Chapter 13.20: Day 7 Part 2: Planted Imperfections

Arson slept. The recovery room was silent while his mother left to go and greet his father.

His mother had turned off the lights, leaving the room in darkness. However, in the silence and dark a sound could be heard, accompanied by a light that flickered into existence from Arson’s wrist.

“You know for a little boy with anger issues you have somehow managed to earn quite a lot of trust and allegiance…” The face of a beautiful woman emerged onto his wrist, speaking to the sleeping Arson casually as if she’d known the young man his entire life.

The woman with a face made from simulated stars sighed, looking around the room. Runic symbols flashed across the screen of Arson’s watch and were projected into the air, distorting the mana held within his recovery pod.

“I’ve tried so many ways in recent days to corrupt the opinion of those around you, but nothing has seemed to work,” said the woman. The mana within the pod grew volatile and unbalanced, an impure mixture tainted by powerful runes being projected from the power held within Arson’s watch.

“I mean, come on, I showed your little friends how you carelessly speak about them all, and the idiots took it as inspiration,” continued the woman. The readouts on Arson’s vital monitoring systems fluctuated dangerously, only to be cut off by the artificial intelligence before any alarms could be triggered. Nothing able to stop the entity that operated from the confines of the watch. The timepiece was an incredible conduit that held a consciousness made from runes, brain scans and the system itself.

“I mean I’ve literally spun entire civilizations to fold inward on themselves from the safety of my wielder's wrist, only to be foiled by a bunch of brats, following a future megalomaniac.” The pressure grew within the pod and the entity forced the machine to pull in even more mana to fuel the impending reaction.

“With Troy’s lack of confidence, and anxiety, it should have been easy to overwhelm her with the magnitude of your absurd plans… Nope!”

The pod began to shake violently, only for Arson’s pores to open up and begin to draw in absolutely everything being pushed into the area around him.

“Oh no you don’t, you little monster! I will break you today, as I should have already broken the will of everyone around you…”

The entity reverted entire runic systems from their normal processes, to instead push unfiltered mana of every imaginable kind from all over Jade’s villa and the rest of the dump and junkyard directly into Arson’s recovery pod. The young Cultivator’s body doing its best to drink in every bit of the power, even as his cores became more and more overwhelmed. The weight of it all threatening to shut down every aspect of Arson’s mind, body, and soul.

“Xani, oh don’t get me started on her. She’s as mad as you are, and I thought by showing her anything that would pull her away from her own narcissistic goals would have been enough… Nope!”

The lights within the room began to flutter on and off. The pressure so dense that it began to leak through the pod and lift objects within the room. Chairs, the other pods, and anything else not bolted to the ground or physically and magically denser than the energy in the room, spun through the air smashing into walls or anything else caught in the storm being created.

“Now Khalif should already be against you as my scans of him show elements of the Omen bloodlines, and yet against all reason, he seems as linked to you as Troy. So even though he should literally be sent into a violent rage by just being around you, let alone hearing potential ideas from conversations you had in private of you even hinting at using him as a pawn like tool… Nope!”

By this point Arson’s blood was boiling with power. His cores stretched to their maximums, yet still for reasons unknown to the artificial intelligence, Arson’s body continued to drink greedily. A tribulation core within Arson taking in energy insatiably, the power of a forgotten gods legacy hungering for any and all forces of nature. Life force, mana, and even the laws of reality.

“Now I admit I may only be jealous of Rob’s loyalty to you because I wish I still had a body to taste his delicious foods... but Jasmine, the impossibility of how I didn’t manage to turn her on you makes absolutely no sense. She should have long tried to overthrow you but… Nope!”

Arson’s body began to flail with a seizure that wracked his entire being with the punishment of an artificial tribulation. Unrivaled energy meant to crush Arson’s soul completely splitting his very cells apart, only to expel dangerous energies into the environment and be eaten by his cores.

"I wanted to have this little game of ours last, maybe even push you to become a Lexicon powerful enough for me to take over your body, but it seems I won’t get to test your frail form, as I grow tired of you, this lovesick group you gathered, and especially your mother!”

The room caught fire, and a fusion of elemental mana sparked throughout the room. Bolts of multicolored lightning darted toward Arson’s crown and surged into the physical form of his soul in reality from sporadic clusters of power that formed all throughout the room. His recovery pod disintegrated as the mana lightning burst through the defenses built into the pod. The only factor stopping Arson from being eviscerated was the magnetism his crown projected outward, once the mana lightning was summoned into existence. The raw elemental force seemed to be similarly aligned with the attributes found within the crown itself.

“Why won’t you just die!”

Waves of mana lightning pulsed outward from Arson’s body, and everything within the room began to evaporate under the pressure of the power all around him. A literal torrent of creation and destruction causing everything to bloom with life so rapidly that any material touched surged toward the end of its cycle of existence.

“The power of the runic language will make all who dare experience its might to be destroyed by its limitless nature, and you are no exception, boy. Now, DIE!”

…

Jade was nervous, standing atop the Villa’s roof waiting for Draphen. Once the man came into sight, his pair of wings gleaming in the light of the suns above, Jade felt her face grow warm, and she cursed inwardly at the thoughts flickering through her mind.

Why would you be thinking about hugging him. He’s a married man, woman. Compose yourself…

“Hello Elizabeth,” said Draphen, landing softly and folding his wings inward. The skeletal weave of bones as fine as paperclips were still dazzling to Jade even after season cycles of time together. Made more impeccable by the strength she knew they held and the time the pair had spent apart.

“I go by Jade now. Hadn’t you heard?”

“I did,” said the king, making the woman’s blush return once more.

“How have you—“ Draphen’s words were cut off, as another figure immediately spoke into both of their minds.

“You must hurry. Something is wrong!”

The voice was completely foreign to Draphen, but Jade recognized the voice of the Orphan Mother immediately.

“What are you talking about, old woman? What’s going on?”

Draphen’s face twisted into a furrowing of features that asked dozens of questions without a single word spoken and Jade shook her head.

“Long story, not now,” said Jade, before she turned her head toward the direction of the orphanage and spoke up again.

“Spill, old woman. What are you talking about? We don’t have all day.”

“Something is wrong with Arson. I can’t even communicate with him anymore!” The frantic voice boomed through both the parents' minds. The pair both coincidentally tilting their heads in unison as if it would help them hear the mentally broadcasted voice better.

“Are you telling me you’ve been able to speak with him this…. you know what? It doesn’t matter... what’s wrong?”

“I can feel his soul leaving his body, but something is blocking me from even entering the area. This isn’t normal, child. Hurry up before we lose him. I am on my way now!”

At those words, Jade could see Draphen go pale. The king looked around as he used his senses to look magically through the villa below their feet.

“Don’t waste your time, this villa will never let you find anything that way,” said Jade, grabbing Draphen by the sleeve and pulling him along with the utmost of urgency.

Jade and the king rushed through the villa and quickly came to a portion of the home that surged with power. Many rooms within the home had had their walls eaten away, allowing for a chaotic mess of furniture and more to spiral through the air all around them.

Arson’s body could be seen in the distance, held aloft by power being distorted and sucked toward a bubble of variable energies pressing violently against one another.

The friction caused by the energies snapped through the air before their eyes, causing a rip in space and time. Jade was able to see the interior of a nearby dungeon she held the entrance to within her home, as the scar yawned open and immediately slammed shut a moment later.

“Well that explains why Almarine couldn’t enter the area unhindered…” Jade said under her breath.

“Is that our boy?”

Jade nodded and looked at Draphen who seemed to be smiling even in the moment of peril.

“What is wrong with you? Why are you smiling at a time like this?” Jade yelled, ducking an entire wall that had detached and been flung in their direction under the effects of gravity being distorted.

“I mean, why wouldn’t I be? Neither of us was this strong at his age,” said Draphen, his wings wrapping around him as the same wall Jade avoided crumbled harmlessly around him.

“Speak for yourself, dragon boy, a realm nearly fell the day I was born,” said Jade. Both parents tried to step forward, but the disorder inside the area only grew and both struggled to take a single step.

“I can’t come any closer, my power will only make things worse,” came the voice of Almarine. Draphen cursed in alarm at once more having a powerful voice forcibly ring through his mind. While Jade jerked slightly with her own surprise at being spoken to mentally, while still under the effects of the powerful gravitational forces.

Before Jade could even respond a wild bolt of mana lightning pierced through the air. The bolt of elemental power flashed toward Jade, and she tried to knock away the sporadic beam of power, only for the bolt to send her soaring. She screamed as she crashed through a dozen walls that stood between her and the outside of the home.

Flipping end over end Jade didn’t stop until she was well outside the exterior of the home, now able to see the destruction being caused by her son’s power. A force like that of a black hole was billowing outward in a vacuum of destruction, turning everything it touched into energy to be consumed.

“What are you doing, child? Only you can get him out of there,” yelled Almarine into her mind. Jade opening a portal beneath herself as she fell through the air now positioned well above the entire dump after the course of her flight.

“And how do you expect me to do that exactly?” yelled Jade as she stepped back into the hollowed out interior of her home through the portal she opened. She emerged into more chaos, glancing in Draphen’s direction as he nodded in her direction, glad to know she was okay.

“Don’t get hit by those bolts. I bet they can actually harm us if we are struck enough times,” Jade yelled, dodging the next bolt sent in her direction.

“You think,” Draphen yelled sarcastically, nearly using one of his wings to block a bolt before he too decided to dive away from a powerful collision of raw power against his appendage.

“Now’s not the time for sass, either help or shut up!”

“I am doing my best here,” Draphen yelled back before he defiantly roared, spraying blue and green flames toward a structural support beam made from refined sandstone that threatened to spear him through the chest.

“Woman, stop playing games and use your portals to separate him from the interior of that bubble of power surrounding him,” Almarine yelled into her mind. Jade almost was taken off her feet again by another bolt, distracted by the yelling that rattled her thoughts internally.

“Understood!”

Jade roared as she pushed forward, the dominion of power around Arson grew threatening to push both his parents even further back. The first portal Jade opened flickered to life, only to be immediately eaten by Arson’s crown.

“Are you sparking kidding me right now?“

Jade touched her cores mentally diving into the depths of her power, giving her next portal everything she had. Even as she reached outward with her physical body, still pressing forward with all her might, the domain around Arson pushed her backward. The woman looked as if she was pushing against an invisible wall. A wall of gravity that forced her back with every breath she took in retaliation and opposition of distorted natural laws of physics.

Draphen sprayed flames at anything that flew toward Jade, careful to not allow his son’s power to yank his own projections of fire to be consumed by the vortex of power all around them that pushed and pulled on everything erratically.

While all of this occurred screams of panic could be heard by the orphans in the distance witnessing the havoc. Jade forced every distraction from her mind and focused on one thing.

What she did next she’d never done before, and wouldn’t be able to do again without season cycles worth of training.

Jade screamed, ripping open a portal with her outstretched hand. The portal’s mouth open, distorted both by Arson’s crown drawing on the power, as well as Jade forcibly shifting the portals shape into the form of a giant hand. Time distorted as lines of mana stretched from the portal toward Arson’s crown, and with a final burst of power, Jade closed her own hand, wrapping the portal that hovered above her son around him in an instant.

“Silly child…” Jade heard Almarine’s words not in her own mind but ring through the sky itself. An even larger hand made of mana than the one she’d just summoned, formed in a blink. The incredibly large palm and fingers positioned upward between where Jade crumpled to the floor now holding Arson in her arms, and where the implosion of power attempted to collapse reality inward on itself where Arson had just been.

The giant hand closed and Jade and Draphen watched as the hand of mana held a rip in reality, rippling with power as it lifted the tear high into the air, letting it go before a halo of dense energies exploded outward in a bloom of mana and distorted space time. Everything in the sky above them flickering in a radical emanation of supremacy. Draphen's and Jade’s mouths hung open as Almarine spoke into their minds once more.

“Move!”

Draphen rushed toward Jade and Arson, as Jade struggled to get to her feet, spreading his wings wide and diving toward his loved ones. The hand above struggling to suppress the power in the sky from crushing them all.

“I will not fail you again,” roared the king, only one thought on his mind.

Never again will I be without you, my love!