A sound like brittle glass cracking against stone stirred the silence.
Neil, still on the cold floor of the chamber, flinched at the faint noise. His muscles spasmed violently. His Core energy, once steady, now ran rampant, uncontrollable and wild like a river breaching its banks. His body trembled from the backlash, veins bulging as energy surged without guidance. Blood trickled from his ears, his eyes, and down his lips. Every breath burned. It felt like his insides were being scoured by fire.
Then the pressure came.
It wasn't just spiritual or mental, it pressed down on his physical body, made the air around him thicken until every inhalation felt like drowning. Something ancient was watching him. He knew it without turning his head.
The faintest sound of fragments brushing the stone floor echoed behind him glass-like shards falling softly. That was all the being made as it emerged from the cracked cocoon.
Neil could barely lift his head, still choking on his own breath, blood mixing with spit at the corner of his mouth. But he felt it. The pressure was suffocating. Like a mountain had shifted its gaze toward him. He was being observed intently, quietly.
And still the being said nothing.
Neil gritted his teeth, focusing everything he had left on regaining control. He forced his Core into motion again, circulating it slower than usual, grounding it inch by inch. He could feel the energy rebelling, pushing back, but his will held. Pain flared with every pulse, and his body responded with more cramps, more twitching but the storm began to settle. Slowly.
Eventually, the wild current receded. The pain remained, but it was manageable. He could breathe again, even if it still hurt.
That was when it spoke.
"How long has it been since the domes opened?"
Neil's head snapped up, though no mouth had moved. The voice hadn't come from the air. It resonated inside him. Like thought but not his.
He met the being's eyes.
The figure now standing in the room was humanoid in shape, but only barely. Tall, towering, with dark red skin that looked like old ember-charred stone. Two horns curled slightly back from his forehead, and enormous black wings folded behind him like a shadow given form. Despite the heatless fire behind his gaze, he didn't seem hostile. Just… ancient. Beyond comprehension. Like something pulled from a different epoch.
Neil swallowed, wiping blood from his chin. "They haven't. At least… not when I entered this place."
The being tilted his head. For a moment, nothing was said. Then the voice again, slightly firmer this time:
"Impossible. You stand at Soul Genesis. That cannot happen before the shakedown. No one progresses that far without time. Without resources."
Neil coughed, steadying himself. "I was… left outside. When the others were put into the domes. I've been traveling this world for months. Alone."
"Alone?"
Neil nodded. "I'm not from here. I came from another world, Earth. I found ruins. Learned about Core energy. About the mortal path. About Awakening. Coreforging. And then…" He took a breath, slower this time. "I just kept going."
He looked down at his hand. "No help. No blessings. No gods. I've only encountered a few others. I learned about the domes. That they're preparation chambers. That people usually spend years in them. I haven't met anything too powerful yet… not until now."
The being's presence remained quiet. But Neil could feel the shift in his attention. Curiosity. Maybe even mild disbelief.
"You should not exist," the voice said. "No one outside survives. Fewer than a few hundred make it two decades. At best, they are at Muscle Sinew. You've done in months what others cannot with divine aid."
Neil looked up, voice hoarse. "Guess I got lucky."
The being chuckled low and rough, like gravel scraping in a furnace. "No. Not luck. Something else. Something rare."
He took a step closer, his footfall silent despite his size. The air around him crackled with latent power.
"This tomb was built to remain hidden. Constructed by twelve races and me. It is a sanctuary. A defiance. A weapon. We intended for it to awaken me only after the domes had opened, during the chaos of the shakedown. But you… found it first."
Neil didn't speak. The weight of that realization hit like a hammer.
"The terrain shifted. That's why the canyon formed. That's how you found it. Fate, or chance, it no longer matters."
The being looked toward the shattered cocoon behind him. Its glass-like remains pulsed faintly, energy leaking out into the sealed room.
"You absorbed everything. The entrance, the floors, the tomb's veins. You drew me awake ahead of schedule. And now… the gods may notice."
Neil's heart sank. "I didn't know."
"No. But now you must live with it."
The being turned his gaze back toward Neil, and his expression hardened slightly.
"You must also be careful. There are places in this world, pieces of knowledge, that will destroy you if found too soon. The gods do not forgive transgressions. And if you learn what you should not, or speak in the wrong place, it could be fatal."
Neil nodded slowly, letting that warning sink in.
Then, more gently, the being added, "But for now, recover. While I was in the cocoon time flowed slowly to preserve me. After breaking the cocoon, the mechanism activated to fasten the flow of time to allow me time to adjust myself after being in sleep for ages. Use this time wisely. The gods may already be on the way."
Neil sat back, groaning. He was still battered from the backlash. But his Core was already working to patch him up. Flesh knitting. Blood clotting. Bruises fading. He reached inward, touching the flow of his energy with new restraint.
This time, he would not lose control.
---
Time passed. Neil couldn't tell how much. The room, sealed as it was, betrayed no hint of the sun.
He absorbed energy steadily now. Greed still gnawed at him, whispering from the corners of his mind, but he resisted. Each breath drew in power, and he wove it through his Core with focus, not frenzy.
The being, he never gave a name, stood off to the side, unmoving but alert. Adjusting, as he put it. Recalibrating his body after who-knew-how-long in suspended animation.
It went on like that. Quiet. Still.
Until something inside Neil shifted.
He didn't even notice the buildup at first. Just a tension in his gut. Then a deep, sudden pressure in his lungs. His body stiffened. He leaned forward, hand bracing on the floor.
A rumble from deep within.
Then, whuumph, a massive gust of wind erupted from his mouth. His Core lit up like wildfire.
And he knew.
He had broken through again.
The being turned his head, eyes narrowing slightly.
"You've reached Inner Luminarity," he said. "Before the shakedown. Without guidance. Without divine gifts. You are… something new."
Neil gasped for breath, eyes wide.
"Perhaps," the being said slowly, "we may meet again. And if we do, we might work together. The gods will not like what I must do next. I cannot let this place be found. The others must remain hidden."
He gestured toward the sealed chamber. "When I destroy this tomb, the gods will sense it. I will draw their eyes to me. You must not be here when that happens."
Neil struggled to stand, limbs still shaky, but he forced himself up.
The being gave a single nod. "Go. Now."
Neil didn't need to be told twice.
He walked through the corridor, past the shattered remnants of the tomb, up through the dead hallways and the place that once welcomed no one.
The door, still cracked open, awaited him.
He stepped out. The canyon air hit his face cool, dry, real. The sky stretched wide above him, clouds like brushstrokes on an open canvas.
He took a breath.
The first outside breath in what felt like an eternity.