THE CELESTIAL COUNCIL
"That looks really deep," Zhen observed, his eyes wide as he stared at the seemingly bottomless hole in the earth, the dim lighting making it appear even more mysterious. He couldn't help but add, "Bet we'll find buried treasure or maybe a secret lair of ancient awakener superheroes down there."
"Yeah, we can't see a thing from up here," Huomei agreed, her finger producing a tiny spark of fire that descended into the darkness. As the flame revealed the hole's bottom, she added, "Well, I guess every creepy pit has its end."
With a mischievous grin, Zhen chimed in, "You know, I've heard of deep conversations, but this is taking it to a whole new level" He chuckled at his own joke.
"I'm going to go check something out," Xin announced, a blade materialized hovering on top of the hole as he jumped to the blade using it as a vehicle to keep him afloat whilst descending to the hole.
"He really went in," Zhen remarked, still grinning, and exchanged a nod with Huomei as they prepared to follow their friend into the depths below.
After what seemed like mere seconds, Xin finally reached the bottom. The blade he had been standing on shattered into obsidian fragments as his feet touched the solid ground. The hole had led him to an enclosed space devoid of light. The other two, Huomei and Zhen, descended shortly after. Huomei used controlled bursts of fire, her fists and feet emitting fiery jets that guided her descent. Zhen, on the other hand clenched his fists, each containing bullets he had transmuted, expertly controlling them to keep him afloat.
"Mei, do that lighter trick with your fingers again," Zhen requested, his eyes struggling to pierce the darkness.
"Already giving me a nickname, huh?" Huomei quipped, a faint grin emerging on her otherwise expressionless face. Flames danced to life on her fingertips, casting a warm, flickering glow throughout the chamber.
"If you want to, you can call me Zheny, and besides, your name is quite a mouthful," Zhen said with a chuckle.
"No thanks, one syllable is enough to remember" she replied with a dry tone.
Meanwhile, Xin approached the imposing gate, his fingers tracing the intricate, nebulous pattern etched into its cold surface. His hand came to rest at the center of the pattern, where a small spherical hole sat. "It looks like some kind of locking mechanism," Xin remarked.
"Ah, that pattern looks familiar," Zhen chimed in as he accessed his inventory. His eyes scanned the items within, finally settling on a small orb with an obsidian-like base and a swirling, rainbow-hued pattern etched into its surface.
Zhen's hand passed through the semi-transparent interface of his inventory, making it appear as though his hand disappeared into the screen. He withdrew his hand, holding the orb that had been seen earlier.
He passed the obsidian orb to Xin's hand. "You do the honors," Zhen said.
Xin held the orb with his right hand and studied it closely. As he touched it, a text appeared in thin air above the item, reading: [Tower's Mark].
He carefully placed the glass-like orb into the spherical cavity at the heart of the swirling rainbow patterns adorning the otherworldly metal door. With a gentle push, the orb made a distinct locking sound, and the once-chaotic nebulous patterns began to clarify. They spiraled towards the orb, their rainbow hues transforming into a deep shade of red. As they converged on the orb, it too changed, taking on a vibrant crimson hue.
The metal door, covered in black runes, began to tremble. The runes scattered across its surface, dancing like black fireflies. Slowly, as if evaporating, the metal door dissolved, revealing the passage beyond.
Xin, Zhen, and Huomei wasted no time and stepped through the newly revealed entrance. What they found inside left them in awe. The room was vast, its walls adorned with black runes. Each rune was encased within its own square, like books on shelves, affixed to the walls. As they moved further into the chamber, the runes seemed to come alive, glowing softly in response to their presence.
"Who knew that something like this existed at the base of the towers?" Zhen marveled as he continued to walk deeper into the chamber.
"I wonder if other towers have something similar," Huomei pondered, approaching the otherworldly bookcases made of a wood-like material.
"How is it that none of the top awakeners discovered this before?" She added.
"I wonder why indeed," Zhen replied with a grin, his gaze fixed on Xin, who was approaching a mysterious book on a pedestal. "How did he know that there was something beneath the tower? Maybe it's because of how insanely high his stats are? I was about to ask him another question about his crazy stats until-" He paused, remembering the small orb of intimidating dark energy that emerged from Xin's palm, prompting him to step aside.
Meanwhile, Huomei couldn't resist investigating the runes on the walls, each framed by the square bookshelves. She extended her right hand to touch a random rune, her fingers passing through the open shelf. The rune responded by blooming into a mesmerizing display of shifting colors.
Astonishingly, the wall bearing the rune began to ascend, reaching the edge of the wooden cubicle. In her left hand, a semi-transparent book materialized, seeming to meld with her palm as if it were an extension of her hand. Eager to explore its contents, she attempted to open the book by releasing her right hand from the rune, but to her dismay, the book vanished as soon as her hand left the rune's surface.
"How am I supposed to read the book then? This is ridiculous," Huomei grumbled in frustration. She touched the rune again, causing the wall to rise once more, and the book reappeared. Determined to unveil the book, the book responded to her intent as its cover unfolded, and her eyes became transfixed as the pages began to flip, skimming through the contents at an astonishing pace.
At the same time, Zhen accompanied Xin as they reached a pedestal reminiscent of a Greek column plinth at the end of the chamber, a mysterious book resting upon its surface. Zhen attempted to open the charred cover of the book but encountered resistance. "What the hell," Zhen muttered.
Xin stepped forward and placed his hand on the book's cover. It seemed to absorb his mana, and its black hues transformed into a deep, dark red. A series of messages appeared next to Xin, flashing repeatedly in Zhen's eyes, filled with strange symbols.
[Chaos Power-1]
[Chaos Power-1]
[Chaos Power-1] ...
Zhen couldn't make sense of the encrypted messages, to him, the text appeared as messages with unfamiliar symbols. The book glowed and opened, its pages flipping in a manner similar to when Huomei had accessed her book.
"Hey Xin, you alright?" Zhen asked as he tapped Xin's shoulder, only to be pushed backward as a spark of energy arced from Xin's body.
"Mei, lend me a hand! Xin's acting strange!" he called out, noticing that Huomei was in a similar dazed state, captivated by the book in her hands.
Zhen rushed to Huomei's side, attempting to pull her away despite knowing the risk. He was sent flying backward like a ragdoll as a surge of energy shot from Huomei, crashing into the shelves in the opposite direction. "Fucking hell!" he exclaimed, his hands flailing as he tried to cushion the impact. In the process, his hand inadvertently brushed against a rune.
"This has to be the weirdest day since the portal fiasco years ago," Zhen quipped, his eyes locked on the semi-transparent book that had latched onto his hand. He gave it a scowl. "So, this book's responsible for all the chaos, huh?" he accused the book before turning his attention back to his teammates.
After a moment's pause, he chuckled and shrugged. "Eh, whatever. Might as well roll with it. Can't leave you two in the lurch, right?" With that, he watched in bemusement as the book's pages started flipping on their own.
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In the beginning, there was nothing but an empty void, a canvas waiting to be painted with the colors of existence. The concept of time did not exist, and space was an endless expanse of nothingness. In this primordial emptiness, the seeds of creation lay dormant, waiting for the spark that would ignite the birth of the universe.
At the heart of this void, there existed an entity known as the Cosmic Weaver. The Cosmic Weaver was an ancient and enigmatic being, beyond mortal comprehension, who possessed the power to shape reality itself. It was said that the Cosmic Weaver's thoughts were the threads of creation, and its desires were the loom upon which the universe would be woven.
In a singular, momentous instant, the Cosmic Weaver stirred from its timeless slumber. It harnessed the radiant energies of light to craft the first thread of creation, a radiant strand of pure energy. This luminous thread became the foundation upon which all things would be built, igniting the cosmic tapestry and setting in motion the grand creation of the universe.
As the Cosmic Weaver continued to weave, it employed the brilliance of the light to form galaxies, stars, planets, and the vast spectrum of life. Time itself began to flow like a majestic river, while space assumed a complex and interwoven structure, all guided by the Cosmic Weaver's hand.
To maintain harmony and equilibrium within this burgeoning universe, the Cosmic Weaver wielded dark energy, shaping and manipulating matter with precision. It fashioned the fundamental laws of existence and orchestrated the intricate dance of particles and forces, ensuring a delicate balance between order and chaos.
However, the act of creation also gave rise to a force of entropy, a shadowy presence that sought to unravel the delicate tapestry of the cosmos. This force, known as the Void Devourer, was the antithesis of creation, and it hungered to return the universe to the emptiness from whence it came.
Faced with the existence of the Void Devourer, the Cosmic Weaver faced a profound dilemma. It possessed the power to obliterate this relentless force, but doing so would exact a terrible price – the incremental death of the universe itself. For in the grand design of existence, where there was creation, there was also the inevitability of destruction. This was the price the Cosmic Weaver paid for the very laws that sustained the life of the universe.