Chapter 35
Kalex instinctively knew what had to be done to escape the confines of Enternia. The permissions given to him by Gret were seamlessly integrated into his mind, but there was an issue. The guiding beacon that acted as a waymark for the center of his new Realm and distributed his new system would stay in place and continue to wreak havoc on the planet if Kalex left without it. Thousands of ideas rushed through Kalex’s head as Lex borrowed his neural pathways to find a solution, but after an entire minute of standing around, a perfect solution continued to elude them.
“Mr. Wounder, I believe this option would work to the benefit of everyone.” Lex said directly into Kalex’s mind. At that moment, his mind forcibly stopped and focused on Lex's proposed idea. “It’s risky,” Kalex said out loud over the deep whirl of his beacon. “but it just might work.”
Taking one last look around the cave where his journey on Enternia truly began, he lifted himself off the ground using the control of his myst and immersed himself in the beacon. The chaotic beam of myst didn’t cause any time-altering effects due to the pedestal being destroyed and only Lex vaguely holding it together. What he did feel was an immense waft of power that began to soak into his every pore with the destination being his domain. Passing the hole in the ceiling of the cave that the beacon had made, Kalex decided to take a quick look into his domain and check on Timik and Sorene.
A bright flash welcomed him into his own inner world, he was expecting inky backness but found a space full of light. Looking outward, he could see the core of his power off in the distance, but it was shrouded by glowing myst that grew denser by the moment. An itch in the back of his mind brought his attention to a new addition to his domain. Squinting his eyes, he willed himself to the area in question.
The first thing he noticed was the ground underneath his feet that he could sense was made from his myst, but he was not the crafter. There was no sand, dirt or foliage, only a slick surface that was solid beneath Kalex’s feet. He closed his eyes to focus on the object he was on and found that it was a relatively small sphere that, if he walked in a straight line, he would find his original starting point within an hour. There was something other than the size of the object that grasped his attention next. A small abode made of straight walls that were fashioned out of the same material stuck out as the only discernable feature, and inside it held his two residents. One furiously working at an anvil and the other shoveling what seemed like anvil dross into a sack that never seemed to fill.
They both seemed completely enthralled in their odd tasks and even though Kalex wanted to know what they were up to, he had work to do outside of his domain, namely, taking in as much of the beacon’s myst as he could before he left Gret’s domain completely. The idea Lex came up with was sound, but not without its unknowns. From the calculations done, there was a zero percent chance of Kalex absorbing all of the myst before he left, and although Lex had an idea of what would happen when Kalex left with a weaker beacon still in place, neither of them knew exactly. Their best guess was that the entire planet would have severe weather for the next few months.
Kalex opened his eyes in the blue haze of his beacon. The air he breathed within it felt clean and pure, with a whisper of sweetness. Taken by the view and the odd experience of slowly being lifted into the sky, a cold jolt ran through his body, bringing him back to the task at hand.
Myst was entering his domain with almost zero resistance, which both he and Lex thought would happen, but he needed intake as much as his domain could hold to alleviate the aftermath of him leaving it on the planet. Focusing with everything he had, he attempted to see the beam with his presence sight, but trying to locate myst that was identical to your own was no easy feat. he sent his presence out wide, noticing that if he opened his eyes, he’d soon see the curvature of the Enternia but he couldn’t help but focus on the smiling faces of the people of his realm looking up towards him.
“That's it!” Kalex’s voice boomed outward, amplified by the myst he was engulfed in, allowing most of the Realm of Seeds to hear him. He wheeled back at the sound of his voice and decided on a ‘no talking out loud while in a giant beam that pierced the sky’ rule, while focusing on the mouth of his cave. After fruitlessly trying to focus on the beacon itself again and since he knew exactly where the beam should be, he brought his presence down to an area that took up most of the interior of the cave and pulled the myst from that area into his domain.
The change was palpable. The wind down on the ground whipped up in a gale, directed towards the beacon. Kalex’s insides churned with the new influx of energy entering him, and although he felt as if his body was on the cusp of exploding with the shear amount of myst, his thoughts went to his two residents who were likely struggling to weather the new storm he had brought upon them.
“With the increased absorption of the beacon, Mr. Wounder, I will protect Timik and Sorene to the best of my abilities. You mustn’t worry. Focus on lessening the backlash on this world.” Lex sent mentally. As he felt Lex switch his duties, the weight of the beam of myst multiplied manifold and caused Kalex to focus solely on pulling in as much as he could while a small part of his mind took on a new task. He spun his already revolving core faster than he ever had before and hoped Lex, Timik and Sorene would be able to survive the ordeal.
In his state of pure focus, voices started to come through to him. The sounds threatened to cut his attention away from saving this world, but with one thought guiding him, he soldiered on. Pressure eased as the torrent slowly turned into a small stream that could barely contain his form, and even though he had long passed the clouds and the sky of Enternia, he could still hear questions pointed his way. In an attempt to hear them, his connection with the beacon wavered for a split second, shooting Kalex passed the dull colors of the Enternian sky and immersing him in the inky blackness of the space above.
The weight of his decision immediately set his mind in a spiral. He felt himself reaching the point of exit, but so much of the beacon remained. Although it looked small compared to what it once was, it still held power beyond Kalex’s understanding. His heart dropped as Lex reached out to him, clearly in pain.
“Mr. Wounder,” Lex groaned. “even with the help of your spinning core, there is not much more we can take. Sorene is barely holding on and Timik has gone still. Although the myst is yours, your domain is reacting to it as if it isn’t and it’s moments away from tearing apart. We must abort, Mr. Wounder. The amount of myst that will be released if your domain is broken will surely kill you and possibly destroy Gret’s domain as well.” Lex said at the speed of thought.
With no other options to turn to, Kalex stopped actively absorbing myst and did the only thing he could think of. Keeping his core spinning took most of his focus and processing the myst was his priority, but he could feel himself growing tired. As his eyes dropped lower than half-lidded, a whisper left his lips.
“I CALL UPON THE WILL OF THE BROKEN.”
—
Gretex folded in his chair, wracked with ripples of pain that intensified with every passing moment. Ragged breathes through gritted teeth were all that could be heard in his moderately sized office since Wren left earlier to meet with a guild contact to find this mysterious Rigel character. When Lex had given Gret the ability to see his status window, he also left him an answer to an unasked question. He had given him his best approximation of the location of the only other Lexidex that had found its way off of Diat. Luckily the data Lex had given him allowed him to pinpoint a planet only three gates away. The moment Gret sent that information to Wren, she disappeared faster than his eyes could follow, and was left with a mental transmission from her saying that she would be back soon.
Thoughts of being angry with Wren for leaving him alone while he was in the process of assisting an ascent only briefly scraped by his mind as the pain of whatever Kalex was doing took over. Whenever something happened in his domain that caused him any sort of discomfort, he would gently wrap his presence around it and dissolve a small amount of his energy into it, but attempting it now caused fits of stinging pain. His only hope was that the ascent would get easier as time went on and that there would be no lasting damage to his domain afterward. Gret knew that holding someone too powerful in his domain for too long could lead to adverse effects, but he felt that the risk was worth the benefits. The status screen that he had open at all times now was already more than he expected to gain, so dealing with a small amount of pain now was nothing compared to what that boy could eventually become.
Relief washed over Gret as he heard the door to his residence open and admit Wren. His smile dipped slightly as he felt another presence enter his home. The man’s aura gave the idea of a disheveled vagabond, but much, much more powerful. Gret didn’t know exactly how strong Wren had become after learning and understanding the secret of her core, but it felt like this man was approaching her level of power. Not close to it, but definitely approaching it.
The sound of Wren’s footfalls stopped abruptly, followed a moment later by the man accompanying her. Gret almost had enough time to wonder why they stopped, before he was struck with a feeling he had never felt before. It was as if the area around him started to shrink and expand, slow in the first few seconds, but quickly rising to a blinding pace. An echo of unintelligible garble escaped his very soul, as a beam of potent energy speared through the ceiling and directly into his domain.
Gret tasted copper as his eyelids fell toward unconsciousness, with his last sight being the door to the room opening up with Wren holding a look of disbelief, and a man with golden eyes displaying one of knowing.
“I guess Lyla was right,” Rigel turned to Wren and let out a small sigh. “he is going to be a handful.” Wren didn’t respond, but jumped towards Gret to attempt to stymie the blood pouring from his mouth while trying to avoid the beam of pure white energy piercing him. Rigel walked forward to offer any assistance he could as the man, who Wren introduced as Gretex, began bleeding from his eyes and ears. “A handful indeed.”
—
Moments after the words were muttered, Kalex felt a shift in Gret’s domain. For a brief second, the entire space, as well as everyone in it, stopped.
At first, Kalex thought that the people around the beacon had just held still, but when he checked the rock in his pocket, he realized that the entire domain had frozen. Luckily, he was still able to process the myst that was flooding his domain, which gave him a small amount of breathing room, but time standing still with only him able to move freely tarnished his respite.
As mounting trepidation heaved itself onto Kalex, a vortex of pure white myst began to fill his vision. The blinding light filled the sky, with the vague outline of someone directly in the center. Kalex’s mind flitted with new ideas and memories that he couldn’t place. It felt a lot like what Gret did when giving him instructions on how to leave his domain, but these were more visceral and more potent.
“APPROVED.” A booming voice that was felt more than heard rang out of the figure draped in myst. “KALEX WOUNDER OF DIAT, ENTERNIA’S BROKEN AXIOM; DRINK DEEPLY OF MY POWER AS A DROP IS YOURS TO KEEP. CARRY ON WITH YOUR PLANS AS THEY DO NOT INTERFERE WITH MY OWN AND CONTINUE TO CULTIVATE YOUR PATH TO POWER.”
Kalex could only look on blankly as every sense was overwhelmed by this being. Stretching his willpower harder than he ever had, he activated the power Lex had given to him and attempted to see this being’s status. After many attempts and a mind-splitting headache, Kalex felt the being chuckle as he looked up to see them disappear. The majority of the bright myst left with them, but the small amount that stayed zipped towards Kalex, seamlessly ingraining itself into him, soothing his myst channels and calming his core.
Kalex wasn’t sure how long time had been stopped but in his eyes, it could have easily been a few seconds or a couple of days. As the pressure began to subside, he was left with a fuzzy status window in front of his face.
ПΛMΣ: ƬΉΣ BЯӨKΣП
The second Kalex’s brain processed the status screen in front of him, a deep thrumming pain suffused his body as his ascent quickened. The river of myst from the beacon became a trickle. The panic was quelled by Kalex’s eyes fighting to close.
Realizing that nothing Kalex did would help the situation, Lex spoke directly into Kalex’s mind. “Don’t fight it Mr. Wounder, struggling will not change the outcome. Please stand down for the moment, this will all be over quicker than you can say Nurdle. I will await you on the other side.” After a brief fight with himself, Kalex began to let unconsciousness take him, only whispering one word before his eyes shut for the last time on the planet had quickly become his second home.
“Nurdle.” Fell from his lips as the surrounding myst amplified his words.
Nobody on Enternia had the power to see what was happening to Kalex, but they felt when he eventually left the domain. A ripple permeated space as Kalex’s body physically left and was followed up by a wave of blue that consisted of the leftover myst that Kalex was unable to take with him. The myst quickly lost its momentum and started to fall towards Enternia, with a small amount being absorbed in the space of Gret’s domain.
The denizens of the Realm of the Broken stared up at the blue drops slowly raining down from the sky. Each person knew that there was no harm would come from getting hit by the power falling towards them and embraced the energy. With the help of Lex’s avatar that was left on Enternia, the droplets found their way to everyone, causing a soft glow wherever they hit.
“It’s as if a second moon has come.” One of the new residents exclaimed as he ran into the half-built street, his body peppered with glowing dots. “My levels just increased and my Mix Bag was expanded! I can’t see the end to what it can hold!” Yelled another. The newly appointed Elder looked out over the masses frolicking in the rain and looked up, with the last word of the Axiom still in the forefront of his mind. “We did need a name for the first city in the Realm.” Urok mumbled to himself as he quickly walked to the makeshift stage to reveal the name he had chosen.
—
Lyla couldn’t sit still which was getting on Scyris’ nerves. “Can you just sit down? Pacing around isn’t going to make anything happen quicker, especially with me in the center of your pacing!” Scyris huffed, having repeated the same notion multiple times. Lyla stopped and looked over at a glum Scyris. “I’ve tried but as long as my mind is racing, my feet tend to follow. It’s just that I’m nervous. Rigel told us to be ready for visitors but left us with that. Do you think Kalex could finally be coming? I spoke with Ekk and it’s about 80% certain that he is. There is so much I want to tell him! I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees that I can even stand up to you in a fight! Our last meeting was a traumatic one, and I just want him to know that I can hold my own now and that he doesn’t need to worry about me so much.”
“Lyla. You’re rambling. Just sit down and we’ll wait out the visitor together.” Lyla nodded at Scyris’ words and sat down beside her. Thankful that the energetic woman finally sat still, she jumped on the opportunity to keep it that way for the moment. “Have I told you the story of how I received my armament?” Lyla’s eyes grew large as she shook her head in the negative. “It’s a funny story. You see, I was a Primal, one of the first Lumen to take Shurai’s oath…”
Lyla listened with rapt attention. Mostly to keep her mind occupied and partly because the story was actually interesting. Learning that Scyris was much older than she looked was a shock, but through her story, Lyla understood that Scyris’ power was given to her when she was just a little older than Lyla herself, and other than her hair turning a different color, she hadn’t changed much.
Lyla was well on her path to Harbinger and started to wonder if she would look the same way she does now for the rest of her life. Before her mind could go down that path, the domain’s owner interrupted her thoughts by abruptly materializing in front of them.
“Lyla, you’re needed on the outside, we have some soul wounds to tend to.” Rigel said with little emotion with a blank stare that pointed above them.
“Souls wounds to tend to? Of course, I’ll help, but if it’s someone in the higher worlds, wouldn’t someone from there be more qualified?” Lyla blurted out while she mindlessly started gathering her things.
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“Fair point. I or anyone in the room with me could do the procedure, but I’m afraid we are all a bit heavy-handed. This case requires a softer, more precise touch, and to add to it, you’d be healing the soul of your home planet.” Rigel, finally looking at Lyla, gave a small genuine smile. He of course could tend to the soul that needed mending, but he grew in power as his residents did and there was no way he wouldn’t give Lyla this opportunity.
Lyla flinched and stopped loading things into her bracelet. “Heal the soul of Enternia?” Lyla’s look went far as she thought about what Rigel had just said. “How. I don’t understand how I can even come close to healing something of that magnitude.”
Rigel let go of a small chuckle he had been holding in. Of course this seemed like a task meant for someone of his level of power and not a fledgling of the Axiom rank. “Yes, heal the soul of Enternia! Well, his name is Gretex from what I’m told and his soul is torn to shreds after he got pierced by a spear of energy I had never seen before. It’s best if you come out and see it for yourself. You’re strong enough now that the energy from the world I live on shouldn’t affect you in any way. Oh and there was a small incident when Gret came to, so steel yourself.”
Lyla looked over to Scyris for support, who gave a small nod to let her know to take the opportunity. With a similar nod to Rigel, she was whipped from Rime and landed in a room with four people, with one she recognized immediately. Her eyes glossed over with immediate tears as she approached.
“Kalex!” She yelled as she ran towards the boy who looked the same as she had found him in Fulrog.
—
Kalex didn’t remember the moment he left Gret’s domain, only feeling like he had fallen asleep and woken up in a strange place full of mostly familiar people. Familiar people who were red in the face. Wren was the first to break, letting out a small giggle, which Kalex found a little rude until he looked down at his hands. Although larger than they had been when he first found himself on Enternia, it wasn’t by much.
“Nurdle sack.” Kalex said under his breath. Being in a room of people whose hearing was leaps and bounds better than anyone on the lower worlds, everyone heard it, leading to laughs erupting throughout the space.
Finally catching his breath, Rigel held up a hand and advised that he would be right back. His body stayed in the same position, but his eyes started moving back and forth at a dizzying pace. Once the chuckling mostly stopped, Rigel’s eyes came back to their normal positions, and a brief light shown through his clothes just above his navel. Kalex only had time to blink before a figure appeared in the center of the room.
With all the time and effort put into finally reuniting with the one person who saw past his scars, accepted and protected him, Kalex couldn’t keep his emotions in check. Tears streamed down his face, completely selling the state of his stature. He thought himself a stronger-willed person, but his body betrayed him, with no dam to the storm of relief he was experiencing.
Seeing this, Lyla emulated Kalex’s tears, while Wren wiped her misty eyes dry and Gret continued to bleed through his. “Kalex!” She exclaimed while making her way over to him, Only to catch sight of the man on the ground. Indecision clawed at Lyla as she looked between Kalex and Gretex. Her mind was made with the help of a chubby arm pointing over to the dying man. Sending out her presence felt sluggish in this new environment as if the very energy in the air was pushing against her. Slowly, she made progress and the triage didn’t look good.
“What happened to him?” Lyla gasped at the intensity of the wounds. No one said a word, Rigel only pointed over to the infant who had sat down and was kicking his feet in anger. Lyla gave a knowing look and began attempting to stitch Gretex’s myst channels back together.
An hour passed in silence as Lyla did her work. Wren and Rigel assisted when needed, and Kalex was in and out of sleep. The move from Enternia to the higher worlds took a toll and while he was in the body of a baby, he had no control over his wakefulness. Kalex had yet to hear from Lex, so as he started to nod off, he decided to visit his domain with anticipation of damage control.
Opening his eyes in his domain made him think he had accidentally fallen asleep and drifted into a dream. Before he had started the ascent, his domain was nothing but a dark space with his core far off in the distance and Timik occupying a corner of it for his craft. Now it was much more.
He arrived in the same place that he had left previously, but instead of a hard-packed metallic surface, airy loam met his feet while a pleasant breeze brought notes of nature that reminded him of the Diatian forests. The next thing of note was the size of the sphere. Kalex didn’t have to send out his presence since he was aware of everything in his domain while he was in it, but he almost did due to the size it had grown to.
“My very own planet.” Kalex gaped while mentally exploring the entire thing. It was nowhere near the size of Enternia, but it thrummed with power rivaling anything he had ever seen on either planet he had inhabited. It could have been due to his level of power on those planets being nowhere near where he was now, but the deep well of energy hidden in the center could not be overlooked.
The dense myst of his new planet was immediately overlooked when his mind fell upon a building that took up a lot more space than it had before. What used to be a small box of metal was now a very large, house-shaped box, with his two residents peacefully working on their paths. The house had a total of three massive floors, the topmost was reserved for Sorene, who was creating new objects with abandon, with a focus that surprised Kalex. The floor beneath that was the ground floor, which had more normal-looking amenities such as seating areas and what looked like a kitchen. The floor beneath was a basement area that was completely open and was inhabited by the resident Smith. Forges lined the walls, with associating anvils in front of them and countless stacks of various metals and tools. Where Timik and Sorene had procured everything needed to build the abode and furnish it was beyond him, so Kalex decided to stop by and ask.
Kalex blinked and appeared at the front door and was soon greeted by his favorite rock. “Hello, Mr. Wounder. We thought you’d be busy handling the situation on the higher worlds and were not expecting you quite yet. I will alert the others of your arrival.” Lex said with a deep bow to hide the smile that he couldn’t keep from his face. “You know I can see that smile splitting your face in half, right?” Kalex shook his head at Lex’s antics.
“I apologize, Mr. Wounder, but it seems we need to go through another session of setting a new physical presence until you grow into your own.” Lex chuckled for a moment before stopping abruptly. “It looks like this meeting will have to proceed another time.” Lex stood from his bow, seriousness dripping from his words.
Before Kalex could ask Lex what he was talking about, he felt like his myst was being pulled. Thoughts of resisting entered his mind but were soon discarded after he felt the signature of the one pulling. He must’ve worried everyone in the room with him falling asleep so soon after his ascension. As he let Lyla pull him from his domain, he wondered how she had the power to do that, but that would be a question for after he gained his bearings in the new world he found himself in.
Kalex started to stir as a figure of blue formed in front of the boy, looking over at his creators. Rigel spun his presence defensively and stepped in front of Wren. The gesture was accepted gratefully, but in a fraction of a heartbeat, Wren moved in front of Rigel faster than he could sense. “Lex, It is an honor to meet you.” Wren stated with a bow.
“The pleasure is all mine, Great All-Mother. Although I have no right to ask, I require your assistance. When I first gained sentience, I assisted Mr. Wounder in creating a physical presence to mask the body he is naturally in. With his Celestial rank, I’m afraid I cannot emulate the same procedure.” Lex said with reverence.
Wren smiled softly and stepped towards Lyla and gestured for her to set Kalex down on the ground. “You may want to step back Ms. Graves.” Wren said as a light wisp of power quickly engulfed her. “Gret briefly informed me of the system you created Lex, and I’m excited to see what it holds.” Wren inclined her head towards the bowing form of Lex as the power around her created a silent gale. “But for now, let’s give Kalex his body back.”
In an instant, a ghostly image of Kalex’s Diatian form was overlaid over his current one, sending off pulses of blue light that bathed the room in a glow. Kalex felt a familiar sensation and noticed his view changing. His height increased to rival that of a now recovering Gretex and a sensation of fullness caused a smile to adorn his face. Moments later, the body of an infant disappeared, leaving a tall man of pure Beerian heritage. With his presence, Kalex looked at himself and felt his eyes turn wet. It had felt like a lifetime since he saw his true self, and he couldn’t look past the fact that he looked exactly as he did when he left Mourtia for the last time. As the light around Kalex faded, Wren placed clothing on him, clothing that he hadn’t seen since he was a child.
White robes with a vivid green interior appeared on his frame. With one side of the robe short and the other one reaching below his knee. A stifled cry left Kalex as he realized that these robes were meant for him, made for him. These were to be the everyday wear for the heir of the Wounder Empire, made from only the finest materials and meant to last a lifetime. The moment he was named the heir, these garments were painstakingly created for him and were left in the armory to await his realization. Kalex remembered sneaking into the armory as a child and looking over the robes and imagining how he would carry himself when he was able to finally wear them. After becoming a Seer, all of those hopes had been dashed, and he never thought he’d see, much less be wearing his robes.
After giving thanks to Wren, Kalex turned to Lyla, who had a look of disbelief on her face. She tried to stammer something out but was so taken aback by the giant in front of her that no words could come. Kalex smiled and quickly took a look into his status while Lyla processed everything. Kalex was the next to show bewilderment.
Name: Kalex Wounder
Level: 97
Race: Human (Enternia), Beer (Diat)
Rank: Celestial
Maturity: 30,418/40,000
Path: Shifting Wanderer (Paragon)
-Innate sense of safety (Passive) (Novice)
-Perception shift (Adept)
-Translocation; Tied to level and Core strength (Master)
-Myst Guide (Paragon)
Vitality: 510,000/510,000
Myst: ERROR
Strength: 17,000
Wisdom: 12,000
Agility: 18,000
Charisma: 5,000
Luck: 9,549
Skills:
-Mystwalk: Move yourself anywhere you can touch with your myst. Cost of myst and other resources vary by distance. Limits change with every new rank acquired.
-Martial Eye: When in combat, use presence sight to act as your eyes, every action around you will be seen within the distance the presence sight is cast. Low initial myst cost but will increase by duration active and distance perceived.
-Mystlord: Your control over myst is absolute whether bodily or external. Create myst analogs of elements and mold them to your will. Convert unaspected myst to your own. Intake Aspected myst and transform it into your own. The loss will lessen with every new Rank attained.
After an entire minute of silence, Lex spoke to Kalex privately through their connection. “Mr. Wounder, I’d like to be the first to congratulate you on again growing stronger. Thanks to those with us today, I was able to quantify your power and chose a name for your rank. Immediately before you finished your ascension, you gained energy faster than anticipated and the amount you absorbed was multiple times more than the beacon on Enternia contained. I briefly remember sensing some time-altering effects, but as to what caused it, I am unsure but it seems to have caused a refinement of sorts. Your myst channels are wide and free of detritus and your domain has expanded and solidified, giving it power that I have only seen in Gretex’s and the All-Mother’s. Most importantly, the change that caused you to grow so rapidly has allowed you to leave the Broken moniker behind as you are in the higher world and the power you wield is your own. When you have a chance, please see your residents as they have grown along with you.”
Lex’s words were heard and processed within the blink of an eye, but what he had said still overwhelmed Kalex. He had grown in hopes of protecting people he cared about and ultimately attaining his ideal way of life. He smiled as he felt like he had finally become the person he wanted to be and his life of slow-paced study and crafting could finally be achieved.
The now faint blue glow began to waver as his Diatian body settled. That was when the pain started to set in. A white light soon outshined the blue and worry filled everyone’s expressions. Wren was the first to react, instantly pulling Gretex into her domain, followed by Rigel taking a screaming Lyla back into his. Both made a barrier around themselves using all the myst available to them, with Wren’s encompassing her and Rigel due to his shield already fracturing from the power being emitted from the Wounder Seer.
Through his eyes, Kalex could see everything that was happening, but the building pain engulfed his every thought. Through the moments of clarity he was able to grasp, he noticed Wren’s lips moving, which his mind translated. “Ponder.” She mouthed.
Blocking out the pain to attempt to ponder was impossible. The pain would momentarily intensify every time he tried. In a state of panic, Kalex willed his core to spin. It didn’t do anything for the pain, but it caused the blinding white light coming from him to dim slightly. Minutes passed with only the Kalex’s screams to fill the room, luckily Wren’s barrier hadn’t shown any signs of faltering, as the power of the dense light slowly deepened.
To avoid processing Kalex’s internal myst, his core started to inadvertently consume myst from the world outside of his domain. The myst was rich and pure compared to what he was accustomed to on Diat or Enternia, but with a bright pulse, his core processed the myst instantly.
The intake increased as the walls of the room started to shatter, with the furniture already sapped of their myst and lying on the floor as piles of powder. Wren’s barrier began showing signs of weakening and Kalex caught an apology from her as she teleported out of the room.
The loneliness gave him solace as well as fear. With everyone gone, he couldn’t hurt anyone, but he was also left alone in a new world. Again. Contacting Lex showed to not be a possibility and a dreaded feeling took hold of Kalex’s thoughts. The same feeling he had on his last day on Enternia. Death was approaching.
Incapable of stopping what was happening, Kalex attempted to ping Lex one last time. A minute passed with no response. Kalex assumed the worst and bid his friends an apology and a farewell. Knowing that Lyla was safe brought him solace as he stopped fighting the all-consuming light. His most recent addition began to wither. Kalex trembled as the height of his body lessened. As he approached a little over a rod tall, a chuckle echoed through his mind.
“YOU SEEK PEACE AND STABILITY, BUT YOU ARE NOT READY TO END YOUR PATH. FOR AS LONG AS THERE IS AN ADVERSARY WHO DARES SLIGHT THE BROKEN, THERE IS STATUS TO ATTAIN. I GAVE POWER NOT TO SATISFY STAGNANT ENDS, BUT TO ELIMINATE BOUNDS AND CREATE NEW ONES. GO FORTH, WOUNDER SEER, AS THE CABAL AND THE NOXSIS WILL NOT STAND IDLE. CONTINUE TO TAKE IN THE ENERGY OF THIS WORLD TO END YOUR CURRENT BLIGHT. YOU SHALL NOT FALTER FOR THE BROKEN NEVER BREAKS.”
The familiar voice that began condescending, quickly ended on a serious note. With the end of the statement, Kalex felt the pain lessen, but he took the words to heart. Kalex spread his presence as far as he could but was too focused to be surprised that he was able to reach multiple neighboring worlds.
Using his willpower and full intent, he pulled on the surrounding myst harder than he ever had before. His spinning core blinked faster as most of the myst became available to him, all the while,his ore of power felt constantly unsated, even with the high-quality myst being drained from the surrounding barren planets.
Hours passed before Kalex regained any semblance of self. He lay on the dusty ground looking up at the twinkling lights in the inky sky. His pain was gone but his core still spun with abandon, which was cause for concern. There was no more myst to intake and he didn’t know what effect the spinning core would have on his domain. He knew it was still there, but didn’t know its condition or the condition of those who called it home. Closing his eyes, he focused on his core and attempted to will it to slow, which, to his surprise, worked. The giant ball of light halted but didn’t feel the same.
Looking closer, he noticed a slight pulsing white light. The moment his mental eye looked closer into the phenomena, the light stopped and a small crack could be seen starting from the center. Kalex expected pain, but it never came. Instead, knowledge came to the forefront of his mind. It wasn’t new knowledge, but knowledge he had forgotten or had to ponder on to remember. It was as if a blockage that he never knew was there opened up. The feeling was freeing and he stopped to revel in it.
The break lasted a few minutes before he heard yelling coming from the planet residing in his domain. “How can you call yourself powerful if you can’t repair a simple broken finger?” A pained voice cried.
“Well, if you’re so powerful, why can you still even break your fingers? Also, with that storm that just hit us and half of our house being destroyed, how can you even think about a simple finger?” Sorene yelled back, reminding Kalex of her mother’s scolding voice.
Kalex looked around his domain and smiled as it didn’t seem too worse for wear. If anything it had become a much better place to nurture others and himself. He had a feeling that Wren and the others were fine, and the planets around him luckily had no living creatures on them. The statement he heard when he was giving up was cause for concern, as well as his cracked core, but the outcome of everything seemed to calm.
Lex appeared next to him and gave a small bow. “Things have indeed calmed and the outcome of our situation is the best we could’ve asked for. Everyone made it out alive and some are stronger for it. There is much we need to go over, including the new quest that was given to you, but for now, Mr. Wounder, rest.”
Kalex meant to reply and let Lex know that he was fine, but the exhaustion from the day’s events caught up with him. Kalex did not ponder, he did not meditate, he didn’t even absorb any myst. Kalex fell into a deep, healing sleep, knowing that the people he had learned to trust would handle anything in his momentary absence. Kalex smiled as he fell into a dream of the simpler times when he was a child on Diat, with the only disappointment being the appearance of Nurdles.
-THE END
OF BOOK ONE-