613 A Harsh Awakening

“DAMN IT!!” The Elementalist yelled in sheer anger. He had at some point begun to ‘pace around’, floating back and forth in the sea of nothingness while grunting under his breath, and occasionally childishly smacking his own legs with heavy hands.

It was clear to Roley that whatever the champion of Destiny was thinking must not have been good for him, and that it somewhat worried him. After all, his kind’s survival instinct was absolute, and more powerful than that of all humans combined. If the Elementalist had been so demoralized while thinking of a way out of Horror’s trap, what did that say about his own chances?

In silence Roley waited for the Elementalist to share his thoughts, but he soon found that out to be wishful thinking. For what felt like hours the elementalist kept floating about, babbling to himself and throwing short fits of rage.

“What are you thinking?” Roley finally inquired as he too started to lose his patience. The universe they were currently in was empty, but that did not mean that his nightmare would not reset, or that an even worse one would start to play out in a matter of seconds.

As Dewah heard Roley’s voice, he suddenly stopped. He was facing away, hiding his extremely irritated gaze. Only his chest was moving, slowly inflating as he inhaled the non-existent air, and deflating right after. From the latter’s point of view, it looked like the champion of Destiny was trying to restore his composure.

After a couple of minutes, the Elementalist turned around. On his face a grave expression, which showed a great degree of worry and severity. “I need to try something.”

“Try what?” Roley asked with suspicion.

“I need to take over your body.. The whole thing.” Dewah answered honestly as he slowly approached the cultivator. He stopped just a few feet away, as if showing his unwillingness to make any attempt unless given permission. A decision Roley found quite odd and uncharacteristic of him.

With furrowed brows and narrowed eyes Roley started at the champion of Destiny. But then, his face relaxed. Many negative things could be said about him, especially regarding his naiveness, but never could Roley’s intelligence be doubted. He knew that he was trapped.. And that if it wasn’t for the Elementalist, he would have been stuck into the nightmare by himself, forever.

But gratitude was not the reason why he had not outright rejected the proposition. The true reason was his lack of awareness regarding what was happening in the real world. Were his people stuck in their own nightmares as well? Had Der escaped this fate? Were the champions of Horror slaughtering his people, or just farming them for the oh-so-sweet power of Horror?

These were all questions he had asked himself while Dewah was busy brooding over his own situation.. And the answer he had found, also happened to be quite the dispiriting one. There was no way out to find.. Or at least, not for him. “On one condition.” Roley replied. “If you manage to get out, I want you to at least make an attempt to save the others. If you cannot manage that, at least save the Warlord of the Immortal Armada. That much you should be able to do.”

These words struggled to come out of his mouth, as they relied on the full extent of his feelings.. Yet, as they reached Dewah’s ears, they were received lightheartedly. “Yes yes, whatever you want. I promise, just let me.. Let me try this.” The champion of Destiny said dismissively. It appeared to Roley that he too did not have high hopes for success, yet Roley did not push the matter any further. Not like he could force the Elementalist to follow up on his promises, anyway.

“So be it..” Roley whispered as the Elementalist’s body turned into a stream of dust that rapidly headed towards his body. As it came in contact with his skin, then, the fine dust seeped into his pores, disappearing completely.

For a moment Roley did not feel any different, but then, a piercing headache sent him screaming. “AAARGH!” He cried while suddenly grabbing his head.. But he did not resist. The pain became stronger and stronger, until finally, just like drowning, he felt an indescribable sensation of peace take over. His consciousness slowly started to dissipate, as his sight lost focus.

Darkness had started to shroud his mind, leading him gently to his death as several brown-colored orbs of power emerged from his body.. Then, nothing.

When he had expected to have died, however, Roley woke up. The headache had gone, but his mind was once again a mess. Behind him the roaring of billions of elementals, and in front of him, a few moving lights. “No..” he sighed sharply as his nightmare started to play out once again.

—–

After the extremely painful series of events, Roley once again found himself in the middle of nothing. His body was curled up into a fetal position, and a pure loneliness pervaded his mind. But then, “SHIT!! SHIT!!!!” A mad man’s cursing shook him awake, and allowed him to once again regain his composure.

“What happened?” Roley asked as he slowly remembered the last encounter, which to him, felt like a very far away past.

“The hell do you think happened!? IT DIDN’T WORK!” Dewah snarled in a fit of rage. That specific question, at that specific moment, had felt like the most obnoxious and stupid question he had heard in his life.

Before Roley could ask any more stupid questions, and further chip away at his already non-existent patience, he explained, “That damn power of Horror.. It preserves itself! It’s like it knows your death would stop it from existing. Even if you don’t struggle, and allow me to destroy your consciousness, it will just stop me!”

Roley listened to the explanation, and soon enough, he started to understand. Both he and the champion of Destiny had underestimated the extent of the powers of an aspect of existence. Yet, he was not the defeatist type. “What now? Any other ideas?” Roley asked, unwilling to give up.

The Elementalist, after hearing the question, did not overreact. Instead, he slouched in his position. His expression was not that of someone fearful for his life, nor that of someone that had accepted his death.. But that of someone who was about to lose the entirety of his life savings. A peculiar expression even Roley could not help but examine with curiosity.

“There is a way.. Damn it! SHIT!!” Dewah said as he flung his arms around like a child throwing a hissy fit.

The Lord of the elementals could tell that his nemesis was tethering on the verge of losing his mind, so he said nothing, and waited for him to fill in the blanks on his own.

After what felt like hours, the Elementalist finally calmed down, and whispered, “Damn it..” He had finally surrendered to whatever worst case scenario had sent his mind awry for the past few hours. “The failsafe is there to protect your consciousness. It will reset the scenario the moment you are about to die.. Which is what solitude would have led you to, had I not woken you up. Killing yourself.”

“However, it won’t bother protecting me.” Dewah then added as he once again floated in front of Roley. This time, however, all the eagerness and delusional hope he had shown had disappeared, replaced by an infinity of indecisiveness and hesitation.

“Hold on, what are you saying? You want me to absorb your consciousness?” Roley asked, perplexed.

Dewah shook his head. “You are gonna do nothing to my mind.. But you are gonna take my body.” He explained. He then took a deep breath, and added, “You are going to merge with my body.. And take my system.”

Roley was beyond shocked. While he could not tell what a system really was, as Daniel had never explained it in detail, he knew that that was the word the champions of Destiny used to call the aspect’s gift. The gift that gave them their odd and unpredictable powers, and that made them formidable foes.

It was needless to say that, knowing this, that Roley somewhat doubted the man’s words, for he spoke like he was willing to give his life away.

As if he knew what Roley was thinking, the Elementalist shook his head once more. “I am not going to die. I am just.. Damn it.. Taking a step back.” He said as he thought of the state of existence he was soon going to experience. One that he was very familiar with, and that he had only escaped from the day he had absorbed the consciousness of his former host.. A man who, he remembered, was not much different from Roley himself.

“I will keep my consciousness in your body, and you will use my system to get us out of here.” Dewah said, ripping the bandaid off.

The reasons why the champion of Destiny had accepted this grim fate were very few.. Two, in fact.. And quite simple. The first reason being that losing his system was better than being trapped inside Horror’s domain of power, where the best case scenario saw him spectate the same events for the rest of eternity.. While the worst case scenario saw him being discovered by the aspect of Horror, and smitten to non-existence.

The second reason could be attributed to one of his kind. A champion of Destiny he had met a thousand years ago, and who, born just like he was, had grown with the power of his system. But when it came time for this entity to swallow its host’s consciousness and take over his body and system, he had been defeated by his host’s powerful mind.

It was only thanks to the host’s kindness that he hadn’t been destroyed, and instead, he had been given a body to inhabit, as well as a chance for a life of his own. Hearing the man’s story, the Elementalist thought that this outcome had been as much a shame as it was a relief, since the description of the system the entity had lost sounded as menacing as it was interesting.. After all, who knew what the extent of a power like ‘Karma’ would be.

Unfortunately, to live a similar fate as the former champion of Destiny was all he could aim for. “Don’t ask me why I am doing this.” Dewah said in exasperation before adding, “Let’s just say you owe me a favor. A big one.”

While unsure of what the Elementalist meant, Roley was willing to try anything. He had already tried giving up his body for the hope alone that Dewah would honor his promise of freeing his people, so he had no problem with trying something that could benefit him in many ways. He was also quite worried, for every second he spent in this world, was a second of torture his people were experiencing themselves.

Once again Roley prepared to merge with the Elementalist’s body, but then, he stopped him. “Hold on, what do I do after we merge bodies?”

Dewah did not bother stopping, and as his body started to fall apart, he muttered, “You’ll know when we get there.”

Again, the Elementalist’s body turned into a fine dust, which then seeped into the young man’s body like fine powder through a sieve. But right when Roley had felt the appearance of a sharp pain before, nothing had happened. Instead, a disembodied voice resounded in his mind, “Think of a way to get out.” Dewah said, now reduced to nothing but a parasitic consciousness stuck within Roley’s body.

Roley knew what the Elementalist meant. One of the few things Daniel had explained to him was how his system was controlled by his mind. It was part of his body, and would respond to his thoughts. All he needed to do was ask, so without thinking too much about it, Roley began to wonder how he could leave.

Suddenly, a multicolored window appeared in his mind.

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*Primary Quest started: A Harsh Awakening*

-Description: Abandon an eternity of pain, fear and suffering, and regain your freedom.

Objective set: Leave the entrapment of Horror’s existential power.

Reward: +500 Elemental affinity (ERROR: Limit Reached)

Time limit: Unlimited

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