In the space between heartbeats, between moments, between the pause of reality and the resumption of time, Aeon's consciousness was pulled inward to a place that existed beyond physical law.
He stood in a void that was not darkness but the absence of limitation itself. Around him, the concept of infinity unfolded like an infinite tapestry—not as vision or possibility, but as pure mathematical truth made manifest.
This is everything without end.
The thought formed without words, without language, as pure understanding flooded through him. He could feel the abstract concept of infinity itself, the mathematical principle that described endlessness, boundlessness, the state of being without limit. And more than feel it—he could touch it, shape it, bring it into reality.
With a thought, he could manifest infinite space within a finite area. With a gesture, he could create infinite force from nothing. With will alone, he could bring the abstract concept of endlessness into the physical world, making the mathematically infinite into tangible reality.
I am the bridge between concept and existence.
The sensation was intoxicating beyond description. Not power over elements or energy, but power over the very concept of limitlessness itself. He could take the abstract idea of infinity—infinite mass, infinite speed, infinite time, infinite space—and make it real within the constraints of physical law.
He was no longer bound by concepts like scarcity, limitation, or finite resources. He existed as a conduit through which the impossible became inevitable, where mathematical abstractions could be pulled into reality and made manifest.
This is what I wished for under the comet. True freedom. The power to bring infinity itself into existence.
The infinity attribute. Not just power over infinite quantities, but the ability to manifest the concept of endlessness itself. The capability to reach into the realm of pure mathematics and drag infinite principles into the physical world.
Infinite distance in zero space. Infinite time in an instant. Infinite force from a gesture. Infinite matter from nothing.
He was a conduit for impossibility itself, capable of making the abstract concept of infinity into concrete reality.
But even as the intoxication of limitless manifestation threatened to overwhelm him, another part of his consciousness—the analytical mind that had survived corporate exploitation and dungeon horrors—began to assert itself.
Power without control is just chaos waiting to happen.
The thought emerged from his own hard-won experience, lessons learned through years of systematic abuse and recent bloody survival. He had seen what happened when those with power used it without restraint—the bandits who treated human lives as disposable resources, the corporate masters who exploited brilliance and discarded those who created value for them.
He could manifest infinite destruction. He could create infinite suffering, infinite chaos, infinite devastation. He could drag the concept of endless torment into reality and make it physical.
But that would make him just another force of destruction with better tools.
I didn't wish for power to create chaos. I wished for freedom from limitation.
The distinction mattered. Power used to destroy was just another form of the violence he had sought to escape. True freedom meant having choices, not drowning the world in infinite catastrophe.
As this understanding crystallized, his awareness of the infinity attribute began to focus, centering on applications that aligned with what he actually wanted rather than what unlimited manifestation could provide.
Freedom. Security for those he cared about. The ability to stand against oppression without becoming an infinite threat to existence itself.
These were worthy goals. These were purposes that could justify the terrifying capabilities he now possessed.
But first, survival.
The moment of awakening was ending. Reality was reasserting itself, pulling his consciousness back into his broken body and the immediate threat of Marcus's killing blow. But he would return to the physical world fundamentally changed.
No longer a victim.
No longer helpless.
No longer limited by the boundaries of finite existence.
Consciousness returned like a lightning strike.
Aeon's eyes snapped open to find himself lying on the forest floor, Marcus standing above him with murder in his eyes and wind magic gathering around his hands. The bandit's lips were moving, forming words that would accompany the killing blow.
But something was different.
Aeon could feel it—a presence within himself that hadn't existed before. Not just power, but possibility itself, flowing through his awareness like an endless river. The sensation was overwhelming and subtle at the same time, like suddenly becoming aware of a new sense that had always been there but never noticed.
Infinity.
The word resonated through his consciousness with perfect clarity. Not fire or water or any of the common elements. Not even one of the rare attributes like lightning or shadow.
Infinity itself.
The power to transcend limitations, to exist beyond boundaries, to achieve any outcome through will and understanding.
Marcus's attack was still frozen in that eternal moment, wind magic coiled and ready to strike. But now Aeon could see the threads that held it together, the forces that gave it shape and power.
And he knew, with absolute certainty, that those forces answered to him now.
The infinity attribute. Something he had never heard of before, never seen demonstrated by any of the bandits with their simple elemental powers. This wasn't fire or water or wind—this was something else entirely.
He had awakened something beyond his understanding, beyond anything he had witnessed in his short, brutal life.
And as that realization settled into his consciousness, time resumed its normal flow.