Chapter 36: CHAPTER XXIV – Furyborn and Hellbent

Cekell clashed with the darkness that bound him, but did not manage to more than scratch it, even as he flailed wildly. He was confined within a small space that was not much wider than his fully outstretched arms, nor much taller than his body, but it was limiting enough that it would not permit for a running charge.

Lashing out with a wave of gravity only served to propel him backwards and hard into the wall behind him. This did not stop him from beating himself bloody as he was driven into a frenzy trying to escape his confines. Even ignoring his wounds, he was only managing to expand his frustration.

Gritting his teeth in an attempt to calm himself, he decided a change of tactics were in order. Wildly lashing out was not getting him anywhere, and he was growing increasingly concerned about his sparks. Plopping down on the floor of his prison, he began to retract his gravity field, and focus it into as small of a point as he could manage.

Impatient, he did not manage to force his gravity into a very small space, and exploded it in all directions so as not to simply throw himself backwards. As a result, he was bounced all around his jail as though someone had picked it up and shaken it vigorously. Again ignoring his wounds, he took comfort in the fact that he felt his cage stretch out ever so slightly, and quickly set to work on a second attempt, but this time he would concentrate his gravity even smaller.

Giving himself a long moment, he squeezed his gravity field ever smaller, but paused to debate on how to release it. His wild ride of being tossed about wasn’t exactly enjoyable, but he figured if he expanded it out in only two directions, it would have greater impact. Cupping his hands around his freshly formed gravity well, he screeched out as he strained to hold his hands together, limiting the directions the force would escape as he again exploded his gravity.

Cekell was certain this had an even greater effect in stretching out his confines, as they quickly rebounded and slammed into him, rattling his brain and knocking him into a daze. Coming too, he clenched his jaw and would not allow himself to hesitate, instead moving only forward. Crushing his gravity field as hard as he could, he wrapped it in a fist, and squeezed that fist with his other hand, clutching it so tightly he could feel his flesh tearing.

Deciding it still wasn’t enough to free him from his prison, he formed a barrier around his hands, but with only a single opening. He wrapped that barrier in dark matter, and held the base against the floor of his jail. Grinding his teeth, he knew this was going to hurt; but if this would not free him, then he would not be freed – at least not by his own hands.

Taking a moment, Cekell prepared himself mentally for what was to come. Betting everything on an all or nothing gambit, he let out a piercing hawk scream as he fired of a gravity wave. His clenched left fist burned before going numb as the force erupted upwards into the ceiling of his confinement, pushing him down and through the floor as what jailed him was violently ruptured.

He winced in pain, but kept an eye open so that, even as he was propelled through a vast and expansive darkness, he quickly located his sparks, who were still within his barrier, hovering in the void of that darkness which seemingly lacked both ground and sky. He felt relief as he once again laid eyes on them, even in an unknown location; at least until he noticed something like a jet black stonescale had wrapped itself around the barrier containing his sparks. This dark stonescale was far larger and even more imposing than what he had previously been fighting.

In an instant, he shifted his momentum and rushed towards his sparks. His body felt more maneuverable, and as though concepts of up and down were absent. If this new entity would come between him and his comfortable place, he would simply have to remove the obstacle and reclaim that which was dear to him.

 

Verakry looked down on the dark cocoon that contained Cekell and paused a moment, before turning a calculating and shrewd smile on Rhystea. Having carefully watched the events leading up to this moment, this wouldn’t go without her noticing, and a chill crawled down her spine. “What?” She asked uncomfortably.

“Would you be interested in playing a role in another test?” Verakry asked her wantonly.

“Ugh, no.” Rhystea spurned the very suggestion, “But I’d regret it even more if I just let you do as you pleased while pretending it didn’t concern me.”

Verakry’s smile widened as he turned his gaze to Sphaere, “And you?”

“I dunno what yer gettin’ at, but if she’s goin’, then I’m goin’ too. How ‘bout an explanation first?” Sphaere insisted.

“No time. I don’t think this will hold him long. While I’d like to see for myself just what he’s capable of, I’d think it would be in everyone’s best interest if his caretakers also knew. I don’t believe I could coax such out of him without your assistance.” Verakry explained as he shifted his gaze from the caretakers of the warborn to their demi human companions. “I’m afraid you’ll all have to go.”

And with that, the ground under their feet along with he hot water they had until recently been relaxing in, lifted into the air and began rising with incredible speed, along with Verakry and the prison of darkness containing Cekell.

“Wait, where are we goin’?” Sphaere inquired as her eyes went wide.

“Well we can’t risk testing him down here, had I not intervened when I did, the damage he would have inflicted would have been both catastrophic and far reaching, but I do want to see just how far he can go. Your kind has great need of that bottled garden, and you’ll just have to trust me that allowing it to be destroyed is not in any of your best interests.” Verakry clarified.

“Can’t argue with that, but…” Rhystea trailed off as she looked down upon the greater barrier they had exited, which was rapidly shrinking beneath her, “Where exactly do you plan on administering such a test?”

“Obviously where collateral damage will be minimized.” Verakry detailed as the very Earth seemed to pull away from them, shrinking into a blue and brown marble that waned in the distance.

“Woah!” F120 gasped as she continued to cling to Lucky with one arm as well as Rhystea’s leg with the other, but looked down upon her diminishing world with excitement. “Is this where the stars live?!”

They shot past the moon as Rhystea closed her eyes and regurgitated a brief lesson on space and the celestial bodies that reside there, as she try to keep herself calm; concern about what Verakry was going to do stabbing into her side like a guilty thorn. If she was going to have a part to play in drawing out Cekell’s potential, it could only be in a way that she wouldn’t condone; and yet, she was becoming increasingly aware that the warborn, or perhaps just Cekell, was far beyond the scope of anything she had ever imagined.

Sphaere kept her eyes locked on the dark cocoon that contained Cekell and pointed out when it seemed to contort, “I cain’t imagine Ceke sittin’ patiently while bein’ boxed up, it looks like ‘e’s tryin’ ta break out.”

“He won’t remained caged for much longer, before he emerges, let us… set the stage.” Verakry proposed before setting aside Cekell’s prison and advancing to the barrier containing the others.

“Set the stage, huh? I take it that our role is as a prop?” Rhystea noted.

Verakry smiled insidiously before expanding, transforming into something long, like a writhing shadow version of the stonescale, but even bigger, and proceeded to coil around the bubble that contained them.

“Wait, is ‘e gonna goad Ceke inta attackin’ ‘im by takin’ us hostage?!” Sphaere decried.

“Well how else did you expect him to use you in order to get Cekell to showcase his capabilities?” Devose asked, genuinely puzzled. Looking away shamefully, he added, “You might recall someone else utilizing a similar stratagem.”

“Ugh, I knew something like this was going to happen. It’s not like we could turn him down though, otherwise he was liable to have dragged Cekell out here and just knocked him senseless. Whether we’re out here or had been left back there, separating us from Cekell would elicit the same response. At least this way, we could see…” Rhystea perceived.

“So ‘e’s tryin’ ta get Ceke ta go berserk?!” Sphaere exclaimed in aggravation.

Rhystea winced as she reality of the words washed over her, and as she flinched back from them, Cekell was discharged from the cocoon after it warped and bubbled and finally burst.

Shrugging off his confines, Cekell steered his momentum towards his barrier, accelerating as much as he could manage as he raced towards his comfortable place. He reached out towards his sparks ecstatically, causing Rhystea to cover her mouth with both hands in order to hold in a gasp. Cekell’s right hand was mangled beyond recognition, and the left was simply absent.

Once again, Cekell could feel Rhystea’s heart skip a beat as though he were holding it in the palm of his hand. Her panic fueled his furor, but before he would act on impulse, he needed to verify that his sparks were all right. Without so much as attempting to decelerate, he slammed into the side of his barrier that contained them and opened his mouth to let out a questioning chirp, but no sound would pass his lips.

Rhystea pressed up against the edge of the barrier right in front of him and tried to force a smile, but only managed to cringe. Fully aware that his test was about to commence, the only words she could scrape together were, “I’m sorry.”

Attempting to pass through his barrier, Cekell emit a faint light, but before he could attune himself properly, Verakry reached down with his tail and flicked Cekell away from his comfortable place.

Having been knocked back, Cekell caught himself with a barrier. Something in his chest throbbed as sheer fury twisted his face. His body went numb as he reached down and, over the barrier at his feet, placed a dark plate before forming a gravity well between them, which he blasted to propel himself forward, while simultaneously reaching out with an arm of his gravity field to latch onto the darkscale that he didn’t know was actually Verakry.

Shooting in at full speed, this time Cekell’s complete attention was locked onto the darkscale. Having received a blow from it, he was quite aware of how remarkably solid it was. While he harbored no intentions of simply yielding his comfortable place to it, he was none to eager to accept another battering, and decided to instead asses it’s speed and reflexes.

Expecting retaliation from either end of the darkscale, Cekell kept his focus on both. He was as ready as he could be when it’s tail moved to take a swipe at him, and quickly changed course to narrowly avoid the blow – but he was still swept up in and catapulted away by an accompanying gravity field, as though the being’s shadow latched onto and flung him away.

The blow carried no impact and thus did not wound him, but it did keep him away from his goal and meant that narrow evasion would get him nowhere. Without hesitation, Cekell once again threw himself towards the darkscale, and once again the monstrosity lashed out with it’s tail.

This time Cekell erected several layers of barrier between them which did nothing to delay the blow, and while he endeavored to escape the tail, he was unable to elude it’s field of gravity, which brushed him away yet again.

Again there was no pause in Cekell’s reaction as he steered his momentum back towards the darkscale. Again it’s tail came for him. Running out of options, Cekell attempted an empowered barrier, projecting a sphere around himself along with a silent command of, ‘No!’ Yet, when the tail landed a glancing blow, even his empowered barrier was cleaved through as the side that had made contact was shaved away, and the gravity field pried Cekell out of what remained to again cast him away.

Growing impatient and frustrated with his lack of progress, Cekell enshrouded himself in a dark cloak and found it less hampering to move around in space while covered in dark matter as opposed to using it down on Earth. Rather than condensing and exploding his gravity field for propulsion, he coiled it around his body and used it to fling himself forward, but kept himself firmly clutched within his field. He was almost immediately still sent sprawling by a blow that rocked his head, but had become acutely aware of his gravity field coming into contact with that of his foe.

Grabbing hold of himself with his gravity field, he threw himself back, and again he was wholly denied by the being’s tail; but this time he had latched onto it with his own gravity field. Letting out a silent but frenzied cry, he slingshot himself back to the tail, and they slammed into each other hard. Instead of being brushed away, he bound himself to the tail by locking several layers of barrier through both himself and the part of the creature he had come into contact with, which anchored them together.

For the first time in this encounter, Cekell hesitated, being as he had not thought through his next move. He wasn’t even sure this would work, and yet here he was. The tail thrashed about wildly, but would not avail itself of Cekell; who, after a moment of thought, attempted to draw heat out from it, but found it to be even colder than empty space hidden from the light of the sun.

Cekell hadn’t thought much about the temperature of his surroundings until that point, but was quick to ascertain that in the light, it was quite warm, but in shadow, it was extremely cold – even more so than the dreaded ice he had pulled from the sky when first attempting to harness the power of the Umbral point.

His first choice of tactic would not work, but before Cekell could try something else, his bindings were shattered as the darkscale clipping him across the side of the barrier containing his sparks, stunning him for a brief moment before flicking him away.

Grinding his teeth, Cekell tried to calm himself. He had come a long way with his gravity field in an incredibly short time, but it wasn’t remotely enough. The darkscale had usurped his comfortable place and he could do nothing about it. The more he tried to think of a way out of this situation, the faster his mind would race back to that fact – that his precious had been stolen away from him, and he had to get it back at any cost.

In his frustration, Cekell began to unconsciously draw matter from the Umbral point, which was still awake, but had grown drowsy when left to idle. As though it had yawned, it exhaled pure, dense matter that would coat his body, steadily increasing his force of gravity. In the void of space, this would not tax him, in fact he it would go entirely unnoticed to Cekell – but not to Verakry.

Sensing a shift in Cekell’s gravity field, Verakry decided it was time to escalate. He had been trying to impart hints of how to effectively utilize a gravity field to Cekell, who was catching on rather deftly; but the warborn still hadn’t portrayed the same capabilities he had earlier with he stonescale.

Rather than swipe at Cekell with it’s tail, the darkscale thrust it straight at him, but what caught Cekell off guard is that this time, the gravity field came first. Latching onto Cekell, Verakry pulled him into the attack so that Cekell collided directly into the blow which sent him sprawling through the void.

His dark armor did nothing to soften the attack, but Cekell would still not feel it’s full force, as his very consciousness flickered upon impact. He would not be stunned long, and quickly attempted to catch himself with a barrier, but instead crashed straight through it, unable to tell if it had so much as slowed him down.

Determined to get back into the fight, Cekell layered several barriers to catch himself, with the last being empowered. He still shattered through all of them, but decelerated enough to rein in and then redirect his momentum. He came to a barrier induced stop as he approached the darkscale, intent on devising a plan to see himself back to his sparks to steal them away from the thing.  

Cekell harbored no delusions of defeating the darkscale, he was utterly outclassed, but he would not give up that which was his, and he would not relent until he took them back. He considered dividing his armor among a number of large plates with which he would usher forth and pick one to hide behind in hopes of getting past the tail, but decided that he couldn’t risk losing any of them if he wanted to be able to protect his sparks in an escape, and if the darkscale swept them away from him, he would not be able to retrieve them.

He considered forming his dark matter into a weapon with which to parry the tail, but wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold onto it. He had moved on to entertaining the notion of forming a weapon to feint a strike on the darkscale’s head with his real target being his sparks. His mind was made up for him when Verakry grew impatient.

 

Having intently watched Cekell being batted around a number of times, Rhystea and Sphaere were excited for him when he latched onto and cinched himself to Verakry’s tail using his barriers; their enthusiasm was dashed not unlike Cekell as he was slammed into the barrier they were contained in.

“Seems less like a test an’ more like punishment.” Sphaere pointed out.

“How gentle do you think Verakry can be, while still drawing out Cekell’s latent potential?” Devose retorted.

“Verakry isn’t going on the offensive, he’s just denying all of Cekell’s approaches. Firmly denying them…” Rhystea told herself more so than to enlighten Sphaere. Her hands were balled into fists and she was clearly on edge, even as she struggled to restrain her doubts.

Sphaere sighed dejectedly, “I know a thang ‘r two ‘bout testin’ someone’s abilities, but the end goal is ta coax ‘em out, not beat ‘em out. ‘E’ll learn more if the test is tuned ta him, an’ not the other way ‘round. Jus’ cuz the space demon wants Ceke ta rise ta the occasion, it ain’t right ta expect as much. Jus’ because Ceke did somethin’ once, don’ mean ‘e can easily reproduce it, let alone on command.”

“You’re not giving him enough credit.” Verakry’s voice rang out around them. “He has actually exhibited and even honed far more control of his gravity field than I had anticipated, even in this short time, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I’ve also determined that he is not nearly as fragile as your kind, so there’s really no need to concern yourself with my administering of this test.”

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Sphaere frowned and groaned, “How come we can hear you, but we cain’t hear Ceke?”

“Your kind communicate through vibrations in the air, which is simple enough to reproduce. My kind, as well as the Astralis, can simply share thoughts and even memories, which is what allowed Deacon to speak with you. Communication between Umbralim and Astralis is much more difficult, but we’ve devised something of a memory transference though mana, which is why Legatus was able to also speak with you. You might be interested to know that communication between Umbralim and Astralis is actually much easier when we utilize your methods for speech.” Verakry explained.

“That’s nice an’ all, but why cain’t we hear Ceke?” Sphaere did nothing to hide her aggravation.

Rhystea scoffed, “Because there’s no air out there to carry the sound!”

“Oh…” Sphaere stated and attempted to conceal her confusion, and decided against asking anymore questions. Rhystea eyed her peculiarly, but remained silent.

“How does he breath?” Shelly broke the silence with a puzzled look.

“’E don’ need ta.” Sphaere insisted confidently.

“Apparently he doesn’t need to squawk, either.” Devose pointed out.

“But you do, eh?” Sphaere shot the warborn bundled up in her arms a sharp glance, who replied with his best Cekell impression.

“You sure got testy when R208 referred to you as a Cekell, and yet you’re pretty good at mimicking him.” Rhystea noted.

“Only in ways that don’ really matter…” Sphaere added as she donned a shit eating grin.

“Well…” Devose shrugged off their remarks as he curled up against Sphaere’s heartbeat, “He does have good taste.”

Rhystea gasped as Cekell was violently knocked into the distance, causing Sphaere to turn and search for him, but even her discerning eyes could not detect his shadow clad self, at least not until he erected a series of barriers in an effort to break his speed before returning, keeping himself a short distance away from Verakry rather than diving straight back into the fray.

Verakry did not give him long to consider his next move before announcing to his caretakers and their cave compatriots, “I’m going to give him some incentive, but don’t worry, I guarantee your safety.”

Before either Sphaere or Rhystea could ask, Verakry squeezed down on the barrier containing them, causing it to buckle and crack, and driving Cekell into a desperate frenzy.

Cekell felt his barrier warp and fracture under the pressure of the darkscale’s grip. He felt the hearts of his sparks jump. He felt something in his chest recoil and grow cold. The moment seemed to stretch out, and Cekell realized he had rushed his adversary… No. No something within him had reached out and pulled his opponent to him!

Verakry was stunned. Light bent and altered it’s path as it was consumed by Cekell’s gluttonous gravity field. The Umbral point choked on the sheer volume of matter that was being wrung out of it. Even as he accumulated a deluge of matter, he did not increase in size, he was compressing it. Out in space and away from the Earth, it was much easier to manipulate such a quantity of matter, and the Umbral point roared to life as it’s capacity was challenged.  

Cekell was intruding upon the realm of Umbrals, wielding something that even Verakry would be forced to acknowledge, and now it was time to see what he Cekell could do with it. Verakry quivered before lashing out with his tail, striking Cekell broadsided, who received the blow and… balked at it.

Reaching out with less of an arm and more of an appendage, Cekell didn’t grip the darkscale so much as he crushed what he grabbed hold of. Verakry could scarcely believe it as the realization sunk in that in order to properly test the warborn, then it would be necessary to stop holding back.

Both Rhystea and Sphaere pressed their faces against the edge of the barrier to try and see what was going on, but all the could make out was complete darkness as no light would escape the resulting gravity well. Devose had taken Sphaere’s shoulder as a perch to observe the events with his probe.

Releasing both Cekell’s barrier along with the self imposed constraints that allowed Verakry to tread the Earth, the darkscale coiled into a sphere, compressing itself down to a size comparable to an iron hoof. Cekell was at his normal size, but was covered in a thin skin that may as well have had a thickness measured in miles.

There was only a brief pause between the two before they both lurched forward. Verakry’s excitement drove it to action, and while Cekell may have consolidated his matter, his fury exploded; and in tandem, they lashed out at one another.

Verakry reached out with his gravity field and caught Cekell as he lunged forth, who in turn bore through Verakry’s gravity field with his own, latching on and pulling them closer together. The dark globe that was Verakry hesitated for but a moment, impressed at the density Cekell had achieved, before projecting a long and narrow pole used to force the warborn back.

The warborn had not relinquished his hold on the dark globe, and continued to expand his gravity field by funneling a steady torrent of matter into his dark armor provided by a seething Umbral point. Intent on reaching his foe, Cekell once again attempted to close the gap, only to find further resistance when the globe rapidly rotated and slammed the extended pole into him, again knocking him back.

Still tethered by Cekell’s gravity field, the warborn again rushed forward while simultaneously pulling the dark globe towards him, which again rotated hard in a maneuver meant to deny Cekell’s avenue of attack, but this time Cekell was prepared.

Forcing as much of his mass as he could muster into an arm, Cekell didn’t just block the blow, but caught it outright, and prepared to shear part of it off by forming his arm into a pincer – a technique he had borrowed from the heavy arachnophage he had previously faced.

Again, Verakry couldn’t help but be impressed by Cekell’s speed of response as well as his ingenuity, but the dark globe wouldn’t allow such to dull it’s response, and blasted the warborn with a wave of gravity, halting his attack and repelling him backwards.

Refusing to be denied, Cekell first stopped his backwards momentum with a barrier; which, thanks to the gravity tether, didn’t break, and was then extended forward in order to launch himself back at the dark globe. His target repeated it’s spinning attack, and while Cekell was prepared for this, he wasn’t expecting the end of the pole to have reformed into a scythe that cleaved right through his pincer.

Not only was it Cekell who had a large fraction of his dark matter split apart, but the dark globe adroitly absorbed it, following up it’s counter with a gravity blast to repulse the warborn. This served to enkindle Cekell’s fury, who had become increasingly accustomed to stopping and flinging himself back at his target.

When the dark globe once again repeated it’s spinning strike, Cekell shifted his gravity tether to the extended polearm while simultaneously pushing almost all of his built up mass into his arm and releasing it, while using the focused gravity field acting as a tether to hammer the mass flat into a crescent blade, which was then used to lop off the dark globe’s scythe, followed by Cekell promptly pouncimg upon to claim it as his own, then recalling his crescent blade.

Before Verakry could recover from his surprise and before Cekell could press his attack, he came face to face with his limits. Quickly consuming the dark matter he had carved from his adversary, Cekell choked on it. While it may as well have only been a fingernail for Verakry, it was far denser than Cekell was capable of dealing with for more than a mere moment. Rather than having claimed it, it would be more accurate to describe it of having claimed Cekell.

Panic washed over Verakry as he realized the warborn would not be able to endure his own mass combined with that which he had snatched away from the dark globe. Cekell would be swallowed by his own gravity.

 

“Ugh, I cain’t see anythang!” Sphaere grumbled.

“Their gravitational force must have surpassed the threshold for claiming dominion over light.” Rhystea explained.

“The hell does that mean?” Sphaere inquired.

“It means we can’t see them!” Rhystea scoffed.

“I already said that!” Sphaere chided.

“And now you know why you ‘cain’t see anythang!’” Rhystea mocked.

“His gravitational force is still rising, it’s no small wonder that we aren’t being drawn in. It’s… more than I ever dared dream I could attain, not by this point…” Devose described, his voice somewhere between exasperation and envy.

“Wait, you (ya) can see through that?!” Both Rhystea and Sphaere expressed their surprise in unison.

Devose aimed his probe first at Sphaere, then over to Rhystea before reminding them, “Yea, not unlike how I can see your hearts beating within your chests.”

“Ugh, I miss my clothes.” Rhystea admitted bashfully.

“At least the water’s still warm.” Sphaere pointed out.

A serious look spread out across Devose’s face as he observed his brother, and both Sphaere and Rhystea took notice. “What’s the matter?” Rhystea prodded him.

“I just find it hard to accept that Verakry is personally testing him, and not only that, but Verakry is taking it rather seriously. I knew he had to tread carefully when on the Earth, but he cast off all those shackles, and yet Cekell can still stand in his presence. I… would not be able to do the same.” Devose conceded.

“Don’t worry about it. You both are only a few days old, that in and of itself is simply mind boggling. So, he’s better at wielding the Umbral point, so what? He can barely talk, but you have a better grasp on language than even Sphaere, that’s no small feat.” Rhystea attempted to console him while smiling as she also draw Sphaere’s ire.

“Let go o’ yer grudge, an’ focus on doin’ the thangs ya really need ta do, an’ I jus’ bet ya’ll reach that level, too.” Sphaere added.

“Uh-oh.” Devose derailed the conversation.

“What?!” Sphaere and Rhystea blurted at the same time.

“He… how did you put it? Bit off more than he could chew. He managed to wrest a way a piece of dark matter from Verakry after first receiving the same treatment, except Cekell got more than he bargained for. He can’t handle the density of what he got ahold of, and now he’s being devoured by it.” Devose clarified.

 

Cekell desperately tried to pull away from the scythe blade he had hacked off of the dark globe and claimed as his own, but it had already engulfed his arm almost up to his elbow, and had a firm grip on him. Verakry rushed him, intending to separate Cekell from the dark mass that was gobbling him up, but found the warborn to still be combative even in this situation, who shifted the majority of his matter to the scythe blade and swung it at the dark globe, even managing to land a solid hit, this time it was Verakry who was driven back.

In awe of Cekell’s willfulness but still determined to separate him from his predicament, Verakry once again charged to his side. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Cekell panicked as he desperately tried to free himself from the mass that was pulling him in. Running out of options, he took a drastic measure.

Verakry quickly closed the gap between them, but before managing to do anything to detach Cekell from the mass that was trying to swallow him, the warborn resolved himself to cut off his own arm. Aiming as close to the mass as possible, he lopped it off with his crescent blade and quickly made a short, tactical retreat.

Astounded, Verakry took a moment and debated whether or not to continue. Cekell had already exhibited adept Umbralim proficiencies, but maiming himself in order to carry on was both bold and resolute. Verakry could tell that Cekell was already amassing more matter from the Umbral point, and wanted to see just how far the warborn could go, but feared that his brash actions might serve dire consequences.

They had reached a stalemate. Cekell was painfully aware that the dark globe was out of his league, but he had too much at stake to turn and flee. Verakry could not haphazardly risk a lasting injury being inflicted upon the warborn.

The concern weighing on Verakry’s mind was premature. In a last ditch effort, Cekell condensed all of his matter as small as he could manage, lunged at his opponent… and lost consciousness. Fatigue had set in, and Cekell was spent. The test had concluded when both Verakry and Cekell himself saw exactly how far the warborn could go.

Verakry quickly collected all the dark matter in the area and sealed the resulting gravity field before retrieving the mana Cekell had hacked or blown off his own body with his radical measures used to exit the dark cocoon as well as to free himself from the scythe blade. The Umbralim proceeded to retake a human shape before returning to the warborn’s caretakers with Cekell in tow.

Rhystea reached out to receive her ward, but Verakry could not just hand him over. “Not yet.” The writhing shadow insisted, “He will have to warm up considerably before you will be able to handle him.”

Dropping her hands, Rhystea groaned, “Well, how was the test?”

“He displayed remarkable aptitude alongside an unyielding will. His capabilities are on par with a low class Umbralim, and although his fortitude is lacking by such standards, I do believe he will grow into it. Experience will also greatly assist in preserving his vitality as once he has a better grasp on his abilities, he won’t squander his stamina so inefficiently.” Verakry surmised.

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