The Seal

"How much longer until the seal weakens, Gorm?" Noah inquired aloud; his gaze fixated on a distant glimmer of light. After years of persistent questioning, he had finally convinced the voice to disclose its name. As for the large hole that led to the surface, Noah had stumbled upon it during his explorations of the cavern nearly a decade ago. While tracing the perimeter of the colossal subterranean space, he had discovered a hidden cave concealed behind a few toppled stones. Clearing the debris, he had come across a trail of claw marks that led him to the tunnel leading to the surface, something that filled him with unbridled enthusiasm.

Regrettably, after climbing for almost a week, he encountered a magical barrier obstructing his path. The worst part was that he had only ascended halfway through the tunnel. The smooth bedrock proved treacherous, even with his razor-sharp claws carving makeshift handholds. The stone had been magically reinforced, adding to the difficulty. Despite the passage of thousands of years, the seal crafted by the ancient elementals and their cosmic ally remained formidable, effectively confining him. What truly instilled terror was the realization that the current barrier represented only a fraction of its original strength, according to Gorm.

Thus, he had turned to Gorm for answers. Since their fusion, Noah had joined the ranks of primordial monsters, subject to the seal's confinement. However, the seal did not impede the entry or exit of anyone else but primordial monsters. Thus, he found himself trapped here, just as the primordial monster had been, much to his frustration. At least he had managed to keep track of time. Glancing at the multitude of notches etched into the cavern walls, Noah sighed. Comparing the passage of time to his period in the cave prior to the exit's discovery, he estimated that it had been close to eighteen years since his initial awakening. He was already thirty-one years old...

"At this rate, it will take several more centuries for it to weaken enough for you to break through," was Gorm's response to his earlier inquiry.

Noah sighed again, contemplating the implications of this knowledge. "They would have been in their late sixties by now," he muttered somberly.

Gazing up at the distant light, Noah felt the weight of profound solitude descend upon him once more. He had long mastered his powers and acquired extensive knowledge about the history of Earth and its former inhabitants. Presently, his time was predominantly spent delving into magical theory with Gorm and unraveling the full extent of the primordial monster's abilities.

"I am the last prophet of Golog, the god of harmony and order," Gorm proclaimed as Noah lay there, fixated on the distant sky, a habitual pastime of his.

"Doesn't that make you a force for good, then?" Noah inquired, the notion of this all-powerful deity holding little appeal to him as he absentmindedly stared upwards and daydreamed about trees and grass.

"You seem to be mistaken. While Golog embodies order and harmony, virtues typically perceived as good by humans, it does not necessarily make him benevolent. He takes these ideologies to the extreme, subjugating all living beings in the name of 'Order' and assimilating them into his divine form in the pursuit of 'Harmony.' As his devoted follower, I have been bestowed with his abilities to a lesser degree, with the sole purpose of absorbing as many life forms as possible before returning to his corporeal vessel, attaining everlasting euphoria," Gorm explained, dismissing any notions of him being a 'good guy,' as Noah often put it.

Noah listened, his interest fleeting. He had no intention of pledging himself to such a deity. "But apart from shapeshifting and regeneration, what other powers did being his follower grant you?" he inquired, seeking further insights. Who wouldn't want to know if they had more superpowers?

(Ah, yes. The bestowed gifts granted to me encompass the assimilation of various life forms and the subsequent utilization of their unique traits, immortality, immunity to Death, highly accelerated regeneration, advanced telepathy, and the ability to traverse the universe with ease). Gorm replied, recalling the purpose of their conversation.

"And I have all these powers?" Noah asked, perking up.

(You have perfectly assimilated my body, so I don't see why not), Gorm stated in return.

"So, I have all that power, and all I can do is sit and wait?" He asked, to which Gorm simply grunted.

(Such is the life I lived for millennia before you came here), he replied. (Though unlike you, I was perfectly content with solitude. Your frail mind would soon break if I were to cease all interaction, something I'd rather avoid so as to not share mind-space with a madman.)

With no one but Gorm to talk with, Noah simply asked questions, while the primordial monster did his best to answer.

"Gorm, how do spaceships work?"

"Gorm, how big is the Universe?"

"Gorm, is Earth the only planet with humans?"

"Gorm, how are babies made?"

...

"Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Noah, happy birthday… to… me…" Noah sang, biting into the pile of moss he'd formed into the vague shape of a cake. His voice caught in his throat towards the end, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

He was 100 years old now.

Everyone he knew was probably dead or close to it, having long forgotten him. Meanwhile, he was stuck in this pit, staring at the distant sky above with fading dreams of one day escaping. What was the point? If he did escape, wouldn't everything he knew and loved already be gone?

"I've never understood mortal sentimentality. It goes to show why most of your kind are just not cut out for immortality," Gorm commented upon hearing his thoughts.

"Thanks for the comforting words…" Noah muttered sarcastically, laying back and closing his eyes.

"You're probably right though…" he added, drifting off into a deep sleep.

BOOM!

...Only to be woken soon after when a massive explosion shook the earth around him. He screamed as his eardrums burst under the loud noise, blood pouring from his ears only to be healed soon after and burst again. This cycle continued, Noah staggering like a drunk man as he wobbled around the cave, crashing into walls and rolling on the constantly shaking and shifting floor, all the while holding his ears tightly as he tried to dampen the noise.

Hours went by, and finally the world stopped. Noah breathed a sigh of relief as he finally let go of his ears and took in the calm silence.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Something massive must have just exploded. The planet may be under attack, or maybe it was struck by another meteor. Either way, check the seal! It may have weakened due to the shifted earth!" Gorm said, his voice containing a hint of excitement towards the end at the possible notion of freedom. Noah also immediately looked up before leaping into the air unhesitatingly, excited at the prospect of escaping this hellhole almost as much as Gorm, if not more so.

A pair of bat wings sprouted from his back, quickly flapping and boosting him higher into the air as he made his way upwards. This was one ability that had taken him around five years to master. Rather than simply transforming an existing limb, he had to create new ones, forming nerve connections and even creating an entirely new part of his brain dedicated to the usage of the wings. He also had to figure out how to make them disappear, since he didn't want to walk around with wings on his back when he finally did reach the surface, an ordeal that occupied another few years of his time. With the help of Gorm, he found a way to make the wings drop off his back much like a lizard could shed its tail, skin quickly regrowing over the two holes left behind.

Gorm never had to deal with this issue due to his body having countless appendages already that he could transform into whatever he needed, but Noah was different. His human body limited the versatility of this power somewhat, and so he had to come up with ways to work around those limitations.

Finally, Noah reached the seal. However, different from before, when it had been similar to sturdy, bullet-proof glass, it now looked brittle, its edges even showing small cracks that were slowly creeping inward.

He didn't even hesitate.

Noah's fist transformed into a gargantuan clawed hand, white scales forming over his rapidly hardening flesh. He punched the seal with all his might, the added momentum from his desperate flight up here adding even more force behind the already devastating blow.

With a crash, the seal shattered.

"Well done, Noah! We have finally achieved freedom!" Gorm exclaimed excitedly in his head. Even for him, billions of years was a very long time to stay sealed in a small cave. He'd only roamed the multiverse for ten billion years before being trapped here, after all.

His words fell on deaf ears. Noah was fully focused on the approaching exit, the thing that marked the beginning of his freedom.

He had been eleven when he woke up in that darkness, and had spent eighty-nine years there. The world had probably changed, whether for the better or worse, he did not know, but he just wanted to get out. There was so much he had missed out on, and now all he wanted to do was finally experience those things he had missed... and get revenge on the one that put him there. They probably weren't alive anymore, considering how much time had passed, but he at least wanted to spit on their grave.

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A/N: And that marks the last chapter that I've written so far. Hope you enjoyed!