Sett shielded his eyes by instinct from the bright dome that had suddenly appeared right in front of him. It was brighter than even the sun and the power that radiated from it was incredible and forceful, but it did not feel hostile. In fact, the opposite was true. It felt comforting, like the welcoming rays of the sun on the first day of spring.
Although it was the power of light, it felt wholly different from the light spells that the crusaders used. Not only was it much more powerful than anything Sett had ever seen the crusaders use, but it also felt more whole, more complete. It was as if whoever was behind this spell knew the true meaning of the light element, while the crusaders had only been stumbling around like children.
His eyes finally got used to the light after a couple of seconds. The wave of monsters that had been charging at him only a moment ago, was now shirking away from the light with what Sett imagined to be frightened expressions on their strange faces.
Sett understood why they were frightened. Some of their fellow monsters had not been so lucky as to stop before they reached the light. Instead, they had plunged directly into it. Unlike Sett, who could easily stand within the light dome without any trouble, these monsters could clearly not stand the light.
They screeched out in intense pain, their limbs flailing and shivering as they tried to gather the strength to escape. The black substance that they excreted had begun to boil the moment that it touched the light, which in turn clearly hurt the monster and stunned them.
But even their screams did not last long. Only a couple of seconds after entering the field of light, the monsters fell on the ground devoid of life.
Sett sighed in relief, offering a silent prayer of thanks to whomever his saviour might be.
His relief, however, did not last long. More and more monsters arrived before the light dome, surrounding it from all sides. What was worse, was that the light dome that he had initially thought to be impenetrable, slowly began to weaken. With every monster that was slain by the light, the light would weaken bit by bit. He was safe, but it was only for the moment.
“Kryaz go’lyaz!”
The large monstrosity in the centre of the fake Seventh Eden yelled out in anger in its strange language.
The monsters, that had stopped before the light dome, suddenly had their expressions changed greatly. The intelligent glint that existed in their eyes faded away as the words of the greater monster passed over them.
With unrelenting fury, they cast themselves on the light barrier, completely disregarding the injuries that they incurred by doing so.
“Child of Selt’Artek…” The voice that had accompanied the light dome sounded out within his mind again, this time it was clearly far more strained. “Flee… Now… I cannot… hold.”
Even without the voice of the woman reminding him, Sett knew that his time in this place was almost over. If he could not flee, he would die. It was as simple as that.
Sett immediately gathered his mind’s eye and looked inwards, trying to find something in his body that could help him flee or survive. His essence was largely useless. As he was beneath the first tier of ascendancy, he could not even summon and command his essence outside his body. At most, it would make his physical body quite a bit stronger, but that was largely a moot point in front of these brute monsters.
There was only one thing in his entire body that could possibly help him. The Divine Seed that he had gotten from Selt. He did not know why or how but could only place his hopes on this one thing.
Finally, his mind’s eye fell on the seed. Till now, Sett had never seen it react in any kind of way, but now the seed was lit up clearly agitated by something.
Feeling a faint shiver of hope at the sight of the seed that had lit up like a Christmas ornament, Sett immediately decided that it was his last hope. Without care or thought, Sett dumped all the essence in his body and focused with all his might on the seed, leaving him with less power than an infant and completely unaware of what was going on outside his body.
As his essence entered the seed, Sett felt a resistance. Something that should not have been there. Whatever it was wrestled with him for control over the seed, not willing to give up the path to divinity.
“Go’lyaz!!!”
The monstrosity became more and more agitated as time went on. Despite nothing indicating that something was wrong on its side, it became more distressed for seemingly no reason. Without regard for its minions’ lives, it even ordered some of the bigger monsters in the flood to assault the light barrier.
Cracks began to appear on the light barrier. Time was ticking by and it would soon be over.
Sett unaware that the monstrosity had doubled its efforts, was still immersed in his battle of dominion over the seed.
He almost had it! Whatever had assaulted his seed was losing control bit by bit. Just a bit more. Sett assaulted the foreign force without caring for the intense migraine that ploughed through his head. He focused so much that the veins on his forehead began popping out.
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*CRACK*
With a crisp sound the light barrier was torn open, and the ravenous black flood entered it, their claws stretching out and reaching for Sett.
*Crack*
Another lesser crack was heard, but this one was not from the light barrier. No, this came from Sett’s body. His divine seed to be specific. He had won. Whoever had gained control of the seed had retreated and left the seed in Sett’s hands.
As the seed calmed down and its light diminished, he felt his consciousness being whisked away. Like the wind, he departed the horrible domain, narrowly dodging the many claws that came his way, and returned to whence he came.
The last thing he saw before his consciousness faded was a small light in the distance. Beneath the tentacles and appendages of monstrous monster, a single bright source of light remained in this dreary world.
‘Child of Selt’Artek. Save me, save the world.’
Then, he was gone from the world.
In the real Seventh Eden, Sett suddenly shot up from his bed, his body covered in sweat and his breathing laboured. Without wasting a single moment, he touched himself all over and looked around the room in a panicked fluster.
Was it really only a nightmare or was it something more?
‘Selt!’
Without sparing a moment, Sett yelled for Selt, his walking encyclopaedia in all things strange and magical.
‘Yes, mine kindred.’ Selt’s emotionless voice replied soon after. ‘What has brought you such great fluster?’
Sett rejoiced in his mind. Selt was back. In the time since he harmonized with Selt, he had not come to realize just how much he relied on the connection between the two. At first, he had been afraid of having the former god permanently in his head, but now the mere notion of not having his conversation partner left him shivering.
With another sigh of relief, Sett quickly began to retell the tale of what had just happened to him. He explained how the nightmares had started, the strange point of light that had brought him into the fake Seventh Eden, the monsters, and the light that had saved him.
For the entire time that Sett spent retelling the nightmare, Selt was silent, but Sett could tell that the old god’s feelings were rampaging.
‘I have been negligent and brought you into great danger, mine kindred.’ Selt sounded deeply saddened. ‘I had never thought that luck would be such a cruel mistress. What you have seen and faced should never have happened. It is against the laws of our world and yet you would be unfortunate enough to face such abhorrent monsters.’
‘So, it was all real?’
‘It is highly likely.’ Selt affirmed Sett’s worst nightmare. ‘The place that you described is likely to be another reality. One that is closely related to dreams, which is partially why you ended up there. Your divine seed can see into the darkest dreams of all things, which is where your connection to the place lies. We will have to exercise your control of the seed lest you lose control again.’
‘And the monsters?’
The monsters had made a grand impression on Sett, making them hardly forgettable. If he were to be dragged into that place again, he at least wanted to know what he was up against.
‘These monsters as you call them are an intelligent hive-mind species known throughout many realities as the Sharel. The Sharel is an ever-evolving race. While they are able to be reasoned with, all that matters to them is growing their hive and themselves. A goal that is largely achieved through devouring others. If given enough sustenance to grow, they will eventually rampage and devour the world itself, leaving nothing behind.’
Sett paused. Selt’s words sounded very ominous, but something did not quite add up. If they were so dangerous, how come he had never heard about them before.
‘How have I never heard about them?’
‘Remember how I told you about the other reality?’ Selt asked a rhetorical question. ‘Their kind lives in that very realm. Normally, it is too far removed from our own reality for them to interact with us and we would never come into contact with them. Yet somehow, they have reduced the distance between our two realities greatly. If it is truly as you say and one of their queens have awakened, I fear that it is only a matter of time before the entirety of Gliese Prime would suffer under the Sharel’s unceasing hunger.’
An image of the black flood of strange monsters rampaging through the cities of Gliese Prime appeared in Sett’s head, with each human dead the black tide would grow ever bigger. Neither typical weaponry nor ascendants would be able to do anything to stop the tide of hunger once it began. It was an image that could not be allowed to come to fruition.
‘How do we stop it?’
‘How else.’ Selt released a dry laughter. ‘The only thing that the Sharel will recognize is strength. They will either fight and grow or fight and die. There is no other option. If you wish to rid yourself of a hive, the cleansing fire is the only way.’
Sett grimaced. He did not like this answer. While the enemy was indeed hostile, they were still intelligent and capable of thought. As a former normal civilizing human, Sett did not like the thought of dooming thousands upon thousands of creatures to death. Fighting in self-defense was one thing, but actively seeking their death was entirely different. Did he feel like a coward for thinking that way? Yes. But that did not stop him from wishing that there was some other way.
‘What about the woman?’
Not wishing to think any further about the matter of mass-murdering an entire race, Sett decided to ask about the woman he had briefly interacted with within the dream world.
‘A woman of light, you say. Perhaps...? No, impossible. Yet perhaps if it is her…’ Selt paused for multiple seconds, clearly deep in thought. ‘I cannot be certain, mine kindred, but this woman likely has something to do with my twin sister, Aslena.’
Sett almost wanted to exclaim out loud in surprise. Aslena, a goddess of light, or at least someone that had something to do with the goddess, had saved him. But did the goddess not depart this planet countless years ago? How come he had met her or her kin here in a realm that was connected to Gliese Prime?
The mystery deepened and so did the growing migraine in his skull. There were simply far too many things going on around him.
“Sett!”
Before he could ponder on the subject any further, Sett heard the lively voice of Stella calling him from outside the room. The next moment the doors were flung open, completely disregarding all decency.
Stella walked in with wides steps and a smile that reached her eyes. She was clearly a morning person, a fact that would surely make the many coming mornings a hell for a late riser person such a Sett.
“Time to wake up, sleepyhead!”
Followed behind Stella was Adina, holding a bundle of papers up before her eyes, shielding her from any horrifying sight that might occur within Sett’s room.
“Good morning, Sett.” Adina grabbed the scuff of Stella’s uniform before she could act any more foolishly. “Captain Thomas has charged me with figuring out your combat capabilities today. Please meet us out front in ten minutes.”
Saying those words, the vice-captain promptly dragged Stella outside the room, much to the latter’s anger, and shut the door behind them.
Sett could only ruefully shake his head. He had a lot of responsibilities that he had to do in the future. But that would have to wait for exactly that, the future. For now, he should simply enjoy life as an ascendant and the hard bliss of training till his body gave out.