The Monarch

Thoth lived an insane number of days; for him, years became as common as seconds. It had been trillions and trillions of years without any major changes. This world had absolutely nothing, according to the god's accounts, and no matter how far he walked, there was never anything—everything was completely desolate.After some time, after Hypnos left with Thoth, the mage gave up on continuing to travel through places and simply started a society at some random point. Neither of them had any issue with this separation. Kayden was increasingly impressed by Thoth's mind and how he had been an insane mage from the very beginning.The god conducted dozens of experiments every day. He organized and built trillions of societies in an endless search for power and wisdom. There seemed to be no limit to his dedication. Many places and treasures were documented in this world even after millions of years of travel. It truly seemed to be an infinite space."It seems that finally this world has developed to a point where everything is intertwining; societies and brilliant mages are emerging automatically without my influence. But… they are all fruits of my work; they are geniuses, but not truly special.""I learned to divide my consciousness into several parts; I am able to learn much more and even make different plans." This was a decisive moment in Thoth's life; the sentences in the book began to multiply greatly from that moment on."Mages of ice in the northern side wield different laws for the same purposes as the mages of the south.""This world doesn't have well-defined spatial limits; the skies are a senseless trap that throw mages back into the world using some spatial laws.""There are no trees on this side, not even life; death permeates everything.""The mages of the west learned to manipulate time, but each attempt ages them by decades in seconds.""The mountains float without any gravitational logic; they are anchors of ancient laws that even I have forgotten.""Some spaces appear to be deserts, but anyone who tries to cross them returns to the starting point, with their soul fragmented and their mind confused.""Magic has condensed into black stones scattered randomly, as if the world itself had given up on keeping its energy flowing.""I learned that creating life is simple, but creating purpose is almost impossible."This last phrase caused a bad sensation in Kayden's mind. Thoth was getting closer and closer to becoming something beyond what he should, something that Kayden couldn't comprehend. His consciousness began by being divided into just a few numbers, and over the years it became dozens, then hundreds, and it continued growing at an extremely accelerated pace.After this last phrase, there was nothing else about that world. Furthermore, Thoth's consciousness began to fragment outward. Kayden saw passages from dozens of universes, a practically infinite knowledge of dozens of subjects and motives with no logical sequence whatsoever. But something was very different—ever since the information about that world was cut off, Thoth's motives had changed completely.Before, he was only fighting for information and relentlessly seeking knowledge and strength. He needed to go beyond. It was obvious that Thoth wanted to become something above a god—not only that, but he was the most capable being Kayden had ever heard of. His wisdom grew by the day, by the week, by each passing year.Kayden saw the god live a bizarre number of lives and document a considerable number of them, but… ever since he left that world, everything changed. His pursuit was no longer just for knowledge. In fact, it was the opposite. Thoth was simply living an infinite number of lives in different ways; he was no longer seeking knowledge—he merely absorbed it naturally.Something happened between that last phrase and the next ones in the book. It seemed Thoth had reached something different, something he should not have access to, something he undoubtedly should have been prevented from having. But he did it. Not only that, but he was able to get there alone. The problem was that this came with a price.Thoth's mind became a mess. His real personality was nowhere to be found. He was just seeking a way to die. In all of his lives, each and every one of them, this was his only goal. And for that, he needed to create a mage capable of going beyond, of becoming something above a god.Kayden kept wondering if that was the same as becoming a celestial. Was that the level Thoth had reached? Something above the very existence of this multiverse, something that couldn't be explained with words? But why was he seeking an end so desperately? What had he discovered?The more Kayden read, the more answers appeared, and only one thing kept becoming more and more evident: Thoth was tired. He had reached a point of knowledge where there was nothing left to learn, nothing new left to be lived, no new paths left to be discovered. It seemed insane, but Kayden saw at least five mages being documented with the same path as his—five mages who were able to reach practically the same point as he had. But…"Chaos"—the only element and law capable of creating new things and something that was able to generate Kayden in his current state of strength—something new and something unique in all of Thoth's lives. But… there might not have been mages like Kayden, but there were mages who went as far as he did.Each of them received a copy of this book, and each of them had an insane amount of knowledge poured into their minds through the words written here. New horizons opened up for Kayden, but new doubts also arose in his mind. The more he thought, the more he understood that Thoth was probably the final existence of this universe—or at least one of them.Thoth was at the same level as the celestials, or he was one of them. There was even the possibility that the god had been the first celestial. Before that blank space, there was no mention of these beings at any point in the story."This is the basics about Thoth, the madman." The final phrase of the book made Kayden once again reconsider how calling that man a sage was appropriate—but madman was something far superior.