In a chamber pulsating with cosmic energy, Brandon sat cross-legged on the floor.
Ten black vortexes hovered behind him like silent sentinels, emanating an aura of untamed power.
Each vortex spun on its own axis, as if impatient to unleash their untapped potential.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Brandon shut his eyes.
His mind honed in on the pulse of the room—the currents of viscous, glittery gold liquid that swirled along the walls like divine veins coursing with the lifeblood of the universe.
It was as though the universe itself had bled its most potent elixir into this room.
Brandon felt its pull in his very bones—a cosmic siren call that couldn't be ignored.
Taking another deep breath, he focused his mind, tuning out all distractions, all worries.
Every thought settled into a singular, pointed intention.
"Devour," he whispered.
At his command, the ten black vortexes spun into action, each rotating fervently around its own axis.
A hum, both eerie and sacred, filled the room as the vortexes began to draw in the cosmic energy emanating from the gold streams on the walls.
They whirled faster and faster around their own axes, becoming frenzied vacuums of cosmic hunger.
Streams of ethereal glow peeled away from the liquid, like spirits being summoned.
They were translucent, suffused with a celestial shimmer, and they spiraled toward the vortexes.
One by one, the vortexes consumed the essence, each rotating faster as it sucked in the power.
As the vortexes absorbed the golden energy, tendrils of translucent light extended from them, connecting to Brandon's body.
Light surged into him, every cell tingling with a euphoria that was almost too much to handle.
His Divine Awakening percentage shot up, filling faster than he could blink. Each tick sent a surge of power through him, real and intoxicating.
The matter that formed his body, down to the very atoms, molecules and fibers of his soul, began to tremble, resonating at a frequency that transcended space and time.
Then, suddenly, everything went pitch black.
When his eyes opened again, he was no longer in the chamber.
He found himself in an ethereal plane, a world conjured from the deepest reaches of his mind.
In this odd realm inside his head, the ten vortexes behind him seemed to pulse stronger, like they'd been supercharged by the cosmic energy they'd just devoured.
Suddenly, a pulse—a tiny distortion in reality—alerted him to another presence.
Before him emerged another figure, his mirror image but with an air of foreignness, as if sculpted from the essence of another universe altogether.
"So this is it, huh?"
Brandon's doppelganger spoke, his voice tinged with a weary sort of resignation.
"The battle that decides our ascendance."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Who are you?"
Brandon's words filled the ethereal air between them.
"I'm you, from… a parallel universe, a different space and time,"
The Doppelganger replied, as if stating a simple fact.
"We're connected, you and I, and countless others like us. Do you not know about the Harmonic Ascendance in your reality?"
"Harmonic what now?"
Brandon shot back, his eyebrow arching in both confusion and curiosity.
The Doppelganger took a moment to explain.
"In my reality, we call it Harmonic Ascendance. Imagine it like this: each person has a unique frequency, a sort of cosmic fingerprint. And even though there are countless parallel universes, that frequency stays the same."
"As we get stronger, the only way to 'Ascend' is to strengthen our cosmic signatures to align more closely to what we call the Singularity's pulse…"
"Of course there are many theories regarding this, but in my realm, it's said that our cosmic frequencies are… diluted across a plethora of parallel realities and when we reach a certain level of strength, the cosmos transcends space and time and syncs us up to give us an opportunity to become whole again…"
"It's a rite of passage, the ultimate duel. Winner takes all—literally. They take the loser's essence and ascend."
Brandon paused, absorbing the flood of revelations that had just washed over him.
Harmonic Ascendance, cosmic fingerprints, the Singularity's pulse—his mind churned as he processed these new terms.
Yet, one undeniable truth stood out: either he fought and won, or he'd be absorbed into his alternate self.
Brandon frowned.
"So one of us has to die?"
"Not die,"
The parallel Brandon corrected.
"Be consumed, merged. The victor becomes a fuller version of themselves, the sum of multiple paths and choices."
The doppelganger paused, his eyes revealing a flicker of... regret?
"I also have people depending on me. You're not the only one with stakes here."
Brandon nodded and replied,
"Thanks for sharing…"
The doppelganger waved his hand dismissively,
"You are me and I am you after all, no need for courtesies…"
His eyes locked onto his doppelganger, but beneath that hard stare, a vivid image of Jade and Baron flashed across his mind.
They had entered their own cultivation rooms, unaware of the dangerous rite of passage that awaited them.
'God, they're just kids. What have I exposed them to?'
He thought, a knot of dread tightening in his stomach.
'They're just kids, innocent and unprepared. They don't even know how to fight, and there they are, facing the same cosmic trials as me.'
The weight of his own negligence pressed on him.
He should have been more careful, should have considered the risks.
And now, his children might pay the price for his recklessness.
'I need to get through this and fast!,'
Brandon thought urgently.
'I need to win, to get out, and find them. They're too young for this Harmonic Ascendance, too young to face their own life-or-death duel.'
His hands clenched into fists, the cosmic stakes now imbued with a fierce, personal urgency.
'Please heavens, let their opponents be easy ones!,'
He thought.
As his fingers tightened around the Celestial Pen, Brandon felt its ink-black aura spread through him, filling him with a sense of purpose he'd never known before.
"Well then, let's not keep the universe waiting!"
Across from him, his doppelganger smirked, a look of both amusement and intrigue lighting his eyes.
In a mirror image of Brandon's own movements, the parallel figure summoned his ethereal armor—black abyss, shimmering and alive.
The same ten black vortexes materialized behind him, their cosmic energy matching the intensity of Brandon's.
"Interesting,"
The doppelganger mused, examining his own God Artifact that had manifested in his hands.
"You got to the God Artifact before even reaching the Aurora Stage? Is that a pen you've got? I hope mine turns out different. Drawing was never my thing."
Brandon didn't respond.
Instead, he let his eyes lock onto those of his mirror image, and in that moment, words became obsolete.
They were the same but different—two paths in a cosmic maze, about to collide.
With a sudden burst of speed, they lunged at each other…