Waves…
Waves crashing against the shore…
That's the first sound Zenon heard as he opened his eyes. His body felt tired, broken, decimated… especially his ribs. His lungs felt pierced by the sharp snapped bones inside his chest.
Not only that, but the headache assaulting him was enough to ponder if he should remain asleep for longer. Cleaning the sand from his eyes, Zenon sat up, wincing, and looked around the place.
'This place…'
Feeling his neck on the verge of snapping, Zenon looked down to the ground while gritting his teeth. Slowly, memories of past events flooded his mind, and realized what happened.
Especially how the Third-Rank treated him like a mere fly.
The sensation of his cold and hard leg wrapping around his arm and chest was enough to send a wave of goosebumps all around his body. The last thing he remembers is colliding against the wall.
'I really fucked it up… what the hell was I supposed to do against a Third-Rank anyways.'
*Screech!*
Looking up in an instant, Zenon met Leviathan's eyes extremely close to him. This wouldn't be a problem if his Familiar didn't reach up to fifty meters tall or even more. So he couldn't help but get startled.
"Fucking hell… don't you know how to knock?" He shouted before getting back up on his feet.
His body still felt sore but the sensation was going away by seconds. Zenon looked around once again to confirm his suspicions. He was inside his Soul Sea.
"I should wake up… I have nothing to do here."
Now, exiting one's Soul was easier, as they only had to think actively about it and - whoosh! - you are out. But, as he wanted to even prepare to think about it, Leviathan hissed at him.
Zenon looked at the massive colossus in front of him and frowned his forehead.
"Come again? What's going on in my Soul Core?"
Leviathan brought his entire body down, suggesting Zenon to climb on top of his head. Shrugging, Zenon jumped on Leviathan and the Familiar brought him as close as he could to his Soul.
The boy began looking around the purple - almost transparent - sphere, trying to search for whatever Leviathan told him. He spent five minutes carefully analyzing his Soul but couldn't find anything.
Noticing how lost Zenon was, Leviathan used his tail to point at the surface of the sphere in a specific zone.
'I wonder what is so important though.'
Shifting to the left, Zenon began analyzing the zone that Leviathan was pointing at, and to his surprise…
"Wait, what? Just what's going on there?"
When Zenon looked at that almost undetectable zone, his heart was filled with some sort of comfortableness. It was similar to being stuck for two hours analyzing the same Rune - not knowing what it means - when suddenly everything clicks and you can progress with it.
While any other person that looked at this exact spot may not have a sudden change in their feelings, Zenon felt nothing else but a strange comfort.
The reason?
It was the precious movement of the Void in midst of all the chaos ruling his Soul Core. It was the order and clarity of the sequence occurring in front of his eyes which slowly tried to expand.
When Zenon shifted his eyes anywhere else, that strange comfort instantly disappeared, but not when he was looking exactly there. Even though it was as small as a drop of water - perhaps even smaller - Zenon could clearly see it.
"Just… what's going on here…"
Charmed by the beautifulness of the sequence, Zenon subconsciously lifted his fingers as he moved his right hand towards it. The moment he touched it a sudden violet flash blinded his eyes and his Soul Sea trembled violently.
Zenon and Leviathan closed their eyes and tried to maintain balance. This went on for over five seconds before the rumbling stopped.
"What the hell just hap-"
Widening his eyes, Zenon and Leviathan found themselves in an entirely different place. It wasn't the calm Soul Sea, instead, they were inside a battlefield.
Leviathan lifted his entire body and scouted the entire place. Zenon closed his right eye to see what Leviathan was saying and his jaw dropped.
'This place… this place is the canyon?!'
Looking around by himself, Zenon's eyes widened as he scouted every single rock, every single opening, and every single trail of smoke leaving from inside the canyon.
Why was he in the canyon? What happened here?!
Suddenly, a surge of flames came just from behind Zenon. Flames that were so bright that he had to close his eyes to not get them burnt. Strangely, the fire didn't seem to emit any heat… or pain.
"Surround him!"
'W-What?'
Zenon found himself in an entirely different place. He suddenly felt taller, stronger, and… smarter?
It was as if he became a new person in less than an instant!
He tried looking down, but his body didn't cooperate. His breathing even felt irregular, as if he forgot how to do it. The only thing he could do was see, hear, sense, think… But nothing else
Suddenly, his sight was filled with the familiar thin purple veils. The void.
The difference was that this time, it revolved more violently than any other time. It moved right at the speed of sound, then left, then upwards. It was changing every second as if they didn't know what to do.
Zenon looked to the front abruptly, where he saw an individual wearing a dragon-like mask with two horns. Looking right, he saw another one. They were everywhere.
They remained like this for a second before all four individuals ran towards him, their hands wrapped in a blaze.
'Fire Keepers?!'
Zenon brought both hands back over his right shoulder and clutched the air. Then, he made a slashing movement to the front… and the masked man coming for him was cut vertically, from head to toe.
Not letting go, Zenon spun completely, severing the three remaining men in half.
Dumbfounded, Zenon continued looking forward before sighing and relaxing his fist, from where two long veils of Void flew only to join again with the rest.
And then, he appeared yet again next to Leviathan.
"Gagh! Agh!" Taking deep raspy breaths, Zenon dropped to the ground while clutching his head.
His mind was once again filled with unknown memories. But that wasn't what shocked Zenon the most.
What happened just a moment ago, he was once again living the memories of another person but this time he could clearly feel what he was feeling.
His mind was only focused on one thing, the way that man grabbed the Void.
'Those gloves… those are the same gloves I have! Those are the Void Gloves!'
Whoever the hell was fighting didn't use a weapon. He used the void directly, commanding it to become a perfect and flawless blade.
Was this the power of these gloves? The power of the Void?
"What the hell is goin-"
Suddenly, the entire world trembled. The floor he was kneeling on started severing in half, leading the way to endless darkness. An endless darkness they weren't spared as both fell inside.