Fire ascension sect

Inside Arkul’s tower

An eerie silence reigned inside the room.

The dragon warriors that now numbered in the hundreds were standing around the round table with serious expressions.

On the roundtable was a miniaturized Arkul who had his eyes closed trying to remain calm.

Familiar faces could be seen around the table.

There was Alistair Vargas, the former hunter. The father and son, Edwin and Cain Darvis. The three former leaders of the fire ascension sect, Wil Greycastle, Arla Gudrun and Menas Gold.

Before Arkul left to look for Allan, he had created more than five hundreds dragon warriors. He had personally and carefully chosen the strongest disciples of the Fire ascension sect and then fed them his blood turning them in half-demons of the dragon race. They were the true elite of the fire ascension sect.

The process of turning into a half-demon was an easy one, especially when the blood of a God realm dragon was used. It was an automatic promotion to the Immortal realm in demonic cultivation.

Cain, the youngest in the room, asked: “Is there no other way to enter the ruins?”

Everyone was worried. It was after all the fate of their patriarch that they were discussing.

Arkul then opened his eyes saying: “I tried to do just that for months. I did not succeed.”

“Our only way in is in the hands of that old man, but he seems to be unable to enter the primordial god realm even after I gave him millions of soul energy crystals.” Arkul added.

“What can we do to help?” Alistair asked.

“I need the strongest members in this room to use soul energy crystals without restraint and reach the primordial god realm as soon as possible. I will do the same. If Allan is in danger, we have to be able to help.” Arkul said. He continued: “As for entering the ruins, I’m working on that.”

The five hundred plus dragon warriors in the room felt their blood boiling when they heard that they could use the soul energy crystals without restraint. It would only take a few weeks to enter the next realm.

“Cain. Alistair. Follow me.” Arkul urged his two best dragon warriors follow him.

Arkul transformed into a black bird and then flew out of the hall with Cain and Alistair following closely behind him.

They stopped by the tower for a moment to retrieve soul energy crystals then left for the nearby mountains.

***

Southhollow continent, Gray planet

As Allan was waiting for nightfall, he was looking for any abnormalities in his body.

“I remember that I used to have a fire core fused with my body. Where did it go?” Allan asked himself.

In the early days, Arkul had used his fire to temper Allan’s body. The result was that Allan gained a fire Attribute divine body as well as being stronger physically than his half-demon peers.

The fire attribute divine body then evolved into a divine body of fire giving him the ability to battle those one realm above him.

The divine body of fire later evolved by giving him a fire core that later fused with his body.

The fire core then disappeared after the ancestral awakening. It also looked like his divine body of fire had disappeared along with his affinity with fire after the ancestral awakening.

“I can always ask Djen. After all, this happened because of him.” said Allan as he closed his eyes.

He was back into his inner world made of light. He teleported his avatar in front of the shack in which Djen was imprisoned.

“I got nothing to say to you.” Said Djen before Allan had any chance to ask his questions.

Allan just smiled and said: “Something important to me seems to have disappeared when you awakened. It’s my affinity with fire as well as my divine body of fire.”

Djen said: “You have a room full of books that can answer all your questions. Why come to me?”

“You saw it yourself. It would take me months if not years to stumble upon the right book. If you cooperate, I can make your stay more comfortable. If you do not cooperate, I can make you suffer until you wish you were dead.” Allan said.

Djen sighed and then closed his eyes.

“Is silence your answer?” Allan was irritated.

“I can answer your question if you remove the seal on me. If I try something you can always seal me back in here. What do you say?” Djen said as he opened his eyes to reveal two black eyeballs.

It was Allan’s turn to sink into silence for a moment before he said: “Alright, but I can’t see what you’d be doing in this inner world...unless...”

“Yes. I want to stay in the fourth room. Reading will help me pass the time.” Djen did not hide his intention. The knowledge the fourth room contained enticed even him.

Allan unsealed him and made the shack disappear.

As they were facing each other, Djen said: “When I awakened, I found that there was something weird with the body. It was your affinity with fire as well as your divine body of fire. They did not disappear, they evolved at the same time your body awakened.”

“They evolved into what?” Allan asked.

“If I had to guess, it would be the law of fire that was ignited inside of you as a result. Your affinity with fire was high enough that evolving into the law of fire was the only option. It is possible that if you accept that law as yours, another inner world will be created inside your body or it will fuse with the inner world that already exists. Even I do not know what will happen if you choose to ignite a law that you never had to comprehend and gained through affinity.” Djen said.

“Are all the laws gained through comprehension rather than affinity?” Allan asked.

“Of course. Igniting a law through affinity gives birth to a variant and unruly law. Laws gained through affinity are the hardest laws to control but since it is the law of fire, it should be acceptable. The law of fire doesn’t need control sometimes. Fire dragons or other fire attribute demonic beasts use the same uncontrollable Laws because they have the most destructive might when not controlled.”Djen said but thought: “Hopefully, he will experience a backlash from having another inner world. I can use that opportunity to take back this body and then kill him while he’s still weak.”

“Alright. How do I ignite it?” Allan asked.

“Since it is a law gained through affinity, all you have to do is picture yourself as if made of fire and believe it. The Law belongs to you already...it should feel natural...” Djen said while entering the golden palace.

Allan left the inner world.

***

Grayhell continent.

Arkul had taken his normal appearance. He was standing in front of two humans.

“When you both reach the 9th tier of the Primordial realm, I will help you ignite the law of fire and we will ascend at the same time...”

“It’s that easy to ascend?” Cain asked.

Alistair was asking himself the same question.

“Of course not. It’s just that you are lucky to have a dragon help you, but I can only help you ascend, the rest will depend on you.” Arkul said.

The three then started to cultivate.

***

Southhollow continent, Gray planet.

Nightfall

Allan left the cave in a hurry.

He had been trying to ignite the Law of fire and after a long day, he had yet to succeed.

He was starting to think that Djen had lied to him when the sun finally disappeared on the horizon. He put it to the back of his mind and started his journey towards Zenith’s temple.

It took him mere minutes to fly towards the temple.

“These wings are not so useless after all.” thought Allan, still astounded by the speed he had just used to cross a quarter of the Southhollow continent.

He was hovering on top of the temple, trying to see if the King had foreseen his movements and posted sentries near the temple.

“This is weird...there’s no one....Not even Zenith himself.” thought Allan after a brief scan of the area.

He then entered the temple.

His eyes were glued to the altar the moment he could see it.

He was advancing towards the altar as if he had all the time in the world.

“Nothing. No spatial undulations whatsoever...” He abruptly stopped after realizing that the altar in front of him was just a normal structure built by human hands. There was nothing magical about it.

“But... this is the place I was sent to...this is the only place that should have a connection to my home.”

He had Djen’s powers and could interact with the Law of space. His senses were all attuned to the space element but he could not see or feel anything strange when he looked at the altar.

It was at that moment that a voice was heard: “If you’ve come back here, it must mean that you are yourself again.”

“I’ve never heard of someone surviving an ancestral awakening before...in fact, it is impossible to resist it....yet here you are...intriguing...” the voice continued.

Allan was panic-stricken by the new arrival. Someone had escaped his keen senses.

“I know that you rely on that Space Law too much, which is why I took extra precautions while following you.” This time the voice sounded younger than Allan himself.

“Who?” Allan asked.

“Relax. I’m not here to harm you...On the contrary, I’m here to help. It is my luck that you are still yourself...This way, I can get that soul energy gathering formation easily...I know for a fact that the Golden king would rather die than hand it over, which forced me to look for you...” the voice said.

The pressure that the invisible man purposefully released made Allan curse himself for his bad luck. He could sense that the hidden expert was at the same level as the Golden king... or even stronger. A law seeker.

“What’s in it for me?” Allan asked.

A young man then appeared in the temple. He appeared to be no older than twenty. He was wearing simple clothes.

The only thing extravagant on him was the silver collar he wore around his neck.

The young man said: “I can give you a star map and tell you where your home is located.”

Allan found it suspicious that someone who knew what he was looking for had just magically appeared before him.

“How would you know where my home is?” Allan asked.

“Because I was friends with the Light Bringer. He would always brag about his home planet. Your home. That one-way teleportation formation you used to get here was one of the many teleportation formations he used to move around and this particular one just happens to come from his home.” the man said.

“Why build a one-way teleportation formation instead of a two-way teleportation formation?” Allan asked.

“Because he liked to keep his home safe. He had many enemies. It would have been dangerous to give them all the keys to his home as many of them were dangerous enough to threaten the safety of his home.” the man said.

“Now, can you agree to my terms and hand over the formation?” the young man urged.

Allan sank into silence.

“How do I know you are telling the truth?” Allan finally asked.

“You’ll only find out if you follow my map and reach your home, but chances are that you will die before you get there. You are too weak to even leave this planet. Even if you reach the Law seeker realm, you will have to face the dangers of space with your life on the line.” the man paused before he continued:

“I guess you’ll have to trust me because I’ m probably the only one on this planet willing to exchange something for that formation.”

“Who are you really?” Allan asked.

“The Underworld King, but you can call me Niel.” the underworld king said.

“What if I refuse to give you the formation?” Allan was suspicious. He could not stomach the idea of being conned because he was so desperate to go back home. He did not know Niel nor if the information about his home was real or fake.

“I guess I’ll have to torture you for a while until you hand it over....you see, I’m not the Golden King or the Dark King. Even if both joined hands to kill me, they’d never succeed. In fact, such an idea will never cross their minds because they know that I do not even need the Galactic Alliance that backs me to take care of them.” Niel said those words with iciness.

“Now, for the sake of an old friend, I will not kill you and I would like to exchange a star map for that formation.” Niel made it sound like edict.

Allan just smiled and said while preparing to attack: “I’ll take my chances.”