Zilan felt like he was in a dream yet he was conscious within this dream. He could feel himself trapped unable to wake up for some odd reason, no matter the strength or will power with which he commanded his eyes to open, nothing happened.
His dream was filled with darkness. No sound, no light, it was like the birth place of silence and solitude until the voice of Hihi, much to Zilan’s delight, broke this almost sacred, quiet atmosphere.
“How is this possible? What did you do?” questioned Hihi in both a threatening yet also frightened tone. Never in his wildest imagination would the thought of Zilan stepping foot in this space ever cross his mind.
“I didn’t do anything….I was busy crafting…”
Hihi interrupted Zilan, his tone slightly more respectful but at the same time even more afraid. “I’m not talking to you.”
“Who are you talking about then?” It was now Zilan’s turn to become frightened. Had someone plotted against him without him even picking up a sign of it? Who could it be?
Hihi did not answer his question but he did continue speaking. “Why did you bring him here? You know what this place is. You know what it represents! Do you not care about his safety? Should he be rejected……the consequences…. even with your help…. he will still be wiped from existence! Are you listening to me? You cannot shield him forever, regardless of your power!!”
Zilan was utterly confused by Hihi’s words. What the hell was going on?
Suddenly, he heard the ruffling of feathers. A very familiar sound, close to his heart, one that he had thoroughly memorised by now.
Before he could speak, almost in rhythm with the ruffling of feathers, Zilan’s eyes were finally able to open. Extreme light invaded his pupils causing him to squint in pain. After a few moments of adjustment, his eyes were finally able to see clearly but Zilan was clearly not ready for what he was about to see.
“You had better be right about this otherwise, it will not just be your Master that suffers punishment.” Remarked Hihi.
Looking at the scenery before him, Zilan was in utter disbelief. He literally could not or rather simply refused to believed what was currently before his very eyes.
“This is impossible. Madness!” he exclaimed.
His eyes instantly grew bloodshot and his body, his draconian body began to visibly age, turning him from a youth in the prime of his life to an old dragon steadily approaching deaths door.
The person experiencing this change, Zilan, paid no mind whatsoever to it. His attention was completely captured by the scenes unfolding before him.
Immortals, the souls of real immortals were swimming in a pool that was so hard to describe that any attempt would seem more like an insult than a true attempt to articulate its beauty.
Laws, Origin laws, of every single element in existence, even the Sacred laws of Time and Space could be seen just floating in this pool. Almost as if they were just ordinary wisps of colour, grabbed from a rainbow before being placed in this space. Immortals of all races, shapes and forms danced, swam, battled and lived in this pool like regular people would, and for some ungodly reason, this all seemed normal. It was like this pool’s special ability was not the fact that it could actually peacefully contain these various Universe shaking entities but rather that it somehow was able to make them seem ordinary as well as low-key.
Zilan’s hair grew white as he continued to marvel at the pool, he didn’t know why he thought it was a pool, he just felt that it was. His thoughts seemed to be travelling at the speed of light itself as vast amount of calculations began going through his head with the more that he saw.
It should be noted that should any other being be in the position Zilan was currently in, their body would have instantly been erased from the cycle of time.
“Quick, do something!” roared Hihi. “I have no power in this place.”
A dark light flashed in the distance and before one’s mind could even process what their eyes had seen, a figure appeared before the now aged Zilan’s eyes.
It was a girl, her skin was fare, her hair pitch black and somewhat messy, but the dangling black strands made her look even more appealing. Her beauty was unparalleled, the sort that Zilan had never seen before.
His eyes focused, finally shifting his mind towards the girl before him. Her body belonged to that of a young adult however, the pure almost child-like eyes with which she used to look at him gave Zilan the peculiar feeling that he was dealing with an infant.
As he continued to closely examine her, something unexpected happened. Two wings, large, beautifully dark and almost crow-like in nature, grew out from the back of the girl. A sight he would always be able to recognise.
Zilan’s eyes widened as realisation finally struck him. “She is….my wings.”
“You brought me here?” He asked, his voice now hoarse as well as wheezy.
The girl nodded. A conflicted look could be seen in the depths of her eyes but she suppressed her uncertain emotions as she faced Zilan with a smile.
“Why?” asked Zilan. He could feel the life being drained from his body yet to him it was the most comfortable sensation he’d ever experienced. Of course, he was aware of the ramifications of prolonged stay thus he wondered why exactly he’d been brought here.
“O..Ori..gin.” The girl’s voice was shy yet crisp as well as sweet, just like an adorable child but unfortunately, Zilan was in no mood to enjoy it.
“Origin? Where exactly is that?”
This time it was Hihi who answered, “Do not tell him. He cannot know. No one can know, not even me.”
The girl glared at Hihi as if to say, ‘You think I don’t know that?’
“Fine. Help me understand why you brought me here….I…I don’t have much time.” His voice was growing weaker by the second and his body was starting to lose its tangibility. He was getting closer to becoming a spirit than ever before.
Although the sights he saw enlightened him greatly and he was overjoyed to have witnessed even a glimpse of them, he was still unwilling to embrace death at this time.
Too bad, he was losing control of his body and his mind the longer he stayed. “Get me out of here…wait..who are you…where am I…..what is all this??”
“DO SOMETHING! You didn’t bring him here to be erased, did you?” roared Hihi as the cloud mark on Zilan’s shoulder glowed with unprecedented splendour.
The girl observed for a bit longer, all the while biting her lips to the point that blood began dripping. It was a strange sight to behold, almost as if she was enduring some sort of pain or holding herself back.
“Not yet.” She whispered. “Origin will accept Master.”
“Don’t speak rubbish. This place, even if I don’t know its purpose or what the hell it is, I do know that the Spring Dragons came from here. But even then, they were still eventually rejected, chased from this place, all be it the circumstances were relatively more peaceful than this. Even the Mistress herself was deemed unworthy. What could he_…”
The right wing of the girl suddenly extended, faster than a heartbeat. It pierced directly into the Cloud Inheritance Palace, and like blades, the tips of her feathers were at Hihi’s throat. Shockingly, this attack caused no harm to the semi-unconscious body of Zilan or his consciousness.
“Master is different. He is pure.” She said.
Hihi did not speak further. In this place where he held no significant power, it was a wise choice.
………………
Inside Zilan’s mind.
He did not know where he was or even what was going on anymore. He could not think nor could he remember.
“Zilan….” A voice called out to him.
“Zilan….” It called out again, it seemed extremely familiar.
“ZILAN!” This time, he recognised the voice. “Don’t you have a Path to follow? A Path that you’ve sworn to walk even if it is to be paved with the Blood of others?”
The voice belonged to him. More specifically, his inner voice. The embodiment of his determination.
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