In the middle of the vast starry sky, a powerful soul fragment crossed countless light years and eventually reached it's destination — one of the many worlds housing intelligent life in this universe — Earth.

After entering the Earth's atmosphere , the soul made a straight beeline towards one of the public hospitals, where a young woman of around 22 years, was about to give birth to her child.

Unbeknownst to anyone present there, the soul fragment, in it's incorporeal state, phased right through her stomach and into her womb, before settling deep inside the unborn child's body.

Just then, from the depths of existence itself, a chime sounded, echoing inside the baby's mind.

[ Ding ! ]

[ Necessary prerequisites fulfilled. ]

[ Awakening the Forgotten God's System… ]

— —

[ Fusion of the Forgotten God's Godking soul fragment with the mortal soul fragment— starting… ]

[ Fusion failed… ]

[ Analyzing the cause of failure… ]

[ Cause found: excessive disparity in strength between both soul fragments ]

[ Searching for solutions… ]

[ Found…

Slow and gradual fusion over time – Probability of success: 99% ]

— —

[ Implementing the solution ]

[ Estimated time till complete soul fusion occurs– 25 years ]

[ Counting down…

24 years, 365 days 23:59:59

24 years, 365 days 23:59:58

24 years, 365 days 23:59:57

.

.

. ]

— —

[ System going into sleep mode temporarily to preserve remaining energy ]

***

24 years and 364 days later…

"Gasp..."

Galen jolted awake from his sleep, his breath ragged, feeling a sharp pain stabbing through his chest.

"UGHHH...."

Fucking hell... It's this again.

Groaning, he gritted his teeth to endure the agonizing pain, without making a noise.

After what felt like an eternity to him, the pain finally subsided, leaving behind a dull ache that would settle after sometime.

With bloodshot eyes (because of his recent ordeal), Galen grabbed his phone from a nearby table and squinted at the screen.

2:00 AM

"SIGHHHHH..."

Letting out a tired sigh, Galen laid back on his bed. It was his mysterious illness acting up again which he had since his birth.

He would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night because of it, feeling unbearable pain in his chest that would last for about 10 minutes.

At first, it had been rare, once or twice a year at most. But as he grew up, the frequency of these painful episodes was also steadily raising.

During his childhood, thinking it might a medical issue, his adoptive parents brought him to all kinds of hospitals, to get him treated.

But no matter where they went, the results were always the same— the doctors declaring that he was perfectly fine, whether physically or mentally.

Not wanting to worry his parents further, Galen decided to lie, saying that he wasn't having those episodes anymore.

Over the years, he had learned to silently endure the pain without screaming. That's how he was able to fool them into believing his words.

Meanwhile, he swore to find a solution himself — to his problems.

Galen dedicated himself to his studies, spending countless nights without sleep, before finally becoming a doctor.

But reality — was far from kind.

Even after becoming a doctor and doing all kinds of research in medical field, he couldn't find a single clue about his illness.

And worse... recently the pain had started tormenting him everyday without a single break, even depriving him of his sleep.

With frustration gnawing at his insides at the thought, Galen shut his eyes, trying to get himself as much sleep as possible in the remaining time before morning arrived.

After all, He still had work to go to.

Tossing and turning for hours, he finally slept, barely managing two hours of sleep before his alarm woke him up at exactly 7:00 AM.

Dragging himself out of bed, Galen forced his sluggish body into motion.

Freshening up, he dressed himself into presentable clothes, had breakfast, and left for work.

Taking the subway train, he had been absentmindedly scrolling through his phone.

That was when he noticed the date.

' June 4 '

"Tomorrow's going to be my birthday, huh..." Galen muttered to himself.

"Just great... Yet another year of torment in this miserable life."

A mirthless laugh escaped his lips, when he recalled the heartwrenching pain that had started recurring every night.

Closing the phone, he started reminiscing about his life so far.

***

Galen Vaelthorn - that was his name. A young man of 24 years, at the prime of his life.

With somewhat short black hair, and light golden eyes, he could be considered quite handsome, that is if his hair didn't cover half his face all the time.

Abandoned soon after birth because of poverty, he was raised in an orphanage.

He had learned from his caretakers that he had a habit of constantly muttering in his sleep — especially the name *Galen Vaelthorn*.

Thinking that it might be his favourite name, they had changed his initial name to the said one.

That's why he was the only one with a different last name in the orphanage.

Everyone else had the same last name — taken from the orphanage director's.

During his childhood, whenever he had his episodes in the orphanage, the caretakers would usually console him till he stopped crying. He was too young to properly explain his issue after all.

At the age of 5, he was adopted by a kind couple who didn't have the fortune of having their own child.

The couple showered Galen with unconditional love, filling the void in his heart, left behind by his birth parents when they abandoned him.

Being with them was the happiest time of his life, even with the unknown illness plaguing him.

But his happiness didn't last long.

In an accident last year, he lost both of his adoptive parents, falling into depression as a result.

Which resulted in him losing interest in just about everything in his life.

Even if it wasn't for that incident, because of his recurring episodes, he had always been a quiet boy in school, not interacting with others too much.

Those occasional friends he had in the school, just for the sake of it, only lasted till his graduation.

Fortunately, even if Galen was a total introvert, his top grades in school had saved him from excessive bullying.

As for having a girlfriend... 🤷🏻‍♂️

That was totally up in the air.

If there was anything he was ever grateful for in his bland school life, that would be meeting his goddess — Rhea Everlight.

Rhea was his homeroom teacher and not just for him, she was a goddess for everyone in the school.

She was the perfect example of grace and kindness shaped into a beautiful woman.

Remembering her smile alone, soothed Galen's pained heart.

After graduating from high school, he had to focus on his college studies and the following research to find out about his condition, leaving him no time to meet her again.

"It's been years since I last year." Galen recalled with slight regret

With that final thought lingering, he arrived at his workplace - a private hospital.

Six hours later...

after finishing his shift and grabbing a quick lunch at the cafeteria, Galen headed out.

But partway home, he suddenly stopped at an intersection. Instead of going back home, he changed his direction and went to the local cemetery.

There, standing before his parent's graves, Galen felt like a lump was forming in his throat.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself, before crouching down to clean the graves.

When he finally finished and looked up, his eyes met with the slightly blurry words etched on the tomb stones.

"Here lies the Mother and Father of the purest soul in the world."

read the Epitaph, causing the tears that he had been holding back since arriving, to start streaming down his cheeks uncontrollably.

When he found them at the hospital, that was last thing his parents had asked of him — to etch those words in their tombs— before closing their eyes forever.

Saddened beyond words, Galen knelt on the soil, with his head lowered, letting the tears fall on their graves.

When his eyes didn't have anymore tears to shed, he wiped his face with his sleeves.

Sitting beside his parents, he talked about his life so far-

his struggles,

his exhaustion,

his unanswered questions,

everything.

As he kept talking minutes turned into hours, and the sky started to darken.

Only when the night had fallen completely, did he rise from his position before leaving the place with a lighter heart.

Returning home, he ordered a simple dinner and, almost as an afterthought, added a small piece of cake.

At 11:59 PM,

Galen took out the cake and lit a single candle on it.

Closing his eyes, he quietly asked for his parents' blessings.

The clock ticked forward, reaching 12:00 AM.

Just as he leaned in to blow out the candle, a sudden, violent pain surged through his entire body.

Before Galen could even fully process the pain, his mind went blank, and he lost consciousness.

***

Hi Readers...

I'm Dr. DèStrò — the author of this novel.

If you enjoyed reading my novel, please support me by leaving a like and adding my book to your library.

It means a lot to me.

After 25 years, when Galen fell unconscious, a chime once again.

echoed in his mind.

[ Ding ! ]

[ Re-awakening the Forgotten God's System... ]

[ Re-awakening complete ]

[ Fusion of the Forgotten God's Godking soul fragment with the mortal soul fragment - complete ]

[ Integrating the Forgotten God's System with the Universal System... ]

[ Integration failed... ]

[ Cause ; the connecting medium (Mana) is still unavailable on Earth ]

[ Time till Mana explosion reaches Earth - 36 days, 7 hours, and 45 minutes. ]

[ Activating emergency protocols... ]

[ Searching for alternative energy sources...

Search - complete. ]

[ Restarting the system using the Forgotten God's remnant soul power... ]

[ System restart complete ]

[ Synchronizing memories... ]

***

Atop the biggest black hole in the entire universe - with trillions of times the mass of the sun - a majestic castle stood.

It's obsidian walls swaying ever so slightly under the unimaginable gravity of that black hole.

But neither the black hole, nor the castle was the main focus here.

Dwarfing both of their presence was a man - sitting on the castle's highest peak, his mere existence towering over everything.

Long black hair like the lightless abyss , flowing freely from the back of his head,

Glowing golden eyes, akin to the brightest of stars, slumbering in profound silence,

Skin fair and soft as snow,

and a physique, that was chiseled to perfection.

For millions of years, the man sat there, immersed in his comprehension,

Unmoved by anything... and

Untouched by time...

But, feeling some pests buzzing around in his vicinity all of a sudden, the Forgotten God finally opened his eyes.

***

The Forgotten God's Pov

I was the first human, or any species for that matter to ascend and wield mana in this universe.

{ A/N ; to get a clear picture, please read the auxiliary chapter ; Mana - the power of miracles }

With that newfound power, I traveled the world and fought countless battles to hone myself.

And when there was no one left to fight in my world, I left it behind in search of new opponents, in the vast starry sky.

What followed next, was an endless cycle of blood and battle, spanning countless worlds.

After subjecting myself to that grueling cycle for hundreds of thousands of years,

I've finally shed my mortality, and

became a God.

The First God, actually- in this entire universe.

But, everything had a price.

Standing at the peak, there was no one worthy enough to fight with me.

Even the new gods, that were born after sometime were too weak to be of any significance.

Deprived of my battles, I had to change my focus. So I started travelling again.

Only this time, instead of searching for opponents, I began searching for new sights that I haven't seen before.

Countless worlds and their myriad races,

Exploding supernovas and all-consuming black holes,

Swirling galaxies and their countless star clusters.

And many many more...

I saw everything there is to see in this expansive universe.

Countless generations came and went during my travels, and all those mortals who once worshipped me as their god eventually faded away - their religions dying down along with them.

Only the gods who were almost immortals till the end of our universe, still remembered my existence and gave me the moniker,

"The Forgotten God"

**

In one of my travels, I came across the the biggest black hole I've ever found, since starting this long journey.

Somewhat curious, I decided to explore it. But along with the distortion of space and time I had already expected to find inside the blackhole, I also found something else.

An archaic gate like structure steeped with a profound aura, stood at the very centre of that black hole, it's smooth surface etched with unknown primordial runes.

Why am I not able to sense it when it's right in front of my eyes?

With confusion colouring my thoughts, I moved a bit closer and reached out to the gate - hoping the universal system will reveal something about it.

In fact it did - the moment my fingers touched the gate.

[ You've come into contact with the Universal Treasure - Aetherion seal (also known as - The Cosmic Gateway) ]

[ Initiating Character Analysis... ]

[ Opening Status Screen... ]

[ Character Status ;

Name : Galen Vaelthorn ( The Forgotten God )

Age : 621,786 years old

Sex : Male

Race : Human

Level : 1000 ( Max )

Realm : Godking

Traits : None

Titles :

The First God

The Forgotten God ]

[ Reviewing life records of the chosen individual - Galen Vaelthorn... ]

[ Review complete. ]

[ Conclusion :

The Probability of Galen Vaelthorn betraying the Universe - 0.0000000000000000001 % ]

[ Assessing risk-reward ratio... ]

[ Assessment complete ]

[ Congratulations Galen Vaelthorn - You have been chosen as the very first guardian - of this Universe. ]

[ You have been granted access to the Universal Treasure - Aetherion Seal. ]

- -

After the final notification, waves of information started pouring into my head.

From that information, I came to learn that there exist innumerable universes, floating in the boundless River of Reality.

And the mana as we knew it, was actually the water from that river, seeping into every universe depending on their maturity.

While I was still in a daze - processing all that shocking information, the Aetherion Seal's form had suddenly started shrinking.

When It became small enough, similar to the size of a base ball, it shot straight into my body, settling in my soul.

After the seal moved into my soul, I could barely make out something in it's previous loccation.

Squinting my eyes, I noticed a tiny crack, barely visible to the naked eye - in the fundamental fabric of the universe.

Through which, a new form of mana distinctly different to anything I've ever known - and incomparably powerful - was bleeding into our universe.

As if triggered by my findings, another wave of knowledge entered my mind.

And according to it, the crack was the result of a nearby higher leveled Universe - almost a trillion years old, trying to invade us.

To prevent it, my native universe, in it's semi-conscious state, condensed all it's origin power into an origin grade treasure (the Aetherion Seal) and used it to stop the crack from expanding.

But there was a drawback. After creating the seal, the universe's consciousness fell into a deep slumber.

{ A/N : The universal system introduced with the mana, was just a program running on fixed protocols, devoid of conscious thought. }

So, If someone malicious were to get their hands on the treasure, they could easily use it to expand the crack and allow those invaders inside our universe - practically giving them free reign over our lives with their incomprehensible strength.

To avoid that dreadful scenario...

after assessing the probability of my betrayal, the system chose me to guard the Aetherion Seal.

There was also another simple, but equally important reason the system had for choosing me besides loyalty - my strength.

Because might makes right.

And in my universe...

I Was The Strongest.

***

It took a while to process everything that had happened and after that, I decided to settle near the crack, and constructed a personal castle for myself to reside in.

With nothing better to do, I sat down in silent meditation- trying to grasp the intricacies of that foreign mana.

Even after spending millions of years studying it, because of it's higher origin, I could only comprehend bits and pieces of it.

Yet even that alone was enough to rise my stagnated strength to an entirely new level.

***

While Galen was immersed in his understanding, the foreign mana pouring out through the crack, began spreading rapidly throughout the entire universe.

Among the countless strands of neutral mana spreading across the cosmos, some had the spiritual imprints of powerhouses from the other side, carrying specific instructions.

Though after crossing over, those imprints didn't last long, dissipating within minutes.

Fortunately, or unfortunately for Galen, one of those strands - after jumping through space, landed exactly on the God of Deceit's hands.

Before dissipating like the others, that strand shared some vital pieces of information with him, causing his eyes to gleam with a cunning light. But he soon masked it like nothing happened, going about his life as usual.

And the Forgotten God - Galen Vaelthorn - had completely ignored this precarious situation. Thus... setting the stage for a massive tragedy, about to occur in the near future.

Learning about the existence of higher leveled mana, the gods traced it to it's source - eventually reaching the blackhole Galen was staying at.

Feeling his powerful presence from a distance, they stopped approaching him and decided to retreat - for now.

Soon, a celestial meeting was held between the gods - to discuss the presence of foreign mana, it's possible source and the implications.

The God of Deceit, as his name suggests, directed the meeting from behind the scenes and led all the gods into believing what he had wanted.

{ Mainly two things,

First - this foreign mana was what they urgently needed to raise their strength and step into a new realm of power.

Second - The First God / The Forgotten God, was monopolizing it's source for millions of years, depriving them of their opportunity to become as powerfull as him. }

The Gods, blinded by their greed for higher power, were easily led by their noses.

The result — except for the very few gods who cherished their current peace, all the others went to confront the Forgotten God, to force him into handing over the mana source, which they could use for their own benefit.

{ A/N : That was what most of them believed at least – except for the God of Deceit, the one who had orchestrated everything from behind the shadows, and some of his trusted underlings. }

Spurred on by their misplaced greed,

and the unspoken jealousy they harboured towards the Forgotten God's strength,

A grand lineup of gods, numbering in the thousands,

came together as a single fleet and soon surrounded the Forgotten God's castle.

Feeling some pesky insects buzzing around in his vicinity, the Forgotten God – Galen Vaelthorn – finally opened his eyes.

Even after being surrounded by them, he didn't have the slightest change in his expression.

Taking out his soul weapon from it's sheath - currently in it's sword form - he slowly stood.

Turning his head from side to side, Galen memorized all of their faces before falling into thought.

' Hmm... I see some new faces here. Newly ascended gods, perhaps? '

' Well, Whatever... '

Then addressing everyone, he voiced a question, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

"Why have you all decided to come here all of a sudden?"

"I don't remember being particularly chummy with any of you guys, to warrant a sudden visit like this."

Hearing his question, one of the representative gods, the Snake God, with his green pupils opening in slits and a lean physique that reeks of poison stepped forward and spoke.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Your excellency, Mr. Galen Vaethorn..."

"I hope we are not disturbing—"

"Just get to the point, you damned snake."

Galen interrupted him with irritation, his patience wearing thin. He was never one to exchange pleasantries with anyone. Especially if the one standing before him was this filthy snake.

Being called a snake all of a sudden, even if that was his original form, the representative nearly lost himself in his anger.

Never once in his life, had anyone insulted him with such blatant disregard.

But soon, he composed himself, recalling the main objective they had in coming here.

"All of us have noticed a new type of mana spreading in the universe in very small quantities for several millenia. After tracing it to it's origin, we suspect that you've been hiding that mana source from all of us, using it to strengthen yourself."

'So they don't know about the existence of the Aetherion Seal, nor its true purpose.' Galen inferred from his words.

Thinking about it, it was pretty obvious. Even he had only learned about those details after becoming the universe's guardian.

Letting the silence linger for a it, he finally asked.

"So, what if I have it? What are you going to do about it?" 

Seeing Galen admit to it so openly, the Snake God's eyes lit up with fervour.

"You should of course share it with us. Unlike you, we're going to use the power gained from that treasure for the betterment of this universe."

Picking his ear with his left pinky and blowing it sideways, Galen asked with a nonchalant expression, "And what if I refuse?"

A vein popped on the snake god's forehead.

"Don't push your luck too far, Galen." 

"You may be the strongest god, but…"

"You're just a lone a man, surrounded by thousands."

"Obediently hand over the treasure to us, if you don't want things to get ugly."

"Oh…?"

Galen questioned with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Are you threatening me?"

"What do you think?" The Snake god retrorted with a smug face seeing his riled up expression.

Galen : "Haha... Hahaha... Hahahahahaha..."

"Just because I've been staying out of spotlight all these years,

You fools actually forgot what it means to fear me huh...?"

"Come... I'll help you remember... Why I am called The First God..."

"By burying you all,

Under my Blade..."

When he finished his sentence, his aura that was caged in his small frame for countless years, erupted like a massive tsunami sweeping over everything.

Upon sensing that Majestic Aura, all the gods were stupified, their bodies freezing in fear and disbelief. Comparing their meagre aura to his was like, comparing a small stream to the vast ocean.

Seeing all those gods standing there like idiots, The God of Deceit clicked his tongue in irritation and decided to take matters into his own hands.

He signaled to one of his subordinates with his eyes – who then shouted with a brave expression ,

"Everyone! He should have become this powerful only by using the higher energy. so we should get it's source for ourselves at all costs..."

Some other gods (his accomplices) also supported him, shouting,

"Yeah... Let's fight. He is just a single god, he can't defeat all of us. Let's just kill him and take the treasure."

"He should be honoured to die for us, because we will further develope our universe with that kind of power, unlike him..."

Hearing those voices, even those gods trembling in fear gritted their teeth and steeled their resolves, marching towards Galen...

Thus began the Great War, between One Man and thousands of Gods that'll last for centuries.

Millions of galaxies were destroyed in their battle, turning countless solar systems to dust...

After 800 years of constant fighting, not even a small wound could be seen on Galen's body. He was practically toying with the gods like they were mere toddlers.

When almost everyone thought there was no hope of defeating him, one of the subordinate Gods to the God of Deceit appeared behind him and plunged a dagger straight through his heart.

With Galen's power, it shouldn't have been possible for any weapon to penetrate his innate defence this easily.

So he had let his guard down and just tanked it like every other exchange he had with these gods over the years.

Which was a mistake because, the dagger was a creation from the higher universe, transported through the crack by the invaders. They had paid an enormous price to do so.

Only now did Galen remember the God of Deceit slipping in the middle of the fight and returning some time later.

' He should have gotten the dagger by somehow communicating with the other side. '

By the time Galen realised it, his life was already slipping through his fingers...

"So this is how I die,huh... Backstabbed by a coward..."

He laughed at himself.

Raising his head and looking directly into the remaining gods' eyes, focusing especially on the God of Deceit, Galen asked with a crazed smile,

"You guys want the universal Treasure right?"

"If so, you can go fuck yourselves...🖕🏻🖕🏻"

With that, he detonated his soul and used that power to break the Universal Treasure into 5 fragments and scattered it across the Universe.

The explosion was so dreadful that it killed nearly half of the remaining gods before subsiding.

***

When the aftermath had finally settled, The God of Deceit beaten and ragged due to the explosion, dragged his weary body and arrived at the site of Galen's death, to claim his awaited prize...

But when he reached there, he couldn't find a single thing.

The Universal Treasure,

his Subordinate God

or the forgotten God's body

Nothing...

Everything was gone like a puff of smoke.

When he realised that he had lost the treasure , there was silence for a moment followed by a heart wrenching scream,

"Noooooooo....."

***

What the Forgotten God hadn't forseen at the end of his life was...

When he detonated his soul, an infinitesimally small piece of it containing all his memories, got absorbed into one of the fragments of the Universal Treasure and started travelling the starry sky.

The remaining part of his soul got dragged into the cycle of reincarnation, to undergo nirvana and cleansing for its next life.

But since an essential piece of the soul was missing, every baby ever born with that soul ended up as a stillborn child.

Only on Earth, when the next rebirth was about to happen, the universal treasure fragment containing that piece of soul, finally reached the incomplete soul and fused with it, causing the baby to be born without any issues...

And after 25 years, on Earth...

[ System Restart completed ]

[ Synchronising Memories...

Synchronisation complete ]

[ Congratulations Galen Vaelthorn on your successful Reincarnation... ]