"The Few
A handful bends the hundred with a word.
The hundred bow, and call the chain a shield.
But then two rise. The hundred, blurred,
blink once, and see the broken field.
The few who ruled now grip the air.
The few who stood?
The many are there."
Larry recited the poem under his breath, his voice barely a whisper against the rustle of leaves. He thought about how Norlan would appreciate his eloquence. That kid had always had a taste for literature, for the weight of words and the sharpness of a well turned phrase.
"Hmmph! Too smart for his own good," Larry muttered, though a flicker of fondness softened his weathered face.
Then his mind begrudgingly drifted to his own situation. He mused in silence, letting the thoughts unspool like a tangled thread.
The strength of the few. Is it not all about perspective?
The few can represent oppressors. And at the same time, they can represent the oppressed.
The oppressed few who are not willing to bend toward the will of the strong few. Aren't they strong too?
Maybe not physically, but their courage certainly makes the cut.
One really should not underestimate the courage of a man going against the wind.
Thinking himself of now being such a person,a feeling of relief washed all over him. He felt a certain weight being lifted from his shoulders,his mind cleared and the feeling of fatigue that was currently overwhelming him slightly dissipated.
He felt as if he had found his passion. He was no longer in the dark.
"Larry," Tessa with her bob cut short hair called out as she appeared from behind him, her voice slightly breathless from running.
"Chris found some tracks. He said it is possibly a third level Awakened beast. He needs you to help him scout."
Larry did not hesitate. He rose from the patch of grass where he had been resting and followed Tessa quickly into the woods, his bare feet silent against the damp earth. The trees closed around them like grasping fingers, their leaves still wet from the recent downpour.
"Here," Tessa said, slowing her pace just enough to hold out her hand. "These are some yellow berries we found. Eat them before it rains again."
In her small palm rested five yellow berries, each one plump and glowing faintly with inner light.
Larry did not shy away. He and Tessa had grown up together in the orphanage, sharing meals, sharing blankets, sharing the kind of bond that could only exist between two people who currently had no one else in the world.
There was another reason he took the berries without hesitation. He might really die if it rained again. The previous rains had shown him that much.
"Thank you," Larry said, taking the berries and putting them away hurriedly into a small pouch at his waist. He would save them for when the skies opened again.
It had been a week since Larry first met Chris and Tony. In that time, they had found six more like minded people, fellow survivors who chafed under Jeremy's rule. But despite their growing numbers, they still did not have a conclusive plan. They could not decide whether to run away or to oppose Jeremy and dispose of him. Every option seemed to lead to death.
Things, however in that single week, had gotten worse. Especially for the mundane people.
On the first day of that week, the rain had come. Heavy and relentless. It lasted a whopping three days without pause, turning the ground to mud and the air to soup.
Then after that,it would rain randomly at any time of the day.
With the sparse resources for shelter, it was no wonder that people could not be fully spared from the rain. Their makeshift roofs colapsed.
The forest offered little protection beyond the canopy of trees, and even that eventually became saturated.
Fortunately, most of the people in the camp were strong youths, their bodies still young enough to endure. Apart from the few who had it worse than the rest due to their advanced age, the camp held on.
But the rain did not care for age or youth.
It only lasted a few hours before the first mundane human died of excessive energy. The man hadn't been old nor was his body frail. However he literally imploded due to the saturation and stagnation of spiritual energy that the rain forced into his veins. His skin cracked. His eyes burst. And then he was simply gone, leaving behind a wet stain on the ground.
People were horrified. This place that once only help beasts as threats now seemed more nightmarish.
It turned out that the rain was supernatural. It contained condensed spiritual energy in liquid form, falling from the sky like a curse disguised as water. And from what Larry had seen, it seemed that even the Awakened struggled with the influx. For the mundane, it was a death sentence.
Yet another obstacle. Another force trying to create a struggle of the fittest in this forsaken place.
For the Awakened, however, the rain was well received. Many of them grew stronger, their realms advancing as long as they could digest the energy. Some Awakened even felt their bottlenecks loosening for the first time since they started cultivating.
This prompted waves of Awakened to head toward dungeons. Specifically, the dungeon that loomed in the distance like a wound in the earth.
After the rain stopped, the tally was,three more people died.Then five died the next day.
An they continued to die with every few days, a crisis at this point, and Jeremy knew that if it continued, most of these people would die without his interference.
So Jeremy ventured out.
When he returned, he and the other Awakened checked the pulses of the people, moving through the camp like judges passing sentence. Casually, almost dismissively, they handed out yellow berries to those who were overwhelmed with saturated energy.
People didn't know where the berries came from, but what choice did they have? It was either death by poisoning or exploding.
After eating the yellow berries, the saturated energy miraculously leaked out of the body.
People who had been hours from death sat up, deathly pale. It was a close call.
From that day on, changes began in the camp.
Where people once obeyed the awakened due to their strength,they now shamelessly ingratiated themselves just for these berries.
These berries became a scarce resource for the mundane people.
And Jeremy now could not be oppossed.
The mundane scouts plan he had once spoke of,was not rejected anymore. Every word he spoke now held greater weight,more that it had before.
Larry touched the pouch at his waist, feeling the five small lumps inside. This was a pouch given to the Mundane scouts.
He and the like-minded people had decided to become the scouts. A total of nine people.
Their thinking was simple. The rainforest offered more privacy to plan and exchange information,it also offered the chances to come across the berries and other fortunate encounters.
"Larry," Tessa said, pulling him from his thoughts. They had reached a fork in the forest path. "Chris said to meet him by the fallen oak. Hurry."
Larry nodded and picked up his pace.
***
A breathtaking view. Larry almost wished he still had his Polaroid camera to capture this otherworldly scene into picture.
The area around them was in the shade of the canopy,the light of the sun blocked in its entirety,replaced by the candescence glow of fire flies.
This was a meadow. An open area of land covered mostly with grasses, wildflowers, and other small plants rather than trees.
But how could there be a meadow in the depth of a rainforest?
The four were too enthralled by the scenery to even ask themselves such a question.
The meadows was calm, the air fresh and stimulating.
The fireflies further engraving the fantastical nature of this place as the glow of their bodies left traces of a pure spring smell in the air.
Just one breathe,and it left them all invigorated.
Just looking around,this place seemed to be the perfect fertile land where animals graze and insects like butterflies and bees could thrive.
This place was too good to be true,and their bodies reacted violently with fever the moment this thought emerged.
They were originally tracking an awakened beast. How come they were now admiring the land?
They didn't dare to be negligent.
With this thought,their minds jolted, and they saw it. A deer the size of a minivan. It's huge stature containing a presence of pure masculinity.
Instinctively,Larry pulled his comrades towards a tree.
***
They have been hiding behind a huge tree for two, two hour periods. Exactly 4hours and they still didn't dare move.
After Larry had dragged them here,they finally got to see the full picture.
In the middle of this meadow was a humongous tree. It's whole structure and stem the size of a hundred men wrapping their arms around it.
Apart from the stem,that seemed to be the only normal part of the tree,it's branches were embraced with a nightmarish shadow. It's leaves,or what was supposed to be leaves felt like a raging inferno.
A stark contrast of unnatural beauty where light and darkness coexist.
Upon a closer look though,the few noticed that the raging inferno were actually fireflies.
Hundreds upon thousands of fireflies spreading upon brunches of shadow that extended to cover this neverending meadow.
Suddenly
The whole canopy turned purple. No,not the canopy,but the entire sky. They were enraptured,captivated with this view.
However to their dismay,this purple sky didn't last that long,dimming into it's lightness as the tree seemed to vibrate with excitement. It seemed to have breathed in all the purple halo in it's vicinity.
They didn't know what was happening.
But just by looking at it,the few became enthralled.
What was a mere sneak pick was now two,two hour periods!
Tessa had his mouth agape while Chris and Tony were also in a daze. They had been dragged into an illusion. Enthralled unknowingly by the tree.
"What beautiful fireflies..." Tessa softly admired,her eyes becoming all whites.
"What butterfly,that is clearly a goddess...Look at those curves..my god,reminds me of when i....hihihihi..."
Tony admonished as his face betrayed obvious lust,only for his eyes to become all whites too.
Chris was no better and even Larry wasn't spared. His mind boggled and left his reasoning as the world around him started to change.
He too was enthralled,his eyes starting to loose focus.
A blured scene unfolded before him. His dream was coming true in his eyes as they slowly turned white.
He seemed to be in a group of reporters. All of them with name tags and ID's on their person,cameras in hand readily pointed towards a high podium.
'A presidential press conference!'
His eyes lost another shade of black as he thought of this. The scene becoming less blurry,his own inference becoming real by the second.
***
Out in the void of the stasis world, Aurelia,with all her beauty and grace smiled.
A butterfly's flap of a wing causing storms in another coner of the worlds couldn't be more manifested with such a smile.
She stood up,conjured a a huge throne on the void via her spirituality and sat.
No sooner had she sat than an apparition of her divine kingdom manifested behind her,covering an entire sector of the void with it's splendor and architectural magnificence.
"The cycle ends, and a new epoch begins. The Way of Heaven truly is one of replenishing deficiency with that of surplus."
An old Taoist with a somewhat exergerated horsetail whisk appeared out of the void.
Aurelia gave him a glace, acknowledging his presence.
"Dao Ancestor."
He responded cogually with a bow.
"I have seen Lady Aurelia."
"Mmh."
Dao Ancestor then smoothly glided by her side, slightly behind her.
A meditation mat appeared from the void.
The moment he sat on it,the same wondrous visage process of an apparition appearing in the void happened. This time however,it was not a divine kingdom but mountain range with hundreds of peaks piercing through the sky.
"Interesting, interesting,so Dao Ancestor sided with you, sister." A coy feminine voice echoed opposite the void where Aurelia was seated.
"Tehrain! " Aurelia's eyes went cold,a chilling present emitted from her divine seat/throne.
After a few moments of scrutiny however, a chuckle escaped her," Dearest brother, one million years and still you haven't fully refined Tehrain's dominion into an Avatar?"
"It's enough to deal with your avatar though,isn't it?" His coy smile never left his face. His voice almost as feminine as that of Aurelia although male.
"Avatar? Do you really think so?" Aurelia displayed her celestial presence once more,causing her brother's coy smile to fall of his face. Replaced by a look of cold seriousness.
"He he.. hehehe.. Truly worth making the trip. I never would have thought you would come with your main body... You should be careful, eldest brother, he he"
Another ripple,another figure appearing from the void. This time, against all odds,it was an Elf. A male dark elf to be exact.
"Congratulations little brother for refining a fitting Avatar. You are way more competent than some."
"Surely you Jest,sister. Tehrain is the first among the New Genesis Gods. An eternal prodigy of the Universe. The first cultivator and the epitome of pride.
Just the difficulty of refining him shows his value,doesn't it?" The newcomer elequenty remedied the situation. He wouldn't want to be part of these two's rivalry.
"Little brother,why are you here?" Asked the Celestial god possessing Tehrain.
"Come on..big brother. The first uniqueness of the epoch is about to be born. Why shouldn't I be here?" The new comer said as he too manifested a throne to form his apparition in the void.
The figure Tehrain also followed suit.
"Eldest brother,sister, how about a game? You guys have been in seclusion for such a long time,a game is just the thing to do after all that time, right?"
At that moment,
"A game? Yes,yes yesss,a game is just the thing for the occasion!" Hannah appeared besides Aurelia,just a nudge behind her, horizontically inclined to the Dao Ancestor.
She too, hurriedly manifested an apparition in the void.
"Only Melon understands me." The celestial god dark elf Avatar commented enthusiastically.
He conjured up a huge chess board. His figure fluttering in the void as he arranged the so called game.
While he was busy,figure after figure arrived in the void. Each respectively,taking a side and manifesting their own apparition in the void.
***
In the Meadow, Larry felt a nudge in his soul. His body began to circulate spiritual energy autonomously.
The color in his eyes began to gradually return to normal as the scene of being enthralled began to gradually fade away.
Clarity emerged from the depth of his soul.
A voice echoed as it guided him to circulate spiritual energy,forming and creating spiritual meridians to find his divine aperture in his body.
Boom!
He opened his divine aperture instinctively.
However in the moment,an internal explosion marred and destroyed all the spiritual routes he momentarily used to open his divine aperture.
This was not a conscious action. Rather,the domineering intervention of a uniqueness.
The voice reassured him that he was okay.
"Follow the beacon,you must find Norlan Grimblade!"
A unique special aura leaked out of Larry's body.
Inside his divine aperture,a Polaroid Camera reigned supreme as it readjusted and reconstructed Larry's meridians to better suit him.
It hovered and released a unique spirituality that was no weaker than what Titus Grimblade had.
If Norlan were here,he wouldn't contain his astonishment,for this Aura,this presence was exactly the same as the presence of...a nascent domain expression.
Maybe even more intact and strong...
A domain expression !