Space was twisting, tossing like a wave. It was bereft of the usual calmness that Jin Wang was used to. Sure, it was usually a bit uncomfortable, maybe even a touch tumultuous, but all those things were so weak that he could only describe it as calm. But when Bai Xiang tossed them through space he felt like a small raft caught in a storm, space around the group flickered in thousands of colours all at once, a myriad of landscapes flashing by them in the blink of an eye, merging like a twisted collage.

And in that one second, that one blink of an eye, the flickering colour and flashing landscapes vanished. It felt like it had lasted ages, but it also felt like it ended in a single second. Space and time, two laws that existed together as closely as creation and destruction, two sides of the same coin. Twist one hard enough and the other will twist in turn.

With the passing of the colours, Jin Wang and the others found themselves standing atop a rather wide mountain. He could see other spires rise all around them, some jagged some coiled, all of them barren stone that pierced towards the sky, like fingers reaching for something they couldn't grasp. There was no vegetation around them, only dry dirt and sharp stones, it was a land that didn't welcome life.

"There, you'll be safe from the Flood's people here so just go and do whatever you feel like. Just don't go around looking for others tied to the Flood or Starblood, just live quietly until you can become a crutch, that's all you're needed for."

His body wasn't there, but the voice of Bai Xiang still reached them, disregarded them as he tossed them aside. Jin Wang allowed his gaze to roam across the rest of the group. Family. Family. Friend. Three people who were tied to him only through the alpha, that man who always smiled so strangely even when his claws tore through his flesh.

His alpha... How shameful it had been. The last thing he saw of his alpha was that look of desperation, disarrayed silver hair and black eyes dyed by fear and worry. How shameful. The alpha had panicked, rushed without regard. How shameful.

What was an alpha? The alpha was the leader of the pack, the one that created the path they walked and provided for them. He gave them a path, he gave them a home, he gave them a life. So, just what did the pack do for the alpha? Simple, they walked his path to testify to his life and they watched his back. When someone tried to attack, they would step forward and protect the alpha, when someone tried to destroy the pack then they would fight.

The alpha needed to look forward, the alpha needed to be strong enough to carve a path and provide for the pack. And the pack was what ensured that the alpha would be strong enough to do just that. But the alpha had panicked, the alpha had been desperate. Jin Wang, the proud member of the pack, hadn't been strong enough to watch the alpha's back. He hadn't been strong enough to protect that which should have been protected, he wasn't strong enough to make the alpha feel safe. And then, worst of all, he had left the alpha all alone, without a pack to watch his back. How shameful. He was the most shameful existence.

"I don't know much about this dominion... Well, anything actually. We should start by learning about our surroundings, we need to figure out where we are before we can decide on what we want to do next."

Chestnut brown hair and red eyes, the one who belonged to the alpha's family spoke, drew the attention of the others. Her brows were furrowed and her skin was pale, he could smell fear and worry from her despite her mostly calm expression. He was a smart beast, a clever pack member. So he understood her words, what she wanted them to do. But this wasn't his pack.

"Rrrrr."

A low growl, claws that scratched the ground to carve an image. He was smart, but he couldn't speak as humans did. And his alpha wasn't here, his alpha would understand him even if they just locked eyes, that was the bond between alpha and pack member.

"You... Want a drink? Gods, just what did he teach you..."

Luckily, it seemed like the family members of the alpha understood his intentions thanks to his drawing. A gourd, that was what the alpha called the thing he wielded whenever they drank. The first thing he and his alpha had ever done was drink the flaming yet sweet water that came from a gourd, the wine as he called it. What a time it had been, hanging right above death, together by coincidence.

The fiery-haired family member was the one who gave him what he wanted, tossing him one of the gourds he had grown familiar with. He caught it with his jaws and bit down, tilting his head back to swallow everything that rained down along with the ruined clay.

Spicy, yet a touch sweet, almost like fire as it ran down his throat. Yes, the taste was exactly as he remembered, it was just like that first drink they shared. Over the years, they had shared many such drinks so he was exceedingly familiar with the taste, he would never forget them.

The taste was exactly the same. So why... why couldn't he enjoy it like he usually did? Spicy yet sweet, just like he remembered. But oh so bitter, it made his tongue curl in disgust. The taste was the same, but the alpha wasn't there, the one to share the drink... he had failed that man. How shameful.

He spat out one of the clay chunks that got stuck between his fangs. He knew what to do now, what he needed to do, both for himself and for the alpha. He ignored the words of the three others and turned around, his paws bringing him towards the edge of the mountain.

The alpha, the leader of the pack. There was another word for such a being, another word for the man he followed. The Apex Predator, the beast that could prey on all others, the beast that could feast on even the world itself. Such a thing was his alpha, such an existence was he. When an apex predator died, there was only one place for it to fall, the Eternal Hunting Grounds, what the humans called the Netherworld.

He had followed his alpha, the apex predator, and he had killed many in their journey. He had bitten down and crushed many, both humans and beasts, he drank their blood and feasted on their flesh. If you were to use a human word to describe him then it would surely be this; Evil. And the Hunting Grounds, the Netherworld, that was where all who were dubbed evil resided.

He had followed his alpha all the way to this point, it was just a matter of following him a bit further, that was all it was. So he strode forward and ignored those behind him. He strode forward even as his paws left the edge of the cliff, looked forward even as his body tilted towards the jagged stones beneath them. It was just a matter of following, even if the journey would be to the Hunting Grounds.

--

Black, that was the colour Xiao Yin Yu would use if she had to describe death. The closing of her eyelids, the fading of her consciousness, it was all accompanied by the colour black. And when she opened her eyes again, what she saw was still black. But rather than darkness, this black was a bit different. It fluttered about like mist, smoke that couldn't rise since it already covered the world.

"Where... is this?"

To her surprise, she could actually hear her own words, each one echoing throughout the surroundings. This wasn't what she had expected to see after death, she thought it would either be the Celestial World, the Netherworld, or nothingness as she was brought directly to the next life. This... was a little out of her expectations. But what surprised her even further was that she wasn't here alone.

"Another one's arrived. Hello, would you like to make a deal with me?"

The voice came from behind her so she quickly spun around to locate the source. And find the source she did, both the source of the voice as well as the source of the misty-black around her. A young man, barely in the midst of his twenties. Eyes as white as snow, unblemished gems that didn't belong here. But his hair, his hair was pitch-black and seemed to melt into the mist all around her, it supplied it so that it could cover the world.

"A..."

Her words caught in her throat for a second. She was afraid. She felt like a naked child coming across a tiger on a snowy mountain, every cell in her body told her of her impending death. Impending death? What a strange sensation, she had already died, that was why she was here. But what an eye-opener it was, even the dead could fear death, would fear death when they saw him.

"No need to be so afraid. Well, not that saying that makes much difference. As I said, I'm here to offer you a deal. Some call me the Bloodwind Emperor, but Hades will work just fine in this regard. To keep it simple, whether you know it or not, you just died. Your life came to an end and your soul is now on the way to the next stage. Looking at the energies swirling about, you should be a bystander who got hit by a great deal of energy belonging to your Celestial World so that's probably where you'll end up. It's a good place, but its core is Restraint so it's not my cup of tea."

The man's eyes pierced into her, dredged through her soul as he laid out the facts. Celestial World? She'd go to the Celestial World just because she was a bystander hit by the attack meant for Yin Long? Wouldn't that be the worst possible place for her to go?

"But the deal I offer is this; Don't go to the Celestial World. I have my own afterlife, Tartarus. You are strong, or well, talented enough in your case, to grow much stronger. Come to Tartarus, I will give you a place to live, a place to train, a place to grow. If you want to grow stronger, you can do that, if you just want to live in peace, you can do that too. But there is a condition. One day in the future, there will be a war, a war greater than any you have ever dreamt possible. When that war comes, you will be allowed to leave Tartarus again, and then you must fight. Join the other souls in Tartarus and become the army that protects the universes you call home."

A deal always had two sides. He would give her an eternal home where she could either live or grow, she could have nigh on eternal peace if she wanted. But there would be a day where she would have to fight, a day where she would have to put that eternal life on the line. And reading between the lines of what he said, it didn't seem like they were allowed to leave this Tartarus before that promised day came. It wasn't really a bad deal, especially for those who wished to grow stronger. But it couldn't be just her.

"There's one more, someone better than me. Yin Long, he should... He should have died not long after me. What about him, what did he say to the offer?"

She got the offer? If someone like her got the offer then there was no way someone like Yin Long didn't get the offer, he was someone who deserved it far more than her. But as the man in front of her, Hades, narrowed his eyes and turned his gaze slightly downwards, her hope for that possibility rapidly dropped.

"Hmm, no, that one didn't get the offer. He's too closely tied to your Netherworld, if I try to take him then I'll be going against the agreement I made. The last thing I need is for a war to break out within our own Sphere, I'll just be shooting myself in the foot at that point."

He shook his head without much emotion, a light shrug of his shoulders. She wanted to plead, but she could tell that there was no use. His gaze, it was barely on her even as he looked straight at her. This man, he looked at things from a vantage point so far above her that a single life, a single soul, barely meant a thing to him. The greater picture, yes, he seemed like someone who looked at something like that. No matter what she said, Yin Long could not receive the same offer as her. But, but things weren't hopeless just yet.

"In that case... You seem to have a lot of control over death, right? You said I was bound for the Celestial World, but can you send me to the Netherworld instead?"

If he couldn't come to her then she would go to him instead. The taste of scorched copper and smoke, she wanted to override it, she wanted to replace them with the sweet taste of her first love. But above all, she wanted to wipe his eyes. Those powerful black eyes that had become like charcoal, she wanted to wipe the evaporating tears that had started to streak out from them. He shouldn't cry, it hurt when he cried.

Eyes like the night, like the countless stars above them, that was how his eyes should be. And she... She should be at his side at that time. No, she would be at his side, that was what she had decided. And when he was in pain, when he was trapped and hopeless, she would do what he had done for her, she would give him the power to make a choice.

"The Netherworld? I can, but are you sure about that? The core of your Netherworld is Desire, it's a place where desires are magnified a hundred if not a thousand times. In terms of Netherworlds, while it falls short of Naraka, it's one of the worse places. People can have some dirty desires after all, magnifying them only makes them all the more ugly. Even desires that were once clean become twisted when stretched."

Hades didn't try to dissuade her, he simply told her what awaited below, what sort of world existed beneath their feet, what sort of world they had shunned for countless years. But she was determined, convinced of one fact.

"It's fine, please send me down. My desire is already at its peak so it can't be stretched further. And it's fine if it's ugly down there, his sword swings with a scream like that after all so I'm used to it."

A sad sword that screamed when it swung, a sword that spoke of a crying child and a falling hand. His sword screamed of sorrow, of the world that separated families, it screamed at the ugliness of it all. So it was fine if the Netherworld was the dirtiest place in the world, she was sure that his sword would just scream over it all in the end. And if it couldn't deafen it all out then she just had to crush the rest. Her sword couldn't scream, but it could crush just fine, so she just had to do that to everything his screams couldn't cover.

"Ha, that's a good way to think. Alright, I'll send you down, girl. I dragged my first wife out of hell, I wish you luck in doing the same."

Hades smiled, or perhaps grinned was a better description. He raised his hand and pointed at her, the misty black that covered the world descending upon her in response. The world descended upon her and sank into her, her vision once again fading to darkness. But this time she was sure, when she opened her eyes she would be one step closer to where she should be.

--

A blue sun, a gargantuan yellow sun that hung high in the sky, light pink grass that swayed all around him, and a few sparse murky yellow clouds that drifted across the empty sky. The scene was familiar to him, oh-so-familiar. The first time he died he had seen this very same scene, save for the yellow clouds. Except for the colours that were slightly off, it looked just like the normal world. But it wasn't, he could feel it. The Netherworld, he had returned to the Netherworld.

He was lying in the grass, sprawled out on his back, so he couldn't see his surroundings. But he could hear things, and he didn't hear the sound of swaying leaves. He could also feel things, and he could feel that the earth beneath him was completely flat. This wasn't the dome-like hill he had arrived on when he first entered the Netherworld, this wasn't the land right next to the forest filled with trees that seemed to be eternally ablaze.

His gaze was locked on the sky, but it wasn't by choice. His neck wouldn't move. The same was true for his arms and legs, everything was just limp. He could feel his strength, he knew that he had the power to move his arms and legs, he could stand up and run if he wanted. But his body refused to move, his fingers didn't even want to tremble.

So he just laid there, his eyes on the sky, listlessly drifting along with the clouds. He had to get up, he had to move. His hands were stained with blood, a shade of crimson that swallowed up even the pink grass around him. He couldn't afford to just lay here, he had to wash off that crimson by dyeing it with Starblood's crimson.

But he couldn't move. When his parents died, he was able to move, to do what needed to be done after a bit of crying. When he died he was able to move right away, it was just his life after all. But now, now he couldn't move. His limbs didn't want to move, his mind didn't want to move.

The clouds were peaceful, quietly drifting along without any aim or thought. How beautiful wouldn't it be if he could fade into those clouds? To just fade from the world, to take his stained hands with him and drift without aim or thought. How blissful, how peaceful, but oh so unfair.

He was a determined man, a man who could move forward without end. He always knew what to do, always knew how to train his sword, always knew how to move. But now... now he had no idea what to do. His head was empty, his mind blank. What he needed to do lingered at the back of his mind, but he had no idea how to do it, what to do toward that goal.

The clouds, how enchantingly they moved. Oh, how they tugged at his empty mind, how they called to him. 'Oh you who wants to fade away, just come and play with us, we can drift for eternity without any thought, without any guilt.' Why did they call to him, why did he listen to them?

"It's rare for you to rest for this long, Young Master. It's refreshing, but is that really what you should be doing now?"

Suddenly, from behind him, came a voice that drowned out the clouds, that occupied his blank mind and nearly stopped his heart. Familiar, oh so familiar, oh so dear, oh so impossible. The limbs that refused to move sprung into action at once, one hand pushing off the ground to twist him into a push-up position. His head raised, and there she sat on a small stone.

Beautiful amber hair that hung down to just below her ears, a cut only made to signify a separation from her past. Delicate and soft features that were completed by the small dimples she had on each side of her mouth, how often did she smile at him to get dimples like that? Brown eyes that looked only at him, powerful and gentle, enchanting as they drew at his heart. Everything was just as he remembered.

"You... You...Dead..."

He was speechless. His mouth was dry and his throat rolled. She was dead. He knew that, he really did. She died, she detonated to kill him. She had detonated and killed him, killed everyone around him. She was dead, so she shouldn't be here.

"Yes, I died, Young Master. I exploded, and as a result, everyone around you died, you died. And for that, how can I ever forgive myself? But Young Master, you're here, aren't you? You died, but you're here."

She stood up, her graceful movements plucked right from his memories. She could tell his thoughts just from his eyes, she had always been able to. Her words rocked his heart, slammed against his mind. She walked towards him, the breeze bringing along that familiar scent as he stood up, staring dumbly at her. Familiar, it was so painfully familiar. And because of that, he didn't think about it, the words, or perhaps he willfully blotted it out.

"No... This can't be, it's impossible. You can't be here, it's impossible, you're all gone."

His expression twisted as he squeezed out the words. She was a Heavenly Doll, so far removed from the Netherworld that she shouldn't be here. She also wasn't a bad person, she wasn't like him, dyed by Netherworld energy. So even if a mistake happened and she didn't end up in the Celestial World, she shouldn't arrive here.

"Gone... You were also gone, Young Master. But here you are, just as I remember you. And here I am, just as you remember me. Lost, but found again. If something is lost, you just need to find it again, that's all there is to it. You found me, so you can find the others, won't everything be fine if you just do that?"

Soft words, enchanting words. The way she whispered to him when they were alone, that sweet voice she shared only with him in the deepest recesses of the night. It hurt when she walked closer. Every whiff of the scent, every syllable brought by that voice, it hurt. She was lost, he had despaired and cried because she was lost, because they were all lost, because he failed them.

"It's not possible... Please... It's not possible..."

He was like a broken record as she got closer, as she stopped in front of him. It shouldn't be possible, it was just a trick of the mind, it had to be. He would reach out his hands and she would fade like mist, she would scatter like the petals that danced around him as he fought. And it would hurt all the more because a glimmer of hope had been born, that was how the Netherworld would punish him.

She ignored the broken record and reached out with her hands, that oh-so-familiar touch landing on his cheeks. Her hands were warm and soft, skin brushing against skin as she made him lean his head down. And then she placed her forehead on his, his eyes closed because he was scared that she would be gone when he opened them, her eyes closed to savour the sensation.

"Sshh, Young Master. You've never been one to think about if things are possible or not, you move, and you make things possible. So it doesn't matter if it's possible or not, all that matters is what you believe, what you want to be real. Tell me, Young Master, what do you believe?"

Her hot breath hit his nose, an extremely faint touch of moisture accompanying it. It all felt so real, the whisper, the touch, the words, it was all just as he remembered. So he broke down, a few tears running down his cheek. The world was only what you believed, what you made of it.

"Thank you... Thank you for not leaving me..."

He sobbed like the day he lost his parents, he cried like the day he lost his parents. What was lost wasn't lost, he believed that. What was lost could be found again, he believed that. She opened her eyes, Lan Yun looked at the crying man, a tinge of sorrow hidden in the depths of her eyes.

"No, Young Master, thank you for believing in me. It's fine now, cry all you want, empty your heart. And then let's go, let's find all the things you lost, let's hold them tight and climb higher than ever before."