Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

Maan, finally!

I've managed to secure some time off.

Which means that I'm not writing during work hours for a change~.

Meh.

Lets see how this goes!

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Unknown Place - Unknown Time - Leonardo's Point Of View...

"M-mrh..." My eyes opened slowly after what felt like a millennium had passed, heavy and rigid.

At first, it seemed that I couldn't see anything anymore. Dark, pitch blackness covered my entire vision as I felt myself regaining control of my body.

... or, what I think is supposed to be my body.

So.. heavy.

So... large?

I...

A quick mental scan revealed my current form to be over three meters tall.

Adolf?

..

Yomi?

Is anyone here?

...

Strange. To think that having no excess voices in my own skull would be quite so... terrifying?

No.

I don't truly know what I'm feeling right now.

My heavy eyes blinked once more and this time, my sight was clearer.

Something bright orange burned to my right and something silvery flowed to my left. The heat of the right seemed to be evaporating what was on the left as my nostrils finally managed to draw breath once more, the familiar scent of steam gushing through my body.

The only thing that could evaporate water at that amount of distance between it and the aforementioned liquid is magma. Or well, the only thing I figure could possibly do such a thing is magma.

Also the bright, burning orange is kind of a dead giveaway.

I blinked again and this time, the infernal steam of the room was clearly visible. All around me was some form of rudimentary machinery.

Finally, I managed to move my head, resulting in a loud cracking sound to echo in front of me.

Feeling like my ears have been suddenly ruptured, an unsteady right hand tears itself free of whatever surface it was stuck on and grasps my ear. Touching...

The touch, the feeling of my own skin.

Or what I figured should be skin.

It was so rough.

And I could barely even recognize the touch from the inside.

Having quite enough of all this, I tore my body from its current position and fell to my knees. My fingers touched something liquid, but it wasn't the flowing water on my left. No.. this was crimson.

Red, like blood.

But, not quite.

This...

The energies which could be felt from within this crimson liquid were the basic trio: Qi, Psi and Mana.

This is.. prima?

A pool?

Of prima?

There's only one place I know of that has such a feature. The Chthonian world I was meant to seed life onto. A quick turn of my head around to take in the chamber I was in revealed a mass of root-like structures protruding from the ceiling. This confirmed it, I was currently beneath the tree I made when I was here before.

The one forged out of a crystal of Prima and a massive amount of titanium. Yet, I appeared to also be inside of some kind of basalt chamber. Or maybe it was iron, I honestly couldn't tell.

The light provided by the magma flowing to my right didn't do much to shine reason onto the situation I was in right now. Perhaps... because my true body has been damaged too much, my consciousness automatically teleported into the body I used on this world?

But.. I do not remember it being so damn... heavy.

Managing to crawl my ass over to the water on the left, I found how... I still looked pretty much exactly like I remembered, but way less organic, should we say?

My skin was a thick, blackish gray color and scraping it left patches of black dust, kind of like ash, on my hands. Graphene? I had graphene skin?

So I think its safe to say that a long time had passed on this world and... my body had somehow evolved on its own? No.. I was... sleeping next to a pool of Prima, the most chaotic substance ever to exist. Of course my body would evolve and adapt by itself. I wonder just how different it is from my normal body, though.

Checking myself out in the water, I was elated to find that junior is still there, though I must admit that being perpetually hard isn't as cool as it would seem at first. The clothes I had on while I was last here seem to have withered away in the untold amount of time that had passed since I was last here.

Washing my eyes in the boiling water on instinct, I managed to finally clear away all the ash and dust that had been blocking my vision. This also allowed me to scan myself inside out... As one would expect, this body no longer held any form of mineral, nutrient or organic component known to me.

Ah, it looks like even if junior still exists, the proper organs required for reproduction aren't there anymore. What a pity.

My heart is still there, though made seemingly out of some kind of... iron-colored matter?

I placed my hands into the water I just used to clean myself with only to find that the heat of my hands turned much of it to steam, but thanks to water being water, it remained there for long enough for me to splash it on my face. Come to think of it, I feel rather exceptionally dry. I smashed my hand onto a nearby basalt spire, only to find that it shattered instead of breaking through my flesh.

How odd.

A deeper scan into the very molecules my current flesh was made out of revealed that my bones were made almost purely out of molten steel and my muscles were string-like carbon formations. My organs were made out of the same material as my skin, which I can only assume is a form of graphene, although I can no longer be very sure.

My brain and skull were different from the rest of my body. The skull was clearly remade in order to better protect what was possibly the only truly organic component that I still had left, being made out of the familiar bio-titanium I gained from eating that esper a few days ago. The brain was still fully organic, unchanged even.

I appeared to still have lungs, which seemed to have a protective elastic metal covering which shielded the viral matter beneath. Now, this organ can't really be called a lung, to be honest. It only had the appearance of one, but the bubble-like structure wasn't channeling oxygen at all. The infernal gasses which I was now breathing were being contained in viral pustules and converted into energy for use, much like food would have been in any normal stomach.

Since I was stuck here for ages eternal, my body adapted accordingly, managed to produce the necessary energy from the only source of new matter it could get its hands on: gas.

However, I must say that my lungs appear to be under a rather intensive workout. The organ was not formed with the intention of me moving around at all, just for survival.

I could feel that changes were already being performed. This body has learned to adapt automatically from all the ages its spent stationary in this place. Perhaps an excess of energy is needed to kick start the process? But where would such- oh.

The lava.

Approaching the ever-burning flows, I promptly sat next to it and casually inserted my hand into the magma. The heat quickly built up and within minutes, my right hand was colored a bright red, much like my insides were.

So I was made out of metal.

Taking care not to submerge my obviously unprepared skull, I pushed through the pooled magma and felt much the same feeling one gets when laying down into a pool of hot water. It felt.. incredibly relaxing, like every fiber of my body suddenly became unwound.

I stayed in that pool for a good long while.

Like any sane person would in this particular situation, I also eventually tried to eat the magma.. Only to find out how I no longer had a tongue.

Probably why I could only muster a few garbled words.

Mh, arg, augh and irgggh- seemed to be the major limit of my current vocal capacity. Oh well, I usually only talk to myself anyways~.

Woah, that sounded really, really bad.

Meh.

Deciding that a lack of tongue would not stop me from trying, I firmly lowered my face to the magma and let some of it enter my mouth before swallowing it down.

An intense burning sensation immediately followed and I coughed the inferno out of myself. Or well, vomited it out of myself, that is.

Looks like my insides aren't as tough as my outsides~.

Anyways, as I was vomiting the magma out, my hands seemingly began to consume the floor they were put on. It was a charred black material.

And it was then I remembered that I was on a world basically made out of metal. Can't eat magma, but it looks like I can eat iron just fine.

Having managed to get myself fully heated up, my body suddenly felt much, much lighter than it was just a few seconds ago, though that shouldn't really be possible, right?

Heated metal isn't any lighter than cold metal, right? Or maybe it is and I'm just being dumb.

Or, perhaps more plausibly, my body has more energy contained within it now and is thus easier to move. Yes, lets go with that.

After discovering that I could eat inorganic material, I went around the cavern and began absorbing anything I could find. As I was doing this, I found out how my body is, in fact, not made solely out of iron, but a strange mixed metal of iron, titanium, carbon and magnesium. It wasn't very light, but appeared to have organic properties.

Perhaps some of the nano machines within this body survived and were integrated with my viral blood?

Which would explain all the evolutionary capacity of this body.

In any case, it was time to break out of this place. I felt myself smile slightly as my organic mind proved to still possess a lot of my psychic power... Or rather, it had ALL of the power I usually possess, just that this body was so unnatural that it required psionic energy to operate. My metal bones and muscles were nice and all but they were far too molten to move around using electronic impulses and nerves. I had no spine, you see. There is no logical reason as to why I am capable of standing up.

My power over gravity and this body's brain's capability to subconsciously control the aforementioned fundamental power of reality is the only plausible reason for me to be standing right now. Either that, or there's some kind of semi-organic yet indestructible material on the inside of my body which I am unable to detect.

The only material capable of such a feat would be the crystallized form of prima. Yet, the temperature of this chamber and that of the inside of my current body would make that an impossibility.

Placing my right hand onto the stone and iron walls of the chamber, I begin to channel psionic energy into the inorganic matter, only to have it move simply by me wishing it. This caused a minor drain on my mana reserves, though.

So the stones of this world move via magic? But.. I suck at magic. I guess this body has some form of natural talent? Some kind of geomancy that overrides my psionic abilities? Hmm... psionic energy was used solely as a means of survival up till now, right? So if a rock fell on me, it needed to be moved by something else.

And that something is mana.

Either way, moving the walls apart proved to be a giant mistake on my part, as the entire chamber was filled with a rushing liquid that slammed me back into the throne I woke up on. Wait, throne?

I was... sitting on a throne of stone.

I think I vaguely remember making it and... No.. wait.. why does this throne look so familiar?

A flash of memory just struck me, the image of a grand hall filled with light and fire.

People of all shapes and sizes, affiliations and powers.

Beautiful maidens all around me.

Strong guardians...

The warmth...

Shadows closing in as my eyes drift closer to closed...

Euphoria?

... The day I... supposedly died, on my own throne.

But.. this world can't be Euphoria, right?

No.

No, no, no.

That's wrong.

It would be better to say that my soulless body created the throne and fell on it after I left. Well, either that or one of my would-be patrons did it after I left. Lucifer did safeguard my body back on Earth the last time I was here.

The liquid ceased moving and I was finally able to swim.

Surprisingly, the liquid did not... seem to be interacting with my super heated body at all. Wait... red?

This is all Prima? But then...

Shaking my head out of my stupor, I began to swim outside and after what felt like an eternity, managed to get out of the chamber and found myself at the bottom of a crimson lake. Echoing sound revealed bodies of all shapes and sizes being thrown into the lake and creatures of stone and iron... those like me... were all swimming upwards, almost as if being born.

A body was thrown from above and passed by me as it was dissolved in the Prima. The body appeared to be that of an.. elk. A stag, a gigantic one since it was about five times my size and I'm three meters tall. Its horns were made of iron and its hide was black as night. Its eyes burned crimson with a fury untold, yet the thing was purely organic in nature.

A sacrifice.

I swam upwards, eager to get out of the lake. My stone hand extended out of the liquid and was subsequently dragged forward by... a giant humanoid creature of stone... with a beard made out of what seemed to be flowing lava."New.. flesh... rises... from the... pools.." He spoke in harsh tones as he pulled me out completely.

"Hmmm... strange... form... what is... this.. for?" The giant curiously reached for my junior. Acting on a deeper instinct than I thought I possessed, I channeled my mana into my own nether regions and promptly made junior make a tactical retreat onto the inside of my body before any stranger-danger reached him.

"O..ooh?... its gone now..." He almost seemed saddened. Shaking myself out of his gigantic hands and landing onto the basalt ground, I took a look at my surroundings. An immense expanse... a crater, in the middle of which was a gigantic lake of Prima, which in turn had a small island in the middle of it. Forming a tongue in my mouth, I spoke."Where.. am I?"

The giant behind me nodded in a very sage-like way."You can... forge yourself.. already... Hrmph... you... new ones.. are all so... talented..." He turned around for a brief moment.".. and small..."

"New ones?" He nodded but did not continue the explanation, as if that explained everything. Shaking my head in utter annoyance, I channeled psionic energy to my legs and leaped towards the island in the middle. Upon closer inspection, the strange formation of rocks on the island proved to be the hiding place of a bright red tree trunk, keeping it just isolated enough to stay crystal."I see.. the tree melted, that's why the lake is so huge now... but that still does not explain all the lava."

"Hmm...? So you do... have some... innate knowledge... then...?" The giant appeared behind me suddenly."W-HATTHEFUCK!?" I cursed, much to the massive humanoids amusement."When the mana... flows free... even stone.. can be unheard..." He replied to my unsaid question with a sage-like tone.

Then the giant extended the same hand he used to pull me out of the lake with towards me."I am... Gordis, the keeper of the smelting pits... I watch for new ones... such as you."

Uncertainly, I shook his hand and asked."Smelting.. pits?"

He extended both of his hands to the sides, as if to indicate everything around us."This place... of our birth... all of us were made here... born of the gods blood." He pointed towards the lake."Or... the Prima, as you called it."

I quirked an eyebrow at him."I.. called it?"

His giant burning eyes blinked."O-oh.. you did not say it.. but I can h-"

I cut him off, having heard this explanation before."Whatever. Its not important. Can you tell me how this place was made?"

Another slow nod."Once, a long, long time ago, remembered only by the stones... a god came to this world. It was a dead world then, with nothing on it, yet a few places upon the iron and rock possessed the capacity for life. This place is one of them..."

A blink and we were back on the mainland. Magic? What kind of sorcery was that?... You know what? Never mind.

The giant beamed a smile at me and motioned for me to follow him."This was once a flat land, with no mountain or crater, the god who came made it such. With implausible might, the pressed the stone down and no mountain, no ridge or spire could possibly resist his strength. Others then, he rose up, creating many around the island, to act as its protectors and guardians."

We walked forward as the giant told me a strangely familiar story. My role in it was one I did not want to admit."The God created a place where life would bloom, his own blood spilled onto stone and water and flame. And from that mix, all of us were made. But then, God left the world and never returned. Nature was finally allowed to take its own course and the flattened land erupted into motion. The blood of the earth ruptured from the ground and mountains rose once more in defiance of the god that broke them!"

Ah.

Turns out flattening a continent may have future geological consequences.

Who would've thought.

Alright, that explains the lava and the lake, but not how life actually managed to evolve upon this continent."Oh.. life is not only upon this continent... it is everywhere..." The old giant spoke as I turned to face him."Though the other life-forms... they are not like us... they are... small..."

He turned to me and pointed."Like.. you..."

"Really now." I let out a massive sigh."Yes, yes, truly!" He replied as we approached what seemed to be a gigantic runic symbol of some kind. It did not look... like anything I've ever seen before. At least not in the way of runes or symbols, but such should be the case."What's that?"

"A rune... you see, in all of us... there is an element.. called, carbon..." A blink from me."You're... going to see how old I am?"

Now it was the giants turn to be surprised."How.. did you... know this?... carbon dating.. this form of magic... it takes eons to.. master..." He seemed to be taken aback and I just shrugged."Wild guess."

I stepped onto the rune and the giant nodded before channeling mana into it."O-oh... well.. this explains... much..."

"Huh?" Was my incredibly intelligent reply.

He nodded in a very wizened way."Yes... you seem to be... over... fifty thousand... years... old..."

...

What the fuck.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Well this scene turned out to be far longer than I imagined.

Oh well.

Next time, we continue!

And yes, this is still Euphoria.

MUAHAHHAHAHAHAH!

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!