Chapter 348

Empyrean Starbringer (I)

Cain stood on top of a scalding-hot volcano overlooking an expansive mountain range that extended well into the horizon’s curve. Fire raged just behind him, inside a massive chasm, bubbles frothing at the crimson-red surface of the lake of flames. He tossed a can of beer behind him and into the fire as he stood up and stretched. He’d ‘ran away’ from the city temporarily as it was time to do the one thing he had been wanting to do for a while now: ascend.

Alone he wasn’t, though; Te’gha rested on one of his shoulders and Domin on the other. While Te’gha appeared disinterested, Domin didn’t bother hiding his excitement. In fact, there was currently a muzzle on the little thing’s lips as he was yapping so much Cain got a headache because of it, forcing him to temporarily, but very permanently, close the young one’s lips.

Cain himself didn’t know what to expect--he knew there’d be a lot of different avenues, especially considering his overall escapades since the first Awakening, but specifically because of that, he was unable to truly grasp the extent of the potential awakenings. Furthermore, he wasn’t even certain on a path he’d want to take. The image of his future self had gotten quite rattled when he was told he’d be a centerpiece of a cosmic war between forces well beyond his comprehension.

What was, by then, a forgone conclusion in terms of which path he’d take, class-wise, had turned uncertain once again. Pursue further diversification in terms of skills so that he can cover more holes in his group? That had the potential of thinning him out too much, however, and making him incapable of truly making a difference on his own. Specialize into something specific? That would, then, make him too reliant on that one thing and wouldn’t let him stay behind in the group and just cover for them.

Try desperately to meet the two extremes somewhere in the middle and end up pleasing neither by the choice? He wasn’t certain. He couldn’t be certain. Well, except for one thing--he’d maintain the Spellweaver abilities, namely the creation of Skills and the way he utilized them. Even if it meant giving up a bit more firepower, he’d willingly do so as the temptation of creating Skills to suit every occasion was far greater than the want of more raw power.

Nonetheless, he pulled up a window that had appeared soon after he landed on Earth and the one that he had neglected up until now--it was a simple window with a single question and two very binary choices.

[Would you like to enter Cosmic Plains to undergo your Reawakening?]

[YES / NO]

Pressing yes, he felt a colossal surge of Mana wash over him as the surrounding spacetime began to bend unnaturally, turning into rippling waves that curled and twisted reality around him. Just then, he felt his body being pulled by a force he couldn’t resist--and thus he didn’t even bother to. What felt like a blink of time later, he was no longer standing on top of an active volcano overlooking the world, but a white sheet that extended into infinity, with an ebony-black canopy above that was alight with innumerable stars, galaxies, nebulae, and a myriad of other cosmic phenomena.

Nothing happened for a few moments as he found himself adjusting to the sight. While, undoubtedly, it would have left most others floored in its scope and scape, Cain had already seen and experienced and lived the vastness of the cosmos in all its glory. Nonetheless, the sight was still breathtaking--colors came together to form a canvas of glory, a monument to the reality that the individual’s perspectives were so limiting, they were like specs of sand on a worldwide beach.

A few moments later, however, the scenery began to change--statues abruptly began to cleave out from the white sheet of the void, quaking the world for a moment before settling. They ranged in shape and size vastly, numbering in 20s or so from the quick count. Most were fairly small, human-sized, with a few going up to fifteen to twenty feet in height, and two that towered over all the rest, standing at the very least fifty feet tall.

The two depicted masked figures of indeterminate age, sex, race, or anything else, really, as they were covered from top to bottom in thick layers of armor. What separated them was simply the shape of the object that was ‘levitating’ above their open palms--one held a spiked sphere that seemed to be inundated with millions of needles, while the other was in the shape of a bursting star, almost, with a relatively solid center exploding outwardly into sparks.

He began approaching the statues, one by one, and, as he suspected, they depicted possible paths for him to take: Guarding Weaver, Arcanist, Spell Thief, Anti-Magus, Warmage... many paths, some tempting and some not as much, lay ahead of him, but his expectations grew as he approached the remaining two. From the clues, he quickly realized that both were ‘Heroic Paths’, not unlike the ‘Spellweaver’ he had chosen during the first Awakening.

The two massive statues stood back to back, facing opposite directions, as though they were distinctly two parts of a one thing--but there was a clear line between them, a clear cut, separation that made them stand out. He first checked out the one on his right, the one that had a spiked sphere interspersed with millions of tiny needles.

[Chthonian Wayweaver]

[Rank: Cosmic]

[For in Dark they reside,

Raining Fire upon the unsuspecting;

And whence their Voices guide,

Therein thee shan’t be treading]

[Obtaining ‘Chthonia Waywaever’ title affords many bonuses, some of which are:

Natural Mana is converted into Wayweaving Motes which are used instead to power abilities and spells

Every Spell intrinsically has the chance to inundate the target and make them your permanent slave

Restrictions of body-modifications are completely lifted, affording you the ability to enhance your physical body infinitely

You gain the ability to permanently traverse the Nether, weaving in and out of the two realities at will]

[Prominent Chthonian Wayweavers:

Divine A’gdna, depicted in the Motif, Ruler of Q’mel.

Divine Ulter, A’dereen of Mot

Divine Maelton, first Humanoid to Awaken to the Path]

[Path is only offered to prospected Divines.

Rejecting will permanently remove it from the pool of choices.

Furthermore, all living Wayweavers will be hostile toward you.]

[From the Deeps We Come,

To the Deeps We Return,

Our Time is Long,

And in our wake the Ashes Burn]

Stepping back, he looked up at the statues with a strange look in his eyes. The explanation was... vague. At best, he caught the shallowest glimpse of the class and the path that didn’t really... say much. Aside from the body modifications being infinite, which was recognizably broken in theory, and the fact that he could accidentally ‘enslave’ a bunch of people and creatures by simply fighting, most else didn’t really ring a bell with him. Furthermore, the rank was ‘Cosmic’ rather than ‘Heroic’, but what was strange was that none of the other Paths were Heroic. So, either, the department of decisions decided to rename the ‘Heroic’ paths to ‘Cosmic’, or it was something else entirely.

Shaking his head, he looked to the other figure, the one with the star bursting out from above its palm, pulling up the window on it and reading through it line by line.

[Empyrean Starbringer]

[Rank: Cosmic]

[Beneath the Cosmic Sepulcher

Where Gods come to rest;

And where Truths become True

Empyrean becomes, thee attest]

[Obtaining ‘Empyrean Starbringer’ title affords many bonuses, some of which are:

Mastery of elements of Starlight, Cosmic Dust, and Worematter are maximized

Element of Fire becomes Starfire

Depending on the Path’s Mastery, you may begin the creation of stars and galaxies from which you can draw power

You gain access to Elysian Avatar]

[Prominent Empyrean Starbringers:

Divine H’yte, depicted in the Motif, Aeonic Starsurger

Divine Otten, Seraphic Wayfinder

U’m, the Worldeater]

[There may only ever be one Starbringer at a time, and their Title is as eternal as their life. Accepting the Path will remove any and all future diversions, and will lock the Conqueror into a singular road with no exits.]

[Our Light is Hallowed,

And Our means Divine,

Rested upon the Azure Vaults,

Our Rapture is sublime]

Cain sat back down onto the white sheet that was the ground, his thoughts in disarray. Clearly, he was supposed to select one of the two ‘Cosmic’ paths. Choosing any other would be settling, would be just weakening himself purposefully. And yet... he hardly felt like selecting either. Becoming a Starbringer, as the explanation itself mentioned, meant being that... forever. Just developing that singular Path. And while the Path may be absolutely, unmistakably worth it, he wasn’t making the selection for himself alone.

On the other end, Wayweaver, from the description at least, seemed to dance too finely on the line of sacrificial magic. Those paths weren’t rare--in fact, they were fairly common and were usually considered some of the strongest paths of their rank. The problem was... they required consistent sacrifice. Initially, it was usually animals--but, eventually, without exception, animals would cease to be enough. Wayweaver, simply from its ‘enslave’ part, seemed to be heading in that direction.

Of all the things in the description of the two Paths, and ultimately what made him choose the latter, were the names of the prominent figures of the Path. It’s not as though he recognized any of the names, far from it, but one stuck out in the sea of them--the very last one he read, that of U’m. In part it was because the figure’s name sounded like an average guy’s response to social anxiety, but largely because it was the only figure... that wasn’t a Divine.

And while the figure’s title sounded very humbling and all-encompassing, the fact that they weren’t a Divine was far more interesting to Cain. Then, there was also the fact that he, supposedly, could create whole stars and galaxies eventually. And though, deep down, he knew that the line was mostly a form of bait--as, even if that was possible, it was likely reserved for when he absolutely wouldn’t have any reason to create them--his inner child still giggled in want of the power. And, as such, he selected the ‘Empyrean Starbringer’ Path. As soon as he did, the sound of thunder exploded his eardrums and knocked him backward as the violent winds coated in beautiful, ethereal gold began to madly destroy all the other statues, until only one was remaining--at which point a pillar of many-colored light shot from the cosmos above and washed over the statue, melting it down to its core and revealing a cross-legged, masked figure floating midair, the seeming power of cosmos exuding from their very presence.