Born in apocalypse

’Nooo,noooo, not again..’Dhruv panicked when he saw himself melting once again and was convincing himself that he had to endure the horrifying pain that was about to come.

"Huhhh!! What is happening..." He found himself surprised when the only thing he felt was a sense of relief; there wasn’t any hint of him being torn apart or burned alive anymore. He found himself in such peace that his eyes began to close on their own, and just a second later, there was nothing but darkness in front of him.

Just like how it had happened with the others, Dhruv also began to get encased in an egg.

But the structure of his egg was different. In the case of the eggs in which the trio was encased, the only change that had happened was in their color, while their outer structure was the same as a natural egg.

But in the case of his egg, the structure of the entire egg had been changed.

The thing is that the egg in which Dhruv was encased is made out of metal—not just any metal, but some kind of melted metal with some part of the egg seeming to be glitching out, It’s like the structure of the egg described all of Dhruv’s affinity.

The molten metal part indicates his affinity toward metal and fire—which he had obtained after receiving the exclusive ability [Pheonixborn]. While the glitching part indicates his affinity toward the element illusion.

Looking at the egg, the trio also calmed down. Knowing that evolution would fix whatever was wrong within him. As an extra measure, they began to construct shields around the egg.

***

In a realm where everything was made out of metal, the grass was made out of metal and so was the ground beneath their feet. Instead of water, streams of molten metal flowed through this unique land. There wasn’t any sign of day or night either as the color of the sun of this realm seemed to change according to someone’s mood.

And at that moment, the whole realm was shrouded in utter darkness.

The fire began to pop up from place to place, lighting the realm. It would only remain for a second before it would be extinguished by the darkness once again.

Suddenly, the darkness started to retreat in response to the sudden surge of intense, red-hot fire.

The flames flickered into existence here and there, illuminating the surroundings. Yet the flame would only last for a brief moment before being devoured by the returning darkness.

Then something changed in the realm, suddenly, a castle made of metal began to emerge from the ground. At first, the color of the whole castle was bland, the whole palace was made out of grey color.

But a moment later, the bland color of the castle began to change in some mystical way, coloring the whole place in such a majestic way that even the most skilled painter on earth had to bow before its beauty.

They drive the darkness away from the palace, and fire begins to pop up in the place, lighting the whole thing. Once the entire castle was bathed in light, the palace trembled once again.

The castle trembled in excitement as it was about to welcome the most important part of its body.

Just a second later a throne room began to carve itself out in the middle of this magnificent castle. Far away from the gate of the room, a magnificent throne materialized.

Following the appearance of the throne room, three pillars started forming in front of the throne. Just before these pillars, three additional chairs materialized. And on these three chairs, sat the holograms of three individuals.

The whole realm shook for the third time when a man materialized in front of the throne.

Curious about his surroundings, he glanced around, and then, taking a step forward, he sat on the throne like an emperor.

***

Dhruv didn’t know how long had passed since his sleep, but he suddenly found himself floating in a void.

"D... Did I-I just die?" A strange but pretty obvious thought crossed his mind. But the moment he gained some clarity, the void in front of him began to change.

The void where there was nothing earlier, now suddenly began to fill itself with metal; everything that began to pop up is made out of metal. With a half-asleep state, he thought that this would be the end.

But, no, that wasn’t the end, and the more he gained clarity the more this world would change.

Before, when there was nothing but metal. All things were still made out of metal, but their color began to change, matching everything with the same color they would be in the real world.

After a while, a sun emerged in this strange world, but instead of illuminating the realm, it did the total opposite and shrouded the whole realm in darkness.

But to counter the darkness, flames began erupting in random places, matching the rhythm of Dhruv’s breath.

Dhruv was about to think that this would mark the end of the entire mystical incident, but much to his astonishment, the most important aspect of the realm had yet to unfold.

"Is that a c..castle.." he thought.

And he was indeed right and suddenly it emerged from the ground covering hundreds of meters in area. At first, it was bland, but the more he gained consciousness, the color of the castle began to change.

"Why is it soo dark here..." he whispers.

Like the castle is following his command, fire begins to pop up from place to place. The random fire popping didn’t change the aesthetic one bit, instead, it even increased the magnificence of the castle somehow.

And just like that, he had gained full consciousness.

Dhruv felt a suction force working on him, and before he could resist or even think about resisting, he got transported into the throne room of the castle.

The very first thing he did was check his body, and to his surprise, there were no extra six eyes on his head. There are no horns on top of his head, and there aren’t any wings either. Even the length of his legs was now the same.

After getting to know his body, he looked around to see where he was. The very first thing he noticed was that a big ass throne was placed in front of him. And he could feel that it was begging him to sit on it.

He therefore sat on it without hesitation..

Now looking in front of him, he noticed that the throne room was a bit bland. There are only three pillars in front of him as of now, with chairs in front of them.

He also noticed that there was a hologram of someone familiar sitting on those chairs, looking in his direction...

"Are those the hologram of the trio..." he couldn’t help but say it out loud after getting a proper look at the hologram.

Before he could confirm his thoughts by getting close to the hologram, a notification appeared in front of him.

Looking at the notification, a weird creepy smile hung upon his face...