Odyssey of the Blind God

No matter how Nial looked at the map, it was way too small. If he were to compare it to the known Universe starting from the Origin, the map he was currently looking at should be a third, or maybe a quarter in size, comparatively.

That was a little confusing because the Map shouldn't show the entire Universe. In fact, Nial knew that the Universe he came from was already considered rather small because it was so young and still expanding. That was also why Nial began to doubt that he was in a different Universe but that there was something else he had to take into consideration.

"Why is the area in the north and west of the map marked black, while the area all over the eastern and southern part of the map is grayed with various specific marks?" Nial asked, figuring that there was more to the eye than one could read from the map. In fact, the grayed-out part was something that looked a little familiar to something he had seen in the past.

The Grand Elder had already expected this question. Thus, he answered it without a dramatic pause or anything of that sort.

"Black means that there is empty space no matter how far you travel. There might actually be something if you go far enough, but good luck finding something after traveling for who knows how long. A few explorers went out to take a look at the situation out there several centuries ago and the information with which they came back was the usual stuff. They traveled with the fast space shuttles for a total of two hundred years in one direction, just to find nothing. You may not know how fast we can travel through space…but it's quite fast.

I guess that you came from somewhere in this black area, though I don't know where exactly, obviously."

Nial nodded his head in understanding. He would have guessed the same as the Grand Elder. There may be a bunch of stellar systems out there in the black area but colonizing them is not actually worth it as long as their population is not overcrowding the space of their territory.

The Demihumans used a similar principle to mark the outer 'empty' space of the Universe as Nial recalled from the Origin and the maps he had seen of the known Universe. However, there had been many areas that were marked differently and not black. Some areas in the known Universe of the Origin had disappeared according to the ancient texts of history. Interestingly enough, it was not possible to visit the empty space where several stellar systems seemed to have disappeared.

The reason for their disappearance was also unknown. That was why Nial had thought that the Demihumans came from one of these mysterious disappearances. However, that didn't seem to be quite right anymore.

"If the black area is the 'empty' space that marks the end of the Universe, what exactly is the grayed-out area? There are quite a few marks in the grayed-out area, with some of them sounding like materials such as the names of ores, plants, and so on," Nial asked, very interested in the grayed-out area.

It might be a fact that the Demihumans and every other race that may or may not be living in this Universe, or part of the Universe, were not a part of the mysterious disappearance of entire galaxies, but that didn't mean Nial gave up his hope. He was still hoping that the Origin and the territory of the Demihumans belonged to the same Universe. That would make things so much easier!

"The grayed-out area is what we call the Meteor-Ring and Meteorfield. It's a humongous area where various monsters and possibly other existences live. The monsters and other beings are living in the orbit of massive meteors, and it is pretty difficult, or rather close to impossible to travel through them. After all, the monsters are too strong to handle the further you travel through the Meteor field. It's quite dangerous," The Grand Elder explained before adding, "However, we're also getting some of our most important resources from the Meteorfield. The marked areas are the planets and places we can find various materials!"

Nial nodded, less interested in the resources that could be procured in the orbit of meteors, but more intrigued about the existence of the 'Meteor field'.

"So there might be something behind the Meteor field, maybe even my Universe…" Nial mumbled to himself, deep in thought.

The more he thought about it the more sense it made. In fact, he was pretty sure that he recalled the unknown part of the Universe being hidden through an orbit of meteorites and planets where some Beast Gods and other existences that were just as strong were said to live.

Memories he never thought to know resurfaced in his mind, and a small smile surfaced on his lips as the pieces of the puzzle were slowly pulled together.

He clearly recalled that there were unknown parts of the Universe that were simply too dangerous to travel through, even for Ancient God. Maybe it was a little bit different for Primordials and Ancients, but the Grand Elder's words were genuine when he said that he didn't know anything about Primordials.

That either meant the Primordials were not interested in the unknown parts of the Universe, that they couldn't enter them, or that there were other things to take into consideration, things Nial had yet to find out.

"You think that your home lays behind the Meteor field?" The Grand Elder asked, not too sure about Nial's assumption. In his opinion, it was a lot easier to have been teleported to a different Universe, Realm, or Dimension than coming from behind the Meteor Field. After all, it was not possible for them to create means of instant teleportation.

Thinking about this, the Grand Elder was getting suspicious.

"How was it even possible for you to end up here, in the first place?" He thus asked, just for Nial to repeat himself once again.

"I was teleported in here by accident. I think the Spectran wanted to rescue Bella but ended up releasing his Divinity because I interfered in his plan. The Origin went awry then, turning everything into a mess."

"Is that so…"