Time lost all definition. It melted into a viscous golden fluid that tasted of iron and heavy cream. Kael drifted through a sea of warm grey thoughts. He was unable to tell if his eyes were open or if the darkness had simply become his new skin.
He was encased in a dark and humid cradle. It sang with the rhythm of a titanic heart. The sensation was claustrophobic yet profoundly safe. It felt like being held within the deep pulse of the most comfortable place he had ever known.
Then came the itching. It began as a dull prickle beneath his ribs and escalated into a maddening crawl across his nerves. Thousands of invisible needles scratched over his body with tireless persistence. It felt as though a membrane was separating from his very skin.
Every pore screamed with the sensation of microscopic movement. His cells were being rearranged by industrious and unseen hands. Even through the haze Kael sensed that something fundamental was changing. The vibration was rhythmic and deliberate. It rattled his teeth while resonating deep within his marrow.
It sounded like a million bees trapped inside a glass jar. Their wings beat in frantic mathematical unison. Bzzzzzz clink. Bzzzzzz pulse. Panic stirred within him, distant but rising like a tide.
Before the fear could bloom a wave of calm spread through his bones. The sensation felt guided and intentional. He tasted Echo in the silence and recognized her essence at once. Kael allowed the calm to settle but he did not surrender to it.
He turned his awareness inward toward the clinical presence in his mind. Compendium, what is happening and where am I?
[Query Initiated: Host has been submerged within the egg of the Familiar Echo for the past week. Primary function is full bodily restoration to peak condition. Balance 81 CP.]
The number caught his attention immediately. Kael wondered how the system had accumulated so many points. His last clear memory was of being impaled by the bear. He remembered losing consciousness as the world slipped away into shadows.
Then he felt the source. A constant stream of cerebral mana flowed through him like a cold and orderly river. The Compendium absorbed it greedily. It drew the energy inward with quiet efficiency.
He sensed the artifact growing stronger as it channeled the mana into itself. Kael did not resist the process. The exchange felt natural and necessary. He realized the Compendium had ceased running the divine technique in the background.
In his current condition the technique would have done more harm than good. His body required all available focus for restoration rather than forced refinement. Sleep crept back in. Kael allowed the embrace of the cradle to carry him into a dreamless oblivion.
The second awakening was different. A sharp crack echoed through the liquid silence of his chamber. The warmth began to drain away. It left his skin exposed and cold for the first time in days.
Instinct returned with the chill. Kael pushed outward with both hands. The surrounding membrane felt brittle like sun dried parchment. It resisted him for a breath before shattering into jagged shards of crystal.
Light flooded his vision. He opened his eyes and felt as though he were seeing the world for the first time. The scene before him was painfully sharp. Bees buzzed across a vast hive with precise and tireless movements.
Echo sat at the center of the cathedral. She was encased within a crystallized bowl that was massive and organic in shape. When Kael focused, he realized the bowl had a face and paws. It was the frozen remains of the bear.
Understanding struck him at once. Echo had transformed the flesh of the predator into an incubation chamber. She had expanded the hive over the weeks and populated it with drones. Echo herself was sprawled within the structure.
Her limbs were fused to the incubation chamber. Kael felt the truth settle into him with quiet certainty. She would not be able to move even if she wanted to. To create this hive, she had made a sacrifice only a mother could offer.
Kael moved toward her without conscious thought. His body responded before intention could fully form. Each step carried a fluid certainty. His muscles obeyed without hesitation. Balance adjusted instinctively to the uneven crystal floor.
Movement no longer felt learned. It felt remembered. His naked form reflected faintly in the crystalline surfaces of the hive. There was not a single blemish on his skin. No scar remained from the quills.
His flesh looked refined and smooth. Before the change his body had always felt disjointed. It was as if his rapid growth had outpaced his ability to inhabit it. Now there was no lag between thought and motion.
He could feel everything the familiar bond offered him. Sounds carried depth and direction. Vibrations in the hive floor translated into meaning. Even the distant hum of the bees resolved into patterns his mind could follow.
The wounds from the bear were gone. No tenderness lingered beneath the skin. His body remembered the damage only as data. Kael slowed as a low droning sound rolled through the chamber.
The sound came from Echo. It resonated through his chest and bones. It was a deep harmonic vibration that bypassed his ears. Kael moved closer like a moth toward a steady ember.
Echo had grown. Her size dwarfed the vampiric bat he had killed. Her form was immense and powerful. She was fused seamlessly into the incubation structure that held her in place.
Eggs lay scattered around her in careful clusters. They pulsed faintly with life. The bees moved between them in precise patterns while tending and building. Echo remained motionless at the center of the swarm.
Her limbs were bound to the chamber by necessity. Kael felt the truth settle into him without words. She was a living anchor. Kael reached for her through the familiar link while being careful not to overwhelm her.
What did you do, Echo? Why was I sealed inside an egg? Why bind yourself to the hive like this? Was there truly no other path? The answer did not come as words.
Images and impressions flooded his mind. He saw his broken body as it had been. Punctured lungs and ruptured channels were all that remained of him. Life had been bleeding away faster than any technique could mend.
No matter how Echo worked his body refused to stabilize. He felt her decision form with cold inevitability. Half of the hive resources had been consumed to rebuild him. Layer by layer she had fed his regeneration.
Even that had not been enough. To complete the process, she had joined with the hive completely. There had been no alternative left that preserved his life. By anchoring herself she had forced the final reconstruction to succeed.
The cost followed immediately. Echo could no longer advance the hive on her own. The eggs around her carried only low-level initiate drones. To grow beyond this state, she would need his direct intervention.
The understanding left him hollow. Kael felt the weight of her sacrifice settle into his chest. Sadness tightened his throat as he looked upon her bound form. Yet relief coursed through him as well.
She had saved him. He had no desire to recycle his life again. Death would strip him of the Compendium. Without it the chains set upon his existence would never be broken.
Echo had given up her future momentum to preserve his own. Kael clenched his fists slowly. He would not let that sacrifice be wasted. He steadied his breathing and forced his thoughts into order.
Grief would come later. Right now, Echo and the hive were vulnerable. This place had saved him but it was not yet secure. He lifted his gaze and studied the cavern with new clarity.
The hive filled the central chamber but the surrounding tunnels remained unchanged. Stone corridors stretched outward like open wounds. They offered countless paths for intrusion. That would not do.
Kael began mapping the space in his mind. He noted choke points and narrow passages. He looked for areas where the stone was dense enough to hold shaping runes. This cave would become an unassailable fortress.
He moved slowly so he would not disturb the bees. They parted instinctively before him. They recognized him as an authority woven into the hive. The familiar bond pulsed softly against his awareness.
Echo shared her impressions of the stone. She showed him threat vectors and structural weaknesses. Kael absorbed everything. As he flexed his fingers an absence caught his attention.
His rings were gone. The familiar weight on his hands was missing and a flicker of unease surfaced. He reached for Echo through the link and asked what had happened to them.
Echo responded with a brief and resonant buzz. Two drones detached from the hive wall and drifted toward him. They carried his rings. Alongside them floated his spatial artifact.
Kael exhaled softly as he took the items. Relief settled into his chest as he felt the cold metal. There were no clothes left. The last remnants of fabric had not survived the reconstruction.
He still possessed the void spider silk within his spatial storage. However, he lacked the knowledge to shape it into anything usable. That would have to wait. Kael slipped the rings onto his fingers.
He felt the familiar resonance return. Mana responded instantly to his touch. It flowed through the etched runes with eager compliance. He turned toward the raw stone walls and began his work.
Kael refined his approach as the days blurred together. First, he channeled mana into the shaping rune array. The stone responded immediately. It lost all rigidity and flowed like dense clay beneath invisible pressure.
Once the rock became malleable Kael shifted his focus. He activated the second ring to draw out impurities. Metallic ores separated from the stone in thin and glittering veins.
Iron came first and then copper. Fainter traces followed that were denser and heavier. Kael stored each extraction within his spatial artifact without breaking his rhythm. Only then did he move to the final step.
He fed mana into the third ring and felt the compact rune engage. The softened stone collapsed inward under crushing force. Every gap was erased and every weakness was sealed.
The result was absolute. The wall no longer held air pockets or fractures. It could not be phased through by common magic. The stone had become a single uninterrupted mass.
Kael rested his forehead against the finished surface. This was not simple construction. It was total conversion. He repeated the process section by section as his channels burned.
His limbs grew heavy and his thoughts slowed as the cycles continued. He knew there was an easier way. Once he accumulated more CP, he would request a permanent array from the Compendium.
A structure could replicate this process without draining him. The Compendium could build it. But automation would come later. Right now, the manual labor mattered.
Each repetition refined his control. His transitions between rings grew smoother. His understanding of pressure and mana flow deepened with every exhausted cycle.
If he handed this process over too soon, he would lose that training. That was a mistake he could not afford. Between shaping sessions Kael ate. He drew cooked meat from his spatial artifact.
He used the methods taken from the memories of Rakshar. Slow heat and controlled flame ensured nothing was wasted. The meals grounded him and restored his strength efficiently.
His body accepted the sustenance eagerly. After the long gestation within the egg his digestion felt cleaner. Fatigue still came but it no longer lingered like rot in his muscles.
On the fourth day Kael prepared something new. He chose a corner of the cavern he had left uncompressed. The stone there remained porous and pliable. It was a weakness preserved by design.
He knelt and began carving into the floor. The array took shape slowly beneath his fingers. He etched lines deep enough to anchor power without bleeding into the rock.
The geometry felt familiar. It echoed principles he had learned through pain rather than study. When the carving was complete, he placed the beast cores.
An earth aspected core settled into the center. Around it he set water and fire and air cores in balance. He positioned them to circulate energy without overwhelming the structure.
He activated the array with a sharp pulse of mana. Energy surged through the carved lines in a controlled loop. The stone hummed softly and vibrated with restrained power.
Kael sat back and watched the glow. This was not convenience. This was preparation. The hive was no longer just a refuge. It was a base shaped by effort and discipline.
Kael intended to make it a place where even primordial would hesitate to tread. He looked at Echo and felt a cold resolve. He would rebuild her future one brick of stone at a time.