EMPYREAN CHILD

Flames rolled over like waves and roared like beasts, elongating infinitely into distance. Lynne sat cross-legged at the central island, his eyes half-closed, eyelashes trembling lightly, his eyes focused into the distance. Seven Natural Flames, 100 Mortal Flames and 10000 Sparks danced around him like fervent children. Wrapped in their coil, Lynne felt his body grow warmer, his heart strangely calm.

He exhaled deeply, relaxing his slightly flexed muscles as he focused onto the fires surrounding him. Using Soul Force, he began forcibly combining them, one by one, starting with 10000 Sparks. At first he found it relatively easy, as if he was tying a simple knot, but as the time passed – and as the more and more Sparks were combined – the difficulty slowly began rising up.

Hmm… so they can’t be all naturally fused, Lynne thought as he opened his eyes, leaning onto his hand, deep in thought. All of the Sparks are pretty much same save for one, distinguishable feature… is it possible to simply fuse them while discarding that? Nah, that’s insane. What if I just forcibly bind them? Ugh, if it backfires, I’ll probably be scorched. I don’t need shaving yet, though…

Inhaling deeply yet again, he closed his eyes and focused yet again. Out of 10000 Sparks, he had managed to bind 160 together; Sparks, individually, were pebble-sized, but the combined one grew to the size of a potato. It appeared liquified as it danced in the air above Lynne’s head.

Spark by Spark, nearly a thousand of them, vibrated gently as Lynne pulled them towards the potato-sized one. Veins on his arms began throbbing as his muscles flexed instinctively. A throb of ache flashed through his head causing him to grunt lowly, but he endured it forcibly and pushed further. Sparks began infusing together, causing golden glitters to erupt here and there, as if someone was rubbing two small flints to ignite the fire.

Pyre! Lynne thought inwardly as his body was suddenly engulfed in crimson flames. He felt his vitality resurface within his bones, and tension on his muscles lessen. Thousand by thousand, the Sparks slowly began fusing into a singularity. Hours upon hours passed, and Lynne still burned crimson as the last Spark finally fused into the now rock-sized liquid, similar to syrup.

Lynne exhaled in relief as the crimson flames dissipated. His forehead was already sweaty as were his clothes. He quickly took off the latter, revealing his top; although not massive, his body was still well-defined and thick.

The liquid above him was thick in color, yet seemingly colorless at the same time. It had vein-like lines on its surface, arm-thick, which throbbed every time the liquid moved in place.

“Ah, Mortal Flames now,” Lynne sighed; Mortal Flames were offsets of Natural Flames, or rather their furthering across the spectrum. “Why do I have a feeling I’ll burst apart if I try it?”

“Because you’re insane,” the Spirit chimed in, sitting behind him. “No one ever actually tried to fuse flames into Skyfire and Hellfire. That’s insane.”

“Thanks for moral support, you bastard!” Lynne chimed.

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“Any tips?”

“Don’t die.”

“… thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Lynne drew in deep breath as he focused on the hundred flickers lined horizontally before him. Now, one by one, or all at once? That is the question.

“Hmm…” the Spirit looked strangely at him. “He wouldn’t…?” the hundred flickers suddenly shook as they bolted towards Lynne at the same time. “Of course he would. I’ve yet to comprehend the true depths of his insanity, it seems…”

The hundred flickers first wrapped around him like hands of lovers as steam and smoke elongated from his skin, while the latter grew reddened. Lynne grit his teeth and moaned lowly in pain as he hunched his head forward. His muscles tensed and he even heard his bones groan, causing him no small amount of discomfort.

One by one, Mortal Flames went from his toes to the top of his head and unfolded towards the liquid above. The spans were akin to colored smoke as they connected to the liquid form above from his head; they weaved gently, as if blown by weak wind, going through the spectrum of rainbow colors.

Lynne’s entire upper, exposed body had turned sickly pink, blisters appearing and erupting one by one, causing his skin to appear shattered like glass within mere minutes. He held in thousands of screams at the tip of his throat, forcibly swallowing blood back down. Oi, oi, this isn’t funny! This is almost turning out to be just like when I first started learning Origin Laws! Fuck, why is this shit so difficult?!

Lynne grasped his knees tightly with his hands, nearly crushing them to pieces. Finally, as the last Mortal Flame – good three hours since the beginning – elongated from the tip of his head and merged with the liquid form, he unleashed the roar he had been holding back.

It caused the waves to rise within the ocean of flames and the very island to shake, startling even the Spirit. Lynne’s body appeared completely scarred, his trousers burnt left and right, his eyes bloodshot red. His relatively handsome appearance had completely disappeared, replaced with seemingly melted skin that rolled over itself.

“Seven more…” Lynne muttered, grinning as he looked at the Natural Flames hovering above him. “Oi, if you burn me alive, I’ll fucking kill you! Get it? Got it? Hah! You better do! Otherwise I’ll skin your bones and dig up your ancestors and shove~~”

“Ah, he broke,” the Spirit casually uttered, sighing. “I feel kind of sorry for him.”

“Will the Master be okay?” Liz-boy asked as he sat next to the Spirit.

“Who knows?”

“… why is he pushing himself then? Isn’t he a coward who dreads the pain more than anything else?” Liz-boy asked further, confused slightly.

“Ha ha,” the Spirit laughed lowly as he looked at Lynne. “Does that look like a coward to you?”

“… I suppose not.”

“He’ll be fine,” the Spirit shrugged it off eventually. “This is just how he copes with stuff.”

“He talks about it a lot?”

“Yup, pretty much.”

“What a weird guy.”

“Tell me about it.”

It was at that point that Lynne had finally stopped warning the seven Natural Flames of the consequences they’ll suffer if he dies. Emboldened by his speech, Lynne grit his teeth one last time, causing blood to trickle out from the corners of his lips, as he summoned them all… at once.

“Oi, oi!” the Spirit cried out, on the verge of tears. “Can you take it easy for once, brat?!”

“Come to your daddy!!!” Lynne shouted instead as he heaved his head up as Natural Flames enveloped him like vines.

His courageous shout was cut short with sudden silence, which was then abruptly cut by wailing and cries of a child. Wait, no, it was Lynne.

He suddenly faltered from his sitting position and began rolling on the floor, holding onto every part of his body as much as he could, swapping from one spot onto the next. Scream upon scream, roar upon roar, cry upon cry, they all echoed into the infinity of Garden of Flames.

Lynne wished to unleash the torrent of tears, but they vaporized the moment they appeared in his eyes, leaving him no room for it. He wanted to curse, but his throat was as dry as the desert outside. He wanted to pass out and die, but the pain wouldn’t let him. It had sneaked into every fabric of his being, and he felt himself burning inside out.

Gold, green, blue, purple, red, orange and gray… seven flames wrapped around him and held him tightly, seemingly trying to burn his body to crisp. His skin slowly began falling off, revealing muscle, tendons and flesh beneath, all the way to his bones at some places. Smoke arose as if forest was on fire, dousing the nothing-sky above in thick black and white.

The liquid form, now as large as house after 100 Mortal Flames, throbbed as it sensed the Natural Flames beneath it. Two arms stretched out from the liquid as they grasped onto the flames, slowly dragging them away from Lynne. The latter thought little of it as he was still burning inside out, unable to stop himself from screaming.

Hours passed, and slowly the screams and cries dulled as the liquid form grew ever so larger, until it toppled over the island in size. Lynne was beneath it, holding onto his two arms, trying to stand up, upholding the pose of someone who was trying really hard to do pushups.

Eventually giving up, he looked above him and froze. His jaw agape, eyes round, breath stilled, he stared at the mass above him – mass of black and white… two flames wreathed round themselves, like two lovers. However, what stood out wasn’t that he actually managed to produce Skyfire and Hellfire with his skewed logic, or that they were as large as a castle, or that they were wrapped around one another. It was that there was a face at the center of them; or rather, just two eyes. One black, within the white flames, and one white within black flames. And the eyes were looking at him.

“No…” Lynne muttered weakly, smiling nervously. “Y-y-you wou-wouldn’t, r-right?”

Alas, they did. Like a downpour, the two flames fell directly at Lynne and doused him. He began screaming yet again as he was forced onto his feet, floating slightly above the ground. He spread out his arms and legs, screaming to the sky, yet no sound left the bubble wrap-like oasis the flames created around him. They thinned out little by little as they forced their way into Lynne, who felt his Soul being torn apart and regenerated, over and over again, seemingly through all eternity.

In the end, the last of the Skyfire and Hellfire disappeared in unison, absorbed into Lynne’s body. He remained floating for a second more before collapsing onto his knees, panting. His skin had completely recovered, as if it was never blistered out, but his trousers were completely burnt off, leaving him stark naked.

His body was trembling slightly as he pushed himself onto his feet. His two previously azure eyes were now black and white, but had quickly reverted back to their original color. The only discernible difference was the flock on his brown hair that extended outwards; having previously been blue, it was now black and white.

“Congratulations,” the Spirit said as the monkey, the bird and the False God joined him and Liz-boy, everyone applauding. “Welcome to Grand Realm.”

“Haii,” Lynne sighed as he glanced back, his expression that of sadness. “That hurt like a bitch! Nobody ever warns me about these things, dammit! You bastards are always like ‘Oh, it’s just gonna sting a bit!’! Fuck you! What do you think I am? A dog? A dog that can’t tell a lie from truth?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Don’t give me that speechless, confused shit! Apologize! Apologize to my muscles and bones dammit!”

“… but you were the one who proposed your process,” the monkey pointed out. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t have hurt as much.”

“…”

“Hey, don’t give us that speechless, confused shit! Apologize! Apologize to our tender emotions dammit!” the False God said mockingly.

“… khm, anyway,” the Spirit said. “How do you feel? Any stronger?”

“I suppose,” Lynne said, recovering, as he raised his right arm and opened up his palm. A moment later, black and white flames appeared above, coiling around themselves. “So, these are Skyfire and Hellfire, huh?”

“Indeed,” the Spirit nodded, smiling. “It looks like it’s finally time you’ve learned the Master’s final technique.”

“Hm?”

“Empyrean Absolution.”

“… will it hurt?” Lynne asked cautiously.

“… it’ll only sting a little.” the Spirit said evasively.

“Dammit!”