[POV: Abraxes]
My eyes open, and I am met with an illuminated darkness. An ethereal glow fills my inner world. It encases me in warmth. My Axion Core floats above the vast sea beneath me. It is still small. The size of my palms. But it shines like a brilliant star in the night sky.
It is as beautiful as the first time I saw it.
The sea beneath my feet is still. Its reflectionless surface shining brighter in the ethereal light. It is calm, and with such calm it brings peace. It is comforting. An unexpected sensation. But one I do not hide from. I only receive such peace in the comfort of my dreams, after all.
It steadies the burning excitement flowing through me. My curiosity is strong. But I take the moment of tranquillity to simply breathe. To close my eyes and be consumed by it. To relax even a little. I know that such moments will be scarce in the coming days.
When I open my eyes again. I am met with my runes. Already open and waiting to be read by me. My Eidos is a part of me, and it knows why I am here. It is helping me. I feel some warmth invade my body. But I am unsure where it comes from. My Eidos or I? Inside of my soul, there isn't truly a difference, I think.
I go through the runes for a final time. My intuition is warning me to be careful. My instincts are recognising the power as dangerous. It makes me equally as excited as I am worried.
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[Impetus Talent]-[Divinity of Storms]
[Innate Ability]: [The ability to transform your body and become the physical embodiment of a storm]
[I]: [The ability to create internal lightning which enhances your physical speed and reaction time]
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I turn to look at my Axion Core. There is Sacral Essence steadily seeping out of it. Floating in the invisible orbit of my Core. It is waiting for me to call upon it. I do. It almost feels giddy to answer me.
It is akin to a steady river. Flowing down to me in a dramatic spiralling pattern. When it finally reaches me. It does not hesitate to wrap itself around my body. It feels like a second skin. Its warm and carrying a steady feeling of affection. A hint of protection. It almost feels alive as it tries to shield me from the realities of the world outside.
I bathe in its freely given love for a moment. Before I activate the first Axion Talent.
The reaction is almost instant.
My breath seems to catch within my chest. I feel a quick shock run through every muscle in my body. It is as if a million volts has been injected within me. A hiss of pain leaves my clenched teeth, and I swear I can almost taste the air vibrating around me.
The pain passes quickly. It is as sudden and quick as real lightning, and I feel like I can relax. But the world around me is slow. Almost unresponsive. It startles me and I pull on my former lovers Impetus Talent entirely by instinct.
'This is incredible.' My eyes are wide, and I almost let out a laugh of exhilaration. Because I can understand what is happening within an instant. The world around me has not slowed. I have simply become fast enough to perceive it an accelerated rate.
The lightning running through my body is making me think at four times my natural speed. In combination with Keres Impetus Talent. My understanding and perception of the world also increases. It almost seems impossible to catalogue so much information within the time that I am.
But I am doing it.
Instead of the storm. I call upon my fire next. It appears within my hand as nothing more than a kindling ember. I perceive it. I understand it. All within a second. My Sacral Essence surges. And the small flame begins to bloom.
It grows and spreads over my hand. It takes the shape of a large flower. It is almost like water. It moves and acts like quicksilver. In the palm of my hand. It has no direction. It is lost. So, I give it direction. I give it focus. I am guided entirely by instinct.
I pick at its petals. There are four of them. It is fire but it looks like magma. I connect the four edges. My right-hand twists, and the flower is spinning. Moving and taking shape until it is no longer a delicate flower.
Under my will, it becomes a spear. It's almost the size of my entire body. It is controlled. No rough edges around it. It almost doesn't feel like fire. So, I shape it again. I make it into the element of destruction it was meant to be.
I feel almost like a passenger in my own body. My body is moving but my mind is distant. I have a hundred different thoughts running through me. Each of them coming together to solve a puzzle. I feel too slow. But if anybody else saw me, they'd only see a blur of movement.
Finally, the spear becomes what I initially envisioned it to be. Its glowing a vibrant orange. The heat coming from it is immense. Its tip is sharp and deadly. I have layered it thrice over. It will not break when met with resistance. Instead, it will melt.
My enhanced eyes take in its shape. My skin feels the heat. My danger sense rings in a certain way. My mind catalogues all of this. I memories it all and dispel the fire. When the time comes, I will be able to shape the fire in the exact same way.
Pleased with my progress, and the potential of this deadly combination of Impetus Talents. I move on to the reason for why I am truly here. Everything within me is telling me to be cautious. My danger sense warns me of the strength this Innate Ability holds.
I take a steady breath. Then, I activate it.
The Talent responds to me with the same speed of a lightning strike.
I am on the floor before I can even realise it. A burning sensation the likes of which I have never experienced before running through me. It is unlike the liquid fire of my anger. It is something much worse, and far deadlier.
My blood surges with lightning I can not hope to comprehend. My very cells feel as if they are being carbonized and cooked from within me. There is a howling wind in my ears. It is accompanied with the sound of thunder roaring.
It tears through me. It is the simplest explanation I can think of under such agony. As if a hurricane has been born within my flesh. It is splitting me apart. Then putting me back together. A vicious cycle is born that threatens to overwhelm me.
The thunder in my ears is growing louder. It is piercing and loud and makes my bones quake with a primordial fear. I think my eardrums have burst. It feels like they have. I hope that they do. But I can still hear the roar of thunder clearly.
It sounds like true strength. It sounds like divine might. I am beginning to understand. Why my ancestors labelled the Kings of Gods as wielders of thunder and lightning.
I feel a million different pinpricks over my skin. It reminds me of the rain. It is heavy and light all at once. A paradox that is born and lost for me to truly consider.
I can smell the petrichor. It mixes with the ozone. I can feel the air vibrating around me. It makes my skin tingle. It is all an overstimulating sensation. I feel lost and confused. I feel as if I am being changed from within. As if I am becoming something more than human.
A small part of me. The part which is directly under the command of Keres Talent. Begins to see the truth of this Innate Ability. Because this is not just some transformation into a storm. It is a Metamorphosis. I am becoming the storm.
It is terrifying. Because only a Primus can wield such power. Only a Primus should wield this power.
I feel myself scream. But my vocal cords have been burnt to nothing. They have becoming something more. They have changed and become reformed into something more. It is not my voice which comes out.
It is the roar of thunder. The devastating winds of a hurricane. I scream and the voice razes the once peaceful sea beneath me. It is the howl of a storm. A wind which tears through the world around me.
I feel my body beginning to truly change and take form under this divine influence. I am not myself anymore. I feel as if I am lost within a storm. As if I am sat in the eye of a great calamity.
My arms are no longer my arms. They are the storm. Two hurricanes of power adorned with razor sharp claws. My eyes are no longer my eyes. They are the storm. Two jewels of crystallised lightning.
My face has vanished. It does not exist. I am the face of a natural disaster. My hair is no longer the angelic colour I inherited from my mother. But wisps of cobalt winds that spin and swirl and do not stop.
It envelops me. It turns me into something I am not. I am losing myself by the second. I do not have a mouth. My lips are gone. My teeth have turned to an electrical current. It has all been replaced and turned into a circular cannon. The world around me is brutalised by it. Because it is not pained screams that leave me. But blasts of charged lightning and powerful winds.
But I still have my mind. It remains and I chant the only thing I remember of myself. The truth that makes me.
'All for One…All for One…All for One!'
I am buried beneath the full might of the storm. I am becoming nothing more than the rain and lightning and winds. But it is working. Slowly, I am remembering myself. It is enough to think through the pain.
It is enough to realise that only two seconds have passed.
But my chant—a desperate last gamble— works! It works and I can remember who I am. I can remember that I am not the storm. That I am Abraxes Basilus. That I am All for One.
The pain is immense. Neither my body nor my soul is ready to wield such power. But it can still be used. Through the pain. Through the divine might coursing through me. My understanding is unique, and it is enhanced through two different, and powerful Impetus Talents.
It is instant and it has worked through the pain to get me back in control. But my control is limited, and I am at risk of losing myself at any moment. It is with a heavy heart. That I realise I have a long way to go before I can ever wield this power.
I dispel the Sacral Essence flowing through me. The usually simple act is made far more difficult by the risk of being overpowered by the storm. It takes me more than one attempt. But when I do. The storm enveloping me finally vanishes.
I fall to the ground completely. My body and mind exhausted. Far more than they were before. My Sacral Essence dwindles away. Floating back to the Axion Core above me. I am left a gasping mess of shivering limbs on the sea beneath me.
I am terrified to leave my soul. I know what pain awaits me. I am afraid to look and see what damage I caused to my Eidos. But I know it cannot heal with me in here. So, I take a breath to steady myself. I know I have no other choice. So, I force my way back to reality.
Taking damage to your soul is an extremely rare occurrence. Only special Impetus Talents are capable of it. But rare does not mean painless. Because it is the complete opposite. It is a pain unlike any other. It is something I learnt when I was a child. But I never truly realised until just now.
I am back in the real world within a moment. But I am not yet away from the pain. Because I feel the wound of my own creation. It is hollow where something was once full. It feels too large. As if something has been splintered. It is running through not just the inside of me. But also, outside of me. It is far out of my reach, and I can do nothing but suffer.
My scream wakes both Sylas and Cain from their slumber. But I am not aware of it. I fall off my bed. I feel myself thrashing on the ground. Trying to dig into my chest to reach for a wound I can never reach.
I am lucky that there are no Enforcers guarding the cell tonight.
I feel hands roughly grab at me. Tearing my arms away and leaving a bloodied slash across my chest. It will heal. But I am not even aware of the injury. All I can do is scream and cry until the invisible wound heals.
It doesn't begin to lessen until morning arrives.