As Arthur tumbles off the smooth black stone, a grinning skull looking down at him, a small man jumping after him, and rising heat against his back as he starts to exit the protective atmosphere of his planet and enter negative space, he thinks only that he could've struck at something, empty air, the world, the hand that ruined his life, just so he could leave something behind. He shoots toward the rift, seeing all grades of worlds pass by him, with some of the occupants noticing his small tiny form.
Puff is falling too, clinging onto Arthur's foot. "Arthur!" He calls, but all sound is muted, and even if Arthur could hear, he couldn't respond.
They near the edge of the rift, with Arthur's body disintegrating, before smashing into the void
.
.
.
.
A small form lies on green grass, its entire body pieces through the torso by a massive, glowing black spear that vibrates with the world, capable of threatening gods and bringing down worlds.
Suddenly, the tiny bit of Arthur that is left, reaches out slowly. His mind is fogged with pain, missing limbs and scarred all over, he grasps the spear that is embedded in his chest. He tries to bring it into his unawakened heart, but fails. Before it fades to black, a man walks up next to Arthur, a familiar grinning skull smiling down at him. This time he's clad in fearsome armour that shines with the need to destroy.
"Well hello there friend. Welcome to earth."
A few hours later, Arthur wakes up to the sound of humming.
"I'm.. still alive?" he thinks to himself, slowly opening his eyes. He's greeted with the image of a large skeleton standing next to him, humming to a long forgotten tune as he stirs a strange liquid that vibrates with air itself. The skeletal head turns and looks at Arthur, bending down and patting his cheek.
"Don't worry buddy, I'll help you out in a second" he says merrily, still stiring the stew. Puff is still asleep next to Arthur, also burned but very much alive.
Arthur glances warily at the skeleton before once again trying to unpin the massive spear from his chest. it doesn't hurt anymore, just a dull ache in the back of his mind. he's still missing both his legs, an arm, and half his face, but strangely enough he's never felt better. As he grips the spear and tries to tug, a massive image forms in his head, it's the same massive face that hangs over the cities in the dimension of light, its eyes piercing into arthur's head, which promptly explodes. The skeleton reaches over to stroke the spear before repairing arthur's head.
"Do you usually go around touching strange araechlic relics?" the skeleton mutters, pouring the strange golden liquid down arthur's newly formed mouth. He feels a massive increase in strength, his limbs regrowing and his realm base surging.
"There, I've done all I can and a good bit more. If you can find your way out of here, meet me at the worlds end." the skeleton disolves into air, leaving behind a single bony finger. Arthur grabs the finger and looks around. He remembers puff and shakes him awake "Uh puff, where are we?"
Puff, rubbing his eyes and standing up, gasps at the sight of green grass and metal cities. "uhh what the flip" he says in shock, his jaw dropping to the floor.
"Puff? kinda pinned down by a mysterious spear?" Arthur gestures to his ruptured torso. "Well what do you want me to do?" puff says, affronted. Even from here as a familiar he can tell that the spear isn't as simple as it seems. "I'm not a god, nor an ancient. I barely have a real body!"
Arthur groans at puff's words, before grabbing onto the spear again. this time, instead of trying to pull it out, he pushes it deeper into his chest, causing fresh blood to flow. He then opens his awakening aperture, drawing the spear inside.
"ARTHUR ARE YOU STUPID?" puff yells, scrambling over to arthur's convulsing body. A light starts to glow, and the spear's outter black shell cracks, causing a small mite of dust to float into Arthur's awakening aperture. At first Arthur is horrified, the spear seems like his only chance, it's powerful and he needs it out, but then he sees a reflection in the dust. It's himself. Ever since the collapsing of the sun, humans and riftwalkers have been unable to see their reflections. The mite of dust settles inside Arthur, humming softly.
Suddenly, the spear lifts up, tearing out of Arthur's chest before shooting into the ringed sky and out of the rift, seemingly piercing a small world on one of the rings. Arthur's chest heaves as the dust continually expands and contracts, rippling with energy that heals arthur's body. he stands up, slowly realizing that after all this time, he's finally awakened. He flexes his muscles, the air around him shattered.
"Puff, can you tell what my awakened ability is?" Arthur asks puff, who's nearly fainted from his master falling into the eternal rift, getting stabbed by a spear, and then awakening with a bit of dust. "Uhhhhh...." puff snaps back to reality and peers into his owner's new soul. inside, he sees reflections, of everybody that has ever lived and ever will. and at the centre is a simple portrait of Arthur, but constantly changing. the words "The world's student" are engraved about it.
"I think it has something to do with.. reflections? it says you're the world's student, and it seems you can.. learn stuff? that doesn't feel right.." puff takes a deeper look, and beyond the speck of dust's might, is a simple action, Arthur's original partially formed awakening object. It's the action of proceeding, moving forward no matter what, cutting through anything that stands in his way.