I woke sprawled on the cold stone floor of the cathedral, every inch of my body aching. My head throbbed with the familiar sting of mana exhaustion, and my breaths came shallow and uneven.
The events from moments ago played in my mind, clear and vivid.
The mask.
The whispers.
The pain.
I jolted upright, my hands flying to my face. Smooth skin met my fingers. No jagged edges, no writhing void pressing into my flesh.
Just my face.
"Was it… a dream?" I whispered, my voice shaky.
But even as I said it, I knew the truth.
I struggled to my feet, my legs trembling. Across the room, a tarnished piece of polished metal once decorative, now neglected caught my eye. It reflected faintly in the dim light, enough to show me what I needed to see.
My reflection stared back. Disheveled. Exhausted. Mask-free.
But something was different.
I leaned closer to the reflective surface, my breath hitching. My eyes they weren't the dull, average ones I had before.
They were striking blue, an almost ethereal shade that seemed to pulse faintly, like distant stars trapped in ice.
"What…?" I muttered, touching my face. The glow wasn't faint it was radiant, almost otherworldly. It didn't seem to belong to a human.
The mask.
It wasn't gone; it had become something else. It had become me.
stepped back, my heart pounding in my chest. The hum I had felt earlier the quiet, insistent vibration in the back of my mind was stronger now, like an ever-present rhythm I couldn't ignore.
"Merged," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "How…? Why?"
I closed my eyes, trying to piece together the fragments of memory. The mask's jagged edges pressing into my skin. The whispers that had grown louder until they were a roar. The moment of searing pain as the void on its surface seemed to collapse inward, dragging me with it.
And then... nothing.
"Did it… consume me?" My voice echoed faintly in the cathedral.
A wave of unease washed over me. If it merged with me, what else might it have changed? I reached deep into myself, feeling for the familiar flow of mana within my core.
It was there but it felt different.
My mana, once a steady, warm current, now felt colder. More refined. Sharper, as though tempered by something far beyond me.
"Living Artifacts adapt to their wielder," I muttered, recalling the lessons I'd read about such relics. "But this… this isn't just adaptation. It's like the mask has integrated itself into me completely."
"This can't be Magnus' legacy," I muttered, shaking my head.
Magnus Arcanis was a legend a space-time Archmage whose creations shaped this world. But this? A Divine artifact?
I couldn't make sense of it.
Artifacts had the same rank as mages dependent on the mana core it possessed.
But their power divided into two types:
Dead Artifacts: Tools powered by artificial mana cores. Useful, but finite they degraded over time and eventually became ordinary objects. Invented by dwarves
Living Artifacts: Infused with a living being's mana core, these artifacts could grow in power and adapt to their wielder, but they were dangerous, unpredictable.
The mask wasn't just a Living Artifact. It was Divine.
That tier of power wasn't something mortals possessed. It belonged to beings far beyond mortal comprehension.
Beings that were immortal and eternal and beyond the confines of a mana core.
It was almost on the same level as the weapon used by mortis at the end of the series.
The weapon that could end the world.
But even those didn't merge with their user.
"I shouldn't even be near this thing."
I shook off the unease and turned toward the cathedral's looming doors. "First things first get out of here before something worse happens."
The forest's cold, quiet air greeted me as I stepped outside.
The shimmering barrier behind me rippled faintly in the dim light, its energy fading now that I had left the cathedral.
I followed the faint trail I had made earlier, retracing my steps back toward the main path.
But the unease didn't leave me.
The questions in my mind refused to settle.
"Magnus' creations were revolutionary, sure," I muttered, trying to focus. "But a Divine artifact? That's… a whole other league. There's no way he could've made this."
I paused, taking a steadying breath. "So why was it in his grave?"
The forest remained silent, offering no answers.
The sound of crackling flames broke the quiet.
Ahead of me, the fire wolf stood once again.
It's eyes thou seemed different.
They seemed afraid.
"Why... are you scared?" I muttered under my breath.
It took a hesitant step back, its claws scorching the forest floor. The air around it shimmered with heat, but its body trembled.
The wolf tilted its head, the flames along its mane dimming further, almost to embers. Then, with a sudden burst of movement, it turned and bolted into the trees, its glowing form disappearing into the shadows.
I stood there, stunned.
What the hell was that?" I whispered.
Not just run. Fled.
From me.
From something inside me.
Nah that sounds wrong.
Deep within the forest, the earth rumbled.
The Red Wyrm, guardian of the forest, stirred from its slumber.
Its massive body, hundreds of meters long and composed of molten rock and blazing magma, shifted. The heat radiating from it distorted the air, turning the ground beneath it to glass with every movement.
Its glowing amber eyes opened, each one larger than a human, and it turned its gaze toward the cathedral.
For centuries, it had guarded this forest. None had entered the cathedral's domain, let alone survived its secrets.
Until now.
The wyrm's molten maw twisted into what could only be described as a grin.
To think a mere novice could.
But that presence it doesn't belong to a novice
"How curious," it rumbled, its voice like a landslide. "A Novice breaches a barrier I could not scratch."
It lowered its colossal head, the ground trembling as its scales flared with molten cracks. The faintest traces of mana clung to the air around the cathedral ancient, powerful, and entirely unfamiliar.
"Perhaps," the wyrm said, "fate has finally created another monster like that one."
The massive creature began to sink into the ground, the molten earth swallowing it whole. Its presence faded, leaving behind faint veins of glowing magma in the soil.