A few hours later Ji and Rey had finished laying down an enormous array. It covered almost three hundred meters square and consisted of thousands of small round stones. Each of them had a small symbol engraved upon it by Ji. Together they formed a complicated construct of circles, lines and other unidentifiable symbols.

It was truly a vast project and took a lot of work on both sides.

“Couldn’t you just use some sort of magic to collect those stones?”, Rey was panting. Sweat formed beats on his forehead and completely soaked his grey shirt.

They had worked for hours and all the time long the sun had been shining right down on them. He was exhausted and tired.

Ji on the other hand looked completely fine and tidy. Not a single drop of sweat could be seen in his face, not even the speck of dirt stained his clothes. But if one looked closely one could see that he too had a tired look on his eyes.

“Believe me if I could I would have done it. This type of array must be laid down by hand otherwise it won’t work. Don’t ask me why, in this world there is probably no one who understands the god damn reason.”, he took one last stone and placed it on the dusty ground. “It’s ready.”, he said to Rey.

Rey tiredly sat down onto a big rock. He looked at the net of stones they had set up.

“What does this thing even do?”, he said while staring at it.

Ji chuckled. “You will see it right now!”

He walked towards the edge of the array. There was a single location where all the lines made of the small stones came together and combined into a single, thick line. This was where Ji stopped. He squatted down and placed his hand onto the ground.

For a moment nothing happened, then suddenly the stones began to glow. The glow became brighter and brighter until it became to bright to look into. The whole array had become a sea of white light. Finally, the light collapsed and turned into a dark void. The void slowly transformed, changing its form into a rectangular shape. Finally, a simple wooden door took shape.

If a stranger looked at it he would think that someone had forgotten their door in the middle of a wasteland.

Ji smiled. “It fucking worked.”

Rey looked at the door and wondered. “Where does it lead to?”

“To an incredible place.”, Ji answered mysteriously.

At this moment a sound came from the door. A small creak escaped, and the door was opened. An old man appeared in the doorframe. He wore simple linen clothing and had grey hair that he had bound back. A faint smile was on his face as he stepped out of the door.

“It has been some time hasn’t it?”, his voice was deep and hoarse.

“Sure, it’s been.

Where is the rest of you guys?”, Ji looked into the dark space behind the old man, but there was nothing but absolute darkness there.

The man looked somewhat embarrassed. “Well they took a small detour to Tian’s shop… they said they would directly come to Kelin’s place. I stayed behind so you don’t wonder about it.”

Ji stared at him. His expression fell.

“I worked three hours…. FOR NOTHING?!”, he felt betrayed.

The old man coughed awkwardly. “Well we couldn’t have known that it would be this easy to return to the outside world and there wasn’t much to do here so they couldn’t resist…”

“…”, Ji had the urgent desire to facepalm himself.

“Fine… let’s get back to the town.”, he shook his head.

…

“Enemy attack!”, shouts rung through the air and were soon accompanied by pained yells and the sound of explosions. Multicolored lights appeared and disappeared, taking many lives with them.

“The heaven is here!”, someone shouted before being brutally killed.

The camp of the gods was under attack by battalions of white clothed beings that descended from the heaven. Lightnings fell and killed many, swords were drawn, and blood soon soaked the ground. They attacked out of nowhere, without any warning, without any mercy.

Humanoid gods blotted out the sky as they charged towards the earth

The surprised gods quickly reformed their ranks and performed a counter attack. Hundreds of differently looking beings charged into the sea of white above.

It was a magnificent scene. White dots descended towards the ground while multicolored dot’s rose up to meet them up ahead. When they met what was left was crimson red.

Lesser dragons roared as they flung themselves against whole groups of heavenly gods. One of them, a man with red hair drew a dagger and shot towards him. In a bloody cloud the human god was torn apart. The dragon howled victoriously.

Soon after a red lightning descended from the heaven and turned him into ash.

At another place three large fish violently rampaged through the heavens ranks, killing hundreds of gods. Their fins were filled with holes, their bodies bloodied with many missing scales, but they continued their mad attacks.

Hundreds of white foxes charged into the air and turned a part of the battlefield into a sea of fire raging through the sky. Tens of flaming phenixes barged through the air and attacked any god they saw.

Three men with tree’s growing on their heads surrounded a single white dressed goddess and covered her in a rain of attacks.

Blood rained from the heaven, bodies fell like snow in winter. And yet neither of both sides backed away.

Suddenly a deep hum filled the air. Vibrations shook the earth and uprooted the trees. Stone shattered, mountains broke apart. The sound of a drum followed in rhythm, each beat felt like a thunderclap.

It was an old man sitting on the base of a small mountain beneath the cruel massacre far above him. In front of him was a large drum which he unceasingly beat with his burly hands. The rhythm shook the earth and pierced the heaven as his old ancient voice rang out.

“Thu who you are eternal,

Powerful and unrestrained.”

The music became more and more powerful.

“Stand up you ancient being

Stand up and struggle again.

For they want to take your freedom

Break and bind you with their chains.”

Slowly more and more gods began to sing along, their voices loud and heroic. The singular lyrics became a chorus of voices, all different but united in their intentions.

“Fight for your freedom,

Kill those who defile your name.

For a god is free

Those who chain one shall die!”

The more they sung the more courageous the gods became. They attacked with everything they had. The sky distorted as they unleashed every ounce of power within their bodies. Slowly the battalions of the heaven were pushed back.

“Go and fight until your end,

In bloody battle you struggle again.

And may it be in vain!

For a god is born free

And a god shall die free!”

The presence of the gods reached it’s maximum. Their momentum was invincible, their moral at its peak. Even if they died they would kill, kill until there was no one left to kill! Kill until there was no heaven that would take their freedom. Kill until all there was left was them!

At this moment there was nothing more powerful than them. More and more human gods were killed and fell from the sky. Mountains of death bodies, some human and some not, plotted the land while rivers of blood turned into seas of crimson.

The stench of death turned the earth black and killed what had been remaining of the vegetation in these parts. It was truly a battle of gods. All they left behind was death and desolation.

Suddenly the sky rumbled. The rumble became louder and louder and soon overcome the hum from the ground. Black clouds gathered over the merciless battle between gods and blotted out any sunlight. At this moment the world seemed to have descended into eternal darkness.

The fighting did not cease for even a moment. More and more gods died and returned to the earth. Blood was spilled until red was the only thing left up in the sky.

A bright light descended from the clouds. A gigantic white bold of lightning slowly fell from the sky. It completely engulfed the battling gods. Then for some time everything became a pure white.

Of the three thousand gods that had participated in the battle, only nine managed to survive. Of the three thousand five hundred human gods that belonged to the heaven only three survived. Everything else had become ash and now covered the charred ground beneath.

Three-hundred-thousand-five-hundred-twenty-two kilometers away Ji’s expression changed, and he turned his head towards a certain direction.

“It has begun.”, his eyes grew sharp.