From the information, Marcus and nearly six billion others from Earth had been transmigrated to the Origin Universe.
Not only humans. Countless other races from other worlds had been chosen to ascend for hegemony over godhood.
From mighty ancient beasts whose bodies rivaled mountains, to radiant angels woven from light.
From colossal dragons that coiled through nebulae, to stone giants, abyssal demons, sea leviathans, celestial spirits, tree folk older than stars, and even small ants and burrowing insects whose strength lay in number rather than size.
All had been summoned. All had been given a chance.
The reason, as Marcus began to understand, was simple in explanation and terrifying in scale.!
.....................
After countless billions of years, the Universal Will, the consciousness that had awakened during the Chaos Era and shaped itself into the structured universe, was fracturing and dying away.
N/B. [The Universal Will is the primordial consciousness that governs the Universe. It is not a god, but the fundamental intelligence that maintains cosmic order, natural laws, and the balance between creation and destruction.
It oversees the structure of reality itself: the flow of time, the stability of space, the birth of stars, and the existence of life.]
...
N/B. [Nothingnessis the primordial force of absolute non-existence that exists beyond the boundaries of reality. Unlike Chaos (destruction or death, which merely transform what already exists,) Nothingness erases existence itself, consuming matter, energy, time, space, and even divine laws.
Nothingness is the natural opposite of the Universal Will. While the Universal Will sustains creation and order, Nothingness spreads entropy and oblivion].
...
In the beginning of Creation there was only Chaos and Nothingness.
Chaos was endless turbulence, a storm of raw existence without form or direction. It birthed energy, matter, and motion in wild, uncontrollable torrents.
Nothingness was the opposite, an abyss that devoured all things, reducing everything it touched to absolute non-existence.
For billions upon billions of years, the two forces of chaos and nothingness clashed in a violent, unending struggle. Chaos surged outward, creating fragments of unstable existence. Nothingness followed, swallowing them whole. Their conflict raged across the empty expanse, neither capable of destroying the each other.
Chaos could not corrupt Nothingness.
Nothingness could not erase Chaos.
Thus the war continued without victor.
But from the friction of their endless battle, something unexpected emerged.
During one particularly violent collision between the two primordial forces, a subtle anomaly formed within the storm of their power. It was neither Chaos nor Nothingness. It was something new---Rule.
At first, the Rules were faint and fragile, little more than boundaries that governed how Chaos and Nothingness interacted. They defined limits, patterns, and structure within the otherwise endless conflict.
Chaos could expand only so far before a boundary halted it.
Nothingness could consume only within certain limits.
Neither force created the Rules intentionally, yet both found themselves bound by them.
Over time, the Rules multiplied, mutated and evolved.
What began as simple restrictions grew more complex with every passing age. The Rules began to adapt, reshaping themselves to maintain balance between the two primordial forces. They changed and strengthened at an astonishing pace, far faster than either Chaos or Nothingness could anticipate.
For billions of years, the Rules grew stronger.
Eventually, they became powerful enough to stand alongside Chaos and Nothingness as equals.
Then came the most violent clash in all of existence.
Chaos surged with unimaginable fury, attempting to expand beyond all limits. Nothingness answered with overwhelming hunger, seeking to erase everything Chaos had ever birthed. Their collision shook the foundations of existence itself.
For the first time, the Rules failed to mediate their conflict.
Nothingness began to gain the upper hand.
Existence itself teetered on the edge of erasure.
Faced with annihilation, the Rules did something unprecedented.
They adapted.!
Drawing upon every fragment of their evolving power, the Rules devoured tiny portions of the essence of both Chaos and Nothingness. It was an act of desperate survival, a transformation born from necessity.
The Rules were no longer merely boundaries.
They evolved and mutated into something far greater.
Laws.
Laws were stronger than Rules.
They were absolute principles that governed reality itself. Unlike the fragile Rules that had once struggled to contain the primordial forces, the Laws possessed the authority to restrain them.
Space formed, Time began to flow, Energy gained structure, Matter emerged...
The Laws multiplied and evolved, branching into countless variations: the Law of Gravity, the Law of Motion, the Law of Life, the Law of Decay, and countless others. Together, they reshaped the chaotic battlefield of the primordial forces.
Slowly but inexorably, the Laws pushed Chaos and Nothingness apart.
They carved out a sanctuary between them.
A space where existence could persist.
Within that protected void, stars ignited. Galaxies formed. Worlds took shape. Life eventually blossomed beneath the silent watch of the cosmic principles that governed reality.
But the Laws themselves did not remain static.
As they grew more complex and interconnected, they began to develop something entirely new.
Awareness.
From the vast network of Laws that sustained the universe, a single consciousness emerged.
A mind born from the structure of existence itself.
This consciousness became known as the Universal Will.
It was the living embodiment of the Laws that sustained reality, the guardian of balance within the cosmos.
And for untold ages, the Universal Will maintained the fragile equilibrium between creation and annihilation.
Yet beyond the borders of existence, Chaos and Nothingness still waited.
Patient, Hungry and most terrifying...Eternal.!
....
By logic, the universe was born from Nothingness, stirred and catalyzed by Chaos. But at some point in that distant age, something changed. The universe developed awareness and It gained it's will.
With that will, it did not seek destruction. It shaped stars instead of storms. It formed planets instead of voids. It allowed life to rise, to think, to build. The Universal Will created life!
On the other hand Chaos twisted and corrupted while Nothingness erased everything.
Yet origin and Fate leaves a mark.!
Because the Universal Will shared the same source as Chaos and Nothingness, it was also sustenance to them. To Chaos, the Universal Will was a structure worth corrupting.
To Nothingness, it was an existence worth consuming and erasing.
Since its inception, the Universal Will had resisted both the chaos and nothingness. It reinforced laws, repaired damaged regions, and suppressed incursions.
But erosion across billions of years was inevitable. Large portions of its essence had already been corrupted by Chaos, warped into monstrous forms.
Other fragments had been swallowed entirely by Nothingness, erased without trace.
It was the first time the Universal Will was losing the war.
Since it governed the Law of Fate and Existence. It calculated that it was going to lose the war no matter what it did.
So sensing the imbalance, destruction and eventually its destined doom, the Universal Will enacted the Plan of Ascension to Godhood to all Living beings within the universe! (This was its attempt to introduce an unstable factor between its wars. A factor that fate could not easily control).
Rather than remaining whole and vulnerable, it divided itself into countless small fragments. Each fragment was embedded into a planet within the Origin Universe.
These planets were seeds. If nurtured and strengthened, they could grow. A planet could evolve into a greater domain.
In time, some might even transform into full universes, independent yet aligned with the original Will.
It was not a sudden victory it sought, but survival through multiplication.
The Universal Will had one limitation. It could not wage war directly. It was law, structure, foundation. It could maintain order, but it could not actively pursue and destroy its enemies.
But Living beings within it could.
That was why races were chosen. Creatures capable of thought, adaptation, and learning. Beings who could comprehend laws, manipulate them, and turn them into weapons.
Humans were only one among many. Not the strongest. Not the oldest. But capable of growth. Capable of belief. Capable of turning faith into power.
...
Standing on his small, silent planet, Marcus felt the fragment within it resonate faintly. It was not merely land he had inherited. It was a piece of a dying cosmic consciousness.
The realization did not make him feel grand. It made him quiet.
He understood now that ascension was not a reward. It was a necessity.
.....
Exhaling softly, he continued to sift through the torrent of information flowing through his consciousness.
The Origin Universe was not a single uniform expanse. It was divided into ten distinct regions, each separated not merely by distance, but by density of law, intensity of conflict, and proximity to the pressure of Nothingness.
He and the other newly awakened demi-gods were in the First Region.
The First Region was the starting ground. Small planets. Limited hazards. Weak wildlife. Minimal environmental instability. It was designed for awakening beings, those who had just become Demi-Gods.
Here, one learned the fundamentals: how to shape terrain without collapsing it, how to sense and refine Faith, how to awaken innate Talent, how to purify and stabilize bloodlines.
It was a place to make mistakes without immediate annihilation.
Beyond it lay the Second Region.
Planets there were larger, less forgiving. Corrupted creatures began to appear. Minor natural disasters occurred without warning. Rival gods, still weak but ambitious, could cross paths. It was the first true testing ground. Conflict would no longer be theoretical.
The Third Region expanded outward into small planetary systems. Two or three worlds orbiting a star, sometimes already under the authority of early Solar Gods. Environmental anomalies were common. Elemental storms, gravitational distortions, wandering Void Beasts that fed on unstable law. Here, expansion became possible. Territory could stretch beyond a single world.
Marcus absorbed this in silence.
The remaining regions stretched far beyond his current reach.
Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth. Tenth regions....
Each progressively more vast. More dangerous. Closer to the pressure of Nothingness itself.
He did not yet dwell on them.
For now, he stood in the First Region.
But the structure of progression was clear. Movement between regions was not random. It followed growth in rank, authority, and strength. The universe itself functioned as a ladder.
....
The structure of regions settled into place within his mind, and with it came another framework even more personal.
The ranks of godhood.
Marcus understood that the universe did not measure growth by ambition or desire. It measured it by authority. By how much of reality would respond when a god spoke.
From the information there were Ten Divine Ranks starting from the lowest;
{Demi-God, Planet God, Solar God, Domain God, True God, Galactic God, Cosmic God, Universal God, Celestial God and Supreme God.}
And each Rank was subdivided into 9 small tiers.
He was at the First tier of Demi-God.
At this stage, divinity was still fragile. His soul retained the imprint of mortality. His authority was confined to his planet. He could shape terrain, guide elements, influence the growth of simple life, and manipulate basic Faith within his domain. Outside it, he was nearly powerless.
The next rank was the Planet God.
At that rank, fusion with the planet would be complete. Absolute dominion within planetary borders. Climate, tectonics, biological evolution, atmospheric cycles, even foundational natural laws could be adjusted within limits. Faith would circulate fully under his control, refined and weaponized if necessary.
Beyond that stood Solar God.
Authority would expand to an entire star/solar system. Multiple planets under a central star. Orbital mechanics, stellar output, radiation, planetary alignment. A Solar God could ignite a star or extinguish it. Reshape the architecture of a system. At that level, territory became a constellation/solar system rather than a single sphere.
Then came Domain God.
This was different. It was not only territorial expansion. It was conceptual embodiment. A god might claim war, growth, decay, light, gravity, or time itself. Within their territory, that concept would obey absolutely. Law would no longer be merely manipulated. It would be personified.
Above that stood the True God.
A True God no longer depended entirely on followers for existence. Their divine core became stable and independent. They could create advanced sentient species, override lesser divine authorities, and suppress weaker gods. Territory mattered less. Power began to internalize.
After that, scale expanded rapidly.
A Galactic God would command multiple systems forming a galaxy. He Mediated Star birth and collapse, interstellar civilizations, energy flows across light-years.
A Cosmic God would govern multiple galaxies, bending space-time, adjusting causality and entropy across vast regions.
A Universal God would become sovereign law within an entire small universe. Constants of physics, dimensional architecture, time progression, life cycles. All adjustable at this stage.
A Celestial God would operate beyond a single universe, maintaining balance across several universes, suppressing rogue realities and guiding lesser Universal Gods.
And finally, Supreme God.
Near equivalence to the original Universal Will. Capable of creating new universes. Capable of directly resisting and suppressing Nothingness.
Marcus stood still as the hierarchy settled.
It was not simply a ladder of power. It was a widening of responsibility. Each rank required greater control, deeper understanding of law, and stronger refinement of Faith.
And He was at the very bottom.....