(Author: Hello all. The Nightmare continues. Well I will release try to release one chapter a day for both of my stories with some days only one release or one release each with an extra chapter. Depends on my real life situation. Last chapter, Elgar, in his memories as Zodimat, reveals Her, the Goddess Qingyu. Now you know who the Elder One and his organization want to free. This chapter features the third to the fifth door. I will make this chapter a long one(?) as my trail of thought has given me a load of ideas. We also find out about the other organization trying to keep Her locked away. Qngyu will have all mentions of her capitalized such as Her of She. Again, as Elgar is trapped in his dreams, his words and thoughts are all in italics. What Zodimat says is not what Elgar says. This chapter took a while to write. I had many ideas and the themes for these doors were the best I came up with. I don't know how long Royal Road will have the navigation buttons so I will continue to post links for the previous chapter, main page and next chapter when applicable on the bottom of every chapter. Enjoy.)

Chapter 14: Nightmare Part 2

"I cannot say that I do not desire you," Zodimat said as he stared at her, her spirit energy releasing an aura that enticed him. "You look human, but I doubt it is your realm form. What are you?"

"Let's just say I was a Seed born of the God of Creation and Destruction during the birth of the Divine, Immortal. and Mortal Realms. I have never been in the Divine Realm and started in the Mortal Realm like you," Qingyu laughed, a sense of warmth filling Zodimat's chest. "This is not the first time we are meeting. You see me now as two different entities. In time, you will know."

Impossible! So this is what you meant!

"It has been a long time hatchling. Perhaps you are seeing me as a victim of a demon. Probably one of my descendants. I did love illusion magic. Tell me, have I been freed yet?" She asked, looking at Zodimat as if she knew Elgar was watching through its eyes.

No, but your shackles have been  broken over time. Even now, I believe Your followers have been persisting in freeing you.

"Young dragon, may I ask for your name?" Qingyu asked as She returned Her attention to Zodimat.

"My name is Zodimat," the dragon said. "You said I will be free upon ascending? What about you? How will you be freed?"

"In time young one. In time," She laughed. "Know this, the day I am freed, the Realms will shower with blood. I am the End. End of life. End of worries. End of suffering. I am Lust. All will crave Me. I am the Destroyer. I will take back what is Mine in the Immortal Realms. I am Pleasure an we will enjoy ourselves until you are free."

"What?" Zodimat asked incredulously as he was transformed into his human form.

"These stages are not really separated. You are an anomaly. You will come here twice. In time, you will see and you will remember your lust. Your greed for power. You will remember who has given you your pain. You will remember the ones who have sealed you in this place."

-----(I'll leave it to your imagination as to what explicit activities they did until Zodimat ascended. HAHAHA)-------

Elgar appeared in front of the fourth door, his mind dazed as he experienced his imprisonment once more. Qinyu. She was his lover once. As he stared around, he thought about the themes of the two doors. The first was resolve. The resolve to kill. To stop at nothing to survive and take what is yours. The second was pain. Pain felt from betrayal. The price of trust and love. The reminder that he was blinded by his accomplishments and the loss of his two other heads and two other wings. The third door was arrogance and lust. It reminded him of his enemies. Qingyu was right. He did remember who sealed him. It was the Celestial Church of Madorax.

He had once fought Madorax in the Immortal Realms before he descended and conquered his home planet in the Mortal Realm. He couldn't kill him as Madorax escaped and entered the echelons of the Immortal Realm. However, he had slain and eaten all of his original followers in the Immortal Realm before descending.

Perhaps I should find someone to reign beside me in the future. Being with Qingyu reminded me of a feeling I had long forgotten: true love. In Her case though, it was the lust that reminded me of it. To hold a woman in my arms once more without eating her or crushing her with my claws. Not that I have claws now though.

"Oooh. That was scary! I never thought you met Her. To even f*ck with Her, many would be quite jealous of you. She even saw the current you as you reunited in your memories. That is one powerful being," the demon said with awe. "Well then. To sum things up, you spent about five hundred years before you ascended. How She didn't get pregnant, I assume its the imprisonment being the cause. A part of me wanted to join in the fun. Luckily I am the one performing the nightmare, not that I could materialize and actually touch Her. Each memory gets more and more exciting. Much more interesting than the other two. So boring its dismal. They're too scared to go through the SECOND door. What buzz kills. Well, the fourth door awaits and you're halfway to killing me. Fun."

Elgar rolled his eyes and stared at the fourth door. Seeing the wind and ice, he knew it would be about that day. The day he regrew his heads and met the dragon clan in the Immortal Realm. He breathed deeply and opened the door. It was the day he became a Dragon King ranked magical beast dragon. The day he became one of the more powerful immortals. Once again, he returned to seeing the scene in third person. His dragon form had become over one mile high.

"HAHHAHAHA! I am whole again! Whole again!" Zodimat roared as he had three heads and four wings again. "I feel so much power flowing in my body! The qi! Three types of qi! THREE!"

"Calm yourself hatchling," a dragon four miles high and seven miles long laughed. "I, the First Dragon, am quite proud to finally meet a variant that ascended to the Immortal Realm. To see that my race still continues to prosper warms my ancient heart. Congratulations in becoming reaching the rank of Dragon King. Among magical beast draconians who have reached Dragon Rank, they can only be counted on two human hands. I will venture to the Divine Realm soon. Before I go, I will give you a gift. Your soul will always be that of a dragon. In your soul sleeps an egg I received from someone who ventured in the Divine Realm. It will be your magical beast in the next life. It is not strong when it is born and will appear like an ordinary magical beast, but it is the only one of its kind and I would hate it to die. I trust you'll remember it."

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The First Dragon looked to the right of Zodimat, but Zodimat saw nothing. Elgar's eyes widened as he realized the First Dragon was looking at him! He had forgotten the First Dragon's words. Once he was free, he would take the egg out from his soul and hatch it.

"You have suffered betrayal and imprisonment of the highest order," the First Dragon said as it looked at Zodimat again. "The world has given you much pain and your berserk state did not lessen it in the slightest. Even now, you wish to conquer more lands and dream of eating magical beast flesh. It empowers you with the spirit energy in the blood and meat. The land gives you happiness as you can dictate over all who live in it and never suffer from pain as you can just kill all who attempt to do so. It is a lonely life. A cursed life. You will die and hear me say those words again. You will have mana in your body in all but one limb. You will understand this in time. You must change little hatchling. You will be less of a dragon and live among humans. You cannot be as arrogant as you were before. You must be intelligent. Crafty. You must remember this."

Elgar knew Zodimat only nodded without understanding. Elgar did not understand the words then, but he did now. It was a warning of the path he was treading. Even now, he thought as a dragon and not as a human, demon, and dragon combined in one body. He still acted arrogant, but the First Dragon was wrong about one thing. He was intelligent and was crafty in his ways of doing things.

"Look at your fellow brothers and sisters," the First Dragon said as it waited for Zodimat to look around and observe the small dragons. "They are older and weaker than you, but they will still be alive in the Immortal Realms while you die. I have seen this. I have seen a small part of your next life. To rule is not to be the strongest. A king is nothing without the support and admiration of his people. If he didn't have that, he was just a landlord with too much land. A ruler of himself. You will still persist in being a king. You will know what you did wrong in your first life. Do not attempt to rule an entire world in the Mortal Realm. It will bring you loneliness. Do so in the Immortal Realms. In there, each Immortal Realm has countless galaxies. The conquest is never ending. You will have a better connection to death in your next life. Remember this well. Soul energy is much more than energy from the dead. With enough soul energy, you can sacrifice all that you absorbed to evolve and absorb more. You will be Three in One. Three types of races will be in your body. In time, you will know this and remember this lesson. Learn it and apply it well."

I can evolve? I can sacrifice my soul energy to evolve? I know he can see me, but I didn't think he would know I was a necromancer! Is this why necromancers were considered the most powerful type of mage under blood mages? Is this why necromancer was forbidden in the past? The current beings in the Mortal Realm must have forgotten this fact. I didn't read it in any book on necromancy! Heh. Even now, the First Dragon still gives me lessons.

A white light flashed and Elgar appeared in front of the fifth door. He passed through as he realized the theme of the fourth door: wisdom. To learn the lesson from the beings before you. To learn more about the world and to reflect on past mistakes. This was the theme of the fourth door.

"Well, I didn't expect this to happen," the demon said, disappointed. "I assumed you would have to watch the scene of one of the first four doors over and over again and never learn the lesson. Your body would have run out of mana and I would have eaten you. The other two are boring and I must divert my attention on you. You are my threat and my fun. The fifth door awaits. Seeing you know, you should pass it, but the sixth door.....You will fail."

Elgar stared at the fifth door. It seemed to be made of a summoning circle. He was confused. He didn't know what it signified. He opened the door and was blinded again. He opened his eyes and shouted in shock. It was the day he had found out about the hero summoning! But why? Why did it show him THIS day? This event?

Elgar was blinded once more and appeared in front of the sixth door. It was completely white and clear. Then, the five doors behind him combined and fused into the sixth door. The theme of the fifth door was easy: boredom and regret. Boredom for lack of enemies. Regret for killing and preventing treasonous thoughts. Regret of no meat to eat. Boredom for having no one to enjoy his rule with. No foes to fight. No land to conquer. In the galaxy of his home planet, there was only one with life in that galaxy and the ten immediate galaxies closest to it.

"You see! I told you the fifth was easy. No surprise there. It is the whole reason you are here to begin with. Reincarnated to start over with a clean slate. I would have ascended and conquered the Immortal Realms if I had your power. Oh well. Here you are and at the final door. The door that is the accumulation of the five other doors. The door where your nightmare ends when you say my name," the voice of the demon laughed. "Are you ready?"

Elgar stared at the sixth door. It had become changed. It had become an enveloping darkness. As if it was a tear in space that would never close.

Chapter 13: Nightmare Part 1 Main Page Chapter 15: Nightmare's End