Thanatos found himself suspended in an endless sea of darkness, surrounded by a dazzling array of stars that danced and twinkled against the ebony void.
His skeletal form hung there, seemingly without gravity or a sense of direction, lost in a cosmic limbo.
For a moment, he remained unconscious, his bones bathed in the faint light of distant suns.
But then, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, he awoke with a terrified scream.
"AHHHHHHH!" His howl reverberated through the emptiness, echoing back at him like a haunting chorus.
Thanatos' mind spun like a celestial whirlpool, desperately trying to make sense of his bizarre circumstances. Where was he? How did he get here?
With each passing moment, the memories came flooding back to him—the dark magic book, its sinister aura, Charlotte's alarmed voice, and the searing pain that had torn through his being.
He pieced together the events that had led him to this cosmic purgatory, his thoughts swirling like the dust of dying stars.
"The book...the dark energy...it overwhelmed me..." he muttered, his voice nothing but a whisper in the void.
As Thanatos' mind grappled with the chaos of his new reality, a deep, primordial force stirred within him.
Like a cosmic seed, it had been waiting, dormant. But now, in this strange, star-studded expanse, it began to bloom.
At first, Thanatos felt a tingling sensation along his bones.
It was almost imperceptible at first, but soon it grew, surging through his skeletal form like a hurricane of energy.
"What is this?" Thanatos gasped, the thought barely escaping his lips.
Thanatos' eyes widened as the universe around him transformed.
Suddenly, he saw beyond the veil of the mundane, his senses electrified by the primordial energy that had awoken within him.
Magicules! They danced around him like fireflies in the night.
And then, as if summoned by his curiosity, the delicate strings of mana unfurled before his eyes, glimmering like the spiderwebs of some otherworldly arachnid.
"The strings of mana...I can see them," Thanatos breathed, his voice awestruck.
Reaching out with skeletal fingers, he gingerly brushed against the ethereal tendrils, half-expecting them to dissipate like mist.
But instead, they responded to his touch, shivering and coiling around his hand like ribbons of starlight.
The mana strings, like sentient serpents, flowed towards Thanatos' skeletal form, entwining themselves around his bones.
They seemed drawn to him, eager to be part of his very being.
As the strings reached his core, a celestial glow erupted, as if a supernova had been unleashed within his being.
The light was blinding, a transcendent radiance that scorched away all shadows.
For a moment, Thanatos felt an intoxicating surge of power, as if the secrets of the universe were within his grasp.
But just as quickly as the power surged, it overwhelmed him.
Thanatos could feel his consciousness slipping away, like a drop of water in an endless ocean.
The mana strings twisted around him, a final embrace before he was swallowed by the void.
When he awoke, he was no longer in that starry expanse.
He was back in the ruined chamber, lying on the floor with Charlotte at his side.
Her features were drawn with worry, her hand resting lightly on his arm.
"Thanatos?" she whispered, her voice tremulous with fear. "Are you okay?"
He blinked, taking in the familiar chamber and his companions concerned face.
The sense of transcendence was gone, leaving him with a lingering sense of disorientation.
"I...I don't know," he rasped, the words croaking from his throat like a raven's call.
He tried to sit up, but found his bones felt heavier than normal, as if weighted down by an invisible force.
Charlotte's brow furrowed as she observed his struggle. "What happened to you? It was like you were dead for a moment, you fell to the floor and the glow left your eyes."
Thanatos glanced at the charred remains of the magic book, now lying in a smoldering heap on the floor.
He reached a bony hand to his chest, probing the spot where his core had been engulfed in light.
"The book," he murmured. "It did something to me."
Charlotte leaned in, her curiosity piqued. "Do you remember anything else? You were unconscious for a few minutes, but you seemed to be...different when you awoke."
Thanatos closed his eyes, sifting through the fragmented memories that were still fresh in his mind. "I saw…Mana. I saw the strands of mana weaving through the air, almost like spider webs. And then, they flowed into me, filling me with this...this power that I can't quite describe."
Thanatos sighed, his voice trembling with the memory.
Charlotte's eyes widened. "Mana? But...I thought only the living could manipulate mana."
Her hand reached for the magic book, now scorched and lifeless, as if she could divine some clue from its remains.
"That's what I thought too," Thanatos replied, his gaze fixed on the ruined book. "But…"
Thanatos closed his eyes, allowing himself to sink into the sensation of power that thrummed within him.
It was faint, like a distant pulse, but it was there.
"I can feel it," he said, a note of wonder creeping into his voice. "The mana...it's still inside me. Even now, I can sense it, like a heartbeat that I never knew I had."
Charlotte was silent for a moment, processing the implications of what he had said. "That means...that you're able to manipulate mana, even though you're undead. How is that possible?"
Thanatos pondered the mystery of his new power, the gravity of it sinking in like a blade in the soil.
"I'm not sure how it's possible, but I know one thing," he said, a hint of eagerness in his voice, "I'm going to find out. If I can use magic now, it could be a game changer for me. I can't wait to put this ability to the test."
The undead warrior's eyes shone with a newfound determination, his skeletal frame poised like a soldier on the cusp of battle.