Standing before the Mythical Guardian, Ezekiel and Riley prepared themselves for the trial that they were about to face. Both had already donned their Spirit Armor, their control over their mana was so much greater thanks to their new [Understanding] that the expenditure from wearing it was now negligible.
“Are you certain you are both ready? While it would be better to do this sooner than later, it wouldn’t be too harmful to take a bit longer to make another breakthrough.” The Guardian was only addressing Ezekiel at the moment.
Riley was, unfortunately, unlikely to make much more progress. Her current potential was fully tapped, and it was likely that the memories of the Ancient Flame would aid her unless her soul underwent some significant growth.
“I don’t doubt that, but even if we can remain for a while longer, that will not stop the feeling that I have regarding whatever events are occurring on the surface.” Ezekiel grimaced at the thought of his premonitions getting worse.
He had spent the entire day attempting to make another breakthrough, pouring over the contents of a couple of the stranger memories. Including one that manipulated time in a way that nearly made him sick from how strange the sensations he experienced were.
Ultimately, he failed, but towards the end of this timeframe he focused on memorizing the contents of a memory that he felt that he was close to comprehending. Though, whether or not any came of it would depend on future developments.
“That is a fair assessment. Outside of instances where a great deal of experience and comprehension has been subconsciously accumulated, it is rare that a moment of enlightenment can occur without total focus.”
Ezekiel thought over the Guardian’s words. He had thought that it was only the memories that had contributed to his and Riley’s enlightenment. But as he recalled his own enlightenment, that had resulted in his first few [Understandings], he knew that it was only because of the experiences, and half remembered theoretical knowledge from his past life, that could’ve allowed such fast growth.
Even then, it was mostly chance that allowed his only breakthrough after his omen to occur.
An elbow gently tapping his side drew his attention back to the present. Looking to the side, he saw that Riley was staring at him. Hands on her hips as she looked at him in what he assumed was an exasperated manner.
Glancing back at the Guardian, he saw that all of its eyebrows were raised.
“Are you back with us now?” It asked.
Gently clapping his hands to his face to center himself, Ezekiel nodded.
“Good. Then I will restate what I have told you before. This trial will test your [Understanding] of your elements. The mark of your power and ability as Legendary beings.”
Two gateways appeared behind the Guardian, both exited the walls, and were clearly not constructs created by the Guardian’s magic. These were pre-prepared, and Ezekiel couldn’t even begin to comprehend the Runes that were inscribed on them. But he recognized the feel of them from a memory.
“[Void Gates] ...” Even though he had seen their creation at a much larger scale, it was still amazing to see such an amazing Relic in real life.
Through his bond with Shine, he could feel a sense of wonder and curiosity far greater than his own. The Void Spirit had spent much more time trying to recreate the Void Gates than he had, after all.
“Indeed. Now, I do not know what it is that you will face. But I do know that it will be like nothing you have experienced before in your entire lives.” The Guardian’s face was grim as it looked down on the two Hunters. “Now, if you are ready, step forward, and either exit through the other side, alive and successful, or die within, having failed the Ancients test.”
Neither Ezekiel nor Riley flinched at the ominous words given by the Guardian. Instead, they shared one last look, reaching out to grasp each other’s hands once more. Holding on for a few seconds, they finally let go, stepping apart so that they could enter into their respective [Void Gates].
A flash of mana later, the room was empty, save for the Guardian who lingered for a moment.
“May the Ancients guide your path, and may this world not stop moving forward.”
Waving its hands once more, the two [Void Gates] sank into the wall once more.
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The first thing Ezekiel noticed when he opened his eyes was that he was surrounded by absolutely nothing. It was a Void of nothing that reminded him of the memories he witnessed of the creation of Eldramir. Though this was even more blank and barren, as there weren’t even any stars sparkling in the distance.
Upon realizing where he was, Ezekiel suddenly felt his ears pop as his body realized that it was in a pressure less environment. The sheer vacuum of space began tearing his body apart, and he knew that, were it not for his enhanced physique, he would’ve already been dead.
Flexing his mana, Ezekiel infused his Spirit Armor with a spell. Conveying his intentions to Shine, the Void Spirit flexed their own mana to help. Soon, the feeling of being in a vacuum dissipated.
[Void Panes] infused with his [Understanding] of [Force] surrounded Ezekiel. They pushed directly against his skin, and forcibly kept his body together by creating a false pressurized environment. One that also retained all heat so he wouldn’t freeze from the temperature. It wasn’t very healthy, but it was enough to keep him together for the moment.
‘Any ideas?’ he asked Shine. ‘We need to figure out what to do here, or else I’m going to run out of oxygen before we run out of mana.’
Shine was silent, but Ezekiel could feel their mind racing just as fast as his own. Yet, there was nothing going on that he could think of that would allow him to survive for long enough to pass whatever this trial was supposed to be.
He felt a poke coming from Shine that pulled him out of his thought process. ‘Do you think just lasting for a certain amount of time would be good enough?’
Ezekiel didn’t know whether or not that was a possibility, but he couldn’t help but feel like it couldn’t be that simple. Ultimately, something like that was more like a test of his mana capacity.
Even if his [Understanding] of [Force] allowed him to physically survive, as well as lower the mana expenditure for the magic he was using, he just knew that there was more to be tested.
‘... Hey, help me expand my senses outward.’ Ezekiel began focusing on his mana. Specifically, the mana around him, as non-existent as it currently seemed to be.
Shine immediately began to channel their mana in sync with Ezekiel. Their combined senses expanded, growing outward, and covering a much larger range.
The pair remained like this for several seconds. Ezekiel was beginning to feel the strain of holding his breath for so long. Even if he didn’t need to breathe nearly as much as other Legendary Mages or Hunters, his body was still flesh and blood.
A thought occurred to him. ‘Deeper. We need to push our senses deeper into the space around us. Not wider. That isn’t helping.’
‘Like the Ancient Void!’ Shine began to pull back on their mana. But that only shortened the range that they sensed. ‘How are we supposed to do that?’
Seeing the effects of their current attempts, Ezekiel knew they had to try something different.
By this point, his chest was starting to burn as his lungs begged for air.
His mind raced with possibilities. He thought back to the different memories where he had felt the Ancient Void’s senses. Searching for how they were different from his own, he realized that it was just a deeper sensation he had felt at that time. It was also a much more narrowly focused sensation.
It didn’t just spread out to cover a large radius. It pierced through everything within a very tightly controlled radius. One where the Ancient Void was in control of all aspects. A great deal of power, in a very small area. Power that pierced through more than just one’s surroundings.
Sharing his idea with Shine, he formed a second layer of [Void Panes] around his body. This time they formed a barrier, much like when he was underwater in the third trial. But rather than keep the environment out, this one acted much like the one keeping his body from depressurizing.
The sphere then shrank until it was just a small sphere in between Ezekiel’s hands.
Before he could begin, Shine voiced their concerns. ‘Are you sure this will work? This wasn’t something we witnessed in the Ancient Void’s memories.’
As the idea behind Ezekiel’s plan filled his mind, he couldn’t help but have a second thought at Shine’s question. It was true. Neither of them had witnessed what Ezekiel was about to try doing. They had seen the formation of Eldramir from the mana that filled the Void. But they didn’t know how the elements formed the world. Just that they did, somehow.
Not only that, but Ezekiel’s current plan didn’t involve any of that. Instead, it was something completely different, and it was based on something that he barely recalled from memories of his past life.
‘... Are you getting a bad feeling about this plan?’ It wasn’t much, and he knew it put far too much faith on a sensation that neither of them truly understood, but it was the best they had right now.
Shine stayed quiet. Ultimately, they didn’t have any other choices right now. They could survive in this environment, but they’d be stuck here until they figured out how to leave. So, technically, they didn’t have to worry as much as Ezekiel was.
Yet, the worst thing imaginable to them would happen if they did nothing.
‘Let’s do it!’
The pair immediately began filling the sphere in front of them with mana. Unlike in the world that they were familiar with, they didn’t have to worry about keeping the other elements out of the sphere, so they only needed to focus on one-way blockage.
As the sphere began to fill with Void Mana, a white glowing mist filled it, growing brighter and brighter as Ezekiel and Shine dumped half their mana into the sphere. Then, they pushed inward.
Originally, the sphere was the size of a basketball. But as they filed it with mana, they felt a pressure that wanted to burst outward. But by redirecting the [Force] that was exerted on it, they were able to maintain it, and strengthen it as they [Compressed] it into a smaller and smaller form.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
From there, the pair combined yet another [Understanding] into the [Void Panes] that contained the now blindingly bright star. Crushed to the size of a baseball, the mana within, even infused with his [Will] as it was, fought against its confinement with all its strength.
Smaller and smaller, Ezekiel and Shine continued to [Compress] the now [Accelerated] orb of mana. Adding a spin to the sphere, he knew that he couldn’t force a specific outcome from this attempt. At this point, the only thing he and Shine could do was wait for whatever result occurred.
But as the orb spun faster and faster, and condensed to a smaller size, now no larger than a marble, a warning began to flare in the Void users’ minds.
‘Ezekiel...’ Unsure of what to do, Shine trailed off when they realized that Ezekiel wasn’t stopping.
But the scary thing was that Ezekiel seemed worried. Which caused Shine to redirect their attention, and a hint of fear filled the Spirit.
That lapse in concentration from the Void Spirit was almost enough to destabilize the sphere, but Ezekiel managed to catch it in time. Even if the pressure on his soul increased. A moment later, he sent a series of plans to Shine through their link. A backup, if things went poorly.
The Void Spirit enacted Ezekiel’s plan a moment later. Right as the brightly shining ball of Void Mana began to flicker as the forces applied to it seemed to cause a change to occur in its form.
Space immediately [Contracted] and [Stretched], causing the small ball to shrink to the size of a pinprick. Now incredibly far from Ezekiel’s hands, while also still between them.
A half-second after this occurred, Ezekiel felt the mana within the sphere ‘crunch’, its very essence suddenly altered under the strain of the forces that were applied to it. Before the there was a strange twisting sensation as space and time seemed to warp together.
Ezekiel and Shine’s souls both felt a tugging sensation, before the amount of [Force] that pressed up against the [Void Panes] containing the [Compressed] mana exponentially increased. For half a second, he was shocked, and immediately took action to save himself and Shine.
The flickering light from the sphere blasted outward in a bright white brilliance that blinded Ezekiel, even as he felt the [Stretched] space between his hands be filled with far more mana than he had originally put in.
A brief spark of [Nothingness] appeared as a [Shroud], combining with his pressurizing [Void Panes], and the duo barely had a moment to complete Ezekiel’s plan. Throwing up the spells they had partially prepared just before this.
It was all they could do to not black out as they were both consumed by the light that rushed directly toward them. The empty blackness with a small spark of bright light was now replaced with a white Void filled with energy, and nothing else.
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Surrounded by a sea of flames, Riley was looking over her body as she examined the fire that was trying to consume her. Yet, no matter how long she lingered in all-encompassing heat, the worst she felt was a slight discomfort brought about by a foreign force being applied to her.
‘Why is this so easy?’ she couldn’t help but wonder. ‘Is... is this because of Ezekiel’s teaching?’
Holding up one arm, Riley let out a thin stream of blue flames created with her own mana. All while channeling her mana through her body at the same time. After a few moments of looking at the difference between the flame in her hand and the flames in her surroundings, she let the blue flame disperse.
It was strange to her; witnessing an inferno that was larger than anything she could imagine.
‘Shouldn’t I be unable to breathe right now?’
The thought nearly made her panic, as she knew from her talks with Ezekiel, regarding their respective elemental magic, that even if their higher Tier allowed them to hold their breath for longer periods of time, it was impossible for them, at least at Tier four, to survive without breathing.
All Mages and Hunters could survive without air for a short time, and there were different tricks to breathing underwater, and other harsh environments, but they still needed to breathe. As flesh and blood creatures, this was simply an inescapable fact.
A whispering voice skittered through her mind as Celia answered her aimless inquiry. ‘Perhaps it is because the Ancients knew that a fleshly body would not survive without being able to breathe, and so this trial was developed in such a way as to bend the rules a bit.’
The comforting sound of her Spirit’s voice helped Riley to remain calm as she realized the strangeness of her situation. Now, she just needed to figure out what to do to pass whatever the trial intended to test when it came to her [Understanding].
Subconsciously, she reached up to wipe some sweat off her forehead, only for a soft ‘clang’ to ring out as her armored hand struck her armored face. She flinched back for a moment but didn’t otherwise react beyond shaking her hand.
‘I think that I have figured out the purpose of this trial.’
Riley paused, waiting for her Spirit to continue.
‘It is hotter than when we first began.’ Celia’s voice carried a hint of uncertainty, but the more she spoke, the more Riley believed that she was right. ‘Most likely, this trial is not about defeating an enemy, but instead, we must survive, much like in the first trial, by using our [Understanding] of our element so as not to be destroyed by it.’
Spreading her senses outward, Riley realized that it was, indeed, hotter than before, and steadily growing hotter. Even the light from the flames was growing brighter, and the color was changing from a bright orange to lighter color with flickers of blue that were now growing much more common.
With a renewed feeling of urgency, Riley nearly began cooling her surroundings to ensure that she didn’t overheat. Yet, Celia’s next words stopped her in her tracks.
‘Not yet! We need to retain as much mana as we can. We cannot allow ourselves to run out of fuel when we do not know how long this trial will last.’
By this point, the previously uncomfortable heat was now sweltering, which was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time.
‘What do you suggest?’ Riley focused on the state of her body, making sure that nothing was suffering too poorly under the effects of the heat.
‘For the moment, we will need to tough it out. Afterward, we will need to figure out how to absorb these Flames to refuel our own mana.’ There was an intensity that filled the Spirit’s soul as she also extended her senses outwards. ‘I imagine that there will also be a [Willpower] component to this trial as well.’
Riley was sweating quite a bit beneath her armor now. But, even so, she could still focus enough to tell that Celia’s last assumption was likely wrong.
‘I don’t think that that’s the case.,’ she could feel Celia’s questioning gaze in the back of her mind. ‘This is a test of our [Understanding]. If we use our [Willpower] then there is no purpose to this test. Doing so will likely change the intensity and difficulty to ensure that we can’t rely on it moving forward. We couldn’t even withstand the [Will] and full senses of the Ancient Flame’s memories, after all.’
Celia remained silent, but Riley could feel the bashfulness from the Spirit that indicated she was embarrassed for her prior guess.
‘But you’re right about the mana thing.’ Riley tried to lift her Spirit’s mood back up. ‘I can see turning our element into mana to absorb and use as being a form of [Understanding] so we should work on that. Do you remember anything from the Ancient’s memories?’
The two silently contemplated the knowledge they had, and the scenes that they had witnessed from their previous viewings of the Ancient Flame’s memory tablets. Nothing in particular came to mind, but as the temperature rose, Riley was finally forced to begin spending her mana to remain relatively cool.
Stacking multiple [Understandings] on top of each other as she focused helped lower the cost, but as the flames around her fully converted to blue, and continued to heat up and grow ever brighter, she knew she would need to figure something out soon.
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Back in the emptiness of the Void that Ezekiel had been sent to, a luminescent rainbow filled the space in its entirety. Every color of mana was present, as were different sensations that were felt by the sole occupant of this expansive nothingness.
“Wow...” there was a sense of awe and wonder that filled Shine’s words as they observed their surroundings to better get a sense of what had happened. “I don’t think that should’ve worked the way it did. Was this what you were trying to do?”
The strange pseudo atmosphere that took shape allowed the vocalization of words, but even then, Ezekiel knew that something was going on that shouldn’t be happening.
“No… I was trying to pierce through something. Something that we couldn’t see or sense, but it seems my experiment decided to go for a ‘big bang’, and I guess this is the result...” his eyes lingered on a twisting spiral of mana that was filled with blue, gray, and gold motes.
Water briefly formed, before red motes touched upon it and the newly formed matter dispersed into magical particles once more.
“This goes against everything that I thought I knew about reality...”
Through their bond, Ezekiel felt Shine’s confusion as they pondered his statement.
“Well... scientifically speaking, I don’t think this should’ve happened. Although, I’m pretty certain that the only reason we’re not dead is because the space we’re in is operating under very special rules.”
Waving a hand, Ezekiel directed some of the mana that was randomly moving around in an ongoing mess and took control of the area around him in its entirety.
The next moment, the different motes of mana became solid splotches of color that directly contrasted with one another. A strange and abstract mosaic formed. One that had no rhyme or reason for its structure. So, he decided to give it some.
Digging deep into his memories, Ezekiel imagined a scene from his past. It was his house from when he was a child. Something he hadn’t seen in over a decade at this point.
Slowly, the mana in their surroundings shifted, and began mingling together to get different colors. A painting took shape, and the old house with a shop on the bottom floor came into being. First as a two-dimensional painting, then it obtained depth that turned it into a real, physical, object.
“Is this your old house?” Shine had never seen it before, not physically, at least.
Carefully running his hand along the door in front of him, Ezekiel was shocked by the realness of the wood beneath his fingers. “Yeah, it is... but this just confirms that there’s something else here.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The fact that there is no possible way that a Legendary Being would have the knowledge and power to create an entire world from scratch.” Memories of what he had seen in the tablets left behind by the Ancient Void filled his mind.
The sheer depths of what he had barely been able to sense during that time had nearly been enough to break his soul. Only by ensuring that he stopped at his absolute limit prevented that from happening. Yet, he was still laid out for several days from strain and fatigue.
“But at the same time... I think I know why this happened.” Ezekiel opened the door, only to see an empty space filled with colorful motes of mana. “This was a test, to see if we [Understand] our element to a certain level of sufficiency. While I do not know how the Void can do these things, I [Understand] why this can happen.”
Carefully taking a few motes of his Void mana, he allowed them to exit his body freely, and the small amount of elemental chaos that occurred was mostly expected. At least by him.
“Whoa!” Shine was less prepared.
“The Void is the beginning and the end. All things come from it, and all things return to it. Just like our [Nothingness], but opposite in this case.” Ezekiel carefully applied his [Will] which was still infused in the mana that had exponentially empowered the elemental motes that surrounded him, and reshaped the inside of the house to perfectly match what was in his memories. “But this is as far as we go, for now.”
Dropping his hand to the side, Ezekiel retracted his [Will] from the world around him, and the many motes of mana began to chaotically move around once more. His eyes flickered as he stood on the cusp of something new, something big.
Something that would destroy him if he took even a single step closer toward it.
Yet even though he didn’t fully embrace the concepts that were just out of reach, smaller ones still filled his mind. Filling him with new [Understandings] that weren’t there before.
“[Origin] and [Empowerment]...”
Sending his mana out of his body, he applied these new [Understandings] alongside his first concept of [Nothingness] to return the mana around him to their [Origin] of [Nothingness] and [Empower] it as he took it all in. Ensuring that there was no loss in the mana that was expended.
No clashing elements were needed to form the Void mana that Ezekiel was now taking in. Granting him a breakthrough to Step seven of Tier four. A moment later, Shine followed suit.
Looking around him, Ezekiel spread his senses, focusing on the [Origin] of his surroundings. Reaching deeper, past the elemental mana that was now everywhere, he felt it.
It was like a small film of gossamer, but a thousand times harder than steel. Fortunately, with his power at its current level, he could puncture it if he really wanted to.
The question was more a matter of whether or not he should.
Sensing Ezekiel’s new apprehension, Shine couldn’t help but poke through his mind to find out what was wrong. But Ezekiel had clamped down tightly on his every thought. Nearly using his mana to Void his emotions, but not just yet.
“Is it something dangerous?” This was Shine’s primary concern.
“I don’t know. It’s more like a door... A door that, once it’s opened, we’ll never be able to close it.” Ezekiel remembered the sensation of being reborn. It was sudden, and the thousands of years he had traveled had felt like nothing. Yet, it was ultimately something that he could never return from.
Right now, it felt like something similar was about to occur.
For a few minutes, the Hunter Spirit duo just floated in the luminescent rainbow void.
Ezekiel let out a sigh. “What am I doing?”
Focusing his mana, he prepared to puncture what he assumed was a wall between different layers of space. “There’s no point holding back now. Especially since there’s nowhere else to go.”
“Agreed! Let’s do this!”
Ezekiel could hear the nervousness in Shine’s voice, but also the firmness that indicated that they agreed with this decision and weren’t just spouting nonsense to hype themself up. So, all he did was carefully pat the pommel of their blade while sending soothing emotions through their bond.
Taking a deep breath, Ezekiel flexed his [Will] and mana.
There was a ‘pop’ and the void was filled solely with multicolored light.
A moment later, the colors seemed to come together into spiraling starlight.
Surrounded by darkness, eyes shaped like spiral galaxies stared at where Ezekiel once was.
A blink later, they were gone.