The ashlands sprawled silent beyond the fissure mouth, soot swirling faintly in heated drafts. Zeke lingered at the lip of his nest, glow dimmed low, threads of mana stretched taut. The silence was deceptive. The ashlands never truly slept.
"Resonance works. But unstable. I must test further."
Darkness coiled within him, heavy and cold. He cloaked himself in it, glow vanishing into stillness. Then he pulsed Light, careful this time. For a heartbeat, both held—Darkness swallowing, Light flaring—before they flickered into nothing. His body vanished.
Rodents scuttling nearby squealed in panic. They froze, confused by the paradox: predator both revealed and concealed. Zeke lashed a pseudopod and split, fragments snapping them from both sides. Assimilate purred as sparks dissolved.
The invisibility had lasted three breaths this time. Longer. But when it broke, his form wavered, edges trembling as CTL threads frayed.
He pulsed faintly, shaken. "Effective, but costly. If I push further, I will unravel."
He stalked another cluster of prey, repeating the trick. Light and Darkness together sent confusion rippling through the rodents. They squealed and darted aimlessly, unable to decide between shadow and blaze.
Zeke struck swiftly, pseudopods lashing, fragments flanking. The kill was easy, the assimilation cleaner than any before. Yet when the glow faded, he felt thin—mana stretched, his form quivering from strain.
He lingered over the remains, pulsing faintly. "Useful. But each use weakens me. Stability… I lack stability."
The realization grated. He was learning, growing, but every step forward threatened collapse. It was as though he balanced on a blade's edge—power one way, self-destruction the other.
He turned next to Fire. Heat curled along his core, licking at the edges of his membrane. He cloaked the burning pseudopod in Darkness until it shimmered faintly, ember hidden in shadow.
The strike landed unseen, cleaving through two rodents before they squealed. Ash sizzled, sparks hissed, bodies crumpled. Assimilate fed him warmth, bolstering his pool.
He pulsed faintly, pleased. "This one… viable. Shadow conceals, fire punishes. Precision, efficiency."
But even this drained more than expected. Flames sputtered in shadow, demanding constant mana. He dimmed, trembling slightly. Each strike took more than it gave. His control wavered, form leaking faint sparks as his pool strained.
Caution urged restraint, but curiosity drove him onward. He drew Fire upward again, flaring Light alongside.
For a breath, he became a miniature sun. Heat seared, radiance blinded. The rodents screamed, fleeing. But the resonance surged beyond his control. His form convulsed, mass splitting raggedly. Sparks hissed from fissures across his body.
He collapsed into the ash, fragments barely rejoined. Threads of CTL frayed, mana bled uncontrolled. His glow guttered faintly, body trembling.
"Too much. Too reckless. I nearly tore myself apart."
Fear gripped him. If a predator had struck then, he would not have survived.
As if summoned by the thought, the ash shifted. A low hiss trembled through the soot.
Zeke froze. Vibrations rippled beneath him—steady, sinuous. A shape slithered from the ash dunes, scales glowing faintly with ember-cracks. An ash-serpent, long and sleek, eyes gleaming red.
It hissed again, tongue flickering. It had scented prey. Him.
Zeke pulsed faintly, fear tightening his core. "Not rodents. Predator. And I am weakened."
The serpent lunged.
Zeke split instinctively, fragments scattering. Darkness cloaked one, Light flared from another, Fire licked across a pseudopod. The serpent recoiled, dazzled, but struck again with snapping jaws.
Zeke lashed with Fire cloaked in Darkness. The strike landed against its flank, sizzling scales. It hissed, thrashing, tail whipping. One fragment shattered under the blow, another barely slipped free. Pain lanced through his mass as sparks bled.
"Resonance in battle… unstable. But I have no choice."
The serpent lunged again, jaws gaping. Zeke pulsed Light + Darkness together, flickering in and out. The serpent struck empty air, confused. He lashed pseudopods across its face, burning one eye. The beast shrieked, thrashing violently.
The tail slammed into him, crushing fragments against stone. His body convulsed, threads fraying, but he endured. He wrapped shadowed limbs around the serpent's throat, burning deep. Scales cracked, sizzling.
The predator coiled, constricting. Pressure built, squeezing his form until cracks spread through his mass. Sparks hissed. He felt himself tearing.
Desperation surged. He flared Fire and Light together. The blast seared outward, a miniature sun bursting in the serpent's face. The beast shrieked, reeling. The resonance nearly shattered Zeke entirely, splitting him into unstable fragments. Only instinct rejoined them, trembling, leaking mana.
The serpent writhed, half-blinded, then fled into the ash, scales smoking.
Zeke sagged where he stood, glow flickering weakly. His form leaked faint trails of essence, edges frayed, mass trembling. He crawled back to the reservoir, fragments rejoining slowly.
The water hissed as he sank into it, steam rising. His core pulsed faintly, threads of mana unraveling.
"Resonance… power. But unstable. Every use frays me further. I cannot rely on it alone."
The thought pressed like weight. Fire, Light, Darkness—they wove weapons, but none gave him stability. They were forces, not foundations.
"Power without stability is collapse. I need… something else. A way to bind myself tighter. To stabilize form. To compress, to condense. Control not of elements, but of self."
The word lingered. Compress.
A new path.
System Growth
The System stirred.
[Level Up: 10 → 11][WIL +1][CTL +1]
Energy rippled through him, stabilizing his frayed form. His body thickened, movements steadier. Resolve hardened. He had survived resonance's price—but only barely.
"Next time… if I cannot control, I will not survive. Compress must become more than thought. It must be real."
System Update
Status
Name: Ezekiel Ashbourne
Race: Prime Slime (Unevolved)
Level: 11
Affinity: Fire (Basic), Light (Basic), Darkness (Basic)
Stats
STR: 5 → 6
AGI: 5 → 6
VIT: 8 → 9
WIL: 7 → 8
RES: 11
MNA: 32 → 35
CTL: 9 → 10
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.