On that fateful night, the death that descended on the world wasn't something that the Malfae could easily forget. It scarred the [Survivor] in ways it didn’t know but felt all the same. After witnessing the dance of the naked death, the Malfae holed up within the ground; refusing to face the remnants of destruction that it had witnessed descend.

The [Hive Monarch], thus, remained holed up as the temperature continued to rise and the heat became unbearable. It ate its own eggs and drank its own venom yet the shiver in its limbs refused to leave it alone as it became haunted by its own memories. The memory of the night haunted not only its waking moments but also its dreams as its dreams became sinister with each passing day. They progressively lost all their colour, leaving behind only visages of a different shade of white.

The pale moonlight of the white moon.

Its waking hours and sleeping hours blended into one as its routine broke apart under the constant haunting of night terrors. The [Reincarnated] became trapped within itself and its fear, as hours blended into days and days became weeks. A week became two and two became four as an entire month passed.

Meanwhile, as the [HIve Monarch] struggled to get a hold over its mental state, the peak of the summer arrived along with the dry winds that thirsted for even the tiniest bit of moisture. The winds brought along with them the punishing heat and sweltering air that ravaged the already dead land. All the while, the Malfae endured, remaining holed up and not daring to step out into the world. As the days continued to churn, the parched winds and the scorching heat departed as the pre-monsoon showers arrived to herald the arrival of their season.

The first rain sundered the heat and annihilated the aridity, causing the temperature to drop sharply as it almost drowned the cracked and dead earth. It rained and rained and it rained so much that the water flooded even the Malfae's tiny pit, forcing it out.

As the raindrops fell on its body, its thirsty skin seemed to drink in the cool shower. The paleness in its blue shade receded and its skin once again became a vibrant colour of poisoned flesh. As the rain continued to fall, the soft pitter-patter of the raindrops broke its mindset that had been stuck in the unending cycle of fear and terror. And the earthy petrichor, birthed by the coupling of rain and earth, only helped the process.

As a result, its hunched back slowly straightened, the shivering in its limbs gradually ceased and its folded wings unfold.

The [Survivor] tilted its head to the dark clouds and as the rain fell, its wings completely unfolded to reveal their entire length. The Malfae remained standing with its wings opened and let the water assault its body and its memories. As the cold water continued to wash its body, the [Hive Monarch] lifted both its arms and opened them to greet the rain.

It immersed itself into the sensation of the falling rain, the cold water, the soft pitter-patter and the earthy petrichor. At that moment, it breathed as deeply it could. Its chest expanded until it hurt but the Malfae continued to breathe.

Immersed in experiencing the rain as the Malfae was, it did not realise as it activated its much-neglected Skill [Scent] for the first time since it had been thrown in this mana rich region. However, the moment [Scent] activated, the Malfae became aware of the Skill as its antenna’s twitched. It was instantly enveloped within the scent that was the child of the rain.

Engrossed as it was, it breathed deeply and closed its eyes to witness the rich earthy aroma which awakened the memory of the first rain it had experienced after suffering through the peak of the summer last year.

It had breathed deeply then too. It had breathed until its lungs had hurt and the thick musky flavour of the petrichor had filled its mouth with water as it had reminded it of the taste of digging into a fresh kill. It drooled as it breathed with closed eyes and lost itself.

Its raised hands and spread out wings, welcomed the rain, allowing the raindrops to hit every single fibre of its being, washing away not only the dust and grime but also its very memories and self. At that moment, the [Reincarnated] was so lost that it did not even realise when it began to spin around with its head tilted back.

A slow smile spread out on its lips as the raindrops kept on falling to splatter across its skin, hair and wings. And yet it kept on gently spinning when suddenly its wings began to beat. The Malfae subconsciously rose in the air and flew up as if it wanted to collect the entirety of rain within its arms.

Its chest vibrated. Its throat shook and laugh escaped its lips as it flew higher. However, at that moment, lightning flashed and thunder roared, breaking it out of its trance to leave it startled and wide-eyed. Nevertheless, the terror that had made home within its heart was nowhere to be seen in its pupil-less eyes.

The [Hive Monarch] immediately flew down until it landed and, without much thought, lied down on the cracked earth with its hands, legs and wings spread apart. A small smile remained etched on its lips as it rested its body mind and self.

It was only after it had calmed down from its high that a thought occurred to it. ‘They are truly gone…’ [Scent] had been active for the entire duration of its trance, yet it hadn't once noticed any of the domineering scents that had forced it to crawl throughout this mana rich environment. ‘…All of them truly did die .’

It was for this reason that it had been able to fly up into the sky to greet the rain. If the scents had still existed, then it would have been all but impossible for the [Survivor] to fly. Much like the assault that it had once suffered from the sky, the one that had decreed it a pest and taken away its right to the skies, the Malfae would have been shown its place with extreme prejudice. ‘Just what was that…’

The Malfae opened its eyes and the raindrops fell onto them, forcing it to close them once again. It once again promised to leave this mana rich environment with post-haste. However, this time, its urgency was not because of the other creatures but because it didn’t know if the horror would repeat itself or not. Thus, without wasting even a second more, it flapped its wings and took to air. If it was going to leave this area, then there was no better time than now when its mind had been recently cleared of fear and terror.

As time passed and the rain ended to give way to the heat once again. But this time, it was no longer dominated by the scents and kept on flying. It flew along the length of the river. As it continued to fly, a thought popped up in its mind and it began to fly high up in the sky, to get an idea of the land.

As its gaze travelled, wherever its eyes fell, it saw nothing but ash, left behind in the wake of that nightmarish night, mixing with mud. Even the water of the once muddy river was ashy as the rainwater continued to pour into the river. As the Malfae observed, it found not a single creature in the water; it was as if all the creatures within the water had died.

The beautiful nightmare had turned that fateful night into a field of ash and dust, leaving nothing alive. It had been a wound in the very flesh of the land, a wound that had bled not blood but ash. This wound had then festered as it had been assaulted by the heat and parched winds of the peak summer.

Thus, the [Reincarnated] wasn't surprised that it saw neither a single sapling nor a single blade of grass.

However, now that the early showers and the water had seeped into the deep cracks, the festering wound’s cleaning had begun. And when the monsoon arrived in full bloom, the earth would be ready to begin healing once again. After all, if the rain could heal the damaged psyche of an immortal, why couldn’t it heal a wound in the flesh of the earth?

0.0

As the Malfae continued to fly along the river, time continued to walk at its unhurried pace. Over time, the showers became a frequent thing and under the assault of the constant rain, the heat died a quiet death. The newfound coolness brought a new joy to the [Survivor] as it continued to fly.

As the Malfae continued to travel, it crossed vast distances and even witnessed a change in geography. However, even as it crossed into different geographical features, it continued to witness the destruction left behind the beautiful nightmare. It was almost as if the destruction brought by the nightmarish night did not seem to have an end. For no matter how far the Malfae flew, the ashy mud seemed to endlessly exist.

However, time was time. And time healed all wounds. For the march of time was never impeded and never obstructed. Nothing could stand its impact and nothing would even dare to. Thus, as the monsoon flourished with its complete armament, the rain, the hail and the showers washed away the ash and broke apart the surface of the undisturbed river.

Saplings began to grown and the river once again began to sport new lifeforms that had travelled down from the upstream. In time, these creatures would one day, once again, replace the horrid and powerful creatures that had simply vanished in the course of a single night.

But that time was quite far off in the future. It was not something that the Malfae could see if it didn’t evolve further to increase its lifespan.

0.0

Meanwhile, in a place ar above the Malfae, a few creatures resided. This place was so far above the [Survivor] that no matter how high the [Hive Monarch] flew, it could never reach this place. Let alone the [Reicarnated], even amongst the most powerful of the creatures, few could hope to reach this place.

Though, once they reached this place, they could never return.

For this place was not within the bounds of the planet on which the Malfae resided. This place lied outside the planet's interference and within the boundless emptiness that was space. It was within this empty darkness that the three moons resided. This place was the home to the white, the green and the azure moons.

Though calling them moons would not only be a lie but a dangerous one at that. For moons are inert celestial bodies that orbit the planets harmlessly. They impacted the planets little, other than with their moonlight and tides. These heavenly bodies, however, were not one of those things. They were not harmless. They were non-benign.

The truth of the matter was that the planet, on which the Malfae resided, possessed not a single moon, let alone the three that the planet’s inhabitants saw and read about in ancient tomes. These three moons, in truth, were no heavenly bodies at all. They were creatures of flesh, blood and bones so humongous and enormous that they became moons in the outer space.

They lived. They died. And they evolved for they were Immortals.

They were the Immortals that grew and kept on growing until they grew so powerful that nowhere on the planet could they find an environment rich enough in mana to sustain them. Thus, they traversed the mana stream nourishing the planet and followed it until they left the planet and reached space. It was only there that they could sustain themselves in the mana stream.

Though, even if they could sustain themselves in the mana stream, they could not Level in the outer space. As to grow, their nature as immortals demanded violence to gain experience. Although both these commodities were quite abundant in the outer space, they were simply dangerous beyond the capabilities of the Moon Immortals.

For the outer space was the home to creatures that swam in the nothingness of space and traversed the mana stream as if it were water. They were creatures whose [Species] allowed them unimpeded growth and unrestricted evolutions. They lived, they hunted and they died in the outer space, a place far more dangerous than anything that the Moon Immortals had ever encountered. And yet these creatures of the outer space not only lived in such a place, but they also thrived.

The trifling Moon Immortals weren't a match to these creatures, lest they became prey themselves. This left the Moon Immortals with only one method to gain experience and that was to scatter several pieces of their own Essences, down on the planet for Immortals to receive and nurture. And when those Immortals became powerful enough for the Moon Immortals to collect, the harvest would begin.

The beautiful nightmare witnessed by the Malfae had been one such harvest of the White Moon Immortal.

The only reason that the [Hive Monarch] had escaped the harvest had been the lack of even a single shard of the White Moon Immortal’s Essence in its body. Had there been even a single shard, it would have turned to ash and dust, much alike how everything else had.

After all, even the waste and refuse that the Malfae had covered itself in just days before had released the white motes of Essene and flaked off its body as it had been excreted by a creature which had possessed the White Moon Immortal’s Essence, like everything else in the mana rich zone.

If a mortal came to know of this, they would surely ask, why the Malfae hadn’t possessed any Essence shard of the White Moon Immortal? The answer to the mortal’s query would be quite simple. The [Hive Monarch] hadn’t possessed any Essence shard simply because it had not been birthed within the influence of the Essence shard and when it had come in contact with the Essence, the creature had been just too week and too pitiful.

To gain shard of the White Moon Immortal’s Essence, one had to either absorb it through the ground, as the plants did, or one had to consume those that possessed those shards. Which meant either consuming the plants or feasting on the creatures that had White Moon Immortal’s Essence.

Both these things that Malfae hadn’t done as it had fed on its own eggs and drank its own venom. The Malfae’s pitifulness had played in its favour, as it had too week to hunt in the mana rich zone. As for consuming plants, it hadn't even considered that since it had evolved from being a caterpillar.

Thus, its weakness had spared it from obtaining the shards of White Moon Immortal’s Essence, saving it from the harvest. For if it had truly obtained a shard of White Moon Immortal’s Essence, it could have done nothing but die obediently.

Despite not possessing the Essence shard, the Malfae had once come close to obtaining the shard of the White Moon Immortal’s Essence. And it had been long before the [Survivor] had been thrown into the high mana zone. It had been back in its birthplace where it had encountered a white flower that had been guarded by a wooden mantis immortal.

Missing that flower was a regret that the Malfae held still to this day. It still remembered the Essence of the flower which had the colour of the white moon and a scent that had drawn it to the flower. The [Hive Moncarch] had been mesmerised by the flower, much like a moth attracted to the fire. It had even stolen moments to visit the flower, like creature courting death.

It had been the wooden Mantis’ greed that had saved the Malfae from the harvest. For if the Malfae had indeed obtained the flower at that time, then its heavens would have been defined in that very moment. And along with the rest of the creatures of the high mana zone, it too would have turned into white motes that rose higher and higher until they met the White Moon Immortal, only to be consumed a moment later.

Such was the end of those that possessed the Essence shard of any of the three Moon Immortals, the White, the Green and the Azure.

Though, because the Moon Immortals were three in number and not two, there existed an uneven truce in between them. For, Immortals were Immortals, after all. They couldn’t co-exist. If it had been merely 2 Immortals, then the situation would have worked out, one way or the other, as one would have either eliminated the other or they would have remained as far away from each other as possible.

Unfortunately, that was not the case and the number of Immortals residing in the outer space was three instead of two. Neither of which could trust the other, as the very concept of trust didn’t exist in between immortals. Thus, these Immortals that were so powerful and so humongous that they became the moons to a planet, they clashed numerous times but each time, the result was inconclusive.

This inconclusive result was not because the Moon Immortals were evenly matched in their strengths. For how could that be? But because they feared the third playing the monkey in the fight of two cats.

As a result, these Immortals existed in an uneasy truce. It was also due to this truce that the cases of more than a single moon appearing in the sky, at the same time, were so rare that amongst the mortals they had become myths and legends to be whispered within secret chambers in hushed tones.

For whenever the two moons appeared, the world witnessed nothing but misery and death.

Mortals dared not believe that the benign heavenly bodies, that some worshipped as gods, could cause thunderstorms that burned the mightiest of forests or caused earthquakes that razed the tallest of towers. They dared not believe that the unending tsunamis that razed entire cities could be caused by the benign moons.

Yet, what mortals believed mattered not in the face of truth. The appearance of the two moons had caused calamity every time it had appeared and would continue to cause calamity for the simple reason that the two moons only appeared when the Moon Immortals became entangled in a clash.

It was, thus, the unintended consequence of their battles that brought havoc upon the mortals and not their direct actions themselves. For if a Moon Immortal, a creature powerful enough to become a planet’s moon, tried to act against mere mortals, the Gods of the mortals would descend.

And none of them wanted that. The clash of Gods and Immortals benefited none. Thus, the Immortals ignored the mortals and merely harvested generations upon generations of Immortals, one after another. They had turned the planet into their own personal farm, something that the last remaining Will of the Wild detested.

This particular Will was the Will that had manifested out of the planet that the Malfae called home. It could, in a manner of speaking, even be considered the soul of the planet. After all, once upon a time, it had been the entire planet itself. However, with the rise of the mortals, the weapon that they were, they had chipped away at the Will, piece by piece, and mutated those pieces into their Gods.

Leaving behind a Will that, instead of spanning the entire planet, now merely spanned within a single mortal-less continent. The continent that the Malfae called home. Thus, the soul that had once been the entire planet, damaged and mutilated as it was, it now became the soul to a single continent. Though, clearly, the comparison would be purely metaphorical as no Will was a soul.

Only souls were souls and nothing else could ever be a soul. Even attempting to be one was a crime worth annihilating Creations and sundering Realities. As the Yakshas, the Nagas and the Eternals knew not what mercy was. And there existed not a single Will that remained unaware of this simple truth. The truth that it was, none even dared to forget.

Thus, despite the Will of this planet considering itself the soul of the planet, it knew that it was not one and it dared not speak out its calamitous thoughts. Its manifestation, the consequent imprisonment within the Tilism and the repeated mutilations worked endlessly to drive this fact home.

Its own delusions still forced it to act and act it did. It reincarnated a soul. It dared to manipulate a soul. A crime worth its total annihilation and utter destruction. A crime worth descent of not only the Yakshas and the Nagas but also the descent and reality breaking manifestation of Eternals.

Yet, the Will of the Wild survived. It not just survived, but it also thrived.

This was, of course, not mercy.

For mercy was a concept that only the mortals understood. Immortals didn’t understand it and the Wills, the Yakshas and the Nagas failed to comprehend it. While the Eternals, on the other hand, they couldn’t be bothered with mortal ideas and concepts.

Yet, they showed leniency where none was deserved. The infallible laws of the Creations and Realities were flouted and the Eternals didn’t descend. Let alone Eternals, even the Yakshas and the Nagas didn’t descend to render the Will apart.

Such leniency spoke not of mercy but something much sinister. For these were actions of the beings stronger than everything in the world. Even their inactions were not benign. After all, if the maker of the laws themselves defied them, then did those laws even have meanings?

Thus, the inaction of the Eternals was not something to rejoice. For when even their simplest communication brought nothing but death and destruction, how could their silence be innocent?

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-