The Legend of Axiom

If you asked his friends, most people would say that he was a bit 'mysterious'. On the surface, he lived a rather mediocre life. He graduated from high school and joined the workforce rather young. It wasn't his hobbies or interest that made people think he hid a secret. It was his temperament.

He gave off the impression that he wasn't normal. It was as if he was pretending in all his social interactions. There was a 'mask' over his real self. This was just the impression he gave people.

The truth was...

He wasn't normal at all!

It happened a decade ago. He was getting ready for bed and all of a sudden his soul entangled itself with an alternate version of himself. This 'other self' was a scientist that had gone mad from peeking into the realm of gods. They had spent years creating a device they called the 'singularity'.

They called the assimilation of all reality as the pinnacle of humanity and the birth of enlightenment.

"If you do this. You will destroy all of reality..."

"They don't care about mere ants. Those monsters just want to consume ALL!"

His other self activated the gateway to the other side. As various eldritch entities attempted to invade his world and reality. Their mere presence caused spatial turbulence.

This is when something happened that would forever change Anon.

A dark energy explosion went off and his 'other self' died. But a imprint followed the connection between his entangled soul and the deceased and affected his body in another universe.

His universe!

He began to bleed from every orifice on his face. He lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness he found he was without form and was in some sort of void.

Inside of this space was a spiritual world that had no connection with reality. It turns out the collapse of the reality he created the singularity in broke the bond between soul and body for every existence within.

But this made him wonder...

Why was he lucid? Did it have to do with his entangled state or some deeper secret? Was this his afterlife? He was completely surrounded in soul fragments.

His soul was broken and was lost among the infinity of this space.

He named this spiritual space his domain. Here. He was the 'ruler' as he controlled the rules. He slowly and methodically started to consume other soul fragments.

With every passing moment. He was gaining random memories of those from his universe. This included alien races. But things were too fragmented and unorganized that he didn't gain anything remotely close to useful.

After spending centuries in this space.

He had consumed millions of soul fragments.

After thousands of years...

Billions.

But it was like a drop in the ocean. But within this mere drop of information. He pieced together the fragments of his alternate self and understood more and more about the other side.

He realized that his current state was the 'pinnacle' of enlightenment that his alternate self sacrificed everything to create. In other words, he had made a wedding dress for himself.

Despite putting in none of the work. He had gained all the perks and benefits that should've belonged to his alternate self.

But now he had lived for thousands of years in this space alone with nothing but foreign memories. He was growing tired and he felt his spirit was reaching a limit.

He looked through his theories and realized that the gateway to the other side had fused with his consciousness. It was deeply hidden in his mind. But with enough digging. He unearthed a colorful hourglass.

This was like the 'key' that gave him control over this space.

Once he realized this. He started a special plan.

"Operation Revival."

He found that since he controlled the rules of this space. He could 'craft' his soul once more using the knowledge he had amassed.

Make no mistake. He was no longer ordinary. The centuries spent in isolation had caused him to go through cycles of sanity and clarity. He had long grown bored with such madness.

"I must understand the connection between body and soul. The connection between real and fake. Transforming the false into true. If I can do this. I can perform supernatural actions effortlessly."

"Immortality..."

"Teleportation..."

"Invulnerability..."

"Telekinesis..."

"Super speed..."

Anon felt the possibilities were endless. But he encountered a problem right away. As he crafted his soul and the mechanics of his powers.

He didn't revive!

The soul became unstable and shattered like glass.

"I knew it couldn't have been so easy!" This setback ignited the competitive side of Anon.

Decades went by and failure after failure.

Anon felt himself becoming more dull. Slower...

"I'm running out of time..."

While he lacked a body and relied on his fusion with the artifact to retain consciousness. His spirit was becoming 'dusty'. It was like stagnant water.

He would become a fool if he delayed too much longer.

"The main issue is that my universe cannot support these supernatural powers, even if they come from the soul."

"So instead of using soul power. I have to do something else..."

"I need to create something with infinite growth potential. If my reality can't support the supernatural power. I must BECOME the system!"

Anon knew nothing about reality. He had a great understanding of his space. But that was all. It was unrealistic to warp all of reality as he knew it.

But then he had an idea.

"It'll be like slowly raising the temperature and boiling a frog to death. I'll add the supernatural slowly over time. I'll create a world where people have no choice but to accept the system!"

"But what if I die? What I am doing will take thousands of years..."

"I need immortality. But even my current state isn't immortal. How do I become an everlasting being?"

Anon thought about the webnovels and books he had read.

"A cheat..."

"I need an unfair advantage. This space is external. If I want to come back to life. I will have to abandon it."

"Once I leave. There is no coming back. I will have to discard my domain and become 'locked in' with the changes I have made."

"How about instead of a super power. I make a conceptual rule that'll be attached not to my soul. But to the state of my being..."

"But what sort of 'rule' should I create?"

Anon looked at the hourglass in his sea of consciousness.

"I can take this with me... but without my domain. It'll lose most functionality..."

Anon hadn't discovered every secret regarding his artifact. But he knew that it allowed his consciousness to think and control this space.

"If I make a declaration and attach it to this artifact. I'll carry the power into reality!"

"What should I declare?"

"I am immortal!"

The ocean of soul fragments started to invade his consciousness as he felt himself becoming assimilated. He had to cut off the declaration. Immortality as it turned out was too demanding in terms of laws.

"I am timeless!"

The ocean of fragments invaded his consciousness. He could just barely maintain his mind as he felt an anchor appear. His artifact resonated in 'joy'.

"It is done! But I feel I have room for improvement..."

Anon realized if he made another declaration. It would overwrite his previous one. But he felt that the hourglass was special. This artifact seemed to have some innate ability. But it was deeply hidden within.

He couldn't see what it was.

But he could faintly feel it had something to do with time.

"Now I just need to make my soul and leave this place!"

"I can't do powerful supernatural abilities. But for my plan. I need to create a system origin."

Anon planned on making his soul the processor of the system he would bring into reality.