Elias,locked the door to make sure he wouldn't be disturbed and sat cross-legged, a small, determined figure, holding the weathered book on Flow open to a section detailing meditation techniques for awakening one's inherent power.
The text described a gentle focus, a turning inward to sense the circulating life force – a liquid, usually neutral green, residing within one's soul. The soul was basically a plane that represented life force so it would take the form of a stream to a lake depending on the amount of life force one had and the restlessness of the manifestation would determine it's potency. Not all vessels are built to hold the same volume of liquid. Concentrating on it, the book explained, could shift its hue towards the vibrant red of destructive affinity or the serene violet of benevolent power.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep, calming breath. He pushed away the sounds of the manor, the distant call of servants who were looking for him. He sought the internal current, the subtle thrumming he now knew as Flow.
However,instead of a gentle stream, he plunged instantly into a deep, dark ocean. The pressure was immense, crushing, far beyond anything he could have imagined. It was a suffocating weight that threatened to splinter his very consciousness.
"Oh, shit." he thought, a wave of primal terror washing over him. This wasn't the peaceful meditation described in the book; it was a terrifying abyss.
He wouldn't drown.
Not again.
Not after experiencing it once, only to be met with Deus,that bastard….
With every fiber of his being, with a desperate, furious will that eclipsed his almost 3 years of life, he fought the crushing pressure, refusing to succumb. He clawed, pushed, willed himself upward, out of the suffocating depths.
He burst out of the phantom water, gasping for breath, then looked down. His eyes widened, not with fear, but with an incomprehensible awe before his vision dissolved into a blinding flash.
A deafening roar ripped through the tranquil evening, shaking the very foundations of the manor.
Lord Alaric and Lady Elara, startled by the explosion, rushed frantically from their study. Smoke billowed from the left wing of the mansion, debris raining down as servants screamed and scattered, their faces etched with terror. Fear struck them as they began looking for their son.
Elias awoke to the gentle rocking of his mother's arms, her face streaked with soot and tears, her touch surprisingly tender despite the chaos.
"My baby! Are you alright?" Lady Elara murmured, clutching him tightly. Lord Alaric, grim-faced, knelt beside them, trying to comfort his weeping wife while issuing urgent commands to servants attempting to quell the smoke and assess the damage. The entire left wing of their beloved mansion, a structure that had stood for centuries, was a ruin, blasted by an explosion of raw, untamed energy.
Elias looked on, stunned, not because of the devastation, but because of what he had seen when he delved into his soul.
His soul was not a small pool as he'd expected, but a humid, thick expanse, mist that stretched on endlessly in all directions. Down below, within this infinite space, was a vast, shimmering sea that stretched out in all directions, glinting in all seven rainbow colors with varying gradients,shades and hues. But mostly, the water was black and still.
It was an endless amount of life force. An infinite well of Flow.
Lord Alaric and Lady Elara were overjoyed he was unharmed, their relief so profound they seemed to forget the destruction.
"It's not your fault, Elias," Lord Alaric reassured him, stroking his hair.
"You awakened so young! This is just… a side effect. We'll rebuild."
Elias just sat there, still and mortified. The joyous voices of his parents, the crumbling ruins of their home, the realization of the truth that had struck him in the depths of his soul – all coalesced into a single, terrifying understanding.
He was immortal.