The real world was oddly dark, as it turned out. He didn't see the Sim-hall's endless scenery, nor did he see Astiron anywhere. In fact, he didn't even see a floor. He was floating in a dark space.
'Ah, not yet it seems' Aedhira thought to himself. The space felt familiar...to some extent. This was his Soulscape, as he'd spontaneously named it.
The name fit.
At least he felt it did.
The space where he'd find his 'Heart' and his Runes.
Except...there was nothing to be seen. It was just black, like the feeling one would get when closing their eyes. In this familiar darkness, as opposed to the continuous change in scenery he'd been subjected to for the past day or two, he felt a bit more at ease.
Still, the absence of the objects of interest was still a bit disturbing to him.
'Odd, where's my stuff?'
Aedhira's question echoed in the hollow space of his mind, resonating with the silence. Suddenly, the void rippled beneath him, a slow, deliberate vibration that shook his form—whatever it had manifested as in this place. The sensation wasn't jarring, but rather unnervingly familiar, like the stirring of an old memory he couldn't quite grasp.
The darkness folded in on itself, as if someone had pinched a piece of fabric. A single point of white light appeared in the crimped space, pulsing with the rhythm of a distant heartbeat. The intensity grew, gradually at first, then escalating with each pulse until the space seemed ready to tear itself apart.
And then it did.
A sphere tore free from the fold. Its surface wasn't smooth but wrapped in bandage-like chains, covered in illegible, garbled writing. The chains coiled tightly around it, rattling slightly with each movement, as if restraining something ferocious within. From the tiny gaps between the wrappings, a blinding white light leaked out, searing against the surrounding darkness.
Aedhira's breath caught in his chest. This was new.
The sphere pulsed again, expanding and contracting in wild, rhythmic bursts, the chains tightening as though fighting to contain the surging energy. With each pulse, symbols flickered into existence—runes, 'his' runes. They blinked into being and faded between the pulses, each one dancing on the edge of his consciousness.
First came the Storm Rune. The air around him seemed to grow heavy with static, a low hum filling his mind. Though he hadn't yet tapped into its full potential, Aedhira knew this rune had something to do with control over elemental forces, though what exactly it could command was still a mystery.
Then appeared the second rune, the one he associated with controlling metal. He couldn't recall the proper name—something ending in "kinesis"—but he'd already proven its utility in bending, shaping, and commanding all things metallic. It flickered briefly before disappearing into the void.
Next came the Armaspace Rune, the one that had housed his armaments and soldiers from the Aes. It pulsed into life, a constant and familiar presence that brought him comfort in its reliability.
Finally, the Ignition Rune. Its symbol blinked into being, and for the first time in this strange vision, Aedhira felt his heart—or something like it—twinge. This rune was the one that sparked life in him, the one that had ignited his existence and powered everything else. Yet he knew almost nothing about it, other than the harrowing pain it caused whenever it activated. The scars from its touch, though invisible, were felt deep within his being. He had no intention of using it again unless absolutely necessary.
But now... it was flickering.
The Ignition Rune shimmered ominously in the dark void, its pulsing light growing in intensity, the same unsettling sensation building in Aedhira's chest. He clenched his fists instinctively. His entire body—his entire existence—seemed to thrum in response, as though the rune was preparing for something.
"Why now?" he muttered, watching as the chains rattled around the sphere, tightening their grip. The runes continued to flicker in and out of view, with the Ignition Rune's glow persisting longer with each pulse, defying the natural rhythm of the others. It was alive in a way the others weren't, as though it were waiting for something... or someone.
A flash of memory surged through him. The pain, the searing agony the rune had caused him during its first activation, and again, not so long ago. It wasn't just physical pain; it was something deeper, more primal, as though the rune had latched onto his very core and twisted, forcing something out of him that wasn't supposed to be there yet.
He watched it now, wary. His instincts told him that this flickering was no accident. Something was happening—or about to happen—and he wasn't sure he was ready for it. Yet the rune pulsed more aggressively, the flicker turning into a steady, threatening glow.
"I'm not using it. Not until I know what you really are," he muttered, though the words felt hollow in the face of the rune's growing light.
His attention shifted back to the sphere, the source of it all. It swelled with energy, and the bandage-like chains rattled violently as they strained against the force within. The sphere pulsed again, this time harder, and a crack appeared in one of the bindings, letting more light spill out.
The space around him hummed in response, the vibrations growing louder, stronger. His runes flickered in and out, as if reacting to the sphere's erratic pulse. The air became thick, almost oppressive. Aedhira could feel the tension rising within his own chest, as though he were tethered to the sphere, connected in some way he didn't fully understand.
And then... silence.
The rattling stopped. The flickering ceased. The sphere, still wrapped in its strange chains, shrunk slightly, as if retreating. The runes disappeared, and the pulsing light dimmed until only a faint glow remained.
Aedhira blinked, disoriented. The void had returned to its eerie calm, the stillness almost unsettling after the surge of energy. But the Ignition Rune... it lingered in his mind, its light like a distant star, faint but undeniably present.
A cold, unsettling thought wormed its way into his consciousness.
'Whatever this was, it isn't over.'
Aedhira would rue the day he'd pissed off whatever deity or Illyenial, because for whatever reasons, his intuition seemed to be unnaturally accurate today.
And it'd come to bite him in the ass.
A hollow voice echoed in the Soulscape.
[Update Data received. Engaging InSitu Protocol-Flux1.1]
[Security Clearance Required]
[Clearance received!]
[Uploading Latest CODEX]
[...]
[...]
There was silence for a bit after those messages. Aedhira hadn't even had the time to process what the voice had even said, let alone get a word in when-
[Upload Complete!]
[Initiating Integration Patch 1.506]
[Reigniting Core Module 'Aehtercor']
[3]
[2]
[1]
[IGNITING]
The space warbled, the ensued yet ANOTHER blinding light.
Aedhira heard the hollow voice utter that familiar phrase. His body—no, his mind—braced itself, every fiber of his being tensing in anticipation. And then it came.
Pain.
Not just any pain—a searing, raw agony that felt as if his entire essence was being hurled onto a molten surface, his form frying alive, sizzling beneath an unbearable heat. It coursed through him in violent waves, each one more brutal than the last, every pulse of his very being consumed by the fire that threatened to burn him from within.
It was everywhere. In his thoughts, his soul, his limbs—if he even had limbs here, in this dark void that was his Soulscape. He couldn't tell. All he knew was that it hurt.
IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—IT HURTS—
The words pulsed through him like a drumbeat, faster and faster, an incessant mantra that fed off the sheer torment enveloping him. It echoed through his mind, bouncing off every corner of his consciousness, gaining speed as the pain grew sharper, fiercer. There was no end, no escape.
It hurts, it hurts, IT HURTS, IT HURTS—
A vicious cycle. Fear fed the pain, and the pain fed the fear. It spiraled, consuming his every thought, until there was nothing left but that simple truth. He was in agony, and the agony was endless.
He wasn't strong enough to endure this. Not this. He wasn't ready. He wasn't like the others—those Ascendants, the legendary figures with their vast power and resilience, those who could take blow after blow and rise unbroken. He wasn't some war-hardened soldier, used to the horrors of battle, to the destruction and chaos. He was Aedhira, just a boy in form, less than a month old in soul, despite all the power that coursed through him.
This pain was sharper, more intimate than any he had known before. It wasn't like being hit, being struck, being shattered by brute force. No, this was different. It was deeper, hotter. It was as if his very core was being torn apart and reforged in the heat of a cosmic furnace. No word, no thought could truly encapsulate what this pain was.
And in that moment, as he teetered on the edge of dissolving into this pain, he felt it.
Fear.
It lingered even as the pain ebbed, a heavy presence that wrapped around his form, suffocating him. The fear wasn't something he could banish or reason with. It clung to him, shivering through his Soulscape like a whisper of a shadow. He felt it gnawing at the edges of his consciousness, threatening to pull him under.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, the pain disappeared.
But the fear remained.
Aedhira's form, or whatever passed for it in this strange void, trembled violently. He was fading, slipping between the cracks of his own being. It felt as if he could disappear at any moment, like mist in the morning light, blown away by the simplest breeze.
Then the hollow voice returned, the same eerie calm, but this time clearer than before, as though it had come closer, or perhaps he had just grown more attuned to it.
[Core Module Reinition Success.]
A pause. Aedhira's mind raced, trying to process those words, but everything felt sluggish. He wasn't sure if he had the strength to face whatever came next.
[Continue?]
The question lingered in the air, heavy, oppressive. Aedhira's thoughts spun, a dizzying whirlpool of panic and hesitation. If he said yes, would it mean more pain? More of that searing, soul-crushing agony?
His mind screamed for him to refuse, to run, to escape this place before it devoured him whole. His instinct screamed for survival.
And yet—
"I won't let you down," Aedhira whispered, his voice steady despite the storm of emotions swirling within.
Nornesh's words echoed back to him, louder now, a whisper at first, but growing, repeating itself over and over, like a broken recorder.
"I know you won't."
That bittersweet grin. That quiet faith, unspoken but understood. The weight of Nornesh's presence, their power, their trust.
Aedhira clenched his metaphysical teeth, every fiber of his being taut, fighting against the wave of fear threatening to overwhelm him.
'Continue,' he thought, the word echoing out into the void.
The voice responded almost immediately.
[Proceeding with Stage 2 of the Update.]
There was no time to brace, no time to even breathe. The light exploded around him, and the darkness of his Soulscape buckled, folding in on itself as the next wave of the process began.
He was locked in. There was no turning back now.
[Reigniting Runes 1/4]
Aedhira's metaphysical head whip lashed at that, his eyes widening.
'FOUR MORE TIMES?'
[3]
'Ho-HOLD ON! W-WAIT'
[2]
His bravado crumbled for the second time. He frantically waved around his arms, signalling the hollow voice to stop the countdown. Or at least pause it for a bit.
To no avail however.
[1]
'WAI-
[IGNITING]
'SHII-'