Solaris watched as Ember descended from the sky, his wings flapping in the stagnant air. The Darkness receded faster as his flames burned with a radiance of light; his body had no lasting injuries, only the few solaris had accidentally hit him with. His face displayed a look of contempt and maybe even a little bit of relief
Dick...
Solaris's eyes slid closed, and his head went limp. Ember looked at Solaris's mangled body with a look of regret.
"I'm sorry."
With that, Ember lifted Solaris and placed him on his back, being sure to be careful with his legs and arms, as they had sustained the most of the damage.
"Hes losing a lot of blood, I must hurry."
Walking out of the room, Ember had only one option left: to kill the king.
He knew not of the arrangement the Solaris had with the king.
Ember walked through the corridors of the building, on his back, Solaris slept, his body and soul were exhausted from the constant combat.
Ember's body had slowly replenished the wounds left from the dark weapons and solaris shards; the latter had taken much longer, while the former had remained stabbed into him until solaris had killed the prince. As a result, Ember had to fight with countless weapons sticking out of him; luckily, they had no true weight and instead just felt like a constant stab wound.
As Ember walked, he felt the boy on his back slowly moving.
With great effort, Solaris opened his eyes.
Looking around, he saw the corridors he had been dragged through. It was truly a stroke of luck that Ember had been walking through these exact corridors.
"Good morning, Eclipse."
Ember snickered as he said the nickname.
"....I hate that name..."
"Oh..I thought it was cool. How did you get it?"
"killed some demons."
Ember let out an amused exhale and then smiled gently. He had assumed Solaris was the originator of the nickname, yet now he was more impressed by his student and interested in the demon's intelligence. At this moment, he needed to keep Solaris ' mind off of his injuries.
"So, Sol, you got your Extramicy?"
"yeah... I call it heat and harden... so I guess I also suck at naming things."
Solaris smiled faintly, his mind still as tired as before. His clothes were soaked with blood, and his leg was mangled. His shoulders both had intense injuries, and his side was sliced. The only thing keeping him awake now was the fear of falling asleep.
As if he did, he might actually die, and that was not a risk Solaris would be taking.
"Are we heading to Malith so we can leave?"
Ember's eyes widened as he heard those words.
"What!?"
"Yeah, that bastard said if I killed his prince, then he'd let us leave the first layer of hell, or I assume this is the first."
Ember gritted his teeth slightly, then retorted kindly.
"How nice."
Solaris could feel his mentor's rage boiling, more so than ever before, yet he wasn't sure how to ask.
After debating it, he finally opened his mouth and spoke ever so softly.
"..What had it done to you, Ember... where did it put you... I tried so long to find you. I killed so many."
Solaris had no idea when, but Solaris had started to cry, less so tears of sadness, and more so just tears.
His mind was having much more trouble than before digesting information and feelings; it was as if those had been melted slightly during the battles.
"Don't worry about me, they just put me into a big room filled with an explosive gas, so I'm all good."
Ember smiled; to Solaris, it had appeared to be a real smile; it was so convincing, maybe because he'd never seen it before, but in truth, both of them knew it was a facade; they simply refused to accept it, and both of them were fine with suspending disbelief.
"How about you? They didn't dare to harm you, did they?"
"No, not initially, but once I broke out, I was definitely in a tough situation. I hid in a Turret and proceeded to kill them all. it was only yesterday... I think... that I was pulled back into the castle."
"Good..." Ember's eyes looked content with that answer for a moment, then they slowly widened. "How many did you kill? If you don't want to answer, that's fine. I just want to know how good I did as a mentor."
Ember asked, his face masterfully hiding his curiosity and shock.
Solaris sighed, and then in a monotone voice, he spoke.
"About six hundred, including the two devils and the prince."
With great effort, Ember refrained from showing the true extent of his reaction, yet he did think about it very loudly, his thoughts almost loud enough to hear.
SIX HUNDRED!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT, JUST WHAT KIND OF STUDENT DID IT GET!!!!
"I'm sure you've killed way more, and much easier, it almost killed me."
Ember knew how tough these demons had been, and hearing that his protige had killed so many was truly remarkable, yet he also knew that if he let Solaris know how incredible this achievement was, then his heart would start to beat and slowly push out more blood.
For the moment, I need to remain calm, and later, once we get home and Sami can heal him, then I can celebrate this achievement.
"Say, Sol, what's your favorite food?"
Solaris looked up slightly and spoke.
"Umm... I guess ice cream."
"Then it's settled once Sami treats your wounds were going to get ice cream... We'll take Sami and Selen too."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"Oh, okay."
Minutes ticked by, and eventually the duo made it to the grand hall, within it, of course, the throne and pile of riches sat, and atop the throne a king of demons sat, its head slightly looking down at the two before sighing ever so slightly.
After a mere moment, the Demon raised its arm, and the ground began to shake, then moved, revealing a small staircase down.
With a delayed speech, it spoke.
" As I promised, the tree to leave it below, this is the only time I'll dare to let a human go, so dare not return..."
The demon spoke a few remaining words, yet Solaris couldn't quite hear them. All he picked up was the word, sun.
With that, Ember began to descend the staircase.
Slowly, the two disappeared from sight, and the king uttered a final phrase before closing the opening.
"Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine"
The demon's eyelids slid shut, then it disappeared.
The two descended the stairs, the entryway now shut, and the area now suffused in darkness.
Ember held out his hand a small but very bright fire began to burn instantly.
Slowly, they made their way down, and after a while, a change occurred, something that could be considered normal anywhere else but not here, not in hell.
Solaris lifted his head from Ember's shoulder and spoke.
"Wind?"
As they continued down, they began to see more and more; the thick darkness had begun to be pushed back by a bright light.
Then the two reached the end of the stairs, before them a pristine sight of a courtyard bathed in bright light, seemingly from nowhere and yet at the same time from everywhere. There was a light blue sky even though the two had done nothing but descend.
Below the sky, a small green hill rose from the grassy ground, with a windy tree with blue leaves and a black truck, with matching branches, standing atop it.
The newly windy air blew, rustling the leaves and letting a few fly in the wind. The captivating sight was only disturbed by the small carving in the tree. a carving with a language that didn't remind Solaris or Ember of any they had seen before.
"I guess we just touch that... then we should be able to go home, albeit if the king wasn't lying."
"Yeah, let me down ill try to walk."
Supported by Ember's arm, the two walked over to the tree and took a deep breath.
Then both of them extended their arms and touched the carving.
***
Solaris opened his eyes; his body felt perfect and refreshed, or maybe even if it hadn't ever been damaged at all.
"Thanks sami, I....what the?"
Sitting up, Solaris looked down at his body. After assessing himself, he looked around. He was in an impossible space; it was white, everywhere, no shadows, only pure white.
After looking around, he quickly noticed the only change in the white space was a piece of furniture, and atop the furniture a being lay on its side.
Solaris stared at the creature, expecting to be afraid, yet he simply felt bored; the creature gave off an aura of boredom and laziness.
All of its features were obscured and hard to determine, leaving Solaris tired.
Soon, a voice sounded in Solaris ' head, a voice not his own.
It was a melodious and tiring voice, one that put weaker men to sleep, yet Solaris stood his ground, if there even was ground below him.
"Solaris Gunther, you have ascended the first layer of hell, sloth. You are allowed one question."
Solaris's eyes widened, and multiple questions poured into his mind, countless questions that had been weighing him down, some he could infer on, and others he had no idea what the answer could be.
Singulus! No, I can ask people when I get back about him or it, think, think, think... what are demons? No, I don't care about that... The entity! No, i dont what to know what it is... Will Selen love me? No, that's just stupid...
Solaris's eyes widened, and then the perfect question left his lips.
"What is Extramicy, and in turn the true nature of my Extramicy."
Solaris smiled at the question, then his face began to sink as the answer was provided.
"Extramicy, the power gifted to humans in the third realm, used primarily for entertainment for the gods, the abilities provided allow for the accenders to have meaningful battles. Extramicy consists of four parts: Nova, the energy source all living beings have; Extramicy, the output given to humans as a part of the gods' abilities; Blessing, a blessing of a god allowing humans to use the full potential of an Extramicy; Sacrifice, the cost of a Blessing and or Extramicy. With this answer, I shall grant you Solaris a lesser blessing, of sloth."
"a wha..."
With a surge of pain, Solaris felt as if his head was being torn apart. He dropped to the floor and began to grab his head while rolling around on his back.
"AHHHHH!!!"
The pain felt unbearable; it was as if this was the end for him, yet slowly it subsided, and then it ended, yet the remnants of pain lingered.
"What did you just do to me!"
The voice suddenly sounded within his mind.
"You have now been granted my lesser blessing, which shall allow you to observe and understand yours and others' Exramicys, including all four parts."
Solaris took a moment, then he noticed a slight difference in his soul. As he focused on it, instantly a small blurb appeared in his vision, or rather in his minds vison, even closing his eyes, he couldn't erase the blurb. Within it, there were a few lines of text, it read.
'Solaris gunther
Exramicy- solar heat, abyssal coating
Description- Solar heat, the energy of the sun, resides within Solaris's chest. Granting an overall boost to all aspects, however, excessive heat will cause damage to his body
Description- Abyssal coating contains the solar heat, nearly indestructible. However, it limits movement when not heated.'
These were things Solaris was already aware of, yet the next few lines shook him to his core.
'Blessings- surpass, loop, lesser vision of sloth
Description- Surpass allows Solaris to continuously evolve in response to opposition. Whether faced with overwhelming strength, an unfamiliar ability, or an impossible obstacle, his body, mind, and Nova grow in response; all that is required is the will to do so.
Description- loop.
Description- lesser vision of sloth, allows the wielder to see and understand Extramicy.'
Taking a short break to digest the new information, Solaris was left in satisfaction and yet confusion.
Why had my name been used for the other descriptions but not the last one, and what the hell is loop? And on top of that, Surpass that makes so much sense, that must have been what has allowed me to win these fights. Praise the god that gave me that one.
Finally, he read the last part.
'sacrifices- Surpass, loop, solar heat
Description- surpass, when using surpass solaris will lose humanity, yet it is reversible with time. If surpass is used excessively and without breaks, Solaris will begin to lose his humanity permanently.
Description- loop.
Description- Solar heat, solaris will become more deranged the hotter the heat gets, it will end when the heat ends.'
Solaris was left with his mouth agape, and his eyes widened with horror.
Fuck that god!
Solaris had now understood his Extramicy, yet he hated it so much. The power gained was directly ruined by the sacrifices.
Focusing for a moment, the blurb disappeared.
"damn it, I was so happy too."
Solaris waved his hand belatedly and spoke in an exasperated tone.
"Okay, can I go now?"
As Solaris finished his question, he disappeared.
***
Solaris slowly opened his eyes, feeling his true body; the other must have been but a personification of his soul.
He felt a cold hand on his. As he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at the ceiling of Sami's office. The pain that had permeated his body for so long was not gone, and on top of that, he finally felt well rested.
A slight smile spread on his lips, then he looked for the source of the cold hand.
As he saw the source, he felt his heart skip a beat. It was Selen, her face not displaying any emotion as usual, and her hands resting on his hand.
".. Selen?"
"Welcome back, Solaris, and um, happy late birthday."
Solaris' eyes widened at the last part of her sentence, yet before he could speak, she stood up and left without speaking.
Such an odd girl.
Sitting up, Solaris observed the room he was in and felt a tinge in his heart. The small room that had given him so much comfort in the past now left a new feeling in his heart, one he couldn't express.
So instead, Solaris moved to stand, seeing that his once destroyed leg was now in working order. He smiled again, looking around, he saw a stack of clean cloths. Standing now, he walked over and began to get dressed. As he took off the blood-stained shirt, he looked over his shoulder and noticed there was a new mark on his body, an incredibly dense tattoo extended from his shoulder to his other shoulder. The odd part was, however, the color; it had a very dark hue, yet the colors were mixed; it had parts of Black grey, and even white.
"That's interesting."
Taking a moment, Solaris fed the mark some Nova and felt as it became a part of him, unlike Rusty, the shards had felt like a body part, and now the new mark felt much the same.
Taking a breath, Solaris called forth the mark.
The mark slowly slid out of it; unlike the other two marks, this one slid out in waves. The first was a wave of black strands looking like strands of cloth, with a jade inlay slowly wrapped around his skin and some bigger ones simply dangled around forming a kind of mantle or poncho, then a second layer with a slight obsidian armor sprouting atop the first layer that covered his body, then the final layer, slowly, multiple shards split off his body made of pure darkness, it was unlike any of the materials solaris had seen before, it was in the end the same mantle that the dreadful Prince had worn.
It had a feel that warmed Solaris ' soul and body, its weight was almost non-existent, and it seemed to provide a great deal of protection. On top of that, the shards had a non-permanent form and could seemingly become anything Solaris wanted, albeit nothing too complex.
Solaris also felt parts of the fabric could be moved like tendrils. most likely not offering any combat help, but could be helpful with carrying things.
Solaris smiled and nodded, then continued to get dressed. The mantle covered his top well, but didn't do much for his pants.
After a moment, he left the room. still wearing his new mark, the darkness now hidden in the folds of the fabric.
As he rounded the corner, he saw Ember sitting in the same spot they had sat in so long ago, waiting for Selen. To his left, he saw Cedric typing away on his computer.
"Good time to test this."
Solaris focused and moved one of the bigger strands of fabric and smacked Ember, waking him instantly.
"HEY! Oh, hey, Sol, you ready to go?"
Solaris looked confused and then asked.
"Go where?"
"To get ice cream, and then to go to hq to relay our entire experience."
Solaris looked stunned for a moment, then nodded, smiled, and then spoke.
"Yeah, let's go."
End of volume one nebula.