Theo fell to his knees. His vision blurred, his body instantly began aching all over, and his mind spiralled. Suppressing a groan with all his will, he looked up at the door. Its form almost seemed to warp under his gaze. Along with it, his body felt like it was becoming malleable. His flesh and bones twitched, then, as if sparked into action, they began shifting and changing.
"Mother....."
Cursing under his breath, he prayed and begged for the pain to stop. But nothing he did made a difference. Keeling and hoping desperately for this agonizing pain to stop, he shifted his gaze to the old man who stood only a few steps ahead of him. As he did, something strange happened.
Well, stranger than getting assaulted by strangers in a strange building, in a location he had no idea about before being led to an underground chamber to go through his awakening at least.
In that moment, he could, if only faintly, perceive subtle movements around him. Squinting his eyes, Theo tried focusing his sight on the man, but his vision blurred even more. Soon, nothing but incomprehensible blobs or shapes were visible.
'Wh... what the...'
Before he could finish the statement, the sensation, or ability to perceive subtle movements around him deepened, and exploded. His vision became flooded with light. This wasn't normal light though. This light was brighter, more radiant than any other he had seen. Unlike normal lights that followed a path, these ones flowed in unpredictable currents.
Every strand, or ray that diverted off the main path fractured, then splintered into a thousand invisible hues that flowed in an even more unpredictable path.
He blinked. Then blinked again, and again, and again. But no matter how many times he did, the sight didn't fade. No, the more he looked, the worse it got. The man stood in front of him, crouched, and Theo felt the currents flow once more. Faster and with more purpose this time. He couldn't focus, and his attention was drowned by the ever expanding flow.
The flow permeated everything, flowing through it, in it, around it. And it didn't matter whether the it in question was the men around him, or the walls enclosing them. Nor did it matter if it was the thin layers of dust that covered everything around him.
It was almost as if, everything moved.
The floor, the dust, even the air itself. All of it was ever shifting, ever changing. And for some reason, he could see it all. The imperceptible movements of particles, the dance of molecules brushing against, and pushing one another. This wasn't just sight anymore. It went far beyond the realm of something so, mundane. It was as though his consciousness itself was being dragged along with every motion occurring in the world.
Including a constant thump that echoed louder than anything else.
The man stepped closer, leaned towards him and said in a strangely emotional tone.
"Don't be frightened, don't fight against it. This is all natural."
Gritting his teeth, he turned to the man and asked with a grunt.
"Excruciating pain is natural?!"
The man took a moment to ponder his next words, then opened his mouth, and said.
"In your case, yes. Your body, for reasons unknown, has accumulated a massive amount of ether in a short period of time. And as your body hasn't acclimatised to being exposed to it, let alone gotten used to that amount of power, it's struggling to adapt."
The man's words barely registered. No, that's wrong. The words did register, it was just that it was more like he saw them, not heard them. Which was strange in more ways than one. Focusing, he realized what he was seeing, were the patterns the vibrations of each letter spoken by him created in the vast tapestry of molecules that surrounded them.
It wasn't sound. Not anymore. It was, art. Each word, each letter had its own pattern. But right now, he couldn't bother trying to figure out the individual patterns because his eyes were searing with pain that seemed to double with every passing second.
Theo gasped.
'Is that is what this... whatever it is I'm seeing is?'
For a while, Theo stayed silent, suppressing screams of agony that would make any normal person pass out. But after a while, he frowned and said.
"Bullshit!"
He understood everything he had just heard, seen? Whatever form it was, he used it to understand what the old man was communicating to him. And he knew instinctively that this wasn't that.
"This isn't just my body 'adapting'," he growled. "Something's... wrong."
The patterns around the old man shifted. This time, it wasn't in response to the man, it was from him. He was literally seeing his words. It was a brief, jagged distortion, but it was there for a moment.
The old man froze.
For the first time since this began, he didn't speak immediately. When he did, however, his voice carried a tinge of worry.
"Just stay calm. The best thing you can do is to relax and let whatever is happening happen."
"Easier said than done!"
At this point, Theo was having to fight through the pain just to keep himself conscious.
Minutes passed, and the pain refused to subside. But at the same time, it didn't get worse.
'Three people...'
That number was significant. Not because of anything extraordinary, but because that number matched the constant waves he saw overlapping with one another. Casting his gaze around, his eyes fell on all three of the people who stood in the small chamber with him. Focusing on their chests, his eyes widened for a moment.
'Their hearts... these waves are their heartbeats!'
Theo stared blankly for a few moments. Then he lowered his gaze, staring down at himself. The moment he did, the world seemed to lurch. A fourth set of waves erupted from his chest, but unlike the others, his didn't stop at the skin. They tore outward violently, crashing into the surrounding currents and forcing them to bend.
The pain spiked, and as if forced to by instinct, he squeezed his eyes shut. Darkness engulfed the world, and along with it came a silence that he so desperately cried out for. He could no longer see the ever-changing tapestry of particles that surrounded everything.
Along with this change, a sense of comforting warmth filled his body. And he felt refreshed. He took a deep breath and said, his voice filled with joy.
"Ahh. So that's how to stop it."
Turning to the old man at his side though, he frowned. The man raised a brow, and asked.
"Are you alright now?"
Keeping silent, he observed his surroundings yet again. Theo hadn't opened his eyes. yet he could still see the rays of the dim light emanating from the runes on the wall. Three figures standing where they had been all along. Then, as if reminded of a nightmare, the sight of the tapestry of molecules returned. He braced himself for the pain that had followed before, but it didn't come.
Everything was, normal.
The chamber was still there. And he was still alive. But now, something about him was different. Looking down at his palms a corner of his lips rose, and he chuckled. Then looked to the old man once more and said.
"I can see,,,"