Stargazers: World stage

"You."

The word echoed across the sterile room, sharp and decisive. It was Vahn's turn.

Without hesitation, he stepped forward, his footsteps muffled against the pristine white floor. The pod loomed ahead, a metallic cocoon humming softly with latent energy.

Vahn climbed inside; the hatch sealing shut with a hiss.

SHHHHHHH.

Thick mist hissed from hidden vents, engulfing him in a dense, cold fog.

Within moments, his vision blurred, the world around him fading into nothingness.

WIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE.

A high-pitched whine pierced the silence, and everything went black.

When Vahn opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a vast expanse of dry, cracked earth. The sky was an endless canvas of gray, oppressive, and heavy.

Confusion gripped him as he reached for his head, a sudden, sharp pain slicing through his thoughts. But just as swiftly as it came, the pain vanished, leaving only an eerie clarity.

His gait shifted instinctively, as though his body recognized the purpose of this strange dream. He looked up and saw them.

Suspended in the sky were beings of unimaginable power. Though he'd never seen them before, Vahn knew them. It was a strange situation, he suddenly knew something he had never seen.

To the far right, a colossal dragon as vast as the moon unfurled its wings, each beat spanning hundreds of kilometers. Its scales were midnight black, and its golden, reptilian eyes burned with ancient fury. A single roar shattered distant planets into cosmic dust.

Beside the dragon, a phoenix blazed with ethereal fire, its elegant neck arched in prideful lament, mourning its beauty wasted in this desolate realm.

Next stood a slender figure, humanoid in form but radiating malevolence. A demon, born from the darkest, loneliest, and deepest abyss, who had devoured the seven kings of emotion to ascend as the Demon god and earned the name, Lucifer.

Further along, was a being of pure light, divine and commanding. No, it's being itself commanded divine to give way. Its ten pairs of wings shimmered like celestial blades, far surpassing the six wings known to archangels.

A massive tree the size of a world towered beside them with its branches sprawling like continents. The World Tree is a source of boundless life force, capable of resurrecting the dead just by staying close to it.

Then came the Sun Beast, an entity that roamed the cosmos, devouring suns and extinguishing their light.

The Void Beast followed a paradoxical creature that consumed everything, even itself, leaving behind an eternal hunger.

A stone embodied the elemental forces, earth, fire, water, and wind, pulsating with raw, untamed energy.

And there were more, countless mythical and incomprehensible entities, each radiating overwhelming power.

But Vahn felt nothing for them.

And immediately he made his request evident, the ground trembled as his silent rejection echoed across the barren landscape.

Rumble....

Followed by an ancient voice that rumbled through the air,

["Eschatos."]

The earth cracked, and with a deafening roar, another figure emerged, a human.

Vahn's heart raced. His eyes locked onto the figure, a strange sense of familiarity washing over him as if he'd been waiting for this moment his entire life.

Without thinking, he stretched out his hand and whispered,

["Devour."]

***

Far from Vahn's location, in a realm cloaked in absolute darkness, so profound it seemed to devour even itself, voices whispered,

"Another one has come."

"Which one?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing left."

"Tsk, a useless one then."

Silence fell once more, as cold and eternal as the void itself. The next time a voice would be heard next was unknown.

***

PSSSSSHHHHH.

The pod hissed open. Vahn stepped out, greeted by skeptical stares and whispered complaints.

"Finally..." one student muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What took him so long?"

"He was in there for over an hour..."

Their voices blended into a chorus of discontent. But the military personnel watched him closely, their expressions tense. Even the usually cheerful officer wore a serious look.

'Two hours...' the officer mused. 'Did he awaken something extraordinary?'

Curiosity soon broke the silence.

"Hey, what ability did you get?" someone asked, eager to see Vahn's newfound power.

Vahn nodded slightly, raising his hand with quiet confidence.

However,

Nothing happened. No ability, no effects on the surroundings, there was no change.

A frown creased his brow. He tried again. Still, nothing.

Confusion settled in. 'Wasn't that the awakening?' He clearly remembered devouring the human-shaped entity.

So, why was there no change?

Murmurs grew louder.

"Don't tell me... he still doesn't have an ability?"

Shock rippled through the crowd. He had spent two hours in the pod, longer than anyone else. Yet, he emerged empty-handed.

The officer exchanged a helpless glance with the hidden camera, his earlier confidence dissolving into disbelief.

And if one could realize, the control room where the holographic projection displayed Vahn's failure was,

"Are you telling me he still didn't awaken?" someone blurted.

The Major-General stared, his face unreadable.

"Impossible. We pushed it to 100%, didn't we, Major?"

Silence.

The Major-General didn't respond.

This was a gamble, a high-stakes bet that had now seemingly failed. He had bent protocols, and crossed lines, all for nothing.

"What do we do now, Major?"

Their voices blurred, fading into the background. The Major-General sighed, severing the connection, and cutting off the camera feed.

At this point, the last of the people who still had a speck of hope lost hope in him. If he wasn't an asset, they couldn't care about him anymore

But they were wrong.

***

Unbeknownst to them, something had awakened within Vahn. Not a flashy ability or elemental power, but something deeper. Something ancient. Something primal.

It stirred in the depths of his being, quietly, patiently.

Vahn, oblivious to the disappointment around him, clenched his fist with renewed determination. 'This is just one of many things I've tried. I won't stop here.'

Yet, a nagging thought lingered.

'If I didn't get an ability... then what did I devour?'