Chapter 490: Ryun

Chapter 490: Ryun

Lost in Wrath

Ryun's anger boiled into WRATH. An emotion that roared from the depths of his soul, woken up from its sleep. It remembered all the other times it had lost. Back when the Dealmaker broke his word, when his purpose was discarded. When humanity had decided that he was wrong just for not fitting in. When a greedy rat killed people he considered friends, when his first love, Melody died in flames. When he lost Eerv, his friend, to the arrogance of a failure. Lost the chance for their relationship to grow, to become something more. The afterlife was not life, he had understood that when he had visited. It was the loser's bracket, a chance for something, but it wasn't a path that could be walked with those who were still living. Long ago, Ryun had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't lose the things that were precious to him again. He had tried to be alone, as to not give the world the opportunity to take, and he had failed in that. He had people who he cared about, who he had made promises to, people he loved. And he lost again, Ender, his people.

And now he would lose something once more, there was nothing that he could do to find Tali that wouldn't blacken his soul, wouldn't change him in ways that he was incapable of changing to. For all of his power, he was powerless.

And that made him filled with that terrible emotion, WRATH. At himself, at the world, at those who went after Tali.

His power bubbled out of him, he didn't call for it, but Qi surged and the Essence Shell around his body disintegrated as if it was never there. Techniques burst out of him as his body grew ten times its size, then more. His body was Essence, and his Core was a bottomless pit of Oblivion, he felt the gate to the plane break open and the world faded away as his rage took control. All around him, everything started to die.

Ryun was someone who felt deeply, but only for those who were close to him. He had never been a person that cared about strangers, that cared about the world, he was an outcast. Born different, wrong according to many. Despite all of that he endured, he pushed forward and built an existence for himself. A place that had people who looked up to him, who expected him to shelter them, to protect them, to be the mountain that stands in between them and the world. But he made a mistake, he had focused so much on what was his, that he dismissed everything that existed outside. He had forgotten, just how easily decisions of others could impact him. He had looked at the Dome armies as something like a force of nature, like a storm, or a volcano. He had fought against those armies because he didn't want that storm to reach his shores. But people... He had always thought that he could just end them if they became a threat. But what he cared about had grown too large. He couldn't be everywhere at once, he couldn't protect all of his family.

Afraid that he would lose control again, he quickly used his Oblivion Territory Gate, and threw himself into his Territory.

The world inside of his Soul was trembling. He heard attempts from Bright Star to communicate, but its voice, just like Selia's, couldn't break through the haze in his Soul. It was wrath, fury, indignation, it was scorn toward everything in the world that dared to stand in his way, to take from him.

It would overwhelm him again. And Ryun didn't know what to do.

Bright Star was pulsing, the stars and nebulas at the center of his Territory where the forge stood, were flickering, as if calling to him. He walked over and pulled out Bright Star. The hammer's dark shape with flashes of light was replaced by exploding suns within its body, as if the forge too could feel his emotions.

He couldn't hear Bright Star's voice, he couldn't hear anything but the pounding in his mind, drowning everything else. Somehow, he could tell what Bright Star wanted, and he let himself go. He grabbed an ingot from a bucket nearby and placed it on the anvil. The hammer came down, the nebulas around him pulsed red, and the piece of metal bent, his skill pouring out of him to shape its Essence, his anger taking it and disfiguring the metal in an instant. He felt.... Lighter for a moment, as if a piece of his anger poured into that metal.

It wasn't strong enough, it couldn't hold not even that tiny piece. His head was thrumming now, the memories of the smith bubbling up to the surface, mingling with the ancient memories of the Reaper, of the one who walked before, of Ryun's own work, creation.

Ryun wasn't really in the driving seat anymore. Something else took hold of him, an inspiration, like what he had felt before when he advanced his Cultivation, a moment of clarity. Ryun moved, and the territory twisted, he reached for the body of a Grand Spirit and raised his hammer.Folloow current novÊls on nov/3lb((in).(co/m)