Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 1088: Selfishness and Hope

Zac guessed he shouldnʼt have been surprised that the truths of the Abyssal Lake could become nourishment for his original bloodline, even if his cells rarely competed for the energy entering his body. The Abyssal Lake held a unique approach to the Dao of Death that seemed to go beyond his understanding of Dao. Zac wouldnʼt even be surprised if the Void of Death could be found in the lakeʼs depth, where its Dao of Death reached the extremity.

So what should he do? Let alone awakening multiple stages like Tavza mentioned; Zac wasnʼt sure heʼd even be able to break the first shackle as things stood. And going by the absorption rate, Zac suspected that his Void Emperor Bloodline wouldnʼt be satiated even after drinking its fill for the whole three days.

After all, heʼd absorbed half a mountain when awakening the Void Emperor bloodline to the F-grade. The amount of energy required at his current level was no doubt monstrous. Besides, did he even dare push for a breakthrough for his Void Emperor Bloodline in here? There was no way the people above wouldnʼt realize there was something wrong if he unleashed the true vortices of his bloodline.

No, it was too early, and the timing wasnʼt right. Zac dispelled the worry and impatience before the feelings became a crack in his heart that the Abyss could exploit. Instead, he focused on increasing his rate of absorption. It would increase the risk of taking on more than his body and mind could handle, but it might let him keep more for himself.

New spiritual tendrils full of hunger spread through the waters, some of them inching ever closer to the pondʼs edge. As the roots crept closer to the barrier, the quantity and quality exponentially improved. Even the insatiable vortices in his cells found it difficult to keep up, and a primal force started to build within his body.

It worked. Just a few more hours and the accumulation would be enough to break the shackle holding him back. However, the influx of pure Abyssal Energy didnʼt come without a price. The call of the Abyss was deafening, threatening to overwhelm his spiritual and psychological defenses. He tried to hold onto his Void Self, but he could tell the pure energies right by the spatial film were more than he could sustainably handle.

Zac was unsure what to do. If he backed down, his cells would quickly siphon off what heʼd managed to accumulate. But there would be repercussions from staying on, and not only the risk of being absorbed by the Abyssal Lake. The truths entering his body were too lofty, too complete. Heʼd encountered this situation a few times before, like in the hidden valley of the Twilight Chasm.

However, how could that setup compare to the truths hidden in the Abyss? If not for his Void Heart, his path would already have broken.

Zac chose to retreat and find another solution, but something other than Abyssal Energy was suddenly transmitted through the spiritual tendrils closest to the edge. It felt more like a spiritual thread that tried to connect with him from the other side of the film. The tendril gave Zac the same odd sensation as when he first met with Tavza, where the line between him and his bloodline blurred. Zac felt like he was looking down at a mirror, but the one looking back at him was Eoz.

It was as though his adoptive ancestor had left his essence in the Abyss, but it was unable to cross the threshold and enter the Abyssal Pond. It frustrated Zac, like he was receiving an incredibly important message but couldnʼt make out the words. The connection might even be the key to his current predicament. What were the diluted truths of the Abyssal Pond in the face of Eoz?

Zac still held himself back, his desire for power and answers fighting with the rational voice urging caution. He could just let it go. Heʼd only entered the Abyssal Pond three hours ago and hadnʼt exhausted all his options yet. The energies by the film were dense enough for him to awaken. He just needed to strike the right balance to not get overwhelmed.

The whisper might be a trap of the Abyssal Lake, an attempt to recover one of its lost children just as they were about to back away. And even if the call was real, that there really was a piece of Eoz left in the Abyssal Lake, was there any need to take the risk right now? It wasnʼt too late to search for the message when visiting the Abyssal Shores.

Despite the risks and rational objections, more roots inched closer to the intangible divider between pond and lake. If there was one thing that Zac knew with utmost certainty, it was that there was no such thing as certainty. When had things ever gone according to plan for him? What guarantee was there that heʼd ever get to visit the Abyssal Shores? Depending on how things panned out inside the Left Imperial Palace, he might even become a fugitive of the Undead Empire.

Zac knew he was about to do something most would consider monumentally stupid, but that was cultivation. Those who reached the top had all made similar choices during their ascent. Only those taking risks others wouldnʼt were qualified to aim for the peak. Besides, Laz only warned him against swimming into the Abyssal Lake. He never said anything about sending in a single tendril.

A probing string of Zacʼs spirit inched through the divide, and time shattered like a mirror.

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”Go on,” Eoz smiled as he added the finishing touches to the guiding pattern. ”Follow what the elders taught you. Claim your birthright, but do not ask for more. The Abyss is already kind enough to return some of what we left behind. Remember that we came from darkness, but our eyes are illuminated by the stars.”

Fear and uncertainty were written on the young boyʼs face, but his lips thinned with determination as he nodded in understanding. He added the closing dot of the final rune himself on his forehead before turning toward the lake. The boy bowed, but only silence answered. Eoz looked at the unmoving waters with sorrow, the crashing waves now only a distant memory.

”Grandpa, why do Elosis and the others have to awaken their bloodline so early?” a young woman whispered as she watched her brother disappear into the lake. ”Itʼs so dangerous. Why canʼt they wait like I did?”

”The stars are shifting,” Eoz murmured, as much to himself as to his distant descendant.

Even he could feel it by now, the boundless darkness Mez had warned of for so long. It would consume the stars, leaving desolation in its wake. Theyʼd sought answers in the depths, a path for their kin. But even the Abyss would have to retreat when faced with that Heavenrending calamity.

It was not yet time. Fate was still gathering in the depths, and that thing was not ready to emerge. You only had one chance when striking at the Terminus, so you had to pick the right moment. Eoz could sense that he would have long since returned to the darkness by the time the stars aligned, but he didnʼt much care.

The will buried in the inky waters ultimately wasnʼt his. He was more concerned about the children surviving the calamity. His gaze turned to the boy who had stopped a few meters down, already struggling to take in the gift of the Abyss under the guidance of the runes—a pity. The price of their choice became more apparent every generation.

Suddenly, Eozʼs eyes widened as realities converged. It was back, that feeling. The calm waters rippled before him, but it was clear the others couldnʼt hear the whisper of providence. It was hidden even from the stars as it stretched from beyond the Abyss.

”Grandpa, whatʼs wrong?!” the young woman exclaimed when Eoz stood up.

”Your brotherʼs fine,” Eoz said, but his eyes werenʼt on his little descendant.

Or perhaps they were.

”I guess Iʼll be a bit selfish this time,” Eoz muttered before shifting.

Purpose roared and stars flickered as Eoz walked toward the center of the lake, each step adding to his momentum. By the time he reached his destination, only ruins were left in his wake, a scar on the Heavens themselves. The laws pushed back against his desire, but he wouldnʼt relent. Not today. Cracks appeared on his hand as he pushed it down on the rippling waters, ignoring the churning clouds gathering above.

”Hope.”

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A small tremor in his territory shattered the tranquility, prompting Aewo AnʼAzol to open his eyes. He stepped through space, appearing atop the Starfall Spire. The lake stretched in front of him, endless and bottomless. How many times had he looked down upon the gentle waves by now? He could barely remember the way his heart had stirred in the earlier years. The memories had almost been fully consumed by helplessness and stagnation.

For so long, heʼd been determined to leave a mark behind, to raise the prestige of their race and widen the future of the next generations. However, he knew his contribution could be considered middling at best. At least his kin hadnʼt declined under his watch, but heʼd resigned himself to never surpass the role of a guardian bound to pass on the torch rather than ignite a bonfire.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, a series of events had turned everything on its head.

The stars had grown unpredictable, and not even his pupil could predict how the wind would blow. Aewo could almost feel the sense of mystery and wonder that filled his heart in his younger days. The stars were shifting, with every day holding the possibility of change. It was that very feeling that had awoken him. However, no matter how he looked, he couldnʼt find the source of the change.

Was he fooling himself? Had he become so desperate in his autumn days that he made up patterns in the stars? Was it perhaps time for him to seal himself? The Shores couldnʼt be led by someone with an unstable territory in these critical times.

His gaze shifted from the endless black to the sprawling city on its shores. Both, yet neither, were home. Not even a faction such as the Abyssal Shores was immune to the test of time. The outer city had undergone multiple cycles of growth and decay during his life, and it was barely recognizable to him any longer. Those ancient memories felt like figments of his imagination upon observing the foreign streets filled with unfamiliar faces.

Not even the structures by the shore were quite as he remembered them from his younger days. More importantly, the proud sons and daughters whoʼd held court in those mansions, leading their race toward glory and defeat, were gone. They had been reduced to names in dusty tomes, if even that. A few only lived on in his memory, soon to be fully erased. Others were still remembered and missed, but it was only a matter of time.

Asira CerʼZal had been a shining beacon, the first Abyssal Lord from the Lower Bloodlines for five generations. She had raised the whole raceʼs prestige while reigniting the clansʼ drive. Today, her ancestral mansion showed the mark of time. Thousands of generations had tried to recreate Asiraʼs miracle, yet they only had three Autarchs to their name.

Aewo peered through the layers of restrictions to gaze upon the consecrated statue in CerʼZalʼs inner sanctum. Asira had already sealed herself when he built his ladder to Heaven, but he still remembered the immortal will she released when she left on her final journey. It was only six million years later he was shown her obelisk in the depths, having joined the others around the seal.

He turned to the distant palace where his kin lived, but the familiar bloodline fluctuations failed to extricate him from his sense of disconnect. He couldnʼt even remember the last time he visited the graves of his three daughters. Through the endless eons, even the bond of fatherhood faded. Thousands of generations had come and gone since he laid Ilisia to rest, with his attendants changing between every seclusion.

What was he holding on to?

A ripple thankfully dragged him out of his thoughts, and he turned to the person who had appeared atop the peak. His dour mood was washed away upon seeing her arrival, and not only because she was an anchor in this unfamiliar era. Ysil only left her observatory at critical times, which meant…

”Teacher,” Ysil UrʼMez greeted before turning toward the lake.

”You too?”

”Time diverted, ancient will,” Ysil muttered as one star after another descended from the sky, each one dwarfing the city below.

The Abyssal Shores began to decay as it was drowned in Abyssal Fate, but Aewo shielded and restored the Celestial Plateau with a wave of his sleeve.

”Can you bring it forth?”

”I need teacherʼs help.”

Aewo nodded, and a shroud of darkness spread from the tower, forming a seal the size of the Abyssal Lake. The Abyssal Lake rippled when the brand touched its surface, and a slow swirl emerged in the lakeʼs center. Endless starlight fell on the whirlpool, and both looked on with rapt attention as a breach was forced in the River of Time.

Ysil gasped as infinite power spread through the Abyssal Shores, and even the stars paled when faced with its splendor.

”Itʼs him,” Aewo said with a ragged breath, a storm of emotions filling his heart. ”Even now…”

”Hope,” UrʼMez whispered before turning toward him. ”Teacher, what do you think?”

”How can we look the other way when the Vanguard has made his will clear?” Aewo sighed.

”Itʼll be difficult reaching the boy. Even if we help, the effect wonʼt be very good. And we donʼt even know if he can bear it. It might ruin our undertaking.”

”Trust the ancestor,” Aewo said. ”If it fails, we will simply have to find another path. And if not us, then our descendants.”

”Youʼre right.”

The world-spanning seal shuddered before a duplicate made from abyssal water rose from the lake, making it look like a tidal wave was about to consume the whole plateau. Meanwhile, the suns turned into billions of streams, forming a band of Fate around the two seals. Innumerable Draugr had already emerged from the waters and buildings, fearfully looking at the display. No one dared to so much as breathe out of fear of disrupting whatever was happening.

For a brief moment, an impossibly large hand appeared between the seals, stabilized by the band of starlight. It was gone the next, and both Aewoʼs and Ysilʼs arrays soon sank into the rippling waters to begin their journey. Soon, it was as though nothing had happened, yet millions of gazes were trained at the shores. Aewo could understand why.

Even if only he and Ysil had seen the hand, it was impossible for them to completely mask its aura. For a moment, the mark of a True Abyssal Lord had leaked onto the shores. No, something beyond that. Something that might have been lost forever, never to return. The aura of one of the Three Guardian Ancestors.

”This…” Ysil gasped as she looked at the children below.

Aewo didnʼt need the bloodline of Mez to understand what she meant. Those who lived at the shores were all blessed with great fate, but heʼd never seen a storm like the one sweeping through the districts. Even those who had exhausted their potential suddenly burned with purpose as they fervently looked toward the lake. Lord Eoz forcing his way to this timeline had overturned the natural order, and there was no telling what would come of it.

A smile appeared on Aewoʼs face as he stepped through space and returned to his chambers. Perhaps he had some more to give.

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”What do you think?” Laz asked as they looked at the distant pond.

”Awakening should be a foregone conclusion,” Tavza said. ”Iʼm more worried about what kind of storm heʼll call forth.”

”Heʼs a troublemaker, but this is the Abyssal Lake,” Laz said. ”Heʼs just a drop in an endless ocean; what waves can he—”

Laz didnʼt get any further as a deep rumble rocked the cave.

”Activate the bedrock stabilizers!” Tassar Kavriel shouted. ”How can there be an earthquake? What the hell are our scouts doing?!”

”Itʼs not a tremor or tide,” Tavza sighed as she suddenly felt a familiar presence—that of her ancestor. ”Chaos has arrived.”

Meanwhile, the still surface of the lake rippled as it rose. Fate was unraveling, time was twisting, and the Abyss was coming alive. A sense of loss filled Tavzaʼs heart as the cave filled with Abyssal Energy. Sheʼd somewhat looked forward to seeing Arcaz UmbriʼZi in action, but now she almost wished she hadnʼt. As the crashing waves of the Abyss rushed closer, she couldnʼt help but look back at her life.

What was she doing?