cycle of Rebirth?” Whamana asked curiously while looking surprised.

The Creator nodded and said, “Yes. After leaving the god realm, your existence has become unique and as such, I believe the world will require your assistance sometime later in the future. I am certain that Lakshman would agree with me if he was here right now.”

“Wait! What do you mean by that, and are you saying that I’ll reincarnate?” Whamana asked immediately, his eyes widening in shock. “Why? No! Forget that! How will I be reborn and to whom will I be born to?!”

“Who knows…?” The Creator said and his body became bright pink, annoying Whamana again.

“Answer my questions!” Whamana exclaimed, but his attempts were further ignored.

The Creator obviously knows about the future, but he will never tell anyone about it due to his desire to watch as it unfolds. Whamana only had a certain amount of knowledge about certain parts of this time, but he knew nothing of what might happen in the future. However, he understood what The Creator was saying and he slowly smiled up at his maker.

“Alright. I’ll agree to your terms,” he said and he floated forward with his hand held out.

The Creator appeared to be surprised at Whamana’s held out hand and he asked, “You’re planning to shake hand with your maker?”

“What’s wrong with that? Among the humans, children often end up gladly shaking hands with their parents, who gave birth to them. It’s the same with what I’m doing here,” Whamana said cheerfully.

The Creator smiled and his body colour changed to that of green. Then, he held his hand out and shook it firmly with Whamana. Suddenly, Whamana’s body began to glow brightly and he realised he was going to head towards the Cycle of Rebirth.

As he was being pulled, he looked at The Creator and said, “I’ll see you next time!”

“If we are meant to meet, then we shall,” The Creator said, nodding silently, and Whamana smiled one last time before disappearing into the darkness in a flash of light.