Kai and the girls had their bath. Well, Kai, being a gentleman, didn’t join them although he wanted to, more than anything else—and they would have let him.

Kai was sitting on an exposed root of the tree in the middle of the small clearing; he seemed to be thinking of something. His facial expression showed that of a conflicted man.

“Kai, how far is it? I mean the place we are going.” Darcy asked as she came out of where she had been changing.

Darcy looked like she could not be touched by the imperfections of this world. Darcy’s hair hadn’t dried yet, so part of it stuck to her face. Her black garbs made her look even more appealing; she was simply beautiful.

Kai turned his head around to answer, “Not too far now, not too far... Samantha! We are waiting for you!” Kai said out loud.

He simply didn’t understand that a woman had to take her time to look good, even if they were going to die the next minute.

“I am almost done!” Samantha shouted in response.

After Samantha responded, a sheet of silence draped over the band of mages. It became even harder to breathe; this was uncomfortable silence at its peak.

“You and Samantha have seemed to grow fond of each other.” Kai said, trying to break the silence.

“I guess so.” Darcy didn’t even try to deny it; she only blushed a little.

Kai smiled; this time his smile was not a happy one but a sad one; Darcy could not see it as he had his back to her.

He had been thinking recently about whether things would have turned out differently if he didn’t fall in love with Chelsea; he wasn’t even sure if he was in love with her any more. If he was with Darcy, he would have been happier.

“I am ready!!” Samantha shouted, throwing Kai out of his train of thought.

Before long, the trio embarked on the journey to find some place only Kai knew about. After some time of walking, Darcy was beginning to be fatigued.

“How long until we get there?!” Darcy asked no one in particular.

Kai, who was formerly lost in thoughts again, was brought back. “Soon.” They had gone deeper into the forest.

“We are here!” Kai stopped in front of what seemed like the temple of an ancient civilization.

The prism-shaped structure looked like something that was not of this world. It’s size could be compared to that of a mountain; its former grandiose was beyond what the kingdom of Klinestra could conjure.

“This is the place?” Darcy could not believe her eyes; she didn’t believe that nobody knew that this edifice was somewhere in this forest.

Kai seemed to have read Darcy’s thoughts. “It is only exclusive to saguimancers. Other types of mages can only imagine what lies inside this temple.”

The temple seemed to be a burial ground for a particular mage. It was clear that the mage had a lot of disciples, as the edifice was obviously built by them.

“So what should we do while you are inside?” Samantha asked, brandishing her scythe. She had been influenced by Darwin.

“Just stay here and wait for me; I will be back before you know it.” The smile on Kai’s face was a source of relief for them.

If he said that he would be back before they knew it, he would be back before they knew it. Darwin

However, Kai knew nothing of what was to come; his smile was a mask to hide the fear deeply rooted in his heart.

“Please, do not be long in there.” Darcy endeared; she wanted to say more, but she didn’t want to dampen the mood.

“Right!”

Kai turned around and walked towards the stone entrance. The stone entrance had already turned green as a result of algae growth. Nonetheless, Kai walked forward, phasing through the stone wall as though it were illusory.

The scene before Kai was simply unreal. The first thing he saw was a hall; at first the hall was dark, but as though on cue, arrays of red stones lit up the way for him to see. It was as if they were expecting him.

There were some carvings on the wall of the tomb. It showed the youthfulness of a young man, much like Kai. It showed his struggle, his weakness, and his want. The drawings on the wall were very explicit, expressing emotion and grabbing the mind of Kai as he walked past them.

The carvings continued. Kai followed them, as they seemed to lead him on. The mage in the carvings had just fallen in love. In his mind, as the drawings depicted, the woman was perfect. And the mage was head over heels in love with her.

Eventually, they got married. Little did the mage know that she was a vixen. All she wanted was to have his head on a platter and his blood in a cup. Everything she had done was savor the sensation of killing him in the end.

After some time, her plans came into play. She had lured him and had plans to kill him that night—their wedding night.

Sadly, she didn’t get her fulfilment. The poison she had planned in the meal her husband was to eat was eaten by his younger sister as a form of sibling pester.

The next few panes showed how that night unfolded. Eventually, it ended with the mage holding his dead sister in his hands. That night the vixen was nowhere to be found. The built-up rage that wasn’t dispensed that night turned into self-hatred and regret.

The death of his only family member turned that mage into a shell of his former self. His insides had been eaten up by pain, his joy was replaced with sadness, and his love replaced with the want for revenge.

He searched for this vixen for the rest of his days, but she had simply disappeared. At the end of his days, the mage had one wish on his deathbed: that he see his sister once again.

The next pane showed the vixen in tears. The pane was odd; it carried no meaning that Kai could grasp. The reason the vixen cried was not clear Nonetheless, Kai kept walking after spending fruitless effort in understanding the pane.

Eventually he died; he got to see his sister and as well get revenge. But it wasn’t clear how he did it. But something didn’t seem to add up.

The panes had ended, and at the end of the hall was a huge opened entrance. The entrance, as Kai could see, led to a dark room with a beam of light falling from the top.

Since he had walked this far and traveled this far, how could he stop now? Kai decided to keep walking.

Eventually, through the course of time, Kai entered what seemed to be the end of his journey. The entrance he walked into led to the top of the pyramid.

The moment he walked inside the cone-shaped room, he could see the source of light was a hole at the pinnacle of the room. The walls of the room were decorated with intricate designs and carvings, but Kai could not deduce any information from the engravings on the wall. They seemed to be just designs. Along the designs, a spiral staircase was laid, which led to the top.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Kai had gotten to the center of the room, where the light touched the ground. A few dust particles were floating in the light; seeing them float like that gave him a kind of peace, or calmness, to say the least.

The light called out to him. At least that was what Kai felt at that moment before he raised his hand to let the light fall on his covered palm.

Moving his hand in the light, his gauntlets seemed to glow differently. It was then that he noticed something; the light falling on his hands seemed to have cracks or something. But he could not see them clearly.

“Oh! That’s what the stairs are meant for.”

Kai took the stairs that led to the top. The spiral designs on the wall as Kai walked past them appeared rather familiar, as though he had seen them somewhere before. It was simply nostalgic.

It didn’t take a long time before he was at the top. Kai stretched out his hands into the light.

I know you hate me; I understand. I am really sorry for killing your sister. I really am. I hoped you would not find this place. I was messing with forces I could not offend. If you have found this place, it means I am dead. This is all I can say now. I am sorry; I really love you.

It all made sense—not total sense but some kind of sense. Before Kai could wrap his head around what was going on between the couple, the spiral engraving on the wall began to emit an ominous green light. Not minding the fact that the wall was not glowing, the stairs under his feet became a slide.

To prevent himself from falling, as a reflex, he held on to the wall. But no matter how he tried, his hands could not get a firm grip on the wall.

—Du, Du—

Whilst falling, he activated the gauntlets, at least to give him more advantage and grip on the wall. Nonetheless, all Kai’s efforts were futile. No matter how he tried, he still could not get a grip. He was still falling.

Eventually, Kai let himself go; at least he wouldnt get seriously injured when he got to the ground. If only it were so...

The spiral light was going down faster than Kai was falling. Halfway through his fall, the entire wall’s spiral carving had started glowing.

Unexpectedly, the glow didn’t stop at the foot of the cone; instead, it continued. The line of light traced a weird pattern on the ground. And the entire ground caved in.

Thankfully, the light falling from the roof was still there, so Kai could still see. But what he saw was not good on any level. The ground caved in to expose a huge moving object.

The oversized moving object had beautiful, reflective scales. The ground was almost gone when Kai fell into the hole that was formally the floor.

----------------------------------------

—Rumble—

“Did you hear that!?” Samantha shouted at Darwin. The tension was clear on her face.Darwin

“Don’t lose faith in him; he said he would be out before we knew it. Believe him.” Although Darcy said those words, the feeling of uncertainty in her heart wanted to tear her apart.

Samantha thought for a while that Darcy’s words were actually plausible. “Okay!”

----------------------------------------

The moving object was so big that it covered the entire floor; Kai had no choice but to land on top of it. The moment his feet touched the beast, it stopped moving. Although it had stopped moving, Kai still found it hard to stand; the beast was simply too slippery.

—SSS—

It was clear now that the thing under him was a titanosaur. But this huge snake under Kai was bigger than any old titanosaur; this was a Nehebkau.

“SSS You have trespassed! Your death wish is clear.” The snake spoke in a smooth, slithering way. Still, its head was nowhere to be seen.

Feeling that fighting this beast below him was going to be more detrimental to him, he said, “I didn’t know this was your domain; I will leave and never return.”

“Your please has fallen on deaf ears. The moment you sssteped in here, your death was sealed.” The snake beast was simply unrelenting.

“It really is like that, huh?” Although Kai knew that this beast was simply something of fiction and struck fear in his heart, he still spoke to it as though they were of equal standing.

“Do you not fear for your life?” This time the head of the huge snake was exposed. It looked into Kai’s eyes.

“I have begged you, and I think I can take you.”

Enraged, the huge snake started moving, this time vigorously. “You? Think you can take me?!!” The snake was already slithering around the walls of the cone-shaped dome.

Kai had already fallen down; he was on the ground now. Although the snake was moving around, he stood in place. This was the first time that his aura was not affecting something that was alive, especially when he activated the gauntlets.

“Even the godsss think twice before confronting me, Who are you?!?” Although the snake was enraged, it still had to be careful. It had to ask his questions; it was true that he could take on gods, but laws were a different matter. It could only run if it met a law.

Seeing that Kai was silent and not responding, it was assumed that Kai was no law. Laws were known for their haughty nature.

—Swish—

In a split second, the huge snake was gliding through the air; it looked as though it was flying. It bared its huge mouth open, hoping to engulf Kai in one fell swoop.

—Crash—

And it succeeded. The snake was simply too fast; even after it swallowed Kai, its afterimages were still lingering in the air. Inside its stomach, Kai felt its huge teeth try to crush him as it swallowed.

—Gulp—

The snake swallowed, and Kai was on a long way into the snake’s belly. The ride was rather smooth. Except for the fact that the enzymes in the snake’s alimentary system were slowly ripping Kai apart.

—Splash—

It didn’t take long for Kai to enter into the snake’s stomach. The snake’s stomach fluid had already started eating its way through Kai’s skin. The sizzling sounds heard were evidence of that.

Kai didn’t appear to feel the pain; he had felt more pain than this. Oddly, he didn’t struggle—not that he could not struggle, but he didn’t want to struggle. Unexpectedly, Kai began to second-guess himself.

He wasn’t even sure what he was doing any more. He knew he was selfish with his life but wasting it inside the stomach of this snake, but it was his life.

The snake’s gastric juices was rather shallow, Kai sat down and hugged his legs like a teen going through existential crisis. He sat there, silently, as time passed. His skin eroding away, and every time returning to normal, then starting over again.

Time passed, but Kai wasn’t sure how much had passed. All he knew was that the snake had stopped moving. The strength to keep going was sapped by an unnatural force; he just sat there and let his soul wither away.

He couldn’t stand or live for anyone; was it for Darcy? She was better off without him in her life. Or was it for Chelsea? If she never met him, she would not have died. If he were never born, none of this would have happened.

“Fuck!!!” Kai screamed as he hit the juices he was seated in; he was frustrated. “What am I doing!!” Kai’s scream reverberated throughout the insides of the huge snake.

Kai stood up from the pool of snake juices he was in. From his waist down, he had lost all flesh; all that was left was his bone. It didn’t take long before Kai’s legs regained muscle and flesh at a speed visible to the eye.

Kai was tall; if he jumped, he would reach the roof of the snake’s stomach; that was exactly what he was going to do. Although he had lost a lot of essence by staying in that water, Kai reckoned that the amount he had left was enough to burst out of this mess he was in.

And that was exactly what he planned to do. Kai braced himself as he squatted; he tightened his calve muscles and was about to jump for his life. Although the outer covering of the snake was as hard as diamond, its inside was rather delicate.

The gastric juices inside it were like a parasite. The juices slowly tore the insides of the snake, making it weak and sensitive, making Kai’s escape easy.

Kai released his calves as he jumped and let his head do the rest.

—squelch—

The sound of tearing through was heard. Kai could not believe that he had done it, nor did Nehebkau. For some reason, Nehebkau could not move.

The gaping hole in it’s stomach was leaking digestive juices, and it just lay there as it’s juices digested it.

“Are you a law?” Nehebkau just had to ask.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Although Kai had broken free, he didn’t go too far; in actuality, he landed on top of the snake. Unexpectedly, he was too weak to move a muscle.

Time passed, and the two just lay there. None of them bothered to move. The cold skin of the snake seemed to comfort Kai; at least it distracted him.

"Sssigh. Now I can go and meet my sister.” After an unknown period of time, the snake spoke.

Kai didn’t hear what the snake said, but it almost as though the snake was smiling. Eventually the sound of the snake’s heart stopped. Kai was once again alone, but now the light had moved and was falling in his eye.

He didn’t even bother himself to move or close his eyes to prevent the light from hitting his eyes. After a bit of time, he wasn’t sure if he was seeing things or if they were actually there.

He was seeing an angel with blue hair falling slowly from amidst the light. She flew more than she fell. “Kai, how have you been?”

Kai could hear it loud and clear, Chelsea’s voice, just as he remembered it. He was sure his mind was playing tricks on him. Even if it wasn’t real, he still felt the pangs of loss. He wasn’t sure if he loved her but he wanted to hear her voice one last time. He wanted to see her one more time, even if it was the last time.

A sad smile was drawn on Kai’s lips. The sight of Chelsea descending from the light seemed so real. Dressed in her favourite dress, her blue flowing hair seemed more beautiful than he remembered.

Chelsea flew down and held Kai’s head in her thighs as she sat on the dead snake. Kai could feel her soft hands slowly caress his head. The sad smile faded and was replaced with a warm and satisfied smile. A single tear fell from Kai’s right eye; he was happy.

He didn’t have to move; he didn’t have to worry. He was at peace.

‘Sigh. its is as if that day was just yesterday, Sigh.’