"What happened?" Zenith noticed Sylvester's expression and got closer to him, worried.
He didn't respond until he started moving again. "We're on the right path. Let's keep going."
But the signs were visible. He wasn't walking as fast or as firmly any more. His legs seemed to be under great strain, and each step appeared to take great effort. However, he still kept moving forward. The tunnel kept on forming with Earth manipulation.
'This doesn't feel natural.' Sylvester could feel it in his body. He hadn't done anything to increase his power, so the sudden repulsion from the fabric of reality didn't make sense. He had already breached the upper limit of the world, but it was done by circumventing the Supreme Wizard rank. 'Are they finally starting to react? But this is still too early. I'm still nothing against them.'
The further he stepped towards the center of the cavity inside the mountain, the more he felt the very essence of his physical form rejecting him. It was as if he wasn't compatible with the nature around him. 'What did she place there to cause such a reaction?'
"If you two feel anything, retreat immediately, " he ordered them. "I can survive the unsurvivable; you can't."
"We don't know what we're supposed to be feeling," Zenith said. "If you tell u—"
"Death… nature will reject your physical being. I don't know if you will feel it too. Still, at any sign of pain and unease, run back," Sylvester answered her, his teeth gritting together on their own as he tried to keep himself held together with the help of Creation magic, using solarium stored in his body to keep himself intact.
Zenith noticed everything and felt somewhat panicked. "How bad is it?"
Sylvester raised his palm and looked at it while moving, "Utterly bad."
The skin over his palm had started to chip away and vanish as if it had never existed. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't hold his body intact completely. It felt as if there was an absolute suction force all around him, and a blower inside his body—both working together to break his body apart into tiny invisible particles.
'If their goal is to keep the information inside hidden, why would they allow us to walk in?' Sylvester stopped right there and looked behind him, at Zenith and Dalgan. He also raised his hand around to create a bigger chamber for them to rest in.
"You two should stop here. If it's something 'they' are doing, then they will likely stop you from reaching the center too. So I suggest you two stay here and wait for me," he proposed in good faith but instantly noticed their reluctance. "They might suddenly kill you right in front of me to throw me into a shock. Anything could happen. You have a world to rule over, Empress."
She couldn't show her expressions in that armor, but she was frowning inside. It felt wrong to let Sylvester take all the risks when her people were the ones who called him over. But at the same time, he had already humbled her enough to know where she stood in power levels.
"What if they kill you instead? Do you want us to wait here forever? How would we know if you're still alive?" She inquired.
Sylvester quickly stepped closer to her and placed his palm on her forehead, right between the horns. Just a tiny hint of it, he deposited solarium in her. "I'll be able to speak with you directly in your mind now. Until I reach the end and return, I'll remain connected and keep you informed."
"Then I can come with you? I have nothing to lose. Even if I die, it doesn't matter. I'm nobody to you, and certainly nothing to my family." Dalgan questioned.
Sylvester saw through his plan and denied it right away. "You think dying like that is honorable? No, it's shameful and pitiful. To be unable to even battle and simply fade away from existence as if you were nothing—I'd hate to die like that. As for your family, you still have a son and a daughter. Impart your life's knowledge to them, don't chase an untimely death."
"This world needs people like you," Empress Zenith also added. "If not your family, you can give your life to public service."
Dalgan sneered, "So you want me to be a government's slave?"
"The people's slave, like I am," she responded. "This world has only thrived because of my ancestor's unyielding spirit to help the people and make their lives better. I wish to do the same."
Seeing them well suited for each other, Sylvester chose to leave. "Then it's decided. You two are to remain here. I'll see you later."
They didn't try to stop him anymore, and Sylvester silently left. Each step was carefully taken, and each foot gained killed his physical body even more. His best attempts failed, and his mighty powers started to feel puny before the laws of reality.
"Ugh…" It wasn't as painful, but he could see more of his flesh fading away from his body. The real body he had inside began to become visible as he no longer had any internal body parts. It was just a fiery, flaming core of fire-like light.
"Damn it!" Just when he saw the end in the distance, a single, massive iron door, he could no longer continue moving forward. Feeling a repulsive force from ahead, his body seemingly froze. "How did you do it, Diana? Chonky, do you feel anything?"
"Feel? I feel nothing… but you look very shiny." Miraj looked down at Sylvester's body, which had less flesh. "Where is the bone-bone?"
Miraj wasn't there during his last visit to Nehilius, so Sylvester could understand the shock. "I don't think I'm a human anymore, Chonky."
Miraj excitedly flew up from his shoulder and looked at his face, his big chubby cheeks bulging as he grinned. "Then, you're like me now? I don't think I have bones, either. I can slide in anywhere."
"You're a cat, Chonky. You have a smooth brain and a smooth body."
"What's a smooth brain?"
"That means you're utterly intelligent."
Miraj grinned harder, "Hehe… I knew it."
'I wish Diana could have met you, my boy.' Sylvester sighed and looked for a way to move forward and deal with the situation. 'Whatever she placed in there must also be protected in some way. Even if the 'Gods' didn't stop her here, she must have been strong enough to set protections.'
He looked down at himself again and noticed his robes almost entirely gone as they withered away. His skin had also vanished, revealing a blazing fiery humanoid form from his waist below, with some patches around his chest.
"Chonky, don't panic."
"Why?"
Sylvester closed his eyes and still tried to move forward. However, there was a very slight change now. He didn't try to use Creation magic to hold himself together anymore. He allowed the effects of his surroundings to take over and chip away any semblance of flesh left on his body.
He thanked himself for leaving Zenith and Dalgan behind as he looked like some horror entity with nothing but a formless humanoid body made of fire. Was it even fire?
"Maxy, you're hot!"
"Burning, Chonky. But just as a precaution, try not to touch me." He was still able to speak and see everything with just the consciousness of his godly form.
But what did come as a surprise was the ability to resume walking. There was still some pressure that tried to push him back, but it only felt like some resisting wind.
At last, he reached the door and tried to push it open. It was a single piece of metal, but it was massive. There was no keyhole, nor any handlebar to open the gate.
'It's Diana, then it must be some password,' he thought and tried to think of something only the two of them would ever know. 'Our English names are common in this world too.'
"Artyom?"
Nothing happened.
"Twenty-sixth June of nineteen eighty?"
Grrr…!
The single door began moving upwards and vanished into the ceiling of the tunnel. He had no face, but he smiled giddily. After all, she remembered the date of the day they first met.
He waited for the door to completely open before taking a step inside. There was no light, but his shining body provided enough of that. However, there was a lack of material too. It was just a massive empty hall.
Yet there was a lone thing awaiting him in the center. A small, waist-high square pillar protruded out of the ground. On it was a lone book, very thick and its sides wide. Its cover was ordinary and made of leather, with no words on it.
'This is what she wanted me to have?'
He already imagined what it might be and reached out to pick it up. But then he quickly stepped back, seeing he was still in his fiery form. But, no matter what he did, he couldn't make himself a new body of flesh once again. The pressure was still there, suppressing his physical body.
"Chonky, open the book and show me the first page," he ordered.
Miraj flew down and landed beside the book. Carefully, he moved his fluffy paw and turned open the leather cover. "Like this?"
But Sylvester didn't reply as all he could see was clear Russian on the first page, addressing him directly.
'John, if you're reading this, you're alive and powerful enough to take the next step. From the moment I closed my eyes, to the… disgusting experience of being conceived and born, and until my last breath—I have written everything in this journal. There are answers, my feelings, and my hope encased in this…'
"Chonky, turn the page." Sylvester suddenly stopped reading the introduction and looked for something particular. "Ah, that's it."
He read the last few lines on the second page. '...Stuck in the endless sea of darkness, yet I could see countless white snakes around me. But then, suddenly, I felt as if something was squeezing and pushing me in a certain direction. I tried resisting but had no control—the other snakes were in the same situation as me. We all moved in the same direction like a sea of
—white, thick-headed, and thin-tailed snakes… that was the moment I realized what I truly was, and to the last breath of mine, I will remember that traumatizing experience.'
"Bahaha!" Sylvester suddenly boomed in laughter, holding his belly, which was just a matter made of fire. "So you went through it too! Oh, Diana… the disgust is mutual."
Thank you for reading the book. Gifts and GT votes are highly appreciated.
