Transformation

The next several hours were a grueling process. My physical body transformed, unraveled into a mere pattern of energy, then reshaped and reformed into my new form. While that happened, my mind was stimulated and allowed to grow beyond the confines of the flesh, the limits of the physical medium. When I re-entered my new body, my psyche dug deep roots into my brain to anchor me. This would be my body for eons to come, but it would serve as an immortal anchor, supporting a mind too agile for physical brain-cells alone.

Golthuem brought me to the depths of space, floating in the vast gulf between the stars. There we attuned my new body to the web of cosmic energy underlying existence, tapping into the tapestry of energy interconnecting realities. I felt the power rush into me, fueling my growing psychic and magical power, which overflowed from me and fed back into the tapestry. I was part of that infinite system now, able to sense and travel through it, though it would mean the energy flowing out of me would leave a trail of residual occult energy that might be tracked.

We next traveled sideways in a way I was only beginning to understand. We moved away from reality, toward the Abyss: a place of chaos and destruction, where reality itself was unmade. Anything that sunk too deeply into the inky darkness of the abyss would be torn apart by the entropic forces, shredded and unmade until the tiniest particle ceased to exist entirely. Near the edge of this dark, gaping maw lived an entire ecosystem of dangerous creatures, dipping in and out of the abyss to varying levels, feeding off the dying in a multitude of physical and magical ways. Golthuem shielded me from their senses for the time being, allowing me time to descend partially into the abyss and attune to its destructive energies. Power flowed through me, coursing through my body like a raging forest fire, and clawing at the edges of my mind in its relentless process of destruction.

When I emerged from the abyss, I hovered near Golthuem for a moment to recover my strength. The abyssal creatures nearby shifted in their endless hunt, changing course like sharks scenting blood in the water. Golthuem pulled me away before they could get too close, but I knew they would continue to pursue, sensing the dark and sinister magical energies radiating from me. They had my scent now, and the hunt had begun.