Wrath's Virtue

Aurelion looked at the vacuum in the water and the white glimmer seeping from his hands with astonishment. After a moment of trembling, the light intensified.

Despite the water pressure, the vacuum pushed forward and finally reached Aurelion's head. He finally got the air his lungs were begging for, and he quickly inhaled, his limbs beginning to thrash again. The vacuum lasted for two or three seconds before the glimmer in his hand vanished, and the space began to fill with water once more.

With the newly won air in his lungs, Aurelion pushed himself and was finally able to break the surface.

He quickly looked around, trying to confirm his position. He saw that the force of the wave had pushed him closer to the shore. The fish carcasses that had been floating on the water now littered the land.

He dragged his exhausted body toward the shore.

He finally arrived, crawling and coughing amidst the dead fish. With the last of the strength in his muscles gone, he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath, and waited.

After a long moment, when he had finally caught his breath, he replayed the last moments in his mind, when he had tried to bend the water to his will.

"I... am not very good at water manipulation," he rasped aloud. "I gave it my all, yes, but I had reached my limit." His thoughts snagged on the faint memory of energy blooming in his hands.

Then, his face soured, and a hateful snarl twisted his lips.

He stopped speaking to himself and focused inward, his mental voice start rising.

"I will fucking tear you apart!"

He activated his void focus and his consciousness immediately drawn to his inner world. He stared with pure hatred at the cluster of white threaded energy that represented his unwanted guest in the void in his mind.

"You lost the chances I gave you," he projected. "I did not wish to destroy you, because you are a world's will. But ı am done with you, PRIMORDIA!"

A calm voice emanated from the light. "My child, you were going to die, and I did not wish for you to die."

"You do not get to decide whether I live or die!" Aurelion roared back. His consciousness, his psychic form, stretched out its arm and unleashed a torrent of golden, flame like energy that surged toward the light.

But just before the flames could strike, the light pulsed once. A transparent, shimmering wave rippled out from it, meeting the golden torrent and push back it as if it were nothing.

"My child, I understand your anger," the voice said, its tone still impossibly patient. "But I could not allow you to die. I had to intervene."

Aurelion's consciousness trembled with fury. "I had to intervene, I had to intervene, I had to intervene!" he mocked. "You cannot intervene! If you hadn't interfered with my job from the very beginning, none of this would have even happened!"

He then unleashed another, more violent torrent of golden flames.

"Aurelion, you are right," the entity conceded, and for a moment, its voice sounded genuinely regretful. "But you see, I have no ill intentions. I wanted no one to be harmed. I did something I should not have done, yes, but I was just could'nt bear it, Aurelion."

As it spoke, it once again repelled Aurelion's energy with ease.

But this time, as the golden flames were pushed back, Aurelion's own conscious form shot forward from within the torrent. He soared through his own receding energy, while his fists crackling with lightning he swung a punch directly at the sphere of light.

Before the blow could land, an immense pressure slammed down on Aurelion's consciousness, freezing him in place, his fist froze inches from its target.

Even paralyzed, his thoughts raged on. "It was because of my debt to that fool lizardman that I allowed this connection, knowing you were planning something! Do you think I care what you think, Primordia!"

His golden energy flared again, his consciousness trembling as he fought against the binding pressure.

"Aurelion," the light pleaded, "let us end this meaningless struggle. I do not wish to harm you."

Aurelion roared, and as a new surge of golden energy erupted from his form, he broke free of the hold and charged forward again. "Then just fucking die, Primordia!" he shouted, sparks flying from his hands as he launched another attack.

"I am a reflection of Primordia's will, Aurelion. I have a duty," the voice replied while its tone becoming sterner. "You know that I am not Primordia itself. Why do you call me by that name?"

This time, the light did not just defend. A powerful wave of pure white energy erupted from it, striking Aurelion's consciousness and sending him flying backward through the mindscape.

As he tumbled end over end through the void, a defiant thought cut through the chaos.

"Fuck your lies, Primordia!"

He focused his will, stabilized his tumbling form, and came to a stop, glaring at the distant light, ready for more.

The light pulsed gently. "I am not lying, my child."

Aurelion shot forward again, his psychic form wreathed in crackling lightning. "If you were a mere copy of Primordia, I would have destroyed you already!" he roared.

The light offered no reply, but as he closed in, it simply sent out another transparent wave of force, deflecting him to the side.

A growl of frustration escaped Aurelion's consciousness. He charged again, and again, and again, but he was repelled each time, unable to get close.

Finally, realizing the futility of it, he came to a stop. The lightning around him faded, and he stared at the sphere of light with pure disgust.

"Are you out of lies to tell, great Primordia?" he taunted. "The highest of the high, the compassionate mother who treats all her children equally?" He let out a laugh. "Hmm. Isn't it ironic that such a being is such a bad liar?"

This time, when the light spoke, its voice was different. The compassionate tone was gone, replaced by a calm, unshakeable authority.

"I understand. You are so suspicious that further explanation is pointless."

But, it continued, "I still have no intention of harming you, Aurelion. End this rebellion, and I will answer the questions in your mind."

A smirk touched Aurelion's lips. "So you've finally decided to show your true colors," he projected, and began to glide slowly toward the light while the light remained still, waiting.

"Primordia," Aurelion projected. "I have no questions for you."

Lightning exploded around his form once more.

"Aurelion, what you are doing is illogical. You cannot harm me," Primordia stated.

"Don't be so sure," Aurelion retorted, and lunged.

As his sentence finished, another, brighter wave of energy sent him flying backward.

"I entered your mind because it was truly necessary to heal that lizard girl," Primordia's voice echoed as he tumbled.

Aurelion's anger flared again, about to form a retort, but the Primordia added, "But that was not the only reason."

"I flowed a piece of my will into your body becau-"

Aurelion didn't let it finish. He righted himself and attacked again.

This time, a brilliant blue energy erupted from the light, instantly transforming into water. A massive wave rose up in the void and crashed down upon Aurelion's consciousness.

The water dispersed, glittering with the sparks of his own lightning, and his consciousness was sent tumbling back through the void once more.

The entity continued its sentence as if uninterrupted. "-the reason I transferred my consciousness here-"

"I don't care, Primordia!" Aurelion roared, stabilizing himself and charging forward yet again. "I don't care about anything you going to say!"

This time, a deep green energy emerged from the light. It washed over Aurelion, and his consciousness froze. There was no pressure, no force. He was simply… stopped. He was shocked, unable to move.

"Time manipulation," the voice stated simply. "Even if time flows differently in your mind, it still flows. I have stopped the time in your immediate vicinity so that we may finally speak."

Aurelion's fury intensified, but he could not even reflect it on his psychic form's expression. He was trapped, and it drove him mad.

"You left me no other choice," the voice continued. It paused, then delivered the final revelation.

"I transferred a piece of my consciousness here because… you interested me."

The green energy holding Aurelion in place began to fade slowly.

Aurelion did not attack immediately. A cold, stillness settled over his consciousness.

He would wait, he would listen for now.

The voice of the entity returned, and its tone now held a new quality. It was a strange mix, equal parts motherly and authoritative. The sound of a power that believes it knows what is best, whether you agree or not.

"I lied to you about my identity and my true intentions, my child, because you are not like the other living things in this world. They are pleased to communicate with me but you are not. The thing that interested me in you… was your personality, Aurelion."

A fury in Aurelion's consciousness began to solidify into something colder, heavier. He already suspected this, but having it confirmed, just make that sensation more powerful.

"I wanted to connect with you," Primordia continued. "And so, I wanted to remain in your mind for a time."

"You have seen what you wanted to see. Get lost," Aurelion projected.

"I wanted to understand you better," the voice went on, ignoring his command. "The way you massacred the goblins to satisfy the desire within you. The way you began to think aloud, simply to have less contact with me. The way you dealt with the lizardmen, keeping them at a distance even though they are grateful to you. Your methods for overcoming obstacles, your logic…"

"And at the same time, I wanted to test you. I deliberately gave you scraps of information. I wanted to see how you would proceed. I offered you an easy path for the lily, and you rejected it to follow your own way."

Aurelion remained silent, but his hatred grew with every word. He had thought the Primordia was genuinely trying to protect the lily, that its plea was real. But that, too, was a lie. A part of the test.

The Primordia continued, its voice calm as it delivered its greatest confession.

"When I stopped you from destroying the lily, I wanted to see what you would do. I did not push you too hard but... still you truly managed to break free of my influence... impressive.

And then, the voice added, "to hasten the lily's death, I deliberately pushed my own energy into yours. I wanted to see how you would survive such a situation."

The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place, and the image it formed was one of absolute mockery. The explosion. The wave. The drowning. It was all engineered.

"You are not yet good at water manipulation, so you are not fast in the water. But in that critical moment, you tried to create an air pocket for yourself, and you understood that you could not do more because of the water pressure."

Then Primordia delivered its final, condescending praise.

"You are as intelligent as no nine year old child ever could be. You look like much older."