It was a dark, grey space, with streaks of white, blue, and yellow streaking across the sky. Piles of dotted characters, like strokes of a brush, littered the place. There didn’t seem to be a ground at first glance, but when thought of as such, a surface appeared.
It didn’t manifest in the truest sense, but just seemed like there was one. And on this surface, moving between the piles of characters was an individual. A thought, there was the ground surface, causing the characters to be a pile.
A thought later, there was no ground, causing everything to remain suspended. The pile began to clump towards the centre, similar to how water behaved when in space, forming a data cluster.
The individual moving between the data clusters had a hazy body, with bluish-white hands that emanated a robust presence. The data clusters resonated to the presence emitted by the hands as the individual continued to move, almost trance-like.
It was Inala, his expression blank, his eyes cloudy, and his mouth drooling. In suspended animation, he continued to move with a direction in thought.
Far away, lying at the destination of his motion was a grey tower. It seemed to be made out of a mysterious power, nurturing in effect. However, made out of the same essence was the power stored within it, destructive in nature.
A terrifying vortex of data swirled within the grey tower, like a hurricane. If one focused, they would notice the quantity of data was slowly but steadily increasing. And the higher they increased, the stronger their swirl, and the greater the pressure they applied on the grey tower.
Goong! Chirp! Kuaaa!
The sound of a humongous wave crashing onto a cliff, the chirp of a Zinger, and a battle cry of the Zinger Race in unison; staring at the grey tower caused Inala to feel these sounds.
As his body floated closer to the grey tower, the vast number of cracks on it became apparent. A couple of the cracks had progressed to an alarming extent, enough for a small data fragment to attempt leaking out.
Inala arrived before the crack and stared at the data fragment trying to squeeze itself out. He extended his hand and slapped it, like he would to a mosquito on Earth. "It’s not time yet."
"...na..."
"...na...la..."
"...Inala...!" There was a soft whisper, following which Inala lifted his head and came face to face with the data cluster that had assumed the face of the Royal Zinger, "...Come here...!"
"...Become One With Me...!"
His eyes were still blank as Inala remained unresponsive. Within the grey tower, a storm was building up, applying more and more pressure. The Royal Zinger’s face eyed the human before it with an alluring expression, "...Come...!"
"Be Not Afraid!"
"...Merge With Me...!"
"...Seep Into Me...!"
"...Join Me...!"
"...Bask Inside Me...!"
"...Regain Your Glory...!"
"...You Can Once Again...Become Absolute...!"
Slowly, Inala’s index finger rested upon the crack in the grey tower, trying to wedge inside. With his effort, the crack seemed like it would widen. And through the crack, a mysterious presence seeped out and embraced him, trying to control him.
This presence was the cause behind his glazed eyes. A few seconds later, just when Inala was about to widen the gap, the grey tower pulsed once and retracted all the presence that had seeped out.
Immediately in response, Inala’s body jerked awake as his eyes regained their lustre. He stared at the grey tower in shock and hurriedly took a couple steps back. He glared at the crack, his mood foul, "It worsened..."
With a trembling hand, in pity, expressing sadness, Inala patted the scar-ridden grey tower, "You’re finding it more and more difficult to hold it back, huh?"
The grey tower was created by Inala moments before his death as the Royal Zinger. It was supposed to withstand the full power of his State of Unity without issues and protect his soul after rebirth.
But the fact that it was sustaining so much damage only meant one thing—the power of the Royal Zinger was steadily increasing past Inala’s self from the Third Major Disaster.
Post the Royal Zinger’s death, the Quip Clan had major breakthroughs. All four Gold Grade variants attained a State of Harmony, which caused a qualitative spike in the Royal Zinger genes part of the Quip Clan.
This jump meant the second-generation Royal Zinger would have an easier time beating the first-generation Royal Zinger.
’Future generations are bound to be stronger, but I never expected there to be such a jump by the second generation itself.’ Inala frowned, ’The Royal Zinger should have ideally reached this point by the fifth or sixth generation.’
The creation of four States of Harmonies had advanced the Royal Zinger’s growth by five-six generations worth, possibly more.
"How much time...do I..." Inala observed the grey tower’s condition and calculated, "Ten...at most...twelve years..."
Based on Sumatra Chronicles, Resha was 15 during the First Major Disaster, 35 during the Second Major Disaster, 75 during the Third Major Disaster, and 119 during the Fourth Major Disaster.
There were some time discrepancies between Sumatra Chronicles and the current timeline when Inala analysed the context clues. However, the discrepancies weren’t much during the Third Major Disaster and mostly revolved around the Fourth Major Disaster.
Resha was 72 during the Third Major Disaster, ’Due to the various waves we created, the Major Treasure of Weapon finished building its Influenced Region of Armoury three years earlier.’
Orakha was able to bring forward the Second Major Disaster by a month on his own. The Third Major Disaster was similarly brought forward by three years.
Inala couldn’t predict how early the Fourth Major Disaster would arrive, ’Suppose it happens a decade earlier.’
Then, based on the timeline, there were 22 years left for the Fourth Major Disaster to begin. ’If it happens as written in Sumatra Chronicles, then there’s still 32 years left.’
"...Dammit!" He didn’t have that long, based on the grey tower’s condition. He stared at the smiling face of the Royal Zinger within the grey tower and gritted his teeth. "I need to reach that level soon."
He patted the grey tower, "Before this crumbles."
If the Quip Clan makes another breakthrough, it would strengthen the second-generation Royal Zinger even further, which would damage the grey tower significantly more. "I..."
"I want to live." A tear droplet spilt from his eye, "I have just started to enjoy my life. I have only explored a few regions within the scope of Sumatra Chronicles."
"There’s still a vast plethora of unknown regions beyond this corner of Sumatra." He banged his hand on the grey tower and glared at the stormy data clusters forming the shape of the Royal Zinger, "I finished what I had been created to do!"
"I did it, Renduldu! I solved the problem you created!" He roared, "So, let me live, you goddamn bastard!"
"If a problem arrives on Sumatra in the meantime, YOU DEAL WITH IT!" He banged his fists on the grey tower, "Until those here grow strong enough, You Deal With All That Shit!"
"I will live, dammit! It’s my fucking life!" His teeth dug into his lips as Inala screamed at the Royal Zinger, "So, Back OFF!"
"This is my last warning to you!" His voice grew low, threatening, "Even if the grey tower collapses, stay put until the Fourth Major Disaster. If you dare invade my sense of self before that, I’ll destroy..."
"...He...he...he..." A faint chortle leaked out of the grey tower.
Inala’s pupils dilated as he glared at the Royal Zinger that seemed to be mocking his outburst, treating his threat as if a baby’s tantrums.
"...my sweet reincarnate..." The Royal Zinger mouthed, "You seem deluded and unaware of the fact that you’re no longer an absolute existence."
"You’re merely a Brully." It cackled, "A pitiful existence struggling to keep its meagre existence relevant."
"I made you," Inala cursed in anger, "And I am completely capable of destroying you. Don’t push me anymore."
"Deluded, as I said before." The Royal Zinger touched the grey tower, stunning Inala by causing a massive crack on it, "Even you don’t fully grasp the type of existence the Royal Zinger is."
"The Deity Race of Empyrean Tusks, the Deity Race of Empyrean Snappers, and the endless appetite of the Empyrean Boar King," The Royal Zinger spoke slowly, causing cracks on the grey tower whenever it pleased, taunting Inala with every word, "The summation of peak genetics of Sumatra, those with the greatest scope for evolution, alongside the Major Treasure that encapsulated the greatest mind of the Continent combined resulted in my birth."
"I was born with infinite potential, to reach the Celestial status eventually." The Royal Zinger harrumphed, "The Celestial Boar too harnessed a similar plethora of fields to become such an existence."
"Being a Celestial means to exceed understanding. The genetics of pinnacle races merged in harmony and unified to birth the Celestial Boar and the Royal Zinger." The Royal Zinger mocked Inala, "The Brully race’s genetics cannot harmonise in such a fashion. Any genes that could harmonise with it belong to weak races with subpar potential."
"Even if you reach the Mystic Grade, you will never reach Celestial status." The Royal Zinger turned silent for a few seconds and calculated, "The Brully race has good potential, enough to reach the Mystic Grade."
"But Intermediate Mystic is your genetic limit." It looked down on Inala, "So, even in your wildest dreams, you can never even conceptualise harmonising me."
"Is that a bet?" Inala growled.
"Reach the Mystic Grade first," The Royal Zinger rolled its eyes, "You don’t even qualify to have a wager with me until then."
"I will do that." Inala snorted and turned around, extremely pissed, "I will do exactly that."
"An unfocused me is so easy to deal with." The Royal Zinger casually muttered from within the grey tower. It suddenly extended its tongue and licked the grey tower, mending one of its cracks, "A Brully is indeed a great pick, Inala."
"But its true potential can only be unleashed in the hands of Resha." It laughed, "You are fit only to be me, as the Royal Zinger."
"Urgh!" Inala’s eyes shot open at the bottom of a pile of rubble, drowned by a sea of water. His body was punctured all over as his face scowled.