Arnon and Jagartha had journeyed for several days and nights Jagartha had taught the little girl who was with them about the plant life as well as known stories. It seemed she was teaching her things and indeed looked at her as a future successor of sorts.
Her name was Nelel an orphan of the tribe whos father passed in battle and the mother died giving birth to her. Jagartha immediately took her in like her own; this also showed she had experience in raising children.
As their journey had nearly reached the fourth day, they had gone to Jagarthas home which was situated on a hill at least a half-hour from the rock-fist tribe village.
"Grandma il go make tea!" the sweet voice of Nelel sounded as she happily got off the spike-covered caravan and went off to the large hut made of wood and bone. It seemed that despite being taught a lot of knowledge, she was raised well by Jagartha.
Arnon looked at Nelel's happy expression as she went off then relaxed, he knew her situation and understood Jagartha had done well with her. Jagartha was the village witch doctor, so to speak but also highly respected. Her looking after his son was a form of protection in itself from others.
"Follow me" Jagartha held Zenith in her hands whilst feeding him a bottle of green plain's cow milk. Zenith, of course, couldn't do much, it tasted horrible, but he knew he needed sustenance " Where are they taking me?" He thought to himself.
Arnon glanced at his son seeing him eat, all in all, the boy seemed familiar other then his burnt appearance, his heart ached with sadness as he felt he failed his son in some way.
"Do you have any idea what illness it might be?" He asked. During the few days, they journeyed they had more or less ironed out the details regarding Zenith's stay and him being in Jagarthas care.
"There are many illnesses in this world, and many more I haven't seen before. But that doesn't mean they can't be treated" Jagartha seemed confident as she made her way inside the wood and bone hut.
Contrary to its ominous size and exterior, the inside was quite well maintained and had many unique things. Strange relics and oddities but mainly plants decorated the interior all around, pulsing and throbbing a bit.
Arnon looked around he had been here only once before. He knew a little bit of that Jagartha had a great affinity for plant life as she had discovered an odd inheritance many years ago. She used this not just to assist the tribe but also many other tribes which made them thankful.
"What I intend to do right now is to handle the obvious condition of his burnt skin first. Your son is resilient, no doubt, to not cry and handle these painful burns. I wonder how he will grow" Jagartha appeared a little excited as she thought of Zenith's potential future wondering if he will be a great warrior or a savage tyrant or maybe he would be just an average individual.
"His blood is of Rock-Fist, of course, he is resilient" Arnon spoke proudly. Jagartha laughed and agreed while heading down a set of old stone stairs that went underground. Strangely the underground had stone bricks that seemed quite old.
"Was it a good idea to build your home upon this ancient site?" Arnon looked a bit cautious as he glanced around. "Jagartha removed the bottle from Zenith's little mouth after he was done feeding and spoke to Arnon.
"There are no traps or anything dangerous. It has been fully explored." Wanting to dispel Arnon's worries. They soon reached the end of a hallway. Before this, each room contained either plants, equipment or supplies and potions.
At the end of the hallway, the three entered the room, a tree that looked incredibly odd could standing mighty in the centre. "Its this tree!" Arnon was amazed; this tree had an excellent reputation among his tribe and the others. It had saved many lives.
"Holy Gauze Tree a rare healing tree. One which I found as a sapling and have taken great care of" Jagartha spoke as she approached the tree with Zenith in hand.
She placed her hand at the trunk of the tree. The tree itself looked like a willow tree except its trunk seemed wrapped in odd paperwhite bandages along with its branches. The leaves hanging from the branches looked like bandages themselves. All of which gave a soft green glow.
"Friend, I need your help once again. " Jagartha was communicating with the tree using her mind, which caused a resonation with the tree. Bandages began to stretch from the leaves as she took a step back and removed Zenith from the cradle as well as the wrappings of clothes he had around him.
Zenith looked up at the bandages of the tree with curiosity as they approached him, he was no fool, and with his knowledge alone he could tell that green glow those bandage leaves coming to Zenith was one of healing and restoration.
Very soon Zenith was picked up by the branches, and tree leaves gently and wrapped up like a little mummy, his mouth and nostrils visible as well as his eyes. the bandaged baby emitted a gentle green glow of healing.
Zenith felt a cold yet comforting sensation; the pain of burning he had felt and dealt with all this time began to subside bit by bit. The charred skin of his began to heal up visibly as jagartha and Arnon paid close attention.
"This old bat has some useful methods," Zenith thought to himself in a relaxed manner. The pain subsided, and his charred skin was returning to normal. Arnon seemed ecstatic and was about to rush over to his son as he saw that his lips and nose were recovering as a sign that his other skin was returning to normal.
"Wait" Jagartha spoke and held him back. After the wrapping was done and Zenith was held up by the bandage branches in the air like a wrapped small cocoon, she approached and looked carefully at him.
"Hmm" she seemed sceptical as she moved her hand to raise a bit of the wrapping on his forehead, she could then see a visible change as an incredibly light reddish and black aura covered zeniths forehead and the skin began to burn again.
Zenith knew what she wanted to do and was also curious if his skin would burn again, unfortunately, it seemed that it had indeed done so, only healing once the wrapping was back to its spot.
"His body seems cursed but not cursed? " Jagartha grumbled in annoyance as she had expected to heal the baby in one go. Arnon looked disappointed and heartbroken, sighing with sadness.
Ignoring their language, Zenith didn't understand he began to ponder about his affliction. "This is a blatant case of the soul's strength exceeding the limits of a physical body. Its a miracle in itself that I haven't died."
He went on to think. "My soul is compressed greatly and forcing itself in my body. But in the end, the soul of mine retains too much knowledge and power. is this a trade-off?"
Zenith's thoughts were silent for a moment before he pondered again "This is interesting, not to mention that the Aether in this land seems twice as abundant as anywhere within either of the four universes. If I were to cultivate in such an environment with the knowledge I have, it would be easy to improve. Though."
Zenith remembered the time before he had killed himself. When he reached the breakthrough beside the pedestal, his Aetheric core had exploded with a pure liquid that melded with his body. He wondered if this was the right way of cultivation imbuing ones physical body with liquid Aether that had been stored in his Aetheric core.
Liquid Aether was a new concept no one had ever found anything relating to. "If those four universes were starved of Aether and this new universe is the opposite, it may be possible to go that route. Coupled with my experience and knowledge, I have an advantage in cultivating again. Zenith didn't seem arrogant or praised his potential; he decided to stay neutral, as many factors could happen.
"Have you decided a name for the boy?" Jagartha suddenly broke Arnon's disappointment with her words. Arnon suddenly remembered he indeed had forgotten a name. "A name? I don't know. Miana and I agreed we would name our first child together I would like to wait until she recovers."
Jagartha scoffed and reached into one of the pockets of her robe and pulled out a smoking pipe as she began to tinker with it. "Move on from her, they won't let you see her again they won't miss this opportunity to separate you both."
Looking bitter Arnon approached Zenith while ignoring Jagarthas words. "Little one, please forgive me for although I say I care and love you, my dear son, my body has doubts for this affection. He looked into Zeniths eyes as they glanced back with some indifference.
"is this dumb father of mine trying to talk to me?" Zenith wanted to shake his head but was too weak to do so and even wrapped up. Regardless of the emotions, he could pick up in the facial expressions. There was the possibility of some drama having occurred regarding his birth.
Jagartha remained quiet as she took a few puffs of her bone pipe while watching the two, waiting for Arnon to finish. "I need to go inform the village elders of these events" He didn't seem hopeful and knew that things had yet to end for him.
"Remember some things cannot be avoided; you are the chief of the rock fist tribe your actions need to be for our village's sake. Do not let love and ignorance lead you towards doom with your tribe following" Jagartha uttered with wise words.
Arnon nodded after glancing down, then turning to look at Zenith and soon leaving with Jagartha following after him. She had quite a bit of sureness that Zenith wouldn't cry and if he did Nelel would hear it and alert her.
After they had left, Zenith was able to glance around a little more. "In my past life, people called me Quasar divinity my peak. What exactly is Quasar? Pre apocalypse humans knew these as supermassive black holes that devoured and devoured becoming galactic nucleus. containing a massive amount of pressure and energy. "
The Aether in the room began to slowly approach Zenith as if he was carefully using his methods to draw it to himself while he thought about the word again as if explaining it to himself was a form of self-enlightenment.
"Supreme divinities may cleave and destroy galaxies, but black holes are distorted and thrown away, they cant be destroyed by pure force alone why is that?. For the amount of energy, a supreme divinity can dish out and yet a black hole the size of a ball unable to be turned into nothingness. No one in the four knew why such things exist. each advanced race has their term for such an enigma."
As the Aether began to approach and become denser, it looked a little blueish with purple tints. "such a thing no matter how small, unable to be destroyed yet remaining, even when flung out, still devouring, even if there are those that resist its pull. Still, it consumes only growing more extensive as it feeds or when it fuses with another singularity. Devour and devour more.
Zeniths small toothless mouth opened, revealing his baby gums, yet his eyes showed a sense of calmness. "Hunger and more Hunger I always felt it. Alone abandoned on the streets, stealing to feed my self and never full. Hungry for food, hungry for gold, for women, for power. A hunger that is never satisfied."
Zenith was beginning the basics of his cultivation technique. One that he had developed himself as a method to temper his body. Right now in this state he could only gather Aether and store it in himself as an Aetheric core, then worry about liquid Aether later as it would not be reasonable to experiment until he was confident of things.