Chapter 773
A harsh wind, biting and smelling of ozone, whipped across Hiroki's face.
He stumbled, boots sinking slightly into the strange, ashy soil beneath his feet.
He'd been hiking, that was the last thing he clearly recalled. A moment of sun-drenched serenity in the mountain trails he frequented near Nagano, and now this. This desolate expanse, under a sky bruised purple and churning with unseen energies.
Where was he?
Panic, cold and sharp, pricked at the edges of his calm.
Hiroki, a man who prided himself on pragmatism, on facing challenges head-on, felt a tremor of something primal crawling up his spine. He was lost, disoriented, and the very air hummed with a power he couldn't place, a resonance that vibrated in his bones.
He took a slow, deliberate breath, trying to anchor himself to the present.
Forty-one years, and he'd never had an experience like this.
The landscape was alien, flat and featureless in most directions, broken only by jagged, black rock formations that clawed at the turbulent sky.
The ground itself wasn't earth, not as he knew it. It was dark, granular, almost metallic in appearance.
A distant flicker caught his attention.
To the west, beyond the craggy rocks, a pulsing luminescence danced against the gloom.
Curiosity, that ever-present human drive, warred with his unease. He should probably find his way back, retrace his steps, get to familiar ground.
But the light… it beckoned.
He started walking, each step crunching on the unfamiliar terrain.
The wind howled, a mournful sound that seemed to carry whispers in its gusts. He pulled his jacket tighter around him, the thin fabric offering little warmth against the penetrating chill.
The purple sky deepened to near black directly overhead, and the pulsing light intensified, becoming more rhythmic, like a heartbeat in the distance.
As he neared the rocky outcropping, the source of the light became clearer.
It wasn't a fire, or any natural flame. It was… energy. Raw, untamed, crackling with a vibrant, violet hue.
It emanated from a chasm in the rocks, a jagged rent in the earth that seemed to go down into an impossible depth.
The humming in the air intensified, now a palpable vibration that thrummed through his teeth.
Hiroki approached the rim cautiously, peering into the abyss.
The violet light pulsed from within, casting strange shadows that writhed and shifted on the rock walls.
The smell of ozone was overwhelming now, sharp and metallic. He could feel a strange tingling on his skin, a prickling sensation that made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
"Hello?" His voice sounded weak, swallowed by the wind and the strange hum.
He knew, even as he spoke, that it was foolish. Who would answer him here? Where even was "here"?
A sudden, violent gust of wind slammed into him from behind, pushing him forward, towards the chasm's rim. He stumbled, arms flailing for purchase, but the ground gave way beneath his feet.
He cried out, a sound ripped from his lungs as he plunged into the violet depths.
Darkness engulfed him, but it wasn't the darkness of absence of light.
It was a darkness that seemed to press in on him, a tangible void filled with the crackling energy he'd seen.
He fell, tumbling through nothingness, the wind roaring in his ears, the smell of ozone burning his nostrils.
He braced for impact, for the bone-shattering collision with the ground.
It never came.
Instead, he was enveloped.
The violet light intensified, no longer a distant pulse but a consuming presence. It filled his vision, his senses, his very being.
He felt a searing heat, not of fire, but of pure energy, coursing through him, into him, reshaping him. Pain, sharp and agonizing, tore through his nerves, followed by a sensation he couldn't name, something beyond pain, beyond understanding.
Then, silence.
An abrupt cessation of the roar, the hum, the agony. Just… silence and stillness. He was suspended, weightless, in inky blackness.
Had he demised? Was this… demise?
Slowly, tentatively, he opened his eyes.
The darkness remained, but it was different now. It wasn't empty. It was… charged. He could feel it, the same energy that had engulfed him, now residing within him, a latent power simmering beneath his skin.
He moved a hand, just to test, and a spark of violet light crackled from his fingertips.
He stared at it, dumbfounded. He moved his other hand, and another spark flared. He was glowing, faintly, internally, like a living ember.
Fear gave way to bewilderment, then a creeping sense of… awe.
He was alive. More than alive. He was changed. But into what?
He tried to move, to orient himself.
He felt disoriented, weightless still, but now with a strange sense of… lightness. He pushed against the darkness, and something yielded. He drifted, effortlessly, through the void.
It was then he heard it. A low rumble, deep and resonant, like distant thunder.
But it wasn't distant. It was… him. It was coming from inside him.
The rumble grew, vibrating through his body, and the violet glow around him intensified.
He felt a surge of power, an almost unbearable pressure building within him.
He panicked again, this time with a different kind of fear. Not the fear of the unknown, but the fear of the uncontrollable.
What was happening to him? Could he stop it? Did he even want to?
The rumble became a roar, the violet glow a blinding radiance.
He felt himself expanding, changing, no longer just Hiroki. He was becoming something else, something… more.
The pressure reached a crescendo, then erupted outwards in a silent, invisible wave.
When he could see again, he was no longer in the void.
He was back on solid ground, or at least what feels like ground in this place.
The rocky chasm was behind him, now glowing faintly with residual violet energy. The purple sky seemed a little less turbulent, a little less oppressive.
He looked at his hands. They were still human hands, but they shimmered with a faint violet luminescence.
He flexed his fingers, and a crackle of energy danced between them.
He felt… different. Stronger, faster, attuned to something beyond normal human perception.
He took a step, and it wasn't just a step. It was a surge forward, a blur of motion.
He moved with a speed he'd never known, covering ground in impossible strides.
He could feel the energy coursing through him, amplifying his every action was deliberate, his every sense.
He experimented, jumping, running, pushing his limits.
With each piece telling a story of its own action, the violet energy responded, amplifying his strength, his speed, his very being.
He felt like he could shatter rocks with his bare hands, outrun the wind, command the very elements around him.
Exhilaration surged through him, mixed with a lingering unease.
This power… it was incredible, intoxicating. But it was also alien, unpredictable. He didn't understand it, didn't know its limits, its dangers.
He started to walk, this time with purpose, with a newfound confidence.
He would explore this place, this "Thunder Zone," as he now instinctively knew it to be.
He would understand this power, learn to control it, to master it. He was no longer just Hiroki, the hiker from Nagano. He was something new, something… more than human.
He was, in a way he was only beginning to grasp, the Thunder Human.
Days turned into what he reckoned were days, though time seemed warped and fluid in this place.
He explored the Thunder Zone, discovering more about his powers, about the strange, charged landscape.
He learned to channel the violet energy, to summon it at will, to direct it, to unleash it.
He could move with impossible speed, generate bursts of concussive force, even manipulate the very air around him, creating localized storms, miniature thunderclaps.
He encountered creatures, too. Strange, twisted things, born of the same energies that had transformed him.
Some were docile, almost ethereal, shimmering with violet light like him.
Others were aggressive, territorial, crackling with raw power and hostility. He learned to defend himself, to use his powers not just for exploration, but for survival.
His encounters were brief, brutal, and left him with a growing weariness.
The exhilaration began to fade, replaced by a gnawing loneliness.
He was alone in this strange, powerful place, cut off from everything he knew, everything he was.
He missed the familiar comforts of his life, the bustling city, the quiet serenity of his home, the simple act of sharing a meal with folks.
He tried to find a way back, to retrace his steps, to find the point where he had entered the Thunder Zone.
But the landscape seemed to shift and change, the landmarks unreliable, the sense of direction distorted by the pervasive energies.
He was trapped, it seemed, in this violet-tinged prison of power.
One day, he found something different. A structure, of sorts, amidst the jagged rocks.
It was a towering spire of black, obsidian-like material, reaching impossibly high into the stormy sky. It pulsed with violet light, even stronger than the chasm he'd fallen into.
It resonated with him, calling to him with an almost irresistible pull.
He approached it cautiously, drawn in by an instinct he couldn't explain.
As he neared the spire, visions flooded his mind, fragmented images, fleeting glimpses of… others. Figures, indistinct and ephemeral, beings like him, touched by the Thunder Zone, wielding its power.
But they weren't triumphant, powerful beings. They were broken, twisted, consumed.
A cold dread washed over him. He understood, then, the truth of the Thunder Zone.
It wasn't a source of power, not in the way he'd thought. It was a corruptor, a devourer. It granted power, yes, but at a terrible cost. It twisted and warped, not just the body, but the mind, the very soul.
The visions intensified as he touched the spire.
He saw himself, his future, stretched out before him in a terrifying panorama.
He saw himself growing stronger, more powerful, but also more isolated, more detached from his humanity. He saw the violet energy consuming him, twisting him into something monstrous, something unrecognizable.
He saw his ending, too. Not a glorious battle, not a heroic sacrifice. Just… fading.
Slowly, inevitably, consumed by the very power that defined him, becoming nothing more than another echo in the Thunder Zone, another broken soul trapped in its violet embrace.
Despair, crushing and absolute, settled upon him.
He was trapped. There was no escape. The Thunder Zone had claimed him, body and soul. The power he wielded was not a gift, but a curse.
His transformation was not an ascension, but a slow, agonizing demise.
He sank to his knees before the spire, the violet light pulsing around him, through him.
He was the Thunder Human, yes. But he was also a prisoner. A doomed soul, destined to fade into the very energy that gave him life, consumed by the thunder that roared within him, until there was nothing left but the silence of oblivion.
No heroic end, no glorious demise, only the slow, brutal sadness of erasure, alone in a place that promised power but delivered only despair.
He closed his eyes, and waited for the fading to begin.