Nightblade (Darkest night)

Nythrakar’s face remained impassive, but a faint, almost imperceptible tilt of his head betrayed his interest.

"So," Morgan continued, letting out a harsh, dry laugh as he raised his left hand to rub his

eyes.

"Basically, humans saw you once every few thousand years and decided to invent half a dozen different religions about it."

He shook his head letting out a mirthless laugh.

"Well, can’t say I’m exactly shocked. "

Morgan paused giving him a somber stare.

"But how? How is it that you..."

For the first time, Nythrakar’s lips curled into what could only benefactor described as a cruel sneer, a harsh mixture of amusement and cold disdain.

His eyes shone with a dim light.

"Humans have always been remarkably creative when frightened," Nythrakar replied calmly.

"When a mountain collapses, they blame a beast."

"When the sea swallows a city, they imagine a monster in the deep. They cannot accept that the universe is indifferent to their existence, so they forge devils out of natural disasters to give their terror a face. It’s truly remarkable and quite somewhat endlessly amusing."

"And you just let them?" Morgan asked, his brow furrowing as he tightened his grip on the pulsing egg.

Nythrakar spared him an amused glance taing a step forward, abd cockibgbhis head.

His gaze turned away from Morgan staring into the distance at something seemingly on he could see.

"Does a mountain care what the ants at its base call its peak?" Nythrakar countered, taking another slow step toward Morgan.

"I did not destroy their civilizations out of malice. A man stepping on an anthill does not hate the ants. He simply walks. The catastrophes they remembered were merely the echoes of my movement."

" Movement you you say...great," Morgan muttered dryly.

"So you’re not an evil god. You’re just an absurdly oversized hazard."

"I am what I am, Morgan Thane," Nythrakar said, his voice carrying that strange, ancient resonance that made the surrounding air hum.

"And now, my power, becomes yours. As you grow into your own, perhaps, one day, you’llbe able to fully wield it."

Morgan looked back down at the egg.

The dark shell was beginning to soften, turning from petrified crystal into a fluid, molten state of deep gold and dark shadow.

The intense heat radiating from it was no longer spreading through his hand, it was now slowly sinking inward, travelling up his veins like liquid sunlight mixed with void-ink.

At the same time, Morgan noticed a change in Nythrakar.

Fine, hairline fractures of brilliant golden light had begun to spiderweb across the tall entity’s ash-grey skin.

Starting at the tips of his obsidian-clawed fingers, tiny golden motes were breaking free, drifting softly into the air like glowing embers of a dying bonfire.

"You’re...falling apart," Morgan noted, his eyes narrowing as he watched the ancient entity’s right arm begin to dissolve into a cloud of golden mist.

"Are you...dying?"

"Do not mistake this for death," Nythrakar said smoothly, his tone entirely devoid of fear or panic.

"A vessel holds water. When the water is poured into a new vessel, the old glass is obsolete. There’s no need for it.

"This physical manifestation was merely a shell forged to hold my mind while I waited. Its purpose is concluded."

"So you’re really handing all of it over to me?" Morgan asked, his jaw setting tight.

"Just like that? You spent ten thousand years chained in the dark, and you’re trusting some stubborn kid you’ve barely with your entire existence?"

For the first time since the transformation, the corner of Nythrakar’s narrow, cruel mouth twitched slightly upward.

The gesture was so faint it might have been an illusion of the spider website of golden light snaking their way around Nythrakar’s body.

"I do not trust you, Morgan Thane," Nythrakar murmured, his chest and neck now cracking open into lines of radiant light.

"I acknowledge you. You are the first entity in a hundred cycles who looked upon the titan, looked upon the prince, looked upon the shadow, and rejected them.

"You do not seek to wield my power to become a god. You seek to remain a man. That stubborn arrogance... is the only anchor capable of holding what comes next."

With a loud crack, the egg in Morgan’s hand dissolved completely.

The entire egg liquefied into a radiant, blinding stream of dark gold and shimmering energy that surged violently into Morgan’s palm.

"Aaargh!"

Morgan’s head snapped back. His jaw locked his eyes flaring with a golden light so bright it illuminated the vast ceiling of the cavern miles above.

A wave of power, surged through him bypassing his flesh entirely, plunging straight through his ribs and slamming into the absolute center of his inner world.

Within the Vid, the golden sun flared, its solar light expanding in a smooth, blinding wave.

The Void surged upward, its dark, silk-like shadows wrapping around the solar flare without smothering it.

And in the silent space right between them, the egg’s liquid energy descended.

It sank deep down into the bedrock of his consciousness, beyond his childhood memories, beyond the echoing instincts of Azrael, beyond the vast darkness of the Void.

A deep resonant sound echoed through Morgan’s soul, like lock clicking into place.

Instantly, the violent pressure in his chest subsided.

The wild, turbulent power that had been thrashing against his ribcage settled down into a deep, rhythmic hum.

Morgan dropped back onto his knees, gasping violently, his hands planted on the cold stone floor. Sweat dripped from his nose onto the slate, mixed with dried crimson.

When he raised his head, Nythrakar was almost entirely gone.

Only the upper half of his face remained, a faint, translucent silhouette made of golden particles and floating shadow.

His slitted eyes were fading fast, but they held a strange, solemn stillness as they looked down at the bleeding young man.

"You..." Morgan panted, his chest heaving as he forced himself to stand, his posture rigid despite his injuries

"...you could have just told me it was going to hurt like hell."

"You have accepted what no vessel before you could contain," Nythrakar’s fading voice echoed, sounding lighter now.

*****

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