44 Tenebrous World

"How many more there could be? Are there any more of them to begin with?

"I don't remember them from the novel. They could have been there but not been mentioned, but I don't think that's correct. It should have something to do with me...

"Sefiroth, or more precisely Tenebrous World," Hector spoke as he was inspecting his body.

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For some time he was experimenting with his vines and their perception. When he thought that it was enough he sat up and decided that he would try to connect to Tenebrous World.

In the letter, it was written that he should not try it until he would be in sequence 7 but now that he found out that only his ego remained and was awakened in the sefiroth he disregarded the warning and decided to try it now.

But he did not know how to begin, "Klein got there with ritual but I don't know any. On the other hand, he was a visitor and I'm supposed to be its ego so it should be part of me.

"It should be as easy as moving with one's leg...Wait!

"Those vines are my actual self, not this body." Hector then closed his eyes and concentrated on the vines in his hearth. After a few moments, his perception shifted and he could feel himself differently than before. He tries to perceive any connection with something that was him but somewhere else.

He could feel a few vines that were somehow less real and more aetherial that weren't connected to the body but somewhere else.

He followed the connection by willing his mind to expand into an unknown place. His mind was overcome with painful headaches as he could hear screams in an unknown language echoing in his mind.

He felt as if his whole mind would be turned into thousands of pieces. His self was obliterated by some kind of force that wished him nothing but harm.

For some reason he saw white fog blocking his path but few vines were passing through it and so he continued through them, 'Western continent' He thought but when he passed he saw nothing but the starry sky above him and an empty void under him.

'Some kind of seal?' He wasn't sure what he was seeing but soon his perception shifted one more time as his mind stopped.

He found himself in empty surroundings, on the horizon, he could see mountains making the place in which he found himself look like a crucible.

Crucible burning with desires and emotions prepared to spread and corrupt all that was is, and could be.

While he tried to move he realized that he had nobody. He could not move by normal means, so he tried to move by shifting his perception.

When he succeed he started to observe his surrounding more closely. The ground was oily black, it's surface was smooth without any blemishes. Air was filled with black smog that would limit any visibility, not even a lantern would be able to help to see beyond a few steps.

The sky was pitch black and at the end, he could see the ceiling. he could not guess at what height the ceiling was located, not because he couldn't not make a guess, but when he perceived it as a whole he could see the ground, ceiling, and the space between but when he looked more closely he could not see it.

From his perception, he came to understand that the ceiling was infinitely high, and only by perceiving all of it he could see it. His mind was still unable to observe only one part of infinity, he was originally human and his ego was awakened in Tenebrous World but it was still him and so it would take time until his mind will stretch and expanded until it will become the same as those among the stars.

Hector did not understand all of secrets of himself but he inherently understood that he will find out at the right time.

And so he let himself to drift in the darkness... no not the darkness but desires that condensed until they become tangible. He could feel them, but not like the feeling of wind on one's skin, more like the sense of oneself being finally whole.

But then he violently shook as he realized that he was molding with his surrounding. He thought about fighting but then he realized that there is another way.

Hector focused his mind on envisioning a vessel that would represent his ego here.

He thought of the shape the vessel should take, he remembered that dream with a devil with a mouth on its body, but then he found it lacking.

He is not just one thing here. He is the ground upon which one can walk, he is the smog that surrounds the world, he is all of it.

And so he started to pull at the ground, the smog, and the sky. Then he merged them together creating a mass of matter that was not a solid nor liquid or gas, not even plasma. And yet when he observed it more closely it was all four at the same time.

Hector then started to mold it into different shapes, he found it very tangible only with his thoughts he could change it into anything he wanted. He could even split it into two, three, four, thousand, million, quintillion.

No matter how many he made their overall mass did not change until he desired it so.

Then he put them all back together into a perfect sphere. When he was done he willed himself into the mass and willed for the vines to create themself and spread into the sphere, binding it more closely to his will and perception.

The sphere then started to get smaller and smaller, and when it became just two meters long its form started to change until it looked like Hector's body.

When he opened his eyes he could see only black smog, but thanks to his perception outside of his body he could perceive every piece of space here.

He observed his body and found it equal to the one in his bed. Then he started to change his form into that less human. Different types of devils and demons from history and folktales.

In the end, he tried to take the form of his original body and when he did he looked it over and started to change a few details.

He made its height about three meters, teeth longer and jagged, irises became those of a goat, and horns sprouted from the head. Skin became deathly pale and from elbow to the end of fingers became pitch black as if dipped in some oily black substance. His feet sprouted hooves and black scales grew on the rest of his legs. His body became more muscular while on his shoulders spikes grew making them look like shoulder plates.

On his back vines grew and intertwine themself into pair of dark bat wings with a multitude of eyes. On the chest mouths opened, they too had jagged teeth and forked tongues.

Then Hector started to move in his new form and found it most pleasing, "This isn't bad, and somehow it feels more like my body than the one in the outside world. The ability to change it on a whim is also interesting

"When I think about it later down the path devils get authority over mutations, but that is at sequence 0. But then again sefiroth is a combination of pathways and when one gets them all he becomes..." He spoke as he started to morph into different forms, but then a splitting headache hits him as very earth shakes in response to his pain.

"Ah, it is one of dangerous information... But why? I'm clearly no longer human...

"Is it possible that it is not me that is in danger but the body that I was occupying?"