Chapter 6 Chapter 6 - Primal Spirits (1/2)
CHAPTER 6
PRIMAL SPIRITS
Lino trembled for a moment as he jolted his eyes open. As his vision recovered from a brief blur, he saw that he was in a completely unknown and unfamiliar environment. Rather, it would be better to say that he found himself at a form of a crossroads of worlds. His jaw slackened for a moment as he stared around, in complete disbelief as to what he was seeing.
Currently, he was surrounded by four spectacular sights that couldn't be more different. In front of him, toward the north, was a world of fire, with hilltops rolling up in the skyless world, magma flowing through them. There were all sorts of flames, of all shapes and sizes and colors, numbering in hundreds of thousands. To his left, toward west, was an ocean of crystalline clear water, stretching underneath a clear sky as far as the eye can see. His eyes were easily able to penetrate through the surface of the ocean, and he saw numerous living organisms living in the depths, occasionally glancing at him for a moment before completely ignoring him. Behind him, toward south, was a single, massive mountain akin to which Lino never even dreamed existed. The mountain was barren of life and any form of green, its surface entirely composed of brownish earth, elongated up beyond the sky, far surpassing the point his eyes could measure. And, finally, toward his right and east, was an open field of green, encompassed by forests of massive trees constantly swayed by the eternal wind.
Lino was sitting on a small patch of land at the very center of all four worlds, and even though he was able to see them, he wasn't able to enter any of the worlds. He felt that there was a barrier bordering him off, similarly stretching in-between each of the worlds, gating them into separate entities. It took him about ten minutes to fully calm down and close his eyes in brief contemplation. A mere moment later, his eyes flashed with a glint of understanding as he suddenly looked up. At the very beginnings of the worlds, plastered against the barrier, were four marks. Toward the north, where fire eternally burned, was a seven-tailed flame, encompassed of seven natural colors. It didn't seem to burn but appeared to be frozen in time. Toward his left, where ocean stretched beyond reaches was a singular, round, azure-dyed pearl, barely thumb-sized. Behind him, where mountain rolled above the sky, was a gigantic, five-meter-tall totem with strange, runic carvings throughout its surface. And, finally, toward his right and east was a single, golden feather that kept hovering up and down, fixed in that pattern.
”… the Writ said that I'll be able to choose four Primal Spirits,” Lino mumbled to himself. ”Fire, Water, Earth and Wind… is this it? To hell with that!!” he suddenly roared. ”Where the hell am I?!! How the hell can there be four worlds completely contradicting each other just existing like this?!”
After he cursed his bad luck for a while, he finally calmed down and took a deep breath. Somehow, he knew that he didn't really go anywhere – he was still in his room, probably passed out. So, this was either an illusion or astral projection of sorts. Whatever the case was, Lino knew that the only way to leave this place was to choose four Primal Spirits.
”Okay… I figured that out,” he said, looking around. ”So… how do I choose them? Should I just randomly point at something and say 'you'…?”
However, before he even had a chance to attempt testing his theory, the four world buzzed as the translucent barriers gating him off retained some color. A mere moment later, he saw three, palm-sized beasts appear at each of the worlds. Astonished, his jaw slacked again, but he quickly pulled it back up from fear of having it disfigured for the rest of days.
”What the hell…” he mumbled, scrutinizing the twelve beasts. Suddenly, a flood of information surged within his mind, large enough to cause him a massive headache. He cried out in pain as he began slowly processing everything; in reality, as he slowly figured everything out, there wasn't much information. Rather, there was barely any causing him to curse yet again. ”Am I really that much of a retard that I get a headache from few sentences? Pu, Lino! Straighten out, you bastard!”
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment and began examining the new information he attained. Everything was in relation to twelve beasts; he learned their names, and their most basic usage. He also learned that each time he broke through a new realm, he'll be summoned here to choose four Primal Spirits, except each time the grade would be higher, and that there was also a chance of obtaining Spirits of other elements. It also mentioned that there are other ways to be summoned to obtain the Primal Spirits, but there was no mention of the ways themselves.
From what Ella told him, all Primal Spirits – similarly to martial arts and cultivation methods – were divided into Mortal, Mystic, Ethereal and Divine categories, further segregated into low, high and supreme ranks. Surprisingly, all twelve Primal Spirits were actually Supreme Mortal rank. Discarding the information about the future, he focused onto examining the properties of twelve beasts.
In reality, within each major category of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, all three beasts had similar properties with some basic differences. Ella was mostly right; every single Spirit would enhance his body in some way. However, he had absolutely no clue as to how much, so he could only blindly guess. After about half an hour of pondering, he finally chose the four he deemed to be most suitable for him. His chosen Primal Spirit of Fire was a wisp of sorts, with three threads lingering about a small, almost invisible flame. Although it appeared insignificant, Lino was able to sense faint pressure coming deep within and even a spark of intelligence. As for the Primal Spirit of Water, it was a slanted, crescent-shaped blade that was no larger than a thumb. It was dim blue in color and had somewhat ragged edges, yet it exuded an ancient aura no less impressive than that of the Primal Spirit of Fire.
The Primal Spirit of Earth he chose was a seemingly ordinary pebble, entirely shrouded in uneven edges, dark brown in color. It kept on rotating slowly, causing space around it to distort as if it was terrified of approaching it directly. As for the Primal Spirit of Wind, it was a translucent blob of sorts, completely weightless and colorless. It appeared to be floating in the air, hovering up and down, without releasing even a bit of aura. It seemed the least impressive on the surface, but Lino chose it nonetheless because of the benefits it provided.
[Primal Spirit of Fire – Ra – gain Tri-Spirit Flame – Level 30 Great Boundary Flame]
[Primal Spirit of Water – Ye – muscles become more flexible. Centered attacks ripple throughout instead, spreading out damage]
[Primal Spirit of Earth – Gu – impervious to ordinary strikes. Any earth-related defensive martial art has doubled effect]
[Primal Spirit of Wind – Li – running in a straight line increases speed in increments. Maximum speed is increased by levels]
Relatively satisfied, he randomly poked at the four Spirits, figuring that was the way. The four chosen Spirits suddenly shuddered and turned into blaze of lights, each of which sped in-between Lino's brows before he even had a chance to react. Suddenly, four roars bellowed out from the depths of the four worlds, causing his blood to freeze and mind to momentarily become numb. The roars carried with them aura far surpassing the vestige of time, as though they came before all else. Suddenly, four roars congealed into a singular voice which spoke in a voice that cannot be described with words.
”Empyrean Writ is Declared! Four Races Kneel! Eight Immortals Worship! Twelve Gods Follow! Eighteen Domains Fall!”
**
In a place far, far away, beyond the boundaries of the world Lino lived in, within the void of the infinite space, a singular mountain stood like a sword. It was entirely black and reeked of death, and one would be able to see occasional flash of silver. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that flashes were clear bones; some were human-sized, and some were as large as a trunk of a massive oak. Deep within a mountain, in a large cave, a throne of bones and swords stood erected atop the platform. The throne itself was nearly fifty meters wide and two hundred meters tall, and was symmetrical in design, while constantly exuding strange aura of death. Atop the throne itself, coated in black mist, sat a massive humanoid figure. Its skin was entirely charcoal black, and its eyes suddenly opened; they were crimson red like blood, and seemingly immeasurable. The figure looked up toward the sky and suddenly sighed.
”Empyrean Writ descended…” the figure mumbled somberly. ”Hmm… no Bearer of it appeared since the Titan Era… ah, I'm tired. Better go back to sleep.”
The figure slowly closed its eyes and returned back to slumber, as though nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
**
At the same time, within a valley deeper than the world's core, surrounded entirely with crystalline glaciers, a human woman sat cross-legged. Her hair was entirely white and her skin paler than the snow surrounding her. In-between her azure eyes was a brilliant gem, shimmering in faint cyan. She wore simple, white gown, and appeared ethereal, far beyond what a mortal could be. Her body suddenly shook as a trail of crimson dripped down the side of her lips. Frowning, she looked up toward the sky.