Fate I wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 2:31 pm
Erigor said nothing more before embracing his son. He was at a loss for words but filled with such joy he couldn't feel the sting of his injuries. None of it mattered at this moment.
"By the gods. Please forgive me, Zol. I would have never lifted your hand had I known the truth. You must know this.."
He pleaded with his head buried into his son's shoulder, leaking tears of joy muddled with grief. Aisha took a step to the side to give the father and child a moment to themselves, but she, too, felt beyond elated to see Zol alive and kicking. Even if she didn't exactly understand what happened, she didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"How is this possible Zol? We mourned your death.."
Aisha didn't want to sound like she was interrogating him, but the reasoning behind his return was imperative to her curious nature.
Zol returned his embrace with streams of joy running down his face. He wasn't sure he'd ever see Erigor again; the trauma of facing the Novik for a while left him broken. Though he saved Aisha, the others had already been slain, and for all his power, he could not revive them. He wondered what he would say to Erigor after such a bold failure. The only words he could think of were
"Good to know you can still throw a punch. I was worried you might've keeled over, old man"
Zol said with a cheeky wink and smiled as Meru ran over to Eriogoy, licking his hand. Zol left Erigor's embrace when Aisha mentioned the mourning of his death. It must've been hard on everyone here to have lost the others but him, as well as what that must've done to Aisha as the sole survivor. How could he explain it to them? Not only was he no longer Michio, but he also was a 10,000-year-old spirit guardian of the king from another realm. Clara is the only person who knows his truth, and even that amount of information at one time nearly cracked her.
"Uuhh. It's a funny story. Well... you see... shoot."
He chuckled nervously, not even knowing where to begin. Then it hit him. His amber aura began to manifest around him. It gathered within the palm of his hands, bathing them all in its warm, inviting light. Zol would smile; he'd never done this before, but he was eager to let his truth be known finally. When Erigor last laid eyes on Zol, he was a small but mighty tike whose potential was unsure. In his former life, Zol only became a fighter to defend the people he loved, his guild. In his Astral life...well, that was a different story entirely.
"It'll be easier just to show you. Brace yourself...it can be a bit much the first few times around."
Zol compressed the light in his hands before opening them, revealing a flare of painlessly bright light.
"Inherent Expression"
At that moment, Zol drew the collective consciousness of Eriogr, Aisha, and Meru into his "Inherent Expression,"
otherwise known as the soul. When the flare died out, they would find themselves in Erigor's study no longer but instead in Zol's inner world.
"Welcome, this is my soul. My most tresured space."
Here, thoughts and emotions rippled like a stone dropping into a pond. They might find themselves bewildered, but they were safe here.
Here, Zol was master of all,
"Thousands of years ago, I was once walking amongst a race of powerful warriors. Michio. Though I was never much of a warrior, I was always spiritually inclined. My mother could never quite stand that about me. It made it harder for folks to lie to me. Then, one day, countless Michio were slaughtered by traitor amongst their kind. My mother and father were gone in a flash of crimson."
The world around them shifted, revealing mirror-like apparitions of light showing Zol's memories on display.
"Only a handful survived, thrust into cryostasis and sent into a deep slumber. Though my body was frozen, the grief in my heart was molten. That's when I received it... the vision of the Sardynox comet.
In the reaches of the mirror, a reflection of Vescrtuia Orbit came into view. Zol was sharing the vision he was bestowed.
" The origins of it still elude me, but its power is great and worst off. Virulent. I witnessed it crashing into the planet and its influence, forcing the residents of Vescrutia to evolve into terrifying monstrosities. As a Michio, I became very connected to the planet. Spending most of my time in nature, I made friends: animals, plants, fae, and spirits. The burden of knowing they were in mortal danger, yet I could do nothing to save them, hurled me into despair. Lamenting my powerlessness, my soul cries echoed into the reaches of the Unseen.' Cursing the silence. Fearing I would remain unheard."
He smiled, looking toward Meru. When Zol reflected on how much he owed his pal. In some ways, Meru still couldn't understand.
"But I was heard by a being known as Lilika, a literally Faerie princess hailing from an Astral realm known as Carna. I know it sounds bonkers, but it's the truth!
The world of
Carna would manifest around them in real-time. It was a gorgeous realm where magic and nature existed as one. Creatures and things are not native to Vescrtuia.
'It was here that I met Wei; The Faerie King. A being of invaluable power and mystical knowledge. His People were a kind of Faerie known as Okun Fae who carnate from souls that met a peaceful end. I know you both know the Unseen as spiritually inclined magic users. Suppose the Unseen could be viewed as a tree. Then Carna is, but one of its many branches, a realm where breathing and magic are harmonic. Wei's duties were to serve as the guardian of The Nether. A pocket dimension that serves as a prison to some of the most evil cosmic terrors in existence. Using the power of aura, energy birthed from one's soul, he and his children managed to maintain its seal and
The scene would warp out, reflecting now his time serving the king. The times they spent training, talking, and fighting side by side and defending the realms from all kinds of celestial terrors.
" For over ages upon ages did I live amongst the residents of Carna. Time moved much differently in Carna. Though I slept for a few hundred years, I watched over that world for eons that stretched into several millennia and helped them defeat one eldritch monster after the other. Becoming the right-hand man of the king. The High Fae life force and magic hold the seal over the Nether in place. Upon reaching the end of its life, the high fae's magic dwindles, and the seal weakens. It took everything to bring him down. Even then, we only managed to split him apart and seal his pieces.
A harrowing battle between the Faerire Realm and the Demonic horrors of the Nether appeared, showing Zol brimming with cosmic energy.
"It was a grueling fight and a victory somberly savored as Wei gave the last of his life to defeat Grixas. His son would eventually inherit the throne and maintain the seal once more. I would not live to see it, however, as right after the battle, I was brought back to life by the Michio, my soul snatched from the other world back to the realm I was born in."
The Michio moon base, the Khralaessara, replaced the wonderous world of Carna.
"All my memories, those of my time in Carna, were lost to me. The people I returned to were shells of their former selves bent on revenge and callous vengeance. I did not share their ire and forcibly underwent a ritual that stripped me of my Michio heritage. I was discarded and sent packing on an escape pod, landing a few miles out from where I found Meru...and where we met Erigor"
As the Khralaessara faded from view, the day Erigor tore through a dragon to save their lives came to pass. Zol's heart swelled with pride and admiration. Then came the visions of the Novik. Zol's smile faded.
"Fast forward to the hunt for the Novik. Our patron was a strange woman who, now that I think about it gave off the impression she was much more powerful than she let on. She accompanied us, but a group of Maaluki moths ambushed us at some point. After we beat the crap out of the lot of them, we heard a terrible scream, and then the body of our patron wrecked with horrible wounds. She urged me not to go, but your words pushed me ahead. Fangs don't abandon fangs"
He could still hear the
droning of the wing beats that foreshadowed the Moths coming.
"I heard their voices call out to me, but it was the Novik. It had already killed Opa and Dawli and lured me in with their voices. The wretched creature nearly killed me as well. Just as I was about to die, Meru began to light up. Inside him was the soul of one of the Faerie king's children. Lilika the Pylon fo Emotion. The person who brought me to the world of Carna all those years ago. Through her power, I remembered everything from my time there, including how to wield aura again. It managed to heal Aisha's arm and fight back the Novik, though I only got it to run away. The sudden releases of my soul powers required the sacrifice of my physical form and having been over-exerted, my soul was on the verge of flickering away into oblivion.
The blistering blaze of Evernus, the plane of righteous flames he tried to banish the Novik to, appeared before transitioning to the face of a pink-haired child.
"But thanks to Gavin, a shaman that belongs to a people known as the Yuex saved my soul, and through an ancient ritual, they were able to create a new vessel for my soul—a body created from naten itself. I am still human...but more? It's strange, and I'm still adjusting ."
His fist tightened as the horizon in his soul dawned a brilliant sunrise.
"But I am here alive and well, Zolgarious Gilden, a proud member of the Gilded Fangs, ready to stop this blasted comet no matter the cost!"
With that, the sun would illuminate with the same glow as the amber light that brought them all here; once it faded, they would return to Erigor's sanctum.
"Let me rejoin the guild Erigor. Let me fight for this realm once more. Let me prove to you and everyone here that I have what it takes to become a top hunter."
His eyes were brimming with determination. Nothing could convince him otherwise about his path. Nor his promises.