Deicide: To Kill The Gods

Six months passed by rather quickly. I spent my time either out working with Hua, or in the room she’d so kindly granted me practising to awaken my core. Before I could even consider checking out my affinity, I had to awaken my core and open up the veins within my body so soul energy could ‘break out’ of my core to pass through and around. On many days, Hua was out taking a trip down to the market in order to sell and earn the money we both needed to live– I felt somewhat bad, as now she needed double to cover both our expenses. However, due to her leaving, I finally could sneak down to the study room where all the books were kept.

She always chided me for reading instead of working, but I had finished my work for that day. I crept down the stairs, hearing the door shut, sneaking into the small room, filled to the brim with bookcases. I took a sweat upon the hard wooden floor and leaned myself against the wall, taking the top book from the pile I’d set out the day before, and dived right in.

I often used this time to think about what I had learned about the place I lived in. The world as I knew it was very archaic, with people driven by horses in carriages, with power dictated by the circumstances of one’s birth. As well as this, weapons were not regulated either– people could simply carry them around whilst doing daily tasks. Sometimes, I found myself quite frightened seeing the elderly carrying large battleaxes with them as they went shopping for tea.

Arekos was divided into countries; one of those was Huagong, where I was currently staying. Each country was led by its own royal family, which was dictated, much like noble status, by birthright. The firstborn child was the crowned heir, and all the people of the country were left to kneel before them, hanging upon their every word. However, there had to be continents beyond Arekos, I thought, but the book I read about its history contained nothing of the sort, despite the ocean stretching for miles– which they called “The Endless Sea”. It seemed to go to the horizon and beyond, and all those who had sailed further… never returned.

–

“In Arekos, there are those, known as ‘Sages’. I remembered how surprised I had been, seeing Hua use her abilities for the first time– getting used to the existence of what was effectively magic. The supernatural. Sages, or mages, as some called them, had the ability to manipulate their own soul cores.” I read out loud to myself. It was a habit of mine that I had never been able to remove after Hua had stated it helped her to remember things far better than reading it in her head. My voice was hushed, as though there was an invisible 3rd person living with us I didn’t want to awaken.

My eyes darted from page to page, scanning for anything of interest.

“Sages are split into two categories: Amplifiers and Releasers. Amplifiers are able to collect soul energy from within themselves and amplify their power, creating effects on the outside of their body. Releasers, on the other hand, can collect ambient soul energy from the environment and create effects as well.”

“Soul energy can also be directly used to augment attacks, which is the technique Amplifiers, rather than Releasers, often use…”

I continued on to the next section of the book:

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

“Amplifiers use the soul energy within themselves, allowing them to– normally– create attacks faster than Releasers due to the fact it already exists within themselves. However, they also drain themselves more quickly because it comes from themselves. Releasers on the other hand, take more time to charge up their attacks than Amplifiers, but can usually release more large-scale attacks…”

“Amplifiers need large soul veins in order to quickly pass the energy through their veins and out into the outside world. Releasers need large cores to store, purify, and manipulate the ambient soul energy in the environment…”

My hand passed over the page as I flipped to the next section.

BASICS OF EMITTING

“Releasers use a technique known as Emitting in order to control their surroundings. Due to this, Releasers will have an affinity to an element (Air, Water, Fire, Earth, Nature). The larger the spell conjured, the more soul energy is needed, and the more tired the Releaser will become. In order for a Releaser to properly, without harming themselves, emit the elements, they need a catalyst– a wand, staff, or an object of that nature. The most talented Releasers do not need catalysts, though they are few and far between.”

“However, although Releasers have an affinity, most Releasers can manipulate the basics of the other elements.”

So that’s what Hua was– a Nature-affinity Releaser. Though, to hear she could use the basics of other elements? That was rather interesting. I couldn’t deny, I rather wanted to ask her to show me.

Flip.

A BASIC GUIDE TO AMPLIFICATION

“Amplification is the ability to use the soul energy residing within the body, pass it through the soul veins, and amplify it upon release, creating stronger effects than basic augmentation. Amplifiers may also use the elements much like Releasers can, however, instead of using spells, they will oftentimes coat their body in said elements. This has its drawbacks however– to combine one’s body with the earth will undoubtedly make it heavier…”

“...Amplifiers also have the unique ability to block soul veins. By passing soul energy out through a small point, e.g, the fingertips, and targeting it at specific pressure points across the body, Amplifiers can target and close up the soul veins of an opponent, albeit temporarily, stopping their usage of spells and abilities. However, such an ability is extremely hard to use and even harder to master.”

I flipped the page once more. Now, I wondered which one I would awaken as.

–

ELEMENTS AND DIVERGENTS

“The five elements one can have an affinity to are as follows: Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Nature. To have an affinity is to have a talent– affinities are natural predispositions, and one can only manipulate the elements with an affinity. To have two affinities is extremely rare– to have more than that is unheard of. However, there exist stronger, divergent elements– because they diverge from the natural order of this world and do not exist normally in nature, which is why it is so rare to be able to manipulate them. Some divergent elements are a combination of multiple elements, however, to be able to manipulate more than one element at the same time is a feat in itself. The list is as follows:

Air -> Sound

Water -> Ice

Earth -> Gravity

Fire -> Lightning (Internal/External)

Nature -> Life

Author's note:

~Amplifiers use Internal Lightning is used to increase the user's speed and reaction time, et cetera, whilst External is used to project lightning outside the body. Internal is considered to be far more difficult.~

Then, there come elemental reactions capable of being achieved through the manipulation of more than one element.

Fire + Water -> Steam

Water + Nature -> Poison

Earth + Fire -> Lava

Water + Wind -> Illusion

Beyond these elements, however, there exists a 7th and 8th: Space, and Time. However, these 2 elements have only ever been manipulated by one person– the Creator, Sophia. The conditions to unlock the ‘space’ and ‘time’ elements are unknown, as well as their capabilities. Due to their power, they are considered ‘primordial elements’, and are not recognised as part of the main elements.”

Flip, flip, flip, flip.

LIMITATIONS AND WHIPLASH

“Both Amplifiers and Releasers are limited by the efficiency of their manipulation of Soul Energy. Amplifiers cannot release elements, and Release cannot coat their bodies in them– that is the core difference between both times. However, upon reaching the highest heights of sorcery, Amplifiers able to shoot elements and Releasers able to augment themselves with them have been seen– showing that the difference is not as apparent through the gaining of power.”

“Whiplash is the result of overuse. An Amplifiers’ whiplash is caused by either: the depletion of soul from their core– or the overuse of their soul veins, causing them to become damaged if pushed too far. This is why a strong core and large veins are necessary. Releasers can gain whiplash from absorbing too much soul from the environment, more than the size of their core can take in, resulting in energy existing outside of the veins and core within their body, which will explode as it does not have a container. This can be especially dangerous to the Releasers’ life.”

Fliiip.

SOUL ARTS

“Soul Arts are the unique manifestation of a user's affinity into an ‘art’, with numerous personal spell extensions. To develop a unique Soul Art, one must not only be well-versed and a master of their element(s), they must be innately talented as well.”

“Soul Arts are exceptionally powerful. One such example, the Soul-Flame created by the Divergent combination of Fire and Nature was developed into a Soul Art that burned the very Soul Core and Soul Veins to dust. As such, Soul Arts are extremely powerful but extremely taxing as well.”

“Soul Arts may sometimes uniquely diverge from the regular elements– one such example is the Necromancy seen in the Brooke family. Oftentimes, nobody knows where they stem from.”

AWAKENING

“Sages are 1 in every 100 people, due to the fact that the ability to sense the soul is incredibly rare and uncommon. The soul core is the essence of life– to shatter or remove it is to sign a death warrant. Overuse of the soul can lead to death. For those who are not sages, the soul core is at a fixed size– it is the life force, and nothing else. However, to sages, the soul core is far more than that. Everything has a ‘soul’, living or not. Therefore the size of the soul doesn’t really matter– though the more energy one can store within themselves, the easier it is for them.”

“Sages, when awakening, will often destroy their surroundings, as all the energy within their core is released, before it is abruptly absorbed back into their core, along with some ambient soul particles, resulting in many black specks within a newly awakened’s core. As this ambient energy becomes theirs through training and gaining strength, they will purify themselves as one grows stronger, causing them to eventually reach a pure, glowing white colour. The core progression works like this:

Jet Black Core

Dark Raven Core -> Raven Core -> Light Raven Core

Dark Asher Core -> Asher Core -> Light Asher Core

Dark Stone Core -> Stone Core -> Light Stone Core

Dark Grey Core -> Grey Core -> Light Grey Core

Dark Sterling Core -> Sterling Core -> Light Sterling Core

Dark Heather Core -> Heather Core -> Light Heather Core

Dark Ivory Core -> Ivory Core -> Light Ivory Core

White Core

As well as this, as one grows stronger, the core will branch out and grow like a tree. At its peak, the core will normally have many long, thick branch-like veins that stretch out across their body, like a large tree.”

“A Sage will normally awaken at the age of 15.”

Click.

–

I had come to the end of the book. Taking a moment to digest the new information I had learned, I took a breath. My breaths were rather ragged– my injuries hadn't healed fully, despite Hua’s treatment, and my chest still spiked with pain whenever I took too sharp a breath. I allowed a gentle hiss to exit my mouth before assuming a meditative position, hands resting in my lap like boats atop a calm sea.

Firstly, I needed to gently open up my soul veins so energy could pass out from my core, and absorb soul from the surrounding environment. If I had miraculously survived a fall through a stable roof from the heavens, I could do this– I hoped. It shouldn’t be that hard… right?

I could somewhat feel the energy circulating throughout my body. It stretched from the scar in the centre of my body, my core, to the tips of my fingers. It entered with every breath I took, every breath I gave. It was everything that defined me, yet nothing at the exact same time. Everywhere and nowhere, perpetual and ephemeral. It was the very foundation of existence.

My body felt somewhat lighter, but that may have just been me. Looser, more relaxed. As everything around me faded to a blur of nothing, and the world faded to black. I stood within the darkness, my feet making ripples upon its surface as though I stood in a pool of still water. In front of me lay an invisible barrier, separating me and a crashing ocean– what I assumed to be the impure energy within my core. My hands raised, and pressed against the wall before me.

There was no way to get past it now, and I felt it. I wasn’t so much of a genius that I could awaken within six months of first learning about the soul, and I knew that.

“It is not time yet. Be still.”

A voice echoed from within the chambers of my mind, but it wasn’t my own. I felt it reverberate throughout my whole body, and most importantly, I felt it within my soul. Nature rested under its will– even the waters were silenced at its command.

Was I in the presence of a divine being? My body stopped moving as I bent down, kneeling before its presence.

“There is no need to bow.”

I rose shakily from my position. My entire body trembled, and I glanced down at my hands, which were shaking uncontrollably. Despite it being a mere voice… my entire body was succumbing to the feeling of unprecedented fear.

“After all, you and I… we are ‘one’.” I had questions, so many– but I couldn’t ask them, I didn’t want to speak, the sound lay trapped in my throat. “I said we would meet again, child.”

“What do you– what do you mean? Do you know me?!” I croaked out, voice hoarse and trembling, much like the rest of my body.

“I suppose you may not have noticed the power of the Aevum within you– though, that is to be expected. Your body cannot handle it just yet… you must awaken first. I will not be able to meet with you frequently, however, as I do not wish to impose my will upon your body.”

I didn’t understand much of what she was telling me. Aevum? Strength? Will? Who was she?

“I cannot tell you your goal, nor who your enemies are, child. That is for you to decide, once your memories have fully returned to you. They are sealed within that core of yours. But no matter where you stand in the coming disaster… you must get strong enough to protect those you hold dear. Or you will fall with the rest in the war that is to come.”