Ares could faintly see the golden seed a short distance beneath him and, in a way, that made it all worse. He would see the seed bounce off the ground and his body would follow shortly after but, unlike the seed, he wasn''t an inanimate object. The seed hitting the ground would be a precursor of the misery to come for Ares and nothing more. The longer this freefall lasted, the more Ares was dreading the final few seconds of it. On one hand he wished it would never end, on the other he knew the sooner he suffered the better... Not exactly a pleasant situation to be in, especially when having a rough idea of what was in store for him immediately after the crash.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
There was some manner of movement below Ares, coming from the deepest recess of the pit... The revenant monster was plodding across the floor and moving over to catch the seed. The object that had been taunting it ever since Ares digested it would soon be in its grasp and Ares imagined it would be too preoccupied with that to catch him, not that it would be so kind regardless of the circumstance. Now Ares was alone in his fall. The seed would be swooped out of the air like a princess in need of rescue but he would be Villager A in this cruel play, sacrificed for the sake of protecting what truly mattered. Ares'' comradery with the seed all but vanished and he was tempted to try and spit on it but the buffeting winds pushing him around complicated the task so he didn''t bother. His one goal right now was to minimise the damage he suffered from the impact by correcting his body position... And it was hopeless. Winds aside, he couldn''t see anything anymore. Even the faint light from the top of this pit had vanished entirely, leaving Ares tumbling through a black abyss, unsure of which way was up. You''d think the pull of gravity would clue him in, or maybe the seed''s position relative to him, but his world had been spun in loops too many times now and his brain wasn''t functioning properly. There was no longer an ''up'' or ''down'' in this space, just a long fall and nothing more. Ares was also realising just how much of a task it would have been for the monster to escape this place on its own. There presumably wasn''t a scalable wall in this spiralling pit so it would have had to create its own footholds by scratching and climbing the walls... Given that this pit seemed to be as large as a mountain, Ares understood that the monster had incredible strength to be able to hang on and pull itself up these giant walls. Plus, if it was truly as big a monster as Ares and Dominus had predicted, it''s weight would be considerable... It being able to freely come and go from a location like this was an incredible feat and, while it made Ares nervous to come face to face with it, he also had a bit of respect for the creature.
Ares, spinning though he was, caught sight of the seed being swiped out of mid air by a black shadow. It was too dim down here to catch sight of the monster so all Ares saw was the golden light curving and arcing through the bottom of the pit before disappearing inside, what Ares presumed was, the monster''s fist. It snatched the seed and was cradling it like something truly precious... Meanwhile, Ares closed his eyes and braced for the inevitable... But it still took a while yet. The monster must have partially climbed the wall and jumped toward the seed in a bit to get it into its paws even a few seconds earlier so Ares had misjudged how much more time he had left before he...
CCCCCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK
... Hit the ground...
...
...
...
Broken and on death''s door, Ares lay with his face half buried in the floor. All the cultivation in the world wasn''t going to save him from a fall as significant as that. His body was in catastrophic shape, that much he could tell even if he couldn''t see it in this unlit pit. He could taste the blood gurgling in his mouth, his ability to speak was long gone due to whatever injury had affected his throat. The bones below his neck were broken en masse and he couldn''t move even an inch. His legs were bent backwards in places and folded over each other. His landing had been, through no fault of his own, poor. The angle was disastrous and he suffered far worse than he''d predicted he would and it wasn''t impossible he would die here long before the monster ate him at this rate if it kept being slow about things.
It was chilling and dark and the pain Ares was experiencing was enough to somehow force a weak groan out of him. It wasn''t as bad as when he was learning annihilation enhancement but it was close and the fact he expected himself to die after made it worse too. That all-consuming pain that seeped into his cracked bones, ominously haunting him until he bled out... His regeneration was fighting back though. He could feel it kicking into overdrive to undo any of the severe injuries first and, miraculously, it looked like Ares, given enough time, might have actually lived... Ares was floored... Literally... He was halfway inside it and was like a human road bump. Anyway, physical complications aside, he was shocked that a revenant''s regeneration was this absurd. He assumed, on impact, he was dead as doornails but apparently his regeneration disagreed with him... Ares had undersold the efficiency of the revenant bloodline big time. He really would become a cockroach in the future at this rate, Enyo had been right. No wonder revenants were so proud of their race, their bloodline was phenomenal and trumped even the greatest of healing treasures passively. Of course, in a situation like the one Ares was in, all it did was prolong the inevitable.
Ares expected the monster to be consuming the seed right about now but that prediction was dashed when he saw those golden eyes come crawling back through the darkness. The monster was checking on Ares, be it out of care, curiosity, or consideration for the sake of its next meal Ares didn''t know. Maybe it recognised him as other half of its existence. Maybe it was toying with Ares like it had toyed with the other revenants. Maybe it wanted to be free and eating Ares was the only way out so it needed him alive. As with before, Ares just didn''t know what was going through this thing''s mind... Which felt odd. It was technically him. If anything, the human Ares was the fake, nothing more than a vocal shell that housed the real beast within. It felt bizarre understanding that everything Ares was, and had been up until now, was a concoction of this beast for the sake of convenience. Was he even real or just a figment of this beast? It was an annoying line of thinking that would never end and it really didn''t matter as he was about to be realer than real. He would be the dominant personality when all was said and done and there was no debating it so Ares put those troublesome questions to the back of his head once more and trained his own eyes on the golden ones peering at him.
The eyes in question were maybe a tad bigger than Ares had given them credit for before. He''d been staring at them from the top of the pit but, at that distance, it was no surprise they appeared smaller than they actually were. In this position they more closely a golden bowling ball but, instead of three holes, there was a singular, cross shaped, mark in the middle... Was it blind? This revelation stumped Ares. Surely such a brilliant creature wasn''t plagued by blindness?!... Was that why it wanted the seed? When Ares had consumed it initially the shape of his retina morphed into that of a dragon''s and the clarity of his vision skyrocketed. Dogs were infamous for having atrocious eyesight and it seemed Ares had caught the short end of the stick. His draconic bloodline was going to save him from that fate, though, amongst the other areas it would benefit him in. Still, this monster''s sense of smell was enough for it to get around without a hassle and it honestly wouldn''t have made a difference. It almost definitely cared about the seed because of the strength it would gain from it more than the eyesight.
The other thing Ares noticed about these eyes was their position relative to him or, in other words, how far off the ground they were... Ares was craning his neck to the best of his broken ability to even catch a glimpse of the eyes towering above him... Ares estimated the eyes were roughly twelve to thirteen feet off the ground and, that might not have sounded like much, but that was where the sway of the eyes came in... Ares could tell this thing was on all fours. It was prowling on all four paws and inspecting Ares and yet the position of its eyes were still so high off the ground... It was a wolf, yes, but it was also a werewolf. If this creature stood on its hind legs and stretched upright... it would be roughly three to four times as tall as it was currently. It''s eyes would be so far above Ares he literally wouldn''t be able to see them from the floor in his current position... This thing was well and truly a monster and had earned that moniker through and through... What would it be like to live as such a thing? When Ares eventually became that beast, what would it be like to see the world through the eyes of a giant, fearsome beast? No wonder the monster had toyed with the other revenants, they really must have been nothing more than stuffed animals to it. That sheer feeling of power flowing through its massive veins and colossal muscles must have driven it to experiment with its strength and take its body for a test drive. Sitting on such power and never using it was criminal.
The eyes of the monster slowly faded as it took a few heavy steps backward, retreating into the darkness where Ares could no longer see head or tail of it. More than anything else, right now, Ares had been taken over by the phenomenon of this beast''s existence. Any and all fear he had before the jump was long gone and now all he wanted was to see it. To see what he was deep down, beneath the fleshy prison he''d been trapped in all these years. Calla''s words from before rang in his ears and he was starting to really feel strange in his own body. He wanted out. He wanted to return to his natural self and shed this uncomfortable skin. There was something beautiful about the creature he''d seen small glimpses of in this dark hole. Something regal and elegant that couldn''t be matched by this worthless container of skin he''d trapped himself inside. His body felt hot and sweaty and he wanted to skin himself. If he could pull his skeleton out of the body his brain was housing he would do it in a heartbeat.
The ''monster'' moniker was inaccurate as this revenant was really nothing of the sort, it was a fantastic existence that deserved respect and praise. Ares'' mind was trending in that direction the more he caught sight of the shadows outlining the beast. It was almost hypnotic like his inner revenant was finally awakening. He wasn''t going to fully discard his humanity, he was just finally, finally, finally, going to embrace the reality of his actual self. The container was a useful tool but Ares was not a tool. He was proud, arrogant, and perfect in every way. He was a revenant... No, he was more than just any old revenant. He wasn''t a pitiful alpha or a pathetic lord... He was something so much more. Inside himself Ares could see sparks of divinity. Divinity that allowed him to transcend the concept of ''tiers'' as such as system, relative to him, was worthless. Ares wasn''t definable by some kind of list... As Ares lay on his side he came to a conclusion about who and what he was at his core, bolstered by the name that kept ringing in his otherwise empty head on repeat.
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Garmr
Garmr
Garmr
It was strange. Oh-so strange. Though Ares knew the name to be true it still didn''t feel fully accurate. Like there was something sleeping even deeper below... But he could also tell it wouldn''t rear it''s head for some time. It was not something he could discover until the sparks of divinity within him blossomed into something more. Until he could consume those sparks and integrate it into himself but that was a problem for the future. Right now, though he''d yet to be devoured and freed from this prison, Ares was Garmr. No amount of false humanity that remained in him would ever stop this transformation, it would be done and could not be undone. Ares wanted to be consumed but his true self, the flawless wolf, was tending to the seed right now. Ares couldn''t see it but his connection with the creature was now an inseparable, tactile bond and he could almost feel the seed in his numb hand.
What a beautiful seed... Ares mind, drifting in and out of a state of consciousness, was enraptured by the seed and all it offered him. He put all of his remaining strength into lifting his hand and bringing it to his mouth to eat the seed that didn''t even exist in his possession but he could taste it nonetheless. He could feel it crumbling between his sharp teeth and the earthen taste that slid down his throat as he swallowed it was soothing. The chewed seed swirled around in his stomach and reforged itself before swimming up and around his body, painting the inner walls of Ares'' body golden. It spread golden paint over his lungs and eventually arrived before his heart. Rather than slather it in the same golden hue, it turned its tip towards the heart and pushed up against it. With a spin, the seed started drilling into his heart. Ares should have felt pain at this point but he was Garmr and Garmr wasn''t ever going to be hurt by something so trivial. It tickled at most and was a degree of ''pain'' barely worth having on his radar. The seed burrowed into the heart and dissolved, becoming one with the organ. The heart slowly turned solid gold and kept pumping more and more rapidly. Despite his battered body, Ares'' quick breathing kept up with Garmr''s, painful though it was, and the rate at which he inhaled and exhaled was only going up and up. It felt like he was choking for air and had to remove an obstacle blocking his throat so he opened his mouth wide and, in sync with Garmr, howled a howl that would be heard across the entire universe as his heart throbbed.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ares was at peace with the howl. It didn''t touch him and was like a quiet serenade that lulled him into a sense of security. He very nearly even fell asleep to the tune of his own roar but things were not playing out the same for every other living creature in existence. The howl had shot up and through the prison, escaped Ares'' body, rocked Calla senseless, pierced the pagoda, and unleashed chaos. From Sheryashka to the realm of Gods and even beyond that in the void where Astraeus resided, the earth shook, trees collapsed, mountains cracked, rivers evaporated, and space warped to accommodate the movement of sound in millions of places simultaneously. Mortals cried in terror, cultivators ran in fright from the noise like headless chickens, legends shrunk back in fear, Gods cowered ''neath the burden of the weight of sheer domination, and even the pillars themselves trembled uncontrollably. The universe just bore witness to a timeless event that had shaped history forever. The birth of a new being that didn''t quite align with any known norms. Something that neither Gods nor pillars could match up to. The collision of worlds, the amalgamation that was a racial mix of Gods, dragons, fundamental pillars, and revenants was complete and a perfect existence was, at long last, finally born.
Back in the prison, Ares willed himself to move. He dragged his mostly limp body towards the masterpiece he''d become. Garmr should not be hidden away in a place like this, he needed to be let out of this demeaning cage. There was a grander stage that called for him, not one that could match his presence but the most suitable of all the ones available to it. The outside world... Though it would be limited to the pagoda, for now, its new base of operations would suffice. Anything other than this dank prison would allow him to commence his reign of terror over those who stood in opposition to him. On this day Ares, Garmr, would make his debut in this lowly world and there was nothing left to stop him.
Ares pulled himself further and further, leaving a bloody trail from his starting point that was symbolic of his determination to self actualize. This was not a blood trail like that of the weaker revenants in the prison above, this was not subservience or weakness, it was co-operation and mutual destruction to be reborn anew as a complete being. Ares was Garmr and Garmr was Ares. They needed one another to co-exist and both were equally desperate for this merge to take place. To that end, Garmr was inching towards Ares from the darkness as well. The golden eyes, now with draconic, slitted pupils, swayed side to side in the black pit as it took step after step towards the end of its entrapment and, in turn, the start of its destiny.
First and foremost, before any other detail of it became clear, two gilded dragon horns could be seen, shining in the dark. Based on the rough position of them, Ares assumed they started roughly under the creature''s ears and went straight backwards. They weren''t too long, compared to the size of the rest of the revenant presumably, but they were striking and stood out like a sore thumb. The golden eyes were what everyone would be drawn to first but the horns were a close second as they were perfectly straight, glossy, and streamlined. They were undoubtedly a recent addition thanks to the seed so that explained why this was the first time Ares had spotted them.
A few steps later and now the head was coming into view. Ares couldn''t quite make out any details from this range but what was clear was that the revenant''s fur was both jagged and sleek. It wasn''t fluffy like Calla''s but it wasn''t messy either. The fur still predominantly took centre stage regarding the structure of the Garmr''s face but it didn''t give a soft impression, rather a rough and battle-hardened one that was rather imposing. Muted brutality. Wild but firmly in control. Savage but regal. Raw power and stoicism. All of the above was an accurate depiction. The furs were all slicked back and made the face smoother than it otherwise would have been but it wasn''t a bony face due to the thickness of the fur so it retained a kind of elegance that made those who gazed upon it feel inferior. A small hint of boredom could be seen its complacent eyes that viewed the world as nothing more than a trifle that needed to be interacted with and the people in it as even less important.
There was nothing berserk about this monster at all, there were heaps of intelligence in its movement and flickering eyes that darted about in the darkness. It was a presence fitting for that of a king of a race, maybe even going beyond that. Ares'' current half-dead state didn''t really matter as. upon seeing this. he would have been speechless regardless. His awe was greater than even that of when he''d met Astraeus who was nothing more than a tin can in comparison to such a majestic creature. The revenant looked as though it had emerged fresh from a masterful painter''s finest strokes and every subtle movement was impossible not to respect. There was a considerable confidence on display but it wasn''t arrogance. Yes the creature was arrogant but it wasn''t a showy kind of arrogance, more a muted understanding of its own capabilities and position in the world which just made it even more impressive. It was realistically assessing itself but that assessment still ended up as ''superior being'' despite its honesty. It wasn''t rating itself highly out of narcissistic tendencies, it had been objective in its evaluation and still scored higher than anyone or anything else ever would have been able to. Whereas someone like Mako would bolster himself with exaggerated remarks, Garmr had put himself on a higher pedestal than even Mako despite coming to his conclusion fairly. It was a well earned and subdued arrogance, the impact of which was monumental. And it was worth remembering this was just its calm state. What it became when when the prospect of war and violence came knocking would certainly be an inspiring sight.
Ares'' hazy view was as good as it was going to get for now. Even seeing fragments of Garmr''s face was a satisfying enough conclusion for Ares for now. He could tell, as could Garmr, that the time to become one had arrived and they were both aching for it. Garmr took one more step, and his head slowly sunk down to the floor. It was readying itself to pounce upon Ares and do the deed but even this was a lengthy process as Garmr was simply too tall to lower its head quickly. This act did bring its face somewhat closer to Ares but he was well and truly out of it by this point. He''d been drifting in and out of his mind with regularity and now he seemed to be clinging onto a thread and nothing more. It was Garmr''s duty to snap that thread and break the illusion he was under. No longer would Ares go off galivanting as a human, the time for that misunderstanding had come and gone. From however many feet away, Garmr leapt straight towards Ares'' head. The speed was astonishing and all Ares saw was a single, large, deathly sharp tooth pierce his skull before he was kicked out of this space.
Ares awoke from his meditation with a start but the sight before him only confused him further. He could see clearly beyond the horizon and even spy some of the fields further out of Red Sun that should normally be well out of view. His vision had shifted upwards considerably since the last time he was in the pagoda and even the house he''d just been in with Calla seemed to have disappeared... It''s not that anything looked tiny, it''s just that he now had a perpetual vantage point with which to look down upon everything with. He was definitely standing and yet his vision indicated he was floating which didn''t make a lick of sense to him. Plus his body felt different... Very very different... Before he could figure it all out, he felt something soft come into contact with his leg. Ares looked down and was dazed when he realised just how far off the ground he was. 35ft? 40ft? It was in that region... Which, combined with the fact that he could see a lot of fur on his body could only mean one thing... Also, as for the ''soft'' thing on his leg, that would be Calla who was giving her ''baby'' a hug while her tail was swinging about at maddening speeds. Even though Ares was far too tall for his ears to be in close proximity to Calla''s current position, he could hear her merry squealing all too clearly. Something about a ''big and fluffy'' baby... She was seemingly happy her boy had grown up ''big and strong'' but that was perhaps a bit of an understatement given Ares'' current form... Whatever, at least now he could finally experiment. He would get a proper look at himself in a mirror or something, get a feel for his strength, and then get to work on perfecting the transformation process... Although Ares had a feeling that last part was going to be irrelevant to him. He could tell he was already borderline at mastery of it because he felt like he could switch between forms freely. Apparently being Garmr came with such a benefit which made sense. This wasn''t really a ''form'' like the tiered revenants, this was something more personal. Anyway, he''d done it! He wouldn''t showcase it to others in the pagoda just yet, as he would let real Ares display this form in full during the international, but at least pagoda Ares had Garmr on lock. He would keep it a secret until real Ares unveiled it properly, at which point he would start unleashing it on some of the stronger cultivators that came his way. Really, the most important time for him to use it was when the pagoda returned to the outside world but that was still a way aways. Until then, he would keep this in his back pocket... And well Calla would also probably do it... She seemed very happy. She was still repeating her ''big and fluffy'' mantra... Ares figured, before anything else, he would lie down and let Calla pet him... Such a one of a kind, superior, fantastical being... And he was catering to his mother''s whims to pet the big doggo... If it wasn''t clear Ares was still in charge of his body before, as opposed to Garmr, then it definitely was now at least.