Oath of the Survivor

Kyle felt his heartbeat quicken, as he took in the familiarity of the space.  While he couldn’t place it before, there was no doubt in his mind now.  The space he’d been drifting with the world tree seed was the same type he found himself in now.  How are they connected?  His mind swam with questions, though he set them aside as he saw the perspective of his final opponent.

The Storm was angry.  It was always angry.  Kyle found himself in a world that was simply too giant.  He was dwarfed by everything around him, and he hated it.  Fortunately, he had the tools to survive.  Though he only had two at the time, his claws would make quick work of his enemies, smashing them to bits.  He deftly hid among the rocks and beneath the sand, hunting his prey and warding off challengers with his mighty punches.

Then, the world around him changed.  He felt energy infusing him like he never had before.  He hunted, and fought, and grew.  One day, he found himself cornered by a crab with strange powers.  It nearly killed him, manipulating the sand around him, yet at the last moment the desire to survive overcame everything else.  Sacrificing a claw and most of his legs, he managed to kill the crab, which left a floating red gem.

The Storm absorbed it, which gave it the ability to molt its shell and recover.  Once it had, its crusade began.  Every day was spent fighting and growing, until it finally broke the threshold into D Grade.  Hunting became even easier, though when he found his next gem, he learned he couldn’t absorb it.  The rage grew even more, as it knew it wouldn’t be able to hunt the others, not from where it lived.  Instead, it had to wait.  So it hunted, and trained, and developed, so that when the time came, he would be ready.

Kyle felt the time pass in a blur, until the day arrived.  Something fell from the sky into the Storm’s domain, and he could feel that a challenger had arrived.  Destroying the metallic orbs that fell, it surged towards the shore.  He saw himself through its vision, and replayed their fight, moment by moment.  At the end, Kyle felt the surging power he’d drawn in, felt the unnatural growth and toughness of the budding trees.  He felt the despair as he realized he wouldn’t be able to finish his opponent.  And he felt the hatred as he used his dying breath to spit in the face of the creature who killed him.

Kyle was rocked back at the intensity of the emotions as his perspective shifted back to his own.  As he calmed himself, he looked out at a tapestry laid out before him, all woven with him at the center.  He felt the overwhelming presence turn its attention to him.

WELL DONE, LITTLE LARVA.  I CONFESS, YOU EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS AGAIN.

“I want some answers, and I think I’ve earned them.”

YOU MAY ASK.  I WILL ANSWER IF I DEEM THE QUESTION WORTHY.

The questions in his head kept swimming, and he knew he wanted to learn more specifics about the cataclysm, about the nature of the presence, and the changes happening to him.  First though, he had something else he couldn’t hold back.

“What is this place?  No matter how injured I was, I got dragged here every time I absorbed one of the gems.”

He left out the part about the world tree seed, although he suspected that the presence was likely aware of it.  There was no sense in sharing things unnecessarily, after all.

IT IS BETWEEN.  NEITHER ROOTED IN THE PHYSICAL, NOR THE REALM BEYOND.  THIS PLACE IS THE BRIDGE.  IT IS MY HOME.

The implications of the statement were enormous.  To say nothing of the notion of multiple realms, the idea that both this being and the world tree seed could exist in a space like this mind-boggling.

“What do you mean when you say, ‘beyond?’  Are you talking about a real afterlife?”

I WILL ANSWER THE FIRST, THOUGH THE SECOND IS BEYOND ME, LITTLE LARVA.  THE REALM BEYOND IS THE SOURCE OF WHAT YOU CALL MANA.  IT CROSSES THIS SPACE, AND INFUSES YOUR WORLD.

Well, so much for getting answers to the meaning of life. Thanks to the creature’s response, Kyle was beginning to put some of the pieces together.  It made sense to him now why he couldn’t directly interact with the world tree seed, and why it didn’t show up on sensors despite being connected to Kyle’s mana.  He couldn’t say for sure, but he suspected that when C.H.A.D.D. talked about ‘archiving’ mana and information, this space – the Between – was likely involved, too.  Kyle decided to shift his line of questioning, hoping to add even more context.

“I know that you were somehow involved in the destruction of my planet.  If you live here, in the Between, how did you do it?  Did you somehow influence the mana infusing my planet from here?”

The presence responded, indignance clear in its tone.  I TOLD YOU ONCE BEFORE, I DID NOT ATTACK YOUR PLANET.  IF I HAD, IT WOULD BE LITTLE MORE THAN A SPECK OF DUST.

The world around Kyle seemed to swirl, and for a moment he thought he was going to be crushed by the presence.  Instead, a vision began to play before him, similar to the times when he’d defeated the D Grades. 

There was a crack, a tearing, and perspective shifted to a sight among the stars.  He picked up impressions of confusion, followed quickly by pain.  There were flashes of incredibly intense mana, skills on display at a level Kyle had never seen. 

He was under attack, ambushed.  He soared through the space, attempting to create a tunnel back to the Between, but it was no use.  Something had locked down the area.  Wounds accumulated on his body, though he ignored them.  He wanted to retaliate, to strike his attackers down, but something prevented him from doing so.  Kyle felt an ancient malice rising in his chest, though it was quickly suppressed, replaced with something akin to weary resignation. 

Finally, he made it out of the locked down zone.  A tunnel formed, and his gargantuan, serpentine body entered.  Pain flashed once again as a final series of attacks struck, and then he was safe.  The injuries began to recover immediately, and something like a window opened in the void, allowing the presence to peer through.  A strange ship harvested much of the carapace and shell that had been blown off in the assault, though it was gone before Kyle could make out the details.  He saw his blood, frozen in space, slowly get drawn towards a shining, blue planet, descending onto it like a swarm of meteors.

The vision ended, and Kyle was speechless.  His family, his grandfather, his entire planet – had been destroyed in cosmic collateral damage.  There was no ill-intent behind it at all, at least if the vision was true.  Which brought up the darker question.  Corthian Mining had called it a “riftwyrm attack.”  While Kyle was certain that the expedition members he’d met were orders of magnitude too weak to orchestrate something like this, somebody with a lot of influence was covering up the truth behind the destruction.

Kyle was silent a moment longer, processing all the new information.  Finally, in a quiet voice, he asked, “Who attacked you?”

I DO NOT KNOW.  MY BRETHEREN HAVE SPOKEN OF THESE ATTACKS BEFORE, THOUGH THIS WAS THE FIRST I HAD BEEN TARGETED.

“And the reason my planet’s mana changed so much…”

IT IS DUE TO THE LINGERING EFFECTS OF MY BLOOD.

Kyle’s head was swimming.  It was so much to take in, and though there was so much more he wanted to ask, he didn’t know what to say.  Eventually he settled on the simplest question he could think of.

“What comes next?  I’ve beaten all the D Grades, is this the last we’ll see of each other?”

He felt the presence shift, an impression of amusement rolling through him.

FOR A TIME.  YOU HAVE ABSORBED MUCH OF MY ESSENCE, LITTLE LARVA.  WE ARE LINKED.  GROW, CONSUME, AND LEARN.  IF YOU GAIN SUFFICIENT POWER, WE WILL MEET AGAIN.  OTHERWISE, YOU WILL BE FUEL FOR ANOTHER’S FLAME.  I WILL NOT INTERVENE, THOUGH I ADMIT OUR INTERACTIONS HAVE PROVEN… INTERESTING.  I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOUR ASCENSION.

With that, the presence vanished, and Kyle awoke.  The numbness from channeling the atmospheric mana was beginning to fade, instead replaced by searing pain as he regained sensation in his body. The sun, which had previously been directly overhead, was rising in the east again.  Was I really out for almost a day? 

As if reading his thoughts, C.H.A.D.D. spoke.  [DR. MAYHEW, THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE AWAKE.  IT WAS GETTING DREADFULLY BORING WAITING HERE.]

“Was I really out for almost a day?”

[EIGHTEEN HOURS, DR. MAYHEW.]

Not the worst it’s been, I suppose.  Gritting his teeth through the pain, Kyle sat up.  ADAPTIVE REGENERATION was still working to repair the damage, and that it had taken this long was a testament to how close he’d been to death. 

“Can you show me a scan of my body?  I’m trying to get an idea about what’s left in my recovery.”

The drone obliged, and soon Kyle was looking at a three-dimensional rendering of his body.  His ribs still had cracks in them, though they appeared to be mending well.  The holes that had been pierced into his shoulder and body were similarly healing.  What was most evident to him, however, was the strain on his mana pathways.  Drawing in and pushing the atmospheric mana had caused tremendous damage, and Kyle suspected that ADAPTIVE REGENERATION was only working at thirty percent efficiency as a result.  The burden he’d placed on his body was enormous, and he knew that would take time to heal as well.

“Has anybody from Corthian Mining come by?  We aren’t that far off from the old camp site.”

[NOBODY, DR. MAYHEW.  SCANS HAVEN’T INDICATED ANYBODY APPROACHING OR LEAVING THIS LOCATION.]

That was strange to Kyle, as the mining company was typically eager to peel away as many resources as they could after a D Grade was taken down.  There was something very suspicious going on.  Uncertain of what the angle was, he attempted to take a look at his gains from the encounter.  Unfortunately, between the pain and the revelations he’d gained in the vision, Kyle wasn’t in a place physically or mentally where he could enter meditation.  Instead, he spent the time focused on recovery, gathering fruits to eat, and bringing C.H.A.D.D. up to speed on what he’d learned. 

Finally, after nearly an entire day’s rest, he felt calm enough to meditate.  It was time for him to see exactly what he’d gained from defeating his final D Grade opponent on Earth.