The surroundings were serene now in a way that felt obscene.
The wind moved gently across the ravine, soft against Eric's skin, almost gentle enough to forget where he was standing. But it was the wrong kind of calm — the held-breath quiet that comes right before something enormous decides to move. Eric had felt this kind of stillness only a handful of times in his life. Each time, it had preceded the worst moments he could remember.
He had not expected this.
Not the will. Not the beast still tearing into its meal a few feet away, utterly indifferent to the world cracking open around it. Not the way his own heartbeat had started to climb without his permission, pounding harder with every second that passed in silence.
He was frozen.
Not from cold. Not from the corruption still pressing faintly at the edges of his senses. He was frozen the way a man freezes at the top of a great height, when the body understands something the mind hasn't caught up to yet — that one wrong step here would not just hurt. It would end something.
His premonition was screaming.
It wasn't a feeling he could describe to someone who had never lived with it. It didn't whisper. It didn't suggest. It tore through him like a current, insistent and wordless, telling him with absolute certainty that he needed to run — now, immediately, without thinking, without looking back.
And yet his legs would not obey.
He stood there, caught between every instinct that had kept him alive his entire life and the simple, physical reality that his body had not yet decided to listen to any of them.
The will looked down at him and continued persuading him to take the inheritance, its gaze carrying something that might have been amusement.
"You are a Walker of the Energy Pathway." It wasn't a question. They already knew, the way it seemed to already know everything. "How fortunate. My inheritance happens to hold a great deal that would suit you — techniques refined over centuries, charms crafted by hands far more skilled than most you will ever meet in your lifetime." A pause, almost gentle. "It would serve you well, Junior. On your journey ahead."
Eric said nothing. His jaw was locked so tightly he could feel the tension climbing into his temples.
"You wish to leave this layer, do you not?" The will tilted its small, abyss-black head, the motion slow and deliberate, almost curious. "Then what is it you are hesitating for?"
Every word of the will was like another rock laid on his chest.
Eric's mind churned with thoughts rapidly; he was thinking at such a fast speed that his own thoughts seemed to blur together at this moment.
Everything about this was way too convenient and wrong. Be it the inheritance, the will, the beast, the temple, the dead body.
Everything about it was deeply wrong.
This was a trap.
Eric had long realized this. His mind had caught up to it, but his body hadn't.
The will's words blurred together at this moment.
Eric suddenly heard the voice inside his head scream at him, its voice filled with panic.
"Run!"
At this moment, Eric's body reacted before his mind could catch up. Letting go of all restraints.
Eric activated the first Aura technique he had built when he was thirteen, the one which he uses the most till now, and was the most proficient in.
Repulsion Charge!
Repulsion Charge!
Repulsion Charge!
Repulsion Charge!
Repulsion Charge!
Eric spammed Repulsion Charge at this moment of life and death without any care for his Aura reserve. He would be a fool if he continued to care about his Aura reserves.
The world blurred. The temple vanished. The fog exploded apart around him as he hurled himself backward with enough force to tear cracks through the ground beneath his feet.
The will stood still above the temple for a long while, staring at where Eric was, before heaving a long sigh.
It spoke, almost whispered, in a disappointed tone.
"You should not have run."
Eric was like a flash; his speed in a straight line was the fastest. He had never needed to go all out like this ever in his life, but now that he did, he shot out with all his potential.
The darkness moved around him, trying to engulf him and slow his charge, but Eric was a vigilant person. He had already been prepared.
He used several of the light pathway charms he got as a dazzling white and pink light came out of his body as multiple rays that shot out in all directions, slowing down the descent into the darkness around him.
Outside, Adrian's premonition of danger activated, making him realize that something was wrong. He looked around and saw that the rivers with the black liquid had started to form turbulent waves, smashing against the island he was on, as if wanting to engulf it. Adrian had moved so close to the fog in fear of the black liquid that one step and he would be in there.
The layer had suddenly gone so quiet at this moment, and it only made him more anxious as his heart continued to beat faster.
Just then, the black fog gets pushed and explodes apart by a huge force as Eric appears. Adrian had barely turned around and was barely able to see his face, but from what he could see. He knew that the situation was not right.
Eric didn't say one word and gave a glance at Adrian. Adrian could see the fear in his eyes, but it also seemed to give him a sense of reassurance as Eric caught Adrian in his arms, quickly putting him behind his back. Adrian quickly wrapped his arms around Eric's neck and closed his eyes due to the intense winds blowing on his face.
Eric chained one Repulsion Charge after another and continued flying as far away from the ravine as he could.
He was flying through forests just a little above the ground, and cracks appeared everywhere as forests got destroyed wherever he charged through.
This was Repulsion Charge unrestrained.
Eric had stopped holding back anything at the moment of danger.
The rivers filled with black water, and the black fog around the ravine suddenly froze in place before charging inside the ravine. The grounds shook, and the sky roared at this moment.
All of the black fog and black water were slowly absorbed by the Hypernova's will.
It looked down at the pseudo-Hypernova beast as it sent out a black light, which entered and got absorbed by the body of the pseudo-Hypernova beast instantly.
Its thin, grey-coloured body started to become abyssal black and bulge up as its height grew. Its eyes became pools of abyssal darkness as its jaws grew sharp teeth. The darkness rushed into its body as the beast regained its vigor. The ground around it cracked as black veins bulged on its body.
It suddenly looked up and roared with all its might.
ROAR!!!
Its roar resounded around the entire layer. causing tremors and shockwaves to appear everywhere. For a single heartbeat, the entire layer forgot silence.
All the sleeping beasts opened their eyes or stopped moving at this moment.
All of their eyes moved in the same direction.
Birds took flight from distant forests.
Something enormous stirred beneath the oceans.
Mountains that had seemed lifeless suddenly moved.
Eric and Adrian felt the gazes and hostility of countless beasts at this moment.
The layer had awakened at this moment.
...
The afternoon sun shone brightly, blazing the city with its dazzling light, filling the world with warmth.
In the parks, a huge crowd was enjoying the afternoon. What was noticeable was that most of the woman in the park had slightly bulging bellies, showing their pregnancy's first trimester.
The pregnancy rate of Paris had increased by fifty percent. A unique and rare phenomenon could be observed. People have been getting more aroused, and the fertility of people has skyrocketed.
Even contraceptives have slowly stopped working for the people of the city.
Scientists couldn't tell what was happening, only that it had started just recently.
A young man was walking the streets of the city at this moment, freely. He had short raven red hair and black eyes that seemed to carry mischief. He looked around and found a small spot in front of a bakery.
He walked near the spot and paced around the spot, observing his surroundings before nodding his head.
"This should be the perfect spot." Voyage said as he took out a table from his Domain of Emotions and set it up there, he walked behind the table and started to pull out potions of all kinds of colours and textures, as he set them up carefully on the table and divided them into different categories.
He put up a sign for each category, explaining its effects and the price.
He pulled a chair that was near him and sat down on it before taking out a newspaper, crossing his legs, and starting to read.
Voyage didn't have to wait long before the curiosity of the people around caused them to approach him themselves.
A man seemingly in his thirties approached his little stall. "Excuse me, sir. What is it that you might be selling?"
Voyage looked at the man as he put down his newspaper and asked. "Are you in a relationship?"
"Ummm... No." The man chuckled embarrassingly as he scratched the back of his head.
Voyage raised his newspaper again, covering his face, and said. "Then you do not need these concoctions. Leave." The man didn't want any trouble; he simply turned around and left as he thought, "Who reads newspapers in this day and age?"
He had no way of knowing that Voyage was reading a newspaper on the current status of the Aura region. It was written in Ancient Lumenian, which the man had thought to be some foreign language.
"Hmm... Layer 102 has gone through some malfunction and has been closed by the Heisenberg and Blackbell Family." As Voyage reached this section, he realized that an entire layer of the Meditation Realm had closed off after going through some malfunctions. Even the formation had been destroyed, and no one could enter the layer anymore.
The Heisenberg and Blackbell families were the two families who managed Layer 102. It was natural for them to come and clarify the issues.
Voyage felt a deep premonition at this moment; he could tell that this matter wasn't as simple as it seemed.
"Things are brewing slowly in the background."
"Shall I tell the third one about this?" Just as Voyage was going to read the article further. A customer came to his little stall.
Voyage put down the newspaper and was pleasantly surprised to see this customer.
This customer had worn a baggy black hoodie, making his face completely hidden.
The young man slowly said, his voice sounded rough and raspy. "To think you are here opening a stall during this huge operation." his tone held clear ridicule, but Voyage didn't mind it.
Voyage chuckled as he said, "We of the Birth Pathway are natural apothecaries. My father told me to blend in with the city, so I am doing that. This is not something a walker of the Instinct Pathway would understand."
The customer grunted before getting to the main topic. "Have you heard about the incident that happened in layer 102?"
"What a coincidence, I was just reading about that. Do you know any secrets about it? I am pretty sure those of you from the Truth Seekers would know the most secrets."
The man was silent for a long time before he shook his head. "Even if I did, I would not have told you. I am here to tell you of something else; this will also clear the favor I owe you."
Voyage's expression turned to one that can be described as pleasantly serious. "And what might that news be that can clear a favor of saving one's life?"
"The current Meditation Master of Lumenia is here." As the man said this, he turned around and left, getting lost in the crowd.
Voyage was left frozen in his place for a long time.