MICHAELHumans always say things like, “If I had no problems, I would be so happy, and just want to stay like that forever.” The truth is, we walked down the mountain, and despite the fact that the weather was less pleasant, the smell of soil was dirtier, people were dying, and everyone we were likely to meet would not automatically be kind, nobody felt an immediate urge to return to Heaven.

    Instead, we boarded our boat and headed due east. From Ambrosia''s limited directions, it appeared that her next goal was the island where Hell was, so I helped her find it based on what I had known of the island. We did indeed find it, but it seems my information had been incomplete.

    The Island Closest To Hell was indeed an inhospitable land with active volcanoes, clouds of putrid sulfur gas, and decaying landscape. The entire island was covered with jagged rocks, including the shoreline. There was no way to enter by sea. “Uhhhh, I apologize in advance for complaining,” I said, while Ambrosia looked at me funny. Apparently, she''d never heard anyone do that. I continued, “But I think we''re going to have a problem. We can only get there by air.” She asked me, “Couldn''t you fly us there? I mean, you do have wings. And last I checked, angels aren''t supposed to get tired.” I shook my head, “It still wouldn''t work. If our world map is correct, this shows about 50 miles of flying for the thinnest stretch of mountain. I can only carry one person at a time, and my wings while doing so reduce my speed to about 1 mph, so that''s 100 miles for a round trip for me. There''s six of you so, that''s going to take nearly a month. And with nobody watching the boat, and rocky shores, we''d probably have a shipwreck or worse.” Aqorm commented, “You''re a pessimist, aren''t you?” I shook my head, “No, I''m a realist. I''ve already come up with a plan. To the western region, there''s an Island known as Dragon Island which...” Ambrosia had apparently heard this story too, because her face dawned with recognition. “To Dragon Island!” she shouted. So intense...

    Azrael, Zoe, and I took turns pumping the sailboat with gusts of powerful wind. I could not tire, as Ambrosia had said, but I could lose faith if I worked too long on something. Periodically, I had to meditate and pray, and the others had to rest for their magic. By doing this task in shifts, we were able to make the island in record time, although slowing down to docking speed was still something that needed doing. With some effort, we managed to not overshoot our destination, and tied up the boat to the coast of the island.

    AMBROSIA

    The temperature of the island was freezing cold, at least as bad as the island where the temple of Thanatos was. In fact, as close as we were to the West Pole, we would need to get indoors fast. All of us except Michael, whose golden aura glowed in the snow, dove into the lower decks to desperately try to warm up again. “Summon Clothing - Quantity: Six people, Attributes: Cold weather resistance.” Out of thin air, fur coats, gloves, and hats materialized, apparently being woven from light itself. We hurriedly put them on, and trudged out slowly in the active blizzard. We were still chilly, but we warmed up by standing near Michael. I wasn''t crushing on him, but this androgynous male with such a warm aura just felt so good to be near. Nevras glared at me. Was he jealous?

    The snow was inches thick and it was a struggle not to lose clothing to it. We also had to worry about twisting our arms and legs trying to plod through stuff. No, all this gear didn''t come with snowshoes. And no, we didn''t get any goggles either. Aside from his weapon, it appeared what Michael could make was limited to natural materials. It didn''t appear he could make glass or plastic, ceramics, or space age materials. It also didn''t seem like Michael could make money, which suddenly explained the whole Record of Value thing. And from what I saw, he couldn''t make much in the way of food, unless we wanted to be eating nothing but seeds. But all the same, this was some nice fabric.

    At some point after hurting my ankles plodding through the snow, I remembered I had an Oracle Crest that dealt with adapting to extreme weather. I summoned forth my power and we were surrounded by a green aura. The snow around us was intact but we remained shielded from its effects. We felt no cold, and walked through the snow as normal . I looked back to see if it had melted the snow and ice but it had in fact not, it merely created a sort of gap where the place where we stood had only grass and temperate climate. After we passed the area, it reverted back. We entered the cave.

    The cave was still somewhat cold from the wind and snow that howled into the mouth, but the entrance was kept clear somehow. I later realized it was heat from the other end that prevented snow from sticking. The cavern had loads and loads of side-tunnels, but some of them had boulders that we couldn''t push because they seemed to be blocked from the other side. I sometimes wonder if God places boulders in caves and dungeons just so people will have some kind of puzzle challenge. Nahhh...

    To our right was a small alcove. As we turned the corner in this cave, much of the cold air and stuff wasn''t there, but then it returned as we entered the tiny room. Maybe it was too close to the outside walls? The room was pretty well decorated for something so small, and was filled with chairs, bookshelves, blankets, the space broken every now and then with an ice pillar or something. No, those perfectly sharp ice crystals you see in movies don’t happen, but there are such a thing as ice stalagmites. It still seems impossible to me, but droplets freeze and collect until there are seemingly impossible collections of ice rising straight up like the reverse of icicles.

    Anyway,I sat and relaxed (more or less, though we did need to avoid ice cold water dripping on our heads) read a book about what she called Black Ice spell, a dark/ice composite spell that shot razor-sharp icicles at its targets. “Lemme read this,” I begged, suddenly curious about how spells worked. Azrael asked me, “Are you sure? Because ummm you can''t use magic and...” I nodded, and grabbed the book she handed, opening it to the first page or so. As far as I knew, I couldn''t learn conventional spells, but seeing as I had seen runes before, written on stuff, I didn''t see how it could... and I tumbled to the ground, dizzy and nauseous. I threw up, and realized I couldn''t remember a single word I read. “Ahem,” said Azrael, “as I was going to say, those running magical academies used to be burdened with too many students to effectively house and teach, as most people can use runes to some extent. They wanted to filter out people with irregular or broken dantian that they couldn''t teach conventional magic, and set them on some other path. There were also people with rune-sucking abilities, so to protect the school''s secrets they had to come up with some way to sort people out. Look, here, on the inside of the cover, there is a series of active runes, that triggers when you look at the opened book.” I looked at where he was pointing, only to become dizzy again and I forgot what I''d been looking at. I dry-heaved a bit. Sorry everyone.

    I left the room, using the shoulders of Nevras and Elias to hold me up. As we headed further into the winding cavern, the temperature gradually rose. At least, I think it did. Michael seemed comfy no matter if it was warm or cold, and my Four Gods Crest kept me at a fairly moderate temperature. Despite my barrier, it went from feeling like a cool day to about summer. As we entered the next room, I understood why. The cave had been slowly leading us to a volcanic area underground. Apparently this cave had formed when magma spilled out and hardened into rock, but the stuff inside was still flowing. I imagine if we hadn''t been resistant to the heat, it would feel less like a summer day and more like an oven. Convection was nothing to joke around with.

    Pools of lava flowed nearby. Plants that had tried to grow in the area near here were turning black, and all but bursting into flame. In the center of the room, a large dragon slept in the lava. It was an onyx dragon. “Why do you disturb my slumber?” it mumbled sleepily, revealing emerald green eyes.

    I said, “You can talk? Yay, this will make things easier! Hey Mister Dragon, we need to ride on your back.” The dragon rolled its neck over and yawned, “Wait until my nap is done, and we''ll discuss that.” And the dragon returned to sleep.

    “Hey Elias,” I asked, “how long do dragons sleep, on average?” He thought about it for a second, “Well, it depends upon the dragon. Your average green dragon sleeps for a millennium, whereas yellow dragons sleep for maybe 8 hours. But then, greens tend to be lazy.” I motioned him to continue, “Which one is this?” Elias sighed, “This isn''t a dragon species. Like Tiamat, she''s a unique dragon. This is Bahamut. She''s friendly for the most part, but yeah you''ll die long before she wakes up from this nap.” I grabbed into our backpacks and pulled out our cooking gear, and started banging loudly on it, shouting, “Hey!!! Stupid dragon! Wake up already!” This got her attention.

    THE WORLD

    The great dragon arose from its slumber. While there are many elemental types and colors of dragon, it is widely believed that there are but three basic shapes of dragon: upright, serpent, and quadruped That is, there is the European variety of dragon, the Wyvern, and the Long dragon, which was more like a serpent with no wings and one or two pairs of legs. This is not totally true. There are also Beast dragons which looked more like mammals than true dragons, Amphitere which are kinda birdlike and have wings but no legs (Quezacoatl is a prime example), and Aquatic dragons which have more the shape of something akin to Loch Ness Monster than anything else. Tiamat and Bahamut were unique dragons, Tiamat because of his multiple heads, Bahamut because of her unique body shape. You see, wyverns couldn''t typically get on all fours because their body was stiffly upright, and the European dragon was typically so front-heavy that it couldn''t sit upright. Bahamut however, had a flexible body, almost like a bear. If a bear had a long reptilian neck, scales, sinewy body, and a decent sized tail.

    The group therefore was greatly shocked to see the creature move from a lazy prone position to the full vertical height of the cave. She said, “Foolish ones. You dare to challenge me for the Dragon Whistle? Prepare yourself!” The concept of Dragon Whistle was lost on most of this group. As mentioned elsewhere, a dragon soul is a ball of energy that can be used as that dragon wishes. A slain dragon can completely control what happens to them after death. Rarely, if adventurers managed to defeat a dragon and persuade it to be a mount, the dragon might split its soul into two, a weakened dragon and the Dragon Whistle, capable of calling it from virtually anywhere in the same dimension.

    The battle began in earnest, for the dragon was greatly pissed off at having its nap interrupted by rude folk who wouldn''t just go away and wait for her rest. Bahamut breathed a prismatic burst of gas at the group. It missed, but the area it hit turned from solid rock into dust. She whipped her tail, and three of these nuisances slammed hard against the wall hard enough to die instantly. Another one was eaten alive, and the rest were burned to cinders from her breath.

    Reality reset itself as if from the hand of some deity, and the group once again stood before Bahamut. Bahamut, unlike many creatures in the world, was intelligent enough to remember when such events happened. “Not again,” she sighed, as she blew her stone breath. The chemicals in the mist calcified any organic material, as has been known to happen near volcanic areas with high silica content, but to all observers, it was easier just to say that it was magic. In any case, those people would never bother her again...

    Until they did. Reality reset again, and Bahamut groaned. This was the last time. After this, she was just going to do what they say, it it would get her some peace and quiet. This time, the group appeared to be using a strategy. “Alright,” said the one in green clothing, who she would later know as Zoe, “I will go first, so everyone buff me. And don''t worry, I''ll be fine.” Bahamut wondered where her confidence came from.

    ZOE

    I have not lived a bunch of reincarnations for nothing, you know. If it really comes down to it, I''m basically immortal. Though typically, I die with the others, because the process sucks. I can swap out previous incarnation instead of dying myself, using that as a shield against harm. Bahamut slashed with her immense claws, expecting a young girl with pigtails, but instead killed off an old man. From behind that body, I charged forward with my scythe. “What is she doing...?” Ambrosia asked. Azrael, apparently aware of my condition, explained, “Zoe''s previous reincarnations all serve as protections for her real body. She has about 108 of those previous lives. Well, 107 now... Okay, 106,” she amended after one got eaten, leaving my current body standing in their general place. Bahamut blasted some of them to dust with her breath, petrified others, crushed the skulls of a few, and dispensed some more with her tail. “What happened if all of them die?” Ambrosia asked her. Azrael shrugged, “It depends. The Hindus and Buddhists believe when you reach the end of your rebirths, nirvana or moksha happens, and you just get freed from mortal life. Taoists see life and death are part of the same whole; as such it''s more of a cycle, with the goal being immortality. I honestly do not know if she''ll die for good or what will happen.” I was about to find out. Bahamut inhaled deeply.

    All dragons have two breath weapons, they have a spit attack that is just a quick burst of whatever, and they have their full breath attack which continues until the dragon runs out of breath. The larger the dragon, the bigger their lung capacity, and the more devastating their attack. And this dragon was huge. “Stand behind me everyone,” I told them. And then I watched as I lost all of my extra lives. It was just me against the dragon. The others tried to support me with defensive spells, healing my wounds, and Nevras used his techniques to support me. Nevras couldn''t get close enough to use the Dragon Roar, and its reflective scales screened out quite a bit of offensives spells. Azrael could only affect the dragon indirectly, using stuff like earthquakes to pin Bahamut with cave-ins overhead. She roared, and screamed, “Why won''t you die?!?” then blasted me with the last of her breath.

    BEYOND THE WORLD

    The soul known as Zoe stood before God. Souls are immortal, so no matter how many times she died, this couldn''t be the end of her. Without a distinct body, Zoe was no longer male or female, simply a ball of light. No matter how much she might want it, her body was blasted to dust. Revival of that was beyond their priest. “This was your last life,” God said, “you will not be able to defend them anymore.” We watched them on display from this space. Nevras was using some of his techniques, but his Void attacks seemed to not be doing the whole erasure thing, for some reason, and he couldn''t find a ton of opportunities to use the Dragon Roar because of this thing''s speed. Ambrosia had little means of attack because her knife lacked reach, and this dragon had long arms, long neck, and long tail. Aqorm usually was helpful against stuff like werewolves, vampires, some robots, and other things when her geomancy worked. But since the dragon was basically living in a hot room and apparently immune to the heat, probably not. Michael used his Script to help, but most of the tools he made burned away from the heat. Elias was healing, but everyone seemed to be hurt faster than he could manage. And Azrael was attacking, but having trouble damaging the dragon. “They''ll die,” the soul asked, “won''t they?” God showed her several possible futures, using an ancient tool of prophecy that resembled a small black ball. Some had Nevras try to use Dragon Roar and being petrified before he could finish, others had Bahamut slaying party members in various ways, still others had Ambrosia trying to take the dragon on using Michael''s Crest only to die long before she got close enough to use it. And whenever Ambrosia died, her Four Gods Crest wore off, instantly incinerating the rest of the party through the convection of all this lava. “Signs point to yes,” God muttered.

    “Why are you showing me this?” said an outraged Zoe. “I know who you really are. I should go back there, and help them! My Sage form...” God refused, “You have no body. How would you return?”

    AZRAEL

    I could only do so much with my spells. Runes have an issue with top-tier dragons, because they are runes, and as such can only make manifestations, not reality. Let me explain. The average caster can use runes in one of two ways: they can either cast it on something that already exists, or they can invoke power directly. Let''s say water. I can find a water source, and use runes to redirect the current, throwing water at the target. That''s what I did with trying to cause a cave-in earlier, but the rocks weren''t heavy enough to more than pin Bahamut, and eventually, she rolled them off her body. If I blasted something directly with water I made, though, the water was made from runes. You couldn''t drink it, it could maybe drown something, but I wasn''t sure about whether that was the case, and if it was, it was because the runes said this is how water behaves. Things made from runes were no good against this dragon''s runeproof scales. If I was somehow able to make my spells solid, things would be different.

    And Nevras was having trouble because of where we were. Void was tremendously effective at sucking away solid matter. But in areas of extreme heat or cold, it tended to suck away energy and heat long before it got to matter.

    We weren''t doing so well, and Michael wasn''t even helping. What was wrong with him? We were dying and he just stood there, as if waiting for an invitation. Zoe had even died. Even Aqorm gave a better attempt than him, and she didn''t even have the right sort of weapon to more than pinprick it.

    My mind kept going back to that spell I read about. It was the ideal spell against a largely fire-type dragon, and it would be sharp enough to poke through the dragon''s skin. But the book operated on a theory that I had never applied, for it was written at a time when wonder-workers used a mix of runes and Original Intent to create solid magic.

    My first attempt wound up being a typical spell. I mixed the dark and ice, forming eight icicles and launching them at Bahamut, but the effect did nothing at all to the dragon as it hit its scales. I tried again, thinking on the theory presented in the book. Perhaps the reason it hadn''t worked for me was that I saw it as a spell? I thought of being in a cold and dark place, trying to envision the concept as real as possible. My experiences as an exorcist had plenty of encounters with darkness, so I just focused on recalling my time near the town of Kirin. The more memories and feelings I put into the experience, the more solid it became to me. I felt like I could now make my spells solid! I said the words, “Black Ice.” It felt different, almost like I was lifting these icicles. There were only three of them made instead of eight, and it felt like they were tossed in slow motion, but this time, the attack connected. Bahamut screamed in agony. I used the same solid spell technique, calling out, “Acid Splash.” The dragon was covered in yellow-green liquid and her scales were burning from the reaction. She thrust her arm towards me. I had seen what those arms could do. It was all over.

    And then suddenly, it wasn''t. The arms never connected with my body, another form interposed between us. And then I saw a scythe. “Zoe...” I said, tears in my eyes. Then logic took over, “Wait, your body was completely destroyed, I saw it happen!” She smiled, “Look around the room, will you?” So I did, only I didn''t know what I was looking for, “There''s nothing here...” Ambrosia grinned even more, “Where are all the reincarnations that she turned to stone? Or maimed? Or burned to dust? God gave me a new body, made out of 108 other bodies. Only, this one''s in balance with my soul. This one cannot die, nor be destroyed. And I can rejuvenate myself.” As if to demonstrate, Bahamut blew a full breath attack at her. The attack that had burned through all of her incarnations did burn her clothes away, but there was no blasting to dust this time. She just fell over. “Zoe!” I screamed, concerned for my love. Then something weird happened, as we watched, some sort of energy enveloped her body. I felt like I was watching that awful film with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. “I''m fine,” she said, getting back up. She was more than fine, looking at her missing clothing from the intense heat. I blushed. She bound the loose garments around her, making a loin cloth around her lower sections, and binding around her breasts with the remaining burnt rags. She''d need some new clothing later, but we probably had some spare in the ship.

    Then she taunted the dragon, “Is that really your best? Lemme show you how it''s done.” Zoe proceed to land blow after blow on the dragon with her scythe. She wasn''t all that strong, but she also was basically immortal. Nevras used the distraction to try his Dragon Roar, and Bahamut was finished. Michael said, “I knew you could do it. I know, it seemed like I was doing nothing, but I was waiting to see if you two could develop your true powers. Plus, dragons are cute. I couldn''t act until I was sure. Wouldn''t want you two to depend on me, after all.” I hate him.

    Bahamut choked and sputtered, “*cough* *cough* *wheeze* I see. So you are those chosen to bear the Crests. I shall aid you by giving you myself as a mount.” A few seconds passed, and if I didn''t know what she was doing, I wouldn''t be able to explain it to you. Making the Dragon Whistle was such an extremely strange process, that the eyes cannot adequately process what they see with regards to it. One moment, there was a dying dragon of massive size, the next, there was a large orb of energy, the moment after that, that orb split into two orbs, one about the size of a penny and the other just smaller than the cave. The orbs turned back into matter, and the dragon seemed to have shrunk about 10 ft while a whistle made from some strange substance appeared in the air. I caught it before it slipped into the lava. Our group docked the ship back at Phoenix island, since it didn''t seem to be very accessible here, then we blew the Dragon Whistle.

    Immediately, Bahamut flew overhead. We carefully climbed her back, and directed her towards where we wanted to go by verbal command. Bahamut was a sharp dragon, and she didn''t need immediate directions, we just told her, “Go to Hell,” and she did.

    Flight while carrying burdens generates drag, so while dragons were technically capable of traveling speeds in excess of 350 mph, the drag from carrying a group of people coupled with the fact that Bahamut knew she had to pace herself since she was carrying most of us (Michael just flew there by himself), meant not only was she being slowed down by what physics still worked in the New Earth, but by her own caution. As it was, Bahamut could make it there in hours if she had some way of harnessing us in, but instead it took nearly as long as by boat. Those roleplaying games you humans had, where the endgame flying machine solves all problems of travel is just not realistic.

    Regardless, sooner or later, we did make it to Hell. The high bluffs that prevented all entrance by sea were no longer a barrier. Bahamut just flew over those jagged rocky mountains that those bluffs eventually transitioned into. On the other side of the mountain, Hell didn''t look so bad... until we approached the center. The rich volcanic soil filled with flowers and grass started turning dry, and then rockier and more covered with molten sections, until at last we were there. In this place, only one plant grew with any prevalence, besides of course dark onions which could grow even in the Realm of Void. This was the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata), a plant also called naked lady, or among those who knew of it the plant was called the Hell Flower or resurrection lily, so named because it grew most frequently here, and was said to guide the dead to their next incarnation. It was bright red and extremely beautiful, but it was a plant often associated with burial and all parts were poison. It absorbed negative emotions like anger, fear, loneliness, and bitterness, tending to grow in proximity to such places. And yet, its eight upper stems resembled the spokes of a wheel, making it a favorite of Buddhism.

    Original Intent was usually secondary in prevalence to runes, except for general shape of things, but when it wasn''t, as in Heaven, it changed the rules of life. For instance, in Heaven all conditions were set up to remove death in the conventional sense, and many types of human suffering. Here, it was anywhere from 400°? to close to 2000°? yet even without any shelter we still survived. Remember, a sparkler is usually not dangerous, but the actual temperature is 1800°F at the low end (roughly 1900°?). It''s not temperature, but how it is dispersed. That is, the more mass something has, the more heat it gives off. But this is not to say this was a weak or harmless effect. It was fully hot enough to set things on fire. And yet, the rules of reality were altered that these flames had no lasting effect on the body. Though we indeed were put under an ordeal, not one hair on my head was harmed. It was actually more like an uncomfortably hot summer day.

    They could neither kill nor would they cause any permanent scarring once the person removed themselves from the area. The greater issue was the tremendous pain everyone faced within this area. And it wasn''t just physical agony. While in this area, a person felt as stressed as one holding a full-time high-pressure job, which didn''t pay well but one was trapped in for two years because they had a poor record. Relationships became strained, most of us became depressed or grumpy, and all of us felt like it was painful just to move around. Why, I almost got in a fight with Zoe, even though just awhile ago, I had been all but ready to give her a hug. Now, we were in Hell, and as much as we were all suffering together, I wanted to beat up everyone. I can''t imagine how the others were feeling. If Heaven could be considered like a marriage to God, Hell was very much a nasty divorce, complete with all the alimony payments. You just couldn’t get along.

    The town of Hell was just nearby, and off to the distance was an active volcano and a half-ruined church. Seeing as how the church had growing grass around it and looked much cooler than right here, we went there instead, despite Hell being closer. We''d come back, but right now, none of us could handle this. Sёar?h the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.