anwhile, few minutes before Auren was dragged into the Inferna Hollow...
—deep within Auren’s subconscious space—
The flaming silhouette of Bigbird stood on guard.
Its vast wings, wreathed in golden fire, flickered with radiant heat, casting long, pulsing shadows across the ever-shifting landscape of Auren’s ntal realm.
It had been quietly watching over Auren, linked to him by a flickering tether of soul and fla—guiding him, whispering and protecting from the shadows.
Until suddenly... sothing changed.
Like a ripple through glass-still water, the space shifted.
Zwooom~
The realm around Bigbird twisted—distorted—as if reality itself took a deep, unnatural breath.
Bigbird’s wings flared open. His molten eyes sharpened as it noticed sothing amiss. Little did it know that the space he is now in is currently locked out of Auren’s awareness.
And he was no longer alone.
"Bloody you bastard bloody!—" Bigbird insctinctively muttered, taken off guard.
Across the ntal plane, standing in total stillness before it, was a creature that looked like it didn’t belong there... yet sohow fit perfectly.
A tiny, mossball of a being—the Whisper Oracle.
A tiny punto.
Bigbird narrowed his eyes, flas curling nacingly from his feathers.
But the creature didn’t flinch.
It rely tilted its fuzzy head and opened its mouth. The voice that ca out was playful and musical—but with an edge sharper than steel:
"Now be a good bird and stay quiet... or shall I start plucking your feathers out—one by one?"
Bigbird’s body surged with fire, his spiritual aura erupting into a tidal wave of heat and dominance.
"You dare trespass here, mossball? You want a feather-plucking? I don’t know where you’re pulling that confidence from, punk, but do you have any clue who you’re facing?"
The mossball blinked.
"I do,"
It said, with infuriating calm. Then it added, almost sweetly:"But do you know who I am?"
Before Bigbird could unleash another threat, the tiny eyes of the Oracle glowed—and in that instant, the ntal realm trembled.
A golden ring of revelation burst out from the mossball like a pulse of truth—warping the space around them.
BZZZOOOWM~
Bigbird froze.
And then... he saw it.
The mossball’s true form while its beak wide open in shock.
THUD.
Bigbird’s flaming body bowed instinctively, slamd to the ground by sheer pressure alone.
Before him rose a colossal figure—a majestic, serpentine dragon, shimring in erald green light.
Its scales glowed like carved jade. Two sets of black, antlered horns stretched outward, framing its cobra-like head. Long and legless, it floated effortlessly through clouds of dark mist, its tail tipped like an elegant jade-tipped spear.
It was beautiful.It was terrifying.It was divine.
And more than anything—it made Bigbird feel like a re ember before a sun.
Above its head, a glowing fra appeared:
*
BhukaEastern Primordial BeastLevel: 98
*
Bigbird didn’t need an explanation.
This was no ordinary spirit. No Oracle. No trickster god.
It was a Primordial—a being worshipped across entire continents!
A being that could wipe him from existence with a re breath!
Bigbird bowed its head deeper, his flas dimming in reverence.
"P-Please forgive my insolence. I did not know it was you, Lord Bhuka—"
But before he could finish groveling, Bhuka’s voice rumbled, low and commanding:
"Listen carefully, bird."
"If you want your human to survive... you’re going to listen to what I say."
Its voice echoed through the ntal realm, a vast subconscious space currently hidden from Auren’s awareness by Bhuka’s will.
"Y-Yes... Please continue," Bigbird said, his voice low and respectful. Even his flaming face twitched under the crushing weight of the Primordial Beast’s presence.
Bhuka lood overhead like a coiled god, his serpentine form shifting ever so slightly as he spoke.
"You may not know this but, we as Primordial beings, can glimpse the fates of those born within our territory with a single glance," Bhuka began, his tone distant. "And this human in particular..."
He paused.
Bigbird didn’t dare interrupt.
He stood quietly, flas flickering around him, waiting.
Seconds dragged.
Then Bhuka turned his gaze toward the endless indigo sky of the subconscious realm. There, his eyes locked onto sothing only he could see. A ripple of fate. A crossroad of destiny.
Finally, he spoke again.
"I’ve seen the many lifetis this human is bound to... and in nearly all of them, he dies today. Countless tis. In countless ways. You die with him."
Bigbird’s molten eyes widened. Panic sparked deep inside his blazing core.
"I... I see," he murmured, voice tight with helplessness.
He had watched Auren grow.
From the mont the boy could walk, he trained without rest. Mornings spent with blade in hand. Afternoons buried in spell theory and combat drills. Nights consud by alchemy, books, inventions.
While others slept, Auren worked.
While others dread, he built the tools to fight fate.
He was a little man of focus, sheer will and commitnt.
Bigbird had mocked him. Argued with him. But deep down, he respected him—imnsely.
He had seen every drop of blood, every burn, every bruise Auren took to be ready for this mont.
And now... to hear that all of it will led to his early death?
Unacceptable!
"Then... with all due respect, my Lord," Bigbird said, lowering his wings, "is there a way my master can escape this fate?"
Bhuka remained quiet.
It was the silence of mountains. Heavy. Immovable.
Then at last, his answer ca.
"There is one way," Bhuka said slowly. "But even we Primordials are blind to so threads of fate. Rarely... a life escapes our vision entirely. A fork in destiny where the outco is unknown..."
He paused again, and this ti his eyes shimred with strange, unplaceable emotion.
"These are what we call... the Void Tilines."
Bigbird’s feathers pulsed with hope.
"Void Tilines...?" he repeated. "Can I lead Auren to that path? Is there sothing I can do to make it real?"
"There is," Bhuka replied. "But these tilines are laced with such chaos and destruction that even we Primordials tread them with caution. I have seen paths in which I, too, fall."
Bigbird recoiled.
"What?! Even you—?" Bigbird’s voice cracked, eyes wide with disbelief.
"But... aren’t Primordial Beasts supposed to be immortal? Aren’t you the gods of this continent?"
Bhuka’s voice remained calm, but carried the weight of truth.
"We are immortal, yes—but only within the bounds of our own territories. Should we cross beyond those borders... our immortality fades. It becos the price for a single chance—" his erald eyes glead,
"—a chance to ascend, to conquer new lands. But with that choice cos a risk... a real one."
He paused, his tone darkening."A risk of true death—even for us. Such is the primodrial law placed on us by the Kalibu itself."
Bigbird’s flas dimd slightly.
"But, if you don’t mind asking Lord Bhuka, what does your death... have to do with my master?"
Bhuka tilted his head slightly. Above them, a screen of the current events played out—Auren, mid-battle, struggling to survive, while Rhiki and Kardel clashed for reasons unknown.
"The truth is this..." It said with deeper tone,
"The only tiline where the human boy survives this day... is the Void Tiline," Bhuka said at last.
"And they are called ’Void’ because in each of them, I am... absent."
Bigbird’s voice left him.
His mind surged with a storm of questions, none of which he dared ask aloud. One question, however, scread in silence:
Is it possible to change Bhuka’s fate?
As a fragnt of the Holy Phoenix, Bigbird knew what Bhuka’s death would an.
With the Primordial Beast of the Wha-lah Continent gone, the land would fall into chaos. A new primordial beast would rise to take it for themselves.
War. Bloodshed. The collapse of everything everyone in the continent held dear.
Bhuka, as if sensing the storm of thoughts, spoke again.
"But just because I do not exist in that tiline," he said, "does not an I died."
Bigbird looked up, confused.
"What do you an?"
Bhuka’s massive form shimred. His serpent body vanished in a flash of light.
And in his place... stood the mossball.
Bonbon.
"I an," Bonbon said, landing lightly in front of Bigbird, "you’re only looking at half of ."
Bigbird blinked. "Only half?"
"Yes. Only half," Bonbon replied with a casual shrug.
"Then... where’s the other half?"
"You’ll find out soon enough," Bonbon said cryptically while inching closer to the massive flaming bird.
"But right now, what matters is your answer. One question. One choice. And depending on your answer... the tiline will change."
Bigbird’s flas flickered.
"My answer...?"
Bonbon’s gaze sharpened. The humor faded. His tiny eyes pulsed with primal energy.
"...Are you... Prepared to die for your master?"
Hearing the question, Bigbird didn’t flinch a second.
"...Of course! I am willing to—"
STAB!
A sudden erald tail, shimring like glass, shot from a warp rift above and pierced Bigbird straight through. It punctured from crown to claw—so fast, he didn’t even scream.
"L-lord B-Bhuka... W-why?..." Bigbird’s voice struggled to ca out as its strength quickly left.
His body spasd.
Flas burst outward.
Feathers disintegrated.
Then... ca a glow.
Bigbird’s form shrank and shimred until all that remained was a single, radiant golden egg—hovering silently in the center of the ntal realm.
With the help of the Primordial Beast, the Phoenix fragnt had suddenly entered its next stage.
A stage never seen before.
One tied to the Void Tiline.
Bonbon—no, Bhuka—watched with a satisfied nod, then turned and waddled like a little duck toward a wormhole that blood open behind him.
Just before stepping through, he whispered to no one:
"Welco to the Void Tiline."
Monts later, in the outside world, the mossball reappeared—just in ti to stop Kardel and Rhiki from slaughtering each other.
Now taking the form and identity of the Whisker Oracle, Bhuka intervened.
He teleported the three of them—Auren, Rhiki, and Kardel—straight into Inferna Hollow, just in ti to save Elarya.
To the others, it was divine intervention. Salvation.
But what none of them realized... was that this very act had diverted the wheel of fate.
They had entered a new path.
A darker one.
Where sothing far worse now stirs.
Sothing that not even the Primordials can see beyond.
And sowhere, deep inside Auren’s subconscious, a golden egg glowed brighter and brighter—its shell quietly cracking under growing pressure as unknown ti passess by.
Then suddenly, ca Bhuka’s voice again.
The signal.
The call.
"Hey, stupid bird. Wake up—it’s showti."
...
Back in the present, inside the Inferna Hollow:
BOOOOM!
The magma explosion that was about to devour Auren and the others was suddenly silenced—erased in an instant, as if a god had clapped its hands and declared: "Enough."
A shockwave rippled outward, swallowing the flas, turning heat into hush.
And then, from deep within Auren’s subconscious, the golden egg finally revealed itself.
"What!?" Auren blinked, stunned as the radiant object hovered before him—glowing like an ancient, holy relic.
It pulsed with power and warmth, like a sun cradled in a shell.
He stared, questions pounding in his skull.
’Bigbird, in this form?’
A golden egg...?
"What the heck is going on?" he muttered, watching as the egg rose higher, glowing brighter.
But one thing was clear:
His hidden ace...
IS BACK.
CRACK!
CRACK!
Fissures danced across the shell, light pouring from the cracks. And then—
CRACK-BOOOOM!
A burst of divine brilliance exploded across the ntal plane like a newborn star.
The dark sky lit up with golden hue.
SCREEEEEYAAAK!
The Golden Phoenix—Bigbird—re-erged in full glory.
Now larger, more radiant, and unmistakably divine.
Its feathers shimred not only with gold, but now streaks of erald fire coursed through them—like nature’s own blessing had been infused into its very fiery soul.
Before Auren could even speak, Bigbird dove.
Straight into him.
KABOOOOM!
Outside the ntal space, Auren’s real body erupted with golden fire.
And then his young body grew.
His childlike form stretched rapidly into that of a full-grown man—tall, lean, sculpted like a warrior forged in divine fire.
His adventurer’s garb shattered and reford into majestic armor—gold and green, radiating light and power.
Six magnificent wings burst from his back, each one trailing golden flas, fanned wide like the blades of judgnt.
It was no longer just Auren.
It was Auren reborn.
"This..." he breathed, eyes wide.
His voice was deeper. Mature and commanding.
His gaze sharpened—like he was constantly channeling Tiger Focus—but tenfold its effect.
His body felt impossibly light, as if gravity no longer applied. Mana flooded through him like a bottomless sea. His health surged, bolstered by divine regeneration.
His Divine Rapier had transford too—now a majestic three-ter blade, etched with intricate green and gold runes, wrapped in radiant fla as though blessed by the gods.
"What in the world happened to you, Bigbird?" he whispered to himself, awestruck to his unexpected transformation.
"Upgrade," Bigbird replied in his head—blunt as ever.
Now hovering like an angelic knight, divine fire dancing across his armor, Auren was truly a sight of prophecy!
Down below, Kardel, Rhiki, and Elarya gawked—mouths agape, eyes wide with disbelief.
The boy they once mocked...
The human they plotted to kill...
Now stood above them like the fulfillnt of an ancient legend.
The Whisper Oracle’s words echoed in their minds.
The Savior of Runewood.
And here he was—wings afla, sword of light in hand, standing between them and certain death.
With just his presence, the flas of Vulkris had been halted.
Auren turned, his mysterious and deep voice was steady and commanding,
"Everyone..."
They flinched. His voice sounded like a warrior in his thirties—not the seven-year-old boy they knew.
"Prepare to escape. I’m not sure if I can kill Vulkris—but this is your chance. Use the portal if you have the chance."
Rhiki and Kardel exchanged looks—guilt burning behind their eyes. For seven years, they sched behind his back. And now?
He was saving them?
And the queen.
And the whole damn elven forest!
Then—
ROOOOAAARR!!
Vulkris’s howl shook the sky, fury pouring out like magma.
WHO DARES DEFY -
WHAAM!
I
In a flash of golden light, Auren erged above the raging Vulkris—hovering midair, his six flaming wings unfurled like the herald of judgnt.
He didn’t hesitate.
"Shut your stinky mouth!" he roared.
With both hands gripping his newly enhanced Divine Rapier, Auren dove like a falling star, slashing downward with blinding speed and devastating force—aiming straight for the beast’s face.
SHII-BOOOOM!
A colossal wave of golden sword energy tore through the air—blasting Vulkris straight in the face.
The titanic beast let out a guttural scream as it plumted from the sky, crashing into the lava below like a teor.
KRAKOOM!
The impact shattered the flaming prison, sending pillars of molten rock skyward. Even Vulkris’s pride cracked with the blow.
Above the chaos, Auren floated like a god.
Fla and light rolled off him in waves.
His golden wings fanned behind him, his armor gleaming, and his fiery eyes locked onto the stunned beast.
He raised his sword—and spoke.
"Fire Breathing Technique, First Form: Jhorton Slash."
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