Music for today:
Beautiful Orchestral Music - The Journey of Life
https://youtu.be/p0sunDmlh1k
Mid Evening - Early Spring : Year 24 : Three Thousand Kilometers South-East of Ampelos
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- Krystallo Ragnarok ~
*Woosh...* Feeling the sickeningly steady breeze trace my scales while I looked over the flat, seemingly infinite expanse of ocean before me, my chest tightened with anxiety and my thoughts were brought to a standstill by the mooring lines of expectation.
I knew what was coming, but I wasn't ready for it.
"You ready, Krystallo?" Hera's tone, laced with worry, echoed through my mind like a scream in a labyrinth.
But nothing could move me off the tiny, flat island of ice I sat on. "Hooh..." Trying to ease my nerves one last time, my posture slowly relaxed—my mind finding a tranquility in the calm. "Ready..."
But as if that word was an order of the world's end, in the next instant, the flat ocean surface turned white, rippling with pressure-formed ice and vapor before suddenly, it consumed the sky like a starved catfish.
*WOOOOOOM* The wave of mana that followed was unlike anything words could do justice—a burst of energy so massive it felt as if the very atoms that made up my body were disintegrating, my eyes washing with a blinding darkness while a static ring grew deafeningly loud.
It was a complete sensory overload—the total internal mental and physical collapse that followed catching a glimpse of infinity.
And after a moment.. despite my will steeling my body and mind.. everything faded.
I lost consciousness before I recognized that the blast even happened.
But then, in the darkness that followed, thought and sensation returned.
Though.. different than before...
Feeling nothing but my reserve, my mind's pace bounced, floated, and fluctuated. Time was warping, and with it, threads were woven through my body. Rather than the ticking of the atomic clock in my brain dictating my perception of time, something was dictating it—controlling and manipulating it.
But just as I tried gaining control of it, light returned. *VWOO-SPLAAAASH* With the incomprehensible sound of an ocean falling from the sky, the sensation of water crystallizing on my scales returned, now so sensitive it felt like my scales had become skin.
"Hoh..." Unable to muster strength in my legs, I slowly let myself down, trying to make sense of the sudden silence that now overtook my mind.
Thoughts passed, but never echoed—formed but never spoken.
It was subtle, but as someone who used the repetition of thought to take mental notes, it was.. odd...
*WooooOOOOSH* Feeling the icy platform rise, sink, rock, and turn in the collapsing column of grey, I took several long slow breaths, attempting to wrap my head around what changed.
But.. while I could indeed feel it.. I couldn't pinpoint anything.
Just the same as every prior training session.
*Blub... Woom...* Feeling the misty grey suddenly pull back as if a bubble formed around me, the sensation on my oversensitive scales eased—the ice that settled on them now liquifying and sublimating—and I looked up to find myself in the shadow beneath the wing of a colossal figure. "You're awake already."
It was Hera.
"Y..yeah..." My voice, escaping my mouth as hardly more than a shaky mumble, seemed to pass the vast emptiness between us with ease.
But while I didn't have the strength to hardly whisper, Hera spoke with a deep, almost oozing pride. "What did you feel?"
Feeling my thoughts accelerate in response, my mind stuttered and skipped—the words appearing in bursts from nothingness. But nonetheless, I somehow understood. "I.. feel silence..." Catching my breath, my mind's pace slowly steadied, finding itself a new rhythm. "It feels like my mind is going so fast that I don't have time to think."
Somehow feeling the smile appear on Hera's face, I slowly looked up, wanting answers.
And she knew, so she spoke. "You managed to form a little divinity."
But somehow, the answer only made my confusion thicken. "W..what..?"
Lowering herself, her head, larger than my whole body, laid next to me—her gaze bringing my vision to focus. "Think of it like an alternate type of mana that can influence and manipulate time."
-H..Huh?!- It was an explanation so baffling that it almost seemed to bring sense back to me. -Is.. that why I feel like my thoughts are outrunning my mind..?- Pausing to think, my thoughts started slowing again, returning to the same ticking pace of the rest of my brain. "Is that why my mind seemed to almost.. move..?" Questioning if it was the right choice of words, I found my gaze locked inside Hera's.
But upon closing her eyes to break my trance, she nodded. "That's certainly possible... Although Vasilias is still figuring out exactly how it's created, divinity can only form in the presence of a large soul. He believes it has something to do with their purification... In my experience, it makes me recall memories, usually bad ones, but afterwards it feel like a burden is lifted off me."
"Ah... I.. didn't feel that... I just felt..." Trying to recall it, the exact sensation seemed to almost grow fuzzier with every passing second... "Warmth.. maybe..?"
"Hm.. how interesting..." Looking me up and down, her eyes seemed to almost linger in my chest.
But nothing followed.
Left to the silence of my own, slowly stabilizing thoughts, my eyes drifted—my focus shifting with it—before landing on the presence at the epicenter of the blast.
It was Brother. Despite being well over a hundred kilometers below me, I could feel it with such a distinct clarity it was almost terrifying—the fluctuations in it feeling as if his life itself was being held on by a thread that being sawed at by countless blades...
I knew he wouldn't die.. he couldn't.. but the longer I listened to his presence, the more I grew sick. "How does he handle that much mana... Every few days, no less..."
Hera's smile almost instantly faded with worry. "I'm.. not sure..." Watching her eyes slowly drift below us as well, the comforting, almost motherly caress of her aura slowly turned forced.
It had been a few weeks since he returned from his mission in the Holy Kingdom at that point, but honestly he hadn't been the same since. After seeing a vision he could barely even explain, my occasional lessons on science and magic became a part of daily training, a new regiment that found a rhythm around the 'mana-tempering' we did every few days.
I was more than willing. Being the path I put myself on, I couldn't shy away, if anything, I felt more motivated than ever to focus on the climb.
But somehow, despite feeling like I was making record progress, with each training session, and each blast of mana from the depths of the ocean, the gap between my brother and I widened.. so substantially it was honestly terrifying.
Ever since he revealed the kind of being he was, I questioned how true it was.. it made sense, yes.. but a part of me always held doubts... I grew up with him... We cuddled and played like children, shared so many characteristics we were most certainly of the same feather, and his immaturity was genuine, even in hindsight...
But with time, I found myself questioning if some god hadn't possessed him.. cultivated his body before snatching it... After his mission, he seemed changed—colder, more serious... Hera told me it was just the result of fear, no different from the cultists we were hunting, but instead of finding the solution in another place, he found it within himself...
Or rather.. within his future self...
In my eyes, he was needlessly strong already.. capable of wiping out gods with a literal breath.. but in his.. he was a hatchling standing before a starved wyvern.
I understood that.. yet I couldn't fathom it...
But his fear still infected me.. the fear of losing him grew, and my desire to make sure he never would have to stoop down to catch me compounded.
I needed to be able to climb the mountain with my own strength, and I would do anything to acquire it.
Even if it meant training so hard it put my life at risk.. and my emotions faded...
But he wasn't ever going to let that happen... *Blub...* Feeling the iceberg melt beneath my quivering paws, I sank into the water, feeling every tiny current in the water ripple across my scales before finding another colossal dragon curled around me, the glow in his fur and scales bringing light to the abyss, and replacing the darkness with stars.
With every mana-tempering session, he grew larger, the look in his eyes more exhausted... In his fear-driven fervor, he used everything drop of strength he had to push himself forward.. like me, he didn't have the energy for emotion...
Or at least, he shouldn't have...
Moving closer, his head pressed into me, his aura flowing through my body with a blissful ease before the energy in my mind returned.
He knew what I was thinking... He was thinking it too...
But in that moment of contact, it felt as if that thought vanished... The warmth of his touch brought back memories of when we were kids, and thawed the frost that wanted to harden my mind.
"You can't let go of yourself, Krystallo..." His voice, wrought with worry, sent bass through my entire body. "You can't afford to forget who you are... You may find shedding the weight makes your grip more firm, but it will lose your purpose to climb with time..."
Finding my mind drifting into a cradle, the ocean grew warm.. and comforting... My mind finding room to wander as my control on my aura relaxed.
His words came not from knowledge, but from wisdom... From experience...
And that detail echoed through my soul like a gong over mountains.
Feeling the rhythmic pulses of his mana rolling through my body like the gentle tides around me, my consciousness drifted. It wasn't sleep, nor unconsciousness, but a state of peace—something I'd nearly forgotten since I chose to climb the mountain I did.
For a fleeting moment, the gulf between us ceased its importance. I wasn't chasing after him; I was merely leaning into him, supported by the unwavering strength he'd always shown.
But even amidst that warmth, a bitterness stirred. "How...?" My voice, coming as a whisper, couldn't hide my uncertainty. "How can you hold onto who you are when your entire world will collapse if you don't climb fast enough..?"
His breath slowed, and for a long moment, he said nothing, as if leaving my words to bake and simmer. Until finally, he spoke... "Because as long as the gap isn't too big.. a weaker dragon with something to fight for will always beat a stronger one with nothing..." The silence that followed was thick.. only to be diced the following moment... "If you have nothing to fight for, you won't swing as hard..."
His words, simple yet profound, felt so crushing it was like they imprinted themselves on my soul. I wanted to climb.. climb so fast that I'd take flight. I was steeling my mind in hopes it would make me lighter...
But unfortunately, reality wasn't so simple.
As with everything, a balance had to be found.. between burden and will.. strength and determination...
The mountain pass ahead of me was a treacherous one.. one where a single misstep could lead to my death, and the complete collapse of everything that made up my world.
And sometimes.. strength and speed weren't the answer.. sometimes it wasn't my pace, but my balance that I needed to practice... To steady the shaky paws that grip into smooth cliff face...
Darker times were on the horizon.. choices I didn't want to make were inevitable.. but I needed to keep my eyes up, not on the shadow cast around me, but on the beam of light exposing my path forward.
I just needed to take things one step at a time and never give up.. never give into the stress, the anxiety, or the pain...
I just need to push forward, and shed my burdens once I learned the lesson they provided.
I couldn't hold onto the past, or drown in my own expectations.
I had to continue...
Continue till the afternoon sky turned black with stars...
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