Henry's limp and mangled body laid peacefully on the dirty ground. His blood poured out of his gaping torso and mixed, swirling into the dust. I stared at his body, watching as his Aura faded, withered, and crumbled to ash before me. Turning around, I walked over to Jake's body, and picked him up. Slowly I walked over to Henry's corpse, and laid them down together. Using some of my remaining Aura, I created a lighter and some gasoline. I poured it over their bodies, lit the lighter, and tossed it onto them. I watched as their bodies were slowly engulfed by the bright aura infused flames that converted their corpses slowly to smoldering cinders, and I stayed silent, thinking about what I was going to do now.
"You did the right thing." Wrath said solemnly, "I was surprised you were able to grab a hold of your mind and control yourself that quickly."
"Yeah, me too…" I said, my eyes watery and teeth grit in regret but I didn't let a tear escape.
"I need to become stronger, so that I can protect everyone I can." I said, my hands clenched and shaking.
"Your resolve is strong." Wrath responded, "I'll give you as long as you need to collect yourself before I tell you more about Aura."
"Thank you." I mumbled, sighing and collapsing exhausted to the floor.
I sat down next to the raging fire, staring into its raging core as I began to rack my brain. This world was not a good place. It is full of people forced into horrible upbringings, smothering any hope. Even those who were unjustified monsters like Henry had their own reasons they turned out this way. Now that Jake is gone, I need to pull his weight onto my back, and move forward into this hell. Further than the Universal Tournament, past even The Original Sin. I needed to strengthen my resolve and evolve further beyond any limitations I face. It took a long time to process what I needed to do, but slowly I began to regain myself, and I was ready to hear what else Wrath had to say.
"I'm ready." I told him, conviction filling my voice.
"Good, but we could use a change in scenery." He said. With a simple snap of his fingers, we were inside of a house. It was pretty shabby, just two rough, slightly uncomfortable, lopsided wooden chairs and a matching table, along with a rustic fireplace calmly crackling in the background.
"What would you like to know first?" He asked.
"How did Henry power up like that, and what was that spear I was able to use?" I asked him bluntly, jumping straight to the point.
"Hmmm… I'll explain that power first. Each and every Herald and Sin is bestowed their own unique Aura, you know at least that much. But your Aura gets stronger the more you use it, along with some conditions needed to unlock new forms." He explained,"Each condition is different from person to person, but I can at least name the forms that you two were using."
"Everybody has their Base Form, with their regular abilities like Henry's roots and your chains, but once you unlock the first condition, you enter your second form. Henry was in his Spite Form, that's where he got that Flower that drains your Aura from. You started in your Enraged Form, but yours is different from mine. You are able to summon The Fractured Spear." He stopped for a moment, letting me process everything.
"Why is my form different from yours? Is it because of my spear?" I questioned.
"You're right. That spear is something only one other person in the history of all universes was able to make. He was stronger than even me." Wrath admitted, "We faced off in the semi-finals of the tournament. By the time I knew who I was facing, I was certain that I would lose. Even in my prime, I wouldn't be able to do serious damage to him."
"How does someone get that strong?" I asked, shocked at what he was saying.
"He was the Vessel of Will. From what I've heard, he had to watch every single person on his planet die to The Original Sin. That pure rage and will to kill the man who took everything from him manifested his own ability, not even the system could control it. But he was tired. His power allowed him to be unaffected by all attacks, but at a cost. Everything he would have felt from those attacks, was doubled onto him. Every slash, stab, and punch would have left no mark on his body, but the mental effect was crushing. Psychic attacks were even worse." He told me.
"By the time that he reached me, he was exhausted of living, losing everything he ever wanted to protect, he lost his purpose. The only reason I became champion was because he killed himself using a different form of that spear you possess." He said, sighing as he leaned back in his chair, "None of this would have happened if he'd killed me, but I can't blame him. There was just too much for him to bear."
"Holy…" I said, racking my brain on how there was someone stronger than Wrath, but my confusion isn't over yet, "How does this tie into my spear?"
"Well the spear he used was just a form much stronger than yours, It was able to judge the wrongdoings of a person. If it was deemed that the person had done more evil than good, all of his attacks were stronger and more brutal. But if they were a good person, his attacks would become faster and more precise and in turn their death would become quick and painless. I think it was his own way of showing mercy on those forced to fight him." He explained, creating a weighing scale to demonstrate.
"Still, how did I get his weapon? I didn't even know about him until now." I questioned.
"When he killed himself, his weighing scale swayed rapidly back and forth. It could not decide what to do with him, so its power was transferred to his next of kin, you." He said, pitifully staring me dead in the eyes.
"Wait huh ?"
"B-but…what?!" I stared shocked back into his face, full of seriousness, "But nothing should have been able to escape the universes ."
"I thought that as well, but after seeing your spear and knowing that somehow, some people managed to flee The Original Sin, it's true." He said, stretching back into his chair.
"The one and only race to ever escape were Murakians, part animal, part human. Each race had their own skills, whether it was dragon breath, Earth manipulation, anything. Humans were part of the majority who didn't have a skill." He explained.
"Still, does that mean my father was the strongest?" I questioned, trying to think of my oldest memories, back when my father was still alive.
"He definitely was, but because of how he gave up his powers in my universe, all the other universes gave you the ability to unlock them."
"If the power really stuck with me, do you know how I could inherit the full Vessel of Will?" I asked, hoping for an answer I knew would never come.
"I couldn't tell you if I had all the answers in the universe, only he would know." He sighed again, placing a strong palm on my shoulder and leaning in, "So do this for me, become stronger." He said, his voice filled with strength.
"Don't worry. I want to improve myself as much as you want me to and more." I tell him confidently , "Let's get back to the forms and Aura. There's still a lot I want to know."
"That's true. Strap yourself in because this will take a bit." He tells me as he casts away his Aura construct.
"Unlike how the system gives skills and stats, Aura isn't bound by the system. Some skills require Aura to function, but it's your own power which gets stronger the more you push yourself. I myself haven't reached the final form, but I still have access to what I think is the strongest skill. Proclamation." He tells me, staring intently at me.
"By exuding your Aura into the world, you are able to project your worldview into a physical form." He paused for a moment, using his Aura to create a small model of Earth, and injecting more Aura into it, changing the planet's shape.
"What are worldviews?" I asked him.
"Worldview's are a manifestation of what Heralds have gone through to gain recognition from a Sin. It could be a deep trauma that they experienced, or manifestation of their personality." He reshaped his Aura into a glass cup, and filled it with water, taking multiple gulps before continuing,"Anything else you want to know? I've gone over the basics now."
I glanced intriguingly towards his water, then asked my final questions, "Are there any limits to what Aura manipulation can do?"
"From what I've been able to do, I don't think there is a limit to what you can do. I've created food and water, I've even created people from just watching them. I can even adjust how strong they are, and do anything I want with them-" He stopped himself, and looked up at me, "shit…" He muttered.
His expression slowly changed from a calm, relaxed, half lidded gaze to a wide eyed and shocked scowl as he watched my own face twist from confusion to clear realization.
"Wait, did you…You made them? They were fake?" I began to question him, my anger slowly surfacing after understanding the full extent of what he did, and what he made me do.
"Yes they were, but it was necessary to show you-" He tried to speak, but I instantly attacked him.
I transferred all of the Aura I had remaining into my right arm, and clobbered him in the face as hard as I could. My fist connected, but with a fraction of his Aura he blocked my strike. Instantly I went to swing again, but he grabbed me with his own Aura, and tied me to the wall with ropes he created.
"LET ME GO! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" I screamed, all of the emotions I pushed down after watching Jake die came back to the surface.
"I had to!" He yelled back, his voice instantly making my outrage cease, "You thought the Skinweaver was a fucked up fight? Hah. I've faced beings who slaughtered thousands and tortured the innocent just for a sliver of amusement."
"I need you to prepare yourself for what you have to face. You are the only hope left." He reasoned, bringing his voice down.
He was right, there were going to be things worse that I would need to face, but he instantly threw me into the center of it.
"Send me away…" I muttered, "I don't want to ever see your ugly mug unless I have to."
"Fine." He agreed.
Recalling his Aura, he created a portal for me to go through. Immediately I walked through it. Instantly I was back where the tree had been, and another portal was a couple hundred feet away. I started walking towards it, reflecting on what Wrath had done, when suddenly a giant root, black and corrupted, swung straight at me. Instantly I block its attack by reinforcing my arms with Aura, but the force of the attack sends me flying back dozens of feet. Looking towards the tree, multiple more roots began to break through the ground, all corrupted like the first. Suddenly, a dark red System window appeared to the left of my face.
WARNING! You have encountered a being that you are unable to kill. Entity name
"Shi-." Was all I was able to say before another root pierced the floor behind me and smacked me back towards the tree.
Summoning my chains, I shot them into the floor, stopping myself from ragdolling further away, but swinging and slamming hard to the stone. Before I could recollect myself, another barrage of roots was shot straight for me. I barely jumped over the first, and condensed my Aura into my arms to tank the next two. Knocking them away, I manipulated the chains to deflect more oncoming attacks.
"You fucker… I was already in a bad mood but, your starting to PISS ME OFF!" I screamed angrily, my Aura storage began to rapidly expand, and another system window popped up
You have entered the Enraged Form of Wrath. You have unlocked the Sub-Skill: (Kindling Vengeance: : You are able to manipulate the blood spilt from his body in tandem with your aura as well as having your blood become much more resilient, viciously tearing apart foreign particles and continuously repurifying itself. Gain resistance to poison. Time remaining on quest: 4 minutes and 43 seconds.
Shoo-ing away the system window, I begin to summon my weapon. Met with the familiar sensation of Aura condensing and merging into itself. The Fractured Spear returned to my hands, and I was going to fight till every last atom of mine was unable to function. Two more of its tendrils shot out at me. I dodged back from the first, slashing it in two with a swift vertical cleave. The root I dodged earlier burrowed into the ground, and shot up at my face before I could notice. I barely had time to reinforc my face with a barrier of Aura, but the thin sheet was thankfully enough to halt the attack. A bead of sweat trickled down to my chin as I grinned at the living wood. It paused, then suddenly changed directions, swerving for my lower abdomen. Noticing the sudden change, I quickly kicked off the floor, flipping and landing with a powerful thud right atop the squirming root. Using my Aura, I created multiple large and slammed them down into it, stopping its movements. I glanced down at my System window, and caught a glimpse of my remaining time.
"4 minutes and 20 seconds… Man they should have increased the time, this is too easy-." I chuckled, just as the tree itself let out a … scream?
I turned my head towards the tree, and finally saw what had become of it. Its ivory white wood had almost completely turned back, only veins of white remained, almost like it was corrupted by something. Its smooth blue vines were now riddled with imposing thorns, and most of its leaves had turned into a black Aura, just floating around its large canopy of branches. The fruit it had tried to tempt me with earlier were now rotted, and me focusing on them led to a nutty smell. Instantly I used a sliver of my Aura to block the cyanide from entering my lungs. The biggest change was the marking. The trunk of the tree had the largest portion of white, but it slowly broke open, revealing a mouth full of large spikes, and a dark blue tongue.
"Ru…" It's mouth worded, as if the tree itself was rebelling against the corruption,"Ru-n, away…You, the cho-sen, must live…"
The splotches of white slowly disappeared, and the deep Aura replaced it. It let out a final scream before the mouth fused back together. I gripped onto my spear tight, and prepared for its next attack. Its leaves slowly started to circle around the branches of the tree, and they began to speed up into a giant gust of wind. Instantly the black mass of Aura shot out into multiple groups, and they zipped at me. I activated
It kept adding more and more into the attack, supplying it with roots and more leaves. My ability ended too soon because of the length of the attack, so I summoned a large portion of my Aura to create a wall, but my efficiency was too low, probably a downside of my Form. But I couldn't stop, if I did I would easily die. So I kept spinning my spear. It didn't matter that my muscles felt like they were on fire, or the fact that most of my limbs were covered in cuts and drenched in my own blood, I had to just keep spinning this fucking spear until his attack was over. My energy was exhausted but its attacks were weakening. I was almost ready to counter, but suddenly a root shot up from behind me. It tore through my abdomen, and I nearly collapsed from the pain. But I couldn't stop. Agonizingly, I stood my ground and ignored the pain. With one final push, I let out a scream filled with everything I had, and slashed the remainder of its attack in half.
The leaves fell to the floor and decayed into ash. I grabbed my spear and slashed the root that impaled me. The severed root fell away and retreated, and I fell onto one knee, run through and completely exhausted. I applied a large amount of Aura to my open stomach to stop the bleeding, and glanced at the time. 2 minutes left. I panted from sheer exhaustion, but I forced myself to stand up. It didn't give me a second longer to rest before it fired back. It slashed and whipped at me with its thorny vines. All I could do was dodge out of the way, blocking wouldn't do anything anymore. I jumped back from one and sliced open another, but there were too many. More roots shot out from everywhere around me, and I couldn't keep up. Barely dodging through the giant forest of angry plants, I was taking more and more cumulative damage from its relentless attacks.
I kept dodging and weaving as much as I could, and the ones I couldn't I deflected with my spear. But even that was running out. The Aura that I created the spear with was slowly being worn down, all that was left was around half of the spearhead. I reforged my spear back into Aura, and reinforced my new wounds with it. A root goes right by my head as I barely dodge it, but then a vine grabs ahold of my leg and tosses me away. I spiraled uncontrollably through the air before crashing down and sliding hundreds of feet across the ground, smearing my blood across the floor. I summoned a small dagger to slow my movement, but it barely slows me down. Finally I regained my footing, but I was definitely not fine. I could easily tell that my left arm was practically shattered, and the shoulder was dislocated.
I glanced down at the System one more time, revealing that only 30 seconds remained. Nonetheless, I kept dodging and blocking as much as I could, but then the attacks stopped. The tree brought back all of its weapons, and began creating something new. It tied together and folded its leaves and vines, until a perfectly sharp and dangerous weapon was made, a winding spike of unfathomable proportions pointed directly at me. 3 seconds were left now. Instantly, it shot it at me, traveling the distance faster than I could think. The speartip collided directly with my head, but it was too late. Time seemed to freeze, the tip of the spear just barely making contact with my forehead, a thin stream of blood trickling down from the contact point and flowing slowly across my brow staining the vision in my right eye a deep red. This should have been my death, but unluckily for it, and incredibly lucky for me, it wasn't. I survived the full 5 minutes. Abruptly, time seemed to resume, and I felt my body get pulled away from me. Soon, sounds of birds and churning rivers rushed into my ears, and the smell of people who haven't properly showered in days. I struggled and managed to barely force open my eyes, and was able to catch a glimpse of Jake carrying me on his back, my arms resting limply over his shoulders as he looped his own arms around my legs --cursing me lightheartedly but annoyed every now and then-- while we were searching through some sort of forest. The others I could see up ahead, but I was tired. I needed to sleep, just… for a bit.
After a long while, the rustling of leaves and shuffling of feet came to a gradual stop, and the rest of the party began talking.
"Has he woken up yet?" Nathan questioned.
"Not yet." Landon responded, "But at least the cut on his face has pretty much stopped bleeding."
"Speaking of, isn't it time to change his bandages?" Axel asked.
"You're right," Nathan said, turning around, "Jake, please set him down."
Jake found a patch of soft grass under the canopy of a large spruce tree, and gently let me down, before taking a much needed break leaning arms crossed with his back to the tree. The rest of the team followed suit, taking out small snacks and drinks as Nathan lifted my head slightly up and untied my bandages. Slowly and carefully, a massive scar stemming from the top of my right ear, which was now missing, that stretched continuously under my eye and across my nose was revealed. The wound was slowly getting better, but the blood still flowed, so Nathan cast
"Let's get walking again." Landon said, "We've already completed the quest so we just need to leave."
"Finally." Jake said, stretching his back, "I may be the strongest, but carrying this fatass on my back for hours still wears me the hell out."
Jake stood up and pulled his right arm across his chest, holding it there for a few seconds with a slight grimace before doing the same with the other, throwing me over his back once more after completing his quick stretch. They walked a while longer before they eventually found the exit. Once we were outside, they surveyed the area to see if Henry was nearby, but besides the giant holes in the floor and some dead infected, he wasn't here. They carried me back to the building they healed us at, and Axel went inside with Nathan. They came out after a short wait, and they came back to the area where we went into the Skinweaver's dungeon. It took a while, but we found my truck and they drove us back to our base. There was a horde of infected outside, but they were short work for Jake's Aura and the pure menace of Axel. And soon I woke up.
"Uugh…" I groaned, slowly lifting myself up.
Looking around I was in one of the tents we had set up on top of the roof. I slowly got onto my knees and unzipped the tent. Instantly the smell of cooking meat hit my nostrils, and instantly I dashed out of the tent, starved of some good fucking food. Looking around, I eventually found the source of the smell. A giant muscular man was taking multiple steaks off of the grill and set them next to some very appetizing grilled potatoes. He was wearing an apron that looked five sizes too small for him, so I couldn't help but laugh. He immediately turned around and saw me.
"You're up!" He said enthusiastically,"How's your face?"
Realizing what he was referring to, I felt my face. I felt a long raised area that was across my entire right side of my face, and when I got to my ear, a good portion of it was just gone.
"It feels fine." I respond, but then I hear a familiar voice.
Instantly I turned to the doorway, and out walked the prideful Jake.
"Finally you're up. By the way you way more than you-." He sarcastically said but was interrupted by me.
I pounced onto him, hugging him tightly.
"Jeez, I knew I was popular but you don't have to glaze at me." Jake said,"But you gonna let go?"
"My bad." I replied awkwardly,"But I thought you had died."
"Just talk about it over some food." He replied,"I can tell it's going to be a long story.
We walked back to where Axel was cooking, where Landon and Nathan were now waiting for us. We all thanked Axel for cooking the food, and he lightly brushed us off before we dug in. There was some light talk about old jokes and past memories, but it was mostly just us eating. Eventually though, they wanted to know what happened to me.
"So are you going to tell us what happened or what?" Jake asked, eating a potato.
"Yeah, you should talk about it instead of just being depressed." Nathan added.
"You're right, it's about time." I responded, not before I ate my last bit of steak.
"Similar to Jake, I was teleported. I was brought to this desolate cliff without any light or noises. There was a single tree that had glowing leaves, and it tried to give me fruit. But it was poisoned, it smelt the same as the cyanide that I accidentally inhaled a couple months ago."
"Oh yea I remember that!" Jake said, quietly chuckling to himself.
I just ignored him and continued to talk," I backed away from it but it started attacking. Luckily there was a bridge next to the cliff, so I ran away from it. After what felt like days of traveling and the gravity increasing, the Sin called Wrath appeared and teleported me to where he lived."
"It was this giant training ground, and he taught me about everything. About the system and the universe, and why we have to fight."
They were silent for a few moments, before one of them spoke up.
"Why… Why do we need to go through this?" Landon asked, staring down at the massive scar across his arm and the countless others.
"Our universe is a fruit." I explained," A giant fruit containing good and evil, trillions of lifeforms, and countless other miracles. But fruit needs somewhere to grow from."
"There is a tree known as Yggdrasil, and it grows all of the universes."
"Wasn't Yggdrasil just a world tree? And if it's real then are there gods just like in Norse mythology?" Nathan questioned.
"In mythology it was just a tree that held the nine realms, but for us, it has grown countless universes. But fruit was bound to rot, and that's what made it. The Original Sin. I was told that it was influenced by the wrongdoings of everything, and became a being with boundless power. The first humans created the system as a way to fight back against it."
"Every time a new Sin was chosen, they would fight the Original Sin. But after the fourth person to gain the power of a Sin fought it, the system was broken beyond repair. Currently, all the system is able to do is recreate our universe." I finished.
Everyone was in utter shock. The weight of the universe was now put onto all of our shoulders, so it made sense they felt that way. Even Jake's prideful look was starting to fall, but he caught himself.
"A few things. One, all we have to do is kill an ancient deity comparable to the strongest of all time? And two, did you gain Heraldship?" Jake asked, for once his questions made sense.
"Yes. Wrath gave me his Heraldship, but not after fucking me up mentally." I said, instantly flashing back to what I had to see, but I wasn't going to tell them the whole story.
"He forced my Aura to awaken by creating Henry from Aura manipulation. It was so accurate that after I killed him, his body didn't even disappear. I had to burn it to ash using Aura."
"And then he just revealed that it was fake."
"... But now's not the time for that. I have more information on Heraldship." I stopped my rant.
"Really? Well, go on." Jake said
"Heralds have access to different forms. When I fought Henry I was in my Enraged form, and each form grants different abilities. But I don't know how to unlock them, each person's conditions are different."
"That's enough of a rant from me, what did you guys find from the dungeon?" I asked, and they showed me.
They had found an encyclopedia on the Infected and their types and habits. By just touching the book a system window popped up to tell me that I now had access to it via the system. The talking slowly died down, and everybody slowly went off to be. I was last awake, and gazed at the stars. Soon, I was going to be there. I thought to myself,but first, I have to get stronger. Beyond Henry, past even Wrath. I will become the Ashes of Hope.