Chapter 9: The Boy from the Sea
Poseidon cautiously stepped through the smoking remains of the forest.
His shoes sank slightly into the blackened soil as wisps of smoke curled around his ankles. The smell of burnt wood filled his nose, and somewhere in the distance, a few dying embers crackled.
He had expected screams.
Panic.
Maybe even the sight of two children desperately trying to escape the flames.
Instead, he found two boys standing in the middle of the devastation.
Completely unharmed.
The crimson-gold-haired boy was rubbing his cheek.
The other boy, Lucien, was staring at him with an expression that could only be described as restrained irritation.
Poseidon stopped.
His eyebrow twitched.
He found himself wondering, almost absently, what kind of world leaves children like this in the center of ruin without breaking them.
He took another step.
Then he heard the crimson-gold-haired boy mutter.
"That bastard actually punched me."
Poseidon's eye twitched harder.
He stared at Baryon.
Baryon stared back.
For several seconds, neither said anything.
It felt less like silence and more like two people trying to decide whether the other was real.
Poseidon eventually pointed at the destroyed forest.
"You did this?"
Baryon looked around.
Then he looked at Lucien.
Lucien looked at him.
Baryon slowly pointed toward himself.
"Me?"
"No, the invisible dragon behind you."
Baryon turned around.
There was nothing there.
He turned back.
Poseidon stared at him as if he had just confirmed something he already feared.
Baryon scratched his head.
"Okay, first of all, I don't appreciate the sarcasm."
"You burned down half the forest!"
"I didn't mean to!"
"That doesn't make it better!"
"Technically, I stopped."
"AFTER YOU BURNED IT!"
Baryon opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
He considered his next words carefully, as if realizing for the first time that intent and consequence did not always agree.
"...Fair."
Lucien covered his mouth.
A tiny smile appeared on his face.
Baryon immediately noticed.
"Don't laugh."
"I'm not."
"You're literally smiling."
"I'm merely appreciating the situation."
"That's fancy talk for laughing."
Poseidon stared between the two.
His expression slowly became more exhausted.
He had been sent into the forest against his wishes.
He had encountered a massive wildfire.
He had saved two complete idiots.
And now one of those idiots was arguing with him while the other looked like he was enjoying the spectacle.
He wondered, not for the first time, whether duty was simply another word for punishment.
He sighed.
"My name is—"
"Wait."
Baryon suddenly raised his hand.
Poseidon stopped.
Baryon narrowed his eyes.
Something about him felt strange.
Not dangerous exactly.
But unfamiliar, like standing too close to something vast and realizing it was looking back.
Baryon's perception had changed after awakening his affinities. He could now sense strange currents flowing through the world around him.
The forest was filled with them.
The soil.
The trees.
The air.
Even Lucien possessed an enormous amount of energy.
But Poseidon...
Baryon's eyes widened slightly.
There was something different about him.
His energy felt fluid.
Like an endless ocean compressed into a human body.
Baryon stared.
Poseidon noticed.
"What?"
"You're weird."
Silence.
Lucien slowly turned toward Baryon.
Baryon immediately realized how that sounded.
"I mean your energy."
"That's somehow worse."
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"Then how did you mean it?"
"Your energy feels like water."
Poseidon's expression changed.
His eyes narrowed.
Lucien noticed the shift immediately.
Baryon, however, continued.
"Actually, not just water. It feels like..."
He closed his eyes.
His perception expanded.
For the first time, Baryon consciously allowed himself to feel the energies around him.
The world changed.
The forest disappeared.
The charred trees became faint silhouettes.
Lucien became a blazing presence.
But Poseidon...
Baryon suddenly found himself standing before something enormous.
An ocean.
No.
An ocean was too small.
It was as if an entire world of water existed within the boy, patient and endless, yet held back by a single fragile form.
Baryon's eyes snapped open.
Poseidon stumbled backward.
"What the hell was that?"
Baryon stared at him.
Lucien's expression became serious.
"Baryon."
"Yeah?"
"Don't do that again."
Baryon looked confused.
"Why?"
Lucien glanced toward Poseidon.
"Because you just invaded his energy perception."
Baryon's eyes widened.
"Oops."
Poseidon's eyebrow twitched.
"Oops?"
Baryon smiled awkwardly.
"Sorry?"
"You are unbelievably irritating."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I'll take it anyway."
Lucien sighed.
Poseidon looked toward the sky.
He seemed to be questioning every decision that had brought him here, and perhaps every decision that had ever led him to believe the world made sense.
Then something changed.
The air became heavy.
Baryon's smile disappeared.
Lucien's eyes sharpened.
Poseidon felt it too.
All three looked toward the same direction.
The forest had gone silent.
No birds.
No insects.
Nothing.
Baryon slowly turned his head.
"Lucien."
"I feel it."
Poseidon clenched his fists.
"What is that?"
Lucien didn't answer immediately.
His gaze remained fixed on the distant trees.
Then he spoke.
"Something is coming."
A low rumble echoed through the forest.
BOOM.
The ground trembled.
Baryon's eyes lit up.
Not with fear.
With something far more dangerous in its simplicity: curiosity.
Lucien immediately noticed.
"Don't."
Baryon looked at him.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it."
"Thinking what?"
"Whatever insane thing you're about to do."
Baryon placed a hand over his chest.
"Lucien, I'm hurt."
"Good."
Baryon stared at him.
"You're becoming mean."
"You tried to burn down the forest."
"Accidentally."
"You fired flames from your eyes."
"Also accidentally."
"You laughed like a psychopath after discovering you might become stronger than a Godking."
Baryon's expression became serious.
"...That one was intentional."
Poseidon slowly turned toward him.
"You might become stronger than a Godking?"
Baryon froze.
Lucien froze.
Poseidon's eyes narrowed.
"...What?"
Baryon immediately looked at Lucien.
Lucien looked at Baryon.
Baryon smiled.
Lucien's expression screamed:
Don't.
Baryon ignored him.
"Well, you see—"
"Don't."
"I have these things called affinities—"
"Baryon."
"Fire, lightning, sun and—"
Lucien grabbed Baryon's mouth.
"Mmmp!"
Poseidon blinked.
Lucien smiled politely.
"Please ignore him."
Baryon struggled against his hand.
"MMMPH!"
"No."
"MMMPH!"
"Absolutely not."
Poseidon stared at them.
"...You two are strange."
Lucien released Baryon.
Baryon immediately inhaled.
"Traitor."
"I saved you from explaining something you don't understand."
"I understand perfectly."
"You've known about your abilities for approximately ten minutes."
"Details."
The rumbling came again.
BOOM.
This time, something crashed through the trees.
The three boys immediately turned.
A massive beast emerged from the forest.
It was enormous.
Its body was covered in thick black scales, four powerful legs supporting its monstrous frame. Two curved horns extended from its skull, and its mouth revealed rows of jagged teeth.
The creature's eyes glowed red.
Poseidon's face went pale.
"...No."
Baryon tilted his head.
"That's a big lizard."
"That's a Bloodscale Ravager!"
"That's a big lizard with a fancy name."
"Are you stupid?!"
Baryon grinned.
"Probably."
Lucien stepped forward.
"Baryon, stay behind me."
Baryon looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because you're still learning how to control your energy."
Baryon glanced toward the monster.
Then toward his own hand.
He could feel the energy inside him.
The fire.
The lightning.
The strange warmth of the sun.
And something else.
Something he couldn't properly understand.
The Null affinity.
His grin slowly returned.
"Actually..."
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
"No."
"I haven't even said anything."
"I know you."
"We met less than a week ago."
"And somehow I already know enough."
Baryon cracked his knuckles.
"I want to test something."
"No."
"Just one thing."
"No."
"Come on."
"No."
Baryon looked at Poseidon.
"Can I test something?"
The boy immediately pointed at Lucien.
"Ask him."
Lucien stared at him.
"You met him thirty seconds ago."
"Exactly. I'm not getting involved."
Baryon nodded thoughtfully.
"Smart."
The Bloodscale Ravager roared.
The force of the roar blasted outward.
Trees bent.
Smoke scattered.
Poseidon covered his ears.
Lucien remained completely still.
Baryon...
Was smiling.
His crimson-gold hair fluttered in the shockwave.
His eyes slowly turned crimson.
A tiny flame appeared inside his pupils.
Lucien's expression changed.
"Baryon."
"I've got it."
"You're not ready."
"Maybe."
"Baryon."
The flame inside Baryon's eyes became brighter.
"But there's only one way to find out."
The monster charged.
BOOM!
The ground shattered beneath its feet.
Poseidon's face changed.
"Move!"
Baryon didn't.
The monster opened its enormous jaws.
Its teeth descended toward Baryon's body.
Baryon's eyes narrowed.
And then—
CRACK!
Lightning exploded across the battlefield.
Poseidon's jaw dropped.
Lucien's eyes widened.
Baryon's body vanished.
The Ravager's jaws snapped shut on empty air.
Baryon reappeared several meters away.
He stared at his hand.
Electricity crawled between his fingers.
"...I moved."
Lucien stared.
Poseidon stared.
Baryon's grin grew wider.
"I freaking moved."
The monster turned.
Baryon's eyes burned crimson.
"Again."
He disappeared.
BOOM!
The monster's head snapped sideways.
Baryon appeared beside it.
His fist was embedded in its jaw.
The Ravager staggered.
Baryon stared at his fist.
Then at the creature.
Then back at his fist.
"...That actually worked."
The monster roared.
Baryon grinned.
"Okay."
His body began to radiate heat.
Flames crawled across his shoulders.
Lightning danced around his arms.
The air itself seemed to tremble, as if reality was unsure whether to accept him.
Poseidon took several steps backward.
"What is he?"
Lucien's expression became complicated.
"I don't know."
Baryon raised his hand.
Crimson flames gathered around his palm.
Lightning wrapped around the fire.
Then something golden began to shine within it.
The three energies began merging.
Baryon's eyes widened.
He could feel them.
Fire.
Lightning.
Sun.
And beneath them all...
Null.
A strange emptiness.
A power that didn't feel like power.
A force that felt like the absence of everything, and yet somehow the center of it all.
Baryon's smile disappeared.
For the first time since awakening his abilities, he understood something.
His greatest power wasn't the flames.
It wasn't the lightning.
It wasn't even the Sun affinity.
It was the thing he couldn't understand.
The thing that had been marked with three question marks.
Null.
His fingers slowly closed.
The energies vanished.
Baryon stared at his hand.
What exactly are you?
For the briefest moment, something appeared inside his mind.
Not AR.
Not the Record.
Something else.
A voice.
Ancient.
Cold.
And impossibly distant.
[Null recognizes its bearer.]
Baryon's pupils contracted.
"What?"
The voice disappeared.
AR remained silent.
Baryon immediately realized something.
AR.
No response.
AR.
Nothing.
Baryon's expression became serious.
You heard that, didn't you?
For the first time since he had met the Record...
AR didn't answer.
Baryon's heart began beating faster.
The Bloodscale Ravager roared.
He barely noticed.
Lucien looked toward him.
"Baryon?"
Baryon slowly raised his head.
The monster charged.
His expression changed.
The grin returned.
"Later."
He turned toward the monster.
"Right now..."
His crimson eyes burned.
"...I have a big lizard to punch."
And somewhere deep within Baryon's soul, something ancient opened its eyes.
The forest trembled.
Poseidon felt his blood run cold.
Lucien's face became pale.
Neither of them understood what they had just witnessed.
But Baryon did.
Not completely.
Not yet.
But he knew one thing.
The power he had just felt wasn't something he had acquired.
It was something that had been waiting for him.
And for the first time since his reincarnation...
Baryon wondered if perhaps he hadn't been reborn into this world by coincidence.
Perhaps...
Something had been waiting for The One.
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I genuinely don't know what I'm doing at this point