Chapter 340: The Assimilation of Ti! II
Ti does not move… we do.
The words pulsed like a slow heartbeat in Achilles’ mind. Each repetition sank deeper than the last, echoing in the hollowed silence that followed his ascent through the dream.
Ti did not move. People did.
And yet, ti had just danced for him. He had seen it. Walked in it. Felt it slide like velvet between his fingers. No longer an abstract current, but a weaving he could reach into and tug. And as the final threads of the dream unraveled…
BOOM.
The world returned.
A breath.
A blink.
He opened his eyes.
Above, the skies of Thalassara shimred with their usual iridescent glow, and below, the golden waterfalls of the Adrastia Continent spilled into the endless blue. His head rested on Rose’s lap, the warmth of her body grounding him. Her hand moved gently through his hair, but the rhythm faltered the mont she looked into his eyes.
Her breath caught.
“Your eyes…” she whispered, her voice soft, caught between awe and worry. “They’re glowing purple. Again. Was it fruitful?”
He closed his eyes slowly, inhaling. The weight of what he had just touched still lingered in his bones. In the depths of his being. He felt it curling within him, ancient and sharp.
“Very,” he murmured. “Very much so.”
The words ca with reverence. As if they belonged in a temple, not the gentle reef where he lay.
Inside, he could already feel the structure of the new assimilation.
Chronofold Pulse.
Ti Vision.
Temporal Fracture.
Clockshard Horizon.
They whispered in his soul like sacred relics long buried.
He couldn’t resist.
A breath passed between them, and softly, he uttered, “Chronofold Pulse.”
HUUM!
The Sea of Thalassara changed.
At first, it was subtle- a tint to the air, a violet hue washing across the horizon. Then, everything slowed. Not sluggishly. Not in a blur. But in perfect stillness. The waves stopped cresting. The fish froze in mid-flutter. A coral bloom suspended mid-pulse beneath the waves.
All around him, ti had stilled.
And yet above it all, far beyond the clouds and waterfalls and floating isles, Achilles saw it.
A vast river.
Purple.
Glorious.
Winding through the stars like a thread of woven starlight, it passed through the Adrastia Continent, through the sky, through him.
The River of Ti.
And he moved.
Backward.
Not ti, but him. His body, his essence, shifted backwards in the river. Everything else followed. Rose’s hand lifted off his hair. Her lips moved in reverse. His breath rewound, inhaled where it had once exhaled. Even the birds rewound their wingbeats.
The entire Adrastia Continent reversed by five seconds.
And then….a gentle click.
The world resud.
“Was it fruitful?” Rose asked again.
His eyes widened slightly as he stared up at her.
She tilted her head. “What?”
“You asked that before,” he murmured. “Exactly like that.”
Rose blinked, confused. “I just asked you now. You just woke up.”
He exhaled, the breath flowing with wonder. Chronofold Pulse had worked flawlessly.
He said the sa reply. And as if sealing the symtry of the mont, he let his head fall back onto her lap.
Rose arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to sleep again already?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. Not sleep. Not this ti.”
Her hand paused.
“Then what?”
He opened his eyes and looked into hers.
“I’m going to peer into the future.”
The absurdity of the statent didn’t faze him. Not anymore!
Rose blinked, then smiled faintly. She said nothing more, just ran her fingers through his hair again, calm as the tide.
She didn’t even ask!
His breathing slowed.
And within the space of silence, he whispered the command.
“Ti Vision.”
HUUM!
The River returned.
Endless. Wide. Hazy. A fog of shifting light rolled across the water, and from its depths, a ghostly image of himself erged, ford from purple mist.
“Na your target,” the vision-self intoned.
He did not hesitate.
“The Primordial Light of Darkness.”
…!
The river convulsed.
A tremor passed through its current, and then the flow surged forward.
Faster.
Faster.
A violet storm wrapped around him, and the mist thickened, until suddenly…
Stillness.
The haze cleared.
A landscape unfolded before him.
Two massive mountain ranges rose like titans from a vast blue sea. One was glacial, its peaks crowned in frost, glinting under the glow of cold stars. The other was a land of sorrowful mist, gray vapors flowing down its slopes like waterfalls of fog. Wind howled between them, a dirge carrying across the waters.
Between the two mountains lay an island.
Dark.
Unmoving.
And yet pulsing.
Like a heartbeat beneath the earth. With each pulse, waves of thick shadow undulated outwards, turning the air heavy, soaked in dread.
Above this island, a figure began to rise.
Humanoid.
Black wings unfurled slowly from its back, spanning hundreds of feet. They flapped with a weight that made the sea churn below. The being raised its arms toward the skies…
And Achilles saw it.
Descending.
A crimson eye.
Massive.
Wreathed in writhing tentacles, each one impossibly long and veined with ruinous runes. The wings of the entity above the island mirrored the shape of those surrounding the eye.
The eye opened wider.
Inside, a swirling depth of madness and glee blinked.
And then, the wings closed around it.
As if preparing to descend fully.
As if preparing to enter the Plane.
Achilles’ heart thundered.
He reached forward through the vision, a useless gesture- but instinctive.
The vision rippled. Began to fray.
But he saw enough.
Enough to know the future!
And the enemy that was preparing to descend in full.
He felt himself being pulled back, the vision collapsing, but not before the voice of the black-winged figure spoke.
It didn’t speak in words. Not exactly. It spoke in pulses of thought, in threads of emotion.
“The others will be here soon, let us enjoy first before their arrival…”
…!
The river shattered.
And he opened his eyes again.
This ti, the glow in his pupils was a particularly deep shade of purple as his eyes pulsed with lividity!
2/2 Onwards!
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