The nest walls glistened with fresh slime. Zeke's work was nearly complete: cracks sealed, ridges reinforced, the reservoir refilled. The scars of the hyena siege remained, but they no longer bled weakness. He pulsed faintly at the chamber's heart, glow dim and steady.
Darkness swirled within him, heavy and cold. He cloaked himself instinctively, glow vanishing until the chamber turned black. Stillness pressed in around him. Then, with deliberate thought, he flared Light. Radiance flooded outward, sharp and blinding, only to sputter against the veil of shadow. His glow flickered erratically, pulsing in and out of existence.
He steadied, focusing threads of mana through Split fragments. Each fragment carried a portion of Light, another cloaked in Darkness. The resonance wavered, unstable.
For a heartbeat, his body disappeared entirely. Not dimmed, not blurred—gone.
He reappeared trembling, mana leaking in sparks.
"Light and Darkness… together they cancel. But in that instant, I was invisible. True concealment. The problem is stability."
The idea gnawed at him. He could cloak, he could flare, but weaving them into one demanded control he didn't yet possess. CTL threads trembled, slipping out of alignment like taut ropes fraying in a storm. Still, the potential was undeniable.
First Experiment: Light + Darkness
Zeke split into three fragments and crawled across the chamber. One dimmed into Darkness. Another flared Light. The third attempted to thread them together.
His awareness stretched thin, every strand of mana vibrating with strain. The fragments pulsed erratically: one vanished, one glowed blinding, the third flickered unstable.
Rodents in a nearby fissure shrieked in confusion, unable to sense him clearly. Some fled toward the surface, others froze.
Zeke lashed a pseudopod, snapping one into his core. Assimilate flared, sparks dissolving into him. The rest escaped, but the test proved something.
"Even unstable, the resonance works. Prey cannot perceive what is both brightness and shadow. They do not know whether to flee or hide. Confusion itself is weapon."
He repeated the process multiple times, forcing his threads tighter, faster. Each attempt left him trembling, but the invisibility flickered longer. At his best, he vanished for two full breaths before his control faltered. It was exhausting but promising.
Second Experiment: Fire + Darkness
Zeke focused next on Fire. Heat curled inside him, licking along his core. He shaped it into a pseudopod and cloaked the limb with Darkness.
The result was a limb that shimmered faintly, edges blurred, but glowing with faint inner ember. When he lashed it against stone, the crack hissed, ash sizzling.
He pulsed faintly, pleased. "An unseen strike that burns. Fire concealed by shadow. Precision and pain combined."
He tested it in the ashlands. Cloaked in Darkness, he approached a cluster of ember-rodents. They sniffed and squealed, sparks flashing nervously, but failed to see him. He lashed the burning pseudopod. The first rodent split open in a burst of sparks, sizzling as Fire consumed it. The others scattered too late. He engulfed them in shadow.
Assimilate purred through him, warmth flooding his core.
"This one is viable. Fire and Darkness… cloak and dagger."
He refined the strike, practicing until the flame coated pseudopods without guttering out. At last, he could lash with silent fire that burned unseen, a weapon both hidden and devastating.
Third Experiment: Fire + Light
This one frightened him. He drew Fire upward, then flared Light alongside.
For an instant, he became a miniature sun. Light blazed, Fire roared, mana surged outward violently. The chamber seared white.
He convulsed, mass quivering, threads snapping as CTL frayed. Sparks bled from his body as he dimmed, trembling. The reservoir boiled faintly.
The rodents were gone, flash-blinded, fleeing in terror. He had caught none. The power had been immense—but uncontrolled.
"Fire and Light together amplify. Too much. Too reckless. I cannot sustain it. Not yet."
Still, he filed the result away. If ever he needed sheer power, this resonance could serve as last resort.
Fourth Experiment: Triple Thread
A reckless idea took him: what if he tried all three? Fire, Light, Darkness—woven at once.
He split into fragments, each carrying one affinity. Threads of mana snarled, colliding chaotically. His body surged hot, then dimmed cold, then blazed bright again. Sparks hissed across his membrane as he convulsed. For a terrifying heartbeat, his form nearly unraveled.
He cut the experiment short, collapsing into the reservoir. Water rippled violently, steam rising. He pulsed faintly, shaken.
"Not yet. Not until my control is sharper. If I push further, I will destroy myself before predators can."
Still, the glimpse of what might be possible sent tremors of anticipation through him. If he could master triple resonance, he would wield more than survival—he would wield design itself.
Zeke pulsed faintly, gathering his scattered fragments. His thoughts turned to the nature of resonance.
"Three affinities. Three parts of me. Fire consumes, Light reveals, Darkness conceals. Alone, each is limited. Together… resonance. Cancellation, amplification, distortion. The patterns are there. I only need the precision to weave them."
His scholar's voice whispered, the one that once scrawled theories across lab walls. "Resonance points. Where one wave amplifies another. Where opposites cancel. Where fusion creates something new."
He quivered faintly. "If I can find those points, if I can stabilize them… then I will no longer crawl. I will wield elements as more than survival. I will wield them as design."
Cass's memory flickered, rooftop sun in his eyes. "You think too much, Zeke. But maybe one day, thinking will save you."
He decided to test resonance in the ashlands.
Cloaked in Darkness, he slithered into the soot ridges. Ember-rodents scuttled in clusters, sparks trailing. He dimmed further, glow vanishing. Then he pulsed Light sharply—just for a breath. The rodents froze, blinded, squealing.
Before they could recover, he lashed burning pseudopods, striking with Fire cloaked in shadow. Two dissolved instantly, sparks hissing. A third bolted, but he split fragments to intercept.
The prey crumpled, essence feeding his core.
It worked. Not perfectly—mana drained fast, control wavered—but it worked.
"Hunt not as beast. Hunt as predator with tools. Light blinds, Darkness conceals, Fire kills. Together, they weave death."
He pulsed faintly, resolve hardening. "Power without control is collapse. But if I can weave them… I will be predator unseen."
System Growth
The System stirred.
[WIL +1]
[CTL +1]
His awareness sharpened. Threads of mana steadied, Split fragments moved cleaner, and his resolve felt less fragile. The despair of hunger, the chaos of fire, the abyss of darkness—they no longer pulled him apart. They circled, balanced.
System Update
Status
Name: Ezekiel Ashbourne
Race: Prime Slime (Unevolved)
Level: 10
Affinity: Fire (Basic), Light (Basic), Darkness (Basic)
Stats
STR: 5
AGI: 5
VIT: 8
WIL: 6 → 7
RES: 11
MNA: 32
CTL: 8 → 9
Skills
Active Skills:
Split (Lv.2): Divide body into fragments. Fragments now sustain briefly under Zeke's control but drain mana.
Assimilate (Lv.5): Absorb weak matter or energy to recover energy; chance to retain minor traits. Cleaner, more efficient absorption, but increasingly demanding.
Pseudopod (Lv.5): Extend body into tentacle-like appendages. Whip-like precision and striking power. Limited to two pseudopods.
Passive Skills:
Amorphous Body (Lv.6): Immune to blunt trauma, flexible morphology. Reshapes seamlessly under combat pressure.