It was dark and filled with silence. Then the low swell of a guttural hum, vibrating through the void like the breath of a sleeping god. Ethan Valtaris drifted once more in the realm where he met Nanook, his body unconscious buthe was Still aware what was happening,he was in the strange ether that had grown disturbingly familiar. A place outside time, where thought bled into matter and dreams warped into law.
He then stood barefoot on a shifting obsidian platform that hovered above an endless maelstrom of violet mist and stars. Everything shimmered like glass soaked in oil,it was surreal, sacred, unnatural. Above him, fractured moons circled, each of them caught in slow motion as if the universe had paused to watch.
The static in the air nipped at his skin, pulling goosebumps from his arms. The stillness was broken only by a faint breeze that smelled like scorched paper and salt.
Then came a ripple thought the plane as if the realm had received a being of higher dimensions.
It was Nanook.The sentient being that showed itself to Ethan before.
He emerged from the mist as if stepping from a forgotten cathedral, his form bending the light, his tall, lean figure trailing veils of shadow like wings. His robes were stitched from voidstuff, curling and dancing as if alive. A helm of ivory bone masked most of his face, slightly covering those coal-like eyes, burning eternally with intelligence, detachment and something buried beneath that calm demeanor...Rage.
"You're slow to heal...boy," Nanook said, voice like distant thunder wrapped in silk.
Ethan instinctively clenched his fists. "It's you again."
Nanook gave a thin smile. "Yes.This world...this sanctuary of mind and absolute serenity belongs to me. And as long as your body remains unconscious, you'll keep coming here for it is my will."
He circled Ethan slowly, trailing a finger through the air. It glowed in his wake, symbols forming and fading. Visions flickered across the darkness: the Seraph Lizard, the invasion, his mother bleeding, the burning stripes racing down his arms.
Ethan grit his teeth. "What exactly do you want from me?"
"To teach you child, before you burn yourself out due to your own negligence."
He gestured his hand, and the realm became distorted once again. Ethan gasped as a series of illusions that formed around him...cities crumbling beneath beasts that ripped open the skies; Breachers screaming as they were torn limb from limb by creatures larger than buildings. Flames.Blood.Bone.Screams.
"These are not illusions child, Ethan," Nanook said. "They are futures.All possible.It will start with this world.They are all preventable...well,if you learn."
Ethan turned back to him, jaw tight. "What do you mean by that. Learn what? How to wield your power? How to become like you?"
Nanook chuckled. "My power resides in youMy power and being risides in you boy.That makes all those possible futures,our problem. But yes,for now your body can only summon my power when it is met with extreme stress...when pain and death claw claw at your very soul. It's inefficient and very dangerous."
"Then how do I bypass that? How do I summon it at will without coming close to death,I don't know anything about using this stranger power."
Nanook paused, watching him then said with a cold expression. "I want you to endure more hardships. Break.Heal.And break again.Only when your body becomes one that can endure more than what a mortal can,can you use my powers freely.You will be able to control the gate.Until then, careless use of this power risks destroying you,and I can't have that."
Ethan glanced at his hand. It trembled slightly, even here. He clenched it into a fist.
"What's the catch? There has to be one I know it."
Nanook's eyes burned brighter.
"When your body matures enough,when you become strong enough...I will be able to share control...fully."
Ethan took a step back, eyes narrowing. "Wait,you mean... take over? As in,possess me?"
Nanook tilted his head. "No.Share...though,if your survival hangs in the balance and I am forced to act,I will.Whether you consent of it or not."
"You expect me to be okay with you taking over my body?"
"I don't care if you are,it matters little to me."
Ethan's stomach twisted. He felt violated,used. But somewhere beneath the anger was a darker truth...Nanook had saved his life. And without understanding this power, he was nothing against what was looming.
"So what's your goal? Save the world? Stop the Riftlords?"
Nanook's expression darkened.
"No.I care nothing for your world or it's wars.I seek only to survive.To regain the power that was stripped from me.If this world has to die for thatto happen,then so be it."
Ethan flinched.
"Then why help me of all people at all? There are clearly better people"
Nanook lowered his voice. "You don't know this but there's a gift within you child...You and I are similar in a way. That gift...it thrives when wielded by one who desires more.One who hungers for strength.Its embedded in your very soul,I chose you because even at such a young age,your spiritual pressure was remarkable...it was hard to ignore really."
Silence suddenly struck between the two.
Then, Nanook approached, placing one cold, clawed hand on Ethan's shoulder. "This power...what you've done so far, that's nothing but a mere breath of what you could be capable of.Once your body adapts,once the strain becomes pleasure instead of pain,you'll weild far more than just brute strength."
He waved his hand again.
Images burst into the air,Ethan cloaked in glowing blue, stripes fully ignited, fists shattering the ground, launching into battle against a winged colossus.
"These are all possibilities.Visions of what you can become...that is if you survive long enough."
Ethan whispered, "Why show me all of this?"
"Consider this my way of encouraging you."
Suddenly, the plane began to tremble. The skies turned red. The platform beneath Ethan cracked.
"Wait...what's happening?!"
Nanook straightened. "Your body is healed now.You must return now."
Ethan panicked. "Wait...I still have so many questions to ask! How do I come back here?!"
Nanook smirked. "I'll call you when I want boy.This is my domain after all."
As the realm shattered like glass, Ethan felt himself pulled upward.
Nanook's voice followed him as he drifted away.
"What comes next will make that forest incident feel like a child's game.You are their prey now Ethan Valtaris...either train hard or be expunged by the enemy."
And then...
Light.
Reality slammed into him. He shot upright in bed, gasping for air, sweat dripping from his brow. Cold sheets clung to his back. The sterile scent of the medbay filled his lungs.
He was awake.
But Nanook's voice still echoed in his head.
And something inside was slowly shifting, something that was yet to be fully awakened.
---