Veltharis was a High Level World that was part of the Balance Faction and it was... exactly as one would expect a World from the Balance Faction to look like.

It had calm, layered skies, where land and water moved in perfect balance. Silver rivers flowed upward as often as they flowed down, floating islands stayed steady in the air, held by an invisible force that not many beings understood.

Everything in here felt... controlled.

It felt... balanced.

The people here were known as Aetherials.

They were tall, pale-skinned beings with faint glowing patterns across their bodies, their eyes had a calm, emotionless look, as if they were always... measuring something. Even their movements were smooth and precise, like nothing they did was ever wasted.

And the one who kept Veltharis going was... the Aetherials’ Progenitor and the World’s Ruler—

Eryndor Veltharis.

Eryndor stood on a wide platform of crystal stone, overlooking thousands of his people gathered below. His long silver hair moved slightly in the air, and his glowing blue eyes scanned the crowd.

"Light and Darkness weaken each other with every passing moment."

He spoke calmly, in a low voice, but for some reason, his words spread and even the being standing at the very end of the crowd heard him.

"Make sure you do not interfere directly."

He commanded.

The people nodded, they understood that. With the level at which the War had reached, they didn’t have to interfere directly anyways—

They just... needed to guide a few things in silence.

And Eryndor said the same thing—

"Guide the outcomes.

Supply shifts, energy flow disruptions, subtle manipulations that cannot be traced back to you.

Ensure that a few conflicts... escalate.

The tension is already high, a little spark could lead to ruination, wait for that spark to erupt naturally, but if it doesn’t—

Light it yourself."

He spoke as he looked at his people with a meaningful look on his face. A few of his commanders nodded, knowing exactly what their Leader wanted them to do.

And Eryndor, seeing that reaction, he smiled—

"Make sure the War continues, because the longer they fight, the closer we move to—"

Whoosh

Suddenly, Eryndor paused mid-speech as he sensed a faint wave of energy move all around him. He frowned, he then looked around, trying to understand who was responsible for it, but the moment his eyes fell on his people—

His expression changed.

Because his people were... frozen.

His eyes widened in shock, instinctively, he tried to connect with Veltharis’s Will, thinking it was an enemy’s attack and he wanted Veltharis’s Will to tell him where the enemy actually was.

But—

Veltharis’s Will didn’t respond.

He tried to use his own energy, to try and sense the enemy but again—

His energy did not move either.

Everything around him, be it the living beings, or the inanimate objects, every single thing was frozen still.

Power of Time.

Someone had stopped time around him.

The entirety of Veltharis was frozen, even Eryndor himself was no exception, his body was frozen still, unable to use any of his powers, or even his Law.

The only difference with Eryndor was that unlike the rest of his people, who seemed completely frozen, he was... conscious.

But that didn’t please him.

No—

It was the complete opposite of that.

Because if there was a being that held the power to completely freeze his body, his people, his very World, inside that very world—

Then he also had the power to freeze his mind.

But he didn’t.

That meant... whoever it was behind this... he left his mind active, not because he couldn’t freeze it, he left it active for a reason...

Eryndor’s mind moved faster, thinking of the possible beings who could and had the reason to do this and...

Only one name came to his mind—

The Anomaly.

And the moment he thought of that name, he felt... fear.

The Anomaly was here...

Was it... his turn now?

Eryndor did not want that, he tried to somehow regain control over his body, if not, he tried to use his mind to activate the Call Artifact and call for reinforcements from the Supreme World of Balance but before he could do anything—

"Stop it."

He heard a voice.

A voice.

A voice that held a calm so terrifying that even Eryndor’s mind froze from absolute fear when he realized it.

This wasn’t Anomaly.

No...

It was far, far worse.

And just as he expected, right in front of him, he appeared.

A tall being wrapped in a long, dark cloak that seemed to move even though the air itself was frozen. His face was partly hidden under a deep hood but that didn’t mean Eryndor didn’t recognize him.

No.

That faint, unnatural glow on his skin, those sharp, calm features, that expressed no emotions or reactions, those deep, hollow eyes that seemed like one was looking into something too vast to comprehend, that familiar, ancient, twisted staff in his hand, and that old, heavy book in the other—

Not to mention that calm, but unnervingly terrifying Aura—

Eryndor couldn’t possibly mistake it.

This wasn’t Anomaly—

This was...

Orravyn Eternity.

The Infinity of Eternity.

’L-Lord Orravyn.’

Eryndor greeted in his mind, he knew Orravyn would be able to hear his thoughts and he was correct, this was the entire reason Orravyn had kept his mind active, in order to... converse with him.

Eryndor also bowed his head, of course, he couldn’t do it physically, he just imagined himself doing it and Orravyn understood the gesture.

Not that he cared.

Orravyn, ignoring Eryndor’s words and his mind’s actions, simply hovered towards him and before Eryndor could say anything—

Orravyn placed his hand on his head and Eryndor sensed an energy that he couldn’t comprehend rushing into his mind.

And Eryndor—

He didn’t even bother resisting, it was pointless, he knew that well. He just let the Infinity do whatever he pleased. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

From what he could tell, he was reading his memories.

And he was correct.

The moment Orravyn’s energy connected with Eryndor’s brain, the pages of the book in his hand began to move on their own.

It was Eryndor’s memories.

Every decision he made, every thought he had ever thought of, every hidden intention, he even looked for discrepancies.

Something that wouldn’t make sense because if something like that existed, it would connect him with the Anomaly.

Eryndor, again, didn’t resist.

The entire process took less than ten seconds and once he was done, Orravyn removed his hand and—

"You aren’t involved with him."

He commented.

’Involved with whom...?’

Eryndor asked in his head.

"Anomaly."

Orravyn answered directly and without explaining any further, he raised his other hand and—

Something appeared.

A Crown.

"This is the Crown of Peace.

A Crown created to stop the Anomaly."

And the moment he heard those words, Eryndor was shocked.

’To... stop the Anomaly...?’

He repeated those words. Orravyn nodded.

"Connect it to your world,"

The Infinity ordered and with a wave of his hand, the frozen Veltharis’s Will was unfrozen and the instant it sensed Orravyn’s presence inside its boundary—

Whoom

It alerted Eryndor.

An outsider was here.

And Eryndor... he just... he had no clue how to react.

The alert came a little too late...

He wanted to say that, but he stopped himself. After all, even if it had come in time, there wasn’t much he could have done about it, not when the being in front of him was one of the strongest beings in existence, a being that held the power to eradicate half of the Universe and only a select few would be able to stop it.

"Stop thinking nonsense, do what you were told."

Orravyn ordered and the instant he did, Eryndor noticed that his energy was freed, allowing him to access the Veltharis’s Will. He, however, hesitated, he did not like the idea of connecting a relic he does not understand to his World.

Orravyn, whoever he was, whatever status he held, he was still... an enemy. He couldn’t exactly do what the enemy wanted him to do—

Or at least, those were his thoughts until Orravyn continued to stare at him with those deep, hollow eyes and he—

’As you command.’

He did exactly what he was told to do.

He extended his will into Veltharis’s Will, a connection was formed, the crown in Orravyn’s hand began to glow, the golden cracks lit up first.

Zzzzzz

It trembled, almost as if it was resisting being used, but no one, not a single being in the Universe could sense that resistance, most mistook it for excitement.

The symbols around the crown then started spinning faster, the eye at the center opened wider, the sky above Veltharis dimmed for a very small moment.

Then—

From the crown, thin golden threads spread out.

All across Veltharis, into its land, into the rivers, into the air, into... everything.

The entirety of Veltharis was now connected to the Crown of Peace.

The crown slowly rose from Orravyn’s hand and hovered above Eryndor for a slight moment, then, it deepened its connection with Veltharis’s Will and... disappeared into it.

’It is done.’

Eryndor said in a respectful tone.