Chapter 101
Now Arin's voice rang out, trembling yet resolute, slicing through the chaos that surrounded her.
"It's over."
GBIM. GBIM.
The sound reverberated in the air like the hammering of colossal drums. It was sudden, violent, a vibration that seemed to shake her very bones. Arin clutched her eyes, her glowing six-ringer eyes flaring as a deep, aching pain surged through her skull.
"Ahhh…" she groaned, fingers pressing against her temples. "My eyes…" The luminescence of her six-ringed gaze flickered violently, as if each ring pulsed independently with the weight of all the power she had unleashed. "They're aching badly."
She panted, chest heaving, sweat dripping from her brow as the aftershocks of her release continued to rattle her body. Her voice was hoarse, almost brittle, but it carried the weight of a survivor and a conqueror alike.
"It's… been long," she murmured, almost to herself. "I've released so much power… I'm… rusty…"
A sigh escaped her lips. "Oh well. It's over now."
With a decisive snap of her fingers, reality itself seemed to twist. The world around her blurred, and in an instant, she was no longer in that broken battlefield of shattered realms. She was back in the mortal realm.
Yet, nothing was as she had left it.
The sky… it was alive.
It breathed. And not subtly. Not like the gentle gusts of wind through the treetops or the whisper of clouds across a summer sky. No, this sky was vibrant, thrumming with raw, chaotic magical energy that pulsed like a living heartbeat. GBIM. GBIM! The vibrations weren't just sounds; they were waves she could feel deep in her bones. The very planet beneath her feet throbbed with it.
"Ahhhh… are you kidding me…" Arin muttered, eyes narrowing as she tried to comprehend the scale of the disturbance.
It was then that the truth struck her like a dagger through her chest.
"The death of the gods… caused this."
---
Meanwhile, in the valley, the villagers who had fled to the underground shelters emerged cautiously, only to be met with a horror unlike anything they had ever imagined.
The sky above had turned an unnatural, pitch black, stretching across the horizon like a wound in reality itself. It pulsed, each beat echoing across the valley like the rhythmic pounding of a colossal heart. The villagers froze, their breath caught in their throats as they instinctively pressed their hands to their ears, trying to block out the terrifying sound.
"Oh no! We've… offended the gods!" one villager screamed, voice trembling with fear. "They're planning to kill us! There's… no escape!"
"Run!" another shouted, panic flaring in their eyes as chaos erupted among the people. The ground itself seemed unstable, quaking beneath their feet, as if the world itself were on the verge of tearing apart.
Amidst the turmoil, Kael and Tadashi shouted across the windswept valley, trying to reach each other.
"Kael-san! Tadashi!"
Kael, frozen momentarily by the sheer spectacle of the sky, barely registered the urgency in Tadashi's voice. "Ah…" he said, almost dreamily.
"Tadashi screamed again, cutting through Kael's daze. "Snap out of it, Kael!"
Kael blinked rapidly, finally grounding himself in the present. "Ah… yes," he responded, his voice tinged with awe.
"Contact her… now!" Tadashi's urgency cut through the wind like a blade.
Far above, in the sky drenched with magical chaos, Januza and Azerin shared a moment of stunned silence. Despite the disaster unfolding across the land, something about the atmosphere filled them with a strange, exhilarating power.
"Oooi, Azerin… do you feel that?" Januza asked, eyes scanning the trembling heavens.
"Yes," Azerin replied, awe and a tremor of fear mingling in his voice. "Power… I can feel a rush of power flowing inside of me…"
Arin, still facing the roiling, beating sky, heard it not with her ears, but in her mind. Not only her own perception but Januza and Azerin's as well, intertwined through the invisible threads of the gift she had once given Kael long ago: telepathy.
"Kael… are you okay?" she asked, her voice a mental tether across the distance.
"Mom…" Januza and Azerin spoke simultaneously, their concern echoing through Arin's mind.
"Januza… Azerin… are you okay?" Arin asked again, her thoughts a mix of concern and urgency. "How… how can you both hear me at the same time as your father?"
Kael screamed into the storm of noise that surrounded them, frustration and fear leaking from every syllable. "What's going on?! Why is the sky… beating like a heart?!"
As the winds whipped through the valley, whipping debris and shaking the mountains themselves, Arin's mind raced. Her voice echoed in the minds of those she loved.
"It's… the gods' death," she admitted, her eyes narrowing against the pain. "I didn't think it would be true… we were the creators of this universe. Now their magical energy… it's leaking after their deaths. One death the universe can handle… but ten? Ten is impossible."
Kael's voice trembled as he responded, nearly lost in the storm. "What are you going to do now?"
The ground beneath the villagers cracked, fissures snaking like veins of fire through the valley. Some of the people were hurled by gusts of wind, their screams swallowed by the roar of chaos. It felt as though the world itself were tearing apart.
Then, Arin's voice cut through the despair like a blade forged from the stars.
"I'll have to bring them back from the dead…" she declared, eyes blazing with determination. "I'll use their magical energy… and bring them back."
Her words froze Kael in place. "No! Don't do it!" he shouted.
"I have no other choice," she replied, her voice firm despite the immense danger. "If I don't… the universe will be destroyed."
Oooi do you feel that ? Januza and Azerin exchanged a glance, silent but profound. In that moment, they understood without words. The surge of power rushing through them was undeniable an ocean of energy brimming with potential, waiting to be unleashed.
As their eyes glowed a radiant yellow, they released their magical energy, and the world seemed to respond. Power flowed through them, engloving every fiber of their being. Together, they spoke, voices ringing with clarity and unyielding resolve:
"You will not die, mother."
Behind them, Tadashi and Kael felt an immense force approaching, so powerful it made the air itself tremble. Kael's eyes widened, a single word escaping him:
"Boys… noo!!"
Januza and Azerin turned toward each other, a silent acknowledgment passing between them, before leaping into the air with impossible speed.
Boom!
The force of their jump sent shockwaves cascading across the valley, hurling Tadashi, Kael, and countless others into the air. The wind tore at their clothes and hair, carrying with it the sheer magnitude of the siblings' unleashed energy.
"We're coming… mother!" they cried, their voices barely audible over the roar of the storm, but filled with unwavering determination.
Every muscle, every sinew, every heartbeat was in perfect harmony with the surge of power coursing through them. The earth beneath seemed to tremble in anticipation, the sky above pulsing in resonance with their energy.
They flew faster than thought, faster than sound, faster than the chaos that sought to consume them. Every second brought them closer to Arin, closer to the source of their world's imbalance.
The universe itself seemed to watch as they hurtled through the sky, leaving streaks of radiant light in their wake, carrying the hope of life, of survival, and of the impossible mission they had sworn to accomplish..