"Come."

It started as a growling whisper. Soon, the whisper spread into a haunting roar that rippled across the burning plains.

The sound of shifting scales followed the roar, and a pair of maddened eyes trapped themselves in the sky. Then, a beast of monumental height arose from its initial crouching position.

Sha.

With a nostril flare, beads of fresh blood cascaded down. Tendrils of burning haze curled around the beads as they gently landed below.

Plop. Plop. Plop.

Burnt and fresh blood mixed as it carried away the lives and dreams of countless fallen warriors.

The singed beards of dwarven commanders attached to their sizzling armour. They still held their war hammers, even as they were twisted like willow branches.

Slowly raging flames ate away at the bows and bodies of the grand elven council. No number or quality of elementals could stop the gluttonous flames from devouring their broken bodies.

Regiments of human knights left their swords scattered, forming a graveyard of decayed resolve.

Colossal dragons were belittled into nothing more than broken carcasses. Stirs of magic power twirled the haze around their bodies but would never activate again.

There was a mix of creatures of all shapes and sizes on the battlefield. None held any breath in their lungs or light in their eyes; the lucky ones were only ashes.

"Reveal yourself!"

The Beast proclaimed the words loud enough to split the heavens this time. Its voice shook the earth, and a strip of light shone through the weeping red clouds above.

Suddenly, The Beast crouched like a million weights had been placed on its scaled back. Its golden eyes dimmed slightly, and its muscles creaked like a rusted machine.

"I will not bow!"

At The Beast's command, the blood flowing all around it reversed and gathered. Then, as The Beast sunk its regal claws into the ground, the nearby blood vanished into thin, airy clouds that wrapped around The Beast and caused an aura to take shape.

If a painter tried to paint the bloody aura, they would only need one colour: a crimson red that matched The Beast's scales. Then, the painter's delicate strokes would detail the warped faces that spun around and silently shrieked as if to escape. But, they would never be released from The Beast's shackles.

Only a creature that had reaped countless lives could create an aura like the one wreathed around The Beast.

Suddenly, The Beast sprung off the ground.

Woosh!

Wings unfurled to their greatest length as The Beast left a sonic boom behind that scattered the battlefield.

At the same time, a ribbon of pure light gently drifted down from the split in the clouds. Its pace seemed slow but travelled at a speed that rivalled The Beast.

"I won't rest until one of us is dead!"

The Beast's haunting resolve was thrown into its attack as it opened its mouth. A deluge of crimson flames gathered the power of its bloody aura and unleashed a crimson beam of destructive force towards the ribbon of light. As the beam travelled, mysterious signs of elven spells, dwarvish attacks and many more could be seen reinforcing the fiery beam.

The ribbon of light fluttered, and a spherical barrier was erected around itself.

The ensuing collision rocked the earth and created an influx of all elements.

The nearby flames extinguished, the earth cracked to create chasms, and the air was sucked in like a vacuum.

There was nothing but ripples on the ribbon of light's barrier in the next moment. And, despite the attack, the ribbon instantly gained speed as it arrived before The Beast.

The Beast's eyes widened before closing abruptly. It sealed off its senses, and the air pushing it upwards was stopped.

It's finally done.

The Beast's haunting resolve had brought it this far, but it still had such a gap between itself and its enemy even after all of the wicked deeds to gain power. The Beast felt its will dissolve for the first in a long time as it let the ribbon of light circle its body.

The Beast held a lifetime of experiences that it wished to be freed from deep within.

I'm sorry, everyone.

The ribbon of light started circling slowly and, with each rotation, began to build speed. Faster and faster, it rotated until finally, near the end of its peak speed, The Beast's body could no longer be seen. Instead, a globe of pure light immersed The Beast as a mechanical voice carried across the battlefield.

《 Dragon Prince Ultio recognized as an apostle candidate. Initiating regression procedures. 》

Suddenly, the clouds parted again as a dark, racing blur crashed into the globe of light. Then, the globe of light burst apart prematurely with a resounding pop.

The ribbon of light abruptly faded, and the bodies of two beings left the heavens and crashed into the earth.

The previously golden eyes of The Beast dulled into a still grey tone, and a farewell wind picked up that reduced its body to a fine ash that scattered across the battlefield.

 

---

 

A mechanical voice echoed across a white, everlasting landscape.

《 Regression procedures initiated… 0%... 100%. Soul transfer initiated… 0%... 100%. Reconstructing body matrix… 0%... ERROR! Body matrix not found. Logging interference and reconnecting backup body matrix… 0%... 100%. Reconstructing memory nodes… 0%... 100%. 》

A pleasant ding rang out as a swirling black hole opened on the white floor. Unbelievably tiny cubes began to build a body inch by inch from it. Entire bone systems were created before being filled out by muscles and wrapped up in skin.

The mechanical voice rang out simultaneously as a large gasp sucked in air, and the black hole disappeared.

《 Regression complete. Welcome, Ultio. 》

Gasp!

"Agghhh!"

Ultio's head hit the floor as he tried not to feel the ache accompanying rebirth.

It feels like I drank the entire supply of dwarvish ale in the world.

Ultio didn't even notice the supple feeling of his scaleless hands as he attempted to prop himself up and hazily look around.

At least the afterlife is tranquil—a little plain, though.

Ultio barely managed to think before a voice jumbled his thoughts.

《 The ??? God has left a reminder that this is not the afterlife. 》

The voice hardly registered in Ultio's ears as he fought to try and use what felt like a brain running in slow motion.

The gods?

Even through the aches and slow processing, Ultio gave an aggrieved expression that quickly flipped to anger. Dense killing intent ushered from Ultio's soul as he promptly tried to chant a spell to clear his mind.

"Firotsd."

The result was a terrible movement of lips that accomplished very little of anything.

There's no mana around?

Ultio's hand slipped on nothing as he fell onto his back with a light thud.

"Ack!"

The fall took the air out of him, and the mechanical voice sounded like a surround sound speaker system.

《 Welcome to the tutorial area of the divine trial 'Pathway to Godhood.' Would you like to hear the tutorial message? 》

No, stop this.

Ultio groaned as he felt the voice's noisy words enter his mind instead of his ears.

《 Tutorial message skipped. The goals of the ??? God will be explained. 》

"NO!"

Ultio managed to eke out a single phrase quickly, followed by more in his mind.

Stop this! I won't be a part of anything else!

The mechanical voice was silent for a moment before it continued without emotion.

《 Refusal of the trial will result in soul termination. Please restate intention for refusal or acceptance. 》

Most would be daunted by hearing the words 'soul termination.' But, instead, Ultio seemed to be released from a burden, as he thought once more.

I owe nothing. I've made my amends. Terminate me.

The space was silent before Ultio felt a chill that struck his soul. It felt like an all-encompassing hand was gripped around his very existence, and it only needed to squeeze lightly, and he would be gone forever. And then, the white, everlasting landscape darkened around him.

《 Termination of Dragon Prince Ultio initiated… 0%... ERROR! 》

Suddenly, the hand gripping his existence was gone, and the white landscape regained its plain background.

《 God Override initiated. Termination cancelled. Randomized character creation started. 》

They can't make me do anything anymore!

Ultio felt an awful premonition as he tried his best to get up and dash away from whatever was about to happen. The result was a teeth-loosening, facial surgery of a fall that knocked him unconscious.

《 Dragon Prince Ultio player ID set to Novus… Race set to Human… Attribute calculation initiated… ERROR! 》

Ultio, no, Novus, cursed at the word error in his unconscious sleep.

"Stifud rrrs."

《 Default attributes unable to be bound to body matrix. Compartmentalization initiated… Attributes set configured. Setting beginner destination… destination set. Travel to beginner island initiated. 》

The swirling black hole reappeared as Novus' body shattered like a mirror against a rock. The pieces of his body gathered into the black hole and disappeared within seconds as peace returned to the white, everlasting landscape.