To an Absolute, it was perceived like that.
It felt like just moments ago, his youngest daughter was just seven years old. Peace was still young and every day felt like a refreshing breath of air.
However, that was just a faded memory. All of their perspectives of life back then were just dreams in his mind, things he saw from his omniscient point of view.
It had already been a thousand years since then. Life had already moved on.
It wasn't as if those people and memories were gone. This was a world where people were not forced to remain mortal, especially those with talent. How were Damien's kids supposed to be untalented?
They were still alive and well. He could visit them whenever he wanted to check up on them, and their family of course gathered every few years.
It wasn't the same anymore. In a thousand years, Damien's status changed immensely.
All of his children grew up to be Godly Entities. His wives also revealed themselves to the cosmos as the hidden leaders behind its greatest organizations. He and his wives still lived in the same house they raised their children in, but only he and Rose were really maintaining this mundane lifestyle.
He didn't have a problem with it. He still enjoyed the calm and there was still much he could do if he so had the desire.
However, even on a day , even when their family was all together, he couldn't stop looking at the stars and wondering about what kind of horizons lay beyond them.
What remained for a man who reached the Void? Truly, what was there left to do?
The answer was as simple as it seemed. For those who reached the absolute peak, there was nothing left. For that reason, Damien did not consider becoming Absolute his only goal. It was merely a protection so he could do everything else with peace.
He was able to experience happiness in eternity unlike the Worldwalker, but that was not to say he was entirely happy.
At the end of the day, he was a man who fell in love with work. He lived two centuries of his life, a period that felt like thousands of years, constantly moving from one goal to the next.
His family was here now. His children grew up and introduced him to his grandchildren. His grandchildren grew up and introduced him to their children. As the cycle continued, he no longer felt the same spark that kept him going for all this time.
Everyone was living their own lives. He was happy to spend more and more time with his wives. He knew he would never get tired of this peace no matter how much time passed.
However, there was an ache in his heart. An ache that nobody else could understand.
It was nighttime now. The day's events had ended and everyone else had already left. He found himself alone, entertaining thoughts that nobody else could fathom.
Yes, they were forced to admit that they could not fathom his thoughts even after all of them had ascended beyond the Supreme God level, but they could still understand him.
That look on his face was one they knew well.
After all, it was that same look on his face that he'd had for many centuries as he stared at the same sky. How could they not know it?
Damien stayed on this plane because he wanted to spend time with them. He wanted to see his children grow up and he wanted to be a father to them and a grandfather to his grandkids.
However, it was past that now.
It had been too long. He was God on this planet and something even greater on the cosmic scale. With the passing of hundreds of years, the separation between him and the newest generation of his bloodline was too wide to even consider measuring.
Naturally, they were still present. Everyone that Damien invited to this realm was still here, and they would often come visit.
Yet, even they could see it.
This life was not the end Damien wanted to see.
Rose smiled wryly as she watched him. It felt strange to say, but…
He had spent enough time here.
Wasn't it about time he focused on the horizon he could never stop admiring no matter how much time passed?
It was unknown who said it, and it was unknown when they decided to approach him, but it didn't matter. All four of them were of the same mind about this matter.
"Pardon?" Damien asked.
Rose smiled and stepped forward.
"Go. We know just how much you yearn for the things the rest of us cannot see. You've been considerate enough, so don't feel burdened by us and go."
"I was never being considerate, Rose. You know I truly–"
She cut him off, not allowing him to contest her.
"I know it isn't anything like that, but still. Even if you don't want to admit it, it pains you to limit yourself to stay here, doesn't it? Just as much as you want it for us, we want you to be happy. You've succeeded in making us eternally happy all this time. Now, isn't it time for us to do the same for you? For the first time in centuries, go explore that beautiful horizon once more."
She looked back at her sisters, who nodded to support her.
"In the end, no matter what, you'll return to us, won't you?"
Damien looked at her with widened eyes. His confusion melted rapidly as he processed her words, and the expression on his face slowly shifted into a heartfelt smile.
He'd been caught red-handed, but he couldn't be mad about it. Who could ever get mad about having such supportive wives?
Yes, there was something he wanted to see. A place where he could only go alone.
He withheld himself for a long time, but perhaps…it was finally time?
He looked between them. Rose, Ruyue, Elena, and Iris, the four women who would accompany him for eternity.
"Of course. No matter what, I'll always find my way home."
The day when he was truly separated from them would never come.
He hugged them sincerely, transmitting the weight of his love for them through his embrace.
And, with his wives as the only witnesses, he stepped forward and bid his farewells to this world.
Finally, as it had been craving ever since that moment, his body was able to ascend to its rightful place.
A place that was truly beyond anyone and anything else.
Damien felt a pull that he could not resist, a rampant desire that brought him into the Void.
This was not a location to him, but a part of his own body. It was where he felt most comfortable, and it was where the claustrophobic feeling of containing himself disappeared.
The Void was all things, yet, it was also the foundation on which every Cosmos was built. It was filled with a myriad of different energies, cultures, and worlds to explore.
Yet, Damien was able to experience it all in a single instant. He learned everything, explored the connections between everything, and understood the very patterns that defined the Void in its truest state.
He felt the passing of time only through the time he spent in the many different cosmos. These travels allowed him to understand what the Worldwalker experienced, and he found joy in the same thrill.
It truly was beautiful. All of their differences and all of their similarities were truly magnificent. Every time Damien entered a new world and experienced a new culture, his omniscience faded into the background and he truly felt like a traveler who was learning everything as he experienced it.
But it was still a shame.
The Worldwalker was dead, leaving Damien as the only person who could ever experience this feeling.
He earnestly wished that another would appear. Paying special attention to the Void's Supremes, he waited for the day that one of them crossed the final boundary.
That was when he heard it.
In some random cosmos in the middle of nowhere, while observing a battle between its greatest entities, perhaps eons or maybe only a few seconds after his own ascension, he heard it.
A "Sound" in the Void.
A sound in the Void that should not have been possible.
His ears perked up. He immediately dropped everything he was doing and rushed to its source.
For it was a moment that he had been long awaiting…
…and a sign of something spectacular.