Chapter 120- A Simple Choice

Jiran drained the mana from multiple pawns on the other side of the nearby wards, rapidly replenishing the mana being spent on his Revelation. After Daughter's explanation of willpower, he found himself even more confused about what he should do. "What can you tell me about the choices?"

"Nothing specific. The choice must be yours. I am bound from coloring your perspectives, so the knowledge I can share is quite limited. In a general sense, all three are exceptional and will give you enormous advantages. I’m sure you will do fine, Father. I am one with your thoughts, sift through the choices once more and I will explicate if possible."

"Okay. Hey Niya, can you regrow Olive's arm while I'm doing this?"

"Pfft! No way! That would take at least three of my manapools…" Niya trailed off as her gaze tracked up to the zombie-like pawns. "Oh yeah, sure. I'll fix her. Seriously, this is the craziest day of my life. Relegating the empire’s greatest enemy to shambling sacks of mana: Lunacy."

Pretty impressive how well she's taking everything. This morning, she didn't know if she'd ever see me again. Now, she's draining mana from an army of Graymin on the other end of the empire from where she started. With everything that's happened, it's no wonder she's getting a bit scatterbrained.

With Olive in good hands, Jiran turned his attention back to his impending decision, which apparently, had far more serious implications than he first thought.

I still have other questions: What exactly is authority, and what did she mean by champion of Madra? They’re going to have to wait though, I have less than an hour to decide.

Solophid: An abundance of Will to harvest the gifts of the gods. Masters of both skills and techniques. When the Solophid leave their coves to tread upon the seas, lesser predators are naught but prey.

How is this an ‘evolution for Molding?’ Nothing about that description makes me think ‘Skill upgrade.’ An abundance of willpower sounds amazing, but harvesting the gifts of the gods? Does that mean lapping up some supposed gods’ table scraps? Or draining their souls like some kind of freaking wraith? No thanks! Masters of skills and techniques, on the other hand, is right up my alley.

Then there's the bit about coves and treading upon the seas hunting predators. That's got to be important, right? Madra never gives random information. Even beast descriptions are straight to the point using as few words as necessary, so why include this part of the description at all?

Jiran noticed Daughter’s little dimples deepening as she sent encouragement his way. Despite her standing perfectly still, there was something about her smile that gave him the impression she was on the verge of jumping for joy.

She's trying to help me understand without breaking the edicts. She thinks she's given me all the clues, now it's up to me to put them together.

Her eyes widened imperceptibly and the feeling of repressed exuberance redoubled. Jiran’s minds spun into overdrive, analyzing every word she'd said since she appeared a short minute ago. Several key statements popped out immediately as being far more important than the rest.

The evolutions aren't as simple as I believe. Each individual only has so much willpower. Willpower is burned, consumed, and I am out of it. But it was expected, even planned that those with high authority would run out of it eventually. There is a system in place to correct that issue, and that's what these choices represent.

This isn't a skill upgrade at all, it's way more than that! It’s all about willpower, all of this. The Authority, the sudden appearance of the choices and how flashy everything’s been. I know I’m right, I can feel it. This has nothing to do with my skill and I need to stop and reevaluate everything from that perspective.

'Now, the evolutions, read them again.' Her exact words bounced through his mind once more, even the tone and gentle intonation of each syllable came back to him in perfect detail.

The jumble of hints she left all clicked into place, and Daughter's pearly whites confirmed it. Suddenly, those seemingly insignificant descriptions at the end of each choice became the most important. With his heart racing, Jiran moved to the next evolution description, no longer viewing Solophid as a viable option.

Remalon: Descendants of the Kemalon with all their powers and none of their weaknesses. Masters of mana and subjugation. Fear not the dominating grip of the Remalon, for it means you were chosen.

Not a fan of all the dominating and subjugation but otherwise, I like this choice a lot. Powers without weaknesses; that's certainly nothing like my techniques which constantly blow me up and also drain my willpower. Masters of mana… that certainly calls to me. As for the more important final line; gripping others, choosing them, that’s not nearly as bad as all the fish implications from Solophid. Okay, solid maybe here.

Myriad - The pinnacle of adaptability and integration. Masters of the body and soul. So long as life persists, the Myriad will exist to usurp it. Unseen, unbidden, unending.

On the surface, this might be the most powerful choice. The soul is an entire universe of potential and mastering it would give unimaginable powers. Foresight comes from my soul, what else is in there? Would I be able to find a cure for Samris and Lenton if I chose this one?

The pinnacle of integration; high praise from the system. Those weird treepeople I met in the Valley of Melodies failed at integration. They were deemed unworthy; something to be subjugated and used while Myriad is on the other end of the spectrum. Hmm, masters of the system's scales, scales that determine who is worthy and who is garbage. Ugh, not really digging any of that even if it sounds powerful.

But again, it's the last bit that I need to be most concerned with: Usurpers of life. Unseen, unbidden, unending. Is that like a lich? Shrelkshit, that's exactly what it is! The Myriad are probably body-hopping, soul-devouring, undead. Yeah, how about fuck no. I want nothing to do with that. Just thinking there might be something like that out there is terrifying enough. Taking any kind of choice with those intonations would be idiotic.

At least with the Remalon, it speaks of interacting with people, even if the context is pretty negative. The other two are all about killing and hunting, more monster than human. Fear not the dominating grip, fear not… Yeah, Remalon is the only real option for me.

"Good choice, Father. You won't be disappointed. You must go now, so I'll be brief. Authority is a measurement Madra uses to determine which edicts bind you, and which benefits are extended your way. Champion refers to your ability to interact with the nodes. Finally, one you forgot about, but luckily, I was listening." She winked, then explained, "You've met your sponsor twice, your memory of her is naught but an eye the size of a moon."

Jiran's brows shot up as he instantly remembered. He had thought it was only a dream, just before he acquired his very first acclamation. He could still picture that behemoth of cosmic proportions. It looked down at him, judging and unimpressed. Though apparently not an it, but a she.

"Enough gawking! Go get to it before she makes the choice for you! Oh, and you can thank me right here." Daughter dipped her chin and pressed a finger to her forehead.

Jiran froze for only a second before complying to her childish wish with a smile. He pressed his lips to her head in a quick peck before pulling away with an amused chuckle. Daughter beamed and spun while pumping a fist into the air. With a bark of victorious laughter, she vanished.

For the first time after using the Revelation technique, Jiran’s mana didn't empty completely. He wasn't sure if it was the fact he had been steadily draining Graymin, or the changes with Daughter and his molding skill. He shrugged the minor mystery off for another day.

Restoration!

Fresh mana drained from the ever-abundant horde turned to reknit flesh. His leg rapidly regrew before his arms were both completely healed. His entire manapool was emptied before his shoulders dropped in pain-free bliss.

He knelt next to Niya, observing her progress with Olive. A stump steadily grew from her shoulder as Niya worked, sweat staining her brow. Jiran sent mana into her, speeding the process. His mana also flowed  into Olive while he observed Niya's technique. Similar to restoration, bone and tissues multiplied as mana turned from amorphous energy into physical matter. When the last of her new fingers formed, Jiran scooped her up in a princess carry and headed toward the wall.

"Hold up a second, I'm exhausted."

"No time, I'm down to thirty minutes. Let's get her back to the manor."

His aura lashed out, attaching to the framework within the nearby wall. He felt it there, the thrum of intent that restricted the rights to manipulate the stones to only specific individuals.

He massaged the synapses with his will, demanding the buried intent acquiesce to him as well. He felt the magical barrier give way and Metal Manipulation parted the seamless stone like flowing water. A tunnel formed and Jiran grinned at his victory, ecstatic at proving one of his theories about the framework and its properties.

"’Nobility only,’ my ass cheeks," Niya grumbled.

"Can we leave your flabby granny-ass out of this?" Jiran rolled his eyes.

"Aww, are you embarrassed to talk about a woman’s derriere? Eventually, you're going to grow up and learn all about our finer features. No need to be shy."

"You're ridiculous," Jiran closed the tunnel behind them and began flying through the city.

"Hey, when you of all people call someone ridiculous, it's highly insulting! No need to be a jerk," She quickly caught him, though not before his chuckle was replaced with drawn-down brows.

Jiran held her eyes, making sure she knew he wasn’t joking any longer. "Thank you for protecting her out there. We haven't known each other for very long, but I consider her and Cameron my friends. I trust them. I can tell you have a thing against nobles, but these two are the good ones."

"Friends?” Niya grunted, “She adores you, idiot. If not for Mayalyn, this one wouldn't let you out of her sight."

"What? Really? Huh, she hides it pretty well," Jiran shrugged off the news with a tilt of his head.

"Oh, not interested in having them both? That's unexpected. You seem like the type."

"If you're that bad a judge of character, maybe you're wrong about Olive's interest in me, too. C'mon let's pick up the pace, I want to get this over with."

The barren city blurred beneath them as they pushed their auras harder. "Get what, over with? You've yet to actually explain anything and you've been acting strange for a while now. Well, stranger. I couldn't follow your conversation with ‘The creepy girl,’ either. Half the time it was like you two were talking in your heads."

"She's not creepy. She was just excited to have a physical form. I'm sure you would be ten times worse if you were in her position. Anyway, my molding reached one hundred. I got some evolution options to choose from but only have a limited time before the choice is made for me."

"One hundred?!" Niya's exclamation was followed by spluttering nonsense that lasted the last few seconds before they landed on the closest balcony to Olive and Mayalyn's room. When she recovered, she threw a finger into his face, her voice as animated as the rest of her. "Your two acclamations! I knew that was strange. I asked Olive about that when you were passed out in the tunnel but she didn't seem to think it was a big deal. Your new acclamations helped you figure out a big secret, didn't they? And it has something to do with that framework nonsense you were spewing."

"Yup, I'll explain everything later. Evolution first."

"Ugh, always the secrets with you. Shit, you're annoying."

Jiran grinned as they walked through silent halls decorated with an abundance of finery; they were empty of life, an eerie echo of the abandoned city outside. Mayalyn was still asleep when they arrived and Cameron was nodding off, an open book in his lap. He jolted awake and jumped to his feet, throwing the delicate novel across the room. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She's fine now, just sleeping. We had to go outside the city for a bit, maybe did just a smidge of fighting. She should be ready to ascend now, at least. So long as she's capped." Jiran laid Olive next to Mayalyn on the huge bed. Seeing their easy breathing and peaceful expressions allowed the sliver of anxiety burrowed in his diaphragm to disintegrate into nothing.

"Damn, why do I always miss the good stuff?! She's been capped since before we met you in the Outlands. Benefits of birth and all that. What about the wards?"

"The problem’s been resolved, for now at least. I need to take care of something for a while. Niya can fill you in, if you can convince her to. She's not good with sharing."

She spluttered again, “I’m not good with sharing?!” Jiran laughed at the rude gesture she flipped his way before he relaxed into a sofa on the far side of the room.

The last thing Jiran saw before selecting Remalon was Cameron's doubtful glance at Niya. Then, the framework all around him came to life as a torrent of incredible power raced along its synapses and into his body. A body which promptly exploded into pink mist.

- Present day. Somewhere far to the north of the Finlest Empire - 

A presence, buried within a mountain of carefully purposed flesh, stirred. It was roused further as a pull from the weave intensified. The disturbance caused the presence to shake off the regenerative slumber that clung to its multitude.

Now fully awake, the creature examined the mass of memories from its innumerable pinpoints of consciousness. She searched for answers, for this disturbance in the weave should not be possible and its implications would change everything.

There, she found it. One of her children, frozen and on the verge of death, yet still connected with her all-consuming love. It had observed the impossible. A new entity, one capable of feats even she could not accomplish… yet.

Her bulk quivered in anticipation and all of her children sang with united joy.

Orders were adjusted and forces re-positioned. Then, a flicker of absolute command was given. For the first time in a millennium, one of her kings rumbled into action. Its bulk shattered the mountain that had risen around it as the magnificent beast turned south, toward their salvation.

Her beautiful child, the harbinger of these glorious tidings, was overjoyed to be absorbed into her loving embrace. Its memories fully integrated and the prey’s scent spread through the trillions.

Her directives were absolute: Pursue, consume, assimilate. Their quarry would not escape.

A million eyes closed as she returned to slumber. When her forces returned successfully, this unfathomable power would belong to her, and she would never need to rest again.