The shimmering gold and silver light grows larger from Ember's chest and begins to cover his entire body.
There is a pulse of light that completely envelops him and spreads out like a shockwave around us.
In the moment, Ember's dragon form looks like it is made of pure, indescribably bright, and powerful divine energy.
Even looking at it through a screen that is replaying the events, something deep in the back of my mind tells me these shimmering threads are somehow at a level that far exceeds even the purple energy that has created this entire construct.
Once the threads hit their maximum luminosity, they begin to contract back. I watch all of the threads vibrate and consolidate near Ember's neck, getting brighter and brighter until they compact into a single point within his mouth.
His black glossy scales are completely void of divine energy the moment he lets out the small ball of energy from his mouth, and it's propelled forward to create a fantastic shimmering beam of light that cuts through the green threads like they're floating dust particles and a high-powered air jet is shooting through it.
The gold and silver pillar of light bursts through the aura, disintegrating everything in its path, clearing out a tunnel in the sky for me to follow.
Immediately after the beam is shot out, Ember reverts to his human form, and I jump upward to catch him in my storage.
The next images of me letting out my own attack at the green serpent are not shown on the screen; however, they aren't necessary; I vividly remember it doing no damage at all...
Instead, the video follows the golden and silver beam upward through the green layer in the sky.
It phases through the tip of the serpent's nose and doesn't slow down at all.
It appears as if the beam is even traveling faster the higher into the air it climbs.
In a matter of seconds, the shimmering energy pierces into the cyan-colored layer of sky, then breaks into the dark blue sky just as quickly.
The next image that appears before me is the ethereal beam colliding with a slowly spinning dark purple gem at the top of the construct.
The gem is the same size as the one I'm nearby now, but it looks dull and almost black in color. The purple threads that slowly stream off it are not moving at the rate I'm witnessing them move now.
It collides with the purple crystal, makes it pulse with golden and silver light, then disappears into the air like nothing was ever there.
The moment it disappears, the crystal pulses with a purple glow that almost fills the entire screen with its luminosity, erupting with purple threads for a full minute straight before calming down.
Afterward, once the light clears, it shows its bright purple glow just like how I see it now; vibrant and full of energy.
Then, the purple energy being beside me cuts the video off right there, retracting her dome of threads around me, but continues to slowly walk near me with a featureless face.
Her mouth forms, and she talks again.
"So now you know why I've brought you here. A human Soul Bonded with a Divine Beast, and on top of that, one that is notorious in our history."
Her mouth smiles, then disappears, and I feel the same emotional aura of excitement being pushed out from her as her graceful walk around the glass-like platform continues.
I reply.
"What do you mean our history?"
Her earlier words from when I first made contact with the purple gem replay in my mind and I speak up again with another question before she can even reply.
"Who is this fallen one you spoke of? Explain this to me in simpler terms, I don't know who you are, and I have no knowledge of Divine Energy outside of what I've learned over the last few weeks..."
The woman stops her graceful walk and tilts her head, pausing for a moment before giving off the aura of curiosity and child-like joy before smiling again and walking forward.
"How interesting... Again, you surprise me. If the true Divine wish to keep their secrets hidden, then I do not have the authority to tell their past. I haven't seen the outside world in over two centuries, so times may have changed.."
A light aura of her sadness washes over me, and the energy form starts to circle me again, but this doesn't keep me from replying to stay on track.
"I know he's one of these so-called Divine Beasts, you don't have to keep that identity from me."
I pause, but my mind races and becomes slightly impatient at her not exactly answering my question.
"Honestly- That's the least of my concerns. Who are you, what is this place, and why did you decide to bring me here only after seeing I'm soul bonded with a divine beast...?"
Her sour mood vanishes, and the curious and joyful aura returns while she replies.
"Well, that is simple... I already told you who I am, Celia is my name. While I may not be human, I hope this form puts you at ease. I only want to be of help to you. For explaining what this place is? That is a much more difficult question. In essence, everything you see here is me; but it is far more complicated. I can start at the beginning if you wish, it will take quite a bit of explaining."
I nod, looking around the glass platform in the sky.
"Please, all we have is time."
Her graceful movements stop as she looks directly at me with a face made of countless purple threads.
"Time. It may be all that you have, but I for one am lacking this commodity."
She spins around in a graceful twirl and slowly raises her delicate arms in the air.
"This place, it was my attempt at triggering something called a universal shift. There is no other way to awaken an immortal core, studying the past awakening is pointless. One must create, destroy, or alter something to this universe that is so grand and unique it leaves an everlasting impact that cannot be put back to its original state. If this is achieved, the system itself dubs you worthy of ascending and watching the impact you've made on the universe to ripple for eternity."
Sorrow fills the space where her aura seeps outward for a few seconds as we both stand in silence.
Then, she speaks again.
"Demons, Monsters, Pure Mana Beings, there used to be many kinds of creatures that would wander into my construct. It was once meant to be a world of its own where all beings from any world could come to have a peaceful break from reality, train, do business, or whatever their heart desired. I amassed the peak of what I knew of as power, 8 centuries building up my core to reach the apex of the known worlds; the purple core."
Her aura now is mixed with feelings and emotions that I can't quite fully conceptualize. There is fear, boredom, joy, happiness, greed, terror, unconditional love, and boundless happiness all swirling around me together as one.
"It is said one that awakens a purple core can live upward of a thousand years. Once I lived a life worth living, there was only one thing left to do. Leave a mark on history. I achieved my goals, experienced it all, and even lost everything there is multiple times to build it back up again; however the lasting memory of myself in the worlds I traveled always fades with time. When I realized the end of my life was really near, I decided to create this world in the hopes of impacting the very system, the fabric of reality that strings all living things together enough to grab its attention."
All of the emotions fade, and only a light sadness remains.
"I fused my mind, body, and soul into this pocket realm. Everything you see before you is me. If this creation is destroyed, I will be forgotten in time with it. However, it seems this destruction is already set in stone. The moment I realized this was 150 years into my construct's creation, half a century ago."
I raise an eyebrow, as this is roughly the time my world had its great war. The same time period in which Ember died in his past life.
She continues.
"This is when the first human entered my realm."
She smiles and curiosity and softness flows from her aura again.
"One of the only planets in our local system to not be blessed by the system for millennia. The human world, like all the others with systems awakened or not, had reserves of Qi. Those who harnessed it could strengthen their minds and bodies like every other lifeform, but like all great powers it was kept secret to only those small groups who held it. However, I couldn't quite believe it when I witnessed a human being using mana-based skills."
My mind is spinning at the words coming from her mouth. So many theories and ideas about other worlds, realms, Qi, and the system itself are being spoken out loud.
She doesn't stop at my wide-eyed reaction, and just continues.
"Once the first human walked through, no other species ever followed. My plentiful realm full of diversity, waned. Instead of receiving new visitors daily, and using this as a realm to interact and grow together; it became a resource mine for the greedy. More and more of my divine energy was stripped away. They came in floods, getting stronger by the day to pull all of the resources they could from the forests, oceans, and skies. My lifeforce was already diminishing, but this only sped up my end."
The sadness intensifies.
"It came to the point where I made my peace, that I was not meant to leave an imprint on the system's history. I lived the longest and brightest life a mortal could have. I accepted my end, changing the rules of the construct to only allow those who enter to be granted a limited time before they're rejected from the realm and unable to enter again. It would keep me alive just a little longer, and spread out the resources of my divine energy stores for generations to come."
She smiles, and the sadness fades to become curious again.
"The real world must be a very different place than I remember. Humans have become strong. One even reached the height of the yellow cores decades ago. That was just around the time where I decided to go into hibernation. He was a young man, a light magic user proficient in Qi."
The woman smiles and her featureless face comes close to mine.
"I went into eternal sleep shortly after. My assumption was that I would fade away, and in turn help humans strive to become a powerhouse of the local system. Maybe I wouldn't be remembered, but at least I would help a new lower race begin to grow."
I still stare back at her with a dazed expression, trying to process all of this while she speaks again.
"Then, just weeks ago, a Divine Beast entered my Realm for the first time in the history of its creation. I was woken up on my deathbed with a final unexpected chance to directly pull on the strings of fate. I've met you... If anything, I should be the one asking you questions. What is happening on the outside? Have the Demons succeeded yet in subjugating your world too?"
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Author's Note:
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