Three weeks. It had been over three weeks since the emergence of the floating continent and the two new biomes; along with them, new and hostile creatures that lived in each of these environments. During these three weeks, scientists from all around the world converged and were assigned to outposts that were built on these new habitats. Their goal was simple: investigate what caused the appearance of the new ecosystem and find a way to stop it from spreading.
However, about a week ago, a discovery was made. A research team was sent out to explore the Corrupted biome. After a few hours of trekking they found a large crevasse that seemed to be unnaturally made, along with this discovery was the visual evidence of the new hostile creatures emerging from the crevasse. After grabbing some spelunking gear from the nearby outpost, they descended into the crack on the earth. Upon reaching the bottom, they discovered something extraordinary: a purple orb.
Multiple research teams were dispatched to learn that there are more of these cracks on the earth and deep down each of these cracks were one or two purple orbs. Each research team concluded to bring their apparatus in these places and set up some kind of underground base just so that they could further investigate the purpose of the purple orb.
And that brings us to now.
Dr Gustav Brownian, one of the leading scientists that was in charge of one of the research team stared at the purple orb before him. Different types of wires and tubes were hooked up to a kind of solar panel device which was pointed at the purple orb.
"What kind of secrets do you hold?"
Of course, his rhetoric was left unanswered. He turned back and walked towards one of the terminals and continued to observe the meter on the screen, looking for any drastic changes. According to the results that were achieved when they were conducting stress tests, it was shown it was highly resistant to anything that it was put through except explosives. With that discovery, they have decided to make use of fire dust and since their experiment was funded by Atlas, the Schnee Dust Company was more than happy to help out with their experimentations. He pushed his glasses up with his hand and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer, he glances at the electronic clock that sat on top of one of the machines.
3:14 AM
He sighed heavily; his team of scientists have been asleep ever since the clock hit the 12 AM mark. He looked behind him to see the huntsman which was supposed to be watching over him about to dozing off because of his boredom and the fact that it was going to be daybreak in a couple of hours and all he did was watch over the scientist while dealing with one of those flying creatures that lived in this biome. Gustav scoffed at the huntsman, while he will admit that he is only human and that he didn't posses any aura nor a semblance, the public give the huntsmen and huntresses too much credit. In perspective, it was with his ingenuity and other scientists that Remnant even had protectors to begin with.
The orb glowed
They were the reason why these muscle for brains even have functioning weapons and deadly ammunition. If it weren't for them, they would've still resorted to bows, spears, shields and swords. Primitive weapons! If it weren't for them, they would've never experienced the luxury of dust based technologies, things that they take for granted nowadays.
Brighter
Indeed, in hindsight, they don't really deserve all of these luxuries. They don't deserve all of these weapons or enhancements. Yes. They don't deserve them, and yet these… weaklings cower behind their walls, thinking that they are safe and sound when in reality, they aren't. Yes, if they want to cling on to these things that they believe make them strong, then He will show them true strength. Yes, the strength capable of devouring worlds.
Even brighter!
Gustav's eyes changed from its normal deep sea blue to a sickly purple. He looked to the orb once more, a face that looked like he had finally understood everything. His mouth shifted to a feral and unsettling grin. He gave an understanding nod, looking as if he was conversing with someone.
"I understand… I shall do what you say. Tomorrow, the whole world will finally understand the true meaning of strength." He muttered silently.
Corruption has settled in…
Ciane Mello, awoke to the blaring sound of her electric clock. She gave a quiet mumble before slamming her fist on the clock with a tired vengeance. She groaned tiredly before sitting up from her bed. Her messy hair got in the way but that didn't hinder her from finding her room's bathroom. She entered the shower and began the process of cleaning her body. Once that was done, she proceeded with hair drying followed by picking a set of clothes that she would wear for today and finally, to finish it off, she took the lab coat which hung by the door's racket. With her uniform set, she left her personal room and made her way to the breakfast area.
Upon reaching that spot, she noticed a small commotion between the scientists that were assigned to this particular outpost. Curious, she approached them.
"What's going on here?"
One of the scientists, a young man, looked at her before pointing in one direction. She traced his finger which landed on one particular individual: Gustav Brownian, sitting on another table just opposite of them. Ciane Mello raised an eyebrow at his looks. His hair was dishevelled, his hand were constantly tapping on that same empty mug—presumably, once filled with coffee—while his feet were constantly tapping on the metal floor, looking as if he wanted to go to the toilet but decided to figure out how long it will take for him to hold it in.
Despite her weirded out by his looks, Ciane considered Gustav to be a close friend so she shook her hesitation and approached him. However, it seems like the closer she got, the more hesitant she is. Something was off about him. The Gustav that she knew was calm and collected… not like the one she is approaching right now. Regardless, she dug that hesitation is the deep recesses of her mind and pushed onwards. She sat just opposite of him and that when she heard him muttering something.
"Um… Gus?"
Gustav's head snapped up unnaturally making Ciane flinch when he locked eyes with her.
"When did he start wearing contacts?" Ciane wondered as she gazed at his purple irises.
"Is everything alright?" She asked with little unease.
Gustav stared at her for a solid second before speaking. "Oh yes. Everything is alright." He paused. "In fact, everything is so alright, it's about to get even better!"
Ciane chuckled nervously. "Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you should take a break."
Gustav looked at her incredulously. "A break? No, no, I don't need a break right now. What I need are explosives! I need all of the fire dust in our storage right now!"
Ciane was now unnerved. "For what reason?"
Gustav warily looked left and right, looking as if someone hidden was listening in on their entire conversation. "I have made a discovery about the purple orb!" He whispered loudly.
That seemed to have garnered the attention of all of the scientists in the room. Of course, Ciane wanted to know what kind of discovery he made but his answer was the same. He couldn't tell them until he gets all of the fire dust at their disposal. Despite the clear reluctance of all of their faces, they all decided to grant Gustav's request for fire dust. Minutes later, seven pure fire dust—the most explosive type of dust—were lined up underneath the purple orb.
The team of hunters that were assigned to them had looks of suspicion at the amount of fire dust that that's they're looking at. While the rest were having nervous looks, Gustav on the other hand looked like he had reached nirvana, a look of unsettling glee was on his face as he walked back to the group. The entire group were quite some ways away from the line of fire dust, but they knew that despite knowing they were just out of range, some protection wouldn't hurt. So, the entire scientist group had decided to make use of some of their metal tables. Now protected from the explosion, Gustav went behind the overturned table, a look of giggling on his face. He glanced at one of the huntsmen, a man in his mid-forties, a scruff beard forming, hair dark but having signs of turning grey.
Said man scoffed before bringing raising up his war axe, a design he was proud of, during his time, the concept of combining ranged weapons and melee was something akin to a wealthy man's weapon. He pointed his war axe at the line of red dust, a trigger on the handle was revealed and with a tight squeeze, a bullet tipped with red dust emerged out of the length of the war axe. The bullet flew across the room, it touched the line of red dust…
BOOM
The entire facility rocked due to the sheer explosion. The team of huntsmen and huntresses covered their faces with their arms, their aura's shielding them for the stray shrapnel that was launched. The scientists hid behind the overturned metal tables. Once the room had quieted down, the heads of the scientists peeked up from their cover to see the aftermath. As expected, the combinations of multiple pure fire dust yielded a destructive result. The purple orb was now gone and in its place was a massive crater. Fog created from the concussive force gathered around the area of explosion but regardless, it was still visible. All of the scientists gawked at the spot, Ciane was one of the first ones to snap out of it. A look of anger and confusion was on her face while her mind was regretting with going through with Gustav's plan. She made sure to show her anger to the man responsible. Stomping towards the man, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Gus what the hell! That was our only orb!" She yelled.
"Yes, but there is more." Gustav said, still staring at the explosion with a wide smile on his face.
Ciane glared at him. "Yeah, but that would mean we would have to move everything! What the hell were you even thinking in the first pla-!"
She never got to finish what she wanted to say as Gustav's hand planted themselves on her face, with surprising force, her head was turned back to the location of the explosion, her eyes widened when she saw some kind of purple ethereal sphere. Somehow though, looking at that sphere made her uneasy. The ground around the sphere was rapidly turning everything into corrupt.
The sphere started to contract as the time passes. When it couldn't anymore, it exploded out, a wall of ethereal purple washed over the group. A bad feeling rises inside of Ciane's chest.
A cold chill goes down your spine.
Here's the rewrite of chapter 20! Sorry for being so late, exams are here, and my schedule is suddenly packed with the words 'study!'. I'm not really doing that great academically right now, so I hope to put more work into that. Once exam is finished however, I will get right back into it.
That being said, some thoughts about this chapter would be appreciated! It's a longer than the usual word count but that's because I wanted the build up to the summoning of the Eater of Worlds to be tense in Remnant's perspective. Meanwhile you all can imagine what Sir BoinkGeminid is doing on his floating continent and in his impenetrable fortress.
Again, some criticisms would be great, I would like to know whether this is an improvement from the previous version so criticize away! Sorry for sounding so stiff right now, things are quite tense in my life as of the moment. A lot of things in my mind. Yes, the exams are literally next door but there are also other things relating to my writing hobby.
