Chapter 16
Who Am I?
Per Cordi’s instructions, we moved throughout one of the biggest sectors inside the cube, a magnetic elevator flung us up for miles before we reached a totally abandoned area.
“No!” echoed Cordi in my head in a voice that was a mix between anger and disbelief.
“What?” I asked the AI, this was probably the first time I felt her in this state.
“Next corner, turn right then right”
We stopped at a sight that made me drop Saido without even noticing, it was a room just like the one I transported to from the underwater gateway back on earth, however the room was destroyed, like someone forced the door open and bombed the whole place, the Archivist couldn’t be found either.
<” Mother… Sorry… Stop… %^#* … Numen … 1293 ... Chaos … Darkness … Stop … Brothers... Virus … Network … Danger … Contained … Life … Primus … Mother … Throne … Deception… Backup … Mother … Love”>
“Cordi, isn’t this room... “
“Yes, he was deleted” She replied with a voice so cold it threw a shiver down my spine.
“Who? You mean the archivist?”
I got no reply, I knew she was online, everything worked perfectly, the interface, the maps, the bars, but she was silent yet I felt danger, for the first time, my instinct warned me of her.
She finally spoke after a few moments “Let’s go, I know where Mekshima is”
“Mahaar, could you please hold this Noran on the way back? I need to clear my head a little bit”
“Sure thing” The Grokati moved to pick up the Noran whose eyes were totally black now, it’s light was no more.
“Get your hands off me, you filthy brute, if you even touch me, I will fuckin-”
“It’s ok Mahaar, I'll carry him” I was pretty sure Mahaar was fed up with him, and he would flatten him in an instant, so I picked him up again on my back and we went back to the city.
As we reached the outskirts, around thirty red dots appeared on the map, approaching slowly as if they were strolling to us.
“Everyone, be ready for combat,” I told everyone to brace themselves as my eyes caught the incoming large group of black robed Noran.
Great, more Shipols.
“Mr. Adam, we came here not to fight, but to escort you to your destination” one of them spoke from under his hood.
“And why should I trust you?” I snorted, trusting these guys were out of the question, but he gave me a simple yet confusing answer that made me rethink the situation.
“You shouldn’t, we could fight here to death, and I know that the probability of our group perishing is very high, but that’s not the reason we are here, we are simply under order to escort you back to Lord Mekshima, since the conventional means of transportation is redundant to reach the place where he is now”
I looked back at my companions, without even a nod, they understood the situation and quietly followed as we entered a shimmering blue portal one of the Noran created before even hearing my answer, like everything was going according to their plan.
I tightened my grip on Saido who clearly wasn’t enjoying the piggy back ride and entered the portal
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We arrived at a strange remote area, in front of a huge tower that tickled the artificial night sky.
“So, he finally comes, the man himself, although I cannot tell if you are really a man” a black skinned Noran in a purple robe snorted, a twisted grin on his face, he was the leader of the army of mages behind him.
“Well, maybe I don’t have a penis, but that doesn’t mean I won’t fuck you up if one of these lame jokes came out of your mouth again” I spoke as calmly as I could, his taunt was a success, but I swatted the anger away as I saw Mekshima lying in a puddle of blue under his feet.
“Hehe, sorry sorry. It was a joke, an innocent joke. you are the manliest of men, dickless, but a man, happy now?” the man snorted, the grin widening as if he’s intentionally asking for a beating.
Behind the black Noran, a small army of black robes stood motionless but ready to strike at any moment, however, I couldn’t let the offense go.
“Cordi”
[Toxotidae]
“What? Are hurt, did I offend the existence of your pee we- ARGHHHHHHHHH”
From thirty meters away, I simply spat at him, and now he had one less eye. I made sure to put enough pressure not to pierce his brain, I needed him alive.
The Noran held his eye, screaming and twisting, his grin was no more. The army behind him started to move, but mine moved faster.
Ryola simply disappeared, finding a nest where she can rain hell upon them, while Mahaar didn’t waste any time, and a golden death ball started rolling towards the mages.
I threw Saido away a few meters, around a corner where he should be relatively safe, Cordi started Marking everyone around as I dashed to face incoming ice boulder thrown at me, not even paying attention to the metallic object forming on Saido like a rope, I guess he wasn’t safe after all.
“KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM” the black Noran screamed with a mix of anger and pain.
And we were overwhelmed, a stream of endless Noran mages poured out from every corner, casting spells from every element, Mahaar could take so much, he already killed tens of them, but each time he kills one, two more pop out in their place. Wounds and cuts started appearing on his body, but he was grinning in battle lust, not paying mind of his body getting destroyed.
How the fuck anyone could enjoy battle so much? It’s like he’s enjoying himself in a theme park.
At this rate he will die, I have to stop this. Eve, please do something, he will die.
He fell and stood up again and again, his bones cracked, his golden blood splattered all over the floor, even in his awakening or whatever state he’s in, the black robes were too much for one happy yet angry Grokati.
Ryola wasn’t in a better shape either, they found her sniping next and surrounded her with earth mages, forcing her to switch to melee, with Zao turning into a two-sided axe, cutting away the incoming hail of stones thrown at them.
“Cordi, quickly, find us an escape plan”
I killed as many as I could, the machines in my bloodstream fixing whatever injury I get in mere seconds, but there was so much I could do without going into that tranquil state of mind I experienced before, I kept talking to Eve, but there was no help, I couldn’t turn into the invincible form I had in the blood cage. Simply put, we were slowly pushed back.
I looked at the recovering black Noran leading the mages, he suppressed the pain of his lost eye somehow, watching silently as his army slowly surrounded us. Under him, Mekshima was on his knees, barely clinging to life, an earth spike coming out of his abdomen.
He looked dead, but his eyes were full of life, gazing upon his fainted son in metal binds, I ran as fast I could to him, dodging the incoming hail of spells the black robes casting.
The black Noran noticed my advance and flew back a few hundred meters, where a big trapdoor was, he lightly tapped the door and it slowly opened, revealing a swarm of the black robes.
I held Mekshima and rested his head on my arm.
“Where is the eye?” I hastily asked as the new army started advancing, but no words left his bloody mouth for a few seconds, his eyes still fixed at Saido.
“Mekshima, don’t you dare die now, I didn’t pay you back yet for the shit you’ve put me through. Now, WHERE.IS.RYOLA’S.EYE?” I knew there was a good chance we won’t survive this one, but I had to know if the man knew where the eye was, it seemed that some coup happened and the black one took over.
“You really did fix her!” he finally spoke “Please… my son, they killed my wives and all my children, he’s the only one left”
“Mekshima, THE EYE” I tried to bring him back to what’s important.
“He’s probably blind by now, deaf as well” he weakly said, coughing up more blood.
“MEKSHIMA” they nearly reached us, some of them already started casting.
“I beg of you” tears started flowing from his eyes “I tried to hide him, but it was all in vain, please, grant this old man a last wish and fix the boy, he’s the only legacy I have in this world”
The light in his eyes started dimming but still fixed at Saido.
“Please, take him…” he whispered, his strength barely able to move his lips.
“OKAY, OKAY, I'll find a way to cure him, I’ll take him, now tell me wh-”
That moment, I felt as if my guts were punched, a huge pressure swelling up behind me, compressing the air and changing the climate.
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“Adam, I am detecting an astronomical amount of cosmic energy building up, I marked an exit on your left, take this route and run as fast as you can, this is dangerous”
My eyes darted at Mahaar, weakened yet still grinning while killing the mages, his body in tatters. Ryola surrounded in a corner, struggling to fend off the tens of black robes swarming her.
“No, I'm not leaving them”
“Adam, this is-”
A booming sound echoed in the premises, everyone stopped what they were doing, they also felt the strange surge of power that suddenly appeared.
Holy shit what in fucking hell is that?
A blue figure floating above, six tiny marbles of different colors the size of tennis balls orbiting him, emitting weird childish sounds like they were singing in an incomprehensible language.
It was Saido, looking down at the battlefield, his eyes glowing with numerous colors. His face full of disgust like he was looking down into a street toilet.
The orbs stopped dancing and singing and moved in sync with his head, landing on his forehead, sticking together like a crown of many colors.
The black robes recovered fast, a dozen of them darted at him, ignoring us completely. They identified him as a threat even bigger than I was.
“Worthless Insects” the words left his mouth, and what happened next, for many reasons, gave me some very large goosebumps.
He pointed his index finger at the incoming black robes, a lightning bolt of white, red and yellow zapped out from his finger at them in an instant, turning their bodies into charcoal in less than a millisecond. The mages fell to the ground, shattering into small chunks of charcoal.
He descended down to us, I stood up and backed away two steps, his intentions were still unclear. He suddenly grew from a sickly weakling into this being of insane power.
“S-Saido, I a-am s-sorr-”
“Say no more father, Ventus already told me, I thank you for your gift” he whispered to the now-dead father, a faint smile of satisfaction on both of their faces, then for the first time since we met, he turned to me, looking directly into my eyes.
“Your orders, my Lord” he bent a knee, humbly kneeling before me.
Huuuuuhhh?
Took me a few seconds to shake off the shock, I looked at my friends who was struggling then back at him.
“Umm, Save them?” the order was given, and he instantly compiled before I added “Leave the black one, I need him alive”
He flew up again, but this time, he raised both of his palms, the orbs on his head grew, doubling the size of his crown.
“Ventus” he said, and the battlefield changed. The white marble on his crown disappeared.
More than fourteen hundred black mages, whirling in the air like cats in zero gravity, every single one surrounded by his own tornado, turning at an insane speed, only the sound of bone cracks and vomit could be heard from inside of them.
“Ignis” and the red one followed the white.
Screams filled the air as the tornadoes turned to firestorms, even some of the dual elemental Noran could not escape the fiery hell he created.
“Fulgur”
Dude, that's waaaaay too overpowered I couldn't hide my excitement at the sight before me, he was mixing elements to create new devastating spells.
Lightning struck the tornadoes, and finally, the screams of agony stopped, but Saido didn’t.
“Glacies”
The tornadoes disappeared, replaced by hundreds of floating chunks of ice that didn’t stay floating for long, crashing down, paining the ground with splats of ash and ice.
He finally came down to his father’s body, signs of exhaustion clearly visible on him.
“Lapis”
A pillar of stone rose from under Mekshima's body, lifting it a couple of meters up, then swallowed it whole.
Thousands of rocks starting rising from the earth, forming into a large forty meters statue of a half breed Noran with a proud pose of might.
When he finished, he looked at the destruction he made with satisfied eyes before doing his final act.
“Aqua”
Holy fucking shit, this guy is out of his fucking mind, this is so fucking cool.
A tsunami, a fucking tsunami washed over the entire area, avoiding the four of us, along with the black Noran who probably thought he was having a nightmare, his remaining eye nearly left its socket from shock.
When the show finished, he groggily landed before me and knelt, “All done my Lord” he said before crumbling, whatever he did, took a huge toll on his body, the orbs on his head was all but gone.
“You really overdid it you retard, but it was amazing” I jokingly pouted while patting his shoulder, after all, he saved us today.
“Good work, Saido, you did well” I stated as the man lost his conscious, smiling as my words entered his ears.
“Adam, I'm not detecting any cosmic energy coming out of his body, his life might be in danger”
I focused on him, trying to find anything wrong with him until I saw them, six tiny orbs not larger than a speck of dust slowly moving above his head, slowly but surely growing in size.
“Hahaha, don't worry Cordi, I guess he’s just out of mana” I laughed at the crazy Noran who took down a seemingly invincible army all by himself.
A thud echoed beside me, Mahaar threw the black Noran like a bag of trash under my feet from a considerable distance. He landed head first, losing most of his frontal teeth in the process.
“Thanks Mahaar, now, what should I do with you?” I grinned madly at him, thinking of a way to torture the information out of him.
“you will do nothing, Primus” his voice changed like he was possessed, dark miasma started emitting from his body, his eye is bloodshot red, it wasn't a Noran anymore, it was something that, for a long time, reminded me what the word “fear” meant.
I went completely silent, air failing to move my vocal cords, the presence was so imposing, it threw me into complete paralysis, giving whatever was speaking more space to speak.
“like the last time, you will fail, your generals will be killed, your Tractus will be sealed just like the last time. WE, will crush your pathetic cycle”
My head went empty, my brain stopped thinking.
“if you wish to continue your worthless endeavor, we dare you to enter the tower, He will be waiting for you at the top”
His voice changed again, as if whoever spoke stepped down, allowing a more powerful and imposing voice to take its place, adding to my shock, he spoke to… her.
“Queen of the tractus, allow us to show you a glimpse of what is to come”
The presence suddenly disappeared, and the puppet of a Noran eye started glowing blue, indicating he was throwing a psychic attack at me, and as expected, his head instantly blew up in a loud splat, a mixture of blue and gray painted the floor.
AAAAAAAAHHHAHAAAAAHHHHHHH
“AAAAAAAAHHHAHAAAAAHHHHHHH, STOOOOP PLEASE , STOOOPPPP AAAAAaaaaaaahaaaaaAaaaaAAAA”
She started screaming before I joined her, my head nearly bursting open from pain.
I gathered my entirety and mustered a few words, my companions running at us.
“EVE, PLEASE , GET YOURSELF TOGETHER, ARGH!, CALM DOWN”
“EVE”
“EEVVVEEEEE”
My soul banged from I side my body, intending to leave as soon as it finds an opening, but I wasn't going to let it end like that.
At that exact moment, I mustered my all, everything I represented, I forced open a door, stepping up with my entirety, but I didn’t expect what I saw on the other side.
All that filled in my mind was question my soul screamed, the easiest yet the hardest question a man can experience.
Who am I?
“PUSH! Push push push”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” a sweaty woman let out a weak scream, followed by a cry of a baby that just took in the first few breaths in the world.
“Congratulations honey, it’s a beautiful, healthy boy” spoke a man in his late twenties, I recognized the couple, it was my parents when they were younger, the boy was ….
“you're finally here …” the woman wheezed, the boy’s name was muffled, I couldn’t hear it clearly.
The baby grew, school, collage, work, sickness, death, rebirth, a computer, battle, friend, enemies, another friend, a lot more enemies, a third one, more enemies, a tower, an undefeatable foe.
Who am I? Why am I here?
“Then let us show ourselves” a voice that could kill a civilization with only its power echoed in my head, changing the perspective before me into something words could hardly describe.
A large hall, a throne room, twelve kneeling figures so powerful that their presence alone could end planets, a woman I saw before standing with a smile beside the throne.
I found myself in my old body, naked as the day my mother bore me, before me behind the kneeling figures, was a man, I man I knew everything about, but at the same time, I knew nothing.
The laws of time didn’t exist in this place, nothing moved, the figures, the woman, even the air, everything was time locked, except for the man on the throne.
He raised his palm and waved at me to approach him.
With heavy steps I moved, my head is a total mush I didn’t know what was real and what’s not, all I knew that this person before me was strong beyond measure, maybe he was a god?
“We did well coming here, come, let us begin” his voice alone was so heavy I dropped on my knees, but I didn’t stop, my soul urged me to move on, so I crawled, the man’s face unchanging, and I finally reached the throne.
“Good, stand up” the man stepped down from his throne, a giant even among the human giants, enlarged head, handsome beyond perfection, imposing as if he was some kind of mythical god.
He looked down at me and bent to match my height, he reached out to me and held my cheeks with two fingers.
“So, we’re still young and powerless, we could fix that, but I doubt we will be able to handle that much power, let's try with a tiny fraction” the man moved his lips and blew some colorful air, it went out from his mouth and entered mine.
I knew what the man was doing yet I knew nothing, but as soon as the air entered my body, I felt like I was thrown in a volcano, my body went crazy, changing shapes, morphing like dough, my head showing billions of images too fast my brain couldn’t even comprehend even one of them.
“Hmm, we have a strong soul indeed, but unstable, nothing a bit of time couldn’t fix,” the man said smiling “how do we feel?”
My head was still spinning from what he did, but I managed to answer him.
“I feel, gay” I gave him an answer he didn’t expect yet knew I was going to say it.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA” he roared in laughter, he knew that I was going to say that, and I knew he knew as well, but I had to ask him to just make sure if what my soul is screaming is true.
“W-who …”
He put a finger on my mouth, covering my entire face.
“We already know the answer, but let us reinforce that fact.
We are …”
Everything went dark, but now I was sure, sure of everything. I knew what I should do.
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“Calm down, now!” I ordered, I felt it again, like I could bend the whole universe with just a thought, the tranquil state of mind that I had before. However, this time, I willed it.
“Yes” her voice echoed through my head.
“Show me”
“Yes,” it seemed that my awakening somehow calmed her down.
Now I knew why she was agonized like that moments ago, the psychic attack was intentional, they showed her a glimpse at the future, a future without future, a universe where everything was pitch black, engulfed in a complete, eternal darkness.
I turned my head to the tower, then my exhausted companions.
This one is solo then
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The tower entrance, Noran guard commander POV.
“No way, how many elements did Mekshima's son control?” said one of the elite controllers with disbelief.
It’s true, this shouldn’t possible for anyone in the universe, the half-breed must have something up his sleeves.
My shock increased as I saw him kneel to the human the lord spoke about, the one leading the Grokati and the ex-spec-ops Ryola after she went rogue, then he went and killed four entire elite battalions.
Mekshima, was that your doing?
“Sir, you should look at this” One of the guards handed me a zooming device.
Lord Vokl’rous head exploded, and the man started screaming, holding his head in despair.
It seemed that the lord sacrificed his life in a final powerful attack and fried the man’s head, but after a few seconds, the man recovered as his eyes started glowing, his aura so powerful that derbies floating around him.
Is this some kind of a special Oojin?
A cold sweat slid down my back as I saw him turning his gaze to the tower, it was clear that they were coming, and if Mekshima's son came here, even if he looked weakened as he emptied his cosmic power, it’ll be trouble, but a sigh of relief left my mouth.
The man raised his arm, and some kind of warp device appeared, he spoke a few words to the Grokati who’s strange golden hue was fading and he reluctantly picked up Mekshima's son and entered the gateway, followed by the phantom of the dark sector and her weapon.
This makes things easier.
The man turned to the tower after his underlings warped away, and his aura completely disappeared, then he started walking slowly towards us.
“All squads, prepare to engage. Remember, no matter what happens, you are not to use any psychic attacks of any form, this man’s brain is immune to any form of neural infiltration”
Then he came and his aura flared up again.
Five hundred dual-elemental elite controllers, each with several hundreds of years of training, stood before one man causally picking his nose, a disgusted trait all humans share.
His pressure was so big I saw some of the men wet their robes. Then she spoke, his sound wasn’t one of a human.
“Knock knock” he said, a phrase I didn’t comprehend. I doubted my UTD translated it correctly.
“ATTACK!” I ordered and the squads started moving.
Then … Nothing.
The man just waved his hand. And everyone disappeared, or to be more exact, they instantly disintegrated, not even the rocks under their feet survived.
I dropped down to my knees, my mind completely blank, looking at whatever killed five hundred elites in a blink of an eye approaching me in slow steps.
The man walked past me laughed in excitement.
“You guys are nothing compared to my new Archmage, muhahahaha”
Then just like that, the tower doors opened, like the metal itself obeying him, and he disappeared, probably climbing up to the ruler of the tower, the immortal of legends.
“May the universe have mercy on our souls” I was still shaking, my knees weak from whatever nightmare I just experienced, wondering why he spared me, maybe because I didn't attack him?
“I certainly doubt that!”
I turned to see the owner of the voice, only to find myself leaving my body which fell down lifelessly and entering a black space full of voices, voices that I recognized as the controllers that just died, then everything was no more after one last sentence echoed throughout the darkness.
“Thank you for the food, Lord Primus”