The throne feels cold to the touch. The seat appears to be made of some variant of onyx, with mana stones hammered into the rock in intricate patterns that hurt my mind to look at. The stones are pitch black, flickering with dark mana. Running my hand along it, I marvel at the feel of the seat to my soft, pale flesh. My human side is slightly more sensitive touch-wise than my scales, likely something to do with nerves and density. Something I find out as I slowly lower myself onto the seat. And the world goes black.
No, I didn’t faint. The seat exploded out in darkness, bathing the room in a black sea that consumes everything, leaving nothing but void around me. Standing in front of me is someone I recognized.
“Someone happened to mention to me that you aren’t alive.” I comment, standing from the throne. Looking around, I see nobody else around me. “Am I in the void again? I thought I only came here when I died.”
“You sat on the throne. It is a conceptual focal point for my influence and power, which offered me an opportunity.” The dead god in question says, smiling. His form is far more visible than before, but that’s not saying much. I can see his face, though not much for the features. His eyes, unlike mine, are both draconic, despite being human in shape. Or, rather, demidragon in shape. His hands are both clawed, unlike my one clawed hand. The frills around the back of his head and becoming smaller along his jaw are similar to my own, but seem to glow pink and purple in impossible nebulas of beauty. 2 wings spread out from his back made of pure, solid darkness.
“So, why am I here? Are you just bored or something, being all dead?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t exactly look dead to me.”
“Well, I am dead, yes. I gave my life for the next to take the torch. I failed in my mission, so I decided that someone else should go forth instead.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “Did you kill yourself, so that you would reincarnate? I thought that reincarnation removes your memories.”
“Well, you are slightly misinformed.” he says. “Reincarnation creates a new consciousness within the same soul, and shunts the old consciousness into the void, still tethered to the true soul, but existing within a space with all other dead iterations. If the reincarnated individual obtains the split mind skill, I may be able to impose my consciousness upon the new body, but I prefer not to. I had my time. And I have good company.”
“Well thats a lot of info.” I say, seeming interested. “And I am your reincarnation? Are you the last Abhorrance?”
“No. I am the first. The one to have come before you never achieved the level of power I did. Never re-obtained tier 5, unfortunately.” He sighs. “You, however, should be able to make it. You have the accumulated karma of 4 previous iterations. More karma than any other god in history. Leveling will never be a problem for you.”
“So I am a primordial?” I ask.
“Yes and no. You will be when you reach tier 5. But right now, you are just a tier 2 with extra benefits, and enough karma to destroy a triverse.”
“I could destroy a triverse?” I ask, pausing. That sounds like… a little much. I know my power. I've never felt like a walking nuclear existence bomb.
“Don’t use your karma like that. Expelling karma with attacks is permanent. Use it sparingly, as wasting the karma your previous lives gained is not advised. That should be saved for your apotheosis.”
I sit back down. “What do I do? I… am not exactly prepared for all this. Are other people… aware?”
“Aftermath is.” Abhorrance says, smiling wistfully. “Those old bones keep fighting. Good for him. Do keep him stable, if you can. He needs friends more than servants.”
“I know he does.”I say, then sigh. “This is so complicated. What should I do now?”
“Go back with your new allies, and fight your war. They are there already.” I freeze. “What?”
“Before you go, I have one more gift for you.”
{Skill evolved: Eternal pierce(low)rare to Penetrate the Veil(High)Epic}
<{(0)}>
The tree is… massive. By my estimates… miles? Tens of miles? I’m not good at estimates. However, my nice new mutation, Black thread eyes (A) lets me see the lines of death, as well as mana. By lines of death, I’m not exactly sure what it means. A lot of people coming with us have many threads of death on them. I have very few, same with Phoebe and the others tier 3 and higher. The tree… it has a single line of death, splitting off to connect to every single person in the assault force. It also has mana. Though I am not as good at seeing mana as I am at seeing lines of death, since that isn’t what my mutation is focused on, I can see the tree damn well. Every leaf, every strip of bark, is made of mana. Or… sort of mana. There is something else to it. Something I don’t know. It seems to be eluding my senses.
“You’re stressing, aren’t you?” I turn my head to see Phoebe looking down at me from her seat. We sit in one of those planes I saw back at the city. Some sort of cloaking technology. I doubt it would work against the being we are apparently supposed to be facing. In fact, I doubt most of what we have will work. Luckily, we won't have to face them.
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‘Not exactly.’ I say, my tone betraying nothing. ‘Have the crystals been set up?’
“I don’t know.” She says, shrugging. “Nobody tells me anything.” I sigh.
‘Fair enough. I’ll ask someone. Wait here?’
“Not like I’ll go anywhere else.” She says, shrugging with a chuckle. I nod and stand, turning to make my way to the front of the plane. The plane is separated into 2 rooms. The cockpit where the pilot and copilot fly, and the back, where storage is held in some planes, and people are held in others. The inside of the planes are lines with gravity runes, allowing those inside to move freely as if on solid ground. Making my way to the cockpit, I knock on the door lightly.
“Come in.” The voice that comes out is female, and recognizable. I open the door and lean in. 2 people I know sit in the cockpit. Trista and Jace. Trista is as calm as ever, flipping through… something. Some sort of holographic papers that constantly shift, the information changing and updating by the second. Jace is grinning as we hover just above the treeline, moving at a slow pace considering how fast this thing can move.
‘Hey Jace, how’s piloting going?’ I ask, offering a small smile. He can’t see it due to the black mask with red lines over my face, but I think he gets the message.
“Better than ever!” He says, leaning against the window. “I can fly planes! It’s awesome!”
‘Don’t you have air magic based flight?’ I ask.
“This is cooler.” He says immediately. I stare for a second, the shrug. Difference in perspective, I suppose. I turn to Trista.
‘The crystals?’
“All in place. Just need to be activated.”
‘Why haven’t we then?’
“Not everyone is in place. Once they activate, we will have a small window of time. Once everyone is in position, we all attack at once. We have one chance to succeed. If we do, we claim not only this territory and its vast resources, but we also gain the experience points and Karma that come from killing a primordial god.”
<{(0)}>
“We need to get back.” I say, standing off the throne. All around, the darkness melts away. Everyone is frozen in place. Not, like, frozen in time. Just in shock. I ignore it for the moment.
“Aftermath, there’s an invasion at the tree already! We need to get back!” I snap my fingers in front of his face, which seems to shake him out of his daze.
“It’s… been so long since I saw him…” He says, his voice wavering. He just stares at nothing for a while, his jaw working silently before blinking a few times. He grunts.
“Let’s go. Anyone here have a strong portal power?” A few gods raise their hands. I look from person to person.
“Who’s coming with us?” I ask. There’s a moment of silence. Then…
<{(0)}>
43 god’s exit through a portal into a large park to find a few immediate concerns. The first is that people everywhere are dying. Corpses litter the paths, the roads, the buildings, everywhere. Above, humans, elves, dwarves, pixies, dragons, all fight humans and mechanical constructs of various shapes and sizes. I watch as Miria smashes through a pegasus of steel and mana with a green and golden mana wreathed fist, her face obscured by a white cloak of the church of life.
As the gods move to fight back, the second concern makes itself known.
“My powers are weakened!” A goddess says, her voice lacking the resonant quality of divinity it should carry.
“Abhor.” Apash says, coming to stand beside me. “Out powers seem restricted to an extent. We won’t be able to protect everyone.”
“We need you and your brother to protect the citizens.” Aftermath agrees, his battle axe appearing in his hand. He raises it up, and it bursts into divine light.
“How do your powers work?” A Pyronite aligned god asks.
“I’m only partially a god due to… the fight.” He says. “Seems those not fully divine can still use divine powers. That is something we can abuse.” He turns back to the god who teleported us here, a woman with pale skin, pink and blue hair, and heterochromatic blue and pink eyes that seem to be off slightly, like they’re overlapped with multiple different colors of eyes. “Can you use portals?” Aftermath asks her.
“No.” She says, shaking her head. “My connection to the aether seems to be unable to solidify. Whatever these invaders did, they’re good.” I don’t here the rest of it as I turn and run, darkness beginning to form around myself.
“May the world turn black.”
And the world responded.
<{(0)}>
Another construct falls to the ground, shattered to icy pieces, though I don’t see it hit the ground. I’ve already moved on, blasting another group of constructs with my breath as I shoot through the air. I can’t be everywhere at once, I know that. But I can damn well try. The invasion wasn’t unexpected, no, but it came out of nowhere nonetheless. Nobody spotted them until this strange barrier was already in place. From what I’ve gathered it does 3 things. Firstly, it stops teleportation out of the city. Not in, not around, only out. Secondly, it suppresses the full powers of gods massively, lowering them to approximately the middle end of Tier 4. Thirdly, it negatively affects most of the defensive wards and tools of the tree. It doesn’t stop it. No, I doubt they have anything that can do all those things AND suppress the powers of the city fully. The tree is fighting back, and it isn’t going down easy. Leaves the size of skyscrapers separate from their branches and shoot down, wreathed in magic, to slam into invading constructs. Insects of all types, formed of destructive mana, explode out of every inch of plantlife in order to latch onto constructs. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t attack any invading humans unless they are wearing some sort of obvious technology of Camica, or are inside a MECHA or a plane. The planes are interesting. Not because they’re new to me. No, I’ve seen some flying through the city. These are interesting because they are an old model. One without much magic in it beyond comfort magic. The rest of it is all designed by regular tech, not magitech.
My thoughts are interrupted by a ball of shadow half a kilometer in diameter approaching. I frown, then squint.
“Abhor?” I call out. The darkness opens to reveal a boy with a 3 pronged trident, its 2 separated prongs spinning around it at high speeds, wreathed in mana.
“I need you to- oh, you’re already helping people. Uh… just keep doing what you’re doing! You’re doing great!” The ball of darkness consumes the boy again, and he shoots away into the thick of it. Might as well lead by example.
“Let the world freeze.”
And the world responded.
Name:Snowstorm
Level:50/150
Age:16
Titles:Frostbreaker, knowledgeer, study master, FREEZE, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify, magic prodigy
Strength:150
Durability:150
Speed:150
Stamina:150
Intelligence:172.5
Essence:1,009
Class:Frostbane boxer(Epic)
Soul weapon:Frostbane gauntlets
Species:Frostwing demi-wyvern
Skills: Heat vision(low)Uncommon, Greater enhanced intelligence(medium)Rare, Enhanced knowledge intake(medium)Uncommon, cold resistance(high)Rare, photographic memory(Medium)Rare, swimming(low)Common, split thought(Low)Rare, body temperature reduction(Medium)Uncommon, ice mana manipulation(medium)Rare, Mind magic affinity(Medium)Uncommon, heat shift foundation(Low)Uncommon
Techniques:Swimming(D), Mana manipulation(C), Mind mana manipulation(D), Ice mana manipulation(C), Mana claws(C), Ice spear(C), Iceout(D), Icicle hail(D), Mind bridge(D), Ice mana barrier(C), Heat shift(D), Mana bolt(D), Mana sense(D), Mind mana manipulation(D), Illusion mana manipulation(E)
Mutations: Knowledge intake stomach(B), Multi-Mind system(A)
Spells: Freeze water(Lesser), Frostfield(Lesser), coldsnap(Lesser), amnesia(Lesser), Frost spikes(Lesser)
...
Name:Pyro Akabis
Level:50/150
Age:16
Titles:Cold-blooded, Enigma, Broken, DEATH, Other-worlder
Soul weapon: Six fingers of Infinity
Strength:172.5
Durability:150
Speed:150
Stamina:150
Intelligence:150
Essence: 42012
Class:Reaper of Creation
Species:BlightBane Demidragon[2/5]
Skills: Greater Enhanced Strength(Medium)Rare, Mind mana Manipulation(Medium)Rare, Death mana bolt(Medium)Rare, Sickle swap(Medium)Rare, Reaper’s boost(High)Epic, Demishift(low)Rare
Techniques: Creation mana manipulation(E), Mind mana manipulation(D), Sicklemancer arts(C), Death mana manipulation(D), Creation mana construct(D),
Mutations: blood of the fallen(B), Heart of Creation(B)
