It was beautiful. Maybe one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life.
The paths of mana that stretched through the whole cave, mana that had a certain flow in these paths... mana that seed to be like water. This whole system, the enormous amount of mana it contains, the way it exists in the world with such harmony...
But as beautiful as it was... it was crushing . The view in front of was not sothing I could look at. It was far beyond my comprehension. So even if I was just... getting close to it, even if I was actually looking at it from a great distance, it gave headache. Just feeling it made my whole being tremble.
The amount of mana gathered in what was in front of was not a simple density… it was in quantities that I had never felt before. And the source of this intensity, this complex system was... huge, enormous. Even with my eyes closed, it was sothing so majestic that it was shaking my being, trying to tear apart from the inside, as if it was trying to absorb the mana inside my body.
When the blue fla ca in front of this extrely concentrated mana, it stopped. For a mont all its instability disappeared as if it was bowing in respect. The mana that had guided this far joined the condensed mana.
As my eyes slowly opened, I realized that the blue fla was being absorbed by this condensed mana, and as my vision ca back to , I saw the source of all that condensed mana.
I was still inside the cave, I had only walked for I don't know how long. The amount of virgonium covering the walls seed to have multiplied several tis over, there was hardly a spot without purple crystals. It was so dizzying that I didn't want to look at it, despite its beauty. Its purple lights reminded of caora, the energy of chaos, but this was very different.
This purple was much purer than the color of chaos. It was much more noble, much more glamorous.
Yet all this was unimportant... because there was sothing else in front of my eyes, sothing that could make ignore it all.
Sothing almost ten ters tall and almost four ters wide... an egg.
"A- Aid… Aiden!"
Gurdas' voice entered my ears and I slowly turned my head back.
Gurdas was crouched on the ground about ten ters away from , barely breathing. His left eye was closed and his right eye was barely holding itself open.
"C- co back! Quickly!"
I smiled, shaking my head from side to side.
"I'm sorry, Gurdas. There's sothing I need to do here."
I turned back to the egg in front of .
"Go back, collect virgonium with the others, and complete your mission. I... I am not sure when I will be able to finish my work here, don't wait for ."
I inhaled and exhaled deeply, focusing on Gurdas' heavy breathing as I prepared myself to let the inviting mana flow again.
"Please Gurdas... just trust ."
He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to his feet. I heard his armor shaking, but I still didn't turn around.
For a mont there was only silence around . Even with my back turned, I could see him clenching his fist, squinting at , waiting for to turn back.
But at the sa ti... he trusted .
"S- So be it..."
He threw sothing in my direction, and even though I didn't see it, I could guess what it was.
It was probably the device that would open a portal to a safe spot in case of an ergency.
He took a step after throwing the device, barely forcing himself to continue.
"I'm goin' to trust you, Aiden. We'll... be waitin' for you."
I didn't lower my smile. On the contrary, I widened it, happy that Gurdas believed in .
"Thank you."
I closed my eyes and focused on the mana that kept trying to push away.
As Gurdas continued to walk away from , I slowly raised my hand and took a step toward the egg. The mana concentrated around was so heavy that it was physically crushing , yet I kept walking.
It was literally rejecting . It was trying to crush under its presence, to prevent . But despite all this, finally, my hand touched sothing hard: the giant egg.
The mana that was aching to get out of my body suddenly flooded into the egg. A burning sensation covered my whole body. Especially the hand that touched the egg caught fire, as if I had put it into hot lava.
My skin was lting, I could feel the bones in my right hand trembling; even they were slowly lting. But... I resisted.
I heard a voice, a voice that echoed in the whole cave... no, in my whole mind.
"Oh..."
It was an ancient voice, it had the tone of a seasoned old man, but it was much more than that.
"You..."
The cave trembled with each word, each letter that ca out of his mouth. Mana stopped moving as if in respect for him.
"So a tiny human has co to disturb my peace... is that it?"
I felt sothing reaching out to from the egg, yet I did not reject it.
"You are a carrier of chaos, it seems. Oh, wait..."
The warmth and mana seeping out of the egg suddenly violently enveloped my body. It tried to reach not only my body, but my soul.
"You are so much more."
As my body continued to lt away, the thought that I was going to die gripped my mind for a mont. Fear was the only emotion I could feel in my mind for a mont, but I gritted my teeth.
"You inherited the knowledge... Then how did you beco so strong?"
He was silent for a few seconds, as if confused. The mana reaching into my soul tried to create a bridge between it and him, but just then sothing unexpected happened.
The other half of my soul, my wiera side, suddenly moved. It tore down the bridge that was trying to touch my soul, expelled it out of my body as if it were nothing.
"I was wrong again... you are not the one who inherited the knowledge. Ah, I see..."
Behind my closed eyes, in the darkness, I saw two blue-colored lights, two gigantic lights that resembled an eye... A pair of eyes with the vertical pupils of a predator, with flas dancing inside.
It was looking at as if it didn't care about my pain.
"All right, fine."
All the pain I had suffered disappeared in an instant. I found myself in an infinite darkness, a darkness without my body. But those two huge blue eyes were still in front of .
"How nice that you managed not to die. However, you still need to be tested."
The flas dancing inside the eyes suddenly flared up, and the splendor emanating from them multiplied. The endless darkness was suddenly filled with the blue light emanating from those eyes.
"Tell , little puppet. What is it that you are trying to achieve by coming here, what is your purpose?"
What am I trying to get...?
Power, right? Yes, that's what it's supposed to be.
The two eyes that hovered in front of looked more frightening than they looked to for a mont.
Why... Why do I feel like this is not the answer?
Why do I feel like if the word 'power' cos out of my mouth, all my efforts will be in vain, and my life here will be over...?
What I want to achieve is...
I thought, I thought about all the things I have done since I ca into this world. I looked for an answer to this question, a proper answer.
What did I... what did I co to this world for in the first place?
Ah... I rember now... I was trying to get out of my diocrity, to be happy. That was my first purpose, but then... different things slowly beca my purpose.
Fear of losing my sister, being a wiera, fear of losing my friends, Celine's responsibility, loving Sue...
I want power, yes. But the reason why I want this power... what I want to get is this 'reason'. Power is sothing that will make it easier for to get what I want.
The real thing I want to get is...
"I..."
I looked into the vertical pupils between the blue-colored flas.
"I want to reach the happy end of this world, of myself, and what I will get here... is one of the things that will help do that."
There was no change in the blue eyes. The infinite darkness did not flicker, nor did the flas dancing inside the eyes. They were the sa now as they were a few seconds ago.
"You want a happy ending before you even know what the end of this world is. An unexpected answer from a puppet."
Puppet... Why is he calling a puppet?
"I like your answer, though."
After those five words, suddenly, all the darkness was filled with a brilliant light.
"Show what you can do, little puppet. And I'll help you get what you want."
Those were the last words I heard before a dense darkness descended on again after the brilliant light.
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