Light consumed me as soon as the tooth was snapped. In less than a second, the weird realm and its impossible creatures all blurred in my vision.

  I blinked twice before my sight returned to normal. But I wasn't standing on the ground nor was I floating in the air…

  “Aaaaaa!!” A scream escaped my mouth as I plummeted down from the sky.

  ‘Ah shit shit shit! What should I do?’

  But nothing came to my mind.

  “Dammit! Let's see what will happen to me if I hit the ground!” I shouted as I gave up on the plan to fly altogether.

  “No. That won't be necessary.” A calm voice rich with feminine gentleness said. My eyes flew open.

  A grey figure was standing a few metres below me.

  Omegana!

  Slowly she plucked a marigold flower and like before, blew it towards me. I didn't slow down as I kept falling. But the flower grew bigger and bigger as I got closer to it.

  Maybe I shrunk. I didn't know. In seconds, I landed on the gigantic flower. It was big enough to carry more than three people.

  I sighed in relief. My body sank into the soft petals. I wanted to stay in that flower ‘bed’ longer until…

  “Achoo!” The sharp, pungent smell had other plans.

  Slowly the flower, along with me, drifted in the sky before touching the ground. Almost immediately, the flower exploded into tiny petals. And I– uh I fell. Landed on my face.

  “Enjoyed the ride?” Omegana asked. But I wasn't sure who she was asking because she was looking at the flower that just exploded.

  A second later, I stood up, rubbing my nose, “I did. But I'm not sure if the flower shares my feelings. After all, it exploded.” I said.

  Omegana stood still without saying anything for a long time.

  Then she turned to look at me. Her grey flame-eyes stared into my soul. After a moment, she nodded, “You have done well. A minute has passed in the physical realm.”

  ‘I was sure I had spent hours searching for my soul in the Daesphere. And another half an hour or more for running away from the creatures there. And only a minute has passed?’

  I stood still without uttering a single word. Omegana looked at me once again, “You have defeated death.” She announced, “From now on, death will constantly hunt you. Every breath you take is a defeat for ‘him’. She said.

  I knew from what she said. From now on it's either kill or be killed. Sealing my mouth closed, I nodded once again.

  ‘Him? Is there a literal being such as death?’

  A breeze blew at us making Omegana's blurry hair sway away in it, “Hmm…” she inhaled, “The time is near. You must go back now and prepare.” She said.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Yes, I will prepare…prepare what?” I asked immediately.

  Slowly the flowers around me rose into the air and covered me. Through a tiny gap, I saw Omegana's mouth moving. She said something I couldn't hear.

  In a second, the flowers produced a blinding light. After a few minutes when the light was gone, I opened my eyes.

  Through my blurry vision I saw red and orange colours blinking and quickly moving to cover my hands. I felt the coldness rushing out of my head and body, slowly turning warm.

  Stones and rubble covered me as their heaviness held me to the ground. I took deep breaths and started to count.

  “One.”

  A lot of orange and red colours were filling up my body.

  “Two.”

  Every part of my body slowly started to feel the heat. The same one I felt when the stain dissolved into my palm.

  “Three. Four. Five.”

  I heard distant cries and cheers of the rats. Every sound caused my ears to sting.

  “... Eight.”

  All the heat in my body slowly transferred to my arms.

  “Nine.”

  The heat in my arms grew stronger and stronger as they began to glow. A bright yellow, closer to orange shine through the rubble to escape.

  “Ten.” At the final word, all the heat in my arms burst outside. A blinding light along with a big bang caused all the heavy stones to be lifted up into the air and fell away from me.

  An explosion!

  The cheers and noise quickly came to standstill. Only the voice of steam sizzling remained along with the sound of my breath.

  “Hahaha! Told you he is not a human!” A man's rough voice suddenly laughed.

  I knew the owner of that disgusting voice. The only pig I know, ‘Jug?r.’

  ****

  Margaret squinted her eyes when a blinding light came from the rubble where Alifaan had been thrown to. Unable to hold on, she finally closed her eyes shut.

  Almost immediately, she heard a loud explosion. Lali screamed as she was frightened. Margaret, herself, was frightened by the sudden explosion.

  For a moment she even forgot to open her eyes and see what had just happened. Instead she closed her eyes tight and muttered, “Holy dragon, who is the king of the skies, bless thy descendents.”

  She kept muttering her prayers when the man next to her, who is also tied up, shouted.

  “Hahaha! Told you he is not a human!”

  Margaret’s eyes flung open. Her eyes couldn't see anything through the dust except for a silhouette of a tall, skinny man.

  Her eyes widened as the dust slowly gave way for light. The silhouette of a man quickly outlined himself.

  His black messy hair was dripping blood. A gashing wound on the side of stomach drenched his shirt in blood. Wherever she looked, he was covered in blood. From head to toe, blood dripped from him.

  “How did you survive?” She said, her voice barely even a whisper.

  Alifaan stood there with blood dropping from all over his body. He seemed like someone that was dying. Any second now, and he is gonna fall dead.

  But betraying all of Margaret's thoughts, Alifaan took a step forward. Then another. Another. Again and again.

  He walked straight and unwavering towards the rat-thug in the armour.

  Margaret could not believe he was the same person from before. The coward who knelt in front of her, then got beaten up by the thugs.

  ‘Where did he get this confidence?’ She asked herself.

  She heard a soft gasp. It was Lali. Tears ran down her small face. But her lips were stretched in a grin.

  Margaret's eyes and mouth still stood wide open, trying her best to make sense of what was happening.

  “How arsh you shtill ahlive?” The half mouthed man in the armour asked. Margaret could see his eyes wide as it could be.

  At the far end of the room, the Rat Boss jumped down from the laps of the girl. He stood there with his eyes open and his mouth parting with a grin.

  Alifaan stopped across from the armour-man. Not taunting. Not doing anything. He Just stood still.

  “Round two! Begin!” Pehugian announced. Gone was his earlier laziness and boredom.

  As soon as he said that, the armour wearing man rushed towards Alifaan. Steam spewed out of the tubes of the armour's legs.

  Every step it took sent shivers down Margaret's spine. Yet Alifaan didn't back down, instead he ran towards the enemy.

  Just like before, he charged at the armour. But the moment the huge metal arm swung in full speed, Alifaan stopped in his tracks.

  The metal arm missed his face in an inch. Margaret gasped slightly as sweat poured down her chest and wetted the towel tied on her chest.

  She saw Alifaan quickly pulling at the metal arm. But he wasn't able to rip it off.

  “What the heck are you doing!?” Margaret shouted.

  Alifaan turned his head back for a single second to look at Margaret. And in that split second, another metal arm struck him right on the face. Alifaan fell but he did not let go of the armour.

  “Les go, shcum!” the half lip man grunted as he struck him again.

  Lali closed her eyes and turned her head away from the sight. Margaret saw Jug?r's face twisted with a wide grin.

  Seeing Alifaan clinging onto the armour, the man’s armour's legs powered by steam came crashing into him. This time Alifaan wasn't able to hold on to it.

  He rolled uncontrollably on the floor and hit the stone wall, finally coming to a stop.

  The armour wearing man rushed after him but after a step it fell down. The man tried to push himself back to stand but the heavy weight didn't let him.

  Steam rushed out his armour's left leg and right hand as those lay on the ground like broken machines. The other two limps were still controlled by the half lips man.

  But Margaret knew there was no way for him to lift that heavy armour.

  ‘Did Alifaan do it? What did he do?’ Soon her head was filled with doubts and thoughts.

  She shook her head quickly and focused on the figure coming out of darkness–Alifaan.

  He held tubes and iron pipes as big as an arm. He slowly walked into the light. No blood was dripping from him anymore, yet he was still bloody. In the darkness he looked as if a skeleton walking.

  “You bashtard!” The man roared.

  Alifaan stopped before him and threw the iron pipes towards the man, “I came back from hell to kill you.” He said. His voice echoed inside the silent room.