Chapter 22

The moment Kalex felt his fist make contact with the Potentate’s face, he was thrown into something akin to his area of darkness. The area was flush with light and had a different potency than his or any other area he’d peeked into. Looking around, he found the source of the light as well as Zilg. Engulfing the Potentate with his presence, Kalex soon found that he was alive but just barely. A thought of finishing him off crossed his mind but his attention was swiftly taken by the blindingly bright core of the area. Light flowed out in pulses and smashed into Kalex as if it were a physical wall. The power of the light was strong but nothing Kalex couldn’t withstand. Switching focus completely from Zilg, Kalex sent his presence to fully scan the core and the light it was emitting.

It was powerful, but something about it felt off compared to his own core. After scanning some folks in Grangardd due to boredom, one similarity stood out to him. This core felt exactly like a child’s core but only much more powerful. Kalex’s core was polished and had a feeling of fullness that this one lacked. It felt almost chaotic and unstable as if he was looking at someone in the foundation stage with as much power as himself. With the help of Lex guiding his thoughts, everything clicked into place. He had somehow found himself in the area of darkness of a Lumen.

He recalled what Elder Vivian had taught him about Axioms and it made perfect sense now that he was seeing the result for himself. When an Axiom was born in Enternia, a Lumen would come down and bring the newborn to the higher worlds to be added to the ranks of Lumen. That would mean that they wouldn’t have gained power like normal people, or Baseborns as Sorus had called them, and be pumped full of myst from birth. Looking closer at the myst itself gave even more credence to his theory, as the quality of it was bounds higher than he had ever seen. Although coming to this conclusion only took a fraction of a second, it was enough to completely halt the pulsing walls of light being sent to the entire area. A voice brought Kalex’s thoughts to a halt and immediately go on the defensive.

“Oh little Zilg, I thought it’d be much longer until I saw you again. There shouldn’t have been anyone strong enough to bring you back here. It must’ve been that idiot Sorus sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong again.” A shadowy form of light in an odd shade of blue appeared beside the prone form of the Potentate. The figure lowered its hand as if to brush it through Zilg’s hair. The voice was high-pitched, feminine, and held an immense amount of authority.

“No matter, it was about time to reinstate my blessing.” The figure brought her shadowy hand to her chin. “But if it wasn’t Sorus who caused you to come back here, we have a problem. Empowered blessing it is then. I don’t know how Shurai will react to a Baseborn that's this powerful, but I can’t have Zilg coming back here so often.” The figure moved back the moment she touched Zilg’s forehead. “What is this?! Who’s energy is attached to him? It’s as powerful as a first-category Lumen, but the potency feels off.” The figure whipped her head to the side to see a figure she hadn’t noticed before with a raised hand.

“That would be mine.” Kalex grinned.

“Impossible! How did you get into my domain!?” The figure screeched as she threw blades of light towards Kalex. Sensing that the blades were the farthest thing from a farce, Kalex brought his presence in and solidified it around himself. The blades chipped away at his haphazardly made barrier but the damage was repaired the moment a chunk was taken out. Seeing the figure in a frenzy, he attempted to pull up a status to see what he was dealing with. When nothing appeared, Kalex discarded his borderline flippant behavior and turned a bit more serious.

“Stop wasting your effort, your blades are doing nothing.” The attacks stopped and the figure moved closer to Kalex. “I don’t know how I came to this place, I only remember giving the Potentate his just deserts, then appearing in this area. You mentioned Sorus, so I assume you too are a Lumen. I am stronger than you assume and I need answers.”

Kalex’s compartmentalization failed him as he truly thought of that terrible Lumen and his emotions bubbled up. “Sorus attempted to take me but I fought him off and he took someone close to me instead.” Kalex brought up the authoritative tone he used when he was the heir to the Wounder Empire and spoke as clearly as he could. “I will only ask this once. Where is Sorus and where did he take his kidnapped?”

Kalex received a chuckle that soon turned into manic laughter as a response. “You dare speak to me, an exalted Lumen in their own domain, in such a way? Throughout all my time, I’ve never heard such insolence. I can’t remember the last time I’ve genuinely laughed, so I will give you the information you seek. It’ll be the last thing you hear before I destroy you.” Kalex enforced his makeshift barrier with as much myst as he could, but kept an open ear.

“It makes sense now. I had sent Sorus to extract the new Axiom born in the Realm of Seeds, but it looks like he failed to do so. You said he took another which is in line with protocol but the fact that you are still alive shows that he failed that aspect too. Although Sorus was of the lowest category, tell me Broken Axiom, how is it that you escaped the force of the almighty Lumen?” Kalex continued to quietly stare daggers at the figure that had slowly come closer.

“Answer my questions.” Kalex said evenly.

“Very well, take your secrets to the grave. If Sorus took someone to act as a replacement Axiom, they would be on one of our training worlds to bring the replacement’s power to the level of a newborn Axiom as a precursor to Lumen training. There are thousands of worlds used for training replacements and ten times as many used for Lumen training. You are Baseborn and the higher worlds will never grace your vision. Consider this closure, as the one that was taken is dead to you. You will never see them again and you will never ascend to find them yourself. Sorus was of the weakest of us, you may have bested him somehow, but there are millions of more powerful Trueborns, like myself, that would easily cut you down to nothing. With that said, I believe it’s time to do just that. Goodbye Broken Axiom, use your last moments to relish the fact that you’ve made it farther than any Baseborn I have knowledge of.”

Stolen novel; please report.

The pressure of the area heightened as Zilg disappeared. It seemed like every ounce of myst that this area housed had been set upon Kalex. His barrier cracked and deformed as he attempted to push back against the superior quality myst. “You are in my domain! You will succumb to my power!” The Lumen stated with obvious effort. Kalex was running out of options as the pressure continued to build. Although he had access to an absurd amount of myst, it was beginning to run low. In a last-ditch effort, Kalex began to ponder.

The domain of this Lumen disappeared as he entered his own. The last shreds of his myst appeared as whisps of lightly tinted blue fog. He needed to replenish his resources and luckily, the Lumen's domain was flush with quality myst. Kalex concentrated and focused his willpower on creating a small hole in his domain, the same way it had when he was first born. A small pinhole was created but quickly grew in size as the myst forced its way into his area of darkness.

A grim realization occurred to Kalex the moment the myst entered. This wasn’t his myst, but the myst of the Lumen that was trying to kill him. As quickly as he could, he began to infuse the dregs of his myst into the invading energy. After a moment, his area was filled with myst that was not his own, with a bit of his mixed in. It hadn’t fully grabbed hold of the Lumen’s energy but it would have to do. With a mighty heave of willpower, he made his myst spin.

His core dimmed as the Lumen’s myst ceaselessly attacked it, causing hairline fractures to appear over its slightly glowing surface. Kalex began to lose hope as he felt himself slipping away. With the last of his thoughts going to the people he’d met, a pulse of his myst pushed out from his core, causing the spinning of the myst in his area to quicken. Thoughts of survival took hold and he continued in his attempt to cycle the myst into his core. The core of Kalex's power increasingly pulsed until it became a quickened staccato as more and more myst was converted to his own. The cycle continued until he converted the invading myst just as quickly as it poured in. With a grin and a mental exhale, he left his domain in a shallow ponder and faced the figure who was actively trying to kill him.

Scyris had never felt anything so confusing in her very long life. Her domain was exactly that, hers. She held ultimate power while in it and could even bring others into it at her discretion. But this Baseborn, the Broken Axiom that Sorus had failed to take care of, found his way into her domain and was actively draining it. She didn’t understand what was happening as what he was doing should be impossible to do. No one could scrub another’s energy and use it for themselves. The training worlds were picked out due to having a higher amount of neutral energy that could be passively absorbed to bring the inhabitants to power, but that took hundreds of years! This boy was doing it actively. Scyris could tell that the conversion wasn’t perfect and most of the energy was being changed into an odd amalgamation of both hers and the boy’s, which caused it to evaporate into nothingness, but the amount that was successfully converting was astronomical. Scyris felt her form dimming as the boy's eyes opened in anger.

Kalex was met with a form that wasn’t made of light or too obscured to see, but a woman with a scowl that looked unnatural on her perfectly proportioned face. Her hair changed color from pitch black to vibrant white depending on where Kalex looked and she was clothed in a cloak that looked like the sky on a clear night. With her form in view, He tried to see her status again but was met with the same situation as before. With his strength back, he pushed harder than he had ever had and was met with some success. A name was all he was able to see.

The moment the name showed, Kalex felt the domain change as a word echoed throughout the area. “BEGONE!” The words 'Scyris Everblade' disappeared as Kalex’s view went white and soon felt the cold stone foundation of the Elder’s mansion underneath him.

Zilg awoke in a flash of light, lying beside an unconscious Elder and a deceased Overlord. His head erupted in pain as he felt the beratement of his patron Lumen inundate his every thought. As soon as it had begun, it stopped abruptly. What followed sent chills down the leader of the Realm’s spine.

“If you are still in Grangardd, run. I cannot hold the Broken Axiom.” With his renewed blessing from Scyris, Zilg moved with all of his power back to Everblade City. He stepped directly in front of his security officer. “Call for total city lockdown. Nobody in or out.” Without confirming that the man had heard him, Zilg rushed to his office to initiate the lockdown.

In the tallest building in Everblade city, at the top floor stood a spire that pierced through the room and high into the clouds. Zilg laid his hand upon it and focused his energy into it. He would need to feed power into the spire for the duration of the lockdown as he was able to produce the strongest barrier. He only hoped it would be able to hold up if that boy decided to stop by.

Kalex picked himself off of the cold stone and looked to the sky with determination. He had a feeling he needed to look into his status, not just for the quest, but for what he had gained from the exchange with the Lumen. He had gained more information about where Lyla might be and he smiled as he felt a step closer to his goal. Looking around, he noticed Zilg was gone. He needed to ask him some questions about the Lumen he was in cahoots with, but with him missing, Kalex decided it was time to see the status of his quest and find out what to do next.

The Elder’s Grandchild

* Confront Madison Wickerwood in Grangardd

* Wait for the event in Grangardd (Estimated time: 4 days)

* Optional: Assist farmers with storage crisis

* Witness the Potentate’s proclamation

* Travel to Everblade City

* Find the identity of Zilg’s patron Lumen

* Use Zilg’s connection to contact the Lumen

* Intercept the connection between Zilg and his Lumen

* Find a way to gain myst equivalent to the Lumen’s

* Consolidate newfound knowledge and power

- Reward: The Memories of The Elder

Kalex was astounded at his progress and it looked like he had accidentally skipped the visiting of Everblade city part. This quest was to help him become powerful and it looked like he was close to fulfilling it. Before he let his mind focus on the particulars, he brought up his status. He mentally yelled due to what he was seeing. “LEX! What on Diat is a Harbinger!"