Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight

If Aureleah’s situation alone brought with it an almost excessive amount of frustration and exasperation, then one could only imagine how Regaleon himself felt.

After all, Aureleah was a prodigy.

She possessed extraordinary talent, multiple Prime Organs, and Soul Essences that had already proven to be anything but ordinary. If there was anyone among them who could reasonably be expected to encounter an absurdly difficult breakthrough, it was her.

But Regaleon? He was supposed to be the least gifted among them, the one at the bottom of the barrel.

He possessed none of the renowned talent that had made Aureleah a prodigy, yet somehow, the Aetherium had decided to compensate for his lack of talent by burdening him with four Prime Organs.

Honestly, one could almost imagine the whirlpool of emotions and complicated thoughts churning through the depths of his subconscious.

Even Regaleon himself couldn’t understand why his cultivation had become so bizarre. But if he was to make an educated guess, he would say that this was simply another way for the universe to punish him.

Imagine being given all the criteria necessary to become a prodigy without actually possessing the talent required to be one.

If that wasn’t malicious, Regaleon genuinely couldn’t say what was. Yet, no matter how peculiar or complicated his cultivation became, Regaleon continued. After all, ge had already come this far so there was no point in giving up now.

Regaleon possessed four Prime Organs; his lungs, spine, liver and kidneys.

Each one was critically vital, one after another, making his cultivation as difficult as walking across a tightrope suspended above an abyss while carrying a lit candle in both hands.

If fighting an Anima ranked higher than himself was already difficult, then one could only imagine the complexity and danger of attempting to awaken four sets of Aether Veins situated around organs that his body simply could not afford to damage.

The rest of the group had spent the last several hours carefully awakening their veins, maintaining a steady rhythm and exercising the utmost caution. And that caution had been necessary because of their Prime Organs.

Even Aureleah, the prodigy among them, had been prudent enough to control her impulses. She possessed two critically vital Prime Organs, while the other two were considerably less dangerous from a purely anatomical perspective.

But in a cruel twist of fate, Regaleon—the person at the bottom of their group when it came to Soul Essence and innate talent—happened to possess the greatest number of vital Prime Organs.

How ironic.

Perhaps that was simply how life liked to play its games.

Still, Regaleon had never been someone who shirked responsibility simply because something was difficult.

So what if his Prime Organs were all indispensable? He would still do what needed to be done, no matter how long it took or how difficult it became.

With that decision firmly settling in his mind, the silver-haired Knight began his cultivation in earnest... Only to encounter his first obstacle almost immediately.

Regaleon frowned internally the instant he sensed something wrong.

His Primary Aether Veins had expanded as expected, and the energy circulating through them was stable. Yet when he attempted to extend them outward toward the rest of his body, he encountered resistance.

Not physical resistance, something far stranger; it was almost as though an invisible barrier had been erected somewhere between his heart and the rest of his body which caused his Primary Veins to remain confined, unable to progress out of his heart.

An almost imperceptible crease formed upon his forehead when he discovered this. According to Aelric, there shouldn’t have been any resistance at this stage.

Their Primary Aether Veins were supposed to act as guides. Once strengthened, they would naturally become more receptive to the Essence Pool’s energy and allow them to search for the dormant Secondary Veins.

The actual resistance was supposed to appear only after they located those dormant veins and attempted to force the potent Aether into them.

But Regaleon hadn’t even reached that stage. As a matter of fact, he was stuck before he could begin and worse... He was completely obstructed.

No matter how carefully he attempted to guide his Aether outward, it refused to pass beyond his heart...

While the others spent the following hours breaking through the bottlenecks that had shackled their cultivation since their Awakening Ceremonies, Regaleon became the only one engrossed in solving the strange problem within his own body.

He spent what felt like an eternity probing his internal pathways with his consciousness; searching and examining. He looked for anything that could possibly be remotely responsible for this predicament of his; perhaps an abnormality or a blockage.

But he found nothing. If Regaleon were a physician examining himself, he would have given himself an unremarkable prognosis.

Everything appeared perfectly normal within him and that was precisely what made the situation so disturbing. Because if everything was normal, then why was nothing working?

The contradiction gradually became almost paradoxical until eventually, after exhausting every method he could think of, Regaleon finally stumbled upon the answer.

And when he did, his consciousness froze.

This is because the very thing that had been hindering his cultivation... Was his heart. Or, more accurately, something inside it...

While probing his body, Regaleon suddenly discovered something that should not have existed, another "Heart".

His awareness lingered around the strange structure in disbelief. At first, he wondered if his senses had somehow deceived him. But no; it was there.

Inside his physical heart was another "Heart". Not an organ in the conventional sense; instead, it was some sort of metaphysical vessel, enclosed within the physical organ as though it had always existed there.

Regaleon didn’t even bother trying to comprehend how such a thing was possible.

At this point, his cultivation had already become absurd enough that another impossibility barely registered as one.

Instead, his attention immediately shifted toward the more important question, why thing was interfering with his cultivation.

He guided his consciousness toward it, his will sweeping across the strange "Heart", probing its surface for any irregularities, intricacies, markings, or clues that might explain its purpose.

But strangely, his consciousness simply passed through it. The sensation was almost like trying to grasp smoke with one’s bare hands and it was deeply unsettling.

The structure appeared completely tangible, yet his consciousness could not interact with it in the way it should have been able to interact with a physical organ.

Regaleon was taken aback.

The heart looked so real that it was almost indistinguishable from his physical one. There was, however, one unmistakable difference and that was the golden and silvery light pulsing from within it rhythmically; like two stars beating in unison inside a vessel shaped like a heart.

Regaleon stared at it through his consciousness. And the longer he observed it, the stranger it became...

It no longer looked like an organ. Instead, it looked like some kind of sealed mechanism. Or perhaps... A receptacle, a vessel designed to contain something that Regaleon had never known existed within him.

Since his consciousness could neither penetrate nor interact with the structure, Regaleon changed his approach and began channeling Aether toward it.

Initially, he expected the energy to pass through the metaphysical heart just as his consciousness had but it didn’t.

Rather, the moment the Aether touched the strange heart, it was absorbed...

Regaleon’s eyes would have widened if his physical body had been conscious enough to react.

The heart was consuming his Aether and the more it absorbed, the brighter the gold and silver light became.

Regaleon hesitated for only a moment; then curiosity overcame caution. He began to pour more Aether and the more he gave the structure, the more it drank.

Regaleon steadily increased the flow and soon, an enormous quantity of Aether was being drawn from the Essence Pool...

Outwardly, the water around Regaleon began to behave strangely.

The surface of the Essence Pool rippled at first, then it churned before it seemed to boil around him.

Wisps of translucent energy rose from the liquid in continuous streams, twisting through the air before being drawn directly toward the silver-haired Knight.

From a distance, it looked as though Regaleon had become the center of some enormous vortex as the Essence Pool itself seemed to be feeding him.

Yet that wasn’t what was happening.

The tremendous quantity of Aether being absorbed had almost nothing to do with his cultivation. Instead, it was being consumed by something no larger than a human heart.

And still, Regaleon continued.

He flooded the metaphysical heart with so much Aether that finally... Something changed. In the next moments, the rhythmic pulsing accelerated while the gold and silver light that had previously appeared calm became increasingly rapid..

THUMP! THUMP!! THUMP!!!

A faint vibration spread through the metaphysical structure...

Then came a sound; a low, almost imperceptible hum.

As tye strange "Heart" began to oscillate, its light intensified and the humming only grew louder until suddenly, it began to expand.

Regaleon immediately stopped the flow of Aether when he saw this but the "Heart" continued swelling to the extent that it became clear that it was going to burst.

His consciousness tightened as he attempted to withdraw but it was too late because in the next moment, the metaphysical heart suddenly expanded to its limit and then...

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion erupted within his chest...

Gold and silver radiance erupted outward in a blinding wave and for one brief instant, Regaleon’s entire consciousness was swallowed by those two colours.

While he was still reeling from the explosion, he suddenly felt something strange. It was as though something vast was reaching directly into the deepest part of his existence, attempting to pull him in.

No. Not just pull him, it felt like he was being devoured...

Regaleon instantly began to struggle. His consciousness instinctively recoiled, but the force was already upon him...

In a matter of few moments, his awareness began to unravel, his memories blurred, his thoughts fragmented, his very sense of self seemed to loosen, and before he could even understand what was happening, his consciousness was swallowed whole...

And just like that, the silver-haired Knight descended into darkness and oblivion...

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