A loud trumpet echoed right into Heimfher's ears, the sound was louder than anything he had ever heard, his ears felt like it was melting, his hody shook as if the entire continent slipped off from its roots.
Then, Heimfher opened his eyes, after a string breeze of wind that burned his skin, His vision slowly became clear.
'W- wha...' Heimfher's heart suddenly stomped as if he had just experienced a heart attack, but there was no pain, his pain receptors had gone numb, and he was also unable to go unconcious.
Infront of him, Heimfher was standing in an open field, a grassy plains formed beneath his feets as he looked around to see endless trees stretching far into the horizon, multiple castles and palaces emerged from the ground, decorating the space with their colossal structure, clouds that usually floats in the sky now began falling, engulfing the dreaded forest like an uninvited fog.
As Heimfher was captivated by the sight infront of him, he noticed that the sky quickly turned yellow, the sun grew bigger and closer with each second while his skin gradually excreted more sweats than normal.
WHIIRRRR!!
In an instant, everything around Heimfher was caught on fire, the trees, the castles and palaces, even the foggy clouds, the entire forest was covered with the raging flames that seemingly never ends.
"I- is this also an illusion.." Heimfher said, despite his body sweating profusely, most likely from the heat, he himself couldn't feel a single burning sensation nor pain, it was still like before, his body hadn't recovered from the numbness yet.
At first, Heimfher didn't think much of the situation, he had grown used with illusions, especially after being hit with Murph's magic twice. But what he doesn't know is that, this realm, wasn't just a normal illusion.
Moments later, an echoing voice was heard from the sky above him, the voice reverberated like an endless orchestra, it sounded almighty, benevolent, and divine.
"Why do you seek my power?." The voice said, after Heimfher heard the voice sounding like a man, he immediately knew that that voice was the being that he seeks.
From within the trees in the distance, a man dressed in black suit and pants walked into the grassy plains, approaching Heimfher little by little.
His long hairs glowed in yellow as each of his hair strands burned, his eye pupils contained a miniature sun that rotated consistently and an intricate line formed underneath his eyes that stretches all the way to his chin. A burning halo floats above the man's head, along with a fiery rings that followed him from his back, with each step he took, the grass beneath him was charred, fire spreads wherever he walked, and his presence made Heimfher almost choked himself to death.
That man who was walking to him, was none other than the God of Fire, Ignis.
Heimfher stared at Ignis from the same spot he stood, he hadn't moved anywhere, not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't.
'I- i can't.. Move—
'You gotta be kidding me.. Is that— Ignis..'
"You're quite young huh.. It's been a while since i met someone this young." Ignis said, he arrived infront of Heimfher with an arrogant smile, infront of Ignis, Heimfher kept sweating gallons, every drop of sweats that he exude instantly turned into steam that rises to the sky, the heat that came from Ignis was similar to the temperature of the sun's core.
"I see, your heart is burning with desire for strength.. And, revenge?.. To who? A noble?"
"Keukk...." Heimfher's mental fortitude was being tested to its absolute limit, his conciousness kept jumping repeatedly, one second he fell asleep, and the other one he jolted wide awake.
The sheer pressure from just standing toe to toe with Ignis was insane, Heimfher's felt like he was being forced to kneel, because the man infront of him wasn't just an ordinary man, he wasn't a mortal, he wasn't like the kings or emperors, he IS the ultimate, he who had reached divinity, and ascened into the seat of the Gods.
Asking to borrow his power, Heimfher never felt such humiliation before, however, he stood firm. He doesn't want his ego to win, he doesn't care what Ignis would do to him, he only needs to be accepted, that's all that matters.
"...Do you really think you have what it takes to wield a God power?"
Ignis lowered his body, as if trying to sit on the air, then as if his surrounding was obedient, all of the fire sparks from every inch corner of the place flew towards him, creating a throne that was made out fire, carrying his weightless body.
Heimfher was left shocked, his mouth couldn't be opened, his words won't come out, and his eyes was already about to give up, after the silent took over, only the sound of the burning forest was heard, a few seconds passed, and it seems like Heimfher wasn't able to pass the test.
"...Show me what you can do, boy." Ignis said out of nowhere, he placed his hand on Heimfher's chest and pushed his soul out of his body.
"AAHKK!!" Heimfher screamed, the pain he felt was real, he thought his skin was ripped out of his body, but when Heimfher realized what just happened, he was suddenly back to the ritual room.
Murph and Duskiell still standing in the corner of the room watching him intently for any sign of going out of control.
.
.
A few minutes ago—
Tick..
Tick...
Tick.....
"Hey Murph, don't you think subjecting a 17 years old kid to meet with a God is a little too overkill?" Duskiell said, he yawned right after his speech before continuing.
"What if he failed the test? Ignis is the type of God that enjoys driving humans to the point of insanity before reverting them back to normal—
"...O' Ignis, heed my plea."
Whirrr..
Duskiell then raised one of his hand and summoned a fireball, it was small, but bright enough to lit up his face.
"If he lost control and burned himself to death, that won't be a problem.. In the first place, he was supposed to be in jail for buying illegal awakened items, but since he survived after drinking blight mana, it would be a waste to let him be." Murph replied, his face was cold and uninterested with whatever Duskiell was doing.
"Hmmm.. Is that so, well which ever outcomes that happened, there's no risk or loss on our part right." Duskiell said, he grabbed a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it repeatedly.
"Personally, i'd like to meet with Ignis again, he seems to be a fun guy- Or god to hang out with—
"Though the Ignis i met, and probably the one that this kiddo will meet was just a clone of him, with many people in the world also doing the same ritual, since he's one of the main religious gods, he would have to attend many people at the same time.. I wonder if the real him would act the same too."
Murph chuckled upon hearing Duskiell, he finds the thought of a human befriending a God a little funny.
"Then why don't you become the second God of Fire?" Murph jokingly said.
"Hey are you serious.. That joke ain't funny, i don't even know what'll happen if i ascended, two Gods of the same title? That'd be a disaster, even when reading every history and records there is, you won't find a single era that had two gods of the same title.. Their name changes, but no one knew what happened—
"One thing that's true though, is that there will never be two Gods of the same title, when a new God rises, the old god of that title will cease to exist.. Or atleast that's what im assuming."
The room quickly fell into silence as Murph tried to digest what Duskiell had just said, he gave it a thought and unconsciously agreed with him.
"AAHKKK!!" Heimfher screamed while he sat in the middle of the circle, prompting Murph and Duskiell to get cautious as they held the hilt of their swords tightly, ready to take action incase if something goes wrong.
As the ritual was coming to an end, Heimfher's body glowed in yellow lights before it gradually dimmed, leaving nothimg but the memories. He opened his eyes and was shocked to see the damp walls and the dark room along with the two guys that was guarding him.
Heimfher hadn't lost his conciousness, he still possesed control over his body, except from the fact that he was still sweating, there were no other abnormality that could suggest a failure.
"Heimfher?" Murph asked, he wanted to check if it was truly Heimfher that's within his body.
"Huff.. Huff... Y- yes?" Heimfher responded calmly, his energy was back, his hunger that he had been holding ever since morning also disappeared just like that, his body was rejuvenated in an instant after he left the divine realm.
As soon as the ritual ended, the three rubies, the phoenix feather, the charred wood, the candle, and the volcanic rock, all suddenly shattered into countless pieces, turning into fine dusts that would had to be cleaned up later.
Murph and Duskiell approached Heimfher, Duskiell smiled, while Murph still had his stern face.
"Nice one kiddo, looks like you did it, you exceeded my expectation." Duskiell said.
"Congratulation." Murph also added and congratulated Heimfher for his success. "Now you're officially an awakened."