Imagining the unfathomable, the chains, once a curse, had freed him from humanity.
A perfect being that reaches new bounds.
Kaelen's white skin toned by dark brown spots that felt blue. It was too thin. He felt cold. it moved on its own, adapting to his body. Hair straight as a ruler guided by the wind, their texture thin and glittery. His upper body leaned back from the switch in his presence. The curses acknowledged it, they turned back and showed their face. Respect, not obedience or follow-not yet. He turned lighter and taller.
But all of it empty. Not a single coherent thought. The body worked by using surroundings. Running solely on instincts, actions took place whenever a condition met.
The world had turned apart, looked like anything. People he once remembered, only a cluster of energy in the shape of a human, differentiated by their colour, Shape. Size. And instinct. Rowan was black, no existence of his own. Aurelion was as red as it got. There seemed to be a pattern the more crimson one looked the stronger he was.
A fear ran through him, the fear of being alone, nothing he could do to be happy. Or will his sacrifice for them be his only source of joy that he had to make up? An emotionless being with nothing but knowledge and authority like no one else.
He ate it, HE ATE IT.
The distance between him and the curses diminished to where Kaelen shattered them by the softest touch.
One with no one to go back to and one with nowhere to go. Perfect partners.
Blinded by fear, he did nothing. He didn't try.
The curses lifted his hand and gave him a golden goblet with wine inside it. Another goblet struck it from below. "Cheers," the curses said.
They took over every corner of Kaelen.
He took a sip from the hands he remembered, with a vision that was his in a place he belonged to, in a body that used to belong to him.
Cutting off the perfect being act. He looked around.
Rowan's expression changed upon seeing him. "Welcome back."
Kaelen smiled. He stopped. No, I can't let my hunger be satisfied by these small wins. Until I change this world. I will starve myself. So this gluttony can rule the world.
A crimson moon appeared, radiating cursed rays that would kill anyone below stage 2, unless Kaelen allowed them to live. It looked like the end of the world. Everything looked darker than it should have. Normal puddle of water turned into blood.
The barrier broke. 9 gods without an army. In front of Kaelen. They stayed still in the sky.
From his right. Swarms of pirates on flying ships. Water appeared below wherever it went. The ship was a part of their body, their base, their source of existence.
They were terrifying, out of this world, made from sheer will to exist. They had only one goal. Kill. But currently they weren't here for that. They were here for the big fish.
With their swords painted with rifts leading everywhere the world had to offer. Their bodies had a metallic shine that reflected any change.
Kaelen took another glance at them. He smiled, "I wanna have them in my army."
Kaelen looked at Rowan, terrified, eyes darting. "These- pirates." He closed his eyes. "Hands of death. They are called." Rowan was sweating hard. Kaelen had never seen him like that. He understood the level of exchange this was.
"Yeah, but they don't have the guts."
Rowan gave a straight face of doom.
Another force had entered the void.
From their right, a man pierced the sky and jumped at the pirates. Sinking their ships into the ground with a single hit of his double-edged axe. Something about him stuck out: the way he moved, his aura, his physique — everything trained to make him look like a beast.
"The god-eater is here. Charge!" shouted the pirates.
Kaelen had his eyes straight toward the gods. Still in their mystical form, they hid their weakness.
Kaelen screamed at the sky. "If you think so lowly of humans then why do nine of you come against a single human."
The curses turned into tattoos. Combining their powers. Kaelen had himself in a confusing situation where he did not know whether he would have allowed the curses this much power if he had never combined with them and shared conscience with them.
Gods sent their curses flying, the energy concentrated in such a compact unit that they had no existence without a host, which was only Kaelen. Nothing. Not even a pinch of damage or pain. Kaelen smiled and did the same, combining his powers with the curses he created new versions of them. Nothing. Same as the gods.
Kaelen's soldiers and the intruder overpowered the pirates. Destroyed their ships and killed half of them. But their will to live was too strong to kill. Their swords continued their legacy. Took their forms and did what they did. Kill.
Converting the battlefield would be worse for him this time.
Countless simulations ran in his mind before the gods struck again. Kaelen drove the chains underground. As the gods closed in. Chains ripped out of the ground. The platform came with them flying straight into the gods.
The darkness beneath him met the gods. Defeating it only made Kaelen stronger.
Kaelen seized the opportunity by chaining them and attaching a chain to one of them, pulling him to the ground. His left hand went straight into his head. Blood gushed from it onto the other gods.
The chains turned black, stealing every bit of life the gods had left.
Soon every one of them came down.
He looked to his right. Zeph. Kaelen remembered his name. Zeph had overpowered the god-eater.
Even the pirates couldn't hide their primal fear upon seeing Zeph.
He chained the god-eater and carried him on his back. And vanished in a second.
Rowan and his army rushed at the pirates as soon as Zeph disappeared.
"STOP!" Kaelen shouted.
His chains slowly slipped from his hands. The gods retreated back.
Kaelen raised a piece of broken chain. "I know there's nothing you want more right now than killing them." His voice carried across what was left of the battlefield. "But we're better than that. And we don't need anyone telling us that other than ourselves."
The chain burned in flames stolen from the gods.
If you think so lowly of humans, why do nine of you come against one? That's what he'd screamed at them, before any of this started.
He hadn't understood what he meant until he watched one of them die under his own hands.
He understood now.
"There's nothing I've been prouder of than being myself," he said. "And this is the part where I actually have to be it." He looked at the retreating gods, at his own army straining to finish them anyway. "I said something to them. I meant it. I don't get to take it back just because it's inconvenient now."