Chapter 79 - Grand Flamerite's Chase (3)

A flame erupted from Chrysos' chest, burning from within and without. His cycles' worth of imprisonment had dulled most of his senses, but this had easily broken past that. It was a pain that would have driven him mad if not for the fact that he, to some extent, already was. The flame flashed with a majestic white-gold, like a divine stake impaled upon his very being. But as quickly as colour came, it changed.

The flame flashed in a number of different colours: white-gold, scarlet, black, purple, dark crimson and another that could not be described. But they only flashed for less than an instant before the flame settled on one colour—pure and mystical gold. It twinkled like starlight as its fine motes of particles scattered from him like dust. They spun like a tornado, engulfing his whole body in a torturous furnace.

Chrysos had already stopped screaming in pain. It had already gone past what he could handle long ago. Even his voice burned to nothing before they could even leave his throat. Serena watched in tearful worry as Chrysos' body seemed to be dispersing into flaky ash, his flesh melting into nothing right before her eyes. And from his chest, a hole was being burned through by the impossibly golden stake of flames. When the hole had reached the size of a fist, the golden fiery tornado finally halted as the flames all surged toward the hole.

The burnt rims became encrusted in crystalline gold shimmering with a power that Serena could not quite identify. It made the hole seem like an imperial socket for a gem meant for a destined emperor, a true crowning jewel. And indeed, the mystical golden flames condensed itself within the hole. It became like a blazing golden sun settling quietly within his chest. Its light seemed to cast an inevitable and tyrannical pull on all things. And to gaze upon it was to witness unfolding realities that would blind one to either despair or obeisance. And with a weary breath, Chrysos muttered.

"Stop killing me... stop killing me...."

He crumpled to the ground, crimson tears bleeding through his closed eyes. As Serena panicked and rushed toward him, veins of molten mystical gold began spreading out from his chest. Their webbed network left no inch of his body untouched as they began pulsing with a dull golden glow. With every pulse, the veins grew thicker and thicker until they eventually covered every single cell in his body.

Chrysos had been enveloped in a cocoon of gold.

In another corner of the universe, Uriah awakened. He was not in the heart of the planetary nebula as that part of him remained unconscious, still processing whatever it was he had seen in the vision given to him by the Eyes of Reverie. This body of his was the one who remained on the ship headed for Torval. And they were arriving swiftly with only a few days left on their travel.

He did not know when it happened, but at some point, time had become a malleable construct to him, mundane time at least. His body could be experiencing a one minute event in one place while his other body could have burned through an entire half a month on a warp jump. And yet another body of his, the one settled in Lombros, was practically watching all the events occurring across the universe unfold in the blink of an eye, like a fleeting thought that merely flitted through his mind filled with countless other daydreams.

And as he thought of this, he suddenly began to realise the inevitability of what happened to his family. A mere blink of an eye had passed for him, but to them, that was several hundreds of thousands' worth of lifetimes. It ate away at him, the way he now perceived time. It was like a monster he never knew always existed right beside him, just waiting to nibble away at his conscious thought to distract him from ever noticing the transience of reality.

How lonely it was, to witness the birth and death of entire civilisations with every single breath. Was this the price of power? Was this the thing they never speak of, the one thing they hated in their obsession for absolute power? Or perhaps, did they already accept? Nay, perhaps they even craved it. To know that even one's finite breaths would outlive all the rest, how godly it must feel. For them. For them alone.

If it were up to Uriah, he would never have wished to have power at all. For it is a curse that only breeds more and more chaos, both within and without. All he yearned for was serenity—the quiet of the night and the peace of the day. And yet it is elusive. For as long as there is life, there will always be chaos—the natural progression of everything in their inevitable journey of growth and decay, of ascension and ruin. Not even gods can stop such a thing.

He stood by a window in a now empty corridor, gazing out into the distance. He could see the direction they had left. It was a barren place that only now glimmered with an entrancing cherry light, a little firefly in this dreary expanse of hollowness. And ahead, he could glimpse it—a world on the brink of ruin, ravaged by a chaos it did not deserve. And yet, Chaos comes all the same.

He closed his eyes as his hand felt the clear glass jewel nestled within his chest, its entrancing ethereal glow being his only solace in this lonely journey. Because even when there were two of him, there was still only just one. But perhaps now, this little cherry pink star would grant him a much needed companionship. With a soft sigh, he relaxed his mind and finally checked the notifications that he had been ignoring since he awoke.

[You have made a grand achievement by creating a new form of life.]

[You have created the race of living stars: Astels]

[You have become an embodiment of the stars.]

[You have obtained the title: Star Presence]

[Your authority has risen.]

[The authority of Reverie has risen.]

[For being born through Reverie, the Princess of Stars—Astella shall exclusively tread the Path of Reverie.]

[Under the blessing of the Origin of Reverie and the Star Presence, the Princess of Stars—Astella shall be granted the title: First Herald of Reverie]