Time since the asteroid hit Earth: ~4.6 billion years (subjective to Aryan)
The Drift trembled.
It wasn't made to hold creators. It was a graveyard of failure — of experiments too unstable, of ideas too wild, of dreams too lonely.
But Aryan Ved stood in its core, and for the first time in eons, the Drift **listened**.
He raised his hand, and the monolith marked *"To the One Who Comes After"* reacted. Symbols began glowing — not in any language he knew, but in truths he understood.
> "These are… the laws they followed," Aryan said.
> "Every reality has its rulebook," Light God replied. "This one just left the pages open."
He placed his palm on the structure.
**A surge of knowledge flooded him.**
Visions of universes that once lived. Some burned too fast. Others froze in thought. Some collapsed under their creators' egos. Some died of silence.
But one idea echoed in every fallen world:
> "Perfection was the enemy of life."
Aryan stepped back, breath heavy.
> "They tried to create flawless systems. That's why they failed."
> "And here you are," Light God said, now juggling mini-planets. "A flawed human, building a universe from broken hopes."
> "I need to design something… that can survive chaos. That can grow *because* of imperfection."
He turned to the ruins around him.
From the bones of old universes, Aryan began shaping new constants:
- **A variable time fabric** that could stretch and bend.
- **Moral entropy** that allowed civilizations to redefine good and evil.
- **Gravity with personality** — able to shift based on observation.
- A self-evolving algorithm called **E.M.B.E.R.** — Emotional Memory-Based Evolutionary Reflex.
> "This will be my legacy," Aryan whispered. "A universe with room to stumble."
Light God leaned in, mock-serious.
> "So what's your first law gonna be, oh mighty Architect? Thou shalt nap?"
Aryan smirked.
> "Law One: Life is allowed to question its maker."
Light God raised a brow.
> "Bold. Risky. Philosophically messy. I love it."
As Aryan finalized the core code, the Drift around him began to change. The dead pieces fused into scaffolds. Light bent into directions that didn't exist before.
A platform took shape.
A womb for something bigger.
The first **true multiverse seed** — a design that wouldn't repeat the past but remember it.
Aryan closed his eyes.
> "Let this be the place… where questions give birth to meaning."
And for the first time, the Drift stopped decaying.
It began to hope.
— End of Chapter 13