Chapter 115: A Grand & Intoxicating Innocence pt. 1

The world quaked, foundational tenets of existence shivering. Kaius felt something deep and central to his being fall silent. For the first time in his life he couldn’t feel the omnipresent connection to the system, revealed to him only by its absence.

He gasped, heart skipping a beat as adrenaline dumped into him. He had no idea what was happening, but if it was enough to break his connection to the system it was bad. Locking eyes with Porkchop, he found the panicked confusion he felt thrumming inside of himself resonating through their bond. His bond-brother had been cut off as well.

“What is-” He started to ask.

Then he slid up-sideways-through the world, distance and space weaving itself into incomprehensible knots as an invisible claw of ancient power settled over him, yanking him away from the site of his victory.

A single moment, stretched into an unbroken loop. An eternity of being everywhere and nowhere.

Eyes wide, True Sight revealed impossible secrets to him. Revealing more than his mortal mind could fathom. The way it all fit together, the mutable fragility of the world. Warmth fell from his eyes, a searing fire covering the orbs. It was too much. He couldn’t even scream.

…

Kaius snapped back.

He was kneeling on nothing. His heart lurched at the yearning blackness, all of his senses rebelling at the impossibility before him. True Sight told him it was real.

Porkchop was next to him. He could feel it. Feel the same panicked confusion welling up within his brother. He wanted to twist his head, to look and ask if he was okay. He couldn’t. An overwhelming presence suffocated him, weighing on every hairsbreadth of his body, heavier than a mountain. It held him still, scrutinised him. Screamed his insignificance.

A blinding radiance encompassed all, searing out his vision as pure unadulterated power battered him. He didn’t know what the energy was, for it wasn’t mana. Too refined by half, too flavoured by some imperceptible note. Like an affinity, but different.

“Whoops! Sorry about that. It’s been aeons since I’ve had company, let alone the mortal kind.” A voice boomed. Kaius knew that all the presence would need to do was wish them gone, and they would be obliterated.

There was a fingersnap, louder than a landslide.

The light vanished, and stone materialised beneath his knees. Smoothly carved blocks, each perfectly even and square, formed a masonry floor. The pressure vanished. Kaius moved as quickly as he could, pressing his forehead to the ground in total prostration. He felt Porkchop do the same. What hope did they have in the face of divine might? What else could one do in the presence of a god?

“Oh, stop that!” The voice said, quaking his very soul with the depth of its gravelly timbre. “I won’t have worship from honoured guests, and I am nothing so base as a half-sentient impression on a manafield,” the voice said, correcting Kaius’s unspoken assumption.

His heart fluttered. It could read his mind. Of course it could. But if it was not a god, then what, and what did it want with them?

“An ascendant. If you come sit I might tell you what that means.” The being explained congenially.

“Let’s do what the mysterious entity says, Kaius.” Porkchop’s voice flowed over their bond, resolute despite the undertone of panic.

Kaius took a shuddering breath, before he mustered his will and raised his head. He was in a room, simple and bare. In front of him were two chairs and a daybed centred around a roaring hearth. There was no door, and no windows.

The daybed and one of the chairs faced the remaining seat. On it, a figure lounged. Kaius stared at them with open shock and fascination. They were… impossible. Hyper-real, with tightly controlled power shimmering around them.

Skin like milk, flawless and painted on striated muscle. A man’s face, but cut from savage angles and hard features that looked like they could shear through steel with but a glance. A robe of purest white was draped over it, flowing over its form with such liquid ease that no feature was obscured from sight. The being was casual and relaxed, one leg crossed as it watched him with clear amusement. Three heads taller than him, the being dwarfed him at what must have been nearing eight-and-a-half strides tall.

What else could it be but a god.

“Please, come sit. You might find an answer to your question,” the being said, his voice rattling the very foundations of his soul. There was no malice in it, just the simple truth of power.

Kaius took a deep breath. He could do this, they could do this. Even if it wasn’t a god, the being may as well have been. Yet, it was friendly enough to make their environment hospitable. Glancing over at Porkchop, he leant hard on their bond, drawing stoic courage from their connection.

They could do this. They’d just slain a Guardian for gods’ sake, he wouldn’t shy away from a simple conversation. Even if just to find out why they were here.

He rose to his feet, Porkchop doing the same.

The being clapped. With every slap of palm and palm, a crack that threatened to sunder worlds echoed out. “That’s what I like to see! There’s some of that iron!” he said.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.