Reborn: Evolving From Nothing

Dorian breathed in.

He exhaled.

He breathed in again.

He exhaled again.

His entire body was a mess of pain.

He could deal with that.

What he couldn't deal with, however, was the feeling of helplessness that swarmed him as he was picked up and carried by the female troop. He felt warm light encircle his battered body, trying to heal his injuries.

He could take action and defend himself right now if he needed to. But doing so would only worsen his already severe injuries.

He sighed, checking his status.

-

Dorian - Soul Status

Soul Stage: Lord Class (Early)

Health: Extremely Poor (Repairing)

Energy: 1,343/11,887

-

'Well.' He winced as he looked at the numbers. It wasn't surprising. One thing stood out to him, however.

'My Energy Level grew.' At least there was a positive here. He'd broken into 11,000, and almost into 12,000. The growth was extremely fast for a normal being, and probably due to the energy that his soul had been forced to bear in his Condensed forms and the various fights that had taken place.

If only he could maintain any of his Condensed form's energy levels permanently. He sighed.

His unstable Berserker Demon form didn't carry over its Energy Level permanently, at least in regards to his soul. If he could find a way to stabilize it, he would benefit greatly. Its base Energy Level was in excess of 30,000, and would prove a huge increase in strength.

'Ugh, my head.' Dorian tried, and failed, to clutch at his head. His right arm screamed at him in agony when he tried to move it, so he left it alone.

He had jumped into the Red Portal just a few seconds after tossing in the Shades. His very last memory was of flashing lights and pain, his body being tossed around for what seemed like forever, and then landing here, just moments ago.

'At least I'm in one piece.' He mentally muttered, his eyes twitching. He seemed to be getting badly injured far too often for his own liking, with jarring repetition, if anything.

He opened his eyes slightly, glancing at the women that were carrying him.

'Is my soul the reason they are here? Or that I am here where they are?' He questioned, wondering. His soul twisted Fate, something that was normally impossible. He mentally nodded. A coincidence like this had to be because of that.

They were… saving him.

Dorian had reverted to his human form just before he landed. It was a fact that forms with weaker regenerative properties were more strongly affected by healing medicine. It was one of the laws of the 30,000 Worlds.

He had intended to take advantage of this, using one of his last remaining Light Pills he'd prepared long ago. He wore his Storage Ring on his right hand, and hadn't needed to pick it up when he lost his arm.

One of the female Wizards here appeared to study White Magic, and had cast some sort of healing spell on Dorian. Dorian could feel it interacting with the healing magic from the Light Pill, combining to slowly repair the countless injuries that covered his physical form. It kept his body warm, combatting the cold that coated the air.

Apart from his more obvious physical injuries, the biggest loss, in Dorian's eyes, was his arm.

'Ausra, what will I need to repair my arm?' He mentally queried. He had learned, through his conversations with his Soul Spell Matrix Genie, that it was possible to restore any injured part of his body if he used energy points.

'Reforming your severed left arm will take approximately 46 hours, and cost 24,332 points of energy.' She replied coolly, her voice feminine and comforting.

A bit longer than he had expected, but not unbearable. The energy point expenditure made him wince though. It was only an arm, after all, and it already cost so much? The rules his Soul Spell Matrix had to follow were confusing.

He mentally shrugged, and then pulled up his current energy point total, checking on it.

-

-Human - Growth Stage: (2/2) Human Adult -

Growth Progress – 466,128/0 -

-

'466,000 points?!?!' Dorian sputtered, his eyes opening wide in shock at the value.

That was huge!

He hadn't had time to check when he absorbed the arm of the undead Grakon King and its blade, but he certainly hadn't expected such a huge sum.

'Excellent!' He thought, smiling in glee. His face twitched, however, pain wracking him. He was still injured.

'Ausra, begin repairing my arm immediately.' He ordered, commanding the Genie. He knew he could simply use his will to focus the growth energy stored in his Soul Spell Matrix and command it on his own, but he liked talking to Ausra, for some strange reason. He felt as if he had a connection with her, even if she was just an emotionless construct of magic.

'Repair process initializing… Please do not switch forms or the energy used will be lost.' Ausra stated. A moment later, Dorian felt a warmth in his left shoulder, and an odd, creeping feeling. The healing process had begun.

With 466,128 energy points, even if he took off the roughly 25,000 points needed to repair his arm, Dorian had more than enough to fully evolve his Solar Rock Lizard form. He could then begin progress on some of his other bloodlines and test out some new combined forms.

His Grakon bloodline and his Shade bloodline, the two newest ones he had gained, sounded very interesting to Dorian. The combinations he could gain from them seemed prominent, and the Expand Ability of the Grakon race was incredibly enticing.

How would it interact with his Condense Ability? Would they cancel out? He had no answers currently.

'Did I get that many points from the arm? Or from the weapon? Or both?' Dorian questioned, his eyes shining.

Regardless, it was a huge gain for him.

"Quickly Marian! Let's move!" A girlish voice awoke Dorian from his musings.

He was currently being carried by one of the stocky female warriors.

If he changed his form now, he would waste the energy he'd spent to repair his body. Plus, healing magic, just like healing medicine, became less effective the stronger the regenerative properties, and stronger a creature in general, was. His human form was one of his weakest forms, which therefore allowed him to heal faster than even his strongest form's regenerative properties, with the aid of the Light Pill and the healing Spell.

It would be best to remain in this form for now.

thud

thud

The group of women quickly moved through several small cave passages, following a winding path. Dorian kept his guard up as he was carried, his eyes cool. He watched every movement, preparing himself to make an escape, even in his battered state, if it was required.

He would not blindly trust people. Not anymore. They seemed to have good intentions, but he couldn't be too careful.

'Kill them.'

Just as he was taking a second to meditate, a voice rudely appeared in Dorian's mind. A quiet whisper, but one that he couldn't ignore. It seemed to have no origin, yet was firmly rooted within him.

The darkness that was everywhere in his soul twitched.

That voice… Dorian's eyes took on an even colder glint.

Something was wrong with him.

When he gained those memories from that other man, memories that were his own now… it felt as if he had gained something else. In fact, it almost felt like this something else had been present with him for a long time.

And now, he could hear it clearly.

A voice in his head.

'Am I crazy? Is this what being crazy feels like?' He thought, blinking slowly.

'Is this my thoughts? Is this someone else? Hello?'

He was greeted with silence. He waited for several seconds, straining his mind and ears. He received no response.

'Hello? Kill who? These people?' He opened his eyes, glancing at the women that were carrying him. The warriors were spread out in a wide formation, with several scouting ahead, and a pair scouting behind. Their movements were coordinated and well practiced. They clearly had a great deal of training.

They had made it through several smaller passageways and eventually came out onto a long, winding passage that appeared to be carved entirely out of ice. So far they had managed to avoid any patrolling Grakons, their journey safe and quiet. It seemed these ladies knew the lay of this land very well.

'I'm not going to kill them for nothing.' He answered his own question and mentally shook his head. If anything, the women here were helping him.

If he was going crazy, well, he would deal with that when the time came.

The voice didn't deign to speak again.

Gradually, Dorian's head grew fuzzy as his body repaired itself. He fell into a semi-aware state as he began to rest, the constant awareness and exhaustion of the past several days slowly starting to slough off him.

Seconds slipped to minutes, and minutes slipped to hours.

Soon, Dorian awoke from his semi-aware stupor, finding himself in a well-constructed campsite. They were still on Blizzaria, still underground. They appeared to be in some nook or cranny hidden off in the side of one of the caves.

'Ugh.' Dorian mentally groaned as he glanced around. His body was still sore and in pain, but in a much better condition than before. He could move now, at least.

He chose to remain still, pretending to be unconscious as he snuck glances at the campsite.

Most of the warriors appeared to be resting in large black tents. Dorian was also in one such tent, one that had an open flap, letting out warm swathes of heat to prevent the tent from overheating.

Heat that was coming from a dimly lit stone in the corner of his tent. This stone appeared to be the size of his head. It was some type of mobile, magic heater.

His body was resting upon a comfortable sleeping bag, tucked in and covered with white cloth.

'Well, they don't appear to be bad people.' He thought as he looked over his injuries. He was wrapped all over by white gauze. It appeared to be magical bandages of some sort. At the least, they didn't get stained by the dirt or blood that had coated him.

"Miss Parnip, we cannot afford to pick up a stray in such a dangerous area. We are only halfway back to Paxital. I know you're happy we found the Golden Leaf to cure your father after nearly 3 weeks of searching, but you know we are being hunted-" A stern voice began, but was cut off,

"Marian. I told you my decision. I am a member of the Golden Moon Mercenary Alliance, just like my father. We are obligated to help those that need help, out in the field." A girlish voice responded, one that was filled with iron despite her youth.

Dorian looked out the flap, his eyes alighting on two figures. One was the girl that had ordered Dorian rescued, while the other was one of the Wizards in the all-female troop.

"Only in certain circumstances! We are not charities, we are being actively hunt-"

"Marian. My word is final." The girl's voice was cool,

"We will take him with us. He won't wake up till after we reach Excelsior, anyway, not with his injuries. And, if we encounter the dogs sent to stop my father's recovery, we will kill them all as a matter of course."

A moment passed as the other, older woman sighed and gave way, holding up her hands in surrender.

Dorian's eyes flashed as he took this in.

'The Golden Moon Mercenary Alliance, huh?' He knew that name.

When he rescued a traveling Aethmen caravan and first ran into Mello, back on the World Bridge to Taprisha, he'd learned that the guards had been members of the Golden Moon Mercenary Alliance.

Later on, as he was researching the great powers of the 30,000 Worlds, to gain an understanding of this strange universe, he'd read up on the mercenary group.

The Golden Moon Mercenary Alliance was a massive, sweeping alliance that held allegiance to no particular group. There were Vampires in it, Aethmen in it, Humans in it, Dragons in it. All manners of beasts, humanoids, and more.

It was the single largest mercenary group in existence. The leaders of the troop, the Five Mercenary Kings, were all renowned for their great strength in combat.

'Dammit Fate-twisting soul. Stop bringing stuff like this towards me. I have enough on my plate already.' He mentally shook his fist at his soul, cursing.

It was clear that the group he was with was little better off than he was, being hunted to prevent some type of healing treasure from being delivered to someone important.

He sighed and shook his head slightly.

Dorian slipped back into a meditative rest as he focused on recovery. His body began to restore itself, energy coursing through it as the rest of the women settled in to sleep or stand watch, a calm respite before the storm.

Bit by bit, the many wounds, scratches, cracked bones, and injuries that dotted Dorian's body began to heal.

Time passed as he healed, meditating and putting every iota of his will into healing his battered body.

In the blink of an eye, six quiet hours had passed, hidden away from the dangerous Grakons that patrolled the underground area.

-

Dorian - Soul Status

Soul Stage: Lord Class (Early)

Health: Fine (Repairing)

Energy: 4,332/11,887

-

"Alright, ladies! Let's keep moving! We'll reach the World Bridge in 5 hours!"

Dorian's eyes flashed as he came awake and readied himself to be carried like a heroic, but limp, sack of potatoes, prepared for anything.