Chapter 559: Conditions
Piece by piece, like water down the drain, the picturesque landscape faded into nothingness. White smoke marked the end of multiple scattered pieces. An undone puzzle, a world of confusion and fear. Origin stood strong beside Igna, both held hands, the bodies closer than before. A blinding light carried on into reality; the crushing sensation stopped.
Dark and vile, as multiple nights had been, the harbinger of the worst deeds humanly perford. Dagger to her neck, “-Hey, don’t squirm so much, I’m not as gentle as you’d think.”
“Let go,” the nauseating sound subconsciously forced her to sneak glances at Igna. ‘Wake up...’ thought she – what had been a body was naught but a pile of sludge. Not bone from blood, not organs from the skin, nothing... a blob and that was it.
“You see now,” said he, “-it’s not worth resisting. Besides,” throwing a glance at Totrya, “-they told to test the inheritor. Might have taken it a bit far. If the man couldn’t handle my powers, then it’s done for. I’ll take my prize and leave.”
“WHAT ARE YOU THINKING,” backed to embrace the tree trunk, the visage slumped, the bravado of rushing adrenaline channeled into fear, plain and simple.
“There’s nowhere to run,” said he drawing a magical circle, “-I’ll lay claim to thee and thy soul, be my servant for the rest of eternity.”
‘Igna...soone, save .’
.....
From the genesis to the eventual restart; else referred to as the end, the never-ending cycle of creation and destruction; rging with Origin shattered the already cracked Death Elent. The consciousness, mories, soul, and his very existence, the mories living in other people, all were subject to tension, a slight miscalculation could rupture everything. Still, ambling down the tunnel, Igna found himself holding hands with another entity. No thoughts crossed the mind, not the ulterior motive – subconscious left alone and unsupervised. The vortex assaulted the defenseless consciousness to a multitude of attacks, emotions, possible futures, and many more. Origin kept on walking, hand in hand, guiding the self-proclaid idiot down the path of ultimate trial.
“Welco to the kiosk of all.”
“Kiosk?” asked he in a drunken stupor.
“Wake up,” cried Origin.
“My head,” a yelp forced him onto the ground, ‘-where am I?’ looking back, nothing was visible, there was sothing there, then again, there was not. The eyes didn’t see yet it was present. Suddenly, when the eyes could see, he couldn’t sense. “What is this place?” the head bood at a regular interval – a feeling closely associated with standing in the middle of a giant bell and having it be hit.
“Difficult to explain,” said he looking down an upward shaft, “-look here.”
“I’m looking, what is it?”
“Origin,” smiled he.
“That’s you?”
“Yes, it’s taken the form I wished it to take. Normally, there’s just nothing. You’ve experienced it – looking back to see sothing than not, tis the sa amplified. We’re at the start and end of all. Many deities have tried to reach this level of power, the true ascension, I’m sure Zeus wants to do the sa.”
“Interesting,” he sat with legs dangling off the edge, “-I an, why show this. I’m going to vanish anyway,” glancing backward, “-see, my body is at the start; fignts of myself are stuck in the tunnel – reminds of a filter.”
“Yes, that’s right,” said he giving in to the natural charm, “-it’s a filter. We ca here for a purpose, I accepted the offer, though, my conditions haven’t been t yet.”
He nodded and expressed the will to listen closely. This feeling of being wanted had him startled a little, “-excuse ,” he coughed. “-To put it simply, you’re now the purest form of yourself, the soul, and your very existence. Here is where we rge.” The other Igna’s were the manifestation of the Death-Elent, dormant powers, Blood-Arts, and countless hidden traits all separated and held in cages. So volatile and so docile, everything made sense, or so he thought.
“I know, I know. Shall we get this started; I’ve already bid my farewells.”
“Wrong,” said Origin sprawling on his feet, “-my conditions are as follows. We’re to beco one, and to that end, I want you as my ally, my friend, my everything. Do you hear, heir to death, no, never mind, right at this mont, you’re nothing but Staxius Haggard. A soul in the sea of eternity, a nonconsequential plant in a forest.”
“Listen,” interjected he, “-what good will it do, hearing all of this?”
“Don’t you realize, I’m offering another deal for us to beco the sa.”
“Wasn’t it the sa as the first ti?”
“No,” the head shook, “-not at all, what you offered was for to take over YOUR body and mind. What I propose is that we both beco one.”
“An alter-ego?” asked he perplexed at the preposterous offer, then again, the whole thing was absurd as is.
“More than an alter-ego, sothing better,” paused at a heightened pitch, “-sorry, got carried away. Staxius, thou said to trust in thee. I ask the sa, trust in .”
“Honestly,” he paused, “-I had made ands in leaving everything up to Origin. Looks like there’s more to co. Go on then, do as thee wishes.”
“Good,” he jumped in to hold hands, “-thou accepted and my burdens. Igna, let tell you, the weight I carry is more than one could ever hope to imagine. Things might not be the sa when we return, I’ve said it before, I can’t increase your strength, that is sothing you’ll have to do on your own. My goal is simple, to experience everything, to stop the boredom, and to see what is there for to see.”
“What will I lose in the process?” asked he.
“My consciousness will take up a lot of space. You need not worry, tis been settled. We’re to join as one,” both figures rged, the tunnel seed to move in reverse. Soul pulled to join with the other fignts, one after another, the vision blurred, the vortex spiraled to engrave onto the side of his right hand.
‘The pain, the suffering, fleeting monts of bliss, what a troubleso life he’s led. He survived bonding to , we’re now the sa – sharing mories, I don’t have any personality so it shouldn’t affect much. It’s true, that soul of his is close to a miracle, haven’t seen anything like it before. Being able to hold an unlimited number of symbols of power – he’s handling my symbol for what it’s worth. There’s no na to describe such a being. The death elents healed, we’re back to reality. Ti to wake up, Igna.’
“Ti to collect my paynt,” smirked the Butler.
Over the wall rose smoke and ambers of a rising fla. Sounds and cries barely made it to where they stood. ‘It’s happened,’ the body rose in from the sludge, healing itself at a faster rate, ‘-I’m back. The mories of Origin, I know, I see,’ the skin grew pale, the crimson eye turned vibrant like a crystal inside which one could see the whole of eternity. The disrupted vampiric transformation returned to the norm, black hair, the skin darkened in color, he stood the sa as before with exception to the eye color.
“Quite a troubled past,” said a voice.
“Is this the alter-ego you referred about?”
“Yeah,” said it smugly, “-you’ve seen my mories. I don’t know what you had to give up to assimilate , should be fine, I don’t sense anything amiss.”
“Well,” he stood unknown to the butler, “-one thing is for sure.” *Blood-Arts: Extria,* “-I feel stronger than before.” A simple gesture sent the demon flying. “-What was it about not having magical abilities and power?” he dashed after, landed a downward punch, plunged the butler deep into the ground, then skid to stop. The remaining trail was left to steam.
“Well, I never said I was going to be useless. Besides,” a snap later, the consciousness swapped, “-I can take control whenever I want, and so can you. Heck,” another snap, “-we can share the sa body at once.” In that transformation, when Origin took control, the pupils changed to pure white, when Igna was in control, tis red, and when both were one of the sa, crimson and white.
“It doesn’t feel weird,” said Igna, “-even when you’re in control, still feels like , like I’m doing the things I want.”
“That’s the beauty of it all,” said he proudly, “-we’re the sa. A shared consciousness, aning, everything I do is your doing, and everything you’re doing is mine.”
“I see,” clutching the hands, ‘-I wonder what I gave up for this?’
“You’re alive?” asked the Butler crawling from the crevasse, “-I thought I killed you.”
“Yeah, I did so, honestly speaking,” he turned without care and held the demon by the neck, “-why... tell why?”
“A test, a test,” said he begging for life, “-Majesty, I did so per orders of the other demons.”
“Other demons,” the grip lessened, “-so, what about them?”
“They asked to test you, the carnage here was nothing more than to provoke a reaction.”
“A reaction, from all this death?” scanning the surrounding, ‘-should I not be angry at this... I don’t feel anything, why am I calm, what’s the matter. Look at Lingling, she’s injured, I should be angry, still, I don’t feel anything.’
‘I figured it out,’ said Origin swapping forth, ‘-you’ve lost your emotions to accommodate . Weirdly enough, once I’m at the forefront, I feel the anger and hate, all this destruction for the sake of provocation, it... it makes b-boil.’
‘Alright then,’ they shared the body, ‘-if you can feel, its good enough. I can’t feel anything when I’m in control. Well, Origin, this is a good experience to learn. Feel what it’s like to be human. I’ll experience the emotions through our shared bond.’
‘Damn it,’ he gritted.
‘Alright, I’ll take over for now. Origin, emotions are a powerful asset. I’d say it pains to have lost them... would have been a massive lie. It’s the sa as before, I’ll slowly beco a killing machine. Walking down the sa path as I did. I envy you, being able to experience the finest details in life, romance, camaraderie, familiarity, all born from the emotions.’
‘Don’t be like that,’ said he, ‘-I can feel yours too. The regret, it hurts.’
“Majesty,” gulped the demon, “-what now?”
“I won the contest. Go back to Totrya, I’ll hold onto the singular wish for a better ti, is that alright?”
“Yes,” nodded he, “-thank you for the rcy, majesty.”
‘It’s not rcy, I just don’t care.’ The butler disappeared into the night. A gust blew hard and strong. Ling coward under the tree; stuck in terror, head between the knees, sobbing and waiting for death.
“Ling,” said a monotonous voice, “-wake up, hey, this isn’t the place to sleep.”
“I-Igna?” the shell broke, “-it’s you,” tears flowed, “-I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!”
“ too,” said he, “-co on,” she jumped into his arms, “-we need to get back.”
“Igna...”
“Yes?”
“W-why are you s-so calm?” she subconsciously backed away.
“Oh, so you’ve noticed,” knelt to give a helping hand, “-the experience of seeing death in the face has scarred for life. I can’t feel anything anymore. It’s the truth, I want to be angry at the carnage, but I can’t. Even now, I say this as if to justify myself. I know one thing is for sure, I’ve lost my humanity.”
“You can’t be serious,” taking his hand, “-who cares. You saved , that’s reason enough. Thank you, Igna.”
“No thanks needed,” he stood, “-can you stand?”
“Y-yeah, sowhat.” She clambered with the tree as support, a loneso branch cracked after too much strain.
“Careful,” wrapping his arms around her waist, “-don’t force yourself, co on,” in a quick motion, her head rested on his as was per a piggyback ride.
The graduation turned horror; one could say he graduated. Not as an adventurer, but as a higher being. Soone harboring Origin itself for the price of his emotions. So things were best left as is – Igna slowly made way to his prior self, Staxius. Who was he, the question remained. With another consciousness thrown in the mix, the world moves on into perhaps its darkest hour. A few people died, the pain seed naught, ‘-I t Origin. Heir to Kronos, Scifer Rethem, I’ve completed the quest.’
Gunfire and explosion grew by each step, ‘-this world is cruel. There are more things to co, thank you, Igna. I understand more than I would have. I can let go freely, my conditions have been t – good luck on the adventures ahead, dearest partner. I’ll take my rightful place in the subconscious alongside thy emotions. Till the day cos where thee calls on , goodbye.’
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