CHAPTER 523

  SANCTUM'S END (X)

  Eldon sat against the side of the carbon-alloyed ship, praying . Though he didn't believe in a god —— or, rather, the entire concept of religion had been missing from Adur for quite some time —— he had no other avenues of settling down . They were about to take a flight to the sky . Would they live? Die? He didn't know . Chances are that they would die, struck down by those horrible beams of light .

  Alana lied on his lap, fast asleep, too exhausted to continue . He patched his wounds haphazardly, but couldn't focus on the pain . It was too much . Unlike the rich, he had ordinary genes, meaning that he couldn't live that long . He was already in the twilight of his life, inching toward the last third of it . The wear and tear of endless labor had deteriorated his body, with today's events being the nail in the coffin, it seemed . ——

  Weakness——Is——Not——Yours

  He was hearing things, at last . He snorted bitterly at himself, closing his eyes . He was tired . Too tired . Inside of him, the desire to slump over and fall asleep burned hot . But he couldn't . At the very least, he wanted to see how the story would unfold with his own eyes . If death must come, he wanted to at least stare at it .

  We——Will——Give——you——Strength

  There was a storm inside of him, a whirlwind of unstoppable emotions as his mind finally cracked, remembering . He had left her behind, lying asleep in the cold coffin of glass . Biyung . What whipped at him like the holy fire was that he didn't even think about going to save her . He had completely forgotten . His heart, already a furnace about to explode, bled . He loved her —— that was indisputable . Yet, he abandoned her . So quickly . So easily .

  It wasn't that long ago that she was his entire world . She pulled him up from the vapid holes of emptiness and showed him the light of the living . She was the one who gave him purpose, the one who gave him strength, the one who made him into the man he was today . Yet, he abandoned her —— so quickly . . . so easily .

  You——Can——Protect——Survive——EnlargeDid she wake up? Perhaps the system malfunctioned and she woke up . How would she feel? Stuck inside the cold, desolate, unknown place, calling out his name . . . just for him to never arrive . Calling out haplessly until death descended upon her fragile body and mind .

  How terrible was he? Terrible . Too terrible . Despite the fact that he tried to patch his mind by repeating that he saved Alana and couldn't help Biyung, it was pointless . Guilt rode him like a wave, bashing against his walls like the ocean against the high cliffs . Each breath was difficult, even agonizing .

  Nothing——Is——Out——Of——Reach

  The voice wouldn't shut up, but he was in too much distress to care .

  They rose up slowly . Their flight had begun —— a flight that would determine whether they lived or died . But . . . what if they lived? Where would they go? They'd be stranded in open space with limited supplies and no cryo chambers . They'd drift and drift, and they'd still die . Perhaps, in a way, it would have been better if they died on the surface, with the rest .

  Death——Is——Not——Inevitable

  The ship shook due to the resounding shockwave that swept over them . There were no windows inside the wide, living chambers —— just thick, gray-black walls and flickering lights of the elongated bulbs . The patterns were the same, dull, even, repeating .

  It shook again . And again . The feeling was terrible, as each time he could feel the shake, his heart would freeze for a moment with worry . He somehow moved his lethargic arms over to Alana and tried to stabilize her as much as possible .

  Destroy——NO-CREATE——Destroy

  His mind was an unwinding mess, his body a shell that wouldn't listen . He could feel his eyes closing, his mind sinking . And sinking . And sinking .

  The birds chirped, the lonely sound of the flute adjoined, the hazy wind billowing the thin, naked branches . The vast meadow spread, isolated from the carcass that was the cityscape . The mountains . Ah, the mountains —— some drowned in green shrubbery and trees, and some naked to the earthly bone . They were beautiful . Everything was beautiful . Breathtaking . Like a song .

  Annihilate——PROTECT——Obliterate——DIFFUSE

  The tall grass of green and yellow swayed, droplets of the early-rise dew shining on the surfaces of the stalks . They swayed in unison, creating a beautiful scene that could not be replicated elsewhere . All around him, all he saw was . . . beauty . The sort of beauty that was transcendent . The likes of which no artificial hand could make . Something that grew of itself, becoming what it is now . Inspiring . Alluring . Inviting .

  Dissever——GUARD——Consume——ASSIST

  He walked, yet he didn't . No, he swam —— like a butterfly led by the wind, he swam through the grass, letting it cradle him . Warm . So warm . His wounds eased . His mind settled . His heart calmed . All around he saw peace, unity, beauty transcendent of reality . Here . Yes . Here . This was where he belonged . This was the place that needed to be his reality .

  Chaos——CHAOS——Chaos——Chaos——INVItes——YOu——

  Something surged from within him, a black mist of sorts, soundless, wordless, colorless . Flickers danced inside it as it rose from his slumped, tired body, spreading out .

  The world of the swaying grass and the rising mountains shook, startling him . The clear blue sky dimmed, the ashen clouds turning black and devouring it . Bolts pelted like rain, destroying the mountains . Burning the grass . He wanted to scream in defiance, yet he couldn't . He had no strength . He was powerless here, just as he was powerless there . Strength . Yes . It was clear to him . Everything was determined through strength .

  CHAOS——Chaos——Chaos——Chaos——Primal

  "I——I——"

  The black mist encompassed the ship whole . The beam of the light headed over like a judgment of death itself, ready to devour it . Everyone made their peace with it, closing their eyes . They would die, dispelled from the world for all eternity . Then, a miracle . The beam descended, but it didn't destroy . It was consumed . The ship was fine, continuing its flight . It was perfect .

  "Strength . . . "

  Chaos——CH——Chaos——C——Chaos——Helps

  "Help me . . . "

  It——Is——Willed

  "Help me . . . "

  The black mist streamed urgently, flowing like a rapid into Eldon's mind . Something inside snapped, the grassed meadow splitting in half like a porcelain bowl, shards scattering in the ever-violent wind . He found himself inside the open void, inside the terrible darkness that he could not reconcile .

  There, juxtaposed between nothing and everything, a single structure arose . No, it wasn't a structure . Yet it wasn't living either . It was there yet not . Shaped strangely, yet straightforwardly . Eldon couldn't understand . Couldn't comprehend .

  Hear——Our——Voice

  He heard it, the whispers that trickled through his mind . The darkness before him cleared, and he could finally see . He could see with such clarity that he was stunned . He felt boundless strength, power akin to what he never felt before .

  Become the Champion . The Writ . Create Chaos . Consolidate it . Warp it . Unify it . Expel it . Use it to rebuild the Edifice . To restore the order to the Universes . Rebuild the Destroyer, so it may contend against the Creator .

  Eldon shuddered as his vision expanded; it felt as though his spirit left his body, streaming through the vast sky of Adur and into the open Cosmos . His eyes gleamed sideways themselves, beyond the vast nothingness of the void, onto a tiny, almost invisible speck . It rained fire, acid, and molten rock . It was horrible . But, it was to be his home . No, their home . He was not alone . He could not do it alone .

  Yet, soon after, the regret inside of him swelled . Biyung . Despite all this, she was gone . Desolation and coldness returned, corrupting his mind once more .

  We——Shall——Restore; Though——Not-Whole; She——Lives

  A tiny speck appeared before his eyes, the size of his fingernail . A bubbly sphere of white surrounded a beautiful, black-haired woman cradled in a fetal position . A screen suddenly fluttered in front of his eyes, startling him . It was similar to those from Adur, which made it easy to navigate .

  [Biyung's Soul —— Cosmic Mythical]

  Level: ??

  An incomplete Soul, restored by temporarily reversing the tendrils of time and death that had consumed her . Currently in slumber . Needs to be fed in order to be fully restored . A chance of failure still exists .

  0/1,000,000

  Note: We——Are——Chaos——Before——Destroyers

  Eldon stared numbly at the screen and then back at the tiny speck floating above his palm . That . . . is Biyung? He shuddered, tears of joy streaming through his eyes . There was a chance . That was all that mattered to him . There was a chance he would see her brilliant smile once more . There was a chance he would hold her once again . There was a chance they would be a family again .

  He didn't know why it happened . Why he was chosen . He didn't understand anything of what had just transpired . But, he didn't care . Alana was safe . Biyung could be helped . There was hope, hope for the future that they could not have had on Adur . And, inside, he swore to himself, he would make that future a reality —— even if he had to down his soul in endless sin .