Apotheosis

After Zen helped the cloaked men kill the two golden rocs, they got a good feel for him.

Zen needed to get to know this world better and these cloaked men were his way in.

Without another moment's hesitation, Zen gave a leap and landed himself on the eagle.

The cloaked men moved the eagle with a broken wing to the back of another.

Then, one of the cloaked men pulled out a flute, playing a sweet melody as all the eagles spread their wings into the air and continued to fly through the deep darkness.

These eagles were indeed powerful. They only needed to rest every four hours. Wherever they landed, there were simple camps.

The cloaked men seemed familiar with these camps. It seemed that they had built them.

"It seems they do have the way out of the desert," Zen muttered to himself.

They stayed in the camp for an hour before setting out again.

Along the way, Zen tried to strike up a conversation with the cloaked men. Though the language barrier was great between their two races, Zen began to pick up quite a bit of what they said.

After spending just one night with them, Zen had mastered a few simple phrases and was able to hold a conversation with them, albeit simple.

About fourteen hours later, a yellow crack struck across the dark sky. It looked like one infinitely long sword, stretching across the whole darkness. It quickly expanded, and the entire world was bathed in the bright day light in the blink of an eye.

It was the first time that Zen had ever seen night turn into day in such a way. He was shocked.

But these cloaked men were used to it.

Zen saw the scenery change around him. In the darkness of night, he had not realized they had flown out of the desert.

Zen sat on the back of the eagle and looked down, his face lit up with the changing scenery below.

Below, the desert opened up into incredible canyons, spread out across the ground like cracks. Within each canyon, strange, black bugs stretched their heads to the skies and wandering through the cracks - their bodies were 200, 000 to 300, 000 feet in length and thousands of feet in width.

These strange bugs were very similar to the ones in the desert in appearance, but their size was thousands of times larger. The power within them, no doubt, was stronger.

If Zen had attempted this journey alone, he probably wouldn't have made it across these canyons.

'What the hell is this world?' Zen proclaimed internally. He was scared at the thought of the dead consummate True God of the Sword Clan.

Watching Zen inspect the huge bugs below, one cloaked man tried to speak to him but Zen did not under

s. Zen could not make out a single word

but he could tell he was not welcomed.

"Enemy?" Zen asked calmly, as he scanned his eyes across all the cloaked men.

They were no match for him. If he wanted, he knew he'd be able to kill them all in the blink of an eye.

"Yo!"

An eagle shot over Zen's head like a sharp sword zooming through the air. It perched by the roof in front of him, a cold stare affixed on Zen.

Even the eagle's feathers were reminiscent of sharp swords, holding fierce gravitas around it. Zen gulped, a faint sense of fear washing over him.

"Feathers?" Zen's eyes looked towards the circle of white feathers that seemed to adorn the neck of this eagle. It was the same arrangement as seen on the eagle with the broken wing. It must mean something significant.

The cloaked men continued to surround Zen. Those who had brought him to the fortress tried to explain and calm the tensions. From time to time, they pointed at the eagle with the broken wing.

From what he could tell, they were trying to tell them that he was an ally and had saved the eagle.

It seemed to be working as the hostility subsided and the men put down their forks.

The cloaked man who seemed to be the leader bowed slightly to Zen, gesturing at the eagle with the broken wing as though he was saying thanks. Indeed, there was something important about these eagles with the white feathers around their necks.

The leader gestured towards Zen, inviting him into the fortress.

Zen followed him but suddenly, stopped in his tracks.

Over his shoulder, he'd caught sight of a red figure, sitting in a cage not far away, her face buried between her knees.

"Nelly?" Zen was shocked.

What was Nelly doing here? And imprisoned, no less?