Enoch’s body was lifted into the air by a spectral force.
Thick, dark gusts of emerald wind condensed around him, the pouring skies suddenly intensifying, raining down as if they wanted to drown the earth a second time.
Arcs of emerald and dark purple lightning danced through the skies, tearing across the clouds in unnatural shapes that twisted the flows of nature itself.
Enoch’s body lifted higher and higher until he was suspended hundreds of meters in the air.
Uriel stared up at him, slowly rising to his feet, utterly and absolutely lost.
’What the hell is going on?!’
BANG!
A pillar of emerald lightning fell, shattering Enoch’s core.
BANG!
A second fell, shattering his spark.
BANG!
A third fell, then a fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
All that remained in the skies was ash, consumed by arcs of emerald lightning.
Uriel’s eyes trembled, and he suddenly forgot how to breathe.
Had he... just watched Enoch die?!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
All the aether across the space—but also the settlement, the dungeon itself, and even the world beyond—shook violently.
A torrent of energy condensed and accumulated in the skies, the rain becoming inhuman, the booming claps of thunder waking every member of the settlement and alerting Thoryl.
SHA! SHAH!
A flood of aether, thick and emerald, filled the skies.
Then it all twisted into long arcs of lightning, spiraling upon a single point in space, as if a maelstrom was forming in the very heavens.
The ashes stood at its center.
Uriel was thrown off his feet, blood escaping his lips as he watched it all unfold with a mix of shock, fear, and something dangerously close to joy.
Enoch was forming his class.
SHA!
The ashes gathered and condensed into a singular grain, tiny and unimpressive.
From the eye of the maelstrom above, droplets of dark amethyst liquid fell, immediately crystallizing upon contact with the grain of ash.
Drop after drop fell, crystallizing, forming a beautiful and massive amethyst core, marble-like in nature, etched with dark emerald runes so complex Uriel couldn’t make head or tail of them.
As this happened, the swirling arcs of lightning in the skies gathered, gently slithering through the air like living, breathing serpents, and wrapped themselves around the core.
The tendrils of lightning rapidly wove and layered, transmuting into bone, flesh, and sinew—they condensed into a body.
WHOOOSH
The process was beautiful to witness, as if a divine storm was giving birth to its God in real time, from its own essence and core.
SHAH!
The storm froze.
The rain stopped, droplets suspended midair.
It became suddenly silent, deathly so.
In the skies, above it all, Enoch stood.
Mid-length jet-black hair framed a sharp, angular, handsome face, set atop a lean body free of fat and built entirely of rippling muscle that striated and flexed with every twitch.
Across Enoch’s pale beige skin, emerald runes danced, only faintly visible beneath the thick aether hugging him, fading and reappearing with every one of his breaths.
Behind him, a wheel of dark purple light floated, etched with ancient runes, reflecting the image of a gigantic, looming tree in its depths.
Thin arcs of emerald lightning danced across his body, followed by tongues of purple fire, both playing across his frame like two mischievous forces of nature.
He truly seemed like a nascent divinity.
"...mm."
Enoch breathed in, his lungs expanding, and the world finally resumed.
The rain hammered down once more. The winds roared again. The cold returned.
The skies, though, were now void of the maelstrom of lightning, every last fragment of it had gone into Enoch.
SHAH!
Slowly, Enoch drifted down, unconscious, released by the spectral force that had lifted him, dropping gently into Uriel’s soaked arms.
Uriel was beyond speechless.
"Uriel!"
Ayah ran toward him from the distance, still in her nightgown and equally soaked, worry etched across her features as she bolted forward.
"Are you guys alright?!"
...
After drying Enoch and clothing him, they put him to bed. He remained in slumber, his body’s transformation not yet complete.
Exhausted, both Uriel and Ayah fell asleep in the living room.
As Uriel drifted off, images of Enoch’s transformation replayed endlessly in his mind, and a dozen ideas formed in his thoughts.
Ideas that might one day change their fates.
...
Thoryl stepped on air as if it were solid ground.
He walked across the skies, his suit fluttering violently in the harsh winds, brown hair plastered to his face by the pelting rain.
Claps of thunder echoed loudly in his skull, and flashes of lightning illuminated his bright emerald gaze.
Quietly, hands clasped behind his back, he walked.
As he did, he looked down at the massive forest sprawling beneath him, at the many small settlements dotted across its dark wilderness, pockets of heaven amidst chaos.
His gaze passed over each and every human in the forest. Then over every Inhuman. Every World Sentinel.
He took note of every human and inhuman that showed potential, marked every oddity, and constructed a mental map encompassing the entirety of humanity.
As he lost himself in the storm and his thoughts, his appearance visibly began to change.
"All pieces have been set."
His short brown hair lengthened, its color shifting into radiant silver that scintillated with light.
"The nodes of the circle have been anchored, and the Gods have been blinded."
His emerald eyes transformed next, deepening into an unreadable silver. Within their depths, a reptilian slit appeared, like that of a dragon.
"I wonder... will I win this time? Or will you lose again?"
He laughed, his voice booming across the skies, yet heard by none.
None except one.
Thoryl’s teeth lengthened, sharp and gleaming, and his ears sharpened as well, elongating into something akin to a fabled elf’s.
His suit tore itself apart, replaced by magnificent robes of light amethyst and dark silver, layered and interwoven, collars and sleeves embroidered with roaring dragons.
The storm intensified.
"Let the games begin, Ophanis."
His laughter echoed.