carrarn

NBB2 - The chaos rifts - chapter 37

Added 2021-02-28 08:52:27 +0000 UTC

As the platform descended further and further into the ground, Solus sat cross-legged beside Tirella. Their mana-fields were intertwined, and both mana-cores glowed, causing the chamber they were in to be brightly lit. Scanning down, he sensed the incredible distance they still had to bridge, even though they had been moving down for hours now.

A ping from his status-window, one of many, made Solus resist the urge to summon it. He wasn't sure if summoning the status-window would have any negative effects, and with what was at stake, he didn't dare take the risk.

Looking down at the mana-core, he noticed it wasn't any duller yet, and his mana-field was still changing at a noticeable rate. It had initially been a dull dark grey, with bright green lines, but now the grey was brightening. It also gleamed slightly, reminding him of metal. The green lines in the meantime had darkened, the glow turning a deep soothing green.

"Are you also getting those pings all the time?" Tirella asked, turning to look at him.

"Yes, they mean things are changing in our status-window," Solus said.

Tirella grinned as she shook her head. "I know that much. What I'm wondering is what's changing! I tried summoning it, but nothing happened."

Solus blinked. If Tirela had tried without negative consequences, so could he. Curiously he summoned his status-window. A blurry blue box appeared in front of him with a single line.

"> System automatically shut down due to imminent purity upgrade… please try again later."

He quickly told what he found to Tirella, and she just nodded.

Hours later, Solus began growing restless. Would they even be in time? He had pushed back the feeling before, but sensing they still had a ways to go, he wondered if Viridi was even still there.

"STILLLLL ALIVVEEEEE"

A dull, deep voice rumbled through the small room and his mind alike.

It was weaker than he had ever heard it, and looking aside, he saw a worried look on Tirella's face.

Will we be on time? He shouted in his mind, and a soft rumble came in response. Viridi's avatar was laughing. It didn't reply, though, and Solus wondered what was going on.

A while later, he sensed something heading up from deep underground. It's movement caused shaking and vibrations in the ground.

"VIRIIIIDDIIII COMMMMESSSSS" came the voice, and moments later, Solus felt an outside energy take hold of the ground he had been shaping. It was more powerful than anything he had ever sensed.

"She is here," he said as an immense mind wrapped itself around him. It felt as if he was blanketed by ground and dirt, but it felt calm and comforting.

The stone wall of the room ripped open, and a dull green figure moved into their room. Brown plants and ranks wrapped around a hunched-over, elderly woman.

Viridi, Solus thought, staring at her in shock. Only the eyes glittered and glowed as bright as he remembered.

"I thought you couldn't move?" he said after a moment, staring at her and wondering if she was going to drop down any moment.

"This is the first time in eons and the last time I ever move," a pleasant, young voice responded.

Tirela stirred beside him but kept silent. Viridi noticed, however, and turned to her.

"Ahhh, the other young one. I am so glad you have arrived. With you here, the chances of this old world have just risen considerably." A smile crept up on the creased old face, and Viridi looked at them both with a warm smile.

Solus felt a calmth and familiarity he had never sensed before, and images and concepts flowed into his mind. He knew right away that they weren't from the first sphere's gift. These came from Viridi, and from the soft, content sigh of Tirela, he realized she must have also gotten them.

Viridi motioned them both forward, her movements slow and cumbersome.

"Come… I wish I had more time with you, but these last few hours, I have spent the remainder of my power to bolster this world's flagging defenses so I could come here."

Solus and Tirela stepped before her, still holding the mana-cores, and Viridi placed her hands on their heads. Solus realized she was much bigger than they were, something he hadn't noticed before. Her long thin fingers almost wrapped entirely around his head.

"It will take too long for you to purify yourself like this. But I can still do this much to help you…"

Solus felt the mana-core stir in his hands, and the energy inside burst out. Compared to this, the energy output from before was nothing more than a small trickle. His status-window began constantly pinging as he saw and felt symbols and lines being removed and replaced on his mana-field. Within moments, the dark grey was a gleaming pure silver, while the glowing green lines across had turned to an even deeper green. Tirela's mana-field had gone from a deep yellow to orange and brown, while her lines had darkened so much that they were almost black now.

Something tinged, not from his manafield, and suddenly the lines and symbols began pulsing from deep green to black and back. The same was happening with Tirela's mana-field, but they pulsed from a deep dark brown to a dull black.

"So much potential… If only you two had been born when the earth was younger! How much you could have seen and done!" Viridi said, a sudden sadness causing Solus to feel a throbbing pain in his chest.

"No!" she suddenly said, shaking her head.

The smile returned, although it took a few moments to reach her eyes.

"There is still a chance, as I have shown you! I should not dwell on the past like this. It does not become a being's last moments!"

She stepped back, and Solus felt a wave of loneliness. The fact that the mana-core crumbled between his fingers barely registered as his mind wandered. A loud ping from his status-window jogged him awake.

"Oh right, that! An interesting thing! So like the ancients, to take what was already good, and try and perfect it, make it so that all could understand. But also so limiting and dangerous," Viridi said.

With a groan, she crumbled down, sitting with her head slumped and taking deep breaths. "I die now… but first, I must make sure you two are capable of taking my place!" She groaned, lifting her shaking hands.

Solus stepped forward and kneeled instinctively. Tirela was right beside him, and again Viridi touched them, but this time their chests. Her face suddenly brightened, her eyes glowing an intense green, and Solus felt a wave of something flow inside him as he saw Viridi's face begin rejuvenating.

"As I die, with my passing, your era begins! Evolve now, and take this final gift. You will know when you wake how long to remain. The knowledge will be there as you wake!"

Viridi's face continued to grow younger, her skin turning to the bright, vibrant brow color Solus remembered, the petals of the ranks straightening, glistening moist.

More and more warmth and energy flowed inside of him, and his status-window seemed to go crazy, the pinging having turned to a soft howling. A soft moan came from Viridi, and she raised her head, her eyes moving as if they saw something he did not.

"I come, sisters and brothers! Finally…." the last word was but a whisper, as Viridis shape turned into a myriad of green specs that shot up at a speed Solus could not follow with his eyes. His mind, however, could. Tired and sad, he felt the last living entity in the entire galaxy shoot up, out of the flagging atmosphere of the planet and into the cold, dark of space. It shot in a straight line away, quickly out of the reach of his senses, leaving behind a sense of loss.

Returning to the present, Solus felt a massive change beginning beside him and a connection. Beside him was Tirela. She was like him, but different, and together they were part of a whole. He barely felt like himself, but he also knew that the feeling would fade. It was his mind, incapable of the quick growth. He also knew that he needed to sleep, sleep for a very long time now.

Tirela also seemed to know because the platform shot down into the ground much faster than before. Feeling her mind gingerly touch his, he smiled at her. She had changed again, her skin a deep brown, close to that of Viridi, but her eyes as black as before. Her hair was brown, orange and yellow, and seemed to stir itself.

As the trees during fall, Solus thought, barely knowing from where the knowledge came.

He could see the lines of mana flow through her, and as he saw them, he realized he could see mana everywhere. There were green, red, black, and yellow lines and waves flowing through the ground. He instinctively knew that there had been more kinds long ago, but those had disappeared with the life energy. All that remained now was the undead energy, already mutating and morphing under the chaotic forces that drew it here.

The waves of energy coming from the dark space beyond the planet crashed into a thick field around the planet, and as it did, he sensed it. His energy and that of Tirela flowed to the core of the planet, strengthening the field. The deeper they dove, the stronger the field became, and he knew that as soon as they reached close to the center, near the molten layer, the field would be so strong nothing could penetrate as long as they stayed below.

"How long do you think we will sleep?" Solus asked. His voice was still deep, but it had a different timbre to it now, warmer than before, less dead.

"Tens of years of this world, perhaps longer… but it is fine. Don't you feel it?"

Wondering what Tirella meant, Solus stretched out his senses. He could stretch them towards the surface, feeling an area of the world above. Skulltown was there, a beacon of orderly lines of mana and movement. He also sensed the rifts, like puncture wounds in the fabric of space. Undead energy flowed through them, and with it came a vague feeling of danger and incredible power.

Solus shivered, turning his attention away from them. He could not close them right now and could only hope Drys would find a way. Trying to widen his scope, he sensed the hills and the undead there. They moved and battled, bright dots of undead energy. Most were green, yellow, or black, and they fought with those that were a muddled red and black. Kaots, he knew.

"They will win, although some areas will need our help after we wake," Tirella said.

Feeling her presence draw away and hover above the planet, he followed her. He smiled as he saw how tiny the wasteland he knew truly was. It was but a mere spec on what had once been a continent. Landmasses, unrecognizable from the memories he had, covered the tiny grey and brown globe.

"Enjoy the view while you can… After we wake, it will take millennia for us to grow this strong on our own," Tirella said with a smile.

"I know," Solus said, drinking in the image of the dead and barren world. Dead, yes, but he knew that there was something that could shake it awake.

The movement down slowed, the chamber steaming hot. It didn't bother him, however, besides making him sleepy. The room widened as Tirella flexed her powers. Decorations of trees, birds, and grass etched on the walls. Two beds, side by side, grew from the ground in the middle of the room.

"I don't want to see only cold and dull stones when I wake," she said, and Solus laughed.

He focused and created stone grass on a part of the ground, drawing in the green crystalline particles to give it color. Stone veins, quickly turning a similar translucent green and covered with red crystalline flowers, crept across the walls. Scanning deep and wide, he felt the blue crystal, not as abundant as the others, and drew them to the ceiling until it was a glittering blue.

"Still a show-off," Tirella said with a smile. Solus felt something from how she looked at him, but he was too tired to delve too deeply into it.

Instead, he moved to the other bed and lay down. The energy Viridi had gifted him was waning, and he knew when it was gone, he would slumber. But before that, he wanted to see what his status-window had to say.

Summoning it, he saw that the edges around the window and the words had turned from a blue into a deep green. Two lines blinked at the top.

"> (ANOMALY) Mana-field fully purified… Please find our nearest office! You will be greatly rewarded!

> Race and class changed through outside means. Custom names entered.

Curiously, he turned to the status-window.

It was the last thing he saw before he fell into a deep, slumbering sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Os Solus

Age: 1

Sex: male

Race: Undead world elemental

Type: ERROR

Class: World shaper