by Aaron Oster
He had no idea where he was. He could feel the sensation of damp stone beneath him, though he could have been wrong. Both of his hands had been so severely damaged that he could barely feel a thing. The only part of his body that had avoided damage was his ass, and right now, that was pretty much what was telling him that the ground was damp.
His mind was fuzzy, so it was hard to think and piece together what had happened. But slowly, as time passed and his trait continued its work, things began to come back to him.
The horrible pain from being skewered so many times by the gods. The last-ditch effort to get them away from his friends and the knowledge that they were about to come under attack. He tried to move as that thought hit him, panicked at the notion that his friends were still in danger. However, the pain that flashed through him soon dissuaded him from attempting any movement.
Much time had passed since he’d fallen, so it was definitely enough to have decided the battle. With the gods gone – and he was sure they’d gone after dealing with him – Katherine would have been able to use a portal to get everyone to safety. Sure, there were now hundreds of enemies in their midst, but once he was better, he could deal with them.
Morgan’s mind flashed back to the fall. The gigantic sphere of power the gods had gathered in retaliation for what he’d done to his lookalike. How had he survived it?
He tried to remember, tried to piece together what had happened as the sphere had impacted, burning away at his body and tearing him to shreds, but his mind was not yet recovered enough to give him that information.
So, he stopped trying, simply lying there and waiting for the time to pass. Slowly, his hearing and smell began to return, his nose and ears reforming over the course of about a half-hour. The smell of the damp and the faint dripping told him that his initial feeling of this being some sort of cave was correct, and when his eyesight returned fifteen minutes after that, he was able to see exactly where he’d ended up.
He was in an underground cavern, his still-damaged body lying next to a small pond that was reflecting the light of the dozens of small crystals lining the ceiling. Looking down at himself, Morgan finally saw the parts of his body that had taken the most damage, and despite having seen many gruesome sights in his lifetime, was nearly sick.
His entire chest, stomach, and torso were a blackened, burned mess. Red tissue and massive, crusted scabs were open to the air, and he could even see a shining violet showing through. That meant that so much of the skin, muscle, and bone had been stripped away that even his core was showing!
His entire lower body was in the process of growing back, and he had to quickly look away from the bones slowly extending from his waist. At least the pain made sense now.
When Morgan tried turning his head this time, he was able to manage it with only marginally less pain than before, but still, he managed it. For the first time since he’d regained consciousness, he felt a massive sense of relief to see the gleaming, silver spear lying just a few yards away, and when he reached for it, still felt the slow-moving mind trapped within.
“That was quite the escape you pulled,” Gold said, shattering the silence and causing Morgan to groan.
It wasn’t the actual man who made him do it, but rather, the sound of his voice – so loud after the peace and quiet he’d had for the past couple of hours.
“What are you doing here?” Morgan asked, his voice rasping out due to his still-damaged lungs and vocal cords.
It was painful to speak but not impossible, for which he was grateful. Having to listen to Gold talk without being able to shut him up would have been far worse than the pain he was currently in right now.
“Oh, just thought I’d pop in for a visit. See how my favorite pupil is doing.”
“Bullshit,” Morgan said, grimacing at the pain. “If you’re not here to offer an explanation, I’d suggest you leave.”
“Oh, fine. You’re no fun, you know,” he said with a faux pout.
When Morgan didn’t deign to answer him, Gold continued.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why all of those gods who attacked you just so happened to look like a bunch of people you know. The answer is quite simple. The other Morgan’s DNA was used in your creation, and the others are just reincarnations I happened to place here ahead of your arrival. You can thank me later.”
Morgan glared at him, and Gold rolled his eyes.
“Fine. I admit that not telling you about them was kind of a dick move, but hey, now you know. So, all’s well that ends well.”
“You call this ending well?” Morgan asked, looking down at himself.
“Well, you’re alive, aren’t you?” Gold retorted. “That was some quick thinking on your part with absorbing those two Pinnacle King cores, by the way. How did you know?”
“Know what?” Morgan asked, glad that Gold was filling in the blanks of his miraculous survival.
“That with your counterpart’s injuries and the others concentrating on obliterating you from existence, that you’d be able to escape if your Gravity Warp skill was powerful enough and you boosted your rank a bit more. And judging by your expression, I’m guessing that you didn’t,” Gold said. “But no matter. You’re alive, and everyone thinks you’re dead, which is excellent!”
“Please, enlighten me as to how my friends thinking I’m dead is a good thing,” he said in a dry tone.
“I’m glad you asked!” Gold said, grinning widely. “You see, with the gnomes having tossed in their lot, both with the gods and the World Beast Strangler, they managed to get a whole bunch of their forces into the Five Kingdoms without anyone knowing. They’ve even managed to turn a whole bunch of people closest to the dwarven king and that Gilderon guy!
They’ve also managed to trap everyone in that small bunker they built so they could be close to your fight with the Pinnacle King and have convinced everyone that you killed Elyssa. They’re now going to war, and-”
“What?!” Morgan exclaimed, trying to get up, only to have the pain – and his ruined body – force him back down.
Gold was dropping a lot of information on him at once—information that he hadn’t known and was extremely alarming.
“Would you like me to repeat everything I just said?” Gold asked. “I thought I’d waited long enough for your brain to recover, but if you need me to wait longer…”
“No, that’s not it!” Morgan snapped. “Everyone thinks I’m dead, the gnomes have convinced everyone that I killed Elyssa, they’re all trapped in a bunker by the combined forces of a gnome and Cultist alliance, and this is good?!”
“Well, when you put it that way, it doesn’t really sound all that great,” Gold admitted. “But that’s because you didn’t let me finish.”
“Please, go ahead,” Morgan said, not sure how Gold could make this situation sound any better.
“Well, I don’t know if it’ll make it any better, but they’re not all trapped in there. Grace and Lumia managed to escape before they locked down Katherine’s ability to open portals, and they’re all still alive. Although, they’re pretty much cut off from the outside world.”
“I guess that is a bit better,” Morgan said, glad to hear that they’d all survived. “Now, all I have to do is go free them, then go with Elyssa to Faeland to sort this all out. We kill the gnomes for their betrayal, and everything is fine.”
“Well, you can technically do that. Or you can do what I want.”
“Which is?”
“Restore Sarah’s soul to her body, of course!”
Now that got Morgan’s attention.
“You found a way!?” he asked, trying once again to sit up and once again being forced back down due to the pain.
“Yup, and it’s why I don’t want you going to interfere with the whole standoff war thing. Just hear me out before you say anything, okay?”
Despite wanting to immediately object to just leaving his friends in danger, Morgan nodded. He could at least hear the man out before telling him no.
/> “So, as I said, I found a way to restore Sarah to her body, but, as you can imagine, it won’t exactly be an easy process. In order to do that, you’re going to need two things. Number one is the Essence of a god that is a perfect genetic match to her, and two, is the ability to be able to handle that Essence. In other words, you would need to reach the Pinnacle stage of advancement.
“Now, luckily for us, we just so happen to have a perfect genetic match for Sarah, and even more luckily, all of the gods think you’re dead, which will make luring her out alone much easier. Of course, you’re going to have to reach the Pinnacle before taking her on, as her godly Essence will need to be torn from her while she’s still alive, and doing so will be impossible for you as you are.
“Oh yeah, before you ask, godly Essence is that thing we have instead of cores. It’s in our genetic makeup and is how we can command such immense power and basically live forever. With that power in hand, you’d be able to extract Sarah’s soul from the spear and fuse it back to her body. Of course, there might be some side effects from flooding her body with divine Essence, but that’s a small price to pay for getting her back and getting out from under the proverbial thumb of the big, scary man in the sky.
“So, what do you say?”
Morgan had to think it over for a few moments and process everything Gold had just told him. It was a lot of information to take in all at once, especially the bit about killing one Sarah and stealing her godly Essence to restore his Sarah to life. It wasn’t exactly something he wanted to consider, but if it was between the woman he loved and a murderous goddess, he already knew what he would do. But, on the other hand, there were his friends to consider.
“I do want to bring Sarah back, but I can’t just leave them to die, especially Elyssa. Without her, there is no alliance, and Sarah would hate me if I allowed so many deaths just to bring her back a little faster.”
Although it pained Morgan more than anything to say this, he knew it to be true. He could not allow his friends to die just because it would make Sarah’s return a bit easier.
“Do you not trust your friends?” Gold asked, taking him completely off guard.
“Of course I do,” Morgan snapped.
“Then why not trust them now?” Gold asked, folding his arms. “As we speak, Grace and Lumia are going to get help. Your friends are strong enough to keep the enemy at bay for a while, which means that you can take care of this without interfering. Is there a chance that they won’t succeed? Yes. But, if you don’t let them fight for themselves, how can you be sure that you’ll ever be able to leave and settle down once Sarah is back?”
Morgan hesitated for a moment, trying to think of some counter-argument to what Gold had to say.
“Listen, I’m not going to stand here and debate this with you,” Gold said, not giving him a chance to reply. “You’ll be good as new in a couple of hours, and then the decision will be up to you. You know what you need to do to reach the Pinnacle of power, or at least to get as close as you are physically able.
“If you decide to trust your friends and set out on the right path, I’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready. You have two weeks until everything comes to a head. Until then, try not to do anything too stupid.”
Gold winked at him then and stepped into thin air, leaving Morgan alone with his thoughts once more.
16
Morgan stared up at the ceiling of the cavern, running everything Gold had told him over in his mind. Despite wanting to do nothing more than rush to his friend’s aid, he knew that Gold was right. For once in his life, he needed to entrust others to be able to do things for themselves. It was true that Grace was just a child and had only had a few months of training, but she had Lumia with her, and he trusted the drake to keep her safe.
Besides, Grace was a bright and resourceful young girl, and he believed that she would step up to fill his shoes. The fact that she was already moving to get Katherine and the others the help they needed was proof of her maturity and willingness to help. What made him hesitant to completely run with Gold’s plan, though, was everything that could go wrong. Not to mention the pain he would be causing every moment they believed he was gone.
He desperately wished he could talk to someone about this, but everyone thought he was dead, and the only man who’d ever been able to truly put his mind at ease was long gone. Now more than ever, Morgan missed Dabu’s wisdom. His kind smile and calm disposition had always put Morgan at ease, and knowing that someone more powerful and knowledgeable was on his side was something that had continuously offered him comfort.
Sure, Gold was helping him now, but Morgan was quite sure that that man cared about no one’s interests but his own, and as soon as he stopped being useful, Gold would abandon him in an instant.
To reach the Pinnacle of power and restore Sarah within two weeks, though, was something that he wasn’t sure he could do. He knew what he had to do in order to get there, which would mean returning to Faeland. The Well of Eternal Youth and the Well of Consciousness would help push him closer, just as the Well of Souls had, but Morgan already knew that it wouldn’t be enough.
He’d been warned when he’d bathed in the Soul Well that as long as he was at war with himself, he would never be whole, and seeing as he would rather die than make peace with the monster inside of him, Morgan doubted his ability to succeed as Gold intended.
Needing to get his mind off his troubled thoughts, Morgan decided to look over his status and see what he’d done to it in his bid to escape the massive attack. He really hoped he hadn’t screwed himself up. Thankfully, opening the status was easy, and Morgan read over what had been done.
Name: Morgan
Advanced Supermage: Rank - 75
Energy to Next Rank - 172,112,000/380,000,000
Ability Advancement - 15,000,000/15,000,000 (Max.)
Ability - Natural Disaster
RP - 8,720/8,720 (Regen - 87.2 per second)
Strength - 744
Agility - 1,100
Constitution - 870
Intelligence - 872
Wisdom - 872
Skills - Hypersonic Flight, Maximum Increase, Maximum Stormforge, Earthen Shift, Nature’s Wrath, Compression, Maximum Gravity Rift, Sunblast, Sand Cyclone, Frenzy
Traits - Dense Body Max., Recovery Max., Aura Sense (inherited), Aura Flare (inherited), Perfect Self, Soul Stealer, Suppression (inherited)
Extra - Gravity Breaker (10th category), Collapsing Star (HyperNova), Shooting Star (Inferno), Massive Meteor (2nd category), Continental Crush, Soulstream
Morgan let out a sigh as he saw that his attribute growth hadn’t been damaged by the massive increase in rank. He’d been worried about pulling in and using all of the energy, but apparently – or at least, according to what he theorized – taking that massive hit and surviving had given him all the attribute points he’d needed.
He didn’t feel much stronger at the moment, but after taking a hit like that, it was no surprise. Still, he was sure he’d feel it once he was fully healed, but he had plenty of time until then to examine his skills, the changes to his teleportation, and what the Frenzy skill would really do. Although, he was pretty sure he already had a pretty good idea where the latter skill was involved.
Skills:
Hypersonic Flight - Manipulate gravity and air to reduce your weight and move through the skies. You can now reach your maximum speed instantaneously. There is no longer a weight limit. For an additional cost, you can briefly increase your speed to hypersonic levels.
Cost - 50 RP per second
Max. Height - 450 Ft
Max. Speed - 250 Ft per second
Hypersonic Speed Cost - 2,800 RP
Duration - 20 Seconds
Cooldown - 24 hours
Maximum Increase - Manipulate gravity and air to maximize your speed and power. (Currently Agility & Strength X4). Additionally, you may draw out the full potential of your inner self for a short period of time for an additional cost. This wi
ll give you a massive +25% boost to all your attributes (This stacks with the first effect).
Cost - 700 RP
Duration - 20 seconds
Cooldown - 25 seconds
Increase Cost - 2,500 RP
Duration - 75 seconds
Cooldown - 6 hours
Maximum Stormforge - Manipulate gravity and air to forge solid constructs in the shape of your choice that can be changed, projected, and controlled at will. Constructs can now be summoned at a distance and are automatically charged when summoned. You can continually stream RP into a construct for a sustained electrical current.
Cost - 350 RP per construct
Duration - Until dismissed
Electric Current Cost - 100 RP per second
Earthen Shift - Shape the earth as you see fit, control it in its many forms. You can now use elements in the ground to your advantage. Finesse increased by 150%.
Cost - 100 RP per second
Nature’s Wrath - Infuse your body with the energy of the world and harness the power of nature from your surroundings. This skill has no time limit but will cause significant strain on the body. It will also drain reiki in ever-increasing amounts the longer it is used.
Cost - 5 RP per second; cost doubles every 10 seconds
Cooldown - 1 hour
Compression - Compress the air however you choose. You can create massive air pockets at will and expand them to the maximum your power will allow in its current state.
Cost - 500 RP
Maximum Gravity Rift - Your power over gravity is such that space can no longer contain you. Vast distances can now be covered at the maximum speed your body can currently handle. Short distances can also be covered in small bursts called Blinks, and you can now open small Rifts in space to transport small objects.