The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [34] As if Nothing Happened.

The intricate design He had set in motion, carved into the very fabric of this Lower Plane was his Will. He could feel His Will influence the world playing out as He had planned. Then like a knife he felt the presence of another's Will scrape against his own. One of His creations had broken free, shattering the binds He had meticulously crafted over the course of an eternity.

This anomaly, this act of rebellion, was beyond His control, and yet, it stung Him deeply. The thought of one of His own creations escaping Him was both a wound and a revelation. He needed it—this mysterious being that had defied His Will. Perhaps it would be the source of His salvation, if such a thing was possible.

Reaching across the world with His mind, He sought out the anomaly. His consciousness stretched, a vast net cast over the Lower Planes, until He found her—the one who had broken His chains and emerged as her own entity. He watched her intently, every movement, every breath, and the moment she tasted blood, severing her bond to Him, He felt a surge of both anger and hope. With her was another bound to her with a bond that stretched soul deep. It was incomplete but also the undeniable Will of another like Him, although it was juvenile in its construction."

"T̵̝̆̄̆ͅh̵̗͕̑̍ë̴̢͗̍ͅͅ ̵͖̇́̐p̶͚̝̦̂́̀r̷͔̫̹̄͠ơ̵͔ǵ̸̥͕̥́̚ḕ̴̲͒n̶̫̈́̍y̴̰̹͊͗́ ̷͉̜͊ó̶̫͘͘f̸͚̓̇̓ ̷̰͑̐Ṱ̵̞́̐õ̸͈̻̰x̸̼̾̋͋ȉ̴͇̲͂ń̶̹͛ a̸̟͂n̵̤̊d̴̡̳͎̽̒ P̵̫̗͗o̸̖͛̂i̴͔͐s̷͍̈o̵̯̗̓ǹ̸̘̌?" He whispered so softly the words didn't carry beyond his lips.

His attention went back to the girl this, being was unlike any other in the cosmos. She was an original, no longer born of Him, but something entirely new. She would be a perfect vessel, even better than the one He had recently acquired and was preparing for possession. It was to be a temporary replacement for His broken form, a mere stopgap. But this other one, this cernunnos, held the promise of true liberation.

His thoughts churned, desperation and anticipation threatened to make him lash out immediately. He could not bear the technology that sustained Him, the relentless machines that kept His fractured body alive, were an affront to His very essence. He was of the forest yet he had to turn to the terrible machinations left by the Angels. But this cernunnos—she could be His way out, His means of casting off the mechanical shackles and reclaiming His True form.

He opened his eyes, the incessant beeping of monitors assaulting his ears and rousing a deep-seated annoyance. He felt the coiling of wires, serpentine and invasive, threading in and out of his body through an open cavity where his chest should have been. The sight of his exposed form was a fusion of technology and withered flesh, a grotesque symbiosis that had kept him alive through countless cycles of death and rebirth.

His heart was no longer a muscle but a core reactor, a glowing orb of energy encased in a lattice of metallic ribs, pumping bluish fluid that served as his blood through artificial synthetic veins branching out like a macabre spider web. His lungs had long been replaced by biomechanical substitutes, rhythmic pistons expanding and contracting with a mechanical precision that lacked the comforting irregularity of natural breath. Embedded within His skull, neural implants flickered with activity, interfacing with his brain and regulating His vital functions with cold efficiency.

Emergency systems blared, a cacophony of alarms signaled distress as his consciousness wavered. Micro-drones, no larger than grains of sand, scurried within his bloodstream, repairing damage and maintaining the delicate balance of his cybernetic anatomy. His bones, reinforced with a lattice of carbon nanotubes, supported his weight but felt alien and heavy. Muscle fibers, enhanced with synthetic polymers, granted him strength beyond mortal limits but robbed him of the natural fluidity of movement.

His senses, augmented by arrays of sensors and receivers, picked up data streams from his surroundings, translating them into a barrage of information that overwhelmed even His thoughts. His vision flickered between the infrared, ultraviolet, and electromagnetic spectrums, a constant reminder of the artificial senses that had become integral to his cursed existence.