Music for today:
Epic Slow Build Up Music - I am the Shadow (๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐)
https://youtu.be/_YQkWEwqNJo
Chapter 470: Sewing Threads
Early Morning - Early Spring : Year ??? : Delphi
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-She.. was your avatar, wasn't she...- Watching the wind rustling the ivy on the altar suddenly twist, my stiff, thought-laden expression softened with a smile. -It's funny.. she was so adamant and stern at times that I thought you must have been different beings, I thought you were too gentle compared to her... But I suppose I just didn't know you yet...-
The mana following the wind through the forest immediately rippled with a warm wave before rustling the fur on my cheek with a gentle caress.
-I do have to wonder though...- Gently pulling out the black sphere still holding Hera's soul, I stared into it, slowly losing myself to the enchanting cloudy swirl held within it. -After I arrived, she seemed to only ever stray away from you.. from who she was before my arrival.. but you never chose to correct it or save her... Why was that..?-
The mana around me instantly paused with hesitance before eventually flowing into my body with a recognizable pattern... 'It is.. complicated...'
My expression fell immediately. It was the same phrase she had repeated every time I asked anything related to why... -I see...-
I knew what she was saying. Even after thousands of years of accumulating strength that should have been unchallengeable by nearly anything else I knew to exist, I wasn't strong enough to accomplish what she knew I'd attempt to do to help her...
She knew I would turn the universe upside down for her even if it came at the cost of my life.. and she refused to let that happen. -Can you at least tell me what it is I lack..?-
There was another pause in her breath before more mana pressed into me. 'You.. already know...'
My jaw clenched the moment I recognized those words...
She knew me too well...
Dropping my gaze from Hera to my own paws, my stomach twisted, and mind churned with a mix of anxiety and displeasure. With the reconstruction of my body in the cradle of Delphi's mana, my flesh had finally reached its peak.. and unfortunately.. my mind had already hit its final barrier.
I had reached the highest peak I could climb to.
No matter how much I dreaded thinking about it, it was a undeniable fact: I could no longer progress in the manner I had in the past.
Having been subject to so much mana for so long, my soul had been cleaned nearly entirelyโmaking every one of my memories as clear as the day they were etched into meโbut consequently limiting its production of divinity almost entirely, and cementing the flawed foundation of thought I needed to rid myself of in order to overcome the limit I was at.
I had reached the end of my road, and the only path I could see to a higher peak required me to fall down what I spent my entire life climbing...
I was going to have to start over entirely...
But that idea... It scared me... Though not for fear of losing my strength...
No matter how much I researched, the blending of science, mana, and souls was something I struggled with. I had no idea what the outcome of the procedure I needed to conduct would be...
I had to risk losing everything that formed me into the being I wasโthe knowledge, the pain, the loss, the lonelinessโand pray that the procedure didn't change my desires at the end of it all.
-To overcome the limits of my flesh, I'd have to build something superior to what I have now.- Something superior to a god capable of shattering worlds with a stomp, or consuming stars with a breath. -And to overcome the limits of my mind, I'd need to redo the foundation everything that makes me who I am...- I would have to use someone elseโa mind separate from my ownโto lay a foundation fundamentally different from what had been cemented within myself. -I'd essentially need to have someone else possess my mind until the new foundation is laid...-
But I couldn't be certain even that would work.. and even more so.. I wasn't confident I could regain control afterwards...
-If I blend someone else's soul in with mine, I will change in ways I can't imagine...- I'd almost certainly lose touch with who I was before that moment, and while I could likely preserve the memories and knowledge I had accumulated, different desires were bound to sprout from them...
At the deepest level, I was going to be a different being.. a different person...
...And the thought of that difference resulting in no longer being the subject of Delphi's love, or being reduced to a greedy leech like Jormungandr struck a fear so deep into me, it carved a gorge through my soul.
That possible reality was a nightmare I simply couldn't imagine.. something that couldn't even be compared to the helplessness I felt while watching my home world, and all those I came to know and love, get consumed.
But while my heart ached sitting before that fateful altar, Delphi's breath remained calm... 'Why.. must you be afraid..?'
My brows furrowed as my gaze turned past my paws and settled on the source of the curling and churning ambient mana. -I can't risk changing that much... I can't risk becoming a leech like the others...-
The mana around me thickened in a blink before warmth flooded every remaining cell in my body. 'So.. why take the risk..?'
-Because I want to save you from- Before I could finish my thought, the unfathomable mass of divinity in my reserve churned, and the world beneath me morphed, blended, and scattered with hundreds.. thousands.. perhaps millions of different versions like endless realities had been layered on themselves. -Ah...-
It felt easier than it ever had.
'There are also.. many aspects where you aren't lacking... You have no need to fear risk you can guarantee...'
My eyes widened instantly, as if trying to expand my mind to encompass the mass of knowledge before me. It was almost a thousand years of foresight, but unlike before my rebirth in Delphi's cradle, it hardly strained my soul at all
But it all snapped away the moment I felt my divinity begin truly draining. *Vwoop*
'For now, do what cannot be foreseen... Study, grow, and accumulate as much power as you can, then when the time is right, build the framework out of time's threads... Patch every hole, every error, and every possibility before it has the chance to happen...' The mana around me tightened with a hint of anxiousness and guilt almost instantly. 'I.. cannot look ahead for you.. so you must find the path yourself and discover for yourself if it is something you can ensure.. but...'
As the breeze suddenly shifted, forming tendrils within the mana around me, she reached for the artifact I was holding in the air in front of me.
'Do not let yourself take the burden alone...' Taking the artifact from me, the scattered cloud within it rapidly thickened. 'Please experiment on that until you are certain...' Her worries began morphing into fear and pain more with every word. 'I will trust you if you decide to continue forth... But if you find the risk is too much.. please don't hesitate to come back to me...'
All mana on the planet resonated in that momentโthe air currents slowing and the waves growing still as the air around me squeezed.
'Don't take risks you mustn't... Take all the time you need.. and make sure there is confidence in your step.' My fur rustled with a gentle touch as the pressure finally eased, the tendrils of mana dissipated, and her breath slowly began growing weaker. 'I know you have already set your mind on it.. but allow me to request... Please be careful...'
Gently cradling the artifact of Hera as Delphi released it, my gaze stiffened with a wave of resolve and understanding. -I will... But I will not experiment on you...- Looking at Hera, the entire world tensed. -I will make you a body along side my own.. not just to house an avatar.. but to hold you...-
Anxiety rippled through the air with a subtle quiver. 'That will be.. impossible...'
But resolve had already welled within me like water behind a grand dam. -I don't believe in impossibility.-
'Do not.. let pride lull you...' Welling a surge of strength in her voice, it felt like the atmosphere itself clasped onto me. 'I beg of you...' Fear laced her voice. 'Please.. be careful...' But her voice only faded faster. 'Don't.. risk.. failure...'
Until finally, it faded entirely...
Feeling her breath weaken and slow before almost disappearing like the heartbeat of a hibernating bear, I clenched my paw.
It was time for me to overlook the gorge between the peak I stood on and of that which climbed through the clouds.. and use my power to find a path before it could be trekked. I was going to prepare for a future darker than any I could imagine, and make sure the formless being I had grown to love had an opportunity at the future she saw beyond the horizon.
...The future that gave her the strength to give me guidance...
Though.. I had a long ways to go...
Returning from the Altar with Hera in hand, I spent the next several millennia learning and experimenting, spending my time in Siratha around the world tree that had sprouted over my resting body to experiment with souls, mana, and divinity, and exploring the lands claimed by dragons to experiment with their genetics, advantages, and disadvantages in order to create the blueprint of a perfect being.
It was going to be difficult, but with every passing century, my experiments grew more and more successful.. and more and more predictable.
Studying hatchling dragons, looking specifically into how and when souls possessed them, and watching how they grew and aged over the course of millennia, I gained an understanding that was as unstable as an overweight atom, supported by theoreticals that were themselves laden with uncertainty...
But after conducting countless experiments on dragons, thunderbirds, humans, and elves all alike, erasing many, reincarnating less, and finding success in even fewer, I decided to elevate things. -I think its time...-
It was to be my first, true experiment. *Woom* Tugging on the threads of time, I looked for a subject.. a god capable of mimicking the strain of an oversized soul on a physical body.
I looked for anything.. gods within the Aesir.. or creatures walking in flesh.
That was when I found him. A winged-god from another world.
The perfect subject...
Easing my grip on time, tracing that thread back to his appearance, I began the construction of the egg.. granting it a nearly indestructible shell to protect the incarnation of draconic perfection that would be housed within it.
Years later.. I looked ahead again, tracing a more distant thread back to reality before laying the egg in the center of the southeastern-most continent, and the very next day, arriving before Typhon.
He was a being I saw within every future beyond the egg's possession...
An obstacle for the rise and survival of the subject of my experiments...
...And as such, the mountainous Typhon met his end.. and the age of dragons started anew...
The age of Bahamut.
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