Chapter 40 - Clues

As the trio was being forcefully escorted away by the vile, brawny thug they looked more tired and exhausted than terrified than they should normally be. After going through such a rollercoaster of emotions, the boys felt utterly exhausted, almost completely numb to the threat pointed at them.

They could only sigh and do their best to gather and conserve their energy for the time being. With the sirens coming off the distance, the boys felt that they still had some chance to escape and survive. To hopefully get back the comfort of their homes, their families, and just… hopefully forget this day entirely.

Whilst the boy's idea was, for the most part, shared by the sole girl, Myra in the group, she was also still confused about her own emotions. About the heartwrenching pain, the sadness that tortured her heart whenever she looked at the motionless body of the unknown boy.

She didn't even know his name, much less anything else about him. He spoke in a strange unknown language, that while was rather pleasing to the ear, was nevertheless nothing she had ever heard of before.

'Why am I… like this? Why do I care about him at all? He may not even be human anymore… but some escaped experiment…' She tried reasoning, as she was pushed away somewhere towards the direction of the city.

As they slowly entered the tree lines, but before their figures would be completely swallowed by the darkness, Myra turned around to look back at the mysterious figure one last time. She felt her heart being pierced by a new surge of grief and sorrow as she looked at the copious amounts of blood gathered in a large pool under his lean body.

Yet, just as she was about to turn back, her eyes went wide suddenly with shock. The body, the supposedly lifeless body twitched! Though it was just once, and by logic, it could very well be some sort of muscle spasm, or the last currents leaving the nerves… Somehow Myra felt it… no. She KNEW what it meant.

"Stop gawking, you little b*tch. Focus your eyes forward. That little monster of yours is now dead. Nothing can save his soul from hell! AHAHAHA!"

Feeling the rough handling of their captor pushing her back and forcing her to turn forward, Myra no longer looked scared. For some reason, she no longer feared the cruel, horrific prospects of her potential future.

No, she felt a new sensation, a new cloud of calmness spread in her mind. She merely smirked at the bandana-wearing man's words, showing nothing but contempt to him.

This reaction of hers didn't go unnoticed by her friends either. Jake and Jay looked at her casting puzzled looks, wondering what could have made the girl turn around so suddenly.

For a second, they both looked bewildered and confused, before in the next moment they both suddenly recalled their earlier fantasy of comparing the strange boy to their favored comic-book hero. In an instant, they both went wide-eyed with the shock of this realization simultaneously.

They looked at the girl, who as if understanding their thoughts, slightly nodded and continued smirking smugly, not bothered by the rough handling of their captor behind them.

The confirmation was like a shock of a lightning bolt to the boys, they too gradually turned calm, and even slightly elated. No longer weary, or scared, the trio followed the route their dagger-wielding captor was laying out for them…

…

Aziel was once again under the effects of his unique skill, [Essence Restitute]. Gobbled up large amounts of these human essences during the fight, his ability was now working in full force once again.

The dark, bloody hole in his right eyesocket healed visible to the naked eye. The seared, burned flesh became vibrant and lush again. Miniature tendrils shot out from them, meeting midway and pulling the walls of the whole closer and closer together as new mass was constantly made.

Aziel supernatural regenerative abilities, coupled together with the skill's mysterious powers have taken but only a minute to restore the lost eye back to its original state.

Yet, the process didn't stop there. Though they were hidden away behind a small barrier of the skin as Aiden's consciousness was still deep in his own inner world, his irises were changing yet again. Influenced by the much new genetic information he had just gained, the strange, otherworldly star-like shape was no longer prominent. It could still be found if one would have taken a closer, deeper inspection.

Normally, if one would now look into Aziel's eyes, he would be met with a mesmerizing, yet unique, warmer and lighter-toned cinnamon-colored pair of eyes. Strangely though, it somewhat seemed to resemble crimson more than that of its original brown origin…

Along with his eyes, Aziel's body was also changing as more and more genetic material was being processed. His frame once again shifted, gaining a bit more height, whilst his frame retained its lean, almost lithe characteristics. The claws and blackened surface of his transformed arms have turned back into their 'normal' states.

Lastly, the pool of blood his body was laying in, was slowly, gradually being sucked up, converted into energy to refill the lost reserves.

All the while his body was working to upgrade his outward appearance, it also worked to strengthen his skin, flesh, and organs to be more resistant to this new type of trauma. At the very same time, Aziel deeply focused on the swiftly flashing images, visions in his mind, processing a great deal of information at a frightening pace.

He gradually began to fill up the giant mass of darkness in his mind with information gathered and collected by the roughly dozen or so humans he have collected. Though their knowledge was severely limited, and there were literally thousands of years that were unaccounted for, he did gradually gain an understanding of the latest steps of mankind.

From their memories, he had learned how much the world he once knew had changed. How the dominant species were no longer giant predators or the new breed of furred beasts, but instead this now-hairless breed of monkeys, that has now grown far beyond Dinah's tribe of cavemen or even what he remembered from Nova…

Though he also learned that just like those greedy creatures plaguing his home… no, his past world, these humans too were mostly driven by their dark emotions. Greed and Lust being the dominant driving desire, these violent creatures were just as destructive as he remembered. Fighting their own kind, killing and murdering innocents in cold blood just for some measly mortal gains and benefits?!

Still, he couldn't judge and condemn them all. Reminded by the kind gesture of the young youth that he now understood what was for, Aziel found that surprisingly there were good breeds among them.

Like Dinah, they were like diamonds, shining through the grime, only waiting to be found.

Still, there was another matter that shocked Aziel thoroughly. He had no time to check in the heat of the battle, but he could feel these small, yet countable wisps of the energy, this [Aether] flowing into his core with each culled life of a human. Each time he reaped a life and absorbed a small amount of its blood, a wisp of [Aether] was also generated, slowly but surely merged with his own and pushing his current realm higher and higher.

Aziel could feel reaching his limits and getting closer to a breakthrough. Still, if his experience on Nova was anything to go by, crossing through the threshold of the Earth Realm and embarking into the first realm of the truly powerful, the Sky Realm, gathering his energy wouldn't be simply enough to do so.

If he were to base his new cultivation base on Nova's standards he would need alchemical aid as well as an early-stage Sky Realm beast's core to absorb to his own and recreate his old core first.

The problem was, that if these human's memories were anything to go by, this world was vastly different from his old. This world was governed by science and strange technology instead of magic.

Still, Aziel found some faint hope. From what he understood, this world must have had some connection with his old world at some point. Either someone of something managed to cross over, or something else must have happened as there many stories termed as 'Fantasy' that they shared with their children.

They were shockingly accurate and descriptive of how he remembered his old life. Though most stories were biased towards humanity's side of events, it was still undoubtedly the tales of someone from his old world.

Deep in thoughts, Aziel was focused on processing all the new information he had gained as well as trying to find a hold in what he should be doing when suddenly he sensed a new group of humans approaching his location.

At the same time, he noticed the familiar figures of the youthful friendly trio walking away from his location in the other direction... With another presence joined by them... One that instantly made his eyes snap open with anger.

"Found you..." Aziel muttered, now in the newly comprehended language of these mortals before his laid-down figure suddenly vanished.

=====

Almost there! Just a bit more push and we will reach the first reward! Come on guys (and gals!), do your best!

Powerstone Goals

100 Power Stones -> 1 Chapter,

200 Power Stones -> 2 Chapters,

300 Power Stones -> 3 Chapters,

Golden Ticket Goals:

50 Golden Tickets -> 1 Chapter,

100 Golden Tickets -> 2 Chapters,

150 Golden Tickets -> 3 Chapters.