Light falls gently onto the ground, painting the entrance of a small cave in brilliant shades of gold. Orange hues colour the landscape beside it, transforming the trees and grass and sky into a rare calm. Inside that cave, a young boy sleeps quietly, resting in the center of this tranquility.
Eventually, the boy opens his eyes but lays still, immersed in the world surrounding him. This peace, ultimately, cannot endure forever, as the boy stands up to start his quest. Gathering up his items, and grabbing a small wooden cane, the boy leaves his home, beginning the journey east, to the land of his next conquest.
In the land of the east, massive volcanoes tower over the land, spewing out gigantic bursts of smoke and flame, which scatter across the land, forming small pockets of magma throughout the east. These pockets spew magma and ash out constantly, creating a seriously demanding land to traverse.
In the center of the east lies the tallest mountain of all, towering over all its brethren. Its mere shadow is marked by kilometers of darkness, and the behemoth's summit reaches to the edge of the heavens themselves, with wisps of smoke and flame streaming out of its peak endlessly, foreshadowing a violent eruption.
Astraoth, even at the edge of the east, has the mountain dominate his view; even the other volcanoes, mighty as they may be, pale in comparison to its peerless majesty. But Astraoth, as he steps into the east, is forced to shift his focus elsewhere; the land is swelteringly hot, with the air reaching temperatures easily over two-hundred degrees Celsius. Even discounting the heat pressuring Astraoth immensely, bursts of magma and flame stream out endlessly around him, forcing Astraoth to maintain his guard constantly.
Astraoth closes his eyes, calming his heart and mind, and begins to expand his consciousness outward, reaching two meters out in all directions. As his eyes snap open, Astraoth begins to sprint forward, immediately aiming for the center of the east, sprinting toward the volcano dominating his view. The violent explosions and outbursts of lava around Astraoth do nothing to faze him, as Astraoth calmly avoids it all, his gaze steady, set firmly on the volcano in his view.
Eventually, Astraoth arrives at a river of magma, of liquid stone and immense heat. This river, hundreds of meters long and forty meters wide, is far too large to leap over or cross normally. This, however, still doesn't bother Astraoth, as he pulls a small pale blue bead from his clothes. This sphere pulses with cold and frigid air, with swirls of icy energy misting around it. Astraoth crouches down near the riverbed, channeling energy into the blue stone. Reaching out his hand near the river of magma, the frigid white energy streaming from the blue sphere freezes the river quickly into stone once more.
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Astraoth smiles gently and begins his walk across the river of lava, with it freezing under his feet, as the blue stone emits streams of icy energy. The river is crossed soon, and Astraoth looks up to the mountain, still commanding his attention. The vast distance between them becomes evidently clear, and it is plagued by similar vats of lava, pockets of violent magma, and weak footing. Astraoth's gaze does not waver and only strengthens as the difficulty becomes more and more apparent.
Astraoth closes his eyes once more, relaxing completely, fully merging into his environment. His eyes slowly open, and Astraoth begins to walk leisurely forward. All the lava flying through the air is avoided, the rivers are passed through, and the rock below him is willed to harden, and Astraoth passes through all of the difficult terrains of the east while his gaze is still focused solely on his next conquest. Astaroth soon approaches the mountain he seeks, halting as he reaches its base.
The volcano's raw scale astounds him; words are simply not enough to describe such a sight. At over twenty kilometers high, it's shadow stretches over the east. Astraoth's calm countenance is finally disturbed, as his eyes widen slightly, daunted by the task of scaling such a beast.
No path up the mountain exists, and it is far to steep to run up; the only option is to scale the side by climbing it. Astraoth sighs, thinking,"Really? I have to do this? I never knew mountain climbing would be necessary to gain this power...Regardless, I have no choice now; I've got to climb this, and quick."
Astraoth begins the climb up the mountain, digging his fingers into the rock, and pulling himself up painstakingly, inching his way up the volcano. With no gear to support him, the climb is miserable, with the heat increasing rapidly as Astraoth ascends closer to the summit.
Astraoth's clothes become soaked with sweat, his eyes blurred by the heat, as he struggles up kilometers of harsh terrain. For hours on end, Astraoth is forced into this hellish ascent, only finding respite in short breaks on his way up. But these breaks cannot stop the sweltering heat or lengthy climb, and though Astraoth is immensely tired and exhausted by the time he reaches the top, he still reaches the peak. Moving to the edge of the summit, Astraoth is overcome with a wave of satisfaction.
Looking over the east, the towering mountains and endless streams of lava lose their danger, and they blur into the red sky looming overhead until both the Heaven and Earth are painted in a haze of orange and red. This momentary peace is broken, however, when a shocking roar emanates from the mountain, and the summit explodes with a blur of red and black magma. Flames erupt outwards, and from the depths of the volcano streams magma and flame, with a deep rumbling foreshadowing a true monster's awakening...