After the scream - 1 billion universes remaining

Peaceful, so peaceful.
The Lakes of Eternity always had this effect. Travelers could sit on the fine sand for millions of years without moving, enchanted by the tranquility of the place.

This influence was universal and did not discriminate by power level. Mortals, Eternals, and Monarchs were all equal in the face of this phenomenon. Mortals, however, had to be careful with their longevity, which could unconsciously and very quickly fade away.

Jason found himself sitting on the translucent sand.
He pulled out a flask from his coat and took a few sips of Eternity, his gaze lost in the lake's reflections.

Despite the serenity of the place, Jason pondered the words of the stranger sitting a few meters away. His project posed a dilemma for him. He had spent his entire life protecting others, even knowing that some were inherently bad people. He had lived this way his whole existence, but he wasn't sure he could continue. He had already lost everything and did not wish to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Nevertheless, he was aware that he couldn't stop their project. He would simply refrain from participating in any assassination missions proposed by the community.
He had vowed the day he died never to kill again, no matter the situation or the consequences.

So why be part of this community? Honestly, he didn't know himself. Orion, behind his childlike façade, was a powerful killer. For the guilty, there was only one end: death with no possibility of redemption. This was his approach when he was still a Monarch.
Jason didn't know Arden's past. However, Orion's declaration 'You have blood on your hands' said everything about him.
Then there was the humanoid creature sitting beside the Director. Jason didn't even know its race and wondered if it might be a Singularity. The creature exuded nothing but a sense of emptiness, leaving Jason no clue about its personality or past. Finally, there was the man who called himself the Director. Jason knew nothing about him except two things.
The Director was not human and was connected to the stranger who had appeared in their dream.
Jason felt this the moment the Director showed them his face. It was indeed a human face, but one thing set it apart from others.
Jason felt his body and soul vanish.
Seeing and remembering the Director's face was slowly killing him. The humanoid creature must have used some of its powers to erase the Director's face from his memory and those of everyone else present. He only remembered a general idea of the face.

His instinct told him to follow these people. He felt their futures were intertwined. Even though he had learned to be wary of his senses, he intended to stay to get answers to his questions.
'Who was the man who appeared in their dream?'
The question of his new powers was also important, but Jason knew finding the man should also teach him more about them.

Jason stood up.
The lake was indeed a paradise for travelers seeking calm and tranquility, but he wasn't there for that. The Director must have some information about the man and wouldn't answer his questions until his community was founded.

Once he finished his cup, Jason stood up and calmly announced:
"If we need to recruit Monarchs, then I know the best person to locate them."
No one responded.
No one accompanied him.
As he started to walk towards the portal, a murmur reached his ears. There was no one near Jason, just the lake and the fine sand at his feet. This murmur was neither the product of a gust of wind nor a human voice.

It was a dissonant, staccato sound like the wind of a sandstorm caressing the eroded stones of a forgotten desert. Jason couldn't define what he heard as a voice, but when he turned, he understood these "noises" came from the creature near the Director.

He discerned a few words:
"Cross
The
Portal."
Each syllable was heavy with melancholy, each pause a weighted silence expressing a sense of emptiness and endless solitude.

Perhaps out of respect for the tranquility of the place, the portal formed just outside the Lake of Eternity. It was a dazzling green, illuminating the void around it. It was man-sized and projected complex green light patterns into the darkness. At its center was an opaque vortex, seemingly containing a multitude of mysteries Jason couldn't decipher.

Before crossing the portal, Jason cast a quick glance at the metal enclosure a few meters away. Beyond the lack of life inside, Jason noticed that the structure itself seemed to be slowly disappearing, merging with the void. Jason estimated the structure would vanish entirely within ten hours. He could tell the phenomenon was unnatural, but nothing more.
He crossed the portal.
On the other side, Jason found himself in an entirely different universe.
Before him stood the capital of Voss, the largest empire he knew. It spanned hundreds, if not thousands, of universes. He wasn't sure since he hadn't followed their development, and it had been a long time since he had visited. A group of ten Monarchs ruled the empire, including the man Jason came to see.

The capital of such a colossal empire was often a jewel of everything the empire could offer in terms of technology and culture. But the Monarchs had unanimously chosen to preserve the planet as it was in the time of their ancestors.

Only the current Monarchs and their families lived on the planet. Most of their homes were so large that they had decided to build them in the sky, leaving the surface as a vestige of a distant era whose antiquity Jason couldn't imagine. But the Monarch of Will could, and that was the man Jason came to see.
A Monarch is eternal but not immortal. The only way for one to die is for another Monarch to kill them.

However, most Monarchs did not die in epic battles. They often decided, like Franck or Jason's mentor, to pass their title to a person or creature they deemed trustworthy. They relinquished it willingly, weary of their existence.

Jason could sense the presence of eight Monarchs on the planet and their families.
As he scanned the planet for the distinctive aura of the Monarch of Will, he gradually furrowed his brow.

There was no trace of his aura on the planet, only some residual traces indicating he had been there in the past. But these residues were fading. The man Jason sought had left the planet long ago and wouldn't return anytime soon given the decayed state of the residues testifying to their age.
Another possibility was that the Monarch of Will had become like them, a being transcending universes and their laws.