chapter 9: The space behind the door.
1453 Words
Ngwan Le could hardly believe his eyes. Just moments after he stepped through the massive door, surprise struck him like a storm.
“What, what kind of wonders are these?” he muttered, his voice trembling with awe.
What he saw could not be measured against anything he had known before. Still, he pressed forward, stepping into the strange expanse beyond the door. Yet the farther he walked, the more the distance stretched, as if the very space was expanding with each step. At one point, he turned back. The door still stood wide open behind him, untouched and ordinary, as though nothing at all had changed. That sight steadied him, and he resolved to continue.
After all, he had come here for a purpose, and based on the information he had received from Light, back when she was still active.
But the space itself defied sense. It was utterly empty, a vast void flooded with pale, white light. No walls, no ceiling, no horizon. And worse, the farther he walked, the more it seemed to stretch, endless and unyielding.
It was a void.
And into this void, Ngwan Le ventured.
After a long while, he turned again, hoping to see the door once more. But this time, it was gone. The towering frame had vanished, leaving no sign of return. His retreat was cut off. And so, with no way back, Ngwan Le walked on.
Ngwan Le had come here for one reason, and that was the power this place housed. A power that would serve him well, aiding in the realization of his grand plan.
After he had walked for quite some time, he finally stood before a staircase that descended into the unknown.
“What now? Is this a one-way road to heaven?” he muttered, pausing. His eyes lingered on the steps for a long while, until a strange sensation stirred within his body.
“What is this feeling? Why am I only noticing it now?”
The corrosive substance that had once covered his flesh was long gone. Even the orange-like aura that had radiated from him, an aura that had engulfed him the moment his body was consumed by that nameless, corrosive substance, had vanished. And he hadn’t even realized it.
He tried to stir up that power again, but it was in vain. Time and again he reached for it. Even when he called upon the depths of his dark energy, nothing responded.
At last, he came to a grim conclusion.
“Just like a mortal.”
It wasn’t the truth. Ngwan Le knew that much. But right now, with his energy source missing, nowhere to be found, he was as powerless as one.
“Ha, ha, ha! Hilarious!” Maniacally, he shouted, his hand pressed to his forehead as he stared upward.
Then he calmed. “It’s not as if I have any other option. I’ll just make do with it.”
Slowly, he dropped his hand, along with his head, and gazed once more at the never-ending staircase stretching downward into oblivion. His eyes burned with intensity.
“Who would waste their time walking step by step on stairs like these? Endless stairs, let it come as it comes. Even if I have to roll my way to the end, so be it.”
With a sudden, sharp movement, Ngwan Le hurled himself toward the staircase, confident, arrogant as ever, yet carrying a cold allure even in the face of unknown risk.
Surprisingly, his body never touched the steps. He didn’t roll, nor stumble mid-air. Instead, he vanished.
Disappeared before his body could even meet the first stair.
Into thin air, he was gone, as if teleported.
The landscape was breathtaking. The ground shimmered with color, everything floated, suspended in impossible balance. But more than the beauty, the air itself throbbed with energy.
Life energy.
So pure that even a mortal could step into the First Cycle Realm with just a single sip, just a breath.
This was the Immortal World.
And upon one of its floating islands, Ngwan Le lay.
Flat upon the ground.
“Oh, my head, ah! Why is everything blur?”
From the ground, Ngwan Le tried to stand, clutching his head with his left hand. His right hand pressed against the earth to steady himself.
“Wait, the air, it’s full of immense life energy.”
He took a deep breath, feeling the life force around him. With hope rising in his chest, Ngwan Le tried to stir up his power, expecting to boost his realm. But before he could, the sight before him left him mesmerized.
“With this much energy in the air, won’t I be able to reach my peak in just one or two years at most?”
Joy surged through him, but it was quickly followed by dread. He immediately tried to raise his realm.
“Cough, what, what just happened to me?” he stammered in shock.
He couldn’t circulate his power at all. He was still the mortal he had become after he had walked through that strange space. Unless, this was still an extension of that space.
“Don’t tell me that even after coming out of that place, I’m still a mortal.”
Suddenly, he froze. Out of the corner of his eye, something, a shadow, flashed across the sky at incredible speed. Before he could even glimpse it clearly, it was gone.
“What was that just now?”
Then, before him, a figure descended, angelic, radiant.
“What is a disciple of Light doing here?” she asked.
It was the same figure that had passed like a shadow moments earlier before Ngwan Le’s eyes.
'Me, a disciple of Light.'
Ngwan Le blinked, disbelief twisting his features. 'What the hell is she saying?'
A second glance made him pause. This figure, this being, bore the same majestic form as the statues that flanked behind the massive door. She stood at least six feet tall, but it was her presence, not her height, that commanded attention. Wings of brilliant white stretched from her back, each spanning seven feet, catching the light like molten sunlight. Her eyes glowed a curious shade of r****h-red, striking against a complexion flawless enough to make even the most hardened hearts falter. Her form was delicate yet undeniably alluring, every curve hinting at divine perfection. Even shrouded in flowing garments that hid her legs and chest, her aura demanded awe. Crowning her head was a radiant diadem, shimmering with divine light. Seventy-one crystal power stones embedded in it pulsed faintly, each one a spark of otherworldly energy.
With a single step, the air seemed to quake, the ground beneath her trembling as if the mortal world itself could shatter under her presence. She approached Ngwan Le with a grace that defied reality.
“Now that I remember, there is still one vacant post,” she said, her voice both commanding and melodic, echoing through the silent air like a herald of fate.
“What are you talking about? You’ve got the wrong person,” Ngwan Le replied.
He thought to himself, 'things aren’t moving smoothly, I must find a way to escape. How could she claim that I, Ngwan Le, who have been wielding dark power all this time, am a disciple of Light?'
He paused, then turned his face in the opposite direction, opposite from the figure, to the left. But then another thought struck him. 'To think a day would come when even I, Ngwan Le, would have to run.'
Still, Ngwan Le could not bring himself to flee in the face of an adversary.
“Oh, see me, this! Don’t you even know the force that resides deep as sleep inside you?” exclaimed the angel-like figure.
The words startled him.
“As sleep…” Ngwan repeated softly.
A thought flickered across his mind, 'Is she referring to Light, my spirit entity?'
“Tsk, enough talk.”
With a force that defied comprehension, the Angel lifted Ngwan Le off the ground. He hung in the air, powerless, as if gravity itself had surrendered.
And then she moved.
In a blink, she streaked through the sky with a speed so fierce it tore the air itself. One moment she was there, then gone, as if reality itself had splintered in her wake. In that instant, nothing remained. No shadow. No sound. No ripple in the air. It was as though she had never existed at all. Her aura, her very essence, vanished. Anything capable of tracing her presence was obliterated.
No trace.
Not even a ghost could erase itself so completely.
She was that kind of existence. Untouchable. Untraceable. Divine.
Saint Claire Verenito.
- Writer
