Empire Of Souls

The strength of a DemiG.o.d when compared to the lower cla.s.ses was not to be underestimated.

Aleks tendrils retracted, but did not fully disappear. They had become smaller, but continued to remain surrounding Aleks"s body. Aleks raised his palms upwards while lifting his arms in front of his body and violet flames ignited on the palm of his hands. They were an ethereal and intimidating flame. If one were to look directly at them, they would have illusions of a chorus of souls writhing in agony with a cacophony of painful wailing. The flames lifted off his palms and began to multiply, surrounding Aleks and spinning gently, the violet color of the flames became mesmerizing in their dreadful beauty. The beast eyed the flames with caution and hesitated to attack.

"Aren"t they lovely? These flames are condensed from the potential within one"s soul. They are wondrous in their form, unruly and fickle. The flames devour everything in their path, sapping all of a person"s stats and devouring vitality and magic power. There is no resistance or spell that can save you. You will have to sacrifice divinity in order to defend against my attack, and that will only weaken you further. Perhaps you don"t understand my explanation. In short, it"s useless to resist."

With the last of Aleks"s words leaving his lips, he reached outwards with his right hand and the several ethereal violet flames that were revolving around him burst forth with great speed. They hurtled forwards leaving trails of violet flames across the air in their wake. Even the very air seemed to quiver at the flames pa.s.sing, leaving streaks of flames that didn"t dissipate for a long time.

Not only did Aleks"s "Soul Flare" ability leave trails of ethereal flames across the air in its pa.s.sing, the flames were also accompanied by the sound of wailing. Any lesser being would be struck with feelings of despair. How could they possibly face such terrifying flames that struck directly against one"s soul? The monstrous being which had become deformed and enormous through the descent of several powerful ancestral beings was, for the first time, filled with fear.

The hideous face of the being contorted into an expression which was indescribable. The flames could not be avoided because of their speed and the fact that Aleks could guide them with his mind. As they drew nearer to their target, you could see the reflection of the light of the flames within the eyes of the beast. That wasn"t the only thing you could see in its eyes, you could also see hopelessness.

"What are you!?" were its last words as the flames struck, igniting the beast in a bonfire of violet, ethereal light.

The flames raged savagely, with no mercy, no compa.s.sion, and no abatement. These were flames that would never die, not until its target was extinguished. The only way to defend against them would be through the use of divinity, and these Ancestral Spirits were just too weak. Although they were no longer mortal, they weren"t G.o.ds either. They could be somewhat comparable to DemiG.o.ds themselves, but it was a different path. It was possible for them to ascend with enough worship, but it was a difficult and long path. The only reason anyone would wish to tread this path was because it was a safer one than to ascend to G.o.dhood by igniting one"s G.o.d flame. The igniting of one"s G.o.d flame may very well draw the ire of the G.o.ds.

It wasn"t impossible to do this, it was just extremely difficult to the point it was almost impossible. Throughout the history of the G.o.d Nexus however, there had been many who had ascended. You just had to take into account the scale of millions upon millions of years and untold trillions of lives. Just reaching the level of a DemiG.o.d was beyond rare enough.

"I am the harbinger of your demise, that is all." Aleks replied lightly despite the fact that the beast was already burning.

There was a sorrow to his words and a certain loneliness as he watched the beast struggle while wrapped in flames. It attempted to attack him, lunging at his body with all its strength, but Aleks"s tendrils kept it at bay as the flames continued to burn. The beast poured all its strength into trying to break through Aleks"s defense, but it was futile. No matter how much it attempted to swing savagely at Aleks, it couldn"t even get close enough to spit at him. The tendrils seemed infinite and they whipped and pushed at the beast, keeping it well beyond reach of Aleks"s body.

The once Orc shaman"s screams of agony did not even register in Aleks"s mind. He had already gone to another place mentally. He didn"t even care to notice the Ancestral Spirits which had begun to leave the body of the deformed creature once realizing their efforts were in vain. They were not willing to sacrifice too much of their divinity. They could only escape to their sanctuary and once more returned to the ancestral caverns where they resided within their relics. This was one of the greatest detriments of their path to becoming a deity. Before they ascended to a higher form, their spirits had to reside in their relics. Once they did become a deity, those relics would become their divine artifact. Unfortunately for them, this would never happen.

Lenia and Nelay came running to stand beside Aleks and they both watched in awe while the beast which had seemed so powerful only a short time ago, faded away into ashes. The flames of Aleks"s ability continued to burn in a huge conflagration, but they strangely remained in place and did not spread to the surrounding area. The monster was no longer visible, it had completely become ash and blown away.

"Seems they were lacking in resolve, what fools. They believe themselves safe, but soon they will regret their foolish decision. Lariel, get down here."

Lariel complied with Aleks"s order immediately and soon landed next to him.

"There"s no need to be so forceful Aleks, I will always come whenever you call me."

Lariel smiled playfully and fluttered her wings before making them disappear somewhere into her body. Or at least that was where it seemed they went, but neither Nelay or Lenia could figure out how she did it. They couldn"t imagine that those wings fit inside of her body.

Aleks ignored her playful banter and said, "The cavern entrances were destroyed, create a path for me."

"Of course." Lariel replied before using her magic to drill a pathway through the collapsed cavern entrance.

The four soon made their way into the ancestral cavern. The cavern pa.s.sageway was dark, but Lariel used her magic to light a path for them as they walked. Eventually after traveling for a while they reached a large chamber with several sacrificial altars within. This was the main chamber of the cavern and it was also where the relics were kept. There had been shamans and other barbarians within, but most had died when parts of the caverns collapsed.
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The group had pa.s.sed dozens of corpses while making their way through the cavern. Many pa.s.sages were blocked off by rubble and debris, but Lariel cleared a path through without difficulty. The main chamber on the other hand had not received any damage. It was protected by the power of the ancestral spirits who didn"t want the area to be destroyed. They couldn"t save the barbarians within the pa.s.sages however.

Only a few barbarians were left alive and were nervously guarding the main chamber. When they saw Aleks"s group enter the chamber, they immediately drew their weapons and charged their group. They were all Advanced cla.s.s elites, but these were quickly dispatched by Lenia, Nelay and Lariel. Aleks didn"t need to move a finger and just watched patiently while the barbarians were all slain.

"Master, this is the place?" asked Lenia after slaying the last of the barbarians.

"Yes, those relics are what I have come here for." Aleks pointed towards one of the shrines which held a relic on it. It was a necklace with the fangs of beasts attached to it.

Lariel walked over to Aleks and wrapped her arm in his which greatly annoyed Lenia and Nelay who were watching. Aleks didn"t push her away which only served to annoy them further, but neither did he appear moved by her actions. He continued to look ahead towards the relics while his eyes glowed with a somber light.

"Master, do you really need to stand so close to her…" Lenia mumbled under her breath.

She found herself growing increasingly unhappy with the attention that Lariel was giving Aleks and the fact that he never pushed her away. There always seemed to be a certain distance that he had kept with her and she couldn"t understand why it was so easy for Lariel to close that distance. Was she somehow inferior? She didn"t believe so, and she also had a special connection to her master that Lariel lacked.

Nelay wasn"t any better, but she was different from Lenia. She saw Lariel as a serious threat, but at the same time she didn"t know how to respond to this threat. Her personality didn"t allow for threats to exist and so any threats must be immediately eliminated. However, this was a threat she couldn"t handle in the way that was normal to her. This frustrated her to no end. It went against her very instincts and Lariel had now replaced Lenia as someone that she loathed.

In fact, Lenia had become her sister in arms at some point. Originally, there was no one that mattered to her other than her master, so the fact that the way she thought about Lenia had changed was something she hadn"t even realized on a conscious level yet. She now had the habit of disappearing whenever Lariel made her uncomfortable, just like at this moment. It was a light that was just too bright for her to exist in and only the shadows could give her solace.

Lariel was aware of all of this of course. She was a being that had already lived an extremely long life. Even she, had no idea how old she was. Time had little meaning to her. Without a doubt, her experiences were not something that these two young women could ever relate to. Their behavior was cute in her eyes, like two little children. Her toying with their emotions was a sport of sorts to her, but that wasn"t her only intention. Since they belonged to Aleks, she wanted them to be of the utmost use to him.

On the other hand, while Aleks wasn"t oblivious, he didn"t pay it much mind. Lariel smiled and coyly winked at Aleks while leaning in even closer. As a fallen angel, she no longer had the same inhibitions she once had.