Atticus vanished, reappearing on the island where Ozeroth trained.
"I see our most bountiful god decided to grace us with his presence."
Atticus turned toward the voice to see Whisker smiling at him.
"What were you doing?" Atticus asked, taking note of Whisker’s appearance.
He was shirtless, his hardened muscles on display. If anyone had considered Whisker lazy, his current physique said otherwise.
He also wore beach shorts and had goggles with a breathing hole pointing upward, along with a round, inflated cushion. He was clearly about to go for a swim.
"You know," Whisker shrugged. "The kind of things hardworking folks do to reward themselves. Maybe if you worked as hard as , you’d deserve one too."
Atticus shook his head at Whisker’s absurdity. "You’re still on this vacation thing?"
"Of course," Whisker shalessly admitted. "The situation is so peaceful, it should be a cri not to enjoy it."
Atticus sighed, deciding to get to the real reason he was here. He turned toward Ozeroth, seated cross-legged at the edge of a cliff, his body glowing in golden light.
’Of course.’
Atticus wasn’t surprised. Only Ozeroth would have a Will that flashy.
He turned to Whisker, who was now also staring at Ozeroth with a serious gaze.
"I have a question," Atticus said.
"I thought gods were supposed to be all knowing?"
"We are," Atticus replied. "I just try to avoid the minds of crazy people."
Whisker grinned, clearly unbothered by the jab.
"What’s your question?"
"It’s about the color of Ozeroth’s Will," Atticus began. "It used to be purple, probably because he was walking the path of the Spirit King. But you and the Gardener are on the sa path, and your Wills were different. Why?"
"Good question," Whisker nodded, clearly impressed.
"Each color represents the concept we embody. The Untad Wild. The Gardener. The difference between us and Ozeroth is that we’ve identified who we are, but we haven’t fully accepted it. The color of our Will reflects who we are. In Ozeroth’s case, he hadn’t identified himself until now. So his Will was never truly purple. It was always golden."
Atticus absorbed the information with a calm nod.
"So he just made his first breakthrough."
Whisker nodded. "Now cos the hardest part, accepting all of it."
Atticus was about to joke that accepting his prideful, egotistical self should be easy, but then rembered that not everything was what it seed. Knowing Ozeroth, he was likely battling an emotion he didn’t want to face.
He nodded at Whisker. "I’ll co back if he makes any more progress," he said before vanishing.
Atticus reappeared on the hill and instantly resud training his other elents.
Once again, ti passed, and just like that, five months flew by.
Atticus spent most of this ti training and creating more Eldorians as the energy levels of the world gradually returned to normal.
By now, many of the other paragons had discovered his ability to turn paragons into Eldorians. After witnessing the power radiating from Avalon and Magnus, several had approached him with the sa desire.
Still, Atticus refused them all. Only he could decide who he graced, not them.
That said, he hadn’t moved too far from the humans just yet. Oberon had been the next person after Avalon to beco Eldorian, followed by a few other human paragons.
It beca clear to everyone that Atticus was showing favoritism to his original race, and they were absolutely right. Regardless, he didn’t care.
At present, there were a total of six Eldorians on Eldoralth besides Atticus. Each of them possessed power that dwarfed even the Zorvan generals they’d faced earlier. They were now his main soldiers and the protectors of Eldoralth.
It was night, and the world’s energy had just been replenished. Atticus’s gaze locked on a figure with purple hair, lying atop a platform made of flowers and vines.
He had postponed it long enough. It was finally ti to awaken her, and see what she had beco.
As he approached, he couldn’t help but wonder what to expect. Still, he didn’t let that stop him. Reaching her, he raised his palm, and a blue do surrounded her.
’Here goes.’
The do began to glow, its light growing brighter with every passing second. Soon enough, Atticus felt a significant portion of the world’s mana vanish.
’About half of what the process took,’ he noted.
It wasn’t as draining as creating an Eldorian, but still substantial.
As the do dimd and dispersed, Zoey’s eyes trembled… then fluttered open.
Her vision was blurry. She instinctively clutched her head as a searing headache hit her. A gentle hand helped her sit up.
’W-who…?’
Her thoughts were still muddled, but that touch, it felt familiar. Comforting.
She took in a few deep breaths to steady herself, then shook her head, slowly clearing the fog in her vision.
Her eyes locked onto a figure, flawless in every way.
It took a mont for her to register who she was staring at. And when she did…
"…"
Silence.
Zoey just stared at Atticus. She tilted her head one way, then the other, like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.
"I think you should—"
"You’re very handso now," she interrupted.
"…"
"I an… you were handso before, it’s just that now it’s insane. Like, on a universal scale. If there was a ranking of the most handso males in the universe, you’d probably win it by a landslide."
Atticus didn’t know what to say. She had lost her entire family. She’d lost the spirit that had been with her for years. He had expected her to break down in tears, or at the very least shed one.
He cleared his throat. "Zoey… your fam—"
"My family is dead. I know." Her voice was calm. Too calm.
"I’ve had the last eight months to think about it. I’ve mourned. I’ve cried. But it’s ti to move on."
"Eight months?"
Zoey nodded. "I’ve been in my subconscious since I fainted. I could hear everything you said. I could even feel your presence every day. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t move. Until now."
He had assud she had simply passed out from the overwhelming energy in her body. Since he understood the feeling well, he focused on healing her physically. When her body recovered, she’d wake up. That was the plan.
"You were very sweet, Atticus. I felt butterflies every ti you visited ."
’She’s changed.’
The Zoey he knew wouldn’t say that with such a straight face. He could feel it, her intent. There was only one thing in her gaze right now: happiness.
’How do I handle this?’
Should he encourage it? Or dig deeper?
Zoey caught his uncertain look. She smiled, that sa smile he had seen countless tis back at the academy. Warm.
"I’m fine, Atticus. I promise," she said, swinging her legs down from the platform and trying to stand. She staggered, but caught herself before he could help.
Then she turned and t his gaze.
"I fused with Lumindra… and I lived her life. I saw a lot of things. And I realized that life is too fleeting to be uncertain. You reach for what you want, no matter how hard."
Atticus t her eyes. "And what do you want?" he asked.
Zoey didn’t hesitate. It ca from deep within her.
"To stand by your side and…" Her expression remained calm, but the air around her turned cold.
"To burn down the Spirit World."
User Comments
0 comments from readers