The weight of the waterfall crashing down upon him was overwhelming. Dawn stood under the torrent of water, feeling its relentless force against his body. Every droplet felt like a strike, each inch of his skin stinging from the coldness and the pressure. The cascading water seemed to push him, to drag him into the depths of the pool beneath, but he stood firm, resisting. The raw power of nature was almost too much to handle, yet he remained unyielding.
His halo shimmered faintly around him, a soft, ethereal glow that contrasted sharply with the chaotic force of the water. It was a halo born of his mortal shell, a simple manifestation that held the essence of his being. Yet, as it hovered above him, the halo bent the very fabric of the waterfall. Not in any dramatic way, but subtly. The water swirled in an invisible current, flowing around him rather than crashing against him. It was a quiet, controlled shift, as though his presence itself commanded the flow of nature.
But there was still something missing. The resonant crystal he held in his hand, pulsing with potential, did not harmonize with him. No matter how tightly he grasped it, no matter how much focus he poured into the energy of the waterfall and the crystal, something was off. The balance was incomplete. He felt the weight of it—a connection that should have been formed but was not. There was no harmony between him, the crystal, and the forces of nature surrounding him.
Dawn's brow furrowed in concentration as he stared into the turbulent waters. The crystal felt warm against his palm, but its energy seemed to be at odds with the harmony he was supposed to find here. It was as if the water itself rejected him, as if it could sense the imbalance. He could not make it work. And the more he focused on it, the further he seemed to be from success.
As his thoughts wandered in frustration, something stirred deep within him—an old memory. A distant one. The scene was vague at first, but then it became clearer. A memory of his childhood. Outside his hometown, there was a wide river, one that snaked its way through the forests and fields. He could see himself standing on the riverbank, the water rushing past him, its surface rippling in endless motion.
He was younger then, too young to be expected to understand, but old enough to remember. The image of a man loomed in his mind—a teacher, someone who had taken him under his wing when he was just a boy. This man had thrown him into the river, without hesitation. Dawn remembered how the cold water had enveloped him instantly, how the current had threatened to pull him under, to carry him away.
At first, he had fought it, thrashing in the water, desperate to escape the pull of the river. He had struggled, tried to swim against the flow, but the current was too powerful. The man had stood at the bank, watching without intervening. Dawn's young mind had been filled with panic, but the man had spoken calmly, his voice carrying above the roar of the water.
"Resistance is futile," the man had said, his words slow and deliberate. "The river is too vast. You cannot fight it. You must give up resistance and embrace the flow. Feel the river, feel its power, and let it carry you. Use it to your advantage."
Dawn had wanted to protest, to fight against the current once more, but the words of the man had settled within him. Resistance is futile. There was truth in those words. He could fight all he wanted, but he would only waste his energy. He would never win. Not against something so vast, so powerful.
He had surrendered then, letting go of his fear, of his need to control. And as he did, something miraculous had happened. The water had stopped feeling like a force to be feared. Instead, it had become a part of him. He could feel its flow, its rhythm, its pull. He moved with it, using its power to glide through the river. He had become one with it.
The memory faded, but the lesson remained. Dawn's eyes opened wide as he understood. This was the key. He had spent so long resisting the natural flow of energy around him, fighting against the waterfall's power. But that was never going to work. He needed to embrace it, just like he had embraced the river all those years ago. He needed to stop fighting and allow the waterfall, the resonance, the very forces of nature, to flow through him. Only then could he find harmony with the resonant crystal.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let go. He stopped trying to force the crystal into harmony, stopped trying to control the energy around him. Instead, he allowed himself to feel. He felt the water as it struck his skin, the pressure as it hit his body, the way the light and sound of the waterfall reverberated through the air. It wasn't just the physical presence of the waterfall anymore—it was a part of him. He could feel its rhythm, its pulse, and it was no longer a force to resist.
The resonant crystal in his hand flared with warmth, the energy inside it stirring. Dawn did not try to control it, but simply allowed himself to be one with it. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the harmony began to form. The crystal responded to him, vibrating in sync with the forces around them. The water shifted once more, and this time it did not push him away. Instead, it seemed to move with him, as if recognizing the connection he had made.
And then, in a moment that felt like both eternity and an instant, the change occurred.
The sensation was like nothing Dawn had ever experienced before. A surge of energy erupted from the crystal, coursing through his body, through his very being. It was a power that seemed to fill every fiber of his existence, a force so pure, so raw, that it threatened to overwhelm him. But he did not fight it. He embraced it. The water, the waterfall, the very essence of the natural world around him—all of it seemed to bend, to shift, as if the universe itself was aligning with him.
Dawn's body glowed with a brilliant light, his halo now expanding and shifting in a way that could not be contained by the simple boundaries of his mortal shell. His energy was no longer just a passive force—it was active, alive, and infinite. The transformation was happening, the ascension of his mortal shell had begun.
The waterfall, now reacting to the flow of energy that surrounded Dawn, seemed to pause, its rhythm faltering for just a moment. For the first time, the waterfall was no longer in control. Dawn was.
And as the power continued to rise, a deep, rumbling sound echoed from the depths of the pool beneath the waterfall. Dawn could feel it—something was stirring, something was watching. But he did not fear it. The change had already begun.
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To be continued...