Chapter 180: What Remains
Hugo dreamt of endless darkness. He had been reduced to nothing, and his mind had shattered from his battle with Malware and the influence of the nightmare gates.
Recalling his name, and his true name was almost impossible
The paragon of purity...
No, that was not his true name, at least not anymore.
He was the daemon of change now, a fitting name, one that represented his nature perfectly.
A daemon who brought change wherever he went, wether for the good or the bad.
But still, he did not understand where he was, or what the darkness was.
He had assumed that death had finally managed to claim him, but that couldn't be true... He still possessed consciousness and he doubted any form of afterlife existed in this world.
Hugo suddenly felt himself experience numerous things, unexplainable memories that belonged to people he did not know.
He dreamt of numerous champions, wielding a great artifact.
He dreamt of being a prince, who was forced to become a slave. Later in life, he found a divine relic that gave him the opportunity to exact his revenge and defy the will of the gods themselves.
But even then... There was no satisfaction, only more pain.
He dreamt of being a lowly stone saint, one of the earliest and most flawed versions, made by the prince of the underworld.
He was weak and feeble, struggling to survive the darkness, and one day, a creature of the abyss destroyed his settlement and he was forced to escape.
In the depths of the underworld, he found a divine artifact that was unlike any other. With its powers, he became powerful, powerful enough to surpass all other stone saints and become the True Prince of Nether's city...
A prince of darkness.
But alas his ambition had been his fall.
He dreamt of being a great scholar in an age where the gods were no more. The sun shined down upon him, and he was promised salvation by someone dear to him.
In the end salvation never came to him, however he found the divine relic and that, too, promised him a similar salvation.
In the end, his life ended at the hands of the one who had promised him salvation and all his achievements were forgotten.
He dreamt of being an old man, from the realm of the beast, who wanted to do good and save his people.
He found the divine relic in the ruins of a long forgotten civilization, but unlike the other champions before him, he willingly abandoned the divine relic and handed it to someone dear to him.
The old man's fate was connected to something else, but even then, his end had been cruel and swift.
He dreamt of being a young man, one who wielded power far beyond his age and rank. For a time, he was the greatest of heroes, but when calamity came, he was forced to make the hardest of choices.
And lastly, he dreamt of being a galvan with great conviction... So great that he traversed time and space, all in pursuit of ascension.
All of that, to find someone, who had been lost a long time ago.
All those lives were like dreams, faint and brief, yet they were all connected to Hugo.
He struggled to recognize when his own life began, and where those other lives did.
All of them were filled with tragedy, yet they seemed disconnected, at a first glance.
Those people lived in different times and places and were from different species. Some had been great, some had been weak... Yet all of them shared one thing.
The Omnitrix.
They had all wielded the divine relic at one point in time, and their fates had always been dark and bleak.
Wherever the Omnitrix went, it always brought with it inevitable calamity and tragedy...
Floating in the endless darkness, Hugo said nothing, did nothing and thought about nothing for a long time.
His sense of self slowly returned and his sadness came back, as well.
He had failed once again, and thousands of innocents were dead.
It was not his fault... After all he did not kill them, however he had failed to protect them.
They were his duty, his burden and now, they were dead.
He had even damaged his Omnitrix, causing his aspect to devolve.
It was a shame. Not only because of the loss of power, but also because the spell itself had been responsible for upgrading the Omnitrix, a legendary feat.
'...'
He could stay in this darkness forever, and drown in his misery, reliving countless lives of countless people that wielded the divine relic before him.
Or he could wake up and continue fighting.
Despite the two options, Hugo found himself asking a simple question.
'Why... Why do I want to save people?'
Was it because it was the right thing to do?
Or was it because he held great power and was thus obligated to help the weak?
At one point, it was because he wanted to prove to himself — and to the memory of his mother — that he was capable of being good. That he was not some sad, pathetic loser who only knew how to drown himself in misery and sorrow.
but he was not that boy anymore...
So, why did he want to help people?
'I...I don't want people to suffer.'
It was simple and straightforward, with no complex reason behind it.
Hugo had suffered a great deal through his life, before he was infected by the spell and after it. He knew pain better than most and so, he did not wish it upon others.
He knew his reasoning and he knew who he was, but that was not enough for him.
All those deaths were still heavy on his mind... However he knew one thing.
He would not find answers here. Wherever this place was, it was only filled with tragedy.
All that was left here was the past, the past of others, and if Hugo truly wanted to make amends for his failure, he would need to wake up.
And so, the darkness around him exploded into a world of azure blue light.
***
Hugo slowly opened his eyes, and the first sensation he felt was pain.
His body was burning and his soul was aching. Looking deep within his soul sea, he noticed that his single remaining omni core was cracked and his soul was torn apart.
The only reason he was still alive was because the omnitrix was barely holding him together.
His body on the other hand, was in a far dire state.
His arm, his shoulder and his leg were gone, leaving him in excruciating pain. Hugo had a great pain tolerance but even he was struggling to stay awake at the moment.
With whatever soul essence remained in his omni core, Hugo activated his Ascended ability and fused his human body with that of Swampfire.
He only used the first stage to inherit Swampfire's regenerative abilities.
Wet green liquid poured from his body, and his leg grew once again, his shoulder exploded with biomass and his arm returned.
He groaned in pain. The process used essence from his damaged core and it hurt his body even more.
'Swampfire can't exactly heal burn marks...'
His body was still riddled with wounds and painful burns, unfortunately.
Hugo deactivated his Ascended ability and struggled to stand up and took a glance at his surroundings.
He was in a lavish room, seated in a neatly prepared bed, which was now filled by green liquid.
The burn marks hurt him the most, but he persisted and walked towards the window, using the wall as support.
Looking down, Hugo saw a surprising scene.
Below, a city spilled down the cliffs in a tangle of lights and walls. The great alloy wall cut across it all, tall and grey, with tiny dots moving along the top. Far down, the port fortress sat by the dark ocean, its own walls a smaller ring inside the bigger one. There were elevator platforms running, carrying loads up and down the cliff face. Beyond the port, the sea stretched out black and flat, with a big metallic vessel standing there, waiting to be filled with people.
It was loud, cramped and reeked of pain...
'Falcon Scott...'
Someone had managed to drag his body out of the ruins of Erebus Field, or perhaps the Omnitrix itself had sent him here.
No matter... This confirmed it. Erebus Field was no more.
'...'
Hugo took a look at his Omnitrix. It had reverted to its original form, that of a black gauntlet with a blue hourglass symbol.
He touched the bottom, causing the dial to rise up.
Hugo twisted the dial, searching for one specific alien.
There it was... Alien x, standing in all of its celestial glory.
All that stood between him and divinity was the press of a button. It held infinite promises and infinite possibilities...
No more suffering, no more being weak.
It was all there.
He just needed to take it.
So what if the forgotten god awake? So what if reality crumbles? He could build a new reality, and destroy any unholy gods that wanted to devour humanity...
He could bring upon a new golden age.
"Are you sure you wanna press it?"
Serena's voice manifested in his ears, as usual, which did not shock Hugo that much.
"... Not the time Serena... I will actually press it..."
The voice of compassion looked at him with a confused expression.
"And doom us all to the nightmare of the forgotten god? You know the repercussions of becoming a Celestialsapien in the real world, so are you really willing to do it?"
The blue light reflected in his azure eyes, promising him power... Promising him salvation.
all in the press of a button. It was so easy, so simple, yet it would cost him everything.
But in the end, he let the dial fall back to its regular state and crumbled on the wooden floor, leaning on the wall.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Serena..."
Serena stared at Hugo for a few moments...
Her relationship with the human child had been complicated at best... After all he was the voice of reason, and Serena was the voice of love and compassion.
"You do what you can, and you try your best. If you fail, you get up and try again. That's all anyone can do, really. Even us divine beings aren't exempt from this." She smiled a nudged Hugo with her ethereal form "But come on — what's really bothering you? I know there's something you're not saying."
Looking at her with wavering eyes, Hugo felt... Uncertain.
"I-... I guess I'm afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of failing. Knowing About a tragedy, and being a part of it are two different things... All those lives are gone forever. Those people will never wake up again, they will never eat anything again, they will never experience happiness again and they will never experience anything. They are just gone, forever..."
Serena sighed.
"That is the way the great gods made life and death. Sometimes, it is tragic, especially from the perspective of a human. But what I'm trying to say is... Their lives were not meaningless. Just because they died, doesn't mean they would be forgotten."
"They would never be forgotten, not by their friends, not by their families and most importantly... Not By you! No matter how much time passes, you will remember the people you failed to save, and that is a blessing in of itself. It will push you to do more good, all in their names. Of course, you don't have to redeem yourself, or anything of the sort, but using your failure as a motivation will certainly bring you great benefits!"
"You simply need to save who you can, and build a better future for those that will come after you, and more importantly, you must never forget those who you couldn't save."
Hugo stared at Serena for a long moment...
She was right... Even if the memory of those people brought him pain, even if the scene of their deaths haunted him... In the end he was still alive.
He would continue to live, continue to grow... And he would never forget those people.
Turning his darkest memory into motivation was perhaps selfish, but it was far better than drowning in pain.
It would not happen overnight. It would take time for him to heal — and time to accept his failure. But perhaps... he could turn it into something good, one day.
"... Thank you."
"No problem! There's a reason I'm the voice of compassion, after all, hehe!"
Hugo smiled at her words and struggled to get up, feeling his body sore from the pain.
'I need a healer...'
He must've been in a coma for a few days now, and there must've been healers who attended to him. However, from the look of it, none had been powerful enough to fix his body and soul.
The [sunlight rings] would probably do the job, but he did not have enough soul essence to activate their enchantment.
Thankfully, he knew an exceptional healer.
But at that moment, the door to his room opened, revealing a familiar face.