The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

The glowing red eyes rolled around in the visor, sticking to Erden, then Demon, and finally, Oscar. Metallic groans and creaks came from the giant shifting its body and leaning its head forward to draw closer to Oscar. Cracks spread from the heavily rusted areas as more fragments fell from his titanic form.

"Your threads have made it here." Metures's voice echoed through the room. The room was vast, able to fit an entire city, no less an Ancient.

Many questions flashed across his mind, so many that his head hurt from the endless stream. Where is this place? Who built it? How could he, Demon, and Erden be here right now? What is happening back at the Pools of Ascension? Why is there an Ancient in this impossibly constructed room? What are these threads the Ancient is referring to? But out of the countless ones that strangled his mind, only one stuck out, drowning out the chaos. Why is he here?

"Why am I here?" Oscar asked the Ancient of Metal. His elemental spark felt hot, heating his core and rousing his Ein. Something about Metures ignited a power within him. Was it the connection through metal?

"Xures crossed your path, a first sign. Okeanes sent you to Zeret, the second sign. With the two signs, the threads could be entangled and give you a chance to reach me. Through the tears of Esteres, as you were bathing in the life of an Ancient, I called out to you and you and you." Metures's voice was as hard as the metal he represented, never raising or lowering his voice, a constant and consistent tune that was almost monotone.

"That is how we got here. That is not answering why." Demon's stalwart expression never broke even now.

Metures turned his red eyes to Demon, and they narrowed. "Cut off from emotion—nothing but a cold mind of metal and instinct. To stand before me is to stand before the world, yet you stand tall without fear. A most pitiful existence."

Demon's face darkened, and Metures turned his attention back to Oscar. "As for why, because your threads made it possible. Chances have come and gone. I wonder if you can do it. To reach me here."

"Threads? Reach you?" Overwhelmed by the presence of Metures, Oscar sat down, breathing in deeply and exhaling roughly to calm down. As his heartbeat returned to normal, he faced Metures and asked, "Can we start from the beginning?"

"Very well. You can ask what you need to ask. That is your right." Metures's body let out sounds of metal scraping as his head leaned back.

"What are these threads you speak of? And what do you mean my threads made it possible?" Oscar sat crosslegged and gazed at Metures with shaky eyes, his cheeks slightly pale.

"The threads between all things. The threads represent your relationships, where you've been, your words…everything. One passes by a person and has a conversation, then part, never to meet again. A slight thread is formed between the two. You kill a man, and you cut off your thread forever. Depending on the emotions, the threads can be weak or strong. You love a person, and your thread is full of love. You hate a person, and the thread is full of hate. As more and more people gather, the threads entangle, intertwine, and spread. Not just people but also objects and beasts…all are connected…every single thing. " Metures lifted his finger and spread wires of colorful metal all over the chamber. They took the forms of people, objects, and beasts, all connected. "I see the threads as they are."

All this information became too much to bear. Oscar closed his eyes to separate and ponder on Meture's words properly. His fingers tapped on the worn-down floor as he reviewed the truth of the threads. By this meaning, everyone Oscar had encountered, everything he had made as a fabricator, every beast he faced, and every place he had been to were connected to him by these threads. It sounded so unbelievable, but he couldn't go against the knowledge of an Ancient. Recollecting himself, Oscar glanced at Metures and then at the wire art showing how the threads worked.

"Then what are my threads? And why did they make you want me here?" Oscar posed the most important question.

Metures stared intently, his red eyes glowing brighter. The wires in the air shifted and moved around, flowing like a fine tapestry. Out of the wires bundling together, Oscar saw himself, his younger self, wearing the Pavilion's uniform when he was fifteen years old. "Your start, your threads were unremarkable at first. Nothing but your parents and an unfortunate childhood friend. A life that began with Grade Four Exolsia."

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Oscar looked longingly at the wire sculptures of his parents, not staring at Isabella's at all. He hadn't thought of her in twenty years, so what use was there to think of her now? More figures came from the wires, Elizabeth and Frederick, and Oscar smiled at seeing their younger faces.

"Then, your threads became more interesting." Metures flicked his finger, and shapes of Elder Saul and his master, Draven, formed, connecting to him. "You learned Reis, garnered the attention and favor of certain individuals, and crawled on up from where you were."

"Do you know everything? Have you been watching me the whole time?" Oscar was stunned. The Ancient of Metal knew so many details about his own life that he suspected he was being spied on.

"No. There are so many threads, so many living things and objects. We cannot see everything. But, from what we paid attention to, you came up multiple times, piquing my interest. Then following your threads, I found everything about you." Metures waved his hand, and the images changed. Oscar's entire life played back before him. "The one you call Gilbert is also one of interest. That is one of the threads by which I found you. Very slight, but still a connection. The other thread that helped me find you was this."

The wires formed the shape of Gol-4. Oscar stood up, tears dripping down his cheeks. To see Gol-4's face again after many years filled him with warmth and loss, a great feeling of grief hammering his heart.

"The one you call Gol-4 is also a thread we've watched. Once I found you, I paid attention to the rest of your threads. The connection to the other Reis users, the New Dawn, your old teachers, and how you came to Shattirma to see the wreckage it once was. Few, in their entire lives, travel to Shattirma and Vallen, and few can have a Blood Transmutation with a beast, allowing them to enter the Pools of Ascension like a beast to reach me so early." Metures stopped the wires and retracted them all to his hand. "Once I saw enough, I sent messages to Xures and Okeanes to pave the way for you."

"You sent me to the Lands of Zeret to enter the Pools of Ascension. All so I could come here and talk to you?" Oscar was flabbergasted. Erden and Demon listened in silence. "What if I died? I could have died on those shores. Maybe Ruvin could have never allowed Erden to enter the pools."

"Then it would have failed. There are other prospects and candidates out there I have considered and am still working on. We do not see the future. We cannot interfere directly. We can only nudge for a chance the threads would align, such as the threads between you, Hons, and Ruvin. Relying on the chance you would make it here. And you did." Metures said.

"Other candidates? For what? The threads are still about how I got here, but why am I here? What about those threads that made you decide on me?" Oscar knew.

Metures unfurled his palm, the metal creaking as the joints extended. Within his hands formed the shapes of Elder Saul, Gilbert, Gol-4, and Avril.

Shocked to see Avril, Oscar asked, "What does she have to do with this?"

"Her threads to you are strong. However, she is also threaded, connected to another candidate, her master. Your meeting her has indirectly tied you to the candidate. Two candidates might be better than one, thus a point of interest toward you. The one you call Elder Saul is another candidate we have considered. His time has passed, so we cut him off but still paid attention to his threads."

As if the previous information wasn't tiring enough, the sudden revelation of Avril and Elder Saul being two key threads for Oscar was overwhelming. Avril had always been short and vague about her past, not talking much about her time as a slave. The candidate Metures referred to was the master who tormented Avril. For a colossal like an Ancient, his and her problems would have appeared trivial. Oscar clenched his fists as a burning fury flamed through his core, not happy to see Metures considering someone so cruel as a candidate, whatever that was.

"Then what is it about Gilbert and Gol-4? Why are they the important threads?" Oscar asked. However, his head hurt as if it was splitting in two, and he fell to his knees.

"Time is up. Of all the candidates, you talked with me quite early, thanks to the Pools of Ascension. Making the threads earlier is always the best way to facilitate the process. Go back and bask in the evolution of you and your beast." Metures waved his hand, and Oscar and Erden were flung away.

Oscar reached his hand out, trying to grasp something. The force was too powerful, and he blacked out. Only a few words echoed in his mind, the last vestiges of Metures's voice drumming through his ears.

'We cannot talk like this again. The Pools of Ascension works only once. Seek me out in the Fallen Heavens. I will wait for you or another.'

As these words rang in his head, Oscar returned to the depths of the Pools of Ascension, unable to think on them for now. The special Ein had coursed through his body, and his core spun furiously without pause or slowing down. The all-too-familiar sensation made it clear. His advancement was here.

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