1 - Survive

'Survive.'

'You have to survive.'

'Keep going. Just a little longer.'

A young boy, no older than fifteen years of age, trudged through the knee deep mud of the swamp through the dense and pounding rain and wind, his tattered clothes sticking to his body as a soulless look was plastered upon his face, his body being swayed like a frail tree. The darkness surrounding his body in the night seemed to be pressing on his soul.

Endlessly walking forward, with his only goal being to survive. His frail and thin body seemed to protest every step that he took, pain stinging through his legs, up his torso, and even spreading through his arms.

His body was so exhausted that he felt as if he could fall over and die at any moment. And yet he continued to push forwards, endlessly. He had already become numb to the pain long ago, and his body had begun to fail him several days ago. Yet he still continued to push.

'I must survive.' These were the only thoughts echoing through his mind as his endless march continued. Starved and dehydrated for weeks on end, he was on the verge of death. And yet he still pushed forward.

The thought had already crossed his mind many times to just fall over and die, to sink into the mud, being completely forgotten by history. It was so easy for him to die, so why could he just not bring himself to do it?

It had long ago come to the point where his willpower alone was the only thing keeping him alive, the only thing keeping his heart from stopping its already faint and weak beating.

But finally, after such a long time, that willpower alone wasn't enough. He was going to die. Nothing could stop it. Nothing could save him.

As he realized his body was falling backwards towards his muddy grave, the thought crossed his mind, 'What if things were different? Why am I not strong enough?'

His vision began blurring as his body accelerated towards the mud. He could feel the rain on his skin, each drop pounding a little bit more of his soul towards death.

The sound of the rain echoed through his ears as the world around him seemed to slow down and distort.

As his body landed in the mud, he was left staring at the sky, the vast beautiful storm clouds, filled with mosaics of ethereal lighting, reflected in his eyes yet not seen by him.

'I told myself I would survive. Did I go through all of this just to die in an unknown spot because I wasn't strong enough to keep going forward?'

His lips and mouth were far too dry for him to speak even if he could spare that much energy. But at this moment, if someone were to watch him, they would swear that they saw his mouth moving.

Inaudible from even right next to him, drowned out by the raging storm, the words formed and faded in seconds as the light left his eyes and his heart stopped beating.

"So the cost was death. Worth it."

A small smile remained upon his face as he died, slowly sinking into the mud, his final thoughts unable to be understood.

And finally, the mud covered up his face as he disappeared from this world, never to be seen again.

The world didn't know that he had died, nor did it care. He had simply faded away, never to be remembered.

Little did he or anyone know that today would mark the birth of the most terrifying monster the world had ever known.

The world around his dead body continued on, the storm growing ever stronger, raging and pounding upon everything in the swamp, seeming as if god had decided to punish this area. The deafening booms of thunder echoed through the area constantly, seeming as if an apocalypse was happening.

The wind strengthened, ripping the leaves and branches off of trees and ripping up all the plants on the ground. The water poured down, forming into a river.

It was a storm of apocalyptic proportions, and all life within the swamp was terrified, cowering in fear or already dead. Lightning struck the earth constantly as if punishing any living thing simply for being alive.

Just as the storm was reaching its worst, it suddenly fell silent. The rain stopped midair, suspended by a strange force. The lightning froze in the clouds, entirely stopped. The wind stopped blowing as the world itself seemed to be frozen in time.

All living things fell into complete silence and had been frozen as well. At this moment, nothing in that swamp seemed capable of moving or even passing through time in the slightest.

Then, just as suddenly as time had stopped, the world seemed to be shaken to its very core as a long sigh rang through it, echoing as if in the halls of infinity.

"The time has come." An incomprehensibly powerful voice echoed through the world with sadness, seeming as if a thousand lifetimes had passed in misery.

"I hope you were right, Destiny."

With this voice came a pulse of power that seemed to come from the beginning of time, spreading through the entire world before flowing backwards and condensing into a small bead barely a millimeter wide.

Then, this ball of power flew through the air faster than the speed of light towards the boy's body, entering into it and dissolving into it.

At that moment, something deep within him was awakened. Something that had always been within him yet had never shown itself until now.

It was this very power that would make him the most terrifying monster this world had ever seen.

The next moment, the world seemed to speed back up to normal speed as the winds flowed, the rain fell, and the lightning boomed.

However, the storm had lost its vigor, and soon cleared entirely, leaving only destruction behind.

By the time it cleared, all life within the swamp had been wiped out. 

At least, that's what should've happened, but it was at this moment that the boy's thin and weak arm reached out of the muddy grave forcefully, desperately grabbing onto anything it could touch to pull his body out of the mud.

Soon, his other arm followed, and soon after his head and chest.

As his head came out of the mud, he desperately coughed out the mud that had filled his lungs and scrambled to get it out of his eyes. 

Finally, he managed to clear the mud from his lungs and eyes.

Looking around him, he tried to figure out what had happened. He should've died, so why was he alive?

As if to answer his questions, the ancient voice echoed through the world once more.

"Good luck, successor of Absolute Eternity."