Rich frescos stared down at Darius as he laid on the floor thinking about how he almost died. For a moment he considered running away but considering the inhospitality of the planet and the fact that one of the strongest men of all amongst his generation is overlooking the competition does not ease his concerns. After a good amount of rest he checks his datapad and sees that Sybil has not reached her ruin yet. Following his own path towards the ruin was far enough so he deduced that it would take her some time to reach hers.

As terrifying as she was, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now that there were no distractions he finally had time to do the thing that he had always wanted to do. Sort himself out. More specifically his powers. He folded his legs and went into a meditative state. Following the lessons he was given from his brief time as a Lancer, he imagined his powers as if they were flowing into a singular source. Then he opened his eyes.

The ‘’transcendental meditation’’ was a technique that was pioneered by the Fullbright clan of the MoonWhisper family to help talented children with huge amounts of powers, visualize and conceptualize their power. When Darius opened his eyes he was in the meditative realm which reflected his inner mind. In that realm he saw a huge ball of lightning. His power source or at the full amount that he is able to use. Except this time, there was a difference. The power source was encased in a film like case that was engraved with strange encryptions. The codex he assumed.

To his left was a smaller but much mysterious source also encased in a codex seal. The source was a dark spherical object that moved like it was alive. Darius figured that it was his Shadowcaster family’s power. Yet there were no signs of the Leviathan. Darius was unsure if that made him calm or nervous. He walked to the lightning source and did what he used to do when he performed this kind of training.

He pulled the lightning from the source and purified it in his hands. Missing many years of critical training had made him rusty. In order for him to get a grasp of his powers so that he could use anything other than basic techniques on Sybil he focused his training on purifying his energy.

Purification was not an easy process to go through. But it made gathering his powers much easier. When Darius was a lancer he even managed to form the ‘imagus’ of a small lightning blade. His powers were that advanced. At the moment he was meditating, forming an ‘imagus’ would be far beyond his ability.

He purifying, then once he was satisfied with the result, he focused on concentration. Pulling all the purified energy into a dense concentrated ball. The energy swelled inside of him and although he couldn’t see it since his eyes were closed and he was in a meditative state, his body was clad in soft flowing celestial energy. A wave of calm washed over him when he was finished. A message appeared in front of him. The message said.

|CONGRATULATIONS, DARIUS THUNDERWEAVER, ON UPGRADING YOUR CELESTIAL ENERGY, YOU HAVE RECEIVED CODEX SPECIAL ACCESS, LEVEL 2|. Essentially, the codex gave his powers an upgrade, which should have made him excited if not for the cognizance that the upgrade came with. He felt a dark and dangerous energy all around him. He looked at the shadowy part of his powers. It was not it. Where was the energy coming from, he wondered.

“DOWN HERE” said a voice,

He looked down and found that he was standing atop a seal. Inside the seal was a moving serpent-like creature. He couldn’t make out the fill image of the beast from where he stood, all he could see were massive glittering scales moving in a fluid motion inside the spherical seal.

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM” The monster said.

“YOU ARE THE LEVIATHAN” Darius responded.

“CORRECT. I AM THE KING OF BEASTS, SOVEREIGN TO ALL SEA CREATURES AND KING OF KINGS. RULER OF THE TRIDENT. I LOOK DOWN ON ALL CREATURES AND ALL CREATURES LOOK UP TO ME”.

“I’M CURRENTLY LOOKING DOWN AT YOU” Darius said to the beast and the seal trembled. The shock terrified Darius.

“AYE,THE UNIVERSE WORKS WITH SUCH A POWER THAT EVEN A SOVEREIGN SUCH AS I IS NOT IMMUNE TO THE CRUEL HUMOR AT WHICH IT USES TO DIRECT FATE. I WHO RACED ACROSS THE EXPANSE OF SPACE IN UNBRIDLED FREEDOM IS REDUCED TO HIDING IN THE BELLY OF A TROUT. MY SITUATION IS NOT LOST TO ME. IT'S THOSE CHILDREN. FATE HANDED THEM TO ME, I TRUSTED THEM. AND THEY RUINED EVERYTHING”

“By those children” Darius inquired, “do you mean, the celestial lords”

The Leviathan released a laugh that spewed a sinister shockwave, even from its confinement. The only time Darius ever felt this terrified was when one of his fathers dragons visited the cradle. The fact that a laugh alone could emit so much sinister energy made Darius sweat.

“SARDINES PLAYING AS SHARKS, STURGEONS PLAYING AS WHALES, CHILDREN PLAYING AS GODS, THE UNIVERSE TRULY IS HUMOROUS. I REMEMBER THE FIRST MEN, WEAK AND TIRED FROM THEIR TRAVELS, OH HOW THEY BEGGED FOR REFUGE. THE OTHER LORDS, THE DRAGONS, THE LIONS, REJECTED THEM BUT I BROUGHT THEM IN MY ABODE- NOW THEY RUN AROUND AND PRETEND IT IS THEIRS”.

The Leviathan’s body stirred underneath Darius’s feet, the scales moving until he was standing on a giant opal sphere. It was the eyes. It peered at Darius from underneath him with a cruel gaze. The eye narrowed.

“YOU LOOK JUST LIKE HIM” The beast said. “THE MOST WRETCHED ONE AMONGST THEM ALL. IN THOSE DAYS POWERFUL WARRIORS AMONGST YOUR RACE WOULD BESEECH ME FOR MY BLESSINGS, I GAVE THEM TREASURES, POWER, DOMAINS, BUT THIS BOY…” a sort of projection appeared before Darius. The projection was of a boy, with dark skin and bright purple hair, kneeling and crying, tear marks stained his face and he seemed to always utter the word pleas. “OF NO RENOWN, NO POWERS, AMONGST THE FIRST MEN OF YOUR RACE, HE WAS A NOBODY. BUT WHEN HE ARRIVED IN MY COURT, HE HAD PAIN AND VENGEANCE ON HIS LIPS. A HATRED SO POWERFUL IT MADE ME SHIVER. AND I WONDERED, HOW FUNNY IT WOULD BE, IF I GAVE THIS BOY THE POWER TO WEAVE THUNDER ITSELF”.

Darius looked with wide open eyes at the boy. He didn’t seem angry like the Leviathan said. If anything he just seemed sad. There was no hatred in this boy, just tears. But what bothered Darius the most was that he had an idea of who the boy was and the image did not match.

The boy was most likely Saggitarius Thunderweaver. His father, a celestial lord and one of the most powerful men in all the systems, even amongst his peers. “What happened?” Darius whispered to the boy but he didn’t answer back. For a brief moment all that anger that he had saved up for his father evaporated upon the sight of what would soon become the most terrifying human to exist.

“OF COURSE THE BOY, WEAK AND UNGRATEFUL SOON TURNED THE TIP OF HIS SPEAR TOWARDS ME, HE, ALONG WITH HIS FRIENDS, PURSUED THEIR GREAT BETRAYAL. BUT YOU. YOU’RE NOT WEAK. YOU RECOGNIZE POWER. RELEASE ME FROM THIS SEAL. YOU CERTAINLY HAVE THE POWER TO. I WILL MAKE YOU MY SQUIRE, MY AVATAR, I WILL MAKE YOU A KING AND WILL GRANT YOU THE POWER TO BURN DOWN THIS EMPIRE. YOU ONLY HAVE TO SUBMIT TO MY WILL”

Darius thought about the request. He could tell that the Leviathan’s powers were great. Great enough that if he were to use it now, he could leave this dastardly game and not Sybil or Sirius could stop him. He could kill his adoptive mother and brother and then kill his real family. The ones who took away his birthright and taunted him everyday for it. He could do it all. But Festus came to mind and suddenly revenge seemed sour. There was also the fact that, while the Leviathan is too proud to trick him, it will definitely make him submit his free will. Darius did not want that. The only thing he wanted more than revenge was to be free.

Also there was a deep feeling in his gut that if this creature were to be unsealed from its confines. It would be a disaster beyond comprehension, so for that reason, he told the Leviathan that he would decline its offer. The beast raged within its seal. Darius had to leave out of fear for the animal and its anger. It was too great for him to bear.

When he opened his eyes a screen hovered in his vision. It said, |CONGRATULATIONS, DARIUS THUNDERWEAVER, ON UPGRADING YOUR CELESTIAL ENERGY, YOU HAVE RECEIVED CODEX SPECIAL ACCESS, LEVEL 5|. It seemed spending time with the Leviathan alone was enough to upgrade his powers. Now he could draw more lightning and control it better.

Wanting to see how far Sybil had gone he pulled out his data pad from his bag. The sign that marked her ruin had gone from red to green which meant that Sybil had claimed her ruin however the time that hovered above the top left corner of the screen was what alarmed Darius even more. He’d been in the ruin for two days now.

Without restocking his supplies, he dashed out of the building and headed towards the second ruin before Sybil could get to him.