Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 65: Simulation

They stripped down, then got into their pods, tubes and latch-on receptors strapping onto their bodies.

Masks were fitted onto their faces, providing oxygen as the pods rapidly filled with a thick, sludge-like green liquid, submerging them completely.

The liquid seemed to have a strange effect on them, pulling them into sleep, and before they could even notice, their bodies were plunged into hibernation and their minds pulled elsewhere.

...

Uriel blinked, and suddenly he was standing in a vast plain, flat and empty, stretching endlessly, with nothing but grass and a long winding river that disappeared into the distance.

The aether in the air was thick, ridiculously so, and the winds were fierce. The skies were a radiant blue, the sun a beaming white.

It was quite a beautiful place.

With his long hair fluttering in the wind, his grey clothes flapping around him and his eyes still lost, Uriel couldn’t help but feel... something.

He didn’t lose his mind like he had moments earlier, but for some reason, he felt like this place, whatever mechanism had pulled him here, could help him.

It could help him understand his spark.

"It’s hard to believe this is a simulated world, born of nothing but pure magical craftsmanship. Amazing."

He turned, laying eyes on Ayah and Enoch, who were also appreciating their surroundings, taking in the fresh air.

Enoch spoke first. "Good. Get ready."

They both nodded.

Uriel’s clothes vanished, replaced by a simulated copy of his scholar’s set, pristine white and gold draping over him as gloves fitted themselves over his fingers and light silver boots lined his feet.

Enoch summoned his armour of flames, while Ayah summoned a strange, boulder-like construct that twisted into extremely heavy armour, covering her from head to toe. Gauntlets fitted her hands as a massive greatsword appeared in her grasp.

They shared a glance and nodded at one another.

They were ready.

Enoch activated something using a code given to him by the young receptionist, and the world immediately changed.

BANG!

A series of roars tore across the air.

In the distance, three creatures began to take shape, thick masses of light solidifying as their bodies were woven into reality.

In the skies, a large creature formed, avian and wide, with three pairs of white-feathered wings tearing out of its elongated, almost slender body.

Four limbs stretched from its long frame, white as its feathers, sharp talons fitted with dark claws at their ends, menacing and swirling with aether.

Its head was that of an eagle, yet its eyes were a dark azure and its beak a somber amethyst, like a strange mix between a qilin and a griffin.

From its rear, a long tail extended, bearing the head of a roaring lion at its end.

Its wings spread wide, blotting out the skies and casting a looming shadow that towered over them.

From the darkness born of the griffin’s sheer size, the second creature emerged; a mass of living shadows that twisted into the shape of a large tiger. Its stripes were a beautiful silver, its eyes a cold gold.

Its form was halfway corporeal and half shadow, elusive and unpredictable, yet its muscles still coiled and striated with every movement, a low growl escaping its maw.

The final creature that took shape was... the expanse.

BANG!

The ground shook, and from it thousands of green vines surged, each thorned and lined with potent poison, snaking through the air like living serpents.

A tidal wave of aether and pressure washed over the three as the monsters fully manifested.

"Uriel on support! Ayah, stay on my rear until I say switch—understood?!" Enoch barked as he dropped into stance and summoned his class and frame tools: his dual swords.

TAH!

Not even a second had passed, and yet dozens of vines had already streaked toward them, sharp and lethal, aiming to skewer.

Enoch remained calm, lightning flowing through his veins as his speed exploded. His blades blurred through the air, rapidly parrying every single vine.

The vines tore apart, toxic purple liquid rising into the air, instantly melting the ground and grass where they fell.

Flames gathered at the soles of Enoch’s feet, then imploded, propelling him forward as he soared into the air, facing the griffin.

Ayah summoned dozens of contracts at once, her aether burning as her body twisted into its chimeric form, bulging, towering, overflowing with power.

With a powerful push of her legs, she exploded forward toward the shadow tiger.

Uriel was left alone, palms sweaty, slightly overwhelmed.

But he forced himself to remain calm.

’I’m on support, and I have to make sure the vine creature doesn’t mess with them.’

He exhaled.

’Got it. It should be doable.’

His stance lowered as he slapped his palms together, spell circles taking shape around his arms as his natal aether wafted out in tidal waves, drowning his surroundings.

[Third Circle: Aether-Borne Chassis]

[Third Circle: Banishing Light]

[Fifth Circle: Grand Coliseum]

A gigantic formation formed in the skies, and a massive buff spell funnelled into both Ayah and Enoch, filling them with overwhelming power, most notably, ridiculous speed.

It felt as though the world of aether itself was helping them move, burning its own reserves for their sake, pushing and pulling to reduce any effort on their part.

Simultaneously, the tiger and griffin felt their beast cores go awry, their aether turning chaotic, their resonance with the world faltering in a way that plunged them into a sea of agony.

"Ayah!" Uriel called as he slapped a palm onto the ground, his aether thinning and rippling across the plain, forming a thin film that covered everything.

Across this sheet of natal aether, runes erupted, linking together to form a wide and grand formation.

[Fifth Circle: Runic Trampoline]

Uriel grinned and pulled his palm back, closing it into a fist before diving down again, punching.

Ayah’s wings flapped as she leapt into the air just as his fist struck down.

[Third Circle: Echoing Boom]

BANG!

The earth across the plain collapsed, mud and dust exploding upward as a massive chasm of darkness tore open beneath them, revealing a gigantic core of twisted dark vines wrapped around a dried, shrivelled corpse.

Within the darkness, a ridiculously vast and expansive network of vines sprawled outward like a colossal spider web, engulfing everything around them.

It was terrifyingly expansive, and the sheer quantity of aether the creature wielded made even Uriel gulp in shock.

He had found his target.