《Transient Fire Works》Prologue to Chapter 24: Resting time and flashback pt.1
Advertisement
Once he was finished being bandaged up and treated, he started to make food for the two girls and even packed multiple lunch boxes for them. Mirana didn’t have to take it, but she wanted it because it was better than spending money on fast food that could get her fatter.
“Oh, also, give these to Gisela and Rosa along the way you two. If they don’t take it, then it is fine.” Jin said before seeing the two off.
‘That Mirana girl is even more mysterious than I’d initially thought… But, I need to take a nap for now. Didn’t get enough sleep…’ he thought as he lazily drags himself to his bed and flops on it. Jin quickly fell fast asleep on the soft bed because he was overly exhausted. He disappeared for quite a long time.
What was Jin doing during the time he disappeared?
Well, we need to look back at that don’t we?
Once he exited the house, he ran far to a secluded location to clear his mind and did qi training. ‘If it wasn’t for the fact that I had to return as Belphegor…’ Jin gloomily thought. Something that was not supposed to be done during qi training and that is to let the mind wander and think. But it was because he had to go back to being Belphegor that got him gloomy. Once a person enters the underworld, it is hard to back out. Especially when he was an underworld ruler six years ago. Jin closed his eyes and flashes of memories came to him.
Six years ago, he had to beat not only four of the greatest underworld rulers with his own hands, he had to beat at total of six with the help of Mammon. But out of the four he had to beat himself, three of them were the worst of the seven underworld ruler. Those three were Satan, the prideful one, Beelzebub, the … 2nd lord of the underworld who commands a network of people, and the old Belphegor.
The old Belphegor was tough not because he was an underworld ruler, but because he looked weak. Though his memories were a little fuzzy, he remembered that eight years ago, Jin inherited the name Belphegor early. The old Belphegor looked kind, but had the mind of a devil. It was the old Belphegor that found Jin’s family, tortured him and nearly killed his family as well. But there was an unexpected accident and the old Belphegor died. Not that Jin could remember it. But he inherited the name Belphegor by destroying the old one in the underworld. Once again, two years later, he was tortured and humiliated due to being soft. But the moment someone touches Jin’s family, Jin would become the embodiment of the devil himself.
Jin reopens his eyes because there were too many thoughts while he was doing his qi training. ‘… Why did I have to inherit the crappy name Belphegor? Aside from the game situation, I inherited the name Belphegor because I defeated the old one… But I was only ten back then… How was it that I was able to beat him? Why can’t I remember!!!?’ Jin felt frustrated because whenever he tries to remember some things, they would become blank.
Some parts of his memories skips ahead while others were left incomplete. ‘Gah! I can’t even remember some parts of my younger years as well! What the hell is going on!?’
‘… Nevermind… I should just continue doing the qi training… *Sigh*’ He sighed. He once more closes his eyes. But this time, he did not do qi training. Something was pulling Jin deep inside another part of his mind. That something was the countless souls he’d seen before. ‘!!! Why am I here!?’
Advertisement
The souls that were chained to his back were now in front of him screaming like a banshee at Jin.
‘! What do you guys want!? I can’t understand you…’ Jin really could not understand what they want from him. But that soon changes when the souls began to compress into a dark ball. The dark ball then started to divide itself and grow like a cell does. The cycles repeated many times before turning into a giant human looking dark titan but was made out of countless souls that were still screaming within the giant’s body.
‘The hell!?’ Jin was shocked to see that the dark titan standing in front of him. The titan had no face of its own and continuously shifts personas every few seconds; all screaming bloody tears.
The dark titan or rather the multitude of souls reaches out to Jin and grabbed him tight and pulls him towards them. Jin did not struggle. Instead, he felt that there was something that they wanted to tell him. Sure enough, the titan began to make words and sounds.
‘G-give me back….’ The voices overlapped with each other as they spoke to Jin. ‘GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEE BAAAAAACCCCCCCCCKKKKKK MMMMYYYYYYYYYY ***********************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ It cried out over and over.
Sometimes they would scream life. Other times they would scream the names of their loved ones.
The hand gripped tighter and tighter, squeezing the life out of Jin’s small and frail looking body.
‘GGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!’ He instinctively roared out in pain.
The dark titan stopped crying the same words. Instead, it used its left index finger and tapped Jin’s forehead.
A great flood of memories all in fragments and unsorted flowed into Jin’s mind. He could see what they wanted from him. He could see what they hated about him. But most of all, Jin could see his own past. Shards of memories began to fill some parts of the memories that did not make sense to him. Others began to replace false memories with truths.
‘!!! T-This was what I did?’ Jin was horrified at his own atrocities. He remembered how he saved Mammon that day many years ago. He remembered how he ruthlessly killed and tortured people. The methods he’d used to get information from a person. The plans he’d made to just kill one person. ‘STOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!’ Jin cried out.
Just then, the memories stopped flooding inside Jin’s head. Nine dark figures showed up and shredded the dark titan up into pieces with their bare hands. Soon after the nine ripped the dark titan, a blue meteor came in and compressed the dark titan’s remains into a small single glass shard. His body radiates of cold malice.
‘*Tch* Such a pain… Want him to repay you guys? Wait a year or two dammit!’ The blue meteor scolded the small black glass shard which quivered in his hand.
Jin, recognizing the voice, open his eyes to see that it was the Cyan Conqueror in from of him. ‘Cyril! What was that!? Why are there memories of me killing people!? Who are these other guys with you?’
‘Ah… Damn… We… Ugh…’ Cyril groaned. He didn’t want to explain to Jin all the details. But what he wanted to do the most is to erase Jin’s memories. ‘Well… you won’t remember anyhow…’
‘It’s fine Cyan Conqueror. Don’t erase his memories.’ A man dressed in red revealed himself to me.
‘… Red Ruler…’ Cyril’s voice sadly drifted.
‘… That was my old title Cyan Conqueror. Now that is just a thing of the past…’ The man in red said to Cyril. ‘Forget erasing his memories. All you guys are doing is making him run away from his responsibilities. This is just an illusion. If you want him to truly live his own life happily, then you need to let him remember.’
Advertisement
‘Nope. I won’t let that happen. We are not going to make things go too fast Red. We need to let his soul take a rest.’ Cyan told the man in red.
‘… I won’t say this again Cyan. Jin will need to start killing people sooner or later. It is because he can take lives that the economy got out of that ridiculous farce! But he can’t do it if he still have his morals holding down the strength he has!’ the man in red shouted.
‘Shut up Red! That strength came from hell itself!’ a man in gold stood behind the man in red roared.
‘… Gerent of the Golden Sun…. So… You want him to live in this illusion as well?’ A fire was lit in the man in red’s eyes. ‘That will kill him one day! Your softness towards him will kill him one day! I am here to make sure that won’t happen too early now that he went back to being Belphegor!’
‘Be it Belphegor or Jin. He is still recovering.’ The man in gold stood firm and hinted to the man in red that Cyril was right.
‘I agree with Red. He needs some parts of his memories. At the very least, it will grant the souls some peace’ a man in green said as he points to the small dark glass shard in Cyril’s hand.
‘!!! Emerald Emperor! You as well? Why are you two so insistent about making Jin remember?’ Cyril frowned.
‘It is because it is necessary Cyan. Even if we want him to be happy, there are some things he needs to do by his own hands. There might be a day where we and the others cannot watch over Jin. If he does remember, it could be in the most horrifying way. This will keep his pure soul from twisting when he does remember.’ This time, a man adorned in silver came out to say. ‘If we need to tackle a problem, we need to do it early before it becomes too late’
‘Silver Savior? You too?’ Even the man in yellow was surprised.
‘I too, the Amethyst Advocate, Alvancus, support in Jin retaining some memories. His dark actions may need… those memories.’ A man wearing nothing but a purple short came out to say.
‘… For our eyes’ sakes… never mind. Just put on some real clothes Alvancus. I agree with Cyan. He needs time to rest his soul. If we let him remember too early, he may as well be a dead man’ this time, it was a man who wore only orange came to speak up on Cyril’s behalf.
‘… Orange Overlord… No… Omni… You three insist on keeping this illusion alive. So I too will agree because I think these past few gentle days has made Jin a happier person. I, Invictus, will help you erase his memories’ an androgynous person came out to say. But the voice sounded masculine so Jin thought it was a man. Thing was, the man was invisible!
A voice boomed from above. A pillar of light broke the dark environment and illuminated the entire place. ‘The score is four to four. I won’t tip the scales because I believe Jin should already know what to do. But Red, stop being so forceful!’ the person within the pillar of light could not be seen but had a feminine voice. ‘Oh, by the way Jin. I’m a man. Don’t get your balls confused now.’
‘He is trying to tackle things on early. Don’t blame him for being a… well, who he is.’ A young voice came out. When Jin tried to locate the voice, he could not find it.
‘Over here Jin’ the voice called from below.
Jin looked down to see a small dark creature waving at him.
‘Pleased to meet you Jin. I’m the Sinner from the Shadows.’ The small creature said to Jin. It looked like a small rat in Jin’s eyes. But he then notices the dark vampire like wings sprouting from the small rodent’s back. ‘Just a heads up, we all are sealed but can all come out of our seals. The seals don’t need to be broken. Just only in times of emergencies we send out our… representatives. Just think of it as sending out small avatars with a bit of our power.’
‘… My form may be unsightly… Just know that the heavens were unfair and gave me this form out of unreasonable anger and fear… Ugh… Hate my name….’ he depressingly said.
‘Now… it is four for four gentlemen. But now I am going to tip the score if you don’t agree with me. I think Jin should retain his memories but it is for him to decide. This isn’t the best of choices. But Jin needs to choose for himself whether or not to remember. I can tell you guys now that even if we do erase his memories of this even now, the souls will still do everything in their power to make him remember. For the past four days, he has already relived those memories a couple of times already. We already erased his memories many times before Lucian and the others did as well. So there is no real point in erasing all of it again if the souls only want him to remember some parts of his memories. Even if it is not the souls, maybe even heaven will make him remember the people he killed. So remembering might benefit him and relieve some of the pain. I am not saying we should let him remember. But it is up to him whether or not to remember’ the small rat-like creature said. ‘Only… I’ll limit on how much he can remember from that limit.’
They all turned to me and gave me a serious look, waiting for Jin’s answer.
‘I’ll retain some of my memories. Hearing you guys so serious, might as well retain some. They may be the people I’ve killed. So the least I could do is honor them by remembering them’ Jin said.
‘Then so be it’ the small creature said. He went up to Cyril’s hand. ‘If you souls keep on screaming and bothering him, I will devour and digest you all whole without letting a single one of you reincarnate!’ he threatened the small black glass shard and ate the shard. The small creature’s body began to expand and shape-shift into human form. But the dark creature was still… dark but a lot more monstrous-looking. He then threw back up the small back shard and then crushed it to release the souls.
‘Oh. By the way Jin. Call Cyril his own name. Cyan. It is because he has a bad memory to keep things simple. Also, you’ll learn our true names later on. What you’ve heard today were some of the true names. Don’t be concerned and just live life. We’ll return to our seals.’ The dark man said. Using his middle finger, he flicks Jin’s forehead to get him out of the space and making him retain some of the memories that the souls gave to him. ‘Oops… We’ve seemed to leak out some of our own qi energies as well… Oh well. We did need to release our qi every now and then. This might be one of the best times then. But we gotta move it into the inner qi plane to not affect him too much…’
Advertisement
- In Serial31 Chapters
The New Pantheon - A Superhero Fiction
God has become tired of watching over our world. He has become tired of our meaningless conflicts and our penchant for self-destruction. We are a cursed race, destined for annihilation by our own hands. However, he cannot leave us without a designated successor and no other celestial being wishes to take his place. So, he is left with little option but to create his own successor. Enter Anna Miller. Stay at home geek, occasional cosplayer, and comic enthusiast. She, out of everyone else in the world, is selected by God to take his place as the new shepherd of humanity. She is given two rules. 1. Don't let the humans die. 2. Don't take over the world. That's it. That's all. God then fucks off to have a vacation and she's left with the world to do with as she pleases. So, what does a stay at home geek, occasional cosplayer, and comic enthusiast do with her newly bestowed godlike powers? "Well Superpowers, of course!" God, please come back and help us all.
8 222 - In Serial16 Chapters
All Stats Random
Un-reality, the greatest game in the century just launched and Chris starts to play it. He wants to change his circumstances, which are through no fault of his own. But fate doesn't let it be that simple. He gets a hidden unique class, but that class has a special ability, one that randomizes all his stats whenever it wants? What? The world truly can't be fair to him. Not even in a game. Now he has to figure out a way to make this odd quirk of his class work. When he smiles, the world loves him.When he laughs, the world fears him. (and that was my stab at trying to imitate those chinese synopses) Regular chapters, once or twice per week. On the weekends usually. I will finish this novel, be it takes 1 year or 2. It will get a proper ending. Afterall, the ending is paramount. Also, the readers might feel rewarded if they look closely while reading. I try to be quite mindful and put in interesting details or things that would come into play later. And, personally i think that reviews on this site might as well be pointless. Unless you know the reviewer and think that you share his views. Your thoughts on a particular thing (like a novel) can differ from others. So, do give it a try before arbitrarily deciding. This is my try to perfect the 'master of all/everything' type of MC, inside a proper, realistic VR world, from a game design perspective and immersion and no convenient 'convert gold to irl currency' button. It is going to be a game first of all. Not a fantasy world overloaden with status screens and skills you can't possibly keep track of. A game with all of the real world aspects to it. Not a cheap fantasy world with shoehorned in stats.
8 154 - In Serial16 Chapters
Dark Base written by Travis Willier
A black government military operation kidnaps four individuals and brings them in a deep military underground facility for military operation experimentation and deep mind memory analysis. Little did they know this base would become their Hell
8 124 - In Serial23 Chapters
An Invisible Girl
Not all Isekai is Human This is the story of the last survivor of her race, who is offered the option to be reborn in another world to continue the fight against the monsters that consumed her species. The new world is a horrible death world. It is filled with both beauty and horror, strange sentients of various types and perhaps the most dangerous monsters ever conceived. Humans. Two aliens. two violently opposed cultures. Is One little world big enough for both of them? First note: Please don't expect immediate action and slaughter and sex. There's a lot of conversation, drama, and interaction, as she learns about her new world. Second note: This is not 'humans as monsters'. It is more like "There are monsters, but humans can make their own". Technically I guess it qualifies as a system apocalypse, but it never really hits the apocalypse parts. Third note: This IS a Litrpg and the 'classes' provide some superhero-style action, eventually. It isn't strictly superhero, though. a lot of bits are contemporary fantasy, some are pure sci-fi, and some are superhero, depending on how people choose their new abilities. The overall theme is technically sci-fi, but soft like a baby. Fourth note: there is some sexuality (not sex) involving a protagonist in a 17-year-old body. Her mind is over 50 years old, though, and the body was created at that age in order to give her 6 months' leeway to learn to be human. This is not juvenile sex stuff, as the character is fully adult, just not adult as a Human.Plus it's mostly included for humor and alien context.
8 96 - In Serial16 Chapters
Re:Answer
On a day he thought to be regular, Keisuke, a 19 year old boy somehow miraculously ended up in a fantasy world involving swords and magic after his death. There he met a girl who resembles his childhood friend and immediately, Keisuke regarded this person as her. Unknowingly, he got involve in a mess much bigger than he could actually swallow. His vision of a fantasy world was immediately shattered and their deaths came all too quick, without even being able to do anything. Just when he thought death had finally claimed him, he once again awoke to his starting point with no trace of wounds that killed him and perfectly fine health?Inspired by Shin Shirogane no Soleil -ReAnswer-
8 162 - In Serial21 Chapters
Fluttercord: Forging A New Life (Fluttercord Fanfic)
(Sequel to Big Mac? Or Discord?) Fluttershy is pregnant with Discord's foal. They have no idea what is about to come. They will experience love, frustration, and forgiveness. Just how long will it take?
8 162

