Seth found himself reminiscing of those old Anti-drug ads he had seen online a few times. The overly dramatic, concerned mother cracking an egg into a pan and letting it sizzle, only to look into the camera and say 'This is your brain on drugs.' as if that made any sense or would prevent anyone from taking drugs.
Well, if his brain was an egg then that egg was not being cracked into a pan to deliciously sizzle. Instead it was being drenched in oil, lit on fire with thermite and then casually tossed onto the surface of the closest sun.
Of course that made as much sense as the drugs comparison, but honestly that was the only way he could describe the overwhelming, searing sensation coursing through his grey matter at the moment and because of that sensation it was a little hard to concentrate on making a good metaphor.
I'm sure you can understand.
Thousands of years of research were forced into his mind in a matter of moments. All of Prometheus' knowledge not just on the details of the runic language of the universe, far beyond the knowledge that even Julius had, but also his study on the matter of souls.
It took all of Seth's will power to just stay conscious and try to digest all of that information without convulsing on the ground and spasming as he foamed at the mouth. Honestly the fact he hadn't peed himself yet was impressive enough.
He was so focused on what was going on inside, that he had completely toned out the external world. To the point that he could still feel the heat and pressure of Prometheus' hands pressed against his head, even though there was nothing there anymore.
The moment he had started the transfer of the knowledge, the dragons human form erupted into flames once more. But unlike before, he didn't grow and transform. Instead his bonfire body shrunk as his own flames ate away at his flesh, charring him to the bone and burning that to ash.
Guided by the information forced into his mind, and by the remnant will of Prometheus, Seth's hands moved on their own. At least that's what he felt.
His soul lifted from his body, keeping the shape of his physical form to the point that it even had two hands, which immediately set to work on Prometheus' soul. They tugged at the weave keeping it together, unravelling the complex tapestry of life with expertise Seth himself didn't possess.
Strand by strand, String by string, Prometheus' entire existence was undone at the hands of the lowly boy raised in a cult.
But that's not all he was doing, it seemed. While Seth was drowning in the sea of information and wondering at the grand sight of Prometheus' true soul weave, his hands moved on their own.
He wasn't just mindlessly unravelling the weave, but knitting it together into something entirely new in the process. It was like he was taking apart the sweater that a granny had knitted, and turning it into a pair of gloves and a nice hat.
It wasn't as if he was completely unaware of his actions. They were still his hands, and at some subconscious level he was controlling it. Thus as Seth wove the soul into its new form, wondrously knitting symbols and runes he had never seen before into its complex structure, it was all to some sort of design.
It was just... his conscious mind wasn't even sure what the design was, or what it was he was creating. However the more he carried out the process, the more energy he was expending.
Every tug of the spiritual thread took a drop of his energy, and after using most of it to power the portal to get them here, he was quickly running out.
***
Astra watched on in a mixture of curiosity and apprehension as she watched Seth work, at least that's what she assumed he was doing.
After Prometheus had erupted into flames and dissolved into nothing but ash, the dusty remnants had floated into the air and began to gather around a singular point.
Between Seth's outstretched hands, the ash swirled and churned, pulsating every few seconds and shifting their form, as if it couldn't quite decide what it should become.
Beyond her worry and curiosity of what exactly Seth was doing, there was another emotion clutching at Astra's heart. The feeling of absolute uselessness wrapped around her heart like barbed wire, squeezing it tight and digging its barbs into it.
Once again he was working, delving into the depths of the soul and working his magic, while she was stuck in the bleachers, unable to help and only watch on helplessly. It was a dreadful feeling, and she absolutely hated it.
She had already gone through it twice before. The first, when he was creating her dear son Carnifex, and the second when she was stupidly stabbed by her own weapon and had to lay there like a dead fish while her man did all the fighting for her.
Her hand brushed against the wicked scar on her stomach as it throbbed in pain, as it always did when she remembered that moment. Her leg was even worse. It was painful whenever it felt like, and even got itches she couldn't scratch.
The worst part of her injuries was that her leg was not the biggest thing she lost that day. As she touched her stomach, the barbed wire around her heart tightened even more.
The healer had done what he could, but there was too much damage to certain parts. It might have been a premature thought, hence why she hadn't told him yet, but she didn't know how Seth would react if he found out that she couldn't have-
"His energy is plummeting! It's draining his soul dry!"
The young girls voice echoed in the hollow armour as the ghostly knight shouted out, dragging Astra from her thoughts. Her hand recoiled from the scar on her stomach as she whipped her head towards Seth, who was starting to spasm and convulse where he stood.
Although she couldn't sense souls like the Dead Men could, being entities of pure soul energy themselves, Astra still had wonderful mana senses. Focusing those on Seth, her heart was squeezed even tighter when she found the words to be true.
Whatever he was doing, he was running out of energy and it was killing him. His body was eating itself, his soul withering as everything in him was poured into the process he seemed incapable of stopping.
Before anyone could do anything, the lights within the room began to flicker. In fact, the Lights within the entire facility flickered as all the energy was drawn out of them. Bolts of lightning arced across the room, leaping from every wall and crackling along the floor as if they were all standing inside on giant tesla coil.
Every single bolt leapt towards Astra, who strode over to Seth with gritted teeth and a seething glare.
'NO! I will not be useless, not this time! Don't you dare even think about dying on me, otherwise I'll drag you out of heaven to slap some sense into you.'
Her eyes glowed pure white as the energy of the entire facility coursed through her veins, causing her nervous system to glow like filaments beneath her skin. It wasn't as much as the lightning storm, but it would do.
Astra's hands trembled as she forced the electricity within her to bend to her will. She crammed it into the very core of her being, acting like a living transformer as she turned the pure electricity she was draining from the facility into raw mana.
She clamped her hands over Seth's and her head threw backwards as the raw mana inside her was ripped out of her hands and drawn into Seth like a black hole. His body hungrily absorbing it as fast as she could convert it.
But the mana was not the only thing ripped out of her body, as Astra's eyes rolled back into her head and her body grew just as stiff as Seth's.
Her mind was drawn into Seth's, linking together with his allowing her to see his work before her very eyes. Although she wasn't forced to take the brunt of the information upload, just the sight of the unrestrained soul weave was enough to shake her to her very core.
Her eyes widened, trying to take in as of the glorious sight as possible. But even if she stayed connected like this for a hundred years, it didn't seem like she would have enough time to witness it all in its impossible complexity never mind understand it all.
This was life itself, in its purest form. It was simply... divine.
She heard a whisper in her mind, the same words that Prometheus had said to Seth before he had incinerated himself. But it was not a memory, instead it felt like he was still there somewhere and was talking to her directly in his final moments of life, as he added more to his message.
'I give to you, what I could never have myself. That was the price of my immortal life. Take care of them, please.'
Astra's mind was yanked out of the shared space, reeling back into her own grey matter as a pulse of energy erupted between them. Her hands slipped from Seth's as she was thrown backwards, her back slamming against the floor as she skidded to a halt.
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