Chapter Thirty-Three

Jackson was reluctant to start since he was afraid he wasn’t ready, but even he could tell he wasn’t going to get anywhere doing what he had been. Three things at once were simply too much for his tiny brain to handle. He chuckled at himself, earning a glance from Melanie, which he waved off. Sitting down again, he closed his eyes, grabbed a thread of his spirit, and produced the image of his concept, the red gold phoenix rising from the ashes.

Lazarus had said Jackson needed to weave his spirit into the concept, which would make it part of his Domain. So, he did just that, taking that thread of spirit and puncturing it through the image he held in his mind. Starting at the bottom, with the ashes, as soon as his spirit touched the image, he felt it anchor itself to his Domain, his inner world, as if it were a dock and the image a ship.

There was something more to that feeling—a pain that was not a pain. It felt as if he were jabbing his inner self with a hot needle, but rather than searing pain, a warmth spread through him, as if he were standing a little too close to a fire on a chilly night. Pausing, but still holding onto the image and the thread, he examined his Domain and found a tiny bit of gray-black ash within the stream of blood that flowed through it. He knew that that piece of ash was there permanently. Letting go of the image and the thread, he found they were still there. He cocked his head and looked at Lazarus.

“You don’t have to do this all at once.”

The spirit shook his head.

“No, in fact, many sometimes choose to refine their concept, changing the image as they go. Keep in mind, Jackson, that whatever part of the image you weave into yourself is there to stay, but so long as you do not drastically alter your concept, there is room for changes. Oh, and take care not to forget your image. I cannot tell you the number of people who forgot a crucial detail of their concept image because they waited a month before trying to finish it. Unfinished concepts are useless and cripple your advancement as surely as if you had chosen the wrong one.”

Jackson nodded at his explanation and got back to it. Finishing the ash part of the concept took him a while, but he managed it eventually, and when he did, he opened his eyes and took a breath. He found Melanie standing up and stretching, and he couldn’t help but admire her smooth, taut belly as she did. He coughed and looked away, but not before he caught a slow smile spread across her face, her eyes lighting up with a smoldering heat.

Lazarus looked a little dumbfounded.

“You two are monsters, you know that? I can’t believe you have gotten this far with your concepts. Do you realize people spend years trying to do what you’re doing now?”

Jackson's mouth twisted, and he cocked his head.

“Why? It honestly doesn’t seem that hard. A little effort, some introspection, and understanding of yourself, but that’s it.”

Lazarus shook his head and threw up his hands.

“You make it sound easy. It really isn’t. Normally, at this point, if you didn’t have a stable enough connection to your concept, your Domain would have rejected it by now. I think your two Domain Gazings may have had something to do with it; it gave you an instinctual understanding or something.”

Jackson shrugged and chuckled.

“Or maybe we are just good at being self-reflective. I know I have had to do a lot of it since I woke up in this world.”

Melanie pointed at him and nodded.

“Same here.”

Lazarus gave them a helpless expression and let out a big sigh, rubbing his face.

“I guess this is a good thing; I just keep thinking of how long I spent on it... Alright, forget it. Get back to it. Finish this, and we’ll move on to the next phase.”

Jackson rubbed the back of his neck to get rid of the tingle he was feeling there, and he did as instructed.

A few hours later, Jackson was finished. As soon as he was, power flooded through him as if he had opened flood gates within his very being. The phoenix’s fire burned through his Domain like a wave of rejuvenating heat. Ashes mixed with his destruction aspect, and from it, a road started to appear—a cracked and broken road that ran throughout his Domain in all directions.

The destruction was still there, but instead of a hungry void, it was a cracked and seemingly sun-baked road shot through with black, pulsating veins that leached life from the ground, only to feed the ash that now floated onto the road like rain. As he stood upon the desolated road, looking up at the raining ash, he could see the phoenix forming from it, wisps and flashes of fire that pulsed from the raining ash that came together and became the mythical bird.

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There was no longer a river of blood; instead, there was a song, a song that permeated the air, ringing faintly all around like a subtle aura. It was a song of blood, of unending hunger, of life and death. More than that, it was a song that spoke to Jackson. No, not to him or about him. It revealed his insecurities, his strengths, his weaknesses, and what he was willing to do and what he wasn’t. The song was him, and it flowed everywhere.

When he opened his eyes, a notification was waiting for him.

Congratulations! You have formed the Phoenix Concept! It has merged with your Domain, altering you forevermore. With the Phoenix Concept, your minor regeneration skill has transcended! It is now Phoenix Regeneration! Phoenix Regeneration (Journeyman Level 1): Your wounds heal at an increased rate. Major wounds take longer to heal. Can be increased by consuming blood. Strengthen your concept for greater power!

Jackson blinked. That was pretty sweet. His minor regeneration barely did much for him at all unless he fed; this was a long way from minor. He looked at Lazarus, who was beaming at them, and then he glanced at Melanie, who wore a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

“What does it mean? Strengthen your concept.”

Lazarus’s expression turned dark.

“This is where we start treading dangerous ground, Jackson. I have put off telling you this because of people who can read minds. But without this knowledge, you won’t be able to advance. Despite my penchant for calling you two children, you’re old enough to accept the danger. I will leave it to you. Is this something you want to know?”

Jackson glanced over at Melanie, noticing the way her lips tightened.

“This is as much your decision as it is mine, Mels. What do you think?”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Mels?”

He shrugged.

“I thought I’d try it out.”

“Mmm. I like it. We need that information; without it, we can’t advance properly, and that is as good as dead anyway. This world requires strength.”

Jackson agreed with her.

“Mels is right. Lay it on us, Lazarus.”

He eyed them, arms crossed. Then he spoke,

“I don’t know that this is a good idea, but I did say it was your decision. Very well. Let’s start with why you were brought here.”

Melanie’s mouth fell open, and they sat down immediately.

“Yeah, I thought you two would want to sit for this. Alright, how do I explain this? Okay, you know that the Eden Tree is connected to many realms, yes? Of course, you do. Well, some realms and some worlds are very tentatively connected to it. These worlds don’t get any magic, and their people’s Domains and bloodlines are dormant, sealed off. However, it is enough that when a person dies, their soul returns to the tree and is then put back out within the wider universe of Eden.”

“Wait, we died?” Melanie asked.

Lazarus gave her a death stare.

“Yes. You died, Miss Interrupter. Both of you did. When it happened, you were probably close to an Eden root. Since you were in a sealed-off realm, you didn’t lose any lives. People like you are known as awakened, due to the nature of how you came to be here. Now comes the more interesting part. If you keep an eye on some of these roots, you can see, when awakened, that they come into Eden. When it happened with you two, some of Abbaddon’s people must have been watching, and they took your sleeping selves here to the dungeon.”

“Why?” Jackson asked.

Lazarus rubbed his face.

“For your spirit. Yes, yes, I’m explaining. Don’t interrupt me! Manifesting your aura is essentially pushing your spirit out of your body. You two know this. It’s a form of spirit manipulation, and you can take it farther; in fact, you have. Your Domain Gazes? You essentially touched your spirits together, and that, Jackson, is the key to strengthening your concepts. When something dies, it releases a bit of spirit before it returns to the Eden tree. You can use your spirit to take in and absorb that released spirit into your own, strengthening your concept. Don’t you dare ask that question, lass; I’m getting to it. Abbaddon brought you here, to this dungeon, so you would die. He didn’t need you for this orb; he could get it himself if he wanted. No, he set you a task so you’d explore the dungeon and advance yourselves. The more you advance, the greater the spirit released when you die.”

“He’s harvesting us,” Jackson breathed.

Lazarus pointed at him.

“Yep. On your final death, you release a lot more spirit than normal. Abbaddon has hundreds of players in this dungeon, all gaining levels and all of them dying. Abbaddon has a massive range in his spirit; since he has ascended to godhood, when one of you dies, he can just reach out and pluck your released spirit like a ripe apple waiting to be picked. Admittedly, you all don’t offer him much given your low levels and stages of advancement, but it adds up.”

Melanie stood up, eyes blazing.

“So, what? We are like cattle to him. Raised for the slaughter? Fattened up until we are nice and juicy? How is he allowed to do this?!”

Her fists were clenched, her face tight, and the fire behind her eyes could melt metal.

Lazarus gave her a knowing and very tired smile.

“In the world of Eden, the only thing that matters is strength. Abbaddon has a lot of strength, and if the other gods and powers tried to mess with him, they’d start a conflict they would rather not have. It isn’t fair, but that’s the world, lass.”

She shook her head, letting out a frustrated breath.

“Someone should stop him. It isn’t right.”

Lazarus nodded,

“You’re right. Someone should. You just have to get strong enough to do it.”

Melanie’s jaw clenched.

“I will.”

Jackson reached over and took her hand, which was warm and smooth in his, and he gave it a squeeze.

“I’ll help.”

Melanie gave him a grateful smile, her eyes softening.

Lazarus mimed, wiping away a tear.

“That’s touching, but if you want to take down a literal god, you’re going to need a lot more training. Now that you two have your concepts in record time, by the way, I think you’re ready for more.”

Lazarus waved a hand, and the pocket world around them began to twist and shift, causing Jackson to feel dizzy for a second or two before the room settled. They stood in a dark red and black coliseum, with only one spectator in the stands. Lazarus clapped his hands.

“Let’s get ready to battle!! In one corner, two hapless youths. In the other corner, the one... the only... minotaur!”