?Khan didn't show any hesitation in seizing the bone cup, but that feeling invaded him when his eyes returned to the cauldron. He had understood what the old Scalqa wanted from him, and his senses worked overtime to find ways out of that pickle.
The old Scalqa wanted Khan to drink the dark green liquid, but his senses had already warned him. His body instinctively disliked the substance, probably hinting at toxicity, poison, or other ingredients he would reject due to his unique situation.
Moreover, the longer the inspection lasted, the more convinced Khan grew. Even standing before the cauldron was attempting to make him light-headed. The dark green liquid's fumes were enough to affect his condition.
Even worse, the Scalqa seemed to respect the old alien and the cauldron. The crowd had gone silent ever since the cauldron had come out. The tribe clearly valued the event, making escaping it rather complicated.
Now, Khan was familiar with sacrifice, even too familiar. That inclination had been the bane of all his loved ones. He was so willing to suffer and hurt himself for the greater good that his girlfriends had to set ultimatums to make him stop.
The current pickle was another instance where Khan could choose to hurt himself to improve his relationships with the Scalqa. Actually, the odds were in his favor since the procedure involved something seemingly poisonous. Khan's tolerance had only increased after the transformation and breakthrough to the fourth level. He probably wouldn't die so easily.
The event also had another positive aspect. The bone cup's size was average for a human but small for the Scalqa. It seemed drinking the dark-green liquid didn't involve huge mouthfuls but mere sips, convincing Khan he could endure it.
However, the negative aspects weren't negligible either. First, becoming indisposed in the middle of the enemy territory wasn't a good idea. Khan trusted his resilience but couldn't ignore the Scalqa's physical strength. The aliens could decide to attack him, and their punches were bound to hurt.
The problems didn't end there. Actually, the worst had yet to come. Khan believed himself capable of handling the Scalqa even while intoxicated. Yet, he wasn't the only human in the settlement. Amy was there with him, and her allegiances were still unclear.
Dodging a flurry of punches was one thing, but Amy was different. Khan was far stronger than her, but his eventual intoxicated condition could create a fatal opening, and his paranoia never stopped reminding him of that.
Khan's mind was working overtime, but time continued to flow. His hesitation became evident, but the Scalqa didn't move. Everyone showed strange patience even while the newborn's cries disturbed the silence.
Oddly enough, the first reaction didn't come from the Scalqa. Amy couldn't look at Khan's face, but his hesitation could only mean one thing. He was considering drinking that dangerous substance, and she couldn't allow it.
"Major," Amy called, speaking through her teeth.
"We agreed on names," Khan admonished, his eyes still on the cauldron.
"Khan," Amy corrected herself. "You can't."
Amy's tone was honest. Khan even found traces of genuine worry inside it. Yet, his paranoia was a wall his senses couldn't overcome. Too many variables were at play to believe mere words.
Besides, Khan had to admit that a tinge of curiosity existed inside him. The old Scalqa could have asked Amy but had only focused on him. The alien probably had heightened senses or similar skills, and that invitation to drink from the cauldron couldn't be a random action.
'My metabolism is probably inferior,' Khan considered, moving his attention to the old Scalqa, 'But I have the chaos element. That should count for something.'
Chances were that the old Scalqa also drank the dark green liquid due to the strange scent radiated by his mana. Khan saw that as proof that the substance wasn't deadly in high dosage. If the alien could tolerate it, so could he.
Khan lifted the cup, inspecting its insides, and calculations happened inside his mind. The Scalqa couldn't know his body's peculiarities, so his size could probably fool them. Filling only a third of the container should be enough to satisfy them and limit the negative consequences.
The gesture didn't go unnoticed, and Amy couldn't refrain from speaking again. "Khan, we can find another way."
Amy's words fell on deaf ears. Both Khan and the aliens completely ignored her pleas. A reverent silence had fallen in the area, and Khan stood at its center.
'I might as well put this body to use,' Khan eventually thought. He resented the transformation, but it was there to stay. As much as Khan hated it, he would still use it to pursue his goals.
Khan had one last thought about Monica before lowering the bone cup into the cauldron. He tilted it, paying attention not to touch the liquid with his fingers. He filled only a third of the container, and lifting it seemed to garner general approval.
A few green drops flowed down the cup's edge and fell back into the cauldron, but the Scalqa didn't falter. They stood silent, waiting for Khan to complete the act. He would normally sit first, but the giant skull would hide him, and he wanted everyone to see him.
Khan took a deep breath before gulping down the small sip of dark green liquid. He had trained his throat with awful booze and gory items, so he had no problem enduring the disgust that filled his mind. Yet, Khan still decided to sit afterward, crossing his legs to achieve a stable stance.
The cauldron was taller than the seated Khan, so the old Scalqa scooted to his right to resume inspecting him. The other aliens also leaned accordingly to study the event, and Amy was no exception. Only Khan disregarded his surroundings to focus on his internal state.
Khan could feel the liquid running down his throat before spreading through his body. Discomfort invaded him as the disgusting sensation split into countless needles that expanded in his torso, reaching for his abdomen and chest.
A strange itch arrived, followed by a slight loss of balance. Khan leaned backward, but his abs tightened, preserving the sitting position. Still, the liquid wasn't done. The disgust circled through his torso before climbing toward his neck, which began to burn.
The sensation wasn't painful, but Khan still closed his eyes to concentrate. He didn't want to lose control for multiple reasons, so he focused on containing the liquid's effects. Yet, his mind wandered as the burning feeling converged into his nape.
Flashes of familiar sceneries occasionally replaced the view in Khan's closed eyes. The nightmare appeared without matching the usual flow. Khan didn't see it as a complete and continuous memory. He only witnessed random images with no chronological order.
Khan's concentration began to slip as the flashes grew more frequent. His attention alternated between his surroundings, his state, and the images from the nightmare. He was slowly losing focus, and his torso swung back and forth as he struggled to balance himself.
The burning sensation intensified, but Khan could barely notice it. His mind grew dull, captivated by the increasingly frequent flashes. His heartbeat increased, and sweat accumulated on his forehead. His eyes also opened, but he couldn't see the environment anymore.
The flashes went back and forth. Khan saw the desolation of the fuming crater before jumping to the Nak with an arm stretched toward him. He witnessed the tall alien heal him before watching him return inside the charred hole.
That messy version of the nightmare continued until the star system appeared. At that point, the flashes stopped, and the scenery remained stuck to that image. Khan inspected the various thin rings, but his attention soon fell on the blinding circular spot.
The azure light radiated by the circular spot intensified, and Khan's eyes began to hurt. However, closing them didn't eliminate the image, and diverting them appeared impossible. He was stuck watching that blinding sphere, which soon filled the entirety of his vision.
Khan felt to have gone blind. The only color he could see was azure, and diverting his gaze didn't change the scenery. Everything had disappeared, leaving behind that single, bright shade. The event almost made him panic, but a change eventually arrived.
Something brighter appeared among the already bright scenery. Three spots glowed, taking the shape of eyes Khan knew far too well. The Nak's eyes were shining among the azure canvas, looking at him and inflicting sharp pain at the center of his forehead.
The azure color suddenly disappeared. Its brightness vanished, replaced by pure darkness. Then, tiny white spots manifested randomly, creating another familiar scene. Khan realized he was looking at the depths of space, which turned out far from empty.
The tiny white spots didn't fill the entirety of the black canvas. A darker line existed, marking the horizon in a place that didn't have any. Details soon appeared and quickly multiplied, revealing the nature of that odd presence.
The line turned out to be the result of multiple humanoid figures that managed to stand out in the middle of that darkness. They were blacker than space, and Khan wasn't in the right mind to ponder that detail. His brain wasn't only wandering. Intense sensations had arrived, interrupting any attempt to think.
Anger, duty, and fear filled the entirety of Khan's being while understanding dawned upon him. He knew those feelings didn't belong to him. They were a foreign presence inherited by the Nak's mana. They were the same sensations he experienced in the nightmares, just far more intense.
The details increased until Khan recognized long capes, but another change happened. A pair of sharp, scarlet eyes appeared above the mass of figures, and their intense glare sent Khan back to reality.
Khan returned to his senses and found himself crouching on the ground. His forehead was digging through the terrain while sweat profusely flowed down his face. His breath was ragged, and his heart seemed about to explode, but a far scarier sensation distracted him from all of that.
Khan's mana had witnessed the entire mental journey and couldn't stay silent. The chaos element didn't like that last scene, and Khan's energy boiled while the center of his forehead continued to hurt.
Information flowed into his mind. Khan suddenly became completely aware of his surroundings and more. Details he shouldn't be able to sense became obvious in his mind. He learned the ground composition to perfection, and his mana reached a critical point.
"Get away from me!" Khan growled, a clicking cry echoing from the bottom of his throat, conveying meanings that overcame the language barrier.
Still, something else also came out. A wave of mana escaped Khan's body, blowing through his surroundings. That soft wind didn't hurt anybody, but the ground felt it. Khan could even see its effects and the imminent destruction.
Cracks abruptly opened all around Khan. The ground shattered, creating holes and lifting clouds of brownish dirt. The destruction spread equally in every direction and for multiple meters, but Khan couldn't care about his surroundings. A deeper realization existed in his mind and made him unable to think about anything else.
Khan had already witnessed that attack. It came from something he hated as much as the azure color of his hair. The Nak's hand on Milia 222 had performed something similar, and now he had unleashed the same power.
