Mystical Journey

Garen and Andrew flew along the path of the underground crevice and they soon saw a glimpse of light purple ray.

The corpse of a frightening Eye Demon that was thousands of meters long was stuck in between the crevice silently as his huge body was obstructed by the protrusions from both sides of the walls.

The body of the Eye Demon was entirely covered with blood-streak-filled eyeballs and its tentacles were hanging freely everywhere around it.

The blood capillaries were structured similarly to of a spider web on the sclera as a viscous fluid oozed out from it.

“This is the reincarnation of the Big Mistress…” Garen squinted as he recognized the origin of this corpse.

“Looks like Master has been busy while I’m away.”

“Do you really think you’re the only one working hard?” Ann’s bad-tempered tone came out from the corpse’s core. “Come in quickly.” His tone turned feminine once more. It seemed that his tone-changing phase had arrived.

A huge hole appeared at the side of the Eye Demon’s corpse, revealing a path leading to the inside.

Garen and Andrew went inside together. It was pitch black. They found themselves in a spacious cavity after going through a thin layer of soap-like membrane.

The cavity was dyed completely in red as the walls were densely covered with blood capillaries. Ann and Golden-Winged Dragon Mother were staring together at a tall red crystal monitor.

Ann turned around and looked at Garen as she heard his movement.

“I’ve discovered something and your team captain Mander has been sent out by me to collect some samples. Have a seat.” He pointed down on the ground as stools made from meat and blood appeared.

Garen frowned as he walked towards it and sat down.

“What’s going on? This is the first time I’ve seen Master looking so serious.”

Ann took a deep breath.

“It’s not that I’m being serious, it’s just that the problem is extremely troublesome. Golden-Winged, please explain it to him.”

Golden-Winged Dragon Mother who was standing by the side walked towards them.

“We’ve discovered something. It’s man-made and seems to be something that is naturally spread out by the Child of Hell. It’s very dangerous and troublesome as if it’s some sort of a curse.”

Her face was extremely somber.

“A curse?” Garen repeated.

“Yes. A curse that is specifically targeted at Time.” Golden-Winged Dragon Mother said softly. “The Gods have their own methods in dispelling the curse. It seems to be a powerful contagion invented by them to use it against us Void Creatures.”

“So what? Since we’ve discovered it, we should have found a solution by now, right?” Garen did not believe a curse would be able to defeat the unrivaled Ann and this Demon Master True Soul.

“If only it’s that simple. It’s not hard to dispel it.” Ann continued the story. “The key thing is that when I’ve entered the Big Mistress’ reincarnated Eye Demon’s body after killing her to search for the crystals, I’ve accidentally discovered the distortion in space when I’ve connected her corpse’s unique visionary senses. There is also a blight spreading among the distortion! It’s specifically targeted at space itself.”

“You’re saying…” Garen’s expression became serious as well as he listened.

“Yes.” Ann nodded. “These two things are no longer the same and have mutated after fusing together.” He sat down and rubbed his forehead, showing a sign of fatigue.

“Master, what happens once they’ve combined together?” Andrew, who was standing by the side could not help but ask.

“The result… I’ve no idea as well.” Ann shook his head. “The best course of action is that we find a solution to this problem before it explodes. If not…”

“Problem is that from the clues that we’ve gathered, we have found out that the time curse is something emitted by the Child of Hell. On the other hand, the root that blights the space comes from no other than the Fallen True Soul!” Golden-Winged Dragon Mother sighed as her helplessness expression was written all over her face.

“The Fallen True Soul…” Garen frowned.

Thud!

Doo doo doo doo…

Out of the blue, an alarming noise came from the red crystal monitor.

Ann and Golden-Winged Dragon Mother turned around and saw blue lights sparking at the center of the revolving black vortices on the screen. It was similar to someone had sprayed paint onto it as they appeared one by one.

“The curse has exploded in some places!”

“It’s the fusion type!” Golden-Winged Dragon Mother quickly explained.

Ann turned around and she looked very serious.

“It looks like we’ll know what the result is…”

Garen stood up and looked at the monitor.

“Go to the scene immediately!”

*******************

Red thunders could be seen constantly spreading across the red sky.

Thunders rumbled in the clouds as it spread from a distance to somewhere nearby. The world had started to turn hazy as the scene looked just like someone viewing the world in a blurry telescope.

The earth, sky, objects such as the bones on the ground, dirt, stones and the wilted and distorted tree were all becoming cloudy.

A minute and strange buzzing sound kept buzzing in the area. The whole place trembled as the scene started to distort and became large and small alternatively.

Woosh!

Ann, Garen, and the others appeared at the edge of this district as they witnessed the scene.

“This is it,” Ann said softly.

Garen stared at the place but he felt that he could not see anything clearly at all. It was as if everything was constantly trembling and transforming.

“Is it the light or something else entirely?” He frowned.

“It’s not the light, it’s space,” Ann explained with a serious look. “Space here can no longer bear the curse and blight and it is falling apart.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know.” Ann shook her head. “We’ll soon see the outcome of the curse and blight when they’re merged together. Let’s observe it quietly…” He stared at this district of a few kilometers wide attentively.

Garen did not inquire further as he waited silently as well.

The trembling noise gradually became larger and stronger.

Buzz…

It felt like countless bees were flying around one’s ear and it was irresistibly annoying.

Pew!

Suddenly, a black snake-like shadow appeared on the scene for a very brief moment before it vanished completely.

“What is that?” Garen frowned. “It looked like a snake with a pair of long wings.”

“That’s La,” Ann explained. “I’ve named them as La. It looks very similar to the shadows of the crack but only I know that it is something else entirely!”

He was an Upper God who controlled the Shadow Gods and Time Gods. Naturally, he would have the confidence to declare so.

Boom!!

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion.

The entire place shattered into countless pieces just like how a piece of glass would. These fragments were of different scenes which gave off different colors as they danced about chaotically in front of them.

The fragments dimmed as they became smaller. Then, the entire area had turned into a huge black hole!

The all-powerful gravity started to pull everything in around it.

Dirt, rubbles, wilted trees, bones and even the air. Everything was pulled in by the intense gravity as the black hole turned into a huge black sphere.

“The spacetime has collapsed…” Ann shouted. “Let’s go!”

He waved his hand as he released a layer of black light, covering all four of them. In that instant, the gravitational pull was nullified.

***********

The four of them appeared at another edge of the scene where it was also distorted and blurry. They had managed to escape from the gravitational pull without much danger.

The area was also a deserted plain. The four of them pulled some distance away from this place the moment they arrived.

“The spacetime has collapsed… we’re seriously in trouble!” Garen understood this phenomenon well. When the spacetime collapsed, time and space would be completely distorted, no one could predict or know what would happen next.

The Void Demon Masters, True Souls, and even Gods would not dare to be involved in it either.

Philosophers once theorized that when the spacetime collapsed, it meant there was a chance for one to leave this restricted universe and arrive at a more spacious and bigger universe.

They believed that the current universe was just a small corner of an even larger universe. One could temporarily leave this universe and enter an even larger and more spacious universe where the laws were more complete and with even more endless spacetime.

However, no one could prove it and man could only theorize.

“Spacetime had collapsed once before, but it was just a small area when an Upper God died. It’s nowhere near as big as the current one!” Ann looked extremely imposing. “I’ve seen the God of War fallen with my very own eyes. He was one of the strongest among the Upper God. When he died, the collapse of spacetime was less than half a meter wide. In that instant, all universal laws were nullified and there was only gravity that sucked everything in endlessly to fill in the empty space.”

“How long will the sucking last?” Garen had realized the seriousness of the situation.

“At least ten years…” Ann said. “And this kind of collapse is everywhere!!”

Howl…

A cold wind blew suddenly, carrying along with it the small amount of shadow energy.

Garen was slightly shocked as he quickly exchanged glances with Ann.

He reached out his hand and gently grabbed onto the black wind, which gathered around his nails just like thin threads that were tangling among themselves.

“The Shadow Weave has also collapsed…”

“Has Shar fallen as well? Looks like the war between the Gods is much more intense than we imagined!” Ann nodded.

“Everything is a mess. A complete mess.” Garen stared at the district where its distortion was getting worse.

Boom!

It was the same explosion and shatter as a new black hole appeared in front of them which greedily sucked in everything around it.

Woosh!

Four of them disappeared once more and appeared at another place. The moment they arrived, they instantly teleported once more as they saw a huge area shattered not far away from them. It took them a few teleportations before they arrived at a safe location.

The strong gravity induced a powerful airflow which had turned into a raging wind, blowing four of their cloaks.

“The collapse is getting faster by the minute!” Ann said in a deep tone.

“Should we inform the others?”

“It’s too late!” Ann was firm. “I’m preparing to leave this universe! To distance away from this battlefield.”

“Leave?”

“It’s a gamble! Perhaps this is how the God of Pharmacy left when the spacetime was collapsing.” Ann laughed maniacally suddenly.

Garen stared at him.

“Perhaps it’s better for you to follow me to the Void Universe.”

“It’s pointless. If I’m not wrong, the same phenomenon is happening in your Void as well…” Ann revealed a mocking expression. “This is basically the God’s last resort to perish together.”

He pondered for a moment.

“The only way right now is to find a more stable collapse and enter it by force. No one knows what the end result will be. The only option we have is to find a spacetime collapse that we can enter with a higher chance of survivability.”

“This is also the reason why I’ve been not willing to participate in the war.” He started smiling. “The universe, space and time has a lifespan and can fall sick as well. What else is there to say about the Gods? Back when I was still active, I occasionally saw a few examples of spacetime collapsing. Hence I’m quite well informed on this topic. As long as we can find a collapse that is almost filled up and had yet to disappear, then that should pull the safety factor to the highest. I will set up a stable one-time Teleportation Portal.”

Garen looked at the surrounding area where it had started to distort.

“Perhaps we should observe a while more. It might be possible that the Universe will fix the spacetime collapse on its own.”

“Regardless if it will be fixed, the end result will be dire,” Ann said calmly. “Based on the scale of this progress, We’ll all perish if it fails to fix it. If the universe were to fix the issue successfully, it would require a huge amount of energy and material to fill in the hole. As the strongest existence which the universal law allows, we will be the first one to fill up these holes.”

Garen frowned and did not respond.

He did not have many things to yearn for in this world. However, he was not sure of Ann’s statement before proving his method was ineffective.

Ann did not say further as he seemed to have noticed his hesitation.

“I’ll find and set up a suitable collapse point in two months time. Bring your people along if you wish to leave.”

Woosh!

He and Golden-Winged Dragon Mother turned into shadows and vanished instantly.

Garen and Andrew were still in the area as they looked at the increasingly distorted area.

“Andrew, what are your thought on this?”

“…” Andrew was quiet. He did not know what to say. Unlike Garen, his shackle towards this world is not like that of Garen’s.

Garen sighed as he turned into a shadow figure and disappeared in the air.

**********

The Gods were still at war for the next few days. The huge Sphere of Dream was still shrouded with an endless amount of dream power, isolating all senses from the External World.

The world’s weather started turning strange as if the war had broken the laws too much to the point where the spacetime blight had started spreading chaotically.

Garen went back to the Blackhole District where he first arrived in this world.

He could see Heaven’s fragments during his flying journey. The Void was a complete silence as almost all beings of from all clans had gone to the area where the final battle was ensuing. It was the best place to bring themselves to a whole new level.

As Ann predicted, the black hole was still around. However, when Garen was about to teleport there, he found out that the spacetime on another side of the Void World was much more unstable.

When the spacetime is unstable, it might cause him to teleport to an unknown location deep in the universe.

Garen did not dare to enter recklessly, only observing from the External World for a few days before returning.

He could see black spheres that were caused by the spacetime collapse everywhere. These black spheres were like a black hole that could never be filled up as they kept swallowing all matters and energy around them.

Garen witnessed with his very own eyes, an Astral Space traveler who had just left the Astral Space coincidentally encountered a black sphere. He was sucked in alive and was stretched like a noodle, from a meter plus human to a thin line which spanned hundreds of meters long. Within half an hour, he was completely absorbed by the black sphere and nothing was left behind, including his soul.

The districts that were not being distorted became even more deserted and lifeless. The air became thinner and energy had become less to the point where a lot of living being’s spells had started to degenerate.

He rushed to seek for the Deception Demon Master who had avoided the battle as well.

She, too, noticed the strange phenomenon but she did not notice that it was the sign of the universe collapsing. They believed that it was the result of the war among the Gods. She had collaborated with the Star Region Demon Master to seize all of the territories.

Garen was determined to bring his people along to leave this place after observing for a few more days.

To him, it was just another transmigration regardless if it were true or not. This experience was completely common to a Demon Master and True Soul.

He then quickly gathered his most elite subordinates and close friends.

Garen went straight towards a safe district. Unlike the time he first discovered the collapse of spacetime, he was determined to leave this place.

**************

The sky was painted in dark yellow similar to the sunset. The sun was dimmed as if it had lost its light and the moon could be barely seen and one could only notice its contour.

The earth was dried up and shattered, there was not a single living being. There were only black spheres that were hundreds of meters wide on the surface which kept sucking all matters around it.

A group of people in a protective black-grey half-ball stood at the side of one of the black holes.

Garen brought along Rosta, Andrew, and his remaining subordinates as they stared at the gigantic black sphere in front of them together with Ann, Golden-Winged Dragon Mother, and Lady Vengeance.

“I’m sure this is the one.” Ann stared at the black sphere in front of him as he said earnestly. “We’ll need to enter it in a month to a month and a half. It will enter its unstable phase once this period has passed. I have no way to resist this thing’s distortion. When it comes to these things, all methods that are based on the laws will be ineffective and the only thing you can do is to rely on your physical strength to tank it.”

“Tank? I’m good at that.” Garen nodded to show his comprehension.

“Has everything been settled?” Ann looked at him.

“Of course.” Garen laughed. “I merely arrived at this world looking for a path because of the Mother Stream’s call. It’s only natural for me to leave at this point in time.”

“Good.” Ann went towards him and passed him a ring. It was a black metallic ring with a mosaic round amethyst on it. The side of the ring was covered with a cylindrical metal which had eight different weird symbols on it.

“This is the Ring of the Black Water Crystal. It is made from a mysterious material that can’t be destroyed even if the spacetime has collapsed. It has an effect where it would wake you up once you’ve lost the sense of time… If we’re lucky, we may still meet each other one day.”

“Wake me up?” Garen did not understand what he meant.

However, Ann had stopped explaining as he walked towards the black sphere together with Golden-Winged Dragon Mother and his subordinates. They did not show any sign of reluctance to stay in this world at all.

Garen sent them off, watching their bodies stretching into a noodle-like shape. Soon, they completely disappeared inside the black sphere.

“Are we really leaving?” Andrew spoke suddenly.

“Do you wish to stay?” Garen looked at him. “If so, you can stay behind. We may not be able to see each other forever again.”

Andrew fell into silence.

“Why are you staying back? I plan to see the upcoming world’s progress!” Annie, who was also a native to this world, said without a care in the world.

“Unfortunately, it’s hard for us to arrive at the same place with Lord Dragon King. The complication of transmigrating to other worlds is something you two can’t comprehend.” Nadia mocked since she was very experienced in this matter.

Garen waved his hand.

“You may stay back if you wish to. I won’t force anyone.”

After that, half of the people within the protection walked to the other side hesitantly. Their expressions were complicated as they did not wish to leave this familiar world.

Perhaps it would be better to say that they were hopeful towards the future of this collapsing world. After all, this was their native world where they were very familiar with.

“I respect your decision.” Garen nodded to show his understanding. He then looked at them one last time as everything that had happened in this world flashed across his eyes.

He who had reincarnated into a White Dragon, meeting Ann, entering Snow City, setting his foot in the Abyss. Although it was only a few decades, this world had left a very strong impression on him.

“Let’s go.” He waved his hand, turned around and walked into the black sphere.

This black sphere was in still its stable stage, hence its gravitational force was not that powerful. Garen, Rosta, Elfie, Nadia and Soaring Wing King started walking towards the black sphere.

None of them turned their head around and looked at the people who decided to stay back.

They walked until the black sphere covered their entire vision.

***************

Splash…

The faint sound of water could be heard.

Garen woke up slowly from his dream.

He found it hard to breathe from the water running about freely on his face.

Cough cough cough…

He coughed intensely for a few times as he got up from the floor.

He was inside a small and bright bathroom. The bathroom infrared heater light was switched on and the floor was drenched wet. The heaty steam evaporated from the hot bathing water had condensed into a layer of white mist on the mirror by the side.

The sound of water gushing was extremely jarring.

“I…” Garen was at a loss. His pupil shrunk, he reached out his hand and caressed his neck. He felt that his throat was swollen and it felt hot.

“Wasn’t I bathing?”

He walked towards the mirror and wiped off the layer of mist that was on the mirror.

The mirror reflected a young and yet pale face of a man. The sensation of familiarity and yet unfamiliarity swelled inside him.

“Is this… me?”

He closed his eyes as he recalled the moment when he entered the black sphere.

“Wasn’t I transmigrating to another world?”

However, what transpired in front of him was his starting point. The starting point of his transmigration when he was electrocuted. He was back on Earth.

“Perhaps, everything was just… a dream?”

He hesitantly reached out his hand as he looked at his palm. It was empty and there was not a single trace of the amethyst ring.

“Dream?” He suddenly felt that everything he had experienced were extremely unreal and everything was just a strange dream.

“Perhaps it really was just a dream…” He still had to go to work tomorrow. It was his first day earlier today for the job he had just found and he still had to leave a good impression towards his colleagues and superiors.

He then wiped off the water in his hair.

“Hmm… I need to clean up quickly before I catch a cold…”

He who had become Garen in his dream had experienced a series of journeys. The realism made him feel extremely surprised.

“Perhaps I should turn it into a book. Who knows, maybe it will become a bestseller. Hahaha!” He could not help but chuckle.

He swiftly cleaned the dirt off his body, wiped himself dry with a towel and got dressed.

Click.

Luo Jing switched off the bathroom’s light. As he opened the bathroom door and walked out, he did not notice a purple light flashed on his finger.

A quaint and exquisite sparkling amethyst ring appeared in the mirror that was opposite the door.

Luo Jing seemed to have noticed it. He raised his hand up but did not see anything.

“Why does it feel like there was something flashing just now?” He muttered.

The moment he put down his hand, the amethyst ring gradually appeared, giving off a mysterious and strange light.

An unclear image of a ferocious White Dragon appeared inside the mirror that was facing Luo Jing’s back. It was rotating slowly just like a Totem.

Everything was still very far from ending…