The further I'm pushed upward, the more purple tendrils of divine energy I see flowing out from a single point.
It all flows from it, seamlessly creating the edges of this massive sky that angles downward to form the dome-shaped world I'm currently floating in.
My eyes widen as the purple light gets brighter and brighter, then the blue hand of the giant finally stops moving upward.
The air is cool up here, and clouds are being blown around in slow circles by a light breeze.
The wind whistles softly, but there is no other sound at all.
I just stare up in awe for a full minute before finally taking a few deep breaths and taking an airstep upward away from the enormous base of the giant's blue hand that still protrudes from the endless dark blue void.
As I airstep, yellow threads from my divine energy are left behind in the open air, but they fade away and fall into the deep blue darkness below as I continue upward.
My gaze is locked on the purple shimmering dot in the sky that gets larger and larger.
It takes a few minutes before the bottom of what looks like a semi-transparent crystal circular platform comes into view.
I'm looking at it from the bottom and can tell that whatever is making this bright purple glow is above it and shining its light over its edges.
I'm expecting the platform to get larger and larger the more I airstep upward, just like everything else recently, and end up being enormous beyond my comprehension. However, this isn't the case.
Once I arrive high enough in the air, I see the floating glass-like structure's other side.
It's flat, glossy, and reflective just like its bottom. To my surprise, floating above it in its center is a bright purple stone.
It has glossy edges and gives off an ethereal feeling unlike anything I've felt this past month.
It feels magnitudes more powerful and omniscient than the enormous blue giant below me, but also gives off the feeling of being frail and helpless at the same time.
My mind bends trying to figure out if I were to touch it, would I die instantly from coming in contact with god-like power, or would it shatter into pieces like a delicate plate of porcelain.
It slowly spins, sending out a steady rate of purple shimmering tendrils upward to connect and create the outer limits of this entire realm.
I witness reality being weaved into existence before me by countless bright strands of light.
My eyes stay open in awe, and I float about 100 meters away from the platform for minutes, taking in the glory of it all.
I'm completely entranced in the light until an unfamiliar woman's voice echoes through my mind.
"Welcome. It is my honor to have you here. I would have never predicted a human would be soul bonded with the Fallen One."
Her voice is soothing; it feels as if every word that enters my mind warms my body and unconsciously makes me smile.
However, despite the warmth entering my body and mind, my gaze stays sharp, and I realize that I'm being brought closer to the crystal platform in the sky.
I attempt to airstep away to keep my distance, but it is the same immovable force that brings me closer, exactly the same as I felt within the cyan and blue transport orbs on my way up.
In a matter of seconds, I'm brought down to stand on the outer edge of the circular platform in the sky, now up close and personal with the enormous purple stone that rotates and continues to weave reality in front of my eyes.
I take a deep breath, thinking of all the questions racing through my mind, but only muster out a simple reply.
"Who- Or what are you? Why did you bring me here?"
I look over my shoulders, but my gaze gravitates back to the beautiful purple gem before me.
A few seconds pass, but the woman's voice echoes through my mind again.
"You may call me Celia. I know humans like to put a name to things they talk to..."
The purple gem glows brightly, and more strands than usual start to flow from it and reach out in my direction.
They all form together and make contact on the glossy mirrored ground about 5 meters in front of me to create the energy form of a beautiful woman.
The energy form is roughly my height, with long flowing purple hair, perfectly proportioned curves, and a beautifully graceful walk as she comes closer.
The form has no face, but I can subconsciously tell that she's smiling at me due to her body language and indescribable aura.
Her voice rings out again, however this time a mouth forms on the faceless woman of energy and I hear it speak to me out loud. It's somehow even more soothing on the ears.
"To answer why you're here, I can show you... I was woken up from my slumber, which is not an easy feat. I was getting worried I'd die alone, but it seems the gods are gracious. I'll at least have some company."
Her mouth disappears, and her energy form pulses with a light glow. She lifts both her arms in the air to let out countless purple threads all around us to create a small dome.
She steps forward and her featureless face moves very close to mine.
I can see energy coming off her body as she circles me a few times, then stops right by my side, giving off a happy and excited emotional aura.
I try to open my mouth to reply again, but I stop the moment I see the purple threads shifting and changing into lifelike images of very familiar figures and events.
I see images flashing by of myself weeks ago entering this construct through the cyan colored rift at the edge of the forest.
Days of training my teammates to become strong enough to fend for themselves flash by in seconds next.
Countless battles against orange cored insects, then yellow cored lizards show up after this. Ember and I using our full power to awaken our own cores and explore the countless islands in the sky are shown in full detail.
At the same time, many other images of other applicants flash by simultaneously, showing their ventures through the construct.
Dozens of perspectives are being shown to me at once, but I can accurately perceive them all at the same time while the soothing energy of this woman flows around me.
I watch the Vice and Veridian Region teams work hard to make it up the first mountain for weeks, but do eventually make it high enough to farm red cores from the scavenger birds when they work together as teams.
Many of the lone applicants aren't as lucky.
Some are killed by red cored awakened, dissolving and getting sent back to the outside world.
However, one applicant stands out. The Phantom Region's single hunter, he uses the same stealth technique to lurk in the shadows on ledges with tree and shrubbery cover. It is a very time-consuming strategy, and he only has advantages against birds that are near the cliffside, but his hunting methods work well and he's able to farm the red cores.
The imagery of the Apex Region's team making it up the mountain are some of the most interesting ones yet. There is a team of three that works together I keep my eye on, most likely to limit the amount of fragments they have to share.
They're able to take on the red cores just as easily as the teammates I left behind at the ocean's shore.
I even see flashes of scenes of the two squads meeting each other and having a standoff at the top of the mountain near where I left my teammates to farm on their own.
The images of Trax yelling and bursting into lightning, Nat eating the skill orb I left for her and bursting into flames are incredible to watch.
The battle healer and water mage are the two that jump into the fight alongside them. Dane takes on Callum in a water versus wind duel, while Marcie has a rematch with the battle healer.
So many flashes of magic and destruction fill the mountainside, blasting holes in the ocean's shore and sending massive boulders of rock down the side of the endless cliff.
It takes over a full minute for it all to be over.
Dane holds the water wielder tight in a prison of wind. Marcie pins the battle healer down with her spear by his neck and her boot on his chest.
Lastly, Trax and Nat are both breathing heavily and the environment around them is burnt and covered in static residue.
They're arguably evenly matched, and both have fight left in them, but it's clear the Apex leaders' strongest teammates have been defeated and he's in a tight position.
Marcie's voice rings out from the chaos as she doesn't hesitate to pierce the battle healer's throat when he refuses to surrender.
"Let's finish this up and get back to work. We're sending these Apex Region weaklings back to the association with nothing, just what they deserve."
She smirks while Dane finishes off Callum with a barrage of wind blades too, removing him from the construct in seconds.
The two of them begin to walk over in the direction of Nat while she attempts to make some kind of agreement to go their separate ways. They haven't come to their final decision yet, but an all out fight it could go either way and both are aware of this.
If Trax goes all out against the three of them, there will certainly be some casualties, it's just unknown which side it will be.
Calling it a draw, and continuing to collect fragments will give everyone a chance to prosper in the long run.
However, this doesn't put out the flame of anger that erupts in Trax's eyes.
He pulls a red core from his item box and swallows it without hesitation and yells.
"None of you are worthy! I said it from the start! Where are those two Bedrock Region scum? I still need to give them a piece of my mind! I'll never make a deal with lesser regions. Veridian, Bedrock, Talton, Silca; all of you... you need to know your place!"
His eyes burst with the red divine threads from the core he consumed, and dangerously massive crimson bolts of lightning erupt from his body.
Nat yells at the others to stay back as she dodges one of the bolts by a hair.
Dane and Marcie stay back like she says, but it appears this is just an attempt at self-sacrifice to let them live.
Another dark red bolt of lightning comes out of Trax's body coupled with a ravenous yell, headed straight toward Nat.
My eyes open wide looking at the recording when I see that she also eats one of the red fragments to counteract this direct hit that she has no chance of dodging.
I still feel Nat safe and sound in my Rising Emperor's domain, and from what I can tell this battle happened over a week ago... She must have won... but I'm eager to find out how.
An immaculate ball of fire erupts from Nat's body, all strengthened by millions of crimson Divine threads just like Trax.
Unlike him, her eyes are still sharp moments after eating the gem.
The constant exposure to the energy while healing her teammates has given her body more resistance to the strands.
The battle of raw uncontrollable lightning power against refined and focused flames begins and ends almost instantly.
Nat repeatedly slashes through Trax's defenses and dodges the rogue bolts of electricity.
The entire battlefield they stand on bends of reality altering force, but in a few seconds the victor is clear.
Trax is sent flying off the cliffside coughing on his own blood as the effects of the gem wear off while Nat stands silently to watch.
Her fragment's power wears off soon after too, and she collapses to the ground while drinking self-regeneration potions to try and speed up the healing.
A grin is plastered on my face as the recording speeds up more and the following days of rest and recovery follow as they continue to farm fragments nearby and are unbothered by any other teams.
Even while more images of other teams and applicants fighting rush across the screens made of purple divine threads, my mind still focuses and makes a mental note of exactly where Trax fell off that cliff.
I'm certain he wasn't killed by Nat's final move. On top of that, I didn't see any other images of Trax after the fact. I'm going to make it a mission to search that cliffside if I ever make it down there to make sure the job is done.
More and more time passes on the recordings, then finally the images of Ember and I pushing as high as we can into the sky through the green serpent's aura appear in full view.
We fly higher and higher until the point where I vividly remember Ember outlining a plan that we will follow out.
He flaps his wings to move in front of me, and my gaze is locked on this screen as I'll finally get to see what his attack actually did.
The woman's hands gracefully move in the air to move purple threads and disperse every playing video feed except for the one I'm watching closely.
It shows a bright golden and silver light in Ember's chest shimmer violently and expand. Watching it after the fact, all of the odd mental effects that kept my gaze away from the mysterious energy are not activated. Now, I'm able to see this all play out exactly as it happened.
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Author's Note:
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