[Cehlya's kingdom]
As Darganth let out his roar, the sound of his voice swept across the flat grasslands that surrounded him. Only loosely dotted with small hills and lone trees, the terrain gave a clear view for miles on end, though this only allowed an observer to see more of the same.
Row after row of souls marched along winding paths that cut through the fields, their numbers easily adding up to millions just in the area Darganth could see. Moving as if guided by an invisible hand, each one headed in the same direction, with the merging paths gradually pooling more and more of the souls together the further one went into that direction.
Among these masses, few souls were alike. Everything from humans, and other humanoid species like giants or dwarves, over beasts and animals, to even a few members of legendary species, and an awakened legend being among the crowd. Aquatic life-forms were similarly included, with wide rivers cutting through the landscape ever so often, splitting the branching network of paths into multiple segments to allow fish and similar creatures to also head in the same direction.
But the variety wasn't merely in appearance. Some hurried along the path while others dragged out their march. Some stayed in large groups while others walked on their own.
Yet no matter how different they had been in life or how they made their way toward it, in Cehlya's realm, all of these individuals walked toward the same city on the horizon. There, their fate for the afterlife will be determined, with each soul being subjected to karmic repercussions based on their lives while it slowly deteriorates and fades over time. The energy released during this will then be captured and channeled into Vunreon itself so that the multiverse will can use it to feed its growth.
However, Darganth had no intention of following even just the first step of this system. Whereas even those souls that possess wings at least kept low to the ground as they flew over the crowd, he soared upward shortly after his arrival. Drawing the attention of almost every soul around as he did so, Darganth was followed by envious looks when he accelerated toward the distant city.
As he flew toward it, he soon also dropped his protective spells to conserve mana. Unlike before, where the realm of death would've pierced his scales and eaten through his flesh, even if marginally slower than it had done to his humanoid form, the environment in and around Cehlya's kingdom was far more forgiving to living creatures.
Called elemental plain, this space was to the elemental realms what the astral was to universes. Just like the latter, it serves as a connection between the realms of its elements in each universe while simultaneously serving as a mirror to the astral, just as elemental realms do to the physical world. Though unlike the astral, it was far less deadly than its smaller cousins, with only localized spikes of elemental energy.
Despite this, the elemental plains were rarely inhabited. While they weren't an environment particularly hostile to life, they also didn't have anything to offer. Resources like and other physical materials were entirely nonexistent without outside intervention, while the magical energies were too thin to be useful. All in all, the elemental plains had little to offer to inhabitants, with their most useful aspect being the fact that they enable the existence of elemental realms in the different universes.
There were, of course, exceptions to this. For one, elemental plains allowed travel without being affected by obstacles in the astral. Even the void wasn't exempt from this, with its influence in the elemental plains being a shadow of the power it had in the astral.
Additionally, as the plains of space and time were just extensions of their counterparts in universes, users of these elements traveled into them with a similar regularity.
However, these were merely two outliers among the sixteen elemental plains. Compared to them, the elemental plain of death was closer to the norm that the others presented. However, while it too was in large parts empty, near the center of the multiverse, Vunreon had carved out a piece of it and merged a universe into it to create what has since then become Cehlya's realm.
Through this, Vunreon managed to circumvent the limited authority it had over the elemental plains. This greater control allowed it to funnel the souls of the dead into this one part of the plain of death instead of having them wander the entire plain, establishing one central afterlife for all of its inhabitants.
For Darganth, this feat would remain a marvelous work no matter how often he laid eyes on the interwoven strands of reality and elemental plain that made up the realm around Cehlya's kingdom. This fascination didn't end when the city then slowly became clearer on the horizon, its majesty and beauty still bringing a smile to his face even after having witnessed its splendor thousands of times before.
Between it and the fields of the dead towered a pitch-black wall. Its smooth metal surface caused reflections to appear alongside its surface, showing approaching souls the invisible creatures of death that prowled the patches of grass in between the paths.
Formed from Cehlya's power and thus unavailable in her realm, these bestial creatures were both a first line of defense and keepers of order. Whenever a soul is foolish enough to try and flee its fate, these creatures are already there to pounce on it. Striking unseen and unavoidable, they drag the offender to the gates of the city so that they can be judged for their attempt, with the attempt alone negating potentially hundreds of good karmic deeds.
However, while they are the most active enforcers, these creatures are far from the only thing ensuring order before the wall. Precisely every four thousand five hundred and fourteen meters stood a hexagonal tower. Each one was a perfectly identical structure whose height dwarfed even the already massive wall. Along their sides, small windows were found, one per side for every floor. From them, scouts kept an eye on the entire field, with either their own magic or artifacts allowing them to see for kilometers on end while magical machinery allowed them to precisely fire spells at individual souls over similarly great distances.
The construction at the top of the towers, on the other hand, was more for indiscriminate devastation. There, a glowing white crystal floated in the center. Carved as smoothly as the walls of the structure were, it emitted constant beams of light from the dozen or so flat surfaces that shaped its form.
Though unassuming, these not even two meters tall objects each had the power to wipe out tens of thousands of souls a second. Even in their idle state, their beams would reach for dozens of meters and annihilate anything but the strongest of souls the moment they hit. Simultaneously, they left physical matter entirely unharmed, with the souls of living creatures being similarly safe as the physical body prevented the beam from reaching them.
But when actively supplied with vitality or death elemental energy, these beams could be focused through just one surface. Not only did this widen the beam, it also allowed it to reach for kilometers if not stopped. Through this, each crystal can be turned into an even more devastating weapon that the mages atop the towers can wield freely.
And in the worst case, the crystal can be overcharged and dropped from the tower. In such a state, a single crack in its surface would release all of the stored energy in a blast that had the potential to clear dozens of square kilometers of souls, something that combined well with the almost completely flat terrain in front of the walls.
However, even with that, the defenses along the wall didn't end. Massive chains were connected to the top of each corner of these towers, anchoring floating islands to the wall. Floating wall segments then further solidified aerial control, with their positions constantly shifting as the commander of the tower they surrounded moved them to where they were needed or used them to transport troops.
And in addition to these soldiers on the walls and in the towers, flying beasts and legendary creatures inhabited caves in the floating islands. Making their presence known by having some of their numbers swarm around the tower on their island, they further darkened the already dim light that shone down from somewhere far toward the top of the realm.
As Darganth approached the outer edges of this defensive network some time later, these flying creatures were the first to react. Souls instinctively knew that flying too high drew the attention of the beast prowling in between the paths, meaning few even tried, and fewer made it far. So for them to see someone flying toward them without any alarms having been raised wasn't something they expected.
Darganth, on the other hand, had no intention of interacting with them. While it would be an easy task for him to explain himself, doing so would be an unnecessary waste of time.
As such, he leaned into a dive when he saw parts of the swarm peel off toward him. Using gravity to accelerate further, he flung himself forward when he transitioned back into level flight moments later, shooting past below the approaching swarm just as it dove after him.
When he then came within a few kilometers of the wall, Darganth started searching for the closest gate. Knowing roughly where to expect it, he swept his gaze across the wall sections immediately to the left and right of the tower ahead of him. There, about a hundred meters to the left and right of the tower, he found two open gates. Long lines of souls stretched across the paths before both, though the clustered crowd before the gate on the right made the assumption which one would get him to his destination faster an easy one, prompting Darganth to shift his course to the left.
From then, it would take him barely a minute to reach the gate. Keeping an eye on both the swarm of flying beasts and the soldiers on the wall during this, he made sure they wouldn't try to stop him. But with the former not catching up fast enough and the latter likely not even noticing him, nothing of the sort happened.
Thus, Darganth reached the gate without trouble. Spreading his wings and coming to an abrupt stop, he gave the souls beneath him a few seconds to scatter before letting himself drop. Throwing up a gust of wind with his landing, he inadvertently sent most of these souls stumbling back even further, speeding up the process of clearing himself a path.
Striding forward, he then entered the gate. Consisting of two double doors and a hallway through the entire depth of the wall in between, its colossal structure allowed even his gigantic frame to fit through, even if only barely.
Once on the other side, Darganth found himself stepping into a wide-open plaza. Stretching along the wall as far as his eyes could see in both directions, it gave approaching souls a good look at the hall of judges that towered on its other side.
Standing at double the height of even the gate and thus coming close to the wall itself in height, the building loomed over the plaza. Endless numbers of doors, some opened and some closed, of various sizes stretched along its width, with two shadowy figures flanking each one as guards.
As souls approached it, the building itself warped to fit them. Doors grew or shrank in size to perfectly accommodate a soul, the texture and even shape of the outer wall of parts of the building morphed to fit the approaching individual's idea of the afterlife, while the guard's appearance shifted to that of the individual's species.
And though he wasn't dead, the same was true for Darganth. Black walls gave way to the grayish-white, almost marble-like stone that his palace had been made of. Pillars grew out of the ground as the upper portions of the wall curved forward to form a canopy above a small pathway in front of the building. All the while, the entire structure grew so large that the door surpassed even the gates in the wall, allowing Darganth to easily stride past the two dragons that by then flanked it and into the building.
Inside, he was greeted by a corridor that spanned the entire width of the building. To his left and right, a transparent barrier that was only noticeable through the slight shimmer it left in the air separated him from the adjacent doors, leaving him only the option to head straight forward.
Standing there was a lone humanoid figure. Clad in gray robes that reached all the way to the ground, the man leaned against a door behind him, his eyes studying an open book in his hands. However, the small twitch of his fingers even as he kept his arms crossed before his chest told Darganth that his arrival had been registered.
To the man's left and right, walls bridged the last few meters between the barrier and the wall on the back end. A small, rectangular area was built in the left corner of this, with a large table and stack upon stacks of papers visible behind the barely over a meter tall wall that separated it from the rest of the room.
As Darganth fully stepped into this, the door behind him fell shut. Only then did the man at the other end finally move. Noticeably annoyed that he had to pause whatever he was reading, he pushed himself off the wall without raising his gaze from the book, slowly making his way toward the work area on his left while beckoning Darganth to step closer.
"Immediate judgment or do you wish to request a delay until a reunion with friends or family can be arranged?" The man asked, his back facing Darganth as he switched the book for a piece of paper from one of the shelves.
This question took Darganth by surprise. Not having noticed that the man had never looked up at him and thus expecting the usual procedure dragons were privy to, he briefly paused before answering.
"Neither."
At his defiance, a sigh escaped the man's lips. Turning around and pointing at Darganth with the quill he had been writing with, he launched into a frustrated tirade.
"There are no special treatments, at least not here. And believe me, it's in your best interest not to be judged by someone who has the authority to ignore the rules. So either you pick or I'll get the guards to-" The judge said, freezing as he finally looked up to Darganth.
"I stand corrected. I apologize for the mistake, it's been an exhausting shift." The man said, tossing away the paper in his hand and briefly scanning the shelves before reaching for a new one.
Placing it before himself onto the table, he then sat down and raised his gaze to meet Darganth's as he prepared to write, "I will need your name, exact species, and an imprint of your mana signature, then you can already be on your way. Someone from the branch responsible for handling matters of your kind will then check in with you in the coming week to finalize everything."
Hearing this, Darganth wasn't sure how to tell the man before him that he wasn't dead and thus didn't require any of the standardized forms. Especially because he himself wasn't entirely sure what the process for getting an audience with Cehlya might be. In the past, he had never bothered with the usual entrance and just directly made his way to the palace, so just the question of whether he even could get an audience the way he was trying was pure guesswork.
"The problem with that is that I'm not trying to get into the afterlife. Rather, I'm here for an audience with Cehlya." Darganth said after a few moments.
"What? I know your kind gets quite a few privileges, but I don't think that is one of them. Though I can go and check if you want?"
Shaking his head, Darganth spared the man the effort, "It isn't. And I'm not asking you to directly get me an audience, just to get me into contact with someone who can."
Raising an eyebrow, the man was visibly unsure what to do with such a request. Glancing between Darganth and the stack of papers strewn around his desk, he leaned his head to the side as he weighed the options.
In doing so, it quickly became apparent to him that the risk in turning Darganth away was greater. While getting him into contact with someone higher ranking might result in some stern words from that someone, it was still far better than the punishment for turning down a valid request, especially from a dragon. Besides, making it the problem of someone else would be far quicker for him.
"Fine, I'll try to get someone down here by requesting an emergency intervention. You seem to know the contract. Any preferences on what the emergency should be?" The man asked.
"Article three, request to extend partial privileges to a non-draconic soul should be fine." Darganth said.
Nodding, the man reached for one of the stacks of empty papers he had on his desk. Quickly scribbling a few sentences onto it, he then grabbed one of the seal stamps next to him and pressed it onto the paper. The moment he did, the paper vanished, teleported somewhere by the spell circle integrated into the stamp's pattern.
To Darganth's surprise, he only had to wait in the uncomfortable silence that followed for a minute at most. Just as he had lain down in anticipation for a much longer wait, the door next to the judge's workspace opened, revealing a gray maelstrom behind it.
"It worked?" The man said in astonishment.
"Faster than I expected." Darganth commented in response.
Pushing himself back to his feet, he turned toward the worker as he slowly started making his way toward the portal, "Well, that just leaves me to say thank you and goodbye. While we started on the wrong foot, you did well for how unexpected of a situation this must have been, so I'll put a good word in for you."
"Thanks?" Initially surprised by the praise and still unsure whether Darganth's recommendation would actually bring something, the man only managed to answer with a single hesitant word before Darganth vanished into the portal a moment later.