The Cup Of Wills

Will-

The will of every living thing is instinctive from birth. All strength is derived from the will to survive, at least initially. The personality of every living creature is nothing but a projection of their will. Once the will is gone the individual ceases to exist in the truest sense of the word.

Humanity after centuries of researching the nature of the soul, has been able to discover strong links between the mind and soul. With the mind functioning as the pilot of the ship, the soul is the captain delivering commands to the pilot via the mechanism of will.

The aura of the soul of every living thing can be felt in their will. No matter how strong or how weak the will is, it can be felt. The strength of one's will can be raised by training the individual to be determined and single-minded in achieving their goals.

Drawing from this, the Trial of Determination was created. In a bid to test the strength of the will of all living things in the myriad realms, the mysterious Temple Master of Origin included the Origin Cup of Will making it the core of the trial and awaiting a soul strong enough to clear all the trials and obtain it as proof of their strength of will.

No matter how weak a soul may be, its will remains unbroken, so that the soul may truly channel its strength

At this very moment within the Temple of Origin, a loud crack resounded from the white gateway

"What? What is going on with this guy? Why is the trial gateway cracking?" The Temple Guard said looking at the strange challenger standing before the gateway, burning in a deep sea blue flame while gliding slowly towards it. The aura he released oppressed the massive gateway, pushing back its aura gradually with every step forward.

Atop a massive mountain face stood a beautiful pavilion. Within it, a small toddler stood up from his throne with a magnificent golden chalice. Its eyes trembled in shock as he stared into space, his heart beating erratically. Immediately with rage in his eyes, he sped out of the pavilion alongside three other figures rushing off somewhere in the distance.

The next moment as though a pebble was dropped into a perfectly still lake the space ahead of them rippled and the four cupbearers vanished into the Core Realm

"What just happened, Big Brother Gold? Why do I feel this intense feeling of loss?" Wood said as the ancient-looking cup bearer turned to look at the toddler by his side. As they flew at incredible speeds towards the white barrier ahead.

A moment later they arrived at the white barrier surrounding the plaza. However, although they were strong enough to see into the space within, the membrane denied them access. Banging on the regenerated barrier, Gold could only shake his head and answer with despair in his eyes.

"What happened... What just happened was...." Gold could barely gather together his emotions or keep his tears from falling, as he looked ahead towards the centre of the plaza. Observing the two figures, they froze in place when they saw the flame consume the cup.

"It shattered," Gold said. He could barely keep himself from breaking down. His tender features made such a sad expression it would awaken the motherly instinct in all women who lay eyes on it.

Silver and the others waited with bated breaths as they watched, waiting for Gold to get himself together. Their hearts filled with worry as in the aeons of knowing him Gold had never lost his composure like this as their leader.

"It shattered. The true core of the trial realm of determination was called the Origin Cup of Wills. How exactly it came to be is not clear to me, but the memories of several challengers within these aeons say that it was created along with four other items at the creation of all intelligent life during the birth of the myriad realms.

What makes the Origin Trials so special is that within each of the trial realms, there is one of such treasures placed by the supreme expert that constructed the Origin Temple to serve as the core of the realm.

It is such a powerful treasure that wielded in the hands of a real powerhouse, can absorb and destroy the will of all intelligent lifeforms in an entire realm in an instant, turning them into mindless puppets. Conversely, it can enhance their will and strengthen them constantly.

The implications of its shattering are too enormous to calculate." He explained slowly after regaining his composure.

As he spoke, changes had begun to occur within the barrier. The inner membrane fell apart and the dust of the cup rose into the air, making a single curve in the air as it drilled into Alex's forehead.

Knocked out Alex found his consciousness transported into the darkness of his mind. His thoughts echoed in the vast space like wisps of smoke. Suddenly a single point of light gathered from the flickers in the darkness around him, compressing itself into a tiny orb.

Alex reached out with his consciousness and touched the ball and the white ball was slowly coloured a deep sea blue like an inkwell spilt into a glass of water. The last of the white disappeared, and in an explosion of light, it spread everywhere.

Alex blinked to adjust to the brightness and discovered he was now standing on a vast blue sea. The darkness within his mind was now gone, turned into a spiritual sea. The thoughts now no longer wandered here and there but were transformed into ripples and waves within his mind, more stable and directed.

Instantly his soul flame appeared within this space. Alex looked at this flame worried it would suddenly do something unexpected again. But the flame just continued to hover around him seemingly saying something to him.

Observing closely, Alex felt that this time the flame wanted to move its core from within his body and place the ember of will- the fuel of the flame, within this spiritual sea as it would nurture it. Alex to his surprise was better able to understand the intentions of his soul flame better within this spiritual realm. Soon he realised that the soul flame was just a physical representation of his will, and its function was similar to the written orders from the captain to the crew of the ship.

Alex indicated to the flame that he understood and agreed to move the core of the flame out into the sea. The next moment a fist-sized hole opened up on the forehead of his consciousness body, and a weak force of attraction appeared. The flame entered this space and the next moment a navy blue crystal surrounded by floating dust particles flew out of the gap.

Alex looked closely at this crystal and instantly knew that this was his ember of will. The link between his mind and his soul. Within the crystal was a flame burning brightly, his soul flame.

As the gap was sealed up, a sigil was formed in its place. The same sigil formed on his soul body within the plaza. The sigil was in the shape of a lotus with 9 petals shaped like a teacup. Each petal was filled with tiny hexes in a complicated pattern. Tightly woven together it looked like paint to the naked eye. Overall the sigil was a deep blue while maintaining the connection between mind and soul.

The crystal roamed a while above the sea before sinking into it. With nothing happening for a few moments, Alex was about to return his consciousness to reality like he was waking from a lucid dream. When a slight tremor ran through the water, like a huge stone smashing into the sea floor.

A smaller-than-normal ripple flowed through the sea calming all other thought ripples and waves, extending into the distance and spreading beyond where Alex could perceive on the horizon. A minute later a small whirlpool appeared in the centre of the sea followed by 9 others around it in a formation.

While these changes were happening, the flame on Alex's body within the Temple of Origin had disappeared and his body began to glow, fading in and out of existence. Right at this point, he had gotten about an arm's length away from the gateway.

At the moment the whirlpools appeared, the entire plaza in the core realm began to vibrate trembling with increasing intensity. Alex still lay on it unconscious the sigil on his head gradually growing brighter.

"Sigh, it's over. I have to leave here now," Babyface said to himself and quickly left toward the outer barrier. However, the space within the plaza turned stiff as though one was wading through neck-high water, slowing down his retreat. Suddenly he felt a weak suction force coming from behind him. To his shock, he turned around to find a faint suctioning force emanating from Alex's unconscious body, specifically his forehead. 

Fearing for his poor spectre life, Babyface ran towards the barrier with all his might. Meanwhile, the suction force was rapidly rising, and within the spiritual sea, the whirlpools had evolved into massive cyclones drawing all the nearby soul essences into the sea. Waves crashed, as the sea turned increasingly turbulent.

Soon Alex's unconscious body began to rise into the air the sigil on his head as bright as the sunrise. Seeing the changes within the plaza the 4 cup bearers ran away from the vicinity to avoid getting caught in the suction force leaving poor Babyface to break through it by himself. The suction force grew so strong that it began to disintegrate the massive pillars that stored the soul essence.

Despair filled Babyface's visage as he saw the fruit of his labour over aeons being devoured. But he knew deep down there was nothing he could do. The suction force grew again and at this point, Babyface knew something was wrong.

"You can't absorb everything at once you idiot. Your soul will explode." Babyface cried out desperately. Fragmenting his spectral core knowing he could not escape, he sent a piece out and hid it in the massive gateway.

A moment later the attraction force grew to a critical state. With a loud boom, the entire plaza and the massive pillars were shattered turning the whole area into a gigantic black hole with Alex at the nucleus, his body struggling to withstand the force. He was about to explode.