"Give-give me something? I cant. I… just can't. Whatever it is, just, keep it with you. I don't deserve it." He simply can't take something from this old fish, that would be impolite. He's afraid of what'll happen afterwards. I mean, this fish waited thousands of years for "him" and he's going to take more from her?
"Of course you can! Look. This is my wish. My master wanted the inheritor of this place to go on and be strong. I also share his dream. After all, I waited for so long and I cant even watch you go on and become stronger through here… so this is the best I can do. To ensure you WILL become stronger, I will grant you… Me!" Ran paused and stepped back, "... uh, sorry but I'm not into fishes. You see, it is a forbidden, taboo thing known as beastie-'' slap! The fish used her fin to give him a wet slap across the face. "Fool! Do I look like I'm interested in a dumbass like you?! Ah… sorry. That's not what I meant. I meant my life."
She cut her fin using unknown means and all of her blood seeped out of her. While the life drained out of her, she still held on. The blood then coagulated into an orb the size of a tennis ball. Inside this orb was the concentrated blood as well as the life force of the mighty Koi Fish. This was her everything. Holding it in his hands, he could almost swear he could see flashes of images in its swirling liquid.
"Ah, finally. Thank you, for completing my mission. I don't think I'll be coming back this time."
As Ran watched in horror, the Koi's body started disintegrating at a visible rate. But she didn't mind, she just continued to swim happily, causing splashes all over the place. Soon, she disappeared completely, but what's this?!
Just under Ran, lights began to shimmer in a dim blue light, though he didn't notice as he was completely focused on the orb in front of him. Thinking back to what she said to him, he couldn't help but cry some more. Finally, he shoved the orb into his mouth. Immediately, it started to liquefy and spread throughout his entire body. It felt warm to him, like a mother embracing her child who had a bad day.
After eating it, he felt no immediate effects so he started to move out of the pond. At that moment, something flashed passed by his eye. Looking down, he found what appeared to be a cluster of stars right below him. Curious, he dived back in and swam to the bottom of the pond. Moving closer, he had a clearer look at the apparent stars.
Except they weren't stars. No! They were eggs! Hundreds of them. Feeling his heart tighten, he could no longer hold back and mustered all his strength to get closer. Upon reaching the eggs, he reached out to them. Touching them, he felt his heart ease up, but then something terrible happened. All… all of them liquified! "Fuck!"
But they didn't just liquidy, no. They were sucked into Ran like a whirlpool sucked water. At first he was depressed, but then he felt different. Like a void in his heart was filled after he absorbed them. He teared up again, not certain about himself or what exactly had just happened. Getting out of the shimmery pond. He felt that warmth again. The pond had masked it because the water would transfer the heat. He laid on his pillow and drifted into a trance. While he was in a trance and soon fell asleep, the pillow was displeased. While she was a coward, she had her own pride; no matter how small it was. She contemplated attacking her master, but then shook her head. While she was sure she could kill him with just a bite, with her broken legs, she would eventually starve to death. It's true that the more intelligent an animal, the more of a coward it was, smh.
While Ran was sleeping, he was also dreaming. Going into his dreams, an unusual sight could be seen. Ran was pretending to be a fish, a Koi to be more specific. One that looked oddly like the Koi from early; only much smaller, like normal sized. He was currently looking into his master's eyes, though his entire stature, including his face, was obscured.
"Remember, Olly, that any human is to be welcomed. Under no circumstances must a beast be allowed in here. Our Inheritor will avenge us. I'm sorry to leave you like this. Alone. I hope, if ever, to see each other again."
BOOM! CRASH! A large smoldering, molten boulder crashed onto the roof of the temple with a blast that almost sent Olly out of the water. "You! DESTROYER! I'll kill you today, even if it costs me everything!"
"Olly remember what I told you?" They blew a bubble in confirmation, though they were clearly confused with all the noise outside. "Good. You be good and stay here okay." A sigh came out of his mouth. "I… I have something to take care of, so just… I'm sorry." With that, the man flew out of the temple and with he roared, "DESTROYER! Prepare to meet your maker. You took away everything from me, so I'll take everything you have! I'LL KILL, YOU HEAR ME!!!" Another roar was heard soon afterward.
"ROOARR!!!" The Destroyer, presumably, roared in anger and soon, loud crashes were heard. Molten rocks of all sizes crashed into the island. Dozens of them were the size of mountains, but surprising, the temple held on by some mysterious force.
And soon, only silence was left. The entire temple was concealed by hundreds of rocks.
They were confused at first and soon, they were only left with their thoughts. And time passed. The man had modified her blood to allow the fish to survive decades without food so they just sat there. For decades. And soon, they were too old hold on any longer and starved to death. Having felt the pain of starving to death, his entire body in the real world squirmed and ached, his entire body covered in cold sweat. But back in the dream, after being in darkness for who knows how long, he awoke again as a newly born fish. Looking exactly the same. Coincidently, this type of Koi fish was modified to be asexual. The man had really liked this particular combination of colors so he chose to keep that way.
Also, he clearly remembered the memories from their previous lives. Looking around, they were found with the same scene they saw before they died. Just like before, they were left alone for decades until they died again. His body squirmed again, even more than before as it had not been a long time since the last time they died. It happened again and again. Over time, the temple became more decapitated, while some stray plants would grow every now and again.
Surprisingly, their body continued to grow in both strength and size everytime they reincarnated. They're ranked increased. From 10, to 9, to 8, on. After countless reincarnations, thousands of years passed by as they were born, died and born again. In the real world, Rans body squirmed non-stop but everytime it did, it would be less and less; until it did not anymore. The Cheetah was frightened seeing his body wriggle and squirm and she hoped he would soon stop. But he didn't! At least, not until after the 3rd day since he fell asleep. Seeing him finally stop, it breathed a sigh of relief, but concern engulfed it again as it was hungry. Extremely hungry. Seeing Ran, she could have swore he looked like a nice piece of fried chicken.
Back in the dream, they soon reached rank 1 and they managed to live for over 5,000 years without dying! Sometimes, a beast would enter through some entrances and channels that remained from the stacked rocks, but they were all scared off or died from being frightened. After an extremely long time of being bored to death, a collapse could be heard. Looking back, they parted the plants and saw a man and a beast on the ground, unconscious. Seeing a human for the first time in thousands of years, they were elated. They practiced its human speech until they woke up.
Talking to the human brought extreme joy and sadness to them as they recalled their master. Soon, they parted their blood and life force to the human. Seeing him take it, they swam in delight as their mission was completed. The only thing they feared in life was that they would never meet the inheritor! They sighed in relief as they smiled and swam until their death.
Suddenly, and abruptly, Ran opened his eyes! A shade of pure blue slightly covered his inner iris. Sometimes some very small dim lights would shimmer.