Chapter Text
Humans, it turned out, were not the only ones to evolve in unexpected ways as the gods slept. Unlike Ultima, Ifrit was pleased beyond measure. While his elder brother had created humans, Ifrit had created beasts, and just as humans had developed wills and consciousness, so too had Ifrit’s creations. Most were still primitive, their wills focused solely on survival, yet some had grown beyond his highest expectations. As the stone claimed his host’s body, Ifrit couldn’t help the dark laughter that escaped Clive’s lips. Ultima would have been beyond furious, had he lived. That was good.
Ifrit was, primarily, a creature of rage. Once ignited, the flames of his wrath were neigh unquenchable. Ultima had earned his fury millennia ago, though it was only in the last century or so that Ifrit had been free to claim a host of his own. It was pure ironic coincidence that the host he had chosen happened to be Ultima’s Mythos.
Clive took a ragged breath in, and Ifrit sensed his human’s utter confusion. They had not communicated much, and Ifrit felt a twinge of regret. He would do better, now having a better understanding of his human and the bonds that drove him. He tried to send soothing warmth to the dying man, but Ifrit was not Phoenix, and his flames had been made for pain rather than comfort. Even as out of practice as he was, he felt his human begin to relax.
“All will be well, Mythos.” He whispered into his human’s mind.
There was much he wished to tell the man, yet no time. He sensed the awakening of another dominant, his baby brother, the youngest of them all; Carbuncle. He chuckled again, ignoring the blood flowing from Clive’s lips as he marveled at the power his creations had achieved. He’d never imagined one of his beasts could become a vessel, yet it seemed one had. His human’s wolf, of all creatures, had awakened as Carbuncle’s dominant. Already his brother was casting, gathering all the power he could from the broken Origin Crystal, and Ifrit didn’t need Clive’s senses to know the spell Carbuncle cast. After all, his baby brother was perhaps the most powerful Eikon of all, having been trained his whole life to master one spell and one spell only, a failsafe in case of Ultima’s failure: Rewind.