Void Evolution System

1794  Death's Hold [4]

If Damien had started creating like a normal person, he probably would've had a decent amount of time before people noticed his movements.

However, the change in Death's Hold was too big. The great tree was enough to attract attention from all corners of the island, and the fact that the forest itself became as large as a country even more.

Again, "change" wasn't a thing in this realm. The forest couldn't become anything it wasn't even if it had all the power in the world.

The only way to enact change in the Land of Nothingness was for an individual to actively do so.

Naturally, everyone was going to pay attention to the mysterious person who changed Death's Hold.

There were hundreds of "Noble Lords" on the second island. Most of them were reclusive and only focused on ways to find a way to the third island. They were the ones who bought land but did not use it.

Every Lord lived in a castle, but they were nothing more than squatters. The people who built those castles were gone. They already moved on from the second island, and their creations were mobbed by people who had been stuck here for many, many eons.

Damien was something of a new kid on the block. He didn't understand how the layers of society were decided. He didn't even know what the "stages of power" people created to mark their progress were.

He definitely had access to that information, but he didn't care.

What did it have to do with him?

All he needed to know was that some idiots who weren't good enough to do things on their own wanted to stop others from accomplishing things as well. They would be here to test him as soon as they could arrive.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the one they would be fighting. 'I want to see how they move.'

The battle tactics created in a place like this were bound to be interesting. Rather than experiencing them himself, Damien preferred to just watch from the sidelines for now.

After all, the current enemies weren't worth his time. He had more important things to worry about.

'Like the nature of my build.'

He pretty much knew what he wanted to do. In concept, it was a living home.

He wanted to create a creature with sentience that would serve as a guardian for the great tree. At the same time, he wanted something permanent that would be seen by all and recognized as a symbol of his existence.

When it came to the guardian part, he had several ideas. The problem was that he didn't know how to incorporate the latter half of his plan into the guardian forms he'd thought of. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Why was he thinking of making an abode that he would never live in?

Castles dominated this land so it was easy for his view to get clouded by the norm. He wanted to make something more "human." Something man-made that didn't seem like it appeared naturally.

Just like everyone else, he wanted to make his own mark on this forest.

He couldn't allow the black forest to remain a symbol of sorrow for Nonexistence. Instead, he wanted to turn it into a symbol of their unity so the concept could always look back and reaffirm that it was understood.

'Hmm…'

A house wasn't right no matter how he thought about it. It was a stupid idea that he couldn't understand.

Then, what could he build?

For humans, the way to mark their presence was to build statues or monuments. Either that or buildings with unique structures that also had uses in society.

When he didn't need money from tourism, statues were out of the question. Who was he supposed to build a statue of?

When he didn't need to give his structure any sort of practicality, buildings were not the answer either.

'I guess it comes down to that.'

In this stage of his life, given the kind of creative freedom that came from controlling such vague concepts, he started to form that kind of desire.

'I want to make something beautiful.'

He wanted to make art.

He scanned the forest with his eyes.

'Something that doesn't interfere with the forest, but makes it obvious that it's built, not bred.'

He just had to let his mind work naturally again.

Damien never had much symbolism around him. Void Palace had a symbol, as did almost all of the other influences he joined. However, he was not trying to represent those entities right now.

Dante told him just how much his name mattered right now. When he returned, when the Firmament Board came to him, he would need to have more confidence in that name than anything else.

'A symbol to represent me…'

What was it supposed to be?

He wasn't too good at this kind of thing. Damien knew what made up the core of his soul, however, he never really cared about how others perceived him.

A symbol only existed for others to perceive. For Damien to make something he was proud of, he first needed to decide what kind of person he wanted to present himself as.

'I'm not a tyrant.'

Not to the people who followed him. However, to those who opposed him, he was willing to be the cruelest person they ever dreamed of.

So he needed to show dominance and compassion at the same time.

It had to be a symbol that could be regarded with fear or worship depending on the lens it was viewed through.

'The color…'

It was quite important. People were quick to form subconscious biases off of color alone.

Black had always been associated with evil, right? But the pure blackness of Nonexistence wasn't evil in the slightest. It was misunderstood and misconstrued by association.

'White as a background would be most obvious, but I don't really like that.'

Damien had a new goal to make Nonexistence a concept as sacred as Existence in the eyes of the people. If so, then the stigmas associated with colors would change as well.

Void Palace's symbol also contained black as its main color, but it was seen as sleek and powerful rather than fearful.

He was already going to use black from the start. It wasn't just a color that represented Nonexistence, but one that represented the Void.

Purple was also an obvious choice. It symbolized his lineage. When he was young, his aura and mana were purple for a time as well. The color had deep connections to his roots, so obviously he was going to include it.

'Then…gold.'

It was for a bit more of a common reason than the rest. Gold was often a color used to represent regality, so he wanted subtle accents of it in the symbol.

And finally…

'...white.'

Not an extraneous amount. Just enough to make everything else pop.

Everything about this symbol had to mean something to Damien just as much as it meant something to others.

The colors were set. The shape and the design still had to be decided.

Watching Damien struggle in his artistic endeavors was fun, but there was definitely something more interesting to pay attention to.

Currently, on the border of Death's Hold, three people stood and faced its darkness.

They were the first of many invaders to come.

And, more importantly, they were the ones who'd show Damien how people who had only been using Nonexistence for millions of years at the very least fought.