Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 71: Pioneer

Uriel didn’t know what to expect.

When he’d resonated with Ayah, he hadn’t been expecting anything either, yet had still ended up surprised, discovering in the process what he now called the heart realm.

He assumed everyone had one, and that he was perhaps the only one able to access it.

But with an egg, an embryonic soup of potential... he didn’t know.

WHOOOOSH!

The random egg he’d chosen was called the Blazing Dire Dove, a strange hybrid between a dove and a lizard—its body that of a scaled reptilian, covered in dark red feathers, five large wings tearing out of its back, and a singular eye laying in the center of its dove head.

It was known for its incredible speed, its ridiculous ability to regenerate, but most importantly, for its ability to turn into a being of pure elemental fire force, able to extend this state to the ambient aether and summon storms of fire.

Amongst the awakened, it was quite the popular beast, usually chosen for evolutions due to its healing, but also its fire affinity. Many had it as well, and the ability to turn aether into fire on instinct was more than appealing.

Usually, it was the size of a large eagle, and at most would be five meters long, a true behemoth at its physical prime.

What Uriel met was... not that.

BANG!

He blinked, and he found himself in the embryonic creature’s heart realm, but this time it wasn’t a sea of colours and shapes.

Red.

It was only fire.

And it hurt.

"Argh!" He let out a scream as his figure of white light immediately bore the brunt of the heat, feeling as if his very soul were burning to ashes.

Uriel instinctively pulled on his Natal Aether, and to his relief it surged from his spectral body of light, a mantle of ivory and crimson rapidly and tightly wrapping around him, shielding him from the scorching heat.

He exhaled.

’My god.’ He couldn’t even begin to describe what it felt like to have his mind burning, but he sure did feel it. ’I definitely should’ve chosen a peaceful creature for this.’

He grimaced, but didn’t waste time. He could already feel his aether pool drying by the second.

He looked past the expanse of flames and infernal red surrounding him, focusing, his spark blooming as he gazed past its heart and dove deeper.

Because the egg was nothing more than an embryo, it was shockingly easy, and in mere moments he found himself in a void of absolute darkness, the infernal landscape looming overhead.

There, just before him, a small flame, a crimson flame, burned gently, indifferent to the void.

The creature’s Spark.

Uriel grinned. ’That confirms my thought... that all things have a spark. All living things, at least.’

Though it was much smaller than Ayah’s, it was still just as mystical and incomprehensible.

’Now comes the hard part.’

Uriel reached out towards the spark, slowly, and instantly, despite his mantle of natal aether, he felt the burn, deep and violent, consuming him whole.

He screamed, unable to resist for a moment, but he pressed on nonetheless.

This didn’t feel like when he’d been burned in the past. It felt like something deeper, like the very essence of who he was was burning, like he was being erased.

It was the same feeling he’d had when he died in the simulation.

Only much, much worse.

It also burned.

KAH!

The spark, to his shock, rippled and seemed to notice his presence, as if it were conscious and alive. It rippled again, and a torrential wave of heat surged, drying his core of all aether in an instant.

The pain was so abrupt his mind blanked for dozens of moments.

The Spark, though, began to grow, becoming larger and larger until it seemed like a gigantic star had formed in front of him, rendering him as insignificant as a grain of sand before the cosmos.

From the star, seas of fire emerged, consuming his spectral figure. He screamed so loudly his voice tore to nothing, and because the damage seemed to be spiritual, the pain didn’t end, nor did he adapt, no nerves being present to adjust or even fry to free him.

Uriel felt his Spark ripple in indignation, and clarity returned to his mind, the pain subsiding if only slightly, just enough to allow him to operate.

He clenched his jaw, hard, his hand still reaching out towards the spark, which had evolved to become a star by now.

All he could see was a wall of cosmic white, hot and final.

He didn’t have any more aether, but he had one thing left.

His mind.

In a desperate attempt, Uriel did something foolish, and as if he were forming a magic circle, he forcefully resonated his mind with... the egg’s spark.

But he didn’t simply resonate.

He resonated with the Spark to the deepest level, then, using his own spark, he imposed his emotions upon the link between them—he imposed himself.

He achieved Resonant Dominance.

...

In Ayah’s living room, things were absolutely and utterly silent.

Uriel was unmoving. The egg was intact, and both Enoch and Ayah were on edge, ready to burst and act at any moment. Their natal aether cycled so fast it left the room engulfed by a heavy wave of pressure.

Yet even they were too late to react to what happened next.

Uriel’s body caught on fire.

The flames were intense in a way they’d never thought possible, burning not their flesh but their very aether and the fabric of all that was around them.

In a blink, they both found their cores empty and dry.

Yet before they could move and try to save Uriel, they felt all aether and flames consuming the room freeze, a towering aura surging from him, locking everything in place.

All aether around forcefully resonated with Uriel, then was pressed and forced into obedience, one rooted in their roots and cores.

Uriel opened his eyes.