With a strong gust of wind, catapulting tons of bones upwards and letting us tumble out of the pit of bones, we finally managed to escape our cage out of bones. Seriously though, I nearly thought the others would die underneath the weight from all the bones raining on our heads, but luckily Hannah was a rather quick thinker in these situations.
Sliding down the slope of the mountain with my feet barely touching the bones, I quickly landed on normal stones again and dusted off my attire while the others tumbled down the hill inelegantly.
“That was way too close for comfort.” Ellie admitted right away as she had steady footing again. Sofie nodded along as well and I knew Louis had similar feelings, even though he didn’t show them openly because I was around.
“It’s going to be alright. Just a few kilometres in that direction and we are at the boss of this floor.” I said and walked ahead without even bothering about their reply. I knew for sure they would follow me and didn’t want to discuss turning around at all.
Sadly, it took only four minutes of hiking through purgatory to find our next enemy. At first, even I didn’t notice it as it wasn’t exactly deadly and it liked to hide itself with illusion. So, the first sign that something wasn’t right was how Sofie stopped walking.
“So beautiful.” She said and made me turn around warily until I spotted a beautiful maiden walking towards us with a gentle smile on her lips. Her white hair twirled downwards until her hips, presenting a very mesmerising sight while her blue eyes drew every gaze towards them. She was truly the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life had no wrinkle on her angelic face whatsoever and no impurity anywhere.
“How can we help you?” Schwarz said, already reaching out to her with his hand. With interest, I watched how she gently grabbed his hand and kissed the backside elegantly. Immediately, Schwarz was drawn into her even more and leaned forwards to kiss her until I cleared my throat loudly.
“Can I help you in any way?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t remember me from the one time we met.
“Indeed you can. Come to me.” Lucky me. She really didn’t recognise me. With a smile on my lips, I stepped right next to Schwarz and looked into her mesmerising eyes. “Will you serve me into all eternity?”
I seriously had better things to do … but alright. “Sure.” I said and curtsied a little.
“Very well.” She said, shining brighter than the sun with her smile. Then, she walked in between Schwarz and me and faced the others as well. “Will you help me as well?”
Raising my eyebrows a little, I noticed how all of the others except Nezar and Hannah fell down on her knees while these two apparently struggled against something.
Sighing quietly, I unsheathed my sword right away beheaded the monster in one swoop before anyone could react.
“How could …” Schwarz said, drawing his sword as well and facing me right away. He didn’t attack though, but rather stood there confused. “… what the fuck was I thinking?” He asked and looked over to the separated head which had no face whatsoever.
“And that’s why you never judge a person by their looks … except they don’t take care of themselves. Then it’s completely alright.” I said, holding my fist into the air like some moral apostle.
“What was that?” Ellie asked, slowly standing up in confusion while looking at the green blood oozing out of its corpse.
“I have no clue whatsoever.” These things didn’t have names, at least not that I was aware of it. There were so few of them that it was quite useless to name their species. “But I’m glad there is one less of them now.” I explained and swung my sword a little to get rid of all the blood. Seething it, I quickly turned around and started walking once more before the blood worm a few kilometres away could arrive. “Let’s go! We don’t have all day.”
Luckily, I did manage to guide us around the far worse threats until this point which slowed down our speed considerably, but also increased their chances of survival considerably. And if things went on like this, with Sofie sweating more and more, she may be able to unlock her gift and Irminsul would owe me a favour.
Humming along quietly I raised their spirit by a bit and started kicking a stone along with me. I was honestly way too exited about being back home that I could barely hide it from all the others. Death was all around me, souls were strolling around and I felt better and better. Everything was going so well.
Too well in fact. And that thought alone was enough to dampen my mood once more. And with this thought came a guardian, flying through the air easily. It had the form of a huge shadow with no material body whatsoever, only visible because it sucked in light as a meal.
“Stop!” I shouted out loudly before anyone could attack this thing. But my words weren’t directed at my group, but rather at the guardian who was still munching happily on the quickly extinguishing light.
Guardians were the only species not usually imprisoned in purgatory. They took care of all the stragglers who got into purgatory through unknown means by either sending them back or killing them over the course of weeks. They had always listened to me so far, but this time, the guardian didn’t seem to recognise me or simply acted based on another order.
“Disperse! Nezar, with me! The darkness is you friend!” I shouted out, grabbed Nezar’s hand and rushed away from the scene as the guardian slammed into the ground, sending all others flying and luckily extinguishing all their lights with this. Then, the guardian started to float upwards once more and simply observed how the group got up slowly.
Luckily for them, they did heed my words and didn’t make any more light which satisfied the guardian immensely. These creatures were made by Aska himself and were pure evil, just like he was. They liked to play with their prey as long as they could and they loved it when they stumbled through the darkness aimlessly.
The others would live long enough for me to gather them up once more, that much was clear for me. Who didn’t survive the sudden wave of guardians through where the original prisoners of this place. Even in the distance, the spider died within seconds and all the others except one life sign in front of us died as well.
That whole development could only mean trouble for me though. They were given orders and surely not by me. Grumbling a bit unhappily, I dragged Nezar by his hand and could only hope that I still had enough time.
“How are you seeing anything in this darkness?” He asked after nearly falling over a rock.
“Magic.” I said drily, still pulling him behind me as fast as I could.
“Really? My magical senses are all scrambled.” Well, that was his problem, not mine. As such, I didn’t answer him at all, but rather picked up pace even more while avoiding any rocks he could fall over.
We were basically sprinting through the darkness for a whole lot of time while I kept track of the other person in the distance, slowly strolling towards my house from another direction as well.
“Make a small light.” I said running up the hill the beautiful house stood on. Instantly, a small light hovered above us, illuminating the area for him as well.
“A house?” There was indeed a lot of surprise on his face and also wariness because I wasn’t the most trustful person. He knew very well in what a danger he was, but he luckily didn’t think I wasn’t in the same situation. Otherwise, our cooperation might have ended right on the spot.
“A house.” I said, strolling towards it while looking at the withered poisonous plants in the front yard. Instantly, I was reminded of the good and the bad times I had in this place and smiled bitterly. “Just a normal house … let’s hurry a bit.”
Swatting these memories away for the time being, I walked towards the door and opened the door satisfied. I had expected Aska to lock it as we left, but luckily that wasn’t the case.
A familiar hallway greeted me right away, a few bookshelves to my left and the door to the kitchen to my right. Immediately, I walked through the open kitchen door, opened the a drawer and grabbed my sharpest kitchen knife. Then, I opened my backpack and put it in carefully it’s seethe.
“What?” I asked the necromancer who stood in the doorframe and looked at me in surprise. “The knifes on Solaris aren’t that sharp?” I said a bit bummed out and squeeze myself past him.
“The philosopher’s stone …” He growled unhappily and turned around to follow me through the hallway.
“Yeah, yeah.” I said, but couldn’t hear his steps behind me after some time anymore. Turning my head around, I could see his expression very clearly thanks to the soul lamps as he looked at a very peculiar item on the bookshelf.
It was a painting. A very lifelike painting of me and Aska goofing around while I made the peace sign to the painter and winked happily.
Sighing quietly, I went through my hair with my right hand and closed my eyes a little.
“You were raised here.” Nezar said surprised and looked at me in worry. He must have realised way sooner that I wasn’t as lost as the others in this place and knew this place far too well for being here only a limited amount of time.
“The philosopher’s stone?” I asked and tilted my head to the side while taking the picture into my hands.
“No. Truth to be told, I’m only here because I found it exiting to visit the land of the dead, not because I expected any kind of philosopher’s stone in here. That would be a bonus. But you will explain all of this, right now.” He said and ignited the air around his right hand instantly.
“How interesting. Do you believe you get out of here alive without me?” I asked a bit amused and also angry about his reaction.
“Yes. I know enough about this place from the church of death to find my way to any portal leading into another world.” Really? I was doubtful, but there was no reason to believe he couldn’t do so. He was the most powerful mage on Solaris after all.
“Good for you then. Please, could we not do this?” I asked and caressed the picture in my hands lovingly. “I have made so many memories in this place and I don’t want to see it burnt down because we couldn’t get along.”
“Then tell me, why are you here?” He asked, squinting his eyes nearly shut while I put the picture into my backpack slowly.
“I need to craft a weapon using a magical circle constructed by a god. This circle is in many ways just like a philosopher’s stone. It can erase memories, make you undying and so much more. It will fulfil your wish, after it has fulfilled mine. Can we get along until then?” I asked and smiled saintly, knowing he wouldn’t believe me a word.
“As long as you don’t try anything funny.” He asked with his magic still activated.
“I would never.” I said, chuckled a bit dangerously and turned my back to him. Walking through the hallway further, I opened the room to the weapons chamber and picked out my beloved scythe from all these years ago right away. It was indeed quite the unwieldy weapon, but it was still the trademark of death.
Presenting the pitch black metal to the necromancer, I strolled past him once more and opened another door, leading into a completely enclosed room otherwise inaccessible from the outside. A few soul lamps hung on the wooden wall, but other than that, there was only the magical circle in the middle of the room.
It was truly a fascinating feat, so beautifully done that I couldn’t even fathom how hard it was to create it. It was written – like all magical circles – in the language of the gods but this one didn’t have the sentence structure messed up in any way. In short, it was perfect. And I was as far from replicating it as I could get.
“A weapon capable to slay a god.” I said, but into my own hand and let a bit of blood drip onto the circle. Then, I threw the scythe into the middle where it landed with the flat side on the wood. “Now.”
Instantly, the very special magic activated and enveloped the levitating scythe with deathly energy for a few seconds. It seeped deeply into the metal, enveloped it completely and turned it into a weapon so rare that only the gods possessed one. Stepping into the circle, I grabbed the floating scythe without worry and lifted it up effortlessly. Flooding it with death or rather putting a part of my soul into it, I directly made sure it was primed on me and made myself familiar with it by twirling it through the air a little. I immediately understood what this weapon was capable of mostly because … well, it was more of an extension of myself at this point than a usual weapon.
“Interesting.” I said, just as black flames erupted out of it and threatened to lick the ceiling. Looking down on it, it transformed into a pitch katana on my mental command and the flames died down instantly. “It’s your turn.” I commented satisfied and stepped out of the circle slowly. “But remember. Do not ask for the impossible.” The circle couldn’t turn him into a god. It couldn’t give him unlimited power either. It could only give what was possible.
Slowly, he walked into the middle of the circle while still trying to read my emotions which failed miserably.
“I want to become the strongest mage possible.” He said loudly and the circle beneath him activated itself. Black mist appeared from the ground, circulating around him until he breathed in and everything rushed through his nose and mouth into him. He rolled his eyes involuntary and went on his knees right away, clearly overwhelmed by whatever was happening to him. Well, for once his soul had been changed to use a hundred percent of his mana but other than that, I couldn’t tell.
“I … I can feel it! This is … incredible!” He shouted out and made me feel pressure on my shoulders right away by increasing the gravity.
“If you could let that be.” I said, the sword directly pointed at him. “We have to get out of here and it’s not going to be easy.” I said and smiled at the gravity around me returned to normal right away.
“The demon king is here.” He said slowly which did surprise me somewhat. At least I finally knew why the guardians didn’t attack that last person I sensed the whole time.
With a strong gust of wind, catapulting tons of bones upwards and letting us tumble out of the pit of bones, we finally managed to escape our cage out of bones. Seriously though, I nearly thought the others would die underneath the weight from all the bones raining on our heads, but luckily Hannah was a rather quick thinker in these situations.
Sliding down the slope of the mountain with my feet barely touching the bones, I quickly landed on normal stones again and dusted off my attire while the others tumbled down the hill inelegantly.
“That was way too close for comfort.” Ellie admitted right away as she had steady footing again. Sofie nodded along as well and I knew Louis had similar feelings, even though he didn’t show them openly because I was around.
“It’s going to be alright. Just a few kilometres in that direction and we are at the boss of this floor.” I said and walked ahead without even bothering about their reply. I knew for sure they would follow me and didn’t want to discuss turning around at all.
Sadly, it took only four minutes of hiking through purgatory to find our next enemy. At first, even I didn’t notice it as it wasn’t exactly deadly and it liked to hide itself with illusion. So, the first sign that something wasn’t right was how Sofie stopped walking.
“So beautiful.” She said and made me turn around warily until I spotted a beautiful maiden walking towards us with a gentle smile on her lips. Her white hair twirled downwards until her hips, presenting a very mesmerising sight while her blue eyes drew every gaze towards them. She was truly the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life had no wrinkle on her angelic face whatsoever and no impurity anywhere.
“How can we help you?” Schwarz said, already reaching out to her with his hand. With interest, I watched how she gently grabbed his hand and kissed the backside elegantly. Immediately, Schwarz was drawn into her even more and leaned forwards to kiss her until I cleared my throat loudly.
“Can I help you in any way?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t remember me from the one time we met.
“Indeed you can. Come to me.” Lucky me. She really didn’t recognise me. With a smile on my lips, I stepped right next to Schwarz and looked into her mesmerising eyes. “Will you serve me into all eternity?”
I seriously had better things to do … but alright. “Sure.” I said and curtsied a little.
“Very well.” She said, shining brighter than the sun with her smile. Then, she walked in between Schwarz and me and faced the others as well. “Will you help me as well?”
Raising my eyebrows a little, I noticed how all of the others except Nezar and Hannah fell down on her knees while these two apparently struggled against something.
Sighing quietly, I unsheathed my sword right away beheaded the monster in one swoop before anyone could react.
“How could …” Schwarz said, drawing his sword as well and facing me right away. He didn’t attack though, but rather stood there confused. “… what the fuck was I thinking?” He asked and looked over to the separated head which had no face whatsoever.
“And that’s why you never judge a person by their looks … except they don’t take care of themselves. Then it’s completely alright.” I said, holding my fist into the air like some moral apostle.
“What was that?” Ellie asked, slowly standing up in confusion while looking at the green blood oozing out of its corpse.
“I have no clue whatsoever.” These things didn’t have names, at least not that I was aware of it. There were so few of them that it was quite useless to name their species. “But I’m glad there is one less of them now.” I explained and swung my sword a little to get rid of all the blood. Seething it, I quickly turned around and started walking once more before the blood worm a few kilometres away could arrive. “Let’s go! We don’t have all day.”
Luckily, I did manage to guide us around the far worse threats until this point which slowed down our speed considerably, but also increased their chances of survival considerably. And if things went on like this, with Sofie sweating more and more, she may be able to unlock her gift and Irminsul would owe me a favour.
Humming along quietly I raised their spirit by a bit and started kicking a stone along with me. I was honestly way too exited about being back home that I could barely hide it from all the others. Death was all around me, souls were strolling around and I felt better and better. Everything was going so well.
Too well in fact. And that thought alone was enough to dampen my mood once more. And with this thought came a guardian, flying through the air easily. It had the form of a huge shadow with no material body whatsoever, only visible because it sucked in light as a meal.
“Stop!” I shouted out loudly before anyone could attack this thing. But my words weren’t directed at my group, but rather at the guardian who was still munching happily on the quickly extinguishing light.
Guardians were the only species not usually imprisoned in purgatory. They took care of all the stragglers who got into purgatory through unknown means by either sending them back or killing them over the course of weeks. They had always listened to me so far, but this time, the guardian didn’t seem to recognise me or simply acted based on another order.
“Disperse! Nezar, with me! The darkness is you friend!” I shouted out, grabbed Nezar’s hand and rushed away from the scene as the guardian slammed into the ground, sending all others flying and luckily extinguishing all their lights with this. Then, the guardian started to float upwards once more and simply observed how the group got up slowly.
Luckily for them, they did heed my words and didn’t make any more light which satisfied the guardian immensely. These creatures were made by Aska himself and were pure evil, just like he was. They liked to play with their prey as long as they could and they loved it when they stumbled through the darkness aimlessly.
The others would live long enough for me to gather them up once more, that much was clear for me. Who didn’t survive the sudden wave of guardians through where the original prisoners of this place. Even in the distance, the spider died within seconds and all the others except one life sign in front of us died as well.
That whole development could only mean trouble for me though. They were given orders and surely not by me. Grumbling a bit unhappily, I dragged Nezar by his hand and could only hope that I still had enough time.
“How are you seeing anything in this darkness?” He asked after nearly falling over a rock.
“Magic.” I said drily, still pulling him behind me as fast as I could.
“Really? My magical senses are all scrambled.” Well, that was his problem, not mine. As such, I didn’t answer him at all, but rather picked up pace even more while avoiding any rocks he could fall over.
We were basically sprinting through the darkness for a whole lot of time while I kept track of the other person in the distance, slowly strolling towards my house from another direction as well.
“Make a small light.” I said running up the hill the beautiful house stood on. Instantly, a small light hovered above us, illuminating the area for him as well.
“A house?” There was indeed a lot of surprise on his face and also wariness because I wasn’t the most trustful person. He knew very well in what a danger he was, but he luckily didn’t think I wasn’t in the same situation. Otherwise, our cooperation might have ended right on the spot.
“A house.” I said, strolling towards it while looking at the withered poisonous plants in the front yard. Instantly, I was reminded of the good and the bad times I had in this place and smiled bitterly. “Just a normal house … let’s hurry a bit.”
Swatting these memories away for the time being, I walked towards the door and opened the door satisfied. I had expected Aska to lock it as we left, but luckily that wasn’t the case.
A familiar hallway greeted me right away, a few bookshelves to my left and the door to the kitchen to my right. Immediately, I walked through the open kitchen door, opened the a drawer and grabbed my sharpest kitchen knife. Then, I opened my backpack and put it in carefully it’s seethe.
“What?” I asked the necromancer who stood in the doorframe and looked at me in surprise. “The knifes on Solaris aren’t that sharp?” I said a bit bummed out and squeeze myself past him.
“The philosopher’s stone …” He growled unhappily and turned around to follow me through the hallway.
“Yeah, yeah.” I said, but couldn’t hear his steps behind me after some time anymore. Turning my head around, I could see his expression very clearly thanks to the soul lamps as he looked at a very peculiar item on the bookshelf.
It was a painting. A very lifelike painting of me and Aska goofing around while I made the peace sign to the painter and winked happily.
Sighing quietly, I went through my hair with my right hand and closed my eyes a little.
“You were raised here.” Nezar said surprised and looked at me in worry. He must have realised way sooner that I wasn’t as lost as the others in this place and knew this place far too well for being here only a limited amount of time.
“The philosopher’s stone?” I asked and tilted my head to the side while taking the picture into my hands.
“No. Truth to be told, I’m only here because I found it exiting to visit the land of the dead, not because I expected any kind of philosopher’s stone in here. That would be a bonus. But you will explain all of this, right now.” He said and ignited the air around his right hand instantly.
“How interesting. Do you believe you get out of here alive without me?” I asked a bit amused and also angry about his reaction.
“Yes. I know enough about this place from the church of death to find my way to any portal leading into another world.” Really? I was doubtful, but there was no reason to believe he couldn’t do so. He was the most powerful mage on Solaris after all.
“Good for you then. Please, could we not do this?” I asked and caressed the picture in my hands lovingly. “I have made so many memories in this place and I don’t want to see it burnt down because we couldn’t get along.”
“Then tell me, why are you here?” He asked, squinting his eyes nearly shut while I put the picture into my backpack slowly.
“I need to craft a weapon using a magical circle constructed by a god. This circle is in many ways just like a philosopher’s stone. It can erase memories, make you undying and so much more. It will fulfil your wish, after it has fulfilled mine. Can we get along until then?” I asked and smiled saintly, knowing he wouldn’t believe me a word.
“As long as you don’t try anything funny.” He asked with his magic still activated.
“I would never.” I said, chuckled a bit dangerously and turned my back to him. Walking through the hallway further, I opened the room to the weapons chamber and picked out my beloved scythe from all these years ago right away. It was indeed quite the unwieldy weapon, but it was still the trademark of death.
Presenting the pitch black metal to the necromancer, I strolled past him once more and opened another door, leading into a completely enclosed room otherwise inaccessible from the outside. A few soul lamps hung on the wooden wall, but other than that, there was only the magical circle in the middle of the room.
It was truly a fascinating feat, so beautifully done that I couldn’t even fathom how hard it was to create it. It was written – like all magical circles – in the language of the gods but this one didn’t have the sentence structure messed up in any way. In short, it was perfect. And I was as far from replicating it as I could get.
“A weapon capable to slay a god.” I said, but into my own hand and let a bit of blood drip onto the circle. Then, I threw the scythe into the middle where it landed with the flat side on the wood. “Now.”
Instantly, the very special magic activated and enveloped the levitating scythe with deathly energy for a few seconds. It seeped deeply into the metal, enveloped it completely and turned it into a weapon so rare that only the gods possessed one. Stepping into the circle, I grabbed the floating scythe without worry and lifted it up effortlessly. Flooding it with death or rather putting a part of my soul into it, I directly made sure it was primed on me and made myself familiar with it by twirling it through the air a little. I immediately understood what this weapon was capable of mostly because … well, it was more of an extension of myself at this point than a usual weapon.
“Interesting.” I said, just as black flames erupted out of it and threatened to lick the ceiling. Looking down on it, it transformed into a pitch katana on my mental command and the flames died down instantly. “It’s your turn.” I commented satisfied and stepped out of the circle slowly. “But remember. Do not ask for the impossible.” The circle couldn’t turn him into a god. It couldn’t give him unlimited power either. It could only give what was possible.
Slowly, he walked into the middle of the circle while still trying to read my emotions which failed miserably.
“I want to become the strongest mage possible.” He said loudly and the circle beneath him activated itself. Black mist appeared from the ground, circulating around him until he breathed in and everything rushed through his nose and mouth into him. He rolled his eyes involuntary and went on his knees right away, clearly overwhelmed by whatever was happening to him. Well, for once his soul had been changed to use a hundred percent of his mana but other than that, I couldn’t tell.
“I … I can feel it! This is … incredible!” He shouted out and made me feel pressure on my shoulders right away by increasing the gravity.
“If you could let that be.” I said, the sword directly pointed at him. “We have to get out of here and it’s not going to be easy.” I said and smiled at the gravity around me returned to normal right away.
“The demon king is here.” He said slowly which did surprise me somewhat. At least I finally knew why the guardians didn’t attack that last person I sensed the whole time.
