DING!
The sound echoed in Ariel's ears, and then the world ended.
Pain.
Not the sharp, localized agony of a cut throat. Not the dull ache of hunger or the burning exhaustion of overworked muscles. This was something else entirely. Something beyond the vocabulary of suffering his previous life had taught him.
It started in his chest, at the exact center of his being, where the two Celestial Wills resided. A point of pressure, of impossible density, like two stars trying to occupy the same space. For a fraction of a second, it was merely uncomfortable.
Then it detonated.
WHOOOOM!
The sound wasn't external. It came from inside him, from his very essence, as if his soul itself was screaming. The pressure exploded outward, racing through every vein, every nerve, every cell of his body with the force of a tidal wave made of molten glass and liquid nitrogen simultaneously.
Ariel's back arched off the bed, his spine bending at an angle that should have snapped it. His mouth opened in a scream that never came because his lungs had seized, locked solid, unable to draw breath. His eyes rolled back in his head as every muscle in his body contracted at once, tearing against bone, straining against sinew.
'STOP! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!'
But there was no stopping. The integration had begun, and it would run its course whether he survived or not.
The pain in his chest intensified, growing sharper, more focused. It felt like someone had reached into his ribcage and was simultaneously crushing his heart and pulling it apart. Each beat sent fresh waves of agony radiating outward, carrying the divine energy further into his system.
His blood burned. Actually burned, as if every drop had been replaced with acid and fire. He could feel it moving through his arteries, through his capillaries, scorching pathways into his flesh. The sensation was so vivid, so overwhelming, that he could track the flow with perfect clarity. Down his arms, the burning spreading to his fingertips. Down his legs, the fire consuming everything in its path. Up into his head, where it felt like his brain was boiling inside his skull.
CRACK!
Something broke. Not bones, though those felt like they were being ground to powder. Something deeper. Something fundamental. His mana core, dormant since birth, shattered under the pressure of containing divine power. The fragments scattered through his chest cavity, each piece radiating fresh pain as they dissolved and reformed, restructured by forces beyond mortal comprehension.
'I'M DYING! I'M ACTUALLY DYING! THIS IS IT!'
His vision had gone completely white, not from light but from the sheer overload of sensory input. His brain couldn't process what was happening, couldn't categorize the infinite variations of suffering being inflicted on every part of his being simultaneously.
The burning in his blood grew worse. So much worse. It felt like someone was running razor wire through his veins, shredding them from the inside while simultaneously cauterizing the wounds. His heart hammered frantically, desperately trying to circulate blood that had become poison, that had become divine essence his mortal flesh was never meant to contain.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!
Two hundred beats per minute. Three hundred. Four hundred. The rhythm became irregular, skipping beats, adding extra ones, fluttering like a dying bird. His cardiovascular system was failing, unable to cope with the strain.
Then came the cold.
If the burning had been hell, this was something worse. Absolute zero crashed through him like a tsunami of frozen nothingness. His blood, which had been fire moments before, turned to ice in his veins. His organs froze solid. His bones became brittle as frozen glass. The cold was so intense it burned, creating a paradox of sensation that made his mind fracture trying to process it.
HOT AND COLD! BURNING AND FREEZING! AT THE SAME TIME!
The two sensations warred within him, tearing his body apart as battlegrounds. One second his left arm felt like it was being incinerated. The next, his right leg felt like it was being flash frozen. Then both at once, everywhere at once, his entire body caught between two impossible extremes.
His skin split. Not metaphorically. Actually split, tiny fissures opening across his arms, his chest, his face. Blood welled up, only to evaporate instantly from the heat or crystallize from the cold. The wounds closed and reopened, over and over, as his body tried to repair damage that was being inflicted faster than healing could occur.
'I CAN'T! I CAN'T DO THIS! IT'S TOO MUCH!'
His Will attribute of 20 was all that kept him conscious. A normal person would have blacked out within seconds, their mind mercifully shutting down to escape the trauma. But his will, forged through seventeen years of suffering, refused to let him escape into unconsciousness. He was forced to experience every single microsecond of the integration in full, brutal clarity.
Minutes passed. Or hours. Or seconds. Time had lost all meaning. There was only pain, infinite and eternal, a universe of suffering contained within his flesh.
His nervous system was being rewritten. Every nerve ending was being stripped down to its base components and reconstructed with new pathways, new connections, new capabilities. The process felt like someone was running electricity through his body while simultaneously filleting every nerve with microscopic knives.
His muscles tore and regrew. The fibers separated, dissolved, reformed stronger and denser. Each muscle group went through the process individually, creating a cascade of localized agony that traveled across his body in waves. Biceps. Triceps. Deltoids. Pectorals. Abdominals. Quadriceps. Every muscle he possessed and some he didn't know existed screamed in protest as they were broken down and built back up.
His bones cracked. Not breaking, but restructuring, the calcium matrix being rearranged at a molecular level. His skeleton groaned and creaked, sounds he could hear echoing through his skull. His spine felt like it was being pulled apart vertebra by vertebra. His ribs felt like they were being crushed inward. His skull felt like it was expanding and contracting, the pressure on his brain unbearable.
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!
'PLEASE! GODS! ANYONE! JUST KILL ME! JUST LET IT END!'
But the gods who had done this to him were far away, and this was the price of power. This was what it meant to house divinity in mortal flesh.
The energy in his chest had spread completely now, saturating every cell of his body. He could feel it working, could sense the Celestial Wills digging into his very essence like roots burrowing into soil. They were claiming him, marking him, transforming him from human into something more.
His organs underwent their own torment. His heart expanded, growing larger, stronger, developing new chambers and pathways to circulate not just blood but mana. His lungs restructured, creating new alveoli designed to process not just oxygen but ambient energy from the environment. His liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, all of them were being modified, enhanced, rebuilt to serve the needs of an avatar rather than a normal human.
The worst was his brain.
When the divine energy finally reached his skull, penetrating through bone and membrane to touch his actual brain tissue, Ariel discovered new dimensions of suffering he hadn't imagined possible. His consciousness fragmented as neurons were rewired. Memories flashed before his eyes in chaotic disorder, Earth life and this body's life mixing together in a confusing jumble. He saw the orphanage and the Crowcrest estate simultaneously. He felt the pain of abandonment and the weight of family expectation overlapping. He experienced death in an alley while also experiencing childhood training with a sword.
'WHO AM I? WHAT AM I? WHERE AM I?'
His sense of identity scattered like leaves in a hurricane. For a terrifying moment, he couldn't remember his name, couldn't remember which memories were his and which belonged to the body he now inhabited. He was Ariel from Earth and Ariel Crowcrest simultaneously and neither and both.
Then, like a dam breaking, clarity returned. The memories settled, organized themselves, found their proper places. He was Ariel. Both Ariels. The soul from Earth inhabiting the body from Eryndor. The same person across two realities, finally unified.
The pain began to change quality. Still intense, still overwhelming, but now it carried purpose. He could feel his body accepting the changes rather than fighting them. His cells stopped dying and started adapting. His nervous system stopped short circuiting and started conducting the divine energy properly. His cardiovascular system found a rhythm that could handle the enhanced blood flow.
He was adapting. Surviving. Succeeding.
A translucent screen flickered into existence above him, the blue glow cutting through his pain hazed vision.
[Integration Progress: Celestial Will of Cosmos]
[10%... 25%... 40%... 55%... 70%... 85%... 95%...]
The percentage climbed steadily, each point representing another fraction of his body successfully modified to house Aethera's power. The burning sensation began to localize, focusing primarily in his right side, his right arm, the right half of his chest.
[100%]
[Celestial Will: Cosmos - Successfully Integrated]
DING!
A wave of relief washed through him, so intense it nearly made him weep. One down. One more to go. He could do this. He was halfway there.
But the relief was short lived.
The cold intensified immediately, now unopposed by the burning heat. The Celestial Will of Chaos began its own integration, and where Cosmos had felt like fire, Chaos felt like drowning in an ocean of frozen knives.
This was worse. Somehow worse. The Chaos energy felt wrong in a way the Cosmos energy hadn't. It didn't flow smoothly through his body but rather tore through it, jagged and violent. Where Cosmos had felt like creation, like building something new, Chaos felt like destruction, like tearing everything down to its base components.
His left side erupted in fresh agony. The mirror opposite of what had just finished. His left arm felt like it was being dissolved and reconstituted atom by atom. His left lung collapsed and reformed. The left hemisphere of his brain felt like it was being erased and rewritten.
[Integration Progress: Celestial Will of Chaos]
[10%... 15%... 20%...]
The progress was slower this time. Much slower. Something was wrong.
[Warning: Compatibility Issue Detected]
[Chaos Will experiencing resistance from host vessel]
[Analyzing...]
'NO! NOT NOW! I'VE COME TOO FAR!'
The pain spiked even higher as the Chaos energy encountered some fundamental incompatibility with his body. It felt like trying to force two magnets together at their matching poles, the energy pushing back against itself, creating friction and heat and pressure that had nowhere to go.
[Attempting Adaptive Recalibration]
[25%... 27%... 30%...]
Each percentage point came slower than the last. The Chaos Will was fighting him, or perhaps he was fighting it, some subconscious resistance making the integration more difficult than it should be.
'ACCEPT IT! JUST ACCEPT IT! I NEED THIS POWER!'
He focused every ounce of his will, all twenty points of that attribute, on opening himself to the energy. On relaxing his resistance. On letting the destruction wash through him without fighting back.
[35%... 40%... 48%...]
Better. It was working. The progress accelerated as he surrendered to the process rather than struggling against it.
The cold began to feel less hostile, more natural. The tearing sensation transformed into something closer to reshaping. His body was learning, adapting, finding ways to accommodate this second divine power alongside the first.
[55%... 65%... 75%...]
His left side had gone completely numb now, all the nerves overwhelmed past their ability to signal pain. He couldn't feel his left arm at all, couldn't tell if it still existed. But the screen showed progress continuing, so it must still be attached.
[85%... 90%... 95%...]
Almost there. Just a little more. Just a few more seconds of suffering and it would be over.
[98%... 99%...]
The final percentage point seemed to take an eternity. He could feel the Chaos Will settling into place, finding its permanent home within his being, merging with his soul in ways that could never be undone.
[100%]
[Minor Compatibility Issues Resolved]
[Celestial Will: Chaos - Successfully Integrated]
[Integration Complete]
DING!
The pain vanished.
Not gradually. Not fading away slowly. One moment it was there, all consuming and infinite. The next it was gone completely, as if it had never existed at all.
Ariel lay on the bed, gasping for air he hadn't been able to draw properly for however long the integration had taken. His entire body trembled, muscles twitching randomly from the aftermath of strain. Sweat soaked the silk sheets beneath him, cooling rapidly in the air.
'I'm alive. I'm actually alive. I survived.'
The thought brought a wave of emotion so intense it threatened to overwhelm him. Relief. Pride. Disbelief. Joy. They all crashed together in a confusing tangle that made his eyes sting with tears he refused to let fall.
He lay there for several minutes, just breathing, just existing, luxuriating in the simple fact of being alive and pain free. His body felt strange, different, but not in a bad way. There was a sense of wholeness he'd never experienced before, as if parts of him that had always been missing had finally clicked into place.
Slowly, carefully, he sat up.
The movement was effortless. Where before he'd felt the weight of his body, the drag of gravity, now he felt light, almost weightless. His muscles responded instantly to his commands, no delay, no resistance.
He swung his legs off the bed and stood, marveling at how natural it felt. His balance was perfect. His coordination was flawless. He felt like he could run a marathon without breaking a sweat.
'What happened to me? What did the integration do?'
He moved to the full length mirror, needing to see what changes had been wrought on his physical form.
The reflection that stared back at him made his breath catch.
He was taller. Much taller. His eyes were level with parts of the mirror frame that had been well above him before. Six feet four inches, easily. The extra height had been distributed perfectly across his frame, making him look proportional rather than stretched.
His face had changed. The soft boyishness was gone, replaced by something sharper, more defined. His jawline was stronger, more angular. His cheekbones sat higher, creating shadows beneath them. His features had an almost aristocratic quality now, refined and striking.
But his eyes drew his attention most of all. They were still dark, but now they held depths they hadn't before. When he looked closely, he could see faint traces of light moving within the irises, like distant stars glimpsed through clouds. Red undertones flickered in the darkness, visible only when the light caught them just right, giving his gaze an intensity that was almost unsettling.
His hair had grown longer during the integration, falling in messy waves that framed his face and cascaded past his shoulders. The black strands had a lustrous quality now, catching the light with subtle blue highlights. It looked deliberately tousled, artfully disheveled in a way that somehow worked.
His build had changed too. Where before the Crowcrest body had been relatively lean, now there was definition. Not bulky or overly muscled, but sculpted. His shoulders had broadened. His chest had filled out. Every visible line spoke of compact strength, the physique of someone built for speed and precision rather than raw power.
He looked dangerous. That was the word that came to mind. Not threatening exactly, but carrying an edge that hadn't been there before. Like a blade hidden beneath silk.
'Is this really me?'
He touched his face, watching the mirror image do the same, needing the physical confirmation. His fingers traced his jaw, his cheekbone, feeling the changes. All real. All him.
The translucent screen appeared again, interrupting his examination.
[Congratulations, Avatar Ariel Crowcrest]
[You have successfully integrated two Celestial Wills simultaneously]
[This achievement is unprecedented in recorded history]
[Your vessel has been transformed to accommodate divine power]
[Analyzing new parameters...]
The screen flickered as information scrolled past too quickly to read. Ariel watched it process, wondering what changes would show on his status now.
[Analysis Complete]
[New Development Detected]
[Your dormant mana core has reacted to the integration process]
[Residual divine energy has stimulated previously inactive pathways]
[Core Status: Unstable / Reactive]
Ariel's brow furrowed. His mana core? The one that had never awakened? The system had said it was dormant, irrelevant because of the Celestial Wills. What was happening now?
[Recommendation: Initiate Forced Awakening immediately]
[Current window of opportunity: 30 minutes]
[Failure to act will result in core returning to dormant state permanently]
"Forced awakening?" Ariel said aloud, his voice sounding different to his own ears, deeper and more resonant. "I don't know what that means. How do I do that?"
[Forced Awakening: A technique used to manually activate a mana core outside of natural awakening age]
[Standard Process: The practitioner must absorb ambient mana from their environment and direct it into their mana core through force of will and intent. The accumulated energy floods the core, overwhelming its dormant state, forcing activation and initiating proper mana cycling. Success rate varies based on individual aptitude, environmental mana density, willpower, and core stability.]
[Detailed Methodology: First, assume proper meditation posture to optimize energy flow through the body's natural channels. Second, extend sensory awareness outward to perceive ambient mana in the surrounding environment. Third, draw the perceived energy inward through meridian pathways. Fourth, channel accumulated mana to core location in lower abdomen. Fifth, compress and concentrate energy at core site. Sixth, continue accumulation until pressure overwhelms dormancy, forcing core activation.]
[Standard success rate: 60% for individuals with proper instruction and training]
[Your projected success rate: Unknown, you lack experience in mana manipulation techniques]
Ariel absorbed the information, his enhanced mind processing it rapidly. It sounded straightforward enough in theory. Sense energy, pull it in, push it into his core, overwhelm the dormancy. But the system had identified the obvious problem immediately.
"I can't manipulate mana," he said, frustration creeping into his voice. "I don't have an awakened core. That's the entire problem. How am I supposed to move energy I can't even control?"
[Accurate assessment. Under normal circumstances, attempting forced awakening without prior mana manipulation ability would be impossible.]
[However, current conditions are exceptional. You have just completed Celestial Will integration. During that process, your meridians, the pathways through which energy flows through the body, were forcibly opened and expanded to accommodate divine power. Those pathways remain active currently, though they will gradually close over the next thirty minutes as your body stabilizes and returns to equilibrium.]
[Furthermore, the sensation of energy moving through your system is still fresh in your nervous system's memory. Your body retains the imprint of how channeling power feels, the patterns it follows, the pathways it takes. This residual awareness provides a template you can follow, a map already traced that you merely need to retrace.]
[This window, this precise moment, represents the only opportunity you will have to force your core's awakening. If you allow time to pass, your meridians will seal, the sensation memory will fade, and your core will return to permanent dormancy. The divine energy within you will sustain your existence regardless, but possessing an active mana core alongside Celestial Wills would provide significant tactical and strategic advantages in this world.]
[Decision required: Attempt forced awakening now with unprecedented opportunity, or accept permanent core dormancy?]
Ariel paced the room, his new height making the space feel slightly smaller than before. His mind worked through the implications, weighing risks against benefits.
An active mana core meant access to normal cultivation methods. It meant learning the magic systems native to this world. It meant not being completely dependent on divine powers he barely understood. It meant fitting in socially, avoiding the stigma of being a seventeen year old who never awakened.
More importantly, it meant options. Multiple power sources. Flexibility in how he approached challenges.
'But I just survived the most agonizing experience imaginable. Can I really jump immediately into another potentially painful process?'
He thought about the integration. The burning. The freezing. The sensation of being dismantled and reconstructed. If forced awakening approached even a fraction of that intensity...
'But it won't. The system would have warned me explicitly if the danger was comparable. This is mana absorption, not housing the literal will of gods. Different scale entirely.'
And there was a time limit. Thirty minutes. If he spent too long debating, the choice would be made by default, and he'd lose this chance forever.
"Fine," he said, decision crystallizing. "I'll do it. Guide me through each step."
[Acknowledged. Initiating instructional protocol.]
[First Step: Assume meditation posture. Lotus position recommended for optimal meridian alignment and energy circulation.]
Ariel scanned the room, then moved to the center where plush carpet provided comfortable cushioning. He folded his legs into lotus position, something his Earth body could never have managed, but his transformed physique made it trivially easy. Perfect flexibility, no strain, complete comfort.
"Like this?"
[Correct positioning confirmed. Ensure spine remains straight, shoulders relaxed, hands resting on knees with palms facing upward. This configuration creates optimal channels for environmental energy to enter your system.]
He adjusted accordingly, straightening his back, relaxing tension from his shoulders, positioning his hands properly. The posture felt stable, grounded, sustainable for extended periods.
[Second Step: Close eyes and establish controlled breathing rhythm. Inhale deeply through nose for four counts, hold breath for four counts, exhale through mouth for four counts. Repeat continuously to establish metabolic baseline and mental focus.]
Ariel closed his eyes and began the breathing pattern. In through nose, one, two, three, four. Hold, one, two, three, four. Out through mouth, one, two, three, four. The rhythm came naturally, his enhanced lung capacity making the controlled breathing effortless.
The visual world disappeared behind his eyelids. Distractions faded. Only sensation remained. Air flowing through his nostrils. Chest expanding and contracting. Subtle pressure of floor beneath him.
[Third Step: Extend awareness outward beyond physical body. Do not attempt to see or hear. Simply feel. Mana saturates all of Eryndor like invisible water permeating everything. Search for the presence of that energy in your immediate environment.]
This proved more difficult. He tried pushing his consciousness beyond his skin, reaching for something he'd never perceived before. For several long seconds, there was nothing but darkness and his own breathing.
Then, gradually, faintly, he began to notice something.
A tingling sensation. A presence. Like static electricity building before a storm, or the feeling of being observed by unseen eyes. It was everywhere, filling the space around him, pressing gently against his skin from all directions.
'Is that it? Is that mana?'
[Affirmative. You are perceiving ambient mana. Initial sensory contact achieved. The density in your current location is relatively high, likely enhanced by formations or enchanted objects throughout the Crowcrest estate designed to facilitate cultivation for family members.]
The tingling grew more pronounced as he focused attention on it. He could sense it moving now, flowing in currents and eddies like wind made of energy instead of air. Some areas felt denser, saturated with power. Some felt thinner, depleted. The room surrounding him felt rich, almost overwhelming in concentration.
[Fourth Step: Draw environmental mana inward. Recall the sensation from divine integration. Remember how power flowed through your body, through meridians opened by Celestial Wills. Those same pathways remain accessible currently. Call the surrounding mana toward you. Will it to enter your physical form.]
Ariel focused on the memory. The pathways carved by burning and freezing as divine energy had torn through him. The channels opened forcibly, routes established permanently. He could still sense them, subtle traces like grooves worn into stone by flowing water.
He reached outward with intent, with will, with desire, calling to the ambient mana.
Come.
For a moment, nothing changed. Then, tentatively, like a cautious animal approaching offered food, the energy responded. It began flowing toward him, drawn by his focused intent, entering his body through skin, through breath, through the meridians opened by integration.
It felt strange but not unpleasant. Like drinking water at an unusual temperature, noticeable but not uncomfortable. The energy trickled inward, filling his pathways, beginning to circulate naturally through his system.
[Excellent progress. Continue. Draw more. Fill meridians completely. Accumulate maximum capacity.]
He pulled harder, his will growing more confident with success. The trickle became a stream. Mana flowed faster, denser, saturating his pathways with increasing intensity. He could feel it moving clearly now, cycling through his body in patterns that felt almost instinctive.
Down arms to fingertips and returning. Down legs to toes and returning. Up spine to crown of head and returning. The energy traced circuits throughout his entire form, growing stronger with each complete circulation.
[Fifth Step: Direct accumulated mana toward core location. Your core exists in lower abdomen, approximately three inches below navel. Channel all gathered energy to that specific point. Focus. Concentrate. Compress.]
Ariel shifted focus inward, guiding the circulating mana toward the indicated location. The energy responded to his will, converging, spiraling inward toward his center. He could sense something there in his lower abdomen. A small, dense knot. His dormant core, inactive since this body's birth, waiting.
The mana pressed against it, accumulating around it, building steadily increasing pressure. The core remained stubbornly dormant, refusing to open, refusing to respond to the gathering energy.
[Sixth Step: Do not cease. Continue gathering environmental mana. Increase accumulated volume. Intensify pressure. Force core activation through overwhelming power. Flood it. Drown it in energy. Leave no possibility except awakening.]
He drew more mana from the environment, pulling it inward faster, harder. Energy built around his core, compressing, condensing, creating pressure that grew more intense with each passing second. His entire lower abdomen felt tight, stretched, filled beyond normal capacity.
The core resisted. Whatever mechanism maintained its dormancy fought against the intrusion, refusing to yield. But Ariel's will was stronger, tempered by suffering, proven by successful divine integration. He would not be denied this.
MORE!
He drew even larger quantities of mana, pulling it in great waves, saturating his meridians to their absolute limit. The pressure surrounding his core became almost unbearable, a tight sphere of concentrated energy demanding release.
WAKE UP!
He pushed against the core with accumulated power, with focused will, with desperate determination. The pressure peaked, reaching critical threshold.
The core trembled. Resistance wavering. Structure straining under impossible force.
Just slightly more. One final surge.
WAKE UP NOW!
He gathered everything, every scrap of absorbed mana, every ounce of willpower, and drove it all into the core in one massive concentrated thrust.