"I'm alive?" he thought as he took stock of his body, astonished to find a small orb of energy floating in his dantian. It was the size of a newborn baby's fist, and it was pulsating with energy. But this was no ordinary life force qi it felt like death qi.
"But that's not right," he thought with confusion rising within him. "Abyssal said that qi was related to life force, not death. So why is it that this energy feels like death itself? Is it because of the environment I'm in? A place filled with nothing but death and dark substance?"
Morningstar's mind raced as he tried to make sense of what was happening.
"Maybe this energy has been mutated by the environment here, but that doesn't matter now," he decided, pushing his thoughts to the side. "It's no use worrying about something I can't solve."
Getting to his feet, he found that he felt stronger than ever before. With a surge of confidence, he channeled the strange qi energy into his legs and with a single stomp, he shot forward like a blur. He felt as if he could run forever.
With renewed vigor, he moved, determined to find the end of this river.
The wind whipped at his face as he ran at full speed. He was determined to reach the end of the river, with his red and yellow eyes gleaming brightly he moved forward. Minutes passed and he covered a distance of about a mile and a half, but the river just kept going.
Refusing to give up, he experimented with circulating the strange energy through his body as he ran since he didn't want to rest to recover. At first, it was difficult to split his focus between the two tasks, but he persevered and within minutes, he managed to master it, something that would have taken others days, weeks, or even years to learn.
_This is fun, maybe I can use this environment to learn new tricks. Like those I watch in movies. Maybe jump like Hulk._ His thoughts turned playful and he wondered if he could learn some tricks like the superheroes he had seen in movies. With a grin, he increased his speed until he was running as fast as he could. Gathering all the strange QI energy into his feet, he slammed his foot against the ground and launched himself into the air.
He felt a rush of adrenaline as he soared through the air, just like the heroes he had seen on screen. For a moment, he felt like he could do anything.
"Yesssssss!" he yelled with exhilaration, feeling the pure joy of a short flight. There was a saying that all boys love explosive weapons and the ability to fly and Morningstar was no exception. He felt like he could do anything as he soared through the air, free as a bird.
The wind rushing past him was thrilling, and he felt more alive than ever before. At that moment, he was a superhero or antihero.
But, there was one problem,
_Fuck how can I land!_
He had no idea how to land.
As he reached higher into the air, he realized that he was falling back down and fast. With no time to think, he watched in terror as he hurtled towards the ground, head first.
"Oh, shi..." he thought but didn't have time to finish the thought before his face smashed into the earth, sending him into a world of darkness.
When he came to, he found himself covered in dirt, blood dripping from his nose, and a horrible pounding in his head.
"Ah, that hurts, thankfully this environment is sandy, plus I didn't go that high and also it seems I can't die in here that easily but I wouldn't experiment on it though." He mutters as he uses his elbow to wipe off the blood from his nose, then circulates the energy again, after some minutes he takes off, this time he dares not try anything recklessly.
****
4 Days Later -
Time had lost all meaning to Morningstar. It was impossible to tell how long he had been running through the dark, blood-red environment. But at long last, he saw something on the horizon that made him stop in his tracks, an end to the river of blood.
He cautiously walked towards the edge of the river, unsure of what he would find. What lay ahead was not at all what he expected.
A thunderstorm raged overhead, sending red lightning bolts striking the ground every few seconds. It looked like it had been going on for ages. And below the storm, a massive castle made of dark, black stone loomed. It was taller than anything he had ever seen, its top vanishing into the red clouds above.
Looking beside both the left and right side, Morningstar saw what he could only describe as delusion.
Two dragons which he only sees from movies were laying in deep slumber beside the castle!
Their dark huge head with two curl horns which looks like it will pierce the heavens releases some shocking oppressive aura that made the ant-sized Morningstar find it hard to breathe.
Around the dragons' necks were huge chains, made of some unidentifiable material, which were linked to the sky by bolts of lightning.
Morningstar felt a sickening sense of dread as he realized that the dragons were chained to the sky. It was like something out of a Greek myth, but so much worse.
_What being can chain a dragon that easily?!_ He thought with shock as he stood there, rooted to the ground.
In most books, comics and movies. Dragons are always associated with destruction, carnage, death and war. Each one can face off against thousands of people and still come out victorious. Some are even capable of wiping out an entire country!
To be able to chain those dragons shows the owner of that palace is definitely not an ordinary person!
"But, why do I feel drawn to that palace?" he wondered to himself.
It was as if there was a voice calling to him, beckoning him forward. It was like the pull of a magnet or the call of home. But he didn't understand why.
He had never felt such a deep connection to anything in his life, not even his family home since his uncle treated him like shit. This feeling was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Subconsciously, he took a step forward. And then another, and another. Like a sleepwalker, he began to make his way across the blood river. As he did, the river split in half, and a path of smooth, black rocks was revealed underneath.
He continued walking, his mind felt foggy. He didn't know why he was doing it, but he couldn't stop himself. It was as if he were in a trance, pulled forward by an irresistible force.
Before he knew it, he had crossed the entire river and it closed up behind him, leaving no sign that it had ever been split. It was as if everything was meant to happen just the way it did.
Walking forward, the lightning which seemed to want to devour any being, things that intruded this place didn't come close to him even though they suddenly turned violent and struck different places at once.
As he walked on, the lightning bolts crackled and roared around him, as if trying to devour anything that came too close. But none of the bolts struck him, even as they lashed out violently, hitting the ground and sending up sprays of debris.
Morningstar didn't even look at this scene or to be said, he was sleepwalking at that moment.
Eventually, he reached a massive door made of some kind of metal, with large, sparkling crystals embedded in it and strange runes carved into the surface. The door was slightly open and he could just make out the darkness within.
Without thinking, he passed through the door.
He found himself standing on a red carpet, covered in dust, a sign that no one had been here for a while. It led to a gigantic throne, made entirely of demon and dragon skulls, so tall that it seemed to scrape the ceiling. The two armchairs were made of two skulls whose eyes were burning with green fire.
On both sides of the carpet were life-like tall statues of beings with their gigantic wings curl behind them and horns curved like he-goat, kneeling down and holding their arms which were still releasing greenish flame that crackled silently and illuminated the surrounding.
Morningstar couldn't help but feel like the statues were astonishingly detailed, so lifelike that they could have been mistaken for living creatures. They were humanoid in shape, but they had huge, curling horns, leathery dark wings and clawed feet. They were dressed in battle armor, with cold expressions on their faces, their gaze was fixated on the throne while their arms were outstretched, as if holding something invisible, and from the urns in their hands came the eerie green flames that lit the room.
In front of the throne, a dark gold statue stood, unlike the other statues, which kneel down with green fire in their palms. This one stood and held a plate made of some strange material that seemed to absorb the surrounding light so that it looked like a void. And on the plate, floating in mid-air, was a book, glowing with a strange blue light.
The book looked ancient as if it had been there for thousands of years.
As soon as Morningstar spotted the book, it was like a hammer had hit him as he snapped back into reason. Looking around, he was shocked by what he saw, the oppressive aura made it hard for him to move.
_Since I'm here already then I guess it won't hurt looking at the book._ Under the cold gazes of the demon statues he walked forward and finally stopped before the ordinary-looking ancient book which was floating and surrounded by blue lights. Without stopping he reached out and grabbed the book, dragging it out of the light but it was like he underestimated the heaviness of the book as it slipped out of his hand and landed on the floor with a thud the book flipped open to the first page.
_Huh?_ Morningstar tilted his head as he looked at the words written in blood.
=Journey Of Lucifer Morningstar In Hell Realm=
(θ‿θ)