Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Badum… Badum…/

'Blast Chamber.'

Dale touched his chest, feeling the vibrations of his beating heart through his muscles and skin.

'It's as if nothing happened… That all of that mess before was nothing but a nightmare.'

'But here it is, beating with incredible strength as if it wants to jump out of my chest.'

'I can feel faint heat coming from my chest, It's not uncomfortable, on the contrary, rather comforting, but it's strange.'

'My heart is a few degrees hotter than other areas around it, and this causes my blood temperature to rise as well, like a gas heater in a bathroom.'

'Has this changed my overall temperature? How does this affect the proteins in my body?'

"..."

'There's no point in thinking about that now… As long as I don't hurt others when they touch me… Or make them think I'm sick.'

'A fusion or more accurately, an evolution from the Molded Heart…'

'I like everything about it, but what about my previous Skill? Why was it consumed?'

'What role did the Shard I acquired played in this fray for this to be the result?'

'Hum… There is no description for this, which is expected, most of these "small" effects on my body are left for interpretation, with the method of how I acquired them having that explanation most of the time.'

'But now, I'm left puzzled.'

"It's like a trade-off, I got something in exchange for another, and I'm not quite sure which one is the best…"

'More potential power in exchange for survivability.'

'... Maybe it's for the best, that ability was too unnatural and it wasn't exactly a technique of any kind, exchanging it for something I can train and eventually bring with me outside seems more worthwhile… Right?'

'Sigh… I'm just trying to cope with the loss.'

Dale shook his head, extremely disappointed.

He opened his inventory, checking a few things one last time before he grabbed a small ration and devoured it in a few bites.

"A bit dry but it'll do for now."

With his hunger somewhat satiated, he laid on the bed and opened the System Menu.

'There are still the items I acquired on this Expedition to go through, maybe even a loadout rethinking… But I'll leave that for when I log back in.'

'Since it's night right now, I have a few hours in the real world to do what I wish.'

'I'll be back once I'm done on that end as there are a few things I want to check and I'll do them all.'

'From then on, my preparations for Babylon will start.'

"Nothing left to do…" He said with a faint smile .

[Log Off?]

"Yes."

"... Zzz… ZZZ…"

His mind drifting away, Dale was slowly pulled elsewhere as his body went to sleep peacefully in bed, full of crumbs around his mouth…

…

/In the real world…/

/Beep…/

[User has disconnected, initiating log-out procedures] The mechanical voice of the pod said as several lights lit up at the same time

A festival of lights and numbers were displayed on many screens before it continued:

[Quick System Check: All systems normal, very slight degradation of Neuryne Solution due to expected use, further actions not needed]

[Current body condition: Within expected parameters, relatively high blood pressure, an increase since the last scan]

[A progressive increase in blood pressure has been documented]

[Further scans show no immediate signs of concern, if it continues to rise, seek medical attention]

[Considerable accumulation of Urine in the bladder and fecal waste in the bowel, countdown since last known meal… 34H 36M…]

[Recomended course of action: Sleep well, rest plenty, take a quick shower, make sure to relieve yourself, and eat plenty]

[It's safe to continue]

/Bloop! Blub.../

Like before, the blue liquid Dale was in started to get drained as bubbles rose chaotically, and in less than half a minute, all of it went away, leaving Dale suspended by the black mechanical arm tied to his waist like a puppet, his fingertips twitching every once in a while as he recovered his consciously rapidly, faster than before.

/Beep!/

The machine beeped loudly, indicating that Dale had...

/Gasp!!/

Inside the translucent black helmet, Dale's eyes suddenly darted open as he drew in a quick breath.

"Huff... Huff… Damn."

'This sudden jolt… I hate it.'

'But it feels… Weaker than before? Considerably so.'

'Maybe because my body is growing ever stronger? Together with my blood pressure…'

'It's going to get hard to hide this from now on…'

"Put me down, fast." Dale ordered the Virtual intelligence of the Pod as he felt the numbness on the tip of his fingers

'I need to move, fast, before anyone sees me, otherwise...'

'The synchronization will come.'

As he was lowered onto the ground, the Pod said:

[Welcome back Dale, breathe slowly and…]

"Quickly, tell me who's home right now." Dale asked as he raised his head, looking at a small red dot on the corner of the room, the sign the House's Virtual intelligence was looking at him

[Good night Dale, it's been a while] The Virtual intelligence said as the red light flickered

[Update, your mother and father left with your younger brother to get dinner at a nearby restaurant, they left a message in case you woke up in time, would you like to hear it?]

"They did?... Not now… Just… Heat up some water for me in the bathtub, I'll be taking a shower."

"How long since they left?" He asked as he tried to control his breathing

[About half an hour ago, exactly 35 minutes ago]

"I see… Just have them order something for me, send them a message to get me a takeout please." He said as he felt the sense of touch return to his feet and fingers

And as he opened his hands, he thought:

'It's getting faster, I already noticed this before but there was a sudden increase in the speed of this process…'

'I hope this is not an omen for what's to come.' He thought with a grim expression

/Breathe in…/

/Breathe out…/

"Let me out." Dale said as he removed his helmet

[It is not recommended to remove your helmet prematurely, the synching process is still…]

"I know, just this once, open, quickly, before it's too late."

'Even if parents aren't home and the chances of them returning are low, I would still prefer to not shit my own pants in the Pod room.'

'This suit… It's expensive! And I wouldn't want to waste my precious time cleaning it...'

[Your body still has to recover all normal functions, be careful to not stumble your way out of the Pod] The Virtual intelligence of the Pod said as it opened its doors

/Shua!/

The doors of the pod's chamber opened, making the air from outside rush inside, causing Dale to squint his eyes as he stepped outside, making his way to the bathroom.

…

/A minute later…/

/PLOP!/

"Ahhhh… I feel lighter already…" Dale said with a relaxed expression as he sat on his toilet

'At least I succeeded… Now's the hard part…'

'If the Green Box has yet to activate, this means that… The information transfer is rather robust?'

'It's mostly an assumption, I have no idea how they transfer things around and not even what their priorities are, but it is true that it has taken slightly longer than last time.'

'I normally relax in the pod and wait for everything to kick in before asking the House's VI about what's going on, but this time, I just rushed to the bathroom.'

'So the time is a bit messy, either way, time to clean my ass.'

Dale quickly cleaned himself and took off his clothes, standing in front of his mirror with a calm expression as he waited.

'Now or never…'

[Information transferring… Complete]

"! It's here!" Dale said as he clenched his teeth and hands

'The worst pain I ever had was after my Heart transformed for the first time following Testros' enlightenment event.'

'After that, it would be my first ever Log Off, the pain was very high, but it only lasted a single moment.'

'There was the pain of when the Green Box manifested for the first time, but I lost consciousness at the time.'

'Overall, the pain is reducing as I go, but these peaks are getting worse.'

'If this continues I'll end up getting used to the pain...'

[Accessing… Readjusting configuration based on in-set parameters]

'I'll just lay on the ground… Just in case I fall and hit my head somewhere.'

'I'm sure I won't suffer any damage, but it'll hurt a lot if I fall face first in a corner… With my teeth or even my eyes…'

[Biological Core has been processed]

"?..."

/Bzz…/

Dale felt his body go extremely numb, but that was all.

It was even… Funny, tickling.

'Hum? How odd… Well, I won't compla…'

/ZOLT!/

/ZOLT!/

/ZOLT!/

"?!?!?!?!?!"

What started with a single jolt of pain quickly descended into multiple as he was sent into a spiralizing wave of extreme pain.

"SHIIT!" Exclaimed Dale in pain as his body grew rigid

/SLAM!/

/CRACK!/

He flayed his arms around, hitting the ground, causing it to crack under the immense strength of his fists.

Indescribable pain suddenly hit all parts of Dale's body, causing him to lose his breath instantly as he screamed and slammed his fists around.

His fingers dug into the concrete beneath the bathroom tiles he knew and loved...

The numbing was only a warning… To tell him what would be in pain.

But there was really no point in that, as his entire body was being forced open.

From his head to his liver… Gut-wrenching pain as if his muscles were being forcibly stretched out and thorn…

And especially, his heart!

/Steam!/

His chest was so hot it started releasing steam like a kettle under pressure, his skin tearing apart as the boiling hot steam burned its way out of his chest from his heart.

He was being boiled from the inside out!

/Squirm…/

The muscles beneath his skin moved and tugged around, like maggots bellow the dirt, his eyes turned red as his blood vessels burst due to the pressure, releasing boiling blood into his eye sockets...

On his hand, something seemed to take shape, a triangle, but it vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

"HAAAAA!"

He opened his mouth to scream, but only steam came out, he was burning from the inside and there was no way to stop it!

/GRAB!/

It was then that, amidst the intense pain, Dale moved his hand, grasping onto the edge of the bathtub.

Having experienced extreme bouts of pain before, albeit what he felt hadn't reduced at all, Dale managed to keep some degree of mental thinking, allowing him to make a choice.

He didn't know if this was a good choice, he had no idea at all as he didn't think of the consequences for even a single moment…

Right now, he was a burning man and what did he want?

Water.

/SPLASH!/

Dale moved to the edge of the bathtub, releasing steam all around as he fell inside.

The water was hot, just like he normally liked, but even that felt chilling cold in comparison to what he felt before.

/Bubble bubble…/

The water in the tub bubbled as it boiled, Dale was like an egg inside a pot, slowly boiling away…

He lost his breath, drinking a lot of water at once...

Like that, the seconds passed.

One second…

Five seconds…

Half a minute…

…

/One minute later…/

/Bubble… SPLASH!/

"COUGH COUGH!... Blerg..."

From the deafening silence of the bathroom, Dale suddenly rose from the depths of the tub, exploding all of the water around him as he breathed deeply, his eyes open wide as he couldn't think of anything else other than…

'I'm alive… Somehow.'

…

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Notes

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