CHAPTER 245: THE CREATURE

The tension in the air thickened once more, pressing down on everything like an invisible hand. The winds that had briefly calmed began to stir again, carrying flecks of snow and ash across the broken mountain plain. The Guardian’s massive silhouette loomed amid the swirling mist, half-seen, half-felt...a presence of eternity itself, watching, waiting.

The Empress hovered above the fractured ground, her golden aura flickering against the storm. Though the fight had ended in a stalemate, her eyes still burned with divine intent. The remnants of her celestial power coiled around her, faint but unyielding.

"You speak of choice," she finally said, her voice echoing softly against the ruined cliffs. "Then tell me, Guardian... if the creature truly has a will of its own, why do you fear its freedom so greatly?"

The Guardian’s eyes gleamed ... a cold light within the mist. "Because I have seen what it becomes when left unguarded," it replied, its tone low and thunderous. "You were not there, Celestial One, when the first flame of its kind was born. You did not witness the heavens tremble as it consumed the sky."

A pulse of energy rippled through the valley at those words ... ancient and mournful. The beasts nearby whimpered and lowered themselves further into the snow, trembling as memories far older than their bloodline stirred within them.

"The last of its kind shattered continents," the Guardian continued. "It brought even gods to their knees. We sealed it away so that this world could heal." Its eyes narrowed faintly. "And now you come, cloaked in celestial fire, demanding that we risk it all again."

The Empress remained silent for a long moment. Her expression softened ... not with weakness, but with understanding. "You think I seek to unleash ruin," she said. "But ruin is already coming. The corruption spreading across the realms ... it has roots deeper than even your ancient kind can sense. The creature in that egg may not be our destroyer... it may be the only one capable of opposing what’s to come."

The Guardian’s expression darkened. "You speak of balance, yet all I hear is desperation."

"Perhaps desperation is what moves mortals to act while the divine only watches," she answered quietly. "If it comes to pass that the creature awakens and brings destruction, then I will bear the burden. But if it can be guided, if it can choose, then perhaps the future is not yet lost."

For the first time, the Guardian hesitated. The mists around it swirled slower, more uncertainly. Somewhere deep within the storm, a faint hum echoed ... not from either of them, but from the mountain itself.

Lucas felt it ... a heartbeat. Slow, steady, powerful.

It was coming from the egg.

The Empress’s head turned slightly, her eyes narrowing as the ground beneath them began to tremble again. Golden light shimmered faintly beneath the ice and stone, as if the mountain’s core itself was pulsing with life.

The Guardian’s voice dropped to a whisper. "It stirs..."

Cracks appeared across the frozen ridges, glowing faintly with threads of silver and gold. The very air seemed to draw breath.

The Guardian shifted, its colossal form lowering protectively before the heart of the mountain. "You have awakened it," it growled.

The Empress’s gaze sharpened. "No. It heard us."

The tremors deepened. Lucas and the others stumbled back, shielding their faces as radiant light began to burst from the cracks. The beasts howled and fled, scattering into the distant valleys.

From within the mountain, a sound ... low, primal, impossibly vast ... began to echo. Not a roar, not a cry, but the sound of something remembering its existence.

The Guardian braced itself, its silver aura expanding to shield the valley. The Empress raised her hand, divine energy coiling around her arm.

And in that blinding storm of light and sound ... as ancient power stirred after centuries of slumber ... Lucas could only watch in awe and terror.

The egg... was awakening.

The mountain roared.

A blinding surge of divine light erupted from its heart, consuming everything ... sky, snow, stone, and spirit. The shockwave tore through the valley like the wrath of creation itself. Mountains cracked. Rivers of ice shattered. The sky split into streaks of gold and silver as if heaven itself was bleeding.

Lucas and the girls were thrown back despite the barrier he summoned ... it shattered instantly. They tumbled across the fractured terrain, shielding their eyes from the impossible brilliance. Even the Empress was forced to retreat several steps midair, her divine aura flaring wildly to steady herself.

The Guardian roared ... not in rage, but in dread. Its massive body was outlined in glowing sigils as it spread its arms wide, summoning ancient seals that burned into the fabric of reality itself. "Back to sleep, Child of the Beginning!" it bellowed, voice shaking the clouds. "This world is not ready for you!"

But the light only grew brighter. The seals cracked.

From within the explosion of radiance, a colossal pulse of life surged outward ... chaotic, pure, and newborn. It wasn’t just energy. It was consciousness. It touched every soul nearby ... Lucas, Lira, Nyx, Selene, Mirielle ... even the beasts in the far mountains. For a fleeting moment, they all felt it... a mind vast and ancient, but also frightened, confused, and alone.

The Empress’s eyes widened. Her voice trembled for the first time. "It’s not hostile..." she whispered. "It’s... crying."

The Guardian gritted its teeth, divine blood dripping from its arms as its seals shattered one after another. "You don’t understand, Celestial!" it thundered. "Its sorrow creates storms. Its fear births calamities!"

The ground split open again. Lava erupted from beneath the snow, twisting into spirals of molten flame that turned to light halfway through their ascent. The sky rained shards of crystal instead of snow ... beauty and destruction intertwined in chaotic harmony.

Lucas was barely holding on. His spatial Qi shields flickered violently as he struggled to keep the others alive. The sheer pressure of energy was enough to suffocate a grandmaster cultivator, yet he refused to yield. His vision blurred, but his instincts screamed ... this wasn’t a mere beast being born. This was a divine creature.

The Empress floated higher, her veil fluttering wildly, her celestial aura blazing brighter than before. "Guardian," she called, her tone firm, resolute. "Stand down. It’s awakening cannot be stopped ... not by either of us."

The Guardian’s eyes glowed like dying stars. "Then we all perish."

He raised his hand, summoning a spear of crystallized light ... a divine weapon that hummed with the resonance of mountains. The Empress mirrored the motion, conjuring a brilliant sword of celestial flame.

The two divine beings met again in a cataclysmic clash ... light and shadow colliding, ice and fire tearing the heavens apart. Each strike carved canyons in the earth, each explosion sent shockwaves that flattened everything for miles.

Lucas could barely keep his footing. He had never witnessed power like this ... not even in his past life. The world itself seemed to be coming undone.

And then, amidst the chaos...

A sound cut through everything.

A heartbeat ... deep, slow, yet impossibly loud.

BOOM.

The Empress froze mid-strike. The Guardian stopped, eyes wide.

From the heart of the light, a massive shape began to form ... radiant wings unfurling, scales shimmering in hues no mortal tongue could name. The mountain trembled as divine wind swept across the valley.

It was neither dragon nor phoenix, neither beast nor god. It was something older ... a being that transcended form itself. Its presence silenced everything, even the storm.

Lucas fell to one knee, clutching his chest as its aura pressed upon him. The girls were gasping for air, unable to even move. The world bowed beneath that being’s gaze.

The Guardian lowered its weapon slowly, its voice barely a whisper. "It... has awakened..."

The Empress stood still, her expression unreadable beneath her veil. "No," she said softly, eyes glimmering with divine light. "It has remembered."

And as the creature’s luminous eyes opened, the entire mountain range ... every stone, every flake of ice, every spirit ... knelt in reverence.

The entire mountain range seemed to breathe.

The storm clouds above parted like curtains pulled by unseen hands, revealing a celestial expanse no mortal eyes were ever meant to behold. A swirling tapestry of stars shimmered in the night sky, though it was still daylight... constellations unknown to any scholar glimmered, and streaks of divine aurora spread across the heavens like living rivers of light.

The colossal being, half-born of radiance and half of shadow, floated above the ground. Its wings spanned miles, casting an ethereal glow that stretched across the snowfields. Each beat of its heart rippled through the earth like the echo of creation’s first breath.

The Guardian fell to one knee, its once-mighty form trembling. Its armor of ice cracked, and divine essence leaked from its wounds like molten light. "Forgive me," it murmured, bowing deeply, its voice stripped of its former thunder. "I have failed my charge. I have failed to protect your slumber."

The creature’s gaze shifted downward...eyes vast and depthless, shimmering with compassion and sorrow. When it spoke, its voice was not sound, but a resonance that touched every soul directly.

You have not failed... old one.

The words reverberated inside Lucas’s chest, like music echoing from the stars themselves. The sound carried neither anger nor pride, only an overwhelming melancholy that made his vision blur.

The Empress, still floating midair, lowered her sword. The fire surrounding her dimmed as she stepped forward, her tone trembling despite her divine nature. "Your radiance... you were sealed here for eons. I seek not to bind you, but to preserve what remains of the divine order."