Celestial ladder chapter 3: Awakening

  Gilbert's drowsy thoughts were quickly forced to focus on the now excruciating pain pulsing within his right arm. The shock had caused him to jump to his feet; however, the pain had brought a wave of nausea with it, and he immediately crumpled back down to the ground.

  Agony pulsed within his veins; it felt like his blood was boiling. Any normal man would have gone insane in no time under such torture but Gilbert retained just enough sanity to scramble his way backwards along the sand.

  His vision grew blurry, his eyes struggling to see what had done this to him.

  Frantically dragging himself away, Gilbert suddenly felt his back hit against something solid, preventing him from moving any further.

  Limbs went numb, and his vision only worsened.

  The sand shifted audibly, small stones clacking against something hard. Whatever it was came closer and closer—yet there was nothing he could do but scuttle away in panic. Though obscured, there was one thing that could be made out: two glowing eyes, pulsing with malice.

  Pain overwhelmed him and the creature drew closer, each movement of sand and stone bringing Gilbert nearer to his death.

  It wanted to kill him. The feelings suffusing the air spoke of a drawn out suffering. The eyes grew more vibrant, a deep red lustre gleaming in the night. Bloodlust oozed out from within them and a revolting feeling of sadistic pleasure was palpable…

  Though momentary, the intense emotions being forced upon him had caused the pain to dull, and all that was left within Gilbert was his fear and sense of failure. What had he done to deserve this? Why was it him? How was he even here?

  His questions caused a change in him. Fear turned to rage, burning deep within.

  Instead of asking why, he now asked who. Who had put him here? Who was hurting him? And who the fuck thought any of this was fair?

  Gilbert didn't care anymore about his terror or the pain; all he wanted was to fight.

  That desire, that flame he'd ignited coursed through him, lifting his left arm in defiance. The rest of his limbs were limp and unmoving. All the strength Gilbert could muster poured into it, a strange sensation accompanied him, filling it with power. He shook from the force, the air around him humming, before a deep purple glow enveloped his arm.

  Gilbert didn't hesitate—with the creature nlw inches away, he slammed down his fist with earth shattering force. His consciousness winked out, the last thing he heard, a sickening crunch…

  _____

  Solin sensed an aether fluctuation towards the shore, which actually concerned him quite a bit. Not only was the energy too powerful, but all the natives should still be in the tutorial.

  This meant a race other than the Skantana were on the island.

  He already knew that he and his brethren were the only ones who should be on this section of the planet, meaning that whoever it was had to be an enemy of him and his men.

  The celestial codex had selected him as the highest ranked captain of their force, second only to the general and it was something he took pride in, since this planet would no doubt have untold riches to be harvested.

  Newly integrated planets rarely went beyond [First rung] energy capacity but this one was at the [third rung]. In a tertiary sector like this, that was a rare boon to be had.

  Though the odds were small, Solin hoped that the aether signature detected was from a beast rather than an enemy combatant. It wasn't completely unheard of for such beast's to exist on highly energy dense planets, even if newly integrated.

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  If he was to respond properly, he'd need to know what they were dealing with quickly but also knew that his current ‘preparations’ could not be delayed any further at this point. Solin stood and called out to his second in command.

  “Tulo! The moment our preparations are complete, I want a scouting party sent to the shore to investigate that fluctuation. We need to know who we will be fighting to be ready for it.”

  Tulo raised a scaled arm to his head in a form of salute. “Affirmative captain, preparations will be completed within the week,” he replied.

  He moved to march out from the room. However Solin then added a slightly hushed remark. “Don't let General Jardin hear about this.” Tulo nodded as he exited the room.

  _____

  Awakening from his black out, Gilbert groaned, examining the state of his body. He had regained mobility and although sore, he could stand just fine. The awful pain in his right arm was mostly gone, only a faint feeling of tightness remaining in his veins.

  His left arm was actually in a much worse state, whatever had given him the strength he needed had also overdrawn all his muscles. Tendons were stretched and muscles had torn. Dark purple bruises spread across.

  Gilbert now remembered the creature that had tried to kill him and felt a pang of worry, looking around in an attempt to ascertain his safety.

  It took only moments for him to see what happened. His jaw dropped, gaping at the sight ahead.

  In the space where Gilbert's fist had struck, lay a small crater, and a smaller pile of crushed body parts. He walked to where the creature now remained, though he hesitated to call the mushy pile of organs and shell a creature anymore.

  Its hard exoskeleton lay pulverised around it, the only thing intact being its eyes. They remained within the pile, seemingly unscathed. They no longer held the extreme killing intent that the beast had clung to, but they still radiated energy in droves.

  Gilbert lost himself in his own introspection, momentarily distracted, his eyes lost within those of the beast. He'd gotten caught up on his predicament, considering how little time it had been for everything to change the way it had.

  Only around half a day had passed since he'd been at work, getting ready to confront Mr Mathew. There was barely any transition at all from that mundaneness to having fought a monster to the death, regardless of how brief the confrontation had been.

  Though strange even to him, he actually felt kind of good about it.

  There was no denying that he'd almost been killed, yet a sense of victory washed over him nonetheless. Gilbert didn't know who or what to blame for what was happening, but he somehow felt as if he'd screwed them over by surviving.

  Gilbert hadn't even noticed himself grabbing the two red eyes until he refocused on reality to see them in his hands, thrumming with power. They had been viewed as ‘eyes’ due to the way Gilbert had seen them the night before, but that was clearly a misjudgement on his part. The two orbs he now held were far more akin to glass, with a surface polished and glossy.

  There was an almost tangible feeling of attraction towards them and Gilbert couldn't help but want whatever was inside for himself.

  He walked back to the tree he'd been leaning against, this time being able to actually see its details. Like all the others around it, the tree was slender, with a pale white trunk. The leaves were a deep, crimson colour, and the tendril-like branches they grew from all bent randomly in different directions.

  Gilbert slouched down against the tree and sat himself in a stereotypical meditation pose, often used by monks. He closed his eyes, one orb in each hand, focused all his thoughts on the fluctuations within them.

  The energy coursing through the orbs was turbid and unruly, refusing to conform to any set path. Gilbert was surprised to see that when focusing as he was, the energy began flowing into him and through his body.

  It flowed from his hands to his arms, shoulders, chest, and gathered beneath his stomach. While most of the energy was following through this pathway and congregating in the space, a small amount remained within his arms.

  They were rapidly healing; his bruises were shrinking and his muscle fibres were stitching themselves back together. Once fully back to normal, it all gathered at the now pulsing locus within him. The last wisps left the two orbs and they cracked, just before a startling change took place within his body.

  The energy swirled within him, spinning with the force of a hurricane. Gilbert could feel it condensing, taking up less and less space within his body until a sphere the size of an orange was formed. At this stage, the outer portion solidified into a hard outer shell which began radiating power from within.

  Once fully solidified, a now solid core sat within the space. The core settled into its place and slotted into his body as though it belonged there from the start, it felt as though he had just grown a brand new organ out of pure energy.

  The core integrating itself with him had also brought Gilbert a moment of spiritual clarity, feeling as though he was atop the world. That moment was quickly cut short however when a now familiar voice cut in.

  Just as before, it was monotone and unfeeling, though it now also sounded ever so slightly celebratory. “Congratulations, you have taken the first step in climbing the celestial ladder and have proven yourself to be worthy of guidance.

  “Core has been successfully stabilised and first rung has been achieved. Awakening success, celestial codex access granted.” It was with these words that a light blue, semi-translucent screen appeared in the air in front of him, displaying the term ‘status’...