“Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Ven's eyes were unfocused as his body moved. He used instinct, more than anything else, his mind on the strange flow of energy that had appeared with the rising sun. It warped and shifted to his will, as a third arm might. He'd even limited the visual effect, and prevented the unusual cloak of shadows from blooming on its own.
Doing so seemed to slow how quickly he absorbed energy, but it was only a small amount. Nice to know I can turn off wandering gast mode. Plus, it was an effective way to train his control over the field his body emitted.
Vendak ran, numbed by the passage of time. The sun had come and gone repeatedly, alongside the occasional snowstorm. He had still seen no signs of life, just an empty plain, covered by snow. Ven left behind the ravines around the ice pillar some time ago, though he could still see the stupidly massive column far behind him. It divided the white sun each morning as it rose and kept him on a relatively straight path even at night.
The only real gain was his improved control over his new power. He could more precisely adjust the field and even extend it somewhat. It only reached a short distance from his body, less than four or five feet. When it did so, his absorption speed skyrocketed, accompanied by an addictive rush of power. He also had time to observe the changes in his body as he absorbed more energy.
As of yet, the increase in strength seemed linear. The more time Vendak spent in the sun, the stronger he became. Even at night, his power increased by an almost unnoticeable amount. I'm also absorbing the light a bit faster now, I think? As Ven grew stronger, he might grow more quickly. But it would take some time for him to be sure of his suspicions.
Ven ran, eyes half closed, his energy field out as far as possible. He imagined he looked like a strange black cloud as he skimmed across the ice. A menacing bat that hunted the empty land. Vendak could feel everything within the range of his misty black aura, yet the massive amount of sensory information partially overwhelmed him.
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He knew the general composition of the air around him and the ice below. As his aura snatched energy and light, which passed into the black mist before it flowed into him, it painted an image into his mind. A complex structure that he couldn't understand. He could even peer within his body, which was far more unusual than Ven had expected.
Within his void black humanoid form, Ven appeared to have no real organs per se. Instead, he was a vast collection of identical cells. These small interconnected units formed all the tissues of Vendak's new body, and clung together using the energy he had recently discovered. In his mind's eye, they looked like billions of tiny little black holes, sucking in the force from his aura with reckless abandon.
He still had a space similar to a stomach, though where the waste came out was a mystery. But... Everybody poops... whatever, at least I can talk and maybe eat. He could also generate sound, as he had in his past life, but the air seemed to get stored for this use alone.
He was so focused on his discovery that he failed to truly notice the gradual change in his surroundings. The land had become softer, and the ice was now slick with a fine layer of water. Long cracks had appeared. They separated the field into smaller sections. The gaps between these ice sheets were not wide but deep. Within the depths, the sound of water pulsed and swayed.
Before he processed this change, his feet suddenly touched only empty air, and the smell of salt finally made its way into his brain. As he snapped back into reality, Ven plummeted through the open sky.
A rather inhospitable expanse of water loomed below. It reached out to greet him, its spray more gray than blue. Over a hundred feet high, they dwarfed any waves he had heard of.
The massive sheets of water beat upon the icy cliff, which Ven had carelessly launched himself over. He cursed his lack of attention and braced himself to greet the water. Ven decided to try and absorb some of the impact with his aura, not that he had any evidence he could. He stretched the black mist around himself in a dense cocoon, focused on the halt of his fall.
It did not go as he imagined. The misty black aura that covered his body pulsed out rhythmically and expanded and contracted. Under his baffled gaze, the ocean began to slow its approach, and Ven came to an unsteady halt in mid-air.
"I...I'm flying..."
Vendak floated, ten meters above the reach of the waves, numbed with shock. It was the dream of every human to fly freely in the sky, but most adults tended to leave such idle thoughts behind. Ven was not such an adult.
Vendak shouted, a grin spread across his face as he extended his arms above his head, and attempted to push himself forward through the air. The joyful smile still plastered on his face, Vendak's form suddenly twitched.
With visions of soaring through the heavens still within his head, he suddenly dropped half a foot, then rocketed into the ocean below like a stone.
As he tumbled along, his body driven with the flow of the tide, Ven narrowed his eyes. A headache brewed within his skull, and, as he crashed into the embrace of the cliff face, Vendak once again cursed the being responsible for his system, and wished them a painful death.