Zamright walked out from his small vertical sarcophagus in his usual simple soft red flower-adorn attire and reached a flower bonsai. Standing before it, he raised his hand gently and spread his fingers.
A gentle glow of watery energy manifested and showered the flower causing the hidden wrinkles of the flower to disappear and it became rejuvenated. A soft energy and scent released from it which made Zamright smile with satisfaction.
He looked at the desolate but intact room, he listened and he heard nothing from anywhere. He was truly alone in this magnificent castle.
He doesn't feel lonely as he had buried those emotions a long time ago. There was nothing in his heart but calmness and then occasional satisfaction whenever he had attended to his duties.
Zamright gazed at his obligation, the Sacred Flora Of Beauty, the most beautiful plant in the world. However, despite its magnificence, it can only live for less than 12 hours before it begins to wilt and die.
After watching the flower for an hour he looked around, there was nothing, not even dust in the empty corridors and rooms. He walked to the only enormous window in the room and peered outside.
It was rocky, with few plants. Far cry from when it was a marvellous garden that decorated the place, a place that had all kinds of trees, shrubs and grasses from all over the globe—the place was heaven on earth.
Zamright didn't feel anything about its current state. For the longest time ever since he came to this castle, not a day has passed without him looking through the window after performing his duties.
He had watched the gradual change of the scenery due to agents of entropy and time but that never changed him, his goal was here with the flower.
Zamright looked at it, the flower that was of one thick stalk, rooted with strong roots holding the soil in the bonsai, it also had transparent veins on its bark that changed colours depending on the tone of the day.
At dawn, like now, it was partially glowing with a soft hue but when the sun was up, it was either slightly yellow or faint white. At sunset it becomes orange. This shift in light made people entranced and become dreamy.
It has several branches, each with a small branch that had a tiny flower, however, the larger branches weaved into a mesmerizing style as a whole. So also on them were three or four large flowers that opened with several amazing red petals.
Not any red, one that seemed to contain all kinds of red hues in it in a most outstanding manner, which made the gazer hallucinate. If one looks deeply one may see a sparkling of various colors from within.
Truly a magnificent creation, no amount of words can describe it. Even Zamright, who has been with it for the longest time, always felt he was looking at it for the first time.
The 13-year-old-looking Zamright sighed and walked back to his sarcophagus to sleep. He lay down, and it closed.
While he was deeply in slumber, something happened. From the outside, a large fireball akin to a sun was hauled toward the castle, either by intent or not but the power in that sun ball was great—as the castle that stood for more than ten thousand years against the crucible of time, shattered and burned.
Zamright opened his eyes, it was dark inside the sarcophagus, it was also firm holding his body. For years that was his room and it had kept him strong and safe away from the ravage of time or mental fatigue.
It opened and he walked out, his eyes widened in shock at the devastation that was before him. But his eyes were on the bonsai flower—it was gone.
A sad sigh and melancholy appeared on his face. But then that faded away. He looked at his small lean hand, they were pale as usual but that wasn't what he was looking at, he was reminiscing about their action over the countless centuries in keeping the flower alive—and now that was over.
[Unknown Location]
A man with an obscured visage was chained using altruistic chains that radiated scorching heat akin to a star. His eyes opened, there was indescribable longing in them enough to drive mortal insane!
His gaze became unfocused and then a deep sigh fueled by melancholy escaped his lungs before he smiled, a smile of gladness and gratitude.
With a motion of his body, the bright chains doubled their radiance to contain him but with the force of his will a portion of his power escaped.
"At last, the last of our loyal orderly's services has come to an end!"
His words quaked the air and rattled the chains causing them to almost snap but his attention was never on them but on the castle Zamright was in.
The castle becomes alive and then a certain function that has been off for tens of centuries is activated.
This weakened the obscured man a lot, but there were no regrets in his eyes but rather an honour and gratitude.
"Go, be free, my child. You deserve it!" the man muttered lastly before he closed his eyes and became very still like a corpse… but the amount of vitality in his body would tell the onlooker that he was very much alive.
At one point after the last sentence of the chained man, another humanoid creature stood there. His gaze was sharp and his heart beating wildly.
That motion of the prisoner shook the entire foundation of the suspended prison. They even thought he wanted to escape but here he was still chained.
What astonished the Guard was that the man had become weaker and also the Tier 6 Transcended Sun Order Chains had bitten through his flesh, which for the last 4000 years it was incapable of doing!
[Exalted Broken Castle]
Zamright had no idea what had happened but the broken castle came alive and a compartment beside his sarcophagus opened. A glow appeared on an orb the size of Zamright's petite fist.
Zamright walked with a straight gait and then bowed toward the Orb. This was his master's tool. It was called Exalted Pure Orb.
Just bowing close to it, he felt a wave of freshness in him. He then stood and noticed a tattoo on his body glowing.
This tattoo has been with him. since he came into the castle but they never glow but now. Those are Exalted Tattoos, they record his actions all these tens of centuries. through them, he will get some of his rewards and also an Exalted Blessings from his Exalted Master.
The Exalted Pure Orb only activated them, nothing else. A pulse power from the orb makes the small compartment produce items, they shift and change glittering with metal, wood and even leather.
In the end, items that Zamright alone could use were formed and then all of them were then placed inside a rectangular container—a Personal Vault.
The stuff wasn't much but Zamright knew they were important as they were also Exalted Equipment and before he could fully use them he had to be exceptionally strong both in mind and body.
Zamright observed the equipment, the spear, the sword, the shield and then normal apparel. The apparel is able to change shape and texture, from as thick as armour to soft as silk.
Zamright closed the vault after wearing the apparel and taking the scimitar. The apparel made him feel whole and stronger than normal. He then walked toward the door of the Castle.
Passing through damaged halls and hallways, there was nothing to see but stepping outside, he saw a small boat floating in the air with an oar inside.
The moment he came close the boat vibrated and lowered itself. Zamright knew already that this was his last item.
With gratitude toward his masters, he stepped in it, it felt as if it was on the water, the oar floated and he grabbed it, and he felt the direction of the wind, and also felt intuitively that he could make it ascend and descend and also take right and left direction on air.
The technology was sublime, he didn't even try to understand it. He made a gesture of moving forward using the oar and the boat sails forward.
Zamright knew the Island was surrounded by the sea and his direction was the sea.
Not long, after he stopped there was a massive scorching land, burning with heat. Far beyond it was the supposed sea. But now it was waving with dark purple and black goo. The stench was repulsive.
What deter Zamright from going closer was the goo bubbled up and burst a purple air pocket a flying creature escaped up and far above in the sky there were many of such creatures.
It's definitely not ideal to pass through the dark sea without sufficient protection. He observed, certainly there are thousands of them in the sky of various sizes and more are coming out from the dark sea.
But that was when he saw at the far distance something was moving at tremendous speed toward the island. From a distance, it was very small but in reality, it was a giant.
In just three seconds, it reached the island and a blare of alarm echoed everywhere. Then came a strange language from it. Before the vessels attacked the flying creatures.
Screech!
The creatures shrieked and dispersed very fast in panic. Far above the clouds, fireballs were dancing and some were falling but as if an invisible power held them, they slowed down.
It was a similar bombardment that destroyed the castle!
Immediately, Zamright changed course and his little boat sped toward the rescue vessel!