The Awakening

New Years Day Tertius Year 369 

[  Empire of Astral - Astral Institute of Technology - Lineage Chamber  ]

*Beep* ... *Beep* ... *Beep* …

As consciousness slowly seeped in, muffled monotone beeps rang in Chronos's ears.

There was a nauseating sense of disorientation, a feeling of not quite being present.

His mind felt foggy and disjointed...

As though it were slowly struggling to come to grips with the world around it.

Shortly after, was the sensation of a viscous substance that clung to his skin like a coat of gel.

The strange feeling of pressure all around his body added to his confusion.

Slowly opening his eyes, Chronos felt a stinging sensation on his eyeballs.

Everything was a blur...

'Whaa...tt...'

He blinked his eyes, trying to focus on the strange surroundings. .

Chronos had a perceptible look of confusion, understandably so.

Everything was so foreign and overwhelming, the sounds and sensations and sights of this unknown world flooded into his senses.

An array of white coated figures hustled around the sterile, white walled laboratory, checking the projected holographic screens and actively recording data.

All attention was on the newborn who was suspended within a cylindrical tube, a clear glass-like material that was filled with a bluish, translucent liquid.

Tubes and wires snaked their way neatly out of the container, attached to various futuristic machines at its side.

Bubbles fought their way past Chronos's eyes when something dawned upon him,

"I CAN'T BREATH !!!"

Chronos could not decide which was worse -

The disorientating nausea of clashing realities...

Or the excruciating sensation of his lungs being torn apart from within itself as it screamed for air.

Amidst the muffled discussions of these white figures, a look of panic began to set on Chronos's face.

Drowning amidst shattered light...

He tried to move, to break free from the tube, but his body was sluggish and unresponsive, as though weighed down by the liquid that filled the container.

The glass walls of the encasement felt like a tightening noose, claustrophobia now added to his already long list of afflictions.

Suddenly...

The agony his consciousness felt was met by a wave of warmth...

Chronos's first reaction was that he had died... again?

He felt a momentary sense of serenity sweep throughout his body which was now limp in relief.

Just when he had accepted this familiar embrace of death, an energy from deep within him pulsed outward, shattering the glass which encased him.

*VROSHHH*

He shot outward, amidst an aura of whitish-silver and purple.

Everything felt so surreal...

The anguish that had plagued Chronos just seconds ago completely vanished as if it were a fleeting hallucination.

"Whaattt... Innn.. Theee.. Wooorld.... Is... Gooing Onn????"

Chronos screamed, half choking on the viscous bluish fluid in his mouth.

He was suddenly propelling through the roof of the building, the particles of whitish-silver and purple were like a loyal knight, protecting his lord as he blasted through the rubble.

Chronos was entranced by the power coursing through his veins, drunk with a liberating strength he could never have fathomed.

Before he knew it, he had levitated to the skies above an unknown city.

*Spit* *Spit* *Spit*

Spitting out the remnants of the bluish liquid that encased him in the futuristic tube, Chronos muttered,

"Where am ... I...? "

Immediately scanning the vicinity to orient himself, Chronos noticed that the wave of silver-purple energy particles that pulsated outward from his body froze everything in its midst.

He marveled at the inexplicable display of omnipotence.

It felt like the very fabric of space and time bowed down in his presence.

Chronos didn't know how far the whitish silver-purple particles had stretched out to, he had lost all concept of time and space;

Yet contradictorily, he had never felt so close and appreciative of their existence.

'What is this feeling…?'

For years, he had been weighed down by the burden of trauma and depression...

Living each day in a haze of sadness and hopelessness...

But as he floated mid air, Chronos felt a light-heartedness that he had never known.

Although his memories of his cruel past stayed intact, it was as if a heavy invisible burden had been lifted.

His current body was free of the amalgam of trauma-spawned neurochemicals that were etched into his abused body.

At first, he didn't quite understand the feeling...

But as it grew stronger, he realized that he was experiencing a sense of joy that he had never felt before.

He felt free...

Unshackled from the chains of his past...

The darkness that had consumed him for so long was suddenly gone, and he was overwhelmed with a feeling of hope.

"Hah… Haha… HAHA… HAHAHA"

Chronos let out a deep, resounding laugh, which echoed in the moment of stasis with an infectious joy.

It was a laugh that came from deep within him -

A laugh that expressed a newfound freedom and happiness that he was experiencing.

For a moment, he felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders, and he reveled in the moment.

He lifted his hands to grasp at what could only be described as tiny orbs of white and purple light.

'Holy shit! my arms they're tiny!'

'My entire body is tiny!'

'FUCK YES !!! IT HAPPENED !!!'

'I… this is… some sort of rebirth ?!'

"HAHAHAHAHA!!"

Chronos burst out in laughter once again.

His tiny body was filled with an overflowing joy that he could not contain.

He began to dance, swaying his hands, bobbing up and down in mid-air amongst the sea of energy particles.

They were fluttering around him jubilantly, inviting him to dance alongside them in their silent serenade.

A smile surfaced as Chronos tried to make contact with one of the innumerable orbs of white and purple but as soon as he was about to touch it…

A single menacing vein of crimson lightning blazed out in the stifling stillness of this world.

Writhing and wriggling with the pain, it skewered straight down toward Chronos as if he were the cause.

The heavens exacted divine retribution... and Chronos's existence -

The most contemptible of blasphemies!

Pregnant with malice and damnation, the crimson bolt of lightning surged toward him.

Just as It was about to hit Chronos ...!

A beautiful lady of Asian descent cradled his newborn body into the safety of her arms.

He was suddenly bathed in an otherworldly light and a force-field had been conjured to protect them from the crimson bolt of lightning.

Chronos looked up and saw a loving smile.

"Woahh hey lady! You're pretty and all, but you shouldn't be holding me like this…"

Chronos said as he slyly leaned his head onto her ample bosoms.

Suddenly, a light headache momentary headache tickled his consciousness, with widened eyes Chronos muttered,

" You… You're my mom?! "

The entrancing beauty replied with a loving smile and lightly pinched Chronos on his cheek,

"Welcome home my dear son…"

Her features were delicate and refined, with high cheekbones and a set of white-purple glistening eyes that sparkled like a clear starry night.

Her silky long silver hair flowed gracefully down the sides of her pearlesque skin.

She wore a flowing white robe that hugged her curves in all the right places, revealing the contours of her lithe body.

The fabric shimmered and glowed with a soft white - purple aura, as if imbued with the power of the cosmos itself.

Her sleeves billowed out around her, trailing behind her like a pair of delicate wings.

She was Empress Shi Kong, Queen of the Empire of Astral.

Floating around the mother son pair was a scarf which had a thin neon purple strip of light, adding a futuristic touch to this picturesque image of an angelic Asian beauty.

Chronos stared blankly into her eyes, transfixed by her beauty and grace.

Tears started welling up in his eyes...

It was the first time he had seen this goddess of a lady, but he felt a sense of peace and familiarity stemming from the depths of his existence.

"M… Mom…?"

Chronos muttered under his breath, a small streak of tears had started trickling down his face.

He was overcome with an unfamiliar warmth from within his heart, a bond of kinship that he could previously only envy from a far.

Without much thought, he reached over to embrace the teary-eyed Empress.

It was at this moment that Chronos truly started to comprehend his current state.

Chronos had all of his memories, but even recollecting them didn't hurt as much as it used to...

He was the same Chronos he was before, but at the same time, he could clearly feel that his previous experiences, his previous self was but a small piece of his new existence.

Like a phoenix reborn from the last flickering embers within the ashes of desolation, Chronos's once-ashen feathers now glowed with renewed strength and vitality.

An extremely peculiar cheeky child-like vitality he could not control....

"Don't worry baby boy, mommy and daddy will protect you"

Empress Shi Kong said lovingly as she looked up upon the rumbling gray skies.

Beside her came a herculean man whose muscular frame was encased in futuristic sci-fi armor.

The armor was made of sleek maroon material that gave off an ominous otherworldly sheen.

It was adorned with intricate neon gold designs that glowed in the darkness, adding to its otherworldly appearance.

"Welcome to the world my boy!"

A deep manly voice echoed warmly into Chronos's ears, for a split second, the image of that disheveled drug addict flashed within his mind. The contrast, indescribable.

The man in front of him was strong and chiseled, with piercing blue eyes that seemed to glow with an inner light.

He had a head of neat undercut dark purple hair which highlighted his masculine features.

'This is... my... father??'

'How do I know this?'

Chronos pondered as he wrestled with his resurgent headache.

This Greek god of a man was armed to the gills with a variety of futuristic sci-fi weapons and devices, most noticeably of which was a glowing golden sword that seemed to pulse with power.

Bolts of energy crackled around the surface of his armor, accenting the thick belt that glowed with a menacing red light, pulsing with energy that seemed to radiate out of him.

This was the Emperor of the entire Empire of Astral - Emperor Aion Teleos Astral.

Before Chronos could react to this new found family, the gray skies glowed an ominous red. Looking up, he saw a towering presence of malevolence and destruction.

"What the hell is that?!"

Chronos let out a high-pitch shriek as he pointed his tiny index fingers toward the sky above.

There was a giant translucent female face projected in the clouds.

Her eyes glowed a bright but menacing red light.

' You gotta be freaking kidding me! I was just reborn... and now…'

Chronos screamed,

"Watch out! There's a translucent bitch in the skies! "