Chapter 158: The Origin Of The Corruption
«We have something to discuss,» Noctis said, looking directly at its contractor.
Adrian nodded and sat down in the void, something telling him that this conversation was going to take a while.
Surprisingly, the void around them started changing, and the stars started disappearing.
The two were left in an actual void, with no source of light, save for the two that were now glowing.
«This was before Avera grew a consciousness,» Noctis started, «and all that was present was the void....in other words, me.»
Adrian silently continued listening.
«Endless,» Noctis continued, its eyes being the only light in the absolute dark around them, «that’s the only word that accurately describes what I was. No beginning, no end, no concept of either. Just existence without boundary or purpose.»
«Then something changed.»
The void around them shifted subtly, and Adrian watched as a single point of light appeared somewhere in the darkness.
At first, it was small, almost insignificant, the kind of thing that would be easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention.
«A spark,» Noctis said, «the first conscious thought that had ever existed within me. I still don’t know where it came from. Perhaps that’s simply what voids do when they exist long enough.»
The spark grew, slowly at first, but then its growth became faster.
«That spark was Avera,» Noctis said, «or rather, it was what would become Avera. A consciousness forming inside the void the way a pearl forms inside a shell, using what surrounded it as material, building itself outward from that single point of awareness.»
Adrian watched the light expand in every direction, pulling the darkness inward, reshaping it.
«To form herself properly,» Noctis continued, «she needed structure. So she took the core of what she was and split it.»
The light suddenly fractured into four pieces which then separated outward in four directions simultaneously, each one distinct, and carrying something the others didn’t.
«Time,» Noctis said as one fragment drifted to the left, «so that she could understand the sequence. Before and after, cause preceding effect.»
«Space,» it continued as another shard drifted past them, «so that she could understand distance. Here and there, the concept of elsewhere.»
«Fate,» they turned towards the third shard, «so that she could understand the consequence. The threads connecting one moment to the next.»
«Reality,» then the fourth shard, «so that she could understand existence itself. The difference between what is and what isn’t.»
The four fragments settled into their positions and the light between them suddenly stabilized, a world taking shape in the space the void had occupied, forming land, sky, and water.
«She became Avera,» Noctis said simply, «and I became... less.»
Adrian looked at the cat.
«Four pieces of me,» Noctis said, «given to her so that she could exist. What remained was what you contracted.»
"But with a consciousness now formed as a result of Avera, you quickly became bored," Adrian said as he continued looking at it.
«Profoundly,» Noctis agreed, without apparent embarrassment.
The scene around them continued, Avera was still forming, the world taking shape, the sky filling with stars that were being born from the conversion of void into matter.
It was, Adrian had to admit, genuinely spectacular.
Then Noctis said, «Watch carefully.»
And he did, he continued watching for a while.
That’s when, in the moment Avera’s consciousness fully solidified and the world was fully formed, something suddenly slipped through.
It was just a thread of darkness, thin as a hair, sliding into the newly formed world in the fraction of a second between the void and what replaced it.
It was too small to notice and too fast to catch, and it moved past the structural shards the way water finds the gap between stones.
«She didn’t notice,» Noctis said quietly, «since she was still focused on the fact that she had gained form.»
"So that’s what you meant when you said the corruption came from you," Adrian said.
«Hmm,» Noctis nodded, «just like Avera and the four shards, the corruption was also a part of me and it had slipped into the world because it believed it also belonged to it.»
"I see," Adrian muttered as he continued watching Avera form before he added, "and you recalled this when you absorbed the Oroborus?"
«Yes,» Noctis responded, «since it was a part of one of my cycles....death and rebirth.»
"I see," Adrian nodded again.
It wasn’t as bad as he initially thought, after all, he had thought that Noctis was some sort of spirit determined to absorb the world....
And although a part of it was, the reality was considerably more complicated than that.
«But, I still feel a major part of my memories missing,» Noctis spoke up again, «after all, for some reason, I feel as if Avera has reset herself once before.»
«An action which would make no sense since she’s still capable of cleansing herself of the corruption that slipped through,» it continued, «even if it does take a while.»
"..." Adrian was silent, but he knew why his contracted spirit felt that way.
After all, it was right.
Avera had reset the world once before, which was also the reason why he was here...
It was in preparation for whatever was coming.
And he was supposed to get strong enough to stand against them when they arrive, after all, the original protagonists had already failed in that task.
Still, he chose to say nothing for now, after all, all would be revealed in time...
***
Whilst Adrian and the group left the Corrupted lands in the buses, the tear in space that the group had escaped through remained open.
A moment later, it suddenly glowed, and out stepped a familiar face.
One with a head full of long green hair, and similar colored eyes.
The top part of his armor was completely bloodied, and the chest area had a large hole in it with dried blood around it.
The hole revealed something that looked like black veins spreading through it, a familiar mark that Adrian might’ve quickly recognized.
The person stretched as he stepped out of the rift and looked around him before looking down at his hands.
"I guess this body will have to do...for now."
