Within the dark hallway the two figures of Leon and Velora walked together, side by side, eyes focused and their expressions unreadable. As Leon approached closer to the curtain, a sudden intrusion of energy startled him. It felt so otherworldly.
As though it was warping continuously with a constant element being its source of output. What was this feeling? Space itself began distorting the closer he got. Only one thing came to his mind at this moment.
[Ding!]
A sudden ring echoed throughout his ears.
[Master, I'm sensing very strong spatial distortions coming from behind that curtain.]
[Would you like to have the emergency protocol on standby from this point on?]
'You've got to be fucking kidding me.'
Words of utter disbelief failed to leave his mind, not even touching his throat as Velora parted the curtain revealing what had lay behind this entire time.
"A fucking Dimensional Portal." Leon's harsh tone tore through the now heavy atmosphere. Velora's eyes narrowed as the center of his eyebrows furrowed. "Indeed, Lord Leon. It is as you say. This here is what I can only sum up to be, a portal."
Velora's serious expression truly conveyed the seriousness of this situation and what this truly meant. "It is also where Onaka had appeared from."
Leon's eyes remained serious however a flicker of disbelief still flashed briefly in those bloody spheres of his. "I see. This is more concerning than I would have ever thought it to be. How long has it been since it appeared?"
"It's been exactly a month since it appeared, firstly appearing a week after your rather 'outstanding' debut at the Heartfelt Country's Awakening Ceremony."
Leon's breath hitched, a rare display of emotion from the young stoic. "Are you implying that this–" His words were then cut short, Velora taking over to complete his sentence.
"Yes, I believe it's linked directly to your awakening, Lord Leon. I know it sounds crazy but this is truly the most logical, most sensible theory I could honestly say is 98% accurate!"
"And the two percent? What if you're wrong?" He queried, his mind churning with a train of thoughts.
Velora looked at him, his eyes never trailing off the young half human. "Then I'm wrong and this has nothing to do with you."
'System, standby immediately.'
Leon straightened himself as an order reeled out mentally. He walked towards the portal feeling a sudden, strange and almost mind inducing pull towards its swirling mass.
"Lord Leon..?" Velora called out, his voice touched with caution and worry. Did Leon truly plan on facing off with this head on?
Madness!
Leon's small but toned hand lifted, his fingers rough though small reached out. And then–
Fwoom!
Silence.
...
…
"Nothing?" Leon's eyes laced with skepticism never dropped his guard.
Then–
[BEEP!]
[BEEP!]
[BEEP!]
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! TRACES OF UNKNOWN ENERGY HAS TAINTED THE HOST'S MANA! INITIATING FORCED ADAPTATION!]
A warning! And not just one! A shitton of fucking warnings blared out to him in a flurry.
His mind rocked and his body's heat suddenly soared! That was when he found himself distorting in areas. His shoulders, back, arms and even legs.
It was all so sudden he didn't even get a moment to breathe. They all started to rise and fall, like a beating heart.
"Argh! Ahhh…!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!"
WHAT IS THIS?!
WHY!
WHY IS IT SO PAINFUL..!
[INITIATING SYSTEM EMERGENCY PROTOCOL! DENIED! INITIATING SYSTEM ANNIHILATOR MODE! DENIED! DENIED!]
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Damn it! Hymn Of Suppression: Sound!" Velora screeched.
A gut wrenching scream rippled through the air as vibrations within the literal space occured, shifting the view of reality in front of the mighty Velora. His eyes widened as he stared at the distorting body of the young Leon. But his trance was brought short by that gut wrenching, heart twisting scream.
A scream of pure, unadulterated pain and agony. A chill crept through body as his scales shivered with intense cringe, recoiling from the feeling he felt within his soul.
"Lord Leon!" He shouted as a light flashed before him. His grimoire and staff was called upon him, the room falling under his mighty spell. Sound was devoured at the corners of the walls, Leon's body suppressed by the very vibrations he had pulsed outwardly.
Leon's body floated up as a cube projected by the ripples of shackled vibrations encased him. Yet even that seemed as though it was not working! Velora's anxiety grew heavy. The mysterious battle hardened village chieftain did not foresee this outcome.
"Damn it! Lord Leon cannot be lost here! You are the future! The one to uncover the truth of reality! Please, you must survive this ordeal!" Velora's playful countenance faltered at this moment. He came to realize that his power was not enough to help the suffering boy before him.
Even so, he still offered words of sincerity and used his magic to reinforce Leon's body if it ever showed signs of faltering. His eyes squinted, a spell was casted once more. A spell he did not think he'd use so soon.
"HymnTaboo Of Administrators: Reshapero Modi!"
A blue light flashed, three spheres were then seen forcing its way into Leon's heart, veins and mana core. After they entered, a silence was brought amongst the chaos.
Short lived of course.
After five seconds, a bright purple and white light beamed out of his body. Velora's face paled instantly as his lifeforce was beginning to deplete rapidly. Leon's eyes shot open and within not a single thing was seen. Only whiteness.
His body morphed and mutated. His hair began aging before thinning completely and regrowing stronger, darker and thicker. His skin cracked and crumbled into dust as blood and flesh was left behind. There, his blood boiled and his muscles ripped and rebuilt itself. Beneath those levels, his bones creaked, cracked and rebuilt themselves stronger.
Finally, his skin regrew as his height increased once more. He now stood at a comfortable 5'8".
Indeed. This had unexpectedly turned into a blessing in disguise, the only risk being Velora's life. Velora smiled weakly, a look of content flashing through his eyes as he now used his staff to uphold himself properly, still feeling drained from the cost of such a life-impeding spell.
"Lord Leon, I hope that you not only recover well from this but you also grow stronger! By the ManaSource!"
Moments felt like years, a stillness swallowed the atmosphere as Leon's body remained floating listlessly within the cube. Soon however, the vibrations began to dwindle, eventually dying out. And it was then that finally, Leon was able to be freed.
Swoosh!
A light blurred. A head of darkness, bloody twin spheres of a cold, quiet and emotionless countenance, a toned physique and a quaking power.
The figure then appeared before Velora, staring at him at a near equal height.
"L-Lord Leon? Are you well..?" He asked, uncertain yet hopeful.
[The master is not present. He is not able to call upon his tired consciousness and has left a message for you. He says to prepare, in approximately twenty days, there will be a war and its source shall be this very portal we bear witness to.]
Stunned. Utter shock was all that filled the man standing before this now animated version of half human he knew. "W-What the hell do you mean?"
What happened during that moment of time? I thought he was in pain but he saw glimpses of the future? Future sight? The fuck? This is a lot..
Velora couldn't have wrapped his head around it but still he tried. At this moment, Velora had no time for self doubt and such. Forces, tons of them equipped with the highest military equipment and magus equipment he could muster.
If Leon foresaw something throughout that pain, then he had no reason to doubt. But wait–
"What– no, who are you?" Silence. No answer, just utter silence as he stared into the eyes of the man he thought was still there. That cold, eerie depth within his eyes. As though he was nothing but a cold blooded machine right now.
Then, without warning, Leon's body fell and the system's control over him finally dispersed. Velora's hand flicked out as he casted a levitation hymn onto Leon, walking out of the buried hallway, finally making way into the library again.
Velora summoned some men, told them a half truth and granted a proper place for Leon to lay his head. It was then his time to prepare.
Twenty days? That's practically a blink! So he gave his orders immediately. His figure flashed as he appeared outside within the bustling village. His body bolted towards his quarters as his people gave way respectfully.
There he called upon two others.
"Kairon, Vladel!"
A sharp howl of wind appeared for a brief moment before their figures materialized before him kneeling respectfully.
"Chief!" They saluted.
However their greetings were ignored at that instance, Velora's order already rolling off his tongue.
"Send out the messengers and take the village COARM Warriors, COM Mages and COAU Augmentors to the Valley. Have them train and be ready. I give you twenty days."
His words were heavy, his cells repaired themselves as his rank, Mortal King showed its prowess.
Kairon and Vladel could not have believed their ears. Exchanging glances of panic they questioned erratically!
–!
However, they were immediately cut off.
"Silence!" His aura flared, his eyes laced with battle intent! This was a rare side of the laidback Velora they bary saw. And that fire..
They knew exactly what that look meant. A war was coming and it didn't look pretty at all. Saluting high with respect, they were sent off with a nod.
As they left, Velora gazed into the sky. There, above him, a large entity strange yet majestic lurked, as though it was a being who had been overseeing the land below itself for eons.
A terrifying creature that swims slowly within the clouds. This creature, long and yet so strange, was seen by only one being within this land.
Velora.
As he stared into the clouds he found that the creature's large head had turned towards him, observing his state below.
His hands suddenly twirled towards the creature as mana formed within his palms. A large and powerful Hymn formed at that moment, twisting into existence as connection began establishing between the two beings. I
It was then and there, his entire being began to change. Reconstructing into something different! Something more. His power was on the verge of rising but still not there yet.
[HymnTaboo Of Epic]
As those words oozed out, a mighty grimoire materialized out of thin air, pages flickering from one to the next as the pages filled with bright engravings were soon swallowed by blank, coffee dried textured pages. Torn and shabby yet ancient in feeling.
Truly it only left more questions than answers. Who was Velora really? And why was his magic so– strange?
VWOOM!
To be continued!