Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

789. Atzilut – The Beginning of Emanation

“… st…!”

A faint voice struggled to call out to Frost.

“… ost!”

She felt her lips part as she attempted to respond, but no words seemed to form.

Strange. I can feel my mouth move, but there’s no sound coming out… hold on. It’s not just me. I can’t hear anything except for Nav’s voice. Its distant. Why is it getting further away?

“…t…!”

Even thoughts could not reply to Nav’s voice. Her eyes were still shut. At least from what she believed. The world was so dark that she could not differentiate between the void and the darkness behind her eyelids.

It was not until she saw her hands. She looked further down and saw her body standing on air.

Ah… Am I in someone’s memories again?

Frost was doubtful. The dark, ceaseless expanse had only appeared a few times in Frost’s life. Her very first encounter with this darkness was when she awakened as the Amalgam.

Wasn’t that when I brushed by death’s door? I don’t remember anything happening after passing through the veil, so it can’t be that. I guess that was the only time, huh. Inside of the Black Forest. I think there was a moment like this while I was in my memories of the old world. And…

Scratches appeared on the walls. They evoked the desperation of whoever was trapped prior behind these circular walls.

… that damned sphere that trapped the Captured Star.

Indeed. Frost could tell that the boundaries of the void were circular in shape and was not as expansive as she thought.

Rather, it was cramped. She didn’t even have enough room to walk more than a single step before colliding with the walls. The bloody symbols confirmed that this was the cavity that held the Captured Star, as she had seen these equations and depictions of an unseen world within the Floor of Desire.

Why am I seeing this now?

It didn’t make sense as to why she was here. The cavity was an illusion but at the same time, it felt tangible. Her hands pressed against her cold boundaries, and her fingertips traced the scratches. The sentiments of countless iterations of the Captured Star could be felt through the images.

It was fathomless. Like she was viewing the collective thoughts of countless. But the words that stood out the most to her were:

‘Escape.’ ‘A world is waiting for you outside.’ ‘Break free.’

These words were not meant for the person who wrote them. They were written for someone else to receive them. Perhaps for the next iteration of the Captured Star.

Frost was curious as to why she received this warning now, but it wouldn’t be the first time that she was contacted by the previous Captured Stars. The first time it occurred was in the Floor of Judgement when their collective angst manifested as the Corrupted Fairytales.

The Dove From Jupiter also came to mind.

Did it matter in the end, or was she just overthinking things? The sudden isolation caused her to mull over what could have been nothing. It had been so long that she was alone that it ate at her, and she too began to scratch at the boundaries.

Nothing good will come from staying here. It’s suffocating. I can’t imagine what it was like to be kept in here for years on end… never being able to see what’s outside.

Unlike the previous iterations of the Captured Star, she was able to claw deeper into the walls, scooping out chunks of cold, dark steel. Now that she noticed it, her hands emitted a faint glow, and her eyes shone brightly like a beacon.

Rays of light emanated from the outside world. She pushed through the shell when a hole large enough to fit her body was made. It felt like passing through an invisible veil of water, and before she knew it, she found herself standing in an endless desert.

It didn’t take long for Frost to quickly heighten her senses. She didn’t forget that she was in enemy territory. Getting too distracted by her surroundings might cost her. Still, her floating eyes allowed her to get better sense of her surroundings.

< Frost? Are you back? >

 

“Was I gone long?”

“It’s been a minute. I thought something happened to you. We were disconnected suddenly. Do you remember what caused it?”

“The only thing that comes to mind is the shell I found myself in. You know, the black ball that kept the Captured Star?”

Frost didn’t find any traces of the ball that trapped her. Not only that, but her surroundings felt off. There was a surprisingly few number of stars in the night sky, and the bright supermoon was on the verge of touching the horizon.

If a minute had only passed, then why did it seem like they were on the brink of dawn? But upon closer inspection, she quickly discovered that this was not the case. There was no sight of the sun nor its light from the other side of the world. The skies should have been pink if it was close to dawn, but it still as dark as midnight.

The only other conclusion Frost could arrive at was that they were so far up that it seemed like the moon was setting. But that didn’t make any sense. They couldn’t have gone that far up…

Her eyes were then drawn to the Nexus, and then, to the red star that shone above Mount Saris. The sandy dunes were higher than the mountain, but the star itself shone high enough to count as a star amongst the few in this lonely expanse.

“It wasn’t the doing of an Aberration of Elysia?”

“I don’t think so. It happened as soon as I passed through the veil. That said… Nav. I don’t see the others. Is Snap ok?”

“Snap is fine. They’re currently observing Cer. She’s in the middle of fighting Raoul, but she doesn’t seem to be in danger right now. I’d be more concerned about myself if I were you.”

“… Shit. And the Hired Arm?”

Instead of Nav, the Hired Arm suddenly answered. Frost had almost forgotten that she was cognitively linked with the Alter Frosts mostly because they didn’t really talk to her in the first place.

“I’m following the sound of a symphony. I believe the Maestros of Flesh are close. It’s cold. The walls are made of ice. Your concern is appreciated, but you should remember that I carry a quarter of your stats in my unpowered state. I’m above the Moons and Stars; I am your personal mercenary. But it’s like you to worry about others.”

It was also through this that she was able to get a small update from the Taleor, who simply stated:

“We’re doing fine.”

“I see. Good… I was worried that I was the only one who made it. I’m curious just what that shell was. Nav. You said we disconnected, not that you were talking to me one-sidedly. That only happens when I’m trapped inside of a memory. But that didn’t feel like a memory. If anything, it was real. I could still faintly hear you.”

It would be problematic if Frost was struck by the same phenomenon again. But like most things, she grasped at straws with no leads in sight. All she could do now was follow the light at the end of the expanse and gather her thoughts.

But Frost did not do this absentmindedly. She slashed her thumb against a tooth and created a trail of Unlying Tablets, each infused with either [Corporeal Restoration], [Grand Healing], [Area Heal], and [Cleanse].

The world was brightly lit from the source of the pale-gold light that emanated in the horizon. The supermoon engulfed it, but even so, its light blue light could not compare to it. That was where Frost needed to reach. However, it did not seem to get any closer no matter how fast she moved across the sandy dunes.

“Nav. Am I still inside of a Corrupted Zone?”

< You are still in the Meadow of Blooming Memories >

 

< But you are at a place closest to the Genesis Stone where the fathoms of the Effeuiller La Dahlia originates from >

 

“It doesn’t look anything like a meadow. Plus… I don’t see the Effeuiller La Dahlia anywhere. Could it be over there?”

Frost stared into the light. A faint outline of a blue, crystal flower surrounded the illustrious Genesis Stone. It was so bright that she could not stare at it for long, neither could she make out its true size.

But she could tell that it was larger than the one she found beneath Paradise. That much she knew.

The world shifted suddenly. What were sandy dunes became a frozen plain. Then, it shifted back to the expansive desert.

< The Effeuiller La Dahlia shrieks as she searches through every possibility for her one and only daughter >

 

< Can her hands reach her in time before her memory fades? >

 

< “The search must go on. What was supposed to be love became the two hands that strangled you. Can you still love what has hurt you?” >

 

“She’s here. Subjugating the Effeuiller La Dahlia is as easy as destroying the Genesis Stone. Nav. I’m going to speed up! Let me know if you discover something! And ask Lailah if she knows anything about what I experienced!”

Frost mentally prepared herself for any encounter. But nothing appeared. The world was as devoid of life – barren, inhospitable, and ceaseless. It was similar to the world that existed in the Floor of Hope, but also the desert where the F-H5’s Site Core was located.

< “I always wanted to be a rose to you. The hurt was temporary. I tried to snip the thorns away. But in my barren field of endless promises, I became a flower of imagination.” >

 

Minutes felt like hours in this world. Time ran differently here. It was much faster. A single minute was like a second in the real world, which was why it felt like it took Nav hours to find Lailah.

< The Captured Star could not be contained with worldly materials >

 

< “Forget me? Forget me not? Even those flowers will be remembered when they’re gone.” >

 

The world shifted again, transforming into a meadow of blue flowers much like the one they saw underneath. Flowers bloomed and died, appeared and disappeared. Instead of holding a different Cer, they showcased cracks of different imagined worlds.

Suddenly, the shadows of a pair of hands crept across the expanse. Two, enormous, crystal hands hovered in the air. Each were held by invisible strings. If Frost didn’t know any better, then she would have believed them to be Pentanids. They were just missing an eye to resemble a Decanid.

 

< The shell that contained it was the only blemish in that pallid garden >

 

< “It was fate that drove me away. The cycles and tales we share are destined to end the same. But can they be plucked before they take root, my dearest seedling?” >

 

The hands reached into the ground, plucking worlds into a bouquet as an invisible presence oversaw them.

< It was darker than any material I knew, and cruel enough to hold the collective fathoms of humanity hostage >

Suddenly, a pale rod tore through the air. It ripped apart the flowers and imagined worlds in its wake before harpooning a single world held within the bouquet.

That rod…?

< “I must find you before it’s too late. Will you forgive me if I were to disappear one day?>

 

< [Forget Me (Not)] >

< EFFECT: Manifest a world into reality. If [My Daughter?] is not found, then collapse the manifested world. The Effeuiller La Dahlia’s existence is erased from the collapsed world >

The speared world cracked. Its contents spilled into the meadow, manifesting into reality. A pale forest unveiled itself. Within it were humanoid beings that were morphed into the shape of pale trees and Markers of a Price of Paradise.

The trees were staggeringly large. They were like columns meant to hold up the skies. But like the strings that held up the hands they disappeared into oblivion after a certain height.

|Meadow of Blooming Memories – The White Forest |

 

< CONDITION: All targets eliminated within the Meadow of Blooming Memories are inflicted with [Erase]. All targets that resemble the subjects in the Effeuiller La Dahlia’s memories are given the [My Daughter?] Condition. The Effeuiller La Dahlia cannot be destroyed until it finds what it’s looking for >

 

< ADDITIONAL CONDITION: The meadow of Blooming Memories expands as the demand for [My Daughter?] grows. Emotional distress dictates the end size of the Corrupted Zone >

 

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT: When the Effeuiller La Dahlia is reunited with who she is looking for, then the Effeuiller La Dahlia becomes vulnerable >

 

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT: The Effeuiller La Dahlia is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 or when its Gensis Stone is destroyed >

 

The Conditions were the same. And finally, she received the Stats of the Effeuiller La Dahlia as a presence finally emerged from the tree lines.

Frost’s heart dropped.

“The Qliphoth Field couldn’t contain you, as expected. It didn’t work in the Black Forest. Judging you based on your hair color was an unfortunate mistake. Light will always find a way to cut through the dark, wouldn’t you agree Amalgam?”

//////// < WARNING > ////////

 

< APOCALYPSE >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET HUMS ITS DIRGE >

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