With his heart filled with resentment, Cipher moves away from the battle, not wanting to override his soul with the only emotions he knows, envy and anger. This time, he chooses peace for himself.
Unlike the other times, he felt oddly disconnected. Before, he wanted to live others' lives as if they were his own. He wanted to be something more than just a soul or an anomaly who had snuck into this realm. But now, all that shrouds his two emotions is emptiness.
Before fueling these two emotions, all he had to do was watch others. He would pick an individual or two who he'd watch to ignite some sort of emotions within him anytime he felt himself drifting or lost.
The burning fire within his soul was the only thing that was the thing keeping him sane and not forgetful of the terrors his life held and what he was going through now.
However now, that flame was dying down as time passed the only thing that remains is nothing more than embers flicking within his hollow chest, struggling to stay alight against the suffocating darkness creeping in.
"I guess." He says out loud taking into account everything that has been happening for the past few days. "After 30 years, I'm finally going to become what this world and gods wanted me to become."
A mere soul and a forgotten anomaly. And yet I still feel that flicker of hatred screeching for gasoline as I think about how these humans waste their second lives.
Then again like a cycle as he floats towards his usual resting spot, the embers of hatred spark again, coming alive once more before simmering down once again, the darkness stifling its fury like a cup outing a candle.
How can I with goals of becoming something much more be reduced to a mere unseen being, mingling in the shadows waiting for a hope that might never come?
Like clockwork, the anger fades, its fire dampened by a lack of fuel, leaving only a hollow emptiness in its wake. With a sigh, he spots his usual resting place and drifts downward into the forest.
The damp trees shimmer with raindrops that fall softly to the ground, and he settles between two towering oaks, their massive trunks offering shelter as he prepares for sleep.
Maybe in the five years, there might be something much more interesting.
To slow the descent of his waning emotions and fading memories, sleep had always been his best remedy—a temporary escape, a way to encase everything he knew and remembered, preserving it in place, ensuring he wouldn't forget or lose the ability to feel.
But this time, as he blinked slowly, his eyelids growing heavier and his vision blurring with each passing moment, a sudden burst of bright white light erupted into the sky. It shot upwards like a beam of pure energy, jolting him awake with its blinding intensity and the overwhelming power radiating from it.
Slowly, his surroundings turn blur with each leisurely blink, but just as he is about to doze off fully, something bright jolts him awake, grabbing all his attention in the distance. Flying up, he looks out in between the trees, and a bright white light spikes up into the air like a beam of pure brilliance.
Huh? Is that someone's power? But why would they be using it outside of the ring and more or else in a weak, forest-like outland? Unless it is someone changing paths, but that is impossible it shouldn't be this powerful!
His mind reels with the countless possibilities of what this power can be and who might be wielding it. And to him, it's akin to a god.
Letting his curiosity take control, he floated upwards, watching as the beam stretched into the sky, showing no signs of fading. Cipher's movements are instinctive, drawn toward the light hidden deep within the outland forest.
I don't know why, but I can't stop my body. I'm being drawn towards it.
The closer he gets, the stronger the pull becomes, as though the light itself is beckoning him, calling him with an irresistible force.
Finally, he reaches the clearing, descending past the trees, where he sees it in all its blinding glory. The light radiates with an intensity that both overwhelms and captivates, its power pulsating with an otherworldly energy.
Still, something utterly confused him. It isn't wielded by anyone, just a standing light that seemed to have erupted from the floor by itself. Almost like a glitch in the world, a ripple in reality, that calls out for him.
without thinking he enters mindless unaware of where he might end up. And he didn't care, wherever it was it's better than being in a world that doesn't acknowledge him.
The white light consumes his vision and takes a few seconds to subside into a large black room with which he hopes it's just him inside.
[Induvial established> Anomaly]
A system-like interface appears in front of him.
[Do you accept this quest of retribution?]
[Yes/No]