"Paradise Or Hell?"
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Once king Airu locked lady Kalah and prince Shiro in the underwater kingdom's prison, he suddenly felt an uncomfortable vibration knocking against his skull.
He flinched and covered one of his ears, and as he did, he also heard a familiar voice saying:
"Airu, your uncle is calling for you. You should come back now."
King Airu sighed, and walked along the pathway of the kingdom's outskirts until the view of a giant grey tree which towered over most of the homes that stood on a raised slope came into sight.
King Airu took a moment to admire the sight of the homes resting on the raised slope before he approached the slumped tree, and dug his fingers through its dead skin, pushing them apart and stepped forward into the dark space.
Once he was inside the dark space, he looked over his shoulder as the tree's dead skin began to repair itself and close up.
King Airu then spent a couple minutes walking forward until he saw white light streaming in through small holes of the tree's walls…
The streams of light revealed a giant cobweb above king Airu, with three people wearing similar black, long sleeved tunics with high collars.
One of the two was a fairly large guy, while the other was concerningly slender.
King Airu's monotoned voice broke the silence when he said:
"Kinte. You said my uncle summoned me, well where is he?"
The slender man nodded. King Airu turned slightly to see an elderly man standing as high as his waist.
"Uncle Kael. What's this about?"
The elder man took a deep breath, and held up an old book.
Specifically the one king Airu had discovered in the cathedral just on the surface of the underwater kingdom.
Elder Kael looked up at his nephew's dark pools of eyes, and then at the black cracks branching along his pale skin, and said:
"You don't know what you've just done, you stupid boy!"
King Airu raised his eyebrows. During his childhood he'd sometimes be scolded by his uncle, but he'd never seen him angry until just now…
But he already had a feeling where this sudden anger came from.
"Uncle, I'm not having this argument with you again.
Elder Kael raised his finger to his lips, and gave his nephew a sharp look as if he was looking at an ill behaved child.
Once his nephew went silent, he continued to speak.
"Don't you remember the story of the spider that I once told you?"
Elder Kael sat down on one of the chairs at the center of the space, in front of a low table and another chair on the opposite side which his nephew had now sat at.
Elder Kael scoffed as his nephew crossed his legs, and opened the dusty book. Turning to the book's center pages, one showing a man from the past, who's face looked as if it had been erased over time, but black cracks were still visible on the pages illustrations of the faceless man.
The other page had writings on it, which read:
"I fear I have no time left in this realm. For whoever may find this book, heed my next words with extreme caution."
"If you ever choose to take part in the soul killing ritual, know that your time in this realm will fall short. As the bond you have with your spirit increases, so too will your ability to transcend beyond the realm of humanity and sorcery. And eventually, you too shall become a spirit for your later descendants."
After he read the book's contents aloud, elder Kael asked his nephew:
"Do you remember the story about the spider's thread?…"
"How the warrior would be dangling from a spider's thread between Hell and paradise?"
King Airu just nodded once, and waited for his uncle to continue speaking.
"That story once told you when you were a clueless child was based on the author of this here book."
King airu's head snapped as he leaned forward just a little to observe his uncle's expression. Had elder Kael known all along of the soul killing ritual?
If so, why hadn't he said anything about it before? Why had he allowed thousands of his own people to die instead of giving them the choice of fighting back against their oppressors?
Before he could ask any of the questions bubbling up in his mind, his uncle spoke in a lower but deeper tone.
"I have a good guess of what you're thinking, but listen to what I have to say first before you make your own judgement of my decision to withhold this information."
King airu's gritted his teeth, but allowed his uncle to speak.
"The story may have been about the author of this book, but it was also about my brother… your father."
***
Based on the wording used by the author of the old book, it was easy for king Airu to assume that the book's author wasn't the originator of the soul killing ritual…
He had no doubt that the author was one of the earliest generation of "children of the highest spirits" to have partaken the ritual and feel the consequences of wielding power that shouldn't belong in the world of humans and sorcerers.
What could've been recovered from history's past spoke of the man who faced with the vastly approaching extinction of his race discovering a ritual that could help them fight back against those who sought to destroy them.
Once he underwent the ritual, the warrior was said to have slowly been going insane from the strain powers belonging to high spirits devouring his soul's essence.
Even then, what was left of his people looked to this warrior as something not far off from a god, and followed under his rule for a time until a group of sorcerers launched an invasion onto the old earth with hopes of wiping out the "foreigners".
During the invasion, the warrior suddenly lost control of himself and his supernatural powers. And what appeared to be a gateway to the spirit realm cracked open, and let out hundreds of the highest spirits.
Eventually, the spirits slaughtered the onslaught of sorcerers and went around the old earth, wreaking havoc whether they went.
At the same time, the public opinion turned against the warrior and he was stripped from his position as ruler. But he made it his own mission to find each of the spirits, and seal them back in the spirit realm, along with himself.
Little by little… slowly but surely, his power grew overtime as the spirit residing within his body began to eat away at his soul, which he used to his advantage to defeat these spirits…
And right after his final battle, he spent his final moments in the cathedral writing about the dangers of the soul killing ritual. But before he could finish his telling of the consequences of this power, to whomever it may have concerned later down the line, his last breath left his body.
***
Elder Kael inhaled. Clearing the lenses of his glasses as he glanced up at his nephew and said in a somber tone:
"For many generations after the warrior's generation had died out, our ancestors suffered for his actions and had their lives shortened until they slowly became an extinct race."
His nephew didn't know what to think, or how to respond to such a tale as this one. Thinking about the time several months ago when he had just discovered the soul-killing ritual, all he could do in this moment was rub his temples and let out a tired sigh.
Elder Kael put his glasses back on, and looked at the black cracks branching out from his nephew's skin. Similar to that of the warrior's.
"Now you understand why I tried to convince you not to fight back against the sorcerers, and why I decided against telling our people about the ritual."
"What will you do with that information, my dear boy?"
King Airu suddenly began feeling lightheaded. More thoughts formed in his mind faster than he could keep up with.
Elder Kael looked somberly at his nephew's state. Hopping down from his seat, he walked over to his nephew, standing as tall as his waist, and said to the boy:
"Go get some rest, foolish boy. And when you have, I want you to speak to your brother and miss Atsuki."
The short man walked toward the darkness of the space's entrance, and before he left he looked back at his nephew and said:
"Please do not throw your life away… I can't handle burying the boy I see as my own son."
After giving his parting words, elder Kael left the room. And for what felt like a long evening, king Airu spent the rest of the day lost in thought.
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Continued in chapter 132: Join Me In My Paradise
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