[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/de/b5/12/deb512cc9cff06b6eef23ad5e57877a4.jpg]
(“Armongratus…awake … Noceur… close your eyes…”)
A vague call reverberated from a distant space.
Eithne felt like she was floating in a vast sea just below the water surface, and the voice went pass her soul like a wave gently sweeping her face.
The strong light slowly revealed a vision of an unfamiliar world to Eithne. It seemed so realistic to the point Eithne thought she was truly a part of that world.
Eithne saw a sky full of various godly figures. Most of them did not have human appearance. They were colossal and had bizarre skin colors like red, blue, white, green, black. Some figures had many faces, arms and legs. Some figures had animal parts on their body. Some figures had burning skin and hair made of smoke, while some others had perfectly angelic appearance. They carried frightening weapons and had menacing expression. Next to them were divine beasts of various kinds. They howled thunderously, breathed out fire, water, thunder and rode on stormy clouds to accompany their heavenly masters.
All figures of divinity were channeling their power toward the earth.
It felt like the vast sky had lowered to subdue the rebellious rising earth.
Eithne’s gaze lowered to follow the flow of power. At the end of the deties’ tremendous cascading attack, she saw an enormous spear straightly pointed toward the sky. The one holding the spear was a bloodied person. Her hair was long and black, and she had a bright pair of golden eyes.
“The Primordial Serpent?” – Eithne flinched.
Even though what she was seeing was an illusion, Eithne could feel the immense pressure of the clashing between the Gods and the one who looked like the Primordial Serpent.
The black-haired woman in Her distinguished black armor was standing tall between countless dragon corpses. Her fierce eyes gazed at the daunting sky of Gods, then She roared in a thunderous voice:
“NEVER SURRENDER!!!”
Then, Her spear collided with the Gods’ power.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Waves of strong energy bloomed out like an apocalypse. Following behind Her spear were a few remaining survived dragons, they all used their own body to directly slam against the Gods’ attack.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!
An explosion broke out. It became too bright for Eithne to see anything, but the impression of the battle was enough to quiver her heart.
Eithne’s soul trembled. The impact of the battle was true even though everything was just a vision. She felt like her soul’s condition had worsened further that she was seeing parts of her body dissolving to nothing. Still, Eithne tried hard to observe the current situation.
All the Gods had to step back from the explosion. They had to withdraw further back to the sky. When the light dwindled away, Eithne saw the leading giant spear fragmented. The dragons fell down from the sky, dyeing the ground in red blood.
The dignified woman in black armor was still standing with her back straight, raising the spear handle toward the sky. However, Her body also started to crumble.
A sore weep of unknown spirits reached Eithne’s ears. It was scattering across the battlefield. Their lament clenched Eithne’s heart, but she could shed no tear in the current state. She was like a frozen audience of this tragedy, covered her sadness in silence, like the dragon corpses that lost their lives could not cry out loud anymore.
At that moment, Eithne saw a line of ancient words in front of her eyes.
[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/bb/84/e3/bb84e333a83146e5075e231508ece9c1.jpg]
(‘I leave Her final legacy with you.’)
Eithne looked down at her hands. She was now covered in dark scales exactly like the armor of the Primordial Serpent.
After that, the world in front of her eyes disintegrated.
Another world quickly unfolded in front of her eyes, where the sky had broken apart. Having been plundered into Chaos, this world had fallen into pieces that the creatures in it were struggling to exist.
“What is this place?” – She mumbled.
At the center of the broken world, there was a blazing white Sun. The white Sun was drawing all the matter toward it and engulfed everything.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Insane vortexes of energy spread out from the Sun to all directions and destroyed the remaining fragments of the sky. Compared to the previous world of Armageddon, this world had almost reached its demise.
Eithne did not dare to directly stare at the white Sun. She had learnt her lesson, the power of these illusions was real. Despite avoiding the sight, the influence from the celestial existence still made her soul boiling. An irritation ran across her like a calling for mutation, Eithne instantly recognized the feeling – Chaos was entering her soul!
Amid the raging mayhem, a long howl of beast was heard echoing through the space.
“HAAAAUUUUUUULLLLLLLL!”
Eithne then saw a gargantuan nine-tailed canine beast jumping toward the sun. The beast was as huge as the sky, and its shadow was massive enough to cover entire earth.
“Fox?”
The tail of the beast appeared as colossal chains that pierced the gap space between the sky fragments. The Fox opened it mouth and swallowed the white Sun.
RUMBLE!
All the greatest Chaos poured out from the center of the battle.
Eithne saw the light condensed into brilliant colors and flowed down like a mis-matched mixture of oil paints. She gritted her teeth to prepare a wave of insanity invading to her mind. However, everything abruptly froze.
Eithne saw a line of ancient words again.
[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c5/25/35/c52535ea4a0560b691325f783d3397dc.jpg]
(‘I’m waiting for you.’)
The words exploded into dots of light that entered her head.
Eventually, all illusions disintegrated into nothingness.
Eithne’s soul fell down like a heavy rock.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
She sank in a space where all nature was silenced. In this emptiness, nothing was born, nothing was destroyed. Nothing stained, nothing pure. No emotions existed, so there was no agony or joy. Since this Void contained nothing, there was also no hindrance from ignorance.
Eithne saw the Chaos from the Primordial Serpent, the White Sun and the Fox all came together as the purest form of living energy that nurture her soul.
“All the forms of energy will end up as one single form…”
Her mind opened themselves like an empty box. Enlightenment came to her as gently as a water drop, then poured down like a blessing heavy rain.
There was no limitation of the physical body. As a result, her soul evolved naturally without any pain and suffering.
“So this is the Void…”
Her thoughts became as light as airborne feathers on the wind.
Eithne felt no hatred, no anger toward anyone in the past. Not Demir Noceur, not Aubrey Moros, not the unknown God, not Barty or the Fox, nor the Order and the Primordial Serpent. She remembered everything, but nothing stayed in her current mind.
Her vision became blurry when all the Chaos was absorbed into her soul...
.
.
.
Eithne opened her eyes again in her own head. This time, she did not feel a repulsive force from the Serpent shadow in her head anymore. In fact, the corruption from the Primordial Serpent had become closely to her like it was her original body’s part.
She had successfully taken the authority of the Primordial Serpent over the corruption in her head.
Eithne felt the soft grass that her head was resting on. A butterfly flapped their blue wings to take off across her nose. Next to her leisurely sat the nine-tailed fox attendant. After witnessing the greatest decimation and a world’s devastating apocalypse, the peaceful blue sky and slothful pine trees seemed like a thin sheet of paper that could be tear down at any moment. Thus, no attachment to this world prevailed in Eithne, but a hunger for power rose up in desire to protect herself from the destruction of everything.
“Barty.” – Eithne solemnly called.
Her voice had returned to normal when the corruption was subdued.
“Yes?”
Barty answered.
“Should I call you Fox from now on?”
“You found out quickly.”
“Because you replied too confidently.”
“Well, I don’t particularly like the name Barty, but Fox does sound too normie. I do like parties actually.”
The fox attendant wiggled its tails. It was playing with a fern branch in its hand.
“I’m happy that you returned. It seems you have picked the right path.”
“What are you with the Order?” – Eithne asked.
“You can see me as the bridge of communication to the Order. I’m Their missionary.”
Eithne observed the Barty the Fox who knot the fern branch into a circle.
“I’m uncertain of how to trust you.” – She said. “You pushed me to death and saved me at last minute. Is this a game for you?”
“I’m not that boring. Making death a game has no meaning to me. It’s a waste of energy.”
The nine-tailed creature was still busy making a simple garland. Snap! It broke a fern branch. Eithne stared at the Fox’s unskillful hands. Who would tie the ferns like that? Tsk.
“Hm, people often think that mischievous foxes like pull pranks, but I prefer to take thing seriously when I have to use my brain. It’s all calculations for my goal.”
Eithne furrowed her brows. He must have calculated that her wrath would dissolve in the Void as well, but annoyance could be born instantly when Eithne remembered their scheme.
“May I reveal my intention? I will be honest, I promise in the name of the Order.”
“Go ahead.”
“I need you to ascend to the throne.”
The smiling fox put the fern garland on Eithne’s head like a crown.
“All of these hassles are to give you more power. In exchange for power, I need your assistance to eliminate the corruption. What I mean as corruption is the Primordial Serpent.”
Eithne’s mouth corners curved up.
“First, let’s start about our partnership’s conditions. Why am I chosen for your mess?”
“Are you ready to pay the price to hear the Truth?”
“What Truth?”
“You – are--”
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Barely after the Fox uttered its first few words, the bright sky turned gloom. Eithne looked up to see frenzied sparks of lightning had gathered in the clouds above the place that they were sitting. It was certainly ready to strike down at them in any moment.
“I understand.”
Eithne helplessly smiled. She may not survive within one lightning strike.
“I’m sorry. Any information regarding the Truth about you is restricted in this world. You have to bypass the firewall by yourselves to know. When you are strong enough to withstand a few thunderstrikes, you can hear it. Ha ha.”
The Fox playfully chuckled, then it lay down on the soft grass.
“How about you? Can you disclose about you to me?”
“Well, I think I’ve shown you a part of my memory. That’s all you need to know. Otherwise, …”
Crack! Crack!
Eithne glanced at sky. Frighteningly, the lightning gathered even faster. Even her hair and the Fox’s hair all rose upward.
“The visions you saw is my message using the loophole of this world. Please keep it in your memory.”
Barty the Fox calmly said.
“You can think about it, but don’t ask until you are strong enough.”
“Alright.”
Eithne decided to compromise.
When they stopped talking about sensitive matter, the sky returned to its peacefulness.
“Are you always the Fox from the start, or Barty awakened as the Fox?”
Eithne asked.
“Both. I awaked my memory when we walked pass the mirror.”
The Fox happily smelled the fresh grass while answering to her questions. Eithne saw small grass seeds had stuck on its fur. Barty was enjoying its life at its fullest.
“Is this world going to end?”
Eithne asked. She remembered the last scene she saw in a particular world. If this world was going to end, would it be similar to that?
“That actually depends on your progress.”
The Fox replied.
“Is your mission to stop the corruption and world’s end?”
“True.”
Eithne exhaled heavily.
“What if I decide to not collaborate?”
Barty was silent in a few seconds.
“If it was in the past, I’d say it doesn’t matter. We can find another candidate for this mission. But the Order changed Their mind.”
The Fox sat up to pick up Eithne’s head. It looked directly into her eyes.
“You have no other choice now.”
“Tsk.”
Eithne frowned.
“Why don’t you do it yourself?”
“Because I’m weak now. The Order thinks I’m unsuitable for the throne. Trust me, you have greaaat personality for the throne.”
“Urgh.”
Eithne frowned harder. She wanted to escape from the Fox’s grip on her head.
“But wait, I almost forgot about the missing eyes.”
“You should be able to summon them back.”
Barty put Eithne’s head down.
Just as she had a thought of wanting those eyes to return, the eyeballs quickly emerged from the ground next to her. They transformed back into corruption energy and returned to her mouth. The process was a piece of cake.
“I think there’s still one missing eye.”
Eithne counted the number of eyeballs and questioned her memory. Barty titled its head.
“Eh… That eye likely carried a big part of the Primordial Serpent’s will.”
“What would happen with an eye having strong will?”
“They can turn a creature into an incomplete clone of the Primordial Serpent.”
“…”
Shit! Eithne and Barty looked at each other.
The Fox and a talking head then frantically ran around the pine wood to search for the missing eye…