Time Flies & The End, The Beginning

As Cyrus experimented more and more with his newfound prowess, time steadily and surely advanced… as much as it could in this weird gap between one second and the next anyhow. On the endless grassy plain, Cyrus constantly switched between trying to change the world around him by tweaking the essence of one thing and another ever so slightly.

All around him you would see death and destruction as he haphazardly activated his death essence control with reckless abandon, which would mysteriously heal itself at set intervals. Then the next day you would see Cyrus constantly catching small animals, slowly slicing and dicing them up while applying life essence to test the rates of healing and improvement.

He even went so far as to start cutting off body parts themselves, something that ordinarily would be seen as somewhat perverse by Cyrus. However, whenever he would go about such acts a spectator would surely had noticed that there appeared a shimmering ethereal black mask on the man's face.

As time passed he slowly made progress with and completed the most basic of abilities, the ability to consistently constantly activate each magic type in their purest forms. By modeling the methods his mentor had learned his first few spells, he even made some basic spells for each magic type. What was truly remarkable, Cyrus noticed, was what happened when he applied a steady stream of death essence onto the corpse of something.

"I do remember Cato saying that I had unknowingly created a group of undead by using that liquid death essence. From Cato's writings I know that there are several different layers to each magical domain, known as Amplification levels.

"For Ignis it is based on the color of the flames created, how hot it is. For Aqua it is based on the volume of water one creates in an area. Currently I can only create a misty type of Mors magic, however, I know there that somewhere down the line there is a liquid and, most likely, eventually a solid form to it." Thought Cyrus as he haphazardly used an entire days' worth of will to try to create an undead.

Eventually he succeeded, he operated on a curious small white creature with two long ears and a plump body. In life it was quite timid and even eventually warmed up to him and followed him around, right up to when he snapped its neck. However in death it was aggressive and most importantly, it seemed thirsty for blood.

"Undead instinctively attack whatever is living around them, even the most common of children know this. The question is ... why?" To experiment he simply allowed the creature to slowly kill him, all the while activating his Vita and Mors domains internally to analyze what was going on as he died.

To his surprise, he noticed that his body was being drained of the various essences that made it up. The creature was not quite killing him per say due to a sudden thirst for living flesh, but rather it was absorbing his own essence. To what end, Cyrus figured out after being reconstructed and dying to it once more… this time analyzing what was going on inside it internally as it died.

"Its... its actually strengthening itself as it absorbs me. Not only that, but when it is not actively doing so it is constantly weakening by itself" mused Cyrus as he continued his experimentation.

Following this train of thought, Cyrus constantly fed it with himself to see if anything would change. As more of himself died, in a rather painful way each time, he noticed that the creature slowly began to grow larger, stronger, and even faster. Then when he starved it of any essence, from himself or other creatures, it would slowly weaken down once more until it inevitably turned to dust.

"How…fascinating..." Cyrus thought, now entranced by the occurrence in front of him.

For the rest of his time spent in the serene grasslands, all that he did was see to what end this happening could be taken to and if he could possibly control such beings of his creation.

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Cyrus finds himself at the campsite once more, still between the current second in the next. He hears parting words from Mundus, "Good luck my champion, we may meet again depending on your successes…or failures." Then, suddenly, the frozen world moves once again. The fire crackles, a soft breeze can be felt on the skin, and the stars above twinkle once more.

Cyrus would have no doubt marveled at such a thing, perhaps even pondering on how the hell Mundus even did that, alas the only thing that went through his mind was a sharp sudden pain as everything he did in the past month yet not month hit his body all at once. From every fold in his brain to every sinew in his muscle, not to mention the varying effects on his psyche from all the 'experimenting' he did. All of the experiences together far too much for him to absorb while lucid, his body promptly shuts down and he falls fast asleep.

Cato startles as, from his perspective, his student stopped short of finishing his sentence before uttering a wail and passing out immediately.

On reaction Cato expanded his sense far and wide, while also channeling the max amount of will he possibly could, ready to strike out if he detected whatever caused apparent harm to his disciple. After detecting nothing, he walked over to his beloved student and began to check his vitals.

"What the hell, scared the life out of me. He is just sleeping… what could have happened" Pondered Cato, as he let loose the frightening power he was amassing mere moments ago. "We were discussing his meeting with Mundus and then... no way the timing can't possibly be that convenient right?" Scratching the back of his head, Cato looked around and noticed what he had done on instinct. The campfire had long been extinguished, and the cold desert night turned into a frosty tundra out of nowhere.

The entire camp and several meters around it were frosted over ever so slightly, a testament to Cato's full might no doubt as all of this occurred without him so much as casting a single spell. With a wave he quickly undid the damage he had done with his manipulation of the fire essence, which took him a moment as he had just stripped most of it out of the area. He looked at the watch station not too far away from him and sighed.

"No doubt I just caused whoever is stationed here to have a mental breakdown. Ahh I sense some annoying paperwork I will have to fill out."

Cato then picked up the now sleeping Cyrus, threw him into a tent, and awaited the border patrol that would no doubt be sent to him as soon as possible.