Ten years ago, beneath the emerald canopy of the Sacred Grove within the Requiem Universe, two young men knelt before their mentors. The air hummed with ancient power-the kind that predates civilizations and whispers through the fabric of reality itself.
High Mage Levi, his weathered face solemn beneath his silver-streaked beard, stood beside King Lyn, whose regal bearing was softened only by the proud gaze he cast upon his son. Before them, young Kael and Aiden waited with the eager patience of disciples about to receive sacred knowledge.
"Today," King Lyn began, his voice resonating with authority that had guided the Requiem Universe through years of peace, "we bestow upon you knowledge of the greatest power ever attained, Essence Manifest."
The two young men exchanged glances. Though they had heard whispers of this mysterious power, it had always been spoken of in hushed tones, as if the very mention might summon forces beyond control.
"Lord Kaipo, after the Second Jewel War, bestowed upon the five High Mages the ability to grant this power," King Lyn continued. "Myself, Levi, Zara, Mike, and Drew were each given the authority to pass Essence Manifest to one person of utmost trust."
High Mage Levi stepped forward, his bamboo sword tapping rhythmically against the stone floor. "However, the power we can bestow is limited to twenty-five percent of its true potential. Even at this fraction, it remains formidable beyond imagination."
Kael raised a question with measured curiosity. "How do we use this power once it's given?"
Levi's expression hardened. "It isn't something you just use casually," he said sternly, the lines on his face deepening. "Essence Manifest is a power that can only be fully awakened when you stand at death's door. Only in that moment, when life hangs by its thinnest thread, will its true nature reveal itself."
The gravity of Levi's words settled over the grove, casting long shadows despite the midday sun. Kael and Aiden remained silent, absorbing the weight of this revelation.
After a moment, King Lyn spoke again, his tone lighter but no less significant. "The others have already made their choices. Zara and Mike have their portions to their son, Polo. And Drew," he added with a hint of admiration, "found a way to share his twenty-five percent with Nia so she could teach and eventually give it to Doran, his son."
"And now," High Mage Levi said, stepping toward Aiden, "we have decided upon our choices." His ancient eyes held Aiden's gaze with intensity that seemed to peer into his very soul.
"I will bestow my portion of Essence Manifest to you, Aiden," Levi declared. "Your heart, though sometimes shadowed by doubt, remains true to the principles we have taught."
King Lyn moved to stand before his son. "And I, Kael, will bestow mine upon you. As future king, you will need every advantage to protect our realm."
The two young men remained kneeling, humbled by the trust being placed in them. This was more than power-it was legacy, responsibility, and the weight of worlds.
"With that settled," King Lyn said softly, "let us begin."
Levi and Lyn raised their hands, each placing one firmly on the shoulder of their chosen recipient. The air in the grove grew dense with energy, molecules seeming to vibrate with anticipation as the ritual of transference began.
The weight of the past gave way to the crushing pressure of the present as King Kael took another step forward. With each footfall, reality fractured beneath him. Tiny fissures spreading outward like cracks in glass, leaking shadows and whispers of other dimensions.
Third Generation Sentient Aiden remained frozen, his mind racing through the thousands of potential futures his Omni-Battle Precognition had revealed. Something fundamental was wrong. In not a single future, not one of thousands, had he unlocked his own Essence Manifest. The realization struck him like a physical blow.
"Something isn't right," he thought, his perfect tactical mind suddenly filled with doubt.
Kael's head tilted slightly, as if hearing far-off footsteps that Aiden couldn't detect. "I would love to have a full fight," he said, his voice echoing strangely as if coming from multiple places simultaneously, "but I have to end this early before more guests arrive. Sorry."
Without warning, Kael's sword surged with shadow energy, darkness flowing from the fractures in his being and coalescing around the blade. With a casual swing, he sent a crescent of pure void energy hurtling toward Aiden.
Aiden's precognition flared, showing him exactly where the attack would land. He leapt aside with Third Generation speed, a smile of satisfaction forming, only to be shattered as a second slash struck him from behind, in a blind spot his precognition had somehow missed. The impact sent him crashing through equipment and into the ground, creating a crater in the reinforced laboratory floor.
As the dust settled and rubble shifted, Aiden lay stunned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. How? His precognition had never failed him before. It was supposed to be absolute.
Struggling to focus, he scanned the room, locating King Kael standing in a distant corner of the lab. The King's attention wasn't on Aiden but directed downward at something, someone-half-buried beneath collapsed equipment and structural debris.
All Aiden could see was a hand, unnaturally pale, almost bleached white, extended from beneath the rubble. The fingers twitched spasmodically, their movements jerky and wrong, like a marionette with tangled strings. The hand slowly clawed upward, pushing debris aside to reveal a face that made Aiden's blood freeze.
The face beneath was King Arion's, yet hideously transformed. His skin had stretched taut across his skull, pulling his features into an eternal scream. His eyes had receded deep into their sockets, leaving cavernous voids that leaked dark fluid in steady rivulets down his cheeks. His mouth was frozen in an impossibly wide grin, lips peeled back to reveal teeth that had elongated into needle-like protrusions, some piercing through his own gums and lips. Veins bulged beneath his translucent skin, pulsing with something that was definitely not blood, a black ichor that seemed to move with purpose.
Most disturbing was his gaze, though his eyes were sunken and leaking, they remained intensely aware. They darted frantically, filled with such primal terror and desperate rage that it felt obscene to witness.
King Kael passed his hand over Arion, summoning a sphere of writhing shadows that engulfed the horrific figure. The darkness settled around Arion like a cocoon, mercifully obscuring that nightmare visage.
"Could it be?" Aiden whispered to himself, realization dawning. "No way. King Arion!"
With desperate determination, Aiden forced himself to his feet. Ignoring the pain lancing through his body, he charged toward Kael, Omnistron Sword raised to strike.
Kael merely turned his head slightly, regarding Aiden with detached curiosity.
Suddenly, Aiden felt it again, a slash across his back, identical to the first, throwing him once more to the ground. Before he could recover, three more strikes landed in the exact same spot, each as powerful as the first.
"What's happening?" Aiden gasped, blood pooling beneath him.
"Requiem Echo," King Kael stated simply.
Each time Kael struck a target with his Essence Manifest, he created a "leak" in their timeline. These leaks manifested as echoes of the attack that repeated at random intervals, causing the target to suffer the same wound multiple times without warning. These temporal wounds were nearly impossible to heal as they existed across multiple points in time simultaneously.
With frightening casualness, Kael allowed his Leak Requiem form to fade. The fractures across his body sealed, shadows retreating back into his being as he returned to his normal appearance, though his left arm remained severed, ending in a clean, cauterized stump.
"I'm sure you can see how your fate will end if you keep trying to get up," Kael said, his voice now returned to its normal timbre. "Just stand down."
Stubborn as ever, Aiden attempted to rise once more. Instantly, new slashes opened across his back, the Requiem Echo striking again with merciless precision. He collapsed, consciousness wavering.
King Kael stepped forward and grasped Aiden by the neck with his remaining hand, lifting him effortlessly. With the shadow sphere containing Arion floating beside him, Kael dragged Aiden's limp form toward the exit, leaving bloody smears across the laboratory floor.
Outside the ruined Main Lab, under the alien sky of Planet X, hundreds of First Generation Sentients stood in eerie formation. Their collective presence should have been overwhelming, yet they remained motionless, almost hesitant.
King Kael emerged from the building, Aiden dragging behind him and the shadow sphere containing Arion floating at his side. The assembled Sentients parted instinctively, creating a path.
"No way!" one Sentient whispered to another, fear mingling in its voice. "He took down King Arion and Third Generation Sentient Aiden?!"
Without a trace of fear, King Kael continued through the mass of Sentients. Not one dared to approach him, their usual aggression tempered by the unmistakable demonstration of power they witnessed.
After several paces, Kael unceremoniously threw Aiden's battered body toward a cluster of Sentients. With a gesture, he released the Requiem Echo affecting Aiden.
"Heal him back up," Kael commanded the Sentients, his tone leaving no room for debate. "And when you're done, send him back to Requiem Universe at once."
He turned his attention to Aiden, whose consciousness flickered between awareness and darkness. "Aiden, you have three days to return, fully healed or not. When you return, you will stand trial and face your punishments. If you aren't standing at the Castle in three days, I'll come back and just kill you where you stay."
His final words hung in the air, weighted with absolute certainty: "Let today teach you I am more than capable."
With that pronouncement, King Kael turned away. The shadow sphere containing the trapped Arion followed as he set off toward the 5 Universal Ring, leaving behind a planet of stunned Sentients and one defeated former commander.
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