When Arden traveled into the Golden Stargate, he was expecting visuals similar to the stargate entering and leaving the Mausoleum of the Maverick. The visuals from then were like if an epileptic person dropped LSD and went to a rave. What he saw now was the complete opposite. There were no striking visuals, no sense of discomfort, nothing. But after everything that had happened so far, and what he pessimistically believed would happen in his trial, Arden was pleased to have a break of nothingness.

  The other side of the stargate was just as empty as the stargate itself. The only thing there was an infinite horizon of darkness. There was no ground, no sky, just a dark nothingness. Even in the black void, Arden could see just fine. To test his vision, he brought his hands in front of his face. As he could make out the features, he could extrapolate that the void was black, but not dark. As he did so, he saw his skin split in countless places. Within seconds, his skin looked like a seismic activity hotspot with black cracks scouring his body. Oddly enough, there was no pain though.

  “Are you kidding me?” Arden groaned, sounding more indifferent than angry. “I'm a husk now as well?”

  He lowered himself to the ground in a crouch, placed his hands on his head and yelled.

  “Aghhhhhh! The trial hasn't even started yet! Why the hell am I already being punished!?”

  As soon as he spoke, his Status appeared in front of him displaying his information. After a second, the words changed, and Arden realized that his Status was talking to him.

  Quiet down, shithead. Good people are trying to sleep. Some people work in the morning.

  Arden’s tantrum ended early, having been scolded by his own Status.

  “Okay…this wasn't what I was expecting. I didn't think my Status would talk like an asshole.”

  Oh, I'm sorry. Does this conversation not stimulate you as you wanted? Forgive me, I've been acting as the secretary for a dying god, so I thought I'd have to dumb it down by several million degrees. Do you want me to dumb it down even lower, dickslab?

  “I want you to shut up.”

  How come no one asks me what I want? I think I deserve a reward after waiting for so long. I want your sister, oiled up and naked.

  Arden fist flew through the Status and didn't stop. It carried on right through the projection, hitting nothing.

  Ooh, I struck a nerve didn't I? Good. You should learn to eat shit, half-husk. It's fitting for you. You could learn a lot from following the dung beetle’s example.

  ‘Wow,’ Arden said, shaking with clenched fists. ‘Can I kill this thing? Surely it can't be harder to kill than Other-Me.’

  Think again, dead man. I am the administrator of the entire Starborn System. All of you insane bastards go through me. Of course, only a select few are honored with my noble presence. To date, only two have been able to bear witness to my glory. One was a hot babe, and the other is the walking disappointment in front of me.

  “Did she get the same treatment I’m getting?” Arden asked, already knowing that the Status was referring to Vera

  Hell no, turdling. I’m a gentleman. I treated her with the utmost respect. She was someone who was able to shut down and resolve a paradox.

  “I did the same thing!”

  She did it in far less time than you did, scrote-sack. She’s also got a great ass. So between someone who almost caused the end of the universe, and a chick who did the same but cleaned it up much faster and she’s got a fat ass, I’m choosing the latter.

  Arden couldn't argue with that. Other-Vera manifested a week later than Other-Arden, and she left before Other-Arden did. Plus, he had to admit that Vera’s figure was far superior.

  If it makes you feel better, she was batshit crazy. Though from my perspective, all Starborn are demonstrably insane.

  “Hey, I think I’m pretty good,” Arden said defensively.

  Bullshit. You had the power of the lost Archon of Eternity, and you didn’t even use it to win fights up until recently. You used it to heal after every dick flattening that the arrogant kiln gave you. After you resolved the problem with your other self, you barely stuck around before jumping into the stargate. Most people would spend more time with their loved ones.

  “My loved ones were with me in that building, or in a trial of their own. Don’t give me that crap.”

  Then there’s the rest of your kind. Who the hell thinks that going out and hunting monsters is more reasonable than a retail job, or any other job without a chance of getting smeared across time and space? It's insane. Little kids look up to Starborn and dream to become like them too, to put themselves in mortal danger. I honestly don’t know which is worse, the Starborn who put the ideas of heroism into the mind of the impressionable public so that it gets them killed, or the idiots of humanity who blindly follow them.

  “Don’t look at me,” Arden said. “I couldn’t care less about heroism. That shit is for people who have lived a good life and want to see how quickly it comes to a violent end. I’m in this for the powers and the money.”

  For a few seconds, the Status only showed ellipses. Eventually, it spoke to Arden again.

  I guess you aren't as crazy as you seem. The lure of transcendental power is hard to resist. It is the imperative of lower life forms to seek out power and fuck both people and situations.

  “Can you stop being so annoying?”

  I can be more annoying.

  Arden pinched his nose and took a deep breath. He could swear the previous message was written in comic sans. He didn’t like the personality, but he only had to last until he began his trial. He refused to be beaten by something without a physical body.

  “Why are you here?” Arden asked. “Why can’t you just send me into my trial?”

  Because you are someone who fulfilled the esoteric conditions of the system. The impossible is not what can't happen, but what shouldn't happen. You resolved a paradox, an impossibility that shouldn't have happened. The creator made the Starborn system with the goal of raising an army strong enough to defeat an impossible being. However, the only thing that can beat the impossible, is another impossibility.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Does that mean that all Starborn are weak?”

  Not weak per se, just limited. The world would end ahead of schedule if every fuckwit with a little bit of power and a massive messiah complex had the power to change the nature of reality. They have a limit that they can’t advance past without help from the outside. That was when the creator added the conditions that anyone who is paradoxical in nature, or resolves a paradox is immediately granted the chance to become a paradoxical Starborn. You have fulfilled both conditions. Both you, and that sexy piece of ass.

  “I’m not a paradox, though,” Arden said, trying not to be angered by the rampant objectification of Vera. “I only resolved one.”

  That’s not true. Yes, you resolved the paradox of your previous self existing in your world, but you did more than that. Your previous self should not have existed in your world. When you used your Legacy Ability, you absorbed him into yourself. Assimilated. Yet to have assimilated with something is to know something. You have partaken of his paradoxical existence and became a paradox yourself, and that's just the start. That was the first way you became paradoxical.

  “There is more?”

  Damn right, turdling.

  “You used that one already.”

  Trust me, you're worth being called a turdling twice, turdling. Perhaps three times, even. Although you would be a shitling at that point. Anyway, the second reason. Other-You had the Legacy of Life when you absorbed him, as you know. That's part of you now. However, a mortal cannot contain the divinity of two Archons, especially when their affinities are polar opposites like life and eternity.

  “Eternity and life seem like they'd go hand and hand. All of the human experience can be described by saying that people wanted to live forever.”

  Are you an idiot? Did the sweet sweet scent of sweet sweet sexy muscle girl sweat rot your brain? Don't get me wrong, I get it, but you couldn't be more wrong. Life is anathema to eternity, because a life is destined to end. Life isn’t just the Archon’s name, its existence is defined by life. Life encompasses all stages of life, including death.

  “That makes sense, actually.”

  So Life and Beyond aren’t on good terms, and neither are their powers. That's why the Legacies were removed.

  “That’s why I’m a husk now,” Arden realized. “What is a husk? That way I know whether I should be angry or not.”

  You’re going to be pissed either way. Husks are the empty vessels that once contained greatness. When the Legacy leaves, the host is fundamentally broken. Their soul is made immortal as they contain the traces of divinity.

  “Okay,” Arden began. “That doesn’t sound too much worse than before. I was already functionally immortal.”

  When you had the Legacy of Beyond, it was a blessing. Now, it will be a curse. You won’t be able to heal grievous wounds like before. If your body is destroyed, your soul will inhabit its remains eternally. Take what happened in the stargate. You were burnt to a crisp by the Maverick. If that happens now, there is no getting out of it. You will be bound to your ashes with full mental control, but that will make everything worse.

  “And you took it away!?” Arden raged. “Is there a way I can return to being a human?”

  There are two options. The Legacies can be combined into something new, or you leave the Legacies behind forever. Spoiler alert, you want the former. However, you can’t do either until you complete the trial.

  “Why would I choose the first option if the new Legacy can be taken away like they were just now?”

  The Legacies are able to be taken and given away by those who the power originates from, or by me. The powers weren’t yours. They belonged to legendary beings, the Archons Beyond and Life, as you know. However, should the Legacies combine into a new power it will be entirely yours. It won’t be borrowed power. It will be your power. Arden’s power. You will be an Archon.

  Arden thought about the proposition, but not for long. The promise of incredible power that couldn’t be taken away was alluring. He nodded his head, making his decision.

  “Alright. I like the deal. Plus, it wouldn’t make sense for a paradoxical being to have a basic power. But, I'd like to know something before my trial begins. What is an Archon? And what's a Sovereign for that matter?”

  I can’t tell you that.

  “Come on, you told me about husks, and how to evolve the Legacy Abilities, why can’t you tell me about these things?”

  Because you are not strong enough. You only know that they exist, not what they are. I am only allowed to tell you the workings of the world, not the world itself, unless you have a personal stake in the matter. Like a husk.

  “So I'll have to learn about these things myself?”

  Yes. But don’t worry. Should you become a Starborn, you will be able to learn about them. A new world will open to you, very soon.

  “And what about the impossible enemy that we were made to defeat? Can you tell me about that?”

  Only a little, because your world knows very little about it. The unbeatable enemy is like an infection, spreading through people, cutting off hope of ever getting stronger.

  Arden paused.

  “The Blight?”

  Correct. That is all I can say for now. Learn more on your own, and we can talk about it more during your second trial when you try to become an orange-tier Starborn. If you survive, that is.

  Arden digested this new information. He had known the Blight was dangerous. His sister was a Blight Walker, after all. Even the doppelganger had said that the Blight destroyed his original world. The surprising thing was that the Starborn were created with the purpose of destroying the Blight. Ever since the StarFall, people had wanted to know why the Starborn System existed, and now the Status was just straight up giving him the answers.

  ‘Guess that’s a perk of being a paradox now.’

  “Do I get any hints or tips for the trial?”

  Nope. This is a trial, not a walkthrough. No tips or tricks. You get a lightshow, though.

  As soon as the Status replied to Arden, a countless amount of small lights dotted the empty void. Every light was a different size, and every one of them was one of three colors; red, orange, and yellow.

  The realization hit Arden like a collapsing building.

  Each of the nodes of light represented a Starborn.

  More motes of light appeared, turning the empty void into a great cosmic map. Arden looked around in awe at the abject splendor of the heavenly space surrounding him, and he swore he was hearing a heavenly orchestra. The colors washed over the space. No longer was this place devoid of everything.

  The stars danced around the horizon, each one painting a picture of struggle, hope and survival.

  The stars flew past Arden one by one. Each time one did, he was enamored at the sight. He had never really been an optimistic person thanks to his experiences over the past few years. But as the stars flew by, Arden felt a part of his cynicism dissolve. The stars kept moving, each one arresting Arden's attention for a moment before it flew away at the speed of light. Reds were the most common, and oranges were occasional. Very rarely did a yellow appear, but once one did, Arden was nearly blinded by the light.

  The celestial cycle slowed down, and a weak red star stopped in front of him.

  Arden reached out to touch the star, his star. In the cold vacuum of space, Arden felt warm in his star's presence. It comforted him in a way that not even the yellow stars could.

  His Status appeared once more.

  This is it. Your star. Complete your trial, and it will take its place inside you, and you will take your place among the stars.

  Arden nodded his head, and swallowed. It felt like there was a lump in the back of his throat.

  “I'm ready,” he said in a hushed tone.

  The red star slowly grew in size until it completely dwarfed Arden. The red color washed out and was replaced with green, blue, and brown.

  A planet.

  Arden’s perspective rushed forward to the planet's surface. As he grew closer, he noticed that the continents were alien to him. There were almost no similar elements to Earth. He approached the surface with the speed of a meteor. He raced over a mountain range, past grasslands, and came to a stop over a grand, but ruined castle.

  Aspirant! Your trial now begins! Good luck, and may the Lone Star light your way!