The Last Primal

Though time kept on passing, and that should be the universal, undeniable rule wherever you are in the massive and endless cosmos, for some inexplicable reason, this wasn't the case in one particular spot in the dead realm of what was commonly known as the 'Battlegrounds'. 

Inside the underground chamber of where Aiden as a 'guest' was kept by his still mysterious skink 'hosts', time had seemingly no effect. Albeit it should have long lost its remaining energy and should have dispersed into the pale, dusty air, the elder skinks protective spell somehow still held on.

Even worse, albeit it was obvious that some foul play was involved, the boy remained ignorant and oblivious to this truth. As if his mind refused to listen to this particular topic, no matter how much Enya, the System's appointed spirit guide tried to reach out to him, Aiden acted as if he did not hear his words, questions. 

As he consumed the last remaining bits of the priest, Aiden was more focused on the second phase of his body's primal processes. Feeling the increasing heat radiating from his core, he quickly walked over to the center of his underground cell, and sat down cross-legged, in his usual meditating pose.

Closing his eyes he heaved a sigh to calm his nerves and shift his mental focus on the insides of his Primal Core, from whence the increasing heat was radiating from. 

Though his body kept it hidden and protected, the truth was that the surge of vitality, the absorbed life essences of the striped elderly skink has begun to converge to an empty point at an unoccupied outer ring inside the depths of his Core. 

The energy kept on gathering, forming a tight-knit bond in the process. As time kept on passing with a paradoxical logic inside the closed-up slice of reality of Aiden's guest 'room', the gathered vitality began its process and seemingly reached the threshold to begin its transformation and reform into the baseline of what would later be a new form for its host and master.

Yet, as Aiden kept on inspecting the situation, there seemed to be something missing. Albeit the energy threshold was reached, something else was needed. Something to kickstart the process, something crucial, critical for the process to ultimately be successful. 

Aiden didn't need to ponder too much, realization hit him in the head, he quickly flicked his right hand, turning his palm to face the ceiling. In the next instant, the dark crystal core, that he just put away a few seconds ago materialized, appeared.

This time, Aiden didn't react at all at the ominous sight of the weird object, nor did he flinch at the sight of the dark, eerie, ebony gaseous puff of cloud contained within its translucent walls.

As the crystal appeared in the grip of his right palm, Aiden didn't waste any time and decisively pushed it into his mouth. 

The sound of what was reminiscent of glass being shattered and then thrown all around could be heard as the boy chomped on it, grounding the object into a more easily digestible format. 

After some time, whilst also maintaining most of his attention at the state of his Core, Aiden gulped, swallowing the entirety of the contents of his mouth down and allowing the entirety of the inside energy to be absorbed into his being.

Once again, just like with the heart, Aiden felt the sudden surge, the torrential wave ripple across his spiritual body, filling his vessel full with a vast amount of power. This time, the energy was way more abundant than the heart previously. 

So much so in fact, that his body was trembling, as it was lifted off from the ground as the energy raged, wreaked havoc, and caused chaos. Doing his best to contain what he could and not to be consumed by it, Aiden gritted his teeth, clenched his fists as he fought back. 

A faint golden light surrounded the boy as it floated just a few feet above the ground. His figure was shrouded with the expunged surplus of energy, turning his figure into a hazy, blurry glowing silhouette inside the dark underground jail cell.

Yet, despite how it looked, Aiden still managed to inch out the last and probably most needed victory, and slowly began to reign in the wild, chaotic flow. As he directed it towards his core, the strange scene that mysteriously remained unnoticed by the guards stationed outside has ended just as abruptly as it appeared. 

With the contents of the Skink Elder's Core absorbed, Aiden now only needed to focus on merging it, assimilating every last bit of its current into his core and direct it towards the singularity. With that, his new seed and with that, his new form should hopefully kickstart.

Though as it was proved previously, this process was rather time-consuming, yet for some strange, peculiar reason the boy remained ignorant of this paradoxical situation. 

As for the worried duo of spirits residing inside his soul, they could only helplessly and most importantly, powerlessly watch as the situation unfolded in front of their eyes. Though the spirit guide, Enya was still in denial, deep down, she was aware that there was only one explanation of what was happening. 

Only one entity had such tremendous power, such control that even just a tiny sliver of its escaped energy was capable of warping the very fabric of reality around itself. However, even if that was the case, it was simply impossible for that creature to be siding with its captors. Why would it assist the boy? It just made no sense…

—

By the time the daylight fully replaced the lingering shadows of the previous night and fully lifted the veil of the barren dark orange wastelands, the campsite was almost fully deserted once again. 

After analyzing all the reports they received, Captain Don, together with the rest of the team decided to concentrate their efforts on three areas. Three points of interest so to say, each holding importance for a different reason.

Thus, they formed three groups to tackle all three objectives for the day.

The largest and also the strongest of the three parties, which consisted of ten of the most experienced of the Silver Howls, with the addition of the purple-haired girl, Sara from the adventurers and Crysta, the assassin she herself defeated during their first meeting were sent out to the southern regions, where supposedly the strange abominable creature have come from.

The second group, which had most of the youngsters were sent out towards the west, towards a similar plateau that they have arrived on. Though they haven't met with any other exploration parties so far, that place held the most danger in that regard. Their task was only to scout and report back with their findings.

Although they were ordered, the colorful group of the silver-haired boy, his fiery, red-haired sister joined up with the rest of the Silver Howls, besides a few special ones were sure to be more daring than they should be…

---

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