"A man betrayed by the world, surviving solely for the purpose of revenge. Not for himself. Neither for his greed. But for the dead soul of his son." The beast snake continued as it slowly moved its eyes up and down, scanning me from head to toe.
"However, to think someone from the upper realm fell into this world... What a delightful coincidence! Even the heavens can't resist their little jokes." The snake then burst out into laughter, letting the whole place shake under its cackles.
Its eyes slowly rolled towards my face. For a second, it slightly widened its eyes upon seeing my firm, stern eyes that glared at him as though I were looking at some inferior creature, causing its cackles to come to an abrupt end.
It was humiliating; however, at the same time, the snake found it amusing.
"Void Amalgamation, was it? What an impressive title… in a pond this shallow." Its presence intensified, and the aura that restrained my movements doubled instantly. My body faltered, although my eyes remained the same.
"Do you really think that someone as weak as you deserves to glare at me like that?" The snake's voice that was calm like still water suddenly became thunderous, hammering into my mind like a chisel. I gritted my teeth in pain while blood trickled from the corner of my mouth, streaking down my silver-white beard like ink on snow.
"THREE HUNDRED YEARS!" My voice reverberated throughout the entire cave like a dying ruler's roar—weak yet containing the hint of its glorious past.
"I SERVED THOSE PEOPLE LIKE A DOG FOR MORE THAN 300 YEARS!!! AND HOW DID THEY REPAY ME!?" Just thinking about my past, my grief that I had barely managed to bury under the weight of exacting my son's revenge began to surface, reflecting in my very voice that trembled as I spoke.
Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes, threatening to fall any second.
The beast, on the other hand, could sense the purity of my emotions. It could sense the warmth of my soul.
"They killed my son... THEY KILLED HIM! And, here I am... powerless..."
"I'm afraid to face my wife and son's souls in death... How... How would I ever be able to answer their questions..."
For a split second, even the beast's mind wavered, causing it to question the very flow of fate.
'If all were truly equal under the reign of the heavens, then why was this kid's life filled with nothing but grief and sorrow?'
However, the beast chose silence and did not interrupt me. It was giving me the very first chance to break down and face the emotions I had been forcibly suppressing.
Even to the beast, the situation was eerie.
No doubt, I had broken down and was crying like a child—a sight that no grown man would ever wanna reveal—and yet, my facial expressions remained stagnant.
A face that lacked expressions and eyes that lacked emotions—I looked lifeless, yet, alive enough that tears could flow out of my eyes like a river.
It could see it all. The grief, the sorrow and a feeling slowly grasping onto the very essence of my soul—Anger.
For a moment, the beast hesitated but summoned enough courage to speak.
"Taixuan, I will let you have my core," its voice softly echoed in my mind as my eyes gained focus once again. Surprised, I blankly stared at the beast.
The snake, although it was feeling sympathetic, wasn't feeling benevolent enough to sacrifice its own power for the sake of someone else.
On the contrary, it could feel my sincerity. The sincerity towards people, family, and even strangers.
Thus, it decided to offer me what it initially wanted as a part of a deal, of course.
"But on one condition," it continued as its glare softened. "Just like how you took care of your son and protected him with a pure heart, I hope you would protect my child as well."
The beast snake's body began to dissipate right before my eyes, its voice still echoing.
Within seconds, its body completely disintegrated into a cloud of energy, hovering in the air.
Then, with a sudden flash, the energy expanded into an eye-blinding light and dissipated completely just as quickly.
I frantically closed my eyes and slowly opened them again, only to find out that my vision had changed completely.
The cave slowly began to lose its shadows as a soft, bright light illuminated from the ceiling.
The vision was still blurry, however, growing clearer with each passing second.
My eyes darted from one place to another. I checked my body from head to toe.
Despite having my body constrained under the strength of a mythical beast—who couldn't be seen anymore—I could not feel an ounce of pain in my body.
Although I could still feel the blood trickling down my face, eventually falling down to the ground.
"What... was that...?"
I was confused.
It was true that the mythical beast was truly present there right in front of my eyes, and my blood was the very proof of that.
But, it didn't make sense for it to simply disappear after saying something as absurd—that it would allow me to take its core that easily.
But that was until my vision became clear.
Skeletons. Countless skeletons lay one over another, forming a mountain of crimson-painted bones.
Below, the ground was completely drowned in small ponds of blood, plaguing the air with its thick metallic stench.
It wasn't something new for me; in fact, even this much bloodshed looked nothing out of the ordinary.
Suddenly, I caught a faint cerulean glow radiating atop the mountain of degraded corpses from the corner of my eyes.
The next instant, the snake's voice appeared in my mind once again.
"Beware, Taixuan... I do not wish for you to fall for greed, nor do I want to harm a broken soul such as you."
"Climb the bones only if you agree to my proposal, since only then will I allow you to take the core. However, you may simply return and never come back otherwise."
Upon hearing this, I fell silent. For several minutes, I didn't react at all.
'Will... I be able to protect the child?'
'What if... I... fail again?'
Questions sprang inside my mind, slowly pushing me towards the edge of my sanity.
My body began to slightly tremble as a cold sensation pierced through my chest, letting small beads of sweat form over my palm and forehead.
"I..." Just as words began to form in my mouth, I heard a distant voice. The voice that I missed the most suddenly appeared in my mind in the form of a small memory.
***
A small child's face came into my mind, a boy—barely 4 years old—who inhabited a smile as bright as the sun and eyes as beautiful as the moon, sitting on my lap.
His eyes set on my face as a playful smile flickered on his face.
"Fa...ther?" he spoke, splitting words into two as he tried to slowly think and say them out loud correctly.
"Hmm?"
The child burst out into playful chuckles and rolled in my arms. He slowly stretched his small hands as far as he could around my chest, hugging me tightly as if seeking comfort in my presence.
"I... ho..pe you... wil for..evar.. be widh me..."
I smiled and slowly placed my head on the child's, letting my fingers slide through his hair while affectionately patting his head.
"Of course... I will forever be with my Wusheng!"
***
With a sudden tremble pulsing through my body, I returned to reality with a faint gasp and heavy breaths.
My hand clasped my chest tightly, as if it was trying to hold something else—that wasn't even there.
My eyes darted from one direction to the other, craving a single glimpse. A single glimpse of what I once proudly called his world.
However, I soon realized that it was nothing more than a dream and slowly let my gaze fall to the ground.
Gritting my teeth tightly and turning my raging emotions into a blazing fire, I moved my feet forward without hesitation.
Maybe it was because I missed my son.
Maybe it was because I wanted to see even the slightest reflection of my dead world in the mythical snake's child.
Or maybe my actions were driven purely by my rage and hunger for revenge.
Whatever the reason may be, I simply began climbing the mountain of bones.
In a matter of seconds, I stood atop. In front, lay the very thing I was looking for.
A beast core almost quadruple the size of normal, shimmering in a bright cerulean glow. Behind, there lay a small white egg—almost like that of a chicken, except several times bigger and covered in small white reptilian scales.