That’s it then? Kardin of Amia Village, the sole survivor. Apprentice talri warrior and Progenitor, dead. Killed by himself.
I snort at my bitter joke. I know the mind survives several minutes after death. This must be what it is.
I can feel the long slumber calling me, wanting me to give in to it. Just a few more minutes, then I will give in.
I float in a endless, cold and dark void, numbness creeping through my body.
Reflecting on the last moments before my death, I think, I got cocky, I thought I had beaten him.
It’s strange that I technically die within myself, killed by myself. Isn’t that funny? And I thought I was the ruler of my world.
I float on the cold, dark currents of the void of death, brooding. Wait. How did I die?
I was killed by 303, a copy of me. Yes, but that wasn’t my real body, infancy, none of that was really real. It is all on the spirit level.
Yes, and he controlled everything there. So why wouldn’t my body die when I died in that realm?
I blink my phantom eyes, sensing a connection. It is strong, thick and tough, pulled taught. I can feel it calling me, wanting me to give in to it. Calling me.
That’s my connection with the gauntlet. It’s trying to drain me of my soul.
I can feel it clearly now, and I have the urge to cut it. To sever it and stop it from taking my soul.
My thoughts rumble through my mind from the battle, He is me, and I am him.
I grab the soul devouring link in my mental hand, crushing it and stopping it’s enticing call. Then with a burst of will power, I follow it. I skid along it’s length, running down it and to its source.
I hit a wall, a force preventing me from going any further. No, I refuse to die!
I bash my will against the barrier, again and again. I can feel it cracking under the pressure, and I continue to keep hitting it. After what feels like an eternity it crumbles.
I push past the the falling barrier and continue to follow the connection to its source.
Then I am there, at its source. I can feel that it is connected with not just the gauntlet, but also 303. I can feel his thoughts, him trying to coax me into giving up to death. To relinquish my soul.
He can’t actually kill me, only make me think I am dead. That’s why he was worried. He wanted to make me think I am dead and to give in.
I grab the source in my mental hand, squeezing it. I can feel panic flare from it.
This is all made of Gray katra. I control Gray katra. This is all mine.
I focus on the source, and being there.
There is the roaring of wind, and then I am standing on ground. In my grip is 303, my hand clamped down on his throat, my arm lifting him up without effort.
I am the ruler here.
I glance around. I am back on the jagged rock, it’s surface marred and scared from all of 303’s destruction. A few feet away lies my corpse, and I watch as it slowly dissolves into Gray slush, seeping into the earth. A katra Construct.
Looking back at the culprit, he claws at my hand. But I am back in my phantom like body, and his clawed fingers phase through my hand, despite the fact that I am choking him.
“You tricked me,” I accuse him, “You made me think I had no power here, that I was actually dead.”
I was still connected to him, and I could feel him trying to cut the connection he had hijacked, but I didn’t let him.
I loosen my grip a little, letting him speak. “Go ahead, kill me,” He spats out, licking his bloody lips.
He tried to kill me, and nearly did. I look into his eyes, my eyes.
My grip tightens around his throat, cutting off all air. I want to kill him.
He nearly killed me, and from my interactions with him, I can tell he revels in others’ pain. He enjoyed killing me.
My grip tightens even more, and my face that he wears starts turning blue, his arms not trying to fight back.
303 forces a grin, this one begging for me to kill him.
Then I let go of him, closing my eyes.
303 falls to his knees, gasping for air. He looks up at me, blood flowing from his broken nose and tears streaking down his dust covered face.
He glares at me, clutching his bruising throat, he croaks out, “Why didn’t you kill me?”
I stare at him, words failing me. Why didn’t I kill him?
I am not a killer.
Kill if it is only necessary.
What do I do with him?
I look at my twisted copy, the connection between us thrumming. I have decided to not kill him, and I know I can’t leave him alive.
My gaze wanders over the barren landscape of my world.
Then I decide.
I pluck the strand connecting me to my gauntlet, and 303 who is riding on it.
He said he had all my memories.
My hand blurs, clamping down on his face.
I close my eyes, plunging into his mind. I can see all of his -my- memories. Everything is laced with an overwhelming need to kill me. I start flooding the connection with my Gray katra, pouring it into his mind.
I open my eyes, and look 303 in the eyes, “Shatter into a million pieces.”
The katra that has flooded his body responds to my command.
303’s face twists in pain, his eyes wide in horror. “No! You can’t-!”
The Gray katra rushes through his mind, pulling, tearing, slicking and ripping. It seeps into his body, pulling apart every cell.
It’s working…
I let go of his face, containing to pour more and more Gray katra into him.
His face, my face, is twisted in a silent scream.
I look around, a storm of Gray surrounds me, my katra flying up from the my core, from the center of the world. It undulates and twists in strange shapes, half formed images forming and dissipating.
The entire storm of Gray katra spirals upwards, to a point. Then it twists back downwards, forming a condensed spike of katra.
I watch, oddly calm, as the spike strikes 303, phasing through his body and passing into the ground.
Squinting, I watch as a bright, white light blossoms open where 303 had been kneeling. It grows too bright for me to stand, and I have to shut my eyes and shield them with my arm.
Then a instant later, the screaming winds and bright light are gone.
Blinking, I look at what I have done.
Where 303 had sat is now a flaming, multicolored ball. It shifts colors every second, making it hard to focus on. I can see Gray, black, blue red, pink, yellow and every color imaginable, maybe even a few not.
With a mental command, I urge it to, ‘Go, fly.’
The flame wobbles for a second, then in the blink of an eye, shoots up into the dark sky. It streaks across the rent filled expanse of my world’s sky, climbing ever higher.
‘Now.’
Then, it starts splitting, multiplying. It’s tail of color turning into two.
First one flame, then two, three, four… It doesn’t stop. Soon, the entire black sky is covered in a pulsing cover of pinprick flames. They streak across the sky, like a shower of falling stars.
I make sure to imprint this image on my mind, not ever wanting to forget it.
With a flick of my will, I am high above my world, appearing right next to a slowly growing rent in the space. The entire surface of my planet is covered in a layer of falling stars.
A smile creeps it’s way onto my lips.
I can’t kill him, but I can give him a new chance. A chance to live again, and this time not so twisted.
The stars start falling, striking the earth and covering it in multi colored flame. Quickly, no space is left untouched by the flame.
I can see my grove from here, the fire covering the trees and everything there, but it doesn’t burn.
Every type of katra on my world’s surface responds to the fire, shifting. I can feel it, as it responds to the call of the flame.
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I almost forgot!
Reaching down, I grab on of the last flames before it strikes the earth, cupping it in my palm.
Looking back, I watch as the world that rests upon my core soaks in the flames, the Gray katra enveloping it.
Turning away from it, I look at the tiny flame in my hands. ‘Split.’
It splits in two, one bigger flame, and a smaller one.
A sun, that’s what my world lacks most.
With a push of my will, the bigger flame lifts up from my palm. I can feel it’s eagerness, wanting to become something.
Staring into it’s shifting depths, I find the memory I want. ‘Sun.’
Then I hold my palm flat, holding it out in front of me and pushing the flame away from me.
It starts to turn a deep orange color, growing larger.
The ball of flame weaves between the rents, eventually settling what seems miles away. It continues to grow, turning into a giant, imposing ball of flame. It’s surface is covered in explosions of flame, arches, twirls and spirals of flame covering it’s surface, falling back down.
Something tickles the back of my mind, and I grab my world with my will. With a great amount of force, I move my world closer to the new sun, stopping as I feel it snap into place.
I watch as it starts its revolution around the sun.
Holding up my other hand, I stare into the depths of the smaller flame. I find what I want, ‘Moon.’
The flame flies away from me, snapping in place around my world. It turns a light gray color, expanding and hardening.
There is that strange tickling at the base of my skull, like a bug crawling up my spine. I cup the back of my head, waiting till it stops. Strange.
I look back at the slowly forming moon. On a strange whim, I command, ‘No, two.’
The half formed moon shakes, then a smaller piece of it cracks off, tumbling away from it.
I watch as the bigger piece completely solidifying, turning into a sphere of white gray rock, the smaller piece stops, snapping into a revolution around the moon.
I point my finger at it, a smile creeping itself on my lips. ‘Blue.’
The smaller, half formed sphere of katra changes from light gray to a light blue, solidifying. It starts revolving around the new moon, as that moon starts revolving around my core.
This is all a base, like 303 said. Now I have to build off it.
I turn back to my world, which is now devoid of the flames, but I can see that the Gray katra, every type of it I have, is starting to take shapes. I watch in wonder as seas start to cover my entire world, a atmosphere of different gas aspect katra forms around it.
Islands rise from the water, some turning into massive continents. Shores and rocky cliffs form, topography quickly taking shape. It burns up tons of my katra.
Then even more is burned as the seas are filled with life, strange and unfamiliar things blossoming in it’s depths. One single cell splitting and creating many branches off of it, some turning into sea plants, others into creatures.
I watch as some of these sea plants reach the barren landscapes of my world, forming into new plant life.
Trees grow at a rapid pace, burning my katra stores. They are all different, adapting to climates that form from the tilt of my world and the light coming from the sun.
Some fish grow legs, and start walking on land. They evolve, burning up my katra at a rapid pace. Birds evolve, other fantastical creatures that I could have only dreamed of form.
I watch as that one tiny spark that came from 303, now having multiplied, guides the evolution of my world. I watch for eternity, completely enthralled by the process.
My gaze turns to my grove, which is now surrounded by a thick forest of trees. The original tree, and all of it’s many connected saplings, dot the surface of my world. They adapt along with the new climates, changing to survive in them, their network of roots spreading across, and through, the earth of my world.
Hala guides the Asren, they nurture the grove, and some even brave the new world, adventuring across its land.
My gaze is turned from them as they start developing their own culture.
My eyes land on a small corner of one of the 3 supercontinents that rest upon my world. In a valley, a new life form evolves, guided by 303’s flame of memory.
I small smile cracks itself on my lips, the first in what feels like forever. Humans.
They have already started building homes in the trees, a culture much different from the Asren’s. Their’s mirror much of the core ways of the humans in the real world. I watch as groups split off, having different views and ideals.
My gaze is shifted away from my world, as I feel my core drying up. Fatigue hits me, from using too much of my katra all at once. My mind quickly comes back to me.
My eyes focus on the rents, which have now completely consumed my core. The origin stands bare in the sky, the runes snapping and breaking apart in scripts around it. But that’s not what catches my eye.
It’s moving towards the sun.
I watch as it slowly phases into the sun, snapping into it’s center. The runes split apart, stopping for a instant.
That instant seems to stretch on forever, then they burst to life, flinging themselves around the soulspace, which now contains my world and core.
They stop, glinting like multicolored stars in the sky.
I forgot… Got distracted.
My senses come back to me. God, how long have I been here?
It had felt like seconds. My mind had wandered, completely enthralled with the process of the evolution of my world. But now I realize it might have been years.
My eyes move to a floating screen that pops up in front of me.
Bonding process complete!
[ERROR!][303 protocol] Recalibrating… Processing...
Scanning for vitals… Found!
Restarting protocol 303…
Restart cancelled! Authorization found, id: 303[Moderator]
Declaring subject Ex.840k deceased… Complete!
My head buzzes with a strange energy, the feeling of a wave crashing over me. I’m not dead. I am the ruler of this place, I turned 303 into pure memory and let him become everything.
Recalibrating…
Protocol 304 [Assimilation] activated! Starting merging process…
[ERROR!] Merging has already completed. Recalibrating…
[ERROR!] Recalibrating…
[ERROR!] Recalibrating…
[ERROR!] Recalibrating…
[ERROR!] Recalibrating…
What is it talking about? What is protocol 304? Why is it acting strange? I focus my mind, trying to get it to stop filling my vision with red words.
Something seems to pop, reality wobbling and rippling like water.
Id: 303[Moderator] detected! Recalibrating…
Restarting...
Congratulations, [Moderator]!
You have successfully merged with Ex.840k’s body and are now in complete control of it, free from your bonds of service. As so, you have now taken his role in [CLASSIFIED!].
Your new body has been successfully modified and has assimilated with its Bond. Due to a abundance of excess [Katra], along with the influence from your [Tribulation] and Constructs formed inside your Soul Space, your body and abilities have been influenced. New [Traits] have been gained! You shall gain at most 3 traits everytime you enter a new realm.
Trait 1
Aberrant Resilience: You have constantly driven your body to and past its breaking point, using not your strength, but your tenacity and agility to out maneuver your opponents. Your muscles and joints can now easily stretch and bend, your flexibility and agility unnatural. Your reflexes have been marginally improved, your balance and coordination have been greatly improved. (Please note: You have lost all [Defense] bonuses that reaching the Steel Realm would have given you.)
Trait 2
Versatile Adaption: Your body has survived many things, your mind becoming flexible. You now have the ability, by using your [Katra], to temporarily adapt to an environment or situation. Adaption buff only lasts as long as you continue to feed it [Katra], the more radical the adaption, the more power required to keep it active. (Please note: There is a .001% chance for these adaptations to become permanent.)
Trait 3
Immutable Will: Your body has been tempered in pain and blood, your mind sent through repeated hardship and abuse. Due to having survived repeatedly brutal and extreme pain, along with throwing off the shackles of mind control and refusing to give up, you have gained the Immutable Will trait. You can now resist mind altering or affecting effects. (Please note; This also includes the exclusion of abilities, traits or skills related to or part of [Psionics].)
[ERROR!] Recalibrating…
Variable detected! Classifying...
Classification: Artificer
Ranked: [?]
Class *$)
Artificer[?]: You have seen many things, and done many more. You have created things to boost your abilities and things seemingly useless. You have manipulated and created life, forged objects and stepping stones to propel yourself to new heights. You have bent the laws of this world, bringing objects and beings from the Immaterial Plane, to the Material Plane. By using your will and [Katra] you can forge creations in the Material Plane, the more powerful the creation, the more katra required to create and sustain it. (Please note: Intimate knowledge of what you wish to create is required. This is a Variant of the [World Classification]: [Spirit Smith])
Do you wish to make this your [System Classification]?
Yes/No
I think it thinks I am 303. Why though? It must be because I shattered him and reformed him into just about everything on my world, and this “system” must be reading that as him, and since my core is covered in life now, it reads me as being dead. Or so I hope.
Are these the abilities 303 was talking about? I read through them, trying to make sense of them. The first thought that comes to mind is, They seem like a double edged sword.
While they did seem powerful, they all came with something that didn’t seem all that great. I don’t think I’m ever going to get that Steel resilience now.
I could feel some anger bubbling up in me at the fact I did not have the resilience of a Steel, but this Aberrant Resilience intrigued me.
The Versatile Adaptation trait seems relatively powerful, and something that I could use often. A image of me with Diamond Sign wings comes to mind. It would be cool to be able to fly, I muse in my thoughts.
Immutable Will seemed really powerful, but what set me off about it was that I no longer had access to whatever this “Psionics” is. Does this mean I can’t use my connection with Hala to speak to her anymore?
What caught my eye the most was Artificer though, Is that what 303 was using to create the spear?
It had a bigger block of text, and also seemed to be different from the other traits. It also said it was related to Spirit Smiths, the ones who focus their entire lives on Scripting and forging katra constructs.
What does it mean? Curious, I poke the yes.
You have accepted the [System Classification]: Artificer[?]!
You shall gain all bonuses with this class, and for being a [?] Ranked [System Classification] it shall grow alongside you. Every time you reach a new realm the katra required to sustain and create your objects shall be lowered by 10%.
I blink, expecting something more, but that seems to be it. It gets stronger when I get stronger?
Copying what I saw 303 do, I swipe my hand through the words and they fly off, dissipating.
Turning back to my world, which has now slowed, no longer going at a breakneck pace over time. It spins slowly, the moons revolving around it while it revolves around the sun. The runes twinkle in the giant empty of my Soul Space, the rents all gone.
The surface of my world is mostly covered in water, 3 supercontinents the most obvious features of it. I stare at it, my mind calming slightly.
Then I feel a wetness on my cheeks, and I wipe it. My hands come back stained in tears. Why am I crying?
Wiping the rest of the tears away, I decide that it is time to see what has happened to my body since I have been trapped in here.
With a push of my new Immutable Will, a door forms in the space before me, just like Vengeance showed me. Grabbing it’s wooden handle, I open it and step through, my mind swirling with emotions and thoughts on what has just happened.
I mutter under my breath, “What am I supposed to do now, what does this all mean?”