The three winners of the trial calmly followed the presiding elder to the treasure hall, where they found the entire group of Avery Family's high elders as well as the Family Leader Aldous Avery. He carefully stared at each of the three and nodded. "We have good seedlings this time. As prize winners of this years trial, you will be given the opportunity to practice our family's most treasured gene strengthening technique. Nanosynthesis."
Each of the three felt their holowatches glimmer with a notification and they simultaneously received an encrypted file describing the Nanosynthesis Gene Strengthening Technique. It was one of Earth's high class techniques, capable of revealing at least six gene locks and was the treasured heritage of the Avery family that only prized talents could learn. A quick glance told Will that this wasn't the complete manual, presumably the full manual of the technique would only be handed to them when they grew stronger in the Realm.
Aldous continued speaking after seeing that the three had verified their prizes. "You of course know that gene strengthening can only be practiced inside the Realm of Continuity. However, this particular art of ours requires a customized genetic fluid to trigger the process. This fluid is created from extremely difficult to obtain materials in the Realm and is very precious. I hope that you three understand that receiving this is both a sign of recognition and responsibility towards the family."
Aldous asked Oliver to come over and lay down on the machine in front of him. This machine looked unlike anything Will had ever seen before. The design, the structure and even the way it worked seemed completely out of place with modern instruments. The machine had a seat which Oliver sat down on and immediately got clamped into. An elder inserted a vial with golden liquid into the peculiar machine. Suddenly a gigantic injector pierced Oliver's vein, shocking him in horror. Pain flushed through his eyes as the liquid seemed to wiggle through his veins like an insect under his skin, creating a horrific sight.
It took a good minute before Oliver's trauma finally ended. Will noticed a slight golden tint within his pupils and the perspiration on his face and sighed. He didn't realize that administering a gene potion was such a violent activity. After the medical professional checked and confirmed that Oliver's vitals were stable he walked out of the machine. He quietly stood to the side, his eyes still quivering. Clearly he was still feeling the after effects of taking the Gene potion.
Aldous urged Estrella to enter the machine next. However, when the two second rankers saw the color of the potion changed from gold to silver, they were confused. Aldous expected this reaction and explained for their benefit. "The potion made for Oliver were made from the rarest of rare once in a generation ingredients. It isn't just the reward for the Trial. I have personally contributed a significant portion of my own resources for that particular portion." He originally did not have any reason to explain this matter to the two, but he did not want ignorance to create division within the family due to jealousy. Estrella nodded and followed through with a similar process using the silvery potion instead.
When it was Will's turn, he too underwent the process. However, this time a bizarre reaction took place. The injection of the gene potion directly began an excessively violent reaction that immediately started wrecking havoc within his body. Will's vitals were all displaying shockingly chaotic numbers and charts, scaring even the medical stand in. Then all of a sudden, Will's body cooled and his skin puffed out a dense brown-black mist with a horrible smell, that shocked and befuddled everyone in the Treasure chamber. Then Will fell unconscious.
Within Will's mind, the eternal darkness of the unconscious suddenly parted away like clouds to lead to a gigantic door made of pure gold. Will's consciousness stirred as he graduated to a self aware state. Confused about where he was, he tried looking around and realized that he didn't have a corporeal form.
He could neither speak nor could he listen for there was no sound around at all. The sentience that was Will turned his attention towards the golden door that towered over him, rising so high up that clouds began to form before the door's vertical boundaries ended and he could no longer peer its scale. From the very bottom, the door made of gold was adorned with exquisitely carved and extremely sophisticated carvings. Will could surmise that the entire door was filled with these carvings but whenever he tried to specifically identify these carvings and figures engraved on the door of gold, he felt his mind feel fuzzy and he was unable to do what he desired to.
Suddenly a terrible vibration erupted from behind the door, causing it to tremble loudly without budging. Shockingly, just the tremble from the door created an explosive pressure to radiate outward and slam into Will's sentience which was dazedly observing the door carvings threatening to eradicate the very core of his being. His perception became faint and he felt like he was going to be wiped out of existence, but just barely managed to survive by the edge of the line. An instinctual fear gripped his soul both from the door and the terrifying thing it seemed to hold behind it.
Suddenly the door disappeared and the profound darkness of space was suddenly blessed with bright rays of light in the distance. Will slowly began to sense the presence of his body and forced his eyes open, coinciding with the bright light that gradually eradicated the darkness away completely. Will felt his body materializing within his senses and then felt a horrible lump within his throat and nose as he desperately coughed several times. His vision was blurry, but he saw shadows of people dashing around him.
"He's finally awake. Quick, emergency measures!" A voice yelled out.
"He was stable till now, why did he cough out so much blood? Damn... he has really heavy internal injuries."
"His vitals are precarious."
Will could no longer differentiate sound from noise as his vision blurred again and he fell unconscious.