Within 0.3 seconds of Aldric manifesting into a dark enclosure, a swarm of insects engulfed him. It took three milliseconds for Aldric to register the attack as he raised his arms to cover his face.
The first wave insect had already chipped at his exposed skin. Individually, they were not strong enough to break through the durability of a [Herald of Nether] but with a swarm numbering in the hundreds of thousands, it was hell.
With the pain muting his confusion, a blade of darkness wreathed in red energy sprang out of his palm as he wildly cut through to give himself some space. In that same instant, vapourous darkness spilled out of him like a smoke screen.
Embedded with his will, Aldric only attached a singular thought to the darkness. To consume. And so, a clash had begun. Fuelled with will, a strange phenomenon began. Two walls of darkness ate away at each other, one made of small insect-like creatures while the other was pure darkness.
This was not the best move, but it would gain some time. A moment of time to think and to process what exactly was happening. Peering through the darkness and utilisising his senses, it all came to him.
Metres ahead of him stood a battered Bael; around him were a few masters and dozens of awakened. Leading them all was a familiar figure. A beautiful raven-haired woman with icy-blue eyes; a chilly air surrounded her, foreign to the cold of Antarctica.
They were in a tunnel. A familiar tunnel that housed a particular creature. With that realisation, Aldric pulled on a plan that he had made casually months ago. What he would do if he were to ever battle the Heart of Darkness.
'Firstly, I can't be seen. To explain how I got here would be a nightmare.'
With that, Bael retreated to his soul sea while he fashioned a crude cape of darkness and a greatsword. Making his shoulders wider and adding layers of darkness around his torso to make himself look bigger. To the untrained eye, it would seem like Bael was leading the battle.
'They are struggling to get close. Jet would have killed the resting heart already, but it seems like something brought it out of its shell. Who knows what changed, but who really cares? It doesn't change what I have to do.'
Running into a mad dash, Aldric commanded the darkness that was covering them all to wrap around his form. Creating a mobile expansion that would weather the ravenous swarm.
Looking down at his hand, the linchpin of this plan rested in his hands. On his ring finger was a familiar but different memory. [Dark Sea's Covenant] had undergone a transformation.
With Event Horizon maintaining its own contract with the government, incentives such as contribution points were a moot point. But with all that Aldric had done for the people of Antarctica, it was simple. Utilising his mysterious 'echo' to evacuate so many people and relieving the government of an exponential amount of stress, Aldric often requested things. Memories that he or his team required. Information or resources, but in this instance, he requested something that Aldric had never needed before.
Soul shard.
It was time to put what he learned in the ebony tower to use.
Diamond Chaining.
The elusive art of Nether that had no heir nor legacy. A different form of weaving that Aldric learned from deconstructing the few examples Nether left behind.
Beyond its technicalities, it was a system that one could use to design an outcome that they wanted. Whatever form that took. And with that in mind, Aldric aimed for the facet of design that he felt most comfortable in achieving.
Taking six weeks and five days, with countless shards of varying rank destroyed and 1 shattered supreme shard, Aldric had done it. He had evolved a memory.
Memory: [Dark Sea's Covenant]
Memory Rank: [Ascended]
Memory Type: [Tool]
Memory Description: [After being sealed for so long. That very concept had been sealed within the curse.]
Memory Enchantment: [Seal]
What was once an ascended memory that he received in the aftermath of the Forgotten Shore had become the highest-ranked memory in his arsenal. A true trump card that matched his abilities perfectly.
Memory: [The End's Promise]
Memory Rank: [Supreme]
Memory Type: [Tool]
Sealed: [/]
Memory Description: [It was not just the God's nor Daemon's that spilt blood in that war.
A Nephilim had descended on the brink of death in a foreign realm.
From its blood, darkness came.
From darkness, a starless void was born.
The end of a realm.]
Memory Enchantment: [Nereid's Keeper][Star Feast] [Siphonator]
The simple ring with a black marble slotted on top had changed completely.
Now the longer ring covered an extra two inches of space, comfortably wrapped around the joint of his finger, and contained a larger and flatter design. Engrained with a blotted star that was hard to make out, grey chains wrapped from the back of the ring and covered the front in decorative layers that truly signified what this memory represented.
And that was the beauty of it. While he could not use weaving like Sunny to design particular enchantments, Aldric bypassed that completely through the synergy of two things. Firstly, by relying on the intuitive concept that memories were in fact memories. They were memories of objects long past. And such, they must retain something. Not a soul or a mind but rather a spirit.
Allowing that spirit to guide its own evolution into a form that most suited it, Aldric directly facilitated that transformation with something crucial. A catalyst that would anchor the transformation.
Simply slotting in a stronger soul shard was not enough to cause the change that Aldric wanted at his current level. And so he found and used something to bring about that change. Something that would remind the memory of its origin.
Borrowing a supply of dark water from Bael, the wraith apostle who had assimilated the Dark Sea's child. Just like a transcendent connecting to their source element, the memory had connected to the source that it was born from.
And the second part of the puzzle was to embed his own desire of change within the memory. Of what he would like, the simpler the desire, the better it would be translated. Thanks to [Dire Ordinance], this was something he was well versed in.
Unknown to Aldric, it was not his desire for change but rather his will. His nascent will that was growing from the small spark that it was. Aldric subconsciously channeled it such that it molded the memory. And of course, this was not a direct order but rather an ask. And if it was met in the way he wanted, that was not up to Aldric.
And with those two conditions met, it evolved.
Raising his right hand and pointing his fingers down, Aldric fed essence into his supreme-ranked memory and pulled on the enchantments. [Star Feast] hungrily absorbed the mass of insects and darkness like a whirlpool while [Nereid's Keeper] ensured that nothing would flow behind him. With the ring as its axis, space seemed to bend and contract as a titanic swarm from the Heart of Darkness was both absorbed and sealed.
The swarm that had gotten past Bael before he arrived was also drawn to the ring as though a black hole were pulling it. Away from the awakened of the government and the civilians, as it was beginning to damage the vehicles like a locust plague.
STEP
STEP
STEP
A man against a swarm, yet it was the man gaining ground with every step. Walking as though nothing was obstructing him, the winds from the clash billowed his cape, but Aldric stood strong.
With a form straight and fearless, Aldric walked towards the centre of the chaos. The whispers of his flaw echoing within his mind, but that was all.
It did not stop him.
Walking down the mass of the swarms, he gained ground until he came to its centre. A floating orb that expelled insects of darkness as though it were blood pumping from a heart. Bringing his hand closer, the feast continued as the space-expanding and contracting abilities of the swarm were confronted.
And so they sat in a deadlock, with the Heart of Darkness trying to consume the invader that interrupted its slumber while Aldric had to withstand the onslaught. Even as his essence continually drained through the memory. He stood still with his star-filled eyes being the only source of colour in the darkness.
He could only wait until the heart fully pumped its blood out. Until it had exhausted all the insect-like drones that made up its shell. Only then could he enact his next move.
Time seemed to slow down, yet haste at once. As the Heart of Darkness affected the flow of time and the reach of space. The only reference that Aldric had of time passing was his expenditure of soul essence, but the tide of the battle had swung.
And it was in his favour!
The flow of insects exponentially slowed until there was nothing left. Until there was no blood to pump. So what was a heart without its purpose?
His hand reached forward and gripped the orb.
Just a shell.
The orb that made up the core of the nightmare creature was nigh indestructible but that was not his aim. Before it regenerated, before it regained what it used.
Those star-ringed eyes left its battle-hardened gaze as a frenzy of madness began to overtake it. Seeing the vulnerable core of the creature that had battered both Bael and the contingent that Jet led, a feeling of anger built up.
He made his move.
'C̷̜̻̓̐O̶̢̘̊N̸̢̐̾̕Ş̶̩̩̔̿̐U̶̠̣̾M̴̩͝È̵̼'
Something within him whispered.
'Fuck off!'
Aldric thought absolutely.
The smooth orb trailed his palm softly as though it were a pearl. Raising a hand to his mouth, Aldric lifted his head and widened his mouth. Gulping the orb as if it were a succulent strip of tender meat.
GULP
Without a thought, his aspect knew exactly what to do.
The true way of creating an apostle.
In the case of Bael, an echo who had the properties of a wraith and could manipulate true darkness. This represented the concept of luck. Not fate but the idea that something so improbable could in fact happen. With its price being reflected in what it cost him.
While Amon was a unique case in that he was already consumed by Aldric. Just not literally but within his soul. Mordret had both died and begun his metamorphosis within Aldric, and that was enough.
[̸D̴o̴ ̵y̴o̵u̵ ̷w̴i̶s̴h̶ ̵t̵o̶ ̷a̸w̶a̵k̶e̷n̴ ̵a̷n̵ ̶A̸p̴o̸s̵t̷l̶e̶?̵]̵
The change of the Heart of Darkness had begun. From a reclusive nightmare creature to an apostle. A change that would strengthen and widen Aldric's capacity.
With everything done, it was time for Aldric to leave. But there was one last conversation to be had.
'Saved Jet and everyone she had evacuated and gained an apostle… Not a bad break from the office.'
He thought humorously.
–––––
Jet POV
"Thank you, Aldric. Being stuck in that tunnel was starting to be terrible and I don't say that often. I am not going to ask how you knew what was happening or how you got here but thank you."
She spoke. Her voice showing a rare softness from the otherwise cold woman.
In front of her was an enigma. Somebody that screamed danger and mystery but still chose to stay. Before the communication grid fell, all she could hear was control singing praises for him and his echo. Honestly, it was getting annoying to hear that constantly!
But she could not even imagine what would've happened had he not arrived.
An endless tunnel with a swarm of all-consuming insects: that was a ticket to death if she had ever seen one.
Before she was looking at him, but now she truly looked at the man in front of her.
'Cares for human life, responsible, disturbingly handsome, young but mature and strong...'
Jet thought to herself. A subtle filtering process going through her mind.
'And those eyes…'
A half-formed thought entered her head; where it went, who knows. But Soul-reaper Jet was never one to do things half-hearted.
***
Thank you for reading.
A new apostle??? The actual process revealed??? And bro is finally using Diamond Chaining??? Some drops in this chapter!
But forget all of that… Just what is Jet up to and what is she thinking😳?
Till the next one.