The next time Atticus opened his eyes, the world was a blend of purple, crimson, and black. The colors divided reality before him, as though his eyes carried three distinct authorities.
He was weightless, slowly ascending. A pillar of blazing light surrounded him. He was back in reality, Atticus realized. The world around him was frozen. Every soul was still.
Ahead, only Attimax’s trembling eyes remained fixed on him. Asmerion still held him, Atticus realized. Parts of the Primordial’s attire had been torn apart, and blood oozed from his body. His escape had not been subtle, and Asmerion had clearly paid for it.
Only Asmerion could move at the speed Atticus currently operated in. The others were a few eons late.
"H-how...? I planned for everything... Every possibility..."
Asmerion was muttering under his breath, but Atticus didn’t care.
Words could not change what was coming.
He still felt weightless, like he was floating upon a sea. Except the sea was reality itself. And it was endless. Solvath’s memories poured into his mind, merging with the Spirit King’s, along with every soul that had ever wielded Solvath’s fragment.
Thousands of lives. Thousands of experiences. They were endless. Yet Atticus wasn’t overwhelmed. They moved through his mind like water running down a slope. Unburdened.
He owned them.
Everything. He was them. The Spirit King. Solvath. But more importantly...
He was Atticus Ravenstein.
He was Primordial.
"No... this shouldn’t be possible!" Asmerion bellowed. "You were never supposed to awaken! I bound you to the Star Killer! It grows! It adapts! It should’ve kept you bound until I absorbed you! So how!? How did you awaken!? How did you break free!?"
"You’re speaking to the wrong person."
Atticus’ voice sounded as though it rose from the depths of the world.
Boundless.
Asmerion’s gaze darkened.
"No... it can’t be..." His lips trembled. "Y-you’re... Atticus?"
Atticus only raised his hand.
"Separate."
A greenish light was ripped out of Attimax. It dispersed into the air, vanishing into nothingness.
Time resumed.
His mother’s piercing screams echoed across the battlefield, mingling with the thunderous booms and cries of the raging war.
With a single thought, the countless stars vanished, returning to their respective houses across millions of kilometers.
Attimax’s wounds healed, and he regained consciousness. His mother’s eyes grew back. His cousin regained his vigor. They stared at one another in confusion.
Then the blazing pillar drew their gazes upward, where Atticus hovered like a deity born from legend.
His body had become light. Radiant. Blinding. It flickered between crimson, then purple, then black.
Ilyshkara’s gaze trembled.
"A-Atticus?"
Attimax also stared upward, his expression darkened. Shame lingered in his eyes, yet he knew this was neither the time nor the place for it.
Atticus met their gazes. He had no idea what was going through their minds. No... he did. There was love. But also uncertainty, worry, fear. They didn’t know how to react. But they didn’t have to.
Not anymore.
He smiled and gave them a single nod.
"I’ll handle the rest."
Attimax and Ilyshkara instinctively stepped forward.
"Wait, Atti—"
Atticus turned. The world fell silent. Such was the power of a Primordial, it seemed. A single thought, and reality obeyed.
He slowly closed his eyes and exhaled. When they opened again, they blazed purple.
"Break."
Something shattered across the cosmos. Rules. Barriers. Everything preventing the Primordials from acting upon the world simply ceased to exist.
Then the Primordials descended like seas of light. The sun seemed to vanish in their presence. The sky was no more. There was only boundless space, where five endless seas of light blazed with terrifying brilliance.
They had not come in humanoid or beastly forms. They had descended in their true forms. They were sending a message. They were boundless light given form by longing.
They were Primordials.
Asmerion was among them, as though everything he had done had already been forgiven. In truth, they had, momentarily. They cared more about Atticus. It showed in the way they regarded him. Their attention was intense, probing, wary. They didn’t understand what he was.
And that unsettled them.
"The rules have been broken," Elysion, Primordial Star of Order, said. "We are no longer bound. Was this your doing?"
"Yes."
"What have you done with our brother?"
"I devoured him."
An oppressive silence settled across the cosmos, broken by a blazing green light.
Asmerion, Primordial Star of Ascension.
"You... what do you think you are?" Asmerion roared. "A mere creation dared devour a Primordial Star? Your creator? You overstep yourself, child! You believe you stand among us? You are hopelessly deluded! You are—"
"That is enough, Asmerion," Vaelos, Primordial Star of Chaos, said.
"Vaelos, bu—"
"Do not forget whose actions brought us to this point. We have not."
"You are Atticus Ravenstein."
"Our brother was the strongest among us. The one whose longing surpassed all others. Even weakened, you could not have devoured him."
"You made a pact with him."
"I did."
"For what?"
"Revenge."
"Like I said... you overestimate yourself, child." His voice was cold. "You stand before your betters. We made you. Without us, you would never have drawn your first breath. We are your creators. You made a promise you cannot possibly fulfill. Even Solvath, at the height of his power, fell before us."
"I am not Solvath."
"Brazen!"
"Insolence!"
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