A few hours before dawn broke through the skies, a sound sliced through the dim, elegant chamber. Thick layers of magic that had just been reinforced several hours before lted off, conceding before the presence of its maker. Clear footsteps echoed throughout as the floor reflected a certain slender silhouette. The man carried a floating ice crystal, glowing a bright hue, levitating above his soft palm. Slowly, the light he brought blended with the gradual bluish glow in front of him.
The youth looked to be bathed in moonlight. Long, wavy strands glistened like sharp, silvery tendrils of light. Moulin stood before the enhanced pedestal at the center of the chamber. His calm expression, akin to the beauteous countenance of the stronghold's collected statues, faced the light before him.
The Chrysolite roused from its trance, grew brightly without activating the rest of the enchantnts in the room as though.
'It bears your essence.'
The words resounded in his mind like the strong teachings of a priest piercing a follower's heart. Moulin frowned.
His essence wasn't entirely his own.
After several laborious hours of work, the final preparations were finished. Sothing that should have taken them a month to do was completed in less than a day. An astounding feat, indeed. However, Moulin was sure there would be so complications hiding beneath, waiting to reveal themselves. The chamber lacked enough testing. Not much was done to solidify their aim.
Silver eyes reflected the pulsing crystal settled on the nest of golden supports. It was encased inside a paneless golden fra, much like a lamp's. Certainly, the artisans in the stronghold would question its uncreative look, but Lady Calanthe insisted it was appropriate. Sothing like the sentient Chrysolite, with its divine awareness and all, would be mad in fury once it realized it was caged.
Fortunately, it seed to like its current situation, being fussed over like a precious treasure. Moreover, during the course of altering the chamber enchantnts, the Chrysolite reacted positively if the youth's mana probed it. Moulin almost thought it was trying to flatter him.
Or was it so intrigued it wanted to devour more of my energy?
He couldn't shake the feeling that this flattering gem was ant to be more than the mother crystal of the pure relics.
A legendary divine artifact like this should be used according to its worth.
After studying the book of Orchaedia for a while, he learned that divine objects created from the hands of the heavens were beyond capable of things a mortal like him couldn't comprehend. And if that was the case...
Moulin swallowed. The glowing crystal floating above his palm disintegrated into a flurry of snow before he drew himself closer to the pedestal. He placed a hand over the Chrysolite and watched its pulses quicken excitedly.
Of course, this was just so small experint.
The young man shut his eyes and concentrated, utilizing the ditating skills he used during the mind forge to open his ntal space and control the flow of his mana. In the next instance, he felt sothing siphon his energy from him as though it was a thread being pulled by a spinning wheel.
"Quite the greedy little thing..."
Eat as much as you can...
After a few minutes, the glowing blueish hue the Chrysolite had always emitted grew a shade lighter. Moulin took this chance to force himself into a trance-like state and pried open the depths of his mind, searching for remnants of Morhas. The image of the God inside his dreams remained vague, like a blurry shadow behind a foggy window.
But that was enough...
A vision quickly materialized in his mind. Like the usual ntal scenes he experiences during his efforts to reach Morhas, he finds himself standing before a thick wall of crystal, hiding a fading glowing light. His hand was already resting on its jagged surface.
However, the biting cold piercing into the skin of his fingers made him realize he was standing before a wall of ice. Not crystal. Moreover, ice possessed a dark reddish shade like frozen blood. His senses were heightened. He could hear the loudness of his heartbeat, like drums pounding beside his ears.
His eyes focused on the ice around his hand, which seed to warp. The wall cracked beneath his hand, shifting and growing. Dark red icy tendrils grew towards him from the spaces between his fingers. His pupils trembled in anticipation. It was all in his head, but it felt too real.
Crack!
Crack!
The ice beneath his palm on the wall pushed his hand slightly as though sothing was growing beneath it. The more Moulin watched the more the object beca more defined.
It was a slender hand, lting slightly, stretching from the dark red wall. Sanguine droplets dampened Moulin's pale skin.
Moulin's breathing beca erratic as he watched the red fingers twitch once. In the next instance, it laced its lting digits, slipping them between Moulin's. Suddenly, it stopped as though in waiting.
The youth paused in hesitation. The grotesque scene had shaken him, but as he felt the warmth from their touch, not feeling a sense of frostbite. It felt sohow fragile and gentle...
Genuine...
As the calmness swept over him, Moulin closed his fingers around the blood-red hand. Acceptance washed away the fear in his spirit.
Suddenly, a swift, cool energy bursts from his inner soul. His skin glowed a bright gold, and the mana stretched forward, transforming the once lting dark-red icy limb. Crystal white, flashing vague hues of enthralling colors. Streams of silver ran beneath its crystal skin like pulsing blood vessels. The wall, abruptly purified by a powerful wave of divine energy, transford into a formidable crystal barrier glistening with a mighty virtuous spirit.
Moulin's surroundings turned bright, and as he lifted his gaze, his eyes t a pair of glowing pupils behind the crystal barrier. Shock filled the youth's expression.
The hand that held his looked smaller for it to belong to the full-grown being behind the wall. Its body glowed brightly. A transcendental being empowered by a re mortal's touch.
'Morhas?...' A shuddering whisper escaped his mouth before he could think.
The being did not speak but only held his gaze. For a mont, Moulin thought he saw a smile in the deity's eyes.
CRACK!
The wall shattered as beams of light leaked out from the cracks, instantly blinding the youth's vision. Before it swallowed Moulin's soul, a familiar voice, pure and gentle, whispered to him.
'You are more powerful than you think you are... Moulin.'
"Ha!" Moulin gasped, recoiling from the Chrysolite as he took in deep breaths. Despite being a skillful sentinel, he fell to the ground, shuddering at the buzzing power surging underneath his flesh.
Silver pupils quivered as he tried to process what had happened. His gaze subconsciously lifted on top of the pedestal.
The divine crystal shone brightly like a white sun illuminating the dim chamber. The hundreds of runic embellishnts glowed a silvery light. All enchantnts had activated boiling with formidable mana. At the center of it all, the golden fras that had protected and supported the Chrysolite vanished, replaced by a crystal bed.
Shaped like a certain blooming flower, it opened its petals. Above it was the divine crystal levitating with calm, graceful flashes of white light.
Filled with awe and shock, the youth stayed on the ground, gaping. One would think he had been frozen still. Surrounded by the bountiful flow of magic, Moulin thought everything had returned to how it was before the Kron had plagued the lands, and magic filled the air.
"What in the world?..."
A voice cut through Moulin's thoughts, freezing him in place. He abruptly turned his head and t Lady Calanthe's wide eyes. The sorceress was dressed lightly without even wearing her favorite feathered hat. It seed she had arrived in haste. Her eyes darted around the chamber in confusion, sensing the surprisingly potent energy surrounding her.
She turned to Moulin, who was equally speechless.
Inwardly, Moulin didn't even know where to start as he was also confused. He hadn't expected the drastic transformation of the chamber as well as the Chrysolite's sudden change. His heart was beating erratically against the cage of his chest. Thoughts ran rampant inside his brain.
'Thank you...'
Moulin stopped. A voice had spoken. Facing Lady Calanthe, he could clearly discern every bit of his ntor's facial movents. Moulin thought she had spoken, but the sorceress's mouth remained closed. Her eyes were confused and astonished.
It sounded young. Clear as the sound of a water droplet in an enchanting crystal cave.
'Moulin...'
The youth could barely withstand the amount of surprises that had shaken him to the core all in a single minute. He thought his hands were already shaking violently. But he turned his head, lured to the origin of the voice.
The Chrysolite emitted small beams of light, possessing brief flashes of rainbows, so much like the crystal barrier in his vision, divine and breathtaking.
The crystal's thorny texture moved as the voice spoke once more.
"Hello... my friend."
Moulin's eyes couldn't be any wider.
"Morhas..."
User Comments
0 comments from readers