Chapter 490: Vastness Of The Land
Changes were happening all around him, but Laz didn’t stir. He was still in a passed out state, laying away from where Maia had transcended as his body had been pushed aside when Ivana and Sylvia had moved him to get a better angle on moving Maia.
HIs body was wracked in pain and he was convulsing. A part of him could now understand why Maia was preventing him from absorbing even a shred of her power while trying to take a portion of his. But in the end, there was no free meal, for either of them.
Perhaps Maia’s intentions were selfish, but at least she wasn’t trying to cause harm to Laz in the process. Instead, she was just worried, as was Sylvia and Ivana, about what would happen to them and her people.
But none of that mattered to Laz. He had drawn into himself, focusing his mind on the changes happening within his center.
The already abundant land was overflowing with energy. The skies were ablaze with lightning and thunder as the ground shook. Streams of energy radiated up from the ground like geysers, breaking apart the land surrounding Laz’s center palace. The only thing Laz saw that gave him hope was the palace still standing strong, it’s archaic archways and massive towers of purple gold standing firm now matter how much the land around it rocked. As it was, Laz’s fifty miles of land were already collapsing from the outside inward, the once lush ground falling apart and breaking.
The land itself was the center and supply of Laz’s energy. While the palace was the core that held it together, the land itself generated the energy. It was like a living world within and right now that world was crumbling.
Laz had no idea what to do as he watched it happen, trying his best to keep is eyes open as the land breaking apart made him feel like his insides were being ripped out.
He wanted to pass out, but didn’t dare take the risk.
Instead, his avatar body landed on the balcony of the highest tower of the palace as he stood firm, a ruler watching the devastation of his kingdom.
No matter the devastation going out, the palace never shook.
As more and more of the land fell away, Laz could see the encroaching blackness from outside began to close in. This was something Laz had never understood. In his avatar state, he had tried to go beyond the boards of his giant, floating land, but even when the land itself was nothing but a speck of light, there was nothing. Luckily, always knew what way to go to get back and the trip back always seemed shorted than the trip out. Like when he left to venture out, he was pressing against a fabric and expanding it by sheer force. But once he turned back, the fabric just realigned with how it was suppose to be and he was returned quickly.
As for why the land was lit up, that was also confusing considering there was no sun in the sky.
As the land retreated farther and farther, Laz felt his strength dropping, but he didn’t stop looking out nor did he panic. He had engaged with women many times and the one thing he knew was that the flows of energy always benefited both parties. Perhaps he didn’t know how this would benefit him, but he had hoped.
Suddenly though, an idea struck him.
’Of course... How stupid could I be?’ Laz thought, smacking himself on the head.
He stood up on the purplish gold railing and sat down, crossed legged.
Laz laid his hands, palms up in front of himself and began focusing. His real body wasn’t here, just his avatar watching. So when he began circulating his energy using the infinity technique he had created himself, this was the first time he had done so while being in this state.
The effects were almost too much for words.
Withing the sky, the Apocalypse ring suddenly formed, circling around the palace. Laz finally understood it’s purpose, seeing it there. It was protecting the palace, like a great array in the sky holding the origin of his strength safe. Laz didn’t know if it was always there, but it was doing it’s part now.
Even more, outside and straight up, Laz could see it. Like two interconnected ouroboros, a massive surge of energy appeared in the sky, drawing up the raging god energy that had ravished the land and drawing it all into itself. Bit by bit, slow at first but faster and faster as Laz pressed.
Just as the last mile of land surround his void palace was being eroded, the destruction stopped.
The rampaging god energy had finally been trapped within the giant symbol.
Laz took a moment to open his eyes, seeing the darkness at at his doorstep as the symbol started blazing like a sun in the skin, the energy almost too much for it to bare.
"Let the rain wash away all that was. Let the parched grounds drink, the rivers flow as life returns from death," Laz said, thinking of words that just seemed to pop into his head.
Once he said this, specks of god energy started raining down from above, breaking loose in a controlled manner.
They hit the invisible surface where the ground used to be and sprouted out.
Like a drawing that had suddenly been sprayed with color, the energy his the ground and spread, filling the darkness with a new color.
Laz didn’t know how long it took, but by the time the rains had finished, the ground was alive, whole... and an incredible five hundred miles just in one direction.
"That... should be impossible... right?" Laz said, thinking back to what he knew about the Void Lord realm from Sylvia...
"The again... maybe human.. er Asura, are different from the Fae in this regard?" Laz said in an attempt to understand this transformation.
From one end to the other of his land, Laz had reached an impossible one thousands miles.
What was more amazing was that the plant life that was blooming was no longer just things he would see on earth. Instead, it contained a myriad of plants, flowers and trees that he had witnessed within the pocket dimension and others that he had a vague memory of being from somewhere far, far away from here.
Even more astounding, in the four cardinal directions, assuming there was something like that in a world without poles, Laz saw four massive trees rise from the ground. They weren’t as large as the palace, but they far outclassed any of the other trees or plants around themselves.
Looking closer, Laz was taken aback to discover that they all bore a striking resemblance to Maia’s natural form.
"No... this.... isn’t.... it can’t be..." Laz said, looking at them.
He felt life from them, but that was all. It was like they were still asleep.
In fact, looking around, Laz felt like everything here was sleeping still, alive... but in sort of a statis.
Laz watched on, not sure what to make of things, but knowing that this was the extent of what anyone could do in the Void Lord Realm. After this, he would have to build his next palace and enter the realm of emperors.
Luckily for Laz, Sylvia had explained some things about this when he had asked at the time.
It seemed like he wasn’t building a new actual void palace as each world only had one. Instead, it was like he would need to build a mirror reflection of his palace. With the five hundred miles of distance this one had formed, the mirror would need to be a thousand miles out. And once one was made, there would be another and then another.
The whole concept, as Laz understood it, was like building a web, then building another with the centers being equal distance apart. But each one of them needed to maintain a certain balance with one another. If one of the out palaces and the lands around it collapsed, that was fine as it could be rebuilt as long as the center remained strong.
Looking up into the sky, the bright red rind still buzzing in a circle in the sky around the palace, Laz didn’t think that was going to be much of a problem.
When Laz had finally gotten himself together and rested his mind, he came back to the real word.
Opening his eyes, he was laying on one of the lounge chairs, a soft pillow of thigh flesh beneath his head.
Looking up, Laz could only see massive mounds of flesh covering his head, but off to the sides, he noticed some specks of gold.
"Hey. It’s alright Sylvia, I’m awake," Laz said, pushing himself into a sitting position.
But when he turned around, he saw an unfamiliar woman looking back at him, her eyes sparkling as though encased within them were dozens of stars. What’s more, her hair wasn’t actually gold, but instead seemed to lack color, instead seeming almost crystal like as each strand reflected different colors and hues, like a photochromic paint.
The eyes scanned Laz as though looking through him. In response, Laz’s eyes turned golden, causing the woman to laugh.
"I see... how amusing. Still so guarded?"
"You... wait... oh my god... you?"
"Yes. It’s me. What do you think?" Maia said, shacking her head as she rubbed her hands along the length of her supple skin, from her neck all the way down to her feet, showing off the obvious growth she had undergone.
"Well, I guess at least you don’t look like a kid anymore."
WHACK.
Laz was smacked in the back of his head.
