The warehouse felt different as he entered. Charged with anticipation and fear. Kael had finished all preparations. The materials sat in sequence. Void Crystals ground to powder. Phoenix Ash in its crystalline container. Celestial Dew glowing faintly blue.
Aslan sat nearby. He'd prepared simple food. Bread. Cheese. Dried meat.
"You should eat. Your body needs energy for what's coming."
Raze sat. Ate mechanically. The food tasted like sawdust but he forced it down. His Endurance would need every advantage.
Kael reviewed the timeline one final time. "Six hours for the Void Crystals to stabilize your pathways. Four hours for the Phoenix Ash to regenerate them. Two hours for the Celestial Dew to bind everything together. Total: twelve hours."
"And the pain?"
"Continuous. Escalating. The Void Crystals will feel like broken glass in your chest. The Phoenix Ash will burn like living fire. The Celestial Dew will be the only relief." Kael's expression was grim. "If you survive the first stage, you'll probably survive all three. The Void Crystals are the most dangerous. That's when your core is most vulnerable."
"Then let's start before I lose my nerve."
Evening fell. Shadows lengthened across the warehouse. Kael lit additional lamps. Bright light for monitoring.
Raze removed his shirt. Sat at the prepared table. His chest already felt tight. Anticipation making breathing difficult.
Thump thump thump.
His heart hammered. Faster than normal. Fear response kicking in.
Kael prepared the first material. Ground Void Crystal powder mixed with water. The mixture turned dark purple. Almost black. It seemed to absorb light.
"Once you drink this, there's no going back. The process starts and you have to see it through. Understand?"
"I understand."
"The pain will make you want to quit. Make you beg for it to stop. But stopping means death or permanent Mortal status. You have to endure." Kael's voice was firm. "Can you do that?"
Raze thought of Sophie. Of forty two other children. Of the Syndicate that needed to burn.
"Yes. I can do that."
Aslan moved closer. "I'll be here the whole time. If something goes wrong, if you need anything..."
Raze managed a weak smile. "Just make sure Kael doesn't give up on me too early."
"I won't." Kael held out the mixture. "Ready?"
No. Not even close.
"Ready."
Raze took the cup. The liquid was cold. Heavy. It smelled like minerals and something metallic.
He drank it in three swallows.
Gulp gulp gulp.
The taste was bitter. Wrong. His body immediately wanted to reject it.
For a few minutes, nothing happened.
Raze sat. Waiting. Breathing. His hands clenched on the table edge.
Then the pain started.
Fzzzt.
Like electricity through his chest. His fragmented core pathways, barely holding together, began to crystallize.
Crack crack crack.
The sound wasn't real. Couldn't be real. But he heard it anyway. His pathways hardening. Becoming rigid. The Void Crystals forcing them into stability.
The pain intensified.
It felt like broken glass. Thousands of shards. Filling his chest. Cutting with every breath.
"Ahhhh!"
He couldn't help the scream. It tore from his throat. Raw. Desperate.
Kael checked his pulse. His eyes. His core pathways using some kind of diagnostic skill.
"Heart rate elevated but stable. Core pathways are crystallizing. This is normal. Agonizing, but normal."
Normal. Right. This was normal.
Raze tried to breathe through it. In. Out. In. Out.
But each breath brought fresh agony.
His body began to convulse. Muscles spasming. Fighting the foreign substance.
Aslan grabbed his shoulders. Held him steady against the table.
"I've got you. Just breathe. You can do this."
Time became meaningless. There was only pain. And breathing. And the desperate hope that this would end.
An hour passed. The pain didn't diminish. If anything, it grew worse.
Crack crack crack.
More crystallization. His pathways becoming more rigid. More stable. More excruciating.
Two hours.
Raze's consciousness started to fragment. Reality becoming uncertain. The warehouse fading in and out.
Then Kael's voice. Sharp. Alarmed.
"Damn it!"
Raze forced his eyes open. "What?"
"Your core pathways are over crystallizing. Becoming too rigid. Too brittle. The fragmentation damage is worse than I thought. The crystals are trying to stabilize pathways that are essentially destroyed."
"Fix it." The words came out strangled. "However. Just fix it."
Kael moved quickly. Grabbed a different vial. Something he'd prepared as backup.
Glug glug glug.
Liquid pouring. Mixing. He brought it to Raze's lips.
"Drink. This will soften the crystallization slightly. It's dangerous. Not part of standard procedure. But necessary."
Raze drank. More bitter liquid. His stomach lurched.
For a moment, nothing.
Then the over crystallization stopped. Reversed slightly.
The pain shifted. Still terrible. But different. More manageable.
"It's working." Kael's voice held relief. "Crisis averted. But you're weakened. This is going to be harder than I thought."
Harder. Great.
Hours three through six blurred together. Continuous agony. Raze drifted in and out of consciousness.
In his delirium, memories surfaced. His old life on Earth. The tiny apartment. His computer. Records of Istea loading screen.
The being with impossible eyes.
"You said you wanted to start over. That you wanted a world where effort matters."
Bang.
The gunshot echoing forever.
Did the being know this would happen? Plan for it? Was all of this orchestrated?
Raze's consciousness fragmented. Reformed. Fragmented again.
Through it all, Kael's voice. Steady. Present.
"Stay with us. Don't give up. Your pathways are stabilizing. You're doing it."
At the six hour mark, the pain changed quality.
Became less sharp. More of a deep ache. Still agonizing but different.
Kael performed another examination.
"The pathways are crystallized. Stable. Fragile, but stable." His voice held cautious optimism. "Stage one complete. You survived the worst part."
"Doesn't feel like the worst part."
"Trust me. It was."
Kael prepared the second material. Phoenix Ash mixed with concentrated mana solution. The mixture glowed faintly orange. Like captured firelight.
"This will hurt worse. The ash is going to force your pathways to regenerate. It's essentially burning them away and regrowing them simultaneously."
"Worse than broken glass in my chest?"
"Yes."
"Fantastic."
Raze drank the Phoenix Ash mixture.
The effect was immediate.
Whoooosh.
Fire. His entire chest felt like it was burning from the inside. Not metaphorical fire. Actual flames consuming his pathways.
"AHHHHHH!"
His scream was raw. Animal. Beyond words.
The crystallized pathways began to crack. Breaking apart under the intense heat.
Crack crack crack.
Panic surged. Was this failure? Was his core shattering?
"This is supposed to happen!" Kael's voice cut through the panic. "The old pathways have to break for new ones to grow!"
The Phoenix Ash worked through his system like living fire. Each broken pathway was immediately regrown. Stronger. Cleaner. More efficient.
But the process was excruciating.
Raze's screams became hoarse. His voice nearly gone. Just raw sounds of suffering.
Hour eight arrived with a new crisis.
His body started rejecting the Phoenix Ash. Treating it as poison.
His fever spiked.
Sizzle.
His skin felt like it was cooking from within.
Convulsions began. Violent. Uncontrollable.
"His body is trying to purge the ash before regeneration completes!" Kael grabbed Aslan. "Hold him down! Keep him from hurting himself!"
They held Raze as he convulsed. His body arching. Muscles locked in spasm.
Thump thump thump thump.
His heart racing. Dangerous rhythms. Skipping beats.
"His Endurance needs to hold." Kael's voice was strained. "Come on, Raze. You're B rank Endurance. You can survive this."
The fever peaked. Held at dangerous levels for what felt like hours but was probably minutes.
Then slowly began to drop.
The rejection stopped. His body accepting the Phoenix Ash. Allowing the regeneration to continue.
"We're through it." Kael wiped sweat from his forehead. "But that was close. Too close."
Hours nine and ten continued the agony. Raze existed in a state of pure suffering. No thoughts. No hopes. Just endurance.
But his Absolute Genius, even in this state, processed what was happening.
He could feel his pathways regrowing. Could sense the structure forming. Clean lines. Efficient channels. Beautiful in their simplicity.
It was working. Against all odds. Against probability. It was actually working.
At the ten hour mark, the burning faded to embers.
Still present. Still painful. But bearable.
Kael's examination was thorough this time. Checking every pathway. Every connection.
"New pathways formed. Clean. Strong. Much better than the original fragmented ones." His voice held awe. "Stage two complete. One more to go."
Kael prepared the final material. The three vials of Celestial Dew mixed together. The liquid glowed soft blue. Ethereal. Beautiful.
"This binds everything together. Holds the new pathways stable. Makes them permanent." He helped Raze sit up slightly. "Almost done."
Raze's hands shook too badly to hold the cup. Kael helped him drink.
Glug glug glug.
The Celestial Dew was cool. Soothing. Like water on burned skin.
The effect spread through his newly formed pathways. Binding them. Stabilizing them. Making them real.
For the first time in twelve hours, the pain became bearable. Almost pleasant in comparison to what came before.
Whoooosh.
The binding process was gentle. The Dew flowing through him like moonlight made liquid.
Raze could think clearly now. Could feel his core. Whole and complete. Where before there was only fragmentation and pain.
"It's working." Kael's voice held wonder. "Your pathways are binding perfectly. The core structure is stabilizing. Mana flow is..." He trailed off. Checked again. "Incredible. You're not just fixed. You're better than before."
"What does that mean?"
"It means the reconstruction built stronger pathways. More efficient channels. Your core is now better than a normal Initiate's core. Maybe even as efficient as a low Adept's."
The final hour passed in something like peace. The binding process completing. The pain fading to a dull ache.
At the twelve hour mark, Kael performed his final examination.
Silence stretched.
Then: "It worked. It actually worked. Your core is reconstructed."
Raze closed his eyes. Relief so intense it brought tears.
He'd survived. Actually survived.