'Are those…?'
Ryujin marveled at the phenomena; the first flame was white with a tiger-looking beast prowling about within it; yawning silent roars as it gave off a very ancient and predatory aura that made Ryujin feel like a guillotine was hanging over his neck.
The second flame was deep blue; almost black, like the deepest depths of an ocean, and swimming within it was a turtle with a serpent-like tail.
The turtle's dome-like shell gleamed with a dull, sturdy, impenetrable sheen while the serpent's eyes seem to hold a primal mystery; one that gave Ryujin a suffocating drowning sensation, prompting him to avert his gaze just to catch his breath.
Shifting his gaze to the third flame; Ryujin instantly felt as if someone had smeared molten lava all over his face, as waves of heat buffeted his face as if he was hovering his face over red-hot lava-pops.
Within this flame was a spectral vermillion bird, with its wings fully spread out in a majestic manner, screeching silently in defiant reemergence.
After feeling his face almost melt off, Ryujin's gaze swiftly dashed toward the last flame, anticipating another mind-blowing experience.
This last flame however, was deep green in color, almost like a plants' pigment, and within it was a beast with features that shouldn't be possible.
A serpent with limbs, and a head with what seemed to be sentient tendrils or whiskers.
This serpent did nothing but coil itself and hovered within the flames, napping nonchalantly as if nothing in existence could be a bother.
It gave off an aura of emptiness; an emptiness so vast, and a vastness that made the whole of existence seem insignificant if placed within.
However, deep within this vast emptiness was also a dreadful sensation of monarchial dominion.
An ominous aura of unbridled savagery that could wrought tyrannic destruction at a single whim.
These auras made Ryujin's legs turn jelly, and there was a holy loftiness about the beast that made him want to worship it in awe rather than fear.
Then all of a sudden, the flames suddenly flared to life assaulting Ryujin's senses and blurring them beyond reality.
The first sense to return was Ryujin's sense of smell, and it made him realize that his surroundings had changed as the air had a wild odor to it...
The smell of life; scent of myriad foliage, trees, flowers and fruits mixing together in a cacophony that made his brain zing in intoxication.
Shortly afterwards, the air arrived at his second awakened senses, and for some reason, it tasted funny; as if bland, bitter, spicy and sweet were mixed together.
Then his third sense awakened and he could to feel tiny droplets of water sticking to his body, pooling together as they streamlined their way through the curves and arches on his body.
It was almost as if he was standing within the spot where fog and mist met, and here, the smell and taste was even stronger.
However, before he could bask in these sensations too long, he suddenly heard a deep but low growl from behind him, followed by a heavy gust of pungent stench that assaulted his senses and nearly shook him off his feet.
He had barely registered the possible source of such a horrible breath when the sound of parting leaves and snapping branches floated into his ears.
Based on the direction, the source of these sounds was on the move, albeit slowly; as if they were taking a leisure walk in the park.
Then without warning, a subtle feeling of fear began to build up within Ryujin. Slowly rising to higher levels as seconds trickled by like years in anticipation.
Then he felt a pair of globes lock onto him, and instantly, his vision returned; however, he could see nothing, as the fog and mist were simply too thick to make out anything asides from the shadows of the humongous trees that made up what he now realized to be a jungle.
Ryujin's fear was already past trepidation at this point and had long since approached horror.
~Swoosh~
Ryujin felt a gust of wind flash past his back, causing him crouch slightly and swiftly turn around as his breath quickened significantly.
Then suddenly, the air behind his neck rose as goosebumps covered him all over.
Swiftly, Ryujin looked back, and almost froze into a pillar of salt as he got the greatest shock of his life; the kind that threatened to extinguish one's vey soul.
Standing right there, in front of him was a tiger as massive as the Palace of First Order; in a prowling stance; with eyes filled with bloodlust, and shinning metallic fangs that were about the size of a Greek pillar.
Ryujin felt all the strength in his body vanish, but things didn't end there, because a predatory primal aura suddenly pervaded the area, seeping into his very soul and suffocating it almost to the brink of snuffing it out.
Ryujin's horror swiftly graduated into plain terror as he was left horrifically helpless at the sheer amount of bloodthirsty-ness wafting off the white striped tiger.
Schweein!
The tiger's claws suddenly popped out of its paws, and just by the sight of death gleaming off it Ryujin's will was finally shattered as he fell unconscious.
The tiger however, simply placed two claws on Ryujin; one on his forehead, and the other where his heart should be.
Then mysteriously, it turned into a mote of light that surged into his soul.
--------
Ryujin's eyes gradually began to open, and this time, his sight was the first sense to return; however, just like before, he could see nothing as he was surrounded by utter darkness.
At first, it was the terror of the white tiger that washed over him, and after a moment of recalling the scene and guessing he had died like the unlucky soul that was whipped to death a while ago, his fear finally began to recede gradually.
'After all, what could be worse than me dying.'
'It's not like it can come get me here?'
'Right?!'
Ryujin sought for confirmation, but the only response he got was the return of his sense of touch, and this time, he felt as if he was descending slowly through a thick, but slurry wavy mud.
However, upon closer inspection, he could tell that it wasn't really mud; instead, it was was almost as if he had been somewhat.... submerged.
'Submerged?!'
Ryujin's vision suddenly returned as he realized he was surrounded by utter darkness and the only light in sight was coming from above; albeit in ripples.
'I'm drowning!'
Ryujin screamed in his head as he instinctively held his breath and covered his nose.
If only he had managed to realize that his actions were useless, as he wasn't truly drowning in the breathing sense of the word, but rather from a surrounding perspective.
However, it was the moment he reached his limits and took his first breath, that he truly began to choke in on water.
Several bouts of pain assaulted his mind, causing him to spasm like he was experiencing seizures; apparently, his instincts were trying to get into some last-minute struggle-flight mode; an action that only caused him to sink faster.
But just after sinking midway to the ocean floor, he suddenly felt the entire ocean shift around him.
Swiftly, Ryujin steadied himself as he warily looked around, however, he still saw nothing.
Then all of a sudden, two massive orbs of watery-blue light snapped into existence right in front of him.
Ryujin's body tensed in shock, perhaps too much, because he suddenly felt another bout of aching pain ripple through his soul body, causing him to cry out in agony and thereby choke on more liters of water.
All of a sudden, the eyes suddenly gained a pitch black slit, and instantly, Ryujin could tell it was the serpent tail of the black turtle he had seen earlier.
At first, he thought of fleeing, but that thought was swiftly dashed by the sheer fruitlessness such an attempt would denote, thus, he stopped struggling and simply allowed himself to sink to the bottom of the sea.
Then for some mysterious reasons, he began to feel at ease, despite his precarious situation. It was almost as if he was descending into the warm embrace of some mysterious phenomenon.
It was a very comfortable feeling. Almost as if it was saying;
'All of it; yes all of it... Let it go.'
It felt reassuring.
'Is this what drowning to death feels like?'
Ryujin thought to himself, despite realizing how ridiculous it sounded for him to die twice; as a soul.
'Burdens... Responsibilities... Emotions... Attachments... Leave it all behind.'
Ryujin continued to get these emotional summons; it was like a call that was so far away, yet so close.
Gradually, he began to entertain these sensation, and before long, he yielded to them.
To him; as long as it took his terrors, horrors and nightmares away and give him a little glimpse of peace, then he was willing to let them all go.
As he descended deeper and deeper, the water pressure around him only continued to squeeze out every single ounce of restlessness out of him.
Suddenly, Ryujin felt stable; not quite at peace, and neither was he brooding. It was a strange state of emotional stability that was devoid of any rippling emotion.
It was almost as if he had gained total control over these emotions and was now able to dial them all down to remain stable, but not completely off to become emotionless.
The moment he reached this state; he suddenly saw another pair of massive orbs snap open in front of him, and this time, they were totally golden.
However, this time, Ryujin wasn't fazed; in fact, only two words could describe his current mental state; 'curious and fascinated'.
The golden eyes looked calm and collected, steady and without any ripples whatsoever; almost as if they weren't going to lose any sleep over watching the heavens fall down and drown into the depths of the ocean.
Seconds later, another shift came, and Ryujin felt something touch his forehead and heart, before a surge of energy began to flood into his soul.
The energy poured torrentially, like the most aggressively of waterfalls; and endlessly, like an ocean was trying to empty out itself into him.
It didn't take long for Ryujin to once again fall unconscious; however, this time, rather than terror, it was simply due to energy overload.
-------
Shraka! Boom!
Ryujin was jolted back to consciousness by the booming sound of violent thunders.
Looking up above, he could see flashes of black lightning, streaking across the sky; weaving in and out of the clouds like enraged serpents looking to dole out tyrannic judgement on the entire world.
Once again, he was unfazed and was simply curious and fascinated by the view.
Boom!
A noise erupted from behind him, and as he turned to look, he found himself staring at a gigantic active volcano whose peak pierced into the skies.
The mouth of the volcano kept ejecting plumes of smoke that formed patches of cloud that joined its peers in the sky, darkening it further and deeper.
Molten lava relentlessly streamed out of the mouth of the volcano; pooling into flaming rivers that streamed into the distance.
Then all of a sudden, the temperature of the surrounding area began to soar rapidly as the earth began to tremble and quake.
The seismic vibrations were so strong that it made the air around him tremble, churn and burn with aggressive heat.
Ryujin then began to approach the mouth of the volcano as the seismic vibrations seemed to be originating and rippling outward from its very base; increasing in intensity as the streams of lava gained more volume and momentum.
Then just as he arrived at the mouth of the volcano, a massive pillar of red-hot magma suddenly erupted straight into the darkened sky.
Upon coming in contact with the lightning saturated patch of clouds, the magma ignited them all in a chain explosion that died the entire sky red, as a level of heat that threatened to burn all of creation descended into area.