[10:15]
“I must say, this progress is inconceivable.” The strange snake floated around Zuri as it peered at an injured Corridor Guardian that clutched her chest with a pained expression. “To think you would defeat the eight plane’s Corridor Guardian so quickly. I dare say I can understand the shamans’ shock.”
A massive crowd hovered around the Eighth Plane’s Air Corridor, staring in silence and shock at the pair of monsters who stood victorious over their respective guardians.
“Heh, as expected of a Sixth-Tier Elementalist. Indeed, Zuri is the best!” A panting Somo wiped the blood leaking from his lips as he viewed Zuri with worship in his eyes. ‘Kyaa! As expected of the girl I chose. Work hard, Somo. You can’t let her leave you in the dust!’
“Hehe.” Zuri’s lips blossomed into a bright smile. She bashfully accepted the various compliments. “Birdy Brat’s pretty strong too. Zuri will work hard!”
‘I’m still Birdy Brat?’ Somo’s lips twitched, but he rapidly shook his head. Fair enough, it was his fault for making a bad impression. He resolved to keep working hard to change Zuri’s perception of him.
Zuri, ignorant of Somo’s mental state, turned to look at the Corridor Guardian, who, although still clutching her chest, had risen to full height. Zuri learned how to control her strength from the previous floors. So, although the Corridor Guardian was hurt, it was nothing serious.
Proving this point, the Corridor Guardian fished out a bottle from her pouch and swiftly drank its contents. The Corridor Guardian smacked her lips at the bitter taste, but her complexion rapidly improved, showcasing the potion’s efficacy.
Seeing the Corridor Guardian’s recovery, Zuri pointed at the Air Corridor and asked, “I can pass through now, right?”
“W-wait a moment.” The Corridor Guardian hesitated. “The ninth plane is sensitive, as it is directly related to our species’ survival. You need to complete the necessary background checks and get the shamans’ approval.”
“Background check?” Zuri inwardly panicked.
“Yes. It will be short and quick, I promise. We just need to confirm your recommendation and birthplace to ensure you do not have any ill intentions.”
“Well, I—”
“Let them pass, Ingrid.” An aged voice suddenly spoke when Zuri hesitated.
The trio turned around to see a regal avian descending from the skies.
The avian, who looked to be in his late sixties, revealed a reverent gaze as he looked at the floating snake by Zuri’s side. “Great Kukulkan. You have awoken from your slumber at last. Is this the champion you have awaited all this while?”
The snake revealed to be Kukulkan shook its head. “I am as of yet unsure. But, I sensed an omen on the winds, and have thus awoken. Perhaps the truth shall reveal itself on the ninth plane.”
“Chief!” Ingrid, the Corridor Guardian screamed and immediately bowed her head, not daring to meet the man’s eyes. “I-I didn’t expect you to come personally, Chief Huna.”
Chief Huna softly smiled. “This matter just happens to be that important.”
Zuri’s gaze narrowed, and she instinctively adopted a defensive posture as she glared at the chief. Her feathers and hair stood on ends, affected by the man’s oppressive presence. This level of natural pressure exceeded what she felt even from Kashi! It was like this man could destroy her with a sneeze.
If Kashi were present, he would have recognized that pressure. It was the signature oppression of a Transcendent who had reached the level cap.
“Your instincts are praiseworthy.” Chief Huna viewed Zuri’s defensive stance with undisguised praise. His eyes then bore a mischievous glint as he turned to Somo. “Did you have fun with your master? I bet you could not wait to show off your talent.”
“Hehe,” Somo scratched the back of his head, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the chief’s gaze. “It’s nothing compared to Zuri.”
Chief Huna shook his head. “Breaking my record is something to be admired. You are just unlucky enough to be born in the same generation as a monster.” The chief paused, realizing Zuri could misconstrue his words. “My apologies. I did not mean it in a negative light.”
“No, it’s alright. Zuri is a monster!” Zuri proudly grinned. Rider and everyone else constantly calling Kashi a monster had greatly influenced her. To Zuri, ‘monster’ was the greatest compliment!
“Is that so? Indeed, the strongest are always a tad bit peculiar.” Chief Huna chuckled and then once again looked at Kukulkan. “Great Kukulkan, if you will, may I accompany you to the ninth plane.”
“As you will.” Kukulkan nonchalantly offered its support. The snake understood the chief’s position.
Chief Huna was the ruling Chieftain of the entire avian tribe. The chief was aware that whatever awoke Kukulkan from its millennium-long slumber was something that could very well affect the entire avian species. He had to be present to know how best to inform and prepare his people for any eventual changes.
Having received Kukulkan’s approval, Chief Huna released a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Great Kukulkan.” He then patted Ingrid’s shoulder as he flew toward the Air Corridor. “Thank you for your service. I will lead the way from here. Momentarily seize all travel to the ninth plane until I return.”
This was a message, not just to Ingrid, but to all Corridor Guardians. The guardians nodded and pounded their chests twice in salute.
Having completed his preparations, Chief Huna glanced at Somo. “You can join us if you wish. You won the right through your determination.”
“Tch. Acting so important.” Somo clucked his tongue, but he obediently followed the chief. He then added under his breath. “Just wait. I’ll soon surpass you, shitty father.”
Chief Huna chuckled as he pretended not to hear his rebellious son’s disrespect. He flew over to the Air Corridor, and was just about to enter when his skin crawled with abject fear!
Chief Huna sharply retreated, accidentally knocking into Somo and Zuri in the process.
“What the hell!?” The former, who unfortunately caught an elbow to the nose, grunted as he stifled the flowing blood. He glared at the chief, but the subsequent rebuke froze in his throat when he saw the chief’s grave expression. “D-dad?”
Chief Huna could not pay Somo any heed. His eyes widened in disbelief and shock from his Elemental’s frantic screams. It appeared she had sensed something horrific in the winds. That terror seeped into Chief Huna, who soon saw the cause.
VWOOSH! The Air Corridor suddenly ‘twisted,’ twirling in place as the stable wind tunnel suddenly turned chaotic and wild.
The abnormality spread sharply, resulting in wild tornadoes and hurricanes appearing without warning. The harsh winds instantly swept up unprepared avians and began tossing them through the skies like rag dolls.
Some avians spread their wings, trying to fight against the winds. Unfortunately, the wind was too powerful. Hundreds of avians cried out in pain as the winds broke their wings. Some even bled as the force nearly tore their wings clean off their backs.
“DON’T FIGHT THE WIND!”
Kukulkan’s voice was heard on all nine planes. It was unknown if the message imprinted into their minds, or his voice emanated that wide and far. Regardless, the strange snake strangely sounded excited despite the warning.
The avians trusted this strange voice and soon noticed a peculiarity. Although the winds tossed them about, there was no damage as long as they did not fight it. At most, they became dizzy and disoriented in the chaos.
Before anyone could make sense of it, the rampaging winds stopped just as quickly as it started. The winds dispersed with a loud whoosh, dispelling the chaotic, deadly wind barriers that separated the different planes.
At the same time, the recovering avians stared in shock and fear at the sight that lay beyond the wind barriers.
A giant bloody red wall surrounded the nine planes. At the same time, a loud booming sound echoed through the enclosure. The terrible sound made the avians cough up blood as they bled from their nose and ears.
Many weak avians dropped to their knees, unable to withstand the terrible noise.
“Wh-what’s that!?” Somo questioned with bloodshot eyes. It took all he had to resist the rhythmic booming. It felt like someone continuously struck his internal organs with a hammer.
Chief Huna held Somo and Zuri’s shoulders. He had done so to prevent them from separating from him in the wild winds. He did not answer Somo’s question, but instead, looked at Kukulkan.
Kukulkan, the snake, revealed a wistful look as it heard the sound. “Yes, that is a heartbeat… My heartbeat.”
“What?” Somo could not make heads or tails of the revelation. How could a tiny snake have such a loud heartbeat? This thing was loud enough to drown out a nation’s noise!
Kukulkan could not be bothered to explain. It glanced at the plane above and urged Zuri. “Quick! Fly to the ninth plane! Your leader must be waiting for us. If we delay, the avians will be in danger.” It then let out another order, “All Avians Are To Descend To The First Plane Immediately!”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Following this order, it urgently glared at Chief Huna, who immediately tightened his grip on Zuri and Somo before shooting upwards at breakneck speeds.
Just as suspected, Chief Huna successfully broke through the previous upper limit without incident. The chief then flew the hole/tunnel where the Air Corridor previously passed through.
On their way up, Kukulkan suddenly ordered, “Form a Wind Barrier, Now!”
Chief Huna did not hesitate or question why. He instantly formed a powerful barrier of swirling winds to cover himself and the children.
Splash! Chief Huna’s eyes narrowed when a dark-yellow, thick liquid suddenly splashed against the barrier. The wind barrier scattered the liquid to the sides without incident, but the trio sucked in their breaths when they saw the sturdy earth melt several meters deep upon contact.
What a corrosive liquid!
Kukulkan did not explain further, and Chief Huna wisely refrained from asking.
The chief successfully broke out of the hole after a couple of seconds and alighted on the ninth plane to a scene reminiscent of the apocalypse.
The yellow liquid fell from a height that Chief Huna could not see. It flooded the entire ninth plane, melting every monster and plant it came across. Furthermore, Chief Huna’s eyes widened in panic when he noticed the ninth plane lowering every second.
No, it wasn’t lowering. The corrosive liquid was melting the earth itself at a rapid rate!
Before long, it would eat up the ninth plane and descend to the next plane. In time, it would melt everything!
Only now did Chief Huna understand Kukulkan’s previous order. Their esteemed god was buying them time!
But buying them for what? The Chief calmed his racing heart. Kukulkan would not be so calm if it did not already have a solution. But where could this solution be?
“Father! There!”
Chief Huna followed his son’s pointed finger to see a strange scene amidst the flood. A large dome filled with sharp winds sat at a corner of the chaos, easily swiping away the dropping corrosive liquid.
Somo’s eyes trembled as he recognized the winds. “F-father.”
“I understand.” If Chief Huna did not recognize the familiar barrier winds, he would have handed in his chieftaincy at once. With furrowed brows, he maintained his wind barrier and flew toward the dome. “Let us see what this is.”
Vwoosh! Surprisingly, as if sensing their arrival, a portion of the dome’s barrier parted, allowing the trio to pass through.
Chief Huna hesitated, but then flew in under Kukulkan’s urging.
As the wind barrier shut behind him, Chief Huna stared at the strange scene with raised eyebrows.
A strange dark-scaled humanoid leisurely sat on a chair with a serene smile despite at least a dozen spears pointed at him from surrounding avians. He juggled a bright greenish gem in his right hand, seemingly unfazed by the mortal threat.
“Kashi!” Zuri shrugged off Chief Huna’s grip and instantly charged at Kashi, whose eyes lit up with joy.
Kashi stood up and spread his arms, allowing Zuri to rush into his embrace. Chuckling, he patted Zuri’s head. “Hehe, I just about beat you here. You must have become an Elemental to make it here this quickly. What tier Elementalist are you? Fourth? Fifth? Hehe, I bet you gave those avians a real shock.”
“Hehe,” Zuri revealed a triumphant grin as she summoned Blue Wind. “I’m a sixth-tier Elementalist!”
“Sixth Tier—cough!” Kashi coughed to hide his embarrassment. Goddamn it! Even Razznik was only a fifth-tier Elementalist! Why was everyone around him hell-bent on being monsters!?
‘It’s tough being the only normal person in this crazy guild.’ Kashi sighed to console himself and ushered Zuri with all the exaggerated praises in the world. Following his praise, Zuri jumped onto Kashi’s shoulders and sat down like it was her natural spot.
‘Oi, oi. You’ve grown since you became a werewolf!’ Kashi swallowed his inner complaint. He fixed his posture, and then looked at the floating snake who had been staring greedily at the green gem in his right hand. “Hehe, Kukulkan. So, you really woke up on your own. Thanks for saving me the trouble.”
Kukulkan warily eyed the strange draconian. “You. You are not Razznik?” Suddenly, fear appeared in its eyes. Its arrangement was with Razznik. If this man did not work for Razznik, Kukulkan would most likely perish here!
Kashi wore a pleasant smile. “No, I am not Razznik. But, I have a deal for you, regardless. It is no less in value to Razznik’s deal.”
Kukulkan’s gaze trembled. “You know our agreement?”
“Razznik gives you a place to escape Quetzalcoatl , and recover from your injuries. In return, he uses your people’s home as a testing ground for a time.” Kashi murmured inwardly. ‘In our Razznik’s playthrough, he gave thirty years as the stipulated time. Seems like this one gave a thousand years or more.’
Kashi saw Zuri was confused and happily explained.
Quetzalcoatl was an ancient embodiment of creation. Whenever Ferulic wanted to create a new world, he would send Quetzalcoatl to split itself into different elements to facilitate the world’s growth and stabilization. Then, when the world balanced itself and naturally produced the elements needed to sustain itself, Quetzalcoatl would collect the elements and rejoin to form a single entity before returning to Ferulic’s side.
Quetzalcoatl’s full form was a feathered serpent. As such, when it split, its personalities took the form of five serpents. The sky serpent, Kukulkan; the sea serpent, Jormungandr; the flaming serpent, Xiuhcoatl; the earth serpent, Cipactli; and Haietlik, the lightning serpent.
Each personality guarded a gem corresponding to their element. That gem served as both their lifeforce and the source of their powers. The gems were also the key items to substitute the world’s elements until the world could generate its elements.
The creation process had occurred several times across countless millennia. Each time, Quetzalcoatl would return when the world stabilized and absorb its various forms.
Unfortunately, something went wrong one thousand years ago.
Razznik confronted and battled Quetzalcoatl in the Netherrealm. Razznik overwhelmed the creation serpent and nearly destroyed it. However, at the last moment, Quetzalcoatl split into its personalities and fled far away.
Since Quetzalcoatl’s forms were weaker than the sum of its parts, Razznik lost interest and let them be. After confirming Razznik had gone for good, Quetzalcoatl set about absorbing its various forms.
This time, however, perhaps because of the unnatural split, Quetzalcoatl’s different personalities gained separate egos, making them much more difficult to capture and absorb.
It took Quetzalcoatl some time, but the serpent successfully beat down and absorbed Jormungandr, Xiuhcoatl, Cipactli, and Haietlik. Unfortunately, the chase for Kukulkan did not go as smoothly. Each time they battled, Kukulkan would barely escape with its life, and then go into deep hiding.
After one such battle, Kukulkan suffered severe damage. In a desperate attempt to subdue Kukulkan, Quetzalcoatl nearly shattered the wind serpent’s gem, causing it near-fatal damage.
Quetzalcoatl was a ‘complete creature.’ So, even if it shattered the gem, only Kukulkan would perish as the gem would reforge itself after several years.
Quetzalcoatl decided the wait was worth it.
Kukulkan, realizing it was on the verge of death, sought aid from the man that bested Quetzalcoatl, to begin with.
Razznik, seeing its plight, decided to help. First, he had Kukulkan seek out its worshippers and swallow them into its stomach. The faith and prayers from those worshippers would accelerate the gem’s repair.
Razznik then stored Kukulkan in a void and connected its stomach to Oni Hill’s dungeon to serve as a testing ground. Keeping it in a void ensured Quetzalcoatl could not sense its location. The easy access would also make it easy to keep tabs on Kukulkan’s condition and ensure the worshippers (the avians) were living well.
Because Kukulkan was cut off from the world through the void, the avians were automatically cut off from the gods. So, they predictably could not pray for good crops and instead had to rely on themselves. (They couldn’t farm to save their lives.)
Razznik, realizing these avians might end up starving to death, implemented the monster summoning cores so they had a steady source of food. Then, he used the gem to create wind barriers to prevent Kukulkan’s acidic body fluids from killing everyone.
With Kukulkan’s help, Razznik split the landmass into nine planes and formed the Air Corridors to give the avians something to strive toward. Finally, he formed an intermittent passage through the winds that led directly to the wind gem hovering above the ninth plane. He did this so he could easily access the wind gem if something went wrong since Kukulkan had to enter deep hibernation to heal its injuries.
“So, that is the truth.” Chief Huna’s eyes visibly aged as he took in the true history of his people. He glanced at Kukulkan, hoping the deity would smite Kashi for blasphemy, but the sky serpent’s silence expressed its tacit confirmation.
In King’s Journey , Razznik estimated it would take Kukulkan about twenty to thirty years to recover. To be safe, he chose the lengthier period as their lease agreement.
In this world, something must have gone wrong, or perhaps the developers personally edited the history to make it a millennium before Kukulkan’s recovery reached acceptable levels.
Kukulkan did not care that the surrounding avians had conflicted gazes. At first glance, it might look like it used and confined them to several lifetimes of servitude. However, the avians would have perished under Quetzalcoatl’s wrath if it let them be.
Among the various personalities, Kukulkan was the only one who bothered to protect and watch over the avians who prayed to them. He loved the avians like its own children, so it knew Quetzalcoatl would have either punished or used the avians as bait to lure it out.
The sky serpent instead looked in Kashi’s eyes with hesitation. “What will you do? Do you intend to keep the promise?”
“What? To free you from the void? Sure, I can and will.” Kashi tossed and caught the wind gem, and then fixed the sky serpent with a hard gaze. “But are you certain that is what you want? Quetzy will lock onto you once you return to the real world. It’s only a matter of time before he destroys you.”
Kukulkan’s gaze turned heavy. “Perhaps. But that is my fate to bear. It is time these children once again witnessed the true sky.”
“What if you could change your fate?” Kashi’s lips spread in a wicked smile. “A fate where both you and the avians live good, long, fulfilled lives for all of eternity; a fate where you need not flee from Quetzy.”
Kukulkan’s heart stirred despite its vigilance. “You have a method?”
Kashi’s grin widened. “Of course I do.”
On Kashi’s shoulder, Zuri instinctively covered Kashi’s mouth with her hands. She shivered as she muttered to no one in particular, “Oh, no. Kashi is doing it again.”