Chapter ten: turning point
Caelum drifted between wakefulness and sleep. His mind was sluggish and his body felt heavy.
The taxi rumbled beneath him, the hum of the engine lulling him into a near-unconscious state.
His head bobbed forward before jerking back up, the neon lights of the city bleeded into his vision through the window.
For caelum, It was a struggle to stay awake. His limbs felt leaden, his eyelids too heavy, but a part of him clung stubbornly to consciousness. 'I gotta make it home atleast...'
"Ummgh."
Maybe it was because his thoughts still reeled from the fact, that he was able to push the wall blocking his advancement, even if it was just a bit. Caelum was clinging to his consciousness, not letting himself fall asleep.
'Just a bit more...' while he was struggling internally. Just when he felt he won't last long, the driver's hoarse voice sounded. "Sir, we're here."
Caelum forced his body to move, grabbing cash from his pocket and handing it over. "Keep the change," he struggled to say so, while dragging himself out of the taxi.
The driver watched him as he got out of the taxi, before laughing it off. "What a weirdo."
Caelum ignored it. He had more important things to think about.
The night air hit his face as he trudged toward his apartment door, his legs protested every step. If it was just physical fatigue, he could handle it. But the exhaustion from willpower drain was worse than that, it buried in his very consciousness.
It was a drain that only deep sleep would fix.
Shutting the door behind him, he locked it out of sheer habit. His body moved on autopilot. "Alright~~I need to somehow make it to my room. And... Maybe strip off my clothes, collapse onto the bed, and rest in peace~"
But his body had other ideas, opposite of what he was thinking. The moment he reached the living room, his legs gave out on him.
With a heavy thud, he landed on the couch, his head sinking into the fabric. The warmth of his home wrapped around him. "Oh shit-"
Caelum didn't have the strength to fight back with his body, to try and reach the bedroom.
He couldn't even change into a more comfortable position. He tried to undo the buttons of his jacket, but even that was too much effort.
Soon, he forgot everything, sleep was already pulling him under. And a second later, darkness swallowed him whole.
-------
A thin beam of sunlight pierced through the tiny crack in the wall, landing directly on Caelum's face.
He moved his face to escape it, but the light was relentless. It burned through his eyelids, dragging him out of his abyss of sleep, whether he wanted it or not.
His whole body ached like hell. Moreover it wasn't the dull and comfortable ache felt after a long day, instead it was the punishing dull that made it feels like he had been through a blender.
"Haaah." He forced his eyes open, only to be met with the sight of his living room ceiling.
"Huh?" Where am i?" His brain took sometime process where he was.
"Wait! I was knocked out on the couch last night?" When caelum lifted himself up, a sharp pain shot through his lower back, making him wince. His arms were twisted in the most absurd positions, his legs were bent at imposst angles.
"Ugh, it hurts. What the hell…" he complained, every muscle in his body protested. 'This is a new level of discomfort, even for me'
Caelum thought as he just sat there, staring blankly at the wall. His mind wasn't sluggish like yesterday, still it was caught between sleep and wakefulness.
"I think....if I keep sleeping like this, I'll wake up as a fossil one day." With great effort, he peeled himself off the couch and stumbled toward the bathroom, his legs were stiff from being in the same awkward position all night. Every step felt like walking on sore, overworked muscles.
The second he reached the sink, he twisted the faucet and splashed cold water onto his face. The shock jolted his senses, chasing away the last remnants of sleep. He gripped the edges of the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror.
Dark circles framed his eyes, his hair was a mess of unruly strands sticking out in random directions. "I look handsome as always, it's just these annoying dark circles, no?."
Shaking his head while trying to comfort himself, he splashed more water on his face before reaching for his toothbrush. As he scrubbed at his teeth, he visualised the events of the previous day.
'Yes. The taxi driver, he probably thought i was some kind of crazy bastard.' As his thoughts went back in time, his hands suddenly stopped. "My head… it feels light?"
It didn't felt dizzy or weak, on the contrary it felt clearer than ever. "Yes yesterday....i did feel something, It was like i had pushed my way against the invisible ceiling." The ceiling that had been keeping his willpower growth stagnant.
"Was it because of that?" Toothpaste foammed in his mouth.
The upwards leaf he created, it went against the very laws of nature. Just like the classroom which also went against the very law of the world.
'Was that why i felt a bang in my head? But… I'm sure, it wasn't a full breakthrough. Just a small push in the right direction.'
"Nevertheless, it was progress and now." Caelum pushed aside his thoughts and spit his foam.
"Now i have to just follow the path." After finishing up, he went to the kitchen and grabbed his medication, popped a pill, and downed it with water. His body might have been stiff, but his mind felt sharper than ever.
Before It was a ritual for caelum to go to the kitchen after leaving the bathroom.
But now, his routine has changed drastically. nowadays, caelum lived like a king, making whatever he wanted. Even if it was highly priced food from different countries, or anything else that he wanted.
"Maybe i can become a master chef with the quill?" Ignoring the fact that creating food with the quill wasn't making it with his hand, he went towards the dining table.
"Ah! Thank god i didn't fall asleep in the taxi yesterday." Caelum grabbed his quill, pulled it out from his pocket. Thinking what would have happened if he fell asleep on the taxi
"Maybe i would have woken up just to find it missing." While continuing to yap, he pulled out the only chair attached to the dining table.
He sat down, and pointed the quill onto the wooden surface of the table itself. The smooth surface of the table became his canvas.
He pressed the tip of the quill down and began sketching. First, a golden-brown slice of toast. Next, a steaming portion of baked beans, placed neatly beside the toast.
At last, some fruits; a small bowl of perfectly sliced apples, oranges, and a few grapes.
When he lifted the quill, his willpower was drained ever so slightly, it was almost unnoticeable to caelum. but the food became real.
He picked up the toast, bringing it close to his nose. The warm scent of freshly baked bread filled the air. When he took a bite, the texture was exactly what he wanted, crispy outside, soft inside.
The beans were rich and flavorful, the tang of tomato blended with the savory depth of the sauce.
Caelum leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes as he chewed.
It won't be exaggerating if he said, the food made from the quill was the best in the world.
"I bet even the rich won't have this luxury," he galzed. "This is life!" With that, he took another bite, fully at ease.
---------
After finishing his meal and washing everything up, Caelum now stood at the door to his room, his limbs still carried the remnants of exhaustion. But his mind, fueled by a newfound determination, was wide awake.
Stepping inside, he went for his wardrobe, pulling it open to retrieve a fresh set, "These same clothes had clung to me since yesterday, now it feels like stiffness is pounding against my skin."
He pulled out a loose white t-shirt and a comfortable pair of joggers.
Caelum tossed the quill, making it land on the bed, he then stripped off his worn-out clothes and tossed them aside, then slipped into his fresh attire.
The cool fabric against his skin was refreshing, his eyes then went toward the desk, where a large sheet of paper was round up. He went ahead and reached for it.
His fingers traced over its smooth surface before grabbing the paper, "This time, i shouldn't use the desk. This paper won't fit fully there"
Instead, he turned toward the floor. Carefully, he pinned out the large, blank sheet of paper and spread it across the ground. It was wide, much bigger than his usual canvas.
"It has to be at least this big."
"What I'm about to do is too much of a stretch, even more so than the classroom painting." He took a seat on the floor, crossed his legs as he stared at the surface before him.
Caelum closed his eyes. His mind wandered, tracing back through everything he had learned since first discovering the quill's power.
He had started with simple things. The quill had obeyed his understanding of reality, perfectly replicating whatever he defined.
Then when he started testing its limits, he made the perfect replica of the classroom.
It had been his greatest achievement, a space constructed from pure memory, it was a near-perfect recreation of something from his past. But the problem came after that. After the completion of the painting, His most important resource, his willpower, stopped growing.
No matter how much he practiced afterward, no matter how many things he created, the ceiling above him didn't crack. His willpower remained stagnant, refusing to push forward.
"Well it was until yesterday." The leaf, when he changed something fundamental about its existence, when he redefined reality to make a leaf ignore gravity, he felt the block crack. 'That is the key, isn't it?' after thinking it through, His eyes fluttered open.
"So let's do something similar." Lowering the quill to the paper, he began to draw.
Each stroke was perfect, lines flowing effortlessly across the vast blank space. Unlike before, this wasn't a recreation of something that already existed. Or It wasn't a twisted version of something familiar. It was something bigger than anything he would have normally thought of.
As his hand moved, he felt the familiar pull on his willpower, the energy was being siphoned from his very being. But this time, it was way fast on the pull, even heavier than when he made the classroom painting.
The further he went on, the deeper the quill sank into the paper, as though carving reality rather than merely painting it. His vision blurred at the edges, even though he just woke up full of willpower.
A bead of sweat trickled down his temple. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, 'Almost done.....'
With a final stroke, the quill left the paper, the connection was severed. "Haaaaa, ah." Caelum exhaled.
The air around him felt thicker like the mist of a winter night. He set the quill aside and leaned back, bracing himself with both hands as he closed his eyes then opened them again, taking in what he had created.
Before his eyes stretched a vast, endless and black space, inked with strokes so rich they seemed to consume light. But within that abyss, things akin to stars bloomed. They were small, scattered, and vibrant, their colors ranging from piercing blues to molten golds. Some seemed to glow faintly, while others burned fiercely, dotting the darkness like remnants of shattered gemstones.
A starry cosmos was depicted in painting, it was a breathtaking depiction. "This should be enough, right?" he said.
He swallowed, licking his dry lips. "Enough to be a base for the world?"
What he made wasn't a normal structure. It was a foundation, a foundation where a world could be shaped.
His brushed over the smooth edges of the paper. The space within the painting seemed alive, akin to a vast void waiting to be filled.
Anticipation and excitement sparked in his chest, the foundation he made was full of potential.
As long as it worked, he could successfully craft a world where everything would be as he wanted. Caelum could feel the ceiling stopping his willpower crack. He just needed a good enough push now.
Closing his eyes again he said "Let's call this…"
"The World Inside the Painting."