Ocelia grasped for breath as her chest felt heavier and heavier, collapsing onto Forus, knocking each other onto the ground. The symbol of the snowflake faintly shone as it continued to emit the hazy cold wind, condensing the icy elemental particles inside Ocelia, clashing with the flaming elemental particles.
The clash would usually cause grave damage to the soul of the sorcerer, possibly making them dropped in their sorcery cultivation. The violent impact would burst the blood veins open, harming the consciousness and the mind of the sorcerer. Their heart would stop working due to an excessive amount of injury, shutting down the pathway of both the sorcery energy and the blood.
However, with the unknown function of the Snowflake Tattoo, it forcefully held the membrane of the veins and supplied the heart with enough energy to keep it working. The damage coming from the clash between the fire and ice got reduced by the Snowflake to the bare minimum that it wouldn't affect the ordinary function of the body. Although the pain was immense, there would be no permanent after-effects or any persistent internal injuries.
Still, the Snowflake didn't stop at this stage, it also radiated fragments of an unknown flowing fluid, continuously seeping into her body, merging with her soul and bones, making subtle changes that gradually piled up, slowly changing her physical appearance and fleshly nature. Her body casually accepted the liquid without any resistance, absorbing them as if they were precious elixirs.
Unknowingly, her orangish eyes began to have a hint of light blue shade in them, slowly multiplied itself as it started to mix with the original colour that occupied the space of the eyes. Likewise, the tip of her hair also began to change, having a bluish hue appeared at the end of her hair, blending flawlessly with the previous reddish tone.
These and many subtle changes caused Ocelia to panic at first, worrying about her fragile body and the consequence of its breakdown. However, after confirming that the changes wouldn't affect her, she began to observe and experimented with her enhanced body, discovering the differences in her appearance and her elemental affection.
Logically, one's elemental affection would never change throughout their life, unless one broke through the shackle of nature and became something much more. Without the help of the mythical sorcerers or the legendary potions from the ancient time, their affection would determine their suitability in practising sorcery of different elements.
Even then, the elemental affection of one would also be one's weaknesses. Their body would let favoured elemental particles through while sealing itself from opposing particles, expelling them out of their body before they started their rampage. The Fire Element would clash with the Ice Element. The Light Element would conflict with the Dark Element. The Wood Element would contrast against the Lightning Element.
However, in Ocelia's case, a miracle had happened, granting her a unique characteristic that was precious beyond any treasures within the Flamedouse City. With the modification adjusted by the Snowflake, Ocelia's body would be able to accept both the flaming elemental particles and the icy elemental particles without any automatic expulsion from the body and soul.
Although in this early stage of transformation, her body still couldn't adapt at the development and would sometimes cause the opposing particles to clash, with times and the ongoing modification, Ocelia would be able to create the equilibrium and freely used both of Element without any backlash.
Feeling excited about her new-found ability and rewarded gifted, Ocelia turned her attention towards her soon-to-be husband, hoping to rejoice with his success and letting both of them had a sweet moment together. Stress relieve after a big crisis was necessary for the two to relax their tired mind and cope with their exhausted consciousness.
Contrast to Ocelia's feeling of wonder and carefree, Forus had once again experienced the same pain as when the Aura of Decay first manifested within his body, decaying his soul and body slowly while keeping him alive, forcing him to experience the endless torment.
The Skull Tattoo released the pale-white gas that slowly mutated his flesh, turning them purer and smoother, enhancing his body functions and abilities. However, because of the rapid expansion in his body, including the bones and the muscles, coupled with the enhancement of his senses, the pain he felt was a lot more than having his flesh burnt by the Death Aura.
He could feel the mysterious energy gathering at his arm where his hand had gotten cut off, condensing itself to forcefully escalate the recovery of the body, helping him grow his new limb. The sensation of gaining a new organ was not as pleasant as it filled Forus with pain akin to burning oneself with fire from the inside.
The flesh around his wounds started to heat up from the process of intensified reproduction, rapidly creating newer generations of skin to cover the exposed bones and stop the bleed. The arm which had no hand turned red as blood was gusting towards the newly formed flesh, gradually expanding and taking the shape of the previous cut-off hand.
Although Forus could not regenerate his eyes yet, he could still use the overflowing energy to get rid of the blockage created by the spiritual seed. With the obstacles cleared, growing a new pair of eyes would be very easy with the resources he had amassed, not to mention the support he could get from his beloved companion.
The feeling of having two hands again was like a man that grew a pair of wings on his back, gaining something precious and priceless. As if a new perspective had drowned him, Forus felt a hint of happiness in his emotionless heart.
Like a worried father that watched his son came back to him after years of disappearance, Forus gently moved his new hand, trying to get the best feel out of it. His actions resembled that of a child who had gained a new, enticing toy that would not leave him for years to come.
Seeing the process of recreation, Ocelia quickly deduced about the rewards her lover got. From the fragmented memories which she got after her soul took control over Forus' body, coupled with her observation of Forus' energy and abilities, she knew that the mysterious power that empowered Forus was the obscure Death Aura, which only existed in the area with extreme amounts of resentful spirits and deaths.
Not only that, Forus even told her the method of controlling Death Aura when they were confronting the perished dark hand, helping her gained more insight into the Death Aura. She also had experienced the characteristic of the Death Aura, knowing how destructive it was and how hard it was to control the aura.
According to her observation, the power that the mysterious existence-in-white gave as the rewards for their success in surviving the deadly night would be extraordinary and unique. In her case, she got the power that directly opposed her fundamental foundation of a sorcerer, helping her obtained something even second-ranked sorcerers could only dream off.
With this hypothesis in mind, linked with mystical characteristics of the power Forus received, it was reasonable to say that Forus had gained something even better than her, the equally mysterious Life Aura.
Like the Death Aura, the Life Aura would only manifest in the area filled with life force and vitality. From the description of the legend of Life Aura, it was said to be one of the essential ingredients to create nature's inhabitants and environments of the present time. The most ancient forms of life came from the Life Aura and perished under the Death Aura.
However, although it was Life Aura, its calmness at the surface was only the deception, concealing its terrifying aspects. With its overwhelming power, all of its creations would take the appearance of the eldritch abominations, too horrifying to be perceived by the mortals.
In its presence, all life would mutate and transform, returning into its primordial state of evolution, mindless and frenzy, powerful and terrifying. However, born within the chaos and mindlessness, emotions began to take its shape in the young reality, manifesting within the mindless monsters.
With emotions emerged thoughts, with thoughts created minds. The first intelligent race forsook its godly power in exchange for its profound wisdom, severing its roots and connections from the Life Aura, becoming the ancestors of all rational beings. Although there was no evidence to justify the legend as there were no records of any creatures with godly power or any inter-reality species, this legend was still one of the most popular myths that the sorcerers tried to find the truth in it.
Only with the sudden mutter of pain could Ocelia bring herself back from her daydream, she looked at Forus to find him sweating as his newly-created hand turned black as numerous tendrils burst out of his hardened skin, which resembled the scales of the reptiles. The black scales gradually emerged around his body, filling his skin with black layers of hardened coverings.
Although Forus was on the verge of losing his humanity, his facial expression still didn't change as he focused his mind into directing the destructive Life Aura to his hollowed eye sockets, using its power to clear the blockage that the seed from that female sorceress had left inside of his soul.
The process of transformation was rapid and unstoppable, forcing his blood to change and his body to approach the desired condition. The Life Aura slowly seeped into his realm of conscious, moving towards his mind and soul, converting him towards the purer lifeform, making him connected with the originator of all things.
However, once a stance of Life Aura touched the surface of the calm, emotionless grey soul, the soul shook as myriad grey tendrils stretched out from it, devouring the Life Aura without any concern of its destructive and chaotic aftereffects. The tendrils digested the power of the Life Aura and injected them into Forus' soul, mutating his soul and transforming his mind and consciousness.
The tendrils then moved from the realm of conscious into the physical body of Forus, penetrating every vein and taking care of every Life Aura on the way, greedily swallowed it and transferred the energy into both Forus' mind and body, strengthening it without end. The rampage of the tentacles slowly settled as the last bit of the Life Aura disappeared from the face of the dull world.
The merciless grey soul had denied Forus of his only chance of controlling both of the primordial force of the ancient time, devouring it and used it as the supply for his strengthening. Even more so, because the Life Aura was no more, Forus wouldn't be able to destroy the blockage at his eye sockets without days of efforts into doing the task, making him unable to regrow his eyes.
Although the unique talent that supposed to be his had disappeared, he still had reaped some benefits from the crisis as he observed the newly-grown hand. From the surface, it looked like the normal hand that everyone had. However, with a single command from his mind, the limb would turn into numerous tendrils that could move at will, gaining him a powerful secret weapon that could end his enemies in an instant.
As for the lost of the Life Aura and his chance of becoming the exceptional talent, Forus only felt a hint of worry before he moved on. If not for the greyish soul, Forus might fall into the mindless state like the monsters that came from the Life Aura in the legend. Although the prospect of becoming uncontrollably strong was very tempting, Forus was more content with the transformative power that he could wield at the moment without losing his reasons.
Examing the newly-transformed body, Forus carefully felt the power that ran through his body, trying his best to master the art of control. He commanded and observed the process of shifting as his nails turned into the sharp claws, his skin turned hardened and blackened. He also found that his perceptions had become much more sensitive and delicate, sensing even the faint and deflated elemental particles in the air.
With the mysteriousness of the greyish soul, Forus became a being whose mind hadn't lost itself after coming into contact with the Life Aura, which ran rampage against the Death Aura inside his body. In the end, he became something unique.
