GDK 512: Demons from the Abyss
The Primordius Dragon coiled the mountain high above, raising his neck as he exhaled his sparkling dragon breath into the sky. Power so terrifying radiated from its breath that it seemed enough to tear apart space itself.
It had certainly been enough to make the seven doorways in the sky glow with spectacular rays of light, constantly fading through the spectrum, as though they were being suppressed by that power and were slowly healing.
Of the seven doorways where light rays interweaved, six were guarded by a demigod being each. From their backs, Han Shuo could see their desperate struggles and their resilience, giving all they could to resist the arrival of some ferocious creatures.
Only one door near the edge did not have a demigod existence of similar power to guard it. It was guarded by a level four golden dragon, who had encountered some sort of powerful creature. The golden dragons purportedly possessed the most robust body of all dragon-kind. Yet, this golden dragon was writhing at the doorway with blood spraying all over.
It was clear that the level four golden dragon could, by no chance, withstand whatever creature was behind that door, and suffered brutal injury to his body in the struggle.
Han Shuo looked closer, and saw that what laid beyond the seven spectacular doors in the sky appeared to be another unfamiliar world. It seemed that without entering the door, it would be impossible to know what was on the other side, for all he could see were long streaks of light streaking across like shooting stars.
Seven doors, seven creatures, six of which were demigod existences. Each and every one of them were battling with all their might against some terrible threat.
The Primordius Dragon, who could have been around since the beginning of time for all anyone knew, was using his divine power to suppress the changing and morphing of the seven doors in an attempt to slowly heal them as to prevent something that could threaten the entire Profound Continent from entering through the seven doors.
Han Shuo observed the changes in the sky as his heart flooded with the most intense curiosity. He was engrossed in the scenery behind those seven doors, as his mind flickered through the endless possibilities of what could lie behind those doors that was so eager to barge through.
After entering the Carnal Realm, Han Shuo had encountered some of the most powerful beings on Profound Continent, and gradually came to understand some of its secrets. From what he could see, Han Shuo was convinced that the seven doors lead to another plane of existence, and the Primordius Dragon and the other six demigod existences were giving their all to prevent some extraplanar being from tearing through the passageways.
The titans and the Primordius Dragon were indeed silently serving Profound Continent! Han Shuo thought.
“Human, what is it that you want?” As Han Shuo observed his surroundings with a grave expression, a roar thundered from the mouth of the silver greater dragon that Han Shuo had been pursuing. It was evident that the silvery dragon was furious, his teeth borne and claws extended in frustration.
Every last titan and dragon in the great valley turned away from the battles in the sky, and cast their humongous eyes at Han Shuo.
There were over ten titans and twice that amount of dragons. Combined, those beings formed a force so mighty that they could elevate any nation to greatness and glory. With so many powerful ancient beings staring right his way, Han Shuo felt an intangible pressure bearing down upon him, and left him with great discomfort.
Unlike the six demigods in the sky, the titans and dragons in the valley were not so powerful. Even so, with well over fourty colossal beings suddenly glaring at him, the pressure was still unusually frightening.
“Human, what exactly are you planning, barging in like this?”
Han Shuo did not respond, to which the silver greater dragon roared again, looking rather impatient.
The two titans closest to Han Shuo looked at him up and down as they slowly approached, as though prepared to smash him into meat paste at a moment’s notice if he said something against their interests.
“Huh? Why are you here?” A sudden cry of surprise came from a golden dragon in the distance, and a dragon who had been positioned a long ways away from him quickly flew over, looking at Han Shuo with astonishment.
“You… you’re Cedric?” Han Shuo asked, staring at the golden dragon with a similar expression, as it seemed like he was the same golden dragon Cedric he had met a few times previously.
“It’s me, Cedric, don’t you remember?” It really was Cedric. He gasped in surprise.
There were more than twenty dragons in the valley, and none of them had taken human form as their giant bodies coiled. Of those, half were golden dragons. Cedric had not taken human form, and in the wave of dragons, there was nothing to distinguish him from the rest.
At the realization, Han Shuo gazed around the valley once more, and finally recognized this place as the Dragon Valley he had heard of in legends. Han Shuo heaved a sigh of relief running into this acquaintance of his, and said, “So it’s you, Cedric. Haha, it’s been a while. I’m here purely for exploration. I heard the explosions in the sky and was drawn to it out of curiosity. Never had I expected to come upon such an impressive sight. What exactly is going on here?”
“Cedric, you know this human?” the silver giant dragon who had had a taste of Han Shuo’s wrath questioned in confusion as he looked oddly at Cedric.
“This is the person I mentioned before, the one who intervened when that thief stole my treasure and even injured me. He assisted me when I needed it. And the other time, in the forbidden ground, it was he who broke through the eternal barrier. We’re friends, there won’t be any issues,” Cedric explained to the silver greater dragon.
At his words, the two titans who had warily crowded over as well as the silver dragon no longer looked at Han Shuo with animosity, although the silver dragon still let out a derisive snort, and said, “Now that the battle has entered a critical stage, he’s not allowed to enter the space-time discontinuum zone, no matter who he is.”
“I understand,” Cedric answered, then said to Han Shuo, “We’re fighting for the safety of Profound Continent. There are some evil extraplanar beings who are trying to enter our world through this special space-time discontinuum zone. My dragon race and the titan race are doing all they can to resist these evil creatures from another dimension.”
After much close observation, Han Shuo knew the gist of what was going on even without Cedric elaborating on the matter. The self-proclaimed defenders of the Continent, the titans and the dragons were giving it their all to protect the realm. Han Shuo could tell the intensity of the battle even from afar.
The look of each titan and dragon showed just how cruel and unrelenting this battle had been. Each appeared more solemn and subdued than the next, a look of anguish in their eyes.
In such critical times, any external forces would be enough to tip the scale of the battle in favor of the other side. It was quite clear to them to have barricaded the area to prevent any unknown forces from interfering.
“This is bad, Valile can’t hold up much longer,” a green dragon cried out.
Following the gaze of the crowd, Han Shuo noticed that the the golden dragon, the only being guarding one of the seven doors that wasn’t a demigod was swaying in a barrage of light and electricity. Blood poured from its body, and it was clearly on its last legs.
There was only sorrow in the eyes of all the dragons in the valley as they grieved over the impending death of their fellow brethren.
“Next one, get ready,” the aged voice of the Primordius Dragon sighed, his voice melancholic and resigned. He sounded as though he could not bear the sorrow of parting in death.
“I’ll go!” cried the silver dragon that had been pursued all the way there by Han Shuo, with the air of one who was not afraid to meet death.
Before the silver dragon could move, a titan standing over thirty meters tall called out, “Your strength is not enough. You dragons have already sacrificed one of your own, now it is our turn.”
That titan seemed the tallest and most powerful amongst them all. As his thunderous voice called out, he was already moving. With each stomp the ground trembled. He was fast, and bolted forward like a streak of lightning.
The golden dragon’s body finally gave in, segmented and snapping to pieces, showering upon the unknown space-time discontinuum. As quickly as the dragon fell, the titan rose to take its place, finally reaching the door.
At that very moment, an incredible turn of events unfolded. It was uncertain if the door had grown larger, or if the titan had simply shrunken, but the titan, who could not under normal circumstances fit through the door, looked as though his body was being stretched and twisted, blending into the door like a piece of abstract art.
Right after the titan fell in, the door which had been constantly growing larger suddenly returned to its original size. From what Han Shuo could see, after the titan arrived at that world where rays of light constantly shone, he found himself locked in battle against some sort of being that was completely invisible, throwing punches and kicks to try to hit it.
Han Shuo tried to focus, but still could not see what exactly was going on. All he could see were the flying rays of light. His consciousness could not sense any trace of the strange creature’s existence. He gathered that this region of space did not follow conventions of the natural law.
Cedric had told Han Shuo that this area was some kind of a space-time discontinuum zone, and bizarre phenomena often happened in such places. Han Shuo began to understand.
The titan remained, in reality, within Han Shuo’s field of vision, but in the space-time discontinuum zone, he may have been an unbelievably great distance away from the Profound Continent. Han Shuo’s consciousness could only stretch out so far given the limit to its range, therefore there was no way he would have been able to sense what was going on there.
“The third one, who knows how many more we’ll need…” A low sigh heaved from an elderly green dragon.
Han Shuo felt pity as he watched the titan barge through the door knowing full well that there would be no return. There wasn’t much of a difference between the titan and the golden dragon that had just perished. The titan, in fact, was slightly weaker. His fate had been sealed; the golden dragon had not held on for long before being torn apart and this titan would likely suffer the same.
There was a great amount of respect Han Shuo had for the titans as this titan knowingly rushed forth to his death just as the rest of them were prepared to do, sacrificing themselves for the safety of the hundreds of millions of beings that lived on the Profound Continent. These titans and dragons alike gave their lives as a noble sacrifice or the people. Han Shuo was humbled by their spirit.
Despite the proud and arrogant nature of the dragons, their most admirable aspects shone like the sun during this battle. Without their silent protection, it is unfathomable what would have become of Profound Continent.
“Cedric, what on earth is going on?!” questioned Han Shuo. A surge curiosity brushed through his mind, what could be behind those doors?
“This space-time discontinuum zone has existed in the depths of the Dark Forest for millenia. We don’t know how or why it formed, but it is constantly changing along with time and space. It often forms passageways that connect Profound Continent to other planes of existence. The dragons and titans have always safeguarded this place against any foreign threats.
“From the moment of my birth about two thousand over years ago, hundreds of space-time discontinuums have occurred. Most of them formed interplanar passages that have led to harmless vast expanses of outer-space, but there were naturally also a couple of times when they connected to other material planes of existence, but those connections never caused too much conflict either. Only in three instances did we encounter attacks from powerful foreign being, but we easily fended them off.
“I am unsure of how this came to pass but this time, the space-time discontinuum formed right at the heart of the Abyss where the demons reside. These powerful demons sensed the formation of these passageways and found their way here. In the beginning only the weaker demons tried to force their way in but were quickly dispatched.
“We had originally thought this would be like our previous encounters and didn’t think much of it. We surely did not expect more and more demons to start attacking, and yesterday we finally understood how bad the situation was when even stronger demons joined in. We immediately notified experts from all over the continent, hoping they would join in on the defence.
“However, due to our complacency earlier on, the messages were sent a little too late. Only two demigod existences from the orc race who happened to be training deep in the Dark Forest have joined the resistance. But this time, a total of seven interplanar passageways have been formed. These demons are so immensely powerful that only demigods stand a fighting chance of holding them off and we only have six. The last door must be guarded in turns, and both sides have lost a total of three of our numbers in doing so.
“The Primordius Dragon needs to use its divine power to alter the formation of the space-time discontinuum zone and can’t spare any energy dealing with that door, and because of the unique formation of each interplanar passageway, we can only send in one being at a time to defend. At this rate, we don’t know how much more we’ll have to sacrifice before we can settle this invasion.”
“Don’t even speak of settling this, we don’t even know if we can hold them off. Look, the demigods are showing signs of fatigue. If the Primordius Dragon isn’t able to alter or seal the space-time discontinuum zone soon, then I’m afraid the Profound Continent will be facing an apocalyptic attack from the demons of the abyss,” the silver dragon retorted. It shook its head with a grim expression on his face.
Boom! A sound like the rumbling of thunder came from the passageway the titan had just entered.
Inside the passageway, multi-coloured streaks of light shone through like the most stunning fireworks launching into the sky. There was a sublime beauty to it. The titan that had just entered the fray seemed to have been caught off-guard by this, and it was unclear what exactly had happened, but wound after would burst open in his flesh, and blood rained down as it had before.
“A high-level demon has joined in on the fight in the passageway. Damn it, it seems Profound Continent really won’t be able to avoid this catastrophe.” The Primordius Dragon sighed bitterly. Rays of light interweaved as divine power enveloped the space-time discontinuum zone. It seemed like he was ready to make a last attempt.
“This is horrible, what do we do?!” Cedric was frantic, his giant head shaking in disbelief.
Cedric suddenly yelled, and his fist-sized dragon eye fell upon Han Shuo as he cried out in delight, “Great Primordius Dragon, he, he is a demigod expert!”
At those words, the attention of every titan and dragon in the valley was fixed on Han Shuo.
It seems I’ll have the chance to be Profound Continent’s saviour, Han Shuo thought. He had originally intended to ask for the Primordius Dragon’s opinion, but suddenly heard another great boom. He turned to the source of the noise and saw the titan who had just entered the battle was covered with gashes across his flesh, and rivulets of blood spilling into the passageway to an unknown space.
Han Shuo had already been curious about what sights lay beyond that door, and he also knew that, should the challenge become too great, he could always retreat. He leapt through the doorway at the speed of lightning and into the unknown foreign space.
The moment he entered, he was blown away by the scene in his beholding.
