The pressure from the clouds grew until it reached the sa level as old man Goldi. Ved’s face was grim.
From everything he knows about tribulation. It grows stronger with each strike. For it to have such a strong aura even before the first bolt was not a good sign.
He created a cocoon of web around himself. Seconds passed and the clouds continued to grow stronger. The animals on the island panicked and ran.
Then it ca. A blue bolt of lightning the size of an adult human descended from the clouds like a spear. It cut through the cocoon like it was a piece of paper and landed on his back.
He felt like he was hit by a sledgehamr. The temperature around him rose, his scales shattered and blood flowed out like a river and the ground shattered around him forming a huge crater
He roared in pain, the regeneration trait kicked in and his wounds healed at a visible speed.
However there was still lightning on his wounds preventing him from healing fast enough.
Fortunately they managed to heal completely before the second bolt could arrive. However sothing miraculous happened.
The remaining residues of the lightning bolt were absorbed by his body and he could feel his own lightning being strengthened and growing.
He looked up and waited for the next bolt in a grim mood. Lightning gathered on the clouds like snakes and converged above him.
Then it descended. The world turned bright and the surrounding tens of kilotres beca so hot the air simred.
Ved responded, he fired his own bolt of lightning but when they t, his tiny lightning bolt disappeared like smoke and it was absorbed by the tribulation lightning bolt.
The second bolt was larger, faster and much stronger than the first. It had a tinge of purple. It aura was much stronger than the first.
This had surpassed even old man Goldi. It reached Ved in only a mont. When it landed, the world beca a shade of blue and purple to his eyes.
His ears drums exploded from the thunderous sound that followed. His scales and bones shattered, his blood boiled and his flesh beca as black as coal.
The wounds were not even bleeding, having been cauterized by the lightning. He could barely stand and the bolt lasted full 3 seconds then disappeared.
His body started healing but it was even slower than before. Then an ominous system notification ca.
( WARNING: The traitorous heavens have seen you. You have been deed an anomaly and abomination. Prepare for the extinguishing tribulation. Good luck Host.)
’ Extinguishing tribulation?’ Ved felt despair ’What the hell did I ever do to the heavens?’ He struggled to survive the last bolt, what more of one called extinguishing tribulation.
His wounds continued to heal. He was very thankful to this regeneration trait. Without it, he would probably be dead by now.
The pressure from the clouds grew even stronger. So much so that it had even surpassed the aura of the envoy.
The clouds grew darker and darker and then gained a purple hue. Ved’s soul shook from fear when he looked at those clouds.
He felt the shadow of death covering him like a blanket. The feeling of doom continued to grow, his body started vibrating from fear.
His very soul told him, he wouldn’t be able to survive this. Lightning converged and gathered into a ball above him.
The lightning was purple. The bolt was yet to even fall but the temperature around him grew so high the ground beca soft and started lting.
Then the lightning bolt ca. The world seed to slow down for him. The feeling of death solidified and he felt the grim reaper’s claw caress him like the tender touch of a loving mother.
Even though the temperature was so high it could lt stone, he felt his body grow cold. His soul reacted, his will, his true will, the one that defines his very being moved.
Sothing appeared behind him. An image, but this one was different from all of his past images.
It did not symbolise strength, defence nor speed. This was an image of a tree, a vast tree that seed to cover the entirety of existence like an umbrella.
It gave the illusion of life and vitality, everything around it prospered. Nothing got sick or died from minor wounds, the plants, the small animals, everything lived long lives.
Without fear, hunger or cold. Lying on it branches was a gigantic black dragon so vast it could hold the world on it claw.
The dragon emitted unparalleled power and pride.The tree was born of his greatest desires and his conviction that living mattered above all.
Nothing matters if you do not live to see it. It’s only when one lives can one realise any desire or dream they have, you cannot even protect those you love unless you’re alive yourself.
He knew it was a selfish desire but he did not care. He valued his life, he had lost it once and in doing so lost all he cared for.
Once, he would’ve thought the lives of those he loves mattered more than his but now he wondered why?
Why would their lives matter more than his, if they loved him back would they want him to die for them? And if so then do they truly love him then?
These are questions that constantly plagued his mind, trying to destroy his conviction, questions born from his teachings as a human.
They were hard to get rid off after so many years of conditioning but over the years his conviction had grown stronger, solidifying his current self while his forr self beca more blurry.
He had tried to grab hold of the moral values Naledi had taught him but they were slowly slipping. He feared before long he would completely let them go.
Then would he not truly beco a monster? But then again wouldn’t a monster be selfish. Selfishness is usually condemned but what was wrong with it?
Why is it so wrong to value one’s self above others. In the animal kingdom, mothers would even abonden their offsprings to protect themselves against predators.
So use their children as bait in order to survive. It was brutal yes but was it wrong? Was nature wrong for giving living creatures the desire for self preservation.
While Ved was debating against his own thoughts, the lightning bolt descended like a heavenly pillar, dyeing the world purple
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