As if freshly branded upon the Spirit of the giant version of a man, the Titles ignited into action once again and produced effects from a cause achieved long in the past, though they did not do so without protests against the abuse they had been put through.
As such, it took a lot of effort for Adamu to recover his consciousness, but when he did a voice reached out to him.
“Welcome to the land of the living, Adamu.” Adam, the Spiritless, with his strangely sterile voice, announced to Adamu as his sole remaining golden eye centered on him. “Your gambit has paid off, although not without a price.” With that said, Adam, the Spiritless, raised his right hand, and above his right palm, a hand-sized orb of incandescent light appeared floating.
The orb gave off multicolored light to its surroundings, all while somehow swallowing multicolor light at the same time.
A moment of silence followed as Adamu stared at the orb of light. His sole remaining golden eye began portraying feelings of regret and disappointment, guilt, and a few others. Still, in the end, those emotions settled down into a peaceful lake of what is known to be resignation.
Then, the chest of the giant of a man inflated, and out through his throat echoed a rough voice that reverberated with the very surroundings.
“If my Time has come, then so be it…” Adamu, The First of Man, declared. “Say it!”
“Through Heaven, Earth, and The Abyss, The Blood of the First Man must go on.” Adam, the Spiritless, spoke. His voice, however, was neither loud nor powerful, yet the words pronounced somehow achieved a similar reverberation to that made by the giant of a man. “Should it fall, all Hope for Mankind will be lost. That CAN NOT, SHALL NOT, and WILL NOT HAPPEN, under any, and all circumstances. No matter the Price paid by the holder of The Blood of the First Man.”
“Good.” Adamu acquiesced when the Oath resonated within him.
With the Oath there, Adamu only had one last thing to understand since things did not follow the proper protocol.
His sole remaining golden eye stared at the boy in front of him. “How?” Adamu asked.
“Causality…” The answer Adamu received was not one he expected. Unlike the Oath from just a few moments ago, this was but one word, and yet, a reverberation still echoed into the surroundings.
Although Adamu was familiar with the reason, it was not one he expected. “Price?”
“Three tasks of her choosing once the Time Loop is closed on your end.” Adam answered with a plain voice.
“Very well.” With the cause known, Adamu was almost ready. “Anything else I should pass on?”
“Something corrupted The Realm Grid. Consequently, Magic got corrupted as well.” Adam, the Spiritless, delivered knowledge acquired from the future. Almost instantly, Adamu sighed because he knew the consequences of the delayed growth of the First of Man for Mankind. Still, he had a feeling that not all was lost, and he was right. “However, together with the uniqueness of this Realm, the locals have circumvented Magic altogether and instead focused on Essence. Uncover the uniqueness, develop your Essence, and the First of Man shall rise again.”
That said, Adam, the Spiritless, flicked his right palm, and the human palm-sized orb of incandescent light hovered over to the giant of a man’s chest. With its movement, Adamu’s sole remaining golden eye ignored the boy beside his giant head and instead remained locked on the orb.
Once it was right above his chest, Adamu steeled his resolve even further, and without even looking away from the orb, Adamu delivered his very last words.
“On this Day and in this Age, I Adamu, end my Vigil as The First of Man!”
The moment the words left his giant mouth and reverberated in the air, the orb of incandescent light gave off a blinding multicolored light for a few seconds. When the light returned to normal, there was no Adamu anymore.
The only thing that portrayed his existence was the crater he made upon his arrival.
A few moments later, the orb returned to Adam’s right palm and vanished from whence it came.
A few moments after its retrieval, he made his way west over the shattered terrain and fallen trees.
A few mountains and a few days later, Adamu found a hidden cave entrance. After a relatively short but narrow passage, he found a decently sized cave for a human of his size. There, he raised his right palm, and the incandescent orb appeared and flew away from his hand and settled in the middle of the cave.
That done, Adamu spoke.
“On this Day and in this Age, I Adam, accept the Vigil of The First of Man!”
Instantly, the orb flashed with multicolored light again, bathing the cave with so much light that not one nook and cranny contained a shadow. However, when the bright light finished its purpose, and the shadows returned, the orb of incandescent light was all that was left behind.
Just like the giant of a man, Adam, the Spiritless, vanished as well.
The only thing that remained was the orb of incandescent light, which both emitted and swallowed light at the same time. However, as there was none to claim it this time, it remained hovering in the air, and that was what it did for the next thirteen months.
On the last day of the thirteenth month, the orb gave off multicolored light once again. When the light receded, the orb no longer remained the sole presence inside the cave. Instead, a human male of about fifteen years of age floated just below it.
His chest faced the orb and the stone ceiling, while his back faced the ground.
At first glance, the boy appeared to be deep asleep, with his chest inflating and deflating very slowly. But as the seconds passed, the rhythm gained in speed. And soon enough, it returned to the standard all mortal humans possessed.
When that occurred, the human teen opened his golden eyes to stare at that which had unmade him from Creation itself. At the same time, Adamu stared at that which had taken and then remade him from the lesser man he used to be and turned him into The Legend, The Myth, The Man, The First Man.
Then, all of a sudden, a frown manifested on the teen's face.
The frown came from a distant memory infringing upon the present memory. With their collisions, conflicts of interest emerged.
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Interests that should not have been there yet were undeniably present.
Something is not right here. Adamu recognized.
This is not how it should be.
I… I should be filled with awe and reverence for the really big shoes I would be filling in place of my predecessor. On top of that, there should be plenty of hesitation over finally understanding the Destiny of The First Man.
Yes… Yes, now that I remember correctly, that was indeed what should have occurred instead of the conflicting feelings emerging from within me.
What is going on?
With the question popping into Adamu’s mind, he ignored the Orb of Rebirth and instead centered his gaze on the surroundings.
There was not much to see, honestly. It was a simple cave with a floor and a ceiling. It had only one opening that was illuminated thanks to the orb giving off light.
However, the crucial factor was not the cave but himself. More precisely, the emotions of unfamiliarity produced very little effect on his thoughts, as if the cave and the floating inside the cave were nothing special.
That dichotomy only made Adamu more aware that things were not as they should be.
Something either went really wrong or wholesomely right. Adamu stated in his mind.
With the confirmation once more ringing the alarm bells, Adamu forced himself to sideline everything going on and instead focused on the last thing he remembered, and that is when it came to him.
Oath… The End of his Vigil… Causality?… Three Tasks?… Corrupted Realm Grid?… Realm Uniqueness and Essence Development?
How? Adamu questioned himself immediately. I should have been disassembled into energy to power the re-assembly of the Blood, Spirit, and Destiny of the First Man with the new holder as the centerpiece.
With that as the starting point, Adamu went over the memories made in his last moments of life. That was when his mind settled on the emotionless almost-white eyes the boy had. With them as the focal point, a conjecture arose in Adamu’s mind.
Could it be?
Instantly, his golden eyes centered on his hands before actually settling on everything below his head. For a few moments, Adamu’s gaze remained fixed between his legs. Eventually, though, it moved along and examined the rest of his floating body and bronze skin.
Once the physical examination was complete, Adamu tried to flex his Magic. For one single second, he remembered the warning about the Realm Grid and its corruption. But as it turned out, even if he wanted to connect to the Realm Grid, it was useless. Not even one tiny drop of Magic existed inside him.
Guess… No Magic present is confirmation enough. Adamu realized. Still… This poses a very important ethical conundrum because Magic is unique to every individual.
Am I Adamu, reincarnated into a new body? Or have Adamu’s memories been transplanted as the core personality of the new holder?
If it is the first, then hurray to my genius.
If it's the second? Does my existential problem even matter at that point?
What if it is neither? And I am dreaming of success while inside the stomach of some Eldritch God? After all, I did plunge into the Chaos Sea. The illusion of life would be there to placate my simple mind as it chews on my everything. Maybe? That's the origin of the corruption my future self mentioned? If so, I am doomed no matter what I try unless I somehow become an Aspect. Because last I heard, even Deities are considered snacks to the Eldritch.
Mmm… thinking of Aspects. My future self mentioned Causality. She is an Aspect. So… that should automatically dismiss the Eldritch, I think.
Okay… Okay. Let's ignore everything else and focus on the here and now. Adamu thought and recentered his mind. First, I should leave the cave and see what the outside looks like. If it's green and leafy, I am probably good. If it's not, I'll think of something else.
Done contemplating, Adamu glanced around the cave once more before sighing at the recognition of what was about to happen to him for the simple reason that he had no access to Magic anymore, and he dared not to access Magic due to the aforementioned corruption of the Realm Grid.
Then, with resolve, Adamu’s golden eyes settled on the Orb of Rebirth, floating somewhat above him.
“On this Day and in this Age, I, Adam, begin my Vigil as the First of Man!”
THUD
“Cough… Damn, the actual First who implemented the Vigil reminder. Cough…” Adamu cursed as he stood up and attempted to massage his injured and sore back. “Hurts even more than I remember for some reason. Is it because the new body has a lower pain threshold? Ah, whatever.”
Once back on his feet, Adamu stared at the illuminating orb floating above him before actually ignoring it.
Without access to Magic, all but the very basics were impossible to accomplish with it. Even if he jumped and tried to grab it with his hands, it would be useless as his hands would pass through the orb as if it were an illusion.
As such, with the Orb of Rebirth sidelined, Adamu made his way to the only opening he could. However, he did so very slowly, for he had no boots on his feet, and his new feet were much too tender for their very first adventure.
Slow as it may have been, it was even slower once he left the range of illumination provided by the orb. And without clothes to protect the rest of his body, rushed behavior wasn't even close to manifesting in Adamu.
Overall, the cave wasn't deep into the mountain, and neither was it slippery nor steep. Though. Strangely. The more Adamu walked, the darker it became. It came to the point that he could not even see his own limbs even though he waved his limbs right in front of his face.
“It was Day when I arrived, and I doubt my future self would have placed me somewhere too dangerous,” Adam murmured while cloaked by Darkness. “I should return and wait. Maybe it will vanish on its own.”
Nodding with the conclusion, Adamu made his way back just as slowly as he had gotten there, wherever he had gotten in the first place.
Then, maybe halfway to his return, a sound alerted Adamu.
Unlike the sounds he made with his feet carefully touching and searching for a good foothold, this one was sharper. Thankfully, it was also more distant. Still, it was not far enough to not cease moving. And to not strain one’s ears to pay careful attention in case the sound had a moving origin behind it and not some random rock pushed by some invisible wind.
Click
Click Click
With understanding, Adamu gave up safety for speed. However, he was not the only one.
Click Click Click
Every click urged Adamu forward faster and faster. Yet, the more urgent feelings emerged, the calmer his mind became as he realized that whether he was Adamu reincarnated or Adamu transplanted, his new body was not accustomed to stress at all, much less combat itself. Instead, it behaved like a virgin girl did before a marital appointment.
Unaccustomed. Expecting pain. And life-threatening danger.
It was because of that realization that Adamu’s mental experience prevailed over the instincts of the new flesh. Therefore, as more and more clicks resounded in his ears, every other sense but the sense of sight strengthened to cope with the lack of illumination.
Thankfully, the more the clicks resounded, the closer he was to the light, as well. In fact, he could already see it in the corner.
Then, one last click reached his ears, and Adamu bolted for the light, not caring one whit for the pain of his feet or the scrapes on his arms. Thankfully, his speedy but steady gait had not only fooled his own body but that of his pursuer as well.
BANG
Something hit the cave wall behind Adamu. The sound it made made it sound rather big, but not overly large.
Not one to ignore the chance, Adamu passed the corner giving off a pinch of light. Right after that, every step of his gained certainty, and moments later, he reached the small cave he awoke in first.
Once he reached the very back of the illuminated cave wall, Adamu centered his golden eyes at the entrance and awaited the creature, only it never came.
Oh, Adamu heard it out there, raking its frustration at either the stone walls or stone floor. Whichever it was, at least he was confident it would not rush at him in a Man vs Nature - Naked Style Brawl to the Death Edition.
“Huu… Great… Now I am forced to develop Essence right on my birthday.” Adamu announced sarcastically while slowly sliding down with his back on the cave wall.