The boy reached out, and Elias slashed with the spear again, but it passed through the boy; his legs were rooted to the ground, or he would be running, and as the sense of danger kept increasing in his heart, Elias stopped all of his actions and fully concentrated on making his body just... move!
As if the boy was mocking him or perhaps even curious, his small hand reaching for him slowed down, and there was a challenge in his eyes, but after a few seconds, Elias could only move his right hand and his head. The boy sighed in disappointment, and his hand accelerated and pressed against Elias’s chest.
Elias felt nothing, even though his eyes were telling him that the boy’s hand was pressed against his chest. Suddenly, the nine purple marks on his chest flared painfully, and Elias felt something tug on something inside him.
This pull seemed to push past his Lumina and dig for something deeper. Elias groaned at the feeling of intense violation, but he did not try to avoid this sickening touch that was rummaging inside of him, instead he followed it.
The feeling was like a man being stabbed with a long blade, instinct would compel a normal man to pull himself back, but Elias was doing the opposite, he was pushing himself forward so he could be stabbed deeper by this blade, and the whole reason for that was because he felt that the hand of this boy was reaching for a thread of himself.
Like a forgotten memory or a name he didn’t know yet. So much of his past was a mystery, and although he knew he might be in grave danger, the chance to see his past almost suppressed any need for self-protection.
Elias staggered and fell to his knees, a feeling of weakness pouring over his body. Whatever it was that he was looking for, it was costly to Elias, and it seemed that it would kill him long before any answer was found.
The boy tilted his head, and Elias could see the clear astonishment in his yellow eyes. He slowly pulled back his hand, and Elias noticed that he seemed weaker, his skin paler, as if the search did not only cost Elias but also him as well, and the boy whispered,
"Mother is gone. But I’m still here. And I’m patient. You did not show me your past, but I know your future; let me show it to you."
The dream suddenly cracked open, and Elias saw Stormfall burning, violet flames licking spires and entire blocks. He could hear people in their millions screaming as they were torn apart by monsters from nightmares, and above, the four moons had transformed into red bleeding eyes that seemed to be feeding on the carnage below.
His vision descended, and he saw Commander Yseult standing in midair at the center of the city, silver hair on fire, sword broken in her hand, and terrible wounds all across her body that showed the bone, even though her eyes were open and she was floating in midair, Elias knew that she was dead.
Brother Valerius and the rest of the Order of Unbroken Shield knelt before her floating corpses; their bodies were charred, and they were also dead, yet even in death, they were still trying to shield her. And above them all, the boy floated, small, naked, smiling, and what Elias once thought was an abnormal phallus turned out to be a large black serpent that was connected to his stomach like it was his umbilical cord.
This serpent was now a coiling black chain wrapped around the city, and it was slowly squeezing the entire city, causing entire mountain ranges to collapse and the ocean to be pushed up to the clouds. The city groaned as it was being shattered into pieces, and Elias could only gasp in near madness at this level of devastation, and suddenly, the dream collapsed inward.
The boy was gone, the devastating vision of the city was gone, and Elias was back on the cliff he had seen when he first began to dream, however the golden ocean below was gone, leaving only a deep crater that he could not see the bottom of.
He was no longer bound by any force, and he turned to the side to see the goddess, but she was no longer rotten or corrupted and had taken the shape of the mother inside his Lumina Space, and her eyes were clear and blue again, but they were filled with sadness.
"You stole my gold," she whispered. "But you also took my sorrow. That is why you still live. But there is still more of me that needs to be made whole."
She reached out and touched his face, and although Elias expected her fingers to be cold, they were warm.
"Keep it. All of it. And when he comes... remember what you chose. This road is not for the weak."
Elias spoke for the first time since these strange events started, "Is this a dream or something else?"
The woman smiled and shook her head,
"This is not a dream... it is a road."
The cliff dissolved, and Elias woke.
He was still on the cot, blanket tangled around his legs, and his heart was hammering, but his breathing was steady. The room was dark except for the faint purple glow coming from the rose at his hip, and he slowly sat up.
His internal clock told him that seven hours had gone by, and this was officially the longest he had ever slept. As a mortal, he barely slept an hour a day, and he could push for a week without sleep without any debilitating effect on his psyche.
Still, this dream clung to him like smoke as he could not help but recall the boy’s yellow eyes, the mother’s sad touch, the burning city, and the Order burned to death with the corpse of the Commander floating above them, and he could not help but wonder why he was not in the vision standing beside the Order.
Elias looked down at his hands, the nails were normal again, pearly white and sharper than razors. With a force of will, he retracted them deeper into his fingers until they appeared almost normal, even though he could feel a slight throb of pain in his fingers.
The pain felt like a reminder of what was real, and he only had to close his eyes to feel the Ascendant Swarm inside him, moving through his veins and reinforcing his bones. There was a mystery to how they were able to multiply his vitality threefold, and he knew it must be related to their filling up every part of his body and subtly enhancing it.
He raised his right hand and made a slow, grabbing gesture, and from the center of his palm, the head of a spear slowly appeared, and it continued to emerge until a long, purple spear was balanced in the center of his palm, nearly touching the ceiling.
Elias grabbed the spear, and he whispered to the empty room, "Whatever will come in the future, you shall not find me lacking."
"BOOM... BOOM... BOOM... BOOM!"
Loud knocks on his front door shook the silence of his home, and he heard the loud voice of Kaelen,
"Get out of your hole, little runt. Come and celebrate your ascension with your teachers!"
Elias grinned. Well, it was time to show them he was not so little anymore.