Chapter 1581 (2/2)

He pondered the significance of the Stillborn Phoenix and sharpened his images. Then, when his mind began to grow weary, he tested his physical body against the inevitable current of significance heading downward. He delighted in the powerful vibrations of his own heartbeat. Occasionally, he had to reset his grip on his emotional tether, but the speed at which he sank downward was acceptable. It would take a very long time for the man to even reach the antlered Nether Gatekeeper below him, let alone the Aether Refinery at the bottom of this place.

Still, slightly annoying that I’m falling more quickly than that fellow… The man reflected as he spared a glance for the Nether Gatekeeper below him. Hopefully, he isn’t the type to hold a grudge...

For the most part, this seamless existence of training was extremely satisfying. But occasionally, the man would be rocked by a sense of impending crisis. He would halt his activities and float for several seconds in the darkness, exploring his own soul in order to find out why he had such a terrible feeling in his chest.

Yet his soul was empty of anything but the sensations of the present, leaving the man bewildered at the source of this worry. His heart ached with a sense of loss that he didn’t truly understand. Sometimes tears formed in the corners of his eyes. At times like those, he wondered why he was down here, constantly training. Why did he need to struggle like this?

The ache in his chest grew stronger in those strained moments of empty reflection. The man felt like he was peering into the mirror, but he had no actual features the item could reflect back at him. The impression his empty soul left him with was somewhat chilling.

But those motivating flames also surged upward during those long moments. A resolute expression came across the man’s face. Even if the why of his current circumstances eluded him, he trusted those flames in his chest. And those flames told him that everything would be solved only as long as he continued to advance.

So the man trained and trained.

Part of that training was utilizing strange and mysterious abilities that were related to his images, yet somehow independent. The flames approved of this activity and the man found it relatively restive, so he engaged with those abilities from time to time as he gave his mind space to tinker with other pursuits.

In particular, the man was fascinated by a certain particular state he could achieve with those abilities, where he would touch upon the Fates of parallel versions of himself. Unfortunately, those alternate versions were just as foggy and adrift as the man was. But as they all worked together, they could maintain the connection in a much more intimate way.

Although the man was abandoned and compelled to train in this place of darkness, he was not alone in his struggles. That realization made him feel very warm and that warmth steadily began to change the shape of that ability.

Then there came a day where the man stopped his training for an entirely different reason. A scroll appeared in front of the man and steadily unrolled without him even touching the object. He examined the scroll with his senses and then followed his instincts to allow himself to merge with the scroll.

He knew this object. It was a Fatepiece.

The man found himself in a new place, where the ground was a swirling and murky grey that varied between storm clouds and gunmetal. Strange forces shifted beneath his feet. As the man lifted his Grim Intuition, a tower the color of a heavy sword pierced upward. The sky around the sword was a robin’s egg blue, but that tower continued upward until it reached an enormous, black moon that hung over this place.

The man stared at the tower for a long time. His senses went to the spot where the sword punctured the moon. Grey tentacles stretched from the sword, seeming seeking purchase on the moon, but with no success. Then he lowered his gaze as he detected that there was another figure in the vicinity.

The man looked at this stranger curiously. The person in front of him was extremely clear, as though drawn in an entirely different style than the rough and blended fabric around him. The man had short black hair and bright emerald eyes. Without a shirt, the lean and powerful muscle of his torso was revealed. There seemed to be shallow scars across almost all of him. The stranger’s left arm was made of black metal, but golden veins that pulsed intermittently with light ran through that dark material.

Strangely, the man’s feet were bare. His toes didn’t seem to mind the seething layers of grey beneath his feet.

Powerful, the man thought as he examined this unexpected presence.

As though sensing his thoughts, the emerald-eyed man grinned. But very quickly, the stranger’s face turned serious as he began to speak. “Well, I guess I should take that as a compliment. But we shouldn’t spend much time chatting. I believe your instincts should tell you why you came to this place…?”

The man considered that, once more examining his empty soul. Perhaps it wasn’t a mirror, but a well. And at the bottom...The man slowly nodded as he could see down to his goal. There must be a sacrifice to advance.

“Indeed,” The stranger said wryly. Then the man shook his head, as though amused by some secret joke. “Well, this is a bit larger than the previous sacrifices, but it will hopefully accelerate the process. Even I’m not sure how long we’ve been like this. So these-” The stranger gestured to the grey tower and the black moon above him, “-are what you will be sacrificing.”

The man tilted his and to the side, feeling very confused. Why would he need to give up these strange and foreign entities…? They were not his, to begin with.

The stranger rolled his eyes. “Trust me when I say that these things are a part of you, although it’s tough to sense it in your current condition. This grey tower… is something we have been building for a long time. It is… the Lord of the Baleful Wood, and all associated variations.”

The stranger’s finger went up to the black moon that loomed above both of them. “That… I suppose that is the bigger sacrifice. That is the Alpha Cosmos.”

Again, the man looked up without any recognition.

Sighing, the stranger shrugged. “Don’t think about it too deeply; the meaning is there, even if you cannot sense it. Oh, but there is one more thing… The Fatepiece is essentially in its most active state after this sacrifice and won’t deactivate until you accomplish your goal. So… good luck. Don’t you dare give up halfway.”