《The legend of ice》


 1 Prologue

    Before the creation of the universe, there was nothing but chaos, pure chaos. And from that choas was born 8 chaosverses: the Sithe, the Desolate, the Grandmist, the Vast Expanse, and other unnamed chaosverses.


    But sometimes, this chaos gives birth to creatures known as fiendgods. One of them was Pangu, a fiendgod that was particularly special.


    Pangu was born as a world level cultivator. He was given two choices: create a chaosverse and die, or roam the other chaosverses and live.


    However, the choice wasn''t easy. So Pangu splited his soul to two parts. One to roam the choasverses and another to create the world.


    While he was searching for a place to set his universe, he saw a seed at the shape of a pyramid. Its name came to his mind: Yggdrasil. He knew that it was the right place to set his chaosverse.


    Pangu swang his single bladed axe and striked at the seed that it exploded. The explosion was so tenseit had killed him.


    Rocks began to form around the seed until it created a planet, water surged through this land and created the sea.


    But the work didn''t stop here, two other planets were also created from the explosion: the elemental fire and the elemental ice.


    And so on, 9 major planets and countless minor ones formed an enormous world tree: The Yggdrasil.

 2 I have a chat with myself

    Once, I have heard of a quote that says:" Life is all about challenges, so if you want to live your life, accept the challenge". Yeah easy for you to say.


    But I say that it would be best if we never took the bait . And I advice you, dear reader, save yourself before it is too late. Why? Well hear my story.


    My name is Hasan Awada. I am a 15 year old youth from Lebanon. Nothing unormal happened in my life. Always the boring stuff. School and then home studying. However, when I became 15, everything changed.


    On my birthday night I had a dream. Well, I have dreams every night, but this night''s dream seemed more like a vision.


    I saw myself outside a mansion surrounded by a forest. Atop this mansion was a statue of a bird fluttering its wings. I turned and... WOW, it was the biggest maze I have ever seen. Not that I had seen an actual one, but still it was big.


    I returned my attention to the mansion. I almost freaked out when i saw a man in black robes which surprisingly had approximately the same appearance of me. The man had dark long hair, completely black eyes, and the face of mine. Have I mentioned that the time was night?


    The man eyed me like I was a prey waiting to be chewed by the predator.


    And suddenly he spoke with my voice " Hello Hasan", he smiled " I was awaiting you".


    Then I woke up in the morning just when my mother was going to scream " HAPPY BIRTHDAY!".


    So anyway, I was going to wake up like a crazy whether i had a dream or not.


    I woke like always only disappointing my mother because she didn''t have the chance togive me the surprise.


    And to my surprise, the dream was still stuck in my head. Usually dreams would be forgotten after someone woke up, but this one was still hunting me like it was real.


    I set that aside and got to school like everyday. Sometimes school classes can be so boring that the teachers don''t mind you sleeping in their class.


    While I was sleeping, I heard my voice talking to me in my head: " Hi Hasan".


    " Um... Hi?", I answered.


    " Yeah sorry for what happened last night" , he said, "I should have talked to you in person rather than feaking you out in that dream".


    " Wait...", I reviewed the talk many times, "WHAT???!".


    " Don''t tell me you thought it was a normal dream?", he said.


    Well he had a point. Like I said, this dream felt more like a vision that happened in real life. But I can''t still believe that my voice is talking to me in my head, less than a crazy dream.


    " Oh.... So you''re the man from the vision? ", I asked.


    " Obviously ", he admitted. "Nevertheless, I will be seeing you this evening so be prepared to meet me. Bye".


    " Wait", I shouted to him in my head but no answer came.


    And like this my day couldn''t be less crazier.

 3 Yer a wizard Hasan

    Believe me, my parents thought I was making a prank when I told them what happened. I don''t blame them. You tell me, do you often hear voices inside your heads?


    However, when the bell of the house rang, my dad opened the door and saw the black robed man from my visions.


    " Greetings Mr. Awada" he said.


    My father was bewildered, he didn''t believe his eyes when he saw the man.


    When I saw my double, I knew he was different from me in small ways. His pupils were compelety black, you couldn''t even see the reflection of light within them. His hair was also completely black reaching his shoulders. Also there was that ancient aura surrounding him, though he looked like a young bearded man.


    He gave me a salute bow while smiling and said, " Hello Hasan, I was eager to see you".


    I returned back the salute and called my mom to come.


    We sat in the guests room around a table. I sat facing the man. I wouldn''t lie to you, I was nervous.


    The man spoke after he took a sip from his tea:" Let me introduce myself, I am Richard Dumbledore," he said clamly, " known as the Dark Phoenix or The lord of chaos".


    " Cool names", I said.


    " Thanks. Anyway I was watching Hasan for the last few months and found his soul was growing more powerful by the second and he is ready to start practicing", he said it like all of us understood what he said.


    " What are you talking about?", my mom said.


    "What? You are purebloods and don''t know what I am talking about?"


    "Umm yeah, and what is a pureblood?" my father asked.


    "Oh God", he sighed, "Okay, let''s start from the beginning andI will explain".


    " I am a wizard", he showed us a piece of black wood ( what''s wrong with this guy? All black?) " and this is my wand".


    "That explains everything", I said, " You should''ve started from here."


    " I hadn''t explained anything", he noted.


    " Well you did, if you are saying you are a wizard then I know what a pureblood is".


    "You do?" asked my parents at the same time, as if I spoke in another language.


    " Yes", I answered, " A pureblood is a person whose parents are both born from wizarding families."


    The three looked at me in amazement:" You know stuff", said Richard.


    "Books", I continued, " The thing is, none of us had done magic before so how are we purebloods then?"


    " You generated from the Hamadan clan in Yemen right? This clan was a powerful wizardry clan that sealed its power in order to save itself from a war."


    "War?"


    "Long story", he gave me the I-will-tell-you-later look and continued, "anyways, I was expecting you to know about this but apparently the history books don''t say many things".


    "Yeah they give us the most boring history".


    My parents remained silent all the conversation looking between me and Richard.


    " Okay", he said while standing up, " enough for today. I''ll come tomorrow morning to get you to my place. Good night sirs and happy birthday Hasan".


    He smiled and then disappeared with a flash.


    As soon as Richard was gone my parents turned to me:" You believe him?", my father asked.


    "Dad, he just made teleportation in front of you and you still don''t believe?" I asked the obvious question.


    Though they didn''t look convinced, I bid them a good night and went to sleep, hoping that this was only a nightmare and I will awake soon.

 4 The mansion of nigh

    When Richard said he will be here at the morning, he meant it. He came just when the sun rose in the sky.


    "Dude", I said, " why so early?".


    " Doesn''t matter", he answered, " you don''t suffer from motion sickness, do you?"


    "No"


    "Good, now take hold of my hand".


    I did as he told me to do. And we disappeared.


    When we reappeared I was laying on the ground ready to vomit everything I had eaten yesterday.


    "Uhhh", I said, "that was apparition wasn''t it?"


    "Yes", he said, "and welcome to the Mansion Of Night".


    This time it was daytime. I saw the building. It was super beautiful.


    The mansion was surrounded by an ancient forst, a lake, and of course the maze. Flowers and several plants were everywhere. A broad plain was at a corner, a place for martial arts classes, an archery region, and other places I didn''t know. But I saw something I didn''t see in the vision, there were soldier statues all around the mansion holding swords and shields as if guarding the place.


    " It''s beautiful", I admired.


    "Thank you", he replied, "now let''s take a tour".


    He took me for a stroll around the place. While we were walking, Richard talked a lot about wizardry and magic, how he created it, how he took many disciples and taught them how to use this magic.


    " Many of the ancient known people where of my disciples like: Isis, Freya, Chiron, Mimir, F¨¢rbauti, emperor Sun Wu, and other talented ones", he said.


    "Wait a minute", I said, "aren''t those believed to be gods in many civilizations?"


    "Yes, they were believed as gods. But actually there is only one God and no other, all the ones who claimed to be gods were powerful beings that were mistaken as gods."


    "So you''re telling me that the Greek, the Norse, the Egyptians, and the Chinese all existed?"


    "Of course, did you expect the puny head of mortals to create such things?"


    "Who are you exactly? The Dumbledore name and '' Lord Of Chaos'' are not new to my ears".


    "How many Dumbledore family have you heard of?"


    "Well, only one", I said, "so you are the brother of-?"


    "Albus Dumbledore, yes", he answered, " I am the youngest one which no story talks about me".


    "What the hell?"


    Imagine someone who looks like a young manand his brother was an old man and looked like santa-claus. Yep, this is what''s happening now.


    "Oh don''t be too surprised by this. Although I am younger from my deceased older brother, I am now at the same age he was when he died. That is if you are speaking biologically", Richard said.


    "What do you mean?", I asked.


    "I am immortal, kid, I don''t age", he smiled.


    The two of us remained silent for a while.


    " You said also something about a phoenix?" I finally asked cutting the uncomfortable silence.


    "Yes", he said, "I am known as the Dark Phoenix because well, I am a phoenix".


    "obviously" .


    "Yeah, I was born half human and half phoenix, but not the usual fire one. No. I am a black one".


    "I was wondering what''s wrong with you and the black color".


    He smiled calmly.


    "So tell me", I said, "how did you became immortal. Well, other than being a phoenix".


    "Why, by cultivation of course", Richard answered.


    "Cultivation? Like the Chinese did?"


    "Yes, the Chinese were known by their cultivation ranks and their power".


    "And what are those ranks?"


    "Firstyou have the ''warrior/wizard'' rank which is consisted of 9 levels. Second, the ''saint'' rank which consists of 3 levels: early, mid, and peak. Third, the divinity rank which consists also of three levels: early, mid, and peak; some arrogant ones calls themselves in the respective way: demigod, god, and highgod."


    "That explains why most of the civilizations had ''gods''", I smirked.


    Richard smiled and continued, "The fourth one is the ''sovereign'' rank consisting of lesser, intermediate, and high Sovereign. The fifth is the ''world'' level. The sixth is the ''Dao lord '' level and finally the ''Emperor'' rank."


    "That''s it?"


    "Sort of. Right now you need to know about these only."


    "Okay", I said rolling my eyes.

 5 The laws of the universe

    Richard continued to say how hard it is to reach those ranks and how many years it would take.


    "You are only 118 and you reached the ''chaos lord'' level?", I asked.


    "How do you know that the ''lord of chaos'' is a level of cultivation?", he asked regarding my question.


    "I told you before, I read books. Anyway, you haven''t answered my question."


    "I am biologically 115, but technically I am over 3 million chaos cycles".


    "And each chaos cycle is approximately 4 trillion years, am I right?"


    "Exactly", he said, waited for some time as if to let me consume this knowledge, then added, "all of this is achieved when you study the laws of the universe".


    "Which are?"


    "First there was only the primordial chaos, then there was the 4 elements that are: water, wind, fire, and earth. And from these elements were born 4 edicts known as the edicts of life, death, fate, and destruction. This brings us to other laws such as the laws of darkness, light, lightning, reality, time, power, space, soul, and mind."


    "That makes a lot of laws".


    "Indeed, there is also countless lesser laws mostly known as ''Daos''".


    "Let me guess, you study the law of darkness?"


    "I study a lot of laws, but yes mainly the law of darkness."


    "So you are saying that every person has an affinity to study a specific law, right?"


    Richard nodded.


    "Then what''s my affinity?", I asked.


    "You, kid, has the affinity to study the laws of water and wind, and at a time you will learn how to merge these laws to create a new law", he said, " come on now, I will take you inside the house".


    And with this, we walked towards the mansion. There were two soldier statutes at each side of the wooden door of the mansion, each holding a spear and a shield.


    Richard passed without any problem. Only when I was about to step, the two statues moved and crossed the spears and spoke in one deep creepy voice:" Only the residents of the mansion shall pass. The lord is the only one that can make an exception".


    I was scared, I won''t lie. Now, I know you''ll say" you are a coward Hasan, you don''t deserve to be here", you don''t have a point. But tell me, dear reader, what would you do when a piece of stone talks to you? Do you experience it all the time? The answer is no of course.


    "God", Richard said while slapping his forehead, " I forgot about that. I, Richard Dumbledore, the lord of this house, gives Hasan Awada permission to enter the mansion."


    The soldiers returned to their positions and let me peacefully pass.


    We entered the house. The interior was amazing. It had medieval and modern furniture. I stood in the open corridor admiring the beauty of the room.


    " Starlet", Richard shouted.


    I gave him the '' who-the-hell-is-Starlet'' look.


    "Starlet is the spirit and the manager of the mansion", he explained.


    Suddenly, a middle-aged man appeared out of nowhere. That wasn''t apparition, I have seen how Richard did it.


    "Master", the man bowed to Richard and then looked at me like I was an interesting object that needs to be repaired.


    "Starlet", Richard said, "meet my new to be disciple, Hasan Awada. Give him a tour inside the mansion and then get him to my office."


    He then took the stairs to the second floor of the house leaving me alone with the ghost.


    "Um hi", I said, not sure of what I should say.


    "Come here, son", Starlet said, " I will show you where your room will be and give you a general impression of this house".


    We walked through the mansion while Starlet was explaining to me the various rooms, and when the mansion was built, how, and why. I didn''t know if I was to be surprised by him or myself. I found that kind of interesting, rather than boring.


    " Before this mansion was built", he said, " Master and his disciples lived in a nearby castle named Hogwarts. An ancient name, but still the modren people still call it like that".


    "Wait a minute...", I reviewed what he said, " you mean Hogwarts the school? It is real?"


    "Yes, how do you think that castle was transformed into a school for young wizards and witches?"


    "Oh... Sorry. So we are in Scotland right now? And where exactly near Hogwarts?"


    "Yes we are in Scotland. As to where near the school, we are in the dark forest."


    "Oh. So, tell me. What do we do exactly here?"


    "Here you learn how to control your power, practice magic, martial arts, care for creatures, potions, and other activities."


    " Nice".


    He showed me my room. Wow. It was big. It was the sort of room I wanted and mostly desired.


    Starlet then took me to a statue of a bird, a phoenix. He spoke a word I coudn''t spell - I imagine it is some sort of password - and the phoenix started to rise, and with it round stairs rose with it.


    We climbed the stairs and entered a room. How could I describe this room? Well, it was like the headmaster''s office at Hogwarts. A telescope, shelfs of books all around the room, and an office. There were other artifacts hanging on the walls. I turned my attention to the ceiling. Wait. There was none. There was a beautiful night sky with plenty of shining stars.


    Richard was at the telescope looking in it and mumbled some words. I didn''t realize that I was standing in the door and my mouth was hanging open. Starlet''s pushing let me wake up from my trance.


    "Ops, sorry", I apologized, which also told Richard that we were here.


    "Come in", he said. I did as he told, but found that the spirit didn''t enter and closed the door behind him.

 6 Why do you look like me? Wait, I look you.

    I marched towards the table and sat at a nearby chair. At the table were the usual things one would put in an office, Richard''s wand, and a moving picture of a young girl, which I guess was Ariana, Richard''s sister. She looked like she was 12 at the time the picture was taken.


    Richard sat in his chair that looked like throne.


    "So, did you like my mansion?", he smiled.


    I nodded then added: "There is something still bothering me".


    "Tell me".


    "Why are we alike? I mean by the appearance and voice."


    "You are my clone Hasan, my other self", he kept his smile.


    "I am what?".


    From yesterday, I accepted many things. Yes, even the voice in my head. But being told that you are the second body of someone, that I couldn''t accept.


    " How can I be your clone? Aren''t clones supposed to have the same thoughts and the same soul? And don''t they have the same age? ", I asked still refusing to believe that.


    "Usually, it is like this", he said, "but you are a special case. You developed an independent mind and soul. Nevertheless, you still have a connection with me".


    "How did this happen?"


    "A thousand years ago, I had to cast a spell that would let me lose some pieces of my soul. Your soul is one of these pieces, though it shouldn''t have survived since it was too weak. But for an unknown reason, it still developed and gained strength over this millennium then it gave birth to you".


    I nodded. I still couldn''t believe what he is saying, but he had a point. Every soul that is weak coudn''t host a body.


    "Still, why do I look like to many of my relatives? Do they also have a connection with you?", I asked in a mocking way.


    "Like I said before, the Hamadan clan was one of the ancient wizardry clans. It is the descendant of my son Ra, king of Ancient Egypt. So it is normal for some of them to look like me".


    "Ah. Then I am your great great great - how many ''great'' should I count? - grandson? And do I have to call you grandpa Richard? "


    Richard laughed and said, " Yes, you''re my great grandson. But just call me in my proper name".


    "Alright, grandpa", I said while also laughing.


    "Now enough of that. Let''s meet my disciples and make you formally my student" .


    And as if they have been waiting for him to say that, 5 people came in smiling.


    "Hello Hasan", said one of the men. He was an old man with long white hair and a long white beard. He wore a kind smile on his face that gave me a fealing that even the ones that would want to kill him, will be charmed by it and go away.


    The man on his right was a big bald man in an ancient armor and a black beard. A battle axes, carved with Nordic runes, was hanging on his waist. Two flaming blades where at his back. And a head with horns at the other end of his waist. He nodded at me.


    Oh God.... The last man was from the upper human, and from the lower horse. I remembered a legend about half human and half horse creatures, they were called ''Centaurs''. This centaur had a bow in his hand and a quiver on his back. He smiled at me gently.


    As for the women, the first one was wearing imperial robes that no one still used in this era. But I must admit, they suited her perfectly.


    The last one was a pretty teenage girl that looked the same age as me. She had a wand in her hand. She smiled a mischievous smile like she was preparing a prank.


    " Hasan", Richard said, " I want you to meet my disciples; well, the ones that hadn''t died. Anyway this is F¨¢rbauti, Mimir, Merlin, Chiron, Freya, and Tulip".


    While he was saying their names, he gesturedat them respectively: the big guy, the head, the old man, the centaur, the imperial robed woman, and the teenage girl.


    I saluted them and looked especially at Merlin, my eyes full of surprise,"So you are Merlin? The one who they keep jocking about?" I asked


    " Yes son", he laughed, " I am. I also hear those jokes about my beard".


    "And pants", I added. They all laughed, even the scary big guy. We exchanged salutes.


    "You look my age", Tulip said, "How old are you?"


    "Um 15", I answered, not really knowing if she was my age or not. Look at Richard for example , he looks like a man in his 20s but is actually older than 3 million chaos cycles.


    She must have been reading my mind since she said, " Don''t worry, I am really your age".


    "Oh..."


    "Now, dears, let''s stop jocking", Richard said, "let us make Hasan your formally junior apprentice brother".


    All of us stood. Richard spread his hands as if he was holding something.


    "Hasan Awada", he said, his tone deadly serious, "come in front of me".


    I did as he asked.


    "Do you accept to be my disciple and student where I will be your master, teacher and your guide in your training?"


    "I accept".


    "Do you swear to follow the rules of the Mansion Of Night like any other student here?"


    "I swear".


    "Do you swear on your life that you won''t reveal the techniques and cultivation methods to anyone only if I allow you so?"


    "I swear".


    "Then I, Richard Percival Dumbledore, the Dark Phoenix, the Lord Of Chaos, make you my latest disciple and student. Let the blessings of God fall appon you in this life and in the other life."


    A rainbow bathed me in its light. I had a new feeling that I couldn''t describe.


    " Now, I bless you with one of my feathers to make your wand with it, two vials of phoenix tears in case you are injured, and a piece of Pangu''s blade to make your weapon and fuse it with your wand. Accept these as gifts from me, your master", he simled and gave me the items.


    However, the others were full of disbelief, when I say all I mean everyone except Tulip.


    "Richard", spoke Freya, "are you sure about the blade?"


    "Yes", he said, "believe me, I put it in the good hands".


    He winked at me then added:"Mimir, tomorrow you will teach Hasan about how to make a wand. Merlin, you will teach him charms and magic. Chiron, archery. And Freya, healing abilities".


    He turned to the big guy, "F¨¢rbauti, I will teach him some martial arts first, then you will take the post. Now, shooo. Go to your works".


    All of them left me and Richard alone in the room.


    "I will send you to your home now, Hasan", he said, "you have a big day tomorrow".


    He pointed his wand to a pen and said, "Portus".


    He added while smiling, " I expect you to return the pen. Bye Hasan, see ya".


    And without letting me to say anything, I found myself on my bed holding the pen. The first thing I did was vomiting.

 7 My first day at training

    I don''t how, but I woke up in my room at the mansion. The pen and the materials Richard gave me yesterday were on a nearby table. I jumped out of my bed and found the toilet.


    After that, I went to examine the pen. A note was beside it that read:" Meat me at the lake when you wake up. And wear something from your closet- Richard".


    I sighed and remembered that I was still in pajamas. I went to see what would I wear for the day. I put on a body suit and linen pants.


    When I reached the corridor, I almost stumbled with Starlet, who was just going out of the library.


    "Morning", I saluted.


    He nodded and asked, "When did you come here? "


    "I was going to ask you the same question".


    Reaching the lake, I saw Richard waiting for me.


    "At least you could have told me that you were going to pick me up", I said with a blaming tone.


    He put on his annoying calm smile and said, " Let''s begin your practise. Go to the shore of the lake and meditate for an hour."


    " An hour??", I complained, though I still did that. Some sort of energy was evading me, it surged through every cell and vessel of my body.


    After an hour, Richard said," Get off your suit and shirt, unless you want them to get wet".


    "Okay".


    My body was average, I had some muscles under my skin. We stepped in the water, but Richard had other motives, he was stepping on the water. He just floated there and sat in cross-legged position. I did the same, though inside the water.


    " Try to control the water", he said, as if it was so easily and insignificant, "close your eyes and make these hand movments. Remember, the key is to concentrate".


    He showed me the hand movments, and I obeyed. I tried to clear my mind. It was hard. But the one hour meditation helped.


    I made the movements for about 10 minutes, but nothing happened.


    "Come on", Richard encouraged, "you can do it. Just believe that you are the water and need to move like any species".


    I tried again. This time I felt like my hands bacame liquid. I felt like nothing existed around me. Sound of trickling water came from me. No. They came from the lake.


    I opened my eyes and found myself in front of Richard, who was laughing delightfully and clapping his hands.


    "Excellent!", he approved, still clapping, "I expected you to do it on the 10th try, but surely not on the second. You are truly talented Hasan, I underestimated you".


    A twinkle of pride emerged inside me. I had made what other people couldn''t.


    "Now, let me see if you''re also talented in wind", he smiled.


    I repeated my actions earlier and without knowing, I was floating in the air. I instantly panicked, falling in the lake. I was surprised that I could breath inside the water. I mean, when I went to the pool with my friends, I could stay under the water longer than them.


    Richard came inside and said in the water without any difficulty, "Amazing, isn''t it?". He pointed towards the horizon. I was stunned. Many amazing underwater creatures where swimming happily with each other. Some of the small ones even came and tickled my hands.


    If I had any thoughts that all of this wasn''t real, now all the doubts disappeared. I was part of this paradise now. There was no going back.


    Richard patted my shoulder and told me to get back outside the water.


    We swam back to the shore together. My body quickly absorbed the water that was stuck on me. I put my clothes on. We headed back together to the house.


    "Rest for some time, then go to F¨¢rbauti and Mimir in order to make your wand. Mimir will teach you how to make it. Then, go meet Merlin in room 13", he said.


    I hadn''t realized how tired I was. Once I was on the bed, I sank in a deep sleep.


    I slept for about an hour. Then went to meet F¨¢rbauti and Mimir on the training grounds.


    The big guy was sharping a long sword ignoring Mimir who was talking beside him.


    When I approached, the head notice my arrival, "Hello, brother". He gave me a hideous grin.


    The warrior turned his head towards me and said" What brings you here, boy? ".


    " Richard sent me here in order to make a wand", I answered calmly.


    "Follow me".


    He picked Mimir and walked towards the forest.


    "Find a good Elder tree and cut a solid branch from it", instructed Mimir.


    We found the branch and went for the armory (Don''t ask me why. I don''t know what wand making has to do with armors and weapons).


    The big guy picked some heartstrings that I believed were dragon ones, then reached for his pocket and revealed a small crystal the size of a baby''s thumb. He then picked up Thestral hair from a pot.


    "Here", he handed me the materials, " bring the feathers that master gave you and hold the branch".


    Mimir instructed me to say some words that I surprisingly understood.


    Instantly, transparent thin fibers began to form around the materials. They began to merge with each other until a 7 inch wand was created.


    Rectangular beads were on the wand, the little crystal was at the end of the wood. Its color was indigo.


    "A good one indeed", Mimir praised, "it contains the right wood, cores, and length. It also resembles the elder wand of Antioch Peverell. Take good care of it".


    F¨¢rbauti nodded. I was indeed fascinated by this wand. I felt like it resembled my personality. Nice, good but also simple.


    I thanked the two and went to find Santa in room 13.

 8 I blow up a perfect room in the house

    In the late afternoon, I found Merlin giving lectures to Tulip about some kind of spell.


    When I approached, the two spotted me.


    "Should I come back later?", I asked.


    "No", Tulip said, "It''s okay. You are a beginner, so it is totally fair that you go first". She smiled at me, but I knew there was a sneer hidden under that smile.


    "Come here, son, show me your wand", Merlin said while stroking his beard. He nodded and said, "I am sure that you''ll accomplish great things with the help of this nice piece. But I must warn you not to sink in the ocean of power the wand will give you".


    He frowned at the crystal but decided not to share his thoughts with us. He gave me the wand, I nodded.


    "Now", he said, "What do you know about spells?"


    "Um... Not much. I know that the natural energy is channeled through the wand and creates something called a spell which requires an incantation that specify what kind of spell the one wants".


    "Excellent. Now try casting the light charm please".


    I waved my wand and said, "Lumos!". Instantly, a huge glob of light was generated from the tip of my wand that almost blinded us.


    "Wow", exclaimed Tulip.


    I exterminated the charm. Merlin clapped his hands in approval and said, "I underestimated your talent. Let''s see another one. Try to enlarge this pin". He put a small pin on his desk.


    I pointed the wand at the pin and said, "Engorgio!". The pin became big.


    "Now return it to its normal size".


    "Reducio!". The pin returned its normal size.


    "That''s not fair", Tulip murmured, "I''ve waited to my second year to attempt these spells and failed numerous times. Now he tried them for the first time and succeeded!".


    Merlin laughed and patted her shoulder, "Don''t regard yourself, dear. You of all the students at Hogwarts found the Mansion Of Night and survived the maze".


    "Yeah, though it was cheer luck".


    Merlin just shook his head while smiling. He then turned to me and said, "Increase the size of the pin and explode it".


    I obeyed. Once again, the pin became big and I said, "Bombarda!"


    Do you know what happened? No, it wasn''t a small explosion like it was supposed to be. Instead, the entire room exploded. The power channeled through my wand was so powerful that it made a big explosion rather than a small one.


    I just stood there stunned. Fortunately, 3 pieces of stone, that were going to blast my head, awakened me. I panicked. I drew all my power and cast the shielding spell, though I tried it in order to test my luck.


    "Protego!", I shouted. Once I said that, a transparent layer surrounded me. The bricks that were going to blast me struck the layer and bounced against it.


    When everything was calm again, I turned and found myself face to face to Richard, who raised his eyebrow at me.


    "I brought you here to learn how to control your power, not to blow up the rooms of my house", he complained.


    Merlin emerged from the dust, beside him walked Tulip who wore a look of disbelief on her face.


    "Repero!", Merlin said. The broken wall began to repair itself and once again everything returned to normal, as if no explosion happened here.


    "How did you do that?", Tulip asked, still not believing her eyes.


    I sighed helplessly, "I don''t know, it just happened". Richard just shook his head, as if to say: '' young-wizards-these-days''.


    "Enough for today", he announced, "Tomorrow you two are going to learn how to care for magical creatures with the help of an old friend of mine. Also you are going to learn how to brew potions and make pills from a disciple of mine".


    "What about my school?", I asked.


    "Seriously?"


    "Yeah, I can''t just dump my school and my friends".


    "I have made the school and your friends think that you went to another school far from your home. Don''t worry, you''ll still be able to meet your friends from time to time".


    "Okay".


    "Off you go now, tomorrow you''ll be here early. No excuses".


    "At least let me wake up in my home, not here".


    I went outside with Tulip, she told me about how Hogwarts is and how she found the lake that took her inside the maze. I felt like she accepted me and took note of me. No more sneering. Yay!


    I reached for the pen in my pocket and apparated to my home in Lebanon, ready to face the angry inquiry of my parents. I guess I should''ve told Richard to leave them a note that I was leaving for the day. But apparently he had forgotten.

 9 I have a ride on a horse-eagle

    Once I stepped inside the house, I saw my parents waiting for me at the door.


    "Where have you been?", my dad asked in an arousing anger tone.


    "I was at Richard''s place", I made an apologetic look, "I hadn''t known that I would wake up there. Perhaps because of the fact he was immortal all his life, be didn''t take it as something important?", I asked while wondering.


    "What?", my mom asked, "Look dear, we appreciate that you want to do this, but we are not like you. Your father and I cannot accept this the way you did".


    "Oh come on! I finally have something interesting in my life and you want me to drop it and continue with the boring old one?!"


    Anger rose inside me. My parents never stood at something so insignificant before. What happened now?


    My father sighed helplessly and said," Fine. You can continue this. But if I find that you do something that will kill you, believe me, I will kill you myself before anyone does". So I was going to die if I seaked death whether I wanted it or not. However, how could my father know what would happen in the future? How could he know that I will be at the shore of death for many times?


    I sighed in relief and thanked them, though I told them that I dumped school. I didn''t know how, but I evaded the shoe that was going straight into my face.


    I slept like a dead man. I hadn''t realized how much the spells tired me. I woke up in the morning thanks to the pen that surprisingly floated from my desk and started to poke me. I didn''t want to leave my bed, it was the paradise that every person loved to stay in.


    I wore my clothes and wrote a not to my parents, picked up my wand, and held the annoying pen.


    In a flash, I was at The Mansion Of Night. I hurried to plaims were I saw Richard talking to a tall, thin man with blue eyes, he wore a blue coat, brown vest, white shirt, bow tie, dark brown trousers and brown boots. He held a leather suitcase. The man looked young, though I don''t think he was so. Tulip sat in her Ravenclaw Hogwarts uniform and slept there.


    "Morning", I said to no one in specific. Tulip''s eyes snapped open.


    "You are late", she noted.


    "Yeah, and I could''ve stayed for extra two hours in bed. However, there was a pen that woke me up. I think it was doing this by someone else''s control". I looked at Richard who just shook his head. The man smiled.


    "Meet Newt Scamander", Richard introduced us, " he will be teaching you how to care for magical creatures. Today''s class will be for three hours. Enjoy!". And he disappeared.


    I shook Newt''s hand and said, "I have heard of you in movies and books".


    He smiled, "Oh, these stories. They always tell what happened in a twisted way".


    "Yeah, Richard is always telling me that".


    "Let me enter my case first, then we will start on your first creature, and we will discuss how to cure every one''s bites".


    Did you ever see a man entering a bag? That was exactly what happened. A few minutes later and Newt emerged from his suitcase with an eagle. No. Wait. It had the body, hind legs, and tails of a horse, but the front legs, wings, and a head of a giant eagle, with cruel, steel-coloured beak and large, brilliantly orange eyes. The talons on its front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Although it looked deadly and dangerous, it was a beautiful creature. It sent an eagle''s cry in the air.


    "Can you two define what creature is this?", Newt asked while caressing its head.


    "A hippogriff", the two of us said it at the same time.


    "Yes, it is a hippogriff. Its name is Wingo. A hippogriff is one of the most beautiful creatures on Earth. But be warned, it can also be deadly if you offended them. Let''s sit and talk about hippogriffs and the proper way of caring for them".


    We sat at a nearby table, while Newt continued his lecture about hippogriffs," Hippogriffs are carnivorous and are extremely dangerous until tamed, which should only be attempted by a trained witch or wizard. The diet of the Hippogriff consists mainly of insects, birds, and small mammals such as ferrets. They will sometimes paw at the ground for worms if no other food is readily available-".


    " Gross", Tulip interrupted. I rolled my eyes.


    "Yes Miss Karasu. Anyway, when breeding, Hippogriffs build nests on the ground, and lay only a single, fragile egg . The egg usually hatches in twenty-four hours. Infant Hippogriffs are capable of flight within a week, but it takes many months before they are strong enough to accompany their parents on long journeys". He continued his lecture for about an hour. I found this deeply interesting.


    "Doesn''t a Hippogriff attacks whenever someone approaches it?", I asked.


    "It indeed does", he said, "However, there is a proper etiquette that must be maintained to avoid danger. Hippogriffs are intensely proud creatures, and an individual must show proper respect by bowing to them, and waiting for them to bow in return before approaching. Eye contact should be maintained at all times, without even a single blink. The Hippogriff should be allowed to make the first move, as this is polite. If offended, it may attack. And believe me, its bite is too painful".


    "When someone develops a strong relationship with a Hippogriff, will it protect the one?", Tulip asked.


    "Yes. Although proud, Hippogriffs can also be fiercely loyal and protective of those who have earned their trust. Its beak is a lethal weapon for its enemies, and they helped to defeat many wars in history".


    "Wow", I said, "How come you have a Hippogriff with you?".


    "Actually, it lives here in the mansion. Wingo is one of the ancient Hippogriffs. It arrived here at the mansion thousand years ago, though no one knows how it came here. I only took it for a few days in order to fix its wing".


    "Is it okay?", asked Tulip with deep concern.


    "Yes. It is ready to fly. Would you like to try?"


    We nodded in enthusiasm. We did as Newt told us to do. We stared at the eyes of the creature for some time and bowed. Fortunately, it bowed back and approached us. I caressed its warm feathers. I climbed up with Tulip behind me, though she didn''t touch me. Newt hit Wingo''s butt and soared with us toward the sky. What a beautiful view! Wingo flew outside the forest and I saw a big castle in the distance.


    "That''s Hogwarts", Tulip explained and I nodded. Wingo continued his journey while rapidly flipping his wings. I knew now why they called him Wingo, his speed was unimaginable.


    We returned to the mansion where Newt was waiting for us.


    "How was it?", he asked while smiling.


    "Awesome!", I replied.


    We fed the creature according to the instructions of the magizoologist. And with that, the class ended.

 10 We make potions with a half-dead man

    After we haved finished caring for the beast, we went to the dungeons under the mansion. There were many rooms there, but I guess there is only one wide room that was fit for potion making.


    As we entered, we saw a creepy old man, he looked like a skeleton, and more of a ghost. He had white somehow long hair. He wore a white long robe.


    He noticed us and said in an hoarse voice, "Welcome, children. I am Nicolas Flamel, an alchemist and a potion master. I will be teaching you the path of alchemy here".


    "Umm... Sorry to be rude but ", I said hesitantly, "Aren''t you supposed to be dead?"


    "That is what known to the outer world my child. I gained immortality through a stone a I created. However, when I became a Dao lord, my connection to the stone was severed".


    "Oh".


    "Your first lesson will be the Boil Cure potion.Being an effective remedie against pustules, hives, boils and many other scrofulous conditions. This is a robust potion of powerful character. Care should be taken when brewing. Prepared incorrectly this potion has been known to cause boils, rather than cure them. So when brewing the potion, the cauldron must be taken off the fire before adding the porcupine quills , or the cauldron will melt and create a horrid odour, and if it spills will cause the skin to erupt in vicious boils. Bring your cauldrons from the closet and start brewing".


    We did as he told us to do. After a while, the alchemist said, " In order to make this potion, first add crushed snake fangs to your cauldron and stir it. Slice your Pungous Onions finely and place in cauldron, then heat the mixture. Add dried nettles. Add a dash of  Flobberworm mucus and stir vigourously. Add a sprinkle of powdered ginger root and stir vigourously again. Add pickled Shrake spines. Stir gently, so as not to overexcite the Shrake spines. Add a glug of stewed horned slugs. Add porcupine quills. Finally, wave your wand over the cauldron to finish the potion".


    Putting and cutting the ingredients took at least half an hour. As for the brewing, it took from an hour and half to 2 hours.


    After the brewing finished, the potion was blue colored, and pink smoke rose from the cauldron.


    Nicolas examined Tulip''s potion, then mine and said, "Your potions were made successfully. Though I must note that Miss Karasu''s potion is better than yours, Mr Awada".


    At least, Tulip looked pleasedwith herself, and smiled her teasing smile at me.


    "Tomorrow, you will learn how to make a Wiggenweld potion. Class dismissed".


    And then, he returned to his cauldron not bothering with us anymore.


    I went to the library in order to study some spells, though I prefer not to blow anything up. I picked up a book labeled as the Book of Spells. I searched for the levitation charm.


    And read:"The Levitation Charm was first developed in the sixteenth century, and warlock Jarleth Hobart is credited with its creation.


    On 16 July, Hobart invited a large crowd of wizards, among which was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to witness his ''maiden flight'' ¡ª a public demonstration of his own revolutionary charm on himself. He climbed onto the roof of his local church and, after several speeches and a rousing performance of the national anthem he leapt and, having cast the spell, was left hovering in mid-air. At first, he seemed to have succeeded but, after having spent nearly three minutes watching him hanging in mid-air, the crowd grew impatient to see him move somewhere, and booed him.


    In response to the catcalls, Hobart tried to move in midair, and started performing vigorous swimming movements, which produced no effect. Mistakenly believing that his clothes were making him heavier and impeding his movement, Hobart stripped thus making him fall ten feet onto the ground below, as it were the clothes that were holding him up in the air ¡ª they had been charmed by the Levitation Charm, not Hobart himself. He fell completely naked on the ground, breaking sixteen bones, and received a fine for ''outrageous silliness'' from the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in 1544".


    Typical. I just flied yesterday without even the help of a spell. And I am a wizard. I continued reading how this warlock Hobart had spent his time in analyzing his new created spell:"He eventually realised that he had invented a spell that would lift objects into the air and could cause them to hover for varying lengths of time, depending on their weight, and the skill of the spellcaster. Despite its strengths, however, the Levitation Charm has one fatal flaw: it does not work on  human beings. Though a human can be levitated using this charm, it is actually their clothing that is being affected. The charm is apparently not strong enough to allow a human to do anything more that float a few feet off the air using this method, and therefore does not allow the true flight afforded to most other objects".


    I brought a feather and said the incantation of the charm while pointing my wand at the item, "Wingardium Leviosa!"


    The feather started to float in the air, and I directed it through my wand.


    I kept practising for a while then shifted for another spell.

 11 A year later

    In the blink of an eye, a year passed since I became a cultivator.


    I continued to take charms, care for creatures, meditation, law study, potions, and sword play with Richard.


    At this moment, I was having a training lesson with the lord. The two of us were standing at the surface of water of the lake. Have I mentioned that Richard also studied the four elements? Yep, we were having a duel at that time. Richard believes that this will help me reach a faster way through cultivation. His ''faster'' was different from my ''faster''.


    You may be surprised, but I reached the peak saint level over this year - Tulip keeps slapping her face to assure herself that this was a dream and not reality, and I won''t lie, I was pleased with this.


    I prepared myself by raising up two columns of water, Richard did the same. At the same time, we slashed toward the other by sending the water at each other and maintaining its power. He used offense tactics in a swift and agile manner. He sent a powerful wave toward me. I crossed my hands on my chest and instantly, the water surrounded me and formed a shield.


    I preserved for 10 min, though by each minute, Richard was increasing the intensity of the water, but my defense was growing stronger and stronger by the time, and my understanding of the laws of water were going deeper. However, after the 10 min, I was sent underwater and crashed through the floor and created a hole. I came rushing upward, this time flying.


    "Is that all you''ve got?!", shouted Richard, also soaring through the air. We charged and our fists collided. A strong blast sent me crashing through the training grounds, while Richard retreated a step. Blood covered my body, but a strong gest of wind healed all my wounds.


    I laid on the ground waiting to heal my injuries. Richard came over flying and helped me get up.


    "Not bad", he praised, "you even made move a step backwards. And I can sense that you have deepened your knowledge of the laws".


    "Oh shut up", I taunted.


    Though my body was healed and no injury remained, I collapsed on the ground, blood flowing from my mouth. The last thing I remember was Richard frowning as he knelt to examine me. Then, I passed out.


    When I opened my eyes, I was at Freya''s hospital room. I tried to move my hands, but no such luck. Even thinking of it filled my body with intense pain.


    "If I were you I wouldn''t even try to move a finger, less than the whole body", a feminine voice came from behind me. The norse diety of healing came to the side of the bed.


    "What the hell happened to me?", I cracked the sentence out of my mouth.


    She looked at me helplessly and said, "I really don''t know. I think Richard is the only one that knows what''s happening with you".


    "But why did he have to cast the Freezing charm on me?"


    "Believe me, if you try to move a single finger, your body will crumble to dust. It was best to immobilize you in order to save your life".


    The door of the room opened and Richard came in. He nodded toward Freya, who looked at me in concern and left, leaving me alone with my true self.


    "How do you feel?", he asked.


    "Mostly, pain. But all the other senses were freezed thanks to you".


    He sighed and said, "You just don''t understand what''s going on with your body


    "Then enlighten me, Lord. What the hell is happening?"


    "You know that I am a phoenix right? I was born like that because of a transformation that happened before I was even born. You, Hasan, are also undergoing a transformation".


    "And what kind of transformation?"


    "No one can know until it ends".


    "But why did I faint that time? And why I am feeling pain all over my body?"


    "Your muscles and bones are degenerating and regenerate at the same instant. The process is done every minute".


    "Ohh... How much I will be staying like this?"


    "That depends on how strong the transformation is"


    "You knew all of this would happen, didn''t you?"


    He nodded calmly and said, "I had my doubts. But I didn''t expect that it would happen so early".


    I nodded. At least now I knew what was happening with me.


    "Rest for now while you can. This pain is only the first stage of it".


    With these optimistic words, he left me to plunge in a deep sleep.

 12 The transformation

    Richard was right. That was the first level of pain. Right now, I am experiencing the most painful time in my 16 year life. I wanted to scream to ease my suffer, but thanks to Richard, my mouth was sealed shut.


    I felt the muscles degenerating and being eaten by an unknown source. My mind was becoming smaller and smaller. I felt my memory going away.


    Who am l? Where am I? What am I? Who immobilized me? And... What is the meaning of immobilized?


    I looked at my body and saw that it was becoming blue, and filled with scales. I felt something burning at my forehead, though I couldn''t know what was it.


    I slept for at least a week. Finally, the torment stopped, because I couldn''t feel anything. I have became a beast, and the only thought I had in my head was one word: ''Destroy!''


    The freezing charm no loger had any effect on me. I shot myself up and summoned a violent gust of wind and swept it through the room. Apparently, the room didn''t want to exist anymore, so it let me destroy it with ease.


    I ran out of the destroyed room and growled at everything in my way and destroyed them. The time was night.


    A man appeared from the darkness of the night with a serious expression on his face. I felt that he was familiar, but couldn''t think who was he. I didn''t care. I run towards him and attacked. He evaded my attack and threw me to the ground, crushing me. I felt my bones were reduced to dust, but in an instant, everything healed. I recharged at the man and threw my fist at him amd he did the same. Our fists collided, an explosion happened that crumbled everything. Blood flowed from the man''s mouth.


    He attacked with more force and ferocity. My body was bathed with my own blood. I was completely overwhelmed and overpowered, but that didn''t stop me from attacking. You can''t blame me, I wasn''t even thinking.


    As my anger rose, two scaled wings emerged from my back. It took me some time to realize that I was transforming into a dragon.


    I had a large snake core, scaled face, blue scales and skin, and two huge wings. I exhaled, and white fog came out of my nostrils, then everything around us became iced.


    The man in front of me turned to a big black bird. The bird cried and sent a beautiful cry. But this beautiful cry had turned me dizzy, and I fainted.


    I woke up in the hospital wing. Tulip was sitting next to me reading a book. For the first time in days, the pain disappeared. My mind became clearer and I could feel my soul. I looked at my hands, they had returned to their normal white color, though more paler.


    "On your left", I said to her.


    She turned her head towards me and hugged me so hard that I couldn''t breathe. It was the first time we ever touched ; her hug was so gentle that I hugged her back. Then she sensed the awkward moment and punched me in the face.


    "Ow", I complained, though I didn''t feel any pain, she was the one that felt it.


    "YOU BLOOD HEADED FOOL!", she screamed at me, "YOU HAVE SLEPT FOR TWO ENTIRE WEEKS!"


    "I what?"


    She caught her breath and said calmly, "Yes, you have slept for two weeks. Every night you woke up like a crazy and started to destroy everything. Richard had to beat you up every time you woke up".


    "Oh no. No no no. This isn''t acceptable", I said in a crazy tone. Then I calmed myself and said, "I guess you now have something to joke about for a lifetime".


    She laughed. Over the year, we have became too close to each other.


    "Um... There is something that Richard forbade me from telling you", she said hesitantly, "but I am going to say it no matter".


    "What is it?"


    "Every night you would transform into a blue scaled dragon. When you breathed, ice came out instead of fire".


    "WHAT?"


    "Yeah, and Richard had to turn into phoenix in order to calm you".


    Oh great. That is the only thing I needed.


    "Have you checked your changes?"


    "What changes?"


    "Look", she handed me a rectangular mirror.


    Oh my God. My body had became muscular. My hair had turned into complete white color, and my eyes transformed to blue.


    It appeared as if someone had photoshoped me. My body was always average, not too muscular but not too skinny. And my eyes and hair, they were always black-brown.


    "It bothers me to say this, but...", she said while teasing me, "You are handsome"


    Wow. Tulip had never said something positive about me. I thought this was one of her mocking jokes, but she sounded serious.


    Without any warning, the burning sensation returned to my forehead. And I passed out yet again.

 13 The mark of Yggdrasil

    I woke up in the back courtyard sitting on a chair. It was nighttime. All around me, the disciples of Richard and Richard himself were sitting around a campfire.


    Richard turned to me smiling. Freya was struggling between hitting me in the face, and it would be painful not like Tulip''s, and sighing from relief - mostly because I''ll stop destroying her working room, but no, not of me regaining my sanity.


    "Right now", she said, "I don''t know whether to punch you for destroying my room several times, or to hug you because you survived the mutation".


    "Sorry about the room, though I don''t remember a thing", I apologized.


    "Glad you survived my attacks kiddo", Richard clapped my back, "but I would like it more if I hadn''t had to turn to a phoenix every night".


    "Look, all of you, don''t blame me on something I don''t remember ", I joked.


    They all burst out laughing, well except for F¨¢rbauti. It felt good to be between them.


    "Okay. Stop jocking around now", Richard said, "How do you feel?"


    "I am still in a shock about what happened to my body, eyes and hair. There is also that burning sensation that happened to the second time".


    "What burning sensation?"


    "I don''t know, it was the cause of my fainting last time".


    "A symbol of an eye appeared on his forehead yesterday when he passed out. It glowed with a bright yellow light", Tulip said suddenly. She said yesterday, at least it wasn''t for two weeks.


    "Please don''t let it be what I am thinking of", Richard said.


    Mimir''s expression varied between shock and concern. He addressed Richard, "Is it really that mark? No it couldn''t be".


    "I am afraid so, Mimir. Though it would be better if I am wrong".


    "What the hell the two of you are talking about?", I asked cutting the conversation between the two.


    Richard turned to me and asked, "Do you know why Horus''s symbol was an eye?"


    "It was believed to bring protection and peace to anyone that hold the symbol, right?"


    "For the people, it was a symbol of protection. But for Horus, it was a curse".


    "Why?"


    "Horus had the bloodline of Pangu, the creator", Mimir said, "Before his death, Pangu created an uncompleted spell and called it ''The Divine Eye''. This spell was a burden to the ones that had his blood. It consumed their lives and let them live in eternal torment".


    "But it can also give unlimited power",Richard said.


    "So I have the bloodline of Pangu?", I asked hoping that they were setting some sort of prank and that I wasn''t cursed. Richard just nodded his head.


    "Everyone that haved gained the blood of the creator have the divine eye for the first time. It is confirmed when it appears for more than one time. Please don''t tell me it have happened for more than one time".


    "The first time I felt my forehead burning was at the time of my transformation. But at that time it was all my body burning. I can''t tell".


    Richard sighed, "Let''s hope that it happened for only one time. Anyway, have you noticed that your cultivation has increased?"


    "What are you talking about?", I checked my cultivation and.... The second level of divinity. I knew now why I could sense my soul, while I couldn''t previously.


    "How is that even possible?", I asked Richard. I was fast yes, but not this fast!


    "Yeah, even I am surprised by this. But don''t worry, it is a good thing".


    Instantly, my left hand burned and Nordic runes appeared as a bracelet tattoo:


    ?????


    My name: Hasan. And under the? rune appeared another one, the rune of water, Lagiz:


    ?


    As for my right hand, the runes were of my surname, also in the form of a bracelet :


    ?????


    And under it was Wunjo, the rune of wind:


    ?


    Also, my chest was also burning. I took of my clothes until I was bare chested. The norse rune of ice, Isa, appeared at the middle :


    ?


    The Earth trembled under our feet. I turned toward the others and saw the looks of astonishment on their faces. And then one after the other, dropped to one knee, a hand behind the back, and another in front of their abdomen.


    They said in one voice, "Hail Hasan Awada, the Lord of Ice, Water, and Wind"


    Not only them, but I saw all the people in the chaosverse bowing and saying the same words. Even Odin, the current king of the Norse, bowed respectfully. My expression varied from astonishment, shock, fear, panick, and pride.


    However, only one man didn''t bow, he smiled at me and said in Arabic, my mother language, "I will be waiting for you, don''t disappoint me".

 14 The prophecy

    After the trance passed, I was still filled with shock. Partly because of the hailing of all the beings, and partly because of the mysterious man that was waiting for me. Were? When? I didn''t know.


    Everyone rose to their feet. Richard''s eyes were full of disbelief. He examined my new tattoos and said, "This was the least of my expectations".


    "What was that?" asked F¨¢rbauti. The big guy''s face was more serious than ever.


    "It was the world tree claiming Hasan as the controller of wind, water, and ice. From now on, it would lend him its help when it can. And if something bad happened to our young cultivator, it will mourn for him, and cover the lands of the universe in snow, and the seas in ice."


    I was speechless. Why would the tree that holds our chaosverse claim me in particular? There were dozens of cultivators more powerful than me. I retold my vision to them, though I decided to keep the part of the mysterious man a secret.


    " That is normal. When I had been claimed, the same thing happened. But what bothers me is that you had a vision while you were awake. And only a few of them can do that." said Richard. "Only seers can see visions of the past, present, and future while awake. Normally it would happen in the moments of sleep".


    "So you mean that I am a seer?" I asked. Great. The surprises keep coming and coming.


    "We can''t be sure until you issue a prophecy."


    And as if I was waiting for him to say that, I straightened my back, my eyes became black, the smoke of the fire flew to my lungs. I spoke with a creepy voice:


    "East shall go the bearer of the tree,


    The blades of the creator should he plea,


    The Ice will test the prisoner''s wrath,


    But the blade of Pangu would lighten his path."


    "Oh no. No no no. Not a new prophecy." said Richard while he shook his head. "Why it has to be the East? And why these particular blades?"


    I couldn''t answer him. I felt too weak right now. He looked at F¨¢rbauti and said, "You will make a sword with the most precious materials in our castle, including the first piece of the blade. Hasan has a long journey". He sent me home without saying anything else.


    In the next morning, I woke up refreshed. I wanted to stay with my family for these days. From what I understood from the prophecy, I will be gone for a long time. I communicated Richard who didn''t mind me staying.


    I spent an entire week going from place to place in Lebanon. I wanted to see everything of my home country before going away for some time, that is assuming that I return.


    On the last night, I told my parents that I will be off for a long time for cultivation. It seemed harsh to let them know that I could be killed in my trip. In the next morning, I made teleportation to the palace of night and went to see my new sword.


    It looked simple. However, it glowed with a faint white light. It buzzed as if it wanted to speak. The lower part of the blade was marked with the rune of ice, Isa: ?.


    "Give me your wand." He said. He tapped the wand with his forge hammer and instantly, the sword disappeared.


    F¨¢rbauti handed me the me the wand and said, "Will it to become a sword." The wand changed to a sword. It was perfectly balanced and had good length. Then he gave me a hammer.


    "When you find the other pieces of the blade, put them on the sword and tap them with the hammer. You will discover the powers of the sword when it is complete", he said. I thanked him and went for Richard''s study. Like always, he was sitting on his throne, reading a book under the enchanted ceiling. We sat and talked for a while then I asked him, "Where should I start searching? And where in the east? And who is the prisoner?"


    "One question at a time, kiddo." He said. He took a piece of parchment from the desk and wrote something then sealed it. "East was known as ancient China. You will go to the Immortal Sun Sect where one of my ancient disciples, Emperor Sun Wu, lives. Hand him the message, and he will give you the second and third pieces. He will also give you a map that would lead you through ancient China." He handed me the letter and a map.


    The door of the study opened suddenly and Tulip rose from it. She wore traveling clothes, her wand at her waist, a bag on her back.


    " I am ready". She said.


    "Ready for what?" Richard and I asked at the same time.


    "Why, I am going with Hasan, obviously."


    "Absolutely not. It''s too dangerous." Richard said.


    "And the prophecy said ''The bearer of the tree'' and ''Ice''. It didn''t mention someone was going with me." I noted.


    "Oh come on you two. I have always dreamed of going to China. And I don''t care if it is dangerous. I''ve survived many adventures at Hogwarts and even survived the maze." She pleaded. "Please Richard, let me go. I want to test my abilities and increase my cultivation."


    Richard sighed and said, "Fine. You can go." She jumped in delight.


    "Come on now, your horses are waiting."


    "Horses?" I asked.


    "Yes, horses. You have to go by land in order to acquire the blades."


    "Oh great".


    I went to my room and wore a black robe-armor, combat boots, my wand at my sleeve, and a small enchanted bag at my waist. Then I strolled towards my horse. And my journey began.

 15 The captains claims

    We crossed through Europe in only one month. The horses were really fast and didn''t need much care. We traveled through daytime and rested in the night. I preferred to stay in the wilderness away from mortals'' eyes, though Tulip insisted that we visit Paris, Greece, and Rome. Although they were not on our route, I still accepted, because it would save me a lot of Tulip''s pleadings.


    Another two month took us to reach India. When we reached its borders, we saw two medieval soldiers holding spears and shields. They spotted us and approached. I told Tulip to stop and wait.


    "Who are you?", said one of them in Buddhist language.


    "We are messengers from the Mansion Of Night. We ask the Buddhas of India to let us pass. We have a message for Emperor Sun". I told them with the same language. I know what you are going to ask. I learned the languages before I have met Richard. I was always curious about the old languages.


    "Come with us to the military camp were we shall contact the great Buddha", said the second one. I translated our conversation to Tulip. She didn''t look convinced though.


    "What if they don''t give us the permission and decides to attack us? Wouldn''t we be walking to the unknown?" She asked. Also, she had a point. A mouse wouldn''t be willing to walk straight to the cat''s mouth.


    "Whatever the case, don''t let your guard down. Let your wand be ready at any time." I instructed, then turned to the soldiers who were patiently waiting, "We will go with you, and if I can talk to lord Buddha myself, it would be better."


    They led us to their camp where the captain welcomed us with good words in English. He immediately ordered a feast to be prepared.


    At the feast, various foods of different countries were prepared, even some I can''t name. The captain introduced us to his wife and daughter. He was very friendly that I became suspicious of his behavior. And I was right. He suddenly asked after saying a joke, "What is included in this message you deliver?"


    My smile instantly melted, and Tulip gripped her wand.


    "Forgive me, captain," I said slowly while eying his expression. "It is a message for an emperor of China from the lord of chaos. I, the lord''s discipline, even don''t have the right to see what it carries, much less you."


    A flicker of anger passed in his eyes then disappeared to be replaced by a smile, though it was less friendlier.


    " No problem, brother", he said while struggling to hide his bitterness and anger from his voice, "Tomorrow morning, I will take you personally to lord Buddha''s palace. Today, you shall stay with us for the night. I am sure I can make you comfortable."


    "We will go right after the feast, captain." I said blandly. He looked troubled. Then he answered, "As you wish, my dear guests. But I was intending to let you have a comfortable night, no more."


    I suspected that he truly wanted our comfort, but I had no choice, I had to have the permission of the Buddha, so I can only accept his sinister thoughts. After the feast, he took us to the stables where we took our horses and raided with the captain, who wanted to bring an army with us but we protested, towards tbe palace of the Buddha.


    Once the camp was far away behind us, Tulip took the left of the captain, and I took his right.


    "If you are thinking about killing us, you thief, I advise you not to," I told him coldly.


    "What are you talking about? I am no theif, wizard, I am a captain under lord Buddha''s command". He started to protest.


    "Oh I am sure that you are a captain. But what if I tell you that all your group back there was only a normal army, and your real army is waiting for us some miles from here?"


    "How dare you accuse me of thievery! I am-"


    "Silencio", said Tulip while pointing her at the thief. Instantly, he shut up.


    Night quickly fall. We bound the silenced captain who passed out and made a fire. We sat in silence enjoying the sound of nature all around us.


    "How did you know thay he is a thief?", asked Tulip cutting the silence.


    "From his behavior, obviously," I said calmly, "He acted too friendly, like we knew each other. But when he asked to know about the message, I sensed his true intentions. And to confirm my saying, once we are a mile before the palace of the Buddha, a group will attack us in order to kill us and send our heads to the palace. They will claim that we tried to rob them and they killed us for it."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Ninety percent sure".


    "But what if you were wrong? The captain will tell the Buddha about what happened, and the latter wouldn''t give us the permission".


    "Don''t worry. Even if I was wrong, I will obliviate him."


    "But if you are right and the captain is a theif, what will you say to them? We have no proof".


    "Oh sure we will have our proof. The Buddhist Sagna has a fair way to rule things. Don''t underestimate them. Now let''s sleep, tomorrow there will be a bloodbath."

 16 Bloodbath - Blood Absorb

    In the morning, we tied the captain with a spell and put him on his horse. He was still unconscious. As we walked through the road, and before reaching the palace, groups of warriors surrounded us, exactly as I expected.


    "Guys, we really don''t have to do this", I said in the Buddhist language while showing the face of their bound leader. "One more step and the man is dead."


    They hesitated for some minutes but then decided to attack. I pulled out my wand and willed it to become a sword. Without any difficulty, I decapitated the captain, his head fell to the ground. Tulip looked at me in disbelief.


    " Come on then. We are waiting for you". I said. The army charged at us and I dismounted my horse. It is time to test all the things that I had learned over the year.


    Large groups attacked me and Tulip, who decided to use her wand as her weapon. She cast the shielding charm and sent tons of spells toward the enemy.


    My sword slashed through the bodies of the attackers. I threw it as a spear and it cut through a hunderd men, while I used the laws of wind to smash them.


    While swinging my sword, I felt like I was in a trance. I followed it and my movements bacame strange. My sword stances became more accurate, and every time blood came out of the enemies, the sword slowly absorbed them.


    After approximately two hours, every single one of the enemies was killed, leaving a river of blood behind. I sat in crossed-legs position and closed my eyes. I sensed the blood river flowing towards me and the sword. Without knowing, this trance was a connection to the Dao of the sword, infused with the laws of water. Even more than that, I had become one with the sword, so the blood it was absorbing, I had a share of it also!


    And with this, my first sword technique was born: Bloodbath- Blood Absorb!


    But I sensed that this was not everything in it, this technique will have many more phases than the first one, and the ''Blood Absorb'' phase will hold too many secrets.


    The first phase that I have created is mainly for improving the strength of the sword, and partly to improve my body''s toughness. Every time I would kill someone, every speck of their blood will flow from their body and strengthen the two of us.


    I opened my eyes, and saw that the corpses had turned into dust. The sun had fallen and the moon have rose. Tulip had apparently chose to stay quiet all this time, but now, her look varied from shock to confusion to frowning.


    She approached me and said, "What was that? Did you have any insights?". I nodded and stood up on my feet.


    "I have created a sword technique related to the blood and slaughter. I didn''t know that insight would come inside the battle."


    "They weren''t too powerful for a group of thieves.


    "Oh they were. Every one of them was at least at the first diety level. The fact that we slaughtered them all means that we are the ones that are powerful."


    She nodded and said, "But you were still right about the attack."


    "I am a seer, Tulip. I sensed that something was going to happen, though it was not clear. It is only normal that I knew."


    "You didn''t tell me you had a vision", she said while teasing me. I just shook my head. "Now that the captain was killed and the army is dust, what will you present as a proof for the Buddha?"


    "Ah yes, I forgot about that". I closed my eyes again. Instantly, the captain''s head, which was still on the ground, disappeared. The head was back in its place, and the captain had apparently woke up, and he was struggling.


    "What? He''s not dead?" she exclaimed.


    "No, I have cast an none verbal spell that creates an illusion. I have only made the army see that he was dead, but he wasn''t truly".


    "Where did you learn these things?"


    "It is a divine sense technique that would allow me to create illusions. The book is in row C, shelf 3, the tenth book."


    "I should definitely learn this."


    I strolled towards the now conscious captain and immobilized him through my wand. We slept through the night, and in the early morning, we reached the palace of the Buddha.

 17 The justice of Buddhist Sagna

    As we approached the palace, an army arrived and stopped us. The leader of the army dismounted his horse, bowed, and said in Buddhist language, "I am commander Mi Jue, the high servant of the palace. May I ask who the lords are and why have you come here." He held his hand up.


    I dropped to the ground and shook the commander''s hand and said, "We are messengers to China. We want to meet the Buddha to ask him for multiple things". I turned and smiled at the immobilized captain.


    "Very well. Follow me."


    I nodded to Tulip and followed Mi Jue inside the palace. The house was very ancient. Old drawings can be seen on the walls. Torches set light to the corridors.


    "How old is this place?" asked Tulip in English.


    "This palace was built under the request of the very first Buddha in Earth. It is an honor for us to serve in this house", said the commander in not-so-good English. I nodded and touched the walls. Suddenly, I saw visions of young people drawing on the very same walls also joined by a white bearded old man who I believe was the Buddha.


    "He did work with the servants, didn''t he?" I asked.


    "Of course he did. Buddhas consider themselves equals with the other people."


    "I have always appreciated the Buddhism''s fairness".


    We arrived at two big wooden doors. Mi Jue stopped and turned to us, "Please wait here, my guests. I shall ask the Buddha for your permission to enter. While I am gone please put your weapons with my guards. It is essential to secure the place, as you might understand. And please, give them also the prisoner."


    I nodded. We gave the guards our wands andthe bound captain. We waited for a while until Mi Jue returned and nodded.


    We entered a great hall filled with torches and had a small opening in the ceiling. On the other end of the hall, sat an old man with a short white beard and a crooked nose. The commander walked and stood besides the old man. There was also guards at the walls of the hall. We approached the old man and said while slightly bowing our heads and said, "Greetings, Lord Buddha". He nodded and answered in English, "Welcome, messengers. What brought you here to my palace?"


    "Lord Buddha," I said while taking a step forward, "We have come here to ask for two favors from you."


    "And what are these favors?"


    "Lord Buddha", Tulip said, "We were lead here by a captain of your border armies. My companion predicted that he intended to rob us so we caught him."


    "For no proof?"


    "I have a proof, Lord", I said, "I am a seer. I saw a vision that would lead me into a great massacre of thieves. And as I had predicted, an army of three thousand men attacked us in our way to here. I threatened them with the death of their leader, and they indeed hesitated, though they still attacked. I created an illusion that showed them the death of the captain at my hand."


    "What happened to the army?"


    "Reduced to dust!"


    "You two slaughtered a three thousand army of men alone?", asked the commander.


    "Yes, indeed."


    "Forgive me for saying this", said the Buddha, "But there is no way that only you two, a god and a saint, can kill such an army alone".


    "Lord", I smiled, "don''t underestimate us. We are indeed in week cultivation ranks, but we have a strong foundation."


    He nodded while hesitating a little and said, "As you may know, justice can be done by listening to the two sides. So please bring the prisoner and the wands."


    Two guards entered holding the captain followed by two others holding our wands.


    "Please release him and let us listen," said the Buddha. Tulip flicked her wand and said, "Finete!". Instantly the captain was unbound and he stood up mystified. When he saw the Buddha, he dropped to his knees and said, "Lord, please save me from these two devils! They caught me for no apparent reason and accused me of thievery. Please Lord, bring justice! "


    The Buddha sat silent for a while and eyed me, then the captain, and finally said," The two sides have said there stories. But still, we don''t have a proof of what really happened. If any one of you can give one, then the conflict will be at its end."


    "Perhaps the captain can say that he is really a thief, but not necessarily on his own will?" I proposed and looked for the Buddha who nodded.


    I pointed my wand at the captain and cast the mind-control spell, "Imperio!"


    The captain''s expression became blank. I addressed him, "You will answer every question I ask you about, understand?"


    "Yes", he answered.


    "Are you a thief or not?"


    "I am".


    "Were you planning on attacking and robbing us?"


    "I was". The Buddha narrowed his eyes but said nothing.


    "How many travelers have you robbed and killed?"


    "Uncountable numers". I released him from the spell and turned to the Buddha, "Lord, you have seen and heard by your eyes that we are not guilty. Do you give me the permission to do whatever I want with this man?"


    "You have indeed given a proof. You can do whatever you want with him".


    My wand turned to a sword and I planted it in the captain''s back, killing him. ''Blood Absorb'' started to operate, every speck of his blood was absorbed by me and the sword. He instantly turned to dust.


    The Buddha frowned and said, "What is the second thing you came here for?"


    "I came here to ask your permission by trespassing the land of India to China."


    "You have my permission".


    "Thank you, Buddha", I bowed my head and we headed back to our horses.

 18 Immortal Sun Sec

    It took us 3 months to get over India. Unfortunately, we were attacked by plenty of thieves. But also fortunately, we had to kill them, which means that my sword and I had a lot to consume. It took more 3 months to reach Gansu, where the great wall of china hang on the mountains.


    We approached the walls entrance and stopped. Instantly, two Chinese young men in Armour and spears talked with the most ancient Chinese language, "No cultivators are allowed in ''Kansu'', unless they have a very important matter."


    A couple of mortals approached and walked through the two young men. I recognized this immediately.I remembered that the ancient Song dynasty used to use this trick in order to frighten their enemies, but of course, with a large number of troops.


    " What the hell are they?" asked Tulip.


    "These are holograms of two guards in the emperor''s palace. If anything happens, they''ll appear here in the blink of an eye." I said then turned to the projections, "We have an important message for Emperor Sun Wu. Please inform him that we are from the Mansion of Night".


    The two guards disappeared and many ancient chinese lines appeared on a nearby board. The first one was of only one symbol "ËÎ" which meant ''S¨°ng'' in English, it was the symbol of the most ancient empire here in Gansu, ''The Song Dynasty''.


    I read the names of the later empires till I reached for the present one, ''¸ÊÃC'', ''The Gansu Dynasty''.


    We rode our horses for a weak till we reached a small unremarkable village. We entered to the only inn in the village. We got a few strange looks from people, I guess they didn''t usually have outsider visitors. The manager of the inn showed us a few rooms before I said to him in traditional chinese, "Guardian of the door of East, we are cultivators just like you. Take us to your portal."


    The man looked confused for a while then nodded. He took us to a door marked with english ''No one is allowed to enter!'' and opened it. It showed nothing but darkness. He stepped to it and disappeared. We hesitated a little and Tulip said," Are you sure about this?".


    "We have come all this way not to be stopped here", I answered calmly and stepped into the darkness and behind me Tulip.


    When we entered the void, we saw the other side of the place. Tall pointy mountains were seen in the horizon. The great wall of China can also be seen, bit it seemed like it was rebuilt. The area seemed larger than the previous one. I guess there was some sort of expanding magic on this place. I turned and saw the man that led us here was now wearing a long purple robe covered with dragon drawings.


    He cupped his hands at us and said in english, " Greetings fellow doists, welcome to Gansu, the dynasty of Emperor Sun. May I ask what had brought you here to our paradise?"


    "Greetings to you guardian. We have come here to deliver a message to the Emperor from a very important person. Can you lead us there?" I asked.


    He nodded. We walked through the magnificent Gansu dynasty. We didn''t encounter any thief, it was well organized here, not like India.


    " This place is magnificent", exclaimed Tulip.


    "This is one of the most ancient places in China, it was even ruled before Egypt came to be", said the guardian.


    "That long?"


    "Yes, my lady. The great Emperor Song found this place and brought a batch of cultivators to set great cities here. But unfortunately, the dynasties became weaker and weaker until our esteemed Emperor Sun came."


    "How long did the Emperor reigned in this land?" I asked.


    "It has been 5 chaos cycles since Emperor Sun started to rule this place."


    I nodded. We continued our journey in silent until we saw a big chinese palace at the top of a mountain. We stopped at the beginning of this mountain and the guardian said, "You shall continue to the sect alone. I can lead you no more from here."


    "You have done to us great things, fellow doist. We thank very much", said Tulip. I nodded. We bid the guardian farewell and began to climb the steps.


    It took us two days to reach the top. The palace was right in front of us, big, red, and well, Chinese. We walked toward the entrance where we were stopped by the two same guards that stopped us on the entrance of the wall. They told us to follow them inside. We entered a broad plain and in the middle was wrought the ''immortal'' sign in traditional chinese, ''ÏÉ''.


    We entered to a great hall where no one was present. After a while, a middle-aged man walked and sat on the throne, two guards stood beside him followed by another man.


    Tulip bowed a complete one while I only bowed my head and crossed my hands at the chest.


    We said together, "Emperor Sun".


    The middle-aged man, Emperor Sun, nodded and said in a deep voice in english , "Greetings, my guests. My guards told me that you have a message for me."


    "We indeed have, sir", I took the letter from my enchanted bag, handed it to theEmperor, "It is from the lord of chaos."


    He frowned and unsealed the letter. He read it for a while and then sat silent. Neither of us talked. Finally he said cutting the silence, "This is indeed a letter from the lord. However, what bothers me is that how can I be sure that you are the right messengers?"


    "Knowing from what you said, sir", said Tulip, "you sure have met Master before". He nodded.


    "Emperor", I said, "you have all the rights to be suspicious of us. Neither my obvious resemblance of the lord nor our presence here can be a proof . But I don''t think you''ll doubt these". I took off my upper robe-armor, revealing my marks.


    He just sat there with his mouth wide open, disbelief filled his eyes. He said, "I am sorry I doubted you", he bowed his head and said, "you are sure tired of the travel. Please rest here for the night at my palace and come to see me tomorrow morning. Take good care of them." He addressed his Seconde and left the hall while smiling.


    The man that hadn''t talked a word yet gestured for us to follow him. I put on the robe-armor and followed, Tulip beside me.

 19 The Inheritance of Pangu

    I must say, the chinese folk knew how to appease their guests. The led us to a hot spring, though hot was not my type since I am Ice, and I enjoyed it. Some guards wanted to stay and protect us, but I shooed them away.


    I sat in the warm water bare chested, wearing a short. A while later, Tulip followed me, wearing a two part swimming suit. I felt a twinkle inside my heart, and my tongue was bounded. I must have been staring for a long time, because she blushed, which only increased her beauty.


    "What?", she said. I just smiled and didn''t answer. She sat beside me in the water and I put my arm around her. After I have undergone the mutation, she had allowed me to touch her.


    After some time, the night fell and we just sat there enjoying the beautiful scenery. But suddenly, I had the feeling that someone was watching us, someone we knew. I turned my head to see a black bird sitting on a branch while watching us.


    "Have you ever found black birds interesting?" I said cutting the silence.


    "What do you mean?" she said.


    "Oh you''ll know in a moment," then I shouted, "HEY, RICHY. STOP SNEAKING ON US!"


    Instantly, the black bird turned to a 180 cm tall Richard Dumbledore who looked like he was going to slap me. And he did.


    "If you ever call me Richy again," he warned, "you''ll taste my torment."


    "Didn''t your mother teach you not to sneak on people?" As soon as I said that, I realized my mistake. Richard doesn''t even know his parents, much less to be taught by them.


    "Richard," I apologized, "I didn''t really mean it. Forgive me".


    "Anyway, you two have seen me. I am also sorry to disturb such a romantic view", he said while smiling.


    "Shut up", Tulip and I said at the same time. Though I must say, I realize that I have some feelings for Tulip after all.


    "If you can appear here in the Emperor''s palace in a blink, then why did you send us here? Why not send the message yourself?" Asked Tulip.


    "Dear, it is required for Hasan to come on land, it is the only way he can receive the Inheritance. Amd I must remind you, you were the one thay that wanted to come, I didn''t force you".


    "Why are you here?" I asked.


    "Can''t I see my beloved disciples after a year had passed by without seeing them? ". I didn''t say a thing and waited for him to say the truth.


    "Fine", he said at last, "I have come partly because I want to check on you two. But mainly, I have come to speak of a matter with Sun Wu."


    "Then go see him". He nodded and then transformed into a phoenix and flew toward the Emperor''s room.


    We continued our night in silence. Without me knowing, Tulip was asleep, her head resting on my shoulder. I didn''t sleep. I enjoyed the warmth of the water, the gentle snoring of Tulip, and the beautiful night sky in every second.


    In the early morning, Tulip woke embarrassed. I didn''t bother with the matter and wore my robe-armor. We went towards the Emperor''s hall and waited for him there. After a while, he appeared, not wearing any imperial robes, no crown, no jewelry, nothing at all that can say he is an emperor. If he decided to walk through mortals, he would do it with great ease.


    "Morning," he said. We bowed our heads in salute. He said, "Oh don''t do that. It is only the formalities that I make in front of my seconde. I really hate them." We, smiled.


    "Come, let''s go outside." The thres of us strolled towards the balcony that showed a magnificent view.


    "You surely know why you are here, don''t you?" he asked.


    "Well", I said, "the prophecy mentioned me coming in search for the blades of Pangu. And Richard told us there are two pieces here, so we came looking for them".


    "Yes. I indeed have two pieces of the axe. But to aquire them, you shall receive tests. You survived the easiest one, which was coming from Scotland to Gansu while on the earth."


    "And the other tests?"


    "Follow me". We followed him toward the forest beside the palace. We reached a big set of stairs, well, two sets of stairs. But each set was long enough to be crossed by more than a year.


    "In order to have the first blade, you''ll have to walk along the first set. The same for the other. But let me warn you, with each step you take, it will get more difficult."


    I stepped towards the sets without any trouble, but when Tulip tried to step also, she was repulsed.


    " Only the one who have the bloodline of the creator can pass", the Emperor shook his head.


    "It''s okay. Take good care for yourself. Emperor, please let her have exercise in your sect", I said.


    "Don''t worry, she''ll be good", he turned to his palace leaving me alone with Tulip.


    I stepped back and we hugged each other without saying a word. Then I took a last glance at her and took the first step.

 20 The second piece

    Once I stepped, I felt that the laws were more clearer now. I sat on the first step for a day and a night, then marched to the second. There where 365 steps, but some ones took me 3 to 4 days. As for the last step, it took me 4 months to reach it. All in all, it took me a year and a half to reach the first doorway.


    My benefits were not expected. The power of ''Blood Absorb'' was increased to an entirely new level. As of cultivation, I reached the early third stage of divinity in water, and peak second stage of divinity in wind.


    The laws of water can be divided into 4 laws: Essence of water, circular softness, illusory fog, water body. I had some insights in the very four, but now, I can be considered to have a good level of insights in water body and in circular softness. As for the laws of wind, they can be divided into 9 laws so far: Essence of wind, Doppleganger, sound waves, music, wind walking, spatial wind, dimensional, fast, and slow. Before, I knew some things about the essence of wind and wind walking, now in addition to those, I also gained understanding in fast and in slow.


    Once I reached the doorway, a face of a man appeared on the wooden doors. He said, "Touch my face, and you shall have the piece".


    I did as he told me, and my vision blurred. When it cleared, I saw a man that looked like me, not Richard, but like me. He had spiky grey hair,and grey eyes. He was bare chested, and his muscles were seen. An axe hung at his waist. He approached a pyramid that floated in and stroke down at it with his axe. Then my vision ended.


    When I woke up, I found a blade identical to the one that Richard had given me before in my hand. I pulled out my wand and willed it to be a sword. I put the piece on the blade and tapped it with the magical hammer. Instantly, the piece melted into the sword and the sword buzzed. But this time, a voice said in my head, "Finally! I can''t count the number of years I was asleep in! Which year are we?"


    "What the hell?" I said.


    "What''s wrong with you, young man? Why are you confused? Don''t you know me?"


    "A question at a time. I have bad experiences with head voices. Who are you?"


    "Why, I am your sword of course. I had been trying to talk with you for over a year."


    "WHAT?


    "Have you not heard of talking swords?"


    "Oh yes. I have heard of Sumarbrander and of The Sword of Calabra, but I didn''t imagine that my sword would be one."


    "This is only my beginning. Once my ten pieces reunite, I can take a physical form again."


    "Again? Who are you exactly?"


    "For now, it would be better that you don''t know. Where are we by the way?"


    "We are in Gansu".


    "Gansu? Great! Take me to Emperor Song!"


    "Um.. Emperor Song has been dead for many chaos cycles."


    "Which year are we?"


    "2019"


    "2019 after what?"


    "After the birth of Jesus"


    "Okay. Let me check what happened in my years of sleep."And for the good of my mind, he shut up. I didn''t bother with it anymore and turned to the wooden face.


    "Can I take a break before continuing?" I asked it.


    "You can. Enter my door and you will appear at the bottom of the stairs. Once you are prepared again, reach the beginning of the stairs and call for me".


    I nodded and stepped into the door. I appeared at the bottom of the stairs just as the door promised. I marched towards the sect. The first thing I saw was Tulip battling one of the chinese young men. I approached calmly without them noticing me.


    Tulip used Fire in her battle, it was the first time for me to see her doing this. She had grown more womanly over the year. Her red hair had grown long to her waist. She was more beautiful than ever.


    After a while, the fight ended. The two bowed their heads, and the young man headed to the sect, which only left me and Tulip alone. She didn''t seem to take notice of me yet, so I spoke, "Great fight, but you have to be more specific in using the Explosion law."


    Stunned, she turned her head toward me, and I smiled. She rushed to me and jumped to my arms. We hugged for 15 min until I released her. I kissed her forehead and she said, "I missed you so much".


    "Me too. But I am surprised that you didn''t punch me". And she did. We laughed and I asked her about the year, and she asked what happened with me. I even told her about the talking sword, and his mysterious identity.


    She frowned and said, "You should talk to senior brother Sun about this."


    "Senior brother?"


    "Yeah. He is one of Richard''s disciples". I didn''t know how to take this news. If the emperor was our senior brother, then why didn''t he tell us from the beginning. I guess he didn''t trust us at the beginning, but now he do.

 21 Pangu

    We walked to the place where Emperor Sun was fighting with one of his disciple while giving pointers about how to fight. When he spotted me, he said some words to his student and came forward to me.


    "Hasan", he hugged me, "it has been a while."


    "It is indeed, Emperor," I said.


    "Oh please! Call me senior brother".


    "As you wish, senior brother". We laughed and talked for some time before he asked me, "Tell me, have you succeeded?"


    "Yes, but only in the first piece there."


    "It would be a miracle if you gained the two in only a year and a half". We laughed and then he continued, "Did you improve?"


    "I gained insights in both laws. Third divinity level in water, and peak second divinity level in wind".


    "You impress me very much, brother. No one of my disciple can do such a thing in only a short period of time. Richard even told me that you have been cultivating for only three years! You are a pure talent".


    "I am flattered, brother."


    "I guess now you want to test yourself after closed-door cultivation?"


    "I do."


    "Then come. Let me give you some pointers". And with that we fought for two hours, and senior brother Sun would help me stabilize my movements every five min. My movements were slow, but also fast. You don''t understand? I don''t blame you. No martal brain can comprehend this without his sanity crumbling.


    After we finished, the same young chinese man that was battling with Tulip earlier came.


    When senior brother Sun spotted him he said, "Ah here you are. Brother, I want you to meet the most talented cultivator in our sect. Sister Tulip has already met him, but I will introduce him anyway. This Tai Yang, my direct disciple. Yang, meet your martial uncle Hasan."


    "Martial uncle", he cupped his hands to me. I nodded.


    "Yang is a peak second divinity stage in fire. Though he started cultivation before you in only one year, he is still a remarkable fellow".


    "It is also remarkable that Richard hasn''t taken notice of him before you, senior brother," I said.


    "Oh yes, it is. Would you two like to spar with each other?"


    "Maybe later", said Tulip, "we have come to you for an important matter."


    The emperor frowned and said, "And what is this matter?"


    "It is about my sword. Ever since I joined it with the second piece that I have, it talked to me", I said.


    "Openly?"


    "No, only in my mind. But the voice said something about taking a physical form again when all the pieces are reunited. It also said that more of its powers will be revealed."


    "Has it revealed its identity?"


    "It refused. But the sword said to take it to Emperor Song."


    "He has regained consciousness, hasn''t he?" murmured senior brother Sun.


    "Who?"


    "Pangu of course".


    "Damn it!" said the sword suddenly in my head, "Why does he have to reveal me?"


    "So you are really Pangu? The Pangu?"


    "Yes, man! How many Pangus you know?"


    "None".


    "Just shut up."


    "Um... Hasan?" said Tulip, "why are you talking to yourself".


    "Sorry. I was talking to the sword. Anyway, hadn''t Pangu died while establishing the world?"


    "Yes", said the emperor, "But not directly after that. He waited for a chaos cycle, and had many children on Midgard. But these children have divided themselves into many civilizations. One of them was the China, the other was Greece, Rome, Norway, India, and other ones."


    "When he said again, was he talking before he died?"


    "No, he was talking about after he died".


    "I don''t understand".


    "When someone puts a piece of the axe of Pangu in a weapon, he regains consciousness but be unable to talk with Pangu himself until he joins it with a second piece. This one that you gained was with junior brother F¨¢rbauti when he inherited it from his wife Laufey The Just. Also he had another one, which also is the second one here in my sect, but he didn''t know that."


    " Why would he put them here?"


    " F¨¢rbauti doesn''t have the bloodline of Pangu so he left them here for some lucky ones to find. And here you are."


    "But this still doesn''t explain why Pangu talked about a physical form".


    "Before it belonged to your senior brother, it was in the hands of many people, but the only one that was capable of joining at least two pieces was the son of Emperor Song".


    "Oh".


    I then sparred with Tai Yang for a while, and the two of us benefited greatly. I stayed for some days, mostly spending time with Tulip, then returned to the stairs of inheritance.

 22 Tai Yang

    As the door had said, it appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Once I passed through it, I found myself at the very same spot where I acquired the second piece. I marched towrd the second set of stairs and took a step. I felt like my mind was going to collapse, but I had no choice but to sit, since it was forbidden to take a step back. The first step took me 3 days in order to overcome it, and the second took 7 days.


    However, this set of stairs didn''t help in cultivation, but it improved the soul of the cultivator by tempering it under enormous pressure.


    In a blink of an eye, 2 years passed since I took the first step on the second set of stairs. My soul was so powerful that I could clearly sense it. It took the form of clear ice crystal sword.


    On this day, I was preparing to take the last and final step. Once I took it, the piece of blade appeared in my hand. I redone the process of joining the piece with the sword.


    "Uh", said Pangu, but now not in my mind, but he spoke like any other person, "finally, I can talk like before".


    "I prefer that you talk only when we are alone. I don''t appreciate people knowing that my sword can talk", I told him.


    "Why?"


    "Why? Are you kidding me? Do you know something about the greed of cultivators?"


    "Come on, lad, you can''t blame me. I have been asleep for a very long time. The cultivators back then were generous and kind".


    "Okay. If you don''t want to appear in wrong hands, just talk when I allow you to, understand?"


    "You can''t give me orders! I am your creator!"


    "Was my creator".


    "Whatever. What''s your name by the way?"


    "Hasan".


    "Pleased to meet you, Hasan. I am Pangu".


    "I already know that". Apparently, he didn''t want to keep talking so I shifted the sword back into wand form and sheathed it. It was still in the early morning. The door once again reappeared and I entered, but this time I walked to the room of Tai Yang. The poor boy was surprised that he jumped on his bed, his mouth hanging open.


    "Sorry," I apologized, "I wasn''t the one that wanted to be sent here".


    "Not a problem, martial uncle", he said while bowing.


    "Please, I am exactly your age, I am not an ''uncle''. You make me feel too old".


    "Which you are", said Pangu.


    "What have we talked about earlier? Don''t you learn?"


    "Not really. I split my soul into two in order not to create a chaosverse, but here I am, in the same one I created! And the second one also created a small chaosworld!"


    I turned to Yang helplessly and said, "Please, don''t tell anyone about him. Would you mind a walk?"


    "It would be my pleasure", he replied. We walked through the sect while he gave me many historical facts and stories about China. Then we strolled through the forest, I wanted to show him the stairs. I am 90 percent sure that senior brother Sun didn''t tell anyone of this. And I was right. But once we went to the place, we only found trees like other parts in the forest.


    "Eh?" I said, "Pangu, what happened here?"


    "Dunno, lad. But I think that it was only an illusion. Or it may be an artifact, that can help in cultivation, for the emperor and he took it back".


    "The second one is more likely", said Yang, "Master has a lot of artifacts that are even useful to him".


    "It''s okay", I said, then asked Tai Yang, "How come you are not arrogant and spoiled? Every chinese story I have read mentioned that the most talented members of sects and families are spoiled brats. You can choose not to respond if you like".


    "In other sects, they are just as you described. However, I hate arrogance."


    "Same as me. But Your name, Tai Yang, means the Great Sun, isn''t it a bit too arrogant?"


    "It was the name that my parents gave me. I was a spoiled brat before the accident that led to my parents'' death".


    "Oh. I am so sorry, Yang. I didn''t know."


    "It is okay, I am proud to be their son. But their death was also my fault."


    "How come?"


    "I angered a very ill-tempered guest of ours, and he also happened to be a powerful cultivator. I refused to admit my mistake, which angered him more. My parents tried to calm him with precious things but that only led to their death. However, he left me alive to live in torment. Ever since, I had made a vow to destroy that man and kill him".


    "I understand you''re in grief, but sometimes, it would be better to let go."


    "Why would I let go?


    "Calm down. I am just saying that no one can know his destiny. What if you die, huh? What if you''ll never reach his level?" He didn''t answer and we stood in silent. Once he calmed down, he said, "Forgive me, uncle. I shall return to the sect".


    And without looking at me anymore, he stormed to the palace to meet his master.

 23 The Red Lotus

    It was 10 am when I saw Tulip, sitting alone while watching the horizon. I came behind her and stroked her hair. She jumped in surprise and wrapped her arms around my head. I kissed her cheek and said," Morning".


    To my shock, she answered me in ancient chinese, "Good morning to you." Then as expected, she punched me, but this time I held her fist.


    "Looks like I wasn''t the only one that benefited in those two years", I said.


    "Do you always want to have the first place only for you?"


    "Absolutely not. It''s good to see you, Tulip". She just put on a pretty grin on her face. I continued, "How''s your cultivation going?"


    "Early third divinity in the laws of fire".


    "Good job. Richard would be pleased to hear this".


    "What about you? Any changes?"


    "Only increased my soul power. Although my foundation was more stable than ever".


    "I see. What about Pangu?"


    "Glad you remembered me, Miss," said Pangu when he heard his name. "I am still here, you know."


    Tulip looked surprised and said, "You can talk to others now?"


    "Yep. It is one of many fantastic powers." I just shook my head and didn''t answer the sword.


    "The third step is to locate the other pieces. Pangu, can you sense them?" I asked.


    "I do, though I can only make out the general area. I need to see a map first".


    "Do swords have eyes to see with?"


    "I don''t need an eye to see!"


    "Whatever."


    "We should probably seek senior brother Sun", said Tulip.


    "Good idea. Let''s go. And please, Pangu, don''t talk, though I know that you''ll do the exact opposite".


    "You can count on me", said the sword, but whether he wanted me to count on him for talking or staying silent, I didn''t know. We walked to the hall of the sect where the emperor was reading a document. Once he saw us, he smiled, but his smile covered a lot of tragedy and trouble.


    "Senior brother", we greeted.


    "My dear brother and sister, it is good that you have come!" he said bitterly.


    "What is it?" asked Tulip.


    "An assassination organization has spread word of its existence to the outside world. It does not only serve in Midgard, but also outside it. It has been plotting for years without us knowing."


    "What about Richard?" I asked, "When did he know?"


    "I don''t know whether to cry or laugh. Richard doesn''t bother with the small realms and worlds. But this organization has its roots deep in those realms. It provided the folk with good cultivation techniques, and trained them to be assassins."


    "Can''t you group a batch of top level cultivators and destroy them?"


    "The thing is, these people are infiltrating the outside world through of our most trusted cultivators".


    "I see. What is this organization''s name?"


    "The Red Lotus".


    "What are you going to do?" asked Tulip.


    "We don''t know yet. We need at least see who are truly with us and who are the traitors. Then we can make a move".


    "Have you caught any of these traitors?" I asked.


    "Oh yes we did. One of them was my seconde.I was too stunned to act at that time. My fury rose to my nose that I killed him on the spot!" He remained silent for a while then continued, "Now, let''s set aside the matter of The Red Lotus. I am sure you have come here to talk something with me."


    "Indeed. We want a map of China."


    "That would take some days at most to arrange. What do you intend to do while waiting?"


    "I intend to visit my parents. It has been four years since I last saw them."


    He nodded and said,"Come to me at noon. I shall send you to Lebanon for some days, then bring you here."


    We left the hall and took a stroll on the edge of the river. I suddenly asked, "Do you want to come with me?"


    "I still don''t know", answered Tulip. "I want to visit Hogwarts once again. And I also want to see my own parents".


    "Fair enough". At noon, we went to the hall once again and waited for the emperor to come.


    "How many days do you intend to stay?" I asked her.


    "As long as I can. But I am sure I can manage it", she answered. And then, without any signal, she kissed me for a minute and said, "I wasn''t going without doing that".


    I could''ve stood there, stunned, trying to remember who am I, for all the day if senior brother Sun didn''t enter. Tulip acted normal, as if nothing have happened a few minutes ago. But now, I realized how strong are my feelings to her.


    "Ready?" asked the emperor. We nodded and touched his hand. With a flash, I found myself in Lebanon.

 24 The Red Lotus 2

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 26 A secret book

    Fourteen days passed in the blink of an eye. I spent most of my time at the mansion, fighting with F¨¢rbuati, who agreed to give me pointers. I mustn''t lie, but he was a perfect example for a soldier. Sometimes his attacks were brutal, sometimes offensive, sometimes defensive, sometimes soft but also agile and swift.


    His training wasn''t only in using a sword. He obliged me train with a battle axe, daggers, twin swords, shields, and spears. He aslo taught me martial arts without using a weapon. As consequence, I know now how to fight more than ever, with and without a weapon. Also, all the insights that I gained through my time in China were now put to use. Bloodbath - Blood Absorb leapt to another new level.


    In my free time, I went to the library and studied sword techniques that were related to wind and to water, and also to wind and water together. Every time I would gain a speck of insight, I would go test myself with either F¨¢rbuati or a puppet which he made for me.


    I also studied a great deal of divine sense techniques. They would be useful for me in creating illusions and to foul people. Once, I created an illusion on Starlet the spirit, trying to hide myself from him, but he just slapped me and said, "Those don''t work on me, kid." Richard was watching this and burst into laughter.


    In this day, I was with Starlet alone in the library. I accidentally hang to a torch, while trying to get a book, but it was pulled down, like a lever. Instantly, the book closet moved aside to open a dusty declined staircase. I looked back and found that Starlet didn''t notice. I stepped down and the closet closed behind me. I took out my wand and chanted, "Lumos!"


    A globe of light came out of the tip of my wand. I marched down the staircase and found myself at a broad round room. The room was simple. It had a table, two chairs, and a book hovering in the middle of it.


    I willed the globe of light to fly to the ceiling, and the room lighten up.


    "Oh dear," said Pangu, who has surprisingly remained silent since I came to the mansion. "This book is the same as I have seen it before my slumber."


    "So you have decided to talk?" I asked him.


    "I was afraid that you might ask Richard of a spell that would make me shut up. So I have decided to stay silent for the time."


    "Oh... When I said that you don''t have to talk whenever you want, I meant not in front of untrusted people. Here, all are trusted."


    "Why didn''t you say earlier?"


    "I wanted to spend my time happily in this silence, you know, before it ends. Like now."


    "Ha ha."


    I just shook my head and said, "What is this book?"


    "It is a book that I don''t want anyone to know about," said a voice behind me. It was Richard, who apparently followed me here.


    "Really? Why?"


    "This book is a source of prophecy. Every prophecy that has been issued is written here. This book can also issue prophecies like any seer."


    "Like the Sibylline books?"


    "Yes, although the idea of those books was a copy of mine."


    "Why do you hide it here?"


    "Imagine it falling into the enemies'' hands. What will happen to us then?"


    "I see. But I think you should put defenses."


    "Obviously I have put many defenses that no one except me can enter, and I must do it willingly. Otherwise, the doorway won''t open."


    "Then why am I here?"


    "You are my clone, so it is normal that you can pass. But now I must change it. Only my original body can enter this room from now on."


    "You selfish man," I teased him.


    "Yes, I am. Now you''ll have to make a lifeoath."


    "When I became a cultivator, it was the first time I made such a one, and it was with your help. How am I supposed to do it?"


    "Who said that I won''t help you?" I just sighed and he put his hand on my shoulder.


    "I swear on my very life that I won''t tell anyone about this book or the passage to this room only with the permission of the lord of chaos. If I violate this oath, let my soul and truesoul be scattered, never to be revived," I swore. "Happy now?"


    "Yes," he nodded his head, "Now it''s your turn, Pangu."


    "Why?" said Pangu, "Don''t you trust me after all this time?"


    "I trust you. But I trust that you''ll reveal everything once you have the opportunity."


    "Pffft. I knew of the existence of the book before even dying! I didn''t tell anyone about it!"


    "Back then you thought that you were too powerful to be bothered with such a thing. Just swear, it wouldn''t affect you." Unhappily, Pangu made the oath and we existed the room, returning to the library.


    Starlet was were I left him, without moving even a little. I understood now what is happening, and why the spirit didn''t take notice of me. Once I pulled the lever, the time has frozen.


    Richard put his hand on the lever and chanted a few words, he probably put even more defenses. Once he was finished, he snapped his fingers. Everything returned to normal, I was once again on the chair that I was sitting on, holding the same book, but hadn''t found any sign of Richard. Starlet continued to make his work as if nothing happened. I thought at first that it was only a vision, and I asked Pangu for confirmation. He told me that everything happened in reality, and it was not a vision.

 27 Heartforce

    In the next day, I decided to take some classes in archery. I went to the archery field to find Chiron the centaur making a new bow. If you want to learn how to fire an arrow, go and find a centaur. They are the best in archery, second only to the divine archer Houyi. The problem is, they are very hard to find, even if you do find one, it won''t help you.


    However, Chiron is different from other centaurs. He loves to teach young warriors, since he was the one who trained Hercules himself.


    Once I was beside him, he turned his head towards me and stood up in his hoofs. He coughed and said, "Junior brother Hasan."


    "Senior brother Chiron," I returned the salute.


    "What can I do for you?"


    "I just need to learn some archery techniques, since they would help me on my quest."


    "That is true. Come, brother, test this new bow that I have made." He handed me the bow and an arrow. He indicated for me to fire at a round piece of wood which was divided into many levels.


    I held up the bow and pulled the string back with the arrow. After aiming on my target, I released the string and the arrow shoot in the air, trying to rip through the wind to reach its target. The arrow hit the wood only a level below the central one. Chiron said while clapping his hands, "Not bad, brother. Not many can do this on their first attempt. Now, repeat the same movements until you succeed. Once you do, there will be other things."


    I did as he instructed and tried for at least ten ten times till I fired an arrow straight into the center. I repeated many more times in order to insure that I do it right. Without me knowing it, the arrow movement became strange. I was shocked, since the time I discovered this was when the wind was going to unsettle the arrow, I wished it to continue straight without stopping.


    Chiron looked more shocked than me. He wore an expression of disbelief on his face. "Even I reached this stage after a year of training! I couldn''t believe my eyes that someone achieved it after only a few tries! Yet it happened right before me," he murmured.


    "What are you talking about? And why did it feel strange while shooting the arrows?" I asked him, waking Chiron from his shock.


    "I am talking about Heartforce, my dear talented brother! You have achieved the threshold into becoming a Heartforce cultivator. Richard has definitely to know this."


    With this, he galloped towards the mansion in full centaur speed. I just stood there, confused, not understanding what had just happened and also what is Heartforce. I figured out that it must be an important thing that it even needed to be told to Richard.


    After an hour of bored waiting, Chiron returned and at his side was Richard. Chiron looked like he had calmed down, while Richard had the usual indifferent expression on his face.


    "Show me again what happened," he said while summoning a soft gust of wind. I shoot the arrow again and wished in my heart that it would continue without any obscurity. Just as I have wished, the arrow went under the gust and then returned to its path, striking in the center.


    "This is definitely Heartforce," said Richard.


    "And what is Heartforce exactly?"


    "Heartforce is a type of energy that generates from the heart. It is mostly used in archery, but it can be applied to any other kind of weapon. You can also apply it for your body and soul."


    "As easy as that?"


    "Don''t get your hopes up too much. Although you are rapid, it would take you at least a thousand years to reach the second stage of Heartforce."


    I must have shown my disappointment on my face, since Chiron said, "Don''t be disappointed, my dear. It is a miracle that you have reached the threshold in this short period of time. I had to train day and night for over a year to reach it!"


    "How about we make it more difficult for you to shoot?" suggested Richard. I shook my head while Chiron nodded. He took Chiron''s response and ignored mine.


    We marched through the forest where Richard put the wooden target between trees. The obstacles were the trees and the winds."Remember, when the arrow flies, the heart flies with it," said Richard.


    I stood about fifty meters away from the target and shoot the arrow and willed it to get under the branches and above them, and to avoid the gusts of wind. Indeed, the arrow did as I told it to do. Finally, it reached the wooden target in the center.


    I lowered my bow while Richard said," Congratulations on reaching the first stage of Heartforce." He then turned towards his house without looking back.

 28 Back to China

    Days passed and in the blink of an eye, three weeks passed. I still haven''t seen any sign of Tulip. I guess she was enjoying her time with her parents, just as my clone was with mine.


    My mistake that I told Pangu that he can talk. I should have never said that, because he simply didn''t stop talking. Thankfully, he stayed silent in most nights, most.


    In these days, I have gained many new insights, and have reached the early third stage of divinity in the laws of wind and mid third stage of divinity in the laws of water!


    The training sessions with F¨¢rbuati were doubled. I almost had no time to go to the library. I tried to use the techniques that I have learned in battle. Surely, they have improved greatly my fighting skills. Although F¨¢rbuati could still see through my illusions, it to would take a moment or two for him to notice. Nevertheless, in no time after I had created it, he would destroy it.


    Also, I had grasped the first level of heartforce. Through excessive and tough training in archery, the force became more powerful.


    On this day, Tulip finally came. I hadn''t realized how much I have missed her in the past two weeks. We hugged, and I wouldn''t let go. Finally, I released her. We talked and trained for the rest of the day. We exchanged stories, she explained to me what she have done with her family, and I recounted my near death experience. I also told her about the clone and the Heartforce, but of course, not of the book.


    On the next morning, we bid Richard and our fellow brothers and sisters farewell, and appirated to China, Gansu. In these weeks, I have learned how to appirate without any problem, only one time, when I found that I am missing a leg.


    We arrived outside the Immortal Sun sect. We passed between hundreds of welcoming and sneering. I didn''t talk, but I sent a mental message - simple but effective technique - to Tulip and said, "Don''t trust anyone, not even the emperor. Let''s just get the map and get out of here. Try not to show any shocked expression and act normal."


    She blinked in response, which I understood to be an affirmation. Once we reached the greatly crowded hall, we saw the emperor standing on his feet while there is a bright smile on his face.


    "My dear brother and dear sister. I am sorry that I had to let you wait for so long. But please, here is your map", he handed me the map while Tulip said, "Thank you, senior brother. We won''t forget this favor."


    "I say the same words for you, brother. Now if you''ll excuse us, we have to get on our way," I smiled at him while bowing my head slightly, though my smile looked forced. I never managed to hide my emotions.


    "As much as it pains me to set you on your way, I wish you good luck in your journey," he nodded his head and spread his hands. We walked outside the sect, though I noticed Tai Yang, who was trying hard not to reveal the blood-thirsty expression on his face. My doubts of this man were becoming more and more sure.


    We mounted our horses and galloped on full speed away from the palace. Once we were far enough, Tulip asked me, "Why don''t you trust senior brother Sun?"


    "Richard and I suspect that he works for the Red Lotus," I answered calmly.


    "On what evidence?"


    "We only suspect it because of his strange behavior, also there is his direct disciple Tai Yang. You may not have noticed, but he hides a ferocious self. Hadn''t Richard told you about all of this?"


    "Nah. I only saw him the day we had returned from China and today. I mostly spent my time with my parents and two visits to Hogwarts. Anyway, what do Richard want us to do?"


    "Focus on acquiring the remaining seven pieces of the blade. Once we do so, we will have to endure the talk of Pangu."


    "Hey!" protested Pangu, "If you haven''t noticed, I didn''t open my mouth ever since we left Richy''s house!"


    "Do you have a mouth?"


    "It''s a metaphor, dummy."


    "Whatever. How much to reach our destination?"


    "Not much. Some miles at most." As if to prove his saying, a mountain covered with green ancient forest appeared in front of us.


    Tulip looked at the map and said, "Here we are, Mount Evergreen."

 29 First day in Mount Evergreen

    Apparently, the chinese named this mountain ironically. It was ninety percent covered in snow, my favorite environment. Green trees extended on the ground, but still covered in snow. They looked like they were preparing for christmas, but now that I think of it, it was actually christmas.


    "Pangu, are you sure that this is the right place?" I asked my sword.


    "Yes, for this I am entirely sure, lad. But be warned, this mountain contains some of the most ferocious beasts on Earth. Though it would be exciting!" he answered in a tone that showed that he would jump from excitement, of course, if he had a body.


    "Merry Christmas by the way," I said while we were passing through the trees.


    "How can you know the dates?" asked Tulip.


    "Dunno. I just think that I want to know which day it is, and my mind would automatically tell me."


    "It is Richard that tells you, dummy," said Pangu. "You two share a connection with each each other, even through thoughts."


    "He never mentioned that our thoughts are connected."


    "I am not surprised that he didn''t. Old Richy has an odd personality. However, sooner or later you''ll have to experience his memories. It will be beneficial for you and me."


    I sighed and said,"I guess that there are many things that Richard haven''t told me, or anyone else."


    "Did you know that he was mute at first?"


    "What?"


    "Yes-"


    "Enough you two!" interrupted Tulip. "It''s getting late. Let us settle near and camp."


    "I sense a pond to the right of us, let''s go," I said. We set our camp nearby a pond. Tulip lighted a fire and sat silent.


    I bathed in the water for about an our. Even though snow covered the land, this pond was an exception. Its water was cold as ice, but there were no blocks of ice inside. I sat in the water, enjoying the cold feeling that was entering my bones.


    I bathed for 2 hours, then got out of the water and marched towards Tulip. I sat next to her and she rested her head on my now dried shoulder.


    We didn''t need to talk. We preferred to watch such beautiful sceneries in silence. I wasn''t much of a talker either.


    Unfortunately, the silent was broken. Pangu started singing a romantic song, but in an awful voice that would break the ears of the listeners.


    "Stop!" Tulip and I said at the same time. Once he stopped, it appeared as if the sky sighed in relief, but was it Richard who actually sighed? I have no idea.


    "You talent destroyers!" complained Pangu.


    "Just shut up," I ordered. But we couldn''t stay in silence anymore, we had to talk.


    "Hey Misy, have you discussed your feelings with this lad? Don''t think that I didn''t see that kiss," said Pangu.


    Tulip''s cheeks blushed and I didn''t know whether to break my wand or keep it.


    "Yeah about that.." I said slowly.


    "I am sorry if it bothered you," she said while a tear dropped from her eye, "I won''t repeat it again."


    I leaned forward and kissed her then said, "Apology accepted."


    A beautiful smile appeared on her face. I was glad to see her happy.


    "Awww," said Pangu.


    "Ugggh, right now I am thinking seriously of making a spell to shut you up, Pangu," I said while Tulip burst into laughter.


    We continued our night outside watching the stars surrounding the moon. Some hours before morning, Tulip went to sleep, while I stayed to cultivate in the pond.


    At dawn, we continued our journey to the center of the mountain. It may appear a normal mount from the outside, but it was actually larger from the inside.


    We encountered some beasts on our way, though most of them were weak. Once we killed them, green crystals dropped out of their bodies, who crumbled to dust after their death.


    "Pangu, what are these?" I asked.


    "These crystals are the hearts of the beasts. They are also the things that allow beasts to cultivate. According to my knowledge, the green ones refer to the divinity stage," he answered.


    "How do we know on which level in that stage?"


    "I think that the color becomes more clearer by each level."


    "How do we benefit from it?" asked Tulip.


    "Just hold it in your hand and then you can suck the natural energy that is stored in it. You can also comprehend the laws that the beast studied. It will be like you are borrowing the beast''s path to strengthen yours."


    "Alright," I said, "We have four crystals. Two for you and two for me. Agreed?"


    "Agreed," answered Tulip.


    Tulip sat and started the process while I guarded her. She did the same to me.


    I sat down in a cross legged position and clutched each crystal in one hand. I drew my divine sense into it and the suction started.


    The natural energy passed through my blood vessels and merging with the blood.


    Surprisingly, the two beasts studied the edicts of death. Instantly, I was surrounded by a gloomy and cold aura. But it didn''t last long and then it returned to the normal cold aura.

 30 Bloodbath - Blood Snake

    We continued our way to the central part of Mount Evergreen. Every once in a while, a beast would attack us. Some were powerful, while some were weak.


    While we collected the crystals, we found that one was white, which Pangu referred as the indication of the first stage, which was divided into nine levels.


    Tulip and I shared the crystals, she had the most of our hunt. The laws that the beasts studied benefited my law greatly. It was now more solid than ever, though little change happened.


    On this day, the snow was falling. I didn''t mind the cold, since my body is technically made of ice. Tulip seemed to mind, flames lit on her hands. Her long beautiful red hair was covered in snow, which only increased from her beauty.


    I suddenly stopped at the spot. Tulip looked back at me and said, "What is it?"


    "Don''t you find it strange?" I replied, "We have been marching for days, yet the most powerful beasts we encountered were of the peak third divinity stage. There was no beast in the sovereign stage."


    "Yeah, it is fishy," said Pangu, "However, keep your guard high, and your divine sense at full range."


    We took his advice and I changed the wand into a sword. I spread my divine sense, but found nothing. There were two explanations to this, either there were no one, or there was a beast more powerful than us.


    We marched calmly through the woods, trying to make the less sound possible. Suddenly, Tulip screamed.


    There between the trees, a gaint, green scaled serpent stood while eying us. Its oval red eyes fixed on me for a while, then on Tulip.


    "Don''t move," whispered Pangu, "This is a baby gaint wood serpent. These kind of serpents are born at the sovereign stage. They are deaf, and their eye sight isn''t great either. It solely depends on its sovereign sense."


    "Do you know its weak spot?" I asked in a very low voice.


    "No. If you can retreat slowly without making any noise, it would be great."


    Of course, I didn''t take his advice this time. Blood raged through my veins, and I walked slowly towards the serpent while I motioned to Tulip to step back.


    "Oh no. No no no no. You are crazy, step back, or you''ll die. This a sovereign, you dumb, you don''t stand a chance," screamed Pangu.


    I know what you are going to say,'' God. you are too stupid, Hasan. How can you attack a beast more powerful than you?'' Yes my dear readers, I must admit that my actions were stupid and without thinking. But my instincts took over me.


    The baby serpent seemed to notice me, since it slithered slowly towards me in a strange way. My steps speed started to increase, as did the serpent.


    Once we were close to each other, I clashed my sword on its scaled body, and it bared its fangs. The wound looked only like a slash, not hurting it at all, while its poisoned fangs bit my skin and the poison entered my body.


    I spit a mouthful of blood. The natural energy inside my body was battling with the poison, while on the outside, my sword continued to slash through the scales of the serpent.


    Finally, I managed to get the blood out of the wood serpent, though it was only a few drops. Unfortunately, the poison have won the battle inside my body. I struggled to stay awake, while the snake prepared to bit its fangs one more time, it was its final strike.


    I don''t know if it was the poison''s effects, but I focused on the droplets of blood that was flowing out of the serpent''s body. I saw it moving and slithering, like it was a real snake.


    I haven''t realized that I was the one that was slithering, and I was making hand movements, while the blood drops also moved with me.


    Instantly, a blood-red snake appeared, equal to the actual wood serpent. ''Bloodbath - Blood Snake'' was born.


    The blood snake stucked its fangs into the wood serpent. The latter screamed with agony, and then it crumbled to dust, while leaving a river of blood. The river moved towards me, and entered my body.


    A violet crystal dropped on the ground, signaling that the gaint wood serpent was dead.


    Unfortunately, the poison that was still inside of my body overpowered me. I couldn''t stand it anymore, so I just fell on the ground and fainted.

 31 The first nine levels of the tower

    How do someone feel after passing out? He feels nothing. Everything is blank. Maybe he does feel, but don''t remember what he feels.


    Anyway, I woke up in the same spot where I fainted. Tulip was holding my head and crying. I decided not to do anything and stay still.


    Unfortunately, my cover was blown by someone, or something, named Pangu.


    "Hey, lad!" he said, "Can you stop fainting from time to time? You have a record, you know that?"


    Instantly, Tulip stopped crying, and as you have guessed, she punched me. I opened my eyes and said, "We should definitely stop these meetings. My face is not a boxing bag."


    She let outbthat beautiful laugh. Pangu mumbled something I couldn''t make out, but I guess it was an imitation of my voice.


    "You have been laying there for days," said Tulip, "Your heart beat have stopped. We thought that you were dead!"


    "Of course he wasn''t, missy," said Pangu, "I still sensed his presence over the past two days."


    "Yeah yeah," I said while standing up, "Let''s get on our way, we have wasted enough time."


    We marched through the woods until Pangu said, "Here we are, the central part of Mount Evergreen."


    This part of the forest didn''t look different from the other parts. There was a long tower, covered by the tall green and snow covered trees.


    As we passed, no beast intercepted us. We reached the tower and found someone that I didn''t expect to see here.


    He was a tall, bald, bulk, muscled, had pale white skin and red tattoo on his body. He was none other than our senior brother F¨¢rbuati!


    He wore a sleeveless green armor, where greek runes were drawn. He held a spear in one hand, and a shield in another. However, he had a goatee instead of a beard, and he looked younger.


    When he spotted us, his posture didn''t change. We greeted him and said, "Senior brother."


    He nodded and said to me, "In order to get the piece of Pangu''s blade, you''ll have to face the ten levels of the tower. If you don''t succeed, you''ll die."


    I nodded and replied, "Give me some time before I enter."


    As I said that, I turned to Tulip and kissed her. We hugged, and I didn''t want to let her go. I stroked her red hair and said, "Return to Scotland. Once I am done here, you can return."


    She nodded and watched as I entered the tower. While I was at the doorstep, F¨¢rbuati caught my hand and said, "I am not supposed to say this, but be careful, and don''t underestimate your opponents."


    He then released my hand and closed the door of the tower. I climbed the round stair case. Torches lit the corridor, showing the rock walls of the tower.


    I reached to a small room with only one door. Beside the door, a sign was hanged, and it said," Level one of the blade tower. Enter the door and there will be your first test. You have only three tries, if on the third you failed, then you''ll die."


    I took a deep breath and opened the door. Instantly, I was in a blank room. I faced someone you wouldn''t guess who he was, yes it was myself.


    " On this level you have to defeat yourself," came the voice of F¨¢rbuati from nowhere." It will use a sword technique. If you watch carefully, you may learn it."


    Immediately, the other me charged at me. A sword appeared in its hand, as did mine. It moved with super speed, but also slow.


    The other me was so agile that I had missed my attack. Fifteen minutes passed and I didn''t succeed in hitting the projection.


    "First chance is wasted," said the voice of F¨¢rbuati. I was once again in the stone room. I sat for some time then reentered the door.


    This time, I learned my lesson. I watched the way that the projection moved in. Yet I still failed the second time, but it was on purpose.


    In the third time, I battled with the projection. This time, the other me gave up after five minutes and ot disappeared.


    A round staircase appeared and went up. And so on, I passed through the tower from the first level to the tenth and final. I nearly died several times, especially on the ninth one. On the tenth level, there was a fight that awaits me there, but not an ordinary one.

 32 The fight in the tenth level

    Just like the first level, the tenth level was blank. The second to ninth levels were different though.


    When I entered the second one, I found myself in a huge forest, and suddenly, without any warning, beasts attacked me. The other seven were the same, just changed the battlefield, with the beasts'' power increasing with every level.


    On the ninth level, there was only one beast, a sovereign level toad. The duration of the first attempt was at least a week. This was a way I would test myself with, we would fight for a day then I withdraw.


    All in all, the ninth level took three years to be passed. And I would have some spare time to absorb the sovereign crystal of the green wood serpent. As for this, I also killed it, on a suicide attempt in using ''Bloodbath - Blood Snake''.


    And as you have guessed, I had to endure the blabbering of Pangu after passing the ninth level. He kept talking that I could die, and that he was concerned for me. Perhaps he did, but I doubt it.


    As I stepped in the tenth level, I saw the one that I had to fight. F¨¢rbuati stood there in the white void holding a blue great sword in his hand. When he saw me he nodded and said, "Good. This is the final level in order to get the blade."


    "What should I do?" I asked while narrowing my eyes.


    "You should defeat me."


    "You are kidding right? Even in the mansion, I couldn''t even get a drop of blood out of you. How am I supposed to defeat you now?"


    "Patience, boy!" he shouted, then he adjusted himself and said in a normal voice, "The lord of chaos has ordered me to shrink my cultivation level to the one of the seeker of the blades. And for you, I am going shrink my base into the early sovereign level.


    "There is only one chance to succeed, no more. I will use this blade, it is called the Blade of Olympus. This sword was the one that enabled Zeus to defeat the titans in the first titan war."


    I looked at him in suspicion and said, "Why are you telling me this?"


    "Knowledge is a key of success, and knowing the blade''s history is good."


    "If I fail, will you kill me?"


    "Perhaps yes and perhaps no. Depends on my decision."


    I took a deep breath and said, "Alright then, let''s fight."


    F¨¢rbuati nodded and lifted the great sword without any difficulty. I changed my wand into sword form and advanced with small steps.


    As we always did in the Mansion of Night, we walked in a circle. Finally, we charged at one another and our swords clashed. Of course, I was sent flying backwards, while blood flowed out of my mouth.


    I struggled to get up, with my dragon body helping me recover. I picked up my sword and then advanced once again. We continued the cycle at least a hundred times.


    And rapidly, a year passed with our constant fights. This time, I was charging at F¨¢rbuati yet again with my sword. However, I caught him off guard.


    Once I was a meter from him, and our swords were about to clash, I changed the sword into a wand and chanted, "Expelliarmus!"


    Instantly, the sword in F¨¢rbuati''s hands was thrown onto the ground. He looked stunned for a quick moment then realized what happened. He looked at me in a slight admiration and said, "Not bad. You have passed the test."


    A round staircase appeared in the middle of thw blank void. I looked at F¨¢rbuati and he nodded. I climbed the stairs till I saw a vision.


    In that vision, I saw a one bladed axe, with spell symbols on it. A man was holding that axe. However, the man suddenly disappeared and the axe exploded into ten pieces.


    The vision ended, and I saw that I was holding a piece of that axe. The fourth piece of Pangu is now in my possession!


    I looked around me and I noticed that I was back outside the tower, with F¨¢rbuati standing guard at its entrance. Also, Tulip was standing in the same spot that I left her in.


    I looked at her and shook my head, then I said, "You stayed here in these five years, didn''t you?"


    She nodded her head but didn''t say anything. I looked at F¨¢rbuati and he said, "Don''t look at me like that. She was too stubborn."


    I just shook my head and kissed my girlfriend. After our kiss, I held her in my arms and said, "When I tell you to do something, you obey."


    Oh yes, she punched me! But it was strange, since it contained all her power, which I couldn''t estimate. Then this has only one explanation....


    "You became a sovereign?" I asked suspiciously. She nodded and said, "Still, I can''t hurt you. Your body is extremely strong."


    "Um... Yeah," I said, "So now my girlfriend is more powerful than me with one level. I have to catch up."


    F¨¢rbuati coughed to get our attention, and when he did he said, "The blade has been taken. I would see you at another tower. Now, I must go."


    We nodded, and just like that, the tower disappeared along with our senior brother.

 33 Becoming Pangu

    "It has been a long time since we have seen you, Hasan."


    Back in Lebanon, I was meeting with my school friends. It has been a long time since we saw each each other. I hadn''t realized how much I missed them.


    Even though I can kill them with just a simple thought, I still cared about them.


    I looked at my friend and said, "It has been indeed. I missed you guys."


    "We missed you too," said a boy.


    "Where have you been?" asked a girl, "It has been like ten years since we last saw you. No word, not even a visit."


    I looked at her helplessly and said, "I was very.... Busy. If I had time, I would surely come and visit you."


    "Anyway, what has happened before has already passed, what matters now is that we are all together," said one of my friends.


    Our meeting was in our school, where we shared beautiful memories. My old physics teacher passed and greeted me, "Hasan! What a great surprise to see here! Why haven''t you visited us? Or are we not good enough for the Highgod Hasan Awada?"


    The smile that was on my face instantly faded. This woman shouldn''t have known about me being a cultivator, sinve she is a mortal. Unless.....


    "Hey Hasan?" said my friend who has first spoken, "It''s a cool nickname. Why did you become cold at once?"


    "Get away from this woman, NOW!" I screamed at them.


    My friends were frightened by this sudden change in my voice, but they did as I asked.


    Back in China, where the time was night, I woke up quickly and wore my armor. Tulip, who was sleeping beside me, also woke up and said,"What are you doing? What happened?"


    "There is an urgent thing in Lebanon. You stay here, my clone will come," I said to her, then knelt and kissed her.


    "Take care of yourself," she said.


    "I will." In this time, I made a quick mental communication with Richard and he showed me the way to swap between the two bodies.


    Instantly, my true body was transported to Lebanon, while my clone was transported to China.


    The people around me jumped in surprise as my appearance suddenly changed. I wasn''t concerned with their surprise, it would need a simple spell to remove those scenes from their minds.


    I pointed my wand at the woman and said, "Who are you?"


    "It isn''t important to know who am I," said the woman, "What is important is to know that I am here to kill you."


    While she said that, she took out a wand from her sleeve, then she said, "Fight me, if you dare."


    "A pleasure," I said, "But surely you must know how to duel."


    "Oh I do, Hasan Awada. Let me show you this!"


    Instantly, a sea of spells was created around us. Many times our spells connected, but we always broke them.


    "Expelliarmus!" that was the last time our spells were connected.


    "Avada Kedavra!" From the tip of my wand, a red beam of light appeared, while from hers, a green beam appeared.


    The two beams connected for some time then made an explosion, which sent both of us flying backwards. We got up and enchanted at the same time.


    My spell was the Revelio charm, while her spell was the killing curse. Unfortunately, the killing curse hit me, but my charm also hit her.


    Before passing out, I caught a glimpse of her true form. She was a young girl with silvery hair with blue tips. There was one witch that I know of with this description, Delphini Riddle. Then everything was dark, yet again.


    While I was unconscious, I faced myself. This other version of me had spiky hair, like the super saiyans in Dragon Ball, and it was bare chested.


    "Pangu?" I asked it.


    "Yes," he answered, "Please, Hasan, give me control of your body. Otherwise, we will both die."


    "You won''t die. You will only fall asleep, just like before."


    "Oh no! It is different this time. My life has been connected to yours. So if you die, the same fate will be for me."


    "I won''t give you control over my body! This is my body, and no one''s else."


    Pangu sighed and said, "Fine, I didn''t want to use the other method."


    "What method?"


    "Fusion. Fusion of our souls and minds. It is very dangerous, we can end up staying fused for eternity."


    "I am willing to take the risk."


    "You do?"


    "Yes, even though I could end up as a crazy man."


    "Blah blah blah. Enough talking let''s do this." He then advanced and our bodies became one.


    On the outside, Delphini was preparing to leave, but she suddenly stopped. Great winds and gales erupted, and grey clouds started to form in the clouds.


    After some time, snow began to fall on the ground, but then it started to rotate around me, forming a tornado that reached the sky. How I was aware of all of this? It was by divine sense of course.


    When the tornado calmed down, I was hovering in the sky, bare chested, spiky white hair, and white eyes with no pupils.


    "Ah! What a great power!" I said, but my voice contained another person''s voice, Pangu''s. My words echoed to every corner of the world.


    Actually, I haven''t opened my mouth while I said those words, they just resonated in the air.


    Delphini looked scared for a moment, but then she said, "Why aren''t you dead, Hasan Awada?"


    "You are wrong to call me in that name for this form, missy. My name is Pangu!"

 34 As Pangu

    "My name is Pangu!"


    Delphini looked bewildered for some time then asked me, "Who the hell is Pangu?"


    "I am the creator of the universe, Delphini Riddle," I sneered, or it was Pangu, "I expect you to bow and worship me!"


    That was definitely Pangu. I wouldn''t do that in all my life, only an arrogant creator would do so.


    "Oh," said Delphini, "I am sorry, I am not going to worship you. However, I am going to kill you!"


    As she said this, she raised her wand and pointed it at me, then chanted, "Avada Kedavra!"


    A green ray imerged from the wand and hit me. This time, I didn''t faint. I only felt a tickling sensation in my body, nothing more.


    "You make me laugh, girl," I said while laughing.


    Slowly, her face was becoming red from fury and anger. She then started to do a series of killing and torture spells, hoping that she would at least harm me.


    Unfortunately for her, I completely lost the trait of feeling. None of her spells was capable of even leaving a mark on my body.


    Finally, unable to do anything harmful to me, she gave up. She stopped for some time in order to catch her breath, then prepared to chant again.


    However, she stopped mid-way. A red globe of electricity sprout from my right hand, and it shot a beam and hit Delphini''s wand.


    Immediately, her wand flew out of her hand and away from her. She looked bewildered then said, as if in a trance, "Impossible! No one was able to do this kind of magic in a millennium. And the ones that knew are all dead!"


    "There are many things that you are ignorant of, witch!" I said.


    "How dare you say this to the Dark Lord''s daughter!"


    I just shook my head and said, "Your father was killed by a 17 years old boy, and you think highly of him?"


    "You know nothing about my father!"


    "You do?"


    "Yes!"


    "I remember that you haven''t even seen him. How can you know many things about your father if you haven''t even seen him?!"


    "Shut up!" Her anger reached its limits now, but could do nothing about it.


    "Didn''t your father teach you not to speak like this to people?" I taunted her.


    "Shut UP!" She said this and sent a killing curse on me, and it was wasted.


    "Did you finish? My patience has limits," I said.


    She sighed but stayed silent.


    "I will take that as a yes. Now if you don''t mind, I will show you what real fighting is."


    I stretched out my hand and said, "I call upon my heavenly axe!"


    Instantly, a bright white glow appeared from my hand, and blinded all of the people present. When the light faded, a single bladed axe was seen in my hand. It had spell patterns on it, old and new. However, the axe looked as if it was going to crumble to dust after a single use.


    Inside the sea of my consciousness, I faced Pangu with a strange look at my face then said, "Why is the axe broken?"


    He just shook his head helplessly and said, "The pieces are not complete, so it is a bit old right now."


    "Are you sure that I can use it now?"


    "Yeah you can, but you would have to wait a year in order to use it a second time."


    "Alright then, let''s finish this little witch."


    Back in the outside world, Delphini looked scared more than ever. I looked at her and smiled evilly then said, "Ready to face death, darling?"


    The look on her face was one of a little girl who was just told a horror story. I didn''t need her to answer, since I was going to kill her whether she was ready or not.


    I held the axe high and aimed at her head. I struck it and ended her life in an instant. I looked at her and said in a sarcastic tone, "Bye, little augurey!"


    Suddenly, a feminine voice emerged behind me. "H-h-Hasan, what has happened now?"


    I turned my body and saw that one of my female friends have had the courage to ask. I completely forgot about them, and now they have seen the secret of the cultivation world.


    "I am sorry guys, but you have seen too much!" I said to them then started to chant, "Obli...."


    However, I was interrupted by Richard, whose voice came from nowhere and filled the area, "Don''t erase their memories! It is time for the mortals to know of the existence of the cultivation world!"


    "Are you sure about this?" I asked him.


    "Yes! There will be no more hiding for us. And if a war would happen, so be it."

 35 Magical beast - Winged Lion

    "Alright then, I won''t obliviate them," I said to Richard, who has withdrawn his divine sense.


    Just when I was going to return to my normal state, I felt something blazing at my forehead.


    It was the divine eye of Pangu, which chose to appear at this time. As it blazed, my legs couldn''t hold me anymore, and I dropped on my knees, screaming with agony.


    Above me, a black whirlwind started to form. From it, a beautiful black bird emerged, and it released a cry that resonated in the sky.


    When I heard that cry, the divine eye slowly disappeared from my forehead, and everything returned to normal. My hair dropped, and my eyes were again blue.


    In my sea of consciousness, I faced Pangu then said, "Thank you. You saved my life today."


    "That is my duty, lad," said Pangu, "I cannot let you die only after five years of knowing you."


    I nodded and said, "Now I know that you care about me at least."


    "Who said THAT?!"


    "You don''t need to say it to let me know."


    "Yeah yeah, you just talk."


    In the outside, the black bird has turned into a young man with the appearance of..... Well, me. However, that wasn''t myself, it was Richard, who had gracefully came here to save me.


    He offered me his hand, and I took, to lift me up. He touched my forehead and said, "It is getting worse, you should have never done this."


    "I had no choice," I looked at him helplessly.


    "It isn''t his fault, Richard," said Pangu, "It is mine."


    The two of us looked at the sword in astonishment. Richard raised his eyebrow and said, "Is this the Pangu that I know?"


    "Yes, I am Pangu. Why do you ask?"


    "I am just surprised that you have admitted something like this, it is not in your nature. Are you sure that you are Pangu?"


    Richard said that sentence to prvoke the anger of Pangu, but the latter said nothing. When he was done, Richard turned to me and said,"Return to China, you''ll have to continue your quest."


    "What about them?" I asked while pointing at my friends, "The scene they have just seen will crumble their minds to dust."


    "Sometimes, the mortal brains can withstand something that the cultivators wouldn''t. You shouldn''t underestimate their mind powers. But if you find that it affected them gravelly, then just erase the scenes from their minds."


    "Alright." With this, I switched between the bodies and was back in China in a blink.


    "Why do you look so ashen?" asked Tulip as soon I was back.


    "Well," I said, trying hard not to worry her, "I was on a near death situation."


    "What?!"


    "Don''t worry, I am fine now. It is just the backlash of the accident hasn''t gone by now."


    "Your word?"


    "My word." In truth, I was dying from the pain, but I didn''t want Tulip to worry. I felt bad lying at her, but for sure it was the best.


    We camped there for some days, in order to strengthen my condition. After I became a bit better, we collected our things and went on our way.


    Suddenly, a heard a low sound behind us. I sent a mental message to Tulip to warn her, then marched slowly towards thr sound. Behind a bush, there was a baby beast.


    It was a baby lion, with black furr, and pointed teath. Two wings sprouted from its back. It was playing with a small rock, while flipping its wings happily.


    I motioned for Tulip to come, indicating to her that there is no danger. When she was beside me, she smiled at the beast and went down to caress its fur.


    However, the beast took her friendly act in an impulsive way. It came and started to bit her fingers, but I let Tulip retreat. The beast continued to roar, but we didn''t pay much attention.


    "Pangu," I said, "What kind of beast is this?"


    "Dear father of Choas!" said Pangu, "This a Winged Lion!"


    "A Winged Lion?"


    "It is one of the most powerful beasts in my universe! However, it was extinct thousands of years ago! How come there is a baby here?"


    "I should be the one to ask you this."


    "I don''t know, lad. But if you can get this beast, then you are extremely fortunate."


    "It has parents, doesn''t it?" asked Tulip.


    "Perhaps, but I think you should ask the ruler of the mount first."


    "And who is this ruler?" I asked.


    "I am!" said a voice.

 36 The ruler of Mount Evergreen

    "I am!"


    The voice was of a growl. We turned around and saw what had stunned us. A lava scaled, four horned fire dragon was behind us, breathing heavily.


    Although I can transform into a dragon,  wasn''t this huge. My dragon size was already huge, but not like its size.


    "Greetings, senior," we said in unison.


    "Hey beasty!" said Pangu. I slapped my forehead because of his stupidity.


    "Who said that!" growled the dragon.


    "Said what, senior?" I said, as if I hadn''t heard anything. I sent a mental message to Pangu saying, "If you want us to live, then if you please, SHUT UP!"


    The dragon started to doubt itself, "Never mind. The Winged Lion is my possession, and no one would be able to take it from me!"


    "No one?" asked Tulip. "Are you sure? There are many people that can get it out of you."


    "Like who?"


    "Like our senior brother Merlin!"


    "Ah, Merlin!"


    "You know him?" I asked.


    "Of course I know him! Who on Earth doesn''t know Merlin the great sorcerer!"


    "My question is, are you two on good terms?"


    "I think so. I helped Merlin through a lot of his adventures, especially that one when he slayed the gorgon Medusa once and for all!"


    "What did you say? Merlin was the slayer of Medusa?"


    "Yes."


    "But doesn''t it reborn from the depths of the pit of Tartarus?"


    "It would naturally, even after the end of Greece. However, Merlin cast a spell that bound her from rebirth."


    "Oh."


    "Enough on Merlin. The beast won''t be yours, even if Merlin interferes!"


    "Oh come on, senior! Don''t be too stubborn. It is just a lion with wings."


    "You know very well that it is not an ordinary one. My decision is firm!"


    "Can you give me a moment, please?"


    The dragon nodded, or it seemed to. Tulip looked me in the eye and said, "What are you going to do?"


    "You will see."


    "Don''t do anything stupid!"


    "He will," whispered Pangu. I didn''t bother with them for now.


    Instantly, two blue scaled dragon wings sprouted from my back. My skin started to turn to blue, and scales covered my hands. Two horns grew out of my head.


    Soon enough, I became an ice dragon, slightly smaller than the fire dragon. I looked at the dragon and said, "Now we can talk, dragon to dragon."


    "An ice dragon?" said the fire dragon with cold eyes, if that was even possible. "The fire dragon clan is an enemy of the ice dragon clan, and you want me to give you one of my possessions?"


    "What are those?"


    "Have you never heard of these clans?"


    "Not really."


    "Then where do you originate from, ice dragon?"


    "I have undergone a transformation which led me to this."


    "I see."


    "Will you let us take the Winged Lion now?"


    The dragon laughed and breathed fire, then said, "In your dreams!"


    "What is wrong with you?"


    "The fire has always been the opposite of ice. The first two realms where of ice and fire, and because of their enmity, all the realms were created.


    "Am I supposed to befriend you just because you are a dragon? If so, I should hate you more!"


    ''This dragon is too.... Stubborn,'' I thought. "What can we do to earn your favor?"


    "Do you dare to challenge me into a breathing fight?" it answered.


    "What is that?"


    "A breathing fight is when two dragons fight each other with their breath. If you preserve for 5 seconds, then the Winged Lion is yours!"


    After a long time of thinking, I finally said, "I challenge you to a breath fight."


    "I accept your challenge!"


    Immediately, fire came out of the dragon, and an icy wind came out of mine. The two breaths intertwined with each, with mine being beaten.


    After 5 seconds, the fire dragon stopped the fight, as did I. He nodded and said, "I will honor my word, the beast is yours."


    Without saying anything more, he flew and disappeared behind the mountain. However, I wasn''t well.


    I turned back to human form, but lost balance immediately. Tulip rushed to help me on my feet before passing out.

 37 Taming

    I really should do something about my battles. My brain has to understand that I should not faint after each fight. Poor Tulip has to held me up and camp somewhere near the beast at the same time.


    I don''t know how many days passed when I was unconscious, but I woke up at the same and usual blabbering of Pangu.


    I opened my eyes and got up weakly. Tulip rushed to my help, then we shared a quick kiss.


    "Congrats, Hasan!" said Pangu. "You have achieved a great accomplishment!"


    "And what is it?" I said.


    "Oh come on! You should already know!"


    "Do you mean about the gaining of the Winged Lion? If so, I have to tame it first."


    "Forget it, you won''t understand the point."


    I looked at Tulip for explanation, and she said, "He means that you have set a world record in passing out and fainting. Am I right, Pangu?"


    "100% right, Missy!" answered Pangu.


    "Ha ha ha..." I didn''t feel like laughing, "Stop the jokes now, we have a ferocious beast to tame."


    "You are kidding, right?"


    "No. Why do you ask?"


    "You are in no shape to even stand up on your legs. How do you intend to walk?"


    "Who said that I need legs to walk?"


    "Huh?"


    With quite a great effort, I summoned a gust of wind that lifted my body in the air.


    "Alright, you have got me this time. But in order to tame a beast, at least bring something for it to eat," said Pangu.


    "I..." I started to answer, but then I was interrupted by Tulip, who said, "Stop arguing you two! Hasan, I hunted a few animals while you were sleeping and kept their flesh for further use. You can feed them to the lion."


    She raised a batch of animal corpses, such as rabbits, foxes, cats... All in all, they were very weak animals and were easy to kill.


    I looked at her and smiled slightly, then said," I do not know what will I do if ypu weren''t there for me, Tulip! Thank you."


    She smiled and said, "You are welcome."


    Tulip handed me the corpses, and I went outside the magically expanded tent. Outside, and near our camp, I saw the Winged Lion playing with a small rock, mistaking it as a ball.


    I approached slowly, but soon, it spotted me and growled in response. Not wanting it to be provoked even further, I retreated.


    Once I was back at the camp, I cast the vanishing spell on me then marched towards the beast another time.


    I put the dead body of a rabbit near the lion and waited. Soon, it started to walk slowly. When it reached the body, the beast examined it curiously, then took a small bite.


    One bite after the other, the corpse of the rabbit was no more; not a single piece of flesh was left. The Winged Lion looked around for more food, but sadly found nothing.


    The next day, I was more daring. I didn''t cast the vanishing spell, no. I went completely visible.


    Once again, as I approached the beast, it growled towards me and prepared to attack. However, I didn''t back down this time.


    I placed the dead animal body on the ground and went back in the direction of the tent. Like the other time, the Winged Lion devoured it completely. I watched from a near bush, but I made sure that it didn''t see me.


    And like this, a month passed and we were still trying to tame the beast. However, it was more friendly now, since it did not growl when I approached; but still, it would wait until I was gone then eat the prey.


    Some days, I would bring the food roasted, and in others I would bring them raw. Clearly, the lion preferred the roasted. However, I only pet it some of the days, not always; after all, I don''t want it to have the habit of eating roasted food after I tame it.


    This day, being the last day of winter, I was hunting food in the woods. I used archery, using the bow and the arrow, instead of sword play in order to practice heartforce.


    The beast that I was hunting was a bit of a challenge, since it was a jaguar, which is naturally fast. I pulled out an arrow from the quiver and aimed my bow.


    With a ting, the arrow was fired, and it evaded all the obstacles in front of it. It reached the jaguar and pierced its skin, killing it immediately.


    I lowered my bow and went to get the corpse. Taking out my wand, I chanted, "Incendio!"


    Instantly, a fire was lit under the held up jaguar.


    After roasting the meat good enough, I went to my usual appointment with the Winged Lion. When I was near, I put the corpse in front of me, but didn''t go this time. The beast didn''t mind me staying, though. It approached as if it was normal and ate the food.


    Immediately after it finished, I felt something linking my soul to the Winged Lion''s. It formed a bond of equality with me, binding us together, and forever.

 38 Association with the Winged Lion

    "Um... Hello?" I said mentally.


    "Roar!"


    "What? Who? Why???" answered a little kid''s voice in my head.


    "Whoa, calm down, beasty!"


    "Who are you? What is this? Why are you in my head?"


    "Calm down, one question at a time."


    "Okay okay. Here you go, I calmed down. Now tell me, who are you?"


    "I am Hasan Awada, a cultivator of the Mansion of Night. I am also known as the Lord of Ice of Yggdrasil."


    "Oh then, I am...."


    "You don''t have a name, do you?"


    "No, not really."


    "How about Shi Zi?"


    "That is a good name, though I prefer Zi alone."


    "Alright then, pleased to meet you, Zi!"


    "Pleased to meet you too, Hasan! What about my other questions.....?"


    "You have dormed a bond of equality with me, Zi. You have linked your soul to mine, that''s why we can contact mentally."


    "Oh... I understand now! Umm.. When will I be able to talk like you human beings?"


    "I don''t know exactly when will this happen, but it is surely when you reach a high level of cultivation."


    "Hey! I don''t understand these things yet, I was born a year ago! You have to go slowly on my brain!"


    "Alright alright, I shan''t talk about this in the time being," I said while slightly shaking my head.


    "Can I ask some requests? Two questions exactly," asked Zi.


    "Yes, Zi?"


    "Your name feels a bit heavy and hard to spell for me. Can I call you boss, just like that?"


    I smiled a bit because of the beast''s innocent thoughts and nodded. "What''s the second request?"


    "I am a bit hungry actually..."


    "Just a bit?"


    "Well, I could swallow now like.... Two thousand rabit corpses."


    "What did you just say?!"


    "I said that I could eat 2000 rabit corpses."


    "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I shouted in my head, then took a deep breath and said, "Look kiddo, you are new to this world. However, you must now that even if I explored the whole mountain, I wouldn''t find the number that you want to eat."


    "What about a thousand?" Zi looked at me and made those innocent and pleading eyes, which made me sigh and shake my head.


    "I will try to hunt as much as possible, but of course, not a thousand. Now come with me to the camp and meet the others," I said. I left Pangu there with Tulip; and as you have guessed, my dear readers, even my ears had to have a break of his blabbering. My poor girlfriend has to endure it as much as possible.


    However, you could never guess this! He had come up with a new habit recently; he started to sing! And I can''t express that awful voice of his in words, I leave it to you to imagine how bad it is.


    Zi and I walked towards the camp, asking me tons of questions in the span of a minute. However, I didn''t answer any of them and kept myself silent. More is to come in the future, and I don''t want him to know everything in the first year of his life.


    We reached our magically expanded tent, were Tulip was there with Pangu. She had put on earmuffs and was cooking something; well, she found a good way to escape Pangu.


    "Hey!" cried Pangu, "Look who''s here with Hasan!"


    Tulip also seemed to notice my entrance and she turned her head towards me. She came at my side and smiled, getting the earmuffs from her head.


    She knelt and was about to caress Zi, but was welcomed by a growl from him. "What are you doing?" I asked him,"Don''t worry, she won''t harm you."


    Zi calmed and let Tulip caress his fur. "Who is she? Her touch is so soft!" he asked.


    "She''s my girlfriend, Tulip Karasu," I answered mentally.


    "Girlfriend? What''s that''s?"


    "You won''t understand even if I explained to you. Don''t worry, though, you''ll understand everything by the pass of time."


    "Alright then, I won''t think about it for the time being."


    "Looks like you have succeeded in taming the Winged Lion," said Tulip as she took my arm.


    I kissed her hand gently and said, "Yes, I succeeded."


    "It''s so beautiful. What is its name?"


    "Zi."


    "Zi the Winged Lion," said Pangu, "Yeah I like the sound of that. You know, a song just came to my mind, how about I let you listen?"


    He was about to start singing again, but I interrupted him, "How about you come with me for a hunt, Pangu?"


    "Yeah, sure. I will have the chance to sing in the way."


    "No songs please, I still need my ears." We went out and started hunting for rabbits, while Pangu kept complaining on many things.


    In the afternoon, we finally got a hundred dead rabbits. We returned to the the camp and found Zi sleeping, while Tulip was cultivating.


    I put the rabbits near Zi and sat beside Tulip in silence. After a few minutes, nothing remained of the corpses, not even the bones. Zi had devoured them entirely in a span of 2 minutes.


    I looked in terror at his appetite and thought, ''How am I supposed to get him food in the future?''

 39 Separation

    At the very first light of the next day, Tulip, Zi, Pangu and I removed our tent and put it in a magically enlarged waist bag.


    In addition to that, I went out in night and hunted what I could find from beasts. Some had crystals in them, while others were ordinary animals. In total, I killed a total of 20 normal animals and 10 cultivator beasts.


    I sighed when I finished hunting, since these would be a mere mouthful to Zi, which won''t even calm down his hunger.


    Why did I bring such a burden upon myself? I don''t know. Really.


    As we walked out of the the dense forest of Mount Evergreen, Tulip asked after a long time of silence, "Where are we going next?"


    When I was about to answer, I felt a strange sensation. It felt like I was behind and at the same time where I stood. After a quick thinking, I realized what is happening.


    "When you see the map in your bag, you will know," said Richard Dumbledore from behind us.


    We looked back and saw him standing right there. When we reached his side, I shook his hand and Tulip hugged him.


    Have I felt weird about Tulip hugging Richard? No I didn''t. I might have forgotten to tell you, or I already did, but Tulip''s father is dead, and her mother doesn''t like the company of others as she fell into craziness after her husband''s death. So when Tulip hugs Richard, it is as if she is hugging her father, nothing more.


    "Hey Richy!" said Pangu.


    "I am going to ignore it this time, Pangu, but that doesn''t mean that I will accept it another time," replied Richard, then looked at the baby Winged Lion, Zi, who was roaring at him. "Hey beasty, don''t show me that face, I am friendly."


    "Is he really friendly, boss?"


    "Yes I am."


    "How could you hear what he said?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.


    "Don''t forget that I am the Lord of Chaos, Hasan. I can hear anything."


    "No, not anything. Because if you do, you would have known the threat of the Red Lotus from the very beginning."


    "The Red Lotus is not a threat to me. But you clearly know that I don''t like to entangle with the universe''s wars and conflicts."


    "Whatever. Why did you come by the way?"


    "Before I tell you that, open up the map."


    Tulip reached to the magical bag on her waist and pointed her wand into it, "Accio!"


    Immediately, the map that Emperor Sun has given us got out from the bag. Tulip handed it to me, and I opened it. On it, six scattered points glowed; each one of them represents a piece of the blade.


    "The nearest piece is in Bing Zhi Di, in the north of China," I said.


    "Bing Zhi Di? What kind of name is that?" asked Tulip.


    "Bing Zhi Di means The Land Of Ice," answered Richard, "a place where Hasan would love a lot."


    "Yeah," I muttered. "I guess we''ll be going there, right?"


    "Although it is the nearest spot, but no, you will go to another place."


    "Which place exactly?"


    "Here," he said, pointing at the farthest point from us, "An old abandoned island in the Pacific Ocean, near the shore. A piece of the blade of Pangu is there."


    "Why go there now, while I can go and get the pne in this Bing Zhi Di place?"


    "For two main reasons. One, this piece is the most important one of all as it contains the memories of Pangu when he saw a hidden place on Midgard, a place that I can''t even spot."


    "And the second reason?"


    "I need you to temper yourself and reach the Sovereign level. And that''s why you will go alone with the company of just Pangu."


    "What about me?" asked Tulip while frowning, "And Zi? What are we supposed to do?"


    "You have recently stepped into the Sovereign level, Tulip, but didn''t have the opportunity to test your abilities. I prepared a test for you back in the mansion. As for the little Winged Lion, I will give him some training methods."


    "Really Richard? Zi and I just made our bond, and now you want to take him from me? And Tulip also, my girlfriend??"


    "Don''t worry, you''ll figure it out. Take these. They are supplies for your journey, don''t forget that it is abandoned and nothing lives there."


    He handed me a bag, which I put on. I knelt beside Zi and said, "Do whatever Richard says, and you''ll benefit, alright?"


    "Yeah boss. But don''t take that long, ok?" he said as I nodded.


    I parted with Tulip by a hug and a kiss and a few words. And once again, I was on my own as they diappirated to The Mansion Of Night.

 40 How could I possibly fly here?

    "Here we are, the two of us alone, Pangu," I sighed.


    "Yeah," he replied, "well, you''re boring. Tulip used to cool down the boredom, and I really liked the company of this new fellow, Zi."


    "You are an ungrateful brat, Pangu. I am risking my life several times to help you build that physical body, and you come and say that I am boring."


    "Okay okay, I was just joking. Anyway, why do you think Richard sent us to that island in particular and not any other place?"


    "Well, he said he wanted to test me there..."


    Before I could continue, he interrupted, "But of course that is not what it seems to be, right? You''re smart, Hasan, surely you have figured that on your own by now."


    "To be honest... Yes, I find this a bit strange. Why would Richard want to test me on an abandoned island?"


    "Not to mention that no one may be there."


    "We can''t know until we find out by ourselves. Ready for an adventure?"


    "You bet." And as he said that, I appirated to the island. However, my transportation was cut amid the teleportation, as we landed at the shore of the Pacific Ocean.


    "What happened?" I asked, still feeling a bit dazed from the cut.


    "I don''t know, it is as if someone pulled you by force from the island."


    I took a minute to get back in perfect condition then said, "I won''t stop here, let''s fly there, I don''t think the island is far. It should be somewhere here."


    "Go along."


    I summoned my wind powers and hovered a few feet off the ground and flew a step. However, the problem wasn''t what I could think of.


    I didn''t complete that step in the air, as I fell down to the ground with a low thud. I tried to fly again, but no, I couldn''t. It was of no use at all.


    I returned back to the spot where my teleportation was interrupted. There, I tried to fly. I think you already knew what happened, but I am going to say ut anyway. I was able to get off the ground easily, as if nothing happened a few moments ago. Trying desperately to fly forward again, I fell like before.


    "Okay," I said, my tone containing a bit of rage, "I am completely annoyed now. What the heck is happening here?"


    "I really don''t know, Hasan," answered Pangu. "This is the first time I''ve ever seen this. Or at least, as I remember."


    "You have been into such a situation before Pangu. These memories are with the piece on this island," came the voice of Richard as he appeared beside me.


    "Well, I thought you wouldn''t pass by," I said to him.


    "Don''t worry, I wouldn''t send you into the dark like that," he said.


    "Can you please tell me that information before getting me here?"


    "I could not, it was essential that Tulip wouldn''t know the information about this island. If she, you wouldn''t be here at all."


    "And why is that?"


    "She would plead to me not to send you there, and I can''t refuse."


    "You, the Lord Of Chaos, can''t refuse the request of a Sovereign? Are you kidding me?"


    "You would have known if you knew my sister," as he said that, a tear dropped on his cheek, "Tulip is just like her. Of course not in the appearance but in the personality. Ariana and Tulip, both are kind, happy, and suffered from parent''s deaths. They are very alike in many ways, and the way Tulip pleads to me is the same when Ariana pleaded to Albus or Aberthfoth."


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    Now that he explained to me, I have to admit that he has a point. No one doted on Richard as Ariana did, and he adores her. But her death crushed him, and as Pangu said earlier, unlocked his powers.


    "Okay," I said, my voice a bit broken. "Why am I unable to fly there, or continue my apparation?"


    "To unknown reasons, this place has no natural laws in it. The gravity still works, though."


    "And how am I supposed to get on the island if I can''t fly? By swimming perhaps?"


    "No."


    "Then how?"


    "By flying of course!"


    "What?? Look, I am actually lost here. You said that there are no natural laws in this area, and first you said that I couldn''t fly. But now you tell me that I have to get there by flying? What kind of logic is that?"


    "Who said that you are going to fly by the help of natural laws? Do you remember that you have wings kid? Those aren''t for enjoyment, you can put them into use."


    "But if there are no laws here haw am I supposed to fly there with wings?"


    "Your transformation is a part of you, and nothing can stop you from transforming into a dragon, or just pulling off wings. And if you don''t believe me, at least try it."


    I did as he said and stepped in the area which had no laws in it. And as Richard said, I could transform just finely.


    "Okay," I said as I returned by his side. "Is there anything else?"


    "The name of this island is Isle of Prisons. Be careful there."


    With that, he transformed into a black Phoenix and summoned his ability of transportation.

 41 First moments on Isle of Prisons

    I sighed at how Richard tells only a little information, not just about the island, but about everything.


    "Isle of Prisons... Isle of Prisons.... Isle of Prisons..." I repeated.


    "Why do you keep repeating this name?" said Pangu, "as if you''re going to unveil a secret."


    "Can you stop talking for a moment please? I am trying to concentrate," I said while being very annoyed.


    "Alright alright. Don''t get angry!"


    I shook my head and kept repeating the name of the island. After some time, I finally knew what the name signified. "Found it!"


    "Found what?" asked Pangu.


    "You remember the prophecy, don''t you?"


    "Lad do you know how many prophecies I heard in my life time?"


    "Don''t be stupid, Pangu. I mean the prophecy that I issued."


    "Oh okay. What about it?"


    "The prophecy said, ''The Ice will test the prisoner''s wrath''. I am the Ice. Now we are heading to an island called the Isle of Prisons. Don''t tell me that''s a coincidence."


    "Now that you put it that way, no it''s not. But why would Richard send you here? Does he already know what is going to happen?"


    "You never know if he does. Anyway, Richard said it is a test for me, and I am up to this test."


    "I don''t know if this optimism is good, Hasan. According to Richard, I have been into the island, but I have a sensation that that visit wasn''t a good one."


    "Can swords have feelings to begin with?"


    "I am trying to be serious here!" I didn''t know if I actually believed it. Not Pangu''s feelings, no. But him trying to be serious. After all, when was he?


    "We won''t know until we reach the island." With that, the dragon wings sprouted from my back and flapped. Immediately, I got off the ground and flied in the direction of the island.


    At the moment I stepped into the zone of the island, I suddenly discovered that there was not that much oxygen. Only a few. However, I didn''t need oxygen to breath.


    The natural energy stored inside my body was enough for me to breath for a month. But after a month... I would need the natural oxygen to breath.


    Anyway, I lost count of the time. After two hours, no it is three, or was it four? It doesn''t matter. Okay I know how to put in words: After a long period of time, I reached the shore of the island. It wasn''t that hard, was it?


    The ground was of hard dark black rock, all of it, and there was no soil at all. It was flat, yes flat. Not a single mountain or at least a small hill.


    Very far away, I saw the tower, glowing in the dark weather. Actually, the tower, which had the piece of the blade, was the only source of light in the whole island.


    Still, I wasn''t convinced that magic won''t happen here. I took my sword from my waist and tried to change it to a wand. Yeah you guessed it, and I did, the swap wasn''t successful.


    "Looks like we will have a tough time getting to the tower, Pangu," I said.


    "Yeah," he replied, but his voice was in my head, not like before, when he was talking like a human.


    "Why does it seem that my voice was in your head?" asked Pangu.


    "Yeah it was," I replied while frowning. I took a step forward and sensed great difficulty in that step. In fact, I crawled at the spot.


    With my leg trembling, I managed to step up. I looked at the tower, which was several days away from me, in a normal situation of course.


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    "Yeah, it wouldn''t just be difficult," I said, "it will be impossible."

 42 A cat goddess

    "Now what?" asked Pangu. "You don''t suggest that you crawl to reach the tower, do you?"


    "Do you have a better idea?" I said, still frowning.


    "No. But anything but crawling would be nice."


    "Why do you even care? Are you the one that''s is crawling?"


    He didn''t answer. I took that as an indication that I should move.


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    With great difficulty, I forced myself to take another step. And with that, 6 months passed by.


    In those months, we didn''t talk that much. We both agreed to save the oxygen. However, the oxygen ceased gradually, until I reached halfway through the distance, where nothing could be breathed.


    At this point, I have to rely entirely on the natural energy stored in my body. And when I say that, I don''t know how will I manage to stay alive when the oxygen goes out. It took me 6 months to get the half of the distance, and the natural energy inside me disperses after two months only.


    You must be thinking, how the hell did you manage this in only 6 months? The answer this, I forced myself to stay under the pressure, sometimes I even stayed days in the same place, but it was worth it, since I was getting more used to thw difficulty.


    Now why did I start narrating from this point, and any other point? Well something happened here of course.


    I sat down to get some rest after two weeks of constant walking. I laid down on my back, on a small hill, and managed to take a nap.


    Yeah we are coming to the strange thing in a moment. After an hour, or it seemed like that, one doesn''t know how to track time here, I woke up.


    "Finally!" said Pangu. "I have been waiting for you to wake up. Now don''t you find that there is something wrong going on?"


    Before I had the chance to respond, a cat passed by and sat in front of us.


    Still having my eyes fixed on the cat, I said slowly, as if mystified, "Yes, this is definitely wrong."


    "What the hell is this cat doing here?" he said. I didn''t know what to answer. But this cat gave me a weird sensation, it was as if it wasn''t a cat.


    But what if it is not really a cat? What if it was...


    A flash of information passed in my head. I remembered that ancient Egypt had a cat ''goddess'' named Bast, daughter of Ra, which is basically the granddaughter of Richard.


    To test if my thought was right, I got up and knelt before the cat, then said, "Hail the goddess Bast, daughter of the Godking Ra!"


    You have to understand, I was like Richard not believing in gods and goddesses. I believed that there was only one God. But I had to put my beliefs aside if I wanted to know what''s happening.


    Fortunately and unfortunately, she was Bast. She was tall, skinny, brunette with black hair and eyes.


    It is fortunate because she is Bast, as for why unfortunate, she didn''t look very happy to see me. Her look was very deadly, as if I was a prey and she is a predator.


    "Set!" she said, her tone itself could kill a mortal.


    "Sorry?" I said, not sure what she meant. But of course I knew who was Set; he is the Egyptian god of choas and fire.


    "Don''t play games, Set. I know it is you. You thought that you could hide very well from me, but you were wrong!"


    "Look woman, I don''t know what are you talking about. Don''t mistake me as your nephew."


    "Mistake you? You look the same as before, at the end of Egypt. But there is only two differences: One, your hair is white. Two, you are acting stupid."


    "Hold on, you said that I look like Set?" Great, I needed another one to look like me.


    "Stop denying your identity! I know that it is you, I can sense it. Before you destroyed Egypt, I vowed to kill you. And now the time has come."


    She walked with slow steps towards me while taking an overelaborate sword from her waist. Before she striked, I yelled," Wait!"


    "What? You want to say your final words, nephew?" she said.


    "Can we at least talk first?"


    "Talk?" she laughed. "You say that we should talk? Are you serious Set?"


    "Yes I am, and stop calling me Set. First of all, there are many people that look like me, and one of them is your grandfather."


    "My grandfather? You mean the Lord of Choas?"


    "Yes, my trueself. Second, I haven''t reached 30 yet. How could I possibly destroy Egypt?"


    She frowned but stayed silent. After a while, she sheathed her sword and said, "Alright. I will let you live. But I will ask my grandfather about you."


    "Okay." Then she turned into a cat and strode away.


    "Well that wasn''t expected," I said.


    "Yeah it was," said Pangu. "But that wasn''t the wrong thing that I wanted to tell you about..."

 43 The Underwater Phoenix King

    Let''s interrupt what happened on Isle of Prisons, just to let you guess what happened.


    Back in Lebanon, my clone was currently on a trip to the beach. South Lebanon''s beaches have the most clean shores than the other shores in the country, so naturally, we headed there.


    Music rang in the bus, but it suddenly stopped. From the front seat, my friend looked back at me, where I was in the back seat, and said, "Try not to turn into a Super Saiyan with spiky white hair this time, okay Hasan?"


    Laughter exploded inside the bus, whike I just smiled and shook my head.


    "No seriously, we just want to have fun. We don''t need anything dangerous," he added after the laughter died down.


    "You know that trouble is the one that seeks me, and not the opposite. As for that incident, how many times should I tell you that it was unexpected."


    "I still don''t understand what happened back then," said a girl, "what are your powers exactly? And who the hell was that voice that echoed in the world?"


    "I''ll be surprised if you did. But it''s better that way, because if I tried to explain, your mind would crumble to pieces," I replied.


    "Yeah you take big," said another one with a laugh. I just shook my head.


    Soon, we reached the beach and set our things on the shore. Some immediately went into the water, while others stayed at the shore.


    As for me, I was within the ones that immediately went into the water. You have to understand, I am the Lord of Water, and I feel great connection with the sea water. So as soon as I was in the water, the sea called to me, as well as countless sea creatures.


    As I was swimming, I suddenly sensed something moving beside me, something medium sized, not a person. It was a bird.


    It sprang out of the water and flapped its wings. Its feathers were blue colored. Its eyes were also blue, and you could see the depth of the sea in them. Three red and gold feathers were atop of its head, forming a crown.


    "Oh. My. GOD!" said my friend beside me. "I''ve never seen a bird this beautiful. What kind is it?"


    The bird landed on my hand and I stroked its freathers, and at the same time smiled and said to my friend, "It''s a Phoenix."


    "A Phoenix? Aren''t Phoenixes red? And when did they shift into living inside the water?"


    "There are many kinds of phoenixes, and this is a water phoenix, and a king at that!"


    "Cool!"


    The phoenix flew and sent a beautiful cry. Only I could understand what is it saying, and I was surprised for a moment, but then I knew why.


    "It wants to ahow us something in its palace," I said.


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    "You can understand what it''s saying?" said another friend.


    "Yes. I am the clone of a Phoenix, so I can naturally understand their language."


    "How are we going to get to its palace?"


    The phoenix king sent another cry and blue glow shot from its eyes to envelope my friends, who were now all beside me.


    The glows attached to the phoenix, who went underwater and began swimming. I also went down and followed my friends.


    After an hour, an underwater palace appeared in the distance. Animals were going in and out from and to it. The Phoenix continued flying and went inside of the palace from the front door.


    When the animals saw the king, they bowed in respect for the majestic Phoenix. The former stopped for a moment, cried, and then continued swimming.


    It led us to a chamber further in the palace, and there, some eggs were there. A look of warmth appeared in the king''s eyes, as it looked at the small blue eggs in the nest.


    "These are your babies, your majesty?" I asked the phoenix. It cried in response which meant yes.


    "Why is it showing us the eggs?" said the one who first saw the king.


    "It wants us to see the hatching," I said. And as if they were waiting for me to say this, cracking sounds could be heard.


    One after the other, chicks startedto get out of the cracked eggs. A hundred in total. They were fatherless at first, but after moments, they started to be clad in blue.


    The Phoenix king flew to them and cried in delight and warmth. I was going to say some words of congratulations, but my expression suddenly changed.


    Without me knowing, my friends were looking at me. But I could no longer see them.


    A red blur covered my eyes and I dropped unconscious in a moment. I could sense my life force seeping away, but that process stopped immediately after it began.


    While I was unconscious, my friends backed away from me, and the king looked back at me and cried a cry of worry. It flew to my side and dripped some of its tears, which had healing powers, on me, but nothing happened.


    "He won''t wake up," came the voice of Richard from the door. The Phoenix turned back and bowed deeply.


    "Rise, my friend," he said, looking at my friends for a while then at me. He knelt and put his hand on my forehead then frowned.


    "Is... Is he okay?" asked the girls from earlier on the bus.


    "Yes, young Miss, he is," he said calmly.


    Suddenly, I snapped my eyes open and stood up, then said, "What happened?"


    "Later," said Richard, obviously not wanting to talk in front of others.


    A chick squeaked suddenly, getting our attention, as it turned from blue to black. Richard''s looked surprised at this sudden phenomenon.


    "Is it even possible?" I asked him, looking even more surprised.


    "Apparently yes."


    The king was excited, one of its chicks turned to be a Dark Phoenix! The same as the Lord of Choas!


    "Well," said Richard, smiling, "I must congratulate you, Phoenix King. If you permit it, I will take this son of yours as an apprentice when it grows. What do you say?"


    The King''s look turned into a look of excitement, mixed with respect. It bowed its head and began feeding its babies.

 44 A fire figure

    We returned to the shore and left the Underwater Phoenix King to his newborn phoenix chicks. Between them, there is a Dark Phoenix just like Richard.


    "How is it even possible?" I asked Richard, still not believing what my eyes have seen.


    "I don''t know how," answered Richard, eying me. "But for that king to seek you to see the hatch of its eggs means that it sensed something."


    "What thing? Me unconscious in its palace, or one of its chicks turning into a creature so rare in the world that there is - was - one in the world?"


    "One of them. Perhaps the two. But in my estimation, the two incidents are separated and have nothing to do with each other."


    "But why? Why did I pass out so suddenly? And..." Suddenly my expression changed.


    "Let me guess, you lost connection with your true body?"


    "Yes!" I said, my face grim.


    "I''ll explain everything when we get to your home."


    "Wait, we are going to Beirut? Not to your mansion?"


    "No, I don''t want..."


    "... Tulip to know, right?"


    "Right. Now come on, F¨¢rbuati is waiting for us in your home."


    I nodded and told my friends about the situation, and although they complained, they nodded in the end. Well, it seems that I won''t have a good meeting with my friends from now on.


    Back at the Isle Of Prisons, I frowned at what Pangu has just said. Then I realized immediately what''s wrong.


    "What the hell was that small hill doing on a completely flat land?" I said, the frown still on my face.


    "That''s what I wanted to tell you before Bast came," replied Pangu.


    I turned my body to look at what I was sleeping on and my eyes widened in disbelief. There was nothing on the ground. No hill, nothing. Just the flat land.


    I raised my head to look in the sky and saw the unbelievable. A figure covered with fire, as tall as me, and an evil smile on its face, hovered in the air. It continued to stare at me, consuming me with its eyes.


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    "What are you?" I asked, "Are you Hades from the first Percy Jackson movie? Which by the way doesn''t look like Hades at all!"


    "I don''t think that it is the time for jokes, lad!" cried Pangu.


    And just as he finished talking, the fire figure paid us no head and approached me in the blink of an eye. My body seemed to absorb it, although I couldn''t resist.


    All of this happened in the time of one quick breath, which rendered me, as you all know, unconscious. Again.


    In Lebanon, after arriving to beirut, which didn''t take a long time, I knocked on the door.


    The one to open the door was my mother, who had a frown on her face as she pointed at a big figure sitting on the couch in the salon.


    "Hey big guy!" I said, extending my hand to shake his which hadn''t moved as he looked at me. "How much do you weigh? Release that couch from the oain, dude!"


    F¨¢rbuati stood up, his expression still indifferent, and I don''t know how he manages to do that, and surprisingly said, "Quit fooling around."


    "Pangu said the same thing before..."


    "... before you were cut off from your original body," continued Richard.


    "Yes. How did you know?"


    "Bast informed me. However she is already very far away. She contacted me to go and find you."


    "And are you going?"


    "No."


    "Thanks. I would be surprised if you said yes."


    "Well as you know, I am not emotionless. Your senior brother F¨¢rbuati is currently looking for your body."


    "Thanks big guy," I said, turning from Richard to him. "But how are you going to trespass that island if there are no natural laws there."


    "The same way you did," he answered. "Furthermore, that environment is the best for me."


    "How come?"


    "Do you know what law I study, boy?"


    "No not really."


    "The rarest of all laws. The Laws of Choas!"


    "So, when you say that there are no natural laws, there actually is but in choas, right?"


    "Precisely," said Richard. At the same moment, F¨¢rbuati looked at me and said, "I found your body."

 45 I did it for you

    Believe me, I envied my senior brother, F¨¢rbuati, very much at that moment. To be able to study the laws of choas means that he has affinity for every law that exists.


    "But," I said, still refusing to believe and completely ignoring the fact that F¨¢rbuati has found my body, "how can this be possible?"


    "What is?" asked Richard, "The laws of choas or your senior brother finding your body?"


    "Both, actually," I said, turning to F¨¢rbuati. "Are you the only person who can study these laws?"


    "Alive? Yes," replied the big guy indifferently, "My brother was as me, but he died early in his life. My son showed signs of actually being able to study these laws, but these signs faded."


    I nodded, noticing that he wouldn''t talk about the matter anymore.


    On Isle of Prisons, my original body lay there motionless on the solid, flat rock ground. As for the hill and the fire figure, both disappeared.


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    F¨¢rbuati arrived about fifty meters from my position, but was unable to get past those markings. It was as if an invisible barrier prevented him from entering.


    He frowned (I mean he is always frowning, but in this case more than usual) and retrieved the battle axe from his back.


    Gripping it tightly, frost started to appear on the axe''s blade. When it completely covered the blade, F¨¢rbuati shouted and sent a mighty blow to the invisible barrier.


    Ripples appeared and the barrier, that prevented him from entering, started to disappear into thin air.


    F¨¢rbuati put the axe on its handle as if nothing have happened. He strolled forward and gripped my hand.


    Naturally, it wouldn''t be that easy. A gravitational force pulled me to the ground, countering F¨¢rbuati''s pulling. But this didn''t make him feel irritated in the slightest; instead, he pulled with more force, causing the gravitational field surrounding me to shatter.


    He carried me, thankfully, until we reached the tower in the very center of island. I slept for an entire weak. Finally, I woke up to see myself inside the tower, which was completely white.


    As I stood up, I groaned and turned to see F¨¢rbuati standing at the door of the tower, his back facing me.


    Without turning his body, I heard him saying coldly, "You are weak. Rest. After two days, the test begins."


    I nodded and sat back down. Then I remembered something, "I am not like you, I can''t absorb the natural energy here. All is in choas, how am I supposed to rest?"


    Unexpectedly, F¨¢rbuati turned and looked at me then said, "If you can''t find a way to absorb the natural energy, then you aren''t qualified to take the blade piece."


    With that, he turned back and refused to say anything else. I raised an eyebrow when he said these words.


    "Uggh," I said, sitting down in a cross-legged position. In my mind, I felt the presence of Pangu, then called, "Pangu, you there?"


    "Yes," came the weak voice of Pangu in my head, "I am here... Lad..."


    I was astonished when I heard his voice, "Hey, what''s wrong, buddy? You seam weak."


    "That figure that we saw? It tried to possess you and take control of your body. I tried to block its way, and our battle lasted for five days. I... I had to sacrifice some of my essence to save you and banish it."


    "Your essence? Is that the reason of why are you weak?"


    "Yes..."


    "What are its side effects?"


    "Previously, when all the axe pieces were combined, I would be able to possess a body of flesh and blood, just like yours. But now... I can''t. At most, I will be able to have a body that will be stuck with the sword, unable to separate from it. It will be like a spirit, but no flesh."


    "Oh Pangu, you didn''t have to do this," and I meant it. This was a sacrifice that Pangu wouldn''t even think of doing in his entire life. But when I was in danger and at death''s doorstep, he did it without any hesitation.


    "It''s okay, lad. I did it for you. Although you are very, very, very annoying, you are still the greatest friend I ever had. Your senior brother F¨¢rbuati was quite well, though we didn''t interact at all, but he was all gloomy and grumpy."


    "Wow, that was quite a speech," I replied jokingly.


    "Believe me, it took a great effort to say this."


    I smiled (mentally) and knew that he was getting better. Then I remembered what he said, "Did you just say that I am very annoying???"

 46 The bridge to the laws

    "Oh-Oh," said Pangu, with a laugh. It pleased me to see him joking again.


    "Okay now let''s be serious," I said.


    "I don''t know what do you mean by ''serious'' but you seem to need help."


    "Yeah, I do. The natural laws here are in choas, and I am supposed to find a way to absorb the energy."


    "This won''t be easy. How much time do you have?"


    "Approximately two days. Why, do you have a plan?"


    "I do."


    "How much time does it take?"


    "Well, each person''s talent is different from the other. In other words, it depends on you. If you are talented enough, then one day would suffice. But if you are not, then five days at the least."


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    "Damn it."


    "Yep, you have the right to curse."


    I took a deep breath then said, "Tell me everything you know."


    "As you wish, senior." He started telling me how the technique works. As he was talking, my mind was working fast on understanding his words. Although it wasn''t easy to understand, it wasn''t too hard either. Perhaps my talent is medium.


    A day passed, and Pangu finished explaining the technique. With my eyes still closed, and with utmost concentration, I began the technique.


    Was it easy? Of course it wasn''t. Is there even something called easy in this world? But if we didn''t strive hard to achieve our purpose, how then are we supposed to gain anything?


    Okay. Now enough philosophy talk and let''s get back to that damned technique. An hour has already passed and I had no progress at all.


    Let me tell you how this thing works. I, the Lord of Water, Wind, and Ice, am connected to the laws mentioned just now. In fact, every cultivator is. I have to search for that connection and follow it, till I find the law that I study and grasp it.


    However, Pangu told me that this link exists in where the person''s heart lies. Like you, naturally, I thought it was love. But of course it wasn''t.


    See, it wasn''t the actual heart that he was talking about; it was the Dao Heart, something that was completely new to me too. A dao heart is something that holds a special meaning for the person, in other words, it can be anything. Every person had a dao heart, even you mortals!


    This dao heart can be destroyed, but this destruction will destroy the person''s life and cripple it, and he/she would no longer be sane.


    What is my dao heart? I myself don''t know the answer. I am still searching. After another 5 hours of constant searching, and under the blabbering of Pangu, I finally found my dao heart.


    You will forgive me if I won''t tell you, because I prefer not to mention what it is now. Perhaps another time in the future.


    Still, that was half the job. There was plenty to do. The link exists in the depth of the dao heart, which is even hard to do than searching for the actual dao heart. This is because the person has to go deep in his self and then, that link would be revealed.


    I started searching, and by searching I mean recalling each and every single moment of my entire life; from the moment of my birth, till this very moment.


    My life flashed in front of my eyes as I concentrated on every decision that I have made.


    The dao heart naturally has a core inside of it, either good or evil. That is how the world has bad people in it, their cores would be evil. Most people has a good core, but as for me, you''d be shocked....


    It wasn''t an evil core, nor was it a good one. It was blank. Completely and utterly blank. When I asked Pangu about it, he said that this phenomenon is rarely seen in the world. It means that my path is unknown, or that I mean in between of evil and good. I may not be evil, but I am not good either.


    There in the core, three streams of light were glowing brightly. One was white, the second blue, and the third one was sometimes white, and sometimes blue. They are wind, water, and ice respectively.


    However, a very very very faint red glow was besides the ice stream. I didn''t realize what was it then, only to find about it later.


    Since I found the link, I started absorbing the natural energy until F¨¢rbuati turned to me nd said coolly, "The two day period has ended. It is time to fight."

 47 Three rounds, almos

    As soon as F¨¢rbuati mentioned that it was time to fight, my eyes gleamed in determination. The fights with F¨¢rbuati were always beneficial for me, whether it was in battle experience or in techniques. Now, though, he taught me (not really teaching but I''ll consider it like that) how to absorb the natural energy when all the laws are in choas.


    I stood up and took out my wand, which transformed into the Pangu sword. Holding firmly onto it, I strolled towards his location and he did the same.


    Holding the frost axe in his right hand, he shouted and the axe was immediately covered in ice.


    "Your test today will be different from other ones," he said calmly. "The fight will be of three rounds. After each round ends, I will demonstrate one runic attack. Whether or not you gain enlightenment is completely up to your level of understanding."


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    "And what if I don''t succeed in defeating you in one attempt? Do I have another chance?" I asked.


    "If you don''t defeat me, then you will die. There are no other chances, only one. And... Considering that you are my junior brother, I will make an exception and tell you this. The secret is the movement."


    "The movement?" I said, raising an eyebrow, but it seems that F¨¢rbuati was in no mood to explain.


    "Round one. Preserve under my attacks for ten minutes, and you pass this round."


    I nodded and turned my sword back to wand form. In defense, it is best to use magic than a weapon.


    I waved my wand in a certain pattern and chanted, "Protego!"


    Immediately, a translucent barrier formed around me. In addition, I cast other defensive spells that Richard and Merlin have taught me before leaving. Those two felt that I wasn''t ready enough to defend my self on my own.


    In the first minute, F¨¢rbuati''s attacked brutally and some power of the blast even got past my barriers. Although it was like a soft wind blowing against me, it was shocking that it even got through my defense. If the first minute was like that, I couldn''t imagine how the other nine minutes will pass.


    Just as I imagined, the remaining 9 minutes passed like I have been through hell. The barriers didn''t shatter, and I soon came to the realization that they were useless. F¨¢rbuati''s attacks were, in fact, weak in the first minute, and they kept rising in power by the passage of every minute.


    My clothes were in tatters, my hair was in disarray and multiple woonds could be seen on my face and body. My body felt as if it would explode at any moment.


    However, all of this didn''t come without fortune. I noticed from the very beginning the way that he attacked with, and understood what he meant by the secret is in the movement. The first attack started with zero power, and kept building the momentum until the last attack which contained the sum of power of all attacks and that was the one that mostly mattered.


    Finally, this round of hell finished and I was still in one piece. "Rest for one day, and claim your reward," said F¨¢rbuati and closed his eyes.


    After one day, F¨¢rbuati opened his eyes and informed that he was going to demonstrate the first technique.


    I watched very carefully as he waved the axe behind his back, from right to left, and reappeared in front of him. He grabbed it and smashed it to the ground. The ground turned into ice and the wind was frozen.


    "This technique''s name is Ivaldi''s Anvil," he said after he put the axe on his back.


    I nodded and recalled the scenes. It took me a couple of minutes to understand how it works.


    I copied the moves, with a sword, and smashed the sword to the ground. A layer of ice appeared on the ground, and although it wasn''t as big as F¨¢rbuati''s, it was still remarkable.


    He nodded and said, "Round two. The exact opposite of round one. You have ten minutes to break this defensive barrier of mine. Begin."


    I used all of my power to try and break the barrier, even used the momentum technique and Ivaldi''s anvil, all to no avail.


    However, something unexpected happened on the fifth minute; something that neither F¨¢rbuati nor me knew that would happen.


    I felt a surge of power in my right hand, and a ten meter long flame snaked out of my hand and slammed into the barrier, reducing it into nothingness.

 48 A drunk lord

    "Holy sh*t!" I exclaimed. Normally, I wouldn''t curse at all, but this time, I was scared out of my wits, so the words slipped out of my lips. Who could have expected that I, the Lord of WATER, WIND AND ICE WOULD CONJURE FIRE!


    F¨¢rbuati''s shield didn''t have the chance to stand against my flame serpent, although the big guy was probably an Eternal Emperor and far more powerful than Emperor in the Yggdrasil chaosverse. The fact that Richard appointed him to be the guardian of the Pangu axe blade pieces shows how powerful he is.


    He big frown appeared on his face, a frown bigger than any other that appeared on his face. He strod forward and gripped my hand tightly.


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    I was powerless, not because ge exerted power, no; it was because the flame had depleted my energy, and I was barely able to stay awake.


    Under my skin, the fire was still there. F¨¢rbuati murmured something under his breathand the bit of fire that was under the skin snaked to his hand.


    He looked at it for some time and suddenly looked at me again. "How was I able to do that," I asked with a weakened voice.


    "I don''t know," he replied calmly. "Lord Richard must see this. Someone has played with your body, kid, and it is not a good thing. Come!"


    Still gripping my hand, he appirated to the Mansion of Night. He held me to Richard''s office, since I was too weak to walk. However, I noticed that his armor was different than it had been moments before. It was just like the one whem I first met him. Apparently, he only sent me here and left his clone behind. To confirm my thoughts, I saw Mimir, dangling from F¨¢rbuati''s hip.


    We arrived at Richard''s office rather quickly, since no one was in our way to stop us. Without knocking on the door, F¨¢rbuati stormed into the room and addressed Richard, who was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, "Fire."


    Richard opened his eyes and said with a raised eyebrow, "What?"


    "He conjured fire," replied F¨¢rbuati.


    "How could he conjure fire?"


    "You are the Lord of Chaos, not I."


    "Do you think that we should held a meeting?" said Richard with a grimace.


    "Are you drunk?" asked Mimir.


    "I am? I am! How shocking!"


    "He is definitely drunk," I said, followed by a cough. Seeing that Richard was still acting stupidly, I continued, "Richard, please, this is serious."


    "I know that it is serious! Do I look like am not serious?"


    "I think you''d better held this meeting."


    "Well then," said Mimir. "Other than our Lord of Chaos here, who is currently drunk, I am the only one that can announce the meeting. Would you mind taking me to the meeting room, brother?"


    "Fine," said F¨¢rbuati. He put me on a mat beside Richard and went out with Mimir.


    "You are not drunk are you?" I asked after they closed the door.


    Richard''s face turned normal and replied, "Nope."


    "Then why were you acting like you were drunk?"


    "Because I felt like playing a bit. And after the meeting starts, you''ll see that Mimir saw through it all, but considering that the two of us are weirdos, he didn''t say anything about it."


    "He also didn''t because you are his lord."


    "Yeah, that too."


    He waved his hand and my energy was restored. I sat up and said, "Why did all of this happen?"


    "Something, or perhaps someone, is tempering with your body. So don''t feel confused."


    "Who are these Lords?"


    "The Lords of Yggdrasil are a bunch of people like us. You are the Lord of Water, Wind, and Ice, I am the Lord of Night. There will be other Lords in this meeting. It should start by now."


    Just after he said that, two doors suddenly appeared in front of him, as well as in front of me.


    "After you," said Richard.


    I stepped into the door, which led to a dark room, with a round table in the middle, surrounded by chairs, each chair for each lord.


    Suddenly, Mimir''s voice drifted through the room, "Welcome my Lords."

 49 An angry man, an idiot, a dragon, a Lord of Choas, a wizard, a head, and me in a meeting

    There were seven people present here; well, six men and one head. They were Richard, F¨¢rbuati, Mimir, Merlin, a muscular man with a red beard and a hood covering his head, an old man whose face greatly resemled that of a dragon, and me.


    Each one of them was sitting on a wood throne, and behind each one there was a drawing representing the elements.


    I was led by Richard to a throne that had three symbols: an ice crystal, a drop of water, and a screaming wind. They represented ice, water and wind respectively. Richard sat on a throne beside me which had a dark night on it.


    When he saw us sit, Merlin said, "Richard..."


    "He is a Lord as well, Merlin," replied Richard calmly, which seemed to have worked on the old wizard.


    "I don''t understand why I am obliged to do something like this," said the man with the red beard. "Especially if the meeting contained HIM!"


    When he said ''HIM'', his voice went loud and dangerous. The one he was pointing at was none other than my senior brother F¨¢rbuati.


    "Look you big idiot," said F¨¢rbuati, "you are answering to the calls of the Lord of Choas, so yes you are obliged to be in the meeting. And if you want to stop coming, I can help you by taking your title away from you."


    Red Beard growled towards the big guy and was avout to say something when Richard snapped," Enough!"


    Instantly, the two didn''t dare to even say a single word. "Since this is your first time in the meetings of the Lords, I will make the introductions.


    "Gentlemen, this is Hasan Awada, the Lord of Water, Wind, and Ice. Hasan, this is Thor, the Lord of Thunder and the son of Odin," he pointed at Red Beard, "and this is Sart, the Lord of Earth. You two may get along, since both of you are dragons."


    Sart seemed surprised about the fact that I am a dragon, and he said, "Which kind?"


    "Ice drogon," I replied.


    "Oh I see. Well, I am an Earth dragon, and although our ckans don''t get along, I still respect the fact that you are a Lord."


    "I don''t actually have any connections to the dragon clan. I became a dragon due to a transformation, not because I have the bloodline of a dragon."


    He narrowed his eyes and nodded, but refraining to add something else. Richard continued on, "You already know Mimir, Lord of Knowledge, F¨¢rbuati, Lord of Choas -obviously the Choas element, not the title-, and Merlin, Lord of Magic. I am the Lord of Night. Now that the introductions have been made, let the meeting begin.


    "I am sure that you are currently wondering why I have summoned you here. F¨¢rbuati and Mimir already know, but I will say what happened.


    "Hasan here was, and still, on a quest to find all the pieces of Pangu''s axe, and to revive the soul of Pangu."


    "Ymir," said Thor, "his name is Ymir!"


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    "Thank you, great-grandson, but I prefer to go by my Chinese name," said Pangu.


    Thor looked more shocked than ever and immediately stood up and kneeled on one knee, "Thor Odinson offers greetings to the ancestor!"


    From the connection between me and Pangu, I can feel that he was actually very pleased to see an arrogant fool kneeling for him. Why a fool? Because no one would do such a thing, and I have heard how Thor would do things arrogantly and rashly.


    "I prefer the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of you," I said.


    "How dare...!" but once again interrupted by Richy, who was on the verge of exploding.


    "Enough! All of you, shut up!"


    He took a deep breath and said, "About an hour ago, he was in Isle of Prisons, where the most powerful piece was. He had an unknown accident that caused the connection between his true self and clone to disperse and rendered him unconscious.


    " However, while fighting with the guardian, F¨¢rbuati, he unexpectedly produced a flame that was far more powerful than any flame, even more powerful than Surt''s fire. For someone who cultivates ice to produce flame... isn''t quite real. Something must have intervened with his body. Now, children, what are your opinions?"


    Red Beard, I mean Thor, stood up and said," Perhaps he had hidden it from the start, or it was a chance occurrence."


    "That is no chance occurrence," said Sart. "Haven''t you been listening? The Lord of Choas said that he had an unknown accident. Obviously the two are connected."


    "That is an possibility," said Merlin, "although cultivating opposite is rare, it is not an impossibility. Richard himself cultivated all of the four elements. Considering that Hasan is a clone of Richard, it might be because of that."


    "Mimir?" said Richard, "What do you sense with your eyes?"


    "Ah finally, my turn has finally come," said the head. "Hmm... There''s a strong aura of fire, but that isn''t Hasan''s. Yes, he can cultivate the laws of fire, although that would require many years. That fire is another person''s fire. It is a fire of rage and has burned countless of people in... Eh? What happened? I just forgot which place!"


    I wasn''t surprised, because I currently knew who''s fire was that, but no matter what I tried, I couldn''t say the name. All I could say was, "S!"


    And that was the part when all eyes turned to me. "What did you say?" asked Richard with narrowed eyes.


    "I feel like I know who''s fire is it, but all I can remember is the letter S," I replied.


    "Who are the people that controlled fire across the years that started with S?" asked Thor.


    "Surt, Set, Emperor Sun..." Mimir started listing all the names but no name could make me remember the correct one.


    I shook my head as they looked at me once more.

 50 What will he make me do?

    The meeting didn''t last long, since I couldn''t say the name of the entity that is playing with my body, npr could any of them can be certain. Well... I have my doubts that both Richard and Mimir know something about my situation; something that they are not telling.


    When we got back to Richard''s office room, I couldn''t hold from asking, "You already know what happened to me, even before I went unconscious on Isle of Prisons. In fact, I am sure that this is the whole reason I went to that damned island."


    "What reason?" he replied calmly.


    "To encounter that... Person. Don''t act like you don''t know anything, Richard, because you know a lot."


    "That''s right, I do know what exactly happened with you, and what will happen with you. Actually, I know every word that you say. But like you, I am held back from speaking the truth."


    "What will He make me do?" I asked anxiously.


    "Many things."


    "Are you going to tell me?"


    "Of course not. You can ask Mimir, he is not restricted from talking. Well, you can try at least."


    Without replying, I stormed out of the room and found Mimir, dangling from the hip of F¨¢rbuati.


    "Ah, the cursed kid," he said when he saw me, getting the attention of the big guy. He looked back at me and didn''t say anything.


    "What will he make me do?" I asked the head.


    "Who?"


    "You know who, Mimir. Don''t play the stupid, you are the Lord of Knowledge. What will he make me DO?!"


    The last word went out a bit loud, and was filled with all of my frustration, fear, and anger. I was angry with Richard because he knows everything and yet coldly refused to tell me. And know, the supposed Lord of Knowledge was playing the idiot on me.


    F¨¢rbuati seemed interested and got Mimir, hold him up and said, "Speak, Head. Tell him what he wants to know, now!"


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    "Okay okay, don''t get angry, both of you!" said Mimir quickly. "Before I say anything, I want to know one thing, Hasan, and then you will tell me whether to proceed or not.


    "Yes, I do know what will happen, or to be precise, what happened, through an innate technique of mine. But I keep that information for myself, and never speak of them. If I am to tell you now what will he make you do, ot won''t happen, and the past will change. That''s how it works, and if the past is changed, then you might be born at all, because what happened back then was connected to you would never happen.


    "So tell me, do you want to risk it and hear me?"


    I am going to be very honest with you, I wasn''t sure what to say at all. There was part of me that wanted Mimir to tell me what would happen, and there was another part that wanted him to shut up.


    Finally, I made up my mind, "Do not proceed, Mimir. I won''t risk it."


    "Good, little brother. Be sure that this is the right thing to do."


    "For once," said F¨¢rbuati, "the Head is right. Changing the past is a very dangerous thing, and might erase you from existence. Ask someone who has tried."


    Reluctantly, I nodded and made my leave. I went to my room and closed the door behind me. I laid down on the bed and started thinking.


    Not long after that, someone knocked on the door. "Enter."


    The door opened, and Tulip stepped in, running to my side. I have never been so happy to see someone in my entire life than right now. I took her in my arms and hugged her.


    I never realized how much I missed Tulip. It hadn''t been very long since we parted, but so many things have happened sincd then.


    "Can I enter too?" said an innocent voice as Zi was standing on my doorstep.


    All the thoughts left my head instantly and I was happy to be among these two again wgich caused me to smile broadly.

 51 Bing Zhi Di, the weirdest name ever.

    On the morning of the next day, I went back to Richard''s room. He was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed near the fire. He didn''t seem to notice me, since he kept his eyes closed.


    A let out a small cough just to get his attention but he was still sitting there. Finally, I said, "Look I know I was acting like a stupid yesterday, and I am sorry for being selfish. Now, can you please talk to me?"


    "What''s the point of being sorry?" said Richard, his eyes still closed.


    "The point was to get you to talk, and it worked."


    This time, Richard''s eyes snapped open and he said, "You little rascal, fine! You''ve got me to talk, now what do you want?"


    "Where should I head next?"


    "China, duh."


    "Okay, Mr. Smart. Where in China?"


    "Bing Zhi Di, the Land of Ice. Believe me, you are going to love it, everything there is made of ice, even the trees. Well, nearly everything, with the exception of the tower there."


    "Will you make a portal?"


    He pulled out his wand and waved it at a rock beside him, which made me wonder if he was already prepared for this conversation. "Portus!"


    Nothing changed in the rock, but I could sense the power of teleportation on it. "Thanks," I said and prepared to leave.


    "Hasan," he said.


    "Yes?"


    "Take care."


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    "I will."


    With that, I exited the room and headed to the entrance of the mansion, beneath the two statues. There, Tulip and Zi were waiting for me. I told Tulip to prepare enormous amounts of food for Zi, because we would be in a land devoid of the meet that Zi likes.


    "Is everyone ready?" I asked. They all nodded, along with Pangu, which had nothing at all to prepare, and we put our hands on the portal.


    It flickered and the teleportation power activated, sending us to Bing Zhi Di, China, where the sixth piece of the axe was located.


    Ah yes, I forgot to tell you this. F¨¢rbuati had given me the fifth piece when the meeting of the Lords finished, even though I didn''t pass the test. To be honest, I even asked him to give me the other five pieces, by which he responded with a snort. Fearing that he might get angry, I backed up and accepted that piece.


    In Bing Zhi Di, China, everything was clad in white: Trees, plants, beasts, mountains and the lands. The waters had freezed from the very moment that the environment of the land has turned icy.


    At the southern corner of the Land of Ice, the air suddenly trembled, and ripples spread in the surroundings. Out of nowhere, three figures appeared. One was a male with completely white hair and blue eyes, wearing a white robe, with a sword on his back. And that handsome young man was none other than me, see how humble I am?


    The second figure was of a female with long red hair and a graceful figure, wearing a red robe with a wand in her hand. She was pretty to the extreme, she was my girlfriend Tulip.


    As for the third figure, it was a small black colored lion with wings sprouting from its back. This was none other than the rare creature, Zi, the Winged-Lion.


    I looked around at the completely frozen land and my eyes glittered. On the contrary, Tulip and Zi weren''t finding the weather very good for them.


    "Oh man! I got used to it at this very moment," I said with a delightful laugh.

 52 The Ice Pixies

    I won''t lie to you, I entered a paradise the moment I stepped in the Land of Ice. The cold wind hit my face, and it was wonderful.


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    I turned to look at Tulip and Zi, who were both trembling from the icy temperature. Tulip conjured a small flame that she used to warm herself. As for Zi, the fur on his body grew long enough to warm him a bit. After doing that, they were still trembling.


    I smiled and extended my hand, which caused the wind around the two to lessen greatly. Being the Lord of Wind, I could do that without any problem. Once I did that, they stopped trembling and their bodies warmed once again.


    "This wind is not ordinary," I said. "In fact, one can use it to temper his body and strengthen it. Even I can benefit from it, considering the toughness of my dragon body.


    "Tulip, being a cultivator of fire, I think that using an opposing element can help your flame to get more powerful. As for you Zi, I honestly have no idea how it can benefit you.


    "The choice is yours, I can reform the wind around you, and I can leave just like that. What do you choose?"


    Zi looked at me with his eyes and his voice echoed in my mind, "You are right, boss. This wind is definitely not normal. I can sense that it can increase my spead if I attempt to fly in the opposite direction of the wind. It can even make my body equally tough to yours, boss! No, wait, almost like yours."


    As for Tulip, she looked at me and said," I will go with your suggestion, Hasan."


    I nodded and replied," I will start with only a little bit of pressure."


    I waved my hand causing a chunk of ive to form, which then floated toward Tulip." Once you want to increase the pressure, use this chunk of ice. As for me, I won''t waste time and go to the tower immediately."


    I took off my upper clothes, leaving me bare-chested. "Good luck, both of you. I hope that you will achieve what you want."


    Tulip hugged me and said, "Same to you, my love."


    Zi roared as I disappeared between the trees.


    I walked for an hour and stopped, because I saw a hord of tiny icy humanoid pixies, which were blocking the way.


    They were all in a mess, but when they sensed me, they stopped and all eyes turned to me, or to be more precise, they were looking at the rune tattoo on the middle of my chest.


    One after the other, they bowed and stepped aside, causing a path to appear. I bowed slightly in return and stepped on the path.


    None intercepted my way, and I passed normally.


    But when I stepped past the last pixie, I turned and said in a strange language that even I didn''t know that I can speak, but I guess that was because of my identity, and that was confirmed as the Isaz rune was glowing, "I, the Lord of Ice, would like to request your kind to become an army under my command. If you do, I will make sure to bless your kind for all eternity. You have the ability to refuse my offer."


    I bowed again and waited for them to make their decision. Most of them looked hesitant, but when one of them stepped forward, the others followed. In the end, all of the hord was following me.


    I smiled slightly and said in the same strange language," You have my eternal blessings, ice pixies."


    Stretching my hand oht again, I cast a technique that Merlin had taught me. It could create another dimension where other creatures can live in. In this dimension that I created, it was just as Bing Zhi Di.


    "You may live there," I said, causing them to express their thanks in their own language.


    After the hord completely entered, I put the dimension in a bag of holding and continued in the direction of the tower.

 53 Body power tes

    I continued on my way to the center of the land, encountering two more hirds of ice pixies. After asking the hord chiefs, I realized that Bing Zhi Di''s main residents are the ice pixies.


    However, there were still some terrifying entities that resides there. One time, a powerful aura swept over me and I knew that the owner of that aura could have killed me at the instant. But they didn''t do that. Apparently, it was either because of my position in the Mansion of Night or me being the Lord of ice.


    After some days walk, I finally reached the center of the land, where the tower was stationed. However, what I saw caught me really surprised...


    There was actually no tower, just a wide sized circular arena, with my senior brother F¨¢rbuati standing in the center of it. He was bare-chested, holding nothing in his hands. But that mere sight caused my heart to tremble, because he was radiating a powerful aura that I never noticed before.


    Having so many questions in mind, I approached him and greeted, "F¨¢rbuati."


    He turned his head and looked at me, saying nothing while I continued, "Where is the tower?"


    "It is not here," he said calmly.


    "Where is it then?"


    "It was never here to begin with."


    "Then what was the tall building that I saw upon entering Bing Zhi Di? I am pretty sure that it was a tower."


    "It is an illusion that was made to be a reminder to the powerful entities that reside in this land that the Mansion of Night still own this place."


    "What will happen when I take the blade piece? Will it just disappear?"


    "No, the illusion will remain."


    "Okay," I said, then changed the subject. "What is the test today?"


    "The Body Power test. Magic is prohibited. Get ready."


    I raised an eyebrow but still did what he wanted. I was already bare-chested, so all I needed to do was put Pangu away. Having done that, I walked back to F¨¢rbuati and told him that I am ready.


    "Before we start, the fighting will be intense. This is a test, and at the same time, not. The point of it is to let the participant reach their maximum fleshly body power. If you couldn''t reach it, then you would have to try a thousand times.


    "Take this as an advice from your senior brother, be extra careful with me, because not even the Collossus of Rhodes can withstand my blows. What is your decision?"


    I was frightened, really and utterly frightened. There were two voices in my head, one that was telling me to participate, which was probably the voice of Richard, and the other was telling me not to, which was definitely my voice.


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    Seeing that I was still hesitant, F¨¢rbuati spoke again, "I may be powerful, but so are you. Your body is amongst the most finest in the Ice Dragon Clan. Do not underestimate your abilities."


    After thinking for one more moment, I made up my mind. I raised my head and my energy started to rise. This energy was not the type that would come out of the cultivation base, no; this is the most brutal energy of all, fleshly body energy!


    At some point, my skin turned blue, with scales covering all of my body. A tail sprouted out of my back. This was a state that I haven''t used before, it is called the quasi-dragon state!


    However, this was not my end yet. My skin turned white again, while the tail remained there. This was my most powerful state I have ever been in.


    "BRING IT ON!!" I shouted with all my might.


    F¨¢rbuati didn''t hesitate at all and charged. When he was a hair distance away from me, his hand turned into a fist and he punched. However, what he hit was nothing than an after image, because I was already standing beside him, where I landed a blow onto his back.


    He was sent forward, but was clearly uninjured. He looked at me in surprise, which was mixed with a bit of interest.


    Once again, we charged at each other, and this time I did not evade. In the blink of an eye, we have already exchanged more than a thousand blows.


    Although this type of fighting is extremely tiring, I can sense that my fleshly body was growing stronger at a rapid rate.


    An hour later, I was reaching my limit. At that moment, an idea came to me. After retreating, I stopped and started raising my energy again, but this time, the energy started flowing backwards and not forward.


    It kept climbing and climbing to the point that I couldn''t help but scream. The pain that I was feeling was unimaginable. On the other hand, some sort of a figure appeared behind me.


    It was the figure of a bare-chested gaint, which seemed like my Pangu form but on a greater level. But it was blurry and kept flickering as if it might disappear at any time.


    However, that was enough to destroy the arena, burying F¨¢rbuati under it. Unable to stay in that state any longer, the figure disappeared, leaving me completely drained and coughing up blood.

 54 Leaving Midgard!!

    A boom echoed out as F¨¢rbuati burst out of the rubble, his face a mask of fury, and at the same time, confusion and even fear.


    "WHAT WAS THAT?!" he grumbled.


    "How am I supposed to know, huh? This is the first time it happened!" I replied. "Pangu?"


    "I don''t know, lad," said Pangu. "This seemed like a divine ability for me, but it was the strangest thing that I ever saw since me birth. Whatever it was, the fluctuations it gave were very powerful, perhaps on the level of an Eternal Emperor!"


    "But how can this be?" asked F¨¢rbuati.


    "I don''t know. But we shouldn''t forget the fact that Hasan has a body that might even be better than that of the Dragon King, and is certainly better than yours, Big Guy. Coupled with the back up of Yggdrasil, it is not impossible for it to reach that level.


    "But clearly, that ability is still unstable. If you can find a way to stabilize it, then your power might be on the same level as Richard, or even greater!"


    "Dude, are you serious?" I exclaimed, completely and utterly astonished.


    "Are you going to tell Richard about this?"


    "I guess he already knows," I said, then in my mind, "Don''t you, Richard?"


    "I do," came the reply.


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    "Yep, he knows. But I don''t want the news to spread, so are we okay to keep this between us? And F¨¢rbuati, these powerful entities surely sensed something strange, will you deal with them?"


    "Leave that to me," he replied.


    "Well then. F¨¢rbuati it was the pleasure as always. See you in the next test."


    "A reminder before you go. One of the pieces is located in Helheim, the realm of death, and the other is in Muspelheim, the realm of fire."


    "But the map shows that they are in China."


    "These two pieces were recently moved, the map has not been updated."


    "Well this complicates things. How am I supposed to travel between the realms?"


    "A Bifrost is located in Norway, it will allow you to travel through the branches of the world tree. As for the remaining two, they are harder to get than the ones in the outer realms. Get used to the environment there, it will help a lot.


    "Before you leave Midgard, go to the mansion."


    With that, he handed me the blade piece, turned and left, making me feel sympathy and pity for the ones that live in this land.


    Pangu returned to my hand and I left to find both Tulip and Zi, training silently with their eyes closed. I cleared my throat to get their attention, which it did.


    They both opened their eyes where Tulip asked me about what happened, since they sensed a powerful aura.


    "Oh that''s nothing," I said, "I just gave F¨¢rbuati a good beat up."


    Tulip raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing me. However, before I said anything else, Pangu was so generous that he stepped up for me,"In reality, yeah he did, but only because he happened to create an unstable divine ability that was so powerful that it injured F¨¢rbuati. So in truth, it was all a coincidence."


    "You know," said Tulip, "that''s a more believable story."


    "Thanks," I said to which Pangu replied generously, "You are very welcome. Just remember that when you need someone to insult you, you know where to find me!"


    He sounded so emotional and so generous that I wanted to punch him in the face, only to remember that he doesn''t have a form yet, so I had to postpone it.


    "Let''s go," I said and started to appirate.


    "Where to?" asked Zi in my mind.


    "The Mansion of Night."


    Having finished the business here, we disappeared from Bing Zhi Di.


    We reappeared in front of Richard who before we could greet him, he said, "Tulip and Zi, you are not allowed to go with him on these tests. Hasan, take the key to the realm travel room in Norway. Good luck!"


    And he sent me. I reappeared in fromt of a huge lake, which smelled like the sea, but was clearly a river.


    "Something is off with this lake. Revilio!"


    After the spell was cast, the view changed. Now on the surface of the lake, an ancient temple appeared with a total of eight towers surrounding the teme at the shore of the lake.


    In the middle, a round hall could be seen, with a broken statue of a soldier atop of it.


    I flew onto the temple and entered the room. Before the actual hall, there was something that seemed like a forge, facing some fallen stones. In the middle, there was a bridge that led into the hall, which I walked on.


    The room had nine doors, each door holding a rune on its seal, and facing colored crystals. In the middle of the hall was the spectacular scene. There an image of the wold tree could be seen, with no end to its height. At the bottom, there was the table that controlled the travel process.


    I put the key that Richard gave me in its place and turned it in the direction of my destination.


    "Muspelheim, here I come!"

 55 The trials of Muspelheim

    There was a slight rumbling sound as the projection of Yggdrasil glowed brightly. I could even sense that the temple was moving to another direction.


    After some moments, the rumbling died down and everything returned to normal. I stepped out of the realm travel room, and nothing seemed to change; I was starting to wonder if I even traveled through the realms.


    However, that belief changed quickly when I opened the main door. There was a world filled with fire and lava, with a temperature that exceeded hundred degrees celsius, which was a bit of a prpblem for me, considering the nature of my body and soul.


    The lava had melted the bridge and deformed its original shape. As I walked, I saw a short blue colored creature working in a forgery, making a great-sword.


    "Hey, Little Man," he said when I approached. To be honest, I was irritated by the fact that a dwarf was calling me ''Little Man''.


    "Dwarf," I said.


    "So, what business brings you to the realm of utmost fire, son?"


    "I am looking for F¨¢rbuati. Have you seen him?"


    "Ah, so you are the idiot the big grumpy guy mentioned earlier. To find him you should pass the first five trials of Muspelheim, and the sixth would be fighting the big guy.


    "Now see yourself off, I have work to do. Go on."


    With that he resumed his work on the great-sword, completely ignoring me. Now I know that dwarves have very strange and weird personalities, but this particular dwarven fellow was incredibly rude. I guess it is in his nature.


    I went on to find the first arena after climbing a few mountains, where a gaint sword was stabbed in the middle of the arena.


    The sword had a very strange designs on it. Approaching it to have a better look, I touched these designs. Instantly I heard a voice in my head, a completely emotionless voice, "Trial I: Defeat twenty enemies in one minute."


    "A talking sword?" I said.


    "Wait, I recognize that voice, it''s Sumarbrander! But why is it so emotionless? Last time we met, he had that amazing song that we sang all night! Ahh that night, I wish I could get drunk like that again!" said Pangu, completely immersed in his memories.


    "Swords can get drunk?" I exclaimed.


    "In some ways, yeah. I don''t expect you to understand the world of swords lad, after all we have very unique natures."


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    "Okay... Let''s see what kind of trial this is."


    I voiced my decision and the sword disappeared, whereas enemies started to come from everywhere.


    There were draugar, undead warriors that differ in their weapon usage. There were also ogres, which looked like gaint savage apes, as well as revenants and tatzelwurms, which are... Well, worms.


    "Do you want help?" asked Pangu.


    "Is that a question?" I said and lunged at the monsters. It didn''t even take fifty seconds to finish them off.


    "Trial I: Success," said Sumarbrander. A gate was to the side opened, revealing the way to the next trial.


    I walked for a bit and reached the next arena where Sumarbrander was also stabbed in the middle. After touching the sword, Sumarbrander''s voice said," Trial II: Defeat all enemies in four mimutes."


    "Here we go again," I said.


    And so on, I went through all the five trials, and arrived at the sixth arena, where there was no sword, only F¨¢rbuati.

 56 Body-Mind bindings

    Like always, F¨¢rbuati was standing without moving in the middle of the arena. He didn''t even look at me when I approached him.


    Just when I was going to greet him, he said calmly, "This place used to bind a valkyrie named G?ndul. Her binding was special, and extremely tough.


    "This binding still stands to this day. Your test will be to fight me under that binding. The end of the test will be announced by me. Begin."


    I only just heard the description of the battle and he didn''t even give me the chance to prepare. But I guess that was a fault on my part. As a warrior, one should always be ready, even if it were a sparring match.


    A terrifying force took hold of my body, and I felt it is extremely, if not impossible, hard to move even my hand. F¨¢rbuati was not joking, the binding is extremely tough.


    "Aww!" screamed Pangu, "If you want to test him then go ahead! Why do you want to test me too?!"


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    "You are affected too?" I said with gritted teath, and that was enough for them to break. But they remained there, of course.


    "The binding affects everyone on the arena in terms of body and mind. Spirits are no exception," said F¨¢rbuati.


    "Wait, you are under...the binding power...too?" I asked.


    "Yes."


    "Dude! How...are you...able to preserve!?"


    "This child''s play to me." With that, he sent a punch without any warning. But this time, I was prepared, but that didn''t mean much as I couldn''t move.


    The Shockwave sent by the punch hit me, causing my body to ache. But I couldn''t continue like that, I need to pass the test in order to get the piece. And that certainly wouldn''t happen if I stayed paralyzed.


    I put all my cultivation base energy and all my fleshly body power into use as I struggled to close my right hand into a fist and send out a punch.


    If F¨¢rbuati''s punch could be compared to a vast sea, mine would be a tiny drop of water in that sea. When it reached him, it was like a gentle blow of wind, having no effect at all.


    "Too weak," said F¨¢rbuati.


    "I am not finished yet!" I replied. "PANGU TRANSFORMATION!"


    "Here we go," said Pangu and then fused with me. The world started to tremble and the temperature started to drop, although snow didn''t fall because of the overall climate of the realm. Nevertheless, a wind vortex started forming around me as it reached the sky.


    When the vortex disappeared, it revealed me with spiky white hair, completely white eyes with no pupils, and bare chested.


    But that wasn''t all, I pushed my fleshly body power to the extreme as a tail sprouted from behind. Now, the binding power was reduced to half, enabling me to counteract.


    Lookin at F¨¢rbuati, I saw a glint of approval in his eyes. Just a glint. But that was enough.


    "This is our peak state!" said Pangu and I in mixed voice, where the voice came from the Heavens.


    "The Pangu transformation... The state that I couldn''t reach back then. Now that I see it, it is indeed interesting," murmured F¨¢rbuati. "If only they could have reached it..."


    They? There are others who could transform into this state? That aroused my interest to know who are these that have the same bloodline as me, but yet failed to oush themselves to this state.


    But I knew that this is not the time to ask questions. It is the time to fight!

 57 The Divine Eye Appears Again!

    Our surroundings weren''t very peaceful, to be honest. Everything was trembling as if it was the end of the world.


    F¨¢rbuati and I unleashed spells and techniques and fought as if our lives depends on it. Actually, it was my life that is on the line and not the big guy. F¨¢rbuati is at least an Eternal Emperor and I just began cultivation.


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    The fire from the nearby volcanos flew into the air and started to attack F¨¢rbuati. "Don''t use outside force to help you control the laws!" he shouted.


    "It''s out of my control!" Pangu and I said. His face was unsightly as the tattoos on his body glowed and released drops of a sticky black liquid.


    Those droplets went to intercept the course of the fire, where F¨¢rbuati started using the fire as a form of attack.


    "That''s cheating!" we said. "You can use them but I can''t? What logic is that?"


    "I am using my own power to control them but you used one that is not yours."


    "Well then, WIND!" Out of nowhere, a wind kicked in and started forming a tornado around the arena.


    "WATER!" The ground of the arena started sprouting water drops until they started forming a small pond inside the tornado.


    "ICE!" Some of the water and the wind fused and produced a two meter long ice blades. They disappeared into the wind and started forming sneak attacks on F¨¢rbuati. While the water still rose, the tornado started shrinking.


    "This is my own manifestation of the laws. Welome to my Elemental Prison!"


    "Creating techniques within a fight, now that''s talent," thought Richard who was watching from his mansion. "From all the techniques he created, that idol seems the most powerful, with this Elemental Prison ranking second. The Bloodbath technique is also good, but when compared to those two, it pales in comparison. Even I needed years to make a special move, yet this kid manages to do them on the field of battle. This kind of talent is not taken from me, it is from him entirely.


    "When the tornado shrinks completely, end the fight," he transmitted to F¨¢rbuati.


    But just when the tornado was about to completely shrink, the Divine Eye appeared on our forehead. It heated up greatly and sent a beam of yellow light to F¨¢rbuati.


    Richard suddenly appeared in front of the big guy and blocked the beam, which was sucked into his hand to form a small globe.


    The prison disappeared with a wave of his had and I returned to my normal state.


    "Why does it suddenly appear? I didn''t order it to attack," I said when I approached the two.


    "It doesn''t need your command," said F¨¢rbuati grimly.


    "True," said Richard. "What triggers it is the Pangu transformation. Once it senses you are about to return to your normal state, it would appear to prevent you from doing that."


    "We need to have a serious conversation about this Divine Eye and its side effects. And with you, Pangu, about doing such a stupid spell."


    "Well lad, I didn''t know that I would fade before I complete it..." said Pangu.


    "Now is not the time," said Richard as he pushed that globe of light into my forehead. "Focus on finishing your quest. The next stop is Helheim. F¨¢rbuati won''t be there in the next two tests.


    "In Helheim you will face the first raven of death. If you can stand in front of him for ten seconds, you would have passed the test and get transferred to the last.


    "You will attempt to get the Heart of The Sea. As for how you find it, it will depend on you. Now go!"


    He waved his had and I disappeared.

 58 The crow of Helheim

    When I reappeared, I was no longer in the realm of fire, Muspelheim, but in the realm of the dead, Helheim. I was outside Tyr''s temple that is in this realm. The eighth piece was in my hands. I fused it to the sword and inspected my surroundings.


    This place was cold, but I only felt a tingle of that cold. However, if Tulip or Zi came with me, they would freeze and die instantly.


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    Now that I was here, the only thing I have to do is to look for the crow that is supposed to test me. I changed into my dragon form and flew away from the temple.


    Before, in Muspelheim, I was unable to change into a dragon due to the very high temperature. But now, I can do it freely because the temperature here is already several dozen degrees below the zero level.


    Below me, there were thousands of black figures that keeps shifting from real and unreal. They were the souls of the dishonorable dead, the ones that didn''t get ab chance to enter Odin''s Valhalla. They were entering through seven closed and gigantic gates, known as the gates of hell. Each gate tests something in the soul that allows Hel, the ''Goddess'' of Death, to classify them either to torture or to peace.


    That way, if the dead person didn''t enter Valhalla, they would be able to have another chance in earning peace. But between you and me, Valhalla is no peaceful place, it''s a mad house.


    However, now is not the time to talk about Valhalla and the dead, for I soon found the crow.


    It looked more like a Roc than a crow; it was a very big, scary, black, and crowy monster. In front of it, I was nothing but an insignificant insect. Our sizes couldn''t be compared.


    In front of it was an arena, of course. There was a corpse of a troll in the center, which has long rotted and froze. I landed in the arena ad changed back to my human form, giving my opponent another advantage in size.


    But suddenly, I dropped to my knees and bowed while saying uncontrollably in a language I didn''t know that I knew it, "Mighty guardian, I, Hassan Awada, pledge to you... Hey! What are you doing to me! I am free to do my own choices thank you!"


    The crow looked down on me, literally, and said in the same language, "You will pledge servitude to me."


    "I told you I won''t."


    "You will pledge servitude to me."


    "Haven''t you been listening? I won''t!"


    "You will pledge servitude to me."


    "Are you deaf? And why do you think you would make me pledge servitude to you? Are you a Jedi who is making mind tricks? Well let me tell you something, ''Jedi'', mind tricks don''t work on me, so let''s get on with the test, shall we?"


    Actually, this was the test... The crow will create some sort of desire in the victim that will let them want to serve it. By each second that passes, the desire grows stronger. And once the person chooses to serve the crow, they will instantly have there souls sucked by the big black animal, never to now the underworld.


    But how could the crow expect someone like me to take the test? My mental powers are as powerful as my body, so this test is nothing. I have to admit that it caught me off guard at first, but not anymore.


    Soon, the time was up, and the ninth piece of the blade of Pangu appeared in my hand. I returned to the Temple of Tyr and fused the piece into the sword.


    "Only one more left!" and I returned to Midgard.

 59 The memories of an ancient lady, who could possibly be my relative...

    After the Bifrost brought me back to Midgard, I opened the map that Richard had previously given me. There, there was only one mark left, indicating that all the pieces were collected except for one.


    There was a big problem, though. The mark was all over the seas of planet Earth, with no specific point on it.


    "Well that sure complicates things..." I said. "Richard?"


    "What?" he replied through our link.


    "How am I supposed to know where the last piece is?"


    "Find the Heart of The Sea, and the piece will show itself to you eventually. Bye bye!"


    "The Heart of The Sea, huh?" To be honest, I had no idea what that was, but I guess that is the test.


    Suddenly, an idea came to my mind and I left the Tyr''s Temple and entered the Lake of Nine. Once I was in the waters, the Water element rune glowed and mybody started to fade.


    "Show me the Heart of The Sea, show me the Heart of The Sea..." I kept saying this sentence time and time again until my body disappeared completely.


    When I reappeared, I was outside of the ruins of a sunken city. From the looks of it, it was a great one when it was at its prime, but alas, here it is destroyed for God knows how many years.


    I entered and searched the houses one by one. They were all ordinary, with nothing exceptional at all, well, except for one house.


    It was at the northern corner, and it was no different than the others in shape. But when I got close to it, something like a call came from it.


    "It is calling to me, if you wanted to ask," said Pangu.


    "How do you know that?" I said calmly.


    "This place is not strange to me, I was once here."


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    "There is a part of your soul here, buddy, of course you were here."


    "No, you don''t understand. I came here in my original form, in a body. In fact, I have the feeling I even died here, in this city. But I can''t grasp everything, it seems that something is preventing me from doing that."


    "We''ll find out soon enough," I said, though Pangu''s words kept ringing in my ears.


    I opened the door of the normal looking house and went inside to check it out. There was no water in there, as if there was a barrier preventing it from entering.


    Actually, the room had nothing in it except for a small ball of light floating in the middle of the room. The call came from it, and I answered that call.


    My vision blurred, and the scene in front of me changed.


    It was in the city, but when it were still intact on an island. In the middle of the city was the Imperial palace, where in a certain room, a woman was given birth.


    In addition to her, there was a man that resembles my features a lot and another woman who was the one that helped the former to give birth.


    Screams filled the room but it soon died down. A baby girl came to this life, but her mother showed signs of dying immediately after that.


    The man beside her knelt and stroked her hair with his left hand whereas his right one formed countless signs that landed on her.


    "Stay with me," he said while doing anything possible to save her life.


    "I-I''m sorry!" she replied with a cut breath, "Take care of-f-f h-h-h-heer!"


    Those were here last words and she closed her eyes. The man cried and the scene changed.


    The baby became a child. She was playing in a hall with some hand-maids. The door of the hall opened and the lord of the city entered.


    Her father had gained a bit of white hair on his head, but other than that, he looked exactly like before.


    "Daddy!" cried the child as she raced to her father''s embrace.


    The scene changed again, and now the child became a young woman. She was kneeling besides a bed where an old woman was laying on.


    This old woman was the one that took care of her when her father was busy since the day she was born. Today, she was breathing her last breathes.


    "Don''t leave me," said the young woman as she cried.


    "I am sorry," said the old woman to her. Then she shifted her gaze to the city lord, "Take care of her!"


    The city lord, who was standing behind his daughter, sighed as he watched her die then left the hall.


    The scene shifted again several times until it settled on the last one.


    In this scene, the city lord summoned his daughter, who was fifty years old now but kept the appearance of a young woman, to the throne room.


    There was no one else except for the two. The lord set his gaze on his daughter while he stroked the blades of his double-bladed axe and said, "Kendra, there is something you need to know."


    "What is it, Father?" replied Kendra.


    "I have been working on a technique lately, and I managed to get it to our bloodline when I put the basics. But, I can''t complete it in time..."


    "I don''t understand. There is plenty of time to do anything. You are a cultivator, Father, don''t forget that."


    "No, there isn''t. There is something that no one knows. When I created this world, I sustained a heavy injury and my soul is splitting apart. I only have a few minutes left."


    "What?!"


    "The technique is not completed, and it is a curse to our bloodline. Anyone who chooses to cultivate will have it, whether they like it or not."


    "So let me get this straight. I am the only one from your bloodline, so I am the only one who has that technique, right?"


    "No, my dear child. I am not just the lord of this city, I am the lord of the whole world. There have been many entities that have been born out of my essence. Including the people of the city. In other ways, all the people here are your siblings."


    "Oh my God, what have you done?!"


    "What has been done cannot be changed. I want you to forgive me. And I am passing the title of the ruler of the universe to you, my daughter. I hope that you can forgive me."


    With that, he disappeared into thin air and his axe exploded into ten pieces. The pieces scattered around the world, with landing in front of Kendra.


    The young woman wept, as this was the last time she ever had a real relative in this phase of her life.


    The death of the city lord caused an eternal rain on the city, causing its people to leave it and scatter to the vast universe. Before leaving, Kendra chose a commoner''s house and cast a water repulsion spell on it. Inside, she formed a small globe of light which contained the most important moments of her life in the city and then left.


    Soon, the sea level raised and the city drowned, and in the future, only the luckiest would be able to find it.

 60 First part of the prophecy: done

    The visions ended. I thought that I would be back in the real world, but someone had to visit me in what seemed another reality... Alright, it was another vision.


    I was surrounded by an endless black void, being completely empty except of the presence of my visitor, a pretty young woman named Kendra from the visions.


    She was standing in front of me, looking at me with some hesitation, as if she didn''t know whether I am the person she need or not.


    "Kendra, isn''t it?" I said, cutting the uncomfortable silence.


    "Yes. Umm... Father?" she said, still with the hesitant look.


    "Ah, I see. Why am I always mistaken to be another person?"


    "..."


    "Nope, I am not your father. But I am sure that he will be glad to stop telling me in my head not to reveal his presence and speak to you, right, Gu?"


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    "Thanks for the blow up!" said Pangu in my mind.


    "You''re welcome. Come back anytime!"


    "Ummm... Hi?" said Pangu to Kendra.


    "Father? Is that you?"


    "Yes, dear, it is me. Ugh... How have you been all these years after my death?"


    "Other than fixing a death spell and struggling to find my place in the world, I am great. But you don''t seem to be dead at all. And where are you?"


    "Yeeaah about that," said Pangu, "before my death I managed to ensue my soul into my axe. Remember that shiny, lovable, dangerous toy you and I used to play with? Yep, that''s it. But it couldn''t handls all my soul so it exploded into ten pieces, each piece containing a fraction of my soul."


    "That explains a lot!" exclaimed Kendra. She pondered for a while and said, "Is this one of the pieces?"


    She took out a piece of iron in the shape of a heart. I looked at it and said, "Yes, it is one of them. But how did you get it?"


    "The axe exploded and this came towards me, although I left in the city. Do you need it?"


    "Yeah we do. I am assembling your father''s soul back together and that''s the last one. But I am still hesitant whether or not I should revive an old trouble on Earth. What do you think?"


    "What is left of me to think of? Take the piece, and do what your heart decides."


    The piece flew to me and my vision blurred. When it cleared, I was back in the room in the now-destroyed city.


    The piece was in my right hand. I took out the sword and said, "Are you ready, pal?"


    "Oh? Now you decided? Am I not a trouble anymore?" he said.


    "Oh come on, Gu! It was a stupid joke! I didn''t think your daughter would take it seriously!"


    "Forget it. What did she mean anyway? ''What is left of me to think of?''"


    "She died, Pangu. This was only a remnant of her. The piece never left the city, it remained here. I guess Kendra knew that one day she would die, so she buried her memories of the city here along with the piece then left to the world."


    Pangu sighed and said, "I have given her a great burden."


    "You sure did. And if there were anything to be learnt from those memories is that you are not fit to be a governor, and you would make the worst father ever."


    "Ha ha, we''ll see what kind of father you would make."


    "We will see. But for the moment, let me complete you."


    I fused the last piece into the sword. It suddenly flew out of my hand and glowed strongly.


    It didn''t last for long, but when it ended, I could sense Pangu diving into a deep sleep.


    "He would take some time. The first part of the prophecy was done, now all that''s left is to figure out what does it talk about.


    "I guess everything will play out by themselves eventually."


    I didn''t leave immediately, but went towards the palace, there was still something I want to check out.

 61 The origins of Richard

    Immediately after I left the void, I sensed another person in the city. Most likely it was Richard.


    From what I can sense, he was in Pangu''s castle. But why he was there and what''s his business here, I cannot tell.


    He currently was sitting on Pangu''s throne in the great hall with his eyes closed. He gave a faint aura of majesty that fit him well.


    He kept his eyes closed until I approached him and said, "Richard."


    He looked at me and said calmly, "The Heart of The Sea. A fitting name, isn''t it?"


    "Depends on your sea."


    "I guess so."


    "Kendra was your mother, wasn''t she?"


    He sighed and said, "Only I knew her origin. She passed on the title of Chaoslord to me when I was in her womb. That''s the real cause of her death, not the outburst of my sister."


    "I thought you were the Lord of Chaos before you were born?"


    "In a way, there were two Lords of Chaos before my birth, I as the acting one, and my mother as the retired one. I felt like I owe her a lot, being the primary cause of her death, so I come here in my free time to at least get to know her."


    I didn''t reply to him and looked around, "What is this place? Why would Pangu build a city here?"


    "Atlantis was the first civilization in all the world. Pangu created this race to be the first on Earth. He wanted to give a legacy other than his axe and the eye, so he did it."


    "Atlantis? Wasn''t Atlantis built by Poseidon?"


    "The one that the Greek had was only an imitation of the real one. Somehow, Poseidon found a drawing of it, and then he ordered the cyclops builders to have the same designs."


    I pondered for a bit then asked Richard, "You said Pangu created a race, what race was that?"


    "After seeing my grandmother dying, Pangu inserted a little characteristic in the blood of future generations of the city..."


    "... Rebirth?"


    "..."


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    "What? I was just making a guess... Oh I get it! You don''t like being interrupted. Sorry sorry, go on."


    "As I was saying, Pangu created a new characteristic in the blood of his race, yes it is rebirth. He called them the Phoenix race. Once their lifetime ends, they would burn up and be reborn."


    "If it''s like that, why didn''t your mother use her rebirth powers?"


    "My mother didn''t have it, or else she would still be here. I accidentally gained them, for some unknown reason. I posses the most pure Phoenix blood in me, making me the Phoenix King."


    "I posses some of that blood too, right?"


    "Yes, though it is a small portion. You are a very complex hybrid. Half dragon, a quarter Phoenix, and a quarter mortal human that is not mortal at the same time. There hasn''t been a mix like that before, so I don''t know what race of hybrids you are."


    "Let''s call it the Phodroum: Phoenix, dragon and human. What do you think? Hey! Don''t give the I-want-to-punch-you-in-the-face look!"


    Richard shook his head and said, "Come, let''s get back to the mansion."


    "Before we go, do you think Pangu would like you sitting on his throne?"


    "Like hell he would like it. At the least he would go crazy from even the thought of it."


    "And I wouldn''t miss that chance!" We laughed and disappeared from the once the great city of Atlantis!


    The Mansion of Night was the same as ever, the slightest exception was that all of my fellow disciples were gathered outside the front door.


    Richard frowned and said," What''s going on?"


    "It is the girl," said Merlin.


    "Tulip," said Freya, "she disappeared suddenly and we can''t find a trace of her!"


    "WHAT?" I shouted with the gloomiest expression in all of the universe.


    "Hold on," said Richard and he closed his eyes. Moments later, he reopened them and said, "China, let''s GO!"


    We disappeared again to reappear outside the Immortal Sun Sect. At that moment, the series of things that will happen will change my life forever!

 62 Red in a sea of black

    It all happened so fast. I had a very hard time believing what happened at that time. But should I continue to play with your feelings and let you feel impatient or should I just get to the rest of the story?


    Okay I guess I should go on.


    Richard teleported us to the location of Tulip, at the entrance of the Immortal Sun Sect. The sect master, Emperor Sun, was holding Tulip with a knife on her neck. His eyes had a little change, turning to red.


    Next to him stood the genius of the sect, Tai Yang, with an evil grin on his face. What shocked me that his eyes were also red, not just him, but also a hundred or so cultivators behind him.


    Tulip was not struggling, not even a bit. In fact, it seemed like she had no life left in her at all. But, no. No that wasn''t it. If she was dead then the madman wouldn''t be threatening us with her.


    At most, she was under a hypnotic spell or something like that.


    But that was more than enough to let every thought in my head to turn into the most extreme and utmost anger.


    I started to walk towards the Emperor but was stopped by Richard with a tap on my right shoulders.


    \"Welcome, fellow apprentices!\" said Emperor Sun with a loud voice. \"Master!\"


    \"You don''t qualify to be a disciple of mine,\" said Richard with a dark tone filled with killing intent.


    \"Is that so?\"


    \"Tell the true one that I won''t stop till every single one of your kind is hunted and killed.\"


    \"Oh Richard, Richard, who will kill us? You? You must be joking. You can''t even get near us, how could you kill us?\"


    \"What is he talking about?\" I said.


    \"Easy, lad,\" answered Mimir, \"this is not something you should be concerned about right now.\"


    \"As long as Tulip is in the game, I am concerned!\"


    \"Good words, Evil,\" said the Emperor. \"Alas, what you can do against us either? After all, you are a clone of Richard.\"


    \"Evil?\"


    \"That''s enough!\" shouted Richard.


    \"Enough? Oh Richard, you didn''t even tell him about it? He would have known anyway, but at what cost? How about to enlighten all of the people here about our origins? Come on, it can''t be that hard, can it?\" said Sun.


    \"I will take care of this,\" said F¨¢rbuati, holding the axe in his hand.


    \"Take one more step and she dies. Now that''s good. But before this ends, I want to tell you how I captured her. Remember back then when you first left to get the two blade pieces in my sect, Evil? Yes, that was when I imprinted a mark on her. That mark enables me to make her a puppet whenever I want.


    \"Isn''t that brilliant?\"


    \"I have heard enough! Richard do something!\"


    Richard looked at me, and in the first time since I met him, I saw the deep helplessness in his eyes. He sighed and said, \"Alas, his words are true. I can do nothing!\"


    At that time, I didn''t have the ability to think clearly, my actions were out of anger. \"If you won''t do something then I will!\"


    I started walking and preparing every spell I knew. I knew I didn''t have hope, but I couldn''t sit idly while my girlfriend is about to be killed.


    Emperor Sun and his companions looked at me as if they were enjoying the show. However, when I was halfway to them, Tulip''s eyes suddenly turned clear, causing me to stop. \"Hasan!\" She said weakly.


    \"Everything is going to be alright, I promise you.\"


    \"I... am... S-s-sorry!\"


    \"Oh, how touching!\" said Emperor Sun. \"Say your goodbyes, lovebirds!\"


    Adter he said that, the blade in his hand slid past Tulip''s throat and killed her mercilessly!


    \"No no no NO!\" I screamed as I rushed towards her.


    \"What?\" exclaimed Richard and all our opponents at the same time.


    \"Oh well it doesn''t matter if you can get near us, Evil, you can''t do a thing anyway,\" said Emperor Sun as he motioned for the one beside him, Tai Yang.


    He immediately understood and chanted a spell, causing me to be thrown back before I could reach Tulip''s corpse. After I landed, I managed to sit on my knees, with my heart being a mix of pain and anger. I could only watch her from afar, as her blood dripped on the ground.


    Years from now, outside the once Immortal Sun Sect, a field of over a hundred black tulip flowers bloomed. But in the middle of the black sea, a red tulip distinguished herslef from the others.


    A tulip of blood...


    End of Book 2: \"The Sword of Pangu\"!

 Chapter 63 - Welcome to my Blood World!

    Beginning of Book 3: \"The Desert of Blood!\".


    That moment, just that one moment, has changed the course of my life for all eternity. The death of my beloved had taught one of the most important lessons in all of my life. But I felt no joy that I did. No joy, no happiness, only anger.


    No rational thoughts ran through my mind in that moment, in fact, I was not even thinking at all.


    I sat on my knees with my head facing the ground, tears wanted to get out of eyes, but instead of falling, they served as a fuel to my anger.


    The rest of my group had gloomy expressions on their faces, especially Richard, who said, \"I have watched enough. I may be unable to act, but the others are. Go ahead my disciples!\"


    They all nodded and closed in, but they stopped halfway. Startled, they heard a faint sound. A sound filled with sadness, and most of all, evilness. Even Emperor Sun was startled by this sudden event and turned to its source.


    The grin came from a crazed me. I had only one thought in my mind that moment. Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL!!


    I looked up and faced the Emperor, then said one word after the other, though the words did not come from my mouth but from everywhere, slamming into the Emperor and his company, \"You have put me in a very difficult position, Emperor Sun! I don''t know if I have to hate you for killing my girlfriend, or if I have to thank you for teaching me this one lesson I didn''t understand before.\"


    \"Huh?\" exclaimed the Emperor. Richard frowned as I continued, \"I did not understand it before, but now, it is very clear.


    \"Power can only come from pain!\"


    As I finished saying that, the air started to turned cold. The very sky started to turn blood-red in color. If someone were to come from outside the planet and look at it, they would see that Midgard was surrounded by a red dome, and it was impossible to see what was happening inside! The whole sphere turned into a blood planet!


    As for me, I started floating in the way that I would transform into Pangu, except this time, Pangu wasn''t there to aid my transformation!


    \"That aura...\" muttered Richard. Then, he seemed to realize something as his expression changed greatly and he shouted, \"RETREAT TO MY SIDE! IF YOU AREN''T HERE BEFORE HE COMPLETES THE TRANSFORMATION THEN YOU WILL DIE WITHOUT A DOUBT!\"


    My fellow apprentices were shocked, but they headed Richard''s advice and hurried back.


    As for the Emperor and his companions, they were all shocked and were at a loss about what to do. They were not the only ones that felt that way. I could feel the terror spreading across the world coming from mortals and cultivators alike. There terror was justified, though, as even Richard felt fear.


    Richard waved his hand and a transparent barrier engulfed them. However, it showed signs of instability and Richard thought, \"What the hell? What kind of power is that? It is very close to my own! Thank God I remembered that aura before it was too late!\"


    The transformation didn''t take long, and when it ended, I hovered there like the sumpreme entity of the entire world.


    My hair was red as well as my eyes that gave off a red glowing aura. My surroundings were completely red too. Behind me, you could see that there was a figure of giant, just like the one that I recently created but was unstable. But now, it was completely stable!


    \"Welcome to my Blood World!\" a very ghostly voice came out of the heavens and slammed into my opponents. \"May I introduce you to the Blood God, my assistant! Here, I am the lord. I am the supreme existence. I am your doom! In this world no one marked by me will be able to escape death, even if you were death itself, you will DIE!\"


    The Blood God behind me moved its right hand and pointed at the Emperor''s company, including Tai Yang, but excluding Emperor Sun. Immediately, screams of agony filled the place as their bodies were rapidly disgenerating into a red mist that was absorbed by the dome. As for their souls, they were swallowed by the butler, to be tormented in a living hell.


    The inside of the Blood God was just like any underworld!

 Chapter 64 - A brutal punishment

    Emperor Sun looked in a daze at everything that happened just now. He couldn''t comprehend how the puny cultivar from before would turn into this terrifying entity!


    "No, no no it cannot be! He can''t kill us! He can''t kill the dead!" he said as he retreated several steps.


    At that time, my head wasn''t exactly thinking clearly as I have already told you. I didn''t think that would be of any significance, although I wouldn''t say so now...


    I looked at him and said, "They died with pain, but their pain would be insignificant in front of the one you are about to experience!"


    "Please spare me, please I beg you!"


    "Beg? Hahahahaha... Beg? You sc.u.m! You don''t have the right to beg! Did you listen when I begged you back then? Huh, did you listen? No you did not, you did not! You killed her with cold-heart. And you will pay! But, you know, I won''t kill you. No, that would be too merciful! I will keep you alive, but put you under a spell! Yes under a spell. I will let your blood drip out of your body, drop by drop until there is nothing left, but when you are about to die, the spell would refill your blood and the process starts time and time again! Again and again till ETERNITY!"


    The Emperor looked terrified and he tried to run. Richard looked at him pitifully and said, "That punishment resembles something from Greece. Ring any bells, F¨¢rbuati?"


    F¨¢rbuati nodded and said, "It is."


    "Poor guy," said Richard.


    "Run wherever you want! You still don''t understand, do you? DO YOU?" I shouted. I raised my hand and grasped. Immediately, the Emperor appeared in front of me.


    He revealed a terrified look mixed woth bitterness. He didn''t resist anymore as he knew it was futile to do so.


    I waved my hand and ice came out of the ground containing my very own essence! It covered him and one of it pierced his stomach. Blood started pouring down, however, it was very slowly. Like I said, drop by drop!


    He didn''t look hurt, but I knew that now that his cultivation is sealed, and he was imprisoned, he will feel pain eventually. Last thing to be done was to cast the blood regeneration spell. It was the opposite of Blood Absorb, as it gave blood instead of taking it.


    After everything was done, I extracted Tulip''s soul out of her body and looked at her body one more time before reverting back to normal and transforming into my dragon form. I left the planet''s atmosphere looking for deserted planets.


    I needed to vent my anger on something, and even though anger clouded my judgment, I wasn''t a fiend to vent it on innocent people. But that was the question, I am a fiend, or not?

 Chapter 65 - The beginning of the explanation. Almost the beginning... And angry me, by the way

    I left Midgard. It didn''t occur to me that I could fly in space with my dragon form. If it was before, I wouldn''t even dare to try that. However, as I said for like a million times, I wasn''t thinking clearly.


    The victims of my anger were the poor deserted planets. Even though I was angry, I wasn''t that clouded that I would go destroy inhabited planets. So my target became the deserted ones, which crumbled to small rocks that drifted in space after they were hit by me.


    Two months later.


    My anger was still there, but it has been reduced to a very small degree. The anger dissipated like it was nothing, but I was unwilling to let it go.


    Somehow, I managed to condense my anger into black balls that was the size of half a person. These balls were put into my bag of holding to be used later. If I absorbed a bit of anger from them in a hopeless battle, I would be able to activate the Blood World again.


    Yes, that''s right, I noticed something about this strange technique of mine. It was created when I was extremely angry, so if I wished to trigger it when I am calm, it is impossible. I have to be angry.


    After most of my anger was sealed away, I was able to think clearly again. I didn''t regret anything that I did to Emperor Sun, he deserved every bit of it. And the Red Lotus was going to pay a very nice price too.


    However, at the very moment that I cleared up, I head Richard''s voice in my head. Apparently, he had been trying to contact me in those two months.


    "Hasan, are you there? Can you hear me?" he said.


    "What do you want?" I replied coldly.


    "Oh finally, I was starting to think that something happened to you!"


    "What. Do. You. Want?" I repeated with a colder tone.


    "I want you to come back."


    "And?"


    "We have to talk."


    "What is there to talk about?"


    "Look, I know that you partially blame me for Tulip''s death. But we need to talk."


    "Yes, I do blame you for her death. Tell me, am I wrong in doing that?"


    "Yes, because you don''t know the story."


    "Oh I imagine you have already fabricated a suitable story to cover for" -a swoosh and I appeared in Richard''s room-"your faults! I didn''t agree to come back."


    "We need to talk."


    "I said I didn''t agree to come back. What right do you think you have to bring me back against my will?"


    "I am your true self, that''s the right that I have."


    "And that makes you think that you can do with me whatever you want?"


    "Are you looking for a fight?"


    "Yes!"


    "You are not my match."


    "Oh you think so?" And just when I was about to absorb some of the anger I had stored to use the Blood World, Richard said, "Listen to the story first, if you are still not convinced, you can use your technique. Deal?"


    "Go on, say what you want to say."


    "First of all, have you checked your cultivation?"


    "Peak of the Sovereign stage."


    "Yes, quite strange, isn''t it?"


    "Yes."


    "Aren''t you a little bit curious about how you reached this level of cultivation?"


    "No." That was a lie. I was interested.


    "I''m going to explain anyways. I once heard that there is a way of cultivating that raises the level of power through feelings."


    "Internal cultivation."


    "Yes that''s what it is called. I believe that you don''t need to cultivate anymore. Just the experience of life will raise your power eventually. So the more you experience, the more powerful you will become."


    "Okay."


    "I really don''t know how can you be disinterested in such a thing."


    "Are you going to start your explanation or not? My patience has limits!"


    "Okay okay I''ll start." He took a deep breath and said,


    "Once upon a time..."

 Chapter 66 - Orcus, the Lord of Death

    "When I returned back in time to when there wasn''t any human being yet, and when I just accepted my new powers, I found out that my body couldn''t be contain that much power. The power was too great because there were all the elements in there.


    "I was forced to create other bodies and split them into several clones, each clone hosting an element. When I was able to finally control that power, I refused with my clones.


    "However, two of my clones developed their own consciousness, which made me unable to fuse with them. Can you guess which elements they cultivated?"


    "Ice I presume? As for the other, I don''t know," I replied.


    "Yes, one of them cultivated the Ice element, while the other clone cultivated the Edicts of Death. The ice clone inherited my evil personality, while the death clone inherited my ruthlessness."


    "And I suppose that''s the reason that bastard called me ''Evil''."


    "Yes. I had to kill them, or else I wouldn''t have my full power. I began with the ice clone, and it wasn''t hard to terminate him. I re-absorbed him into my body and went to kill the death clone.


    "However, he escaped, and I couldn''t find any trace of him in the whole chaosverse."


    "If you absorbed the ice clone, how did I come to be?"


    "Apparently, part of the ice clone was split and found its way into the underworld to be reincarnated. Originally, reincarnation was just a myth, but you proved otherwise. To be honest, I didn''t know you existed until the day you turned fifteen years old, and that was by accident."


    "I see. What about the death clone? What happened to it after it escaped?"


    "I think he escaped to the depths of the underworld, and used some method to hide himself from me. Millions of years later, he appeared again. I take it you are familiar with the tale of the Deathly Hallows?"


    "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, yes."


    "Yes, the ''Death'' in that tale is him. He was baking a plan all these years and when he finally was ready, he lured the three brothers into the underworld and ''gifted'' them three items. In the hands of mortal wizards, they wouldn''t do much, and would be considered slightly more powerful than normal weapons.


    "However, in the hands of a cultivator, and a powerful one at that, their power would be sky-high. Immediately after he gifted those items to the brothers, the clone revealed itself under the name Orcus, the latin word for death.


    " ''Ladies and gentlemen of the Chaosverse, I am Orcus, the Lord of Death. I have decided to send out powerful treasures into the world. The first one is a wand made out of elder wood. It contains all my comprehension of the Edicts of Death. The second treasure is a stone taken from the branches of the World Tree itself; in other words, it is the Edicts of Death put in a stone, and don''t get it wrong, this isn''t my comprehension, it is the REAL Edicts. The third and last treasure is a cloak of invisibility; once you put it on, no one will be able to find you, no one!


    " ''So, anyone who gets one of these treasures will become very powerful. I won''t say we''re they are, you have to search for them by yourselves. Let the search officially begin at this instant. Good luck! HAHAHAHHAA...'' Those were the exact words he said back then."


    "He was the Lord of Death?" I asked.


    Richard nodded his head and said, "Yes, although I think Orcus used a method to force Yggdrasil to make him the Lord."


    "Is that even possible?"


    "Many things are possible in this world."


    "So what happened next?"


    "The Great War that you kept hearing about began, about a thousand years ago. The three main contesters were Odin, Thrym (ruler of the frost giants), and Utgard-Loki (ruler of the Utgard). However, the two giants couldn''t compare to Odin and his Asgard. In that war, almost all the giants were wiped out, and very few remained. The ones who survived got help from Tyr, the nordic god of war, to escape back to Jotunheim.


    "Tyr sealed the realm and hid the tower of the Bifrost in the-"


    "In the realm between realms, I have played God of War," I interrupted.


    Richard didn''t seem surprised that I did and continued, "After the losses reached a high level, I finally intervened and ended the war. I took the two of the relics and hid them around on Earth. As for the the third one, the Cloak of Invisibility, it became an ancestral treasure and was given to a worthy person of each generation until it reached the hands of Harry Potter.


    "As for Orcus, I forced Odin to help me seal him. He wasn''t the only one who I forced. At that time, Zues was in the Jupiter form, and I recruited him too. The only other two that wanted to help me willing were the Dragon King, and... My mother."


    "Your mother? Why? Did she know who you were?"


    Richard looked uncertain as he said, "I think so, why else would she help. Furthermore, she was friendly with me."


    He looked like he didn''t want to talk about it as I can imagine meeting his mother before he was even born would be awkward. I changed the subject by saying, "Why did you want to seal him? Why not kill him?"


    "The thought crossed my mind, but he developed an even independent personality, and I couldn''t even get near him, let alone kill him. So the other method was to seal him.


    "However, it was harder than we thought. Odin being Odin, he was the one most further away from the place of the seal, so he was only slightly injured. As for Jupiter, he barely got away with his life. The Dragon King was injured badly, but nothing was too serious. As for Mom and I, we are both Lords of Choas , so we weren''t harmed at all."


    "Did you see her after that?"


    Richard sighed and shook his head regretfully, "No. She just gave me a hug and disappeared. That was the first and last time I saw her..."


    I changed the topic again and asked, "What about the Red Lotus? You know more than you told me back then."


    "True. I suspect that every member of the organization is, in fact, a clone of Orcus, like Emperor Sun and his followers. That''s why I couldn''t get near him. That''s why I couldn''t save Tulip..."

 Chapter 67 - A new in my life

    "There''s still something I don''t understand, why could you hurt me but not hurt them?" I asked in a confused tone.


    "You were separated from me by reincarnation. Only part of your soul is mine, and the other is entirely yours, which makes you an independent person. However, Orcus didn''t die and reincarnate like you, so he''s still me. Naturally, I can''t hurt myself," Richard explained. "I see you still have questions."


    "Yes," I replied. "You live so near of Hogwarts and I think you once mentioned that it was yours before. What happened, why did you give it away?"


    "It''s true that Hogwarts, previously called the Castle of Night, was mine. During the Great War, the Wizarding World suffered a great decrease in its numbers. Due to the items being mainly of magical nature, they chose to be part of the war. In order to decrease their losses, I gave them the castle to turn it into a safe haven and a school to its people.


    "I appointed the four founders of the school as the masters of the school and thus came the four houses of Hogwarts."


    "I see," I said and then got up to leave.


    "Were are you going?" asked Richard.


    "To find the Underworld," I replied calmly.


    "Now hold on a second, you do not ''find'' the Underworld. It was sealed by us in order not to be found by anyone, not even the ones who sealed it!" he said sternly.


    I turned back to face him and said slowly, "No, you sealed it to contain Orcus. And guess what? You failed spectacularly!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean that the seal has obviously been broken. You said that reincarnation is blocked due to the seal, and those clones don''t sprout out of nowhere. Furthermore, I have been reincarnated, which in your terms, is impossible; and yet, here I am. So tell me, Richard, are you still playing dumb or not?"


    Richard didn''t reply as I turned around again and prepared to leave. However, just when I was about to exist the room, he suddenly said, "The Blood World, did you plan it before or it just came like that?"


    Without turning my head, I replied to his question, "When I made the Blood God, I thought about creating a separate world in order to control it completely. While it worked to some extent, I can''t exert complete control over it, just about 10%."


    "I see. Tell me one more thing, is the Blood God your way of controlling your Divine Eye?"


    I turned around my head slightly and said, "Yes."


    And then I turned back and left before he could stop me. While I was walking, he sent me a message through our soul link, "If you are going to search, then better start with your place of birth."


    I understood what he meant of course. For years, many of the ancient civilizations wanted to come to that area, from the Phoenicians till the present. Furthermore, I was reincarnated in Lebanon, so it is not a surprise that something related to the Underworld is there.


    The first things I saw outside the mansion were my friends and fellow disciples. They all came to me and said their condolences, but I saw in their eyes that each one of them had someone who they cared about more than their own lives, and they failed to protect them.


    Especially F¨¢rbuati, I always felt that his story was a bitter one. And when I got to know him for all these years, I finally realized who he is.


    "Kratos..." I murmured but all of them looked at me in surprise.


    F¨¢rbuati, or Kratos, nodded his head but didn''t speak. I liked the story of the games, but I never realized that Kratos, the Greek god of war after Ares, is actually my senior brother.


    For those of you, my dear readers, who don''t know who Kratos story is, then let me give you a little bit of a history lesson. Kratos is the son of Zues, the Greek king of the gods, and a mortal woman. He killed his wife and daughter in a bloodl.u.s.t without even knowing that they were his own family. And he even had a direct or indirect way in the deaths of the other members of his family. His divine family all used him, and when they didn''t have any other uses for him, he was just ignored. Enraged by this fact, and the other fact that they were the causes for his pain, so Kratos killed them all one by one.


    And if you any more details, then go play God of War. Anyway, enough of that. I said my thanks to them, which lwft me with a certain pet of mime that I didn''t see for quite some time.


    "Hello, Zi," I knelt down and rubbed his fur. He has certainly grown a lot than the last time I saw him.


    "Boss... Uncle Richard told me about big sister Tulip. I can''t believe she''s gone!" he said in his innocent voice.


    "I know little buddy, I can hardly believe that too. But I think I found a way to bring her back. Want to come?"


    "Yes!" he replied without hesitation.


    And thus, the search for the underworld began, and along with it, the second part of the prophecy.