“Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Be…”

“Crash” An arm could be seen hitting the alarm clock, stopping the sound. Whether the ringing was stopped because the button was hit, or because its inner workings were damaged remained a mystery.

“Ah, shit.” A groaning noise could be heard beneath the sheets, the voice's owner ‘coincidentally’ being the same as the owner of the destructive hand.

Picking up the phone beside the alarm clock, the person took a quick peek from under the sheets. From the lit-up screen full of cracks, a number of 7:00 could be seen, and right above it, the accursed date, marking the start of a new chapter in this repetitive nightmare.

“I guess it's that time of the cycle again…” Whispered the youth whose face can now be clearly seen. He had a very average face, one that you would never turn around for to get a second look if you saw him on the street. Medium-length black hair that had a slight waviness towards the end and a body leaning more to the skinny side. This man’s, or rather boy’s name was Theo and surname… well, it doesn’t matter, at least not to him.

He got out of bed, walked towards the right side of it, where a dilapidated drawer could be seen, and opened it.

Stretching his hand into the drawer, he grabbed the only set of clothing that did not seem to be worn out with slight annoyance visible on his face. Putting on the clearly new school uniform, he inwardly decided that he should pick up a spare on his way home, to save himself some future trouble.

“Creek” once he got ready, he opened the door of his small room, ignored the annoying creaking of the door, and headed straight to the kitchen. The kitchen, just like his room, could be described as plain if one was being generous, but still seemed to serve its function.

Opening the fridge, he grabbed the milk carton, screwed off the top, and took a whiff. His senses were suddenly assaulted with a sour smell, but while the youth's face cringed from the smell, he didn’t seem surprised, almost as if expecting it.

Putting the milk back into the fridge, he closed it and opened the cupboard on the side. He took out the cereal box and poured a handful of its contents into his mouth. Not bothering to have a proper breakfast and realizing that he forgot the bag, he quickly returned to his room and stretched his hand under the bed. Although the bag pulled out looked quite new, or at least well maintained, its light weight and the lack of volume indicated that it lacked the proper school supplies.

Deciding that he was probably good to go, he headed towards the door, passing the kitchen and the passed out, potbellied, middle-aged man lying face down on the sofa.

“Uuuugh” releasing a sound that was a mixture of a sigh and a grunt, he opened the door and slammed it on the way out. “Ugggh” that action caused another grunt, but that one came from the man on the sofa and sounded more like someone choking on their saliva more than anything else.

Taking a deep breath, he inhaled the fresh air outside of his “home”, which seemed to release some tension visible on his face and headed left, towards his destination.

Theo was currently 15, or at least his body was, he didn’t know how to determine his age, it was quite a complicated situation after all. He didn’t have many attachments in his life, nor did he have anybody he considered dear to him. Everything was just a constant cycle of boredom, annoyance, and pain. Well, there were also the good moments, but those seemed to happen less and less frequently as of late.

While heading to school, lamenting his life and miserable fate, he had no idea what kind of forces were making their move out of his field of view.

***

“HAHAHHAHAHAAHHAH” A booming, loud, yet charming voice could be heard, traveling across the countless galaxies, dimensional barriers, and even pockets of disordered space and time.

“Finally, finally! I can’t believe this is happening! The center is undoubtedly weakening!” The owner of the voice, who was gazing at what appeared to be a transparent wall full of cracks radiating white light shouted. His expression was a mixture of a very excited child, who got the desired toy on Christmas, and … a madman. Yet his face was anything but childish or crazy.

If any woman on earth saw his picture, they would be able to confidently bet with their lives on the line that he is the most handsome man in existence. And if you asked anyone else in the boundless cosmos, they wouldn’t refute it, whether because they agreed, or because they wouldn’t dare to claim otherwise, the case still stands.

The reason the hypothetical situation was proposed with a picture is because having them take a look at him in reality wouldn’t be a good, or feasible idea for that matter, and there are a couple of very good reasons for that.

For one, it is probably better that they look at the photo with a limited number of pixels rather than have their souls dissolve at the sight of someone whose existence is multiple realms above their own.

And secondly, he is big, very big. If the handsome man who is currently laughing like a maniac stood beside the earth’s very own milky way galaxy and was put on a scale of a human being, then the galaxy couldn’t be visible with the naked eye. Yes, this man eclipsed galaxies

But his booming laughter was cut short by a second, feminine voice.

“What do you think you’re doing, breaking into the world center, this place is forbidden ground for everyone, even you!” Although the voice was full of rage and also seemed to possess endless wisdom, if you listened closely, traces of exhaustion could be heard.

“Stop acting all high and mighty you control freak! Do you think that you can stop the great Kundrarra!? Now that the world is close to a new epoch, your power has degraded to that of a stale fart. The only thing you can do now is stall me by materializing so that I can bend you over and teach you some obedience!” The man ran his hand through his long black hair and readjusted his luxurious purple robe, which seemed to cover everything, except what is most important. Whether he was too emersed in his previously stated fantasy, or he really believed that it would happen was unknown, but his lower member, or at least the long stick of what appeared to be divine light protruding from his groin, seemed eager to get some action.

Unbothered by the state of Kundrarra’s body the female voice continued. “You have no idea what you are dealing with, or what is sealed in there you lustful creature, there is absolutely no benefit in what you are trying to do. Leave and all will be forgotten.”

“Do you think I will believe that? This is my chance to be the first person to survive an epoch, at worst I will just return to the reincarnation cycle like it’s meant to be. Even if I leave right this instant, do you think that now that the barrier is loosened, the same thing won’t happen in the next epoch or the one after that?” The man argued back with a patronizing grin.

“As I have already stated, you have no idea what you are dealing with. The power hidden inside is above your comprehension or even mine for that matter…” The sentence seemed to startle the man and the short pause of the woman’s voice only seemed to increase the tension, then she continued. “Have you ever considered that returning to the reincarnation cycle might not be a guarantee if you continue?” These words, unlike at the start of the conversation were filled with absolute calm.

“What do you mean ‘above out comprehension’? I achieved the peak of strength and am the strongest being to currently exist, the stage of my power might have been reached before in the past, but never surpassed, do you honestly believe there is anything capable of extinguishing my soul or baffling me? And even if you forget me, you are the True World Spirit, you literally represent the world and now you want to tell me, that something inside of this cosmos this world, is above the world’s comprehension!? Are you taking me for a fool!?” The man seemed to get over the surprise, but what replaced it was only rage. Did the wench think he was born yesterday?

He didn’t know why the barrier that stood in the center of the world since its inception, suddenly showed signs of weakening, but it certainly represented an opportunity of great magnitude. While nobody knew what the barrier contained, the most common hypothesis was the world’s core, or the accumulation of all the excess energy and even if none of that was true, there is little chance that something protected since the earliest of documented history is worthless. None of that mattered though, if there was anything that would allow him to transcend the known limit of power, it was most definitely in there. Just thinking about being the first person to walk the road of a completely new realm made his blood boil.

Making up his mind the man calmed down and stated. “Enough of chitchat. I Kundrarra, the supreme of this epoch, will not cower in fear before the unknown!” Then, he stretched out his hand and gradually applied strength, testing out the waters before taking further action.

Many would consider this the actions of a man consumed by greed, or one that was not used to being refused, and they would be absolutely right.