Nothing is infinite

[The Abyss]

--- Jake’s POV ---

“I thank you for making this long travel and sharing your tale with me, Ed. Your tale is rather sad, which is also the reason why I believe everyone should join hands and try to capture those foul beasts. I’m no saint, I’m sure you know it as well, but the devourers do nothing but murder and kill indiscriminately. I don’t even know why the creator made these creatures,” Padinyss shook his head.

All of a sudden, the palace started to shake as a small and black hole appeared in space, right in the middle of the throne room. It became bigger and bigger and the energy released by that thing was so powerful it almost cancelled my shadow form. I focused all my attention on controlling my own mana and keeping my shadow form.

A dark ethereal ‘person’ formed out of that black hole and looked around in the room. As its star-like eyes passed over me, I was sure he saw right through me, but it also ignored me. Padinyss fell forward in his chair, right onto his knees as the creature simply looked at him.

“Hey-ho~ How you doing?” it asked in a playful manner, blowing my mind away… in a bad way. I was expecting a serious and deep voice, something ancient, but nothing of the sort happened. Its voice was like a teenage boy’s. The pressure disappeared as well, but Padinyss was still kneeling.

“What do you want?” Padinyss asked through gritted teeth.

Is the pressure focused only on him? Damn it, I’d have blown up by now in his stead…

“I just happened to overhear your words,” this time the void-like creature spoke in a deep and serious tone, much more similar to the one I’d expect.

“You see, you’re a proud dragon. I created your race as well and you aren’t the only one in the world. You said you didn’t understand why I created ‘beasts’ like the devourers, right?”

“Yes,” Padinyss eased up and sit back on his throne, though I still couldn’t feel that mighty aura he had before.

“What if you just took a look around? What if you looked into yourself to see what kind of person you are? Look at the people and the servants surrounding you. The universe is so old and the wheel of time turned so many times, but something always got worse and worse. Guess what is it?”

“I don’t know…” Padinyss averted his eyes.

“I can hear your thoughts as well, though,” the thing laughed. “And the answer is correct.”

“In fact, you could call the devourers a ‘defect’ because they aren’t doing exactly what they were born for, but I believe that we should give everyone a chance. I also want to see what will become of their goal considering that my ‘hatchlings’ are growing. Hehe, maybe I should make them meet later,” it laughed in a strange way and started to talk to itself. It behaved as if someone was in front of it… it must have gone crazy.

“Are you threatening me?” Padinyss furrowed his brows.

“What do you mean? Why would I threaten you? You can kill them if you want and have the abilities,” that bastard of a thing shrugged its shoulders.

Padinyss’s eyes flashed with a strange light as he raised his head and smiled. “You see, they’re the devourers and are much more powerful than other legendary creatures. I was also born in this tiny sealed world. My luck is really poor, so what if we made a deal?” Padinyss rubbed his hands together.

That thing turned and laid down in the middle of the air and looked at Padinyss with a smile that seemed to show amusement. It was really hard to read its expressions due to its star and universe filled body. It was as if a whole universe was put into it.

“What do you want?”

“Let’s see, maybe a legendary symbiote? It’d help me out a lot in the future! Taking down beasts like these is no easy task!” Padinyss flailed his arms.

“You’re so cheeky I want to kill you, but I don’t interfere with mortals’ stuff. Hmm- I’ll agree, but only if you can break the seal and kill them as well. To make it more entertaining, I’ll kill you personally if you kill them without breaking the seal. Don’t worry, they too want to get out and I’ll give them a time limit. Let’s call it punishment for deviating from their inborn goal,” it chuckled.

Everything turned grey in the next moment and it flew over to me. It pulled me out of the shadow and inspected me from up close. “Interesting, it’s the first time devourers were actually created. They’re making up some good spells,” it mumbled to itself. I looked at Padinyss with worry until that thing grabbed my chin and made me face it.

“Don’t worry, I stopped time and now only you and another person exists~ Anyway, whether you succeed or fail, your mission is still up to you, but you should tell Elena and Dred that if they can’t kill Padinyss in two weeks of time, I’m going to be a bad guy. You know nothing about me, but it’s enough if you tell her that the abyss said it.”

“I won’t tell Padinyss how much time he has to make it fairer and if you die, Elena and Dred won’t learn about it either, so be careful~ I’m cheering for you, good luck!” it patted my shoulders and was about to disappear when I took my courage and shouted.

“What the hell!? He gets a reward if he kills us and you even limit our time? What about us?” I beat my chest.

It turned around to look at me and put its hand on its chin. “As I see it in your soul, it’s not greed that drives you, unlike Padinyss. You want fairness and a way to save your ‘family’, would you?”

“This might be the first time in a while that I see somebody fight for something other than greed. And the same goes for Elena, Dred, Audrey, Cor, the dark scars. That’s one of the most ‘interesting’ aspects of your race. Even if Elena or Dred ever says otherwise, don’t believe them,” it chuckled as it gave me a piece of paper.

“I could look into the future, but then it would be no fun, so go and fight to live. Fight for a better life and to shape the world as you see it right. Even if it seems like that, nothing is infinite. Time too is just a finite infinite,” it slowly started to fade and blabbered some shit about time that made no sense to me.

But I still etched those words into my mind, hoping it’d help Audrey later. I unfolded the piece of paper and saw a terribly drawn hand on it, showing a middle finger.

Clenching it, I burned it with fire magic, but then it turned into a map and showed Khax’s location.

Okay, I have to admit this thing knows its stuff. What was it? The Abyss? A strange name…

Khax was in a dungeon and the entry was a door behind Padinyss’s throne. How would I get him out of there was a different question.

“You should hurry up because time is going to run in three, two, one, bye~”

Sighing, I returned to the shadows. Let’s see. Going in right now would be stupid. Padinyss would surely notice me, which means that we should…

I’ve got it! It’s good that Audrey blabbered about her plans before. I was an idiot to not listen carefully because I could have learned from her. Argh! But next time we meet I’m going to apologise and listen to her all the time!

Padinyss seemed to be really happy, though I had no idea what a symbiote was. Well, I knew what it meant back on Kriton, but I didn’t know what it meant to him. And the ‘legendary’ didn’t seem all that promising either, to us, at least.

Well, he won’t get it if he can’t kill us, so let’s go for now. After Inhe reported what she learned about our location and the last kingdom we rebuilt, she too left with me in her shadow.

The difference between a legendary creature and a first-ranked dragon was like heaven and earth.

Now that I think about it, I too could fight Inhe if we were at the same level and I don’t stand a chance against Elena and Dred if we look at our true strength and abilities.

I should be more optimistic. Wait, why did I even feel so tiny in front of Padinyss? Is this what it truly feels like when we get in the presence of a legendary creature? Shit, it affected my mind just like… Elena’s. I forgot the base morals of humans and what I fought for. It was all due to her aura, I felt like laughing as I got further away from Padinyss and my mind cleared up.

Ugh- I get it now. I really fell into her trap, I laughed in my mind as I went back to Cor and told him to follow me. We stopped where we killed the guards and I took up the looks of one of them. Cor followed my example and we started to patrol a small area in the palace.

Since we looked the same, even when we came across other guards, they ignored us.

The base idea is to never hide. Always walk in front of your enemies eyes, so they won’t notice you. We should gather information and do no more, at first, I remembered Audrey’s words.

Our shift ended peacefully and we left the palace. Maybe we killed two dragonkins who had a family and didn’t do anything wrong. As a human, maybe I’d complain and say that there must have been a better way to change the world than to kill.

But let’s be rational, changing even a single adult is hard, not to mention a whole world or even universe. The best way was to pull out the weed, even if it’d regrow. Unless we created a generation that would take better care of its offspring.

The lack of parentage was the cause for most of the problems. It was present back on Kriton as well and even more so here. I wasn’t sure if Elena thought the same thing as me, but it didn’t matter either.

I knew my own way and that we had the same goal, even if we happened to have different interpretations. Many things had many solutions. Maybe this goal was one such thing.

This time, it wasn’t Elena or Dred. I dreamt of a better world, even though the method was still the same.

---

The next day, the guards we killed didn’t go to work, but I knew nobody would become suspicious for a few days. I also spent some money and sent a message bird to Elena and Dred to prepare them for the inevitable. As I took a look at the bright sun and smelled the fresh air of the capital city, I believed we could finish our mission with success.

We made our way into the castle and Cor took his position once again, while I entered the throne room when I had the opportunity. Although I had to wait more than an hour, safety was first. There was a hidden doorway right behind the throne and since Padinyss left the room, I got in without a hitch.

A long stairway welcomed me and led deep underground.

Dragon God’s Cavern: (Dungeon Level: 599) (Threat Level: 10)

This is the area of a dungeon. If you continue on your path, you can’t leave it before reaching the first resting room. Do you wish to enter it?

Just what I needed… Shaking my head, I still entered knowing what was awaiting me. Thanks to that abyss guy’s map, I knew where Khax was kept and what this place looked like. There were a hundred meters tall columns connecting the ceiling and the gold-filled floor of the cavern. Maybe dragons really have a fetish for gold.

Since he was a Dragon God, he was naturally proud and he wouldn’t want others to be in his cavern. But he also knew that his cavern was the most secure place of the palace, not to mention that outsiders didn’t even know about it. It would have taken days for me to find this place and even then, I could have turned around seeing the notification.

Thanks to lady luck and his stupid pride, he didn’t have more than two guards in the cavern. I snuck past them in my shadow form and after some searching in the large room, I finally found Khax.

He was sitting on a pile of gold with a thoughtful face on until I interrupted him. “Shh-” I hissed in a low voice.

Raising his bone hands, he turned to look my way. Red lights lit up in his empty eye sockets, still creeping me out a bit. Cor had flesh covering his body, at least, but Khax was way too naked to move and… live.

“What are you doing here? Are you an idiot?” he whispered.

“We came to get you out of here, along with Shin.”

“Shin? Why would you want that guy? He just has a ring…”

“It’s for Cor, but later about that. Do you have a way to defeat the guards at the door?” I asked as I checked their statuses, only to see they were at the five hundred and fiftieth level. They seemed to be common guards based on their levels.

“I could, but not without making noise and Padinyss would hear it for sure.”

“From up there? He isn’t in the throne room and there is a sound barrier,” I replied.

“Are you sure? But even if we get out of here, how do you plan to leave the palace without being caught?” he tilted his head to the side.

“Dragons are powerful and quick, but not as quick as we are.”

“You sure about that? You’d have to carry me,” he shook his head.

“I know every patrolled pathway in the palace. I had the whole day yesterday to etch it into my mind and they started out the same today, so they don’t change their paths either. We might be able to get out without being noticed if you can hide your presence. We’d have to knock out the guards in front of the throne room, though.”

“That’s not going to happen… but we could leave through the roof,” he pointed upwards. Remembering, I realised the throne room had a glass-covered rooftop. It’d be risky, but not riskier than leaving through the main door.

“Good, let’s move then.”

“No. This is all nice, but I’m old. I’ve lived thousands of years already and although he’s going to kill me, you don’t need to risk your life. You’ll just get caught.”

“Are you telling me to leave after coming here? We also made a deal eight months ago, remember?” I asked.

--- Eight Months Ago (Jake’s POV) ---

“Are you sure about this, Elena?” I couldn’t help but ask as I entered the huge ‘Giant Bones Castle’. The leader of the nation was called Khax and he was a Wraith King, just like Cor. The bones that made up the castle were longer than ten meters, but unlike I imagined, the land wasn’t so dead. Lush bushes and vines grew and covered the bones. It looked as if some huge monster died thousands of years ago and a forest grew around its remnants.

“Yes. I’m quite sure that he would be willing to side with us. If the history books say the truth, the undead never attacked others and started a war and nobody attacked them either. I imagine their leader is a peaceful person and maybe he’d be willing to help us out.”

“Wouldn’t they just send us off? If they’ve been at peace for who knows how long, why’d they help a troublesome group like ours?” I asked.

“Shh- just watch. If they don’t have problems, we’re going to make one for them…” she waved her hand.

I looked at Audrey, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

Whatever.

We met much undead on the way to the palace, but none of them attacked us, despite our flesh covered bodies. It was as if they knew we’d be coming since all of them stepped aside, even in the palace. Everyone could go in and out as they wanted, as long as they were undead.

“This place smells a bit and it’s rather creepy,” Audrey whispered into my ear.

“I think so. Should I hug you?”

“No, thanks,” she chuckled.

“Our Lord has been waiting for you,” a cracked voice resounded in the empty hall. Leaning to the side to see past Dred’s back, I saw another undead, which seemed to be stronger than the ones we’ve seen before.

Now that I think about it, since they can’t use external magic, they have no way to damage us if we use our shadow forms. Then we have nothing to fear here! We’re the worst opponents for the undead.

“How nice of him. Please lead the way, in that case,” Elena smiled.

“Stop staring,” Audrey elbowed me.

“What? I wasn’t-” seeing her glare, I just let it be. But I really wasn’t staring at her…

Dred turned around to look at us for a moment and then turned back.

“I should wipe that grin off of your face,” I muttered.

“Hahaha.”

We found ourselves in front of an undead who was sitting on the ground since the palace didn’t have a floor. It was akin to a simple tent, except for that it was made of bones and long vines.

Red lights lit up in the eye sockets of the skeleton and darted around the room until finally stopping at Dred. “I assume you’re their leader,” it spoke.

“You could say that,” he nodded.

“I knew you’d come. The dead told me so.”

“Aren’t they talking a bit too much?” Dred asked.

We came here because Elena realised something. The king of Trinity, Khax, was able to track us due to his ability to sense and communicate with every undead. Because people who died on this planet didn’t go to heaven, hell, or whatever followed life. They were reborn as undead, here, in Trinity. Since we didn’t want another powerful and dangerous foe, Elena decided to visit him and it was natural for us to tag along.

“I was waiting for your arrival, devourers.”

“My, it seems like you know us. Are you Khax? My name is Elena,” she introduced herself and then us.

“Who else could I be?” Khax laughed and then asked what we wanted from him.

Dred sat down in front of Khax and looked into his eyes. “I’ve found a history book and it had a few interesting details about you.”

“Is that so? What sort of abilities do I have?”

“I heard you can sense fallen people, communicate with people even when they’re far away, and the best of the best, you have some soul-manipulation technique,” Dred crossed his fingers.

“It seems like there are few books I should burn. Where did you find it? The living does not visit our kingdom often, so I have a few guesses as to who wrote this book you speak of,” Khax started to ponder, but Dred soon kicked him out of his thoughts.

“It doesn’t matter who wrote it, but it matters to us that your kingdom may be the strongest with so many undead,” Dred looked around. Thousands of them started to gather all around us as if they were waiting for a single command.

“I don’t like this,” I whispered into Audrey’s ear as I grabbed the handle of my weapons.

“Who would? But put down your hand, it’s menacing and we’re supposed to be friendly. ”

“Ok…”

“What’s your point?” Khax asked.

“I’m sure you know what kind of position we’re in. Although we were born to destroy everything, Elena decided that we should do something different.”

“And you agreed? Is she the real leader then?”

“Look, we’re just a couple. Stop asking who is the leader. I decided to follow her goal or dream, you could say. I also came to agree with her on that we don’t have to kill everyone since not every life is evil and ‘dirty’. We planned to take care of this place as well,” Dred looked around.

“But after investigating the place, we realised that undead creatures were more like dolls. Other than eating the flesh of monsters nearby, you aren’t doing anything, am I right?”

“Certainly, that’s true. We don’t care about ruling the world,” Khax nodded his head.

“That’s why, we also decided to leave your kingdom intact, but it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t help our enemies either.”

“I understand your reasons for coming here, but what if I really helped your enemies?” Khax tilted his head to the side.

“I’m sure you know how disadvantageous your race is against our kind and our enemies’ friends are going to be our enemies. That’s just natural.”

“My, I wouldn’t want you to start devouring my people,” Khax laughed as if he’d have heard a good joke.

“We wouldn’t want to do it either,” Elena added.

“Could you stay here for some time? I won’t make a deal with people I don’t even know,” Khax made a serious turn all of a sudden and his playful mood was all but gone.

“We’re fine with waiting for a bit,” Elena nodded.

“Great.”

After spending a few days in Khax’s company, they finally made a deal. It turned out he didn’t like the way the other intelligent races treated each other. He agreed to stay out of everything and he also stated that he would serve us with intelligence if anything big was going on.

Elena bugged him for a bit longer until he agreed to help us out once or twice if we really needed it. We all took an oath to keep our promise and even though it mattered not to us, we didn’t plan to break it. Why would we kill a kingdom of undead who lived in peace? Of course, the possibility of change was there, but it didn’t seem to come anytime soon.

We left Trinity afterwards and went on our way to destroy and rebuild other kingdoms as well.

--- Back to present ---

“We need your help. Cor needs it,” I said.

“If you really want to die that bad…” he shook his head as he stood up. But in the next moment, I heard heavy coughs and footsteps. I quickly disappeared into the shadows and pulled back away from Khax as far as I could.

“Well, well, who do we have here?” Padinyss leisurely walked into the cavern, holding Cor by the head.

“I know you’re here, somewhere,” he muttered as he used his senses and in the next moment, he looked exactly my way. Knowing that it was pointless to hide anymore, I got out of the corner. He responded by throwing Cor towards me and as I caught him, I felt his body trembling. He was coughing up blood, but it stopped after a few seconds and he passed out.

“I planned to leave the palace to look for my dear enemies, only to hear somebody coughing like crazy. I found your friend in a bad shape and my guards around him,” he pointed at Cor.

Fucking hell, our luck could have been really awesome if not for Cor’s seizure… Alright, what to do now. I definitely can’t beat him, but he probably doesn’t want to kill me either. He needs us to invite Elena and Dred. If they refused to come, he’d kill us.

Knowing them, I’d say they’re going to come at some point, but… I can’t be sure. They can’t risk everything for a blood servant, can they? I can be replaced, after all.

“Why the long face? Afraid of death?” he appeared next to me and grabbed my shoulder. I heard it snap, but I long ago disabled my sense of pain.

“No. I just realised it’d feel bad if they didn’t…” I sighed as I bit back my words.

“Who? What?” he asked confused. “Well, we’re going to have some fun now,” met with silence, he said.

He raised his fist and punched me in the face. Although I wanted to evade, he was way too quick. My world turned dark.

I hope Audrey’s going to be fine.