Chapter 747: Dissenting Views (1/2)
Zac felt like he was tearing through the veil of the heavens as he pushed through the haze, embraced by life and death as they had joined each other into a nebulous soup. Of course, Zac believed something even greater was brewing in the depths of the valley, and [Love’s Bond] was already stirring in anticipation. The chains gingerly stroked the runes in the tunnel, and the Dao clouds shuddered in turn as the two resonated.
Each physical step also felt like a metaphorical step down his path, and Zac's original purpose of entering this place was starting to become muddled as he approached the mouth of the tunnel. A small part of his reason for coming here was to foil whatever designs Va Tapek had for this realm, but it seemed so insignificant now. The same was true for the Eveningtide Asura. What were they in front of the Grand Dao?
The murmurs of the most post profound truths of the Twilight Ocean whispered into Zac's ear as he approached the light, but even he hadn't expected what waited for him at the other side. What was this?
It felt like he had somehow been transported to the depths of the cosmos, to the origin of the universe where all matter and truth was reduced to a primordial farrago. Base concepts that tethered him to the mundane realities of existence held no sway in the storm he found himself in, and he felt himself becoming a stain that blemished a perfect tapestry.
The tunnel was gone, the Twilight Ocean and the surface were gone. All that remained was the Dao and the runes that spun all around him in a dance that codified reality. Life wasn't life. Death wasn't death. Truth was malleable, and it changed as the runes swirled around him, forming a river that was everchanging, yet always the same.
Of course, there was also the throne. Standing in the middle of the chaos was a point of order, and on its pedestal, the seed was still beating, each thump deepening the waters of the river around him. The egg was barely recognizable any longer, as it had somehow transformed from something physical into a concept.
Millions upon millions of runes formed a tapestry that while no larger than an ostrich egg, contained a whole universe. It had drawn upon the essence of the Twilight Ocean and distilled it into something greater, something higher. Was this true Dao? Looking at his own avatars, Zac felt like a caveman producing a fledgling fire while looking up at the stars, not able to grasp the vast chasm between the two.
It terrified Zac, and it enthralled him.
Thump.
Zac was now closer, standing at the foot of majesty, his soul weeping with inadequacy. Had he walked the distance, or was he simply moved here because this was his destined terminus? He felt his sanity fraying, but there was a small core that tethered him to the mortal world, and that frayed lifeline was screaming at him to take that thing and get out.
Thump.
He stood on the altar, his skin slowly transforming to conform to the higher truth of this valley. It was slowly gaining a greenish tint, and indistinct runes flickered before once more disappearing. They were of no script Zac could recognize, but they roared like crashing waves of Twilight. This was not a matter of being overrun by a deluge of sludge, it was losing one’s fundamental essence in front of a deeper gospel.
The fundamental core of Zac's being was being supplanted, but he barely registered it as his gaze was locked on something marvelous. The egg was not the only thing on the altar. There was something else, something perhaps even more precious than the insight locked in the avatar of Twilight itself.
It was a bead of distilled light hovering right above the egg, but its true appearance was blocked out by four layers of shockingly complex runes. Each beat of the egg released a crashing tsunami of Twilight, but only the most perfected pieces of the tapestry were allowed to enter the arrays enclosing the light.
Zac didn't know why, but it felt like that thing was unsullied by nature, and arrays were the only thing protecting it from being indelibly stained. However, the sanctuary the arrays were providing was slowly being corroded by design, and he knew that this pure light would eventually be swallowed by the river that coursed through this valley. The river of Twilight.
His mind was a chaotic struggle, ripped between the desire to protect and the desire to devour. His companion didn't have the same compunctions, and four chains shot forward, targeting the gestating truth of the ocean. A small mark of endless possibility cried in his mind in desire to fulfill its natal edict, to be consumed and in that way find new life.
But no matter what the Spirit Tool tried, it was unable to dislodge the egg. If anything, it had become a cemented part of the area. It had become the core of this universe, an eternal fixture that couldn’t simply be moved or taken away. Every moment Zac felt himself eroding, and he knew something had to change.
Suddenly, a mad idea took form as Zac looked down at the glowing avatar of Twilight. In its current state, it was unapproachable, an extension of the ocean itself. Taking it was as impossible as stealing the whole Mystic Realm.
But what if it was no longer an avatar of Twilight, but an avatar of his own? The more he thought about it, the more it started to make sense. And as his idea sprouted, nurtured by greed and his path, so did the swirling clouds around him lose their luster, the runes no longer mesmerizing in their profundity.
”It's wrong,” Zac muttered, his abyssal eyes wide with mania as his silver hair danced in the wind. ”It's all wrong. Life is Life. Death is Death. Forever separate, always in conflict.”
Two storms of Dao and ancient madness surged out from his mind and into his shoulders. It was Life and Death, unsullied and eternal. Twilight was just a half-measure, a mockery of Chaos. It was a poison, and he was the cure.
Conviction had pushed him forward, but Zac was all-too-aware of the gravity of his action, of the risks. This was not the time or place to form the Glimpse of Chaos. He didn't have two intact remnants to provide the fuel for the fusion. What was left was his soul and his life-force, both of which would probably be drained beyond a breaking point to conjure that glimpse.
Zac desperately pushed the two forces apart before they had a chance to fuse in his chest, even if doing so felt like breaking his soul apart. He pushed and pushed, and two storms surged through his arms, pouring out into the radiant egg.
A clap of thunder shook the cosmos, and Zac was thrown dozens of meters away, his body racked with pain. The nebulous clouds churned and cried as he pushed through them in his desire to return, ignoring the mounting feeling of wrongness of the runes around him. The intricate patterns inside the seed of Twilight shuddered and fluctuated wildly, its millions of small runes slowly warping into something new.
And as the egg changed, so did the universe.
A cascading ripple spread through the valley, with the delicate system of Twilight unraveling as it was supplanted by something that resonated with Zac's soul. However, he immediately spotted a problem. While the original Tapestry around him had felt like a cop-out, a defeat in the face of the true peaks of the Grand Dao, it was complete, a self-sufficient system existing in harmony with itself and the universe.
Meanwhile, the chaotic storm he had introduced into the system was just that; a storm.
It was raw power that might hold the potential for a peak creation. But for now, it was incomplete, insignificant insights nibbling at the edges of the truth. Zac didn't exactly know what this place was designed to accomplish, but he knew that his own Dao was not up to the task. It would sooner or later break apart, even when powered by the distilled essence of the remnants.
Before that happened, he needed to make his move.
”Take it,” Zac said with grit teeth, and the chains once more stormed the egg with rapid ferocity, clawing at it with desperate hunger.
But yet, it was hopeless. It was still fixed in place, the core of this microcosm of Dao. Zac sensed a wave of disappointment, followed by the coffin lid slightly opening to start absorbing the dense clouds of Dao in the valley. It looked like Alea had given up, opting to make the best of a bad situation.
Zac shook his head with a sigh, and thoughts of escape started to take hold. However, he suddenly spotted something changing. The arrays protecting that pure beam of light were fast crackling, suddenly looking like brittle glass as they were imbued with the distilled inspiration wrought from Zac's path. They clearly weren't designed or able to hold the energy the egg was now releasing.