He touched the tree again, feeling a powerful pull.
This ti, he noticed particles of his own soul being absorbed.
As it happened, a realization dawned on him: he could control which part of himself he wanted to sacrifice.
mories flashed through his mind—monts of joy, sorrow, fear, and anger—all intertwined with the experiences that had shaped him.
Each fragnt of his soul represented a piece of who he was, a complex mixture of emotions and mories.
But now, standing at this crossroads, he knew he had to choose which one to let go.
'Don't tell this is really the essence of it all,' he thought, frustration bubbling up within him. 'In order to gain sothing, I have to sacrifice another in return.'
He was stuck in a dilemma, unsure which part of himself to let go. The uncertainty weighed heavily on him.
What if he got rid of his fear?
On one hand, it seed like a good idea. Imagine the benefits:
Absolute Bravery: Without fear holding him back, he could take risks and face challenges he used to avoid.
But then he thought about the downsides. What if he lost his caution?
Fear had kept him safe all this ti. Without it, he might make reckless choices and find himself in dangerous situations more often.
He also wondered about his other emotions.
Would he beco numb? Fear was tied to other feelings . Letting it go could dull his experience of life.
'I need to pick sothing less important, '
'How about guilt? I'm pretty sure I don't have much of that anyway, so sacrificing it would not affect at all,'
Sacrificing an emotion he rarely use was a small price to pay.
He felt the montum building. If he was already sacrificing so much, why not keep going?
But he stopped.
It was true—the more emotions he sacrificed, the more benefits he stood to gain from the fruit.
But at that point, he realized he'd be giving up too much. He'd be hollow, an empty shell of who he was.
'What's the point of getting stronger if I lose myself in the process?'
He rembered a debate he'd overheard once: "If God is all-powerful, then why does He do nothing but observe?
At the ti, the question was a paradox.
But now, standing at the crossroads of his own choices, the question started to make sense.
Maybe it wasn't that God didn't want to act—maybe God did not care at all.
For a being like that, things like emotions, decisions, and even struggles didn't matter. They were insignificant in the grand sche.
Explore more stories with empire
If he were to sacrifice too much, would he beco like that?
Detached, indifferent, and so far above everything that nothing held aning anymore?
So with that, he chose to retain most of who he was .So things were worth keeping, even if it ant the reward would be smaller.
The result?
A fruit the size of an apple appeared in his hand.
Not as big as the ta-human ones, because he had only sacrificed one emotion—guilt. It wasn't impressive by comparison, but it was enough.
And with that, he took a bite, the taste imdiately hitting him.
Disgusting didn't even begin to describe it—a strange, rancid mix of flavors that was worse than anything he'd ever eaten, even corpses.
Still, nothing happened right away.
So, he figured he had to eat the whole thing. Each bite was a struggle, his stomach twisting with every chew, but he forced himself to keep going.
'This better be worth it,' he muttered, the bitter aftertaste clinging to his mouth.
Just as he swallowed the last piece, sothing shifted inside him.
A spark of energy coursed through his body. Not like the usual power he felt—this was sothing else, an elent he had never encountered before.
It didn't settle in his core like his other abilities. Instead, it flowed through his veins, foreign and powerful, before... vanishing.
He blinked, confused. Where had it gone?
Before he could even process what was happening, the entire space around him began to collapse.
Cracks ford in the ground and sky, spreading like shattered glass . A deep, rumbling sound echoed in the distance, growing louder.
He turned to see a blinding light, slowly creeping toward him, swallowing everything in its path.
Panic surged in his chest, but there was no ti to react.
The light rushed forward, faster now, until it completely engulfed him. Everything was erased—the sound, the cracks, the world.
All that was left was the light.
When his vision cleared, he found himself lying beneath the giant hole in Green Valley City.
He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings.
'I'm back? What happened here?' he said, feeling uneasy.
Sothing felt off. The air around him was thick, not with miasma. It was an energy he recognized all too well.
This was the sa energy he had felt when Lilith released her aura in their first eting, but this ti, it was overwhelmingly powerful and thick, wrapping around him.
'Don't tell she actually succeeded in getting the seed.' he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Even if he had been able to enter the portal, it was in an illegitimate way.
Lilith, on the other hand, had the key in her possession, which ant she must have gotten the seed way easier and evolved into sothing he dared not imagine.
He slowly floated to the top of the giant hole, and what greeted him was a destroyed city.
Signs of battles were everywhere, and countless corpses lay scattered around, a clear sign of the chaos that had occurred.
But the most shocking sight was that so of these bodies had turned decomposed already and only the bones remains.
"Wait... How long was I gone?"
He landed onto one of the destroyed military tents and touched the pile of bones.
This wasn't sothing that happened instantly; it ant their bodies had decomposed through normal ans.
"So you're finally back," a voice echoed from behind him.
Reviews
All reviews (0)