NOVPUBThe Skyrend family had faced two disasters that nearly led them to extinction, and they were now facing their third. It all started with the challenge of the Voidmind family, another of the old families in the Blood Lotus Sect, regarding their role in the deaths of the scions, Theron, and Kassandra. Grand Elder Demetrios Skyrend had presented the Voidmind family with an ultimatum in accordance with the rules: surrender the scion, Dante Voidmind, or confront the wrath of the Skyrend family.
A decision that would invite disaster.
After being pushed back from Slymere and chased to their home at Mount Thunderhold, the Skyrend family faced its first calamity: the void monster. Suspected to have been summoned by the Voidmind family at great cost, the colossal creature from the void appeared without warning and devoured many of the Elders and youngsters, forcing them to cower behind defensive formations against the Voidmind family’s assault when they had been winning just moments before.
The second disaster came in the form of a woman with hair and eyes as dark as the void itself. She appeared and annihilated the sect's hopes and dreams by taking out the pillar of the sect, their Grand Elder. On that day, Demetrios and every remaining Elder perished.
All except Elder Travin.
He had received special permission from Grand Elder Demetrios to use their deepest closed-door cultivation chamber to repair his soul, which had nearly collapsed after he reached the Star Core Realm a few years ago. Despite being the son of one of the highest-ranking Elders within the family and having access to vast resources, he was admittedly untalented in cultivation and had paid dearly because of it during his hasty ascension.
But his uselessness had also been his salvation. While cultivating deep underground, he had escaped the fate that befell every other high-ranking member of his family. He alone was the sole surviving Elder. It was as though the heavens were smiling upon him. Everyone who had looked down upon and belittled him had perished. The path to the top of the family had not only opened up—it had been decimated without him even having to lift a finger.
On that day, Elder Travin believed he was heaven’s chosen.
But he wasn’t in the clear yet. Despite being the highest-ranking member of the family remaining, his low cultivation—hindered by heart demons—left him with little buffer between himself and the top talents in the peak Soul Fire Realm. He wasn’t naive, either. They were undoubtedly aiming for his position, and unlike Grand Elder Demetrios, who had been an unshakeable pillar of the family, he wasn’t deluded enough to think he could live up to such a legacy.
He was replaceable.
Fortunately, as heaven’s chosen, a third disaster struck just as his authority was being challenged by a group of youths who had banded together with ambitious plans to overthrow the last remaining member of the ‘old family’ and seize control for themselves. It was a being that had been mentioned in distressed global broadcasts from other families and traveling merchants.
The name given to the monster and its descriptions varied slightly, but Elder Travin was certain of it. The renowned Soul Eater had arrived at Mount Thunderhold, and with his desire to be a gracious host, Travin made sure to command the unruly youths, who set their sights too high and were now facing inevitable death, to ‘prove themselves’ to him while he watched on from afar.
Elder Travin smirked as he stood in the courtyard of Mount Thunderhold, arms crossed and surrounded by the silent statues of his recently deceased family members. Once everything settled down, he planned to tear them down and replace them with various poses of himself. He would have done so already, but the statues weren’t just for show. They hummed with power, serving as nodes for the golden barrier of crackling lightning that enveloped the city.
“Elder Travin! Lower the barrier and let us back in!” A girl screamed as she pounded with her fist on the golden barrier. “We can’t win against this monster!”
“Now, why would I do that?” Elder Travin chuckled as he happily remained behind the safety of Mount Thunderhold’s guardian barrier. It was said to be a gift from the gods themselves, created to protect the Skyrend family from threats—a truth that Elder Travin firmly believed in.
“You’ve sent us out here to die!” the girl screamed as lightning crackled angrily across her skin. She pulled back her fist and drove it firmly into the barrier, creating small, futile ripples across the unbreakable barrier.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Elder Travin said casually as he inspected his hands, as if searching for specks of dirt on his perfect, marble-like skin that he had inherited from his late father. “If you die here, it will be due to your own weakness.”
A scream drew his attention away from his hand. It came from the leader of the little group that had attempted to oppose him, who had been caught by the Soul Eater. The black vines emerging from her body, acting like tentacles, had skewered the youth. She glared at him with glowing white eyes that were eerily inhuman, as was the crown of dark deer antlers that radiated a sense of inevitable death.
Even Elder Travin, despite being behind the impenetrable barrier found himself taking a hesitant step back with his breath caught in his throat.
“What do you want from us, Monster?!” the skewered youth screamed, his face finally displaying absolute fear. A rare expression for a Skyrend. Elder Travin would commit this pathetic sight to memory, but he hadn’t bothered to remember the youth’s name, nor did he plan to. Anyone close to him in cultivation should just die so he can rule the remnants of the Skyrend family as its one and only king—just as the heavens desired.
“Nothing, I’m just hungry.” The Soul Eater said with an ethereal voice that touched the soul of all who listened. The youth didn’t have a chance to reply as the Soul Eater ruthlessly tore him apart in a bloody mess with her tentacles. The girl who had been pounding on the barrier screamed, and other youths who had been nearby scattered like a terrified flock of sheep.
Elder Travin narrowed his eyes and boosted his spiritual perception to its limit. As the name ‘Soul Eater’ suggested, this monster feasted on souls—a theory he believed, as the monster seemed to have no interest in the annihilated man’s flesh and blood. Instead, he saw a lone tentacle dart out and seemingly grasp at an ethereal ball of energy that had been floating there.
That must have been his soul. Elder Travin shuddered. It was one thing to be killed, but to be denied the chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation? That was a fate he wouldn’t wish upon his worst enemy… well, that wasn’t quite true. He had sent these youths to their deaths after all.
Elder Travin turned and began walking toward the grand palace of the Skyrend family. Although he had complete faith in the guardian barrier, he intended to wait out this third—and hopefully final—disaster like the previous ones. Safely underground, away from danger.
“Elder Travin, you sly, cowardly bastard!” the girl screamed after him. “You’ll pay dearly for this one day!”
That earned a deep chuckle from Elder Travin. With the death of these youths, there was nothing left to stand in his way. His rule would be absolute, and one day, he would be spoken of in fear like Vincent Nightrose. This was merely the beginning of his legend.
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However, his next step faltered as a chill ran down his spine. Huh? Elder Travin attempted to take another step, but his body refused to move. He was frozen in sheer terror, as if chains were anchoring his heart and feet to this spot. He had felt bloodlust before, but this was different. Instead of the raging and suffocating feeling from the Grand Elder’s bloodlust, this was deathly cold and absolute. It left no room for negotiation as if the grim reaper had finally found him and was pressing their scythe to his neck.
Then she was there.
No sound or fluctuation of Qi. She simply appeared before him as if she had always been there.
The Soul Eater measured him with her inhuman, glowing white eyes.
Elder Tarvin knew she found him lacking by her oddly human expression. It was as if she had just eaten something sour.
“I thought I sensed a more appetizing soul hiding down here, but it appears I was mistaken.” Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she circled him slowly, standing atop a mass of shifting black vines that resembled a nest of snakes. “Your soul is rotten to its core and infested with heart demons.”
“Soul Eater,” Elder Travin began, but he froze as one of the monster's roots shot past him, exploding the ground behind him and causing the stone to crack beneath his feet while the mountain trembled.
“I didn’t ask you to speak,” the monster said. “I may have no appetite for one like you, but I can still send you to Tartarus—an eternal prison of shadow suited for monsters in human skin like you.”
Elder Travin weighed his options. It appeared that either the Soul Eater would devour him, preventing him from entering the cycle of reincarnation, or his soul would be sent to a prison that sounded like hell. He chose the third option: to plead for his life and hope to win another day.
Dropping to his knees, he kowtowed, his forehead pressed firmly against the cracked ground. “I, the last remaining Elder of the Skyrend family,” his eyes widened as he felt a root wrapping around his neck. “I… I pledge my life to your service.” He choked as the root tightened, squeezing the air from his throat and forcing him to stand while gasping.
“What is it with deluded people thinking their lives are valuable?” The monster came close enough that he could head-butt her. She reached forward, and to Elder Travin’s utter horror, her hand went into his body as if his skin weren’t there, and he felt her caress his soul. “Insects, plants, monsters, and cultivators. The one constant is the presence of the soul. The source of sentience, life, and power. While no one soul is the same as another, that doesn’t make yours special. What does I suppose is just how… disgusting it is.”
As Elder Travin faced death, he could see the youths he had sent to die watching from afar behind the golden barrier. Their expressions ranged from terror to amused curiosity and everything in between. Why weren’t they trying to save him?! He was the last Elder of the sect! So what if he had sent them to die in his place? That was his birthright. He was a descendant of the legendary Skyrend family!
“Soul Eater,” he gasped, “You might not know, but I’m a member of the Skyrend family. The heavens favor us! Killing me will invite their wrath.”
The monster paused.
Ah, you like that? Scared now that you’ve heard my family’s great name?
“There is only one being I fear,” the monster began, “one whose all-encompassing influence spreads across the land and commands the awe of the people. A being that all of reality will come to fear.”
Ahhhh. Elder Travin wore a shit-eating grin. Even this monster is afraid of the heavens…
“Even the heavens will fear him soon,” the monster said, giving Elder Travin pause.
What? How can the heavens fear themselves? Wait, who is ‘him?’
The monster laughed in his face. “In comparison, the heavens are a joke just waiting to be conquered.”
“Who… is this person?” Elder Travin asked. Maybe the monster was deluded about the true powerhouse ruling over reality, and he could use that to regain control of the situation.
The Soul Eater glanced to the east. “The absolute ruler of the Ashfallen Sect,” her eyes suddenly narrowed, “He’s coming.”
He’s coming? Elder Travin wondered, but then he felt it. Looking up, the grand golden barrier overhead crackled angrily against a sickening black mist that seemed to pour out of another dimension, feasting on the shield. The statues surrounding them began to glow fiercely with power as the shield was fed by the mountain, but it wasn’t enough. There was an unsettling hissing noise, followed by the golden shield being breached.
However, the black mist didn’t fall through the new hole and onto his head like he expected. Instead, it condensed into what could only be considered a rift. To where, he was unsure. But from within its desolation, a figure dropped through.
A lone girl wearing a simple black cloak inscribed with a red eye landed with casual grace and looked between them. She appeared to be in her late teens with short blonde hair that fell to her shoulders and crazed pink eyes.
“Am I interrupting something?” She asked.
Desperate to learn anything about the newcomer, he hesitantly probed her with his spiritual sense, only to come up empty. She was a mortal. In fact, she didn’t possess a trace of Qi.
No, that’s impossible. Her appearance is far too flawless to be mortal. Which can only mean… she’s from above, and her cultivation is so far beyond mine that I can’t even perceive it.
The monster’s reaction reinforced his theory. A being that had effortlessly destroyed airships of cultivators and nearly brought him to death casually discarded him like a worthless flower she had plucked on a whim before confronting the girl.
“Princess, what are you doing here?”
Stella raised an eyebrow. “To speak with you, Nyxalia. How are things?” Her gaze landed on Elder Travin, who was sitting on the ground, trying to catch his breath. “Are you still struggling to control your hunger?”
“I think I always will.” The monster that was apparently called Nyxalia replied, “At least until I surpass the Monarch realm, that is.”
Elder Travin couldn’t believe it. The monster wasn’t attacking her… they were conversing?! Was this newcomer really so powerful that even this monster had to be cautious?
“Makes sense,” the Princess crossed her arms, “but it seems better?
Elder Travin slowly shuffled backward as the two women stared him down. One with a look of disgust, the other with disinterest as if he were a random insect.
“So, are you going to eat him?” the Princess casually asked.
“No, I’d get sick,” Nyxalia said.
“Sick?” The Princess raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know mythical beings could get sick.”
“Poison the food supply of a god, and they will perish.” The monster gestured toward him. “The soul of that one is like rotten meat to me.”
“Uh, I think I remember Ashlock telling me that you said something similar when faced with Elysia, right? You said she was too corrupted to eat.” The Princess tapped her chin, “What about monsters?”
“Most are fine to eat.”
“Really? Why don’t you head to the beast tide and have a feast then? I’m sure Ash would appreciate the extra pair of hands.”
Nyxalia looked at the rift overhead, “Because Ashlock’s desolation Qi blankets the land between here and the beast tide.”
“So?”
“Do you know why I fled to the west after taking over this body? I was hungry, so hungry that I couldn’t even think straight and Ashlock was like a beacon radiating across the land. Everywhere to the east was shrouded in his presence, leading to Red Vine Peak where his soul burned like the sun. If I had approached him like a moth to a flame, I would have lost control and consumed him.” Nyxalia glanced back at the Princess, “But now that his soul has fallen into desolation? It would be me who would face ruin.”
“I see, that’s quite the problem,” the Princess mused. “If Ashlock’s desolation Qi harms you, then you can’t operate in any area where he is. I came here to ask for your assistance at Argentum, as we are holding a meeting with the Silverspires.”
Elder Travin saw this as his chance to interject. “Ladies, if this Ashlock person is such a problem, let me help. I can try to communicate with the heavens, and we can figure out a way to eliminate him. Nothing can survive in this reality if the heavens consider them an eyesore!”
White flames suddenly engulfed the Princess from head to toe, and she turned to glare at him. Her casual, laid-back demeanor had transformed into the wrath of a vengeful goddess. “What did you say?”
“The heavens…” his voice dropped to a whisper, “They can help purge evil from this world.”
She drew her sword, “Fuck the heavens,” and struck down.
Elder Travin blinked in confusion before his world split apart. The two sides of his body fell to either side with a thud. He had definitely been killed, so how could he still see? That’s when he met Nyxalia’s white glowing eyes and felt locked in place.
The monster smiled at him.
He desperately tried to look away, anywhere would be better than meeting her gaze. He glanced down and regretted it. What had once been the floor was now a fissure of darkness filled with tortured souls in the shape of twisted beings. At the epicenter of the fissure, right below him, was a spirit tree with black bark and leaves.
Elder Travin didn’t need to be told that it was this spirit tree that ruled over Tartarus. A force called out to him, and his soul was dragged down into the shadowy hell.
