Fine cracks appeared on her skin, racing across her limbs like molten gold carving stone. Her smile trembled. Her eyes sparkled with defiance. A massive, illusory crimson-gold Wheel burst into view high above the Crucible, and then...
BOOM!
Her body turned to ash.
Silent, glimmering ash that scattered in every direction.
And yet, not even a breath later...
BOOM!
From the ash, she reformed.
Her body now tighter, more precise, far more luminous than before. Her limbs curved with fluid paradox, her eyes radiant and wild. Still breathing hard, still kneeling before him- his hand never having moved from her head!
It was a glorious and quick breaking!
And she knew. She was capable of more.
More ruin in her yet.
Her breathing quickened, her weavings of existence thrumming with acceleration from the Festival. A million-fold growth. She could not afford to squander this chance.
So she let her longing take shape once more.
"RUIN."
Her voice echoed like a broken bell, fractured yet melodic.
It carried longing.
To be of use.
To be needed.
To be held.
To be... worthy of standing by his side.
BOOM!
Another Illusory Wheel of Ruin broke in the skies of the Crucible.
From the scattered cinders, she bloomed again- now brighter. Now heavier with utter endings. Her hair shimmered with deeper crimson. Her figure moved with greater grace!
Still she did not stop!
Still she had not yet given enough.
She felt the gaze of her Master steer as he began focusing on her.
And..
"RUIN."
It came out a cry. Not of power.
But of sorrow.
Of buried grief. Of silent dreams curled into herself that she did not even share with the Infiniverse. How could she? The Infiniverse never understood. She was too brilliant, always too complex. How could she understand the inferiority of Ruination?
But this time... she was finally close enough to touch him.
She could not let that go.
BOOM!
The Fourth Breaking.
Ash. Rebirth.
And still...
She tested her limits.
Measured the screaming threads of her complexity. Felt the rushing river of his aura fill her to the brink.
She would not stop.
"RUIN!!!"
She called out again with every ounce of ache and want in her being.
Another Wheel.
Another bloom of ash.
The Fifth Breaking of the Wheel.
The Crucible shook with it.
The air was heavy now with the scent of her weavings unraveling and reweaving. With dense clouds of raw Ruin circling her resplendent form. And still...
Still...
She looked up, meeting the calm, golden eyes of her Master.
She felt his touch. His unwavering gaze that now began to worry.
And she whispered, not with weakness, but with resolve.
"RUIN."
BOOM!
The Sixth Breaking began.
Ruination carried it out without hesitation, her body vanishing in a blaze of crimson and gold as once again, the phantom Wheel cracked in the skies of the Crucible.
And from the crimson gold swirling ash... she returned.
Her breath came hard, shoulders rising and falling in deep pulls as her body- shining, resplendent, terrifyingly beautiful- materialized in a dance of light and ruin. Ruin that now gathered thick around her in waves, a living cloud that burned her skin like reverent flame.
But her eyes.
Her eyes still burned.
She felt the thunderous might in her chest. The cascading flow of complexity and purity now pressing against the very ceiling of existence. She felt her PQ and CQ hold at the peak- 999,999- and yet, something within her clawed still.
"RUIN!" she cried out.
Fervent. Unyielding.
And again, her body ignited in solemn fire.
The Seventh Breaking.
Ash. Rebirth.
She returned with a shout.
Desperation- raw, bleeding desperation- coated her voice now.
It was no longer merely power that drove her. It was need. It was a refusal to remain as she was. A refusal to be less. A refusal to be anything but worthy.
Not just of herself. Not just of the tower she had yet to build.
But worthy of him.
Not far away, there were two who felt her power most clearly. Who watched the fiery storms of her self-destruction.
The Infiniverse Body.
And Noah.
The Infiniverse, ever radiant, ever steady... stared at her sister, her reflection, her twin of existence as she currently...had no words.
She had not known. Well, she had known, but it seemed like not truly. Not to the full extent as Ruination had hid it too well.
She had not realized the extent of Ruination’s will. Of her burden. Of her loneliness. Her desperation.
And Noah...
For a moment, his golden eyes... wavered.
They shimmered with a small sense guilt.
Guilt and something far rarer.
Worry.
He opened his mouth to speak, his words quiet but firm. "Ruination... you do not need to go this fa-...!"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse