Music for today:
Really Slow Motion & Giant Apes - DaVinci's Dream (Epic Dramatic Neo-Classical Strings)
https://youtu.be/_-2TXLiJ3UQ
Early Afternoon - Early Spring : Year 24 : Three Thousand Kilometers South-East of Ampelos
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Fate—the singular reality among the branches of infinity that's the inevitable destination of time. It was a concept I despised, yet couldn't deny.
Much like driftwood in an endlessly splitting river, no matter how many countless paths existed, time would inevitably only take a single, theoretically calculable and predictable path, and even as I stepped into the realm of divinity, that idea gnawed at me.
At a glance, it clashed with the laws of free will and probability—concepts considered sacred by reason, and immutable by nature.
But what if a being existed that could not just see the branches of infinity, but trace the path time itself would take?
In that instance, probability would die—reduced from an uncertain spectrum to a single, binary 0 or 1. Free will? It'd dissolve in the same breath, crumbling into the illusion of choice laid bare by undefiable certainty.
The problem was that such omniscience implied omnipotence—the existence of infinity.
And infinity wasn't a concept I could swallow. To me, it was an excuse to define things beyond the limits of current understanding—a convenient label to turn the mind from the unknown for the sake of efficiency.
But that efficiency was a luxury I could no longer afford.
Everything has a limit, and every prediction, no matter how perfect, could be defied.
One just needed to step outside the limitations of logic.
Even if that meant vaporizing ones body in a burst of energy only rivaled by the most violent reactions in the universe.
*flicker...* Simultaneously vector flipping kilometers of ocean from the deepest point I could reach above the planet's mantle, I punched a hole in the fabric of space. *VWOOOOOM*
Converting a continent-flattening amount of matter-formed energy into mana with myself at its center was beyond illogical, releasing a burst of enriched mana so immense it'd atomize all but my skeleton of divinity, liquify the shell of my reserve, and even make my soul's consciousness flicker.
But in order to defy a being I couldn't fathom.. I first needed to defy the logic of reality itself.
*WOWOWOWOOOM* Quickly regaining consciousness within the rolling shockwaves of mana, I tightened the form of my soul—instantaneously compressing a vast cloud into a block of ice—and as if it were the core of a nuke, granting the conditions for a reaction unlike anything I could consciously experience with an organic body. *cRaCkLE*
The spontaneous creation of divinity using my own soul.
*WOOM* My consciousness spread in an instant, my senses returning to the outer reaches of my skeleton before the spontaneously formed liquid divinity reconstructed the shell of my reserve, and with it, a nearly perfected space-mana node. *Vwoom*
From the outside, it likely looked like I was mana-tempering—using the burst of mana to dissolve and replace the crystalline mana-strengthened structures naturally formed in my body with newer, stronger, and more efficient lattices...
But in reality, I wasn't just replacing the mana.. I was replacing the body itself.
This wasn't just strengthening, it was a reformation intended to redefine the limitations of matter.
And with it, pull the laws of reality into my paw.
As my body reformed itself through the web of divinity composing the new shell of my reserve, my space mana surged, rushing to counteract the warping of the fabric of space as scales blackened from not magic, but mass, were formed. "~Hooh...~"
With every blast of mana, my body reformed itself—denser, stronger, larger—my reserve closely following suit.
But I wasn't the only one to feel it.
*CRACK-BOOOM* Every time I flipped the ocean inside out, the planet's crust ruptured, and my divinity sent an echo through not just the mantle, but the universe, inadvertently sending a warning to the very beings I intended to defy...
But just the same, for a brief instant, I could feel everything—Odin and Freya.. Jormungandr and his children.. Dagr and Ilios... It was almost as if I could feel Delphi herself.. disgusted by the parasites infesting her, yet refusing to purge them.
As if afraid...
But the sensation was unfortunately fleeting.
Before my mind, separated from the flow of time, could process it, that feeling vanished, and sensation returned to my scales.
*Woom...* Feeling the immense pressure crystallizing the enriched mana on my scales, I slowly began moving, clenching my paw to shatter the glass it formed before it could grow too thick. *Crackle...* "~Hooh...~"
Slowly stabilizing my condition with a slow, deliberate ripple of divinity akin to a heavy breath, my reserve finally found equilibrium within the surrounding mana—its absorption slowing as my thick, almost viscous aura started pushing through my scales again. -Slowly but surely.. it's getting easier... I think...-
Giving my wings and legs a gentle rustle to make sure sensation was still returning to them, my mind slowed as if wanting to rest.. and recover...
But I couldn't let it.
Snapping my eyes open, my iris' glowed a vibrant purple, my pupils thinned as if by adrenaline, and my soul took claim to not just my divinity, but my body. *VWOOOM* My aura compounded instantly, pushing through the hundreds of kilometers of steam above me before wrapping around Hera and Krystallo in the middle of the explosive plume.
Hera's aura, tense and wavering, calmed in an instant.
Despite having done the same reformation of mind and body several times in the last few weeks, her hatred for it never lessened.
Afraid I'd lose my connection to not just my body, but mind, every time I suggested needing to do it, her heart ached. It was an admittedly effective method to get stronger, fast, but in her own words, it was bound to have a limit, and while I hadn't said anything about it yet, I was beginning to find it. -I think it's time I give this method a rest for a while...-
Wanting to heed the warnings from not just Hera, but my own instincts, I opened my mouth to inhale a huge mass of enriched mana before, with a heavy flap of my wings, slinging myself through the steam and gliding toward the wide iceberg Hera and Krystallo sat upon.
"~Are you sure this is okay..?~" The gentle, worried purr of Hera's divinity was the first thing to greet me.
"~Yeah... I'm alright.~"
Hearing my response, dull and exhausted, her aura stiffened. "~You need to stop...~"
*Wummm* Slowing down to land next to her, unable to suppress the hum from the reverbersting fabric of space, I pressed my head into hers. "~I know...~" Evidence of my growth in that moment was clear, even just a few weeks ago, her full form would have completely dwarfed me, but now, things were different. "~This will be the last time I do it for a while, I promise...~" Standing nearly 180 meters tall, I had grown immensely, with my body now so dense it warped space, if only slightly.
But growth wasn't what Hera cared about.
Not pulling her gaze off mine for even a fraction of an instant, she stared through my pupils with a growing agitation. "~Not, 'for a while', you need to stop forever... This method isn't sustainable, and you know it.~" She paused as a hint of bitterness infected her tone. "~You have the Tree of Prayer, so why are you asking so badly to lose touch with yourself?~"
She was right... Absolutely so...
But even still, my stomach churned at the thought of slowing down. "~I just feel like I'm out of time...~"
Between the training and lessons, we had been busy investigating the cult as well, and unfortunately, things had only been hastening there too. With Hera and Krystallo's deepening ties with the Spathi family, there was more evidence than ever that the cult was getting ready to move, and their developments with fission were only advancing.
We were on the edge of a storm I simply didn't feel ready for.. and with Krystallo and the Spathi family's heir meeting tomorrow, it felt like the fuze had already been lit...
Hera felt it too... However, she wasn't drowning in it. "~I know how you feel, Vasilias.~" Warming her tone, her gaze shifted to Krystallo, sitting beneath us, trying to absorb as much mana as she could. "~You're afraid the war will catch the people you care about, and I understand that... But you need to understand that not everyone needs your protection...~" Raising her gaze to me, her wings settled and tail curled toward her paws.
Hearing her tone grow somewhat distant, my chest tightened.
But that was when I pulled her head into my chest, and opened my mouth to release the tsunami of liquid mana onto her back.
She tensed instantly, as if the mana was so cold it froze her to her core.. but I just pulled her closer. "I'm not trying to play the hero, Hera... Something just doesn't feel right..."
Slowly easing, her wide eyes settled and closed.
Her breathing slowed with mine as the mana cascaded down her scales like molten glass over obsidian... For a moment, there was silence—a fragile calm suspended on the strings of infinity, vibrating under the weight of inevitability.
But then it came, the gentle thrum of the string of fate.
*tap*
It was so subtle it was almost unnoticable.. especially in the cascading water still falling from the sky.. a ripple through a tsunami...
But it wasn't just me who felt it.
Watching Hera tense once more, her gaze snapped to the side—slowly pulling herself out of my chest to look north.. over the horizon. "What.. was that..?"
The ripple was tiny, so distant it was almost impossible to notice...
But that was when it returned.. this time passing the other direction like an echo. *tap* -What the..?-
It was hardly like anything I knew.. too brief to be an earthquake.. and too uniform to be an explosion.
Then it came again... *tap*
Another distant echo.. not just across the planet surface, but through it...
Using my aura to try and use the curve of the ripple to find where it originated, I found myself looking north just the same. -Is it.. the pylon in the Death's Gape..?-
It shouldn't have been, but with every rhythmic tap, I grew more convinced. -I made it stop mapping the planet's core, so.. why is it going off all the sudden..?-
Little did I know, it wasn't anything new...
Ever since I left it, the pylon would regularly sing its song.. and track those beneath.
I had just never been in the place to hear its echo when the alarm sounded.
And unfortunately, wouldn't connect the dots fast enough to understand the warning.
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