Cassian was unceremoniously pulled from the confines of his own body. Unlike previous instances where his soul had ventured tentatively into the Astral world, leaving an open route back, this time felt completely different. Whatever lifeline he previously had inadvertently used to bridge the gap between the two realities had shattered into pieces.
And with it, he had utterly lost his way back.
…
*Thump*
Cassian crashed against the azure path face down. The laws that had pulled him here evidently not caring about his comfort.
'What was that thing?'
He was still reeling from the unfathomable events of the past two minutes. Since walking into the cathedral, everything happened too quickly to register what he was witnessing properly. Whatever was inside that building treated him like nothing but an insect, reaching into the lowest depths of his body with parasitic tendrils.
Just thinking about the feeling made him shiver.
'Was that… god?'
A being that held no complete form, stitched together by intricate runs. A being that used information as a weapon, embodying the concept of infinity. Hell, it was a being that contained an entire universe within it, of which the simple act of witnessing it nearly killed him. If that wasn't a god, then Cassian wasn't human.
...
Am I still human?
...
He no longer held a connection to his human body after all; his current existence was more akin to a malleable bundle of energy with a personality. Was this just how it was now?
Was he trapped here forever?
"Now that I think about it, this form it… feels wrong."
He pushed himself off the floor with his arms, surprised by the physicality of both his arms and the azure path below. The intersection between his hand and the path didn't throw out the same endless array of sparks. Instead, opting for a subtle ripple like that of disturbed water.
Gazing down at himself, his previously unstable figure had solidified into an accurate facsimile of his human form. However, there were some key differences. Cassian's hunger-stricken physique had filled itself out. The visible bones along his figure instead boasting a collection of faint but visible muscle. It's once acute desperation for any sign of food replaced with the visage of a trained athlete.
Bringing his hands up to his face, it, too, took on a different form. His sunken cheeks had filled out, with no facial hair remaining. All in all, it highlighted a surprisingly doll-like face.
"Is this the shape of my soul?"
Cassian shook his head. There was no point in asking questions he would not be able to answer. Instead, he set his mind to his surroundings.
…!?
Infinitely small clusters of star-like nebulae were visibly decorating the furthest reaches of the void. Pulsating clouds of fog drifting through this empty abyss like an ancient creature slowly awakening. Marking a stark change from the completely null space he had visited previously.
Additionally, the Azure path had evolved.
Intricate runes had been engraved onto the violently pulsating light, creating a crystalline attribute to it. Closer inspection revealed that the runes bore the same symbols as those on Cassian's arm. A circle of cascading lines feeding endlessly into each other spread outwards from where he was standing, leaving no part of the path untouched. Glancing at his side, he found no evidence of this engraving remaining with him.
Is this what Aria meant by the mark being 'a beacon required to traverse the abyss'?
'It's practically exploding with energy.'
Cassian stood silently for an inordinate amount of time before cautiously walking towards the world's edge. He knelt at the cutoff before the void- energy cascading silently around him.
Tentatively holding out his hand, he laid it over the empty space. This light was his. He needed to make it obey its master. With these thoughts, we willed the pathway to continue.
As soon as he did, an explosion of radiance rocketed around him. Cassian watched as opaque runes formed in the air within the void, linking together with intricate detail like the pieces of a sublime puzzle. The gaps between these runes pulsated stronger and stronger, streams of light ricocheting back and forth. Eventually, this light solidified- joining together in one translucent glow. Extending the distance he could walk by a few more paces.
'I knew it.'
Cassian rose to his feet, holding the same intention within his mind. Slowly, he stepped forward- his foot hovering over the abyss. Once again, azure radiance held him up. Forming the foothold before elegantly linking with the rest of the path.
It wants to form only in this direction.
One of Cassian's primary concerns about… well, all of this was just how coincidental it all seemed. He wakes up with this mark on his arm, and a week's later, he's in a void where 'very few can walk' on a path that only heads one direction.
Both Aria and the god-like figure had called him a 'fragment of the greatest wanderer', of which the latter had shown an extreme greed to possess. Cassian had no idea what this was or what it meant, beyond the fact that it was this 'fragment' that enabled him to traverse the void.
Thinking about it won't get me an answer.
One foot before the other. That was all he needed to do.
—--------------------------------------------
Time did not pass within this abyss, so trying to guess how long he had been walking for was useless. At the very least, Cassian was able to gain a rough estimate of the distance he had traveled through the position and speed of the gas emitted by the surrounding infant nebulae.
Had days passed by?
Weeks?
Years even?
Over time, Cassian had started to notice minuscule chain-like threads spread out across the void. These threads advanced in every direction, showcasing a somewhat chaotic dissonance. More worrying than this, however, was the light beneath his feet. It was gradually losing its luster. Little by little, his footholds were becoming more transparent.
The path's power is running dry.
...
What's that!?
Finally, he was gifted with the sight of something different. Even if he was not quite sure what it was. A faint, sickly green stain was subtly bleeding into the darkness around him. Unlike the aimlessness of the void, this light had a source!
As he drew closer, the epicenter of this phenomenon came into view. The bleak silence of the Astral world, so heavy it cycled back to loudness, became punctured by its fluctuating vibration. At its epicenter, reality was… cracking?
A single, jagged tear suspended in the air, a wound in the fabric of the abyss.
He moved toward it, his boots making no sound on the azure path, though his heart was steadily beating faster. He held out hope that the path would remain stable enough to get him there.
Is this a way out?
The rift was pulsating with life, breathing a faint whisper of the world lying beyond it. Cassian could swear he felt the tear itself shout at him to stay away, desperately wishing he would step no closer.
Nonetheless, he approached it. The decaying of energy throughout the path beneath him meant he could walk no further, so this tear was his only remaining option. Besides, Aria had left him nought but faint hints on the path he had to walk, so it wasn't necessarily a wrong choice.
…?
Inspecting the rift from its vicinity, Cassian studied its construction. All too familiar thread-like chains wrapped around empty space, bending it open in convoluted waves. Each of the rift's pulses shifted the threads' position. Slithering around each other in a complicated ouroboros. Cassian could not tell whether the tear's movement was to expand its influence within this space further, close it completely, or simply to maintain a complex equilibrium.
Do I just jump through it?
There was no instruction manual for this sort of thing!
If only Aria had left him with at least some knowledge of what to do.
Shrugging his shoulders, he gripped the writhing edges of the rift. The squirming threads reeled back under his touch as if they were disgusted by it. Staring into it provided no information. Beyond it simply lay more threads!
What's the worst that can happen?
Ignoring his better judgment, he pulled himself up into the tear- and he jumped. Falling through the endless array of swirling threads. As he did, waves of these reality-bending fibers shot out from the squirming tunnel, forming interlocking chains that wrapped themselves tightly around him. Cassian's Instinct kicked in, causing him to try to shake them off frantically.
Wait
These must be the 'threads of providence' Aria mentioned
Coming to this enlightenment significantly eased his tension. If he was correct, these threads represented the universal laws. They may well reject him- yes, but fundamentally, they are but an impartial judge. Compared to the figure Cassian encountered on earth, he welcomed impartiality
Giving in to the chains caused an interesting reaction. Before they viciously wrapped around Cassian, leaving no chance for him to escape. But now? They calmly slithered around him. Gently fastening over his being until-
*THUMP*
"Again?"
His annoyance was muffled by the dirt smothering his face. Cassian had been unceremoniously dumped out of the astral world in the same fashion as he had entered it. Smashing straight into the ground.
Nevertheless, his gamble worked. He was once again on solid ground, piloting an actual body. Around him was a sonata of blended noise so overwhelming after the silence of the astral world. The ground faintly shook. His senses told him this was the ground itself moving, but Cassian put that down to the shock of the past minutes.
Hyping himself up, he pushed off the ground to rise to his feet- only to feel something- no, someone pushing him back down again.
"Oh."
Around him were approximately 12 figures of varying build, each of them looking extremely pissed off.
And each of them holding a sword directly to his face.