In the middle of a bustling metropolis, flying cars and winged beasts flew all around, creating a cacophony of sounds louder than the chatter of the thousands of people walking the streets. Thanks to this, no one could hear the wails of a young fair-skinned boy as four other males of striking resemblance and similar age to the former beat him bloody.
"Luther, stop! I thought we were friends and cousins? Ack," the bloody boy coughed as his body twitched in pain.
"Shut up, bitch! How did he know it was me?" asked a masked young man, who just couldn't understand how his disguise was so easily thwarted. He punched the boy in the mouth out of anger.
"Tracy, don't let them do this to me, man! Auntie would never forgive you!" the boy pleaded through swollen eyes.
"Don't mention my mother, you piece of trash," replied the muscular young man named Tracy, inwardly impressed by this guy's perception. He then turned to the shorter boy named Luther. "You're using hunt qi, stupid. How could he not know? Not everyone is as weak as you."
The bullied boy's pleas were muffled by fists constantly connecting with his brittle jaw.
"Hey, *cough* *cough*, hey. Edward, you dirty scoundrel. I used to wash your dog! Afraid to dirty your hands?" came the pathetic voice of the beaten boy.
"That dog had rabies. We have no idea how you managed to avoid getting bit. Eventually we had to put the crazy mother fucker down," scowled the tallest and most handsome attacker. Actually, he had yet to lay a finger on the boy himself. However, the other's were obviously deferring to this young man. "Finish him!"
The boy continued to getting jumped, forcing him to cough up blood and what seemed to be bits of organs. However, the other youths had pure malice in their eyes with no intention of stopping the boy's torment. Ten minutes later, the boy no longer moved at all.
"Is it done? Friggin' hell, finally! Right, mates?" Luther fell on his butt, exhausted. They had spend two hours beating this punk.
"What a stubborn bastard this kid is, though. He just wouldn't die," frowned Tracy.
"Come on, let's go report this too master." Edward calmly departed the scene, the other boys quickly following behind. What they didn't notice was that a purple light started to surround the beaten boy's body as they walked away.
🐉
"Life is funny, you know?" a platinum ember bobbed in the void. It was sparkling and hard to look away from.
"One minute your minding your own business, finally relaxing for the first time in 600 years. We're talking massive retirement party, millions of guests, they all love you. The critically acclaimed victor of a 600-year-long war, and the new pharaoh of the largest empire in the history of the realm. For the first time in your long life, you even considered settling down and finding a wife. You were no virgin, by any means. No, you were quite the accomplished bachelor. I mean, even the Twilight God's only daughter gave herself to you. The thing is, she was also no pure maiden. Never have you given a maiden anything more than a helping hand or a tip, but definitely not your heart."
A glowing red light in front of the platinum ember seemed to dim a bit at his words.
"Don't fret, friend. I did not fall victim to a life of debauchery. I met a woman. A most beautiful woman. I mean truly, she was the most devastatingly dazzling creature I had ever seen. I wasn't certain what species she was, but I was endlessly enchanted. Fool that I was, I didn't realize that one as accomplished as myself should definitely be able to identify most, if not all, of the species in the realm. Most definitely all intelligent species. Therefore, this woman could only have come from another realm." The platinum ember seemed to also dim a bit as it floated in the void. However, he chalked it up to his melancholy. "The first woman I had been intimate with in the last few centuries, and what happens? She poisons me with a kiss and devours my blood essence and god qi. What kind of carnivorous harlot is this? What kind of evil seductress does that? The nerve! The sheer gall! I still can't believe it. The worse part was the disappointed glint in her eyes as she sucked me into nothing. What a kiss though..."
In a vast heavenly plain surrounded by colorful twilight clouds with mystical symbols, several balls of light and wisps of gas bobbed up and down in the void. They were all the exact same distance away from each other, which was about a meter. They slowly advanced in a single file line that spiraled down towards an ancient-looking blue portal. This was the Portal of Osiris, the famous nirvana for those Pharaoh who had achieved godhood before their demise. Any soul capable of approaching this portal as a ball of light was a powerhouse of their respective time and would be reborn a warrior in the next life. Any soul who approached as a ball of gas would be sent down the river of fate, their own fate unknown.
This portal was guarded by strange winged creatures whose features were unable to be discerned. On the spiraling path in the clouds, one platinum ember was lighting up brightly as it seemingly conversed with a red ball of light in front and a black ball of light behind. The black ball of light was the size of a fist, while the red ball of light was the size of a mosquito. The platinum ember, on the other hand, was the size of a small rock. It was a size smaller than the black ball of light but rather larger than the red ball of light.
The black ball of light got darker and darker the more the platinum ember spoke, while the little red light was whizzing around in its spot in line as if it was really invested in the story. What the platinum ember failed to notice was that the souls behind the ball of black light were all slowly withering away. Likely, if not for the platinum flames existence, the little red flame would be in the same state.
No voice was heard in this place other than that of the platinum ember, "You guys were a bit of a drag at first, but you're actually great listeners. So anyway, after this chick kills me, I wake up and I'm just this little piece of Everflame. One of the three Flames of Eternity, reduced to this. I can't be bothered to explain this. Okay, fine, you wore me down. If you must know, the Everflame is my divine class natal flame.
"It's highly destructive in nature and my sun god race counts it among the top five divine flames in the entire universe, along with the other two eternity flames and the Infinite Flame. Those belong to other races, of course. The Infinite Moon Race claims to have descended from the Infinity Flame itself, but how could that be true? Although it is the most powerful Flame of Eternity, my everflame actually ranks third in the top five divine flames. So I know how much they are bullshitting. No need to praise. After all, not even the everflame was able to stop that beautiful woman from killing me with the sweetest lips I've ever tasted. I know it sounds as if I don't regret kissing her. This is only because I do not. In fact, the woman was rather honest and forthcoming. She told me that I should not kiss her if I wish to live, but that if I could kiss her and survive the aftermath, she would be mine forever. If not, we would both die and ultimately my soul would be obliterated never to reincarnate again. She even claimed an indelible calamity would strike the universe the moment we died. It was a terrifying thing for her to say! However, she looked so precious when saying it. I took the risk. Alas..."
At this point, the fist-sized ball of black light behind this platinum ember suddenly glowed with terrifyingly grim light.
"Argh!!" The platinum ember screamed in pain. If felt almost as if he were being eaten in that moment. "What the hell are you doing to me?!"
There was no response but the cryptic light growing darker and stronger, wanting to devour the platinum ember.
"No! Do you think you are the only one whose soul contains hidden strength?! You're not so very good at listening after all," roared the platinum ember with indignation as it shone. The chatty ember suddenly quadrupled in size, before there was an explosion. The tiny red ball of light and the black ball of light were both swallowed in the flames. The divine cloud path was blown apart long enough for several violet embers to fall, before completely repairing itself. These three violet embers fell directly into the blue portal and vanished from this zone.
After today, the three Flames of Eternity were reduced to only two. The Eternal Realm would one day trace the creation of the Starlord Trinity Spark to this very event.