“I’ve never felt so small as when I was confronted with my impending and inevitable death. We all die, but knowing my ticket would be punched any day now - wow, it’s just a lot. And whether you believe in a literal Heaven or just a mindless void. Both present as unknowable and infinite. And here I am, little old me staring into unknown eternity.”

Jordan Journal Entry after receiving a terminal diagnosis

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After our fight, I noticed that the air was thick with the scent of ancient stone and moss as we walked toward the altar the Guardian had been protecting. Our recent battle with the Guardian left an electric silence in its wake, each of our footsteps echoing off the walls, a reminder of the potential dangers lurking around every corner.

Ian led the way toward the altar, its top glowing amber. I couldn’t read any symbols or iconography, but it reminded me of a sacrificial altar I’d seen pictures from Aztec or Mayan temples. I was unsure but thought I could see ancient dried blood around its edges.

“This place has always been one of my favorites to explore,” Ian reminisced. “But I’ve never seen the altars do anything like this. Usually, we get a better loot drop after beating a guardian. This is new.” Ian looked over at me with a puzzled expression.

My curiosity was piqued as I approached the altar, now shimmering with faint, ethereal light. I stepped past Ian and placed my hand against the unnaturally warm surface; I felt a hum of energy pulse through the stone, resonating strangely with something inside me.

Apologies for interrupting, but you need to know that the resonance you’re feeling comes from the rogue nanobots in your body—that and your internally swirling Arc and Zan. I cannot advise whether you should proceed or stop, but I need to warn you.

The rogue nano is doing that? How is it also messing with the Arc and Zan?

It appears to be exciting them like it’s adding a spiritually electric charge. They are spinning faster by the second. If I had to speculate, the process is starting to form a core and condensing your Arc or Zan.

So, this is like a cultivation resource. Is it supercharging my cultivation? Is that a problem since I don’t have channels to handle the powers?

The typical processes might not apply to you, but the standard practices involve condensing until you can form a core and then building your channels. It’s hard to know what your current body will do with the combination of Arc, Zan, Nano, and your Class. I’ve run some simulations, and I do have a strong suggestion.

Alright, what should I do?

You have access to both Source powers, but I think you need to consider using the Arc and Zan in silos. You have been attempting to combine them, and I see ways your Class was tailored to work with both. However, impressive positive potential outcomes are only available if you choose now.

Based on recent events and your current powers, I predict that you will likely achieve the best results if you focus on your Arcana cultivation and do not try to combine Zan with it. There is no way to know, but that is my recommendation.

Okay, you’ve been right so far. Let’s go for it. What should I be doing right now?

First, let go of the Zan and let it move inside your Source body without focusing on controlling it. Then, use your will to focus and add pressure to the Arcana.

I took the advice, blocked out everything else, focused on pressure, and pictured the Arcana getting denser and heavier while compressed and contained. I had already let the Zan float freely inside my immaterial Source body, disregarding it for now. Once they separated, I pressed the Arc like it was in a pressure cooker or boiler. I started speeding up the movement and imagined compressing the vapor down, tighter and tighter, as if the top lid was a hydraulic press, ever slowly lowering.

Good. Your mental imagery is a good start and is surprisingly effective, but it is insufficient for your needs. Focus on keeping that spinning. Change your image to a sphere and try pressing it down smaller across the entire surface into a tiny central point. And please hurry.

I did as directed and with urgency. I got the Arc spinning faster and strained to pressure the sphere’s entire surface. It was immeasurably more difficult, but the concept clicked after I imagined a hand squeezing it. That image wasn’t perfect, but it helped me grasp the sphere. Then, I added my will to crushing the sphere with more and more willpower to condense it to an infinitely small central point. I could not get it that small, but the image helped me.

Gather as much Arc as possible and funnel it into the sphere, forming your core.

I kept the images and focus going but took a deep breath. I glimpsed the real world before me with just a flutter of my eyelids. In that brief glimpse, I saw my hand on the altar and the altar itself glowing. The iconography before me rose from the stone in my mind’s eye and translated into something I could understand. It said only one word over and over: “Hunger.”

Focus!

My eyes had again snapped shut, and I pulled with all the willpower I could spare, not letting go of my sphere, which compressed the Arc I held.

There was a delay as nothing happened, and then a tidal wave of Arc flooded me from all directions. Warmth seeped from the altar into my fingertips and then quickly down my arm.

My focus was split between gathering, funneling, compressing, and holding the sphere, absorbing all the Arc that touched its surface.

I thought I would struggle to comprehend a compression method and accept more Arc into my condensing model. Thankfully, the golden Arc, invading me from all around, had just slipped through the outer shell of my sphere and joined the already spinning mist.

But the mist was growing much denser. Every wisp had turned into microscopic drops of liquid, but none combined.

Time lost meaning as I watched the drops become more tangible. After what felt like an hour, I checked my clock and saw that only a few seconds had passed.

The drops hadn’t changed size but were now much weightier and more straightforward to feel with my mind, and there were hundreds of them now.

My gathering continued, and I became aware that the altar’s warm amber glow of power had traveled up my arm and was about to reach my sphere of swirling Arc drops.

My focus was being pulled in several directions, and I felt my willpower and ability to maintain these processes weaken. Then, I felt a rapid change in my physical body.

The previously dormant rogue nanotech contained within my lower ribs exploded out of my lowest two ribs. The bone disintegrated in the powerful burst of power, and rather than bursting my organs and out through my rib cage, it collapsed after only a tiny outward burst and formed a dense liquid within my chest cavity. The change didn’t damage anything inside my body.

At the cellular level, every part of the shattering bones reformed as a liquid and began to slither inside me. It split off in several directions. I felt the majority of it move like a molten fire in between organs and left a trail of pain inside me. It quickly made its way to my lower abdomen and created a spherical shell in my physical body; the shell was small, and I felt it to be no thicker than an eggshell and about the size of a large marble.

The process of bone changing, the liquid nano moving through me, the small marble forming and slightly displacing my intestines, and the fire of raging pain burning through me almost took my focus away from my process of condensing. Still, I registered a portion of the rogue nano entering my brain, invading my frontal cortex and some areas deep inside that began to make substantial changes, increasing my mental capabilities. I wasn’t great at brain anatomy, but I felt the changes. I started to feel my comprehension split. I suddenly comprehend and organize the additional stimulus of everything inside me.

It was momentarily jarring to have my mind experience more inputs than I should be able to keep track of and yet not lose my will or focus on any of them.

It only took a fraction of a second after my ribs were obliterated that my body began to lower. I didn’t realize it initially, but I had subconsciously sat down with my legs crossed.

Whatever power had left the altar and entered me through my contact had stopped, but the force that entered me was still moving around and circling my Source body toward the newly formed core.

As my mental capacity increased, so did my willpower. I began to expand the gathering of the external Arc, spinning and condensing it. As I settled on the ground, I kept my focus aimed internally, and I saw what was happening. The physical shell of Rogue Nano was expanding. The former marble was now about the size of a tennis ball but perfectly smooth and spherical. It stopped growing, and I realized it was the exact size of my Source core. They perfectly overlapped in Spirit and Body. There was a rapid crunch as both spheres slammed down to the marble size they’d been before.

It happened in slow motion as my perception speed ramped up to unbelievable levels. I experienced the changes as every millisecond passed, which felt much longer. I sensed the compression as more and more flooded in. The dense altar power began to glide close to my core, tentacle-like probes reaching out towards it. As the two made contact, I focused on the many tasks and asked the foreign powers to help me.

With a searing flash of heat, the sphere inside me began to burn with a supernatural fire.

I watched as the physical Rogue Nano somehow fused what was in the Source and connected it to the physical. The two spheres were becoming one.

It required hours of attention but was nearly instantaneous to the outside world. To my great relief, the searing pain ceased, and I thought the process was over.

Then, without my conscious instruction, the Sphere in two planes of existence changed from a burning ball of fire to a sudden discharge of power, like lightning striking outwards from the entire surface of my core. The lightning tentacles spread to every inch of my body.

Stolen story; please report.

My body convulsed in one sudden jolt and threw my sitting form ten yards across the room. Ian rushed over and began shaking me, trying to help wake me, but I could not respond.

Ian continued to try to rouse me, but I wasn’t aware of him or the world outside my body. My entire focus was internal.

Since I learned to gather, it had been a rush of euphoria. Even my most recent ability to gather while moving around had been like a steady trickle of dopamine dripping into my brain.

Now, I felt that magnified like a tidal wave rush over me. It was intense and satisfying pleasure and desire for more.

It was all-consuming, and I didn’t notice my core gathering without my direction; the speed at which it pulled in Arc was astounding. What I did notice was my Source body lurch, like feeling the ground fall out below me. I felt my Source body plunge.

I fell rapidly from the first layer of Source, called Base, through the subsequent three layers of Land, right past the third major boundary of Empires, and then slammed to a halt in the fourth layer of Bonds.

I knew all of this as the power of each layer hit me like I was plunging in significant surges to the bottom of the ocean with sudden and violent bursts. Each layer was like breaking through a pane of thick glass. Each shattering was met with a denser Arc & Zan bombardment and coupled with knowledge. The knowledge instinctively communicated my current level of depth and the increasing danger.

My vision caught glimpses of powerful creatures, but from my brief impressions, I felt only awe and fear. My vision entirely focused on the Source view around me where I was now. It was all a dense, dark fog. In the darkness, the only light source was coming from my stomach. I was radiating into the darkness, like a shining beacon in that darkness. I tried to cover it and will it to stop but it pierced the darkness like it was broadcasting something into the mysterious void around me.

The terrifying part was that the light elicited a response. Some entity groaned a deep, bellowing call. It was like a giant whale call across the darkness, shuddering and shaking my soul.

The call came from a great distance, but suddenly, in the next moment, I was pulled with violent whiplash. I zoomed forward rapidly, then suddenly stopped and was aware of the presence before me. It was an entity of such vast size that I couldn’t comprehend its end. My perception picked up only the barest idea of what was before me.

But I did grasp that this was an entity of a single-minded intention and desire. It resounded with hunger, and when I felt it, I was immediately gripped with fear.

Did the altar pull me here?

I tried with every ounce of my being to pull myself back to my body, but I was powerless to exit wherever I was. The entity invisibly pulled me slowly toward its giant form. I felt helpless to stop the force drawing me near.

My fear spiked, and I forgot all about my glowing sphere inside until I was about to make contact with the powerful being before me. Then, after a brief resistance, I was inside.

All around me, I felt the suffocating darkness; there was a powerful primal fear clutching at my chest as I was drawn inexorably into the hunger entity. Passing the surface and being immersed wasn’t like going into a slime or bog but dropping into a vast void. I felt waves of a ravenous need; there was only silence to my spiritual ears, but the deep, resonant groan occasionally broke that silence of the entity beckoning deeper into its form.

I began moving more and more rapidly into its depths. I started to see more detail. It was like being in the deep ocean as I began to see fish-like creatures that I rapidly moved past. Some reminded me of angler fish with oversized teeth and jaws. Some were more like jellyfish or squid. None were like Earth’s equivalent as they all were magnitudes larger. They were giants to my bug-like size. I caught site of battles and some frenzied feasting on smaller creatures. I was fascinated and distracted enough I forgot my previous fear.

Then, I passed from this ocean of creatures into a new void with nothing in its openness. After passing another veil, my vision was awash with light and an intense desire for what I was approaching.

I sensed this was the source or the core of the entity. Another sphere loomed ahead, a shifting mass of shadows and whispers, its form still vast and indefinable. It glowed and roiled like a miniature sun.

It was like it was made more from hunger than any substance I could comprehend. It hungered, and I wanted nothing more than to grasp and possess it.

The closer I got, the more I felt my desires beginning to mirror the insatiable cravings that the entity embodied.

I felt the entity probing my thoughts. Its presence did not speak in words but flooded me with a torrent of urges—hunger for power, hunger for life, and hunger to consume. Each desire echoed my own yet amplified to an overwhelming degree.

I felt my longing for power and then caught glimpses of the entities longing for more power. Then, I caught myself remembering the why behind my struggle: the motivation and purpose. I saw my family, the reason I desired to save Earth and become powerful.

I couldn’t let my desire for power be clouded by this hunger or anyone else. This was just another battle of wills. And I would not be a slave, even to forces much greater than myself.

The great entity had reached out to the developing core within me. The entity focused its attention there, and I felt it reach out with tangible shadows, like flowing strands from a jellyfish.

The appendage reached me, and at its touch, I could sense its thoughts. There was a sense of curiosity, its hunger sharpening as it contemplated the unique melding of forces within me—Arc, Zan, the Rogue Nano, and other forces and abilities.

I saw a replay of rapid images. They showed my journey from Earth to the academy, my times in the Temporal Gates, and my interactions with the Lady, Insatiable, and my glowing core recently formed.

The air thickened with tension as the entity's interest grew. And with its interest, there was a hunger. It began with a pleading like it was asking for permission to take my pain, worry, and burden. It offered to take them and consume them. Its hunger grew as I rejected any offers, sensing it was offering only an end.

It wasn’t an option I wanted. I didn’t want an end; I didn’t want to die or be controlled. I would never be shackled if I had any power to fight.

Then, its strategy changed from requesting permission and offering promises to outright attempts at domination.

I resisted the entity's attempts to overwhelm my will. I felt myself begin to slip as my will was eroding under the pressure of this behemoth. I felt my mind’s coherence begin to crumble. As my last thoughts faded, I reached out to my bond with Insatiable. I felt the bug’s presence within me. After making the connection, I felt like a steady anchor had suddenly dropped and saved the ship of my battered and frayed mind and spirit.

With my solid connection with Insatiable established, I regained control over my mind. I pleaded for help. Insatiable responded, but not like before, when it had silently worked to absorb other entities and stored them in my body. My bug companion of unknown power asked me a question.

Why do you desire this Hunger?

I scrambled for an answer. I had been thinking of survival but initially wanted to obtain this source of hunger.

I want power, but not at the price of my will and freedom. I answered.

Then, take command of your Core. Do not let another dictate who you are or who you will be. I will help push against the invasive force, but you must be your own sovereign. You must be the captain of your future and destiny. Stop letting every outside influence push you like a boat in the waves. You must rule your deepest desires and soul; then, you will find peace and freedom to command your future.

I hadn’t heard so much from Insatiable before, but this wasn’t the time to dissect the advice.

I want power, but I must master all hunger and control my incessant cravings; I will master these forces and become something more!

My thoughts screamed to Insatiable and the universe beyond.

Matching my desire and will, I felt Insatiable push with me. From deep within my core, I felt pressure, solid, impenetrable. With deep-seated power, I felt grounded. My mind cleared as I felt more myself. I felt a reassurance that I would not be enslaved.

Together, we resisted the entity's invasive force, asserting my sovereignty over my spiritual core and the very center of my being.

Visibly, my core began to glow brighter, its light intertwining with the dark tendrils of the entity's dark tentacles wrapped around me and my core during my interaction with Insatiable. A moment of surprise flashed from this Hunger entity to me.

HOW. DID. YOU. RESIST. HUNGER.

The voice was immense and all-consuming. With each syllable, I felt my Source body vibrate like a massive speaker rumbling through my entire body.

I didn’t provide a specific answer. But I felt a response through the tentacles surrounding me.

The commanding, demanding nature of the entity I had begun to call Hunger changed. The tentacles stopped trying to pull and control and opened themselves, connecting as my nano did to my physical body, in a circuitry of filaments bridging itself and my Source body.

I couldn’t help but fear a trap. But Insatiable spoke to me again.

It is alright to relax. It has decided to assist you. You passed the test.

I relaxed my defensive hold over my core and Source body. I was going to trust Insatiable in this.

I felt a symbolic merging through the tentacle’s circuitry and my body. It was like a tentative, cautious blend of curiosity about me and a desire to understand how I resisted. I now focused on interpreting all the impressions.

It took more and more of my mental capacity to maintain a careful balance of comprehending Hunger and sensing what was happening between us.

Hunger began to share glimpses of my potential power and various scenarios that might play out. It was like watching brief glimpses of a new movie but understanding each scene as if I’d lived it.

Each path showed me with greater power but an equal measure of peril. I saw visions of Earth, my family, and realms beyond—each scenario tinged with the dark allure of Hunger’s influence.

If I accepted its influence and power, Hunger showed me what it could do.

Faced with a choice, I began to question it. I hadn’t forgotten what Insatiable had told me. I wasn’t going to be enslaved or lose my ability to chart my future.

Hunger showed me an image. I instinctually understood it was Hunger personified in human shape—not the giant structure or the core with tentacles surrounding me. I was a featureless human with a hand extended for a handshake.

“You have shown you wish for balance,” Hunger told me. Its voice matched the typical volume and tone of human conversation now. “Hunger must always be controlled, or chaos will consume all. There is a cycle of hunger that begins with desire. But it is detrimental and destructive without control. You showed the will to control the insatiable hunger. I recognize the being within you. Its name is a misnomer. You must learn more about it.

What I offer you is a reward. I have seen your potential and wish to provide you an aspect of my core so that you can aspect your own.”

My mind was flooded with more images, and I saw the offer of a handshake, turning its palm upwards. The hand held a miniature version of Hunger’s core. And with it was the offer to absorb the core into me.

I considered all that had happened: my core forming, being pulled here, Insatiable’s support, and now this offer. What would this new Hunger do that my Class, Insatiable, and all I’d discovered so far couldn’t? How does all this mind-boggling Source stuff help me?

How do I manage to juggle all these powers that I want to consume, crave, and devour? I thought to myself, but my thoughts were not kept to myself alone.

“I will help you balance it all,” Hunger responded.

I knew this was another opportunity. I knew nothing of my core or how it worked. I only knew that another being of greater power than I could comprehend offered me help, somehow based on the core of who I am and want to be.

That did stroke my ego and inflated my self-worth for a moment. But it was more than that. I wanted power, but I wanted it for what I thought would help others. Power was the only way to freedom; here was another power source.

“I agree,” I spoke out loud in the vast cavern of Hunger’s core.

I felt a pleasant, warm glow in my core. I also saw a mix of visions. One was the featureless humanoid form of Hunger with its hand extended, holding the miniature core. The other was of the place my Source body was and a small ball moving down a tentacle from the center of the giant core. The visions were overlapped. Both cores in each vision moved toward me and merged with my core- one in my mind’s eye and the other in my Source body. It passed through the outer shell of my core and then merged. I felt my core absorb this fragment of Hunger’s power; it was a controlled integration that would enhance my abilities without forcing me to succumb entirely to any of the forces that fought to rule me.

Even now, I felt one final request to make the changes permanent—an offer to not only empower but balance the aspects of my powers with a balance.

I contemplated the irony of a being called Hunger with the aspect of balance. Then I realized I was grateful, and with a firm resolve for my future, I accepted and finalized the integration, feeling Hunger’s power surge within me but watched over by my will and the assuring influence of Insatiable.

Abruptly, I was back in the ziggurat, lying flat on the ground, my body radiating a new, potent energy. Ian stared in surprise at me, sensing the profound transformation but unaware of the depth of the ordeal I had endured.

“Are you alright?” Ian slowly whispered. “You touched the altar, and then things went crazy.”

“Yeah, I think I’m good,” I responded as my focus went from my new core to looking Ian in the eyes. “Do you know anything about forming a core?”

“Yes. Why?” Ian asked in surprise.

“I formed mine just now,” I responded with a smile.

“That’s what all that was?” Ian leaned away from me. His eyes were open and unfocused, moving like he was reading something.

“I don’t know exactly what you saw, but I think I absorbed a bunch of Arc, and it jump-started my core formation. From there, some other stuff happened I didn’t understand, and then I woke up here. How long was I out for?”

“That can’t be. You touched the altar only ten minutes ago, and you were only out of it for a couple of minutes after that.” Ian’s focus returned, and he scrutinized my expression.

“Core formation takes hours, days, years, not minutes,” he said while standing and brushing himself off. This is wild. We need to head back. We haven’t missed the deadline, but we will cut it close. Follow me. We have a bit of a run.”

------

We began the long journey back. Running only took a fraction of my attention. Now alone with my thoughts, I couldn’t help but try processing all I’d been through.

I had tapped into formidable new powers but knew that Hunger and all the other powers I was gaining were dangerous. I only hoped I’d be able to understand and harness them to reach my future goals. I pondered the balance and silently prayed I would have the ability to harness these powers responsibly.

I also considered some of my visions of the future. I’d seen battles, wars, and enemies, and through all of them, I saw a way to persevere, which hinged on great power balanced by my will and drive to harness every power I acquired. Skit interrupted my musing.

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